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an interesting video of him getting a beatdown from an inmate. He says he teaches combat and situational awareness technique, but trust when the rubber met the road, he got his biscuits burned. If anything his “techniques” are photogenically mimiced from what he sees on T.V. or reads in magazaine articles. I agree if he was the real mccoy he was use his real name. I remember passing him in the hallways at work on my way out. My first impression was, “this guy is going to get someone hurt”. Sure enough on October 30, 2014 he shot a guy in the leg in Bonnie Dune. Look ’em up sometime, this guy should have his “credentals” yanked. He is a fraud and a disgrace to criminal justice agents and firearms instructor who teach the proper etiquette. The world is likely a much safer place as a result of Mr. Thervil no longer being able to teach. It speaks highly of the firearms training industry’s ability to police it’s own that this instructor was stripped of his credentials so quickly. Always vet your instructors, folks. Ask for references, see where they’ve trained, and search online look for student reviews of previous classes and after action reports (AARs) from people who have trained with them before. You’re going to be spending your hard-earned dollars for professional firearms instruction. Make sure you get it. SourceEach of the 12 astrological Star (Sun) signs is assigned a modality (method of action), an element (Fire, Earth, Air, and Water), and is represented by a person, animal or object. Additionally, each sign is Yin or Yang and is also defined as personal, social or universal. Knowing all of this can help you understand the horoscope characteristics and compatibilities of each star sign personality. The Personal Signs The first four signs of the Zodiac are the Personal Signs. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer are the "I" signs of the zodiac. If your Sun is in any of these signs, you operate through self-directed action and experience. Aries Star Sign Personality: Approximately March 21 - April 19 Aries is the Cardinal (initiating), Fire (passionate) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yang (outgoing), and it is represented by the Ram. Aries is the "I am" sign of the zodiac. Those with the Sun in Aries initiate action independently and are head-strong. Aries traits: Strong-willed and ambitious High expectations of self and situations Risk-taker Passionate and impatient Devoted and loyal to friends and family Bold and athletic Intense sexual appetites An Aries in Love An Aries fall in love spontaneously. They charm and dazzle the object of their affection and become uncharacteristically caring, sensitive and romantic. Aries best love matches: Taurus Star Sign Personality: Approximately April 20 -May 20 Taurus is the Fixed (unmovable), Earth (practical) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yin (receptive), and it's represented by the Bull. Taurus is the "I have" sign of the zodiac. Those with the Sun in Taurus enjoy the physical world and engage life through their physical senses. Taurus traits: Strong with great physical and mental stamina Stubborn and unwilling to give ground Materialistic and possessive Appreciate comfort and of the finer things in life Generous, patient, and loyal A Taurus in Love Taurus is serious and cautious when it comes to love. They like to build a relationship slowly so it has the potential to last, but when a Taurus does fall in love, they are solid partners who are sensual, nurturing and faithful. Taurus best love matches: Taurus Virgo Capricorn Cancer Pisces Gemini Star Sign Personality: Approximately May 21 - June 20 Gemini is the Mutable (changeable) Air (mental) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yang (outgoing), and it's represented by the Twins. Gemini is the "I think" sign of the zodiac. Those with the Sun is in Gemini scout out information, spread it around, and exist in the shifting, malleable world of their own ideas, thoughts, and perceptions. Gemini traits: Versatile, adaptable and easily bored Quick-silver mind and wit Loves to chat and share information Communicators Sociable and enjoys variety as well as change Relies on mental analysis more than gut feelings A Gemini in Love Geminis enjoy the newness of a love affair and every stage of flirting, the fun of dating, and the first blush of romance, but when the excitement and newness wear off, they can also be off searching for the excitement of someone new. Gemini best love matches: Gemini Libra Aquarius Leo Aries Cancer Star Sign Personality: Approximately June 21 - July 22 Cancer is the Cardinal (imitating) Water (emotional) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yin (receptive), and it's represented by the Crab. Cancer is the "I feel" sign of the zodiac. Those with the Sun is in Cancer live in a world of emotions and are sensitive in every sense of the word. Cancer traits Needs to feel secure, safe and comfortable Home, family, and friends come before all else Deep appreciation for family history and exploring family trees Self-protective and lives by gut feelings and instinct A Cancer in Love Marriage minded Cancers are cautious and never rush into love or commitment. But when they do fall in love, they're old fashioned romantics who are affectionate, sweetly seductive, protective, and loyal. Cancer Love matches: Cancer Scorpio Pisces Virgo Taurus The Social Signs Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio are the social signs. If your Sun is in any of these signs you establish contact in terms of "me and you" relationships and require social interaction with others. Leo Star Sign Personality: Approximately July 23 - August 22 Leo in the Fixed (unmovable) Fire (passion) of the zodiac. It is Yang (outgoing) and it's represented by the Lion. Leo is the "I will" sign of the zodiac. Those with a Leo Sun are driven by the need to shine and the desire to be loved and admired. Leo traits: Likes to be in the spotlight Dramatic Great judgment Strong leaders Knows self-worth and exerts will A Leo in Love A Leo in love shines. They are warm, generous romantic, and shower their lover with affection. Best love matches: Leo Sagittarius Aries Gemini Libra Virgo Star Sign Personality: Approximately August 23 - September 22 Virgo is the Mutable (changeable), Earth (practical) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yin (receptive) and it's represented by the Virgin. Virgo is the "I analyze" sign of the zodiac. Those with a Virgo Sun are driven by a desire to solve problems and create perfection. Virgo traits: Skilled and successful in a career Steady workers and attentive to details Keeps emotions reined in Analytical and focused on the task at hand Tend to be overly-critical in their desire to find perfection A Virgo in Love A Virgo is practical and decerning when it comes to love, but once in love, they tend to stay in love and are eager to please their partners. Virgo Compatibility: Virgo Capricorn Taurus Scorpio Cancer Libra Star Sign Personality: Approximately September 23 - October 22 Libra is the Cardinal (initiating) Air (mental) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yang (outgoing) and its symbol is the Scales. Libra is the "I balance" sign of the zodiac. Those with the Sun in Libra are driven to initiate relationships, make connections and create perfect balance and harmony. Libra traits: Justice and equality are mainstays Surround themselves with beauty and art Good social skills Partner oriented Voices opinions only when provoked or passionate about a cause A Libra in Love A Libra in love is idealistic, thrives on the beauty and romance of love, and as skilled at creating a long-lasting and committed love affair. Libra compatibility: Libra Aquarius Gemini Sagittarius Leo Scorpio Star Sign Personality: Approximately October 23 - November 21 Scorpio is the Fixed (unmovable) Water (emotional) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yin (receptive) and its symbol is the Scorpion. Scorpio is the "I desire" sign of the zodiac. Those with the Sun in Scorpio sense everything, show nothing and are driven by a desire to feel life on the deepest and darkest level. Scorpio traits: Enjoys a big and bold lifestyle Have a powerful ability to focus Trustworthy and faithful. The ability to overcome massive obstacles Power, position and money are key motivators A Scorpio in Love A Scorpio in love is passionate and possessive. They want to experience the extremes of love, its highs, its lows, and the total emotional and physical experience of love. Best love Matches: Scorpio Pisces Cancer Capricorn Virgo The Universal Signs Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces are the Universal signs. If your Sun is in one of these signs you strive to see the big picture when making decisions and base your decisions on what you consider to be philosophically correct and best for all. Sagittarius Star Sign Personality: Approximately November 22 - December 21 Sagittarius is the Mutable (changeable) Fire (passion) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yang (outgoing) and its symbol is the Archer Centaur. Those with the Sun in Sagittarius are truth seekers who have are faith in themselves, tolerate differences, and are driven to explore, experience, learn, and gather knowledge. Sagittarius traits: Philosopher and seeker of knowledge Bright sharp intellect and enjoys mental challenges High energy that keeps them constantly moving Must be allowed to roam free and will always return home A Sagittarius in Love A Sagittarian is a fun, exciting, appreciative lover who enjoys pleasing his mate, but even in love, they require to freedom to go and do what they want. Best love matches: Sagittarius Aries Leo Aquarius Libra Capricorn Star Sign Personality: Approximately December 22 - January 19 Capricorn is the Cardinal (initiating) Earth (practical) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yin (receptive) and its represented by the Sea-goat. Those with a Capricorn Sun are driven to survive and thrive in the material world and make the best use of what exists on earth. Capricorn traits: Practical problem-solver and excellent organizer Plans life and each stage to create a blueprint he can follow Closed-mouth when it comes to emotional sharing A Capricorn in Love A Capricorn in love has settling down on their mind. They are committed and loyal lover who make great husbands or wives. Best love matches: Capricorn Taurus Virgo Scorpio Pisces Aquarius Star Sign Personality: Approximately January 20 - February 18 Aquarius is the Fixed (unmovable) Air (mental) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yang (outgoing) and it is represented by the Water Bearer. Those with an Aquarius Sun are driven by a desire to make the world a better place and to help everyone they can along the way. Aquarian traits: Unorthodox and unconventional An eclectic collection of friends Humanitarian and will take up just causes Very sociable, intelligent and quick to make friends Enjoy art and a leisurely lifestyle An Aquarian in Love An Aquarian in love has an unorthodox approach. They aren't particularly romantic, but when they fall in love they are loyal, will do anything for their partner and will their lover's best friend first, last and always. Best love matches: Aquarius Gemini Libra Sagittarius Aries Pisces Star Sign Personality: Approximately February 19 - March 20 Pisces is the Mutable (changeable) Water (emotional) sign of the zodiac. Its polarity is Yin (receptive) and its symbol is Two Fish. Those with the Sun in Pisces strive to connect with the ethereal and experience heaven on earth. Pisces traits: Unassuming and deeply sensitive and emotional Selfless to a fault Illusion of naivety Psychic A Pisces in Love A Pisces excels at giving and receiving love. They are devoted and all about romance, passion, emotion, and sensitivity. Best love matches: Pisces Cancer Scorpio Capricorn Taurus Star Sign Stereotypes Always remember when you're reading Star (Sun) sign personality traits that they are stereotypical characteristics. Astrology is much more than a Star sign, additionally, a Star sign has many levels of expression. Though everyone will express these Star sign traits to a greater or lesser degree, a quick look at an individual's entire birth chart will quickly remind you that no one perfectly fits stereotypical Star sign descriptions. That's not how astrology works.Pipe Tobacco I love the history and story behind tobacco, like so many things in pipe culture this is our link to the past, present, and future. In order to really get a good understanding of the blends I was sent and how they are made and blended I had to reach out to someone who was very knowledgeable of the area to fill in the details. Enter Rick Head who has lived in Indonesia for over 22 years and has been more recently involved in the local pipe club the PTCI (Pipe and Tobacco Club of Indonesia). Most of the blended tobacco comes from the Java area and have a basic or base Indonesian taste that as Rick puts it, reminds him of musty old furniture. After smoking it I’d say it reminds me of walking into an old antique store or a dusty old Asian store that peddles strange and unusual items. Supposedly this unique taste that is across much of the tobacco is the yeasts present in Indonesia and how they aid fermentation. Most of the tobacco in Indonesia aside from what’s previously mentioned can be classified as burly, and is sun and air cured. The pipe tobacco industry in Indonesia is a very cottage or boutique industry. There are no large pipe tobacco manufactures — all the larger companies are cigarette companies and cigar companies. From what I have gathered there are 5 tobacco blenders in Indonesia ; RnR, Sutet, Putu Cowe Toko, Naga Hanya Satu, and Siswa Pipa. Soppeng Tobacco I’ll start with Soppeng tobacco since it’s the description of it that got me interested in it enough to order some. Soppeng comes from the island of Suluwesi and is a burly tobacco. What sets this apart like a lot of Indonesian tobacco is that it is first “rangingan” or “di iris” meaning after it is harvested it’s shag cut and then it’s cured. Storing and aging of Soppeng Tobacco Soppeng is even more different because they spray it with Aren (which is sugar that comes from a special palm tree that itself has a tendency to spontaneously ferment. Next they hang the shredded tobacco in barns and burn coconut shells to smoke it very similar to how Latakia is made. After it is cured they pack it in bamboo, usually wrapped with banana leaves and store it for 6 months before selling it in the bamboo. The consistency is like a krumble kake, and the taste is totally different from what you may be used to. Rick notes that it does burn a bit hot for him, and I noticed this as well but it wasn't too bad, as I've varied the pipes I smoked it out of and and varied the moisture — too dry it smokes very similar to semois (fast) so re-humidifying it slightly after you receive it does help slow the smoke. My smoking notes on soppeng: slightly dry, sweet, and with a very small hint of cinnamon. I notice the woodsy taste that likely is imparted from the bamboo, it burns very well. I find it quite enjoyable. Srintil Tobacco: Srintil tobacco is actually an abnormality of tobacco and as such is very rare. It is grown in the Java region in Temangung Valley. It’s an aberration that only occurs occasionally to some of the plants and as Rick says they have not been able to replicate it anywhere else nor can they force it to happen. The locals say it’s considered a blessing from God and because of this it’s very expensive when compared to other tobacco. It manifests itself in the malformed tops of the plant (and if you know your tobacco leafs the tops are usually where the nicotine is greatest) and produces an extreme amount of resin. Because of its potency and price it is most often used as a spice (like perique) with other tobaccos As you can see it’s very gummy looking and black. Rick states that he’s heard they sometimes wrap it in banana leaves and bury it for a period of time. The flavor profile has a musty taste similar to other Indonesian tobaccos — and is similar to gawith twists. Now as this is usually mixed, my sample came as a blended sample which came from the same blender “Patrick” that also did some of the other blends like Demit666. While he didn't reveal all of the secret top note he uses for his Srintil mixture what we do know is that it comes from raisins — like a wine that it is cured in. My smoking notes of Srintil: It’s mixed with another burley that I can tell, it’s got fruity notes (most likely the raisin) and because of this its slightly sweet, I’d call it borderline aromatic. It does not smoke as hot per say as soppeng. Tambolaka Tambolaka can be found here in the US by going to 4noggins and is the only Indonesian pipe tobacco that I know of that is available here. The history behind it according to Rick is that it used to be sold in a shop in Bali and an American guy named Bob discovered it on the island of Sumba. Upon discovery he formed a company to market it both as pipe tobacco and also cigars that he made from it. Then unfortunately he had a stroke a couple years ago and his Indonesian partner took over. His partner concentrated mainly on cigars instead of the pipe tobacco. Now aside from buying from the shop in Bali and the company that was marketing it — the locals can buy it directly. The way it is made is very time consuming and similar to perique. They take the newly harvested leaves and roll them very tightly into long poles about 10' long. Then they wrap the poles with rope or cord very tightly and store them for a minimum of 5 years. During that time anaerobic fermentation turns the leaves black. It’s sold in slices that you have to cut into cube or shred into lose/shag cut yourself. It’s suggested that you steam it to help separate the leaves then you cut them however you’d like. Now what came in the sample was already cut in lose ribbon cut, and apparently its a bit messy and time consuming to actually prepare it yourself. A fellow redditor has put his review which includes the steaming here. My notes: Earthly, Leather, slight spice in the back of the throat. It seems to have a much higher nicotine content thus you should have a full stomach before smoking. Very rich, full smoke, and you don’t need to smoke much to feel the nicotine.The 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état was a covert operation carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that deposed the democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz and ended the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944–1954. Code-named Operation PBSUCCESS, it installed the military dictatorship of Carlos Castillo Armas, the first in a series of U.S.-backed authoritarian rulers in Guatemala. The Guatemalan Revolution began in 1944, when a popular uprising toppled the authoritarian Jorge Ubico and brought Juan José Arévalo to power via Guatemala's first democratic election. The new president introduced a minimum wage and near-universal suffrage, aiming to turn Guatemala into a liberal democracy. Arévalo was succeeded by Árbenz in 1951, who instituted popular land reforms which granted property to landless peasants. The Guatemalan Revolution was disliked by the United States Federal government, which was predisposed by the Cold War to see it as communist. This perception grew after Árbenz took power and legalized the Communist Party. The United Fruit Company (UFC), whose highly profitable business had been affected by the end to exploitative labor practices in Guatemala, engaged in an influential lobbying campaign to persuade the U.S. to overthrow the Guatemalan government. U.S. President Harry Truman authorized Operation PBFORTUNE to topple Árbenz in 1952; although the operation was quickly aborted, it was a precursor to PBSUCCESS. Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected U.S. President in 1952, promising to take a harder line against communism; the links that his staff members John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles had to the UFC also predisposed them to act against the Guatemalan government. Additionally, the U.S. Federal government drew exaggerated conclusions about the extent of communist influence from the presence of a small number of communists among Árbenz's advisers. Eisenhower authorized the CIA to carry out Operation PBSUCCESS in August 1953. The CIA armed, funded, and trained a force of 480 men led by Carlos Castillo Armas. The coup was preceded by U.S. efforts to criticize and isolate Guatemala internationally. Castillo Armas' force invaded Guatemala on 18 June 1954, backed by a heavy campaign of psychological warfare. This included a radio station which broadcast anti-government propaganda and a version of military events favorable to the rebellion, claiming to be genuine news, as well as bombings of Guatemala City and a naval blockade of Guatemala. The invasion force fared poorly militarily, and most of its offensives were defeated. However, psychological warfare and the possibility of a U.S. invasion intimidated the Guatemalan army, which eventually refused to fight. Árbenz briefly and unsuccessfully attempted to arm civilians to resist the invasion, before resigning on 27 June. Castillo Armas became president ten days later, following negotiations in San Salvador. Described as the definitive deathblow to democracy in Guatemala, the coup was widely criticized internationally, and contributed to long-lasting anti-U.S. sentiment in Latin America. Attempting to justify the coup, the CIA launched Operation PBHISTORY, which sought evidence of Soviet influence in Guatemala among documents from the Árbenz era: the effort was a failure. Castillo Armas quickly assumed dictatorial powers, banning opposition parties, imprisoning and torturing political opponents, and reversing the social reforms of the revolution. Nearly four decades of civil war followed, as leftist guerrillas fought a series of U.S.-backed authoritarian regimes whose brutalities included a genocide of the Maya peoples. Historical background [ edit ] Monroe Doctrine [ edit ] U.S. President James Monroe's foreign policy doctrine of 1823 warned the European powers against further colonization in Latin America. The stated aim of the Monroe Doctrine was to maintain order and stability, and to ensure that U.S. access to resources and markets was not limited. Historian Mark Gilderhus states that the doctrine also contained racially condescending language, which likened Latin American countries to squabbling children. While the U.S. did not initially have the power to enforce the doctrine, over the course of the 19th century many European powers withdrew from Latin America, allowing the U.S. to expand its sphere of influence throughout the region. In 1895, President Grover Cleveland laid out a more militant version of the doctrine, stating that the U.S. was "practically sovereign" on the continent. Following the Spanish–American War in 1898, this aggressive interpretation was used to create a U.S. economic empire across the Caribbean, such as with the 1903 treaty with Cuba that was heavily tilted in the U.S.' favor. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt believed that the U.S. should be the main beneficiary of production in Central America. The U.S. enforced this hegemony with armed interventions in Nicaragua (1912–33), and Haiti (1915–34). The U.S. did not need to use its military might in Guatemala, where a series of dictators were willing to accommodate the economic interests of the U.S. in return for its support for their regimes. Guatemala was among the Central American countries of the period known as a banana republic. From 1890 to 1920, control of Guatemala's resources and its economy shifted away from Britain and Germany to the U.S., which became Guatemala's dominant trade partner. The Monroe Doctrine continued to be seen as relevant to Guatemala, and was used to justify the coup in 1954. Authoritarian governments and the United Fruit Company [ edit ] Manuel Estrada Cabrera, President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920, granted several concessions to the United Fruit Company Following a surge in global coffee demand in the late 19th century, the Guatemalan government made several concessions to plantation owners. It passed legislation that dispossessed the communal landholdings of the indigenous population and allowed coffee growers to purchase it. Manuel Estrada Cabrera, President of Guatemala from 1898 to 1920, was one of several rulers who made large concessions to foreign companies, including the United Fruit Company (UFC). Formed in 1899 by the merger of two large U.S. corporations, the new entity owned large tracts of land across Central America, and in Guatemala controlled the railroads, the docks, and the communication systems. By 1900 it had become the largest exporter of bananas in the world, and had a monopoly over the Guatemalan banana trade. Journalist and writer William Blum describes UFC's role in Guatemala as a "state within a state". The U.S. government was also closely involved with the Guatemalan state under Cabrera, frequently dictating financial policies and ensuring that American companies were granted several exclusive rights. When Cabrera was overthrown in 1920, the U.S. sent an armed force to make certain that the new president remained friendly to it. Fearing a popular revolt following the unrest created by the Great Depression, wealthy Guatemalan landowners lent their support to Jorge Ubico, who won an uncontested election in 1931. Ubico's regime became one of the most repressive in the region. He abolished debt peonage, replacing it with a vagrancy law which stipulated that all landless men of working age needed to perform a minimum of 100 days of forced labor annually. He authorized landowners to take any actions they wished against their workers, including executions. Ubico was an admirer of European fascist leaders such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, but had to ally with the U.S. for geopolitical reasons, and received substantial support from this country throughout his reign. A staunch anti-communist, Ubico reacted to several peasant rebellions with incarcerations and massacres. By 1930 the UFC had built an operating capital of 215 million U.S. dollars,[a] and had been the largest landowner and employer in Guatemala for several years. Ubico granted it a new contract, which was immensely favorable to the company. This included 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres) of public land, an exemption from all taxes, and a guarantee that no other company would receive any competing contract. Ubico requested the UFC to cap the daily salary of its workers at 50 U.S. cents, so that workers in other companies would be less able to demand higher wages. Guatemalan Revolution and presidency of Arévalo [ edit ] The repressive policies of the Ubico government resulted in a popular uprising led by university students and middle-class citizens in 1944. Ubico fled, handing over power to a three-person junta which continued Ubico's policies until it too was toppled, by the October Revolution that aimed to transform Guatemala into a liberal democracy. The largely free election that followed installed a philosophically conservative university professor, Juan José Arévalo, as the President of Guatemala. Arévalo's administration drafted a more liberal labor code, built health centers, and increased funding to education. Arévalo enacted a minimum wage, and created state-run farms to employ landless laborers. He also cracked down on the communist Guatemalan Party of Labour (Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo, PGT) and in 1945 criminalized all labor unions in workplaces with fewer than 500 workers. By 1947, the remaining unions had grown strong enough to pressure him into drafting a new labor code, which made workplace discrimination illegal and created health and safety standards. However, Arévalo refused to advocate land reform of any kind, and stopped short of drastically changing labor relations in the countryside. Despite Arévalo's anti-communism, the U.S. was suspicious of him, and worried that he was under Soviet influence. The communist movement did grow stronger during Arévalo's presidency, partly because he released its imprisoned leaders, and also through the strength of its teachers' union. Another cause for U.S. worry was Arévalo's support of the Caribbean Legion. The Legion was a group of progressive exiles and revolutionaries, whose members included Fidel Castro, that aimed to overthrow U.S.-backed dictatorships across Central America. The government also faced opposition from within the country; Arévalo survived at least 25 coup attempts during his presidency. A notable example was an attempt in 1949 led by Francisco Arana, which was foiled in an armed shootout between Arana's supporters and a force led by Arévalo's defense minister Jacobo Árbenz. Arana was among those killed, but details of the coup attempt were never made public. Other sources of opposition to Arévalo's government were the right-wing politicians and conservatives within the military who had grown powerful during Ubico's dictatorship, as well as the clergy of the Catholic Church. Presidency of Árbenz and land reform [ edit ] A mural celebrating President Árbenz and his landmark agrarian reform, which benefited 500,000 people The largely free elections of 1950 were won by the popular Árbenz, and represented the first transfer of power between democratically elected leaders in Guatemala. Árbenz had personal ties to some members of the communist PGT, which was legalized during his government, and a couple of members played a role in drafting the new president's policies. Nonetheless, Árbenz did not try to turn Guatemala into a communist state, instead choosing a moderate capitalist approach. The PGT too committed itself to working within the existing legal framework to achieve its immediate objectives of emancipating peasants from feudalism and improving workers' rights. The most prominent component of Árbenz's policy was his agrarian reform bill. Árbenz drafted the bill himself, having sought advice from economists across Latin America. The focus of the law was on transferring uncultivated land from large landowners to poor laborers, who would then be able to begin viable farms of their own. The official title of the agrarian reform bill was Decree 900. It expropriated all uncultivated land from landholdings that were larger than 673 acres (272 ha). If the estates were between 224 acres (91 ha) and 672 acres (272 ha), uncultivated land was to be expropriated only if less than two-thirds of it was in use. The owners were compensated with government bonds, the value of which was equal to that of the land expropriated. The value of the land itself was what the owners had declared it to be in their tax returns in 1952. Of the nearly 350,000 private landholdings, only 1,710 were affected by expropriation. The law was implemented with great speed, which resulted in some arbitrary land seizures. There was also some violence, directed at landowners, as well as at peasants that had minor landholdings. By June 1954, 1,400,000 acres (570,000 ha) of land had been expropriated and distributed. Approximately 500,000 individuals, or one-sixth of the population, had received land by this point. Contrary to the predictions made by detractors, the law resulted in a slight increase in Guatemalan agricultural productivity, and in an increase in cultivated area. Purchases of farm machinery also increased. Overall, the law resulted in a significant improvement in living standards for many thousands of peasant families, the majority of whom were indigenous people. Historian Greg Grandin sees the law as representing a fundamental power shift in favor of the hitherto marginalized. Genesis and prelude [ edit ] United Fruit Company lobbying [ edit ] coup d'état. The former headquarters of the United Fruit Company, in New Orleans. The company played a key role in instigating the 1954 By 1950, the United Fruit Company's annual profits were 65 million U.S. dollars,[b] twice as large as the revenue of the government of Guatemala. The company also virtually owned Puerto Barrios, Guatemala's only port to the Atlantic Ocean, allowing it to make profits from the flow of goods through the port. Due to its long association with Ubico's government, Guatemalan revolutionaries saw the UFC as an impediment to progress after 1944. This image was reinforced by the company's discriminatory policies against its workers of color. Due to its size, the reforms of Arévalo's government affected the UFC more than other companies. Among other things, the new labor code allowed UFC workers to strike when their demands for higher wages and job security were not met. The company saw itself as being specifically targeted by the reforms, and refused to negotiate with the numerous sets of strikers, despite frequently being in violation of the new laws. The company's troubles were compounded with the passage of Decree 900 in 1952. Of the 550,000 acres (220,000 ha) that the company owned, only 15 percent was being cultivated; the rest was idle, and thus came under the scope of the agrarian reform law. The UFC responded by intensively lobbying the U.S. government; several Congressmen criticized the Guatemalan government for not protecting the interests of the company. The Guatemalan government replied that the company was the main obstacle to progress in the country. American historians observed that "[to] the Guatemalans it appeared that their country was being mercilessly exploited by foreign interests which took huge profits without making any contributions to the nation's welfare". In 1953, 200,000 acres (81,000 ha) of uncultivated land was expropriated by the government, which offered the company compensation at the rate of 2.99 U.S. dollars to the acre (7.39 U.S. dollars per hectare),[c] twice what the company had paid when it bought the property. More expropriation occurred soon after, bringing the total to over 400,000 acres (160,000 ha); the government offered compensation to the company at the rate at which the UFC had valued its own property for tax purposes. Since this was a major undervaluation, the company was unhappy with its compensation, resulting in further lobbying in Washington, particularly through U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who had close ties to the company. The UFC also began a public relations campaign to discredit the Guatemalan government; it hired Edward Bernays, who mounted a concerted misinformation campaign for several years which portrayed the company as the victim of a communist Guatemalan government. The company stepped up its efforts after Dwight Eisenhower was elected U.S. President in 1952. These included commissioning a research study from a firm known to be hostile to social reform, which produced a 235-page report that was highly critical of the Guatemalan government. Historians have stated that the report was full of "exaggerations, scurrilous descriptions and bizarre historical theories" but it nonetheless had a significant impact on the members of Congress who read it. Overall, the company spent over half a million dollars to convince lawmakers and the American public that the Guatemalan government needed to be overthrown. Operation PBFORTUNE [ edit ] coup d'état in 1952. U.S. President Harry Truman (pictured here in 1950) authorized the CIA to effect a Guatemalanin 1952. As the Cold War developed and the Guatemalan government clashed with U.S. corporations on an increasing number of issues, the U.S. government grew increasingly suspicious of the Guatemalan Revolution. In addition, the Cold War predisposed the Truman administration to see the Guatemalan government as communist. Arévalo's support for the Caribbean Legion also worried the Truman administration, which saw it as a vehicle for communism, rather than as the anti-dictatorial force it was conceived as. Until the end of its term, the Truman administration had relied on purely diplomatic and economic means to try and reduce the perceived communist influence. The U.S. had refused to sell arms to the Guatemalan government after 1944; in 1951 it began to block all weapons purchases by Guatemala. The U.S.'s worries over communist influence increased after the election of Árbenz in 1951 and his enactment of Decree 900 in 1952. In April 1952 Anastasio Somoza García, the dictator of Nicaragua, made his first state visit to the U.S. He made several public speeches praising the U.S., and was awarded a medal by the New York City government. During a meeting with Truman and his senior staff, Somoza said that if the U.S. gave him the arms, he would "clean up Guatemala". The proposal did not receive much immediate support, but Truman instructed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to follow up on it. The CIA contacted Carlos Castillo Armas, a Guatemalan army officer who had been exiled from the country in 1949 following a failed coup attempt against President Arévalo. Believing that Castillo Ar
of plagiarism that include purloining sections of a decades-old speech and passing it off as one’s expression of compassion with the hope few would remember the speech was 28 years old. There has been a phony push this past week by Republicans to rebrand the party as compassionate and address the crushing income inequality that is responsible for a horrific increase in the number of Americans wallowing in poverty. Republicans are suddenly “compassionate” because it is the 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson’s declaration of war on poverty that current Republicans have done their best to increase over the past five years. Twenty-eight years ago another Republican made a phony push to address poverty and declared Johnson’s war on poverty effort a failure, and blamed government anti-poverty programs for increasing poverty and causing the breakdown of families by discouraging marriage. On Wednesday, another Republican, Marco Rubio, parroted conservative man-turned-god Ronald Reagan and stated emphatically that “big government’s War on Poverty is a failure” and repeated Reagan’s assessment that getting rid of federal programs is critical to combat poverty. Rubio also argued against welfare, extending unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage, and called for gutting regulations and the tax code, imposing serious austerity on the government, and employing “the greatest tool to lift children and families from poverty; it’s called marriage.” Rubio’s solution to the “marriage problem” is turning “Washington’s anti-poverty programs and the trillions spent on them over to the states.” However, that idea has not worked out for millions of Americans in Republican states that turned down free federal funding for Medicaid expansion, and it may not be a good idea to turn “flexible” funding over to states to pursue their own solutions; solutions that always entail greater tax cuts for the rich and corporations and not to combat poverty. Republicans still advocate giving more money to the rich and corporations that, after thirty years, is responsible for the stifling income inequality and the growing peasant class that marriage, cutting regulations and taxes, or harsher austerity will never remedy. Rubio likely studied Reagan’s February 1986 radio address where he claimed “the crisis of family breakdowns, particularly children born out of wedlock, has created a permanent culture of poverty.” Reagan, like Rubio, claimed poverty is the result of “misguided government programs that actually turned a shrinking problem into a national tragedy.” Reagan said the real tragedy was that the “1964 War on Poverty was declared and poverty won because government programs ruptured the bonds holding poor families together.” No, the war on poverty created government programs that conservatives have sought to destroy since their inception, and like Reagan, current Republicans including “marriage advocate” Rubio are using tired conservative arguments to gut anti-poverty programs as a crucial part of their compassionate war on poverty. The only reason Republicans want to eliminate government anti-poverty programs is because they have kept millions and millions of Americans out of poverty and if there is one thing Republicans hate more than women, taxes, and regulations, it is government programs that work. The war on poverty was responsible for the Social Security Act 1965 that Created Medicare and Medicaid, and expanded Social Security benefits for retirees, widows, and the disabled and financed by an increase in the payroll tax cap. The Food Stamp Act of 1964 that made the program permanent after a trial as a pilot program continues lifting millions of Americans out of poverty, creating jobs, and boosting the economy. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 which created the Community Action Program, Job Corps, and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) were regarded as the centerpiece of the “war on poverty,” and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which established the Title I program that subsidized school districts with a large share of impoverished students. All of the war on poverty programs, federal government programs, have a high rate of success fighting poverty and yet Reagan, and now Rubio, claim they create poverty that a good marriage program would set right if Republicans can give trillions to states to find their own solutions; or so Rubio would have Americans believe. There is always the threat that one solution Republicans will employ is only providing poverty relief to families with opposite-sex married couples. Rubio, as an anti-poverty crusader, is nearly as hysterical as Reagan, and so was his contention that the various government anti-poverty programs are why the poor and middle class are victims of income inequality and rising poverty. The absurdity of Rubio’s contention that something as simple as raising the minimum wage will not help millions of Americans out of poverty defies comprehension and a December 2013 study by University of Massachusetts showing 4.6 million Americans will be lifted out of poverty if Republicans would raise the rate to $10.10 an hour. However, Rubio, like Reagan is a devotee of getting the federal government out of the way that means eliminating all the War on Poverty programs including Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, and various programs directly assisting the poorest Americans to survive a thirty year Republican assault on government and the poor. That Rubio claimed marriage is the be all, end all, solution to poverty exposed him as just another religious right extremist and not just pandering to Christian conservatives. It is no coincidence that his speech parroting Reagan was hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) that furnished the George W. Bush administration with more than twenty AEI scholars and fellows who served in Bush policy posts or the government’s many panels and commissions. Rubio did them all proud by harkening a return to Bush-Republican policies that crashed the economy by gutting regulations, blew up the deficit with unfunded tax cuts, and created poverty Rubio claims marriage and eliminating anti-poverty programs will solve. It is unclear when Republicans’ ignorant supporters will get the message that it is insane to try the same things over and over again and expect a different result. Neither marriage, gutting regulations and the tax code, eliminating food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid will put an end to poverty crushing the life out of tens-of-millions of Americans and Republicans know it. It is why they continue their thirty year crusade to create poverty that increases income inequality that has benefitted the wealthy and corporations for decades. Rubio, like Reagan’s, nod to marriage serves no other purpose than appease the religious right and keep them voting for Republicans even though they are likely struggling to escape poverty themselves even though they are happily married opposite-sex couples. 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:Getty Images Last week, there was some talk that the Vikings would turn to Cordarrelle Patterson on offense more often with Charles Johnson out of the lineup. As has happened often since his rookie season, that talk didn’t amount to anything on the field. Patterson caught one pass and saw the fourth-most snaps of any receiver. Rookie Stefon Diggs also showed chemistry with Teddy Bridgewater that made it hard to think that Patterson will be getting too many looks once the Vikings are whole at receiver. Despite Patterson’s minuscule playing time and production on offense, General Manager Rick Spielman insists the team hasn’t given up on him and is coming up with more ways to get Patterson involved. “He’s made so many strides since a year ago and he continues to make strides,” Spielman said, via ESPN.com. “As these coaches evaluated our personnel, the one thing Zim always preaches is team comes first before any stats. As our guys are learning these players, they have a pretty good feel but they’re still, you know, ‘What are we?’ Because now you have an Adrian Peterson in your backfield. With Cordarrelle, you can’t ask for a kid that’s working as hard as he can. And there are specific packages that he may be involved with. These guys are trying to put personnel together with specific packages.” It’s not surprising that the guy who traded up to get Patterson in the first round would resist saying that the team has lost hope that the wideout will make an impact for them. He doesn’t really need to because every week that passes without Patterson in a prominent role makes it plain enough to see.In a period spanning 72 days, two researchers from Northeastern University have discovered at least 110 “misbehaving” and potentially malicious hidden services directories (HSDirs) on the Tor anonymity network. What’s an HSDir? An HSDir is a Tor node that receives descriptors for hidden services – servers configured to receive inbound connections only through Tor, meaning their IP address and network location remains hidden – and, upon request, directs users to those hidden services it “knows” about. Anybody can set up a HSDir and start logging all hidden service descriptors published to their node. What’s the problem? “Tor’s security and anonymity is based on the assumption that the large majority of the its relays are honest and do not misbehave. Particularly the privacy of the hidden services is dependent on the honest operation of hidden services directories (HSDirs),” Professor Guevara Noubir and Ph.D. student Amirali Sanatinia explained. “Bad” HSDirs can be used for a variety of attacks on hidden services: from DoS attacks to snooping on them. What the researchers found They set up honey onions (honions), a framework able to detect when a Tor node with HSDir capability has been modified to snoop into the hidden services that it currently hosts. To cover all or almost all HSDirs on the network, they set up 1500 honions, which logged all requests received from the various HSDirs. By analyzing the nature of these requests and when they were made, they were capable of identifying potentially malicious HSDirs. “Most of the visits were just querying the root path of the server and were automated. However, we identified less than 20 possible manual probing, because of a query for favicon.ico, the little icon that is shown in the browser, which the Tor browser requests. Some snoopers kept probing for more information even when we returned an empty page,” the researchers shared. There was quite a diversity among the detected attack vectors: forced hidden services indexing, SQL injections, username enumeration, cross-site scripting, targeting of Ruby on Rails framework, etc. It’s interesting to note (but should not have been unexpected) that of the 110+ malicious HSDir more than 70% were hosted on cloud infrastructure, which makes identifying their operators much more difficult. “Around 25% are exit nodes as compared to the average, 15% of all relays in 2016, that have both the HSDir and the Exit flags. This can be interesting for further investigation, since it is known that some Exit nodes are malicious and actively interfere with users’ traffic and perform active MITM attacks,” they noted. It is the responsibility of the Tor Project authority directories to identify and remove malicious HSDirs and, as Noubir told Ars Technica, they are working on it, but use a different methodology. The long-term solution, though, is a new design for hidden services, he noted.“The Affordable Care Act has been the law for three and a half years now,” Mr. Obama said. “It passed both houses of Congress. The Supreme Court ruled it constitutional. It was an issue in last year’s election, and the candidate who called for repeal lost. The Republicans in the House have tried to repeal or sabotage it about 40 times. They failed every time. Meanwhile the law has already helped millions of Americans.” The president repeated his warning against “self-inflicted wounds” at the event, which was moved from the Rose Garden to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building because of rain. He proceeded with the event even as a shooting unfolded at a naval office building in Southeast Washington. Mr. Obama was joined onstage by a group of people that White House officials said included “small-business owners, construction workers, homeowners, consumers and tax cut recipients.” The president has struggled for years to balance the desire to claim credit for a slowly improving economy against the need to make sure he acknowledges the pain that many people still feel. At the event on Monday, Mr. Obama recalled how close the country, and the world, came to another depression after the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The Lehman bankruptcy caused the credit markets to seize up, the unemployment rate to sour and economic activity to plummet. Mr. Obama and his allies have for a long time said that the administration’s actions in early 2009, while extremely unpopular, were critical to holding off a worse collapse. Those include the decision to support President George W. Bush’s bailout of Wall Street, Mr. Obama’s own bailout for the auto industry and the passage of the economic stimulus program. But while the unemployment rate has fallen to 7.3 percent — down from a high of 10.1 percent in late 2009 — millions of Americans are still struggling to find a job, and millions more are working at low-wage or part-time jobs and having trouble making ends meet.German police have arrested three Pakistani men who sought asylum in connection to numerous sexual assault complaints at a music festival. They are still looking for numerous other suspects. A spokesperson for the Schlossgrabenfest music festival said 26 women spoke with police about sexual assault. The police then said that 14 reports “involve several women and only after further investigations will it become clear how many of the women were victims of sexual assault.” Three women told the cops the group of men “encircled” them and proceeded to harass and grope the women. All the women described the attackers as men who “appeared to come from south Asia.” One assaulted woman reported a theft, but she did not notice her purse missing until the next day. The police do not know if her attackers took the purse or if someone else did it. Two weeks ago, men of “Turkish descent” sexually assaulted women at a Berlin street fair. Just like at the festival, the men encircled and assaulted their victims. One witness tried to film the incident “when they noticed the men acting in a strange manner toward the women.” Police arrested three men, aged 14 to 17. Other women also reported sexual assault at the fair. Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said the victims “were touched on the private parts by the perpetrators, or surrounded by a group and touched in that way.” The police identified 12 suspects and issued seven arrest warrants. The men come from Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, and Algeria. On New Year’s Eve, migrants turned central Cologne “into a war-zone” when they set off fireworks into a crowd and assaulted the women. At least 500 women reported sexual assaults against men “of North African origin.”A month on from their referendum to join Russia, Crimeans ought to be looking north to the mainland with some satisfaction. Pro-Russia demonstrators in eastern Ukraine occupy government buildings across the region, making demands for Russian protection. Kiev is mobilizing troops to oust them, raising the possibility that Russia will respond with military intervention. But for Crimeans, now safely ensconced in Russia's embrace, all is now good. Right? Well, maybe not. Life on the Black Sea peninsula, for most if not all its residents, has been turned upside down, at least in the short term. Shopkeepers post prices in both Russian rubles and Ukrainian hryvnia, and have to resort to hand calculators to make change. Lawyers and judges complain that the legal system is all but paralyzed. And Crimea’s main economic engine, tourism, is in danger, as the turmoil spooks tour operators and new visa requirements make vacations more of a headache. “The situation seems to be in suspended animation: not to one side, not to another side,” says Anton Zavalii, a doctor at a city hospital who is also studying for his doctoral degree. “Everyone is just waiting for something to happen and no one knows what it will be.” With the business of the referendum out of the way, Moscow and its allies in the unrecognized government now running Crimea quickly turned toward bringing the peninsula into sync with the rest of Russia. They have been sanguine about the transition, insisting that by January 2015 the region will be fully integrated into Russia’s bureaucracies. “Crimea has moved away from politics and is all focused on work now,” Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of Crimea’s parliament, was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying. “We are getting substantial financial aid and all financial questions are being solved.” The realities, however, are proving challenging for the average Crimean. Long lines are appearing outside migration offices, as people rush to get Russian passports. Prices for goods such as meat, gasoline, and sugar have crept up by as much as 30 percent in some places. The transition has also created questions for students and teachers: Will their Ukrainian diplomas be recognized under Russia’s higher educational system? Will teachers need to be re-certified under Russian teaching requirements? At one Simferopol university, political science students joked that they might have to become migrant laborers in Russia or work in a McDonald’s restaurant. Legal limbo More critically, Crimea's legal system has ground to a halt. “There is no law in Crimea right now,” says Yan Akhramovich, a Simferopol lawyer and member of the equivalent of the Ukrainian bar association. “Ukrainian law doesn’t work because we’re now supposed to be part of Russia. Russian law doesn’t work because there are no Ukrainian lawyers here who know Russian law,” he says. “The courts don’t work. The judges can’t work.” The legal limbo afflicting Crimea now is also highlighted by the question of citizenship. Many, if not most, local residents are seeking Russian citizenship; local authorities have opened special departments to handle the crush of demand. For those who want to keep their Ukrainian citizenship, however, authorities have set up a byzantine process and a strict deadline of Apr. 18 to do so. Those who don’t meet the deadline automatically become Russian citizens. Elizaveta Bogutskaya, a Simferopol interior designer who is an ethnic Russian, says that over the past few weeks she’s gone nearly every day to passport and migration offices, trying to clarify the process of how she can retain her Ukrainian passport and citizenship. At one point, Ms. Bogutskaya, who has chronicled her bureaucratic adventures on her Facebook page, submitted an affidavit stating she was refusing Russian citizenship. In return, she received a receipt – absent any signs of authority – asking for her signature to acknowledge she was aware of the "potential legal consequences" of forgoing a Russian passport. “I was born here, I was brought up here, I’ve lived here all my life, and now I’m a foreigner?” she says. “It’s like Alice in the looking glass around here.” Which currency? Even the simplest of daily tasks, handling money, had been thrown into disarray. When Dr. Zavalii’s first university stipend following annexation finally arrived, several days late, he received it not in Ukrainian hryvnia on a debit card as he used to, but by lining up at the university bookkeeper’s office to get a thick stack of crisp, new Russian rubles, untouched by human hands. He started trying to use the rubles around Simferopol. Taxi drivers looked baffled. Grocery store clerks were exasperated. No one knew exactly what to do with a currency that seemed to appear overnight. Bank ATMs around Simferopol work sporadically these days, with many bearing paper signs apologizing for “temporary inconvenience connected with implementing new regulations of the Russian Federation.” At many small shops, prices remain in hryvnia, despite the ruble's official introduction on March 24. At bigger supermarkets, goods display prices in both rubles and hryvnia, but cashiers only make change in hryvnia. And the local economy is further troubled by the lack of a crucial import: tourists. Cruise ship operators are reportedly shunning the historic tourist cities of Yalta and Sevastopol. Russia’s notoriously problematic visa process is also making it harder for tourists. And tourists are less likely to visit a region seized by a country now purported to be instigating insurrections in another part of Ukraine. “There’s no local industry or production here in Crimea. Tourism is overwhelmingly Crimea’s business. And this year it’s totally ruined,” said Said Seitumerov, who runs a restaurant in the historic district of Bakhchisaray, a town located about 20 miles south of Simferopol. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Even for those who boycotted the referendum or outwardly oppose it, there’s a grim reality that the annexation isn’t going to be reversed, and that the task now lies in finding a way to deal with the new system – warts and all. "The best thing you can say right now is at least there hasn’t been a war,” says Alim Azapov, a university student. “It all would be funny if it hadn't been so sad.”It was breakfast time in Yokohama Station, a half-hour by train from Tokyo, and I was having some of the best soba noodles of my life. The chewy buckwheat strands were sublime, the broth deeply savory and piping hot. A fresh-cracked egg floated on top, its yolk a gorgeous sunrise orange. Kisoba Suzuichi, at the station’s west exit, had signage only in Japanese and makes just two things: soba and udon. I’d been wandering around, hazy from jet lag; the first time I passed by, I could smell the fragrant dashi broth from down the block, but it wasn’t yet open. A half-hour later, there was already a line, composed almost entirely of suit-clad salarymen on their way to work. Soon I was happily slurping. My meal cost 340 yen, $3, at 110 yen to the dollar. Though Japan is known for being a nation of meticulously crafted sushi and a sky-high number of Michelin-starred restaurants (Yokohama included), “B-grade gourmet” — code for food that’s fast, cheap and good — is currently all the rage here, with a ton of passionate blogs devoted to the subject. There are even B-grade gourmet food festivals that celebrate different takes on tasty, down-home cooking. Yokohama, the second-largest city in Japan and its historic center of foreign trade, has a cross-cultural history that makes it a particularly rich entry point to sample the range of what B-grade gourmet can be. Recently, I spent a few days combing the city’s waterfront and neighborhood shopping streets, tailing locals on a mission to track down cheap, comforting meals for every hour of the day.Israel is lashing out in the wake of last week's United Nations resolution that demanded the country put an end to settlement activity on occupied Palestinian territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned Israel's U.S. ambassador Sunday for a private meeting, while close allies to the right-wing prime minister claimed that President Barack Obama was secretly behind the resolution—and promised to share "evidence" of Obama's alleged role with president-elect Donald Trump, whose choice for ambassador to Israel signals an extremely pro-Israel stance. "Israel's threat to present 'evidence' on a sitting president, and one of Israel's closest allies, to an incoming presidential team—and to do it so publicly—appears almost unprecedented," the Guardian observed. Netanyahu commented to his cabinet Sunday: "[A]s I told John Kerry on Thursday, friends don't take friends to the Security Council." Israel has also suspended or reduced ties with the 12 countries who voted for the resolution, summoning its ambassadors to China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Angola, Egypt, Japan, Spain, Ukraine, and Uruguay, according to CNN. The country further reduced its ties with New Zealand and Senegal, which both brought the resolution to a vote Friday. The government has also asked officials to refrain from traveling to countries that voted for the resolution. And the country announced a plan late Monday to ramp up its settlement activity in defiance of the resolution, the New York Times reported. Jerusalem is planning "to approve 600 housing units in the predominantly Palestinian eastern section of town on Wednesday in what a top official called a first installment on 5,600 new homes," the Times noted. "Israel is a country with national pride, and we do not turn the other cheek," Netanyahu said about his retaliation, according to the newspaper. "This is a responsible, measured, and vigorous response, the natural response of a healthy people that is making it clear to the nations of the world that what was done at the U.N. is unacceptable to us." SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts Despite the current tensions, Secretary of State John Kerry is planning to announce a "comprehensive vision" for an Israel-Palestine peace accord, an Obama aide told an Israeli TV news station Monday. Bloomberg also reported that "Israel's government is now turning its attention to a conference planned for Jan. 15 in Paris, concerned the international community could seek to impose a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The outlet further noted: According to a senior Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive, the government fears foreign ministers in Paris will draft parameters Israel considers unfavorable, and will seek to impose them through the Security Council before Obama leaves office five days later. "What they're preparing there in Paris is a modern version of the Dreyfus Trial," Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Monday, referencing an infamous 19th-century case in which a French Jewish army officer was imprisoned for treason after a trial marred by anti-Semitism. The difference, he said, is that "this time, the whole people of Israel and the whole State of Israel will be in the guilty dock." Al Jazeera quotes Rami Saleh, a Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC) director, as saying that there is little likelihood the U.N. resolution will be at all respected. "What we are seeing is not new," Saleh told Al Jazeera. "It's a continuation of Israel's policies throughout recent years. Israel does not respect the U.N. and this decision is an extension of its commitment to refuse to abide by international law." "In 2016, we saw the construction of almost 1,600 settler homes in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. This number is four times the number of illegal homes constructed in 2014," Saleh observed.After my post on Open Source Mapping with PHP and MongoDB, I wanted to follow up with a rewrite of our basic instant mapping demo using PostGIS, a full-featured collection of spatial mapping extensions for PostgreSQL. This app also takes advantage of node-restify, LeafLet Maps, and map tiles from Stamen, to visualize the locations of major National Parks and Historic Sites. We have a growing collection of these example mapping applications. If you would like to build a similar application that incorporates your own technology stack, or your own custom collection of map points and spatial data, we may already have a basic demo available as a reference: The source for today’s example is available at: github.com/ryanj/restify-postGIS You’ll be amazed to see how quickly a new PostGIS-powered mapping application can be put together! The Datastore: PostGIS OpenShift’s new postgresql-9.2 cartridge includes support for PostGIS 2.1, providing the most advanced collection of geo-spatial features currently available on the platform. You can add postgres to any existing OpenShift application via the web console, or by running rhc cartridge add postgresql-9.2 APP_NAME from the command line. OpenShift will set up the database and basic permissions for you, returning a fresh set of authentication credentials to your application via environment variables. Bootstrapping the Application I’ve wired up this application’s deploy action_hook to bootstrap our database by running the following during our application’s build process: npm run initdb When npm receives this message, it will check the application’s package.json file for an associated scripts entry. Our app is configured to run bin/bootstrap.js whenever the initdb task is run. It would have been possible to run bin/bootstrap.js directly from our application’s deploy action-hook. But, adding this extra step allows us to take advantage of the automation features available in OpenShift’s build process, while producing code that is less dependent on any particular platform (more portable). There is an excellent post on using npm for task automation over at substack.net. Our bootstrap.js file is tiny, since all of our database functionality has been rolled up into a local module named db.js : var db = require ( './db.js' ) db. initDB ( ) ; The initDB function will automatically enable our PostGIS DB extension, create our table schema, import our map points, and add a spatial index to our data. Let’s take a look inside bin/db.js to see how our pg queries are crafted and called: var config = require ( 'config' ), pg = require ( 'pg-query' ) var pg_config = config. pg_config, table_name = config. table_name ; pg. connectionParameters = pg_config + '/' + table_name ; var points = require ( '../parkcoord.json' ) ; function initDB ( ) { pg ( 'CREATE EXTENSION postgis;', createDBSchema ) ; } function createDBSchema ( err, rows, result ) { if ( err && err. code == "ECONNREFUSED" ) { return console. error ( "DB connection unavailable, see README notes for setup assistance ", err ) ; } var query = "CREATE TABLE " + table_name + " ( gid serial NOT NULL, name character varying(240), the_geom geometry, CONSTRAINT " + table_name + "_pkey PRIMARY KEY (gid), CONSTRAINT enforce_dims_geom CHECK (st_ndims(the_geom) = 2), CONSTRAINT enforce_geotype_geom CHECK (geometrytype(the_geom) = 'POINT'::text OR the_geom IS NULL),CONSTRAINT enforce_srid_geom CHECK (st_srid(the_geom) = 4326) ) WITH ( OIDS=FALSE );" ; pg ( query, addSpatialIndex ) ; } ; function addSpatialIndex ( err, rows, result ) { pg ( "CREATE INDEX " + table_name + "_geom_gist ON " + table_name + " USING gist (the_geom);", importMapPoints ) ; } function importMapPoints ( err, rows, result ) { var query = "Insert into " + table_name + " (name, the_geom) VALUES " + points. map ( mapPinSQL ). join ( "," ) + ';' ; pg ( query, function ( err, rows, result ) { var response = 'Data import completed!' ; return response ; } ) ; } ; function mapPinSQL ( pin ) { var query = '' ; if ( typeof ( pin ) == 'object' ) { query = "('" + pin. Name. replace ( /'/g, "''" ) + "', ST_GeomFromText('POINT(" + pin. pos [ 0 ] + " " + pin. pos [ 1 ] + " )', 4326))" ; } return query ; } ; brianc’s pg-query module makes this code exceedingly simple – Just map your queries to their related callback functions. The application’s map data is loaded from the parkcoord.json file, incorporating the following object structure: { "Name" : "Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park", "pos" : [ - 85.7302, 37.5332 ] } Each point is stored as a pg geometry type in WGS84 format (SRID:4326). PostGIS and Leaflet have support for handling much more complicated queries and geometry types, so you shouldn’t run into too many limitations if you decide to extend or enhance a project based on this general design. Now that our data has been imported and indexed, let’s build our Back-end and create an API endpoint our map’s bounding-box query. The Back-End: restify Restify is a modern, express-styled API microframework for javascript, providing a killer collection of back-end of features for serving up data (in addition to static assets). var config = require ( 'config' ), restify = require ('restify' ), fs = require ( 'fs' ), db = require ( './bin/db.js' ) var app = restify. createServer ( ) app. use ( restify. queryParser ( ) ) app. use ( restify. CORS ( ) ) app. use ( restify. fullResponse ( ) ) // Routes app. get ( '/parks/within', db. selectBox ) ; app. get ( '/parks', db. selectAll ) ; // Static assets app. get ( /\/(css\|js\|img)\/?.*/, restify. serveStatic ( { directory : './static/' } ) ) ; app. get ( '/', function ( req, res, next ) { var data = fs. readFileSync ( __dirname + '/index.html' ) ; res. status ( 200 ) ; res. header ( 'Content-Type', 'text/html' ) ; res. end ( data. toString ( ). replace ( /host:port/g, req. header ( 'Host' ) ) ) ; } ) ; app. listen ( config. port, config. ip, function ( ) { console. log ( "Listening on " + config. ip + ", port " + config. port ) } ) ; The db.selectBox handler for the /parks/within endpoint is also defined in our application’s bin/db.js file: function select_box ( req, res, next ) { //clean our input variables before forming our DB query: var query = req. query ; var limit = ( typeof ( query. limit )!== "undefined" )? query. limit : 40 ; if (! ( Number ( query. lat1 ) && Number ( query. lon1 ) && Number ( query. lat2 ) && Number ( query. lon2 ) && Number ( limit ) ) ) { res. send ( 500, { http_status : 400, error_msg : "this endpoint requires two pair of lat, long coordinates: lat1 lon1 lat2 lon2 a query 'limit' parameter can be optionally specified as well." } ) ; return console. error ( 'could not connect to postgres', err ) ; } pg ( 'SELECT gid,name,ST_X(the_geom) as lon,ST_Y(the_geom) as lat FROM'+ table_name +'t WHERE ST_Intersects( ST_MakeEnvelope(' + query. lon1 + ", " + query. lat1 + ", " + query. lon2 + ", " + query. lat2 + ", 4326), t.the_geom) LIMIT " + limit + ';', function ( err, rows, result ) { if ( err ) { res. send ( 500, { http_status : 500, error_msg : err } ) return console. error ( 'error running query', err ) ; } res. send ( rows ) ; return rows ; } ) } ; With our Back-end work completed, we’re ready to build a simple single-page front-end with help from Leaflet Maps. The Front-End: Leaflet Leaflet makes it really simple to craft our bounding box query, and add the resulting pins to the map. It provides the cleanest developer interface for client-side mapping that I’ve seen. We just need to include a link to Leaflet’s css stylesheet and javascript code in our index.html : <link rel="stylesheet" href="//cdn.leafletjs.com/leaflet-0.5.1/leaflet.css" /> <script src="//cdn.leafletjs.com/leaflet-0.5.1/leaflet.js"></script> We’ll also need to initialize our map view, and include a few event hooks and callbacks for updating our map content whenever our viewport is being loaded or modified. This code includes a tileLayer and attribution for the terrain tiles from Stamen: var map = L. map ('map' ). setView ( [ 37.8, - 122.3 ], 10 ) ; var markerLayerGroup = L. layerGroup ( ). addTo ( map ) ; L. tileLayer ( 'http://{s}.tile.stamen.com/terrain/{z}/{x}/{y}.png', { maxZoom : 18, minZoom : 5, attribution : 'Map tiles by <a href="http://stamen.com">Stamen Design</a>, under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0">CC BY 3.0</a>. Data by <a href="http://openstreetmap.org">OpenStreetMap</a>, under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY SA</a>.' } ). addTo ( map ) ; function getPins ( e ) { bounds = map. getBounds ( ) ; url = "parks/within?lat1=" + bounds. getSouthWest ( ). lat + "&lon1=" + bounds. getSouthWest ( ). lng + "&lat2=" + bounds. getNorthEast ( ). lat + "&lon2=" + bounds. getNorthEast ( ). lng ; $. get ( url, pinTheMap, "json" ) } function pinTheMap ( data ) { //clear the current pins map. removeLayer ( markerLayerGroup ) ; //add the new pins var markerArray = new Array ( data. length ) for ( var i = 0 ; i < data. length ; i ++ ) { park = data [ i ] ; markerArray [ i ] = L. marker ( [ park. lat, park. lon ] ). bindPopup ( park. name ) ; } markerLayerGroup = L. layerGroup ( markerArray ). addTo ( map ) ; } map. on ( 'dragend', getPins ) ; map. on ( 'zoomend', getPins ) ; map. whenReady ( getPins ) ; The dragend and zoomend map events should now fire whenever our map’s viewport is adjusted, sending our screen’s North East and South West bounding coordinates to the application’s back-end. When our Back-end API returns it’s JSON response, we clear the current collection of map pins and then update the map with our new collection of points. Leaflet’s documentation is excellent, and is bound to give you several ideas on how to extend or improve an application of this type. Instant Satisfaction From my experience, successfully building, hosting, and maintaining a production-quality postgres-backed application has always been a major undertaking. Now, in a matter of minutes, it is possible to provision a new pg-backed application with it’s own horizontally scaleable system architecture, and integrated build, development, and deployment workflows. To instantly clone+deploy a copy of this application with the rhc command line tool in a single step, run: rhc app create parks nodejs-0.10 postgresql-9.2 --from-code=https://github.com/ryanj/restify
and Marie Curie University did with one of nature's most fascinating materials: Spider silk. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they report a novel, man-made material that replicates intriguing properties of the stuff spiders use to weave their webs. It acts as both a solid and a liquid, which is as nuts as it sounds. When testing the capture spiral of an orb weaver's web, the researchers found that the silk was quite stretchy, which wasn't surprising. But when they slackened the thread, they found that the silk failed to sag in the middle. It just kept adapting to the new length, remaining taut, as if it was shrinking. [Why more than 30 kinds of spiders engage in ‘bondage’] “We know of materials that behave like this, but these are not solids, they are liquids," Arnaud Antkowiak of the Pierre and Marie Curie University told New Scientist. By coating a plastic filament with tiny droplets of oil, the researchers were able to create a "liquid wire" that exhibited the same behavior — confirming their hypothesis that it was the interaction between the silk fiber's elasticity and the surface tension of the glue droplets that covered it that made this strange material possible. Instead of sagging, the excess thread is actually looped into the tiny droplets, keeping the overall structure taut. In fact, they were able to replicate the mechanism with pretty much any filament/liquid combo they tried. [These spiders glide through the air like Superman] "The thousands of tiny droplets of glue that cover the capture spiral of the spider's orb web do much more than make the silk sticky and catch the fly," study author Fritz Vollrath of the Oxford Silk Group said in a statement. "Surprisingly, each drop packs enough punch in its watery skins to reel in loose bits of thread. And this winching behavior is used to excellent effect to keep the threads tight at all times, as we can all observe and test in the webs in our gardens." These researchers produced liquid wire to confirm their understanding of the mechanism behind spider silk weirdness, but that doesn't mean their artificial version of the stuff won't have applications outside of the lab. After all, spider silk — incredibly thin and strong — is a material that plenty of folks would love to replicate. "Spider silk has been known to be an extraordinary material for around 40 years, but it continues to amaze us," first author Hervé Elettro said in a statement. "While the web is simply a high-tech trap from the spider's point of view, its properties have a huge amount to offer the worlds of materials, engineering and medicine. Our bio-inspired hybrid threads could be manufactured from virtually any components. These new insights could lead to a wide range of applications, such as microfabrication of complex structures, reversible micro-motors or self-tensioned stretchable systems." Read More: Lady spiders demand gifts from their gentleman callers — or else they eat them Sharks’ electricity-sensing organs are even more powerful than we realized With artificial ‘octopus skin,’ robots can bend and stretch while changing color These crazy fast spiders have a bite like a steel trap The ‘beautiful’ science that explains why liquid droplets dance with each other(Newser) – Bryan Gonzalez was working as a Border Patrol agent in New Mexico when he made the fatal mistake of musing to a colleague that legalizing marijuana would end Mexico’s violent drug war. He was fired soon afterwards; his termination letter said he held “personal views that were contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps.” He’s not alone either, the New York Times observes. Law enforcement officials nationwide have been fired for questioning drug laws. Arizona probation officer Joe Miler, for instance, was dismissed after signing a letter supporting the decriminalization of Marijuana from the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “More and more members of the law enforcement community are speaking out against failed drug policies,” says the Arizona ACLU, which has filed a lawsuit for Miller. “They don’t give up their right to share their insight … simply because they receive government paychecks.” There’s reason to believe the lawsuit will succeed; a Washington police sergeant fired in 2005 for supporting decriminalization was awarded an $815,000 settlement. (Read more ACLU stories.)The gold processing plant under construction in Argentina, at Barrick Gold's Pascua-Lama mine site is pictured in this February 2, 2012 handout photo obtained by Reuters July 27, 2012. REUTERS/Barrick/Handout BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp is laying off roughly 1,500 of its approximately 5,000 workers on the Argentine side of its suspended Pascua-Lama gold mine project, a local government spokesman said on Saturday. The Toronto-based miner said in October it was moth-balling the huge project, which straddles the border between Argentina and Chile. However, Barrick (ABX.TO) maintained workers in Argentina's Western San Juan province to perform maintenance tasks and build some infrastructure. "As of 2014 there will be 3,500 workers," Alejandro Flores, the spokesman for the San Juan Mining Ministry, told Reuters. "All the works on the Argentine side have been rescheduled as the company is prioritizing works on the Chilean side. Therefore most people working on site won't be necessary for two years," he added. Chile's environmental regulator suspended the project earlier this year due to "significant" environmental harm, and ordered mitigation measures to avoid water pollution. Pascua-Lama has also been plagued by cost overruns, what experts have called poor management, and lower bullion prices. Before the project's suspension, the Toronto-based miner employed roughly 10,000 people on the Argentine side of the complex. Barrick did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Vicki Allen)Along with his fellow climate-denial zealots in the Trump administration, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appears hell-bent on rolling back virtually every limit on greenhouse gas emissions he can get his hands on. And while the administration’s dismantling of these measures is an environmental setback in the short term, the potential silver lining is that in the long term, the result may be precisely the opposite of what Pruitt & Co. intend. While (quite literally) the rest of the world acknowledges that climate change is (again, literally) an existential threat, Congress continues to ignore the crisis. And now the executive branch is moving aggressively to scrap almost all previous efforts to reduce emissions. Like nature, policy abhors a vacuum, and we have seen some reaction already in the form of increased state regulatory efforts. Virginia is preparing to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the nine-state cap-and-trade system for power plant emissions, for instance, and Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s incoming Democratic governor, has promised to do likewise. But there is another player waiting in the wings to step in to deal with the policy mess the Trump administration has created: the courts. Judges have done this before — think of civil rights, when Washington’s failure to tackle the problem of racial inequality in education led ultimately to Brown v. Board of Education — a sweeping intervention belatedly supplemented by Congress a decade later by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Washington’s climate policy failure may inspire similar a judicial move. Indeed, two new types of cases are beginning to wend their way through the system, both of which have the potential for dramatic impacts extending far beyond the wrangling over the legality of each particular EPA action (or inaction). (The enviros have won the opening rounds in those fights: EPA was judicially shot down after it attempted to declare by fiat that certain Obama-era rules would not go into effect — including a new methane-emissions standard for oil and gas production. But Pruitt has hired Bill Wehrum, who has been busy litigating for industry against the Obama climate measures, as his assistant administrator for air, precisely to oversee their formal rollback. Environmental groups have limited tools to stop that formal process.) The first line of legal attack against the Trump administration Last year a group of children sued the government in federal court in Oregon (Juliana v. United States), claiming that they had a constitutional right to a climate capable of supporting human life, and that the government has a “trustee” responsibility to maintain the atmosphere free of “substantial impairment.” Their goal is to get the government to draft, and then execute, a comprehensive plan to dramatically reduce US emissions using the full panoply of federal authority. The government’s response to the suit was, in part, to describe its “strong” and “substantial” efforts to tackle the problem via various regulatory measures, and to urge the court to therefore “decline Plaintiff’s invitation to short-circuit” this process. But District Court Judge Ann Aiken did not buy it. Refusing to defer to the government (the outcome you might expect), she held that the case could go forward, and in doing so, noted, “Federal courts too often have been cautious and overly deferential in the arena of environmental law, and the world has suffered for it.” This week, Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear argument on that decision. Pruitt has been targeting almost all previous efforts to reduce emissions, including vehicle tailpipe standards and emissions limits at coal- and gas-fired power plants. None of the developments since Judge Aiken’s decision are likely to persuade the Ninth Circuit that she got it wrong. Nor is the Ninth Circuit the only court in which the Trump administration’s climate rollbacks will be an issue. On November 6, Pennsylvania’s Clean Air Council filed a similar case in federal court in Philadelphia (Clean Air Council v. United States), alleging that the government has violated its constitutional duty to maintain a stable climate system, and violated its trust responsibility to preserve natural resources — including the atmosphere. A solid 16 pages of the complaint describe the administration’s war on climate science and its reversal of the Obama administration’s (unfortunately modest) climate efforts. The plaintiffs argue that these actions “increase the clear and present danger of climate change.” Ultimately, of course, the Juliana plaintiffs would have to convince the Supreme Court. And while they’d have a steeply uphill battle if the high court were asked to vote today, the dynamic will change as the climate problems get worse, and as the record grows richer as lower courts review the facts and weigh the legal issues. The constitutional claim that would demand a particular climate policy remains an extreme long shot, but courts have been sympathetic to the view that the government has a “public trust” duty with respect to natural resources. Five years from now, the Juliana plaintiffs might well have a chance of swaying five justices. Meanwhile, suits in state courts seek compensation for the costs of adapting to climate change While Juliana and Clean Air Council seek a serious and comprehensive government regulatory effort, another set of cases seek to effect change by going after a different set of actors: corporations contributing to global warming. Local governments along the California coast have filed five cases under the centuries-old “public nuisance” doctrine. Here, the plaintiffs seek to get the fossil-fuel industry to help pay for the expense of adapting to sea-level rise caused by climate change. Importantly, these nuisance cases are in state court, which means they will likely avoid this Supreme Court, which has zero interest in holding corporations accountable for their environmental externalities. Importantly, at bottom these cases are about property — not complex constitutional jurisprudence or abstruse concepts like the public trust doctrine. Judges are extremely familiar with property; the root of the common law could be summed up as, “You did something that damaged my property and so now you have to pay for it.” If and when those claims reach the California Supreme Court — they are currently locked in jurisdictional wrangling — the Trump administration’s actions will not make those judges any more inclined to leave this issue to the fools in Washington. Thus, ironically, the Trump climate agenda, by making judges sympathetic to arguments that might have seem far-fetched a while ago, may help save the planet after all. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, from a national policy perspective, it will do so in the least efficient way imaginable. Climate policy is no different than most other national issues. The best solution is tailored congressional legislation. The second-best solution is a regulatory program using existing agencies and legal authority. Intervention by the courts isn’t a great way to make policy, but it may be all we’ve got The third-best solution, by far, is leaving this to whichever state and federal judges are randomly assigned to these cases, to rule on the specific claims raised by a given set of plaintiffs against whichever defendants they’ve sued, and awarding whatever relief is appropriate for the particular facts, legal claims, and parties are in their courtroom. (Full disclosure: I’ve written an amicus brief on the public trust doctrine in Juliana, and have been consulting with lawyers working on the nuisance cases.) But that third-best option may be the only avenue now open. Back in 2007, when the Supreme Court held that CO2 was a pollutant that could be regulated under the Clean Air Act, Republicans bemoaned the “regulatory train wreck” that would come from just EPA Clean Air Act regulation. And that was a single agency using its authority under one statute. Trump’s election put that effort on hold, but the day may come when those Republicans wish they could rewind time and accept that train wreck. Consider the range and complexity of the legal attacks on those who refuse to act to ameliorate global warming. Judge Aiken is being asked to order the entire federal government to come up with a plan to phase out fossil fuel use; the Pennsylvania case asks for an order ending the regulatory rollbacks. Two of the California cases assert a single claim in an effort to make five oil companies pay for San Francisco’s and Oakland’s cost of building seawalls and other infrastructure made necessary by to sea level rise, while the other three California cases assert eight separate legal grounds for why some three dozen fossil fuel defendants should not only pay their adaptation costs, but punitive damages as well. Additional local government cases — both in California and elsewhere — are in the works. Each state, and each state’s laws, represents a separate opportunity to establish liability, improving the likelihood of success somewhere. And entire states are contemplating the same sort of cases against the fossil fuel companies that they brought against the tobacco industry. (The suits would analogize the costs of adapting to a changing climate to the increased health care costs that they were forced to bear due to smoking.) In other words, with the government unwilling to deal with climate issues, lots of clever lawyers are busy thinking up new and exciting ways to screw with the fossil fuel companies. There you have it: The Trump administration’s climate policy (for want of a better word), may precipitate a judicial reaction eventually leading to greater restrictions on fossil fuels than anything contemplated under the regulatory program Scott Pruitt inherited. And if that happens, it will achieve this in a far more fragmented, ad hoc, uncoordinated — and thus significantly more expensive — manner than any such regulatory program. Unintended consequences, indeed. David Bookbinder is the chief counsel at the Niskanen Center, a libertarian think tank in Washington, DC. The Big Idea is Vox’s home for smart discussion of the most important issues and ideas in politics, science, and culture — typically by outside contributors. If you have an idea for a piece, pitch us at thebigidea@vox.com.“We are at this moment where states and corporations are trying to restrict so much of what we can do on the internet because we have centralized the internet.” Popcorn Time was a free, open-source application that allowed for streaming of movie and television show torrents. Niv Sardi is an activist and developer based in Argentina, who previously worked on the main fork of Popcorn Time, popcorntime.io. Niv is also the founder of the Butter Project, a spin out project from Popcorn Time. Questions Did the MPAA shut down Popcorn Time? Why did the MPAA allege that Popcorn Time was illegal? What is specific about Torrent that makes it different from other P2P technologies? Why was the decision made to spin Butter out of Popcorn Time? How could Netflix improve by adopting P2P? What are the principles behind your activism? How has working on Popcorn Time affected your worldview? Links Sponsors Hired.com is the job marketplace for software engineers. Go to hired.com/softwareengineeringdaily to get a $600 bonus upon landing a job through Hired. Digital Ocean is the simplest cloud hosting provider. Use promo code SEDAILY for $10 in free credit.Lance Armstrong greeted me at the front door, barefoot, holding a glass of Cabernet. Though we’re neighbors among the rolling hills of Austin, Texas, we’re not especially close. Occasionally we bump into each other around town and talk about politics. We are, in other words, acquaintances. So when he invited me to dinner in mid-August—at my instigation—my plan was to discuss the Olympics and his future in Texas politics. Armstrong insisted he had something important he wanted to tell me in confidence. Since I know Armstrong’s disdain for small talk, I was somewhat taken aback when the world’s top anti-cancer advocate (and seven-time winner of cycling’s premier race, the Tour de France) immediately launched into a diatribe about recent charges in the press—first printed in our local paper, the Austin American-Statesman—that he was the single largest consumer of water in town, with most of his habit (222,900 gallons in June alone) going to maintain the greenery around his three-acre estate. He complained that the paper had invaded his privacy zone by splashing across its front page an aerial photo of his Spanish colonial mansion, all 8,000 square feet of it. “That bothered me, ’cause it’s my home,” he said, offering up tuna-tartare hors d’oeuvres and pouring generously from an uncorked wine bottle. (In collaboration with a friend, Armstrong has his own boutique label.) In Austin, the eco-capital of Texas, residents tend to favor native plants and wildflowers to the sculpted lawns of the Palm Springs variety. So even though I knew Armstrong to be a fierce competitor, I realized that he’d be riled by winning the “water hog” title. Especially when the item was picked up by the newswires and the blogs. “It’s where my kids roll around in the grass,” he told me, “and swim in their pools and throw their footballs and kick their soccer balls.” (His ex-wife, Kristin Armstrong, with whom he has remained quite close since their 2003 divorce, lives only a few miles away, so he spends a lot of time with their children, eight-year-old Luke, and Grace and Bella, their six-year-old twins. Armstrong’s actually one of the best hands-on fathers I’ve ever met.) He told me he considered the photo and the article “an invasion. It bothers you when it runs in The New York Times and every paper across the United States. I was in Santa Barbara for the summer, and it ran in that local paper. I was thinking, Oh my God. But it gets back to politics. I mean, I think from the mind of Texas media they’re already thinking, This guy’s planning something political. And so they’ll look at your voting record, they’ll look at your water bill. If you get into a fight at a bar with a bouncer, they’ll write it.” But surely he hadn’t asked me to dinner to talk about his plumbing. I began to wonder if, instead, he’d wanted to confide in me—as a historian and a journalist—about his purported plans to run for governor. Word had it that he’d been making the public-appearance rounds and setting his sights on 2010. He has Dallas roots and a ranch in Dripping Springs. While many in Texas have pegged Armstrong as a Republican (one of his advisers is Austin’s Mark McKinnon, who has helped burnish the images of both George W. Bush and John McCain), he nonetheless seeks the counsel of John Kerry and has decidedly Democratic leanings. “What about the rumors,” I asked him, “that you’ll run for governor?” He answered slyly, “Down the road, something like that might be possible. Probably in 2014.” My host, who has an interior designer’s eye, gave me a quick tour. He’s created a home that is immense and fluid, with beautiful dark woods and shades of maroon. The spread, while spectacular, has something of a playground feel: wheeled toys are scattered about as if in Legoland. Here and there, the walls are dominated by museum-quality canvases by Ed Ruscha, colorful minimalist pieces bearing concise slogans—pure and direct and in your face, like Armstrong himself. A few years ago, he said, he’d had a chance encounter with the painter whose work he’d been collecting. While dining at Chef Melba’s in Hermosa Beach, California, Armstrong heard an obnoxious voice, with a thick New Jersey accent, coming from the table behind him: “Hey, kid, what are you gonna do for work this summa?!” Armstrong worried that he had a kook on his hands. “I’m talkin’ to you, kid. What are you gonna do?” Armstrong got pissed, he recalled. “I was like … I think this motherfucker’s talkin’ to me. So I wheeled around in my chair. It was fucking Don Rickles. And I started laughing. Anyway, he’s like, ‘Meet my friend Ed.’ “And I go, ‘Hey, Ed. I’m Lance Armstrong.’ And he goes, ‘I’m Ed Ruscha.’ And I’m like, ‘Ed Ruscha?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ It was fucking crazy. My main guy was having dinner with Rickles. I told him about how much [his paintings] Speed Racer and Safe and Effective Medication have meant to me.” We moved out to the back terrace, overlooking the surrounding grounds, the gardens, a designer pool nearby. Like a couple of back-fence neighbors, we pulled up lawn chairs to chew over the local news. Armstrong read aloud a retaliatory letter to the editor—a screed, in fact—that he’d drafted but never sent to the Statesman. I considered this a wise choice. He’d need the support of his hometown newspaper if he’d ever make a run for the statehouse. Furthermore, the editors had consistently promoted his Austin-based anti-cancer efforts, in glowing fashion, for more than a decade; it was best to cut them slack. And the talk, as it always must with Lance Armstrong, turned to cancer. Back in October 1996, after winning two Tour stages, he’d been diagnosed with an aggressive strain of testicular cancer. He had had two surgeries: one to remove a cancerous testicle, another to remove two cancerous lesions on the brain. An additional 8 to 10 golf-ball-size tumors were found in his lungs. He’d been a dead man walking. Seeking the best specialists, some of whom happened to be at Indiana University Medical Center, he underwent a round of B.E.P. chemotherapy (Bleomycin, Etoposide, and Platinol), followed by three rounds of V.I.P. chemotherapy (Ifosfamide, Etoposide, and Platinol). He was only 25 years old and had been given less than a 40 percent chance of survival. Victim Armstrong, however, fought the odds and won, going on to take an unprecedented seven straight cycling crowns. Once a year, now, he does blood tests, his levels normal, though the fears of remission always persist. It’s the same test that women use for pregnancy. “Back in ’96,” Armstrong likes to joke, “I was really, really pregnant!” As I listened to him, my chief worry was that Armstrong’s cancer had returned. Could that be what this dinner was all about? Perhaps he wanted me to be his Boswell, to document his fight going forward. Though he’s among the most focused and tightly wound people I’ve ever encountered (and, paradoxically, one of the most unflaggingly upbeat), he seemed particularly intense that night. His lapis eyes seemed to smolder. He fidgeted with his BlackBerry, a skull emblazoned on its back. His restless hands bespoke surplus energy. (Lance and Kristin often text-message each other XXOO notes.) My heart sank as I considered what he’d gone through: lost testicle, chemo, baldness; the struggles, the titles, then his choice to return to Austin and retire from racing for good. I knew a bit of his history as an advocate for others who shared the disease. He’d started the Lance Armstrong Foundation (L.A.F.) in Austin in 1997, a little mom-and-pop organization. Over time, he understood that survivors were sometimes too afraid, psychologically, to talk about cancer, let alone spread the word. So, in 2003, he created LiveStrong, in effect an anti-cancer brand, designed to raise public awareness, largely through a Web site that could act as a gathering place for fellow survivors. Within a decade Armstrong had helped raise $265 million, his organization hosting bike-race fund-raisers across the country, creating survivorship programs, posting medical resource guides online. Like his friend Bono, Armstrong had redefined celebrity leveraging, becoming a regular 365-days-a-year walking-talking Jerry Lewis Telethon. (In Armstrong’s last appearance on the Forbes Celebrity 100, in 2005, his estimated annual income was $28 million, largely accrued through endorsements and support from companies such as Nike, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Trek Bicycles.) President George W. Bush and Armstrong, right, take a ride on the president’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, August 20, 2005. By Paul Morse/the White House/A.P. Photo. The real breakthrough had come in 2004. Nike came to him with the idea of having people wear plastic yellow LiveStrong wristbands—the color of the jersey worn by each day’s leader of the Tour de France. “I thought it was a terrible idea,” Armstrong told me. “I didn’t think it worked. Seemed like a loser. They were going to give us five million of these bracelets to sell for a dollar. But they also were going to donate a million dollars to kick it off. So I looked at that and went, ‘Sweet. We’ve never had a million-dollar donation. We like that!’ I didn’t know where we were going to store all of these silly yellow bands.” It was his then girlfriend, rocker Sheryl Crow, whom Armstrong now credits with transforming the bracelets into a national anti-cancer symbol (selling 60 million units and counting). “Sheryl was performing on the Today show and started handing them out to kids and people in the audience outside,” he recalled. “She was so popular that they took off.” (Today, Crow, herself a cancer survivor, wears the yellow.) Next, Armstrong’s entire team volunteered to wear them in the Tour de Georgia. Then, during the pre–Tour de France trials, Nike sold them at roadside stands. “Suddenly you started seeing fans wearing them,” Armstrong said. “And then [at] the Olympics in Athens … the track-and-field event happened. Hicham El Guerrouj wore one. Soon we had a lot of support in Hollywood. And I don’t know where people got them. I didn’t ask them to wear them. They just got them. You know, little kids see Hillary Duff, and she has a whole arm full of them, and next thing you know teenagers start wearing them.” (That year John Kerry, a prostate-cancer survivor, wore one on the campaign trail. “I appeared at a huge rally in Sioux City, Iowa, in May ’04,” Kerry told me during the Democratic Convention, in Denver, a week after my dinner with Armstrong. “A woman grabbed me in the rope line and told me a tragic story of her sister’s fight against cancer. She handed me a bracelet and I put it on.… It was terrific to remind people that we’re not doing enough on the cancer front. We’re way, way behind. I didn’t care if some Republicans thought it was silly.”) In 2007 Armstrong and L.A.F. got behind a pivotal state initiative, Proposition 15, under the tagline, “Texas Holds the Cure.” Largely spearheaded by former executive director of the Texas Chamber of Commerce Cathy Bonner (who had watched her close friend, ex-governor Ann Richards, die from esophageal cancer), the bill appropriates up to $3 billion through general-revenue bonds to support the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas—the largest such state investment ever. The first time I had seriously imagined Armstrong as a politician was last May, when he’d appeared before a Senate committee assessing how America battles cancer. He was as electric as C-span gets. And his message couldn’t have been clearer. This year, 560,000 Americans will die from cancer, he said (close to the human loss suffered in the entire Civil War). The epidemic claims more than 1,500 citizens a day. Put another way, 1.4 million Americans this year will have a doctor tell them, “You have cancer.” More Americans have cancer right now than the populations of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska combined. As we sat in our terrace chairs overlooking the manicured vista, Armstrong nervously fingered the yellow band on his wrist. He insisted he had something on his mind. “Something huge,” as he put it. I braced for the worst. Then, in almost robotic fashion, he said, “I’m going back to professional cycling. I’m going to try and win an eighth Tour de France.” For a moment I gaped at him. Was I being punked? (Armstrong would later tell Doug Ulman, the president and C.E.O. of L.A.F., that my eyes bulged into saucers, like some boinged-out character in a Ralph Steadman illustration.) As the news sank in, though, I realized he was deadly serious. I knew from Armstrong’s memoir, It’s Not About the Bike, that his VO2 max (the gauge by which the human body’s capacity to transport and use oxygen is measured) is superhuman, his ship-sail lungs uncommonly efficient. But at age 37? A 2,000-mile, 23-day race, much of it uphill? By next July? I asked him, rather ungraciously, if he wasn’t too old to get back into shape that quickly. He laughed. And he was off and running. “Look at the Olympics. You have a swimmer like Dara Torres. Even in the 50-meter event [freestyle], the 41-year-old mother proved you can do it. The woman who won the marathon [Constantina Tomescu-Dita, of Romania] was 38. Older athletes are performing very well. Ask serious sports physiologists and they’ll tell you age is a wives’ tale. Athletes at 30, 35 mentally get tired. They’ve done their sport for 20, 25 years and they’re like, I’ve had enough. But there’s no evidence to support that when you’re 38 you’re any slower than when you were 32. “Ultimately, I’m the guy that gets up. I mean, I get up out of bed a little slow. I mean, I’m not going to lie. I mean, my back gets tired quicker than it used to and I get out of bed a little slower than I used to. But when I’m going, when I’m on the bike—I feel just as good as I did before.” I wasn’t totally buying it. “Are you really 100 percent going to race in the Tour de France?” “One hundred percent!” he replied. “One hundred percent!” Over filet-mignon dinner in his library, I realized anew that there is an unhinged directness about Armstrong that is refreshing. No slack, no waste. Just raw essence. He speaks like an old wire-service ticker. And as I listened I gathered that he had two main hurdles in this wild new race—beyond his physical prowess, his age, his health. First, he couldn’t just cruise up to the starting line; he would need the approval of the Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.), the governing body that oversees the Tour. Second, two words would now dominate his vocabulary: “transparency” and “authenticity.” Nobody would be able to call him a “doper” this time around, no matter how circumstantial or bogus the evidence. Like Carlos Sastre, who won the Tour this past July, Armstrong assured me that he would do whatever it took to become a contender—random blood samples and parameter readings—to prove he was a clean rider. In fact, he said, he’d hired a video crew, which was starting to chronicle his journey to the Tour, including his tests, for a possible future documentary. Every morning, Armstrong explained, he was up at 5:30 training: riding his bike through the Hill Country, lifting weights, sizing up the European competition, jogging for ungodly miles around Lady Bird Lake. He had hired former pro triathlete Peter Park—a Santa Barbara strength and conditioning coach who owns two California gyms—to whip him into shape. His main cycling coach of nearly 20 years, Chris Carmichael, had now picked up the pace. Meanwhile, Johan Bruyneel, his “directeur sportif,” would run and manage his team, developing comprehensive tactics for winning the Tour. What’s more, he said, this was, first and foremost, about cancer. Whatever personal or athletic demons he was taking on, he would use his return to cycling as a way to spread his message. By dessert his decision made perfect sense to me. After turning a death sentence into seven yellow jerseys and a national anti-cancer mission, he was cranking it up a notch, to the world stage. Playing Cassandra, I asked him, pointedly, “What if you fall off your bike?” He simply flashed me the Look, as Sports Illustrated has called it, a blowtorch stare of cobalt blue. While the Look is meant to unnerve any recipient, which it does, that night it seemed the clearest window into Armstrong’s psyche. Here was the resolve that had beaten back cancer more assuredly than chemo. Here was the piercing glare that turned the tables: you need to be better informed about this disease. Suddenly, I felt like a philistine for having bare wrists. As I drove home after dinner, the clouds in the Austin sky were inflamed by dry lightning. Only a fool, I thought, would doubt Lance Armstrong’s determination to win the Tour de France—arguably sport’s most grueling event—yet again. Early the next morning I phoned him. I asked him to consider giving me his first “comeback” interview, for Vanity Fair. Perhaps I would even cover the backstory, in book form. On both accounts he seemed cautiously pleased; my guess is that he’d been scheming for this outcome all along. As we talked, I understood the stakes. As the P.R. drumbeat picked up over the coming months, the exposure for LiveStrong, and the sales of those wristbands, would surely balloon. Unfortunately, Armstrong told me that any interview would have to wait. With a private plane always at his disposal, he was headed to purchase a home in downtown Aspen, his new headquarters as he began training at high altitudes in conditions simulating the Alps and Pyrenees. From Colorado, he would be on to Philadelphia to participate in a LiveStrong Challenge ride and run. But we quickly arranged a follow-up meeting, back in Austin. When I arrived at his house the next Sunday, however, I encountered a surreal scene out of When We Were Kings—part reality show, part Entourage. I’m still not sure which. Upon entering the compound I was greeted by a small film crew, camera rolling. In cinéma vérité fashion, they were already starting to document Armstrong’s road to the Eiffel Tower, and I had unwittingly become part of the narrative. Joining us for dinner was Team Armstrong: L.A.F.’s Doug Ulman, agent Bill Stapleton, L.A.F. executive Morgan Binswanger, business manager Bart Knaggs, and media consultant Mark McKinnon. Quite clearly, I’d flown right into the spiderweb. Not that I was too surprised. Earlier that afternoon, while reading up on my neighbor, I’d stumbled upon an old CNN clip, which quoted a top cycling journalist: “Armstrong is wary at the best of times, keeping tabs on everyone who keeps tabs on him. I soon came to find out that reporting on Armstrong meant that he was also reporting on you.” After a few minutes, I bristled and asked the crew to turn off the cameras. Then I threw a wrench into the works. “What if you fall off your bike?” I asked, as I had at our dinner, figuring someone had to be the garden-party skunk. “What if you lose?” A chorus of rattlesnake hisses came my way. It was clear that I wasn’t of their ilk. My naked wrists were noticeable. “I can’t believe you asked that,” said a disappointed Stapleton, deflated. “We don’t go there.” A cardinal rule of Team Armstrong is never to contemplate failure. When the subject is cancer—Ulman is also a survivor—failure is not an option. Winning is far less important than not losing. By the end of the evening, however, they had agreed to cooperate with a story. And an eager Armstrong wanted to have me start the very next day. In the morning, I stopped at the sleek L.A.F. headquarters, near downtown Austin. “We’re looking for a president who’ll provide leadership on the cancer front,” Ulman explained, ladling out strong doses of LiveStrong Kool-Aid. “Twelve months from now, if we’ve done our job, the new president will appoint people to lead this war on cancer. And we’ll be holding them accountable for what they agree to do. We need transformative change. Cancer needs a Cabinet-level position or a cancer czar.” Having spent the morning at the foundation, I arrived for my 11:00 am interview, chez Armstrong, 18 minutes late. Lance greeted me at the door, slightly miffed. Punctuality is hugely important to him. As we settled into the library, I asked him whose advice he had sought as he came to his decision. Three weeks before, he said, among the first two people he brought into the loop were the key women in his life: his mother, Linda Armstrong Kelly (who gave birth to him in Plano, Texas, as a 17-year-old single mother), and his ex-wife, Kristin, a devout Catholic. “I definitely tell my mom
like that in prison, officials are going after those that have been attempting to expose the horrors of the abortion industry. In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress released undercover video after undercover video which proved that Planned Parenthood is chopping up aborted babies and selling off their organs and body parts to the highest bidder. Since that time, nobody from Planned Parenthood has been prosecuted that I know of, but authorities sure did go after the people that made the undercover videos. Fortunately, justice prevailed in this case, and the last charges against them have finally been dropped… The last remaining charge against two California pro-life activists has been dropped. A Texas judge dismissed the tampering with government records charge against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who made undercover videos allegedly implicating Planned Parenthood officials in arranging the illegal sale of fetal tissue to researchers for profit. Prosecutors claimed Daleiden and Merritt used fake driver’s licenses to hide their identities when dealing with Planned Parenthood. But this just shows how sick our society is. Once those undercover videos came out, every Planned Parenthood clinic in the entire country should have been shut down and a whole bunch of their executives should have been prosecuted. Instead, the country as a whole just yawned and we just continued with business as usual. And today, the Democrats nominated for president a woman that has made “abortion rights” one of the pillars of her long political career. Hillary Clinton’s hands are drenched in the blood of unborn children, but we aren’t supposed to mention that these days because it isn’t “polite” to do so. This is a woman that has even admitted that an unborn baby is a “person”, but she insists that an “unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights”… Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today that “the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights.” Clinton made the statement in response to a question from “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. Clinton also said that an unborn child’s constitutional rights are “not something that exists.” Sadly, most of us believe the mainstream media when they tell us that voting for Hillary Clinton is a perfectly legitimate choice. No it isn’t. Any American that casts a vote for Hillary Clinton is committing an unadulterated act of wickedness. But of course Donald Trump is not exactly a champion of the pro-life movement either. Just consider his acceptance speech the other night. It was the longest acceptance speech in history, and yet there wasn’t a single word in there about abortion. Not one single word. He was once very strongly “pro-choice”, but now he says that he is “pro-life”. However, that doesn’t mean that he intends to change any laws. In fact, earlier this year he made his intentions very clear to CBS News… Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told CBS News this week following controversy over his remarks about abortion that “at this moment, the laws are set, and I think we have to leave it that way.” And Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Planned Parenthood and has publicly stated that it “has done very good work for many, many — for millions of women“. I know that a lot of conservatives out there are very supportive of Donald Trump these days, but he is dead wrong about this issue. As long as we continue the mass killing of the unborn in this country, it isn’t going to matter who is running this nation. Every time we murder another child, we curse ourselves, and I don’t know if there are words to describe how evil we have become. If we were to immediately renounce our evil and stop murdering babies, perhaps we would have a chance of turning things around. But if we continue on the same path that we are currently on, then we are going to deserve every ounce of what is about to happen to us.Story highlights Eric Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, endorsed Hillary Clinton on Thursday Garner was killed in 2014 during an altercation with police that was caught on video Vinton, Iowa (CNN) Eric Garner's mother, Gwen Carr, endorsed Hillary Clinton on Thursday in an email to campaign supporters, labeling Clinton the "only candidate right now who's talking about how we can be strategic in trying to" address police brutality. Carr joins a host of mothers whose children were killed in incidents with law enforcement and are part of a broader campaign strategy to solidify African-American voters who are pushing for an end to police brutality. Garner was killed in 2014 during an altercation with police that was caught on video and shows an officer grabbing the 350-pound man from behind and putting him in a chokehold. "I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Garner said repeatedly. He later died at a local hospital. Garner was initially confronted for selling illegal cigarettes "Along with too many others, Eric's death has forced our country to confront the effects of police brutality. We've got to do something about the violence in our communities -- especially gun violence -- and the racial and economic injustice that's connected to it," Carr write. "Hillary seems to be the only candidate right now who's talking about how we can be strategic in trying to solve this problem. That's why I'm endorsing her for president." Read MoreTesla Awards and Accolades, a Look Back Looking ahead into 2015, a big question remains: how will the Tesla Model X be received. Tesla’s 2014 Shareholder Letter confirmed that it had received “almost 20,000 reservations for Model X.” A good sign for sure, but, is there any other predictor that may help us forecast? If history is our best teacher, it’s likely that the Model X, a car that will greatly benefit from all the key lessons learned from the Model S, may be poised for some upcoming praise. Although Tesla Motors does no advertising at all, it is heavily covered in the press. And, since launching in 2012, the Tesla Model S has accumulated an astounding number of awards and accolades. In fact, there are so many that we can’t list them all. So we decided to highlight our favorites over the past three years in an easy-to-digest infographic. Looking back, the Tesla Model S took the automotive world by storm soon after it launched by winning the car-equivalent to the “Academy Awards,” the Motor Trend Car of the Year award (in Motor Trend’s first-ever unanimous vote). The magazine gushed that the Model S “drives like a sports car, eager and agile and instantly responsive. But it's also as smoothly effortless as a Rolls-Royce, can carry almost as much stuff as a Chevy Equinox, and is more efficient than a Toyota Prius. Oh, and it'll sashay up to the valet at a luxury hotel like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk.” Of course, Consumer Reports also remains a great “litmus test” as it’s a tough car critic that doesn’t take any advertising. What was their take on the Model S? In 2013, Consumer Reports named the Tesla Model S the Best Car Ever Tested with an overall rating was 99/100. And, in 2014, Consumer Reports awarded the Model S with the Most Loved Car Award. Already in 2015, Consumer Reports named Tesla Motors #1 for service and repairs. We’re sure there is more to come. But we think a simple look back, demonstrated in this infographic, proves that Tesla Motors is truly poised for imminent success in the future. Next → ← PreviousIn computer science and mathematics, a full employment theorem is a theorem which states that no algorithm can optimally perform a particular task done by some class of professionals. The name arises because such a theorem ensures that there is endless scope to keep discovering new techniques to improve the way at least some specific task is done. For example, the full employment theorem for compiler writers states that there is no such thing as a provably perfect size-optimizing compiler, as such a proof for the compiler would have to detect non-terminating computations and reduce them to a one-instruction infinite loop. Thus, the existence of a provably perfect size-optimizing compiler would imply a solution to the halting problem, which cannot exist, making the proof itself an undecidable problem. This also implies that there may always be a better compiler since the proof that one has the best compiler cannot exist. Therefore, compiler writers will always be able to speculate that they have something to improve. Similarly, Gödel's incompleteness theorems have been called full employment theorems for mathematicians. In theoretical computer science this field of study is known as Kolmogorov complexity, or the smallest program which outputs a given string. Tasks such as virus writing and detection, and spam filtering and filter-breaking are also subject to Rice's theorem. Additional examples [ edit ] No free lunch in search and optimization - no efficient general-purpose solver can exist, and hence there will always be some particular problem whose best known solution might be improved.Holding the banking inquiry in year five of this Government means a lot of relevant information is coming to light too late. Nonetheless, testimony in recent weeks points to big lessons we can and must still learn. The challenge is overcoming our own political Catch 22. And the public nature of the inquiry might just be the thing to do it. In his famous book, Joseph Heller describes a logical bind – the fictional World War II airmen of the 256th squadron could be excused from flying deadly missions if they were deemed to be crazy. But the very act of seeking to be excused from flying was taken as proof of sanity – and so back into danger they went. Recent evidence at the banking inquiry highlights weaknesses in our political system that led to the crash. Our Catch 22 is that these same weaknesses make it difficult to implement the required changes in the first place. Had a banking inquiry been set up in 2011, benefits might have accrued in at least three important areas. First, the role of the ECB could have been explored. Did it force the guarantee? Did it apply inappropriate pressure to pay bondholders? Did it exceed its legal mandate? Any evidence would have greatly strengthened Ireland’s case for burden sharing. Instead, the bondholders have now been paid in full and the 2012 ‘seismic shift’ on retrospective recapitalisation is a faded memory. Second, poor lending practices could have been investigated. Evidence would have backed up calls for an approach to the mortgage crisis that properly balanced the needs of borrowers and lenders. Instead we got Fine Gael/Labour’s hands-off approach consigning hundreds of thousands of men, women and children to unnecessary hardship. Third, the importance of more open government, coupled with a strong parliament to balance the power of cabinet, could have been clearly demonstrated. This might have been a catalyst for meaningful reform, in line with the ‘democratic revolution’ we were promised. Instead, secrecy and a further weakening of parliament have become the norm. One prominent manifestation of this culture is the fiasco of Irish Water. Not setting up the banking inquiry in 2011 is an example of our political Catch 22 – a weak parliament failed to stand up to a cabinet acting against the best interests of the country. The political calculation was to haul the ghosts of Fianna Fail past back into the public arena a few months before the next election. It’s probably worked at a political level – Brian Cowen, Bertie Ahern and many more have been across our TV screens again, and we have been reminded of the damage done. But the cabinet acting like this means important information is being discussed several years too late. A weak political system reinforces its own weakness. So how do we overcome this bind? Much of the potential benefit relating to the ECB and the mortgage crisis is simply gone. And we’re not going to see any serious political reform in this Dail. But there are at least some big themes emerging from the inquiry that should point us to the sort of changes that must be pursued. One such theme is the need for a stronger parliament. The plan was to remind everyone of the failures of Fianna Fail – but last week something else happened too. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny appeared before the inquiry, to answer for his time as leader of the Opposition during the bubble. It turned out not to be the cakewalk that had been anticipated. Fine Gael’s role, in opposition, should have been to call out the danger of what Fianna Fail was doing – but they did not. In fact, they tried to out-Fianna Fail them, promising bigger tax cuts and higher spending increases. The Taoiseach pointed out that the ability of the Opposition, and parliament more generally, to hold the Fianna Fail cabinet to account was hampered by a culture where deals were done in secret and necessary budgetary information was withheld. This culture has not improved under Fine Gael/Labour, with many concluding that it’s actually become worse. However, the public seem to have had enough, and are demanding that the Irish parliament play a stronger role, and act more responsibly in that role. In fact, such is the appetite for this that it was widely agreed Enda Kenny actually came out of the inquiry worse off than Brian Cowen. A related theme is the need for more open and transparent government. The inquiry members have spent many hours piecing together various events relating to the bank guarantee. Who was in and around the Department of Finance doling out advice? What bankers said what to which government ministers? What was, or was not, discussed on the golf course? These questions have been asked before, but the nature of the public hearings is really driving home the culture of secrecy and access for special interests. Again, it’s hard to see how this culture has changed under Fine Gael/Labour. In this Dail, we’ve already got several commissions of investigation looking into this Government, be it on sending civil servants to Garda Commissioners in the middle of the night, or the sale of IBRC assets. Late Thursday evening at the banking inquiry, evidence by former IBRC Chief Executive Mike Aynsley contained the latest grenade. He declared that a Department of Finance official told IBRC of a desire that a ‘named Irish business person’ was not to be sold further assets. Mr Aynsley further alleged that the official accepted it would be acceptable to sell such a future asset for €100m less than could be got for it in order to keep such an asset away from this business person. This is not how you run a modern government. A third theme emerging from the inquiry concerns the danger of short-termist fiscal management. The inquiry team have spent a good deal of time looking into the sorts of budgetary decisions that led to such an unstable tax base. This message has come from many sources over the past few years, but hearing it in the specific context of the economic collapse is particularly powerful. This Government has widened the tax base, but as we approach the pre-election Budget, it’s clear that tax breaks are back on the table, targeting potential Fine Gael voters. And yet, from outside Leinster House there are growing calls for a national conversation on fiscal priorities – people are becoming wary of the usual auction politics. With the rest of Leinster House shut down, the banking inquiry is gaining attention. While much of the potential benefit was squandered by holding it so long after the event, significant benefit could still be realised when it comes to modernising how the country is run. Our political system is unlikely to simply fix itself, largely due to the very weaknesses in it – a culture of secrecy and a parliament that doesn’t balance the power of the cabinet. However, the public nature of the inquiry hearings might just be acting as a catalyst for growing public demand for meaningful change – and that might just be enough to kick-start a programme for change that the political system simply doesn’t appear capable of doing on its own. We’ll see.NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cathy O’Neil, the organizer of the Occupy Wall Street alternative bank group, likes to call herself a “math nerd,” who is looking to do something meaningful with her academic training. The former Barnard College math professor and former quantitative hedge fund analyst is the guiding force behind a group that is trying to keep OWS a relevant movement now that last year’s protests in lower Manhattan over income inequality are something of a distant memory. It is one reason the 40-year-old mother of three young boys got involved with OWS, around the time the protest movement was just gathering steam in August 2011. “We want to make public comments and we want to continue to be heard,” said O’Neil in an interview with Reuters TV for the Reuters Global Investment 2013 Outlook Summit. “That is our thing.” For about a year now, O’Neil and two dozen other people - many of them former Wall Street types like herself - gather every Sunday in a Columbia University classroom to talk about how to keep the pressure on elected officials in Washington, D.C., to make the financial system more accountable and transparent. Quite often, the OWS bank group’s members disagree among themselves about how to regulate the financial system. At one Sunday meeting earlier this year, the group got into a heated yet wonky debate over how money is created and whether bank lending should require implicit approval of Congress. But the group has found enough common ground to help write recommendations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on how to protect money market fund investors and submit legal briefs on pending regulatory actions against Wall Street banks. The group also is in the process of putting together brochures that explain how the banking system works in plain English for average citizens. Now the OWS bank group is gearing up to lobby elected officials to refrain from making cuts in Social Security and Medicare simply in response from Wall Street pressure to reduce the federal deficit. O’Neil says she is concerned that Obama might pick Erskine Bowles as Treasury Secretary, saying the co-author of the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan is too committed to cuts that could hurt average people. “There are a lot of magical numbers that are going on around Social Security and Medicare that says we can’t afford it so we have to cut it,” said O’Neil. “But we want to see the numbers. That is what the 99 percent want.” The 99 percent, of course, is reference to the OWS rallying cry that too much of the financial benefits in the United States go to the top 1 percent of income earners. Then again, O’Neil knows the 1 percent well, having worked for two years at D.E Shaw & Co., a $27 billion hedge fund and investment firm that specializes in using mathematical formulas and computer programs to do its trading. O’Neil was at the hedge fund during the same time as Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary and former economic advisor to President Obama, who earned about $5 million in compensation. O’Neil left the hedge fund, in part, because she was disillusioned with finance. More recently, she left a data science job with an online commerce company and is looking to write a book that will demystify math and finance. In her quest to make something meaningful of her Ph.D in math, she taught this summer at a math camp at Hampshire College in Massachusetts for high school students. It was the same math camp that O’Neil went to as a teenager, when she described herself as a “chubby math nerd with coke-bottle glasses.” O’Neil said one reason she went back to math camp as a counselor was to inspire young students interested in math to do more than simply teach, work on Wall Street or go into data science - all of which she has done. “I would love there to be a fourth alternative,” said O’Neill, “where they can engage in the world and do something they can be proud of. That’s not necessarily easy to find.” To see the Reuters TV interview with O'Neil, click here: link.reuters.com/qyz24t Follow Reuters Summits on Twitter @Reuters_SummitsEpaminondas Korkoneas is accused of murdering a 15-year-old schoolboy The mother of Alexandros Grigoropoulos - the Greek schoolboy shot dead in 2008 - has called the policeman who fired the fatal bullet a "monster". Tzina Tsalikian told a court that Epaminondas Korkoneas deliberately shot her 15-year-old son, who had as much value to them "as a cockroach". Mr Korkoneas, 38, denies murder and his colleague Vassilis Saraliotis, 32, denies complicity. The shooting sparked weeks of riots across Greece. The trial was moved from Athens to Amfissa - a small town 200km (120 miles) west of the capital - to deter attacks by anarchist groups which have vowed to kill the two defendants. The fatal shooting precipitated the worst riots in Greece's recent history, and led to a loss of national confidence in the police as an institution. Forensic evidence Speaking at the trial in her first public comments since the shooting, Mrs Tsalikian said both defendants were "monsters in the guise of men". I don't accept liability for anyone's death Epaminondas Korkoneas She described her son as "a quiet child who trusted the police". There is no dispute that Mr Korkoneas fired the shot that fatally pierced the schoolboy's heart in December 2008. The prosecution says the policeman aimed directly at the boy, but the veteran police officer argues he had responded to youths throwing objects at his squad car by firing a warning shot which ricocheted fatally. "I don't accept liability for anyone's death," he told the court on Friday. The key forensic evidence will be the ballistic tests on the bullet, says the BBC's Greece correspondent Malcolm Brabant. Important testimony is expected to come from the teenager's friends who were with him in the rebellious Athenian district of Exarchia when the shooting took place, our correspondent adds. The boy's family have been hurt by accusations made shortly after his death that Alexandros was a troublemaker. Passage of justice Both the boy's family and the main police union have objected to the trial taking place so far from Athens. The family believes the distance will make it difficult for key witnesses to attend. The police union regards the move as an insult that implies officers could not guarantee security in the Greek capital. The 2008 riots raged for more than two weeks The Greek police union believes the trial is a vital process in rebuilding trust between civilians and the force. Union president Christos Fotopoulos said society had to be convinced that there had been a fair passage of justice. "If the public believes there is a fair and proper trial, and the defendants receive proper justice, then this will improve relations between the police and society," he told the BBC. The restricted number of access roads into Amfissa has given the authorities a chance to prevent large numbers of potential rioters from getting through. But shopkeepers in the town have pulled down the shutters in fear that they will bear the brunt of anti-establishment wrath. The trial, which was adjourned after several hours of testimony and is set to resume next week, is expected to last several months. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionEgyptian police have arrested dozens of Uyghur students in Cairo and Alexandria over the last week, amid the government’s plan to deport them to China, where the students believe that they will be arrested by state authorities on accusations of belonging to terrorist groups. The students are either conducting Islamic studies at schools affiliated with Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top Islamic religious institution, or waiting for their application to be accepted. Police have conducted raids on the houses where Uyghur students were residing, arrested them from streets and apprehended and detained some of them at Alexandria’s Burg al-Arab Airport as they were travelling out of Egypt, one Uyghur student who fled his home out of fear of arrest told Mada Masr. The Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking ethnic minority living in a contested northwest region of China, which the Chinese state refers to as the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Making up half the region’s population, Uyghurs see the region as their homeland and refer to it as East Turkestan, calling for its independence from China. The Chinese government has blamed the East Turkestan Islamic Movement for violent incidents in Xinjiang and outside of China. Ibrahim, who just graduated from Al-Azhar’s Institute of Islamic Missions and hopes to join Al-Azhar University, told Mada Masr that the arrests started a week ago, on Friday, and have continued throughout the week. The raids targeted houses of Uyghur students and an Uyghur professor residing in Egypt — who was not arrested, according to Ibrahim — and a restaurant popular with the Uyghur community in Eastern Cairo’s al-Hai al-Sabea district, where many Uyghur students reside. Ibrahim said after they heard news of the arrests fear spread through the community, and many attempted to leave the country, including his roommate, whom he said was arrested in Borg al-Arab airport in Alexandria along with 28 others on Wednesday night as they tried to board a plane to Dubai. A fourth-year Uyghur student at the faculty of Islamic and Arab Studies at Al-Azhar who refused to disclose his name said he was able to reach Turkey on Wednesday night, along with 60 other Uyghurs who had been residing Egypt. He confirmed that about 30 Uyghurs were arrested in Borg al-Arab, saying his colleague was among those arrested and contacted him afterward. He also added that students who had no family or contacts in countries like Turkey have nowhere to go. Ibrahim, who fled his house fearing arrest, said the students have resident visas, and those applying for student status have tourist visas. He expressed doubt that the majority of those arrested had any issues with their visas. The university student added that those who were arrested at the airport had valid visas and flight tickets. He says he is not sure why some were able to board their flights and others were halted. Both students said the wave of arrests was at the behest of an agreement between Chinese and Egyptian authorities to deport Uyghur students to China. Ibrahim says the Chinese authorities have accused students studying Islam in Egypt of communicating with or joining separatist Jihadist groups in Afghanistan and Syria, an accusation Ibrahim denies, as does the fourth-year student, who told Mada Masr the Chinese government makes such accusations without any proof. The Chinese government jails those who go back to Xinjiang for periods that range between 7 and 10 years, he says. Three weeks ago, an agreement was signed between Egypt’s Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar and China’s Vice Minister of Public Security Chen Zhimin, that “covers a number of specialized security fields.” The officials discussed security developments at the local and regional levels and the impact of regional conflicts in the region on the spread of terrorism and extremist ideologies,” according to a statement by the Egyptian government. Abdulveli Ayup, an Uyghur rights activist and Uyghur language scholar based in Turkey, told Mada Masr that the Chinese government contacted students studying in Al-Azhar in 2016 to inform them to come back to Xinjiang. Thirty students responded and were arrested upon their return, which prompted others to stay in Egypt. Ayup, who is currently coordinating with Uyghur students in Egypt trying to travel to Turkey, said the request was repeated this April, and that the students were told that if they didn’t come back the government would arrest their parents. Ibrahim told Mada Masr that he knows students whose parents said that they had been threatened with arrest by local authorities in Xinjiang if their sons refused to come back. Ayup, who said he contacted Uyghur students who have been arrested in Egypt, said he had been told that about 70 students had been arrested as of Thursday, of which he has a list of 46 names, which Mada Masr has acquired. Ibrahim and the other Al-Azhar student Mada Masr talked to estimated that at least 100 students have been arrested based on reports they have heard from fellow colleagues. Other than the Uyghur students who have been arrested at Borg al-Arab, both students said they do not know where the rest were detained, but reports circulated on news websites and social media assert that students are being detained in two Nasr City police stations. Mohab Said, a lawyer at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, told Mada Masr that what the Egyptian government is doing is illegal, explaining that it is refusing to give any information about the students’ whereabouts. Said said the group’s lawyers asked about the arrested Uyghur students in Nasr City police stations and at the Borg al-Arab Airport but were not given any confirmation they were being held there. He added that, since the students face persecution upon their return to China, even if the Egyptian government decided “all of a sudden that the residency of the arrested Uyghurs had problems and decided to deport them, it must get in touch with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.” Whether the residencies of the students being detained are valid, according to Said, it is illegal to deport them under the current circumstances. The Chinese government banned veils and “abnormal” beards in the region earlier this year, in what human rights groups described as an attack against religious freedoms. Tensions arising from similar restrictions have spiraled into violence before. Human rights groups have said the Uyghur population in China faces arrests, torture and sometimes executions for accusations of belonging to terrorist groups. However, several public attacks in China were attributed to Uyghur extremists. Beijing considers Chinese Uyghur separatists from the East Turkestan independence movements as terrorists. Other than government-led discrimination, Uyghurs have objected against what many say is discrimination at the hands of the Chinese Han majority, tensions which have occasionally turned violent. East Turkestan was briefly declared an independent state in 1949, before Xinjiang was declared a part of Communist China by the People’s Republic of China in the same year. This name has been changed to safeguard the student’s identity.In his first extended interview since he became dean of the Saint Louis University School of Law, Tom Keefe made it clear that he wasn’t about to change to suit anyone, including the university’s president, the Rev. Lawrence Biondi. “I don’t like coats, ties and authority. I don’t do well taking orders,” Keefe said. Here are excerpts from the full story, available to Missouri Lawyers Weekly subscribers. On his independence from Biondi: At a Jesuit university with a history of clamping down on employees who make statements in opposition to Catholic teachings, Keefe is an outspoken Democrat, prone to quotable zingers and uncensored insights. So when he made it clear that he was thrilled about U.S. Rep. Todd Akin’s troubles for statements about abortion, Keefe wasn’t worried who knew. “Does that sound like somebody who is Father Biondi’s butt boy?” he asked. During a nearly two-hour interview with Missouri Lawyers Weekly, the terms “butt boy,” “trained monkey” and “yes man” cropped up many times as examples of what Keefe said he has been called and what he adamantly says he is not. “[Biondi] can’t afford me. … I get to make way too much money lawyering to be his trained monkey. He doesn’t have enough money to do that, and he doesn’t want to.” “I’m an important alumni. I’m a source of future funding. Why in the heck would I step and fetch for a guy who wants my money?” On his predecessor Keefe arrives on the heels of a scandal that made national headlines for the school. In early August, Keefe’s predecessor, Annette Clark, quit her post as dean, sending out her resignation missives to faculty, staff, Biondi and Vice President for Academic Affairs Manoj Patankar. “The story wasn’t her allegations against Father Biondi,” Keefe said. “The story was that a university dean called a university president a no-account son of a bitch. That was the story.” He accused Clark of manipulating public opinion: “She didn’t write a letter to the faculty with a copy to the media, she wrote a letter to the media with a copy to the faculty.” On his politics Keefe proudly declared his political leanings, including donations to one political party. “I mean, I am a Democrat. Am I allowed to say I’m a Democrat?” he said. “Well, if I’m Father Biondi’s butt boy I guess that’s going to get me in trouble.” At the time of Keefe’s conversation with Missouri Lawyers Weekly, on Tuesday evening, political junkies were waiting to see if Missouri congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin would bow out of the Senate race on the heels of his controversial statement that “legitimate rape” doesn’t cause pregnancy. Akin had backpedaled on his comments after a media firestorm, but those clarifications did not satisfy Keefe, he said. “When’s [Akin] going to say something about the mother, for Christ’s sake? “ Like many Democrats, Keefe said he was hopeful Akin would stay in the race. “That’s why I say to myself over and over again, thank you God for Todd Akin. There is a God. We might actually keep control of the Senate,” Keefe said. “Does that sound like somebody who’s Father Biondi’s butt boy?” On the law school’s move downtown Biondi, Keefe said, brought him into the job for reasons beyond his money and connections. “We’re getting ready to move this law school, literally and figuratively. We’re moving it from a university setting to a place where lawyers lawyer and judges judge,” Keefe said. “I think perhaps what Father thought is that it would make some sense to have someone who lawyers and who regularly appears in front of judges and who tries cases, who’s made his living in the courtroom to have a role in the process of moving us downtown.” Related Here’s a look at litigation involving SLU that we’ve reported: Daniels v. Saint Louis University Hooper v. Saint Louis University Murray v. Saint Louis University Palliser v. Saint Louis University Noldon v. Saint Louis University Young v. Saint Louis UniversityPollinators have a staunch ally in Graham White. White, a small-scale hobby beekeeper in Scotland, has been an international campaigner on the dangers of neonicotinoid pesticides since 2003. To this endeavor, he brings his background in environmental education and teaching, a fascination with the biodiversity of life, and his long-term involvement in environmental issues. Born into a family of coal miners and glassmakers in an industrial town near Liverpool, England, White developed his love of nature exploring remnant woodlands and abandoned 19th century canals. As a teenager he was introduced to hiking, and as a university student in the late 1960s he became an avid rock climber. He credits his 1976 expedition, hiking the John Muir Trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney in California, with changing his life. When White returned to the UK, he decided to make it his mission to introduce John Muir’s writings and environmental values to the people of Britain. Muir, who founded the Sierra Club in 1892, was from Scotland, but was virtually unknown there. White founded the UK’s first Environment Centre in Edinburgh in 1978 and served as founding director for 23 years. In 1994 he proposed the creation of The John Muir Award for environmental excellence as a personal development program for people of all ages. In recent years over 200,000 people have completed this national challenge award. White is also an accomplished nature photographer, an author and editor of environmentally themed books and articles, and a radio broadcaster. His radio productions include the BBC interview series Deep in Conservation with environmental luminaries such as David Brower, Satish Kumar, Vandana Shiva, Wangari Maathai, Amory Lovins, and Bill Mollison. Interviewed by Tracy Frisch Bee-ginnings ACRES U.S.A. How did you come to be a campaigner for bees? GRAHAM WHITE. I started keeping bees in 1994 with four hives; within two years I had 10 hives. I harvested about 20 pounds of honey per hive each year to share with friends and family. I only became a bee campaigner around 2000, when my bees began to die for no apparent reason. The Varroa mite arrived in 1998, but we treated for it, and I didn’t lose any colonies. The French have had Varroa mites since 1963 without any impact on honey production. In 2001, I moved to the Scottish Borders, an area where wheat, canola, barley, and potatoes are intensively farmed. I soon noticed something odd happening with the bees; my colonies didn’t die, but they no longer thrived or made as much honey. They seemed weaker and lacking in vigor. In 1998 Bayer’s imidacloprid appeared in the UK. I wasn’t living among the wheat fields back then, so I wasn’t aware of it. When clothianidin appeared, around 2003, people began to lose bees on a large scale — 50 to 80 percent of hives died each winter. After some online research, I discovered that mass bee deaths had occurred in France since 1994. We were just the next in a line. I began to educate myself and try to alert my fellow beekeepers in the UK. ACRES U.S.A. What’s the scope of your activism? WHITE. I give talks, write articles for the general public, and share research articles with activists around the world. I tried to influence the UK’s national beekeeping organizations and nature conservation bodies, but soon found that any discussion of pesticides was taboo for them. They had long been co-opted by the pesticide and farming lobbies. We discovered that between 2000 and 2010, the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) had secretly been taking $40,000 a year from Bayer, Aventis, and BASF to endorse their insecticides as “bee friendly.” Ever since, the BBKA has flatly refused to campaign against pesticides of any kind. It prefers to foster a friendly, working relationship with Bayer. I was eventually banned from the BBKA online forum, as were others, for raising the issue of neonicotinoids and bee deaths. Hundreds resigned in protest. The Scottish Beekeepers Association executive actually vetoed a motion to support the European Union’s proposal to ban neonics. I tried to influence our government, regulators, and National Bee Lab, but Bayer, Syngenta, and CropLife had infiltrated all of these long before I arrived. So my campaigning has mainly been aimed at the national and international scene, and especially America. ACRES U.S.A. You’ve been a great resource. WHITE. I’m a keen photographer and I’ve shared lots of pictures of affected bees and dead hives. I also give public slide shows and talks. In 2012 I visited America to give a lecture at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Whilst there, I did a PowerPoint on neonics that was webcast to bee
the hollowing out of the academic sector in the non replacement of professors who have left the Irish univeristies. Now we also see this in action in the university library sectors. Courtsey of Deputy Peter Mathews who solicited these data via a PQ we see in the first table the number of persons by grade by university who have left that university library since 2009. The second table shows the replacements. What do we learn from this? First, there are a bewildering array of grades in the irish university library system. I understand that there is a table of equivalencies somewhere. Some rationality might be usefully brought to bear on this. Even within the old NUI system there are clear differences as to grade nomenclature. This may seem petty but the more opaqueness there is the easier it is to hide change. Second, we see a tendancy for little replacement in the larger university libraries. These are the larger but then they are also the ones that support Irelands research intensive universities. But that support must now be creaking. University libraries are not in general the physical books at this stage. They are the core nodes for the organisation and distribution of research knowledge. In a very real sense a university is its library, its information holdings that are accessible for knowledge creation and dissemination If we do not have sufficient, or sufficient qualified professional staff to assist in the collation, organisation, dissemination and retrival of information we cannot do research. There is another story to be told on the holdings of journals and databases in Irish universities but for now we are pretty well situated. But if we cant find them or the students cant find them, or researchers cant find them, then they are no use. There is little point in Sean Sherlock unveiling hundreds of millions of research grants, no matter how welcome they are, if over the course of the grant the ability of the researchers to access the frontier of knowledge is degraded.Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press USC's Robert Woods is one of the nation's top receiver prospects heading into the 2012 college season. With the 2012 NFL Draft in the books, scouts are already casting their eyes toward next year's crop of talent. Although this list represents just a starting point in the process, here are the top 30 college players evaluators will study in the fall: (Denotes underclassmen) 1. Matt Barkley, USC, QB: After bypassing an opportunity to enter the draft as a likely top-10 pick a season ago, Barkley is listed atop most draft boards as the No. 1 senior prospect. He has shown the ability to masterfully orchestrate a pro-style offense that puts a lot of responsibility on the quarterback at the line, but he needs to continue honing his throwing mechanics and arm strength to solidify his status as the potential No.1 pick. 2. Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina, RB: How well Lattimore recovers from his season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury will ultimately determine his status as one of college football's top players. Evaluators are certainly impressed with his combination of size, strength and power. He bulls through defenders between the tackles, but also displays the burst to take it the distance on perimeter runs. 3. Robert Woods, USC, WR: The Trojans have routinely featured some of the country's top receivers, and Woods is certainly carrying on the tradition with his extraordinary performance. He has dominated the Pac-12 over the past two seasons, and few receivers can rival his extraordinary ball skills. With the increased prominence of the passing game in the NFL, scouts will keep an eye on Woods' development over the next few years. 4. Jarvis Jones, Georgia, OLB: Jones is the most dynamic pass rusher in college football. He possesses explosive first-step quickness and burst, and flashes the balance and body control needed to blow past blockers around the corner. While he is still learning the finer points of the position in pass coverage, Jones' ability to completely dominate the game as a pass rusher makes him a valued commodity in the eyes of evaluators. 5. Landry Jones, Oklahoma, QB: Jones was pegged as a potential first-round pick a year ago, but wisely elected to return to college to refine a few aspects of his game. He struggled with some of his decisions under pressure in 2011 and didn't display consistent accuracy or ball placement. Although those deficiencies have prompted scouts to downgrade him a bit, Jones is an undeniable A-list talent capable of vaulting to the top of the list by the end of next season. 6. Manti Te'o, Notre Dame, ILB: Inside linebackers aren't routinely valued at a premium, given the proliferation of the passing game at the pro level, but Te'o is a special player with extraordinary skills. He is athletic enough to roam freely from sideline to sideline against the run or pass while also providing a stout presence within the box. Given his unique skills and versatility, Te'o could emerge as a blue-chip talent by season's end. 7. Ricky Wagner, Wisconsin, OT: The Badgers traditionally feature big, physical offensive tackles with solid technical skills. Wagner certainly fits that mold and shines on the outside in isolated matchups. Although he still needs to clean up some of the rough patches in his game, Wagner is a franchise-caliber offensive tackle to keep an eye on in 2012. 8. Alex Okafor, Texas, DE: It's hard to find long, rangy edge defenders adept at playing the run and pass, but Okafor shows signs of being a special player. He excels at utilizing his length and athleticism to defeat blockers at the point of attack, and his remarkable closing burst allows him to hunt down quarterbacks from the backside. He also displays a non-stop motor that allows him to win consistently with energy and effort. 9. David Amerson, North Carolina State, CB: Big, athletic corners with the instincts and movement skills to excel in "off" coverage are rare, but Amerson is looking like the exception to the rule after putting on a spectacular showing as a sophomore. He picked off 11 passes in 2011 and displayed game-changing skills that put the Wolfpack star square in the sights of evaluators. 10. Sam Montgomery, LSU, DE/OLB: Montgomery is a pass-rushing specialist with explosive first-step quickness and burst. He shows the ability to bend and burst around the corner with balance and body control, but needs to continue to expand his pass-rush repertoire. If he can do that while also improving as a run defender, Montgomery could develop into a difference-maker that NFL coaches covet in a few years. 11. Star Lotulelei, Utah, DT 12. Johnthan Banks, Mississippi State, CB 13. Kawann Short, Purdue, DT 14. Oday Aboushi, Virginia, OT 15. Tyrann Mathieu, LSU, CB 16. John Simon, Ohio State, DE 17. Tyler Wilson, Arkansas, QB 18. Montee Ball, Wisconsin, RB 19. Dion Jordan, Oregon, DE 20. Terrance Williams, Baylor, WR 21. Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas, DE 22. Kevin Reddick, North Carolina, ILB 23. T.J. McDonald, USC, S 24. Geno Smith, West Virginia, QB 25. Ray Ray Armstrong, Miami, S 26. Keenan Allen*, Cal, WR 27. Christine Michael, Texas A&M, RB 28. Joseph Fauria, UCLA, TE 29. Johnny Adams, Michigan State, CB 30. EJ Manuel, Florida State, QB Follow Bucky Brooks on Twitter @BuckyBrooksManaging Director of National Iranian Oil Company Ali Kardor said on Monday that NIOC has been able to achieve the target of four million bpd output in the wake of lifting the sanctions. He made the remarks in his speech to a group of the Petroleum Ministry officials. Kardor said that Iran has been able to maintain its 14 percent quota in OPEC. Let’s not forget that the rivals go on pumping oil and gas quickly, so Iran should not lag behind in producing oil and gas, Kardor said. He said that Iran has also been able to raise its oil selling capacity to four million barrels. ‘Our oil production capacity should reach 5.2 or 5.7 million bpd.’ Kardor said Iran has over the past 11 years, embarked on horizontal drilling in South Pars layer for three times and only 700 meters were drilled due to lack of necessary technology. ‘Qatar, however, drilled 12 kms in joint oil layer horizontally and exploited 340,000 bpd oil.’ ‘We should update our technology and regain our rights in the joint fields; Any claim that incentives will be given to the foreign executives is wrong. We do not accept it at all because as far as oil contracts are concerned, we will notify the foreign contractors of all our terms and conditions. Now, we should do something to make other countries dependent on us because a country like Saudi Arabia has a close watch on Iranian oil talks and contracts with other countries. Also, Saudi officials give highest amount of discount to foreign customers in a bid to create problems to Iranian oil industry. We should take back our part in the oil industry and support our oil and gas development with all might because we are progressive in economy. We have been able to improve the country’s economic growth with that amount of oil exports. The new model of oil contracts gives less than 8.2 percent share to foreigners and the remaining 92 percent of the privileges belongs to Iran government.’Australian Conservatives senator says he was given a ‘bigger megaphone’ when he was a Liberal party maverick You used to call me: Cory Bernardi accuses media of ignoring him Senator Cory Bernardi has claimed elements of the media are deliberately ignoring him since he split from the Liberal party to found the Australian Conservatives. Bernardi told Sky News’ Outsiders on Sunday that the media had given him a “bigger megaphone” when he was a maverick or rebel in the Liberal party. “That wasn’t making the changes necessary,” he said, defending his decision to quit the Liberals to form his own party in February. “There are elements of the media deliberately not giving us publicity or deliberately not calling us. One Nation rebuffs invitation to join Cory Bernardi's Conservatives party Read more “I don’t know how newspapers can do stories about [section] 18C [of the Racial Discrimination Act] and not want to talk to the person who’s introduced two bills to reform 18C.” Asked whether it was dishonourable to defect after being elected as a Liberal, Bernardi said he could “perfectly understand” the criticism. “The question is: do you maintain the status quo? Everything changed after the last election. A million votes ran away from the Liberal party, and they’re not coming back.” Bernardi said that he decided to leave the Liberal party to give voters a “principled and credible alternative” so they were not “abandoned” to vote for other crossbench parties. He ruled out returning to the Liberal party, even if there were a change of leadership. “I don’t think the majority of disgruntled people will go back. [Leadership] is a transient thing, that’s a personality thing. “What’s happened is the Liberal party has become corrupted. New South Wales is a closed shop, you cannot have discussion, you cannot have debate, you get thrown out if you dare criticise anyone.” Asked to play word association with various public figures, Bernardi described Pauline Hanson as “resilient” and the Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, as “a good friend”. Bernardi accepted that Joyce is conservative but said he was “constrained by being the deputy prime minister”. He described Malcolm Turnbull only as “prime minister”. He said he was not a conservative and “probably” a centrist. “But, you know, I found him respectful, I’m going to give him full marks for that.” Recalling his resistance in 2008 to Turnbull’s plan to support Labor’s emissions trading scheme when the Coalition was in opposition, Bernardi credited his former colleagues Joyce, the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, and the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, for changing the opposition’s direction. Guardian Essential Report: Cory Bernardi's party could win 18% of Coalition voters Read more Bernardi reiterated his comments at the merger of Australian Conservatives and Family First that his party is “not about an individual” but the whole conservative community. “We have to bring people into the tent because the left are very good at working together for the outcomes they want... conservatives are generally much more individualistic.” Bernardi said the Liberal party was supposed to be a “big tent” held up by the “oak pillars” of free enterprise, family and freedom. “Unfortunately, into the tent crept some termites and they’ve been gnawing away for a decade or more now.” He said the party had been swept away by the “winds of populism” because it was not anchored by principles. He described his party as “a house built on strong foundations”. “It’s going to welcome everybody who wants to be a part of the movement, but we’re laying that brick by brick.”Never mind what Sony tries to tell you about the premium nature of the 5.2-inch Xperia Z3. That phone's supposed understudy, the Z3 Compact, is the real star of Sony's IFA 2014 lineup. It's the same size as the excellent Xperia Z1 Compact, but fits a bigger 4.6-inch screen into a body that's 9 percent thinner and 6 percent lighter. Those sound like small improvements, and the phone itself doesn't look dramatically different, however the sum of Sony's changes makes the Xperia Z3 Compact feel like a much more refined smartphone. Check out all of Sony's new releases The color scheme of the new Compact has been switched up with a pair of bold and inviting shades of red and green to go with the standard black and white. It has earned an even higher waterproof rating of IP68 and its new translucent plastic frame is claimed to make the phone even tougher when dealing with unexpected drops and bumps. I like it because of the attractive way it catches the light — it just makes the phone feel more organic and less like a machine. The most important quality of the Z3 Compact, however, is the same one that made the Z1 Compact great: its size is just about perfect for the vast majority of people. Now with an upgraded set of internal components, including a Snapdragon 801 processor and an even bigger 2,600mAh battery, it represents a unique and highly attractive Android alternative to the anticipated 4.7-inch iPhone. Relative to the Z3, the Compact lacks the 1080p screen resolution — making do with a perfectly adequate 720p — and the premium aluminum edging, but those are intangible losses. The quality of the screen is identically high, the camera is the same 20-megapixel unit on both, and both support Sony's PS4 Remote Play feature. The Z3 is nice, but the Z3 Compact is that little bit nicer.AFC Bournemouth are currently second in the Sky Bet Championship with only a home game against Bolton and a trip to Charlton left on the calendar. The Cherries find themselves on the verge of automatic promotion to the Premier League, only a few years after almost being forced to fold. Their journey to the Championship hasn’t been smooth as they’ve struggled financially. In February 2008, Bournemouth, then in League One, suffered a ten-point deduction as the club were forced into administration with debts of about £4 million. They could not survive the drop as they found themselves in League Two. Ahead of their season in the fourth-tier of English Football, their continuing problems in administration looked to threaten their participation in the Football League as had not yet shown that they would be able to produce a full team for the whole season. What’s more, the administration problems refused to go away. Bournemouth were cleared to compete, but with a 17-point penalty for not conforming to the Football League rules. The off-field struggles had an effect on the squad and manager Kevin Bond was relieved of his duties after picking up just two points from the first four games. Bond was replaced by former player Jimmy Quinn, who only lasted 121 days at the helm after a run of poor results. Eddie Howe took charge as caretaker boss following Quinn’s dismissal with the club ten points adrift at the bottom of the table. Despite Howe’s first two games in charge of Bournemouth ending in defeats, he was appointed permanently as the manager of the club on January 19, 2009. He masterminded Bournemouth’s ‘Great Escape;’ a Steven Fletcher strike in their final home game of the season against Grimsby Town ensured the Cherries maintained their Football League status. Eddie Howe, 31 at the time, was the youngest manager in the Football League and he endeared himself to the Bournemouth faithful by keeping them up despite the 17-point deficit. They ended the season on a high, recording their best away victory in 30 years as they thrashed Morecambe 4-0. In the close season, a consortium including Adam Murray, who attempted to buy 50% of the club’s shares from former chairman Paul Baker at the end of 2008, finally took over Bournemouth. The Cherries faithful were optimistic for the upcoming season as Howe prepared for his first full season. Bournemouth finished second and secured promotion from League Two with two games to spare. They impressed in League One, and looked not too far away from promotion. However, they lost their manager to Burnley in January 2011. Howe took charge of his 100th and final Bournemouth match on 14 January 2011 in a 2-1 loss away to Colchester United. Another former player, Lee Bradbury, succeeded the successful Howe and led the team to the League One play-offs. The Cherries lost to Huddersfield Town in the two-legged play-off semi-final on penalties following a 3-3 draw. In the 2011-12 season Bradbury’s first full season, Bournemouth failed to mount another promotion challenge and Bradbury was replaced by Paul Groves in the latter part of the campaign. Bournemouth finished eleventh that season. Paul Groves was not in charge for long as he was sacked following a poor start to the 2012-13 season. Eddie Howe returned to the club in October 2012 and steered the team from their relegation battle and earned promotion to the second-tier of English Football for the first time since 1990. Bournemouth impressed in their first season and finished tenth – their highest position in the Football League. Eddie Howe and his team haven’t looked back since. They are currently the highest-scoring team in the league. The Cherries were quarter-finalists in this year’s League Cup; their run was halted by Liverpool as they lost 3-1 to Brendan Rodgers’ side. They have lost only eight games – the fewest of anyone in the Championship. They are unbeaten in their last eleven games, their last defeat coming against Nottingham Forest in February. Callum Wilson has been their most clinical striker, finding the back of the net twenty times in his 43 appearances. Yann Kermorgant and Brett Pitman have contributed massively in the goal-scoring department as well, with both men scoring fifteen and thirteen goals respectively. Eddie Howe seems to know how to get this club winning and promotion to the top flight would make him one of the greatest managers in the club’s history. However, the fans know the race is not over; both Norwich and Middlesborough are very much in with a chance of automatic promotion.Piper Technical Center is big. Located across the street from Union Station and pretty unapproachable-looking, it’s home to the city archives, the nation’s largest rooftop heliport, and also, apparently, a rock climbing wall. Walk along Caesar Chavez and the holds are easily visible—a series of protrusions running up the eastern-most corner of the building. If you’re curious enough, you might call Piper Tech to ask about the climbing wall, and you’ll likely talk to Sandra Avalos, secretary to Captain Sean Parker of the LAPD’s Air Support Division. She’ll tell you that “often times we have SWAT doing exercises here, repelling down and doing all kinds of stuff,” and she’ll refer you to the LAPD’s Metropolitan Division. If you call at the right time, you might get put on the phone with SWAT officer Joe Witty. He’ll confirm that yes, it is, in fact, a climbing wall that was added sometime around 1999, but he’ll note that it hasn’t been used in forever. He himself hasn’t climbed on it since maybe 2002. “The SWAT lead climbers wanted to practice climbing up a rock face if they ever had to rescue someone at the top of a cliff,” he’ll say. “Since then we’ve realized there’s not a lot of rock faces in L.A. If they need to do anything like that, they’ll do it out at Stoney Point.” The route, he’ll point out, is also super easy. It’s made with all “bomber holds”—climber-speak for particularly solid, easy-to-grip holds. Witty would rate the climb about a 5.5 (on the Yosemite Decimal System, of course) which, if you’ve been to any of the roped climbing gyms in town, you know is about the lowest rating you’ll find. For reference, here is a video of a toddler climbing a 5.5 route. Thus, the SWAT climbing wall was abandoned and all but forgotten years ago—and no, there is no chance they will ever open it up to civilians. Not even a little bit of a chance, no matter how nicely you ask. Thomas Harlander is a staff writer at Los Angeles magazine. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram. He recently wrote: Rediscovering L.A.’s Lost Neighborhood of BronzevilleReplay: 2X or No2X? The 2 Sides Debated — Conference Call, Oct 26th, 2pm-3pm est Lou Kerner Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 14, 2017 Below is a replay of the conference call held on October 26th. Alex Morcos’s deck from the call can be found here A little over three months ago, SegWit, a Bitcoin upgrade, was activated, resulting in the creation of an altcoin, Bitcoin Cash, which was created as the opposition to the Segwit solution. As part of the New York Agreement (NYA) forged by DCG over 50 other industry players, The Segwit activation came with a condition: a block-size increase within three months of activation (i.e., a hard fork). This hard fork is now commonly referred to as SegWit2x, or “S2X.” S2X is implemented in code as btc1 by former Core developer and Bloq CEO Jeff Garzik. It’s scheduled for activation at block height 494,784 around November 19th. While the original advantages of increasing block size were obvious, NYA has proven highly unpopular among the some of Bitcoin’s users and Bitcoin Core developers, judging by commentary and activism across various media platforms. To understand the reasons for and against the S2X fork, we invited a leading advocates on each side of the debate to join us for a call and explain their views of the pros and cons of S2X: Pro 2X: Mike Belshe — Co-founder and CEO at BitGo. Mike Belshe is a veteran technologist who invented the multi-signature protocols used at BitGo. Prior to BitGo, Mike worked at Google on the founding team of Google Chrome, was the co-inventor and driving force behind SPDY (which has now become HTTP/2.0), and co-founded Lookout Software, an email search company acquired by Microsoft. He holds a C.S. degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. No2X: Alex Morcos — Co-Founder, Chaincode Labs. Alex is one of the early pioneers of automated trading and co-founded Hudson River Trading in 2002, where he spent 10 years working to make markets more efficient and improve market structure. He discovered his passion for Bitcoin in 2012, and in 2014 he co-founded Chaincode with Suhas. He has enjoyed contributing to Bitcoin Core and learning about the exciting nascent field of cryptocurrency ever since. To register for the GoToWebinar click here If you got at least 0.00000001 Bitcoin worth of value from this post please “Clap” below so others will see the post.LIKE a poolside daydream, Barack Obama’s plan to get Congress to authorise the use of force in Syria, announced during the Labour Day holiday, did not survive two weeks back at work. Before a deal was struck on September 14th between John Kerry, the secretary of state, and Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, it looked unlikely that the president would get the votes he needed in the House of Representatives and doubtful that he would succeed in the Senate. In narrow political terms, Russia rescued Mr Obama from the thing that presidents fear even more than hurricanes, sex scandals and economic collapse: impotence. Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. If this was a moment when America’s place in the world shifted, few Americans noticed it. At a Tea Party meeting in northern Virginia on September 16th there was talk of defunding Obamacare, of constitution readings and of the sanctity of property rights. One woman told a story about how government bureaucrats had shut down a birthday party she had hosted for some eight year-olds and also interfered with her freedom to hollow out pumpkins. Nobody mentioned Syria. This forgetfulness is widely shared. With the government facing a partial shutdown at the end of the month unless a budget is passed, most politicians are busy thinking through the permutations of yet another round of fiscal negotiations. “The economy is like a house fire,” says David Winston, a pollster who advises Republican leaders in the House. “There may be some other things wrong with the building, like a broken window or some bad wiring, but the blaze on the roof is what you really notice.” Yet for all this hurry to move on to the next fight, Mr Obama’s presidency is now tied to what happens in Syria. It is hard to find anyone outside the White House who admires the way the president has handled the crisis. But some are prepared to extend a little understanding. For two years Mr Obama was harangued by hawks and humanitarians for not acting. Then, when a blatant and horrific chemical-weapons attack on August 21st made him change his mind, he found that American support for military action in Syria was much weaker than it had previously appeared. Mr Obama misread Congress. He worked hard to persuade both parties that America should punish Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, for breaking the laws of war. But lawmakers found his plan unconvincing. The administration said both that the proposed strike would be big enough to degrade Syria’s military capability and that it would be “unbelievably small”. Finally, he ended up outsourcing policymaking to Russia, which seized on a throwaway remark made by Mr Kerry—that missile strikes might be averted if Syria handed over all its chemical weapons—and turned it overnight into the administration’s policy. In Mr Obama’s telling none of this matters. “Folks here in Washington like to grade on style,” he told ABC news. “’I’m much more concerned about getting the policy right.” Polls suggest that Mr Obama is in tune with the country. A survey by the Pew Research Centre found that two-thirds of Americans support the president’s decision to delay missile strikes, even though only a quarter think Syria will actually give up its weapons. However, the positive approval ratings on foreign affairs that Mr Obama had enjoyed since the start of his presidency have now disappeared. In 2009 66% of Americans approved of the way he handled foreign policy and only 28% disapproved. Now it is 40% for and 57% against. Launching missiles in the Middle East might have made those numbers even worse, though. For now, the president’s position on Syria appears comfortable. But what happens if Syria fails to stick to the deal? Then, argues Jeremy Shapiro, a former state department official now at the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, America will find itself in a repeat of the game of cat-and-mouse played between weapons inspectors and Saddam Hussein, the late Iraqi dictator, between 1992 and 2002. Time to play “hunt-the-WMD” again That game was characterised by frequent showdowns that mostly stopped short of the use of force. American officials who lived through this experience (some of whom are now in senior positions) hated it, he says, but it actually worked quite well. “If you have to sacrifice the mental health of a few mid-level officials in the US government then so be it.” If the Assad regime uses chemical weapons again then Mr Obama will be back where he began, counting votes in Congress to see if he can launch a missile strike that he has already deemed to be necessary. Uncertainty over what happens next is spreading to other areas of Middle-East policy. David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector who runs the Institute for Science and International Security, a think-tank, says that people are wondering whether the president has put himself in a position where any military action against Iran’s nuclear programme would now have to be authorised by Congress first. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which would no doubt be alarmed if this were the case, is keeping quiet. All American presidents suffer from competing expectations in foreign policy. Voters do not generally want them to attack foreigners. Yet they do want them to look like they are in charge and to use American power to solve problems that other countries cannot. Where Mr Obama has initiated the use of force, he has thus far been lucky: the raid to kill Osama bin Laden did just that. But he will need a lot more luck to get the result he wants in Syria, for he has just given up most of what small amount of control he once had.A new labour agreement in France means that employees must ignore their bosses' work emails once they are out of the office and relaxing at home – even on their smartphones Just in case you weren't jealous enough of the French already, what with their effortless style, lovely accents and collective will to calorie control, they have now just banned bosses from bothering them once the working day is done. Well, sort of. Après noticing that the ability of bosses to invade their employees' home lives via smartphone at any heure of the day or night was enabling real work hours to extend further and further beyond the 35-hour week the country famously introduced in 1999, workers' unions have been fighting back. Now employers' federations and unions have signed a new, legally binding labour agreement that will require employers to make sure staff "disconnect" outside of working hours. Under the deal, which affects around 250,000 employees in the technology and consultancy sectors (including the French arms of Google, Facebook, Deloitte and PwC), employees will also have to resist the temptation to look at work-related material on their computers or smartphones – or any other kind of malevolent intrusion into the time they have been nationally mandated to spend on whatever the French call la dolce vita. And companies must ensure that their employees come under no pressure to do so. Thus the spirit of the law – and of France – as well as the letter shall be observed. That's right. While we poor, pallid, cowering Brits scurry about, increasingly cowed by the threat of recession-based redundancy and government measures that privilege bosses' and shareholder comfort over workers' rights, the continentals are clocking off. While we're staring down the barrel of another late one/extra shift/all-nighter, across the Channel they're sipping sancerre and contemplating at least the second half of a cinq à sept before going home to enjoy the rest of that lovely "work/133-hours-per-week-of-life" balance. C'est all right pour some, quoi? • This article was amended on 11 April 2014. An earlier version stated that the labour deal would affect "a million employees" and require staff "to switch off their phones after 6pm". The deal obliges staff to "disconnect" from work calls and emails after working hours to ensure they receive the full minimum rest periods already mandated in French employment regulations but there is no particular time at which they are required to do so. While the deal was signed by unions representing 1 million employees, it will affect only 250,000 workers directly.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. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Fight Back! Sign up for Take Action Now and we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each 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 we’ll send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Travel With The Nation Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine? Albuquerque police officers have engaged in a pattern of excessive force, too often using firearms and tasers against people who pose little to no danger, many of whom are mentally ill, according to a scathing review by the US Justice Department released Thursday. Ad Policy On top of the troubling rate of excessive force incidents, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officers involved rarely face any sort of accountability for their actions, the report finds. A review of deadly use of force incidents found that the majority of the twenty fatal shootings involving officers from 2009 to 2012 were unconstitutional. APD officers have shot thirty-seven people since 2010, a higher rate than NYPD officers, who cover a city sixteen times larger. Albuquerque police officers also often use less-lethal force, such as tasers and takedown procedures, in ways that are unconstitutional. The review highlights a 2009 case where officers tased a man after he had poured gasoline on himself, setting him on fire. The report blames “systemic deficiencies” for the high rate of excessive force incidents, chiefly the Albuquerque Police Department’s “failure to implement an objective and rigorous internal accountability system.” In reviewing 200 police reports, federal investigators found that about one-third of the reports involved unreasonable uses of force. In contrast, APD only identified one percent from the same sample as unreasonable uses of force. Inadequate training, poor leadership and a “culture of unjustifiable aggression” also contributed to the department’s excessive force problems, the report’s authors write. “We are very concerned by the results of our investigation and look forward to working with the city of Albuquerque to develop a set of robust and durable reforms,” said Jocelyn Samuels, acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, in a statement. “Public trust has been broken in Albuquerque, but it can be repaired through this process.” The report comes amid mounting frustration over the Albuquerque Police Department’s aggressive tactics, erupting last month in heated protests in the city streets. Demonstrators were reacting to a video showing APD officers fatally shooting a mentally ill, homeless man who had his back turned to the officers when shots were fired. “The city breathes a sigh of relief this morning that the DOJ review justified a lot of community concerns,” said Patrick Davis, a former police officer who serves as executive director of ProgressNow New Mexico. “The community needs assurance that officers are trained and experienced and can demonstrate an appropriate use of force.” Other city police departments, including those in Detroit and Seattle, have been subjected to federal oversight after Justice Department reviews. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry has already asked the city for $1 million to comply with any potential reforms resulting from the federal investigation.Space scientists the world over may be working on advanced scientific fields. But they are not free of superstitions and beliefs, said an Indian space scientist. While Indian space scientists pray to Lord Balaji at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh prior to every space mission for its success, their American counterparts eat peanuts. "More interesting is the tradition of Russian cosmonauts who urinate on the right back wheel of their transfer bus on their way to the launch centre," a space scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS. "It is all individual beliefs. One cannot take chance with God and poison," a former ISRO chief told IANS. According to a retired ISRO rocket scientist, a project director used to wear a new shirt on the day a rocket was launched. In line with the Indian tradition, pujas will be conducted before ISRO begins to integrate the various rocket stages, he added. While Indian space scientists told IANS that the agency as a whole does not follow any superstitious acts, they are not able to explain the absence of the rocket named Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-13 (PSLV-C13). After sending up the rocket PSLV-C12, ISRO jumped one number and called its next rocket, which launched Oceansat-2 and six European nano satellites, as PSVL-C14. Queried about PSLV-C13, a high-ranking ISRO official told IANS: "There is no such rocket designated with that number." He declined to say if ISRO considered 13 an unlucky number. However, India's ambitious Rs.450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission in way was a tradition breaker as it flew on a Tuesday. "This was the first time in ISRO's history that a rocket was launched on a Tuesday. Tuesday is generally considered as inauspicious day," an ISRO official told IANS. But for a senior official involved in the Mars mission, Tuesday was a lucky day. "For me Tuesday is a lucky day," he told IANS, asking not to be identified by name.Every once a while, a thought crosses my mind. Why do I continue to live in this crappy city called Mumbai? I suspect, if you live in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad or any other big Indian city, you may have asked the same question of yourself. There are no public places I can ramble around peacefully without somebody
The kids' meal has been a fast-food standard for decades. It usually includes smaller portion sizes and a cute toy. Burger King Israel decided to turn the tables and offer up an adults-only meal in celebration of Valentine's Day. The Adults Meal comes with a burger and fries and an "adult toy": a lacy sleep mask, head massager or small feather duster, presumably for either tickling your partner or cleaning up around the house (which is also super hot). Burger King probably isn't the first restaurant that comes to mind when you're planning a fancy Valentine's Day dinner to impress your date, but perhaps this combo meal will change that. At least you'll know if your date has a sense of humor. The amusing marketing stunt comes from a collaboration with advertising agency Leo Burnett Israel. The sultry-looking packaging notes the Adults Meal is for 18+ only. It's unclear if Burger King employees will need to card their customers before handing it over. The combo meal is available only on Valentine's Day and only after 6 p.m. in Israel.American jurist Sarah Tilghman Hughes (August 2, 1896 – April 23, 1985) was an American lawyer and federal judge who served on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. She is best known as the judge who swore in Lyndon B. Johnson as President of the United States on Air Force One after the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963. As of 2018, she is the only woman in United States history to have sworn in a President. The photo depicting Hughes administering the oath of office to Johnson is widely viewed as the most famous photo ever taken aboard Air Force One.[1][2] Education and career [ edit ] Born Sarah Augusta Tilghman in Baltimore, Maryland, she was the daughter of James Cooke and Elizabeth (Haughton) Tilghman. She went to high school at Western Female High School (now Western High School) in Baltimore, where she was elected president of the freshman class. Standing only five feet one-half inch at maturity, she was described by a classmate as "small but terrible".[3] Her determined personality extended to the athletic field where she participated in intramural track and field, gymnastics, and basketball. Another instance of Hughes's strong personal discipline was seen in her habit of going to bed by 8 pm and getting up at 4 am, a habit she continued through much of her life. After graduating from Western High School, she attended Goucher College, an all women's college in central Baltimore very close to her home. She participated in athletics at Goucher College, and 'learned to lose without bitterness, to get up and try again, to never feel resentment,' a trait that would serve her well through many years of political victories and defeats. She graduated with an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1917. After graduation from college, Hughes taught science at Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for several years. She then returned to school to the study of law. In 1919 she moved to Washington, D.C. and attended The George Washington University Law School. She attended classes at night and during the day worked as a police officer. As a police officer, Hughes did not carry a gun or wear a police uniform because she worked to prevent crimes among women and girls, patrolling areas where female runaways and prostitutes were normally found. Her job was an expression of the progressive idea of rehabilitation instead of punishment. Hughes later credited this job with instilling in her a sense of commitment and responsibility to women and children. At that time she lived in a tent home near the Potomac River and commuted to the campus by canoe each evening.[3] She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1922. She moved to Dallas, Texas in 1922 with her husband, George Ernest Hughes, whom she had met in law school. Her husband quickly found employment after law school, but Sarah faced significant obstacles as a woman during a time in which law firms generally did not regard women as qualified.[4] Eventually, the small firm of Priest, Herndon, and Ledbetter gave her a rent-free space and even referred some cases to her in exchange for her services as a receptionist. As her practice grew and became more successful, she became increasingly active in local women's organizations. She joined the Zonta Club, the Business and Professional Women's Club, the Dallas Women's Political League, the League of Women Voters, YWCA, Dallas College Club, and the American Association of University Women. Hughes served as Chair of the AAUW Committee on the Economic and Legal Status of Women, advocating equal pay jury service for women, and improved status and recognition for women in the Armed Services. She practiced law for eight years in Dallas before becoming involved in politics, first being elected in 1930 to three terms in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat.[5] In 1935, Hughes accepted an appointment as a state judge from Governor James Allred for the Fourteenth District Court in Dallas, becoming the state's first female district judge. In 1936 she was elected to the same post. She was re-elected six more times and remained in that post until 1960. Federal judicial service [ edit ] Hughes received a recess appointment from President John F. Kennedy on October 5, 1961, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, to a new seat authorized by 75 Stat. 80. She was nominated to the same position by President Kennedy on January 15, 1962. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 16, 1962, and received her commission on March 17, 1962. She was the only female judge appointed by President Kennedy, the first female federal judge in Texas and the third female to serve in the federal judiciary. She assumed senior status on August 4, 1975. Her service terminated on April 23, 1985, due to her death.[6] Circumstances of the appointment [ edit ] The appointment almost did not happen, according to historian Robert Caro, because the Kennedy administration thought Hughes was "too old" and they were seeking younger jurists for the lifetime tenure afforded under Article III for federal judgeships. Hughes had been a "longtime Johnson ally," and as Vice President, Johnson had asked Robert F. Kennedy, the Attorney General of the United States and brother of President John F. Kennedy, "to nominate Mrs. Hughes" for the Federal bench, but the United States Justice Department turned him down. Johnson then offered the job to another attorney. However, Hughes was also an ally of the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, who held up a bill important to RFK until Hughes' appointment was announced.[7] Johnson was outraged at the chain of events because it appeared to be an intentional attempt to insult him, and made him look like the "biggest liar and fool in the history of the State of Texas". President Kennedy's White House appointments secretary called it a "terrible mistake", citing negligence on the part of Kennedy's staff. The story of how Hughes received her appointment made the rounds of Washington, D.C. insiders, including the political gossip columnists Evans and Novak, which hurt Johnson's reputation for political effectiveness.[7] Historian Steven Gillon agrees with Caro's story, although it was not cross-cited.[8] Women on juries [ edit ] Hughes was concerned over the ineligibility of women in Texas to serve on juries even though they had the right to vote. She and Helen Edmunds Moore coauthored a proposed amendment that would allow women on juries in Texas, but the bill failed and went nowhere. Despite defeat, Hughes became closely identified with this cause and few people were recognized as working harder for this right. Due in to part to Hughes's work, Texas women secured the right to serve on juries in 1954.[9][10] Administering the oath of office [ edit ] Judge Hughes swears-in Lyndon B. Johnson as President of the United States as Mrs. Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson look on. Photo by Cecil W. Stoughton Two years into her tenure as a federal district judge, on November 22, 1963, Hughes was called upon to administer the oath of office to Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassination of President Kennedy, a task usually administered by the Chief Justice of the United States. According to an interview with Barefoot Sanders, who was United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas at the time:[11] LBJ called Irving Goldberg from the plane and asked, 'Who can swear me in?' Goldberg called me, and I said, 'Well, we know a federal judge can.' Then I got a call from the President's plane, with the command 'Find Sarah Hughes.' Coincidentally, Judge Hughes, Jan [Sanders' wife] and I [Sanders] were supposed to go to Austin that night for a dinner for President Kennedy. I reached her at home and said, 'They need you to swear in the Vice President at Love Field. Please get out there.' She said, 'Is there an oath?' I said, 'Yes, but we haven't found it yet.' She said, 'Don't worry about it; I'll make one up.' She was very resourceful, you know. By the time she got to the airplane, someone had already called it into the plane. We quickly realized that it is in the Constitution [Art. II, Sec. 1, cl. 8]. Hughes believed that President Johnson chose her to administer the oath of office due to their friendship,[citation needed] and because Johnson was not pleased with other federal judges in Dallas.[citation needed] Because of this, Hughes was the most suitable choice. Sanders and Hughes no doubt believed those rationales, but Johnson had other reasons to choose her, according to Caro: "He knew who he wanted - and she was in Dallas." Citing another historian, Max Holland,[12] Caro noted that the circumstances surrounding Hughes's appointment meant that she "'personified Johnson's utter powerlessness'" when he was vice president. The new President ordered his staff, "'Get Sarah Hughes... Find her.'" Hughes was found and driven to Love Field, while Air Force One—and thus the inauguration of the new President—was held up just for her. Caro asserts that Johnson, in his insecurities, chose Hughes to show to the world that he was now powerful.[13] Two other historians (Holland and Gillen) agree with Caro's assessment that Johnson was still upset that he'd not been consulted on Hughes's appointment in the first place, so it was a way to placate his weak ego.[8][12] On the other hand, Johnson needed to make sure that "the swearing in take place at the earliest possible moment... to demonstrate, quickly, continuity and stability to the nation and the world.... " Johnson used the "few minutes to spare" while waiting for Hughes to arrive to plead to Kennedy's staffers to stay awhile for the transition. Finally, she arrived, along with the media and Jackie Kennedy; only then the swearing in could take place. Hughes noted that Jackie's "eyes 'were cast down'" when Johnson nodded to the judge to start the oath of office.[14] Other significant contributions [ edit ] Throughout her lifetime, Sarah Hughes was known for her speedy and impartial administration. In 1950, she assisted in establishing Dallas's first juvenile detention center.[citation needed] Hughes was involved in multiple court decisions, including Roe v. Wade, Shultz v. Brookhaven General Hospital, and Taylor v. Sterrett. Hughes was a member of the three-judge panel that first heard the case of Roe v. Wade; the panel's decision was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States. In Taylor v. Sterrett, she argued to upgrade prisoner treatment in the Dallas County jail. Hughes noted that "the Dallas County Jail was very much in need of change. It was in deplorable condition, and [she] think[s], that under [her] jurisdiction, it became one of the best jails in the whole United States."[15] Later years and death [ edit ] Hughes retired from the active federal bench in 1975, though she continued to work as a judge with senior status until 1982. A close friend of Lyndon Johnson and his family, Hughes participated in his inauguration in 1965, took part in the book signing of Lady Bird Johnson's White House memoirs, and participated in the dedication of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. The dress Hughes wore during the swearing in on Air Force One was donated to a wax museum in Grand Prairie, Texas, but it was destroyed in a fire in 1988.[16] In 1982, Hughes suffered a debilitating stroke which confined her to a nursing home in Dallas. She died three years later on April 25, 1985.[17] The Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Hughes' alma mater, Goucher College, founded in the 1950s with a grant from the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation, is named in her honor.[18] The special collections reading room of the University of North Texas Libraries is also named in her honor.[19] Bibliography [ edit ] La Forte, Robert S. "Hughes, Sarah Tilghman." Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed December 1, 2013. La Forte, Robert S. and Richard Himmel. "Sarah T. Hughes, John F. Kennedy, and the Johnson Inaugural, 1963." East Texas Historical Journal 27, no. 2 (1989): 35–41. Payne, Darwin. Indomitable Sarah: The Life of Judge Sarah T. Hughes. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 2004. Riddlesperger, James W. "Sarah T. Hughes." Master's thesis, North Texas State University, 1980.Thanks to the LEGO CEE team, who sent out review copies on Friday, I now have the set in hand. I'll review it in two parts: this part will cover the box and contents, and part two, which I'll post later today, the build and the model. Before I get on to the review, let's take a moment to consider what a momentous occasion the release of this set is. It's the first Cuusoo/Ideas set to be made that is not based on someone else's intellectual property, or a real life vehicle. It achieved its 10,000 supporters based solely on the coolness of the model, not because the supporters liked a movie or game or whatever. I've known Pete Reid since about 2002 and consider him a good friend. Having a model immortalised in a LEGO set could not have happened to a nicer or more talented builder and I am very pleased for him. I also like to think I'm good friends with Mark Stafford, the LEGO designer who turned Pete's model into the official model, too, so maybe I am not best placed to be reviewing the set objectively. But I'll try and do so... The box The 26x19 cm box is the usual Ideas/Cuusoo high-quality design. The front features the image picture we've seen already: the Exo-Suit, the turtle and the two minifigs. The bottom corner shows the LEGO Ideas logo and states that this is set #007 (you can remind yourself of the other six here). On the back a couple of surprises are revealed, things that I didn't know were included in the set: two yellow barrels and some sort of base, which I think is for primarily for the turtle to stand on. I really like that the figures have been given names, Pete and Yve, (after Yvonne Doyle, yvd on flickr, Pete's girlfriend). What a lovely romantic gesture, to have your partner feature with you in a LEGO set! Inside the box are four bags, a couple of loose parts and the instruction book. The book is perfect bound like other Ideas sets but this seems to have sufficient glue in the spine to prevent it falling apart like the Ghostbusters one was prone to doing. Also, like other Ideas sets instructions, it includes introductory pages containing information about the idea, the builder and the model. There's a photo of Pete and Mark in it and also a three-page story called 'The Exo-Suit Adventure' that provides some background to Pete and Yve and how they find the Exo-Suits. The introductory pages are repeated in French and Spanish. The 321-parts come in four bags. They are predominantly grey and small, as you'd expect for a Pete Reid model. Now to get building... check back later for part two of the review. Update 16:00 BST: the model is built and photographed, but I have a few commitments between now and 9pm so the second part won't appear until later this evening or tomorrow morning. Sorry to keep you waiting!Jack Lessenberry for Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 Getting a state constitutional amendment on the ballot is a lot harder than it sounds, as many groups have found out over the years. You have to have the manpower and patience and discipline to collect 315,654 valid signatures within six months. Some of the signatures are always thrown out, often because some people sign twice or aren’t registered to vote. Normally, the only way you make it is if you have the money to pay professionals to get signatures, usually at the going rate of a dollar a name or more. But the grass roots group Voters Not Politicians got more than 425,000 in less than four months, and did it entirely with volunteers. Early this fall, I saw people standing in line at Detroit’s Eastern Market for a chance to sign their petitions, something I’ve never seen before. People, not just Democrats, are upset by the outrageous gerrymandering that has made most of our congressional and legislative districts not competitive, something which breeds incompetence, arrogance, and corruption. Gerrymandering has given the Republican Party effective permanent control of the state senate, but Democrats are anything but saints. They would almost certainly do the same thing if they could; they’ve done so in Maryland and Illinois. But the system has been rigged here to make sure they’ll never get that chance. And the ability to do this at all is both wrong and wrong for democracy. Most people understand that; I’ve talked to more than one Trump voter who signed these petitions. Former Republican Congressman Joe Schwarz was an enthusiastic supporter. But not those in power now, who fear losing control. Republicans know very well that if this gets on the ballot, it will pass, no matter how many misleading ads, paid for by secret dark money, they put on the air. A similar anti-gerrymandering proposal in Ohio got 71 percent of the vote a few years ago. Republicans, and allied special interests, intend to do everything they can to get the courts to keep this from getting before the voters. They and their allies, such as the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, have created a number of front groups, with misleading names like Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution, and are raising money for legal challenges. They are planning multiple lines of attack. One approach will be to have the proposal thrown out on a technicality because of a mistake, soon corrected, in an affidavit attached to the petitions when Voters Not Politicians was getting this effort certified by the state. But they will also challenge it on the grounds that it is unconstitutional because it seeks to change too many sections of Michigan’s Constitution. Those who are opposed to representative democracy are powerful and well-funded, and very used to getting their way. These days, men like state senators Arlan Meekhof and Dave Robertson don’t even bother to conceal their contempt for any effort that would make it easier for people to vote, or that would allow the citizens to know who is paying for commercials like the one that falsely implied that Supreme Court Justice Bridget McCormack supported terrorists. The citizens who signed these petitions have made their intentions known. Whether the voters themselves get a chance to decide will be now up to a handful of judges. Jack Lessenberry is Michigan Radio’s Senior Political Analyst. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.Photo WASHINGTON — Police arrested 31 people on Sunday night and tore down a barnlike building Occupy D.C. protesters began to erect that morning in a park two blocks from the White House where they have been camping out. The episode, in which police officers plucked some protesters from the building’s rafters with a cherry picker or coaxed them to jump off it onto an inflated cushion, lasted into the evening. Ann Wilcox, an observer from the National Lawyers Guild who was in touch with both sides, said that the police had made clear in advance that protesters in and around the structure would be arrested. As the police worked, the protesters chanted their defiance: “We are stronger than your trucks and your horses and your riot gear and your orders.” Despite some disputes and a few confrontations, the Occupy D.C. protesters have had a relatively smooth relationship with the police, without the clashes that have occurred in other cities when officers have moved in to carry out mass evictions. But the erection of the structure and the police response to it appeared likely to escalate tensions. Several protesters said the police had moved in a little after noon, using horses to force people back. Photo As the standoff continued, a few of the protesters on the roof jumped down, but others sat tight for hours, according to witnesses and the Twitter stream of @Occupy_DC. By the end of the evening, 31 people had been arrested, according to a spokesman for the United States Park Police: 15 for crossing a police line and 16 for disobeying a lawful order after the structure was declared unsafe, the spokesman said. Of those, one was charged with indecent exposure, among other things, for urinating while atop the structure. Advertisement Continue reading the main story One of the protesters landed with a flamboyant somersault on the inflated mattress. He was arrested as onlookers cheered as if he were a gymnast who had just stuck a landing. A few more protesters were then removed one at a time in the cherry picker basket. With the removal of the last protester, the occupation of the structure came to an end around 8:30 p.m. Within an hour of the last arrest, the structure was being hauled away in pieces. The police did hand back to the protesters a flag that they had flown from the peak of the roof.The Tower of David seen from the highway. The structure is visible almost anywhere in Caracas. A young man standing guard in the tower parking lot. He watches over residents' motorcycles. A youth throws a gang sign. A girl rides her bike 6 floors up. Spaces for children to play are few and dangerous. Genesis studying on her bed. She wants to be an engineer and build her mother a better place to live. A bird's eye view from The Tower of David. Laundry in the tower. This dog was missing for two weeks. It's normal for animals to get lost in the upper floors. Two children play in their bed inside the tower. Their father won't let them roam outside the apartment for fear that they'll fall. Men paint a gate entrance as part of a collaborative maintenance effort. Two friends play basketball in a space that was originally intended to be an auditorium. Tenants build their own balconies and apartments. Personal touches in a tower apartment. The tower was only about 60 percent finished when official construction stopped. There is nothing to prevent the public from falling off the sides. A single mother and her children in their living room on the 17th floor. A boy playing soccer inside the tower.Governor Dannel P. Malloy, Attorney General George Jepsen, Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz and Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams, Jr.today announced legislative proposals to tackle the growing number of complaints about services and rates of third-party electric suppliers. The “Electric Supplier Consumers’ Bill of Rights,” if passed by the midnight May 7 deadldine, would be aimed at deceptive practices. “Together, we have made it a priority to bring cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy to Connecticut residents,” Malloy said in a statement. “As a result of that commitment, over the past few years Connecticut consumers have seen electric prices fall after experiencing some of the highest energy costs in the nation. This past winter, as demand spiked and prices rose, we heard from far too many consumers who complained of deceptive practices and unjustified rate increases by electric suppliers. That’s why today, we are asking legislators to consider a package of proposals that will arm consumers with better information, allow them to make the choices that are right for them, and crack down on unfair and deceptive practices. These proposals will give consumers the information, the certainty, and the security they deserve when buying electricity.” “Over the past few months, my office has received dozens of formal complaints and hundreds of phone calls from Connecticut residents who were shocked to find that their electric bills had skyrocketed,” Jepsen said in a statement. “It has become exceedingly clear that greater disclosure in the electric supplier market is necessary to protect consumers. The goal of this legislation is to provide consumers with more information so that they can make the best choices when shopping for an electric supplier and to empower regulators to crack down on deceptive marketing practice within the industry. Consumers also need much greater flexibility to quickly extract themselves from expensive variable-rate plans and to get back onto standard service, which has proved to be a much better deal for the majority of ratepayers.” “No one should be overcharged for electricity, an essential life service,” said Consumer Counsel Katz. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen an ever-increasing number of complaints from consumers about being misled, overcharged, or switched from one rate to another without their consent. I’ve talked with many of the people filing complaints, and the skyrocketing rates we’ve seen from many of the electric suppliers have created a lot of hardship and difficult choices for them. I glad that today we are presenting a solution that, with the legislature’s support, will make provide more transparency, clarity, and fairness in the electric supplier market. There should be no surprises for consumers when it comes to electricity.” “I support strong legislation that will protect consumers against predatory practices that result in higher electric bills, and make it easy for consumers to know the rates they’re paying and to switch power providers when it is to their advantage,” said Williams, D-Brooklyn. The state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has gotten about 1,300 complaints about electric suppliers. The state’s electric utilities this year reported that some suppliers were charging more than double the standard charge of about 9 cents per kilowatt hour. “The proposed bill would require new disclosures consumer and rate disclosures, decrease the switch delay when consumers choose to leave a supplier, impose a three-month fixed-rate requirement in supplier contracts and empower PURA to develop new regulations on sales and telemarketing practices,” Malloy’s office said.The BVB CEO has conceded it will be nearly impossible for his side to challenge the reigning champions in the years to come Borussia Dortmund supremo Hans-Joachim Watze believes it inevitable that Bayern Munich will win the Bundesliga title again in 2015-16 given the imminent arrival of Arturo Vidal from Juventus. The reigning German champions announced on Thursday that the Chile international will sign a contract with FCB upon completion of his medical and Watzke now has little doubt that the Bavarians will not only win a fourth successive title - but also a fifth. "For me, Vidal is one of the best players there is in midfield," Watzke told DPA. "He is a real warrior and is great on the ball as well. Signing him is a superb transfer for Bayern and will definitely improve them. "We can stop wondering who will win the Bundesliga title this season. Bayern will be the first team ever to win the title four seasons in a row. And then next year a fifth time..." Dortmund were the last team to pip Bayern to Bundesliga glory, in 2012, but Watzke has conceded that BVB need time before they can challenge the Bavarians once more. "Over a period of 10 years, Dortmund have always won silverware and we will win trophies again in the future," he added. "But, at the moment, we have other objectives."Weiss I made my way back to the dormitory two hours later. I didn't want to wake Ruby up, but I knew that she'd want to go and see Yang as soon as possible. I opened the curtains with one hand, balancing a sandwich and a bottle of water in the other. Ruby flinched as the room filled with light from the afternoon sun. I smiled to myself as she rolled over, facing the wall. I placed the food and water I had brought for her on the bedside table before placing my hands on my knees and leaning over her. "Ruby." I called, gently putting my hand on her shoulder. "Ruby, wake up. We need to go and pick up your sister soon." When I got no response I shook her harder. "Ruby!" I called out to her more sternly. All I got was a light groan. Standing up, I sighed with frustration. I put my hands on my hips as I looked down at her. "Ruby!" This time I yelled as loud as I could. She fidgeted around a little, but stayed asleep. Well now what do I do? I looked around the room, looking for anyway to wake her up. I gazed at the bottle of water for a while, seriously considering dumping it on her head. Next to the water was Ruby's phone; that caught my attention. I picked it up, navigated into the menu and flicked through her contacts. I scrolled down to the letter 'Y', trying to ignore the other names on the list. Using her phone without asking was rude enough, I didn't want to pry too much. Eventually I reached Yang's name and hit 'Dial'. I put the phone to my ear, pushing Ruby once more with my foot, just to see if it would make any difference. Needless to say, it had no effect at all. Yang picked up on the third ring. "Hey Ruby, they said they'd send you a message before they discharged me! No need to call, I've still got an hour or two to wait." She spoke quiet cheerily, she must be recovering quickly. Strong auras were great for accelerated healing, and not many people I'd met had a stronger aura than Yang. "Actually Yang, it's me. Weiss." "Weiss!" she exclaimed after a brief pause. "Why're you using Ruby's phone? What's wrong? Is she okay? What happened to her?" "Relax Yang, Ruby's fine. She just had some trouble sleeping last night, and didn't get to sleep until a couple of hours ago. So she's pretty exhausted, and while I know she really needs some rest after last night, I know she'd be devastated if she wasn't there to pick you up." "And, let me guess, she's not waking up?" Yang knew her little sister well. "Yes. Exactly," There was a pause on the other end of the line for a few seconds. I heard a resigned sigh before she answered. "If you go to my bedside table, in the bottom draw, there's an airtight container." I walked over to the bedside table Yang shared with Blake. Hidden at the back of the bottom draw was a large blue container that was filled with chocolate chip cookies. "Cookies? Really?" I asked. "Yeah, take one out and reseal the box. Make sure it's properly sealed, or the scent will get out and she'll find them. Snap one in half under her nose and then drop it in front of her. If you don't drop it, you're liable to lose fingers." "Okay," I replied apprehensively. "Thanks for the tip. I guess we'll see you in an hour or so." "See you then." The phone clicked as Yang hung up. I put the phone back on the bedside table as I opened the container. I pulled one of the cookies out, sealed the box and replaced it in the drawer. I walked over to Ruby and leant over the bed again. I dangled the cookie in front of her nose before snapping it in half and dropping it in front of her face. I'm going to have to clean crumbs out of my sheets now, I grumbled to myself. I watched as Ruby's nose twitched. She breathed in deeply, taking in the scent. Her eyes shot open and she jerked her head forward, latching onto the cookie with her teeth. In a flash the entire thing was in her mouth and she was chewing. I looked on in shock as she sat up, looking around chirpily. Her chewing slowed down as she realised she was in my bed. She looked up at me, meeting my eyes. She dropped her gaze straight away, staring at the bed covers, her cheeks as red as her cape. Oh no, she remembered, I thought. What was going to happen? My heart leapt back to my throat; I was terrified, but tried not to show it. "Ruby," I said, trying to keep a level voice. "What's the matter?" "Nothing," she replied around a mouthful of cookie, she was still blushing furiously and staring at the covers. "I just had a weird dream, that's all." Relief flooded through me. She thought it had all been a dream. No awkwardness between us, no resentment, all would be well. I restrained myself from letting out a sigh as the tension left my body. "Oh," I said, cheering up. "What was it about?" At the very least, I could use this opportunity to tease her without her knowing. I tried to hide the mischievous smile that was spreading across my face, but she still hadn't looked up. "Nothing," she said, swallowing her cookie. "It was just really… Weird." "Was it a nice dream?" Some apprehension edged its way back as I asked, I don't know what I'd do if she said it was bad. She laughed lightly. "It was the best dream I can ever remember having." She looked up at me as she responded. I did my best to hide the shock that was running through me. I felt myself blushing; maybe there was hope for us after all! "But that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you about it!" "Fair enough, fair enough," I struggled to make my voice sound normal. "I didn't mean to pry." I started to regret that she thought it was a dream; if she said it was the best dream she'd ever had, then maybe she'd be okay with it actually happening. Should I tell her? But having something happen and dreaming about it are two very different things. She might be okay with imagining it, but she might turn shy and close herself off from me if it had actually happened. I couldn't be sure. I wanted to tell her, I wanted to confess. But I didn't want to push her away by doing so. I just couldn't be sure how it would affect our relationship. And, I decided, until I was sure of her feelings, I'd just let it be. Better the status quo than to lose Ruby. "Now," Ruby began, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Why am I sleeping in your bed?" I racked my brains, trying to come up with something. "Uh, well, when I woke up I found you just wandering around. You looked like you were sleep-walking. So I brought you back here and tucked you into my bed rather than try and make you climb up onto yours." It wasn't exactly a lie. It also wasn't exactly true either. "Sleep walking?" She asked suspiciously. "I've never done that before." I tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Maybe last night had an unconscious effect on you." As soon as I mentioned the previous night, Ruby's smiled vanished. I mentally kicked myself. "Right… Last night." She muttered. I almost reached out to comfort her. "Oh! What time is it? We need to go and get Yang don't we?" I nodded. Almost as if on cue, Ruby's phone vibrated on the bedside table. She snatched it off the table, opening the message. "Wow, speak of the Devil. She's getting out in an hour. We should head to the hospital." I nodded again. I really didn't know what to say. Ruby leapt out of bed, dashing to get her clothes and get changed. She was strangely full of energy for someone that had only had two hours sleep. I looked on in wonder as she zipped back, dressed and ready to go. I picked up the bottle of water and the sandwich I'd brought her. She gave me her thanks as she tore into the sandwich, leaving the room. I shook my head after her, her exuberance was astonishing. I followed, locking the door behind me. We made it to the hospital half an hour before Yang was due to be discharged. "She's going through a last minute check-up. She'll be out once they're finished." The receptionist told us. We thanked her and asked where Blake was being treated. Ruby wanted to visit her before we left. Visiting hours were almost over, so once Yang was discharged we'd have to leave, but we could at least visit her before we picked Yang up. After wandering through the hospital wards and getting lost—Ruby was incredibly good at that—we made it to Blake's room. We entered quietly, not wanting to make any noise to disturb her rest. Not that it would have had any effect on her, she was still unconscious. We sat next to her bed, looking at her peacefully resting face. Looking at her now, one would think she was just sleeping, rather than in a shock induced coma; the outcome of which could turn her life, and all of ours, upside down. Ruby sat near the head of the bed, taking Blake's limp hand in her own and bowing her head. "I'm sorry Blake." She said. "I didn't want it turn out like this. I know that's probably a stupid thing to say, but I'm sorry that it turned out like this. I know Huntresses have to be ready to give their lives to protect others, but you're going to live through this. And when you wake up, you might not be able to be a Huntress anymore. I know you're strong Blake, so I believe you can fight through this, but if something goes wrong… I just want you to know that I'm really sorry." I looked at Ruby, tears in my eyes. She'd been blaming herself this entire time. I dashed the tears away as she looked up. I smiled at her, putting a hand on hers. I knew I shouldn't say anything. Ruby had to deal with this by herself. She was the leader of Team RWBY. As much as I'd want to console her and tell her that it wasn't
News Corp’s newspaper the Australian was “absolutely right” to be tough on the Rudd-Gillard Labor government, Rupert Murdoch has said in a television interview on his Sky News channel to mark the 50th anniversary of the national broadsheet. “The [Labor] government had good intentions in some ways but it didn’t know how to carry them out,” Murdoch said in the interview, aired on Sky News Australia on Sunday. “The NBN was a ridiculous idea, still is.” The News Corporation owner said the previous Labor government’s blueprint to build the high-speed broadband National Broadband Network had been a waste of money and remained in danger of being overtaken by mobile technology anyway. “People think I'm talking from my pocket and Foxtel [but] in fact NBN would be great for Foxtel because it would take all those programs into every home.” Murdoch, who talked to the Australian’s editor-at-large Paul Kelly, had more praise for the Coalition under Tony Abbott, although he said it was too early to be making a judgment on this conservative government. “My impression is that he is the most admirable, honest, principled man, something we really need in a prime minister, someone we can look up to,” he said. “However, how much does he understand free markets and what should be happening? I don’t know. Only time will tell.” On the current state of the Australian economy, he said there had been “six years of very mixed government in which the cost of production and the cost of employing people has gone up so much”. “The car industry is leaving us,” Murdoch said. “All I can see from this distance is the prospect of a lot of unemployment unless we can get small people starting businesses and some bigger industries coming too. We can be the low-cost energy country in the world. We shouldn’t be building windmills and all that rubbish.” Murdoch said climate change should be approached with great scepticism. “Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here. And there will always be a little bit of it. At the moment the north pole is melting but the south pole is getting bigger. Things are happening. How much of it are we doing, with emissions and so on? As far as Australia goes? Nothing in the overall picture.” The worst case scenario was that there would be a 3C rise in temperature over 100 years and only “one of those [degrees] would be manmade”, Murdoch said. “What it means is if the sea level rises six inches it’s a big deal, the Maldives might disappear, but we can’t mitigate that, we can’t stop it, we just have to stop building vast houses on seashores. “The world has been changing for thousands and thousands of years, it’s just a lot more complicated today because we are more advanced.” Internationally, he said he was worried about the high cost of welfare in Europe and medical care and research in the US and was keen to see people working longer than 65 years of age to help pay for the advances in medical care. “It sounds bad coming from me but I think the welfare state has been overdone particularly in Europe,” Murdoch said. “With the welfare obligations in Europe you are not going to get growth of more than one or two per cent. We have huge unemployment of young people for many years to come. We’ve got to see this doesn’t happen to us.” “But I don’t believe we should make it payable not to work. There should always be an incentive to work.” The interview, conducted by Kelly in New York in May, canvassed the history and ideology of the newspaper as well as current political and economic issues. Murdoch looked back at the Australian’s political stances over its 50 years, saying he stood by its call in the 1970s to sack the Whitlam government, which caused a strike by the paper’s journalists. “I think we were right,” he said. “We took the line it might be right or it might be wrong for [opposition leader Malcolm] Fraser to do this but he was entitled to do it under the Constitution. Now that caused a lot of unhappiness amongst journalists who were universally, I would say, for Whitlam although the public was almost universally against him. “I think the paper has settled down over many years under Chris Mitchell [as editor-in-chief] with a lot of great writers. I think the paper has never been better than it is now and the circulation demonstrates that.” However, he conceded the print version of the paper may not be around forever. “There could be a time – I’m not saying there will – when it won’t be economical to print.”I never in my life thought I’d see this article, never. I witnessed the corruption of National Geographic and Scientific American into political cesspools, but I never thought this would happen. Nature has sunk to the depths of blatant political advocacy. They don’t even seem to read their own writing, because the first line says: In March 2011, this publication suggested that the US Congress seemed lost in the “intellectual wilderness”. The Republicans had taken over the House of Representatives, and one of the early acts of the chamber’s science committee was to approve legislation that denied the threat of climate change. As it turns out, this was just one tiny piece of a broader populist movement that was poised to transform the US political scene. Judging by the current presidential campaign, when it comes to reason, decency and use of evidence, much of the country’s political system seems to have lost its way. It seems Nature has lost its way in the “intellectual wilderness” too, because your mission is (or was) science, not political advocacy. Nature’s original mission statement was published for the first time on 11 November 1869. The journal’s original mission statement was revised in 2000. The original mission statement is reproduced below: “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind that builds for aye.” – WORDSWORTH THE object which it is proposed to attain by this periodical may be broadly stated as follows. It is intended FIRST, to place before the general public the grand results of Scientific Work and Scientific Discovery ; and to urge the claims of Science to a more general recognition in Education and in Daily Life ; And, SECONDLY, to aid Scientific men themselves, by giving early information of all advances made in any branch of Natural knowledge throughout the world, and by affording them an opportunity of discussing the various Scientific questions which arise from time to time. To accomplish this twofold object, the following plan will be followed as closely as possible : Those portions of the Paper more especially devoted to the discussion of matters interesting to the public at large will contain: I. Articles written by men eminent in Science on subjects connected with the various points of contact of Natural knowledge with practical affairs, the public health, and material progress ; and on the advancement of Science, and its educational and civilizing functions. II. Full accounts, illustrated when necessary, of Scientific Discoveries of general interest. III. Records of all efforts made for the encouragement of Natural knowledge in our Colleges and Schools, and notices of aids to Science-teaching. IV. Full Reviews of Scientific Works, especially directed to the exact Scientific ground gone over, and the contributions to knowledge, whether in the shape of new facts, maps, illustrations, tables, and the like, which they may contain. In those portions of “NATURE” more especially interesting to Scientific men will be given : V. Abstracts of important Papers communicated to the British, American, and Continental Scientific societies and periodicals/ VI.Reports of the Meetings of Scientific bodies at home and abroad. In addition to the above, there will be columns devoted to Correspondence. Here is the revised mission statement from 2000: Citations and Impact Factor Nature is the world’s most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal, according to the 2013 Journal Citation Reports Science Edition (Thomson Reuters, 2014). Its Impact Factor is 42.351. The impact factor of a journal is calculated by dividing the number of citations in a calendar year to the source items published in that journal during the previous two years. It is an independent measure calculated by Thomson Reuters, Philadelphia, USA. Aims and scope Nature is a weekly international journal publishing the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature also provides rapid, authoritative, insightful and arresting news and interpretation of topical and coming trends affecting science, scientists and the wider public. Nature ‘s mission statement First, to serve scientists through prompt publication of significant advances in any branch of science, and to provide a forum for the reporting and discussion of news and issues concerning science. Second, to ensure that the results of science are rapidly disseminated to the public throughout the world, in a fashion that conveys their significance for knowledge, culture and daily life. Notice that POLITICS or POLITICAL ENDORSEMENT isn’t part of either. And they close the Clinton endorsement with this paragraph: Although both parties have become more extreme over the past two decades, conservatives have turned their backs on mainstream science to an unprecedented degree. If there is any good news, it’s that everybody now recognizes that the Republican Party has a problem. A new generation of conservative leaders will need to set a fresh course. In the meantime, Clinton must take the reins. The irony is thick, and they don’t get what they’ve just done. They are no longer about science, and are little better than a political rag now. It doesn’t matter that they supported Hillary, it would have been equally bad if they supported Trump. Science and politics just don’t mix, and they’ve started themselves on the slippery slope to Perdition. But, surely they’ll say they had “good intentions”. Advertisements Share this: Print Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn RedditBy simulating a mass extinction on a population of virtual robots, researchers have shown that these cataclysmic events are an important contributor to an organism’s ability to evolve, a finding that has implications to evolutionary biology, the business sector—and even artificial intelligence. It’s no surprise that mass extinctions exert a tremendous influence on evolution. If it hadn’t been for the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, for example, mammals would likely have never supplanted dinosaurs in many ecological niches. What’s less established, however, is whether or not mass extinctions produce consistent evolutionary outcomes with measurable effects. By using computer models, a research team from the University of Texas at Austin has presented compelling evidence in support of the hypothesis that repeated extinction events do in fact contribute to an increase in evolvability. The details of their research can now be found at PLOS ONE. Advertisement Evolvability, for the purposes of this study, was defined as “the capacity of an organism’s lineage to generate novel phenotypic traits.” In other words, it’s a measure of a species’s ability to produce an abundance of mutations over time. Darwinian principles suggest that evolvability is a good thing; it prevents organisms from getting stuck in an evolutionary rut. By regularly producing a variation of physical characteristics, organisms can adapt to environmental pressures and ever-changing conditions. Playing Digital God To determine if mass extinctions have an influence on evolvability, computer scientists Joel Lehman and Risto Mikkulainen connected neural networks to a simulation of robotic legs. Each robot was programmed with the goal of evolving the capacity to walk smoothly and stably. Robots were tasked with walking along a uniform 40 x 40 grid. The simulation began with the robot standing upright at the center of the grid, and it proceeded until the robot fell or 15 seconds had elapsed. Advertisement “This is a good example of how evolution produces great things in indirect, meandering ways.” - Joel Lehman, computer scientist at the University of Texas at Austin Like biological evolution, the robots were mutated over time, allowing them to exert a wide range of novel features. Some were detrimental, some were advantageous. After hundreds of generations, a diverse range of phenotypes emerged, allowing the simulated bots the opportunity to adapt and settle into various ecological niches. Advertisement So far so good. But in the effort to test their hypothesis, the researchers unleashed a mass extinction event by randomly killing off the robots in 90% of the niches. In the wake of these digital catastrophes, evolution was allowed to continue. After several generations, the lineages that survived were the most evolvable, exhibiting the greatest potential to produce new adaptations. What’s more, the surviving bots came up with better solutions to the task of walking compared to those that hadn’t experienced a mass extinction. “Overall, results in the abstract model show that extinction events results in higher evolvability in the final population,” write the authors in the study. Advertisement Evolvability in the abstract model (credit Lehman et al. 2015) “Focused destruction can lead to surprising outcomes,” noted Miikkulainen in a statement. “Sometimes you have to develop something that seems objectively worse in order to develop the tools you need to get better.” To which co-author Lehman added: “This is a good example of how evolution produces great things in indirect, meandering ways.” Advertisement Surviving the Bottleneck As the researchers note in their study, by “creating a survival bottleneck dependent upon unpredictable [physical] traits,” extinction events may indirectly favor lineages capable of diversifying quickly across the space of such characteristics. The researchers conclude their study thusly: [The] conclusions of this study may provide insight into similar phenomena in other domains, such as creative destruction in business and the way wildfires help renew ecosystems. In such cases, the temporary effect of a mechanism is superficially destructive to particular participants in a process, while the ultimate longer-term effect is to make the process as a whole more innovative and robust. This deceptive pattern seems to be often exploited by evolutionary systems in general, and thus it may be useful to consider other seemingly destructive forces in the evolution of economies, products, and ideas in the same light. Advertisement This research could also be used to produce robots more capable of overcoming adversity, including rescue bots or those sent to explore distant planets. On the scary side, the experiment also suggests that an overt attempt to eliminate dangerous AI could backfire in the sense that the most adaptable agents would be the ones left over. A couple of quick caveats to the study. Obviously, simulation is not reality, and the experiment most assuredly suffers from a “reality gap.” Secondly, the researchers were actually harsher on their robots than nature is on biological species; as they themselves say the study: “[It] is unlikely that natural systems experience extinctions as extreme as in the ER model, i.e. imposed every 300 generations with only five distinct survivors.” Looking to the future, the researchers hope to refine their experiment, including the modeling of more complex geographies, and the ability to study evolution across multiple spatial scales, namely global-scale extinctions versus local-scale extinctions. Read the entire study at PLOS ONE: “Extinction Events Can Accelerate Evolution”. Email the author at george@io9.com and follow him at @dvorsky. Top image by Joel Lehman.George R.R. Martin is a very, very busy man. On top of trying to finish the sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, he's also juggling a handful of other book and TV projects and public appearances. And the last thing Martin has time for are your "Game of Thrones" complaints. In the author's most recent post on his LiveJournal, Martin asked his readers and fans to stop sending him so many emails about "Game of Thrones." After all, Martin writes the books and didn't pen any episodes for the HBO show this season or next, so it's sort of out of his hands. "It is not my intention to get involved in those," Martin wrote of the recent controversies, "nor to allow them to take over my blog and website, so please stop emailing me about them, or posting off-topic comments here on my Not A Blog." Martin already responded to Sansa's rape scene in the show (which doesn't happen to her in the books), emphasizing the differences between the HBO series and his novels. He further reiterated this in his blog post on Wednesday. "What I can control is what happens in my books," Martin wrote, "so I am going to return to that chapter I've been writing on The Winds of Winter now, thank you very much." In other words:Meerut (Uttar Pradesh): The narrow lanes of Gudri Bazar in the walled city of Meerut are flanked by closely built two-three story houses and flowing open drains. The bazaar is famous for its high-quality scissors and tender buffalo meat. On a typical day, the lanes of Gudri Bazar would be bustling with activity with barely enough room to manoeuvre a bicycle. Since most of the scissor market is wholesale, it is the centuries-old buffalo meat market that accounted for most of the hustle and bustle. As one walks around these lanes today, the crowd has been replaced by closed shutters, hushed chatter and men lounging on the platforms of shops where not long ago buffalo meat would be chopped into smaller pieces, put in black polythene bags and handed to customers. A deathly silence and an eerie calm seem to linger in the air as those affected by the Uttar Pradesh government’s crackdown on the meat industry grow increasingly anxious as they continue to wait for a resolution. While the scissor market is flourishing, the buffalo meat market has been dealt a body blow. Or “a stabbing”, as one meat merchant put it, “and it feels like the knife is still being twisted inside”. Adityanath was sworn in as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on March 19. Three days later, Rahul Bhatnagar, the state chief secretary, wrote a letter to all regional administrative and police authorities stating that, “closure of illegal slaughterhouses and a ban on mechanised slaughterhouses is a priority for the current government”. The letter went on to detail what actions the authorities are expected to undertake against slaughterhouses in their respective regions. In Meerut, the authorities had swung into action even before the letter could reach them. On the morning of March 22, as dawn broke with the last remnants of the winter chill still in the air, teams from 11 concerned departments and authorities tightened the proverbial noose around the necks of slaughterhouses in Meerut. With the exception of one (which exports all its meat), all slaughterhouses and meat-processing units in the city were shut down by one or the other department that found an NOC, license, permission or some other document to not be in order. As a result of the shutdown, buffalo-meat sellers in the city went dry. While slaughter of chicken, and to a lesser extent goats, is done in the shops itself, buffaloes are too large to be slaughtered in homes or shops (however, some do slaughter buffaloes inside homes). As the Meerut Municipal Corporation (MMC) does not have a slaughterhouse to meet the city’s meat demands, buffalo-meat sellers in the city relied on private slaughterhouses and used their premises to slaughter animals, whose meat they later sold in their shops in the city. According to the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1959, the local municipal corporation is required to provide a slaughterhouse for the provision of legal and hygienic meat for the meat-eating population of the city. However, the MMC’s slaughterhouse in the city was demolished in 2012 as it was found to be in breach of pollution control norms. Five years later, the MMC is yet to provide the city with a slaughterhouse where the city’s meat sellers can slaughter buffaloes and goats for meat. With private slaughterhouses also shut, the buffalo-meat sellers in the city have nowhere to go. A day after the authorities cracked down on slaughterhouses in the city, I visited the Kotla market in the Ghantaghar area of Meerut – the other ancient buffalo meat market in the city. On the corner of the street, Mohammed Saleem (27) was selling haleem biryani from a sheltered cart. “Aaj khalo bas asli biryani”, he said to a customer as he gave them a platter full of piping hot biryani. “I had about five kilograms of buffalo meat left in my refrigerator. That is what I am selling. Soon this will be over, I don’t know what I will sell then”, he told me. Chicken or mutton, he told me, are not substitutes for buffalo mea. “People don’t prefer chicken or mutton. It does not even make economic sense to sell mutton or chicken biryani. Even though chicken is the same price as buffalo meat, I would have to use double the amount for the same amount of rice. Mutton is more than two times the price of buffalo meat”, Saleem said. At the time chicken was selling at Rs 180 per kilogram, mutton at Rs 400 per kilogram and buffalo meat at Rs 160 per kilogram. Over the course of the next month I visited the market a few times, but did not find Saleem. On May 3, he was back. He had shut shop for a few weeks. “I did not know what to do. After buffalo meat was taken off the market, I sold chicken biryani for a few days, but did not find any takers. Then I shut down the shop for a few weeks and went back to my village to get away from the stress”, he said. Saleem is now trying his hand at selling soya bean biryani at the reduced price of Rs 30 per plate, as opposed to the Rs 50 per plate he charged for the buffalo meat biryani. The few days that he has sold soya bean biryani, it hasn’t worked. “People are saying ‘agar daal chawal hi khana hai to ghar pe kha lenge (If we have to eat lentil and rice we can eat it at home).’ My specialty was buffalo meat biryani. People came for the taste. They are not going to get that taste in soya bean”, Saleem said. He got his supply of buffalo meat from Ustad Qureshi’s shop across the street. The largest meat shop in the Kotla market. Qureshi (56) used to sell around 100 kilograms of buffalo meat daily before the clampdown on meat. He used to purchase buffaloes from weekly mandis in nearby villages and take them to the slaughterhouse of Shahid Akhlaq, former MP from Meerut and owner of one of the largest slaughterhouses in the city. “As the Nagar Nigam [MMC] did not provide us with a slaughterhouse, we had an arrangement with Hajiji [Shahid Akhlaq]. He allowed us to slaughter our animals at his slaughterhouse without charging any money. Now even his slaughterhouse is shut”, Qureshi told me, slouched at the tiled platform of his empty shop. In the last six weeks, Qureshi has not been able to sell any meat and has suffered huge financial losses. Desperation has led him to liquidate the two fixed deposits that he had kept for safekeeping. “I had two FDs and have had to liquidate both. This shop supported a family of 11 – my children, my brothers and their families. Now, the money from those two FDs is also over. I might have to beg for survival”, he said. Back at the Guddi Bazar on the afternoon of May 2, Mohammed Ayub (65) sat outside a closed rustic blue door smoking a beedi. Inside was his meat shop which he claims is over a hundred years old and was started by his grandfather. Ayub himself has been in the business for 50 years. “This shop has never in its history been shut for so many days. At the most it would have shut for a day or two during riots. But never for so long”, he told me. Unlike most other shopkeepers, he doesn’t live in the area, but visits his shop daily to “check if everything is ok” and because he “can’t bear to stay home”. “It is a habit. This is all I have done my entire life. I have opened this shop every day of my life. What do I do sitting at home?” he asked. Once a provider of food, Ayub has now had to borrow money from his son to buy food for himself. “My son works as a labourer. Now that I look back, I thank God that he is not in the meat selling business, otherwise our family would have starved to death. Now at least he is able to earn and the family can eat one meal a day”, he told me as he gingerly climbed his bicycle and rode away. On the other end of the lane, a shop was open. Mohammed Furkan (28) sat at the platform with his knife in hand. Six chickens were huddled together in one corner of the shop. Furkan was trying his hand at the chicken business. He had brought ten chickens from the mandi in the morning. “I thought I would try if the chicken business would work. But it doesn’t look like it. It is almost evening now, and only four chickens have been sold. To earn the same amount as I did in the buffalo meat business, I would have to sell 30 chickens a day. That is unlikely”, he told me. “It is a common misconception that people who eat one kind of meat can easily switch to the other. People who have been eating buffalo meat for so many years cannot suddenly switch to chicken. It doesn’t work like that. Plus, chicken and mutton would cost more. A poor family could have bought half a kilogram of buffalo meat, mixed it with potatoes and the whole could have had a nourishing dinner. That is not possible with chicken or mutton”, said Sabid Nawaz Barni, who runs a small NGO which works in the area. Four other people followed Barni into Furkan’s shop and started airing their grievances. “When will this issue be resolved?”, Mohammed Shadab who also used to sell buffalo meat asked. “I have had to sell a bike which I had bought only two months ago. There was no other way I could have supported my family. That was the last of my assets and that money is only going to last me a few more days”, he said with a hint of desperation in his voice. “I have had to borrow money from my son-in-law. You can imagine how embarrassing that would have been”, said another meat seller with a lump in his throat. “Why are we being targeted? There are other businesses too where there are issues of paperwork. But no other business has been targeted. They have come after the meat business systematically because it is primarily Muslims who are employed in this business”, said Barni. He further added, “There is no leadership within our community and we are not united. Otherwise, there are seventy thousand Qureshis in Meerut, if we stand united, there is nothing we cannot do”. To add to the woes of the meat sellers, on March 31, licenses of almost three hundred meat shops – including chicken, mutton and buffalo meat shops – expired. The MMC has not renewed a single license since then as it claims that none of the shops meet the 17 conditions which have been laid down by the MMC for a meat shop to be eligible for a license. Some of the conditions are – half of the shop must be tiled, a deep freezer and geyser must be installed, proper washing and drainage facilities must be in place, fans must be installed, all equipment must be made of steel and not iron, shop must be owned and not rented. “All these modifications will require significant investments. We have been out of business for so long and we can simply not afford it”, said Qureshi. Rafiq Ansari of the Samajwadi Party, the only non BJP MLA from Meerut, approached the MMC on May 3 asking it to resolve the issue. Ansari asked the MMC to renew licenses of the meat shops and to also provide an alternate arrangement for slaughter of buffaloes and goats till the time a government-owned slaughterhouse is provided. “I understand that the MMC cannot immediately start the state-owned slaughterhouse. There are legal issues involved. But they should make an alternate arrangement. Perhaps, they can have an arrangement with the owners of one of the slaughterhouses”, he said. The MLA’s appeal, however, has had little impact on the MMC. “What do they need licenses for? When there is no slaughterhouse, what will they sell? Where will they get the meat from? Why are they even demanding that their licenses be renewed?” Kunwar Sen, the health officer in the MMC who is in charge of issuing licenses, fired away a volley of questions when I met him at his office on May 4. Sen explains that the real problem is the lack of a government-owned slaughterhouse. “That is the real problem. Now,where the space has been provided for the new slaughterhouse to be made, there is a property dispute. We are working on resolving all of this. But it will take time” he said. “Time,” exclaimed Qureshi as I told him what Sen had said. “Time is what is running out. Soon people will start running out of money. People will start going hungry. They will get desperate. And desperate people can do anything.” Kabir Agarwal is an independent journalist whose writings have appeared in The Kashmir Walla, Times of India, Mint, Al Jazeera English and The Caravan.Airboy’s extended AAR for his adventures across the Pacific continues ~ Avery Abernethy, 28 August 2016 This is an AAR of Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines on Captain level difficulty. Our first scenario is taking Tanambogho and Tulagi. I picked a large proportion of my core force in the first scenario over three attack waves. I chose Marine infantry without transport to save command and supply points. US Infantry has slightly more firepower but must land in a port to avoid heavy disorganization penalties. Heavy terrain also makes it difficult for tracked or wheeled vehicles to move quickly off-road. The difficulty of spotting Japanese units makes fast travel over unsecured ground a recipe for disaster. Supply is critical! If you get cut off from supply or if you do too much without rest your unit will become very weak. More coming soon – this series will be running for a while. Chat about it below, or in our forums, or hit our FaceBook page >>Image copyright AP Image caption The law approved on Saturday was described as "crucial" by President Raul Castro (left) Cuba's National Assembly has unanimously approved a bill aimed at making the Communist-run island more attractive to foreign investors. The law slashes taxes on profits from 30% to 15% and gives new investors eight years of exemption from paying taxes. The change is seen as a key part of President Raul Castro's reform package, aiming to modernise Cuba's economy. The government in Havana opened the island to foreign capital in 1995. But in recent years, Cuba has seen a fall in foreign investment and moderate economic growth. The economy grew by 2.7% in 2013, well below the government's 7% target. Cuba's economy is seen as highly centralised and inefficient, but almost 500,000 Cubans now have licences to operate small, private businesses. Presenting the law at a special televised session of the assembly, ministers were at pains to stress that the government was not "selling" the country but taking steps to ensure its prosperity as a socialist state, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Havana. 'Speedier process' The text of the bill has not yet been released but is expected to introduce several incentives to investment when it comes into force in three months' time. Investors will be lured into joint ventures with the state and Cuban companies The process of approving foreign investment will be speeded up Legal protection will aim to re-inforce investors' confidence in the Communist government Taxes will be cut to 15% on profits in most areas, although special conditions will be set for investment in natural resources Tax on nickel and fossil fuel investment could be as high as 50% The reform is not expected to attract investment from the large Cuban community in the US, under the 50 year-old US economic embargo.UPDATE2: get a load of the hilarious announcement from the expedition, where they claim sea ice is disappearing, see update 2 below. UPDATE3: A film (now a video) has been found from 1912 showing Mawson landing in ice free Commonwealth Bay in 1912. see update 3 below. UPDATE4: Bad weather has forced the Aurora Australis to back off from its rescue attempt. See below. UPDATE5: See my opinion piece on why this is a fiasco There’s quite an ongoing worldwide fascination over the So much sea ice in Antarctica that a research vessel gets stuck, in summer! episode with the ship Akademik Shokalskiy we first reported on WUWT. I think it was best summed up by this Tweet: BBC/Guardian global warming research/propaganda cruise trapped by record breaking irony http://t.co/cD2z5gUDAE via @wattsupwiththat — MB (@ElBuehn) December 27, 2013 Now, after the first rescue ship The “Snow Dragon” failed: Our rescue boat, the Xue Long, has had to turn back because the ice was too thick for it to get through. We're now awaiting Aurora Australis — Alok Jha (@alokjha) December 27, 2013 Which we see in the distance here… …all eyes are now on the Aurora Australis, which was trapped in ice for 3 weeks last month. But, even that ship seems to have trouble picking through the sea ice. here is the webcam from the bow of the Aurora Australis: Link to webcam: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/aurora Supposedly, the ice around the Akademik Shokalskiy 3-4 meters thick. Then there’s the comedy of a scientific research expedition disguised as a junket for activists and reporters, such as this guy, tweeting up a storm from on-board: The other fellow, Chris Turney, has some science credentials, but also has a propensity for wackadoodle alarmism as we see in this WUWT post: Now it’s 2°C climate change target ‘not safe’ Mostly, it’s a media sponsored event, presumably so they can tell us how terrible things are in Anarctica with melting and such: WUWT reader “pat” writes at 2013/12/26 at 1:59 pm seems this expedition was more a BBC/Guardian/ABC CAGW exercise! 18 Dec: Guardian: The Guardian lays claim to Antarctica – in pictures Journalists Alok Jha and Laurence Topham have landed in Antarctica with the 2013 Australasian Antarctic Expedition Documentary filmmaker Laurence Topham lines up a shot from the bows. Photograph: Alok Jha/Guardian… http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live/gallery/2013/dec/18/guardian-antarctica-pictures Guardian: Laurence Topham, documentary filmmaker In 2007 he worked for Current TV, where he edited over 50 short-form documentaries for terrestrial broadcast… http://www.theguardian.com/open-weekend/laurence-topham Guardian: Science: Antarctica live (MASSIVE COVERAGE, NO HINT ABOUT THE SHIP’S CURRENT PREDICAMENT!) http://www.theguardian.com/science/antarctica-live 26 Dec: BBC: Andrew Luck-Baker: Science continues for trapped Australasian Antarctic expedition Science reporter Andrew Luck-Baker is on board the Russian research vessel Shokalskiy, covering the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013 for the BBC World Service programme Discovery… Tantalisingly, a low band of grey sky to the Northeast suggests clear water lies not so many kilometres away. The grey colour is light reflected from open water. The early Antarctic explorers named this colour phenomenon “water sky” and used it to navigate their route through the treacherous pack ice… In addition to the Russian crew of 22, the expedition team consists of 18 professional scientists from Australia and New Zealand, and 22 volunteer science assistants. They are members of the public, ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s. They paid to join the scientific adventure… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25519059 25 Nov: ABC Lateline: $1.5 million Australian expedition to Antarctica Professor Chris Turney from the University of NSW is mounting the largest Australian science expeditions to the Antarctic with an 85-person team to try to answer questions about how climate change in the frozen continent might be already shifting weather patterns in Australia. ABC’s MARGOT O’NEILL: The research stakes are high. Antarctica is one of the great engines driving the world’s oceans, winds and weather, especially in Australia. But there’s ominous signs of climate change. CHRIS TURNEY: The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds encircle Antarctica, and over the last 20 or 30 years or so, they’ve been pushing further south. Now – so actually in a way it’s almost like Antarctica’s withdrawing itself from the rest of the world… EMMA ALBERICI: And tomorrow night, in the second part of this special report, could the British Antarctic explorer Robert Scott have lived? We look at how Professor Turney discovered that choosing the right team can be a matter of life and death. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3898858.htm Meanwhile, in the “Spirit of Mawson” Spirit of “never let a good crisis go to waste”, the folks on-board have realized the world is watching, and decided to make a pitch for money at their website, presumably to fund next year’s research media junket: Mother nature doesn’t seem to care about the comedy either way, as Antarctic sea ice is still over 2 standard deviations above normal. National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) – Click the pic to view at source ======================================================== UPDATE1: Thanks to Roger Tattersall “Tallbloke” who writes: I’m amused to see Global Warmist Professor Chris Turney’s expedition to Antarctica to retrace polar explorer Douglas Mawson’s route and replicate measurements has run into a spot of bother. Here’s an old news report on Mawson’s expedition It looks like that part of the Antarctic was warmer in Mawson’s day than now. In fact the antarctic is currently colder than it has been for a long time. The high latitudes of the Southern Ocean have been cooling since the 1980′s according to SST data. ==================================================== UPDATE2: You can’t make this stuff up. This is from a news.com.au story covering the
in more. "Social media now accounts for a lot of students' leisure time," he said. "When going out, they are finding other ways to socialise."The case, brought by an Egyptian law professor, will be heard in a Cairo court on Sept 19. It points to the prospect of a new wave of politically driven lawsuits being brought to court following the downfall of President Mohammed Morsi, whose supporters brought a raft of cases against opposition figures during his year in power. The cases, many of them for "insulting the president", have been criticised by anti-government activists as a form of political intimidation. Mr ElBaradei, former head of the UN nuclear agency and co-leader of the secular National Salvation Front grouping, was the most prominent liberal to endorse the military's overthrow of Mr Morsi on Aug 3 following mass protests. But he resigned on Aug 14 after security forces used force to crush the protest camps set up by Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo, killing hundreds of people. The military's intervention against Mr Morsi has polarised public opinion in Egypt. Around 900 people have died in violence across the country over the past week. The case was filed by Sayyed Ateeq, a law professor at Helwan University. "He was appointed in his capacity as a representative of the NSF and the majority of the people who signed the Tamarod declaration," he told Reuters, referring to the coalition that led the anti-Morsi protests. "Dr. ElBaradei was entrusted with this position and he had a duty to go back to those who entrusted him and ask to resign." The media head of the Dostour party, founded by Mr ElBaradei, condemned the case, saying it had no legal grounds and was only aimed at tarnishing his image. Khaled Daoud said the lawyer who brought the case "set a precedent that harms Egypt's reputation abroad, when a politician is prosecuted just for resigning from his post, something that has never happened before in any country in the world". Mr Ateeq said that, if found guilty, Mr ElBaradei could face a three year jail sentence. But a judicial source said the maximum sentence that could be imposed in a case of this kind was a fine and a suspended jail term. Mr ElBaradei left Egypt earlier this week for Europe and is unlikely to attend any hearing in this case. The lawsuit follows a wave of arrests of Muslim Brotherhood leaders in recent days and a decision by the public prosecutor to charge Mr Morsi, who is being detained in an undisclosed location, with inciting violence. Edited by Bonnie MalkinA video clip of the Grand Mufti of Kashmir enjoying Kashmiri ghazals, musical poems and Punjabi folk tunes, has gone viral on YouTube this week, after it was revealed that it was the same man who branded muslic as “un-Islamic.” Bashiruddin Ahmad was recently filmed in a houseboat on the scenic Dal Lake, in the company of several other people, including women, according to India Today. Political figures and commenters accused the Grand Mufti of hypocrisy following his earlier condemnation of an all-girl rock group. "The doublespeak of the Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir is exposed, on the issue of music being un-Islamic," said Digvijaya Singh, general secretary of India's ruling Congress Party, was reported as saying in The Telegraph on Sunday. In February 2013, the Grand Mufti released a fatwa declaring music un-Islamic. "Singing is not in accordance with Islamic teachings. Society cannot be built or developed by doing un-Islamic acts like singing.” he said. The fatwa was supported by Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary, one of the world's most influential centers of Islamic jurisprudence. Activists supporting an all-girl group that was forced to disband due to intimidation following the Grand Mufti’s fatwa declared that Ahmad had made an error by denouncing singing but that she could not condemn his choice to attend a concert. "It doesn't matter whether the so-called Grand Mufti listens to music or not. His statement was uncalled for. He should respect freedom of expression," she said. Last Update: Monday, 29 July 2013 KSA 13:49 - GMT 10:49Commodore, the name that helped usher in the PC revolution, is back. With a phone. For those of you too young to remember, Commodore was a hot company in the mid-1980s. It was a leader in personal computers, shipping thousands of Commodore 64 desktops daily. Guinness has named it the single biggest-selling computer ever—the company sold as many as 17 million of them—and the brand name is still widely remembered. Still, the company went bankrupt in 1994, and the brand saw several fuzzy changes of trademark ownership over the years. Now it's appearing on a smartphone created by a pair of Italian entrepreneurs. It's called the PET—sharing its name with Commodore's other iconic PC—and its custom Android build includes two emulators so owners can enjoy old C64 and Amiga games. Rumors have swirled around the phone for months, driven in part by design renders published online. With its release imminent, I met with the guys behind it and tried out a prototype. Perhaps the biggest question: how a company that folded two decades ago can release a new product. That's a long, strange tale. Ancient History Jack Tramiel founded Commodore International in 1954 in Toronto. After launching the PET in 1977 and following up with the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, he left. The company slowly withered and folded in 1994. A buyer snapped up its assets, including 47 patents related to the company's Amiga line, but the Commodore trademark changed hands several times. In 1996, the German PC conglomerate that owned the rights to it filed for bankruptcy, and the Commodore name bounced around some more, going through two more bankruptcies. Two years ago, a federal court ruled that the trademark belonged to Commodore Holdings B.V., a Dutch company that has been silent ever since. WIRED That's where things stood until March, when Massimo Canigiani and Carlo Scattolini registered Commodore Business Machines Limited in the UK. The Italian entrepreneurs claim to have acquired rights for the brand and trademark in the mobile industry in 38 countries, including the US. This isn't the first time Commodore has risen from the dead. Five years ago, an American company called Commodore USA released the C64x, an all-in-one PC sporting an Intel Atom processor, Nvidia Ios2 graphics, 4GB of RAM, up to 1TB of storage, and a Blu-Ray reader. Nostalgia and retro gaming weren't enough, however, and Commodore USA shut down in 2013. Meet the New PET The new Commodore PET is an Android phone of rather common design. It is well-built, with an aluminum frame and interchangeable polycarbonate covers. The shell displays a big C= logo, and a smaller one could replace the home button below the 5.5-inch IPS 1920x1080 pixel resolution display made of Gorilla Glass 3. The phone will feature a 1.7 GHz Mediatek 64-bit octa-core processor with ARM Mali T760 GPU and a huge 3000 mAh battery. The main camera uses a 13-megapixel Sony sensor with a bright f/2.0 aperture. It can make images up to 4096x2304 pixels, and videos up to 1080p HD. The front camera is an 8-megapixel rig with an 80-degree wide angle lens. Both can be operated with the dedicated shutter button on the right side of the case. The PET has dual-SIM 4G connectivity. WIRED Other custom functions I spotted include a nice implementation of Daydream (the Android feature that lets you chose what information appears on the display during charging), and system gestures that let you interact with the phone by shaking it, flipping it, or waving at it. And of course there will be a guest mode. A Classic Arcade in Your Hand Although nostalgia is not the core of the product, there is of course room for retro gaming. The Commodore PET runs a custom version of Android 5.0 Lollipop and two preinstalled emulators. They weren't finished on the prototype I used, but I'm told they'll be customized versions of the VICE C64 emulator and the Uae4All2-SDL Amiga emulator. The team also is working with unnamed software houses to bring some of the 1980's best games on the PET before shipping. When it launches later this week across Europe, the Commodore PET should come in two different versions, a light one (costing around $300) with 16GB of storage and 2GB of RAM, and a regular one (costing around $365) with 32GB of internal memory and 3GB of RAM. Both will have a 32-gig microSD card included—though the dedicated slot will support cards up to 64GB, too. Users can choose a white, black, or classic biscuit-beige case, though I'm told green, blue, and other colors might be added. Initially, the PET will be available in Italy, France, Germany, and Poland, with plans to add more countries in Europe and America in the near future. It's an inarguably niche device, but at the very least proves that technological nostalgia is an incredible—and very cool—thing.Defensive lineman Tyquan Lewis (No. 59) is one reason Ohio State is a top contender for the College Football Playoff. (Jay LaPrete/Associated Press) The college football season kicks off Saturday with a partial schedule featuring some wacky road trips — Hawaii at U-Mass.! Rice vs. Stanford in Sydney! To get you ready — and to make sure your team has its moment, however brief — we’ll count down the days by ranking every Football Bowl Subdivision team by conference. Last week Patrick Stevens ran though the second-tier Group of Five leagues and independents; this week, it’s the Power Five, including his picks for the College Football Playoff. The rest of the Big Five (plus Notre Dame): SEC \| ACC \| Pac-12 \| Big 12 \| Independents Group of Five conferences: American Athletic \| Mountain West \| Conference USA \| Mid-American \| Sun Belt It’s been a quarter-century in the making, but the time has come to see what happens when the big three of the Big Ten rise in unison. Last year marked the first time since 1986 that Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State all won 10 games in a season. And while Penn State’s entry into the Big Ten in the early 1990s ensured extra games when those teams would lose, schedules have also expanded since that time. The point of this exercise isn’t to disparage Nebraska and Wisconsin, which have some of the most fervent followers in the land. Nor is it to overlook the exceptional accomplishments of Michigan State from 2010 to 2015. But the three best avenues to sustained success in college football are resources (money), access to talent (usually by geographic serendipity) and tradition (which reinforces expectations from fans and administrators that title contention is not just a possibility but should be a reality). The three largest stadiums by capacity in the Big Ten (which provide opportunity for greater revenue) are Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State. All three have produced undefeated seasons in the last 25 years (Nebraska, as a member of the Big 12, is the only other Big Ten school that can say the same). Even if there isn’t a California, Florida or Texas to provide a bounty of FBS-ready recruits, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania stack up quite well — especially in comparison to some of the less populated states in the Big Ten footprint. All three are marshaling their advantages now, and while there is always the potential for a spoiler (Wisconsin is easily the top candidate in 2017), this year’s Big Ten drama will probably revolve around the programs run by James Franklin, Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer. EAST DIVISION 1. Ohio State (No. 2 nationally, 11-2 in 2016): The Buckeyes’ record last year was their worst under Meyer, which is incredible. He’s 61-6 since coming to Columbus, though it’s worth mentioning Jim Tressel was 56-9 in his last five seasons with the Buckeyes. The Ohio State steamroller is headed for another 11- or 12-win regular season and is a pick here to reach the College Football Playoff. That’s thanks to an experienced bunch that includes a monster defensive line led by Tyquan Lewis and a veteran quarterback, J.T. Barrett, who has seen just about everything. The Buckeyes get Oklahoma and Penn State at home, and might have their best defense yet under Meyer. This will be a tough bunch to upend. 2. Penn State (No. 9, 11-3): Offense is the strength here, and it pretty much has been since halftime of a season-changing victory over Minnesota last year. Tailback Saquon Barkley and QB Trace McSorley jump-started a nine-game winning streak, making themselves household names while ensuring Franklin would be a much richer man thanks to a contract extension issued this month. There’s enough back on offense (four starters return on the line, as do most of the receiving corps) to ensure any defensive questions will be answered with a decidedly Big 12 attitude. Go ahead and try to score more than the Nittany Lions; most of the teams they’ll face don’t have much of a chance to do so. After a Big Ten title, the next step is a playoff berth, and that’s probably going to require a victory at Ohio State (and about 11 more triumphs along the way). 3. Michigan (No. 11, 10-3): Final tryouts for roster spots on 2017 Michigan Football Team can start no earlier than 8/28. Roster to be determined & publicized on 8/30. — Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) August 20, 2017 In the spirit of the times, here’s a new rule for season previews: Analysis of teams cannot be provided until tryouts are complete. Sorry, Michigan, no second paragraph for you. 4. Michigan State (No. 57, 3-9): The 2016 Spartans were a great case of the eye test failing to match the numbers. Michigan State saw a slight uptick in yardage gained and a slightly larger decline in total yardage allowed. Yet it went from a 12-win playoff team to 3-9. In reality, seeing the Spartans’ vaunted defense gashed in person at Maryland (granted, one of its worst days of the year) was startling. Michigan State fell well short of its standard last year, and there probably should be some recovery. But it wasn’t especially great at anything last year, and it is young across the board. Bowl bid? Yes. Division contention? Almost certainly not. 5. Indiana (No. 75, 6-7): It’s hard to change an identity overnight without a head coaching change, but the Hoosiers managed to go from an offensive juggernaut that couldn’t stop anybody to a respectable defensive team with an average offense. Credit some of it to Tom Allen, the team’s defensive coordinator for one year who was then promoted after Kevin Wilson was ousted. Expect defense to be an even greater strength this year. Tegray Scales should be one of the best linebackers in the conference, and there’s multiple starters back on each defensive unit. If the Hoosiers could just cut down on their turnovers (QB Richard Lagow threw 17 interceptions last season), they’ll have a shot at their first winning record in a decade. 6. Maryland (No. 79, 6-7): Recruiting rankings are swell for those who like to obsess over them. But football isn’t basketball, and it takes time for most freshmen to physically develop. In other words, the Terrapins’ newcomers might play (as most did last year), and some might play well. But a better ETA on a leap in College Park is either 2018 or 2019. Even if this was an older, veteran team, the schedule would have made earning consecutive bowl bids a tough task. In addition to the three powers in the division, the Terps will face Northwestern and Wisconsin in crossover games and travel to Texas to start the season. With quarterback questions continuing to hover, it could be tough for Maryland to get traction this fall. 7. Rutgers (No. 105, 2-10): On the subject of teams playing brutal nonconference openers, the Scarlet Knights welcome Washington to the banks of the Raritan next week in a rematch of a 48-13 loss in Seattle last year. That actually ranked in the top of the Rutgers’ offensive outputs last year. The Scarlet Knights were blanked a combined 224-0 by Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State in 2016. That leaves a long way to go in Chris Ash’s rebuilding project. Simply increasing the victory total, which would mean winning at least one Big Ten game, would constitute progress this year. WEST DIVISION Chikwe Obasih (No. 34), Chris Orr (No. 50) and the Wisconsin defense will try to overcome the loss of standout linebacker Jack Cichy. (Aaron Gash/Associated Press) 1. Wisconsin (No. 14, 11-3): The Badgers lost linebacker Jack Cichy to a season-ending injury in the preseason, and that obviously doesn’t help. Wisconsin is still in good shape to win its fifth division title in seven years and make another run at 10 victories. And after a year when the schedule worked against them, the Badgers are in better shape on that front. They get five league home games and don’t face Ohio State or Penn State. If Wisconsin finds an able replacement for TB Corey Clement (and since it is the Badgers, they surely have a few capable rushers in the pipeline), they could deliver another top-10 season under Paul Chryst. 2. Northwestern (No. 29, 7-6): The Wildcats have a bunch back on both sides of the ball, including TB Justin Jackson and a stout defensive line that brings back three starters. Both are keys to Northwestern’s rugged identity: Run, and stop the run. The running part wasn’t as efficient as the Wildcats would have liked last year, but they still managed to keep three of their losses to a one-possession game. There’s not much fancy here, but with Minnesota, Nebraska and (to a lesser extent) Iowa taking more personnel losses, there’s a chance for Northwestern to move up. 3. Nebraska (No. 33, 9-4): The Cornhuskers became reacquainted with an old friend last year — the Pelini Line. Nebraska lost exactly four games in each of former coach Bo Pelini’s seven seasons, and after Mike Riley debuted in 2015 with a 6-7 mark, he got the Huskers right back to where they’ve spent the better part of a decade. Even Alabama isn’t quite as consistent as Nebraska, though the Huskers are certain to look different this season. Riley adapted to his personnel last season (namely QB Tommy Armstrong Jr.), but it’s safe to expect this year’s offense to be a little more pass-oriented. If a more experienced defense with no blatant weaknesses can hold up, Nebraska will find itself in the top half of the division again. 4. Iowa (No. 43, 8-5): This is the sort of program that demands you look first at the returning talent in the trenches and work outward. All five projected offensive line starters have plenty of experience, and three of the four defensive line starters return as well. There’s nothing sexy about what Iowa tries to do, but it’s usually good for seven or eight victories. Yes, it’s concerning the Hawkeyes have a new quarterback and receiving corps. Yes, the secondary might be a bit vulnerable after some graduation losses. Still, the safe bet is Iowa hands the ball a bunch to Akrum Wadley (a 1,000-yard rusher last season) and slows down enough opponents to secure its normal solid finish. This probably isn’t a year for a random 11-win season in Iowa City, but serious slippage is unlikely as well. 5. Minnesota (No. 50, 9-4): It’s time for some boat-rowing in Minneapolis, where P.J. Fleck begins his first season after taking Western Michigan to the Cotton Bowl last year. It’s not a bad time to install some new ideas, even with a team coming off its best season in more than a decade. After all, the defense brings back less than half its starters and there will be a new quarterback and modest experience among the receivers. Minnesota is still built to run, with Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks a formidable one-two punch out of the backfield and a largely tested offensive line. The Golden Gophers should be better over the long haul with Fleck, though a minor step back wouldn’t come as a surprise in 2017. 6. Purdue (No. 91, 3-9): The Boilermakers’ biggest win last year didn’t come against Eastern Kentucky, Illinois or Nevada. Rather, it was securing the services of Coach Jeff Brohm, who is coming off a 30-10 run at Western Kentucky. Not a lot has gone right in eight years since Joe Tiller’s tenure ended in West Lafayette, but Brohm is the program’s first coach with multiple winning seasons at an FBS school since … well, Tiller. Purdue is a meager 3-30 in the Big Ten over the last four years, but it’s still situated in the right division. Brohm inherits a decent (if interception-prone) quarterback in David Blough, but there’s a lot of youth and question marks. This will not be a rapid turnaround, though the Boilermakers should be more competitive this fall. 7. Illinois (No. 100, 3-9): It’s popular to point to college coaches who flame out in the pros (this is a merry sport for those who follow both the NFL and the NBA), but there’s never a guarantee those moves work in reverse, either. And while ex-Bears and Bucs coach Lovie Smith didn’t have much to work with in his first year at Illinois, the Illini still took a noticeable step back. That’s part of the price of having three head coaches in a span of seven months, but it will still be a young team that tries to drag itself closer to bowl eligibility. Illinois wasn’t an effective offensive team and struggled to stop the run. There’s a lot to fix, and it’s possible things get a little bit worse before they get better in Champaign. A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan have all won a national title in the last 25 years. Penn State went undefeated in 1994 but finished No. 2 in the major polls that crowned the national champion at the time. More college football coverage: ESPN’s Robert Lee decision shows it’s the Worldwide leader in silliness LSU’s new tiger mascot completes freshman orientation in new $950,000 home Nick Saban and Alabama didn’t have time for your silly solar eclipseYou know the Wrecking Crew, even if you don’t think you do. The loosely affiliated assembly of musicians, which included the session drummer extraordinaire Hal Blaine (who coined the name), the bassist and guitarist Carol Kaye (one of the few female session players of her era), the guitarist Tommy Tedesco, and dozens of other musicians (at various times, Earl Palmer, Barney Kessel, Plas Johnson, Al Casey, Glen Campbell, James Burton, Leon Russell, Larry Knechtel, and Jack Nitzsche), dominated American popular music in the nineteen-sixties, first as the group of choice for Phil Spector and his Wall of Sound, and then as the physical embodiment of the lavish sonic dreams of Brian Wilson. Rarely credited on record, the Wrecking Crew nevertheless played for, with, and in the service of nearly every prominent American pop performer of the decade, to the point that it’s probably easier to make a list of the acts it didn’t support. If you’ve heard the Crystals (“He’s a Rebel”), Jan and Dean (“Surf City”), Paul Revere and the Raiders (“Kicks”), Simon and Garfunkel (“Bridge Over Troubled Water”), the Association (“Windy”), the Mamas and the Papas (“California Dreamin’ ”), Frank Sinatra (“Strangers in the Night”), the Monkees (“Last Train to Clarksville”), Herb Alpert (“A Taste of Honey”), Nancy Sinatra (“These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ ”), or Sonny and Cher (“Bang Bang”)—not to mention the “Batman” theme, the “Mission: Impossible” theme, the “Hawaii Five-O” theme, or the “Born Free” theme—then you’ve heard the Wrecking Crew. When producers called musicians, these were the musicians who got called first. Now, the Crew is the subject of a documentary, “We Got Good At It.” Well, “now” is perhaps a bit misleading. The film, which is spearheaded by Tommy Tedesco’s son Denny, has been in pre-production since the mid-nineties, when the elder Tedesco was diagnosed with cancer. At that point, Denny realized that he had limited time to commit his father’s stories to tape and film. Tommy Tedesco died in 1997, but Denny kept moving forward with the project, speaking to as many Wrecking Crew members as possible and making a special effort to get in contact with musicians who were sick. Tedesco was also determined to include as many of the songs the group played on as possible, especially because so many of them were huge hits. The final cut of his movie included more than a hundred and thirty excerpts of songs, which made for a more nuanced and comprehensive film. It also made for a more expensive film, due to the requirements of music licensing. And while the documentary was able to show on the festival circuit in 2008 and has been featured on National Public Radio, those are not-for-profit environments. Commercial distribution remains prohibitively expensive. An initial estimate of $2.5 million was negotiated down over time, but completion costs still hover around two hundred thousand dollars. Enter crowdsourcing. While many celebrity-driven projects have thrown the fundamental philosophy of online group fund-raising into question— Zach Braff’s recent film, “Wish I Was Here,” raised more than three million dollars and ruffled the feathers of those who wondered why Braff couldn’t have gone a more traditional route—the Wrecking Crew documentary seems like a perfect fit. On its Kickstarter page, Tedesco not only reiterates the group’s historical importance, but clearly outlines the difficulties he has encountered in financing the project. “It’s been a long road with many ups and downs,” he writes. “The money raised on Kickstarter will not only pay for the [American Federation of Musicians] costs, but also the last few song licenses, some stock footage licensing, an online edit…and the final mix.” The film is currently only a little more than halfway toward its two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar goal, with a stated deadline of December 21st. But because the Internet has magical powers when it comes to content distribution, much of what Tedesco has created can already be viewed online. On the film’s official Web page, entering your e-mail address will give you access to dozens of outtakes from the film, including interviews with Leon Russell and Glen Campbell, and vignettes on everything from Phil Spector’s famed holiday album “A Christmas Gift For You” to Perry Botkin’s discovery of Harry Nilsson. This featurette, produced for the Nashville Film Festival, includes Tedesco’s summary of the film and content from it, including footage of his father. Still, the final film does what none of these snippets can: it provides a rounded portrait of the musicians and their times, along with dozens of interviews. There are frank insights regarding the Crew’s attitude toward rock and roll (because all the musicians were highly trained, some saw it as a simplistic art form whose time would pass), the money involved (there was lots of it), each other (they are, for the most part, highly generous to their peers, happy to give credit for indelible riffs or hooks), and the almost unfathomable insanity of the schedule. As the guitarist Bill Pittman says, “You leave the house at seven o’clock in the morning, and you’re at Universal at nine till noon; now you’re at Capitol Records at one, you just got time to get there, then you got a jingle at four, then we’re on a date with somebody at eight, then the Beach Boys at midnight, and you do that five days a week…jeez, man, you get burned out.” But they didn’t burn out, not really. They played on into the early seventies, elevating hits such as the 5th Dimension’s “One Less Bell To Answer,” the Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You,” and Cher’s “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves.” At that point, a handful of members (Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, and Dr. John) went on to solo fame; others joined groups (Jim Gordon became the drummer for Derek and the Dominos); and still others semi-retired or turned to teaching. The Wrecking Crew passed into a history that it largely created, imperfectly acknowledged but perfectly present in hundreds of American pop songs known to all.It's not just local manufacturers that will be forced to abide by the new ruling, with outfits such as Samsung and Apple also liable. It's not the first time that manufacturers will have to tweak their designs to deal with local legislation. For instance, Russia imposed a hefty 25 percent import levy on all smartphones that didn't support its homegrown navigation system, GLONASS. The move has come from the country's telecoms minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who said that he made the decision to "help our women in distress." India is currently dealing with what the Daily Beast has described as a rape crisis. The number of reported violent sexual assaults in the country has gone up by nearly 13,000 in the last five years. There is no telling how many unreported attacks are going on, although one stat suggests that a woman is raped in the country once every fifteen minutes. Mashable quotes Prasad as saying that "technology is solely meant to make human life better, and what better than using it for the security of women." The industry's relationship with sexual assault is a complex one, since most of its efforts are directed at creating panic buttons rather than addressing the cause. Companies such as Wisewear are developing wearable technology disguised as jewelry that will alert the emergency services in the event of an attack.Posted on by RBuccicone Ring a Ding Ding When Lauren Bacall first appears in Humphrey Bogart‘s hotel doorway in To Have and Have Not, one has to pause and question whether their characters are already familiar with each other. In truth, not even the actors themselves were very well acquainted as the stars started work on a project that would result in their marriage. After seeing a screen test by Bacall, then 19, for the movie and the scene in which she questions whether the gentleman can whistle, Bogart tells the newcomer, “We’ll have a lot of fun together,” and fun they had. The couple fell in love during the making of the Ernest Hemingway novel-based movie. When Bogart’s wife at the time Mayo Methot would inquire where her husband was, the answer was “the cast”. The actor finally shrugged off the long-failed marriage with a Vegas divorce May 10, 1945. He married Bacall May 21. They would name their son after Bogie’s character in To Have and Have Not, whom Bacall’s character refers to as Steve. The movie’s familiar plot lines harken back to the 1944 award winner, Casablanca. In To Have and Have Not, Bogie’s American character does not own a nightclub on a French-ruled exotic locale, but instead lives at one. As a boat owner, he reluctantly agrees to help smuggle a man important to the French resistance during Germany’s occupation of the nation. That man happens to have a woman with him who is more important to have in tow than leave behind, for the mere reason that she helps drive his mission. On the Caribbean isle of Martinique, Bogie’s Harry Morgan rents out his fishing boat and captain skills to anyone buying. We open on him, his alcoholic crew member Eddie (Walter Brennan) and the man (Walter Sande) who loses his fishing pole overboard and cancels the rest of the excursion. This Johnson now owes Harry for the rod and the week’s trip, some $800. The man says he must go to the bank the next morning to retrieve the cash. Before that can happen, Harry is approached by the owner of the hotel/bar where he resides and is asked about aiding the French resistance effort by helping to move an important man between locales in the ocean. Harry refuses to get involved with such a politics. In walks Marie Browning (Bacall) looking for a match. This husky voiced gal whom Harry names Slim, later picks Johnson’s pocket. Not only did the man have the money to pay Harry but he also has a plane ticket that would have had him out of the country before the bank opened. During a shootout that kills several members of the underground resistance, Johnson also catches a stray bullet. Harry takes what is owed from the wallet, but this prompts the authorities to question his connection to the rebels. The man’s passport and money are confiscated for the time being. Now looking to start a life with Slim, and annoyed at the police, Harry agrees to take up the well-paying, one-night voyage and manages to pick up and drop off Paul (Walter Molnar) and Helene De Bursac (Dolores Moran), but not before Paul is shot. The wounded man ends up in the hotel basement where Harry continues to help the rebels while conversations with Helene spark Slim’s jealousy. An end-of-the-movie gunpoint holdup will help the De Bursac’s free a man from Devil’s Island and allow Harry and Slim to take off to some other destination. Unlike Casablanca, To Have and Have Not offers too easy an ending for my tastes. It sets up a scene that could lead to a shoot out, but fades to close leaving us to assume all works out well. Otherwise the story is intriguing and sexy, especially with the unique look of young Bacall at the helm. Part way through the picture, Slim picks up a job singing at the hotel bar and does so in the deepest, husky voice you will ever hear. It is far from an attractive singing voice, but it suits her sultry look. Some say the voice was dubbed by Andy Williams, but Bacall maintained it was her own. Director Howard Hawks insisted that without Bogart’s help he could not have elicited the performance from Bacall that he did. He had the part created in a Marlene Dietrich-esque way because he thought the young model could become a new version of the seductress. “Not many actors would sit around and wait while a girl steals a scene,” Hawks said after filming. “But he fell in love with the girl and the girl with him, and that made it easy.” To Have and Have Not is set for 8 p.m. ET July 21 on TCM. Source: The Ultimate Bogart by Ernest W. Cunningham, TCM.com Advertisements Filed under: Drama, Romance \| Tagged: Dolores Moran, Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Mayo Methot, Ring a Ding Ding, Walter Brennan, Walter Molnar, Walter Sande \|Story highlights The Ekso is a wearable robot consisting of a motorized frame and computer Bionic device gives paraplegics upright mobility and enhances strength in others The Ekso is available in rehab centers and hospitals; a personal version is planned The idea of "wearable robots" may seem like something out of a movie, but this technology is already being used in real life. Started as a project for the military, the exoskeleton has transformed from a device designed to allow soldiers to lift heavy loads and walk further to one that enables people with disabilities to step out of wheelchairs and stand upright. The "Ekso" is a bionic exoskeleton developed by Ekso Bionics that gives paraplegics upright mobility. While the commercial version of the Ekso has recently been made available to hospitals and rehabilitation centers, the company hopes to make the technology more accessible so that people can use it at home and in their everyday lives, with a personal version releasing in 2014. CEO Eythor Bender sat down with CNN to talk about Ekso, the bionic exoskeleton he helped develop. CNN: How many years have you been working on exoskeletons? Bender: We have been working on exoskeletons for the last 10 years. It started as a project with the military and it was funded by We have been working on exoskeletons for the last 10 years. It started as a project with the military and it was funded by DARPA, the same people who funded the Internet and GPS systems. So it was groundbreaking technology, and in the year 2005 we had a breakthrough in terms of making sure that the weight of the exoskeleton transfers all the way down to the ground. So the user who is wearing it -- it usually weighs up to 50 pounds -- doesn't feel the weight at all. And that's so important because obviously you are trying to make their lives easier, not more difficult. CNN: What powers the exoskeleton? Bender: What we are using here is electric motors, and there are four of them, which is actually quite unique especially when you compare it to (technology used by) amputees. Prosthetics so far have usually had one moving component, and in this case you have in one system four moving components. You have four motors -- two sitting at the hips and two at the knees -- and that's what you hear. and it's driven by a battery pack sitting on the back. In the middle, between the two batteries, is a computer and so that is pretty much it. It's an outer frame that pretty much mimics the bone structure. There are 15 sensors in it that almost re-create your nerve system. And then there is the computer, which is really the brain of the whole thing. CNN: What is your long-term hope or vision for this product in terms of helping people on the medical side? Bender: Our hope
the studio delivered so far with the first two movies. I personally think that the film franchise is beyond saving with the way Paramount is handling it. I think the only way to turn things around would be to wait three or four years and then start fresh and reboot the franchise with talented filmmakers who know what they’re doing. The fact that they’re still dragging out what they started just doesn’t make sense to me. As much as I’ve enjoyed some of the films that Caruso has made, I’m not very hopeful that this third G.I. Joe movie will be any good.Offenders of the city’s municipal laws with outstanding warrants soon will get a free pass. St. Louis officials plan to announce that the city’s municipal court will automatically clear outstanding warrants for nonviolent traffic violations and allow offenders to reset the court dates without a fee so long as they act by year’s end, making it the most progressive warrant forgiveness program in the region. About 220,000 outstanding warrants issued before Oct. 1 in the city will automatically be forgiven, according to Jeff Rainford, the chief of staff to Mayor Francis Slay. {snip} Rainford said the novel approach comes from conversations in the wake of the unrest in Ferguson, where many advocates of the poor complain that some residents are burdened by steep court fines and saddled with warrants for minor offenses. “In light of Ferguson, we were thinking of how we can be more fair,” Rainford said. Bench warrants are typically issued when someone misses a court appearance, meaning the offender can be arrested and forced to pay several hundred dollars for bail in addition to their underlying ticket. Now, those with an outstanding warrant issued prior to Oct. 1 stemming from nonviolent municipal offenses in St. Louis, usually for failure to appear in court, will receive a postcard in the mail informing them that the warrant will be cleared until Dec. 31. If offenders don’t come to the municipal court by the end of the year and schedule a new court date, then the warrant will be put back into place. Mary Ellen Ponder, the city’s operations director, estimated that about 70,000 to 80,000 people will receive postcards. (Many individuals have an average of three to four outstanding warrants per person.) {snip} Offenders must still face the original charges that led to the failure to appear charge. {snip} Rainford stressed that the amnesty would apply only to warrants for municipal traffic violations, not state crimes or drunken driving offenses. Warrants stemming from more serious issues like DWI, DUI and leaving the scene charges are exempt, as well as animal abuse and nuisance property warrants. {snip} Outstanding warrants have long clogged law enforcement systems throughout the nation. Cities have differed on how to handle the backlog, whether through warrant forgiveness programs or cracking down on offenders. For example, in 2013, San Antonio city marshals outfitted more police cars with automatic license plate readers in an effort to roundup tens of thousands of misdemeanor warrants. Warrant amnesty has been a consistent complaint by many activists and protesters in Ferguson. They have complained that cash-strapped cities are aggressively using municipal tickets and fines as a way of boosting revenue. {snip} Clayton will have an “amnesty day” on Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., where defendants can come to court without fear of arrest and make deals with prosecutors and judges to handle outstanding warrants. Velda City announced last month that offenders can clear up three traffic tickets for a one-time “failure-to-appear” charge of $200, anytime during the month of October. {snip} Original Article Share ThisWho wouldn’t be disgusted to know that most hens used for eggs are confined in cages too small to even extend their wings? Photo by The HSUS It’s been more than a year since I first wrote here about a proposed farm animal protection ballot measure in Massachusetts that would prohibit the sale of eggs, pork, and veal from animals raised in extreme, inhumane confinement. Since that blog, thousands of Massachusetts residents have circulated and signed petitions – about 170,000 in all – to qualify the measure for the November ballot as Question 3. After a failed attempt in recent months by the agribusiness lobby to knock us off the ballot through litigation, our coalition has swelled, and we’ve made remarkable strides toward ensuring a victory for chickens, pigs, and cows. But much work remains, and we hope you’ll support Question 3 in whatever way makes sense for you. HSUS staff, along with allies from the MSPCA, ASPCA, and The Humane League, have been reporting great turnout and enormous enthusiasm at grassroots organizing events throughout the state this past week. They’ve met volunteers brand new to animal activism, as well as veterans of past ballot measures in Massachusetts to ban greyhound racing or cruel traps and other regressive wildlife killing practices. Complementing the hard work of these advocates, volunteers outside the state are helping out by making calls to Massachusetts voters. Veteran advocates might remember the old days of phone banking, when you’d have to dial hundreds of numbers by hand. New technology makes our system easy to use, automatically dialing numbers for you and maximizing the benefits of every volunteer hour. You don’t have to be an expert to make calls; all you need is a phone, a computer, and a passion for animal protection, and you can do it from anywhere, in any state. It’s easy, just sign up here to start. We’ve seen time and time again that once voters learn the truth about factory farming, they’re ready to embrace a new vision for agriculture. After all, who wouldn’t be disgusted to know that veal calves and breeding pigs are often locked for months in crates too narrow to turn around, and that most hens used for eggs are confined in cages too small to even extend their wings? Massachusetts voters typically come away from these conversations indignant about this kind of animal treatment and vow to vote YES on Question 3. But in every election, some voters don’t take the time to evaluate or to vote on ballot questions, while others could be fooled by misinformation from agribusiness interests who stoke fear and provide false assurances about their treatment of animals. That’s why it’s critical that we reach as many voters as possible before they step into the voting booth to remind them that voting YES! on Question 3 will prevent animal cruelty. While having one-on-one conversations with voters is crucial in turning out the YES! vote, we’re planning on running a multi-faceted campaign to persuade voters. Donations, big and small, are needed to ensure that that the campaign will be able to run television advertising, exposing voters to the horrors of cage confinement. We’ve garnered more than 1,000 endorsements from family farmers, veterinarians, businesses, and non-profits. Campaign staff and coalition partners are communicating with reporters and editors at newspapers from Boston to the Berkshires about the benefits this measure would have for food safety, the environment, and animals. And there’s much, much more. Before we launched our campaign, there were just a handful of food retailers that pledged to stop purchasing eggs from hens confined in cages. Since we filed the measure, the trickle has turned into a gusher. Walmart, Costco, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, and about 200 other big brand names have now pledged to phase in cage-free eggs exclusively. This movement of 90 percent of the food retail sectors in our direction – most of those same companies have made the same pledge on pigs and gestation crate confinement – demonstrates that our ideas are solidly in the mainstream and practical from a food procurement and sale perspective. In short, Question 3 is an affirmation of what many of the biggest low-cost food sellers have already decided to do. Yet, like laws against dogfighting or animal cruelty, we need a law to bring around the outliers and to set a bright-line standard in the law that certain conduct toward animals is not a choice or a preference, but a core human responsibility. Even if 10 percent of eggs or pork sold come from cage-confinement operations, that means millions of animals are enduring endless privation. Massachusetts voters have the opportunity to make clear that animal products produced and sold within the state must meet a minimum standard. No animal should be kept in a cage for her whole life and essentially immobilized. That’s cruel, and the enactment of Question 3 will remind every retailer that doing business in Massachusetts requires them to refrain from participating in such cruelty. Question 3 not only prevents the cruelest confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and laying hens, but it also prevents food retailers from selling animal products within the state that come from factory farms anywhere that lock their animals in cages. By passing it, Massachusetts voters will put an exclamation point on our campaign against a system that was never acceptable and that should never have become routine.Amazon unveiled its own plans to compete in the user-generated video market with the launch of a new service called Amazon Video Direct in a surprise announcement this morning. This service, explains the company, allows creators to upload their own videos to Amazon’s Prime Video and generate royalties based on the hours streamed. Creators have several options to monetize their videos, including making them available to rent or own, or they can make them free and ad-supported. The videos can also be packaged together and offered as an add-on subscription to Amazon Prime Video. Add-on subscriptions are available through the Streaming Partners Program, and are intended for larger-scale video providers. The new program will likely appeal to creators given Amazon’s scale. This self-serve platform reaches the company’s “tens of millions” of Prime members, Amazon notes. Many of these customers are already engaged with Amazon Prime Video, as they use this Netflix-like service to watch Amazon’s free TV shows and movies, including both popular network TV and Hollywood films, as well as Amazon’s own original content. In addition, Amazon says that creators will have control over where their videos can be streamed. For now, that means they can be streamed in countries where Amazon Video is available – the U.S., Germany, Austria, United Kingdom and Japan. These videos can be played back anywhere Amazon Video works, as well, which includes mobile phones and tablets (Fire, iOS and Android), desktop, game consoles, connected TV platforms, and Fire TV. Like other video sites, creators will also have access to metrics to see how their videos are performing. This system, at launch, includes the ability to track number of minutes a title was streamed, projected revenue, payment history, and number of subscribers. This allows the creators to make changes based on their metrics, says Amazon. “It’s an amazing time to be a content creator,” said Jim Freeman, Vice President of Amazon Video, in a statement about the launch. “There are more options for distribution than ever before and with Amazon Video Direct, for the first time, there’s a self-service option for video providers to get their content into a premium streaming subscription service. We’re excited to make it even easier for content creators to find an audience, and for that audience to find great content.” According to Variety, Amazon will pay partners 50 percent of the retail price for digital purchases, rentals and subscription fees. If creators distribute on Prime Video, they will earn royalties of 15 cents per hour streamed in the U.S. and 6 cents in other territories, their report indicates. (This is capped at $75,000 per year). Along with the debut of AVD, as the new service is called for short, Amazon is also launching AVD Stars. A unique promotion designed to kick-start this new video platform, the AVD Stars program gives creators a share of $1 million per month based on customer engagement with their title. Amazon says it will distribute a monthly bonus to creators from the $1 million monthly fund, based on the Top 100 AVD titles in Prime Video. This is on top of any other revenue earned. All creators and providers who use AVD will automatically be enrolled. The program launches today and the $1 million monthly fund will make its first bonus distributions based on streaming activity from June 1st to June 30th. Amazon’s announcement noted some of the early names it has signed up to participate in the new program, including Conde Nast Entertainment, HowStuffWorks, Samuel Goldwyn Films, The Guardian, Mashable, Mattel, StyleHaul, Kin Community, Jash, Business Insider, Machinima, TYT Network, Baby Einstein, CJ Entertainment America, Xive TV, Synergetic Distribution, Kino Nation, Journeyman Pictures, and Pro Guitar Lessons. As you can tell by the selection, Amazon is targeting larger video creators and MCNs (multi-channel networks), as opposed to the everyday, mainstream users who use YouTube to upload personal videos. That makes the service competitive with something like Vimeo, as well, especially given the options to rent or sell videos. The launch follows Amazon’s recent debut of standalone subscriptions,which target non-Prime members at a cost of $8.99 per month.Seattle Socialist Councilwoman Calls on Protesters to Shut Down Trump’s Inauguration (VIDEO) Seattle Socialist councilwoman Kshama Sawant told protesters to shut down Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington DC. Sawant told the crowd of organized anti-Trump protesters that the movement against President-elect Donald Trump is just beginning. OCCUPY INAUGURATION: Socialist Seattle Council member @cmkshama calls for nationwide shutdown on #Trump inaug. day. pic.twitter.com/rwwyrsLYJ9 — Essex J. Porter (@EssexKIRO7) November 9, 2016 Aren’t there still laws on the book about inciting a riot? Sawant wants demonstrators to shut down Trump’s inauguration in January. Via Politopinion: KIRO reported: In a packed post-election rally at Seattle City Hall on Wednesday afternoon, Socialist councilmember Kshama Sawant called for a massive protest on Wednesday night and a nationwide shutdown on Inauguration Day in response to president-elect Donald Trump.(Warning for casual transmisogyny.) I’ve watched Arrested Development a couple times. It’s not really my cup of tea, but Heather enjoys it, and I can certainly see why people might like it. Now that it’s returning on Netflix for another season, I might have given it another chance. And then someone who runs their Facebook page had the great idea of posting this: For those not in the know, when cis people use the word “tranny”, they’re typically not referring to us in a kind or affectionate way. It’s vastly more likely to be used as a cheap insult, a threat, a porn keyword, or as seen in this case, a joke unto itself. And that’s literally the entire joke here: Trannies! Ha ha, isn’t that funny? Well, honestly… it’s kind of not funny at all. It’s the sort of lazy humor that every comedy, given enough time, will arrive at eventually – like a Godwin’s Law of transphobia. These low-effort attempts at comedy are made under the assumption that the mere idea of men in dresses, or trans people, is inherently laughable. Treating both as though they were the same is just the icing on the cake. This can make it difficult to enjoy otherwise entertaining media, because you can run into it anywhere. You’re just looking up a Facebook page for a TV show, and… oh. There it is, the all-too-frequent reminder that This is not for you. It’s meant for other people, so that they can laugh at you. It tells us that the fact of our humanity wasn’t actually taken into account at any point between someone having an idea, someone cobbling it together, someone approving it, and someone clicking “post”. Just being able to go about our lives would be too much to ask – we have to be someone’s punchline. That’s me they’re talking about. You don’t have to be trans to have a problem with this. Knowing trans people is enough. Having an understanding of trans people as real human beings should be enough. Hell, all you need is a good sense of humor that doesn’t force you to lean on what’s become the most pervasive and played-out “joke” in comedy. You can do better than this.We knew vaguely that Google was looking toward the living room, but the NYTimes has the details on Google TV, an ambitious platform to deliver web content to Android-based set-top boxes and TVs through partnerships with Sony, Intel, and Logitech. Advertisement Google hopes that the new platform will succeed where dozens of lesser efforts have failed—to truly and seamlessly integrate web content onto TVs, bringing services like Twitter and sites like YouTube, in addition to games, webapps, and, of course, Google's search, to the big screen. The Google TV software reportedly includes a version of Google's Chrome browser for doing some light surfing, as well. The Times says Google TV will be delivered on set-top boxes that use Intel Atom chips and run an Android-based platform, though the technology will also reportedly be built directly into Blu-ray players and TVs from Sony. Additionally, Google is working with Logitech to built a keyboard-equipped remote control for the platform. Though spokespeople from the companies wouldn't comment on the project, the Times notes that Intel and Logitech have recently put out job listings for programmers with Android experience. Advertisement Television is a relatively unexplored frontier for Google. It's one of the few spaces left in which the company it is yet to extend its services (as well as its advertising.) But Google TV is far from a sure thing. Many companies have struggled to figure out the right user interface to finally make web on TV make sense. Google's interfaces tend toward the functional, rather than the beautiful, but on a big screen, the sexiness factor cannot be ignored. Bringing web content to TVs is a role that's still very much up for grabs. If Google TV, which has reportedly been in works for months, is the right solution for the problem—Gmail was for web mail, Buzz was not for social networking—then it could very well could be the platform that finally brings the power of the internet to the realm of the couch-potato. [NY Times]This was supposed to be the year virtual reality broke out. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, the first two high-end consumer devices on the market, arrived this spring to critical praise and preorders that sold out within minutes. Then… they plateaued. Despite some great experiences, months of near-total unavailability dulled the post-release buzz for both headsets, particularly the Rift. Neither the Rift or the Vive ecosystems produced a killer app that was big enough to push VR out of the margins, especially given the high cost of a headset and gaming PC. While 360-degree video has at least gotten a toehold in popular culture, the dream of sophisticated VR gaming — which arguably resurrected virtual reality in the first place — remains far away for most people. But there are three months left in the year, and one thing that could change that: PlayStation VR. PlayStation VR is Sony’s attempt at bringing virtual reality to its PlayStation 4 console, starting next week. Arriving right in time for the holidays, it’s being positioned as a (relatively) cheap, unintimidating gaming headset, designed for a device that might already be sitting in your living room. The Rift and Vive had to be judged on a sort of abstract scale of quality — on whether they were good ambassadors for the medium of VR, and good harbingers of things to come. The question for PlayStation VR is simpler: if you’re one of the millions of people who own a PlayStation 4, should you get one? PlayStation VR was initially announced as something called "Project Morpheus" in 2014, and despite some visual tweaks, the core design hasn’t changed. Where Oculus goes for an understated, late-Gibsonian cyberpunk aesthetic and the Vive is aggressively industrial, Sony’s design has the clean white curves of a ‘60s science fiction spaceship interior, setting off a black front panel and rubber face mask. The external PlayStation Camera tracks it with a matrix of glowing blue lights: six lining the headset’s edges, two on the back, and one right in the middle of the front panel. The shape echoes Sony’s old HMZ personal viewer, but without the futile effort at making a headset seem small and sleek. PlayStation VR is unapologetically eye-catching, and whether that’s a good or bad thing is a matter of personal taste. PlayStation VR is unapologetically eye-catching Looks aside, PlayStation VR is ridiculously comfortable. Your average virtual reality headset is strapped on like a ski mask, which ensures a snug fit but can also squeeze your face unpleasantly. PSVR, by contrast, has a padded plastic ring that rests on your head a bit like a hard hat. To put it on, you’ll push a button to loosen the sides, stretch it over your upper skull, and fine-tune the tightness with a dial on the back. The screen is anchored to the front of the ring, where it almost floats in front of your face. Another button lets you adjust the focus by sliding the screen in and out, which also means it fits easily over glasses. PSVR still asks you to clamp something around your head, and it’s certainly possible to give yourself a headache by putting it on wrong. But its weight is distributed much more evenly than other headsets, so it’s not constantly pushing down on your forehead and cheekbones. At 610 grams, it’s the heaviest of the VR headsets, but it feels like the lightest. The design also neatly solves a few of VR’s subtler problems. I didn’t come out of sessions with telltale mask lines around my eyes, just a small dent at my hairline. I’d still worry about smudging makeup, but far less than with any other headset. And since the face mask is made of rubber sheets instead of foam, it’s not going to be soaking up dirt or sweat. That rubber also blocks out light incredibly well, neatly closing the gaps between your face and the screen. The only major downside is that it starts slipping out of place if you look straight up or rapidly shake your head, something that becomes an issue with gaze-controlled arcade games like PlayStation VR Worlds’ "Danger Ball." The thing that’s going to draw a lot of people to PlayStation VR, though, is the price: $399. Well, that’s technically the price, although it’s also a bit of a sneaky move on Sony’s part. This base system doesn’t contain the PlayStation’s tracking camera, which is mandatory for PSVR, or the two Move controllers, which are highly encouraged. The reasoning is that since both these products were already on the market, some users will already have them. But unless you were a really big fan of Johann Sebastian Joust or some other game that used one of Sony’s niche peripherals, you should consider the $499 PSVR bundle — which comes with two Move controllers and a camera — your default choice. Even at nearly $500, PSVR is still cheaper than the Rift and Vive To make things more complicated, you’ll also have to decide whether to buy the more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro console when it comes out in November. The Pro is supposed to improve the frame rate and image quality of PSVR, but we haven’t been able to test the performance for ourselves — and Sony is still promising that PSVR will work fine with the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Slim. Even at nearly $500, PSVR is still cheaper than the Rift and Vive, which respectively cost $599 and $799 plus the cost of a PC. That’s partly because Sony isn’t pushing for the highest specs on the market. Where the Rift and Vive incorporate two separate screens with a resolution of 1080 x 1200 pixels per eye, PlayStation VR has a single screen that offers 1080 x 960 pixels per eye, comparable to the second Oculus Rift development kit. On paper, this is the system’s biggest technical limitation. It’s grainier than its two big competitors, which still look a little fuzzy in their own right, and dark colors can appear muddy. But screen resolution isn’t the only factor in how good something looks. Sony likes to tout the PSVR’s high screen refresh rate as a way to compensate for its lower resolution. And games are in fact quite smooth, with very little juddering or latency — which, far more than pixel density, was the big problem with the Rift DK2. The field of view feels comparable to the current Rift and Vive, and bright, cartoonish games like Job Simulator look very similar on any high-end headset. Compared to the awkward dangling headset jack on the HTC Vive, this feels convenient and natural PlayStation VR isn’t just competing against tethered headsets. With Samsung’s Gear VR on its third generation and Google’s first Daydream headset launching in November, mobile VR is an increasingly viable option — and a cheaper one, if you already own a phone that supports it. But it’s not in the same class as PSVR. Mobile headsets don’t have things like positional tracking, which can help cut down on motion sickness and open up new gameplay options, and they can’t touch PSVR’s comfort levels or graphical performance. They’re not necessarily a worse category of virtual reality, but they’re a very different one. PSVR also includes some interesting touches that aren’t present on any major headset, tethered or untethered. Midway down the cable, for example, there’s an inline remote with buttons for power, volume, and toggling a built-in microphone. Headphones aren’t built directly into the hardware, but the remote has a jack for either Sony’s included earbuds or your own wired set. Compared to the awkward dangling headset jack on the HTC Vive, this feels convenient and natural, although I accidentally yanked my earbuds out a couple of times by kneeling in VR and catching the cord on my leg. You can pair wireless headphones with the PlayStation 4 for stereo sound, but Sony says you can only get 3D audio directly through the jack. For every thoughtful design decision, though, there’s a reminder that PlayStation VR isn’t a totally novel gaming system, but a patchwork of various weird Sony experiments that may have finally found their purpose. It’s a new headset inspired by a personal 3D theater from 2012, paired with a set of motion controllers that were released in 2010, plus a camera peripheral that’s been around in some form since 2003. For now, the motion controllers are the system’s biggest shortcoming On one hand, Sony deserves credit for seeing the potential in all these things. On the other, it’s saddled PlayStation VR with the worst motion controls of any major headset. The PlayStation Move controllers are painfully limited compared to either Oculus Touch or the HTC Vive remotes, simply because their interface is a bad fit for VR. They’re pimpled with four miniscule face buttons that are almost pointless for anything but menu selections, with inlaid, difficult-to-find options buttons along the sides. The only useful elements are a single trigger and one large, awkwardly positioned button at the top. The Move was originally paired with a second, smaller peripheral bearing an analog stick and directional pads; without it, navigating menus (including the main PS4 interface) involves dragging your controller like the world’s clumsiest mouse. They can also be frustratingly inconsistent. In the leisurely Job Simulator, I had almost no problems using them. But during the frantic rail shooter Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, where precision was a matter of virtual life or death, I had to repeatedly reorient them after they drifted out of place. Since I haven’t had a chance to fully review the Oculus Touch motion controllers, I can’t make a final call on how much of this is a weakness of the Move specifically or of camera-based tracking in general, but Move has enough shortcomings to put it on the bottom of the pile no matter what. If the first generation of PSVR does well, Sony will almost certainly have to follow up with something better, but for now, the motion controllers are the system’s biggest shortcoming. Even setting PSVR up in the first place is a bit more complicated than its unintimidating heritage suggests. Instead of plugging directly into the PlayStation 4, the headset uses a separate processor box that helps mix 3D audio and supply video to both PSVR and TV. You connect the box to a power outlet and your TV’s HDMI port, then connect it to your PS4 via a Micro USB and HDMI cable. The camera goes into a dedicated port on the console, and finally, the headset connects to the other side of the box. This can create a bit of a rat’s nest around your console, and it leaves precious little space for juicing up your Move and DualShock controllers, unless you buy a separate charging dock. It’s not quite as involved as the HTC Vive’s room-scale setup, but it’s several more steps than the Oculus Rift requires. PlayStation VR fits into a popular, user-friendly system Unlike with the Rift or Vive, though, the setup is nearly impossible to screw up. There’s no third-party PC software to install or drivers to track down, just a few screens that guide you through setup and make any necessary updates. Once you’re in, you’ll see the ordinary PlayStation VR interface, as though viewed on a big-screen TV in front of you. In some ways, this feels like a letdown — you have to launch a game to experience PSVR’s full impact. But it’s immediately easy to understand, and after a while, any decent electronic interface tends to fade into the background, even in VR. Overall, what’s great about PlayStation VR is that it fits into a popular, user-friendly system. But that also sets certain expectations that other headsets don’t have. Oculus and HTC can ask people to set up precisely calibrated personal holodecks without a second thought, because PC gaming is already a somewhat solitary activity that goes hand-in-hand with ridiculous hardware setups. PlayStation VR’s natural habitat is an all-purpose entertainment space that you might share with any number of people, including ones who couldn’t care less about VR. Like the PlayStation itself, PSVR feels best as something you can kick back and enjoy without rearranging your living room into a VR cave. PSVR’s camera is supposed to track a headset up to 10 feet away, over an area about 6 feet wide. In my New York apartment, that’s more than enough, especially because the system’s standing experiences rarely require moving more than a couple of feet. But if you’ve got a particularly big living room, you might need to move your couch or camera for seated games. The camera stand that my review unit came with was also a little too easy to knock out of place. To its credit, though, the PlayStation VR’s cable is long enough to easily accommodate a good-sized space between seat and TV, and when it’s working, the camera seems to track head motion about as well as the Oculus Rift. For some people, PSVR’s main use case may not be "true" virtual reality, but playing traditional games in relative privacy. Opening a non-VR game in PSVR will launch it normally on your TV or monitor, and on a floating screen inside the headset. To be clear, PSVR doesn’t let you use the PlayStation 4 for two things at once — one person can’t watch Netflix while another plays games, for example. But after the first-time setup, I was able to play without a second screen turned on or plugged in at all. Besides the allure of having a big personal theater, this opens the door to things like playing a violent game without your kids watching, or letting a housemate use your shared TV with another console or set-top box. Conversely, if you like gaming around other people — even if that just means sitting down to play while your partner reads beside you — then shutting out the world with a VR game isn’t necessarily a welcome change. Even if someone can see what you’re doing via the mirrored screen, you can’t tell if they’re in the room, which is an uncomfortable and alienating experience. There are a couple of local multiplayer games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, in which one player wears a headset and the other coaches them through a bomb defusal from outside VR. But there’s no getting around the fact that headsets can be isolating, and it’s more jarring than usual here because of how social the regular console gaming experience usually is. Sony is promising around 30 launch titles for PlayStation VR, with a couple of dozen more coming by the end of the year. It’s a relatively even mix of gamepad-based games and ones that can use either the Move or DualShock, plus a few that are Move-only. For all the Move’s problems, there’s something inherently cool about motion controls that work even moderately well, and some titles use them to great effect. The adventure game Wayward Sky takes place mostly in the third person, as you point at different parts of the world to direct your character. At key moments, it slips into a first-person view and lets you mime simple but satisfying tasks, like putting together a machine or aiming a fire hose. Sony’s struck gold with a little clutch of trance-y abstract games Rock Band and Guitar Hero studio Harmonix, meanwhile, has put together a psychedelic painting program where your art pulses to the beat of a playlist — the closest thing PSVR has to a pure creative tool. Sony’s minigame "The London Heist" is a Guy Ritchie-influenced shooter that would probably be better on the Rift or Vive, but is fun enough to transcend its clumsy controls. You can technically play these with a gamepad, and the DualShock has limited motion tracking capabilities of its own thanks to a light bar on the back. But unless you’re determined to avoid buying the Move, there’s no reason to do so. By and large, though, the most exciting PlayStation VR titles I’ve seen are gamepad-focused — and sometimes not even exclusive to VR. At launch, the system is short on the big narrative games you’ll find in PlayStation 4’s non-VR catalog, although Resident Evil 7 is coming to PSVR next year. But Sony’s struck gold with a little clutch of trance-y abstract games that are simultaneously relaxing and challenging. That includes a VR-enabled remake of musical shooter Rez, a Tetris-style puzzler called SuperHyperCube, and Thumper, a hypnotic rhythm game with sinister undertones. These aren’t enough to anchor PSVR in the long term, but they help establish a unique aesthetic for the system, while appealing to a broader audience than a stereotypical AAA action game. All this adds up to a system that is, more than anything else, good enough. There’s no one game that justifies buying PlayStation VR, and no technical breakthrough that will revolutionize how you experience the medium. But it offers a balanced, interesting launch catalog and a headset that’s a joy to wear, with weak points that hurt the system but don’t cripple it. It effectively costs more than an actual PlayStation 4 console, but for many people, it’s still within the range of a holiday splurge or a generous gift. And it’s got the backing of a company that, even if it’s being cautious with VR, seems in it for the long haul. In the long run, would a PSVR-dominated landscape be a win for VR? For now, it’s the lowest common denominator of tethered headsets, and a world in which all games had to work on it could discourage risky creative experiments on more capable and interesting hardware. PlayStation VR is just ambitious enough for Sony to test the waters for a larger foray into VR — its limited camera setup doesn’t lend itself to the impressive physical worldbuilding that I’ve seen in HTC Vive games, and Sony isn’t as visibly committed as Oculus to pushing bold, difficult VR-only projects. Things that could have been great as full-length games, like "The London Heist" or Batman: Arkham VR, peter out just as things get exciting. Until VR proves itself an economically viable medium, we’ll probably get a lot more of them. At the same time, holding out for total perfection is the wrong move. I don’t want PlayStation VR to become the only headset that people build for; it’s just not ambitious enough. But even this early in the game, Sony is providing a home for interesting, low-key experiences that highlight some of the medium’s strengths. More than any single piece of cutting-edge technology, the key to making VR succeed is just getting more people to use VR. And with PlayStation VR, Sony has just made that a lot easier. Good Stuff: • Ridiculously comfortable • Accessible and (relatively) affordable • Some good, low-key launch titles Bad Stuff: • Substandard motion controls • Piecemeal system can be confusing • Needs more risky, ambitious VR experiments Editor: Nilay PatelU.S. Visa Rules May Burden Relatives Abroad, Advocates Say Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Scott Olson/Getty Images A new restriction aimed at keeping terrorists out of the U.S. is proving troublesome. Critics say it will keep families apart, and it's already causing some diplomatic difficulties. The provision, passed by Congress in a spending bill last week, tightens the so-called visa waiver program, which allows residents of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa. Many of those are European countries. But if citizens of those countries have dual citizenship with Iraq, Syria or other nations with significant terrorist activity — including Iran, they no longer qualify. They will now have to go through additional screening, even if they haven't recently visited those countries. Additionally, anyone who has visited any of those places in the past five years is no longer eligible for the visa waiver program. Lawmakers in favor of the change expressed concern about the thousands of Europeans who have gone to Syria to fight alongside ISIS. They could hypothetically go from Syria to France and then fly to the U.S. Mina Bagherzadeh, however, says the new rules will make it tougher for her to see her family. Bagherzadeh was hoping she'd see her sister this summer, and maybe even her elderly mother. Bagherzadeh is a 47-year-old Iranian American who lives in Washington, D.C. Her mother and sister live in Germany, where the family fled after the 1979 revolution in Iran. Each summer, the family members take turns visiting each other, and this summer, Bagherzadeh says, it was their turn to come here. But now, it will be a little more complicated. "They will now need to go visit a U.S. consulate, file the application, pay the fee, do an interview, and wait and hope that they will be given a visa to come and visit us," she said. That's because Bagherzadeh's sister and mother are dual nationals — citizens of Germany and Iran — and so no longer qualify for the visa waiver program. It will cost her sister and mother $160 to apply for the visa they didn't need the last time they visited here. This may seem like a minor irritation — a bit of a travel hassle. But for Bagherzadeh, it's more than that. She says she
was also Bradley having to cover a healthy amount of ground behind the midfield trio of Darlington Nagbe, Pulisic and Fabian Johnson. Working on that defensive balance, and ensuring that the wide players provide defensive support, is something Arena will want to emphasize in the coming days. That 4-1-3-2 setup is likely what we will see against Trinidad & Tobago, with the Soca Warriors expected to try and bunker in and counter. If that is how Thursday's qualifier plays out then the Americans should have ample opportunity to pick apart the T&T defense, but Trinidad & Tobago has speedy midfield threats like Kevin Molino and Joevin Jones who could capitalize if the U.S. midfield plays like it did on Saturday. VILLAFANA SETTLING IN AT LEFT BACK For someone who had only played in four national team matches before Saturday, Villafana sure looked comfortable. The Santos Laguna man made his fourth consecutive start for the U.S. on Saturday, and looked at ease in both the 4-1-3-2 and the 3-5-2 the U.S. switched to in the second half. Villafana has the edge right now over the rest of the potential left back candidates because of his steady one-on-one defending as well as his quickness. Something else to consider is that he plays at altitude with Santos Laguna, where Torreon's 3,000 foot elevation isn't exactly Mexico City's 7,000, but it's something that surely has helped Villafana as he prepares for the upcoming qualifiers in Colorado and Mexico City. U.S. names Gold Cup squad That potential advantage could make Villafana a strong candidate to play in both World Cup qualifiers, something we aren't likely to see many players do because of the short break between matches (just three days). Fatigue certainly didn't look like an issue for Villafana on Saturday, as he looked even better in the second half than the first half as he buzzed up the left wing. Not everybody appeared to adapt to the demands of the week's altitude training. Johnson struggled on Saturday, and though he is normally one of the best players in the U.S. player pool, you wonder if he might be a player who has issues with altitude in the coming matches. THE 3-5-2 LOOKED PROMISING AND COULD BE AN AZTECA OPTION Mention the 3-5-2 system and Mexico to a U.S. fan and they might have painful flashbacks of the awful start the Americans endured playing in a 3-5-2 under Jurgen Klinsmann in the first half of last November's World Cup qualifying loss in Columbus, Ohio. The big knock about that disastrous showing was that the U.S. players simply weren't given good instructions leading into that match, which left them ill-prepared and vulnerable against a dangerous Mexico side. Clearly Arena wasn't scared away from the idea of using a 3-5-2, going out of his way to mention it as a possibility shortly after being hired. We saw the 3-5-2 in the second half on Saturday and it looked promising. The center back trio of Tim Ream, Matt Hedges and Omar Gonzalez functioned well as a unit, while Villafana and Yedlin worked well in the wing back roles. Michael Bradley and Kellyn Acosta provided ample support behind Pulisic, leaving you to wonder if Arena might be thinking about using this system against Mexico. That might sound like a risky proposition, but the versatility of the system is that it can play as a 5-3-2 defensively and a 3-5-2 in attack. The U.S. has a trio of very good center backs in John Brooks, Geoff Cameron and Gonzalez who could function well together in that setup, and that system just might be what the U.S. needs to contain what will likely be an attack-minded 4-3-3 setup from Mexico when the rivals meet on June 11. TIM HOWARD IS LOCKED IN Should anyone really be surprised that Tim Howard is sharp and ready to go for the qualifiers? Not really considering how good he has looked for the this season. His age (38) makes it easy to expect a drop-off at some point, but as he showed against Venezuela he can still make big saves and command the penalty area well. Arena: 'We're saving no one for Mexico' Something else Howard doesn't get enough credit for is organizing the defense. He is vocal and does a good job of communicating with his defenders, which will be particularly valuable if Arena decides to implement some new strategies, like a variation of a 5-3-2.Amazon Associates back in business in Illinois thanks to Supreme Court decision On Wednesday, thousands of Illinois residents got good news when Amazon announced that its Amazon Associates program – which allows bloggers and others with websites to make money when people click links on their sites to make purchases – would once again be open to them. Amazon dropped Illinoisans from the program in April 2011... On Wednesday, thousands of Illinois residents got good news when Amazon announced that its Amazon Associates program – which allows bloggers and others with websites to make money when people click links on their sites to make purchases – would once again be open to them. Amazon dropped Illinoisans from the program in April 2011 after Gov. Pat Quinn signed the so-called Main Street Fairness Act – better known as the “Amazon tax” – which required online retailers with affiliates in Illinois to collect a “use tax” for all sales to Illinois customers. Other ecommerce sites dropped Illinois affiliates as well, which meant that people and businesses that relied on affiliate marketing programs had to either shut down or leave the state. FatWallet.com, for one, moved from near Rockford, Ill., to Wisconsin, and CouponCabin.com moved from Chicago to Indiana. The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the “Amazon tax” in October because it conflicted with a federal law that prohibits state governments from discriminating against online commerce. That was great news for people who want to make money as Amazon Affiliates. But it doesn’t undo the harm the law caused them for the two-and-a-half years when they were barred from the program. It also won’t bring back FatWallet, CouponCabin or other businesses that left or were destroyed – or the jobs they provided. It also won’t bring back the resources the state wasted defending its unconstitutional law. At the Illinois Policy Institute, we often point out that policy changes lives. Court decisions do, too. Thanks to the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision, Amazon can make people’s lives better again after the policy enacted by Quinn and company made them worse. The court deserves praise for holding the General Assembly and the governor accountable for their actions. How much more damage will they cause before Illinois voters finally hold them accountable as well?The incident also made me wonder how often valuables disappear during security screenings at San Francisco’s airport, and if our experience with airport authorities was typical. I decided to find out. The challenge, I quickly learned, was navigating the dizzying multitude of jurisdictions involved. No single agency or individual seemed answerable for the problems. ¶The Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency that oversees airport security, referred questions to Covenant Aviation Security, a private subcontractor. San Francisco International is among 16 airports nationwide, out of 450, where security is privatized. Covenant said it could not comment without permission from the T.S.A. ¶The airport’s management also deflected questions, saying the San Francisco Police Department was in charge. Sandra Tong, the airport police bureau’s commander, declined several requests to be interviewed. Although the department has a force that responds to criminal matters, the airport is actually in San Mateo County, so cases are transferred to the county sheriff’s office for investigation. ¶Even responsibility for lost-and-found is splintered: Covenant handles items from security checkpoints. The San Francisco Police Department manages articles found elsewhere in the terminals. The airlines deal with belongings left on planes. As a result, for some missing items, passengers must contact as many as six different offices. No agency would provide statistics on airport thefts, but industry observers said it was a significant problem. Photo George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com and a veteran travel writer, said thefts of valuables were common, “but many are not reported.” In the past five years, more than 400 T.S.A. agents nationwide have been fired for stealing, he said, but most thefts are crimes of opportunity by travelers preying on fellow travelers. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Electronics, for example, are easily stolen at security checkpoints. “You can’t assume that because the person next to you in line bought an airline ticket that they’re honest,” Mr. Hobica said. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Sgt. Wesley Matsuura of the San Mateo County sheriff’s office agreed and said that cases of theft rarely involved security workers. “As far as the screeners go, I find them very trustworthy,” Sergeant Matsuura said. “And they know there are cameras everywhere.” Michael Bolles, a spokesman for Covenant, said lost items were often a result of passengers’ distraction: last year 60,103 items were mistakenly left behind at San Francisco’s security checkpoints (out of 40 million passenger screenings), but the company declined to say how many were returned to their owners. He said the proper procedure was to have passengers fill out a claims form or contact the police when they say they believe valuables have been stolen. “We will provide all necessary assistance to S.F.P.D. as requested,” Mr. Bolles said, “including the review of security tapes to determine what might have happened.” That procedure didn’t happen in the case of our missing iPhone. But in terms of the theft itself, experts said Jerry had to shoulder some of the blame. His laptop bag pocket had no zipper, making the phone easily pilfered. (Mr. Hobica recommends locking valuables deep inside carry-on bags.) And although our exchange with security workers was courteous, being searched made me feel intimidated. We walked away, not wanting to risk being detained as troublemakers and missing our flight. No report was ever filed that could have prompted an investigation. T.S.A. and Covenant representatives said my partner, Jerry, should file a report now, but he sees little benefit and has declined. “That won’t get my $700 back,” he said.Clinton Has Enough Delegates To Claim Democratic Nomination Enlarge this image toggle caption The Washington Post/Getty Images The Washington Post/Getty Images Hillary Clinton has secured enough delegates to be the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, according to an updated count by The Associated Press. She is the first woman ever to head a major-party ticket in this country. New superdelegate commitments, party leaders and elected officials, have put her over the threshold of 2,383 necessary to be the nominee. She was widely expected to cross the threshold Tuesday when polls closed at 8 p.m. ET in New Jersey, as she was just 23 delegates short. But the AP canvassed more undeclared superdelegates and enough came forward to publicly declare their support for Clinton on Monday night ahead of voting Tuesday. Tuesday will see one of the biggest voting days of the Democratic primary with 694 delegates at stake, including 475 in California. Clinton and Sanders have been campaigning hard in California in what polls have shown to be a neck-and-neck race. The Clinton campaign is stressing this is an "important milestone," but it doesn't want voters to be discouraged from going to the polls Tuesday, especially in California. "This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a written statement. "We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates." The Sanders campaign, for its part, called the declaration "unfortunate" and a "rush to judgment" and is again declaring to take his fight all the way to the Democratic National Convention this summer: "It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee's clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer. Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then. They include more than 400 superdelegates who endorsed Secretary Clinton 10 months before the first caucuses and primaries and long before any other candidate was in the race. "Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump." (Just as a point of fact, and we'll get into superdelegates more further down, but while Clinton had a sizable lead with superdelegates in this campaign, "more than 400" did not come out for her publicly 10 months before the election. The first major sweep done by the AP was in November 2015 — three months before the first voting began, and Clinton had a 359-to-8 lead.) Most caveats are no longer necessary — with one hitch: Clinton is not officially the nominee. That won't happen until delegates actually vote at the Democratic National Convention in July in Philadelphia. (Donald Trump, for that matter, won't officially be the Republican nominee, either, until voting at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.) Those Pesky Superdelegates It won't be without controversy, however. Sanders supporters argue it is "misleading," "unfair," and even a "lie" that news networks would declare Clinton the winner because "superdelegates" don't officially vote until the convention. Well, it's true that superdelegates don't vote until the convention. But neither do ANY of the delegates. If that were the standard, Trump wouldn't be the "presumptive nominee" for the Republicans, either, because "unbound" delegates put him over the top. (Those are delegates who don't have to vote at the convention based on the voting in their state primary and caucus contests.) The reason NPR includes superdelegates in our count, which comes to us via the AP, either for Clinton or Sanders is because these officials have publicly pledged their support to one or the other candidate. The 2016 Democratic contest is, in fact, unique in the sense that superdelegates, which were introduced in 1984, have always been included in counts. The focus has never so strongly before been on PLEDGED delegates. By that count, by the way, Clinton has a 291-delegate lead (1,812 to 1,521). The reason for the focus on pledged delegates is because early on in this contest, the Sanders campaign, facing such a deficit with superdelegates — he's never been a Democrat before this year — said it would be unfair for superdelegates to put Clinton over the top, even if Sanders beat her with the "will of the people." Winning With Pledged Delegates Instead, what is all but certain to play out after Tuesday is Clinton will have defeated Sanders soundly with primary voters over the course of this campaign, by far more delegates than Obama did in 2008. Obama finished just 69 delegates ahead of Clinton in 2008, and Clinton won the popular vote against Obama. What's more, Clinton's current pledged-delegate lead (291) is bigger than what Obama had over her OVERALL (238.5). Overall, Clinton currently leads Sanders, including superdelegates, by 814. It's true that neither candidate will cross the line with pledged delegates alone. If they split the 694 delegates at stake Tuesday, Clinton will be a couple hundred short. But that's not the standard. And it certainly doesn't mean it will be a "contested" convention, given that Clinton leads Sanders currently by 523 superdelegates (571 to 48). Put in perspective, if the two candidates split the delegates Tuesday, Sanders would need 488 of the 714 superdelegates (68 percent) to flip or come out for him. Most Electable? Sanders will try to make the case that he is the most electable candidate to take on Donald Trump. While polls show that to be the case right now, superdelegates are sophisticated consumers of political information. They're pols themselves, or deeply involved in politics. They know that Sanders' numbers are probably inflated to some extent, because he's not the nominee. If he were seen as the likely nominee, the scrutiny would go way up. So without Sanders winning the pledged majority — or, frankly, Clinton being indicted or mortally wounded — there is very little rationale for them to switch.As the Treasury embarks on its unprecedented recapitalization, it is becoming clear that the government wants not only to stabilize the industry, but also to reshape it. Two senior officials said the selection criteria would include banks that need more capital to finance acquisitions. “Treasury doesn’t want to prop up weak banks,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the matter. “One purpose of this plan is to drive consolidation.” With bankers traumatized by the credit crisis and the loss of investor confidence, officials said, there are plenty of banks open to selling themselves. The hurdle is a lack of well-capitalized buyers. Stable national players like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo are already digesting acquisitions. A second group of so-called super-regional banks are well positioned to take over their competitors, officials said, but have been reluctant to undertake or unable to complete deals. By offering capital at a favorable rate, the government may encourage them to expand. In this category, industry analysts point to regional leaders, like KeyCorp of Cleveland ; Fifth Third Bancorp of Cincinnati ; BB&T of Winston-Salem, N.C. ; and SunTrust Banks of Atlanta. With $125 billion left over after investing in the nine largest banks, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., said there was enough capital to invest in every qualified bank. “We have received indications of interest from a broad group of banks of all sizes,” he said at a news conference. “This program is not being implemented on a first-come, first-served basis.” Mr. Paulson did not address the issue of bank mergers in his remarks, but officials say it has been widely discussed within the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which has been burdened in recent months by having to support teetering banks like Wachovia. (See Paulson's statement in the video below) Providing capital to help facilitate a merger, officials say, is also a way to track how the capital is used. Some analysts have questioned how much control the government can exert over its investment, when it is injected into banks in return for nonvoting preferred shares. “We think there will be pressure behind the scenes by Treasury to push together companies that should have merged months or years ago,” said Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Portland, Me. “If you can create stronger companies, that is a positive.” In selecting banks, Mr. Paulson said the Treasury would also rely on advice from the quartet of regulators who oversee the banking industry: the Fed, the F.D.I.C., the comptroller of the currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. But Mr. Paulson made clear that the final decision of who gets federal money rests with the Treasury. And he reiterated that the government expected the banks that got money to lend it out rather than hoard it — putting in a special plea for homeowners with troubled mortgages. “We expect all participating banks to continue to strengthen their efforts to help struggling homeowners,” he said. “Foreclosures not only hurt the families who lose their homes, they hurt neighborhoods, communities and our economy as a whole.”When I think "desktop", I think, well, desktop: My operating system, desktop interface, and applications all resident on the PC or laptop in front of me. Now, Microsoft, which has been having trouble lately getting anyone to use their new desktop, Windows 8, wants you to move to a cloud-based Windows desktop: Mohoro. Would you? Should you? Image: Microsoft What Microsoft appears to be doing isn't just letting you run Windows applications remotely, ala Office 365, but enabling you to run a full Windows desktop from a Microsoft Azure cloud. The technology to deliver "Windows desktop as a service" is really quite old, and many companies have been using variations of it since the late '90s. Citrix first created a remote Windows desktop in 1995 under the name WinFrame. Two years later, Microsoft cross-licensed the code, and together they produced the Windows NT 4.0 variant, Windows Terminal Server Edition. Today, the descendant of that product, Windows Server 2012 Remote Desktop Services (RDS), lives on and is used by many enterprises to deliver Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Windows desktops over their local area networks. In a new role, Microsoft is also now using RDS to deliver the traditional Windows desktop and applications to devices, such as Surface RT, that can't support them natively. Indeed, VDI session-based desktops are the only way to get anything like the full Windows experience on most tablets and smartphones. Historically, the problem has been that there's not enough internet bandwidth to widely support a fat-client desktop. Microsoft is far from the only company following this path. For example, Red Hat uses the Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environments (SPICE) to deliver Linux VDI. What is new here is that Microsoft appears to want to finally deliver VDI over the cloud. While technically possible, in the past, Microsoft explicitly refused to let users run remote Windows desktops under Azure or enable third parties, such as OnLive, to deliver Windows 7 desktops from a cloud. It appears that they will allow you to "rent" remote Windows desktops from their own managed Azure cloud in the near future. The real question is: "Will you want to?" Cloud-based desktops — such as Google's Chrome OS with its associated Chromebooks and Linux-based Peppermint OS — are taking off. In addition, every desktop operating system worth its salt now comes with integrated cloud services such as SkyDrive for Windows 8, Ubuntu One for Ubuntu, iCloud with Mac OS X, and so on. The major difference between all of these other offerings and Mohoro is that these are either true thin-client operating systems — Chrome OS is little more than just enough Linux to support the Chrome Web browser — or are really just fat-client operating systems that incorporate cloud services. Why are they this way? It's not that the cloud can't support full-powered desktops. They've been able to do that since you were first able to run a server off a cloud. Historically, the problem has been that there's not enough internet bandwidth to widely support a fat-client desktop. What works fine in a gigabit Ethernet-equipped office may not work at all on an internet where the average US broadband speed is 6.7Mbps. Last, but not least, even if you have the necessary internet bandwidth, do you really want to put all of your desktop — lock, stock, and menu — on Microsoft's cloud? You can start thinking about renting your desktop now, because by year's end, your company will need to start considering it. Me? I like thin-client Chromebooks, but even if I were a Windows fan, I'm not sure I'd be ready to use a fat-client, cloud-based rental desktop operating system. How about you? Related storiesMike Huckabee took to Facebook on Friday to express his support for admitted sexual predator Josh Duggar. “Janet and I want to affirm our support for the Duggar family,” the former Arkansas governor and Fox News host, who is currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, wrote of himself and his wife. “Josh’s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, ‘inexcusable,’ but that doesn’t mean ‘unforgivable.’” On Thursday, it was revealed that Duggar, the son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the evangelical stars of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, was accused of molesting five underage girls, including his own sisters, when he was a teenager. Duggar admitted late Thursday that he had “acted inexcusably” and said he is “extremely sorry” for his actions, though he didn’t specify what he did. “No purpose whatsoever is served by those who are now trying to discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story,” Huckabee wrote. “Good people make mistakes and do regrettable and even disgusting things.” Huckabee is a very forgiving man. In 2008, The Huffington Post reported that as governor, Huckabee “aggressively pushed for the early release of a convicted rapist,” ignoring pleas from “numerous women” that they or people they knew had been assaulted by him. Huckabee got his way and the man was released, and he then he went on to rape and murder “at least one other woman.” Given Huckabee’s evidently low bar for what constitutes forgivable behavior, it’s somewhat perplexing that, as a public figure, he has chosen to attack lots of people who have not admitted to or been accused of sex crimes of any nature—like President Obama: guilty of “stomping on Christians”; gays who are trying to “criminalize Christianity”; Beyoncé and Jay Z for morally bankrupting our society with their sexy music and dancing. In Huckabee’s most recent literary achievement, God, Guns, Grits and Gravy, Huckabee suggested the couple had a pimp-whore dynamic: “Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?” Huckabee wondered. — Olivia NuzziProbably one of the most “uncomfortable” issues about Bitcoin is the fact that your Bitcoin address looks like you just made up a bunch of random numbers and characters. Luckily there are a few ways you can customize your Bitcoin address so it will look more appealing. None of the ways I will present in this post will be perfect but you can choose the one the suits you the most. Option #1 – 3rd party fully customized name Onename.io is a service that claims to be “your digital passport around the web”. By creating a simple username of Onename (for example mine is simply “Ofir”), you can have people send you Bitcoins to that username. Unfortunately this will only work with wallets that are compatible with the Onename API and there aren’t many at the moment. This is the equivalent of having a username at Coinabse for example and then being restricted to using it only when someone sends you Bitcoins through Coinbase. So the pros are very obvious – it’s easy to use and the name looks pretty. The cons are that you don’t have full control over you private key (which is a big no no in the Bitcoin world) and that you are restricted to specific wallets that can send you money. Option #2 – Use a vanity address generator A Vanity address is just a Bitcoin address that has some desirable pattern on characters so it looks a bit better. You’d usually only be able to customize just a small number of characters and not the whole address so you can insert your first name or a nickname. Here are some examples: 1BoatSLRHtKNngkdXEeobR76b53LETtpyT 1NiNja1bUmhSoTXozBRBEtR8LeF9TGbZBN 1NeiL1eBshdVaKRn4SVeeK4qT6bL9tSePu 1BTC24yVKQdQNAa4vX71xLUC5A8Za7Rr71 1stDownqyMHHqnDPRSfiZ5GXJ8Gk9dbjO You still have to follow the Bitcoin address limitation which means that your public address will start with “1” and creating these addresses takes some computing power (since you need to “guess” them, they are not just created). If you don’t want to get into the technical part of how to brute force your way into creating such an address you can use a solution like BitcoinVanityGen to create such an address for you. Using such a tool may be easy but it has 2 major cons – the 1st is that if someone else creates your public address for you it means that they also know your private key and can control any Bitcoins you send to that address. The 2nd is that it usually costs money. Option #3 – Create a vanity address on your own If you still want to create your own vanity address but not take on the risk of someone knowing your private key you can create one by yourself. Before I start explaining to you how to create this I want you to know: 1. This process requires a Windows computer. You can also do it on a mac but it’s much more complicated. 2. I would like to thank Neil Sardesai for his excellent article in CryptoCoinsNews which I base this tutorial on. 3. The process is technical. I will walk you through it, but it may seem a bit daunting for someone who is not technical in nature. In order to create a customized Bitcoin public address we will need to find the right private key. This can only be done through what is know as “brute force” (basically guessing until we hit the right combination). Brute force requires computing power so we will need to put our computer to work for this. Step 1: Download VanityGen We’ll start by downloading a program called “Vantiygen“. Once you open the ZIP file you’ve downloaded you should see the following content: Since I’m assuming that most of the readers of this post are less technical we will choose the “VanityGen” or “VanityGen64” in order to utilize our CPU for this task. Step 2: Run VanityGen Open up a command prompt window by hitting “Start” -> “Run”, then typing “cmd” and press “OK”. Next you will need to either write the path of the file or just drag the EXE file into the black cmd window (works only from Windows 7 and up). If you’re using a 64bit computer then choose VanityGen64. Once you press Enter you’ll see a list of options VanityGen supplies. We will now want to run VanityGen in order to brute force our address. So again put in the VanityGen file path but this time add “-v -i [5-6 characters you’d like for your address starting with 1]”. So for example I can write” -v -i 1cool” or ” -v -i 1test” like written in the example below. Notice that the “-v” is for requesting an output with words. The “-i” is for requesting it to be case insensitive (which takes less time to calculate). The longer the output you request the longer it will take the program to find the right address. Once you’ll hit Enter you’ll see something like this: The information at the bottom means the following: Kkey/s – Is the speed that the program is working in. Prob – The probability of stumbling upon your requested address at that given moment. The last set of numbers means that in 30.3 seconds the probability will be 50%. Depending on how lucky you are you’ll receive your address somewhere between 50% and 100% probability. When the calculation is done you’ll see the following: You can see the public address and the private key at the bottom. If you want to use this address you’ll need to import this private key into your Bitcoin wallet. For more information on Vanity Addresses check out this BitcoinTalk thread. Have a cool address you’ve already created? Paste it in the comment section below so we can see how creative you are…Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces. Today we look at the Total Elimination of Super Soldiers robot, also known as: TESS-One Appearances in Heroclix: Age of Ultron: SOP First Appearance: Captain America Annual #8 Team Affiliations: Heavy Metal, Created By: Mark Gruenwald and Mike Zeck TESS-One is built by Daniel Schumann and programmed to be a failsafe in case the members of the Super Soldier project went renegade. After the Super Soldier program began, FDR has a secret meeting with the War Department’s top scientists. Schumann argued the possibility of a future government abusing its power and enforcing despotic rule with an army of super soldiers. To counter this, the TESS (Total Elimination of Super Soldiers) robots would be built and kept in reserve. After Professor Erskine, the inventor of the super soldier formula, is killed the TESS project is defunded and discontinued. Schumann takes TESS-One home and uses his own money to complete it. A mutant named Overrider eventually finds TESS-One and takes control of the robot, breaking into the nation’s leading manufacturer of adamantium. He then forces the workers to coat TESS-One’s shell in adamantium before taking the robot to America’s Nuclear Command Center. Once there, Captain America and Wolverine defeat the robot by severing its head. The deactivated robot is then put in storage in a military facility in Colorado. Some time later, the Super Adaptaoid decides to form a team to attack the Avengers. To this end, he reactivates TESS-One as well as recruiting Kree Sentry 459, Machine Man and Awesome Android. They attack the Avengers but are defeated. Dr. Doom eventually drags up TESS-One’s remains off the shore of New Jersey. Doom repairs the machine and gives it the ability to absorb energy and materials to complete missions. Dr. Doom then sends TESS-One to defeat the cosmically powered Spider-Man. Spider-Man destroys TESS-One with a blast of cosmic energy. Doom retrieves the skull of the robot in order to obtain the portion of the power cosmic absorbed during the robot’s destruction. Taskmaster later has TESS-One rebuilt and uses it to train AIM agents when the villain is on the AIM High Council. TESS-One easily bests the agents and Taskmaster shuts it down to avoid loss of life. Recommended Reading:Call it the comeback of the year. Last year, equipment failure caused NASA to deem its $600-million Kepler space telescope irreparable. But since then, astronomers and engineers devised an ingenious way to repurpose Kepler, whose mission has been to scour the cosmos in search of Earthlike planets. And now, the planet-hunting probe not only has been reborn, but also has discovered a massive exoplanet some 180 light-years away. (Story continues below image.) Artist's rendering of NASA's Kepler spacecraft hunting for planets in its second mission, K2. The planet, HIP 116454b, is a "super Earth" with a diameter 2.5 times the diameter of Earth. It orbits a star a little cooler and smaller than our sun, located in the Pisces constellation. The planet is too close to its star to support life as we know it, according to NASA. Super Earths are in a class of planets that don't exist in our solar system, and HIP 116454b's average density suggests that it is either a watery world (three-fourths water and one-fourth rock) or a planet with a gaseous atmosphere, like a mini-Neptune. "The Kepler mission showed us that planets larger in size than Earth and smaller than Neptune are common in the galaxy, yet they are absent in our solar system," Steve Howell, Kepler project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, said in a written statement. Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has found nearly 1,000 confirmed Earth-like planets -- and when two of Kepler's gyroscope-like steering wheels failed last year, astronomers devised alternative methods to keep the hunt alive. Scientists at Ball Aerospace in Colorado came up with an idea the Los Angeles Times called "so crazy it just might work." Since light particles from the sun exert enough pressure to push Kepler around, scientists realized they could harness this energy and use it as a "third wheel" to control Kepler. The plan worked.One of President Donald Trump’s most trusted religious confidantes used ominous religious language to defend him this week, drawing on Christian nationalism to argue that resisting Trump equates to resisting “the hand of God.” During a panel interview on the Jim Bakker show this Monday, pastor Paula White gave several full-throated defenses of the president. White, a wealthy faith leader who originally gained notoriety for preaching a much-maligned version of the “prosperity gospel,” has been described as Trump’s “God whisperer.” She is a longtime friend of the former businessman, was a regular surrogate for his campaign in 2016, and remains one of several evangelical leaders who currently advise his administration. But even compared to her brief stint on the campaign trail, White’s remarks this week were atypically political and represent some of the strongest statements yet making the Christian nationalist case for Trump. After insisting that America is more than 70 percent evangelical (a claim that is wildly false), White launched into a series of mini-sermons that described Trump’s presidency as “anointed” by God—and proclaimed that his opponents, by extension, are an affront to the Almighty. Advertisement “We are more impressed with a Saul anointing than a David anointing because we are more impressed with what looks right than what is right,” White, whose ministries were once the subject of a failed Senate probe investigating possible financial improprieties, said. “Therefore, we choose things that we think should sound right, should act right. They say about our president, ‘Well, he is not presidential.’ Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Thank goodness … he is not a polished politician. In other words, he is authentically — whether people like it or not — has been raised up by God. Because God says that He raises up and places all people in places of authority.” She continued: “It is God who raises up a king. It is God that sets one down. When you fight against the plan of God, you are fighting against the hand of God.” The claim that God has raised up Trump for leadership is common among certain subset of Trump’s religious advisers—namely, Christian nationalists. Like White, right-wing evangelicals such as Robert Jeffress and Lance Wallnau have repeatedly claimed that
borgs IF Twente 0-0 Levante Two goals from Mame Diouf brought the Bundesliga outfit the lead, but Nikola Djurdić and Alejandro Bedoya equalized for Helsingborg. It was Szabolcs Huszti who scored stoppage-time penalty from 12 meters and secured Hannover a safe passing to the last 32.LIMA (Reuters) - The government of Peru’s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski told opposition lawmakers on Wednesday that they would have to dismiss the entire Cabinet - and move closer to facing removal themselves - if they try to oust a second education minister. FILE PHOTO: Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski attends a binational cabinet meeting at the Government Palace in Lima, Peru, September 1, 2017. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo Kuczynski accused the opposition-ruled Congress of trying to sabotage his education reforms as the right-wing Popular Force party prepared a motion to censure Education Minister Marilu Martens over her handling of a teachers strike that dragged on for two months. The president said ousting Martens would be “completely unfair.” “It would be the second education minister censured and purely over political preferences,” Kuczynski said. By turning the censure vote on Martens into a vote of confidence on his whole Cabinet, Kuczynski hopes to check Popular Force’s ability to threaten his ministers. The president can dissolve Congress if it dismisses the Cabinet twice. Congress has already forced Kuczynski’s former education and finance ministers to resign, while his ex-transportation minister quit to avoid a censure vote. Popular Force lawmakers said they would study the request for a vote of confidence on the Cabinet and noted they had not yet formally presented the censure motion for Martens - a sign they might back off. “They’re putting the governability of the country at risk over one minister?” said Luz Salgado, an influential lawmaker with Popular Force, which controls Congress. “It’s completely irresponsible.” The gamble could force Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker, to appoint 19 new ministers as he tries to revive the economy and his slipping popularity in opinion polls. However, it might also give him a freer hand to govern during the remaining four years of his term. A prime minister has not challenged Congress to renew its confidence in a cabinet in decades, said political analyst Fernando Tuesta, underscoring how rapidly relations between the executive branch and Congress have deteriorated in Kuczynski’s year-old government. Kuczynski took office last year after narrowly beating long-time favorite Keiko Fujimori, the eldest daughter of jailed former leader Alberto Fujimori. Kuczynski’s party won less than 15 percent of congressional seats while Fujimori’s party, Popular Force, won an absolute majority.netdata is a extremely optimized Linux utility that provides real-time (per second) performance monitoring for Linux systems, applications, SNMP devices, etc. and shows full interactive charts that absolutely render all collected values over the web browser to analyze them. Don’t Miss: 20 Useful Command-line Tools to Monitor Linux Performance It has been developed to be installed on each Linux system, without interrupting the current running applications on it. You can use this tool to monitor and get overview of what is happening in real-time and what just happened, on your Linux systems and applications. This is what it monitors: Total and Per Core CPU usage, interrupts, softirqs and frequency. Total Memory, RAM, Swap and Kernel usage. Disk I/O (per disk: bandwidth, operations, backlog, utilization, etc). Monitors Network interfaces including: bandwidth, packets, errors, drops, etc). Monitors Netfilter / iptables Linux firewall connections, events, errors, etc. Processes (running, blocked, forks, active, etc). System Applications with the process tree (CPU, memory, swap, disk reads/writes, threads, etc). Apache and Nginx Status monitoring with mod_status. MySQL database monitoring: queries, updates, locks, issues, threads, etc. Postfix email server message queue. Squid proxy server bandwidth and requests monitoring. Hardware sensors (temperature, voltage, fans, power, humidity, etc). SNMP devices. netdata Installation on Linux Systems The latest release of netdata can be easily installed on Arch Linux, Gentoo Linux, Solus Linux and Alpine Linux using your package manager as shown. $ sudo pacman -S netdata [Install Netdata on Arch Linux] $ sudo emerge --ask netdata [Install Netdata on Gentoo Linux] $ sudo eopkg install netdata [Install Netdata on Solus Linux] $ sudo apk add netdata [Install Netdata on Alpine Linux] On Debian/Ubuntu and RHEL/CentOS/Fedora, there is one line installation script that will install latest netdata and also keep it up to date automatically. $ bash <(curl -Ss https://my-netdata.io/kickstart.sh [On 32-bit] $ bash <(curl -Ss https://my-netdata.io/kickstart-static64.sh) [On 64-bit] The above script will: discover the distribution and installs the needed software packages for building netdata (will ask for confirmation). downloads the latest netdata source tree to /usr/src/netdata.git. . installs netdata by executing./netdata-installer.sh from the source tree. from the source tree. installs netdata-updater.sh to cron.daily, so your netdata will be updated daily (you will receive a alert from cron only if the update fails). Note: The kickstart.sh script progress all its parameters to netdata-installer.sh, so you can define more parameters to modify the installation source, enable/disable plugins, etc. Alternatively, you can also install latest netdata manually by cloning its repository, but before you start installing netdata, make sure you have these basic build environment packages installed on the system, if not install it using your respective distribution package manager as shown: On Debian / Ubuntu # apt-get install zlib1g-dev gcc make git autoconf autogen automake pkg-config On Centos / Redhat / Fedora # yum install zlib-devel gcc make git autoconf autogen automake pkgconfig Next, clone the netdata repository from git and run netdata installer script to build it. # git clone https://github.com/firehol/netdata.git --depth=1 # cd netdata #./netdata-installer.sh Note: The netdata-installer.sh script will build netdata and install it on your Linux system. Once the netdata installer finishes, the file /etc/netdata/netdata.conf will be created in your system. Now it’s time to start netdata by executing the following command from the terminal. # /usr/sbin/netdata You can also stop netdata by terminating it’s process with killall command as shown. # killall netdata Note: Netdata saves on exit its round robbin database information under /var/cache/netdata file, so that when you start again netdata, it will continue from where it was stopped last time. Starting and Testing netdata Now open your browser and navigate to the following address to access the web site for all graphs: # http://127.0.0.1:19999/ Check out the video that shows how Real-time Linux performance monitoring done here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIZXS8A4BvI You can also view the running configuration of netdata at any time, by going to: http://127.0.0.1:19999/netdata.conf Updating netdata You can update netdata daemon to the most recent version by going into netdata.git directory you downloaded before and running: # cd /path/to/netdata.git # git pull #./netdata-installer.sh The above netdata installer script will build new version and restart netdata. Reference: https://github.com/firehol/netdata/Beohner is supporting a bill introduced Wednesday by Reps. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Dutch Ruppersberger, the panel's top Democrat. The lawmakers are fierce defenders of the NSA, and their bill now represents the more moderate legislative approach for reforming the NSA. "The bill represents the start of a bipartisan conversation about how we maintain our capabilities to thwart attacks, while addressing privacy and civil-liberties concerns that many Americans have," Boehner said at a press conference. "And so I expect that part of this effort will include the end of the government holding on to bulk data. And, ultimately, I'm hopeful that bipartisan cooperation will lead to results that all sides can support--and, most importantly, keep America safe." House Speaker John Boehner indicated Wednesday that he plans to allow a vote on legislation that would end the National Security Agency's controversial practice of collecting records on millions of U.S. phone calls. Under their legislation, the vast database of phone records would stay in the hands of the phone companies. The NSA could force the phone companies to turn over particular records, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court would review the NSA orders after the fact. The legislation is expected to be similar to a proposal that President Obama will outline later this week. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner are still pushing a more aggressive bill to rein in the NSA's power. Their bill, the USA Freedom Act, would raise the standard that the NSA would need to meet to access the phone data and curb other programs, such as Internet surveillance of people in other countries. Boehner appeared to be skeptical of any proposals that would be more aggressive in expanding privacy rights than the Rogers-Ruppersberger legislation. "As you know, I've long said these programs exist to save American lives--and they have. And while there are some valid privacy concerns, it would be irresponsible to end these programs before we have a credible alternative," Boehner said. The NSA maintains that the bulk phone data collection is authorized under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. If Congress doesn't act before June 1, 2015, that provision will expire, and the program will have to end entirely.7 arrested in Gresham decry 'extreme use of force' Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Cellphone video of the Gresham city council meeting. (Courtesy Raime Lee Ritalto) [ + - ] Video Kohr Harlan, Jennifer Dowling and KOIN 6 News Staff - GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN) --- A group of 7 protesters appeared in court Wednesday, just one day after they were arrested for disorderly conduct during a Gresham City Council meeting. The 7 arrested protesters were part of a group of 20 who spoke out against the city's treatment of its homeless population. They are upset by the city manager's decision to close a 60-acre portion of the Springwater Trail in an effort to force homeless campers out. "I really would like my voice to be heard for the people who can't speak," Melanie Rosenthal, one of 7 people arrested, told KOIN 6 News. "It was totally worth it." Rosenthal, who is homeless, used to live in an area near Gresham Woods and the Springwater Trail before it was fenced off by the city for environmental reasons. She and several others say they feel the city is treating them unfairly. They feel there is no place for homeless people to go or seek services in Gresham. "The city seems to think it doesn't have any resources to help the homeless, but they can silence our voices with an overwhelming number of resources," arrested protester Chris Cozzetto said. "The homeless have not been invited to the table, and the City of Gresham fast-tracked some... changes to fence off areas." City Councilor Karylinn Echols says she disagrees, and that members of the homeless population were invited to meet with the city on Friday, but they did not respond. She also says protesters were given ample time to speak during a public comment period. "The work that was done last night was really just code cleanup, it was language cleanup," Echols said. "You'll see that's really what it was, nothing was fast-tracked." The council briefly adjourned in an attempt to quiet the protesters on Tuesday night, but when that didn't work, they called in police to clear the room. When asked if the arrests were too heavy handed, Echols said, "we represent 110,000 people, we had the city's business to conduct." Still, those involved say the city's actions violated their freedom of speech and its show of force was described as overkill and an "extreme use of force".WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement today after the release of a declassified intelligence report highlighting Russian hacking and interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election: “Our elections should be decided by American citizens, not foreign hackers, heads of state, or their propagandists. This report shows that Russian operatives actively manipulated our presidential election. They left cyber fingerprints and the U.S. intelligence community unanimously concluded that Russia intervened with the intention of undermining Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump. The report clearly states: 'the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.' Regardless, as Senator McCain points out: this was an attack on all Americans because it undermines our democracy. We know that Russia continues to engage in similar cyber campaigns and we need to take corrective action to put a stop to it. This declassified report is a start, but it is not enough. The American public has been given a glimpse of a few pieces of a much larger puzzle. They deserve as much information as can be provided without putting our intelligence assets and techniques at risk. And the most effective way to achieve that goal is through an independent, select committee to investigate Russian interference with our election. There is hard evidence and broad consensus from U.S. intelligence officials on this matter, and there ought to be bipartisan consensus and action from Congress, too. This is not about embarrassing the President-elect; it’s about protecting our democracy. I realize this may be an uncomfortable situation for President-elect Trump, but the American people and the strength of our democracy should come first.”Before you check out the following items, please click here first to grab the Sciencebase newsfeed. I’ll be updating the melamine news over the next few days, and the RSS newsfeed system allows you to keep up to date with the Sciencebase site without having to check back by adding our headlines to your Google account, My Yahoo, Bloglines or your active bookmarks in your browser. As the melamine in milk products from China problem continues to grow apace, Sciencebase presents a succinct list of melamine contaminated food list culled from the most recent news results on the subject. This is by no means an exhaustive list nor is it a condemnation of any particular products, it’s here merely to raise awareness of what is happening with regard to the melamine in milk scandal. Powdered baby milk. HK finds melamine in Chinese-made cheesecake. Cookies With Melamine Found in Netherlands. Mr Brown coffee products. Manufacturing giant Unilever recalls melamine tainted tea. CNN is also reporting that the Hong Kong authorities Sunday (October 5) announced that two recalled candy products made by British confectioner Cadbury had high levels of melamine. Melamine Detected in Two More Ritz Snacks. More Chinese-made sweets recalled in Japan. White Rabbit brand Chinese candy contaminated: Asian health officials. Lipton, Glico and Ritz the latest businesses to be affected by milk powder scandal. Hong Kong finds traces of melamine in Cadbury products. Recalled Melamine Milk Products include Asian versions of Bairong grape cream crackers, Dove chocolate, Dreyers cake mix, Dutch Lady candy, First Choice crackers, Kraft Oreo wafer sticks, M&Ms, Magnum ice cream, Mentos bottle yoghurt, Snickers funsize, Yili hi-cal milk, Youcan sesame snacks and others. Testing of some of those has already proven negative. Melamine Found in More China-Made Products, including Heinz DHA+AA baby cereal. 305 Chinese dairy-based products temporarily banned in Korea. US bloggers have gone so far as to uncover dozens of products recalled in China that were still on the shelves of their local supermarkets. 31 new milk powder brands found tainted. Just for the record, this is not, as was suggested on a couple of blogs linking here, a definitive, complete list. I will update it as and when new information comes to light. Check out the previous posts for more information in the background to this news story and for further discussion on the issues surrounding the melamine in milk products scandal: Melamine Scandal Widens and (2008-09-29) Milky Melamine.A deep dive into the forces arrayed against AoL in the NGT points to Toxics Link as a possible entity [dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]S[/dropcap]ince March 2016 I have read with interest numerous media stories about the possibility that The Art of Living’s (AoL) World Cultural Festival (WCF) caused harm to the Yamuna. Given conflicting stories from both sides, I wondered about the truth and was waiting to see what the outcome of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) hearings would be. However, a recent tweet from Subramanian Swamy, caught me by surprise: I was intrigued. Why would Swamy allege that the complaint against Art of Living’s WCF was an organized attack on its founder, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Hindu Guru? I decided to do my own fact finding. My research into publicly available information on the petition against AoL began with reading the numerous articles and videos on the controversy. My intention was to find answers to the following questions: Who are the people who form the consortium of petitioners and what are their backgrounds and links? Who is providing funding support for the petition which has involved significant legal expenses which started in December 2015? Is the NGT appointed “Expert committee” biased in any way or are its members truly independent of influence from the petitioners or other special interests? Here are my findings based on information publicly available on the internet. I will let you draw your own conclusions. The People Involved, Their Backgrounds and links The Funding Sources Some notorious foreign funding agencies backing the petitioners against Art of Living that caught my attention are highlighted in the table below: Toxic Links Ford Foundation : considered a funding arm of the CIA for influencing policies and governments of foreign countries. PM Modi has taken legal action against it in the past for political interference through its funding of NGOs in India. : considered a funding arm of the CIA for influencing policies and governments of foreign countries. PM Modi has taken legal action against it in the past for political interference through its funding of NGOs in India. SIDA : considered a Trojan horse of the west for engineering regime changes. : considered a Trojan horse of the west for engineering regime changes. Swedish Society for Nature Conservation : known for interfering in environmental issues the developing world through engineered public protests : known for interfering in environmental issues the developing world through engineered public protests Oxfam: known for supporting Evangelical activities in India and other countries. Links between Petitioners and NGT Expert Committee The facts and the links that I have unearthed in my research have raised the questions about the neutrality of the NGT Expert Committee. It is possible that there is collusion against AoL and a bias in favor of the petitioners’ nexus. The NGT had claimed to have appointed a seven-member “independent” Expert Committee” to assess the alleged damage to Yamuna flood plains due to World Culture Festival Event. However, the public needs to know if this expert committee is truly “independent”. My research revealed the existence of many relationships between the consortium of petitioners, their lawyer and some of the Expert Committee members. Ravi Agarwal, is Founding Director of Toxics Link, along with Sanjay Parikh, legal representative for the petitioners, is a Board member. Toxics Links appears to be an influential NGO that has close links with the petitioners and the NGT Expert Committee members. So far, I have identified the following links which leads me to question their ability to be neutral. Toxic Tree CONCLUSION [dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]B[/dropcap]ased on the research presented above, I find Toxics Link, a foreign funded NGO, to have significant links to the petitioner against Art of Living and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I ask the readers to also consider the following facts about Toxics Link (TL): TL Board members have targeted Modi since 2002 TL Board members have supported Naxalites TL Board members have supported terrorists like Afzal Guru NGOs run by these petitioners are funded by foreign funding agencies that are known for destabilizing democracies and interfering in India’s policies. Toxics Link is aligned with organizations like Sweccha that support evangelical activities in India TL Board member is the lawyer fighting against Art of Living I will let you draw your own conclusions about the significance of these links. The question is this: Can the current NGT Expert Committee be expected to be fair in its handling of the case against the WCF event held by Art of Living and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar? The next logical point to ponder is WHY Art of Living/Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is at the receiving end given WCF generated a huge PR win for India and showcased India’s soft power and message of fostering peace to entire world. More research needs to be done on this aspect as there is no smoke without fire. References:Image caption The new export opportunities are a "major boost" to Northern Ireland's pork industry, the agriculture minister said Northern Ireland pork has been provisionally approved for export to China, a move the industry has said will be worth £10m a year to the economy. Final approval is expected once the two companies intending to export complete additional work at their factories. The companies are Karro Food Group and Dunbia. Permission to ship pork directly to the new market will see about 12,000 tonnes a year being sent. Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill said the start of exports would be "a major boost to the industry". Image caption The Chinese export market could be worth £10m annually, the pork industry said Karro Food Group, based in Cookstown in County Tyrone, said, in time, there will be more jobs to cope with the additional exports. Equal The Chinese government's provisional approval, granted after a long inspection process, means authorised plants can soon sell heads, trotters, stomachs, hearts and bones. Plants in the Republic of Ireland are already licensed to sell to China. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Seamus Carr said approval would have a "significant impact" on the business This move will put Northern Ireland processors on an equal footing. Chinese officials visited abattoirs in Northern Ireland as part of the inspection process while Ms O'Neill visited China several times as part of the approval process. Image caption Authorised plants will be able to sell pigs' heads, trotters, stomachs, hearts and bones to China However, pig farmers say the new export opportunities will not mean a huge expansion of the industry. Prime Hugh McReynolds, who runs a pig farm in Strabane in County Tyrone, and helps manage a pig producers' co-operative that supplies Karro Food Group, said processors will be able to sell more of the existing carcass, and that will help get a better return for each animal slaughtered. "What we want from the market is a stable return and anything that will help with the stability of the market is good for the pig farmer and ultimately good for Northern Ireland PLC," he said. "Some of the people in that market are affluent but many of them aren't and they'll only be using the by-products. "So it'll help to balance the carcass, but it won't drive demand for the prime cuts on that carcass." Image caption Chinese officials visited abattoirs in Northern Ireland as part of the inspection process Karro Food Group invested heavily as part of the three-year inspection and authorisation process, spending about £400,000. It meant building new changing rooms for each section of the slaughter line, and a separate packing area for the product destined for China. Profit Seamus Carr, chief executive of Karro Food Group, said approval for direct access to China would have a "significant impact" on the business, giving it a potential increase in turnover of about 10% at the Cookstown plant. He said he hoped to pass some of the extra profit back to farmers. Image caption About 12,000 tonnes of pork will be sent to China each year, it is estimated "There will be a premium and what I say to farmers is that we will share that with them," he said. Expansion of the pig industry is a key element of the Northern Ireland Executive's Going for Growth strategy, designed to increased the value of Northern Ireland's agri-food industry. It has a target of increasing the sow herd by 40% to 53,000 by 2020.Manga Knowledge Included In short to get it: Skullface is a wizard. HE bought a girl on slave market. Girl is magical being so She will be additional mana source for him. Wizard decided that She will become his apprentice and his WIFE. Couse HE can! slavery =check loli abuse =check making loli waifu =check incest... -since in this world wizards are called by apprentices mother/father, and they called them...doughters/sons so... INCEST & Phedophilia =check Actually the story is not ecchi at all. Ginger girl learns how to use magic, laws of magical world and meet many facinating creatures also learns how to control pawers. Story is filled also with quite clever jokes and by far is heartwarming. I recomended even thow Girl backstory is a little bit screwed. But tragedy comes in goldpack I quess.Fairview city council appoints Ted Tosterud to open seat In this 2014 file photo, Ted Tosterud is sworn in as a Fairview city councilor. He is now the city's mayor and presided as the council approved a program that could grant developers millions of dollars in fee waivers at the expense of infrastructure. (Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian) A public program that could save real estate developers millions of dollars at the expense of city infrastructure has sparked backlash in Fairview, where an elected official accused his colleagues of representing only the interests of the local business association. The Fairview "development incentive program," approved last fall and amended in February, would waive all of the city's impact fees - which pay for water, sewer, stormwater and parks infrastructure - for any new construction worth $675,000 or more. The proposal could be for any type of development, whether industrial, commercial, multifamily or single-family residential. Residential construction worth less than $675,000 would have to pay the fee for parks, but all the other impact fees would still be waived. Builders would not have to meet affordable housing thresholds or density goals to qualify, and there's no cap on the program. Developers seeking the incentive would not be allowed to also receive property tax breaks under the state's enterprise zone or vertical housing programs. The incentive also grants developers a credit worth 0.75 percent of the project's valuation that can be applied to the fees for a building permit; the building plan review; or the fire, life and safety plan review. And if the new building will be home to a business, Fairview will waive the business' licensing fee for the first year of operation. "Fairview citizens are going to ultimately bear the burden of this waiver," said Fairview City Councilor Brian Cooper, the only person on the seven-member panel to oppose the program last month. At a time when Fairview was already attracting large multifamily investment, a hypothetical 180-unit apartment complex worth $10 million would win nearly $1.3 million in waivers under the incentive program, according to calculations by city staff. It would take 25 years of property tax collections on such a property for Fairview to break even on that amount, the calculations show. Now, city planners are "looking hard" at how they'll possibly pay for needed improvements to Fairview's stormwater discharge system and evaluating whether other parts of their capital improvement plan have to be shelved, said Nolan Young, who started January 25 as city administrator. The plan comes at a time of political turmoil in Fairview, a city of 9,100 in eastern Multnomah County. City Councilors Ted Kotsakis and Steve Owen resigned their seats last spring, frustrated with what they saw as the Fairview Business Association's undue influence over the council, according to reports in the Gresham Outlook. City Administrator Samantha Nelson, who had served since 2008, soon followed them out the door to take a job with the Gladstone School District. The council then appointed Ed Bejarana, who had previously managed the Fairview Business Association's Facebook page, and Tamie Tlustos-Arnold to the empty positions amid accusations from Cooper and audience members that the council majority had already made up its mind about the two candidates before other residents had a chance to apply, the Outlook reported. It didn't take long for Bejarana to make an impact. Meeting minutes and video recordings show that the new councilor was behind key changes to the new incentive program that made it even more attractive to developers. The program originally was intended for only commercial and industrial development. But minutes show Bejarana successfully made a broad amendment to the program last fall that allowed all types of development to qualify. City staff hadn't prepared information pertaining to the fiscal impact of Bejarana's amendment, Young said, and so councilors didn't know how the inclusion of residential development would affect city coffers. Developer Jeff Parker of West Linn already had a multifamily project with 180 market-rate units in Fairview's pipeline at the time. The building, which would also have 4,500 square feet of commercial space, is slated for a lot on Northeast Halsey Street, across from Bumpers Grill & Bar. That's when Young's staff calculated the impact of a hypothetical 180-unit project and came to the $1.3 million figure - a number far higher than anticipated, Cooper said. "We miscalculated," Cooper said. Parker's project is now eligible for the waivers. But instead of paring down the incentives in light of the new information, the council - led by Bejarana - broadened it again. Last month, the councilor successfully introduced an amendment to apply the program not only to all vacant land in the city, but to any "developable" land, meaning a builder could demolish an existing structure and apply the incentive to a new project, or simply add buildings to an already-developed property and win the fee waivers. Cooper was the only "no" vote. In an opinion piece for the Outlook, he called the program a "boondoggle." He called Bejarana "the mouthpiece" of the Fairview Business Association in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive. Bejarana, who said he has resigned his post with the business association, refused to answer questions over the phone. He previously got into a public spat with the Outlook after insisting he not be contacted on his personal phone, even though it was still listed on the Fairview Business Association's public Facebook page as of last week. As of press time, Bejarana had also not responded to emailed questions from The Oregonian/OregonLive. Ted Reid, principal planner with the Metro regional government, said he hasn't heard of development incentives as broad as Fairview's. "There's a challenge in paying for all the pieces of infrastructure that the fees pay for," Reid said. After the incentives were approved, Fairview Mayor Ted Tosterud received a batch of angry emails from city residents. "The effort underway by the City of Fairview to subsidize development is simply requiring me, as a resident, to give money to developers so they can profit," resident Bill Peterson wrote to Tosterud. "I will be left in Fairview paying higher use fees for water and sewer to replace the revenues your city is choosing to give away." Resident P.M. Sorlien's email to Tosterud wondered if city officials were aware that "the whole region is seeing the strongest bull real estate market in 20 years." The $20.8 million sale of Fairview's Fieldstone Apartments set a city record last fall. Last week, Tosterud announced a community meeting about the incentive program to be held March 24 at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers. "The Fairview City Council values citizen input and we want to hear from you," the announcement reads. -- Luke Hammill lhammill@oregonian.com 503-294-4029 @lucashammillNot cool, Saul Zaentz Company. Not cool. The prehistoric humanoid species Homo floresiensis is commonly referred to in the scientific community by the nickname “Hobbit” due to it being around the same size as J.R.R. Tolkien‘s furry-toed fantasy creatures. But the Saul Zaentz Company/Middle-earth Enterprises, which controls certain Tolkien trademarks, has forbidden organizers of a free lecture on the species from using the title “The Other Hobbit,” saying ”it is not possible for our client to allow generic use of the trade mark HOBBIT.” This whole situation is vaguely familiar—Zaentz, along with Warner Bros., recently shot down mockumentary The Age of Hobbits for copyright violation; production company The Asylum’s defense was that its Hobbits aren’t Tolkien’s Hobbits, they’re Homo floresiensis, so it’s totally legal, God, get off our backs! I think Zaentz has a case there, as Asylum was clearly using the name exclusively to piggyback off of Peter Jackson’s films and make money by doing so. But Zaentz. C’mon. You’re not even going to let a free lecture by two of the archaeologists who discovered the species that’s been referred to as “Hobbits” for years use the name? That’s a little harsh. Says Dr. Brent Alloway, the associate professor who is organizing the event: “I am very disappointed that we’re forbidden … to use the word ‘Hobbit’ in the title of our proposed free public event … especially since the word ‘Hobbit’ is apparently listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (and hence apparently part of our English-speaking vocabulary), the word ‘Hobbit’ (in the Tolkien context) is frequently used with apparent impunity in the written press and reference to ‘Hobbit’ in the fossil context is frequently referred to in the scientific literature (and is even mentioned in Wikipedia on Homo floresiensis). I realise I’m in unfamiliar word proprietry territory (as an earth scientist) … so I’ve gone for the easiest option and simply changed our event title.” Alloway acknowledges that the timing of the event was deliberately meant to capitalize on Hobbit-mania, but, as io9 points out, he and the others involved in the event “are clearly using the word in a different market—scientific, rather than storytelling—and the very fact that they call it ‘The Other Hobbit’ acknowledges Tolkien’s invention of the word.” This whole thing is just lame. And the new title—”A newly discovered species of Little People – unravelling the legend behind Homo floresiensis”—makes it even worse. It’s so clunky. And as a lover of words, science, and Hobbits, that hurts me. Backtrack on this one, Saul Zaentz Company. Pleeeease? (via io9) Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?The pressure of deep-ocean sound waves could be used to stop tsunamis in their tracks, researchers have found, by dissipating their energy across wider areas and reducing the height and speed of these monster waves before they reach land. Tsunamis - which can be caused by earthquakes, landslides, or any sudden release of energy underwater - are capable of devastating coastal regions when they hit land, and right now, there's not much we can do to stop them. But mathematician Usama Kadri from the University of Cardiff in the UK thinks acoustic-gravity waves (AGWs) could be the solution. Acoustic-gravity waves occur naturally in the oceans, cutting through the water at the speed of sound, and Kadri says controlling these waves could give us a way of reducing a tsunami's momentum. "Up until now, little attention has been paid to trying to mitigate tsunamis and the potential of acoustic-gravity waves remains largely unexplored," says Kadri. AGWs can stretch for hundreds of kilometres, and travel many thousands of metres, and it's thought that plankton (which can't swim themselves) rely on these waves to move around and find food. How AGWs could warn us about and stop tsunamis. Credit: Usama Kadri/Heliyon Kadri has previously suggested that these AGWs could act as early-warning systems for tsunamis, as they often precede these massive waves. According to Kadri, the power in these sound waves is also enough to dilute the strength of an onrushing tsunami, so most of its energy would be used up before it reaches land. The hypothesis is based on calculations of how energy could be transferred and dispersed underwater, and draws on Kadri's previously published work on the physics of these AGWs. Now, all we need is a way to engineer and control these sound waves - something Kadri hasn't covered in his sums. The best way to tackle this could be to somehow harness the AGWs created naturally by tsunamis, Kadri says. Essentially, we need to figure out how to fire some the energy created by a natural disaster back in the other direction. For the time being, Kadri's calculations are just a proof-of-concept, but if we can get the idea to work, there's the potential to save many lives, and lessen the risk of large-scale chaos. Take the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, for example, which was estimated to be responsible for the deaths of more than 200,000 people, as well as widespread damage to local communities and ecosystems. It might be a while before we have anti-tsunami stations dotted around the coast, but this research suggests that they could be feasible, and potentially adjusted to suit each incident as well. "One could adapt the mechanisms presented here to account for other violent geophysical processes in the ocean such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, underwater explosions, and falling meteorites," explains Kadri. "While the scales involved may differ in each process,
studies, said Joseph Garner, PhD, associate professor of comparative medicine. "If you want to design a drug that will help a patient in the hospital, you cannot reasonably do that in animals that are cold-stressed and are compensating with an elevated metabolic rate," Garner said. "This will change all aspects of their physiology -- such as how fast the liver breaks down a drug -- which can't help but increase the chance that a drug will behave differently in mice and in humans." In a new study, Garner and his colleagues report finding an easy solution to the problem: Simply provide the animals with the proper materials, and they'll build a cozy nest that allows them to naturally regulate their temperatures to a comfortable level. These thermally content mice would be more physiologically comparable to humans and thus might serve as more meaningful research subjects, Garner said. "Why not let them do what they do in the wild, which is build nests? Mice can happily infest a meat freezer, with temperatures far below zero, but they survive and breed because they build these wonderful nests," he said. The study, part of nearly seven years of work with mouse nesting behavior, is the first to "ask" mice to rate the value of nesting material in terms of temperature savings, which is an important first step in setting standards for nesting material, said Garner, whose work has focused on the well-being of the mouse. He is the senior author of the study, which was published online March 30 in PLoS ONE. Mice, which Garner calls "one of the most fantastic animals on Earth," have evolved in the same environment as humans for thousands of years, making them remarkably adaptable, able to live virtually anywhere. For that reason, they make excellent research subjects, with hundreds of millions of them populating laboratories around the world. Given the option, mice gravitate to temperatures of between 30 and 32 degrees Celsius (the equivalent of about 86 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit). But based on federal regulations, U.S. research laboratories are routinely kept on the cold side -- between 20 to 24 degrees C. There can be advantages to these cold temperatures. For instance, mice have aggressive tendencies that are suppressed in cooler climes. Female mice also lactate better in cooler temperatures, though their pups don't do as well in the cold. When kept in temperatures toward the low end of this scale -- between about 18 and 20 degrees C (64-68 degrees F) -- the mice begin to show changes in immune function and their growth may be retarded. "So we're housing them right at that threshold," Garner said. "That means the mice may be compromised physiologically, potentially affecting research results." Simply raising the temperature in the lab isn't an option, not least because the mice would then become unmanageably aggressive, he said. Rather, Garner and his colleagues looked to other options in their study, which involved 36 male and 36 female mice of three common strains. The researchers created sets of two cages linked by a small tube so the mice could move between them. One cage in each set was maintained at a chilly 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) and was equipped with varying quantities of shredded paper, which the animals could use to construct nests for shelter and warmth. The other cage was kept at one of six temperatures: 20, 23, 26, 29, 32 or 35 degrees C (68, 73, 79, 84, 90 or 95 F), but without nesting material. The mice then had the choice of staying put and tolerating the cold, choosing a balmier cage, eating more to add fat and elevate metabolic rate, or building a nest. Each strain and sex had slightly different preferences, the researchers found. None was content to simply sit out the cold, either moving to a toastier location, if available, or building elaborate, dome-like nests to warm themselves. The more nest-building material they had, the more they were willing to settle for a cooler clime, as the nests served to temper the chill, the researchers found. In fact, the nest-building drive was so strong that the mice often would spend hours collecting strands of paper, bit by bit, from the chilliest cage and then transporting it to a more comfortable spot in another cage to build a sturdy little home. Garner said these mice decided they wanted to have it all, choosing a warm spot and building a nest as well. "Naughty little rascals" is how he described them. "They would go on holiday somewhere warm AND take their nest with them," he said. "Some people like to take a pillow on holiday and some don't. These mice were packing their own pillow." The fact that some mice moved nesting material to the warmer cage means that the nests serve a function beyond warmth, argued Garner, perhaps providing physical comfort, or a form of protection that decreases the animals' anxiety and stress levels. The nest-building mice tended to eat less, as they didn't need the extra calories to satisfy their higher metabolic demands, the researchers found. In general, the females preferred warmer temperatures than the males -- by about 5 degrees: they are smaller and have less fat to generate heat. The researchers concluded that the mice could manage with 6 grams of nesting material but sometimes could use as much as 10 grams, suggesting the larger amount be supplied routinely in research labs. Another benefit of the nests is that they facilitate researchers' work with the mice -- it's easier to pick them up as well as observe them. "The shape of the nest tells an experienced person whether the animals are too hot or too cold, whether they are sick or whether they are about to give birth," Garner said. "Once you learn how to'speak mouse nest,' the nest is a wonderful tool that anyone can use to assess the general state of the mouse." The study's first author is Brianna Gaskill, PhD, at the Charles River Laboratories. Garner and Gaskill collaborated with colleagues at the University of Calgary, Purdue University and the Environmental Protection Agency. The study was supported by a grant from the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, the Charles River Laboratories (which donated the mice used in the study) and Fiber Core, which donated the nesting material.Do you remember the mysterious girl that appeared in the Regalia during that "Reclaim The Throne" trailer? There was quite a bit of buzz at the time, but things have died down since. However, with the release of Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV Episode 3, the hive mind has re-activated again and joined together some theoretical dots. The third episode of Final Fantasy XV's animated series prequel focusses on the development of the relationship between Gladiolus and Noctis. However, it also introduces a new character into the Final Fantasy XV Universe, Gladiolus' little sister, Iris Amicitia. This has got people thinking. Her appearance in Brotherhood might not be just a throwaway part, there might be something more to it, more depth. The appearance itself is during a flashback sequence where everyone is a tad younger. In this segment, Iris appears as a little girl, who's both curious and a tad annoying. By the time the story of Final Fantasy XV rolls around, Iris would therefore be quite a bit older (let's say mid-teens). Assuming as she aged, her features remained roughly the same (this would also help with continuity between the anime and game) her profile would therefore be quite similar to the girl who appears in the Regalia alongside Gladiolus and Noctis in the Reclaim The Throne trailer from Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV. Almost identical hair cut, check. Similar facial features, check. Similarish hair colour, check. What do you think? Do you think it's likely to be Iris or do you think it could equally be Crowe or another female character like Gentiana? (Shout out to Final Fantasy UK fans on Facebook for the conspiracy theory!)About four years ago, in a city park in western Washington State, Joe Winters encountered a woman in the throes of a psychotic episode. As he sat down next to her, she told him that she had purchased the bench that they now shared and that it was her home. “I didn’t buy the hallucinations, but I tried to validate the feelings underneath them,” Winters told me. His strategy resembled Rogerian psychotherapy—unconditionally accepting a patient’s experience, even when it is untethered from reality. But Winters is not a roving psychologist; he is a deputy in the King County Sheriff’s Office. He had been called to the scene in response to the woman’s behavior, which nearby residents deemed disruptive. After talking with Winters for several minutes, the woman left of her own volition, without Winters having to arrest her or resort to physical force. Policing can seem like barren ground for empathy, the experience of understanding, sharing in, and caring about another’s emotions. According to the Web site Fatal Encounters, cops were involved in the deaths of twelve hundred and sixty-one people in the United States last year, an average of about three and a half each day. A recent string of brutal arrests by officers in Missouri, New York, Texas, South Carolina, Ohio, and elsewhere has helped to drive the public’s faith in law enforcement to a twenty-two-year low. National confidence in police officers’ racial impartiality has also fallen. But, for communities of color, incidents like these are nothing new; they often confirm a longstanding perception of police as antagonists. Many theories, both old and new, hold that empathy is inevitable and automatic. When you witness someone suffer a severe bone fracture, it doesn’t take mental gymnastics to figure out how you feel; a wave of discomfort might wash over you, the emotional equivalent of a knee-jerk reflex. In fact, though, empathy is a fragile reaction, one that often fails when it is most needed. Conflicts between groups (racial, social, or competitive) can reduce its potency. So can stress, which limits the psychological space that people have for others, and power, which can numb those who possess it to the plight of those who don’t. Each of these factors is common in policing. From their earliest days of training, many recruits are steeped in a so-called warrior mentality, in which routine patrols resemble combat and citizens pose a potentially mortal threat. Last year, the Santa Fe New Mexican obtained a draft of instructional materials from the state law-enforcement academy that offer a striking example of this philosophy. According to the proposed curriculum, cadets would be taught that, during traffic stops, they should “assume that … all the occupants in the vehicle are armed.” Expectations like these encourage a volatile mindset, and they play directly into the tendency to see weapons where there are none, especially in the hands of black men. The warrior mentality also instills chronic anxiety. Seth Stoughton, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and a former police officer, told me that such fear colors the way that cops treat civilians. “If I’m worried about never making it home again, I don’t really give a damn if I offend someone,” he said. “Whatever emotional toll my actions take on them, it will feel less important than my survival.” If you wanted to decrease recruits’ empathy, you could scarcely do better than to enshrine a warrior mentality. Recently, however, recruits in several cities—among them Cincinnati, Las Vegas, and Memphis—have begun to learn a different approach: command less, listen more. A strong example of such a program comes from Sue Rahr, the executive director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. Rahr’s curriculum, which has produced about seven hundred and fifty graduates in the past two years, is designed to do away with the warrior mentality and encourage recruits to view themselves not as combatants within a community but as guardians of it. (President Obama’s Task Force on Twenty-First-Century Policing, whose final report Rahr helped shape, aims to do the same.) One strategy that flows from Rahr’s philosophy is known as LEED, “listening and explaining with equity and dignity.” LEED teaches officers to insure that citizens feel heard and that they understand the reasons behind police behavior. This approach draws heavily from the psychology of procedural justice, which views fairness of treatment as being equally important as fairness of outcome; Rahr calls it “a Happy Meal version of a research smorgasbord.” It also looks a lot like the method that Joe Winters, one of Rahr’s trainers, used in his park-bench encounter. Rahr sees empathy as more than window dressing. “It’s a safety strategy that gives officers a tactical advantage,” she told me. “When you know why someone is acting a certain way, you also know how to best react.” Rahr’s program supplements coursework with exercises that test recruits’ ability to communicate effectively. In one exercise, trainees arrive at a mock crime scene in which two men have assaulted a third. The victim asks for his hat, which is out of reach to him. Only if the recruit honors this request does the victim reveal that the assault is part of a gang initiation. In another exercise, recruits encounter a knife-wielding actor. If they flood the room and fixate on the weapon, the scenario escalates. If they focus on building rapport, it falls under control. The lesson: good policing requires slowing things down, listening, and meeting people where they are. Because Rahr’s program is relatively new, its over-all effect on policing culture isn’t yet clear. She harbors no illusions, and emphasizes that she and her colleagues don’t expect to undo “two hundred years of history” overnight. Even if the program does change recruits’ hearts and minds, the changes might not last. As Rahr told me, some recruits leave the program, move to their new departments, and meet field-training officers who offer to help them “get past that touchy-feely bullshit and do real policing.” Then there’s the scale of the problem. In Rahr’s ideal world, she said, “everyone who sees a police officer would have the initial reaction that ‘I’m safer.’ ” That world feels very distant from our own. Police violence does not reflect the failure of empathy alone, and empathy cannot overwrite racial bias and structural inequality. (The woman whom Joe Winters encountered in the park was white; if she had been black and another officer had taken the call, how might the interaction have gone?) In some cases, empathy may even make things worse. According to Steve Silverman, the founder of Flex Your Rights, an organization that helps people assert themselves during police encounters, “Officer Friendly tactics are good at getting citizens to voluntarily waive their Fourth Amendment rights.” He maintains that empathy training “must go hand in hand with respecting basic constitutional protections.” Is it possible for an officer who starts out unempathetic to grow more caring? The knee-jerk theory suggests not. If people are helpless to stop themselves from feeling empathy, they might likewise be unable to stoke it. But the recruits in Rahr’s program provide a counterpoint; they build their empathic ability even in difficult circumstances. This jibes with the findings of a new movement in the scientific community. Some psychologists, myself included, argue that empathy is less a fixed trait, like height, than a learnable skill, like Scrabble. In one recent study, my colleagues and I found that people who believe this to be true put more work into identifying with members of other races, a tendency that would serve police officers well. Another way to bolster caring is to emphasize empathy-positive norms, as the British psychologist Mark Tarrant found in a study in 2009. Tarrant and his colleagues told a group of college students about another student whose parents had died in a car accident. Participants felt more empathy when they believed that this victim attended their own university, as opposed to another school. Tarrant then ran his study again, but first told half the group that their own university was an unusually empathic place, high in “compassion, tenderness, and sympathy.” This simple prompt erased the empathy gap; students now expressed equal empathy for victims from their own and other schools. In the world of law enforcement, the city police department in Decatur, Georgia, seems to have adopted a similar empathic norm, as can be seen in the first seconds of its recruitment video—a stark contrast with more warrior-oriented messages offered elsewhere. It is frustratingly difficult to draw a line between empathy-focussed police training, on the one hand, and concrete outcomes such as use of force, on the other. This is largely because police departments offer poorly structured or incomplete data about their behavior. Rahr and others are now engaged in long-term research to make up that disparity in knowledge. Still, even at this time of frayed relations between cops and communities, programs like Rahr’s offer the potential for both optimism and psychological insight, by furthering the idea that officers can learn to choose empathy more often.Farewell Jordan and Shroud. I love you guys From watching these two from the start of my career and to competing alongside with them, it's unbelievable how this long journey felt so short. I'd like to thank these two for being apart of giving me the opportunity to compete around the world. Mike was always an admirable and good teammate. The crazy thing is that it translates to his personality as well. The atmosphere was always calm because of him and people wouldn't understand that until they know you. Putting faith in me and saying that I will be a good player. Regardless what the community says, in my mind you're still a good player, but found love to do something else and I respect it and support you all the way. He's the best aimer in the world because all his mechanics are natural and it looks the flashiest with no effort. As for Jordan, he changed my life. The closest friend on the team and guided me in game at the start. Didn't do it well...but, 😂. He guided me in life as well and matured me as a person quickly. His personality is unreal and most of you can see the funny side of him from the outside, but a person like this is a friend everyone has wished for. Willing to forgive and forgive and forgive me after the constant mistakes i've made. It's heartbreaking to be apart of the decision to bench a player who was known as a god from 1.6 and a future legend. LANs won't be the same without you, man:( It's painful to put personal relationships aside from business and hoping that these decisions will make my career brighter. These two people changed my life and I love them for that. I hope to compete with you guys someway or another, one day. Jake♥️ Reply · Report PostThree stars from Hawaii are among the next incoming class of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. SHARE ADVERTISING Three stars from Hawaii are among the next incoming class of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. Junior Ah You (Kahuku, Arizona State), Chris Naeole (Kahuku, Colorado) and Ma’a Tanuvasa (Mililani, Hawaii) were all college and pro football standouts who first made their marks as prep stars on Oahu. Naeole, now the offensive line coach at the University of Hawaii, attended today’s announcement at the Sheraton Waikiki. So did about half of the Rainbow Warriors coaching staff and about a dozen players. “I found out (Monday) night and told Rolo (head coach Nick Rolovich) I might have to leave practice early,” Naeole said and then laughed. “I guess he sent out a group text.” Riki Ellison (USC) rounds out the players who will be inducted Jan. 21 and 22 during the hall of fame’s enshrinement weekend. John Manumaleuna will also be enshrined, as a contributor. Also on Jan. 21, the first Polynesian Bowl high school all-star game will be played at Aloha Stadium. See polynesianfootballhof.org and polynesianbowl.com for more information.Authorities in London made two more "significant" arrests in the investigation into Wednesday's terror attack that sent shock waves through the country. The latest sweep brought to nine the total of arrests made in the wake of the attack. One woman was released on bail, Reuters reported. Authorities are working to determine if the attacker, Khalid Masood, who died at the scene, was directed or acted alone. Masood killed four in the attack outside British parliament. Police said they believe Masood, 52, acted alone when he drove an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer on the Parliament’s grounds. The dead included a British policeman, stabbed repeatedly, an American tourist who was celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary and a school administrator adored in the Spanish town where she spent summer vacations with her family. A 75-year-old victim of the bridge attack died late Thursday after he was taken off life support, police said. Authorities said two officers are listed in critical condition. Reuters reported on Friday that the attacker’s birth name was Arian Russell. According to police, Masood was born in Kent, U.K., and they believe he was most recently living in the West Midlands, which includes the city of Birmingham. Masood was known to authorities and had a range of previous convictions for assaults, including grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses. ISIS claimed responsibility for the rampage, saying Masood was “an Islamic State soldier” who “carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition.” London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades. Just this weekend, hundreds of armed police took part in an exercise simulating a "marauding" terrorist attack on the River Thames.Ryan Kesler had a great year in 2009-2010. He scored 25 goals, one less than his career high, but did so by generating 214 shots, 35 more than his career high. Though he had the highest qualcomp of any Canuck, he still finished with the fifth-highest Corsi on the team. He moves the puck the right way and is able to generate his own offense. Bobby Clarke knew what he was doing when he signed Kesler to an offer sheet in 2006. Ring them bells Saint Peter where the four winds blow Ring them bells with an ironhand So the people will know --Bob Dylan, "Ring Them Bells" During the Canucks preseason game against the Oilers on September 26th, Kesler scored a goal from the high slot off of the post beating Nikolai Khabibulin. Canucks' play-by-play man John Shorthouse said, "I can't count the number of times Kesler went off the bar or off the post and in from that spot last year." I thought it was an odd thing to say because it implied this sequence of events happened so often that Shorthouse was unable to count a number that large. But Kesler only scored 25 goals, so how many times could he have hit the post? Fortunately, using NHL.com's highlights archive, it's easy to count and that's exactly what I did. Below is a table listing all of Kesler's goals by date, game and situation. The goals in green and red text are shots that beat the goalie without a screen, tap in, rebound or stuff in. In other words, those goals are the shooter's goals. Red text indicates a shot that went off of a post and green text indicates a shot that beat the goalie cleanly. Date Game Situation Time Description 4/10/2010 (CGY @ VAN) EV 06:17 in 2nd Tap into a wide open net from the crease. 4/4/2010 (MIN @ VAN) SHG 05:02 in 1st Tap into a wide open net on a cross-crease feed. 4/1/2010 (VAN @ LAK) EV 13:22 in 2nd Left faceoff dot off of the post and in. 3/24/2010 (ANA @ VAN) EV 19:30 in 3rd Empty Net Goal 3/18/2010 (SJS @ VAN) PPG 12:14 in 1st Slot over the right pad 3/14/2010 (CGY @ VAN) EV 07:27 in 1st Slot crossbar and in 3/5/2010 (VAN @ CHI) EV 14:09 in 1st Right circle five hole 3/3/2010 (VAN @ DET) EV 03:34 in 1st Breakaway goal. 3/3/2010 (VAN @ DET) PPG 06:35 in 3rd Tip in on shot from the point. 2/11/2010 (VAN @ FLA) PPG 15:57 in 3rd Rebound from the left slot. 2/9/2010 (VAN @ TBL) PPG 19:53 in 2nd Right circle over the shoulder. 2/2/2010 (VAN @ MTL) PPG 14:10 in 3rd Tip in rebound 1/16/2010 (PIT @ VAN) PPG 13:08 in 2nd Tip in on shot from the point. 1/13/2010 (VAN @ MIN) PPG 18:12 in 1st Stuff in off of rebound. 1/2/2010 (VAN @ DAL) EV 01:30 in 2nd Low slot off of the post and in. 12/26/2009 (EDM @ VAN) PPG 07:09 in 2nd Tip in on shot from the point. 12/18/2009 (WSH @ VAN) EV 06:39 in 1st Breakaway goal. 12/14/2009 (LAK @ VAN) EV 01:04 in 1st Rebound from the top of the crease. 12/12/2009 (MIN @ VAN) PPG 06:44 in 3rd Right circle off of the post and in. 12/8/2009 (VAN @ NSH) PPG 12:12 in 2nd Tap into a wide open net from the crease. 11/1/2009 (COL @ VAN) EV 06:28 in 2nd Wide open net on a rebound from the side of the net. 10/24/2009 (TOR @ VAN) PPG 17:32 in 1st Right circle. 10/17/2009 (MIN @ VAN) EV 04:23 in 2nd Stuff from the side of the net. 10/11/2009 (DAL @ VAN) PPG 14:45 in 1st Right circle over the shoulder. 10/7/2009 (MTL @ VAN) EV 13:50 in 1st Breakaway goal. Kesler had four goals go in off of the post, and two of those from the slot, or "that spot" as Shorthouse put it. I'm not sure why Shorthouse couldn't count to two, though I'm sure his memory was a bit hazy. So of Kesler's 25 goals, eight of them beat the goalie cleanly, yet half of them needed a bit of assistance from the post. I don't have any data to work from in order to compare Kesler to the rest of the NHL, nor do I have a count of how many times Kesler hit the post without scoring. We could use the NHL.com counts, but they, like many other statistics dependent on the official scorer, are notoriously unreliable. The interesting bit, to me at least, is just how slim the margin is for Kesler. Considering his shots numbers and underlying stats, no matter how many goals he scored, it was a remarkably successful season. But 16% of his goals were luck. When the stats guys talk about luck, they're talking about the edges - the performances, both by individuals and teams that have no repeatability. In this case, I'm talking about luck in the traditional sense. Kesler found some friendly posts and a friendly angle and because of it found himself with four more goals last season. I'm not deriding Kesler for it, rather, I'm amazed at the luck involved in these goals. If those four shots are off by a fraction of one inch, Kesler only scores 21 goals. We've got nothing to compare to, but even if other players are just as lucky or more lucky, it doesn't matter because it's the luck itself that's mind-boggling. If baseball is a game of inches, hockey is a game of fractions.For decades, the record for most touchdowns scored by any single CFL player in a Grey Cup game was three, a record shared by three players: Red Storey in 1938, Jackie Parker in 1956 and Tom Scott in 1980. Then, in 2011, the record was shattered, not with any superstar performance in that year’s game, but through dogged research of a game played nearly a century earlier, before the days of the forward pass. One long-forgotten member of the Hamilton Tigers, Art Wilson, scored four touchdowns in the 1913 Grey Cup, and he finally got his due. It was just one in a long line of efforts to set the record book straight by Steve Daniel, the CFL’s statistics guru, who has possibly the league’s loneliest job. In modern professional sports, statistics are invaluable. They are used by coaches and players to compare performances and analyze plays. The numbers also help create storylines about athletes or coaches chasing records in history books. Yet, until a few years ago, the CFL was barely in the statistics game. Front-line data gatherers at each stadium interpreted rulings differently, Grey Cup game reports from decades past didn’t include modern statistical categories such as “tackles,” and something as simple as a roster of the names of every player who ever put on a CFL uniform was incomplete because old game sheets only listed players’ surnames. Working from his home in Richmond, B.C., as the CFL’s top statistician since 2005, Daniel is the sole keeper of the entire league’s statistical history (every touchdown, tackle, sack and catch), a database of numbers he’ll be updating when the Grey Cup gets underway in Regina on Nov. 24. Coaches today rely on Daniel’s numbers to scout such things as how their teams fare on running plays against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, or how often quarterbacks throw interceptions against the Edmonton Eskimos’ defence. “My boss once said to me: ‘The Buffalo Bills of the NFL have three statisticians on their team. We have you, for our league,’ ” Daniel says. “I thought that was a pretty good statistic in itself.” And it was in his role as chief stat keeper that Daniel helped rediscover Wilson’s record. Playing in front of 2,100 fans at the Hamilton Cricket Grounds a century ago, Wilson’s record day was long lost in newspaper archives. The league’s historian, Larry Robertson, had become aware of old news reports about the feat and, after bringing it to Daniel’s attention, the duo spent months combing through newspaper archives. Among the eight dailies covering the game that day, they found a tangle of conflicting reports for how many touchdowns he scored, a consequence of reporters sitting in the stands without the benefit of television or instant replay. Robertson has an additional theory. “Reporters in those days liked to have a drink or two,” he says. That Grey Cup was a blowout, with Hamilton defeating Toronto 44-2. “I would say, by halftime, half the reporters started to lose interest in who was scoring the points on the field.” Regardless, drawing from the information they could gather, Daniel and Robertson created a chart to remake what they thought was the most accurate account of the 1913 championship game, including Wilson’s four touchdowns. “Statistics is not just science, it’s not just process,” says Daniel. “It’s interpretation. That’s the key that most people don’t get.” He took their conclusion to the heads of the CFL and the record books were quickly updated. “You are in fact affecting history,” says Daniel. “I think about that all the time.” Daniel’s dream of being a statistician started in childhood. In his spare time, he’d lie on his bedroom floor, compiling stats from his little-league baseball games. “My dad would yell at me: ‘Do something with your life!’ ” Daniel recalls. After high school, he followed his father’s footsteps into a job at BC Hydro, where he toiled as a manager for 20 years before being laid off in 1994. With one year’s severance pay and his wife’s blessing, Daniel convinced the Portland Trail Blazers professional basketball team to let him compile the team’s statistics in games—for free. A year later, when the Vancouver Grizzlies joined the NBA, then-general manager Stu Jackson hired Daniel to work with the expansion team. He’d compile the results of every play in practices and games, put them into a database and see which plays were most successful against which teams. “We gave him a nickname,” says Larry Riley, director of scouting with the Golden State Warriors, who previously worked with the Grizzlies. “We called him ‘Numbers.’ And we did it out of respect.” Even though Daniel had no reputation in the basketball world, he soon found himself sitting at tables among general managers and coaches for the NBA draft. Daniel wasn’t there to measure a player’s heart or character, but he created a mathematical formula to determine a player’s efficiency on the court. Modern-day sports fans have become obsessed with statistics, and both media and sports managers have caught on to their importance. Billy Beane, the general manager for baseball’s Oakland Athletics, was captivated by overlooked statistics such as “on-base percentage.” He believed he could create a winning club without having to break the bank with all-star players. Beane’s experiments with sports and statistics were captured in the book-turned-movie Moneyball. Meanwhile, Nate Silver, the statistician who correctly predicted the outcomes in all 50 states for the 2012 U.S. election, was recently scooped up by sports-media juggernaut ESPN to use his statistical expertise for data-driven sports analysis. Daniel may not have the name recognition of those two, but he has been employing the same types of strategies since he first entered the NBA. When the Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis in 2001, Daniel followed for a few years, but with his family still back in Vancouver, he opted to leave the job and return home. When his former Vancouver colleagues heard he was back in town, they quickly got him a job with the B.C. Lions as a press-box PA announcer. It was from the sidelines of the 2005 Grey Cup where Daniel came to understand fully the shortcomings of the CFL’s system for gathering stats. As he watched, Anthony Calvillo, the legendary Montreal Alouettes quarterback, threw a pass to Dave Stala. Daniel was ready to announce Stala’s catch over the PA to the 59,000 fans in attendance, but the front-line statistics crew had mistakenly recorded another player, Ben Cahoon, as making the catch. “Cahoon is the all-time leading receiver in the history of Grey Cups,” says Daniel. “And here’s the guy being credited for a catch he didn’t make.” Given the conflicting information, Daniel chose to announce what the stat crew reported about Cahoon making the catch. But he made note of the error. The next day, he was promoted to chief number cruncher for the B.C. Lions and set about filling the many gaps in the club’s history books—no easy task since, according to club folklore, Vancouver stock promoter Murray Pezim had thrown all the records into a garbage bin when he bought the team in 1990 because he wanted the team’s primary focus to be selling tickets. “So I started rebuilding,” Daniel says. When the CFL saw how Daniel revamped the Lions’ statistics database, the league hired him to standardize every team’s numbers. One of Daniel’s very first orders of business in his new role was to go into the Grey Cup history books and reverse that one catch by Cahoon, taking the receiving yards away from the record holder and giving them to the rightful recipient. Then he started digging deeper. “To me, a player who played in the 1956 season is every bit as important as one playing now,” Daniel says. To that end, Daniel has since gone back and watched every Grey Cup game from when it was first televised in 1952 to update every number, including “tackles,” which weren’t officially tallied until 1980. “So now, if someone asks me the record for most tackles in a Grey Cup game, I can tell you it was Juan Sheridan [with the Montreal Alouettes] in 1955, with 16.” Prior to Daniel’s research, that record belonged to Saskatchewan’s Renauld Williams from 2009. During the CFL season, Daniel has little time to focus on the history books. Fans expect numbers updated in real time on their smartphones, something stats crews at every stadium collecting data can provide. Even with his promotion, Daniel remains as the stats crew chief at all Lions home games. “It’s no fun just sitting in your office watching TV,” he says. But the 56-year-old will diligently watch every single play afterward—even if the game was boring or a blowout—to make sure there were no mistakes on his part or that of the other stats crews gathering info for him. “He’s a lens on every game, and he’s our sole point of end accountability for corrections,” says Kevin McDonald, vice-president of football operations for the CFL. “Steve is the keeper of our information. It’s a pretty big responsibility.” And yet, numbers can only go so far. They don’t capture the person off the field: his character, background or history. Since Wilson wasn’t a star player and never received much attention in the press, one mystery still largely eludes Daniel and CFL historians: Who, exactly, was Art Wilson?Get the biggest daily news 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 If you don't cry over these drawings you've probably got a heart of stone. Ben Cameron from Rochester is the artist behind the saddest doodles in the world. He started doing the drawings to pass the time when he was working in what he describes as a "very boring job". "I started doodling when I worked in a shop. It was my hatred of the place that got me thinking I might have to do something to get out of there. I used to doodle to get a reaction from colleagues and twitter - they pay my rent now! "If I didn't hate working there so much, I wouldn't have carried round scraps of paper to draw stupid things to amuse myself and colleagues. I wouldn't be doing this now." You can see more of Ben's art on his website and buy prints from his Etsy store. Be prepared, you're
many patients to afford, the Senate Finance Committee said in a report. “Gilead pursued a calculated scheme for pricing and marketing its Hepatitis C drug based on one primary goal, maximizing revenue, regardless of the human consequences,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Gilead knew these prices would put treatment out of the reach of millions and cause extraordinary problems for Medicare and Medicaid, but still the company went ahead,” he added. “If Gilead’s approach to pricing is the future of how blockbuster drugs are launched, it will cost billions and billions of dollars to treat just a fraction of patients.” “Gilead knew these prices would put treatment out of the reach of millions." Sovaldi costs about $84,000 for a weeks-long regimen aimed at eradicating the liver-destroying virus. A second-generation version, called Harvoni, costs more than $94,000 for similar treatment. Gilead argues that the drugs cure the infection in a matter of weeks or months and this eventually saves everyone money, because the virus was almost impossible to cure before and required years of antiviral treatment. Gilead said it cooperated with the investigation and defended its pricing of the drugs. “We respectfully disagree with the conclusions of their report,” the company said in a statement. “Gilead responsibly and thoughtfully priced Sovaldi and Harvoni. The products were initially priced in line with the previous standards of care,” it added. “With the rebates and discounts now in place, the prices today are less than the cost of prior regimens, even though our therapies have significantly higher cure rates and very few side effects.” The Senate report paints a picture of a drug that burdened state and federal health insurance plans. “For example, state Medicaid programs nationwide spent $1.3 billion before rebates on the drug in 2014. Even with that expenditure, less than 2.4 percent of the roughly 700,000 Medicaid enrollees with Hepatitis C were treated with Sovaldi,” the report reads. Hepatitis C affects about 3.2 million Americans, killing more than 15,000 each year, mostly from illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Only half of people in the United States who have ever been infected with hepatitis C get proper testing for it. “With the rebates and discounts now in place, the prices today are less than the cost of prior regimens." Other drugs are on the market now and some providers pay for those and refuse to pay for Gilead’s drugs. Nonetheless, the Senate report shows, Gilead has made more than $14 billion on the drugs in the two years they have been on the market. The report says Gilead was looking to the future. “By elevating the price for the new standard of care set by Sovaldi, Gilead intended to raise the price floor for all future hepatitis C virus treatments, including its follow-on drugs and those of its competitors,” the report reads. There’s not much Congress can do about drug prices — under the U.S. system, companies make drugs and are free to charge what they like. But Congress and government health agencies should do what they can to prevent this type of thing from happening in the future, the report says. And states need to plan for how they will pay for these drugs for residents on Medicaid. For instance, it said, some states have formed “pools” that have more purchasing power and the clout to negotiate lower prices from companies — even though in the case of Gilead drugs the discounts weren’t very large.Donald Trump’s shady real estate dealings have become a fascination of the New York Times in the march up to November’s general election. Now, the Gray Lady strikes again with a report on the Republican presidential nominee’s dogged quest for tax breaks that have allowed his New York City real estate empire to thrive while giving little back to the city in the form of financial contribution. "Donald Trump is probably worse than any other developer in his relentless pursuit of every single dime of taxpayer subsidies he can get his paws on," Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen told the Times. The paper uncovers that the bronzed talking head has received at least $885 million in tax breaks, grants, and other subsidies for hotels, office buildings, and apartments that have allowed him to lower his own costs while jacking up pricing on said apartments. Trump received a 40-year tax break on 42nd Street’s Grand Hyatt Hotel that’s cost the city $360 million over the past 36 years. The city has also missed out on $332 million in taxes for Trump Place on Riverside Drive, $8 million for Trump Palace, $13 million from Trump Plaza, $120 million from Trump World Tower, $16 million from Trump International Tower on Central Park West (h/t TRD). The nominee also received a $150,000 grant for Financial District icon 40 Wall Street through a program meant to help small businesses recover in the years following the September 11th attacks, despite admitting that the building was unharmed in the events. Trump also harnessed his father’s political and high-ranking connections, as well as his own, to juice the system. When an agency head rallied against a tax break for the Grand Hyatt, Trump reportedly threatened to have the guy fired. Trump went on to receive the tax break, and reluctantly deliver on half of his promise to bring two subway entrances to the base of the hotel. Trump praises the Gran Hyatt as a "great success for the city." "His whole MO is to exploit the government for everything he could get," Jerilyn Perine, the city housing commissioner during the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations, told the Times, "In the end, the letter of the law gave it to him."WASHINGTON—In an effort to destroy as much incriminating evidence as possible following the indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, White House staffers reportedly spent Tuesday frantically shredding Trump campaign aides. “We should have done this months ago; we need to shred as many of these campaign aides as we can before Mueller gets his hands on them,” said senior policy advisor Stephen Miller, who directed employees to search the White House and hand over any damning campaign consultants while he manned the industrial shredder, stopping occasionally to un-jam the machine. “Oh god, there’s just so many of them. This could open us up to a lot of bad things. It’s gonna take all day to destroy the staffers we have here, plus there’s still a bunch in New York.” At press time, Miller reportedly started a bonfire on the South Lawn after deciding it would be much faster to burn the enormous pile of campaign aides his team had collected. AdvertisementOn June 22 a street food vendor in Chelsea was charged with felony assault and weapons possession after slashing another vendor in the back, according to police. It was the result of an apparent turf war, with each vendor laying claim to the same sidewalk space. On May 12, the driver of an ice cream truck beat a pretzel vendor with a bat at a busy midtown spot near Madison Avenue and 54th Street. Again, it was a turf war, with both vendors asserting their “right” to conduct business at that venue. These incidents, and similar ones, should serve as catalysts to re-evaluate how our public areas—especially sidewalks—are used by food and merchandise vendors, and whether the city should begin issuing contracts for individual public spaces based on criteria including the market value of particular locations. As it stands, our sidewalks and streets are flooded with food carts and trucks. The former are a particular problem: They are unsightly, spew pollutants, operate illegal generators, block pedestrian movement and fail to adhere to basic food-safety practices such as hand-washing and the use of rubber gloves. Their regulator, the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, issues permits for these vendors, but cart inspections are sporadic, ineffective and meaningless to consumers because carts do not display letter grades as restaurants must. Each year, millions of dollars in fines go uncollected because the actual food-cart permit holders are difficult to trace. Many cart owners operate in a black market where permits are obtained from the city at ridiculously low prices and rented out for tens of thousands of dollars each. The city does not benefit from this hoarding and scalping, and its permits confer no right to a specific location. Instead, shady partners determine the true value of a particular location and profit from it. These shrewd operators also frequently employ disabled military veterans to simply sit next to their food carts, knowing full well the vets are immune to enforcement in many areas. This is clearly an abuse of a state law designed to protect veterans who engage in their own enterprises. Advocates for vendors argue the city should raise the decades-old cap on the number of permits as a way to address the issue. This would be terribly misguided. Not only would it likely exacerbate the black market, it would worsen the myriad of problems that food carts bring: litter, questionable food safety practices, and yes, brutal turf wars. It’s clearly time for a change. Fortunately, a parallel but more successful system for licensing vendors already exists in our city. It is run by the Department of Parks and Recreation, and is in effect on all city property under its aegis. The agency issues requests for proposals for the operation of food carts, which spell out in great detail how carts should look, where they can be situated, what types of foods are served and whether it is being prepared and served in a safe manner. The RFPs also stipulate electrical power requirements as well as proper storage and environmental requisites. Fines are imposed for any violations of the operating agreement, and ultimately, persistent offenders are subject to having their carts removed. The system allows the Park Department to properly manage our city’s green spaces and to prevent the level of congestion and mayhem that exists on many sidewalks. This model should be employed citywide, rather than having one system for parks and another for everywhere else. With the input of community boards and business improvement districts, the city could issue RFPs for sidewalk food vending. This would allow it to better regulate and monitor the appearance of food carts, the type of food being sold, and whether it is being safely prepared and served. If the terms aren’t being met, the license to operate would be revoked. Indeed, the city currently collects $60 million annually in fees for other commercial uses of its 12,000 miles of sidewalks. These include restaurants’ sidewalk cafes, as well as businesses’ signs, ornamental lampposts, stand-alone clocks, benches, bollards, planters, permanent trash receptacles, and delivery ramps. The same principle should be applied to food carts and trucks, because purely commercial use of our streets and sidewalks should be regarded as a privilege, not a right. As our city’s streets become more pedestrian-oriented, especially with the addition of car-free plazas, it is imperative that legislation be enacted to prevent the disorder that food carts perpetuate on New Yorkers’ quality of life. Dan Biederman is president of the 34th Street Partnership business improvement district and executive director of Bryant Park Corp.Wellington Phoenix boss Ernie Merrick has hailed the influence of new signings Kosta Barbarouses and Gui Finkler and believes his side now boasts a greater attacking force than last season. Phoenix secured the duo from Melbourne Victory towards the end of the 2015/16 season and they've formed a formidable strike-force alongside Roy Krishna and Roly Bonevacia. “Up front Gui Finkler and Kosta Barbarouses has made a huge difference to our attacking line-up,” Merrick told reporters on Friday. “And it’s pulled everyone else into a more organised bunch that seem to relate well and know what each other’s doing. “Those little passes in behind the defence and the movement very quick, so not only are we a better strike force but I think we’re defending better.” Merrick admitted bringing foreign players to the club is always a risk but said players with proven A-League success are far more reliable options than visa players from other parts of the globe. “If you know how good they are and what to expect and you know their personality’s because they’ve been in the league for two or three years and they’ve won a championship, it’s a much safer signing, Merrick said. “We signed last year Jeffrey Sarpong. We flew him over here but really he never got off the plane. Technical as he was, he never did a job for us. “These boys [Finkler and Barbarouses] are doing a job for us.” Wellington head to Townsville on Friday for a seven-day training camp which features a friendly against Melbourne City before traveling to Sydney to tackle the Mariners on September 17. Merrick says the trip will be used to help the team acclimatise to warmer conditions ahead of the new season and also to help the players understand the club’s vision. “Part of the reason is our second match is against Perth and we wanted to acclimatise somewhat. So it will be pretty heavy training with a couple of matches,” he said. “And [it gives us] a chance to talk about our values, standards, culture and what our goals are. “When you get away you can also have not only team meetings but one on ones with all the players just to make sure there is a clarity around our roles and expectations of the club and where we want to go this year."The New England Patriots and New York Jets have competition for the services of Darrelle Revis. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported that the Cleveland Browns are set to make a run at the All-Pro cornerback when he reaches the open market on Tuesday. Rapoport also named the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs as candidates to battle for the All-Pro cornerback. The Patriots are not picking up Revis' $20 million option for 2015, but they continue to talk with the cover man about a new contract, per Rapoport. Revis will be free to speak with additional suitors come Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET The Browns are linked to Revis through coach Mike Pettine, who worked with the cornerback for four seasons during their time together with Jets. Chiefs coordinator Bob Sutton also worked closely with Revis in the Big Apple. It's the second consecutive year the Browns have chased Revis after making a run at the defender last offseason. Revis, of course, chose the Patriots, won a Super Bowl and remains likely to stay in New England or return home to Gotham. All the rest must be seen as a distant contenders for his services. The latest Around The NFL Podcast analyzes early free agency news, including Ndamukong Suh to Miami, Devin McCourty's new deal and much more. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.The party was reportedly miffed with the political strategist’s recent meeting with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav In a shocking development, Congress party has reportedly broken-up all the ties with poll strategist Prashant Kishor. The party was reportedly unhappy with the political strategist’s recent meeting with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, India Today Television reported on Monday quoting sources. Besides, Prashant was also trying to push Priyanka Gandhi for a greater role in Uttar Pradesh polls, to which the party leadership didn’t approve of. An earlier report had said that the party was not in loop about Kishor’s meeting with Mulayam and Amar Singh. Kishor is considered close to party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and is hired for strategy making in the upcoming UP and Punjab Election. Sources say that the party was not in loop about Kishor’s meeting with Mulayam and Amar Singh. “Kishor deviated from party line by meeting SP supremo Mulayam,” they said. Earlier, The Indian Express, quoting sources had reported fault lines between UP Congress and the poll strategist. As per report, this intra-party tension, some leaders said, is finding an echo in Punjab, too. A senior leader told The Indian Express that he would not be surprised if Kishor and the Congress part ways. Sources said Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh is also not happy with Kishor and has shared his reservations with leaders close to him. A senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, told The Indian Express that he would not be surprised if Kishor and the Congress part ways sooner rather than later. Sources said Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh is also not happy with Kishor and has shared his reservations with leaders close to him.These villages buy and burn several hundred thousand gallons of diesel fuel per year in inefficient generators at costs that can approach $10 per gallon while spewing unhealthy fumes and soot. To ease their diesel dependence, some Alaskan villages have been able to secure financing to construct wind projects and small-scale, centralized electricity systems, known as micro grids. But the challenges of sizing and engineering these systems have slowed their development and installation. Even with generous support from the state and others, only about 25 of these systems have been installed over the past 20 years. We can do better. In collaboration with government labs, the state of Alaska, private companies and investors, the United States is developing modular wind and solar energy systems that will work in isolated communities in Alaska, on island nations, in the African bush and elsewhere. These systems are remarkably compact. Consider one that would provide enough renewable power for electricity, heating and cooling for a village of 100 to 200 people. It would include a refrigerator-size control center and a similarly sized container for storage batteries. The power would come either from one to five wind turbines, each about 100 feet tall with 20-foot-long blades, or from a solar panel array covering 700 square feet or more. Modern diesel generators would kick in when the wind wasn’t blowing or the sun wasn’t shining. Bigger villages would simply scale up by adding on more modules. With standardized specifications, costs would drop as production ramped up and as the modular operations replaced the old headache-causing systems and their one-of-a-kind maintenance problems. The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has been working with the Department of the Interior and industry on the Remote Community Renewable Energy Partnership to make this happen. Drawing from the Department of Defense’s successful deployment of small renewable energy-based systems to support forward-stationed troops, the lab is developing design specifications for a modular renewable energy system that aims to produce much cleaner energy, at half of today’s costs. This would be accomplished by replacing 75 percent of diesel use for electricity and heat in the Arctic villages (relying primarily on wind power) and for electricity and cooling in the tropics (relying primarily on solar power).An ear, nose and throat specialist was present in the clinic operating room where Joan Rivers underwent a procedure last month — and where she went into cardiac arrest — even though the doctor was not authorized to practice medicine in the clinic, people briefed on the matter said on Thursday. The E.N.T. specialist was brought into the operating room by Ms. Rivers’s gastroenterologist, the medical director of the Manhattan clinic, the people said. The specialist examined Ms. Rivers’s voice box twice, once before and once after the gastroenterologist performed an upper endoscopy, a procedure that used a tiny camera to look down her throat into her digestive system, the people said. The people briefed declined to be identified, saying they did not want to become involved in potential litigation. They said they did not know the E.N.T. specialist’s name. But one of them said she was not authorized to work at the clinic. Under state and federal regulations, facilities like the clinic must review the credentials and qualifications of physicians and grant them privileges before permitting them to perform procedures. The New York State Health Department is investigating Ms. Rivers’s treatment. Neither the gastroenterologist nor the E.N.T. specialist has been accused of wrongdoing.We’ve been gathering growth hacks and marketing tips to use them to promote Standuply. However, the result is really up to how you apply it to your specific case. Thus, we decided to share these tips and tricks with all of you. Some of them are really useful, others may lead you to new ideas, the rest you may find controversial. We hope that this data will bring you more traffic and happy customers. Enjoy and spread the word! Product Development How Pokémon GO’s skyrocketed — http://mashable.com/2016/07/10/john-hanke-pokemon-go/#VDwSY4gxomqC 3 Fundamental User Onboarding Lessons — http://www.appcues.com/blog/3-fundamental-user-onboarding-lessons-from-classic-nintendo-games/ `How to sell` — top ideas — http://copymonk.com/market-sophistication/ $800M MRR (the 1 question framework) — http://growthmarketingconf.com/how-to-grow-your-saas-startup-to-10000-paying-customers/ How to Pivot Your Startup the Right Away — http://500.co/startup-pivot-pyramid/ From zero to $125,000+ in monthly recurring revenue — http://wpcurve.com/convertkit The state of growth hacking — https://blog.mixpanel.com/2016/03/16/andrew-chen-and-the-state-of-growth-hacking/ Find Out What Your Audience Is Looking For — http://keywordtool.io/ How to Grow a Company From $100 to $400 Million — https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246690 The Startup Pyramid — http://www.startup-marketing.com/the-startup-pyramid/ Optimal Video Length — https://wistia.com/blog/optimal-video-length Adaptive vs. Responsive Web Design — http://blog.catchpoint.com/2014/07/16/adaptive-vs-responsive-web-design-quantifying-difference/ 5 Marketing Hacks Behind the App’s Viral Success — https://splitmetrics.com/blog/msqrd-ceo-shares-5-marketing-hacks-behind-the-apps-viral-success/ $58,150 in 5 Months — http://www.nateliason.com/lifestyle-business/ Why Pinterest empowers its growth engineering team — https://blog.mixpanel.com/2016/06/02/how-pinterest-rethinks-growth-engineering/ What’s a Good App Store Page Conversion Rate? — https://splitmetrics.com/blog/whats-a-good-app-store-page-conversion-rate/ The Wistia Guide to Calls to Action in Video Marketing — https://wistia.com/library/using-video-ctas A/B Testing for Low Traffic Websites — https://blog.optimizely.com/2016/05/17/ab-testing-for-low-traffic-websites/ Hamburger vs Menu: The Final AB Test — http://exisweb.net/menu-eats-hamburger My Data Shows Email Popups Work And Don’t Hurt — http://danzarrella.com/my-data-shows-email-popups-work-and-dont-hurt/ YouTube mobile growth hack — http://www.statisticbrain.com/youtube-statistics/ Our 8 Biggest Conversion Optimization Wins of 2015 — https://www.groovehq.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization-wins-of-2015 Are grammar mistakes costing you money? — http://conversionxl.com/grammar-mistakes-costing-money/ What 300 Million Pop-ups Taught Us About Email Signup Rates — https://sumome.com/stories/email-signup-benchmarks How Loading Time Affects Your Bottom Line — https://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/ How to increase landing page conversion from 5% to 55%? — http://www.simplifyinginterfaces.com/2012/12/07/how-we-increased-landing-page-conversion-from-5-to-55-3/ How We Improved Landing Page Conversions by 79.3% — http://conversionxl.com/case-study-how-we-improved-landing-page-conversion/ Landing Page Image Outperforms Video, Increases Monthly Revenue by $106000 — https://vwo.com/blog/image-outperforms-video-increases-monthly-revenue/ Lessons in growth engineering — https://engineering.pinterest.com/blog/lessons-growth-engineering-how-we-doubled-sign-ups-pin-landing-pages Triggered Email Gets More Clicks: By Over 40% — https://www.getvero.com/resources/triggered-email-increase-click-through-rate/ 9 Conversion Tricks That Are Borderline Magic — https://klientboost.com/cro/conversion-tricks/ The (Easy) Secret To 1,375% More Subscribers — https://blog.aweber.com/email-marketing/easy-secret-more-subscribers.htm Web sites with Better Design are More Trustworthy — https://rocketmedia.com/blog/better-design-makes-websites-more-trustworthy The Danger of Cheap Acquisition — https://medium.com/@intentionally/the-danger-of-cheap-acquisition-ad2bfc46934#.23lkwof87 Optimizing the Past — http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/historical-blog-seo-conversion-optimization#sm.0004aepn51763eadt9m2b0v58ka1q How 5 Industries Increased Form Conversions by 21–400% in One Year — https://www.formstack.com/blog/2015/industries-increase-conversion-rates/ From Zero to $30k/Month in Under a Year — https://www.groovehq.com/blog/first-year You’re Measuring Daily Active Users Wrong — https://amplitude.com/blog/2016/01/14/measuring-active-users/ How Grasshopper Scrapped Their Way To $30M+ In Annual Revenue — https://www.groovehq.com/blog/grasshopper-david-hauser-interview How To Increase Video Conversion — http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/experiments/case-study-how-to-increase-video-conversion/ Lessons from Google Maps — http://firstround.com/review/take-on-your-competition-with-these-lessons-from-google-maps/ How To Increase Leads for an SEO Service Company from 1.39% to 13.13% — https://vwo.com/blog/minimal-homepage-increased-leads-seo-service-company/ Redirecting Tablet Users to Desktop Website Increased Revenue by 71.81% — https://vwo.com/blog/split-testing-mobile-website-desktop-website-tablet-users-increased-revenue/ 3 Killer Exit Popup Case Studies — http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/experiments/3-killer-exit-popup-case-studies/ How Adding Real Photos Improved Conversions — https://vwo.com/blog/stock-photos-reduce-conversions/ Signups increased by 60% after actually removing the signup form — https://vwo.com/blog/signup-conversion-rate-ab-testing/ How We Increased Conversions by 700% — http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/hidden-power-of-giveaways/ How we grew Crazy Egg’s conversion rate by 363% — http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/crazy-egg-case-study/ Why You Need to Create More Landing Pages — http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33756/Why-You-Yes-You-Need-to-Create-More-Landing-Pages.aspx#sm.0004aepn51763eadt9m2b0v58ka1q Designing Your eCommerce Store Without a Carousel Slider — http://blog.lemonstand.com/designing-ecommerce-store-without-carousel-slider/ A Simple Guide to Adding the Google Remarketing Pixel to Your Site — https://moz.com/ugc/a-simple-guide-to-adding-the-google-remarketing-pixel-to-your-site How to Convert Visitors Into Customers — https://www.quicksprout.com/2013/05/23/the-power-of-the-nudge-how-to-convert-visitors-into-customers/ How to Convert Visitors Into Email Subscribers — http://neilpatel.com/2015/06/25/15-quick-tips-to-persuade-visitors-to-subscribe-to-your-email-list/ Evernote’s Simple But Useful Onboarding Emails — https://www.getvero.com/resources/guides/evernote-onboarding How One Tool Increased Fedora’s Signup Rate by 70% — https://sumome.com/stories/welcome-mat-fedora 34 Ways To Increase Your Blogs Email Subscribers List — http://nichehacks.com/increase-email-list/ 7 Things About Leveraging Social Proof in Your Marketing Efforts — https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-proof-factors-2/ How I doubled my downloads by changing nothing but the app icon — https://growthbug.com/how-i-doubled-my-downloads-by-changing-nothing-but-the-app-icon-5630f3dfdfbd#.er6egg4jg How To Score 32% More Clicks — https://vwo.com/blog/ab-test-font-size-case-study/ Target Visitors with Facebook Ads — http://www.jonloomer.com/2014/01/28/website-custom-audiences-facebook/ What are some growth hacks for B2B SaaS companies? — https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-growth-hacks-for-B2B-saas-companies Growth Hacking Cook Book — https://hackpad.com/Growth-Hacking-Cook-Book-5RQex1Uv8Zf The Metric Watched by Top Startup Growth Teams — http://product.hubspot.com/blog/the-metric-watched-by-top-startup-growth-teams 29 Growth Hacking Quick Wins — http://www.slideshare.net/mattangriffel/29-growth-hacking-quick-wins SaaS Marketing: 21 Growth Hacks to Test Today — http://sixteenventures.com/saas-marketing-growth-hacks How Viewers Respond to Images — http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/what-netflix-has-learned-about-how-viewers-respond-images-study Everyone Is Doing Retargeting Wrong — http://imscalable.com/blog/case-study-retargeting-done-wrong/ What 671 million push notifications say about how people spend their day — http://andrewchen.co/breaking-down-671-million-push-notifications-by-hour/ 4 YouTube Growth Hacks — http://videomarketer.io/4-tips-to-turn-a-youtube-viewer-into-a-subscriber/ YouTube Optimization Strategy Generated 5,121,327 Views — https://moz.com/ugc/5-step-youtube-optimization-that-generated-5-121-327-views The Hierarchy of Engagement — https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hierarchy-engagement-sarah-tavel 33 Retargeting Campaigns — https://klientboost.com/retargeting/retargeting/ How To Improve Facebook Engagement — http://buzzsumo.com/blog/how-to-improve-facebook-engagement-insights-from-1bn-posts/ How To Reduce Uninstall Rate By 60% — http://www.appvirality.com/blog/how-positive-in-app-wallet-balance-can-reduce-uninstall-rate/ How Consumers Really Feel About Push Notifications — http://info.localytics.com/blog/the-inside-view-how-consumers-really-feel-about-push-notifications How to double your email list in 24 hours (Case Study) — http://videofruit.com/blog/email-list/ How To Boost Conversions by 785% in One Day — http://backlinko.com/increase-conversions Using buttons in your email marketing campaigns — https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2014/08/buttons-email-marketing-campaigns/ How To Increase Conversions by 700% Using Giveaways to Capture Leads — http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/hidden-power-of-giveaways/ 29 Killer Bribes To Grow Your Email List — https://www.holler.com/lead-magnet-bible/ 4 Common Blogging Mistakes — http://unbounce.com/content-marketing/4-common-blogging-mistakes/ Subject Line Data: Choose Your Words Wisely — http://blog.mailchimp.com/subject-line-data-choose-your-words-wisely/ How To Grow Your Ecommerce Business Without New Customers — https://www.shopify.com/blog/10747977-how-to-grow-your-ecommerce-business-without-new-customers 6 Ways to Be More Efficient on Social Media — https://www.quicksprout.com/2015/08/10/dont-waste-your-time-6-ways-to-be-more-efficient-on-social-media/ 15 Retention Emails to Reduce Churn — https://www.getvero.com/resources/retention-email-inspiration 100 Killer Ideas For Your Social Media Content — http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/06/25/100-killer-ideas-for-your-social-media-content/#61ebc5b62f3a Increase YouTube Subscribers by 400% — https://blog.gleam.io/grow-youtube/ What’s Your Normal Email Open Rate? — http://okdork.com/2015/05/22/double-your-open-rate/ Growth Hacker Marketing, Growing Your Product — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvkpUlRQ4W0 Why Response Rate Is The New Click-Through Rate — https://blog.getresponse.com/single-important-email-metric-response-rate-new-click-rate.html The UX Behind Our Magically Extending Free Trial — https://www.prodpad.com/2016/06/ux-new-user-onboarding-extending-trial/ How growth hacking will outlive the hype — https://blog.mixpanel.com/2016/06/30/sean-ellis-growth-marketing/ 33 Persuasion and Optimization Tricks — http://online-metrics.com/case-study-booking-com/ $1.99 trial generated $19,499 in MRR — http://videofruit.com/blog/one-dollar-trial/ Why 8% of sales people get 80% of the sales — http://marketingwizdom.com/archives/312 How to re-launch an old product and make $2,500,000 — http://videofruit.com/blog/relaunch-product/ Psychological Techniques Encouraging Customers to Buy More — http://www.markinblog.com/sales-techniques/ Effects of $9 Price Endings on Retail Sales — http://web.mit.edu/simester/Public/Papers/Effectsof$9.pdf “PWYW” pricing model vs “Charity” — https://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/mktg/assets/File/Gneezy%20Gneezy%20Nelson%20%20Brown%202010.pdf SaaS Pricing Page Design — http://sixteenventures.com/pricing-page-design-high-to-low Dynamic Pricing at The Place — http://culturehive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Dynamic-Pricing-at-The-Place.pdf Facebook Login Reduces Ecommerce Sales — https://vwo.com/blog/facebook-login-reduces-sales-ecommerce-store/ How Walmart.ca’s Responsive Redesign Boost Conversion by 20% — http://www.getelastic.com/how-walmart-cas-responsive-redesign-boost-conversion-by-20/ 10 Timeless Strategies to Increase Sales — https://www.helpscout.net/blog/pricing-strategies/ Streaming Concerts for Free Helps Future Ticket Sales — http://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2014/07/22/streaming-concerts-for-free-helps-future-ticket-sales/#33e3bbf31e37 55 A/B Testing Best Practices — http://acquireconvert.com/ab-testing-best-practices/ The Count Is On! Or Don’t Count On It? — https://www.whichtestwon.com/test/the-count-is-on/ The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Ecommerce Conversion Rates — http://conversionxl.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-increasing-ecommerce-conversion-rates/ 26 Cart Abandonment Fixes That Don’t Require Discounts — https://klientboost.com/cro/cart-abandonment/ 20- Implement a Persistent Shopping Cart — http://www.combustible.ca/ecommerce-conversion-rate/persistent-shopping-cart.php Why Spotify Destroys Dropbox by 667% — http://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/freemium-conversion-rate-spotify-destroys-dropbox-667-01497671 Decrease in cart abandonment of 4–8% — https://www.internetretailer.com/2010/03/31/don-t-go Boost sales by 6–30% (case study) — http://tubularinsights.com/video-demos-sales-zappos/ What Consumers Want From Ecommerce Returns — http://www.trueship.com/blog/2015/08/19/what-consumers-want-from-ecommerce-returns/#.VvE-oOIrJD- Unlock Price Sensitivity’s Profitable Surprise — http://www.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/190607/Unlock-Price-Sensitivity-s-Profitable-Surprise How much is a blog comment worth? — http://videofruit.com/blog/blog-comments/ The Essential and Complete Guide to Drip Marketing — http://raphaelpaulindaigle.com/blog/drip-marketing-complete-guide/ Combining Email + Facebook Ads Reached Customers Who Are 22% More Likely to Purchase — http://www.marketingcloud.com/blog/active-audiences-research/ How to Recoup 30% of “Card Declined” Abandonments — http://baymard.com/blog/credit-card-declined 30 Thought-Provoking Lead Nurturing Stats You Can’t Ignore — http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30901/30-Thought-Provoking-Lead-Nurturing-Stats-You-Can-t-Ignore.aspx#sm.0004aepn51763eadt9m2b0v58ka1q All the data and numbers from our latest product launch — http://videofruit.com/blog/product-launch-recap/ Psychology, Self-Selection, and “Getting There First” — http://www.insidesales.com/insider/lead-management/sales-psychology-self-selectiong-get-there-first/ $60k pricing mistake — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eoQCJMX1kk&feature=youtu.be The Beginner’s Guide to Simple A/B Testing — https://www.shopify.com/blog/12385217-the-beginners-guide-to-simple-a-b-testing How many columns should you use on a landing page? — http://www.marketingexperiments.com/blog/research-topics/landing-page-optimization-research-topics/how-many-columns-webpages.html How to Use Urgency to Hack Your Conversion Rate — http://optinmonster.com/how-to-use-urgency-to-hack-your-conversion-rate/ Use this framework to quickly price your online course — http://videofruit.com/blog/online-course-price/ How a Made-up Product Increased Conversions by 233% — http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/made-up-product-increased-conversions/ Why great User Onboarding can increase Conversions 300% — http://blog
no current plans for Aussie Racing Utes, it would consider entering if a prospective driver stepped forward. “We’re watching it with interest,” said team manager Brett Peters. “I’m already working on a lot of stuff for 2019, we already had our 2018 budgets and cars and all that well and truly done, so it’s not for lack of interest. “We have got a couple of cars and if somebody approached us we’d have a real good look at it.” Australian Production Car is also pushing itself as an option for V8 Utes to race in. Category manager Iain Sherrin told Speedcafe.com that he has also spoken to V8 Utes competitors about running in the series. “I’ve had discussions with a few teams and the word that I’ve had is that a few of them are definitely looking at coming and racing with us,” Sherrin told Speedcafe.com. “(It’s) probably up to four at this stage that I’ve spoken to, and hopefully a few more after that, so we’re definitely pushing hard to have them race with us.” V8 Utes Series vehicles may currently run in the invitational class owing to their slightly modified nature, though Sherrin is also mulling over the possibility of establishing a bespoke class should number rise high enough.Miguel Rodriguez and his wife, Barbara, were waiting for some barbecue after work on a Friday afternoon late last year when all hell broke loose inside People's Bar-B-Que in Overtown. A screaming man dressed head to toe in black charged the busy take-out counter, wielding a handgun sideways, gangsta-style. Rodriguez, a Miami-Dade firefighter and former cop, was so terrified he felt chest pains. Other patrons hit the floor and shrieked. Rodriguez had one last thought as he threw his hands in the air: I'm going to get shot. Not until several bowel-loosening minutes later did the man in black -- now surrounded by City of Miami cops -- pull out his badge and identify himself as an undercover officer making a bust. After the scene settled down, the cop was "rude and confrontational" and refused to give his name before storming off with his fellow officers, Rodriguez says.Chesnot/Getty Images Job site Indeed has analysed its search data to uncover the careers least likely at risk of being made obsolete through automation — those requiring unique human skills such as creativity. Among them, the combination of creativity and complex manual skills of the chef make their kitchen creations robot-proof. Cybersecurity careers are also secure, and in demand, with job postings for roles in Australia up by 124% in the last two years “The most promising careers for the future will be those that complement the work of new technologies or which rely heavily on ‘human’ qualities, such as social interaction or creativity, that cannot be easily replicated by a computer,” says Callam Pickering, Indeed’s APAC economist. “In coming decades, many tasks traditionally performed by humans will be automated. This offers great opportunities but will prove disruptive for certain segments of the labour market.” For example, news organisations are already using algorithms to write business stories and sports updates and previously safe occupations, such as accountants and underwriters, will come under pressure from the next round of automation. “Younger Australians should keep automation in mind as they choose their future career path,” says Pickering. “Choosing a job that is protected from automation may have a dramatic impact on their long-term prospects.” Here’s a snapshot of Australia’s most future-proofed roles, according to analysis by Pickering: 1. Cyber security expert. Hackers are good at stealing data. “They have also helped fuel demand for cyber security professionals as well as cyber forensics experts, who figure out what went wrong after the fact,” says Pickering. Between 2015 and 2017, Indeed saw an increase of 124% in job postings in Australia for cyber security roles. 2. Data scientist. The demand for data science skills keeps rising. “Professionals who combine technical and scientific expertise with the ability to find the important stories hidden in the mass of information will be in especially high demand,” says Pickering. Job postings for this areas rose 185% between 2015 and 2017. 3. Healthcare. Australia is getting older. The Australian Bureau of Statistics say there will be 9.6 million people aged 65 and over by 2064. This means healthcare jobs such as caregiver and occupational therapist have a good future. “These jobs require high levels of empathy, perceptiveness and manual skill and are at little risk of automation,” says Pickering. At Indeed, job postings for Health Care Assistant increased by 33% in Australia between 2015 and 2017. 4. Marketing and design. Creativity rules. “Creative professions which focus on the complex interplay of ideas, words and images with shared cultural and social values are also likely to survive the rise of the machines,” says Pickering. “For instance, digital marketing has recently experienced growth and will most likely continue to do so—especially in high-potential markets where it is still underdeveloped.” 5. Delivery/logistics management. Drone may well one day rule the skies. “This does not mean that the logistics sector is ripe for total automation,” says Pickering. “Human workers will still be involved the oversight and management of today’s incredibly complex, globe-spanning delivery and supply chain processes.” 6. Human resources. Managing talent is a skill and good staff are an asset. “As the amount of information available to employers and job seekers proliferates, so the nature of HR will change,” says Pickering. “Candidate selection and recruitment will become more data-driven and as automated screening based on machine learning and the use of analytics tools will become more widespread. Those best poised to succeed as HR professionals in the future will combine soft skills and emotional intelligence with expertise in software and analytics.” 7. Gig-worker. Pickering says firms such as Uber have already revolutionised the so-called gig economy, enabling smartphone connected drivers to work flexibly on their own time. Australian interest in casual work increased by 196% between 2015 and 2017. “As this model becomes more widely accepted (and regulated) it will become even easier for more people to participate,” dsasy Pickering. “However some of the major gig employers (food delivery) are investing heavily in self-driving cars or drones—so this type of work may not last forever.” 8. Teachers. Knowledge is king and those who wield it will be in demand. “The explosion of online learning is opening up new possibilities as educators in one country can now teach classes to students based all over the world,” says Pickering. Harvard Business School is already using “virtual classroom” software to teach business courses to a global student audience. In Australia postings for teachers has increased by 14% since 2015. 9. Chef. People need to eat and they also enjoy going out with friends. “Chefs combine creative intelligence and complex manual skills in ways which are very difficult to automate,” says Pickering. In Australia, chefs are the 4th most advertised position on Indeed’s site. And pizza cooks are the second hardest to fill roles nationally with 80% of roles still open after 60 days. Business Insider Emails & Alerts Site highlights each day to your inbox. Email Address Join Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.O'HARE — Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx Thursday announced that the renovation of the CTA's Blue Line will get $120 million in federal funds in an effort to shave 10 minutes from the trip from O'Hare Airport to the Loop. Approximately $136 million of the $492 million Blue Line rehabilitation project's price tag will be paid for by the federal government, with $160 million coming from the state and $196 million from the city, officials said. In addition to $120 million from the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, the project will get a $16 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant, Foxx said. Heather Cherone says the timing of the event is notable: Foxx — noticeably shivering in 13-degree weather despite nearby portable heaters — praised Emanuel for being "relentless" in his pursuit of federal money for transportation projects in Chicago, joking that when he gets a call on his cellphone and sees the 312 area code he knows it is the mayor calling. Emanuel, who is up for re-election, said the Blue Line renovation project — which was first announced in 2013 — would provide a foundation for the modern Chicago economy his administration is working to build. "These funds mean faster and safer Blue Line trips," Emanuel said at the Cumberland Blue Line station, one of 13 stations that will be renovated as part of the project. Emanuel was flanked by Ald. Mary O'Connor (41st) and Ald. Rey Colon (35th), who are also up for re-election. The Damen, California and Western stations were renovated in 2014, and track between the Logan Square and Damen stations was rehabbed, officials said. The project includes a $25 million renovation of the Jefferson Park Transit Center at 4917 N. Milwaukee Ave. — which includes stops for nearly a dozen buses, the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line and Metra's Union Pacific Northwest Line, is expected to include an improved bus turn-around, new canopies, lighting, escalators and stairs, officials said. The Jefferson Park TIF district is expected to contribute $3 million and the Portage Park TIF is expected to contribute $2 million toward the project, according to Ald. John Arena (45th). For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:Chief Fire Officer Sunil Nesrikar had suffered 50% burn injuries, third-degree burns during the Kalbadevi fire-fighting operation on May 9 and was being treated at the National Burns Centre (NBC) in Airoli. (Source: Express photo by @tanushreevenkat/ Twitter) After battling for life for over two weeks, chief fire officer of the Mumbai Fire Brigade Sunil Nesrikar (50) breathed his last on Sunday at the National Burns Centre (NBC) in Airoli, the fourth fire officer to die in the Kalbadevi fire incident. Advertising Nesrikar had suffered 50 per cent burns during operations to fight the fire that broke out on May 9 at a building in Kalbadevi. He passed away at 3.30 pm. [related-post] His colleagues recall the chief fire officer’s passion for fitness, and yoga, his sound technical knowledge, decision-making skills and desire to bring innovations in the fire brigade. Civic officials who were sure he would recover and return to his post in about six months were shocked at his demise. Officials at NBC said that post-mortem reports indicate multiple organ failure. Dr Sunil Keswani from NBC, who operated on Nesrikar, said, “His organs started giving in one after the other in a period of 18 hours. He was supposed to undergo a skin graft operation on May 19, but that was delayed as he was suffering from high fever. His condition kept deteriorating and he was on ventilator.” On getting the news of Nesrikar’s death, fire officials rushed to the hospital. At 6.30 pm, Nesrikar’s wife Jayshree was spotted being helped into a sedan by her son Sidhant, who tried to console her. Her screams pierced the silence of the hospital. Nesrikar is also survived by his mother. Nesarikar and three other fire officers – Sudhir Amin, M N Desai and S W Rane – were caught in the debris when a part of the building that had caught fire in Kalbadevi collapsed. Desai and Rane died before getting medical attention. Amin died a week later at the burns centre in Airoli. Nesrikar, who was bachelor of science with specialisation in chemistry, had done a specialised course along with his fire brigade batchmates in London, after 10 years in service. Nesrikar was also nominated for a President’s medal for his efforts during the Lotus Business Park incident in 2014. Recalling the Business Park fire, Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, who heads the fire department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said, “He showed great courage during the Lotus incident. He was the one who climbed almost 22 floors to save his colleague, while combating the fire. He was a motivating person and a thorough gentleman. It is a huge loss for the brigade.” Nesrikar has also received a “Rajat Padak” from the Municipal Commissioner for the rescue efforts he undertook during the 2013 Dockyard Building Collpade and the 2002 house collapse incident in Senapati Bapat Marg. Born in 1964, Nesrikar hailed from the Kolhapur district in Maharashtra and completed his schooling in Vasai, Mumbai. Advertising His demise comes as a shock to senior civic officials and colleagues in the fire department who expected Nesrikar to return healthy and take charge in the next six months. Even though mass promotions are on at the department, the charge of chief fire officer was kept vacant for Nesrikar, sources said.Gay Activists Used 'Mafia Tactics' to Shut Down Bakery, Says Christian Couple Email Print Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Speaking publicly for the first time since gay activists forced a shutdown of their bakery because they refused to bake a wedding cake for two lesbians, Christian couple Aaron and Melissa Klein said their business was killed with "mafia tactics." "There's a lot of closed-minded people out there that would like to pretend to be very tolerant and just want equal rights," said Aaron Klein as he held hands with his wife, Melissa, in an interview with KATU from their home this week. "But on the other hand, they've been very, very mean-spirited. They've been militant. The best way I can describe it is they've used mafia tactics against the business. Basically, if you do business with Sweet Cakes, we will shut you down," he said. The Kleins and their business have been under fire since news broke in February that they had refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple due to their Christian faith which characterizes homosexuality as a sin. "I didn't want to be a part of her marriage which I think is wrong," Aaron Klein told KATU. "I am who I am and I want to live my life the way I want to live my life. I choose to serve God and I believe in the Bible. And I believe what it says and I want to live by that," said Melissa. "I don't want to shove it down anyone else's throat or anything like that," she added. "I would hope to have the same respect, you know, that things don't have to be shoved on me and force me to do something I don't want to do." Gay activists, however, have refused to accept the couple's faith as an excuse for not baking the wedding cake for the lesbian couple and celebrated the shutdown of the bakery after it made the news. "I wish Aaron and Melissa Klein the best in their future endeavors, but truly elated that they are closing down their bakery. There was no reason for Aaron to reduce a lesbian couple to tears while refusing to provide a cake for their wedding (he referred to them as abominations)," wrote Chelsea Hoffman in an All Voices op-ed on Sunday. The couple claim that even after the protests and mafia tactics finally forced them to shut down their store on Saturday, they were still facing aggressive attacks as they packed up their belongings to move on Sunday. Someone broke into their bakery truck and ransacked it on Sunday evening. The incident was confirmed by the Clackamas County Sheriff's office according to KATU, but no one has been arrested. Despite everything, however, the couple hopes to continue doing work from their home and remain faithful that God will work things out for them. "It's one of those things where you don't want to see something that you've put so much work into go belly-up, but on the other hand, I have faith in the Lord and He's taken care of us up to this point and I'm sure He will in the future," said Aaron. "I hope that if nothing else, we've given people that believe the way we believe the strength to stand up," said Aaron. "I believe that we're living in a time that's very hostile towards Christians. Our First Amendment rights are being stripped away and I'm willing to stand up and take this fight."The guns of August 8 August 2017 In the closing weeks of the summer, tens of thousands of NATO and Russian soldiers are participating in dueling war games across Europe. Just over a century after the guns of August 1914 announced the outbreak of World War I in Europe, conditions are being created in multiple military flash-points for the eruption of conflict between the world’s major nuclear powers. The US aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush is joining a British carrier strike group for the “Saxon Warrior” exercise in the North Sea. This follows last month’s “Saber Guardian” exercise involving 25,000 NATO soldiers in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. NATO troops are joining more exercises across Eastern Europe. Thousands more are deploying to Poland and the Baltic states, on Russia’s borders, and 2,000 US troops have joined the “Noble Partner” exercise in Georgia, a former Soviet republic. This is the largest US exercise in Georgia since 2008, when a US-backed attack by the Georgian army killed Russian peace keepers stationed in the north of the country, triggering a brief war between Russia and Georgia. Meanwhile, Washington is debating whether to arm the far-right ultra-nationalist Ukrainian regime that emerged from the February 2014 NATO-backed coup in Kiev. The US first proposed this policy in 2015, but abandoned it after Germany and France, warning that escalation could trigger all-out war with Russia, negotiated a peace deal in Minsk. Moscow is staging its own war games. After holding joint naval exercises in the Baltic Sea with Chinese guided-missile destroyers, it is hosting its International Army Games involving forces from countries such as China, Iran, Egypt, Angola, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. It is also preparing for next month’s Zapad drill in western Russia, which NATO sources claim could involve as many as 100,000 troops. The unprecedented scope of these war exercises, the largest since the end of the Cold War, is a political warning. The military focus of the NATO alliance is shifting from the Middle East back to Europe. The New York Times reports that US and NATO units are making “wide-ranging” changes to equipment and strategy to prepare for war with high-tech enemies. This includes repainting their tanks from desert tan to dark green so as to blend into European terrain. Behind the backs of the masses, political and military cabals are getting ready for conflicts comparable to, or bloodier than, the world wars of the last century. US General John Healy declared, “What we’re eventually going toward is a globally integrated exercise program so that we [are] … all working off the same sheet of music in one combined global exercise.” But for what is this “global exercise”—with drills on the Korean peninsula, in the South China Sea and in the Middle East—preparing? This “global exercise” is a dry run for global war. A deafening silence prevails in official circles as to what world war would mean. It is, however, a fact that a war in which nuclear bombs exploded over cities across North America, Europe and Russia would claim billions of lives. And so, as opposition to war and military spending grows among masses of workers in America and Europe, the political and media establishment churns out endless, unsubstantiated accusations of Russian aggression in Ukraine and Russian hijacking of the US elections in an attempt to overwhelm and intimidate the public and whip up a war fever. Military officials confess that these war games pose the danger of escalation, whether intentional or accidental, into war. However, the NATO countries’ media turn even this into grist for the mill of anti-Russia hysteria. In an article attacking Russia’s Zapad exercise, MSN.com writes, “Many officials are on edge that an error by an alliance or Russian soldier, such as misreading a drill as an aggressive act, could quickly escalate into a crisis if one side were to respond with force … NATO forces will avoid holding exercises close to the Russian border during the Russian drill.” Claims that Moscow is responsible for the war danger are saturated with imperialist hypocrisy. Russia is carrying out exercises on its own soil, while the United States and the European imperialist powers are marching their troops right up to Russia’s borders. The danger of escalation and war is rooted in policies pursued by the NATO powers, above all the United States, over the more than quarter-century since the Stalinist bureaucracy’s dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. By means of US-led wars in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Syria and beyond, Washington sought to establish its hegemony over the Eurasian landmass. It aimed not only to prevent the emergence of a rival power dominating Eurasia, but also to control the energy supplies and trade routes of its “allies” in Europe and Asia. The current escalation against Russia is the product of a series of devastating setbacks for the US in these wars. Washington’s Islamist proxy forces face imminent defeat in the civil war that it and NATO incited against the Russian-backed regime in Syria, and the NATO-backed regime in Kiev has failed to seize the entire country, losing effective control of Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine and the key Russian naval base at Sevastopol in Crimea. And amid growing economic rivalries between America and Europe, these setbacks have encouraged the European powers, led by Germany, to pursue an independent, that is, potentially hostile, foreign and military policy. Conflicts are surging as Washington seeks both to strengthen its position against Russia and split Europe by winning over allies, notably in Eastern Europe, on an anti-Russian basis. These Euro-American conflicts are rooted not in the boorish persona of Trump, but in the objective conflict between American and European imperialism. Last month, it was not Trump but the US Congress that passed sanctions cutting off critical Russian oil and gas exports to Europe and threatening Western European corporations active in the Russian energy trade with financial penalties, prompting angry protests from Germany and other US “allies.” The Kremlin’s policy, rooted in the bankrupt Russian nationalism of the post-Soviet capitalist oligarchy, offers no way forward in opposing the imperialist war drive. Afraid and incapable of appealing to anti-war sentiment in the international working class, the Kremlin instead incites right-wing forces and ethnic tensions within Russia. It oscillates between risking all-out military confrontation with the imperialist powers and capitulating to them in an attempt to reach a deal, as in its recent vote for UN sanctions against North Korea. Like their political ancestors a century ago, the rival capitalist governments are setting into motion a dynamic that leads to world war, this time, however, involving the use of nuclear weapons that could destroy the planet. There is no way to stop the drive to war outside of a politically conscious intervention by the working class. The main danger is that masses of people are not truly aware of the risks posed by this explosive situation. It is under these conditions that Google is censoring left-wing, socialist and anti-war web sites, the World Socialist Web Site first among them, removing WSWS articles from results for searches on war. And this is why the WSWS stresses the urgency of building an international anti-war movement based on the working class and an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist perspective, and asks for its readers’ active support in spreading its material opposing censorship and war. Alex Lantier Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus."English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England!" Woo-hoo! The immortal words of Mr. Homer Simpson—beer-guzzling, donut-popping patriarch, nuclear-power-plant safety inspector, and Springfield's resident rhetorician. Indeed, Homer has contributed far more to the English language than just the popular interjection "D'oh." Let's take a look at some of those rich contributions—and along the way review several rhetorical terms. Homer's Rhetorical Questions Consider this exchange from a Simpson family symposium: Mother Simpson: [singing] How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man? Homer: Seven. Lisa: No, dad, it's a rhetorical question. Homer: OK, eight. Lisa: Dad, do you even know what "rhetorical" means? Homer: Do I know what "rhetorical" means? In fact, Homeric logic often depends on a rhetorical question for its expression: Books are useless! I only ever read one book, To Kill A Mockingbird, and it gave me absolutely no insight on how to kill mockingbirds! Sure it taught me not to judge a man by the color of his skin... but what good does that do me? One particular type of rhetorical question favored by Homer is erotesis, a question implying strong affirmation or denial: "Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?" Homer's Figures of Speech Though sometimes misjudged as a complete moron, Homer is actually a deft manipulator of the oxymoron: "Oh Bart, don't worry, people die all the time. In fact, you could wake up dead tomorrow." And our favorite figure of ridicule is actually quite handy with figures of speech. To explain human behavior, for instance, he relies on personification: The only monster here is the gambling monster that has enslaved your mother! I call him Gamblor, and it's time to snatch your mother from his neon claws! Chiasmus guides Homer to new levels of self-understanding: All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like me--so let's just do this, and I'll get back to killing you with beer. And here, in just five words, he manages to combine apostrophe and tricolon in a heartfelt encomium: "Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover." Of course, Homer isn't always familiar with the names of such classical figures: Lisa: That's Latin, Dad--the language of Plutarch. Homer: Mickey Mouse's dog? But stop snickering, Lisa: the language of Plutarch was Greek. Simpson Repeats Like the great orators of ancient Greece and Rome, Homer employs repetition to evoke pathos and underscore key points. Here, for example, he inhabits the spirit of Susan Hayward in a breathless anaphora: I want to shake off the dust of this one-horse town. I want to explore the world. I want to watch TV in a different time zone. I want to visit strange, exotic malls. I’m sick of eating hoagies! I want a grinder, a sub, a foot-long hero! I want to LIVE, Marge! Won’t you let me live? Won’t you, please?” Epizeuxis serves to convey a timeless Homeric truth: When it comes to compliments, women are ravenous blood-sucking monsters always wanting more... more... MORE! And if you give it to them, you'll get plenty back in return. And polyptoton leads to a profound discovery: Marge, what's wrong? Are you hungry? Sleepy? Gassy? Gassy? Is it gas? It's gas, isn't it? Homeric Arguments Homer's rhetorical turns, especially his efforts to argue by analogy, sometimes take odd detours: Son, a woman is a lot like a... a refrigerator! They're about six feet tall, 300 pounds. They make ice, and... um... Oh, wait a minute. Actually, a woman is more like a beer. Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you'd step over your own mother just to get one! But you can't stop at one. You wanna drink another woman! You know, boys, a nuclear reactor is a lot like a woman. You just have to read the manual and press the right buttons. Fame was like a drug. But what was even more like a drug were the drugs. Yes, Mr. Simpson is occasionally word challenged, as in the malapropism that punctuates this distinctively Homeric prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for this microwave bounty, even though we don't deserve it. I mean... our kids are uncontrollable hellions! Pardon my French, but they act like savages! Did you see them at the picnic? Oh, of course you did. You're everywhere, you're omnivorous. Oh Lord! Why did you spite me with this family? Consider as well Homer's eccentric (or perhaps dyslexic?) use of hypophora (raising questions and answering them): "What's a wedding? Webster's dictionary describes it as the act of removing weeds from one's garden." And now and then his thoughts collapse before he can make it to the end of a sentence, as in this case of aposiopesis: I won't sleep in the same bed with a woman who thinks I'm lazy! I'm going right downstairs, unfold the couch, unroll the sleeping ba--uh, goodnight. The Master Rhetorician But for the most part, Homer Simpson is an artful and deliberate rhetorician. For one thing, he's a self-proclaimed master of verbal irony: Owww, look at me, Marge, I'm making people happy! I'm the magical man, from Happy Land, who lives in a gumdrop house on Lolly Pop Lane!... By the way I was being sarcastic. And he dispenses wisdom with dehortatio: The code of the schoolyard, Marge! The rules that teach a boy to be a man. Let's see. Don't tattle. Always make fun of those different from you. Never say anything, unless you're sure everyone feels exactly the same way you do.Rob Portman’s dual revelations that his son is gay and that he has decided to support gay marriage are both a touching story of familial love and another signpost in the astonishingly rapid success of the gay-rights revolution. Just over eight years ago, when Republicans gleefully seized on the gay-marriage issue to mobilize their base in Portman’s own state, it was inconceivable that a statewide Democrat would endorse gay marriage, let alone a Republican. The triumph of the issue relies upon the changing of minds — some thanks to force of argument, others to personal contact with gay friends, colleagues, and neighbors. From that standpoint, Portman’s conversion is a Very Good Thing. And yet as a window into the working of Portman’s mind, his conversion is a confession of moral failure, one of which he appears unaware. Here is the story Portman tells, in a Columbus Dispatch op-ed, of how he came to change his mind: At the time, my position on marriage for same-sex couples was rooted in my faith tradition that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman. Knowing that my son is gay prompted me to consider the issue from another perspective: that of a dad who wants all three of his kids to lead happy, meaningful lives with the people they love, a blessing Jane and I have shared for 26 years. By Portman’s own account, in other words, he opposed gay marriage until he realized that opposition to gay marriage stands in the way of his own son’s happiness. Wanting your children to be happy is the most natural human impulse. But our responsibility as political beings — and the special responsibility of those who hold political power — is to consider issues from a societal perspective. It is possible to argue that the societal cost of granting the right to gay marriage — or, say, access to health insurance — outweighs the benefit. The signal failure of conservative thought is an inability to give any weight to the perspective of the disadvantaged. It’s one thing to argue that society can’t afford to provide all its citizens with access to health insurance. It’s quite another to dismiss the needs of the uninsured because the majority has insurance. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Paul Ryan dismissed universal health insurance as “a new entitlement we didn’t even ask for.” The construction was so telling — “we” meant the majority who have access to regular medical care and would rather not subsidize those who don’t. It is also possible to change your mind on any of these questions. I support the estate tax. If I discovered my children were due to inherit a fortune from a long lost relative, it’s possible that the experience would prompt me to change my mind. I’d like to think it wouldn’t. And if I did change my mind, I’d have some obligation to explain how I had learned something new in the process of suddenly becoming the father of wealthy heirs — estate planning is way more onerous than I thought! — rather than simply construct a new rationale to suit my newly discovered self-interest. If I simply declared that my children’s newfound wealth had given me a previously absent sympathy for the economic rights of the very rich, you would rightly question the value of my thinking on anything. In President Obama’s interview explaining his reversal on gay marriage, he cited contact with gay friends, but also wrestled with the competing demands of gay happiness against the prerogative of those wedded to traditional practices. (“When I hear from them the pain they feel that somehow they are still considered — less than full citizens when it comes to — their legal rights — then — for me, I think it — it just has tipped the scales in that direction.”) Portman ought to be able to recognize that, even if he changed his mind on gay marriage owing to personal experience, the logic stands irrespective of it: Support for gay marriage would be right even if he didn’t have a gay son. There’s little sign that any such reasoning has crossed his mind. In a CNN interview, Dana Bash repeatedly prodded Portman to reconcile his previous opposition to gay rights (which extended not only to marriage but also to not getting fired for being gay). He repeatedly confessed that it all came down to his own family: But you know, what happened to me is really personal. I mean, I hadn’t thought a lot about this issue. Again, my focus has been on other issues over my public policy career… What would Portman say to gay constituents who may be glad he’s changing his position on gay marriage, but also wondering why it took having a gay son to come around to supporting their rights? “Well, I would say that, you know, I’ve had a change of heart based on a personal experience. That’s certainly true,” he responded with a shoulder shrug. But he also repeated a reality. His policy focus has been almost exclusively on economic issues. “Now it’s different, you know. I hadn’t expected to be in this position. But I do think, you know, having spent a lot of time thinking about it and working through this issue personally that, you know, this is where I am, for reasons that are consistent with my political philosophy, including family values, including being a conservative who believes the family is a building block of society, so I’m comfortable there now.” It’s pretty simple. Portman went along with his party’s opposition to gay marriage because it didn’t affect him. He thought about gay rights the way Paul Ryan thinks about health care. And he still obviously thinks about most issues the way Paul Ryan thinks about health care. That Portman turns out to have a gay son is convenient for the gay-rights cause. But why should any of us come away from his conversion trusting that Portman is thinking on any issue about what’s good for all of us, rather than what’s good for himself and the people he knows?MEDA today joined a number of other community-based organizations and individuals to submit a letter (below) to showcase strong support for the appeal against the proposed Axis market-rate development planned for Folsom and 23rd streets in the Mission. This four-story building (photo, design by David Baker Architects), adjacent to Parque Ninõs Unidos, would exacerbate the neighborhood’s affordable-housing and displacement crisis. The signees are basing their opposition via the need for a review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), jointly espousing the belief that the Axis development’s cultural impacts will negatively affect the character of adjacent Calle 24, a City designation of 24th Street as a Latino Cultural District in the Mission neighborhood. There is opposition to this project because of the contribution the project will make to the displacement of Mission residents and small businesses, the low number of affordable-housing units planned for the development, and the impact of removing local Production, Distribution and Repair (PDR) space and its accompanying working-class jobs in an area suffering from high unemployment. The group strongly urges District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, and all Supervisors, to support the community appeal and to not support the Axis market-rate development as currently proposed, based on the aforementioned negative implications for the Mission’s Latino families. ______________________________ Market-Rate Housing and its Displacement Impacts in the Mission New research indicates proposed Axis development on Folsom Street is part of the problem, not the solution There is growing evidence linking the building of new market-rate housing to the displacement of residents and businesses, particularly in sensitive neighborhoods such as the Mission District. The proposed project at 2675 Folsom St. — appealed by the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District — is part of a wave of more than 2,000 market-rate units proposed for the Mission that new studies indicate will contribute to displacement impacts on the existing community. A brand-new 2017 study led by Karen Chapple of UC Berkeley concludes that market rate Transit Oriented Development (exemplified by Mission projects such as 2675 Folsom St.) is connected to gentrification and the displacement of low-income households: Overall, we find that TOD has a significant impact on the stability of the surrounding neighborhood, leading to increases in housing costs that change the composition of the area, including the loss of low-income households.1 Another recent report, Leo Goldberg’s 2015 study of NYC neighborhoods, pointed to the dangers of inducing gentrification and contributing to the displacement of vulnerable community members by encouraging upscale development through rezoning. Goldberg stated, “development interests spurred rezonings in commercial and industrial areas as well as gentrifying neighborhoods, inducing a sharp increase in housing costs and residential dislocation.”2 These rezonings, concluded Goldberg, induced an influx of new high-income white residents and resulted in the secondary displacement of Blacks, Latinos, and low-income renters. Importantly, Goldberg found that this displacement occurred even in neighborhoods that were not gentrifying prior to the rezonings. In addition to this growing evidence of residential displacement, a 2016 study3 by academic Rachel Meltzer revealed that gentrifying census tracts were correlated with a higher level of business displacement than non-gentrifying tracts, and that this displacement was more significant in communities with a higher concentration of people of color that were experiencing an influx
km range per tank. Despite expected improvements, the authors believe that lithium ion batteries are unlikely to replace combustion engines in fully electric vehicles. However, high fidelity and safe Li ion batteries can be used in full EVs plus range extenders (e.g., metal air batteries, generators with ICE or gas turbines). This perspective article describes advanced materials and directions that can take this technology further in terms of energy density, and aims at delineating realistic horizons for the next generations of Li ion batteries. This article concentrates on Li intercalation and Li alloying electrodes, relevant to the term Li ion batteries.The small dead bodies were laid next to one another on the tiled floor of the morgue corridor, the blood drained from their cheeks. One had a bandage still wrapped around his head, another lay with his mouth half-open in his oversized, bloodstained clothes. For a week the Samouni family had taken shelter in their small, single-storey home in Zeitoun, south-east of Gaza City, and there they survived wave after wave of Israeli bombing and artillery strikes. Then came Israel's ground offensive, the next phase in what Israel argues is a necessary and justified battle against the Palestinian militants firing rockets out of Gaza. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, promised an "iron fist" for Hamas and said he would treat the civilian citizens of Gaza with "silk gloves," though the Palestinians of Gaza know perhaps better than most that there are few silk gloves in war. The Samouni family woke on Sunday morning to find themselves surrounded by camouflaged Israeli troops and dozens of tanks, who had set up a position in the rubble of what was once the large Jewish settlement of Netzarim. As dawn broke, the soldiers seized control of the highest buildings in the district and ordered several of the neighbours into the Samouni family home and there a dozen of them waited, without food and without water. "All day Sunday there was shooting and bombing. We didn't have anything to eat, we didn't have water to drink - our water tanks had been damaged in the fighting," said Wael Samouni, 32, who on a normal day would be manning his stall at the vegetable market. "We couldn't sleep." He stepped out of the house briefly and saw a man shooting an M16 assault rifle. He mistook him for a Palestinian militant. Samouni shouted at him: "Please don't come here. They'll kill us. Go away." But as the gunman turned round, it became clear he was an Israeli soldier. The soldier shouted back in Arabic: "Bring me your ID." Samouni disappeared back into his house and decided not to venture out again. They passed another night under the bombing and artillery strikes, grateful to have made it through to morning. Samouni remembered sitting in the crowded living room yesterday, surrounded by his neighbours, wondering how much longer they had to endure. It was 6.30am. "We were sitting and suddenly there was bombing on our house and everyone started to run. There were three rockets. I have no idea where they came from," said Samouni. The rockets, believed now to be tank shells, hit the building and brought it crashing down. "I looked to my side, took hold of my boy Mohammad and I started to run. As I ran I looked back and saw on the floor my mother, two cousins and three of my children. All dead," he said. Samouni and the others ran from the house, some raised white cloths as flags and they made it to a patch of safe ground where they were taken to hospital by car. Yesterday, as three of his children were laid out dead on the hospital floor, Samouni was in a bed upstairs in the Shifa hospital, recovering from wounds to his legs and shoulder and comforting his son Mohammad, five, who had suffered a broken arm in the shelling and had just woken after his operation. He was still unsure exactly how many of his 10 children had died. "It's a massacre," Samouni said. "I'm 32 years old and I've never seen such things as this. I couldn't help myself or any of those around me. We just want to live in peace." At his bedside was his brother Nael, 36, who lives in a house close by. His wife and daughter had been in Wael's house yesterday morning at the time of the shelling: both were killed. "I wanted to go and join them the night before, but it was too dangerous to go out. If anyone moved he would be shot," Nael said. "Then when I heard the bombing this morning I saw people running. I saw an injured man fall to the ground. I ran to help, but there was an Israeli sniper in the house next door who shouted: 'Leave him alone.' We couldn't rescue anyone." As he ran, Israeli troops fired over their heads and then ordered them to lift up their shirts to show they carried no weapons under their clothes. "We just made it out and here to the hospital," Nael said. Then, in a moment of anger, he pointed the blame. "Hamas is responsible for this. They are starving us, now they are killing us," he said. "They asked the Israelis to enter but where is the resistance? They are hiding. All the leaders of Hamas are underground. It's just the civilians confronting the Israeli army. I don't like Hamas and I don't want them ruling Gaza." Hospital officials believe nine people were killed in the Samouni house, including at least four children. But they were not the only civilians to die at the hand of the Israeli offensive yesterday. Just north of Gaza City in the Shamali district, a missile struck a three-storey apartment block in the middle of the night - home to three brothers, their families and their father. It hit the roof and dropped down to the basement, destroying half the building and killing Amer Abu Asha, 47, along with his two wives, three sons and one daughter. Yesterday his brother Samer Abu Asha, 50, sat outside on a plastic chair under a green awning. Neighbours came to shake his hand and offer their sympathy before slipping away quickly to avoid the next missile strike. The family were not asleep at 1.30am yesterday when the Israeli missile struck - the noise of the bombing had been too much. In the moments after the attack there was such confusion no one knew who or how many had died. "We started searching but it was hard with the dust, the darkness and the smoke," said Abu Asha. Neighbours told them bodies had been taken to the hospital, so they rushed to the Shifa in Gaza City, only to be told no one from their family had been admitted. "We went back home and searched everywhere," he said. Finally they found his brother Amer lying on a patch of ground outside the house, mortally wounded, his stomach ripped open. "We started to search for others under the rubble. We found arms, legs, half a head," he said. "We didn't find a complete body." Abu Asha admitted that another brother in the family - but one who did not live in the building - was in the Hamas military wing but said he could not account for the bombing. They had received no warning. "It's unjust. They are targeting civilians, children, old women," he said. "Some European and Arab countries are supporting Israel in this terrorism. They want to crack down on Hamas, but Hamas is not in the houses. It's on the front line. Go there and kill them. Not us."Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic surfaces during condensation, they can gain electric charge in the process. Now, the same team has demonstrated that this process can generate small amounts of electricity that might be used to power electronic devices. The new findings, by postdoc Nenad Miljkovic, associate professor of mechanical engineering Evelyn Wang, and two others, are published in the journal Applied Physics Letters. This approach could lead to devices to charge cellphones or other electronics using just the humidity in the air. As a side benefit, the system could also produce clean water. The device itself could be simple, Miljkovic says, consisting of a series of interleaved flat metal plates. Although his initial tests involved copper plates, he says any conductive metal would do, including cheaper aluminum. In initial testing, the amount of power produced was vanishingly small -- just 15 picowatts, or trillionths of a watt, per square centimeter of metal plate. But Miljkovic says the process could easily be tuned to achieve at least 1 microwatt, or millionth of a watt, per square centimeter. Such output would be comparable to that of other systems that have been proposed for harvesting waste heat, vibrations, or other sources of ambient energy, and represents an amount that could be sufficient to provide useful power for electronic devices in some remote locations. For example, Miljkovic has calculated that at 1 microwatt per square centimeter, a cube measuring about 50 centimeters on a side -- about the size of a typical camping cooler -- could be sufficient to fully charge a cellphone in about 12 hours. While that may seem slow, he says, people in remote areas may have few alternatives. There are some constraints: Because the process relies on condensation, it requires a humid environment, as well as a source of temperatures colder than the surrounding air, such as a cave or river. The system is based on Miljkovic and Wang's 2013 finding -- in attempting to develop an improved heat-transfer surface to be used as a condenser in applications such as power plants -- that droplets on a superhydrophobic surface convert surface energy to kinetic energy as they merge to form larger droplets. This sometimes causes the droplets to spontaneously jump away, enhancing heat transfer by 30 percent relative to other techniques. They later found that in that process, the jumping droplets gain a small electric charge -- meaning that the jumping, and the accompanying transfer of heat, could be enhanced by a nearby metal plate whose opposite charge is attractive to the droplets. Now the researchers have shown that the same process can be used to generate power, simply by giving the second plate a hydrophilic surface. As the droplets jump, they carry charge from one plate to the other; if the two plates are connected through an external circuit, that charge difference can be harnessed to provide power. In a practical device, two arrays of metal plates, like fins on a radiator, would be interleaved, so that they are very close but not touching. The system would operate passively, with no moving parts. For powering remote, automated environmental sensors, even a tiny amount of energy might be sufficient; any location where dew forms would be capable of producing power for a few hours in the morning, Miljkovic says. "Water will condense out from the atmosphere, it happens naturally," he says. "The atmosphere is a huge source of power, and all you need is a temperature difference between the air and the device," he adds -- allowing the device to produce condensation, just as water condenses from warm, humid air on the outside of a cold glass.New Delhi: Noted historian Ramchandra Guha, Wednesday, said Hindutva (mis)appropriators need to be reminded that the four brigades of Netaji's Indian National Army (INA) were named after Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Chandrashekar Azad and Subhas Chandra Bose himself. In a series of tweets, Guha, said, “By naming his brigades after Gandhi, Nehru, and Azad, Bose made it clear that these were the three patriots he most respected.” “Whatever their other differences, Bose knew that Gandhi, Azad and Nehru all completely shared his commitment to Hindu-Muslim harmony.” “Note whom Bose DID NOT name these brigades after—no Pant, no Prasad, no Patel, and certainly no Savarkar,” his another tweet said. Note whom Bose DID NOT name these brigades after—no Pant, no Prasad, no Patel, and certainly no Savarkar. (4/4). — Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) January 27, 2016 Few days back, the noted historian criticised the recent killings of eminent scholars and writers and the 'inability' of the administration to prevent such hooliganism and said the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the "most anti-intellectual" the country ever had. PM Modi on January 23 unveiled digital versions of at least 100 secret files relating to India's great freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, whose death continues to be a mystery even after seven decades."An update to improve the Samsung Captivate's GPS performance is now available. Captivate customers will receive a notification on their device that an update is available and will simply need to download the file to update their phone. The updates will be pushed to customers' devices over the next few weeks. The update for the Captivate will also improve additional device functions, such as media scanning time, add the full version of Quickoffice and address Microsoft Exchange 2003 policy support." Sammy just hit us up with a brief statement that should make Captivate owners jump clean out of their seats and do a spit take if they're enjoying a cup of joe:Awesome, right? Of course, the proof is in the pudding -- we'll need to wait and see how "fixed" the GPS really is after this gets installed, but it's a start. Notably, this doesn't seem to include Froyo, so we don't know whether these guys are going to be going the British or Spanish routes in getting that deployed.We've independently confirmed with AT&T that this update does include GPS improvements.Elsevier welcomes Mendeley Elsevier’s acquisition of an innovative research management and social collaboration tool will enable the platform to further expand, giving researchers access to more content By Olivier Dumon Posted on 8 April 2013 Share story: Welcoming Mendeley's founders: Olivier Dumon, Managing Director of Academic and Government Markets for Elsevier (holding Lego sign), welcomes Mendeley founders (left to right) Paul Föckler, PhD, Victor Henning, PhD, and Jan Reichelt, PhD. Mendeley is a company that has made a big name for itself with an innovative platform that helps researchers organize their work, discover the latest research and collaborate. As Managing Director of Academic and Government Markets for Elsevier, Olivier Dumon writes about how Elsevier started collaborating with this London-based company, and why joining forces will help both companies serve the research community better. [divider] [note color="#f1f9fc" position="right" width=400 margin=10 align="alignright"] The Author Olivier Dumon is Managing Director of Academic and Government Markets for Elsevier. Before joining Elsevier in February 2012, he served as VP of Product Management for AT&T Interactive and Senior Director of Search for eBay. Previously, he worked for eBay in France and co-founded an online collaboration start-up that he sold to a B2B publisher. He was born in Paris and first came to the United States to attend Harvard Business School, where he completed an MBA in 1998.[/note] When I joined Elsevier one year ago, the challenge handed to me was, how do we continually make our flagship products — ScienceDirect and Scopus — more useful and relevant to our users? In other words, how do we make their lives easier using Elsevier’s rich content and tools? ScienceDirect has always been a great platform for researchers to search and retrieve content, but there are also great opportunities in creating new environments for sharing that content — and in learning what happens to articles after they’re downloaded. A few people on my senior team quickly introduced me to a start-up they had first met in New York in late 2008, then again at the 2009 NextWeb conference in Amsterdam. Two of our colleagues had approached the co-founders, Victor Henning and Jan Reichelt, after a presentation they made. What came from that conversation was an immediate sense that we shared common goals; they, too, were working to improve the lives of researchers, only on a new platform based on what happens to the article after it is downloaded. Information about what articles are read by what kinds of researchers, and how people then collaborate with each other to produce original research, is potentially very powerful. Think in terms of improved readership statistics for individual research papers, papers shared between researchers with similar interests, and generated recommendations based on collaborative filtering. Exciting conversations ensued. When we opened our ScienceDirect application programming interface (API) to outside developers, Mendeley was the first company we reached out to. Soon after, they built the Mendeley Readership App (which provided information on how many users added an article to their library). We also supported Mendeley’s events; for example, we sponsored their Science Online London conferences on Open Science. Sometimes business collaborations show so much potential they should just go all-in, and that’s what Mendeley and Elsevier have decided to do. The benefits of joining forces Think about it: researchers use Mendeley for its document and reference management, collaboration, analytics and networking tools. Elsevier not only publishes almost a fifth of the world’s scientific, technical and medical (STM) content, we also have a successful track record with indexing content from multiple publishers on researchers’ behalves through tools such as Scopus, Scirus and Reaxys. For Elsevier, we can build upon strong foundations in search and discovery by adding capabilities in document and citation management and sharing. By offering integration between Mendeley, Scopus and ScienceDirect, we can make this combined platform the central workflow and collaboration site for authors. In addition, we will be able to provide greater access to a growing repository of user-generated content while building tools that will enable researchers to search this growing body of research more precisely. By joining forces, we will be in an even better position to support the needs of researchers. Our resources will enable Mendeley to continue building on its platform, keeping it free for individuals while introducing new content and interoperability that will make it even more useful. This partnership can have a huge positive impact on areas such as altmetrics, getting real-time information on hot articles across publishers based on Mendeley readership metrics, helping librarians assess their collections and rendering all publishers’ content more discoverable. ‘Letting Mendeley be Mendeley’ We are committing to implementing Mendeley’s existing product development roadmap, and giving the company the space to “let Mendeley be Mendeley.” You see, Mendeley is a lot more than just a product; it’s a great company with a thriving, innovative culture and a lot of talented people. It’s open, social and collaborative, and it is important to us that it retains all of those traits. Victor, Jan, Paul and other senior managers will remain with the company to ensure a smooth integration and the continuation of Mendeley's vision. [note color="#f1f9fc" position="right" width=400 margin=10 align="alignright"] New packages provide more storage Mendeley will continue to be a “Freemium” product, only now with expanded storage capacity: “Free” users who get 1GB of storage will get 2GB. “Plus” package users who pay £3.99 a month ($4.99 or €4.99) for 2GB will get 5GB. “Pro” package users who pay £7.99 a month ($9.99 or €9.99) for 5GB will get 10GB. “Max” package users will still pay £11.99 a month ($14.99 or €14.99) for unlimited space. Generally speaking, a user can store about 1,500 articles for every 1GB.[/note] Mendeley will remain a separate platform with a distinctive brand — the favorite daily destination site of researchers to check updates on their network, collaborate with other researchers, access their stored content, get alerts to relevant research domains, and make progress on their workflow efficiency and research in general. And Mendeley’s “Freemium” offer will remain for individuals, and with more storage space. As Victor said, “It will still be Mendeley, only better.” For institutions, the Mendeley Institutional Edition (MIE) will continue to be available. MIE is a tool that helps universities analyze research activity in real-time, providing a complement to the traditional Impact Factor system of academic citations. It also enables librarians to extract more value out of resources by optimizing their subscriptions and providing a better service to their researchers by aggregating anonymized statistics about faculty and student paper reading habits. We’ve also spent a good deal of time talking with the Mendeley team about a variety of current topics, including access policy initiatives across the globe, the Cost of Knowledge and the social media #mendelete campaign that ensued following leaked rumors of our talks. Victor and I both know there a lot more layers to Elsevier than many realize. This is a complex, dynamic, evolving company that cares about supporting the research community. And we know that means supporting a divergent set of perspectives and serving a variety of communities. But we’re totally aligned when it comes to the product, the vision and the benefits this union will deliver to the research community. At its heart, this union is about making our users’ lives easier, whatever route that may take. As Victor told me, “We started Mendeley to help researchers, and Elsevier lets us do that for a much larger community.” Today is a great day for Elsevier, Mendeley and, more importantly, all our customers, users and communities. I want to welcome Mendeley’s employees, advisors, users and all their followers to Elsevier. We look forward to doing great things together for the research community. [divider] Learn more Check out the Q&A on the Mendeley blog.Share this Article Facebook Twitter Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University Duke University DUKE (US) — Even low doses of silver nanoparticles can negatively affect plants and microbes, a study shows. These preliminary findings are important, researchers say, because little is known about the environmental effects of silver nanoparticles, which are found in textiles, clothing, children’s toys, and pacifiers, disinfectants, and toothpaste. “No one really knows what the effects of these particles are in the environment,” says Benjamin Colman, a postdoctoral fellow in Duke University’s biology department. “We’re trying to come up with the data that can be used to help regulators determine the risks to the environment from silver nanoparticle exposures,” Colman adds. [sources] Previous studies have involved high concentrations of the nanoparticles in a laboratory setting, which the researchers point out, doesn’t represent “real-world” conditions. “Results from laboratory studies are difficult to extrapolate to ecosystems, where exposures likely will be at low concentrations and there is a diversity of organisms,” Colman says. Silver nanoparticles are used in consumer products because they can kill bacteria, inhibiting unwanted odors. They work through a variety of mechanisms, including generating free radicals of oxygen, which can cause DNA damage to microbial membranes without harming human cells. The main route by which these particles enter the environment is as a by-product of sewage treatment plants. The nanoparticles are too small to be filtered out, so they and other materials end up in the resulting wastewater treatment “sludge,” which is then spread on the land surface as a fertilizer. For their studies, the researchers created mesocosms, which are small, man-made structures containing different plants and microorganisms meant to represent the environment. They applied sludge with low doses of silver nanoparticles in some of the mesocosms, and then compared plants and microorganisms from treated and untreated mesocosms after 50 days. The researchers found that one of the plants studied, a common annual grass known as Microstegium vimeneum, had 32 percent less biomass in the mesocosms treated with the nanoparticles. Microbes were also affected by the nanoparticles, Colman says. One enzyme associated with helping microbes deal with external stresses was 52 percent less active, while another enzyme that helps regulate processes within the cell was 27 percent less active. The overall biomass of the microbes was also 35 percent lower, he says. The study appears in the journal PLOS ONE. “Our field studies show adverse responses of plants and microorganisms following a single low dose of silver nanoparticles applied by a sewage biosolid,” Colman says. “An estimated 60 percent of the average 5.6 million tons of biosolids produced each year is applied to the land for various reasons, and this practice represents an important and understudied route of exposure of natural ecosystems to engineered nanoparticles.” “Our results show that silver nanoparticles in the biosolids, added at concentrations that would be expected, caused ecosystem-level impacts,” Colman says. “Specifically, the nanoparticles led to an increase in nitrous oxide fluxes, changes in microbial community composition, biomass, and extracellular enzyme activity, as well as species-specific effects on the above-ground vegetation.” The researchers plan to continue to study longer-term effects of silver nanoparticles and to examine another ubiquitous nanoparticle—titanium dioxide. Study collaborators include researchers from Coe College, Virginia Tech University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Kentucky, and Wuhan Botanical Garden, China. Funding from the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency helped support the work. Source: Duke UniversityADVERTISEMENT "For such a little person," said Perez Hilton, "Danny DeVito knows how to pack a six-pack away!" On the set of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning, the 64-year-old actor drank his way through a live interview with a local Philadelphia reporter, and the results were "completely and ridiculously inappropriate—which is just how we like it!" (watch the Danny DeVito interview) For being "drunk at 8 a.m.," said Bunny With Fangs, DeVito managed to accomplish a lot in a short period of time. "He talks about childbirth, hits on the reporter, and embarrasses his posse of people all in, like, three minutes"—this interview was "epic." This isn't the first time Danny DeVito's appeared tipsy on morning TV, said Tim Surette in TV.com. "DeVito also famously appeared under the influence on an episode of The View." (watch) At least during his latest display, his Sunny cast mates were there to attempt some "damage control, but once the beast is out of the cage, all they can really do is watch him do his thing." DeVito's rep insists that the whole thing was an act, said Radar Online. But considering DeVito's record with public drunkenness, and the fact the he has his very own brand of limoncello, you have to wonder. But either way, his interview in Philadelphia on Tuesday was highly entertaining.Kids love you. Kids look up to you. You can influence them positively--or wreck them emotionally. The games industry has a problem with supply imbalances. For example, it's still quite difficult to buy a Nintendo Switch, and may the good Lord help you if you're in the market for an NES Classic Edition.  Controversy, though? Controversy is plentiful 'round these parts.  "We recently became aware of comments made by voice artist JonTron after development on Yooka-Laylee had been completed," Playtonic told GamesIndustry.biz. "JonTron is a talented video presenter who we were initially, two years ago, happy to include as a voice contributor in our game. However, in light of his recent personal viewpoints we have made the decision to remove JonTron's inclusion in the game via a forthcoming content update."  The statement from Playtonic goes on to emphasize JonTron's views don't reflect their own, and that the studio "deeply regret[s] any implied association that could make players feel anything but 100% comfortable in our game worlds, or distract from the incredible goodwill and love shown by our fans and Kickstarter backers."  This latest hoopla, in addition to the controversy that erupted when millionaire YouTuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg used Fiverr.com to commission two people to hold up a sign stating "Death to All Jews," is personally sobering. JonTron's rants and PewDiePie's exploitation are gross in any context, but a couple of weeks ago I learned my eight-year-old niece is getting big into Minecraft, ROBLOX, Five Nights at Freddy's, and, by extension, she's watching a lot of YouTubers stream those games.  If this image was part of an art show, that art show would be called "Siiiiiigh."  My niece is patchwork quilt given human form (and bound together with fluffy scraps of adorability, but I'm biased). She's a Canadian-Trinidadian Irish-Hungarian Jew (whew). She's been made aware of her Jewish heritage, and it's celebrated.  So how long does she have until she hears her first oven "joke" during a stream, or receives her first dose of hilarious comedy via some remark about dead / gassed Jews? How's an eight-year-old supposed to understand that a 25+-year-old YouTuber—an adult, a person she's supposed to look up to and respect—is "just kidding" when they use the death and suffering of her direct ancestors as a casual remark meant to get a smattering of laughter during the slow parts of a Minecraft stream?   My concern isn't unique, obviously. Prominent YouTubers and game streamers fall back on off-color remarks and racial stereotypes all the time. It's a very easy way to keep the attention of a preteen viewer base that's very big on bucking authority, whether they do so by giggling at jokes about farts and poop, or grinning open-mouthed at the scandalous suggestion that "Hitler did nothing wrong." Sadly, these poisonous jokes and opinions are already affect young viewers caught in the blast radius People defend the antics of PewDiePie and his ilk by bringing up other shock comedians, like George Carlin and Howard Stern. Thing is, shock comedians usually have adult audiences. To re-iterate a point made by games writer Jim Sterling earlier this week, they don't hold sway over millions of ten-year-olds who may have into the fray in the first place because they just wanted to watch someone play through Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.  Accurate life cycle of a popular YouTuber.  I have strong feelings about the cultural tug-of-war between Boomers and Millennials, so I don't like to say things like "In MY day—" (besides, the effect only works if you own a pipe to puff with supreme irritation, and I don't). But I can't help but think about how I started to fall in love with video games when I was around my niece's age—around the same time the NES started becoming a fixture in North American living rooms. Back then, if you didn't own a game or system, you had to peer over the shoulder of a friend who did. Our "YouTube" was shop windows, whereon we pressed our noses and looked longingly at Super Mario Bros' attract mode.  This article may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and buy the product we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here Now, though? Any kid who wants to know anything about any game simply needs to hit up YouTube. There, they might find a benign trailer, or a developer interview. They might find a playthrough orchestrated by a cheerful person who's aware of their audience. Or they might find the gameplay footage interlaced with sour comedy involving remarks about black people and watermelon. Like that proverbial box of chocolates, you never really know what you're gonna get.  This isn't a call to police YouTube (though I haven't lost any sleep over JonTron and PewDiePie's scraped knees). This isn't a piece meant to spark a discussion about free speech versus consequences: Mike already tackled that subject in his elegant, even-handed way last month. Rather, it's a request—all right, maybe a plea—for YouTubers and streamers to remember they command the adoration of impressionable young people. To classical purists, it may not be music to their ears. But the controller of BBC Radio 3 has spoken of the importance of television theme tunes and film scores as part of the station’s output, as it tries to capture the attention of younger listeners. Roger Wright defended the addition of music such as the soundtracks from Doctor Who, Star Wars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to the Radio 3 repertoire, saying it was “key” to enticing a new generation to appreciate classical music. He argued that it was no longer appropriate to cater only for a long-standing, knowledgeable audience. While warning that classical music should not be the preserve of an educated elite, Mr Wright also defended his station against accusations of dumbing down. He told The Sunday Telegraph there was no point giving the Radio 3 audience “solely what it already knows”. His intervention comes a fortnight after the Friends of Radio 3, a listeners’ group, wrote to Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, highlighting concerns about the way the corporation treats classical music, and the “extent to which it underestimates the intelligence of the public”. Referring to budget cuts to classical output, the letter said 720 signatories wished to “express dismay at the decline of a station which was once intelligent, educational and enjoyable”, saying it was “increasingly frequently, none of these things”. In recent years, others have claimed that the station has appeared to be attempting to appeal to an audience similar to Classic FM, traditionally assumed to be younger with less in-depth knowledge of the genre. Music from films, musicals and television scores have quickly become part of Radio 3’s output, with the Doctor Who Prom now a regular best-seller. In September, the station participated in the BBC’s “Sound of the Cinema” season, with listeners voting the Star Wars theme tune the most popular film score, followed by The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and West Side Story. Mr Wright, who is also controller of the Proms, defended the decision to attract new audiences by using familiar music, which he believes will lead to a love of other classical works. He said he “makes absolutely no apologies” for attempting to appeal to a wider audience, with the broadcast of more accessible music a “key” part of BBC strategy. Speaking of accusations classical music is associated with snobbery, he argued the genre is “no more elitist than Test Match Special”. He also spoke of the challenges of providing classical music for a modern audience, with short attention spans and an “instant gratification” culture making it more difficult for people to listen to lengthy pieces. “When you ask a general audience when it first heard classical music or when it first heard an orchestra, pretty regularly they will refer back to film music or musical theatre,” said Mr Wright. He added that performances such as the John Wilson Orchestra’s Hollywood Rhapsody Prom were now “really key” in Radio 3’s audience development strategy, with young people finding their way into things that would “otherwise feel forbidding”. “There’s no point giving the Radio 3 audience solely what it already knows, because that way in the end you diminish the audience; you don’t help to grow it,” he said. “Of course we should be catering for our audience that already has a certain amount of knowledge, but at the same time, we’re also about building new audiences. The whole point of the Proms was to build the largest possible audience, and that holds good for the Proms now and what we’re doing with Radio 3.” When asked about accusations of dumbing down, he said those who believed classical music should be kept for an elite were in the minority. “There will always be people in the audience who want to have this music for themselves and not let anyone else in, but it’s a tiny, tiny percentage,” he said. “Why should it be that it’s only for a few people who already know about it?” Claiming that accusations of elitism in classical music were unfair, he said the occasionally esoteric language was no worse than that of science, literature or on Test Match Special. Mr Wright will today announce that Radio 3 is to spend two weeks of March in residency at the Southbank Centre in London, to allow audiences a further insight into how it works. Speaking to this newspaper to mark the launch, he also talked about the challenge of presenting classical music to audiences in the modern day. “One of the things we need to do is encourage people to listen and get used to listening,” he said. “One of the challenges of the busyness of our lives is actually the length of time a lot of classical music takes and that notion that we live in this world in which we expect instantaneous gratification. We have the remote control, which means that, if we don’t like something in two minutes, we’ll flick over to something else. “That’s an issue for a piece of music that is 40 minutes long, let alone a Wagner opera which might last four hours. “That’s something about getting people used to the business of live music. We need to train people to have a longer attention span.” He added that he had also noticed a tendency for people to dismiss the genre without properly giving it a chance. “I think it’s perfectly OK for people to say they don’t like particular bits of music for whatever reason, because we all have particular tastes,” Mr Wright said. “But I think what’s disappointing is people say they don’t like something based on no experience of it at all. It’s amazing how many people will have a preconception about a particular composer or group, whatever sort of music it may be, without ever really having sampled it. “They’ve just picked up the vibe that it’s not particularly fashionable or not for them. “But when you challenge them, you realise they’ve got no knowledge of it at all, and that’s just lazy thinking.” Radio 3 will be in residency at the Southbank Centre, London, from March 15 to 31.In the heart of Tuscany, a magnificent ruined abandoned house has been restored, as it lays lost in the middle of nowhere; introducing the Italian Umbrian Castello di Reschio- Belvedere. This Castello is a very private estate sitting on 2,700 acres on the borders of Umbria and Tuscany. Surrounded by far away villages, the castle is still completely isolated despite the massive parcel of land it sits on. All around this estate, you can see sumptuous green landscapes consisting of plains, never ending hills and valleys. The reconstruction of the building using the ruins and what’s left from that old abandoned house dating back to
no circumstances is it reasonable to call this a “backdoor,” as key changes are immediately detected by the sender and can be verified. The reporting The way this story has been reported has been disappointing. There are many quotes in the article, but it seems that The Guardian put very little effort into verifying the original technical claims they’ve made. Even though we are the creators of the encryption protocol supposedly “backdoored” by WhatsApp, we were not asked for comment. Instead, most of the quotes in the story are from policy and advocacy organizations who seem to have been asked “WhatsApp put a backdoor in their encryption, do you think that’s bad?” We believe that it is important to honestly and accurately evaluate the choices that organizations like WhatsApp or Facebook make. There are many things to criticize Facebook for; running a product that deployed end-to-end encryption by default for over a billion people is not one of them. It is great that The Guardian thinks privacy is something their readers should be concerned about. However, running a story like this without taking the time to carefully evaluate claims of a “backdoor” will ultimately only hurt their readers. It has the potential to drive them away from a well-engineered and carefully considered system to much more dangerous products that make truly false claims. Since the story has been published, we have repeatedly reached out to the author and the editors at The Guardian, but have received no response. We believe that WhatsApp remains a great choice for users concerned with the privacy of their message content.On Wednesday, December 30 (that’s today, if you’re reading this today), a brilliant and beloved comics creator returns to the pages of Heavy Metal after a 30-year absence: Pepe Moreno. Moreno’s Rebel graphic novel was serialized in Heavy Metal 1985; we also published other Moreno stories including “Space Crusader,” “Bunker 6A” and “Zeppelin.” Issue 278 of Heavy Metal features part 1 of Moreno’s “Gene Kong,” which had previously not been available in English. Here’s the lowdown on the story: Set in NYC in the 1980s, “Gene Kong” is the tale of Eugene Wong, a biogenetics engineer, whose secret backroom experiments have out him far ahead of his colleagues. Sick of the crime and degenerates who have taken over New York, Gene dreams of the day he can clean up his city. Gene, being of small stature and no fighting skills, decides to take things into his own hands and begins injecting himself with the altered DNA of a gorilla. Nothing seems to be happening until one fateful night on a subway train when Gene is accosted by a bunch of hoodlums, his anger somehow ignites these Frankenstein chemicals into action. Let the underworld of NYC beware! “NYC was a rough town in the 1980s,” Moreno recalls. “Crime and decay were part of the city’s ‘charm’. 42nd St. was still 42nd St. and not one from Disneyworld, Rudolph Giuliani was still New York’s US attorney and Bernhard Goetz, the infamous subway vigilante, was loose on the streets.” Moreno lived in the East Village at the time, and took his inspiration from the cast of motley real-world characters he saw every day. In addition to the English captions, “Gene Kong” features some artist-approved tweaks to the original artwork. “We worked closely with Pepe to get the art just right,” says Frank Forte, Heavy Metal‘s content editor. “All the scans were from the original artwork and Pepe went in and did minor touch-ups and EFX additions. It really looks stunning.” You can order your copy of issue #278 in the Heavy Metal Store. Heavy Metal issue #279, shipping in February, will feature part 2 of “Gene Kong,” as well as a variant cover by Moreno. Here’s a preview of Gene Kong part 1, from issue #278. Here’s a little more on Pepe: Pepe Moreno is an accomplished author, artist, designer and entrepreneur with extensive experience in traditional and digital art forms and entertainment media as a whole. He has set trends in the comic book world with his graphic novels and most notably with the first-ever computer generated comic book Batman: Digital Justice, which would become the second most successful book in the fields history. He was a regular contributor to Heavy Metal Magazine in the 1980’s with the serialized Rebel and many other short science fiction tales including “Bunker 6A” and “Zeppelin”. His dystopian Generation Zero was serialized in Epic Illustrated and later collected by DC Comics. As a pioneer of digital art, Pepe would follow suit at the onset of the video game revolution, originally breaking ground with one of the first ever CD-ROM video games Hellcab. Pepe went on to create the popular game series Beach Head whose brand of titles sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide and was ranked number one arcade game in the US for three years in a row. Share this: on Twitter on Facebook on Google+In the Wisconsin Senate race, Democrat Tammy Baldwin appears to have a narrow lead right now over Republican Tommy Thompson. Well, this should really help Thompson, especially among women. Watch this video clip. We don't hear the question in the clip, but it was obviously something along the lines of why did you become a lobbyist, which he did after leaving the Bush administration. The millions he's made have become an issue in the race. What the clip does show him saying is this: So, I l left. I left the government after four years, after George Bush got elected the second time. And my wife likes to shop. Okay? And she said, "You know, Tommy, you've been in politics for 38 years. Why don't you go out and see if you can make some decent money so I can go shopping without having to put everything on a credit card?" That is pretty amazing. First of all, as a Cabinet secretary, he was making what most Americans would think of as pretty good dosh, around $190,000 then. And second, this is like the stuff of early 1960s stand-up routines. The fellas in their Munsingwear shirts at the 19th hole over Beer Nuts. I doubt men talk this way even at pricey country clubs anymore, although Thompson probably represents that set as well as anyone, so maybe they do. Just sociologically amazing that there are people who still say things like this.July 1977: My dad was 20 and spent most of his time managing his afro and a McDonald’s in Cleveland. My mom was 18 and had recently given birth to my older brother. He had a mini afro. The young couple was looking to get married. The owner of the McDonald’s where my dad worked agreed to have the wedding at his restaurant for free. See, McDonald’s was the s*t and a lot less common than today. (There were fewer than 5,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide, compared to over 36,000 now.) Anyhow, the store remained open during the ceremony–McDonald’s doesn’t play when it comes to their money–but the ceremony was outside of peak hours, so my parents had most of the outside area to themselves, even as restaurant guests looked on like, “I can dig it!” They were married at McDonald’s on the 23rd of that month. Four kids and nearly 40 years later, they’re still together. And of course, the McDonald’s on Lee Road is still there, too. My parents today: -Dewan GibsonPanasonic G7 hands on If there's any company that's an expert in high-quality 4K video recording, it's Panasonic. The company pioneered consumer 4K video recording with its interchangeable GH4 and many videographers, and YouTubers swear by its versatility. Next month, the company is launching the G7, a smaller 4K-shooting mirrorless camera for $800 — half as much as the GH4. I got to play with the camera and shoot some 4K footage recently. Here's my first impressions. Although both cameras are of the Micro Four Thirds format, the G7 is way smaller and lighter. The body weighs 0.9 pounds versus the GH4's 1.23 pounds; even with the 14-42mm kit lens, the camera is a light. The lightness, along with the plastic construction, makes the camera feel somewhat cheap. The 3.3-inch touchscreen swivels out, but I noticed it wasn't as bright and colors weren't quite as vivid as on the GH4. This isn't surprising considering the G7 uses an LCD and the GH4 uses an OLED screen. OLED screens tend to have deeper blacks and better colors. Buttons and control wheels cover almost every available surface on the camera body. Amateurs may be turned off by all of them, but I didn't mind. Buttons are always better than settings hidden in menus. While I did spend some time taking 16-megapixel photos and extracting 8-megapixel stills from the 4K video recordings, I focused more on the 4K video recording. As you can see in the video reel above (make sure to turn on 4K 2,160p), the 4K video is impressive. I shot footage with the kit lens and colors and exposure came out looking accurate. The built-in optical image stabilization does a good job steadying the footage from light hand shaking. From my brief time with the G7, the camera appears to be a solid little guy for video. I'll need to do some more testing in low-light situations and indoors, and with different lenses, but so far so good. Also great: No conversion needed. I recently reviewed the Samsung NX500, another $800 mirrorless camera that shoots 4K video, and had to convert all the video clips from H.265 to H.264. The G7's 4K clips are encoded in H.264 so you won't have any issue using Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere to edit them.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- As the New England Patriots prepare to play without defensive end Chandler Jones, who is reportedly out for a month with a hip injury, the defense is turning to the next man up. Rookie defensive lineman Dominique Easley, the team’s first pick in the 2014 draft, has battled injuries this season, but his versatility along the line will likely put him in a bigger role. Head coach Bill Belichick touched on Easley’s unique ability to play anywhere on the line. “Well, Easley has really played all those spots across the board from college and even back from the spring and when he was able to practice in training camp, he’s worked all the way from outside the tight end to on the center’s nose,” Belichick said. “He’s been at every spot. “That is unusual," Belichick acknowledged. "He has a unique set of skills that allow him to do that. Quick enough to play outside and enough playing strength to play inside to a degree. Good instinctiveness in terms of recognizing blocking schemes. He knows there are a lot of different things that can happen when you are in there between a guard and a center or a guard and a tackle, compared to when you are outside with a tight end.” Belichick also explained that Easley, whose natural position is defensive tackle, is impressive in that he can move from the inside to the outside of the line. “The game from the inside-out as opposed to the outside-in is different,” Belichick said. “So, there’s not a lot of guys that that comes real easy to. There’s a few, but not a lot.” Belichick compared Easley to defensive tackle Vince Wilfork and even linebacker Dont'a Hightower in their versatility. “I would say Vince is like that,” Belichick said. “He’s very instinctive -- not that he is going to play in a 9-technique, but center, guard, tackle and playing on the tight end -- he instinctively does things well there. Same thing with the linebacker position with a guy like Hightower that can play end of the line, that can play tackle bubble, guard bubble, that can play as a middle linebacker over the center. “It’s hard to find those guys that have that kind of instinctiveness that can see the game I don’t want to say equally well, but pretty equally well at those different spots. “It’s a lot different looking at the game outside-in vs. inside-out and to be able to flip back and forth and do that -- not everybody can do that by a long stretch. It takes physical talent but it also takes a mental and instinctive skill to be able to handle that transition, too.”For a long time, Mac Pro users looked at their towers—with their dated external designs and lagging technical specs—and asked themselves, “When will Apple update its professional desktop line?” The days of this Mac Pro tower design are numbered. The wait is nearly over: Apple says a brand new Mac Pro will be available before the end of 2013. Instead of being a step behind the technological times, the upcoming Mac Pro will offer users a look into the future as the first system to offer the new Thunderbolt 2 connection. It will also have dual graphics cards (standard), USB 3, and a sleek case design. Though no one in the general public has seen benchmark results for the new Mac Pro, Apple claims it will deliver “state-of-the-art performance across the board.” But the new high-end Mac will be a severe departure from what most Mac users think of when they think “Mac Pro.” It’s not the hulking beast of a machine that we’re all familiar with, but a model of compactness. The main concern about the new Mac Pro is its lack of internal expansion and customization options. Instead of having four internal hard drive bays, it will use built-in flash storage; additional drives will need to be connected externally. Same with PCI cards: An external expansion chassis, connected via Thunderbolt 2, will be required to house and connect the cards that many users have invested in heavily. The new 2013 Mac Pro comes with six Thunderbolt 2 ports to connect external storage devices and PCI expansion cards that are housed in an external chassis. So if you are invested in the Mac Pro line, you have a tough decision to make. Wait for the new Mac Pro and buy it along with the expansion chassis and external drives that you'll need to make it comparable to the old model? Or stick it out with your current towers, making do with those outdated technologies for a few years more? Ah, but there is a third option, one that gives you up-to-date technology and competitive performance, at a cost that's considerably less than the 2012 Mac Pro: Build your own computer, using off-the-shelf PC hardware, that runs Mac OS X. But for one very, very big reason, we can't recommend that path: It violates the OS X end-user license agreement. Still, out of purely academic interest, we in the Macworld Lab set out to discover how hard it is to build that kind of forbidden machine and see how it would compare with the current models. This isn’t the first time Macworld has done so; back in 2008, Rob Griffiths pieced a system together that he dubbed Frankenmac. So it seemed appropriate to call this new machine the Bride of Frankenmac. Users of the Mac Pro love its ability to hold four drives and house PCI cards. Building the Bride of Frankenmac What we found is that the process of building your own computer isn't for the average Mac user. It helped that we were able to call on folks like PCWorld Lab Manager Tony Leung, who has years of experience assembling PCs from scratch. We also took advantage of the many online forums devoted to this kind of activity. Resources like tonymacx86.com and InsanelyMac are very helpful, and the knowledgeable and supportive users of their forums offer help to anyone stuck during the process. Users in these forums have been able to create Haswell-based computers running Mavericks. Lifehacker.com is also a good resource, as it keeps an updated list of known working components and has a list of DIY resources. Michael Hominick Inside the Bride of Frankenmac. In the Macworld lab, we were able to find all the pieces and parts we needed: Asus P8Z77-VPro/Thunderbolt motherboard with USB 3, Thunderbolt, and 7 PCI slots in a variety of flavors Quad-core Intel Core i7-3770 processor EVGA GeForce 650Ti Boost SC 2GB graphics card Seagate Barracuda ST11000DM003 7200-rpm hard drive Blu-ray drive 16GB of Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR-1600 RAM Antec EarthWatts 750W power supply Cooler Master ATX Mid Tower Case with room for up to 8 drives If you don't have them sitting around your lab, such parts are available from resellers like Newegg.com for about $1100 total. That’s some $1000 less than the price of Apple’s entry-level 2012 Mac Pro, with its (old) 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Xeon processor, 6GB of RAM, 1TB hard drive, Superdrive, and ATI Radeon HD5770 graphics. How fast is it? To see how our illicit Bride compared with the currently shipping Mac Pro in performance, we turned to our system performance benchmarking suite, Speedmark 8. Speedmark 8 Bride of Frankenmac (1TB HD) 246 Bride of Frankenmac (240GB SSD) 278 2012 Mac Pro 12-core (1TB HDD) 215 2012 Mac Pro 12-core (240GB SSD) 249 2012 Mac Pro quad-core (1TB HD) 200 Our custom-built OS X computer was faster than the $2499 Mac Pro in all 15 of the individual tests that make up Speedmark 8: Overall, it was 23 percent faster than the Mac Pro. A few of the tests were close; exporting an iMovie project was only 4 percent faster on the Bride of Frankenmac than on the Mac Pro. Unzipping a large file archive was 9 percent faster, and running our Photoshop action script was 10 percent faster. Our Portal 2 test was 22 percent faster on the Bride of Frankenmac, and Cinebench’s OpenGL test was 15 percent faster. When we upped the resolution on the Portal 2 test and maxed out the settings, the Bride of Frankenmac was 65 percent faster than the Mac Pro. We also swapped the graphics cards between the two systems to see how that would affect results. Our standard Portal 2 test results were the same, regardless of the card, which indicates that the GPU didn’t have a problem with the test and that the bottleneck was the CPU. When we cranked up the resolution and settings, we found that the results followed the card: The Nvidia card that originated in the Bride of Frankenmac was much faster than the ATI card that is standard with the $2499 Mac Pro, regardless of what system it was installed in. The Cinebench OpenGL test was a bit faster on the ATI card than the Nvidia, but both cards were faster in this test when installed in the Bride of Frankenmac than when installed on the Mac Pro. Michael Hominick The Bride of Frankenmac (right) isn't much of a looker, but its performance makes up for its appearance. We then compared our creation to a high-end 12-core Mac Pro—the $3799 version with two 2.4GHz 6-core Intel Xeon processors, 12GB of RAM, and the same 1TB hard drive and ATI Radeon card as the $2499 Mac Pro. Once again the Bride came out on top; it was 14 percent faster overall than the Mac Pro. At least this time the Mac Pro was faster in a few tests, mainly those that can take advantage of the 12 processing cores found in the $3799 Mac Pro. Mathematicamark 7, for example, was 25 percent faster on the Mac Pro than on the Bride of Frankenmac. Cinebench’s OpenGL test was 41 percent faster on the Mac Pro, while file unzipping and iMovie importing were both 6 percent faster on the Mac Pro. For kicks, we installed a Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/240G SSD in both the Bride of Frankenmac and the 12-core Mac Pro and reran the Speedmark tests. While the SSD-equipped Mac Pro and Bride of Frankenmac were 16 and 13 percent faster, respectively, than their hard drive–equipped selves, the SSD Bride of Frankenmac was still 12 percent faster overall than the SSD Mac Pro. (See the next page for all the individual test results.) Hurdles to overcome Getting to all that speedy performance wasn't simple. For example, the ATI card didn’t work right away. The system would start up but couldn't get past the BIOS. It turned out that the bootloader we used didn't support this particular video card. We were able to find a solution online, but it wasn't elegant: It required booting onto a USB stick with a different bootloader installed. Once we booted from the USB drive, the system would start up, but the screen would go black. Hitting the power button twice (once to put the system to sleep and then again to wake up the system) would bring the screen back to life. The same trick was required each time we rebooted. Such quirks can hit other DIY systems, as a couple of colleagues in our video department have found. One could not get the motherboard audio to work and finally purchased a USB audio adapter. He also had problems getting two monitors to work—he had to shut down and flip the rear power switch off and unplug the power cord from the wall, and then plug everything back in and start back up in order to see both displays. Another colleague's system would intermittently unmount FireWire drives, and his rear USB ports don't work at all. Getting Blackmagic Design’s Intensity Pro video editing card to work in the Bride of Frankenmac did not require any of the workarounds necessary for the ATI card. That’s something of note for current Mac Pro users with PCI cards who want to continue using such cards inside a computer case instead of externally in a Thunderbolt expansion chassis with the upcoming Mac Pro. Michael Hominick It lives: The Bride of Frakenmac was made using parts in our lab. It’s worth mentioning that, unlike an Apple-built computer, our Bride of Frankenmac is not covered by an umbrella warranty. If the power supply conks out, we’ll need to take that up with Antec. The same goes for all of the components. If anything breaks or stops working, it'll be up to us to deal with the individual component manufacturers. Future OS X updates could also prove problematic to our custom setup. Apple, of course, does copious amounts of internal testing to make sure that software updates don’t cause problems with its systems, but it could never test (or want to test) each update against every possible combination of components, especially components the company doesn’t officially support. If you were to go down this unsanctioned path, whenever Apple released an OS update, you'd want to wait a few days before upgrading, then spend some time monitoring the forums to see if other folks are running into problems with their custom systems. Next page: Complete test results. Editor's note: Updated at 4 p.m. PT to rectify a case design error regarding the 2013 Mac Pro and added video. Updated on 9/11/13 to correct the graphics card identified in the Bride of Frankenmac.It seems like there's an app for everything these days. An app called Nestdrop brings medical marijuana directly to the doorsteps of Angelenos.Nestdrop, which began with delivering alcohol, promises their weed deliveries will get to you in under an hour.Michael Pycher is the developer."This is unprecedented. It's never been done before," Pycher said. "We're only dealing with medicinal marijuana, this is medicine for patients."Pycher says Nestdrop checks to make sure the user is a legitimate medicinal marijuana patient."All the steps you would have to take to be legal are still in place," Pycher said.Then the app connects that person with what Pycher says are legitimate dispensaries that offer a wide variety of products.Mo Li operates a dispensary called Hollywood Meds. He says the app is "making his life much easier.""A lot of professional working people, during the day, you know, they don't have time to go to the dispensaries and get their medicine," Li said.The Nestdrop app for alcohol delivery has been around since June. The app specific to medicinal marijuana went live on the Android store Friday, and it wasn't long before Li was making his first delivery.A patient, who did not want to appear on camera, says the app does provide a valuable service."Sometimes I just really don't have the time to navigate through Hollywood traffic to get to the collective," she said.There are other medical marijuana delivery services available, but this is the first of app to offer the service in L.A. Each order must be a minimum of $25.Pycher says he hopes to have an iPhone app available in the next few weeks, and he insists, the app is legal."We have every intention to comply with the law. We're not trying to skirt around anything," he said.The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office disagrees. A spokesman tells Eyewitness News home delivery of medicinal marijuana is not allowed under Prop D, which was approved by voters last year. "Several pending investigations are ongoing," the spokesman said.When Anjan Manikumar opened Signs, a deaf-friendly restaurant, he wanted it to be accessible in more ways than one. But his efforts to put in a ramp outside his restaurant at Yonge and Wellesley Sts. resulted in a notice of violation from the city just two weeks after it was installed. Signs restaurant owner Anjan Manikumar, right, chats with his father and principal investor Manny Manikumar, outside the eatery at Yonge and Wellesley St. The city has ordered Manikumar to remove a wheelchair ramp saying its a hazard for pedestrians. ( RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO ) The city has ordered this ramp outside Signs restaurant at Yonge and Wellesley be removed. ( Trevor Little / StopGap ) The 29-year-old said he got frustrated after trying to work with the city since April, so decided to install a temporary ramp. “It’s not fair that we are excluding some people just because we are not able to get a permit,” Manikumar said. He said the city wouldn’t even take his application to build a permanent ramp and he believed he wouldn’t need a permit for a temporary ramp. So he worked with StopGap, an organization that helps build low-cost ramps, to install one at a cost of $4,700. Article Continued Below The ramp was ordered to be removed immediately on Thursday because it “poses a hazard to pedestrians and people with visual disabilities,” said Kyp Perikleous, director of transportation services at the City of Toronto. “When something creates an immediate hazard, we do not give a buffer. We ask for immediate compliance,” said Perikleous. Not complying with the city can mean a fine of up to $5,000. This type of violation is unusual, with only one or two similar issues faced this year, said Perikleous. And there seems to be little room for compromise. “We usually do not accommodate obstructions to a sidewalk,” he said. The policy is strict because according to Ontario’s accessibility law, the city has to provide 2.1 metres width on a sidewalk and a busy pedestrian street like Yonge St. can require more, said Perikleous. Article Continued Below Manikumar says he’s been monitoring pedestrian traffic and that “there’s no problem with the walking space.” He says a simple solution that would create even more space on the sidewalk is moving a mailbox across the ramp a little further up the street. Manikumar said in earlier discussions with the city, there was a willingness to explore this but nothing has happened since. The width left for pedestrian traffic from the ramp to the mailbox is just 2 centimetres short of the 2.1 metre requirement. The ramp encroaches about 72 centimetres onto city property, according to a Star measurement. There is a way to legally encroach on city property, but Manikumar would have to make an application to the city’s community council, said Perikleous. But before he can do that, he has to prove he has no other choice. “The owners or the tenants of the property need to show they have tried to do everything in their means to provide ramping facilities within their property,” Perikleous said. He added that many people don’t want to make accommodations within the existing property because it usually costs much more money. Manikumar says he’s not concerned about the cost because he sees making his restaurant accessible as an investment. “A lot of our guests have demanded a ramp,” he said. But Manikumar is a tenant and says his landlord doesn’t want him to make any permanent changes to the property. He’s looked at many different options, including installing a $50,000 wheelchair lift. But even that would encroach on city property, he said. Both supporters and those urging the restaurant to go through the city process voiced their opinions after the notice of violation was posted to the restaurant’s Facebook page. A woman passing by the restaurant Thursday evening said she saw the Facebook post and that “there’s more than enough space” for pedestrians to get through. “The restaurant wants to include everybody and I think everybody should do that,” said Tammy Penasse. “For the city to say that’s wrong — I think that’s wrong.” Manikumar said won’t be taking down the ramp until he can work out an alternative with the city, saying he will “fight for what is right.”Analysts have pegged AbbVie’s leukemia newcomer Venclexta (venetoclax) as a future blockbuster. But unless something changes, England won’t be helping the med get there. Wednesday, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence turned down the product—known as Venclyxto in Europe—for routine use on the National Health System. And it wasn’t just the med’s price that sparked the rejection. As the body laid out in draft guidance, its appraisal committee flagged “substantial uncertainty” within the body of evidence the drugmaker submitted to support the med, which is used to treat subsets of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients. Free Daily Newsletter Like this story? Subscribe to FiercePharma! Biopharma is a fast-growing world where big ideas come along daily. Our subscribers rely on FiercePharma as their must-read source for the latest news, analysis and data on drugs and the companies that make them. Sign up today to get pharma news and updates delivered to your inbox and read on the go. SUBSCRIBE NOW The committee’s concerns included the single-arm design of the med’s trials, which “meant that the results were potentially biased”; the fact that “the trials included relatively few people”; and the source of the data for a trial pitting Venclyxto against best supportive care. “The patients in the comparator trial did not reflect those for whom venetoclax may be option,” the committee said. As is common among costly cancer drugs trying to sneak their way past the gatekeeper, NICE took an issue with the product’s price, too. The watchdog normally accepts meds that can deliver a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) at a max cost of between £20,000 and £30,000, and AbbVie’s drug exceeded that range. Now, AbbVie will continue negotiations with NICE in an effort to flip its decision. "We are... disappointed with the committee’s decision and will now act quickly to work with NICE through the next step of its decision-making process,” Alice Butler, Medical Director at AbbVie UK, said in a statement. It’s a setback for AbbVie, which is working to grow its first-to-market BCL-2 inhibitor. Right now, the med is limited to a smaller pool of hard-to-treat CLL sufferers, but it also boasts breakthrough designations in two other uses that would cover far more patients. As the Illinois pharma’s execs said on the company’s Q4 earnings call last month, they expect Venclexta to bring in just $125 million for 2017, as its current U.S. indication hits within a $300 million market that’s controlled by fellow AbbVie med Imbruvica. But as the company grows its list of FDA nods, analysts expect to see the product net $1.5 billion to $2 billion by the end of the decade.EMBED >More News Videos RAW VIDEO: Man who took toddler for ride on motorcycle released from jail. A Liberty County man photographed with a toddler on a motorcycle has bonded out of jail in Liberty County.Anthony Welsh, 30, was charged with endangering a child.A photo of Welsh and a toddler straddling a high-performance motorcycle sparked outrage on social media. It was taken on Sunday at a gas station in Tarkington. The man who took the photo posted it on social media."I'm not looking to get the guy thrown in jail, but he needs to get the hint that the kid's life is in danger," said the man who asked to remain anonymous. "That's dangerous."Deputies talked to two eyewitnesses who saw Welsh driving with the toddler on the bike, according to Cpl. James Hobson.Under Texas law, no child under five years old shall be a passenger on a motorcycle and any passenger that does ride as a second person on the motorcycle must be seated in a secured seat to the back of the motorcycle with secure hand grips and two foot pegs.Welsh was arrested Tuesday afternoon on a separate charge for an outstanding traffic warrant, but was released before being charged with endangering a child. His criminal history includes assault and evading arrest.As my regular readers know, I am a zealous Haskell advocate. After many years of programming in many different languages, Haskell has secured itself as my #1 language for almost every problem: using any other is like painting with a mop — like playing tetris without being able to rotate your pieces. Nonetheless, Haskell has some unsightly areas, especially when considering programming in the large. The more I use Haskell to tackle big problems, the more obnoxious they become. This post is my account of Haskell’s Big Three annoyances. Contrary to my usual shtick about cutting out features because fewer features means more properties, these are missing features. The order in which I list them is meaningless. 1. No Module Abstraction Some of the code I am writing for Evo (purely functional RTS game), if stated in full generality, would look like this: gameUI :: (RealFrac time, Image image, Causal causal) => UI time image causal () () The first three parameters are constant throughout my entire program. I can’t in my right mind make a data type with 5 type parameters, and I certainly refuse to write those same three constraints on every function involving UI. So, sacrificing generality, I have fixed those three parameters to the particular choices I need for Evo. But suppose this module were to be reused — by fixing my choice of, eg., image to Graphics.DrawingCombinators.Image, I have disallowed the reuse of this module by any program that uses another library for drawing. But I stand by my aesthetic choice, so that I don’t obscure my code’s inner beauty behind repulsive, indecipherable type signatures. Haskell needs some form of abstraction over modules. ML functors, Agda modules (aka. awesome records), Coq sections — any way to abstract over more than one definition. This would allow module authors to make their code clean and reusable at the same time. 2. Module Naming Policy Hackage is a mess. I cringe looking at vector-space, taking up 9 valuable top-level names (“Data.” doesn’t count, everybody uses that), preventing anyone else from naming a module or module suite named Data.Cross or Data.Derivative (the latter I actually have a candidate for). data-object for JSON objects, as if nothing else could concievably be called an object. transformers and mtl both have a module named Control.Monad.Trans, preventing both versions from being used from the same package (suppose this package depends on two other packages, each of which depending on a different monad library). The quick fix, what every other language has done, is to institute a policy or culture of naming conventions that makes the probability of collision low. I feel like Hackage is nearing its limit — the ad-hoc Data.Blah naming conventions won’t last through another order of magnitude. If we encouraged people to name packages more conservatively, we may last through one or two more. But a naming convention is just delaying the inevitable, giving us a false sense of security. What happens when a package is forked, two packages come to depend on two different branches of this package which forgot to rename itself, and a third package wants to depend on both of those? We need something innovative, and in Haskell’s spirit! Let’s allow the flexibility in package names that we allow in symbol names from imports now — if there is a name collision, just rename one of them for the scope of your package. No big deal. Let module authors name their modules whatever they think is clearest — go ahead, name your module Monad, we don’t care. Right now, a name like that would be a death sentence for that module due to impoliteness. 3. Unrefactorable Typeclasses The Haskell prelude is a very nice place, in general (what, you haven’t read it? Go, it’s a nice read!). However there is one cesspool of which every experienced Haskeller is ashamed: the Num class. Let’s look: class (Eq a, Show a) => Num a where (+), (-), () :: a -> a -> a negate :: a -> a abs, signum :: a -> a fromInteger :: Integer -> a (+) and (-) almost surely belong, as does fromInteger (supposing you don’t allow more flexibility with numeric literals a la IsString). () might be considered reasonable, though we have just disallowed vectors as instances of Num. abs and signum … well I guess as long as you’re putting in () those make sense. But the superclasses Eq and Show, especially Show, what? What about being a number involves being convertible to a string? Eq and Show both disallow computable reals from being a bona fide instance of Num, they have to cheat. Same goes for notational extensions like f Int where f is any applicative functor. The Num class is pretty bad, but I excuse the Haskell designers for making that mistake. Library design is hard, especially when you have never used
and not necessarily exclusive sources of inspiration for artistic expression. The question of identification is then crucial. Mythical episodes must naturally be identifiable by the audience – otherwise they are pointless – which means in turn that the scenes somehow contain easily accessible and recognizable elements to facilitate identification – for example, the ‘archaic’ or ‘heroic’ elements discussed above. For the argument to work, however, identification should be as easy and frequent as possible, perhaps not truly systematic but at least following fairly consistent patterns. In fact, the repetition of iconographic elements has been recently emphasized as crucial in visual – and literary – narrative.39 How can a consistent identification be achieved in practice? According to Hoffman, ‘pictures (…) consist of clusters of signs. Considered in isolation, these signs do not take us very far. It is through their connectedness with each other that they become interesting, that they reveal the “core significance”’.40 Iconographic elements must be then integrated into a coherent whole, and their meaning – that is, their identification by the viewer – ought to be systematic, or at least fairly established. In the case of specific figures, action or posture are also relevant elements: Herakles, for instance, can be recognized through his lion skin and his club, and/or through his struggles with Kyknos or Andromache. However, the ability of painters to depict unmistakably personal attributes to differentiate one hero from another was naturally limited.41 As a result, only highly idiosyncratic characters – Herakles – or actions – killing an Amazon queen – can be systematically identified in combat scenes. How can we be positively certain that every single scene depicting a warrior carrying the dead body of a comrade represents Aias and Achilles?42 In practice, beyond Herakles’ club and bow, indistinct figures are more likely to be anonymous warriors.43 ‘Anonymity’ in this context can be of two kinds: ‘partial’, when figures are unknown to us – i.e., not included in the main legendary and mythical sagas – but not necessarily unknown to the painter or to the potential audience; or ‘absolute’, when figures and topics are unknown even to ancient audiences, for example as a narrative device to put the emphasis on the action itself,44 or when a scene is taken out of its original context and transferred to another – as in the case of the massive export of Attic vases to Etruria during the sixth century.45 A potential help in this question of identification and anonymity is naturally the presence of name‐tags in some scenes. Tags appeared in archaic vase painting by the end of the seventh century and only became widespread by the second quarter of the sixth.46 They help to identify figures such as Herakles (Boston MFA 01.8059), Achilles (London BM B 210), Aias and Hektor (Munich AS 1408), or Andromache (London BM E 45). They can also give substance to otherwise unknown figures, like the warriors Smikythos and Skythes (Cambridge FM 04.22), or Sosias, Pyles, Chariades, Dikes and Leukon (London BM B 199) (Figure 1).47 Figure 1 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint A. The warriors Pyles, Chariades (fallen) and Dikes, on an Attic amphora from the British Museum (London BM B 199, c. 530). B. The warrior Smikythos on an Attic kyathos from Cambridge (Cambridge FM 04.22, c. 500). Photo: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. However, the real value of name‐tags as a device to facilitate identification must be questioned, and our sample can be of some help. First, name‐tags are a strikingly infrequent device: a meager 14% of the vases in our sample present some kind of writing, but only 3% of the total – 22 scenes – present proper names:48 archaic painters preferred to draw senseless sequences of letters instead of naming their figures. Second, the distribution of labels on the vases is seemingly unsystematic:49 in an Attic dinos in Paris (E 875), 24 out of 36 figures bear name‐tags, but there is no clear pattern to explain the exact distribution of labels, why some figures are named while others are not. The complete list of the names in our catalogue's scenes includes six names of gods and divine figures, 17 of heroes and known figures from myth, 22 of unknown warriors, and 19 of unknown amazons. At first sight, there seems to be a simple majority of unknown but named figures, but while unknown names occur only once, the names of the known figures recur in different scenes: Herakles is named in eight scenes, Achilles in six, Aeneas and Andromache in four, Aias and Telamon in three, and a handful of other figures – Athena, Diomedes, Hektor, Kyknos, Penthesilea – at least in two scenes. I wonder why Athenian painters judged it necessary to use labels for such recognizable characters as Herakles, and why they are sometimes labelled and sometimes – most of the time in fact – not.50 As a result, name‐tags do not in practice help to identify poorly known characters, or even known but less easily identifiable characters, on a regular basis but show a striking tendency towards really idiosyncratic and popular ones. Third, in a mostly illiterate society like archaic and classical Greece labels must have been incidental for identification.51 Their introduction and sudden spread could have had more to do with artistic tastes and tendencies than with problems of identification.52 If we then remove the labels from the equation, as happens in some 95% of the evidence in our sample, we are left with a landscape of – either partially or absolutely – ‘anonymous’ warriors, the consequence of our lack of contexts and references for the narratives depicted: figures must be regarded as anonymous because we simply have no hint of their identity.53 Failure in recognition is crucial for us, modern audiences with an academic interest, because accurate identification is the premise on which historical interpretation must be substantiated. This is perhaps the reason why for modern scholarship identification has mainly consisted of recognizing mythical or legendary episodes, in an attempt to connect otherwise unexplained scenes with passages of the literary tradition. Recognition is felt safe and unequivocal, but it entails at least two assumptions: first, that mythical or legendary tradition is the actual source of inspiration for most scenes, and second, that the scenes reproduce passages from legendary traditions known to us. Without firm references, the identification of the topics and narratives of archaic combat scenes depends to a great extent on two variables: the ‘language’ – the specific code of symbols, references, and iconographic elements – and the potential audience – individuals, families, communities, social classes.54 The relationship between these variables is extremely close: different audiences can perceive different messages, and different ‘languages’ are aimed at different audiences. As a result, small groups can operate with an internal and idiosyncratic ‘language’, but large groups need an agreed system of symbols, references and iconographic elements to make the message understandable to everyone. Transferred to archaic vases, this idea implies that different scenes had different potential audiences: some were intended for vast groups, some others just for local markets, families and individuals, and as a result employed different iconographic ‘languages'.55 If any of these variables failed – wrong language, or wrong audience, or both – recognition was difficult, even impossible. Apparently, this was no real trouble for ancient audiences, who could always give the scenes their own meaning in their own context. As the literary sub‐genre of the ekphrasis shows, ancient audiences were always likely to draw meaning and sense from a work of art, despite the lapse of time between them. In Lissarragues’ words, ‘the viewer does not read the image, he recognizes it'.56 Snodgrass pointed out that Geometric artists were concerned not so much with the identification of a subject than with the composition of the scenes, and composition has been in fact claimed to be an overarching concern for Greek painters in the specific arrangement of topics, figures and actions in the limited space of the vases.57 The material aspects of the vase and the conditions of space should be also taken into account in the analysis of combat scenes, as a potentially crucial element in the pictorial representation of stories and events. For ancient audiences, then, anonymity prompted an active response to fill the scene with new and personal or local sense: an unidentified warrior on a painted vase had a potential value for permanent identification. Sharing largely the same weapons and fighting styles, it was always possible for the viewer to identify with the figures depicted, and to equate the warlike deeds on the scenes, real or imaginary, with their own.58 As a result, we should be ready to accept the possibility that at least some patterns and elements of recognition would be easy to grasp for the original audience, but beyond recovery for us: scenes can be potentially telling a local, private or family story of which we are unlikely to know anything. This is crucial: ‘fictional’ stories, mythical or legendary episodes among them, can potentially have a great influence on painted scenes, but their narratives are extremely difficult for us to identify because we need to ‘recognize’ them – that is, we need to know them beforehand – as Lissarrague points out, which is not always possible. But we anticipated that there were sources of inspiration other than fiction for painted scenes, and this is where ‘reality’ steps forward. V. ‘Reality’ and the phalanx Emphasis on the ‘fictional’ elements of a scene, important as they are, draws us into some methodological shallow water. The alternative is to take a fresh look at other elements present in the scenes, elements potentially extracted from contemporary reality. This path is not free of obstacles either. Since the scientific analysis of the scenes is based on interpretation, the key question now is not what military reality can we reconstruct from the images – not yet, at least – but what kind of ‘reality’ are we ready to read into the images. I will try to prove the relevance of this approach. Contemporary life – current interests, expectations, events, and material life – is no doubt one of the most important sources of inspiration for artistic expression, what Boardman describes as ‘knowledge of life'.59 This approach has its limitations: Lissarrague critically points out that the scenes may not always reproduce ‘real’ things, and that they do not reproduce all aspects of reality either.60 When labels are absent and internal narratives seem impossible to recover, scenes are still potentially revealing of contemporary objects, attitudes and practices. The aim of painted scenes was not simply to recreate the past, but better to portray it to the present. In that sense, scenes must always be contemporary in order to be meaningful for the audience. Boardman claimed that ‘in warlike scenes the armour is always contemporary, even on the Trojan plain’, and that ‘in representations of the past, dress and objects were never anachronistic. So even in the message‐laden images of Greek myth‐history the classical Greek always viewed the stories in modern dress. This must have reinforced the immediacy of those messages'.61 According to van Wees, both ‘realistic’ and ‘heroic’ scenes are hard to distinguish because ‘artists and painters alike drew their images of combat largely from the contemporary experience of war'.62 This means that, at least as far as the physical setting goes, contemporary reality could be an important source of inspiration. Other authors agree on this point.63 So a scene, like a text, addresses always the present, because it can be permanently reinterpreted, but it is also contemporary, because it reflects the time and context in which it was produced. As a result, contemporary reality and practices were a source of inspiration for archaic painters. However, what contemporary practices, what ‘reality’, is represented in the combat scenes of the archaic period? The answer to this question has traditionally been constructed around the ‘phalanx debate’, which has greatly contaminated the academic analysis of archaic Greek military iconography: the scenes’ reliability and historicity is often predicated upon their ability to represent phalanx warfare. I contend that this apparent fixation with the phalanx actually stems from an academic preconception about tactics in the archaic period, so in order to answer the central question about reality we need to come to grips with the phalanx. Several arguments can be offered to re‐evaluate the role of iconography in the midst of the scholarly discussion on archaic Greek warfare. First, influential voices have reconsidered the development of the phalanx during the archaic period.64 As a result, it has been convincingly argued that open and more flexible ways of fighting were the norm in archaic Greek battlefields, allowing the interaction of different kinds of light‐armed troops – archers, slingers, stone‐throwers – with heavier‐armed warriors. Troops, perhaps arranged in small units according to bonds of kinship or social dependence, would enjoy greater initiative and autonomy, selecting their own targets and proceeding with greater mobility. Broader spaces and more flexible units would allow the presence of horses, although not necessarily as a fighting force, and even – but more controversially and hypothetically – of chariots. The phalanx is then conceived as the result, in early classical times, of a long process of evolution and experimentation, leading gradually to the physical separation of the different kinds of troops on the battlefield. This process pushes the light‐armed and cavalry to the margins and consolidates the – both spatial and social – centrality of a block of heavy armed warriors. As a result, allegedly ‘heroizing’ elements such as Boeotian shields, archers and several spears could fit really nicely the picture of open and more flexible battlefields. Second, even if the phalanx was already in use during the archaic period, nudity, archers and the like do not really need to be incompatible with it. Only a rigid, deterministic notion of a phalanx made of closed ranks of ordered hoplites armed with Argive shields and single, thrusting spears can lead to that exclusion.65 Abundant evidence in the literary sources reveals that the classical phalanx was more flexible in its structure and performance than previously thought. Recent studies on light‐armed troops in classical warfare emphasize the crucial role of archers, slingers and peltasts in phalanx battles, interacting with the hoplites in a socially and ideologically determined symbiosis.66 Furthermore, Snodgrass described the ‘piecemeal’ introduction of the different weapons that formed the ‘hoplite panoply’, while Jarva convincingly showed that variations in weaponry were perfectly possible inside the phalanx: the Greek principle of self‐armament would in practice entail the use of different kinds of weapons.67 True, there is little positive evidence to prove this heterogeneity – leaving aside painted scenes on archaic vases – but, apart from deterministic arguments about the Argive shield, there is even less ground to support the idea of such an extreme homogeneity. The possibility at least of a phalanx with Boeotian shields, several spears, and different degrees of body armor cannot be completely ruled out. Our modern, rather rigid and static, conception of the phalanx should be tested against ancient evidence.68 Third, a look at combat scenes from the archaic period shows that closed formations are difficult to find.69 Discussion on the famous works of the Macmillan Painter – the Macmillan aryballos, the Berlin aryballos, the Chigi Vase, and the Erithras oinochoe – is so vast that I will not reproduce it here.70 I will merely point out that explanations other than the phalanx have been attempted for the striking accumulations of warriors depicted on these vases, like marching columns or iconographic techniques to represent mass combat. However, even if the scenes actually represented a phalanx, there is no firm argument yet to explain why they remain isolated exceptions in the vast range of vase painting,71 a pattern never reproduced again before 600, and only very rarely in the period 600‐450. Rows of heavy‐armed warriors, represented in a way reminiscent of the Chigi vase, can be found in several painted scenes, for example in an Attic vase in Naples (MN 132642) (Figure 2). The possibility that the row represents a phalanx has been questioned: the centre of the composition shows the killing of a baby by a warrior, which situates the scene in the context of an attack on a town – allegedly the sack of Troy. More crucially, the warriors are not fighting, but running, perhaps hurrying to get in the city to start the sack and pillage, and there is no enemy ‘phalanx’ to engage with. The rows do not represent fighting units, but accumulations of troops moving from one place to another, more or less what some of the warriors in the Chigi Vase seem to be doing. This pattern of warriors in a row, often merely standing, was in fact very common in archaic vase‐painting, but the rows never seem to be engaged in any kind of combat.72 Figure 2 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Details from an Attic lekanis in Naples (MN 132642, c. 580‐570). Rows of tightly packed warriors run towards the centre of the action (another warrior killing a baby). The disposition of the rows and the homogeneity of equipment are comparable to those on the Chigi Vase. Photo: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Moreover, archaic Greek vase painting did not favour the presence of large groups of fighters, and preferred to split up the action into smaller and not always coordinated groups. Our sample can be of some help here as well. Statistically speaking, vases representing only one fighting group, whether infantrymen alone or combined with other troops, account to more than 80% of the scenes in our catalogue. Within this large group, the most common type of scene is the pair of heavy‐armed warriors engaged in single combat – roughly 36% of the total – followed at a considerable distance by the trio of fighters – 12%. Groups can be enlarged adding up new fighters, but never, as far as the collected evidence shows, totalling more than ten. This preference for single pairs or trios should not be interpreted as a literal borrowing from Homer's monomachiai, but rather as the employment of a similar narrative technique focusing on the individual in order to emphasize their exploits. Pairs and trios would not be fighting in a vacuum.73 Alternatively, representations of collective and individual combat can be seen as complementary views of the same experience and reality of warfare, suitable for different contexts and audiences.74 According to this analysis, less than 20% of the combat scenes in the period 600‐450 displayed more than one fighting group in action, but around three quarters of them consist of only two or three fighting groups – most typically pairs – the rest, the portion of scenes showing more than 3 groups – only 3% of the collected evidence – is made up from the accumulation of small groups, up to a maximum of seventeen – in both sides of a cup in Munich AS 2244 – but most typically five or six groups, again pairs and trios (Figure 3). This means that, even in the most complex combat scenes, Greek painters tended to split up the action into smaller units, emphasizing individuality. Figure 3 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Main band (below) and central section (above) of the combat scene on an Attic cup from Munich (AS 2244, c. 540‐530). Despite the apparent confusion, the action is clearly split up into pairs and trios. Photo: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. The phalanx is not the real problem, in my opinion, but our expectations about what archaic combat scenes should be displaying, that is, what are we ready to read into the images. Looking through the lens of the phalanx has led to a certain stagnation, and it should definitely not be the starting point of our approach to the reconstruction of archaic warfare.75 An alternative to the phalanx can be put forward, so ‘real’ elements could then have slipped into the scenes along with ‘fictional’ ones, both combined together and in variable degrees, without compromising the integrity of the narrative. In the current state of our knowledge of archaic Greek pictorial narratives, however, it just seems safer to assume that contemporary material culture and practices were the primary source of inspiration. VI. Iconographic conventions under a new light So far we can conclude that both ‘reality’ and ‘fiction’ were in practice different but absolutely compatible sources of inspiration that operated at several levels – material setting, action, narrative – at the same time. This means that ‘archaic’ or ‘heroic’ conventions, to illustrate the case study of this work, do not necessarily preclude the possibility of elements of ‘reality’ in a scene. As noted above, some of them – Boeotian shields, several spears, archers – are considered ‘heroic’ mainly because they are thought to be incompatible with the phalanx, while some others – nudity, chariots – are elements with clear status and quality connotations attached, and they deserve to be treated separately. I believe, in fact, that these conventions can be interpreted in alternative ways other than as ‘fiction’, that they are not necessarily ‘fictional’ – in the sense of representing non‐realistic practices – and that their role in the scenes can be thus reconsidered. I will analyze then the ‘heroic’ qualities of these conventions both in archaic vase painting and in Greek military practice, but I will only deal with some of them, those in my opinion more relevant in the discussion of Greek warfare. The result will necessarily be preliminary, but it will hopefully open future lines of research. Conventions outside the phalanx Boeotian shields, to start with the flagship of ‘heroic’ conventions, cannot be uncontroversially claimed to be ‘fictional'. The reasons to reject them as real shields are basically their alleged incompatibility with the phalanx and the lack of physical remains of them,76 but these may seem insufficient: they have in fact been recently claimed to be entirely real and historical artefacts, their shape explained through the process of fabrication from animal hides, and the presence of the double grip as a perfectly possible borrowing from the Argive shield.77 In fact, archaic vase painting is extremely consistent in this point: when the inner side is depicted, Boeotian shields are shown without exception with the double grip (Figure 4). Figure 4 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Examples of the inner side of Boeotian shields, displaying the double grip. A. Berlin AS F 1842 (Attic neck amphora, c. 530‐520). B. Aberdeen 64020 (Attic hydria, c. 530‐520). C. Munich AS 1764 (Attic oinochoe, c. 520‐510). D. Oxford AM 1960.1291 (Attic neck amphora, c. 540‐530). E. London BM B 380 (Attic Siana cup, c. 575‐550). Photo: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Furthermore, they are not really frequent in archaic vase painting: only one in ten heavy‐armed warriors in the combat scenes of our catalogue carries a Boeotian shield, clearly far from the 82,7% of heavy‐armed figures carrying an Argive shield – a proportion of 1 to 7. We must add to these the several chariot drivers carrying a Boeotian shield at their backs – 48, almost a 50% of the total number of charioteers recorded in our survey. No chariot driver is represented carrying an Argive shield. However, only three figures identified as gods or goddesses carry Boeotian shields – against the roughly 80% of divine figures handling Argive shields in combat – while heroes and other mythical figures can be depicted with either kind of shield: Herakles carries a Boeotian shield in four scenes, but an Argive shield in eight – Herakles’ most common outfit, however, includes no shield; Achilles carries a Boeotian shield in four scenes, and an Argive shield in another four; finally, only 10% of the 267 Amazons armed with heavy equipment recorded in our sample carry a Boeotian shield, while 83% of them carry an Argive shield. These numbers speak for themselves: Boeotian shields fail to identify widely known mythical figures on a regular basis.78 Several spears are also debated as a mark of ‘heroic fiction'. Again, they have been judged to be exclusively associated with the phalanx, upon the assumption that the single, thrusting spear became the only offensive weapon during the archaic period, but several spears are not necessarily incompatible with closed formations. The Roman legion can offer an adequate comparison: I wonder whether we would reject as ‘ghost spears’ any pictorial representation of the two pila of the Roman legionary if the literary sources about the practice were lost. The Roman pila were throwing spears, and part of the discussion has dealt with the possibility that Greek spears could have had loops for throwing.79 This is just incidental though, because, while a loop may indicate a throwing spear, the absence of loop does not imply that the spear could not be thrown anyway.80 From Homer onwards, two spears seem the standard equipment of the ‘status warrior’, and the situation is similar in archaic vase painting, where warriors are often depicted with them: in arming and departure scenes, and in representations of standing warriors.81 Anderson cautiously concludes that ‘the simplest explanation, that the men (…) actually do have two spears, seems the most acceptable’, which is consistent with all kinds of written and pictorial evidence from the archaic period.82 We could safely conclude, then, that there is nothing necessarily ‘archaic’ or ‘heroic’ about them. In proper combat scenes, however, they play a limited role: only 48 figures are depicted carrying two spears in combat, 20 of them heavy‐armed warriors and the rest light‐armed troops and horsemen. Incidentally, most of the heavy‐armed figures seem to be preparing for combat, some of them even mounted on a chariot, and not actually fighting. As a result, although they do not seem to be a sign of ‘heroic’ quality, several spears clearly have certain connotations regarding their actual role in combat, a question that needs to be addressed outside the phalanx debate and its single, thrusting spear. The presence of archers in archaic vase painting seems to be again an inadequate indication of a fictional narrative or setting. True, combat scenes, focusing primarily on heavy‐armed warriors, do not pay special attention to archers, but they seem fairly consistent when they do: there are 87 archers for a total of 57 scenes – they feature in only 9% of the scenes – and, with just a few exceptions, this means one single archer per scene, usually shooting from a safe distance behind other warriors. This pattern of ‘squatting’ archers in archaic painted scenes has been claimed to reflect contemporary practice, extremely consistent with literary evidence: in a context of open battlefields with flexible and mobile formations, archers would operate scattered among the infantrymen, receiving protection from the warrior's shield and offering in turn long range fire.83 The nature or identity of archers in combat scenes is of interest for the debate: Herakles is the only identifiable hero depicted with his bow and shooting arrows in combat – 4 scenes – usually in the context of a gigantomachy with other gods involved; the rest are largely anonymous characters who can only be differentiated through their clothing and equipment. A large portion of the archers – 58 out of the 87 – wear Phrygian caps, which commonly identify them as ‘Scythian’ in the eyes of modern scholarship, but they in fact present great variations: first, 15 of them are Amazons, while the rest are male archers; second, the cap is the only recurrent piece of clothing, since a majority of the archers in a Phrygian cap wear a simple chiton (31), while 19 wear the typically ‘Scythian’ trousers;84 six more are inconclusive due to the state of the painting, three others wear a skin that in two cases is combined with the chiton, and one is simply naked. As a result, only a small proportion of archers – roughly 20% – appear in proper ‘Scythian’ garments. Conversely, eight archers wear a simple cap or pilos, and at least 10 even wear helmets – three Thracian, one Corinthian, four resembling Chalcidian helmets, and two resembling Attic helmets. Finally, two wear nothing but a chiton, another two wear a wolf skin, and two others are completely naked. All these entail a considerable flexibility in terms of clothing and equipment.85 ‘Scythian’ archers are commonly interpreted as a sign of ‘otherness’, a materialization of the quintessential Greek enemy, either Trojan, Amazon or, more historically, Persian.86 This may explain why both male and female figures can be depicted in ‘Scythian’ garments in combat scenes. However, what is crucial here is that attitudes, postures and actions remain extremely similar regardless the archer wears Scythian garments or not. There seem to be no clear distinctions, and an archer, whether ‘Scythian’ or not, male or female, behaves in a rather standard way: mingling among the infantry and shooting arrows from safe distance. If they carry any connotations of fiction, it must be something other than their function, which seems extremely consistent and not really incompatible with contemporary practices.87 ‘Quality’ conventions The phalanx has been so far the main criterion to judge a certain element as ‘fictional’ or not, but others seem to range outside the phalanx debate. Nudity is a particularly complex element, displayed in the scenes in different degrees and affecting both weapons and costumes. In the field of weapons, fighting figures may lack different elements of the defensive panoply: only an estimated third of the heavy‐armed figures (37,7%) in our catalogue wear the full defensive panoply – helmet, shield, cuirass, greaves; in fact, another third of the figures (34,9%) do not wear any kind of cuirass or chest protection, while again a third of them do not wear greaves (34,3%); a considerable number of warriors (14,4%) do not wear neither cuirass nor greaves, and some even lack helmet. Jarva's study of archaic Greek body armour describes a really similar situation: defensive equipment was really heterogeneous in practice, and some elements – cuirasses, greaves, thigh and ankle guards – could even be discarded altogether.88 This coincidence has been thought to mean that archaic painters represented genuine variations in contemporary equipment: according to van Wees, nudity ‘probably reflects the fact that not all hoplites fought in a full panoply'.89 Lacking elements of the defensive panoply would then be a mark of ‘realism'. Lack of clothes, however, is a different matter. Leaving aside the numerous cases in which the specific kind of cloth – if at all – is difficult to identify, heavy‐armed infantrymen are commonly depicted in vase paintings wearing some kind of garments, in combination or not with the defensive equipment: 75% of them in our sample wear a chiton, and an interesting 5% – 95 figures – wear the typically archaic combination of chiton and hide as the sole element of protection. Conversely, different degrees of nakedness are possible, with 13% of the fighting warriors wearing no chiton or cloth, and 3% of naked figures wearing a cuirass. Only 4% of the heavy‐armed warriors are completely naked – wearing only a helmet and a shield – but these percentages must allow for the number of inconclusive cases in which it is difficult to identify clothes or equipment. In any case, the maximum proportion for naked warriors is 1 to 10, so our first concern should be to figure out how this pattern relates to the alleged ‘heroic’ convention. Nudity is commonly recognized as an iconographic device involving some kind of ‘heroic’ quality, based not only on the Greek interest for human anatomy but also on its intrinsic values of manliness and bravery. In a clothed society nudity is meant to establish a social distinction that is likely to be translated as ‘quality’ in art.90 Hurwit summarizes the most common view stating that ‘those who aspire to heroic status are regularly nude in classical Athenian art'.91 This implies a sort of correlation between nakedness and heroic quality that has been naturally questioned, nudity itself even rejected as an artistic convention:92 other non‐elite figures such as archers or squires can be represented nude as well, and nothing ‘heroic’ seems to be implied then. Moreover, some naked figures are on the defeated sides in the fighting,93 so nudity cannot be systematically identified with military success. Hurwit has recently suggested that there was not a single nudity in Greek art, but a ‘wide variety of nudities, with different (and sometimes contradictory) connotations’, which means that the meaning of a naked figure cannot be taken for granted.94 The correlation between nudity and ‘heroic’ quality is far from being perfect. On the one hand, heroes are in fact not ‘regularly nude’ in combat scenes, but dressed:95 in our sample, Herakles is shown naked – that is, without chiton, but wearing perhaps different pieces of defensive equipment – only three times out of 112, while Achilles appears naked again three times – one of them as a dead body, stripped from his armour and carried away by Ajax – out of 10. On the other hand, naked figures can be identified with heroes from epic in only a minority of cases: only 5% of the naked infantrymen in the combat scenes in our sample are heroes like Achilles or Hektor – another 5% can be identified as ‘giants’ in gigantomachy scenes – while some 90% are in fact anonymous warriors. As pointed out above, not only prestigious figures such as heavy‐armed infantrymen can be shown naked, but also ‘commoners’ such as light‐armed infantrymen, archers, or squires. As a result, heroes are not always nude in combat scenes, but naked figures are not always heroes either. Nudity remains an extremely complex question, and perhaps individual cases should be examined independently on their own merits. For the time being, and in the context of our main concern here – the use of combat scenes as a source for contemporary practices – we should bear in mind the fact that nudity always acts in a wider context of perfectly dressed figures. In this sense, nakedness may emphasize an individual quality – and not always, apparently only in the case of heavy‐armed infantrymen – which does not necessarily ‘contaminate’ the scene as a whole. This may be a starting point of a historical analysis of this convention in combat scenes.96 Chariots represent an entirely different question. Although instrumental in typical scenes like the departure of warriors, they are not really common in proper action: there is a total of 118 chariots in 93 scenes in our sample, which means that they take part in only 15% of the combat scenes. The number of chariots per scene is commonly one, and only a few scenes involve two or more chariots – up to a maximum of 4. Some are driven by gods or otherwise recognizable heroes such as Herakles – an estimated 18% – and when they do, they represent the centre of the action, invariably chasing or trampling a falling or fleeing enemy, with the god or hero throwing a spear from the box; in a few cases, the chariots are merely accompanying the fighting gods, driven by anonymous charioteers, and in a few others the gods themselves seem to be driving the chariot while another god or hero does the actual fighting. This pattern is reproduced almost identically, with the same attitudes, stances and actions, in a small group of scenes in which only anonymous warriors are involved.97 It has been argued that in those cases the chariot, an unquestionable status weapon, implies some kind of elite activity perhaps related to ‘heroic’ quality.98 On the other hand, the largest group of scenes – 61, 65% of the chariot scenes – display chariots in contexts not directly connected to mythical episodes. A small portion, only five scenes, shows anonymous warriors on chariots participating in the fray, i.e. attacking and being attacked in turn by the surrounding warriors, but the majority of the evidence points at chariots as secondary figures, merely present in the scene but not actively taking part in the action. In 19 scenes, a warrior is mounted alongside the charioteer, while in 37 scenes the charioteer is the only occupant, but the pattern is exactly the same: the chariots seem to be running back and forth, but no figure is shown engaging with them or even noticing them (Figure 5). It is tempting to interpret this as a more ‘realistic’ presentation of the role of chariots in late archaic warfare: very rare machines intended as mere transport for elite warriors, but having no impact whatsoever on the actual fighting. Figure 5 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Examples of chariots in the context of anonymous combat but not participating in the fighting. A. Moscow PSM II 1b 71 (lid of an Attic amphora, c. 540‐530). B. Thebes AM 6026 (Attic cup, c. 520‐500). C. Munich AS 2244 (Attic cup, c. 575‐550). Photo: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. The chariot has been almost unanimously removed from Greek battlefields by modern scholars, but too often on the grounds of its alleged incompatibility with the phalanx.99 Archaeological evidence suggests that the chariot was abandoned in many contexts early in the archaic period, and only preserved in some ceremonial situations or some geographical areas of the Aegean.100 This had probably nothing to do with the eventual spread of the phalanx. Epic poetry aside, there is simply no literary evidence presenting chariots in action during the archaic period, so the expensive and clumsy chariot losing ground in favour of cavalry as a fast and mobile unit would be a quite likely scenario. It seems fairly safe to conclude that chariots were not commonly used in combat during the archaic period, at least in significant numbers. Hypothetically speaking though, a limited number of chariots would still be compatible with an open and
have ever taken shelter there or know fully how their everyday commute played such a large role in World War II. Of course, most people know about Londoners taking shelter in the stations during the London Blitz or secret bunkers hidden away from the danger of bombs, but there’s even more than that. As it turns out, the Underground played a vital part of Britain’s war effort in many areas: sheltering the people, providing leaders with a base of operations, and even producing the weapons that the nation used to defend itself. To start off, the idea of the London Underground as a bomb shelter wasn’t a new one by 1940. During World War I, German zeppelins and Gotha airplanes had bombed the city and forced people to take shelter in the tunnels. At this time, the Underground lines were mostly owned and run by separate companies, all of which were merged together with the bus system in 1933 to create the London Additionally, the government had taken the position between the wars that the use of the stations as air raid shelters should be actively discouraged. To that extent, when the bombing started, the Ministry of Home Security sought to build about ten air raid shelters throughout the city with the facilities and bunks to house thousands of people. However, while ten were planned, only eight were actually constructed, and what’s more, while they were adjacent to the Tube stations, most of them were used by the government until five were opened to the public in 1944. As a result, a majority of Londoners seeking shelter continued to use the Underground. Meanwhile, a test of the air raid siren and anti-aircraft missiles on 3 March 1943 led to a panicked rush on the Bethnal Green Station for shelter which ultimately resulted in the deaths of 173 people. It easily became the highest civilian loss of life during the war (as well as being arguably the single worst disaster in the Underground’s history). While the government at first attempted to prevent the use of the stations and tunnels as shelters, it eventually relented as thousands continued to use them anyway and some people would even squat in the tunnels to sell prime spots to the highest bidders. The government then started regulating and policing the stations as well as handing out tickets to prevent overcrowding. The government also made use of certain tube stations for its administrative offices and for the military during World War II. Most notably, the Brompton Road Tube Station, which had permanently shut in 1934, was reopened during the war as a station for the 1st Anti-Aircraft Division to defend the city. The front of the station was bricked up and turned into offices, while the tunnels became the division’s operations centre. It was subsequently given to the Territorial Army after the war, and the main building was demolished in 1972. When Blue Peter paid the remaining parts of the station a visit in 2000, they still found maps and other war memorabilia in place. What’s more, even the Americans were able to use some portions of the Tube as a base, including the Goodge Street Station, which served as a base for General Eisenhower. South Kensington was also used by the government for various purposes from a signaling school to storing equipment used to study time-delay bombs. As the Blitz had done significant damage to factories and other key pieces of British infrastructure, some of it was relocated to the Underground to protect from further attacks. Several stations were converted to manufacturing of aircraft components and other necessary items for the war effort, such as Earl’s Court and Gants Hill. The latter of the two had an entire section of the Underground converted to its use between that station and the Leytonstone station, even utilising the tracks to move people and components from one end of the factory to the other. In yet another use, the long-disused Aldwych station, which is often now used for filming scenes in need of an older station, housed plenty of great British treasures. The British Museum housed a number of exhibits and works of art there, including the Elgin Marbles, in order to protect these national treasures from the Nazi war machine. Thus, beyond the uses that many people know about, the Underground served Britain during World War II in a variety of roles. It not only sheltered London’s citizens, but also Britain’s great works. It aided the war by providing the British military and its allies with a place to operate as well as giving its factories work space to continue making vital components to fighting the war.Valve's big E3 announcement -- that last year's hitwould be followed up with a PC and Xbox 360 sequel this year -- was a surprise coming from a studio that has never delivered a full sequel in such a short timeframe.It was made even more notable by Valve's oft-stated strategy of supporting its multiplayer games with new content and updates for many months or even years after their release, as exemplified by the ever-evolvingAt E3, as part of a longer forthcoming interview, Gamasutra caught up with Tom Leonard, Valve developer and project lead on, to discuss the reason for the quick turnaround -- and the fate of the original"There's definitely not a change in policy," said Leonard in response to Gamasutra's inquiries as to whether this move represents a new direction for Valve's multiplayer efforts.He pointed out that Valve has always experimented with different types of development and distribution. "With the various things we've done --, the big splash game that takes forever; or the episodic content; or the [] updates -- as a company we try to explore different ways of delivering value to the customer," he explained."For the team I'm working on, it was perceived that the best way to provide value was to provide this big experience."Development onbegan almost immediately after the first game shipped, following a short break, but the idea of a standalone sequel was borne out of necessity and practicality."The team got back together in early November, and we were all really excited to continue to expand theexperience," Leonard recalled. "We hit the white board and came up with ideas about how we could expand the experience -- new characters, new locations, new positioning on the timeline of the infection, new game mechanics.""As we started talking that through, it became clear that we weren't really talking about incremental updates; we were talking about a whole experience. And it would be hard to deliver that totality of experience in incremental bits.""So I proposed to people, 'Why don't we try to make a sequel and do it in a year?' Everyone thought I was crazy, but as I talked them through the strategy of how to do it, the team collectively said, 'Yeah, that's interesting.'"Leonard and the rest of the team discussed the idea with marketing VP Doug Lombardi and studio founder Gabe Newell, and were given the green light to proceed: "They said, 'Sounds great, if that's what you want to do.' Basically, the team was motivated to create an entire package."But what about, which some players expect to fall by the wayside in the wake of its sequel?Leonard declined to commit to there being more Valve-created content for the game, instead pointing out some upcoming functionality tweaks and the potential in user-created levels for the PC version. "We are doing updates across the summer, adding new matchmaking features, and new features to facilitate user maps after the SDK is out," he said. "Certainly, user maps will be part of the ongoingexperience.""Additionally, those maps can be transported into. With regard to more content, it's hard to say, because the timeline foris so sensitive, and the team has a head of steam right now for the game."Really, what did you expect? A considerable portion of U.S. domestic and foreign policy is based on the assumption that Islam in the U.S. will be different: that Muslims here believe differently from those elsewhere, and do not accept the doctrines of violence against and subjugation of unbelievers that have characterized Islam throughout its history. But on what is that assumption based? Nothing but wishful thinking. And future generations of non-Muslims will pay the price. “Meanwhile, An Islamic Fifth Column Builds Inside America,” by Paul Sperry, IBD, October 1, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller) In berating GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson for suggesting a loyalty test for Muslims seeking high office, CNN host Jake Tapper maintained that he doesn’t know a single observant Muslim-American who wants to Islamize America. “I just don’t know any Muslim-Americans — and I know plenty — who feel that way, even if they are observant Muslims,” he scowled. Tapper doesn’t get out much. If he did, chances are he’d run into some of the 51% of Muslims living in the U.S. who just this June told Polling Co. they preferred having “the choice of being governed according to Shariah,” or Islamic law. Or the 60% of Muslim-Americans under 30 who told Pew Research they’re more loyal to Islam than America. Maybe they’re all heretics, so let’s see what the enlightened Muslims think. If Tapper did a little independent research he’d quickly find that America’s most respected Islamic leaders and scholars also want theocracy, not democracy, and even advocate trading the Constitution for the Quran. These aren’t fringe players. These are the top officials representing the Muslim establishment in America today. Hopefully none of them ever runs for president, because here’s what he’d have to say about the U.S. system of government: • Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman of both the Fiqh Council of North America, which dispenses Islamic rulings, and the North American Islamic Trust, which owns most of the mosques in the U.S.: “As Muslims, we should participate in the system to safeguard our interests and try to bring gradual change, (but) we must not forget that Allah’s rules have to be established in all lands, and all our efforts should lead to that direction.” • Omar Ahmad, co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the top Muslim lobby group in Washington: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Quran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” • CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper: “I wouldn’t want to create the impression that I wouldn’t like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future.” • Imam Siraj Wahhaj, director of the Muslim Alliance in North America: “In time, this so-called democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing. And the only thing that will remain will be Islam.” • Imam Zaid Shakir, co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif.: “If we put a nationwide infrastructure in place and marshaled our resources, we’d take over this country in a very short time.... What a great victory it will be for Islam to have this country in the fold and ranks of the Muslims.”…Story highlights Many in Manila's slums survive on chicken scraps from trash bags Called 'pagpag' it is part of a hidden food system for urban poor Salvaged chicken is washed and resold by pagpag merchants Felipa Fabon waits outside a local fried chicken restaurant in Manila. Crouching near to feral cats and rubbish bins, she isn't there to meet friends for dinner but to search through the diner's trash bags. "I'm sorting the garbage, looking for 'pagpag'," she says. In Tagalog "pagpag" means the dust you shake off your clothing or carpet, but in Fabon's poverty- stricken world, it means chicken pulled from the trash. Pagpag is the product of a hidden food system for the urban poor that exists on the leftovers of the city's middle class. Fabon is the merchant and pays the trash dealer just over a dollar for tonight's supply of garbage and scraps. In the dim haze of the street lights, she holds up a half-eaten chicken breast. "This one, this is meat," she says. "Now what we do at home is clean it, put it in plastic, and then I sell it in the morning. It's very easy to sell because it's very cheap. People in my neighborhood want very cheap food." "If it's mostly bones, it's 20 pesos ($0.50) per bag," she says. After bagging up the chicken scraps she heads home to Tondo, a neighborhood infamous in the Philippines as one of the poorest slums in Manila. At dawn, about six hours after Fabon first got her trash delivery, she begins to divide up the pagpag. Fabon sniffs the chicken, which she says has a bad, sour smell. She's disappointed that she only has five bags to sell this morning that will sell out in just minutes. "Pagpag!" Fabon calls out, as she walks through the slums carrying her small cart. Morena Sumanda, a 27-year-old mother of two, is the first customer. Sumanda lives in a shanty that sits on top of one of Manila's biggest garbage dumps. She doesn't have the 20 pesos to pay Fabon until her husband comes home that evening. For him, 20 pesos is full day's pay, says Sumanda. Sumanda's toddler son, Nino, wails as she first washes the chicken, heats the pot and adds vegetables to the pagpag, which is mostly bones. "Sometimes it comes from the garbage," she says, as she hands a small, half-eaten chicken wing to her son. Sumanda, and others like her, have no other choice but to eat pagpag, says Melissa Alipalo, a social development specialist and a volunteer at the Philippine Community Fund (PCF). "It is a private humiliation of the poor to have to eat off someone else's plate. But it's a survival mechanism for the poorest of the poor," she says. The NGO is based in Manila and has built an elementary school in the heart of the Tondo slums. PCF's school educates 450 of the most poverty-stricken children in Tondo, with the aim of freeing families from poverty. The school survives on donations and provides students with two meals a day. Maria Theresa Sarmiento, PCF's manager of health and nutrition, says that when the school first opened she was treating children with a range of illness and disease. "Even though they cook the food, the disease is still there," she says. Sarmiento says that parents know pagpag is not a good source of food for their children, but that they don't have any choice. "They're being pushed to do that thing because they don't have enough money to buy the food that they should prepare," she says. For Sumanda this is all that she can afford and it's better than nothing. "By the mercy of God, this is enough," she says.Pedestrians walk by a McDonald’s in San Francisco. Is there a conservative case to be made that fast-food workers should make $12 an hour? Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Ron Unz buried the lede. Two and a half years ago, when the Silicon Valley multimillionaire was still publisher of the American Conservative, Unz penned a characteristically sweeping piece about “Immigration, the Republicans, and the End of White America.” Unz methodically pulled in data and anecdotes—primary vote totals, demographics, 1993 letters to the editor of Commentary—to explain why closed-border politics could not save the GOP, no matter what the right told itself. Page after page filled with ink before Unz got to his solution. “Consider the consequences of a very substantial rise in the national minimum wage,” wrote Unz, “perhaps to $10 or more likely $12 per hour.” Knees would jerk, conservatives would call this socialism, but Unz knew better. When Henry Ford doubled the wages of his assembly line workers, it was “a crucial factor in creating the prosperous middle class that eventually dominated America’s 20th-century history.” It was time again for a wage hike, an idea that “raises the income of America’s working class and similarly crosses many ideological lines.” No conservative politician joined Unz on the barricade. Two years later, he cut his ties to the magazine, looked into the mirror, and saw Henry Ford staring back. As soon as next week, California will approve the language of Unz’s ballot measure to raise the minimum wage to $10, then $12. If that happens, Unz just needs to muscle enough signatures to put this on the ballot. “I’d never really focused on the minimum wage issue, by itself, until recently,” says Unz over the phone, from his home in Palo Alto. “To the extent that everyone in the economic profession was making another argument, that raising the minimum wage would kill jobs, I vaguely nodded my head.” In Unz’s circles, among libertarian and conservative intellectuals and donors, almost nobody endorsed a higher minimum wage. Any fool who could draw a curve could prove that higher mandatory wages kicked low-skilled workers out of the job market and onto welfare. “The belief that increasing the minimum wage is socially beneficial is a delusion,” wrote Cato Institute scholar James Dorn in a recent reading from the catechism, citing the 40 percent unemployment rate for black teens. “In 2007, prior to the Great Recession, the black teen unemployment rate was about 29 percent. There is no doubt the increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour contributed to the higher unemployment rate.” This stopped being convincing to Unz, who made his fortune by designing software that allowed mortgages to be chopped up into securities, and whose IQ has clocked in at 214. “Once I started investigating the details,” he says, “it really seemed like the facts were on the other side—especially since so much of the economy has shifted from manufacturing to other industries. You can always relocate manufacturing jobs. You can’t ship McDonald’s jobs to India or Bangladesh.” Unz was alone on this, for a while. Nothing unusual there. Journalists have been writing “Ron Unz, rebel conservative” stories for a generation, ever since his 1998 ballot measure that ended California’s bilingual education. “This isn’t your usual picture of a Republican millionaire on a mission,” wrote the New Republic when Unz tackled campaign finance laws. “After decades in the conservative movement, Mr. Unz is pursuing a goal that has stymied liberals,” wrote the New York Times two months ago. This works to Unz’s advantage; “liberals continue to support higher wages” isn’t much of a story, and California’s 2013 passage of a phased-in $10 minimum wage law was seen on the right as the Golden State fulfilling its annual quota for kooky socialism. What’s new, and what Unz didn’t expect, was a mini-surge of interest from fellow conservatives about the minimum wage. The long tail of Mitt Romney’s defeat played a role in that, as conservatives struggled to explain why even voters who’d suffered in the downturn had voted for the president. The 2013 push for immigration reform played a role, too, rousing the old Buchanan-ite wing of the movement that panicked about undocumented workers flooding low-wage, low-skill jobs. “The lowest-wage workers in America disproportionately tend to be recent immigrants,” says Unz. “You look at a job that pays $7.25 an hour, you raise the value of that job to $12, and suddenly a lot of Americans would take those jobs. A lot of our illegal-immigration problems are solved—there’s less incentive to violate the law and immigration rules.” But immigration was fading as a first-order political issue in Washington. Inequality was surging. President Obama floated a $10.10 minimum wage during the State of the Union, absorbed the mockery, and then turned it into the centerpiece of a populist campaign to rebuild his support. Conservatives began to take him seriously. “Legislation to raise the minimum wage would elevate many low-wage earners above the income threshold that qualifies them for benefits,” wrote conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, “and should result in reduced welfare spending.” She cited a study by the Cato Institute, suggesting that welfare paid more than minimum wages in 35 states. The libertarians had accidentally made the case for the policy they despised. A week later, Bill O’Reilly was table-banging about the fairness of the $10 minimum wage. Neil Munro, the reporter who earned Internet fame for hectoring the president about immigration, interviewed Unz and predicted his idea would “catch fire.” The resistance was ready for this, but divided against itself. Reliable corporate fronts like the Employment Policies Institute attacked the wage hike, full stop, no alternatives. Conservatives who wanted to win elections dismissed it, but only as a way of supporting some other, better anti-poverty balm. “Our current president and his liberal allies propose that we address this by spending more on these failed programs and increasing the minimum wage to $10.10,” said Marco Rubio in a Jan. 8 speech marking the anniversary of the War on Poverty. “Raising the minimum wage may poll well, but having a job that pays $10 an hour is not the American Dream.” Rubio, copping from conservative intellectuals like Yuval Levin, preferred a wage subsidy that would give money directly to the poor.* “That’s a terrible idea,” says Unz. “It’s basically a welfare program. What the government does with the EITC is make poor people somewhat less poor by putting checks in the mail. Forget all of the other problems with that—you’re talking about a massive subsidy to low-wage employers. How’s that going to work politically? Increasing taxes to pay increased welfare benefits—how many conservatives are going to go for that?” In Washington? That’s easy—conservatives don’t need to “go for” anything. The national Republican Party is pretty confident it can win in 2014 by reminding voters that Obamacare exists. Unz is giving them a chance to endorse something else, something voters identify with liberals, and compete for working-class votes on positive terms. It’s a tool, like the software he developed, the stuff that allowed quants to chop up mortgages into securities. “Frankly, I used to always tell all my Wall Street clients that all my software did was to produce financial outputs based on the inputs they themselves provided, and I just couldn’t see how anyone could ever predict the correct inputs,” says Unz. “They said: Don’t worry about that—we’re paying millions of dollars to all these research experts to decide what the correct inputs should be. I told them I was pretty skeptical about that, but I supposed it was their business.” *Correction, Jan. 17, 2013: The article originally stated that Sen. Marco Rubio preferred an earned-income tax credit to a minimum wage increase. (Return to the corrected sentence.)Jason "Mayhem" Miller hasn't fought for the UFC since losing a welterweight bout to current champ Georges St. Pierre in 2005 at UFC 52. Since then he's put together a 10-3 (1 NC) record with wins over Tim Kennedy, Robbie Lawler, Falaniko Vitale, and Kazushi Sakuraba. His only losses in that span were to Jake Shields, Frank Trigg and Strikeforce middleweight champ Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. He's also hosted three seasons of Bully Beatdown on MTV. Today we get news from MMA Fighting that he's re-signed with the UFC. According to that report his Strikeforce contract had expired. Mayhem becomes the first Strikeforce fighter to make the jump to the UFC since Zuffa, the UFC's parent company, acquired the promotion. He'd fought for Strikeforce since 2009, going 1-1 and also picking up a win in Dream during that time. He had been expected to fight both Nick Diaz and Tim Kennedy for Strikeforce in recent months but those fights never happened for reasons unknown.Microsoft generated its own meme earlier this year when it tried to guess everyone's age. That produced some pretty amazing results, from 30-year-old kids to zombies aged 87. Microsoft is back at it again, but this time its trying to guess facial expressions in images. Emotion recognition is the name of the game, and Microsoft warns "recognition is experimental, and not always accurate." Microsoft thinks Sad Keanu is only 0.01831 sad, and much more likely to be neutral and apathetic in his classic bench pose. Mystery solved, perhaps? Other memes generate some equally puzzling results. Success kid is apparently mostly angry, and no face is detected for first world problems. Thankfully, Microsoft gets it right with bad luck brian and rates him as happy. Xzibit's "yo dawg" face is also happy, apparently. Aside from the fun and games of feeding this algorithm random meme images, there's actually some important work going on here. Microsoft is trying to improve its machine learning for images, and the plan is to allow developers to dig into various APIs to use that learning inside apps. That could allow apps in the future to detect when someone is moving in a video, or identify exactly who is speaking. Developers could create apps to filter out sad images (bye Keanu) or sort photos by how happy people are. Microsoft obviously has a long way to go, but it's this type of machine learning that search engines are scrambling to build. You can try your own sad or happy face over at Microsoft's Project Oxford page, and just make sure you hover over your face to see the full result.The Ducati rider will start the next race at Assen from the rear of the grid, as a penalty for collecting Lorenzo at Turn 10. It is Iannone's second grid penalty of the year, the previous a three-place drop at Austin after he clashed with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso on the final lap at Termas de Rio Hondo. The rules around penalty points have been tweaked this year following a judicial review, but Lorenzo feels MotoGP needs to take a harder line on repeat offenders. "For me at this moment with the rules of points, we are not in a good way," he said. "[In 2003], [John] Hopkins made a mistake at Motegi and had one race off. I made two mistakes in 2005 [in 250cc] and had one race off. "In soccer, if you make a hard tackle, it's a red card and a minimum of one match off. "In this sport, we play with our life, I could have broken my hip and collarbone. "If I'm an aggressive rider like I could be in the past, sometimes we are not conscious of the risk, you need a hard conversation. "If you don't have a harsh penalty you don't learn, you don't change." Lorenzo was due to speak to the FIM's MotoGP race director Mike Webb on Sunday evening, and indicated he would end his absence from the riders' safety commission at Assen later this month to discuss possible changes. "I will not appeal [Iannone's penalty] because they will not change the decision, but I will speak with Mike Webb and I will try to speak to the safety commission about this," he said. "Sometimes you just understand that something must be changed when it happens to you, so let's see if the other riders also have a similar opinion to me, and let's see if we can do together something. "When I was 17 or 18 in 2005, if I didn't get the penalty I wouldn't change. And I would remain the same. "I don't know if it's enough for Andrea to understand that he needs to change something a little bit to avoid these kinds of actions. "He is making these kinds of mistakes and finally if you ride like that when you are fighting with other riders, if you don't change your way of riding, sooner or later something happens."Buy Photo People in opposition to a proposed ordinance to raise the purchase age for tobacco in St. Cloud to 21 hold signs Monday, Nov. 6, during the St. Cloud City Council meeting at city hall. (Photo: Dave Schwarz, dschwarz@stcloudtimes.com)Buy Photo Proponents of Tobacco 21 claim raising the smoking age to 21 will prevent youth smoking. With virtually no empirical data to support it, the policy remains based around hopeful speculation. T21 is host to an array of unintended consequences. As with past prohibitive strategies in the United States, T21 has potential to increase use rates through psychological reactance, and out of protest once the targeted demographic realizes their right to choose has been removed. As supply and demand changes, this policy is poised to make tobacco more accessible to minors by bolstering a black market. According to a survey conducted in Cohasset, Mass., teen smoking has surged for the first time in years. The sudden spike occurred just one year following the city’s enactment of T21. The survey reports use within the last 30 days by 12th-graders increasing from 9 percent in 2015 to 33 percent in 2017. Use by 11th-graders increased from 6 percent to 19 percent. This uptick comes during an otherwise unprecedented national downtrend. U.S. youth rates have reached record low of 8 percent, according to the latest federal data, while youth vaping has also declined by 29 percent. Youth smoking in Minnesota plummeted by 56 percent from 2011 to 2016. This isn’t the first time a smoking prohibition has backfired. In early 20th century some states passed laws banning women from smoking in public. As a result, women who otherwise wouldn’t have - began smoking - as a social and political statement. One of the most alarming aspects of this ‘smoking prevention’ policy is it prevents adult access to vapor products — a 95 percent safer alternative to smoking according to the Royal College of Physicians. This keeps those who began smoking before 18 tethered to cigarettes for three more years, causing unnecessary harm to their health. Adults 18 to 20 who depend on vapor products to abstain from smoking, will lose access, sending many back to smoking as cigarettes are far easier to obtain under this policy. Recently published research supported by the National Institutes of Health concluded laws banning sales of e-cigarettes to young adults actually pushes youth toward traditional cigarettes. They found strict enforcement of these laws is linked to increase in youth smoking, that the unintended consequences of these laws is concerning and may have a negative impact on public health. T21 campaign aims to funnel newly restricted smokers and vapers back to low (6-8 percent) success-rate pharmaceutical nicotine replacement therapy products. While these products work for some, they fail the majority of smokers. According to survey results in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, vaping has a 70 percent success rate in helping smokers quit the habit. The latest Minnesota Adults Tobacco Survey shows an all-time low in smoking rates, and all time high for successful quit attempts — but vapor products were not only the most popular option for people seeking to quit. Traditional nicotine replacement therapy saw a nearly 50 percent decrease. According to the American Lung Association, the top influencing factor on whether a teen experiments with smoking is if the adults in their life smoke. For youth prevention to be truly effective, it must be carried out in tandem with efforts that aim to support adult smokers who are trying to quit. We must keep all tobacco harm reduction pathways open equally to adult smokers to effectively reduce smoking-related harm. The Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior reports that anti-smoking education has a much greater effect than restrictive regulations and taxation when it comes to reducing youth smoking. Resources ought to be focused on accurate, education-based approach rather than trying to social-engineer behavior through strategies that have a history of failure. T21 recklessly defies state ruled Age of Majority and discriminates against a specific demographic of adult citizens, removing freedom of choice and equality. We need to consider the sociological and psychological repercussions of removing freedoms from the same demographic of people we concurrently encourage to risk their lives in service to our country. This kind of legislation represents the gradual erosion of autonomy, etched away through the passage of more and more behavioral restrictions into law. To suggest the government should regulate outside the guidelines established by our Constitution and remove the people's right to make decisions for themselves, is a slippery slope and the implications aren't good for anyone. Thank you, St. Cloud, for joining the majority of Minnesota municipalities that have turned down T21 — Hutchinson, Frazee, Perham, Elk River, Eagle Lake, South Bend, Detroit Lakes, Becker County. This is the opinion of Jenny Hoban, a Detroit Lakes resident and Tobacco Harm Reduction specialist and vice pesident for THR4Life, a volunteer-based nonprofit dedicated helping smokers regain control over their lives by providing balanced and accurate information about tobacco harm reduction. Read or Share this story: http://on.sctimes.com/2iRnyaNLong before Goran Dragic was driving to the basket in the NBA, a speedy lefty swerving around defenders with go-for-broke moves, he was a 12-year-old kid at the wheel of his father’s compact Mercedes-Benz, learning to navigate the narrow, winding streets of Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital known for its bridges, castles and Old World plazas. Dragic’s father, Marinko, was a driving instructor. He believed it was his duty to teach his two sons, Goran and Zoran (“Goki” and “Zoki”), to drive, and he started them early. By 14, they were zipping down the highway on family holiday trips. Turns out their driving expertise is coming in handy as the Dragic brothers, traded to the Miami Heat from Phoenix on Feb. 19, get accustomed to South Florida drivers. “We almost crashed three times since we got here, but not because of our fault,” said Zoran, who was sent to the Heat’s D-League team in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he will have more playing time. “People just go into you, it’s crazy. It’s totally different from Phoenix. When it’s raining there, everybody is driving 3 km per hour. Here, it’s the same as in Europe. They drive crazy.” Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald Asked what he thinks of Miami drivers, older brother Goran smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t want to say anything bad because I really love Miami, but it looks like the drivers don’t follow the line here. The line doesn’t mean anything to them,” Dragic said. “But I’m a good driver because of my dad, so I am handling it.” Fitting in with his Heat teammates has been far less intimidating than I-95. After a few games together, Dragic and Dwyane Wade looked like a longtime backcourt tandem, exchanging passes at the slightest glance. When Wade heaved a floor-length pass against the Lakers on March 4, a sprinting Dragic arrived just in time to snag it before it went out of bounds. Later that night, with three minutes to go and the game on the line, Wade had an open look for a three-pointer, but deferred to Dragic, who nailed it from the top of the key to put the Heat up 90-88. The fans went berserk, as they did earlier in the game when the scoreboard showed a replay of Dragic diving between two Lakers for a loose ball. He said Heat management has gone out of its way to make his transition seamless. They had his Mercedes C63 AMG shipped from Phoenix, helped him get his Florida driver’s license and offered restaurant recommendations and local traffic tips. And they will help his wife, Maja, shop for a house. She is moving to Miami in two weeks with their 1-year-old son, Mateo, and another baby on the way, due in late August. FROM SUNS TO HEAT Dragic, 28, was ready for a change of scenery after the past three seasons in Phoenix, and the Heat was searching for a true point guard. Miami wound up with a 2014 All-NBA third-team selection also voted the league’s Most Improved Player. He is one of only three NBA players — along with LeBron James and Kevin Durant — averaging at least 18 points and five rebounds while shooting 50 percent since the start of last season. Dragic has averaged 18.6 points and 5.1 assists with 50.3 percent shooting. (Bonus: Dragic speaks Spanish. He played two seasons in Spain, and though his Spanish is a bit rusty, he said it is coming back as he does interviews with Miami Spanish-language media and encounters Spanish speakers around town. His wife, a former dancer, wants to take salsa lessons with him once she arrives in Miami. Dragic says he is “a terrible dancer” and refuses to join her.) “It’s not as if we went after him because he was the only player available or we were picking somebody out of a hat,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It was very strategic. He was at the top of our list because of his playmaking, competitiveness and ability to be a two-way player. We love his engine. We got a guy who is able to get you easy opportunities in the open court and make the game easier for the other players. He is a high IQ player, and the transition will be fairly quick.” His new teammates certainly are impressed. “He pushes the tempo, he’s tough, gritty, a great finisher, puts a lot of pressure on the defense,” Wade said. “It’s been good to have him on our side. Gives us opportunity knowing you have a point guard that’s going to do the job you need him to do. I am enjoying getting to know him as a player and a person. We are all getting used to his style.” Said forward Udonis Haslem: “Point guard has been an issue for us, and now we’ve got a real, real crafty, intelligent, veteran point guard we can depend on every night.” SOCCER TO BASKETBALL It wasn’t always Dragic’s dream to play in the NBA. He and his brother started out as soccer players and diehard fans of Italian club AC Milan. They are now Real Madrid fanatics. Their father played, and they were quite skilled with the ball at their feet. But when Goran was 12, he cut open his left shin while playing hide-and-seek with friends. He fell on an iron post and got a huge gash that required minor surgery. The scar is still visible. His mother, Mojca, who played club basketball until she became pregnant with Goran at age 21, suggested her boys switch to her sport. They were left-handed shooters, just like her, and she thought they would have a future in the game. Basketball was the second-most-popular sport to soccer in Slovenia, and the boys enjoyed both, so they made the switch. Their father helped them work on their game by enticing them with ice cream. “Me and my brother played against my father two-on-one for gelato,” Dragic said. “We were little kids, he was physically stronger, a man. Me and Zoki were always competitive, always wanted to win. But we never beat him because he was always cheating with the counting. He’d score
of a Western diet (higher dietary fat, cholesterol, sugar) consumed by mice during pregnancy and determined that changes to milk quality induces systemic inflammation in the offspring. The inflammation and toxicity among pups nursed by Western diet-consuming mothers was even more pronounced when the parent was also raised as germ-free [195]. This highlights that certain commensal bacteria may afford a layer of protection against the effects of a Western-diet during a delicate developmental stage. The research also highlights that the relationships between diet, microbiota, metabolism, inflammation and behavior are intertwined. Reductionist approaches have certainly uncovered that microbiota alone can act as a CNS-influencing entity; however, there are a host of drawbacks in using germ-free mice, or rodents in general, to speculate on complex human gut-brain communications. Consider that shortly after germ-free mice are colonized with just a single species of commensal bacterium, researchers note marked changes to the expression of genes that govern intestinal permeability, nutrient absorption, blood vessel growth, and the metabolism of environmental toxins [196] – all of which could influence behavior via LPS and other pathways. A single strain of bifidobacterium, for example, can elevate blood tryptophan levels in animals, meanwhile tryptophan depletion during lactation can interact with stress hormones to increase anxiety later in life [197]. Interesting studies with germ-free animals have little to no clinical frame of reference in mental health - i.e. humans do not live with a sterile GI tract while consuming exclusively autoclaved food; however, they do indicate that developmentally our resident microbiota, or the absence thereof, can have a long-standing influence on brain functioning and behavior. Researchers might ponder if long-term mental health consequences could be associated with the routine prophylactic use of broad-spectrum antimicrobials among pre-term infants. This practice, one that has been questioned recently [198], sets up a pseudo-germ-free situation in premature infants, and it can now be yet one more factor to consider in the link between pre-term birth and mental illness. Recently, a large epidemiological study using the Swedish Medical Birth Register – 1.3 million people - has found that premature birth is associated with a 30% higher risk of depression and a 270% increase in bipolar depression later in life [199]. At some point in the future, with more detailed investigations, the germ-free studies may be of relevance in bridging the research on the immune benefits of prenatal exposure to probiotics, and on the other side, the increased risk of serious mental illness (in adult offspring) subsequent to infection during pregnancy [200]. Of course, there is also the issue of intestinal microbiota and their effects on the elimination of environmental toxins. When animals are exposed to low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) during gestation, lactation and nursing, there are subsequently marked increases in later-life anxiety accompanied by alterations in gene expression within the amygdala [201]. With the recent discovery that oral probiotics co-administered with BPA can dramatically reduce the systemic burden of this and other environmental toxins (increasing elimination via fecal route), it becomes difficult to view the ‘real world’ gut-brain connection in germ-free isolation. The influence of probiotic administration on both the developing immune system and metabolism during the introduction of foods (weaning diet) is an exciting area of research, with preliminary results indicating long-term systemic effects [202].When little Stella Vanzant died of causes unknown some time in the early 1800s, her bereaved father interred the girl’s young body in a six by four-foot grave in a quiet corner of the family property near King and Bay streets. The future site of the Toronto financial district was still partially covered in groves of native trees. A few scattered wood cabins were placed at intervals along muddy tracks, and so John Vanzant might reasonably have assumed his daughter would rest in peace in perpetuity. Unfortunately, things started to go wrong for the American-born business owner very quickly, and his actions that day sparked a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. As the Toronto Star reported in 1968, records showed Vanzant was descended from early Dutch immigrants to New Utrecht (now Brooklyn, N.Y.). He claimed to have served in the Loyalist Queen’s Rangers military unit during the War of Independence, but in Upper Canada his allegiances were viewed with suspicion. His first application for a land grant near the town of York was harshly rejected. “The behaviour of this man is such that he may never have lands in this province,” a government official wrote. Something changed, however, because in 1797 Vanzant received a plot of land a short distance west of Yonge St. A few years later—it’s not known precisely when—young Stella Vanzant died and was buried somewhere near present day Melinda and Jordan streets. In 1812, her father, who was working as a wheel maker and leather tanner, was booted from Upper Canada when hostilities with the United States resumed. Unable to return, John Vanzant hastily disposed of his business interests in York. Selling the land that contained Stella’s grave wasn’t as easy, however. Vanzant was emotionally attached the property and it remained in his name for another two years. Perhaps realizing his exile was permanent, the sale was eventually processed two years later. Everything save for a “piece of ground, six feet in length, four feet in breadth” was transferred to Jordan Post, Sr., another early York settler. According to the deed, the small plot was “the place in which the child of the said John is interred.” It’s not clear how John Vanzant was able to sign the deed in exile. Perhaps his siblings in the Markham area had a hand in trying to ensure little Stella’s resting place would remain undisturbed. After 1814, as York (soon to become Toronto) grew westward and north from its nucleus on King, east of Jarvis, Stella Vanzant’s grave appeared to remain a going concern for subsequent landowners. An Associated Press report from December, 1952, said a 12 by 14-foot plot between the Bank of Commerce tower and the Toronto General Trust Building on Bay still remained undeveloped, per John Vanzant’s wishes. “There has been no apparent transfer of land in which it lies from the Vanzant family to other owners,” the story explained. “The grave is protected by an honourable agreement. In 1911, when the first part of the General Trust Building was erected, the company agreed to hold the plot containing the grave inviolate and, in 1928 when an addition was made, the agreement was observed.” If the AP story was correct, it meant Stella’s grave was located on the north side of Melinda, west of Jordan. However, the location appears to have become confused over the next decade. In the mid-1960s, roughy 150 years after Stella’s death, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce chanced upon the original deed of sale signed by John Vanzant. The tattered and yellowed document presented a problem: the bank was planning to clear and excavate much of the land between King, Bay, and Jordan, including the General Trust Building, for a $100-million extension of Commerce Court. The city’s tallest skyscraper was to rise on the west end of the newly assembled property and a large plaza with several underground levels was planned for the rest. Based on a reading of the deed, the bank concluded Stella’s grave was probably somewhere east of where the Associate Press reported, likely a the southwest corner of Jordan and Melinda, under the Osler Building. A descendent of one of John Vanzant’s brothers living in Stouffville read about the discovery of the deed in the newspaper. If his great, great uncle had indeed interred his beloved daughter in downtown Toronto, 77-year-old Charles Vanzant wanted the remains respectfully moved to the Markham Township pioneer cemetery. The bank also considered encasing any burial site in a concrete tomb and placing a memorial in the plaza. In early July, 1969, a team of archaeologists supervised by Alan Clark, the superintendent of Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, and a representative from the province, probed tentatively downward with hand shovels in the partially demolished basement of the Osler Building. Rev. Walter Gelling of St. James Cathedral was also on hand. The bank wanted a member of the clergy present in case Stella turned up. About three feet below the basement floor, the archaeologists’ tools struck a piece of wood roughly the size of a child’s coffin. As two workmen pried up the plank, everyone leaned forward at the top of the 12-foot hole to see what was inside. Underneath was nothing but undisturbed soil. The wood was the base of a brick foundation. For another four hours the team poked around the area looking for any trace of Stella’s remains without success. Alan Clark from Mt. Pleasant Cemetery officially declared the ground undisturbed and the bank was granted permission to proceed with construction. It seems no-one thought to look near the old General Trust Building. Regardless, subsequent excavation and building at Commerce Court failed to turn up any trace of the mysterious Stella Vanzant. Perhaps her grave had long ago been churned up by diggers, perhaps her relatives quietly claimed her without notifying the authorities. Perhaps she’s still down there waiting to be discovered.DVG has launched a new Kickstarter campaign to fund a new game in the well known and popular Leader series. The game was eagerly awaited by fans of the series and funded in the first 24 hours! So the Tiger engine is already running full speed, but there is still time left for you to back it up to get even more convenient map tiles and other improvements that will be announced as new stretch goals for this campaign soon. By backing the game you may opt for the base game or for the game including 136 miniatures to add to your gaming experience! Tiger Leader being the latest game in the Leader series is therefore based on an extremely polished and great working game system fans know from Hornet Leader, Phantom Leader, Thunderbolt-Apache Leader and U-Boat Leader. Check out the links to our reviews to see what we mean, these games are great for experienced wargamers and new players alike. Campaigns take about 30 minutes to set-up, and each battle can be resolved in 15 to 30 minutes, game play time total is usually depending on your own style, which is one of the advantages of true solitaire games – you can play whenever you have time, at your pace. But what makes the Leader games so special and what we always stress as one of the aspects that make them so outstanding is the fact you can bring a friend to the table and play cooperatively! Sit down, divide up your forces and plan with your fellow commander how to get the job of the mission done 🙂 Tiger Leader includes dozens of German vehicles and infantry types and includes 5 Allied Nations that you battle against: Poland, France, United Kingdom, Russia, and USA. The battlefield units for each nation have unique stats that reflect that nation’s combat capabilities. The game is played on a map that allows for always changing terrain and combat situations keeping the experience fresh and the replay value high. Components announced so far: 240 Full Color Cards 2 Full Color Counter Sheets 3 Full Color Sheets of MOUNTED Terrain Hexes 22” x 17” Full Color MOUNTED Tactical Sheet 11″ x 17″ Full Color Head Quarters Sheet 1 10-sided die To back up the game, get more detailed information and to see a funny video explaining the game to you go to the official Kickstarter site –> HERE As always with DVG games, you can expect high quality stuff inside the box reminding us of the famous quote by Heinz Guderian…. Nicht Kleckern, sondern Klotzen!Broadly speaking, there are two distinct types of tactical battle. Sunday's MLS Cup final, which saw the L.A. Galaxy beating the New England Revolution 2-1 after extra time, was particularly interesting because everyone expected one type of tactical battle -- instead, it was the other. Explaining the different types of tactical battle is simple: it's either about style, in terms of how the opposing sides are attempting to play -- or it's about location, and a specific zone of the pitch. Usually, in top-level modern football, it's the former, about style and approach. It can be anything from the overall shape of the teams, to their level of pressing, to their strategy with possession. The latter is simpler: a team being overloaded in a particular zone, perhaps, or outmuscled in a one-versus-one battle. Ahead of this final, everyone anticipated the former, a stylistic mismatch. The Galaxy are pass masters, a team who retain possession for long spells, have the intelligence of Juninho in the deep-lying midfield role, and boast crafty attackers such as Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane, creators as well as goal scorers. In stark contrast, the Revolution are more direct. They are counterattackers: Lee Nguyen speeds through the center, Teal Bunbury charges down the right, and Charlie Davies offers sheer pace in behind the defence. Like Barcelona versus Real Madrid or Bayern Munich versus Borussia Dortmund, a simple possession versus counterattack battle seemed set to decide the title. LA Galaxy LA Galaxy New England Revolution New England Revolution 2 1 AET Game Details GameCast Lineups and Stats Yet, in reality, this wasn't the case whatsoever. By halftime, amazingly, the Revolution had enjoyed 57 percent of possession when the score was 0-0, and by the end of extra time, when they'd spent periods chasing the game, it was 58 percent. Their 4-2-3-1 formation helped them compete in the midfield, as did the scrappiness of the game overall -- but either way, this wasn't a stylistic battle. Instead, it was about one particular area. The danger zone was apparent from within the opening 90 seconds, when Galaxy left back Robbie Rogers darted forward to combine with left midfielder Landon Donovan, then found himself shooting from point-blank range. He couldn't convert, but that was the Revolution's warning. The problem was in the zone around Andrew Farrell. He had a difficult game individually, but it was more about the space between him and right-winger Bunbury (a converted forward who offers little defensive protection) and also between him and center back A.J. Soares, who was always occupied with a Galaxy forward, so couldn't assist Farrell in wider areas. Farrell and Soares exchanged angry words, and one moment -- when Farrell had ample opportunity to cushion a header back to goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth, but instead knocked the ball into a dangerous position -- summed up the nervousness. The L.A. Galaxy took advantage of New England's weak right-side defending, particularly from Andrew Farrell, to secure their win in the MLS Cup final. Farrell's struggles were particularly stark in comparison to the performance of his opposite number, Galaxy right back A.J. De La Garza, who made the best defensive contribution of the game to halt Davies with a stunning last-ditch sliding tackle. The Galaxy made inroads down the Revolution's right flank throughout the first half. Donovan started on the left in his farewell game, and therefore theoretically had opportunities to find space -- but he played more of a facilitating role, encouraging Rogers forward. Instead, Keane found room between Farrell and Soares, and a curler from that inside-left channel, in the 32nd minute, showed his goal-scoring threat. He continually peeled out wide, receiving crossfield balls -- one piece of juggling control, from Stefan Ishizaki's switch of play, was beautiful. In truth, however, it was more about the Revolution struggling, rather than the Galaxy excelling. That's why Bruce Arena made a significant switch at the start of the second half, swapping Donovan with Gyasi Zardes, who had started upfront. Now, Donovan was alongside Keane, and Zardes went left. Now, the Galaxy really pressed home their advantage. It's unusual for a striker's goal-scoring threat to increase having been moved to the flank, but that's what happened with Zardes. He'd had little joy against imposing Revolution center back Jose Goncalves in the first half, but absolutely terrorised Farrell after the break. Galaxy looked toward Zardes whenever possible, and he outwitted Farrell for the opener, converting Ishizaki's long cross neatly. Zardes' left-wing positioning was extraordinary at times, hanging out wider than Farrell, even when Galaxy were building moves down the opposite flank. He combined well with Rogers, encouraging the fullback forward on the overlap to dribble past Farrell, but offered a more direct threat than Donovan had been. Shortly after the opener, Farrell was booked for tugging back Zardes, having got too tight near the touchline, and been spun easily. The secondary impact of the halftime switch was equally noteworthy -- it put Donovan and Keane together upfront. The Revolution went chasing the game at 1-0 down, removing holding midfielder Scott Caldwell, opening up space between the lines, and therefore Donovan and Keane could combine in that zone. Once Landon Donovan was placed up top at forward with Robbie Keane, the Republic of Ireland forward had more offensive chances thanks to Donovan creating opportunities for him. Donovan nearly put Keane through on goal with a clever flick after an hour, then Keane dummied a pass from the right to allow Donovan a shot from the edge of the box. A little later, Keane missed a glorious one-on-one chance with Donovan sprinting forward to his left, desperate for a pass, and then Donovan's pass saw Keane flagged for offside, with Donovan complaining the Irishman should have left the ball, allowing him to sprint onto his own through-ball. In truth, the Galaxy had enough chances to put the game out of Revolution's reach, and were punished for their sloppiness by Chris Tierney's equaliser. Fittingly, however, Keane won the game in extra time -- from the position he'd been working all game. It was a simple goal, courtesy of Marcelo Sarvas' chip, and Keane -- played onside by Tierney, who had been excellent until that point -- finished with typical calmness. Zardes' opener came from a cross into the inside-left position, while Keane's winner came from a chipped through-ball into the inside-left position. The two goals summarised Galaxy's approach, and illustrated where this final was won. Michael Cox is the editor of zonalmarking.net and a contributor to ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @Zonal_Marking.Fallacy Name: Oversimplification and Exaggeration Alternative Names: Fallacy of Reduction Fallacy of Multiplication Category: Faulty Causation Explanation The causation fallacies known as oversimplification and exaggeration occur whenever the series of actual causes for an event is either reduced or multiplied to the point where there is no longer a genuine, causal connection between the alleged causes and the actual effect. In other words, multiple causes are reduced to just one or a few (oversimplification) or a couple of causes are multiplied into many (exaggeration). Also known as the "reductive fallacy" because it involves reducing the number of causes, oversimplification seems to occur more often, perhaps because there are so many ostensibly good reasons for simplifying things. Well-intentioned writers and speakers can readily fall into the trap of oversimplification if they are not careful. One impetus for simplification is the basic advice given to all who want to improve their writing style: don't get bogged down in details. Good writing needs to be clear and precise, thus helping people to understand an issue rather than confusing them even more. In the process, however, a writer can easily leave out too many details, omitting critical information which needs to be included. Another important impetus which can lead to oversimplification is the overuse of an important tool in critical thinking: Occam's Razor. This is the principle of not assuming too many factors or causes for an event than are necessary and is often expressed by saying "the simpler explanation is preferable." Although it is true that an explanation should be no more complicated than necessary, one must be very careful not to construct an explanation which is less complicated than necessary. A famous quote attributed to Albert Einstein states, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." Examples and Discussion of Oversimplification Here is an example of oversimplification which atheists often hear: 1. School violence has gone up and academic performance has gone down ever since organized prayer was banned at public schools. Therefore, prayer should be reintroduced, resulting in school improvement. This argument obviously suffers from oversimplification because it assumes that problems in schools (increasing violence, decreasing academic performance) can be attributed to a single cause: the loss of organized, state-mandated prayers. A myriad of other factors in society are completely ignored as if the social and economic conditions haven't changed in any relevant way. One way to reveal the problem in the above example is to reword it slightly: 2. School violence has gone up and academic performance has gone down ever since racial segregation was banned. Therefore, segregation should be reintroduced, resulting in school improvement. Presumably, there are racists around who would agree with the above, but very few of those who make the argument in #1 will also make the argument in #2 - yet, they are structurally the same. The reasons for both examples of oversimplification is actually another Causation Fallacy, known as Post Hoc Fallacy. In the real world, events typically have multiple, intersecting causes which together produce the events we see. Often, however, such complexities are difficult to understand and even more difficult to change; the unfortunate result is that we simplify things. Sometimes that isn't so bad, but sometimes it can be disastrous. Sadly, politics is one field where oversimplification occurs more often than not. 3. The nation's current lack of moral standards was caused by the poor example set by Bill Clinton when he was president. Granted, Clinton may not have set the best example imaginable, but it isn't reasonable to argue that his example is responsible for the morality of the entire nation. Once again, there is a wide variety of different factors which can influence the morality of individuals and groups. Of course, not all examples of oversimplification identify as the cause something which is completely irrelevant: 4. Education today isn't as good as it used to be - obviously, our teachers are not doing their jobs. 5. Since the new president took office, the economy has been improving - obviously he is doing a good job and is an asset to the nation. Although #4 is a rather harsh statement, it cannot be denied that teacher performance does impact the quality of education which students receive. Thus, if their education isn't very good, one place to look is teacher performance. However, it is a fallacy of oversimplification to suggest that teachers are the sole or even primary cause. With #5, it should also be acknowledged that a president does impact the state of the economy, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. However, no single politician can take sole credit (or sole blame) for the state of a multi-trillion dollar economy. A common reason for oversimplification, especially in the political realm, is a personal agenda. It is a very effective means for either taking credit for something (#5) or for placing blame on others (#4). Religion is also a field where oversimplification fallacies can be readily found. Consider, for example, a response which is heard after anyone survives a major tragedy: 6. She was saved through God's help! For the purposes of this discussion, we should ignore the theological implications of a god who chooses to save some people but not others. The logical problem here is the dismissal of all the other factors which contribute to a person's survival. What about the doctors who perform the life-saving operations? What about the rescue workers who spend insane amounts of time and money in the rescue effort? What about the product manufacturers who made the safety devices (like seat belts) which protect people? All of these and more are causal factors which contribute to the survival of people in accidents, but they are too often ignored by those who oversimplify the situation and attribute survival to just a single cause: the Will of God. People also tend to commit the fallacy of oversimplification when they simply don't understand what they are talking about. This is a common occurrence in science debates because so much of the material can be comprehended best only by experts in specialized fields. One place where this is seen quite often are the arguments some creationists offer against evolution. Consider this example, a question which Dr. Kent Hovind uses in an attempt to prove that evolution isn't true and isn't possible: 7. Natural selection only works with the genetic information available and tends only to keep a species stable. How would you explain the increasing complexity in the genetic code that must have occurred if evolution were true? For someone unfamiliar with evolution, this question may seem reasonable - but its error lies in vastly oversimplifying evolution to the point where it becomes unrecognizable. It is very true that natural selection operates with the genetic information which is available; however, natural selection is not the only process which is involved in evolution. Ignored are such factors as mutation and genetic drift. By oversimplifying evolution down to just natural selection, however, Hovind is able to portray evolution as a one-dimensional theory which cannot possibly be true. It is in such examples that an oversimplification fallacy can also become a Straw Man Fallacy if a person takes the oversimplified description of a position and then proceeds to criticize it as if it were the genuine position. Examples and Discussion of Exaggeration Related to, but much rarer than, the fallacy of oversimplification is the fallacy of exaggeration. Mirror images of each other, an exaggeration fallacy is committed when an argument tries to include additional causal influences which are ultimately irrelevant to the matter at hand. We can say that committing a fallacy of exaggeration is a consequence of failing to heed Occam's Razor, which states that we should prefer the simpler explanation and refrain from adding "entities" (causes, factors) which are not specifically necessary A good example is one which is related to one of those used above: 8. The rescue workers, doctors and various assistants are all heroes because, with the help of God, they managed to save all of the people involved in that accident. The role of individuals like doctors and rescue workers is obvious, but the addition of God seems gratuitous. Without an identifiable effect of which can be said to be necessarily responsible, the inclusion qualifies as an exaggeration fallacy. Other instances of this fallacy can be found in the legal profession, for example: 9. My client killed Joe Smith, but the cause for his violent behavior was a life of eating Twinkies and other junk food which impaired his judgment.Or, more specifically, If you had to work, but money were no object, what would you do? We live in an era when the vast majority of us need to work for our basic needs. We use our job to "bring home the bacon" and "put bread on the table." It's hard to imagine what it would be like to work for the love of it. For our passion. Or out of interest. While there is still quite a bit that has to happen before automation and AI offer us the freedom to work purely for purpose and meaning (Basic Income or Basic Assets, anyone?), this kind of personal inquiry is a good jumping off point for someone interested in growing their career in a direction leading to those things. For one that balances passion and interest with practicality. So as you kick off this workweek, I'd like you to de-couple your work from your pay. (Don't worry, we'll dive back in to pay later.) I'd like you to imagine that you had to have some sort of work, but salary was not a determining factor. What would you do? And why?The good news for Ryan is that he and his fellow Republicans did promise to pass a regressive health care bill, and now they’ve done exactly that. Whether you believe that’s a positive development is based in part on whether you might ever need an affordable visit to a doctor. But when it comes to keeping promises, the Speaker and his GOP brethren have found themselves in an awkward spot. Ryan, Donald Trump, and other prominent Republican officials made all kinds of specific guarantees tied to their health care legislation, and they Indeed, in the Speaker’s case, some of those promises were put in writing. Remember House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) declared with glee the other day that last week’s vote on the GOP health care plan is an example of “ us keeping our promises.” That’s only partially true.The good news for Ryan is that he and his fellow Republicans did promise to pass a regressive health care bill, and now they’ve done exactly that. Whether you believe that’s a positive development is based in part on whether you might ever need an affordable visit to a doctor.But when it comes to keeping promises, the Speaker and his GOP brethren have found themselves in an awkward spot. Ryan, Donald Trump, and other prominent Republican officials made all kinds of specific guarantees tied to their health care legislation, and they proceeded to break many of those commitments without explanation last week.Indeed, in the Speaker’s case, some of those promises were put in writing. Remember this online Q&A published on the House Republican leadership’s website? Are you repealing patient protections, including for people with pre-existing conditions? No. Americans should never be denied coverage or charged more because of a pre-existing condition. […] Won’t millions of Americans lose their health insurance because of your plan? No. We are working to give all Americans peace of mind about their health care.Abstract Plasminogen activator inhibitor–1 (PAI-1) has been shown to be a key component of the senescence-related secretome and a direct mediator of cellular senescence. In murine models of accelerated aging, genetic deficiency and targeted inhibition of PAI-1 protect against aging-like pathology and prolong life span. However, the role of PAI-1 in human longevity remains unclear. We hypothesized that a rare loss-of-function mutation in SERPINE1 (c.699_700dupTA), which encodes PAI-1, could play a role in longevity and metabolism in humans. We studied 177 members of the Berne Amish community, which included 43 carriers of the null SERPINE1 mutation. Heterozygosity was associated with significantly longer leukocyte telomere length, lower fasting insulin levels, and lower prevalence of diabetes mellitus. In the extended Amish kindred, carriers of the null SERPINE1 allele had a longer life span. Our study indicates a causal effect of PAI-1 on human longevity, which may be mediated by alterations in metabolism. Our findings demonstrate the utility of studying loss-of-function mutations in populations with geographic and genetic isolation and shed light on a novel therapeutic target for aging. INTRODUCTION Age is the primary risk factor for most of the chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (1). The prevalence of age-related diseases has increased concordantly with the growing proportion of elderly individuals in the population. Aging remains one of the most challenging biological processes to unravel, with coordinated and interrelated molecular and cellular changes (2). Humans exhibit clear differential trajectories of age-related decline on a cellular level with telomere attrition across various somatic tissues and on a physiological level across multiple organ systems (3). In addition to telomere length, López-Otín and colleagues (4) proposed several molecular drivers of aging, including genomic instability, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication. Despite knowledge of these potential molecular causes of aging, no targeted interventions currently exist to delay the aging process and to promote healthy longevity (5, 6). In the United States, cardiometabolic disease influences life span as a leading cause of death and disability in adult men and women (7). Cardiometabolic disease is associated with a shorter leukocyte telomere length (LTL) (8, 9). Telomere shortening, which results from replication of somatic cells in vitro and in vivo, may cause replicative senescence. Senescent cells and tissues exhibit a distinctive pattern of protein expression, including increased plasminogen activator inhibitor–1 (PAI-1) as a part of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) (10, 11). PAI-1, which is encoded by the SERPINE1 gene, is the primary inhibitor of endogenous plasminogen activators and is synthesized in the liver and fat tissue. In addition to its role in regulating fibrinolysis, PAI-1 also contributes directly to cellular senescence in vitro (12). Genetic absence or pharmacologic inhibition of PAI-1 in murine models of accelerated aging provides protection from aging-like pathology, prevents telomere shortening, and prolongs life span (13). Cross-sectional human studies have demonstrated an association of plasma levels of PAI-1 with insulin resistance (14, 15). Mendelian randomization analyses from large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provide an additional supportive evidence for a casual effect of PAI-1 on insulin resistance and coronary heart disease (16). The role of the SASP, in general, and specifically PAI-1 in longevity in humans is uncertain. We have previously reported the identification of a rare frameshift mutation (c.699_700dupTA) in the SERPINE1 gene in the Old Order Amish (OOA), living in relative geographic and genetic isolation in the vicinity of Berne, Indiana; this mutation results in a lifelong reduction in PAI-1 levels (17, 18). Therefore, we tested the association of carrier status for the null SERPINE1 mutation with LTL as the prespecified primary end point in the only known cohort with a SERPINE1 null mutation. The secondary end points of the study included fasting insulin level, prevalence of DM, and life span. The findings of this study were extended by assessing the novel aging scores derived in the OOA cohort in a U.S. population–based cohort study, the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (CARDIA). RESULTS Baseline characteristics of the study participants The clinical characteristics of the study participants by SERPINE1 genotype status are shown in Table 1 and table S1. A total of 177 participants was enrolled. Forty-three participants were identified as carriers of the null SERPINE1 mutation, and seven participants were identified as homozygous for the null SERPINE1 mutation with an overall minor (null) allele frequency of 16% in the study population. The observed SERPINE1 genotype frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Heterozygous carriers of the null SERPINE1 mutation had 50% lower mean circulating plasma PAI-1 levels (5.9 ± 6.6 ng/ml versus 12.7 ± 9.8 ng/ml; P < 0.0001) compared with unaffected participants. Homozygous individuals for the null SERPINE1 mutation had no evidence of detectable PAI-1 antigen in the plasma, consistent with the loss-of-function mutation. Unaffected Amish participants had lower body mass index, fasting glucose, and triglyceride levels than the CARDIA participants sampled from the U.S. urban communities (Table 2). Rates of clinically overt disease with hypertension and type 2 DM were similar in both unaffected Amish participants and the CARDIA participants. Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the Berne Amish kindred by SERPINE1 genotype status. Continuous values are listed as mean ± SD unless otherwise specified. HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein. View this table: Table 2 Comparison of clinical characteristics of the Berne Amish kindred SERPINE1+/+ and CARDIA. View this table: Association of null SERPINE1 heterozygosity with telomere length and life span Overall, the mean LTL was highly correlated with chronological age (R = −0.70, P < 0.0001) and 9% shorter per decade of age (P < 0.0001) in unaffected Amish participants. Carriers of the SERPINE1 mutation had a 10% longer mean LTL, the prespecified primary end point, after adjustment for age, sex, and familial relatedness compared with noncarriers (P = 0.007) (Fig. 1). Interaction between age and carrier status of the SERPINE1 null mutation in association with LTL was not significant. Secondary analyses, including participants who were homozygous for the SERPINE1 null mutation (n = 7), demonstrated similar results (P = 0.020; table S2). The overall heritability (h2) estimate of LTL was 0.55 (P < 0.0001), suggesting that the additive effects of genetic variation, including the SERPINE1 mutation, accounted for 55% of the total variation. Fig. 1 Association of SERPINE1 genotype status and leukocyte telomere length as a function of age in the Berne Amish kindred. (A and B) LTL in SERPINE1 null allele carriers and noncarriers in the Berne Amish kindred as quantified by (A) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and (B) Southern Blot. Relative LTL is shown in (A), and mean terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length is shown in (B) as a function of age stratified by SERPINE1 mutation status. P value represents difference in mean LTL and TRF by SERPINE1 mutation status (carriers versus noncarriers) after adjustment for age, sex, and family structure in Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines (SOLAR) (P = 0.007 and P = 0.039, respectively). Every 1-year increase in age of study participant was associated with a 0.0087 lower relative LTL (P < 0.0001) and a 30–base pair lower mean TRF (P < 0.0001). Vital status was available on 221 individuals identified as directly related to our study participants. Genotype status for SERPINE1 was ascertained by direct genotyping or obligate ascertainment from ancestral data in deceased individuals with known dates of birth and death (n = 56). The median survival in SERPINE1 null carriers compared with unaffected individuals was longer [85 (73 to 88) versus 75 (70 to 83); P = 0.037], as shown in Fig. 2. Fig.
within one standard deviation about the mean trend. Individual site observations and trends are given as grey dots and black lines respectively. Individual site names, details, and plots are given in the Supplementary Information. The inset shows the distribution of the rate of change in C i over all sites. Dashed red lines represent bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals for the mean slope. The distribution of slopes around zero indicates that the observed changes in W ei are consistent with a constant C i. Site details are given in Supplementary Table 1. Full size image Download PowerPoint slide The observed trends in W ei have important consequences for water and carbon cycling in forest ecosystems. The direct tradeoff between water loss and carbon uptake through the stomata—equations (1) and (2)—means that, as water-use efficiency increases, either evapotranspiration (E e ) decreases or gross photosynthetic carbon uptake increases, or both occur simultaneously. Mid-summer forest E e declined at all but one of the regional US sites. Decreases in E e are consistent with recent declines in evapotranspiration, and increases in streamflow, at watersheds in the northeastern US21. In the global FLUXNET data set, ten of the 14 sites also show a trend of reduced E e (Supplementary Table 2). Three of the remaining 4 FLUXNET sites that did not demonstrate a decrease in E e had increased rates of summer photosynthesis, consistent with the overall increase in W ei (Supplementary Table 2) and the water–carbon tradeoff. The mean annual trend in E e across all sites was −3.8 ± 2 g H 2 O m−2 h−1 yr−1 (P = 0.07, t-test). Additionally, mid-summer daytime forest net carbon uptake increased during the measurement period for six of the seven regional US sites (13.1 ± 5.6 mg C m−2 h−1 yr−1, P = 0.03, t-test). At those regional sites with sufficient data to construct annual totals, we observed strong trends in total annual net carbon uptake (Fig. 3). In the FLUXNET analysis, only six of the 14 sites showed trends of increased net carbon uptake over the measurement period, with probabilities ranging between P = 0.01 and 0.59 (Supplementary Table 2). The mean trend across all 21 sites was 6.8 ± 3.6 mg C m−2 h−1 yr−1 (P = 0.06, t-test). Figure 3: Long-term increase in net ecosystem carbon uptake. The annual net ecosystem carbon uptake (NEE) at five natural forest sites in the northeastern USA. Solid lines represent sen-slope estimates (Methods). Error bars represent the 95% confidence interval, derived by adding uncertainty due to random measurement error and gap-filling uncertainty, using 1,000 bootstrap samples. For two sites included in the regional database there were too many gaps to determine reliable annual sums. Site details are given in Supplementary Table 1. Full size image Download PowerPoint slide To further examine trends in carbon uptake, we carried out a model-data fusion analysis using a parsimonious process-based model (see Supplementary Information section 7). This analysis indicates that only a small fraction of trends in carbon uptake can be explained by changes in climate forcings (temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation) at any site. Previous work attributes a proportion of the net annual increase to a lengthening of the growing season22. Our model-data fusion approach, however, shows a large increase in net uptake during the summer months, independent of season length.Former Federal Court Justice Margaret Stone will soon be responsible for overseeing Australia's peak security intelligence agencies, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Thursday. The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) oversees the work conducted by six spy agencies in Australia: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO), Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO), and Office of National Assessments (ONA). While much of the work of these organisations -- such as the metadata accessed by ASIO -- remains a secret, IGIS is responsible for ensuring that these agencies are acting legally within government guidelines and with respect for human rights. The role is currently held by Dr Vivienne Thom, who will step down at the end of this week. Abbott announced that former Federal Court justice and current Independent Reviewer of Adverse Security Assessments Margaret Stone will be the new inspector-general from late August. Until then, Jake Blight will act as the inspector-general, Abbott said. "Australia's intelligence agencies make a vital contribution to our national security, particularly at a time when we face a serious threat from terrorism," the prime minister said. "The Australian intelligence community operates within a robust oversight and accountability framework, and the inspector-general plays an important role in reviewing the activities of the intelligence agencies." In May's Budget, the office was given over AU$3 million in funding. The office indicated that it expects to make an upgrade to its secure IT network this financial year. Thom had long warned that the implementation of the government's mandatory data-retention regime would result in more work than the office could handle under its current funding should it have to continue to have oversight of ASIO's use of metadata. The office also now must receive notices every time any agency -- not just the spy agencies -- obtain a warrant to access the metadata of a journalist for the purpose of investigating a leak. This week also saw the Australian government throw a lifeline to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The current commissioner, professor John McMillan, will finish in the role at the end of this week to take up a new job as Acting NSW Ombudsman. The government has announced that Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim will assume responsibility for the office and across privacy, information, and freedom of information. Legislation to shut the office has yet to pass the Senate, but the government provided funding in the Budget to keep the lights on until legislation manages to pass. The small team of staff in the office is said to be working from home and on a part-time basis.CLOSE President Trump applauded Toyota and Mazda's plan to set up the joint venture in the USA and create up to 4,000 jobs. Wochit This photo provided by Toyota shows the 2017 Toyota Corolla, an example of a car that could be less expensive to lease new than to buy used. Car shoppers are becoming more eager to lease than to buy cars, according to recent data. Many car shoppers don't set out to lease a new car, but once they run the numbers, leases look like a much better deal. (Photo11: David Dewhurst Photography, AP) Japanese automakers Toyota and Mazda confirmed plans Friday to build a $1.6 billion U.S. assembly plant that would create up to 4,000 jobs as part of an extensive new alliance. Toyota said it would make the Corolla sedan at the factory instead of in Mexico as previously intended. The sweeping partnership between the two companies includes investments in each other and collaboration on development of electric vehicles and self-driving car technology. The deal marks a symbolically significant shift for Toyota after the company faced withering criticism from President Trump for its plans to locate Corolla production at a $1 billion factory under construction in the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico. Toyota said Friday that it would maintain its investment and hiring plans at the Mexican plant, but it will locate additional production of the Tacoma midsize pickup at the Mexican factory instead of the Corolla compact car, which had been set to move there from an operation in Ontario, Canada. Related: Toyota, Mazda to build $1.6B, 4,000-job U.S. automotive assembly plant Trump attacks Toyota for expanding in Mexico to sell in USA Trump's move on China counterfeiting, piracy aimed at protecting U.S. jobs The U.S. factory is set to open by 2021. The companies have not picked a location, which is likely to trigger a bidding war between states seeking to spur economic development. Trump swiftly heralded the move. "A great investment in American manufacturing!" he tweeted Friday morning. Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company would continue to make the Corolla at its Mississippi manufacturing plant as well, and no changes are planned there. The new plant will offer Mazda its first U.S. production since the company ended local manufacturing in recent years after its transition out of Ford ownership. Mazda said it would make crossover models at the plant for sale in North America. Currently, all Mazda cars sold in the USA are made in other countries, according to Barclays. Taken together, the plans are likely to be trumpeted as a victory for Trump's push to manufacture more locally sold vehicles in the USA.. He had threatened Toyota and other car companies for selling cars to American customers that were built elsewhere. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda and Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai celebrate a partnership between their companies to develop electric vehicles and self-driving cars and build a $1.6 billion U.S. plant. (Photo11: Toyota) "NO WAY!" Trump said in a tweet about Toyota in January. "Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax." A border tax was never enacted. Toyota and other car companies vocally opposed Trump's plans to pursue sweeping changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which bolstered Mexican manufacturing. The tie-up could pave the way for a broader deal, including possibly a Toyota move to acquire Mazda altogether, which would greatly accelerate industry consolidation for a sector grappling with high regulatory and technology costs. CLOSE Toyota Motor is investing about $10 billion in the USA over the next five years, including a new headquarters in Texas and a revamped manufacturing facility in Kentucky. Newslook "Today’s agreement is a testament to the positive result of two years of collaborative and deliberate discussions between the two companies, and it is a milestone in the journey to further strengthen and accelerate the partnership," Toyota and Mazda said in a statement. As part of the deal announced Friday, Toyota is acquiring 5% of Mazda, while Mazda is acquiring 0.25% of Toyota. In that respect, the deal resembles the global alliance between Japanese automakers Nissan and Mitsubishi and French automaker Renault. "Toyota and Mazda have been working more closely together, so it is no surprise they will have a plant together," Autotrader.com analyst Michelle Krebs said, adding that Mazda had been searching for U.S. manufacturing capacity. Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wrofMjChelsea striker Diego Costa has scored 17 goals in the Premier League this season Chelsea striker Diego Costa claims his challenges are "strong but noble" and that he has never seriously injured an opposition player. The Brazil-born Spain international, 26, has just served a three-match ban for a stamp on Liverpool's Emre Can in their League Cup semi-final last month. "My challenges are strong but noble at the same time." Costa said in an interview with Sport magazine. "Check my records, you'll find I've never caused a bad injury to a player." Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho claimed the stamping incident was an accident and the player has been targeted by sections of the media. Media playback is not supported on this device TV pundit must be nuts - Mourinho In the wake of Costa's suspension Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini urged the player to learn from the incident and change his game in the future. Costa, scorer of 17 Premier League goals this season, believes the reactions to certain incidents he is involved in are blow out of proportion. "I consider myself a player who fights and gives everything on the pitch. Those who know me and appreciate those values understand what I say," he said. "The bottom line is that sometimes the little things I do on the pitch provoke exaggerated reactions." Costa, who joined Chelsea from Atletico Madrid for £32m in July 2014, says he has received some rough treatment by players from other teams which should have been more harshly dealt with. "Some of the kicks I suffer in England would be punished with a red card in Spain," he added. "I am getting used to getting kicked more than before. Premier League defenders are really strong and physical. "In England, the referees don't call many fouls, as opposed to Spanish football. Consequently, you must be really strong all through the 90 minutes."FAIRFIELD — Neighbors had always been confused as to why Sergeant Eric Lund, a police spokesman, was otherwise silent and withdrawn. They say that he almost never came out of his house and never spoke to them. Sergeant Lund was with the California Highway Patrol. When he wasn’t giving statements to the press on behalf of police, he might have been pulling over people and arresting them for the victimless “crime” of having a plant in their car. But the mystery of why he rarely left his house and almost never talked to anybody seems to have been solved. It turns out that he was busy watching children being exploited for pornographic films, according to reports. He has been accused of selling or sending obscene matter depicting a child. Sergent Lund was looking at child pornography not only off duty, but also while he was on duty in uniform, according to reports. A hard drive was found in his vehicle with numerous videos containing young children being exploited in sex scenes. Sergeant Lund was charged with 21 counts of downloading and sharing child pornography. “I have five kids, so I don’t like hearing about that,” said a Fairfield resident who heard about the case. Lund has already been released on bail, and he has been given administrative leave by his department.Police in Los Angeles said Thursday that a 67-year-old homeless woman who was sleeping on a bench was set on fire, allegedly by a man who purchased rubbing alcohol from a nearby Walgreens and used a knife to threaten a man who witnessed the act. “He went inside to the Walgreens store, bought alcohol and then he just poured it all over the old lady,” witness Erickson Ipina told KTLA-TV. “Then he threw the match on her and started running.” Authorities claim the suspect, who’s in custody but was not named, is 28-years-old. The motive is not clear. Officials told KTLA-TV that the woman’s condition is very serious and she may likely die from her injuries, triggering a charge of murder in the first degree. This video is from KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, broadcast Thursday, December 27, 2012. Photo: Shutterstock.com, all rights reserved.MARCO ASENSIO'S brilliant displays against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea have won him a place in the Real Madrid team. The 20-year-old midfielder spent last season at Espanyol and he had been expected to be shipped out on loan again. Getty Images 4 Real Madrid's Marco Asensio takes on Chelsea midfielder Oscar Getty Images 4 Asensio impressed so much against Chelsea he's been promised first team football But after two weeks training in Canada and the United States, an excellent second half against PSG and a stunning goal against Chelsea have convinced head coach Zinedine Zidane that the Majorcan player deserves a run in the first team. It's all looking good for Asensio. In between those two matches, former Real Madrid and Spain coach Vicente del Bosque described him as the greatest talent there is in Spain. Zidane has since told Real president Florentino Perez he plans to use the youngster regularly. That could leave the likes of James Rodriguez on the outside looking in, and the Colombian may still leave Real before the start of the season with PSG likely to be early bidders. . 4 Asensio has become headline news in Spain Getty Images 4 Asensio challenges Chelsea's Bertrand Traore And with Asensio and Alvaro Morata likely to be the only new faces in Zidane's first team others, including Mariano, Marcos Llorente and Martin Odegaard, may need to leave the Bernabeu to find regular first team football.Ferguson v Pettis: Can Ferguson set up a clash with the winner of McGregor v Khabib? Tony Ferguson said last month that he was ready to “bring the pain” in his upcoming fight against Anthony Pettis. UFC 229 is fast approaching, and the words of the former interim UFC lightweight champion strike a confident tone ahead of the crunch event on 6th October. Although Conor McGregor’s clash with Khabib Nurmagomedov will draw the headlines from casual onlookers, in part due to it being for the UFC Lightweight championship, Ferguson’s duel with Pettis will be a tussle where the stakes are high; with the victor in line to fight the winner of the McGregor/Khabib showdown. Time To Do Some Interviews & Show These Fighters How Its Done- It’s Been Too Long, The Champs Back 🕶 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 #snapintuit SnapJitsu™️ #ufc229 — Tony Ferguson (@TonyFergusonXT) September 17, 2018 Considering this will be Ferguson’s first fight in almost a year, it’s clear the stakes are even higher. 6th October will mark 364 days since the California native dominated Kevin Lee to win the interim UFC Lightweight Championship – a title later stripped due to injury. It has been something of a turbulent year for Ferguson, with a scheduled clash against Khabib having to be postponed after the American tore his fibular collateral ligament — a knee injury in layman’s terms. With the disappointment of being forced to withdraw from the Khabib fight still undoubtedly lingering in Ferguson’s mind, his upcoming showdown with Pettis offers him a chance to show that he’s still a fighter to be feared, despite injury concerns. However, until he steps into the Octagon, we won’t know the full impact of his injury. Will he be able to move with the same speed? How light will he be on his feet? There are also the psychological effects such a setback can have to consider. Will the prospect of a repeat injury be playing on Ferguson’s mind? It’s these kinds of distractions that can give an opponent the upper hand, and Pettis’ will surely be ready to capitalise on any perceived lack of concentration the 34-year-old may be suffering from. However, one year out of action does not cause an MMA fighter to lose what previously defined him. Ferguson’s victory over Kevin Lee a year ago was his tenth successive triumph — setting the record for most consecutive victories in UFC lightweight division history. This winning run stretches back to May 2012, when ‘El Cucuy’ was bested by Michael Johnson. It’s an impressive statistic, and Ferguson will certainly have experience on his side against Pettis, whose recent record is a lot spottier, having tasted victory just three times in his last eight encounters. The prospect of a match-up with the winner of the Khabib vs McGregor fight should act as extra motivation — if it were needed — for Ferguson. In McGregor vs Khabib betting, it is the Russian who is favourite to come out victorious, with a price of 4/6 to defeat the Irishman.Khabib has been outspoken in the build-up to UFC 229, saying that Pettis could prove a challenging opponent for the Ferguson, given the Wisconsin native’s strengths in the grappling department. The Russian has been brazen in his assumptions that he will beat McGregor to set up a rematch of his cancelled fight with Ferguson. Only time will tell whether his assertions are justified. Needless to say, Ferguson’s clash with Pettis is one of the more intriguing of UFC 229. Time is hardly on Ferguson’s side age-wise, and defeat could spell the beginning of the end for a fighter who has enjoyed a fine career by all accounts. However, these kinds of thoughts certainly won’t be entering the former champion’s mind of the former champion, and a triumph on the 6th October will show that he is still among the elite. Perhaps the key to victory lies only within Ferguson’s own mindset. Recovering and returning from injury is both a mental and physical challenge in any sport, but perhaps even more so in MMA. This is a sport which does not forgive tentativeness, or a lack of assurance of one’s capabilities. If he can overcome these hurdles, and demonstrate the kind of ruthlessness which delivered the lightweight title in the first place, the future can still look as bright as the past for Tony Ferguson. The editorial unitA dire warning that Newfoundland and Labrador's population is set to make a dramatic slide is being met with skepticism, including an outright dismissal from the former premier who introduced a cash bonus for new parents. "In my opinion, it's absolute bullshit. That's the simplest way I can put it," said former premier Danny Williams, reacting to a Conference Board of Canada projection that sees the province's population falling from 527,000 to 482,000 by 2035. The Conference Board of Canada said deaths are outnumbering live births in Newfoundland and Labrador, and immigration is not strong enough to counter the demographic trend. Williams, whose government introduced a $1,000 bonus to new parents and to those who adopt, said he cannot accept the projection as credible. Williams on Monday launched the latest phase in a massive residential development called Galway, which will see thousands of new homes built in the southwest corner of the city limits. "I'm putting my money where my mouth is, because we're about to spend hundreds of millions of dollars out here over the life of the project," said Williams, who noted that the population of the province has climbed steadily in recent years, after hitting a low of about 508,000. Freefall after 1992 moratorium Newfoundland and Labrador's population went into a freefall in the wake of the 1992 moratorium on northern cod, at the time the largest fishery in the province, with many young adults moving to other provinces to start families. Williams said the prosperity that much of the province has enjoyed through the oil industry should continue for years to come. "There's a lot of oil out there. It's a matter of finding it," said Williams, adding that 207 wells have been drilled so far in Newfoundland's offshore industry, in fields that are estimated to be at least three times the size of the North Sea where 5,500 wells have so far been drilled. "If we continue to grow our economy here, we make it a good place to live and work, we'll have young people back here," he said. "We need to create a good environment here." 'Way off base' The Conference Board report was raised at St. John's city council during Monday evening's meeting. Rob Greenwood of Memorial University's Harris Centre said it is very difficult to turn around a declining birth rate. (CBC) "I think they're way off base," said Coun. Tom Hann, who believes the economy is powerful enough to continue a positive trend in population growth. But Rob Greenwood, executive director of Memorial University's Harris Centre, said Newfoundland and Labrador has some tough demographic problems. "I think the trend is really obvious," he said. While some people have moved back to Newfoundland and Labrador to work and there have been gains with immigration, Greenwood said, "But for the most part you have baby boomers that are getting older and fertility rates that are getting lower." Statistics Canada reports that Newfoundland and Labrador has the lowest fertility rate in the country, at 1.45 children per woman. The national fertility rate is 1.61.Courtesy of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Condragulations, RuPaul, you are the winner of this year’s challenge. The RuPaul’s Drag Race headliner scored an upset victory at Night 2 of the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday, winning Outstanding Reality Show Host over Dancing with the Stars‘ Tom Bergeron, Project Runway‘s Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, Hollywood Game Night‘s Jane Lynch, American Idol‘s Ryan Seacrest and Little Big Shots‘ Steve Harvey. This was RuPaul’s first-ever Emmy nomination and win. Other major winners from Sunday’s ceremony (click here for the big winners from Saturday’s event): Outstanding Special Class Program Grease: Live Outstanding Structured Reality Program Shark Tank Outstanding Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series Childrens Hospital Outstanding Animated Program Archer Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) Outstanding Variety Special The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Prime Time Special Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series Making a Murderer The main Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony will be held next Sunday, Sept. 18 at 8/7c on ABC.It has been nearly a decade since the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement started in 2005, seeking justice and rights for Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories. It has steadily increased in size and force; one recent sign of its growing strength and influence is that both national governments, and states within the U.S., have issued declarations against it. An entire generation of university students here and abroad is now discussing divestment from firms that do business in the occupied territories. Nearly every month student governments pass divestment bills. Although more and more academic organizations are hearing cases for the academic boycott of Israeli institutions, and many boycott resolutions have passed, a few key arguments against the academic boycott continue to wield persuasive power. After all, it’s one thing to say that one will not invest in companies involved in supporting an illegal occupation; it’s rather another to say that one will not collaborate with an entire state’s academic institutions. On the face of things, this seems to go against everything the academy stands for. Advertisement: At this point, the debate is deadlocked around a single set of talking points. But these points miss the most essential element: the rights, and lives, of Palestinians. Let’s first review the main debate, then get to the heart of the matter. Critics of the academic boycott argue that the academy is a place for the free circulation of ideas, that dialogue between U.S. and Israeli institutions remains a critical means for improving the chances for peace, and that the boycott would prevent scholars and students, especially those in Jewish studies, from carrying on research and learning in Israel that is essential to their profession and education. Those who are in favor of the academic boycott point to the actual language of the BDS tenets, which insists that individual scholars are free to collaborate, attend conferences, and do research together, among other things. They say this is a boycott of institutions, not individuals. And they point to the utter failure of decades of “discussion,” whose only result seems to be the election of a hard-right government committed to making an illegal occupation permanent and enshrining the rights and privileges of one group over and against those of another. Nevertheless, many critics of the boycott still see any boycott whatsoever as an abridgment of their academic freedom. And so it goes — a constant back and forth, with little hope of resolution. What is absolutely necessary to break the deadlock and to really judge the legitimacy and the justness of the academic boycott of Israeli institutions is exactly what we lack in the United States: a full spectrum of information about Israel-Palestine. Speaking as an academic: We need data. What works against this is the fact that even information from neutral sources, such as the United Nations, and human rights groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, is routinely suppressed, ignored or distorted in the mainstream media. And in its place, what we find over and over again in the debates about the boycott is a concern about ourselves: “What will happen to us if the boycott is successful?” But in focusing on this potential harm, we make ourselves blind to the existing, and voluminously documented, harms already and continually done to the academic freedoms of Palestinians. Now, more and more of that information is coming out, from reputable, neutral sources. This information paints a fuller picture of what academic life looks like in Israel/Palestine, where even going to school is challenging and often deadly. And while this information is, as noted above, usually absent from the mainstream media, all it takes is a modicum of curiosity and the desire to know — something academics are supposed to be endowed with — to find this data. Once one does, one is able to start having a truly informed debate about an academic boycott of Israel. We simply have to know more about the academic and educational rights that are denied Palestinians — the very rights for which the boycott exists. Only after seriously considering that information in as ethical a way as possible and balancing those concerns against our self-interest can we arrive at an ethically informed choice. Advertisement: Right after the December 2013 vote of the American Studies Association to honor the call for the academic boycott of Israel, the New York Times quoted me as saying, “People who truly believe in academic freedom would realize protesting the blatant and systemic denial of academic freedom to Palestinians, which is coupled with material deprivation of a staggering scale, far outweighs concerns we in the West might have about our own rather privileged academic freedoms.” In her essay “Exercising Rights: Academic Freedom and Boycott Politics,” Judith Butler expresses a similar notion in a full and comprehensive manner: One might begin by asking whether there are conditions under which academic freedom can be exercised. The thesis that academic freedom is conditional presupposes that there are institutional structures that make academic freedom possible and protect its ongoing exercise. What does it matter if there are such conditions? Is academic freedom not separable from the conditions of its exercise? My suggestion is that academic freedom is a conditioned freedom and that it cannot rightly be thought or exercised without these conditions…. We might begin to understand checkpoints, erratic closures of universities, and the indefinite detention of students and faculty for espousing political viewpoints as relevant to both the right to education and academic freedom itself. Remaining blind to the destruction of Palestinian schools, universities and other infrastructures necessary to “academic freedom,” as well as to the direct human cost of the occupation in terms of deaths and injuries, should be increasingly hard to do now, given key reports issued by the United Nations and other agencies and groups. For example, in January 2015, UNESCO released its “Rapid Assessment of Higher Education Institutions in Gaza.” It got no coverage at all in any major U.S. news venue. If it had, American readers might have learned that: The scale of destruction and devastation after 50 days of conflict in July-August 2014 is unprecedented in Gaza, including in the education sector. According to the MIRA findings [Multi-Cluster/Agency Initial Rapid Assessment coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs], 26 schools have been completely destroyed and 122 damaged during the conflict, 75 of which are UNRWA schools. It is worth noting that already prior to the last conflict the education system in Gaza was suffering from a shortage of at least 200 schools, which led to a big number of classes running in double shifts, impacting on the quality of education. Early childhood development has also been highly affected. Among a total of 407 kindergartens in Gaza, 133 were damaged and 11 totally destroyed. The Higher Education sector also suffered severe human and infrastructure damages. After 50 days of conflict, the right to quality education for all Palestinian children and youth has been further compromised. In addition to kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and other education centres, 4 higher education institutions were directly targeted during the hostilities, sustaining significant injury and loss of life among staff and student populations, as well as damage to buildings and equipment. The study offers these and other details in terms of loss of life and injuries to staff and students: Advertisement: Staff and students suffered heavy casualties during the conflict, sustaining loss of life and serious injuries. A number of injuries have led to disabilities including mobility, hearing and visual impairments which will impact on individuals and their families throughout their lives. Nine academic and administrative staff from the HEIs [Higher Education Institutions] were killed and 21 injured. A total of 421 HEI students were killed during the conflict and 1,128 were injured. And, perhaps most dramatically -- Student deaths during the conflict constitute more than a quarter – or 27.4% - of total civilian deaths incurred in Palestine. Even considering the exceptionally high ratio of people aged 15 to 29 to the total over-15 population (53%), this is a shocking statistic. The report states flatly: “The failure to treat learning environments as safe spaces and protect universities from attack is a serious violation of the right to education and is prohibited under international law. The resulting staff and student attrition, alongside loss of life, injury and damage to infrastructure, seriously undermines the quality of education which should be supporting young people to achieve their full potential as well as helping to mitigate psychosocial impacts of armed conflict by providing stability, normality, structure and optimism about the future.” Reports from the United Nations have determined that Israeli armed forces purposefully attacked even schools designated as UN schools acting as shelters: Advertisement: Israeli officials said they were trying to determine who was responsible for the bloodshed. In past incidents, the Israeli military blamed errant rocket or mortar fire by Gaza militants for explosions at U.N. schools — or said the blasts were under investigation. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which operated the school-turned-shelter in the Jabalya refugee camp, said it had gathered evidence, analyzed bomb fragments and examined craters after the attack. Its initial assessment was that three Israeli artillery shells hit the school where 3,300 people had sought refuge. “I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, the UNRWA commissioner-general. “This is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.” And just recently, in April 2015, Ban Ki-moon issued this UN report on the findings of a UN Board of Inquiry into the attacks on UN facilities in Gaza, which showed that Israel deliberately shelled the UN schools. Denial of educational rights takes place in prisons where children are held as well. A recent study found that: Since 2000, Israel has arrested and imprisoned over 7,000 children, with 156 currently in jail. Often handed down sentences for stone throwing, child prisoners are defined as being below the age of sixteen by Israeli military law, whilst being classified as under eighteen through civilian law. Only two out of the five prisons holding Palestinian child detainees provide some form of education, through a very limited teaching of Arabic, Hebrew, English and Mathematics. Geography and subjects related to the sciences are banned from being taught due to “security concerns.” This, despite the fact that: Advertisement: The right to education is numerously outlined in international law, including Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which was ratified by Israel in 1991. Article 94 of the Fourth Geneva Convention encourages the “Detaining Power” to “take all practicable measure to ensure the exercise” of “intellectual, educational and recreational pursuits.” It also states that, “all possible facilities shall be granted to internees to continue their studies or to take up new subjects. The education of children and young people shall be ensured; they shall be allowed to attend schools either within the place of internment or outside. In response to reports of Israel’s killing of students and other civilians, supporters of Israel often argue that these people were being used as human shields. This alibi has been thoroughly repudiated. A UN report in 2009 found no evidence of Hamas using “human shields”: On the basis of the investigations it has conducted, the Mission did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the Gaza authorities or by Palestinian armed groups to shield military activities and that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes. On the basis of the information it gathered, the Mission found no indication that the civilian population was forced by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups to remain in areas under attack from the Israeli armed forces. On the contrary, that same year Amnesty International has found instances of Israeli armed forces using Palestinian children as human shields (this finding was confirmed by the Israeli High Court), with no such comparable instances of Hamas doing the same. And in terms of the most recent attack on Gaza, the Independent called the notion of Hamas using human shields a “myth,” and even CNN found it hard to definitively say Hamas used human shields. The report recently issued by “Breaking the Silence,” a group of Israeli soldiers concerned about the orders they are issued to fight under, verifies the extreme prejudice with which Israeli soldiers are instructed to attack Palestinians. After reviewing the 240-page document, the Independent asserts: “The Israeli military deliberately pounded civilian areas in the Gaza Strip with incessant fire of inaccurate ordinance during last year’s war against Hamas and was at best indifferent about casualties among the Palestinian population.” Placing this issue in the overall record of 2014, the Guardian reports that in that year more Palestinians were killed than in any other year since 1967. Given Netanyahu’s reelection and the continued rightward swing in Israeli politics, which adamantly refuses meaningful negotiations and continues to expand settlement building, Gaza is doomed to either face more such attacks, or else be condemned to the slower death envisioned in August 2012 by the United Nations, which determined that: Advertisement: In the absence of sustained and effective remedial action and an enabling political environment, the challenges which confront the people of Gaza now will only intensify over the coming years to 2020, a period in which another half a million people will be added to the present estimated population of 1.6 million. Without such action, the daily lives of Gazans in 2020 will be worse than they are now. There will be virtually no reliable access to sources of safe drinking water, standards of healthcare and education will have continued to decline, and the vision of affordable and reliable electricity for all will have become a distant memory for most. The already high number of poor, marginalized and food-insecure people depending on assistance will not have changed, and in all likelihood will have increased. Thus to really talk about “academic freedom” and the educational enterprise, we need to be in firm command of such facts, and not be solely concerned with the potential restrictions a boycott might place on us. Getting back to Judith Butler, these are precisely the “conditions” under which academic freedom is to be found, or not, in Gaza and the West Bank. In the face of persistent violations of human rights and international law, increased and relentless settlement building, and the attacks on BDS both within Israel and in Europe, Canada, the United States and elsewhere, we are facing a situation wherein, as 972 magazine puts it, there is no “legitimate” form of Palestinian resistance, even when it takes the shape and nature of nonviolent, legal resistance as in the BDS movement. And that is all the more reason why the academy should actively debate and discuss the academic boycott with the above kinds of information on hand, rather than hide behind safeguarding the privileges we enjoy at the expense of academic freedom for Palestinians. Particularly in the humanities, the contradiction produced as humanists
other adaptations due to the geographical isolation on the island of Hokkaido. Although there are no modern accounts of the Koropokkuru, the mystery remains. Did these Japanese Proto- Pygmies exist? Was there ever a race of ancient, miniature hominids that lived contemporaneously with human beings in Japan? If so, what could they have been? Were they a population of pygmy hominids or merely folkloric shadow creatures from another time? These are questions for which we have no answers at this point. Yet perhaps the answers are somewhere out there right now in the cold, expansive wilderness of Hokkaido. Share this: Twitter Facebook Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Pocket LinkedIn PrintPolice Minister Fikile Mbalula. File picture: Bongani Shilubane/ANA Parliament - Criminals in South Africa should relinquish their rights if Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has his way. "One of the things we have noticed in our country is that criminals have too many rights. My view is that you forfeited your rights to live as a full citizen from the moment you chose to be a crimial an practice criinality," Mbalula said during a media briefing on Tuesday, after the 2016/17 crime statistics were tabled in Parliament. The hard-talking minister, who previously ordered police to crush the balls of criminals and make them drink their urine, said communities complain on a daily basis that criminals are freed to easily after their arrest. Read: #CrimeStats: Surge in carjackings, house robberies Mbalula said failures in the entire criminal justice value chain was leading to criminals being "recycled" in communities. "I know we are a Constitutional country, not a banana republic but what is important is that we cut criminals to size with regard to their criminal records." According to the latest statistics, contact crimes were down 2.4 percent. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Criminals in South Africa have too many rights - Police Minister Fikile Mbalula. Video: Chantall Presence / ANA However, the rate of murder increased by 1.8 percent - with 52 people being killed a day - between April, 2016 and March 31 this year, while aggravated robbery was also up 6.4 percent - a cause for concern for Mbalula. Mbalula said the perception among South Africans was that police were not doing their jobs. That perception, he said would only be changed once there was stability at police management level and delivery at police station levels increased. The job of national police commissioner has been vacant since Riah Phiyega was suspended in 2015. The job of the permanent head of the specialised policing unit, the Hawks, is also vacant. Also read: #CrimeStats: Mbalula not impressed with 1.8% decrease in crime Mbalula bemoanded the fact that crime intelligence was weak, with the head of this unit also being vacant. The minister said his request for the South African National Defence Force being deployed to hot spots in the country was receiving consideration by the presidency. “We are responding to an alarming situation with regard to our communities where there are violent acts undertaken by violent criminals,” Mbalula said while defending his request while briefing MPs. “This is not a static, permanent stationing of the defence force to do police work. We looking at tactical deployments and them [SANDF] being led by South African Police Service.” To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said his request for the deployment of SA army members to crime hot spots is receiving consideration from the presidency. Video: Chantall Presence / ANA Mbalula said the decision to deploy will come from President Zuma. “The president will give us the go-ahead once he has actually cleared the matter with himself and people who advise him on the matter.” Mbalula said, if approved, the defence force would be deployed to hotspots in Gauteng, the Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal. The three provinces were among those who recorded the most number of murders. Gauteng, South Africa’s most heavily populated province, recorded 4,101 murders in the 2016/17 financial year, up 6.7 percent. KwaZulu-Natal police responded to 4,014 murders (up 2.2 percent), followed by the Eastern Cape with 3,628 murders (down 0.6 percent). The Western Cape recorded the fourth largest number of murders at 3,311 (up 2.7 percent), with gang related activities responsible for a large portion of the killings. African News AgencyCalifornia has now made the Top 10 list for governments with the highest probability of default — and the Golden State’s 20 percent default probability makes it a worse credit risk than Iceland and Iraq. For California muni bondholders, this number bears watching. However, many analysts say comparisons between default risks in California and other countries aren’t valid. "It's wacky," municipal debt analyst Jeffrey Cleveland at Payden & Rygel told Reuters. "Just look at the ratio of debt to state gross domestic product. It's 10 percent for California and somewhere between 104 percent and 150 percent for Greece." California's economy, at $1.845 trillion, dwarfs Greece's and on a standalone basis and would be the world's eighth-largest. It is the biggest borrower in the U.S. municipal market, which states and local governments use to fund roads, sewers and other infrastructure, The Business Insider reports. Munis, whose total returns have smartly outperformed U.S. Treasuries in the last half year, have also become increasingly attractive to foreign institutional investors since 2009's roll-out of Build America Bonds and their fatter taxable yields. And, unless Congress acts to keep the Bush tax cut on dividend income in place, dividend stock investors looking for a tax break may flood the muni market as well next year. “If Congress allows the 15 percent dividends tax expire, upper bracket taxpayers could see taxes on their dividend income go as high as 39.6 percent,” Robert J. DiQuollo, CFP, CPA, President of Brinton Eaton Wealth Advisors tells Newsmax. © 2019 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.This was an unintentionally death-themed gift exchange from my gifter, who I'll leave nameless unless she gives me permission. My first gift came with the message above because my second gift would be arriving late due to a shipping mishap. To pass the time, I got a gift card for my Kindle! I used the gift card to pick up The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which a friend recommended to me. I'm told it deals with the ever-present looming spectre of death that hovers above us all (and other light-hearted motifs). Second, my gifter gave me a special Walking Dead sticker. The picture shows the door on which I'm going to stick it, and I'm waiting until I have the free time to make sure I do it right. Thank you so much for the gifts! This has been my favorite gift exchange yet.General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien – The Hero of Le Cateau Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien was born in 1858 and was the 11th child of Col. Robert Smith-Dorrien of Haresfoot House, Berkhamsted. After education at Harrow and then military training at Sandhurst, he spent his entire career with the Sherwood Foresters (95th Foot) and commanded the 19th Brigade during the Boer War. At the start of the First World War, he was selected by Kitchener as successor to Lt. Gen. Sir James Grierson as commander of British Second (II) Corps. His finest hour came during the first few weeks of war when the British forces were retreating from Mons (25-26 August). Smith-Dorrien ignored Field Marshal French’s orders and made a stand at Le Cateau with the brief comment “Very, well, gentleman, we will fight”. This rear-guard action checked the German advance and saved the British Army. After the second battle at Ypres he again clashed with French and retired. In November 1915 he went to East Africa to direct operations there, but retired a year later through ill health. He was regarded as a man with a high sense of duty and an affection for those who served under him. As a general, his faults were that he was too kind and his comprehension of tactics did not rise above regimental level. He was made Governor of Gibraltar in 1918 until 1922 and died in a car crash at Chippenham in August 1930. By the Dacorum Heritage TrustCal Orcko, located three miles south of downtown Sucre in Bolivia, is home to the world’s largest and most diverse collection of dinosaur footprints from the Cretaceous era. The limestone cliff hosts around 5,000 dinosaur footprints dating back 68 million years. Discovered on the grounds of the local cement company, FANCESA in 1985, the cliff was closed off to tourists after mining conditions and erosion began damaging the area. After eight years of closures, tours started last year to allow visitors the opportunity to marvel at these historical footprints. From theParque Cretacico, which hosts a museum, dinosaur models, fossils, and paleontological information, you can take a guided, one-hour tour to select areas of the wondrous paleontological site. The tour starts in the Parque Cretacico, where you’re given a helmet as a safety requirement from the cement factory before going to the south part of the cliff, which hosts footprints of Theropods (carnivorous dinosaurs). Then, you’re taken through the cliff with your guide who explains the history behind the Sauropod (long-neck herbivores) footprints you’ll see. There are tracks from entire herds of Sauropods, ranging from 26 feet long to as long an impressive 65 feet. You’ll also get to peak at “under footprints”, the oldest layer of prints that date back 70 million years. The site contains the footprints of at least eight different species and stands as an ever-changing record of history in the Cretaceous era. As parts become eroded, new prints are continuously being found in the area, which is why the park has submitted Cal Orcko to the UNESCO world heritage list in an effort to continue preserving the footprints. There are two guided tours offered Monday through Saturday at noon and at 1 pm. Tours cost $US4.35. NOW WATCH: This is how big dinosaurs actually were in real life Business Insider Emails & Alerts Site highlights each day to your inbox. Email Address Join Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.The Israeli Army is boosting and regrouping its forces in the Golan Heights in light of ISIS terrorists overtaking more and more border areas, according to the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat and Lebanese media. A senior Israeli officer said that the army has regrouped and reinforced its forces in the Golan Heights after three divisions of insurgents operating near the Israeli and Jordanian borders in the southern Golan recently declared their loyalty to ISIS, the pan-Arab newspaper said. Militants with the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) were among those who recently switched allegiance to ISIS, according to Israel’s Ch. 2 News. The senior officer said the IDF muscle-flexing was intended to deter ISIS from hostile moves towards Israel, and that any show of weakness in the face of the terrorist organization’s advances could cost the lives of Israeli civilians. “Israel cannot stand by while red lines which endanger its security are being crossed,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon stated recently. “This year, we find ourselves facing radical Islamic terrorism, which lurks in every Middle Eastern corner, seeking to destroy us only for who we are. The relentless terrorism is activated by cruel organizations which are not picky about their methods, and will do everything to try and sabotage our existence here in Israel.” To that end, the Israeli army’s Combat Intelligence Collection Corps “Vulture” battalion held week-long maneuvers in the Golan Heights in late Nov., over concerns that Syria’s internal carnage could involve Israel. The army, anxiously following events on the other side of the hostile border, held the exercise in light of six months of sporadic cross-border gunfire, mortar shelling and two foiled infiltrations by hostile aircraft – one an armed bomber on a run against rebel forces close to Israeli territory. In a telephone call between Ya’alon and outgoing US Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel on Dec. 12th, the sides discussed “efforts by the United States and the coalition partners to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and they reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-Israel security relationship,” according to the Defense Department. Meanwhile, Lebanon-based NOW Media recently reported that that country’s military forces are bracing for an ISIS onslaught via Mt. Qalamoun to attack units of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group which are aligned with the forces of Syria’s Assad. “Al-Nusra Front and ISIS’s plan warns of a black winter and bad days ahead in Baalbek and Hermel,” sources told the outlet, referring to two threatened border areas. Both terrorist groups have clashed repeatedly in recent months, in attempts to wrestle control of the strategic hilltop which overlooks Lebanese territory, as well as in several other areas along the border between the two countries. 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Geodesics on the Torus and other Surfaces of Revolution Clarified Using Undergraduate Physics Tricks with Bonus: Nonrelativistic and Relativistic Kepler Problems, 2010. Jenny H. Cymatics: A Study of Wave Phenomena and Vibration. A complete compilation of the original two volumes by Hans Jenny, 1967 and 1974. Jibu M, Yasue K. Quantum Brain Dynamics: An Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1995. John ER. A field theory of consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition 2001; 10:184-213. Johnson K“Water Buckyball” Terahertz Vibrations in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Cosmology. 2009; https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0902/0902.2035.pdf Kang KS, Min Hong J, Kang JA, Jong-Won Rhie, Dong-Woo Cho. Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Can Be Accelerated by Controlling the Frequency of Continuous Ultrasound, Exp Mol Med. 2013; 45(1): e6. Kauffman S. Is There A 'Poised Realm' Between the Quantum and Classical Worlds? Cosmos and culture, 2010. Keppler JA. A new perspective on the functioning of the brain and the mechanisms behind conscious processes Frontiers in Psychology. Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 2013; 1-6. Keppler JA. Conceptual framework for consciousness based on a deep understanding of matter. Philos. Study 2012; 2: 689–703. Knierim JJ, Zhang K. Attractor Dynamics of Spatially Correlated Neural Activity in the Limbic System, 10.1146/Ann. Rev. Neurol.2012; 062111-150351. Kolesnikov A.I, Reiter G F, Choudhury N, Prisk T R, Mamontov E, Podlesnyak A, Ehlers G, Seel A G, Wesolowski D J, and Anovitz L M. Quantum Tunneling of Water in Beryl: A New State of the Water Molecule. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2016; 116, 167802 Kozyrev NA. On the Potential for Experimental Investigation of the Properties of Time, 1971. Kriegl JM, Niehaus GU. Structural, dynamic, and energetic aspects of long-range electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centres. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences 2004; USA 1: 12312-12318. 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it in another way- and as we get more experience, a lot of people think that while I roll up I can make a right turn on red. I don't have to stop. That is not how the law is written. You have to make that complete stop and that's for everybody's safety," Sulewski said. Sulewski said controlling your speed is number one because that reduces the chance of running a red light and risking the chance of crashing. "When we review the citations, if the person makes a stop and they yield to any pedestrian in the crosswalk or any traffic that's crossing that has the right of way, we will reject that incident right away and it will not go out as a citation," he said. According to Toledo Police, they have 44 fixed red light cameras around the city of Toledo and the cameras have helped in reducing the number of crashes around the city.Mysterious markings on Japanese kamikaze flying bomb baffle museum experts as they examine rare model which has hung from rafters for decades Ohka 2 plane was captured in the Pacific and ended up on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovil When it was being restored experts found undecipherable Japanese codes Curators want experts to help them work out what the symbols mean A museum is appealing for experts to help them decipher mysterious codes written on the side of a World War Two kamikaze plane. The Japanese 'Ohka 2' aircraft, captured in the Pacific 70 years ago, has been hanging in the rafters of an air museum for more than three decades. But when it was taken down and inspected more closely, curators found two sets of symbols etched on to the side of the plane, which was intended to be used by a suicide pilot as a flying bomb. Antique: This Ohka 2 kamikaze plane from World War Two is being restored at the Fleet Air Arm Museum Mystery: Curators are appealing for experts to decipher these faded symbols on the aircraft hatch One of the messages is found on the hatch cover, which would have held more than a ton of explosive material, while the other is on the left side of the plane. Both appear to combine Japanese symbols with other markings whose significance is unknown. Staff at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovil, Somerset are now hoping that an expert will come forward who can explain the meaning of the writing. Ohka 2 aircraft, which were used by the Japanese military towards the end of the war, were deployed on kamikaze missions which killed thousands of Allied sailors. Display: The plane has been hanging from the rafters of the museum in Yeovil, Somerset for three decades Bizarre: The drawings are a combination of Japanese characters and mysterious marks Insignia: The plane is also emblazoned with a cherry blossom, which gives the aircraft its name They were fixed to the underside of bomber planes, before being flown up to a height of 12,000ft and released. The vessels would be piloted by suicide pilots, who aimed for Allied ships and would inevitably die on impact. They could travel unaided for 21 miles, reaching a maximum speed of 475mph. Only 800 of the aircraft were ever made. The name of the plane means 'cherry blossom' in Japanese, and a picture of the flower is painted on its side along with the mysterious symbols. In action: A photograph of the Ohka flying bomb when it was in use during World War Two Crashed: An Ohka plane captured in Okinawa after failing to hit its Allied military target The model held by the Fleet Air Arm Museum is believed to have been captured by Allied troops in the Pacific. It is owned by the Science Museum in London, which lent it to the Fleet Air Arm Museum in 1982. 'It is chilling to look through the cockpit window of this piloted rocket and through the ringed sight,' said Jon Jefferies of the the Fleet Air Arm Museum. 'There's a grab handle fixed to the inner wall of the cockpit as acceleration generated by the three solid fuel rockets would have been incredible.' The aircraft is set to undergo a forensic restoration, with layers of paint being stripped off to reveal its original colour and markings. TERRIFYING SUICIDE MISSIONS WHICH SAW 4,000 JAPANESE PILOTS DIE Fearsome: A group of suicide pilots waiting to be dispatched on their deadly final missions Kamikaze missions are notorious due to the fanatical devotion shown by Japanese suicide pilots over the last few months of World War Two. The pilots would fly in planes packed full of explosives and direct them into Allied ships in a bid to cripple the war effort in the Pacific theatre. Thousands of Allied sailors were killed in the attacks, which continued until the end of the war in September 1945, according to experts. The advantage of kamikaze attacks was that planes being piloted right up to the moment of impact were able to hit their targets more accurately than bombs dropped from a height. To begin with, the air force simply used conventional planes fitted with explosives, but they soon developed purpose-built aircraft such as the Ohka 2. Nearly 4,000 Japanese pilots lost their lives in the missions, but the death toll was considered acceptable because of the huge damage they could do by taking out large ships. However, fewer than 15 per cent of kamikaze attacks are thought to have been successful, with the vast majority missing their targets. Attack: A kamikaze mission on the USS Enterprise carried out in May 1945Spinach White Bean Enchiladas with Pepper Jack Sauce Someone emailed me recently and said that they use white beans in place of chicken in recipes and I was like, “Wait, whoa, why haven’t I done that?” I use black beans and lentils in place of beef all the time, but for some reason it never occurred to me to use white beans in place of chicken. Well, today I tried it with these Spinach White Bean Enchiladas and it was AWESOME. (And yes, you can totally replace the white beans with about 1.5 cups of cooked chopped chicken for a meat version, if you prefer). Goes well with: Cilantro Lime Rice, Easy Taco Rice, Warm Corn and Avocado Salad, or Cumin Lime Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Spinach White Bean Enchiladas with Pepper Jack Sauce Keep it Simple The filling for these enchiladas is super simple, with just some chopped spinach, white beans, creamy pepper jack, salt, pepper, and cumin. But thanks to all those colorful flecks of crushed peppers in the pepper jack, they’re not lacking in flavor. Just to make sure these enchiladas were top notch, I drenched the them in a super rich pepper jack sauce. I’m absolutely loving these creamy white enchiladas! If you happen to find avocados on sale, I think adding a few slices to the top of these Spinach White Bean Enchiladas would be amazing. Print Recipe 4.9 from 55 votes Spinach White Bean Enchiladas with Pepper Jack Sauce White beans make an inexpensive and fiber filled alternative to chicken in these creamy Spinach White Spinach White Bean Enchiladas. Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 50 mins Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Servings: 4 Author: Beth M Ingredients 12 6-inch corn tortillas ($1.10) 4 oz pepper jack cheese ($1.00) 1/2 lb frozen chopped spinach ($0.85) 15 oz can white beans* ($1.00) 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02) 1/2 tsp cumin ($0.05) 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02) Freshly cracked pepper ($0.02) Handful fresh chopped cilantro for garnish (optional) ($0.13) PEPPER JACK SAUCE 1 Tbsp butter ($0.14) 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08) 4 oz cream cheese ($1.00) 3/4 cup whole milk ($0.29) 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02) 4 oz pepper jack cheese ($1.00) Instructions Toast the tortillas on each side in a dry skillet over medium-low heat until they are a slightly stiff and have browned just a bit on the edges. Stack them on a plate until ready to use. Toasting the tortillas increases the flavor and helps prevent them from cracking. Shred an 8oz. block of pepper jack cheese. Half will be used for the enchilada filling and half will be used for the sauce. Defrost the frozen spinach in a microwave or take it out of the freezer before beginning to allow it time to defrost naturally. Squeeze as much moisture out of the thawed spinach as possible. Place the spinach in a large bowl. Rinse and drain the white beans, then add them to the bowl with the spinach. Also add 4oz. of the shredded cheese, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and a little freshly cracked pepper. Stir until the mixture is evenly combined. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Begin preparing the pepper jack sauce by adding the butter and minced garlic to a small sauce pot. Sauté the garlic in the butter for one minute over medium heat. Add the milk and cream cheese to the pot. Stir and heat until the cream cheese has fully melted into the milk and the mixture has thickened slightly. Season with salt. Begin adding the remaining shredded pepper jack, a handful at a time, and stirring it in until fully melted before adding more. Once all the cheese has been melted into the sauce, turn the heat off and allow it to cool slightly. Coat the inside of a casserole dish with non-stick spray. Begin filling the toasted tortillas with the spinach and white bean mixture and rolling them closed. Line up the filled tortillas in the casserole dish, seam sides facing down. Choose a casserole dish that fits 12 of the rolled enchiladas snugly to help keep them from unrolling. Once the tortillas are filled and in the casserole dish, pour the pepper jack sauce over top. Bake the enchiladas in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the edges of the tortillas are brown and the pepper jack sauce is thick and browned on the edges. Sprinkle chopped cilantro over top, if desired. Notes *Preferably cannellini or great northern beans. Tried this recipe? Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram! Step by Step Photos Begin by slightly toasting 12 6-inch corn tortillas in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Toasting gives them a nuttier flavor and helps strengthen them a bit so they aren’t as likely to crack when rolled. You want to toast them just until they’re a little more stiff, but still pliable enough to roll. Stack them on a plate as they come out of the skillet and set them aside. Shred an entire 8oz. block of pepper jack cheese. Half will be used in the filling of the enchiladas and half will be used for the sauce. Thaw 1/2 lb. of frozen spinach (microwave or let sit at room temperature). I suggest getting “cut spinach” or “chopped spinach” so that you don’t have long strings of spinach leaves in your enchiladas. Once thawed, squeeze out as much water as possible from the spinach and place it in a large bowl. Rinse and drain one 15oz. can white beans and add them to the bowl along with 4oz. of the shredded cheese, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Stir the mixture until everything is evenly mixed. Set the mixture aside. Begin preheating the oven to 350ºF. To start the pepper jack sauce, add 1 Tbsp butter and one minced clove of garlic to a small sauce pot. Sauté the garlic in the butter over medium heat for one minute to soften it up. Add 3/4 cup whole milk and 4oz. cream cheese to the pot. Stir or whisk until the cream cheese melts into the milk and thickens it slightly. Stir in 1/4 tsp salt. Once the cream cheese has melted in, begin adding the remaining 4oz. of shredded pepper jack, one handful at a time. Whisk in each handful until it is fully melted before adding more. Once all the cheese has been incorporated into the sauce, turn the heat off and let the sauce cool slightly while you assemble the enchiladas. Begin filling the tortillas with the spinach and white bean mixture, rolling them up, and then placing them in a casserole dish coated with non-stick spray. I had enough filling for 12 enchiladas, but I chose a dish that was slightly too small, so I only made 10 (if you have leftover filling, you can make quick quesadillas with it in a skillet!). Make sure your enchiladas are in the dish with the seams facing down and that they fit snuggly together. Pour the pepper jack sauce over the enchiladas. I like to pour it down the center and let some of the tortillas stay exposed on the sides. This gets them extra toasty and delicious. Finally, bake the enchiladas in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the tortillas are brown and crispy on the edges and the pepper jack sauce has thickened and browned around the edges. Top the enchiladas with chopped cilantro for garnish, if desired. Creamy heaven! Dig in!ADDRESS: We broadcast live every event @ www.twitch.tv/hitboxarena like us @ follow us @ visit us @ Also, please feel free tolike us @ www.facebook.com/HitboxArena follow us @ www.twitter.com/hitboxarena visit us @ www.hitboxarena.com ENTRY: SCHEDULE: RULES (Melee): Hope to see everyone there! Melee on Mondays is dedicated to the Melee player in all of us. One of Hitbox Arena's most successful weekly Smash events, it joins the ranks of Smash 4 Wars on Tues, PM in the PM on Wed, Pass the Salt on Sat and our NEW House of Smash on Sun.Also, prior to the start of the tournament, we offer a Smash Class for players seeking improvement in Melee, Brawl, Project M and Smash 4..don't be late to class!25 Kinnelon RoadKinnelon, NJ 07405---Currently, we have 12 full CRT Melee/PM setups and 12 Wii U set-ups for Smash 4.When you come to Hitbox Arena, you need only bring your controller!---Friendlies only: $5 (included with venue fee)Venue fee: $5Melee singles: $5PRIZES:1st: 60%2nd: 30%3rd: 10%100% of the entry fees goes to the prize pool and is paid out to the players. In the event that there are under 10 entrants, the payout will instead be 70/30 between 1st and 2nd. if there are 32 entrants or more we payout to top 4 placers---Doors open: 6 PM (friendlies)Melee singles: 7:30 PMMelee doubles: if there are enough interested, will commence after singles concludes---4 stock, 8 minute time limitAll items set to off and noneEither player may call for a double blind character selection for the first match.Controller ports are decided by rock paper scissors if no agreement is reached.If the game is paused, the player who did not pause the game may choose to make the player who paused the game lose a stock. Gameplay resumes normally afterward.Quitting out of a match before it is over will result in a loss for the player who quit.If time runs out, the player who is winning by stock and percent is declared the victor. In the case of a stock and percent tie, a 1 stock 3 minute match will be played with the same characters and stage.Controllers with performance-enhancing modifications such as turbo buttons are not allowed. Modifications that do not explicitly alter performance, such as swapped analog sticks or springless shoulder buttons, are allowed.In the event of a game crash or power outage, the set count remains the same as prior to the crash, and the match that was being played is restarted with the same characters and stage. If a player intentionally initiates a game crash via glitch, he/she takes a game loss.Mid-match coaching is allowed if both players have only one coach each. Pre-match coaching or consultation is unrestricted.----1. Prior to the first game of the set, players take turns striking starter stages (in a 1-2-2-1 fashion) until one stage remains. Game 1 is played on that stage.2. At the end of game 1, the winner announces their stage ban for the set. Neither player can choose that stage for the remainder of the set.3. The loser announces their counterpick stage.4. The winner announces their character for the next match, but does not have to switch.5. The loser announces their character for the next match.6. The match is played.Steps 3-5 repeat until one player has won two games, three in winners/losers/grand finals). There are no stage bans in best of 5 sets.-Battlefield-Final Destination-Yoshi's Story-Fountain of Dreams (singles only)-Dream Land 64-Pokemon Stadium----Hello, We have a bug, which in some cases is causing setup to download all available language packs during the installation of Builds 10041 and 10049. We believe this is the cause of both of these issues. It may also result in a few unexpected folders appearing on your desktop or in File Explorer. If you’re blocked from installing the latest build because you don’t have enough disk space, you’ll want to free up 2.5 GB of space to resolve the issue. If you want to reclaim the extra disk space from the language packs after installing the latest build: Open a command prompt as an administrator Bring up the interface for uninstalling language packs by typing the following command and press Enter: Lpksetup /u 3. Select the language packs you want to uninstall. Thanks and regards,Is it too late to give a Pulitzer to Murk Avenue's Donovan Strain? Because if figuring out the exact day on which Ice Cube had a good day (as described in his 1993 classic "It Was a Good Day") isn't Pulitzer-worthy, I don't know what is. Strain's intense investigation into Cube's good day mostly focused on the track's lyrics: he knew, for example, that the good day had to come between August 6th, 1988 (the first airdate of Yo! MTV Raps, which Cube watches with Short Dog) and February 23, 1993, when the song was released. He further narrowed it down by finding days when the Lakers beat the Super Sonics, further filtered by "clear days with no smog" and the time period in which beepers were available to the public. The results: The ONLY day where: Yo MTV Raps was on air It was a clear and smogless day Beepers were commercially sold Lakers beat the SuperSonics and Ice Cube had no events to attend was… JANUARY 20 1992 There you have it, folks. We only wish we'd known in time for the 20th anniversary. Update: Our cousins at Deadspin are fact-checking Strain's work and have found some (possible) discrepancies. Nothing convincing so far, but we'll update if there's trouble. [Murk Avenue]After marathon talks to secure third bailout, Greek prime minister prepares for showdown with MPs opposed to deal described as harsher than Versailles treaty Greece bailout agreement: key points Read more Alexis Tsipras is heading for a showdown with his own party and opposition MPs after the Greek prime minister accepted a third bailout programme that will bring further austerity to the debt-stricken country. Tsipras, who was locked in fraught negotiations with EU leaders in Brussels throughout Sunday and Monday morning, convened a meeting of government officials in Athens to thrash out a way to convince his radical-leftist Syriza party and its coalition partner to vote through the package by Wednesday. Determined to keep his party together ahead of an expected onslaught by MPs opposing the outline deal, Tsipras summoned his finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, and Nikos Filis, representative of the Syriza parliamentary group, to the Athens meeting, before a gathering of his parliamentary party on Tuesday. Efforts to win the vote in the national parliament came after Tsipras and Greece’s creditors agreed on the basis for talks on a bailout that will keep the country in the eurozone. After the marathon talks, spread over a tense weekend, a breakthrough came early on Monday morning. Donald Tusk, president of the European council, announced that the 19 leaders of the eurozone had unanimously reached agreement. He said they were “all ready to go” on a new programme for Greece under the eurozone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, adding that Athens had signed up to “serious reforms”. European council president Donald Tusk announces the new austerity deal with Greece But the hard-fought political deal is only the start of yet another round of talks to hammer out the technical details of a bailout plan that could be worth up to €86bn (£62bn) for Greece. To get these desperately needed funds, Tsipras had to submit to draconian economic reforms that the Greek people rejected in a referendum barely a week before. Greece promised to pass laws introducing controversial economic reforms by Wednesday. These include reforming the VAT system, overhauling pensions and signing up to plans that ensure immediate spending cuts in the event of breaching creditor-mandated budget targets. Athens has agreed to sell off state assets worth €50bn, with the proceeds earmarked for a trust fund supervised by its creditors. Half the fund will be used to recapitalise Greek banks, while the remaining €25bn will pay down Greek debts. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Three-minute analysis with Jonathan Freedland and Larry Elliott Tsipras did manage to win a concession that the fund should be managed from Greece, not Luxembourg, as envisaged in a German plan, but the rules will be drawn up by Greece’s creditors – the troika that Tsipras vowed to throw off, but only succeeded in renaming as “the institutions”. These institutions – the European commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank – have asked Athens to come up with a plan to “de-politicise” its civil service by next Monday. In another humiliating climbdown, Athens could be forced to reverse measures it passed upon assuming power that are deemed to run counter to the bailout philosophy. Potentially, this could mean firing the government cleaners that Syriza rehired with such fanfare. Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize-winning economist and prominent critic of austerity in Greece, said the creditors’ demands on Greece “went beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, [leading to the] complete destruction of national sovereignty [with] no hope of relief”. “It’s a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for,” he wrote several hours before the final deal emerged. As the talks dragged on through Monday night, #ThisIsaCoup became the top trending topic on Twitter in Greece, Germany, the UK and Ireland. Echoing a widespread view on social media, one financial analyst claimed the deal was worse than the 1919 Treaty of Versailles that crushed Weimar Germany with debt and paved the way for the second world war. Marc Ostwald, of ADM Investor Services, argued that the eurozone creditor countries wanted “to completely destroy Greece”. Asked about the Versailles analogy, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said: “I never make historical comparisons.” She said that the Greek programme was “nothing special”, apart from the sums of money involved, and in line with other bailout schemes devised for Spain and Portugal. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, rejected criticism that Greece’s creditors had been too harsh. “I don’t think that the Greek people have been humiliated and I don’t think the other Europeans were losing their face. It’s a typical European arrangement.” While recriminations continue to swirl, Greece urgently needs cash to stave off bankruptcy. Athens has to find €12bn by the end of the month. Eurozone finance ministers, who have been stuck on a loop of emergency meetings for three and a half weeks, reconvened in Brussels on Monday afternoon to discuss emergency bridge finance to tide over the Greek government while further talks on the €86bn bailout grind on. Although EU leaders trumpeted the avoidance of Grexit, in the communique they made it clear that the deal could still unravel. “The risks of not concluding swiftly the negotiations remain fully with Greece,” it said. Greece’s parliament is still expected to push through the controversial reform package by Wednesday, despite internal pressure on Tsipras, which will pave the way for parliaments in other eurozone members to ratify the agreement. The Bundestag and Finnish parliament are among several legislatures that must approve eurozone bailout programmes. Finland is expected to reject any further bailout for Greece to avoid a schism that could topple its two-month-old government.Erdogan had sought a court order to stop the Axel Springer media group's chief Mathias Döpfner from repeating support for a TV satirist who insulted the Turkish leader in a now infamous'smear poem.' After failing to get an injunction from a lower court last month, Erdogan also lost an appeal before the higher regional court in the western German city of Cologne. The judges said they considered Döpfner's letter of support "a permissible expression of opinion as protected under Article 5" of Germany's constitution, the court said in a statement. Erdogan could still seek recourse before Germany's top tribunal, the Federal Constitutional Court. The legal action came after Döpfner published in April an open letter in one of the Springer group's newspapers, in which he backed Jan Böhmermann - the satirist who in a poem accused Erdogan of bestiality and watching child pornography. Böhmermann's recital of his so-called "Defamatory Poem" on national television in late March sparked a diplomatic firestorm and a row over freedom of expression. During the broadcast Boehmermann gleefully admitted his poem flouted Germany's legal limits to free speech and was intended as a provocation. In his letter, Döpfner took the comedian's side, declaring: "For me, your poem worked. I laughed out loud." In a controversial move, Chancellor Angela Merkel authorised criminal proceedings against the comedian after Turkey requested he be prosecuted for defamation. The higher regional court stressed Tuesday that its ruling in favour of Döpfner had no bearing on the other case still pending. Erdogan has come in for fierce Western criticism of late over his increasingly authoritarian rule, just as the European Union has turned to Turkey to help stem the influx of asylum seekers from Middle East war zones.Watch the First Trailer for The CW's Frequency TV Show We were dubious of a remake of the 2000 Jim Caviezel/Dennis Quaid movie, Frequency, but the first trailer is here, and it actually looks pretty good: The series stars The Flash's Peyton List as Raimy Sullivan, a detective who discovers she can speak to her deceased father over a radio (why she's still using a radio in 2016 is unclear, but we'll blow past that). She ends up preventing his death, and butterfly effect hijinks ensue, leading her to enlist his help on a murder case. From the trailer, it seems to pretty much follow the exact same plotline as the film, except with a gender-swapped lead (which is great), and it seems decent, if sometimes a little silly. I would also hope that it has a more sustainable premise, although it seems like a bad idea to make this into a full-blown procedural, as that could get tired very quickly. But, The CW has been on a roll lately, so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Frequency will air this fall at 9pm on Wednesdays, right after Arrow.Lynched in India A Timeline of Lynching Cases in India since 2014 24, Jul 2018 \| CJP Team The recent lynching Akbar Khan (alias Rakbar) in Alwar, shows how instances of lynching have not abated in 2018. In fact there has been an increase in the spate of violence against minorities and oppressed sections of society over the last three years. ‘Lynching’ has become common and most victims and survivors are either Muslim or Dalit. Here is a timeline of lynching incidents including those of Mohammed Akhlaq, Alimuddin Ansari and Pehlu Khan. This timeline was first published on December 29, 2017. We keep updating new instances and republishing the timeline from time to time. Related stories: Victims of Gautankwad: Pehlu Khan The Murder of Pehlu Khan Victims of Gautankwad: Alimuddin Ansari What’s Behind India’s Lynch Attacks Muslim Cattle Traders Attacked and Hung in Jharkhand Bombay HC cites Muslim Man’s religion as provocationAustralian researchers have crossed a modern wheat variety with a wild ancestral cousin to produce a high-yielding salt-tolerant plant that will help tackle world food shortages due to soil salinity. Matthew Gilliham, of the University of Adelaide, said the new variety of durum wheat would be made freely available to publicly funded breeding programs overseas. Field trials in Moree and at other sites across southern Australia have shown that the new variety has a grain yield in salty soil of up to 25 per cent higher than that of the standard variety. Dr Gilliham said that this was the first study in the world to demonstrate on a farm, not just in the laboratory or greenhouse, that a new salt-tolerant wheat had improved yield. “This is why this work is particularly important, we think,” he said. The results of the fifteen years of efforts are published in the Nature Biotechnology journal today. The team first identified a gene in an ancestral salt-tolerant relative of commercial durum wheat that removes sodium from water as it is transported from the roots to the leaves. Gilliham said when salt accumulates under in the leaves of wheat, it becomes toxic and reduces the plant yield. “We have identified a gene from an ancestor of modern wheat that when inserted into a modern commercial variety of wheat improves its salinity tolerance in the field in terms of grain yield by up to 25 per cent…This gene functions by preventing the salt from the soil getting up into the leaves of the plant,” he said. Dr Gilliham said their challenge was then to develop a new cross-breed which had this gene, without reducing the crop yield. Field tests showed the new hybrid performed the same under normal conditions as the commercial wheat without the gene, but outperformed it under salty conditions. Team member Rana Munns, of CSIRO, said salinity, which affected more than 20 per cent of the world's agricultural soils, posed an increasing threat to food production due to climate change. “It's currently estimated that about 69 per cent of the Australian wheat belt is affected by salinity, and currently about 11 per cent of the total agricultural land in Australia is affected by salinity,” Gilliham said. “This figure is predicted to rise to about 34 per cent in the next 38 years due to the affects of climate change. Salinity is also a problem in many areas of the world that have a similar climate to Australia,” he said. But salinity can also be a problem in irrigated agriculture - which produces about 30 per cent of the world's food needs - if crops are irrigated with water that contains salt. “With global population estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050, and the demand for food expected to rise by 100 per cent in this time, salt-tolerant crops will be an important tool to ensure future food security,” Gilliham said. A new variety of bread-making wheat with the salt tolerance gene is also being developed by the team. “The potential gains for bread wheat will hopefully also be significant,” Dr Gilliham said. “Obviously bread wheat is a much larger crop than durum wheat. The great thing about improving the salinity tolerance of durum wheat - certainly for Australian farmers - is that there is a premium for durum wheat,” Durum wheat is used to make pasta and couscous. He said durum wheat has already entered breeding programs and he hopes a commercially available wheat will be available in under five years. “Now we've identified the gene we can also use GM technologies to transfer this gene across to other species as well,” he said. “So this may improve not only the salinity tolerance of wheat but also of other crop plants.” The research has had support from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, the Australian Research Council and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.ALONGSIDE President Rodrigo Duterte’s promise of change came a change in the country’s relations with some other countries as well—particularly the United States, China and Russia. Several weeks after his inauguration, the President declared he wanted to pursue an independent foreign policy, independent from the long-held tradition of gravitating to the United States, the country’s one-time colonial master. Hating Obama He said he wanted to veer the Philippines away from the United States and pivot instead to China and Russia, both demonized by the U.S. media at the height of the communist scare in the 1960s. He was cheered and jeered for the statement, depending on who’s talking. Duterte, amply articulated by his alter egos, would however later admit that he only felt insulted after the U.S. President Barack Obama publicly called his attention on the killings of hundreds of suspected drug users and pushers last year. U.S. atrocities And he would hurl insults at Obama even long after America’s first black President left the White House. On one occasion, Duterte brought up the Bud Dajo massacre, an episode in Philippine history well remembered for the slaughter of Moros by American soldiers in Mindanao in the 1900s, to demonstrate the U.S.’s own human rights record. He later showed a picture of dead Moros to illustrate how atrocious the Americans carried out what it called “pacification” campaigns in the country. Pivot to China He also said he wanted American troops out of Mindanao, signaling an end to the joint PH-U.S. military exercises in Mindanao. All this time, the President tried to revitalize the country’s relations with China, which turned sour during the Aquino administration, and Russia, the U.S.’s long-time Cold War nemesis. Breaking tradition that began during the Commonwealth period of a newly–elected Philippine president to visit the U.S. first, Duterte flew to China. The China visit, according to Palace publicists, yielded US$24 billion in deals and projects that could generate at least two million jobs in the next five years, although some of the deals came under fire owing to the controversies surrounding some of the partner Chinese firms. China also lifted its travel advisory against the Philippines and restrictions on Philippine fruit exports. Reports of Filipino fishermen getting harassed by China at Scarborough Shoal subsided. The price to pay But all these seemed to have come at a price. At Manila’s hosting of the ASEAN summit in May, the Chairman’s Statement failed to cite any reference at all to the Philippine victory in the arbitral court that junked China’s sweeping claim over the South China Sea. It also dropped any mention of China’s land reclamation or respect for international law. And that was bothersome, if not outright dangerous, according to lawyer Jay Batongbacal, a maritime law expert, and China-Southeast Asia relations expert Aileen Baviera of the UP Asian Center. When ties hurt Because the Philippines didn’t want to antagonize China, Batongbacal said, it couldn’t complain about it. “Hindi tayo masyadong umiimik, nagawa nila ang gusto nilang gawin… Kaya doon kumbaga talo tayo. Kung panalo man tayo sa independent foreign policy, talo tayo pagdating sa pagdepensa sa ating mga karapatan sa West Philippine Sea,” he said. Philippine credibility Not raising the Philippines’ maritime issues against China has affected the country’s credibility, said Baviera. “Dahil doon sa posisyon ng president, ayaw niyang itulak yang arbitration sa ngayon, nagtataka tuloy ang ibang mga partners na dati namang sumusuporta, para sa kanila binigay mo na nga sa Pilipinas yung arbitration award, panalo na nga diyan, kung hindi sila magtutulak niyan, sino? Sino tayo para magpakita ng suporta sa Pilipinas kung sila mismo hindi nila tinitignan na urgent yung pag-handle ng issue na yan,” she said. Right time “Although ang sinasabi naman ng Presidente, hindi naman niya binibitiwan yan, naghahanap lang siya ng siguro tamang pagkakataon, timing, o yung conditions na magandang ilabas yan. So ‘yun yung kumbaga sa credibility ng Pilipinas, sa mata ng ibang mga suporters natin, sa China na rin.” So when is the right time to raise the issue? Baviera asked. “Kung hindi natin to gagamitin ngayon, dadating ba ang tamang conditions, tamang oras na pag-usapan siya lalo na sa sitwasyon na lalong lumalakas ang China?” Duterte tried raising the ruling in a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping but China allegedly responded with a threat of war. “Sinabi ko talaga harap-harapan, that is ours and we intend to drill oil there,” Duterte said in a speech in May. “My view is I can drill the oil. He told me, ‘We do not want to quarrel with you. We would want to maintain the present warm relationship. But if you force the issue, we will go to war.” Baviera said the issue couldn’t be resolved easily and may take a while, pointing out unresolved matters over ownership. For now, she urged the Philippines to boost its capability not to wage war but patrol its waters and develop a strategy in dealing with China. “Pwede kang magkaroon ng mas mahabang panahon na palakasin pa ang capacity
boom that made the neighborhood one of the city’s most desirable for businesses and residents. “I’m betting the same thing is going to happen in Hazelwood. It’s an up-and-coming area,” Moreau said. More than $1 billion in development is planned at Hazelwood’s former LTV coke works site along the Monongahela River, including 2,700 housing units and 2 million square feet of office and light-industrial space, including room for research and development. Other projects in the works include efforts to revitalize blighted sections of Second Avenue and to redevelop the former Gladstone Middle School on Hazelwood Avenue, along with the area surrounding it. The La Gourmandine bakery, scheduled to open in September, would be in the former Dimperio’s Market location, which closed in 2009. The nonprofit ACTION-Housing Inc. tried to recruit several businesses to the building between Tecumseh and Tipton streets. “We’re excited for the Hazelwood community. We think this is a great location for the expansion of La Gourmandine, and it’s great to bring back fresh food to the commercial district,” said Linda Metropulos, ACTION-Housing’s acting deputy director. Moreau said his goal “is not to have a luxury shop but a place where people can stop every day,” noting breakfast pastries will start at $1.50, coffee will be more affordable than a typical coffee shop, and La Gourmandine’s prices on bread such as homemade baguettes will beat Giant Eagle’s. Some higher-end pastries will cost more because they require expensive ingredients, he said. Moreau said the Hazelwood location will include a production facility in addition to the retail space. Tom Fontaine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7847 or tfontaine@tribweb.com. Tom Fontaine is a Tribune-Review staff reporter. You can contact Tom at 412-320-7847, tfontaine@tribweb.com or via Twitter.Stringer / AFP \| Opposition Social Democrats leader Zoran Zaev bleeds after being injured after protesters stormed Macedonia's parliament in Skopje on April 27, 2017. Scores of protesters, many wearing masks, broke through a police cordon and entered Macedonia's parliament late Thursday, attacking lawmakers to protest the election of a new speaker despite a months-long deadlock in talks to form a new government. ADVERTISING Read more The protesters stormed parliament after the country's opposition Social Democrats and parties representing Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority voted for a new speaker. Shouting and throwing chairs, the protesters attacked lawmakers, including opposition leader Zoran Zaev, who television footage showed bleeding from the forehead. Television footage showed Zaev and other Social Democrat lawmakers surrounded by protesters waving national flags, shouting "traitors" and refusing to allow them to leave. Macedonia has been without a government since December, when former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's conservative party won elections, but without enough votes to form a government. Women scream as thugs push and shove journalists, swing tripods, throw chairs at opposition leaders. Macedonia parliament tonight via Makfax pic.twitter.com/gXrdVnMunz — David Vujanovic (@DavidVujanovic) 27 avril 2017 Coalition talks broke down over ethnic Albanian demands that Albanian be recognized as an official second language. One-fourth of Macedonia's population is ethnic Albanian. Zaev has been seeking a mandate to form a government for months, after reaching an agreement with an ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, to form a coalition government. However, President Gjorge Ivanov refused to hand him the mandate. The Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, as the Balkan nation's parliament is known, has been deadlocked for three weeks over electing a new speaker. Zaev had suggested earlier Thursday that one could be elected outside normal procedures, an idea immediately rejected by the conservative party as an attempted coup. Zaev went ahead with the vote, and a majority in parliament elected Talat Xhaferi, a former defense minister and member of the Democratic Union for Integration. Police said about 10 officers were injured during the melee and that reinforcements have been sent to assist those inside the parliament building. DUI party spokesman Artan Grubi told Telma TV in a telephone interview that Zaev and three other lawmakers had been injured. "This is a sad day for Macedonia," Grubi said. The protesters who stormed parliament Thursday night were among a group of demonstrators who have been holding protest rallies nightly for the past two months in the streets of Skopje and other cities in the country over the political situation. Many are supporters of Gruevski. European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn condemned Thursday's violence, saying in a tweet that "Violence has NO place in Parliament. Democracy must run its course." Sweden's ambassador to Macedonia, Mats Staffansson, speaking on behalf of other European diplomats, reminded the country's politicians of the need for dialogue and said "it is the responsibility of the police of this country to make sure that this kind of violence does not happen." (AP)On Rubies (Part 2 of 4) From here on, I’ll be delving into some character analysis and speculation for the Rubies we’ve seen in the show. I have an analysis on what I believe Rubies’ roles were on Homeworld here (Part 1) and I’ll be writing with that in mind, but it’s not necessary to read before the next few posts. With that said, the names I’m using for the Rubies come from this post by Rebecca Sugar where apparently Steven names the Rubies (and it’s just adorable). We know old Homeworld was really big on uniformity. The Rubies we see in The Answer had identical uniforms, but in Hit the Diamond, there’s room for variation. Even among Army, Eyeball, and Leggy, there are differences in the style of their necklines, the length of their shorts, even though there would be no practical reason for it. These three don’t have their uniforms hindering their gems at all. I’ve mentioned more than once in the past that in lieu of becoming more efficient, Homeworld may have a little bit more leeway for individuality now, because aside from looking the part, it’s incredibly important in their utilitarian society to get the job done and if minor changes to a very recognisable uniform is what it takes, then they’ll probably let it slide. Additionally, having Ruby soldiers this far down from the top could mean that they’re able to slip through the cracks of enforcement a little, allowing them to deviate slightly from other forms of uniformity. I feel as though this is why we’re able to see a little more distinction in these Rubies than we did in the Ruby Guards from The Answer. And it’s the same trend we see between Blue and Yellow Pearl. So I’d like to look into these personalities and do a little more character analysis based on their gem placement. 1. Doc I have a feeling the name comes from Doc of the seven dwarves from Snow White. Because Doc is the only one with glasses, in the same way Doc here is the only one with the visor (another form of eyewear). What we know about Doc is that she seems to have the most authority in the Ruby Squad. I mentioned in the Part 1 post that it appeared very much as though Doc led the search and rescue mission for Jasper. She was the one giving the mission objectives, most clearly, the ones to search the barn and the one to leave for Neptune. And the Rubies listen to her. Additionally, Doc has the visor, which could be interpreted as a sign of individuality and by extension status. This puts her a cut above her squad members, albeit it might not very far if we factor in that Homeworld has a gem type-based stratification system. One other thing to note is that her outfit is adjusted to have her gem prominently displayed. This may be because of weapon summoning, but I’m leaning towards showing their gems are an integral part of their identity. More often than not we’ve seen Homeworld-originated gems like Lapis or Rose display their gems in full-view even though the rest of them is covered up. Lapis in particular would benefit from not having her most vulnerable section displayed that prominently, but she still does. It’s long been theorised that having more room for individual expression is part and parcel with higher rank on Homeworld. And for me this simply means that there was a means for a common soldier to differentiate herself on Homeworld in a way that merited an increase in rank. Because Doc knows she’s in charge. Look at her body language. Her first instinct upon their arrival is to stand on the ship looking over everyone else. “Let’s fan out and search the area!” She feels comfortable questioning the things her squad mates say. When Ruby says they can’t search the barn, she immediately says “Why not?” She reminds them all of their mission; she’s the one keeping track of how many Rubies there are “I think there’s more of us than usual.” When Ruby misses, Doc starts to rebuke her, as though her team’s performance was her responsibility. As a leader, she’s on the right track, even though the execution is what some people would describe as lacking some critical thought. When Steven says they need to play baseball to search the barn, it makes sense from a leadership standpoint. Effective leaders don’t throw their people into battle every chance they have. They want to minimise costs and losses of resources of life. Fighting would take a lot out of them. Even if the Rubies won against “the humans,” that’s resources lost. They don’t know exactly what they’re up against or what Earth is like. If my hunch is right, they weren’t comprehensively briefed about Earth. Peridot wasn’t even briefed about Earth terrain and weather or the Crystal Gems, and considering she’s a non-combatant, I think that information would have been significant for her survival. What more a group of soldiers trained to fight and survive? And this may explain why they don’t question the presence of blue and purple and deathly pale humans too much. Something else about Doc is that she feels responsible for her squad. It may be missed, but when the Rubies are leaving for Neptune, Doc grabs Leggy, who appears very lost in the scene. Other more subtle moments are when Doc congratulates Ruby for managing to hit the ball. Here’s the thing: If Homeworld forces had leaders were ruled by cruelty and fear, then this kind of action coming from a squad leader would be unseemly. And I say this a lot. To survive, soldiers have to have each others’ backs; they have to trust each other. If not, they’d hate each other and plot and scheme, and this “conquering race” probably wouldn’t be half as successful. So what we’re seeing is a moment of positive reinforcement, and it boosts morale and motivates her squad to perform better. We’ve seen at this point that Rubies aren’t very good at deception and hiding their thoughts and feelings. As such, it’s rather a stretch to assume this is a front that Doc is putting up in front of her people. And even if she didn’t like her squad members and felt incredibly superior, she’s not acting according to that, and the general effect is that her squad feels like they can trust their leaders. I feel this model is prevalent on Homeworld, enough that gems like Peridot can look up to and even trust their leaders like Yellow Diamond; the sentiment is that their leaders care about them. Doc’s gem placement is smack in the middle of her chest. This to me indicates that she’s deep into interacting with things through strong feelings. From an experience, her lasting impression will probably not be the clearest details of the moment, but rather the feelings she had as she walked away from it. This may be why she has the intention of counting her teammates, because there are feelings of responsibility. But she doesn’t do a very accurate job of it, because that’s not really her strong point. She tells her squad to double check, because “You remember what happened last time.” And I think it’s significant that the event she remembered was something funny. It’s a feeling that cements the experience for her, and that makes the experience significant. Up until the very last pitch, none of the Rubies thought of using their abilities against the humans. They’re all capable of superheating the ball to the point of combustion. Assuming they knew they were more powerful than humans, they could have done so. But as mentioned, it would be a use of strength that they didn’t need to waste. Gems are already physically stronger than humans. It probably wasn’t the plan to use their abilities then, in order not to wear themselves out. But it’s a stressful moment; a make-or-break moment and I think that led her to put thinking aside. We know that Ruby and Sapphire made use of their abilities in Keystone Motel because they were upset. This may be one of those cases as well. It’s not a conscious decision. I don’t think she plotted to use her powers and go “Hahaha now we’ll win for certain; they’ll never see it coming.” The impression we have is that it was a spur-of-the-moment move. Some other gems we’ve seen with this gem position? Amethyst: Things just “feel right”; Yellow Diamond: I want that planet to die; Blue Diamond: How dare you fuse with a member of my court. I’m not saying all they’re capable of is emotion and impulse. But they do factor in heavily when you look at the motivations of their actions, even if they’re not completely aware of it. When it all boils down to it, they’re the type of individuals who know what they’re supposed to do, but it’s usually verified by how they feel about it as well. 2. Eyeball Eyeball is pretty intense. She’s the first Ruby we see emerge from the ship at the end of Barn Mates and the last one to go in at the end of Hit the Diamond. Her words often sound forced out and rougher than those of the other Rubies. She makes a lot of grunting noises in times the other Rubies use words to express themselves. And she’s the one to react most aggressively when Steven’s still explaining the rules of the game and declares her out. It seems very much as though everything Eyeball has an amplified reaction to everything. This might have something to do with her gem placement. It’s her eye. This means that like Sapphire, she has just one functioning eye. But her gem is on one of her key physical senses. This may lead her to experience the world with very amplified senses. Things she experiences may have a greater impression on her because of this. It’s as if she’s hyperaware of everything that occurs. It would explain her making more noises than talking. When we’ve seen Peridot make noises, it’s because she’s having trouble processing all the stimuli around her. She doesn’t really have a way to put it into words. Someone who is receiving too much stimuli to handle may also react in this matter. As such, while in an alien land with potential hostiles, her reactions would be pretty negative sounding and guarded. She’d appear very scary indeed to those who aren’t familiar with her. The other thing is her role on the team. As mentioned, she’s first in and first out of their ship. She’s serving the position of “lookout.” We get the feeling she’s more wary of “the humans” than everyone else. Even the “Thank you” at the end of the episode appears rather tense. Eyes are often associated with future sight, seeing things in the long run, or for what they really are. This may be why Eyeball naturally ends up falling into this position. She sees something is untrue about these people, and she’s right to feel the Rubies are being deceived. As they leave, I feel she’s wary that listening to those who’ve deceived them before is going to bite them in the back in the future (it probably will, because there is no way Jasper’s on Neptune). One other thing about her grunting is that Eyeball is probably a very visual individual. The gemstone being the carrier of the Gem’s essence is focused in the eye. And we know much her understanding and interaction of the world comes from her eye’s amplifying her senses. Of all those senses, I think that her sight is her most comfortable. She probably remembers things based on imagery and mental snapshots. Think to the moment Doc said “Remember what happened last time,” and Eyeball probably had a clear mental image of what she was talking about. And notice also that she laughed. She’s not as scary as we’re led to believe. She’s just in an unfriendly environment, and a lot is on the line. As Doc reminds them, this is a mission directly from Yellow Diamond, not just a supervisor or any general. She’s stressed, and combined with her hyper-sensation, it isn’t a long-shot to assume anyone else would be cranky and scary as well. (Speaking of Jasper, she’s another gem whose gem takes the place of a major sense, smell, and she’s also one to react to things rather extremely). I doubt she acts this way towards her teammates though. Look at Leggy the “newbie.” She doesn’t know this event; she feels left out and she’s probably intimated as it is because, as Rebecca Sugar noted, this was Leggy’s first mission. But she goes straight for hiding behind Eyeball. She wouldn’t do that if, on their off-hours, Eyeball was equally scary and threatening towards her teammates. She’s probably just like Scary Spice from the Spice Girls. Scary on the outside, but you can tell she cares about her teammates. In fact, I have a feeling that she tried to show Leggy the ropes; hence, the gravitation towards someone Leggy feels can protect her, someone with whom she already has some sort of established relationship. So don’t judge Eyeball by her looks. She’s probably a softie on the inside. If the hyper-sensation works with really uncomfortable sensations, it must also engage really nice and comfortable ones as well. I feel Eyeball is really loyal, because her clear mental images of things make certain she never forgets when people have done good by her, as much as it makes her remember every time someone destroyed her trust in them. She’s one for the evidence. She wouldn’t randomly disperse her goodwill and has to see things to believe them. I think there’s a lot more to these Rubies than we got to see in the show. And I really enjoyed writing about them and hope that they make another appearance in the future. I have the other Rubies lined up for this kind of analysis and I’ll link to them when I’m finished, but for those interested: Part 1- Origin, Roles of Rubies (Plus some thoughts on Homeworld) Part 2- Doc and Eyeball Part 3- Army and Leggy Part 4- Navy and Ruby Squad FusionComing Soon Murder Mystery After attending a gathering on a billionaire's yacht during a European vacation, a New York cop and his wife become prime suspects when he's murdered. ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads Robert Johnson was one of the most influential blues guitarists ever. Even before his early death, fans wondered if he'd made a pact with the Devil. Bloodride A Norwegian anthology series that blends horror with dark Scandinavian humor, setting each distinct story in its own realistic yet weird universe. Pachamama Dreaming of becoming a shaman, an impish boy from the Andes journeys across uncharted lands to recover a stolen treasure in this animated adventure. After Life Struggling to come to terms with his wife's death, a writer for a newspaper adopts a gruff new persona in an effort to push away those trying to help. Flinch Faced with various frightening and uncomfortable events, contestants in this game show had better not flinch -- or they'll suffer painful consequences. Wonderland Just out of prison and investigating a twisted murder, Spenser is sucked back into Boston’s underbelly. Based on the popular books; Mark Wahlberg stars. Maya and the Three A Mesoamerican warrior princess embarks on a quest to recruit three legendary fighters to help save the world of gods -- and humankind.When it comes to virtual reality, we’re in a classic tech-industry moment: lots of chatter but seemingly little movement. We hear future-focused cheerleading from all corners about VR’s incredible potential, yet the 6.3 million headsets shipped last year is hardly cause for a ticker-tape parade. So what’s holding back VR? The nature of the technology, for starters. VR is not a tweak to an existing platform; it is a tectonic shift in how we interact with information and each other. It engages our senses of sight, sound and touch at a deeper and more complex level than anything we’ve seen in desktop, laptop and mobile technologies. Getting VR right will take a lot of original and highly focused work. That work is ongoing, and as an investor in this space I believe the payoff will be dramatic once the right pieces fall into place. As I wrote last year, VR will eventually be bigger than reality itself. In the near term, I see three barriers to be solved in a specific order to keep VR moving forward. One is relatively easy. The other two will take a bit of time — but there is emerging evidence we’re getting there. Step one: Get that phone off your forehead While the iPhone was a revolution, it’s easy to forget that Apple never planned to have many apps for it. The original model had 16 icons; not one was called iTunes. But the broad adoption of the iPhone provided a freedom that made possible apps of all kinds. It also forever changed what we thought a phone could and, importantly, should do. It’s what the late Andy Grove called an inflection point: after the iPhone, the masses were never going back to a clamshell-style product. Fast forward to today. It’s understandable the industry would try to stretch the capabilities of iOS and Android phones into the realm of VR. The problem is, these devices weren’t designed to be stuck to your head. There’s not enough battery life. The weight distribution is off. In an industry obsessed with the right customer experience, this one is all wrong. The highest wall VR must climb is the one separating it from Hollywood. Fortunately, this challenge is the easiest to overcome. This industry knows how to create elegant designs. We know how to miniaturize components, dissipate heat and transfer high volumes of data at short range. Intel, for example, is making major efforts to drive down transistor sizes, ramp up vision-sensing technologies and add artificial intelligence and 3D sound processing to create true VR experiences. These kinds of efforts will help drive down costs and create the inflection point VR needs to drive mass adoption. We’re seeing other steps in this direction with Oculus and HoloLens headgear. We’re even seeing some early platform successes. Tsunami VR, for example, recently ran field trials with an energy company to help its employees change out a pneumatic drill component using a HoloLens headset. What was once a two-hour process took only 15 minutes. Meanwhile, one of our portfolio companies is focusing on another industry ripe for VR disruption. InContext Solutions helps retailers see how their ideas will work — from a store’s actual layout to how shoppers behave in it — before committing to expensive redesign and build-out efforts. Step two: Create more VR gaming studios You can argue that gaming is doing just fine without VR. Total spending in the sector is up by double digits, and esports events such as The International 2017 are drawing sellout crowds. Gaming can expand its reach to include VR, and we need that to happen for reasons that will become clearer in a moment. To do so, however, we need dedicated studios to create games for the medium — not repackaged versions of existing titles — and to drive unique streams of subscription revenue. Just as Bungie Studios made Halo the reason to own an Xbox console, we need you-can-only-get-it-here titles for gaming to plant its flag in the VR world. It’s likely this idea that prompted Google to purchase Owlchemy Labs this past spring — and why we’ll see similar ventures down the road. It’s also why we’re seeing companies deepening the intimacy of the gaming experience in anticipation of VR becoming the norm. BodyLabs, another startup we’ve funded (and which was recently acquired by Amazon), transforms photos, videos, body scans or physical measurements into accurate 3D body shapes. If you’re a gamer, you can capture your favorite touchdown dance or combat move and bring it into the field of play. Step three: All roads lead to Hollywood The highest wall VR must climb is the one separating it from Hollywood. To be sure, there’s a bit of A-List, goggle-friendly content, in many ways thanks to Travis Cloyd. He created “The Recall Abduction,” a 13-minute VR film based on the Wesley Snipes thriller. He is also soon releasing “Distorted“ with John Cusack; a John Travolta VR film; and the upcoming dystopian saga, “The Humanity Bureau,” starring Nicolas Cage. But the reality is we don’t have a lot of cinematic VR content. And we won’t, until we solve the hardware problem I outlined earlier. Because the first question any studio executive will ask is, “Where are the headsets?” We need hardware people want to put on their heads as enthusiastically as they wanted to put an iPhone in their pockets. Hollywood also needs to integrate VR into its existing production workflows. That means a full stack of protocols, techniques and tools. This software infrastructure is coming, but not yet in place. Getting the gaming industry to create VR-only titles will accelerate the process. VR will eventually be bigger than reality itself. The bottom line is a trust-us-this-will-be-great proposition is a non-starter in Hollywood. Need proof? It’s been a decade since Netflix announced it would stream movies online; it was only this summer that Disney announced it would start a streaming service set to go live in — wait for it — 2019. Make no mistake: there are absolute advantages to Hollywood embracing VR. Studios can bypass theater chains, for instance, and go straight to VR programming, as they did with VHS a generation ago. But right now all the big players want to be in the No. 2 position: wait for someone else to figure out the business model and then jump in. They’re likely watching early entrants such as One Touch, a VR distribution company working on generating cinematic entertainment in VR. For VR to go mainstream, all roads lead to Hollywood. That means convincing executives who micromanage their risks that purpose-built headsets are available and that people love them. It’s why we have to solve the hardware problem first and then get the gamers on board to prove the vitality of the market. Only then will Hollywood feel safe to swim in the VR waters. It’s a newer new media It’s critical to remember VR is a new form of expression — a newer new media, if you will — and is in its early days. It requires that we experiment with it and evolve our understanding of it before we adopt it. Equipment makers and investors are acting accordingly. Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Lenovo and others all have VR offerings. ASUS just created a $50 million venture fund with Anis Uzzaman of Fenox Ventures, whose focus includes VR and augmented reality technologies. The gaming industry is also jumping into the fray, with SEGA and Bandai building a similar fund with Fenox. And Hollywood is watching it all with interest. Like all other fundamental shifts, the move to a full-blown VR market will take time. But the work is underway and the wait will be worth it. So for now, hold on to that ticker tape. When this market hits, you’re going to need it.The man charged earlier this week in the deaths of three women he knew in the Wilno, Ont., area had been convicted of choking one of them less than two years ago. Basil Borutski, 57, was on probation for choking Anastasia Kuzyk, 36, with his bare hands following his release from jail. Court records show he had refused to sign a probation order to stay away from and not communicate with Kuzyk, whom he choked on Dec. 30, 2013. Kuzyk and two other women — Carol Culleton, 66, and Nathalie Warmerdam, 48 — were found dead Tuesday at three separate locations within a 25-kilometre radius of Wilno, west of Ottawa. Borutski was arrested in Ottawa later Tuesday and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. A candlelight vigil is being held in honour of the women at Heritage Park in Wilno on Friday evening. The bodies of Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam and Carol Culleton were found at three separate locations near Wilno, Ont., on Tuesday. (CBC News) Court records show Borutski was convicted on Sept. 12, 2014, of assaulting Kuzyk, as well as burning an antique rocking horse she owned on the same day he choked her in December 2013. Weeks later, on Jan. 23, 2014, Borutski stole a vehicle belonging to a relative of Kuzyk and drove it while being prohibited from doing so. He also was in possession of a cross-bow despite being prohibited from having one. He was sentenced to 19 months in jail, banned from possessing weapons for life and ordered to provide a sample of his DNA and not communicate with Kuzyk or one of her relatives. He was released from jail on Dec. 27, 2014, a little more than three months after being sentenced, after receiving credit for the time he served in custody prior to sentencing. In two places where Borutski was supposed to sign his probation order, a court official's handwritten notes say he refused to do so. It appears the official's handwritten notes were also initialled. Incident involving Warmerdam in 2012 Borutski also had a criminal history involving Warmerdam, court records show. In July 2012, he threatened to kill an animal belonging to Warmerdam and to physically harm one of her relatives. A month earlier he broke her closet door mirror. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and served seven after being given credit for his pre-sentence time in custody. Charges that he also allegedly threatened to kill his ex-wife, assaulted Warmerdam and failed to keep the peace were stayed at the request of the Crown prosecutor. CBC News is not naming the ex-wife out of respect for her privacy. Other incidents date back to early 2000s The incidents involving Warmerdam and Kuzyk weren't Borustki's first. He was charged with harassing another woman between January and February 2010, a charge which was stayed at the request of the Crown later that year. Then, in July 2011, he was charged with assaulting yet another woman and with failing to keep the peace. Those charges were also stayed. In June 2012, about a month before threatening to kill Warmerdam's dog and hurt her relative, Borutski consented to a $500 peace bond after he was charged with threatening to kill his ex-wife between 2000 and 2008, and of assaulting her in August 2008. Both of those charges were stayed when the peace bond was agreed to. In September 2012, Borutski assaulted an OPP officer who was trying to arrest him, and also assaulted one of his own relatives. A charge that he urinated on the wall and carpet of his cell was stayed. It was that same OPP officer who laid the charges against Borutski in the incidents involving Kuzyk, Warmerdam, his ex wife and the other two women, documents show. The same officer charged Borutski with failing to provide a breath sample in January 2010, for which Borutski was fined $1,200. Probation order would still apply Even though Borutski's signature doesn't appear on the probation order to stay away from Kuzyk, he still would have been legally obligated to follow it, said Trevor Brown, president of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa. "The probation order takes effect the moment the person steps out of the door of the prison," said Brown. "Typically the defence lawyers aren't there when the probation order is signed, though, from my experience, most often the probation orders are signed," Brown added.THE NATIONAL ASSET Management Agency has revealed that it pays 134 developers a total of €11 million every year in wages. The average wage is €70,000 per year, with three developers pulling down €200,000 per year each. The figures were revealed at the Public Accounts Committee today after questioning by Independent TD Shane Ross. Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh defended the cost, saying that fees for other service providers would be higher. “The alternative is to remove the debtor, appoint a receiver, who will appoint an asset manager, and the costs will eventually be a multiple of that.” He said that in addition to the top three developers, 15 are paid between €150,000 to €199,000 per year, 36 are on a pay scale of between €100,000 and €149,000, 50 are pulling down between €50,000 and €99,000, while 30 are on €49,000 or less. Auctioneer costs It also emerged that the State’s bad bank has paid around €144 million in auctioneers fees since it was set up. The auctioneers fees relate to the disposal of around €14 billion worth of properties. Ross rejected Nama’s assertion that it had managed to achieve a competitive price for auctioneering services. He said that NAMA’s estimate that it had paid around one per cent of sale dividends “is very high, especially when you consider you’ve got the advantage of scale.” Nama also disclosed details of €52 million it paid to the banks it was acquiring loans from, which was used to pay staff within the banks to help NAMA administer the loans. Political appointees Ross also alleged that a recent appointee to the board of NAMA, who is a trustee of the Fine Gael party, is a “political appointment”. He said: “It’s a political appointment of someone who has obviously been a political activist in the past.” He said that Nama’s decision not to include the person’s Fine Gael connections on her published CV was unfortunate. “It’s important to examine whether these appointments are being made regardless of political credit.” Nama chairman Frank Daly defended the appointment, while acknowledging the appointees role in Fine Gael. “I look at the individual on the basis of their experience and skill set.” He continued: “I do not believe in any way that the Nama board has been politicised.” Bonus payments Daly said that Nama is likely to pursue a meeting with Finance Minister Michael Noonan about better ways to retain staff at the agency, which does not currently pay performance-related bonuses to staff. He said that some sort of incentive plan to encourage staff to stay with Nama was needed, as the employees have other opportunities within the job market. He said that the agency’s inability to retain staff is “detrimental” to its work. Given that Nama is working towards being wound up, he said that staff are being asked “to do their utmost in effect to work themselves out of a job.” Selling loans at a loss Under questioning from Fine Gael TD Kieran O’Donnell, chief executive Brendan McDonagh admitted that Nama had made a loss on the sale of some loans it acquired when it was set up. I’d love to be in a position to sell everything we acquired for more than we acquired it, but the reality is that the Irish property market dropped 25 per cent in the first three years after acquisition, and we still have to generate cash. One particular portfolio, linked to loans in Northern Ireland was sold in two tranches for a total €1.8 billion after being acquired for €2 billion from the banks. The original value of the loans were €5.7 billion. The state’s bad bank paid a total of €32 billion for bad loans associated with lending during the country’s property boom. 1916 site In response to questions from Sinn Fein TD Mary Lou McDonald, Brendan McDonagh said that the agency had put aside €6 million for the potential development of the Carlton cinema site, which is viewed as a key battleground from the 1916 rising. Plans to develop the area have been opposed by several groups, including the relatives of the executed leaders of 1916.VASSALBORO, Maine ( ) -- Family members and friends mourning the 18-year-old woman and 25-year-old man shot to death by police two weeks ago, after the man allegedly rammed a pickup truck into a state police cruiser, question the use of deadly force. Police “didn’t need to use excessive force like that. They could have took that car out,” said Jessica Fagre, the mother of. When they were shot, Fagre was a passenger and Bailey was driving the truck on Arnold Road, a half-mile-long, one-lane dirt fire lane that connects Webber Pond Road to a handful of camps and homes along the water. Maine State Police Lt. Scott Ireland, State Trooper Jeff Parks and Vassalboro police Chief Mark Brown all fired their weapons after responding to a report of daytime burglaries in the area, according to Tim Feeley, spokesman for the Maine attorney general’s office. All three officers have been placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the attorney general’s investigation. Neither the involved law enforcement agencies nor the attorney general’s office has released a detailed account of how Amber Fagre and Kadhar Bailey ended up being killed. Authorities have not said how many shots were fired, where the three officers were positioned when they used their weapons, which officer or officers fired the fatal shots or whether the officers considered their own lives endangered. Police also have not said whether Bailey or Fagre were armed or if they thought they were. One man said his father who lives on the road next to Arnold Drive had a gun pointed at him by a male suspect earlier that day before he was tied up and his home robbed. Since at least 1990, the Maine attorney general’s office has never ruled a fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer unjustified. That’s why Fagre’s boyfriend, Nick Penney of Augusta, is among those calling for the federal government to get involved. “The only chance of justice is for the FBI to take over the investigation,” Penney said. “However, they won’t do that if we the people allow them to sweep her murder under the rug.” He urged people to sign a, created by Amber’s longtime friend Sierra Towers of Rome, that calls on U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to look into the
the libcURL library. The problem affects versions of libcURL from version 7.26.0 to the current 7.28.1; earlier versions are unaffected. The simplest fix is to download and build cURL and libcURL 7.29.0 from the cURL download page. Users who cannot upgrade can protect themselves by disabling the three protocols by setting the CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS and CURLOPT_REDIR_PROTOCOLS options to only use the protocols they need. A patch is also available for the vulnerable versions. (djwm)An Adelaide man has been stranded in Mexico, after the trip of a lifetime went horribly wrong. Ryan Maudlen, 33, has been in an induced coma since Wednesday when the globetrotter, who suffers from Crohn's disease, had a severe attack and his intenstine burst. His partner Kati Reigl has only able to see him two hours a day. "It's horrible to see someone you love so much," she said. "He was just lying there he couldn't even cry any more he was in so much pain." Ryan's father Robert said his son's existing condition prevented him from getting travel insurance. The hospital is demanding US$13,600 (A$15000) a day for treatment and the bills are mounting up. "I've drawn all the money I can from the bank. All up we're looking at about $100,000 so far that's been spent," Mr Maudlen said. An online fundraiser has now been set up to save Ryan with $35,000 raised in just 3 days. Mr Maudlen said even strangers had donated. "Doesn't matter how much they've donated it's just the fact they've done it," he said. Mr Maudlen is now putting the family home on the line to save his son, as the mounting medical bills have forced him to remortgage the house. If you wish to help support young Adelaide traveller Ryan Maudlen, an online fundraiser has been set up for donations: http://www.gofundme.com/hjx040 © Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019Few things are as comforting in the winter as a nice warm sauna or steam room but did you know they are also good for your skin? The humidity of a steam room can be up to 100% and up to 20% in a sauna. This moisture helps hydrate your skin. Celebrity aesthetician Renée Rouleau is an expert in skin care. “Skin cells need water to live, so steam can be very beneficial for keeping surface layers feeling moist and looking healthy,” Rouleau explains. “When the skin gets warm, the capillaries and vessels dilate, causing nutrient-rich blood and oxygen to be brought to the cells,” Rouleau says. “Blood circulation is what feeds the skin and its cells and keeps them acting healthy, while giving the skin a glow from within.” Saunas and steam rooms are especially good for oily skin as they can help to cleanse and detoxify it. If on the other hand you have dry skin, you should be careful. Although the humidity can hydrate your skin, the heat can actually dry your skin out even faster if you don’t lock the moisture in with oil or moisturising cream. One way to do this is by combining your Thermal Spa Experience with a moisturising body massage. Treatments like the Spa Experience Back, Face and Scalp use scented essential oils can replace moisture lost in the sauna. After your sauna you should be sure to moisturise your face and other sensitive skin which is prone to dryness. If you are particularly worried about a dry area, then you might consider applying oil to it prior to entering the sauna. We also recommend that you drink plenty of water to keep your body and its skin fully hydrated. In short, sauna helps skin to detoxify, unclog pores and regenerate but it may dehydrate dry skin if you don’t moisturise afterwards.Dudebro — My Shit Is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time, commonly shortened as Dudebro II, is a 2D sidescrolling shooting/slicing action game under development by members of the NeoGAF community.[1] Release of the game has been pushed back repeatedly since 2010.[2] It is intended to parody modern military shooter video games,[1] and contrary to its name, is not a sequel to any previously released game title. Plot [ edit ] The game follows the story of B.R.O. Alliance Forces members John Dudebro and his sidekick, Habemus Chicken.[3] At the start of the game a briefing with the B.R.O. Alliance General Dawgless Lee takes place, where the protagonists are shown a polaroid picture of the eye-scarred and mustachioed Armando Pesquali. Pesquali is a terrorist known to have been selling illegal weapons in the Middle East. Dudebro and Chicken are then tasked to find the man and stop his arms trade. Gameplay [ edit ] John Dudebro standing below the game title in a forest area from the Alaska chapter. The game is a 2D side-scrolling shooter that utilizes 8 bit styled retro pixel art, and modern features such as complex physics and video post processing techniques. John Dudebro, controlled by the player, must traverse hostile environments filled with enemies to proceed through the game. Movement and actions are all controlled with the keyboard or a game controller. These actions include shooting, slicing, changing weapons, picking up objects, throwing objects, and more. Dudebro's health bar, named Brodiocity Meter, refills when the player performs certain tasks, such as killing enemies, rescuing ladies or drinking beer.[4] When the player is using a game controller, Dudebro can switch weapons in real time with a weapon wheel.[5] The game features a number of different environments, set in different locations around the world, with complex layouts reminiscent of other games in the Metroidvania genre. By exploring each environment, Dudebro can acquire additional weapons and gear, and collect medals which are used to access boss fights and unlock subsequent chapters.[6][7] Some boss fights are concluded with a button mashing quick time event named Fist Bump Finisher.[8] The humorous tone of the game permeates multiple aspects of the gameplay, as several elements are explicitly designed to spoof and subvert common tropes from the modern action and shooter video game genres. The gameplay debut trailer, for instance, mocks forced hacking minigames and the ability to only carry a maximum of two weapons at the same time, both common in modern first person shooters: in the game, the first can be skipped by pressing a button, and the latter gets laughed at by the main characters during a cutscene. Top-down version [ edit ] The game was originally set to be released as a 3D top-down shooter presented in a 3rd person perspective, with 2D sprite-based characters in 3D environments, developed with the Unity engine.[9] The player was meant to controls Dudebro's movement with the keyboard and aim with the mouse. Weapons and upgrades would have been available through the player environment. The gameplay was mission-based, with each map offering a certain number of missions that needed be completed in order to unlock the level's boss door. Missions were accessed by touching medal-shaped markers scattered across the map and accepted in a subsequent prompt, and they could involve changes in level design, weapon sets and enemy spawns. Mission objectives could involve killing enemies, doing speedruns, saving girls, finding hidden objects or surviving for a set amount of time. Completing each mission would award the user a medal, and some of them unlock new paths in the level to give the player access to more missions or allow easier backtracking. Completed missions and levels could be replayed anytime, and unlocked paths would stay unlocked in subsequent playthroughs.[6][7] The game later switched to a 2D side-scrolling version after multiple dropouts left the team too understaffed to continue development.[10] Development [ edit ] Dudebro began with an offhand comment made by a user named Cuyahoga on the NeoGAF forum. Cuyahoga made up the title to mock another user who accused him of being a pedophile because he purchased and enjoyed the game Imagine: Babyz Fashion.[11][12] The title was a source of inspiration, and the NeoGAF users Jocchan, Thetrin and Mik2121 took the initiative in the actual conception of the game. They were then followed by a large number of posters who began discussions, collaborating on the ideas and assets for a real game.[13] Eventually, Will Goldstone (who wrote a book on Unity) became involved with programming.[14] The newborn project caught immediately the attention of the gaming press.[15] The NeoGAF users were able to get Jon St. John to voice the titular character, John Dudebro. St. John is notable for being the voice actor for the character Duke Nukem in the Duke Nukem game franchise.[16] The game, originally scheduled for release in summer 2010,[14] was later pushed to 2011.[2] Currently, Dudebro's application source code is open to all NeoGAF members who are willing to contribute to the game's improvement.[17] At one point, the name the group of developers use ("Grimoire Assembly Forge") drew threats of a lawsuit because of an alleged trademark infringement of "Grimoire", a role-playing game developed and published by Grimoire Systems Pty. Ltd.[18][19] See also [ edit ]Ah, it’s almost August — time for another quadrennial flowering of America’s glorious democratic process, otherwise known as the presidential nominating conventions! This grand testimonial of our citizens’ rights and liberties will begin with the Republicans in Tampa, Fla. Flags are being mounted, majestic music is arranged, uplifting speeches are being scripted — and, as has now become normal for these spectacles of democracy-in-action, heavily armed police repression of our cherished First Amendment rights is being ordered. Of course, the delegates, candidates, lobbyists and billionaire funders inside the GOP’s convention bunker will be perfectly free (as they should be) to gild the promises and lies that will frame their presidential campaign. They will not be bothered by the riot-geared police authorities deployed around Tampa. However, any citizens who come to practice the hallowed freedoms of public assembly and speech can expect to be welcomed by a thoroughly un-American, weeklong police state. In May, at the behest of national Republican officials, Tampa’s mayor and council passed a temporary ordinance to suspend our First Amendment and authorize a crackdown on protestors. Warning ominously that a few vandals might get out of control, the ordinance tries to force all citizen demonstrations into a few restricted parade routes and what amounts to “protest pens.” Pre-emptive detainments, indiscriminate mass arrests and police infiltrations of peaceful protest groups can be expected. Ironically, that’s the kind of autocratic excess that led to the American Revolution itself. The city’s top lawyer recently barked that “troublemakers … will not be tolerated.” But the real troublemakers are those inside the hall — and inside a police system that’s being used to stomp on the very freedoms that America is supposed to embrace and encourage. 30 0 0 0 1 31When this offseason began, I was optimistic that the Ravens would agree to a long-term contract extension with their quarterback. Joe Flacco had stated his desire to sign a new deal before the final season of his original five-year deal commenced. The Ravens seemed to want to oblige him if at all possible, at least partially to show their faith in a player who has taken what they believe is so much unwarranted criticism. Everyone was level-headed and wanted the same thing. Surely they could work it out. But now I’m not as sure a deal will get done before the 2012 season. Getting running back Ray Rice signed has been the higher priority because his original deal is up and the Ravens are trying to lock him up to a long-term extension, but those talks have dragged into June with no resolution in sight, seemingly slowing the negotiations with Flacco as well. There’s still plenty of time, and the team is under no constraints with Flacco; since he’s under contract, he can sign an extension anytime. But until there is progress, the possibility of him playing 2012 without a new deal seems greater now than before. It’s an interesting prospect. It seemed the Ravens had seen enough from him in his first four seasons to reward him with one of the big deals that franchise quarterbacks obtain, with many millions in guaranteed dollars. Even though his passing stats aren’t among the league’s best by any means, he has piled up 44 wins and shepherded the team to a pair of AFC title games. “I think he is going to win Super Bowls, a lot of them,” Ozzie Newsome, the team’s general manager and executive vice president, stated after the season. “We got four good years out of Joe; he’s trending up. This is the sweet spot for him, years five through 10,” owner Steve Bisciotti added. That didn’t sound like, “We need to see more.” But if he heads into 2012, the final season of his original deal, without an extension, the season involuntarily becomes more of a prove-you-deserve-it crucible. There is simply no way around it. If he plays well, he states his case, and in fact, possibly earns more. But if he struggles, he states a different kind of case, one the Ravens would rather not envision. It is in the team’s best interests to get the deal done before the 2012 season. They not only get their franchise quarterback at a relatively reasonable rate, when he is coming off a less-than-stellar year statistically, but they also avoid the uncertainty that creeps in when a contract expires and franchise tags and the prospect of free agency come into play. Witness the Rice negotiations. The Ravens don’t want to go down that road with their quarterback. Flacco might not be their best player, but as their quarterback, he is their most important player. Getting him locked up, on board, strapped in and happy is imperative. This is a new situation for the Ravens. They have dealt with almost every conceivable on-field and off-field circumstance since coming to Baltimore in 1996, but they have never had to re-up with a young starting quarterback whom they drafted and developed. They have a history of keeping and satisfying the key cornerstone players they want to sign, but those have mostly been defensive stars, and the negotiations have often taken a long time. Quarterbacks are different, a species unto themselves, and negotiating with them can present unique circumstances. The team has its leverage, as always, but hovering over the situation is the knowledge that the team wants no part of going back to searching for a No. 1 signal-caller instead of actually having one – an unsettled position the Ravens are all too familiar with, to their chagrin. As much as Flacco needs the Ravens, the team that gave him a chance and developed him, the Ravens need Flacco even more. That’s worth remembering as these various contract situations play out and the Ravens contemplate different scenarios for their future while juggling the salary cap. The quarterback is their top priority. Tags: Contract, Deal, Joe Flacco, John Eisenberg, Quarterback Comment on this entry belowAugust 7, 2017 Play Episode Download Episode This episode is brought to you by Blue Apron. Check out this week’s menu and get your first THREE meals FREE with free shipping by going to blueapron.com/weeklyplanet. This week’s episode is ALSO brought to you by Loot Crate, visit lootcrate.com/weeklyplanet and enter promo code weeklyplanet for $3 off. More like Loot Great AM I RIGHT?!? Today we’re joined by TOFOP and Wolf Creek’s own Charlie Clausen to talk the best and worst TV shows adapted from films as well as ACTING. Plus we discuss the first review for Inhumans, Deathwish, the HBO Game Of Thrones hack, news Transformers animated films plus more Karate Kid! Thanks as always for listening! Featured things: TOFOP: https://goo.gl/u8t2v9 It’s A Duck Blur: https://goo.gl/StqnBA Beer Eye With Your Mates Guy: https://goo.gl/L6kM45 Cake Boss Ralph Make A Wish: wish.org/dannyshaves Timecodes 0:00 Visit lootcrate.com/weeklyplanet and enter promo code weeklyplanet for $3 off 11:35 First Inhumans review 16:48 Deathwish trailer 18:03 HBO hack 21:45 New Transformers animated movies 23:47 The Dark Tower TV series 25:53 Karate Kid TV Series 32:38 Wolf Creek and acting and movies and such 44:55 Movies Turned Into TV Series 1:08:12 Visit blueapron.com/weeklyplanet for your first three meals for free 1:36:33 What We Reading/What We Gonna Read 1:44:53 Letters It’s Time For Letters Chuck in a Buck? Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mrsundaymovies The Weekly Planet YouTube Channel: goo.gl/1ZQFGH Find our T-Shirts here: teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies. If you want to support the show by doing practically nothing, shop at Amazon via this link: goo.gl/57ZYsn. A small percentage goes our way at no extra cost to you. Or something. Also if you’re from outside the US just visit the link then go to your countries page and it should work. I guess. I dunno.The Irish government says there is evidence of "citizenship tourism" With tallying completed in all 34 counting centres, 79.17% of voters wanted to end the automatic citizenship right for all babies born in Ireland. The government said change was needed because foreign women were travelling to Ireland to give birth in order to get an EU passport for their babies. Ireland has been the only EU country to grant such a right. The poll results showed that 20.83% of voters rejected the proposed changes. The turnout was 59.95%. Voters were making their decision on the constitutional issue at the same time as they elected MEPs to the European Union's parliament. To be approved, the government's referendum on a constitutional amendment requires only a simple majority. The amendment will allow the government to pass a bill that would allow Irish-born children to receive automatic citizenship only if at least one parent is Irish or if parents have been resident in Ireland for at least three years. Delicate issue Ireland's Justice Minister Michael McDowell said there was evidence of what he termed "citizenship tourism". The government says the law, as it stands, provides a loophole that is being exploited. Opponents - including political parties such as the Labour Party, Sinn Fein and the Greens - see the situation differently. They say the government is playing politics with the delicate issue of race and immigration. Critics believe there is no reason to hold a referendum on this matter and say the numbers of women coming to Ireland to give birth is so small that it does not warrant a poll.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Samsung pioneered large smartphones for the U.S. operator market. By "large" I mean larger than 5.2 inches for the screen. I qualify the U.S. operator market as opposed to the all-cash SIM-unlocked contract-free market. This is a review of Samsung's most significant offerings in this market -- the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Mega. I will also add my comment on the Galaxy Gear "smartwatch" that works together with the Note 3. All of my review units came from Sprint (S)S. Of these two smartphones, one is more higher-end (expensive) and one is larger than the other. The Note 3 is the one with the higher-end specs all around and with a stylus as the outright differentiator. The Mega is larger but with lower specs and no stylus. Let's start with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3's hardware. The screen is 5.7 inches and it has got an awesome 1080x1920 display. The battery is 3,200 mAh, which makes it the second-largest battery in any relevant phone that comes to mind (Motorola Maxx on Verizon (VZ)VZ only). Most benchmark tests put the Note 3 at the top of CPU/GPU hardware comparisons, thanks to the Qualcomm (QCOM)QCOM 800 chip residing in such a physically large phone. I find that the Note 3 is very slippery and is simply uncomfortable to hold in one hand -- even for a person with large hands. You really want to have the Note 3 with a case, and Samsung will sell you one for $80 that's got a very elegant and practical flip-front cover. In contrast, the Mega is even bigger at 6.3 inches. Yet, despite this enormous size, two things stand out: First, it feels less slippery in the hand. This is because of how the sides are rounded, and of the material the sides and the back are made. Still, to make it even less slippery you have the option to use it with a case similar to the one available for the Note 3. The Mega's display, while larger than the Note 3, has a lower resolution at 720x1280. The CPU/GPU is also slower than the Note 3s flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 unit. So what does this mean from a performance perspective? In my estimation, most people will notice the superior pixel density of the Note 3's screen -- but only barely. As far as the CPU/GPU performance, not everyone will even notice the difference for most basic tasks. Price-wise, the Note 3 on Sprint is $350 on contract and $700 without contract. Unlike at AT&T (T)T and especially on T-Mobile (TMUS)TMUS, Sprint doesn't give you a discount if you buy off-contract, so you have essentially a negative incentive to pay full price up-front. AT&T's price is $250 on contract and $725 off contract. The Mega is $200 on contract and $470 without on Sprint. AT&T charges $150 on contract and $480 without. Viewed from a two-year perspective with monthly fees typically at $80 on Sprint and a little more on AT&T, these upfront price differences are marginal. Also, $80 per month for 24 months is $1,920 -- and that doesn't include multiple levels of taxes. AT&Ts $15 per-month discount for paying full price up front is worth $180 per year, or $360 for two years -- approximately reflecting the contract discount, surprise surprise. In this context, the fact that the Note 3 will cost anywhere from $100 to $150 more on AT&T and Sprint on contract compared to the Mega is basically peanuts. We are now talking around $5 per month for two years. A fancy cup of coffee per month. You're already paying $2,000 for the two-year subscription! In the end, this pricing illustration exposes why I generally don't recommend either of these kinds of operator-specific phones. I only buy contract-free, SIM-unlocked Android smartphones, as exemplified by the Nexus and "Google Play Edition" devices sold from Google's (GOOG)GOOG own Web site. The Motorola X and G also qualify. If you buy those kinds of unlocked carrier-neutral devices, you can take advantage of T-Mobile's lower rates, including unlimited international data roaming. You can switch SIM cards any time, as well as not have to wait for a contract to expire. Among those larger devices, the Sony Z Ultra just became available for $650 unlocked. With that device, you get clean pure Google software, quick software updates, and the ability to save money every month by using T-Mobile. It is clearly a much better buy than the Samsung Galaxy Mega locked to any operator. In this perspective, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 does have one differentiator that is unavailable on any of the "pure Google" devices, and that's the stylus. You either want this stylus or not. If you do, the Note 3 is the best game in town, by far. If you don't, I recommend either the Sony Z Ultra for the huge 6.4 inch screen, or the LG Nexus 5 if a regular five-inch screen is large enough for your compromise.By Kim Ghattas BBC News, Beirut Many Lebanese blame the government and Syria for the killing The decision was taken after the UN Security Council asked that he report on the circumstances, causes and consequences of the killing. The investigative team will be led by Ireland's deputy police commissioner, Peter Fitzgerald. It is still unclear how the Lebanese government will respond. The team is expected to arrive in Beirut in the next few days. 'Snub' The minister of interior, Suleiman Franjieh, has rejected all calls for an international investigation, saying only that Swiss experts would be asked to assist a Lebanese team. The Lebanese authorities appear set for a serious stand-off with the international community. Lebanon's defence minister, Abdalrahim Murad, has now also criticised the French president, Jacques Chirac, for his private condolence visit to Rafik Hariri's family in Beirut on Wednesday. Mr Murad accused the French leader of snubbing the government and encouraging the opposition. On Friday, the anti-Syria opposition called for a peaceful uprising to bring down the government, and repeated its demands for a withdrawal of Syrian troops. But Mr Franjieh said the government would not tolerate any unrest. He threatened to send the army to clamp down on protesters who have been taking to the streets since Monday's deadly blast.Submitted by barney on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 17:02 On behalf of the Parrot team, I'm proud to announce Parrot 1.8.0 "Zygodactyly". Parrot is a virtual machine aimed at running dynamic languages. Parrot 1.8.0 is available on Parrot's FTP site, or follow the download instructions. For those who would like to develop on Parrot, or help develop Parrot itself, we recommend using Subversion on our source code repository to get the latest and best Parrot code. Parrot 1.8.0 News: - Functionality + The FileHandle PMC now exposes the exit code of child process that was run as pipe. + Experimental support for overriding VTABLE invoke in PIR objects was added. + The method 'type' was added to the PackfileAnnotations PMC. + The internals of the parrot calling conventions, PCC, were reworked. All call paths now use a CallSignature object for passing arguments and return values. + The new API-function 'Parrot_ext_call' was added for calling into C-land. + The fixed-size allocator was improved. + The files installed by'make install-dev' are now covered by'make install' as well. + The experimental ops 'fetch' and 'vivify' were added. + The -I option to the command 'parrot' now prepends items to the search path. + The Context struct was substituted with auto attributes (context_auto_attrs branch). + Use the osname determined in auto::arch in subsequent configuration steps (convert_OSNAME branch). + Eliminated dependence on Perl 5 '%Config' in auto::format (auto_format_no_Config branch). + MultiSub PMCs now stringify to the name of their first candidate, instead of the number of candidates. + The platform detection at the start of the configuration process was improved. + The 'lineof' method on CodeString objects now precomputes line number information to be more efficient on variable-width encoded strings. + P6object now supports.WHO and.WHERE methods on protoobjects. - Compilers + A shiny new self-hosting implementation of NQP has been added in ext/nqp-rx. - New NQP available as nqp-rx.pbc or parrot-nqp fakecutable. - NQP includes direct support for grammars and regexes, including protoregexes. - NQP has a new PAST-based regex engine (intended to replace PGE). - Regexes may contain code assertions, parameters, lexical declarations, and more. - Double-quoted strings now interpolate scalar variables and closures. - Subroutine declarations are now lexical by default. + PCT - PAST::Block now supports an 'nsentry' attribute. - PAST::Var allows 'contextual' scope. - Attribute bindings now return the bound value. - Platforms + Fixes for the port of Parrot to RTEMS were applied. Yay, first port to a real time OS! + On NetBSD, shared libs are now used. - Performance + Use the the fixed-sized allocator in the Context and the CallSignature PMC. + Many small speed improvements. - New deprecations + MT19937, the Mersenne twisted pseudorandom number generator, is now hosted on github and will be removed from the Parrot core. (eligible in 2.1) + The 'Parrot_call_*' functions for invoking a sub/method object from C are deprecated. They are replaced by 'Parrot_ext_call'. (eligible in 2.1) + All bitwise VTABLE functions are deprecated. (eligible in 2.1) + All bitwise ops will become dynops. (eligible in 2.1) - Realized deprecations + The slice VTABLE entry was removed. + The last traces of the'malloc' garbage collector were removed. + Parrot_pcc_constants() was renamed to Parrot_pcc_get_constants(). + The deprecated functions from the Embedding/Extension interface were removed. + The library YAML/Parser/Syck.pir was removed. + The VTABLE function instantiate_str() was removed. + Building of parrot_nqp was removed. - Tests + The test coverage of the time-related ops was much improved. + New testing functions in Test::More: lives_ok() and dies_ok(). + The Perl 5 based test scripts t/op/bitwist.t, t/op/comp.t, t/op/inf_nan.t, t/op/literal.t, t/op/number.t, t/op/sprintf2.t, and t/op/00ff-dos.t were converted to PIR. + The test scripts t/op/annotate.t and t/op/time.t have begun to be translated from Perl 5 to PIR. + In some tests the dependency on %Config from Perl 5 was eliminated. - Documentation + The meaning of 'p' means in NCI function call signatures was clarified. - Tools + The stub for a new language, as created by mk_language_shell.pl, now relies on the PIR-based tools, which are replacing the Perl 5-based tools. + The library Configure.pir was added. + The library distutils.pir was added. - Miscellaneous + The mailing list parrot-users and a corresponding google group was created, http://groups.google.com/group/parrot-users. + Many bugfixes, code cleanups, and coding standard fixes. Thanks to all our contributors for making this possible, and our sponsors for supporting this project. Our next release is December 15th 2009. Enjoy!Congress and the president could be poised to strike deals on immigration, gun control, and the budget. No, really. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images For the last few years politicians in Washington have been stuck in traffic—frustrated, honking, and nursing revenge fantasies. That will change next week when Congress returns from spring break. Immigration reform, gun control legislation, and a big budget deal are all on the agenda. Gridlock is going to turn into Cannonball Run—high-stakes, high-speed, and full of oddball characters taking the lead. There may be an extravagant pile-up, but the spring and summer offer a change from the cramped fussiness of going from one budget crisis to the next. If nothing else, the legislative process in Washington is going to get a lot more interesting. “We don’t do comprehensive well,” Sen. Lamar Alexander said three years ago during the health care reform debate. He was right. Congress isn’t good at handling complex and volatile issues through its regular procedures. Controversial budget measures pass with bipartisan agreement only after last-minute crisis negotiations. Legislation on national issues advances only on essentially party-line votes. Health care reform received no Republican support. Financial reform passed in 2010 with three Republicans in the Senate and the Houseand the 2009 stimulus passed with three Senate Republicans and no GOP support in the House. Now Congress faces three highly charged pieces of comprehensive legislation. The road to redemption usually requires taking one small step at a time, but the political establishment could take a huge bound. If lawmakers can come to an agreement on even one of these big issues, it will offer evidence that Washington politicians can not only perform the basic functions of their office, but that they can do so when it comes to complicated and politically sensitive issues. Congress has passed big measures like the national defense authorization or patent reform (seven years in the making), but these issues are different. Those pieces of legislation didn’t touch on emotionally charged national issues. Other than abortion rights, it’s hard to think of a more emotional issue than gun control. Second Amendment supporters are notoriously passionate and the issue has been supercharged by the recent shootings and the president’s regular involvement. Immigration reform is emotional, but its gargantuan size comes from the scope of its effect on the economy and the 11 million people who are in the United States illegally and whose lives will be immediately affected. The battle over the budget—and the possibility of a grand bargain—touch on all facets of the federal government. Politically, the argument over the budget also represents the core issue that was debated in the last election. That these are national issues is demonstrated by the cast of characters looking to make a name for themselves by rushing into the action. If nothing else, hearing about Sens. Schumer, Manchin, Cruz, Rubio, and Paul is a refreshing break from all the coverage of Obama, Boehner, Cantor and McConnell. There is activity on all three issues—not all of it in a positive direction—but unlike the grinding slowness of the last few years, at least there is ferment and activity. (One veteran journalist compared covering the dreary sameness of Washington budget battles to reporting on the decades-long stalemate between the Israelis and Palestinians.) On immigration, the Gang of Eight may rescue the reputation and good name of Washington gangs. Unlike the supercommittee or the Gang of Six working on health care in 2009 or the Gang of Six working on the budget in 2011, this group has not collapsed and may produce actual legislative language. On the budget, the president, House, and Senate will all put out documents. A conference committee to reconcile the differences is likely to take place. Hearings will be held and ideas will be debated. The president is holding another dinner with Republican senators next Wednesday as he continues to try to find some road to a grand bargain. The destination is a long way off but at least people have stopped screaming at one another in the street and have gotten back into their cars. Legislation on sweeping gun control measures may not pass, but the momentum for a vote is enormous. One of the frustrating things about Washington gridlock is the lack of accountability for being so utterly awful. On the question of gun control, voters will be able to see how their lawmakers voted. It’s hard to imagine that it will evaporate the way cap-and-trade legislation did in Obama’s first term or immigration reform, energy reform, or Social Security reform did during the Bush years. There are plenty of reasons these three big pieces of legislation could collapse. The forces of partisanship, ego, and limited imagination that have made crisis budgeting so dreary to watch and so disappointing substantively are still very much alive. But we have just come from a fight over budget sequestration where the two sides could not come to an agreement to avoid cuts designed to be so draconian they would force agreement. So after a period of desolation, a few green shoots are welcome. The two parties have not even been in proximity of a major bipartisan deal in so long the very fact that they are in the same neighborhood is a possible sign that our system is not irreparably broken. Spring is a time of renewal. Perhaps that can be true in Washington, too. If not, at least it will give us something far more interesting to watch. Correction, April 6, 2013: Due to a technical error, only the first paragraph of this post appeared upon the initial publish. It has been republished with the entirety of the intended contents.It kills me that I can't take credit for today's black bean brownies. As strange as it sounds (we're talking about brownies packed with pureed black beans), this recipe from a new book by Ania Catalano delivers deliciously dense, bite-sized squares of melt-in-your-mouth fudge-textured brownies. Keep in mind I'm someone who comes across hundreds of brownie recipes a year, it wasn't high on my to-do list to feature yet another brownie recipe. But the quirky ingredient list piqued my curiosity, and in the end the proof was in the pan. Ania mentions that this flourless brownie was the most sought-after recipe at her restaurant and bakery. Ania's new book is called Baking with Agave Nectar. I was lucky enough to spend some time with a preview copy of it, and even wrote a blurb for the back cover. There are many reasons people are looking to alternative sweeteners. I wrote (and used) agave nectar in Super Natural Cooking for a number of recipes, but you might also try date syrup, coconut nectar, or maple syrup. People looking for sweeteners lower on the glycemic index explore agave nectar, as do many hypoglycemics, diabetics, and people with certain allergies. That being said, don't make the mistake of dismissing it as some sort of "health" or "diet" ingredient. The real reason for chef and home cooks alike to try it (if you haven't already) is because it tastes amazing - it really has its own thing going on. I won't get into all the specifics here, but I encourage you to give it a try. Ania's book is a great starting point for those of you who want to learn to bake with agave nectar in place of the typical white refined sugar called for in so many baking recipes. I also get into many of the specific characteristics of it in the "Use Natural Sweeteners" chapter of SNC with a few recipes that highlight it. So, like I said - there are some quirky facets to this particular brownie recipe. Black bean brownies, really? Yes! And now I'm totally enamored with the use of the black bean batter, it really worked, not even a hint of beany flavor. Consequently, my head is now spinning with all sorts of
-iconic baseball bat scene? And what’s True Detective got to do with it? Pour yourself a glass and explore the art and allusions behind Lemonade. Louisiana and True Detective Though she was born and raised in Houston, Beyoncé’s maternal grandparents were both Louisiana Creoles, and it is her generational connection to Louisiana (and New Orleans, specifically) that drives so much of Lemonade. One of the frequent settings is the ruins of Fort Macomb, a location featured in the first season finale of True Detective. In the HBO show, Fort Macomb was Carcosa: the mystical, mysterious villain’s lair where darkness prevails. In Lemonade, Fort Macomb represents the persistence of history, its hideaways and tunnels evoking the Underground Railroad. When guitarist Little Freddie King appears in one of those tunnels during ‘Daddy Lessons’, he’s not only a silhouetted stand-in for Beyoncé’s estranged father Matthew Knowles, but an homage to an entire line of Delta blues guitarists (King is a cousin of the late, great Lightnin’ Hopkins). Throughout the film, there are no clear demarcations between reality and surreality or past and present; color and black-and-white are used interchangeably. A young girl in the plantation house could be Beyoncé, or Blue Ivy, or Beyoncé’s mother, or the daughter of a slave – she represents any and all of these women. Lemonade lingers on the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown as they hold photos of their murdered sons; they are intercut with actresses who hold photos of long-forgotten men, connecting Martin, Garner and Brown to a long, pitiful tradition. And during ‘Daddy Lessons’, the film intercuts home video footage of Matthew Knowles with both Blue Ivy and Beyoncé at the same age. In True Detective, Rust Cohle memorably posited that “time is a flat circle”; in Lemonade, Beyoncé maintains that “the past and the future merge to meet us here.” New Orleans Throughout, Lemonade pays tribute to New Orleans culture, from jazz funerals and the Edna Karr Marching Band to Mardi Gras Indians and Queen of Creole cuisine, Leah Chase. Beyoncé also returns to the Superdome, which was not just the site of her first Super Bowl performance but a shelter of last resort after Hurricane Katrina, where three people died. Lemonade repeatedly returns to the moss-covered bayou, to buildings that resemble plantation homes and their attendant slave quarters. But instead of an antebellum memory, these scenes portray a dream: the fantasy of an all-black, matriarchal utopia when women dress up, prepare meals, take photographs and perform shows, not for a master but for themselves. Anachronistic details like period dress and antique cameras contribute to the dream-like feeling of these scenes, which evoke post-Civil War black towns like Zora Neale Hurston’s Eatonville, feminist gatherings like the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and (as dream hampton notes) Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust. Warsan Shire and Pipilotti Rist The music of Lemonade contains a handful of samples and interpolations of everything from an OutKast classic to a tweet by Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig. Likewise, the Lemonade film is rich with allusions to and inclusions of the work of others. Most notable is the poetry of Somali–British writer Warsan Shire (who is credited for both “film adaptation and poetry”). Adaptations of Shire’s previously published poetry and seemingly new material are spoken by Beyoncé throughout Lemonade, providing context and connective tissue that is vivid, explicit and visceral. After Shire’s poetry, the second most immediate allusion is the video for ‘Hold Up’, which is seemingly inspired by Pipilotti Rist’s 1997 video installation ‘Ever Is Over All’. Described by MoMA as a “whimsical and anarchistic scene,” ‘Ever is Over All’ features a woman smashing car windows with a long-stem “flower” much in the way that Beyoncé does with a baseball bat. The ‘Hold Up’ video is equally whimsical and anarchistic, Beyoncé’s L’Oreal commercial smile contrasted with fiery explosions. Laolu Senbanjo On occasion, multiple allusions combine with original work, with layers of meaning. During “Apathy” (which includes the video for ‘Sorry’), a music box version of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” plays, as Beyoncé reads a eulogistic poem (in voiceover) to a troupe of dancers that are painted with the Yoruba-inspired ‘Sacred Art of the Ori’ of Laolu Senbanjo. A Nigerian visual artist, Senbanjo has describeed the Sacred Art of the Ori as a “spiritually intimate experience” that connects the minds, bodies and soul of both artist and muse. Here it is part of a web of connections between Beyoncé and her lover, Africa and America, pop music and classical. Malcolm X While many viewers will miss the allusions to the work of Rist and Senbanjo, there’s no missing the quote that breaks up ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’. After Beyoncé spits, “Bad motherfucker, God complex / Motivate your ass, call me Malcom X,” the film cuts to footage of women on the street and a voiceover from the civil rights leader: “The most disrespected woman in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” The excerpt is from a speech that Malcom X gave at the funeral service of Ronald Stokes, a Nation of Islam member and Korean War veteran who was killed by the LAPD in 1962. Known as the “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?” speech, Malcolm X raised issues of self-hatred – of hair texture, skin color, nose shape – that Beyoncé explores on ‘Formation’. And while the quote is specifically about black women, its inclusion opens a portal to the past that reveal truths about the present, asking questions about police brutality and black self-love that have still not been answered. In Lemonade, a lyric begets a quote that (possibly) begets knowledge that is only a Google search away. Beyoncé’s own videos Beyoncé looked not just outward for inspiration on Lemonade, but inward as well. The film nods back to her previous work, specifically the visual components of Beyoncé. In ‘Anger,’ as Beyoncé threatens to wear the skin of her lover’s mistress over her own, dancers wear white fabric that is stretched over and connects their bodies, a visual reminiscent of the similarly costumed dancers in ‘Ghost’. Likewise, ‘Hold Up’ features the surveillance footage of ‘Haunted’ and well as the destruction of ‘Superpower’ (both directed by Akerlund). The allusions to her previous work and the work of others are most effective when combined, like in ‘Emptiness,’ the chapter soundtracked by ‘6 Inch’. Beyoncé rides in a limousine, much like she did in ‘Partition’, but where ‘Partition’ was about a backseat encounter with her lover, ‘Emptiness’ is heavy with the red lights, peep show stages and street pick-ups of anonymous sex work. Perhaps another nod to her apparently altered relationship with Jay Z is the lace bodysuit she wears while burning down a bedroom, which resembles the ones worn in promotional materials for her Mrs. Carter and On The Run tours – efforts that namedropped and featured her husband. And even when the references are imagined (that red hallway and flickering light evokes David Lynch) or more oblique (the lightbulb swinging is reminscent of Massive Attack’s Kate Moss-starring ‘Ritual Spirit’ video), they only make the symbolism richer. Her own public image Much of the discussion of Lemonade has focused on the truth of the narrative (is it specifically about her marriage? Who is Becky with the good hair?). The film uses techniques that further blur the distinction between fact and fiction. While much of the film is stylized and cinematic, there are many moments that rely on documentary-like footage, like the segment of “Accountability” that focuses on a New Orleans man who was inspired to change his life after meeting President Obama. There are also what appears to be home movies (Matthew Knowles with his daughter and granddaughter, Beyoncé and Jay Z getting married, getting tattooed, going on vacation) and footage that is shot in a grainy home movie style (the women on the street, the couples in love, the family on the stoop, the people in ‘Daddy Lessons’). The quote from which Lemonade draws its title (“I was served lemons but I made lemonade”) comes from a video of Jay Z’s grandmother Hattie White’s 90th birthday celebration. Juxtaposing documentary and narrative footage underscores what Beyoncé has done with her lyrics, toying with the distinctions between public and private, general and specific, real and fake, past and present. Just as she did by intercutting the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown with actresses holding photographs of unknown men, Beyoncé suggests that the distinctions are less important than some may make them out to be. The cracked bowl After drawing on art, poetry, history and cinema to allude to the seven stages of post-infidelity grief, Lemonade drops perhaps its most telling detail around the 40-minute mark with a brief shot of a small cracked bowl. The bowl is Japanese kitsugi, or “golden joinery”, a style of ceramics which repairs broken pieces of pottery into new objects, with the previous cracks left visible through lacquer mixed with powdered gold. The meaning is pretty clear: a broken bowl, or a broken relationship, can be fixed – and the work it takes to repair can make the final object more beautiful than it was before. Follow Chris Kelly on TwitterImage copyright AFP Image caption Palmyra: A Russian soldier in the ancient ruins, 7 Apr 16 The body of a Russian officer killed near Palmyra during a battle against so-called Islamic State (IS) militants has arrived back in Moscow from Syria. Tass news agency said special forces Snr Lt Alexander Prokhorenko was posthumously awarded the Hero of Russia medal by President Vladimir Putin. He died after calling in a Russian air strike to hit IS fighters who had surrounded him, Russian media reported. Syrian and Russian forces ousted IS from Palmyra on 27 March. On 18 March IS claimed it had killed five Russian soldiers in fighting around Palmyra. IS published photos of what it said were their mobile phones and video footage of a bloodied corpse. There was no confirmation of the deaths from Russia at the time. Many precious sculptures were smashed by IS in Palmyra, causing international outrage. Now a Unesco world heritage site, Palmyra was a flourishing city in antiquity. UN experts say the site has retained much of its integrity and authenticity, despite the IS damage. Image copyright AFP Image caption Despite much IS damage Palmyra still has reminders of its glorious past 'I'm surrounded' The Russian defence ministry reported Prokhorenko's death on 24 March. According to the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Prokhorenko directed a Russian air strike on IS after telling his commander by radio: "I'm surrounded - they're here, I don't want them to get me". A transcript of the radio message appeared on social media. "I request an air strike. They'll mutilate me and my uniform. I want to die with dignity, and I want all these scumbags to die with me. Please fulfil my last request," he was quoted as saying. His body fell into IS hands, but later Syrian Kurdish rebels in the YPG militia managed to recover it and hand it over to the Russian military, Rossiiskaya Gazeta said. The AFP news agency also reported that version of events. Tass says Prokhorenko will be buried on 6 May in Gorodki, a village in the Orenburg region of central Russia. After the recapture of Palmyra parts of the site were de-mined by Russian sappers. Russia is helping the Syrian government forces of President Bashar al-Assad against IS and other rebel groups, mainly supporting the Syrian army with air strikes.The Confederate Flag is Bad for Business Eoin Higgins Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 22, 2015 The call to take down the South Carolina capitol’s Confederate flag by the governor, Nikki Haley, has been met with a lot of praise for her political courage from the “left” and the right. But this praise is at best premature. All indications are that the act was a craven genuflection to corporate interests and her own political ambition, and not an act of conscience. Let’s look at the chain of events leading up to Haley’s announcement. On Wednesday, June 17, 2015, a white supremacist named Dylann Roof murdered nine black people in the Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The massacre shocked the nation. It was revealed that Roof has an affinity for the Confederate flag and other symbols of white power and racism. In honor of the victims, the State of South Carolina called for all flags to be flown at half mast- all save one. The Confederate flag that waves over the Capitol grounds in Columbia stayed up. This was met with mounting outrage across the country. On Monday, June 22, Nikki Haley called for the removal of the flag from the capitol, saying: By removing a symbol that divides us, we can move forward as a state in harmony and we can honor the nine blessed souls who are in heaven. Healing statement by an emotionally invested leader, right? But this is hardly the whole story. Haley’s statements less than a year ago can help to explain what actually happened here. When asked about the flag in a gubernatorial debate in October of 2014, Haley said: I’ve spent a lot of my days on the phones with CEOs and recruiting jobs to this state. I can honestly say I have not had one conversation with a single CEO about the Confederate flag. In other words, the flag was a non-issue then. It didn’t matter to Nikki Haley then that a symbol of white supremacy and racial hate flies over her state’s capitol. It didn’t matter to Nikki Haley then that the Confederate flag stands for an actual war fought over the right of white people to hold black people in bondage for the color of their skin. And it didn’t matter to Nikki Haley then that it is a “symbol that divides”: no CEO had complained about it. If this doesn’t lay out Governor Haley’s attitude clearly enough, look at what happened in the days between the atrocity at Mother Emmanuel Church and Haley’s call to take down the flag. As Jena McGregor reported in the Washington Post only hours before Haley’s announcement, over the weekend the call to take down the flag was taken up by, you guessed it, CEOs. From Apple to Microsoft, beginning with Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com, influential business people expressed their support for removal via social media. And Jonathan Martin of The New York Times found that the South Carolina business community as a whole wants the flag gone. It’s bad for business. And there you have it. Nikki Haley’s motivation for calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the Capitol is clear. Given her previous statements on the issue, it should be apparent that the economic cost of maintaining the relic of her state’s brutal past outweighs what she may face in the fallout from the decision. Any potential political problems are minor, though. Nikki Haley just won reelection as governor. Her term expires in 2019. It is highly unlikely that someone with her ambition and political acumen would seek a third term. Haley has her eyes set on higher office and national visibility. Setting herself up as the Republican governor from South Carolina who took down the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds is a good narrative. That she was forced into this position by the local and national business community doesn’t have to be part of that story. That Nikki Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds in Columbia is a good thing. The flag is a symbol of hatred and oppression. It should have no place next to where legislators decide policy for the people. But to call Governor Haley’s press conference anything other than purely economic and political, or to suggest that she made a decision of conscience or courage, is ridiculous.HAVANA, Cuba — When the devastating earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Cuba’s emergency responders didn’t have far to travel. There were already some 350 Cuban medical personnel working in Haiti, sent by the Castro government to provide free care in nearly every Haitian municipality. Since then, the number of Cuban doctors, nurses and other medical workers deployed to the disaster area has risen to 618, and the Cuban brigade is working alongside 402 Haitian graduates of Havana’s Latin American School of Medicine. According to Cuban authorities, these teams have treated more than 60,000 patients and performed more than 3,500 surgeries. Their mission is driven by a simple principle, according to Fidel Castro. "We are sending doctors, not soldiers," Castro wrote recently, taking a none-too-subtle swipe at the Obama administration’s Haiti relief effort, in one of his regular postings on the government website Cubadebate. “In the midst of the Haitian tragedy,” said the ex-Cuban leader, who has retired from his role as president but still weighs in on foreign affairs, “thousands of U.S. Marine Corps infantrymen, troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, and other military forces have occupied Haitian territory. Even worse, neither the United Nations nor the U.S. government has offered an explanation to world public opinion for this mobilization of forces.” Castro’s criticisms, along with other articles and editorials that have since appeared in Cuba’s state-run media, are a reminder that the island’s socialist system seems to thrive at the convergence of politics, medicine and international diplomacy. Of course, for Haitian earthquake victims and others in poor countries where medical care is desperately needed, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Despite Cuba’s relatively small size and chronically ill economy, its education system has turned the island into a powerhouse of international medicine. Cuba sends thousands of doctors and other medical personnel abroad on “international missions,” and brings planeloads of patients to Havana for free eye surgery or other procedures they might not otherwise afford. According to government figures, about 35,000 Cuban health care professionals are currently working in 70 countries. Some are assigned in the spirit of pure humanitarian assistance, while others are deployed through medical service contracts that bring in much-needed revenue for the Cuban government, as in the case of Venezuela. These programs have generated vast amounts of international goodwill toward Cuba, building a kind of soft power that benefits the Castro government in its public relations battles with the United States. Once an outcast in the region, the Cuban government has gradually restored diplomatic relations with nearly every country in the Americas (the U.S. being the main exception), despite the persistent image of Cuba’s “isolation.” Then there are more than 24,000 foreign medical students enrolled at Havana’s Latin American School of Medicine, mostly from Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean. The Cuban government provides full six-year scholarships, and the students commit to returning to their home countries upon graduation. Cuba has even opened its classrooms to U.S. students from low-income families, and 130 Americans are currently studying medicine in Havana. Seven of the program’s American graduates have joined the Cuban brigade in Haiti. And yet, given the way these medical programs are promoted by the communist government’s state-run media, it’s hard to view Cuba’s efforts as pure acts of disinterested humanitarianism. Government television reports and newspaper articles about the heroism of Cuba’s efforts in Haiti often appear crafted with maximum propaganda value in mind, especially when there’s an opportunity to score political points against the United States. Cuban coverage of the U.S. role in Haiti has focused extensively on the American military presence, depicting U.S. troops as callous occupiers. Other Cuban editorials have gone further, alleging covetous American designs on yet-undiscovered Haitian oil. Such claims undermine the Cuban government’s altruistic self-image, said Cuba expert Phil Peters. “I think that people around the world recognize the great contribution of Cuban doctors in Haiti,” wrote Peters, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute, on his blog, The Cuban Triangle. “I also think that Cuban propagandists diminish Cuba’s contribution when they show that for them, Haiti relief efforts are part of a political competition with the United States.” Of course, for patients in Haiti, it matters little whether Cuba is motivated more by public health or public relations. Cuban doctors have a track record in Haiti and elsewhere that demonstrates an overarching interest in providing care to the needy, said Gail Reed, director of MEDICC, a U.S. non-profit that publishes a journal on Cuban medicine and is helping to provide material aid for the Cuban-trained Haitian doctors. “The world responds when there’s a disaster, and responds generously, and that’s wonderful,” said Reed. “The point to me, however, is to build a strong public health system. And the fact that the Cubans have been in Haiti for more than 10 years indicates a commitment to building a public health system.” The Cuban doctors provide everything from vaccinations to maternity care to major surgery, staffing Haiti's public hospitals and clinics, rather than setting up private facilities of their own. For those efforts, Reed said, Cuba deserves recognition and praise. “Whether Cuba gets goodwill from its doctors, or for its global medical cooperation, well, shouldn’t it?,” she asked. “Shouldn’t it get some credit?”Ed. note: We're now up to the sixth post in the Green Basics series of posts that TreeHugger is writing to provide basic information about important ideas, materials and technologies for new greenies (or those who just need a quick refresher). Read on and stay tuned!The electric vehicle (EV), or, more colloquially, electric car, is gaining traction as a viable alternative form of personal transportation, and remains just out of arms' reach as a mainstream way to get around. An electric car runs on energy stored in large packs of batteries instead of the more conventional internal combustion engine, making it very attractive to those concerned with using less oil and causing fewer greenhouse gas emissions. When driving, they don't emit any carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas, nor any nitrogen oxide or other smog-forming compound. The first electric car to be commercially available in the US, General Motors' EV1, is pictured above, and much was made about; keep reading to get the scoop on whodunit.Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Among the items allegedly found in Manning's cell was a copy of Vanity Fair with Caitlyn Jenner on the cover US Army whistleblower Private Chelsea Manning has said she has been found guilty of violating prison rules and has been temporarily barred from recreational activities. The transgender soldier had faced solitary confinement after being accused of having contraband items. Manning, formerly known as Bradley, was convicted in 2013 of leaking thousands of secret files to Wikileaks. She is currently serving 35-year sentence at a Kansas military prison. The US Army declined to comment on the hearing, citing privacy laws, but earlier said such proceedings were a "common practice". On her Twitter account, Manning said she would not be able to use the gym, library or go outdoors for three weeks as punishment. Manning said the punishment also means she could spend longer in a high-security prison, as it represents a blot against her good behaviour records. 'Years added' Among the banned items allegedly found in her cell was a tube of expired toothpaste, a copy of Vanity Fair magazine with transgender Caitlyn Jenner (formerly known as Bruce) on the cover and Malala Yousafzai's memoir. Image copyright @xychelsea Over 100,000 people signed a petition calling for the government not to sentence Manning to solitary confinement, the maximum penalty. "When I spoke to Chelsea earlier today [Tuesday] she wanted to convey the message to supporters that she is so thankful for the thousands of people from around the world who let the government know that we are watching,'' her lawyer Chase Strangio said. Manning, who legally changed her name in 2014, remains a soldier until her prison term ends. Earlier this year, she was approved for hormone therapy after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria - the sense of one's gender being at odds with the sex assigned at birth. Manning admitted handing more than 700,000 confidential documents to the anti-secrecy website Wikileaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know. Covered California yesterday released application statistics for the first three weeks of November, as well as updated numbers for agents, assisters and call center volume. The numbers showed significant improvement over October statistics for the state’s new health insurance exchange. “We are receiving more than 10,000 applications every single day,” said Peter Lee, the exchange’s executive director. Through Nov. 23, the number of completed enrollment applications hit 385,556 — a significant jump over the 179,562 applications reported as started but not all completed in October. At last week’s exchange board meeting, Lee said enrollment in exchange health plans has reached 79,981 people, as of Nov. 19 — more than doubling October’s enrollment of 30,830 in less than three weeks in November. Also, in the third week of November: • The website had 427,082 “unique visits,” which is roughly the same interest level in the third week as the website had in the month of October. • The three exchange call centers had a spike in interest, with 94,532 calls during the third week of November. (In October the call centers received about 250,000.) • A total of 20,563 assisters have been certified or authorized by the exchange to help people decide on their health care plan, including 7,449 certified insurance agents. “The underpinning of these numbers is what’s happening in communities across the state of California,” Lee said. “When we get asked why things are happening well in California, it’s because of what’s happening in the churches, in the schools, in the community clinics. … And it’s changing people’s lives.”Redflow executive chairman Simon Hackett owns three Tesla cars but when it comes to home batteries he believes he can go one better than the Californian car maker. His company's ZCell home battery using zinc-bromide "flow" technology performed better than the lithium-ion systems dominating the market, he said. Redflow executive chairman Simon Hackett has Redflow batteries installed in his business park in Adelaide. Credit:David Mariuz "This is one that's going to work for you in the house – the harder you work ours the happier it is," he said. "Everyone else is just taking the same sort of lithium batteries and repackaging them." Flow technology involves storing electricity in liquid electrolytes, rather than in electrodes, as lithium-ion does. Two separate tanks of liquid are pumped past a membrane held between two electrodes, producing an electric current.More than nine times as many violent offences are committed in the New Year's Eve window between 9pm and 3am than at other times over the festive period. With Sydney's hospital emergency departments bracing for a flood of patients on New Year's Eve, crime statistics show an average of 312 assaults recorded in that six-hour window, with the night the year's worst for violence. "You can have lives destroyed": Dr Tony Grabs. Credit:Steven Siewert Over the past five years, 125 violent offences on average were committed in the final three hours of New Year's Eve, soaring to an average of 433 in the first three hours of New Year's Day, an analysis of NSW Police records by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found. It is a similar story in Victoria, where significantly more assaults and sexual assaults occur in the week leading up to New Year.It seems strange how much has transpired in the last 12 months in Dutch (men’s) football. This time last year, PSV were still playing in a European competition, Feyenoord were still trying to shrug off tags of perennial ‘also-rans’, and Ajax were getting off to a slow start under a new manager after a season in which they could have won the title on the last day. Oh wait. But we look forward now, to a new season, full of up-and-coming talent, high-volume shooters and defending mishaps (hey, it makes the league more entertaining). The Big Three Feyenoord Straight off the bat, Feyenoord look by far, the strongest side in the league and are probably frontrunners in the bid to defend their title. This stems largely from the fact that they have managed to keep most of their starting XI together, from last season, where they won the title having never relinquished the #1 spot in the table. The midfield of Karim El Ahmadi, Tonny Vilhena and Jens Toornstra is very well-balanced in most aspects. El Ahmadi sits deep, breaks up opponent play and is essential if Feyenoord choose to build from the back. The latter is probably an understated function, since in most Dutch teams cough PSV cough, the ball can very often just be circulated within the back four without any verticality. El Ahmadi enables that, and Tonny Vilhena goes one further. The 22-year-old functions slightly higher up and more significantly to the left, and pulls the strings on that side. Along with the leftback (Kongolo, last year, Haps this year), and the left winger (Elia last year, Boetius this year), Vilhena completes a very effective triangle of play that is crucial in transition for Feyenoord. Toornstra is arguably Feyenoord’s most important player. He spent half of last season at right wing, before taking over Dirk Kuyt’s spot as the CAM in midfield, but very clearly is the attacking outlet through which anything good comes for Feyenoord. The former Utrecht midfielder has a good range of passing and is equally great in helping to switch play as he is carrying the ball forward himself. He also offers a great deal of mobility high up the pitch, and had his best scoring season in 2016-17. He’s over-performing xG on that (14 goals from an expectation of around nine), but it doesn’t take the sheen off his importance. In fact, the only other player as important as the Dutchman is his partner in crime in attack, striker Nicolai Jorgensen. Seven of Toornstra’s 9 assists were to Jorgensen, while the Dane notched up 11 of his own (though only 2 to Toornstra). Martin van Geel’s masterstroke signing was the only player in the league to get to double figures for both goals and assists, and his goal tally matched his xG, which probably bodes well. Jorgensen is a lot more flexible in attack, having played as a second striker before, and this should prove useful for Feyenoord’s Champions League exploits (that sounds very weird to say…). In terms of transfers, Feyenoord have done well given their budget. The midfield was already overperforming in terms of goals, so their ‘big-money’ signing of Steven Berghuis will be expected to take on more of that burden this time around. The ‘Comeback Kid’ Jean-Paul Boetius has already shown some good understanding with new signing Ridgeciano Haps, as well as Jorgensen up top, although his shooting is a bit suspect sometimes. Haps, brought in to replace Kongolo at leftback, is a very attacking fullback, although he does not necessarily have the same playmaking-fullback qualities of Karsdorp or even Sinkgraven (both literally playmakers-turned-fullbacks). He is still a lot more of an attacking leftback than Kongolo was, averaging 2.8 dribbles p90 and 2.0 crosses p90 compared to Kongolo’s 1.0 and 1.4 respectively. The real question is whether defensively, Haps can do what Kongolo achieved in masking the absolute lack of pace in the central duo of Botteghin and Van der Heijden. Sofyan Amrabat and Jeremiah St Juste are great young talents, and personally, I find both of them very elegant, aesthetically pleasing players. Amrabat in particular, is a joy to watch in midfield. It’s a bit hard to predict whether they will provide sufficient depth, because the drop-off in quality between the first XI and most of the subs last year was really big for Feyenoord, especially with European fixtures. This might end up being crucial, because arguably, it was Ajax’s increased involvement in Europe that may have cost them the title in the final weeks last season. Either way, it promises to be an interesting season for Feyenoord, defending a league title for the first time in 18 years, and definitely a new challenge for Van Bronckhorst in his third season, as to how he and the team grow from here. Ajax Another season, another new manager, another early elimination from the Champions League. sigh Cynicism aside, I’d think Ajax are actually – at least on the pitch – in a better position at this stage than they were last season, because the transition from Bosz to Keizer’s playing style has not been as radical as De Boer to Bosz. Thus, even against Nice, Ajax looked like a pretty cohesive unit already. This is also due to the fact that barring Davy Klaassen’s departure, Ajax have also retained most of their main starters (as of 10/08/2017). Joel Veltman has extended his contract, and he’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Kenny Tete, now at Lyon, was seen by some as the better tackler/option at rightback, despite the fact that Veltman attempted (134) and completed (108) the most tackles in the league, averaging 4.4 tackles won per game. It’s an odd situation, because even if the numbers are good and his anticipation of the game is good, Veltman’s tendency to go missing in big moments does not work in his favour. Ajax have signed according to Carl Worswick, the best rightback in the Colombian league in Luis Orejuela, so at least there is some competition / stylistic alternative. In midfield, Donny van de Beek has come in and fit into Klaassen’s role almost perfectly. Two goals in two games so far is reminiscent of the former captain, but Van de Beek arguably offers even more, in terms of his dynamism and wide range of passing. He has the potential to stamp his authority on longer periods during the game, which was not always an aspect of Klaassen’s game. As an aside, StatsBomb’s passing ability model really likes van de Beek’s passing albeit off a relatively small sample. Frenkie de Jong has dazzled whenever given the chance, and (definitely an exaggeration) is kind of like a part-Iniesta, part-Seedorf midfielder. There might be a point in the season where Schøne becomes dispensable as opposed to suddenly indispensable, and we might see Van de Beek in the deepest role in midfield (likely the role he will develop into anyway), with De Jong shuttling ahead of him. While this might be a bit risky for Ajax, it would definitely be fun and fun obviously counts as a trophy. Speaking of fun.. 😀 The fact that I am one of Ziyech’s biggest fans is not a secret. Chances created/key passes is probably a bit of an archaic metric for some now, and it definitely has its drawbacks and can make certain players appear better especially when comparing across leagues. (So no, Ross Barkley is not as good as Toni Kroos and Ziyech at the moment is by no means a better player than Christian Eriksen or Kevin de Bruyne) But for lack of better analytical skills, it’s the one I have to go with here. Looking at the more established/well-known company that Ziyech finds himself in at the top probably lends some credibility that with a large enough sample size, key passes can still help us with some conclusions. Namely the one here being Ziyech is a bloody good creator. That’s in addition to / in spite of the fact that he has had to adapt to a new team, face deeper-set defences, and run a whole lot more under Bosz’s pressing system (which he actually grew to absolutely love). The caveat, is obviously, the fact that Eredivisie defences don’t stack up anywhere near as good as say, Premier League ones, and that he is a set piece taker, but even taking confounders into account, Ziyech is good. Is it worth excusing his ridiculous 4.4 shots p90, usually from not-ideal situations, so much so that he has probably single-handedly shifted Ajax’s profile of shots? Debatable, and likely one of the flaws that he must iron out of his game. If the Neymar money eventually finds its way to Ziyech touch wood via Dembele/Dortmund or Coutinho/Liverpool, it will be Ajax’s biggest loss in recent years and this is not hyperbole. It took them 3 years to find a proper replacement for the void of creativity left by Christian Eriksen, and the tragic situation with Nouri means that Ajax neither have the ‘natural successor’ to Ziyech. He did seem set on staying, but so did Milik last year before he ended up getting pulled into the chain set off by Pogba to United, and Higuaín to Juventus. If anything around €40-ish million is thrown Ajax’s way by virtue of this ridiculous domino-dollar effect, it becomes a difficult situation for Marc Overmars to handle. Under Bosz, there was a lot of emphasis on the wingers to dribble in from the byline and it’s no surprise that Younes and Traoré averaged 3.8 and 3.6 successful dribbles p90. Traoré’s departure opened a space at right wing for either Justin Kluivert or David Neres to fill. So far, the Dutchman has been the preferred choice (although I think he’d be a better fit on the left wing), and in the first half at home against Nice, he justified the choice, creating all kinds of chaos with his mazy runs and smart acceleration. Neres seems like the better finisher/goal threat, and produced a Messi-esque radar in his 5.8 90s in the tail end of last season, so the Ajax wings are definitely a space to watch (also especially if you are an opposition defender). Jong Ajax
crews and the way the UE functions as an expression of both individual and collective ideals.mBut what are they? This is the central question. Both Gates and Garrett discuss their actions in non-sectarian, libertarian terms. They seem to have a critical agenda: the destabilization of the repressive control of neo-liberalized urban space. And both demonstrate a persistent interest in learning about the cycles of (predominantly but not solely) growth and decay, using abandoned places as a dialectical negation of neo-liberal urbanism. But it never goes much further than that. A coherent, critical ideology is consistently absent. Garrett comes closer than Gates to addressing this problem. At one point he concedes that, “[t]he urban exploration community deserves to be problematised for its lack of sociopolitical contextualization or self reflection, or for the failure on the part of individual participants to interrogate their own desires to capture, collect, protect and control information and locations, in contrast to the open-source ethic they espouse.” While cognizant of this fact, even in terms of his own thinking on the topic, Garrett’s critical apparatus seems only to address the immediate nexus of the explorer with the built environment and its power dynamics. His thinking is much like that of Lyotard in The Postmodern Condition. The grand narratives of political criticism are rejected (in Garrett’s case entirely ignored) in favor of a free play that destabilizes systems of power by illustrating their limits and possibilities of action beyond constraint. For Garrett, UE is a sort of propaganda of the deed, building solidarity through intense experiences in common, a phenomenon that Garrett terms “the meld.” At certain points, Garrett alludes to the fact that his participation in this scene was part of his doctoral thesis project. Although accepted by his comrades, there is also a clear recognition of this fact, with one of them even noting that Garrett had, in a certain sense, created a cultural event and then written about it. This is by no means to credit Garrett with creating UE, in general. But it is an oddly engaged sort of cultural anthropology. It’s as if Bronislaw Malinowski taught New Guinea tribesmen to play basketball and then created a league circuit based on the Kula ring. Gates, by contrast, related to the UE scene more organically, becoming an urban explorer in a way that was both a cause and a result of the collapse of his life in “normal” channels. Gates actually appears in Garrett’s book on several occasions, evincing a moderate and unpretentious attitude toward exploration that seems at odds with the approach of the LCC. Gates and Garrett succeed in illuminating the inner workings of the UE scene in ways that correct for the distortions of media hype. Taken together, Hidden Cities and Explore Everything do important work in showing ways that people have challenged the spaciopolitical order of neoliberalism. This challenge is (or can be) one of the most crucial in the developed world, as the prominence of the various instantiations of the Occupy movement illustrated. Yet the lack of a more coherent and comprehensive politics makes it difficult for urban explorers to address the extension of repressive, systemic power on anything but an ad hoc basis. The scene further suffers from its status as a practice for virtuosi rather than the laity. Solidarities among UE practitioners and crews is fragile and fleeting. The extension of urban exploration as an ethic fit for general consumption involves a fallacy of composition. For example, for if all sought self-realization through these means, the very commonality of the action would close it off as an avenue (imagine 200 people all trying to free climb the Williamsburg Bridge at once.) Additionally, the self-promotion (via websites, blogs, books, and other means) that is so central to the UE community means that it is itself increasingly susceptible to domestication and appropriation by the systems of power that its practitioners seek to challenge. Still, there is something beautiful and human about the work of both Gates and Garrett. Both are engaged in projects of human liberation, expressions of freedom thrown in the face of the constraining powers of the city. If it’d the case that neither has discovered a universal ethic, they have certainly discovered and documented practices that can, at certain times and places, constitute models for a freer human existence. Photographs courtesy of Ashley Burton Fougerouse Arnaud, and Tunnel Bug. Published under a Creative Commons license.Unlike many Republicans, Jeb Bush at least recognizes climate change is a reality. He won't say what he thinks is causing it. He won't say how large of a problem he believes it to be, but in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, he did offer his vision of how the climate change problem will be solved. “Ultimately, there’s going to be a person in a garage somewhere that’s going to come up with a disruptive technology that’s going to solve these problems, and I think markets need to be respected in this regard," he said. “I think it’s appropriate to recognize the climate is changing and invest in the proper research to find solutions over the long haul, but not be alarmist about it,” Bush tells the paper. “Not say ‘end is near,’ not de-industrialize the country, not create barriers for higher growth, not just totally obliterate family budgets.”CLOSE Dr. John M, Dorsey Jr. began his career when doctors still made house calls and the iron lung was being used to treat people with polio. Now, at age 90, he's still seeing patients at Beverly Hills Pediatrics. Kristen Shamus Buy Photo Dr. John Dorsey, 90, exits an exam room at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo His career in medicine began when doctors still made house calls, before the advent of the measles vaccine and the pacemaker, and when polio epidemics maimed and killed by the thousands. In his six decades in medicine, Dr. John M. Dorsey Jr. has seen almost everything. He's delivered babies, performed spinal taps and blood transfusions and met patients at his office in Bingham Farms after hours to stitch up gashes and dole out prescriptions and advice. Dr. Dorsey, who turned 90 on Saturday, is still at it — though he's dropped the house calls. For three months during his medical training, he recalls overseeing massive steel cylinders called iron lungs as they pushed and pulled air out of the lungs of polio-ravaged children whose paralyzed bodies couldn't control even their breathing. "I was in charge of the iron lung ward," Dorsey said. "I had some 12 to 15 units at Herman Kiefer Hospital," which was just north of Henry Ford Hospital. An Iron lung ward for Polio Victims. Dr.Jonas Salk. (Photo: Free Press archives) "The polio vaccine was being worked on, but the epidemics were very frightening, and they were epidemics.... There are very few of me left in practice who really did see them the way that we used to see them. It was terrifying." Dr. Dorsey estimates he's close to racking up 400,000 office visits in a long career that helped shaped health care for thousands of Michigan children. Buy Photo Dr. John Dorsey, nearly 90, shows Jared Pauli, 18, of West Bloomfield a progress chart during an exam at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press) An early advocate for the need for infant car seat laws, he served on a General Motors advisory panel on car seat safety and was chairman of a national automotive safety committee. He founded a medical clinic in Pontiac, cofounded Common Ground Sanctuary and also served on the Birmingham City Commission. Dorsey established a medical program for the children of migrant workers and won the pediatrician of the year award for 2009-2010 from the Michigan Academy of Pediatrics. Only about 10% of American doctors continue to work past age 70, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards, which does a biannual census of actively licensed physicians in the U.S. But the census doesn't differentiate age beyond the category of 70 and older, so it's difficult to say how many physicians continue working into their 90s. The State of Michigan doesn't track medical licenses based on the age of doctors, according to a spokesman from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. His long career in medicine, he said, makes him uniquely experienced. "I’ve seen so much over the years, but that doesn’t make me an expert," said Dorsey, who cofounded Beverly Hills Pediatrics in 1959. "It only makes me an expert by default because I’ve seen so much." Though his schedule has dropped from four days a week in the office to three, he doesn't plan to retire. "Well, my friends who have retired who are still living have just kind of faded into oblivion, and I think that could happen to me very easily," he said. "I think people who wistfully retire and lose their licensing... they wind up playing golf. I don't play golf." His career longevity, he says, often gives him the advantage of generational knowledge. "Some of my first patients are entering their 60s," he said. "Sometimes, I’ll get three generations of families instead of just two. Buy Photo Dr. John Dorsey, who turned 90 Saturday, is still practicing as a pediatrician at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press) "There's nothing more helpful than watching a family start, and sometimes they’ll come in with pediatric social issues or pediatric developmental issues so that when I see them for a conference, I’ve got mileage that nobody else can ever get because I’ve seen them, and their families and I could see things unfolding and unfolding and unfolding. "It’s a real quality of diagnosis just by length of exposure." The Anagnos and Doria families can attest to that. Maria Doria was an infant when her mother, Pat Anagnos, first took her to see Dorsey in the early 1970s. Now 45, all three of Doria's children — Anthony, 11, Adriana, 16, and Alexa, 18 — are his patients, too. And Maria Doria's brother, Bill Anagnos, 54, of Bloomfield Hills, credits Dr. Dorsey with changing the course of his life. "When I was 12, I fractured my spine," he said. "I wiped out on a little minibike. I went to an orthopedic surgeon who said to my mother, and I’m still amazed he said this in front of me, 'I hope your son is smart because he’s never going to be able to use his body for the rest of his life.' Not that I was paralyzed, but infirm. Suffice it to say, I was devastated. My mother said, 'Let’s go see Dr. Dorsey.' "He examined me and he said, 'You’re a young boy and you’re very healthy. I’m going to write you a prescription for a corset-style brace with stiff metal bars up the back. You wear that all day long, except at night. At night, you sleep on the floor. Come see me after eight weeks.' "At 8 weeks, they X-rayed me, and I was fine. I went on to move to California and be in the film business." Anagnos did stunts in the 1989 movie "Tap" with Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr., "where one of the tricks I do is run up the side of a building and back flip off the wall. "I always thought of that. if I’d have listened to that orthopedic surgeon and not listened to Dr. Dorsey, I probably never would have pursued that avenue. So Dr. Dorsey had a lot to do with my pursuing a lot of the physical things I've done in my life. If not for him, I’d have just sat back and said forget it." Anagnos's niece, Alexa Doria, also has been inspired by Dorsey. "I’m actually interested in pursuing medicine myself because of Dr. Dorsey," said Alexa, who plans to attend the University of Michigan in the fall. Buy Photo Dr. John Dorsey, nearly 90, speaks with the Detroit Free Press and the Adriana Doria, 16 and her sister Alexa Doria, 18 who will be going into medicine due to Dr. Dorsey's influence on her at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press) "I can only aspire to be half the doctor that he is.... I have never been to a doctor who has both the bedside manner and the extensive knowledge in just about every area of medicine, and it’s amazing to see the generations of our family, and the fact that he’s still the same, wonderful doctor he is." Buy Photo Dr. John Dorsey, nearly 90, speaks with the Detroit Free Press and the Adriana Doria, 16, and her sister Alexa Doria, 18, who will be going into medicine due to Dr. Dorsey's influence on her at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press) Dr. Dorsey's own interest in medicine came from his father, Dr. John M. Dorsey Sr., a noted psychiatrist and Wayne University professor who studied under Sigmund Freud, the renowned father of modern psychoanalysis. "Probably because I didn’t think I’d be good at anything else, I went into medicine," the second John M. Dorsey said. "It was the flavor in the house." His parents took a young John and his brother, Edward, with them to Vienna, Austria, in 1935 so the senior John Dorsey could work with Freud. "My brother and I were just dropped out of the sky into school, and my teacher, Nuchi Plank, knew a little bit of English, and we knew no German. But when you’re 8, 9, 10 years old, you really absorb language well." Buy Photo Dorsey family from left to right: Mary, John Jr., Edward and John Dorsey, Sr. are seen in this October 1935 photo taken in Zurich while John Sr. was working with Sigmund Freud. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press) He remembers having the run of the town in those years leading up to World War II, riding the street cars, and enjoying the more country-like Grinzing, Austria, where Freud liked to spend his summers. "One day, we went over as a family, and I played ping-pong with Freud," he said. "I think I’m the only person still on earth that played ping-pong with Freud and knew him face-to-face." "Right before we came back to the United States in 1937, my mom asked our Jewish friends, 'Don’t you think you should leave?' But they thought Hitler would blow over, which did not take place." Soon after, the Nazis wrested power over Austria. Freud escaped to London, where he died in 1939 of cancer. After the war, Dorsey heard from his former fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at the school he and his brother attended in Vienna. "She had escaped from Austria, and she told me that my brother and I were the only survivors from our grades," he said. "About half the students at our school were Jews. They all died. The other half wound up in the German Army, and I think they died in Russia. She told me this in 1946, that we were the only two survivors from the two years we were there." That was a harsh reality to absorb. "I mean, we’re survivors, but we were privileged survivors," he said. "We came into Austria, and we came out. As Americans, it was not an issue. So we were not really survivors; it’s just that we were the only ones left out of the entire class roll." Buy Photo Dr. John Dorsey, 90, speaks with the Detroit Free Press and the Anagnos and Doria families he's treated for decades at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press) With that realization, he said, "I went into pediatrics, which was very exciting, and I never looked back." He contacted Freud's daughter, Anna Freud, who continued to work in psychoanalysis after her father's death. He asked whether he might study with her for a while to inform his work in pediatrics, but was rebuffed. So he turned his attention elsewhere, serving on the boards of Cranbrook Schools and Roeper School, working as a medical consultant for WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) and even penning an occasional guest column in the Free Press in the 1980s and 1990s. Dr. John Dorsey, who is about to turn 90 and is still practicing as a pediatrician, is seen in his early years in a photo album at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. Dorsey often was a guest on many television talk shows. (Photo: family photo, Dr. John Dorsey) He enlisted in the Navy and served in the reserves from 1945-1950, and later reenlisted, rising to the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Dr. Anna Maria Oniciu, who has worked for 26 years alongside Dorsey at Beverly Hills Pediatrics, said he's been an incredible mentor for her. "It's his attitude toward life, his curiosity that is just unbelievable," she said. "He can read about airplanes, about Einstein, and then, he just talked to me last month about Coco Chanel. He’s interested in everything, and I think that’s why he’s so young." Dr. John Dorsey, who is about to turn 90 and is still practicing as a pediatrician, is seen in a 1969 photo while he served as a colonel in the Army along with other photos at Beverly Hills Pediatrics Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: family photo, Dr. John Dorsey) Oniciu was a political refugee who worked in Romania as a pediatrician before coming to the U.S. Dorsey, she said, helped her get licensed to practice in Michigan. She recalled a day soon after she arrived in the U.S. when Dorsey took her to Beaumont to shadow him while he saw patients. "I spent a whole day seeing patients with him, and then he gets on his bike and goes home. I expected, coming from Romania, that he would drive a Cadillac. But he would ride home on his bike!" she said, laughing. "He never, ever took the elevator at Beaumont. He always was on the stairs.... I always take the stairs, now, like him. It’s because of him. Dr. Anna Maria Oniciu and her mentor and co-worker, Dr. John M. Dorsey Jr. (Photo: Dr. Marisa Elias) "He has been just like a star in the sky, and all of us, we follow." His brother, Dr. Edward Dorsey, a retired psychiatrist like their father, said he always was a leader. "Johnny is a phenomenon," he said. "He was right from the start, and he’s risen like cream in any organization — from high school president, to medical class president, and you probably know, he’s been elected chief of the medical staff at Beaumont Royal Oak as often as they can reelect him. "He’s just an admirable person. He likes people, and people like him.... I don’t know what’s going to stop him." If you ask John Dorsey, not a thing. Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus. Buy Photo Dr. John Dorsey, nearly 90, speaks with the Detroit Free Press and the Anagnos and Doria families he's treated for decades at Beverly Hills Pediatrics in Bingham Farms, Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Photo: Kathleen Galligan, Detroit Free Press) Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2vnnV4ETeenager 'thrown to his death in river because thugs thought he lied about his PIN' Drowned: Robert Gill had been enjoying a night out on Boxing Day when he was attacked A 17-year-old boy was forced to hand over the PIN to his bank card before he was thrown to his death in a fast-flowing river, a court has heard. But Robert Gill's three attackers, who were described as "predators" in court, did not believe he was telling them the right number and threw him in to the Great Ouse in Bedford, Luton Crown Court was told. The jury heard the engineering student was punched and kicked, before being dragged by his hair to a bridge over the river. He was then thrown in and drowned, the court heard. Sean Downes, 18, Thomas Luddington, 17, and a 16-year-old boy deny murdering the teenager. Robert had been enjoying a night out on Boxing Day with his brother as a Christmas treat before he was allegedly accosted by the youths. Timothy Spencer QC, prosecuting, said Downes and the 16-year-old boy had then taken Robert to a cash machine and made seven attempts to withdraw money but he had insufficient funds. Mr Spencer said: "They were trying to force from him what they thought was the true pin number they thought he was holding from them. "In order to do so, they held him on the parapet of a bridge. The fact is no withdrawal from the cash machine was possible because he had less than £10 in his account. "The likelihood is that he had in fact given them his true pin number. We suggest that in the hapless state he was in, he would have had neither the wit, nor the fortitude, nor the composure to withhold his true pin number from them. "So in the last moments before he (Robert) hit the water, he would have been in the hopeless position of giving them the number they say he was withholding from them and he had no way out." Accused: Sean Downes The court heard that after throwing Robert in the river, which was at its height, Downes and the 16-year-old tried to withdraw money again from a nearby Tesco supermarket, something Mr Spencer described as "callous in the extreme". They then returned to the home of Luddington, who later told his girlfriend, Lauren Rinaldi, that he had seen Robert swim to the river bank, only to reject help from Downes and the 16-year-old. Robert's body was found nearby eight days later by police divers after it floated to the surface and caught on a gas cylinder which was in the water. Mr Spencer added: "The three of them had many opportunities to disengage. They certainly could have left at any moment and, if they were horrified by him going in to the water, they could have, at the very least, gone for one of the lifebelts that was nearby or gone for help." The court heard that Robert had been enjoying an evening with his brother, 25-year-old Duncan Ratcliffe, who was treating him to a night out after Christmas. They had started drinking at Mr Ratcliffe's home with one of his work colleagues, before going to a pub in Bedford and then to the New York New York nightclub in the town. But at about 1.30am Robert was sick in the club and was thrown out by a doorman, becoming separated from his brother. CCTV footage showed him staggering from the club, before he was accosted by Downes, Luddington and the 16-year-old youth who had been refused entry to the club minutes earlier. The jury was told that witnesses saw the teenagers pin him up against railings before CCTV allegedly caught Downes and the child defendant take Robert to a NatWest cash machine in the town centre. Missing: Police search the river in the centre of Bedford for Robert's body But because he only had £5 in his account they were unable to withdraw money. The court heard they were then joined by Luddington and escorted Robert to the river. CCTV shown to the jury depicted the defendants holding him round the neck, allegedly dragging him back in to their path every time he tried to escape. The court was also told that Robert may have tried to make a "call for help" to his brother but it went unanswered as Mr Ratcliffe did not hear his mobile ringing in the club because of the noise. After reaching a park next to the river, the teenagers are accused of punching and kicking Robert, knocking him to the ground every time he tried to get up and shouting "wakey, wakey" at him. Mr Spencer earlier told the court the defendants had behaved liked "predators". He said: "Robert Gill had become a target for these three. They were predators picking on their prey like he was an easy picking, we suggest." The court heard that Robert was adopted at the age of nine after his parents suffered from serious illness. Both his parents later died but he grew up with his adoptive family and lived in Wilstead, just outside Bedford. Mr Spencer told the jury: "His mother, Frances Gill, describes him as not being a strong swimmer. Whether or not that would have made a difference is something that you will have to think about. "She also describes him as not being street-wise and that he was somebody who recoiled from violence and aggression, that when faced with it he would back away." Luddington, of Dunham Close, Bedford, Downes, of Acacia Road, Bedford, and the 16-year-old boy all deny murder. The trial continues.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Jim Muir on the plight of refugees living in squalid conditions European leaders should be ashamed by the paltry numbers of refugees from Syria they are prepared to resettle, human rights group Amnesty says. Only 10 member states have offered to take in refugees and even then only 12,000, it complains. The UK and Italy have offered no places at all, it adds. But the UK government says it is focusing on the region and is one of the biggest international donors. European Union aid has reached 1.3bn euros (£1.1bn; $1.7bn), officials say. The bloc says its priority is providing help to Syria's internally displaced people, now thought to number 6.5 million, and those hosted in other countries. The UN estimates almost 2.3 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries since March 2011. Where Syrian refugees are 838,000 in Lebanon 567,000 in Jordan 540,000 in Turkey 207,000 in Iraq 129,000 in Egypt 6.5 million others displaced inside Syria (Source: UNHCR) Most Syrians who have fled their country have travelled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. But some 6,000 this year have reached EU member state Bulgaria, which has appealed for financial help from Brussels in responding to the influx. In September, Sweden became the first EU member state to offer Syrian refugees permanent residence. More than 14,000 Syrians have sought asylum there in the past two years. Germany has resettled 1,000 refugees and plans to admit another 9,000. The UK says it has no plans to resettle or provide temporary protection to Syrian refugees, although individual asylum claims are considered on their merits. "Instead, we are giving as much help as possible to people in the region. Our £500m pledged so far is more than the other EU member states combined," a spokesman told the BBC. 'Miserably failed' Earlier this month, the EU put forward plans to do more to stop migrants dying in the Mediterranean, after more than 350 people lost their lives in a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa in October. One of the proposals involved member states making available a number of planes to enable the EU to resettle thousands more people from refugee camps. The UN has urged Western countries to take in up to 30,000 Syrians by the end of 2014. A lump sum payment of 6,000 euros would be paid to member states for each resettled refugee from the UN refugee agency's list, the Commission proposes. EU leaders will consider the package on 19 December. Amnesty International says the EU has "miserably failed" to provide a safe haven to Syrians, noting that 55,000 so far have been able to claim asylum. Ten countries have promised to allow in 12,000 people, it says, with 80% of the total pledges from Germany. France has offered 500 places and Spain 30, it says. The human rights group's report also criticises "push-back" operations aimed at halting Syrians travelling from Turkey, noting that the European Commission has provided 228m euros to bolster controls. The harsh conditions faced by Syrian refugees have been highlighted this week with the first winter snowfalls in the Bekaa valley of northern Lebanon, where tens of thousands of Syrians are sheltering in tents. A total of 838,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon, living either in tented camps, unused buildings or with friends and family. The bitterly cold weather has also halted a UN airlift of food and other humanitarian supplies from Iraq to Kurdish areas inside north-eastern Syria. Twelve planeloads of supplies are due to be flown in, ahead of what the UN fears will be the region's harshest winter in a century.Get the Sanctum Secorum #07 Companion on DrivethruRPG There’s a traveling man the Carolina mountain folk call Silver John for the silver strings strung on his guitar. In his wanderings John encounters a parade of benighted forest creatures, mountain spirits, and shapeless horrors from the void of history with only his enduring spirit, playful wit, and the magic of his guitar to preserve him. Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John is one of the most beloved figures in fantasy, a true American folk hero of the literary age. Welcome to the Sanctum Secorum podcast. In this episode, we are joined by author Michael Curtis as we examine the stories that inspired an entire setting and boxed set for DCC RPG, and a legendary piece of Appendix N literature. There is so much to discuss that our format was literally bursting at the seams and so we present the episode with 10 extra minutes of content! In addition, we have bonus content to bring to your game: patrons, classes, and so much more…after the jump. There is a great deal of new material to bring to the table based on this story. Below is a list, by category and author, of what has been added to the Dark Acquisitions page by the Keepers of Mysteries, based on this show. Further contributions from friends of the library will also be found there as they arrive. Character Classes Half Giant – David Baity Magic Items Demon Stones – Bob Brinkman Enchanted Cane – Bob Brinkman Finding Light – Bob Brinkman Monsters Bammat – Bob Brinkman Becky Til Hoppard – Jen Brinkman Behinder – Bob Brinkman Hoppard Kin – Jen Brinkman Patrons The Fiddler – Bob Brinkman Appendix N Who Fears the Devil? by Manly Wade Wellman Additional Reading Pow-wows; or Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman Additional Viewing The Legend of Hillbilly John Adventures The 7th Pit of Sezrekan by Harley Stroh Blades Against Death by Harley Stroh The Chained Coffin by Michael Curtis The Grave Pool (In Tales of the Shudder Mountains vol. 1) by Michael Curtis Into the Demon Idol by Jobe Bittman Jewels of the Carnifex by Harley Stroh Lair of the Mist Men by Jon Maar Moonricket Bridge (In Tales of the Shudder Mountains vol. 1) by Michael Curtis The Old Gods Return by Michael Curtis Prince Charming, Reanimator by Daniel J. Bishop Tales of the Shudder Mountains by Michael Curtis Theater of the Hammed by Clint Bohaty The Witch-man of Darkweather Mountain (In Tales of the Shudder Mountains vol. 1) by Michael Curtis The Woeful Caves Under Yander Mountain by Michael Curtis Conventions Gary Con Music Art of the Field Recording Vol I (Boxed Set) by Various Artists The Devil (Song of the Defy) by Hoyt Axton Little Black Train by Woody Guthrie Lonesome Water by Joe Bethancourt Nine Yards of Other Cloth by Joe Bethancourt Shake that Little Foot (album) by Shake that Little Foot Silver John by Joe Bethancourt Thunder’n Lightnin’ by Hoyt Axton Vandy, Vandy by Edward Motter-Vlahakos Music Archives Alan Lomax Archive Alan Lomax – Banjo Alan Lomax – Bluegrass Alan Lomax – Jugband Alan Lomax – Smith, Hobart Alan Lomax – Alabama Alan Lomax – Georgia Alan Lomax – Kentucky Alan Lomax – Mississippi Alan Lomax – New York Alan Lomax – Tennessee Alan Lomax – North Carolina Alan Lomax – Virginia Alan Lomax – West Virginia Spotify Lists Shudfolk Thanks to The ambient background of the Sanctum Secorum was created using Horror Ambiance from Klankbeeld. Sanctum Secorum’s theme music was created using Seating Incantation by Landmark Entertainment.Senior executives in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's own department have received pay rises of up to 12 per cent a year, six times the level of average Australians as wage growth slumps to its lowest level in history. The figures, released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under freedom of Information laws, show the pay of senior executives jumped from $296,000 to $335,000 and from $316,490 to $349,841 between 2014-15 and 2015-16. Average wages have grown by less than 2.3 per cent annually since then and have now bottomed out at 1.9 per cent, barely keeping pace with the cost of living as shopping items become more expensive for consumers. The Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson and Treasury Secretary John Fraser are now on salaries of $861,000 and $840,000 respectively. Dr Parkinson's deal is 70 per cent more than former secretary Peter Shergold received a decade ago.Already there has been a death, a robbery, burglaries, family violence and a breach of a protection order – and it’s only 9am. Outside, it’s still cold, and the city is still sleepy: Footpaths empty, shopkeepers just putting out their open signs. But step through the double doors into the Christchurch Central police station, and the place is abuzz with activity. The Canterbury District Command Centre sits at the back of the station, past the ringing phones in the call centre, past the network of desks and departments, past the officers heading out or returning from patrol. There, Senior Sergeant Roy Appley is watching it all happen. The district command centre is laid out like a mini version of the NASA control-room, or the bridge of a sci-fi spaceship. Desks are set up facing a wall lined with television screens. To the left are the camera feeds, streaming live from security and traffic cameras across the city. Right now, camera feeds from the Riccarton bus lounge are on screen: Several angles from the waiting room, the cafe, and the street outside. To the right, a list of active police incidents scroll across a screen: What’s happening, where it is happening, and who is responding. Each screen is constantly changing and updating. If the command centre resembles a spaceship, Senior Sergeant Appley is in the captain’s chair. Some of the officers working in the DCC are in jeans and sneakers, but he is fully uniformed: Both with crisp police blues and a serious attitude. He makes the time to talk, but is constantly aware of what is happening around him, and several times takes time out to check on his screens. There are two parts to the job, he said: Prioritising calls, and getting as much information as possible to the officers on the ground. “It’s quite demanding in here, because there’s a lot you have to know and keep your head over. Often you’re in here all day, because it’s so fast-paced you can’t leave. If you drop the ball, someone could be harmed,” he said. This morning there are 164 police “units” available across Canterbury, and it is his job to direct them. By about 9.30am, there have already been 51 active events. That includes the death – a body found, but not believed to be suspicious. There are officers at crashes, knocking on doors after burglaries or family harm episodes, and tracking down people who haven’t turned up in court. Covering everything was more challenging that morning, he said, as about 20 staff were busy searching the Kate Valley Landfill for clues to the disappearance of Halswell builder Michael McGrath. The computers pinged as events – each call or crime – arrived on the list. Each was labelled from one, most urgent, to four. With each, Senior Sergeant Appley, or one of his officers, would scan the details to see if there was anything useful they could provide from cameras in the area or police files. Last week, they were notified that someone had been robbed by a group of people at the Washington Way Skate Park on Moorhouse Ave. Instantly they were able to bring up and rewind the camera recording from the area, and saw the robbers getting into a fairly distinctive silver European car. With a description of the car and the direction it was heading, police in the area were able to pull it over and arrest the criminals within minutes. Midway through the morning, Senior Constable Craig Newman stopped by. He spent nine months working in the district command centre, before going back to the beat. He said the information the DCC was able to give was invaluable. It had made car chases safer, he said, as police were able to watch through traffic cameras where criminals were heading and circle ahead to intercept them, rather than having to always give chase. Even during more routine work, like a door knock after a burglary, it made a huge difference, Senior Constable Newman said. “That person may have been a victim of three burglaries, or their husband may have died in a
ballet live in front of CBS TV cameras. The 30-minute broadcast aired on WCBW, the pioneer CBS television station in New York City (now WCBS-TV), from 8:15-8:45PM ET on November 24, 1944. Featured were Maslow and the New Dance Group, which included among others Jane Dudley, Pearl Primus, and William Bales. Woody Guthrie and fellow folksinger Tony Kraber played guitar, sang songs, and read text from The People, Yes. The program received positive reviews and was performed on television over WCBW a second time in early 1945.[47] Pacific Northwest [ edit ] The Columbia, a documentary about the Video: In 1941 Guthrie wrote songs for, a documentary about the Columbia River released in 1949. Playing time 21:10. In May 1941, after a brief stay in Los Angeles, Guthrie moved to Portland, Oregon, in the neighborhood of Lents, on the promise of a job. Gunther von Fritsch was directing a documentary about the Bonneville Power Administration's construction of the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River, and needed a narrator. Alan Lomax had recommended Guthrie to narrate the film and sing songs onscreen. The original project was expected to take 12 months, but as filmmakers became worried about casting such a political figure, they minimized Guthrie's role. The Department of the Interior hired him for one month to write songs about the Columbia River and the construction of the federal dams for the documentary's soundtrack. Guthrie toured the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest. Guthrie said he "couldn't believe it, it's a paradise",[48] which appeared to inspire him creatively. In one month Guthrie wrote 26 songs, including three of his most famous: "Roll On, Columbia, Roll On", "Pastures of Plenty", and "Grand Coulee Dam".[49] The surviving songs were released as Columbia River Songs. The film "Columbia" was not completed until 1949 (see below). At the conclusion of the month in Oregon and Washington, Guthrie wanted to return to New York. Tired of the continual uprooting, Mary Guthrie told him to go without her and the children.[50] Although Guthrie would see Mary again, once on a tour through Los Angeles with the Almanac Singers, it was essentially the end of their marriage. Divorce was difficult, since Mary was a member of the Catholic Church, but she reluctantly agreed in December 1943.[51] Almanac Singers [ edit ] Woody Guthrie, 1943 Following the conclusion of his work in the Northwest, Guthrie corresponded with Pete Seeger about Seeger's newly formed folk-protest group, the Almanac Singers. Guthrie returned to New York with plans to tour the country as a member of the group.[52] The singers originally worked out of a loft in New York City hosting regular concerts called "hootenannies", a word Pete and Woody had picked up in their cross-country travels. The singers eventually outgrew the space and moved into the cooperative Almanac House in Greenwich Village. Initially Guthrie helped write and sing what the Almanac Singers termed "peace" songs; while the Nazi-Soviet Pact was in effect, until Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Communist line was that World War II was a capitalist fraud. After Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, the group wrote anti-fascist songs. The members of the Almanac Singers and residents of the Almanac House were a loosely defined group of musicians, though the core members included Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Millard Lampell and Lee Hays. In keeping with common utopian ideals, meals, chores and rent at the Almanac House were shared. The Sunday hootenannies were good opportunities to collect donation money for rent. Songs written in the Almanac House had shared songwriting credits among all the members, although in the case of "Union Maid", members would later state that Guthrie wrote the song, ensuring that his children would receive residuals.[53] In the Almanac House, Guthrie added authenticity to their work, since he was a "real" working class Oklahoman. "There was the heart of America personified in Woody... And for a New York Left that was primarily Jewish, first or second generation American, and was desperately trying to get Americanized, I think a figure like Woody was of great, great importance", a friend of the group, Irwin Silber, would say.[54] Woody routinely emphasized his working-class image, rejected songs he felt were not in the country blues vein he was familiar with, and rarely contributed to household chores. House member Agnes "Sis" Cunningham, another Okie, would later recall that Woody "loved people to think of him as a real working class person and not an intellectual".[55] Guthrie contributed songwriting and authenticity in much the same capacity for Pete Seeger's post-Almanac Singers project People's Songs, a newsletter and booking organization for labor singers, founded in 1945.[56] Bound for Glory [ edit ] Guthrie was a prolific writer, penning thousands of pages of unpublished poems and prose, many written while living in New York City. After a recording session with Alan Lomax, Lomax suggested Guthrie write an autobiography. Lomax thought Guthrie's descriptions of growing up were some of the best accounts he had read of American childhood.[57] During this time Guthrie met Marjorie Mazia, a dancer in New York who would become his second wife. Mazia was an instructor at the prestigious Martha Graham Dance School, where she was assisting Sophie Maslow with her piece Folksay. Based on the folklore and poetry collected by Carl Sandburg, Folksay included the adaptation of some of Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads for the dance.[45] Guthrie continued to write songs and began work on his autobiography. The end product, Bound for Glory, was completed with the patient editing assistance of Mazia and was first published by E.P. Dutton in 1943.[58] It is vividly told in the artist's down-home dialect, with the flair and imagery of a true storyteller. Library Journal complained about the "too careful reproduction of illiterate speech".[59] But Clifton Fadiman, reviewing the book in the New York Times, paid the author a fine tribute: "Someday people are going to wake up to the fact that Woody Guthrie and the ten thousand songs that leap and tumble off the strings of his music box are a national possession, like Yellowstone and Yosemite, and part of the best stuff this country has to show the world."[59] A film adaptation of Bound for Glory was released in 1976.[60] In 1944 Guthrie met Moses "Moe" Asch of Folkways Records, for whom he first recorded "This Land Is Your Land". Over the next few years, he recorded "Worried Man Blues", along with hundreds of other songs. These recordings would later be released by Folkways and Stinson Records, which had joint distribution rights.[61] The Folkways recordings are available (through the Smithsonian Institution online shop); the most complete series of these sessions, culled from dates with Asch, is titled The Asch Recordings. World War II years [ edit ] Guthrie believed performing his anti-fascist songs and poems in the United States was the best use of his talents. Labor for Victory: In April 1942, Time magazine reported that the AFL (American Federation of Labor) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) had agreed to a joint radio production, called Labor for Victory. NBC agreed to run the weekly segment as a "public service". The AFL and CIO presidents William Green and Philip Murray agreed to let their press chiefs, Philip Pearl and Len De Caux, narrate on alternate weeks. The show ran on NBC radio on Saturdays 10:15–10:30 PM, starting on April 25, 1942. Time wrote, "De Caux and Pearl hope to make the Labor for Victory program popular enough for an indefinite run, using labor news, name speakers and interviews with workmen. Labor partisanship, they promise, is out."[62][63] Writers for Labor for Victory included: Peter Lyon, a progressive journalist; Millard Lampell (born Allan Sloane), later an American movie and television screenwriter; and Morton Wishengrad, who worked for the AFL.[64][65] For entertainment on CIO episodes, De Caux asked singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie to contribute to the show. "Personally, I would like to see a phonograph record made of your 'Girl in the Red, White, and Blue.'"[66] The title appears in at least one collection of Guthrie records.[67] Guthrie consented and performed solo two or three times on this program (among several other WWII radio shows, including Answering You, Labor for Victory, Jazz in America, and We the People).[68][69][70] On August 29, 1942, he performed "The Farmer-Labor Train", with lyrics he had written to the tune of "Wabash Cannonball". (In 1948, he reworked the "Wabash Cannonball" melody as "The Wallace-Taylor Train" for the 1948 Progressive National Convention, which nominated former U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace for president.)[71][72][73] The Almanac Singers (of which Guthrie and Lampell were co-founders) appeared on The Treasury Hour and CBS Radio's We the People. The latter was later produced as a television series).[74] (Also, Marc Blitzstein's papers show that Guthrie made some contributions to four CIO episodes (dated June 20, June 27, August 1, August 15, 1948) of Labor for Victory.[75]) While Labor for Victory was a milestone in theory as a national platform, in practice it proved less so. Only 35 of 104 NBC affiliates carried the show.[63][76][77] Episodes included the announcement that the show represented "twelve million organized men and women, united in the high resolve to rid the world of Fascism in 1942". Speakers included Donald E. Montgomery, then "consumer's counselor" at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.[78][79][80] Merchant Marine: Guthrie lobbied the United States Army to accept him as a USO performer instead of conscripting him as a soldier in the draft.[ citation needed ] When Guthrie's attempts failed, his friends Cisco Houston and Jim Longhi persuaded the singer to join the U.S. Merchant Marine in June 1943.[81] He made several voyages aboard merchant ships SS William B. Travis, SS William Floyd, and SS Sea Porpoise, while they traveled in convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic. He served as a mess man and dishwasher, and frequently sang for the crew and troops to buoy their spirits on transatlantic voyages. His first ship, William B. Travis, hit a mine in the Mediterranean Sea, which killed one person aboard, but it sailed to Bizerte, Tunisia under her own power.[82] His last ship, Sea Porpoise, took troops from the United States to England and France for the D-Day invasion. Guthrie was aboard when the ship was torpedoed off Utah Beach by the German submarine U-390 on July 5, 1944, injuring 12 of the crew. Guthrie was unhurt and the ship stayed afloat; it returned to England, where it was repaired at Newcastle.[83] In July 1944 it returned to the United States.[84] Guthrie was an active supporter of the National Maritime Union, the main union for wartime American merchant sailors. Guthrie wrote songs about his experience in the Merchant Marine but was never satisfied with them. Longhi later wrote about Guthrie's marine experiences in his book Woody, Cisco and Me.[85] The book offers a rare first-hand account of Guthrie during his Merchant Marine service. In 1945, the government decided that Guthrie's association with Communism made him ineligible for further service in the Merchant Marine; he was drafted into the U.S. Army.[86] While he was on furlough from the Army, Guthrie married Marjorie.[87] After his discharge, they moved into a house on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island and over time had four children: daughters Cathy and Nora; and sons Arlo and Joady. Cathy died as a result of a fire at the age of four, and Guthrie suffered a serious depression from his grief.[88] Arlo and Joady followed in their father's footsteps as singer-songwriters. When his family was young, Guthrie wrote and recorded Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child, a collection of children's music, which includes the song "Goodnight Little Arlo (Goodnight Little Darlin')", written when Arlo was about nine years old. During 1947 he wrote House of Earth, an historical novel containing explicit sexual material, about a couple who build a house made of clay and earth to withstand the Dust Bowl's brutal weather. He could not get it published.[89] It was published posthumously in 2013, by Harper, under actor Johnny Depp's publishing imprint, Infinitum Nihil. In 1949, Guthrie's music was used in the documentary film Columbia River, which explored government dams and hydroelectric projects on the river.[90] Guthrie had been commissioned by the US Bonneville Power Administration in 1941 to write songs for the project, but it had been postponed by World War II.[91] Post-war: Mermaid Avenue [ edit ] This page from a collection of Guthrie's sheet music published in 1946 includes his Mermaid Avenue address and one of his anti-fascist slogans The years immediately after the war when he lived on Mermaid Avenue were among Guthrie's most productive as a writer. His extensive writings from this time were archived and maintained by Marjorie and later his estate, mostly handled by his daughter Nora. Several of the manuscripts also contain writing by a young Arlo and the other Guthrie children.[92] During this time Ramblin' Jack Elliott studied extensively under Guthrie, visiting his home and observing how he wrote and performed. Elliott, like Bob Dylan later, idolized Guthrie. He was inspired by the singer's idiomatic performance style and repertoire. Because of the decline caused by Guthrie's progressive Huntington's disease, Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan both later said that they had learned much of Guthrie's performance style from Elliott. When asked about this, Elliott said, "I was flattered. Dylan learned from me the same way I learned from Woody. Woody didn't teach me. He just said, If you want to learn something, just steal it—that's the way I learned from Lead Belly."[93] 1950s and 1960s [ edit ] Deteriorating health due to Huntington's [ edit ] By the late 1940s, Guthrie's health was declining, and his behavior was becoming extremely erratic. He received various diagnoses (including alcoholism and schizophrenia). In 1952, it was finally determined that he was suffering from Huntington's disease,[16] a genetic disorder inherited from his mother. Believing him to be a danger to their children because of his behavior, Marjorie suggested he return to California without her. They eventually divorced.[94] Upon his return to California, Guthrie lived at the Theatricum Botanicum, a summer-stock type theatre founded and owned by Will Geer. Together singers and actors who had been blacklisted by HUAC, he waited out the anti-communist political climate. As his health worsened, he met and married his third wife, Anneke Van Kirk. They had a child, Lorinna Lynn. The couple moved to Fruit Cove, Florida, where they briefly lived. They lived in a bus on land called Beluthahatchee, owned by his friend Stetson Kennedy. Guthrie's arm was hurt in an accident when gasoline used to start the campfire exploded. Although he regained movement in the arm, he was never able to play the guitar again. In 1954, the couple returned to New York.[95] Shortly after, Anneke filed for divorce, a result of the strain of caring for Guthrie. Van Kirk left New York after arranging for friends to adopt Lorinna Lynn. Lorinna had no further contact with her birth parents. She died in a car accident in California in 1973 at the age of 19. After the divorce, Guthrie's second wife, Marjorie, re-entered his life and cared for him until his death. Increasingly unable to control his muscles, Guthrie was hospitalized at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County, New Jersey, from 1956 to 1961; at Brooklyn State Hospital (now Kingsboro Psychiatric Center) in East Flatbush until 1966;[96] and finally at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens Village, New York, until his death in 1967.[97] Marjorie and the children visited Guthrie at Greystone every Sunday. They answered fan mail and the children played on the hospital grounds. Eventually a longtime fan of Guthrie invited the family to his nearby home for the Sunday visits. This lasted until Guthrie was moved to the Brooklyn State Hospital, which was closer to Howard Beach, New York, where Marjorie and the children then lived. During the final few years of his life, Guthrie had become isolated except for family. The progression of Huntington's threw Guthrie into extreme emotional states, causing him to lash out at those nearby and to damage a prized book collection of Anneke's.[98] Huntington's symptoms include uncharacteristic aggression, emotional volatility, and social disinhibition.[99] Guthrie's illness was essentially untreated, because of a lack of knowledge about the disease. Because of his professional renown, his death from this cause helped raise awareness of the disease. Marjorie helped found the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease, which became the Huntington's Disease Society of America.[100] None of Guthrie's three surviving children with Marjorie has developed symptoms of Huntington's. His son Bill with his first wife Mary Guthrie died in an auto-train accident in Pomona, California, at the age of 23.[101] His and Mary's two daughters, Gwendolyn and Sue, both suffered from Huntington's disease. They each died at age 41.[102] Folk revival and Guthrie's death [ edit ] In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new generation of young people was inspired by folk singers such as Guthrie. These "folk revivalists" became more politically aware in their music than those of the previous generation. The American Folk Revival was beginning to take place, focused on the issues of the day, such as the civil rights movement and Free Speech Movement. Pockets of folk singers were forming around the country in places such as Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. One of Guthrie's visitors at Greystone Park was the 19-year-old Bob Dylan,[103] who idolized Guthrie. Dylan wrote of Guthrie's repertoire: "The songs themselves were really beyond category. They had the infinite sweep of humanity in them."[104] After learning of Guthrie's whereabouts, Dylan regularly visited him.[105] Guthrie died of complications of Huntington's disease on October 3, 1967. By the time of his death, his work had been discovered by a new audience, introduced to them through Dylan, Pete Seeger, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, his ex-wife Marjorie and other new members of the folk revival, and his son Arlo. I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling. I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built. I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work —Guthrie on songwriting[106] Personal life [ edit ] Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo Guthrie. Married: Mary Esta Jennings (1933–1943), Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia (1945–1953), Anneke van Kirk (1953–1954) Children (8): Gwendolyn Gail (1935–1976), Sue (1937–1978), Bill (1939–1962), Cathy Ann (1943–1947), Arlo Davy (1947–), Joady Ben (1948–), Nora (1950–), Lorinna Lynn (1954–1973) Grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie Musical legacy [ edit ] Woody Guthrie Foundation [ edit ] The Woody Guthrie Foundation is a non-profit organization that serves as administrator and caretaker of the Woody Guthrie Archives. The archives house the largest collection of Guthrie material in the world.[107] In 2013, the archives were relocated from New York City to the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after being purchased by the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Foundation.[108] The Center officially opened on April 27, 2013.[109] The Woody Guthrie Center features, in addition to the archives, a museum focused on the life and the influence of Guthrie through his music, writings, art, and political activities. The museum is open to the public; the archives are open only to researchers by appointment. The archives contains thousands of items related to Guthrie, including original artwork, books, correspondence, lyrics, manuscripts, media, notebooks, periodicals, personal papers, photographs, scrapbooks, and other special collections.[110] Guthrie's unrecorded written lyrics housed at the archives have been the starting point of several albums including the Wilco and Billy Bragg albums Mermaid Avenue and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II, created in 1998 sessions at the invitation of Guthrie's daughter Nora.[111] The Native American (Diné) trio Blackfire also interpreted previously unreleased Guthrie lyrics at Nora's invitation.[112] Jonatha Brooke's 2008 album, The Works, includes lyrics from the Woody Guthrie Archives set to music by Jonatha Brooke.[113] The various artists compilation Note of Hope: A Celebration of Woody Guthrie was released in 2011. Nora selected Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, and Yim Yames to record her father's lyrics for New Multitudes to honor the 100th anniversary of his birth and a box set of the Mermaid Avenue sessions was also released. Folk Festival [ edit ] The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival is held annually in mid-July to commemorate Guthrie's life and music. The festival is held on the weekend closest to Guthrie's birth date (July 14) in Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma. Planned and implemented annually by the Woody Guthrie Coalition, a non-profit corporation, the goal is simply to ensure Guthrie's musical legacy.[114][115] The Woody Guthrie Coalition commissioned a local Creek Indian sculptor to cast a full-body bronze statue of Guthrie and his guitar, complete with the guitar's well-known inscription: "This machine kills fascists".[116] The statue, sculpted by artist Dan Brook, stands along Okemah's main street in the heart of downtown and was unveiled in 1998, the inaugural year of the festival.[117] Jewish songs [ edit ] Marjorie Mazia was born Marjorie Greenblatt and her mother, Aliza Greenblatt, was a well-known Yiddish poet. With her, Guthrie wrote numerous Jewish lyrics. Guthrie's Jewish lyrics can be traced to the unusual collaborative relationship he had with his mother-in-law, who lived across from Guthrie and his family in Brooklyn in the 1940s. Guthrie (the Oklahoma troubadour) and Greenblatt (the Jewish wordsmith) often discussed their artistic projects and critiqued each other's works, finding common ground in their shared love of culture and social justice, despite very different backgrounds. Their collaboration flourished in 1940s Brooklyn, where Jewish culture was interwoven with music, modern dance, poetry and anti-fascist, pro-labor, classic socialist activism. Guthrie was inspired to write songs that came directly out of this unlikely relationship, both personal and political; he identified the problems of Jews with those of his fellow Okies and other oppressed peoples. These lyrics were rediscovered by Nora Guthrie and were set to music by the Jewish Klezmer group The Klezmatics with the release of Happy Joyous Hanukkah on JMG Records in 2007. The Klezmatics also released Wonder Wheel – Lyrics by Woody Guthrie, an album of spiritual lyrics put to music composed by the band.[118] The album, produced by Danny Blume, was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.[119] Tributes [ edit ] English anti-fascist musician Billy Bragg is one of several artists influenced by Guthrie. He and rock band Wilco recorded three albums' worth of new music containing Guthrie's previously unpublished lyrics. Since his death, artists have paid tribute to Guthrie by covering his songs or by dedicating songs to him. On January 20, 1968, three months after Guthrie's death, Harold Leventhal produced A Tribute to Woody Guthrie at New York City's Carnegie Hall.[120] Performers included Jack Elliott, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan and The Band, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Odetta, and others. Leventhal repeated the tribute on September 12, 1970, at the Hollywood Bowl. Recordings of both concerts were eventually released as LPs and later combined into one CD.[121] The Irish folk singer Christy Moore was also strongly influenced by Woody Guthrie in his seminal 1972 album Prosperous, giving renditions of "The Ludlow Massacre" and Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody". Dylan also penned the poem Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie as a tribute.[122] Andy Irvine—Moore's bandmate in Irish folk group Planxty and lifelong admirer of Guthrie—wrote his tribute song "Never Tire of the Road" (released on the album Rain on the Roof), which includes the chorus from a song Guthrie recorded in March 1944: "You Fascists Are Bound to Lose". In 1986, Irvine also recorded both parts of Guthrie's "The Ballad of Tom Joad" together as a complete song—under the title of "Tom Joad"—on the first album released by his other band, Patrick Street. Bruce Springsteen also performed a cover of Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" on his live album Live 1975–1985. In the introduction to the song, Springsteen referred to it as "just about one of the most beautiful songs ever written."[123] In 1979 Sammy Walker's LP Songs From Woody's Pen was released by Folkways Records. Though the original recordings of these songs date back more than 30 years, Walker sings them in a traditional folk-revivalist manner reminiscent of Guthrie's social conscience and sense of humor. Speaking of Guthrie, Walker said: "I can't think of hardly anyone who has had as much influence on my own singing and songwriting as Woody."[124] In September 1996 Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Case Western Reserve University cohosted Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie, a 10-day conference of panel sessions, lectures, and concerts. The conference became the first in what would become the museum's annual American Music Masters Series conference.[125] Highlights included Arlo Guthrie's keynote address, a Saturday night musical jamboree at Cleveland's Odeon Theater, and a Sunday night concert at Severance Hall, the home of the Cleveland Orchestra.[126] Musicians performing over the course of the conference included Arlo Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, Pete Seeger, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, the Indigo Girls, Ellis Paul, Jimmy LaFave, Ani DiFranco, and others.[127] In 1999, Wesleyan University Press published a collection of essays from the conference[128] and DiFranco's record label, Righteous Babe, released a compilation of the Severance Hall concert, 'Til We Outnumber 'Em, in 2000.[129] From 1999 to 2002 the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service presented the traveling exhibit, This Land Is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie. In collaboration with Nora Guthrie, the Smithsonian exhibition draws from rarely seen objects, illustrations, film footage, and recorded performances to reveal a complex man who was at once poet, musician, protester, idealist, itinerant hobo, and folk legend.[130] In 2003, Jimmy LaFave produced a Woody Guthrie tribute show called Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway. The ensemble show toured around the country and included a rotating cast of singer-songwriters individually performing Guthrie's songs. Interspersed between songs were Guthrie's philosophical writings read by a narrator. In addition to LaFave, members of the rotating cast included Ellis Paul, Slaid Cleaves, Eliza Gilkyson, Joel Rafael, husband-wife duo Sarah Lee Guthrie (Woody Guthrie's granddaughter) and Johnny Irion, Michael Fracasso, and The Burns Sisters. Oklahoma songwriter Bob Childers, sometimes called "the Dylan of the Dust", served as narrator.[131][132] When word spread about the tour, performers began contacting LaFave, whose only prerequisite was to have an inspirational connection to Guthrie. Each artist chose the Guthrie songs that he or she would perform as part of the tribute. LaFave said, "It works because all the performers are Guthrie enthusiasts in some form".[133] The inaugural performance of the Ribbon of Highway tour took place on February 5, 2003 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The abbreviated show was a featured segment of Nashville Sings Woody, yet another tribute concert to commemorate the music of Woody Guthrie held during the Folk Alliance Conference. The cast of Nashville Sings Woody, a benefit for the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives, also included Arlo Guthrie, Marty Stuart, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Janis Ian, and others.[134] Woody and Marjorie Guthrie were honored at a musical celebration featuring Billy Bragg and the band Brad on October 17, 2007 at Webster Hall in New York City. Steve Earle also performed. The event was hosted by actor/activist Tim Robbins to benefit the Huntington's Disease Society of America to commemorate the organization's 40th Anniversary.[135] In "I'm Not There", a 2007 biographical movie about Bob Dylan, one of the characters introduced in the film as segments of Dylan's life is a young African-American boy who calls himself "Woody Guthrie". The purpose of this particular character was a reference to Dylan's youthful obsession with Guthrie. The fictional Woody also reflects the fictitious autobiographies that Dylan constructed during his early career as he established his own artistic identity. In the film there is even a scene where the fictional Woody visits the real Woody Guthrie as he lies ill and dying in a hospital in New York (a reference to the times when a nineteen-year-old Dylan would regularly visit his idol, after learning of his whereabouts, while he was hospitalized in New York in the 1960s). Later, a sketch on "Saturday Night Live" would spoof these visits, alleging that Dylan stole the line, "They'll stone you for playing your guitar!" from Guthrie. Guthrie has continued to remain popular decades after his death; this mural was painted in his hometown of Okemah in 1994 Pete Seeger had the Sloop Woody Guthrie built for an organization he founded, the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.[136] It was launched in 1978. Now operated by the Beacon Sloop Club, it serves to educate people about sailing and the history and environs of the Hudson River. In 1988 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,[137] and in 2000 he was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[138] In 1987, "Roll on Columbia" was chosen as the official Washington State Folk Song,[139] and in 2001 Guthrie's "Oklahoma Hills" was chosen to be the official state folk song of Oklahoma.[26] Guthrie was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 1997. On June 26, 1998, as part of its Legends of American Music series, the United States Postal Service issued 45 million 32-cent stamps honoring folk musicians Huddie Ledbetter, Guthrie, Sonny Terry and Josh White. The four musicians were represented on sheets of 20 stamps.[140] In July 2001, CB's Gallery in New York City began hosting an annual Woody Guthrie Birthday Bash concert featuring multiple performers. This event moved to the Bowery Poetry Club in 2007 after CB's Gallery and CBGB, its parent club, closed. The final concert in the series took place on July 14, 2012, Guthrie's 100th birthday.[141] In 2006, The Klezmatics set Jewish lyrics written by Guthrie to music. The resulting album, Wonder Wheel, won the Grammy award for best contemporary world music album.[119] Also in 2006, Guthrie was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.[142] On February 10, 2008, The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949, a rare live recording released in cooperation with the Woody Guthrie Foundation,[143] was the recipient of a Grammy Award in the category Best Historical Album.[144] Less than two years later, Guthrie was again nominated for a Grammy in the same category with the 2009 release of My Dusty Road on Rounder Records.[145] In the centennial year of Guthrie's birth another album of newly composed songs on his lyrics has been released: New Multitudes. On March 10, 2012, there was a tribute concert at the Brady Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma. John Mellencamp, Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, the Del McCoury Band and the Flaming Lips performed.[146] The Grammy Museum held a tribute week in April 2012[147] and the Songwriters Hall of Fame a tribute in June. A four-disc box Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions by Billy Bragg and Wilco, with 17 unreleased songs and a documentary, was planned for April release.[146] On July 10, 2012, Smithsonian Folkways released the Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection, a 150-page large-format book with three CDs containing 57 tracks. The set also contains 21 previously unreleased performances and six never before released original songs, including Woody's first known—and recently discovered—recordings from 1937.[148] The box set received two nominations for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Historical Album and Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package. It also won an Independent Music Award for Best Compilation Album in 2013.[149] Selected discography [ edit ] Many Guthrie tracks have been repeatedly repackaged and reordered. Items here are listed in order of the most recent published date, not original recording date.[150] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Sources: Further reading and listening [ edit ]Here’s a look at the offensive backfield players in the Eagles training camp, who I believe have a legitimate chance at making the game time roster. Quarterbacks – Michael Vick, Vince Young, Mike Kafka Michael Vick = Vick has shined so far in this training camp. He’s made big strides in this week and a half of work. Vick has been reading the blitzes, making the adjustment with the line sliding and the remaining back being adjusted. His accuracy has been outstanding so far. Despite the great acquisitions in free agency and via trade, the progress of Vick has been the number one positive of the camp. Teams were able to slow down the Eagles offense by blitzing them. That will no longer be an answer for the quick-strike crew. Vince Young – Young has been lost in his short time in training camp. With the lockout, guys like Young have been put in a tough situation. Expecting him to learn the offense in a week and a half with four or five practices is ridiculous. The Eagles quarterback coaches have been working on his footwork, which has made his throwing quite erratic. He’s got a ways to go to get comfortable in this system and with the fundamental changes being made to his throwing motion. Still he’s got to make a great deal of progress to learn this system. Mike Kafka – Kafka has had a good camp. His arm has gotten stronger and he seems to have a great mastery of this offense. If he were called upon to start, his lack of a big time arm to get the ball deep to DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin would hurt the offense tremendously. Halfbacks – LeSean McCoy, Ronnie Brown, Dion Lewis, Eldra Buckley LeSean McCoy – McCoy has been solid this training camp and he’s put on much needed muscle. The added strength will make McCoy a stronger runner and more effective with his straight arm. He’s gotten better during his time here at running the screen play. Number 25 also does a great job with the draw because of his outstanding vision. The third-year back can do everything the Eagles need from the running back position but he needs to continue to improve his blocking. Ronnie Brown – Brown is an outstanding ball carrier who has the strength to get tough yardage inside, but he’s also got the speed to get around the corner. I could see the Birds finding ways to get the ball in his hands. Like McCoy he’s a good pass receiver, who needs to improve his blocking. Dion Lewis – Lewis is a small and quick back, who has shown good ball running skills
, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania do not; they have recognized that the vast majority of criminal, personal injury, and family lawyers will never draft a promissory note or litigate the validity of a security interest. Controversy [ edit ] Arguments against bar exams [ edit ] A statement by the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT)[51] articulates many criticisms of the bar exam.[52]. The SALT statement, however, does propose some alternative methods of bar admission that are partially test-based. A response to the SALT statement was made by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhau in The Bar Examiner[53] Recent studies suggest that what's known as "iPhone lawyers" might ask Siri for the proper objection to an improper question during a trial[54]. (e.g. “May I have a moment please, Your Honor? Siri, is that hearsay?”) Arguments for alternatives to the bar exam [ edit ] The NCBE published an article in 2005 addressing alternatives to the bar exam, including a discussion of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program, an alternate certification program introduced at the University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center) in that year.[citation needed] Testing Task Force Study of the Bar Exam In January 2018, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) appointed The Testing Task Force charged with undertaking a three-year study to ensure that the bar examination continues to test the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for competent entry-level legal practice in the 21st century. The study is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020. See also [ edit ] Bar association Bar review IRAC, for essay tips and strategiesEric Schmidt is all in on artificial intelligence. In an op-ed for the BBC, the highly opinionated Google — and soon to be Alphabet — chairman wrote that we're closer than ever before to true artificial intelligence, and that continued research into its development will have positive side effects that will benefit the public. In his piece, Schmidt notes that AI-related research hit an inflection point a few years ago, after a team led by Geoff Hinton, a leader in artificial neural networks, was able to dramatically improve on speech recognition, and helped improve Google's efforts by 25 percent, a jump that would've taken years of research. Schmidt also noted that consumer interest in technologies that could actively solve real-world issues gave way to increased research into AI: And it's been accelerated by tackling real-world problems: how do you build a system that recognizes speech in 58 languages? How do you find someone's first photo of their golden retriever when it's never been labelled? (These aren't just rhetorical questions; the Google app and Google Photos do this, and many other companies are working on similar real-world applications of machine learning). In other words, the same consumer needs that gave rise to the web and the cloud computing that powers it - people wanting to get any question in the world answered or communicate effortlessly across languages - were what refreshed and refocused the basic research in AI. Schmidt also took a veiled shot at Apple Music, as he discussed the effect of artificial intelligence research on modern music services. Schmidt said that companies should be using algorithms to determine what users want to listen to next, instead of employing a collection of tastemakers to curate music — precisely what Apple Music is doing — calling that approach "elitist": To give just one example: a decade ago, to launch a digital music service, you probably would have enlisted a handful of elite tastemakers to pick the hottest new music. Today, you're much better off building a smart system that can learn from the real world - what actual listeners are most likely to like next - and help you predict who and where the next Adele might be. As a bonus, it's a much less elitist taste-making process - much more democratic - allowing everyone to discover the next big star through our own collective tastes and not through the individual preferences of a select few. Taking shots at Apple is nothing new for the former Apple director — and the chair of an algorithm-driven company — and it likely won't be the last time it happens. But despite its many faults, Schmidt chose to attack one of the few things Apple Music has gotten right — curation. While there are valid arguments for both algorithm and human-driven curation in music services, with the success of both Spotify (algorithmic) and the early numbers on Apple Music, it looks like both avenues are still valid options for music services.Paperboy is a 1985 arcade game developed and published by Atari Games.[1] The player takes the role of a paperboy who delivers a fictional newspaper called "The Daily Sun" along a suburban street on his bicycle.[2] The game was ported to a wide range of video game consoles and personal computers beginning in 1986. The arcade version of the game featured bike handlebars as the controller.[3] A sequel for home computers and consoles, Paperboy 2, was released in 1991. Gameplay [ edit ] Based in the United States, the player attempts to deliver newspapers to subscribers along a suburban street. The player controls a paperboy on a bicycle delivering newspapers along a suburban street which is displayed in a cabinet perspective (or oblique projection) view. The player attempts to deliver a week of daily newspapers to subscribing customers, attempts to vandalize non-subscribers' homes and must avoid hazards along the street. Subscribers are lost by missing a delivery or damaging a subscriber's house.[citation needed] The game begins with a choice of difficulty levels: Easy Street, Middle Road and Hard Way. The object of the game is to perfectly deliver papers to subscribers for an entire week and avoid crashing (which counts as one of the player's lives) before the week ends. The game lasts for seven in-game days, Monday through Sunday.[4] Controlling the paperboy with the handlebar controls, the player attempts to deliver newspapers to subscribers. Each day begins by showing an overview of the street indicating subscribers and non-subscribers. Subscribers and non-subscribers' homes are also easy to discern in the level itself, with subscribers living in brightly colored houses, and non-subscribers living in dark houses.[3] Hardware [ edit ] The cabinet of this game is a standard upright but with custom controls. The controls consist of a bicycle handlebar (a modified Star Wars yoke)[3] with one button on each side, used to throw papers. The handlebars can be pushed forward to accelerate and pulled back to brake. The game runs on the Atari System 2 hardware. The CPU is a 10 MHz Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) T-11. For sound and coin inputs, it uses a 2.2 MHz MOS Technology 6502. The sound chips are two POKEYs for digital sound, a Yamaha YM2151 for music, and a Texas Instruments TMS5220 for speech.[5] The protection chip is a Slapstic model 137412-105.[6] Ports and re-releases [ edit ] After Paperboy was released in North American arcades in April 1985,[1] the game was ported to video game consoles and home computers, starting in 1986. In some of these versions, the player could assume the role of a papergirl instead of a paperboy. Paperboy was ported to the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron by Andy Williams in 1986.[citation needed] Versions for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, and TRS-80 Color Computer were also released in 1986.[citation needed] Elite Systems produced versions for the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64.[7] The ZX Spectrum version had been released in the United Kingdom by October 1986,[8][9] and the Commodore 64 version was published there by February 1987.[10] Elite created versions for the Commodore 16 and Commodore Plus/4 later that year.[7] A version for the Apple IIGS was released in 1988.[citation needed] In the United States, a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) version was developed by Tengen and published by Mindscape in December 1988.[11] The NES version is particularly notable for being the first NES game developed in the United States.[citation needed] In October 1989, Elite released versions for the Atari ST and PC in the United Kingdom,[12][13][14] followed by an Amiga version later that month.[12] The game was released for the Famicom by Altron in January 1991. In the United Kingdom, a Game Boy version by Mindscape was released in October or November 1990.[15][16] A Master System version, by Sega and U.S. Gold,[17] was released in the United Kingdom in November 1990.[18] Atari released a version of Paperboy for the Atari Lynx in 1990.[19][17] By March 1991, an NES version by Mindscape had been released in the United Kingdom.[20] Reception [ edit ] Anthony Baize of AllGame rated the arcade version four stars out of five, praising its isometric view and calling it "one of the most innovative coin-op games of the mid-1980s."[41] In 2007, Spanner Spencer of Eurogamer rated the arcade version 9 out of 10 and praised its gameplay, graphics, and music.[42] Advanced Computer Entertainment (ACE) offered praise for the Atari ST version, awarding it a score of 850 out of 1,000,[13] while Zero gave it a score of 86 out of 100.[14] ACE and Zero noted that the Atari ST version looked and played like the arcade version.[13][14] Computer Gamer gave the ZX Spectrum version a rating of 16 out of 20, considering it to be a faithful conversion of the arcade game, while noting that some people may find the gameplay to be repetitive.[9] For the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC versions, ACE gave the game a rating of 5 out of 5, noting the "extremely well executed" graphics and referring to the game as a "budget classic."[43] U.K. magazine Computer and Video Games (CVG) gave the Commodore 64 version a 52 percent rating, criticizing its music and "blocky and ill-proportioned" sprites; the magazine gave the ZX Spectrum version an 83 percent rating.[44] Ken McMahon of Commodore User reviewed the Commodore 16 and Commodore Plus/4 version and rated it 6 out of 10, noting that it was too easy.[7] Crash gave the ZX Spectrum version an 88% rating with the general rating "Another slick, playable conversion from Elite",[8] while Zzap!64 was less enthusiastic for the Commodore 64 version giving it 44%.[10] In 1993, Zzap!64 rated the Commodore 64 version a 60 percent score, calling it repetitive.[45] Richard Leadbetter of CVG reviewed the Lynx version and stated, "Looks good, but simply isn't enough fun to play."[24] STart's Clayton Walnum similarly praised the Lynx version's graphics and sound effects but deemed the game "just another shoot-em-up without the shooting."[46] Raze offered praise for the clear and colorful graphics of the Lynx version, but stated that the game "is too old and tired for the exciting and new Lynx."[17] AllGame's Kyle Knight criticized the Lynx version for its simple sound effects and music, as well as its repetitive gameplay.[19] Leadbetter praised the Master System version, calling it "one of the best arcade conversions" available for the system, while noting that the game's only "slight downer" was the music.[25] Mean Machines praised the Master System version for its graphics and similarities to the arcade game,[18] while Raze wrote a mixed review for the Master System version.[17] Mean Machines was critical of the NES version for its graphics, sound, and controls, and concluded that it was, "A highly offensive product which weighs in as a sadly derisive conversion of a classic coin-op."[20] Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame stated that Mindscape did a good job of porting the game to the NES. Weiss praised the controls and sound effects of the NES version, but criticized the music.[11] Raze considered the Game Boy version to be "Excellent",[16] while Mean Machines criticized its controls, blurry scrolling, and the lack of colorful graphics, which could not be produced by the system.[39] ACE noted slightly difficult controls and poor sound effects for the Game Boy version.[15] The One gave the Amiga version 80% stating that "it's an almost flawless conversion" of the arcade game.[12] ACE gave the Amiga version a rating of 878, calling it a perfect conversion of the arcade game.[47] Tony Dillon of Commodore User gave the Amiga version an 83 percent rating and considered it to be nearly identical to the arcade version.[48] Gordon Houghton of CVG gave the Amiga version a 69 percent rating, stating that the sound was "arguably better" than the arcade version, but noting that the graphics were "jerky" and that the gameplay had been altered from the arcade version. Houghton concluded that it was "not a bad game, but it's too old and too expensive to deserve greater praise."[49] Compute! praised the music and graphics of the Amiga version, but considered the gameplay to be outdated and repetitive.[50] Robert A. Jung of IGN reviewed the Lynx version in 1999, and considered it to be a "decent" adaptation of the arcade game. Jung noted the game's "average-quality" graphics and sound, and concluded, "Not a bad game, though not one of the Lynx's best."[32] Later releases [ edit ] IGN's Craig Harris reviewed the Game Boy Color version and stated that it "is definitely the worst rendition of the game, even beating out the Atari Lynx's waterdown port of the arcade game." Harris criticized the game's music, the lack of speech audio from the original game, poor collision detection, and a lack of fun.[31] Scott Alan Marriott of AllGame praised the Game Boy Color version for its colorful graphics, but noted that the game did not introduce any new changes from the original arcade version, writing, "Those expecting a lot of changes or additions will be disappointed."[22] Dean Austin of IGN criticized the retro 3D look of the Nintendo 64 version, but praised the gameplay and considered it to be a "great game."[34] Daniel Erickson of Daily Radar criticized the "bland" and "repetitive" gameplay of the Nintendo 64 version.[51] Robert Amsbury of Game Revolution praised the sound effects in the Nintendo 64 version, but considered the music to be repetitive, while noting that the game "isn't really all that fun."[28] Weiss criticized the Nintendo 64 version for its music and sound effects, as well as poor controls, and wrote that the game had "some of the ugliest graphics you'll find in a Nintendo 64 cartridge."[23] Ben Stahl of GameSpot noted the outdated sound effects used in the Nintendo 64 version, and stated, "While a decent game on its own, Paper Boy 64 doesn't capture the magic of the original arcade game."[29] IGN's Levi Buchanan, reviewing the cell phone version, praised the controls and stated that the game looked and played like the original arcade game.[33] According to Metacritic, the Xbox 360 version received "Mixed or average reviews."[21] TeamXbox gave the Xbox 360 version an overall score of 8.2, stating that "Paperboy "delivers" as advertised in the classifieds."[37] Greg Sewart of GamesRadar considered the Xbox 360 version to be an "authentic recreation" of the arcade version, but noted that the game, like previous versions, suffers from imprecise controls due to the absence of the arcade game's handlebar controller.[27] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot reviewed the Xbox 360 re-release and was disappointed by the lack of new sound effects and music, as well as the lack of graphical updates. Gerstmann stated that the game would most likely appeal to people who "have fond memories" of the original arcade game.[30] IGN's Erik Brudvig, reviewing the Xbox 360 version, considered the game to be a limited amount of fun. Brudvig noted the lack of a handlebar controller and stated that, "Thanks to the isometric view, this version of Paperboy suffers from the same wonky controls that every home version of the game has."[35] Kristan Reed of Eurogamer praised the Xbox 360 re-release for its controls and noted that the game "stands up pretty well" despite its age, although he stated that the game quickly becomes repetitive.[26] Corey Cohen of Official Xbox Magazine praised the Xbox 360 version for its music and controls, and noted that it was as appealing as the arcade version.[36] Tarryn van der Byl of Pocket Gamer criticized the iPhone version for its poor controls, and stated that the game's optional 3D graphics mode was "ugly and feels clumsy and inaccurate."[40] Slide to Play considered the iPhone/iPod version a "mixed bag", but praised the gameplay.[52] Mark Langshaw of Digital Spy reviewed the iPhone version and stated that it would likely appeal most to fans of the original game. Langshaw concluded, "As far as nostalgic remakes go, Paperboy delivers but doesn't quite do enough to make the front page."[38] According to Metacritic, Paperboy: Special Delivery has a score of 55 out of 100, indicating "Mixed or average reviews."[53] Blake Patterson of TouchArcade considered Paperboy: Special Delivery to be an improvement over Elite's iPhone version, praising the improved controls and graphics.[54] Jon Mundy of Pocket Gamer rated the game 5 out of 10, criticizing the gameplay and controls, and writing that the biggest flaw "is the game's technical shortcomings. The graphics are extremely basic and yet the game paused and stuttered repeatedly on my second-generation iPod touch."[55] Andrew Nesvadba of AppSpy rated the game 3 out of 5, praising the updated graphics while criticizing the controls. Nesvadba also praised the addition of a story mode, but criticized its short length.[56] Jeremiah Leif Johnson of Gamezebo gave the game three stars out of five, praising the story mode and the 1980s-style graphics, but criticizing the poor controls.[57] Legacy [ edit ] A sequel, Paperboy 2, was released in 1991 for several home systems. Paperboy, in its original arcade form, is included in the 1998 PlayStation video game Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2.[23] A Game Boy Color version, developed by Digital Eclipse Software and published by Midway Games, was released in the United States on May 30, 1999.[31] By July 1997, developer High Voltage Software had begun conceptual development of a Nintendo 64 version and was searching for a game publisher, with a possible release in 1998.[58] In August 1998, Midway Games announced that it would be publishing the Nintendo 64 game, which was still in conceptual stages and was expected for release in late 1999. The game was developed using a 3D polygonal game engine,[59] and was released in the United States on October 26, 1999.[23] In May 2000, Midway announced plans to release Paperboy for the PlayStation later that year,[60] although the game was never released. Paperboy was later included in the 2003 video game Midway Arcade Treasures, a compilation of arcade games for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows. In May 2005, Sega Mobile announced that it would release Paperboy for mobile phones.[61] The game was released in May 2006.[33] Paperboy was also released on February 14, 2007 on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360;[62] however, the game was removed by 2010.[63] An iPhone/iPod Touch version was released through the App Store on December 18, 2009.[64][65] The game was developed by Vivid Games and published by Elite Systems.[40][38] Elite removed the game from the App Store in March 2010, because of a licensing conflict.[54] Glu Mobile developed and published a new iPhone/iPod Touch version, titled Paperboy: Special Delivery, on November 4, 2010.[55][56] The game included a 20-level story mode in which the paperboy is saving money from his job to buy a new game console, but he later falls in love and throws roses instead of newspapers.[54][57] The game also featured an optional tilt-based control mode in which the iPhone is tilted to control the paperboy.[57] A port of Paperboy can be accessed in the 2015 video game Lego Dimensions by using the Arcade Dock in the level "Painting the Town Black". In other media [ edit ] Along with Hyper Sports, Paperboy formed one of the computer game rounds in a children's television quiz, First Class, shown on BBC in the 1980s. The paperboy makes a cameo appearance in the 2012 Disney animated film Wreck-It Ralph.[66] The paperboy also makes an appearance in the 2015 film Pixels.Blayne Haggart is an associate professor of political science at Brock University. His dissertation focused on the politics of North American governance The shock election of Donald Trump has thrust Canada into one of the most perilous periods of its existence. Our relationship with the United States, upon which so much of our security and prosperity depends, has never been more uncertain. Canadian analysts and politicians seem to be taking some small comfort in the fact that while the protectionist, xenophobic and isolationist president-elect has threatened to renegotiate or exit the North American free-trade agreement (NAFTA), his focus has primarily been on Mexico. Also common is the expressed hope that because the Canadian and U.S. economies are so deeply intertwined, Mr. Trump will be forced to control his most economically destructive tendencies. Story continues below advertisement Now, maybe everything will be fine, at least for Canada. Mr. Trump may get bored and the adults (such as they are) in the Republican Party may run things. He might listen to Canada's wise counsel on the folly of protectionism (although Tony Blair also thought he could moderate the previous Republican president on Iraq). Or he might be impeached … by a Republican Congress, no less. Despite their reputation as liars, politicians generally mean what they say, say what they mean and keep most of their promises. As such, it would be much more prudent to take Mr. Trump at his word and plan for the worst. Canada's most immediate economic issue concerns NAFTA. If the United States rips it up, we'd still have preferential access to the U.S. market under the 1989 Canada-U.S. free-trade agreement. However, the United States would likely use this moment to realize specific objectives not covered in the 1989 agreement. Already, as The Globe and Mail has reported, Mr. Trump's transition team has expressed a desire to engage in an "aggressive, protectionist approach to trade both with Mexico and with Canada," targeting, for example, softwood lumber and livestock producers. In exchange for continued secure access to the U.S. market, Washington's demands would also likely include Trans-Pacific Partnership-style intellectual property reforms that would not be in the interests of a small, developed country like Canada. As Jim Balsillie, Dan Breznitz and others have remarked in these pages, such reforms would impede Canada's ability to innovate and place it in a feudal-like relationship with dominant players like the United States. Much more fundamentally, Canada can no longer be sure about what type of country we're dealing with. Unlike outgoing President Barack Obama, who also made anti-NAFTA comments in 2008, Mr. Trump was elected on an explicitly anti-free-trade, economically illiberal, isolationist platform that would hit at the foundations of the Canada-U.S. relationship and the entire post-Second World War economic order. Since the end of that war, Canada and the United States have become increasingly integrated against a global backdrop of economic liberalism. Over this period, we developed an informal system that "limited opportunities for linkage among issues and emphasized the virtues of responsiveness and conciliation," as political scientists Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye wrote in 1977. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement While this informal system is driven in part by the reality of the deep connections between our two societies, at the end of the day, it's only as strong as the weight given to it by Canadian and U.S. leaders. Mr. Trump's persistent, long-standing demonstration of authoritarian tendencies and drive to dominate is not conducive to the restraint needed in situations of complex interdependence. Furthermore, these norms developed in the context of a shared commitment to liberal democracy and economics, emphasizing openness and exchange. If we take Mr. Trump at his word and the United States is moving down an illiberal path, alongside Tea Party Republicans with little patience for liberal globalization, one wonders whether these norms can survive. Should an increasingly isolationist and protectionist United States abandon these norms, then relations with the United States would turn more rivalrous and less friendly than they have been in our lifetimes. A lesson from recent history: After the United States shut its borders in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Canadians were surprised to realize that there was no "we" in North America. Overnight, easy assumptions about the future of North American integration were proven false. In thickening the border, the United States sacrificed prosperity for security. Paul Cellucci, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said this was because "security trumps trade" (pun not intended). Actually, it was because "domestic concerns trump regional issues." Or, stated plainly, politics trumps economics. As Mr. Trump's white nationalist-driven election shows, economic prosperity and sound economic policy aren't always politicians' or voters' top priorities. The attacks of 9/11 called North American economic integration into question; Mr. Trump's election might be its death blow. Deep integration didn't prevent a thicker border after 9/11. Faced with rising U.S. isolationism, of which Mr. Trump is only a symptom, rational economic arguments might not carry the day. The decades-old Canada-U.S. playbook may be about to change in a way that few, if any, current policy makers in Ottawa have ever contemplated. We'd better be prepared.For those who missed it, on Thursday the AFL released its 2015 fixture list, scrapping Sunday and Monday evening games, and introducing more Saturday afternoon football. For years clubs and fans alike have been calling on the NRL to scrap Monday night football in favour of a permanent Saturday afternoon timeslot. Monday night Football may rate well, but crowd numbers are usually embarrassing. No one wants to see an NRL game played in front of a crowd of 10,000 – especially in the bigger stadiums. Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share Make no mistake about it, Monday night football is a made-for-television timeslot. For all the talk from NRL headquarters of the fixture’s advantages, fans have voted with their feet. They hate it. Players and clubs feel much the same. Gate receipts are down, leagues club takings are down, and the atmosphere for players is sometimes akin to park footy. Don’t get me wrong, I love coming home from work on a Monday afternoon knowing there is a game of footy on to watch… except when my team is involved. Getting to the game after work is tough enough as it is, let alone finding your way home and trying to wind down to enable yourself a proper night sleep. The AFL has seen the declining crowd numbers and has stated there will be no games played in the fan-unfriendly timeslots next season. Advertisement Advertisement The NRL, on the back of a mountainous television rights deal, may not have the ability to dictate when its games are played – as mentioned, Monday night games rate well for Fox. But how much did the NRL have to bend, considering the AFL also signed a monster TV deal? The AFL also did not have to change its grand final kick off time to suit broadcasters. Certain teams also draw the fixture far more often than others. I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw the Broncos host a Monday night game. I’m yet to see a single Warriors Monday night home fixture, albeit for obvious reasons. Here’s hoping the universally panned Monday night timeslot is at least shared equally in 2015. Due to the television agreement there’s zero chance of it being removed. Good on the AFL for stepping in and delivering a decision that purely has its fans and clubs in mind. Let’s hope the NRL can one day follow suit.CHICAGO – A newly elected Cook County Circuit Court judge who refused to report to his traffic court assignment has resigned. The Chicago Tribune reported an Illinois Supreme Court spokesman says Richard Cooke resigned Tuesday. The move came after a committee of presiding judges referred his refusal to take up the traffic court assignment to the Judicial Inquiry Board. The state agency investigates allegations of judicial misconduct. Cooke was elected in November. A spokesman for Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans says that for weeks, Cooke refused his assignment to traffic court. That is where nearly all Cook County judges get experience and learn court operations. Cooke was eventually assigned to marriage court, where he received a $194,000-a-year salary to preside over weddings. There has been no comment from Cooke. ___ Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.comSigning up for Herman Cain’s “Revolution on the Hill” was easy. There were ads at the top of plenty of conservative news sites. The registration for three events – a Sunday reception, Monday morning seminar, and Monday afternoon rally – was free, and included a boxed lunch. Cainiacs had a full hour to get between the Virginia hotel where the seminar would be held and the Capitol lawn where they’d listen to speeches and music. Six free buses were available to move them. Despite all that, this was the scene after the rally started. Only 283 people signed up for the indoor seminars, and only 620 signed up for the rally. By my count, less than half of the first number honored their Eventbrite pledges; only a little more than one-third of the rally-goers actually showed up. The failure had repurcussions. Tea Party of America members, promoting an upcoming documentary based on Dinesh D’Souza’s book about Barack Obama, had hundreds of leftover promotional flyers. “I was told to expect thousands of people,” grumbled Judd Saul, one of the volunteers. The Media Research Center has been handing out I DON’T BELIEVE THE LIBERAL MEDIA signs at conservative events across America. They had so many leftover signs that many wound up in the hands of a nearby tour group, perfect for bored young tourists to use as fans while they waited for their buses.Golden's 12 Hour Speedrunning Challenge a guest Jun 22nd, 2015 17,915 Never a guest17,915Never Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features! rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 2.20 KB *Golden's 12 Hour Speedrunning Challenge* I'm Golden and this is my challenge to you. On the weekend of July 3rd to 5th, I want you to try to learn a speedrun of a game you've NEVER attempted to learn before. Maybe you'll learn a game you've always wanted to, or maybe you'll pick one seemingly at random. As the name of my challenge implies, you only have 12 hours to learn and complete [at least] one run of whatever game you choose. The goal of hosting such a challenge is to get people off of their familiar games and try something different. Maybe you'll never play the game again... or maybe you will? "But Golden... I'm only around for 4 hours that weekend." Good news! YOU DO NOT NEED TO USE ALL 12 HOURS, so please feel free to sign up even if you can't commit to the full 12. The idea isn't so much to use ALL 12 hours, but rather to try and learn a game in LESS THAN 12 hours. Some reasons to participate: 1) The time limit forces you to think big picture and worry less about the small details. 2) You'll have something to show for your hard work when you complete your first run. 3a) You might find out you like the game you picked. 3b) You might find out you hate the game you picked. 4) Since the challenge goes throughout the weekend, you can watch others learn new games too! 5) You'll make Golden happy. (This counts for something... right?) 6) Fun? ------------------------------------------------- SIGN UPS To sign up, please fill out this form: http://goo.gl/forms/Af8ou4jWpj (I might try to get a Twitch team going so we have all the streams in one place. Keep an eye on your Twitch inbox.) List of people signed up so far: https://goo.gl/w8YGkv ------------------------------------------------- PLEASE CHALLENGE YOUR FRIENDS/FAVORITE STREAMERS/MORTAL ENEMIES TO TAKE PART! If you want to challenge a streamer to the 12 Hour Speedrunning Challenge, tweet at them or spam their Twitch chat. Maybe something like... @<Streamer>, I want you to take the #12HourSpeedrunningChallenge! Info: <link to this pastebin> ------------------------------------------------- Again, the challenge can be done any time on the weekend of July 3rd to the 5th. I hope to see you participating. -Go1 RAW Paste Data *Golden's 12 Hour Speedrunning Challenge* I'm Golden and this is my challenge to you. On the weekend of July 3rd to 5th, I want you to try to learn a speedrun of a game you've NEVER attempted to learn before. Maybe you'll learn a game you've always wanted to, or maybe you'll pick one seemingly at random. As the name of my challenge implies, you only have 12 hours to learn and complete [at least] one run of whatever game you choose. The goal of hosting such a challenge is to get people off of their familiar games and try something different. Maybe you'll never play the game again... or maybe you will? "But Golden... I'm only around for 4 hours that weekend." Good news! YOU DO NOT NEED TO USE ALL 12 HOURS, so please feel free to sign up even if you can't commit to the full 12. The idea isn't so much to use ALL 12 hours, but rather to try and learn a game in LESS THAN 12 hours. Some reasons to participate: 1) The time limit forces you to think big picture and worry less about the small details. 2) You'll have something to show for your hard work when you complete your first run. 3a) You might find out you like the game you picked. 3b) You might find out you hate the game you picked. 4) Since the challenge goes throughout the weekend, you can watch others learn new games too! 5) You'll make Golden happy. (This counts for something... right?) 6) Fun? ------------------------------------------------- SIGN UPS To sign up, please fill out this form: http://goo.gl/forms/Af8ou4jWpj (I might try to get a Twitch team going so we have all the streams in one place. Keep an eye on your Twitch inbox.) List of people signed up so far: https://goo.gl/w8YGkv ------------------------------------------------- PLEASE CHALLENGE YOUR FRIENDS/FAVORITE STREAMERS/MORTAL ENEMIES TO TAKE PART! If you want to challenge a streamer to the 12 Hour Speedrunning Challenge, tweet at them or spam their Twitch chat. Maybe something like... @<Streamer>, I want you to take the #12HourSpeedrunningChallenge! Info: <link to this pastebin> ------------------------------------------------- Again, the challenge can be done any time on the weekend of July 3rd to the 5th. I hope to see you participating. -Go1GREEN DAY Trivia How old were Billie and Mike when they formed Sweet Children? 14 15 16 17 Who was the band's first drummer? Tré Cool John Kiffmeyer Al Sobrante Raj Punjabi Which EP was NOT included in the band's first compilation album? 1,000 Hours Slappy Sweet Children What song belongs to this cover? Burnout When I Come Around Basket Case Longview Welcome to Paradise What song was the first to feature a new instrument outside of the core? (Guitar, Bass, Drums) Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) Last Ride In Hitchin' a Ride King For a Day Walking Contradiction What are the names of the men featured on the cover of Nimrod? Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman (U.S. Presidents) Frederick Banting and Charles Best (Discovered Insulin) Jesse Michaels and Tim Armstrong (Members of Operation Ivy) No one knows... Which song is this cover taken directly from? American Idiot Stray Heart Letterbomb Extraordinary Girl She's a Rebel Which song is NOT a single? When It's Time J.A.R. Stuck with Me King For A Day Working Class Hero Which song brought the band's highest peak in the Billboard Hot 100? Basket Case American Idiot Wake Me Up When September Ends Boulevard of Broken Dreams 21 Guns Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) Which of these albums have won a Grammy? Revolution Radio American Idiot Warning Dookie 21st Century Breakdown Nimrod 0 {"name":"GREEN DAY Trivia - Take the Quiz", "url":"https://www.quiz-maker.com/QQPEB5K","txt":"How old were Billie and Mike when they formed Sweet Children?, Who was the band's first drummer?, Which EP was NOT included in the band's first compilation album?","img":"https://cdn.poll-maker.com/15-654197/early2.jpeg?sz=1200-00000000001000006594"}Sweden international Johan Elmander has become Norwich City's eighth signing of the summer window, moving to Carrow Road on a season-long loan from Galatasaray. Johan Elmander is moving to Norwich on a season-long loan. •Davitt: Redmond not a saviour Elmander, 32, joins the East Anglians subject to international clearance and will be spending a second stint in the Premier League, having previously played there with Bolton Wanderers. He joins Javier Garrido, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Gary Hooper, Leroy Fer, Carlo Nash,
“They have been deployed to detect car-theft gangs, which have recently increased.” Still, the regime’s supporters have changed their stance on IS after it gained control of the 17th Division headquarters in Raqqa, killing dozens of soldiers, mostly hailing from the Syrian coast. An Alawite pro-opposition citizen from Tartous, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor: “Many of the supporters of the regime here have been whispering that the organization is infiltrated by the Syrian intelligence, to break the ranks of the brigades fighting against the regime. Many of them did not give IS much attention, considering it to be one of the factions fighting against the Syrian authorities. They were content with the fact that IS has been keeping the opposition battalions busy with side battles. Today, however, things have changed. IS appears to be an organized, strong and brutal faction, advancing at the expense of other groups, including the regime’s forces, after a long period of mutual nonaggression.” The concerns over IS can be clearly detected by simply asking a taxi driver in the city about the situation. “We were reassured that IS will not get near our areas, but it is closing in on the Alawite town of Furqlus in the eastern countryside of Homs," the taxi driver in Tartous told Al-Monitor. "Other fighters have been advancing in areas surrounding Hama, and the claims by some people that IS is secretly collaborating with the regime’s forces appear to be an illusion. Hundreds of Alawite soldiers have been killed in Raqqa’s countryside and at the Al-Shaer gas field in eastern Homs.” To the east of Tartous, in the western countryside of Homs, residents in some Alawite villages are getting ready for an anticipated battle with IS. There have been rumors circulating among residents that armed factions controlling the Houla Plain and the eastern countryside of Homs are on the verge of joining the ranks of IS. A resident of one of these towns, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor: “Many young men from the Houla Plain may join the ranks of IS, which will make the organization more powerful, organized and maybe more heavily armed if it manages to expand toward the northern countryside of Homs.” “The tacit agreement between IS and the regime collapsed. People in Houla hold a grudge against us, as they accused the National Defense Forces [NDF] in our region of being responsible for the Houla massacre in May 2012,” he said. As IS and Jabhat al-Nusra move closer to Alawite areas, Alawite residents prepare for what many here see as an existential fight. “I refused to join their ranks [NDF], and I believe that they may actually be responsible for the massacre in Houla. But Sunni militants are advancing in the neighboring countryside of Hama, while IS is fighting fierce battles against the regime’s forces to the east of Homs. Should IS attack our towns, I have no other choice but to fight alongside the NDF to defend myself, my family and my home,” he added, pointing out to a man standing near us, carrying a Kalashnikov rifle. The swift deterioration of the situation in the west and north of Hama’s countryside, as anti-regime forces — including Jabhat al-Nusra — advance toward the Christian city of Mhardeh, which overlooks Al-Ghab Plain, as well as in the direction of Hama’s military airport. The militants began carrying out unprecedented attacks using BM-21 Grad missiles targeting the regime’s sites surrounding Alawite-majority towns in Masyaf city and Al-Ghab Plain. Moreover, civilians have started fleeing Alawite villages that are located near battlefields such as the town of Arza near Hama’s military airport, which has been deserted. A resident from an Alawite town in the western countryside of Hama told Al-Monitor, “The situation has become perilous as groups linked to Jabhat al-Nusra are approaching the region.” “People are carrying arms at an increasingly rapid pace, while many families owning real estate in Tartous and Latakia have deserted their homes. The situation has become alarming in this region, especially since many residents expect Jabhat al-Nusra to commit massacres there, should it progress in the region. This will be in retaliation for the massacres the group accused the NDF of committing in Sunni towns — mainly in the towns of Tremseh and al-Lataminah in 2012,” he said. A quick tour of the Alawite villages in the west of Hama’s countryside is sufficient to notice the extent of tension and alert among people, as dozens of checkpoints are deployed along the roads, while cars and pedestrians are being thoroughly searched. In addition, many young men from these towns have been fighting alongside regime forces since the very beginning of the armed confrontations, and this region is seen as the area with most overlapping sects in Syria. It is also considered to be the main gate from the east to the Alawite-fortified areas in the mountains of the Syrian coast. This is likely to prompt the Syrian regime to prepare for major military campaigns in the direction of the strategic areas of Halfaya and Morek in the northern countryside of Hama. It has been widely circulated among regime supporters here, probably citing army sources, that controlling these two areas would be sufficient to cut the supply routes for armed brigades in the rest of Hama.Tien Mao/Gothamist A 30-year-old off-duty police officer was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing for moving to a better seat at Citi Field last night. In other words, Eduardo Cornejo was arrested for doing something that every baseball fan has done at some point in their lives. According to police, the seven-year-veteran had a paid seat to last night's Mets/Reds game at Citi Field, but he moved down to a better seat at some point. Around 9:30 p.m., he was cornered by security—it seems that Cornejo refused to move back to his old seat, he was arrested, and he may not have gotten the chance to see the Mets give up 4 runs in the 8th inning on their way to a 6-3 loss. But this is completely ridiculous: if this incident really did unfold around 9:30 p.m., that means it was at the very end of the game (which had started at 7:10 p.m.). There were only 22,659 people in attendance, which is 53.9% full. In our experience, you won't be bothered at Citi Field if you move around after the 7th inning. But we guess shit really is fucked up and bullshit these days.Jeremiah Johnson, “a gifted teacher, book author, and prophetic minister,” writes this week in Charisma magazine’s “Prophetic Insight” blog that God is using Donald Trump to speak the truth to American public. In a post first flagged by Warren Throckmorton, Johnson likened Trump to King Cyrus, who freed Jews from captivity in Babylon, saying that the GOP presidential candidate, like Cyrus, is a spokesman for God. And Johnson knows this for a fact because God told him so: “I was in a time of prayer several weeks ago when God began to speak to me concerning the destiny of Donald Trump in America. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, ‘Trump shall become My trumpet to the American people…. I am going to use him to expose darkness and perversion in America like never before.’” “Just as I raised up Cyrus to fulfill My purposes and plans, so have I raised up Trump to fulfill my purposes and plans prior to the 2016 election,” God added, reportedly.Comedian Bill Cosby, who in recent months has been mired in numerous accusations of sexual assault, once again found himself in the line of fire on Thursday as three more alleged victims came forward. The trio of women told their stories at the office of attorney Gloria Allred. The women, who had previously not made their allegations publicly known, included a former model who alleged that she was victimized at the Playboy Mansion in Chicago. During Thursday’s press conference one alleged victim, Janice Baker-Kinney, claimed that she was assaulted by Cosby in May 1982 while working as a bartender in the showrooms at Harrah’s in Reno. Baker-Kinney claimed that she went to where Cosby was staying for a “pizza party,” which turned out to be a party for just three people. According to Baker-Kinney, Cosby offered her a pill, then advised her to take two pills. Her vision became blurry while playing backgammon with Cosby, she claimed, after which she passed out. Also Read: Bill Cosby Fires Back at Heckler Who Shouts 'Tell the One About How to Get Away With Rape' When she woke up, she claimed, her jeans were unzipped and her blouse opened. Cosby asked her if she was OK, but then put his hand inside her blouse, Baker-Kinney said. She claimed she woke up naked in bed with Cosby the next morning.Israel's fast-growing cannabis industry has high hopes for a new market -- exports of medical marijuana to America. The country is already a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals to the U.S. Now its government, scientists and companies are working together to turn the once illicit drug into a booming new medical business. With conservative Rabbis giving the okay for medical marijuana use, and the government adopting a relaxed stance, investment in cannabis production has exploded. The industry is being pushed by Israel's Ministry of Health, which is trying to take the morality out of weed. "I'm not sure that my people, my voters are so [happy] about what I did," Health Minister and ultra-orthodox Rabbi Yaakov Litzman told CNN. "If I have to look strictly at how I can help sick people who need this cannabis, I think I did the right thing." The number of people in Israel being treated with cannabis has soared from a few dozen 10 years ago to about 23,000 in 2015. Cannabis producers expect that growth to continue. "It could be a business of hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel," predicts Aharon Lutzky, CEO of medical cannabis supplier Tikun Olam. That's still tiny compared to the size of the U.S. market for legal cannabis, which could be worth $22 billion by the end of the decade, according to industry data analysts New Frontier. Related: 8 things to know about legal pot Israel allows companies to export their knowledge, but not marijuana or its extracts, although Lutzky and others expect the law will be changed soon to allow shipments. Tikun Olam, which means "Healing the World" in Hebrew, is hoping to capitalize on its know how overseas by getting patents on its best strains, and by entering joint ventures with other firms. It has already established greenhouses in Canada with MedReleaf, and says it has three agreements for similar investments in the U.S. The company claims to have developed a cannabis strain with the highest level of THC ever grown. THC is the chemical responsible for the drug's high -- it's also good for relieving severe pain. Related: Women cash in on the marijuana boom Another plant the company has developed has virtually none of the psychoactive chemical but the highest CBD level currently in cultivation. CBD is a cannabinoid that may have a number of medical benefits. That could open up new markets for children, or professionals who need treatment but can't spend the day in a mental haze. Tikun Olam is also trying to produce personalized therapies. "The real thing holding back the industry is the problem of how to make a standardized level of product from a plant where so many factors are based in nature," said Scott Levenson, COO of Tikun Olam. To help maintain standards, the company's labs and greenhouses are strictly controlled to make sure there is no cross-pollination. Levels of cannabinoids are measured precisely and plants are bar-coded and tracked closely from planting to harvest. Related: Take a weed break at work. It's allowed! Cannabis is not considered a restricted food in Judaism, therefore it does not carry a kosher certification. The Jewish religion permits ingestion of anything natural that helps people stay healthy, and medical cannabis has been accepted even by religious conservatives. But it has its critics in Israel, and regulations make cannabis research difficult. Still, experts say the country is well placed to exploit the potential of medical marijuana, partly because of tighter controls on the industry in the U.S. "Israel is right on the cusp of being able to grab hold of this entire industry and become the real mecca for marijuana research," says Suzanne Sisley, physician, Internal Medicine/Psychiatry at the Arizona Telemedicine Program.Bart de Clercq (Lotto-Belisol) withdrew from the Vuelta a España after a crash in the neutral zone of the tenth stage on Tuesday. Jelle and Dennis Vanendert were brought down in the same incident but fared better with both of the brothers finishing the stage. The withdrawal was a big loss for the Lotto team with de Clercq going into the stage the best placed GC rider in 20th position, only 2:33 down on then race leader Daniel Moreno (Katusha). Related Articles Horner flies to second Vuelta a Espana stage victory atop Alto Hazallanas Two injured for Lotto-Belisol De Clercq continued to race but an inability to flex his knee forced his retirement. "This is very much bad luck. The official start wasn't even given this afternoon, which makes it all the more painful," said de Clercq. "Nine times out of ten you only have some abrasions and there isn't too much damage, but now my knee must have been hit by a handlebar or a pedal. I couldn't fold my leg anymore. "I saw my knee was swollen and that I had a bruise, but I didn't want to give up immediately. Twice I tried to get on the bike again, but I wasn't able to make rotations. There was no need to insist." "The crash happened on a descending part," explained de Clercq. "Although we were only in the neutral zone the speed was around 50 or 60 kilometers an hour. I didn't see what caused the crash but one moment riders were crashing in front of me. "There was panic and everybody braked, but because of the speed it wasn't possible to stand still. I tumbled over some riders and others bumped into me. "I had hoped for a good GC and it was definitely possible to move up some places. It's very tough that one moment has changed this. This is hard." Initial x-rays in Granada were positive, showing no fractures for de Clercq who will now return to Belgium for a full diagnosis of his injuries.Robby Mook, the campaign manager for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, demanded that Florida officials extend the state’s voter registration deadline past Tuesday due to disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew. Mook made his comments on a conference call with reporters, according to Politico, and explained that the Clinton campaign expected to win the state through early voting — unless the hurricane disrupted voter registration in the last few days before the Oct. 11 deadline. Politico elaborates: Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Mook said Gov. Rick Scott and others should move the deadline past Tuesday so voters in the critical battleground state could register to participate in November’s election in time while also staying safe as the storm that has already killed more than 100 in Haiti bears down. Story Continued Below The request came as Mook was explaining the importance of early voting, particularly in Florida, to Clinton’s White House bid. Storms have played a role in previous elections. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey a week before Election Day. Voting procedures were affected in New Jersey and New York; more importantly, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie praised President Barack Obama’s response to the storm, and embraced him on a special presidential visit to the state. Ironically, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had declined a presidential visit out of concern that it would be too disruptive. The presidential candidates have been neck-and-neck in Florida polls over the past several weeks. The infamous 2000 recount made clear how close the partisan balance is in a state that has 29 electoral votes, tied with New York for the third-highest of any state. Mook’s request for an extension to fit the Clinton campaign’s plans recalls then-Vice President Al Gore’s request for a partial recount of Florida votes in 2000, focusing only on counties where Democrats were strongest. Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.Fox News correspondent Todd Starnes likes to report on culture war issues and frequently highlights examples of supposed anti-Christian persecution. He plucks the examples from Religious Right media outlets, which then turn around and point to Starnes’ Fox News stories for validation. Fox example, one recent Starnes story alleged that a New York school was forcing girls to kiss each other as part of an anti-bullying seminar. But the ‘forced lesbianism’ story was baseless [PDF], and the school superintendent had to write to Starnes to urge him to, you know, report stories accurately [PDF]. In another instance of shoddy journalism, Starnes claimed that the military was deliberately blocking access to a Southern Baptist website as part of a “Christian cleansing” of the armed forces by the Obama administration. Well, as it turns out, the website was automatically blocked over malware issues and the Southern Baptist Convention’s own director of information systems acknowledged that malware on the SBC website, not any anti-Christian animus in the military, was responsible for the mishap. So it came as no surprise to learn that a new Starnes column about the military getting ready to court martial Christians, since picked up by organizations like the Family Research Council, was also completely groundless. Starnes contends that Obama administration officials are working with church-state separation activists to begin kicking Christians out of the military and cracking down on their religious freedom. As Warren Throckmorton points out, the Defense Department guidelines on proselytizing and religious bias that has so enraged Starnes and others was actually put in place in 2008 during the Bush administration and the language clearly “draws a distinction between simply speaking about one’s faith and coercion.” Throckmorton also notes that Starnes twisted a statement from a Pentagon spokesman “to make it seem as though the outcome of religious proselytizing cases would be court martial.” The Tennessean and Stars and Stripes have also debunked the story, but don’t tell Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who in an interview with Starnes said that Obama is trying to make Christian service members leave their faith: “Under President Obama’s military you are no longer allowed to share your faith,” he said – noting that the policy is putting Christians in a tough position. “Do you follow President Obama or do you follow God and the teachings of Jesus?” “That’s pretty tough when your commander in chief puts you on the horn for that dilemma,” he added. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) similarly told Tony Perkins on Washington Watch earlier this week called the story “yet another attack on religious liberty that we’ve seen from the Obama administration.” Perkins: The idea that members of the military who share their faith, directly or indirectly, could be potentially court martialed, is this stunning or what? Scalise: It’s frightening and shocking. Unfortunately it is yet another attack on religious liberty that we’ve seen from the Obama administration and it’s just been an endless assault from so many different angles. Of course it comes off the heels of the FDA approving the morning-after pill. There are just so many things that this administration is doing that go against a lot of the Christian beliefs that this country was founded upon and I think it really needs to be pushed back hard on. While the victimhood narrative of oppressed white straight evangelicals is beloved by the Religious Right and trumpeted by Fox News, conservative activists may want to at least try to find real incidents of persecution and real journalists if they want people to ever believe them.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Months from opening, the Uptown project in University Circle is running out of retail room. A grocery store, local restaurants and national chains have inked deals for 95 percent of the ground-floor space in two apartment buildings flanking Euclid Avenue. Filling a much-mentioned void in the neighborhood, Constantino's Market will open a store on East 115th Street. The independent grocer will be joined by a Barnes & Noble college bookstore and a wireless store on Euclid. Across the street, chefs Jonathon Sawyer and Scott Kim have plans for new restaurants. Their eateries will bookend a Chipotle, a Jimmy John's and a Panera Bread - quick-service chains catering to college students and lunchtime crowds. The $44.5 million first phase of Uptown, set to open in the spring, includes 102 apartments over 56,000 square feet of retail. The two buildings form the spine of a resurgent neighborhood, with a growing array of places to learn, live, work and play. Developer MRN Ltd. broke ground for Uptown in mid-2010, after nursing the project through the recession with help from public and private lenders. MRN hasn't started leasing apartments and still won't disclose rental rates. But the developer and Case Western Reserve University, a partner in the project, have filled most of the retail space. And the momentum is spreading to CWRU's nearby Triangle towers, where tenants including ABC the Tavern - an Ohio City bar plotting its second location - have signed leases. The retail mix has the local marks of other MRN projects, including East Fourth Street and the Marketplace district in Ohio City. But the developer also sought out national names. "It's a different market than downtown and East Fourth Street," said Ari Maron, a partner in MRN. "Each neighborhood in the city should have a different character." Large grocers have been skittish about Cleveland stores and reluctant to cut their parking needs to suit an urban site. Stephen Campbell and John Wheeler of CWRU saw a better fit in Constantino's, which opened a Warehouse District store in 2005 and rounds out groceries with beer, wine, prepared foods and catering. The Uptown store will be 12,500 square feet, plus a mezzanine. "We're not a grocery store that is going to appeal to the suburban shopper," said owner Costas Mavromichalis, whose son-in-law will run the University Circle store. "But we do appeal to single people, small families and retired people who don't want to be spending a lot of time in a big supermarket or driving to a big supermarket." Neighborhood group University Circle Inc. recently won a $659,706 federal grant for the Constantino's project. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which awarded the grant, considers the area to be a "food desert" - where affordable, healthy food options are scarce. University Circle Inc. said the money will be used for a low-interest loan for the $3.1 million grocery project. South of Euclid, a row of restaurants will form one side of a pedestrian alley lined with patios. One of CWRU's spruced-up Triangle towers will create the other side of the alley, leading west from East 115th. Sawyer, the chef behind the Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat in downtown Cleveland, did not return a phone call Tuesday. Maron would not reveal anything about Sawyer's plans at Uptown. Kim, chef-owner of SASA on Shaker Square, plans to open a Pan-Asian fusion restaurant called Accent in an egg-shaped space on East 115th. "We're trying to capture all the employees after work, the happy hours," Kim said. "We're not going to be a five-star, upscale, chichi place. We're going to be very comfortable."- A local Catholic elementary school is in some hot water with higher ups at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after the school hosted a Lil Pump music video without informing the Diocese. The video was for Lil Pump’s song “Gucci Gang”, and it already has more than 240 million views on YouTube. It was filmed at Blessed Sacrament School in Hollywood without the permission of the Diocese. In the video, Lil Pump is seen smoking a blunt, carrying bags of weed, and giving out slizzurp to classmates. The Archdiocese told FOX 11 they were never told about the video, or what would be in it. In this instance, the location did not follow Archdiocesan filming policy and procedure,” a spokeswoman wrote FOX 11. “The Archdiocese of Los Angeles did not approve the content of this video nor its filming at Blessed Sacrament School, which is a school of the Archdiocese and property of the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese has strict filming policies and procedures for all of its parishes and schools.” When FOX 11 contacted the director of the music video, he told us he had no comment and hung up the phone. Copyright 2017 FOX 11 Los Angeles : Download our mobile app for breaking news alerts or to watch FOX 11 News \| Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss. Earlier this week, founding member and owner of League of Legends team Counter Logic Gaming, George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis, announced his departure from the team's starting lineup. The team's support player, Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black, is also leaving the team and organization completely. Previous CLG member Michael "bigfatlp" Tang will join the starting lineup in the jungler role, and former team MRN AD carry Zach "Nientonsoh" Malhas will be playing in the top lane, with Steve "Chauster" Chau taking over support duties. HotshotGG spoke to GameSpot regarding the decision to step down, and the future of Counter Logic Gaming. Whose decision was it to have you step down from the team and why was that decision made? It was my idea and decision to step down from a starting role on CLG. After being a professional player for over three years and as CLG grows, my aspirations and what I feel is best for the company have shifted. While I still enjoy being a competitor, the intense schedule of LCS has created more disconnect between the team and its fans I can help remedy not being tied to a starter's schedule. This, coupled with my desire to become more involved in the industry side of eSports and my confidence of the potential of the team moving forward, all contributed to this decision. How do your teammates feel about the decision? This topic is something that I have brought up in the past, but the real barrier ever keeping this from happening was a lack of talent in the NA scene making it difficult to fill my spot on the starting roster. Since LCS began, however, we have seen the talent level of the NA scene increase dramatically making a change like this possible. My team knows I have the organization's and in turn, their best interests in mind, so they support me completely with this decision. What role will you have with CLG beyond being a member of the team? Aside from being a sub for the team, I will also be acting as a coach helping Nientonsoh learn his new role. I will also be putting much more focus on streaming, community interaction, as well as pursuing other special projects within the organization. Things such as potentially starting a challenger circuit team under the CLG banner. "My team knows I have the organization's and in turn, their best interests in mind, so they support me completely with this decision." How do you think you'll be able to assist the team as its new coach? As a professional player and a member of CLG for three years, I have great insight into how LoL is played at the highest level and how CLG interacts. It's often much easier to provide objective feedback when you're not a player on the team yourself. Of course, in most cases professional players know more about the games they play than their coaches (in eSports at least), but knowledge isn't what makes the coach valuable. His ability to objectively and properly asses the teams strengths and weaknesses and what needs to be addressed moving forward is what's important. I will be putting most of my focus into help Nientonsoh learn top lane and reach the level of potential CLG sees in him. Being both a founding member of the team, as well as its owner, how hard was it to step down from the team? It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to be honest. Playing professionally is very stressful, especially when you're under as much scrutiny as I am. CLG had a bumpy road in LCS this season, and there weren't as many highlights as I would have liked. I’m excited to keep contributing to the team in other ways and watch these guys take back our spot at the top of the NA scene. As someone who helped pioneer the professional League of Legends eSports scene, what do you think your stepping down as a player means for the current LoL eSports ecosystem? I think we're getting pretty close to the point that every eSports scene sees after it has been around long enough. Eventually, the first wave of superstar players begins to move out of the spotlight as a new crop of talent emerges. Players like WildTurtle, Bjergsen, and Flame are all emerging as perhaps the leaders of this next new wave of talent. I suspect I won't be the last of these 'OG' LoL pros to transition from our roles as starters over the course of Season 3. Can you give me any of the details behind Aphromoo's decision to leave the team? We had originally planned for Aphromoo to take over my spot top lane when I stepped down. Unfortunately, after several weeks spamming top and taking a short break after this Spring Split of LCS, he decided his heart just wasn't in top lane. Aphromoo is a great player and has the talent to play many roles, but he'd prefer to play AD if he's going to play on a team professionally. Unfortunately, the one role that really isn't up for debate on CLG is AD. Do you think that Nientonsoh will be able to perform better as a toplane player on CLG than you currently can? Obviously the team's success in regards to winning is paramount to everything else. We wouldn't have made this move if we didn't think Nientonsoh had the potential to become a better player than myself. He has great mechanics, understanding of the game, and most importantly, ambition. Will he be better than me by the start of LCS? Very unlikely, but as we saw in the last split, with the current format of LCS, seeding going into the playoffs has very little impact on final results. Bigfatlp has always been a mid-laner professionally. Why decide to put him in the jungle role for the team? Jiji really proved himself over the course of the Spring split. He single-handedly built Azure Cats from nothing to a team that was capable of competing at the LCS level consistently. He has always been a great teammate and held great understanding of the game. While he has always played mid lane, his strongest attributes translate very well to the jungle role. "Obviously the team's success in regards to winning is paramount to everything else. We wouldn't have made this move if we didn't think Nientonsoh had the potential to become a better player than myself." Bigfatlp previously did not live in the CLG gaming house. Will both he and Nien be moving in prior to the start of the LCS or will either of them continue to practice with the team remotely? Jiji and Nien will both be moving to the CLG house as soon as Doublelift returns to the US from All Stars in China. The team will immediately begin scrimming in preparation for the next split of LCS. With the new lineup, including you as a coach, how should fans expect CLG to perform both in the short term and the long term? To be honest, we're going to have to wait and see. This roster was put in place with Season 3 World Finals in mind. Ultimately, there is definitely some grooming that needs to take place before we are ready to compete on the World's stage, but sometimes things just click (like WildTurtle on TSM). Ultimately, everyone on this roster has played competitively with at least one other person on the team before. CLG fixed a lot of small details which ultimately had a large impact on results right at the end of the last split, so there's a chance we could see CLG charge out of the gates as a force to be reckoned with. Do you have anything you would like to say to your fans and CLG fans around the world? First and most importantly, the number one take away people should get from this is that I am in no way 'going away' or diminishing my involvement or visibility in CLG. If anything, this change will hopefully create more connection between me, the team, and our fans! I'd also like to thank all of our supporters, especially our fans, sponsors, (Razer, AzubuTV, XMG, iBUYPOWER, ELOBUFF) and Riot. Without you none of this would be possible.In a previous post I mentioned how, when I was a student, riding on a shabby old mountain bike, I would take a lot of pleasure in overtaking lycra-clad road cyclists. I would take equal amounts of pleasure in dropping these people. Dropping, for anyone not familiar with the term, means overtaking, and overtaking so comprehensively that they have no chance of catching you. It’s a psychological weapon of sports warfare, and, executed well, can be devastating. Having been both dropper and dropped on occasion, I can testify that when it happens, you feel so outclassed and beaten down that it’s hard not to give up; this is especially true if you are giving everything you can. This is not cycling exclusive, of course. I’ve both dropped and been dropped back when I rowed, and memories of cross country runs back at school still haunt me to this day – I am not a good runner, and probably never will be, and plodding my slow way through a hilly, muddy park and watching an endless parade of my classmates pass me was not my idea of fun. So as a student cyclist, I had a lot of fun. I discovered the joys of Silly Commuter Racing, and raced as many other cyclists as I could. This was five years ago in London, and there were nowhere near as many cyclists as there are today, but there were more than enough glorious races to be found. And because I was young and impetuous, and because there was no shame in being beaten by a lycra-clad road boy, as well as endless glory in beating one, I never worried much about being caught. That’s not to say I never was; I remember an excellent race with a guy on a fixie, each of us staring dead ahead and refusing to acknowledge the other, even as we spun it faster and faster trying to edge ahead. Eventually we diverged, and by this time I was so exhausted I could barely speak even if I’d wanted to. And on another occasion I was cycling home with my housemate at the time – it was in the small hours of the morning, and I remember tearing along the roads of West London, trying to shake a random cyclist who had fallen in behind us – not because we minded him forming an impromptu peloton with us, but because we wanted to see if he would keep up (he could!). I suppose what all this is leading up to is the point that cycling is – or can be – a very snobbish sport, and very style-driven. And if I climb on top of an expensive road bike, wearing lycra kit and clip on shoes, and making sure that the arms of my sunglasses go over the straps of my helmet, then I had damn well better be able to back that up on the road. It’s why I was so shocked when I eased past a guy on a Pinarello Dogma on my ride to Brighton, as mentioned in my last post – if you spend ten grand on a bike then you’d better be leading the pack from the front, not overtaken by a guy on a too-small rental bike. I get annoyed sometimes at fair weather cyclists. Obviously it’s always great to see a road packed with bikes, but when I’m on the tail end of a beast of a ride and I’m struggling the last few miles home, some version of me in a past life always tries it on. I’ve not been dropped by anyone on a mountain bike yet, but that day will come, and when Mister Student Cyclist gets home, he’ll brag to his girlfriend about it, and write all about it in some kind of blog. “Totally scalped a guy on a road bike today, fnar fnar”. I’ll hate that guy, whoever he ends up being. I’ll want to chase him down and wave my bike computer in his face and make him realise that he only beat me because I’ve been chewing up the miles all morning, and that in a straight race he’d be the dust under my wheels. I won’t be able to do any of those things, but I’ll want to, because that’s the statement I choose to make by riding the bike I want to ride. Taken to its logical conclusion, it’s easy to look at people wearing team kit as a higher form of brag. There’s some debate over this in the cycling community – it’s easy to look at wearing a Team Sky jersey on your local club run as equivalent to pulling on a Manchester United top for a kickabout in the park with your mates – no one actually thinks you play for Man U. But cycling is not football. For me, I don’t mind team kit. I sometimes wear the kit for the now sadly defunct HTC Highroad, but given that the HTC kit has ‘Specialized’ scrawled all over it I do feel a bit silly. But it’s well made, and comfortable, and besides, they’re not a team any more anyway, so I don’t need to concern myself with those sorts of really big questions. There is, however, a line that I won’t cross, and that line is wearing a race leader jersey. Wearing a race leader’s jersey makes a huge statement about how good you are, and makes you a massive target for anyone wanting to race you. It’s like the old stereotype from Western films – being the fastest gun in the West means that everyone comes gunning for you; pull that jersey over your head and you are declaring yourself the undisputed master of the road. Or the sprint. Or the mountains. And more than that, it’s about respect. Haven’t earned that jersey? Then you
Hobby Lobby” page on Facebook. “I've been to two Hobby Lobby parking lots today and they were fairly empty. I used to have trouble finding a parking spot!” read one posting from the administrator of the Boycott page. “I think the boycott is catching on! I do not think they are getting the reaction they hoped for.” Hobby Lobby owner David Green is a devout Baptist who owns one of the world's largest collections of Biblical artifacts. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Green in his suit, argued that compliance with the offending portion of the health care law that the nature of their suit is “would force religiously-motivated business owners like plaintiffs to violate their faith under the threats of millions of dollars in fines.” Lawyers argued that company employees are well aware of Green's views and their bearing on the company. “The Green family’s business practices... reflect their Christian faith in unmistakable and concrete ways,” the complaint states. The company employs full-time chaplains; close all store locations on Sundays and monitors all marketing and operations to make sure that it is consistent with their beliefs. Failure to comply with the mandate could subject the company to as much as $1.3 million in daily fines, according to Becket Fund attorneys. "They’re being told they have two choices: Either follow their faith and pay the government half a billion dollars or give up their beliefs," Lori Windham, an attorney from the Becket Fund, told Foxnews.com. "We believe that’s a choice no one should have to make.” David Green could not be reached for comment, but in a recent USA Today Op-Ed, he blasted the Obama administration for imposing mandates he believes he cannot comply with. “Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy," Green wrote. "Our government threatens to fine a company that’s raised wages four years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs. It’s not right.” The company does not object to providing coverage that includes birth control pills, but refuses to provide or pay for two specific abortion-inducing drugs such as the so-called "morning after" pill, because Green's "most deeply held religious belief" is that life beginning at conception, the family said in a statement released through its attorneys. As for the boycott, the company's founders believe customers have the right to vote with their feet. "The Green family respects every individual's right to free speech and hopes that others will respect their rights also, including the right to live and do business according to their religious beliefs.," the statement said. Hobby Lobby is believed to be the first non-Catholic company to file an objection to the healthcare mandate. The Newland family, the devoutly Catholic owners of Denver-based Hercules Industries filed a similar suit this past summer and won a court injunction that ruled that they are not obligated to follow the mandate. “I think the law and precedent set by this case is very strong for Hobby Lobby and the Green Family,” Windham said.Darwin police search for four who set saltwater crocodiles loose in school office Updated Darwin police are searching for four young males who set three saltwater crocodiles loose in a school administration office. The reptiles were captured with the help of a ranger at Taminmin College at Humpty Doo on Sunday morning. Senior Constable David Gregory said it was not yet known where the animals came from but all were in a poor condition. "The ranger that turned up was very concerned for them — they had their mouths taped up," he said. "They haven't seen water for a long time and are undernourished." After they had set the crocodiles loose, the offenders then entered the building with their heads covered and ransacked the office, Constable Gregory said. He warned of serious penalties for animal cruelty, with fines up to $50,000. The largest of the three crocodiles was two metres. The crocodiles are now in safe hands under ranger care. Topics: animal-welfare, police, humpty-doo-0836, nt First postedA US research station, Antarctica, early-winter 1982. The base is suddenly buzzed by a helicopter from the nearby Norwegian research station. They are trying to kill a dog that has escaped from their base. After the destruction of the Norwegian chopper the members of the US team fly to the Norwegian base, only to discover them all dead or missing. They do find the remains of a strange creature the Norwegians burned. The Americans take it to their base and deduce that it is an alien life form. After a while it is apparent that the alien can take over and assimilate into other life forms, including humans, and can spread like a virus. This means that anyone at the base could be inhabited by The Thing, and tensions escalate. Written by grantssThe First Minister says Holyrood will vote on Article 50 despite Supreme Court's Brexit ruling. Scotland must decide if it wants to choose its own future or have it "dictated by an increasingly right-wing Westminster Government", the First Minister has said. In a statement issued in response to the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling that the UK Government does not have to legally consult the Scottish Government before triggering Article 50, Nicola Sturgeon said the ruling "raises fundamental issues above and beyond that of EU membership". Sturgeon said she will press ahead with plans to table a motion at Holyrood despite the court's ruling. The UK Government lost its own appeal at the court, meaning MPs and peers must pass legislation to trigger the country's exit from the EU. Last week, the First Minister said a second independence referendum is "even more likely" after the Prime Minister revealed she intends to take the whole of the UK out of the European single market as part of Brexit. Sturgeon said: "We are obviously disappointed with the Supreme Court's ruling in respect of the devolved administrations and the legal enforceability of the Sewel convention. "It is now crystal clear that the promises made to Scotland by the UK Government about the Sewel convention and the importance of embedding it in statute were not worth the paper they were written on." She added: "Although the court has concluded that the UK Government is not legally obliged to consult the devolved administrations, there remains a clear political obligation to do so. "Indeed, the court itself notes the importance of Sewel as a political convention. "The Scottish Government will bring forward a legislative consent motion and ensure that the Scottish Parliament has the opportunity to vote on whether or not it consents to the triggering of Article 50." The First Minister said the UK Government's stance raises questions about devolution. She said: "We will also use the meeting of the joint ministerial committee next week to continue to press for the sensible, compromise outcomes set out in the paper we published in December. "However, it is becoming clearer by the day that Scotland's voice is simply not being heard or listened to within the UK. "The claims about Scotland being an equal partner are being exposed as nothing more than empty rhetoric and the very foundations of the devolution settlement that are supposed to protect our interests - such as the statutory embedding of the Sewel convention - are being shown to be worthless." She added: "This raises fundamental issues above and beyond that of EU membership. Is Scotland content for our future to be dictated by an increasingly right-wing Westminster government with just one MP here - or is it better that we take our future into our own hands? It is becoming ever clearer that this is a choice that Scotland must make." The Prime Minister vowed to protect the "precious union" between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom when outlining her Brexit plans. Theresa May said: "We will put the preservation of our precious union at the heart of everything we do. "It is only by coming together as one great union of nations and people that we can make the most of opportunities ahead." May and Sturgeon will meet in Downing Street next week at the next meeting of the joint ministerial committee. Want the inside story from John MacKay? Sign up to the 'MacKay Mail' newsletter. Subscribe This field is required. That doesn't look like a valid e-mail format, please check. That e-mail's already in our system. Please try again. Please tick the box below to confirm your subscription Thanks for subscribing to our 'MacKay Mail' newsletter. Subscribed Want the inside story from John MacKay? Sign up to the 'MacKay Mail' newsletter. Thanks for subscribing to our 'MacKay Mail' newsletter. Subscribe Download: The STV News app is Scotland's favourite and is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from Google Play. Download it today and continue to enjoy STV News wherever you are.Read here. A famous climate scientist takes the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to task for a bogus climate model study where the scientists fraudulently believe that models have told them what regional climate conditions will be during the late 21st century. These virtual climate simulated predictions are about as reliable as astrology, tarot cards, a Oujia board or crystallomancy. First, Roger Pielke (senior) points out the "scientists" used global climate models to predict regional climates, which is well known to be climate science malpractice. Simply put, global climate models are absolutely worthless as prediction tools for for regional purposes, let alone for global purposes. Second, the ORNL researchers literally claim that output from virtual computer simulations as "scientific" evidence, which is scientifically absurd. This claim by itself is direct evidence of how science and the peer-reviewed journals have have gone-off-the-rails in desires to enhance careers and champion political agendas. "However, this article (and the climate modeling research program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, if this paper is typical) has been derailed from the proper assessment of the skill at climate prediction...Instead, as illustrated in the paper below, they have adopted the scientifically flawed approach of making regional climate forecasts decades into the future. The journal, Geophysical Research Letters, by accepting such a prediction paper, is similarly compromising robust science...The use of the term “evidence” with respect to climate models illustrates that this study is incorrectly assuming that models can be used to test how the real world behaves...Models are hypotheses and need to be tested against real data. However, the climate models have not been shown skill at predicting...there is no way to perform this test until those decades occur." Additional climate-model postings.Image copyright Danielle Dufault Image caption Some groups of beaked birds may have been able to survive the extinction Modern birds owe their survival to ancestors who were able to peck on seeds after the meteor that wiped out most dinosaurs, say scientists. Bird-like dinosaurs with toothless beaks survived the "nuclear winter" that followed the meteor strike, because of their diet, a study says. The impact altered the climate of the Earth and blotted out sunlight. The loss of vegetation would have deprived plant-eating dinosaurs of food. In turn, meat-eaters suffered. But seeds still in the ground may have sustained small toothless bird ancestors until the planet began to recover. The theory, outlined in the journal Current Biology, could explain why no modern bird has a beak lined with teeth. "After this meteor, you're left with essentially a nuclear winter where really not much is growing, the plants aren't able to grow to provide nourishment for plant-eaters and then meat-eaters aren't able to access plant-eaters if they've all perished," said lead researcher Derek Larson, from the University of Toronto. "We think that the survival of birds had something to do with the presence of their beak." Fossil teeth The researchers studied more than 3,000 fossilised teeth from bird-like dinosaurs known as maniraptorans. These dinosaurs are some of the closest relatives of modern birds - but, at the end of the Cretaceous period, many disappeared, including the toothed birds. The team suspected diet might have played a part in the survival of the ancestors of modern birds. "We came up with a hypothesis that it had something to do with diet," Mr Larson said. "Looking at the diet of modern birds, we were able to reconstruct a hypothetical ancestral bird and what its likely diet would have been," he told the BBC's Science in Action programme. "What we're envisaging is a seed-eating bird, so you'd have a relatively short and robust strong beak, which would be able to crush these seeds." Mr Larson said most of today's birds would not be around if it were not for their seed-eating ancestors, although a handful of other birds might have survived the impact, perhaps through eating insects. "We might be looking at a very different picture of bird diversity had certain groups not evolved the ability to eat seed material," he said. The dust in the atmosphere from the strike of the huge comet or asteroid would have obscured sunlight and blocked photosynthesis. However, seeds that had already built up in the ground would have still been available as a food source for anything with a beak capable of eating them. Follow Helen on Twitter.A blockbuster NWSL trade is being finalized that will send superstar Alex Morgan from Portland to the new expansion team in Orlando, SI.com has learned. The trade, which is set to be completed in the coming days, comes at the request of Morgan so that she can live in the same city as her husband, MLS midfielder Servando Carrasco, who plays for Orlando City. According to sources with knowledge of the deal, Portland would not have agreed to trade Morgan unless she had made her request for personal reasons. In return for Morgan and Canadian national-teamer Kaylyn Kyle, Portland is set to receive Orlando’s first pick in the NWSL draft, two international slots, U.S. national team fullback Meghan Klingenberg (who’s expected to not be one of the two protected national team players from Houston) and likely Lindsay Horan as the first new allocation coming in from overseas if Horan decides to join the NWSL from PSG. • BIRD: FC Kansas City beats Seattle for second straight NWSL title Morgan, 26, is the most popular U.S. women’s player and one of the most dangerous scorers in world soccer. It’s probably a good thing for the growth of the NWSL that Morgan will go to a new market where she can help galvanize the fanbase. Meanwhile, Portland figures to remain the best-supported team in the league even if Morgan doesn’t play there. With the Orlando Pride, Morgan will be reunited with manager Tom Sermanni, who was her coach with the U.S. during his tenure preceding Jill Ellis's reign at the helm. Sermanni was named the expansion side's coach earlier this week.How to Remain in Nondual Awareness " An object does not become an object separate from you until you define it. In order to not define it, you simply remain in awareness. You do not allow your attention to leave awareness to become fixated on thinking; rather, attention remains resting in itself as consciousness. When you remain in nondual awareness, then any object you see is experienced as part of awareness. When you look outwardly in this way, you do not experience a bunch of separate objects, you see and experience everything as one consciousness. Only when you get into definitions does everything become separate objects. So you can practice remaining in nondual awareness without getting involved in definitions, without getting involved with thinking. If thoughts come, you can treat them in the same way. If you remain in awareness without getting involved in the content of the thoughts, then the thoughts do not become separate things but remain as consciousness itself. They may not even fully form into thoughts. But the key is to let your attention remain fully resting in nondual awareness. If you do this, thoughts will stop all together. Much love, Kip" Sign Up to Receive The Free Weekly Meditation Teachings That Will Directly Help You Deepen Your Meditation & Experience of Nondual Awareness You Will Also Have Access to The Free Online Satsang / Meditations with Kip (A $47 Value, Yours Free ) (Unsubscribe anytime) never will give your information out to anyone) Read Our Privacy Policy (Wewill give your information out to anyone) Please Note: In Order to Awaken into Deep Meditation & Nondual Awareness It is Necessary to Receive In the past, you can only receive Shakti from an enlightened Guru. But because of breakthroughs in sound recording, you can now receive Shakti through sound. The CDs Infinite Sky & In Order to Awaken into Deep Meditation & Nondual Awareness It is Necessary to Receive Shakti, the Energy that Awakens You into Enlightenment.In the past, you can only receive Shakti from an enlightened Guru. But because of breakthroughs in sound recording, you can now receive Shakti through sound.The CDs Pure The Calling transmit Shakti. So simply by listening to the meditation music on these CDs, you are awakened into deep states of meditation, love and silence. It is that easy. Experience The Bliss for yourself: How to Remain in Nondual Awareness Part 2 "When you look at an object through your thinking; through your definitions, descriptions & judgments, you experience it as something separate from you. So by perceiving everything through thinking, you are actively separating yourself from everything. This is not bad, you have to do this to function. But if let go of your involvement with thinking and let your attention rest within itself, then you experience yourself as consciousness and everything as consciousness. In resting in consciousness itself, there is nothing that exists outside of consciousness. It all exists in consciousness. There is unity. This is nondual awareness. If you try and attain anything through thinking about it, it will always appear to be separate from you. No matter how hard you try, like negative points of a magnet you and the object will always repel each other. Part of the meditation process is to practice resting in nondual awareness both in sitting meditation and in daily activity. In sitting meditation, when thoughts, emotions and sensations arise, you surrender your mental involvement with them and allow them to rest in consciousness. Just by letting them rest in consciousness, the conflict and sense of separation that is underneath the thought, that is empowering the thought, dissolves into energy. Then that thought is no longer experienced as something outside of consciousness. And in daily activity, you rest in consciousness and everything you perceive you also let rest in consciousness. You surrender your urge to involve yourself with the definition, descriptions and judgments of the object that actively separate you from the object and simply rest in nondual awareness allowing the object to rest in this same consciousness. In this way, everything merges into one, all conflict and separation dissolves into peace. You feel the unity of everything in consciousness. You can still function with the definitions and descriptions as they are but you’re free from making that your sole reality, and thus free from the feeling of separation; you are resting in the nondual consciousness that is at the essence. And that allowing of everything to rest in the unity of consciousness, awakens you deeper into enlightenment. Much love, Kip" Links Bio: After a profound spiritual awakening, Kip Mazuy created a revolutionary sound technology that transmits Shakti to the listener through sound, allowing you to experience deep states of meditation & bliss very quickly regardless of which meditation technique you practice. Thousands of people have reported experiencing incredible states of meditation, bliss & spiritual awakenings while meditating to his CDs like "Infinite Sky," "Pure" and "The Calling." Kip is also known for his no-nonsense teachings on meditation and non dual awareness and meditates with people all over the world to help awaken them to their natural state of unity consciousness.Get the biggest politics stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Jeremy Corbyn today proved his ‘kid banter’ is better than any other living politician. He was filmed having a remarkably normal conversation with a group of primary school children during a visit to their Holiday Club, today, promoting Labour’s free school meals policy. The Labour leader discussed the merits of making one’s own jam, before asking the pupils what their favourite flavour was. Being small children, they of course said strawberry. Corbyn said they probably wouldn’t like his favourite kind of jam, blackberry and apple. (Image: PA) (Image: PA) Unfortunately, children can't vote. To quote The Thick of It's Peter Mannion, "They might as well be geese." But a politician being able to speak to children as if they were normal human beings, not aliens, shouldn’t really be a matter of great comment. But history teaches us it’s usually more of an issue. Here’s a few politicians who have learned the hard way that it’s risky to work with children. Let's start with Ed Balls quacking like a duck and making a baby cry Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Then there was George Osborne's awkward breakfast banter and piggy-in-the-middle snub Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now "Is that where the, er, football is. Yeah? Did you see the Tour De France?" And when he failed at skipping in front of a room full of young people Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Nick Clegg also tried that one with similar results Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Then there was the time Theresa May realised the kids were on to her and she must escape immediately (Image: PA) (Image: PA) David Cameron was once so crushingly dull that one young girl could handle it no more (Image: PA) And Boris once legit rugby tackled an 8-year-old Japanese boy Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Of course, Corbyn's not been immune to child-based awkwardness There was that time he looked like he wanted to wrap a violin round a small child's head And then there was the infamous incy wincy spider incident of 2016Electronic Arts shook up the video gaming field last week with a major price change: Star Wars: The Old Republic, one of the most ambitious and expensive multiplayer games ever made, would soon drop its subscription fees. The move essentially marks the end of the traditional business model for "massively multiplayer" online games, better known as MMOs. Almost every major publisher has now given in and eliminated its monthly fees -- the genre's bread-and-butter business model for the past 15 years -- relying instead on sales of premium content or virtual items to make money. It's the Zynga (ZNGA) model -- and it's an unproven risk for the gaming giants. MMOs cost far more to make than the -Ville clones and other casual games that populate Zynga's portfolio. EA's Star Wars cost an estimated $150 million to market and develop. Plus, the Zynga model isn't working out too well even for Zynga right now. That hasn't stopped the traditional publishers from flocking to it. Star Wars joins a free-to-play club that includes Everquest, Aion, Guild Wars, Dungeon & Dragons Online, The Lord of the Rings Online, and other landmark games. There's only one notable absence: Activision Blizzard (ATVI) money machine World of Warcraft, which has 9 million subscribers and generated more than $1 billion in revenue last year. But even Blizzard now allows players to explore its first 20 levels of content for free -- and the company is increasingly selling in-game virtual items and services. The Old Republic, which launched in late December, was supposed to be the next Warcraft. It started off strong, attracting more than 1 million players in its first three days -- a record pace. But within a few months, the subscribers began drifting away. EA won't comment on the game's current paying audience, saying only that it's north of 500,000. "The message from players exiting the game is clear: 40% say they were turned off by the monthly subscription, and many indicate they would come back if we offer a free-to-play model," Electronic Arts (EA) CEO John Riccitiello said on a recent call with investors. It's a straightforward economics problem. The subscription business model cuts off casual players, who can't justify paying $15 a month (particularly in this tough economy) for a game they only touch on occasion. That leaves the hard-core players, who are often reluctant to split their time between more than one or two MMOs at a time. So EA and its rivals are trying out plan B. "There's a huge and diverse market of players," says Kate Paiz, executive producer of Turbine's The Lord of the Rings Online. "When you took away that gym membership business model, you suddenly open yourself to a whole new customer base." The sea change in the MMO business is just the latest step in what has been an entire restructuring of how people view and pay for content. It's the same shift that's sweeping through Hollywood studios and media companies as they confront new players like Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN) and Hulu. EA is one of the best positioned for the change, some believe. By dropping its subscription fees, Star Wars could attract upwards of 10 million players a month, according Michael Pachter, a well-quoted video game industry analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. But taking a game people used to pay for and making it free isn't as simple as turning off the subscription switch. The game's entire mechanics have to be re-written to entice players to pay for bonus items and upgrades. That could mean walling off certain new content, or creating an in-game economy that functions better when players throw a few bucks into the game once in awhile. "There's a peril in designing it wrong," says Fernando Paiz, executive producer of Dungeon & Dragons Online at Turbine (and husband to fellow Turbine employee Kate). "If you are pressuring them too much to spend, you can turn the player off from the whole experience." Massachusetts-based Turbine was an early adopter of the free-to-play model, with Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings converting to free-to-play in 2009 and 2010, respectively. The company doesn't disclose specific subscriber numbers, but a Turbine spokesman said the games have seen "exponential growth" since going free. (Turbine was purchased by in 2010 by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which is a division of CNNMoney parent company Time Warner.) Not all analysts are sold on free-to-play. Jim Yin, equity analyst with Standard & Poor's, points out that it's difficult for game developers to target multiple audiences -- in this case, hard-core and casual gamers -- with the same title. "The constituents have different tastes and willingness to pay," Yin says. Also, free-to-play doesn't address another major problem in the MMO genre: saturation. There are dozens of games available now, many with similar fantasy or role-playing themes. All of them vying for the same limited amount of time a player has each week. "None of these games are substantially different from one another, and I don't know if free-to-play is really going to solve that problem," Yin says.Put a monkey in front of a keyboard, and he might come up with something like this: Biblis A, Neckar-Westheim 1, Brunsbüttel, Biblis B, Isar 1, Unterweser, Philippsburg 1. The names, though, are far from meaningless. All of them are nuclear power plants in Germany -- seven of the 17 still in operation in the country. And all seven of them are scheduled to be shut down between 2010 and 2012 and taken off the electricity grid. Getty Images Many around the world are beginning to see nuclear power as a possible solution to global warming. Germany might also reconsider its policy of nuclear phase-out. The reason for the planned shut downs is clear -- they are part of the country's legislated shift away from atomic energy. But just what that means for Germany's energy supply only becomes apparent after looking at a small graphic that Stephan Kohler, chief executive of the Germany Energy Agency, keeps in a plastic folder in his office. The graphic estimates trends in both consumption and production of electricity in Germany's near future. Whereas the consumption line gently and consistently falls, the production line climbs slightly for the next couple of years -- and then it plunges. The edge of the cliff depicted in the diagram coincides with 2010, just when the 126,036 gigawatt hours of electricity produced by Biblis, Neckar-Westheim and Brunsbüttel disappear. It is a date with energy policy destiny that has been facing Germany ever since the government of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, together with his coalition partners from the Green Party, passed a law in 2000 mandating that the country turn its back on nuclear power. The idea was that, in the intervening years, electricity produced with renewable energy technologies would grow to the point that the shift away from nuclear would hardly be noticed. That, though, is looking increasingly unlikely. Despite a decade of massive investment and generous programs established to promote wind, solar and biomass power generation, green energy sources make up just 14 percent of the country's energy supply. Even if that were to double in the near future, the lion's share of Germany's energy consumption would have to come from elsewhere. Without nuclear power, "elsewhere" in Germany necessarily means coal-fired power plants. But in a world with a rapidly warming climate caused by massive emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere by, among other sources, coal-fired power plants, such a scenario is decidedly unappetizing. Well Over 100 Reactors Indeed, even as Germany positions itself as a world leader in the fight against global warming, a major problem is brewing right in its own back yard. How to produce enough clean energy to satisfy the country's needs? It is a conundrum that many countries around the world are facing as well. But outside of Germany, a consensus is slowly developing that nuclear energy may very well be the answer. After decades of hesitancy, more and more countries are turning back toward the atom with well over 100 reactors either already under construction or in the planning stages. And in Berlin? Officially, nothing has changed. Chancellor Angela Merkel and her coalition government agreed -- when patching together the so-called "grand coalition" pairing Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in 2005 -- that the subject was taboo. But with the world slowly coming to the realization that nuclear energy could provide at least an interim answer to global warming, pressure is growing. And the voices in favor of revisiting the 2000 phase-out decision are becoming louder. "The chancellor has noticed that the discussion about the use of atomic energy has been re-energized" said Merkel spokesman Thomas Steg recently. Her party is willing to go even further. "For the foreseeable future," party leadership recently wrote in a policy paper on global warming, "the contribution of nuclear energy to the production of electricity in Germany is irreplaceable." May Soon Become a Reality It is a conclusion that many in the world have already reached. Oil and gas prices are skyrocketing with a barrel of crude now costing $140 and gas prices climbing just as quickly. Even as speculation is partially to blame for the rising prices, demand in developing countries around the world, especially in China and India, is putting even more pressure on an oil industry that was already having difficulty meeting demand. Experts see no end in sight to the price spike, with some estimating that $250 per barrel may soon become a reality. At the same time, though, global warming is emerging as the single greatest challenge facing mankind this century. Already, the European Union has taken decisive steps toward lowering its greenhouse gas emissions, with a particular emphasis on cutting the amount of CO2 that gets released into the atmosphere. But the rest of the world has yet to follow suit. Indeed, even as the realization is growing that coal-fired power plants are a major contributor to global warming, coal these days is coming to be seen as a cheaper alternative to oil and gas. Russia is planning to build some 30 new coal-fired plants by 2011. In China, a new coal-fired facility goes on line about once every 10 days. Still, it is nuclear power that many are beginning to see as the planet's saviour. A typical coal-fired power plant (burning lignite) emits up to 1,150 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour of electricity produced. The most modern gas-driven facilities emit 400 grams for the same amount of electricity. And for nuclear power plants? That number is around 30 grams per kilowatt hour when the entire life-cycle of the plant is taken into account. 'Litmus Test for Climate Change' It is this math that is leading to the biggest nuclear power boom the world has seen in decades. After a 30 year gap with not a single new reactor being connected to the US power grid, four projects are now under review with up to 30 more in the planning stages. Bush's Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman recently demanded even more. "We don't need 30 of these additional units, we need 130 or 230," he said. John McCain, the Republican candidate for the White House, has likewise suggested that the US alone should build over 100 new nuclear power facilities. And at the G-8 earlier this week, James Connaughton, Bush's senior advisor on the environment -- and a former lobbyist for major electrical utilities and the mining and chemical industries -- suggested that a country's attitude toward nuclear power should be seen as a "litmus test for seriousness on climate change." The US is far from alone. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, like many in his country, long a proponent of nuclear power, called atomic power "more than ever an industry of the future" last week while announcing the construction of yet another nuclear reactor -- his country's 61st. In Great Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown would like to see 40 percent of the UK's energy coming from nuclear power -- requiring the construction of 20 new reactors. Switzerland is planning three new reactors. A number of countries in Eastern Europe want more atomic power. Russia is considering up to 35 new reactors.Yields: 8 servings 1 (16-ounce) package fresh pot sticker wraps 5 ounces fresh water chestnuts ¼ cup mung beans 2 cups peanut oil (or regular vegetable oil), as needed ½ cup fresh soy bean paste (see tips) 10 shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped 2 teaspoons mushroom seasoning salt (or regular salt) ½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked using a mortar and pestle 1 tablespoon dried crispy fried garlic, store-bought 1-½ teaspoons sesame seeds, slightly toasted 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional) 2 shallots, finely chopped 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped 3 tablespoons green onions, thinly sliced 2 egg whites (optional), lightly beaten How to make mung bean paste: Place the mung beans in a small saucepan, barely cover with water, then slowly cook for about 30 minutes. It will form a dry paste. Set aside. How to cook water chestnuts: Wash the chestnuts in cold water and then soak them in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes. With a paring knife, make a small criss-cross cut at the root of each water chestnut. Make sure the incision is not too deep so as not to cut the flesh of the chestnut. Place the chestnuts in a pot and cover them with water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 30 minutes. Allow to cool. As soon as they are not too hot to handle, shell the water chestnuts, then slice, cut into small matchsticks and finely chop them. Making pot sticker filling: In a pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the shallots; cook until fragrant. Add the soy bean paste. Separate into small lumps using a spatula, then add the chopped mushrooms. Cook over high heat for 2-3 minutes, then add the water chestnuts. Make sure the temperature is high so the filling doesn't become watery. Turn off the heat. Season with fried garlic, mushroom seasoning salt and pepper. Allow to cool a little. Add the mung bean paste, sesame seeds, sesame oil, green onions and cilantro. Mix well. Check the seasoning. Add more mushroom seasoning if necessary. How to wrap pot stickers: This is one method; there are a million other ways of forming these dumplings. Brush the edge of a pot sticker round with the egg whites (if used). Place about 1-½ teaspoons of the filling. Fold over in half, in a half-moon shape. Seal the pot sticker by forming small pleats along the edge and pinching firmly. Repeat until all the ingredients are used. Frying pot stickers: Layer a cooling rack, previously lined with paper towels if you like, on top of a baking sheet (for easy clean-up of the drained oil). In a large Dutch oven (or any regular deep-fryer), heat the oil for about 2-3 minutes over high heat. There should be at least a 2-inch-high level of oil. Wait until the oil is slightly bubbly (but not too hot). Place one pot sticker at a time in the hot oil. Fry in batches. Place up to 6 pot stickers per batch. Make sure they don't touch each other. Lower the heat to medium for even cooking and to prevent them from browning too fast. Deep fry for about 3 minutes per side. The pot sticker will form a golden crust. Flip each piece using a spider skimmer and cook for about 2 minutes until golden on both sides. Carefully lift each pot sticker, draining as much oil as possible and transfer them onto the cooling rack. Continue with the remaining pot stickers. Serve immediately with Sriracha or plum dipping sauce on the side (see tip section for the recipe). Bon appétit!This year the Total War series turns 15, and as recompense for making so many of us feel so horribly old The Creative Assembly is celebrating with a birthday blowout of new Total War titles. The recent release of the Wrath of Sparta content pack for Total War: Rome 2 is followed on 17 February by the next major release in the franchise, Total War: Attila - but the ferocious Hun does not ride alone. Instead, he's flanked by two less traditional Total War experiences aimed at bringing in new players via the hit-and-miss gift horse of free-to-play. First up is the multiplayer only offering of Total War: Arena, while the second is cross-platform desktop and tablet title, Total War Battles: Kingdom. The question is whether these new titles will enhance the series' illustrious legacy or fail to make their mark and suffer the ignominy of obscurity. In its current form, Total War: Arena will struggle
the back porch, where I was sitting with Charles in the late-afternoon sun, to offer us a bourbon-and-ice, she was positively cheerful, her deeply lined, expressive face bright under a cap of short white hair, her low, warm woodwind voice rising into an easy laugh. The bourbon is part of the couple’s evening ritual: when they don’t have company, they have a drink before dinner and take turns reading to each other. On the hillside below us, two scrub jays traded remarks through the trees. The cheerfulness was relative, she told me: it was partly because a conference call set for earlier that day, with the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman and some film people who had a project to propose, had been postponed, leaving her with enough energy for a conversation. Her back is bent now with age—she’ll be eighty-seven this month—and she has to be careful with a resource she once had in abundance. “My stamina gives out so damn fast these days,” she said. The house where Le Guin has lived for more than fifty years has, in certain respects, come to resemble its owner. Past the barriers at the entrance—Charles’s menacingly thorny roses, the lion’s-head knocker that guards the door—the dark-panelled Craftsman living room, with its Victorian feel, might stand for her books set in Europe, or for the great nineteenth-century novels she has always loved, with their warmth, humanity, and moral concern. The front hall is surveyed by a row of British Museum reproductions of the Lewis chessmen, souvenirs of the Le Guins’ two sabbatical years in London, when their three children were small. Some of her awards are in the attic, but she keeps several, notably her first Hugo, from 1970, discreetly displayed in the hall on the way to the kitchen. A place of honor at the right of the fireplace is given to a portrait of Virginia Woolf, a hand-colored print that is a treasured gift from a writer friend. Later, I went with her into the kitchen, where it’s easy to end up in the Le Guin household. It’s a homey room with white appliances, cream cabinets, and no sign of steel or marble, as indifferent to fashion as its owners. Le Guin dresses well, but casually, favoring T-shirts, and wears little jewelry, though occasionally she puts on earrings fastened with clips or magnets. “You put the stone in front and a tiny magnet behind your earlobe,” she explains. “The trouble is that if you bend down near the stove, for instance, all of a sudden your earrings go wham!—and hit the stove. It’s kind of exciting.” Europe ends and the West begins outside the windows, on the back porch, with its view stretching over the Willamette River, past the city, to three volcanoes of the Cascade Range: the white peak of Mt. Adams, distant Mt. Rainier, and the sullen ash heap of Mt. St. Helens. The span of it evokes the feeling of distance and isolation that runs through her work, and the awareness, more often found in science than in fiction, that what we can comprehend is a small part of everything there is to know. Imaginative literature, she has written, asks us “to allow that our perception of reality may be incomplete, our interpretation of it arbitrary or mistaken.” Michael Chabon, a friend and admirer, sees her as “untiringly opening her work up to a perspective, to a nature that feels somehow beyond human, and yet fully human and recognizable. She gives us a view from the other side.” To talk to Le Guin is to encounter alternatives. At her house, the writer is present, but so is Le Guin the mother of three, the faculty wife: the woman writing fantasy in tandem with her daily life. I asked her recently about a particularly violent story that she wrote in her early thirties, in two days, while organizing a fifth-birthday party for her elder daughter. “It’s funny how you can live on several planes, isn’t it?” she said. She resists attempts to separate her more mainstream work from her science fiction. She is a genre author who is also a literary author, not one or the other but indivisibly both. Le Guin can be polemical, prone to what one close friend calls “tirades” on questions she feels strongly about. I once watched her participate in a panel discussion on gender and literature at WisCon, an annual gathering of feminist science-fiction writers, readers, and academics in Madison, Wisconsin. Scowling like a snapping turtle, she sat waiting for illogical remarks, which she then gently but firmly tore to bits. Yet a conversation with Le Guin is often full of comic asides, laughter, and—a particularly Le Guin trait—good-natured snorts. Humor seems to be her way of taking the edge off the polemic, as well as an introvert’s channel of communication. Behind even the lightest remarks, one is aware of a keen intelligence and a lifetime of thought, held back for the purposes of casual conversation. She has never felt at home temperamentally with establishments of any kind. But now she finds the establishment wanting to hear what she has to say. Her criticism of the economics of publishing—objections to Amazon, a fight with Google over its digitization of copyrighted books—is widely reported in the news. Earlier this year, a Kickstarter campaign for a documentary about Le Guin, by the filmmaker Arwen Curry, raised more than two hundred thousand dollars, nearly three times the requested amount. In 2000, the Library of Congress declared her a “living legend,” a designation that has made its way into many introductions to her readings. Last month, her “Orsinian Tales” and the novel “Malafrena” appeared as a volume in the Library of America. (She and Philip Roth are the only living novelists included in the series.) “I am getting really sick of being referred to as ‘the legendary,’ ” she protests, laughing. “I’m right here. I have gravity. A body and all that.” In the late nineteen-thirties, in a tall house in Berkeley, California, a girl climbs out the attic window onto the roof in search of solitude. If she scrambles far enough up the redwood shingles, she can reach her own Mt. Olympus, the roof’s peak. From here, she can gaze out over the rough blue of the bay to the city of San Francisco, row upon row of white houses climbing the hills above the water. The city is strange to her—she rarely ventures so far from home—but the view is hers, and splendid. Beyond it she knows there are islands with a magical name: the Farallons. She imagines them as “the loneliest place, the farthest west you could go.” Meanwhile, inside the house, the girl’s father is at work, thinking about myths, magic, songs, cultural patterns—the proper territory of a professor of anthropology. From him she will take a model for creative work in the midst of a rich family life, as well as the belief that the real room of one’s own is in the writer’s mind. Years later, she tells a friend that if she ended up writing about wizards “perhaps it’s because I grew up with one.” Ursula Kroeber was born in Berkeley, in 1929, into a family busy with the reading, recording, telling, and inventing of stories. She grew up listening to her aunt Betsy’s memories of a pioneer childhood and to California Indian legends retold by her father. One legend of the Yurok people says that, far out in the Pacific Ocean but not farther than a canoe can paddle, the rim of the sky makes waves by beating on the surface of the water. On every twelfth upswing, the sky moves a little more slowly, so that a skilled navigator has enough time to slip beneath its rim, reach the outer ocean, and dance all night on the shore of another world. Ursula absorbed these stories, together with the books she read: children’s classics, Norse myths, Irish folktales, the Iliad. In her father’s library, she discovered Romantic poetry and Eastern philosophy, especially the Tao Te Ching. She and her brother Karl supplemented these with science-fiction magazines. With Karl, the closest to her in age of her three brothers, she played King Arthur’s knights, in armor made of cardboard boxes. The two also made up tales of political intrigue and exploration set in a stuffed-toy world called the Animal Kingdom. This storytelling later gave her a feeling of kinship with the Brontës, whose Gondal and Angria, she says, were “the ‘genius version’ of what Karl and I did.” Her father was Alfred L. Kroeber, one of the most influential cultural anthropologists of the past century. A New Yorker from a prosperous German immigrant family, he went west in 1900, when he was twenty-four, and did field work among the Indians of Northern California. Throughout his career, he learned about cultures that were rapidly being transformed or destroyed from men and women who were among the last survivors of their people. At a time when the dominant story of America was one of European conquest, Ursula was aware, through her father and his Indian friends who came to the house, that there were other stories to tell and other judgments that might be made. “With the money we’ll save by shutting down quality control, we can issue some truly spectacular apologies.” Ursula’s mother was Theodora Kracaw Kroeber, born in Denver in 1897 and raised in the mining town of Telluride. A friend of Le Guin’s recalls seeing her, at the house in Berkeley, “coming down the long staircase, a majestic-looking woman with a long gown and a great big Indian silver and turquoise necklace. She was very stately.” Theodora took to writing in her late fifties, and produced “Ishi in Two Worlds,” a nonfiction account of the last survivor of the Yahi people. Le Guin loved her mother and admired her psychological gifts. But she says that their relationship also contained “something darker and stranger” that she has never quite understood. “We were very lucky, because we never had to act that out. But if I see daughters and mothers act it out toward each other it doesn’t shock me or surprise me. It’s there.” The Kroeber household was full of voices as well as stories. Alfred liked to pose philosophical questions or puzzles over the dinner table and ask his four children about anything that interested them. The kids were encouraged to take an active part in the conversation, but, as the little sister, Ursula rarely got a word in: “There were too many people, and I was outshouted by everybody else.” Learning how to be heard taught her persistence and gave her a tendency to appear fiercer than she is. “People think I mean everything I say and am full of conviction, often, when I’m actually just floating balloons and ready for a discussion or argument or further pursuit of the subject. It’s my fault—I speak so passionately. Probably because, as the youngest and shrillest child of an extraordinarily articulate and passionate family, I could only be heard by charging over the top, shouting, ‘Marchons, marchons! Qu’un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!’ every time I entertained a passing opinion.” Le Guin’s work combines a Berkeleyite’s love of alternative thought with a strong scientific bent that she sees as an inheritance from her father. In her fiction, she has tried to balance the analytical and the intuitive. “Both directions strike me as becoming more and more sterile the farther you follow them,” she says. “It’s when they can combine that you get something fertile and living and leading forward. Mysticism—which is a word my father held in contempt, basically—and scientific factualism, need for evidence, and so on... I do try to juggle them, quite consciously.” If it was difficult to be the youngest and most precocious of the Kroeber children, leaving the house to enter the world made Ursula feel like “an exile in a Siberia of adolescent social mores.” In the fall of 1944, at fourteen, small for her age, disguised in the sweater, skirt, and loafers of a “bobby-soxer” (a term that still makes her shudder), she began her first year at Berkeley High School, a huge, impersonal institution where popularity mattered more than learning, and fitting in was the ideal. When Le Guin speaks of her teen-age years, she speaks of loneliness, confusion, and the pain of being among people who have no use for one’s gifts. “You’re just dropped into this dreadful place, and there are no explanations why and no directions what to do.” She found a refuge in the public library, reading Austen and the Brontës, Turgenev and Shelley. In fiction, she could satisfy her deep romantic streak: she fell in love with Prince Andrei in “War and Peace” and once, at thirteen, defaced a library book by cutting out a still of Laurence Olivier’s Mr. Darcy and taking it home to look at in private, guilty rapture. From Thomas Hardy she learned to handle strong feelings in fiction by pouring them into landscapes, letting the settings carry part of the emotional charge. “There’s a patronizing word for that: the ‘pathetic fallacy,’ ” she says. “It’s not a fallacy; it’s art.” As a child, she was painfully shy, and she still alludes to anxieties that she keeps hidden from the world. I caught a glimpse of that when she asked me, cautiously, “Wouldn’t you say that anybody who thought as much about balance as I do in my work probably felt some threat to their balance?” After a long pause, she added, “Of course all adolescents are out of balance, and very aware of it. To become adult can certainly feel like walking a high wire, can’t it? If my foot slips, I’m gone. I’m dead.” Equilibrium is a central metaphor in Le Guin’s great works about adolescence, the six-volume Earthsea series, which began in 1968 with “A Wizard of Earthsea.” That book follows Ged, a lonely teen-ager with a gift for magic, who at wizards’ school learns a painful lesson in achieving balance rather than forcing change. There’s little resemblance between the school on Roke Island, with its Taoist magic (a mage is taught to “do by not doing”), and Harry Potter’s Hogwarts. There is some resemblance between Ged, the provincial boy with a chip on his shoulder, and Ursula Kroeber, the Californian in jeans arriving at Radcliffe College in 1947, all books and opinions, never before out of her home state, eager to prove herself as a poet. Her Radcliffe friend Jean Taylor Kroeber, who became her sister-in-law, recalls that, before she and Ursula bonded over Russian literature, jokes, and music, she found her “a little frightening. It’s not that she meant to be, but that’s the way it came across... that there was a good chance that she was ahead of you, in wherever the conversation was going. And one rather brief acute remark could set you back on your heels.” Ursula had her first clash with the literary establishment when she and a friend signed up to read submissions for a new Radcliffe literary magazine, Signature. Rona Jaffe worked on the magazine, and its undergraduate contributors included Edward Gorey, Harold Brodkey, and Adrienne Rich, whose poem “Storm Warnings” was published there. The magazine accepted nothing of Ursula’s, and she found those fellow-students “cliquish and unfriendly”: “Their comments on what we submitted ourselves, even the comments on our comments, were often remarkably savage and dismissive. We got out again and gratefully went back to our invisibility.” When Rich won the Yale Younger Poets Prize in her senior year, Le Guin, still unpublished, felt pangs of envy. On top of that, Radcliffe women were given a double message, receiving an excellent education while knowing, in Rich’s words, that “the real power (and money) were invested in Harvard’s institutions, from which we were excluded.” Though Radcliffe has long since become part of Harvard, Cambridge remains a place of mixed emotions for Le Guin. She has told me both that her college years were wonderful and that she has come to dislike the institution; the two emotions shadow each other. Her senior year was marred by a handsome and arrogant Harvard student, an accidental pregnancy, a broken heart, and an illegal abortion. “I’m often startled at the depth of my anger at Harvard,” she told me. “I know some of the reasons for it, but it wouldn’t be so immediate and uncontrollable if it were accessible to reason. I did get a splendid education there—there was wonderful Widener, the Fogg, the elmy campus, which I remember fondly. But the anger’s there like a mine, ready to go off at a quiver of the ground.” Le Guin graduated from Radcliffe with a degree in French, in 1951. Over the decade that followed, she wrote poems, short stories, and at least four novels. She submitted them to publishers; they came back with encouraging rejections. She felt her way tentatively forward, unsure of her direction, lacking models. American literature was still under the spell of Hemingway, Faulkner, Richard Wright; realism held sway, and there was little interest in play or fantasy. “I was going in another direction than the critically approved culture was,” Le Guin has said. “I was never going to be Norman Mailer or Saul Bellow. I didn’t know who my fellow-writers were. There didn’t seem to be anybody doing what I wanted to do.” She was alarmed by the literary rivalries of the period; she remembers thinking, “I’m not competing with all these guys and their empires and territories. I just want to write my stories and dig my own garden.” Instead, she found “allies in foreigners I never met,” reading Woolf’s “Orlando,” Isak Dinesen’s “Seven Gothic Tales,” and the short stories of Sylvia Townsend Warner, with their playful and revelatory shifts of perspective. She also became fascinated by the premature, failed revolutions of 1830 and the passionate political documents of the Romantic period, such as “My Prisons,” by the Italian poet and patriot Silvio Pellico. “Books like that were very exciting to me because I could handle them better than I could the contemporary works,” she says. They opened up “the distance that I needed, and probably have always needed, between me and the raw, implacable fact that’s going on right now. I’ve never really been able to handle that. If it’s right in my face, I can’t see it.” Some writers of her generation embraced confessional literature and, later, memoir. Le Guin has always preferred self-concealment to self-exposure. In the introduction to the Library of America volume, she writes, “I have no interest in confession. My games are transformation and invention.” In college, she began setting her fiction in an imaginary Eastern European country called Orsinia and found that it freed her up as a writer. Away from the “small and stony” ground of realism, her imagination began to flourish. Orsinia also gave her the distance to comment, indirectly, on Communist repression, the persecutions of the McCarthy era, the unfreedom of the age, and her decision to follow her own path. During the fifties, she worked on “Malafrena,” a novel about a young nobleman who obeys his moral compass by fighting for freedom of speech and thought. Freedom is “a human need, like bread, like water,” he insists. Pressed to define it, he replies, “Freedom consists in doing what you can do best, your work, what you have to do.” For Le Guin freedom is a complex ideal and a word “too big and too old” to be devalued as a platitude or appropriated by hypocrites. “Of course it gets misused,” she says. “But I don’t think you can really damage the word freedom or liberty.” Another of Le Guin’s places is Cannon Beach, a summer town on the Oregon coast where she and Charles have a small house on a street leading to the ocean. Although she claims to share her father’s “incapacity for reminiscence,” she and I went there to talk about her past. The prospect made her uncomfortable at first, and when we entered the shut-up house she threw nervous energy into cleaning, enlisting me to stand on a chair and brush cobwebs off the ceiling. At a little kitchen table, over tea served in the indestructible handmade earthenware mugs of the seventies, she commented, somewhat defiantly, that she had always taken pleasure in cooking and keeping house. It sounded like criticism of the heroic writer, alone in his garret, but there’s more to it than that. She feels that marriage and family have given her a stability that supported her writing—the freedom of solitude within the solidity of household life. “An artist can go off into the private world they create, and maybe not be so good at finding the way out again,” she told me. “This could be one reason I’ve always been grateful for having a family and doing housework, and the stupid ordinary stuff that has to be done that you cannot let go.” When Ursula graduated from Radcliffe, her plan was to get her doctorate and become an academic, like her three older brothers. She got her master’s in Romance languages at Columbia University, then received a Fulbright fellowship to do research in France for her dissertation. On the boat going over, she met Charles LeGuin, a historian with an attractive Georgia accent who was writing his thesis on the French Revolution. They shared a sense of humor; they liked the same books; in Paris, they went together to the opera and the Louvre. Within two weeks they were engaged. When they applied for a marriage license, a “triumphant bureaucrat” told Charles his Breton name was “spelled wrong” without a space, so when they married they both took the name Le Guin. Ursula abandoned her Ph.D. thesis on medieval French poetry, and while Charles finished researching his own thesis she read, wrote, and talked with him about Europe and revolution. Charles became the first reader for all her work, made sure she got time to write, and when they had children shared in their care. They spent the next few years in Georgia and Idaho, until, in 1959, Charles got the job at Portland State. Ursula recalls flying up from Berkeley with a child on her lap and pregnant with her second. “The plane came in low up the Willamette Valley and circled the city, and I was in tears, it was so beautiful. I thought, My God, I’m going to live there.” “Welcome to tonight’s panel on interfaith humor.” Stubbornness and a self-confessed arrogance about her work helped Le Guin through her unpublished years. Then and now, she feels that she is the best judge of her writing; she is unmoved by literary trends, and not easily swayed by editorial suggestion. “Writing was always my inmost way of being in the world,” she says, but that made rejections increasingly painful: “I suffered a good deal from the contradiction between knowing writing was the job I was born for and finding nowhere to have that knowledge confirmed.” Then, in 1961 and 1962, two of Le Guin’s stories were published. One, set in Orsinia, a meditation on the consolations of art, went to a small literary journal. The second, about a junior professor liberated from academia by an act of magic, was bought by the science-fiction magazine Fantastic. “I just didn’t know what to do with my stuff until I stumbled into science fiction and fantasy,” Le Guin says. “And then, of course, they knew what to do with it.” “They” were the editors, fans, and fellow-authors who gave her an audience for her work. If science fiction was down-market, it was at least a market. More than that, genre supplied a ready-made set of tools, including spaceships, planets, and aliens, plus a realm—the future—that set no limits on the imagination. She found that science fiction suited what she called, in a letter to her mother, her “peculiar” talent, and she felt a lightheartedness in her writing that had to do with letting go of ambitions and constraints. In the fall of 1966, when she was thirty-seven, Le Guin began “A Wizard of Earthsea.” In the next few years—which also saw her march against the Vietnam War and dance in a conga line with Allen Ginsberg, when he came to Portland to read Vedas for peace—she produced her great early work, including, in quick succession, “The Left Hand of Darkness,” “The Lathe of Heaven,” “The Farthest Shore,” and “The Dispossessed,” her ambitious novel of anarchist utopia. Science fiction opened her up further to writing from alien points of view—composing the political manifesto of an ant, wondering what it would be like if humans had the seasonal sexuality of birds, imagining love in a society in which a marriage involves four people. Le Guin says her ambition has always been “not just trying to get into other minds but other beings.” She adds, “Somewhere in the nineteenth century a line got drawn: you can’t do this for grownups. But fantasy and science fiction just kind of walked around the line.” Another use of the fantastic for Le Guin was to bring her ethical concerns into her fiction without becoming didactic. Take a metaphor far enough and it becomes a parable, as with her widely anthologized story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” Le Guin’s story begins with an ethical question posed by William James: If all could be made blissfully happy by the fact that one person was being kept in torment, would we accept that condition? She gives the problem just enough reality for the reader to picture the single abused child and feel the consequences of the bargain. Her influential thought experiment “The Left Hand of Darkness” uses this strategy to explore gender and alterity. Genly Ai, a man from a future Earth, arrives on the planet Gethen, which is inhabited by human beings who are neither male nor female but, for a few days a month, in a sexual phase, can become either. Ai, as a permanent male, is to them a “pervert.” His isolation and wariness are mirrored in the landscape of Gethen, a place of perpetual winter. No one trusts Ai but Estraven, a Gethenian who is in exile; these two characters take turns narrating the book, so that we see how strange they appear to each other, and how they struggle to connect. Among the book’s central themes are balance—light is the left hand of darkness, the Gethenian saying goes—and trust. These are set against anxieties about otherness, about control and the loss of it. Estraven hopes that Ai can prevent impending war between two rival states, and asks him: “Do you know, by your own experience, what patriotism is?” “No,” I said, shaken by the force of that intense personality suddenly turning itself wholly upon me. “I don’t think I do. If by patriotism you don’t mean the love of one’s homeland, for that I do know.” “No, I don’t mean love, when I say patriotism. I mean fear. The fear of the other. And its expressions are political, not poetical: hate, rivalry, aggression. It grows in us, that fear.” To fulfill this mission, Ai must see beyond his own narrow perspective and learn to trust, even love, this person whose nature calls his own into question. The novel earned Le Guin her first Hugo and Nebula awards, the top honors in science fiction; her migration from the margins was well under way. Despite her growing success, she suffered periods of depression in the nineteen-sixties—“dark passages that I had to work through” is how she described them to me, as if they were vexed sequences in a novel. She wrote them into her fiction, she added, in the Earthsea novel “The Farthest Shore,” exploring a metaphor she borrowed from Rilke’s “Duino Elegies”: depression as a journey through the silent land of the dead. Another difficult time for her came in the long period that began after “The Dispossessed” was published, in 1974, when she was rethinking the subjects of her work. She had been writing about imaginary revolutions, but by then an actual liberation movement, feminism, was gaining traction. In the light of “the personal is political,” her “Left Hand of Darkness” seemed to some readers too oblique and metaphorical, her sense of play not illuminating but evasive. Up until then, almost all of Le Guin’s protagonists had been male, and she wasn’t sure how to write from a woman’s perspective, especially since she had long resisted writing directly from personal experience. As a wife and mother who had always had her husband’s support, she was wary of the angry anti-family rhetoric of some mid-nineteen-seventies feminists. She explained, “I had lost confidence in the kind of writing I had been doing because I was (mostly unconsciously) struggling to learn how to write as a woman, not as an ‘honorary man’ as before, and with a freedom that scared me.” She went on working steadily, writing short stories, essays, poetry, and young-adult fiction. She revised and published some of her older work: “Orsinian Tales” (which was a finalist for a National Book Award) appeared in 1976; “Malafrena” in 1979. She did begin writing from female points of view. But her turn to “writing as a woman,” while it won her new readers, alienated part of her old audience. Some of her new work was criticized as unsubtle or moralistic. Her mother died in 1979, a painful loss. She came to think of this time as “the dark hard place.” Le Guin emerged from this period by stepping over the boundaries that separated science fiction and literature. Starting in the nineteen-eighties, she published some of her most accomplished work—fiction that was realist, magic realist, postmodernist, and sui generis. She wrote the Borgesian feminist parable “She Unnames Them,” and in 1985 an experimental tour de force of a novel, “Always Coming Home.” She produced “Sur,” the epic tale of an all-female Antarctic exploring party that may be her greatest and funniest feminist statement. Her short stories began appearing in The New Yorker, where her editor, Charles McGrath, saw in her an ability to “transform genre fiction into something higher.” In fact, it was the mainstream that ended up transformed. By breaking down the walls of genre, Le Guin handed new tools to twenty-first-century writers working in what Chabon calls the “borderlands,” the place where the fantastic enters literature. A group of writers as unlike as Chabon, Molly Gloss, Kelly Link, Karen Joy Fowler, Junot Díaz, Jonathan Lethem, Victor LaValle, Zadie Smith, and David Mitchell began to explore what’s possible when they combine elements of realism and fantasy. The fantasy and science-fiction scholar Brian Attebery has noted that “every writer I know who talks about Ursula talks about a sense of having been invited or empowered to do something.” Given that many of Le Guin’s protagonists have dark skin, the science-fiction writer N. K. Jemisin speaks of the importance to her and others of encountering in fantasy someone who looked like them. Karen Joy Fowler, a friend of Le Guin’s whose novel “We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves” questions the nature of the human-animal bond, says that Le Guin offered her alternatives to realism by bringing the fantastic out of its “underdog position.” For writers, she says, Le Guin “makes you think many things are possible that you maybe didn’t think were possible.” Le Guin still has strong feelings about artistic liberty. In November, 2014, she travelled to New York with her son, Theo, to accept the Distinguished Contribution medal at the National Book Awards ceremony. In a new collection of nonfiction, “Words Are My Matter,” she writes that drafting her six-minute speech took her six months. “I rethought and replanned it, anxiously, over and over. Even on a poem, I’ve never worked so long and so obsessively, or with so little assurance that what I was saying was right, was what I ought to say.” But, having clashed with corporate publishing in the past, she felt an obligation to take the industry to task. Standing at the lectern, she gave an uncharacteristically apologetic smile. Then she scowled at her audience of editors and publishers and unleashed a tirade. “I see sales departments given control over editorial. I see my own publishers, in a silly panic of ignorance and greed, charging public libraries for an e-book six or seven times more than they charge customers.... And I see a lot of us, the producers, who write the books and make the books, accepting this—letting commodity profiteers sell us like deodorant and tell us what to publish, and what to write.” Instead, she admonished them, “We’ll need writers who can remember freedom—poets, visionaries—realists of a larger reality.” At her conclusion, members of the audience hesitated, looked around, and then slowly rose to their feet for an ovation.The ultimate goal for Bitcoiners has been “mainstream” or “mass” adoption of bitcoin: we want everyone using bitcoin on a daily basis whether they know it or not, where bitcoin is as ubiquitous and invisible as the internet itself. The gap between where the technology is today and where it needs to be to achieve this goal is still wide, but with the Abra mobile wallet we’re hoping to help incrementally close the gap as more people begin to use Abra for p2p mobile payments. Bitcoiners can now send bitcoin to pay people without having to explain bitcoin: just ask the recipient to send a payment request using the Abra wallet, and the conversion from bitcoin to fiat will happen on-the-fly. After the transaction is sent, the money will show up in the recipient’s wallet as their local currency. They won’t even know the sender sent them bitcoin. Recipients can then cash out their wallet balance to their bank account in any of our supported countries or find an Abra Teller nearby if they need or prefer to withdraw physical cash. This is what bitcoin for the mainstream looks like: friendly, familiar, convenient. The transaction works the same in the reverse: if a recipient needs or prefers to receive a payment in bitcoin, but the sender prefers to deal in fiat currency, the sender can add money to their Abra wallet using their bank account or a local Abra Teller and then send their fiat currency directly to the recipient’s bitcoin address, even if the recipient does not have an Abra wallet. Want to get your friends and family to use bitcoin without them even knowing it? If they are located in a country where we have bank integrations, or a city with Abra Tellers, ask them to try Abra next time you need to send money to them and let us know how it goes!Your little brother or sister might be reading the same book as LeBron James is right now. The Cleveland Cavaliers star has a tradition of reading to tune out distractions during the playoffs, and this season, he told TNT’s Rachel Nichols that he’s digging into the “Divergent” trilogy by Veronica Roth. The sci-fi series is written at a middle school reading level but has gained popularity since getting a movie deal — the first installment was released in March 2014. This isn’t James’ first journey into the world of young adult fiction, either. James got through the 2011-12 NBA playoffs with the Miami Heat by reading “The Hunger Games” trilogy. James told Oprah Winfrey after the Heat were crowned NBA champions that year that he likes to read as a way to take a break from basketball. “I was reading not only to do something different but also to take my mind off the game,” James said. “During the postseason, everything is about the games. Everything is about the matchup and the team that you’re playing and the city that you’re in. I needed some moments where I could just get a different perspective.” James isn’t just reading young adult literature, however. Per SI.com, James enjoys biographies and non-fiction, too. Thumbnail photo via David Richard/USA TODAY Sports ImagesCatherine Engelbrecht appeared before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Thursday bearing testimony that the IRS and other government agencies targeted her non-profit organization because it was a conservative group. Testifying with Ms. Engelbrecht was Becky Gerritson whose Tea Party group was also targeted. Two lawyers were present representing the women, Cleta Mitchell and American Center for Law and Justice's Jay Sekulow. Ms. Engelbrecht runs a small business with her husband manufacturing small machine parts. They have owned and operated Engelbrecht Manufacturing for almost 20 years. Ms. Engelbrecht testified that during that entire 20 year span, the business was never audited or investigated and never dealt with any government agency outside of filing regular annual tax returns. That all changed once she decided to start a non-profit organization and file for tax-exempt status. After volunteering at a Texas voting center during the 2009 presidential election, Ms. Engelbrecht says she witnessed "fundamental procedural problems" which roused a concern over the voting process. Because of this, she founded True the Vote, "a non-profit election integrity organization." The goal of the group is to help "ensure that every American voter has an opportunity to participate in elections that are free and fair." After filing IRS tax-exempt forms 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) for True the Vote in 2010, a host of government agencies suddenly flooded her home and business including the IRS, ATF, OSHA and the FBI. This amounted to 15 visits from these four agencies over a two year time period. Is it coincidence that during almost 20 years of business the Engelbrechts were never audited or investigated by the IRS but after filing for tax-exempt status for a non-profit conservative group were audited and investigated 15 times? That is what the Oversight Committee aims to find out. The following is part of what the Committee heard in Ms. Engelbrecht's own words from her testimony: Since that filing in 2010, my private businesses, my nonprofit organizations, and family have been
thirty years worth of additional climate research at his disposal, yet he’s making the same terrible decisions. With that, here is a rundown of a few cutting edge industries that can expect to take a hit from the Trump presidency: Stem Cell Research Obama made it a priority when he entered office in 2008 to repeal Bush’s restrictions on funding for stem cell research. A reinstatement of those restrictions from the Trump administration would not come as a surprise as he has surrounded himself with tireless pro-life advocates. Former Republican Representative Tom Price has been appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Price voted multiple times as congressmen to restrict stem cell research, saying “Human embryos are the most vulnerable forms of life, yet the Obama administration is creating taxpayer-funded incentives for their destruction.” It should be no secret by this point that Mike Pence is a prudish and arrogant pro-life blowhard, who attacked the women of Indiana without rest; he also voted no to expanding stem cell research in 2007. Competition includes (descending order by industry size): 1) Singapore 2 )Italy 3) USA 4) Japan 5) Israel 6) Germany *It should be noted that the Bush policy did not restrict state or private funding sources. Renewable Energy The oil and gas industry has penetrated the Trump administration at levels they couldn’t dream of. Trump himself is a climate change skeptic (to say the least), and his pick to head the EPA once sued the EPA. He’s being handed a healthy and vibrant industry by Obama, which successfully lowered national carbon emissions while the economy as a whole simultaneously expanded. China recently said that they plan to invest $360 billion in the renewable energy industry through 2020, an effort the country’s National Energy Administration predicts will create 13 million jobs. Countries leading the charge: 1) Sweden 2) Costa Rica 3) Nicaragua 4) Scotland 5) Germany 6) Uruguay 7) Denmark 8) China 9) Morocco 10) United States Biotechnology As the election neared, it appeared that Donald Trump would be the candidate Biotech companies would find an ally in. Hillary Clinton has long been a proponent of wider healthcare access, which includes lower drug prices. Trump, on the other hand, could deliver drastic tax incentives and less scrupulous oversight of drug prices to an industry with incomprehensible overhead. The second guessing began in early January, though, when Trump said in a press conference that the industry was getting away with “murder”, speaking of sky rocketing drug prices that have stolen headlines since the Epipen controversy last year. Trump’s now defunct executive order targeting immigration also had a negative impact on the biotech industry. According to the Washington Post, 52 percent of biotech researchers are foreign born. Industry executives wrote a collective letter to the president in early February expressing how dismayed they were by the policy and warning of the possible damage the order would inflict on their industry. Simply put, a tarnished U.S. global image threatens to damage the country’s appeal to foreign talent, which the industry relies on. Global leaders in biotech (in descending order by R&D expenditures): United States France Switzerland South Korea Japan Germany Denmark Sidebar If this has you feeling at all pessimistic about America’s pursuit of the economy’s new frontiers, just watch this video of the Space X rocket descending from fucking SPACE Sunday and landing smack dab in the middle of a concrete slab with more grace than a Ray Allen jumper. Now that’s what I call America!People have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their private digital communications such as email, and therefore the Fourth Amendment protects those communications. It's a simple extension of the Supreme Court’s seminal 1967 ruling in Katz v. United States that the Fourth Amendment protected a telephone conversation held in a closed phone booth. But in a brief recently filed in a criminal terrorism case arising from surveillance of a United States citizen, the government needs only a few sentences to argue this basic protection doesn’t apply, with potentially dramatic consequences for the rest of us. United States v. Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud is a Somalia-born naturalized U.S. citizen who was convicted in 2012 of plotting to detonate a car bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon. Shortly after he was arrested, he was given notice by the government that it had used evidence obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) against him. But it wasn’t until after Mohamud was convicted and just a few weeks before he was to be sentenced that the government belatedly gave him notice for the first time that it had also used evidence derived under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA). The government continues to withhold the details of the FAA surveillance, forcing Mohamud (and other defendants receiving delayed FAA notice) to raise generalized challenges to the constitutionality of the FAA based only on what is publicly known about Section 702 surveillance. Mohamud did exactly that in April, raising several legal challenges to the FAA and arguing he should receive a new trial. The Government’s “Talking to a Foreigner” Exception to the Fourth Amendment While there’s a lot unknown about Section 702 surveillance, we do know it authorizes the targeting of foreigners even when this “targeting” results in the “incidental” collection of constitutionally protected Americans’ communications. As a result, the government can “acquire” the contents of Americans’ e-mails, VOIP calls, chat sessions, and more when they communicate with people outside the US. In its recently filed response to Mohamud’s motion to suppress and for new trial, the government concedes for the sake of argument that an American whose communications are “incidentally” collected as part of Section 702 surveillance has “constitutional interests at stake.” So far so good; these constitutional interests are in fact at the core of what the Supreme Court describes as the Fourth Amendment’s protection of “the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions by governmental officials.” But then the government dismisses this fundamental protection with one staggeringly broad passage: The Supreme Court has long held that when one person voluntarily discloses information to another, the first person loses any cognizable interest under the Fourth Amendment in what the second person does with the information.... For Fourth Amendment purposes, the same principle applies whether the recipient intentionally makes the information public or stores it in a place subject to a government search. Thus, once a non-U.S. person located outside the United States receives information, the sender loses any cognizable Fourth Amendment rights with respect to that information. That is true even if the sender is a U.S. person protected by the Fourth Amendment, because he assumes the risk that the foreign recipient will give the information to others, leave the information freely accessible to others, or that the U.S. government (or a foreign government) will obtain the information. It is true that individuals “assume the risk” that the people they communicate with will turn over a recording to the government. So, for example, in the cases the government cites in the passage above, United States v. White and Hoffa v. United States, the Supreme Court found there is no Fourth Amendment violation if you have a private conversation with someone who happens to be a government informant and repeats what you said to the government or even surreptitiously records it. In those instances, individuals’ “misplaced confidence” that people they are communicating with won’t divulge their secrets is not enough to create a Fourth Amendment interest. But the government stretches these cases far beyond their limits, arguing that its own incidental collection of an American’s communications while targeting a foreigner is the same as having that person repeat what the American said to the government directly, even though it is the government that is eavesdropping on the conversation. In essence, when you communicate with someone whose communications are being targeted under the FAA, you have no Fourth Amendment rights. Under this reasoning, any time you send an email to someone in another country, you “assume the risk” that your intended recipient may be a foreigner and that the government can obtain the contents of the email without a warrant. While it’s true you run the risk that your communications could be intercepted by the government if they’re wiretapping the person you’re speaking with, the government can only do that aggressive type of surveillance with prior approval from a judge after satisfying a number of stringent constitutional and statutory requirements in order to listen in. But the FAA contains none of these privacy safeguards. The Non-Existent Fourth Amendment Remarkably, the government goes even further—and highlights the real problem—in a later footnote: Moreover, any expectation of privacy of defendant in his electronic communications with a non-U.S. person overseas is also diminished by the prospect that his foreign correspondent could be a target for surveillance by foreign governments or private entities[.] So not only do you have no privacy in a conversation because the US may be listening in under Section 702, you’re also on notice that since the foreigner you’re talking to may be under surveillance by some other country, your expectation of privacy in your conversation is further “diminished.” The implication of the government’s argument is that you have no Fourth Amendment protection in anything that could potentially be overheard by someone—either as the target of the United States under the FAA, or some other foreign country—or in information stored “in a place subject to a government search.” Under this logic, the Fourth Amendment is quite simply meaningless. That’s because nearly everything is subject to a government search: from your electronic communications to your home to your physical body. The issue is not whether the government can search these areas but how they are able to do so. Traditionally the Fourth Amendment demands the government obtain a search warrant, demonstrating to a neutral and detached magistrate that there is probable cause to do a narrow, particular search to find evidence of a crime or other contraband. If Fourth Amendment protections are gone the minute something is placed in an area accessible to any government, then there will be no need to obtain warrants or wiretap orders or any other judicial permission. The fact that something could be searched somewhere at sometime for some reason means that it is always fair game for the government. That ignores not only the traditional limitations of the government’s authority to search—generally with a probable cause warrant with limited exceptions—but the increasingly digital world we live in where our personal documents and communications are stored online in servers owned by others. The hearing on Mohamud’s motion is June 4 in Portland, Oregon. We hope the court recognizes the dangerous breadth of this line of argument and rejects it.Overland Park First City to Block Google Fiber quote: Judging from story comments, locals quickly started to wonder if some regional incumbent gamesmanship might be afoot (certainly not outside the modus operandi of local incumbents Time Warner Cable and AT&T, who have a quote: The Council worked through a number of issues Monday night and the only issue left has to do with indemnification, that is, to hold Google harmless for any losses related to third party claims and lawsuits against Google for violating certain safety codes, breaching warranties, representations, as well as other provisions of the agreements and certain other matters. In the legal opinion of staff and outside counsel, such indemnification without any conditional language opens the City to significant financial risk. While the Mayor goes on to suggest that Google Fiber will proceed in Overland Park when this language is changed, Google Fiber has been embraced with open arms in Kansas City, to the point where regions have been willing to sign sweetheart deals where Google gets to pick the neighborhoods they want or just walk away from the project whenever they want. Not so in Kansas's second-largest city Overland Park, where the Kansas City Star points out that Google's entry there has hit a roadblock over "liability concerns":Judging from story comments, locals quickly started to wonder if some regional incumbent gamesmanship might be afoot (certainly not outside the modus operandi of local incumbents Time Warner Cable and AT&T, who have a long long history when it comes to under-handed attacks on competitive threats). An e-mail being sent by the Overland Park Mayor's Office however claims it's indemnification issues holding up the deal:While the Mayor goes on to suggest that Google Fiber will proceed in Overland Park when this language is changed, other city council meeting attendees seemed to get the impression Google wouldn't budge on the issue, potentially resulting in Google taking their $70 symmetrical 1 Gbps connections elsewhere. While cities should have the right to negotiate a good deal, Overland Park's in a tough negotiations position given the thousands of cities waiting in the wings eager to strike any deal whatsoever. News Jump Tuesday Morning Links Monday Morning Links TGI Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links Friday Morning Links Thursday Morning Links - Valentines Edition Wednesday Morning Links Tuesday Morning Links ---------------------- this week last week most discussedSome changes were made to Battlefield 1 grenade resupplies in the recently-released They Shall Not Pass expansion that were, as DICE put it in this post on Reddit, "quite controversial." But don't expect them to go away. The changes are actually just a small part of "a complete rework to the resupply mechanics" that the developer refers to as "Ammo 2.0," which is intended in the big picture to increase the usefulness of the Support class on the battlefield. "The core of Ammo 2.0 is a shift from ammo gadgets being the only way to resupply, to a cooldown based system with ammo gadgets modifying cooldowns," DICE explained. "The cooldown based resupply shifts the benefit of the ammo box from long term to short term. With the cooldown giving small amounts of ammo over the long term, we can reduce the starting ammo of many gadgets, making having ammo most important during a fight instead of after." There are three main goals for the new system: To ensure that ammo gadgets are always helpful and will increase the capabilities of other gadgets, even right after they've spawned; to ensure that other gadgets don't become completely useless once they run out of ammo; and to ensure that resupplies are a more attractive option than simply respawning with a full ammo loadout, while at the same time preventing their overuse. "We want Support to multiply the effectiveness of other classes. For example, two Assaults supported with ammo should be better at taking out tanks than three Assaults without Support. Bringing a proper squad composition with complementary roles should be stronger than brute force stacking a single class," DICE wrote. DICE said that a "tuning pass on grenade timers and ammo box cooldown speedup" is next on the list for the Community Test Environment. It will also be experimenting with things like using suppression to hinder resupply, expanding Ammo 2.0 support to other gadgets, adding Ammo Pouch support, testing persistent cooldowns and ammo overcharge, and tweaks to smoke grenades. One immediate effect of the new system is a small but significant reduction in grenade spam: Grenade throws per second, and grenade kills per minute, have gone down by seven percent across all base game maps since They Shall Not Pass was released. And DICE said in a follow-up post that timers for most grenade types will be going up even further. Frag grenades, for instance, will see their timers increased from 36 seconds to 49 seconds. But it also emphasized that at this point, everything is still very much a work in progress. "Of course we are open to your feedback and suggestions, and would love to have a constructive discussion around Ammo 2.0 and the vision for it," DICE wrote. "Nothing is set in stone, and this is a great opportunity to influence the direction of the game."Apple has quietly added a server-side API to CloudKit, following an announcement on the developer news blog. This will enable developers to add a lot of functionality to apps powered by CloudKit, enabling developers to interact with the iCloud CloudKit database outside of user interaction with iOS, Mac or web apps. The web service API enables developers to run independent code on servers that can add, delete and modify records in the CloudKit stack. Until now, interaction with CloudKit has been limited to the APIs Apple provided in apps. Although this was useful, it lacked the options for more advanced use — most modern apps rely on servers to perform tasks whilst users are away. With the addition of the web API, developers can create many more types of applications using CloudKit as the backend. For instance, an RSS reader app can now add new feed items to the CloudKit stack from the server. Before, this action could only occur when a user opened a CloudKit-powered app, which was essentially impractical and meant developers had to use other tools. Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial Expect CloudKit adoption to rise with this announcement. The server capabilities dramatically increase the chance that a developer can use CloudKit for their new app where they wouldn’t have been able to before, as so many modern apps rely on some kind of persistent server component. The lack of native SDKs for non-Apple platforms may continue to limit uptake, however. Parse, a similar cloud framework, has recently announced it will shut down next year. With the inclusion of a server side request endpoint, CloudKit is now positioned to fully replace Parse as a cloud database engine. The timing of the CloudKit announcement is probably coincidental, but it serves to attract ex-Parse users who are now actively looking for a new platform to build on. Developers can find more information on adopting the new CloudKit features here. For users, expect to see more capable iOS and Mac apps built on top of CloudKit in the future.As the last person stepped out of the classroom, I approached my teacher to express something that was weighing on my mind. She was skimming through her file folders but paused to say, “If you don’t know what you want to do as an adult, just look at problems in the world and think about how you want to fix them.” She detailed this counsel effortlessly and inspiration ran right through me. It was just what I needed at a confusing point in time. My mom had been diagnosed with advanced cancer just days before on my dad’s birthday, college applications were looming and I was restless about what was to come after high school. University felt like a distant dream, uncertain and implausible. Yet those words stayed with me. Months later, recalling her guidance, I saw what I wanted to change. I stopped watching television years ago. It was not a decision that was consciously made. Reading newspapers, books and online articles required more time and attention. Television became a faded memory. Based on the responses of others when I told them about this new routine, one would think that I told them that I had gone Amish, given up showering and decided to raise barns. There is absolutely no temptation to tune into a television set, despite my preoccupation with current events. Presently, cable news stirs an uneasiness within me as media in this country has successfully capitalized on various national anxieties. Election coverage of the 2016 race was an apotheosis of this phenomenon. It is painful that these fears were absolutely warranted. The current administration is insulating itself from environmental protection efforts, gender identity issues, and campaign finance reform among other items that I deeply care about. Major issues go largely ignored by today’s media. Childhood poverty, gender identity discrimination, mass incarceration, environmental destruction, domestic terrorism and other matters that are directly endangering lives are ignored. There are students on our campus that face immediate threats, from food insecurity to immigration concerns, but one will likely not learn about these issues from watching a cable news program,, even though they affect a countless number of students across college campuses nationwide. Bringing light to such issues feels necessary. Since that day in class, I determined that if media is the field I wanted to prepare for and enter, this is the change that I wanted to see realized in the future. That class will forever stay with me, not solely because it shaped my professional direction, but because it also incited an investigative spirit within. Exploration of works by authors such as Ronald Takaki and Howard Zinn was an initiation. Their novels explicitly discuss aspects of American history that few give much regard to. Coping with the notions that American soldiers who killed hundreds at Wounded Knee were awarded medals, that our government interned more than 100,000 people during the Second World War, the mistreatment of Native Americans and other atrocities kindled a demand for truth-telling. We exist in a digital age that has gifted the average person with access to more information than at any other point in history. We have the potential to become the most informed populace. Not only is there endless opportunity to explore any given topic, learning the experiences of others has never been easier. Such a powerful implication must not be ignored. All perspectives and dimensions are important to acknowledge. There is much value, from my experience, in conferring with people who hold beliefs that directly oppose my own. Here in Berkeley, we seem to exist within a bedrock of progressivism that often alienates students that are anywhere right of center. Engaging with people on both sides has been helpful in developing my own perspective and in constructing a medium of understanding with people that I would constantly criticize in the past. After looking outside my personal circle of friends who hold similar views, I was confronted with an interesting surprise — I became more empathetic.. Although I am constantly immersing myself in disparate world views and continually fostering an inner hunger for information, I will never claim to know everything, not even close. My apprehension with news programming in its present state is an impediment to learning more, admittedly. Television news is an icy pool that I have recently tried to step back into, toes first of course. If media is something that I want to change and if I want to utilize it as a medium that highlights issues that are rarely discussed, I will have to familiarize myself with it much more. With this column, I hope to discuss issues that rarely receive coverage in mainstream media and contribute to the national discussion. Karina Pauletti writes the Thursday column on media discourse. Contact her at Contact them at [email protected].Kim Richards has taken full responsibility for her recent arrest at the Beverly Hills Hotel, admitting it wouldn’t have happened if she had not been drinking. But RadarOnline.com has learned that her infamous ex-boyfriend, Ken Blumenfeld is blaming her family, including sister Kyle Richards, for her recent meltdown. “I think her family is a huge portion of all her problems,” Blumenfeld told Radar in an exclusive interview. “It’s overwhelming and horrific to be around—the out of control criticism.” As Radar previously reported, Blumenfeld, 51, was arrested in 2009 for DUI, and Kyle never let him forget it. PHOTOS: 9021-OMG! Kim Richards’ 16 Wildest Secrets & Scandals Kyle said on national TV in 2012 that she was “never a fan” of Blumenfeld and was glad that he and Kim — then in rehab — had broken up. “The things they did to me… they are the kind of people it’s judgment of every little single thing,” he said. “It’s the worst possible scenario [for Kim]. “I [hope] she moves forward, but I doubt it with all the problems with her family that are imposed on her.” PHOTOS: 9021-Oh No They Didn’t! 25 Scandals and Controversies ‘The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills’ Would Rather You Forget “The time I spent in the public eye, it was not fun,” he added. “It was a constant battle with negative press about me and all of it was lies.” Blumenfeld, who is now engaged, said that he and Kim lost touch recently after calling it quits three years ago. When he heard she had been arrested at the Beverly Hills Hotel last week for public intoxication, however, he said he was “not surprised. She has some personal issues.” PHOTOS: Top Earning Real Housewives “I wish her well and hope she’s happy and healthy and moving forward in a positive way,” Blumenfeld said. “But I’m not in a position to help with that travel forward because I’ve moved on with my life.” As Radar reported, Kim and Kyle have not spoken for weeks. Do you think their feud contributed to her relapse? Let us know in the comments!For the second consecutive season, Miami Dolphins left tackle Jake Long will end his season on injured reserve. The team confirmed the move on Tuesday. It was reported Monday by NFL.com's Jeff Darlington that the Dolphins feared Long had suffered torn triceps in Sunday's 23-16 loss to the New England Patriots. Long landed on IR late last season with a torn biceps muscle. The injury concludes perhaps the worst season of Long's career. According to ProFootballFocus.com, Long is ranked 47th out 75 tackles this season. By comparison, Long was ranked 21st in 2011, second in 2010 and second again in 2009. The Dolphins now have a very interesting decision on their hands. Long's rookie deal expires at the end of the season and he could become a free agent. It would cost the Dolphins $15 million to retain Long with the franchise tag, an expensive move for a player who might be in decline. Then again, Long plays a premium position, is still just 27 and is sure to attract plenty of attention if he reaches free agency. The Dolphins might do well to lock up the four-time Pro Bowler and give themselves another season to evaluate a potentially longer investment. Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.Line-up / Leon Switch, Toast MC, Sparxy, Mesck, Deafblind, I.N.I, Max Mischief Saturday June 14th, Subverse-NYC presents: Leon Switch - http://bit.ly/1pqNwR3 (Chestplate / T.U.F, UK) Toast MC - http://on.fb.me/1i93ZEC (Uprise Audio / T.U.F, UK) Mesck - http://bit.ly/XQW2VA (Chestplate / Deceast, LA) Sparxy - http://bit.ly/1i2aC71 (Bacon Dubs / Vulcan Audio, UK) Deafblind - http://bit.ly/1iDVId1 (Bacon Dubs / Soul Step, TX) I.N.I - http://bit.ly/19ua33F (Subverse / Rood.FM, BK) Max Mischief - http://bit.ly/15wXnJy (Subverse / Rood.FM, NYC) The Meadow Room @ The Paper Box 17 Meadow St. Brooklyn, NYC 21+ \| 9pm - 5am Sound by subBASS SoundSystem, featuring Labhorn subs, Seaton Submersive subs, and 4 point fill surrounding the floor. Come join us for a night of deep bass music at The Meadow Room @ The Paper Box, an intimate Brooklyn space with less than 200 person capacity and an open air backyard. Event page - https://www.facebook.com/events/1446407522254930/South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn is set to return to where it all began as he makes his bid for a return to international cricket. Steyn has announced he has signed with South African domestic side Titans for the 2017-18 summer, the team where he began his professional career in 2003, after a seven-year stint with the Cape Cobras. Quick single: Thunder target de Villiers for BBL The 34-year-old has been sidelined since suffering a shoulder injury during the Proteas tour of Australia last summer, but he is nearing fitness and eyeing a return to the top level during South Africa’s busy home summer, which will feature series against Bangladesh, India and Australia. "It was an easy decision for me," Steyn said. "The luxury of playing for South Africa is that you get to nominate which franchise you want to play for. "The Titans laid down the platform for where I am now. I think the most important thing that I learnt at the Titans were the basics and it is something I still go back to every time I play international cricket. “It was a great place to start playing cricket and it's going to be a great place to go back to." Neither Steyn nor Cricket South Africa have confirmed when the spearhead will be fit for a return to the Test arena, but Proteas fans will be hoping to see him return for next month’s showdown with Bangladesh, which begins on September 28. But the paceman did confirm on Friday that he was just "probably two or three weeks away" from playing his first game. "Once I walk into the team my job will be to lead the attack; bowl fast and try and take wickets," Steyn told reporters. It came after Steyn posted a photo of himself in Test whites on Thursday and declared: “The wait is over”. The wait is over. 👊🏼 A post shared by 🔘 (@dalesteyn) on Aug 17, 2017 at 2:34am PDT Steyn currently sits second on South Africa’s all-time wicket takers list with 417 wickets, just four behind Shaun Pollock. At the Titans he’ll play under coach and former teammate Mark Boucher, who hopes to help Steyn’s return to the Test arena. "The experience he'll bring to the side will provide the youngsters the opportunity to learn from him," Boucher said. "I want to get the best out of him, not only for himself but if Dale is playing good cricket then South African cricket is in good a position. “If we can give him an opportunity to show case his skill and hopefully try work his way back into the Protea side then that will be great." Another Proteas star whose Test future is up in the air is AB de Villiers, who is currently weighing up his future in Test cricket ahead of a meeting with Cricket South Africa this month where the two parties will make a final decision on the star’s participation across all formats at international level in the coming years.In what can only be described as the perfect start for the OLPC SF Community Summit 2010 that is taking place this weekend San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday declared October 23, 2010 "One Laptop per Child Day". Needless to say this is an outstanding recognition of the OLPC San Francisco community and the great work its many members and contributors have made over the past three years. Congratulations! OLPC SF Community Summit 2010 The Community Summit began with what looks like a very nice reception on Friday evening where Mayor Gavin Newsom's declaration was publicly announced and handed over to SFSU's Sameer Verma. Photos of the event are available thanks to OLPC Learning Club DC's Mike Lee who is sure to post plenty more impressions over the next 48 hours on his Flickr account. If you're like me and can't attend the event in person then I'd also suggest following Mike Lee, Sameer Verma, SJ Klein, Tabitha Roder, Pablo Flores, and @olpcsf on Twitter to get some glimpse of what's going on there. Please also note that at least two of Sunday's panels (Deployment Success Stories at 11:30AM and Are we finally Learning Learning after 3 years? at 1:45PM) are also scheduled to be streamed via ustream.tv. More information about remote participation can be found on this page. Update: Turns out the best Twitter accounts so far to follow the action from afar are Timothy Falconer and @waveplace (the second one being updated by Waveplace's Beth Santos).Story highlights GOP senators have been discussing their options on how to handle Roy Moore Moore is the Republican candidate for a US Senate seat from Alabama Washington (CNN) Republican leaders won't commit to giving Roy Moore a seat on any Senate committee if he wins Tuesday's race for the Alabama seat, a highly unusual move showcasing internal tensions between the controversial candidate and his prospective colleagues. In an interview with CNN, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not say if the GOP conference would welcome him into its weekly policy lunches or give him committee assignments. "That's a good conversation for sometime after tomorrow," McConnell said in the Capitol. Other top Republicans also punted when asked whether Moore would be named to any committee -- a remarkably unusual move given that most senators tend to serve on four to five panels each. "None of that has been discussed or decided," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas. Read MoreIntroduction While much criticism has been lobbed at the federal system for failing to adequately identify who is spending money to influence campaigns, 35 states have independent spending disclosure laws that are less stringent than federal election law. In fact, in 30 states it’s impossible to total how much money outside groups are spending on campaigns, information that is mostly available when it comes to federal contests. That’s according to a new 50-state analysis by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, which graded the states on disclosure requirements for super PACs, nonprofits and other outside spending groups. Fifteen states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin — received an “A” grade, meaning the states’ laws were at least as robust as federal independent spending requirements. New Jersey and Virginia, states where residents will be casting votes for governor and state legislature this year, were among 26 states that received a failing grade. The others were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming. States were graded on a 100-point scale, based on how much information is provided to the public about non-candidate organizations that buy ads, often negative and misleading, just before an election. Six states — Alabama, Indiana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota and South Carolina — didn’t garner a single point in the survey. Independent super PACs and nonprofits intent on influencing campaigns proliferated in the wake of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, adding about $1 billion in spending in federal races in the 2012 election cycle. Report Card The National Institute on Money In State Politics graded each state by the strength of their independent spending disclosure laws through April 2013. It looked at: Does the state require reporting of independent expenditures, political spending that urges voters to support or oppose a candidate but is not coordinated with the campaign? Does the state require reporting of the target, the identity of the candidate who is the subject of the independent spending? Does the state require reporting of position, whether the spending supports or opposes the target How does the state monitor “electioneering communications” — advertising that airs close to an election that names a candidate but does not urge viewers to vote for or against the candidate? SCALE A=100-90 B=89-80 C=79-70 D=69-60 F=59 or less. How did your state score? Methodology: To calculate each state’s score, the National Institute on Money in State Politics awards points for “independent expenditures” (IEs) and “electioneering communications” (ECs). Thirty points is awarded when IEs are required to be disclosed. Ten points are awarded for identification of the targets of the spending and 10 points for whether the sponsors support or oppose the target. The same scoring pattern applies to ECs. Partial credit is given when disclosure is required in only some instances or only by certain types of filers. At the state level, lavish spending by outside groups often faces weaker disclosure rules than federal contests and receives far less media attention. The result is a mishmash of rules, with some states scrambling to pass legislation in the wake of the high court decision while others show little interest in enacting any changes. In South Carolina, for example, outside groups paid for ads attacking several state and local politicians in 2012 but were not required to report the spending. Two federal court decisions have left the state without “any rules” related to outside groups’ spending, according to Cathy L. Hazelwood, deputy director of the state Ethics Commission. State Sen. Wes Hayes, a Republican from Rock Hill, estimates that an anonymous group called Conservative GOP PAC, which despite its name has no apparent affiliation with the state’s Republican party, spent at least $100,000 on campaign fliers in an unsuccessful effort to unseat him. He concedes that’s just a guess. “I’ll never know the amount, just like I’ll never know who spent it,” Hayes says. Efforts to contact Conservative GOP PAC were unsuccessful, as the group has no office, no phone number, no website, did not file incorporation records with the state and no individuals have claimed membership in the organization. Non-candidate, independent spending on elections can be broken into two general categories: “independent expenditures” and “electioneering.” With independent expenditures, potential voters are asked to back or oppose a candidate. With electioneering, a candidate is named, but there’s no explicit request for support or opposition. In 25 of 50 states, electioneering advertisements are not required to be reported, according to the analysis by the National Institute. The term “electioneering communications” came to be with the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The federal law requires such expenditures be reported, but it applies only to television and radio ads that air shortly before an election. In a few states, however, the definition of electioneering communications is broader than at the federal level, and may include non-broadcast expenditures like direct mail and print advertising. Independent expenditures refer to all expenditures used to support or oppose a candidate, including non-advertising costs like polling and yard signs. Points were withheld in the survey based on the level of disclosure and whether disclosure forms differentiate between independent spending and other types of campaign expenditures. While North Dakota scored a zero, the state passed legislation this year that will beef up disclosure requirements for outside groups once the law goes into effect August 1. The National Institute’s rankings focus solely on spending and not on donors to the groups that are doing the spending. Increasingly, “social welfare” nonprofits — currently at the center of a scandal involving the IRS — and trade associations are being used to hide donors’ identities in both federal and state races. In New Mexico, outside political action groups spent heavily on races for the state Legislature, races that typically attract fewer than 20,000 voters. Once sleepy contests have become bruising battles fought through statewide television ads, said state Sen. Peter Wirth, a Democrat from Santa Fe. He’s pushed a bill requiring greater disclosure by outside groups through the Senate three times (twice with unanimous approval) only to see it die in the state House after frenetic lobbying by “very powerful special interests” from both parties, he says. “It’s bipartisan support in the open, and then behind the scenes it’s full-on bipartisan opposition,” Wirth says. But several states have enacted disclosure requirements that go beyond federal requirements. In Maryland, corporations are required to alert shareholders about a company’s independent political spending; A “stand by your ad” provision in a 2010 Massachusetts law requires that in corporate-funded ads, the CEO appear in the spot; Al
compiled (effectively, when it was defined) and the same bytecode is used with different types of arguments. The Python compiler knows relatively little about the effect the bytecode will have. It's up to the interpreter to determine the type of the object that BINARY_MODULO is operating on and do the right thing for that type. This is why Python is described as dynamically typed: you don't know the types of the arguments to this function until you actually run it. By contrast, in a language that's statically typed, the programmer tells the compiler up front what type the arguments will be (or the compiler figures them out for itself). The compiler's ignorance is one of the challenges to optimizing Python or analyzing it statically—just looking at the bytecode, without actually running the code, you don't know what each instruction will do! In fact, you could define a class that implements the __mod__ method, and Python would invoke that method if you use % on your objects. So BINARY_MODULO could run any code at all! Just looking at the following code, the first calculation of a % b seems wasteful. def mod(a,b): a % b return a %b Unfortunately, a static analysis of this code—the kind of you can do without running it—can't be certain that the first a % b really does nothing. Calling __mod__ with % might write to a file, or interact with another part of your program, or do literally anything else that's possible in Python. It's hard to optimize a function when you don't know what it does! In Russell Power and Alex Rubinsteyn's great paper "How fast can we make interpreted Python?", they note, "In the general absence of type information, each instruction must be treated as INVOKE_ARBITRARY_METHOD." Conclusion Byterun is a compact Python interpreter that's easier to understand than CPython. Byterun replicates CPython's primary structural details: a stack-based interpreter operating on instruction sets called bytecode. It steps or jumps through these instructions, pushing to and popping from a stack of data. The interpreter creates, destroys, and jumps between frames as it calls into and returns from functions and generators. Byterun shares the real interpreter's limitations, too: because Python uses dynamic typing, the interpreter must work hard at run time to determine the correct behavior of a program. I encourage you to disassemble your own programs and to run them using Byterun. You'll quickly run into instructions that this shorter version of Byterun doesn't implement. The full implementation can be found at https://github.com/nedbat/byterun—or, by carefully reading the real CPython interpreter's ceval.c, you can implement it yourself! Acknowledgements Thanks to Ned Batchelder for originating this project and guiding my contributions, Michael Arntzenius for his help debugging the code and editing the prose, Leta Montopoli for her edits, and the entire Recurse Center community for their support and interest. Any errors are my own.You can find a Flickr account for just about anything, from boudoir photoshoots, to lavish sneaker collections. And as it turns out, there's also a gallery run by the US Food and Drug Administration that posts nothing but photos of things that might kill you. Spotted by Popular Science, the account catalogs a portion of (but not all) products that have been recalled by the FDA. That runs the gamut from waffles to male performance enhancement drugs, all of which you can see in photo form. Each shot also comes with information of when the recall was issued, and a link to the FDA's release. The account is, by no means, a substitution for proper recall reports from the FDA, which are issued as soon as safety problems are made public. Those recalls and safety alerts also often come with photos, making this more of an unusual way to explore the world of dangerous products. The FDA kept a similar album going last year, which posted 830 photos of recalled products.In many families, the mother-in-law is jokingly referred to as the “monster-in-law.” Yet, the strain that parents-in-law can place on a couple is no matter. It can, in fact, ultimately destroy a relationship. According to website Netmums, one in four daughters-in-law (DIL) despise their mother-in-law (MIL), finding her “controlling.” The site’s poll of about 2,000 women found that the DILs’ resentment stemmed largely from MILs thinking that they are the ultimate authority on parenting. A classic example is an MIL undermining a DIL in front of her husband and children. Other complaints included being made to feel not good enough for their partner, and over a third of respondents described their MIL as “judgmental” or “interfering.” Not surprisingly, nearly a quarter of respondents described their relationship with their MIL as “bad” or “terrible.” In some cases, the stress of the in-law situation led to families moving away or even to marital collapse. Needless to say, the MIL/DIL relationship is most for the DIL. If your own situation is causing you anguish, how to manage your feelings and the situation is critical in taking care of your well-being and ultimately, your family’s. 1. First, sit with the self. Before you can take on your MIL, you need to give yourself a time-out (probably more than one) to evaluate the situation and develop a game plan that’s right for you. Find a quiet space free of distractions where you can note everything that has taken place to date. Allow yourself to process the list, mulling and fuming over it — getting all your feelings out — until you can revisit it with a calmer frame of mind. This will enable you to constructively take on the situation, coming from a more rational space when moving forward. 2. Consider where your MIL is coming from. With or without or sympathy, try to see your MIL’s side, and how her behavior may be a symptom of larger issues she has with herself and her relationship with your spouse — and not you. In some cases, a mother-in-law's hostility may be an act of frustration over being disconnected from him. If this is the case, this is something that your husband needs to work on with his mother. While it's challenging, try to be objective as you evaluate the situation. Honestly ask yourself if she has a valid opinion. Consider if her actions and words are coming from a place of love, and if this needs to be acknowledged. Consider, too, if she’s struggling with feelings of having been dethroned in her family, and if there are ways you can make her feel important and needed in her own way. 3. Ask yourself what role you’re playing in the situation. There are situations in which a person has done nothing to cause the relationship with in-laws to become strained. Yet there are also situations in which the DIL is doing, or not doing, something that is causing the in-laws to treat her the way they are, warranted or not. Think back to how you’ve engaged your in-laws, and ask yourself honestly if a third party could find fault with that. Are you a total victim in this scenario, or do you do or say things to instigate a negative response? If so, consider how you can change the way you’re handling the situation or reacting to it, so as not to invite any antagonism. 4. Don’t have any expectations. We can all learn from the Buddhist that expectations lead to suffering. Don’t allow yourself to suffer any more: Let go of expectations around how things "should" be when it comes to family. Don’t want what you can’t have. Instead, be realistic about the situation, including any nonnegotiable circumstances. If you’re not going to be close, given what has transpired, maybe that’s for the better. Instead of trying to live out some Hallmark illusion, contemplate how you can work with the way things are. For example, is a coolish relationship possible? 5. Be okay with not having their approval. You don’t need anyone’s approval to live your life the way you want. Don’t drive yourself crazy trying to get your in-laws' thumbs-up. Not caring what they think about you could be freeing and empowering. 6. Trust your instincts. If your sounds the alarm, listen to it. It’s there to take care of you, as Camilla, a 35-year-old consultant, learned: “The first time I met my mother-in-law, I found her warm and beautiful. But when she hugged me good-bye at the end of that evening, something went off in me indicating that this wasn’t a good person. Sadly, my instincts weren’t wrong.” How to Engage Unless your spouse wants nothing to do with his parents, you can’t ignore your in-laws. So when you find yourself in their company, do the following: 7. Don’t try to fake a relationship that isn’t there. Yes, they’re legally your parents-in-law, but are they really treating you like family? You don’t need to refer to your in-laws as “Dad” or “Mother,” if there is no intimacy or warmth that warrants the use of the terms. Using these words also adds to a power dynamic with them that may not work for you. In calling your parents-in-law by their first names, you create a more level playing field. 8. Be. This needs to remain central, no matter what you’re communicating. While initial attempts to engage your in-laws should be courteous, the problem with being too polite for of coming across as rude or pushy is that you don’t establish necessary boundaries. Thus, you aren’t able to communicate how deep the problems are, and how troubled you are. Remember, you’re not necessarily dealing with a person or people who are nice. You don’t need to always play nice in getting your points across. 9. Avoid stooping to her level. It is tempting to fight fire with fire, taking digs at your MIL, calling her names, or being equally rude. Don’t go there. In your discussions, no matter how heated, stick with the facts. Interact using, and take the higher road without compromising how you will allow yourself to be treated. Source: YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV/Shutterstock How to Stay in Control of Your Emotions Central to managing your in-laws is managing your emotions: 10. Don’t take criticisms personally. As Hilary Rodham Clinton put it: “Take criticism seriously, but not personally. If there is truth or merit in the criticism, try to learn from it. Otherwise, let it roll right off you.” In many cases, you’ll realize that your MIL is just being her usual self, and that she, at the end of the day, has to deal with herself and the consequences of her actions. When she throws dirt your way, have a exercise that allows the statement to literally roll off your back. Envision what she just said captured in a water balloon, which then rolls off your shoulders and down your back before smashing on the ground below your feet. 11. Have a way to deal with your. This might be going for a walk following a difficult interaction, or hitting the pool to blow off some steam, or taking to the golf course for some relaxation. You cannot allow the anger to consume you, or else it will destroy you and your. Find your outlets for working through the negative energy on a regular basis. 12. Find trusted persons to vent to. Your spouse may not always be in the mood to hear about how awful his mother and parents are. It’s important to turn to good and/or support groups in getting some things off of your chest. Your marriage will become even more strained otherwise. When All Else Fails 13. Practice a "healthy selfishness.” You need to take care of yourself before you can take care of a situation. This involves excusing yourself from family gatherings for some quality “me time,” not answering the phone when you know it’s your MIL, and keeping your distance as a couple around times like the holiday to take care of yourselves and your family, in spite of expectations. It is only when people practice this kind of “me” and “us” prioritizing that they reach their full potential. 14. Opt out. Some in-law situations never get to a better place. As Christina Steinorth stated on yourtango.com: “Just because you’re married, you’re under no obligation to be emotionally abused by toxic people.” If your MIL was a boyfriend, your friends would tell you to dump him. If your MIL bullied someone, people would advise that person to keep his distance and set limits. Just because she’s your MIL doesn’t mean that you have to tolerate abuse. 15. Limit your in-laws’ involvement. Whenever anyone becomes toxic to your marriage or family, you have the right to roll up the “Welcome” mat and say, “Game over.” You, your spouse, and your primary family have the right to a peaceful existence, with the people in your circle being those who are a positive and supportive presence. If you are being disrespected and mistreated by your in-laws, then they aren’t entitled to the privileges that come with being in that circle. You have every right to draw and maintain strong boundaries in protecting yourself and your marriage. Nobody has the right to make your life miserable, and only you can make sure of that.When online black market Silk Road boss Ross Ulbricht was arrested last week the FBI seized around 26,000 in Bitcoin — now revealed, the FBI's Bitcoin "wallet" address is the target of small bitcoin payments with snarky messages. At the FBI's Silkroad Seized Coins address, an increasing number of payments to the tune of 0.00000001 BTC are coming in with messages attached as a so-called "public note." The messages now span three pages of snark, anger, defiance, trolling and political spankings. One public note on Blockchain reads: "The only way to have a drug-free world is to have a people-free world. And even then, the animals will get stoned." Another says: "Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. -Abraham Lincoln." A common public note message for the feds is, "You cannot arrest an idea." The criminal complaint against Ulbricht claimed his commissions were around $80 million, or 600,000 bitcoins. But as TechDirt points out: You might notice the disconnect between the 26,000 Bitcoins seized and the supposed 600,000 Ulbright made. It now comes out that those 26,000 Bitcoins aren't even Ulbricht's. Instead, they're actually from Silk Road's users. This is a fact that has not escaped the users of the world's largest floating black market — which actually wasn't entirely comprised of illicit goods. And at the FBI's Silkroad Seized Coins address, people are not letting the FBI off the hook with their confiscated money. One recent micropayment to the FBI for 0.00001 BTC reads in its public note: Many items sold through Silk Road were perfectly legal. There is no way to know whether these funds were to be used for illicit purchases. Users should be allowed to withdraw their funds. And another links to a just-created Change.org petition for release of the bitcoin funds, with a simple message: "Petition to release these funds back into the community." With spam and fake donation solicitation for sex change operations, the FBI is — of course — being trolled through the Blockchain public note system for "Silkroad Seized Coins." I THOUGHT OF SNIFFING FARTS WHILST SENDING THESE BITCOINS TO YOU [source] But many have teeth: This page shows how Bitcoin is more transparent than the US government. [source] There are several Thomas Jefferson quotes. A popular message appears to be a Howard Zinn quote, "They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Some public notes are links to images — which mostly mock Ross Ulbricht for getting caught. Like this one: Another provided a link to the obligatory Breaking Bad reference: Wired reports Ulbricht is using a public defender. "Better Call Saul" indeed.Let’s get one thing out of the way: I think The Flash is an excellent TV series. Showrunners Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg have developed Flash into a unique and stylish character, which is no small feat in a media landscape crowded with superheroes. In some ways, though, the show is still finding its footing, and nowhere is this more true than in its perplexing reluctance to show Flash hiking the Appalachian Trail. For a series that usually manages to avoid glaring plot holes, this one is a head-scratcher. Surely Flash knows about the Appalachian Trail. Surely he’s heard veterans of the A.T. talk about what a transformative experience it was. So why doesn’t he take the plunge and try it for himself? It makes no sense. Advertisement All the writers would need to do is include a three-to-four-episode arc where Flash puts crime-fighting on hold for a few months while he and a few of his closest friends hike the 2,200 miles from Maine to Georgia. Why not correct this very obvious error? Here’s my point: If The Flash can make room for an entire Legends Of Tomorrow spinoff movie incidental to the show’s main plot, then why not include an Appalachian Trail subplot? The show has shown such a deft hand balancing invention with satisfying fan expectations that it’s doubly frustrating to see the writers willfully ignore what has been obvious for at least the last season: Flash should be on the Appalachian Trail. If The Flash can make room for an entire Legends Of Tomorrow spinoff movie incidental to the show’s main plot, then why not include an Appalachian Trail subplot? Advertisement The story arc could break down as follows: one episode devoted to showing Barry Allen packing for the trip, as well as planning when to begin his journey and deciding whether to start in Maine and travel south or attempt the more challenging south-to-north thru-hike. Then, one or two episodes where we get to see Flash’s actual experiences on the trail: the people he meets, the memories he shares with them, and, of course, the breathtaking surroundings, a part of America neither Flash nor viewers of The Flash often get a chance to see. Finally, there could be one episode about what Flash has learned thanks to his A.T. experience—perhaps it could be a bottle episode where Flash sits down with his dad, who also hiked the trail, and the two of them reflect on what it meant to them. I hiked the Appalachian Trail when I was 24, and it absolutely changed my whole outlook. Simply put, it’s an incredible experience that I would recommend to anyone, Flash and all his fans included. My trail name was Rain Way, and there’s a story to tell there, but I can’t tell it here. Suffice it to say, it represented who I was at the time and where I was headed. Of course, there’s no way to tell what Flash’s trail name would be, since it’s true what they say: You don’t find your trail name. Somewhere in the hills of Pennsylvania or West Virginia, your name finds you. Advertisement Then, just like with the real Appalachian Trail, it would be over before our hero knew it, but Flash—and viewers too—would come out of the A.T. experience with a bounty of memories and stories behind him, not to mention four episodes of arresting, can’t-miss television. It’s a no-brainer. The CW, the ball is in your court.An alarming report on the current state of excellence in the United States has been released today. The conclusion of the report “Talent on the Sidelines: Excellence Gaps and the Persistence of America’s Permanent Talent Underclass” is that the United States is relying on less than half of its talent, with large percentages of our brightest students not even getting a chance to enter the room. University of Connecticut Professor Jonathan Plucker and colleagues at two other universities examined data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and state assessments. Their most striking finding is the under-representation of low-income and minority students among those performing at the highest levels of academic achievement. While the percentage of white students scoring at the advanced level in Grade 4 mathematics increased from 2.9 percent to 9 percent between 1996 and 2011, the percentage of high-scoring black students barely budged, reaching 1.1 percent in 2011. The math scores based on economic background were even more dramatic, with students ineligible for free or reduced-price lunches improving from 3.1 percent in the advanced range in 1996 to 11.4 percent in 2011. Less affluent students, meanwhile, went from 0.3 percent scoring in the advanced range to 1.8 percent. They put these findings in perspective: In Grade 8, 8% of all eighth graders reached advanced levels in mathematics, which translates to about 290,000 of the 3.6 million eighth graders that exist in the United States. This means that out of the 44% of all students eligible for free and reduced meals (about 1.6 million), less than 40,000 would score at advanced levels, about 160,000 fewer students than if low-income students performed as well academically as more affluent students. This means that schools are losing about 160,000 high-performing eighth grade students every year. The researchers conclude that America has developed a "permanent talent underclass": "In an age of increasing global competitiveness, it is somewhat harrowing to imagine a future in which the largest, fastest-growing segments of our K-12 student population have almost no students performing at advanced levels academically. In many states, including many of our largest, this is already the reality." The report also offers state-by-state comparisons, where the lack of non-white and poorer students among the highest achievers can be even more stark than the national average. In North Carolina, for example, the percentage of black students with advanced scores in Grade 4 math rounds to zero, while in Texas, an impressive 17 percent of more well-off students have advanced scores in that category, compared to just 3 percent of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches. Individual state profiles are available at the report web site (http://cepa.uconn.edu/mindthegap). As Plucker and colleagues note:Kickstarter campaigns sometimes never deliver, like Pebble Time 2 and Pebble Core, but we also see successfully funded products that end up providing what was promoted. The Ticwatch 2 campaign began in late July and reached its funding goal of $50,000 in just 10 minutes. While I did not back this new smartwatch, I was recently sent an evaluation Ticwatch 2 Active to test. I've used it over the past couple of weeks and think it is a watch you may want to consider if you are interested in wearables but don't want to commit $300 to $1,000 or more to see whether you really need a companion to your smartphone. Specifications of the Ticwatch 2 include: Processor : 1.2 GHz MediaTek 2601 dual-core : 1.2 GHz MediaTek 2601 dual-core Display : 1.4 inch 400x400-pixel resolution MOLED, 287 ppi : 1.4 inch 400x400-pixel resolution MOLED, 287 ppi Operating system : Android 5.1 with Ticwear OS layer on top : Android 5.1 with Ticwear OS layer on top RAM : 512MB : 512MB Storage : 4GB internal storage : 4GB internal storage Wireless technology : 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 : 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 Sensors : Optical heart rate, accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS : Optical heart rate, accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS Other features : IP65 dust and water resistant, integrated microphone and speaker : IP65 dust and water resistant, integrated microphone and speaker Battery : 300mAh battery with wireless charging dock : 300mAh battery with wireless charging dock Dimensions: 42 x 42 x 11.95mm and 44g The Ticwatch 2 is lighter than the Apple Watch and Samsung Gear S3. I can wear it comfortably for long periods of time and barely even notice it is on my wrist. Hardware The Ticwatch 2 is constructed primarily of polycarbonate material -- matte finish on the top and glossy on the bottom. A standard 20mm-size silicone band is included with the active version, but there are other strap options available. Quick release pins are positioned on the strap, too. The watch doesn't look particularly remarkable, but when you make a gesture to turn on the display, you see that the 1.4 inch OLED looks fantastic. There's an always-on mode, too, so you can see the time and other information without turning on the display. The OLED is bright with crisp, colorful icons and text. The display is touch-enabled with a single crown button to take you back to the watch face. On the side opposite of the physical button, you will find the "tickle strip" that lets you control the device without covering the display. With this strip, you can scroll, select, and change the volume. An optical heart-rate monitor is found on the back, and unlike some watches, it is flush with the back of the watch. Watch software The Ticwatch 2 is based on Android 5.1, with the custom Ticwear layer powering the user interface. When you first turn on the display, you are taken to the watch face. There are 35 watch faces to choose from on the smartphone app, with the ability to download more watch faces, too. I've been quite pleased with the available options. Some watch faces provide various status updates, but none of these areas of information can be tapped or are actionable. Swipe from left to right to launch the included voice control interface. Swipe from right to left to open the app launcher. Swipe down to view the status screen, and then scroll right to left to view the quick cards. You can also swipe up from the bottom of the watch face to view your notifications. Apps installed on the Ticwatch 2 include a phone dialer, calendar, health, fitness, weather, stopwatch, music player, voice recorder, timer, alarm, and calculator. Settings can also be accessed from the app launcher, and there are plenty of options in there to customize your experience. The health app can be used to track your steps, remind you to stand regularly, and check your heart. You can view some details of your activity on the watch, but more info is visible on your connected smartphone. Use the fitness app to initiate a focused activity, including outdoor run, outdoor walk, indoor run, cycling, and free style weights. I used it for outdoor running with the GPS. Unfortunately, like we see on the Apple Watch and Gear S3, these smartwatches with GPS provide a very basic experience that doesn't even show you the GPS connection status when you start a run, so the beginning of your run is often not accurately tracked. The voice control system works fairly well -- with the option to use gestures or key word phrase "OK, Tico" to initiate the system. When you ask questions, it primarily brings up web search results, but it can also be used to make phone calls, check the weather, reply to messages, and more. Like other smartwatches, the Ticwatch 2 can be used to initiate or accept phone calls, so you can talk to people through the embedded mic and speaker. This provides for a very good hands-free experience, and the speaker sounds good. You can send text messages through the dialer app, with the text for the message being entered via voice transcription. Phone software The Ticwatch 2 works with both Android and iOS. Most all of the functionality is the same with both operating systems, but there are just a few limitations with iOS because of the way Apple locks down certain aspects of its operating system. These include the following: Third-party watch faces SMS reply with voice Third-party application quick cards The Ticwear smartphone app is primarily used to customize the settings on the Ticwatch 2. On an Android phone, you can optimize notifications, choose your watch face, select quick cards, view your activity data in the health center, add weather locations, select music to transfer to the Ticwatch 2, access your voice recordings, choose to sync your fitness data with Google Fit, Runkeeper, and Strava, and set up a link to your Uber account. There are fewer options on an iPhone, including notifications, watch faces, contacts, health data, and Uber. You can set up fitness sync to Apple Health within the Health app on your iPhone. The watch app also provides you with the Ticwatch 2 battery status and step count. There is a Mobvoi store that can be installed on your Android phone, but you first need to go into the settings on the watch and then initiate the store app download from the watch. The Android store app comes in the form of an.APK file, so you need to allow unknown sources to install the store app. The store primarily contains watch faces, so if you are satisfied with the available selection on the Ticwatch 2, then I wouldn't worry about installing the store app at this time. Competition The Apple Watch, Android Wear, and Samsung Tizen watches are the main competition for the Ticwatch 2. The Apple Watch is limited just to iOS devices, so if you are an Android user, then its not even an option. Android Wear watches now work with iOS and Android, similar to the Ticwatch 2. The Apple Watch Series 2 ranges in price from $369 up to more than $1,299. The Series 2 watches have integrated GPS and are water resistant, along with vibrant color displays. There has been a hiatus in the Android Wear world lately, with manufacturers looking toward 2017 and a new update to Android Wear. The best current Android Wear watch is the Polar M600, available for $329.95. Pebble is now out of the smartwatch game, so there is no reason to consider one of those devices. Thus, for $199, the Ticwatch 2 is the lowest-priced option to try out a wearable to see if you want to spend hundreds more for a smartphone companion. Daily usage experiences and conclusions The Ticwatch 2 charges wirelessly via the included proprietary charging cradle. You can but the Ticwatch 2 at Amazon in black or white for $199.99. You can also pay another $50 for a stainless steel model with a leather band or another $100 for a stainless steel black one with metal band. Mobvoi is an AI startup supported through investments from Google. I honestly did not know what to expect from the company and am very impressed by the capability and performance of the Ticwatch 2. The Ticwatch 2 is advertised to function for one to two days, depending on your usage and wireless connections. When I used the Ticwatch 2 for running with GPS enabled, heart-rate monitor tracking my heart rate, and music streaming to my headphones via Bluetooth, I found a battery consumption rate of about 1 percent discharge for each minute. Thus, I could use it for my typical 5- to 6-mile workout, but not for too much longer. When used as a smartwatch, and not for a dedicated fitness activity, I was able to easily go a full day. Since sleep tracking is not supported; simply place the Ticwatch 2 on the charger at night, and it should perform well for you. There is about a gigabyte of available space on the Ticwatch 2 for music storage, and you can only transfer music to the watch via an Android device. It took a long time to select songs and transfer them since it was carried out over a Bluetooth connection. The music player is very basic, but you can choose to listen to music over Bluetooth or the embedded speaker in the watch. The watch speaker isn't great for music, but if your headphones die, at least you can still enjoy some music. With GPS, a heart-rate monitor, IP65 dust and water resistance, and music support, the Ticwatch 2 is a good recreational runner watch available at a price less than other GPS sports watches with these capabilities. Overall, I was very pleased with the Ticwatch 2, and it's a great option for those looking for an affordable smartwatch.What to look for in terms of palette swaps and costumes:: Are his Luigi and Brown costumes back? If they are, what is Mario's final swap? If it/they isn't/aren't, what replaces it/them?: Are his Fire and Waluigi costumes back? What are his two remaining costumes?: What are her five remaining costumes? Do her White, Blue, and Green dresses return?: What are his remaining costumes? (I think we know default, Green with reddish-brown hair, Black with red hair, Yellow with Purple hair, and Black-Grey with Gold hair, right?). Is there actually a Dry Bowser alt?: What are her three remaining colors?: Do Yeti Kong and Green DK return? What are his remaining colors?: What are his remaining colors? (I think we know default, Dixie-like, and Yellow shirt and White cap.): What are her three remaining colors?: What are her four remaining colors?: What are his remaining colors? (I think we know default, Red, Blue, Purple, and Classic.): What are his two remaining colors?: What are her colors?: What are his three remaining colors?: What are his colors?: (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we know all of them already.): Is Green Kirby back? What is his last costume?: What are his six remaining colors?: Are the Dark MK and Galacta alts real? What are his colors?: What are his three remaining normal costumes and his six remaining Wire Frame costumes? (I hears WFM has a hoodie alt too.): What are his three remaining alts?: What are his two remaining alts?: What are his remaining alts?: What are his remaining alts?: What are his four remaining alts?: What are his five remaining alts?: What are his Alph colors?: What are her remaining colors, Male and Female?: What are his four remaining colors?: What are his colors?: What are his three remaining colors?: Do a few of Sonic's alts from brawl return? (Red, Yellow, Green).Correct me on ANYTHING that is incorrect. We know all of, and's colors.A rare role reversal played out in Washington on Thursday night, as the Senate took a break from debating the repeal of the Affordable Care Act to pass a bipartisan bill that will serve to alienate U.S. allies and isolate America. That job, of course, is typically reserved for President Trump, but Congress showed decisively that the administration doesn’t have a monopoly on the practice, voting 98-2 to apply new sanctions to Russia, Iran, and for good measure, North Korea, too. The Iran sanctions threaten to blow up the Iran nuclear deal, a landmark foreign policy achievement of President Obama’s, one negotiated with both European allies and with Russia and China. The Russian sanctions have been met with threats of retaliation not just from Russia but from the European Union, which is apoplectic that the U.S. is threatening to undo its regional energy policy. And the North Korean sanctions, well, nobody really knows what those will do. The bill passed in the House 419-3 with little objection. When the Senate took up a similar sanctions bill last month against Russia and Iran, the measure passed overwhelmingly, with Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rand Paul, R.-Ky., the only dissenting voices. They were again the only dissenters Thursday. Sanctions bills against U.S. adversaries usually sail through Congress uncontested, and on a bipartisan basis. Few members of Congress want to vote against sanctions, fearful that the move could be spun into an attack ad that accusing them of being pro-Russia or pro-Iran. The bill has the enthusiastic backing of Democrats, who are looking to punish Russia for its election interference. Since several of the meetings between Trump administration and Russian officials reportedly discussed sanctions relief, coverage of the Trump-Russia scandal has dwarfed any discussion of how U.S. allies are likely to respond to new sanctions. The sanctions may be a symbolic move for Congress, but they are very real to Europeans who do business with neighboring Russia. On Sunday, the European Union indicated that they would retaliate against additional sanctions on Russia, fearful that they would impact energy companies. A memo obtained from Brussels by the Financial Times said that the EU should “stand ready to act within days” if the bill was “adopted without EU concerns taken into account.” Even the French government — which has allegedly faced its own election inference by Russia — spoke out against the sanctions. The French Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the sanctions appeared to violate international law, and that the European Union would have to respond due to the impact on firms. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told The Intercept that the concerns of U.S. allies come second to the need to punish Russia for its election interference. “I just looked at the sanctions, and it’s very hard, in view of what we know just happened in this last election, not to move ahead with [sanctions],” she said. When asked about international repercussions, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a Senate newcomer who many are speculating for a presidential run, said she would be concerned about the response of allies. “That’s part of the issue, isn’t it? We have to think about it in the context of our partners and friends. I do have concerns, yes,” she said after voting for the sanctions bill. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said he was satisfied that the EU concerns had been addressed. “I looked at those concerns last night,” he said. “I know there were a number of changes made to the legislation to address the legitimate concerns. In other words, my view is that we effectively addressed the major concerns that were expressed.” Yet Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the leading champions of sanctions with Russia, said that it was the job of the EU to come around to the legislation, not for the legislation to be brought around to them. “I hope they’ll come around,” he told The Intercept of the EU. “Not that I know of,” McCain said of any changes to the bill to accommodate them. “Certainly not in the portion of the bill I was responsible for.” Another author of the bill, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., an ardent foe of the Iran deal, said that very little was done to take the EU concerns into account. “Not much, to be honest with you,” he told The Intercept. “There was some sense of the Congress that we should consult with our allies, and
Asia’s rise has been so dramatic that it is not just remaking Asia’s cities and economies — it is redrawing the geostrategic map. To give one example, half the world’s merchant tonnage now passes through the South China Sea.” By establishing naval dominance in the South China Sea and adjacent waterways, the US could exercise a form of latent coercive power over China and the other states in the region, much as the British navy once did. American naval strategists have long been arguing for such a stance, claiming that America’s singular advantage lies in its ability to control the world’s major sea-lanes — an advantage enjoyed by no other power. It now appears as if the Obama administration has embraced this outlook (4). This was clearly implied in the moves Obama announced during his visit to the region in November. In spite of budget cuts, he said in Canberra: “We will allocate the resources necessary to maintain our strong military presence in this region” and will be “enhancing our presence in Southeast Asia.” This will involve more frequent deployments by US warships and military exercises in the region. In addition, Obama announced the establishment of a new US military base at Darwin, on Australia’s north coast, and increased military aid to Indonesia (5). Presence and deterrence Implementation of this grand geopolitical vision has obvious implications for the development of military policy, and this is clearly reflected in the strategic policy unveiled by Obama and Panetta in January. “As I made clear in Australia,” Obama said, “we will be strengthening our presence in the Asia-Pacific [region], and budget restrictions will not come at the expense of that critical region.” Panetta added: “The US military will increase its institutional weight and focus on enhanced presence, power projection, and deterrence in the Asia-Pacific” (6). Although the policy document itself does not identify which specific military components will be favoured, it is clear that emphasis will be placed on naval forces — especially aircraft carrier battle groups — as well as advanced aircraft and missiles. Thus, while the US army will see a reduction in its total strength from approximately 570,000 troops today to 490,000 in 10 years’ time, Obama has vetoed plans for any reduction in the navy’s carrier fleet. Also, the US will invest substantially in weapons aimed at defeating potential adversaries’ “anti-access/area denial” (known as A2/AD) capabilities — the planes, missiles, and ships designed to overpower US attack forces (especially aircraft carriers) in contested areas. Because China is expected to enhance its capacity to strike American naval forces operating in the South China Sea and other areas on its periphery, US forces will be equipped with greater defences against these so-called A2/AD capabilities. As the new Pentagon blueprint puts it: “In order to credibly deter potential adversaries and to prevent them from achieving their objectives, the United States must maintain its ability to project power in areas in which our access and freedom to operate are challenged” — a clear reference to the East and South China Seas, as well as waters off Iran and North Korea. In these areas, it is claimed, potential adversaries “such as China” will use “asymmetric means” — submarines, anti-ship missiles, cyber warfare — to defeat or immobilise US forces. Accordingly, “the US military will invest as required to ensure its ability to operate in anti-access and area denial (A2/AD) environments” (7). This means that the US will place top priority on dominating the maritime periphery of Asia, even in the face of opposition from China and other rising powers.We do a pretty good job of welcoming newcomers to this country. It's one of our great strengths. I don't buy the myth, beloved of some, that Canadians harbour deep racist and xenophobic tendencies that are just waiting to be set alight by the likes of Kellie Leitch. But some days, I have to wonder what's gotten into people. Who, for example, would want to deny Muslims the right to bury their dead? It seems that there are more than you might think. Story continues below advertisement Read also: A motion to quell anti-Muslim hate shouldn't be up for debate, but here we are The terrible massacre in January of six worshippers at a mosque in Quebec City revealed a problem: Quebec Muslims have few places to bury their dead. The only Muslim-run cemetery in the province is in Montreal, several hours' drive away. After the massacre, the small town of Saint-Apollinaire (population 6,000) found some land that would be suitable for another one, and quickly struck a deal to sell it to the Muslim community. It seemed like a neighbourly way to help. But as The Globe and Mail's Ingrid Peritz found, the plan was met with a storm of protest. "This cemetery is just the embryo of other projects," one person wrote in an e-mail to the town's mayor. "These people are here to grab religious and political power." The mayor, Bernard Ouellet, is staunch in his support for the plan, and believes most townspeople support it too. But he'll have to work hard to quell the fears. As Quebec imam Hassan Guillet says, "If the project is refused and we're not allowed to be buried in this land, how are we going to be accepted to live in this land?" Religious accommodation is always a touchy subject, but the opposition to this plan is simply wrong. There is no place for it in my Canada. Here in Ontario, we have our own hysterias. A strident group of anti-Muslim activists have been waging a noisy campaign to end Muslim prayer at schools in a big district near Toronto. At one school-board meeting, someone tore pages from the Koran and stomped all over them. At others, people leaped to their feet to denounce Islam. A parents' group launched a petition complaining that "unsolicited exposure to religion" could "create subconscious bias in the minds of impressionable children for or against a faith." In the latest bit of hate-filled showmanship (as a school-board spokesman aptly called it), a local agitator offered a $1,000 reward to any student who surreptitiously recorded hate speech during a Muslim prayer service. Needless to say, Muslim prayer in schools has always been contentious. You may believe, as I do, that any type of prayer – including this type – has no place in the public schools. But I also believe it's not the worst idea. Like it or not, religious accommodation is the law, and the schools are devoted to inclusiveness. Our interest is to integrate new Canadians, not segregate them. We want their children to be educated in the public schools, not religious schools. So we'd better make sure the kids (and parents) feel comfortable there. And if an optional 20-minute prayer session once a week helps them feel more welcome, then why not? Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement The Peel District School Board, where the current commotion has broken out, serves a sprawling, suburban multiethnic community whose Muslim population is around 10 per cent. Muslim students have been observing Friday prayers for 20 years. Other schools around the province make the same accommodation. It's been a work in progress. One heavily Muslim school in Toronto faced tough questions a few years back because menstruating girls weren't allowed to take part in the prayer service. There have been concerns about sexism, as well as worries about just what kind of Islam is being preached. The Peel board has conducted lengthy consultations about whether the students who lead the sessions may write their own sermons, and by whom, if anyone, they must be approved. To be honest, I have no idea how all this will work out, and neither does anybody else. It will take a generation or more to tell. Canada is not immune from the ethnoreligious tensions that are rocking the world and there's no way we can avoid them. But we can discourage the fear-mongers and the hate-mongers from poisoning our public discourse. We won't always agree, especially over symbols that touch our deepest values. Let's just hope we can keep finding ways to disagree politely. That's supposed to be the Canadian way, and I don't want to lose it.Given all the controversy surrounding Dawn of War 3 I felt like I had to write a review of my own. Let me start off by saying that I am a HUGE fan of the series, having spent countless hours playing both its first and the second instalment. Dawn of War 3 is... different. Relic could have taken an easy approach and simply remake the first Dawn of War with better graphics but instead decided to experiment with the genre and design something fresh which in my opinion is the way to go. I don't want to play the same game again, I want to try new things and Relic most definitely delivered in that regard. Right off the bat I want to address all the extreme hate and negativity this game has been receiving pretty much since the first gameplay was showcased. As is often the case with vocal, negative minority - the loudest voices we hear are those who advocate baseless criticism. When I see someone giving this game a score between 0 and 4 on Metacritic (or any other medium for that matter) I lose all respect for such a person. I get it, you don't like the idea of this game being any different than the 1st one. You want to relive your childhood and grasp that fleeting, elusive feeling of nostalgia. Perhaps you are not a fan of the artstyle. Whatever. The game is still solid and even if you strongly dislike its design choices, you really should not rate it so darn low. Seriously, if you think Dawn of War 3 deserves a score of 0 do not write ANY reviews on ANYTHING ever again. All right, with that off my chest let us proceed onto an in-depth look at the game itself and its core features. The single player campaign. I had very high expectations for it given how much I enjoyed the campaign in Dawn of War 1 & 2 (the latter especially). Dawn of War 3 doesn't disappoint in that area. I heard someone describing the said campaign as a 'glorified tutorial' which I find baffling to say the least. The campaign is solid, well designed with quite differing missions, some truly unique and fun. The overall storyline is enjoyable too, it has its dark and funny moments (I must admit that orcs work really well as a comic relief, especially in the newest Dawn of War). With that being said, the single player mode is not perfect and has its flaws: some missions are way too easy in comparison to others which can be frustrating. Also, the lack of autosave/checkpoint system is strange but hey, you just have to save your game more often and you'll be fine. Overall, if you are a fan of the previous games and the 40k universe you should have a blast playing DoW 3's campaign. It took me somewhere between 22 and 25 hours to beat the entire SP mode on highest difficulty. I'd like to think my skill level is above that of an average player so it might take you even longer to beat the campaign. Now, to some perhaps the most crucial component of the game: multiplayer and the gameplay itself. Here is where things get interesting. When I first heard that Dawn of War 3 will launch with only one gameplay mode that will feature 'towers' and a 'core' (or nexus, call it whatever you want) I was...sceptical to say the least. Seems like a really bold and bizarre design choice. Then I gave open beta a go and thought more about the way Relic designed their game. Let's make something clear - Dawn of War 3 is NOT a MOBA. People that claim so are completely clueless when it comes to game design and simply playing. What Relic tried to achieve is to give their game the kind of decision making players experience when playing a MOBA (same goes for emotions the said players feel). Did the Canadian studio succeed? Subjectively, I can say indeed it did. After you play the game for a longer period of time you begin to realize how many different choices there are when approaching a match. I heard players/certain reviewers claiming Dawn of War 3 simplified the RTS genre by removing strategies such as rushing your opponent during the early game. That is completely false. To give you an example, being aggressive during the early stages of a match can lead to annihilation of the enemy shield which grants you a lot of resources and an elite point which in turn will snowball your lead even further. If you make a mistake tho and overextend when attacking a turret, you can still lose the match. Elites and all the customization options also ensure that multiple strategies are viable. Meta game might set in at some point (though I still think build orders and/or loadouts will greatly vary) but constant addition of new elites in future content patches/expansions will solve that problem. What I can't stress enough though is this: at its heart, Dawn of War 3 is still an RTS, much like Dawn of War 1. Micro-management of your army is absolutely essential and crucial to the game's outcome. Dawn of War 3 also has numerous flaws such as very few maps and odd looking UI elements (sometimes ugly even, to give you some examples: certain icons are really pixelated, player profile looks mediocre etc.). Not being able to change your keybinds can also be frustrating but I believe all those quirks (some more annoying than others) will eventually get fixed. I'll be honest, in some ways the game feels rushed. At least that is the impression I got after playing it for 30+ hours. Like mentioned before, lack of certain features can be quite frustrating (to give you an example, as of right now it is not possible to surrender when playing online). The game is not perfect but at the same time it is not as bad as people make it out to be. Pros: - Solid, well designed single player campaign (most definitely an improvement over the Dawn of War 1's campaign, the 2nd game had a much better single player experience tho). - 3 one of a kind races with unique gameplay mechanics such as the orc with their scraps, space marines with the drop pod system etc. - Innovative, fast-paced (yet still very tactical) multiplayer mode with a complex progression system. - Feels very 40k-like (killing hundreds of orcs and eldar with an imperial knight is just epic). - Outstanding soundtrack. - Good optimization. Cons: - Few maps. - Only one gameplay mode (hopefully more will be added in future patches). - Sometimes UI feels just... off. - Lack of a ranked multiplayer mode. - Annoying small features that are lacking such as not being able to assign your own keybinds. - Pathfinding can be awkward at times. - The game just feels slightly rushed and could have been MUCH better. Final Score: 7/10. If you're a fan of the series and the 40k universe, ignore the mixed reviews and buy the game, it is my belief that you will immensely enjoy it. Dawn of War 3 is worse than the previous installments in the series but it is still a good game. Given all the controversy surrounding Dawn of War 3 I felt like I had to write a review of my own. Let me start off by saying that I am a HUGE fan of the series, having spent countless hours playing both its first and the second instalment. Dawn of War 3 is... different. Relic could have taken an easy approach and simply remake the first Dawn of War with better graphics but instead decided to experiment with the genre and design something fresh which in my opinion is the way to go. I don't want to play the same game again, I want to try new things and Relic most definitely delivered in that regard. Right off the bat I want to address all the extreme hate and negativity this game has been receiving pretty much since the first gameplay was showcased. As is often the case with vocal, negative minority - the loudest voices we hear are those who advocate baseless criticism. When I see someone giving this game a score between 0 and 4 on Metacritic (or any other medium for that matter) I lose all respect for such a person. I get it, you don't like the idea of this game being any different than the 1st one. You want to relive your childhood and grasp that fleeting, elusive feeling of nostalgia. Perhaps you are not a fan of the artstyle. Whatever. The game is still solid and even if you strongly dislike its design choices, you really should not rate it so darn low. Seriously, if you think Dawn of War 3 deserves a score of 0 do not write ANY reviews on ANYTHING ever again. All right, with that off my chest let us proceed onto an in-depth look at the game itself and its core features. The single player campaign. I had very high expectations for it given how much I enjoyed the campaign in Dawn of War 1 & 2 (the latter especially). Dawn of War 3 doesn't disappoint in that area. I heard someone describing the said campaign as a 'glorified tutorial' which I find baffling to say the least. The campaign is solid, well designed with quite differing missions, some truly unique and fun. The overall storyline is enjoyable too, it has its dark and funny moments (I must admit that orcs work really well as a comic relief, especially in the newest Dawn of War). With that being said, the single player mode is not perfect and has its flaws: some missions are way too easy in comparison to others which can be frustrating. Also, the lack of autosave/checkpoint system is strange but hey, you just have to save your game more often and you'll be fine. Overall, if you are a fan of the previous games and the 40k universe you should have a blast playing DoW 3's campaign. It took me somewhere between 22 and 25 hours to beat the entire SP mode on highest difficulty. I'd like to think my skill level is above that of an average player so it might take you even longer to beat the campaign. Now, to some perhaps the most crucial component of the game: multiplayer and the gameplay itself. Here is where things get interesting. When I first heard that Dawn of War 3 will launch with only one gameplay mode that will feature 'towers' and a 'core' (or nexus, call it whatever you want) I was...sceptical to say the least. Seems like a really bold and bizarre design choice. Then I gave open beta a go and thought more about the way Relic designed their game. Let's make something clear - Dawn of War 3 is NOT a MOBA. People that claim so are completely clueless when it comes to game design and simply playing. What Relic tried to achieve is to give their game the kind of decision making players experience when playing a MOBA (same goes for emotions the said players feel). Did the Canadian studio succeed? Subjectively, I can say indeed it did. After you play the game for a longer period of time you begin to realize how many different choices there are when approaching a match. I heard players/certain reviewers claiming Dawn of War 3 simplified the RTS genre by removing strategies such as rushing your opponent during the early game. That is completely false. To give you an example, being aggressive during the early stages of a match can lead to annihilation of the enemy shield which grants you a lot of resources and an elite point which in turn will snowball your lead even further. If you make a mistake tho and overextend when attacking a turret, you can still lose the match. Elites and all the customization options also ensure that multiple strategies are viable. Meta game might set in at some point (though I still think build orders and/or loadouts will greatly vary) but constant addition of new elites in future content patches/expansions will solve that problem. What I can't stress enough though is this: at its heart, Dawn of War 3 is still an RTS, much like Dawn of War 1. Micro-management of your army is absolutely essential and crucial to the game's outcome. Dawn of War 3 also has numerous flaws such as very few maps and odd looking UI elements (sometimes ugly even, to give you some examples: certain icons are really pixelated, player profile looks mediocre etc.). Not being able to change your keybinds can also be frustrating but I believe all those quirks (some more annoying than others) will eventually get fixed. I'll be honest, in some ways the game feels rushed. At least that is the impression I got after playing it for 30+ hours. Like mentioned before, lack of certain features can be quite frustrating (to give you an example, as of right now it is not possible to surrender when playing online). The game is not perfect but at the same time it is not as bad as people make it out to be. Pros: - Solid, well designed single player campaign (most definitely an improvement over the Dawn of War 1's campaign, the 2nd game had a much better single player experience tho). - 3 one of a kind races with unique gameplay mechanics such as the orc with their scraps, space marines with the drop pod system etc. - Innovative, fast-paced (yet still very tactical) multiplayer mode with a complex progression system. - Feels very 40k-like (killing hundreds of orcs and eldar with an imperial knight is just epic). - Outstanding soundtrack. - Good optimization. Cons: - Few maps. - Only one gameplay mode (hopefully more will be added in future patches). - Sometimes UI feels just... off. - Lack of a ranked multiplayer mode. - Annoying small features that are lacking such as not being able to assign your own keybinds. - Pathfinding can be awkward at times. - The game just feels slightly rushed and could have been MUCH better. Final Score: 7/10. If you're a fan of the series and the 40k universe, ignore the mixed reviews and buy the game, it is my belief that you will immensely enjoy it. Dawn of War 3 is worse than the previous installments in the series but it is still a good game. Check this box if you received this product for free (?) Do you recommend this game? Yes No Cancel Save ChangesThere are many ways your auction can blow up before your eyes. Part Two of my strategy for auction drafts is focused around five key mistakes to avoid making in auction drafts. This list of five is comes from my own experience at the auction table in more than a few auction leagues over the years. These are very common mistakes owners make and ones that can be avoided. Editor's Note: you can click here to read more auction draft strategies and other fantasy baseball draft strategies & tips for various league formats including points leagues. Have a plan and stick with it My first article in this series covers how important having a plan is and suggests ways of sticking with it throughout the draft. In the heat of the auction, every owner’s plan will need to adjust. You can overcome the insanity by having a solid draft plan and sticking with it while giving yourself just enough freedom to adjust to changing market conditions.. Winning every player you wanted just won't happen. By having a solid strategy for how much money to spend on different positions and holding true to it, you'll net the best results when the chaos is over. For example, if you have both 1B and CI slots to fill and you miss out on a big-name bopper, you can overcome that by by drafting two middle-to-high-end replacements. If in the same example you decided to spend the same amount of money on a single player at a different position, then you've diminished your 1B budget by spending it in a place you'd already budgeted for. I’m not suggesting that this would necessarily net poor results, but what it will do is send your plan into chaos, and you'll find yourself scrambling to plan out the rest of your allowance while drafting. Do not bid on players you do not want This is a much easier rule to follow. Simply do not bid on players you have no intention on owning. I know you are saying to yourself, “Why would I do that?” Well, you'll notice that from time to time that you can start a bidding war with another owner will take place. You're driving up his price and he's driving up yours. If you're in this war under the assumption that the other owner will outbid you, you'll eventually get caught paying the premium. If it is over a player whom you didn't really want in the first place, you just got owned. Running up the price on another owner can be good old-fashioned fun. However, I would absolutely avoid bidding on players you flat-out don't want. As fun as it can be to see another owner pay a ridiculous price for a player, it is not fun looking like an idiot when he was planning on sticking you with the bill at the end of dinner. Do not overspend on every player Overspending on any one player isn't necessarily the worst thing. If you're 100% certain that this is the guy for your team, go get him. However, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Every dollar you overspend on a single player will take away a dollar from another. Splurging on multiple players will net you a couple of high-end players and leave you with more low-end players filling your roster. Of course, having Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera would be awesome. If you spend over $100 to get them, though, you only have $160 left for the other 23 or so players you need to fill your team. As much as you might like to go extreme stars and scrubs, that's a tough way to win your fantasy baseball championship. Do not blow your budget in the first hour As exciting and entertaining as auctions are, not having any money to spend for the majority of the draft is not. Unless, of course, every single player you've planned on owning has been nominated in the first hour and you've won them all at your budget. Unfortunately, that will not happen. Part three of my four-part strategy guide will be a deep dive into budgeting how to avoid blowing your wad early, so stay tuned. Do not tip your hand You may find that auctions are very similar to a game of Texas Hold’em. Reading the other owners can be as crucial as your ability to keep your own hand a secret. Before drafting, avoid naming your team after your favorite player or team. This can help mask who you are going after or what your preferences are. Also, try to avoid general fandom in your draft chats or message boards. If other owners know what who you like, they can and will take advantage of it. Another good option is to randomize your player nominations, bouncing irregularly between players you want and guys you'd rather not roster. If you're constantly nominating players you don't want and the others notice you aren’t bidding, that could come back to bite you. On the flipside, if you're always throwing out names of guy you're going hard aftre, that will encourage owners to drive up those prices on your nominations, secure in the knowledge that you will reach deep. Stay tuned for Part 3: The Importance of Auction BudgetingEditor's note: This is the first article in a three-part series documenting a Ware family's struggle with drug addiction. The second part will run Wednesday, with the final piece on Friday. In addition to this series, several articles will run in concert on drug use in Massachusetts. On a June day in 2011, Ethan Romeo found himself sitting across from his close friend and running partner at a dining room table in the South Hadley home of a heroin dealer. To either side were the dealer and a female friend who served as Romeo's drug connection. Ethan, then 20 years old, and his friend were in the throes of an unbearable dope sickness. They needed a way out. He watched his female connection shoot up and then his friend. He was next. Years of fear of using a needle to shoot drugs directly into his body faded away, beaten down by the physical and mental need to not feel sick anymore. The dealer told him what to do; he walked Ethan through the steps necessary to find a good vein and prepare a clean needle. The 30 second rush from heroin was followed by a high better than any pill he had popped during the previous four years. It took 20 minutes for Ethan to begin looking for his next high. Heroin had him. "There were plenty of times where I would get the drugs, come home and be by myself and bawl my eyes out knowing that I was doing this only because I had to and not because I wanted to," Ethan said during a recent interview. "It was not a party drug anymore. It was not for fun. It was out of necessity to get up and go to work or get up and take a shower." Romeo's life has been marked by an experimentation with drugs that evolved from being a means to briefly escape reality into a deep addiction, which he struggles with to this day. By the age of 17, he was physically addicted to prescription pain pills, but it would be years before he would admit to himself, or anyone else, that he was an addict. Ethan's addiction to prescription drugs occurred through an escalating series of addictions that began at the age of 11. Having once used the drugs to ease the childhood trauma of his parents' divorce, by his late teen years he had become physically addicted, and tied to the drugs that had previously seemed so freeing. His addiction culminated in the use of heroin, a drug that quickly broke him, sending him into a variety of treatment facilities and programs. At 23 years old and after seven years of battling his drug demons, Ethan is now back to where his journey to addiction began, in his mother's house in Ware. It has been a struggle to get clean. After several failed attempts, Ethan has been drug-free now for nearly three months, and he is talking publicly about his addiction. He talks about the drug-laden path that culminated with him putting heroin into his arm, the despair he felt at his lowest points, and what he is doing to ensure he can avoid ever doing it again. Ethan's story is not unique. Thousands of people, including hundreds of teens in big cities and small towns across Massachusetts, are struggling with addiction to opiates. In March, Gov. Deval Patrick said that Massachusetts is in the grips of an "epidemic of opiate abuse." For this reason, Patrick said the state must "treat it like the public health crisis it is" and ordered the commitment of $20 million to increase drug treatment and recovery services. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State address to highlight what he described as a “full-blown heroin crisis” in his state. “It is a crisis bubbling just beneath the surface that may be invisible to many but is already highly visible to law enforcement, medical personnel, social service and addiction treatment providers and too many Vermont families,” Shumlin said. Not alone The real face of heroin addiction is not drug users portrayed in a television series or in movies, such as Pulp Fiction. "People who seem to be pretty normal, have normal lives can get into this," said Dr. Marc C. Restuccia, an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and Medical Director for UMass Life Flight and Worcester EMS. In a comment to the Boston Globe in February, Franklin County Sheriff Christopher J. Donelan, said “It’s not just your back alley junkie doing heroin anymore... It could be any kid, in any neighborhood, in any demographic.” There are many paths to opiate addiction - from getting hooked on pain medication taken after a surgery to experimental drug use - and Rustuccia has seen them all. "It's important for people to see how easy it is for this to happen and that it's incredibly devastating not only to the patients, but to the entire family," Restuccia said recently. From 2000 to 2011, the most recent year that data was compiled in Massachusetts, opioid-related deaths increased from 363 to 642, according to the state Department of Public Health. In 2012, of the 105,189 adult admissions reported, 43.1 percent of those men and women sought treatment for a heroin addiction, the primary reason for entering a substance abuse treatment program, according to the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services 2012 annual report. In February of this year, the Massachusetts State Police released a report that said at least 185 people have died from suspected heroin overdoses in Massachusetts since Nov. 1, a figure that does not include overdose deaths in the state's three largest cities: Boston, Worcester and Springfield. Of those overdoses, 12 were reported in Worcester County, 19 in Hampshire and Franklin counties combined, and 12 in Hampden County, according to state police. The report did not include the number of nonfatal overdoses during that time. “It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from or where you live. None of that matters anymore,” Ethan said during a recent interview. “This disease can hit you at any time. It is powerful, it is cunning, it is insidious and it is deadly.” Early experimentation Ethan describes his early family life like a modern take on the Brady Bunch. His parents divorced when he was nine years old. Following the divorce he lived with his mother, two sisters, the man his mother was dating and his three children. Ethan played soccer and was strong in math, his mother, Beth Beardslee, said. Ethan also tried marijuana, his first drug, at 11 years old. “From the start I really loved it. It gave me a freedom I did not feel anywhere else,” Ethan said of smoking marijuana for the first time. “It gave me something to escape everything I was feeling.” That first foray into drugs was something that his family wrote off as experimentation, Beth said. It was known that Ethan had smoked marijuana when he was 13, but Ethan downplayed the extent of his use. “He wasn’t known to be that troubled kid,” Beth said. “He’s that kid where if you see him he will hold the door open.” Beth knows what it means to be an addict. Sober for 14 years after going through detox for alcoholism, she said that she worked hard to be involved in the lives of her three children and provide them with the best home she could. Beth said that she did not take issue with Ethan smoking marijuana. At the time, she thought that it was better he do it in the house where he was safe than somewhere else, she said. “I let my kid smoke pot. I absolutely did. I did not have a problem with it. I’ll be the first to admit it,” Beth said. “It’s too bad I had that thinking, but I take responsibility for that.” According to Dr. Douglas Ziedonis, a professor and chairman of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, often it is something like cigarettes, alcohol or marijuana that is noticed by parents first. Depending upon the parent's reaction and the receptiveness of the child, the situation can improve or it can gradually lead to experimentation with prescription pills and then street drugs, such as heroin. In denial For Ethan, there was no stopping. By the age of 13, Ethan had moved on to other drugs that included Adderall and Oxycodone. At 16, Ethan tried cocaine. He had already sniffed drugs and when a friend offered him cocaine while he was in a basement smoking marijuana he welcomed the experience, Ethan said. “It didn’t scare me. I guess unfortunately drugs didn’t scare me,” Ethan said. “At the time I was 16, and I thought I was invincible and cocaine didn’t scare me. It was just another thing I was going to sniff and feel good from … I remember snorting cocaine and really loving it.” Ethan would continue to use cocaine for years. The drug was plentiful and allowed him to party harder and be more social, he said. “I was always that person that always wanted to take it to the next level. That was my personality,” he said. “I was the kid using vodka to play beer pong instead of beer,” Even as he used cocaine regularly, the concept of being an addict had never entered his mind. There were no physical withdrawals from the drug and he was able to maintain the facade of normalcy for years to come, he said. “I knew I had a problem, but I really just blamed it on being a teenager,” Ethan said. “I really just thought that one day I would put down these bad substances.” Soon after he started using cocaine, he was chasing the high down with prescription pain medicine including Benzodiazepine, Percocet and Oxycodone. The market was flooded with these pills, he said. The pills became his “bedtime medicine” to help bring him down from the upper high he had be riding during the day. The opiate high removed him from the life and thoughts he did not want to deal with while making him more focused, Ethan said. While he was using, he felt more active and likely to leave the house. “It was a complete lack of physical, or mental, or emotional pain. It brought me to a level where I was just numb to the things I didn’t want to feel,” he said. “It took me down from being this stressed out person to someone who was calm and relaxed and motivated. It took away a lot of the pain of life.” Ziedonis said that addiction and misuse of prescription pills is much more common than the misuse of heroin. Often young people may have access to pills prescribed to an adult in their life for pain that are stored in a medicine cabinet even if they're no longer needed for their intended purpose. He has heard stories of extreme measures taken by addicts to acquire pills, such as visiting open houses with the purpose of rifling through the home owners' medicine cabinets. Full-blown addiction At the age of 17, Ethan says he was physically addicted to opiates. He was soon taking them out of physical need. “If I didn’t have these drugs it was hard to get out of bed,” said Ethan. “At this point in my life it was hard to do anything without opiates in my system.” Even in the midst of this addiction he still maintained a facade for his family and those around him, he said. This went on for the nearly four years he used prescription pain pills. “I had a girlfriend. I had a car. I had a job,” said Ethan. “On the outside, everybody really didn’t see any real problems with what I was doing.” For Ethan, the pills eventually began to take a physical toll. He found himself nodding off while on the job or talking to people. Among the withdrawal symptoms for Ethan were complete exhaustion and lack of motivation coupled with a severe nausea and restless legs. “A lot of it had to do with feeling sick to my stomach and another big thing was the lack of motivation. When I was dope sick all I wanted to do was stay in bed,” said Ethan. During a severe case
pace for his fewest yards since 2010 and has taken 22 sacks. On Wednesday, Stafford said he's at fault for some of the protection problems that have haunted the Lions (1-7) this year. "When there's communication breakdowns, I'll take credit for those," Stafford said. "I've got to do a better job of making sure guys hear me and it's, obviously, a two-way street, but that's basically what my responsibilities are, is make sure everybody's on the same page. So I'll leave it at that." Cooter, who said he has tweaked the Lions' system to highlight more of the concepts he likes since taking over from Lombardi two weeks ago, praised Stafford's ability to digest the offense. "I think his IQ's higher than a lot of us in here, including myself," Cooter said. "So he's a really smart guy, and he's doing exactly what we ask on a lot of the things." Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our free Lions Xtra app on your Apple and Android devices.The state's Independent Democratic Conference will file today with $4.3 million cash on hand among its five members and political action committee -- with $1.8 million raised during last six months. The IDC has shared power in the Senate with Republicans, but broke from the GOP last month and vowed to share power with Democrats after the November elections. “This illustrates the overwhelming support that the IDC enjoys from upstate to downstate," Klein said in a statement. "These resources leave us well positioned in this primary season to continue to advocate for the IDC’s members and its agenda." An IDC PAC had $1.1 million on hand, the conference said. Sen. David Valesky, D-Syracuse, expected to report about $450,000 in the bank, and Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarktown, Rockland County, is expected to report $370,000 in his coffers. But faced potential primaries, but avoided them when they rejoined with Democrats. IDC member and Sen. Tony Avella, D-Queens, is being outraised, though, by primary foe, John Liu, the former New York City comptroller. Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island, reported about $260,000 in the bank. Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1mIqdQ6Riviera Beach renamed Old Dixie Highway in honor of President Barack Obama during a ceremony on Thursday, a change that city officials say will help move the community past its segregated history. It is the second road in Palm Beach County to be named in honor of the 44th president, county officials said. Two years ago, Pahokee in western Palm Beach County renamed East First Street to Barack Obama Boulevard. A crowd cheered as a crew lowered the Old Dixie Highway street sign in Riviera Beach and raised one bearing the sitting president's name: President Barack Obama Highway. "We are stepping up to a new day, a new era, and replacing Old Dixie with Barack Obama, who represents change," Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters told Sun Sentinel news partner WPEC-Ch. 12. The City Council voted in August to change the highway's name inside the city limits. The first intersection of roads named after Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will be in Riviera Beach, city officials say. Some speakers at that August Council meeting didn't think the street name Old Dixie was a good representation of the city. "The name Old Dixie does not align in any way with the goal of racial and social equality," Kendra Williams, a Riviera Beach resident, said during the meeting. "Let's just move forward and move on, because it's time." Other thoroughfares elsewhere have been recently named in honor of presidents, said Sean MacDonald, addressing technician for Palm Beach County. In 1998, the Florida Legislature designated the Florida Turnpike the Ronald Reagan Turnpike. Delray Beach renamed Northeast Eighth Street in honor of George H.W. Bush during the early 1990s. sswisher@tribpub.com, 561-243-6634 or @SkylerSwisherMuch has been said about the struggles of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, which reportedly sold roughly half of what last year's Black Ops III did in its first month in the US. But that doesn't mean it isn't still raking in money. The NPD Group's latest report had it at the top of its sales charts for November, which track physical (and some digital) sales in the US. Activision has since expanded on that, announcing in a press release that Infinite Warfare is "the #1 console video game in the US, based on year-to-date revenues from physical unit sales." That statement comes with two important qualifications--it's only true of console games, and it excludes digital sales, which have become an increasingly large piece of the pie. It also suggests that--at least so far--Infinite Warfare isn't the best-selling game of the year in terms of units. It's only had a month on store shelves so far, so that may still change. The latest Call of Duty typically ends up at the top of the US sales charts by the end of the year, be it an established series (2015's Black Ops III) or a new one (2014's Advanced Warfare). Activision doesn't say as much, but it seems likely that Infinite Warfare has been helped by how attractive its more expensive special editions are. As the only way to obtain Modern Warfare Remastered, more people than usual may have been lured into buying the $80-plus versions of Infinite Warfare. That higher sale price could help offset lower-than-usual sales for the game. That said, both Infinite Warfare and its $80 Legacy edition were discounted fairly quickly. Conspicuously, Activision had yet to brag about sales of the game prior to this, and, indeed, it's still yet to share any specific sales figures. Last year, it was quick to announce Black Ops III had generated over $500 million in its first three days, making it what Activision called the "biggest entertainment launch of the year." It made the same claim about Advanced Warfare the year before, though it didn't share specific revenue figures, instead calling attention to the franchise as a whole eclipsing $10 billion in revenue. The press release also added that Call of Duty overall is the top console game franchise in North America, again based on year-to-date physical unit revenue. Activision said this is the eighth year in a row that's been true. This news has yet to result in a bump to the company's stock price, which has dropped fairly significant since October. It currently stands at $36.75, down from $45.47, where it was just under two months ago. Activision had said it expected Infinite Warfare sales to be down compared with Black Ops III (as is the norm when introducing a new sub-brand), but it remains unknown if it anticipated a drop as significant as the one it's seen.Adam Schefter speculates the Brandin Cooks trade could be a prelude to New England swapping Malcolm Butler to the Saints for the 32nd pick in the draft. (1:14) FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Restricted free-agent cornerback Malcolm Butler is scheduled to continue his visit with the New Orleans Saints on Thursday, which moves his departure from the New England Patriots one step closer to becoming a reality. How did it possibly get to this point? It is a question many Patriots fans have been asking, especially those who rightly point out the franchise is better off with Butler, and Butler himself -- who will forever be revered in the region for his game-saving Super Bowl XLIX interception -- is better off as a Patriot. So why can’t they work it out? Malcolm Butler and the Patriots were close to agreeing on an extension last year, but now it seems the cornerback's days with the team are numbered. Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire Everyone, it seems, has offered up a theory to that: • The Patriots are using their leverage and are unwilling to budge before they have to, as Butler is a restricted free agent, not unrestricted. • Butler’s agent, Derek Simpson, is an Alabama-based attorney negotiating his first big NFL contract, and that has created an added obstacle to the team in negotiations. • Bill Belichick simply sees cornerback Stephon Gilmore, whom the Patriots signed to a five-year, $65 million contract, as a better player who offers more options when matching up against the growing number of bigger receivers in the game. • Butler’s financial demands have been too high, while the Patriots’ have been too low. There might be some truth to any of those theories, but instincts tell me that all of them probably miss hitting the bull's-eye of what could better help everyone understand this surprising turn of events. Acknowledging that a lot happens behind the scenes that many are unaware of, and never will be, I have kept coming back to something Belichick has repeated often over his 18 years as coach: When you bring a player on to your team, you get everything that comes with him -- on and off the field. The Patriots weigh that with every decision they make, especially the ones that come with the greatest financial risk to them. If the largest contracts they have handed out under Belichick are analyzed as if they were stocks in a portfolio, the team's risk level (outside of Aaron Hernandez) would mostly be characterized as conservative. Devin McCourty... Dont'a Hightower... Jerod Mayo... Nate Solder... Rob Gronkowski... Logan Mankins... Stephen Gostkowski... Marcus Cannon... Danny Amendola. Why wouldn’t Butler, a 2015 Pro Bowl selection who has proved he can stay with some of the top receivers in the game, be included in that conservative category? By most accounts, he's busted his butt, kept his mouth shut, and put the team first. Outside of not making it back for voluntary organized team activities on time in 2015, to the casual observer he seemed to be a poster child in reflecting what Belichick wants his program to represent. So this is the true mystery. Why is Gilmore, who has an injury history to consider, viewed as less risky to Belichick from the total-package standpoint than the durable-to-this-point Butler? What is it about the 26-year-old Gilmore, who is married with two children, that gave the Patriots more comfort in investing so big in him when compared to the 27-year-old Butler, who is single? When you bring a player on to your team, you get everything that comes with him — on and off the field. The Patriots and Butler's representatives had negotiated a contract extension last year, and some involved in the process believed a deal was close to being struck. But they never finished it off, and as time passed, Butler’s price was only going up, which meant the Patriots would be taking on more risk. It’s easy to get the sense that the Patriots have now come to a point where they realize an extension is no longer likely, in part because of their own reluctance to assume that risk. So they shift into planning-for-the-future mode and explore getting a valuable asset for an excellent player who likely won’t be around long term.'They really mounted that better campaigning – that was the right tone, right messaging, right time,' says the outgoing Philippine president Published 2:31 PM, June 08, 2016 MANILA, Philippines – President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign was simply “better” than that of his rivals in the May 2016 polls. This was the assessment of outgoing President Benigno Aquino III when asked to comment on the victory of the Davao City mayor in the presidential elections. “Well again, the differentiation. ‘I am different.’ Very masterful way of campaigning. Am I running? Am I not running? And all the attendant [things]. We really have to hand it to him; them,” Aquino said in an interview with Rappler CEO Maria Ressa on Tuesday, June 7. In 2015, Duterte flip-flopped several times on his decision not to run. The mayor did not file his certificate of candidacy for president in October 2015, only to file for a substitution two months later. “They really mounted that better campaigning – that was the right tone, right messaging, right time,” he said. During the homestretch of the campaign, no less than Aquino himself asked for an anti-Duterte alliance among the mayor's rivals. “Towards the end, I was prevailed upon to try again by quarters who are not affiliated to any of our political parties. I tried again," the President recounted. He added: "There's another one, religious, 'Please lang subukan mo na baka sakali (Please just try. Who knows, it might work).' This was the last week of the campaign. I replied: 'I dont think everybody's predisposed to give way.' Baka naman (But maybe) these persons were sent by God to deliver a message. I tried again. Obviously, it failed. But at least we maintained communication." People’s anger? Duterte has relied heavily on social media to mobilize people online and on the ground. But Aquino, when asked on the anger against the administration seemingly evident online, refused to believe that the sentiments are “representative.” “Can I ask a question? How confident are you that what you see on social media is representative as opposed to the concept of trolls that everybody keeps talking about these days?” the President asked. Aquino added, “Organized volunteers would not have that much number of people." He cited instances when favorable posts for him were suddenly flooded with criticisms, done in an apparent organized manner. For the division not to worsen, Aquino said leaders, regardless of sectors “should ensure that fissures don’t really open up.” The President maintained the need for a “responsible” and “civil dialogue” to heal the country. “Perhaps we should remember that if we want to get to an agreement with anything, it has to be responsible dialogue and civil dialogue. We have tried to encourage whole spectrum of opinions regardless where it came from. I think records will bear me out that we keep on reaching out to even our vociferous critics. Whether it was successful or not, we attempted several times,” Aquino said. Tight-lipped Meanwhile, Aquino refused to answer most other questions on Duterte, especially on anything that may appear as unsolicited advice. He said he has no knowledge on what the incoming president will do in the future. When asked about criticisms regarding possible conflict of interest issues on Duterte's choice of Las Piñas Representative Mark Villar as public works secretary, Aquino said, "Can I leave those questions to the Commission on Appointments which is their function?" At one point, when asked if he has fears that the supposed gains of his administration would be reversed by the next government, Aquino only said, "That’s too speculative." – Rappler.comNEW YORK CITY — New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Sunday during the People’s Climate March that the city’s private sector buildings may be mandated to be retrofitted to adapt to the city’s green house gas emission reduction plan. “We are now the largest city on the earth to adopt the 80/50 standard. We are going to retrofit all of our public buildings. We are going to work with the public sector. We are going to work with the private sector to retrofit their buildings. I’ve said very clearly, I think the private sector is ready and willing. I think it’s in all of our interests,” he said. “It’s a matter of survival. We’ll work with them. We’ll incentivize. We’ll support. If that is not moving fast enough, we will move to mandates because we have to get there. This is a matter of survival.” Mayor de Blasio announced he was committed to an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, beginning with sweeping regulations among buildings in the city. According to the mayor’s office, the plan will be implemented via a “Compstat-like portal at the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Operations and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.” These offices and operations, according to the mayor’s administration, will “track the City and the private sector’s progress towards these goals with periodic updates and a public-facing web presence to report on progress each year.” Among other goals, the mayor’s plan expects every city building with significant energy use to be scheduled for an upgrade by 2025 and “challenge the City’s largest institutions and leaders in the private sector to commit to deep carbon reductions of 30 to 50 percent over ten years.”The long awaited arrival of Atlanta Falcons rookie defensive end Takkarist McKinley is finally here. This afternoon McKinley made his NFL debut against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a preseason game. Even though he didn’t get any sacks or make any tackles for a loss, McKinley did a good job of creating pressure when he was on the field. Here’s three highlights from Takk’s first half with the Falcons: Dobbs got the ball off but @Takk is there with a hit pic.twitter.com/Z5UQdOCDC1 — Carlton (@SlopingGiraffe) August 20, 2017 Takk with the bull rush pic.twitter.com/Yl4Bxsq54Y — Carlton (@SlopingGiraffe) August 20, 2017 Before the game, coach Dan Quinn told reporters that we would probably see about a half dozen snaps for McKinley today. At the half, McKinley has played 10 so it’s likely that his day is now over. Here’s a look at what McKinley did during those ten snaps, according to Pro Football Focus: Getting a QB hurry on one out of every four pass-rush snaps is an excellent ratio and indicative of McKinley’s potential. It’s only a matter of time before those hits and hurries turn into sacks. Related Takkarist McKinley to try playing special teams for FalconsKole Olsen wanted 200 chicken nuggets. When he couldn't have them, he went on a drunken rampage. (File photo) A New Zealand man has been fined for drink-driving in Australia after a bizarre rampage sparked by a lack of chicken McNuggets. Nine News reports that, earlier this month, Kole Olsen ordered 200 nuggets at Thornleigh McDonald's in Sydney, only to be told they weren't on the breakfast menu. Enraged after a night of partying, Olsen responded: "I want my f...... nuggets... I'm gonna f... you up". According to Nine News, he instead forked out A$230 (NZ$254) for 200 hash browns, but was locked out of the restaurant after abusing staff and driving around the car park, honking his horn in protest. READ MORE: 'We want sauce': Police called to calm angry crowd as McDonald's The IT worker was so drunk that he forgot what he ordered, and demanded a refund for 200 Big Macs and large fries after being locked out. Nine News reports that when police were called to the fast food outlet, they found Olsen drunk at the wheel in the car park. In Sydney's Hornsby Local Court on Thursday, Olsen, who claimed to be vegan, pleaded guilty to high-range drink-driving. He was fined A$1000 (NZ$1100), banned from driving for nine months, and placed on a one-year good behaviour bond.President Trump said Wednesday that he will sign an executive order allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines — a move that would expand consumers’ options and possibly lower costs. Trump called it a “very major” executive order that he would probably sign next week, so that “ people can go out across state lines, do lots of things, and buy their own healthcare.” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul first revealed Trump’s plan — long championed by conservatives as a market-based fix that would increase competition — on MSNBC Wednesday morning. “I think there’s going to be big news from the White House in the next week or two, something they can do on their own,” Paul said. Trump, he added, “can legalize on his own the ability of individuals to join a group or a health association across state lines and buy insurance.” The president, speaking to reporters on the South lawn of the White House as he prepared to departing to Indianapolis to deliver a speech on tax reform, also insisted that Republicans “have the votes” on healthcare reform despite the Senate’s latest failure to pass a bill to repeal Obamacare. He predicted another vote in January, February or March and said that, in the meantime, he would negotiate with Democrats on a bipartisan bill.Lexington, Virginia sits more than 2700 miles southeast of the Portland Timbers’ home. But it’ll raise few eyebrows as the town will host some Timbers Army activity this Saturday, Jan. 14, and for a timely cause. That day, the Blue Ridge Rangers, an official Timbers Army regional chapter based in central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, join the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade in Lexington. The idea, they say, is to support the league’s "Don't Cross the Line Campaign," as well as the international soccer community's effort to "Show Racism the Red Card." But they haven’t picked just any local Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade to do so. Lexington’s parade, organized by the group CARE (Community Anti-Racism Education), arose in direct response to recent events in the town. It’s become, according to CARE spokesperson Frederick Coye Heard, an annual battleground for “neo-Confederates” who wish to disrupt annual celebrations of King, Jr.’s life. “For the past several years, neo-Confederates and their allies have come to Lexington on the weekend of the federal MLK holiday and aggressively ‘flagged’ — what they call the activity of standing on sidewalks and street corners and waving Confederate flags as passers-by — our downtown,” says Heard. Though most of these people don’t live in Lexington, he says, they’re drawn to the city for their activities because Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee are buried there. They’ve also been angered when the city council refused to let them fly Confederate flags on town property, and when Washington and Lee University similarly refused to display replica Confederate flags in its chapel. “Now they are are attempting to intimidate the citizens of Lexington who want to celebrate Dr. King on a day they want reserved for Lost Cause propaganda,” says Heard. “We believe that nothing should be less controversial in 2017 than a community celebrating Dr. King's remarkable legacy on the weekend set aside nationally to honor his life and public ministry.” The idea is to celebrate unity, he says, welcoming all to participate, and celebrate Southern heritage, too, without using symbols of hate. Enter the Blue Ridge Rangers, who saw a ripe regional opportunity to spread the Timbers’ Army message of inclusiveness. Members Katherine Crowley, Nadjeeb Chouaf, Erik Jones, and Scott Behler got to work spreading the word among the local soccer community, asking them to join a group for the parade. “It's important to note that the Timbers Army and the 107ist — Independent Supporters Trust — have always aimed for inclusiveness and acceptance of all people, not just supporters,” says Behler. “We have a saying, ‘If you want to be Timbers Army, then you already are.’” This Blue Ridge Rangers, naturally, join the event with with full blessing from Portland. “The Timbers Army has a strong culture of social activism and a history of taking stands in support of diversity and equality,” says member Erik Jones. “They practically insisted that we move forward with the plan, and sent us Timbers Army and Cascadia flags to carry, along with a number of rainbow flags.” They’ll also march in Lexington’s parade with support from clubs and fans from around the league. Columbus Crew SC sent them an official kit for someone to wear; supporters from Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas, D.C., and Minnesota mailed gear as well. It’s purposeful for turbulent times, says Behler, who hopes, with his group’s participation in the parade, to show the unifying power of soccer. “I felt that this was a good way to show support for those who [feel] scared or threatened,” he says. “Soccer is something that can transcend cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, and geographical divides. We know this because it is the most popular game in the world, so we see it as an opportunity to let the beautiful game do what it has done for years: bring people together.” The parade takes place on Sat. Jan 14 at 10 a.m. ET, and you can check out visuals on the group’s social media via Facebook and Twitter. And naturally, this isn’t the last of their good-doing works for the near future. Next up, the Blue Ridge Rangers plan to produce merchandise, with all proceeds going to charity. They’re also joining a nationwide food drive organized by fellow Timbers supporters’ groups the Timbers Army Covert Ops (Seattle) and Eastern Bloc (Oregon, east of the Willamette Valley). “Obviously, as fans, we’re by definition very passionate people,” says Jones. “It’s nice, when the opportunity arises, to harness that energy and apply it to things that are more important than soccer.” Full details about Lexington, Virginia’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade can be found at carerockbridge.org.We have a tendency to add "R" to important things or people, or to be important. In Beijing they are famous for adding the /r/ sound to their words. The letter is often added or dropped (for example, simulating a Boston accent: “Pawk the caw in Hawvawd yawd/Park the car in Harvard yard”). When one says it alone, one sounds like Austin Powers, "Rrrrrr," so it suggests sexual interest. Sex is both about conquest (domination) and scratching an itch (orgasm), so "R" has a sense of growling, which suggests power as well as an aphrodisiac-ish warning (think lion or kitten, ready to pounce: there’s a sense of play, of toying with their prey). "R" has long been used in words suggesting "royalty" (roi). In both Ancient Egyptian and Chinese, the sound means the sun, the ultimate royalty, god, and higher power. One of the aspects of the sun is that it returns every day, and on emails one sees "Re" because it is coming back at you, constantly rising, so of course, there's the sexual metaphor again. “Re” means everything about up and frequent. To try to apply one definition, one meaning to a letter is difficult because that is like mapping 4,000 years of history onto one idea. Probably not logical. In Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic the /r/ sound was a "little head." It simplifies to a flag-like character in Phoenician, and the Greeks turn it into our letter "P," though still pronounced /r/. In Hebrew it is "resh," perhaps like in "aggression." Little heads, flags, rrrrr all bespeak aggression and testosterone. Why is it "right" and not "wrong." Or "right" and not "left" (the sinister side). Everything about "R" suggests power, and "er" or "or" are the endings we give to every kind of job: plumber, lawyer, doctor, teacher, etc. It’s their jobs, that “er.” In Ancient Egyptian, pig was “rri” and if you hang around pigs, their job is to root, they are always pushing, always coming at you, always returning. So why is /r/ heard in in “colonel” when there is no “r.” There is a definite “r/l” relationship. They are both liquids (Liquid consonant). The stereotype of the Chinese is that they would say “rots of ruck” for “lots of luck.” Their /r/ in the word for “sun” does require that you bare your teeth and tuck your tongue behind them, so it’s /r/ with more effort. Also, a colonel is an aggressive male who likes to dominate. “Kernal” is also the seed, and the one leading is the controller of the masses, just like the seed is the map for the entity. Metaphor is all over language, and we are pretty much oblivious. OED says the word is not related to “corona” or “crown,” but I think humans are simple and words have clusters of meaning-sound relationships. We have unconscious bias. I haven't spent as much time on the letter “R” as I have at the beginning of the alphabet: if you are interested in an alternative view to linguistics, check out http://www.OriginofAlphabet.com. I have a theory that the underpinning of written language is female mammals. I have studied Mandarin for six years in pursuit of this, plus read more than 100 nonfiction books on the topic (bibliography is online). I have spent 1.5 years in China in the last 3 years teaching 355 students college English…plus so much more. I love them. I take them to throw pots, to practice swimming, out to dinner, to gardens, and more. I wanted to know them as individuals. I have some very bright students. I will go back Fall of 2017 to teach my second novel Catalyst, which will be published by Soochow University in both Chinese and English.I work in the lab a lot. One of the tasks that I often perform is: Blowing away my VCSA (or Windows vCenter Server), Redeploying it, and Reattaching it to a cluster that is running vSAN. As a result of a new VCSA deployment, only a few SPBM policies will be present. Any previously available SPBM polices are lost with the previous VCSA instance. PowerCLI cmdlets There is a PowerCLI cmdlet that will allow administrators to export SPBM policies. Basically the cmdlet is “Export the policy named ~whatever~ and put it in X folder” Export-SpbmStoragePolicy -StoragePolicy $policy -FilePath 'folder\file path' The named policy is exported as an xml file that looks something like this: The Import-SpbmStoragePolicy PowerCLI cmdlet allows administrators to import the SPBM xml. Import-SpbmStoragePolicy -Name policyname -Description description -FilePath 'folder\file.xml' These 2 cmdlets make it easy to download/upload an SPBM policy xml file. What about multiple policies? But what if you have many policies? These cmdlets work one policy at a time. To export many policies, we’d need to enumerate the policies in vCenter. # Get a list of all the storage policies on the specified vCenter Server $StoragePolicies = Get-SpbmStoragePolicy -Server $Server # Enumerate the list of storage policies Foreach($StoragePolicy in $StoragePolicies) { # Get the name of the policy that is being exported. $PolicyName = $StoragePolicy.Name Export-SpbmStoragePolicy -FilePath $Path -StoragePolicy $StoragePolicy.Name -Server $Server } Importing many policies would work the same way, but each policy would have to be passed to the cmdlet. The path and xml policy file names could be part of an array, or read directly from a directory. Grabbing all the files in a path would look something like this: $PolicyFiles = Get-ChildItem $FilePath -Filter *.xml To handle each of them, we can use Foreach again. Foreach ($PolicyFile in $PolicyFiles) To see what each file contains, we’ll need to parse it. # Get the PolicyFile Path $PolicyFilePath = $PolicyFile.FullName # Get the contents of the file $xml = (Get-Content $PolicyFilePath) # Grab the name of the policy so it may be set properly in vCenter $PolicyName = $xml.PbmCapabilityProfile.Name.'#text' # Grab the description of the policy so it may be set properly in vCenter $PolicyDescription = $xml.PbmCapabilityProfile.Description.'#text' # Import the policy Import-SpbmStoragePolicy -Name $PolicyName -Description $PolicyDescription -FilePath $PolicyFile The Result After a little cleanup and error handling, the resulting script can allow the backup and recovery of storage policies into a new vCenter instance. The completed script can be found on the VMware Developer site at the following URL: https://developercenter.vmware.com/samples?id=1661 Enjoy!On Saturdays, we ask the people behind some of our favorite websites to fill in for us. You get to learn about an awesome site you may not have heard of, and we get to watch cartoons in our boxers. Today we're bringing you the truth behind some sex ideas that sound great, but are actually terrible, from Philalawyer.net. If you're like me, and I think you are, seeing as we both share an affinity for the internet, you're probably bored with all the constant sex you're having. Even when it's with another person. It's always the same - the missionary, the dog style, that thing where you put the Saran Wrap over her face. You find yourself thinking, "There's got to be more than this, some new ideas to spice things up." There are, but it's not all good... Advertisement 7 Filming It We're both putting on the just-out-college-in-first-job twenty five. I barely fit in my Dockers and have an impressive set of B-cup man-breasts. Your ass is expanding faster than the Chinese economy, and you're really insecure about it. Let's film ourselves fucking. We'll do it on the futon, in your efficiency unit. You have fluorescent reading lights next to your bed, right? I want to make sure we get all my backne, and those hairy moles on your thigh. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Problem No. 1: She never wants to have sex again. Problem No. 2: That's fine with you. 6 Mutual Masturbation I'm naked, you're naked, and we both want to get off. Here's a thought... Why don't we do exactly what we would if neither one of us could get laid? In front of each other. Problem No. 1: Ever jerk off in the mirror? Yeah, it's that ugly. Problem No. 2: She's competitive. Problem No. 3: She's never going to win.LONDON — A close aide to former Prime Minister Tony Blair made a defiantly unrepentant appearance on Tuesday before the panel investigating Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war, saying Britain should “be really proud of the role that we played in changing Iraq from what it was to what it is now becoming.” Under five hours of questioning, the longest any witness has spent before the panel since the inquiry began in November, the aide, Alastair Campbell, former communications director for Mr. Blair, offered an unapologetic view of the war that contrasted strongly with the often tentative and regretful tone of senior officials who preceded him as witnesses. At one point, plunging into an issue that has been a touchstone for many in Britain who believe that the country was deceived by Mr. Blair over intelligence indicating that Saddam Hussein had chemical or biological weapons, Mr. Campbell said he defended “every single word” of a controversial government dossier produced by 10 Downing Street in September 2002, which cited intelligence indicating that Iraq could launch such weapons within 45 minutes. Mr. Campbell, who was closely involved in the dossier’s preparation, denied he had tried to “beef up” judgments made by the principal author of the dossier, Sir John Scarlett, a top intelligence official who was later appointed by Mr. Blair to lead MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service. The 45-minute claim has often been cited by war opponents as evidence of the readiness of Mr. Blair and his officials to cite any evidence, however dubious, in support of their determination to go to war. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “At no point did anybody from the prime minister down say to anybody within the intelligence services, ‘You have got to tailor it to fit this judgment or that judgment’ ” Mr. Campbell said. “The whole way through, it could not have been made clearer to anybody that nothing would override the intelligence judgments and that John Scarlett was the person, if you like, who had the single pen.”Rio's Olympic Village: Patriotic Manicures, Not A Lot Of Coffee Athletes from around the world are arriving at the Olympic Village set up just for them. It's a huge place offering a chance to grab a burger or have your nails adorned with your home country's flag. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: The Olympic flame is nearly there for tomorrow night's opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Some 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries are being housed in a gigantic athletes village. NPR's Melissa Block went to check it out. (SOUNDBITE OF PHILIP SHEPPARD AND LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF JULIAN FELIPE'S "LUPANG HINIRANG") MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE: Each country's delegation is welcomed with pomp, anthem and flag-raising at the plaza just outside the village. When I visit, it's the Philippines' turn. This is really more of a city than a village - dozens of 17-story apartment buildings festooned with the flags and banners of the delegations staying there - Angola, Greece, Kazakhstan. On one tower, the go-Poland banners are overshadowed by we are Hun-believable (ph). Once the athletes settle in, they can get free beauty treatments at the P&G salon, where they'll find lead stylist Betsy Pourvakil. BETSY POURVAKIL: So we're doing patriotic looks with the nails, doing country flag and country flag colors. BLOCK: Athlete Jackson Vicent is a rower in singles sculls from Venezuela. His country is in crisis with an economy in tatters and horrific crime. Maybe, he says, the Olympics can provide a bit of diversion back home. JACKSON VICENT: (Through interpreter) Absolutely. As athletes, we want to bring that smile, to bring happiness to our country. Obviously, there are terrible things happening at the moment. But we are certain better times will come, and our work will be to give people in Venezuela something to be happy about. BLOCK: This will be the second Olympics for Egyptian archer Ahmed El-Nemr. He's mostly happy, but there is a problem. AHMED EL-NEMR: Actually, yes, I have some complains about coffee (laughter). BLOCK: He's been shocked to find there is
former aides interviewed for this article. As much as anything else, her ambivalence about the race, they told us, reflects her distaste for and apprehension of a rapacious, shallow and sometimes outright sexist national political press corps acting as enablers for her enemies on the right. Clinton isn’t insane, and she’s not stupid. “When you get beat up so often, you just get very cautious,” says Mike McCurry, her husband’s former press secretary, who joined the White House team to find a first lady traumatized by the coverage of her failed Hillarycare initiative. “She [has] had a very practical view of the media. … ‘I have to be careful, I’m playing with fire.’” When it comes to the "objective" national press, the fire has always been an easily directed gas burner she can turn on and off -- and a flamethrower to direct at that "vast right-wing conspiracy" that somehow caused her husband to cheat on her. What's "insane" is saying she has to fear Brian Williams or Diane Sawyer or..... George Stephanopoulos. NBC hired her daughter as a correspondent! This is how Politico summed up: "Of course, there’s a chance Clinton really has finally mellowed out, that the new generation of reporters and editors has grown bored with the old fight (or too young to remember it), or that the pulverized, twitterized national media are now simply incapable of coalescing into a conspiratorial posse out to destroy her. And maybe, just maybe, Clinton is finally willing to really play the game." Claiming the liberal media would ever be a "conspiratorial posse out to destroy her" isn't playing a game. It suggests she needs a drug test or a Breathalyzer. Conservative bloggers and media outlets? They're the only ones who would hold her accountable. Her paranoia there might be more understandable.Starting XI: Wes Knight Starting XI 1.) How excited are you to play in Vancouver in the upcoming Canadian Championship? Wes: “Obviously I’m buzzing to have the opportunity to come back to where it all began. I spent my formative years as both a player and a young man in Vancouver developing a lot of friendships throughout those years. I am excited not only to play, but to see some familiar faces in the stands at BC Place!” 2.) What is your favourite soccer playing memory in a Whitecaps jersey? Wes: “My favorite moment as a Cap would have to be the opening day assist that I had to seal the victory for the franchise against TFC. It was a culmination of who I am as a person/player and my interest for the club all wrapped up into one play. I couldn’t have been happier to represent Vancouver at that moment having transitioned with the club from the second division.” 3.) How excited are you to be playing in Edmonton this season? Wes: “I’m excited to be in a position now where I can start to lead and help young players with their adaptation to the professional game. There is good young talent here and they are focused on bringing proven senior players in to help them grow and I am excited to be a part of that.” 4.) Who is the best player you have ever played against? Wes: “The best player I have ever played against were both in the same game. Defensively marking Balotelli was a huge task and on the opposite end it was fun to take on Clichy in the attacking half. Both elite level players whose jerseys I have framed!” 5.) Who is the most skilled teammate you have ever played with? Wes: “Davide Chiumiento, without question! He would do juggling tricks in the locker room with oranges before practice. His relationship with the ball was unreal. You couldn’t take the ball off of him in a phone booth.” 6.) Who is your favourite soccer player of all time? Wes: “Ronaldinho for me because he purely loved what he did. He always played with the biggest smile and was the innovator of the moves that the most skillful players still use today i.e. Neymar, Hazard, the younger Cristiano.” 7.) What are you thoughts on the MLS trying to trademark the Cascadia Cup and take it from the Vancouver, Seattle and Portland supporters? Wes: I think this is another sad byproduct of the single entity system by which MLS operates. Hopefully they will do whatever it takes to involve the respective supporters groups in any decisions moving forward involving the Cup. 8.) How hungry are you to get back to the MLS? Wes: “Obviously I am always hungry to play at the highest level, and I had the opportunity to join an MLS team this offseason but it made more financial sense for me to come to Edmonton instead. It’s always been a goal of mine, and some may say I wasn’t given the fairest opportunity in Vancouver, but I like to look at the standing of the club before I stopped playing as opposed to the end of that season as the proof that the players who got dropped had a bit of success.” 9.) When you were released from Vancouver a lot of the Southsider supporters where not happy with the way it was done. How did you think Tom Soehn handled the situation? Wes: “I think the way Tommy handled himself as a whole in Vancouver is evidence of why he is no longer with the club. His track record speaks for itself. Without going too far into detail, I wish Tommy well wherever he ends up.” 10.) You are still a Southsider legend and fan favorite in this city. Do you have a favourite tifo or chant from your Whitecaps days? Wes: “Everything that the Southsiders did for me was a favorite to me. They would invite my family to cookouts, got my father a sweet deal on a really nice bike, introduced me to their kids, signed my scarf and tifo which hang in my room to this day. I will forever be a Southsider.” 11.) What are your personal goals this season? Wes: “I want to be a best XI player, no matter what position I am called on (RM or RB). I put more emphasis on my attacking skill set this offseason with the intention of having more quality in the final third. Also, I would love to come back to BC Place to a warm reception and showing well for myself and the fans.” Extra Time 12.) What is your favourite city to play soccer in? Wes: “Vancouver and Seattle, goes without saying.” 13.) There will be many Whitecaps fans in Edmonton for the game this year. What kind of reception are you expecting from them? Wes: “I hope a friendly one, but I do know how much they love their Caps, I guess the reception remains to be seen.” Wes comes to Vancouver May 1st in the 2nd leg of the Whitecaps vs FC Edmonton match for the Amway Canadian Championship. Stay tuned next week for another surprise guest… Aaron Campbell @AaCamp81Back in October 2011 I was in the New York Comic Con, camera in hand and taking some portraits of pretty awesome costumed people. It was during this event that I saw a very impressive GLaDOS costume created and worn by a young girl named Brittany. Sometime after the Comic Con, we planned a proper photo-shoot for the character, an opportunity to use the underground tunnels available to use that went perfectly with the character. Seeing Brittany out of character was a surprise, as she seemed like a shy geeky cheerful girl who became the avatar of the calmly menacing and graceful GLaDOS. It was one of my smoother shoots and a great pleasure working with Ms. Brittany and I look forward to seeing her again in the future. Model: http://britthebadger.wordpress.com/( December 9,1902 – May 16,1985) was the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch in MGM's 1939 filmand Aunt Em in Hamilton's film career began in 1933, when she recreated her Broadway role in the movie version of Another Language. By the time she was cast as the Wicked Witch, she had already made 25 films. (Hamilton worked more than many actors in her day, because she freelanced instead of signing a studio contract, and cleverly kept her salary below $1000 per week.)[1] She had previously played the Witch onstage, in two community theater productions. On 23 December 1938, while filming the Wicked Witch's exit from Munchkinland in a blaze of fire, Hamilton suffered first-degree burns on the right side of her face and second-degree burns on her right hand; the flames rose too soon, before she had descended below the stage. Hamilton's green makeup was copper-based and potentially toxic, and had to be removed from her burned flesh with alcohol — an intensely painful process. She was not able to return to the movie until 10 February. When she did return, she wore green gloves, since her hand was not yet fully healed.[2] Hamilton's infamous Witch's laugh blew out sound equipment circuits. For several weeks after she completed work on her role, Hamilton's complexion retained a green tinge from the Witch's makeup. When the film was previewed for test audiences in June 1939, Hamilton's performance as the Witch was perceived as too frightening. In a letter dated 16 July, L. Frank Baum's granddaughter Florence wrote to Ruth Plumly Thompson about a preview three weeks earlier: "It was very good, although the Witch was so terrifying that some small children had to be taken out." The final edit of the film removed a least a dozen lines of the Witch's dialogue to tone down her effect.[3] Margaret Hamilton had previously played with Oz castmate Frank Morgan in By Your Leave and There's Always Tomorrow (both 1934) and Saratoga (1937). She would appear with Judy Garland again in Babes in Arms (1939), with Jack Haley in George White's Scandals (1945), and with Ray Bolger in The Daydreamer (1966). And she appeared with Clara Blandick in three films from 1934 to 1950. In the finished film, Hamilton's Wicked Witch has twelve minutes of screen time. Hamilton worked on the production for four months, and earned precisely $18,541.68.[4] Prior to her acting career, Hamilton had worked as a kindergarden teacher. She made efforts to stay true to her roots by promoting elementary education throughout her life. In 1948 she was elected to a school board in Beverly Hills, California. In the 1970s she donated considerable amounts of money to Public Broadcasting Service, in particular the Children's Television Workshop, in an effort to promote early learning. Hamilton provided the voice for Aunt Em in the 1974 animated film Journey Back to Oz. in 1975 Hamilton appeared on the PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Hamilton appeared in an episode of Sesame Street which aired February 10, 1976, reprising her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz (1939). Reportedly, her performance scared so many children that their parents wrote in to CTW, saying their kids were too scared to watch the show anymore. As a result of the overwhelming reaction, this episode never re-aired. As of 2018, no record of the show exists save for one still photograph showing Hamilton sitting besides Oscar the Grouch in his trash can. It is unknown whether or not any live-action footage of it still exists. Hamilton appeared in the Paul Lynde Halloween Special which aired October 29, 1976. She appeared as both herself and the Wicked Witch of the West. Also present was Billie Hayes as her "sister" Witchiepoo, from the series H.R. Pufnstuf. In the 70's she appeared in several PSA commercial and provided the role of Cora the store clerk that only sells Maxwell House Coffee Hamilton died in her sleep on May 16th 1985 from a heart attack in a nursing home in Salsbury Connecticut at the age of 82 Gallery Add an image ReferencesLetters to the Editor www.stankovuniversallaw.com George, Today’s posts from Kathleen and Ibrahim Hassan brought one question to my mind. Do these individuals experience LBP? I would also ask this of Jahn as well. What attracted me to your website was not your knowledge of physics and the Law of One writings. As brilliant as they are, I am not trained in physics to understand them fully, but your earlier articles on LBP was what sold me on the fact that this man ”George Stankov” has been proven by the fire of personal experience as I have that he personally understands the ascension process. I am not saying any of the above writers have not experienced this, but I have not read about it if they have. Many can write prophetic messages, but to personally experience, that is where the rubber meets the road. Each day I feel more detached. The body is so fatigued and cumbersome in the morning. I sleep more at night and in the day the last few days and this adds to the lethargy. How much more processing remains to be seen. Very thirsty right now and requiring little food. Fill up easily on small amounts. It is probably not doable that we will experience any comfort now until the end, as so much has been displaced in the lower realms. Jerry ______________________________ __ Dear Jerry, this is a key question, around which the wheat is separated from the chaff. This is a leitmotif on our website. Jahn is not in the LBP and he has admitted this, but he is the only person, whom I know, who has no personal physical experience with this process, but is able to understand all its implications at the individual and at the collective level, as I have had an extensive personal communication with him on this issue. His soul has decided not to be engaged so intensively in the LBP as the PAT for whatever reasons. All other people who appear as prophets on the scene, have no idea what they are talking about when they refer to ascension and insofar your objection is more than timely. Today (August 6) is another cc-wave with a moderate headache for me, but this was definitely another push to higher dimensions. which we now accomplish in an incremental manner. This brings some new implications with it, which I intend to discuss in the coming days in case we have the time and I receive some more detailed information. I have asked Carla and April to provide it, but they are both knocked down also by these relentless waves and cannot contact their sources. George ______________________________ ______ Dear Dr. Stankov, Very good day. On Sunday (August 4) at about 2 in the afternoon I started to present strong symptoms like dizziness, nausea, headache, blurred vision and the typical hum. This went on until evening and forced me to go to bed around 7. Fortunately I managed to sleep throughout the night, but the symptoms persisted throughout the day Monday, intensifying in at night to such an extent that it was impossible to sleep before 11. I’m much better today. On the other hand my financial situation for about three months has been in free fall and I had to resort to borrowing from credit cards to cover basic needs, as the small business that I had been serving as sustenance since I retired from industrial maintenance, is bankrupt. Of course this does not bother me in the least, even though all the cards I have pushed to the limit. The collapse of the economy in this country (Venezuela), it’s a fact. Regards Luis González ______________________________ ________ Dear Luis, thank you for this latest update. Your finances are still better off than that of the US government as I will show in an article that I will publish in the next hours. http://www. stankovuniversallaw.com/2013/ 08/worldwide-financial-crash- gains-momentum-obama- government-dump-10-trillion- usd-liabilities-rest-world/ George ______________________________ ________ Hi George, Love and light to you in the most wondrous time. I am writing with great thanks, without your website I would most certainly go insane wondering if what is happening “to” me is normal. I’ve spent most of my life feeling out of place, fighting guilt from friends and family because I would not, could not, become a mindless Christian drone-because none of what they were trying to shove down my throat made sense! I have always felt out of place, an alien in a strange land without a GPS – ignoring my true internal guidance system after lifetime of conditioning. Finally an acquaintance recommended I read Clow’s-Pleiadian Agenda, and from that moment I was never alone. My world exploded with possibilities as I began to understand my true family was out there, and most importantly, I wasn’t crazy. Last year I began following Steve, especially AAM changelings. After the excitement ended and 2013 rolled around it became blatantly clear something was not right. There was no real insight as to why our long awaited event had not taken place, and to my irritation he mostly ignored the subject. In January I no longer followed his posts, which all now seemed empty and lifeless. It makes sense now knowing his material was copied-right down to the website template. Long story short – I began following your posts after I found a link to them on my tumblr feed, and have been hooked ever since. My utmost thanks and appreciation, for Stankov & Co, has been the sole reason I have experienced an alleviation to the pain of being alone, feeling separated from my real family, and understanding why going through it was a necessity. I feel guilt even saying this, if my current incarnation’s family knew I didn’t feel they were my real family, they would be very hurt, and I do have great love for them, as I do All That Is; however it cannot be compared to the longing I feel to reunite with my Star Family. I feel the time is near, but as so many times in the past, truth has been so intertwined with longing that the two are inseparable. Thank you for giving some sort of direction in the storm. Many of us who remain quiet are here in silent thanks. We will follow you as long as you can remain to give direction – your sacrifice in the upliftment of those in your wake is ever appreciated! Love & Light Beth ______________________________ ________ Dear Beth, I am humbled by your praise and appreciation and I take it as a personal praise for your sacrifice and that of the PAT. Our mission is momentous and beyond anything humanity has experienced so far. I am happy that you have found us after a long search in the esoteric maze. This is the destiny of most PAT members. We are indeed in the last throes and our longing for the pristine realms is sometimes fueling our impatience that does not consider the enormous complexity of the ascension process that is unique in the whole universe. But this time all signs point out to the imminent countdown. With love and light George ______________________________ ______________ Hi George, I am truly thankful for your site and all the info shared! Your numbers might be on the rise as your site has been mentioned here (people seeking an explanation of the recent GaiaPortal Message) http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/ 2013/08/04/gaiaportal-gaia- energy-message-august-3-2013/ Kelly ______________________________ ______________ Dear Kelly, thank you very much for this link. I would not have come to the idea of reading these comments as normally I do not have the time for this. But this all is very revealing. All of a sudden the people begin to wake up and see the world with new, wide open eyes and then they come to us, rediscovering our website, which is existing for more than two years now, but has been deliberately neglected by most failed LW as it is beyond their intellectual and vibrational horizon. With love and light George PS: I checked that this is your first contact with me and the PAT. Thank you for this and please write in the future on my private email address as we have some minor technical problems with the website email address. ______________________________ _____________ Dear Georgi, Last night, as I lay peacefully in bed, I closed my eyes and just focused on “Ascension and Miracles”. And then I witnessed colors and spirals and the most beautiful energy that I am unable to describe to you in words. Please ease up on our spiritual brother (Ibrahim Hassan). Just because he does not go back and explain why his failed or wrong visions did not happen does not diminish his work in any way. Perhaps he does not serve as a nurse in the manner that you do. Perhaps his walk with spirit is slightly different. Besides, while it helps that you did correct yours, the truth of the matter is that we all love you so much we understood before you wrote. Charlotte ______________________________ ___ Dear Charlotte, why should I ease my training program on this ongoing ascended master? If he wants to enter the Champion league, I have to couch him hard according to the challenges he will meet in this upper league. I am fairly sure that he will qualify. George ______________________________ _______ George, On the World of Truth thing, I get the impression that guy thinks that your group is all in one geographical place. I’d assume he thinks Germany since that’s where you are. He’d said something about where the PAT were located and then also commented on another group in India. I wonder if he grasps that the PAT are located all over the globe. Rick ______________________________ _______ Dear Rick This is another proof that Ibrahim Hassan still thinks very provincially and locally and has no proper idea of the true situation on the ground as he does not participate in the actual ascension process but only comments on it. George ______________________________ __________ Dear Georgi, I just came across this piece of news: The US government filed two lawsuits against Bank of America relating to fraud on $850m (£553m) of mortgage-backed securities. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed parallel suits in North Carolina. Attorney General Eric Holder said the government wanted “justice for those who have been victimized.” It appears this morally and financially bankrupt US government is actually attempting to blame the banking sector solely and make themselves appear as righteous protectors of the fraud victims. This tactical move seems a desperate one, attempting to clean their own filthy hands, denying the government’s obvious influence on the banking sector. Yours truly, Zoltán ______________________________ ___ Dear Zoltan, this is absolutely correct as these crimes of Bank of America are old and known since 2008. This means that the Obama government is in a mouse hole and has no way to escape bankruptcy. Now the ruling US cabal try to put the blame on private companies. George ______________________________ _______ Mr Stankov: A fellow Lightworker and twitter follower of mine pointed out to me today that you had mentioned my site/blog (BryanHallsAwakening. wordpress.com) and I wanted to get in touch with you directly to say “THANK YOU”! Of course, I was VERY excited, and am MOST grateful as well! A few days ago, I had re-blogged your article about “The Worldwide Bank Crash has Commenced”, which I found to be an EXCELLENT piece. It has brought some views to my site (which I should also thank you for), and evidently, has assisted in bringing an influx of views to your site as well. ;) More importantly, it has spread your work even further, assisting (I hope) many more people in their awakening. Funny thing is, just before composing this message to you, I took a glance at my site’s stats for today … and the hits have increased yet again! Why? Because YOU mentioned MY site (thank you … again!!) and have brought the aforementioned article back up to the most-viewed for today on my blog! An added touch of ‘Divine synchronicity’ is that your site, listed atop of ‘referrers’ to my site for today, has sent 111 clicks! Yes, 111. I actually took a quick screen-shot of it using Greenshot, just so I could show you if I happen to be blessed with a more direct method of contacting you. In short, I wanted to tell you how much I love your work, even though, admittedly, I am only beginning to scratch the surface of it, and to also send you a warm, heart-felt ‘Thank You’ for mentioning my site/blog! Keep up the great work! Much love to you & yours! <3 In Peace & Light: Bryan Hall BryanHallsAwakening.wordpress. com ______________________________ _______________ Dear Bryan, you are welcome and this surge in visitations in the last days tells us that now there is an explosion in awakening among the masses, which is the most sure sign that the big events are just around the corner. I will have a more closer view on your website today and in the next days as at present I am overwhelmed by the news that herald the MPR. I have just published another article on finance and the impending crash of the Orion monetary system, which is actually a follow-up of this previous article you have published on your website. http://www. stankovuniversallaw.com/2013/ 08/worldwide-financial-crash- gains-momentum-obama- government-dump-10-trillion- usd-liabilities-rest-world/ I think it could be of interest to you as this news is indeed significant. I have followed Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac intensively since the early 90s and predicted their bankruptcy many years before it happened. My opinion is that this is the major stumbling block that will topple down the whole financial system, just as the subprime mortgage crisis unleashed the biggest crash after the Great Depression. Wish you all the best in the coming most auspicious days on this planet. With love and light George ______________________________ _________ Dear Georgi, I have send a link from your site to the ET site, because I saw a discussion there and I wanted them to know about you and your PAT and your site.. From that moment on a lot more people that are awake, but no PAT members can read your information and they are very happy with all the information on your site. These people are from everywhere all over our beautiful Planet. I follow your site for about 2 years now and it resonates perfectly with me and with my ascension aches and pains.. bless you for all your good work on Gaia!! Hope to see you all in 5D Love to you ALL Wilma, Holland ______________________________ ____ Dear Wilma, thank you very much for you effort to popularize the ideas of Ascension as presented on our website in Holland and for your appreciation of our information. The more the people enter the new energies and progress in their individual LBP the more they realize the importance and relevance of this information, which was considered too ephemeral before that. A human being can only appreciate what he himself physically experiences and everything else is discarded as fantasy. This is the current level of human primitiveness. With love and light George ______________________________ _____ Dear Georgi, I would like to bring this to the attention of the PAT, noted today: http://www.ufodigest.com/ article/mysterious-hum-0806 The Orions are getting exceedingly desperate at the end and bombarding us with outrageous noises. Thank you for the marvelous updates. Naturally, there is nothing about financial news on American TV. Even the German news on TV that we get here has nothing on the end, but endless murders in Turkey and on the Romanis. A sad state of affairs. Love and Light, Henry (USA) ______________________________ ________ Dear Henry, I wonder if this could be HAARP that is now activated by the dark cabal as to trigger a devastating earthquake, as this has been done on the lower 4D earths. With love and light George ______________________________ ___________ Dear Georgi, look at this article about the impending financial crash of the USA http://www.naturalnews.com/ 041298_unfunded_liabilities_ retiree_pensions_government_ confiscation.html it confirms it’s happening. ciao Paolo ______________________________ ___________ Dear Paolo, these are the symptoms of a debt economy that has no real assets at all. The USA do not produce anything any more, just as GB, contrary to Germany and even Italy. That is why these two economies are most broke. When the crisis starts, they will go under within 24 hours as there is no real money nowhere in these countries, but only debt. George ______________________________ ___________ Dear George, is there another strong wave going on right now (August 7)? Feeling extreme nausea and my left arm hurts (lymphostasis – which is usually a sign of massive transformation energies for me). Would be grateful for a short confirmation. Love and light to you!! Sandra, Munich ______________________________ ____ Dear Sandra, I personally do not feel such a wave now, but the level of intensity is very high altogether. George ______________________________ ____ August 5th, Pattie Brassard, NASA Whistleblower…2 videos regarding twin suns http://yourtubenews.ning.com/ forum/topic/show?id=3181219% 3ATopic%3A570284&xgs=1&xg_ source=msg_share_topic Just started tuning it but HS told me to send it to you now without completing my review. Marylin ______________________________ ________ Dear Marylin, I heard this one also as I was made aware of it by another PAT member. This interview seems to make waves. But it is too much centered on survival and does not discuss the broader picture. But all these news are very indicative of what will come very soon and the people are picking it up. George ______________________________ _______ WOW! Found you thru the banking collapse e-mail which came from another website I follow. This is the first place I’ve come across that seems to speak more to my own experience! Most LW websites and their many “message” and directives have left me cold, and I have felt only my own Inner Teacher could ever be counted on to guide me. Many years i have wondered why none of the ideas about the “new earth” held any appeal for me, or why, when I know I can help others with release of ego and healing of the past, there are no “ears to hear”. Right now I have been given two people who want what I can give, and you have answered for me the question of why I have and need no more. Thank you. This is the place I will go for all the info I need at this time of ascension. Pam ______________________________ ________ Dear Pam, I am very happy that you have found us in the proverbial last minute. But better late than never, as I use to say. Your Odyssey through the esoteric New Age maze is paradigmatic for all PAT members and this is a sure sign that you have come home. With love and light George ______________________________ _______ Hey George, FEMA Demanding 24 Hour Delivery of Emergency Food Reserves Feds preparing for calamity? The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is contacting storable food suppliers requesting immediate delivery of food reserves within a 24 hour period, increasing suspicions that the federal government is accelerating its preparations for social disorder or an environmental calamity. http://www.infowars.com/fema- demanding-24-hour-delivery-of- emergency-food-reserves/ In case you have not seen this. Hey, this only means we are that much closer. L&L, Jon ______________________________ _______ This is significant news indeed. Let us see if there will be more information on this. George ______________________________ ___________ Hallo George, I’m following your web site since a couple of year, yet. Thank you for ALL the work you do. It’s the first time I write you; I don’t know why, but I found this article out and I felt you could be interested in – probably you already know it. The sun magnetic field is about to flip: http://science.nasa.gov/ science-news/science-at-nasa/ 2013/05aug_fieldflip/ Take care, Francesco ______________________________ _________ Dear Francesco, thank you for contacting me for the first time and for sending me this link. I read this article already and it is rather interesting, although the MPR of the sun every 11 years is a well-known fact. Bu the present information by the NASA is surely related to the coming MPR of the earth. With love and light George ______________________________ ____________ Hi Georgi, Well I am having all kinds of openings and awareness these days as pertains to myself. Two nights ago I saw my energetic body and was able to implant a healing cycle within it for my hip and a few other things. It has since been made quite clear to me that since this was done on an energetic level that there is no more to do other than to await the results, which I have noticed are in the works. Last night and today I can feel the hip realigning itself even though it hurts. I know somewhere within that it is just making itself whole again. I also feel myself awakening to my task, whatever that is that I am here for. I have some idea and yet nothing concrete. Still it is refreshing to know that I am clear and clean within to hold the energy that is coming for me now. I am being told that many will ascend between the 12th of August and the 21st of September and yet not as we believe it to be. That those who choose to leave are those who are not to return to this dimensionality and that it is only those who are through with their task here, which is a small number. That what we are coming to is the boiling point, where things will explode on the Planet and in the consciousness of humanity and bring forth many more who are ready for ascension and send back many who are just not by their choices. That the full ascension process for humanity and the Planet will take place between Jan and March of 2014 when everything and all things will change. I am well and just awaiting the movement from here to the next step. I like all of us want it to be within the time frame that you have outlined and all I can do is to wait and see what comes. Many Blessings to you Georgi One Love; Anthony ______________________________ _____________ Dear Anthony, these are excellent news, especially with your healing at a higher energetic level. This is possible now. As Carla must have told you, I have sent the PAT donation in Canadian dollars on Monday to her bank account and was told that it will arrive end of this week, at the latest early next week. The period between Aug 12 -Sept 21 will be indeed the most decisive and during this time the MPR, the ID split and the detonation of the PAT supernova will take place. When mass ascension to the 5th dimension will occur remains to be seen. It could indeed be later than this fall, but then also linear time will be wrapped up and this will no longer involve us. Now the events have begun to unfold and nothing can stop them anymore. With love and light George ______________________________ _______________ Dear Carla, I have the most incredible storm over my portal, I have ever seen (evening, August 6). There is an uninterrupted thunder over my portal since more than half a hour with very little rain though. Lightnings abound. The storm seems to have gathered only over my portal and the sky is free at the seams. The colours of the sky are not normal, they are yellowish, pink and towards the sun set in the west burning red and scintillating like a portal to heaven or hell. On the east, there are two complete rainbows one on top of the other almost over our house. The colour in the rainbow is much different than that outside and looks like a classical portal with a kind of transparent veil inviting you to go through. I have never seen something like this before. It is a pity that I do not have a camera to make some photos, but probably the pictures will not be as good as the reality. There is such a tension and electricity in the air that it can ignite any moment. It could be that my portal was fully activated today. My skin as also burning under the vibrations. Have you sensed anything similar in the last one or two hours. With love and light George ______________________________ ___ Dear Georgi, Today there has been great activity over my portal where I have seen a fractured sky with another multi-coloured world behind it. This occurred at the same time as the storm presented at your portal. I feel completely detached from this reality, at a level of consciousness that I have rarely experienced. I am aware of my physical body, but my mind and consciousness is not here, with my body. I anticipate further expansion With love and light Carla ______________________________ __________ Dear Carla, amazing synchronicity. I have just received two new messages from Jahn and the first one from the Elohim is very powerful. I will translate it tomorrow, so that you can ready it and get inspired for your message. It seems that we have entered the final stretch before the finish line and from now on we can be heaved any moment to the higher dimensions, respectively detonate the PAT supernova. It is happening now! With love and light GeorgeJavy Baez did it again. He sought out the most exciting play on the diamond and performed it with ease and swagger. This is becoming a very welcome trend for both Cubs fans and those who appreciate beautifully played baseball. The defensive wizard — and increasingly dangerous offensive weapon — took an electric route around the bases during last night’s victory. He reached on an error, stole second, and went to third on a throwing error before easily swiping home plate. He did this all after debuting an eccentric new hairstyle sure to be the model for cheap wigs sold around Wrigley Field in the months to come. Baez is the walking rebuttal to those who say baseball doesn’t have young, exciting, and marketable players. He is substance and style, seemingly going out of his way to inject extra flair into his game without hurting the bottom line. He may not be the biggest star on the national stage quite yet, but if he continues to hit for power, he’ll get there. In short, Baez is what you’d get if a scientist was sent into the lab to create a Face of Baseball for the youngsters. It’s awesome to watch him wreak havoc on the field and have so much fun while doing it.Inter sue Sunderland over Alvarez By Football Italia staff Inter requested FIFA arbitration over Sunderland’s refusal to buy Ricky Alvarez
, and it went up on such a memorable night for us. TBM: What has been your favorite non-Revolution tifo? MZ: I mean, it’s hard to pick anything other than that Dortmund tifo from a few years ago. The one with the binoculars. The field-level video of the players walking out while it rises behind them is just so perfect. If we’re just talking about ones from around MLS, I thought the circus-themed one by the TFC supporters last year was really impressive and beautifully designed. TBM: How important have these tifos been to the fan culture? MZ: Stepping up our tifo game definitely comes with some positive side effects. People get to feel a nice sense of pride when something that they helped create comes to life in such a big and dramatic way. I think it also helps to inspire others to get a little more involved in the group so that they can be a part of the process for future displays. TBM: Where do tifos go after the game? MZ: They just get thrown out, unfortunately. We’re thinking of ways to make it a more sustainable process and reuse that material. We saw that some of the Indy Eleven supporters have started to turn fabric from old tifo displays into tote bags, so maybe we can start doing something along those lines. TBM: Do you have more designs in mind? MZ: Yes. We’re planning on doing something to coincide with our annual Pride Night on June 3rd. There’s also a great design for an opponent-specific tifo that Ben Saufley designed a while ago that’s been waiting for it’s big moment. Not sure whether that will happen this year or next — we just need the timing to work out right.Dammit, when is Congress or heaven forbid, a presidential candidate going to get serious about this? People on both sides of the isle are fuming about these handouts to the people who have created this recession. Of course nobody wants to trigger major bank failures but for goodness sakes, we keep giving and are not seeing any signs of cutbacks from Wall Street. A lot of the taxpayer money is going right back in to help them finance their bonus system and when these people wrap up the year, bonuses will be as high or higher than last year. It’s the American public who will be financing those bonuses and guess what they get in return? A swift kick in the ass, loss of a job or house and a new demand for tax cuts. The time to negotiate with this bunch is not two years from now, but now. Wall Street never hesitates to demand “what’s in it for me?” and this is exactly what we ought to be asking from them today. It also makes me wonder why we only see nastiness between Democrats running for President instead of that same aggression against Wall Street and the damned GOP who started this. How could anyone possibly have faith in a Democratic candidate who can only attack a fellow Democrat and not the owners of this? Wall Street borrowing is up 200% in three weeks and you would never know it by the pathetic doddling in Washington. It looks like the Democrats are ready to let yet another key issue slip through their fingers.A recently published study claims the use of aluminum nanoparticles has the power to dampen the harmful environmental effects of mono-nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide released by burnt liquid fuels. For conspiracy theorists, a study like this is just another contaminated drop of jet fuel sprayed onto an already controversial fire, and for the rest of us, it poses yet another potential health risk we could be exposed to by our governments. The study, currently under review for publication in the International Journal of Materials, Mechanics and Manufacturing, an Asia-centric academic journal, claims nanoparticles have the ability to change evaporation behaviors in liquid-fueled combustion engine emissions, like those that create the contrails left behind aircraft. Specifically, the researchers behind the study say the addition of aluminum nanoparticles reduces the amount of carbon monoxide and mono-nitrogen oxides in the emissions, essentially cleaning it up for safer dispersion in the environment. Adding chemicals and metals to the fuel systems of jets is already the basis of controversy and governmental dodginess due to chemtrail conspiracy theorists. Chemtrails, or contrails laced with chemical content, are believed to be a tool used for weather manipulation, or possibly national defense purposes. It’s easy to understand why the chemtrail theory has legions of supporters. Numerous US Patents have been granted for devices designed to infuse chemicals into the contrails of aircraft, and the practice of cloud seeding to alter weather conditions has been going on for decades. The US used cloud seeding to extend the monsoon season during its war with Vietnam from 1967 through 1971, when Operation Popeye, as it was called, was exposed in the media. The revelation led to several anti-environmental warfare resolutions to be passed by the US House and Senate between 1971 and 1975. Operation Popeye was halted after it became known to the public. An international treaty, the Environmental Modification Convention, outlawing the use of weather manipulation for the purposes of warfare was ratified in 1978. Studies of weather manipulation methods have continued, as the lengthy history of patents indicate, steadily in the decades since. Now there is some hope the negative effects of global warming might be correctable through modern manipulation methods. There are also those who condemn the practice claiming the negative effects far outweigh the positive ones, and much more research is needed before any such actions are taken. When it comes to using aluminum nanoparticles to negate carbon monoxide and other damaging emissions from jets, there is concern over their effect on humans and the environment as a whole. Aluminum nanoparticles are already alleged to be included in the streaks of contrails that remain in the sky sometimes for hours after an aircraft has flown past. Last year, retired neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock claimed aluminum nanoparticles can cause brain damage, breathing difficulties and other illnesses. Blaylock is not one to shy away from controversial topics and going against the popular opinion in the medical community. For example, he is a vocal opponent of vaccinations, claiming they cause more harm than good, which is a topic that draws ire from both the medical community and the public. So what does this all mean? Well, that remains to be seen, but when one pieces the puzzle of information together, they do seem to create a snapshot of everything chemtrail theorists have been touting for years, and the minimal information contained in this article barely scratches the surface of the issue. For example, I’m not even going to mention HAARP, with the exception of this sentence saying I’m not even mentioning it. Now moving on… In some scientific circles, they have opted to refer to chemtrails as persistent contrails because they believe the issue is important, but tainted by the high-profile publicity created by chemtrail theorists. While they might call it a different name, the facts still remain the same. There is a concerted effort to master the manipulation of weather and using aircraft seems to be the preferred method for doing it. So when we notice trails of alleged crystallized condensation that hang in the air for oddly long periods of time, and sometimes in patterns that blanket the sky, concluding that it was distributed with purpose and possibly contains chemical additives isn’t that outlandish. The big question becomes, what is the purpose of the practice really? With the US government, and others, denying outright the inclusion of chemical additives to the contrails, when there is a clear history both in practice and at the US Patent Office, one has no recourse but to continue monitoring it and asking questions. When Google Scholar searches for chemtrails return primarily research from international scientists, and research by private organizations, but noticeably not from US universities who rely in federal funding for most research projects, makes one wonder just what is being hidden from the public’s inquisitive eye. It’s hard to believe not one US university has proposed a study on chemtrails, and requested federal funding to pursue it scientifically, when the topic is so controversial and high-profile. When public health is potentially at stake, and the preservation of the environment is at question, a more open book policy in the US, and elsewhere, should be demanded. As it stands, that demand is coming almost exclusively from the so-called chemtrail conspiracy theorists. Isn’t it time the rest of us begin demanding clear, honest answers?By John Lorinc and Alex Steep At its final meeting of the fractious 2010-2014 term, City Council gave its blessing to what will become one of the few new parks to be built in recent years in the high-density corridors of the downtown. After years of fraught and often frustrating negotiations, Toronto Centre councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam persuaded Lanterra, the developers of a large provincially-own piece of land on the south side of Wellesley, to hive off a 0.6 hectare portion of the property for a park, to be located at 11 Wellesley. The city also managed to buy more land on the site by using Section 42 funds provided by a pair of developers working on buildings nearby (the sums have not be disclosed). “Rarely do you have the opportunity to work on a piece of land that’s so significant, in such a significant location, with the added advantage of having it become part of the public realm,” Mark Mandelbaum, chairman of Lanterra Developments, told The Toronto Star. That deal, however, is the exception. When David Mirvish submitted a development application to knock down the Princess of Wales theatre and two King Street warehouses to create a gallery/condo tower complex designed by starchitect Frank Gehry, city officials asked if he’d set aside some of the property, which occupies much of a city block, to create a parkette. Mirvish refused, offering instead to contribute a cash-in-lieu payment, to be deposited in the city’s parkland acquisition reserve fund. (See Sidebar: How the parkland levy system works) That kind of offer has become a common trade-off. Ever since the city changed the rules governing parkland dedications, builders have been opting – often with the blessing of the local city councillor – to provide dollars instead of land. According to documents obtained by Spacing through an access to information request, the city, between 2004 and 2009, received on average 4.9 ha of land per year through dedications by developers. In other words, builders aiming to erect residential projects on a parcel of land would transfer title of a portion of those properties to the city’s department of parks, forestry and recreation, to build a park. Between 2010 and 2014, the documents reveal, that average annual tally plunged to.64 ha – the size of a regulation soccer pitch – for the entire city. Annual dedications of parkland, by district, in hectares Not coincidentally, the funds flowing into the parkland reserves, but especially via the new “alternate parkland dedication” formula which came into effect in early 2008, have jumped sharply, from $9.9 million in 2010 to $36 million in 2013, according to a two-year-old staff report. Indeed, between 2010 and 2013 the city collected $94.2 million through this new formula – a figure that accounts for almost half the parkland levies collected by the city during that period. While cash may seem like an attractive alternative, especially for a cash-strapped municipality carrying lots of debt, the practice of accepting money instead of land has become highly problematic from a planning policy perspective. Here’s why. When a builder hives off land on a development parcel to create a park, the additional open space will be physically close to the additional population generated by the new residential units. But when the city accepts cash, there’s no guarantee the money will create or improve open space in the proximity of the project. Under the city’s 14-year-old policy framework, revenue from Section 42 park levies can be spent on city-wide green spaces or within the administrative district where the development has occurred. So cash from a downtown high rise could flow into a new park or park improvement project in North Toronto, or High Park. The amounts are not trivial: In the case of wards 20, 27 and 28, which together generated $142.6 million in levies between 2011 and 2014, the policy allows a quarter of those funds to be spent anywhere in Toronto, and another quarter to be allocated to parks anywhere within South District. With the alternate deduction rate, the city’s policy is that the funds be spent on parks projects that are “in the vicinity of” or “accessible to” the development from which they originate. But there’s no definition of what those terms mean. Nor does Parks, Forestry and Recreation (PFR) provide any targets or benchmarks for how and where those parkland revenues flow, especially the portions to be spent on park improvements. Last, it is difficult to discern, based on the city’s reporting, whether those dollars has found their way to areas deemed in the official plan to be deficient in public open space. Besides the lack of transparency, the policy is undermined by the fact that a single set of rules must apply to two radically different property markets. Councillors, in theory, can influence whether developers offer cash or land, and some argue that the city should turn down the money. “The councillors have to say ‘no,’” asserts Scarborough Southwest councillor Michelle Berardinetti, current chair of the parks and environment committee. It’s an easy position to take in a low-development ward. In suburban areas where land is plentiful and inexpensive, councillors have leverage over builders and can compel them to ante up land for a new park. The dynamic downtown is radically different. Toronto Centre councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam says she tells high-rise builders that the city wants land, not cash. But developers putting up a condo on a small parcel mostly balk, she adds. “[They say], ‘Oh councillor, that’s not doable. It’s easier if the city acquires the land.’” There are other impediments to acquisitions in high growth zones: For one thing, the city is legally prevented from buying property at prices above the assessed value, even though market real estate prices today tend to be far higher. PFR officials, in turn, don’t like small parks or squares, which are typically what’s on offer with most downtown developers who are prepared to provide land. “Parks staff aren’t interested in small parcels,” says Wong-Tam. The bottom line is that developers will give cash in areas that desperately need open space and real estate in areas that aren’t experiencing population growth or speculative pressure. But when it comes to buying land, the city, despite its large reserves, simply can’t compete in areas facing sky-rocketing real estate values. “It’s a really serious problem,” observes Willowdale councillor John Filion, whose ward includes both high-density towers and low-rise single-family homes. “The city takes a very short-sighted approach and will certainly pay the price in the years to come.” In his view, council should establish special parks reserve funds specifically for high-growth nodes and ensure that 100% of the park levy revenue is spent in those areas. “The money should stay in the area where it’s generated.” top photo by Jason Paris Part 1: All built up but no place to grow Part 2: Where the money flows Part 3: The perils of cash-in-lieu Part 3 sidebar: Section 42 explained Part 4: The tale of two parks Part 5: The system worked (slowly) for a west end park Part 6: Are privately-owned public spaces the answer to parks deficit?A San Francisco sheriff’s deputy’s missing handgun turned up in a homicide investigation in Solano County last year, the latest discovery of what happened to one of hundreds of lost or stolen law enforcement weapons uncovered by a Bay Area News Group investigation published Sunday. Former Deputy Armando Gonzalez apparently didn’t report his duty weapon missing for nearly two years until after Fairfield police detectives called him last year to say his gun had turned up in a search connected to the killing of a local teen. Only then did he report to his superiors that his wife took the gun “a couple of years ago” when the couple broke up. On Monday officials from the San Francisco Sheriff’s department said they were told the gun wasn’t used in the killing, but the story of its disappearance and recovery infuriated a state lawmaker who is pushing legislation to force officers to safeguard their weapons. The news organization’s survey of police in the Bay Area and state and federal law enforcement across California found 944 firearms have been lost, stolen or unaccounted for since 2010. The alarming figure comes a year after the high-profile killing of Kate Steinle, who was shot by an illegal immigrant with a gun stolen from the car of a Bureau of Land Management ranger. Gonzalez’s gun was one of 192 law enforcement guns reported stolen in the news organization’s survey, and Sen. Jerry Hill said it “starkly portrayed the problem” of stolen and missing cop guns. Hill, D-San Mateo said he was “furious and outraged” by the news organization’s latest findings and even more determined to champion legislation that would make it a crime for police to leave weapons in unattended vehicles unless they are locked in hidden compartments or secure, hidden boxes. A hearing on Senate Bill 865 is scheduled for Wednesday before the Assembly Appropriations Committee. While his proposed legislation focuses on guns in cars, Hill said Monday he hopes it will bring wider attention to how officers care for and secure their weapons both in and out of vehicles. He said he expects it to clear Wednesday’s committee vote with bipartisan support. The California Police Chiefs Association supports the bill, said Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney, the group’s president. Corney called this newspaper’s investigation shocking and implored officers to use “good judgment to make sure their weapon is not stolen.” “Police always need to be aware of the potential for theft” of both their duty and personal weapons, he said. Gonzalez’s gun wasn’t taken from a car, but it still raises questions of how well police secure and care for their guns. Gonzalez apparently hadn’t told his superiors that his weapon was missing until Fairfield police discovered it with his ex-wife while investigating the murder of 19-year-old Aaron Malave in February 2015. Detectives found the gun while serving a search warrant at the home of Gonzalez’s mother-in-law, records show. Police later arrested James Cruz, 19, in the killing but it isn’t clear why they were searching the home of Gonzalez’s mother-in-law. Court records show Armando Gonzalez was served with divorce papers at the same address a few months later, records show. Citing state laws that keep police personnel records secret, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department said Monday she could not say how Gonzalez covered for the missing weapon or how the department dealt with the matter. When the gun surfaced, Gonzalez was ordered to file a report and wrote that his wife had told him just the day before she had his department-issued weapon. Three months later, Gonzalez was no longer working as a San Francisco deputy, said department spokeswoman Eileen Hirst. “Read into that what you will,” she said. She said proper storage and care of weapons by deputies is a “very serious issue.” Gonzalez was not home Wednesday when a reporter went to his house and he did not return a message. A Fairfield police spokesman said Monday that Gonzalez’s ex-wife, Sonia Gonzalez, was not charged in connection with the missing weapon. Follow Thomas Peele at Twitter.com/thomas_peele.1) Reggie Nelson and George Iloka should be co-defensive MVPs If there were MVP "groups" or "units", such as the best position group on the team, safety should get heavy consideration with the team's running backs. George Iloka and Reggie Nelson combined for 165 tackles, seven interceptions, 22 passes defensed and 1.5 quarterback sacks (all by Reggie Nelson). With a pedestrian defensive line and a linebacker group that lived in the infirmary ward, Nelson and Iloka were the few strengths on Cincinnati's Swiss cheese defense. Nelson finished the season first on the team in interceptions (four) and second in tackles (91) and passes defensed (12). Opposing quarterbacks attempted 48 passes against Nelson, completing 29 for 292 yards receiving. Nelson allowed one touchdown and generated an opposing quarterback rating of 46.8. In discussions asking who the best safety is in the game, Nelson won't get consideration. He shouldn't... he's not one of the best in the game. However, he's a staple of this team's defense and routinely makes plays for Cincinnati. Pro Football Focus graded George Iloka as the team's top-performing defensive player with an overall grade of +9.4. He also ranked second in run defense (+3.6) and pass coverage (+3.9). Opposing quarterbacks targeted Iloka's assignments 33 times this season, completing only 44 passes (42.4 percent) for 257 yards and only 67 YAC. Iloka didn't allow a touchdown during the regular season in 2014 and opposing quarterbacks had a passer rating of 42.1. 2) It's time to extend both players' contracts George Iloka, drafted in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL draft, is entering a contract year in 2015. It's the fourth and final year of a four-year rookie deal and he's scheduled to earn $660,000 in 2015, making him the 29th-highest paid player on Cincinnati's roster. Third-round safety Shawn Williams, drafted in the 2013 NFL draft, will make the same amount next season. In the absence of Vontaze Burfict and the "just another guy" showing from Geno Atkins, Iloka stepped forward as a convincing foundation piece for Cincinnati's defense and this kid is just going to grow. Nelson has applied a similar role over the years, leading the team in interceptions in three of the past four seasons. Cincinnati signed Nelson to a four-year deal worth $18 million in 2012, marking next season his final under contract. Nelson will turn 32 years old this September, so that may weigh heavily for the Bengals, realizing that Nelson will surpass his mid-30s on another four-year deal. This would be a questionable dilemma if Cincinnati actually had someone that could replace Nelson. They don't. 3) Are we done with the whole Shawn Williams thing? We brought up Williams earlier, who is a third-round draft pick from the 2013 NFL draft, and ask... are we finished with him? Williams played 26 defensive snaps in 2014, with 11 of those coming against the Tennessee Titans in Week 3. He has one tackle on defense in 2014. Essentially, Williams' role has been primarily special teams, where he finished the season tied for third with nine special teams tackles. Aside from that, there's been no reason to believe (other than actually having "faith" or unsubstantiated musings) that Williams will make a significant run for playing time on defense. Even if the Bengals let Reggie Nelson leave after the 2015 season, I have a feeling that his replacement isn't a current Bengal. 4) How long will Taylor Mays be a bubble player? Every year Mays approaches training camp as a resident bubble player (aka, someone with an undetermined future) and every year the team finds a way to keep him around. Usually it's related to an injury in the secondary or with a linebacker. Yet, to his credit, he usually finds some beaten path into the team's locker room during the regular season. Mays finished this year with six special teams tackles and 61 defensive snaps -- with 26 against the Denver Broncos. Mays is entering free agency after completing a one-year deal worth $795,000. Let's not pretend that it'll be hard to re-sign him, and the Bengals should in efforts to design a deep roster heading into training camp. Whether or not he should be on the 53-man roster in 2015, we'll ask that in nine months.Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964)[2][3] is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. He is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants: Mesa Grill in Las Vegas and the Bahamas; Bar Americain in New York and at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Connecticut; Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City; Gato in New York, and Bobby's Burger Palace in 19 locations across 11 states.[4] Flay has hosted several Food Network television programs, appeared as a guest and hosted a number of specials on the network. Flay is also featured on the Great Chefs television series.[5] Early life and education [ edit ] Flay was born in New York[2] to Bill and Dorothy Flay.[6] He was raised on the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan.[7] He is a fourth generation Irish American and was raised Catholic, attending denominational schools.[8] At age 8, Flay asked for an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas, despite his father's objections; his father thought that a G.I. Joe would be more gender-appropriate. He received both toys.[9][10] Career [ edit ] Flay dropped out of high school at age 17.[11] He has said his first jobs in the restaurant industry were at a pizza parlor and Baskin-Robbins.[12] He then took a position making salads at Joe Allen Restaurant in Manhattan's Theater District, where his father was a partner.[3][13] The proprietor, Joe Allen, was impressed by Flay's natural ability and agreed to pay his partner's son's tuition at the French Culinary Institute.[14] Flay received a degree in culinary arts and was a member of the first graduating class of the French Culinary Institute in 1984. After culinary school, he started working as a sous-chef, quickly learning the culinary arts. At the Brighton Grill on Third Avenue, Flay was handed the executive chef's position after a week when the executive chef was fired. Flay quit when he realized he was not ready to run a kitchen. He took a position as a chef working for restaurateur Jonathan Waxman at Bud and Jams. Waxman introduced Flay to southwestern and Cajun cuisine, which came to define his culinary career.[3] After working for a short time on the floor at the American Stock Exchange, Flay returned to the kitchen as the executive chef at Miracle Grill in the East Village, where he worked from 1988 to 1990.[5] He caught the attention of restaurateur Jerome Kretchmer, who was looking for a southwestern-style chef. Impressed by Flay's food, Kretchmer offered him the position of executive chef at Mesa Grill, which opened on January 15, 1991. Shortly after, he became a partner. In November 1993, Flay partnered with Laurence Kretchmer to open Bolo Bar & Restaurant[14][15] in the Flatiron District, just a few blocks away from Mesa Grill. Entrance sign to Mesa Grill in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas Mesa Grill at Las Vegas Flay opened a second Mesa Grill at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 2004, and in 2005 he opened Bar Americain, an American Brasserie, in Midtown Manhattan.[16] He continued to expand his restaurants by opening Bobby Flay Steak in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was followed by a third Mesa Grill in the Bahamas, located in The Cove at Atlantis Paradise Island, which opened on March 28, 2007.[5] The Las Vegas Mesa Grill earned Flay his only Michelin Star in 2008, which was taken away in the 2009 edition. Michelin did not publish a 2010 or 2011 Las Vegas edition, so the star could not be re-earned. Bolo Bar & Restaurant closed its doors on December 31, 2007, to make way for a condominium.[17] Aside from his restaurants and television shows, Flay has been a master instructor and visiting chef at the French Culinary Institute.[18][19] Although he is not currently teaching classes, he occasionally visits when his schedule permits.[20] Flay established the Bobby Flay Scholarship in 2003. This full scholarship to the French Culinary Institute is awarded annually to a student in the Long Island City Culinary Arts Program. Flay personally helps select the awardee each year.[3][21] Flay opened Bobby's Burger Palace (BBP) in Lake Grove, Long Island on July 15, 2008. The restaurant is located at the Smith Haven Mall.[22] A second location opened on December 5, 2008 at the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, New Jersey,[23] and a third location opened March 31, 2009 in The Outlets at Bergen Town Center in Paramus, New Jersey.[24] His fourth shop opened at the Mohegan Sun Casino in southeast Connecticut on July 1, 2009,[25] which is also the location of his second Bar Americain, which opened on November 18, 2009.[26] His fifth location of the burger chain opened in Philadelphia's University City on April 6, 2010. The sixth location of Bobby's Burger Palace opened in Washington, D.C., at 2121 K Street in Northwest on August 16, 2011.[27] On December 5, 2011, Flay opened the ninth location of Bobby's Burger Palace in Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, New York.[28] Flay opened the tenth and largest Bobby's Burger Palace site at Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover, Maryland, on June 7, 2012.[29] Bobby's Burger Palace also has an 11th location, in College Park, Maryland.[30] In total, BBP has nineteen locations in eleven states and the District of Columbia. The original Mesa Grill in New York closed in September 2013 following a proposed rent increase by the landlord.[31][32] Television, film, and radio [ edit ] Great Chefs [ edit ] Flay has been featured in several episodes of Great Chefs television including: Great Chefs – Great Cities Mexican Madness DVD Great Chefs Cook American Food Network [ edit ] Flay has hosted fourteen cooking shows and specials on Food Network and Cooking Channel, of which eight continue to run: Flay served as a judge on Wickedly Perfect, The Next Food Network Star, and The Next Iron Chef.[36] He has cooked on Emeril Live and Paula's Party.[37] Throwdown! with Bobby Flay [ edit ] On Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, the chef challenges cooks renowned for a specific dish or type of cooking to a cook-off of their signature dish. On Episode 5 of Season 4, Harlem chef Melba Wilson and Bobby squared off over who had the best chicken and eggnog waffles. While being interviewed on "Conversations with Allan Wolper" on WGBO 88.3FM, Wilson confessed that she had been nervous because Bobby brought a cast iron skillet. Having grown up in a family that used cast iron skillets, Wilson was nonetheless forced to use a deep fryer because her restaurant was too small for a cast iron skillet. Towards the end of the anecdote, she explained, "Can I tell you? When he pulled out the skillet, it was a rough day. Girlfriend started sweating bullets. But at the end of the day, we threw down – I don't know, I think it was the eggnog – and I won."[38] Iron Chef [ edit ] Flay is an Iron Chef on the show Iron Chef America. In 2000, when the original Iron Chef show traveled to New York for a special battle, he challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto to battle rock crab. After the hour battle ended, Flay stood on top of his cutting board and raised his arms in what one journalist wrote was "in premature victory". As Morimoto felt that real chefs consider cutting boards and knives as sacred, and being offended by Flay's flamboyant gesture, he criticized his professionalism, saying that Flay was "not a chef". Flay went on to lose the battle.[39] Flay challenged Morimoto to a rematch in Morimoto's native Japan. This time, Flay won.[39] Flay and Morimoto, both Iron Chefs on Iron Chef America teamed – took on and won – against fellow Iron Chefs Mario Batali and Hiroyuki Sakai in the Iron Chef America: Battle of the Masters "Tag Team" battle.[citation needed] On a special episode of Iron Chef America originally airing on November 12, 2006, Flay and Giada De Laurentiis faced off against, and were defeated by, Batali and Rachael Ray. This was the highest rated show ever broadcast on Food Network.[40] Flay and Michael Symon defeated the team of Iron Chefs Cat Cora and Masaharu Morimoto in a special episode titled "Thanksgiving Showdown," which originally aired on November 16, 2008.[41] On November 29, 2009, Iron Chefs Morimoto and Flay faced off one-on-one again in Battle Egg Nog. The battle, which featured ice-carvers, was won by Morimoto by a single point.[citation needed] In an episode recorded in July 2010 and broadcast in March 2011, Montreal cooking show host Chuck Hughes beat Flay to become the youngest Canadian champ. In an interview afterward, Hughes recalled, "When I met him I said, 'Hi Bobby,' and my voice cracked a bit and I gave him an official [Montreal] Canadiens jersey, to which he replied, 'Thank you so much — but it's not going to help.'"[42] Beat Bobby Flay [ edit ] The half-hour series pits select chefs against host Flay to see if they can create dishes that are better than his. As Flay's most successful series on Food Network the prior season, episode 5 of season 17, featuring Debbie Gibson and Katie Lee, was chosen as the 2018 lead-out show for season 14 of Food Network Star.[citation needed] Specials [ edit ] Bobby's Vegas Gamble — Covers the opening of Mesa Grill Las Vegas. [43] — Covers the opening of Mesa Grill Las Vegas. Restaurant Revamp — Flay tries to help a family restaurant. [44] — Flay tries to help a family restaurant. Chefography: Bobby Flay — Biography of Flay's life and career. [45] — Biography of Flay's life and career. Tasting Ireland — Flay takes a food tour of Ireland, his ancestral homeland. [46] — Flay takes a food tour of Ireland, his ancestral homeland. Food Network Awards — The Food Network recognizes people and places that have impacted the food world. [47] — The Food Network recognizes people and places that have impacted the food world. All-Star Grill Fest: South Beach — Flay joins Paula Deen, Giada De Laurentiis, Alton Brown, and Tyler Florence for a barbecue.[48] Other cooking shows [ edit ] In 1996, Flay hosted The Main Ingredient with Bobby Flay on Lifetime Television. Twice a month, he hosts a cooking segment on CBS' The Early Show.[15] He hosted the reality television show America's Next Great Restaurant on NBC from March 2011 to May 2011 in which in the end he picks one restaurant team with whom to open a restaurant.[49] The reality show was canceled after the first season due to low ratings. Other television and film appearances [ edit ] Flay had a cameo appearance in the Disney Channel original movie Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-Off as the host of the cook-off. He appeared on the television game show Pyramid with fellow Iron Chef Mario Batali as the guest celebrities in an episode originally airing on November 18, 2003. He appeared as a judge on the CBS television show "Wickedly Perfect" during the 2004–05 season. He also appeared in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Design", which originally aired on September 22, 2005. He had a small role as himself in the 2006 film East Broadway, in which his wife, Stephanie March, had a larger role. Jeopardy! featured a special "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" category during the March 12, 2008, episode, in which each of the clues featured Flay.[50] He participated in the 2008 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game played at Yankee Stadium after the 2008 MLB All Star Game; Flay played for the National League. Flay is also mentioned in the movie Step Brothers in the "derek comes for dinner" scene. In 2010, Flay was impersonated in the South Park cartoon episode Crème Fraiche. In 2011, Flay had recurring appearances in the final season of Entourage as the boyfriend of Ari Gold's wife. In 2012, Flay appeared on Portlandia, in a director's cut of the episode Brunch Village. He showed director Jonathan Krisel how to make the perfect marionberry pancakes.[citation needed] Flay guest stars as himself on season two of the TV series Younger, which initially aired in 2016.[51] In 2018, he appeared as Fred Jones' uncle in the animated film Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost.[52] Sirius XM Radio [ edit ] Flay hosted a weekly call-in show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.[53] He offered advice to men on "everything from sports to current issues", although food was the focus.[54] Books [ edit ] Flay has authored several cookbooks, including: Horse racing [ edit ] Flay has a personal interest in Thoroughbred horse racing. He is the owner of more than one graded stakes race winner, including More Than Real, who won the prestigious 2010 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and part owner of Creator, who won the third jewel of the triple crown the Belmont stakes. He serves on the Breeders' Cup board of directors.[55] He was a candidate for chairman in 2014, but was not elected.[56] Personal life [ edit ] Flay married Debra Ponzek, also a chef, on May 11, 1991.[57] Flay and Ponzek divorced in 1993, and Flay married his second wife, Kate Connelly, in 1995.[2] They have a daughter named Sophie.[2] Flay and Connelly separated in 1998,[58] and later divorced. Flay married actress Stephanie March, on February 20, 2005.[13] According to media reports, March and Flay separated in March 2015[59] and their divorce was finalized on July 17, 2015.[60] Flay has been dating Heléne Yorke since February
hoping to make out everything she could. All she could see was that the shield Naze used, whatever it was, began to falter. She wasn't even sure how she could know that, but somehow, she was sure that it was the case. Maybe the demon in her cloak heightened her senses, maybe it was simply a meager explanation of an inept mind to explain what it saw. It didn't change the fact that Naze appeared to be losing. There seemed to be a very long second, during which Naze glanced back at them, and for one miniscule instant, she was sure that she could see something on his face. Something that made her think of hope. A second later, his shield shattered with a concussive boom, and Naze disappeared. There was no flash of light, there was no sharp crack of teleportation. He simply vanished. In the next instant, the wave of fury Cinder blasted overtook where he had been, ensuring that anything left of the Lich was completely and utterly obliterated. Ruby could only stare, stunned. She couldn't process what had just happened. Had he died? Did Cinder win? Something was off, she could tell, but there was no time to think about it. Amber started moving forward, and Ruby felt a rush of energy. Whatever happened, she was going to fight. Her throat opened as she let out a cry, charging forwards, eyes locked on Cinder. She wouldn't stop for anything. Not until Cinder was dead. Author's Note: Been a while since the last chapter, I know. I'll do my best on getting the next one out faster. And this gets posted on my birthday too, what a pleasant coincidence. Remember to review and follow if you like! I would imagine you do, if you've read this far.In our amazing Linux world, we have not one, not two, but three, count 'em, three major-league enterprise Linux distributions: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Canonical's Ubuntu Linux, and SUSE Enterprise Linux. In this series, we will contrast and compare all three. Each one is so large it would take a book to thoroughly cover them, so we'll hit the high points of major products, services, important partnerships, and support. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Background Red Hat, like SUSE, is one of the oldest Linux distributions, founded in 1993. As a foundational distribution, it spawned a large family of derivatives, including Caldera, Mandrake, Turbolinux, Yellow Dog, and Red Flag. In 2003, Red Hat Linux split into Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Fedora Linux, making a clear distinction between the commercial enterprise version and the free community version. Fedora is 100% free and open source software (FOSS); it showcases new technologies while providing a good usable system. RHEL promises super-reliability and long support cycles. Each release is supported for 10 years, and RHEL 5 customers can purchase extended support beyond ten years. rhel-7-boxshot.png Used with permission Courtesy of Red Hat Red Hat's code is open, and anyone can take it for free and clone it or build competitive derivatives. CentOS and Scientific Linux are popular clones, and competitor Oracle maintains its own Oracle Unbreakable Linux clone. This exactly the same as RHEL, with one difference: customers have the option of using Oracle's customized kernel in place of the RHEL kernel. Even so, RHEL is one of the big open source success stories and was the first open source business to reach $1 billion in revenues, and in 2016 cracked the $2 billion mark. Getting RHEL For Free Linux users are used to getting great software free of cost, even though that is not a requirement of most FOSS licenses. Users who want RHEL for free can build it from source RPMs (which is not a trivial task) or use one of the clones. A third option is to get the official binaries from their Get Started download page, which has images for bare metal and virtual machines. This is a self-supported, free of cost version that is the same as the paid version, and it uses all the same tools including Subscription Manager and the Red Hat Customer Portal. You have to register and join the Red Hat Developer Program, and you may not use it as a production server -- only for testing and development. Read all about it at FAQ: no-cost Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Suite. Many individual products have live online demos and free 30-day downloads. Buying Red Hat You can talk to the nice Red Hat salespeople, who really are nice and knowledgeable, and you also have the option of purchasing online. Product Line RHEL includes almost everything under the sun: the Linux operating system, JBoss Middleware, KVM-based hypervisor, cloud, storage, mobile development and management platforms, desktop, workstation, Internet of Things, and of course all of the major servers and productivity applications that are included in most Linux distributions. It runs on everything from embedded devices to mainframes and supercomputers. As containers are all the rage now, check out Red Hat's Atomic Host. This is a specialized RHEL 7 scaled-down and optimized to run in containers in Docker format. Atomic Host simplifies the complexity of developing and running containers by providing a central management console for creating and managing your containers; it incorporates Docker, Kubernetes, SELinux, Systemd, and other standard components. See the Product Documentation for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host for a complete walk-through of installation and configuration. This is a good starting point if you're new to container technologies. We hear so much hype about containers and Internet of Things that it fades into background noise. To get a good perspective on the amazing possibilities of these technologies, watch "Microservices and Smart Networks Will Save the Internet," which brings it all into the real world. Red Hat has partnerships with many major tech vendors, including Dell, SAP, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM, Amazon, and, yes, Microsoft. Like most FOSS projects you get interoperability rather than lock-in. What about the desktop? Red Hat has a desktop and a workstation edition, but they've always been quiet about them. I've never understood why so many businesses stick with Microsoft Windows on the desktop when it's such an overpriced hassle. Linux on the enterprise desktop makes perfect sense: way more secure, stable, lightweight, easy to customize, and easy to manage centrally. Just one of life's mysteries, I suppose. Management tools are the #1 most important tools in the datacenter, in my needlessly humble opinion. Red Hat's Satellite provides a central console for full management of the entire Red Hat stack: provisioning, configuration, license tracking, configuration, and auditing. Visit the ecosystem catalog to look up certified hardware, software, and service providers. Support Red Hat's customer and product support generally gets high marks. They also offer a full complement of training and certification courses. These are tailored for Red Hat software, but Linux and FOSS are pretty much the same everywhere so everything you learn is transferable to other Linux distributions and open source software. Red Hat's documentation is famous for being excellent and thorough, with manuals for everything, plus videos and knowledge base. Cons So far, this probably sounds like a gooey love letter. In a way it is, because Red Hat is a fine company that has been a major supporter and funder of FOSS development from its inception. Their products and support are first-rate. Of course, everyone has their quirks and flaws. These are some that I have experienced: The Mystery of the Broken Download. When RHEL 6 was released, I tried to download a 30-day evaluation. I could not get a full download, so I filed a bug ticket. I received many nice replies but not one helpful reply. So then I requested the DVD. At the time, the evaluation disk cost $25, and as a tech journalist I figured I should receive a free review copy. Again, my request was met with abundant niceness, but nobody could just pop a disk in the mail. I gave up and found a friend who gave me access to his RHEL server to check it out. Ancient Software. Many businesses hate to upgrade anything ever. They think computers are like staplers: when you buy a stapler, you have a stapler for life. Who upgrades staplers? Nobody, that's who, so why upgrade computers? This causes problems when you want to run applications that have newer dependencies. For example, LAMP stacks are moving targets, and wise admins keep them updated religiously. But RHEL 6 ships with PHP 5.3.3 and RHEL 7 ships with PHP 5.4, both of which are so old and unsafe they've been deprecated and are unsupported by the PHP team. Red Hat keeps them patched, but most apps and servers require newer PHP versions. Getting newer versions was quite a hassle until Red Hat created the Software Collections, which is both a software repository and a toolset to build your own packages. Not all SCL packages are supported; see Red Hat Software Collections for a supported list. Up Next: Ubuntu Linux See our next installment, in which we explore Canonical's Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is the easiest of the enterprise Linuxes to obtain; simply download it without jumping through any hoops. Ubuntu is the youngest major enterprise Linux, and they are making their mark in a number of interesting ways. Advance your career in system administration! Check out the Essentials of System Administration course from The Linux Foundation.Quote Elssha Quote: Originally Posted by Hi, What if there was a way to put CXP earned on a toon into something like escrow (say a toggle you have to press that holds it for you and doesn't actually let you rank up or get any boxes), and the CXP earned into it could be transferred to any toon on your legacy? Kinda like 4.0's WZ comms. It would either go into a legacy pool (that other toons could then draw from and actually rank up) or be used to literally purchase tokens that can be passed from Alts to your main (say 1000, 5000, 10000 CXP)? All the bonuses, etc would be applied when they were earned, so transferring them would not be impacted by any boost used while opening (to prevent people hoarding them, then popping them while a CXP boost is running, or their side is winning). This would make it possible to play our alts without feeling guilty or mad that we're robbing our main of CXP. This is especially important for those of us who want to do HM Ops (or those who want to stay competitive at PvP, etc). This would not lower the grind, so time played would not get impacted; the only thing that it would do would be to give us more freedom to enjoy the many many alts we were persuaded to make in DvL and which have been key to the game since its inception. Thank you for your consideration I have a better idea - make cxp gain legacy wide so we could play and gear up alts too!In this highly detailed article which originally appeared on his site, programmer and game industry veteran Casey Muratori takes a long, hard look at what Windows 8's changes will mean for developers not just immediately, but down the road. For the first time in the history of the PC, Microsoft is rolling out a new Windows ecosystem for which they will be the sole software distributor. If you buy Windows 8, the only place you will be able to download software that integrates with its new user interface will be the official Windows Store. Microsoft will have complete control over what software will be allowed there. Microsoft has stated that applications for the older desktop interface will remain unaffected by these policies. As long as they only use applications that run on the old desktop, users will still be able to buy, sell, develop, and distribute software without interference from Microsoft. Many Windows users have taken this as an assurance that the open distribution model that they enjoy today will still be available in future versions of Windows, and as a result, there has been far less public concern about Windows 8 than there might have otherwise been. But how realistic is the assumption that the Windows desktop will still be a usable computing platform in the future? And what would be the consequences were it to disappear, leaving Windows users with only the closed software ecosystem introduced in Windows 8? To answer these questions, this volume of Critical Detail examines the immediate and future effects of Microsoft's current certification requirements, explores in depth what history predicts for the lifespan of the classic Windows desktop, and takes a pragmatic look at whether an open or closed ecosystem would be better for Microsoft as a company. Game of the Year 2032 According to PC Gamer Magazine, and many sources which agree, PC Game of the Year 2011 was Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In a move that surprised absolutely no one, Skyrim for the PC shipped on Windows, not MS-DOS. Even if the developers had wanted to, they couldn't have shipped a modern PC game like Skyrim on DOS because none of the past 15 years of graphics hardware innovation is available there. It's absurd to even consider shipping commercial consumer software on MS-DOS today. Hypothetically, let's assume it becomes equivalently absurd, 20 years from now, to ship consumer software on Windows desktop. There are no desktop games in 2032, much like there are no DOS games in 2012. Everything runs in some much more refined version of the Windows 8 modern user interface. Because no software can ship on this future platform without it going through the Windows Store, the team that built Skyrim would have to send it to Microsoft for certification. Then Microsoft would tell them if they could ship it. Do you know what Microsoft's answer would be? I do. It would be "no". This is not speculative; it is certain. Skyrim is a game for adults. It has a PEGI rating of 18. If you read the Windows 8 app certification requirements you will find, in section 5.1: Your app must not contain adult content, and metadata must be appropriate for everyone. Apps with a rating over PEGI 16, ESRB MATURE, or that contain content that would warrant such a rating, are not allowed. And that's the end of it. No Skyrim for the Windows Store, unless of course the developers go back and remove all the PEGI 18-rated content. That's 2011's Game of the Year, banned from the Windows Store. How about 2012? With several highly anticipated games yet to be released, it's anybody's guess which game will be selected. But a random sampling of internet predictions suggests some of the leading contenders are Max Payne 3, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 3, Assassins Creed 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Borderlands 2. Of the four of those that have already shipped and been rated by PEGI, how many could be shipped on Windows Store? Zero. Now, there are certainly many people out there, perhaps even the majority, who believe that games aren't culturally relevant. They are not great art, they might say, and therefore it is irrelevant if a major platform prevented their dissemination. In the interest of illustrating the importance of an open platform more broadly, let's give our games a cultural facelift. Let's pretend we magically have a bunch of games with content equivalent to no less than the Emmy nominees for 2012 outstanding drama series: Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Downton Abbey, Homeland, and Game of Thrones. Odds are that Downton Abbey would be the only one to clearly pass the PEGI rating test, but even if somehow the rest of them did, they'd be banned from the store for a variety of other reasons, such as section 5.3: Your app must not contain content or functionality that encourages, facilitates, or glamorizes illegal activity. section 5.6: Your app must not contain content that encourages, facilitates or glamorizes excessive or irresponsible use of alcohol or tobacco products, drugs or weapons. or section 5.8: Your app must not contain excessive or gratuitous profanity. This vision of a future Windows heavily censored by Microsoft is chilling. But how likely is it to actually occur? For Windows RT, the version of Windows for low-power tablets and phones, this future begins on October 26th. Each and every Windows RT device sold will only be able to run software from the Windows Store, and all Windows Store apps must follow the certification requirements quoted above, as well as dozens more. Windows RT users won't have 10 or 20 years before they can no longer play the world's most highly acclaimed games on their Windows devices. Those games will have been forbidden from day one. But for Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro, the versions that most desktop users will have, the timeline is not yet certain. Unlike Windows RT, these versions include the classic Windows desktop that still supports open distribution. Is it possible, then, that desktop users will never have to experience this future? A brief examination of Microsoft's own history suggests quite the opposite. Anatomy of a Microsoft Platform Shift In the late 1980s, much of the consumer computing world was already using graphical user interfaces. Machines like the Apple Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST had grown dramatically in popularity, and each shipped with a modern graphical operating system pre-installed. PCs, on the other hand, still typically ran MS-DOS, a command-line environment where applications had to individually implement their own rudimentary interfaces. Despite this drawback, the PC was nonetheless flourishing. Because it was an open hardware platform and had achieved wide adoption in the business space, many of the era's most famous productivity programs -- like Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect -- treated MS-DOS as a flagship business platform. Then on May 22nd, 1990, Microsoft shipped Windows 3.0. This version of Windows could do something no previous version could: it could run MS-DOS programs alongside native graphical apps. For the first time, people could run standard business applications without leaving a consumer-friendly interface. The Windows GUI itself may not have been as flashy as what was available on other platforms, but it gave people the option of using just one OS for everything, and customers wanted that. Adoption rates soared. Over the next five years, Microsoft continued adding new APIs to Windows. Although people still developed MS-DOS programs, it became increasingly difficult to ship a business application that didn't integrate with things like the Windows font manager, printing services, standard dialogs, and rich clipboard. Customers came to expect these things, and MS-DOS applications simply couldn't use them. As most apps either transitioned to native Windows versions or became defunct, games were the one major holdout. They lived and died by performance, and couldn't afford the overhead Windows introduced. But eventually Microsoft found a way to give games the hardware access they needed, and slowly but surely, native Windows games became increasingly common. By the time Windows 2000 was introduced on February 17th, 2000, only 10 years after the release of Windows 3.0, running MS-DOS programs had gone from the key feature that made Windows what it was to a tacked-on compatibility mode only meant to support legacy software. MS-DOS as a platform, and any programs still tied to it, had faded into obscurity. On July 22nd, 2009, nearly two decades after the release of Windows 3.0, Microsoft introduced the version of Windows most of us use today, Windows 7. If you try to run an MS-DOS application in Windows 7, you get a dialog box that says: You may still be able to run the program, but you'll have to download and install a special "Windows XP Mode" package from Microsoft's website or use third-party emulation software to even try.NY Times Picks Up On The Fact That Craigslist Has Become A Legal Bully Against Anyone Who Makes Its Site Better from the sad-to-see dept One, a site called Craigs Little Buddy, could search multiple Craigslist cities at once — a simple feature that Craigslist doesn’t offer. Another site, Craigsly, helped people set up e-mail alerts when a certain type of listing, like a specific car or apartment for sale, was posted in their area. Another, Ziink Craigslist Helper, which offered a free browser plug-in that made navigating listings easier, was also shut down by Craigslist lawyers. We've written a few times about how Craigslist, for all the good things it's done over the years, has lately turned into a legal bully against any site that makes its offering more useful. That's significant for a variety of reasons. First off, Craigslist's own site continues to be woefully out of date, and increasingly less useful in its current form. But, more importantly, Craigslist has often led the charge for a more open internet, yet seems to react legally when such an open internet creates new and useful services built off its own work.Even the NY Times is now taking note of Craigslist's legal-bullying ways, even catching Craig Newmark himself (who I know and like) being less than forthright in how the company attacks all sorts of other sites with legal threats and lawsuits. First, it lists out a number of other threats that Craigslist has sent out over the years:Later, it notes that Craig has claimed that they only go after sites that "consume a lot of bandwidth." That statement sounds slightly more defensible, even as bandwidth has gotten cheaper and cheaper over the years, and most crawlers really aren't that intrusive. Also, if that were the case, why nottry expanding its robots.txt file to see if the crawlers respect that?But, in this case, Craig is not being truthful. The lawsuit we wrote about last week, against Padmapper and 3taps, does not appear to involve companies that consume a lot of Craigslists' bandwidth. 3taps claims that it actually pulls the data from Google's cache, and PadMapper was using 3taps for its Craigslist data.I have tremendous respect for Craig and CEO Jim Buckmaster for many of the things they've done over the years. And I've regularly defended them on Techdirt when others went after them for things. But I find these legal actions perplexing, at best. It's one thing to not like others improving on your work. But to send the lawyers after them is just flat out bullying, from an organization who should know better. Filed Under: copyright, legal bully Companies: craigslist, padmapperWhen Matt Czuchry signed on for The Good Wife pilot in 2009, his biggest TV role to date was his breakout role of Logan Huntzberger on Gilmore Girls. So it was a particularly strange turn of events that Czuchry's first post-Good Wife role would be… Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Netflix's forthcoming four-part revival. "The universe is a crazy thing," Czuchry tells The Hollywood Reporter. "In terms of that timing of putting one character down and picking another up, it couldn't be more special. I love the character of Logan, I love the character of Cary so to bridge that gap between them both was incredibly unique and couldn’t have been more perfect timing." Czuchry reprises his role as Logan, Rory's college boyfriend, in the limited series, which hits Netflix on Friday. Like the long-lasting legacy of Gilmore Girls, The Good Wife has continued to endure despite going off the air in May after seven seasons. Czuchry's co-stars on the legal drama, Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo, will reprise their roles as Diane Lockhart and Lucca Quinn, respectively, for a spinoff titled The Good Fight. Like the flagship drama, The Good Fight hails from co-creators and showrunners Robert and Michelle King and will be produced by CBS Studios. Unlike The Good Wife, The Good Fight will air on CBS All Access, with the exception of the first episode, which will premiere on CBS. In addition to Baranski and Jumbo, Sarah Steele and Gary Cole will reprise their roles from the original series. However, it sounds unlikely Czuchry will follow suit. "No, there hasn’t been any talks on either side about that," he says about a possible appearance. Cary Agos might be a harder piece to fit back into the puzzle, given how things ended for him. Having grown hardened and bitter from years of infighting at the firm, Cary quit Lockhart, Agos and Lee in the fourth-to-last episode. In the finale, he appeared in a brief scene with Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and Jason (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) that showed he had segued into teaching law rather than practicing it. "I felt like the closure was actually the episode where he quit the firm and left," Czuchry says. "So for me, that was his last episode." When asked about his thoughts on the finale, and particularly that now famous slap between Diane and Alicia, Czuchry is mum – but with good reason. "I never saw the last episode," he says. "Of course I read it, but that was an episode where it was all about, for me personally, being with the crew and the cast and saying goodbye. So I had watched all the episodes up until that point for research; that one I wanted to leave as just something special on set." It sounds like Czuchry has no intention of changing that anytime soon, saying, "I have no plans to watch it." In contrast, it sounds like he will be tuning in for The Good Fight when it premieres in February. "I've emailed with Christine and Cush, and I'm excited for them," he says. "They're both great, so I'm excited for both of them and want to see what it's going to be like." Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life premieres Nov. 25 on Netflix.If you have any Blue Bell cookie dough ice cream in your freezer, put down the spoon. The ice cream company just issued a recall for possible Listeria contamination—the ice cream company’s second Listeria scare in as many years. Last year, Blue Bell had a huge recall of its ice cream (across flavors) for a widespread Listeria outbreak that claimed three lives. This time, though, the problem wasn’t actually in the ice cream itself. Instead, the company points at chunks of frozen cookie dough (made by cookie dough company, Aspen Hills and then sold to Blue Bell) that became contaminated before they were added to the ice cream. Advertisement The cookie dough ice cream joins a long line of frozen foods recalled for Listeria lately, including last year’s other Blue Bell ice cream recall, a massive frozen veggie outbreak from this year, and a recall of Eggo frozen waffles from a few days back. The frozen food trend doesn’t, however, hint at some link between the different recalls, instead it just points to an unusual fact about the bacteria. Unlike most food pathogens, Listeria can grow and spread in cold temperatures easily. There’s also another growing trend, though, besides your grocer’s freezer section, you can spot in this recall—and this one is actually good news. Just like Eggo waffles, which recalled 100,000 whole wheat waffles (seriously, if you still have some, don’t eat them) a few days back, this recall was issued before anyone got sick instead of after being traced back. Listeria can be incredibly difficult to track down. Not only does it thrive in cold temperatures, it can also linger on almost any surface it touches—countertops, conveyer belts, inside of transport trucks—which then touches food, recontaminating it. And, although symptoms can pop up within a couple days of being exposed, it can also take as long as two months between eating something contaminated with Listeria and finally starting to get sick. This all means that, by the time people are getting sick, it can take a massive effort to track and stop the source of Listeria. Advertisement Lately, though, we’re getting much better at testing not just food but also factories to stop outbreaks before they start. We still need to get even better and faster at stopping outbreaks. But—as alarming as it is to see recalls of the foods that have made it into our homes—seeing them show up with no reported illnesses on their tally is a sign that better testing measures are actually working. You can check out a full list of products for the latest ice cream recall right here.BBK might not be a name to familar to all of you, but it should as they are the main investors in some of China’s biggest phone makers and they have just announced another new brand! BBK have been in the electronics game in China for decades. Back in the old days of Chinese consumer electronics they made home games consoles (NES clones), but soon moved on to creating some of the worlds most recognisable smartphone brands, as well as building educational products for children. With Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus a part of their portfolio the brand surely know what they are doing when it comes to creating a smartphone brand, so it’s quite exciting that they have annoucned another. The new brand is called imoo, and it appears that BBK will be combining what they have learned from making electronic educational toys and smartphones and rolling them in to one, creating the worlds first educational smartphone. We don’t have all the specifics at this time, but the first teaser from the brand shows a thin golden smartphone with a ‘record’ button on the side. This no doubt will be used for language study and taking notes. Chances are imoo will only officially launch in China, but we will keep an eye on developments to see what they come up with.The Army's official history of the battle of Wanat - one of the most intensely scrutinized engagements of the Afghan war - largely absolves top commanders of the deaths of nine U.S. soldiers and instead blames the confusing and unpredictable nature of war. The history of the July 2008 battle was almost two years in the making and triggered a roiling debate at all levels of the Army about whether mid-level and senior battlefield commanders should be held accountable for mistakes made under the extreme duress of combat. An initial draft of the Wanat history, which was obtained by The Washington Post and other media outlets in the summer of 2009, placed the preponderance of blame for the losses on the higher-level battalion and brigade commanders who oversaw the mission, saying they failed to provide the proper resources to the unit in Wanat. The final history, released in recent weeks, drops many of the earlier conclusions and instead focuses on failures of lower-level commanders. The battle of Wanat, which took place in a remote mountain village near the Pakistan border, produced four investigations and sidetracked the careers of several Army officers, whose promotions were either put on hold or canceled. The 230-page Army history is likely to be the military's last word on the episode, and reflects a growing consensus within the ranks that the Army should be cautious in blaming battlefield commanders for failures in demanding wars such as the conflict in Afghanistan. Family members of the deceased at Wanat reacted with anger and disappointment to the final version of the Army history. "They blame the platoon-level leadership for all the mistakes at Wanat," said retired Col. David Brostrom, whose son was killed in the fighting. "It blames my dead son. They really missed the point." The findings in the early draft history of the battle and pressure from lawmakers, including Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), prompted Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was then the commander of U.S. Central Command, to order an investigation into Wanat. The initial investigation, conducted by a three-star Marine Corps general and completed in the spring, found that the company and battalion commanders were "derelict in their duty" to provide proper oversight and resources to the soldiers fighting at Wanat. Petraeus reviewed the findings and concluded that based on Army doctrine, the brigade commander, who was the senior U.S. officer in the area, also failed in his job. He recommended that all three officers be issued letters of reprimand, which would essentially end their careers. After the officers appealed their reprimands, a senior Army general in the United States reversed the decision to punish the officers, formerly members of the the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Gen. Charles Campbell told family members of the deceased that the letters of reprimand would have a chilling effect on other battlefield commanders, who often must make difficult decisions with limited information, according to a tape of his remarks. He also concluded that the deaths were not the direct result of the officers' mistakes.Police detained a monk and his nephew in China's Sichuan province and accused them of instigating the self-immolations of eight ethnic Tibetans on the instructions of the Dalai Lama and his followers, state media said Sunday. The report in the official Xinhua News Agency did not detail what evidence police had of the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader's involvement — which was denied by the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India. The report cited a police statement as saying that confessions and an investigation showed that the detained monk, Lorang Konchok, 40, from Kirti Monastery in Sichuan's Aba county, kept in frequent contact with supporters of the Dalai Lama overseas and had recruited eight volunteers for self-immolations since 2009, telling them they would be "heroes." Three of the protesters died, the report said. Volunteers allegedly recruited It said Lorang Konchok collected photos and personal information of volunteers who agreed to go ahead with the protests. "He also promised to spread their 'deeds' abroad so they and their families would be acknowledged and honoured," the police statement said, according to Xinhua. The monk's nephew, Lorang Tsering, 31, helped recruit volunteers and also was arrested, the report said. Activists say more than 90 ethnic Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in dramatic protests against authoritarian Chinese rule. Chinese officials have called the protests "cruel and inhuman" and sought to blame them on the Dalai Lama and other instigators, while activists call them home-grown expressions of desperation over oppression. The Dalai Lama has said he opposes all violence. Ties to Dalai Lama'strongly denied' The Tibetan government-in-exile, based in Dharmsala, India, said it "strongly denied" any accusations of involvement by its representatives or the Dalai Lama. "We believe that (the suspects) have been forced to make these confessions," spokesman Lobsang Choedak said. "We would welcome the Chinese government investigating whether we are instigating these immolations." Police in Sichuan declined to comment on the case. Tibet and surrounding ethnically Tibetan regions have been closed off to most outsiders, and firsthand information from the areas is extremely difficult to obtain. The Chinese government says it has improved the well-being of Tibetan areas through rapid economic development over the past 30 years, but Tibetan activists complain that their culture, language and Buddhist religion are under threat. The United States last week accused Beijing of responding to the self-immolations by tightening controls over freedom of religion, expression and assembly in Tibetan areas, drawing an angry response from Beijing, which said those freedoms were guaranteed under the Chinese Constitution.2015 Cotton Bowl: Michigan State vs. Alabama - Dec. 31, 2015 Michigan State defensive lineman Damon Knox (93) tackles Alabama running back Derrick Henry (2) in the first quarter of their 2015 Cotton Bowl game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Thursday, December 31, 2015. (Mike Mulholland \| MLive.com) Michigan State's defensive line keeps getting thinner. Veteran defensive tackle Damon Knox will not play for the Spartans in 2016 and has decided instead to pursue a career in law enforcement, the school announced on Friday afternoon. The Muskegon native participated in spring practices in preparation for the season after graduating in December. Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said earlier this year that the school would seek a waiver for a sixth year of eligibility for Knox, but a school spokesperson said on Friday the school did not file paperwork with the NCAA for that waiver. "Damon has been a major contributor to our success the past five years," Dantonio said in a statement. "We appreciate his time and commitment to the Michigan State football program and wish him the best in his future endeavors." Knox made one start at defensive tackle last year, filling in for the injured Joel Heath. In three seasons, he appeared in 38 games and made 42 tackles, with three starts. He had drawn praise from Spartans coaches during spring practices for the leadership role he had taken with younger players, and was listed as a starter on the team's spring depth chart. "We call him coach Knox by trade," Michigan State defensive line coach Ron Burton said last month. "He's been great in the room, he's been great on the field, and we want that continued in the fall." Knox is the third offseason departure of a defensive lineman for Michigan State. Defensive linemen Montez Sweat and Craig Evans Michigan State was already replacing three defensive line starters from last year. Redshirt freshman Raequan Williams was listed immediately behind Knox on the Spartans' depth chart. The Spartans are also bringing in four defensive linemen in its 2016 recruiting class. -- Follow MLive Sports on , andThe entrance to King Herod's 2,000-year-old palace has been discovered in Israel. Archaeologists have uncovered the colossal arched corridor leading to a magnificent entrance hall covered with frescoes during excavations at Herodium. The main feature is a 20-metre-high royal corridor with a complex system of arches, which would have allowed the king and his entourage direct passage into the palace courtyard. The Herodian Hilltop Palace, 10 miles south of Jerusalem, was built to celebrate Herod's victory over the Parthian Empire from what is now modern-day Iran, according to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The excavations also found evidence of the vestibule occupied by Jewish rebels during the Great Revolt of 66CE-71CE. The arched corridor contained hidden tunnels dug by rebels from the second century CE as they conducted guerilla war against the Romans. Supported in part by wooden beams, these tunnels exited from the hilltop fortress by way of the corridor's walls, through openings hidden in the corridor. One of the tunnels revealed a well-preserved construction of 20 or so cypress wood branches, arranged in a crossweave pattern to support the tunnel's roof. But Roi Porat, Yakov Kalman and Rachel Chachy, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem institute of archaeology believe the entrance was never used. "This appears to have happened when Herod, aware of his impending death, decided to convert the whole hilltop complex into a massive memorial mound, a royal burial monument on an epic scale. "Whatever the case, the corridor was backfilled during the construction of the massive artificial hill at the end of Herod's reign." Herod
’t believe there is any difference of opinion among experts. “I don’t think there are two sides to this, and in terms of what medical and pain professionals believe, there is only really one side here,” claims Kolodny. “There’s the medical experts and the leaders in the field, and then there’s the industry and the groups and individuals who take money from them.” “I think a good way of thinking about this would be climate change,” says Kolodny. “You’re not going to find many experts who study climate change who are going to say there’s no such thing as climate change. And if you did […] they were folks working for industry.” “I think having individuals who are getting payments from companies that make these products and have a financial stake in seeing aggressive prescribing—I don’t think those individuals should be allowed to participate in writing any type of guidelines,” Kolodny told InsideSources. Do Only Corporate Ties Bind? Sally Satel, a lecturer at the Yale School of Medicine who has treated many opioid addicts, says that in selecting a panel to advise guidelines like the CDC’s, you want a team of rivals and representation from all viewpoints, no matter who pays them. She also notes that ideological commitments are often more influential than financial conflicts. “Why do people think only corporate ties are the ones that bind?” The Annals of Internal Medicine, in its October 6, 2015 issue, presents guidance from an international board on the disclosure and management of conflicts of interest. While “direct financial” interests are easily defined, the article outlines “indirect” conflicts in the areas of academic advancement, clinical revenue streams, community standing, and scientific interest. Examples of such conflicts include “having published on a topic that expresses an opinion on the effectiveness of an intervention,” “gaining clinical income from the recommendation,” “leadership or board or committee memberships,” “involvement with an advocacy group,” and “personal convictions.” While excluding those with conflicts of interest may be the ideal, we live in the real world. As the report notes: “Pluralism of stakeholders is a desirable feature of guideline panels and may reduce the risk of bias resulting from [conflicts] and lead to balanced final decisions.” Much remains unknown about when the CDC plans to finalize its guidelines or whether it may work to find more moderate ground than it has currently staked. But without question, the guidelines will be the subject of debate in billion-dollar court cases, will set standards for coverage by insurance companies, and will change how opioids are prescribed in the United States for both those already treating chronic pain and others who are yet to suffer from it.Autism Speaks took in more than $69 million last year, over $600,000 of which was paid to a single executive, recently released tax filings indicate. The organization’s chief science officer, Geri Dawson, received $669,751 in total compensation in 2008 including $269,721 in relocation expenses to move her family from Washington to North Carolina, according to Autism Speaks’ tax filing. Dawson’s base salary was $373,360, more than any of the organization’s 257 other employees, including Autism Speaks president Mark Roithmayr. Employee compensation accounted for more than a quarter of Autism Speaks’ income for the year. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below “Dr. Dawson’s compensation is in the mid-range for executives with similar positions in the nonprofit health sector,” Autism Speaks representatives said in a statement. They went on to explain Dawson’s cross-country moving expenses by saying that her presence on the east coast makes her more accessible to Autism Speaks offices, three of its science divisions and government health agencies in Washington, D.C. The move also allowed Dawson to take a position at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Nonprofit salaries range wildly, experts say, but must be based on the salaries of others in similar positions at comparable organizations in order to meet Internal Revenue Service standards. “There’s no one answer for what is appropriate compensation,” says Suzanne Coffman, director of communications for Guidestar, which operates a database of nonprofit organizations’ financial information. “You’ll find at universities that the football coach makes more than the president and at hospitals you’ll have physicians who make more than the CEO.” Overall, Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism advocacy organization, took in more than $69 million last year, over $20 million more than it did the previous year. In turn, the organization provided over $27 million in grants.Current Articles \| Archives \| RSS Feeds \| Search Thursday, March 29, 2012 Race leader Alexander Kristoff gets his stage in Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde 3a by Ben Atkins at 6:20 AM EST Categories: Pro Cycling, Spring Classics, Race Reports and Results Norwegian champion takes bumpy cobbled sprint and his first international pro victory After fourth place on stage one, and second place on stage two, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) has finally taken his first international victory in the professional ranks, in stage 3a of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde. The Norwegian champion was led out perfectly by his team, which controlled most of the 112.1km stage - to and from the North Sea resort of De Panne - and launched him out of the final corner with 250 metres to go. Despite the long sprint, over the uneven cobbled surface, Kristoff managed to hold off a strong challenge from Andre Schulze (Team NetApp), crossing the line half a bike length clear of the German, with Kenny van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM) in third. “I did it in 2010 also, so I remember the cobbles, and I also saw it one time before the finish line,” Kristoff told the Sporza TV cameras afterwards. “It’s difficult; sprinting on cobbles is not so easy, your wheels are jumping around; but I felt strong and the team did a very good effort, keeping me in the front. “I had the best lead out at the end and I could save energy in the last few K’s and in the sprint I felt strong,” the Norwegian explained. “Okay, I started a bit early, and almost - at the end - some guys come on my side [Schulze - ed], but I managed to hold them off.” “I’m really happy with the victory,” he added. The short, flat morning stage was characterised by a long breakaway from Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Rob Goris (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas), Clinton Avery (Champion System), Jonathan Breyne (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) - who had been in the long break the previous day - and Andrea Di Corrado (Colnago-CSF Inox). The five of them escaped in the first hour of racing, building a maximum lead of 2’44” with 50km to go, but were eventually reeled in on the 8.4km finishing circuit around the towns of De Panne and Koksijde. A number of teams battled for control of the peloton in the closing kilometres, but it was Katusha that managed to deliver Kristoff to the final corner first. Time bonuses on the line mean that Kristoff starts the 14.7km afternoon time trial with a clear six second lead over second place Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana), who could only manage seventh on the stage. With a number of strong time triallists just a few seconds further back however, the Norwegian sprinter faces a tall order to hold on and take the overall honours. “That we will see,” Kristoff smiled. “I really never raced full speed in a time trial, so I’m a little bit nervous about that. I will give everything I’ve got, but I don’t have so [many] seconds to the real specialists, so… “It will be difficult to keep the jersey, but I will try.” The break gets going but its never going to work Kristoff’s Katusha team was controlling the peloton when Van Hecke jumped away, not far from Gistel, the home town of Flemish legend Johan Museeuw. Goris and Avery quickly followed the young Belgian, with Breyne, and finally Di Corrado joining them to make the group up to five. After the first hour the leaders had covered 46.5km, and had opened up a lead of 1’10” over the peloton, and their lead continued to grow; Di Corrado took the first intermediate sprint, after 54km, with the peloton 2’27” behind. Project 1t4i was now leading the peloton with Katusha, looking for a second victory for German wunderkind sprinter Marcel Kittel. Despite this, the gap was still growing to the five leaders and, with 50km to go, it was up to 2’44”; at this point though, the Lotto-Belisol and FDJ-BigMat teams lent their muscle to the chase and it began to creep down again. Project 1t4i was doing the lion’s share of the work however, and reduced the deficit by 20 seconds in the next five kilometres. As the peloton entered the town of Diksmuide - with its IJzertoren monument, preserved trench systems, and other memorials to World War I - with 42km to go, a number of teams began to fight for ownership of the peloton. First Lotto-Belisol came forward, followed by Europcar, the Omega Pharma-Quick Step, and the resultant increase of pace slashed the gap to 1’35” as the race entered the final 40km. As the peloton followed the meandering course of the river Ijzer though, the pace relaxed a little an the gap stabilised. The five members of the break were beginning to look a little nervous however, and were continually glancing over their shoulders towards the peloton that they knew was coming. This may have contributed to the confusion as four out of five of them briefly took a left fork, when the course followed the right one along the river; only Goris seemed to know where he was going, but was soon joined by the others again. The fugitives begin to get nervous but their lead begins to grow again The confusion and hesitation, along with a renewed impetus in the peloton from FDJ-BigMat, meant that the quintet’s lead dropped below a minute at the 32km to go point. The five managed to reorganise themselves however, and it began to grow again, peaking at 1’22” with 25km to go before Lotto-Belisol and FDJ-BigMat began to reel it in again. Once again, several teams began to battle for the lead, with Vacansoleil-DCM being overtaken by Team Type 1-Sanofi. The American team pulled the peloton into the final 20km, where the gap to the leaders once again dropped below the minute mark. The rest of the sprinters teams began to lend a hand and, into the final 15km, they had cut the gap to 40 seconds as they passed through Oostduinkerke, the scene of the previous day’s stage finish, with 16km to go. With 14km to go, as the leaders entered Koksijde, the lead was just 22 seconds and the team cars were pulled out of the gap. Spidertech p/b C10 joined the chase, and the gap closed further. With the peloton on their heels, Di Corrado attacked the other four and tried to get away alone; he was chased down quickly, but Breyne - clearly feeling the previous day’s attack in his legs - was unable to respond. The four remaining leaders were in sight along the long, straight road with ten kilometres to go, but Di Corrado tried again. The other three were right on him however, as they felt the breath of the Landbouwkrediet-Euphony-led peloton on their backs. Into the finishing circuit it’s all over bar the sprinting As the quartet crossed the line to start the 8.4km finishing circuit, it was just three seconds clear, but the sprinters teams were still unwilling to close it down just yet. There was a brief moment of concern in the rear of the peloton, as it widened across an area of tram lines. A series of bunny hops from a number of riders took them back to safety however, and there were no crashes. Up front Di Corrado was the first of the four to sit up, and the others capitulated with just over six kilometres to go. Katusha was now on the front of the peloton in force, aiming to deliver race leader Kristoff his much-needed stage victory. There was a small crash near the front, as world under-23 champion Arnaud Démare (FDJ-BigMat) skidded off in the dust at the side of the road with 3km to go; the incident brought down a few riders - including Kittel's lead out man Roger Kluge (Project 1t4i) and sprinter Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF Inox) - but mercifully few others were affected. The incident caused a small split in the peloton, but it was closed again with two kilometres to go. Katusha was still leading the peloton, but Project 1t4i and Team Type 1-Sanofi were jostling for position behind them. The Russian team took it into the final corner, launching Kristoff towards the line, and the Norwegian champion finished it off, with Schulze closing as he hit the line. Six seconds time bonus for Kristoff meant that he would start the afternoon time trial with a clear lead over the rest of the peloton; with a number of strong time triallists not far behind him however, it will be a tall order for the Norwegian to hold on. Follow @Pro_Cycling Tweet Subscribe via RSS or daily email Contact the editor about this article Three Days of De Panne (2.HC) Stage 3a Results: De Panne to De Panne, 113.1km: Click on the arrows at the top of the column to sort the race results. Country Result Name Team Time NOR 1 Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Team) 02:22:58 GER 2 Andre Schulze (Team NetApp) s.t. NED 3 Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. ITA 4 Francesco Chicchi (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. ITA 5 Daniele Colli (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. ITA 6 Davide Cimolai (Lampre - ISD) s.t. ITA 7 Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana Pro Team) s.t. BEL 8 Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. BLR 9 Yauheni Hutarovich (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. FRA 10 Saïd Haddou (Europcar) s.t. FRA 11 Sébastien Chavanel (Europcar) s.t. AUS 12 Aaron Kemps (Champion System) s.t. BEL 13 Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. BEL 14 Bert De Backer (1t4i) s.t. RUS 15 Alexander Serebryakov (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. BEL 16 James Vanlandschoot (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. ITA 17 Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. ITA 18 Danilo Napolitano (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. FRA 19 Mickaël Delage (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. NED 20 Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t. FRA 21 Yuriy Krivtsov (Lampre - ISD) s.t. LTU 22 Egidijus Juodvalkis (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. USA 23 Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t. NED 24 Bobbie Traksel (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. USA 25 Kiel Reijnen (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. FRA 26 David Boucher (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. GER 27 Marcel Kittel (1t4i) s.t. ITA 28 Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) s.t. BEL 29 Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. FRA 30 Yohann Gene (Europcar) s.t. FRA 31 Sébastien Turgot (Europcar) s.t. KAZ 32 Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) s.t. NED 33 Martijn Verschoor (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. ITA 34 Alan Marangoni (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. SLO 35 Blaz Jarc (Team NetApp) s.t. ITA 36 Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. ITA 37 Pier Paolo De Negri (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. FRA 38 Steve Chainel (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. NED 39 Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. SLO 40 Aldo Ino Ilesic (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. GER 41 Andre Greipel (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t. RUS 42 Victor Manakov (Team Rusvelo) s.t. GER 43 Timo Seubert (Team NetApp) s.t. EST 44 Mart Ojavee (Champion System) s.t. ITA 45 Francesco Di Paolo (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. SUI 46 Reto Hollenstein (Team NetApp) s.t. NED 47 Tom Stamsnijder (1t4i) s.t. CAN 48 Guillaume Boivin (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. NED 49 Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. AUS 50 Travis Meyer (GreenEdge Cycling Team) s.t. FRA 51 Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. POL 52 Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. GER 53 Danilo Hondo (Lampre - ISD) s.t. BEL 54 Baptiste Planckaert (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. RUS 55 Alexey Tsatevitch (Katusha Team) s.t. ITA 56 Omar Lombardi (Colnago CSF Bardiani) s.t. NED 57 Bert-jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. NZL 58 Jesse Sergent (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. FRA 59 Laszlo Bodrogi (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. POR 60 Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. RUS 61 Nikolay Trusov (Team Rusvelo) s.t. ESP 62 Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. FRA 63 Vincent Jerome (Europcar) s.t. CAN 64 Martin Gilbert (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. NED 65 Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. NED 66 Dirk Bellemakers (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. CAN 67 Ryan Anderson (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. GER 68 Matthias Friedemann (Champion System) s.t. GER 69 Patrick Gretsch (1t4i) s.t. BEL 70 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. NZL 71 Gregory Henderson (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t. BEL 72 Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. RUS 73 Alexander Porsev (Katusha Team) s.t. BEL 74 Gorik Gardeyn (Champion System) s.t. CAN 75 Keven Lacombe (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. BEL 76 Maxime Vantomme (Katusha Team) s.t. ITA 77 Alessandro Bazzana (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. BEL 78 Arthur Vanoverberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. KAZ 79 Assan Bazayev (Astana Pro Team) s.t. CAN 80 Svein Tuft (GreenEdge Cycling Team) s.t. ITA 81 Claudio Corioni (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. ITA 82 Marco Coledan (Colnago CSF Bardiani) s.t. AUS 83 Luke Durbridge (GreenEdge Cycling Team) s.t. RSA 84 Jay Robert Thomson (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t. ITA 85 Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. AUS 86 Cameron Wurf (Champion System) s.t. BEL 87 Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. RUS 88 Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha Team) s.t. GER 89 Marcel Sieberg (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t. BEL 90 Leif Hoste (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. GBR 91 Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. BEL 92 Ben Hermans (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. BEL 93 Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. USA 94 Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t. ITA 95 Francesco Reda (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. ITA 96 Luca Ascani (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. ITA 97 Alessandro Donati (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. NZL 98 Clinton Avery (Champion System) s.t. NOR 99 Gabriel Rasch (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. ITA 100 Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team) s.t. ITA 101 Marcello Pavarin (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. NED 102 Stefan Van Dijk (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. USA 103 Edward King (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. DEN 104 Brian Vandborg (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. BEL 105 Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. RUS 106 Artem Ovechkin (Team Rusvelo) s.t. UKR 107 Vitaliy Buts (Lampre - ISD) s.t. CAN 108 David Veilleux (Europcar) s.t. RUS 109 Nikita Eskov (Team Rusvelo) s.t. NED 110 Ronan Van Zandbeek (1t4i) s.t. BEL 111 Gregory Habeaux (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. USA 112 Bradley White (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t. AUT 113 Marco Haller (Katusha Team) s.t. BEL 114 Andy Cappelle (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. ITA 115 Simone Masciarelli (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. BEL 116 Rob Goris (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. ITA 117 Andrea Pasqualon (Colnago CSF Bardiani) s.t. KAZ 118 Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Astana Pro Team) s.t. BEL 119 Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t. LTU 120 Tomas Vaitkus (GreenEdge Cycling Team) s.t. FRA 121 Mathieu Claude (Europcar) s.t. FRA 122 Damien Gaudin (Europcar) s.t. KAZ 123 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana Pro Team) s.t. CHN 124 Pengda Jiao (Champion System) s.t. FRA 125 Frédéric Guesdon (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. BEL 126 Kurt Hovelijnck (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. ITA 127 Filippo Fortin (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. ITA 128 Paolo Ciavatta (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. RUS 129 Sergey Klimov (Team Rusvelo) s.t. RUS 130 Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Team Rusvelo) s.t. GER 131 Michael Schwarzmann (Team NetApp) s.t. ITA 132 Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. ITA 133 Leonardo Giordani (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. GER 134 Andreas Schillinger (Team NetApp) s.t. ITA 135 Daniele Righi (Lampre - ISD) 00:00:23 ITA 136 Andrea Masciarelli (Acqua & Sapone) 00:00:24 BEL 137 Jerome Baugnies (Team NetApp) s.t. BEL 138 Jens Debusschere (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t. BEL 139 Kevin Claeys (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. NED 140 Reinier Honig (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) 00:00:27 RUS 141 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Team Rusvelo) s.t. ITA 142 Thomas Bertolini (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. RUS 143 Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha Team) 00:00:31 ITA 144 Massimo Graziato (Lampre - ISD) s.t. CAN 145 Ryan Roth (Spidertech Powered By C10) 00:00:56 BEL 146 Kenny Dehaes (Lotto - Belisol Team) 00:00:57 ITA 147 Andrea Di Corrado (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 00:01:16 BEL 148 Frederik Willems (Lotto - Belisol Team) 00:01:23 CHN 149 Ji Cheng (1t4i) 00:01:30 NED 150 Arnoud Van Groen (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) 00:01:40 BEL 151 Jonathan Breyne (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. SWE 152 Tobias Ludvigsson (1t4i) s.t. BEL 153 Jonas Van Genechten (Lotto - Belisol Team) 00:01:57 DEN 154 Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. GER 155 Rüdiger Selig (Katusha Team) s.t. BEL 156 Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) 00:02:01 CAN 157 Hugo Houle (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. FRA 158 William Bonnet (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) 00:03:02 ITA 159 Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. GER 160 Roger Kluge (1t4i) s.t. ITA 161 Sacha Modolo (Colnago CSF Bardiani) s.t. FRA 162 Arnaud Demare (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. ITA 163 Davide Vigano (Lampre - ISD) s.t. GER 164 Markus Eichler (Team NetApp) s.t. ITA DNS Daniel Oss (Liquigas - Cannondale) KAZ DNS Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana Pro Team) BEL DNS Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) BEL DNS Jens Keukeleire (GreenEdge Cycling Team) AUS DNS Jonathan Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) BEL DNS Kevin Hulsmans (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) SLO DNS Kristjan Koren (Liquigas - Cannondale) SVK DNS Peter Sagan (Liquigas - Cannondale) NED DNS Sebastian Langeveld (GreenEdge Cycling Team) BEL DNS Staf Scheirlinckx (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) BEL DNS Steven Van Vooren (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) General classification after stage 3a: Country Result Name Team Time NOR 1 Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Team) 11:47:43 ITA 2 Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana Pro Team) 00:00:06 POL 3 Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas - Cannondale) 00:00:07 FRA 4 Steve Chainel (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) 00:00:10 ITA 5 Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) 00:00:12 BLR 6 Yauheni Hutarovich (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. BEL 7 Tom Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. FRA 8 Sébastien Turgot (Europcar) s.t. LTU 9 Egidijus Juodvalkis (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. KAZ 10 Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) s.t. BEL 11 Baptiste Planckaert (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. BEL 12 James Vanlandschoot (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. BEL 13 Bert De Backer (1t4i) s.t. ITA 14 Pier Paolo De Negri (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. GER 15 Timo Seubert (Team NetApp) s.t. GER 16 Danilo Hondo (Lampre - ISD) s.t. FRA 17 Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. BEL 18 Maxime Vantomme (Katusha Team) s.t. NED 19 Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. GER 20 Marcel Sieberg (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t. FRA 21 Vincent Jerome (Europcar) s.t. ITA 22 Alan Marangoni (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. NZL 23 Jesse Sergent (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. BEL 24 Leif Hoste (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. SUI 25 Reto Hollenstein (Team NetApp) s.t. BEL 26 Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t. RUS 27 Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha Team) s.t. BEL 28 Ben Hermans (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. BEL 29 Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. KAZ 30 Assan Bazayev (Astana Pro Team) s.t. ITA 31 Luca Ascani (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. NED 32 Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. NED 33 Dirk Bellemakers (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. ITA 34 Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team) s.t. BEL 35 Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. ESP 36 Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t. NED 37 Tom Stamsnijder (1t4i) s.t. USA 38 Edward King (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. CAN 39 David Veilleux (Europcar) s.t. AUS 40 Luke Durbridge (GreenEdge Cycling Team) s.t. ITA 41 Sacha Modolo (Colnago CSF Bardiani) s.t. CAN 42 Svein Tuft (GreenEdge Cycling Team) s.t. ITA 43 Fabio Sabatini (Liquigas - Cannondale) 00:00:38 ITA 44 Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack - Nissan) 00:02:46 BEL 45 Kenny Dehaes (Lotto - Belisol Team) 00:03:43 NED 46 Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 00:06:19 NED 47 Stefan Van Dijk (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) 00:06:22 AUS 48 Aaron Kemps (Champion System) 00:06:23 ITA 49 Daniele Colli (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. CAN 50 Guillaume Boivin (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. ITA 51 Davide Cimolai (Lampre - ISD) s.t. RUS 52 Nikolay Trusov (Team Rusvelo) s.t. SLO 53 Blaz Jarc (Team NetApp) s.t. BEL 54 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. ITA 55 Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas - Cannondale) s.t. LTU 56 Tomas Vaitkus (GreenEdge Cycling Team) s.t. ITA 57 Alessandro Donati (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. BEL 58 Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. BEL 59 Kurt Hovelijnck (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. RUS 60 Artem Ovechkin (Team Rusvelo) s.t. USA 61 Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t. FRA 62 Frédéric Guesdon (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. CAN 63 Ryan Roth (Spidertech Powered By C10) 00:07:19 BEL 64 Frederik Willems (Lotto - Belisol Team) 00:07:46 GER 65 Rüdiger Selig (Katusha Team) 00:08:20 USA 66 Kiel Reijnen (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) 00:09:38 FRA 67 Yuriy Krivtsov (Lampre - ISD) s.t. AUS 68 Cameron Wurf (Champion System) s.t. BEL 69 Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) 00:09:45 BEL 70 Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t. GER 71 Marcel Kittel (1t4i) 00:13:04 NED 72 Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) 00:13:10 GER 73 Andre Schulze (Team NetApp) s.t. BEL 74 Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto - Belisol Team) 00:13:11 NED 75 Ronan Van Zandbeek (1t4i) 00:13:12 BEL 76 Rob Goris (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t. NZL 77 Clinton Avery (Champion System) 00:13:13 RUS 78 Alexey Tsatevitch (Katusha Team) s.t. ITA 79 Leonardo Giordani (Farnese Vini - Selle Italia) s.t. ITA 80 Sonny Colbrelli (Colnago CSF Bardiani) 00:13:14 ITA 81 Danilo Napolitano (Acqua & Sapone) s.t. NED 82 Bobbie Traksel (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t. FRA 83 Saïd Haddou (Europcar) s.t. GER 84 Andre Greipel (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t. FRA 85 Sébastien Chavanel (Europcar) s.t. RUS 86 Victor Manakov (Team Rusvelo) s.t. FRA 87 David Boucher (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t. ITA 88 Francesco Chicchi (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t. USA 89 Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t. RUS 90 Alexander Serebryakov (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. NED 91 Martijn Verschoor (Team Type 1 - SANOFI) s.t. CAN 92 Ryan Anderson (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t. POR 93 Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack - Nissan)
it. "EA's strengths are executing things with hundreds of people, to well-understood patterns. The stuff that I want to do now is to explore some new simulation themes and some new mechanics and do some stuff that EA is not well set up to do. So, not knocking EA, they do what they do, but it was time for me and the other developers Andrew Willmott and Dan Moskowitz to go off and try some new stuff." A spokesperson for EA told Polygon, "We can confirm that Ocean Quigley has departed Maxis. We wish him, and his epic beard, success in his new venture." Quigley said he had not pitched the game idea internally to Maxis or EA. "This is a little too weird and science nerdy for EA," he said. "It's something that the three of us have been interested in for a while. When SimCity shipped and was done with, it was time for us to say well, we have been talking about this stuff for a while, maybe it's time to leave and make it real. He also talked about the company's decision to make a game for iPad. "There's a bunch of simulation stuff that we're doing around fluid dynamics, around the movement of lava and water and rock. Gases and fluids and solids all mingling together to make lava landscapes and seas. There's a bunch of stuff that I have been wanting to try out for a long time around touch sensitivity and the manipulation of those things. "So we take some of the concerns and ideas about tactility that I have been thinking about for a long time and then apply them to something where you are literally reaching down and pushing lava around or making lightning come out of clouds or pulling down comets. You are reaching into the world and manipulating it with multiple fingers. It comes out of a desire to have more direct tactile interaction with the world that you are creating and manipulating." You are reaching into the world and manipulating it with multiple fingers. For Quigley, the new project stems from an interest in science. "In a simulation game you are always looking for some real physical process to try and capture and turn into a game. Working on The Sims it's about interior decorating and in SimCity it's about population density and economics. "So the geo-physics and biology of the early Earth struck me as a rich and interesting subject for a game. I do like science. I do like knowing what is actually happening in the world and it seems like a rich subject matter." One inspiration for the new game is old Maxis title Spore, which Quigley worked on. "A lot of the ideas that we have about the early emergence of live on Earth were in the early development of Spore but were lost as it became a much more cute game and less a game about physical processes. Those are things that I have been wanting to get back to, to deal with that subject matter, the dawn of life, the formation of the earth, where the oceans come from, all the real processes. In the context of a game I want to do justice to that."When I first began training BJJ live, I would go a mile a minute, which was, coincidently, the same amount of time I could train before getting exhausted and having to take a break. I would train so fast that I couldn’t even think about what I was really doing on the mat. As a result, I would lose position and get submitted a lot. But I didn’t understand why I was losing so much. I thought that I was simply not giving enough effort in randori. So, I figured that I could fix this problem by going even harder. This just got me in a deeper hole. I was getting so frustrated with my Jiu-Jitsu training because it seemed like the harder I worked, the worse my training got. Then one day, someone gave me some good advice and told me to SLOW DOWN! He could have just been annoyed with how crazy I would roll, but it really stuck with me. The next time I rolled, I made a conscious decision to slow down and I immediately noticed an improvement in my game. Not only could I train longer without getting tired, slowing down during live training allowed me to clearly see the mistakes I was making. Don’t get me wrong, slowing down didn’t mean I was winning all the time. I would still lose position and get in bad spots, but now I was able to understand why I was getting in those bad spots and began to make corrections to my game. In other words, it was easier to correct mistakes because I was much more aware of the mistakes I was making. If you are getting frustrated with your game or even feel like you’re getting worse, then give this a try: SLOW DOWN! You’ll be able to train longer, smarter and your training partners will thank you for not being such a spaz. Easton Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Arvada, Colorado 303-463-1663A 100-acre brush and timber fire prompted the evacuation of about 400 homes south of Big Bear Lake on Sunday, Aug. 23, and the cancellation of classes for Big Bear Valley Unified School District schools on Monday. Related Articles Holcomb fire north of Big Bear burns 850 acres; voluntary evacuations underway The fire began at 12:25 p.m. Sunday near two forest service roads, about a mile west of Snow Summit Mountain Resort and a half-mile south of Big Bear Elementary School. Flames burning through trees in the San Bernardino National Forest sent up a huge plume of smoke. As of 10:20 p.m., the fire had burned 100 acres — with no growth since about 5:30 — and crews had dug containment lines around 30 percent of the perimeter. There was no estimate on when the fire would be fully contained. MONDAY COVERAGE: Fire makes little movement overnight Travis Mason, a spokesman for San Bernardino National Forest Service, said air resources would be grounded after dark, which is typical in all but the worst fires. He expected fire activity to be lessened overnight, which would allow ground crews to make more progress against the blaze. “We have great ground resources, with crews and engines trying to make containment lines and attack the fire,” Mason said. On Monday, the National Weather Service forecast for Big Bear Lake was 85 degrees with calm winds. There is a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday — a mixed blessing, as rain can help firefighters but lightning can spark more fires. A small chance of precipitation lingers through Wednesday night. (Story continues below map) A mandatory evacuation order remains in place. The Forest Service said it was in effect for areas south of Pennsylvania Road, between Knickerbocker Road on the west and Thrush Drive. Additionally, a voluntary evacuation is also in place for the area from Thrush Drive east to Summit Boulevard, between Brownie Lane on the north and Switzerland Drive on the south. A Red Cross evacuation center has been set up at the Big Bear Convention Center, at the intersection of Big Bear Boulevard and Division Road. Displaced animals are being taken to the Devore Animal Shelter. Four forest roads are closed: 2N06 (Radford), 1N54 (Clarks Grade), 2N93 (Wildhorse) and 2N10 (Skyline). Highway 18, which is Big Bear Boulevard near the lake, remains open, although Caltrans is on standby in case any mountain highways need to be closed, spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said. The Deer, Boulder and Bluff Mesa campgrounds were closed. Several hiking trails in the area also are closed: Towne, Skyline, Champion Lodgepole Pine, Bluff Mesa, Grandview Point and Seven Oaks. Big Bear Valley Unified School District, which started the school year in early August, will be closing all schools Monday with the exception of Fallsvale Elementary in Forest Falls. The closure is for student and staff safety, according to the district’s website. At the height of the fire, flames burned to within a couple of hundred feet of homes, said Nick Bruinsma, spokesman for Big Bear Fire Department. The situation was enough to worry even long-time mountain residents. “When it’s threatening your home, it’s a pretty big deal,” said lifetime resident Steve Porter, whose Eureka Drive home is about a quarter-mile north of the fire. “This is about the closest we’ve ever been to a threatening fire.’ Porter readied his 1,500-gallon water tender – a construction truck built specifically to haul water – just in case. And he’d done considerable work cleaning pine needles and other flammable ground litter away from his home long before the fire. “They pound that into the residents up here,” he said of fire-safety preparations. “I felt pretty confident that whatever embers blew, we could protect the house.” Roughly 400 firefighters were assigned to the incident, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Chon Bribiescas. They were backed up by eight large air tankers, a DC-10 that flew in from Fresno, and five firefighting helicopters. Multiple fire agencies are assisting, including the San Bernardino County Fire Department, which sent a task force that sprays a fire-retardant gel on structures that are in imminent danger. And the Snow Summit resort using its snow-making machines — which draw water out of Big Bear Lake — to help fight the fire as well, Mason said. Staff writers Patrick O’Neill and Alex Groves contributed to this report.It’s not over yet. Amir Khan sketches out his return to the sport It’s not over yet. Amir Khan sketches out his return to the sport Read more articles by John Dennen Don’t miss any action. Sign up for the free BN newsletter(s) here MORE recently seen on our screens in a reality television show, Amir Khan has not boxed since he suffered a bad knockout at the hands of Canelo Alvarez in May 2016. But he has sketched out his plan for a comeback. He wants to box in March 2018 in a tune up bout and then box again in July and December. He fought Canelo at 155lbs but reckons he can return to welterweight. That rules out a potential fight with WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. “[He’s] too heavy. I’m sticking to 147lbs,” Khan stated. That would complicate making a fight with Kell Brook, Khan’s great British rival. Brook is boxing at light-middleweight, moving up to fight Sergey Rabchenko after losing his welterweight world title to Errol Spence last year. When it comes to a television broadcaster, Khan’s team are “in talks”. “Announce soon,” he says. As for potential opponents, Keith Thurman, the unified WBA and WBC welterweight champion, would be the ultimate target at 147lbs. “I love the Thurman fight,” he said, “after March tune up.” Perhaps Adrien Broner would be an ideal antagonist for Khan’s comeback too. “Would love that at 147lbs,” he says…SZEGED, Hungary (Reuters) - The court in the southern Hungarian town of Szeged has shelved other criminal cases and is handing down fast-track verdicts punishing migrants for unlawfully crossing a razor-wire fence that lines the border with Serbia. A migrant (C) talks with his translator as he appears in front of a court in Szeged, Hungary September 16, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTS1DHA In the ten days since Sept. 15, when tough new legislation took effect, the Szeged court ruled in 176 cases, sentencing migrants mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq to expulsion from Hungary for crossing the fence. Nobody has been acquitted and only 10 cases have been appealed. The new law is part of a clamp-down by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government aimed at stopping the influx of migrants into Hungary, the first European Union member state in the Schengen zone of passport-free travel. Orban’s approach has gone down well in Hungary, a country with a small immigrant population. Hungarians say they are caught between an overly tolerant West and a negligent Greece that has failed to enforce EU rules on migrants. Hungary’s border with Serbia is fortified not only by the newly built barrier but by heavy police and army patrols. Migrants can now find themselves in court within days of crossing the fence. Abdul, from Afghanistan, was caught with two other men as they climbed under the fence from Serbia on Sept. 21. All three have been expelled for one year. “We don’t want to go to Serbia but the ruling is saying, no you have to go to Serbia,” Abdul said as he waited in police custody after his case. Sitting on a bench in grey jogging trousers with a baseball cap on his head, he says he is determined to continue his journey. “From Serbia we will try to go to a European country if we can make it, if Allah can help us. We are tired of our life back in our country. So we will see what is in our destiny.” Like other migrants sentenced to expulsion, Abdul will now be taken to a camp under police custody for 72 hours. This can be extended to 60 days “if the conditions for expulsion do not exist,” the Immigration Office said. Human rights groups said Serbia was reluctant to take back expelled migrants. The Helsinki Committee, a human rights group that has sent lawyers to act as defense counsel in some of the trials, said most expelled migrants were hoping to move on via Croatia. FAST-TRACK Abdul’s trial was scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sept. 23, but the judge decided to hear three cases in one at 1 p.m., saying the three Afghan men accused of illegally crossing the fence were caught together, spoke the same language and shared the same lawyer. “This speeds up the procedure,” judge Csaba Juhasz said. The three, Abdul, Mummand and Said, stood before the judge in the small courtroom as the prosecution quickly read out the charges. Their written confessions were the read out. All three had told police they knew they were committing a crime when they crossed the fence, and regretted it. Said, 22, was the only one who wanted to make additional remarks via an interpreter. He said a taxi driver took them to the border and he did not know it was a crime as they were told thousand of migrants had already entered Hungary this way. After the judge read out witness reports from two policemen, the prosecutor, Szilvia Kiss-Szabo said: “It can be stated without a doubt that the accused have committed the crime.” The public defender cited the Geneva Conventions and argued that Serbia cannot be regarded as a safe country for refugees. All three had committed the crime out of “necessity”, and should therefore be acquitted. The court withdrew for 10 minutes and made its ruling. The trial was over in about an hour. Judge Juhasz said that irrespective of citizenship or schooling “all adult men” should know that crossing a fence on a border amounts to a violation of rules. “Also in the territory of Hungary... if one neighbor climbs over to another neighbor in a way that is not allowed, that amounts to a crime or at least a misdemeanor,” he said. Juhasz dismissed the defense counsel’s arguments. “We accept and understand that they are trying to stay in Europe but this can be done in many different ways and in their case they started by committing a crime... so we believe the one-year expulsion is definitely proportionate and necessary in order to achieve the punitive goals,” he said. In the first such trial on Sept. 16, an Iraqi man who was caught crossing the fence 6 hours and 15 minutes after the new law took effect on Sept. 15 was also expelled for a year. The man, who said he was fleeing Iraq because of Islamic State, insisted he was not aware of the new legislation. “We did not know about this law,” he said in tears. He was brought to court in handcuffs, a policy since discontinued. Holding a black sports bag, with his head turned to the wall, the Iraqi was asked what he would do now: “I don’t know.” HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS On the Croatian-Hungarian border, where a fence is only now being erected, migrants get different treatment. The new law makes illegally crossing the border barrier punishable by up to three years in prison. However, crossing the border where there is no fence is not a crime. “Those who do not enter the territory of Hungary via the so called technical border barrier, do not commit a crime under the current legislation,” the National Judicial Office, the body that oversees the courts, said in reply to Reuters questions. “The fence is still being built on the Croatian border, we have not yet introduced the status quo valid on the Serbian stretch of the border,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said. The Helsinki Committee said this differentiation was unacceptable and asylum-seekers should not be sanctioned for crossing a border fence illegally anyway. The UN refugee agency, meanwhile, does not consider Serbia a safe third country for asylum-seekers, although Hungary has declared that it is. “It is not a crime to cross a border to seek asylum,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said in a statement. Slideshow (10 Images) The Helsinki Committee said migrants can apply for asylum both during and after criminal proceedings, which should be suspended while the request is being assessed. In a case on Sept. 23, an 18-year-old Afghan man was sentenced to a two-year expulsion, even though his lawyer said he wanted to seek asylum. The Judicial Office said that if the accused asks for asylum in court, the court would send the request without delay to the Immigration Office. If asylum is granted, the expulsion will not be carried out, it said.Trump Calls on Rubio to Drop Out: 'I Would Like to Face Ted' Tantaros: GOP Dropping 'Loser' Romney Into 2016 Race Would Lead to Chaos Ted Cruz tonight reacted to Donald Trump’s statement that he would like to face him one-on-one. “I would like to face Ted,” Trump said yesterday on Fox and Friends Weekend. “It cleans it up.” The Texas senator told Sean Hannity that he welcomes the challenge. “Head-to-head, not only do we beat Donald Trump, we beat him resoundingly,” said the Texas senator. “Donald has a hard ceiling on the support that he can get.” Calling Super Tuesday “a tidal wave” for his campaign, Cruz reiterated that he believes a Trump nomination would lead to a Republican loss to Hillary Clinton in November. “He loses in just about every poll,” said Cruz. “Hillary trounces him.” The senator also responded to critics who argue that his best states are behind him, saying his campaign is “seeing record turnouts” and “also earning the votes of young people.” Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant later joined Cruz to deliver his endorsement. “This has been a difficult decision for a lot of us,” he said. “When it comes to a true conservative, as I am, Ted Cruz has exemplified that.” Watch the interview, above. Cruz: 'Establishment in a Fevered Frenzy to Get Brokered Convention' Rubio on Trump: 'Eventually, Someone's Gonna Have to Stand Up and Punch Him Back' 'Love You, Man': Schwarzenegger Endorses Kasich in Snapchat VideoBig surprise from the Essential Mix this week. My new favorite artist, Four Tet, has made the mix! 🙂 “One of the UK’s most creative music brains delivers a lush two hours of genre bending electronic music. Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, is a London based producer and DJ who has held residencies at The End and Plastic People in the capital and regularly plays venues as diverse as The Plug in Sheffield to the Cartier Foundation in Paris. His fifth album as Four Tet is released this week, entitled ‘There Is Love In You’.” Check out other Essential mixes in my archive and subscribe to the feed to get good music in the future. You can also follow Core News on Facebook and Twitter. BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix 2010 01 23 with Four Tet [Uploaded.net download] Tracklist: Four Tet – Angel Echoes [Domino] Floating Points – Vacuum [Eglo] Robert Owens – Bring Down The Walls [Trax] STL – Jungle Sometimes [Something Records] Oni Ayhun – Oar003 B [Oni Ayhun Records] Weather Report – Non-Stop Home [Cbs] DJ Sprinkles – Grand Central Pt1 (Mcde Bassline Dub) [Mule Musiq] Four Tet – Sing [Domino] Benge – 1981 Yamaha Cs70m [Expanding Records] Joy Orbison – So Derobe [Aus Music] Melchior Productions – Different Places [Perlon] Dem 2 – Luv’s Hard [New York Soundclash Records] Seelenluft – Manila (Manitoba Remix) [Klein] William Onyeabor – When The Going Is Smooth And Good [Wilfilms] Pryda – Muranyi [Balaton] Moodymann – Det.Riot [KDJ] Zomby – Digital Fauna [Brainmath] Joyce – Aldela De Ogum [Odeon] Joe Goddard – Apple Bobbing (Four Tet Remix) [Greco Roman] Cassy – Soul Saviour [Perlon] One Little Plane – Lotus Flower (Avus She’s Singing Mix) [Text] Hard House Banton – Reign [Spoilt Rotten Enterrtainment] Four Tet – Sing (Floating Points Remix) [Domino] Troy Pierce – Oxytocin [M_Nus] Laurie Spiegel – Patchwork [Philo] Eluvium – The Motion Makes Me Last (Four Tet Remix) [Temporary Residence]Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the appointment of a Quebec judge to the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday, three months after the top court rejected his previous appointment of Marc Nadon. Mr. Harper appointed Clement Gascon, who has served on the Quebec Court of Appeal since 2012, and the Quebec Superior Court for a decade before that. The seat, one of three Supreme Court seats reserved for Quebec, has been vacant since the retirement last summer of Justice Morris Fish. “Mr. Justice Gascon’s wealth of legal knowledge and experience will be of significant benefit to this important Canadian institution,” Mr. Harper said in a statement. “His appointment is the result of broad consultations with prominent members of the Quebec legal community.” Judge Gascon spent 10 years as a member of the Quebec Superior Court before joining the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2012. He is a specialist in civil and commercial litigation and has lectured extensively in business and labour law in Quebec. Quebec Justice Minister Stephanie Vallée welcomed the appointment. “An eminent jurist,” she said. “I’m very happy to see that Quebec finally has its third justice on the bench.” Nathalie Des Rosiers, dean of the common law section of Ottawa University’s faculty of law, who was called to the Quebec bar with Judge Gascon in 1982, said he previously had a successful commercial law practice, arguing cases on behalf of employers. “He is component, dedicated and a hard worker. He is a very efficient guy, very practical minded,” she said. “He is on the more conservative side … but it’s not obvious, he does not wear it in definite way.” In March, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Harper’s appointment of Judge Nadon, a Federal Court of Appeal Justice, to a seat reserved for Quebec jurists on the top court was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court determined that though Judge Nadon had been a member of the Quebec bar for two decades before becoming a federal judge, he was disqualified by the fact he was not a member of the bar when Harper appointed him. Judge Gascon’s appointment is effective June 9. The prime minister had put Judge Nadon’s name to an all-party committee which considered his name under an oath of secrecy, but this time avoided that process. “As we are concerned about recent leaks from what was intended to be a confidential process, we are reviewing the process for future appointments,” Harper spokesman Jason MacDonald said. He also said the Liberals and the opposition New Democrats had repeatedly called for the seat to be filled quickly. Opposition parties have said it was the government and not their members who violated the confidentiality of the process surrounding Judge Nadon, by stating publicly what the opposition members’ positions had been on his appointment. NDP justice critic Françoise Boivin said Judge Gascon has a “stellar reputation” and that he was a “great nomination” for the high court. “My only maybe downer on it is that it’s not a woman and we need to get as close as possible to gender parity on the Supreme Court,” Ms. Boivin said. ‘He is on the more conservative side … but it’s not obvious, he does not wear it in definite way’ Ms. Boivin said she has no concerns about a lack of any confirmation hearing, a process the Conservatives established that gives MPs their only chance to question Supreme Court justices about their legal background. “It would be kind of disappointing on that end, but it’s not an exercise that has any bearing,” Ms. Boivin said, referring to the hearings for Judge Nadon. Ms. Boivin said she likes the vetting process, but it may be worth forgoing given Fish retired last summer. “I think we can pass go, collect $200 – we need a judge from Quebec, stat.” Mr. Harper will have one more Quebec vacancy on the Supreme Court to fill on Nov. 30 when Justice Louis LeBel steps down at the age of 75, after nearly 15 years on the high court. National Post, with Reuters, Postmedia News and The Canadian Press GASCON’S BIOGRAPHY FROM THE QUEBEC COURT OF APPEAL Born in Montreal on February 5, 1960, he is the son of Dr. Bernard Gascon, m.d., and Denyse Clément. He is a graduate of Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf (D.E.C. 1978) and of McGill University (B.C.L. 1981). Admitted to the Bar of Quebec in 1982, he spent 21 years with the Montreal law firm of Heenan Blaikie, specializing in civil and commercial litigation. During his lawyer career, he was a lecturer in business law, in labour law and in construction law at the CEGEP of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, at the Département des sciences comptables of UQAM, at McGill University and at the Bar of Quebec. He was also co-author of many books, publications and articles on the individual contract of employment, notably with respect to the termination of employment, restrictive covenants, fiduciary duty and unfair competition. He was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in October 2002. Since 2002, he has been a member of the Commercial Division (the “Chambre Commerciale”) of the Montreal Superior Court, which is responsible for all commercial matters cases, ranging from CCAA proceedings to insolvency proceedings and shareholders’ disputes. From September 2008 to September 2011, he assumed the role of coordinating judge of that Division. From 2007 to 2010, he was also the representative of the Superior Court on the Canadian Bar Association, Quebec Division, committee on class actions. He assumed a similar role on the working group created to study the U.S.-Canada Cross-Border Class Action Protocols. Since 2008, he is the co-chair of the annual Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice Judgment Writing Seminar for newly-appointed federal judges. He frequently participates as speaker in continuing legal education seminars on commercial matters, judgment writing and class actions. He was appointed to the Quebec Court of Appeal on April 5, 2012.Dude, come on, open your eyes, stop being serious on CSGO bet, its not worth at all, look at this esportsearnings.com/tournaments notice something? yes, 1m prize was the biggest prize ever for csgo. What does it mean? Everything was cheap in csgo, sponsorship, sallary, everything must be cheaper than dota2 / LOL. 250k usd was the highest average prize pool of csgo. How to live their life with a cheap sallary? So, why would the need to win? When a team like c9, liquid, CLG, dignitas won any turney and major?? There are so much real money betting site which CSGO or other esport inside it. Throw, 322, matchfixing are common things in CSGO, if u aware. Now can you tell me, who is the very rich man because of CSGO bet?? none? of course!! In dota you can see Nara, Who2bet, he show his inventory and their winnings. Its mean, Dota is still real, and CSGO is place to dig lot of money for its own player. Notice that, leave that, i just wanna save you. Sorry for my bad english, but im sure u guys understand. GL and HFTHURSDAY, 10:41pm: Jeff Wilson of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has the year-by-year breakdown of Darvish's contract. The right-hander will earn $5.5MM in 2012, $9.5MM in 2013, $10MM annually from 2014-2016, and $11MM in 2017. WEDNESDAY, 6:41pm: Even if they’d had a relatively quiet offseason, the two-time defending American League Champions could have been a playoff-caliber team in 2012. Yet they spent aggressively on one of the top available arms and became a little scarier in the process. The Rangers have agreed to sign Yu Darvish to a six-year deal in the $60MM range. Agents Don Nomura and Arn Tellem represent the 6'5" 25-year-old and negotiated for bonuses that could be worth another $10MM. Darvish can opt out of the contract after the fifth year, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. However, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports adds (on Twitter) that Darvish must hit certain "high-end award levels" to be able to opt out of the contract. The deal is worth just $56MM guaranteed, Wilson tweets. Wilson says the deal includes $4MM in bonuses with the potential to reach even more incentives by winning Cy Young Awards. GM Jon Daniels liked what he saw when he watched Darvish pitch in June, and the Rangers committed a record-setting amount for the right to negotiate with the right-hander. The Nippon Ham Fighters obtain a $51,703,411 posting fee from the Rangers, who topped the $51.1MM Boston paid for the rights to speak with Daisuke Matsuzaka five years ago. Darvish posted a 1.44 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 232 innings this past season and he hasn't posted an ERA above 2.00 since 2007. He'll join a Rangers rotation that looks considerably different than it did a year ago. C.J. Wilson is gone, but Neftali Feliz will move to the rotation and Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Scott Feldman and Alexi Ogando provide manager Ron Washington with an abundance of alternatives for the rest of the rotation. The Angels finished ten games behind the Rangers in both 2010 and 2011, but GM Jerry Dipoto has signed Wilson and Albert Pujols, so the Angels are considerably more threatening entering the 2012 campaign. Prince Fielder may have lost a suitor this afternoon. It's been reported that the Rangers are unlikely to sign both him and Darvish, so agent Scott Boras may turn elsewhere as he looks to find a deal for the 27-year-old free agent. ESPN.com's Jayson Stark tweets that the Rangers feel "less urgency" to sign Fielder, though a deal is still possible. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com first tweeted news of the agreement, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweeted the value of the deal and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweeted news of the incentives. The Rangers have confirmed the deal.Democrats have a “sizeable advantage” over Republicans in fundraising through the end of 2013, end-of-year Federal Election Commission reports filed Friday show. The Wall Street Journal examined FEC data for the most competitive senate and congressional races, and found that Democratic candidates had raised $42.3 million in 2013 compared to $34.8 million by Republicans, and had about $6 million more in the bank going into the first part of the 2014 election cycle. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee outraised the National Republican Senatorial Committee by $16 million in 2013. But the biggest surprise might be how far Republican strategist Karl Rove has fallen from grace among Republican donors. With no contest for either the White House or Congress in 2013, a slow fundraising year might be expected. But the gap for Rove’s groups — American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS and the Conservative Victory Project — remains stunning in comparison to receipts for upstart Tea Party-oriented campaign groups. Rove’s three groups took in $6.1 million in 2013, Politico notes, while American Crossroads alone received $99.1 million in 2012. All three together raised about $325 million during the Romney campaign and the battle for congress. Rove-backed candidates failed almost everywhere — more than 95 percent of money spent by Rove’s groups ultimately backed losing candidates. Meanwhile, Tea Party-backed insurgent conservative groups outraised and outspent groups perceived as supporting establishment Republicans. The New York Times noted that FreedomWorks, the Club for Growth Action Fund, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and the Tea Party Patriots raised about $20 million in 2013. Notably, issue advocacy 501(c)4 organizations like the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity are not required to disclose their donors or their fundraising activities, leaving a large pool of politically-interested “dark money” unaccounted for.Buy Photo Supporters and opponents of the proposed same-sex marriage constitutional amendment presented their cases for the second time in two weeks before a committee in the Indiana House chambers on Wednesday. (Photo: Dawn Mitchell/The Star)Buy Photo Story Highlights Follow @IndyJonMurray, @barbberg and @indystartony on Twitter for more Statehouse coverage. After two hearings, eight hours of testimony and a controversial committee switch, a proposed same-sex marriage ban is headed to the Indiana House floor as early as Monday. All nine Republicans on the House Elections Committee voted in favor of the proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday night, while three Democrats were against the move. During the packed 41/2-hour hearing, young Republicans implored their older party members to send a message of tolerance to the next generation. Gay and lesbian Hoosiers spoke about leaving the state if the amendment passes. A woman with cancer expressed fears that she and her partner won't have the same rights as straight, married couples when facing end-of-life decisions. Despite the personal appeals and testimony from business and university leaders, Republicans were not persuaded to back off the amendment, which has caused some fissures within their party. After the testimony, Republicans voted with few comments. "Marriage is between a man and a woman, and I believe the people of Indiana are demanding a right to vote on the amendment," said committee member Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola. Democrats who voted against the bill said they feared a divisive campaign if the measure goes to the November ballot and millions of dollars in legal fees if the measure passes. "When my grandchildren have to watch the ads that are going to be on television," said Rep. Kreg Battles, D-Vincennes, "are you going to be proud? Are we as a body going to be proud of that?" For the most part, opponents and supporters were quiet and respectful during the testimony, at the urging of committee Chairman Milo Smith, R-Columbus. But at one point, he had a State Police trooper remove a man who was repeatedly giving the "thumbs down" signal during supporters' testimony. After the hearing, Rep. Woody Burton, R-Whiteland, said his vote was a personal one, even though he realizes the younger generation of Republicans usually don't agree with his views on this issue. • Erika D. Smith: Get mad, stay mad at Bosma decision over gay marriage ban. • Cartoonist Gary Varvel: Speaker Bosma and the marriage amendment. "I guess you can call me old-school," Burton said. "I'm a strong believer in the sanctity of marriage. The socially accepted behavior line has been moving since the '60s. I have to hold true to my conscience. Sometimes you have to step up to what's in your heart." Much of the testimony was a repeat of that given during a three-hour hearing Jan. 13 before the House Judiciary Committee. The amendment stalled in that committee because there apparently were not enough votes to move the amendment to the full House. That prompted House Speaker Brian Bosma to take the unusual and controversial step of reassigning the amendment and a companion bill, House Bill 1153, to the Elections Committee, saying he was responding to the wishes of a majority of the GOP caucus. Bosma's move drew howls of protest from amendment opponents and praise from conservative groups that want the public to vote on the amendment, which would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. NEWSLETTERS Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Urgent developments you should know now, not later. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-888-357-7827. Delivery: varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Wednesday's vote didn't surprise opponents. "I'm more disappointed in the process than I am in the vote," said Megan Robertson, campaign manager for Freedom Indiana, the coalition fighting the amendment. She said all signs pointed to the amendment failing in the Judiciary Committee. Asked about the chances of defeating it in the full House, Robertson said, "I think there are a lot of folks who voted for it last time who want to switch their votes, and I think we'll see that happen." The amendment passed the House 70-26 when it first came to a vote in 2011, with bipartisan support. But 19 new Republicans and six new Democrats were elected in 2012. In Indiana, a constitutional amendment needs approval by two separately elected legislatures before it can be voted on in a referendum. If the full House and Senate pass the amendment, it will go to voters in November. Opponents gathered on the Statehouse's fourth floor after the vote. "My first really good model of a long-term relationship in which people were sharing their lives but still keeping their individuality was a gay couple," said Ashley Holmes,
Namco shared the latest on Accel World vs. Sword Art Online by announcing that those who purchase first-print copies of the game will get Yuna from the Sword Art Online movie as a bonus character. Yuna (CV: Sayaka Kanda) appears as one of the key original characters in the upcoming film, Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale, which premieres in Japan on February 18. Additionally, Bandai Namco revealed that hte game will feature a total of 44 playable characters. 38 are included from the get-go four from pre-order bonuses, and another four from the Season Pass. Accel World vs. Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight releases in Japan on March 16, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. The game releases in North America and Europe in Summer 2017. If you missed it, check our earlier report for details on a King Oberon DLC fight, some bikini costumes, and Sachi as one of the first-print bonus characters.Disney World Vacation Package Discounts Walt Disney World vacation package discounts are slightly less common than discounts on individual components (room, tickets, food), but there are good vacation package discounts to be had, and this page covers them all. A “vacation package” for Disney World includes a room at an official Disney resort, plus either tickets or a dining plan or both. Disney World packages are popular because they offer convenience and simplicity, but sometimes you can save more creating your own “package” by buying tickets, hotel and food separately. Disney Vacation Package discounts are not always available for all future dates, and are released just 3-5 months in advance, so it’s a good idea to start your search early and keep checking back to see if package discounts have been released for the time frame you want. Not sure which resort to pick for your Disney vacation package? Read about the various Disney resort types and our recommendations for the best values in each category. Jump to: Is a Disney Vacation Package For You? A Disney vacation package has traditionally included two key things: a hotel room and park tickets. (A hotel room by itself is not a package – it’s called a “room-only” reservation.) You can also add a pre-paid dining plan to any package. There is also a “ticketless” package that includes a dining plan but no tickets. The “ticketless” package is not available online; you need to book it with a travel agent or over the phone with Disney. A lot of people like Disney’s vacation packages because they are convenient and worry-free. You get everything you need (except airfare) with one purchase. However, it is important to note that the standard full-price Disney vacation packages are designed for convenience rather than savings. In most cases you will not automatically get a discount by purchasing a package! It can be cheaper to book a “room only” reservation (ideally with a discount) and then buy the package components (tickets, meals, etc) separately. When Disney offers package discounts, usually they are calculated as a discount on the hotel portion of the package and are identical to a room-only discount offered at the same time; the tickets and dining plan are charged at full price. However, Disney sometimes offers exclusive promotional package discounts, particularly in the off-season, that do not have any room-only equivalent, where you get a discount on dining instead of (or in addition to) a hotel discount. Disney World packages have rules about advance payment, cancellations and changes that are usually much more restrictive than those associated with “room only” reservations. If you’re not sure about whether to buy a package vs. just booking your room and tickets separately, read our information on the pros and cons of vacation packages vs. room-only reservations to help you decide. It can be difficult to sort out what is best for your particular situation. That’s why we think it’s a good idea to have someone knowledgeable on your side, making sure all the details are covered. Our advice is this: if you want to book a Walt Disney World vacation package, we strongly recommend using a travel agent who specializes in Disney travel. It costs you nothing, and you can sit back, relax, and have all the vacation planning and hassle taken care of by someone else. If you think you’d rather buy the various parts separately, take a look at our Disney World Resort Discounts page, where we cover room-only discounts on Disney hotels. You may also want to look over our recommendations for the best hotels near Walt Disney World. And of course you should visit our Walt Disney World ticket discount pages, and read our tips on saving money on food and drink. Vacation Package Features & Options Disney World vacation packages change every year. In most years, only a few minor things change, such as the list of shops and restaurants that provide coupons and discounts to package buyers. Occasionally there will be more extensive changes; when there are, we list them below. The package you get is based on your checkin date. So if you check in any time between January 1 and December 31, 2019, you will get the 2019 package benefits for your whole stay, even if the stay extends into 2020. 2019 Package Changes Very little changed in 2019. There are a few different store & restaurant discount coupons, but otherwise the benefits are the same. Current Package Options Disney Resort Hotel Package – This is the basic Walt Disney World vacation package, which includes accommodations at a Disney-owned-and-operated resort hotel, and Walt Disney World tickets for everyone in the group. By default, it includes Base (1 Park Per Day) tickets, but you can upgrade to Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus. Disney Resort Hotel Package Plus Disney Quick Service Dining Plan – This package includes everything from the Disney Resort Hotel Package, and adds a dining plan that includes two quick service meals and two snacks per person, per package night, plus a resort refillable mug per person. You can choose from dozens of counter service restaurants across the Walt Disney World Resort. Disney Resort Hotel Package Plus Disney Dining Plan – This package includes everything from the Disney Resort Hotel Package, and adds a dining plan that includes two meals (one table service, one quick service) and two snacks per person, per package night at more than 100 restaurants across the Walt Disney World Resort. This plan also includes a resort refillable mug per person. Disney Resort Hotel Package Plus Disney Deluxe Dining Plan – This package includes everything from the Disney Resort Hotel Package, and adds a dining plan that includes three meals and two snacks per person, per package night at more than 100 restaurants across the Walt Disney World Resort. Unlike the regular Dining Plan, lunch and dinner on this plan include an appetizer. This plan also includes a resort refillable mug per person. Walt Disney World Annual Passholder Package with Dining – Walt Disney World Annual Passholders can purchase a special vacation package with either the Quick Service Dining Plan, the standard Dining Plan or the Deluxe Dining Plan. It is not available online; you must book it with a travel agent or over the phone. The room rate on an Annual Passholder Package will include whatever current Annual Passholder hotel discounts are available, but the dining plan will always be charged at full price. This package does not include admission tickets, since obviously Annual Passholders don’t need that component of a vacation package. – Walt Disney World Annual Passholders can purchase a special vacation package with either the Quick Service Dining Plan, the standard Dining Plan or the Deluxe Dining Plan. It is not available online; you must book it with a travel agent or over the phone. The room rate on an Annual Passholder Package will include whatever current Annual Passholder hotel discounts are available, but the dining plan will always be charged at full price. This package does not include admission tickets, since obviously Annual Passholders don’t need that component of a vacation package. Ticketless Package with Dining – This is essentially equivalent to the Annual Passholder Package: it combines a hotel room and either the Quick Service Dining Plan, the standard Dining Plan or the Deluxe Dining Plan. You do not need to have an Annual Pass to book this package. It is not available online; you must book it with a travel agent or over the phone. Usually you can combine a hotel discount with this package (assuming your dates and resort qualify), but you can’t get exclusive package discounts like Free Dining. This is an option to consider if you really like the dining plan, but prefer to get your tickets from a discount source or have leftover tickets from a previous trip. – This is essentially equivalent to the Annual Passholder Package: it combines a hotel room and either the Quick Service Dining Plan, the standard Dining Plan or the Deluxe Dining Plan. You do not need to have an Annual Pass to book this package. It is not available online; you must book it with a travel agent or over the phone. Usually you can combine a hotel discount with this package (assuming your dates and resort qualify), but you can’t get exclusive package discounts like Free Dining. This is an option to consider if you really like the dining plan, but prefer to get your tickets from a discount source or have leftover tickets from a previous trip. Disney Springs Resort Area Hotel Package – This is a simple combination of a stay at one of the Disney Springs Resort Area hotels plus 2-day or longer Walt Disney World tickets. Guests who book this package get 60-day advance booking of FastPass+ selections. A Disney Dining Plan cannot be added to this package. Thanks to Small World Vacations for info. To book a Disney World vacation package, we recommend filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations. They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. Why book with a travel agent? We find that the overall experience is better booking a package through a good full-service agency than direct with Disney, and the extra service costs you nothing; their prices are identical to Disney’s, including all package discounts. Booking packages, especially discounted packages, often involves comparing many different booking options to see which gets you the best deal, and that’s one of the many things the best travel agents are great at doing. Our Value Recommendations The first thing you need to bear in mind is that Disney REALLY wants you to stay for at least 5 nights/6 days. For that reason, the tickets included in your package are heavily discounted on longer (5 to 10 day) stays. Remember that tickets are usually the biggest single expense in your package, and 7 day tickets cost only a little more than 4 day tickets. So live it up — price out the longer vacation and you’ll probably be surprised how little the extra cost will be. For most people who buy a vacation package, the plain Resort Hotel Package (no dining) or the Resort Hotel Package Plus Disney Dining Plan will be the best value. There is a daily, per-person cost to add the regular Disney Dining Plan to a basic package (current prices can be found on the dining plan page). With the regular Dining Plan you’ll get a table service meal, a counter service meal and two snacks each day. The Disney Dining Plan is not an inherently great deal. It’s possible to save a little vs. paying cash, but most families would need to use all of the included benefits and order only the most expensive items on the menu at every meal. One big exception: if you have children 9 or under and plan to visit a lot of buffets (half your table-service meals or more), you’ll probably save money without really having to work at it, as Disney’s child buffet prices are very high compared to other meals. Otherwise at best it’s a break-even proposition. Adding the Dining Plan to your package does allow you to prepay all or most of your food expenses (except for tips and extras like appetizers and alcohol), and frees each person to order whatever they want without worrying about the price. If that sounds like an enhancement to your vacation, then a dining plan may be a good choice. Read our view on the pros and cons of the Dining Plan. If your family isn’t into table-service dining, there is the Quick Service Dining Plan. The Quick Service Dining Plan is generally not a good value. You will be lucky to break even vs. just paying cash for your meals and snacks, and the Quick Service Dining Plan is not particularly flexible, since there’s no way to spend the meal credits on table service, buffets, or a bunch of smaller kiosk restaurants. We don’t recommend it as a money-saving strategy, but again you have to evaluate whether pre-paying for all your food is worth it to you. The Deluxe Dining Plan is really luxurious, but for the average family it is also serious overkill. First of all, eating the included three full table-service meals a day is just too much for most people. But if you’re like us, you’ll feel compelled to eat all those darn meals, because you’re paying for them! It’s really intended for folks who want the ultimate in pre-paid meal flexibility and don’t mind paying for it. Sun & Fun Package Offer Get up to 30% off the room portion of a package at official Walt Disney World resorts for most dates 4/28/19 – 9/30/19. There is no minimum stay required in general, but some popular room types may have a minimum stay length to be eligible for the discount. You can also book this as a room-only offer. You must check in on a date in the range to be eligible for the discount, but your stay can stretch past the end of the discount period. The dates that fall beyond the end of the range will get charged full rate. Sample discounts (just for the room portion) off normal 2019 Disney World room rates: Up to 20% off most Value resort rooms and Campsites (discount varies between 15%-20% based on dates and room types) (discount varies between 15%-20% based on dates and room types) Up to 25% off most Moderate resort rooms (discount varies between 10%-25% based on dates and room types) (discount varies between 10%-25% based on dates and room types) Up to 30% off most Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resort rooms (discount varies between 15%-30% based on dates and room types) (discount varies between 15%-30% based on dates and room types) The best discounts are for dates between 5/28/19 – 9/30/19, with smaller discounts for 4/28/19 – 5/27/19. , with smaller discounts for 4/28/19 – 5/27/19. Book by March 24, 2019 for best availability: the larger, later discounts go away after that date, leaving only 4/28/19 – 5/27/19. Offer excludes Villas at Grand Floridian, Bungalows at Polynesian Bungalows & Villas, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins, Port Orleans – Riverside, Little Mermaid (i.e. Standard) rooms at Art of Animation Resort and 3-bedroom villas. As with all Disney promotional discounts, some resorts, room types and date combinations will not be available. It’s important to be flexible if you want to book a discounted room. Book by 5/27/19 (book by 3/24/19 for full availability). To book the Sun & Fun Package Offer, we recommend filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations. They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. Why book with a travel agent? We find that the overall experience is better booking a package through a good full-service agency than direct with Disney, and the extra service costs you nothing; their prices are identical to Disney’s, including all package discounts. Booking packages, especially discounted packages, often involves comparing many different booking options to see which gets you the best deal, and that’s one of the many things the best travel agents are great at doing. Gift Of Magic Package Offer Get up to 20% off the room portion of a package at official Walt Disney World resorts for most dates 1/1/19 – 4/27/19. There is no minimum stay required in general, but some popular room types may have a minimum stay length to be eligible for the discount. You can also book this as a room-only offer. Disney Visa cardholders should also check out the Disney Visa Gift Of Magic Offer with up to 30% off some room types. There is also a “Kid-Size Gift Of Magic” package offer and a “Magical Family Memories” package offer, both of which are the same as this offer with a different marketing emphasis. Once you configure the same dates and options, the final prices are identical. You must check in on a date in the range to be eligible for the discount, but your stay can stretch past the end of the discount period. The dates that fall beyond the end of the range will get charged full rate. Sample discounts (just for the room portion) off normal 2019 Disney World room rates: Up to 10% off most Value resort rooms Up to 15% off most Moderate resort rooms (discount varies between 10-15% based on dates and room types) (discount varies between 10-15% based on dates and room types) Up to 20% off most Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resort rooms (discount varies between 10-20% based on dates and room types) Offer excludes Villas at Grand Floridian, Bay Lake Tower, Bungalows at Polynesian Bungalows & Villas, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins, Little Mermaid (i.e. Standard) rooms at Art of Animation Resort, Campsites and 3-bedroom villas. As with all Disney promotional discounts, some resorts, room types and date combinations will not be available. It’s important to be flexible if you want to book a discounted room. Book by 4/27/19. To book the Gift Of Magic Package Offer, we recommend filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations. They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. Why book with a travel agent? We find that the overall experience is better booking a package through a good full-service agency than direct with Disney, and the extra service costs you nothing; their prices are identical to Disney’s, including all package discounts. Booking packages, especially discounted packages, often involves comparing many different booking options to see which gets you the best deal, and that’s one of the many things the best travel agents are great at doing. Disney Visa Gift Of Magic Package Offer This offer is identical to the Gift Of Magic package offer, but has larger discounts on some rooms, and is only open to Disney Visa cardholders. Not all rooms will have an extra discount over and above the Gift Of Magic offer. Disney Visa cardholders get up to 30% off the room portion of a package at official Walt Disney World resorts for most dates 1/1/19 – 4/27/19. There is no minimum stay required in general, but some popular room types may have a minimum stay length to be eligible for the discount. You can also book this as a room-only offer. You must check in on a date in the range to be eligible for the discount, but your stay can stretch past the end of the discount period. The dates that fall beyond the end of the range will get charged full rate. Sample discounts (just for the room portion) off normal 2019 Disney World room rates: Up to 20% off most Value resort rooms (discount varies between 10-20% based on dates and room types) (discount varies between 10-20% based on dates and room types) Up to 25% off most Moderate resort rooms (discount varies between 10-25% based on dates and room types) (discount varies between 10-25% based on dates and room types) Up to 30% off most Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resort rooms (discount varies between 10-30% based on dates and room types) Offer excludes Villas at Grand Floridian, Bay Lake Tower, Bungalows at Polynesian Bungalows & Villas, Cabins at Copper Creek Villas & Cabins, Little Mermaid (i.e. Standard) rooms at Art of Animation Resort, Campsites and 3-bedroom villas. As with all Disney promotional discounts, some resorts, room types and date combinations will not be available. It’s important to be flexible if you want to book a discounted room. Payment for room must be made with a Disney Visa card, and cardholder must stay in room. Book by 4/27/19. To book the Disney Visa Gift Of Magic Package Offer, we recommend filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations. They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. Why book with a travel agent? We find that the overall experience is better booking a package through a good full-service agency than direct with Disney, and the extra service costs you nothing; their prices are identical to Disney’s, including all package discounts. Booking packages, especially discounted packages, often involves comparing many different booking options to see which gets you the best deal, and that’s one of the many things the best travel agents are great at doing. Annual Passholder Packages Annual Passholder Packages are vacation packages that have a room and dining plan but no tickets (since annual passholders obviously don’t need tickets). They can be booked any time, and when Passholder “room only” discounts are available, those discounts apply to the room portion of a passholder package. The Dining Plans are always full price and these packages are never eligible for “Free” dining, or other packages that involve reduced-price Dining Plan like “Stay, Play & Dine.” These bookings are subject to regular Walt Disney Travel Company package rules. Annual passholder packages can only be booked through a travel agent or via calling the Disney Reservation Center; they are not available online. Thanks to Small World Vacations for info. To book an Annual Passholder Package, we recommend filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations. They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. Why book with a travel agent? We find that the overall experience is better booking a package through a good full-service agency than direct with Disney, and the extra service costs you nothing; their prices are identical to Disney’s, including all package discounts. Booking packages, especially discounted packages, often involves comparing many different booking options to see which gets you the best deal, and that’s one of the many things the best travel agents are great at doing. Ticketless Packages with Dining Plan Ticketless Packages with Dining are vacation packages that include a room and dining plan but no tickets. They are just like the Annual Passholder Packages, above, except that they don’t include the Annual Passholder room discounts. They can be booked any time, and when “room only” discounts are available, those discounts apply to the room portion of these packages. The Dining Plans are always full price and these packages are never eligible for “Free” dining, or other packages that involve reduced-price Dining Plan like “Stay, Play & Dine.” These bookings are subject to regular Walt Disney Travel Company package rules. Ticketless packages can only be booked through a travel agent or via calling the Disney Reservation Center; they are not available online. Thanks to Small World Vacations for info. To book a Ticketless Package, we recommend filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations. They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. filling out a quote form with Small World Vacations They give you full service, including a personal travel agent you can contact by email or toll-free phone number, and we recommend them wholeheartedly! Also, Small World is offering a FREE TouringPlans.com subscription to US residents, when they book a 2019 package valued at $2000 or more. Why book with a travel agent? We find that the overall experience is better booking a package through a good full-service agency than direct with Disney, and the extra service costs you nothing; their prices are identical to Disney’s, including all package discounts. Booking packages, especially discounted packages, often involves comparing many different booking options to see which gets you the best deal, and that’s one of the many things the best travel agents are great at doing. Bounceback Package Offer “Bounceback” vacation package offers are offers made by Disney ONLY to guests who are currently staying at one of the official Walt Disney World resorts. The idea is to encourage you to “bounce back” to Disney World by planning your next vacation right now. These offers are not always available and could end at any time. When a bounceback vacation package offer is available, you may be able to book a discounted vacation package (accommodations plus at least a 1-day Base Ticket) for a stay on selected dates at a Walt Disney World resort. Not all dates are offered, and not all resorts and room types will be included. To qualify, the reservation for your next vacation must be made before you check out, and there are no exceptions made. You must call the number provided (usually on a flyer in your room) and pay a $200 deposit when booking. If you don’t get a bounceback offer on a flyer in your room, the resort TV channel may be showing this offer, or you may receive an email from Disney during your stay. Your best bet is to dial x8844 from your room phone and ask them if there are any current offers. You can also try asking the front desk and/or Housekeeping for a flyer. They do not usually know what the current bounceback offers are or how to book them, but they may know where a flyer can be found. The current offer appears to be a room-only discount offer, which can be booked as a package if desired, by adding full-price tickets and/or dining plan. It comes and goes, and has varying discounts depending on resort and date. Package Promotions with Small World Vacations Small World Vacations frequently offers nice Disney World vacation package promotions exclusively for MouseSavers Newsletter readers. Be sure to sign up for out FREE monthly email newsletter so you’ll hear about the latest offers! UK Resident Packages The Disney specialist travel agency we recommend, Small World Vacations, gladly works with clients around the globe. They have many clients from the UK and Ireland. Unfortunately they cannot book UK-specific offers, but sometimes the American offers are a better deal. It’s also worth noting that the US vacation package offers have much more advantageous cancellation and change policies than the UK holiday package offers. To book any Walt Disney World holiday offers that are specific to UK visitors, go to the UK Walt Disney Travel Company website. , go to the UK Walt Disney Travel Company website. You can also check the UK Visitors page for current package offers that are specific to the UK. Canadian Resident Packages Canadian residents can book the US offers listed above. The Disney specialist travel agency we recommend, Small World Vacations, gladly works with clients around the globe. They have many clients from Canada. In addition, you can visit Walt Disney World’s Canadian website and select the Special Offers tab to see any current deals specific to Canadians, but most of the time the offers are the same as those distributed in the US. Sometimes the Canadian offer will have a different discount code, but otherwise it will be identical to the US offer. If we learn of any specials for Canadians only, they are listed below. Small World Vacations can book most Canadian packages as long as you are traveling at least 45 days from the date of booking. Online Travel Agencies Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. typically cannot book Disney Vacation Packages, which means they can’t book any of Disney’s special package discounts like Stay, Play, and Dine or Free Dining, and they can’t book packages with the Disney Dining Plans at all. They can be a good way to book a room-only discount, if they are offering some kind of discount code or coupon of their own that stacks on top of Disney’s own discounts. If not, they will typically have the same room rates as Disney. All of the OTAs have what they call “packages,” but they’re just bundles they’ve put together of travel components they handle, like flights, hotels, rental car, tickets, etc. They generally are not discounted very much (or at all) over and above buying the individual components, and most often you’ll find better discounts on rental cars, airfare and Disney World tickets through other sources. Generally speaking if you want an official Disney vacation package, and especially if you want to book one of the Disney Dining Plans, you’re best off booking with a Disney specialist full-service travel agency. You’ll get better service and a personal agent, for the same price as Disney charges. Membership Discounts If you belong to a membership organization like USAA or AARP, it may be worthwhile to check if they offer Walt Disney World vacation packages, and if so, whether they offer any discounts. However, don’t expect much service, and be aware that you may not get the best price in the long run. In our experience, the big membership organizations mostly employ “generalist” travel agents who often know little or nothing about Disney vacations and are frequently clueless about promotional packages and discount codes. You will usually have to do your own monitoring to make sure any better package offers that come out are applied to your booking. They almost never do this for you, unlike a Disney specialist agency. Trip Insurance It is especially important to buy trip insurance for a vacation package, because you have to pay the entire cost in advance and you won’t get a refund if you have to cancel right before your scheduled departure. With hundreds or even thousands of dollars at stake, it’s worth it to protect the investment. It’s super-important to buy insurance if you will be visiting Walt Disney World on a package vacation during hurricane season (roughly June-November, with the peak period in August and September). Don’t underestimate the potential of hurricanes and tropical storms to create major problems even in an inland location like Orlando. Walt Disney World was directly affected by two hurricanes in 2004 (Frances and Jeanne), one in 2005 (Wilma), and most recently by Irma in 2017. Two hotels located on Disney property (but not operated by Disney) were virtually destroyed by the 2004 storms; one didn’t reopen until 2010! While Disney’s own resorts weathered the hurricanes very well, guests were stuck in their rooms for up to 72 hours and many had major travel problems because airports were closed. Disney did waive “no-show” fees for a few dates, but those whose trips began before the specified dates (but whose travel plans overlapped with the hurricane) or just afterward were out of luck. Many people had similar problems with their airfares. The airlines allowed highly restrictive changes for certain dates without extra fees, but many of those who had to reschedule could not work within the airlines’ narrow rules and just had to suck up the extra cost. Perhaps the most important coverage included in a trip insurance policy is trip cancellation and interruption insurance, which can protect your investment if you have to cancel your vacation at the last minute (or come home early) due to illness or injury. Depending on the policy, you may be covered if you cancel for other reasons, such as jury duty, terrorism at your destination, or even unemployment. Emergency medical coverage and medical evacuation insurance are very important if you become ill or injured during the trip. Otherwise you’re on your own as far as booking very expensive last-minute airfare to get home. And if you’re too ill to travel by commercial jet, you may have to pay for treatment in Florida (which your personal insurance may or may not cover) or for evacuation on a medically-equipped jet, which is incredibly expensive. Check your existing medical insurance to see what, exactly is covered while traveling. You may be surprised at how much isn’t covered when you’re away from home. Delayed baggage insurance will help you pay for replacement clothing if the airline sends your suitcase to Timbuktu and you need something to wear in the meantime. Supplemental baggage insurance will pay a predetermined amount if an airline loses your luggage completely. (Some higher-end credit cards provide extra baggage insurance, so check with your card issuer before paying extra for this coverage.) Disney sells trip insurance, but for most trips, it’s more expensive than other plans, and usually more restrictive. Additionally, it only covers the cost of your Disney trip (including airfare), so if you do anything else on your trip, such as visit another theme park, buy tickets to an offsite event, etc., those aren’t covered. With a third-party policy, you can cover all potential costs of the entire trip, from any providers, with one policy. You can almost always get better insurance than Disney provides, and at better rates, by buying it elsewhere. The one situation where Disney’s insurance is a good deal is for very expensive trips. Disney’s insurance is charged at a flat rate per adult (children are included as long as all adults buy the insurance), but third-party plans have a variable charge based on the total cost of your trip and the ages of the adults. The break-even point for a family with two 30-year old adults is roughly $8,000-$12,000 of total trip costs, depending on exactly which plan you choose and what coverages you want. So if you’re 60 years old, flying in from New Zealand and staying at the Grand Floridian in a concierge room for 10 nights, Disney’s travel insurance is an incredible steal. For most people, though, third-party insurance is a better deal. Be aware that in most cases, trip insurance will provide slightly less coverage (usually by adding exclusions on pre-existing medical conditions) unless you buy it within about 14-21 days of paying your deposit on the vacation package. So be sure to purchase it right away, once you’ve committed to the trip.Gaelic for “water of life,” whiskey has been touted as a cure for everything from toothaches to swine flu. Even the common cold is said to be stymied by whiskey’s magical properties. So does whiskey help with a cold? Or is it just another excuse for grandpa to take his “medicine?” Due to a particular production process whereby whiskey is distilled and then aged in wooden casks, the spirit contains uniquely high doses of cancer-fighting antioxidants and heart-saving phenols, but its whiskey’s non-unique property – alcohol – that has the most effect on your common cold. Studies have shown that occasional consumption of alcohol may decrease susceptibility to the virus. Once you have the sniffles, whiskey can help allay symptoms by relaxing blood vessels and reducing inflammation, but one must be careful not to overdo it. Too much alcohol will inhibit a good night’s rest, dehydrate the body and exacerbate symptoms. It may even give you a combination cold/hangover, which is known to be 100 times worse than the standard version. Those who are known to indulge in the ancient panacea sometimes like to stir it into a hot toddy made with water and lemon juice. The hot liquid can help relieve nasal passages while the water prevents dehydration, and lemon is known to reduce phlegm and may even help fight the virus itself with a strong punch of vitamin C. If one were so inclined, she or he might also sweeten the mixture with some honey that can also soothe a sore throat. Related Article: Hot Toddy Recipe Of course, I should remind everyone that our blog entries are for your information only and are not intended as medical advice. Because everyone is different, you should work with your medical professional to determine what’s best for you. If you’re going to drink, do it legally and responsibly; don’t be stupid =).The US army is overstretched and exhausted, says peace campaigner Sarah Lazare [AFP] The call for over 30,000 more troops to be sent to Afghanistan is a travesty for the people of that country who have already suffered eight brutal years of occupation. It is also a harsh blow to the US soldiers facing imminent deployment. As Barack Obama, the US president, gears up for a further escalation that will bring the total number of troops in Afghanistan to over 100,000, he faces a military force that has been exhausted and overextended by fighting two
I suspect any group of two or more people starts running into problems of power and authority and decision-making! But you're right, the question is the institutionalization of power. One of the things I argue in Red Flags and Red Tape is that people with some power – and the power of these early labour bureaucrats was limited – often make the wrong decision for the right reasons. That is, they were trying to build working class militancy, trying to move workers to resistance, trying to create a labor newspaper, trying to form new organizations – all worthy aims. But precisely because they were not immediately accountable, they made their decisions in a vacuum, without input and consensus from union members. That separated them from the members and created a bureaucracy: rule by office holders. The other thing I argue is that a union can be militant and revolutionary without being democratic; alternatively, though rare, a union could be conservative and democratic. So the dangers of bureaucracy are always there. The way to avoid is to ensure that institutions that let officials make important decisions by themselves are not created in the first place. Q. What areas of working class and anarchist history need investigating? Is there anything you think budding anarcho-historians should be looking into? I have three answers here. The first is that there has been an explosion of work in working class and anarchist history in recent years. A lot of it has been published by university and academic presses, and that is great, but we also need people to make that work more accessible and to synthesize it. Second, there are huge areas of working class and anarchist history that need investigating. The "ethnic" press of these movements has not been adequately explored, at least not in North America ; the ways in which anarchism has sometimes retreated to academia, but remained influential nonetheless is important to unearth; the writers and activists who have pushed that synthesis of Marx and Bakunin need to be explored. Here I'm thinking of people such as Paul Mattick, who never called himself an anarchist but was as anti-authoritarian and anti-vanguard as Bakunin, and Erich Fromme as just a few examples. And I am sure there are many, many other areas that need exploration. But the third answer, and really, these are observations and suggestions, not answers, is for anarchists to write about every aspect of history from an anarchist perspective. That is, there is no reason why anarchist history should only study anarchism. It could study governments and capitalism and war and every other historical topic from an anarchist perspective. That would be exciting work. Q. Richard Dawkins has provoked a lot of responses with his “The God Delusion, would Bakunin have approved? And is it not a strange omission by Dawkins that Bakunin’s “God and the State” is missing from it? Bakunin would likely have approved of Dawkins's atheism, but I suspect he would think Dawkins's particular critique was a little naive. While Bakunin was a ferocious atheist, he understood the appeal of religion to the oppressed. If you want to "cure" religion, he insisted, you had to remove poverty and oppression. If religion were not a social institution, a social power, but a matter of individual belief, then it wouldn't much matter what people believed, for it would not intrude on their lives. At the same time, they would soon realize that if they wanted things to change, they could make those changes without appeal to a non-existent power. If they wanted to understand the world, knowledge would be available to them and while they could continue to believe in anything they wanted, when they wanted to work in the world, they would understand that science – real knowledge of whatever field – differs from religion in that it has to deliver or it gets discarded. Take away its social power, and religion is no longer an issue. Blaming people for seeking some small solace isn't helpful. Q. Finally, Bakunin had a pretty eventful life. Fighting on the barricades in 1848, solitary confinement, escaping from Siberia, fighting Marx in the International, taking part in insurrections in the 1870s. When you were writing your biography did you think it would make a good film? And who would play Bakunin? Marx? I often thought it would be a great film, or, at least, one I'd like to see. But Spielberg and Scorsese haven't returned my calls. Robbie Coltrane would be my choice to play Bakunin, and he already has the beard from the Harry Potter series. Marx is a little trickier; but someone with the intensity of Robert De Niro could pull it off, though that particular casting does boggle the mind. Personally, I'd love to see Jack Nicholson pull one of his famous hissy fits with a faceful of yak hair glued on as he kicked and shouted about Bakunin's ideas on the commune..... Published in: Black Flag no. 229 (BM Hurricane, London, WC1N 3XX, UK)It seems that the English mainstream media presented a botched up news of the recent incident in Meerut where it was alleged that the members of Hindu Yuva Vahini barged into the room of a young couple. Here is an interview of Meerut’s Hindu Yuva Vahini head from Scoopwhoop, in which he clearly says that the neighborhood was very annoyed with this man Wasim’s activities and it was them who complained to the police and Hindu Yuva Vahini too. It was the police who barged into the room. Similar information has come out from this news report by Amar Ujala which clearly says that the neighborhood complained, the police came and barged into the room and interrogated them first. Then, Hindu Yuva Vahini arrived too. Interestingly, this news and another one from Dainik Bhaskar mentions that the boy was wearing kalava / mauli, the sacred Hindu thread on their wrists and called himself by the name ‘sonu’, while he is clearly a Muslim named Wasim. It seems that the neighbors accused the landlord & Wasim of bringing girls to the room every day, which is why they finally complained to police. According to the police, the girl is from Muzaffarnagar and pursuing her BCA from Meerut. On tuesday, she had come to Meerut to do some work related to her examination form. From the pictures of the incident published by Dainik Bhaskar, it is clear that Police handled the situation and lady police dealt with the girl. Interestingly, the girl is also seen wearing kalava / mauli in the pictures : While English media has on its own made this a case of insult to consenting adults, the above mentioned news reports suggest the neighborhood was angry as it seems this was happening very regularly in that house. There needs to be a further investigation of the case – if there was a prostitution racket going on there, or if the boy hid his real identity from the girl too committing a fraud, or if this was a case of consenting adults. We contacted a lawyer from Meerut who lives next to Shastri Nagar where this incident happened. The source said on the condition of anonymity, ‘ Shastri Nagar now has a lot of Muslim population around, this has really reduced the quality of this area. Also, there have been quite a few murders here in last few years. Law & order deteriorated over a period of time. I am not even surprised at this case’. (Featured Image : Dainik Bhaskar) Did you like this report? We’re a non-profit. Make a donation and help pay for our journalism.Doritos Locos Tacos Are Apparently The Most Successful Thing Ever It’s been more than a year since we first told you about Taco Bell testing out the wild, finger-staining notion of selling its tacos in hard shells made out of Doritos. The product finally launched nationwide in March and is already the most popular new item the fast food company has ever launched. The OC Register reports that 100 million Doritos Locos Tacos were sold during the first 10 weeks following the national launch, booting the Crunchwrap Supreme from the spot it had held since 2005. From the Register: To put some perspective on the 100 million tacos sold, Taco Bell notes that McDonald’s sold its first 100 million burgers in 1958 – 18 years after the first McDonald’s burger stand opened, and three years after Ray Kroc started his first McDonald’s franchise. The success of the plain old nacho cheese variety of the Doritos Locos Taco means that Taco Bell is going to start trying new shells made from other Doritos flavors like Cool Ranch. Taco Bell says Doritos taco breaks sales record [OCregister.com]The Telangana government would set up a world-class animation and gaming city to provide “the ideal environment” for businesses in animation, visual effects, gaming and comics industry. The government would set up the Telangana Animation and Gaming (IMAGE) City in Ranga Reddy district near Hyderabad, according to the state’s ‘Image Policy-2016’. The policy aims at making Hyderabad the “most favoured” destination for investment in animation, visual effects and allied sectors. It seeks to attract global majors and R and D companies in the sectors into the state. In Hyderabad, there are approximately 20 established gaming and animation firms along with 250 digital media firms of various formats. Some of the firms have even worked on award winning movies and projects including Eega and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. Though there are opportunities, the Indian gaming industry contributed just 1% of the US exports of $100 billion software worldwide. It also aims at facilitating a legal framework for ‘IP’ (Intellectual Property) creation and protection and hopes to promote growth of indigenous ‘digital content’ education and entertainment for the masses. As part of its strategy to emerge as a major destination in animation and other sectors, the government, in association with stakeholders, plans to set up a “world-class and first-of-its-kind in the country” academy to impart requisite communication and other skills and domain knowledge to students. The state government would make efforts to ensure that “industry ready” talent pool is available. To boost the start-up ecosystem in the state, the government, in association with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), has created an Incubation Centre dedicated for animation, visual effects, comics and gaming industry (AVCGI) start-ups, according to the policy unveiled on Monday. The state government will create a suitable Venture Capital Funding mechanism in association with stakeholders to extend appropriate seed capital assistance to first generation entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs engaged in AVCGI sector. The policy offers fiscal incentives, including 25 per cent Capital investment subsidy of Rs 25 lakh for fresh investments and reimbursement of production cost of animation films (up to 20 per cent) if 80 percent of the production costs were incurred in Telangana. Full fledged animation VFX theatre film produced and released in Telangana will be entitled for entertainment tax exemption, among other incentives on offer. First Published: Apr 06, 2016 14:26 ISTNearly 8,000 Canadians filed a complaint about a physician last year, but on average only about 54 doctors were formally disciplined in each of the past 15 years. Of those complaints, just over half were determined to require no further action. Historical data examined by CBC News found cases of 817 physicians that resulted in formal discipline, which is the only part of the disciplinary process for colleges of physicians and surgeons that is consistently made public across Canada. Ann Van Regan is a responder with TELL (Therapy Exploitation Link Line) a network of survivors of sex abuse by physicians and psychotherapists. (CBC) "That number's not anywhere near what's actually happening. Those are the ones you could get to," said Ann Van Regan, a volunteer responder with TELL (Therapy Exploitation Link Line), a network of survivors of sex abuse by physicians and psychotherapists. "They say they're taking it seriously, but their actions show that they are not." Complaints related to quality of care, billing, communication, unprofessional behaviour and sexual misconduct poured into colleges last year, but if the historical trends discovered by CBC persist, only a handful will result in formal discipline. Across Canada, just over half of the complaints were determined to require no further action after an initial review. Some complaints may not have been concluded in the same fiscal year. In Ontario, 60 per cent of complaints were found not to require further action and just 72 of those cases were referred to a discipline committee. The college took action on 40 per cent of the complaints: issuing advice to physicians; issuing cautions; requiring physicians to sign undertakings; agreeing to restrictions; and ordering further education. Some of those actions in Ontario are made public on the physician's profile even when a formal hearing is not held. Of the 950 complaints made to the British Columbia college in fiscal 2014, 500 were treated as non-critical by the Inquiries committee. "The 500 you are referring to were files where the inquiry committee was either not critical, or only somewhat critical, of the physician's behaviour, conduct or clinical practice." wrote Susan Prins with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia in an email. "Usually these files relate to concerns about communication, e.g., the physician was rude or dismissive." The Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons received 677 complaints last year, and a third of those were dismissed while 266 went to a less formal discipline process. "Every complaint receives an initial review. If there is insufficient evidence — or the complaint was vexatious or trivial, the complaint can be dismissed." wrote Kelly Eby, a college spokeswoman in an email. "I'd like to know who makes that decision about what gets to investigations," said Van Reagan. "Who is making a decision there about what goes to complaints, and what is frivolous and vexatious as they call it?" $310M support for liability coverage Once a complaint is made to a college, the physician may get legal help from Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), a non-profit organization that provides medical liability coverage to over 90 per cent of Canada's physicians. CMPA reimbursements by province, 2014 B.C. $22,000,000 Alberta $18,618,394 Saskatchewan $6,930,000 Manitoba $5,000,000 Ontario $185,500,000 Quebec $60,000,000 New Brunswick $4,309,071 Newfoundland and Labrador $3,740,000 Nova Scotia $4,302,200 Prince Edward Island not reporting CANADA $310,399,665 Last year, provincial governments reimbursed $310,399,665 of the fees physicians paid for this coverage. Marilou McPhedran, a University of Winnipeg professor and expert in sex abuse of patients, says taxpayer dollars help defend doctors, but support for patients is lacking. (CBC) "We have public tax dollars that are invested in the legal defence of professionals, particularly doctors," said Marilou McPhedran, a University of Winnipeg professor. Reimbursement of CMPA fees are negotiated as part of physician master agreements medical associations have with their respective provinces. "We assist in about 4,000 college complaints per year," said Dr. Douglas Bell, associate executive director of the CMPA, "There aren't always lawyers involved." He said the association's fee reimbursement started back in the mid-'80s in lieu of fee increases for doctors. "The government could be just paying it directly to doctors in their fees or doing what they are doing now, which is instead of a fee increase, what they agreed to is a reimbursement," he said. "It's still compensation to the physician." Provincial health departments cited physician recruitment and retention, competitiveness and consistency with other provinces as some of their reasons to fund reimbursements. "Nothing, nowhere in Canada do you have any form, anything like that for patients," said McPhedran. "There's nothing remotely similar on the public patient side of this equation." Bell said annual licensing fees paid to colleges by physicians go toward paying for investigations. "The colleges use that money," he said. "As long as the college does what they are supposed to do, it's not lopsided, it's the physicians that are paying for the investigations."Australia’s south east is currently sweltering under an intense heatwave, one that is likely to become the second longest heatwave on record in the region. So what have we learnt from the heatwave of 2009, also responsible for the Black Saturday fires, and how will our cities hold up after days of extreme heat? This week in Melbourne and Adelaide daytime temperatures have exceeded 40C for at least the past three days and night-time temperatures have been in the high 20s. Today is also expected to be the most dangerous day for bushfires, with winds prompting the emergency services warning: Fire Danger - Generally Severe, reaching Extreme in the west. Back in the 2009 heatwave, the human cost was severe in Melbourne with 374 deaths attributed to heat and 173 lives lost to bushfires. A report funded by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) not only highlighted this human cost but also the vulnerability of infrastructure that supports the functioning of our cities. The major heat impacts on urban infrastructure and services were failures to the electrical system, direct and indirect impacts on the transport network, and the additional pressure placed on emergency services due to the number of people who succumbed to the heatwave and later the severity of the bushfires. Power out Rolling blackouts across Melbourne in January 29-30 2009 were a result of high electricity demand (driven predominantly by the use of air conditioners). A longer more serious shutdown of supply to the west was the result of a series of failures due to a combination of heat and the age of equipment. Heat also caused train lines to buckle resulting in slowdowns and service cancellations, hundreds of people were stuck in the underground rail loop when the electricity cut out and many roads were without traffic signals. Lethal bushfires, some of which were started by electrical failures, swept through country towns on February 7 2009 destroying more than 2,000 homes. As a result emergency services – particularly ambulance, fire and hospital emergency services – were stretched to almost breaking point. AAP Image/Supreme Court Victoria Learning from experience Since the 2009 heatwave a lot of effort has gone into understanding what happened and why. Changes have been made to emergency management procedures and local councils have designed new heatwave plans. For example, in February 2011, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) released a National Strategy for Disaster Resilience which takes into account the learnings from the 2009 heatwave in its emergency management handbook series. Heatwave plans are now part of normal local council business. For example, the City of Melbourne has an extensive heatwave response plan. The police in Victoria are now up to speed with South Australia and designated to manage any heatwave emergency, whereas pre-2009 there was no command level set for heatwaves. AAP/David Mariuz Furthermore, the Victorian government has instituted heatwave strategies including community awareness programs, designated cool spaces, and there is new media messaging on how to survive heatwaves. It also has a heat health alert system to local governments, hospitals, and statewide or major metropolitan health and community service providers of forecast heatwave conditions which are likely to impact on human health. The electricity sector has also acted to reduce risk of fire and has upgraded ageing infrastructure - though whether there is enough capacity in the system to meet the peaks in demand (due to the use of air conditioners during periods of extreme heat) is yet to be seen. Blackouts threatened Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said on Wednesday that staged blackouts may be needed in order to manage electricity supply. Work has also been carried out to reduce the buckling of train lines and timetables have been adjusted for periods of hot weather. Emergency services are on high alert and there is no longer the institutional complacency that greeted the 2009 heatwave. The South Australian government also provides guidance to deal with extreme heat. Is it enough? The urban fabric is clearly under stress from the current heatwave. The Australian Energy Market Operator has indicated that Victoria and South Australia have recorded the highest levels of electricity consumption since January 2009. As a consequence of both the heat and high demand, there have been a series of power losses due to equipment failure, with a number of Melbourne neighbourhoods affected by blackouts. There is the possibility of “planned” rolling blackouts to reduce demand on the system. Trains are travelling 10kmh below their normal speed as a precaution due to the heat and some disruption to services has occurred. A total fire ban for the State of Victoria and for South Australia was declared for yesterday and today and there have already been numerous fires causing concern. Country Fire Authority (CFA) Australia is already vulnerable to climate variability, and these vulnerabilities are likely to be exaggerated with the projected increase in the mean temperature leading to changes in extreme weather events. The Climate Council this week published a timely interim report that warns about more frequent, hotter and longer lasting heatwaves. It is worth noting that this extreme heatwave comes during a period when one of the main climate drivers of droughts and floods, the El Niño Southern Oscillation weather pattern, is considered neutral and not in its El Niño phase which typically brings hot and dry weather to Australia. This current heatwave in Melbourne will last a day longer than in the 2009 and the night temperatures are significantly higher. Bureau of Meteorology data shows that minimum night temperature for this current heatwave includes Tuesday night 28.6C, and Wednesday night 27C and the forecast for Thursday is 29C. In Adelaide the heatwave will last for five days. Next heatwaves more severe While lessons have clearly been learnt from the 2009 heatwave it is clear that future climate change, and more severe heatwave events, will require longer term planning. That means an extensive upgrading of infrastructure if our cities are to be made resilient in the face of climate change and ever increasing urban populations. This may well include thinking that goes beyond current incremental changes to more radical transformational change in how our cities function.Hope everyone had a good weekend. My Saturday was nice, when I settled in for a long evening of Civ 5 playing China as a warlord. I do enjoy cho-ko-nu sieges. Unfortunately, Sunday was almost entirely the opposite of fun: chores and taxes. After briefly lapsing into insanity and thinking I might find an answer in the Income Tax Act, I realized that it was written by witches, and quickly closed my browser before summoning an agent of nefarious power. * * Note: For the purposes of subsections (12) and (13), nefarious agents that are included in the service of His Unholiness include those that would be so included if paragraph 34(a) did not apply. Back in the realm of the sane, I spent most of today working on fixes and a new help screen. First, the fix was to AI's "forbidden hexes" code. Some errors in that design allowed AI to still walk in certain encounter areas when those areas had a radius larger than 0 (e.g. ATN perimeter). This should be fixed in the next build. Second, the new help screen! Wait, what? There's a help screen? That's right! Hidden on that title screen this whole time, there has been a button called "Help." Unfortunately, few see it (or at least click on it), if the forums are any indication :) And for that matter, in the past it was hardly comprehensive, so I haven't made a huge deal about directing people there. However, the new and improved version, seen above, includes not only some quick primers on hotkeys and item manipulation, but also two very handy links: 1 - The user-maintained NEO Scavenger Wiki. 2 - The "How to Play" manual that Malacodor assembled based on the Wiki. Between those two documents, there is hardly a question left unanswered. Finally, users that are truly lost can find help in-game, regardless of where they got the game. And with that done, there's only the "Credits" screen to look over before the new title screen features are complete. After that, it's time to do some playtesting. Assuming the tests go well, we should have v0.986 up soon!Back many months ago when Kamelot announced they’d be playing The Forum in Kentish Town, North London a few eyebrows were raised. Kamelot when they come to the UK have regularly played and sold out venues the size of a few hundred people so this was an ambitious step up. Fast forward to the day of the show and we were afforded the rare opportunity to have a chat with Kamelot’s guitar maestro Thomas Youngblood, which will be available exclusively on this site in the near future (stay tuned for that one). As a result we missed the opening act, Canadian metallers Blackguard who by all accounts were received quite well by those in the venue early enough to see them. After Blackguard had finished performing we also were able to catch up with their frontman Paul “Ablaze” Zinay which will be another Rocksins exclusive that can be read here very soon. After catching the end of Triosphere’s set, who were very entertaining (for those unfamiliar think Iced Earth with female vocals), the main support for the evening were Xandria. Again, for those unfamiliar, Xandria will very much appeal to fans of Nightwish but will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Whilst they were not to my personal taste, they put in a good performance, interacted well with the crowd and they went down very well with the majority of those in attendance. Happily, by the time Kamelot were due on stage The Forum had filled up somewhat, though you still got the feeling that the step up in venue size had been a bit optimistic, but those who were there were eager to see a new chapter in Kamelot’s history (at least ass far as the UK was concerned) begin on this evening. Tonight’s Kamelot performance was primarily not about their new album Sacrimony, rather a chance to assess if new vocalist Tommy Karevik would be able to fill the considerable hole left by the departed Roy Khan. Kicking off with a traditional show opener from the Khan era in Rule The World, from the off the whole band including Tommy Karevik seemed determined to put in a performance. Vocally he sailed through the opening batch of songs including Rule The World and Ghost Opera, at times making it look rediculously easy. He also seemed at ease interacting with the crowd, demanding more audience participation for The Great Pandemonium and they duly obliged. Of the new songs, of which three or four got an airing, Sacrimony’s title track sounded hugely impressive with much more impact live than on the album but it seemed like the majority of those present werent too familar with the other new songs, not hugely surprising with the album only having been released ten days or so before the show. There were no such issues with well known songs such as The Human Stain, When The Lights Are Down and particularly Center Of The Universe being received extremely well and being performed to a standard in kind. In particular on Center Of The Universe Tommy Karevik hit the high notes that had been missing from Roy Khan’s range in more recent years effortlessly, a sign that bodes very well for Kamelot and also opens up options for them in terms of song selections to play live. After a drum solo from Casey Grillo, one of Kamelot’s most distinctive riffs kicked in and the main portion of the evening was ended with Forever, complete with a mass “whoooaaa” singalong conducted by Tommy with aplomb. The opening to the encore was another much loved old favourite in the form of Karma, and after squeezing in another new song, proceedings were closed off with the obligatory March of Mephisto. Kamelot are embarking on a new chapter in the band’s history, and all signs are that they are in very good hands with their new frontman. Confident and able to hit an impressive vocal range, Tommy Karevik looks like he is going to be an excellent choice by the band to fill Roy Khan’s shoes (and coat) with aplomb. Kamelot fans everywhere will now be hoping the excellence in the live environment translates into more killer albums (and a full UK tour) in the future but Tommy’s made an impressive start, long may it continue. If you’d like to see some action shots from the show, please check out our exclusive photo gallery below:Zambian authorities are pushing ahead on Monday with preparations for the inauguration of president-elect Edgar Lungu following a constitutional court ruling on a legal challenge to the country’s elections. The opposition says Zambia’s highest court has not given them a fair opportunity to present their case and accuses the judges of conniving with Lungu’s ruling party. “By a majority decision of 3-2 [judges] have dismissed the petition for want of time, the petition is outside of the jurisdiction,” Amos Chanda, presidential spokesperson, told RFI. “The petitioners failed to produce their case provided for under the constitution.” Lungu’s inauguration will take place on 13 September, according to Chanda, saying that Zambia’s head of the civil service, who is responsible for the swearing-in ceremony, had made the announcement. However, Zambia’s main opposition party is unhappy with the proceedings and says the constitutional court did not give them time to present their case against the contested polls. “The principal matter is that our petition has not been heard,” Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND), told RFI. “We’re in a constitutional crisis right now.” Hichilema claims judges changed minds Hichilema narrowly lost August’s election to Lungu, according to results from the Zambia Electoral Commission. Under the constitution the opposition had seven days to petition the constitutional court to nullify Lungu’s victory and the constitutional court had 14 days to hear a petition. The constitutional court delivered a ruling on Friday but certain judges then changed their minds over the weekend, according to Hichilema. “This is strange, this is unheard of, which ruling will now apply as we stand?” The court had said at the weekend that Hichilema will be given more time, the AFP news agency reported. “Justice can only be delivered if petitioners are heard and respondents are heard, none of us has been heard,” said Hichilema. The government has dismissed the suggestion that the constitutional court overturned the opposition petition on a technicality, saying that this was an attempt by the opposition to save face. “This technicality was actually engineered by the opposition so that they say they didn’t lose on the material evidence but as a result of a technicality,” said spokesperson Chanda. “Each time the judges ordered that the hearing go ahead, they raised a preliminary issue.” The UPND had a number of complaints it was going to bring to the constitutional court, including media violations, candidates being stopped from campaigning in certain parts of the country, abuse of government resources and mismanagement by the electoral commission, according to Jack Mwiimbu, a lawyer for UPND, who spoke with RFI on Tuesday last week. “It means there’s a breakdown in the rule of law in this country,” said Hichilema. “These three judges and the ruling party are encouraging anarchy, they’re encouraging disorder.”The European Banking Authority (EBA) has issued a warning on potential risks related to virtual currencies, but the warning is largely focused on the possibility of fraud and theft. The authority points out that consumers are not protected by union regulation when they buy, trade or hold virtual currencies such as bitcoin. In addition, the regulator warns that there is no guarantee that currency values will remain stable. The EBA was apparently prompted to issue the warning due to a sudden increase in virtual currency trading and the fact that virtual currencies are constantly in the headlines. “Consumers should be aware that exchange platforms tend to be unregulated and are not banks that hold their virtual currency as a deposit. Currently, no specific regulatory protections exist in the EU that would protect consumers from financial losses if a platform that exchanges or holds virtual currencies fails or goes out of business,” the EBA said in a statement. Hacking and misuse Furthermore, the EBA stressed that digital wallets are not impervious to hackers and that several cases of consumers losing “significant amounts” of digital currency have already been reported. In addition, people who choose to use virtual currency for commercial transactions are not protected by EU refund laws. Criminal activities and tax dodging were also addressed. The EBA said the high degree of anonymity offered by virtual currency transactions can be used for nefarious purposes, including money laundering. While this part of the warning shouldn’t cause any concern for the vast majority of bitcoin investors, even they could be affected. The statement continued: “This misuse could lead law enforcement agencies to close exchange platforms at short notice and prevent consumers from accessing or retrieving any funds that the platforms may be holding for them.” In other words even legitimate businesses and investors could have their bitcoin assets frozen. It is unclear what would happen in that case, as such closures and the associated freeze or seizure of bitcoins would go into uncharted legal territory. This part of the warning could have far reaching implications, adding to the fear, uncertainty and doubt that still surround virtual currencies. Check national tax frameworks In terms of tax issues, the EBA points out that tax liabilities may apply in certain countries. This of course is regulated by national legislation rather than Union regulation, so bitcoin investors who want to stay on the safe side need to do their homework to make sure they don’t get a visit from the taxman. Lastly the EBA warns that consumers who choose to buy virtual currencies need to understand them and refrain from investing money they “cannot afford to lose.” The EBA warning comes hot on the heels of similar warnings and notices issued by the central banks of China, France and New Zealand. View EU Banking Regulator Issues Warning on Virtual Currencies on CoinDesk. Share this: Facebook Reddit Twitter Google TumblrNo Man’s Sky is undoubtedly one of the most exciting games set to be released in the immediate future. Ever since it was announced at VGX 2013, Hello Games’ hugely ambitious space exploration simulator has only become more intriguing with every new bit of information and snippet of gameplay footage. E3 2015 provided us with our best look yet at what No Man’s Sky has to offer, pulling back the curtain on the systems that will tie the experience together. One mechanic that looks like it will be very important in the full game is its journal, which director Sean Murray compares to the iconic Pokedex from the Pokemon series. Speaking to Games Radar, Murray described the game’s ‘intergalactic Pokedex’ as ‘a very cool thing’. For a game with such a grand sense of scale, it’s easy to see why players would need a way of recording their findings as they explore its randomly generated universe. The journal will allow players to look back on the planets that they’ve discovered, as well as the flora and fauna that inhabit them. It will also provide an easy way for them to fast travel around to locations they’ve already visited, with screenshots to remind them exactly where it is they’re headed. Exploration is the core focus of No Man’s Sky, so this sort of system is something of a must-have. Without it, players would likely spend most of their time lost — not to mention the fact that they wouldn’t have a tangible record of everything they achieve on their travels. The main criticism that’s been levelled against No Man’s Sky is confusion with regards to the game’s overall objective. This Pokedex-inspired journal might offer just that, giving players a reason to explore beyond just wanting to see what the next planet in the system has to offer. Of course, the difference between No Man’s Sky and Pokemon is that the latter challenges players to complete their Pokedex. The randomly generated nature of No Man’s Sky suggests that players won’t be able to accomplish that same feat, but we won’t know for sure what ‘completing’ the game entails until it releases. Given that there’s no solid word on when that might come about, the speculation that has surrounded the game since it was announced seems set to continue. Let’s hope Hello Games can make good on the promises being made, rather than under-deliver when fans get their hands on the finished product. No Man’s Sky is set to launch for PlayStation 4 and PC. Source: Games RadarAt the beginning of the month we talked about our new Popular Juices sorting, the first iteration to incorporate our user weighting system and have since been running live tests against the data. Today we’re happy to announce the new rating system is LIVE and is used anywhere a juice’s score is shown and when sorting juices by popularity. We expect continual iteration on this algorithm, but the feedback we’ve received points to the results being a closer reflection of the community’s current sentiments than the old method provided. We also are excited to announce that we have started the testing phase of our new tools for business owners. These tools will let the owners of the fine businesses on JuiceDB update information related to their business, products and deals. If you’re interested in knowing more, read on as we talk a bit about the new tools for businesses and some conclusions on weighted juice reviews. We just started the testing phase of our new business management tools to gather some feedback. We are looking for businesses who are willing to experience our tools and then have conversations with us about it’s usability, usefulness and feature set. In these new sets of tools, verified business owners will be able to: Update and control the information on their business page. Add juices, edit descriptions and links, and discontinue products they make. Add and invalidate coupons they offer. Add and modify your retail store locations. Manage the inventory of products they sell from any brand (sizes, prices, links). View their reviews in one location. If you’re interested, feel free to drop us a line and a bit about what parts you’re interested in, team@juicedb.com. We will provide instructions and start up a conversation about what you feel these tools need or what’s just too difficult to do. These will soon be open to the public and anyone who owns a business will be able to participate. Weighted Juice Review Ratings When we initially started talking about this, it was a mixed bag of reactions from the community. It’s most likely that we were unclear about what this actually is. The weighting of a juice review (and it’s rating) changes how it impacts a juice’s overall rating. That’s it! Nothing about the reviews are altered, and if a juice is given a 1, it’s a 1 displayed on that review for the world to see. This change is more about how juices get ratings than what you’re contributing. So why have we gone through so much trouble just to tweak these numbers? Our goals were as follows: We needed to prevent some common ways of “gaming” the system. We felt the lists weren’t true to the
the basis that one or the other member state is determining what should happen or not. it’s a question of democracy. We have to co-operate, we have to see what is the situation in our own member states, but then directly we have to see what is the best solution for all the member states so that no-one is left behind. We have to improve the situation for all 500 million citizens of Europe, and if we, if Europe should tear apart I think the consequence would be competitions between all the member states, and that would water down the standards we already have.” Chris Burns: “Very quickly in conclusion, how can we prevent, or speed up the breakup of the EU? Sophie?” Sophie In’t Veld: “Well, what I think is that what is speeding up the breakup is the complete paralysis in the Council when Heads of Government come together. They should finally take decisions and also act when it comes to terrorism, when it comes to refugees, if it’s about the economy and free trade, about climate change. That is the best way to move Europe forward, be stronger and face the challenges of today.” Chris Burns: “William…?” William Dartmouth: “It ought to go back to what was originally planned and what people thought it was, namely two words only, a Common Market.” Chris Burns: “OK, Birgit?” Birgit Sippel: “The original idea was to create good living situations for all citizens all over the European union, and I think what we have to do now is to step away from extremist positions, take away all the emotions and sit down together and look for real solutions in real life.”Young Roar's win in the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues match against SWQ Thunder FC on Tuesday 28th June at Clive Berghofer Stadium has been reversed due to an error on the official team sheet. A review of the matter conducted by Football Queensland with the full co-operation from Brisbane Roar Football Club determined that a last-minute change to the match day squad led to incorrect information being listed on the official team sheet at the commencement of the fixture. As a result SWQ Thunder FC receive the three (3) competition points by a margin of four (4) goals. Event timeline: The team manager for the Young Roar was made aware by the 4th official of a mistake on the team sheet at half-time. Team manager acknowledges that it was a mistake made by human error and offered to rectify the situation immediately. 4th official accepted the explanation. It was communicated that the situation would be rectified at the completion of the game. At full time BRFC was informed that there would be an incident report lodged with no further discussions. The Roar will work on improving procedures around our NPL program and put measures in place to ensure that this does not happen again.This a snapshot of the front-page of the BBC website as of 10 this morning: It reads like a Labour press release, with each election story given the best possible pro-Labour slant to it. Where are Cameron’s, Osborne’s or Major’s attacks on Miliband on the same subject? Why is Labour’s nursing policy presented without question? Where is any other party on the front page? Click through to the BBC’s Election 2015 hub, and it’s even less balanced: Not a single Tory or LibDem featured story. Miliband’s SNP angle on Cameron is presented twice at the top of the page, yet no such treatment for the Tory response or any counter argument. Labour’s spin quote on the NHS is included in a headline and it’s topped off with a 36 hour old puff piece about Miliband taking a selfie. Where are UKIP? Where are the Greens, where are the LibDems? Sinn Fein aren’t even going to turn up to Parliament, yet their begging bowl is considered a more significant story by the BBC website editor than the intervention of Sir John Major or Lord Forsyth. Nor a mention of UKIP’s business letter this morning. How this could possibly be spun as fair and balanced?Iraqi Sheikh Naim al-Gaood was awakened before dawn Thursday, with the grim news that Islamic State fighters had launched a fresh attack on his Sunni tribal area 120 miles northwest of Baghdad. By nightfall, outmanned and outgunned by Islamic State (IS) forces, and with very little American or Iraqi government support, Mr. Gaood’s Albu Nimr tribe had lost control of 15 villages and seen dozens of its members taken prisoner. The death of five more Albu Nimr fighters brought the tribe’s death toll this year to 744, he says, which includes some 500 slaughtered by IS in late October and early November. That massacre was taken to be a clear message to Iraq’s embattled Sunni tribal leaders not to oppose the IS jihadists as they fight back against a growing array of adversaries seeking to undo the lightning gains of spring and summer. In a final humiliation Thursday, IS sent Gaood a text message: “We will raise our flag upon your noses.” As Sunni tribes have been forced to choose sides – pro-IS or anti-IS, with many shades of gray in between – new divisions have brought accumulating blood feuds and a scale of slaughter in Anbar Province that is tearing at Iraq’s Sunni social fabric like never before. Local leaders say IS intimidation is undermining the ability of any tribe to fight back, by using sleeper cells and systematic cleansing of anti-IS figures within the tribe. The result is that IS is proving much more difficult for the tribes to take on than was Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), whom home-grown Sunni groups fought during the Sunni “Awakening” of 2006-2008 with support from the US. “The IS considers us agents of the Americans, because we refuse all the terrorists,” says Gaood. “Every day we are bleeding and dying, and need support with weapons. If there is no support we will stop fighting [IS]. We have no equipment for another battle; there is even a shortage of food.” US Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that more than 1,000 US airstrikes had “halted” IS momentum in Iraq and Syria, where the jihadist group has declared an Islamic caliphate across the one-third of those countries that it controls. In fact, a pair of US airstrikes on Thursday along the Albu Nimr front killed 10 or so IS fighters, including a commander, says Gaood, and planes are in the air “all the time.” But it wasn’t enough to save the villages – or the 40 tribe members captured by IS, who Gaood fears will be executed. A call from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi as the fight raged late morning yielded only “promises.” After the recent mass killing of Albu Nimr, tribes opposed to IS formed a new alliance to exact revenge, says Sheikh Jabbar al-Fahdawi, a leader of the Albu Fahed tribe. His battle scars include a left wrist that was hit by two bullets in a gunfight with Al Qaeda in 2007, and a limp from a bullet through his right thigh in August, when he battled IS. “This alliance is an existential battle – a battle to the death,” says Mr. Fahdawi. “The people who are still fighting [IS] lost their sons, fathers, uncles, and cousins, so they keep fighting. “This [Albu Nimr] killing is a message to the other tribes: If you keep fighting us, we will do the same to your people,” he says. “Even the IS fighters who surrender after this massacre, we kill them, to send a message to IS that we can kill you also. No mercy.” Since mid-November, he says, IS has lost at least 10 people a day at the hands of the tribal alliance, with bursts of 50, 100, or even 200 dead in specific battles. On Fahdawi’s mobile phone is a photograph of what he says are the bodies of IS fighters being emptied into a pit from the back of a dump truck. There is also an image of a man with Asian-looking features, shot dead and dusted with dirt. “We sent him back to China,” Fahdawi says darkly. The battle against IS is more difficult today compared with the “Awakening” period. Back then most insurgents of AQI (the precursor of today’s IS) were non-Iraqis waging an anti-American jihad, who fought with small arms and roadside bombs. Their violent actions – including beheading, intimidation, and kidnapping – galvanized local tribes against them, enabling US forces to step in, issues weapons and pay salaries. But today IS has a vast arsenal of heavy weapons and armored vehicles captured from the Iraqi Army. And among IS ranks are many Sunni Iraqis, who as tribal members themselves understand both the intricacies of Iraq’s tribal system and its military weakness, and are exploiting them. “Our main weapon is the AK-47, but it is nothing in these battles,” says Gaood, referring to the Soviet-era automatic rifle. “The government doesn’t want to support us, it says weapons will go to IS, but IS doesn’t need them – they already have a much bigger arsenal.” Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Sleeper cells within the tribes have also been active, and have helped IS gather computer databases on some areas under their control. At some checkpoints, tribal leaders say, IS does a quick background check of an individual, looking for past cooperation with the Iraqi government or the Americans. “They assassinate some people, plant IEDs [roadside bombs], and nobody knew them,” says Fahdawi of the sleeper cells. “But when IS showed up, they began to appear.”After I delivered my daughter, I was in some very serious pain. No one ever told me that was going to happen! I remember begging my nurse to give me a few of the pads that you crack and they instantly become ice packs to take home. They seemed to be the only thing that helped ease some of the sting. Only problem was that she only gave me three. Ugh! Now that I’m down to 3 weeks until I deliver our second girl, I am on a mission to find relief beforehand. I’m all about being prepared this time around! Here is where Padsicles come into play, as they are such an easy and amazing DIY for postpartum. Make about 20 – 24 (I made a full 24) pads with aloe vera, witch hazel and lavender essential oil. Store them in the freezer and when you get home, you have a handful of soothing pads in your first few days home. The aloe vera and witch hazel have healing properties, so it will actually aid in your healing while giving you some relief. The lavender is just a calming addition. My 5 year old had a blast helping me make these, she spread the aloe vera for me in our little assembly line. Here are the directions to make these yourself! Instructions 1. Apply liberal layer of aloe vera all over pad (gel, not liquid concentrate) 2. Pour about a teaspoon of witch hazel (make sure it’s alcohol-free) over the aloe vera 3. Sprinkle on a few drops of lavender essential oil 4. Wrap each pad in tin foil and freeze for use in your early postpartum daysCampaigners against cuts to the South Yorkshire Archaeological Service have said the planned loss of funding would pose a risk to local heritage. They have met with Sheffield City Council to discuss the 50% funding cut. The Labour-led council is implementing the reduction in funding as part of £80m cuts to their budget. The service works with planners to advise them on the archaeological impact of proposed developments. It also keeps a record of sites and monuments in the region in line with government policy. Reduced demand In a statement, the council said: "The demand for archaeology services has been reduced due to declining and substantially lower development and building activity because of the credit crunch. "The budget reduction was agreed under the previous administration and is being implemented currently. "The current administration is not able to reverse this decision without impacting on other service areas and therefore regrettably, this decision will stand." Sheffield City Council, Doncaster Council, Rotherham Council and Barnsley Council in South Yorkshire fund the service, and in January they jointly agree to a cut of 15%. However, in March, Sheffield City Council decided to cut their funding to the service by 50%. Bill Bevan, local archaeologist and heritage interpreter said: "A 50% cut is a much higher figure than any other council service is having to make, so why are they overloading the cuts to this particular service?" The service recently discovered a Roman cemetery and artefacts over 2,000 years old on the site of the new Waterdale Centre in Doncaster. Mr Bevan said: "If the service had not been able to advise on that site, a major nationally important archaeological site would have been lost."Nefertari Merytmut was one of the Great Royal Wives of Ramesses the Great. Nefertari means ‘Beautiful Companion’ and Merytmut means ‘Beloved of the Goddess Mut’. She is one of the best known Egyptian queens. Her lavishly decorated tomb is the largest and most spectacular in the Valley of the Queens. Ramesses also constructed a temple for her at Abu Simbel next to his colossal monument here. Queen Nefertari’s Tomb (The Italian archeological team excavating 1904-1906 discovered the tomb of Nefertari.) The entrance of the mortuary chamber The goddess “Maat” is sitting with winged arms at the entrance of the mortuary chamber of the tomb. Nefertari is playing a game of checkers in her tent. This is a game notoriously related to evil and witchcraft. Here, it is one of the talismans mentioned in the Book of Dead. / Nefertari is in adoration standing at the entrance of the temple with the bird (Alba) in the rear. The “Ra” with the head of a hyena and the body of the God “Osiris” like a mummy, in between the Gods “Isis” and “Nephtis” to symbolize the embodiment of God “Ra” into “Osiris” and vice-versa. Anubis is sitting on the mummification tent holding between his feet the threader and, around his neck, the linen bands used in the mummification process. Nefertari is offering two recipients containing her sacrifices to Gods, Serket and Maat.(Serket is the goddess of healing poisonous stings and bites in Egyptian mythology, originally the deification of the scorpion.) Isis is carrying pledge of the Nether World in her hand and offering it to Queen Nefertari. (Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic.) The grand-priest “Harnagit Eff” is regarded as the highest religious authority of the time and probably the elder brother of the deceased Pharaoh. / Priests in ancient Egypt had a role different to the role of a priest in modern society. Though the Egyptians had close associations with their gods, they did not practice any form of organized religion, as modern times would define it. Anubis is with Queen Nefertari in front of him in a stance of submission, granting her health, long life and constancy in the Nether World. On the bust of the Queen, one can notice the medallion of the “Awsakh”, a large pendant meaning the return to eternal life. Ancient Egyptian mythical bird “Alba.” The bird “Alba” with body of a bird and the head of Queen Nefertari whose task is to take the soul of the deceased and carry it to heaven. It is believed that this bird worked with God “Ra”, rising and setting with the cycle of the sun, symbol of God “Ra” Goddess Wadjet is carrying the duble crown on top of the sign (Nab), guarding the gate leading to the mortuary chamber. Wadjet was the predynastic cobra goddess of Lower Egypt, a goddess originally of a city who grew to become the goddess of Lower Egypt, took the title ‘The Eye of Ra’, and one of the nebty (the ‘two ladies’) of the pharaoh. ‘She of Papyrus/Freshness’ rose from being the local goddess of Per-Wadjet (Buto) (“The House of Wadjet (Papyrus/Freshness)”) to become the patron goddess of all of Lower Egypt and ‘twin’ in the guardianship of Egypt with the vulture goddess Nekhbet. These two were the nebty (the ‘two ladies’) of the pharaoh and were an example of Egyptian duality – each of the two lands had to have its own patron goddess. Wadjet was the personification of the north. Mehen, an Egyptian serpent god. He defends the solar bargue of the sun-god during his nightly passage through the underworld. Mehen was usually depicted as a snake coiled about the barque. The name Mehen meaning ‘coiled one’ refers to a mythological snake-god. The earliest references to Mehen occur in the Coffin Texts. Mehen is a protective deity who is depicted as a snake which coils around the sun god Ra during his journey through the night, for instance in the Amduat (Afterworld or Underworld). In this case, the serpent Mehen is spreading its wings to protect the cartiuche of Queen Nefertari and her mortuary slab, indicating victory of the Queen over evil. Queen Nefertari spread like a mummy on the mummification couch and crowned with the mask of Goddess Osiris. On front and behind her, one can see the protective Goddesses of dead, Isis and Nephtis, and the God Horus shaped like a bird. In the back stage, bihind Nephtis, one can see the bird El-Beno, which is nothing but soul of the God of the Sun Ra. (Nephtis is a member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis, a daughter of Nut and Geb. Nephtis was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Set. Nephtis is occasionally regarded as the mother of the funerary-deity Anubis.) Thoth is a God of Wisdom and Knowledge, with the head of a bird (ibis). His holds the Was Sceptre (a symbol of power and dominion) in his right hand and the Ankh (the key of the Nile symbolizing life) in the other hand. In front of him, Goddess Heqet is with the rolled papyrus carrying the name, Nefertari, standing in front of her to have her name added in the Registry of the Aaru (the Paradise of Osiris). To the Egyptians, the frog was a symbol of life and fertility, since millions of them were born after the annual inundation (flood) of the Nile, which brought fertility to the otherwise barren lands. Consequently, in Egyptian mythology, there began to be a frog-goddess, who represented fertility, referred to by Egyptologists as Heqet, written with the determinative frog. Nekhbet was an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology who was the patron of the city of Nekheb, her name meaning of Nekheb. Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified. Ra, God of the Orient and the Occident, who is none but the union of Gods Horus and Ra and considered one of the Eternal Gods. Behind him is goddess Hathor, protectress of the Western Cemetery. On the steps of the tomb leading to the mortuary chamber, you can see; Horus, the father, and his children, Imsety, Duamutef, Hapi and Qebehsenuef. You should know Egyptian gods more than 30, if you go to Egypt. Then it would be an enjoyable trip. Thank you.How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom written and created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. It was first aired on September 19, 2005 on CBS with a thirty-minute pilot episode, and finished its planned nine-year run on March 31, 2014 after 208 episodes. Set in present-day Manhattan, the series follows the social and romantic lives of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and his four best friends, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), as Ted seeks out his future wife (Cristin Milioti). The show tells this story through the framing device of "future" Ted (Bob Saget) as an unreliable narrator who is recounting to his son and daughter the events that led him to their mother.[1] In Seasons 1–8, episodes are typically set to a similar timeline as its real-world airdate, with the season finale generally taking place in the spring and the next season premiere in the fall, usually with a quick recap of the events that took place during the summer. The final season (season 9) deviates from this format by taking place immediately after the end of the previous season and encompassing only the weekend of Barney's and Robin's wedding.[2][3] The series finale covers several years that follow. How I Met Your Mother premiered to nearly 11 million viewers[4] and maintained a generally steady viewership.[5] The first seven seasons are available on DVD in Region 1, 2, and 4, while the season eight DVD was released in Region 1 and 2 in October 2013.[6] In addition, all nine seasons are formerly available for streaming on Hulu and Amazon Video, and may be purchased from the US iTunes store.[7] Series overview [ edit ] Season Episodes Originally aired First aired Last aired 1 22 September 19, 2005 ( ) May 15, 2006 ( 2006-05-15 ) 2 22 September 18, 2006 ( ) May 14, 2007 ( 2007-05-14 ) 3 20 September 24, 2007 ( ) May 19, 2008 ( 2008-05-19 ) 4 24 September 22, 2008 ( ) May 18, 2009 ( 2009-05-18 ) 5 24 September 21, 2009 ( ) May 24, 2010 ( 2010-05-24 ) 6 24 September 20, 2010 ( ) May 16, 2011 ( 2011-05-16 ) 7 24 September 19, 2011 ( ) May 14, 2012 ( 2012-05-14 ) 8 24 September 24, 2012 ( ) May 13, 2013 ( 2013-05-13 ) 9 24 September 23, 2013 ( ) March 31, 2014 ( 2014-03-31 ) Episodes [ edit ] Season 1 (2005–06) [ edit ] Season 2 (2006–07) [ edit ] Season 3 (2007–08) [ edit ] Season 4 (2008–09) [ edit ] Season 5 (2009–10) [ edit ] Season 6 (2010–11) [ edit ] Season 7 (2011–12) [ edit ] Season 8 (2012–13) [ edit ] Season 9 (2013–14) [ edit ]George Conway, a lawyer and the husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, has taken his name out of consideration to lead the Justice Department’s civil division. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) George Conway — a partner at a prominent law firm and the husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway — has withdrawn his name from consideration for a high-level post leading the Justice Department’s civil division. In a statement, George Conway said that, because of the timing, he could not take the job, though he was happy to have been considered. “I am profoundly grateful to the President and to the Attorney General for selecting me to serve in the Department of Justice. I have reluctantly concluded, however, that, for me and my family, this is not the right time for me to leave the private sector and take on a new role in the federal government,” Conway said. “Kellyanne and I continue to support the President and his Administration, and I look forward to doing so in whatever way I can from outside the government.” [George Conway is the man at the center of everything] President Trump was said in March to have wanted Conway for the post, which would have had him overseeing all of the federal government’s lawsuits on a variety of issues. Civil-division lawyers are the ones who defend the administration from lawsuits, and they have done so recently with the president’s travel ban and executive order on “sanctuary” cities. A White House spokeswoman referred questions to the Justice Department, which said it could not comment on personnel matters. Conway works as a lawyer at the New York firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz specializing in securities litigation and other corporate issues. As a young lawyer, he was involved in a furtive effort to oppose President Bill Clinton by offering legal aid to his accusers and spreading accusations against him. His wife, Kellyanne Conway, is one of Trump’s most high-profile aides. She appears on TV frequently to offer the administration’s position on the most controversial issues of the day.This last Thursday the last episode of Kill la Kill had finally aired. It’s a sad moment since I’m such a huge fan, but it was so much fun watching that I wanted to enjoy the last episode surrounded by friends! We decided to throw a Kill la Kill viewing party on Friday, that way we could make sure everyone could get off work and we could watch the episode on Crunchyroll with no problems and in HD! The only way to have a proper party is to decorate and what best to decorate for a Kill la Kill party than with Mako! The theme was Mako Family Style Dinner! So I decorated the apartment with Mako and even make Mystery Croquettes!! I realize I haven’t shown you my set up in our apartment yet! I don’t live on my own but with roommates; my boyfriend, and cosplayers extraordinaire Maridah and Hayabusa Knight. Even though we moved into this place back in September, not everything is set up yet. So I’ll show you the living room for now! The boyfriend and I are really into getting the physical copies of our favorite movies, anime and video games! I’m not a fan of digital media, but then as a figure collector I like having “things!” Tangible objects are my favorite, mostly I like holding the dvds, knowing I can share them with a friend is needed and how it’s just overall more fun to know that I own a copy! But I’m sure you want to see the figures! I have a whole bunch and it’s the combined collections of the boyfriend and myself. We do love our anime and even more love our figures! Here are some goodies I picked up during my last trip to Japan! figma Armin, Snow Miku and Racing Miku 2013 grace the top shelf! Not enough time to show you everything but I do have plenty of other figures in the background too! Lovely Momo here is just waiting for her groom! I think Woody is ready to step up to the task! Homura ready in her Yukata for summer! I love taking Nendoroids and swapping heads to create fun interesting designs! Homura’s wearing Miku’s original Yukata since Miku got the shiny new red one at Anime Expo! Wooser as well has gotten himself a fancy new Portal Gun! I bet he is going to get himself in all sorts of trouble with that! Buncha new figures in display out in the open, the rest are all in glass cases on the other side of the apartment but I need to organize a bit before I show you the rest! Here I have some figures that are either too big for my display case or I just wanted to showcase a little bit more on their own. But I also LOVE grouping my figures together, you can see my Max Factory Haruhi set, or my Akira figures! I love completing sets! Last but not least the Croquettes that almost burned down the apartment. Turns out I shouldn’t be allowed to cook on my own! >_< I was deep frying them on our electric stove when the oil spilled over the pot and next thing I knew I had set the stove on fire!! Thankfully the boyfriend was right there to put out the fire and finish cooking for me. It was my first time deep frying and I learned a lot about cooking the hard way! But as you can see I didn’t burn the house down and the croquettes came out really good too! Just make sure you cook with a supervised adult! As for the rest of the party? It was so much fun that I forgot to take photos of us all having fun! Everyone came over, we ate, watched the Kill la Kill finale, then the Gurren Lagann finale just for fun! But then we had an EARTHQUAKE! It was a small one but enough to shake us up a bit! But afterwards we all sat and played some fun board games until 3am! Watching anime is really fun when you have your friends around you! I highly suggest it! Did you guys enjoy the last episode? I loved it!! Share your thoughts but please, no spoilers! -Mamitan <3Article by: \| Fri October 13, 2017 \| 13:30 PM The discerning festival-goer seeks stupendous sound engineering on the dance floor, to be immersed in marvelous clarity and range so they can hear and feel every rhythm, melody, and groove. This ever-evolving demand for premium sound quality has festival organizers across the globe working closely with top-tier sound engineers in research and development, heaping buckets of cash to achieve the premium sound quality that ravers and ragers alike will appreciate. By providing audio nirvana in a pop-up paradise, in a crowded and competitive marketplace, festival producers hope the fans respond accordingly with their ticket monies. The prevailing mantra on both sides of this equation is: Embrace the Bass. As music festivals around the world continue to up the proverbial ante in what is possible, North America has been playing catch-up to many of the behemoth and technologically advanced events overseas. Yet there are more than a few funkified diamonds in the rough found over here on the Western Hemisphere. Enjoy this list of some of our favorites. Shambhala Music Festival, Salmo, British Columbia, Canada Among the most beloved of many stalwart Canadian music festivals, Shambhala returned for its 19th year in 2016. Spread over 500 acres in British Columbia's Kootenay Mountains, it is a shining example of what a festival is capable of delivering, from culture to art and nature's terrific terrain. Its spirited community of Shambhalovelies bring this vibrant festival to life, and the sound engineering and auditory experience is second to none in North America. Calgary's PK Sound is an integral part of Shambhala's sonic footprint, deploying 300 loudspeakers across five of the six stages. Each stage creates and maintains its immersive environs from year to year, featuring a smorgasbord of musical adventurers. Between bass music, hip-hop, live bands and vocal groups, Shambhalovelies are spoiled rotten. PK Sound production crews operate five distinct sound systems across the stages, including a TRINITY system and 3D Wavefront Control at the Village Stage. Each Shambhala stage requires a unique system due to the environmental challenges posed by a rugged, remote setting. The Living Room and Amphitheater stages boast natural beauty alongside acoustic challenges. The Living Room Stage sits along the Salmo River where the rocks and running water provide relaxing reverberations. However, the most celebrated system at Shambhala is the Funktion One rig at the Grove stage, engineered by the amazing team at Fusebox Productions. Sound engineers across the world are in agreement that Shambs' Grove stage is the some of the finest in the festival world. Infrasound Music Festival, Highbridge, Wisconsin When researching this article, several seasoned festival-goers we polled about the best in festival sound mentioned first and foremost the Midwestern magic of Infrasound Music Festival. Infrasound traces its origins back to a 2010 warehouse party in Minneapolis, but the first official Infrasound Festival took place in Houston, Minnesota in 2012. The prefix infra- means “below” and infrasound translates to frequencies that exist beneath the spectrum of audibility; audiophiles flock to Infrasound to soak up the vibes at an event where sound and artistic integrity are prioritized. Infrasound was built on the backs of a dedicated group of founders, including Taylor J. Winum, who prides himself on the intimacy of the Infra stages, and calls Croatia's Outlook Festival their biggest production inspiration. Infrasound is powered exclusively through Funktion One, and last year's now-legendary fest unveiled the VERO system, previously only tested at Tipper's last Red Rocks performance, and Ultra Music Festival in Miami. Enchanted Forest Gathering, Laytonville, California Easily accessible off of California’s Redwood Highway 101, Enchanted Forest Gathering is a premier boutique festival experience. Beginning with the herculean bass of the Grove Stage, to the folksy flavors of the live music-focused Knoll Stage, whether rollin’ to the riddim at the Lazy River or getting hot, bothered, and soapy at the Saucy Spa, the event boasts a well-rounded roster, the picturesque setting of Black Oak Ranch, and leads the way for boutique festivals that prioritize the crunkalogic science. The man behind the otherworldly soundscapes found all over the fest is James Spektrum, of Magnetic Sound. He was generous enough to pull back the curtain on just how they make these systems thump. His company provides the Grove Stage with a large Funktion One to cover 3,000 people, while the Saucy Spa uses their smaller, four-corner Funktion One as to keep "the intimate late night scene bumpin'." This June, the Knoll Stage will use a L'Acoustics KUDO line array, supplied by ProFound Entertainment. Enchanted Forest Fathering is also considering a PK Sound system for its Lazy River Stage, in order to bring some local sound crews into the mix. Electric Daisy Carnival, Las Vegas, Nevada With something for everyone, no matter your flavor of dance music or debauchery, Insomniac's flagship Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas is undeniably at the forefront of high-end, large-scale festival sound. EDC 20’s organizers reported that three-day attendance broke the 400,000 mark for the second time in the festival’s history. Calgary-based PK Sound ushered in a new era of bass dynamics for the huge festival audience, with the revelation of the Trinity sound system, giving EDC's headliners the first chance to experience its three-dimensional sound. Whereas traditional speakers transmit sound waves in two dimensions, the Trinity rig employs technology allowing engineers to manipulate sound to reach where it is intended to travel, engrossing listeners and dancers in auditory ecstasy, all the while pulverizing the throbbing low-end deep into their souls. Despite being designed with electronic dance music specifically in mind, the Trinity system got the party so turnt that the aptly monikered Basspod Stage was rendered out of commission for a brief time. Bass Coast, Merritt, British Columbia, Canada British Columbia's underground champion Bass Coast was born from its creators' (The Librarian, Angela Graham, and co-founder Liz Thomson) shared love of sound system culture. As a performing artist and a fan, Graham experienced many different festivals and underground events, inspiring her and Liz to combine their visual and auditory aesthetics to create immersive environments of sonic wonder, from the music curated to the speakers through which it is delivered. After using a number of different systems including Funktion One for its earlier incarnations, Bass Coast transitioned to PK Sound a few years ago, and last summer the stalwart Canadian company brought their Trinity rig to Bass Coast's Main Stage. The technicians set about elevating the experience by blanketing the entire dance floor with precise sound, both powerful, and gentle, across genres that ranged from R&B to drum n' bass, techno to grime, and all points between. "Electronic music is designed to be felt. It is a full-body experience that expands beyond just 'hearing' the music. We work closely with PK to design and adjust the stages and sound each year in order to create the best experience possible for everyone on the dance floor," Graham told us. Coachella, Indio, California The world-famous Coachella remains one of America’s largest and most celebrated music festivals, attended by over half a million people each year. With a complex, detailed directory of music stages and live performance areas, there is also a huge array of sound technology behind the gathering. While the Sahara Tent is conceived for mind-numbing EDM, and the Yuma Tent for hypnotizing, four-on-the-floor techno, the already legendary Descpacio is intended for a completely different environment. Created by 2manyDJs and LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, it's inspired by Paradise Garage's legendary system, perfect for large-audience vinyl sets, and hits all the same joyful notes as its spiritual predecessors. Back in 2009, it was L’Acoustics that debuted at the then largest K1 loudspeaker (40 feet tall!) in the world on Coachella's main stage. In 2016, it was the polar opposite, with the debut of Despacio’s 50,000-watt, 11.5-foot-tall speaker system inside the festival's smallest tent. With a DJ booth set up behind the audience, the idea is for the focus to be on excellent sound quality rather than watching the DJ move a mouse, twist knobs and press keys. Suwannee Hulaween, Live Oak, Florida At the end of every October, The String Cheese Incident teams with Silver Wrapper and Purple Hat Productions to throw what might be the most complete festival experience east of the Rockies, the fantastic Suwannee Hulaween. Hosted at the magnificent Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, Hulaween is the premier jam/electronic crossover event on the
getting so hyped up about his profile, this is not the first time that he has tried out social networking. Recent screenshot of President Obama’s new twitter handle. (Source: https://twitter.com/POTUS) President Obama already has the account @BarackObama, which has amassed nearly 60 million followers. However, the new @POTUS account is associated with the presidential office – or as Obama puts it: “The handle comes with the house.” It seems that the President is genuinely trying to reach out to people and connecting with them on a much more personal level than ever before. The @BarackObama is handled by staffers, so there is not a lot of personal touch to the tweets. However, the President himself will be tweeting exclusively from the @POTUS handle. Now that’s what I call a smart approach. Since the creation of his handle, he has made 3 more tweets related to his visit to Camden (NJ), his commencement speech for the Coast Guard class of 2015, and interesting a reply (in good humour of course) to Bill Clinton’s tongue-in-cheek tweet on Monday welcoming him to the service. “The @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him,” wrote the White House Deputy Director of Online Engagement for the Office of Digital Strategy, Alex Wall, in a blog post. The record for the fastest time to get a million followers was held by none other than our very own “Iron Man”, Mr. Robert Downey Jr. He managed to reach this milestone in 23 hours and 22 minutes back in April 2014. He had joined twitter with a simple tweet stating “Talk to me Twitter” and what followed is known to everyone. Robert may be a popular star, but when it comes to popularity, who can beat the POTUS! (Source: Guinness World Records) President Obama has just started out and it seems that there are quite a few records to be broken in the social networking domain. It would definitely be interesting to see how the public reacts to exclusive tweets by the President himself. Do you want to see how he shared his first tweet from the @POTUS handle? Click here to find out.The new Mortal Kombat movie is still in the oven, and we think that things may be heating up. We know that Warner Bros. has been trying to get a Mortal Kombat reboot off the ground for a while now, and last year concluded with the positive news that James Wan -- the imminent Aquaman director -- committed to producing the film. Wan is serious about doing this right, and making this a Mortal Kombat movie that fans will love. But what kind of film will it be? According to one of the original writers, this could turn out to be pretty dark and violent. Collider caught up with Oren Uziel for an interview. Uziel has a long history with this reboot, and penned what ended up being the foundation for the new film. Uziel was originally hired to write a Mortal Kombat film after his debut project gained notoriety, but the project dissipated before it even began. The director reached out to him afterward and persuaded him to continue writing what ended up being the short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, which evolved into a Machinima series. "And it was at that point," he said in the interview, "that Kevin called and New Line called and said, ‘Hey, you were there at at the beginning, do you wanna come back?’ I said, ‘Sure’, so I wrote them a feature that has been the basis of what the Mortal Kombat movie will be, but it’s been kicking around for a little while now. I know James Wan came on to produce, so that to me was a good sign that maybe things were heating up again..." As for the script itself, Uziel describes a dark and rowdy romp worthy of the Mortal Kombat name. “Well, and again I don’t know what remains of this, but I know that it was going to be—it’s almost like if you took The Avengers, or if you took a storyline like that and set it in a sort of hard-R, over-the-top violence and hard-edged world of Mortal Kombat. It was a little bit like that, it was a little bit like a Wanted-type story that brought together a bunch of these characters and just pulled zero punches, and had a tone that was still fun but very dark.”Congress was expected to vote on a health-care plan March 23. After a day of negotiations, the vote got pushed back. Here are three reasons why. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Stop me if you’ve heard this one: House Republicans postponed a vote on a major piece of legislation set for Thursday night amid doubts that they could gather the 216 votes they needed to pass the bill. The White House — via spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders — expressed confidence in the face of the setback, insisting that the GOP attempt to overhaul the nation’s health-care system will pass Friday morning. But according to the Fix’s House whip count, 37 House Republicans have already announced their opposition to the bill in its current form. Republicans can only afford 22 “no” votes — assuming, of course, that no Democrats will vote for the bill. The legislation may pass — either Friday or over the weekend. (It almost certainly won’t pass without changes.) But House Republicans had to be feeling a sense of deja vu as it became clear Thursday that despite the efforts of President Trump and Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the votes simply weren’t there to pass the legislation. Republicans — led by then-Speaker John A. Boehner — failed time and time again to rally votes behind proposals, from the fiscal cliff in 2012 to the farm bill in 2013 to the debt ceiling in 2014. Each time, the conservative wing of the conference — now organized under the House Freedom Caucus — withheld their votes, insisting that the legislation offered by Boehner was an abandonment of principles. The inability to appease the party’s conservative wing while also keeping the centrists within the party — yes, they still exist — on board is what drove Boehner into a surprisingly early retirement. That was then, this is now, Republicans argued in the run-up to the planned health-care vote. Ryan was someone, unlike Boehner, who the House Freedom Caucus liked and trusted. And with Trump in the White House and Republicans with a large House majority and a clear Senate majority, the problems of the last five years were a thing of the past. Except not. As Republicans have learned over the past few weeks — and especially in the last few days — having a majority of House and Senate seats as well as the White House ensures you nothing in terms of legislation. The problem for House Republicans today is the same problem they had in 2012 and 2013 and 2014 and 2015 and 2016. The conference — split, broadly speaking, between activist conservatives and establishment conservatives — simply cannot be consistently led. The House Freedom Caucus not only believes compromise is capitulation but also views Trump’s election last fall as evidence of how unapologetic conservatism can win. The establishment wing of the party — which represents the bulk of competitive seats in swing areas of the country like the Midwest — frets that caving to conservative interests within the GOP could cost them their jobs in the next election. Since he began running for president, Trump has portrayed himself as a person uniquely able to bring warring sides to the table and cut good deals. That’s why getting some sort of health-care deal matters so much to him. But Thursday proved that not even Dealmaker Donald can point in a direction and lead the GOP majority behind him. Some men (and women) just can’t be reached.This year gets off to a relatively slow start when it comes to seeing the annual major meteor showers. The Quadrantids, one of the big three annual showers, are lost to the vagaries of the full Moon in early January. But the year’s other two most active annual showers – the Perseids (in August) and Geminids (in December) – are set to put on fine displays. So when and where should you look to have the best chance of seeing nature’s fireworks? Here we present the likely meteoric highlights of 2018. These are the meteor showers most likely to put on a good show this year. Read more: Stars that vary in brightness shine in the oral traditions of Aboriginal Australians For each shower, we give the forecast activity period and the predicted time of maximum. We also provide charts showing you where to look, and give the peak rates that could be seen under perfect conditions (known as the maximum Zenithal Hourly Rate, or ZHR). The actual rate you see will always be lower than this value - but the higher a shower’s radiant in the sky and the darker the conditions, the closer the observed rate will get to this ideal value. To see the best rates it is well worth trying to find a good dark site, far from street lights. Once outside, make sure to give your eyes plenty of time to adapt to the darkness (at least half an hour). Showers that can only be seen from one hemisphere are denoted by either [N] or [S], with those that can be seen globally marked as [N/S]. Lyrids [N/S; N favoured] Active: April 14-30 Maximum: April 22, 6pm UT = April 23, 2am AWST (WA) = 4am AEST (QLD/NSW/ACT/Vic/Tas) ZHR: 18+ The Lyrids hold the record for the shower with the longest recorded history, having been observed since at least 687BC. That longevity is linked to the orbit of the Lyrid’s parent comet, discovered in 1861 by A. E. Thatcher. Comet Thatcher moves on a highly inclined, eccentric orbit, swinging through the inner Solar system every 415 years or so. Its most recent approach to Earth was in 1861. Compared with many other comets, Thatcher’s orbit is relatively stable, as the only planet with which it can experience close encounters is Earth. This means the meteors it sheds continue to follow roughly the same orbit. Over the millennia, that shed debris has spread all around the comet’s vast orbit, meaning that for thousands of years, every time Earth intersects Comet Thatcher’s orbit, the Lyrids have been seen, as regular as clockwork. One study of the orbits of Lyrid meteors even suggests the shower may have been active for at least a million years. Museums Victoria/stellarium These days, the Lyrids are usually a moderately active shower, producing somewhere between 10 and 20 fast, bright meteors per hour at their peak. Occasionally, though, the Lyrids have thrown up a surprise, with rates climbing far higher for a period of several hours. The best of those outbursts seem to occur every 60 years or so, with the most recent occurring in 1982 when observed rates reached or exceeded 90 per hour. No such outburst is predicted for 2018, but even in quiet years, the Lyrids are still a fun shower to observe. Museums Victoria/stellarium They are best seen from northern latitudes, but their radiant is far enough south for observers throughout Australia to observe them in the hours before dawn. For observers at mid-northern latitudes, the Lyrid radiant reaches suitable altitude by about 11pm local time. Viewers in the southern hemisphere have to wait until the early hours of the morning before reasonable rates can be observed. The forecast time of maximum this year favours observers in Australia and east Asia but the timing of maximum has been known to vary somewhat, so observers around the globe will likely be keeping their eyes peeled, just in case! Perseids [N] Active: July 17 - August 24 Maximum: August 12, 8pm UT - August 13, 8am UT = from August 12, 9pm BST (UK) = 10pm CEST (Europe) = 6pm EDT (East Coast, US) = 3pm PDT (West Coast, US) for 12 hours ZHR: 110 For observers in the northern hemisphere, the Perseids are a spectacular summer highlight. At their peak, rates often reach or exceed 100 meteors per hour, and they are famed for their frequent spectacular fireballs. The Perseids are probably the best known and most widely observed of all modern meteor showers. They are remarkably consistent, with peak rates usually visible for a couple of evenings, and fall in the middle of the northern hemisphere summer holiday season. The warm nights and frequent clear skies at that time of year make the shower a real favourite! Like the Lyrids, the Perseids have a long and storied history, having been observed for at least 2,000 years. Their parent comet, 109P/Swift-Tuttle, is a behemoth, with the largest nucleus of the known periodic comets - some 26km in diameter. It has likely moved on its current orbit for tens of thousands of years, all the time laying down the debris that gives us our annual Perseid extravaganza. It will next swing past Earth in 2126 when it will be a spectacular naked eye object. Museums Victoria/stellarium This year the forecast maximum for the Perseids favours observers in Europe, although given the length of peak activity, any location in the northern hemisphere has the potential to see a spectacular show on the night of August 12. But don’t despair if it’s cloudy that night, as the Perseids have a relatively broad period of peak activity, meaning that good rates can be seen for a few days either side of their peak. In 2018, the peak of the Perseid shower coincides with the New Moon, and so is totally unaffected by moonlight, which makes this an ideal year to observe the shower. The further north you are, the earlier the shower’s radiant will be visible. But reasonable rates can typically be seen any time after about 10pm, local time. The later in the night you observe, the better the rates will be, as the radiant climbs higher into the sky. It is not uncommon for enthusiastic observers to watch the shower until dawn on the night of maximum, seeing several hundred meteors in a single night. Draconids [N] Active: October 6-10 Maximum: October 9, 12:10am UT = 1:10am BST (UK) = 2:10am CEST (Europe) ZHR: 10+ The Draconids are a fascinating meteor shower, although in most years, somewhat underwhelming. Unlike the previous showers, the Draconids are a relatively young meteor shower that can vary dramatically from one year to the next. First observed less than a century ago, the Draconids (also known as the Giaocobinids) are tied to a Jupiter-family comet called 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. That comet was the first to be visited by a spacecraft, and has frequent close encounters with Jupiter, which continually nudges its orbit around. These encounters also perturb the meteor stream the comet is laying down, sometimes enhancing rates at Earth and sometimes diminishing them. In the early 20th century, it was realised that Comet Giacobini-Zinner’s orbit comes close enough to Earth that we might be able to see meteors as we plough through the debris it leaves behind. This led to the first predictions of Draconid activity. Sure enough, in 1920, the great meteor observer W. F. Denning confirmed the existence of the shower, with a mere five meteors observed between October 6 and October 9. In 1933 and 1946, the Draconids produced two of the greatest meteor displays of the 20th century - great storms, with peak rates of several thousand meteors per hour. In those years, Earth crossed the comet’s orbit just a month or two after the comet passed through perihelion (closest approach to the Sun), and Earth ploughed through dense material in the comet’s wake. After 1946, the Draconids went quiet, all but vanishing from our skies. Jupiter had swung the comet onto a less favourable orbit. Only a few Draconids were seen in 1972, then again in 1985 and 1998. The late 1990s saw a renaissance in our ability to predict and understand meteor showers, born of enhanced activity exhibited by the Leonid meteor shower. Using the techniques developed to study the Leonids, astronomers predicted enhanced activity from the Draconids in 2011, and the predicted outburst duly occurred, with rates of around 300 meteors per hour being observed. Museums Victoria/stellarium This year comet Giacobini-Zinner once again passes through perihelion and swings close to Earth’s orbit. The chances are good that the shower will be active - albeit unlikely to produce a spectacular storm. Modelling suggests that rates of 20 to 50 faint meteors per hour might be seen around 12:14am UT on October 9. Other models suggest that rates will peak about 45 minutes earlier, with lower rates of 15 to 20. The Draconid radiant is circumpolar (that is, it never sets) for locations north of 44°N, and is highest in the sky before midnight. This year, the Moon is new at the time of the forecast peak, which is ideally timed for observers in Europe. If skies are clear that evening, it is well worth heading out at around 11:30pm BST on October 8 (12:30am CEST on October 9) and spending a couple of hours staring north, just in case the Draconids put on another spectacular show. Taurids [N/S] Active: September 10 - December 10 Maxima: October 10 (Southern Taurids); November 12 (Northern Taurids) ZHR: 5 + 5 Of all the year’s meteor showers, the one that dumps the greatest amount of dust into Earth’s atmosphere are the Taurids. The inner Solar system contains a vast swathe of debris known as the Taurid stream. It is so spread out that Earth spends a quarter of the year passing through it. In June, that debris spawns the Daytime Taurid meteor shower, which (as the name suggests) occurs during daylight hours, and is only really known thanks to radio observations. After leaving the stream for a little while, Earth penetrates it again at the start of September, and activity continues right through until December. Hourly rates fluctuate up and down, with several distinct peaks and troughs through October and November. The Taurid stream is complex - with at least two main components, known as the northern and southern branches. Typically, the Southern Taurids are active a little earlier in the year and reach their peak about a month before the northern branch. Museums Victoria/stellarium Museums Victoria/stellarium The Taurids are slow meteors and feature plenty of bright fireballs. So even though their rates are low, they are well worth looking out for, particularly when other showers are also active, such as the Draconids, the Orionids and the Leonids. Put together, these showers make the northern autumn or the southern spring a great time to get out and look for natural fireworks. Orionids [N/S] Active: October 2 - November 7 Maximum: October 21 ZHR: 20+ Twice a year, Earth runs through the stream of debris littered around the orbit of Comet 1P/Halley. Throughout the month of October this gives rise to the Orionid meteor shower. The Orionids are a fairly reliable meteor shower with a long, broad maximum. Typically, peak rates can last for almost a week, centred on the nominal maximum date. Throughout that week, Orionid rates can fluctuate markedly, leading to a number of distinct maxima and minima. Orionid meteors are fast - much faster than the Taurids that are active at the same of year. Like the Taurids, they are often bright, the result of the high speed at which the meteoroids hit Earth’s atmosphere. Museums Victoria/stellarium Museums Victoria/stellarium The Orionid radiant rises in the late evening and is only really high enough in the sky for reasonable rates to be seen after midnight. As a result, the best rates are usually observed in the hours before dawn. This works well this year, as the Moon will be in its waxing gibbous phase, setting some time after midnight and leaving the sky dark, allowing us to watch for pieces of the most famous comet of them all. Geminids [N/S] Active: December 4-17 Maximum: December 14, 12:30pm UT = Australia: December 14, 8pm AWST (WA) = 10:30pm (QLD) = 11:30pm AEST (NSW/ACT/Vic/Tas) = United States: December 14, 7:30am (EST) = 5:30am (PST) = 2:30am (Hawaii) ZHR: 120 As the year comes to a close, we reach the most reliable and spectacular of the annual meteor showers – the Geminids. Unlike the Perseids and the Lyrids, which have graced our skies for thousands of years, the Geminids are a relatively new phenomenon. They were first observed just 150 years ago, and through the first part of the 20th century were a relatively minor shower. But since then rates have improved decade-on-decade, to the point where they are now the best of the annual showers, bar none. The reason for their rapid evolution is that their orbit (and that of their parent body, the asteroid Phaethon) is shifting rapidly over time, precessing around the Sun (wobbling like a slow spinning top). As it does so, the centre of Phaethon’s orbit, and the centre of the Geminid stream, are moving ever closer to Earth. For northern locations, the radiant rises shortly after sunset, and good rates can be seen from mid-evening onwards. For observers in the southern hemisphere, the radiant rises later, so good rates are delayed until later at night (as detailed in our 2015 report on the shower). Although the time of maximum this year seems to favour observers in the Americas and Australia, peak rates from the Geminids usually last around 24 hours, and so good rates should be visible around the globe. This year the maximum falls a day before the Moon reaches first quarter so the best rates are visible (after midnight, local time) when the Moon will have set and moonlight will not interfere. Museums Victoria/stellarium Museums Victoria/stellarium Given that rates from the Geminids continue to climb, the estimated ZHR of 120 is likely to be somewhat conservative. Rates in excess of 130, and even as high as 200 per hour, have been seen in recent years. Geminids are medium-speed meteors and are often bright. The individual meteors also seem to last just that bit longer than other showers, a fact likely related to their parent object’s rocky nature. Wherever you are on the planet, the Geminids are a fantastic way to bring the year to an end, and we will hopefully be treated to a magnificent display this year.When Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844, members of the LDS Church found themselves without a leader. Brigham Young emerged as the most famous candidate to replace him, but James Jesse Strang was the most prolific. Like Smith, Strang claimed to see visions and translate lost religious texts from buried metal plates. But unlike Smith, his followers declared him King of Lake Michigan’s Beaver Island, enrobed him in red flannel and bestowed upon him a tin crown. Independent historian John Hamer joins us Thursday to talk about James Strang, what drew him to the Mormons, and what the Mormons drew from him. For images, links and more during the show, follow us on Facebook or Twitter. John Hamer is an independent historian, and the former executive director of the John Whitmer Historical Association. He also co-edited the book Scattering of the Saints: Schism Within Mormonism. [Amazon]This post is part of a series on the Segno of Fiore that displays 4 animals each representing a different martial trait the lynx, tiger, elephant, and lion. “I am the lion: nobody carries a more courageous heart. I offer everyone battle.” Tom Leoni translation – Fior di Battaglia, Getty Museum To stand across from a man with a sharp sword in his hand requires a certain element of courage. Even in our modern practice there can still be a palpable quickening of the heart even with the knowledge that the sword is blunt and that the other hopefully does not mean you real harm. Having a respect for the weapon as if it were sharp, and your life as if it were limited, is a powerful tool in modern martial practice. To truly know the art we need to get as close to its traditional setting as possible. Finding the balance between audacity and prudence is challenging. As an instructor I have often found it easier to work with a student who is brazen to the point of suicidal than tentative to the point of catatonic. The journey of bringing someone back from a bold extreme can often be easier. It is more about equipping (teaching someone how to parry and tactically approach) and contain (learning to pick your moments, not over-extend, etc). Whereas it can be a more challenging road to build with someone who is afraid to even step into the range they need to for swordplay techniques to truly make sense. The challenge here is that many techniques in a combative environment require 100% commitment (or at least 90%) to be successful. It’s not something that you can build to in baby steps. 10% commitment will not give you 10% success anymore than 70% will give you 70% success. It’s all or nothing. If you’re seeking confirmation data from partial steps forward, you’ll avoid a lot of successful roads. In our look at our final animal we’ll explore techniques and exercises that I employ as a student and as an instructor to help build boldness and succeed in martial application. Harness Immortality The advantage of practicing with blunt swords is that you won’t die. Typically the worse thing you’ll get with responsible partners is a bruise. We use many different drills at Academie Duello to challenge students to move from fear to respect of the opponent’s weapon. 1. Mortal/Immortal – Fencing where one person is mortal (calls blows in the standard way) and the other cannot be struck down (ignores all blows and continues acting). The objective for the immortal is to move through fatal hits to complete techniques. Often the permission to continue forward regardless of outcome is enough to put the body in the right place for a technique (with defence) to be successful. 2. Counted Blows – You must strike a certain number of blows in a particular action. This can be done with a quality of immortality or as an objective in regular sparring. 3. Complete No Matter What – All actions are concluded even if you’re struck in the middle of them. Or all actions have a guarded retreat even if you’re struck while conducting them. If you find that you often call ‘hit’ before you’ve actually been struck, this type of exercise will help you build the practice of continued movement and ensure you don’t give up until the deed is done. Build Defensive Skill Sometimes a tentative person simply needs to approach their fencing through solid defence (truly the origin of the word) rather than through offence. Focusing on parrying, engagement, line control, and exercises that emphasize this side of the fight, you can build your confidence to stay alive even in dicey situations. In sparring sometimes I make it an objective not to get in and strike my opponent but simply to stand close to them without being struck for as long as possible. Build Confidence Through Scaling Speed Back to the idea of slow and scaling speed fencing. Work at a speed where you can respond to the action not react to it. My destination here to play on an edge where you are challenged but not so nervous or fearful that you’ succumb to panic reactions and knee-jerk movements. Remember that speed comes through efficiency and smoothness. Both of these things are impossible if you’re freaking out every time you come in range of your enemy. Often the most powerful thing you can do is try to push yourself to the boldest extreme. Harness your courage and spend some time each day drilling in a space that makes you uncomfortable. Daily doses are good medicine.In-game minimap Welcome to the Official Azeroth Wars: Legacy Reborn Wiki This is a collaborative community website centered around Azeroth Wars: Legacy Reborn, a Warcraft III custom map set primarily during the events of Warcraft III and its expansion The Frozen Throne; the map also features lore and events from the MMORPG World of Warcraft and its first two expansions, The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. Through gameplay you can experience the story in a nonlinear fashion (as it is a semi sandbox game), which gives players the freedom to do what they want. In this custom map players will control a variety of notable factions, races and characters from the Warcraft universe. AWLR has noticeable role-playing elements in its core which distinguishes it from a regular RTS. In fact, authors claim, that AWLR actually represents original genre, called Role Playing Grand Strategy. The first version of the game, called Azeroth Wars Strategy was created in 2006, by Augur. This later spawned several spin offs. Azeroth Wars: Legacy Reborn, the concept's most played successor, was created by Avrion, Railen and EagleMan, members of Clan QUAM. After a period in which EagleMan was the sole active author, he turned over the map to new editors from Clan LHoT: Thurr and Bhaal Spawn. After them, work was continued by SteakOnSpear, Joffrey, Dave_Rolf and Djisa. Finally, in late 2014 it ended up in hands of current development team: Rhemar, Talinn and Augur. For comments, questions and discussions please visit the official Azeroth Wars: Legacy Reborn forums at Diplomunion.com. If you want to contact the current editing team Diplomunion is the quickest and best way to do so. Current version As 10 January 2015, current game version is 1.90c It can be downloaded from Epic War Version changelog can be seen here. Changelog disscussion: [1] Suggestions thread: [2] Bug report thread: [3] Gameplay Gameplay is in many ways similar to the melee games of Warcraft III - You will control varied races, heroes and units and are required to destory your enemies, but it can also be called Role Playing Grand Strategy. The main difference in this custom map is that gold is not collected from gold mines, instead, you will receive a set income every minute. You can increase this amount by capturing and controlling Control Points. Control Points are usually found at important lore sites and/or major bases a certain faction owns, their value is proportional to the importance of the region they are in. An important difference to note is that Upkeep is also absent from AWLR, so your income will not be reduced when you have a large food population. All units cost 1 food, with a varying inital food cap for each race but all races can achieve the maximum food cap of 300 thus reaching a total number of 300 units in their army. Lumber is a secondary resource used for various purposes throughout the map, players can gather lumber the same way they do in original Warcraft 3. The map encourages a unique style of gameplay players refer to as the "open alliances" Players start the game in predefined teams and have a starting set of objectives to guide them but they are free to ally whomever they want during the course of the game. Commands The game has some commands you can use, they are: Economy -Income (How much gold is being made from your CPs) Alliances -Unally Color (to unally someone you´ve already allied.) -Ally Color (to ally someone you´re not allied to.) Camera adjustments -Reset (brings the camera back to where it started) -Mid -Far Factions Team 1: The Forces of Evil Red - The Undead Scourge. - The Undead Scourge. Blue - The Burning Legion. Team 2: Northern Alliance Purple - Lordaeron Kingdom. - Lordaeron Kingdom. Orange - The Violet City of Dalaran. - The Violet City of Dalaran. Green - High Elves of Quel'Thalas. Team 3: The Horde Pink - Frostwolf Clan. - Frostwolf Clan. Grey - Warsong Clan. Team 4: Night Elves Light Blue - The Sentinels. - The Sentinels. Brown - The Druids. Team 5: Southern Alliance Dark Green - Kingdom of Stormwind. - Kingdom of Stormwind. Yellow - Dwarves of Khaz Modan. Team 6: The Fel Horde Teal - Fel & Dark Horde. Masteries & Tiers Each faction has three masteries available for research. Some masteries are expensive, while others are relatively cheap. Some masteries have special requirements to them. Once researched, the other masteries will become unavailable for research. Masteries provide special wide-ranging bonuses, and as you may only research one per game, choose carefully. Tiers are ordered in three pairs, from wich you can only chose one at a time, meaning that from six options you can only get three because, once researched, the other Tiers will become unavailable for research. They can bring from upgrades to Demi-Heroes having special wide-ranging bonuses, choose carefully.The Philadelphia Eagles released their second injury report on Tuesday in advance of their Week 6 game against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night. The encouraging news is that starting defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was a full participant in practice today after being listed as “limited” on Monday. After practice, Cox told reporters he was unsure if he’d play this week. So we’ll have to see how this situation plays out. Cox has been out ever since suffering a calf injury in Week 3. If he can’t suit up, it’ll be Beau Allen starting next to Tim Jernigan once again. The fact that Cox is practicing at least gives him a chance to play this week. Other than Cox, the Eagles’ Tuesday injury report is identical to Monday’s edition. Three players are still not practicing: starting cornerback Ronald Darby, starting right tackle Lane Johnson, and running back Wendell Smallwood. They’re all unlikely to suit up for this game. Here’s a positive update on Darby: Ronald Darby walked into a training room at NovaCare Complex without a limp or a noticeable brace or anything on his ankle. — Aaron Kasinitz (@AaronKazreports) October 10, 2017 Three players were limited: defensive end Chris Long, defensive tackle Destiny Vaeao, and defensive tackle Beau Allen. The Eagles are dealing with a number of injuries at defensive tackle this week so that would make getting Cox back even better. Starting safety Rodney McLeod, starting linebacker Jordan Hicks, and backup safeties Corey Graham and Jaylen Watkins were all full go in practice. Philadelphia Eagles Injury Report (Tuesday) Did Not Participate CB Ronald Darby (ankle) OT Lane Johnson (concussion) RB Wendell Smallwood (knee) Limited Participation DT Beau Allen (foot) DT Destiny Vaeao (wrist) DE Chris Long (foot) Full Participation DT Fletcher Cox (calf) S Rodney McLeod (hamstring) LB Jordan Hicks (ankle) S Corey Graham (hamstring) S Jaylen Watkins (hamstring) Carolina Panthers Injury Report (Tuesday) The Panthers are dealing with a lot of injuries. Starting cornerback James Bradberry was added to the injury report on Tuesday. He did not practice. Neither did fellow starting corner Darly Worley for the second day in a row. Other notable Panthers players who didn’t practice: starting defensive end Mario Addison, starting safety Kurt Coleman, starting center Ryan Kalil, and backup center Tyler Larsen (Kalil’s backup). Starting wide receiver Devin Funchess also didn’t practice but Ron Rivera said he should be able to play this week. Did Not Participate DE Mario Addison (knee) S Kurt Coleman (knee) S Demetrious Cox (ankle) WR Devin Funchess (knee) C Ryan Kalil (neck) C Tyler Larsen (shoulder) CB Daryl Worley (ankle) Limited Participation QB Cam Newton (shoulder) DE Julius Peppers (shoulder) RB Jonathan Stewart ankle) OT Matt Kalil (ankle)In announcing its latest app initiative Wednesday, Amazon put an italicized emphasis on the fact that apps and games in the new "Amazon Underground" section are "actually free" for Android devices. That means users can go on an in-app purchase shopping spree for all of the chapters, items, options, and "energy" they want, while developers get pennies on the hour in exchange for giving up their beloved monetization plan. Amazon Underground promises that its offerings are really, truly, and wholly free. Formerly paid apps cost nothing, while former freemium apps no longer ring users up for however many in-app purchases they make. Want fifty gazillion "coins" that would normally cost $100 of real cash, or free versions of productivity software, solid games like Goat Simulator, or kids' fare from the Sesame Workshop? They're yours for the taking. Amazon reminds you at every checkout opportunity how much you're not paying. While you might expect that this new system would have developers launching social media campaigns about getting ripped off, Amazon made very clear that game and app creators whose livelihoods depended on IAPs would still get paid: "We're paying developers a certain amount on a per-minute-played basis in exchange for them waiving their normal in-app fees," the company's announcement stated. "We're the one picking up those per-minute charges." The public announcement itself didn't clarify how much devs would get paid, but an Amazon developer resource site confirmed the amount: $0.002 per minute of use, or one penny for every five minutes. The company also went so far as to offer interested devs a revenue calculator to determine whether this model would make a company more cash than they'd made with traditional purchases. We grabbed a couple of good, IAP-powered Underground apps—
, a dual national with Saudi and Ethiopian citizenship and is reportedly the second richest Saudi, after Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. While bin Talal’s arrest has gained most media attention. Al-Amoudi’s arrest is especially important because it could potentially destabilize the economy of an entire country, according to Middle East Eye. Al-Amoudi, who is also known as “the Sheikh”, has invested in almost every sector of Ethiopia’s economy, including hotels, agriculture and astrology. According to a leaked diplomatic cable from 2008 “the Sheikh’s influence on the Ethiopian economy cannot be underestimated.” In the nearly ten years a since then it has become even harder to estimate the exact value of Al-Amoudi’s total investment in Ethiopia, which is among the fastest developing countries in Africa. One analyst estimated the value of the Sheikh’s investment at $3.4 billion, which represents 4.7 per cent of Ethiopia’s current GDP. Another said his companies employ about 100,000 people, which represent 14 per cent of the Ethiopian private sector, according to the latest Labour Force Survey, 2013. However, World Bank analysts warn that these figures might have markedly increased over the past four years as the sector has developed since then. Report: Saudi arrests army officers in anti-corruption purge Al-Amoudi has occupied the front pages of Ethiopia’s most prominent magazines since his arrest. News agencies have covered news of his detention, including the rumours that have been circulating on social media websites, as breaking news. “They are now panicking” said Henok Gabisa, a Visiting Academic Fellow at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Virginia and an Ethiopian researcher. In the few days after Al-Amoudi’s arrest, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn felt the need to hold his first press conference in two months. During the conference, he answered questions related to Al-Amoudi and stressed that the government does not believe that this will affect Al-Amoudi’s investments in Ethiopia. An Ethiopian Investment Authority official rejected the notion that Al Amoudi’s arrest might create chaos in the government, “The country’s economy is not based on one investor. For heaven’s sake, we are 100 million people, how can we depend on one investment?! This is funny.” “Investments outside Saudi Arabia that are owned by the Sheikh have not been yet affected by these changes,” said Tim Pendry, Al-Amoudi’s spokesman in the UK. Although they acknowledge that Chinese people who are heavily investing in Ethiopia have now a much larger stake than Al-Amoudi in Ethiopia, analysts suggest that even if the government is not in a state of panic at present, there would definitely be future concerns about the extent to which a conflict with Saudi Arabia would affect the Ethiopian economy. Dr Awol Allo, a law lecturer at the Keele University, said: He is a person whose presence or absence might affect the country’s economy. He added: “He has an impact and in light of all the problems that are associated with his investments in the country, this makes him an influential figure.”Greetings Citizens and Civilians, and welcome to episode 45 of Guard Frequency, the universe’s premier Star Citizen podcast recorded on 1st November 2014 and released for streaming and download on Tuesday 4th November 2014 at GuardFrequency.com [Download this episode] Tony, Lennon and Geoff are back and better than ever for your weekly serving of Guard Frequency. In this week’s Squawk Box we discuss the events of the Antares and Virgin’s Space Ship 2. In CIG News we get you right up to speed with everything that’s happening around the UEE including our weekly Crowd Funding Update, the latest Letter From The Chairman, the Drake Herald reveal, and we’re joined by our Executive Producer Elliot Tan and our Community Manager Justin “Chivalrybean” Lowmaster as we discuss the latest Arena Commander patch 0.9.2 and all the details about the FPS Module Team and PAX Australia. In Nuggets For Nuggets we thought that with the release of the Herald it was a good time to tell you all about Drake Interplanetary; and finally we tune into the Feedback Loop and let you join in on the conversation. Topics Discussed This Week’s Community Questions Arena Commander Release 14, good patch, or best patch ever? The best feature is… the targeting, the new HUD symbols, the control profiles? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below! View our post for the episode on the RSI forums. Our Organisation: Guard Frequency Response Click here to go to our Organisation page and apply today! Bonus link Tales From The Front – Contains a story by ChivalrybeanAlso known as Los ritos sexuales del diablo (The Sexual Rites of the Devil) however, I prefer the title originally released here in the States: "So, this has nothing to do with Pottery Barn?" Carol arrives in England with her husband Robert to find out the details of an inheritance after her brother's death while banging a hot broad way out of his league considering his male pattern baldness. They become the guests of Fiona, Carol's sister-in-law, in a spacious countryside mansion which tries desperately to evoke the same atmosphere of Spanish Gothic horror films of the 1970's. They arrive at said mansion where the power is out, allowing Fiona to give us what we've all been secretly waiting for: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! That's the extent of our titular items as they play no other part except as something to be stuck in one of the many bodily orifices that make themselves available throughout the film. Only the dullest of blades would fail to understand the crux of the film less the ten minutes into it. Fiona has pictures hanging on the wall that are reproductions of the demons listed in the 17th Century grimoire, The Lesser Key of Solomon, adding that she's interested in "only certain angles" of demonology and that many persons of importance have made pacts with the devil. She makes a comment about her brother discovering something before his demise but doesn't elaborate further. Robert seems unreasonably accepting of these odd decorations. Why not just have Fiona introduce herself to Carol as a Satanist that murdered her brother with black magic? I mean...what the fuck Black Candles? Are you that desperate to get to the nudity already? This movie certainly isn't shy when it comes to full frontal. It's just too bad that most of these women are as comely as Satan's pockmarked ass. Fiona masturbates after watching Carol and Robert fuck through a peephole. Later that evening she has an inappropriate dream of herself walking through the woods, wearing only white lingerie, as her deceased brother follows: I can see plenty of bush...behind her. As if the dream wasn't disturbing enough, Carol fantasizes that her brother — channeling Hunter S. Thompson in his sunglasses and cigar — takes their sibling love to the next level. A begrudging Fiona finally gives in and joins the family "reunion". Waking from the dream, Carol heads downstairs when she sees a bearded man staring back at her. Fiona convinces Carol that she must have been dreaming it and gets her back to bed. Later Fiona berates the bearded man who is not only a priest but...A SATANIC PRIEST! The priest goes into exposition about how they had to kill Carol's brother and blah, blah, blah. Less than twenty minutes in and any pretense of mystery is exposed faster than Carol's shapely breasts. The goat fucking commences as the hot broad who was with Carol's brother the night he died is the unlucky recipient of Old MacDonald's harem of domesticated studs. Who the fuck thinks this kind of shit up? Fucking Europe, man. (Shaking my head disapprovingly) Black Candles doesn't bother with building up any tension or suspense between the characters especially since the plot is fully revealed so early into it. Robert quickly turns to the dark side and the Satanists, when not screwing, engage in some of the most banal and frivolous conversations ever recorded. These are devil worshipers that not only gave up their souls but their backbone as well. Besides, does this look like a scary bunch to you? Brace yourselves for...SATANIC CUNNILINGUS! "Would you like some Earl Gre..er, I mean SATANIC TEA?" Do-Re-Mi-Fa-SATAN! "Knight to c3 — Oh shit, I mean SATAN TO SATAN!" The coven plans to wed Carol to Satan on the Autumn Equinox. She's got a nice figure but, that mug of hers! Woof! By the time butterface is told the truth — the man that tells her gets a sword up his ass as punishment — you'll already have turned this off and streamed porn on the internet. For those of you unfortunate to stick around until the end you're treated with the lamest gimmick ending in the book: It was only a dream! See, now you got fucked too! There really isn't much else to explain here.doesn't bother with building up any tension or suspense between the characters especially since the plot is fully revealed so early into it. Robert quickly turns to the dark side and the Satanists, when not screwing, engage in some of the most banal and frivolous conversations ever recorded. These are devil worshipers that not only gave up their souls but their backbone as well. Besides, does this look like a scary bunch to you? The Satanic coven — which includes Fiona and her neighbors — are a mishmash of petty thieves (the maid) and Snidely Whiplash baddies (the Satanic priest) that prove their devilish devotion by engaging in every combination of sexual deviancy you can think of. Lesbianism, sodomy, orgies and yes, bestiality. Seems the devil's secret to turning us away from God is goat cum. Here, the maid explains to some dolt why this specific jizz is so important to their unholy plans:LOS ANGELES -- Significantly higher home prices, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal regions, shut out more homebuyers in the state during the second quarter of 2013, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) reported. In San Diego County, 32 percent of homebuyers had the minimum qualifying income of $90,150 needed to afford the $2,250 monthly payment including taxes and insurance (PITI) for the $469,040 median-priced home. The qualifying index was down from 38 percent in the first quarter and 44 percent a year ago. The percentage of California homebuyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California dropped to 36 percent in the second quarter of 2013, down from 44 percent in first-quarter 2013 and from 51 percent in second-quarter 2012, according to C.A.R.ís Traditional Housing Affordability Index (HAI). The second quarter 2013 figure fell below 40 percent for the first time since the third quarter of 2008. Homebuyers needed to earn a minimum annual income of $79,910 to qualify for the purchase of a $415,770 statewide median-priced, existing single-family home in the second quarter of 2013. The monthly payment, including taxes and insurance on a 30-year fixed-rate loan, would be $2,000, assuming a 20 percent down payment and an effective composite interest rate of 3.64 percent. The effective composite interest rate in first-quarter 2013 was 3.55 percent and 2.82 percent in the second quarter of 2012. The median home price was $316,490 in second-quarter 2012, and an annual income of $62,440 was needed to purchase a home at that price. Nearly all regions of the state experienced sharp quarter-over-quarter declines in housing affordability, with Bay Area and coastal regions recording the greatest decreases in the index due to significantly higher home prices. At an index of 71 percent, Madera County was the most affordable county in the state, while San Francisco and San Mateo counties tied for the least affordable at 17 percent. In the Inland Empire, 56 percent of homebuyers had the requisite income of $46,060 to cover the monthly PITI of $1,150 to afford a median-priced home of $239,640. In the first quarter of 2013, the affordable index was 61 percent, and 70 percent a year ago. For the Inland Empire county of San Bernardino, affordability was 69 percent in the second quarter, down from 72 in the first and 78 a year. The minimum qualifying annual income needed San Bernardino was $32,630 to cover a monthly PITI of $820 on a median-priced home of $169,760. For Riverside, the other Inland Empire county, the housing affordability index was 49 percent in the second quarter, down from 54 in the first and 65 a year ago. Riverside homebuyers needed a minimum qualifying income of $54,780 to cover a PITI of $1,370 on a median-priced home of $285,020.On the morning of 5 March a group of soldiers belonging to the Iraqi Special Operations Forces left the ruined village that had been their base for the past three weeks and drove north towards Mosul. Their target was the Baghdad Circle, a bleak intersection on the main highway into town, adorned since 2014 with a black and white billboard showing the black flag of Islamic State, with the seal of the prophet and beneath it the words ‘The Islamic State, Wilayat al-Mosul’. Since operations to recapture the western side of Mosul began in mid-February, the Iraqi soldiers had twice attacked the Circle and twice they had been pushed back. ‘They have formidable fortifications,’ an officer told me. IS had built a berm – a raised earthwork bank – with a trench behind it, and then another berm, all laid with IEDs. ‘In a whole day of fighting,’ the officer said, ‘we advanced no more than 150 metres.’ He pinched and zoomed a satellite map on his tablet. The Circle is the gateway to western Mosul, the oldest part of the city. The eastern part, on the other side of the Tigris, had been retaken by the end of January. Western Mosul, with its dense neighbourhoods and narrow streets, was a bigger challenge. As long as IS held the Circle, the officer explained, the highway to Baghdad could not be opened to traffic. Refugees and troops were forced to take a circuitous route through the hills to avoid snipers and rocket launchers. For the third attack, he said, a small team of special forces would cross the highway under cover of a massive barrage of fire, outflank the Circle and try to breach the fortifications from behind. Once a bridgehead was established, the rest of the troops would follow. The officers travelled through the hills in a long convoy of Humvees, tanks and bulldozers, and installed themselves in a house behind the frontline. With smartphones and tablets arrayed around them they followed the advance of the troops. Like children playing a video game, they moved cursors, tapped in new co-ordinates and nudged and cajoled the men on the ground to advance: ‘Yalla, my hero, cross the street! Have you crossed? Do you have new co-ordinates?’ Aides scavenged the house for a heater, gas and teacups. A general with a high-pitched voice kept asking for news of progress. From the ground came reports of a Humvee hit by an IED, four soldiers injured and troops pinned down by a sniper. Two hours into the attack, the soldiers had only managed to take a small shop on the ground floor of a two-storey building that sat on the edge of the Circle. IS fighters occupied the first floor. ‘Sir, sir, I’m under siege,’ a voice hissed on the officers’ radio. ‘They’re on top of me.’ From across the road, where the rest of the force had gathered under cover of an Abrams tank, the soldiers hiding in the shop looked small and vulnerable. The tank turned its turret left and right, scanning the highway for car bombs, but could do little to relieve the trapped men. The soldiers and the fighters lobbed grenades at one another. The IS grenades, launched from an upper window, flew far into the street, while the soldiers’ bounced back off the building and exploded near them. The commanders shouted orders for a second platoon to cross the road to relieve the besieged unit but no one advanced. What was a yellow line on a satellite map for an officer on the ground was a two-lane highway, barricaded on one side by a fuel tanker, a bus and earthworks and exposed on the other, with bullets and RPGs flying. The soldiers squabbled until a weather-beaten sergeant decided to step up. The tank bowed obligingly and turned its turret as Caesar’s Humvee advanced. In the middle of the road, a Humvee that had been destroyed earlier in the day lay in a ditch. Caesar’s car started slowly crossing the road. Two rockets came in quick succession, exploding just short of range. ‘Yalla, go!’ the driver shouted. Caesar opened the door, put his head out and then put it back in again. ‘Get closer,’ he told the driver, who moved a few feet forward. Next to him in the car, a soldier with his head wrapped in a green keffiyeh stood up to fire his machine gun. When he dropped it inside it steamed, filling the vehicle with the sharp smell of gunpowder. ‘Caesar! Either you go or we head back,’ the driver pleaded. ‘We’re sitting in the middle of the road.’ ‘I want you to fuck the street with grenades,’ Caesar shouted at the standing soldier, who ripped open a box and fed a belt of copper grenades into a gun mounted on the roof. The grenades left with a series of quiet thuds but delivered explosions in the distance. Encouraged by the rattle of bombs, Caesar opened the door again and stepped out, clinging onto the door as if his life depended on it. ‘Just tell me where you want me to park the car. If I go any further they’ll hit us,’ the driver said. Caesar was silent. In ten years of fighting, he had crossed hundreds of these roads and had seen a dozen of his men die. He knew these sounds: each whoosh and bang was a piece of hot metal intended to kill him, and the decision to leave the protection of an armoured car and cross the street involved something more than courage. It demanded the will to ignore the flying projectiles and to trust his fate to a higher power of randomness. ‘Caesar, we’re going to run out of ammunition and you haven’t crossed the road,’ the driver said. ‘Yalla, Caesar, you’re a hero. Go, my brother.’ ‘Fire another round,’ Caesar shouted, before dropping to his knees in the street. The driver rolled forward to cover him and another soldier as they started advancing until they lowered their heads and raced across the road and through the doorway of the shop. The Humvee swung quickly back behind the shelter of the tank. Inside the shop were a lieutenant, Ali, and a dozen soldiers. Ali was barking orders but no one seemed to pay him any attention. By now the fighters occupying the floor above had either left or been killed, but there was heavy gunfire coming from both left and right. Another column of soldiers trotted across the road and gathered around Ali in the doorway. ‘There are snipers to the left,’ Ali shouted at them, trying to make himself heard over the explosions. And the column of soldiers went left. They hid behind a corner until their commander, another lieutenant who had deserted during an earlier battle but was allowed to come back thanks to a general amnesty, ordered them to advance. He was barely out of the cover provided by the corner when a burst of gunfire hit him. Three soldiers ran out to pull him back but they too came under fire and sheltered in a ditch in the middle of the street, unable to move. The rest of the unit went mad and started shooting hysterically into the street. Ali smacked his helmet, and turned to his men: ‘I told him not to go left.’ He marched over to one of the soldiers leaning against the wall, grabbed him by the neck and dragged him into the street, handing him a rocket launcher. ‘Fire at that building,’ he shouted. ‘I want smoke and fire.’ Dust and debris filled the air, creating enough confusion for another soldier to grab the fallen lieutenant and drag him to safety. Ali ripped open his flak jacket: three bullets had pierced his abdomen. ‘Alive. He’s alive!’ he shouted. ‘He’s dead,’ a soldier said. ‘No, he’s alive,’ Ali insisted. The soldier lifted the motionless body, swung it onto his shoulder and ran with him back across the road to base, using the wreckage as cover. The lieutenant’s dangling arms flailed around. A few minutes later the news came through on the radio that he was indeed dead. The soldiers waited in the shop, some leaning on the barrels of their guns, their faces grim and tired. Over the radio, their commanding officers were asking them to advance. One of them mumbled, ‘I won’t go, I won’t go,’ and then shouted into the radio: ‘Sir, they just killed the lieutenant. They’re all over us, sir. Where are you sending us?’ ‘What did you expect?’ the commander replied. ‘That they’d throw flowers? This is war.’ ‘Tell the general to come over here and we’ll follow him,’ the soldier said to the others and rested his head back on his gun. Ali decided to move off to the right, and left the building with four men. Up the road there was a huge explosion: a car bomb had gone off. * Later that afternoon the general, accompanied by a large entourage of journalists and aides, arrived in a convoy of armoured vehicles. He was ushered into a house overlooking the Circle. He spoke to camera in his high-pitched voice, assuring his audience that the battle was going well and that the Circle had been liberated. Then one of his bodyguards noticed an IS surveillance drone overhead and he was led quickly away. On the other side of the street Ali and his men hadn’t moved far beyond the shop. The commanding officers were on the radio to him, speaking to him like tired parents trying to persuade a child to finish his homework before bedtime. ‘Look, Ali, this is your sector. You have to finish it today. Why don’t you do it while you still have daylight? Better than fighting at night.’ ‘We have friendly planes in the skies,’ another chimed in. ‘Any target you spot just gives us co-ordinates.’ And so Ali moved on from building to building. Whenever he encountered resistance he radioed the co-ordinates to the commander, who passed them on to ISOF command, who passed them on to the Americans. A few minutes later the response would come through: ‘All units take cover, target will be bombed in one minute.’ Darkness fell but Ali was still moving. He reached the last street in his sector, now moving from house to house using the holes in the walls made by IS. In the final house on the street, a two-storey villa, he came face to face with IS fighters. They opened fire, injuring his civilian guide. ‘Sir! Enemy position,’ he radioed, giving the co-ordinates. The officer passed the co-ordinates on to ISOF command, who passed them on to the Americans, and the response came through: airstrike in two minutes. ‘Sir!’ Ali radioed again, sounding hoarse and urgent. ‘Sir, the people in the neighbourhood say that there are five families hiding in the basement of that house.’ The officer immediately radioed command again: ‘ISOF, we have a problem. There are civilians in the house.’ ‘Operation is a go,’ the whiny general replied. ‘If there’s one IS fighter in the house then it’s a go.’ It wasn’t two minutes, but five or six long minutes later that the explosion arrived. The neighbourhood shook, windows rattled and Ali finished his sector for the day, 250 metres. * Early the next morning, the road, the Circle and the barricades were quiet, and stank of yesterday’s fighting. Façades had been torn off buildings, metal shutters were mangled and electric cables and debris were strewn across the road along with charred shell casings, dried blood and the soldiers’ white polyester food packets of stale rice. Soldiers guarding the intersection sat next to their cars. A pot sat on a fire made from ammunition boxes, tea was simmering on the pot. A man in a brown tracksuit and long beard broke the stillness. He came running across the highway carrying a young girl, almost falling on his face when he reached the soldiers. A woman in a dusty black abaya and niqab soon followed, dragging along a small boy. Then another family came running. Two men pushed a handcart on which an old man sat with dignity, his hand holding his red keffiyeh on his head. A constant stream of people was emerging: children waving white flags, men carrying women, women carrying pigeons, boys carrying roosters, all kinds of improvised wheelchairs bringing the elderly and handicapped. The men, all with long beards, said thank you to the soldiers and begged for cigarettes. At first the soldiers ignored the civilians: after weeks of fighting, they were used to these scenes of misery and gratitude. But the people kept coming and the soldiers started distributing water bottles to the families. One boy got a can of 7-Up: the first time he’d tried it, his delighted father said. For two years, there had been no such supplies; the price of sugar had tripled; even fruit and vegetables were unaffordable. There were now hundreds of refugees pouring into Baghdad Circle and onto the highway, camping by the side of the road or clambering into the back of a pick-up truck that was distributing food aid. Ali sat barefoot outside the school where he and his men had spent the night and watched the civilians walk by. He dipped some stale bread into a pot of yoghurt and had his first meal in 24 hours. ‘You know there were civilians in the house that was bombed last night,’ he said. ‘I tried to stop it, I called the commander to say there were civilians, but they went ahead with the strike.’ He was watching an old man trying to push a wheelbarrow with his wife in it over rubble in the street. Ali shouted to his men to help them, and one of them went over to lend a hand. ‘The neighbours tell me that most of the people got out but three died. Did I kill the civilians?’ he asked. ‘Will god punish me for that?’ An explosion ripped through a house across the street. The old man ran with his wife and hid behind the tank. Ali sat on his ammunition box sipping his tea and looked at the smoke bellowing from the house, chunks of masonry and shrapnel falling around him. ‘Haji, it’s OK! Don’t worry, it’s just a car bomb,’ he laughed at the terrified old man, who straightened himself up, got hold of the wheelbarrow and went on pushing his wife. For the last three years, Ali and his men and fellow officers have been living like modern-day nomads. Once a neighbourhood is liberated, they move into abandoned civilian houses and set up camp. When the frontline shifts they move with it and change houses, sometimes every night, but often they find themselves stuck in the same house for weeks. Whether in mud huts in villages with no running water, in villas with nice décor and expansive gardens or in brick houses in the narrow alleyways of provincial towns, they build their temporary nests, moving into the beds of a family that has just joined a caravan of refugees, replacing the stinking blankets they have brought from a previous house with fresh ones. They talk about girls, drinking Grey Goose, and their wives and children back home. The Iraqi Special Operation Forces is the most elite unit of the Iraqi army. Set up soon after the 2003 invasion by the Americans, who supervised their training and provided their equipment, they were paid three times the salary of the regular army. They were kept outside the military chain of command and answered directly to their US handlers. Sunnis, Shia and Kurds served equally in the force, an abnormality among the sectarian and corrupt Iraqi military, which was heavily infiltrated by militias and warlords. But they were also outside the reach of the law. In the street they were more often known as the Dirty Brigade than the Golden Brigade, their ceremonial name. The sight of their black trucks and armoured vehicles and their masked soldiers in black uniforms instilled fear. Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister who inherited them from the Americans, used them as his private army, increasing their numbers and employing them to do his political bidding. ‘Before the fall of Mosul our lives were heaven,’ Ali had told me. ‘We started at midnight. We would gather outside the gates of Baghdad airport and wait for the Americans, who would provide us with a target list and live intelligence from drones. We attacked houses at night. We didn’t even speak to the people we were arresting, we just bundled them up and took them back to the airport. People didn’t know who we were or what we did.’ In 2014, after IS captured Mosul, the regular Iraqi army, a peasants’ militia led by half-literate officers, dissolved into piles of discarded weapons and uniforms and the special forces became the only thing resembling a proper army that stood between the jihadis and Baghdad. The special forces’ long march to the city began later that year. * From Baghdad, Mosul is viewed with suspicion if not outright hostility. Its people – educated, relatively wealthy and religiously conservative – had dominated both state bureaucracy and the officers’ corps since Ottoman times. In the sectarian politics of post-invasion Iraq, in which the farmers of Diyala, the tribesmen of Ramadi and the merchants of Mosul were all treated as like-minded Sunnis, squeezed into a corner and challenged to provide a coherent political programme, Mosul was the only place where an indigenous Sunni political identity took root, helped along by an old social structure that had survived the invasion relatively intact. In the civil war that followed, a brutal and highly effective urban insurgency emerged in Mosul. Unlike the tribe-based insurgencies in Ramadi and Falluja, crushed when tribal elders and commanders were bought off and converted into pro-American militias, the insurgency in Mosul was never defeated. Maliki, who worked to dismantle Sunni power and believed that demonstrations in Sunni cities were a plot financed by Turkey and Qatar to create a Sunni province, fuelled the animosity between Shia Baghdad and Sunni Mosul. He unleashed his police and security forces to suppress any opposition in the city and they behaved like an occupying army, detaining at will, disappearing, torturing and humiliating the people. So in June 2014, when the triumphant jihadis paraded their pick-up trucks through the streets of Mosul, many saw them as liberators, or at least as the lesser evil. Ahmad, an engineer who once owned a thriving computer business in Mosul, was visiting friends in Erbil that month when his wife called him to say that something was happening. ‘I drove back quickly,’ he said. ‘The roads were blocked and the situation was tense. When I arrived I started hearing from friends and neighbours that the insurgents had been battling Iraqi troops on the outskirts of the city and had taken over a neighbourhood in the west.’ At first he thought nothing of the news: such clashes were common in Mosul. The insurgents were the de facto rulers after dark, levying taxes, imposing protection rackets and controlling the roads in and out of the city. Like all owners of businesses, he had to pay them, on top of the usual bribes he had to pay the army and the police to be left alone. The next day rumours were spreading, and when the government imposed a curfew he realised the situation was serious. Then came unbelievable reports: the rebels were in full control of the western part of the city, and the governor and all high-ranking officials had fled. The army was in disarray and officers had abandoned their men, who were deserting en masse. ‘We started seeing the poor soldiers running through the streets, some in their underwear. They begged us to tell them how they could leave the city. In my street I showed two soldiers the way out. Some of my neighbours said we should attack them, take their weapons, but I said no, they hadn’t harmed us. Truly, no one in the city harmed the soldiers. Those who fled survived, those who were captured were killed. No one could believe that the army that had oppressed us for so long, that had treated us so badly, had vanished so quickly.’ ‘I have to be honest,’ he added. ‘When the Islamic State first entered Mosul everyone was happy. People started clapping for them. They allowed us to remove the concrete blocks the army had installed to close the neighbourhoods. Before, it would take an hour to go from one area to the other, afterwards the roads were open and we felt free. They let the people alone and didn’t mind if people smoked, if people prayed or not. You could go anywhere, do anything you wanted, as long as it didn’t hurt them. I would go to the woods with a friend, sit in a café, smoke a nargileh, and they would turn up. Tall, muscled and mostly foreigners, they wouldn’t dare say a word to you. In the early days we said this was the life.’ Unlike their previous incarnations, the jihadis didn’t just promise the people of Mosul a Sunni resistance to the injustices inflicted on them by the American invasion or the sectarian politics of the Shia government in Baghdad. They went further: they promised a state, a just state based on the principles of Sunni Islam, military strength and effective bureaucracy. In their literature and sermons the jihadi ideologues used different names: the Caliphate, the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, the Islamic State. All these names were eventually superseded and one name remained: the State, al-Dawla. It signified to the people of Mosul the nature of the new rulers, who were going to provide them with a strong, non-corrupt and functioning administration, just like the one they had before the Americans came and messed everything up. ‘They conned the people,’ Ahmad said. ‘They brought prices down and reimposed order. People from the heart of Mosul, from its oldest houses, would join them because they said this was the true Islam. Doctors and university professors joined them, my son’s teacher became a preacher for them, carrying a pistol and grenades on his belt. The whole city joined them.’ This new state took on all the familiar qualities of the ancien regime: it was narrow-minded, pathologically suspicious and phantasmagorical in its call for a return to a glorious past. This wasn’t because it was all a conspiracy on the part of the former regime to enable it to come back to power but because – apart from the novel possibilities afforded by social media for the dissemination of messages and propaganda – the jihadis had no new vision when they came to govern beyond the rotten practices they had inherited from the totalitarian regimes that ruled and still rule the region. Their newspaper read like government papers printed in Baghdad, Sanaa and Damascus. A mixture of paragraphs lifted from the latest sermon of the leader or chief ideologue on page one; delusional descriptions of victories in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan on page two; on pages three and four statistics of so many schools and healthcare centres opened: all very repetitive and boring and hard to credit. The machines of oppression started cleansing the just state: the Hissba, the state monitoring body in charge of everything from inspecting the length of beards to dress code and moral behaviour; and the Amniyat, the feared security apparatus. The unbelievers – Christians and any other minorities still lurking – were killed or driven out. A meticulous and thorough property survey followed. Houses and shops were either labelled Sunni Muslim or confiscated for the State Property Office, the Dewan. Smoking and male-female coworking were forbidden and un-Islamic curriculums were purged from the universities. Ahmad, a state-approved Sunni, like his friends and relatives, adapted to the new regime. He grew his beard and his properties were protected from confiscation. While the new state beheaded, tortured and raped, he saw freedom: ‘We had been occupied since 2003 and this was the first time we were truly free.’ But the machines of oppression soon turned on the undesirables among the Sunnis themselves. Anyone who might pose a threat to the state and the wellbeing of the Umma – former police officers who had been pardoned after pledging allegiance, senior Baath Party members and Saddam-era army officers – was imprisoned and many were executed. And gradually things started changing even for Ahmad. ‘In the beginning we were able to travel freely in and out of Mosul, but now I think about it I would say things started changing two or three months after they arrived, when they set up checkpoints to stop us moving. Then a year later when things flipped – and what a flip! – they made us shake with terror in our own homes. They started terrorising the people in simple ways, dragging them to mosques to pray, shouting into their microphones, and if you ever argued with one of them you would be dragged into their prisons. I asked one of them one day, “Why are you talking to us like this?” and he said: “We want to insult you doctors and engineers, we want to crush your heads with our feet, because your degrees are not Islamic.” They brought terror into our own houses. I feared my neighbour, my brother and my son. I swear I feared my own wife lest, if we argued with each other, she might go out and denounce me to them.’ By ‘the people’ he of course meant the state-approved Sunni, since all the undesirables had long gone. As the world went insane, the people of Mosul could do nothing but stay home and keep safe. First Ahmad kept his wife indoors, then the girls and later the boys, in case they were rounded up and taken to the front. Finally he himself stopped leaving the house. ‘I would rarely go out, my jobs stopped, my business stopped, the people around me disappeared, but we survived. We survived the same way we survived thirty years of Saddam’s rule. By following the old Iraqi way of bending your head and walking next to the wall. They used to say Saddam’s regime was brutal. Well, Saddam was a picnic compared to them.’ People went to extremes. One man, an artist, dug a hole behind his house where he put his and his son’s drawings and paintings; he poured concrete and put a water tank on top, then confined his five boys to an attic
by, from left, Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), meets with reporters following a closed-door strategy session at the Capitol in Washington on June 20. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) The problem with health care is that it is not free. No matter how the system is set up, someone has to pay for it. When the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, ushering in the era of Obamacare, the formula determining how health care was paid for was shifted: Individuals, healthy or not, would pay into insurance pools, and the wealthy would pay more in taxes to lower premium costs and expand coverage through Medicaid. What the two Republican bills in the House and Senate — the American Health Care Act and the Better Care Reconciliation Act, respectively — do is to some extent reverse that shift. The wealthy pay less in taxes; those responsible for their own health coverage pay more out of their pockets. How much of that shift would occur, though, would vary from place to place. Thanks to analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, though, we can make some educated guesses about what the shift would look like. For the wealthy, the two main areas in which they’d see reduced taxes are on the Additional Medicare Tax (which applies to individuals who make $200,000 or more in income) and a tax on investment income. It’s hard to game out exactly what those savings would look like, because wages and investment incomes vary widely. But we can get a general sense of how the wealthy would benefit, regardless. Try it. (The household estimates below, from the Census Bureau for 2015, are different from the number of individuals earning particular incomes, admittedly. The figures are provided to give a sense of how common various income ranges are in your area.) In most places, those earning under $60,000 a year who aren’t covered by an employer would have to pay more of their income toward health care while those earning over $200,000 would end up paying less. This is the explicit trade-off being made in the Republican legislation. It’s a different choice being made about who pays for health care — one that reverses the priorities drawn under Obamacare.Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko gestures during a news conference in Kiev, in this December 29, 2014 handout photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service. REUTERS/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Mykola Lazarenko/Handout via Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to provide up to $2 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine this year, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday, as part of a broader international package to stave off bankruptcy. Like other major donors to the country, Treasury said the guarantees would be contingent on the former Soviet republic remaining on track to meet the conditions of its loan program from the International Monetary Fund. IMF officials are in Kiev this week to resume negotiations on the package, currently worth $17 billion. Ukraine's government hopes the IMF's visit will lead to a bigger aid program as its economy has been pushed close to bankruptcy by a pro-Russian separatist war in the east and the government faces huge debt repayments. The cost of insuring exposure to Ukrainian debt rose to a new 5-1/2 year high on Tuesday, according to data from Markit, a financial information provider, amid fears the country may have to restructure its debt. Ukraine's foreign currency reserves were down to just over $7.5 billion at the start of the year, the lowest in 10 years and barely enough to cover five weeks of imports. But the IMF and the European Union, which last week offered an additional 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) to Kiev, fear Ukraine could abandon some of its economic pledges, including reforming the energy and banking sectors and tackling corruption. Ukraine has had at least five IMF loans since the 1990s. Treasury said it would provide a $1 billion loan guarantee to Kiev in the first half of this year, and work with the U.S. Congress to provide an additional $1 billion guarantee, but only if Kiev sticks with its reform agenda. U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Nathan Sheets is also to meet in Kiev on Tuesday with Ukrainian officials, including Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, Central Bank Governor Valeria Hontareva and Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko. (Reporting by Anna Yukhananov and Susan Heavey; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Jeffrey Benkoe)» Topic: Villager Movement Guide V1.0 Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 of 6 » » sunmarsh Name Nick ACGC Town Le Passe Last Active 12/1/2018 11:34am This guide will cover all aspects of villager movement in ACNL including move-outs, move-ins, villager cycling, and methods you can use to keep the dreamies you have or get back the ones you've lost. I hope you'll find this info useful! - - - - - Villager Movement Section I - The Move-in Process If your town has 8 villagers or less you will be in what is called a ‘moving-in period’. During this time no villagers will ever move out and your game will move in new residents at a constant pace. This section will detail the specifics of this process and will include instructions on how to obtain a tenth villager which requires some influence on your part and will never happen ‘randomly’. A brand new town: Your first 5-8 villagers Every town starts with just five villagers. Their personalities will vary as the game attempts to maintain a balance between the eight types. This is important because the public works projects a villager requests vary according to their personality. I have also read (but not verified) that your first five villagers will never be of the uchi or smug personality type (these two types are new to ACNL). The day after your town is created a new villager will begin the move-in process. At first you will just see an empty area, roped off with a sign in front. If you read the sign you can see the name of the villager who will be moving in. The next day (day three in your new town), their house will be constructed and they will be unpacking their boxes. Isabelle will make a note on the startup screen that someone has moved in and you can say hello to them if you would like. On day four you’ll see a new area roped off, ready for another villager to move in. This constant move-in process will continue until you reach nine villagers at which time no more villagers will move in without some help from you. The tipping point: 9 villagers in town Once you’ve reached nine villagers your town will naturally want to reduce the count to eight, but it’s in no hurry to do it. It will be at least 3 days if not much longer before an animal moves out. If you’d like, you can add one more villager to your town to bring the total to 10. This can be done in one of four ways… Mini-guide: Four ways to get your 10th villager Note that you can use any of these methods to obtain your 9th villager as well, however your 10th can ONLY be obtained via these methods. ….. 1. Invite a camper to stay. If you have built the Campsite public works project you will get visitors camping out from time to time. To get them to stay, you will have to beat them at a game of rock, paper, scissors or charades. You can keep trying until you win. Note that it is impossible to invite villagers who are camping in other towns over to yours, nor can you convince a camper to stay if you already have 10 villagers in town. ….. 2. Invite a villager who is moving out of another town. If a villager in someone else’s town has packed up their boxes and is on their way out, you can invite that villager to come and stay in yours. Just head over to the friend’s town (WiFi or local connection), talk to the villager and they will initiate the move conversation. ….. 3. Pick up a villager from ‘the void’. ‘The void’ is where villagers are said to go if no one comes to adopt them and they leave town with nowhere to go. If you WiFi with someone who has recently voided a villager of theirs, that villager can end up in your town if you have space. ….. 4. Pick up a villager from StreetPass. If you pass another ACNL player who has StreetPass enabled, it is possible for you to receive one of their villagers. (It may be a requirement for this villager to have been recently voided by that player, however I’m not sure.) This guide will cover all aspects of villager movement in ACNL including move-outs, move-ins, villager cycling, and methods you can use to keep the dreamies you have or get back the ones you've lost. I hope you'll find this info useful!- - - - -If your town has 8 villagers or less you will be in what is called a ‘moving-in period’. During this time no villagers will ever move out and your game will move in new residents at a constant pace. This section will detail the specifics of this process and will include instructions on how to obtain a tenth villager which requires some influence on your part and will never happen ‘randomly’.Every town starts with just five villagers. Their personalities will vary as the game attempts to maintain a balance between the eight types. This is important because the public works projects a villager requests vary according to their personality. I have also read (but not verified) that your first five villagers will never be of the uchi or smug personality type (these two types are new to ACNL).The day after your town is created a new villager will begin the move-in process. At first you will just see an empty area, roped off with a sign in front. If you read the sign you can see the name of the villager who will be moving in. The next day (day three in your new town), their house will be constructed and they will be unpacking their boxes. Isabelle will make a note on the startup screen that someone has moved in and you can say hello to them if you would like.On day four you’ll see a new area roped off, ready for another villager to move in. This constant move-in process will continue until you reach nine villagers at which time no more villagers will move in without some help from you.Once you’ve reached nine villagers your town will naturally want to reduce the count to eight, but it’s in no hurry to do it. It will be at least 3 days if not much longer before an animal moves out. If you’d like, you can add one more villager to your town to bring the total to 10. This can be done in one of four ways…Note that you can use any of these methods to obtain your 9th villager as well, however your 10th can ONLY be obtained via these methods.If you have built the Campsite public works project you will get visitors camping out from time to time. To get them to stay, you will have to beat them at a game of rock, paper, scissors or charades. You can keep trying until you win. Note that it is impossible to invite villagers who are camping in other towns over to yours, nor can you convince a camper to stay if you already have 10 villagers in town.If a villager in someone else’s town has packed up their boxes and is on their way out, you can invite that villager to come and stay in yours. Just head over to the friend’s town (WiFi or local connection), talk to the villager and they will initiate the move conversation.‘The void’ is where villagers are said to go if no one comes to adopt them and they leave town with nowhere to go. If you WiFi with someone who has recently voided a villager of theirs, that villager can end up in your town if you have space.If you pass another ACNL player who has StreetPass enabled, it is possible for you to receive one of their villagers. (It may be a requirement for this villager to have been recently voided by that player, however I’m not sure.) Signature-------------- If you play AC:GC then set up a trade with me! Come visit animalcrossing.us! Bells: 151,000 Catalog: 1198 Feedback: 227 WiFi: Patterns: 90 sunmarsh Name Nick ACGC Town Le Passe Last Active 12/1/2018 11:34am Villager Movement Section II - Influencing Move-ins Many people have a list of dreamies, or villagers they would like to have in their ideal town. Some have even paid millions of bells in order to adopt villagers from other towns, and a few have even been scammed in the process. While it’s impossible to ensure your favorite villager will appear via random move-in, you can do things to influence this process and tip the odds in your favor. This section will list methods you can use to acquire specific villagers without inviting them from another town. Resetting at the source: If you’re in the mood to start fresh, or if you have a second copy of ACNL on hand, you could try resetting for new villagers. You’ll get a randomized selection of five different animal residents each time you generate a new town. This method will probably take the longest, as there are 333 different villagers total and I’ve read that it’s not possible to obtain uchi or smug villagers via this method. Resetting by personality type: The game tries to maintain a balance of personality types, so when a new villager is generated it will be of a type that your town currently lacks or has the least of. You can use this to your advantage and reset your game until you get a villager you like of the personality type it is currently generating. (e.g. if you are looking for an uchi villager and your game is currently generating that personality type, you have a 1/21 chance of getting the one you want… that’s way better than 1/333!) Follow these instructions to properly reset your game: Mini-guide: The villager reset trick This trick will allow you to cycle through possible move-in scenarios, allowing you to pick the villager or house location that best suits your needs. In order to use this trick, you must have less than four human characters created. On a day when you know or think a new villager will put down a house plot, begin your game by creating a new character- do not load an existing character. After getting off the train, look around town with your new character to see if a new villager has set up a plot. Remember that a villager will only move in during a move-in period (when you have less than 9 villagers) or if you have fulfilled one of the conditions listed under the ‘Four ways to get your 10th villager’ heading. If you do not see a house plot you should quit the game (don’t save) and create another new character. If you’ve done this about three times with no luck, then a villager will most likely not move in that day. To be safe, you should choose a home location for your newly created human character anyway, then save and quit. You can then delete the new character you made (if you don’t want/need them) and go about your day. I would recommend that you always place their home in the same spot, as the area where their home used to be will turn to dirt once the character has been deleted. If you do see a house plot look and see who it is. If it is the character you want, and/or if it’s in the location you want, choose a home location for your new human character, save and quit. Otherwise, do not save, and keep creating a new character until you find a villager and/or location you like. Take a note of the personality of the villagers your town is generating, this will let you know whether it is in your best interest to continue resetting, or if it’s not worth your time. It’s important to note that if a villager of a given personality type just left your town, the next villager your town generates will never be of the same type. (e.g. If a smug villager just moved out, a new smug villager will never move in after them unless you invite them in/get them from the void or SpotPass) Note: The reason it is so important to create a new character when using this trick, rather than loading an existing character, is because of the nature in which the game chooses to save town data. When you load an existing character, the game loads the town data and then it saves the game without telling you. That means that any villager plot you see while walking around town with a pre-existing character is permanently placed. Even if you quit without saving it will remain and that villager will move in the next day. There is no way to move a villager plot once this happens. On the contrary, when you load a new character, the game loads the town, but does not save it until that new character has established a home and has finished registering with Isabelle, this allows you to keep reloading the town data until you get an arrangement you like. - - - - - Villager home placement - a few observations I’ve noticed that new villagers seem to want to move in close to where other villager and human character homes are placed. If there is an area you want your villagers to move into, try placing all your human homes in that area. In addition to this, I’ve also noticed that new villagers really like to set up their homes near the spot where the most recent (and sometimes second most recent) move-out was living. It should also be noted that they can and will move in on top of paths, trees, bushes, flowers, and even dropped items. If you have a police station these items will show up in the lost & found, otherwise they are gone for good. Villager home placement - proximity restrictions A villager’s home will never brush up against another permanent, immoveable object (including the river). They require a buffer of one space to their left, right, and back, and a buffer of two spaces in front. Their home may be placed as close as two spaces away from the ledge separating the town from the beach and as close as one space away from the ledges on the Eastern and Western sides of town. Two homes can be as close as two spaces apart on the left and right sides and as close as three spaces apart on the top and bottom sides. They may be as close as one space apart from rocks, ponds, rivers or public works projects, but will never touch them diagonally. A villager’s home will never block access to a ramp or bridge. Signature-------------- If you play AC:GC then set up a trade with me! Come visit animalcrossing.us! Bells: 151,000 Catalog: 1198 Feedback: 227 WiFi: Patterns: 90 sunmarsh Name Nick ACGC Town Le Passe Last Active 12/1/2018 11:34am Villager Movement Section III - The Move-out Process Once your town has reached 9 or more villagers it will be in a ‘moving-out period’. During this time the game will continually try to move villagers out- no villagers will move in unless you invite them from the campsite/another town or acquire them from WiFi-ing or SpotPass. In this section I will explain how the game decides which villager will move, how to determine that villager’s moving date, and how to stop them (or encourage them) to move. Who’s moving next? - How does the game decide? The bitter truth is that we don’t really know- but we do have a few observations. We know that the most recent villager to move in will never be the next villager to move out. Additionally, in my experience it seems that the villagers who have been in town the longest are usually more likely to leave, and ignoring villagers isn’t a surefire way to get them out either; talking to villagers you’d like to move may be better. I think that the general rule is that it’s random! And you’re most likely going to have to deny moving requests from villagers you want to keep before the one you want gone will leave. How do I know if someone is going to leave? A villager will ‘decide’ to leave up to five days before they actually pack up. It is during this time that you can convince them to stay, or tell them it’s ok to leave. There are two ways to determine who is thinking of moving… ….. 1. The gossip method. If you talk to a villager enough, they might fill you in on who is thinking of leaving. My rule of thumb is to keep talking to three villagers until they get fed up with you and refuse to talk to you anymore. You’ll know when this happens because they will show a constant ‘thinking’ emotion. If someone is thinking of leaving, one of these three will let you know who. If they don’t mention anyone, then no one has decided on a moving date yet. ….. 2. The self-confessing method. The easiest way to figure out who is going to move (in my opinion) is to use this method. Using this method, the villager will tell you his/herself if and when they are moving. You cannot prod this information out of them however, they must divulge it willingly. If a villager is thinking of moving, they will ‘ping’ you (display a surprised emote) and then walk up to you as if they want to tell you something. Press A to engage them in conversation and they may mention moving. If they talk about anything else (e.g. change my catchphrase etc.) then they are not interested in moving at this time. However, it’s not as simple as this… a villager will only ping you if you are on ‘speaking terms’ with that villager. You’ll know if you’re on speaking terms with a villager when you walk up to them and try and speak to them. If they start off with something like “I haven’t talked to you in a while!” then you were not on speaking terms with them… but by talking to them just now- you are! After getting back onto speaking terms with a villager you can save/quit and reload the game and walk in front of them to see if they will ping you. Note: If you used the gossip method to figure out who was leaving, you still have to use the second method to convince your villager to stay or go. This is why I skip the gossip and cut to the chase! The move-out date & letting go Once a villager pings you and lets you know they are moving, they will ask you whether or not they should stay. If you say no, they will not leave… this time. This does not mean that they will never decide to move again sometime in the future. If you say yes, they may either be excited and thank you for understanding, OR they may change their mind and stay anyway. If they change their mind and decide to stay, but you really wanted them gone, you can quit your game without saving and the villager will move out on the day they stated they would. Additionally, if they decide to move and you give them the OK, they can change their mind later on and decide to stay! They will tell you this sometime during conversation or even without telling you! My recommendation, if you’re not against time traveling, is to travel to the date that they said they were moving out on, this ensures that they will move out on time! Note: A villager’s ‘moving date’ is the date they will be inside their home with their boxes packed. If you want them to stay, you have to convince them to do so prior to this date. If you load your game on their move-out date and Isabelle tells you they are leaving, they cannot be convinced to stay; you’re past the point of no return. This would be the day where you could have someone come over and pick them up though, if they wanted to adopt them. Signature-------------- If you play AC:GC then set up a trade with me! Come visit animalcrossing.us! Bells: 151,000 Catalog: 1198 Feedback: 227 WiFi: Patterns: 90 sunmarsh Name Nick ACGC Town Le Passe Last Active 12/1/2018 11:34am Villager Movement Section IV - Villager Cycling and the 16-Villager Cycle Many people want to know the easiest way to get their unwanted villagers out and their dreamies in. This portion of the guide will explain how to cycle villagers in and out of your town and provides a method you can use to get back your favorite villager if you accidentally let them go. Disclaimer: I am not responsible for anything that happens to your ACNL game as a result of following these instructions. I have done my best to present this information as accurately as possible, but the game mechanics are complex and villager movement is not always so clear-cut. I have not personally lost any villagers as a result of using these methods, but this does not mean it is impossible. Mini-guide: Villager cycling Since we can’t pick and choose who to boot, we have to move through move-out requests as quickly as possible to get to the villager we want to leave. To do this, you have to be willing to time travel, otherwise you will be moving at a snail’s pace moving villagers out and it will take you months of work and waiting to get your town the way you’d like. Start the process by following these steps... Note: Before we start I would suggest setting your town to the beautiful town ordinance to prevent your flowers from wilting & weeds from spawning as we’ll be moving forward in time quite a bit. Also note that your town will be overrun with common flowers and gyroids if you do this enough. ….. 1. Make sure you are in a move-out period. If you have less than nine villagers in town, no one is going anywhere. Also be sure that the person you’re trying to kick out wasn’t the most recent one to move in- if so, it ain’t happening; you have to move out someone else first before you can scratch their name off the list. ….. 2. Make sure you’re on speaking terms with your villagers. Start off by loading up your game (during a time when all your villagers will be awake) and just go up and talk to all of them. If they are not outside or you can’t find them, save and quit and then reload and the villagers that are wandering about outside will be cycled. Once you’ve talked to all your villagers once, save and quit your game. Note: If you can’t seem to get a villager out of their home it is because they are a) sick or b) it is their birthday. In the case of option B there will be at least one other villager in their home celebrating with them who is also MIA. ….. 3. Walk in front of all your villagers. Reload your game and walk in front of all the villagers wandering about outside. Save & quit and reload to cycle villagers outside until you’ve walked in front of everyone once. If none of them ping you and ask to leave, then no one’s thinking about doing so just yet. TT one day ahead using the 3DS system settings and repeat this step (#3) until someone pings you requesting to leave. ….. 4. Approve or deny the request to leave. If it’s a villager you want to keep, deny their request to move, save and quit, then TT forward one month (yes one month). Load your game, then save and quit. TT back to the present date and then and go back to step 3. If it’s a villager you want to lose, tell them to leave and go to step 5. ….. 5. Time travel to their move-out date. Once an unwanted villager gives you their move-out date, TT to that date immediately before they change their mind! Remember that if you tell someone they can move but they change their mind you can quit without saving and TT to their move-out date anyways. Load the game on their move-out date, save and quit. Then TT one day forward so that their house will disappear, load the game, save & quit. ….. 6. Repeat the process as needed. Now that one villager has been moved out, you can keep moving out villagers, but remember that you need to be in a move-out period to do so, so you may have to move someone in at this point. If you don’t care who moves in, TT forward 10 days and someone will likely move in. Remember that you can use the villager reset trick to choose their home’s location. ….. 7. Getting back to the present. Once you’re done with all of your villager cycling, you’ll find that you’re somewhere far in the future… to get back, repeat step 3 until someone asks you to leave and deny their request. Then, save & quit and TT back to the present! - - - - - Getting back a long lost villager Worst case scenario… you’ve just loaded up your game and Isabelle tells you that one of your dream villagers is leaving town today- what do you do? You can’t convince him or her to stay, the only thing you can do is have a friend come over and adopt them and hold onto them for you until you can get them back. But it’s not as simple as inviting them back over- you can’t get them back until you’ve gone through… The 16-villager cycle After a villager leaves your town (whether they are adopted or sent to the void), their data is still stored in your game’s memory. You will be unable to reacquire that villager until this data has been overridden. The reason your game holds onto the data of your past villagers is because it will have them visit your town to shop on Main Street. So once you’ve sent off your dream villager to a friend for safe keeping, start keeping track of how many villagers you’ve cycled out of town. You can use the villager cycling method outlined above to move people out as quickly as possible. After 16 more villagers have left town, you’ll be able to go and pick your villager up again. Signature-------------- If you play AC:GC then set up a trade with me! Come visit animalcrossing.us! Bells: 151,000 Catalog: 1198 Feedback: 227 WiFi: Patterns: 90 sunmarsh Name Nick ACGC Town Le Passe Last Active 12/1/2018 11:34am Villager Movement Section V - Keeping Your Dreamies Once you’ve acquired all the villagers you want, it’s still a challenge to keep them from moving. You can always make sure to deny their request to move, but what if you miss your chance, or what if you take a hiatus from the game? This section provides tips and tricks on keeping your villagers in town… f-o-r-e-v-e-r. The never-ending day The easiest way to make sure everyone stays put is to never allow the date to change. Prior to loading your ACNL game, set your system’s internal clock back to the last date you played. No villagers will ever leave. On the downside, you won’t get to experience the seasonal variation of ACNL, but if you’ve come this far, maybe you’ve seen all there is to see? If you’re going to use this method you have to remember that the game recognizes the start of a new day at 6AM, not midnight, so you need to make sure your game is not on and loaded up when 6AM rolls around. Mini-guide: Going on hiatus We all need a break from ACNL once in a while… but we dread coming back. What will have happened while we were away? Will our villagers be gone? To make sure that everything is A-Okay upon your return, follow these steps… Before going on hiatus If you know you’re not going to play for a while, set your town to the beautiful town ordinance. The process we’ll be using to return involves a bit of TTing and enacting this now will save your flowers. Second, make a note of the the date you last saved/quit your game. You will need this later! (If you don’t have paper/pen handy, go to your 3DS’ home screen and then click the pencil icon at the top to write it in the game notes.) Coming back from hiatus - You must do the following before loading your game! ….. 1. Change “Today’s Date” in your 3DS’ system settings so that it matches the last date that you played. If you cannot remember the last day you played you can look in your activity log and check your software library. When you click on New Leaf it will note when you last played. Note: If you TT often your activity log may not accurately reflect your play history. If you’re unsure of what to do, set the 3DS back to a date that you know is BEFORE the last date you played. It is better to choose an older date than it is to choose a date that is sometime after your last time playing. ….. 2. Make sure the time is set to a time that all your villagers will be awake. If not, change it. Now load your ACNL game. If you loaded your game on the SAME DAY that you last played, you shouldn’t experience any villager loss. If you load your game anytime BEFORE that day, it is possible for a villager to move if they had already planned on moving. Getting back to the present So hopefully, you’ve made it back to the last time you played without losing any villagers- but how do you get to the present day without having to TT day by day? Follow these steps… ….. 1. Talk to each of your villagers once to make sure you are on speaking terms with them. You can tell if you’re on speaking terms with them if when you talk to them they greet you and then the game offers you the standard dialog box (which is something like “What’s new?” and “Nevermind.”) ….. 2. Once you’ve done that, save and quit your game. Then, reload the game (same day, don’t change the time at all yet). ….. 3. Walk in front of the villagers that are strolling outside in your town. There are usually 5 of these guys out and about. You’re looking for one of them to ‘ping’ you. That is, make a surprised emote and then run up to you. ….. 4. If someone does run up to you, talk to them and see what they say. If they want to move, deny their request. ….. 5. If none of the five villagers that are outside run up to you, save and quit, then reload the game to cycle the villagers that are in their homes. ….. 6. If you’ve walked in front of all the villagers in your town at least once, and none of them ping you- save and quit, then TT ONE DAY FORWARD and repeat the process of walking in front of all your villagers until they ping and one of them asks to move. Once this happens, deny the request. Once you’ve denied a request to move you’re free to TT forward as far as you want. So, after you’ve saved/quit your game, go back to system settings and correct the date/time. Then, load your ACNL game and ta-da! You’re back to the present! That’s all folks! Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments, corrections or suggestions please leave them below! Once you’ve acquired all the villagers you want, it’s still a challenge to keep them from moving. You can always make sure to deny their request to move, but what if you miss your chance, or what if you take a hiatus from the game? This section provides tips and tricks on keeping your villagers in town… f-o-r-e-v-e-r.The easiest way to make sure everyone stays put is to never allow the date to change. Prior to loading your ACNL game, set your system’s internal clock back to the last date you played. No villagers will ever leave. On the downside, you won’t get to experience the seasonal variation of ACNL, but if you’ve come this far, maybe you’ve seen all there is to see?If you’re going to use this method you have to remember that the game recognizes the start of a new day at 6AM, not midnight, so you need to make sure your game is not on and loaded up when 6AM rolls around.We all need a break from ACNL once in a while… but we dread coming back. What will have happened while we were away? Will our villagers be gone? To make sure that everything is A-Okay upon your return, follow these steps…If you know you’re not going to play for a while, set your town to the beautiful town ordinance. The process we’ll be using to return involves a bit of TTing and enacting this now will save your flowers. Second, make a note of the the date you last saved/quit your game. You will need this later! (If you don’t have paper/pen handy, go to your 3DS’ home screen and then click the pencil icon at the top to write it in the game notes.)If you cannot remember the last day you played you can look in your activity log and check your software library. When you click on New Leaf it will note when you last played.If you TT often your activity log may not accurately reflect your play history. If you’re unsure of what to do, set the 3DS back to a date that you know is BEFORE the last date you played. It is better to choose an older date than it is to choose a date that is sometime after your last time playing.If not, change it. Now load your ACNL game.If you loaded your game on the SAME DAY that you last played, you shouldn’t experience any villager loss. If you load your game anytime BEFORE that day, it is possible for a villager to moveSo hopefully, you’ve made it back to the last time you played without losing any villagers- but how do you get to the present day without having to TT day by day? Follow these steps…Talk to each of your villagers once to make sure you are on speaking terms with them. You can tell if you’re on speaking terms with them if when you talk to them they greet you and then the game offers you the standard dialog box (which is something like “What’s new?” and “Nevermind.”)Once you’ve done that, save and quit your game. Then, reload the game (same day, don’t change the time
in Berlin" was "better than trains." According to German security sources, al-Bakr had already spent a night in the German capital during the second half of September to spy out Berlin Tegel Airport.[11] Jaber al-Bakr was born on January 10, 1994 in Sa’sa’, south of Damascus. He left Syria in 2014 and arrived in Germany in February 2015, receiving asylum in June 2015. Al-Bakr’s family and former roommates confirmed that he traveled at least twice to Turkey after arriving in Germany. During these trips, al-Bakr also spent a lot of time in Syria. One of his former roommates recalled talking to him over the phone while he was in the northwestern city of Idlib. According to his roommates, al-Bakr was never particularly religious, but after returning from Turkey, he changed radically. His 18-year-old brother, who is living in Syria, said in a live chat with Germany’s Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) that someone must have brainwashed or manipulated Jaber.[12] The suspect’s 31-year-old brother Alaa al-Bakr told Der Spiegel by phone from Sa’sa’ that Jaber first returned to Syria via Turkey in September 2015 and then joined ISIS in Raqqa.[13] In an interview with Reuters, Alaa said he believed imams in Berlin brainwashed Jaber into returning to Syria for jihad. According to his older brother, Jaber explained his trip to Syria earlier this year by saying that he wanted to volunteer with the White Helmets: “He went to Turkey seven months ago and spent two months in Syria. He called us and told us 'I'm volunteering with the White Helmets (emergency teams) in Idlib'.”[14] Jaber also mentioned that he was with Ahrar al-Sham in Idlib and doing "humanitarian aid work."[15] When Alaa talked to his brother two months ago, Jaber said that he was in Idlib and asked him how to get back to Germany. “He asked me if there was a way to go back to Germany but he had burned his documents,” Alaa told The Wall Street Journal, adding that he didn’t know his brother got back.[16] Jaber al-Bakr’s Facebook page indicates that he sympathized with ISIS since at least January 2016. According to investigators, al-Bakr returned from Turkey at the end of August after spending several months abroad. Shortly thereafter, he caught the attention of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.[17] If Alaa al-Bakr’s account is accurate and his brother Jaber was able to travel between Germany and Syria at will, possibly without documents, authorities in Turkey and Germany have a lot to answer for. Even more explosive is the revelation that Jaber al-Bakr spent a lot of time in Idlib, supposedly volunteering with the NATO-funded White Helmets, working with NATO-backed Ahrar al-Sham and doing “humanitarian aid work,” while becoming a bomb-making ISIS terrorist. In contrast to the city of Raqqa, Idlib is not an ISIS stronghold. The northwestern province of Idlib and its provincial capital of the same name are “rebel-held” territory, at least according to Western governments and media. Idlib province is reportedly roughly divided into areas controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra, areas controlled by Ahrar al-Sham, and areas where they share control.[18] Al-Nusra was until recently the official Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and is still considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations. Ahrar al-Sham, on the other hand, enjoys the support of the U.S. and its allies and is being protected from the terrorist label despite its close ties to al-Qaeda and other designated terrorist organizations.[19] In March 2015, the military alliance “Jaish al-Fatah” (“Army of Conquest”), led by al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, seized Idlib city from government forces. Idlib was only the second provincial capital to be captured from the government since the start of the conflict, the other one being Raqqa. The attack on Idlib city had been planned for months. In November 2014, NATO member Turkey and close U.S. ally Qatar began providing increased logistical and military support to Ahrar al-Sham and several other factions active in northwestern Syria, thereby enabling Jaish al-Fatah’s series of victories in spring 2015.[20] When Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was later asked about the fall of Idlib, he emphasized that “the main factor was the huge support that came through Turkey; logistic support, and military support, and of course financial support that came through Saudi Arabia and Qatar."[21] Needless to say, all of this constituted a clear violation of international law. The process that followed Jaish al-Fatah’s takeover of Idlib province has been described as the “Talibanization of Idlib.” As Joshua Landis and Steven Simon noted, “rebel-held” Idlib doesn’t present an attractive or viable alternative to government-held Syria, quite the contrary: “Schools have been segregated, women forced to wear veils, and posters of Osama bin Laden hung on the walls. Government offices were looted, and a more effective government has yet to take shape. With the Talibanization of Idlib, the 100-plus Christian families of the city fled. The few Druze villages that remained have been forced to denounce their religion and embrace Islam; some of their shrines have been blown up. No religious minorities remain in rebel-held Syria, in Idlib, or elsewhere.”[22] When Jaber al-Bakr traveled to Idlib earlier this year, he traveled to a city where youths are being publicly flogged for accompanying girls in public or exchanging “indecent pictures.”[23] “Rebel-held” Idlib is a place where terrorist groups like al-Nusra and the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), which are accused of organizing terrorist attacks abroad,[24] can do as they please while enjoying NATO protection due to their “intermingling” with Ahrar al-Sham and other so-called “moderate opposition forces.” It is not hard to imagine how spending time in Idlib could have contributed to al-Bakr’s radicalization. More difficult to answer is what an ISIS member was doing in Idlib and if he really worked with Ahrar al-Sham and volunteered with the White Helmets. If Jaber al-Jabkr was a White Helmet “rescue worker,” this would add to the growing evidence that there is no clear line between the self-described “unarmed und neutral rescue workers” and combatants - or even members of designated terrorist organizations. The White Helmets are not a legitimate Syrian Civil Defense group, as Western governments and media would have you believe.[25] The White Helmets are a propaganda tool funded by the same governments that are funding the armed opposition in Syria. The U.S. and its NATO allies have provided millions of dollars to the White Helmets while trying to shield themselves from the obvious threat posed by members of the group. When White Helmets leader Raed Saleh was denied entry into the U.S. earlier this year, State Department spokesman Mark Toner explained it as follows: “And any individual – again, I’m broadening my language here for specific reasons, but any individual in any group suspected of ties or relations with extremist groups or that we had believed to be a security threat to the United States, we would act accordingly. But that does not, by extension, mean we condemn or would cut off ties to the group for which that individual works for.”[26] After the Germany’s Foreign Ministry “recently increased its financial contribution by two million euros to a total of seven million euros for this year,” the German authorities would be well advised to rethink their support of the White Helmets in light of the al-Bakr revelations.[27] The story of Jaber al-Bakr provides more evidence that the NATO-funded White Helmets serve as a cover for extremists and that “rebel-held” Idlib is turning into a terrorist breeding ground, similar to Afghanistan under Taliban rule. This terrorist breeding ground is being fostered by NATO members and their GCC allies - and innocent people in Syria, Germany and elsewhere are going to pay the price for that. # # # # Christoph Germann- BFP Contributing Author & Analyst Christoph Germann is an independent analyst and researcher based in Germany, where he is currently studying political science. His work focuses on the New Great Game in Central Asia and the Caucasus region. You can visit his website here Notes [1] “Germany manhunt: 'IS link' to bomb suspect Al-Bakr – police,” BBC, 10 October 2016: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37604247. [2] Madeline Chambers, “Germans say ‘hero refugees’ deserve medals for tying up suspected bomber,” Reuters, 12 October 2016: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-bomb-migrants-idUSKCN12C18B. [3] “Al-Bakr beschuldigt Leipziger Syrer des Mitwissertums,” Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, 12 October 2016: http://www.mdr.de/sachsen/leipzig/al-bakr-beschuldigt-syrer-aus-leipzig-des-mitwissertums-100.html. [4] Michael Nienaber and Paul Carrel, “Germany aghast after Syrian bomb suspect kills himself in jail,” Reuters, 13 October 2016: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-bomb-suspect-suicide-idUSKCN12C2K6. [5] Johannes Graf, “Suizid trotz Vorschriften: Die letzten Tage des Jaber Al-Bakr,” n-tv, 13 October 2016: http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Die-letzten-Tage-des-Jaber-Al-Bakr-article18851046.html. [6] Ben Knight, “Terror suspect Albakr not classified as 'acute suicide risk' before Leipzig jail death,” Deutsche Welle, 13 October 2016: http://www.dw.com/en/terror-suspect-albakr-not-classified-as-acute-suicide-risk-before-leipzig-jail-death/a-36030348. [7] Ibid., Nienaber and Carrel. [8] “German terror suspect Jaber al-Bakr's jail death a scandal, says lawyer,” BBC, 13 October 2016: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37641263. [9] “IS bomb suspect planned to target Berlin airport: official,” Deutsche Welle, 11 October 2016: http://www.dw.com/en/is-bomb-suspect-planned-to-target-berlin-airport-official/a-36010910. [10] “Justizminister: Keine akute Selbstmordgefahr bei Albakr,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 13 October 2016: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/kampf-gegen-den-terror/suizid-von-jaber-al-bakr-anwalt-kritisiert-saechsische-justiz-14478174.html. [11] Michelle Martin, “Syrian bombing suspect in Germany spoke to IS contact about attack plans: newspaper,” Reuters, 15 October 2016: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-bomb-suspect-idUSKBN12F07R. [12] “Terrorverdächtiger Syrer sympathisierte mit IS,” Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, 12 October 2016: http://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/politik/inland/Terrorverdaechtiger-hatte-facebook-kontakt-zu-is-100.html. [13] “Albakr soll sich in Deutschland radikalisiert haben,” Spiegel Online, 14 October 2016: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/jaber-albakr-soll-sich-in-deutschland-radikalisiert-haben-a-1116645.html. [14] Joseph Nasr, “Berlin bombing suspect radicalized by imams in Germany, brother says,” Reuters, 14 October 2016: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-bomber-idUSKBN12E2ET. [15] Eva Marie Kogel, “„Die Polizei hat meinen Bruder umgebracht“,” Welt, 15 October 2016: https://www.welt.de/print/die_welt/politik/article158777693/Die-Polizei-hat-meinen-Bruder-umgebracht.html. [16] Ruth Bender and Mohammad Nour Alakraa, “Terror Suspect Found Dead in German Jail Cell Had Traveled to Syria,” The Wall Street Journal, 13 October 2016: http://www.wsj.com/articles/terror-suspect-found-dead-in-german-jail-cell-had-traveled-to-syria-1476375285. [17] Florian Flade, Annelie Naumann, “Die mysteriöse Türkei-Reise des Dschaber al-Bakr,” Welt, 12 October 2016: https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article158688067/Die-mysterioese-Tuerkei-Reise-des-Dschaber-al-Bakr.html. [18] Sam Heller, “The Home of Syria’s Only Real Rebels,” The Daily Beast, 17 June 2016: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/17/the-home-of-syria-s-only-real-rebels.html. [19] Christoph Germann, “Syria ‘Cease-Fire’ Brings U.S. & Russia Closer to War,” NewsBud, 10 October 2016: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2016/10/10/syria-cease-fire-brings-u-s-russia-closer-to-war/. [20] Charles Lister, The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency (London: C. Hurst & Co., 2015). [21] Tom Perry, Humeyra Pamuk and Ahmed Tolba, “Assad says Turkish support'main factor' in Idlib takeover,” Reuters, 17 April 2015: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-assad-idUSKBN0N80N820150417. [22] Joshua Landis and Steven Simon, “Assad Has It His Way,” Foreign Affairs, 19 January 2016: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/syria/2016-01-19/assad-has-it-his-way. [23] Ullin Hope, “Idlib youths flogged for unsanctioned contact with girls,” NOW, 22 January 2016: https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566524-idlib-youths-flogged-for-unsanctioned-contact-with-girls. [24] Olga Dzyubenko, “Kyrgyzstan says Uighur militant groups behind attack on China's embassy,” Reuters, 7 September 2016: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-kyrgyzstan-blast-china-idUSKCN11C1DK. [25] Vanessa Beeley, “EXCLUSIVE: The REAL Syria Civil Defence Exposes Fake ‘White Helmets’ as Terrorist-Linked Imposters,” 21st Century Wire, 23 September 2016: http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/09/23/exclusive-the-real-syria-civil-defence-expose-natos-white-helmets-as-terrorist-linked-imposters/. [26] Mark Toner, U.S. State Department Daily Press Briefing, 27 April 2016: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/04/256667.htm. [27] Federal Foreign Office, “Federal Foreign Office to support Syrian White Helmets with seven million euros, Press release, 23 September 2016: https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2016/160923_Weisshelme.html.Bigger is almost always better in the wind industry, even if it means difficult logistics. That's the key takeaway from a new report on next-generation wind turbines from MAKE Consulting. The research shows global onshore turbine size increasing at a 3 percent compound annual growth rate between 2012 and 2022, as original equipment manufacturers seek to extract every ounce of potential from the wind resource. The proportion of larger turbines entering the market has grown steadily since 2010. Back then, 40 percent of onshore machines were 2 megawatts or larger. Last year that proportion had risen to 90 percent, with 23 percent of onshore turbines at 3 megawatts or more. The move to larger models is being led by Europe, which is heading into the 4-megawatt space. It's also being pushed by emerging markets that are bypassing sub-3-megawatt machines altogether. In 2016, 3-megawatt platforms had been installed in more than 38 markets. “Wind class migration is expected to continue as new models are introduced [and] older products receive wind-class upgrades," reads the report. Rotor size is the most important differentiator for new onshore products, according to report author Shashi Barla. However, the way OEMs mix and match power ratings and rotor sizes varies from one company to another. Vestas, for example, offers six rotor diameters for its 2-megawatt machines and four for its 3-megawatt platforms. GE, in contrast, reuses the same rotors across differently rated machines. Its 100-meter rotors can be fitted to turbines from 1.6 megawatts to 2.85 megawatts, for example, while its 103-meter blades can be fixed on 1.7-megawatt up to 3.2-megawatt products. Regardless of the approach, the goal is to reuse components where possible, so an OEM can cut costs and shorten development cycles. The larger rotors help wind-farm owners scoop more energy from suboptimal sites, which are increasingly the norm in maturing markets where all the prime spots have already been taken. The limited availability of high-wind sites worldwide is reflected in the number of onshore turbine products available for different wind-speed classes. MAKE counts just 20 products suited for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Class I conditions, with annual average wind speeds of 10 meters per second. For medium wind, or IEC Class II conditions, there are at least 42 products, along with another 40 for IEC III. High-wind turbines are “not a focus for new platforms due to diminishing resource,” MAKE concludes. Besides increasing rotor diameters, another way to improve production at less-than-ideal sites is to reach the stronger, steadier winds that occur at higher altitudes. While a 10 percent change in power rating or hub height has a less significant impact on energy production than an equal increase in rotor diameter, MAKE expects growth in tower heights to intensify. By 2020, developers will be installing almost 2,400 towers of 120 meters or more a year, says the firm, compared to fewer than 1,000 installations of these models in 2014. Bigger blades and towers, though, are more difficult to move around. One way to address this issue would be to split up each blade so it could be transported in pieces and snapped together on site. “But OEMs remain reluctant to push commercialization of modular blades due to cost [and] complexity,” the report observes. And bigger turbines are not necessarily the best option in every market. While in European and Latin American markets, it makes sense to go for big products to maximize farm-level production, in the U.S. and China, for example, smaller machines may be required to cope with the capacity of grid interconnections. None of this applies at sea, where turbine power ratings, rather than rotor spans, are the primary product differentiator for OEMs. Whereas 82 percent of offshore turbines ordered between 2001 and 2005 were under 3 megawatts, today there are no machines of that size on order. Instead, 71 percent of orders are for products 5 megawatts or greater, and 16 percent are for turbines of 8 megawatts or greater. “Despite long project cycles and R&D timelines, commercial demand continues to favor the largest turbines,” says the report. “The next generation of 12-megawatt-plus turbines will gain market share within the next five years.” Editor's note: MAKE Consulting is owned by GTM's parent company, Wood Mackenzie.Rochester, N.Y. -- Inspired by all the high-profile school bullying cases that have been in the news lately, a 37-year-old former nerd, who back in high school was known as "King of the Geeks," is suing the school jock for extorting the nerd's lunch money twenty-one years ago! "Tommy Springer forced me to hand over my lunch money every day for three months," claims Sherman Wembley, who is now CEO of Wembley Oil, a multi-national petroleum drilling consortium, headquartered just outside Huston. "I'm a billionaire, so I obviously don't need the money," admits Wembley. "I'm just doing this for the principle, to teach Springer a lesson, and to hopefully make the world safer for all nerds today -- for all people who are different, for that matter. Just because you're great in sports and really handsome and get all the pretty girls doesn't mean you can pick on the less-fortunate geeks. Besides, one day one of those geeks might grow up and become successful enough to afford the very best lawyers and want payback. A lot of payback."Salesforce.com Inc. CRM, -1.10% reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its full-year revenue guidance Thursday. The cloud-software company reported a net loss of $9.2 million on revenue of $2.39 billion for its fiscal first quarter. After adjustments for stock-based compensation and other effects, the company claimed a profit of 28 cents a share. Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of 26 cents a share on sales of $2.35 billion. Salesforce also increased its revenue guidance for the full 2018 fiscal year to a range of $10.25 billion to $10.3 billion; previous guidance called for sales of $10.15 billion to $10.2 billion. The company's guidance for profit also increased, with standard earnings now expected to be 6 cents to 8 cents a share for the year, and adjusted earnings of $1.28 to $1.30 a share. Salesforce stock gained more than 2% in immediate after-hours action following the release of the report, but soon fell to a slight loss, after closing with a 0.1% decline at $87.75. Have breaking news sent to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Bulletin emails. Sign up here.A house in London will host a missile launcher on its roof during the Olympic Games Some buildings in London, such as the one below, will host military missile stations to protect the city from airborne terror threats during the Olympic Games. Residents of this tall building (Lexington Building Water Tower) received a letter from the Defence Ministry informing them of the missile placement on top of their roof for safety reasons. The missiles will overlook the Olympic Park, the area where most of the events will take place. Aside from rooftop missiles, over 13 thousand troops will guard the city on the ground. This is the largest military mobilisation in the UK since World War Two. I will go check my roof now. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and RSS Leave your comment!British Islamist Anjem Choudary Linked to 500 UK ISIS Fighters Anjem Choudary is seen here with Islamist killer Michael Adebolajo at a London protest. Islamic hate preacher Anjem Choudary blamed Lee Rigby’s murder by Adebolajo on British foreign policy. In 2008 Choudary gloated over the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Anjem Choudary is a British-Pakistani, who lives on social welfare funds and supports jihad. Choudary takes in a reported sum of £25,000 ($37,770) per year from the British welfare program while soldiers earn only $24,000 a year. Something is wrong with the system. Anjem Choudary defended the slaughter of reporters by ISIS at Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters. Choudary is currently on trial for supporting ISIS. He is linked to 500 British jihadis who have fled the UK to join ISIS. Sky News reported: Anti-terror experts fear the conviction of Britain’s most prolific jihadi recruiter could lead to a spike in people being influenced by his social media presence. Anjem Choudary is facing up to a decade behind bars after he was found guilty of terror offences. The extremist cleric has been convicted of inviting support for terror group Islamic State in a series of lectures released on YouTube. Experts fear his conviction could have a knock-on effect with many more people viewing his social media postings for the first time. “There will be a spike in interest in what he said and material he’s produced,” said counter-terrorism expert Andrew Silke. “It will get a lot of viewings. A lot of people will see it for the first time now and obviously the fear is some of those people will be influenced by what they read and what they see.” Security sources believe Choudary is linked to 500 British jihadis who have fled the UK to join the terrorist organisation in Syria and Iraq.My dearest fellow summoners, I come to you today with a request. It has come to my attention that the lunar cycle has once again aligned and that Blitzcrank, the ever-grabbin’ steam golem has made its way back onto the roster of free-to-play champions. Now, if you’re down on my level of gameplay then this most likely doesn’t affect you since poor ol’ Blitz is eternally banned from draft mode. But what if—stay with me—what if we just didn’t ban Blitz? What if every time Blitzcrank is on the free champion roster every player made a point of not banning Blitzcrank? I just want to play, too! I’m sure this is a concept that has been brought up before, but goddamnit, I think it needs to be brought up again. I want you and all of your friends to go into every game you play, whether it be blind, normal draft or ranked and exclaim that you want to keep Blitz unbanned. I want Blitz to be picked and I want him to be played. I want the League of Legends community to finally overcome their fear of this yellow harbinger of death. Now, for those of you that reside within the most sacred and sought after Leagues, I’m sure the concept of banning Blitz is a distant memory. For others, even some of those that live within the veritable “s--t” of Bronze and Silver, perhaps you ban Blitz without even knowing why. It’s just what you’ve been trained to do. Let’s take a moment to discuss why this steamy beast is the bane of our existence. On one side of the coin, the majority of players that desire the Blitz ban just can’t handle his kit. As mentioned an infinite amount of times before, a single landed hook can completely change the pace of a game. If an enemy Blitz is a full-on resident of Hook City, a lot of people are not mechanically skilled enough to avoid those cruel metal fists. We’ve all been there. Also, there are some of our dear summoners (myself included) that simply don’t hold the power of mind to constantly be aware of the ever-looming grab. Sometimes you’re tunnel-visioning on CS. Sometimes you’re on your phone. Whatever. The point is that while “just stay behind minions” is solid and applicable advice, some of us just aren’t at a level where we can keep that criticism on the front burner with all the other nonsense that goes on within a game. Then, on the opposite side of the coin, you have people who ban Blitz not because they fear those deadly digits of obtaining but because they don’t trust their fellow teammates with such a binary champion. Let’s be real, if you are playing Blitzcrank and you aren’t landing grabs, you may as well be sitting at the spawn pool. A Blitzcrank that cannot grab is like a summer without delicious Barbecues, or a drawing of Taric without blatant homoerotic overtones. You just aren’t doing your job. Real talk: I can’t write League articles without pictures of Taric anymore. But landing those grabs can be hard, mang! I don’t know what nerve-cluster within my own brain is malfunctioning, but for whatever reason I cannot properly determine the full range of Blitz’s Q as well I can with Leona or Lux. I always tend to shoot my appendage and miss by mere pixels. I’m constantly only a fraction of a Teemo away from being best Blitz NA. But I’m not a good Blitz. You know why? I never get to play him. Neither do you. His state of perma-banishment has festered into this haunting phobia that has solidified into the hearts and minds of every Bronze and Silver player out there. The problem is that we’ve created this vicious cycle of self-fulfilled prophecy in which you ban Blitz due to reasons A or B and then when you don’t ban him, reasons A or B occur simply because you never took the measures to alter the outcome. The only way to get everyone to stop fearing dear old Blitzy is if we actually play games with him. How does Blitzcrank finally seeing the light of Summoners rift alleviate his (her?) inherent terror? Practice, yo. The reason people don’t have the mechanics to read Blitz’s tells or to properly dodge those scary grabs is because they only see those skills once every fifty games. The reason we can’t get it into our heads that dem hooks could emerge at any second and you best be hugging a minion like its your estranged father back from the war is because we’ve simply selected to ignore the issue. Want to know why the one time Blitz got through the champion select he was chosen by the “worst f-----g Blitz player” you’ve ever seen? That poor kid has only played Blitz a handful of times, and the last time was when he was level 15 in blind pick. We avoid Blitz instead of dealing with the inadequacies he showcases within us. If you love this game and you are looking to improve, the first step is to man up and face where you need improvement. I think Blitzcrank is incredible at laying out the flaws of a player, whether he is on the enemy team and showing off your poor positioning or being played by your very own self and announcing to the world that skillshots be hard, yo. The only way we will see improvement is by letting Blitz through the ban gate. Now, I’m not saying that we should release the beast permanently. If you’re in your promotion series and you don’t want to take the chance of having a good (or bad) Blitz muddle things for you then ban away. If you adhere to my request and after ten straight Blitz games you need a break, maybe put the golem away for a bit. I’m just advocating that if we were to spend this once-in-a-blue-moon week not only allowing, but seeking Blitzcrank play I feel we could all benefit. Not to mention, think of all the hilarious hook montages! So join me, fellow summoners. Join me this week by allowing Blitzcrank to step onto the fields of justice. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Get onto Twitter and Facebook and hashtag proudly #dontbanblitz. Let us show that big yellow monstrosity that he doesn’t scare us. Let us spend this week improving how we play. Beep Boop Don’t Ban MeMost of the hostages were “Kurdish citizens” in the area some of whom had been used to dig ditches around the city. AP photo ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— A rights group in London announced Friday that systematic detention of Kurdish population in the besieged Syrian city of Manbij continued during the weekend with nearly 900 people now in ISIS captivity, reportedly to be used as human shields against advancing anti-ISIS troops. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said in a statement that most of the hostages were “Kurdish citizens” in the area some of whom had been used to dig ditches around the city. Earlier this month a joint operation started to drive out ISIS militants from the city of Manbij, located in the Aleppo province’s northern corner, with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) surrounding the city from virtually all exit routes. Reports also indicated last week that the SDF forces had broken ISIS defense lines in the western parts of Manbij and entered the town’s deserted suburbs. “About 900 persons were detained so far by the organization (ISIS), and were taken to the detention facilities of the organization, while others were transferred-- according to local sources- to dig trenches in the countryside of Manbij,” the right group said. Kurdish fighters are part of the SDF joint force that is set to push back ISIS militants from the area.That's the story out of Perkins, Okla., which is about 15 minutes south of Stillwater, where Oklahoma State is located. Cops there have arrested 42-year-old Gannon Mendez and charged him with one count of child abuse. KFOR has the details: According to police, after a 9-year-old boy told a classmate in school that he roots for OU not OSU, the boy's father, Gannon Mendez, then allegedly beat the boy at home with a wooden paddle. Investigators also claim the alleged beating in the home was not a one time crime. Prosecutors claim Mendez would repeatedly take the boy to a football field and make him run until he puked. An affidavit details in addition to being routinely spanked with a paddle, the suspect chopped up soap and pushed it into the victim's mouth. The victim also reported Mendez squeezes his nose until it bleeds, tells him he will end up in hell and would wake him up every 30 minutes through the night to do push ups.Screenshot taken by Roger Cheng/CNET Google really wants people to take a look at its Nexus 7 tablet. The $199 tablet started popping up on Google's home page today, a rare instance in which Google is actively promoting one of its own products. It's similar to the way Amazon's front page is often dominated by Kindle advertising. That Google would go to such lengths underscores the company's desire to make a bigger dent in the burgeoning tablet market, one still dominated by Apple's iPad. Given the traffic that goes through Google, the home page would be one of the most coveted spots on the Web for advertisers. The company, however, has traditionally resisted attempts to run advertisements for paid products on its main page. Only the top part of the Nexus 7 peeks out in a tease, along with a link to the 8GB version in its Google Play store. It isn't the first time Google has promoted a product, although it is a rare occasion. The first time a Google product showed up on the home page was in late 2009 with the original Droid from Motorola and Verizon Wireless. A few months later, when the company was trying to push its Nexus One phone directly to consumers, that product popped up. The phone, though, became a commercial failure. The Nexus 7, while built by Asus, is the first tablet developed under Google, and is the first device to run Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean, the latest iteration of Google's mobile operating system. Google yesterday expanded the availability of the Nexus 7, launching the tablet in Germany, France, and Spain. It's already available in several other countries, including the U.S. and the U.K. While many Android tablets have tried and failed to make a dent in the market, Amazon last year made some waves with its $199 Kindle Fire. Google is hoping it can surpass that success with its own product, and so far has seen a lot of early buzz. The Nexus 7 faces lots of competition. The next iteration of the Kindle Fire is expected to be announced next week, and many expect Apple to unveil its own iPad Mini soon. Corrected at 7:55 a.m. PT: The article incorrectly stated that the Nexus 7 ad was the first ever to pop up on Google's home page.In the early hours of April 11, 2016, 20 students from the University of Massachusetts walked into the Whitmore Administration Building and sat down in front of the Chancellor’s office in silent protest of the University’s investment in the oil and gas industry. By midday, that number grew to 45. What began as a modest protest in the halls of a quiet building culminated in two weeks of historic sit-ins and actions with over 1,000 students, alumni, and faculty participating. This epic escalation concluded with 34 people being arrested for engaging in peaceful civil disobedience. One month following the actions, both the Board of Trustees and the Investment Committee voted in favor of divesting the UMass system endowment from direct investments in the fossil fuel industry. This campaign at UMass proves that when we organize and take action collectively, incredible victories are possible. Throughout spring 2016, schools across the country occupied, demonstrated, and rallied: from Northern Arizona University and Columbia University, to the University of Montana and the University of California Berkeley, and beyond. This moment showed that young people will rise to meet the challenges posed by the climate crisis and demand that our administrations lead with us in the fight for the planet and its people. And the pressure is not letting up. Young people are preparing to escalate on their campuses this spring, with demonstrations planned in at least eight states. The Divest Penn campaign at the University of Pennsylvania, President Trump’s alma mater, kicked off the wave of escalation earlier this month when over 60 students were cited for nonviolently protesting the University’s investment policies. The industry can only expect these demonstrations to get larger and more powerful, especially as the attack on climate policies worsens at the federal level. Fossil fuel divestment began as a morally-focused campaign on a handful of college campuses
And the same is true for work I’m doing as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, looking at how corporations get access to, and sometimes make money off of, your personal information. More and more Americans are getting educated about these issues, and I’m working to get Washington focused on how they affect the real lives of real people. Media and technology policy has a huge impact on consumers—and consumers’ interests should always come first, just as they ultimately did here. Contact us at editors@time.com.Flickr user lxn271, CC by 2.0 Parental arguments about who's pulling their weight are not restricted to humans, a study released today found. And it turns out that birds also bicker about whose turn it is to watch the baby. The study, published in the Biological Journal of Linnean Study, focused on zebra finches, a small species who form life-long pairs. Unlike elsewhere in the animal kingdom, male and female zebra finches share parental duties equally -- from nest-building to watching eggs and chicks. They even take it in turns to incubate their eggs, with one partner sitting on their eggs and one partner foraging at any one time. Advertisement Researchers observed 12 male-female pairs of zebra finches in an aviary. While the male of each pair was foraging, researchers trapped them for around an hour, delaying their return to the nest. When they returned within the normal time period, the two birds engaged in normal exchanges. But when the male was delayed, this exchange was "accelerated", with normal calls made much more rapidly. The researchers also found that the time females spend away from the nest was not dependent on the time her partner was away in her previous shift incubating the eggs, but on how much he squawked when he returned -- males who called lots of times, rather than just a few, were rewarded with a swiftly returning mate. Researchers say that this indicates that birds are not so different from humans -- rather than approaching parenthood 'tit for tat', they actually communicate just like us.Citizen Science What Is Bat Detective? Just in time for Halloween: Where can you hear a sound that most people never hear, teach computers a lesson, and improve scientific data on vulnerable bat populations? Try the citizen science project Bat Detective! Bat Detective has a challenge for you. They have collected recordings from iBats, a volunteer bat monitoring program, made with special ultrasonic detectors and slowed those recordings so that the bats are audible to the human ear. They need you to classify the recordings and report any bat calls so that they can improve computerized systems for monitoring bat populations. Why Is It Important? Because bat populations are a good indicator of environmental health. Bats are vulnerable to human impacts that might be affecting other aspects of an ecosystem in more subtle ways. For instance, they are sensitive to climate change. And their slow rate of reproduction (1 pup/year) means that they recover slowly from disturbances. But bats do more than indicate ecosystem health; they eat some pesky mosquitoes and they are important pollinators. Recently, they have become famous for their role in pollinating agave, the primary ingredient in tequila. Bats often live in large colonies, which makes populations susceptible to diseases. White-nose syndrome has taken a great toll on North American bats. So, bats are important. But why can’t computers classify their calls? Current computer programs can recognize bat calls when there is no other noise, but can’t pick out bat calls out when there is background noise. By contrast, Bat Detective has found that humans are “absolutely fantastic” at finding bat calls among the din. Bat Detective’s main goal is not to answer a specific research question about bats, but to learn from citizen science classifications and build a better computer program for recognizing bat calls. They will then make that program available to scientists everywhere so that it can be used to answer a variety of questions and to assist in bat conservation around the world. How Do You Get Involved? The project is housed on Zooniverse along with other citizen science projects like Old Weather and Condor Watch, so you can sign in to track your progress or get started classifying sounds. A brief tutorial will help you to differentiate bat sounds from other noises and to tell bats’ social calls, searching calls, and feeding calls apart. It will also guide you through the process of marking calls correctly. If you run into trouble, you can visit the discussion forum. Go to the Bat Detective blog for cool information about bats and updates on the data. Try it, be a bat detective! Is there a citizen science project that you think deserves more attention? Contact Lisa Feldkamp, lfeldkamp[at]tnc.org or leave a comment below with a link to make a recommendation for Citizen Science Tuesday.New Delhi: Mahindra Group’s chairman Anand Mahindra on Friday tendered a public apology over the manner in which an employee of Tech Mahindra was asked to quit. Tech Mahindra top brass also apologised after an audio clip went viral, which purportedly involved a conversation of an human resource (HR) executive of the company asking an employee to put in his papers by next morning, as part of corporate decision. Anand Mahindra, chief of the $19 billion group, took to social media to apologise over the incident saying the core value of the conglomerate is to “preserve the dignity of the individual". “I want to add my personal apology. Our core value is to preserve the dignity of the individual and we will ensure this does not happen in future," he tweeted. “We have become aware of the incident involving a conversation between an employee and a company HR representative. We deeply regret the manner in which the discussion took place and have taken necessary corrective steps to ensure that this does not happen again in future," Vineet Nayyar, vice chairman, Tech Mahindra said in a note. Nayyar said that the company continues to implement strategies to meet the changing demands of business in the current global economic environment and align workforce with its “strategic priorities" and “requirements" of clients. “This, however, will be done in a manner that befits our Rise philosophy and our group’s core values," Nayyar said. The note was tweeted by C.P. Gurnani, Tech Mahindra’s chief executive. Echoing similar sentiments, Gurnani tweeted: “I deeply regret the way HR Rep (sic) & employee discussion was done. We have taken the right steps to ensure it doesn’t repeat in future." Tech Mahindra ranks fifth in the tally of Indian information technology (IT) firms by revenues. At the end of December 2016, the company had over 1.17 lakh employees. The audio clip surfaces at a time when Indian IT firms are facing challenges in the business environment and stricter work permit regime in countries like the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. There have been also been reports of mass layoffs by various companies, including Tech Mahindra, even though the industry has consistently denied the allegations. The companies have termed layoffs as part of normal business decisions, but many believe that these are directed more towards controlling costs. US-based Cognizant had recently rolled out a voluntary separation programme for directors, associate vice presidents (VPs) and senior VPs, offering them 6-9 months of salary. Wipro, too, had asked about 600 employees to leave as part of its annual “performance appraisal" earlier this year. Interestingly, IT firms are under pressure to hire local American workers instead of taking Indian employees on work visas to client sites as US hardens its stance on outsourcing. Higher on-site hiring also impacts their margins. Infosys has said it will hire 10,000 people in the US over the next two years. Its peers Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro are taking similar steps. IT companies have been one of the largest recruiters in the country. Apart from the impact of stringent visa regime, increasing automation of processes would also lead to reduction in hiring in coming years.Why headphones are not going to save Hi-Fi by Scot Hull You've probably heard the news by now. Hi-Fi is dead. Rumor is, it was murdered. Poison! And it has 36 hours to learn who killed it. [Insert ominous music here] If this idea is even remotely new to anyone out there (other than fans of that dreadful flick with Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan), well, I fear for you. It's practically a Facebook meme at this point -- it's taken as (figuratively) true by just about anyone In The Know. Yes! Just take a look at the number of hi-fi shops that have closed their doors in the last decade alone! Clearly and unequivocally, this is a Sign Of The Apocalypse, and the gasping demise of audio's high-end. In short order, Music by Beats or Spotify or some other streaming music portal will destroy Apple's iTunes and with it, the last remnants of the Old Republic will be swept away. Just so you know, these are probably the same people that said that the CD was obsolete. And before that, that the vinyl disc was obsolete. And before that, that the vacuum tube was obsolete. Ah, me. Clearly, we'd be rattling around like a bean in a can in our house of hyperbolic tomfoolery if we didn't already have it jammed full of overblown predictions. Sometimes, padded walls are good. Look at me! I'm crazy. Look. The fact of the matter is that CD sales are down. Vinyl sales, while recently up, are still way down from historic highs. And yes, proportionally speaking, the vast majority of audio components sold today have absolutely no vacuum tubes anywhere. But there are still CDs, vinyl records, and vacuum tubes being sold and a lot of money still being made. And yes, there are still audio dealers peddling these (and other) wares. So while the market has certainly evolved (thanks, Apple and Amazon et al), it’s worth sticking pins in the ballooning nonsense coming from the Negative Nancy Brigade. The world is not ending. And every once in a while, something new comes along (still!) that sets the world on fire. Take Beats, for example. Originally created by a team of clever folks including Dr Dre, Jimmy Iovine, and Monster Cable team, this headphone brand took the world by storm back in 2008. And by storm, we’re talking about them overtopping $500M in sales this year. If you’re an audio manufacturer in any vertical, that number really ought to wipe the tear-stained snot clean off your face. “Headphone Audio” is now a $2B market! But here’s the fun bit — the total market for hi-fi? About $200M or so, which happens to be down about 50% in the 10 years leading up to about to, well, about now. Said another way, the headphone audio market, which is growing, is about 10 times the size of the hi-fi market, which is shrinking. Said yet another way, Beats — by itself — is outselling the entire hi-fi industry combined, by a factor of two. Ahem. Say what you like about Beats. In fact, you can say anything you like about Beats: “In terms of sound performance, they are among the worst you can buy,” says Tyll Hertsens, editor in chief of InnerFidelity.com, a site for audiophiles. “They are absolutely, extraordinarily bad.” It doesn’t matter. Because Beats are cool and everyone is buying them. Ka-ching! So, if you were a wise businessman and invested in audio, which market would you think was the one to dip your toes into? Lemme give you a hand — if you’re a manufacturer making high-end audio bits and you’re not looking at headphone audio with a greedy stare while jets of saliva arc out of your lower jaw like some sort of underfed cobra, you’re a blithering idiot. For hi-fi, headphone audio is an obvious market adjacency and quite frankly, there’s a lot of room for the average hi-fi manufacturer in the headphone audio space. Yes, headphones have been around for a long time, but quite frankly, the sound quality “over there” trails the hi-fi space by a wide margin. Take Beats, for example. Ahem. Yes, there are quite a few tremendous sounding offerings in the headphone audio space — but take all the world-class headphones and stack them up. Not just good headphones — I mean the best of the best. Right now, that’s a short list. You’ve got: Audeze LCD series Beyerdynamic T1, T5p Grado HP1000, GS1000i HiFiMAN HE-6, HE500 and more JPS Labs Abyss AB-1266 Sennheiser HD800, HD700 and HD650 Stax SR-009, SR-007 I’m sure that there are a few others that deserve to be on that list, but the point is that the list is short. Compare that to the list of world-class loudspeakers that Stereophile has listed for loudspeakers in their 2013 Recommended Components. Yeah, it’s big — and that’s just the stuff they’ve reviewed recently. There’s also a dozen more “highly reputable” websites that have similar lists. I think there’s a few things that all this should tell you. One, there’s a lot of talent playing in hi-fi — even now, in this, the Declining Years. Two, that there isn’t a lot of variety (by contrast) in headphone audio. Yes, there’s some — but if the recent participation in CanJam at RMAF was any indication, with something close to 100 times the number of hi-fi vendors willing to travel and demo than there were headphone audio vendors willing to do the same, the scales are clearly unbalanced. Third, there is a level of insanity quality-chasing in hi-fi that just isn’t present in headphone audio. Sounds like opportunity to me! Check out what’s what with JPS Labs’ new $5,500 Abyss headphone — that thing is incredible sounding, and even at that eye-popping price (at least in the headphone world), it’s still getting a lot of positive reaction. There’s clearly a hunger in the headphone “personal audio” world for mo’ betta’ gear — and hi-fi manufacturers are a natural supplier for such “innovation”. I’ve already opined that headphone audio is going to be inundated with hi-fi sourced uber-product in the next decade (the deluge is only just now starting — check out the $1,000,000 Indiegogo campaign for a desktop headphone amp/DAC combo from LH Labs), and that it’s going to be nuts. It’s also going to be awesome and that’s all to the good for guys like me. But there’s going to be a backlash … but put that aside for now. Let’s take a step to the left and note that I’ve spent a thousand words talking about an exodus from hi-fi into headphone audio. Hopefully, I’ve been quite clear about this because that’s my point — while there’s clearly money being spent on one of the two market segments, headphones, et al, are most assuredly not going to “save” hi-fi. There’s been a lot of ink spilled about how the joys of headphones is the “gateway drug” into the gloriously wonderful world of hi-fi generally. Let’s just say that I think this is hopelessly optimistic and here’s why — by and large, most headphone junkies just don’t give a shit about hi-fi. Never have. Probably never will. Why that is has to do with their age, their demographic and economic status, and their generational experiences, but the point I want to emphatically underline is this — if you’re thinking that the success of Beats is a “good thing” for loudspeaker makers, I’m really sorry to have to disabuse you of this. Think of Tower Records — and how wonderful iTunes was for Tower Records’ business model. Remember Tower Records? Yeah. Look, it’s just not about growing hi-fi market share — I’m talking about it, best-case, as market shift — not growth. Personal audio is eating hi-fi. And the current fixation that hi-fi has with spiraling costs will ensure that most can heads skip the train entirely — the fact that $9 out of $10 dollars spent in audio are spent in personal audio should be speaking volumes. Not rooftop-with-megaphones, but like rock-concert-PA-systems-on-rooftops. Personal audio and hi-fi are market adjacencies; they share certain features, but they’re not the same — think “sports car” and “motorcycle”, for wont of a better analogy. A true motorcycle fiend will never give up the bike, even after they can afford the sports car. And with the bike, there’s an open question as to whether the sports car will ever be “worth it”. These segments are separate. Sure, there’s overlap — that’s why the term ‘adjacency’ fits. But participation in one does not entail any participation, now or in the future, with the other. Assuming otherwise is a great way to miss the boat. And waste money — and opportunity. And I do mean miss. Right now, there’s an old-guard in the headphone space. Certain vendors with long-standing product lines and valued reputations. They’re (still!) making great product and introducing new bits against measured plans. That’s a recipe that’s perfect for a new vendor with a disruptive product — like Beats, say. Given the wild success of Beats, and how utterly pedestrian the reviews of that product line tend to be, clearly there’s room in the segment. On the other hand, first-mover dominance is insanely hard to shake off and Beats isn’t sitting still. Anyone moving into the headphone space, specifically, has their work cut out for them. Daunting, yes, but doable — but best of all, there’s now room to elbow into. I’ll leave off suggesting viable business models, target price points and the potential for crossover products for another day. The long and short of it is this — audio’s high-end is not dead. It’s not even on the table. It is aging and starting to show it, but predictions of its impending death are laughable. Still laughable — we’ve been talking about hi-fi’s demise for decades now. But like Keith Richards [or insert your favorite 1960s/1970s musician or band], it’s still making music and making that music sound good. Even if it looks a bit rickety, no one’s really sure why and how they’re still alive after all that abuse, and any fall is likely break a hip. Hi-fi is, however, evolving. Whether it’ll be able to merge with a related adjacency or be swallowed by it is an open question, but it can most certainly take advantage of it. And it should. And it is, which is the most exciting news I pulled out of this year. We’ll see where it goes. I, for one, am not dumping my hi-fi just yet. But just to be open with ya’ll, I have been buying a lot of headphone audio bits lately. Counterpoint by John Grandberg When Scot asked me to to contribute some thoughts on this op-ed, I was a bit unsure. Was he going to rehash the same tired talking points we’ve all read numerous times before? Maybe. Probably? It sure would be the easy way to go. But hey, it’s Scot, so I figured I should give it a read before I outright turned him down. Once I actually sat down to digest his piece, I realized I had misjudged the guy. He actually had a lot of interesting points to make. Most of which I completely support, but a few that I see in a slightly different light. First off, let’s come right out and say it – the industry is having some difficulties. No denying that. But guess what? So are a lot of other industries! This is a hobby after all, with all the trappings that come along with the word. It demands disposable income and extra time and physical space in your house and…. you see where I’m going with this right? How many people are unemployed right now? How many are working multiple jobs to make ends meet? How many are commuting an extra hour or three each day? For a lot of folks, there just isn’t any extra budget for luxury goods. And even when there is a bit of padding there, enabling a person to buy a respectable sound system, do they even have the free time to sit around and enjoy it? I hear some of you saying “But John, what about those well-to-do folks, for whom time and money are not limiting factors? Surely they are out spending money in the local shops, right?” Which of course is a good point – someone is still buying this stuff, or the companies and magazines (and websites….) would completely cease to exist. Yet I see something of a generational gap at play here, and with it a whole new outlook. No longer is the HiFi something most people aspire to own. For a kid who grew up with tube-driven amplifiers driving big Altec speakers, who handled vinyl on a regular basis and routinely tuned in the local radio station for news and entertainment – it makes sense that this kid would grow up wanting to have a spectacular system of their own. There’s an element of recaptured youth to the whole affair. But that kid is long gone. Someone who grew up with hundreds of television channels at their disposal, or thousands of MP3 tracks in their pocket, or the internet…. those folks have no fond audio memories to rekindle. Even if they somehow catch the bug and become an audiophile, it will be a new thing for them. They won’t have that same emotional attachment. Furthermore, as we became a more fast paced society, we kind of left behind “simple” things like sitting down and enjoying music – without multitasking. Think about that. There’s a whole generation (several actually) who really aren’t used to doing just one single thing at a time. One more bit that seriously contributes to the decline of the industry – overpopulation. Seriously, how many companies are there trying to make speakers? Or preamps? Or DACs? Head over to Audiogon and pick a category. You’ll find dozens or often hundreds of currently active brands represented. And that’s just the current brands in any one category. A lot of them don’t even overlap. Can you imagine other industries being like this? What if there were this many brands out there trying to sell refrigerators? Mind you, a fridge is something that pretty much everyone requires. Every house or apartment or office pretty much has one, maybe two. Yet surely there aren’t a hundred brands out there currently vying for your business. It’s absurd. The analogy works just as well if we use tires, tissue paper, or trampolines. As for just why so many brands exist in the audio kingdom, well…. that’s a topic for a whole other article. Suffice it to say there are just too many players trying to grab a piece of the ever-shrinking pie. Some will disappear, and (with a little luck) the cream will rise to the top. Where am I going with all this, besides making myself sound like a grumpy old codger? Ah yes, HeadFi versus HiFi. I think Scot hits on a lot of truths here. The 15 year old who wants Beats around his neck as a way to fit in? Yeah, that guy is not being “reached”. He likely won’t ever become an audiophile, and if by chance he does…. it won’t have anything to do with those headphones. There’s really no overlap at all. In that respect I completely agree with Scot. Having said all that….. I do see some parallels for certain situations. Example: as a younger guy, maybe living with the parents or in a college dorm, there’s little chance to assemble a nice 2-channel rig. There probably isn’t space, or money, and parents/roommates won’t appreciate it anyway. But if he grabs some nice in-ear monitors (Westone, Ultimate Ears, HiFiMAN, etc) for maybe a few hundred dollars, runs them from his iPhone, then he’s got himself some pretty good sound. As he (or she!) gets more involved in musical enjoyment, incremental upgrades take place – a dedicated DAC, headphone amp, maybe some full size headphones or high-end custom in-ear monitors. Before you know it, this kid qualifies as a full on audiophile, complete with a very respectable (yet headphone based) system – which they would never have been able to achieve using speakers. As this person grows up and enters the “real world”, they find themselves having a place of their own along with more disposable income. What are the chances they decide to get a speaker rig at that point? Pretty good I’d say. Anecdotal, of course, but I’ve seen this happen to lots of people over at HeadFi.org. That younger generation, no longer raised in a home where Dexter Gordon and Charlie Parker were in regular rotation, now develops their own musical tradition based around groups like Muse, The Strokes, Radiohead, et al. This sequence, or one very similar, is playing out as we speak, all over the globe. As long as there is teen angst, there’s a potential new pool of music lovers out there. And once they experience good sound, chances are they’ll keep wanting more. The only other thing I’d add to this is that we need to keep a fresh perspective about what exactly constitutes “HiFi”. If we’re looking at speakers, turntables and preamps as the chief criteria, then yeah, there’s only so much potential for innovation. But look at the DAC market – major improvements in the past few years. What about music streamers? Dedicated audiophile playback software for PC and Mac? Active room correction? High-res PCM and DSD downloads? Ever-maturing Class D amplification? There’s actually a lot going on if you think about it. If we can free ourselves from the anachronistic notion that a “real” system must involve vinyl or giant monoliths for speakers, we’ll see a whole new world of great sounding gear to play with. At the same time, if you like your VTL and your Wilsons, those will still be around. It’s win-win in my book. The industry may or may grow bigger as the economy (hopefully) improves, but make no mistake – good things are definitely happening. Counter-Counter Point The team at Audio360.org have offered up some more thoughts on this (I even chimed in again, because I can’t seem to help myself) and you can find those. They also link a couple of others that had different … takes. Check it out. [Editor’s Note: Audio360 is no longer live] Got something to add? Feel free to chime in in the comments section!The secret behind the hot sales of "The Road to Serfdom" by free-market economist F. A. Hayek By Bruce Caldwell Friedrich Hayek, Nobel-prize winning economist and well-known proponent of free markets, is having a big month. He was last seen rap-debating with John Maynard Keynes in the viral video above, (in which Hayek is portrayed as the sober voice of reason while Keynes overindulges at a party at the Fed). His 1944 book, "The Road to Serfdom," provided the theme for John Stossel's Fox Business News program on Valentine's Day. Hayek, who died in 1992, is also reemerging as a bestselling author. A new edition of Hayek's seminal book, "The Road to Serfdom," was published in March 2007 by the University of Chicago Press as part of a series called "The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek," for which I serve as editor. For over a year-and-a-half, the book sold respectably, at a clip of about 600 copies a month. But then, in November 2008, sales more than quadrupled, and they haven't slowed down since. What's more, the Kindle edition went on sale in late May 2009 and is now the best-selling book that the University of Chicago Press has offered in that format. This would be a pretty good sales record for a contemporary author, but it is nothing short of amazing for a book originally published in 1944, and by an economist, no less. What accounts for it? I would like to think that it's due to the exceptional editing I did on the volume, but, alas, I think there is something larger going on. First off, the November 2008 sales spike date certainly suggests that Obama's election and the passing of control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats may have been an initial factor. The Republicans had been walloped, and some sought principled arguments that could be used to combat the policies of the party in power. Even though Hayek himself disdained having his ideas attached to either party, he nonetheless provided arguments about the dangers of the unbridled growth of government. Another early impetus may have been the characterization of the health care debate as being about socialized medicine. Hayek, whose book is perhaps the most famous attack on socialist central planning, would naturally be invoked by the health plan's opponents. But perhaps the biggest stimulus to sales was, well, the stimulus package. The macroeconomic analyses of John Maynard Keynes had gone quickly out of vogue in the 1970s, when a decade of stagflation delivered a death blow to the notion of Keynesian fine-tuning of the economy. But in early 2009, people were talking about Keynes again, and indeed the fiscal stimulus package, to the extent that it had a theoretical underpinning, would find one in Keynesian economics. (The Fed's policy of flooding the financial system with liquidity, on the other hand, finds its grounding in the economic analysis of Milton Friedman, the father of monetarism, a doctrine that used to be portrayed in introductory macroeconomics classes as the chief rival to Keynesian thought.) Because Keynes and Hayek actually did have a great debate over their rival theoretical models of a monetary economy in the early 1930s, just as the Slump of 1930 was turning into the Great Depression, it seemed natural for opponents of these policies to turn to Hayek's writings. (For those who are interested in this episode, I recommend a perusal of volume 9 of The Collected Works, Contra Keynes and Cambridge.) Not only is "The Road to Serfdom" still relevant in our own time, it has something else going for it, too. It is actually readable. Anyone who has tried to master Keynes's "General Theory," or for that matter Hayek's rival title "Prices and Production," will find the going pretty tough. Not so for "The Road to Serfdom," a book that was condensed by Reader's Digest in April 1945, just as the war in Europe was ending. Plus, "The Road to Serfdom" is, simply put, a great, evocative title. And with 10 percent unemployment, people certainly have more time to read it. In the end, however, I think that the underlying reason for the sustained interest in Hayek's book is that it taps into a profound dissatisfaction in the public mind with the machinations of its government. Both Presidents Bush and Obama have presided over huge growth in the size of the federal government and in the size of the federal deficit, with little obvious effect on unemployment. Things seem out of control. Furthermore, a recurrent theme in the news is that, in contrast to the millions who are suffering, the politically connected are doing just fine. The examples are everywhere, from bailed out financiers getting huge bonuses to public union employees getting hefty pensions, from auto companies that are nationalized instead of going belly up to politically savvy firms that get government subsidies to produce products that would be otherwise unprofitable. For people upset by such trends, "The Road to Serfdom" opens a window onto another time, when debates about how best to restructure an economy emerging from wartime were taking place. Such debates, as the strong sales of the book clearly show, still have resonance today. -- Bruce Caldwell is a professor of economics and director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University and general editor of "The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek." By Steven E. Levingston \| February 17, 2010; 5:30 AM ET Politics, Steven Levingston Previous: Poet's Choice: "Embedded in the Language" by Maxine Chernoff \| Next: How the conservative media harm democracy Posted by: Avid-Reader \| February 17, 2010 10:48 AM Posted by: ContrarianLibertarian \| February 17, 2010 4:55 PM Posted by: piniella \| February 17, 2010 9:04 PM The comments to this entry are closed.Facebook's acquisition of Oculus Rift was not met with universal acclaim. You may recall, for instance, that Markus "Notch" Persson canceled a planned Oculus version of Minecraft, saying the Facebook deal "creeps me out". (He later relented.) But Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe says the company opted to join with Facebook, instead of Microsoft or Sony, specifically to avoid the limitations of an existing platform. "If we were going to partner with somebody, because this is a long road ahead... We were thinking the whole time that we wouldn't partner with Microsoft or Sony," Iribe said during an address at the Business Insider's Ignition conference. Google was out as well, according to the Business Insider report, because of its lack of focus. "We didn't know how much time we'd get from the leadership team," he said. The social aspects of Facebook, on the other hand, fit well with what Iribe sees as the Oculus Rift's great potential as a social platform. "Your brain just believes you're there," he said. "The next step is to feel like you're there with other people." Facebook dropped $2 billion (yes, billion) to acquire Oculus VR earlier this year, an especially remarkable amount of money given than Oculus hasn't actually released a product yet. And Notch wasn't the only one who was unhappy about it: Our reactions in the immediate aftermath of the buyout weren't entirely and unrelentingly upbeat either, though we've been consistently impressed by the tech itself. Here are the most recent hands-on, (or, indeed, 'eyes-in'), impressions from our hardware guru Wes.Image copyright David Lagerlof / Expo / via PA Image caption Ms Asplund said she was "shocked" by the reaction to the picture A photograph of a woman with her fist raised defying a uniformed march of neo-Nazis in Sweden has gone viral. Activist Tess Asplund took part in a counter-demonstration during a Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) rally in Borlange on Sunday. She has been widely praised on social media, including by Harry Potter author J K Rowling, who has called her "magnificent". Ms Asplund said she was "shocked" by the reaction. The anti-racism activist told Swedish P4 radio station that her act was an impulse, as she thought the neo-Nazi demonstration should not be being held there. Some 300 people attended the march. Others joined the counter-demonstration, many wearing clown costumes. The picture, by photographer David Lagerlof, has been widely shared on social media and by newspapers and websites around the world. Ms Asplund said it would be "great" if the photo made people pay more attention to the fight against racism and xenophobia but that she did not want to be seen as a symbol. On Twitter, many users called her "hero" and "amazing". Others noted her "unbelievable bravery" and "courage". A message of support from British author Ms Rowling has been retweeted more than 6,000 times and liked by more than 12,000 people. Image copyright Twitter - @jk_rowling Neo-Nazi movements have been on the rise in Sweden and other European countries as a result of the migration crisis. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats Party is the third biggest political force in the country. The country, which has a decades-old reputation for welcoming refugees and political asylum seekers, has introduced tighter border controls in an attempt to control the influx. Alongside Germany, Sweden is one of the main destinations for migrants trying to reach Europe. Tensions there have been heightened by arson attacks on asylum centres and other cases of violence.There’s at least one clear winner in the debate over President Barack Obama’s new gun control executive actions: Hillary Clinton. How many guns Obama’s new rules will actually take off the streets or what kind of effects they’ll actually have on reducing violence are, at best, open questions. Even the National Rifle Association went out of its way to downplay their significance. Story Continued Below The new batch of executive actions are more about the politics of pushing the issue forward—and the White House and Clinton campaign are both thrilled with how well it’s working so far. Clinton’s heading into the final weeks of a primary challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose record in Congress voting against gun restrictions is a rare diversion from Democratic base orthodoxy. Then she’ll head into a general election looking for more reasons to call Republicans extremist and out of touch. After months of repeatedly being out of sync with the White House — on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, on the Keystone XL pipeline, on immigration reform, on Syria — she’s gone out of her way to embrace Obama’s opening move for 2016, praising the gun control actions at every campaign trail stop she’s made since New Year’s, including Tuesday, when she gushed to an Iowa town hall about how “very proud” she is of the president. Clinton made sure to take some credit along the way. “I’m very proud of what the President called for this morning with his executive order,” she told an energetic crowd of supporters packed into an ornate theater in Sioux City, Iowa. “I was pleased because some of what he’d called for, I’d advocated for a couple months ago in the debates and in the campaign.” She pointed to her support for more stringent background checks, closing a variety of loopholes and her opposition to allowing anyone on the terrorism "no-fly" list to purchase a gun. Clinton, saying she wanted to appeal to “responsible gun owners,” stressed she saw a path to reform that would be “in accord with the Constitution.” “For heavens’ sake, we all need to be more responsible, there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said. “I’m going to keep standing up and fighting to keep guns out of the hands of fugitives and felons and terrorists and people who have mental health, serious problems and the like, and I need your help to do that.” Gun control is an issue, a Clinton campaign aide
election next year, raising the specter of another major fight over the tax agency and political targeting. Mr. Koskinen took over at the IRS after the May 2013 revelation that agency employees singled tea party and conservative groups out for special scrutiny, asking intrusive questions and delaying their applications for nonprofit status well beyond reasonable times. Ms. Lerner took administrative leave that month and resigned her post four months later. The Obama administration said part of the problem was that the rules were too confusing, leaving the nonprofit groups and IRS auditors uncertain about what activity was allowed. The IRS has tried a rewrite of those rules that would have prohibited nonprofit groups from conducting voter registration drives or hosting candidate forums. Overwhelming public opposition forced Mr. Koskinen to abandon that proposal, but he said Tuesday that he would try again. “We would hope that we’d be able to provide these proposed new rules early enough next year so that they could — the work on them can be completed well in advance of the election so there wouldn’t be any confusion,” he said. “But I would stress that the work that we’re doing now is focused on clarifying — not changing — but clarifying the rules under which organizations operate.” Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, told Mr. Koskinen that seemed like a waste of time and money when the IRS is already struggling to handle taxpayers’ phone calls during filing season and losing billions of dollars a year to tax fraud. Mr. Hatch said he would push to impose more restrictions on IRS employees engaging in political activities outside of work. He also said he would try to dent the influence of the labor union representing IRS employees, which the senator suspected of helping feed the tea party targeting. “Our overall goal here should be to restore the credibility of the IRS and ensure that this very powerful agency treats all American taxpayers fairly,” Mr. Hatch said. He and other senators were critical of the IRS decision to award bonuses to some of the officials involved in “bad decisions” that led to the targeting. “The targeting scandal, coupled with poor customer service and general mismanagement, has shaken what confidence taxpayers had in the IRS,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican. “To move beyond this, Congress and the IRS are going to have to work together to make the necessary changes to ensure similar abuses can never happen again.” Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The education system of Newark, New Jersey, has faced years of crisis, with high dropout rates, low-performing schools and a state takeover dating back two decades. In 2010, an unlikely trio emerged with a bold pledge to fix it. The three were Republican Governor Chris Christie, Democratic Mayor of Newark Cory Booker and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. And they made their announcement on The Oprah Winfrey Show. OPRAH WINFREY: Mayor Booker, for those who don’t know, what’s the big news? MAYOR CORY BOOKER: Well, we’ve been talking for quite some time about creating a bold new paradigm for educational excellence in the country, to show the way, to put the people of the city of Newark really in the driver’s seat and in the focal point, and to work to get all of the assets and resources we need to give to them to succeed. OPRAH WINFREY: So, Governor Christie, what are you committing to? What are you committing to? GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE: What I’m committing to is changing the schools in the city where I was born and spent the first years of my life. And Mayor Booker is going to be the point person, our lead guy in Newark, in helping to develop this entirely new plan of how to reform the education system in Newark and create a national model. I’m empowering him to do that. I’m in charge of the public schools in the city of Newark as governor. I’m going to empower Mayor Booker to develop that plan and to implement it, with a superintendent of schools that we’re going to pick together. OPRAH WINFREY: I think that is so fantastic. … So, Mr. Zuckerberg, what role are you playing in all of this? Are the rumors true? Will there be a check offered at some point? Yes. MARK ZUCKERBERG: Well, yeah, I’ve committed to starting the Startup:Education foundation, whose first project will be a $100 million challenge grant for— OPRAH WINFREY: One hundred million dollars. MARK ZUCKERBERG: A hundred million dollars. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was a clip from Oprah in 2010. But despite trumpeting their plan as a model for national school reform, the story of what followed emerges as a cautionary tale. With matching funds from other donors, millions of dollars initially flowed not to the schools but to outside consultants, most of them white and with no ties to Newark’s majority African-American community. Some consultants made up to $1,000 a day. AMY GOODMAN: Shunning input from teachers, parents, community members, officials pushed a neoliberal education agenda favored by Wall Street and lobby groups. Charter schools were radically expanded, and teachers were evaluated by their students’ test scores. As charter school attendance doubled, public schools were shuttered, and educators and support staff lost their jobs. Neighborhood schooling was replaced with a lottery system that divided families and forced children into dangerous commutes. While some students benefited from placement in the higher-funded charter schools, the Newark school system’s overall performance level fell even lower. The author Dale Russakoff covered the Newark education reform effort from the beginning and recounts it in her new book, The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools? She was previously a reporter at The Washington Post for 28 years, where she covered politics, education and social policy. Dale Russakoff, welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Thank you. AMY GOODMAN: I mean, this even fits into presidential politics, and always, overall education policy, Chris Christie being one of the Republican presidential candidates. But talk about just what happened, from the beginning. OK, we just played the announcement on Oprah. Mark Zuckerberg, $100 million he’s giving to the Newark school system. What happened? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes, well, Mark Zuckerberg did give $100 million, and Cory Booker and Chris Christie did raise a second $100 million. And $60 million of it went to expand the charter schools in Newark, which, unlike charter schools nationally, do outperform the district schools significantly. So those children got, in many cases, a much better opportunity. But the children who were in the district schools did not benefit. And what they promised was that they weren’t just going to expand charter schools, they were going to turn all of the schools in Newark into high-performing schools. Cory Booker said he was going to create a “hemisphere of hope” in Newark. And what’s happened to the district schools, where 60 percent of the children go, is not a positive story. They’ve had, in every—every year since they brought in the new superintendent, there’s been declines in reading and math throughout the school district. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But as Governor Christie said in that Oprah clip, he’s in charge of the Newark school system, because it’s been basically under state receivership now for several decades, yet none of this seems to have rubbed off on Governor Christie. DALE RUSSAKOFF: No, Governor Christie seems to have basically, you know, washed his hands of it. Just when he started his campaign on an intensive daily basis, he moved out the superintendent, who he had brought in, who had become the focus of all of the controversy, brought in another—his former education commissioner to run the show, and announced that he is going to return, over the course of the next few years, maybe within a year—return control of the district, after all these years, to the Newark voters. AMY GOODMAN: This also is a story about the education of Mark Zuckerberg. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: Explain what he understood at the beginning how the money would be used, and how involved he has been. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Well, I think that one of the biggest surprises is that Mark Zuckerberg came into this without doing a lot of due diligence about what was going to happen with his money. The best you could say is that Cory Booker swept him off his feet and told him that he— AMY GOODMAN: How did they meet? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Oh, well, they met at a retreat for billionaires and politicians and celebrities, which is held every year in Sun Valley, Idaho. And— AMY GOODMAN: The retreat is called? DALE RUSSAKOFF: It’s— AMY GOODMAN: It doesn’t have a name? DALE RUSSAKOFF: I don’t think it has a name. But it’s Herbert Allen, the investment banker, sponsors it every year. And it just so happened that they were both going, Booker as a presenter and Zuckerberg as a billionaire investor. And it was the first time for both of them. And they met, and Cory Booker knew that Zuckerberg was going to be there, and he knew also that Zuckerberg was contemplating, at age 26, his first act as a philanthropist and that he wanted to do something, quote, “big,” unquote, in education. And Booker persuaded him that this was something that he should invest his money in, that Newark was on the verge of a revolutionary change in education and that his $100 million could make a big difference. So, there really wasn’t a tremendous amount of due diligence. The way that Booker presented it to him was almost like, you know, a startup of a tech company, that we’ll have a proof point in Newark, we’ll find just five or six things that we can do here that will transform education, and then we can take it to every city in the country, every inner city that has struggling schools, and that Zuckerberg, as a philanthropist, could spend the rest of his philanthropic life changing urban schools for the better. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you talk a lot about—in the book, about how this was an attempt, as much of what’s happening in education is today, of reform from the top down— DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: —of a few people coming up with a plan, finding the finances and then imposing their will on every—all the other stakeholders in the system. Could you talk about how that played out in Newark? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes. Well, you know, it sounded like it would play out pretty easily, because Chris Christie, as the governor, controlled the schools. The governor had controlled the schools for, at that point, 15 years, because there had been a state takeover in 1995 after findings of rampant corruption and terrible neglect of students. So—but the state had not really improved the situation in Newark. Nonetheless, they thought that they had all the power they needed to bring this about. But what happened was, this was—I mean, in Booker and Christie and Zuckerberg’s view, it was important to bypass the people and bypass the local power structure, because they felt the powers that be would undermine education reform, because unions and political bosses would try to defend the status quo. So their point was, in the name of the children, we’re going to bypass the democratic process. But what happened in Newark was that— JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And—but also bypass the parents of those children. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Well, exactly. That’s what I was going to say, that it wasn’t just that they were bypassing the unions and the bosses. The parents of the children of Newark found out about this revolutionary change from Oprah, just the way the national television audience did. There was no preparation and no discussion, no input. And so, over—as the details began to come out, and they began to find out what was going to happen in the way of school closings and layoffs and children having to switch—you know, thousands of children having to switch schools because their schools were either closing or consolidating, it became just a grassroots revolution almost. And I think that that’s the reason that Governor Christie wanted to wash his hands of this whole thing, after having gone on Oprah and tried to sort of tout it as a national model. And so, the political uprising ended up almost, you know—well, not single-handedly, but significantly helping to elect Ras Baraka, who was a high school principal, who ran for mayor almost exclusively on a platform of stopping these reforms. And even though the education reform movement put over $5 million into the campaign of his opponent, he won significantly, just because of this grassroots uprising. So, it wasn’t just unions and bosses, it was parents and people in Newark who felt that they—you know, that somebody who didn’t understand the children and whose interests they weren’t really sure of was in charge of their schools. AMY GOODMAN: Has the money been spent? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Most of it has—almost all of it has been spent. There’s actually $30 million that hasn’t been spent, because what it was—it was raised and allocated for a principals’ contract and for teacher—for buyouts of bad teachers, and neither of those things came to pass. The principals and the district never reached an agreement, and the buyouts never materialized. So there’s $30 million left. And it looks as if there may be some kind of agreement between the Christie administration and Ras Baraka to spend that—some of that money on creating community schools, which are schools that would have social services not just for students, but also for adults and for neighborhoods, and that schools could be something of a community center, you know, after the school day for children in the neighborhood. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to ask you about some of the key figures that were involved in this. A couple of them actually worked for a time in the New York public school system—Chris Cerf and Cami Anderson. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Their roles and the internal battles and what happened to them as a result of these parent uprisings? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes, well, Chris Cerf was the commissioner, the state commissioner of education, who was in charge of the Newark schools by virtue of being Christie’s agent in charge of education in the state. And he was the supervisor and boss of the superintendent, Cami Anderson. And Cerf had been the number one deputy to Joel Klein, who was chancellor of New York City schools for eight years and was—had become a national champion and national hero of the education reform movement. And so, Cerf basically brought the same ideas that Joel Klein had used in New York, and wanted to—and he was in very many ways the architect of what happened in Newark and followed the—you know, followed Joel Klein’s model. They hired Cami Anderson to be the superintendent, and she had been one of Klein’s deputies. She was in charge of alternative schools in New York City, so that included the students on—you know, who are in prison on Rikers Island, that included pregnant teenagers, you know, people who had aged out of the system and came back as adults to learn. So she had the most challenging students in New York City. And interestingly, you know, Cerf’s idea was to—and Booker’s idea and Christie’s idea and Zuckerberg’s idea was to use charter schools as a big part of this expansion and reform, and also then to take the district schools and try to make them much more sort of running on a business model and have a lot more accountability for teachers, have high penalties for teachers who were the weakest and great rewards for those who were the best, some of which materialized. So, anyway, but Cami Anderson became, you know, the superintendent and was in many ways the lightning rod for all of these—all of these reforms. AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to comments recently by Chris Cerf, the new state-appointed superintendent of Newark public schools. CHRISTOPHER CERF: The graduation rate is improved considerably. That’s probably the most important statistic of all. STEVE ADUBATO: High school? CHRISTOPHER CERF: High school graduation rate. It’s gone from the mid-50s up into the mid-60s. The percentage of students who are graduating from high school, having passed our exit exam here in the state, called HSPA, has gone up significantly. There’s been some very important work in professional development. AMY GOODMAN: That is Newark School Superintendent Chris Cerf appearing on the program One-on-One. Your response to that, Dale Russakoff? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Well, the graduation rate has gone up, but it actually went up in the first year that Cami Anderson was there and has been flat ever since, so those were students who had already been in the schools for three years. It’s not clear that what they’ve been doing in Newark has increased the graduation rate. And unfortunately, if you look at college readiness, the ACT shows that only 2 to 5 percent of students in the comprehensive high schools are college-ready. Those comprehensive high schools are schools that are not magnets and not charters. So, I think that, you know, it’s very unclear what’s going on at the high school level. And if you look at the kindergarten through eighth grade, all of the test scores have gone down since Cami Anderson became the superintendent. I don’t think that’s because she has—you know, because she damaged the schools in what she did. I just don’t think that the changes that she made were—well, the changes that she made were probably, you know, in many cases, positive, but there was no focus on getting more money to the classroom to support the kids who have such incredible needs in Newark and in cities like it. You have a lot of poverty. Children witness violence on a regular basis. And for teachers to try to reach those kids, there has to be more support. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, now you’re in a situation where you have a mayor who came to power basically opposing these neoliberal reforms in the school system, but yet he has no impact or control over the school system. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Right. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: So he’s now in a position where he’s uniting with the parents to continue a grassroots opposition—the mayor and the parents—to his own school system. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes, yes. And he’s also in a funny position because he is now sort of in alliance with Christie and with Chris Cerf, who’s—Chris Cerf is now the superintendent of schools. And, you know, he’s trying to work out some kind of a peaceful resolution so that Newark can—you know, so that the people can take control of the schools, and at the same time, you know, not—he’s concerned that if he—I think if he collaborates too much with them, that he’ll lose the advantage that he should have when he becomes—you know, when the schools come back to local control. But the mayor will not control the schools even then. It will be an elected school board. He’ll have a lot of influence over those people—you know, over the elections, but he won’t control them or the schools. AMY GOODMAN: The grassroots uprising you describe, how did parents organize? Some of your most beautiful passages are how the teachers and the principals battled for the students, who have grown up in poverty in one of the poorest cities in the United States, and what they tried to do, as well. DALE RUSSAKOFF: Yes, well, the parents just—you know, there were a lot of organizational efforts that went around the schools that were being closed and consolidated. Parents started assembling and picketing in front of the schools. And at first it was just kind of very dispersed, and then, actually, as Ras Baraka’s mayoral campaign progressed, they started rallying around him, and instead of just turning up at individual schools, there were mass meetings at churches that he often appeared at, and parents from all of the schools came. And, you know, there was just this feeling that we don’t—we don’t know what’s happening to our schools or to our kids, and we don’t trust the process. And he became the rallying point for them and their opposition. And I think that there was also a sense that their teachers—they trusted their teachers, and they trusted their principals, and they didn’t trust the people who were in charge of whatever these reforms were bringing about. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the lessons of Newark for the rest of the country? Because, obviously, education battles are sprouting throughout America, whether it’s over Common Core or whether it’s over opting out of standardized tests, and the degree—the number and percentage of charter schools that are developing in all the major cities in the country and pushing out public schools. Your sense of what—the main lessons that you draw that people across America should learn from your book? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Well, I think that what happened in Newark, you know, in terms of just the political uprising against the changes, came from parents feeling that somebody’s in charge of education who doesn’t understand our kids. And while, you know, Newark is very different from suburban communities, I think that’s the feeling a lot of suburban parents have, who are upset about testing. They feel that this is not in the best interest of our kids, or at least this level of testing isn’t in the best interest of our kids. And so, it’s the same—you know, in many ways, it’s the same impulse. AMY GOODMAN: You had extensive access given to you by Cory Booker. Can you talk about how he felt about the students? Would you say he put it above his political career? DALE RUSSAKOFF: Well, I think that he cares very much about students. He relates to them when he’s in schools. You can see that, you know, he really does care a lot about the kids. But he did not stick with this plan. I mean, I think once he got the $100 million gift, and once he had gone on Oprah to announce it, there was a lot less focus on the ground of really carrying out changes in Newark. AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you very much, Dale Russakoff, for joining us, author of The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?, reporter for The Washington Post for more than a quarter of a century. And as we wrap up, Juan, you’re giving a major address tonight at New York University, the King Juan Carlos Center, on Puerto Rican debt crisis. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yes. I decided, after writing numerous columns in the Daily News and talking here about it, that that never—I’ve never been able to do a full explanation of what is happening with the debt crisis and what are the potential solutions for—what can the United States can do to help Puerto Rico in the current crisis. So I’m hoping to do that tonight at NYU. AMY GOODMAN: So that’s at the Juan Carlos Center at New York University tonight at 7:00 p.m. There will be a live stream, as well, and we will link to it at democracynow.org. Democracy Now! is hiring a director of development to lead our fundraising efforts. You can send in your résumé. You can get more information at democracynow.org.On December 3rd 1992, a 22-year-old Canadian test engineer sat down and typed out a very simple message, "Merry Christmas." It flew over the Vodafone network to the phone of one Richard Jarvis, and since then, we just haven't been able to stop texting. Texting is a major staple of communication now, and by far the main use of a phone for many, but it didn't start out that way. In the very beginning, texts where just a way to send network notifications, namely to let you know you had a voice-mail. In 1993, Nokia became the first company to make GSM handsets capable of person-to-person texting, but it still didn't skyrocket to popularity for several years. By 1995, people were only sending.4 text messages a month on average. Advertisement Things couldn't be more wildly different today. In 2010, the world sent over 6.1 trillion messages, or roughly 193,000 per second. And that's just good old-fashioned SMS, not the dozens upon dozens of services it's inspired. So while you're launching your daily flurry of textuals, take a second to consider the fact that your inane contributions are part of an unimaginable avalanche of data. It's txting's bday u guys, LOL.[Wikipedia] Image by chaoss/ShutterstockWork on ‘Metropolis’ – the next scheduled software release for the ethereum blockchain project – continues, according to a new blog post from its creator, Vitalik Buterin. While absent of any concrete release date, the blog offers a window into the platform’s development efforts, as well as details about the changes that could be included in the Metropolis update. Metropolis follows two previous versions of ethereum, ‘Homestead‘ (released last March) and ‘Frontier‘, which debuted in July 2015. As detailed by CoinDesk in December, ethereum’s developer team has largely been looking ahead to future releases, having been stymied by events such as the collapse of The DAO and denial-of-service attacks against the ethereum network. Buterin said today that those efforts are accelerating. He wrote: “During the last month and a half, the Ethereum Core development and research teams have been building upon the progress made in the last year, and with the specter of last year’s security issues now well behind us, work has [begun] full force on implementing the Metropolis hard fork.” The post includes a list of proposals likely to be included in Metropolis. One major plank is the concept of “abstraction”, embodied in Ethereum Improvement Proposal 86, which aims to cut complexity in the system by shifting some of its foundational rules around security into contracts. Among other items, Buterin touched on collaborative work being pursued by the ethereum and zcash teams, and indicated that developers are in the process of including a new programming language to complement Solidity, ethereum’s smart contracting language. Image via ShutterstockIf you were wandering around Prague this Christmas season you may have spotted a Raspberry Pi 2 controlled Christmas tree. But you had to look quick because it was on the back of a special tram car that lubricates the rails around the city to reduce noise. The colors on the tree were determined by a web site that allowed visitors to change the colors. The same system, with a few adjustments, controlled a tree in the entrance hall of Czech Technical University in Prague at Karlovo. The adjustments weren’t trival. Power was a problem, for one. The electrical noise from the tram’s drive motors needed to be filtered by using a switching power supply. Cold temperatures might have created a frozen Pi so they added a heater. After all, everyone loves warm Pi. The LEDs on the tree were handled by a WS2811 addressable LED driver chip. You can catch the tram any time on the web, but the tree will be gone once the Christmas season ends.Quarterbacks & Running Backs Lamar Jackson didn't finish the season as hot as he started it, but the full body of work stands up just fine. He's the first player in FBS history to throw for more than 3,300 yards and rush for more than 1,500 in the same season, he runs the country's No. 2 offense in yards per game, and among the nine QBs with 540 or more total passing and rushing plays, he leads in average yards per play (eight) by almost a full yard. His team lost two close games, one of them to Playoff-bound Clemson, and his offensive line disappeared against Houston. So repeat: 3,300 and 1,500. D'Onta Foreman was by far 2016's most prolific running back, and he did that despite his team rarely having big leads that it needed to sit on. Dalvin Cook was again one of the country's most explosive backs, ranking No. 4 in 10-yard runs, and he came up biggest in FSU's biggest (non-Louisville) games. Quarterback Louisville Lamar Jackson No. 2 in total yardage (4,928), No. 2 in total touchdowns (51) qb Voting #1 Lamar Jackson, Louisville #2 Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma #3 Jake Browning, Washington #4 Deshaun Watson, Clemson #5 Patrick Mahomes II, Texas Tech #6 Jalen Hurts, Alabama #7 Zach Terrell, Western MichiganKim Dotcom has been released from prison after a New Zealand judge granted him bail. The Megaupload founder will be the subject of strict conditions including no Internet access after the prosecution expressed fears he might reopen the site. Dotcom will now continue his fight against extradition to the United States on copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering charges. Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was released on bail by North Shore District Court Judge Nevin Dawson today. Dotcom had been held in custody since an anti-terrorist police squad raided his Coatesville mansion last month following a lengthy FBI investigation. While the prosecution argued that Dotcom would have the financial resources to flee the country, the Judge concluded that “none of significance” were found. An investigation did turn up four additional bank accounts in the Philippines but they were all empty. As a result the Megaupload founder was released from prison and will continue to fight the accusations of the United States, where he is wanted on racketeering, copyright infringement and money laundering charges. Although no longer in prison, Dotcom will have to abide by several strict conditions at his Coatesville house. No helicopters will be allowed to land on the premises, Dotcom will have to give police 24 hours notice should he choose to leave, and when he does there will be a limit of 80km to his travels. The Megaupload founder will also be denied access to the Internet. Dotcom’s lawyer Paul Davison tried to lift the Internet restriction by arguing that it was unrealistic since his client has to stay in touch with his US-based defense team. “It’s like saying he shouldn’t have access to a telephone, it’s such a fundamental means of communication,” Davison noted. Prosecutor Anne Toohey said that Internet access would increase the risk of a Megaupload resurrection in a jurisdiction where US authorities can’t touch it. Bram van der Kolk, Mathias Ortmann and Finn Batato, three other Megaupload employees named in the “Mega Conspiracy” indictment, were all previously released on bail. The former recently called on the New Zealand authorities to keep its dignity in its extradition dealings with the United States.For three days nobody saw Marcelo Bielsa. He was in his room at the Conquistador Hotel in Santa Fe but he had not emerged since arriving, chewed up by the 6-0 home defeat Newell's Old Boys had suffered against San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores earlier that week. His project, his great plan, was falling apart and El Loco was suffering a crisis of faith. Newell's had won the Apertura championship in 1990-91, playing brilliant, vibrant football but, exhausted, they had stuttered badly in the Clausura championship and were even worse in the Apertura in 1991-92. In the whole of 1991 they had won only nine of 38 league games. The Clausura had, at least, begun with a 2-0 win over Quilmes but the humiliation against San Lorenzo had set the doubts loose again. "I shut myself in my room," Bielsa said, "turned off the light, closed the curtains and I realised the true meaning of an expression we sometimes use lightly: 'I want to die.' I burst into tears. I could not understand what was happening around me. I suffered as a professional and I suffered as a fan." After a tearful phone call to his wife, Laura, Bielsa made his decision: he would not abandon his philosophy; he would intensify it. He gathered his players together and explained his vision. "Still under the emotional shock," he said, "there was born a new manner of understanding the tactics of the team. For quite some time I had had some ideas about individuality and its contribution to the joint effort, which I hadn't put into practice because they involved too many rotations in the field. "We came through our failings to refresh the structure and a seemingly unfortunate situation allowed us to relaunch the general idea, through a series of changes of position." And so the tactical future of the game began to be shaped. Newell's drew 0-0 against Union that weekend but once the revolution got going it was irrepressible. Newell's lost once in clinching the Clausura title and won four and drew three of their seven remaining group games in the Libertadores. They drew San Lorenzo again in the quarter-final and this time beat them 5-1 on aggregate. They got by America de Cali on penalties in the semi-final but, just as a glorious double loomed, they were beaten on penalties in the final by São Paulo. An exhausted Bielsa left for Atlas in Mexico but his point had been proved and his influence remained. Gerardo 'Tata' Martino was a key player in that Newell's team (which also included the Southampton manager, Mauricio Pochettino). Operating across the front of midfield, he was the side's main creator but he was also the emotional hub. "He is an exceptional player, of a different category, thinking in a way that at times isn't recognised," Bielsa said. "I always say that he is the leader of the team, serene, calm when it is necessary. After defeats he's the one the young players look to." Martino is not another Bielsa – he is far too pragmatic for that – but he is bielsista, not merely in his football but in his look: he too sports a fluffy demi-mullet and while there may not be a cord on his glasses, he still exudes the air of a bookish academic who cannot quite work out why he is wearing a tracksuit rather than tweed. Martino moved into coaching in 1998 and pursued a peripatetic career. When he returned to Newell's in 2012, it was his ninth club in 14 years, five of which had been spent with the Paraguay national team. He won three Paraguayan titles across two spells at Libertad and led the national side to the final of the Copa America in 2011. He came back holding his nose, calling Argentinian football "hysterical" and "dirty" and lamenting the physicality of a game in which the result overshadows everything else. "Aesthetics are despised," he said in an interview in La Nación. "Some would say that a game was bad and finished 2-1 but others make you think it was a great match." Given the way his Paraguay side ground their way through games – they scored three and conceded two in five games (plus one batch of extra time) at the 2010 World Cup, while their last-16 tie against Japan was probably the worst game of the tournament; at the Copa America, after showing some spark in the group stage, they shut out Brazil in the quarter-final, drawing 0-0 and winning on penalties before doing the same to Venezuela in the semi – a complaint about aesthetics seemed a little rich. But he took a Newell's side that had finished 18th and sixth in the previous season's Apertura and Clausura and shaped them into a purposeful, attractive team. Perhaps they did not score as many goals as some would have liked but they pressed hard, defended well and passed neatly. And then, like so many bielsista teams, they ran out of steam on the run-in, surrendering the Torneo Inicial to Vélez Sarsfield. But they regrouped and came back refreshed for the Torneo final, winning it by three points and answering criticism of their lack of goals return by racking up 40 in 19 games, 12 more than anybody else. Like Bielsa's side 21 years earlier, for a time it seemed possible they might do the double of Libertadores and domestic title (something that has never been done since Argentina adopted its present basic league structure in 1985). They edged by Vélez on away goals, beat Boca Juniors on penalties and then led Atlético Minero 2-0 after the first leg of the semi-final. As 21 years earlier, though, Newell's dreams were shattered by a penalty shoot-out defeat in Brazil. So Martino has a decent, if not spectacular record. He has never coached in Europe and many great South American managers have struggled, at least initially, in trying to make the transition. Past record, though, has rarely been central to Barcelona's appointments. Frank Rijkaard's only club experience had been to relegate Sparta Rotterdam for the only time in their history. Pep Guardiola had had one year in charge of the reserve side. Tito Vilanova had taken Palafrugell to relegation out of the Tercera Division in his only stint as a head coach. Far more important is the philosophy. Martino fits that in as much as he is bielsista. Guardiola, of course, shared an asado with Bielsa to pick his brains before taking the Barcelona job, talking late into the night. Guardiola's thinking on the game had been shaped mostly, he said, by Louis van Gaal and also by Johan Cruyff. Cruyff and Van Gaal have their differences but the ideal of a hard-pressing, possession-based game, with a 4-3-3 that can become 3-4-3 was common to both. Martino, having played under Bielsa and being, like Bielsa (and like Lionel Messi, which may be significant) from Rosario, is an advocate of the South American equivalent of the same school – although he has used a back three extremely infrequently. Yet Martino is probably less idealistic than Van Gaal, Cruyff or Bielsa. He showed with Paraguay his willingness to adapt his approach and, although Newell's did finally cut loose in the torneo final, it was only after securing the defence. There is no chance of him making Barcelona a negative side but they are likely to be more cautious than they perhaps have been of late;
out of most of its positions. The UK paid roughly twice the rate, taking positions in just the three worst-affected banks – RBS, Lloyds and HBOS. Shares in RBS and Lloyds, which acquired HBOS, remain below the taxpayer’s in-price. Although RBS and Lloyds will have to take action to boost their capital, the taxpayer may not have to inject any more than the £65bn already invested, the regulators said. The two banks can sell assets or “reduce their investment bank balance sheets, for instance”, Andrew Bailey, head of prudential regulation at the Financial Services Authority, suggested. Lloyds is said to be considering the sale of parts of its wealth management arm, while RBS is under pressure to offload parts of its US operation and shrink its investment bank. The UK’s other banks and building societies are under similar regulatory scrutiny, following the FPC’s warning in November that the industry had up to £60bn of hidden losses on its balance sheet – from understated bad debts to underestimated provisions to cover fines and compensation for Libor rigging and other scandals. The FPC wants capital positions reinforced to support economic growth. Nationwide Building Society is already looking at raising £500m. Sir Mervyn argued the best course of action was to deal with a lack of capital “straight away”. “Banks have two options – either they raise more capital or they restructure... Investors may not like it, but they will be better off over time,” he added. Mr Bailey said: “If you want to sell the Government’s shareholding [in RBS and Lloyds], you have to have a balance sheet and business model that have a stable future.” The taxpayer owns 41pc of Lloyds and 82pc of RBS. Lloyds said: 'We are comfortable with our capital position'At 32 years old, Christopher C. Rogers, one of the co-creators of the AMC television drama "Halt and Catch Fire," is one of the youngest and brightest creators in the industry. The show revolves around a rogue corporate computer guru, Joe MacMillian (Lee Pace), who snowballs a Texas software company into creating the first portable PC. "Halt and Catch Fire" is proving to be one of the best character-driven dramas on TV and it's not just about people who make computers. Punk, gaming, and early internet culture abound. Netflix subscribers can stream season one. Season two just concluded on AMC in August. We're crossing our fingers that AMC renews the show for a third season. In the meantime, we talked to Rogers over email about gaming, writing for television, and software vs. hardware. (Justin Sirois) City Paper: Cameron Howe (MacKenzie Davis) is the software lead on the show and one of the most compelling characters. She gets caught up in Joe MacMillian's master plan more than anyone else in season one. In Cameron's intro scene, she's maniacally playing "Centipede" in a smoky Texas bar. I've always found "Centipede" to be unfairly difficult, but addictive in its frantic game play. It seems like a perfect metaphor for Cameron. Can you tell us more about why you made her a gamer? Christopher C. Rogers: With Cameron we wanted to depict a character that was truly "disruptive," both to the staid corporate culture of tech in the 80s and beyond that to any corporate culture anywhere. That was one of the reasons we made her character female, and similarly we wanted her to feel "punk," in the real sense of what The Clash was singing about, without falling into "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" stereotypes. Finally, I feel like we wanted to make her representative of the wave that was coming next, both generationally and technologically. To us, games were that, and "Centipede" felt just the right blend of addictive and frenetic to mirror Cameron's mental state in those pilot scenes. Also, after Season 1, we learned the story of Donna Bailey, the female programmer who invented "Centipede" but never got credit for it. We actually sponsored a video that Vice produced to help tell her story. CP: What games did you love growing up and how did they shape the way you tell stories? CCR: We Rogers children weren't really allowed to have Nintendo or a console system growing up so it was really all arcade cabinets for me. I really loved the multi-player "X-Men" and "Punisher" cabinets at my local arcade—I'm 32 now so this was the 90s—and remember developing an unhealthy addiction to "Metal Slug," one of the last great side-scrollers, one year that I had to attend summer school. Did any of those shape the way I tell stories? I'm not sure. That said, I still remember my mind being completely blown when the hero of "Metroid" turned out to be a girl, thinking that was really cool, and like to think that has somehow found its way into the show I write now. CP: The hardware vs. software developers plot is something I've never seen in a show before and I love the way it plays out. Gordon (hardware/practical guy) is always struggling against Cameron (software/existential). Joe (manager/dungeon master) is somewhere in the middle, massaging and manipulating both of them. The tensions are brilliant. With no real "villain" in the series, how tricky was it to find the right tension shifts as the plot evolved? CCR: The great challenge of "Halt and Catch Fire" is that, unlike most TV, nobody has a gun, so all of the drama has to evolve from a place of character—what do these people want/need/love and what will they do to get it. In a show that is essentially about people trying to predict and build a guessed-at future out of thin air, we feel that the characters greatest antagonists are in ways always themselves. Just as "The Social Network" did such a great job of showing how Mark Zuckerberg baked his own demons and issues into Facebook, we always want the end products of "Halt and Catch Fire" to be reflections of what is best and worst about the people who made them. CP: "Halt and Catch Fire" is special for a number of reasons, but one thing it nails is character development. After the first season, everyone has evolved in subtle ways. Bosworth (vice president of Cardiff Electric who gets snowballed by Joe) seemed like a throwaway villain that was going to disappear, but his transformation has a depth that I didn't expect. What really made him turn from a puppetlike corporate VP to renegade video-game company manager? CCR: Almost all of the credit for this belongs to Toby Huss, the actor who plays Bos. In the pilot script, Bosworth was much more of a generic hard-ass, and was in ways the most underwritten of our leads. When we cast Toby, who comes from a comedy background, he brought this really surprising warmth and vulnerability to the character that we'd have [been] fools not to write to. I still remember watching that last scene of the pilot where he essentially threatens Joe and says he's going to keep an eye on him, and thinking to myself "Why am I on Bosworth's side?" On our show we work very hard to write to what's working, and huge component of that is seeing what your actors do well. Toby's wiry, folky energy was just such a natural fit for Mutiny (similarly his scenes with Cameron in s1 were so good) that we couldn't have lived with ourselves if we just told another story of an older guy in the industry becoming obsolete. CP: Are you close with any older gamers like Bosworth? CCR: We get a lot of the actual hardware for "Halt and Catch Fire" from a place called the Rhode Island Computer Museum in North Kingstown, RI. I like to go up and visit with the guys who run it every summer, who are mostly retired hobbyist collecting this stuff out of love. I like to keep them in mind when we think about serving the gamers of this era. Ditto tech consultants Carl Ledbetter from IBM and Bill Louden, who used to run games for CompuServe.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. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! 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Editor’s Note: This piece is one in a series of replies to Frances Moore Lappé’s essay on the food movement today. In the forty years since the publication of Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet, a movement dedicated to the reform of the food system has taken root in America. Lappé’s groundbreaking book connected the dots between something as ordinary and all-American as a hamburger and the environmental crisis, as well as world hunger. Along with Wendell Berry and Barry Commoner, Lappé taught us how to think ecologically about the implications of our everyday food choices. You can now find that way of thinking, so radical at the time, just about everywhere—from the pages of Time magazine to the menu at any number of local restaurants. Ad Policy To date, however, the food movement can claim more success in changing popular consciousness than in shifting, in any fundamental way, the political and economic forces shaping the food system or, for that matter, in changing the “standard American diet”—which has only gotten worse since the 1970s. Recently there have been some political accomplishments: food movement activists played a role in shaping the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, both passed in the last Congress, and the last couple of farm bills have thrown some significant crumbs in the direction of sustainable agriculture and healthy food. But the food movement cannot yet point to legislative achievements on the order of the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act or the establishment of the Environmental Protection Administration. Its greatest victories have come in the media, which could scarcely be friendlier to it, and in the food marketplace, rather than in the halls of Congress, where the power of agribusiness has scarcely been disturbed. The marked split between the movement’s gains in the soft power of cultural influence and its comparative weakness in conventional political terms is faithfully mirrored in the White House. While Michelle Obama has had notable success raising awareness of the child obesity problem and linking it to the food system (as well as in pushing the industry to change some of its most egregious practices), her husband, after raising expectations on the campaign trail, has done comparatively little to push a reform agenda. Promising anti-trust initiatives to counter food industry concentration, which puts farmers and ranchers at the mercy of a small handful of processors, appear to be languishing. Efforts to reform crop subsidies during the last farm bill debate were halfhearted and got nowhere. And a USDA plan to place new restrictions on genetically modified crops (in order to protect organic farms from contamination) was reportedly overruled by the White House. There are two ways to interpret the very different approaches of the president and the first lady to the food issue. A cynical interpretation would be that the administration has decided to deploy the first lady to pay lip service to reform while continuing business as usual. But a more charitable interpretation would be that President Obama has determined there is not yet enough political support to take on the hard work of food system reform, and the best thing to do in the meantime is for the first lady to build a broad constituency for change by speaking out about the importance of food. If this is the president’s reading of the situation, it may well be right. So far, at least, the food movement has only a small handful of allies in Congress: Tom Harkin, Jon Tester and Kirsten Gillibrand in the Senate; Earl Blumenauer and Jim McGovern in the House. The Congressional committees in charge of agricultural policies remain dominated by farm-state legislators openly hostile to reform, and until big-state and urban legislators decide it is worth their while to serve on those committees, little of value is likely to emerge from them. Whatever its cost to public health and the environment, cheap food has become a pillar of the modern economy that few in government dare to question. And many of the reforms we need—such as improving conditions in the meat industry and cleaning up feedlot agriculture—stand to make meat more expensive. That might be a good thing for public health, but it will never be popular. So what is to be done? The food movement has discovered that persuading the media, and even the president, that you are right on the merits does not necessarily translate into change, not when the forces arrayed against change are so strong. If change comes, it will come from other places: from the grassroots and, paradoxically, from powerful interests that stand to gain from it. The most promising food activism is taking place at the grassroots: local policy initiatives are popping up in municipalities across the country, alongside urban agriculture ventures in underserved areas and farm-to-school programs. Changing the way America feeds itself has become the galvanizing issue for a generation now coming of age. (A new FoodCorps, launched in August as part of AmeriCorps, received nearly 1,300 applications for fifty slots.) Out of these local efforts will come local leaders who will recognize the power of food politics. Some of these leaders will run for office on these issues, and some of them will win. It’s worth remembering that it took decades before the campaign against the tobacco industry could point to any concrete accomplishments. By the 1930s, the scientific case against smoking had been made, yet it wasn’t until 1964 that the surgeon general was willing to declare smoking a threat to health, and another two decades after that before the industry’s seemingly unshakable hold on Congress finally crumbled. By this standard, the food movement is making swift progress. But there is a second lesson the food movement can take away from the antismoking campaign. When change depends on overcoming the influence of an entrenched power, it helps to have another powerful interest in your corner—an interest that stands to gain from reform. In the case of the tobacco industry, that turned out to be the states, which found themselves on the hook (largely because of Medicaid) for the soaring costs of smoking-related illnesses. So, under economic duress, states and territories joined to file suit against the tobacco companies to recover some of those costs, and eventually they prevailed. The food movement will find such allies, especially now that Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has put the government on the hook for the soaring costs of treating chronic illnesses—most of which are preventable and linked to diet. No longer allowed to cherry-pick the patients they’re willing to cover, or to toss overboard people with chronic diseases, the insurance industry will soon find itself on the hook for the cost of the American diet too. It’s no accident that support for measures such as taxing soda is strongest in places like Massachusetts, where the solvency of the state and its insurance industry depends on figuring out how to reduce the rates of Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The food movement is about to gain a powerful new partner, an industry that is beginning to recognize that it, too, has a compelling interest in issues like taxing soda, school lunch reform and even the farm bill. Indeed, as soon as the healthcare industry begins to focus on the fact that the government is subsidizing precisely the sort of meal for which the industry (and the government) will have to pick up the long-term tab, eloquent advocates of food system reform will suddenly appear in the unlikeliest places—like the agriculture committees of Congress. None of this should surprise us. For the past forty years, food reform activists like Frances Moore Lappé have been saying that the American way of growing and eating food is “unsustainable.” That objection is not rooted in mere preference or aesthetics, but rather in the inescapable realities of biology. Continuing to eat in a way that undermines health, soil, energy resources and social justice cannot be sustained without eventually leading to a breakdown. Back in the 1970s it was impossible to say exactly where that breakdown would first be felt. Would it be the environment or the healthcare system that would buckle first? Now we know. We simply can’t afford the healthcare costs incurred by the current system of cheap food—which is why, sooner or later, we will find the political will to change it. Read the other responses in the forum: Raj Patel, “Why Hunger Is Still With Us” Vandana Shiva, “Resisting the Corporate Theft of Seeds” Eric Schlosser, “It’s Not Just About Food”Men are to be banned from becoming Queen or Princess of Wales as part of an unprecedented effort to rewrite more than 700 years of law to prevent unintended consequences of gay marriage. Even a 14th Century act declaring it high treason to have an affair with the monarch’s husband or wife is included in the sweeping redrafting exercise. Civil servants have drawn up a list of scores of statutes and regulations dating back as far 1285 to be amended or specifically excluded when the Government’s Same-Sex Marriage Act comes into force next month. Under proposals to be debated by MPs and Peers as early as next week, terms such as “widow” will be deleted or reworded in legislation covering topics as diverse as seamen’s pensions and London cab licences to take account of the new definition of marriage. References to mothers, fathers, husbands and wives are also to be amended to avoid future confusion. Legal experts said it was a necessary “tidying up” exercise, but the Coalition for Marriage, which campaigned against same-sex marriage, said it showed the change had left the law in a “complete mess” and accused the Government of trying to “sneak” the changes through while political attention was on the floods. Colin Hart, its director, said it was a “systematic drive to airbrush” words like husband, wife and widow from the law. A draft order to be debated next week sets out amendments to 36 Acts dating back to 1859; special exclusions from the effects of the Same-Sex Marriage Act for a further 67 other pieces of legislation dating back 729 years and changes to dozens of pension regulations which have legal force. It also clarifies centuries-old Common Law customs determining how aristocratic and even royal titles are awarded to avert future constitutional crises. The order makes clear that a clause in the Act giving gay and heterosexual marriage the same legal effect does not apply to the rights of anyone “who marries, or who is married to, the King Regnant, to the title of Queen”. It also makes clear that were a future Prince of Wales to marry a man his husband could not be called Princess of Wales. More immediately, the order rules out the possibility of Dukes, Earls and other male peers who marry other men making their husbands Duchess, Countess or Lady. Meanwhile dozens of other laws are to be excluded from the remit of the Act. They include the Second Statute of Westminster from 1285, which deals with inheritance matters, and even the Treason Act of 1351. It makes it high treason to “violate the King’s companion” – meaning the husband or wife of the monarch – or that of the heir. A Government spokeswoman explained that it would still be considered high treason to have sex with a king’s wife – but not his husband. Julian Lipson, head of the family law practice at Withers LLP, explained that because titles such as Queen consort were conferred through marriage, by custom rather than law, the issue had not arisen when civil partnership was introduced a decade ago. But now that marriage itself is being redefined, the clarification had to be made, he added. “The route the Government has chosen seems to be to admit that the equalness of same-sex marriage has its limits,” he said. “They presumably don’t want to end up with the situation of, for example, there being two duchesses or a man with the title of duchess. “It seems that they are getting it all tidied up before these changes take effect to avoid uncertainties. “While there is nobody who is currently likely to be affected by this clarification of the titles of Queen and Princess of Wales in real terms, if the question arises in 100 years time, the uncertainty will have been addressed as the ship will have sailed. “It would be odd if the Government had undertaken a comprehensive tidying-up exercise in other respects of legislation needing to be adapted and to have forgotten to have addressed this, notwithstanding whether everyone will agree with the manner in which it has been addressed.” Colin Hart, campaign director for the Coalition for Marriage commented: “We repeatedly warned that the Government's plans were ill thought out, complicated and would have a damaging effect on those who support traditional marriage. “Those warnings were dismissed, yet just a few months later we have Ministers engaged in an unprecedented and systematic drive to airbrush out of law words like husband, wife and widow in order to make the legislation work. “Worse still the Government has tried to sneak these changes out, when most of the country is worried about the plight of those families and areas affected by flooding. “It is clear the Government is in a complete mess, which could have been prevented had they engaged in an open and meaningful debate, instead of ramming this through Parliament. “These changes cover legislation going back nearly 800 years, affecting legislation covering inheritance, taxation, social security and children. “Surely the Government should have tried to get this right before approving the bill? “This is yet another attack on those who opposed the redefinition of marriage, or believe that equality is not just about destroying the institutions that have helped to bind us together for centuries for the sake of political correctness.” Separate guidelines last year made clear that some other pieces of legislation would be read in such a way as to allow the term “wife” to apply to men and “husband” to women.Donald Trump and Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: Getty Images The transcript of Donald Trump’s discussion with Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull obtained by the Washington Post reveals many things, but the most significant may be that Trump in his private negotiations is every bit as mentally limited as he appears to be in public. At issue in the conversation is a deal to settle 1,250 refugees who have been detained by Australia in the United States. I did not pay any attention to the details of this agreement before reading the transcript. By the time I was halfway through it, my brain could not stop screaming at Trump for his failure to understand what Turnbull was telling him. Australia has a policy of refusing to accept refugees who arrive by boat. The reason, as Turnbull patiently attempts to explain several times, is that it believes giving refuge to people who arrive by boat would encourage smuggling and create unsafe passage with a high risk of deaths at sea. But it had a large number of refugees who had arrived by sea, living in difficult conditions, whom Australia would not resettle (for fear of encouraging more boat trafficking) but whom it did not want to deport, either. The United States government agreed under President Obama to vet 1,250 of these refugees and accept as many of them as it deemed safe. In the transcript, Trump is unable to absorb any of these facts. He calls the refugees “prisoners,” and repeatedly brings up the Cuban boatlift (in which Castro dumped criminals onto Florida). He is unable to absorb Turnbull’s explanation that they are economic refugees, not from conflict zones, and that the United States has the ability to turn away any of them it deems dangerous. Donald Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy Turnbull tries to explain to Trump that refugees have not been detained because they pose a danger to Australian society, but in order to deter ship-based smuggling: Trump: Why haven’t you let them out? Why have you not let them into your society? Turnbull: Okay, I will explain why. It is not because they are bad people. It is because in order to stop people smugglers, we had to deprive them of the product. So we said if you try to come to Australia by boat, even if we think you are the best person in the world, even if you are a Noble [sic] Prize winning genius, we will not let you in. Because the problem with the people — At this point, Trump fails to understand the policy altogether, and proceeds to congratulate Turnbull for what Trump mistakes to be a draconian policy of total exclusion: Trump: That is a good idea. We should do that too. You are worse than I am … Because you do not want to destroy your country. Look at what has happened in Germany. Look at what is happening in these countries. Trump has completely failed to understand either that the refugees are not considered dangerous, or, again, that they are being held because of a categorical ban on ship-based refugee traffic. He also fails to understand the number of refugees in the agreement: Trump: I am the world’s greatest person that does not want to let people into the country. And now I am agreeing to take 2,000 people and I agree I can vet them, but that puts me in a bad position. It makes me look so bad and I have only been here a week. Turnbull: With great respect, that is not right – It is not 2,000. Trump: Well, it is close. I have also heard like 5,000 as well. Turnbull: The given number in the agreement is 1,250 and it is entirely a matter of your vetting. Then Trump returns to his belief that they are bad, and failing to understand the concept that they have been detained merely because they arrived by sea and not because they committed a crime: Trump: I hate taking these people. I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people. Turnbull: I would not be so sure about that. They are basically — Trump: Well, maybe you should let them out of prison. He still thinks they’re criminals. Later, Trump asks what happens if all the refugees fail his vetting process: Trump: I hate having to do it, but I am still going to vet them very closely. Suppose I vet them closely and I do not take any? Turnbull: That is the point I have been trying to make. After several attempts by Turnbull to explain Australia’s policy, Trump again expresses his total inability to understand what it is: Trump: Does anybody know who these people are? Who are they? Where do they come from? Are they going to become the Boston bomber in five years? Or two years? Who are these people? Turnbull: Let me explain. We know exactly who they are. They have been on Nauru or Manus for over three years and the only reason we cannot let them into Australia is because of our commitment to not allow people to come by boat. Otherwise we would have let them in. If they had arrived by airplane and with a tourist visa then they would be here. Trump: Malcom [sic], but they are arrived on a boat? After Turnbull has told Trump several times that the refugees have been detained because they arrived by boat, and only for that reason, Trump’s question is, “But they are arrived on a boat?” Soon after, Turnbull again reiterates that Australia’s policy is to detain any refugee who arrives by boat: Turnbull: The only people that we do not take are people who come by boa. So we would rather take a not very attractive guy that help you out then to take a Noble [sic] Peace Prize winner that comes by boat. That is the point.” Trump: What is the thing with boats? Why do you discriminate against boats? No, I know, they come from certain regions. I get it. No, you don’t get it at all! It’s not that they come from certain regions! It’s that they come by boat! So Turnbull very patiently tries to explain again that the policy has nothing to do with what region the refugees come from: Turnbull: No, let me explain why. The problem with the boats it that you are basically outsourcing your immigration program to people smugglers and also you get thousands of people drowning at sea. At this point, Trump gives up asking about the policy and just starts venting about the terribleness of deals in general: I do not know what he got out of it. We never get anything out of it — START Treaty, the Iran deal. I do not know where they find these people to make these stupid deals. I am going to get killed on this thing. Shortly afterward, the call ends in brusque fashion, and Turnbull presumably begins drinking heavily.Get the biggest celebs 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 He was just six years old when he penned a song, The Music Maker of the World, and lisped it into his tape recorder in a high-pitched childish singing voice. The young George Michael could not have guessed how successful he would be, yet from a very early age he knew music was his heart and soul. “The first sign of real obsession with music was with an old wind-up gramophone that mum had thrown out into the garage,” George said in his 1990 autobiography, Bare. He continued: “My parents gave me three old 45s – two Supremes records and one Tom Jones record – and I used to come home from school literally every day, go out to the garage, wind this thing up and play them.” (Image: mirror.co.uk) (Image: Collect) George also gained a taste for entertainment from his mother, dancer Lesley Angold. The budding star adored her, because she sacrificed her life to bring up him and his two sisters, a fact that he only appreciated as an adult. “There are things about my mum that I only realised later, things that make me admire her,” he recalled. “If there’s anything that I’ve got from her it’s that she’s like a rock. I’ve got that stability from her.” The star’s father was Greek Cypriot restaurateur, Kyriacos Panayiotou, who came to the UK in 1953. George was always more distant from him, because work kept him away from home. “As a very, very young child I don’t suppose I saw him at all,” said George. “I didn’t learn about hard work from him because I could never work as hard as he did. Just the idea of coming to a foreign country and working until your fingers bleed. "When I look at my dad, that’s what I see. I see lots of other things too, lots of faults.” (Image: Photoshot) Watch: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham! But as the only son in a Greek family, he still got special treatment compared to his sisters – Melanie, now 54, and Yioda, now 58 – which he later revealed gave him with a lifelong guilt complex. George was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in Finchley, North London, on June 25, 1963. The family lived above a launderette but as his father’s restaurant grew, they moved to a semi in Edgware. George Michael dead at 53: Celebrating the life and work of the music legend George’s earliest pal was David Austin, later a 1980s singer himself who also wrote and produced with the pop star. “We grew up in the same street and met because our mothers were pushing us up the road in our prams and stopped to have a chat,” David once recalled. “As children we played together all the time. We’d write songs and record them on a tape recorder. (Image: Scope Features) “When we were about six we did one called The Music Maker of the World. How prophetic was that?” According to George, his real determination to become a musician came two years later. He said: “At the age of about eight I had a head injury and I know it sounds bizarre and unlikely, but it was quite a bad bang, and I had it stitched up and stuff. (Image: London Features International) “But all my interests changed, everything changed in six months. “I had been obsessed with insects and creepy-crawlies, I used to get up at five o’clock in the morning and go out into this field behind our garden and collect insects before everyone else got up and, suddenly, all I wanted to know about was music, it just seemed a very, very strange thing. “And I have a theory that maybe it was something to do with this accident, this whole left-brain right-brain thing. (Image: London Features International) "Nobody in my family seemed to notice but I became absolutely obsessed with music and everything changed after that. “I never really told my parents that I wanted to be a pop star or anything. "They just knew that I was totally obsessed with music. Funnily enough, my father always used to say that he didn’t think I could sing.” (Image: London Features International) But this lack of encouragement seems to have been par for the course in George’s home. “I was never praised, never held,” George later said. “It wasn’t exactly the Little House on the Prairie.” When the family moved from London to Hertfordshire, George’s ambitions really began to take practical shape. (Image: TV Grab) At Bushey Meads School he sat next to fellow pupil Andrew Ridgeley on his first day, and found the friend with whom he would step into the spotlight – and a life of fame. Andrew was the son of an Egyptian, and it was perhaps their shared status as second-generation immigrants, as well as a shared love of music, which forged their instant connection. Recalling the day they met, Andrew said: “The teacher says, ‘We’ve got a new boy, who’s going to look after him?’ (Image: Daily Mirror) "They allot the new kid to someone they feel might be responsible enough to have a new kid in their charge – so I was dying to have a go. He was introduced, I put my hand up – and I got him.” Andrew was initially far more confident than shy George, and at that stage the more handsome and gregarious of the pair. “Andrew loved camp clothes,” recalled George. (Image: CHRIS CRAYMER/SCOPE FEATURES.COM) “He’d go to school in cherry silk trousers and have three little Adam Ant braids. Everyone spent their time going, ‘Is he gay?’ And I’d go, ‘He’s really not!’” Andrew introduced his new pal to parties and girls and the pair formed their first group, a ska band called The Executive. The immature ensemble was short-lived, but it allowed the boys to cut their teeth and begin to spread their wings. (Image: Mirrorpix) George undoubtedly had the talent but Andrew was teaching him confidence and charisma to go with it. He admitted: “I had no physical confidence whatsoever. I looked up to Andrew because he oozed confidence from every pore.” But their partnership was strong because they were different. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now There was no competition and they had a mutual exchange of qualities. George said: “We used to have a laugh, we had the same sense of humour. "I think one of the reasons he liked me was because I knew a lot about music. (Image: The Picture Library Ltd.) “You see, all he knew at that age was that he wanted to be famous. And as we grew up together, I encouraged him musically. "And what I got from him were the aspirations to become the type of person I wanted to be seen as. It was a good exchange.” And it produced the 80s pop phenomenon Wham!A group of scientists headed by Dr Jeremy Kerr from the University of Ottawa, Canada, has discovered that climate change is rapidly shrinking the area where bumblebees are found in both Europe and North America. “Pollinators are vital for food security and our economy, and widespread losses of pollinators due to climate change will diminish both,” said Dr Kerr, who along with colleagues examined more than 400,000 current and historical records of many species of bumblebees in geo-referenced databases. “We need to figure out how we can improve the outlook for pollinators at continental scales, but the most important thing we can do is begin to take serious action to reduce the rate of climate change.” “Bumblebees pollinate many plants that provide food for humans and wildlife. If we don’t stop the decline in the abundance of bumblebees, we may well face higher food prices, diminished varieties, and other troubles,” added team member Dr Leif Richardson from the University of Vermont. With climate change, many species of animals have been observed to expand their territory. Not so bumblebees. The scientists found that northern populations of many bumblebee species are staying put, while the southern range edge is retreating away from the equator. “This was a surprise. The bees are losing range on their southern margin and failing to pick up territory at the northern margin, so their habitat range is shrinking,” Dr Richardson said. The study shows that the culprit is not pesticides and it’s not land use changes, two other major threats to bumblebee populations and health. Instead, it shows clearly that this range compression tracks with warming temperatures. The scientists found that bumblebees are shifting to areas of habitat at higher elevation in response to climate change. “Moving upslope doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve lost area there yet, but, eventually, they may simply run out of hill,” Dr Richardson said. Over the 110 years of records that the scientists examined, bumblebees have lost about 185 miles (300 km) from the southern edge of their range in Europe and North America. The results will be published in the journal Science on July 10. _____ Jeremy T. Kerr et al. 2015. Climate change impacts on bumblebees converge across continents. Science, vol.
at Georgia Tech, and joined Spore. My vast collection of tiny student projects, bite-sized personal projects, and work prototypes I had made added up to a huge amount of experience and intuition. Compared to my peers, I had a tremendous amount of design experience, simply from writing, evaluating, and throwing away so many ideas. I witnessed good prototypes move mountains. I like to think of good prototypers as powerful ninjas who can drop into hard design challenges, or tedious design debates, and cut them to shreds with one swift movement of their prototyping blade. Here are a few prototyping rules of thumb. Even with years of experience, I often find a prototype going nowhere, and can usually trace the problem to not following one of these rules: • Always Ask a Question. Always ask a question, which will give you purpose, and have a hypothesis, which is a specific idea you are testing out. For example, you might be thinking about mouse based control schemes for a school of fish. Your question is: how do I control these fish with a mouse? A hypothesis might be: Flocking will make the fish move together, and every mouse click will drop an invisible “bomb” that will act as a repulser upon every fish’s steering AI, and take a few seconds to complete exploding. A good way to make sure you aren’t going to waste time implementing ideas you don’t actually have, which happens to me more often than I’d like, is to diagram the idea on paper first, and work out as many details with a pen as possible. This also speeds up writing the prototype. • Stay Falsifiable. Just like good science, you must validate the results of your experiment. Did your hypothesis work? Does your fish flock control scheme feel good to you? Do your friends find that it feels good? Does it work in the context of your game idea? You can never user test and play test an idea too early. I have seen many cool ideas go down in flames because its owner was overprotective, didn’t think it was ready, didn’t believe the feedback they were getting, explained away people’s responses, or thought that only their opinion mattered. Eventually users will play with your work, and by then it will be much harder to fix the design. Incorporate the user into the design process as early as possible. Be honest with yourself and your players, and you will be richly rewarded. This one is easy for me, since as a designer, my main intent is to entertain and transform other people, so I’m always interested in what effect my work has on others. Watching people use what you make will also make you a smarter designer. • Persuade and Inspire. We’re making entertainment and art — your prototype should be cool, fun, and excite people. If you and your peers are compelled, so will your players. On the flip-side, if something isn’t resonating with other people, perhaps your idea or approach should be reconsidered. Prototypes can be powerful persuasive devices. Keita Takahashi, the designer of Katamari Damacy, couldn’t convince anyone that rolling around a giant sticky ball would be fun. Until they played the prototype. • Work Fast. Try to minimize time to your first “failure” (rejecting a hypothesis), and don’t be afraid to push the eject button. A classic error is to spend months working on an engine, architecture, or something else that has nothing to do with proving out your core design idea. Prototypes don’t need “engines.” Prototypes are slipshod machines held together by bubble gum and leftover bits of wire that test and prove simple ideas as quickly as possible. If you find yourself weeks or months into a project with only an engine, you’ve failed. Perhaps you need to articulate a specific gameplay idea to validate. For me, the ideal window of time to start and finish a prototype in (including design, implementation, testing, and iteration), is two days to two weeks. Anything longer than that sets off alarm bells. • Work Economically. You’re making something small and beautiful, so invest development effort wisely. In order to work fast, you must stay small: don’t do too much at once, or you’ll never make progress. Be realistic. Here are some questions to ask yourself when you are considering how much effort to spend on proper engineering, art, interface design, or any aspect of your prototype. What’s the purpose of this prototype? Who will use it? What’s important? Look? Kinesthetics? Load time? Run time? Usability? Persuading your peers? Be a cheap, lazy, slothful programming bum. Just make it work, so you can test your idea. Don’t go above and beyond the call of duty in programming, art, or any other aspect of your prototype. • Carefully decompose problems. Don’t bite off more than you have to at once. If you prototype all systems simultaneously you will fail — you can’t work fast, or reach any kind of conclusion. To build it all at once is to build the actual game, which is hard. The prototype designer’s job, like a good Go player, is to cut and separate the enemy stones (your design problem) into small, weak groups that can be killed or manipulated at will. Wisely divide your problem into manageable pieces. You must be careful, because problems are sometimes connected in non-obvious ways, biting you later. Through practice, your designer’s intuition and experience will help you see the connected nature of the problem you are trying to subdivide, and make the most judicious cuts.Matt Damon's Struggle To Stay Alive In The Martian's CinemaCon Footage Is Riveting By Eric Eisenberg Random Article Blend Kicking off the final day of The footage began with a montage of shots featuring a giant NASA facility, the movie’s all-star cast, as well as a few shots of what appears to be the surface of Mars, all with a voice over narration from Matt Damon’s character, Mark Watney. The star explains that it is part of human nature to help each other out, be it forming search parties to find a hiker lost in the woods, or raising money for earthquake relief. He says that this is done in every country around the world "without exception." From there, the reel launched into the plot of The Martian, with Jeff Daniels’ Teddy Sanders stepping in front of a microphone during a press conference held in the aforementioned NASA facility. He explains that the organization has been tracking a giant storm about to hit a settlement on Mars, and that as a result they have been forced to abort their mission. Unfortunately, while most of the crew – including Returning to the settlement, Watney (looking more than a little worse for wear) then begins to record a video message laying out all of the extreme challenges that he faces. After all, he has no way to communicate with NASA, is running out of supplies, and understands that knows that it would take about four years for a rescue mission to be planned and performed. Not willing to just roll over and die, though, he proclaims, "I’m left with only one option: I’m gonna need to science the shit out of this." (Despite the very dramatic material, the humor is what really surprised me the most about what was shown). Starting his survival mission, he realizes that one of the first things he’s going to need to do is cultivate four years-worth of food… albeit on a planet where absolutely nothing grows (this is paired with shots of Watney setting up a grow area, tilling land, and watering the dirt). Of course, he must also find some way to get in contact with NASA and alert them that he’s alive and that they need to come back for him. Luckily, in this task he finds himself successful, as we see Chastain’s character, Melissa Lewis, receiving what appears to be a video message from the surface of Mars featuring a sign reading "Are you receiving me?" Watney is clearly able to register this received message on his end, as he lets out an excited yell and says, "In your face, Neil Armstrong!" From there the footage featured clips going back and forth from the events on Earth and on Mars, with Lewis bringing her team together and explaining that they are basically going to commit mutiny, and that the rescue mission will be one filled with peril and a high possibility of death. Watney, meanwhile, marks the days he’s been stuck on a wall, and contemplates the very real possibility that he will not survive. The reel ended with a reporter at the press conference asking Teddy Sanders if there is a chance that Mark Watney is still alive – which leaves Sanders silent and averting his gaze. Thanks to both the actors in the cast and the plot driving the movie, in recent months many people have made comparisons between The Martian, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, but the CinemaCon footage definitely made the upcoming feature look like it is its own thing, and a project to anticipate in the final months of 2015. We’ll see if Ridley Scott can deliver something cool and new when the film hits theaters on November 25th. As many great films as Ridley Scott has made in a wide variety of genres, he will arguably be forever known for his contributions to science-fiction. After all, the guy did make both Alien and Blade Runner, unquestionably two of the most influential and iconic sci-fi stories ever told in cinema. Later this year, the filmmaker will once again try an leave an indelible mark on the genre with the release of The Martian - an adaptation of the book of the same name by Andy Wier - and earlier today we got a look at the movie’s very first footage.Kicking off the final day of CinemaCon – the annual Las Vegas-based expo for theater owners – 20th Century Fox held their big studio presentation this morning in The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace, and a debut sizzle reel from Ridley Scott’s next film was screened as a special treat at the end of the event. It was introduced by a video from Matt Damon, and while we got to see maybe only three minutes of actual clips from the movie, the feature looks like it could wind up being one of 2015’s finest.The footage began with a montage of shots featuring a giant NASA facility, the movie’s all-star cast, as well as a few shots of what appears to be the surface of Mars, all with a voice over narration from Matt Damon’s character, Mark Watney. The star explains that it is part of human nature to help each other out, be it forming search parties to find a hiker lost in the woods, or raising money for earthquake relief. He says that this is done in every country around the world "without exception."From there, the reel launched into the plot of The Martian, with Jeff Daniels’ Teddy Sanders stepping in front of a microphone during a press conference held in the aforementioned NASA facility. He explains that the organization has been tracking a giant storm about to hit a settlement on Mars, and that as a result they have been forced to abort their mission. Unfortunately, while most of the crew – including Jessica Chastain, Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara, and Michael Pena – were successfully able to reach an escape vehicle, the same could not be said for Mark Watney, who Sanders said died on the surface of Mars. This is not actually true, however, as we then see Watney waking up from being unconscious on the surface of the Red Planet.Returning to the settlement, Watney (looking more than a little worse for wear) then begins to record a video message laying out all of the extreme challenges that he faces. After all, he has no way to communicate with NASA, is running out of supplies, and understands that knows that it would take about four years for a rescue mission to be planned and performed. Not willing to just roll over and die, though, he proclaims, "I’m left with only one option: I’m gonna need to science the shit out of this." (Despite the very dramatic material, the humor is what really surprised me the most about what was shown).Starting his survival mission, he realizes that one of the first things he’s going to need to do is cultivate four years-worth of food… albeit on a planet where absolutely nothing grows (this is paired with shots of Watney setting up a grow area, tilling land, and watering the dirt). Of course, he must also find some way to get in contact with NASA and alert them that he’s alive and that they need to come back for him. Luckily, in this task he finds himself successful, as we see Chastain’s character, Melissa Lewis, receiving what appears to be a video message from the surface of Mars featuring a sign reading "Are you receiving me?" Watney is clearly able to register this received message on his end, as he lets out an excited yell and says, "In your face, Neil Armstrong!"From there the footage featured clips going back and forth from the events on Earth and on Mars, with Lewis bringing her team together and explaining that they are basically going to commit mutiny, and that the rescue mission will be one filled with peril and a high possibility of death. Watney, meanwhile, marks the days he’s been stuck on a wall, and contemplates the very real possibility that he will not survive. The reel ended with a reporter at the press conference asking Teddy Sanders if there is a chance that Mark Watney is still alive – which leaves Sanders silent and averting his gaze.Thanks to both the actors in the cast and the plot driving the movie, in recent months many people have made comparisons between The Martian, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, but the CinemaCon footage definitely made the upcoming feature look like it is its own thing, and a project to anticipate in the final months of 2015. We’ll see if Ridley Scott can deliver something cool and new when the film hits theaters on November 25th. Blended From Around The Web Facebook Back to topFirst baseman Paul Konerko had surgery to remove a loose body from his left wrist on Thursday, and the Chicago White Sox captain is expected to be ready for spring training in February. Konerko, who had the procedure at Rush University Medical Center, plans to return to his offseason home in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Friday. He will have the sutures removed in 7-10 days before meeting with a White Sox hand and wrist specialist. It's the second procedure Konerko has had on the hand/wrist this year, and he also had one last season. Konerko, who said he has had the fragment since 2009, missed two games last season because of soreness, and then had a fragment dislodged in May and missed two games. "It was not a factor in (my swing in) any way other than in early May after I had that procedure done it hung around a little longer," Konerko said on Tuesday. "At that time, we were playing the Dodgers and Cardinals so, it wasn't a good time then. I really never had surgery before other than that. I have no reservations about my wrist in the future." Konerko batted.298 with 26 home runs and 76 RBIs this season, his 14th with the White Sox. He needs one hit to tie Frank Thomas for third place in franchise history with 2,136.Formula 1 legend John Surtees who passed away earlier this month at 83 was laid to rest by family, friends and fans yesterday at Worth Abbey, in West Sussex. More than 300 mourners paid tribute to the only man in motorpsort to win world titles in both Formula 1 and motorcycling. "John was a consummate professional, a gentleman, an incredible champion on two and four wheels and a gentle, massive giant," said an emotional Nigel Mansell. "When you spoke to him he was so unassuming you actually forgot he was the champion he was. I found him awesome, but he was a friend. He was an awesome friend." In the BBC video below, a few familiar faces offer a tribute and their memories of the great British motorsport champion.NSA leaker & former CIA employee Edward Snowden has asked for political asylum in Russia, saying he could not fly to Latin America, according to human rights activists who met the whistleblower at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. According to Tatyana Lokshina of Human Rights Watch, Snowden seeks to stay in Russia as he “can’t fly to Latin America yet.” When asked if the NSA leaker has any more revelations, Lokshina responded: “He says that his job is done.” Snowden asked the human rights activists to petition the US and European states not to interfere with his asylum process, she said. The former NSA contractor also asked to intervene with President Putin on his behalf, Lokshina added. Snowden said he is ready to ask Russia for political asylum and that he “does not intend to harm the US,” according to Russian State Duma MP Vyacheslav Nikonov. “No actions I take or plan are meant to harm the US... I want the US to succeed,” Snowden said. Эдвард Сноуден. Фото: Татьяна Локшина из " Human Rights Watch" (Guardian) pic.twitter.com/OsfTHxn16B — Rundschau (@Rundschau) July 12, 2013 Snowden said he does not rule out moving to live in a Latin American country. However, the recent incident in which the Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane was grounded in Austria on suspicion that the NSA leaker was on board discourages Snowden from going there now. “First, he said that he was dissatisfied with European countries after the Bolivian president’s plane was inspected. He wants to seek political asylum, at least temporary shelter, in Russia. But his further actions are unclear,” Nikitin said. According to human rights lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, the request for political asylum has already been written by Snowden. Kucherena said he will provide legal support for the former NSA contractor seeking asylum. The Russian authorities should be able to decide on Snowden’s asylum request in two to three weeks’ time, he added. Meanwhile, Russia’s presidential human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin suggested that it would be better for Snowden to ask the UN or the ICRC for refugee status instead of seeking asylum in Russia. That way it won’t harm Russian-American relations, he added. The US Embassy called several rights activists before their meeting with Snowden, asking to deliver the official American stance on his actions. “It is true that I received a call from the American Embassy in the name of [US Ambassador to Russia Michael] McFaul, in which I was asked to deliver to Snowden the US official stand, which says he is not considered a rights activist, that he broke the law and therefore must be made accountable,” Lokshina confirmed to RIA Novosti. However, Washington denied that US diplomats asked Human Rights Watch to deliver a message to Snowden. “We simply explained our position on Snowden to a representative of Human Rights Watch,” a source at the US Department of State told Interfax. Thirteen Russian and international human rights advocates and lawyers have gathered at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport for a meeting with Snowden. The whistleblower said the living conditions were fine at the airport and he felt safe there, but he knows he can't stay there forever, according to Lokshina. Rights advocates who received letters from Snowden and agreed to come to the meeting included representatives of Amnesty International, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations, as well as well-known Russian lawyers. The meeting started behind closed doors in an undisclosed area of Sheremetyevo’s Terminal F. Meanwhile, several hundred journalists have surrounded a gray ‘staff only’ door guarded by airport security, awaiting for comments from the meeting participants. Watch RT's special coverage of the event The Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying the Kremlin has not yet received any formal asylum request from Snowden. The conditions for his staying in Russia remain the same as voiced by Vladimir Putin earlier, he added. Should Snowden apply for asylum, Russia will consider his request, Peskov said. Russia was one of over twenty countries to which Snowden sent asylum request according to Wikileaks. President Vladimir Putin said then Snowden may stay in Russia, if he wants to, but only if he stops activities aimed against the United States. “There is one condition if he wants to remain here: he must stop his work aimed at damaging our American partners. As odd as it may sound from me,” Putin told a media conference in Moscow. In Putin’s opinion, Snowden considers himself “a fighter for human rights” and it seems unlikely that he is going to stop leaking American secret data. However, Russia is not going to extradite Snowden, the president underlined. “Russia has never extradited anyone and is not going to do so. Same as no one has ever been extradited to Russia,” Putin stated. “Snowden, by sincere conviction or for some other reason, considers himself to be a human rights activist, a fighter for the ideals of democracy and human freedom. Russian human rights activists and organizations, as well as their colleagues abroad acknowledge this. For this reason, extraditing Snowden to a country like the US where capital punishment is enforced is impossible,” Peskov explained to press.Today's POMO is over: at $2.069 billion, the operation was right in line with our expectations, coming in at a lofty 12.16 submitted to accepted ratio, as investors apparently are not too crazy about the yield perspective of the 4 2013 CUSIPs that were repruchased. However, what is far more important is that with holdings of $821.1 billion, the Fed is now officially the second largest holder of US Treasurys. Next up- China. While the official breakdown will likely be a few weeks late in coming, here is the math: Fed holdings as of September 30: $811,669 Add: Total: $821.128 Billion, which compares to Japan total $821.0 Billion as of July 2010 Congratulations, America: your central bank is just $25 billion away from being the Treasury's largest creditor, and thus able to dominate any and all future debt restructuring negotiations with what is, essentially, itself.Friday Job Market Looking to hire a smart, qualified person for a position in transportation planning, engineering, IT, or advocacy? Post a listing on the Streetsblog Jobs Board and reach our national audience of dedicated readers. Looking for a job? Here are some current listings: Store Manager, PUBLIC Bikes, Santa Monica PUBLIC Bikes seeks a a results-driven, marketing-oriented, high energy Store Manager to lead a new Santa Monica store scheduled to open in late February. This person will be the literal face of PUBLIC bikes in the Santa Monica-area market, manage the local team, and work closely with that team to engage local merchants, neighborhood and city influencers, cycling advocacy groups to plan community-based events and partnerships in and out of the store. 5278 Planner II, San Francisco Planning Department, San Francisco This position performs difficult city planning work and participates in all phases of city planning; assists in the preparation of planning, research, surveys and projects; conducts investigations, collects and analyzes data on zoning, subdivision design, urban renewal, rapid transit and other land use problems; assists in the conduct of environmental impact reviews; assists in the preparation of written and graphic reports; may supervise subordinate survey, clerical and office personnel; and performs related duties as required. Public Service Director, City of Columbus, Columbus, Ohio The City of Columbus is seeking a strong manager and a collaborative and innovative leader with previous executive leadership experience to serve as the Director of the Department of Public Service. This position will serve as an advisor to the Mayor, at the cabinet level, on a wide range of public and infrastructure services essential to the citizens of Columbus. This position directs the activities of four divisions, which have the primary duties of removing solid waste, snow and ice removal, transportation planning and operations, design and construction activities, graffiti removal and pothole repair. Families for Safe Streets Organizer, Transportation Alternatives, New York Supported by TA, Families for Safe Streets members engage in advocacy and targeted awareness campaigns to press for changes to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries on NYC streets. The FSS Organizer will play a critical role in supporting existing FSS members, growing the group by reaching other New Yorkers impacted by traffic violence, and coordinating new support service activities.World record holder for living the longest with a bullet stuck in his head dies at 103 - nearly 95 YEARS after he was shot The man who holds the Guinness World Record for living the longest with a bullet in his head has died in Central California at age 103. William Lawlis Pace died in his sleep at a nursing home in Turlock on Monday. The Modesto Bee reported that Mr Pace's final streak is 94 years and six months with the bullet lodged in his skull. Record holder: William Lawlis Pace lived for nearly 95 years with a bullet lodged in his skull after a shooting accident in 1917 His older brother Marvin accidentally shot him with their father's.22 calibre rifle in 1917. Neither of the brothers knew the gun was loaded as they played'stick up,' according to the Wichita Falls Times Record. Mr Pace learned in 2006 that he had been crowned the world record-holder in the category of unwanted cranial ammunition acquisition. His son told the Bee during a birthday party for his father last year that doctors in Pace's native Texas left the bullet in place because they feared surgery might cause brain damage. The injury damaged one of his eyes and facial nerves, but did not prevent Mr Pace from working as a cemetery custodian. In a 2010 interview with the Bee, Mr Pace said what surprised him the most about his more than 100 years are 'improvements in living.' He told the paper: 'When I was born, there were no tractors, no milking machines.' An obituary featured in the Turlock Journal said Mr Pace was known for his kindness and sense of humour.King's School in Sydney investigated for animal cruelty after ABC obtains 'horrific' sheep-tackling video Updated One of the nation's oldest and most prestigious private schools is being investigated for animal cruelty after the ABC obtained videos of members of the school's top rugby teams crash-tackling sheep in a farm paddock. Key points: The video shows the members of the school's rugby teams tackling and dragging sheep The actions have been condemned by farming and veterinary groups RSPCA inspectors attended the school on Thursday to question the headmaster The King's School in Parramatta helped pioneer rugby union in Australia and has produced dozens of Wallabies players. But the videos obtained by the 7.30 program threaten to tarnish the school's proud sporting history. The footage was posted on a private Facebook page by school teacher and coach James Hilgendorf and a fellow former professional rugby player, Hugh Perrett. After the ABC contacted the school on Wednesday, the private page was removed. The videos show the school's first and second XV rugby teams running into a paddock, chasing and tackling young rams to the ground and dragging them to designated squares, where they are flipped over onto their backs. The incident took place at a King's old boy's sheep farm in Orange, in central west NSW, during the April school holidays. It has been condemned by farming and veterinary groups, but the school headmaster, Dr Tim Hawkes, has defended the incident, saying it was a rugby camp training exercise not dissimilar to shearing. But RSPCA chief executive Steve Coleman told the ABC the footage was horrific and disgraceful. "Innocent animals are potentially being harmed, if not injured. You've got young impressionable teenage boys who seemingly are under the direction of an adult who saw fit to film it. It's subsequently been posted," he said "To me that must smack of a level of acceptability about what was happening on that particular day, and from an RSPCA perspective, it's completely, completely unnecessary, unreasonable and how anyone could justify that kind of behaviour is beyond me." Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au. Most farmers 'would view video with horror': Farmers Association The NSW Farmer's Association has also condemned the incident as dangerous and "plain stupid". Association president Derek Schoen told the ABC the boys were placed at significant risk of injury. "This is unacceptable animal husbandry practice. You'd never treat your stock like that and I would say most concerned farmers would view that with a bit of horror," Mr Schoen said. "It's distressing to the animals. It will make future husbandry practices more difficult with the animals — they'll remember what has happened in those yards. "A full-grown ram will be over 100 kilos and frequently when they're shorn they'll be sedated for the safety of shearers. "So to have rams running around with a whole lot of school kids I think is just plain stupid." The Sheepmeat Council of Australia (SCA) said it was very disappointed by the footage, which clearly demonstrated inappropriate and irresponsible handling of sheep. "The SCA condemns acts of cruelty towards livestock and supports all official investigations of alleged animal mistreatment incidents," it said in the a statement to the ABC. "To ensure best practice in animal health and welfare, and personal safety, the SCA reminds the public and livestock producers that only trained and authorised industry professionals should handle commercial livestock." No boys or animals injured: King's Dr Hawkes declined to be interviewed about the videos but issued a statement to the ABC headed: "Ram Round Up Incident": "At the Camp, the boys did a number of team-work and strength-building exercises as well as improving their rugby skills. A strength and team-building exercise devised by the farmer involved the boys having to undertake a task not dissimilar to that undertaken by shearers. They had to go into a paddock, secure some rams and take them to an imaginary shearing point. The task was supervised closely by the farmer who gave instructions to the boys as to how this task should be done. Essentially, the task involved capturing a ram, putting the ram on its back and dragging it to a corner of a paddock. The two rugby coaches involved were assured by the farmer beforehand that the activity was safe and all the more so because he would be supervising it carefully. No animals were injured in the exercise. Neither were any boys. A record of the training was posted on a closed Facebook page so that the boys, and their families, had an account of what was generally considered to be a successful camp. I am satisfied that the activity was properly supervised and that no animals or boys were hurt." RSPCA inspectors attended the school's Parramatta campus this afternoon to question Dr Hawkes further. Topics: animal-welfare, law-crime-and-justice, animals, human-interest, veterinary-medicine, schools, orange-2800, nsw First postedThe notion that tonight should have been about ripping the bark off the president seems to me misplaced. No one needs to be persuaded that the country is on the wrong track. We have endured one of the worst presidencies in American history, a stalling economy, and a war that was as deceptively packaged as it was poorly executed. The wrong track number is at 80 percent. What was necessary tonight was rebutting the only real weapon the Republicans have: dragging Obama into the mud, throwing every extremist attack they can at him, painting him as a commie, alien, anti-American freak. For good measure, they had tried to paint Michelle as an angry black radical. They failed. There was nothing more American than the way the Obamas spoke of their story. It made them more appealing to the white working class and the black working class. It defused the smears. And, taken as whole, it also gave the Democrats some good feeling with the Kennedys. There was plenty I didn't like about this night, as you can tell if you scroll down. But it succeeded in the most important task. Michelle did it. She more than did it. She struck fear in the GOP tonight. Their lies about the Obamas will fail. As they should. We want to hear what you think about this article. 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IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.Odell Beckham Jr. is the key to the New York Giants' offense. Without the superstar receiver, Big Blue would be sitting at home instead of facing the Packers in Green Bay Sunday afternoon. No one player can guard OBJ. The best a defense can do is get in his face early and hope to throw Beckham off his game. Speaking on NFL GameDay Morning on Sunday, Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis said the key for the Giants is Beckham controlling his emotions. "I think that we all can agree that Odell is a great player. Right? We all agree on that," Davis said. "When you think about Odell and what he's able to do on the football field is truly special. But it's very important for him this weekend to make sure that he controls his emotions. Whenever he goes out and he plays and he controls his emotions, he's huge for that team. But when he goes out and he allows his emotions to get the best of him, he's a cancer for that football team and you can see it, it's evident." Beckham was at his most combustible last season when he faced the Panthers and then-Carolina corner Josh Norman. "When we played him, you could see him and Josh going back and forth, you could see that the whole team was getting caught up in that and they wasn't focused in the first half, that's why we were able to jump out to a big lead," Davis said of the Panthers' 38-35 win over the Giants in 2015. "They kinda settled down later in the second half in the football game and they were able to come back. It was just really evident that they were not a focused bunch when he was doing all of that." Beckham earned five receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown in Week 5 versus the Packers. The well-worn Beckham emotion storyline has almost become cliché. Many have tried to get in Beckham's face and hope for a meltdown. The Packers don't have a trash-talking corner of the Norman ilk, but they'll surely try to spur Beckham early Sunday afternoon. Don't bet your house on emotions unraveling Beckham in his first playoff appearance.IN American politics, personality is, supposedly, destiny: Having a conservative personality makes us conservative on economic and social policy, and vice versa for liberals. Think of the stereotypes: the free-spending, libertine liberal; the rock-ribbed, free-market conservative. But there’s nothing natural about this pairing between personality and such broad ideologies. Instead, the structure of our ideological divide is shaped by political messaging rather than psychological differences. In fact, our research, which we recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, suggests that the personality characteristics that make someone culturally conservative will often tend to promote left-wing economic views, favoring redistributive economic intervention by the government. How is this possible? Start by considering the most influential scholarly view of how personality affects political ideology: the “rigidity of the right” model. It holds that people differ from one another in terms of whether they are closed-minded and prefer what is familiar, or are open-minded and prefer diverse experiences. According to this view, those with a conservative personality — which is thought to be implemented by basic neurocognitive and structural brain differences — are likely to gravitate toward a broad-based conservative ideology, both culturally and economically. A conservative personality, the view posits, makes you favor the stability and continuity of traditional cultural norms, and it makes you favor right-wing economic policy because that sort of policy will not disrupt the prevailing economic hierarchy.Point in time when the maximum rate of petroleum extraction is reached Hubbert's upper-bound prediction for US crude oil production (1956) in red, and actual lower-48 states production through to 2014 in green Peak oil is the theorized point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which it is expected to enter terminal decline.[2] Peak oil theory is based on the observed rise, peak, fall, and depletion of aggregate production rate in oil fields over time. It is often confused with oil depletion; however, whereas depletion refers to a period of falling reserves and supply, peak oil refers to the point of maximum production. The concept of peak oil is often credited to geologist M. King Hubbert whose 1956 paper first presented a formal theory. Some observers, such as petroleum industry experts Kenneth S. Deffeyes and Matthew Simmons, predicted there would be negative global economy effects after a post-peak production decline and subsequent oil price increase because of the continued dependence of most modern industrial transport, agricultural, and industrial systems on the low cost and high availability of oil.[3][4] Predictions vary greatly as to what exactly these negative effects would be. While the notion that petroleum production must peak at some point is not controversial, the assertion that this must coincide with a serious economic decline, or even that the decline in production will necessarily be caused by an exhaustion of available reserves, is not universally accepted. Oil production forecasts on which predictions of peak oil are based are sometimes made within a range which includes optimistic (higher production) and pessimistic (lower production) scenarios. According to the International Energy Agency, conventional crude oil production peaked in 2006.[5] A 2013 study concluded that peak oil "appears probable before 2030", and that there was a "significant risk" that it would occur before 2020,[6] and assumed that major investments in alternatives will occur before a crisis, without requiring major changes in the lifestyle of heavily oil-consuming nations. Pessimistic predictions of future oil production made after 2007 state either that the peak has already occurred,[7][8][9][10] that oil production is on the cusp of the peak, or that it will occur soon.[11][12] These pessimistic predictions have proven false as world oil production has risen and hit a new high in 2018. [13] Hubbert's original prediction that US peak oil would occur in about 1970 appeared accurate for a time, as US average annual production peaked in 1970 at 9
system and change the trajectory into a new one depending on the measurement setup; therefore, the measurement results are still subject to Heisenberg's uncertainty relation. In de Broglie–Bohm theory, there is always a matter of fact about the position and momentum of a particle. Each particle has a well-defined trajectory, as well as a wavefunction. Observers have limited knowledge as to what this trajectory is (and thus of the position and momentum). It is the lack of knowledge of the particle's trajectory that accounts for the uncertainty relation. What one can know about a particle at any given time is described by the wavefunction. Since the uncertainty relation can be derived from the wavefunction in other interpretations of quantum mechanics, it can be likewise derived (in the epistemic sense mentioned above) on the de Broglie–Bohm theory. To put the statement differently, the particles' positions are only known statistically. As in classical mechanics, successive observations of the particles' positions refine the experimenter's knowledge of the particles' initial conditions. Thus, with succeeding observations, the initial conditions become more and more restricted. This formalism is consistent with the normal use of the Schrödinger equation. For the derivation of the uncertainty relation, see Heisenberg uncertainty principle, noting that this article describes the principle from the viewpoint of the Copenhagen interpretation. Quantum entanglement, Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox, Bell's theorem, and nonlocality [ edit ] De Broglie–Bohm theory highlighted the issue of nonlocality: it inspired John Stewart Bell to prove his now-famous theorem,[58] which in turn led to the Bell test experiments. In the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox, the authors describe a thought experiment that one could perform on a pair of particles that have interacted, the results of which they interpreted as indicating that quantum mechanics is an incomplete theory.[59] Decades later John Bell proved Bell's theorem (see p. 14 in Bell[46]), in which he showed that, if they are to agree with the empirical predictions of quantum mechanics, all such "hidden-variable" completions of quantum mechanics must either be nonlocal (as the Bohm interpretation is) or give up the assumption that experiments produce unique results (see counterfactual definiteness and many-worlds interpretation). In particular, Bell proved that any local theory with unique results must make empirical predictions satisfying a statistical constraint called "Bell's inequality". Alain Aspect performed a series of Bell test experiments that test Bell's inequality using an EPR-type setup. Aspect's results show experimentally that Bell's inequality is in fact violated, meaning that the relevant quantum-mechanical predictions are correct. In these Bell test experiments, entangled pairs of particles are created; the particles are separated, traveling to remote measuring apparatus. The orientation of the measuring apparatus can be changed while the particles are in flight, demonstrating the apparent nonlocality of the effect. The de Broglie–Bohm theory makes the same (empirically correct) predictions for the Bell test experiments as ordinary quantum mechanics. It is able to do this because it is manifestly nonlocal. It is often criticized or rejected based on this; Bell's attitude was: "It is a merit of the de Broglie–Bohm version to bring this [nonlocality] out so explicitly that it cannot be ignored."[60] The de Broglie–Bohm theory describes the physics in the Bell test experiments as follows: to understand the evolution of the particles, we need to set up a wave equation for both particles; the orientation of the apparatus affects the wavefunction. The particles in the experiment follow the guidance of the wavefunction. It is the wavefunction that carries the faster-than-light effect of changing the orientation of the apparatus. An analysis of exactly what kind of nonlocality is present and how it is compatible with relativity can be found in Maudlin.[61] Note that in Bell's work, and in more detail in Maudlin's work, it is shown that the nonlocality does not allow signaling at speeds faster than light. Classical limit [ edit ] Bohm's formulation of de Broglie–Bohm theory in terms of a classically looking version has the merits that the emergence of classical behavior seems to follow immediately for any situation in which the quantum potential is negligible, as noted by Bohm in 1952. Modern methods of decoherence are relevant to an analysis of this limit. See Allori et al.[62] for steps towards a rigorous analysis. Quantum trajectory method [ edit ] Work by Robert E. Wyatt in the early 2000s attempted to use the Bohm "particles" as an adaptive mesh that follows the actual trajectory of a quantum state in time and space. In the "quantum trajectory" method, one samples the quantum wavefunction with a mesh of quadrature points. One then evolves the quadrature points in time according to the Bohm equations of motion. At each time step, one then re-synthesizes the wavefunction from the points, recomputes the quantum forces, and continues the calculation. (QuickTime movies of this for H + H 2 reactive scattering can be found on the Wyatt group web-site at UT Austin.) This approach has been adapted, extended, and used by a number of researchers in the chemical physics community as a way to compute semi-classical and quasi-classical molecular dynamics. A recent (2007) issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry A was dedicated to Prof. Wyatt and his work on "computational Bohmian dynamics". Eric R. Bittner's group at the University of Houston has advanced a statistical variant of this approach that uses Bayesian sampling technique to sample the quantum density and compute the quantum potential on a structureless mesh of points. This technique was recently used to estimate quantum effects in the heat capacity of small clusters Ne n for n ≈ 100. There remain difficulties using the Bohmian approach, mostly associated with the formation of singularities in the quantum potential due to nodes in the quantum wavefunction. In general, nodes forming due to interference effects lead to the case where R − 1 ∇ 2 R → ∞. {\displaystyle R^{-1} abla ^{2}R\to \infty.} This results in an infinite force on the sample particles forcing them to move away from the node and often crossing the path of other sample points (which violates single-valuedness). Various schemes have been developed to overcome this; however, no general solution has yet emerged. These methods, as does Bohm's Hamilton–Jacobi formulation, do not apply to situations in which the full dynamics of spin need to be taken into account. The properties of trajectories in the de Broglie – Bohm theory differ significantly from the Moyal quantum trajectories. Similarities with the many-worlds interpretation [ edit ] Kim Joris Boström has proposed a non-relativistic quantum mechanical theory that combines elements of the de Broglie-Bohm mechanics and that of Everett’s many-‘worlds’. In particular, the unreal MW interpretation of Hawking and Weinberg is similar to the Bohmian concept of unreal empty branch ‘worlds’: The second issue with Bohmian mechanics may at first sight appear rather harmless, but which on a closer look develops considerable destructive power: the issue of empty branches. These are the components of the post-measurement state that do not guide any particles because they do not have the actual configuration q in their support. At first sight, the empty branches do not appear problematic but on the contrary very helpful as they enable the theory to explain unique outcomes of measurements. Also, they seem to explain why there is an effective “collapse of the wavefunction”, as in ordinary quantum mechanics. On a closer view, though, one must admit that these empty branches do not actually disappear. As the wavefunction is taken to describe a really existing field, all their branches really exist and will evolve forever by the Schrödinger dynamics, no matter how many of them will become empty in the course of the evolution. Every branch of the global wavefunction potentially describes a complete world which is, according to Bohm’s ontology, only a possible world that would be the actual world if only it were filled with particles, and which is in every respect identical to a corresponding world in Everett’s theory. Only one branch at a time is occupied by particles, thereby representing the actual world, while all other branches, though really existing as part of a really existing wavefunction, are empty and thus contain some sort of “zombie worlds” with planets, oceans, trees, cities, cars and people who talk like us and behave like us, but who do not actually exist. Now, if the Everettian theory may be accused of ontological extravagance, then Bohmian mechanics could be accused of ontological wastefulness. On top of the ontology of empty branches comes the additional ontology of particle positions that are, on account of the quantum equilibrium hypothesis, forever unknown to the observer. Yet, the actual configuration is never needed for the calculation of the statistical predictions in experimental reality, for these can be obtained by mere wavefunction algebra. From this perspective, Bohmian mechanics may appear as a wasteful and redundant theory. I think it is considerations like these that are the biggest obstacle in the way of a general acceptance of Bohmian mechanics.[63] Many authors have expressed critical views of the de Broglie–Bohm theory by comparing it to Everett's many-worlds approach. Many (but not all) proponents of the de Broglie–Bohm theory (such as Bohm and Bell) interpret the universal wavefunction as physically real. According to some supporters of Everett's theory, if the (never collapsing) wavefunction is taken to be physically real, then it is natural to interpret the theory as having the same many worlds as Everett's theory. In the Everettian view the role of the Bohmian particle is to act as a "pointer", tagging, or selecting, just one branch of the universal wavefunction (the assumption that this branch indicates which wave packet determines the observed result of a given experiment is called the "result assumption"[64]); the other branches are designated "empty" and implicitly assumed by Bohm to be devoid of conscious observers.[64] H. Dieter Zeh comments on these "empty" branches:[65] “ It is usually overlooked that Bohm's theory contains the same "many worlds" of dynamically separate branches as the Everett interpretation (now regarded as "empty" wave components), since it is based on precisely the same... global wave function... ” David Deutsch has expressed the same point more "acerbically":[64][66] “ pilot-wave theories are parallel-universe theories in a state of chronic denial. ” Occam's-razor criticism [ edit ] Both Hugh Everett III and Bohm treated the wavefunction as a physically real field. Everett's many-worlds interpretation is an attempt to demonstrate that the wavefunction alone is sufficient to account for all our observations. When we see the particle detectors flash or hear the click of a Geiger counter, then Everett's theory interprets this as our wavefunction responding to changes in the detector's wavefunction, which is responding in turn to the passage of another wavefunction (which we think of as a "particle", but is actually just another wave packet).[64] No particle (in the Bohm sense of having a defined position and velocity) exists, according to that theory. For this reason Everett sometimes referred to his own many-worlds approach as the "pure wave theory". Talking of Bohm's 1952 approach, Everett says:[67] “ Our main criticism of this view is on the grounds of simplicity – if one desires to hold the view that ψ {\displaystyle \psi } ” In the Everettian view, then, the Bohm particles are superfluous entities, similar to, and equally as unnecessary as, for example, the luminiferous ether, which was found to be unnecessary in special relativity. This argument of Everett is sometimes called the "redundancy argument", since the superfluous particles are redundant in the sense of Occam's razor.[68] According to Brown & Wallace,[64] the de Broglie–Bohm particles play no role in the solution of the measurement problem. These authors claim[64] that the "result assumption" (see above) is inconsistent with the view that there is no measurement problem in the predictable outcome (i.e. single-outcome) case. These authors also claim[64] that a standard tacit assumption of the de Broglie–Bohm theory (that an observer becomes aware of configurations of particles of ordinary objects by means of correlations between such configurations and the configuration of the particles in the observer's brain) is unreasonable. This conclusion has been challenged by Valentini,[69] who argues that the entirety of such objections arises from a failure to interpret de Broglie–Bohm theory on its own terms. According to Peter R. Holland, in a wider Hamiltonian framework, theories can be formulated in which particles do act back on the wave function.[70] Derivations [ edit ] De Broglie–Bohm theory has been derived many times and in many ways. Below are six derivations, all of which are very different and lead to different ways of understanding and extending this theory. The guiding equation can be derived in a similar fashion. We assume a plane wave: ψ ( x, t ) = A e i ( k ⋅ x − ω t ) {\displaystyle \psi (\mathbf {x},t)=Ae^{i(\mathbf {k} \cdot \mathbf {x} -\omega t)}} i k = ∇ ψ / ψ {\displaystyle i\mathbf {k} = abla \psi /\psi } p = m v {\displaystyle \mathbf {p} =m\mathbf {v} } v = ℏ m Im ⁡ ( ∇ ψ ψ ) {\displaystyle \mathbf {v} ={\frac {\hbar }{m}}\operatorname {Im} \left({\frac { abla \psi }{\psi }}\right)} Notice that this derivation does not use Schrödinger's equation. Preserving the density under the time evolution is another method of derivation. This is the method that Bell cites. It is this method that generalizes to many possible alternative theories. The starting point is the continuity equation − ∂ ρ ∂ t = ∇ ⋅ ( ρ v ψ ) {\displaystyle -{\frac {\partial \rho }{\partial t}}= abla \cdot (\rho v^{\psi })} [ clarification needed ] for the density ρ = \| ψ \| 2 {\displaystyle \rho =\|\psi \|^{2}} for the density A method applicable for particles without spin is to do a polar decomposition of the wavefunction and transform Schrödinger's equation into two coupled equations: the continuity equation from above and the Hamilton–Jacobi equation. This is the method used by Bohm in 1952. The decomposition and equations are as follows: Decomposition: ψ ( x, t ) = R ( x, t ) e i S ( x, t ) / ℏ. {\displaystyle \psi (\mathbf {x},t)=R(\mathbf {x},t)e^{iS(\mathbf {x},t)/\hbar }.} R 2 ( x, t ) {\displaystyle R^{2}(\mathbf {x},t)} ρ ( x, t ) = \| ψ ( x, t ) \| 2 {\displaystyle \rho (\mathbf {x},t)=\|\psi (\mathbf {x},t)\|^{2}} Continuity equation: − ∂ ρ ( x, t ) ∂ t = ∇ ⋅ ( ρ ( x, t ) ∇ S ( x, t ) m ) {\displaystyle -{\frac {\partial \rho (\mathbf {x},t)}{\partial t}}= abla \cdot \left(\rho (\mathbf {x},t){\frac { abla S(\mathbf {x},t)}{m}}\right)} Hamilton–Jacobi equation: ∂ S ( x, t ) ∂ t = − [ 1 2 m ( ∇ S ( x, t ) ) 2 + V − ℏ 2 2 m ∇ 2 R ( x, t ) R ( x, t ) ]. {\displaystyle {\frac {\partial S(\mathbf {x},t)}{\partial t}}=-\left[{\frac {1}{2m}}( abla S(\mathbf {x},t))^{2}+V-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}{\frac { abla ^{2}R(\mathbf {x},t)}{R(\mathbf {x},t)}}\right].} The Hamilton–Jacobi equation is the equation derived from a Newtonian system with potential V − ℏ 2 2 m ∇ 2 R R {\displaystyle V-{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}{\frac { abla ^{2}R}{R}}} ∇ S m. {\displaystyle {\frac { abla S}{m}}.} V {\displaystyle V} R {\displaystyle R} quantum potential, terminology introduced by Bohm. This leads to viewing the quantum theory as particles moving under the classical force modified by a quantum force. However, unlike standard Newtonian mechanics, the initial velocity field is already specified by ∇ S m {\displaystyle {\frac { abla S}{m}}} A fourth derivation was given by Dürr et al. [16] In their derivation, they derive the velocity field by demanding the appropriate transformation properties given by the various symmetries that Schrödinger's equation satisfies, once the wavefunction is suitably transformed. The guiding equation is what emerges from that analysis. In their derivation, they derive the velocity field by demanding the appropriate transformation properties given by the various symmetries that Schrödinger's equation satisfies, once the wavefunction is suitably transformed. The guiding equation is what emerges from that analysis. A fifth derivation, given by Dürr et al.[38] is appropriate for generalization to quantum field theory and the Dirac equation. The idea is that a velocity field can also be understood as a first-order differential operator acting on functions. Thus, if we know how it acts on functions, we know what it is. Then given the Hamiltonian operator H {\displaystyle H} f {\displaystyle f} f ^ {\displaystyle {\hat {f}}} ( v ( f ) ) ( q ) = Re ⁡ ( ψ, i ℏ [ H, f ^ ] ψ ) ( ψ, ψ ) ( q ) {\displaystyle (v(f))(q)=\operatorname {Re} {\frac {\left(\psi,{\frac {i}{\hbar }}[H,{\hat {f}}]\psi \right)}{(\psi,\psi )}}(q)} ( v, w ) {\displaystyle (v,w)} This formulation allows for stochastic theories such as the creation and annihilation of particles. A further derivation has been given by Peter R. Holland, on which he bases the entire work presented in his quantum-physics textbook The Quantum Theory of Motion,[71] a main reference book on the de Broglie–Bohm theory. It is based on three basic postulates and an additional fourth postulate that links the wavefunction to measurement probabilities: 1. A physical system consists in a spatiotemporally propagating wave and a point particle guided by it. 2. The wave is described mathematically by a solution ψ {\displaystyle \psi } 3. The particle motion is described by a solution to x ˙ ( t ) = [ ∇ S ( x ( t ), t ) ) ] / m {\displaystyle \mathbf {\dot {x}} (t)=[ abla S(\mathbf {x} (t),t))]/m} x ( t = 0 ) {\displaystyle \mathbf {x} (t=0)} S {\displaystyle S} ψ {\displaystyle \psi } The fourth postulate is subsidiary yet consistent with the first three: 4. The probability ρ ( x ( t ) ) {\displaystyle \rho (\mathbf {x} (t))} d 3 x {\displaystyle d^{3}x} t equals \| ψ ( x ( t ) ) \| 2 {\displaystyle \|\psi (\mathbf {x} (t))\|^{2}} History [ edit ] De Broglie–Bohm theory has a history of different formulations and names. In this section, each stage is given a name and a main reference. Pilot-wave theory [ edit ] Louis de Broglie presented his pilot wave theory at the 1927 Solvay Conference,[72] after close collaboration with Schrödinger, who developed his wave equation for de Broglie's theory. At the end of the presentation, Wolfgang Pauli pointed out that it was not compatible with a semi-classical technique Fermi had previously adopted in the case of inelastic scattering. Contrary to a popular legend, de Broglie actually gave the correct rebuttal that the particular technique could not be generalized for Pauli's purpose, although the audience might have been lost in the technical details and de Broglie's mild manner left the impression that Pauli's objection was valid. He was eventually persuaded to abandon this theory nonetheless because he was "discouraged by criticisms which [it] roused".[73] De Broglie's theory already applies to multiple spin-less particles, but lacks an adequate theory of measurement as no one understood quantum decoherence at the time. An analysis of de Broglie's presentation is given in Bacciagaluppi et al.[74][75] Also, in 1932 John von Neumann published a paper,[76] that was widely (and erroneously, as shown by Jeffrey Bub[77]) believed to prove that all hidden-variable theories are impossible. This sealed the fate of de Broglie's theory for the next two decades. In 1926, Erwin Madelung had developed a hydrodynamic version of Schrödinger's equation, which is incorrectly considered as a basis for the density current derivation of the de Broglie–Bohm theory.[78] The Madelung equations, being quantum Euler equations (fluid dynamics), differ philosophically from the de Broglie–Bohm mechanics[79] and are the basis of the stochastic interpretation of quantum mechanics. Peter R. Holland has pointed out that, earlier in 1927, Einstein had actually submitted a preprint with a similar proposal but, not convinced, had withdrawn it before publication.[80] According to Holland, failure to appreciate key points of the de Broglie–Bohm theory has led to confusion, the key point being "that the trajectories of a many-body quantum system are correlated not because the particles exert a direct force on one another (à la Coulomb) but because all are acted upon by an entity – mathematically described by the wavefunction or functions of it – that lies beyond them".[81] This entity is the quantum potential. After publishing a popular textbook on Quantum Mechanics that adhered entirely to the Copenhagen orthodoxy, Bohm was persuaded by Einstein to take a critical look at von Neumann's theorem. The result was 'A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of "Hidden Variables" I and II' [Bohm 1952]. It was an independent origination of the pilot wave theory, and extended it to incorporate a consistent theory of measurement, and to address a criticism of Pauli that de Broglie did not properly respond to; it is taken to be deterministic (though Bohm hinted in the original papers that there should be disturbances to this, in the way Brownian motion disturbs Newtonian mechanics). This stage is known as the de Broglie–Bohm Theory in Bell's work [Bell 1987] and is the basis for 'The Quantum Theory of Motion' [Holland 1993]. This stage applies to multiple particles, and is deterministic. The de Broglie–Bohm theory is an example of a hidden-variables theory. Bohm originally hoped that hidden variables could provide a local, causal, objective description that would resolve or eliminate many of the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, such as Schrödinger's cat, the measurement problem and the collapse of the wavefunction. However, Bell's theorem complicates this hope, as it demonstrates that there can be no local hidden-variable theory that is compatible with the predictions of quantum mechanics. The Bohmian interpretation is causal but not local. Bohm's paper was largely ignored or panned by other physicists. Albert Einstein, who had suggested that Bohm search for a realist alternative to the prevailing Copenhagen approach, did not consider Bohm's interpretation to be a satisfactory answer to the quantum nonlocality question, calling it "too cheap",[82] while Werner Heisenberg considered it a "superfluous 'ideological superstructure' ".[83] Wolfgang Pauli, who had been unconvinced by de Broglie in 1927, conceded to Bohm as follows: I just received your long letter of 20th November, and I also have studied more thoroughly the details of your paper. I do not see any longer the possibility of any logical contradiction as long as your results agree completely with those of the usual wave mechanics and as long as no means is given to measure the values of your hidden parameters both in the measuring apparatus and in the observe [sic] system. As far as the whole matter stands now, your ‘extra wave-mechanical predictions’ are still a check, which cannot be cashed.[84] He subsequently described Bohm's theory as "artificial metaphysics".[85] According to physicist Max Dresden, when Bohm's theory was presented at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, many of the objections were ad hominem, focusing on Bohm's sympathy with communists as exemplified by his refusal to give testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee.[86] In 1979, Chris Philippidis, Chris Dewdney and Basil Hiley were the first to perform numeric computations on the basis of the quantum potential to deduce ensembles of particle trajectories.[87][88] Their work renewed the interests of physicists in the Bohm interpretation of quantum physics.[89] Eventually John Bell began to defend the theory. In "Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics" [Bell 1987], several of the papers refer to hidden-variables theories (which include Bohm's). The trajectories of the Bohm model that would result for particular experimental arrangements were termed "surreal" by some.[90][91] Still in 2016, mathematical physicist Sheldon Goldstein said about Bohm's theory: "There was a time when you couldn’t even talk about it because it was heretical. It probably still is the kiss of death for a physics career to be actually working on Bohm, but maybe that’s changing."[57] Bohmian mechanics [ edit ] Bohmian mechanics is the same theory, but with an emphasis on the notion of current flow, which is determined on the basis of the quantum equilibrium hypothesis that the probability follows the Born rule. The term "Bohmian mechanics" is also often used to include most of the further extensions past the spin-less version of Bohm. While de Broglie–Bohm theory has Lagrangians and Hamilton-Jacobi equations as a primary focus and backdrop, with the icon of the quantum potential, Bohmian mechanics considers the continuity equation as primary and has the guiding equation as its icon. They are mathematically equivalent in so far as the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation applies, i.e., spin-less particles. The papers of Dürr et al. popularized the term. All of non-relativistic quantum mechanics can be fully accounted for in this theory. Causal interpretation and ontological interpretation [ edit ] Bohm developed his original ideas, calling them the Causal Interpretation. Later he felt that causal sounded too much like deterministic and preferred to call his theory the Ontological Interpretation. The main reference is "The Undivided Universe" [Bohm, Hiley 1993]. This stage covers work by Bohm and in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Vigier and Basil Hiley. Bohm is clear that this theory is non-deterministic (the work with Hiley includes a stochastic theory). As such, this theory is not, strictly speaking, a formulation of the de Broglie–Bohm theory. However, it deserves mention here because the term "Bohm Interpretation" is ambiguous between this theory and the de Broglie–Bohm theory. An in-depth analysis of possible interpretations of Bohm's model of 1952 was given in 1996 by philosopher of science Arthur Fine.[92] Hydrodynamic quantum analogs [ edit ] Pioneering experiments on hydrodynamical analogs of quantum mechanics beginning with the work of Couder and Fort (2006)[93][94] have shown that macroscopic classical pilot-waves can exhibit characteristics previously thought to be restricted to the quantum realm. Hydrodynamic pilot-wave analogs have been able to duplicate the double slit experiment, tunneling, quantized orbits, and numerous other quantum phenomena which have led to a resurgence in interest in pilot wave theories.[95][96][97] Coulder and Fort note in their 2006 paper that pilot-waves are nonlinear dissipative systems sustained by external forces. A dissipative system is characterized by the spontaneous appearance of symmetry breaking (anisotropy) and the formation of complex, sometimes chaotic or emergent, dynamics where interacting fields can exhibit long range correlations. Stochastic electrodynamics (SED) is an extension of the de Broglie–Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics, with the electromagnetic zero-point field (ZPF) playing a central role as the guiding pilot-wave. Modern approaches to SED, like those proposed by the group around late Gerhard Grössing, among others, consider wave and particle-like quantum effects as well-coordinated emergent systems. These emergent systems are the result of speculated and calculated sub-quantum interactions with the zero-point field.[98][99][100] A comparison by Bush (2015)[101] among the walking droplet system, de Broglie’s double-solution pilot-wave theory[102][103] and its extension to SED[104][105][106] Hydrodynamic walkers de Broglie SED pilot wave Driving bath vibration internal clock vacuum fluctuations Spectrum monochromatic monochromatic broad Trigger bouncing zitterbewegung zitterbewegung Trigger frequency ω F {\displaystyle \omega _{F}} ω c = m c 2 / ℏ {\displaystyle \omega _{c}=mc^{2}/\hbar } ω c = m c 2 / ℏ {\displaystyle \omega _{c}=mc^{2}/\hbar } Energetics GPE ↔ {\displaystyle \leftrightarrow } m c 2 ↔ ℏ ω {\displaystyle mc^{2}\leftrightarrow \hbar \omega } m c 2 ↔ {\displaystyle mc^{2}\leftrightarrow } Resonance droplet-wave harmony of phases unspecified Dispersion ω ( k ) {\displaystyle \omega (k)} ω F 2 ≈ σ k 3 / ρ {\displaystyle \omega _{F}^{2}\approx \sigma k^{3}/\rho } ω 2 ≈ ω c 2 + c 2 k 2 {\displaystyle \omega ^{2}\approx \omega _{c}^{2}+c^{2}k^{2}} ω = c k {\displaystyle \omega =ck} Carrier λ {\displaystyle \lambda } λ F {\displaystyle \lambda _{F}} λ d B {\displaystyle \lambda _{dB}} λ c {\displaystyle \lambda _{c}} Statistical λ {\displaystyle \lambda } λ F {\displaystyle \lambda _{F}} λ d B {\displaystyle \lambda _{dB}} λ d B {\displaystyle \lambda _{dB}} Experiments [ edit ] Researchers performed the ESSW experiment.[107] They found that the photon trajectories aren’t surrealistic after all but more precisely, that the paths may seem surrealistic, but only if one fails to take into account the nonlocality inherent in Bohm’s theory.[108][109][110] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ]ORLANDO -- For Frank Kaminsky, this was more about attitude than attire. So even as the Charlotte Hornets rookie center wore his commemorative Wisconsin T-shirt Saturday from the Badgers' run to the NCAA Final Four, Kaminsky quickly explained how many of his college accomplishments carry very little value amid his NBA transition. "I'm coming off a great season in college, and I feel like I'm starting over with no respect," said Kaminsky, last season's NCAA consensus player of the year. "So I've got to earn my respect." Kaminsky took the first public steps toward raising both his game and trash-talking ability to NBA standards Saturday to highlight a string of impressive debuts for lottery picks on the opening day of the Orlando Pro Summer League at Amway Arena. The ninth overall pick in last week's draft, Kaminsky overcame a sluggish start in the initial minutes to finish with 19 points, 12 rebounds and two steals and also shot 4-of-8 from 3-point range in a 76-74 loss to Oklahoma City. Kaminsky's comfort and confidence grew so much over the course of the game that by the fourth quarter, he didn't hesitate to let anyone know it on the court. It was seen as another incremental sign of progress by the Hornets, who made Kaminsky one of the most controversial selections of the draft when they turned down a trade offer from Boston that included several first-round picks to move to the No. 9 spot on the board. Charlotte also took the 7-footer instead of addressing what appeared a more pressing need for a shooter after the team finished at or near the bottom of the league in scoring and made 3-pointers. Simply put: It was risky going with Kaminsky. And that seemed ever more the case when he struggled through his first summer camp practice so badly that assistant coach Patrick Ewing ridiculed the rookie for lacking energy to keep up with the team's other draft picks and young free agent roster hopefuls. But Ewing has seen strides over the past several days. The Hall of Fame center is so committed to Kaminsky's initial development that he decided to delay knee surgery in order to fulfill his duties through next week as the Hornets summer league head coach. Ewing, who tore a ligament in his knee during a recent workout, is coaching in a bulky knee brace and uses crutches to get around the arena. "I just want him to be a good player, a great player," Ewing said of Kaminsky. "I like the fact that from the first day of practice to right now is like night and day. At first, he was tentative. He was like a deer in the headlights. But as the week went on, you could start to see he started to get his confidence and is getting his swag back. He was out there (Saturday) even trash-talking. I like that." There was more to like about the promising performances of other lottery picks who were getting their first tastes of NBA action in Orlando. All five who played Saturday scored in double figures. Magic swingman Mario Hezonja, picked fifth, scored 12 points and made the game-winning shot in overtime; Detroit Pistons forward and No. 8 pick Stanley Johnson had 13 points, four rebounds and three assists off the bench; Miami Heat forward and No. 10 pick Justise Winslow added 15 points in a win over the Indiana Pacers and No. 11 pick Myles Turner finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Thunder point guard Cameron Payne, the No. 14 and final pick of the lottery, is recovering from a broken bone in his hand and won't play in the seven-day summer league. The six high-profile rookies vary in experience, from Kaminsky's four seasons in college to the three 19-year-olds in Johnson, Winslow and Turner who each played one NCAA season before turning pro. But they all shared the common goal of using the week in Orlando to earn some initial respect as they prepare for the start of full NBA training camps in October. "I'm not going to let anybody punk me on the court just because I'm 19 years old," said Johnson, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year last season at Arizona. "You're not just going to disrespect me. I have no tolerance for that type of stuff." The Heat's No. 10 pick Justise Winslow had 15 points in a win over the Indiana Pacers. Fernando Medina/Getty Images At 6-foot-7 and a muscular 245 pounds, Johnson possesses a mature NBA body and expects to add defensive toughness to a Pistons frontcourt that must regroup after losing forward Greg Monroe in free agency. Johnson said Saturday he wasn't disappointed about coming off the bench in summer league, because it's probably a way of preparing him for his role as a primary reserve when the regular season begins. "I'll just come off the bench and be a sparkplug," Johnson said. "Some people can't come off the bench. So to show I can do that is good for me. I'm the type of guy who has a chip on my shoulder anyway." Considering the recent movement in Indiana, the Pacers could be grooming Turner for a starting role. The 6-foot-11, shot-blocking center out of Texas showed flashes Saturday of defensive dominance and a rapidly developing offensive game that stretches to the 3-point line. "He looked like a grown man out there," Pacers summer league coach Dan Burke said. Turner could be asked to step into a void created by Indiana after the team traded center Roy Hibbert on Saturday night to the Lakers and the expected free-agency departure of power forward David West. Those personnel moves place Turner on the developmental fast track. "I'm ready for it, man," Turner said of quickly adjusting to the physical demands of the NBA. "I've been getting hit in practice all week. College is definitely a step down from this, but I've been taking contact for a while. Once you're out there competing, I'm fine. They just ask me to go out there and play my role -- rebound, block shots, score from different spots. Be huge for this team." Few may make the transition more seamlessly than Winslow, who increased his production across the board from the regular season as Duke marched through the NCAA Tournament to a championship. Winslow's strength, balance, versatility and ability to get to the free-throw line are areas of his game he intends to build on during two stretches of summer league play. After spending a week in Orlando, the Heat will then move on directly to compete in the 10-day NBA tournament in Las Vegas. "I didn't have jitters, nah
proposed a canal across Nicaragua, which was closer to the United States and was spanned most of the way across by Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River. In the end, he could not attract enough investment to build the canal, but he did start a steamship line to Nicaragua, and founded the Accessory Transit Company to carry passengers across Nicaragua by steamboat on the lake and river, with a 12-mile carriage road between the Pacific port of San Juan del Sur and Virgin Bay on Lake Nicaragua.[12]:174–205 In 1852, a dispute with Joseph L. White, a partner in the Accessory Transit Company, led to a business battle in which Vanderbilt forced the company to buy his ships for an inflated price. In early 1853, he took his family on a grand tour of Europe in his steamship yacht, the North Star. While he was away, White conspired with Charles Morgan, Vanderbilt's erstwhile ally, to betray him, and deny him money he was owed by the Accessory Transit Company. When Vanderbilt returned from Europe, he retaliated by developing a rival steamship line to California, cutting prices until he forced Morgan and White to pay him off. He then turned to transatlantic steamship lines, running in opposition to the heavily subsidized Collins Line, headed by Edward K. Collins. Vanderbilt eventually drove the Collins Line into extinction.[13] During the 1850s, Vanderbilt also bought control of a major shipyard and the Allaire Iron Works, a leading manufacturer of marine steam engines, in Manhattan.[12]:217–264 In November 1855, Vanderbilt began to buy control of Accessory Transit once again. That same year, the American military adventurer, William Walker, led an expedition to Nicaragua and briefly took control of the government. Edmund Randolph, a close friend of Walker, coerced the Accessory Transit's San Francisco agent, Cornelius K. Garrison, into opposing Vanderbilt. Randolph convinced Walker to annul the charter of the Accessory Transit Company, and give the transit rights and company steamboats to him; Randolph sold these to Garrison. Garrison brought Charles Morgan in New York into the plan. Vanderbilt took control of the company just before these developments were announced. When he tried to convince the U.S. and English governments to help restore the company to its rights and property, they refused. So he negotiated with Costa Rica, which (along with the other Central American republics) had declared war on Walker. Vanderbilt sent a man to Costa Rica who led a raid that captured the steamboats on the San Juan River, cutting Walker off from his reinforcements from insurgent groups in the United States. Walker was forced to give up, and was conducted out of the country by a U.S. Navy officer. But the new Nicaraguan government refused to allow Vanderbilt to restart the transit business, so he started a line by way of Panama, eventually developing a monopoly on the California steamship business.[12]:268–327 American Civil War When the Civil War began in 1861, Vanderbilt attempted to donate his largest steamship, the Vanderbilt, to the Union Navy. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles refused it, thinking its operation and maintenance too expensive for what he expected to be a short war. Vanderbilt had little choice but to lease it to the War Department, at prices set by ship brokers. When the Confederate ironclad Virginia (popularly known in the North as the Merrimack) wrought havoc with the Union blockading squadron at Hampton Roads, Virginia, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and President Abraham Lincoln called on Vanderbilt for help. This time he succeeded in donating the Vanderbilt to the Union navy, equipping it with a ram and staffing it with handpicked officers. It helped bottle up the Virginia, after which Vanderbilt converted it into a cruiser to hunt for the Confederate commerce raider Alabama, captained by Raphael Semmes. For donating the Vanderbilt, he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.[14] Vanderbilt also paid to outfit a major expedition to New Orleans. He suffered a grievous loss when George Washington Vanderbilt II, his youngest and favorite son, and heir apparent, a graduate of the United States Military Academy, fell ill and died without ever seeing combat.[12]:341–64 Railroad empire New York and Harlem Railroad Though Vanderbilt had relinquished his presidency of the Stonington Railroad during the California gold rush, he took an interest in several railroads during the 1850s, serving on the boards of directors of the Erie Railway, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Hartford and New Haven, and the New York and Harlem (popularly known as the Harlem). In 1863, Vanderbilt took control of the Harlem in a famous stockmarket corner, and was elected its president. He later explained that he wanted to show that he could take this railroad, which was generally considered worthless, and make it valuable. It had a key advantage: it was the only steam railroad to enter the center of Manhattan, running down 4th Avenue (later Park Avenue) to a station on 26th Street, where it connected with a horse-drawn streetcar line. From Manhattan it ran up to Chatham Four Corners, New York, where it had a connection to the railroads running east and west.[12]:365–386 Vanderbilt brought his eldest son Billy in as vice-president of the Harlem. Billy had had a nervous breakdown early in life, and his father had sent him to a farm on Staten Island. But he proved himself a good businessman, and eventually became the head of the Staten Island Railway. Though the Commodore had once scorned Billy, he was impressed by his son's success. Eventually he promoted him to operational manager of all his railroad lines. In 1864, the Commodore sold his last ships, in order to concentrate on the railroads.[12]:387–90 New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Looking out the north end of the Murray Hill Tunnel towards the station in 1880; note the labels for the New York, Harlem and New York, and New Haven Railroads; the New York Central and Hudson River was off to the left. The two larger portals on the right allowed some horse-drawn trains to continue further downtown. Once in charge of the Harlem, Vanderbilt encountered conflicts with connecting lines. In each case, the strife ended in a battle that Vanderbilt won. He bought control of the Hudson River Railroad in 1864, the New York Central Railroad in 1867, and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in 1869. He later bought the Canada Southern as well. In 1870, he consolidated two of his key lines into the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, one of the first giant corporations in United States history.[12]:391–442, 474–520 Grand Central Depot In 1869, Vanderbilt directed the Harlem to begin construction of the Grand Central Depot on 42nd Street in Manhattan. It was finished in 1871, and served as his lines' terminus in New York. He sank the tracks on 4th Avenue in a cut that later became a tunnel, and 4th Avenue became Park Avenue. The depot was replaced by Grand Central Terminal in 1913.[12]:391–442 Rivalry with Jay Gould and James Fisk In 1868, Vanderbilt fell into a dispute with Daniel Drew, who had become treasurer of the Erie Railway. To get revenge, he tried to corner Erie stock, which led to the so-called Erie War. This brought him into direct conflict with Jay Gould and financier James Fisk Jr., who had just joined Drew on the Erie board. They defeated the corner by issuing "watered stock" in defiance of state law, which restricted the number of shares a company could issue.[15]:207–32 But Gould bribed the legislature to legalize the new stock.[15]:262–64 Vanderbilt used the leverage of a lawsuit to recover his losses, but he and Gould became public enemies.[16] Gould never got the better of Vanderbilt in any other important business matter, but he often embarrassed Vanderbilt, who uncharacteristically lashed out at Gould in public. By contrast, Vanderbilt befriended his other foes after their fights ended, including Drew and Cornelius Garrison. Later years and philanthropy Following his wife Sophia's death in 1868, Vanderbilt went to Canada. On August 21, 1869, in London, Ontario,[17] he married a cousin from Mobile, Alabama with the name — unusual for a woman — of Frank Armstrong Crawford.[18] Vanderbilt's second wife convinced him to give $1 million, the largest charitable gift in American history to that date, to Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, the husband of her cousin, Amelia Townsend, to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, named in his honor. He also paid $50,000 for a church for his second wife's congregation, the Church of the Strangers. In addition, he donated to churches around New York, including a gift to the Moravian Church on Staten Island of 8½ acres (34,000 m2) for a cemetery (the Moravian Cemetery). He chose to be buried there. Death Cornelius Vanderbilt died on January 4, 1877, at his residence, No. 10 Washington Place, after having been confined to his rooms for about eight months. The immediate cause of his death was exhaustion, brought on by long suffering from a complication of chronic disorders.[2] At the time of his death, aged 82, Vanderbilt had a fortune estimated at $100 million. In his will, he left 95% of his $100 million estate to his son William (Billy) and to William's four sons ($5 million to Cornelius, and $2 million apiece to William, Frederick, and George). The Commodore said that he believed William was the only heir capable of maintaining the business empire. Legacy Statue at the modern Grand Central Terminal Commodore Vanderbilt willed amounts ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 to each of his daughters. His wife received $500,000, their New York City home, and 2,000 shares of common stock in the New York Central Railroad. To his younger surviving son, Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt, whom he regarded as a wastrel, he left the income from a $200,000 trust fund. The Commodore had lived in relative modesty considering his nearly unlimited means, splurging only on race horses. His descendants were the ones who built the Vanderbilt houses that characterize America's Gilded Age. (Although his daughters and Cornelius received bequests much smaller than those of their brothers, these made them very wealthy by the standards of 1877 and were not subject to inheritance tax.) According to The Wealthy 100 by Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther, Vanderbilt would be worth $143 billion in 2007 United States dollars if his total wealth as a share of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) in 1877 (the year of his death) were taken and applied in that same proportion in 2007. This would make him the second-wealthiest person in United States history, after Standard Oil co-founder John Davison Rockefeller (1839–1937).[19][20] Another calculation, from 1998, puts him in third place, after Andrew Carnegie.[21] In 1999, Cornelius Vanderbilt was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame, recognizing his significant contributions to the railroad industry. He was inducted in the "Railway Workers & Builders: North America" category.[22] A statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt is located on the south side of Grand Central Terminal, facing the Park Avenue road viaduct to the south. The 8.5 feet (2.6 m) tall bronze statue was sculpted by Ernst Plassmann[23] and was originally sited at the Hudson River Railroad depot at St. John's Park[24] before being moved to Grand Central Terminal in 1929.[25] Descendants Harper's Weekly. Physician Jared Linsly testifying as to the mental and physical condition of Cornelius Vanderbilt during court proceedings surrounding the challenge to his will. From an 1877 illustration in Cornelius Vanderbilt was buried in the family vault in the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp on Staten Island. He was later reburied in a tomb in the same cemetery constructed by his son Billy. Three of his daughters and son, Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt, contested the will on the grounds that their father was of unsound mind and under the influence of his son Billy and of spiritualists whom he consulted on a regular basis. The court battle lasted more than a year and was ultimately won outright by Billy, who increased the bequests to his siblings and paid their legal fees. A living descendant is his great-great-granddaughter Gloria Vanderbilt, a renowned fashion designer. Her youngest son is Anderson Cooper, a television news anchor. Through Billy's daughter Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, another descendant is actor Timothy Olyphant.[7] Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt was childless when he committed suicide in 1882. George Washington Vanderbilt died during the Civil War and before he had any children. All of the Vanderbilt multimillionaires descend through the oldest son Billy and his wife. Railroads controlled by Vanderbilt Vanderbilt before 1877. See also ReferencesShares For years, experts have believed that south-facing solar panels are most effective in gathering sun in the northern hemisphere. But a new study based on homes in Austin, Texas, has raised questions about which way our solar panels need to be facing. The Pecan Street Research Institute released results of a study that indicated homeowners could find significant benefits by pointing their solar panels to the west. The study concluded that the west-facing panels were better at reducing peak loads in areas such as Austin, where air-conditioning use is a strong driving factor in energy use during peak times, typically 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The study showed south-facing panels provided a 54 percent peak-reduction in usage, while the panels facing west produced a more impressive 65 percent reduction. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to tear down those south-oriented solar panels and put them on west-facing roofs just yet. While the study results immediately led to reports that homeowners could get greater results by pointing their solar panels to the west, there was more to the story than many reported. While the study found that west-facing configurations did have their benefits, they produced less total energy over the course of the year than their south-facing counterparts. The value, it appears, is that they are able to help reduce the electricity load during peak times, which of course puts less stress on electricity distribution systems. That means the power they produce may be more valuable, particularly in hot climates where air-conditioning use can cause problems such as rolling blackouts during peak hours. The new study raises the question of whether using west-facing solar panels may help offset some of the power usage during peak hours and provide some relief for the energy grid. More research is planned that will include broadening the region being studied and examining how the pitch of the roof affects solar collection.Get the biggest daily news 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 Red-faced McDonald’s bosses have apologised after serving up an X-rated side order of PORN to shocked burger lovers. The fast-food restaurant set up video screens for customers that were programmed to show a sports channel. But staff didn't realise that in the late evening the channel switched to broadcasting hardcore porn. The blue broadcasts went on for some time in front of the fortunately all-adult clientele before staff in the Swiss branch of the burger joint noticed. The incident occurred in Zuchwil, a town of about 8,600 in the Swiss canton of Solothurn. Diner Steffen Reiniger, 24, went to the restaurant with some friends for hamburgers before going home. And with their order of burgers they got a saucy side order of eye-popping episodes from the Sexy Sports Clips program aired by Sport 1, a German sports channel. The porn film followed on from the usual sports fare for that evening Steffen said: "We were only a group of men so it didn’t bother us, although I don't know what would have happened if there was a family in the restaurant at that time." McDonald’s said employees were asked to leave the TVs turned to the Eurosport channel, but sometimes workers "change the channel to please a customer," McDonald’s spokeswoman Aglae Strachwitz revealed. Twelve of the craziest McDonald's locations around the world: She added: "If our employees didn’t immediately realise what was going on it’s because they were concentrating on our customers and their work." In October an estate agent inadvertently broadcast porn from the window of its office in plush Notting Hill, London. Faron Sutaria's outward-facing screen, which usually shows pictures of £1million-plus properties, was spotted featuring late-night adult TV channel Babestation. Bosses said they believed someone had used a universal remote from outside to change the channel.Shinji Kagawa: Twisted his knee in United's win over Braga The Japan international suffered the damage during the first half of Tuesday night's thrilling 3-2 comeback win in the UEFA Champions League. The result virtually guaranteed the Red Devils a place in the competition's knockout phase with three games remaining. But it may come at a price, with Kagawa due for tests on Wednesday to discover the extent of the problem. "Kagawa twisted his knee," said Ferguson. "He struggled on for 20 minutes but we will assess in in the morning because we don't know the extent of it at the moment." With goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard also ruled out for a week after suffering a thumb injury in training, Ferguson is likely to be down on numbers for Sunday's crucial Premier League trip to leaders Chelsea. Of more concern to the United boss is his team's inability to keep the opposition out after they found themselves behind for the eighth time in 12 games this season against Braga. "I can't get to the bottom of it, I am afraid," he said. "If you analyse the goals we are losing, they have come from throw-ins, crosses, cut-backs - all sorts. And they are finding players free in the box. "It is difficult to put your finger on it, and it is a concern because it is making it difficult for us."Divers have found a body near an oil platform that caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Coast Guard officials said on Sunday. The body was found by divers contracted by Black Elk Energy, which owns the platform off the coast of Louisiana, on Saturday evening while they were inspecting the structure, said Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Vega. Vega said he could not confirm whether the body was one of two workers who went missing after the platform fire on Friday. He referred additional questions to Black Elk officials, who have not returned calls seeking comment. The Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing workers early Saturday evening after three helicopter crews, a Coast Guard cutter and a plane spent the day scanning a 1,400 square-mile area around the platform. The blaze was touched off on Friday when workers were welding a pipe on a deck of the platform in shallow waters. Twenty-two people were on board the rig when the fire broke out and unleashed a black plume of smoke. Eleven workers were evacuated and nine others were taken by helicopter to hospitals. The platform sits in 56 feet of water 17 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and production had been shut down since mid-August, Black Elk said. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which enforces offshore drilling regulations, is investigating. The incident occurred a day after oil giant BP agreed to pay a record $4.5 billion in penalties for the 2010 Gulf oil spill that killed 11 workers and spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil.A BOOKSHOP IN Colorado has repeatedly been vandalised because of its name: Isis. The Denver-based shop has been vandalised five times in the last year, but the owners refuse to change the name. Isis Books & Gifts is named after the Egyptian goddess of healing and motherhood and it has nothing to do with the terrorist organisation, the so-called Islamic State – often abbreviated to Isis or Isil. Co-owner Jeff Harrison said that the shop has been vandalised five times in the past year or so, probably by people who mistake the name for Isis. The latest vandalism came last weekend when a store sign was smashed after the terrorist attacks in Paris. The shop sells books and gifts related to spirituality, religion and healing. “Isis is the name of an Egyptian goddess, 3,500 years old at least, the goddess of women and healing and childbirth — basically the antithesis of everything the terrorists are about,” he said. Harrison suspects the vandals are “some ignorant people believing that somehow the terrorists have a store, a gift store, in the middle of Denver, Colorado”. Jeff Harrison Source: AP Harrison hasn’t filed a police report. He and his wife, Karen, have learned to put up with vandalism over the years, he said. The store has been around since 1980 under the Isis name. The Harrisons have owned it since 1997. Harrison said he has heard from other businesses with “Isis” in their names, asking if they planned to change. He tells them no. “For now, we are definitely sticking with the name,” he said. The store has not suffered from the name confusion.”Business has been fine. Actually on the uptick,” Harrison said.Demands to keep economic migrants out of Britain are xenophobic a senior United Nations official has said as he attacked the UK’s response to the Calais crisis. Peter Sutherland, the UN Secretary General’s special representative on international migration, said the British reaction to the crisis was “grossly excessive”. The great majority of migrants heading to Europe are genuine refugees, he said, and Britain receives far fewer applications for sanctuary than other European countries. He said calls to stop economic migrants entering the UK are "a xenophobic response to the issue of free movement". He told the BBC: "In my opinion, the debate in the UK is grossly excessive in terms of Calais. We are talking here about a number of people – a relatively small number in the context of what other countries are having to do – who are in terrible conditions and have to be dealt with by France and/or Britain." Thousands making the perilous boat voyage across the Mediterranean to reach southern Europe are "in the main" genuine refugees fleeing violence and persecution, he said. Britain also receives far fewer asylum applications that other European countries, he said. “Germany last year received 175,000 asylum applications. Britain received 24,000," said Mr Sutherland. Migrants face police officers as they attempt to access the Channel Tunnel, in Calais (AP) David Cameron has faced criticism for referring to the thousands of migrants who are camped in Calais trying to get across the Channel as a “swarm”. Mr Sutherland said: "I think it is most unfortunate to create an image of hordes of people, when in reality the highest figure I have seen for the actual numbers in the so-called 'jungle' around Calais – the place where these unfortunate people are living – is 10,000." Kevin Hurley, police and crime commissioner for Surrey, earlier this week called for the 2nd Bn Royal Gurkha Rifles based just outside Hythe, Kent, to be deployed to make sure Britain’s border is secure. French gendarmes try to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles, near Calais (PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP) Mr Sutherland said: “The first thing we have to do collectively is to deal with their conditions. Instead of talking about sending Gurkhas or building fences, we should be thinking of the humanitarian crisis." Mr Sutherland urged the UK to join the common European approach to the migrant issue, warning: "Anybody who thinks that by erecting borders or fences in some way a particular state can be protected from alleged 'floods' – which are anything but floods – of migrants is living in cloud cuckoo land."Univ. of Kansas professor on leave for alleged racist remarks in class In this Friday, Nov. 20, 2015, photo, Andrea Quenette, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, poses for a photo at her home in Lawrence, Kan. (Photo11: Mike Yoder/The Lawrence Journal-World via AP) A white professor at the University of Kansas requested a paid leave of absence after reportedly saying the n-word and denying systematic racial discrimination at KU in a class discussion about race, according to the Lawrence Journal-World. The professor in question, Andrea Quenette, is an assistant professor of communication studies at the school. Quenette requested a paid leave of absence on Friday morning after learning that five people filed discrimination complaints against her, the Lawrence Journal-World reports. Multiple reports say Quenette was teaching a graduate-level course that teaches grad students how to instruct undergraduate courses. According to Newser, a student then asked how to address racism in the classroom, which led to a discussion about campus-wide efforts to eliminate racism. Quenette reportedly said the n-word when comparing KU events to events at other college campuses. "As a white woman I just never have seen the racism. … It’s not like I see (the n-word) spray painted on walls," Quenette said, according to an online letter written by students asking for Quenette’s termination. "I didn’t intend to offend anyone, I didn’t intend to hurt anyone," Quenette told the Lawrence Journal-World. "It was an open conversation about a serious issue that is affecting our campus." The students’ letter also says Quenette made additional comments about institutionalized racism that students claimed were “uncomfortable, unhelpful and blatantly discriminatory.” “As you can imagine, this utterance (of the n-word) caused shock and disbelief,” students added in their letter. “Her comments that followed were even more disparaging as they articulated not only her lack of awareness of racial discrimination and violence on this campus and elsewhere but an active denial of institutional, structural, and individual racism. This denial perpetuates racism in and of itself.” Quenette's leave of absence is expected to continue until the investigation concludes. Alex Samuels is a University of Texas at Austin student and USA TODAY College breaking news correspondent. This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wfQWNROld Dogs, Waiver Picks Week 5 started off with the ultimate throwback Thursday Night, featuring Matt Hasselbeck and Andre Johnson. They hooked up for two touchdowns, despite a combined age over 70. And this trend only continued throughout the week. Here are some old-timers worthy of a Week 6 plug-and-play. Just like the 17th greatest rapper of all time, Macklemore, these players are all over 30 years old. Josh McCown (36) Pssssst. This crafty vet has averaged 25.3 points (standard scoring) over the last 3 games, throwing well over 300 yards again. He has some tough matchups ahead (Broncos, Rams, Cardinals, Bengals), but he’ll be tossing it up to Travis Benjamin plenty. Anquan Boldin (35) Going up against Baltimore, his former team, (Google: revenge game) ‘Quan has touchdown potential. Kaepernick loves to throw crossing routes (Boldin’s bread and butter), giving Anquan a great shot to breakout each week. If you’re looking for a come-up, Boldin’s freaking awesome. Andre Johnson (34) Probably looking like a legit WR3 with Andrew Luck coming back, although he’s been more appealing with Matt “We’ll take the ball and we’re gonna chuck it to Andre Johnson every friggin time” Hasslebeck at the helm. Johnson, a top 70 preseason player, is more than likely on the wire after a pitiful start. He’s worth a flier. Chris Johnson (30) Chances are he’s taken in your league, but the return of Ellington may have lead to some drops. As for trading for CJ2k15, we’ll err on the side of caution, as David Johnson and Andre Ellington may hinder monster games. Gary Barnidge (30) Just made arguably the greatest catch of all time and is only owned in 35% of ESPN leagues. I don’t care if you own Gronk. Add this guy. In the last 3 games he’s averaging 16 points, and his role in the offense seems to be expanding each week. Gary’s Gary’s one of those tight ends who isn’t touchdown dependent. Give the old feller an add! Featured Image Credit: By Marianne O’Leary (Flickr: Eli Manning is back to pass in warm ups.) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia CommonsYerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis St. Hil.) is the most used beverage in Latin America with approximately 426 thousand of tons consumed per year. Considering the broad use of this plant, we aimed to investigate the anxiety-like and stimulant activity of both the hydroethanolic (HE) and aqueous (AE) extracts from leaves of I. paraguariensis. Swiss mice were treated with I. paraguariensis HE or AE chronically or acutely, respectively, followed by evaluation in the elevated plus-maze (EPM; anxiety-like paradigm), open field (OF; locomotor activity) or the step-down avoidance task (memory assessment). Following behavioral protocols the brains were collected for evaluation of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity ex vivo. Chronic treatment with HE induced an anxiolytic-like effect and increased motor activity besides augmented AChE activity. Additionally, acute treatment with AE prevented the scopolamine-induced memory deficit in the step-down avoidance task. Overall, our results indicate the importance of the I. paraguariensis-induced CNS effects, since it is a widely used nutraceutical. We have reported anxiolytic, stimulant and neuroprotective effects for this plant species. These effects are potentially modulated by the cholinergic system as well as by caffeine. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Ivan Gazidis: Believes Arsenal need to invest in a new striker this January Olivier Giroud has been the Gunners' only recognised centre-forward this season, with Arsene Wenger using Nicklas Bendtner as back-up and Lukas Podolski currently out injured. And as fears grow over the France international's workload, Gazidis feels they need to make a new striker a priority during the winter window. "We will see where Arsenal will be in January and whether or not the club will invest in another forward," he told L'Equipe newspaper. "Olivier Giroud won't be able to go on all alone until the end of the season. We need to buy." Meanwhile, full-back Bacary Sagna believes Arsenal have now instilled a fighting spirit in the side and are not in fear of anyone as they aim to claim their first trophy since 2005. "Technically we had a very strong group of players, which is now even stronger with Mezut Ozil. But we were missing the physical impact in the Premier League. We were missing the fighting spirit," he said. "Maybe we thought our technical ability would be enough to make the difference. This time, we don't fear anyone."I wrote earlier today about how Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis was making a big impact off the field as well as on it. The Panthers obviously felt that as well. Panthers owner Jerry Richardson says linebacker Thomas Davis is a "leader who is unselfish with his time and energy to help those around him." AP Photo/Bob Leverone On Tuesday, the team nominated Davis as one of 32 players -- one from each team -- for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award. Players are selected for their community service as well as excellence on the field. Davis exudes both. As a player, the team captain already has a career-high four sacks and 128 tackles for the league's second-ranked defense. He was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance at Minnesota in Week 6 and the Defensive Player of the Month for November in helping Carolina to a 4-0 record. He's not only a leader on the field, he's a leader in the locker room. Off the field, Davis and his wife Kelly run the Thomas Davis Defending Dreams Foundation that has promoted programs that enhanced the quality of life for more than 2,000 underprivileged children and their families. Davis spent his off day on Tuesday giving toys to about 300 children who might normally not get a Christmas present. This past summer, he put a $60,000 playground in his hometown of Shellman, Ga., to help give kids a direction. Davis also is actively involved with the team's community outreach efforts -- including the NFL Play60 programming -- and makes regular visits to the local children's hospital. He is a strong advocate for hunger relief efforts and a spokesperson for a heart health testing program for local student-athletes. "I have had the pleasure of watching Thomas Davis grow into the confident mature, caring man he is today," Panthers owner Jerry Richardson said in the team release. "No one takes his position of influence more seriously than Thomas on the field or in the community. "He is a leader who is unselfish with his time and energy to help those around him, whether that is the younger players on the team or the youth in the Carolinas. He is committed in to his profession, his family and his charity work. and that is why he has made our community a better place to live." "Thomas Davis lives his life the way that Walter Payton did -- family and community first," said Carolina coach Ron Rivera, who was a teammate of Payton's with the Chicago Bears. "His commitment as a husband and father reflects Walter’s loving spirit. "Thomas' strength to come back from three knee surgeries is indicative of Payton's toughness on the football field. I can think of no other Panthers player who is as deserving as Thomas." Davis wasn't given serious consideration for the NFL's comeback player of the year last season after coming back from three ACL surgeries on the same knee in three years. He's spoken openly how that bothered him, even though he understands why Peyton Manning won the award. Perhaps if he wins this award it will somehow make up for that. It will be announced at the Super Bowl, which is his ultimate goal for the 10-4 Panthers.An internal investigation revealed that Philip Wall, a longtime detective, used cocaine and provided marijuana-infused chocolates to a fellow officer, among other violations. A veteran Seattle police detective has been fired over misconduct findings arising from an undercover operation at the Dancing Bare strip club, including admissions of cocaine use and providing marijuana-infused chocolates to a fellow officer. Philip Wall, 51, was linked during the investigation to the fellow officer, Robert Marlow, who resigned from the Police Department earlier this year after pleading guilty to solicitation to possess the drug MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, and computer trespassing. Through his entanglement with Marlow and Marlow’s girlfriend, a stripper at the North Seattle club, Wall admitted during an initial internal investigation to using cocaine with them on multiple occasions, according to a disciplinary-action report obtained Wednesday by The Seattle Times under a public-disclosure request. In a second internal investigation, Wall admitted to interactions with a sex worker and marijuana use, including providing marijuana candy, the report says. Officers are not allowed to use marijuana, and Wall admitted he violated Washington law by purchasing it from friends rather than a licensed retail business, according to a case summary. Wall, whose termination by Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole occurred last month, also admitted he sent a text message with a pornographic image; improperly shared the male sexual-function drug Cialis; and omitted information about his misconduct in his original interview with the department’s internal-investigation unit, the Office of Police Accountability (OPA). Wall, who has filed a notice of appeal, couldn’t be reached Wednesday for comment. In a response to the OPA’s findings before his firing, Wall called them inaccurate or blown out of proportion, according to the disciplinary report. He noted he had not been previously disciplined and asserted termination was unwarranted. O’Toole wrote in the report that Wall’s actions were unprofessional, intolerable and violated public trust on “numerous levels.” “I do not have confidence that you fully understand the gravity of your actions or the effects of such actions on the public trust,” O’Toole wrote. “Arrogance and a ‘boys will be boys’ mentality is not an excuse for illegal conduct.” She also cited Wall’s dishonesty in the original interview, saying it can’t be tolerated. Wall joined the Police Department in 1988; Marlow joined in 1999. Had Marlow not resigned, he would have been fired, according to the OPA’s internal findings completed after his departure. During the Dancing Bare investigation, which led to the arrests last year of two club operators who pleaded guilty to prostitution-related charges, detectives discovered that Marlow also had regularly sent a Q13 news anchor text messages containing personal information on crime victims obtained from a restricted department computer database.NEW DELHI: When students of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D)’s Aravali hostel went for their breakfast on Tuesday morning, one of them found a dead mouse floating in the coconut chutney served to the students. This incident, which left many students unhappy with the hygiene situation in the hostel mess, has made the administration take several immediate steps to improve the mess situation.A student, Jayant Darokar, was the first one who sighted the dead mouse. “By the time I found it, many had already eaten the chutney,” Darokar wrote on his Facebook wall. He then informed the mess supervisor and blamed the night mess for this mistake.He, however, pointed out that even the hostel mess was not in good condition and wanted the administration to take the matter seriously.Informed of the incident, Anand Sangwan, the house secretary and Amandeep Singh, the mess secretary of the hostel met with the warden and other officials and discussed the “irresponsible behaviour, poor hygiene, and poor infrastructure conditions.”Addressing the concerns of the students affected by the incident, the IIT director Ramgopal Rao informed that a committee of three wardens has been formed to investigate the matter and report on it soon.“I can assure you that some people in the mess where the incident took place are going to lose their jobs In the last one year we have been continuously renovating the hostels and the messes. It is taking time as the only time window we get for renovations is two months,” he told the students on social media
the franchise has placed itself in a kind of limbo. They’re losing time in Los Angeles to potentially market the team and earn fans, something that will be difficult with a team like the Rams (who played in the L.A. area from 1946 to 1994) already having a strong presence there. If the Chargers do decide to play back in San Diego one more season they can still try to negotiate a deal with the Rams all the way up until January 17 of 2017. They also have the option of putting Los Angeles completely on the back-burner and focusing on trying to build a stadium in San Diego again. The difficult part of that is San Diego City and County officials have made it clear they have no desire to be a simple placeholder and will not work with Spanos unless he truly puts all his efforts in to either a Mission Valley or Downtown stadium, keeping the Chargers in their home since 1961 for the long-term. There is also the issue that any stadium in S.D. would have to be put before the public in a vote. Spanos and Fabiani have upset a large portion of the fan base and the San Diego community with their actions and statements over the last several months so, even if the team and Mayor Faulconer can come to an agreement on a new facility, there is certainly no guarantee it would be approved by the people. Spanos has put himself in to a difficult situation. He does not have the leverage to dictate negotiations in either spot. Now instead of, as his head coach likes to say, “Doing what he thinks is best for the football team,” he may simply have to accept the lesser of two evils. Figuring out what that is will be the tricky part.To paraphrase Voltaire's biographer, I might not like what Sharon Dogar has to say in Annexed, but I'd defend to the death her right to write it. Well, maybe not quite to the death... Six hundred words were suggested to tackle the important question of whether it is "right and fair" to fictionalise real-life characters. I could answer it in 15. Do what you like, only do it well – and don't expect the relatives to approve. The Anne Frank Trust's objections to Sharon Dogar's book Annexed – which should probably bear the subtitle Peter Van Pels' Imaginary Diary – are good and fine, and exactly what foundations are meant to do (though anyone familiar with the workings of PR might note that their outrage is likely to prove counterproductive). Their concerns with the memory and reputation of Anne Frank are completely valid, and I can well understand and sympathise with their annoyance in regard to Dogar's novel. "I really don't understand why we have to fictionalise the Anne Frank story, when young people engage with it anyway," said a spokesperson for the foundation, and she is, of course, completely totally right. And, at the same time, wrong. The question of whether authors have the "right" to write about living or real people is not one that should be answered by the caretakers of historical reputation. Fiction is a free-for-all, and as long as an author can find someone who'll publish what they write (or these days, publish it themselves), there are no actual rules about who or what can be tackled, give or take a few libel laws. Where would Shakespeare's history plays be without the freedom to reinterpret historical figures? Though even the great man himself may have pulled a few punches with Henry VIII, written a mere 75 years after the king's death (which corresponds more or less to the gap between Anne Frank's death and the publication of Dogar's novel), and carefully edited to exclude the last four wives and the execution of Anne Boleyn. This may have had something to do with the fact that the daughter of Henry and Anne was still on the throne, and more influential than any foundation. More recently, Alan Bennett did it in The Uncommon Reader, in which (the real, current) Queen Elizabeth discovers a mobile library parked outside the kitchens of Windsor castle. The Queen and I by Sue Townsend imagines a post-republican queen living in a council flat in the Midlands, while Townsend's Queen Camilla posits... well, the title gives a lot away. Philip Roth rerouted the second world war in The Plot Against America, George Eliot brought Piero di Cosimo to life in Romola. Susan Sontag reinvented Lady Hamilton's affair with Lord Nelson in The Volcano Lover, and Jeanette Winterson gave Napoleon a cook in The Passion. And let's not forget last year's (and probably the decade's) most wonderful work of immaculately researched and exquisitely imagined fiction, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, in which Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boleyn are given new and vigorous life. All of this doesn't even begin to consider the literary (as opposed to historical) parasites. The zillion spin-offs of Pride and Prejudice could easily be considered a stain on the memory of Austen's classic, and the ones I've glanced at in bookshops have, indeed, been execrable (though to be fair, I loved the idea, at least, of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). Peter Pan has a sequel. As does Winnie The Pooh and Gone with The Wind. Anne of Green Gables has a prequel. And these are just the ones I can count off the top of my head. I doubt any will be remembered with anything like the tenacity of the originals, which in the end, is judgment enough. I was sent Sharon Dogar's Annexed in manuscript for a possible blurb, and though quite interested in the basic premise, I have to admit I didn't get very far with it. Lots of people might like it. (Lots of people liked The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, whose author has also been quoted on the subject of tackling the Holocaust for children. I wasn't one of them.) In the end, however, I have to quote Voltaire's biographer and admit that although I might not like what Dogar writes, I would defend to the death her right to write it. Ok, not quite to the death.Days after Trump issued a characteristically undiplomatic statement on last week's s terrorist attack in Iran by ISIS which killed 17 people and which the US president accused Tehran of basically provoking by stating that "states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote", which prompted Iran to slam the "repugnant WH statement... as Iranians counter terror backed by US clients.... Iranian people reject such US claims of friendship", on Sunday senior Iranian officials responded by accusing the US of supporting the Islamic State and effectively forming an alliance with it, claiming that Tehran possesses documents to prove the allegations. Tbe deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mostafa Izadi, said that Iran is "facing a proxy warfare in the region as a new trick by the arrogant powers against the Islamic Republic," according to Fars News Agency. "As the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) said, we possess documents and information showing the direct supports by the US imperialism for this highly disgusting stream (the ISIL) in the region which has destroyed the Islamic countries and created a wave of massacres and clashes," he added. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mostafa Izadi So far, however, Iran has yet to present any evidence. Izadi's statement echoed remarks made by Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani on Friday, who condemned the Wednesday terrorist attacks in Tehran, and said that Washington is behind most of the terrorist acts in the world. "The United States has aligned itself with the ISIL in the region," Larijani said on Friday, addressing a funeral ceremony held for the victims of ISIL's Wednesday terrorist attacks on the Iranian parliament and the holy shrine of late Imam Khomeini in Tehran. Larijani’s was addressing a funeral ceremony of the victims of Wednesday terrorist attacks in Tehran. Larjani added that "The terrorist attacks indicated that the terrorist groups had failed to achieve their main goal and targeted the parliament and Imam Khomeini Mausoleum, finally resorted to martyring the innocent people and the staff at the parliament." Thousands of Iranians had gathered to commemorate the dead, shouting “Death to Saudi Arabia” and “Death to America.” Also on Friday Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - whose clerical protege recently lost the Iranian presidential elections - said the attacks would only increase Tehran's hatred against the US and its “stooges,” including Saudi Arabia. He is not wrong.NEW YORK — The Treasury Department on Saturday confirmed that it wire transferred at least two separate payments to Iran in the last fourteen months. The admission raises significant new questions about President Obama’s claim that he sent $400 million in cash to Iran because the U.S. doesn’t have a banking relationship with Tehran. The Obama administration delivered the $400 million in pallets of foreign currency flown aboard an unmarked jetliner in January. The cash was jetted in the same day five American hostages were released from Iranian custody. Politico reported on Saturday: The United States made at least two separate payments to the Iranian government via wire transfer within the last 14 months, a Treasury Department spokesman confirmed Saturday, contradicting explanations from President Barack Obama that such payments were impossible. …But a Treasury Department spokesman acknowledged on Saturday that on at least two occasions, the U.S. did make payments to the Iranian government via wire transfer. In July 2015, the same month in which the U.S., Iran and other countries announced a landmark nuclear agreement, the U.S. government paid the Islamic republic approximately $848,000. That payment settled a claim over architectural drawings and fossils that are now housed in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and Iran’s Ministry of Environment, respectively. Then, in April 2016, the U.S. wired Iran approximately $9 million to remove 32 metric tons of its heavy water, which is used to produce plutonium and can aid in the making of nuclear weapons. While the April 2016 payment came after some sanctions were relieved, the July 2015 wire transfer was executed before the Iran nuclear deal was implemented and while sanctions were fully in effect. The July 2015 payment predated the January cash transfer, meaning wire transfers were seemingly a possibility at that time, despite Obama’s claim to the contrary. Politico reported the Treasury Department would not clarify the matter: The Treasury Department spokesman explained that the lifting of those sanctions allowed Iran “to gain incremental access to the international financial system, which opened up more options for executing transactions, such as the heavy water transaction” that occurred in April 2016. The spokesman declined to offer an explanation as to why the July 2015 payment was possible despite the full array of sanctions in place at the time. Regarding the need for cash, Obama explained in August that the U.S. does not have a banking relationship with Tehran and he stated specifically that “We could not wire the money.” “The only bit of news that is relevant on this is the fact that we paid cash,” Obama told reporters. “The reason we had to give them cash is because we are so strict in maintaining sanction answers we don’t have a banking relationships with Iran that we couldn’t send them a check. We could not wire the money,” the president added. Continued Obama: “And it is not at all clear to me why it is that cash as opposed to a check or a wire transfer has made this into a news story. Maybe because it feels like some spy novel or you know, some crime novel. Because cash was exchanged.” The State and Treasury Departments have also not answered repeated requests about when and how it sent to Iran a sum of $1.3 billion, which was part of the same settlement for which the Obama administration delivered the $400 million in cash. It has been widely reported that the $400 million was part of a dispute that arose after Iran in the late 1970s had purchased U.S. fighter jets while Tehran was still an American ally. After the country turned into an enemy in 1979, the U.S. halted delivery of the military equipment, thus triggering an international case in which Iran was asking The Hague arbitrators for $10 billion. Following years of negotiations, the Obama administration finally agreed to settle the case for $1.7 billion – the initial $400 million plus another $1.3 billion in interest. Breitbart Jerusalem reported in August that the State and Treasury Departments both told this reporter that the U.S. government transferred the remaining $1.3 billion but that, despite numerous requests, neither State nor Treasury would provide an answer on how the Obama administration allegedly transferred to Iran the remaining $1.3 billion. The details about how and when the additional funds were sent are relevant to determining whether President Obama needed to pay Iran on the same day the hostages were released and whether the payment needed to be made in cash because the two countries had no banking relationship, as the president has said. Earlier this month, CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported that at least two more cash payments were made to Iran as part of the $1.7 billion settlement. CNN reported: The Obama administration made two additional cash payments totaling $1.3 billion, after delivering $400 million to Iran by plane in January, to resolve a failed arms deal, administration officials told lawmakers Tuesday. The briefing, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was confirmed to CNN by congressional aides who attended. The additional payments were delivered to Iran in Swiss francs, Euros and other currencies. In an email exchange with Breitbart Jerusalem, a spokesperson for the Judgement Fund confirmed that the payment for the compromise that was reached on interest, of approximately $1.3 billion, has indeed been provided out of the Fund. The Fund spokesperson refused to comment on the mechanics of how a settlement payment was made or when the payment was transferred. The spokesperson did not reply to a follow-up question about whether the remaining $1.3 billion was transferred in cash or by any other means. When asked about how the remaining $1.3 billion was transferred, a spokesperson for the State Department replied that the agency had “nothing to add beyond what the President and Secretary have already said on the subject.” While refusing to comment on the timing, the spokesperson confirmed that the remaining $1.3 billion was indeed paid in full to Iran. The spokesperson also refused to provide comment to two separate requests about how the money was transferred. Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with a lawyer tied to the Russian government prompted a resolute response from Fox News host Sean Hannity: Democrats looked for dirt on the Republican nominee, too. And they were willing to turn to a foreign government to get it. "Democrats, the mainstream media, are hysterical over the story," Hannity said July 11. "But they have completely ignored an example of actual election interference." Hannity went on to summarize a January 2017 article from Politico headlined "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire." The story details the work of a Ukrainian-American consultant to the Democratic National Committee who looked for compromising information about former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Manafort had provided extensive political guidance to deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. According to Politico, the pro-Western administration that replaced Yanukovych preferred Clinton over Trump and was eager to help the consultant. For Hannity, this was a direct parallel to the Trump affair, and he asked people to consider, "which was worse." "Now that you have evidence from both sides, you have to decide for yourself," he told his viewers. Are the two episodes basically the same? No one has all the facts, but we can compare the details that we do have. The cases have similarities and differences. The similarities Benjamin Wittes, editor of the respected Lawfare blog, told us he doesn’t think the comparison is frivolous. "If everyone is running around with the assumption that it’s illegitimate to work with a foreign government in a campaign, then it’s perfectly fair to ask what was the relationship between the Clinton campaign and the Ukrainians," Wittes said. The American intelligence agencies say Russia interfered in the election with the goal of defeating Clinton and helping Donald Trump. According to Politico, some Ukrainian officials were happy to accomplish the same thing, except they preferred Clinton over Trump. Politico reporters said that top Ukrainian diplomats deny any interference, but they cited a former Ukrainian embassy staffer who said that he had been told to "research connections between Trump, Manafort and Russia." He said he coordinated with the key person in the Politico story, a Ukrainian-American consultant to the DNC named Alexandra Chalupa. Chalupa told Politico that she took it on herself to dig into Manafort’s past and reached out to the embassy. She had a network of sources in Washington and Ukraine, and as she learned things, she would sometimes share them with colleagues at the DNC. By the summer of 2016, more and more journalists were interested in Manafort, and Chalupa said she and people at the embassy would guide them in the right direction. The Politico article’s point was that Ukraine preferred Clinton. From what it reported, Chalupa’s efforts produced no specific result. The most significant revelation came from a Ukrainian lawmaker who held a news conference to disclose an accounting book that purportedly showed over $12 million set aside for Manafort by the party of the deposed president. The ledger emerged from an anti-corruption investigation. The pressure grew and in mid August, Manafort stepped down from the campaign. At the end of the day, information emerged from Ukraine that disrupted the Trump campaign. Taking the Politico report at face value, at least some Ukrainian officials helped in that process. By contrast, private emails acquired by the Russians and distributed through Wikileaks and DCleaks, in conjunction with a false news disinformation campaign, disrupted the Clinton campaign. The differences If the broad outlines are similar, some key elements distinguish these episodes from each other. The Politico article highlighted a major one. "Russia’s effort was personally directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin (and) involved the country’s military and foreign intelligence services," the article said. "There’s little evidence of such a top-down effort by Ukraine." So, according to American intelligence agencies, the Kremlin shaped and directed the email hacking of Democrats and subsequent distribution. In contrast, a variety of actors on the Ukrainian side responded to American queries and provided public documents. Which leads to the other big distinction: The Russians got their materials through cyber-attacks, while the only telling document revealed by a Ukrainian lawmaker was the product of an official investigation. "There’s a difference between dealing with the embassy and dealing with a covert intelligence operation," Wittes said. "Are you dealing with government records, or are you dealing in stolen dirt?" To be clear, we do not know if the hacked emails had any ties to contacts the Trump campaign did or didn’t have with Russians. But hacked emails are different from the results of a public investigation. Taking that difference one step further, there was nothing inherently illegal in the quest for information on Manafort and how that might link Donald Trump to Russia. Wittes noted that from a research perspective, since Manafort’s work took place in Ukraine, "you pretty much have to go to the Ukrainians to get that." Other details also separate the two narratives. Ukraine is seen as an ally to the United States, while Russia is at best a competitor and often called an enemy. Lastly, the stories from Trump associates have changed over time as more press reports emerge. In the case of Donald Trump Jr., he first said he never represented the campaign in any meetings with Russians. Then he said there was a meeting, but it was about adoption laws. Then he said it was about Clinton, but it represented ordinary opposition research. It’s best to think of both stories as moving targets. The more they are explored, the more we will learn. But to paraphrase Hannity, you have the information. You can decide how similar these stories are. More from PolitiFact on the Trump-Russia story Lewandowski wrongly says Trump in Florida day of Trump Tower meeting with Russian lawyer Fact-checking Donald Trump’s comments about campaign meeting with Russian lawyer Trump and Russia, Clinton and Ukraine: How do they compare? Russia, Trump, Turkey: Detailing Michael Flynn's fall The possible ties between Trump and Russia, explained Is 'collusion' illegal? Fox News host says no What legal experts say about Donald Trump Jr. meeting with Russian lawyer 5 questions about opposition research and Russia Six big moments from the June 8 James Comey hearing The 3 things Comey’s advance testimony corroborates from press reports, Trump 6 questions about James Comey’s upcoming Senate hearing, answered Obstruction of justice, presidential immunity, impeachment: What you need to know The shifting explanations of Trump’s Russia disclosures Mostly True: Trump uses Russia's 'law firm of the year' to counter claim he's too close to Russia Donald Trump’s Mostly False claim that James Clapper said no collusion found in Russia probe Trump and Democratic views on FBI's Comey at key turning points Sean Spicer’s False claim that Paul Manafort played a minor role in the Trump campaignReligion, language and a social divide: the conflict had all the elements for an escalation. Now the municipality of Moutier is voting on whether it wants to stay in the Canton of Bern or switch to Jura. This is the last act of the Jura question, which has largely been resolved both peacefully and democratically. Do we belong in Jura or in Bern? On 18 June Moutier will decide. (swissinfo.ch) "Swiss history did us a bit of a favour there,” says Wolf Linder, nearly 40 years after Swiss voters opted to create a new Canton of Jura in a nationwide vote. The conclusion of the former professor of politics at the University of Bern is a wake-up call. Did Switzerland, which had known nothing but peace within its borders since it was founded in 1848, narrowly avoid a civil war scenario before the historic vote in 1978? This article is part of #DearDemocracyexternal link, a platform on direct democracy issues from swissinfo.ch. end of infobox Like every country, Linder recognizes, Switzerland is marked historically by conflict. Dividing lines were, and continue to be, the trenches of language (German/French), religion (Catholic/Protestant), and social (city/country, capital/labour. In order to contain and peacefully resolve these – and newly emerging – conflicts, it is vital, according to Linder, that not all the dividing lines run parallel. But as it happens, the fault lines in Switzerland do tend to apply across the board. The Jura exception The conflict regarding the autonomy of Jura is something of an exception. “There, a poor, Catholic and French-speaking minority fought to free itself from the Canton of Bern.” The people of Jura felt discriminated against by the well-to-do German-speaking Bernese majority, who belonged to the Protestant Church. In the 1960s and 1970s they grew to form a strong separatist popular movement, whose slogan “Jura Libre” meant “Free Jura”. In those days therefore, the Jura question might easily have escalated to acts of mass violence against people or even huge bloodshed. There are other reasons why this – fortunately, as Linder is at pains to point out – was not the case. These are the principles of moderation and democratic support. Both of these, that is the search for a balanced solution at the negotiating table and the legitimisation of interim results through public ballots, are vital for the political system of Swiss democracy. If these mechanisms fail, it can lead to catastrophe. This can be seen in the example of the former Yugoslavia that Linder refers to. There, all the fault lines overlapped, just as with the Jura question. When the ethnic dividing lines started to boil over in the multi-ethnic Balkan country, the results were horrendous. It led to a bloody civil war in the 1990s, ultimately signalling the end of Yugoslavia. The 'frontline town' decides on 18 June. Moutier lies directly on the border between the Canton of Bern and the Canton of Jura, which was founded in 1978. Historically speaking, the town represents a special case in the Jura question: although the separatists have enjoyed political power for decades, it is still part of the Canton of Bern. According to the wishes of the people of Jura, who have been demanding a change of canton for Moutier since Jura was founded in 1978, this should not be the case. On 18 June 2017, voters will decide whether their municipality will belong to the Canton of Jura in future or remain part of the Canton of Bern. The vote promises to be very tense and it is virtually impossible to predict the outcome. The Swiss government is sending observers to Moutier to reinforce the perception of all sides that the referendum is being managed impartially. end of infobox Translated from German, swissinfo.ch Neuer Inhalt Horizontal Line SWI swissinfo.ch on Instagram SWI swissinfo.ch on InstagramOn Aug. 25, 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft slipped over the north pole of Neptune, then the most distant planet in the solar system, swerved south at Neptune’s big moon Triton and left the known worlds forever. Today Voyager 2 is 10 billion miles from the Sun and bumping through the magnetic frontier between the solar system and interstellar space, but planetary scientists are still poring over the data from its last planetfall, at Triton, for clues to what they might expect the next time humanity encounters a new world. That will happen July 14 next year when the New Horizons probe goes past Pluto and its icy moons, of which five are currently known. Pluto, of course, was once upon a time the smallest and most distant planet in the solar system, and the only one that has never been visited. It turns out, however, that Pluto and Triton are probably long-lost brothers. And so at the end of Voyager’s 12-year-long cosmic picture show, scientists might have seen a preview of coming attractions. Triton, Neptune’s largest moon and one of the largest in the solar system, is the only one that goes around its planet backward, in the opposite direction of Neptune’s rotation – retrograde, in astronomical lingo. Which means it couldn’t have formed out of the swirling blob of gas and dust from which Neptune presumably condensed back at the dawn of the solar system.A Texas high schooler is filing a Title IX complaint against her school district after her volleyball coach benched her in her first trimester. This sounds like a no-win situation for everyone involved. Mackenzie McCollum, a 17-year-old senior at Arlington Heights HS, was looking forward to the start of the volleyball season — prime college scouting season, and McCollum had her eye on landing a scholarship. Then she went and got pregnant. Coach Jack Warren told her she couldn't play, because it's obvious a pregnant woman shouldn't be playing sports, right? Turns out it's not necessarily so obvious. McCollum went to an OB-GYN, who gave her medical clearance to play. She was back on the court, four months pregnant, in time for district playoffs. But she still retained a lawyer and filed a Title IX complaint against the Fort Worth school district. Local popular opinion seems firmly against McCollum: It's gone out of control," said Brooke Halsey, a team captain. "She's still my friend, and I don't want to bash her at all. I just want Coach Warren to be represented. He's a good guy, a great person, and he's been an awesome coach." "Everybody who knows Coach Warren knows he was looking out for her best interest," said Gordy Halsey, Brooke's father. "Good people have been hurt in this." The coach's supporters have set up a Facebook page titled, "I support Coach Warren and the FWISD." It had nearly 500 supporters Monday night. Advertisement No one doubts that Warren was looking out for her health, but it sounds like the school didn't do its homework. There seems to be a dearth of solid information on pregnant athletes, and even McCollum's OB-GYN relied on the discounted popular wisdom that a pregnant woman's heartrate shouldn't rise beyond 140 bpm. At the same time, pregnant women are advised to keep their body temperatures under 103 degrees, so there's no easy answer. Either way, the school didn't consult a doctor before deciding to bench McCollum. How about more obvious health concerns? Volleyball is an intensely physical sport. McCollum said she changed her playing style to avoid diving for balls and landing on her stomach; but how effective a player could she be without diving? The case could be made that the benching was performance-related, and not any kind of discrimination. Advertisement Then, there's the case being made that it's not health related at all. It's extremely sexist. It's ugly," said the student's lawyer, Lara S. Kaufmann with the National Women's Law Center in Washington. "They're really attacking her for being pregnant in the first place and choosing to continue playing volleyball." It's tough to weigh the moral judgments at work. Maybe, as one classmate says, Texas just isn't particularly keen on a pregnant 17-year-old. And maybe, as another opines, McCollum is keeping the child because she's an observant Catholic. These factors are irrelevant to Title IX. Advertisement But Title IX is supposed to cover sex-based discrimination, and is that really the case here? The coach didn't bench her because she's a girl, but because of something that can only happen to girls. I can't recall one case of Title IX applying to discrimination against one student when compared to her teammates. I suppose that's for the courts to decide. Pregnant Athletes Don't Have To Sit Out [ESPN.com] Pregnant Volleyball Player Serves Complaint to FWISD [NBC DFW] Fort Worth Teen Files Civil Rights Complaint, Says Volleyball Coach Benched Her Over Pregnancy [Dallas Morning News](h/t to greyghost for today’s video) Comment from Kaminsky on Dalrock’s thread: What I find with that video of the Danish feminist. If there were such a thing as a Master’s Degree in the manosphere, you could show the candidate that video and have him break down all the elements of the female mind displayed. Point by point; Let’s you and him fight Shit-testing Extraordinary lack of accountability Collectivism to the depths of her soul A form of AF/BB…In that men have to be both ends of behavior to meet females’ changing needs. Meek and placid during the forty years of feminist play-acting fun-time, now all of a sudden a different kind of man is needed. Victim/victim convenient duality. Victorious feminists imposed their will and opened borders, now they’re victims and it’s up to men to clean it all up. Equalist/androgynous when it suits whatever need, strong gender roles when it suits whatever need. So amazing. “Intractable solipsism” belongs in that list as well. I apologize in advance if this post comes off as overly dramatic or kicking a hornets’ nest. It’s not my intent to wax poetic, but it will serve a purpose. I was asked about my take on the current ‘migrant crisis’ in Europe by several Red Pill friends (both online and in person I should add), and how I thought it played into what I’ve written in the past about the War Brides dynamic. As my readers know I never delve into issues of politics, race or religion on this blog unless those issues are directly related to intersexual social and personal dynamics. So it was with this in mind that I considered connecting the dots between Hypergamy and the War Brides dynamic and what I believe we’re beginning to see now in Europe. However, before I get too deep I thought I’d pick Ms. Thranholm’s interview apart first. A Schism in the Feminine Imperative I’ll agree with Kaminsky on his take for the most part; the degree of default entitlement women feel they have to men’s physical protection is glaringly evident, especially coming from ardent feminists, but the side-glance vitriol for European men wearing skirts in protest to the rash of ‘migrants’ raping/harassing European women only highlights feminist duplicity. Is this rash as widespread as these women are making it? Hard for me to say, but not a day’s gone by since this migration that several ‘incidents’ of these migrant’s sexual assault (assault that would land the average European male in jail or make an American man a sex offender overnight) has been in my Twitter feed. I’ll leave that interpretation up to my readers, however what’s glaringly evident is the duplicity in the reaction strong independent® feminists are having to these assaults. In the video Thranholm at last drops the feminist boilerplate and makes the concession all feminists (and Red Pill deniers) are loathe to hear – our society has become feminized. I’ve been making this point since the days of my writing on SoSuave; western society has become founded on a feminine social primacy that prioritizes women’s imperatives (Hypergamy) above all other considerations (lead photo NSFW). The fabric of western society from our religions, to our work cultures, to our personal relations, to our educational institutions, to the foundations of our parenting, have been progressively and systematically feminized over the course of 60+ short years. To have a woman like Thranholm voice this from a visceral, fear based necessity is an indictment of how unignorable this feminization as become. In a similar fashion to how Open Hypergamy and soon Open Cuckoldry are becoming too socially evident to ignore, so too is the fact that an increasing majority of western(ized) men believe that touchy-feely feminized solutions to conflict are their first best alternative to violent, physical, in-your-face conflict resolution. “This militant feminism that has been going on for decades, now we see the consequences that many men here are brought up to be like women, and to think like women, and be soft-minded.” Iben explains in no uncertain terms that a lack of conventional, complementary masculine strength is so lacking in Europe that even feminist women are beginning to feel uneasy in the uncertainty that their safety could be insured by average European men. Underneath all of the posturing of strength, feminism still needs “muscle” for its physical defense. When feminism looks to its loyal White Knights for that muscle it finds them dressed in mini-skirts and high heels. Without missing a beat, scowling feminist interviewer, Anissa Naouai, presents the complete obliviousness of the gravity of the situation women are facing… “But that is what Europe is about, that is part of the European qualities that the European Union promotes. […] “These refugees are coming to Europe, shouldn’t they adapt to that?” This is a glaring example of the degree of cognitive dissonance that has been cultivated in our feminine-primary social order. The idea that men who wouldn’t recognize that feminine social primacy exist, much less who would entirely ignore it, is so alien a thought that it never enters Anissa’s mind. An Appeal to Honor Iben continues and answers Anissa’s question without really realizing it. “Now we see that these post modern values are just a construction.” I thought this was interesting when we consider how long we’ve been told the opposite – that the popular concepts of conventional, evolved gender roles are the social construction. However once these ‘post modern values’ are slammed into the harsh conditions of a reality that diametrically contradicts it, then, then it becomes a question of “where have all the cowboys gone?” Now the truth is revealed that it is in fact this post modern, feminized interpretation of gender that is the social construct – and one with potentially disastrous consequences. “…and now we see that we don’t have any male that can stand up, that can fight, who can fight back those male aggressions that we are feeling. So the vacuum that feminism has created means that women are the victims of those male aggressions” And now we come to the standard appeal to the Male Catch 22 I described in The Honor System many years ago: Man Up or Shut Up – The Male Catch 22 One of the primary way’s Honor is used against men is in the feminized perpetuation of traditionally masculine expectations when it’s convenient, while simultaneously expecting egalitarian gender parity when it’s convenient. For the past 60 years feminization has built in the perfect Catch 22 social convention for anything masculine; The expectation to assume the responsibilities of being a man (Man Up) while at the same time denigrating asserting masculinity as a positive (Shut Up). What ever aspect of maleness that serves the feminine purpose is a man’s masculine responsibility, yet any aspect that disagrees with feminine primacy is labeled Patriarchy and Misogyny. Perhaps we haven’t reached it quite yet, but we are approaching a social tipping point where the physical necessity of conventional masculinity will outweigh the liability to women in ceding the power that feminine social primacy represents. The need for ‘Man Up’ will outweigh the need for ‘Shut Up‘. This need for women’s defense predictably gets couched in men’s Burden of Performance, and now that shit’s gotten real we see this dynamic laid bare in women’s shaming of men for not putting themselves bodily between them and an attacker. This is where Iben’s premise, and the sham of the Feminine Imperative’s social engineering, breaks down. And ironically the very idea of a new “male revolution” or supporting conventional masculinity on a social scale is even more appalling to Anissa than the reality of rising potential sexual assaults on women: “It means that men need to take responsibility to go back to the old male virtues, to defend the women, the children and the culture. Because now this post modern project is dead, it doesn’t work…” Iben goes on for a bit repeating the same men need to take responsibility for defending women trope in various ways and tries to explain to Anissa in as black and white a way that reality necessitates this. However the real disconnect, the most poignant illustration of feminisms denial of reality comes from Anissa after all of this: “But the mass rapes shouldn’t be happening in the first place.” “I’m sorry, uh, what?” “The mass rape, the violence shouldn’t be happening in the first place. These are guests essentially who Europe has welcomed. […] should (women) have to protect themselves against mass rape on their streets at home?” The utter cognitive dissonance of Anissa with her inability to grasp that these male ‘guests’ (who should be beholden to the Male Catch 22 by default) wouldn’t honor the dictates of feminine primacy is staggering. So much so
Zbigniew] Brzezinski, [Ronald] Reagan and [George W.]Bush were the fools who stirred the hornets' nest, probably not knowing, more accurately perhaps not caring what the final outcome was going to be. In saying this, we must open up our eyes and see that America has not yet learnt from its previous mistakes, and even now, it still believes that it can use Daesh [IS/ISIL] if Daesh fights Assad, without giving much thought at all at the fact that even if Daesh helps the US get rid of Assad, then the US will find itself having to contend with an Islamic state and a center of exporting global terror," Safi told Sputnik commenting on the US-led coalition's maneuvers in the Middle East. © AFP 2018 / FAYEZ NURELDINE Daesh Godfathers? Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar Spotted Funding Terrorists Washington is making the same mistake again, believing that Islamic fundamentalists would help it to achieve the US' geopolitical goals in the region. Brzezinski had repeatedly boasted that America's proxy Mujahedeen warriors helped Washington to expel the Soviets from Afghanistan. At the same time, American hawks remain mute about the fact that their "marriage" with fundamentalists had resulted in longer term failures and disasters, Safi emphasized. "Once religion became an agenda item, fundamentalists were able to capitalize on ancient issues, biased interpretations, dormant grudges and unsettled scores, and those passions grew, and grew and grew, and recruited thousands upon thousands of well-intentioned-yet-deluded youth along the way," he noted. Remarkably, a de-classified US Defense Intelligence Agency's document shows clearly that in 2012, almost two years before the dramatic rise of Daesh, American officials and strategists knew exactly who was the major driving force of the Syrian insurgency. And it was not a so-called "moderate opposition" but the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood and AQI (al-Qaeda in Iraq also known as ISIL/Daesh). Furthermore, the document says that AQI was assisting the Syrian opposition "since the very beginning, both ideologically and through media." But that is not all. After shedding light on the fact that the Syrian opposition was supported by "Western countries, the Gulf States and Turkey" the document continues: "If the situation unravels there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in Eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime…" © AFP 2018 / PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE Lessons Unlearnt: US Hawks Dragging America Into Syrian Quagmire According to Safi, the West is playing with fire: Islamic fundamentalists simply cannot be considered tame allies of the West and its Middle Eastern partners. "If the West is trying to redraw the map of the Middle East by creating a state for Daesh ["Salafist Principality"], I cannot see how this can serve Western long-term interests," the Lebanese political scientist underscored. But what is Daesh and does it deserve the name "Islamic State"? "There is Daesh the organization and Daesh the ideology. The ideology stems from fundamentalist Islamic interpretations, or should one say misinterpretations, of the Holy Quran. It is this same ideology that feeds all fundamentalist Islamic organizations; not only Daesh. Daesh therefore is one of those organizations, and to defeat it militarily does not mean that it cannot resurface again, in another name, for as long as the ideology that created it is still in existence," Safi told Sputnik. © AFP 2018 / Afghan mujahideen prepare a rocket attack on the government troops in Shaga, Eastern Nangarhar province, on January 15, 1989 during the Afghan Civil War opposing the Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) supported by Soviet Union Then the question arises what is the role of Turkey in the ongoing conflict. The shooting down of the Su-24, the incursion into Iraq and the embarrassing role of the Turkish leader in the oil smuggling business have prompted a heated debate regarding Recep Erdogan's purported backers. He could not act alone and his irrational political moves could have been supported by major Western powers and NATO, some experts say. "I believe Erdogan is acting alone," Safi underscored. © AFP 2018 / ADEM ALTAN Is Turkey Waging War on Russia in Crimea, the Caucasus, and Central Asia? "America and NATO cannot fully support him without risking a huge confrontation with Russia and cannot been seen not supporting him as a NATO member. That said, there are definitely many visible cracks in the alliance which became obvious even before the Russian intervention and when NATO refused to grant Erdogan a safety zone in Northern Syria," he explained. The Lebanese political scientist recalled that "Turkish incursions into Iraq are not new." "They used to happen even during the days of Saddam's might. Historically, Turks have always made those incursions targeting specific Kurdish areas and redrawing when the mission was accomplished," Safi elaborated. Given the fact that the Middle Eastern region is a "volatile" one, what is the remedy for the current crisis? Responding to the question Safi noted laconically: "[The remedy is] states in which all citizens are equal before the law of the land." "Despite the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Levant lived in peace within itself for quite some time; albeit a precarious and unstable peace. History clearly proves that Muslims, Christians, and Jews, alongside members of other minority religions and sects have lived together at an acceptable level of peace for centuries," Safi emphasized. The pivotal point, at which events went wrong, culminating into the situation the world is suffering now, was the decision of Washington's geostrategists to use religion as a tool in Afghanistan of the late 1970s, according to Safi. "Islam is a great religion of peace, but its spokespersons are either fanatic zealots or leaders who do not know what their religion is all about. They are the opposite side of the same coin that portrays Islam as a religion of violence," the Lebanese political scientist remarked with a touch of bitterness.ES Football Newsletter Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti has once more claimed that Arsenal and Manchester United’s American owners are more interested in success on the balance sheet than the football pitch. Both the Glazer family, who own Manchester United, and Stan Kroenke and his Kroenke Sports Enterprises company, the majority shareholders at Arsenal, have been the subject of fan unrest over recent years, with the latter the subject of a “time for change” protest in May along with manager Arsene Wenger. However it has at times appeared that Kroenke’s distance from the North London side – he is a rare presence at the Emirates for Arsenal games – has given Wenger greater control at a club where he has significantly greater control over transfer policy than managers do at many top European clubs. For Ancelotti, who worked for demanding owners at AC Milan, Chelsea and Real Madrid, it is a notable difference to the high-pressure environments he has become used to. Ten events that defined Arsene Wenger's Arsenal reign 11 show all Ten events that defined Arsene Wenger's Arsenal reign 1/11 As Arsene Wenger's reign at Arsenal comes to an end Standard Sport examines some of the defining points of time in his reign. Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 2/11 Listening to his players (1996) The first defining moment of Arsene Wenger’s tenure came before he had even taken charge. The Frenchman was watching from the stands on September 1996 with Pat Rice in charge for the Uefa Cup trip to Borussia Monchengladbach. Though he hadn’t yet started work Wenger had his part to play in the 3-2 defeat, suggesting “one or two changes” that left Tony Adams far from impressed – the club captain accused his new manager of putting Arsenal’s season in jeopardy before he had even started work. Rather than look to stamp his authority on his new players Wenger chose to embrace Adams’ criticism, setting the tone for a regime that would always value the input of those on the pitch. Shaun Botterill/ALLSPORT 3/11 Nicolas Anelka proves to be the perfect Wenger buy (1997) The second unknown Frenchman to define Arsenal’s early years Nicolas Anelka would play a crucial role in the 1998 Double and establish Wenger as the perfect manager for any bright young forward to work with. Bought from Paris St Germain for £500,000 in February 1997 his £22.3million sale to Real Madrid a little over two years later would fund the new training ground at London Colney with enough left over to bring in another young Frenchman… Thierry Henry. Not a bad bit of business. Ben Radford/Allsport/Getty Images 4/11 Bould’s lob, Adams’ volley (1998) But it didn’t take long for him to get his ideas across. The revolution’s highlight came as Arsenal romped to the title with a 4-0 win over Everton. As brilliant as the free-flowing football has been at Arsenal over recent years Wenger has always had exactly the right players to do the job. That was not quite the case when he arrived, with defensive solidity the order of the day.But it didn’t take long for him to get his ideas across. The revolution’s highlight came as Arsenal romped to the title with a 4-0 win over Everton. Steve Bould steps forward to steal possession and lobs a pass forward for Tony Adams, bursting in past the backline to volley beyond Thomas Myhre. All that from two of the old guard. 5/11 “It wouldn’t surprise me if we were to go unbeaten for the whole of the season” (2002) He may have been a season out with his prediction but we can forgive him a degree of inaccuracy such was the remarkable achievement of his 2003-04 Invincibles. Several players have since said Wenger’s confidence inhibited them in a run-in where they handed the title to Manchester United but Arsenal were to prove their manager’s faith right a year later... Craig Prentis/Getty Images 6/11 The Battle of Old Trafford (2003) And the defining moment of that season was to come as early as September, when Ruud van Nistelrooy’s missed penalty allowed Arsenal to escape their clash with a 0-0 draw. Ugly confrontations from both sides at the final whistle saw suspensions handed out to Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and Lauren, as well as Patrick Viera, who had been sent off in the match. “When I saw my team-mates being full of passion and fighting I knew this was a really great team,” said Jens Lehmann, who had arrived in the summer. This was a team of fighters, galvanized in their pursuit of the title. Getty 7/11 Patrick Vieira makes way for Cesc Fabregas (2005) A new era began when club captain Patrick Vieira left for Juventus, with Wenger choosing to place his faith in a 18-year-old to replace one of Arsenal’s greatest ever players. The same would be true as Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry left over the following years, with a new side constructed around the likes of Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie and other bright youngsters. Ben Radford/Getty Images 8/11 David Dein’s departure (2007) The exit of vice-chairman David Dein briefly brought instability to the club, with Stan Kroenke beginning to acquire shares and the problems at board room convincing Henry that his time was up. Wenger reportedly sought assurances on his future but five months after Dein’s exit the manager signed up for the long haul once more, agreeing a contract extension to keep him at the Emirates until 2011. 9/11 Manchester United 8 Arsenal 2 (2011) It seemed the most humiliating result of Wenger’s tenure and remains a painful memory for Arsenal supporters. But credit to the Arsenal manager, who immediately set about rectifying the most significant issues in a team shorn of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. The arrival of Per Mertesacker and Mikel Arteta on deadline day brought the leadership the club lacked; the pair would be crucial contributors as Arsenal slowly rediscovered their winning edge. ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images 10/11 Mesut Ozil signs for £42.5million (2013) Expectations around Arsenal have reached new levels since the arrival of Ozil, which coincided with the club finally being freed from the debt that came with constructing the Emirates. However his arrival, followed by those of Alexis Sanchez, Petr Cech, World Cup winner Shkodran Mustafi and Alexandre Lacazette have not been enough to turn around a decline that saw Wenger’s side finish outside the top four for the first time in his reign in 2017. Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 11/11 Bayern Munich prove Arsenal are slipping further behind (2017) Just before Ozil’s arrival chief executive Ivan Gazidis had said Arsenal’s new-found financial muscle meant they would soon compete with Bayern Munich, the then-Champions League holders. Four years later the gap was a chasm, a 10-2 aggregate defeat a humiliating low on the European stage for Wenger. He would hang on for just over another year but spent it outside the Champions League, his side further than ever in Wenger’s reign from the top sides in Europe and the Premier League as they finished sixth. AFP/Getty Images 1/11 As Arsene Wenger's reign at Arsenal comes to an end Standard Sport examines some of the defining points of time in his reign. Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 2/11 Listening to his players (1996) The first defining moment of Arsene Wenger’s tenure came before he had even taken charge. The Frenchman was watching from the stands on September 1996 with Pat Rice in charge for the Uefa Cup trip to Borussia Monchengladbach. Though he hadn’t yet started work Wenger had his part to play in the 3-2 defeat, suggesting “one or two changes” that left Tony Adams far from impressed – the club captain accused his new manager of putting Arsenal’s season in jeopardy before he had even started work. Rather than look to stamp his authority on his new players Wenger chose to embrace Adams’ criticism, setting the tone for a regime that would always value the input of those on the pitch. Shaun Botterill/ALLSPORT 3/11 Nicolas Anelka proves to be the perfect Wenger buy (1997) The second unknown Frenchman to define Arsenal’s early years Nicolas Anelka would play a crucial role in the 1998 Double and establish Wenger as the perfect manager for any bright young forward to work with. Bought from Paris St Germain for £500,000 in February 1997 his £22.3million sale to Real Madrid a little over two years later would fund the new training ground at London Colney with enough left over to bring in another young Frenchman… Thierry Henry. Not a bad bit of business. Ben Radford/Allsport/Getty Images 4/11 Bould’s lob, Adams’ volley (1998) But it didn’t take long for him to get his ideas across. The revolution’s highlight came as Arsenal romped to the title with a 4-0 win over Everton. As brilliant as the free-flowing football has been at Arsenal over recent years Wenger has always had exactly the right players to do the job. That was not quite the case when he arrived, with defensive solidity the order of the day.But it didn’t take long for him to get his ideas across. The revolution’s highlight came as Arsenal romped to the title with a 4-0 win over Everton. Steve Bould steps forward to steal possession and lobs a pass forward for Tony Adams, bursting in past the backline to volley beyond Thomas Myhre. All that from two of the old guard. 5/11 “It wouldn’t surprise me if we were to go unbeaten for the whole of the season” (2002) He may have been a season out with his prediction but we can forgive him a degree of inaccuracy such was the remarkable achievement of his 2003-04 Invincibles. Several players have since said Wenger’s confidence inhibited them in a run-in where they handed the title to Manchester United but Arsenal were to prove their manager’s faith right a year later... Craig Prentis/Getty Images 6/11 The Battle of Old Trafford (2003) And the defining moment of that season was to come as early as September, when Ruud van Nistelrooy’s missed penalty allowed Arsenal to escape their clash with a 0-0 draw. Ugly confrontations from both sides at the final whistle saw suspensions handed out to Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and Lauren, as well as Patrick Viera, who had been sent off in the match. “When I saw my team-mates being full of passion and fighting I knew this was a really great team,” said Jens Lehmann, who had arrived in the summer. This was a team of fighters, galvanized in their pursuit of the title. Getty 7/11 Patrick Vieira makes way for Cesc Fabregas (2005) A new era began when club captain Patrick Vieira left for Juventus, with Wenger choosing to place his faith in a 18-year-old to replace one of Arsenal’s greatest ever players. The same would be true as Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry left over the following years, with a new side constructed around the likes of Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie and other bright youngsters. Ben Radford/Getty Images 8/11 David Dein’s departure (2007) The exit of vice-chairman David Dein briefly brought instability to the club, with Stan Kroenke beginning to acquire shares and the problems at board room convincing Henry that his time was up. Wenger reportedly sought assurances on his future but five months after Dein’s exit the manager signed up for the long haul once more, agreeing a contract extension to keep him at the Emirates until 2011. 9/11 Manchester United 8 Arsenal 2 (2011) It seemed the most humiliating result of Wenger’s tenure and remains a painful memory for Arsenal supporters. But credit to the Arsenal manager, who immediately set about rectifying the most significant issues in a team shorn of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. The arrival of Per Mertesacker and Mikel Arteta on deadline day brought the leadership the club lacked; the pair would be crucial contributors as Arsenal slowly rediscovered their winning edge. ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images 10/11 Mesut Ozil signs for £42.5million (2013) Expectations around Arsenal have reached new levels since the arrival of Ozil, which coincided with the club finally being freed from the debt that came with constructing the Emirates. However his arrival, followed by those of Alexis Sanchez, Petr Cech, World Cup winner Shkodran Mustafi and Alexandre Lacazette have not been enough to turn around a decline that saw Wenger’s side finish outside the top four for the first time in his reign in 2017. Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 11/11 Bayern Munich prove Arsenal are slipping further behind (2017) Just before Ozil’s arrival chief executive Ivan Gazidis had said Arsenal’s new-found financial muscle meant they would soon compete with Bayern Munich, the then-Champions League holders. Four years later the gap was a chasm, a 10-2 aggregate defeat a humiliating low on the European stage for Wenger. He would hang on for just over another year but spent it outside the Champions League, his side further than ever in Wenger’s reign from the top sides in Europe and the Premier League as they finished sixth. AFP/Getty Images “I was fortunate to be able to coach Real Madrid, although then the club decided to change managers,” Ancelotti told AS. “That is part of the job, we are exposed to that. In the big clubs it is difficult to stay a long time because the expectations of results are so high. “It's true that there are other clubs like Manchester United, where [Alex] Ferguson was there many years, and now Wenger at Arsenal. These cases are different, as their owners are from the U.S. and they are more interested in the financial aspect than in who is coach.” Ancelotti had made similar criticism of United and Arsenal’s ownership in May, when he said that they were “not so passionate” when compared to the likes of Florentino Perez of Real Madrid and soon-to-be former AC Milan head Silvio Berlusconi.ESPN's venerable College GameDay has made a grand circuit of college football's greatest stadiums over its more than two decades of existence. To paraphrase Johnny Cash, it's been everywhere, man. And one week after planting a new flag in the ground at James Madison, the GameDay road show will finally be traveling to another (sort of) new destination. The problem? It's Philadelphia, for for Notre Dame-Temple, rather than Pullman, Washington, home of Washington State. Toughest @CollegeGameDay call in my tenure. Looking forward to @Temple_FB this wkend in Philly. @wsucougfb we'll get there one day, promise. — Lee Fitting (@leefitting) October 26, 2015 Yes, the idea of heading to Philadelphia, a city it hasn't visited since dropping in for a Harvard-Penn game in 2002, and to a Temple campus it has never seen, is a compelling one. (GameDay's not headed to Temple proper, though, but to Independence Mall.) Yes, Temple, which has never been in GameDay's spotlight before, has a chance to enter November unbeaten for the first time since 1974, and mighty Notre Dame standing in the way is a compelling storyline. Yes, the show has already spent two Saturdays at Pac-12 campuses this year. But Washington State fans have had a presence at every GameDay since the October 2003 season, when a grassroots campaign to get the show to come to Wazzu started with an 800-mile drive from Albuquerque to Austin. After a week off, the flag showed up again, in Madison. Now, 12 years later, the flag -- in the form of Ol' Crimson, Stripey, or Whitey -- has waved at the site of GameDay for 171 consecutive weeks, thanks to the work of a dedicated band of Cougars fans. And GameDay broadcasting in Salt Lake City on Oct. 10 before shuttling ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit to Tallahassee for that night's Miami-Florida State game in prime time on ABC, suggests that it might have been possible to get Herbie from Pullman to Philly, where he'll broadcast Notre Dame-Temple. This Saturday, for the first time, it could have flown in Pullman, as ESPN broadcasted from the site of a Washington State game for just the third time in the show's existence. (GameDay visited the 1998 Rose Bowl and Washington State's 2002 game at Ohio State.) It would have been an especially sweet culmination of the show coming to the flag, and the fans who have given the show one of its most beloved traditions, after a couple of close calls in recent years nearly snapped the streak. If we're comparing narratives, it's really hard to top that. And with Washington State now 5-2 after a season-opening loss to Portland State, Wazzu QB Luke Falk on an insane run of form in recent weeks and Pac-12 powerhouse Stanford visiting, the game taking place in Pullman is almost as compelling as the tale of the flag brigade. This was quite clearly one of the best possible times to visit the land of popcorn and Fireball. Instead, GameDay will head to the City of Brotherly Love. And Ol' Crimson will no doubt wave there, too. But more than a few viewers will watch and be wistful for the missed opportunity of a sea of Wazzu flags. SIGN UP TO GET THIS IN YOUR INBOX! Get one roundup of college football stories, rumors, game breakdowns, and Jim Harbaugh oddity in your inbox every morning. Email: * * * SB Nation presents: FSU shocker, USC dominance highlight Week 8Advertisement Advertisement You wouldn't think of "corruption" in any form when you think of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Certainly, you wouldn't think of conspiracy and intent to conceal detrimental information to the public. Certainly, you'd be wrong. Those employed by the government have the responsibility and duty to "protect" the public. They are supposed to be in the care and custody of information and decisions that may endanger or save lives via regulations. They're not doing a very good job of it. Racketeering and corrupt organizations Margaret Hamburg, former FDA Commissioner (May 2009 to March 2015) is facing charges under the "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations" (RICO) act for concealing deadly consequences of the drug Levaquin made by Johnson & Johnson. Advertisement Along with her abuse of power, her husband Peter Brown was a hedge-fund manager at Renaissance Technologies and is also facing RICO charges along with drug giant, Johnson & Johnson. According to the Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP) report, Brown's reported income was "$10 million in 2008 to an estimated $125 million in 2011 and an estimated $90 million in 2012" due in whole or in part to Defendants’ racketeering conspiracy to withhold information about the devastating, life threatening, and deadly effects of Levaquin." Corruption by design or default While Hamburg was acting Commissioner, she was instrumental in forming e-cigarette regulations before she left the FDA. Her replacement, Dr. Advertisement Top Videos of the Day Robert Califf also has financial ties to pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline and more. While he was the director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute (DTMI) he received a consulting payment from Johnson & Johnson of $87,500. Taking over where Hamburg left off, Califf released the FDA e-cigarette regulations, and litigation is already pending on the rule. Regulations, by design or default, may be heavily strewn with conflict of interest. With the makers of nicotine reduction therapies and drugs like Johnson & Johnson having an FDA Commissioner and former commissioners ear, corruption may be inevitable. Are decisions based on health? Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wants answers from the FDA about regulations. Advertisement In a letter, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee asked Commissioner Califf a few specific questions. Burdensome expenses related to the application and approval costs and public health were of importance in his letter. As he stated, "the FDA’s attempt to improve the public’s health by scrutinizing the e-cigarette industry could ultimately result in negative unintended health consequences." Another observation made by Senator Johnson stated: "The final rule notes that the FDA does “not currently have sufficient data about e-cigarettes and similar products to fully determine what effects they have on the public health." Then Senator Johnson asked, in part: "How is the FDA’s regulation of e-cigarettes not a premature restriction on an industry given the FDA’s admission that it does not have “sufficient data” about e-cigarettes to determine the effects on the public’s health"? The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to investigate “the efficiency and economy of operations of all branches of the Government.” Senator Johnson stated he wanted all material "no later than 5:00 p.m. on May 31, 2016."Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Aug. 31, 2015, 8:16 PM GMT / Updated Sep. 1, 2015, 11:06 AM GMT By Halimah Abdullah and Alex Johnson President Barack Obama challenged fellow world leaders in unusually blunt language Monday to act boldly on climate change or "condemn our children to a world they will no longer have the capacity to repair." In a forceful address, Obama opened the "GLACIER" conference in Anchorage, Alaska, by declaring: "We are not moving fast enough. None of the nations represented here are moving fast enough." That includes the U.S., which Obama said "recognizes our role in creating this problem and embraces our role in solving it." "It's not enough to just talk the talk. We've got to walk the walk." Obama is using the three-day GLACIER conference — it stands for Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience — as a way both to highlight the perils of global warming and to cement his environmental legacy. He directly attacked politicians who argue that climate change isn't real, saying they "are on their own shrinking island." "The time to heed the critics and the cynics and the deniers is past," the president said. Unless the world acts more aggressively and more quickly, he said, "entire nations will find themselves under severe, severe problems: More drought. More floods. Rising sea levels. Greater migration. More refugees. More scarcity. More conflict." In language unusual for a diplomatic setting, Obama contended, "Any leader willing to take a gamble on a future like that, any leader who refuses to take this issue seriously or treats it like a joke, is not fit to lead." "It's not enough to just have conferences," he said. "It's not enough to just talk the talk. We've got to walk the walk." The setting was carefully chosen — opening the first visit by a sitting president to the Alaska Arctic on the day North America's tallest peak, Mount McKinley, was officially renamed to its original name, Mount Denali. The high-profile three-day journey will include viewing melting glaciers and eroding coastlines and chats with salmon fishermen whose livelihoods are being affected — as well as an appearance on an episode of NBC's "Running Wild With Bear Grylls." The episode is set to air later this year. The Obama administration has tried a variety of methods and used a number of venues to move the issue of climate change from the periphery to the fore. Over the past several years, the president and members of his administration have woven the theme of climate change into speeches on troop readiness, health and the ecosystem of the Everglades. And those efforts have included making the case to address climate change by connecting the science behind global warming to a moral imperative for future generations. The administration has also increasingly used a regulatory approach to address carbon pollution — setting the first national standards to cut carbon emissions from power plants. Internationally, the White House checked a huge box last year by securing an agreement with China to cut carbon emissions drastically by 2030 and a deal with Brazil to increase renewable energy production. Related: Mt. McKinley to Denali: How a Mountain's Renaming Got Tied Up in Politics However, the administration's efforts have also rankled environmentalists, as well as conservatives who argue that he has gone too far. Just weeks ago, Obama gave final approval to Shell Oil's drilling in the Alaskan Arctic for the first time in 20 years — a move that raised the hackles of environmentalists, who accused his administration of hypocrisy. And indeed, just moments after he finished speaking Monday, Greenpeace shot out a statement saying, "It's time for the president to stop talking about urgency, and stop approving extreme fossil fuel projects like Shell's Arctic drilling plans." Meanwhile, amid concerns that the U.S. has ceded influence to Russia in strategic Arctic waters, the White House announced Tuesday that it would ask Congress to speed up construction of new icebreakers to protect U.S. interests and natural resources. The U.S. currently has two working icebreakers, compared to Russia's 40.We are inundated since childhood with the philosophy to create happiness through successful achievement of our goals. Often this approach continues into adulthood. If we are offered another strategy for happiness later it isn’t nurtured or supported by the world around us. We have our model, and so our current paradigm discounts others. That is until our success and goal achievement strategies leave us unfulfilled and looking for more. The goal achievement strategy for happiness makes sense because it is how we were trained. It conforms to our experience about how our emotions were created since childhood. We’ve learned through repetition and habit since childhood to experience emotions as a reaction to our successes and failures. By the time we are adults we’ve been living by this conditioned pattern for so long it seems to be the reality. However, it only appears true if we don’t have the awareness to see the rest of the story. If you observe children before they become conditioned, you see that they are happy almost all the time, and often for no reason. Ivan Pavlov’s dog learned through conditioning and habit to relate the sound of a ringing bell to getting food. In reality, a ringing bell doesn’t mean that the dog will eat, but the dog learned this relationship through repetition. As humans we also learned to feel emotions through repetition and conditioning. When we did something that people wanted we were rewarded with praise. When we failed to meet others expectations we might have been punished, or ignored. By that conditioning over years achieving goals can produce a wonderful feeling, but it doesn’t mean the two are directly related. They are only related because the mind has learned through repetition to link them together. Many individuals have driven themselves to accomplishment only to feel empty and wondering, “Is this all there is?” This is when our conditioning falls apart and we have to look deeper to find a more meaningful happiness and fulfillment. Emotional Habits from Goal Achievement I remember being in 1st grade and going up to a chart that had all the kid’s names on it. I counted the number of gold stars by my name. I remember the euphoric feeling I had when I saw I had more stars than anyone else. This lasted about four seconds. I noticed a girl’s name at the bottom below mine. I counted out the number of her stars. She had two more stars than me. My heart sank and I walked back to my seat dejected. What happened in just a few seconds to cycle my emotions to both ends of the spectrum? Certainly no actual achievement of failure occurred. At the surface it appears that my performance, or the gold stars were having an impact on my emotions. I didn’t have the awareness to notice that the interpretation my mind made was the critical factor. My mind was running stories, expectations, self images, and comparisons without my awareness. Years later, when I reflected on this experience and others like it, I was able to perceive that it was these automated mental programs that was creating my emotions. Awareness: The Ability to Perceive the Invisible One aspect of awareness is clarity of perception. In self awareness it is the ability to clearly observe the dynamics of the mind that were previously unconscious. If you put into slow motion the dynamics of my mind in front of that chart of gold stars it would look something like the following. Walking up to the chart of gold stars, I was hoping that I would be number one. It was a goal I had. My mind structured the belief that if I had the most gold stars, then I was the best and smartest in the class. I would be a winner, a success, and therefore lovable. In reality, gold stars on a chart don’t have any direct value to a 6 year old. However, my beliefs translated gold stars into being a good boy. A “good boy” was someone who was rewarded with love and praise. That meant being happy. When I perceived that I had the most stars, my mind activated the belief that I was good, and worthy of being loved. My mind generated a positive self image, or recalled an existing one. I believed I was that positive image in my mind. I then expressed love to that image, because it was worthy of being loved. I could feel the love I was expressing and it was a wonderful feeling. In reality my spirits weren’t lifted by the number of gold stars. The joy I felt was my own love being expressed and felt. The number of stars was just a conditioned trigger like a bell to Pavlov’s dog. What I was conscious of at the time was the number of stars, my performance compared to others, and the happy emotions I felt. I learned to relate my performance and comparison to others as the source of my emotions. I completely overlooked the aspect of my mind that was doing the comparing. I had many experiences like this and my mind learned to associate accomplishing goals to feeling good. I also learned to feel bad when I failed or performed poorly. I wasn’t aware of the role of my mental imagery, beliefs, or my power to express love and appreciation for myself as a separate action. These were an automated response that I was not aware of. I only saw the trigger and assumed that the trigger had the power over my emotions. At six years old I already relied on the bells of gold stars and achieving goals to control my power to express love and create my own happiness. When I saw the girl’s name with more stars, it triggered my mind into another automated routine. If I was not the winner, then I must be the loser. Quicker than I was aware of it, the mind concluded that I was less than. My mind displayed a negative self image, and I believed that negative image was me. I expressed a self judgment and rejection to that image as being unworthy. Immediately I felt the emotions that accompany expressing judgment, rejection, and unworthiness. They felt unpleasant. At the time my mind related my emotions to my performance. I didn’t know that I had created and expressed them as a reaction to my beliefs about performance. It wasn’t the achievement of success or being a winner that made me happy. It was my beliefs that controlled my expression of emotions of love and self acceptance that made me happy. It wasn’t the failure, or coming in second that made me unhappy. It was the beliefs that controlled my expression of rejection and judgment that were the cause of those unpleasant emotions. Conditional Love and Happiness At 6 years old I was already conditioned to create love, or self rejection as a reaction to my beliefs. My emotional shifts weren’t dependent on a bell like Pavlov’s dog, but by the number of symbols on a paper chart, a grade, or what someone said or thought of me. The beliefs and images in my mind were regulating which emotions I expressed and felt based on those triggers. In my dejected state I decided to try harder to prove myself worth. Some people might approve of this reactive motivation to succeed as a way to make a person grow. There is a valid case for goal setting as it spurs a
must generally act with reasonable care, and can be held liable for injuries caused by a reckless rescue attempt. However, many states have limited or removed liability from rescuers in such circumstances, particularly where the rescuer is an emergency worker. Furthermore, the rescuers need not endanger themselves in conducting the rescue. Civil law system [ edit ] Many civil law systems, which are common in Continental Europe, Latin America and much of Africa, impose a far more extensive duty to rescue.[3] The duty is usually limited to doing what is “reasonable”. In particular, a helper does not have to substantially endanger themselves.[23] This can mean that anyone who finds someone in need of medical help must take all reasonable steps to seek medical care and render best-effort first aid. Commonly, the situation arises on an event of a traffic accident: other drivers and passers-by must take an action to help the injured without regard to possible personal reasons not to help (e.g. having no time, being in a hurry) or ascertain that help has been requested from officials.[citation needed] In practice however, almost all cases of compulsory rescue simply require the rescuer to alert the relevant entity (police, fire brigade, ambulance) with a phone call.[citation needed] Regulations by country [ edit ] In some countries, there exists a legal requirement for citizens to assist people in distress, unless doing so would put themselves or others in harm's way. Citizens are often required to, at minimum, call the local emergency number, unless doing so would be harmful, in which case the authorities should be contacted when the harmful situation has been removed. As of 2012, there were such laws in several countries, including[1] Albania, Andorra,[24] Argentina,[25] Austria,[26] Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia,[27] Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,[28] Finland, France,[29] Germany,[30] Greece,[31] Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland,[32] Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia. Argentina [ edit ] Argentina has legislation on "abandonment of persons", Articles 106-108 of the Argentine Penal Code, which includes the provision in Article 106 that "a person who endangers the life or health of another, either by putting a person in jeopardy or abandoning to their fate a person unable to cope alone who must be cared for... will be imprisoned for between 2 and 6 years" [emphasis added].[33] Canada [ edit ] In Quebec, which makes use of civil law, there is a general duty to rescue in its Charter of Rights: "Every human being whose life is in peril has a right to assistance...Every person must come to the aid of anyone whose life is in peril, either personally or calling for aid, by giving him the necessary and immediate physical assistance, unless it involves danger to himself or a third person, or he has another valid reason."[34] Criminal law in Canada is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government, so failure to comply with an article of the Charter in Quebec does not constitute a criminal offence except if by doing so a party also violates the Criminal Code. Other provinces follow common law. In Canadian air law, it is mandatory to make oneself and one's aircraft available to aid search-and-rescue efforts if the aircraft is in the immediate area and a distress signal is received.[citation needed] Denmark [ edit ] Under the Danish penal code, all persons must provide aid to the best of their ability to any person who appears to be lifeless or in mortal danger (§ 253), must alert authorities or take similar steps to prevent impending disasters that could cause loss of life (§ 185), must comply with all reasonable requests of assistance by a public authority when a person's life, health or well-being is at stake (§ 142), and must, if they learn of a planned crime against the state, human life or well-being, or significant public goods, do everything in their power to prevent or mitigate the crime, including but not limited to reporting it to authorities (§ 141), in all cases provided that acting would not incur particular danger or personal sacrifice. Violations are punishable by up to three months (§ 142), two years (§ 185 and § 253) or three years (§ 141) in prison.[35] France [ edit ] Anyone who fails to render assistance to a person in danger will be found liable before French Courts (civil and criminal liability). The penalty for this offence in criminal courts is imprisonment and a fine (under article 223–6 of the Criminal Code) while in civil courts judges will order payment of pecuniary compensation to the victims.[36] The photographers at the scene of the fatal car collision of Diana, Princess of Wales, were investigated for violation of the French law of "non-assistance à personne en danger" (failing to provide assistance to a person in danger), which can be punished by up to 5 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to €75,000. Germany [ edit ] In Germany, unterlassene Hilfeleistung (failure to provide assistance) is a crime under section 323(c)[37] of the German Criminal Code: any citizen is obligated to provide assistance in case of an accident or general danger if necessary, and is normally immune from prosecution if assistance given in good faith and following the reasonable person's (aka ordinary prudent person's) understanding of required measures turns out to be harmful.[38][39] Also, the rescuer or responder may not be held liable if the action they should take in order to help is unacceptable for them and they are unable to act (for example when unable to act at the sight of blood). In Germany, knowledge of basic emergency measures and first aid and CPR certification is a prerequisite for the granting of a driving license. Greece [ edit ] In Greece, a citizen is required by law to provide help to anyone who asks for it in case of a tragedy or public danger, as long as providing help does not endanger him or her personally. According to article 288 of the criminal code, not providing help in those cases can impose a prison sentence of up to 6 months. Israel [ edit ] In 1998, Israel enacted the “Stand-not-idly-by-thy-neighbor’s-blood Law”, taking its name from Leviticus 19:16. It requires one to render assistance whenever one is in the presence of a person who, due to some sudden occurrence, is in severe and immediate danger to life, limb or health, provided that one can do so without placing oneself or a third party in danger. Notifying the authorities (e.g. the police or fire department, as relevant) or calling on others who can render assistance for aid is considered “rendering assistance” under the law. A person obliged to render assistance who fails to do so can be fined. Russia [ edit ] In Russia, Article 125 of the criminal code prohibits knowingly abandoning people who are in life- or health-threatening situations when said people can't help themselves. However it binds only those who are either legally obligated to care for said people or who themselves have put said people into life or health threatening situation. The maximum penalty is 1 year in prison.[40] Serbia [ edit ] In Serbia, a citizen is required by law to provide help to anyone in need (after for example a major car accident) as long as providing help does not endanger him or her personally. Serbian criminal code Articles 126 and 127 state that should one abandon a helpless person and/or not provide aid to a person in need, one could receive a prison sentence of up to one year. If the person dies of injuries due to no aid having been provided by the bystander, a sentence up to 8 years in prison can be imposed. Spain [ edit ] In Spain, a citizen is required by law to provide or seek help to anyone in need as long as providing help does not endanger him or her personally. Not doing so is a criminal offence under Article 195 of the Spanish Criminal Code.[41] Ethical justifications [ edit ] Legal requirements for a duty to rescue do not pertain in all nations, states, or localities. However, a moral or ethical duty to rescue may exist even where there is no legal duty to rescue. There are a number of potential justifications for such a duty. One sort of justification is general and applies regardless of role-related relationships (doctor to patient; firefighter to citizen, etc.). Under this general justification, persons have a duty to rescue other persons in distress by virtue of their common humanity, regardless of the specific skills of the rescuer or the nature of the victim's distress. These would justify cases of rescue and in fact make such rescue a duty even between strangers. They explain why philosopher Peter Singer suggests that if one saw a child drowning and could intervene to save him, they should do so, if the cost is moderate to themselves. Damage to their clothing or shoes or how late it might make them for a meeting would be insufficient excuse to avoid assistance. Singer goes on to say that one should also attempt to rescue distant strangers, not just nearby children, because globalization has made it possible to do so.[42] Such general arguments for a duty to rescue also explain why after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Haitians were digging family members, friends, and strangers out of the rubble with their bare hands and carrying injured persons to whatever medical care was available.[43] They also explain why, while covering that same earthquake, journalist and physician Sanjay Gupta and a number of other MD-journalists began acting as physicians to treat injuries rather than remaining uninvolved in their journalistic roles. Similarly, they justify journalist Anderson Cooper's attempt to shepherd an injured young boy away from some "toughs" nearby in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.[44] Specific arguments for such a duty to rescue include, but are not limited to: The Golden Rule: treat others as one would wish to be treated. This assumes that all persons would wish to be rescued if they were in distress, and so they should in turn rescue those in distress to the best of their abilities. What counts as distress requiring rescue may, of course, differ from person to person, but being trapped or at risk of drowning are emergency situations which this position assumes all humans would wish to be rescued from. Utilitarianism: utilitarianism posits that those actions are right which best maximize happiness and reduce suffering ("maximize the good"). [45] Utilitarian reasoning generally supports acts of rescue which contribute to overall happiness and reduced suffering. Rule utilitarianism would look not just at whether individual acts of rescue maximize the good, but whether certain types of acts do so. It then becomes one's duty to perform those types of actions. Generally, having strangers rescue those in distress maximizes good so long as the rescue attempt does not make things worse, so one has a duty to rescue to the best of her or his ability as long as doing so will not make things worse. Utilitarian reasoning generally supports acts of rescue which contribute to overall happiness and reduced suffering. Rule utilitarianism would look not just at whether individual acts of rescue maximize the good, but whether certain types of acts do so. It then becomes one's duty to perform those types of actions. Generally, having strangers rescue those in distress maximizes good so long as the rescue attempt does not make things worse, so one has a duty to rescue to the best of her or his ability as long as doing so will not make things worse. Humanity: the rules of humanity advise that the essence of morality and right behavior is tending to human relationships. Therefore, virtues (desirable character traits) such as compassion, sympathy, honesty, and fidelity are to be admired and developed.[46] Acting out of compassion and sympathy will often require rescue where someone is in need. Indeed, it would not be compassionate to ignore someone's need, though the way one fulfills that need may vary. In cases of emergency, rescue would be the most compassionate act compared with allowing a person to remain trapped in rubble. There are also ethical justifications for role-specific or skill-specific duties of rescue such as those described above under the discussion of U.S. Common Law. Generally, these justifications are rooted in the idea that the best rescues, the most effective rescues, are done by those with special skills. Such persons, when available to rescue, are thus even more required to do so ethically than regular persons who might simply make things worse (for a utilitarian, rescue by a skilled professional in a relevant field would maximize the good even better than rescue by a regular stranger). This particular ethical argument makes sense when considering the ability firefighters to get both themselves and victims safely out of a burning building, or of health care personnel such as physicians, nurses, physician's assistants, and EMTs to provide medical rescue.[47] These are some of the ethical justifications for a duty to rescue, and they may hold true for both regular citizens and skilled professionals even in the absence of legal requirements to render aid. Case law [ edit ] United States [ edit ] In an 1898 case, Buch v. Amory Mfg. Co., 69 N.H. 257, 44 A. 809, 1897 N.H. LEXIS 49 (N.H. 1898), the New Hampshire Supreme Court unanimously held that after an eight-year-old boy negligently placed his hand in the defendant's machinery, the boy had no right to be rescued by the defendant. Beyond that, the trespassing boy could be held liable for damages to the defendant's machine.[48] In the 1907 case People v. Beardsley, Beardsley's mistress, Blanche Burns, passed out after overdosing on morphine. Rather than seek medical attention, Beardsley instead had a friend hide her in the basement, and Burns died a few hours later. Beardsley was tried and convicted of manslaughter for his negligence. However, his conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court of Michigan saying that Beardsley had no legal obligation to her. Some states such as Minnesota, Vermont, and Rhode Island make it a misdemeanor offence if it is known that someone is in serious danger and someone can intervene safely or call 911 and they do not (Trinh, Li, 2015).[49] Germany [ edit ] In 2016, an 83-year-old man collapsed in a bank lobby in Essen and later died. Several customers stepped over him without providing assistance. With the help of security camera footage, these customers were identified and sentenced to fines of several thousand euro each for failing to provide assistance. A customer who phoned emergency services was not indicted, as he was considered to have provided sufficient assistance.[50] See also [ edit ]An investigation is underway after a woman was stabbed multiple times this morning in downtown Birmingham. North Precinct Sgt. Earnest Lockett said the incident happened about 5 a.m. on 16th Street North between Second and Third avenues. She was found on the sidewalk and taken to UAB Hospital, where she is undergoing surgery. They have not released the name or age of the victim, but said her injuries are life-threatening. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said the victim and the suspect know each other, and both are regulars at the Firehouse shelter. "Witnesses said the suspect gets angry from time to time,'' Edwards said. "It is believed the suspect just lashed out at the victim, stabbing her multiple times. " The suspect is in custody pending a formal charge of attempted murder. Updated at 12:07 p.m.A customer looks at a pistol at a vendor's display at a gun show held by Florida Gun Shows in Miami in January. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) A prestigious medical journal just published a new study of gun deaths with shocking results: if just three gun control laws were adopted nationwide, the researchers found, deaths from firearms could be cut by more than 90 percent. It's a reduction so staggering that it sounds hard to believe. And according to two outside scientists, we shouldn't. "That’s too big -- I don’t believe that," said David Hemenway, a professor of health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "These laws are not that strong. I would just be flabbergasted; I’d bet the house if you did [implement] these laws, if you had these three laws and enforced them really well and reduced gun deaths by 10 percent, you'd be ecstatic." "Briefly, this is not a credible study and no cause and effect inferences should be made from it," Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy & Research wrote in an e-mail. [How gun deaths became as common as traffic deaths] The lead author, epidemiologist Bindu Kalesan of Boston University, said that the study published in The Lancet provides policymakers the hard evidence they need to prioritize individual gun control laws that would have the biggest impact: background checks for gun and ammunition buyers and ballistic fingerprinting that allows bullets to be matched to the guns that fired them. Implementing background checks for gun buyers at the federal level, alone, would cut firearm deaths in half, the study found. If ammunition background checks and ballistic fingerprinting were also implemented at the federal level, the study finds, the 2010 rate of death in the U.S. from firearms, 10 per 100,000, could drop to less than 1 per 100,000. "We know that's a stretch, but we still think we can," Kalesan said. To critics who do not believe a 90 percent decline is realistic, she points to two states: Louisiana and Massachusetts. In Louisiana, 19 of 100,000 people died of firearm deaths in 2010. In Massachusetts, which has stricter gun control laws, that rate is 4 per 100,000. She and colleagues controlled in the study for many of the factors that could influence likelihood of gun death beyond gun control policies -- including unemployment, gun ownership, gun export rates and non-firearm homicides. "The validity has to be established with the next steps. We provide the first evidence that the three laws may reduce gun death rates. Now for the next step. Seldom is research a 1-stop process," Kalesan wrote in an e-mail. But Webster and Hemenway -- who both say there is a growing and compelling body of evidence that gun control, and particularly background checks, do work -- cautioned against reading too much into some of its specific findings. Why the impasse? As anyone who has read a medical study knows, trying to parse cause and effect merely by observing the world around us is complex. Does coffee make us healthier, or is there something subtly different about coffee drinkers and those who don't partake? Well, the same thing applies to understanding gun control laws. People may have very different inherent risks of death by firearm simply depending on whether they live in a rural or urban area. And while gun control laws may affect death from firearms, so will other factors, such as urban environments, poverty and gang violence. Kalesan's team made an effort to account for differences that could change risk of firearm death in different states. But Webster and Hemenway said that there were many other factors that can influence a person's likelihood of dying by gunshot. Hemenway pointed out that this isn't a flaw unique to this study -- the entire literature on gun policy comes with inherent limitations due to the nature of the data, and he suggested it is best to think of this new study as a part of the whole instead of as a policy prescription for how to do away with gun deaths. Taken together with a bunch of other research, it supports the broad idea that gun control laws work. Some of the particulars of the study, however, are less clear. For example, the study found that ballistic fingerprint laws that require bullets to be able to be traced by guns had the third biggest effect on reducing overall firearm deaths and the strongest effect on preventing suicide death. Webster said that those fingerprinting laws aren't even currently being implemented, raising the question of how they would prevent gun deaths -- and particularly in suicides where tracing the bullet to the gun hardly seems like a deterrent. Kalesan said that that the laws would result in fewer guns, and said the study wasn't designed to distinguish how policy contributions to suicide or homicide deaths. In an accompanying comment, Hemenway pointed out possible statistical problems and questioned its finding that nine minor laws might increase firearm fatalities, such as police inspection of firearm dealers or required theft reporting by gun dealers. Instead of assigning too much importance to those findings, he thinks its reasonable to look at the study as yet another piece of supporting evidence for the broader idea gun control works. But Webster took a different perspective, noting that any research on the effects of gun control policy can be politicized and that a high-profile study that is flawed but in favor of gun control laws could shake people's faith in the science and fuel critics to question the study's ultimate conclusion that gun control works. He said he frequently finds himself explaining to policy makers and the public that they should be cautious in accepting research that hasn't been peer-reviewed and published in a journal. "What I find both puzzling and troubling is this very flawed piece of research is published in one of the most prestigious scientific journals around," Webster said in an interview."Something went awry here, and it harms public trust." This story has been updated. Read More: The death toll from guns no one talks about We’ve had a massive decline in gun violence in the United States. Here’s why. Gun control: What works, what doesn’t and what remains open for debateThere’s a lot of eyebrow-raising issues with upcoming LOTRO content, but let’s talk about the $50 hobby horse, shall we? That’s right: Turbine’s introducing a toy hobby horse to the store (at least on the test server) that costs 5000 Turbine Points, which is mind-bogglingly expensive. And then they asked for feedback. Before we talk about the horse in particular, I want to quote the developer here. This post is a masterpiece of passive-aggressive communication, and I honestly can’t believe it made it through whatever filters the company has for dev-player chat. I mean, okay, I get that the developers don’t just want to hear nerdrage that’s completely unproductive and just vile, but the whole post starts from the assumption that that is coming and conducts some sort of pre-emptive strike that hits everyone: “The store wizards would like your feedback (well-thought out, non-crazypants) on this item.” “Any rants about how evil Turbine is for making store items, even those that are entirely optional and up simply for the fun of those who are willing to pay for them, will be disregarded. This item is an experiment item. We simply want your feedback on the type of item presented and what might be added to it or done to it to make it a better item. We are not forcing you to buy it. No one is forcing you to buy it. It’s something to be there and be fun for those who may want it.” /pinches my nose and sighs OK. Here’s the thing. If you want feedback, you’re going to have to accept the bad with the good. What I’m hearing here is “Shut up if you don’t like this, if you think it’s a money grab, if you don’t think it’s appropriate for the game. Just shut up. We won’t even acknowledge your crazypants existence.” You cannot ask for feedback and then tell the people that their feedback will be disregarded if it doesn’t suit the developers. Here’s one more thing: Taking this passive-aggressive stance with whoever is reading this is going to make everyone who reads it feel like they’re being chastised. I don’t care what the reader would’ve said, they’re already starting from the position that Turbine’s kind of cross with them and watching them very, very closely. It starts a “feedback” discussion off on the wrong foot, in my opinion. Now back to the horse. From what I hear, it’s a normal-speed mount with no specified extra features. Maybe that’s coming later. Lore-wise, this runs right off a cliff and does not-good things to immersion. Perhaps we’re too late to complain about that, but there’s little room in my head for a Middle-earth where the war-hardened inhabitants are prancing around on kids’ toys. I love how this dev says “This is not a joke,” as if they knew that that would be the very first response. I mean, Turbine’s got to know that it’s going to get some strong pushback here. Lo and behold, the first response is incredulity, and it goes downhill from there: “3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?” “Being an expansion?” “How long untill Flying Mounts seem like a good idea??” “2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?” “If I enjoyed literally setting fire to money in my spare time, probably.” “1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.” “The 5,000 price point is astronomical for what the in-game toy provides. You call it not a joke and you’re right. I’m not laughing.” “My constructive question would be, 1a.Who @Turbine/WB actually proposed that price point? 1b. and have they been fired or removed from the item pricing team?” “Want me to be level headed? Stop making Store-only items that are over-priced and not available for VIPs to earn in-game.” “I find the opening of such topic insulting toward me and the fan-base.” “As a matter of fact I will do everything possible to not buy it and Ill personally lead a game-wide boycott on this item and any such other nonsense in the future.” “3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?” “Make it account wide. Also make it not such a humiliation.” “I’m not sure that it’s entirely fair to set a crazypants price and then ask for non-crazypants feedback.” How’s that for your community response? Oh, go ahead and push it onto live, Turbine. We all know you’re going to anyway.Not long ago, we wrote about Navigation Guards and how they let us control the navigation flow of our application’s users. Guards like CanActivate, CanDeactivate and CanLoad are great when it comes to taking the decision if a user is allowed to activate a certain route, leaving a certain route, or even asynchronously loading a route. However, one thing that these guards don’t allow us to do, is to ensure that certain data is loaded before a route is actually activated. For example, in a contacts application where we’re able to click on a contact to view a contact’s details, the contact data should’ve been loaded before the component we’re routing to is instantiated, otherwise we might end up with a UI that already renders its view and a few moments later, the actual data arrives (of course, there are many ways to get around this). Route resolvers allow us to do exactly that and in this article we’re going to explore how they work! Want to see things in action first? code View Demos Understanding the problem Let’s just stick with the scenario of a contacts application. We have a route for a contacts list, and a route for contacts details. Here’s what the route configuration might look like: import { Routes } from '@angular/router' ; import { ContactsListComponent } from './contacts-list' ; import { ContactsDetailComponent } from './contacts-detail' ; export const AppRoutes : Routes = [ { path : '', component : ContactsListComponent }, { path : 'contact/:id', component : ContactsDetailComponent } ]; And of course, we use that configuration to configure the router for our application: import { NgModule } from '@angular/core' ; import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser' ; import { RouterModule } from '@angular/router' ; import { AppRoutes } from './app.routes' ; @ NgModule ({ imports : [ BrowserModule, RouterModule. forRoot ( AppRoutes ) ],... }) export class AppModule {} Nothing special going on here. However, if this is all new to you, you might want to read our article on routing. Let’s take a look at the ContactsDetailComponent. This component is responsible of displaying contact data, so it somehow has to get access to a contact object, that matches the id provided in the route URL (hence the :id parameter in the route configuration). In our article on routing in Angular, we’ve learned that we can easily access route parameters using the ActivatedRoute like this: import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core' ; import { ActivatedRoute } from '@angular/router' ; import { ContactsService } from '../contacts.service' ; import { Contact } from '../interfaces/contact' ; @ Component ({ selector : 'contacts-detail', template : '...' }) export class ContactsDetailComponent implements OnInit { contact : Contact ; constructor ( private contactsService : ContactsService, private route : ActivatedRoute ) {} ngOnInit () { let id = this. route. snapshot. paramMap. get ( 'id' ); this. contactsService. getContact ( id ). subscribe ( contact => this. contact = contact ); } } Okay, cool. So the only thing ContactsDetailComponent does, is to fetch a contact object by the given id and assign that object to its local contact property, which then allows us to interpolate expressions like {{contact.name}} in the template of the component. Let’s take a look at the component’s template: <h2> {{contact?.name}} </h2> <dl> <dt> Phone </dt> <dd> {{contact?.phone}} </dd> <dt> Website </dt> <dd> {{contact?.website}} </dd> </dl> Notice that we’ve attached Angular’s Safe Navigation Operator to all of our expressions that rely on contact. The reason for that is, that contact will be undefined at the time this component is initialized, since we’re fetching the data asynchronously. The Safe Navigation Operator ensures that Angular won’t throw any errors when we’re trying to read from an object that is null or undefined. In order to demonstrate this issue, let’s assume ContactsService#getContact() takes 3 seconds until it emits a contact object. In fact, we can easily fake that delay right away like this: import { Injectable } from '@angular/core' ; @ Injectable () export class ContactsService { getContact ( id ) { return Observable. of ({ id : id, name : 'Pascal Precht', website : 'http://thoughtram.io', }). delay ( 3000 ); } } Take a look at the demo and notice how the UI flickers until the data arrives. Depending on our template, adding Safe Navigation Operators everywhere can be quite tiring as well. In addition to that, some constructs don’t support that operator, like NgModel and RouterLink directives. Let’s take a look at how we can solve this using route resolvers. Defining resolvers As mentioned ealier, route resolvers allow us to provide the needed data for a route, before the route is activated. There are different ways to create a resolver and we’ll start with the easiest: a function. A resolver is a function that returns either Observable<any>, Promise<any> or just data. This is great, because our ContactsService#getContact() method returns an Observable<Contact>. Resolvers need to be registered via providers. Our article on Dependency Injection in Angular explains nicely how to make functions available via DI. Here’s a resolver function that resolves with a static contact object: @ NgModule ({... providers : [ ContactsService, { provide : 'contact', useValue : () => { return { id : 1, name : 'Some Contact', website : 'http://some.website.com' }; } ] }) export class AppModule {} Let’s ignore for a second that we don’t always want to return the same contact object when this resolver is used. The point here is that we can register a simple resolver function using Angular’s dependency injection. Now, how do we attach this resolver to a route configuration? That’s pretty straight forward. All we have to do is add a resolve property to a route configuration, which is an object where each key points to a resolver. Here’s how we add our resolver function to our route configuration: export const AppRoutes : Routes = [... { path : 'contact/:id', component : ContactsDetailComponent, resolve : { contact : 'contact' } } ]; That’s it? Yes! 'contact' is the provider token we refer to when attaching resolvers to route configurations. Of course, this can also be an OpaqueToken, or a class (as discussed later). Now, the next thing we need to do is to change the way ContactsDetailComponent gets hold of the contact object. Everything that is resolved via route resolvers is exposed on an ActivatedRoute ’s data property. In other words, for now we can get rid of the ContactsService dependency like this: @ Component () export class ContactsDetailComponent implements OnInit { contact ; constructor ( private route : ActivatedRoute ) {} ngOnInit () { this. contact = this. route. snapshot. data [ 'contact' ]; } } Here’s the code in action: In fact, when defining a resolver as a function, we get access to the ActivatedRouteSnapshot, as well as the RouterStateSnapshot like this: @ NgModule ({... providers : [ ContactsService, { provide : 'contact', useValue : ( route : ActivatedRouteSnapshot, state : RouterStateSnapshot ) => {... } ] }) export class AppModule {} This is useful in many scenarios where we need access to things like router parameters, which we actually do. However, we also need a ContactsService instance, which we don’t get injected here. So how do we create resolver that need dependency injection? Resolvers with dependencies As we know, dependency injection works on class constructors, so what we need is a class. We can create resolvers as classes as well! The only thing we need to do, is to implement the Resolve interface, which ensures that our resolver class has a resolve() method. This resolve() method is pretty much the same function we have currently registered via DI. Here’s what our contact resolver could look like as a class implementation: import { Injectable } from '@angular/core' ; import { Resolve, ActivatedRouteSnapshot } from '@angular/router' ; import { ContactsService } from './contacts.service' ; @ Injectable () export class ContactResolve implements Resolve < Contact > { constructor ( private contactsService : ContactsService ) {} resolve ( route : ActivatedRouteSnapshot ) { return this. contactsService. getContact ( route. paramMap. get ( 'id' )); } } As soon as our resolver is a class, our provider configuration becomes simpler as well, because the class can be used as provider token! @ NgModule ({... providers : [ ContactsService, ContactResolve ] }) export class AppModule {} And of course, we use the same token to configure the resolver on our routes: export const AppRoutes : Routes = [... { path : 'contact/:id', component : ContactsDetailComponent, resolve : { contact : ContactResolve } } ]; Angular is smart enough to detect if a resolver is a function or a class and if it’s a class, it’ll call resolve() on it. Check out the demo below to see this code in action and note how Angular delays the component instantiation until the data has arrived. Hopefully this gave you a better idea of how route resolvers in Angular work! Demos'Knit Your Dog' is an Illinois-based business that will take your dog's excess hair and transform it into cozy clothes and accessories. Dog hair is a nuisance for most people, something that requires grooming, washing, and vacuuming, but it’s a small price to pay for the pleasure of having a wonderful pet. For Jeannie Sanke, dog hair itself is a treasure. It’s the raw material from which she creates beautiful hand-knitted clothing and accessories. Yes, Sanke knits with dog hair. The concept is not new. Inuit people in the Far North have used dog fur in clothing for thousands of years, and apparently it is 50 percent warmer than sheep’s wool. There’s even a correct term for dog wool -- “chiengora,” which is a blend of angora and the French word for dog, chien. Most people are shocked at the idea of using dog wool, but, as Sanke explains on her website, Knit Your Dog, it’s a wonderful material that’s entirely natural, clean and odor-free and humanely harvested, especially when considered how aggressive other animal-shearing methods can be. © Knit Your Dog/Facebook -- Meeting the animal whose fur made the hat is definitely a unique experience. © Knit Your Dog/Facebook -- Meeting the animal whose fur made the hat is definitely a unique experience. In order to work, a dog’s hair must come from its undercoat, not the glossy overcoat, and it cannot be cut. It must be harvested with a brush, comb, or rake. “The longer the undercoat, the better it spins. Chow Chows, Samoyeds, Golden Retrievers, Newfoundlands, Kuvasz, Keeshonds, Afghans, Bernese, Great Pyrenees, Pekingese, Briards, bearded and rough Collies, and other long-haired undercoated breeds spin very well. Huskies and Malamutes spin well if the undercoat is long enough (if a hair shaft is 1.5″ or longer); if it’s a shorter coat, it will need to be blended with a longer fiber to ensure that the wool remains intact.” The hair goes through a lengthy process to prepare it for knitting. It is washed multiple times to get rid of the wet dog smell, which Sanke assures does not remain: “Just the same way that a merino sweater doesn’t smell like a sheep (and) a cashmere sweater doesn’t smell like a goat.” Next it is carded to align the fibers, spun into yarn, and knitted or crocheted into a design that the dog owner has chosen (and has enough yarn to complete). © Knit Your Dog/Facebook -- A skein of dog wool yarn, reading for knitting © Knit Your Dog/Facebook -- A skein of dog wool yarn, reading for knitting Sanke isn’t the only one exploring chiengora. A 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal described a number of artisanal weavers who were embracing dog hair. “Dog-hair spinners say they're winning over the public, but it was clear at a recent craft fair that they still have a ways to go. The near universal reaction to a pile of yarn labeled ‘dog hair’ is a wince. ‘How do you get it?’ one shopper asked Ms. Dodge in a horrified whisper. Once the artisans explain that they don't need to skin a dog to get its fur, most shoppers visibly relax. But that doesn't mean they're buying.” Price could be another barrier. Chiengora is expensive relative to other natural fibers. “Wool, cotton and acrylic yarn cost about $1.50 to $2 an ounce. Spinners generally charge about $12 per ounce of dog-hair yarn. That yarn can then be crocheted, kn
announcement came from Jay Wallace, its executive vice president of news. “Fox News Channel has mutually agreed to suspend its contributor agreement with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich effective immediately,” his statement said. “Due to the intense media speculation about Gingrich’s potential selection as Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential candidate, we felt it best to halt his contributor role on the network to avoid all conflicts of interest that may arise.”TORONTO — The far-right group Soldiers of Odin has splintered in Canada after the two main factions turned against each other in a dispute over whether to remain aligned with their racist namesake in northern Europe. The split began last week when the president of Soldiers of Odin Canada, Bill Daniels, denounced the “racist agenda” of Soldiers of Odin leaders in Finland and said his branch was no longer associated with them. “Their ridiculous belief in racism has always been a huge issue for us in Canada as we do not support or share their views on race,” Daniels said on Facebook, calling the Finnish leaders “racist, unorganized, reckless” thugs. The Finnish leaders of the anti-immigrant group responded by expelling Daniels and banning him from using the name Soldiers of Odin. The Quebec branch then said it was also splitting away from the Daniels wing. “There is indeed a disconnect between SOO Quebec and SOO Canada,” said the Quebec chapter president, Katy Latulippe. “As the provincial president, and with a unanimous vote, we decided that Quebec would dissociate Canada.” The Daniels faction “will no longer be allowed to wear the colors of the Soldiers of Odin,” she said. “It is important to know that more than 50% of the divisions in Canada do not agree with Bill Daniels and also wishes to continue their activities under the banner of the SOO.” The Soldiers of Odin emerged in Finland in 2015 as an anti-immigration group closely aligned with the racist far right. It spread quickly to Europe and North America but since arriving in Canada a year ago it has struggled with its identity. While the Canadian chapters have emphasized their community volunteerism, organizing events such as food drives, they have also clashed with anti-racism demonstrators, and posted blatantly anti-Muslim rhetoric on social media. “It is an important group and it is growing tremendously,” said Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, a Canadian researcher at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews. Working with Emil Archambault of Durham University, Veilleux-Lepage has identified 265 Canadians associated with the Soldiers of Odin. An analysis of their Facebook linkages showed a close connection between the Canadian members and their Finnish and Swedish counterparts, he said. “What that tells us is that members of the Canadian group are quite interlinked with at least the membership of the Finnish group,” Veilleux-Lepage said in an interview. That means that while the Canadian groups claim to be distinct from their racist Finnish namesake, they interact with them online and share the same anti-immigrant narratives, Veilleux-Lepage said. The research results undermine the significance of the split between the Canadian and Finnish Soldiers of Odin over racism, he said. “The idea of Soldiers of Odin as a multicultural group, it’s not the reality we’re seeing.” It is an important group and it is growing tremendously Soldiers of Odin Canada declined to comment on the study. A Facebook post by the group’s spokesman, Mike Montague, suggests the dispute is at least partly over money. He wrote that the Finland group wanted to collect an annual fee from each member. “As for Quebec SOO they have decided to denounce us and continue working with Finland even though the rest of Canada SOO is running independent from Finland SOO,” the group told the National Post. “As far as we are concerned the Quebec SOO has gone rogue from SOO Canada’s national leadership.” Although the Canadian offshoot insists it is not racist, its Facebook page calls Islam a “totalitarian ideology” and speaks of a war “with all of Islam.” The page also supports Sandra Solomon, the former spokeswoman for the Toronto-based anti-Muslim group Rise Canada. The study, which has not yet been published, raised concerns about the growth of Soldiers of Odin, given its anti-Muslim, anti-immigration rhetoric and the apparent overlap of its membership with supporters of outlaw biker gangs like the Hells Angels. Veilleux-Lepage said there had always been an ideological gulf between the Canadian and Quebec factions, with the latter being more anti-immigration. But he said ultimately the current split might not mean much. “We don’t think it’s that clear of a breakup.” National Post sbell@nationalpost.com Twitter.com/StewartBellNPIn July 2011, the Office of National Drug Control Policy released its longterm plan for reducing prescription drug abuse. One of the bullet points in that report was this: "Write and disseminate a Model Pain Clinic Regulation Law within 12 months." Twelve months later, the ONDCP has yet to (publicly) release any model legislation for individual states to use, but you can rest assured the agency will soon, and that whatever it comes up with will make it even harder than it already is to seek treatment for pain. According to last year's report, the Obama administration's model legislation will contain the following: 1) registration of [pain clinics] with a state entity; 2) guidance for rules regarding number of employees, location, hours of operation; 3) penalties for operating, owning, or managing a non-registered pain clinic; 4) requirements for counterfeit-resistant prescription pads and reports of theft/loss of such pads; 5) disciplinary procedures to enforce the regulations; and 6) a procedure to allow patient records to be reviewed during regular state inspections. If it's hard to get pain pills now, imagine how much tougher it will be once clinics are forced to adhere to federal rules about staffing, hours of operation, and zoning. But there's another line in the ONDCP's action plan that's far more troubling, which is its goal of "Identify[ing] and seek[ing] to remove administrative and regulatory barriers to 'pill mill' and prescriber investigations that impair investigations while not serving another public policy goal." If you look at the separately released ONDCP action plan for the above bullet item, you'll see it lists only the ONDCP as responsible for "removing administrative and regulatory barriers...." But if you look at the original report, you'll see the following agencies are also involved: What could those barriers possibly be? Why does the DEA have a say in determing what rules should and should not be in place to, say, protect patient privacy? And if those barriers aren't serving "another public policy goal," is it because they're serving, you know, the law? As for what we can expect on the prescription pill front this time next year, the ONDCP's 24-month goals are as follows: Have legislation passed that requires prescribers applying for DEA registration to complete training on the appropriate and safe use, and proper storage and disposal of schedule II and III opioids. Legislation to be passed within 24 months Increase by 25 percent the number of HIDTAs involved in intelligence gathering and investigation around prescription drug traicking and participation on statewide and regional prescription drug task forces within 24 months Meanwhile, the plan's stated 36 month goal is to increase funding for addiction treatment by a whopping 10 percent.This is the biggest project I've taken on yet: A complete transcripton of Señor Burns from the Simpsons episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns" (A link to the song can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRmg3J5vg_8) This piece took a total of about 20 hours total. The main melody is preformed by Tenor Sax 1, as it matches the singer's voice the closest. A flute solo found in this version of the song also was transcribed in the piece. All parts are as close as possible to the original piece, with some creative liberty being taken. Trumpet 1's range is pretty high, and the Trombone 1 & 2 part is written an octave above. This is by no means an easy piece. A drum and piano part for this will be written soon. Pages 11 Duration 02:12 Measures 112 Key signature 4 flats Parts 17 Part names Alto Saxophone(2), Tenor Saxophone(2), Baritone Saxophone, Flute, Trumpet(4), Trombone(4), Piano, Bass, Percussion Privacy Everyone can see this score License None (All rights reserved)Walmart.com and Jet.com shoppers in three U.S. cities now have a new delivery person, and it's not employees of one of the major shipping companies like FedEx or UPS or a delivery start-up like Instacart or Deliv. It's a Wal-Mart store employee. "Unlike crowdsourced delivery, where the driver has to travel (often out of the way) to pick up the package, then drive the full distance to deliver it, our associates are starting at the same place as the packages," said Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart eCommerce U.S., in a blog post for the retailer. It all works through a proprietary app the retailer built for this test. The app matches online order delivery addresses with employees' driving routes home from work, built to minimize any more driving than what the employee would do anyway to get home. Delivering is completely voluntary, and the employees can choose when they want to deliver, how many packages they can take and what size. "Once they're done working at the store for the day, they pick up the packages from the backroom, load them into their vehicle, enter the delivery addresses into the GPS on their phone and head towards home," Lore said. Wal-Mart compensates the employees for it but declined to elaborate how it works. The discount retailer said the test has only been in progress for a month but so far "hundreds" of deliveries have been completed in two locations in New Jersey and one in Arkansas. So far, "the response from associates and customers has been great," Lore said. Its locations and labor — some 4,700 U.S. stores with 1.3 million employees — are quite an asset that Lore has been working on further integrating with its digital operations. The retailer says 90 percent of the country's population live within 10 miles of a Walmart store. While the retailer does not provide a delivery cost breakdown, it's the last leg — commonly referred to as the "last mile" — that is the most expensive when it comes to fulfilling and shipping online orders. Consultant group McKinsey & Company estimates "the last mile" can sometimes be more than half of an item's total delivery cost. Last month, Wal-Mart Stores said it would offer shoppers a discount for 10,000 online-only orders that are picked up by shoppers in store rather than delivered to their homes. The discount, Marc Lore said, is "meant to be equivalent to what the last-mile delivery costs are," which in most cases averages to about a 4 percent discount per item. The store pickup option saves Wal-Mart delivery costs, which it passes on to shoppers in the form of discounts, but the new employees-as-delivery-service test does not offer shoppers a discount. Wal-Mart said the benefit is that most orders are delivered the next day.Chances are this driver just sideswiped a cyclist. Courtesy of Robert van Dijk/Flickr I was nearly sideswiped by a BMW on my bike ride home from work today, which was not surprising, because BMWs are always nearly sideswiping me. I ride in the right half of the right lane, and virtually every car behind me slides over to the left lane, passing with 6 comfortable feet of berth. But every month or so, a driver doesn’t change lanes, rides up on my shoulder, and squeezes by with just a few inches to spare, prompting me to squeal in terror and rage. After several years of close calls, I began keeping mental track of who, exactly, was threatening my safety. During the time I paid attention, fully half of my dangerous encounters—about 10 of 20, if I remember—were with BMWs. There were two or three Mercedes, and no other make was a repeat offender. In other words, the BMW, a car that has less than 2 percent market share in the United States, was responsible for 50 percent of the menacing. To put it another way: Terrifying research concludes that BMW owners are far more likely than typical drivers to endanger cyclists on the road. Am I a jerk cyclist? I don’t think so. I do bike on busy streets during rush hour and take my God- and law-given share of the road. But the issue here isn’t whether I’m a road hog. The question is why non-BMW drivers find it so much easier to avoid cyclists than BMW drivers. Everyone is late. Everyone is stuck in traffic. Why is it that only those with BMWs do the bullying? I’m sure most BMW drivers are kind souls, always stopping to put baby birds back in their nests. My beloved brother drives a BMW, safely and gently. And the overwhelming majority of BMW drivers on my commute pass me with a safe cushion. But of the small minority of motorists willing to endanger my cycling life, a shocking number bear that blue-and-white emblem. I am not the first person to make a claim about the character of BMW drivers. The first Google result for “BMW drivers” is a Facebook page called “I HATE BMW DRIVERS.” Any BMW driver research will direct you to the discussion board “Are BMW drivers assholes?” Next stop: The listings on MyRoadRage.com, which suggest the BMW is the No. 1 source of other’s road rage (at least in Britain). Finally, there’s the epic tale of the Beverly Hills BMW driver recently caught on camera intentionally ramming a cyclist into a trash bin. Why? What explains the fact that drivers of this particular kind of car are so dangerous to cyclists? I have four theories. 1. BMWs are luxury cars, and most BMW drivers are wealthy. There’s widespread evidence that wealthy people feel entitled—to their good fortune, to their privilege, and probably to their speedy commute. (See this study suggesting that people who drive fancier cars break more traffic rules.) My bike disrupts that entitlement by slowing the rich man’s forward progress. In fact, he is not aggrieving me—I am aggrieving him. 2. “The Ultimate Driving Machine” is a car lover’s car. BMW owners believe roads belong to cars and bikes shouldn’t mess them up. Bikes destroy the joyful, fundamentally American right to drive fast everywhere, and deserve no quarter. 3. BMW drivers are better drivers. They bought a BMW because they care about driving well. They spend weekends at BMW Performance Driving School. They own a car that steers like champagne. They have close shaves because, superb drivers that they are, they know they can squeeze by me with 4 inches to spare. (Compelling evidence in favor of this theory: I’ve been hit on my bike three times, but never by a BMW.) This is the story that all BMW drivers tell themselves. 4. BMW drivers are assholes. Got a better theory? Tell me @davidplotz on Twitter, or email gabfest@slate.com.JOLIET, IL — If you're going to rob a car, make sure police officers aren't sitting in it first. Derrick J. Smith, 35, of the 1300 block of Pequot, learned that the hard way Tuesday night. Tactical officers with the Joliet Police Department were in the 1300 block of Pequot in an unmarked squad car with heavily tinted windows looking for a wanted person in the area. The headlights of the car were on and the engine was running. "That's when Smith approached the unmarked squad and started looking into the windows," Joliet Deputy Police Chief Ed Gregory said. "He had gloves on his hands and was peering into the window of the squad." Smith, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, put his hands in his pockets and was then holding something in his hand, Gregory said. Officers in the car, believing Smith was going to try to rob them, exited the squad and told Smith they were Joliet police. That's when Smith took off running. "While he was running, he kept his hands in his pockets. Smith fell to the ground and took a gun out of his pocket. He dropped the gun and then he dropped the magazine," Gregory said, adding that he then fell again. Officers tried to taser him, but were unsuccessful. Smith fell yet again as he tried to jump a fence in a backyard in the 1200 block of Chippewa. When officers caught up with him he threw a handgun over the fence, Gregory said. Smith was then arrested and officers recovered the discarded items. Smith has been charged with felon in possession of a firearm, resisting a peace officer, defacing firearm ID markings, firearm with no valid FOID, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon and a parole violation.1 of 23 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell remembered in pictures View Photos A look at the career of one of grunge’s influential founders. Caption A look at the career of one of grunge’s influential founders. Aug. 16, 2003 Chris Cornell performs as the lead singer of Audioslave during Lollapalooza in Irvine, Calif. Carlo Allegri/Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. Eddie Vedder stands alone now. Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell’s death Wednesday night left rock fans reflecting on the grunge era, and many came to a sorrowful realization: Vedder, the frontman of Pearl Jam, is one of the movement’s only icons who is still alive. The voices I grew up with: Andy Wood Layne Staley Chris Cornell Kurt Cobain …only Eddie Vedder is left. Let that sink in. pic.twitter.com/y53klGBfri — Eric Alper (@ThatEricAlper) May 18, 2017 The story of grunge is also one of death. The sound, loud as it could be, was relegated in the 1980s to a handful of indie-label bands in the Pacific Northwest. The genre’s songs were gloomy as the gray Seattle sky, and heroin usage was not uncommon among its guitar-wielding practitioners. Before the genre exploded through the headphones of disaffected middle-America teenagers, its numbers were already dwindling. Mother Love Bone’s frontman Andrew Wood, who the New York Times said “could have been the first of the big-league Seattle rock stars,” died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Stefanie Sargent of the punk band 7 Year Bitch died similarly two years later. Chris Cornell, the founder and frontman of the bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, died on May 17 in Detroit. He was a key figure in the '90s grunge rock movement. (Amber Ferguson/The Washington Post) [Death of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, a founding father of grunge, ruled a suicide] Still, with breakout hits from Nirvana and Soundgarden leading the way, grunge finally flooded American soundwaves and, with them, the Billboard charts. In 1994, the genre was arguably at its peak. That year, Pearl Jam enjoyed its second No. 1 album, “Vitalogy.” The Stone Temple Pilots’ second album “Purple” debuted at No. 1 that summer. “Jar of Flies” by Alice in Chains became the first EP — extended play, meaning a record that’s too short to be a full album but too long to be a single — to top the charts. And Soundgarden and Nirvana songs continued to blast from speakers in shopping malls and car stereos. That was also the year that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, the genre’s leader, put a shotgun to his head and pulled the trigger, killing himself. At the time, heroin was pumping through his veins. He was the first major figure to go but far from the last. “If their music failed to make it clear, life was intolerably painful for many of Cornell’s peers,” wrote The Washington Post’s pop music critic Chris Richards. “Singer Layne Staley and bassist Mike Starr of Alice in Chains each died of drug-related causes, in 2002 and 2011, respectively. In 2015, Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland died of an overdose on his tour bus.” [Chris Cornell’s singular voice soared above the gloom of grunge] Cornell hanged himself in a Detroit hotel room after performing what would become his final show with his band, which he closed by playing “In My Time of Dying” by Led Zeppelin. Vedder’s Pearl Jam, however, persists. It long ago took up the mantle as grunge’s longest-lasting band, steadily releasing albums for the past 25 years. Vedder was a different kind of frontman, and Pearl Jam was a different kind of band than others in the grunge era, even though its founding members included some members of Mother Love Bone. At its commercial height, Pearl Jam wrote songs that weren’t quite as angry; they were more melodic, more stadium-ready. To some, the band was softer, more easily digestible by the masses. Among those was Cobain himself, who once said, “They’re a safe rock band. They’re a pleasant rock band that everyone likes” and on a separate occasion said, “I find it offensive to be lumped in with bands like Pearl Jam,” according to rock critic Steven Hyden’s book “Your Favorite Band is Killing Me.” Unlike many of his contemporaries, Vedder wasn’t known for using heroin. He didn’t speak about it in interviews, save for vaguely mentioning drug use in the band’s early days. Though the phrase “sell out” often appeared when describing Pearl Jam, Vedder, like Cobain and Cornell before him, didn’t enjoy his fame. Rather than turn to substances, though, he merely began writing songs that loyal fans found much more appealing than a mainstream audience. “By the early aughts Pearl Jam was actively subsuming the operatic emotionalism of their more popular early records in order to cater to hard-core loyalists,” Hyden wrote. “The way Vedder purposely piloted Pearl Jam toward a significantly smaller audience is still remarkable. Other than Radiohead, no rock band has ever been more deliberate about ferreting out precisely the people it wanted to care about its music.” Despite Vedder’s seemingly good health and the fact that he is still making new music, rock fans armed with jokes and tributes alike fretted publicly about him on Twitter. Eddie Vedder just became the Betty White of grunge. — lisa urich (@LisauRN) May 18, 2017 Eddie Vedder is basically a National Treasure at this point. We have to protect him at all cost! #eddievedder #chriscornell #grunge — Rebecca Barrows (@Becca_barrows) May 18, 2017 I PROTECT THE LEGEND EDDIE VEDDER FOREVER — The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) May 18, 2017 Someone please put Eddie Vedder in a bunker with a full medical team — Michael, still here (@Home_Halfway) May 18, 2017 Seattle: let's built a moat around Eddie Vedder. — Matthew Inman (@Oatmeal) May 18, 2017 Eddie Vedder the last Jedi — station wagon D (@Sk8thingSlimane) May 18, 2017 Some, of course, might take issue with the idea of Vedder as the genre’s last icon. Among them might be Nirvana’s drummer, Dave Grohl, and Mudhoney’s Mark Arm. Both, after all, are very much alive. But Grohl’s true fame came from fronting the Foo Fighters later, and while Mudhoney helped spawn grunge, it never gained the crossover commercial success of Soundgarden, Nirvana, the Stone Temple Pilots or Alice in Chains. To many, the weight of grunge’s legacy now rests squarely on the shoulders of Vedder. More from Morning Mix Jimmy Fallon says people ‘have a right to be mad’ at his friendly hair-tousling of Trump Dutch king reveals secret life — as a KLM airline co-pilot Her obituary was missing one painful fact: She was a family’s slaveAn Oakwood Village woman, police said was beaten and abducted by her ex-boyfriend, has been found “alive and healthy” in Pennsylvania, police said. Kyle Johnson, 25, is accused of kidnapping and beating Brandi Shakir, 23, before fleeing the state. Then, in a strange twist, Johnson was taken into police custody in Erie, PA, after police said he broke into a random home, beat up the woman who lived there and hid Shakir in the basement. A home in the 300 block of Crescent Dr. in Erie is now a crime scene. Police have not released the identity of the woman assaulted, but said she is at a local hospital in critical condition with life-threatening injuries after sustaining blunt force trauma to her head. The victim’s husband came home around 10:42 a.m. on Tuesday to find Johnson and his bloodied wife. The two got into a fight, police said. After the husband called for help, a bystander shot Johnson twice, in the back and leg, before police arrived. Johnson and the male homeowner were also hospitalized, but Johnson was released into police custody a short time later. He is currently being held in Erie on a $500,000 bond for attempted homicide. He is also expected to face additional charges out of Ohio. Shakir went missing around 10:30 a.m. on Monday. Oakwood Village officers received a 911 call from a neighbor who said the house she was in was on fire. When the fire was put out, Shakir was nowhere to be found. According to authorities, Shakir was recovering from injuries from an assault by her ex-boyfriend Kyle Johnson from last week. She suffered two black eyes and a fractured eye socket, according to Oakwood Village Police Sgt. Kenneth Willner. Johnson had a warrant out for felonious assault and Shakir had a temporary protection order against him. Police from several different communities along with the FBI and the US Marshals took part in the search. Police said they got several tips early Tuesday morning about the car Johnson was driving. "We had him narrowed down in the area. He was apprehended within a mile," said Oakwood Village Police Chief Mark Garratt. "We're going to be home waiting with balloons, flowers, food and love," said a Shakir's cousin. A neighbor told police she saw Johnson go in to the home Monday morning and later, speed away. Shakir's relative, Kimberly Barnett, said Shakir was staying at her mother's home because she was badly hurt and afraid.0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard Former Hillary Clinton advisor and current Fox News analyst Howard Wolfson continued his war of words with MSNBC, Chris Mathews, and Keith Olbermann by accusing them of being bad Democrats for being critical of the Clintons over the past two years. This whole thing flared up again yesterday when Matthews and Olbermann were talking about the Republicans new found support of Hillary Clinton. Chris Matthews said, “Fox News, for example, seems to enjoy it. It’s no accident, for example, that they hired Howard Wolfson. They use him as some sort of, oh, little toy soldier waiting on the shelf.” Keith Olbermann added, “Tokyo Rose was the thought that came to my mind.” On Fox News today Wolfson fired back, “I’m not gonna take any lectures on how to be a good Democrat from two people who spent the last two years relentlessly attacking Bill and Hillary Clinton every day. “I think it’s unfortunate that a news organization with a great tradition like NBC has been taken over by those kind of antics.” It should be noted that Wolfson is one of those senior Clinton advisors who is blaming MSNBC for her loss to Barack Obama in the Democratic primary. Here is the video of Wolfson on Fox News: Setting aside the never ending MSNBC/Fox feud for a moment, Wolfson’s point about MSNBC is ridiculous, especially when one looks at CNN which became the Clinton News Network, as almost all of its senior analysts had worked for the Clintons. Fox News was shamelessly in the bag for Rudy Giuliani, and then he flamed out, so they shifted to Mitt Romney, but he crashed and burned, so they finally got behind McCain. The sad aspect of this story is outside of PBS, no network offered objective coverage of either primary. Because of this, the real loser is the American people. If a person only wants straight facts, none of the news networks are the places to go. I watch two newscasts, the News Hour on PBS, BBC’s World News America. I don’t consider any of the other shows newscasts. They are infotainment. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t fun to watch, just that the news is presented as means to entertain, like The Daily Show. For the billionth time, MSNBC, or any other network, did not cost Hillary Clinton the Democratic nomination. The biggest reason why she lost was the terrible strategy that was designed by people like Howard Wolfson, who demonstrated how to lose a campaign that you should win. If Wolfson wants to blame someone for Clinton’s defeat, he needs to take a long look in the mirror. 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 renowned Turkish novelist Aslı Erdoğan says she is facing “permanent damage” from the treatment she is receiving in prison after her arrest last week. Erdoğan, an award-winning and celebrated Turkish novelist, was arrested in her home on the night of 16 August, according to a statement from her French publisher Actes Sud. A columnist and member of the pro-Kurdish opposition daily Özgür Gündem’s advisory board, which was shut down under the state of emergency that followed the failed coup of 15 July, her arrest came alongside that of more than 20 other journalists and employees of the paper. She was subsequently charged with “membership of a terrorist organisation” and “undermining national unity”. Erdoğan, whom the French literary magazine Lire named as one of the 50 most promising authors of the future, told the daily Hürriyet through her lawyer, Nesrullah Oğuz, that she was being treated in prison “in a way that will leave permanent damage on my body”. She said she was sleeping in a bed that had previously been urinated in, and that she was not able to get access to her medication. “My pancreas and digestive system don’t work properly, but my medicine has not been given to me for five days. I am diabetic and I need special nutrition. But in jail I am only able to eat yoghurt,” she said. “Also, even though I suffer from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, I have not been allowed access to open air [since entering prison].” Her detention has prompted a wave of calls for her release. “With the arrest of one of the nation’s most celebrated and internationally known authors, we can see that no poet, novelist, or playwright is safe in [President] Erdoğan’s Turkey,” said the novelist and translator Maureen Freely, president of English PEN, which is calling for the immediate release of those detained following the raid on Özgür Gündem “solely in connection with their work or peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression”. A petition calling for Erdoğan’s release has been signed by almost 25,000 people. Describing her as “one of the world’s most notable novelists”, the petition says that “her only wish for her country is to live in a better, more democratic and civilised society”, and that she “produces work towards this wish while promoting Turkish literature globally”. PEN International said it was “deeply concerned” for her health, describing the conditions in which she is being held as “wholly unacceptable” and calling on the Turkish authorities “to immediately provide better conditions [and] ensure immediate access to medication and to her doctors as a matter of extreme urgency”. Sahar Halaimzai, PEN International campaigns manager, said: “The crackdown on free speech that we are witnessing in Turkey is unprecedented in the country’s modern history. The attempted coup does not justify the attack against all dissenting and critical voices. Aslı Erdoğan is one of dozens of journalists currently behind bars in Turkey, held in difficult conditions and facing an uncertain fate. We strongly urge the Turkish government to halt this assault on free speech and human rights, and comply with their obligations under international law during this period of emergency.” Erdoğan told Hürriyet that she was aware of the solidarity being shown for her. “I’m aware that great efforts are being spent. I’m aware of the sincerity and feelings in the messages that I receive. It may sound very vain, but I thank you very much,” she said. Her arrest follows the Turkish government’s closure of 29 publishers under the state of emergency law. The move has been condemned by publishers around the world, with the PEN International Publishers Circle saying that “while recognising the right of the Turkish authorities to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the failed coup, [we] call on the Turkish authorities not to use the state of emergency to restrict lawful freedom of expression and to ensure that writers and publishers are able to freely carry out their activities”.In a busy bar it can often be a struggle to get served a drink as customers compete for the attention of the bartender. Now scientists have identified the key elements of body language that can increase your chances of being served before everyone else. They examined the behaviour of customers in nightclubs to see which behaviours were most successful at indicating to the barman the customer was ready to be served. The tactic with the greatest success was standing squarely to the bar and looking directly at the barman as they moved around. For those that prefer to sidle up to the counter in an attempt to squeeze between other customers, then their approach may actually leave them waiting for longer. The scientists also found that talking to friends and looking at a menu meant customers were less successful at getting served. Gesturing with a hand or head to the barman was also not as successful as might have been expected, while holding a wallet or money in a hand did have some success. While the findings might seem fairly obvious, the researchers, based at the Bielefeld University in Germany, conducted the work to help them develop a robotic bar tender. They wanted to identify the body language that was most commonly used by customers and interpreted as someone wanting to buy a drink. Dr Sebastian Loth, lead author of the study and a psychologist at Bielefeld University, said: “Effectively, the customers identify themselves as ordering and non-ordering people through their behaviour. “Two signals are necessary and together form the sufficient set of signals for identifying the intention to place an order. “First, the customers position themselves directly at the bar and, secondly, look at the bar/bartender. “If one of these signals was absent, the participants judged the customers as not bidding for attention. This provided a clear indication that both signals are necessary for bidding for attention.” The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, analysed 105 attempts to order drinks at nightclubs in Bielefeld and Herford in Germany and Edinburgh in Scotland. They assessed the behaviour of customers 35 seconds before they were served. They found the most successful tactic, which occurred in 95% of orders, was standing squarely towards the bar with head facing forward. Looking at the bartender, was successful in 86% of the orders. Leaning on the bar happened infrequently but also seemed to high a high strike rate when it did happen. Just one per cent of customers who were served had been looking at a menu, while three per cent were looking at the assortment of drinks on offer. Looking at money saw just seven per cent of customers being served within the 35 second time frame. However, the researchers did not assess how often customers employed unsuccessful techniques before they were served. The findings were used to produce an update to the robotic bartender’s programming to allow it to ask customers if they would like a drink when they display the right body language. The robot, called James, is being funded under a grant from the European Union. “In order to respond appropriately to its customers the robot must be able to recognise human social behaviour,’ said Professor Jan De Ruiter, from the psycholinguistics research group at Bielefeld University. “Currently, we are working on the robot’s ability to recognise when a customer is bidding for its attention. “Thus, we have studied the process of ordering a drink in real life.” Watch: a bartender's tips to getting served faster at the bar:This week again, Nintendo published a blog post about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the official blog of the Legend of Zelda portal in Japan. This time, the post was written by Takuhiro Dohta, who was the Technical Director. He starts by explaining that the goal of this game to allow players to do lots of various things. Naturally, they didn’t go and add actions individually: they took one at a time, and then worked to “multiply” them in order to broaden the scope of each action. With this blog post, Takuhiro Dohta is introducing some of the ideas programmers came up with during development. The first example is “climbing”. Since it’s one of the most important actions in the game, there were quite a few ideas. One of the programmer said: “It would be fun to climb moving things!”. This would be the following combination: “climbing x moving object (in that case, a windmill)”. This idea was actually added to the game pretty early in development, but it apparently took a while for some of the staff members to realise that. Below is an example of the “climbing x battle” combination, with Link climbing a Stone Talus. This came to be thanks to the input of one of the developers in charge of the battle system. Naturally, this kind of combination isn’t just for climbing. The Octo Ballon is an item that came to be following the experimentations of a programmer, who asked themselves: “Heh? Is that really ok?”, since everyone thought it was a strange idea. In the picture above, we have the following combination: “object (Octo Balloon) x object (Barrel)”. Maybe you’ve already tried it yourself, but in case you haven’t: yes, you can climb something that is being lifted by some Octo Balloons! By combining
news is that my wonderful producer/director/father-figure Jason Jenn is programming a farewell month of revivals of all the best incredible “performance art” pieces he’s presented there, including all three of my one-man shows, so at last I’ll be able to arrange good videos of them. But three years ago, I’d been quietly vegetating in Los Angeles for nineteen years. I went to my doctor for my regular check-up. And he said as he always does, “Get out of here, you’re as healthy as a thirty-year-old man. There’s nothing wrong with you.” And I said, “Good.” Then he said, “But I’ll tell you this – if you don’t lose weight, you’ll die.” And I said, “Wha-?” Then I looked in his mirror, and lo and behold, there was a fat man. I hadn’t even noticed for eighteen or nineteen years – I’d been so indifferent to myself that I hadn’t even noticed that I weighed three hundred pounds. And so I started dieting and walking. And then I ran into these people who had read my plays in school – young people. And they persuaded me to be in a show – a narration and a little bit of singing. And to all of our surprise, people applauded my singing. Then other friends talked me into going to open mic nights. Now you should know I never dreamed [about doing something like this]. When I was about five years old I saw a Judy Garland movie where she sang in a night club. And [back then] I thought that was the most marvelous thing – to sing while people ate. That was as far as it went though, because all of my life people told me I couldn’t sing. So I never even had the ambition to sing because so early on it was pointed out that it was impossible. But about three years ago now I started singing at these open mic nights and at friends’ parties and the acclaim just got more and more vociferous. So I was taken by a singer named Jane Cantilion and a former Esquire editor named David Parke Epstein to open mic nights run by a marvelous pianist and singer named Lori Donato. I sang a couple of my own songs, and then she [Lori] asked, “Do you know such and such…” and I sang things like “Night and Day.” And then Lori, a very expensive and exclusive voice coach, asked me to her house – and I couldn’t pay her, but she said, “It doesn’t matter.” She gave me a lesson in some basics, and it just inspired me. Then after some really well-received appearances at places like Akbar, Spirit Studio and Antebellum Gallery, Mr. Jason Jenn, himself a playwright actor, entrepreneur, “performance artist” as they call it, asked me to do a full-length show at Spirit Studio. So I made up this one-man show during my daily seven-mile walks, and included two or three songs. And the result was called “What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes a Great Story Later,” and it was the story of my brief years of what is called “fame” – or as I put it, my “trip through the success pool.” It went over like wildfire; we repeated it for two or three other presentations. The songs in it got us special attention so we did another one called “Bob Capella” because I sing only my own songs but I don’t write music, so I sing acapella. So we thought “Bob Capella” was cute – “Bob Capella: Songs of Love and Laughter,” which went even better. And then recently we did “New Songs for Old Movies.” All my life I’ve loved movies, and often, I would see a movie and think, There should be a song there. And from the time I was about twelve, I wrote songs for the movies I saw. Even for the musicals, if I thought I had a better idea than the writer of the musical, I wrote it. So we did a show with those [songs] where I did Julie Andrews, and Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn, and Harvey Fierstein, and Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland. I did my own songs with wonderful slides. We didn’t use stage lighting, we used colored slides from movies to light the show. And that was so well received we are repeating it in January. PT: That sounds amazing! Where are you going to be doing that in January? RP: Spirit Studio in Silver Lake. PT: So you created these on your seven-mile hike. RP: Yes, but I think I finally had to type up the script for the lighting man. But it wasn’t originally written at a desk – it was made up on my walks. We did a preview of it that ran an hour and a half and it needed shaping so I hacked out a bit of it and brought it down to seventy-five minutes. And it was dynamite. On the other hand, I felt so bad because one of the disappointments I’ve had lately, David LeBarron of Akbar and Andrew Henkes asked me to be in a wonderful play by David called First Elders, a brilliant idea – this is the first generation of gay men who have had “elders” to go to for advice, openly. And David had written a wonderful play about a young gay man who goes to a group of seven of his elders, who are just ordinary men from whom he seeks knowledge and experience and advice about his own life; and I was asked to play one. But I’m seventy-eight. I was afraid I couldn’t memorize. And so I had to drop out; they got a wonderful person to do the role. But now after doing my own shows and memorizing an hour-and-a-half long monologue easily, I hope that if David ever does his play again, he’ll ask me. PT: That sounds like a great premise! We were talking about being out your way possibly in January; we love to come to see your show. RP: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it coincided with my show? If you want I could do it for you over Skype! PT: (Laughs) That’s a promise! Our own private show! RP: These people have been wonderful. And through them I have discovered this kind of unnamed world. They call it ninety-nine-seat theatre out here [in LA], but many of them don’t even have ninety-nine seats. It’s like our Off-Off-Broadway, like in New York, but with some differences. In most of these theatres the performers have to pay to appear; whereas of course, the essence of Off-Off-Broadway was that it was done in places that made their living in some other way – like coffee houses or bars or churches or bookstores – so that the players didn’t have to pay any rent to appear there. Of course they didn’t make any money to appear there either. But because of that novel arrangement, it was the first time in history that theatre didn’t have to appeal to anybody. Not the public or the press or the police or the priests or the pundits. Theatre at the Caffe Cino and La MaMa and Theatre Genesis and Theater for the New City and the Dove Company – for the first time became an implement of free self-expression for the playwright – because he didn’t have to please anybody. Or as I like to put it, rather pretentiously – at the Caffe Cino in the 1960s, theatre entered the “modern era” which the other arts had entered in Paris a hundred years before. It was a tremendous thing to be part of and it spread worldwide. There are, I’m sure, at least a couple of hundred what would be called Off-Off-Broadway theatres in LA, probably more. There’s nowhere that lists them. There is no paper that covers it. Even though it’s been going on a long time, it’s still like the earliest days of Off-Off-Broadway. You go into a place like Akbar, which is a gay bar out on Sunset, and you get up and you do your show – and they let you charge admission – which is something we couldn’t do Off-Off-Broadway. And these people build up a following. I’ve built up a following. It’s very hard to promote it and publicize it, because you can’t afford to take ads in papers for a one-night show with forty-five seats. A sixteenth of a page in the LA Weekly paper costs four-hundred twenty-six dollars, so it’s very hard to promote. And it’s different because people have to rent theatres, but otherwise the feeling of it all is so much like the earliest days of Off-Off-Broadway. There are these fantastic, florid, overflowing personalities, brilliant talents, expressing themselves so freely and innovating at will because there is nothing to stop them…it’s like the earliest days of Caffe Cino and La MaMa…watching these brilliant talents flower in oblivion. I don’t like the oblivion. I think these kids deserve coverage and they deserve recognition even if it spoils the scene. Somehow they’ve got to be recognized and some of them are capable of moving on to more commercial theatre and making money at it – and why not? But right now, there’s no path for them to do that through. It’s heartbreaking to see. Most of them aren’t exactly “actors” or “playwrights” – they classify themselves together under the “performance artist” title, which means a kind of abstract theatre – often very collage-like, what they call a “mash-up” with slides and lights and projections and dance and costumes and moving scenery and oblique, indirect, disjointed texts that build sort of musically like dance to a great big crescendo. Often it’s extremely political or obscene. I wish you could see some of them! PT: We have seen some rather interesting pieces here in New York, especially in our experiences at Manhattan Repertory Theatre. We were lucky – we kind of just walked into Manhattan Repertory and have been fortunate to put on numerous plays there. It also is a fabulous forum for new and young playwrights and actors to be able to hone their craft and to test the waters to see what people will be receptive to. Some things work, some things don’t. Some we’ve brought our children to and that also has been very interesting. That must be similar to what it was like at Caffe Cino. RP: A lot of my friends at Caffe Cino put a “warning” on any promotion they put out – when not suitable for children. May I take a photo of the screen? PT: Oh, gosh…sure! RP: (Laughs) It’s charming! Your faces except for your features disappeared! PT: (Laughs) Wayne – maybe that’s a good thing for me! I’m not very photogenic. (Stephanie – of course he is!) RP: You look like a drawing by Edvard Munch. (Laughs) RP: He did. I was the general factotum at the Cino. I wandered in [to the Cino] the first half hour I was in Manhattan. I was enchanted. And I stayed. I took an office job just a few blocks from the Cino so I could rush over every day after work. And I just did whatever needed doing – I swept or shopped or anything. And they just got used to me. PT: How old were you at the time? RP: I hit New York when I was twenty four. So after I had been there about two and a half years – when I was twenty seven and I’d helped with dozens and dozens of plays in every capacity, and I was living with Lanford Wilson – the great playwright to come out of the Cino…do you know that story? RP: Lance said if Joe didn’t do my play he wouldn’t do any more plays at the Cino. And so Joe pulled it out but he said, “You’ll be sorry,” because he said being a playwright made a person vain and self-centered. And [he said] I was a nice guy and it shouldn’t happen to me. But I loved theatre, I loved being with theatre people. I was just happy to be in this magical environment. Then one say I helped to move the scenery in for Lanford’s first play and I suddenly got an idea for a play – just Wham! out of nowhere. And because there was the Cino, I wrote it. I mean I had a million ideas for movies, for novels – but here was an idea for a play and a floor to put it on. That’s all you need, you know, is a floor! If someone will give you a floor, you can create a theatre revolution! A lot of people lived with me [in New York] because I had a steady employment, a small apartment, no private life to speak of, and a lot of people who were hard up would come live with me. Lanford and his friend Michael Warren Powell lived with me for a long time. Lanford would write by day at the kitchen table, then I’d come home from work and write at night. So how was it? It was fun. Lanford’s personal conversation was as clever and unexpected and brilliant as that of the characters in his plays. But my sweetest memory of Lanford is of the last time I saw him. A lot of us playwrights from the Cino were brought to New York to be in a TV segment about the birth of gay theatre at the Cino. So they interviewed us all together and then they wanted to take us to lunch at the place where the Cino used to be – it’s now an Italian restaurant called Pó. So while we were waiting for the cars to come get us, I said to Lanford, “I always wondered what it was I had that let me be with all you beautiful people.” And Lanford tilted his head and said, “You had a job, Bob.” PT: (Laughs) That’s great! What was it about Joe Cino for him to have allowed all of you playwrights to come in and do your thing? RP: Joe would look at you and say, “Do what you have to do.” He gave absolute permission. He didn’t want anything from you. And he wasn’t at all self-sacrificial about giving to you. He had this floor. A boy named Billy Mitchell, who was a dancer, director, and the lover of Joe’s best friend Charles Loubier told me this story. When Joe opened the coffee house, he had these plans to do folk music and poetry readings like all the coffee houses did; and Billy said, “Why don’t do you do plays? It’s no harder than doing poetry or music.” And Joe said, “Oh, okay.” He was that casual. And the first one Billy said was a reading of a Dorothy Parker short story. I have a photograph of it. And the idea just caught fire. People would come in casually and just see a play. Not in the huge, formal, expensive settings they were used to, but just whatever was on that night. And if they didn’t like it, it didn’t matter because they could come back the next week and they would like it. It was a “world a week” at the Cino. They started out doing well-known, preexisting plays. They did all the classic playwrights and most of all Tennessee Williams. I think they did every one-act he had published at that time. And then somebody brought in an original play, “Flyspray,” and that went well, then somebody brought in another and pretty soon, playwrights had discovered the Cino and then people who had never thought of writing a play, like me, saw a place where they could bring in their play and do it for a weekend. And it just caught on. And there began to be star playwrights. A man named Jerry Caruana did five plays at the Cino before I came. And he only quit because the city department he worked for was trying to close the Cino – because it was not legal to do plays. PT: Right. Back then, I think you even needed a cabaret license, correct? RP: Yes. Overall, we’ve never been sure what the legal situation at the CIno was. Joe was Sicilian. And so was the lady he rented the Cino from, Josie. In fact, Joe said he was looking at the place and a lady on the fire escape said, “What are you looking at it for? You want to rent the place?” And he said, “Yeah.” And she said, “What’s your name?” And he told her. Then she asked, “Are you Sicilian?” He said, “Yeah.” And she said, “Here’s the keys,” and she threw the keys down to him. But we never had any overt trouble with the place until Joe died. And then all of a sudden, five times a day cops came in with summonses. So we always thought perhaps there was some connection between Joe’s family relations that allowed the place to stay open. Then after he died, literally five times a day they’d come in. Charles Stanley managed the Cino right after Joe died – but we couldn’t pay summonses – we didn’t make any money. We put them [the summonses] on a spindle like a restaurant check and put it on the back of the toilet. PT: (Laughs) RP: It was absurd. I was the door man; and it reached the point where I’d stand out front, and if I saw a cop coming down the block, I’d knock on the door and somebody inside would have heard and said, “Offstage” and whoever was on stage would hop off and sit at tables with customers… PT: (Laughs) RP: So when [the cop] would come in he wouldn’t see a play. Sometimes he’d see people in pretty flamboyant costumes sitting at the tables, but he wouldn’t see a play. But of course that sort of thing demoralized everyone and audiences got depressed by it. It all just trickled away. I’m always making it a firm rule to point out that it was no one’s fault that the Cino closed. It wasn’t from any misdoing or mismanagement. It was simply pressures that, after Joe’s death, no one could have kept it open. Michael Smith and a man named Zuckerman took it over from Charles Stanley and things just went downhill. The audiences had fragmented. We were doing plays which were so extremely different like one night we’d do a play with a comic book script; the next night there’d be some kind of drug ritual; the next night would be a Lanford Wilson play; or it would be a classic play. Audiences would come and not know…they’d wanted to see the drug shows but would see a comic book show and say, “No,” and they wouldn’t come back. It just disintegrated. No one’s fault. No misdoing on anyone’s part. PT: How long after Joe died did you stay at Caffe Cino? RP: A year. It only lasted for a year after his death. But already by that time there were dozens and dozens – maybe hundreds – of theatres inspired by it. The Village Voice had the Off-Off Broadway listings. Quite distinct from Off-Broadway. It had done its work. The Cino had done its work – it had created modern theatre and then it trickled away. Ellen Stewart of La MaMa – if not the second person to open an Off-Off theatre, the second person to matter – very near to the end of her life said the one thing that she regretted was that she hadn’t taken over the Cino after Joe’s death and kept it open. And I pointed out to her, “Ellen, you have kept the Cino open! La MaMa is the Cino! La MaMa Bogota! La MaMa Caracas! These are all the Cino. You’ve kept it alive! Joe couldn’t have asked for anything more.” And she was much placated by that thought. Joe Cino is dead – but the Cino is everywhere. Akbar is the Caffe Cino; Spirit Studio is the Caffe Cino. Casita de Campos over on Hyperion (Avenue in LA) where a wonderful creature named John Cantwell puts on shows is the Caffe Cino. Manhattan Repertory (Theatre in NYC) is the Cino for God’s sake! RP: She had me and Jacque Lynn Colton and June Perr start a La MaMa Hollywood – our first shows were very well received but we just weren’t used to dealing with Hollywood actors. It was very difficult getting shows on but the few that we did were very, very well-received. Then I left and went to Europe to do Kennedy’s Children in London. PT: Coming out of New York – New York known as a “theatre town” with stage actors even to this day – so you found a big difference between the “Hollywood” actors and the “New York” actors? RP: There were big differences out here. One is that there were an awful lot of people here hoping to make it in TV and movies who had no stage experience or ambitions and did not know how to take it seriously. And also, it can take three hours to drive to a rehearsal here; you need a lot of dedication. And it’s expensive out here. People have to have jobs – I’m sure it’s the same way now in New York. It used to be you could work a couple of days a week as a typist and if three or four of you lived together in a small apartment and you didn’t have to worry about money. Life isn’t like that anymore. The LA theatre scene is incredibly vital and it has all sorts of stars – star directors, star playwrights, star actors. It has endless festivals and they are very fond here of…(laughs)…I did a terrible thing to the world. In 1966 I created the “mini play”. At the Caffe Cino with my program “New Works: Lights, Camera, Action, the mini plays” – I invented the five-minute play. It has been taken up and become so widespread. Every day I get requests to submit a play to yet another festival of five- or ten-minute plays. All over the world they do five- and ten-minute plays. And do you know why? Because if you’ve got twenty playwrights and sixty actors, that means there’s that many more people who are going to come see their friends. It’s strictly because it builds audiences. I almost regret having created the form. But there’s a lot of that around here – and around the world. It is amazing. Did you know there is a gay theatre in Kalamazoo, Michigan? PT: I’m sure. Why not? But the form is not just for gay theatre. We actually are following in your footsteps. I remember years and years ago, the only place really that was looking for ten-minute plays was the Actors Theatre of Louisville. We use NYC Playwrights’ listing and there are five- and ten- and fifteen-minute plays and festivals everywhere. RP: Mea culpa. Mea culpa. PT: Well we have written some so we are happy about it – because that has been a very good mode of expression for us. RP: It’s incredible, these things we did at the Cino were so influential – it’s just amazing that even out in Kalamazoo – there is an organization called Kalamazoo Queer Theatre. Stay tuned for Part 2 with Playwright, Robert Patrick — More about the development of Gay Theatre, Kennedy’s Children, Off-Off Broadway and so much more — Coming Soon Read our other Pillow Talking Interviews Please follow and like us: http://somedayprods.com/talking/interview-with-playwright-robert-patrick-part-1/">Online dating service OkCupid has banned a prominent white supremacist “for life” after discovering he was using the platform. Chris Cantwell gained notoriety after appearing in a VICE News segment about last weekend’s deadly Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. During the segment, Cantwell used racist and anti-Semitic language, theorized that more violence would occur in the future, and showed a reporter multiple weapons strapped to his body. OkCupid, which says it verified Cantwell’s identity before banning him, publicly announced its decision on Thursday. “We were alerted by another dater on OkCupid who had been contacted by Cantwell recently,” OkCupid told Mashable. We were alerted that white supremacist Chris Cantwell was on OkCupid. Within 10 minutes we banned him for life. — OkCupid (@okcupid) August 17, 2017 There is no room for hate in a place where you're looking for love. — OkCupid (@okcupid) August 17, 2017 “We’ve been public about kicking Cantwell off of OkCupid because of our responsibility to be clear about the human values of our community – who we’re for and the kind of person to person interaction we stand for,” OkCupid CEO Elie Seidman told Mashable. “The formula for this one was easy: ‘Nazi or supremacist == bad.’” OkCupid also invited members to report other white supremacists or people in hate groups using the service. If any OkCupid members come across people involved in hate groups, please report it immediately https://t.co/K6PTo8Rtlr — OkCupid (@okcupid) August 17, 2017 Earlier in the week, Facebook banned Cantwell, along with a page promoting his podcast, from its service as well.MEXICO CITY — The government of El Salvador won a long-running legal battle on Friday when an international arbitration panel ruled that it did not have to pay compensation to a mining company that was denied a concession to drill for gold. The case had been watched by antimining activists, who had pointed to it as a test of the rights of governments to make laws protecting their citizens’ health and the environment against challenges from corporations. The panel, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, at the World Bank in Washington, accepted El Salvador’s argument that the company, Pac Rim Cayman, did not meet all the legal requirements to receive a permit. The ruling was a relief to the Salvadoran government, which faced a demand for $314 million in compensation from Pac Rim Cayman for the loss of expected profits from the mining venture.The 'One&Only Resort' Hayman Island in the Whitsundays before and after Cyclone Debbie. TOURISTS are at breaking point in cyclone-hit Airlie Beach, where the local lagoon has filled with sewage, people are being forced to wash with precious bottled water and an argument has erupted over electricity. Supermarket Woolworths has set up a charging station in the resort town, where a shouting match broke out between holiday-makers this morning and a woman was told: “You’ve had long enough, let someone else have a turn.” The town’s lagoon had been used as a makeshift bathing spot but had to be roped off because it was now full of human waste, a security guard told news.com.au. Tourists have been filling bins with water from hotel swimming pools to flush toilets and are having flannel washes with bottled water because pools and the lagoon are now filthy. “It is now boiling hot and humid,” news.com.au reporter Emma Reynolds said from Airlie Beach. “Tempers are fraying, with travellers angry at the lack support or information days after the cyclone. Some are staying in flooded rooms or have no windows.” Bill Baverstock, a 68-year-old visiting from Adelaide with his wife and her relatives, told news.com.au the situation was “getting heated”. “The girls are frantic, to put it mildly. We heard someone in the shops had come from Mackay and the road is clear, so it was ‘get us out of here!’ but what do we do there? “We have a flight from here tomorrow. They’re clutching at straws. It’s getting heated. It’s pretty hard to keep morale up. Mr Baverstock said emergency services co-ordinators had got it wrong. “We’re all pensioners and the lack of response from anyone has been awful, just to knock on the door and say ‘are you OK?’ “Emergency services were billeted in the wrong place, they were five kilometres away and that’s why they took so long to get here. This is the first I’ve seen of them. They had to get in to get people out, it was a double whammy. “This area is known for storms, maybe this is a learning curve for them to maybe act more quickly and get people out.” Restaurants with generators will be serving barbecue food to stranded tourists again today. Meanwhile, Whitsunday Regional Council — which covers Airlie Beach, Bowen, Proserpine, Hamilton Island and Daydream Island — has urged residents “DO NOT drink water from tap” in an emergency alert overnight. “In the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Debbie, Whitsunday Regional Council advises all residents that when water is restored to their area it may be discoloured and contain bacteria levels above normal standards,” the council wrote on its disaster and emergency Facebook page. Residents who had no other option but to use the contaminated water were urged to boil it for three minutes first. Meanwhile, long lines of desperate tourists have formed on Hamilton and Hayman islands as people try to score a place on airlines flying out of the battered resorts. Brisbane woman Mercedes Haynes told the Townsville Bulletin that she had spent 48 hours surviving on baked beans and bread after the unit block she was staying in on Hamilton Island lost part of its roof in 270km/h winds. “The booking agents have been disgusting, demanding we still pay for our ruined accommodation and resort management has only just had staff come and check on us at 2am (yesterday),” she said. “We’ve had no one tell us about food or water, we only know the store is selling stuff which we cannot buy as they’re only accepting cash payment but there’s no way to get money out.” DAYDREAM NIGHTMARE CONTINUES Tourists finally evacuated from cyclone-ravaged Daydream Island have arrived on the mainland only to find themselves stranded again. One hundred and sixteen guests and staff were evacuated from Daydream Island yesterday after almost running out of water. Tourist Rob Chynoweth told the Whitsunday Timesthere was confusion abouth whether visitors could leave the Whitsundays via the Hamilton Island Airport, where there was no accommodation available, or by road. He said others told him the only way out was to board a ferry to the mainland and fly out from Townsville. “Last night with all that thunder and lightning, I thought we were never going to get off the island,” he said. Meanwhile, large crowds descended on Woolworths at Airlie Beach yesterday morning, when the doors were opened for the first time since Cyclone Debbie hit. Glenda Moon, on holiday with her husband from Melbourne, told news.com.au she could not believe the lack of support and co-ordination. “For visitors, the lack of information is unbelievable,” she told news.com.au. “There’s no communication. “It’s just the not knowing that’s the hardest part. I know they have a lot to do but they need to get an information place set up. My phone is dead, I’ve got no service, it’s hard. I thought there’d be someone in the street with information and water. “Soon Woolworths will be cleared out.” One tourist told news.com.au she had booked on to flights on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in the hope one will get her home. Many were wandering around aimlessly this morning, some vainly seeking news or help and others, like Taylor Bourke, 17, and Christian Fahey, 20, sitting on the kerb looking miserable. “We don’t have any money, we don’t have any food or smokes,” Taylor told news.com.au. “We were supposed to fly out on Monday back to Sydney. They refund your money but you don’t get it for three weeks. “It’s pretty s***. We got money transferred three days ago but it’s not in the account and Optus is down.”“Batman vs. Superman” and one of Marvel’s next superhero movies are gearing up for a head on collision at the summer 2016 box office. Typically, studios select premiere dates years in advance in order to maximize the potential audience for their films and to plant a flag in the calendar as a warning to rival pictures that cater to similar demographics. Both of these would-be blockbusters are pitched toward the fanboy set and a confrontation might have been avoided had Warner Bros., which is distributing “Batman vs. Superman,” not pushed the film’s release back 10 months in order to allow for more production time. “Usually one side blinks,” BoxOffice.com Vice-President and Chief Analyst Phil Contrino told TheWrap. “You always want to avoid this. It’s not good for either movie.” Also read: Jesse Eisenberg ‘Batman Vs. Superman’ Casting Controversy: Why the Critics Are Usually Wrong For its part, Marvel, which first snagged the release date of May 6, 2016 way back in 2013, said it has no intention of backing down. “We’re certainly keeping the date there and we’ll announce what that movie is, I assume, in the next few months,” Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told SlashFilm.com at a press day for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” A spokesman for Marvel declined additional comment and spokespeople for Marvel did not immediately offer comment. The weekend in question is a highly coveted one. It’s the first full weekend in May and traditionally signals the start of summer blockbuster movie season to audiences. Films like “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and “The Avengers” sequel both plan to use the same weekend as launching spots in the summers of 2014 and 2015, respectively. Also read: Wonder Woman Speaks! Gal Gadot’s First Comments on Joining ‘Batman vs. Superman’ (Video) Although, these match-ups often end with one side beating a retreat for a more hospitable premiere date, occasionally a battle does take place. Last Memorial Day, for instance, “Fast & Furious 6” and “The Hangover Part III” went head to head despite the fact that both films targeted teenage boys. The overall box office was a record-breaker, but “Fast & Furious 6” likely took a chunk out of “The Hangover Part III”s’ gross, with the comedy sequel racking up a disappointing $41.6 million opening weekend. That was half what the second film in the bacchanalian franchise scored in its debut weekend. The lesson from these contests, Contrino argued, is that studios need to be more creative and flexible when it comes to scheduling. He points to the decision by Marvel to position “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” in April, instead of the summer. “If a film is strong enough, it doesn’t matter when you open it,” he said. “The idea that you have to open every superhero tentpole film between May and July is outdated and it hurts the marketplace.”The victory was so sweet that the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent thank-you notes to his employees. Nearly four decades in the making, a new rule under the Obama administration was set to lower workplace exposure to beryllium, an industrial mineral linked to a lung disease that is estimated to kill 100 people annually. And the nation’s largest beryllium producer had agreed to back the new restrictions. “Once we finish, these workers will be protected and we will end the epidemic of beryllium exposure in the United States,” David Michaels, the OSHA chief, said at the time in 2015. But several weeks ago, just as the rule was going into effect, the safety agency suddenly proposed changes that experts expect may exempt major industries from the tougher standard. It was one of several instances in which workplace safety decisions have been revisited in the early months of the Trump administration.The EIA publishes every possible energy stat for the USA and hardly anything for the rest of the world. Well, anything current for the rest of the world anyway. Their International Energy Statistics is already five full months behind and working on six. December 2014 is the last international oil production data we have. Anyway during this lull in other data I decided to look at the last three years of international data, from December 2011 to December 2014. All data is in thousand barrels per day. World C+C production was flat for most of 2012 and 2013 but in late 2013 production took off and has increased by about 3 million barrels per day above the average for 2012 and 2013. December C+C production was 79,300,000 BPD. While total C+C production has increased by 3,000,000 BPD over the last three years the top ten gainers have increased just over twice as much, 6,200,000 BPD. And just who were the big C+C production increasers for the last three years. Keep in mind this is the total change, or increase, over the last three years, not total production. The largest gainer, by a wide margin, was the USA. Iraq and Canada were runners up and the rest were also rans. Almost everyone else had declines. Here are the 20 biggest decliners. Iran of course declined the most but surprisingly the second largest decliner was Mexico, not Libya. Saudi, the fourth largest decliner has, since December, increased production by about half a million barrels per day. World C+C production minus the top ten gainers has declined by 3,100,000 over the three years 2012 through 2014. Just for kicks I decided to include production change per geological area over the three years, 2012 through 2014. As you can see it is no contest, North America wins by a large margin. However if we had the last 5 months data this chart would look somewhat different as the Middle East has had a pretty good increase over that period. And on another subject under the “Do You Believe This” category: This is the US weekly C+C production for the last 52 weeks with the last data point May 29th. And no, I flat don’t believe it. Here are a few reasons why. Crude Oil Carload Update The AAR also reported U.S. Class I railroads originated 113,089 carloads of crude oil in the first quarter of 2015, down 17,982 carloads or 13.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014. First Quarter crude oil shipped by rail is down 13.7 percent from the first quarter of 2014. Sikorsky to Cut 1,400 Jobs, Citing Falling Oil Production Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. says it’s cutting 1,400 jobs in the coming year as the helicopter manufacturer
was subsequently detained on state drug charges.[30] Police allege that, during their execution of the search warrant related to the AT&T breach, they found cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, and Schedule 2 and 3 pharmaceuticals.[31] He was released on a $3,160 bail pending state trial.[32] After his release on bail, he broke a gag order to protest what he maintained were violations of his civil rights. In particular, he disputed the legality of the search of his house and denial of access to a public defender. He also asked for donations via PayPal, to defray legal costs.[3][33] In January 2011, all drug-related charges were dropped immediately following Auernheimer's arrest by federal authorities. The U.S. Justice Department announced that he would be charged with one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization and one count of fraud.[34] Although his co-defendant, Daniel Spitler, was quickly released on bail, Auernheimer was initially denied bail because of his unemployment and lack of a family member to host him. He was incarcerated in the Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City before being released on $50,000 bail in late February 2011.[2][35] Indictment Edit A federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, indicted Auernheimer with one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers and one count of identity theft in July 2011.[36] In September 2011, he was freed on bail and raising money for his legal defense fund.[37] On November 20, 2012, Auernheimer was found guilty of one count of identity fraud and one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization.[38] On November 29, 2012, Auernheimer wrote an article in Wired entitled "Forget Disclosure – Hackers Should Keep Security Holes to Themselves," advocating the disclosure of any zero-day exploit only to individuals who will "use it in the interests of social justice."[39] In a January 2013 TechCrunch article,[40] he likened his prosecution to that of Aaron Swartz, writing ...Aaron dealt with his indictment so badly because he thought he was part of a special class of people that this didn't happen to. I am from a rundown shack in Arkansas. I spent many years thinking people from families like his got better treatment than me. Now I realize the truth: The beast is so monstrous it will devour us all. On March 18, 2013, after being found guilty of identity fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization, Auernheimer was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $73,000 in restitution.[41] Just prior to his sentencing, he posted an "Ask Me Anything" thread on Reddit;[42] comments such as "I hope they give me the maximum, so people will rise up and storm the docks" and "My regret is being nice enough to give AT&T a chance to patch before dropping the dataset to Gawker. I won't nearly be as nice next time" were cited by the prosecution the next day in court as justification for the sentence.[43] Later in March 2013, civil rights lawyer and George Washington University Law School faculty Orin Kerr joined Auernheimer's legal team, free of charge.[44] Conviction overturned Edit Auernheimer was serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Allenwood Low, a low-security federal prison in Pennsylvania, and was scheduled for release in January 2016.[45] On July 1, 2013, his legal team filed a brief with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that his convictions should be reversed because he had not violated the relevant provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.[46][47] On April 11, 2014, the Third Circuit issued an opinion vacating Auernheimer's conviction, on the basis that the venue in New Jersey was improper.[48][49] While the judges did not address the substantive question on the legality of the site access, they were skeptical of the original conviction, noting that no circumvention of passwords had occurred and that only publicly accessible information was obtained.[50] He was released from prison on April 11, 2014.[51]A woman whose picture went viral after she raised her middle finger at Donald Trump as his motorcade passed her on her bicycle has been fired from her job. Hail to the chief: cyclist gives Trump the middle finger Read more Juli Briskman was cycling in Virginia last month when she offered the gesture in a gut reaction to Trump’s policies, she said. “He was passing by and my blood just started to boil,” she told the Huffington Post. “I’m thinking, Daca recipients are getting kicked out. He pulled ads for open enrollment in Obamacare. Only one third of Puerto Rico has power. I’m thinking, he’s at the damn golf course again. “I flipped off the motorcade a number of times.” A photographer traveling with the presidential motorcade snapped Briskman’s picture and the image quickly spread across news outlets and social media. Many hailed Briskman as a hero, with some saying she should run in the 2020 election. Late-night comedy hosts also picked up the story. Briskman had been working as a marketing and communications specialist for a Virginia-based federal contractor, Akima, for six months. She thought it best to alert the HR department to the online fuss. Bosses then called her into a meeting, she said. “They said, ‘We’re separating from you,’” Briskman told the Huffington Post. “‘Basically, you cannot have lewd or obscene things in your social media.’ So they were calling flipping him off obscene.” She said the company was displeased she had used the image as her profile picture on Twitter and Facebook, and told her it violated social media policy and could hurt the company’s reputation as a government contractor. Briskman said she pointed out that her social media pages do not mention her employer, and that the incident happened on her own time. She also said another employee had written a profane insult about someone on Facebook, but had been allowed to keep his job after deleting the post and being reprimanded. Virginia, however, has “at will” employment laws, meaning private-sector employers can fire people for any reason. Suddenly, the 50-year-old mother of two found herself looking for a new job. Briskman, who votes Democratic, said she planned to look for a new job with an advocacy group she believes in, such as Planned Parenthood or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. After leaving his Virginia golf club and before passing Briskman, Trump’s motorcade passed a pedestrian who gave a vigorous thumbs-down gesture. Another woman had been standing outside the entrance to the golf club, holding a sign saying “Impeach”. As news of Briskman’s firing spread, many social media users asked why she was being penalized for expressing free speech on her own time, under the first amendment to the US constitution. Akima did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, its website went down. Someone began a crowdfunding page online to raise money for Briskman. Briskman said she had no regrets about the attention her public show of displeasure received. In fact, she said, she was happy to be an image of protest. “In some ways, I’m doing better than ever,” she said. “I’m angry about where our country is right now. I am appalled. This was an opportunity for me to say something.”Phil Kessel used an accurate and lethal wrist shot to become one of the all time great Toronto Maple Leafs. With Similar skills, can William Nylander do the same? Phil Kessel was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2009 offseason from the Boston Bruins in exchange for a first in 2010 (Tyler Seguin), a second in 2010 (Jared Knight), and a 1st in 2011 (Dougie Hamilton). William Nylander was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Leafs. Similarity #1: Lethal Wrist Shot Phil Kessel is known as one of the greatest snipers in professional hockey. With his elite vision, he is able to find holes in goalies and score. In 11 seasons, he has scored 20 or more goals nine times (all consecutively). Kessel can create an open lane for himself and can shoot from anywhere in the offensive zone. Likewise, William Nylander is already making a name for himself as an elite player for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his first full season in the league, he produced 22 goals in 81 games. He uses his elite vision and teammates to create screens for himself so that he can find a hole in the goalie and put the puck in the net. Also, he is able to score from anywhere in the offensive zone, making him a scoring threat. Both players are known for their elite shots and vision. They can both create open lanes for themselves and use teammates as screens. Kessel gets the upper hand in this comparison only because Nylander has played one full season in the NHL and hasn’t shown everything he can do. Similarity #2: Playmaking Abilities What many have failed to realize is that Kessel is very good at setting up another player to score. He uses his reputation as an elite scorer to force the goalie to pinch on him and then he’ll pass the puck across the crease for an easy set up goal. Similarly, Nylander forces the goalie to pinch so he can pass the puck to a teammate for an easy goal. He also uses his quick footwork and stick handling to get by the defense and find open lanes to his teammates. To set up Auston Matthews’ 39th goal of the season, Nylander used his amazing deking abilities to create an open lane. Both players are able to see the ice better than most. They can create plays out of nothing and make them highlight reel goals. They also force the opposing goalie to pinch causing an easy backdoor goal for their teammates. Adding this to their elite shots causes them to be very dangerous when they have the puck. Similarity #3: Strong Skating Abilities Kessel is one of the strongest skaters in today’s NHL. He has an explosive speed that not many can keep up with. This causes him to be able to use his speed to create an open lane for him to shoot or pass the pack. Kessel is a scary player to have possession of the puck because you don’t know what he’s going to do. Similarly, Nylander has speed to burn and is a dynamic skater. He uses his speed to get close to the defense and then deke around them. He will also go down the boards and make a cross crease pass. With his elite shot and playmaking ability, Nylander is a difficult player to defend against. Both players are able to use their quick speed to drive a play. They can set themselves up for a shot or to pass to an open player. This causes both players to be offensive threats that can change the course of a game. Conclusion: Both players are big offensive threats. They are able to drive a play and create goal opportunities out of nothing. They can find a hole in the goalie to score a goal or force the goalie to pinch and assist on a goal. Also, by using their speed they create open lanes for themselves and their teammates. While Kessel has been in the league for a longer period of time, Nylander is already a player that teams don’t like playing against. Nylander is young and is still developing. For those reasons if I had to choose one it would be Nylander. Kessel is an amazing player and any team would be lucky to have him but Nylander is already really good and will continue to grow into one of the best in the league. Hopefully he blossoms into an elite player for the Toronto Maple Leafs. stats fromPaper Fortress of Solitude for Ridiculous Portable Privacy We all have our ways of dealing with screen glare, but this is a particularly eye-catching one. The Veasyble Privacy Shell is a collaboration between a whole mess of people: illustrator Gloria Pizzilli, designer Arianna Petrakis, model Adele Bacci and singer Ilaria Pacini. It’s meant to provide a small measure of privacy in an otherwise-intrusive world by covering your head (and in the case of the larger models, your lover’s head as well) with a paper accordion-like tube. It seems kind of counter-intuitive to call something this strange-looking a “privacy” shell since it would obviously attract more attention than it would repel. But when you’re desperate to hide your face from the cruel, cruel world, putting a weird paper mask/tube thing over your face might be the perfect way to convince people that you’re too crazy to mess with.Tallahassee, FL -(AmmoLand.com)- Forward by Marion Hammer: As we begin the last two weeks of the 2016 Legislative Session, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R- Shalimar) is still standing up and fighting to get Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla (R-Miami) to do the right thing and let the Open Carry bill be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee. As you recall, Sen. Diaz de la Portilla is stonewalling and deliberately refusing to give the committee and the full Senate an opportunity to vote on the bill. An Opinion Editorial by Rep. Gaetz, calling for the bill to be heard was published today in the North West Florida Daily News. Read it below and please thank Rep. Gaetz for continuing to fight for your rights. [email protected] Matt Gaetz Never Quits Fighting for Second Amendment Rights By REP. MATT GAETZ The organizing principle of my public service is Constitutional liberty. If government constrains itself to the Constitution, free markets, free enterprise and free people can thrive. Otherwise, we get catastrophic consequences like ObamaCare, lawless executive orders and a government that (often corruptly) picks winners and losers. In a world of uncertainty, the Second Amendment to the Constitution is undeniably clear: The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Today, Florida is one of only five states infringing on the rights of citizens to “openly carry” handguns. That's right. Open carry is legal in various forms in 45 other states. Florida joins California, New York, Illinois and (oddly) South Carolina as the only states to totally prohibit open carry. Thirty states do not require a license, while 15 do. Weeks ago the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill I authored allowing Floridians with concealed carry permits to openly carry in a holster. It was a bipartisan 80-36 vote. The bill was endorsed by the Florida Police Chief's Association, Unified Sportsmen of Florida and the National Rifle Association. The Florida Chamber of Commerce helped draft provisions to allow private property owners to prohibit open carry if they choose. Then, the Senate Judiciary Chairman killed it. He refused to even allow a vote on open carry, likely because the bill would have passed. No one Senator should have the right to unilaterally block critical legislation from even having a vote – especially when constitutional rights are implicated. There is no constitutional, statistical or rational basis to disallow open carry in Florida. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's own data, in open carry states you are: 23 percent less likely to be the victim of violent crime 5 percent less likely to be murdered 38 percent less likely to be the victim of armed robbery, and 23 percent less likely to be the victim of aggravated assault. Open carry is not a Utopian solution to violence. Many factors impact crime rates. But, reasonable people cannot disagree on the statistical fact that open carry does not increase violence. I find it compelling that concealed carry permit holders are remarkably law-abiding. According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime data, permit holders are six times less likely to commit crimes than law enforcement officers. If I am elected to serve in the Senate next year, I'll again file much needed open carry legislation. I'll also pursue changes to Florida Senate rules to allow for more transparent debate on the issues facing Florida. Florida should be an open carry state. The Florida Senate should let the debate begin. I'm ready for it. About Matt Gaetz: Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2010 and has been subsequently reelected three times. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee and currently chairs the Finance & Tax Committee.The crash happened on the M8, east of Glasgow city centre A 65-year-old man has died in a collision on the M8 in Glasgow after he drove his Peugeot 206 in the wrong direction down the motorway. Henry McGraith, from Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, died at the scene after colliding with a Hyundai I30 driven by a woman on the eastbound carriageway. The crash happened near junction 15 Townhead, close to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, at about 2330 GMT on Monday. The injured woman, 21, is said to be in a stable condition in the infirmary. The drivers of two other vehicles received minor injuries after they crashed taking evasive action. The motorway eastbound was closed throughout the night but reopened at about 0645 GMT. Seven ambulances were sent to the scene of the crash. Police urged witnesses to contact them.Named after communal housing in the days of the USSR, Kommunalka features an authentic menu, homemade vodka and a washing line The first thing to know about the new Kommunalka restaurant in Moscow is that the experience is all about nostalgia rather than fine dining. The name, Kommunalka, means “communal apartment” – a flat shared by two or more families of the kind that was widespread in the Soviet Union until the 1980s. This appeal to Soviet sentiment has been tried before, most successfully at Russian restaurant magnate Arkady Novikov’s bar Kamchatka, but Kommunalka takes it one step further. The design is so authentic that it’s hard to believe you’re in 2016. The restaurant is in a former communal apartment, with its original layout and even some of the décor. Walls are covered with 1970s newspapers and there’s plenty of Soviet paraphernalia, including old radios, television sets, scales and jars with pickles scattered around. The main room looks like a kitchen with utensils in display, a small collection of samovars and even some washing drying on a line in the corner. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kommunalka’s main dining room would have been home to one family. Photograph: Moscow Times The cuisine is made up of a collection of dishes from the former republics of the USSR, with the chef making a decent attempt at getting the best of them on the menu. But the restaurant does have one innovation that did not exist in Soviet times – a salad bar. The bar, spread out in an old glass display case in the front room, has all the Soviet classics. There’s Olivier salad (boiled potatoes and a lot of mayonnaise), vinaigrette (boiled beets, carrots and plenty of vinegar), mimosa (canned fish, potatoes and eggs), and various kinds of pickles — all for just 85 roubles for 100 grams. There are traditional dishes such as borsch and shchi (cabbage soup) in small pots (170 roubles), as well as more unusual ones such as yozhiki (hedgehog) meatballs with rice served in tomato sauce (380 roubles), and makarony po-flotski (macaroni, navy style) (390 roubles). And of course, Kommunalka also has a long list of homemade vodka infusions: try any five of them for just 500 roubles. Don’t miss quince, prune and chokeberry. 4/4 Strastnoi Bulvar Metro Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya A version of this article first appeared on The Moscow TimesIn the Philippines, paid trolls, fallacious reasoning, leaps in logic, poisoning the well – these are only some of the propaganda techniques that have helped shift public opinion on key issues Published 7:00 PM, October 03, 2016 Part 1 of 3 MANILA, Philippines – On Saturday, September 3, 2016, the day after the Davao bombing, at least one anonymous Facebook account began to share a March 26, 2016 Rappler story, "Man with bomb nabbed at Davao checkpoint." It was quickly picked up and shared by Facebook political advocacy pages for President Rodrigo Duterte. Other websites took the entire dated story and reposted on their sites, like newstrendph.com, which is linked to Duterte News Global (the post has since been taken down). Other Facebook pages, such as Digong Duterte and Duterte Warrior, became active participants in this disinformation campaign. Soon after, these pages manually altered their times of postings. This is disinformation because it led readers to think the man with the bomb was captured that day, September 3, when President Duterte declared a state of lawlessness in the aftermath of the bombing. Readers were duped into sharing a lie because the context changed the old headline. That lie served a dual purpose: it led you to believe the government’s draconian measure was justified and that it acted just in the nick of time; but, it also hit the credibility of a trusted news source - which was the way these pages represented the story once Rappler alerted our community about it. It was such an effective campaign that despite the developing news about the Davao bombing, this old story trended number 1 and stayed in the top 10 stories in Rappler for more than 48 hours. Take another example: a post by Peter Tiu Lavina, Duterte's campaign spokesman, who attacked critics of the government's "war on drugs" with his statement about a 9-year-old girl who was raped and murdered. The photo was taken in Brazil, not the Philippines. These are only some of the many disinformation campaigns we’ve seen since the election period: social media campaigns meant to shape public opinion, tear down reputations, and cripple traditional media institutions. This strategy of "death by a thousand cuts" uses the strength of the internet and exploits the algorithms that power social media to sow confusion and doubt. This series takes apart this new phenomenon triggered by technology and information’s exponential growth: Part 1 looks at the paid propaganda taking over social media; Part 2 takes apart the new information ecosystem, its impact on human behavior, and how its weaknesses could be exploited; and, Part 3 focuses on 26 fake accounts on Facebook, which together extend to a network that influences at least 3 million other accounts. Weaponizing the internet It’s a strategy of "death by a thousand cuts" – a chipping away at facts, using half-truths that fabricate an alternative reality by merging the power of bots and fake accounts on social media to manipulate real people. A bot is a program written to give an automated response to posts on social media, creating the perception that there’s a tidal wave of public opinion. Since this is machine-driven, it can manufacture thousands of posts per minute. A fake account is a manufactured online identity, sometimes known as a troll depending on the account’s behavior. Not all trolls are part of a paid propaganda campaign, but for now let’s focus on the paid initiatives, which can pay a troll up to P100,000/month. Often, dozens of these fake accounts work together along with anonymous pages, strengthening each other’s reach for Facebook’s algorithms. These networks can work with or without bots. A small group of 3 operators, a source tells Rappler, can earn as much as P5 million a month. Because they often disregard truth and manipulate emotions, these networks easily game Facebook’s algorithm. In the Philippines and around the world, political advocacy pages, made specifically for Facebook, are cleverly positioned and engineered to take over your news feed. That allows these propaganda accounts to create a social movement that is widening the cracks in Philippine society by exploiting economic, regional, and political divides. It unleashed a flood of anger against Duterte critics that has created a chilling effect. “It was specifically brought into sharp relief during these past elections, where the amount of hatred and vitriol on the internet was just intolerable,” Vince Lazatin, Executive Director of Transparency & Accountability Network, said during a recent panel on Technology and the Public Debate. “It silenced people into submission. The trolls have found a way to weaponize the internet.” It’s not clear whether these accounts used for the campaign are working with official government channels today. What is clear is they share the same key message: a fanatic defense of Duterte, who’s portrayed as the father of the nation deserving the support of all Filipinos. This possible consolidation of the Duterte campaign machinery with state communications channels is dangerous. We only need to look to China, which fakes nearly 450 million social media comments a year, according to the Washington Post. This is the first time this sophisticated political propaganda machinery has been used in the Philippines. FUD - Fear, uncertainty, doubt Yet, this isn’t the first time social media has been used to manipulate public opinion here. The first groups to actively use the power of social media, including its dark side tactics, were corporations and their allies. They used a strategy popularized in the computer industry in the US known as FUD – which stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt – a disinformation strategy that spreads negative or false information to fuel fear. FUD is commonly used in sales, marketing, public relations – and now – politics and propaganda. As early as October 5, 2014, Rappler alerted the public about how interest groups are mobilizing fictitious social media resources at scale to disrupt online conversations. Here’s an example of a black ops campaign on Twitter. It used a combination of bots and fake accounts to essentially take over and shut down telco promotional campaign #SmartFreeInternet. In a nutshell, if you use the hashtag, it signals a bot to message your account – to sow fear and doubt to trigger anger – a classic FUD campaign. That’s coupled with fake accounts which continue the campaign. (The greenish-blue line are bots, which attacked at such a high frequency that it effectively shut down the red Smart campaign.) Here’s a map of the conversation, laying bare a familiar communist strategy: “surround the city from the countryside” – effectively shutting out the Smart Twitter account from its targeted millenials. First social media elections Social media came of age for politics during the election campaign for the May 2016 elections. Long before Duterte decided to run, we had long noticed that Davao City had one of the most engaged social media community in the Philippines. Now we would see humans augmented by machines in both engagement and online polls. The first time we saw Twitter bots in politics seemed to happen by accident. Four days after he declared his presidency, from midnight to 2am on November 25, 2015, more than 30,000 tweets mentioning Rodrigo Duterte were posted, at times reaching more than 700 tweets per minute. That’s more than the number of tweets posted when he declared he would run, and more than all the tweets about any presidential candidate over the previous 29 days. Thinking Machines did an analysis of the campaign using bots and discovered that politics had intersected with entertainment. An examination of the bot-like Twitter accounts showed their timelines full of KathNiel. (Read: KathNiel, Twitter bots, polls: Quality, not just buzz) What about online surveys which are used to gauge public opinion? Machines can influence that as well. In December, 2015, Rappler investigated technical manipulation of our online survey, and discovered that 99% of votes from Russia, Korea and China were for Mar Roxas (although there was a small number of these manufactured votes for Duterte as well). Deleting the fake votes changed the winner from Roxas to Duterte. (Read: Who gamed the Rappler election poll?) Duterte social media campaign Social media was a crucial factor in electing this president. Former activist and ex-ABS-CBN sales chief Nic Gabunada headed Duterte’s social media efforts. He told Rappler in a May 31 interview that he built the network with P10 million and up to 500 volunteers, who tapped their own networks. They were organized into 4 main groups: OFWs or overseas Filipino workers, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. He said each volunteer handled between 300 to 6,000 members, but that the largest group had 800,000 members. (Read: Duterte’s P10Msocial media campaign: Organic, volunteer-drive) It was a decentralized campaign: each group created its own content, but the campaign narrative and key daily messages were centrally determined and cascaded for execution. Gabunada emphasized these posts were done by real people, not bots. Analysts agreed that the 2016 elections were the most engaged in Philippine history, but they also pointed out that the period also highlighted some of the angriest and vicious political discourse that’s transforming our democracy. By March, two students at UP Los Baños had been threatened by an online mob. In a scene reminiscent of the Boston bombing witch hunt, Duterte supporters tracked cell phone numbers and harassed and threatened the students they perceived to be disrespectful of Duterte. At one point, they created a Facebook page demanding death for the student it named. (READ: #AnimatED: Online mob creates social media wasteland) Within 48 hours, the Duterte camp asked his supporters to “take the moral high ground” online. (READ: Duterte to supporters: Be civil, intelligent, decent, compassionate) In April, a young woman who posted she was campaigning against Duterte was deluged with threats and harassment. (READ: 'Sana ma-rape ka’: Netizens bully anti-Duterte voter) Shortly before election day, she tested laws governing cyberbullying by filing 34 complaints in court. Boycott & attack media The day after he won, Duterte called for healing and his campaign team supported and trended his message using the hashtag #HealingStartsNow. It didn’t last long. The soon-to-be president made numerous controversial statements in late night press conferences, including what could be seen as a justification for journalist killings and his wolf-whistle of a GMA7 reporter. By the beginning of June, Duterte announced he would boycott media and channeled all statements and press conferences through state television network, PTV, and RTVM. He didn’t break that boycott of private media until August 1. In those two months, the campaign machinery pivoted to propaganda and threats, first attacking ABS-CBN, then Inquirer (largely because of its Kill List keeping track of extrajudicial killings). GMA7 and Rappler took the hot seat after Duterte wolf-whistled at a GMA7 reporter, Mariz Umali, at a press conference, and Rappler reporter Pia Ranada-Robles questioned him on it. The social media attacks were vicious and personal. They built on their campaign messages, continuing to rail against the Liberal Party and building fear for a “yellow army.” Anonymous and fake accounts rallied real people to create and spread memes with simple messages that contain a grain of truth, the most efficient for FUD: “Bias” – that these media groups are biased against Duterte. “Bayaran” – that journalists are paid and corrupt. “Oligarchs” – that journalists work for vested interests. “Clickbait” – that media groups are commercial interests so they use clickbait headlines for cash. When the leader of a nation refuses direct access to journalists, controls the narrative top down through established state groups, and is echoed bottom up by social media initiatives, it creates a chilling effect on 2 fronts: Access becomes a personal favor for reporters, removing a professional environment and creating a more feudal landscape. Reporters, if they want access, think twice about questioning power. Critical posts on social media are immediately attacked, forcing “normal” people to leave the conversation. Many close their Facebook accounts, leaving the field open for more sophisticated manipulation in an increasingly growing echo chamber. On September 19, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines called on the government to investigate social media attacks against journalists Gretchen Malalad and Jamela Alindogan-Caudron. On September 22, President Duterte asked his supporters to stop threatening journalists. But his statement has done little to stem the propaganda attacks. Over the weekend, Reuters reporters Manny Mogato and Karen Lema were targeted after reporting President Duterte's remarks about Hitler. Shape perception, rewrite history These all impact public perception. Fallacious reasoning, leaps in logic, poisoning the well – these are only some of the propaganda techniques that have helped shift public opinion on key issues. Take for example what was once a prevailing acceptance of human rights and the idea of “innocent until proven guilty.” Today there seems to be a wide acceptance of murder, especially of drug pushers, and any attempt to question that is portrayed as part of a conspiracy theory. It’s part of the reason many silently accept that in just 11 weeks, 3,546 people have died in the government’s “war on drugs.” (These figures from the PNP were later revised to 3,145 on September 14, 2016). After all, when someone criticizes the police or government on Facebook, immediate attacks are posted, including “someone should rape your daughter,” “how many people were raped by pushers,” “why not talk about those killed by drugs,” “mayaman kasi kayo,” and many more. Could it also be used to rewrite history? That was the charge against the Official Gazette on the 99th birthday of Ferdinand Marcos, who held power for nearly 21 years. Using a quote that subtly links Marcos to Duterte’s campaign for change, the caption’s revisions sparked outrage, especially after a conflict of interest surfaced: it was posted by a former Marcos staff member. So what can be done? Understanding what’s happening is a first step. Working together to separate fact from fiction is another step. Regardless of your political leaning, social media is a powerful tool, and if abused, the first casualty is the truth – which will have a direct impact on the quality of Philippine democracy. – Rappler.com Part 2: How Facebook algorithms impact democracy Part 3: Fake accounts, manufactured reality on social mediaDr. Saturday will unveil its preseason Top 25 team-by-team during the next 25 days. This list is based on returning starters, schedule and prospects. However, we all know that once the games begin, things can change very quickly. Still, we thought we’d give our best guess heading into the 2015 season. No. 24 Boise State 2014 record: 12-2, 7-1 Mountain West Scroll to continue with content Ad Returning starters: 9 Offense; 8 Defense 2015 Outlook: Coach Bryan Harsin’s first season could not have gone any better. The Broncos blazed through most of their schedule (sans a surprising loss to Air Force), won the Mountain West Mountain Division, won the conference title game, became the highest-ranked Group of Five team in the country and went on to defeat Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl. But this year, there will be a few challenges. [Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!] Quarterback Grant Hedrick and running back Jay Ajayi, who accounted for 89.1 percent of Boise State’s yards and 92.4 percent of the offensive touchdowns, are gone, leaving the Broncos to plug those holes. However, there are nine starters returning to an offense that ranked 14th in the country in total offense (494.3 yards per game) and ninth nationally in scoring offense (39.7 points per game). Defensively, Boise State should be stout even if the numbers might not reflect that. The Broncos got into some track meets last year while allowing 26.8 points per game. Even though this defense should be better, the Mountain West is a high-scoring conference and the inflated numbers shouldn’t change much. Still, the Broncos best and most experienced playmakers are probably on the defensive side of the ball. Story continues As shocking as it sounds, Boise State can be better than a year ago and an undefeated season is a strong possibility. It opens the year against Washington and former coach Chris Petersen, which is a winnable statement game at home. Outside of BYU the following weekend, there are few challenges on what appears to be a pretty favorable schedule. Look for the Broncos to once against represent the Group of Five in a New Year’s Eve bowl. Player to watch: Tanner Vallejo, LB Vallejo had a historic season last year. He had 100 tackles and 16.5 tackles for loss, which was a Boise State FBS record. He was named the MVP of the Mountain West Championship game and the Fiesta Bowl. And he did all of this while playing outside his natural position. Vallejo spent the bulk of last season at nickel (strongside linebacker) because iof injuries to other players, but this year he moves back to middle linebacker, his favored spot. That puts him closer to the football and poised for an even bigger season. Vallejo is one of 10 returning starters on a defense that is loaded with talent. If there was one problem with Vallejo playing out of position, it was the propensity to give up the big play. But he should have more help on the outside this season with players returning from injury. Breakout player: Ryan Finley, QB Finley, a redshirt sophomore, is the only quarterback on the Boise State roster with experience and while he hasn’t officially been named the starter, he’s the favorite to win the job. He had limited experience in five games last year, mostly in a loss against Air Force after Hedrick was pulled following four picks in the first half. For the season, Finley completed 12 of 27 passes for 161 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Don’t expect the Boise State offense to change too much with Finely under center. It was pretty balanced a year ago and, with Jeremy McNichols likely filling the running back role, should be again. Eliah Drinkwitz is the program's fifth offensive coordinator in six years, but he did lead Harsin's Arkansas State offense in 2013. The biggest obstacle for Finley this fall camp is gaining the trust of his teammates and staying on the good side of his coaches. Finley was arrested in April on misdemeanor charges of a minor consumption or in possession of an alcoholic beverage and resisting or obstructing police officers. He’s due in court in late September, but Harsin said during Mountain West media days that Finley has done everything he needed to get back into the good graces of the coaching staff and won’t face a suspension. Miss one of our Top 25? No. 25 Wisconsin. For more Boise State news, visit Blue-Turf.com. ----- Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip?
, you can, as we've added an option to be notified when members of your friends list sign on the network. Appear Offline - Sometimes you want to play a game or watch a movie without being bothered by friends. Now it's easier to go incognito as we've added the option to appear offline. You can designate if you would like to appear offline when you log-in or at any time from your Profile or the Quick Menu. - Sometimes you want to play a game or watch a movie without being bothered by friends. Now it's easier to go incognito as we've added the option to appear offline. You can designate if you would like to appear offline when you log-in or at any time from your Profile or the Quick Menu. User Scheduled Event - Time for a play date! We've added the ability to schedule a future gameplay session with your friends on the system. When your event starts, users who registered for the event will automatically be added to a party so you can start playing right away. - Time for a play date! We've added the ability to schedule a future gameplay session with your friends on the system. When your event starts, users who registered for the event will automatically be added to a party so you can start playing right away. Play Together - This features allows all members of a Party to see what each person is playing so that you can easily join a friend's game, or start a new game together. - This features allows all members of a Party to see what each person is playing so that you can easily join a friend's game, or start a new game together. Dailymotion - With this update, you'll be able to live stream directly to Dailymotion on PS4. We'll also support archiving live broadcasts, like we do for other streaming services. Sony says it will be releasing more details on the update, including other "key features" and its release date, down the line.July 12, 2016 South Carolina Clear Bag Policy COLUMBIA, S.C. — In a move designed to provide a safer environment and more expedited entry for fans, South Carolina Athletics is implementing a clear bag policy for all ticketed athletic events, beginning in 2016-17. Similar to those implemented by the NFL and many other college and professional stadiums, the new policy will limit the size and type of bags that may be brought into the venues for baseball, men's and women's basketball, football, men's and women's soccer, softball and volleyball, much of which has become the norm for large gatherings around the nation. "In meetings with security personnel around the Midlands and with schools around the SEC, it has become evident that there is a new level of security measures that need to be implemented in our athletic venues," South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner said. "We feel that this new clear bag policy will assist our security personnel in making entrance into our venues a more efficient process while making game day safer for everyone." The Athletics Department encourages fans to not bring any type of bag to games, but understands that there are some who prefer to do so. Beginning with the men's soccer game against Winthrop on Thu., Aug. 18, at Stone Stadium, fans will only be able to carry the following style and size bag, package or container at any stadium plaza areas, stadium gates or when approaching queue lines of fans awaiting entry into the stadium for all athletics events: Approved Bags Clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bags that do not exceed 12" x 6" x 12" -- A logo no larger than 4.5" x 3.4" can be displayed on one side of a permissible clear bag. One-gallon clear plastic freezer bag (Ziploc bag or similar) Small clutch bags no larger than 4.5" x 6.5" -- approximately the size of a hand, with or without a handle or strap Medically necessary items (after proper inspection at specified gates) Prohibited bags include, but are not limited to: Purses larger than a clutch bag Briefcases Backpacks Fanny packs Cinch/Drawstring bags Luggage of any kind Computer bags Diaper bags Binocular cases Camera bags Non-approved seat cushions, which include large traditional seat cushions that have pockets, zippers, compartments or covers Guests will continue to be able to enjoy their tailgate activities in the parking lots and to do so with greater safety and the knowledge that their entry into the stadium will be smoother and faster. They also will continue to be able to carry items allowed into the venue, such as binoculars, cameras and smart phones. A complete list of prohibited items is available at www.GamecocksOnline.com/ot/game-day-information.html. QUOTE SHEET South Carolina Athletics has partnered with all of the public safety groups involved in security at our venues, all of which have been extremely supportive of this policy change. Here is what their leadership had to say about the move: Chris Wuchenich, USC Assoc. Vice President of the Division of Law Enforcement and Safety "We are grateful to our Athletics Department for their continued support of a safe and secure venue. Our implementation of a clear bag policy makes USC the fourth school in the SEC to implement this national `best practice.' We expect this to help with the security screening while improving the fan experience." Chief W.H. "Skip" Holbrook, Columbia Police Department "I applaud the University of South Carolina's efforts to promote public safety with the implementation of the clear bag policy. The new initiative helps fans, event security staff and law enforcement as a whole. We encourage spectators to have fun at athletic events while knowing that their safety is a top priority." Sheriff Leon Lott, Richland County Sheriff's Department "Having a clear bag policy is the world that we live in right now. Any time you encourage large groups of people to come together, safety has to be in the forefront of your mind. As a University of South Carolina graduate, I have a special investment in ensuring the safety of everyone who comes to support the Gamecocks, and this policy is a significant step toward that." Mark Keel, Chief of South Carolina Law Enforcement Division "SLED supports the University of South Carolina's clear bag policy at its sports facilities. This is a proactive step to enhance public safety during these events and to make access to them more efficient. This is not a new concept; many professional sports venues have similar policies. While we have no specific threats, a clear bag policy is another safeguard to allow USC fans to get the most out of going to see the Gamecocks play." Statement from local FBI officials The FBI asks members of the public to maintain awareness of their surroundings and to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement. USC's new policy will aid law enforcement and enhance the safety of patrons. CLEAR BAG POLICY FAQ Our guests are our most prized partners, and ensuring their safety is a top priority. World events continue to impact our security, and we can not ignore them in the annual analysis of our public safety and stadium security policies at all of our venues. How does this policy improve public safety? Clear bags provide layers of security with less inconvenience to our guests. As guests walk toward our events, law enforcement can easily spot prohibited items and have the ability to resolve issues before they even get into line. The clear bags are easier and faster to search, greatly reducing faulty bag searches. It also supports the Department of Homeland Security's "See Something, Say Something" campaign. Additionally, inside the venue, staff members know that a clear bag has already been searched and that any non-clear bag without a security tag requires their attention. How does this expedite my entry into the venue? This policy enables us to move guests through our security checkpoints faster, allowing staff to be more efficient and effective in checking bags that are brought into the venue. A standard size bag eliminates the need for bag templates to check sizes. In short, shorter lines mean fewer hassles, all while guests enjoy an improved sense of safety. How many bags can each person bring into the venue? Each ticketed guest can carry one large clear bag -- either a one-gallon Ziploc-style bag or the 12" x 6" x 12" clear bag -- plus a small clutch purse (4.5" x 6.5"). The small clutch must be carried into the venue outside the clear bag and is subject to search. What happens if I show up at the gate with a bag that is not permitted? Guests carrying bags that do not meet the criteria will not be admitted to the venue. They may return their bag to their car or will be provided a one-gallon Ziploc-style bag into which to transfer their belonging before entering the stadium. Transferring items to a venue-provided bag requires disposal of the non-approved bag, unless it fits into the clear bag. Are team-branded bags available? Guests who desire to carry South Carolina branded bags may purchase them at local retailers. However, any clear 12" x 6" x 12" clear bag with no commercial identification or an inexpensive one-gallon Ziploc-style bag may be used. Clear bags may have a logo no larger than 4.5" x 3.4" displayed on one side. Can I bring my purse? Yes, as long as it meets the size requirements. A small clutch purse, with or without a handle or strap, is permitted along with either the 12" x 6" x 12" clear tote bag or one-gallon freezer bag. What about diaper bags? Diapers and other baby supplies can be carried in a clear bag. Each member of a family, including children, is allowed to carry an approved clear bag and a clutch purse into the stadium. Can I carry cameras, binoculars, smart phones or tablets separately from the clear bag? Binoculars or a phone or camera can be carried into the venue so long as it is not in its own bag. Are seat cushions allowed to be carried into the venue? Approved seat cushions may be carried into the stadium. Non-approved seat cushions and chairbacks include any that have arm rests and any large traditional seat cushions that have pockets, zippers, compartments or covers. If I have certain items that I need to bring into the venue for medical reasons and they won't fit in the clear bag, what do I do? Guests carrying medically necessary bags or equipment into the venue will be required to have their bag/equipment inspected and tagged by security at specified locations within each venue. Those locations will be announced soon. Do I have to put everything I'm carrying into a permissible clear bag? No. This policy is designed to limit only the type of bags carried into the venue, not the permissible items that are brought to a game. In their pockets or jacket, guests can carry keys, makeup, feminine products, comb, phone, wallet, credit cards, etc., if they choose not to put them in a clear bag or clutch purse (4.5" x 6.5"). And, they can carry a blanket over their shoulders, binoculars and/or camera without the case around their necks or in their hands, and a sealed bottle of water in their hands. A complete list of prohibited items is available at www.GamecocksOnline.com/ot/game-day-information.html. Does this policy apply to me if I'm working at the game, not attending as a fan? Support staff and personnel such as equipment technicians, media, caterers, etc., will continue to enter the stadium through designated gates. These individuals and any items that they bring into the stadium will continue to be screened based on procedures that are already in place. Once screened, the bags will be temporarily tagged, showing that the bag has been screened and approved.Do you ever feel isolated or misunderstood in your fears and worries? Have you ever wondered if anyone out there could possibly share your same concerns and terrors? I’ve wondered this myself for a long time, and I also wondered if personality type had anything to do with what we fear. I was determined to find out. For the last few months I’ve been talking to as many people as I can find about their fears to determine if there is any correlation between personality type and fear. Not sure what your personality type is? Personality Hacker has the most accurate free online personality indicator I’ve been able to find. Click here to take it. What I Found Out: There were definitely variations in the major fears of each personality type. I made it my goal to get responses from at least 300 people of each personality type before writing a blog post about their fears. What I discovered is that there were some universal irrational fears (spiders, heights, snakes) but that aside from those, the fears varied drastically according to type. NT types, for example, greatly feared mediocrity. SJ types mentioned insecurity and financial ruin. NF types tended to have more existential worries about meaninglessness and the afterlife. There Are Always Variations I definitely saw differences in the majority of fears that each personality type chose, yet there are exceptions to each of these fears. For example, a huge number of INTPs mentioned commitment as a major fear, but there were several who said this fear didn’t really bother them at all. There are always going to be variations within type, so all this post is going to show us is what the majority mentioned. The top 10 fears in this post are based on the number of votes that I got from INTPs I spoke with in forums, Facebook groups, and one-on-one in real life. MY LATEST VIDEOS Not sure what your personality type is? Personality Hacker has the most accurate free online personality indicator I’ve been able to find. Click here to take it. MY LATEST VIDEOS MY LATEST VIDEOS The Top 10 Things That Terrify INTPs Rejection Rejection had by far the highest number of votes over any other fear. I tried to research this fear and find out if it was specific to INTPs, as it was mentioned by them far more than by other types. The only conclusion I could come up with I found in Naomi Quenk’s book “Was That Really Me? How Everyday Stress Brings Out Our Hidden Personality”. She explained how personalities with inferior Extraverted Feeling, such as INTPs and ISTPs, may sometimes experience a profound feeling of “separateness from the whole of humanity. The ISTP or INTP is convinced that he or she is unloved and ultimately unlovable. Some relive childhood feelings of being extremely different from other children, marching to a different and unacceptable drummer, often with no clue about how others see things. The memory of childhood misery and helplessness may intensify the adult’s inferior function experience.” It’s important to note that Quenk is referring to INTPs in an extremely stressed state, or in the grip of their inferior function. However, in type theory it is commonly taught that those with inferior Extraverted Feeling care deeply about being accepted and appreciated for who they are, although they will rarely voice these concerns and may even try to ignore this desire. Commitment I noticed that perceiving personality types mentioned fear of commitment far more than judging personality types, and this may have to do with the nature of perceiving. Perceivers prefer to keep things flexible and have their plans open for change. Rigid structures and commitments can make them feel uneasy and trapped. Some INTPs said that their fear of rejection is what caused their fear of commitment. “Deep down I know that what I fear isn’t so much the boundaries of commitment, but the feeling that I could get so close to someone and then they could reject or leave me or expose me as being worthless in some way.” – An anonymous INTP Being Physically Helpless or Out of Control INTPs are extremely independent individuals who pride themselves on their autonomy. Being physically helpless, suffering from paralysis, or feeling a loss of physical control all came up repeatedly as major fears. Dying Without Achieving Goals The INTPs I spoke with often mentioned that they wanted to leave a legacy or make a positive impact in some way on the world. Not meeting their potential, procrastinating through life, and/or never finding their true purpose were all mentioned frequently. Because INTPs think ahead to the future, many of them mentioned that they hated the vision of being on their death bed and realizing that they hadn’t achieved their goals or lived to their greatest purpose. Insanity INTPs live in a world of mental richness; they love to logically understand complex theories and concepts, and they are inspired by looking at numerous possibilities and meanings. Not being able to have mental control or losing their mental acuity was a very intense fear for many of them. “Losing my mental powers or functions is my greatest fear. I not only fear going completely crazy, but I fear finding out I’m really not that smart and that I have deceived myself into believing things that were simply false.” – Tim, an INTP Death Most of the INTPs I spoke with didn’t really fear the pain or process of death itself so much as the unknown after death. While some feared the nothingness that they believed exists after death, others feared the afterlife and the potential of heaven or hell. Deep Water This fear was mentioned quite a bit more by INTPs than by any other personality type. Dark water was mentioned a lot as well. I noticed that intuitives mentioned dark water more than sensing types, and I think it may have to do with the intuitive way of ‘filling in’ the unknown with what could potentially be there. I could be wrong though, so if you have a theory about this, let me know in the comments! Loss of A Loved One This fear has been universal among all personality types so far, with some types mentioning children or spouses more. What I noticed with INTPs is that they often specifically mentioned the fear of losing a singular person; for example, losing their best friend, losing a mother, a father. They didn’t tend to use the plural form of “loved ones” when they spoke about loss, they usually focused on one particularly meaningful person in their life. Wasting Life This point goes hand-in-hand with the fear mentioned in #4. INTPs want to make a difference in the world. They want their lives to mean something, and most want to leave a legacy of some kind. For many INTPs, the fear of getting to the end and realizing they didn’t do something important is terrifying. “I fear having a normal 9-5 job and a normal life and never doing anything important and wasting my potential. I procrastinate and I don’t want to wind up using up my life on meaningless projects that never amount to anything.” – Sai, an INTP Mediocrity INTPs are a rare breed, making up approximately 3% of the population. They can often feel separate from others, and this can be both a blessing and a curse. While at times they struggle with being misunderstood, they also enjoy their unique ability to probe complex thoughts, explore limitless ideas, and reach new levels of understanding that many other types rarely fathom. They long to use their unique abilities to stand out from the crowd and make a meaningful contribution to the world in some way. As you can see from this post, their fears often revolve around not making the most of their talents, and looking back on life and not feeling like they did enough that had real purpose and meaning. What Do You Think? Are you an INTP with an opinion on this post? Do you relate to these fears or feel like sharing your experience? Let me know in the comments! This post contains affiliate links. I only recommend products I truly believe in. More Posts You May Enjoy! Understanding INTP Thinking Myers-Briggs® and Relationships – Why INFJs and INTPs Fall For Each Other How INTPs Handle ConflictCLOSE "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is destroying box-office records all over the place. Video provided by Newsy Newslook 'Star War; The Force Awakens' has slain 'Titanic's 1997 all-time box office record with an estimated $686.4 million. (Photo11: LucasFilm/Disney) New year, new record broken by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. According to Walt Disney Studios, The Force Awakens pulled in $686.4 million as of Friday, surpassing Titanic ($658.7 million) as the second highest-grossing film of all time domestically. (Avatar's record of $760.5 million is safe for the time being.) It also will pass Jurassic World ($652.3 million) to become the No. 1 film in 2015 domestically. Disney says that as of Jan. 1, The Force Awakens' domestic box office total is an estimated $686.4 million and the international box office total is an estimated $679.2 million. Final numbers are out Monday Internationally, the movie is the No. 5 movie of 2015. Globally the film is the No. 4 movie of 2015 and the No. 8 movie of all time. The J.J. Abrams-directed movie is a big reason why the North American box office moved past a record $11 billion in 2015, which was announced Tuesday. Also announced this week: Star Wars: The Force Awakens crossed the $600 million mark faster than any other movie in history. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1R38liTMadagascar is home to a mind-boggling array of frogs, 99 percent of which are found nowhere else in the world. But a study released Thursday finds the island nation now also hosts the greatest threat to amphibian biodiversity in modern times—the chytrid fungus. As many as 7 percent of the world's amphibian species live only in Madagascar, says Molly Bletz, a researcher at the Braunschweig University of Technology in Germany. Chytrid is responsible for the decline or extinction of hundreds of amphibian species around the world. One forest in Panama lost 30 amphibian species to the fungus in about a year, according to a 2010 study. Why It Matters Researchers had thought Madagascar was chytrid-free. A 2014 study found chytrid on Madagascar frogs shipped to the U.S. for the pet trade, but researchers weren't sure whether the animals were contaminated en route or infected in Madagascar. (See "African Clawed Frog Spreads Deadly Amphibian Fungus.") But a new study in the journal Scientific Reports finds that chytrid is present in multiple Madagascar frog species. Bletz and colleagues examined skin swabs and tissue samples from 4,155 amphibians tested for chytrid from 2005 to 2014. They found, to their surprise, that the fungus began to appear on frogs starting in 2010. View Images Mantidactylus pauliani is another Malagasy frog found near the Ankaratra Massif, an area with evidence of the chytrid fungus. Photograph by Franco Andreone What they haven't found yet is sick frogs. "It could mean we just caught it very early," Bletz says, or it's possible the chytrid strain in Madagascar isn't very lethal. The Big Picture "It's the best worst-case scenario," says Jonathan Kolby, a researcher at Queensland's James Cook University, who was not involved in the study. "[Chytrid] is there, but the frogs aren't dying right now." Scientists need to figure out where the chytrid came from, though, he says. If it was introduced, scientists need to know how it got into the country and how they can prevent another introduction. "Because next time, it could be a strain that's supervirulent," says Kolby, a National Geographic grantee. (See "Killer Fungus Threatens Salamanders.") What's Next Meanwhile, experts are working on a multipronged response to the threat. Bletz is working on a possible preventive treatment using frog skin bacteria that may fight off the fungal invader. Other groups around the world—such as in Panama—are setting up breeding facilities for especially vulnerable amphibians just in case, while others in places including Madagascar and Panama are working on long-term amphibian monitoring efforts.Gary LaChance at Camp Dogecoin. It’s three in the afternoon on my second day of Burning Man, and I’m listening to a man in bike shorts and a sombrero explain to me that the future of government looks a whole lot like a web-based cryptocurrency named after a 4chan meme. “It’s all crowdfunded, open, decentralized,” he says. “I totally think it could work.” The man is Gary Lachance, a Canadian who is heading up one of Burning Man’s odder encampments — Camp Dogecoin. Camp Dogecoin is a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts named after a jokey Bitcoin offshoot called Dogecoin, which in turn is named after the meme of a grammatically challenged Shiba Inu puppy. The camp was originally called Camp Bitcoin, but organizers decided to change it just days before, in part because Burning Man leadership frowned on celebrating any type of legitimate currency at the money-free festival, virtual or not. Like Bitcoin, Dogecoin is a virtual currency with a decentralized “blockchain” that keeps a record of every transaction. Its members are mostly Canadian, though there is an American contingent, and at least one Bitcoin enthusiast from Indonesia showed up. Lachance, who is also wearing an open-collared white shirt and sunglasses with a rhinestone rim, says he first got involved with Bitcoin in 2011, while taking part in the Occupy Vancouver movement. Unlike Bitcoin moguls like Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who have made millions from their cryptocurrency investments, he missed out on Bitcoin during its lucrative early days and owns only a modest amount now. “I don’t even have enough to cover my credit-card debt,” he says, when I press for specifics. In Lachance’s hand is a blue folder outlining a talk he’s about to give. The subject? “Radical transparency,” his idea for transforming government by dismantling institutions like Congress and the Federal Reserve and replacing them with a system of decentralized trust similar to Bitcoin’s blockchain. “PRIVACY IS THE ENEMY” is written on the title page of his speech in large, red scrawl. Underneath: “True freedom will be attained when all information is liberated.” In Lachance’s Bitcoin world, there would be only one law — no using unprovoked force against another person or his or her property — and every citizen would wear a video camera at all times, with the recordings fed into an open database that could be used to settle disputes and ensure accountability. “America was more decentralized in the past,” says a nearby Camp Dogecoin member, who is drinking a carton of MuscleMilk out of a straw. “When you’re talking about radical decentralization, you’re taking it back to the way it was.” “It would look a lot like Burning Man, actually,” Lachance adds, standing next to a large flag with the Dogecoin logo. Nearby, a Darth Vader helmet sits on a table next to a woman eating trail mix out of a large bag. Camp Dogecoin has attracted a number of interested outsiders, including Scott Beibin, a Philadelphia-based booking agent who says he’s more a fan of Dogecoin than its better-known predecessor. “Bitcoin is the grandpa coin,” Beibin says. “It’s stodgy, and it’s been stagnant for a very long time. The people building for Bitcoin are, like, office workers. But office workers aren’t innovators. Kids in a basement are innovators!” Beibin likes Dogecoin, he says, because it’s still inexpensive enough for non-rich people to experiment with. (One Dogecoin is worth about 0.00000035 Bitcoin.) “Bitcoin is in a space where people are trying to figure out how to navigate an institution,” he says, “whereas Dogecoin is used as an actual currency. It’s a Shitcoin.” He means “Shitcoin” as a good thing.10 million more mortgages set to default, expert says « HousingWire. Roughly 10.4 million mortgages, or one in five outstanding home loans in the U.S., will likely default if Congress refuses to implement new policy changes to prevent and sell more foreclosures, according to analyst Laurie Goodman from Amherst Securities Group. At the end of the second quarter, more than 2.7 million long-delinquent loans, others in foreclosure and REO properties sat in the shadow inventory, more than double what it was in the first quarter of 2010 (Click to expand the chart below). With the market averaging roughly 90,000 loan liquidations per month, it would take 32 months, nearly three years, to move through the overhang. And that number is contingent on no other loans going into default. “Many analysts looking at the housing problem mistakenly assume it is limited to loans that are currently non-performing (or 60-plus days past due). Such borrowers have a high probability of eventually losing their homes. However, the problem also includes loans with a compromised pay history; these are re-defaulting at a rapid rate,” Goodman told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. Under a reasonable estimate, which is calculated with more conservative market conditions than what is currently being experienced, Goodman found nearly 2 million re-performing mortgages would default again and another 3.6 million already troubled loans to default as well. The rest of the 10.4 million estimate is made of always-performing loans at various stages of negative equity. Of the 2.5 million always-performing mortgages with loan-to-value ratios above 120%, nearly half will default. Even 5% of the always-performing mortgages that have some equity left will default, as well, Goodman said. In August, the Obama administration asked the housing industry for ideas on how to more efficiently sell or unload this overhang, and the Senate heard testimony from various housing players Tuesday. Each, including Goodman, said the government should target private investors. Robert Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Homebuilders, said government programs should be revamped to assist small and local businesses in rehabbing and unloading these properties. Nielsen said Fannie, Freddie and the FHA should avoid bulk sales to large investors that have no stake in the neighborhoods in which these properties are located. “Local and small businesses that have a stake in the future of the affected communities should be the driving force behind the disposition of the REO inventory. This will result in the creation of jobs and the stabilization of neighborhoods,” Nielsen said. NAHB also urged Congress to extend the current conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA, which are due to be lowered on Oct. 1. Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, said the rental market is currently booming and would be able to handle a mass conversion of foreclosures into rentals by investors, but the government, he said, would be wrong in upsetting this dynamic. “Investors smell a distinct opportunity in this situation: The chance to buy an asset cheaply and rent it out dearly. In fact, close to one-third of the purchases of existing homes this year have gone to all-cash buyers, the bulk of whom are real estate investors,” Humphries said. “Any plan that may upset this balance – such as Fannie and Freddie getting into the rental market and creating competition – will have a chilling effect on private investment in the one segment of the housing market that is performing well.” But with a Congress currently gridlocked on nearly every issue, none of the panelists so clearly described the looming housing problem and the consequences of continued inaction like Goodman. “To solve the housing crisis you must create 4.1 million to 6.2 million units of housing demand over the next six years,” she said.Obsidian is working on a new expansion for the isometric role-playing game Tyranny. Called Bastard’s Wound, it shares its name with the game’s new region. The base game receives a massive free update today, which adds changes to gameplay and combat as well as a New Game Plus mode. Released in November 2016, Tyranny takes place in a world separate from Obsidian’s successful Pillars of Eternity series. In the game’s lore, players take on the role of a Fatebinder, the agent of Kyros the Overlord, an evil leader bent on world domination. The game was marked by its embrace of evil, and often asked players to choose between multiple dark options through its many non-combat encounters. “The Bastard's Wound region is all new to Tyranny, with a host of new quests, and new people to kill, betray, or befriend,” Obsidian told Polygon. “With this new expansion, we delve deeper into the mysteries of Terratus as players bring Kyros' justice (or their own version of it) to a new corner of the Tiers. In addition to the new region, Bastard's Wound gives players a chance to learn more about their companions in a trio of quests tied to key members of their traveling group.” The DLC will include new story content, as well as new companion quests. Players will get the chance to interact more with Verse, Barik, and Lantry. The game will center around a refugee settlement, where a variety of people have fled the wrath of Kyros, and are eking out a living in secret, hidden from the world. Players will be tasked with determining their fate. The Bastard’s Wound is expected later in 2017. In advance of the expansion, Obsidian is also releasing a new “Event Pack” called Tales from the Tiers. It will include a host of new events for players to encounter in the game’s overworld, “encounters and stories that can pop up when the player is traveling from place to place. These events include meeting rebels, hostile ambushes, itinerant merchants, and the perils of travel in a land ensorcelled by Edicts.” Related Tyranny review A free update for the base game will also accompany Tales from the Tiers. It will focus on systemic improvements, “including a revised skill training system, numerous combat balance tweaks, and the ability to retrain and respec your Fatebinder and companions.” The update will also include a New Game Plus option, which Obsidian said will allow players to begin the game over with all the stats, wealth, spells and other advantages they gained the first time around. Both Tales from the Tiers and the free update are available today.Mythbusting India's Mars Mission by Morris Jones for SpaceDaily.com Sydney, Australia (SPX) Nov 06, 2013 The successful launch of India's Mars Orbiter Mission is a major step forward for an advancing Asian space power. The global space community has applauded the flight, which will help the world to better understand the red planet. It's thus surprising to see such a high tide of denouncements and misjudgements for this mission circulating in the media and online forums. Weeks ago, we saw naive criticisms of China's upcoming Moon rover by a Chinese scientist in the Hong Kong press. Now India is in the line of fire with even more dubious comments. What's going on? Some of this seems to stem from surprise. India has operated one of the world's most advanced space programs for decades, but it has largely escaped the limelight. This has partially been due to some bad communications strategies, but it's also because the program has been more focused on utilitarian goals than headline-grabbing feats in space. India operates its own space launch vehicles and builds its own satellites. It is also one of a small number of nations to have successfully recovered a satellite from space. Indian satellites are used in communications, weather observation and land management. This vast nation would be much worse off without the benefits of its space program. The high-profile Mars mission has served as a wake-up call to many people who don't pay much attention to spaceflight. They should understand that this Mars mission is simply another step in a large, long and diverse space program. India has been in space with force for decades. If this mission serves as a wake-up call for the world, so be it. There are criticisms that money spent on the mission could or should be spent elsewhere. Such dubious claims have been made for every nation that has ventured into space. Generally, these theories have been proven to be somewhat bunk. Stopping space missions does not stop poverty. They also neglect the true economics of the mission. The Mars Orbiter Mission uses a moderately priced, existing launch vehicle design. It also recycles an existing spacecraft body design, with modifications for deep space. While it is not as sophisticated as other current Mars missions, the pricetag for the Mars Orbiter mission is measured in the tens of millions of dollars. This is truly Mars exploration on a shoestring budget. India's Mars program promises to return useful engineering and scientific data for a price that puts other space agencies to shame! The science looks good, too. There have been some criticisms of the decision to include a methane detector on the mission. Recent results from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover suggest that methane gas will be hard to find in the Martian atmosphere, and the Indian detector will return a negative result. This expectation is sometimes presented as if there is no point in flying the methane experiment on the Mars Orbiter Mission. Again, this is silly. Science is not a treasure hunt. It is the quest for truth, even when the truth is not as inspiring as our expectations. The Indian mission will nicely complement the ground data from NASA's rover. Two independent results from different missions in different places will forge a stronger case. There is probably no methane on Mars, and the data from these two missions will settle the question. In addition, there are four other scientific payloads on the mission, including a colour camera. All of them are worthwhile. The heavy focus on the Martian atmosphere by this mission also offers more bang for the buck. The fate of the Martian atmosphere, which is believed to have been thicker in the past, is one of the hottest questions in planetary science today. Like NASA's upcoming MAVEN mission, itself largely focused on atmospheric questions, India's orbiter will help to resolve other mysteries besides the hunt for methane. Good science. National pride. Technical advances. Inspiration for the world. India's first step towards Mars is worth the price. Dr Morris Jones is an Australian space analyst who has written for spacedaily.com since 1999. Email morrisjonesNOSPAMhotmail.com. Replace NOSPAM with @ to send email. Dr Jones will answer media inquiries.I hadn’t expected a group of women in their 70s in a library to be so boisterous. Nora has recited a ribald verse about a well-known current politician, with bright-eyed relish, while Jill offers wry self-mockery at her continuing failure to finish War and Peace. Barbara is happy to share her passion for reading with kindred spirits. “You lose yourself in a book,” she says, explaining how literature has helped her through hard times in old age. We are sitting in a bright space at Mayflower Court residential care home in Southampton, where one long wall of the modern building is covered in bookshelves containing
ino support won’t be enough to ensure a Clinton victory. Early voting data also indicates that turnout among African Americans, another crucial Democratic voting block, may actually be lower than it was in 2012. White turnout—Trump’s base—appears to be up from 2012. The horserace is not over.article Washington is one of seven states that does not have a personal income tax, but this week one of its cities approved one on just its wealthiest residents. Continue Reading Below Late Monday the Seattle City Council voted unanimously in favor of a personal income tax on its top earning residents. Individuals with incomes in excess of $250,000 and those filing jointly with incomes in excess of $500,000 would be subject to a 2.25% tariff. People with incomes below those thresholds would not be affected. Seattle believes the tax will raise around $140 million per year and could help close the wealth gap in the city, while the mayor also cited President Donald Trump’s economic agenda as a reason to introduce the tax. “Seattle is challenging this state’s antiquated and unsustainable tax structure by passing a progressive income tax,” Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement on his website. “Our goal is to replace our regressive tax system with a new formula for fairness, while ensuring Seattle stands up to President Trump’s austere budget that cuts transportation, affordable housing, healthcare, and social services. This is a fight for economic stability, equity, and justice.” The measure was proposed earlier this year by a local activist group named Trump-Proof Seattle, according to Reuters. However, Trump-Proof Seattle’s proposal called for a more modest 1.5% tax, according to the organization’s website. Due to the explosive growth of Seattle-based Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), housing prices have skyrocketed in the area—and supporters believe the income tax could be used to expand affordable housing. Advertisement “Protecting our communities requires resources. We’re in a weak position to cope with cuts because of Washington State’s regressive tax system: lower-income households already pay high state and local taxes, and yet we can’t fund basic services like education … We can fight back by requiring the wealthiest households to pay a fairer share of taxes,” Trump-Proof Seattle’s site said. However, critics say taxing high-earning entrepreneurs that have contributed to the entire nation’s economy will be “counter-productive.” “You tax entrepreneurs more, you will get less entrepreneurs and less economic growth," said Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, in an interview with FOX Business. "They will start gravitating to more business-friendly places such as Austin, Texas... high earners are [also] the most responsive to tax changes … Both the government and economy will end up losing from tax hikes as the tax base and the economy shrink.” Despite the city’s support, the measure will likely face legal challenges. State law prohibits a city or county from taxing “net” income, though it fails to explicitly define exactly what “net” refers to. But regardless of whether the measure is blocked in court, Seattle has been a pioneer on many progressive issues, including raising the minimum wage, and it could pave the way for other cities to enact progressive tax structures. “I think this is part of a trend,” David Madland, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told FOX Business. “Cities have done less of this so, I can imagine more and more cities will start to do things like this. The public is very supportive of raising taxes on the wealthy as a way to support public services.” Supporters say the tax would impact just 20,000 out of more than 660,000 Seattle residents. In addition to Washington, Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota Texas and Wyoming do not require residents to pay an income tax.I’ve been standing on the sidelines, watching the hate-Pope-Francis movement tear into the fabric of the Church with destructive glee for a long time now. I have absorbed the meaning of the venomous comments, malicious misinterpretations of what he says and deliberate destructiveness without remarking on it. I’ve been silent, hoping it would run its course and wear itself out, that the obsessed people who are focusing their internal rage on Pope Francis would find another target. But that is not happening. In fact, the disrespect and hatred directed toward the Holy Father appear to be growing. It is even overtaking Catholics who normally are more rational. This began as the usual projections of angry people who are trying to deal with their mental health issues by turning a hapless public figure into the object of what they hate about themselves. It has morphed into a growing push to convince people to ignore and vilify the pope in favor of whatever bishop, priest or lay blogger lights the internal fires of self-deification that burn inside them. Given that, I’ve decided that I need to take a public position of my own. I want, as I usually do, to make it clear where I stand. I don’t want anyone to be confused about me and my loyalties. I am standing with the pope. Schismatic individualism has overtaken and is destroying simple faithfulness in many quarters of our Church. Catholics of every sort are taking it on themselves to proclaim that they will not accept the authority of the pope to govern this Church. They are justifying this outrageous behavior by vilifying Pope Francis, using what appear to be deliberate misquotes of what he has said. They juxtapose this with other misquoted teachings from earlier popes to “prove” their point. They weave tangled skeins of canon law, misquoted papal statements, footnotes and endnotes, like a spider, spinning a web to catch its prey. The leaders of the rageful faithful movement range from cardinals who should know better, to priests who also should know better, to bloggers looking for something inflammatory to say that will spin their view meters. The wayward cardinals and priests enjoy a kind of tribal adoration from the pope-haters. In this upside down world, criticizing one of them results in a wave of insults and claims that the person who did the criticizing is a every kind of lowlife imaginable. This is usually followed with attempts to silence the person by attempting to get their publisher to fire them or stop publishing their work. All this is done in the name of “protecting” the Church. The core problem here, is, as the core problem with human failings always is, a matter of sin. In our society today, slander, lying and amorality are as acceptable to most professional Christians as they are to nihilists, atheists and satanists. It just depends on who is doing it. Atheists, nihilists, satanists and professional Christians alike loudly proclaim that what they are doing is righteousness. They are equally committed to the idea that anyone who disagrees with them is subhuman trash that they can treat any way they want. The sole difference seems to be that when professional Christians paste a bandaid of pious self-righteousness over the oozing slime of sin and proclaim that it is, in fact righteousness, they choose a bandaid that quotes canon law or Scripture. That way, they “prove” that what they are doing is of Christ. I have been convinced for a very long time that satan is active in our society in a way that he never dared to be in years past. Time was, satan triumphed by convincing people that he didn’t exist. Now, he’s taking off his mask and coming right out front in satanic masses and satan worshipping. At the same time, he has, it seems to me, taken over our public discourse. There is no sin which is unacceptable to professional Christians if it is committed by someone they want to support. The election just past proved that rather decisively. We kicked God to the curb in the name of God. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that the newest object of hatred and vilification is Pope Francis. After all, who else has the authority, the moral and prophetic voice, to speak against an utterly amoral, the-biggest-and-the-meanest-make-all-the-rules zeitgeist? Who else besides the pope can correct this plunge into the pit by a whole society? There is no one except the pope who can do this. The pope is, as he has always been, satan’s great nemesis. He is the Vicar of Christ. He is Peter. A good deal of the anger I’ve seen directed at Pope Francis is the anger of people who have been called on their sins which they have no intention of giving up. When Pope Francis speaks of the poor, the disenfranchised the littlest of these, he gets hit and hit hard by those whose real god is their politics. These people have conflated Jesus Christ with their politics for so long, they have fallen so deeply into the sin of this idolatry, that when they hear the Gospels spoken by the Pope, they don’t change. They condemn the pope. The latest hook to hang pope hatred on appears to be Amoris Laetitia. I was too sick to read when this was published, and, to be honest, I haven’t bothered to read it since. I think the reason I haven’t read it is because of all the crazy carrying on about it. I opposed the notion of opening the Eucharist to people who had not been allowed to take it up until now. I wrote about it quite a bit during the synods on the family. But I was wrong. Here’s how I know I was wrong. The Holy Spirit told the first Peter in a dream that the free gift of eternal life was open to all of humanity and not just the Jews. This was a revolutionary thought at the time. A lot of people, including Peter himself, had, based on their own reasoning, held the opposite opinion. But the Holy Spirit instructed Peter, and Peter instructed the faithful and that was that. Pope Francis is Peter. He is not saying that Christ should be shut away and shared only with a special few who come to him trailing incense and wearing lace. Pope Francis is saying, like the first Peter, that Jesus in the Eucharist will be available to more of the people that He made, the people that He came to save. That, my friends, is just as consistent with the Gospels as the prior way of doing things was. I believe that it is a new revelation for our times, an extension of the Covenant of grace. I don’t believe this because I have had a vision or dream like Peter did. I believe it because Peter has said it. Pope Francis is Peter. He is the fisherman. I am a pew-sitting sinner who does not decide who may or may not partake of the Eucharist. I am simply blessed and grateful that I can go forward and encounter the Risen Lord in the Eucharist myself. I do not have to make these decisions. I don’t even have to worry about them. All I have to do is follow Christ and Him crucified. It is not my job to determine who gets to take the Eucharist. It is my job to make sure that I don’t walk past Lazarus. The pope has spoken, and I accept it. If you want to find me, it will be easy. I’ll be standing with the pope. Above Photo, courtesy of AleteiaOTTAWA — Granting a Conservative motion to shut down the robocalls challenge based on an ancient legal doctrine would have a chilling effect on public-interest litigation, a lawyer for voters seeking to overturn election results argued on Tuesday morning. “The tort has no place in public-interest litigation,” lawyer Peter Engelmann said during Federal Court hearings on Tuesday. Conservative lawyer Arthur Hamilton spent much of Monday, the first day of the week-long hearings, arguing that the judge should toss out the challenge based on the ancient and obscure legal principle of champerty and maintenance. The Conservatives had submitted a 750-page affidavit laying out their case. In it, they argued that the Council of Canadians, which is funding the challenge, is the real applicant and that violates the common-law principle of champerty and maintenance. Engelmann argued that the Conservative motion should be dismissed, since to prove champerty and maintenance lawyers must prove that the council is acting from improper motive and that it stands to gain from the outcome of the suit. He pointed to a long tradition of activist groups funding public-interest legislation, including Harper vs. Canada, a 2004 legal challenge funded by the National Citizens Coalition, led then by Stephen Harper. Engelmann said there are several conditions that must be met to support a claim of maintenance, including that it amounts to “officious intermeddling” and is without justification. Champerty would require a further finding that the maintainer stands to benefit from the maintenance, he said. The tort has no place in public-interest litigation Engelmann cited a 1963 U.S. precedent involving the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, saying he could find no Canadian precedent involving champerty and maintenance claims involving public-interest litigation. Engelmann said the latitude given outside organizations in the NAACP case was broad enough that even the Ku Klux Klan could have been involved without risking champerty. Judge Richard Mosely said he would reserve his decision on the champerty and maintenance motion until he releases his decision on the election challenge. Outside of court, the Council of Canadians issued a press release that seemed intended to rebut claims that it stood to profit financially from the legal challenge. The group said it will have spent $560,000 on legal fees by the end of this week’s proceedings but has raised only $303,000 in donations to defray the costs. A challenge in the Supreme Court of Canada — an almost certain conclusion depending on the decision — will cost untold thousands more. Conservative party lawyer Arthur Hamilton has argued the robocalls case is frivolous, saying the eight applicants — whose legal bills are being covered by the council — are really just stand-ins for the council. “There is a financial windfall to the Council of Canadians,” Hamilton said Monday. “They are raising money with respect to this application.” The group also made a fresh appeal for donations Tuesday, saying it is trying to raise another $300,000. On Monday, Hamilton grilled Graves, president of Ekos Research, over donations to the federal Liberals dating back to 2006, as well as inconsistencies in prior court affidavits submitted as part of the case. Graves is unfit to be an expert witness in the case, Hamilton argued. The Conservative party lawyer produced screen shots from the Elections Canada website showing three donations by Graves to former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and current party chief Bob Rae between 2006 and 2008. With files from The Canadian PressHeather Callaghan Activist Post The Helvenstons have not backed down from their front-yard garden battle initiated by Orlando, Florida. It started when the city demanded they uproot their edible 25 x 25 micro-garden neatly located in front of their home on a dead-end neighborhood road away from city view. But deadlines passed and they kept right on growing. Click HERE to see video report The city took note of the protest at City Hall with supporters of Jason and Jennifer. However, they want a compromise – and that’s where we really need to pay attention. Of course, in true bureaucratic fashion, they came up with a complicated list that actually contains many more restrictions, including heights, lengths, reduced portions of front-yard gardens, and, additionally – new restrictions on side and backyard growth. “Our goal is to help them create a sustainable city, the greenest city in America,” said Jason Helvenston. “We’re here to support that. We don’t want to go to court over it.” Remember I said to watch out for the words (Green Works) Task Force? They wanted to create a task force to “work with them.” In the same vein, watch out for when they finally decide to draft a new ordinance. They won’t stop. When they won’t even back down from worldwide backlash, think Agenda 21! What say you? And what of bureaucrats’ reasons for going after gardens in the first place? Nameless complaints from neighbors supposedly for their garden being an “eye sore.” How many unprofessional things could we say in response to that? An eye sore complaint – that warrants total uprooting of a garden on privately owned property? What about all the other problems the city ignores – like, I don’t know, hundreds of front-yard-garden protesters? There is a nearby neighbor who has a shrill, yipping dog that I’d love to muzzle. But many of us would not resort to complaining to officials about it, and that’s more of an annoyance than a neighbor who invites everyone (city officials included) to eat free veggies from their immaculate garden. Inedible gardens, vines, pink flamingos, and garden gnomes are more obnoxious than that. The neighbor takes care of the dog for two reasons: love of family pet, and home protection. Download Your First Issue Free! Do You Want to Learn How to Become Financially Independent, Make a Living Without a Traditional Job & Finally Live Free? Download Your Free Copy of Counter Markets The Helvenstons are working hard to insulate themselves from a broken economy and do what they love with no impositions. They invite everyone to join them – who would want to muzzle that? You can also voice your opinion to the city with the following contacts: City Planning Division City Hall, 6th Floor \| 400 S. Orange Ave. P.O. Box 4990 \| Orlando, FL 32802-4990 (407) 246-2269 Main \| (407) 246-2895 Fax [email protected] City Planning Division Manager Dean J. Grandin, Jr., AICP Mayor Buddy Dyer Phone: 407.246.2221 Fax: 407.246.2842 E-mail: [email protected] Join the Helvenstons on FacebookA Swedish court ruled this week that masturbating in public is OK if it’s not directed at anyone, local media report. The ruling came after a man was charged with sexual assault for masturbating on a beach June 6 at Drevviken beach, The Local reported. The 65-year-old man removed his shorts and started masturbating close to the water. The man was acquitted, and the ruling stated that it “may be proven that the man exposed himself and masturbated on this occasion,” but it wasn’t a crime because he wasn’t pleasuring himself towards a specific person. “For this to be a criminal offence it’s required that the sexual molestation was directed towards one or more people. I think the court’s judgement is reasonable,” prosecutor Olof Vrethammar told a Swedish paper. “With that we can conclude that it is OK to masturbate on the beach. The act may be considered to be disorderly conduct.” Vrethammar doesn’t plan to appeal the decision.The San Francisco 49ers open their 2014 season on August 17 with a preseason game against the Denver Broncos at the brand new Levi's Stadium. They will then host the San Diego Chargers on August 24, before returning for their home opener against the Chicago Bears on September 14. The new stadium means new parking lots, and new traffic issues. Game days will feature a huge mix of parking between the stadium lots, and various auxiliary lots in the neighborhood. Some will require some walking, and of course there will be traffic to deal with, but the 49ers are developing plans to help ease some of the congestion in and around the stadium. The team has set up an interactive parking page, along with some videos I have embedded below. On the interactive parking page, you can click on your specific lot number, and it will provide detailed directions. It is important to note you can only access certain lots from certain freeways, so be aware! The first video below covers all the various parking lots. Below that are breakout videos that each focus on the red, blue, green, and yellow lots. If you are not sure about the traffic and parking situation, I continue to highly recommend public transportation to and from Levi's Stadium. I put together an extensive breakdown of the public transportation options, and I will be updating that in the coming days. Overall parking video (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple lots) Red lot video Green lot video Blue lot video Yellow lot videoSongwriter turned solo artist Phoebe Ryan's star is set to burn brighter than ever in 2015. A powerful voice in every feature, Phoebe's energy and charisma strikes frequent comparison to the likes of Tove Lo and other Scandinavian pop artists. Her cover mash of R.Kelly and Miguel quickly climbed to the #1 spot on Hype Machine and now counts almost 150k plays on Soundcloud. Now Phoebe's ready to share her personal sound and the first taste is "Mine". "Mine" is upbeat and clever, dancing on the line between electronica and pop and backed by explosive instrumentals and memorable melodies. Phoebe's knack for great hooks and boldly feminist lyrics prove she's ready to bring new life to the pop genre. Machineheart Machineheart has lit up the blogosphere with their shimmering, alternative sounds, making the five-piece band one to watch as they prepare to launch their Columbia Records debut album this year. Lead single "Circles," an artfully delivered track, was received ears-and-arms-wide-open; it broke into Spotify's Viral 50 chart and soared to the #1 spot on Hype Machine, fully embraced during its reign as the most popular song on the internet. A remix of their sweetly haunting track "Snow" quickly followed suit, garnering machineheart another #1 spot on Hype Machine. Hailed as "a girl power Foster The People turned all the way up..." by Neon Gold, the L.A.-based alternative group is cementing their place in the alt-pop world. Fronted by the charismatic female firebrand Stevie Scott (who Neon Gold praised for her "endlessly endearing vocals") the group merges their pumped up drums, haunting melodies and cinematic soundscape to create a soulfully resplendent sound. Completing the group are Trevor Kelly (acoustic guitar), Harrison Allen (drums), Carman Kubanda (electric guitar), and Jake Randle (bass).Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Black Mirror Season 4, episode 1, "U.S.S. Callister." After three seasons of exploring the perverse perils and promise of technology, we know what we're signing up for with Black Mirror. In its fourth season – second on Netflix – Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones' twisted reflection of our society works like a well-oiled machine; they're adept at quick world building, judicious with plot twists, and clearly full of endless ideas on how technology may unravel us yet. SEE ALSO: The 17 best TV episodes of 2017 The Season 4 premiere, "U.S.S. Callister," opens with a pitch-perfect Star Trek parody that gives an irresistible glimpse into the showrunners' comedy background. Jesse Plemons plays Captain Richard Daley with a sly but not campy dash of William Shatner's James Kirk. Daley is adored by his crew and feared by his enemies; he always chooses the right course of action and saves the day, winning everyone's admiration and a few kisses from the females aboard the Callister (fun space fact: one of those is actress Michaela Coel, who also plays a small part in the Resistance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi). Daley's life is like a dream. We cut from the low-res Callister to reality, where Daley works at a company specializing in VR gaming. His workplace, where he's constantly sidelined and mocked, is full of the same faces who fawned over him aboard the Callister, including Walton (Jimmi Simpson, Westworld) as the partner who shunted Daley aside as they grew successful. The only person at the office who's nice to him is the new employee, Ninette Cole (Cristin Milioti), a genuine admirer of Daley's coding skills. Image: netflix We learn after another stint aboard the Callister that it's Daley's own personalized module of his company's game, Infinity, modeled to emulate his favorite space-adventure TV show. He's populated the game with versions of his real-life detractors, and inside the Infinity module they have no choice but to obey his orders and go along for the ride. But this is Black Mirror, and the sinister twist is still around the corner: The characters in Infinity aren't just avatars; they contain the actual consciousness of their real-life counterparts, imprisoned forever in the game to play pretend at Daley's beck and call. He took their DNA to create these counterparts and has it stored securely so that he can re-upload them if he ever needs to. Any slight against him could wind someone up in the game, which is how Cole wakes up aboard the Callister after participating in a conversation where someone implied Richard might be a bit creepy. Yeah, ya think? Cole refuses to accept her fate, despite her peers repeatedly telling her that resistance aboard the Callister is futile. She refuses to report to the bridge for duty and tells Richard to go fuck himself, to which he does not take kindly. A forbidding smile creeps across Plemons' face as he stays in character as the benevolent captain while exposing who he truly is; he makes Cole's face vanish. It's truly twisted, and she sputters and gasps continuously as Richard explains that in his world, people play by his rules. Terrified, Cole plays along, but she's not giving up yet. As soon as Richard pauses the game, she's looking for a way out, and her fellow prisoners halfheartedly play along – with the exception of Walton, who reveals that Richard tortured him uniquely in the early days of the game. Daley took Walton's son's DNA and brought him into the game, only to launch him out of the airlock and into space without a suit. Simpson, who straddles a nice balance of arrogance humor in the episode up to this point, goes all in on the monologue explaining Walton's history in the game. It's haunting and it holds you as you pray the show won't give us a visual. Showing his son's frozen, cracked body would only add horror and shock value; staying on Simpson's agony gives the scene a sharp emotional edge. Cristin Milioti as Ninette Cole in 'U.S.S. Callister.' Image: netflix Cole and the others move forward with a plan to escape the game through a wormhole (a.k.a. software update), while also involving her actual self from the outside world and some light trespassing to secure their DNA. Daley chases them in a personal spacecraft as they close in on the wormhole, despite their best efforts to keep him away by abandoning him on another planet and preventing him from un-pausing the game too early. When the engines fail, Walton knows what he has to do; He has to fix them manually and then burn to a crisp in the engine room – burn without dying. He sacrifices himself to save the others, but not without a last missive for Daley: "Fuck you to death." With that, the Callister team shoots through the wormhole and into a whole new part of the final frontier: The Cloud. Daley remains trapped beyond the wormhole – out of reach of the Callister and unable to exit the game. The remaining crew have survived in full human form, with updated uniforms, a fully operational ship, and the entire universe ripe for exploration. Captain Cole takes to the bridge to command their first mission: These are the voyages of the U.S.S. Callister, a fake ship inside a video game where it gets yelled at by Aaron Paul. At over an hour, Callister is Black Mirror's longest episode and the story packs a powerful punch. It cleverly rations out the humor and parody with the pacing of a riveting space adventure – indeed, it feels more like a movie than an episode in many respects. The rest of the season follows suit, with each chapter of the anthology leaning into its respective genre and rules while never stepping out of the Black Mirror sensibility. "Metalhead" is striking in its minimalism and shot, for the first time, in black and white; "Black Museum" does some truly warped things with human consciousness, and "Hang the D.J." might be one of the show's most arresting chapters to date. Binge them all or spread them out – but the future is here, and it is streaming. Black Mirror Season 4 is now on Netflix.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The zoo's co-owner Dean Tweedy has been "broken emotionally and physically" over the lynx killing A Welsh zoo is "truly devastated and outraged" that an escaped wild cat has been killed. Lilleth, the Eurasian lynx, had escaped from Borth Wild Animal Kingdom but Ceredigion council said on Friday that she had been "humanely destroyed". The council said despite "exhaustive efforts" to recapture her, it received advice that the risk to public safety had "increased to severe". But the zoo owners have condemned the "hunting and killing" of Lilleth. Ceredigion councillor Ceredig Davies has called for "a full investigation" and for a report to be presented to councillors "on how this unfortunate animal met its end in this way". A statement on Borth Wild Animal Kingdom's Facebook page said: "The decision to kill her was not ours and we in no way agreed to or participated in the shooting of our baby lynx. "We are truly devastated and outraged that this happened." Borth zoo added that "for the past three weeks we have been tracking and attempting to catch her in a safe way" and employed 24-hour on-site help from "expert trackers and animal recovery specialists". They said they "spared no expense or effort" in the search and sighted the lynx underneath a caravan at a nearby caravan park, which is closed for the winter, on Thursday. "All we had to do was sling a net across the back and we would have had her trapped," the statement said. "Unfortunately, one of the officials insisted that he needed to photograph her and make a positive ID before we were allowed close. "He slipped and fell going up the bank which startled her causing her to run past him and off across the fields. "After a fruitless search we were informed that due to her being in a heavily populated area they would be issuing a shoot to kill order and we had run out of time." They said a marksmen with "state-of-the-art night scopes and thermal imaging cameras" was called in "to hunt her down and shoot her dead". Image copyright Borth Wild Animal Kingdom Image caption Lilleth went missing some time in the last three weeks Dean Tweedy, co-owner of the zoo, told BBC Wales he wanted to see Lilleth darted but was told there were "issues" with the terrain and licensing of the guns. He said he was "absolutely responsible" for the escape and that they had been building new enclosures over the summer having taken over the zoo six months ago, as it was in "a real state of disrepair". "Ironically the next project on the list was building a new lynx enclosure," he added. The Farmer's Union of Wales (FUW) said it had raised concerns the escaped lynx was not being taken seriously enough. Glyn Roberts, FUW president, wrote to Dyfed-Powys Police's crime commissioner on 9 November, urging officers to make a statement about the potential danger to livestock, after the "suspected killing" of seven sheep by the lynx. "It is a great concern that proactive action has not been taken by the police and other authorities to warn people or capture the escaped animal," he wrote. "Many of our members feel that the issue is being treated by the authorities with indifference." Image caption Flowers have been left outside the zoo in tribute to Lilleth Ceredigion council said the lynx had strayed over to a populated area of the community and "it was necessary to act decisively". It said that, because the lynx had been used to being near people, it "presented an even greater danger to the general public once it had strayed into a populated area". "The safety of the public was paramount," the council statement said, adding it could not return the lynx's body to the zoo because a post mortem examination would be carried out. Image copyright Borth Wild Animal Kingdom Image caption Lilleth was caught on camera near one of the baited traps Staff at the zoo, which has been closed since Lilleth's escape, had been attempting to catch her. She is believed to have escaped after making a "giant leap" over an electrified fence. There had been a number of sightings but she evaded capture and was at one point thought to be hiding in bushes near the zoo. Ceredigion council and Dyfed-Powys Police said they had tried a "range of measures" to capture the Lynx, including baited traps. Ceredigion council has said it would carry out an inspection of the zoo later this month.James Mattis' confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee is set for Thursday. \| Getty Pentagon pick Mattis agrees to divest stock, recuse himself from matters involving General Dynamics Retired Gen. James Mattis will divest his stock in General Dynamics and recuse himself from matters involving the defense contractor for one year if confirmed as defense secretary, according to an ethics agreement released Saturday by the Office of Government Ethics. The two-page document, dated Jan. 5, says the retired Marine general will also resign from the GD board of directors, divest within 90 days all stock and vested options and forfeit any non vested stock and options. Mattis joined the board of the Pentagon's fourth-largest contractor after retiring from the Marine Corps in 2013. The legal agreement also states that, if confirmed, Mattis will step down from the board of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He's already resigned from the boards of Theranos, a bio tech firm ; the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank ; and several other organizations. The Pentagon determined that Mattis did not have to divest his stock in Theranos, according to the ethics agreement, "because the duties of the position of secretary are unlikely to involve particular matters affecting the financial interests" of the lab testing company, which has been under scrutiny from federal regulators. Mattis' confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee is set for Thursday. In order for him to become secretary of defense, both the Senate and House must pass an exemption to the law that requires that retired military officers wait seven years before taking on the role of civilian head of the military. It will be only the second time such a step has been required, after it was required for retired Gen. George Marshall in 1950.According to the official declaration of police officers in Connecticut, an East Haven mom stabbed her children to send them to heaven. The woman was brought to court on Wednesday afternoon and was charged with a $2 million bail. Police officers responded to a 911 call on Tuesday night after neighbors complained of strange noises coming from the woman’s house. When police officers got to the house, they have found the woman as she was trying to commit suicide and her two children lying lifeless on the floor. LeRoya Moore, 36-year-old, was arrested for criminal behavior. Further investigations have revealed that the suspect killed her children during a momentarily seizure. Police authorities will continue to look into the death cause of the two children as they were unable to determine the means by which they were killed. According to Moore’s declaration in court, the female stabbed the two kids. Medical investigators, however, could not find any bodily marks suggesting physical aggression or knife stabs. When the woman was asked to tell the episode using her own words, she confessed to the judge that she had stabbed the two kids because she wanted to release them and to send them to heaven. She has further stated that she first took the children for a walk and offered them all the products that they loved more. Moore told the judge that she felt she had to kill her children in order to help them get to heaven. In her opinion, the prayer that she uttered as she killed the kids helped their souls elevate to a higher state. Moreover, the woman accompanied her murder with a confession note saying why she decided to take the children’s life. Authorities will spend the following period investigating the murder case to determine whether the woman was mentally sane or not at the time of the killing. For the moment, Moore received a $2 million bail and she will remain in jail until the investigation is over. She is currently on suicide watch as psychiatrists think the woman might attempt to take her life as well.UCI and Peter Sagan relieved to end legal dispute. In advance of the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne scheduled for December 5, 2017 the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Peter Sagan and BORA – hansgrohe have agreed to end the legal dispute and controversy about Peter Sagan’s disqualification from this year’s Tour de France. Peter Sagan was disqualified following a crash in the sprint at the end of the 4th stage in Vittel. Immediately following the disqualification Peter Sagan and BORA – hansgrohe had appealed the decision of the race jury with the CAS and, in order to enable Peter Sagan to finish the Tour, requested a temporary suspension of the disqualification. As is well known, this request was denied by CAS; subsequently, however, all parties involved had the opportunity to provide evidence and call witnesses. On 5 December 2017, CAS was scheduled to hear the matter in Lausanne. Having considered the materials submitted in the CAS proceedings, including video footage that was not available at the time when the race jury had disqualified Peter Sagan, the parties agreed that the crash was an unfortunate and unintentional race incident and that the UCI Commissaires made their decision based on their best judgment in the circumstances. On this basis, the parties agreed not to continue with the legal proceedings and to focus on the positive steps that can be taken in the future instead. The new president of the UCI, David Lappartient, commented on the UCI’s position as follows: “These proceedings have shown how important and arduous the work of the UCI Commissaires is. As of next season the UCI intends to engage a ‘Support Commissaire’ to assist the Commissaires Panel with special video expertise on the main events of the UCI World Tour.” The UCI world champion Peter Sagan is pleased with this development: “The past is already forgotten. It’s all about improving our sport in the future. I welcome the fact that what happened to me in Vittel has showed that the UCI Commissaires’ work is a difficult one and that the UCI has recognised the need to facilitate their work in a more effective way. I am happy that my case will lead to positive developments, because it is important for our sport to make fair and comprehensible decisions
of the moment will almost certainly change well before the leaves start to do the same this fall. In an Iowa campaign cycle that has gotten off to a much slower and sleepier start than almost anyone anticipated, a Ron Paul straw-poll victory is one of several plausible scenarios that have the potential to dramatically alter the current dynamic, in which Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has opened up a consistent lead in recent polls. Late Entrants For months, Republican political watchers here were particularly effusive in their praise for the budding campaign operations of three likely candidates: former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. They were seen to be doing Iowa the right way: making early and frequent visits to the state, signing veteran operatives, and building infrastructures that would pay dividends down the road. But with just three weeks to go before the straw poll, all three have remained mired in the low single digits in most Iowa polls, as Bachmann, a relatively late entrant into the race who has not yet spent much time in the state, has quickly shot into the lead. And with the potential late entries of Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- both of whom could prove to be major factors, even though they haven't made early investments in the state -- the ingrained gospel that there are no shortcuts to winning in Iowa could face a significant challenge.Administrators retain just 69 workers to keep the business running and finish orders as remainder are told not to return The majority of the 450 staff at Fairline Boats have been made redundant after the luxury yacht maker went into administration last week. Administrators have kept on 69 workers to keep the business running and finish existing orders, but the remaining 381 have been told not to return to work after they were sent home last Wednesday. Most of the retained staff are at Fairline’s factories in Corby and Oundle in Northamptonshire, where the 52-year-old company designs and manufactures a range of luxury boats under the Targa and Squadron brands, ranging in value from £350,000 to £2.5m. A few are still working at the boat testing site in Ipswich, Suffolk. The joint administrators, Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory, are attempting to arrange a sale of the business or its assets. Unite said the workers had been “sacrificed on the altar of uncaring capitalism”, claiming the firm did not pay the employees’ pension contributions for the last three months, while still deducting contributions from staff pay packets. “While not unexpected, the news today is a real financial body blow to staff facing a grim Christmas and who will be searching for new employment in the new year,” the union said. “The adverse knock-on effects to the Northamptonshire economy cannot be overestimated.” The union also said staff had not been paid for 10 weeks. A supplier to the powerboat maker Fletcher, which is also owned by Fairline’s private equity owner Wessex Bristol, told the Guardian that Fairline’s suppliers had not been paid for three months, while many of Fletcher’s suppliers were also waiting to be paid. About 185 staff had already been suspended and encouraged to resign in recent weeks after Jon Moulton’s private equity fund Better Capital sold Fairline to Wessex Bristol, for a deferred £2m in September. At the end of March, the boat maker was still valued at £13.5m, but it has been hit by a slump in orders from wealthy Russians who have been affected by a deepening recession, falling commodity prices and a weak rouble. Better Capital, which also owned the collapsed parcel delivery firm City Link, said it put Fairline into administration to protect its interests as a senior creditor, after Wessex Bristol failed to inject promised funds into the boat maker that were “essential for it to function as a going concern”. Better Capital bought Fairline for £16.6m in 2011 and invested a further £24.4m in the business. The private equity fund said it had hoped that a “sale to such an experienced and apparently well-funded buyer would secure the future of the business, but this has not been the case”. Wessex Bristol is backed by a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund. Ayiaz Ahmed, who runs Wessex Bristol, told the BBC he was “gutted” by Better Capital’s decision. He claimed he could have “turned the business around”, saying: “We had a plan, and now the administrators are in, our plan has been halted.” The administrators said they were liaising with unions and assisting workers who had been made redundant so they could submit timely claims to the Redundancy Payments Service. The administrators promised to help all staff, including those who had been suspended. Battle of the superyachts: architects go overboard Read more Massey said: “Since the appointment of administrators, our focus has been on liaising with staff, customers, suppliers and agents to ensure value can be realised from servicing existing orders whilst we explore options for the business, including marketing it for sale. “We request interested parties to get in touch – Fairline is a proud brand and has an array of loyal customers.” Unite has called for a government investigation into the way private equity firms operate.Updated September 2018 Our experts pitted some past favorites against some newcomers to the market. Following countless hours of simultaneous training and testing, we updated our review with six of the market's top performers. The Trango Rock Prodigy is our all-around favorite for the majority of climbers, while specialty models like the ultra-burly Beastmaker 2000 and the travel-friendly Awesome Woodys Cliff Board Mini fill important niches. And if you're looking to maximize performance per dollar, go for the Metolius 3D Simulator. Get briefed on our assessments and tips for seeking out your first or next board below! 1 Best Overall Trango Rock Prodigy Training Center Diversity of edges and pockets Best progression of holds for strength-training Works well for a wide range of users Two-part design facilitates good form and ergonomics Most challenging model to mount Takes up more space than others Straight-across 1/4" edge is hard on fingertips Polyurethane resin \|9.1" x 12.1" x 2 pieces The Trango Rock Prodigy Training Center was designed by the well-known climbing coaches Michael and Mark Anderson, authors of the famed book The Rock Climber's Training Manual. Offering a variety of pockets and edges that build easily upon the last, there is possibly no other model that makes systematic fingerboard training as easy to see subtle improvement and log improvement than this one. With some of the most hold options and several design features that allow many of the holds to be used in multiple ways, this board works well for some of the widest range of users, from people just getting into fingerboard training to those working on 5.13 projects. Its two-part design allows the user to mount each half with the perfect spacing to match their body size. This facilitates better alignment, encourages better form, and leads to reduced stress in shoulders and elbows overall. All this does come at a cost, and that is the acreage and effort this model requires to mount, which limits the number of spaces it could be hung. It's also a more substantial investment than some boards we reviewed, but we are stoked to get the best training board out there for a middle-of-the-road price. To maximize your hang time at home, the Trango Rock Prodigy is our top recommendation. Read review: Trango Rock Prodigy Training Center 2 Best Wooden Model Beastmaker 1000 $160 List List Price See It Extremely compact Great selection of edges and pockets Best-in-class for its texture Good looks Expensive Crowded grips Too much chalk creates gummy holds Wood \|22 3/4" x 6" Always in the discussion when talking about the best all-around models, the Beastmaker 1000 is undoubtedly one of them. With the review-best texture and some of the most compact dimensions, this board is gentle on your skin and fits in tight spaces where other boards can't. Even with its small dimensions, it still manages to offer an above-average number of pockets and edges. We found these pockets and edges to be well-thought out and designed with a very good progression in mind. While we liked its hold selection, it doesn't offer quite as systematic a layout, nor is it quite as easy to log progress, as other models. It does have an above average amount of holds, but more is still better to keep workouts interesting, and other models have more. But again, this model fits in smaller spaces better than others, and its wooden finish tends to fit a room's aesthetics better than swirly, multi-colored resin models. If you can stomach the price, this is a fantastic model. Read review: Beastmaker 1000 3 Best Bang for the Buck Metolius 3D Simulator Excellent value Great selection of edges and pockets Well-designed to reduce shoulder and elbow stress Good progression of holds So-so texture Not for high-end climbers (folks already redpointing 5.13) Not compact Polyester resin \|28" x 8.7" The Metolius 3D Simulator is mega-popular, and we get why. With several iterations and updates over the years improving its overall ergonomics and progression of edges, it remains a stand-out model at an impressively low price. The 3D Simulator easily wins our Best Buy Award for being the best hangboard for the money, though a better description would be an awesome board that happens to be very affordable. The Simulator offers a plethora of edges and pockets that provide one of the better progressions of grips of any model we tested. It also offers some of the best ergonomics, encouraging good form resulting in reduced stress its users' elbows and shoulders. While not particularly aimed at top-end climbers, it's ideal for folks whose projects are in the 5.11-5.13a range, which is the majority of climbers. It isn't the most compact model, but it strikes a nice balance of being small enough to fit above most doorways while still offering some of the most edges and pockets in our review. Don't let its low price tag fool you; this board has what most climbers need to make progress and push the next climbing grade. Read review: Metolius 3D Simulator 4 Top Pick for 5.13+ Climbers Beastmaker 2000 $159 List List Price See It Compact dimensions Best for higher-end climbers No shortage of vicious holds Lots of one and two finger pockets Excellent texture A poor option for climbers in moderate grades Expensive Just okay warm-up holds Wood \|22 3/4" x 6" The Beastmaker 2000 is what its name implies; a burly beast of a board for top end climbers. Some of this model's warm-up holds are the most challenging grips on other boards. The 2000 series features no jugs, one warm-up four-finger edge, and no pairs of three-finger pockets (because they are primarily designed to be used with one arm). What this model lacks in jugs or larger edges it certainly makes up for with heinously difficult ones, sporting the most mono and two-fingered pockets of any model in our review. Even its slopers are brutal, and the 42-degree sloper feels impossible to several 5.13 climbers without cheating. All this make the Beastmaker 2000 virtually unequaled for dedicated and top-echelon climbers looking to take their climbing to the next level. Ideal for climbers who are already repointing routes in the 5.12+/5.13- range, but this model is a poor choice for people looking to get into fingerboard training or might have a maximum red-point max of around 5.12a or V5. Folks not already sending 5.13/V8 will be better suited with a less challenging model which provides a better overall progression. If you love this board but don't climb 5.13, we recommend checking out the Beastmaker 1000, which is aimed a little more at folks in the 5.10+ to 5.13- range and maintains the same texture and a similar, compact design. Read review: Beastmaker 2000 5 Top Pick for Training on the Road Awesome Woodys Cliff Board Mini $105 List List Price See It Small, lightweight, portable Possible to hang almost anywhere No drilling required Narrow profile can be tough on shoulders or elbows Not the best for full-time use Slots aren't super comfortable Wood \|13.5" x 5 1/2" The Awesome Woodys Cliff Board Mini is the fingerboard solution for frequent travelers to take on the road. It's roughly the same size as a laptop keyboard and can be hung up nearly anywhere without drilling a single screw. While ultra-compact our review team felt it offered just enough grips to keep it interesting. We even found its edge selection quite respectable. This board has a specific use and isn't necessarily suitable for consistent fingerboard training. This is mostly due to its narrow width which encourages poor form and can elevate the amount of stress on users' shoulders and elbows compared to a more traditional model. However, for occasional use, while traveling, for van life, or to stay entertained during a rainy stretch of a fall road trip, it's completely appropriate. For these types of application, it's well worth the inherent trade-offs this board presents. Read review: Awesome Woodys Cliff Board Mini 6 Best Value for a Wood Model Metolius Wood Grips Compact II Great Value Compact dimensions help it to fit more spaces Classy look Fewer edges and pockets (but just enough) Not our favorite wood texture Wood \|24" x 6.2" The Metolius Wood Grips Compact II is one of the best-priced wood models on the market. Its compact dimensions mean finding a place to mount it is much easier than a full-sized version. It can be mounted above doorways with below-average-height ceilings or squeezed into other areas where a full-sized model wouldn't stand a chance of fitting. When like wood models like this one for hanging in a visible part of the house due to its good looks. While small, our testing team felt the Compact II still offered enough hold options to be used for consistent and long-term training, but only barely. We like the Compact II for the price but prefer nearly everything about the Beastmaker 1000 more. It is even slightly smaller but has more holds. Unfortunately, the Beastmaker is also twice the cost. For those on a budget but don't have ultra-tight space restrictions, we recommend checking out the Metolius Simulator 3D, too. It costs the same, encourages far better form while offering significantly more holds, and facilitates a better progression of improvement when compared to the Compact II. For a compact, wooden model that keeps the price friendly, though, this model is just that. Read review: Metolius Wood Grips Compact II Each member of our review team thoroughly tested each model and compared them in five categories. We mounted each one to our walls, measured the size and the depth of each pocket, and spent hundreds of hours hanging off all of them for our review. How to Choose the Right Hangboard Hangboards, AKA fingerboards, have long been part of climbing training regimes and with good reason. There is no better way to target pure finger strength. If you have never used one, you'll be amazed, and with a good training plan, you can notice improvements after just a few weeks. That may sound like an infomercial, but its true. Hangboards aren't that expensive for what you'll get out of them either. For the price of one month's gym membership, you can train two to four days a week in your spare time for years. Jonathan Siegrist: "In the business of grabbing rock, our fingers can never be too strong." Tony Yaniro: "If you can't hold the holds, then there's nothing to endure." No climber ever complained that their fingers were too strong for a given route and to Tony Yaniro's point; if you can't hold the holds to begin with, then endurance doesn't even play a factor. These dedicated training boards are the ticket to boosting finger strength tremendously and, in reality, don't take that much time to perform. Lead tester Ian Nicholson demonstrates some of the potential workout techniques on a Beastermaker 1000. What to Look For You should pick a product that has several holds you can barely grip and a few you can't manage yet. Contrary to popular belief, a fingerboard's primary purpose isn't for doing pull-ups regardless of how many folks you might see cranking them out at the gym. If you can hold onto the holds forever (or even like 20-30 seconds), you're not building any power (you're just inefficiently building endurance), and you should be hanging off smaller edges. Key considerations should be finding one that fits the space you are dedicating to training and the right ability level for you. It should have some warm-up holds, lots to challenge you, and a few you can't yet even hang from. Andy Dahlen hangs from a Beastmaker 1000. Hangboards are for building pure finger power and maximum crimping and grip strength. Pick a board with at least a few holds you'll fall off of after 7-10 seconds and others that you'll at least get tired and will struggle on after 3-5 sets of 7-10 seconds. A few jugs and slopers are nice to warm up on and for use toward the end of your workout when your open-handed crimp strength is fried. However, you'll be best served if the rest is all business. Put your ego aside, crimp until you fail, then take solace in knowing that you're getting stronger. Contrary to what is sometimes popular believed, fingerboards are not primarily for pull-ups. They are for building finger strength which requires a good progression of holds that are challenging for their user. Material The three materials most commonly used are wood, polyurethane, and polyester resin. Polyurethane and polyester are what nearly all climbing holds are made from, and the two share most of their characteristics. However, all three of these materials offer some distinct advantages and disadvantages. Wood's primary advantage is its low friction; meaning its far easier on your skin than even the best-textured resin models. The low friction also makes holds subtly harder which is a small bonus while training. When using wood boards try not to use much if any chalk. A little early on is fine, but excessive chalk use over time covers the pores of the wood, creating an undesired gummy and slick feeling. Be sure to wipe it down occasionally with a warm, wet rag and allow to dry completely. Wood's primary advantage is its low friction which is easier on your skin and makes all the grips subtly more difficult. The disadvantages are it tends to be more expensive and more limited in shape and hold diversity. The disadvantage of wood is that its shapes tend to be a little more limited and don't have the variety of holds compared to resin boards, and rarely have good pinches. Wood boards do tend to have comfortable pockets and edges and slippery slopers. Wood is lower weight than resin, and while this makes mounting easier, once your board is up, it doesn't matter. Wood is also a good choice for climbers who have to mount their board in a common area for no other reason than it looks nicer hanging on your wall. Lastly, in warm climates or hot attics, wood will hang onto heat a lot longer than resin resulting in potentially poorer friction. Polyester resin is the same material that some climbing holds are made of, though in recent years it has been replaced more with polyurethane because of weight and durability issues with over-tightening. Polyester resin's primary advantage is that it can be created into almost any shape imaginable, and most resin boards have more diverse hold options than their wooden counterparts. Resin boards tend to feature more interesting slopers and arrays of pinches. Unlike wood, feel free to use as much chalk as you'd like with it, though its still not a bad idea to clean it now and again. The fact that polyester resin boards are heavier isn't a super big deal except during the moment when you are mounting it overhead. The difference in texture has also decreased, and while wood is still superior, it isn't near as big of a gap as it was five or six years ago. The main downside of resin is that the texture tends to be harder peoples skin. How much harder depends a lot on the manufacturer, and it's rare that two manufacturers are exactly equal when directly comparing two models under the same brand. Resin will never splinter, but it can chip. Resin won't conduct heat as much as wood and thus won't feel as warm to the touch after extended sessions or workouts in hotter spaces. Times are changing, and now more and more climbing holds are being made out of polyurethane than polyester resin both because it's lower weight and less likely to chip while mounting. Polyurethane shares most of the same user interface characteristics with resin providing unique shapes and thus a more diverse array of holds. Polyurethane also shares what is the biggest downside in most peoples eyes of non-wooden models in that typically they are more textured than wood and thus harsher on your skin. Technology is improving, though, and manufacturers are trying harder and harder to produce polyurethane models with a smoother texture. Polyurethane is the new wave climbing hold material because it's less weight and less likely to chip while mounting than polyester resin. Polyurethane does breaks down quicker than resin when exposed to weather and is a poor choice for a board that will be mounted outside. Polyurethane also polishes quicker after repeated use compared to polyester resin which is interesting because it is more durable when it comes to chipping. This is more of an issue for climbing gyms. Boards with only 1-4 people using it will take a long time to become polished and shouldn't even be a factor. Polyurethane is the material primary used by So iLL, and Metolius has a line of climbing holds made of polyurethane, but their fingerboards are still resin. Variety of Holds More holds don't necessarily make a given model better than another. The best options have a nice progression of edges and pockets for you to get stronger on so that the hangboard grows with you. Ideally, there are nice incremental changes in depth to two, three, and four-finger pockets (and maybe a few mono options, oohhh monos…). For each pocket size, our testers prefer around 1/4" increments once a hold gets smaller than one inch. It's always worth remembering its totally okay to put 3-fingers in a 4-finger pocket, but it can be harder to position them 1/2-inch deep in a 3/4-inch pocket. Besides facilitating a better workout a good variety of holds will also keep your training a little more diverse and interesting making it even more likely that you'll stick with it. The Trango Rock Prodigy seen here has one of the largest arrays of holds on the market, several of which offer numerous uses for each edge. All of our testers appreciated having at least one set of jugs and 1-2 sets of slopers in which to warm up on. Pinches are nice, they can be good for certain route-specific training, build whole-hand power and certainly mix it up, but the bulk of grips should focus on shallow, flat-topped edges and pockets. More grip options are generally better, but a good progression of holds regarding their depth and difficulty is the most important thing. Holds should get progressively smaller without large of leaps in difficulty to provide the best overall design for strength gains and long-term training. The 3D Simulator sports an above average amount of grips. Edges and crimps are the bread and butter of fingerboard training and what most climbers should base their decision around when purchasing a board and utilize while training. Don't be afraid if the smallest edge depth might seem impossibly difficult at first. Give yourself a month and you'll be surprised of what you can hang onto. A good range of edges is likely the most important factor when considering your purchase. While pockets are nice you can always just use 1-3 fingers on a broad edge to simulate a pocket. We like at least 3 different edge depths ranging from 1/4" or 1/2" to 1" in depth. Our review team overwhelming prefers at least three non-incut/positive edges with widths around, 1", 3/4" and 1/2". We like edges that round off at the entrance as it is generally less harsh feeling on our fingers. This also encourages a more open-handed crimp and decreases the likelihood of unexpectedly slipping off of a hold. Pockets are great because they force you to isolate one, two or three fingers on your board. This is an excellent training technique because it significantly increases the stress (your bodyweight) across fewer fingers, resulting in more efficient power gains. Like edges, having a solid progression of pocket pairs is more important than the sheer number of pockets, as this provides a better workout. While you can perform any hang on a wider edge than you can on a dedicated pocket, a well-designed pocket can provide more support for the digit you are hanging off of. Using less than 4-fingers is another easy way to increase the load your fingers are taking to increase strength, though this needs to be worked up to. Some climbers believe it's better to perform isolated finger workouts on edges rather than in specifically sized pockets because inevitably your fingers come into contact with the sides of the pocket and give you more surface area thus holding power. They argue that while subtle, this is slightly "cheating you" of your power work out. We'll let you be the judge there. Slopers are great for helping you warm-up, finish your workout when your fingertips are trashed, and work on whole-hand strength. A lot of the slopers don't feel too crushing on their own, but 20 minutes into a fingerboard workout those same slopers can cause crushing forearm fatigue. We like at least one set of slopers, but ideally, two, to mix it up. Slopers also work on whole-hand strength, work some core, and offer far less chance of injury than most pockets. All but one of the boards we reviewed feature at least one pair of jugs. These are key for warming up, working on lock-offs (don't underestimate the benefits of these), or just cranking out pull-ups, weighted, assisted, or straight-up. We don't feel that any board needs more than one set of jugs and they should be big enough that you could hang on them for more than a minute to work on the things mentioned above to not strain your fingers or tendons. While a-typical in shape, these jugs still proved great for warming up or weighted pull-ups. While pinches aren't a necessary design feature of any hangboard nor are they generally a large part of anyone's training regimen, they do add some variety and can be great for some route-specific training. This is especially true for people who frequent roofy crags or projects are steep and blocky. Pinches, like slopers, help increase whole-hand strength but are of even greater benefit to climbers who log a lot of time in steeper terrain. Level of Difficulty A lot of climbers don't understand that there can be a large range in difficulty among models. For example, an intermediate climber won't get much out of a super burly board, like the Beastmaster 2000 (pretty much the most difficult board) as something like the Metolius 3D Simulator which is a more intermediate board. In our review, we tried to pick models that would work for the biggest population of climbers who are interested in a dedicated training board; around 5.10+ to mid-5.13. Some products we tested would be best for climbers above that difficulty range, but that range still came into play while selecting models for our review. Here Vertical World Climbing Coach Billy Gierach hangs from the extremely challenging Beastmaker 2000, which is geared towards climbers in the 5.13- range and above. For the most part, when considering different models, the difficulty range starts pretty high, and there are no truly "easy" boards. At the easiest, they are aimed at hard 5.10+ climbers to low 5.11 climbers and go up from there. If you aren't quite climbing 5.10+/5.11a in the gym, fear not, you'll get there, but a hangboard likely isn't the best tool for you yet. These types of climbers will get more benefit from just continuing to climb rather than climbing and fingerboard training. If you're not climbing at least at this level, you're also more likely to hurt yourself because your fingers and tendons likely aren't quite strong enough for the intense pressure they see while training on a hangboard. What space you have in your apartment, house, or dwelling to mount your hangboard could be the number one factor influencing your purchase. Here the Metolius Wood Grips Compact II barely fits above a standard height doorway with a 7-foot ceiling. Mounting Considerations Hangboards vary wildly in overall size and mounting patterns. Having a bigger board typically means a greater array of holds, which is nice but far from a must. A compact board can still be very beneficial with an open mind. For most climbers, mounting boards into drywall or anything that is not open framing (which is obviously easier), mounting the board to a pre-cut 3/4"-1" thick piece of plywood is the best option. If you want your set up to look nicer, for a few more dollars you can buy plywood with one side finished, making it less of an eye-sore in shared living areas. The Blank Slate Slim mounts above a doorway without having to drill into your walls and can be outfitted with most models. It's possible to "mount" a hangboard on a pull-up bar if you live in an apartment or don't want to drill holes in your wall. Our favorite option for this comes from Blank Slate Climbing ($115), which offers expensive but super effective systems. The hang-nearly-anywhere Awesome Woodys line of boards is a great option as a non-mounted board. It's also worth considering Awesome Woodys hanging models. We reviewed the Cliff Board Mini, which won our Top Pick for travel because it's the size of a Chromebook and can be hung almost anywhere. While this model isn't ideal for day-in-day-out fingerboard training because of its narrow width, they make a wider version that is Cliff Board Wide Boy. While we found ours sweet for travel and warming up at the crag, they are an appropriate option for folks who simply don't have room or the opportunity to mount a more traditional model. Training Fingerboards are awesome training tools that take very little time to get an extremely productive workout right in your home. These workouts are short but should be intense. Fingerboard workouts are pretty much like running wind-sprints or powerlifting for your fingers. Many incredibly strong and famous climbers like Tommy Caldwell, Alex Puccio, Jonathan Siegrist, Alex Honnold, Sonnie Trotter, and Daniel Woods have used hangboards extensively at some point during their training cycle. Sonnie Trotter, over a winter working a full-time construction job, once trained almost exclusively on hangboards, rarely visiting a climbing gym while preparing for his ascent of Necessary Evil (5.14c) in the Virgin River Gorge. He claims there was no doubt in his mind that this is what helped propel him to the next level. There is a reason so many pro and top-notch climbers use these boards, which is targetted finger-strength training. The key is picking a board with enough bad holds that you can barely hang onto and some grips that you can't at all. Here tester Ian Nicholson suffers (and gets stronger) on the Trango Rock Prodigy. The key with this type of training is to hang off of holds that are BAD and extremely challenging for you (once warmed up of course). Every rep doesn't have to be super severe, but it should rarely be easy. This is the key to effectively building power. After you are thoroughly warmed up, you should be training on grips that you will hold onto for less than 10 seconds, and some training books suggest even less than 7. You don't need to fail in those early sets of 7-10 seconds, but it should be a slight battle for you to stay on, and later in your workout, there should be reps where you are fighting 100% for those seven seconds which will feel like an eternity. There are many training programs and inexpensive apps to help you focus your time and effort to improve finger strength. Here Graham Zimmerman uses a structured and systematic training regimen that has helped him open difficult new routes across the globe and get nominated for his second the Piolet d'Or. Most training regimes involve 5-8 hangs for 7-10 seconds and then a 3-4 minute rests, equaling one set. Your goal is to perform 5-8 total sets, ideally really struggling or failing towards the end of those sets. It's okay to spot yourself by putting your foot down or by grabbing a bigger hold with one hand. If it's too easy, try hanging with just one hand for a super power boost, or by hanging weight off your harness or wearing a 15 lb backpack. Here is a great 1 minute video on some work-outs by Daniel Woods. One common method of training is finger grouping. Training while hanging from two fingers, index and middle, middle and ring, and ring and pinky. If your finger grips seem too difficult, consider two sets of three fingers. It's important to note that this type of training will greatly increase your finger power and contact strength, which will enable you to hang onto progressively smaller holds. But for most climbers who want to continue to improve, these workouts should just be part of their training regimen that also involves the continued development of technique via climbing of some form. Here Billy Gierach brings the ruckus on the Beastmaker 2000 with a 35-lbs weight. Adding resistance, like in power-weightlifting, will boost your top-end crimping strength. However, you need to be extra careful not to injure yourself. After effectively being able to hang off of all, or nearly all of the holds on your board, add a little weight (10-15 lbs.) and start with some of your board's larger grips. Hanging weights off a climbing harness, a purpose-built weight-vest, or even a loaded backpack are the best ways to increase resistance but the possibilities are endless. Here Ian Nicholson adds the resistance of his 90-lb niece while working out. As you continue to progress, consider doing more one-armed hangs or one arm with a little assistance with your second hand lightly hanging onto a nearby sling or large hold. All of these methods will continue to build finger strength quickly. It's a good idea to do some weighted sessions with two hands before committing to one-armed hangs on smaller holds because it will surprise you how much more difficult this is. A selection of training-for-climbing books from our review team's library. While there are many options out there but for hangboard specific training perhaps few are as in-depth as the Rock Climbers Training Manual by Mark and Mike Anderson. Read up before diving head first into your first session. Nearly all training for climbing books include a fingerboard section. Some of our review team's favorites include The Rock Climber's Training Manual: A Comprehensive Program for Continuous Climbing Improvement by Mike Anderson and Mark Anderson, Training for Climbing by Eric Horst, and The Self Coached Climber by Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter. We love training for climbing almost as much as we love climbing itself (well, maybe not quite, but it isn't far away). We hope this review helps you pick the best board for you to continue to get stronger, achieve your goals, and make more challenging ones. Conclusion Training on a hangboard is an excellent way to increase finger strength and to improve, no matter what type of climbing you fancy. They are an affordable training tool that should last for years and hopefully offer some inspiration to train when you might only have 30-minutes to spare. This is a review we are quite passionate about; we love climbing, training for climbing, and seeing people get better. We honestly hope that this review can help you decide between the different materials, types of holds, and difficulty levels to ultimately select the most appropriate product for you.China Change, July 7, 2017 “Wang Yu (王宇) was at home by herself that night, having just seen off at the airport her husband Bao Longjun (包龙军), and their son Bao Zhuoxuan (包卓軒). A group of men began idling about outside her home, and when she yelled out asking who they were, they shrank away and kept quiet. About an hour later, when she was unable to raise her husband and son on the phone, and just beginning to get anxious, the lights in her apartment suddenly went out. Her internet was also cut. The harsh buzz of an electric drill shattered the silent darkness and within a few minutes the lock had been drilled out, falling to the ground. A gang of men rushed in, shoved her onto the bed, and snapped a cold pair of handcuffs on her hands, twisted behind her back. She was hooded and hauled out into a waiting vehicle, then taken to a facility whose location is unknown to this day. There, they drew a circle around Wang Yu’s spot on the bed: for several weeks, she had to sit with her legs crossed in the circle, and if she left it would be screamed at or beaten.” — Lawyer Wen Donghai describes how Wang Yu was taken away on July 9, 2015. When China Change reported lawyer Wang Yu’s disappearance in the small hours on July 9, 2015, two years ago, little did we know what was to follow. She was the first of over 300 human rights lawyers and activists across China who, in the coming days, would be detained, disappeared, temporarily rounded up, and interrogated. Eventually more than two dozen were placed under the notorious “residential surveillance at a designated place,” (指定居所监视居住) and over the last two years they have gone through torture and family trauma, and some have been released. At least three more — Wang Quanzhang (王全璋), Wu Gan (吴淦) and Jiang Tianyong (江天勇) — remain in custody. None, whether released or not, have been truly free. The campaign is known as the 709 Crackdown. Wang Yu and her husband Bao Longjun were released on probation in August 2016. They live in Beijing, but they’ve now been sequestered in a public housing block in Ulan Hot, Inner Mongolia, and are being held under tight control. For nearly a year, until recently
"Woman Is the Nigger of the World". Lennon quoted Connolly's 'the female is the slave of the slave' in explaining the feminist inspiration for the song.[50] Connolly Station, one of the two main railway stations in Dublin, and Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, are named in his honour. In a 2002, BBC television production, 100 Greatest Britons where the British public were asked to register their vote, Connolly was voted in 64th place. In 1968, Irish group The Wolfe Tones released a single named "James Connolly", which reached number 15 in the Irish charts.[51] The band Black 47 wrote and performed a song about Connolly that appears on their album Fire of Freedom. Irish singer-songwriter Niall Connolly has a song "May 12th, 1916 - A Song for James Connolly" on his album Dream Your Way Out of This One (2017). Dúnedin Connolly GAC, a Scottish GAA club takes its name from his.[citation needed] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] ^ [3] He gave his place of birth as County Monaghan in the 1901 and 1911 censuses. References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] Writings [ edit ] Connolly, James. 1987. Collected Works (Two volumes). Dublin: New Books. (Two volumes). Dublin: New Books. Connolly, James. The Lost Writings (ed. Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh), London: Pluto Press ISBN 0-7453-1296-9 (ed. Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh), London: Pluto Press ISBN 0-7453-1296-9 Connolly, James. 1973. Selected Political Writings (eds. Owen Dudley Edwards & Bernard Ransom), London: Jonathan Cape (eds. Owen Dudley Edwards & Bernard Ransom), London: Jonathan Cape Connolly, James. 1948. Socialism and Nationalism: A Selection from the Writings of James Connolly (ed. Desmond Ryan), Dublin: Sign of the Three Candles.MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) — A 23-year-old Miami-Dade man is being held on $251,000 after police say he severely beat his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son. The child remains in critical condition at Miami Children’s Hospital and one veteran officer says the story “breaks your heart.” Sgt. Bobby Hernandez of the Miami Beach Police Department tells CBS4’s Peter D’Oench, “It breaks your heart. It really breaks your heart because a child is so innocent. He can’t even defend himself.” The judge in bond court on Friday was so concerned that the child might not survive that she raised bond for the defendant, Gabby Cancel Jr., to $251,000. Police say the child is having trouble swallowing food and water. Amid his own tears, the boy told investigators that his “mother’s babe” beat him on September inside their apartment at 152 N.W. South River Drive on Miami Beach. The report says the boy told police that Cancel choked him and told him to put his hands up and then punched him “in the tummy.” He also said Cancel told him that if he told his mother about the assault, Cancel would punch him again. Police say he suffered blunt force trauma to the stomach and ruptured bowels. The child has two bruises on his lower abdomen and a large bruise on the middle of his back. “The boy said the boyfriend told him to lift up his shirt and then he punched him severely in the stomach,” said Hernandez. “It caused severe bleeding and he lost four inches of his bowel. Detectives are shaking their heads.” “What would possess someone to hurt a child and not only hurt him but he could have killed him very easily,” said Hernandez. “He’s not out of the woods yet. He is in intensive care and we pray he pulls through.” Cancel is charged with aggravated child abuse and the child’s mother, 25-year-old Mirta Alfonso, is charged as an Accessory After the Fact. “She was very evasive and tried to cover up the crime and protect her boyfriend,” said Hernandez. “She confessed that she did not want her boyfriend to get into trouble. She knew he had been in trouble before and she did not want to lost custody of her child to DCF.” Her son is in DCF custody, pending future hearings and Alfonso is being held on $11,000 bond and was ordered by the Judge to stay away from her son. Police say the incident happened on September 4th on Miami Beach. Two days later, they say, Cancel and Alfonso moved to an apartment at 1879 N.W. 23rd St. in Miami. They were arrested six days later, on September 12th. A police report says Cancel fled down a staircase but tripped and fell and was taken into custody and denied the charges against him. A check of records shows that Cancel has been arrested before, for cocaine possession last June and for violating his probation in April of 2008. Records show he also served time in prison for robbery with a gun. In bond court, a police detective testified that the child was terrified. “He’s having nightmares,” said the detective. “He identified him (Cancel) and when he did that he started crying hysterically.”Incredulities of World South Africa is going to embark on a journey to free Palestinians Prisoners. Would be launching a campaign at Robben Island on the 27 October 2013 following by a public event at the Good hope Centre. Where I thought I would go but my other forgot that has to attend a wedding :( That why I won’t be there, it would been really nice. Marwan Barghouthi is known as the Palestinian Mandela. Marwan who is 54 year old of his life it was in the Prisoners of those Zionists Dungeons. At the age of 15, he joined the Palestinian political party Fatah. Marwan co-founded the Fatah Youth Movement. At the age of 18, in 1976, Barghouthi was first arrested by Israel for involvement. Palestinian political and resistance groups. Barghouthi completed his secondary education and received a high school diploma. While he was in jail. Once released, Marwan Barghouthi became a member…KANSAS CITY — Let’s start with this: Wins Above Replacement – that famous WAR statistic that has inspired so much war in the baseball community – has been manna for Mike Trout fans the last two years. It utterly confirmed what they (me among them) knew about Trout. 1. He was the greatest player in baseball. 2. He was one of the greatest young players in baseball history. 3. He absolutely, entirely and thoroughly deserved to win the MVP award over MIguel Cabrera, despite their differences in the three boring statistics that had been the lifeblood of baseball for too long: Batting average; home runs; RBIs. WAR so perfectly illustrated what many of us believed about him and the game – that his all-around game simply overpowered Cabrera’s Triple Crown brilliance. They both hit for high averages, Cabrera some points higher. They both hit for power, Cabrera slugged more. But we felt sure that when you added in Trout’s huge advantages in defense and base running and the extra walks he drew and the double plays he did not hit into and the extra runs he scored, well, he was comfortably ahead as a player. WAR confirmed this for us even if the MVP voting went the other way. 2012 WAR Trout: 10.8 (Baseball Reference); 10.1 (Fangraphs) Cabrera: 7.2 (refwar); 6.9 (fanwar) 2013 WAR Trout 8.9 (refwar) 10.5 (fanwar) Cabrera: 7.5 (refwar); 7.6 (fanwar) So plain to see, right? WAR confirmed what we knew to be true – that a complete game like Trout’s was simply more valuable than a brilliant but incomplete game like Cabrera’s. Sure it was just one statistic — and I still remember future GM Farhan Zaidi telling me that the Oakland system actually rated Cabrera’s seasons ahead of Trout. But WAR just so vividly expressed those things about the game that we just knew had to be true, and most Trout fans used WAR liberally. Fast forward to yesterday … and a little post I threw together about Alex Gordon as MVP candidate. My point in it was not to make Gordon’s MVP case (I’ll do a bit more of that here) but to point out WHY people in Kansas City want to view him as one. I thought that point was fairly clear, but I got a lot of response from, well, yeah, Mike Trout fans. The response was generally along the lines of: — Come on, Alex Gordon’s a nice little player and all but he’s not HALF the player Mike Trout is. and — Really? You’re seriously comparing Alex Gordon with Mike Trout? and — Kansas City fans are delusional if they think Alex Gordon is an MVP candidate in a league with Mike Trout. And so on. Now, let me start by saying: I think at this moment Mike Trout IS the MVP of the American League. I’d vote for him. I think he’s the best player in baseball by a pretty fair margin and have written that many times. That said, the Trout fan responses sound exactly like, yep, the responses I would get from Miguel Cabrera fans whenever I made the case that Trout deserved to be MVP. I mean, these responses are almost word-for-word like the Cabrera arguments in that for the most part they are not arguments at all. They are simple statements of opinion dressed up with certainty and incredulity to appear like facts. As I’ve written before, it’s like when people put the word “Period” at the end of their thoughts to punctuate just how right they must be. “The Empire Strikes Back is the best movie in the Star Wars series.” “The Empire Strikes Back is the best movie in the Star Wars series. Period.” The second, I guess, is supposed to be more persuasive. So, “Alex Gordon is no Mike Trout. Period.” seems to be the Trout argument these days, and the only real trouble with that is those stubborn folks at Baseball Reference and Fangraphs are still figuring that pesky WAR statistic. And that pesky WAR statistic suggests that Alex Gordon, in fact, IS playing almost as well as Mike Trout. It suggests that Oakland’s Josh Donaldson IS playing about as well as Mike Trout. And it demands a closer look. What made Trout so absurdly wonderful his first two full seasons was, as mentioned, the variety of his contributions. That 2012 season, holy cow, the guy did EVERYTHING. He hit, he hit with power, he ran, he threw, he played breathtaking defense, he walked, he stole bases, he scored runs, he drove in runs, he was incredible in ways that that exploded the imagination. WAR reflected those things and his 10.8 refwar was Willie Mays like. In 2013, Trout was better in some areas, not quite as good in others, but again he was a bouillabaisse of wonderful, and again WAR reflected those things. So what’s happening this year? Trout’s still amazing. Utterly amazing. But let’s just be blunt about it: He’s amazing in fewer ways. It’s impossible not to see if you look. In 2012 he stole 49 bases. This year he has 13. In 2013 his on-base percentage was.432. This year, it’s almost 60 points less. The last two years, he struck out 137 or so times. This year, he’s on pace to strike out 175. He’s not as effective a base runner – he’s going first to third on singles less, he’s scoring from second on singles less, he’s scoring from first on doubles less. And defense … it’s different. In 2012, all the defensive numbers celebrated him … he saved 23 runs with his defense according to the John Dewan system where reserachers study video of every play. Every defensive stat showed more or less the same excellence. Last year, his defensive numbers were a lot more inconsistent. Dewan’s system actually showed Trout’s defense COSTING his team runs. By Fangraphs WAR his defensive contribution went down some, by Baseball Reference’s method it went down a lot. And this year, all the defensive numbers I see say the same thing – Trout is, at best, an average outfielder and he’s trending as being at least slightly below average. So what happened? Are the defensive stats wrong? Is the baserunning decline simply a rounding error? You decide but for me Trout seems to be morphing into a somewhat different player. He’s hitting more home runs. He’s driving in my runs. He is becoming more like, well, yeah, the great Miguel Cabrera. Now, you look at Gordon and Donaldson. Are either of those guys the slugger that Trout is? No, absolutely not. Trout:..291/.376/.561 with 30 homers, 91 runs, 94 RBIs. Gordon:.282/.356/..457 with 17 homers, 71 runs, 61 RBIs. Donaldson:.255/.346/.470 with 26 homers, 81 runs, 88 RBIs. Clear advantages across the board for Trout. So why does Donaldson have a higher Baseball Reference WAR than Trout? Well, WAR judges their baserunning to be about even, their tendency to avoid the double play to be about even, and Donaldson has a huge, huge advantage in defense. Donaldson is a marvelous defense, but you can see Trout fans arguing that even if Donaldson contributes more on defense it can’t possibly be THAT much more. And I would say that’s exactly what all the Cabrera fans said when WAR gave Trout such a huge edge on defense in 2012. Same system. Same methods of determining the completeness of a ballplayer. And right now, Baseball Reference has Donaldson ahead in WAR 7.1 to 6.5 Gordon’s advantages over Trout are more varied – both versions of WAR have him as the better base runner, better at avoiding the double play, markedly more valuable as a defender. Trout still leads Gordon in refwar (0.9) and he leads by an almost insignificant margin in fanwar (0.3 wins). But it’s close. And Gordon has been playing better than Trout of late. A little bit more about Gordon’a defense: The Dewan system has Gordon saving 21 runs this year with his defense, Trout costing his team six runs with his defense. This is judged against the average player, by the way. You can doubt this, but from what I can see – purely by seeing – this DOES match the eye test. Gordon makes utterly fantastic catches pretty much every day. He is a superb thrower, so superb that few challenge him any more. When he is playing alongside Jarrod Dyson or Lorenzo Cain, the left-center gap is vanishingly small. Meanwhile, I don’t watch Trout every day, but I watch him a lot and to my eye his defense does seem somewhat bland. He doesn’t seem to run down as many balls as I would expect from a player with his amazing athletic ability. Now, let me repeat this in case anyone missed it: I still think Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, and I still think he’s a worthy MVP. But blanket statements about him being so much better than Gordon or Donaldson are sounding pretty flat to me. Trout is not having as good a year as he did his first two. He’s not, at the moment, as dynamic a player as he was those first two. The Trout-Cabrera arguments for me were never about the two players – both so sensational – but about this idea of myth and reality, about the question of what the eyes see and what the eyes miss. Now, I’m feeling the same way about the Trout-Gordon-Donaldson arguments. WAR giveth. WAR also taketh away.CLOSE Here's what you need to know about the 179D tax deduction, which is meant to encourage the building and renovation of energy efficient buildings. Tom Parsons and Mark Marturello/The Register The Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center at Polk County's Iowa Events Center (Photo11: Jason Noble/The Register) © Copyright 2017, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co. First in a two-day series Last year, a Polk County middle manager signed a nondescript sheet of paper, attesting to heating and cooling work the Waldinger Corp. performed in 2012 on the county-owned Iowa Events Center. That paper wiped $1.1 million off the Des Moines-based mechanical contractor’s federal income tax liability. What did taxpayers get in return? Nothing they hadn't already paid for. The tax break didn’t encourage Waldinger to work harder or faster or to install more cost-efficient equipment. It didn’t yield more energy savings at the convention center complex than it would have realized anyway, and it provided nothing in the way of construction savings or rebates on the $4.9 million project. The Events Center example is hardly unique. The Des Moines Register examined 70 Iowa projects in which the tax break was sought and documented 37 cases where governments gained little or nothing for authorizing the deduction on taxpayer-funded construction. That's just a tiny sample of more than 10,000 cases nationally in all 50 states — including at least 300 in Iowa — in which government officials have handed out tax breaks to private companies through an obscure giveaway known as the Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction. The goal of the tax break, shepherded into law in 2005 by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, is to encourage building owners to incorporate energy efficient systems into their construction projects that might cost more up front but that save energy and money over time. But a yearlong investigation by the Register found that those tax breaks are handed out with scant oversight and little evidence of public benefit. “It’s kind of like the Wild West out there," said Jon Duchac, an accounting professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina who is researching the tax deduction. "The regulations were written very poorly, and there's not any real oversight." The tax break, commonly known as 179D for its chapter in U.S. tax law, is available to private commercial building owners who invest in energy efficient upgrades. But it can also be applied to publicly owned projects, a provision proponents say encourages green building, saves governments on long-run utility costs and provides relief to the construction industry. MORE: "The 179D deduction is a vital tool," said David Rosen, spokesman for Alliantgroup, a consulting firm that has aggressively pursued the tax break on projects around the country. The Register reviewed thousands of documents involving the 70 projects in which 179D deductions were sought, making multiple record requests and conducting follow-up interviews to unravel whether the deductions were awarded or claimed. The Register's investigation identified a host of problems with the 179D program that raise serious questions about whether it delivers on its promises: The work qualifying for the deduction often is already required by state building codes. Applications for the tax break frequently come after the work is finished, with no negotiation beforehand to ensure taxpayers are receiving a benefit. Oversight of the deduction itself is lax, if it exists at all. No governing body must approve the tax breaks. The Register found examples where lower-level managers were authorizing the deductions without the knowledge of city managers or elected officials. There is no national tracking of the tax deductions, meaning no one knows how much has been given away. Doubts raised about the tax deduction's worth come at a critical juncture. The nearly 12-year-old 179D deduction expired last year and — as in previous years — Alliantgroup and other organizations that represent construction and building design firms are working feverishly to persuade Congress to renew it and make it retroactive to cover this year's crop of building projects. But even Grassley now questions whether the deduction deserves to be renewed. Told of the Register's findings, Grassley said it may be time to end the program. “It may be that the energy efficient buildings provision has outlived its usefulness and isn’t working as intended, so it could be a candidate for reform or termination,” Grassley said in an interview. "Energy efficiency standards are always improving, and it’s not clear the tax code can keep up.” CLOSE See some of the key findings from The Register's yearlong investigation into the 179D tax law. Michael Zamora and Jason Clayworth/The Register Millions of dollars in tax breaks The 179D tax break can be lucrative for contractors who know how to take advantage of the law. Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the credit has cost the federal government at least $300 million a year in lost tax revenue on private and government construction since it was put in place in 2005. The Register’s investigation confirmed at least $3.8 million in tax deductions awarded over the past four years alone for 20 public projects completed by cities, school districts and county government entities in Polk County, plus at least one state prison project. Few, if any, resulted in the government entity receiving a tangible benefit for handing over the tax break to a private company. And none was approved by a public body such as a school board or city council. In Waldinger’s case, the corporation did not have to pay federal taxes on more than $1.1 million of earnings for its work on the Iowa Events Center. Waldinger wouldn't disclose how much it saved on its tax bill. But in a 35 percent tax bracket, it would have saved the company nearly $400,000. Guy Gast, president of Waldinger’s Des Moines division, contends that taxpayers are benefiting from the efficient design, resulting in savings in ongoing operating expenses. He also said the deduction helps businesses, encouraging them to reinvest, which spurs the economy. "As for the taxpayer, that question will always be out there: 'Does the taxpayer benefit or not?'" Gast said. “I think the federal government looked at it as … 'We're willing to do that in exchange for getting more energy efficient buildings.'" City employees sound alarm Still, questions continue to dog the tax deduction, including concerns about whether those who get it really deserve it. In recent years, requests to Des Moines city officials regarding 179D tax breaks have repeatedly raised red flags. In a 2014 email exchange, Des Moines City Architect Jill Tenney notified Alliantgroup that she believed its client, Rochon Corp., was not the designer of record for a Franklin Avenue Library project and therefore wasn't eligible for the tax break. The law bars the deduction for an entity "that merely installs, repairs or maintains the property." Alliantgroup continued to pursue the deduction anyway. In 2016, Alliantgroup sought to obtain the deduction for Halvorson Trane, a Clive heating and cooling contractor that Tenney also said wasn't eligible. On another project last year, a Des Moines city employee at least three times rejected an effort from Alliantgroup to secure deductions worth almost $6.5 million at a water reclamation building for Premier Electrical Corp., a Minnesota-based company. James Beck, an engineer Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority, recently called out a discrepancy on a contract for work done at the site which the contractor would have gotten tax deductions for. (Photo11: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register) Premier Electrical was a subcontractor on the project, not the designer of record, and the city did not install heating and cooling systems at the facility that reduced the building’s total energy and power cost, said James Beck, an engineer at the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority. Even so, Alliantgroup twice more submitted documents seeking Beck’s signature on Premier applications, email records show. "Can you believe this crap?" Beck said in an email to his boss forwarding one of the requests. Premier president Colin Olson continues to maintain his company deserves the deduction because he says the system it installed, which converts sewage gas to electricity, could save the city tens of thousands of dollars a month on its electric bill. The Register identified other instances in which contractors not explicitly identified as the designers of energy efficient systems nonetheless received 179D signoffs. Madrid School District Superintendent Brian Horn in 2015 signed a form that allowed Halvorson Trane to claim an $88,916 deduction, even though Halvorson was a subcontractor, not the designer of record. Likewise, on the Iowa Events Center project, the designer of the qualifying work was KJWW Engineering, not Waldinger, which claimed the deduction, according to public records and statements made by designers involved in the project. Taking a harder look at contracts Des Moines city government employees have signed over at least nine 179D deductions on taxpayer-owned projects since 2015, potentially lowering the tax liabilities for private companies by some $1.1 million. In August 2015, Kirk Robinson, Des Moines’ building maintenance manager, signed seven of the nine 179D forms to allow deductions to be transferred to private companies, documents show. Carl Metzger, the deputy city manager, and Tenney, the city architect, said they were unaware Robinson had signed the documents until the Register brought them to their attention. The city received no financial benefit from authorizing any of the 179D deductions. In light of the Register's reporting, Metzger said future deductions must go through Tenney and will require notification of the City Council for discussion about possible rebates. “We’d have to begin to take a harder look at what we’re really talking about in terms of value of the deduction and share with the council the background information we are now aware of,” Metzger said. Who deserves the tax breaks? Government officials and companies that deal with 179D tax breaks disagree about what participating governments are entitled to in return for agreeing to sign off on the tax break. Alliantgroup’s approach to obtaining 179D allocations, based on dozens of documents reviewed by The Des Moines Register, typically involves contacting a government entity on behalf of a client shortly before or after a project is completed and requesting a signed allocation letter. RELATED: Ex-Grassley aide helps his firm reap profits from tax deduction he shepherded in Congress The government agency gets nothing back in exchange for authorizing the tax break. But records and interviews show other tax consultants as well as architectural and engineering firms take very different approaches, frequently offering some kind of financial benefit to the governments approving the deductions. Some firms have negotiated with governments at the outset of a project, agreeing to a lower bid price with the understanding that they’ll receive a 179D authorization when the work is complete. For example, in 2011, officials from Miami-Dade County in Florida initiated a policy approved through its county attorney’s office that mandates the county receive 179D benefits. The policy specifies that designers must discount their contract price or provide a cash rebate after the credit is claimed. It was adopted after Miami-Dade officials discovered authorization for a deduction on at least one project without any benefit to the county. Since then, Miami-Dade has collected more than $2.5 million on its 179D deduction awards, which has been used to help defray project costs or invest in other energy efficient projects, said Patricia Gomez, a program manager for the county. “This is an opportunity for any government,” Gomez said. In other cases, firms have paid the government a portion of the value of the tax deduction as a “rebate.” Records obtained by the Register show the Cedar Rapids School District worked out rebates with the Shive-Hattery architecture and engineering firm, sometimes receiving a payment worth 50 percent of the value of the deduction. For Des Moines schools, Shive-Hattery donated $21,500 for its 2011 work at Brody and Merrill middle schools. “Since we can’t do it without you assigning it to us and you can’t get any benefit without working with a designer, we basically give them what we call a rebate,” said Jake Young, the director of finance for Shive-Hattery. “We split the benefit." The University of Texas at Austin has received nearly $1.4 million in return for agreements to assign the deductions to project designers. And The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last year announced nearly $400,000 in savings at One World Trade Center through 179D agreements. However, Alliantgroup and national organizations like the American Institute of Architects and the American Council of Engineering Companies have sharply criticized such arrangements, saying they amount to unethical kickbacks. That point of view is disputed by key lawmakers and independent tax policy watchdogs. Florida TaxWatch, a nonpartisan research group, has issued briefings advising governments to take part in the savings. “By definition, kickbacks are illegal," said Bob Nave, the group’s president of research. "This is a legal process available to public entities to recover a portion of their investments to make their buildings more energy efficient." About this project This project began in fall 2016, after a source raised questions about whether taxpayers were benefiting from the 179D tax break, intended to promote long-term savings by designing more energy efficiency into government buildings. Register reporters Jason Clayworth and Jason Noble found there is no federal database tracking how much has been claimed in 179D tax deductions. The IRS denied the Register's records request about use of the 179D deduction, saying the information is part of private tax records. So Clayworth and Noble started their examination locally, using Iowa's open records law. Their requests to some of Iowa's largest city and county governments yielded incomplete records. Some government officials said that after they signed off on the tax breaks, building designers never returned documents showing whether the deduction was claimed. The Register cited a provision in 179D law specifying that recipients of the deduction must provide building owners with documentation that the deduction had been claimed. Most government officials then turned over the records. One exception was the city of Des Moines, which did not provide documentation of claimed deductions. Jason Clayworth is an investigative reporter at The Des Moines Register who focuses on law enforcement, government spending and open records issues. He is an Iowa native and a graduate of Drake University Jason Noble is the Register’s chief politics reporter, covering statewide politics and government and the Iowa caucuses. He’s a graduate of Iowa State University, with a master's degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/2krR1v8THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT on Wednesday published a proposed new law to reform and dramatically expand surveillance powers in the United Kingdom. The 190-page Investigatory Powers Bill is thick with detail and it will probably take weeks and months of analysis until its full ramifications are understood. In the meantime, I’ve read through the bill and noted down a few key aspects of the proposed powers that stood out to me — including unprecedented new data retention measures, a loophole that allows spies to monitor journalists and their sources, powers enabling the government to conduct large-scale hacking operations, and more. Internet connection records In the days prior to the publication of the Investigatory Powers Bill, the British government’s Home Secretary Theresa May claimed that the law would not be “giving new powers to go through people’s browsing history.” However, the text of the bill makes clear that this is precisely what the government is trying to do. Under the proposed law, Internet companies in the U.K. would be forced to record and store for up to 12 months logs showing websites visited by all of their customers. The government has tried to present this as “not a record of every web page” accessed (emphasis added). This is technically true, but it’s also extremely misleading. The logs will show every web site you visited — for example, bbc.com — as opposed to the specific pages on that website, for example, bbc.com/news. This information, especially when accumulated over a period of a year, would still be highly personal, potentially revealing your political preferences, sexuality, religion, medical problems, and other details that could be used to draw inferences about your private life. The attempt to obtain this power is a politically radical move. As far as I am aware, no other Western democracy has implemented a nationwide data retention regime that encompasses all citizens’ annual web browsing habits. The British government says the data will only be looked at to determine, for example, “whether someone [has] accessed a communications website [or] an illegal website.” But there are only limited safeguards in place to ensure these conditions are not breached by overzealous authorities. Police will be able to access the records without any judicial approval; a person’s website browsing records can be obtained after a “designated senior officer” grants an authorization. Notably, British surveillance agency Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, already has systems it uses to sweep up and monitor people’s website browsing histories in bulk, as The Intercept reported in September. You can make it much harder for the government and Internet companies to monitor your browsing habits by adopting the anonymity tool Tor. Spying on journalists The draft bill includes a welcome safeguard that will force police to obtain judicial authorization if they are seeking to use metadata to identify a journalist’s confidential sources. However, the provision protecting journalists from arbitrary police spying contains a gaping loophole that exempts British intelligence agencies, meaning they still have carte blanche to monitor journalists’ communications without any judicial approval. The law will also ensure that the surveillance is kept secret from journalists and their legal representatives, unlike the stronger system that is in place in the United States for journalists when it comes to government surveillance. Leading oversight? The British government claims that new measures contained in the bill amount to “world-leading oversight.” Unfortunately, this is nonsense. While it is true that the proposed law would to some degree strengthen the extremely lax surveillance safeguards currently in place in the U.K., the changes would not amount to the creation of a world-leading system. Warrants for the interception of the content of communications are presently signed off by a government minister; under the new legal regime, the government minister would sign off the warrant and then it would go to a “judicial commissioner” (likely a current or former judge) who would review it and decide whether to grant final approval. This additional layer of judicial scrutiny on its face seems like a significant change, but in practice, as some British legal experts have pointed out, it is not clear whether the judicial commissioner would have a great deal of power to properly scrutinize or formally “authorize” the warrants in anything other than a supervisory role. Moreover, the government minister would retain the power to bypass the authority of the judicial commissioner if there were deemed to be an “urgent need” to approve a warrant. Bulk hacking A section of the bill proposes new powers to allow police to perform what is euphemistically termed “equipment interference.” In normal language, this means hacking. In recent years, British authorities have been very anxious about adopting hacking techniques, fearing that such methods could violate the U.K.’s computer misuse laws. However, under the powers contained in the new surveillance law, police would be handed the authority to launch hacking operations in cases involving “serious crime” and where a judicial commissioner approves a warrant that has already been signed off by a senior officer. Notably, the bill also contains a clause designed to allow British spy agencies to perform “bulk equipment interference” — in other words, large-scale hacking of computers or phones to covertly collect data or monitor communications. Prior to the Edward Snowden disclosures, it would have been unthinkable for the British government to admit that it performed any kind of hacking, so to see powers for this tactic formalized in such a way is quite remarkable. It represents an attempt to institutionalize, broaden, and perhaps in some cases even retroactively legalize the tactics the agencies have been deploying in recent years on dubious legal footing under cover of secrecy. Anti-whistleblower clause The bill includes a clause that seeks to criminalize any “unauthorized disclosure” by telecommunications employees of any details about government surveillance. The clause appears designed to stifle leaks and deter whistleblowers. A breach of this section of the proposed law would result in a 12-month jail term and a fine. Encryption ban In the lead-up to the publication of the bill, there was speculation that the British government may try to impose a ban on strong encryption. The bill does not seek to ban encryption, but it does make clear that the government will have powers to serve companies with a “technical capability notice” for the “removal of electronic protection applied by a relevant operator.” The government says this measure does not go beyond the powers it already has to compel Internet companies to remove encryption from communications or data they process. But the phrasing of the technical capability clause is vague and it remains unclear whether it could in practice be used to attempt to force companies to place surveillance backdoors in their encryption products — such as, for instance, smartphone apps offering encrypted chats. Domestic spying In September, The Intercept reported that British spy agency MI5 was conducting extensive domestic surveillance within the U.K. as part of a program named DIGINT. But the publication of the Investigatory Powers Bill brought with it the first official confirmation: The British government admitted that MI5 has been involved in bulk surveillance of domestic communications. Announcing the proposed new law on Wednesday, the home secretary referred to the “use of bulk communications data” in relation to a domestic terrorist plot that was said to have been aimed at the London Stock Exchange. The bulk surveillance was authorized under the Telecommunications Act, a 1984 law that has been used to secretly obtain communications from companies when doing so is deemed to be “in the interests of national security or international relations.” If the new Investigatory Powers Bill is passed into law, it will replace this power, ensuring that the bulk domestic surveillance continues unabated. Top photo: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesEver since I unboxed the Windows Phone 8X by HTC back in November 2012, I've been using Windows Phone 8 as my daily driver, and a couple of days ago marks a full three months of using the platform. I wanted to give myself a decent stint using Windows Phone to see whether the operating system is the right choice for me - I've even used it across three devices - and the verdict is in: I won't be sticking with WP8. As a reviewer I'm in a rare position where I can simply pick and choose whichever phones and operating systems I want to use. I have the opportunity to test a range of different hardware and software over the course of a year, and if I don't like something I can simply return to Android or iOS without any serious cost to me. Writing for a website that covers a lot of Windows Phone, I wanted to get some serious use of the refreshed OS under my belt, but after using it for three months it just isn't right for me. So why isn't Windows Phone 8 the right choice? Here's an outline of what I found awesome about the platform, and what needs improving before I can call it my #1 choice. The Highlights Undoubtedly there are some great things about Windows Phone, a lot of which I will miss
have a Boston-related story idea, feel free to pitch me.i have a very important exam tomorrow i hope you're happy wasting time on fanfic instead of doing your study fml -_-" thus, super short chapter but tbh i don't actually know where im going with this. i have a vague outline, but then, all my stories are "vague outlines". The professor was actually quite forgiving, after Anna had explained that Elsa was a bit special but she was very sorry (and Elsa proceeded to nod her head fiercely, looking as contrite as she could be). When they were halfway out the door, he'd called Anna back just to say, "Your friend is quite observant, isn't she?" The same sinking feeling had accosted Anna, and she'd only been able to mumble out a response before giving a poor excuse of having to go to another class. Elsa had left her behind, and Anna found her happily rolling around in the snow, getting her clothes damp. She didn't seem to mind, and most people were actually...ignoring her. Huh. Anna hadn't expected that. As soon as she saw Anna, Elsa jumped up, arms coming to wrap around her in a tight hug. "Anna!" she cried. It wasn't loud, but it still held every single ounce of Elsa's regular excitability. Anna just held her until she let go. She was still smiling, and not the massive grin. It was smaller, just her lips curled. She swayed, shifting her weight across her feet, still just looking at the redhead. It made Anna uncomfortable. So, she reached forward, and taking Elsa's hand, began to lead her... somewhere. An unoccupied bench where they could have a talk. She felt her hand being squeezed, but not in a painful way. It was kinda nice. It honestly wasn't difficult, finding a bench. A lot of the other students were indoors, either in class or just to escape the chill. The sun was shining, so it wasn't too bad, but Anna still had plans to retreat inside, either home or the library (...probably not the library. She couldn't trust Elsa yet not to chew on the books) in the very near future. That being said, she spent a good few minutes completely silent, staring at her lap and fidgeting. She knew what she wanted to say, but the words just wouldn't come. It wasn't until Elsa, who until that point had been quite content to take in her surroundings, climbed onto Anna's lap. Sitting perpendicular, legs splayed out over the length of the bench while her butt rested on Anna's thighs, she tucked her head onto Anna's chest. Anna, of course, had no idea what to do or make of this, plus her hands had been on her lap, which means they were also under Elsa's butt. "Anna not say sorry," she said softly. Anna frowned. "How'd you know I wanted to say sorry?" she asked. Elsa's head popped up, and she gave Anna a Look. Anna honestly didn't believe Elsa was capable of giving people Looks (at least, not yet), but here she was. And yeah, it was a stupid question considering what, exactly, Anna wanted to apologise for. "I'm sorry for the times I lied to you," she began. "I didn't realise..." Didn't realises what? That she knew I was lying? Sighing, she trailed off, unable to meet Elsa's intense blue eyes. "Anna not say sorry. Elsa know Anna have reason. Elsa still love Anna..." she said softly. Anna looked up briefly to see that same soft smile on Elsa's face, just before head head ducked and she lay it against Anna's chest. It was... really comfortable like this. If Anna wasn't so intent on Elsa returning to her original pomeranian state, she might even admit she enjoyed it. Until Elsa spotted that fucking squirrel and jumped up fast enough to bang Anna's chin. By the time the pain had lessened enough for her to try and catch up, Elsa was beneath a tree screaming "squirrel! Squirrel!" at the poor creature. It was kinda funny, but she was drawing far too much attention to herself. It didn't take much to convince her to leave the rodent alone. Elsa skipped the entire way back to the dorm room and Anna didn't get angry. They were making progress. Things were looking up.Wealthy Obamacare supporters won’t give up a few thousand dollars to enroll on the exchanges they tout. Aren’t liberals the ones who believe in social solidarity and ‘paying your fair share’? Even by government standards, it’s an outlandish story of wealth and hypocrisy: A bureaucrat who made more than $1 million selling Obamacare insurance plans, but won’t buy one for himself? The sad thing is, it also happens to be true. Meet Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California. In the past three years alone, Lee has made well over $1 million running California’s Obamacare exchange. He received massive raises in the past two years, going from a salary of $262,644 in 2014 to $420,000 beginning this July. On top of that nearly $160,000 raise, Lee received two other whopping bonuses of $52,258 in 2014 and $65,000 in 2015—winning more in one lump sum than many families make in an entire year. But at a September briefing, I asked Lee point-blank what type of health coverage he holds. He said he was enrolled in California’s state employee plan. Think about that: a bureaucrat whose salary comes from selling exchange plans—Covered California’s operating budget derives from surcharges on plans sold through the exchange—but yet won’t buy one of the plans he sells for himself. It’s enough to make a person ask how much Lee would have to make before he would actually break down and buy one of the plans he sells—a million dollars? Two million? Five million? Liberal One-Percenters: Good for You, Not For Me I’ll concede right now that Obamacare’s exchanges were designed primarily for those without employer coverage. Individuals whose employers do offer “affordable” coverage cannot receive subsidies on the exchanges, although they can enroll without a subsidy, if they so choose. Most Americans choose employer coverage, because firms heavily subsidize them—to the tune of an average of $12,865 for family coverage. For the average worker making $60,000, or even $80,000, per year, turning down the employer subsidy to purchase an unsubsidized exchange plan represents a substantial pay cut, one many families could not afford. But well-paid liberals like Lee—who over the last two years received raises more than 12 times the average employer’s subsidy for health coverage—have no real financial excuse not to join the exchanges—other than liberal elitism. As the owner of a new small business who likely won’t make six figures this year, I have little patience to hear supposed believers in Obamacare with far more means than I who won’t give up a few thousand dollars in employer subsidies to enroll on the exchanges themselves. After all, aren’t liberals the ones who believe in social solidarity and “paying your fair share”? Well-Heeled Bureaucrats and Think Tankers’ Hypocrisy For instance, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt literally cashed in to the tune of over $4.8 million in stock options on joining the Obama administration, more than enough to forego any employer subsidy for his health coverage. He recently responded to a questioner on Twitter asking him why he wasn’t on Medicare by stating that he was only 49 years of age—too young to qualify. Within minutes, I sent Slavitt a follow-up tweet: “If Obamacare is so great, are you on the Exchange—and if not, why not?” Slavitt has yet to reply. Both Slavitt and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell (net worth: $4.6 million) have plenty of financial resources to forego an employer subsidy and purchase exchange coverage. Even at a total premium of $15,000 for his family, one year’s insurance costs would total less than 0.3 percent of the stock gains Slavitt cashed in on when joining the administration—to say nothing of the millions he likely will make when he “cashes in” on his government experience in just a few months. Did Slavitt just not see my tweet asking him about his health coverage? Did he not reply because the person in charge of selling exchange policies doesn’t think they’re good enough to buy for himself? Or does he believe that someone who made millions a few short years ago is too “poor” to give up a few thousand dollars in employer subsidies for his health care? The ranks of well-paid liberals clamming up when asked about their health benefits extends beyond government into the think-tank ranks. In September, the Urban Institute published a paper claiming that exchange coverage was actually cheaper than the average employer plan. I e-mailed the papers’ authors, asking them a simple question: Had they taken steps to enroll in exchange coverage themselves, and encouraged the Urban Institute to send all its employees to the exchanges? I have yet to receive a reply from the three researchers. But after doing some digging, I found the Urban Institute’s Form 990 filing with the Internal Revenue Service. The form reveals that one of the study’s authors, John Holahan, received a total of $313,932 in compensation in 2014—$267,051 in salary, and $46,881 in other compensation and benefits. Does Holahan therefore believe that giving up his subsidized benefits and relying “only” upon his $267,051 salary presents too great a sacrifice for him to bear financially? If he and his colleagues truly believe exchange plans are more efficient than employer coverage—as opposed to just coming up with a talking point to rebut Obamacare’s massive premium increases—then shouldn’t they enroll themselves? I Make $400,000, So Quit Whining about Your Cost Hike Then there’s Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Last week Levitt tweeted that exchange premium increases don’t apply to many people—a talking point that Drew Altman, Kaiser’s CEO, has also made in blog posts. I replied asking whether Levitt himself, or other people using this talking point, actually have exchange coverage, to which Levitt gave no response. Care to guess how much these scholars claiming exchange premium increases are overrated make themselves? According to Kaiser’s IRS filing, Levitt received $333,048 in salary and $48,563 in benefits in 2014. His boss, Altman, pulled down a whopping $642,927 in salary, $149,509 in retirement plan contributions, and a $13,545 expense account—nearly $806,000 in total compensation. The contradictions from the Kaiser researchers are ironic on two levels. One could certainly argue that an executive making nearly $400,000, let alone more than $800,000, doesn’t need comprehensive health insurance, except to protect from severe emergencies, like getting hit by the proverbial bus. However, both appear loath to give up their employer-provided health coverage, and equally quick to minimize the impact of Obamacare’s premium increases nationwide. As I noted on Twitter, that’s easy for people who refuse to join the exchanges to say. Last, but certainly not least, on the hit parade is Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Jonathan “Stupidity of the American Voter” Gruber. Last week, Gruber said Obamacare “was working as designed” and that people who lost their coverage thanks to the law “never had real insurance to begin with.” Unfortunately, MIT’s tax filings don’t include his salary. However, given that Gruber’s infamous undisclosed contract with the Obama administration totaled nearly $400,000, and that he literally made millions from other contracts, it’s fair to say Gruber could afford to purchase his own health insurance outside his employer—if he wanted to. So I e-mailed and asked him whether he gave up his employer coverage to purchase the “real insurance” Obamacare provides. Wouldn’t you know, I have yet to receive a reply. It’s bad enough that the individuals above apparently refuse to give up their platinum-plated health plans to join the exchanges, even though it would cost them at most a few percentage points of their total compensation to do so. They also wish to cast stones from their ivory towers at those of us who are facing higher premiums, rising deductibles, fewer (if any) choices of insurers, and smaller doctor networks thanks to the law they claim to support. So to all those well-heeled Obamacare supporters who can afford to enroll in Obamacare themselves, but simply won’t, I’ll make one final point: Disagree with me if you like, but I’m working my damnedest to stop Obamacare’s bailouts—even though I know that if I “win” on the policy, I could lose my health coverage. It’s called standing on principle. It’s a novel concept. You might want to try it sometime.Met police say one officer stabbed along with two members of the public, while another officer injured by a bottle Police in riot gear were deployed in Hyde Park in central London on Tuesday after an event originally described as a free party and water fight turned ugly – with one officer stabbed and another injured after being hit with a bottle. The violence started earlier in the afternoon when a crowd of young people began gathering in the park on what was the hottest day of the year so far. According to witnesses posting comments on social media, a largely good-natured crowd were told to disperse by police officers, prompting some to start throwing bottles. Later in the evening two members of the public were taken to hospital suffering from stab wounds. The two police officers were also treated in hospital and subsequently discharged. Images posted on social media show scores of young people gathering as police officers, many carrying riot shields, tried to clear the area. The crowds did not disperse until 2.20am on Wednesday, police said. One video on Twitter, posted by an account called ‘YT_Bricks’, showed parts of the disturbances and can be heard saying “... they are throwing bottles at Fed cars... they are mashing up the Fed cars.” Earlier this week, flyers had been distributed on social media advertising a free party, which brought hundreds of young people into the area. The unofficial event follows large parts of the park being closed to the public last week as the royal parks hosted their British Summer Time concerts, featuring stars such as Stevie Wonder, Pharrell, Carole King and Massive Attack. There had been anger expressed by residents living nearby at the noise of the gigs, and by community activists at the fact what was once a public open space was now being used to make promoters and the royal parks large sums of money while blocking off access to local communities. At 10pm, the Metropolitan police said they were still dealing with “disorder”. A police spokesperson confirmed two officers suffered injuries – one stabbed and another hit with as bottle – and that two others were also reported to have been stabbed and had been taken to hospital. A statement added: “Police in Westminster were in attendance at Hyde Park, by the Serpentine, from 3pm after a large number of people gathered for a spontaneous ‘water fight’. “At around 8.40pm, parts of the increasingly large crowd become hostile to police and items – including bottles – were thrown towards officers.” Westminster Conservative councillor Glenys Roberts, said many residents in areas around Hyde Park felt increasingly disenfranchised by the use of the park during the summer for commercial events, and that free parties could be a response to them. She added: “The concerts are a great nuisance. Many feel strongly that the park is a free space that should be open to everybody. The concerts do not even seem to make enough money to repair damage to the grass or improve the park for the enjoyment of all.” A spokesperson for The Royal Parks said “Event organisers pay for reinstatement of the park after events. The Royal Parks holds concerts to bring in the much needed self-generated funding to keep the parks in the amazing state that millions of people enjoy every year. Over the past 10 years we’ve seen our government grant reduce by about 50% so these funds are vital to the upkeep of Hyde Park. “Just 11 per cent of Hyde Park is taken up for the concerts and during that two-week period that area is open more than it’s closed with a range of free activities taking place during the week. We have worked hard with our event partners to minimise any disruption and this approach has meant that complaints have reduced year on year. And 2016 was no exception.” • This article was amended on 22 July 2016 to append a quote from The Royal Parks.A former senior adviser to President Obama defended President-elect Trump's transition operation on Thursday by saying the incoming Republican leader and his staff are moving at the same pace as Obama and his team in 2008 when he was tasked with putting together a government. "Lots of reasons to be concerned about [Donald Trump's] transition but the pace of announcements isn't one of them," David Axelrod, who worked as a chief strategist for Obama's presidential campaigns, wrote on Twitter. "That's not a fair shot," he added. Lots of reasons to be concerned about @realDonaldTrump transition but the pace of announcements isn't one of them. That's not a fair shot. — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 17, 2016 Axelrod noted that Obama's transition team "hadn't made any major appointments at this point in 2008" and he doesn't "remember being criticized for it." So far, Trump and his team have only announced two appointments to his administration, White House chief-of-staff and senior adviser. But Trump has been conducting dozens of meetings each day with potential Cabinet members and others rumored to be under consideration for key posts in the new administration. Two Trump aides told reporters Wednesday evening that transition staffers have been busy putting together landing teams — or groups who will work with various federal agencies to prepare for the Trump administration. Trump's transition operation was described by the media as being in a state of disarray earlier this week after some staffers were fired and several Obama administration officials confirmed they had not been contacted by the president-elect's team. "Veterans of Washington's transition rituals said Mr. Trump seemed to be further behind," the New York Times reported Wednesday. But just like Axelrod, Vice President Joe Biden downplayed such reports after he met with Vice President-elect Pence and his wife, Karen, on Wednesday. "No administration is ready on day one. We weren't ready on day one," Biden told reporters gathered outside the vice presidential residence. "But I'm confident on day one, everything will be in good hands."When asked about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Donald Trump said he helped save her job as she gained weight. The 'Morning Joe' panel discusses. Related Video: Clinton Ad Features 'Miss Universe' Winner That Donald Trump Insulted "Why are they still talking about this?" asked co-host Joe Scarborough. "Newt Gingrich is talking about that? Seriously? Are you kidding me?" "That's the pot calling the kettle black," commented Mika Brzezinski. "Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich can walk around, just, rotund as all get out, and it is not an issue. But women in order to be beautiful you have to be 117 pounds. Can you tell me, what year we're in here? Is this 2016?" "I think we're back in the 70s," she said. "With those hideous pageants that we need to talk about at some point. Somebody who runs beauty pageants, you have to think about how they think about women. Look at those beauty pageants. Look at them... Young women in bikinis getting graded on how they look. I can't believe we still do these things. But somebody who ran beauty pageants, and still talks about gaining weight as a problem, do we really want that person in the White House?" Newt Gingrich discussed this issue on last night's Hannity.I keep wondering if I can pull off HALO jumps using the grappling hook from a space station in the Asteroid Biome. That said, I'm pretty sure SOMETHING can be built to allow people to get from the ground to all the way up there. Just look at some of the homes in recent pictures. They have ladders. That's going to be one hell of a ladder, but if it works. If you noticed from Tiy's "Long Way Down" video he was in a suit up there. That means like underwater bases I think Asteroid Bases will need airlocks and sealed walls. Otherwise, they'll be suit only affair until those features get added. Personally I'd love to see if I could grow trees up in a mini biome base/cylinder way up there. Click to expand...As a photographers, we get that unique opportunities to see things from a different perspective, so when I got a call "If I'm interested in shooting a report from a synchronized swimming event" I immediately knew, I need to see it & shoot it from underwater. Only problem was that I've had zero practical experience shooting underwater and only one theoretical, which was this cool CJ video. The camera: Usually my primary camera is a great little Fuji X100, but I was worried that for this underwater occasion it would not be focusing well&quick enough, so I decided to go with a new Fuji X-E2 with an 18-55/2.8-4 stabilized lens. I haven't found any real-life underwater test of this camera which only boosted my curiosity on how it'll perform in my unexperienced hands. The underwater housing: The Aquapac 451 was the only pack with just-the-right size for both the X100 and the X-E2 (and probably any mirrorless camera on the market right now) I could get my hands on in Czech Republic. I've paid 70$ for which it almost felt too good to be true and really waterproof since it looks like a effing hardcore camera raincoat (..which it basically is) The lighting: My original plan was to put some strobes outside the water and trigger them via my Elinchrom Skyport triggers from underwater but unfortunately, the world doesn't go like that and it's impossible to easily trigger the lights underwater with radio signal. I have to depend on the ambient light & high ISO. Oops. How it all works in action: The housing luckily really is waterproof and It worked like a charm with an great XE-2. It flows in the water, which doesn't sound like much, but paired with a bundled carrying strap it's kinda sweet feature and you have one thing less to worry about in the field. Another fact I didn't know about: Water is acting like a 1.5ish teleconverter to your focal length, so I've spent most of my time on 18mm/2.8 around 2000-4000ISO and 1/80-1/125s shuter speed. I expected a worse lighting conditions there, so nothing to complaint about- Fuji X-E2 holds these ISOs pretty well and at the 18mm it focuses surprisingly good&fast even underwater. My mindset was clear: To deliver the unique visual experience which only I was able to see there. To celebrate the feeling of being underwater which both I & especially the synchronized swimmers loves so much, even when I wasn't able to control anything happening there and was constantly worrying no to disturb the whole performance too much, because after all, I was there "only" as an event photographer. The postproduction: Nothing special, just some WB, clarity, curves and colour tweaking in Lightroom 5.3, which finally supports the RAF files from the X-E2. Hooray! The conclusion: The new Fujifilm X-E2 is a big jump ahead its predecessor in terms of autofocus and overall responsibility not just on the land, but underwater as well.. And you don't have to worry to put it in aquapac housing :) Full gallery HERE. EDIT: My best friend Ondra Penicka was there and he made a short (little bit cheap&awkward exactly the way we like it) video about it:) You can check the video HEREThe Redmi Note 3 is undoubtedly a huge success for the Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi. The company released the smartphone first in China followed by India and few other Asian countries. If you have been following the Redmi Note 3, it is needless to say that this device offers a lot more than its price tag. It comes in two storage options – 2GB RAM with 16GB built-in memory, and 3GB of RAM with 32GB built-in storage. The phones are currently available in India through Flipkart and Amazon India for Rs. 9,999 (2GB RAM) and Rs. 11,999 (3GB RAM). But if you are reading this article, you don’t really need to think about the price for now, as we are giving away one Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (16GB variant) to our loyal readers for free! If you are looking to buy a Redmi Note 3 smartphone, you may not need to do so. You can win the smartphone for free just by following the few steps given in the giveaway widget below. The good thing about this giveaway is that it is not limited to any country, which means you can participate from any country you live in. For those who are not aware, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 features a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 16MP primary camera, a 5MP front-facing shooter, a 4,050mAh battery and Snapdragon 650 SoC. You can participate in the free giveaway for Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 below. Do not forget to read the terms and conditions for the giveaway. Note: This is not a sealed-box-packed device, as we have used the smartphone for 2 months for reviewing it. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 GiveawayHere's what you do if you are going to have a party. I am not talking about a college party, I am now talking about any party, anywhere, at any age, at any location on the planet. Take everyone's phone and put it in the refrigerator. Find the largest, meanest person at that party with whom you are on good terms with, and ask them nicely to guard it. If you must, pay them in food, alcohol, drugs, or cash to do so. No, girl, you can't have it back. Boy, step away from this brushed aluminum wonder of a refrigerator. You can have a beer but you cannot have your phone back. Someone paid good money for it to keep things cold and tonight one of those things is your snapchat account. It's frosty and dead until you leave this party, because people should be able to do a few foolish things in life without being filmed. Go take a selfie in the mirror by blinking and pretending you're a camera until you're done here. PUT YOUR PHONE IN THE REFRIGERATOR. Just do it, because what you don't understand is the law of multiplicative rhetorical stupidity, i.e. the more people you get involved in your life the dumber any discussion about your life gets. And if you're a college athlete of any renown--even one that played for a middling Mizzou team, let's say randomly and for no reason at all-- you can't even fake or half-step doing a drug in front of a camera without half the state jumping up your ass about it, and clumsily tying it to everything else that's happened in the program. You don't want your life becoming another tin can tied behind someone's rhetorical clown car, do you? No you don't. There have been generations of athletes and celebrities who led perfectly flawed and average and messy lives because they mastered one discipline integral to having a private life: put the phones in the refrigerator, both metaphorically and literally. This isn't about you being a better person, because hoooboy, who the hell are we to say anything about that. This isn't about excusing drug use, because most drugs are frankly a waste of time unless we're talking about prescription amphetamines, the drugs that got us to the moon, created modern mathematics, and made this country great. Ignore that last statement, it definitely wasn't serious at all. Nope. Not one bit. This is about having a life, and part of having that life is putting your phone in the fridge because not everything in life should be documented. Life should have a series of expendable worthless moments no one remembers, or that maybe only one person remembers, or even five people staying up all night doing some C-grade cocaine and playing Madden until their eyes bleed remember. It doesn't have to be filmed. It probably shouldn't be filmed, particularly if you're in a bad place and working through some of the really dark things people have to work through in life. (Particularly when you're 21 or 22, and doing a tremendous about of stupid things anyway, and also maybe going through some serious family issues? Just maybe that's all happening.) And by the way, even if you do film it, I know you won't even edit it correctly, with your lazy shaky camera technique. Looks like it was filmed by Paul Greengrass trying to stand on an exercise ball.Made in China. The three ubiquitous words on inexpensive products all over the world. Toothpicks, tennis rackets, birthday candles, air fresheners. It all comes from China, but much of it—on the order of 60 percent of the worlds cheap consumable goods—comes from just one city: Yiwu. Yiwu is a small town by Chinese standards (pop. 1.2 million). But it’s globally significant to anyone who has ever bought socks, zippers, or a cheap last-minute Halloween costume. The city attracts business visitors from all over the world. Buyers come year-round to survey goods and make bulk orders that end up in hardware stores, souvenir shops, and big-box retailers on every continent. According to one estimate by a local trade group, more than 60 percent of all Christmas decorations, especially lights, originate in Yiwu. “Christmas starts in September there,” says Raffaele Petralla, a photographer who visited Yiwu to see the city of trinkets up close. “Christmas in China was once forbidden, during the years of communism, but now they see it as a big opportunity to sell things.” The Christmas market covers an area larger than a stadium. There’s also a market for toys, one specifically for zippers, and another for socks. The largest market, a hodge podge with a little of everything, stands on 640 acres and holds more than 58,000 individual stalls. I Didn't Know That: How Christmas Trees Are Made Travel to China to visit a factory that mass-produces the popular plastic Christmas tree for the Western market. Factories in Yiwu make many of the goods, but the spirit of production also extends to the suburbs and countryside, where people sew in their own homes and then sell the products to a market, where a person takes a cut to sell them to a buyer from, say, Korea, Japan, or the United States. By one estimate, more than 1,000 shipping containers leave Yiwu each day for foreign ports. Being around so many cheap products began to feel surreal for Petralla. Things were for sale everywhere, in stories, on the sidewalk, even in the streets. He passed stalls full of people selling the same objects, all produced nearby. Squirt guns, soccer balls, jewelry, stuffed animals, hair ties, phone cases. Everything for sale for pennies. Like many Chinese cities, Yiwu’s economy was once powered mainly by agriculture, producing things like chicken and sugar. Beginning in the 1950s, the city began to transition to production center for tradable goods. City officials invested in infrastructure and factories. Farm workers who might’ve moved away were put to work making things that could be sold cheaply on the international market. As Yiwu has built its 21st-century economy on quantity, it has in the past few decades begun to invest more in quality as well. In 2005, one maker of socks invested more than $100 million to make “the most advanced set of socks,” built more durably and with experimental materials. The same occurred for zippers, once cheap and disposable, after significant investment to make them sleeker and stronger. So much production and commerce results in a culture of competitiveness, where people try to outsell their neighbors. But what unites everyone seems to be pride in making things that are consumed everywhere on the planet. “From the poorest people to the richest, everyone across every social class in Yiwu seemed very proud of their production,” says Petralla. Belts, fishing rods, mittens, One city’s work, reproduced billions of times.Channel 4 has announced that Skins will bow out with one final series. The E4 teen drama has been recommissioned for a special seventh run - made up of three films broken up into six parts - to be broadcast in 2013, Digital Spy can confirm. Famous Skins characters from the past five years will appear in the 'celebratory' series. Nicholas Hoult (Tony), Kaya Scodelario (Effy), Jack O'Connell (Cook) and Luke Pasqualino (Freddie) are among those who could return. > Poll: Which former Skins characters should come back? "Channel 4 today confirmed that next year's series of E4's teen drama Skins will be its last," the broadcaster said this evening. "The new series will be a celebration of this truly iconic series, and will go to air in early 2013." "Skins is a brilliant show which has defined a generation and will go down as a game-changing piece of television," the statement added. "But after seven series it is time for E4 to make way for the next generation of the bold, the new and the innovative." Skins, which launched in 2007, is currently airing its sixth series every Monday at 10pm on E4.As the head of Tropico, you're the brilliant mastermind guiding a mass of bumbling idiots, and it is through your power and will alone that any of them manage to accomplish anything in Tropico 5. You set the budgets for every building and figure out where everything needs to go, like whether you'll keep food on the island for your people to eat, or if you direct it to a cannery and sell it to the highest bidder. Each of these choices come with consequences, though. Eventually, you have enough factions on your island that they'll start having their own ideas of how to run Tropico best. Their opinions are wrong, of course. Only you know best, but their concerns still have to be addressed lest you find yourself in the middle of an uprising. And those are troublesome things. All of these different factions, their leaders, and the choices you make that mold their opinion of you are vital pieces that reflect the game's central focus: keeping you in power. Whether you're kind of cruel doesn't matter, so long as you can maintain your position. And that fits with the game's cheeky sense of humor. Your advisor, Penultimo, is so foolish that he'll spout Batman jokes while you hunt down crime lords, or get distracted by jewelry when you first learn how to refine gold. It's a tone that seeps into the game at nearly every level from missions and diplomatic errands to curt quips when rebels get testy. Granted, all of these things come at a cost. If your people are starving it's hard to maintain a strong, healthy work force. Without that, you won't be making much money at all--either for Tropico or your offshore accounts. Corruption too, while advantageous for your dynasty, drives up the cost of buildings, making critical resources tougher to provide for your populace. It pays, then, to keep your people happy and healthy. It's easier to just give them decent housing than it is to suppress protestors, but sometimes things don't always go your way. Tropico 5 is about managing in and outflows of resources. And that's not always consistent or stable. Your sole connection to the world outside, at least at first, is your port. You have to trade for anything you can't make directly, and trade is the key to keeping your coffers filled. Food is your first priority. But once you've got your citizens fed, you can start cutting down your forests and refining the lumber into planks to sell. Or you can bypass that--try to find a gold mine and make jewelry instead, or grow sugar and distill it for rum. How you build out your economy is up to you. The opening is simple because you'll only have one supply chain to worry about at first. As your nation grows, new resources will become available, others will deplete, and trade routes will shift. Each of these forces acts like a test, of sorts. They check to see if your island's fledgling economy is strong enough to weather shocks. In time, Tropico will throw in even more complex forces. Different factions like the United States and USSR will pressure you to trade with them. They'll ask you to supply them with materials, and, in true, tongue-in-cheek Tropico fashion, you'll have to wrangle your incompetent staff from making a fool of you on the world's stage. It's telling that one of the most advanced technologies you can research is just "Table Manners." It's an effective chain of events that, while repetitive, keeps you on your toes. You can't settle into a set economic strategy because some external force or an idiot islander will always come up and nudge you off that course. In action, it all just works, and while Tropico tries to offload some of the micromanagement involved with transportation, for example, there's still plenty of layers of depth here for those that want to dig into the game. In a welcome surprise the console versions translate almost all of that depth. That's rare for a console port of a PC strategy game, a genre notorious for its dependence on a mouse and keyboard, but the transition isn't perfect. The biggest problem I had was when I was trying to track down a few crime bosses to have them assassinated. They were stirring up some trouble and while police force knew who they were, my coppers weren't doing much to put them behind bars. Since Tropico renders every one of your citizens so that you can follow them around, bribe them, or gather useful info about how your people live, I was able to track down one crime lord. I zoomed all the way in to highlight him and then I had him killed. As I soon found out, though, I nabbed the wrong person. I not only had a political incident on my hands, but I'd wasted some money and lost a valuable worker. I tried again and missed a second time. Finally, I got him on the third attempt, but the sequence was frustrating and showed that while Tropico's console port is pretty spot-on as
not provided them. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jack Straw MP: "I have acted with complete probity and integrity throughout my parliamentary career" Former Prime Minister Tony Blair offered Mr Straw his support, saying he was a "byword for being a hard-working constituency MP and parliamentarian". Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said her party would "end second jobs for MPs". Mr Miliband said the allegations against Mr Straw were "disturbing" and called for the issue of second jobs to be settled "once and for all". Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sir Malcolm Rifkind: "My conscience is entirely clear" Prime Minister David Cameron said he did not favour a complete ban on MPs having other employment, saying Parliament was "enriched" in some cases by members' outside experience. Describing the reports as "very serious matters", he promised an "immediate disciplinary inquiry" into Sir Malcolm's case. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which manages MPs' pay, has recommended a 9% salary rise, but party leaders have said that would be unacceptable. Phillip Blond, director of the centre-right thinktank ResPublica, said MPs should be banned from having outside jobs - but should also have their pay increased. "We need to recognise that MPs are at the top of the public service tree, and pay them at the same level as top GPs, top civil servants, top head teachers," he said. Advisory board The undercover reporters had created a fictitious communications agency called PMR, which they said was based in Hong Kong. A statement on Channel 4's website said 12 MPs with "significant outside interests" were invited to apply for jobs with PMR, which had "plenty of money" and wanted to hire "influential British politicians to join its advisory board". "Not all politicians are for hire," the statement added. "Half of those approached didn't respond. One said he wanted to check us out in Hong Kong so we took it no further. And another said he just wasn't that interested. Of the others, two stood out - Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw." The documentary, called Politicians for Hire, will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 20:00 GMT.Noting that while motor movements in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) generally tend to slow down and decrease in intensity many retain the ability to move more quickly and forcefully, a team of scientists at Johns Hopkins Medical in Baltimore, Maryland, report evidence — gathered from proof-of-concept experiments with joysticks that measure force — that the slowdown likely arises from the brain’s cost/benefit analysis, which gets skewed by loss of dopamine — a chemical released throughout the cortex of the brain by specialized neurons that is known to make animals more likely to exert effort to achieve a reward — in people with PD. Additionally, the researchers’ study of a small group of 20 patients with PD demonstrated that brain cortex stimulation using external electrodes can correct some of the dopamine deficiency related distortion and temporarily improve some patients motor symptoms. Parkinson’s disease which affects up to 1 million Americans, is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. A slowly progressing neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson’s is caused by death of dopaminergic neurons in in a region of the midbrain called substantia nigra for reasons unknown. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that carries signals between the areas of the brain that regulate and control smooth, purposeful motor movement when performing routine tasks like eating, writing and shaving. Common first symptoms of Parkinson’s include tremors, rigidity and slowness of movement. While the motor symptoms can be treated with medication the disease’s progression cannot be prevented, and benefits of medication may fade as the disease progresses, and/or side effects can become problematic.At the Johns Hopkins Laboratory of Computational Motor Control, headed by Dr. Reza Shadmehr, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, video game-based experiments are a key element in the scientists’ pursuit of understanding how the brain controls movement, allowing performance of complex motions like reaching for a glass of water without even looking, and making them seem effortless. “Our work focuses on understanding how the human brain perceives the world, how it learns, and how it controls our movements,” explains Dr. Shadmehr. “We study actions of healthy people, as well as people with neurological disorders. We look for regularities and use mathematics to ask about the origins of these regularities. Our approach is non-invasive, aiming to never harm. Our tools include robotics, brain stimulation, and neuroimaging. We have two long-term aims: 1) to understand the basic function of the motor structures of the brain including the cerebellum, the basal ganglia, and the motor cortex; and 2) to understand the relationship between how our brain controls our movements, and how it controls our decisions.” Dr. Shadmehr is senior author of a report on the research published online in The Society for Neuroscience official Journal of Neuroscience on Sept. 2. “The loss of dopamine associated with Parkinsons disease makes the effort required to move the affected side of the body seem greater, so the brain is less willing to use that arm to complete tasks,” Dr. Shadmehr continues. “Our study suggests that direct current stimulation can compensate somewhat for the loss of dopamine by decreasing the effort the brain has to put into getting its motor neurons to fire.” Photo Caption: A volunteer models the noninvasive, electrical stimulation device used in this study. Image credit – Reza Shadmehr, Johns Hopkins Medicine The Journal of Neuroscience report, entitled “Altering Effort Costs in Parkinson’s Disease with Noninvasive Cortical Stimulation” (The Journal of Neuroscience, 2 September 2015, 35(35): 12287-12302; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1827-15.2015), is coauthored by Dr. Shadmehr and his research colleagues Yousef Salimpour of the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering Laboratory for Computational Motor Control, and Zoltan K. Mari of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Department of Neurology. The researchers observe that in Parkinson’s disease (PD), the human brain is capable of producing motor commands, but appears to require greater than normal subjective effort, particularly for movements on the more-affected side of the body. In Parkinsons, dopamine neurons generally die on one side of the brain, inhibiting the the patient’s ability of to exert effort with the opposite side of the body. In situations requiring quick reflex action such as preventing a ball from falling off a table, people with PD can often still make rapid, intense movements with their affected arm, but the scientists note that it seems as though the brain’s cost assessment for making everyday movements is abnormally high. To investigate the nature of this subjective increased effort demand and whether it be altered, they used an isometric task in which patients produced a goal force by engaging both arms, but were free to assign any fraction of that force to each arm. The researchers found that the PD patients preferred their less-affected arm, but only in some directions a preference correlated with lateralization of signal-dependent noise: the direction of force for which the brain was less willing to assign effort to an arm was generally the direction for which that arm exhibited greater noise. They found that consequently the direction-dependent noise in each arm acted as an implicit cost that discouraged use of that arm. To check for a causal relationship between noise and motor cost, the Dr. Shadmehr’s team used bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation of the motor cortex, placing the cathode on the more-affected side and the anode on the less-affected side. They found that this stimulation not only reduced the noise on the more-affected arm, it also increased the the patients’ willingness to assign force to that arm. In a 3 d double-blind study and in a 10 d repeated stimulation study, bilateral stimulation of the two motor cortices with cathode on the more-affected side reduced noise and increased the willingness of the patients to exert effort. This stimulation also improved the clinical motor symptoms of the disease. Based on their study’s findings, the coauthors conclude that In Parkinson’s disease, patients are less willing to assign force to their affected arm, and that this pattern is direction dependent: directions for which the arm is noisier coincide with directions for which the brain is less willing to assign force. They hypothesized that by reducing the noise on the affected arm, the brain’s willingness to assign force to that arm may be increased, and one way to do this is via noninvasive cortical stimulation. In addition to reducing effort costs associated with the affected arm, the investigators found that the cortical stimulation also improved clinical motor symptoms of the disease. To test the hypothesis that dopamine makes animals more likely to exert effort to achieve a reward, Dr. Shadmehr and his team first designed an experiment to measure how much force a patients brain was willing to assign to each arm. In their first experiment, participants, all right-handed, included 15 healthy volunteers and 15 with PD, ages 50 to 75, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s for two to 20 years and were receiving medication to control their symptoms, such as tremors, muscle rigidity and lack of balance. With their arms held in mobile supports above a table, participants were asked to grip handles located at the ends of the supports, which could measure the amount force applied to them. Participants then were asked to apply about four pounds of muscle force to the handles in order to move an electronic cursor on a computer screen to a target. They could use any combination of both arms to achieve the task. This action was repeated 10 times in 16 different directions representing a full circle. The investigators noted that when performing this task, healthy participants split the four pounds of force between their two arms more or less equally, thereby sharing the effort between both arms, never applying more than 30 percent more force with one arm than with the other. By contrast, patients with PD on average showed a twofold greater preference for their less affected arm, sometimes skewing their effort by as much as 70 percent toward the less affected arm. Dr. Shadmehr’s team deduced the difference in bilateral allotment of effort was not due to a lack of strength in the PD patients’ affected arms, because the team also tested each arm’s ability to apply force in every direction and found that the patients’ strength comparable to that of healthy individuals. However what did stand out, the researchers say, was how direction-dependent the outcomes were. For example, when a patient was asked to move the cursor to the 3 o’clock position on the screen, they might entirely favor their left (unaffected) arm. However, when asked to move the cursor to the 12 o’clock position, the patient might share the effort equally between both arms. In addition, the researchers noticed that patients avoided using their affected arm particularly in the directions in which they exhibited a greater amount of variability, or noise, when generating force. That is, the increased effort appeared associated with a poorer ability to control the generation of force. Hypothesizing that reduced ability to control force in patients with PD was related to decreased dopamine — deficiency of which which makes it more difficult to recruit neurons for a particular task — the researchers devised a brain stimulation experiment to further test their hypothesis. “The greater the number of neurons firing together to complete a task, the less they each have to fire and the more controlled the resulting action is,” says Dr. Shadmehr. “In Parkinsons, the loss of dopamine might mean that neurons that control movement dont fire as easily, which means that a few neurons have to do the whole job and cant perform as well, generating noisier output. The brain seems to know this and avoids assigning effort in those directions where it has less control.” To overcome this problem, the team used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) — a non-invasive, painless brain stimulation treatment that uses direct electrical currents to stimulate specific parts of the brain — on a total of 25 patients, 10 for each of three tests, with some participating in more than one test. The investigators reasoned that by increasing the electrical current within the neurons using mild stimulation through electrodes placed on the scalp, the cells would be closer to their firing threshold and would be easier for the brain to engage. As explained in a Johns Hopkins release, in tDCS a constant, low intensity current is passed through two electrodes placed over the head which modulates neuronal activity. There are two types of stimulation with tDCS: anodal and cathodal stimulation. Anodal stimulation acts to excite neuronal activity while cathodal stimulation inhibits or reduces neuronal activity. And although tDCS is still an experimental form of brain stimulation, the scientists say it potentially has several advantages over other brain stimulation techniques — being as it is cheap, non-invasive, painless, safe, and easy to administer with easily portable equipment. They note that most common side effect associated with tDCS is a slight itching or tingling on the scalp, and that several studies suggest that tDCS may be a valuable tool for the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, and chronic pain. Research has also demonstrated cognitive improvement in some patients undergoing tDCS, but currently, tDCS is not an FDA-approved treatment. In another, blinded experiment involving 10 patients, in which neither patients nor evaluating clinicians knew which kind of stimulation they received, the investigators found that cathodal tDCS, worked best and that the patients who received cathodal stimulation were more willing to engage their affected arm than those who received no stimulation, or anodal stimulation. The researchers also observed a related decrease in the variability associated with these patients’ movements, noting that the stimulation produced an average improvement of 25 percent in patients’ motor symptoms as quantified via the motor component of the Unified Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), particularly improving rigidity on the affected side. Finally, the researchers tested tDCS effectiveness in 10 patients over a 10-day period. During the first three days, participants received no stimulation or fake stimulation; on days four through eight, they received cathodal stimulation; and on days nine and 10, no stimulation. Each day, they executed the arm movement test and the UPDRS. Results of the experiment showed that improvement was real but temporary, only occurring on the days the patients received cathodal tDCS. “As far as we know so far,” Dr. Shadmehr cautions in a Johns Hopkins Release, “the effects of tDCS are very temporary, but that’s not surprising since no new dopamine cells are being created, which is the root of the problem. Nevertheless,” he says, “tDCS is a relatively simple, painless and inexpensive intervention that could be developed for home use, a device we are working on.” “Its possible,” he adds, “that the brain would get used to the stimulation just as it adjusts to medications and also become less responsive over time, but we are hopeful that continued stimulation might improve symptoms.” This work was supported by grants from that National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS078311) and the Human Frontiers Science Program. Sources: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Journal of Neuroscience Image Credits: Reza Shadmehr, Johns Hopkins Medicine Sources: Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineTOKYO • The Tokyo stock market might be riding two-decade highs, but a growing number of Japanese, wary of negative bank interest rates, are choosing to stash their cash in the humble home safe, out of sight of eagle-eyed tax officials. It is no secret that Japan has some of the world's biggest savers, who learn from an early age to put aside some of their hard-earned wages for a likely long retirement. But cautious households who already put away more than half their nest-egg in cold hard yen, are increasingly bringing the cash home. Part of the reason is a longstanding savings culture. But the Bank of Japan's move to usher in negative interest rates last year and changes to the tax code have propelled demand for alternatives to keeping money in the bank. A negative interest rate means the average saver can literally be paying to put their money in a bank, depending on how much they shell out in fees for withdrawals and transfers while getting almost no interest on their savings. And that has seen home safes that cost from as much as 20,000 yen (S$240) fly off store shelves, with sales surging by a fifth last year. Demand is so strong that employees at one Tokyo outlet of Bic Camera have hauled the steel boxes from the back of the shop to a prime spot right near the escalators. That dovetails with a recent Bank of Japan study that found investors socked away at least half of their combined 1.8 trillion yen savings in cash, while about 10 per cent was put into stocks and 19 per cent in other retirement and life insurance policies. By contrast, Americans hold just 13 per cent of their savings in cash and just over a third in equities, while Europeans fall somewhere in between. This despite the fact that Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index has been rising since its financial crisis trough in 2009 and is now sitting at its highest levels for 21 years. "Investing is seen by many Japanese as a whole other world," said a personal finance consultant. Some lessons were also learnt from Japan's phenomenal post-war economic boom that ended with the collapse of a stock and real estate market bubble in the early 1990s. Years of deflation and slow growth followed, a point not lost on many risk-averse savers. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSEUse the interactive map above to find your local farmers markets! Click the colored pins to view a short description of each market as well as its hours. View a Mobile-Friendly Version of the Farmers Market Map > Prefer a List? Read It Here > Summer has arrived in Atlanta, and that means the city is brimming with smells from food trucks and local chefs, booths are alight with the stoplight colors of fresh vegetables, and families are soaking in the sun’s rays listening to live music. Farmers markets are now open, and local growers are preparing their goods for another market season. Related Content: Check Out The Atlanta Festivals Guide > Atlanta’s markets aren’t all about plain old fruit and vegetables, though. At many, guests can try jams, jellies and honey, enjoy live music, support local artists, and even participate in cooking demonstrations hosted by local food experts. Much of the food is organic and locally sourced, which helps small businesses. For Atlanta, the vast farmers market scene is a peek into the community it serves, where people can interact with their neighbors in a way they might not otherwise. MARTA riders have the opportunity to check out pop-up markets at some stations, with the Fresh MARTA Market program, commuters can grab the necessities as they make their daily trip around the city. For those who use SNAP/EBT benefits, which are programs that help families purchase more fresh foods, many markets have partnered with the Community Farmers Market network or the Wholesome Wave Georgia program, which doubles the spending power of those benefits at certain markets. Check out the pins that are colored green across the map, at locations such as the Fresh MARTA Markets, the Peachtree Road Farmers Market or the Decatur Farmers Market, to see who qualifies for these programs. In preparation for the market season, Atlanta PlanIt has compiled a list of Metro Atlanta’s many farmers markets. Click the pins in the map above to view a short description of each market as well as its hours. Are there farmers markets you love, but don’t see included in the map above? Let us know below, and we’ll investigate! Thanks to your previous submissions, we’ve added Freedom Farmers Market, Morningside Farmers Market, Lithonia Farmers Market and more to the map above!TAYLORSVILLE, North Carolina — A middle school teacher in North Carolina was recently suspended for showing his students a popular music video that promotes same-sex ‘marriage.’ The unnamed social studies teacher is employed at West Alexander Middle School in Taylorsville, North Carolina. According to reports, he played the video “Same Love” by Mackelmore and Lewis for eighth graders at the chagrin of school officials. The music video, which won the 2013 MTV award for “Best Music Video with a Message” and remains in the top 40 songs played on hit radio stations, features two homosexual men who kiss, become engaged and get married. “The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision/And you can be cured with some treatment and religion,” the lyrics to the song state. “Man-made rewiring of a predisposition/Playing God, aw nah, here we go/America the brave still fears what we don’t know/And God loves all His children, is somehow forgotten/But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago.” Superintendent Jeff Peal told the Taylorsville Times that it was “inappropriate” for the teacher to show the video to the students. “At West Alexander Middle School, there was an inappropriate video shown in class, outside the bounds of the curriculum that called for disciplinary action last week,” he said. School board attorney Joel Harbinson explained further to CNN, advising that officials believed the video was unfitting for a middle school classroom. Connect with Christian News Follow @4christiannews “The issue in this matter was one of whether the video was curriculum-based, educationally-related, and age-appropriate for a class of prepubescent 13-year-olds,” he said. Reaction to the suspension has been mixed. “I am a practicing Christian and teach the high school youth in my Baptist church in Hickory, NC,” wrote one commenter. “What some parents in rural, white, Alexander County, NC teach their children is to hate others for any variety of reasons–skin color, religion, sexual orientation, etc. I am glad there are teachers willing to present opposing views! … If you teach your children to hate anyone by using passages from the Bible, please do the rest of us a favor and do not call yourself a Christian.” “This video is offensive to Christians and should be,” stated another. “Homosexuality in God’s words is a sin. … Causing the little ones to sin is really really bad. What did Jesus say about that? Something about a millstone around the neck?” “I can love people predisposed to same sex [temptations] and not accept homosexuality,” he continued. “Most people sin, i.e., lie, steal or cheat on their taxes and all kinds of other stuff. We don’t turn these actions into virtuous behavior because we want them to be equal. … I just won’t believe that it’s not a sin and I don’t want that promoted to my child either. God is not a liar.” The teacher was suspended for three days and has since returned to class.Homophobia is gay, to quote Dan Savage. A study conducted in 1996 found that homophobic men responded favorably downstairs when viewing “male homosexual” “erotic stimuli.” They were shown gay, straight and lesbian “stimuli,” and while both the homophobic and non-homophobic men became aroused during the straight and lesbian material, only the antigay men were aroused during the gay imagery. “Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies,” the abstract of that study reads. Related: Study Finds You Shouldn’t Be Expecting Your Sexting Partner To Keep Your Pics To Themselves Now a new study, published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, is backing up that conclusion. It found that those with negative attitudes toward gay men appeared to be more interested in gay imagery than the men in the study who did not have those homophobic feelings. 38 heterosexual men from the University of Geneva took a survey to quantify their feelings on gay men. They then completed a computerized test known as a manikin task to determine what their unconscious, impulsive tendencies are toward homosexual imagery. Study participants move a small image of a human figure on a computer, either towards or away from a specific stimuli in the center of the screen. With this task, researchers can measure approach and avoidance behavior. Related: Study Finds Gay Men Are Making Open Relationships Work The antigay men spent longer looking at images of homosexual couples than they did looking at heterosexual couples. “Findings on the viewing time allow understanding why some (but not all) men high in homophobia have a sexual interest in same-sex individuals,” the researchers concluded. “This study provides a better understanding of the psychological processes involved in the processing of erotic gay material among men high in homophobia, and provides a fine-grained prediction of sexual related behaviors.” Lead author Boris Cheval, of the University of Geneva in Switzerland, told PsyPost it is currently hard to tell how big of a role suppressed gay attraction plays in the formation of antigay attitudes. Both studies had small sample sizes. Hopefully more research will be done in this field to give us more ammo against the antigay haters.AKP candidate elected as Turkey's parliament speaker ANKARA CİHAN photo Who is İsmet Yılmaz? Yılmaz studied at the World Maritime University in Sweden where he was granted an MSc on “Technical Management of Shipping Companies” and an MA from Marmara University’s Institute of Social Sciences. Yılmaz also holds a PhD in private law from Ankara University’s Institute of Social Sciences. Yılmaz was elected to parliament for the first time in the June 2011 election as a deputy representing his hometown of Sivas. He was appointed as defense minister of the 61st Turkish government in July 2011. Yılmaz, 54, graduated from the Department of Machinery of the Istanbul Maritime Academy (now Maritime Faculty of the Istanbul Technical University).Yılmaz studied at the World Maritime University in Sweden where he was granted an MSc on “Technical Management of Shipping Companies” and an MA from Marmara University’s Institute of Social Sciences. Yılmaz also holds a PhD in private law from Ankara University’s Institute of Social Sciences.Yılmaz was elected to parliament for the first time in the June 2011 election as a deputy representing his hometown of Sivas. He was appointed as defense minister of the 61st Turkish government in July 2011. Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was elected the country’s new parliamentary speaker in the fourth round and with the covert support of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on July 1 in a sign of possible coming coalition between the two.Yılmaz received 258 votes while Deniz Baykal, from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), garnered 182 votes in the last round, as none of four candidates from four political parties could attain a simple majority in the third round on July 1. Only Yılmaz and Baykal remained in the last round as Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat from the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) were eliminated in the third round.“Our nation has been expecting a new constitution soon from the 25th term of parliament. The economic and democratic level that our country has reached today makes a new constitution an obligation for all of us,” Yılmaz said in his first remarks delivered in parliament after being elected to his new post.The AKP group provided full support to its candidate in both the third and fourth rounds, but the victory came thanks to the MHP’s decision not to vote for Baykal. The support of the CHP group as well as around 50 votes from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) was insufficient to elect Baykal, the temporary speaker of the parliament, for the country’s number two place in the state protocol.The MHP’s indirect support to the AKP’s candidate drew fierce criticisms from both the CHP and the HDP, which accused the nationalist party of acting like the crutch of the ruling party. The two opposition party executives also implied that such a composition revealed the potential partners of a coalition government.“The result has been presented to the AKP on a golden plate by the leader of a party,” said Haluk Koç, spokesperson for the CHP.Extending congratulations to Yılmaz, Koç said he expected that the new parliamentary speaker’s conduct would be “in line with rules of democracy,” unlike the previous parliamentary speaker.“Some debates took place after the election. This manner shows that the message given by people on June 7 could not been interpreted. Narrow-sighted and cowardly politics will not resolve problems,” Koç said. “Partners for the coalition showed up.”HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş echoed Koç’s summation of the MHP’s stance and the results. “One more time, there is a speaker who has been elected by a single party’s votes. I wish the opposition could accomplish this, but the MHP has presented the seat of the parliament speaker as a gift to the AKP. I say ‘congratulations’ to the MHP,” Demirtaş said in bitter remarks.Demirtaş went further by describing a potential partnership in forming a government between the AKP and MHP as a “war coalition” because of their similar rhetoric and lines over the developments in Syria. The HDP’s co-leader said the HDP would perform its duty to oppose the match.Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, however, dismissed the opposition’s claims that parliamentary speaker’s election was a sign of a coalition between the AKP and the MHP, saying, “This election has nothing to do with coalition scenarios.”“Everything took place in legitimacy. There was not even a tiny discussion while some tensions were obviously expected,” Davutoğlu said, praising acting Parliamentary Speaker Deniz Baykal, the CHP’s candidate for the post, for his conduct of the voting sessions.“I suppose this picture has displayed how some approaches floated in recent days are invalid, such as ‘the bloc,’” Davutoğlu said, referring to the phrase “60 percent bloc” which was coined by CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.With the phrase, Kılıçdaroğlu pointed to the total number of votes garnered by his party combined with those of the MHP and the HDP in the June 7 election. The AKP received around 41 percent of the total, but failed to secure a majority in the 550-seat parliament required to rule alone.“As of today, the concept of a bloc in politics has collapsed,” Davutoğlu said, offering gratitude to “each deputy who contributed” to this situation in regard to the idea of “a bloc.”“Nobody should resort to tactics and intrigues and let everything take place transparently before the public,” Davutoğlu said, referring to the upcoming process of negotiations for forming a coalition.Noting that he will be holding talks with all three parties, Davutoğlu said their priorities and stance have been clear.“For us, the parliamentary speaker election is not the same as the coalition process. If I would have said that this is a signal, then I would have opposed what I have earlier alluded to. However, today’s environment has actually offered opportunities for an assessment of different coalition options,” he said.WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence rebounded this month to the highest level in more than nine years as Americans appeared unfazed by a tumultuous election campaign. The Conference Board says its consumer confidence index registered 107.1 in November, up from 100.8 last month and highest since July 2007. Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions was also the sunniest since July 2007. Their expectations for the next six months were the most optimistic since June 2015. The survey was mostly taken before the Nov. 8 election. Conference Board economist Lynn Franco says that “it appears from the small sample of post-election responses that consumers’ optimism was not impacted by the outcome.” The government reported Tuesday that the economy grew at a 3.2 percent annual pace from July to September, fastest in two years.Over the weekend, we welcomed a new “pod” into the fold of Portland’s Food Cart scene. Mississippi Marketplace, up off N. Mississippi at Skidmore did a soft opening on Saturday to show of their new cart lot and show the neighborhood what they plan to offer. I ventured down as it is down the street from my home and had the wonderful opportunity to chat with the owner and developer, Roger Goldingay. Such great people who in, in the face of an economic downturn, moved forward with a complete remodel of an old abandoned building and built a lot to support the carts. Well done sir. And Mississippi Marketplace has space for 10 sites. As of Saturday, there were already 7 carts landed, including Nuevo Mexico, The Ruby Dragon, Southwestern Pizza Company, Leroy’s BBQ, Vittles and Sushi Tree. Yep, a mobile sushi cart. Pretty awesome huh? Not all the carts were open on Saturday as some were still working out details with plumbing or inspections. The carts that were open were busy, with a constant stream of neighbors coming to welcome them. In speaking with Roger, he stated that the carts will be open from morning to night since some offer breakfast, while others are more geared to the dinner crowd. The building they remodeled, a former church, will become a German bar named Prost! – slated to open in October. I see heaven in that mix. Food carts and beer? Hmm, honey, I won’t be home for dinner tonight… The best part of this project for me as a resident of the neighborhood is how they took this abandoned dilapidated building and vacant lot and turned it into a viable business – geared toward entrepreneurs. All along N. Mississippi and other sections of North Portland, there are new storefronts or old buildings remodeled for businesses, but the rents are sometimes prohibitive to someone starting out. Taking the vacant land and quickly populating it with revenue generating businesses from the start is what we need both in this community and for the economy as a whole. I’m excited for the next few weeks as every day we’ll see changes to the lot with the carts opening and fine tuning their offerings. Come on up to my neck of the woods and say hi to the newest crop of carts. Oh, and tell them Food Carts Portland sent ya. Location: SW corner of N. Mississippi and Skidmore Website: www.missmarketplace.com Advertisements Share this: Facebook Twitter Google Reddit Email Print"The curved crossguard was also made of blued brightsteel, as were the four ribs that held in place the large sapphire that formed the pommel. The hand-and-a-half hilt was made of hard black wood. /.../ Like the rest of the sword, the blade was blue, but of a slightly lighter shade; is was the blue of the scales in the hollow of Saphira's throat rather than the blue of those on her back. And as it was on Zar'roc, the color was iridescent; as Eragon moved the sword about, the color would shimmer and shift, displaying any of the many tones of blue present on Saphira herself. Through the wash of color, the cable-like patterns within the brightsteel and the pale bands along the edges were still visible." - from Brisingr by Christopher Paolini gonna be doing Saphira, Eragon, Arya and more as well so stay tuned! :3 thanks for viewing! ^_^ My own interpretation of the two swords, Zar'roc and Brisingr from the Eragon book series.I currently have a school assignment which is to create concept art for a chosen fictional universe and I chose to create concept art for the Inheritance book series! This is the first time I'm painting sword designs, so I'd be happy for any constructive criticism I can get! ^^ I hope you like my version of the swords and remember to add me to watch if you want to see more Eragon concept art from me!Saphira: [link] Eragon: [link]Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a prominent advocate for women’s rights and an outspoken critic of Islam, denounced Brandeis University Wednesday for abruptly withdrawing its offer of an honorary degree, accusing the school of stifling free speech. The Waltham university announced late Tuesday that it would not honor the Somali-born activist at its graduation ceremonies next month, voicing concern about her inflammatory statements, including that “violence is inherent in Islam.” In a sharply worded response, Hirsi Ali assailed Brandeis officials Wednesday, saying they had bowed to critics who “simply wanted me to be silenced.” Advertisement “What was initially intended as an honor has now devolved into a moment of shaming,” she said in a statement. “Yet the slur on my reputation is not the worst aspect of this episode. More deplorable is that an institution set up on the basis of religious freedom should today so deeply betray its own founding principles.” Get Metro Headlines in your inbox: The 10 top local news stories from metro Boston and around New England delivered daily. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here Facing public pressure on campus and beyond, Brandeis said late Tuesday it had rescinded its offer to Hirsi Ali, a week after announcing she would receive an honorary degree. “We respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world,” the university said in a statement. “That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values. For all concerned, we regret that we were not aware of these statements earlier.” The college invited her to speak at another time. But Hirsi Ali, a fellow at the Belfer Center for the Future of Diplomacy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said that Brandeis had spent months planning for her to speak at commencement and that it was “scarcely credible” they were unaware of her public record. Advertisement “I assumed that Brandeis intended to honor me for my work as a defender of the rights of women against abuses that are often religious in origin,” she said. The controversy, the latest in a long tradition of campus disputes over the suitability of graduation speakers and honorees, drew strong reactions on both sides. Critics of Hirsi Ali praised the university’s decision; others said it was a surrender to political correctness. “Brandeis has violated the university’s fundamental commitment to academic freedom and responsibility,” said Anne Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a higher education group dedicated to academic freedom. “Disinviting a controversial figure for fear of student backlash and upset sensitivities sends a perverse message that a college education must never dare offend.” Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch Parliament who has spoken out against female genital mutilation and honor killings, is known as a defender of women’s rights in Islamic societies. She has come under criticism for remarks about Islam. In a 2007 interview with Reason magazine, Hirsi Ali was quoted as saying “there is no moderate Islam” and that Islam needed to be
] In addition to the Rashidun Caliphs, hadiths attributed to Muhammad himself suggest that he stated the following regarding the Muslim conquest of Egypt that eventually took place after his death:[10] You are going to enter Egypt a land where qirat (money unit) is used. Be extremely good to them as they have with us close ties and marriage relationships. When you enter Egypt after my death, recruit many soldiers from among the Egyptians because they are the best soldiers on earth, as they and their wives are permanently on duty until the Day of Resurrection. Be good to the Copts of Egypt; you shall take them over, but they shall be your instrument and help. Be Righteous to God about the Copts. These principles were upheld by 'Amr ibn al-'As during his conquest of Egypt. A Christian contemporary in the 7th century, John of Nikiû, stated the following regarding the conquest of Alexandria by 'Amr: On the twentieth of Maskaram, Theodore and all his troops and officers set out and proceeded to the island of Cyprus, and abandoned the city of Alexandria. And thereupon 'Amr the chief of the Moslem made his entry without effort into the city of Alexandria. And the inhabitants received him with respect; for they were in great tribulation and affliction. And Abba Benjamin, the patriarch of the Egyptians, returned to the city of Alexandria in the thirteenth year after his flight from the Romans, and he went to the Churches, and inspected all of them. And every one said: 'This expulsion (of the Romans) and victory of the Moslem is due to the wickedness of the emperor Heraclius and his persecution of the Orthodox through the patriarch Cyrus. This was the cause of the ruin of the Romans and the subjugation of Egypt by the Moslem. And 'Amr became stronger every day in every field of his activity. And he exacted the taxes which had been determined upon, but he took none of the property of the Churches, and he committed no act of spoliation or plunder, and he preserved them throughout all his days.[11] The principles established by the early Caliphs were also honoured during the Crusades, as exemplified by Sultans such as Saladin and Al-Kamil. For example, after Al-Kamil defeated the Franks during the Crusades, Oliverus Scholasticus praised the Islamic laws of war, commenting on how Al-Kamil supplied the defeated Frankish army with food:[12] Who could doubt that such goodness, friendship and charity come from God? Men whose parents, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, had died in agony at our hands, whose lands we took, whom we drove naked from their homes, revived us with their own food when we were dying of hunger and showered us with kindness even when we were in their power.[13] The early Islamic treatises on international law from the 9th century onwards covered the application of Islamic ethics, Islamic economic jurisprudence and Islamic military jurisprudence to international law,[14] and were concerned with a number of modern international law topics, including the law of treaties; the treatment of diplomats, hostages, refugees and prisoners of war; the right of asylum; conduct on the battlefield; protection of women, children and non-combatant civilians; contracts across the lines of battle; the use of poisonous weapons; and devastation of enemy territory.[12] Criteria for soldiering [ edit ] Muslim jurists agree that Muslim armed forces must consist of debt-free adults who possess a sound mind and body. In addition, the combatants must not be conscripted, but rather enlist of their free will, and with the permission of their family.[15] Legitimacy of war [ edit ] Muslims have struggled to differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate wars. Fighting in self-defense is not only legitimate but considered obligatory upon Muslims, according to the Qur'an. The Qur'an, however, says that should the enemy's hostile behavior cease, then the reason for engaging the enemy also lapses.[16] Some scholars[who?] argue that war may only be legitimate if Muslims have at least half the power of the enemy (and thus capable of winning it). Other Islamic scholars consider this command only for a particular time.[17] Defensive conflict [ edit ] According to the majority of jurists, the Qur'anic casus belli (justification of war) are restricted to aggression against Muslims and fitna—persecution of Muslims because of their religious belief.[18] They hold that unbelief in itself is not the justification for war. These jurists therefore maintain that only combatants are to be fought; noncombatants such as women, children, clergy, the aged, the insane, farmers, serfs, the blind, and so on are not to be killed in war.[18] Thus, the Hanafī Ibn Najīm states: "the reason for jihād in our [the Hanafīs] view is kawnuhum harbā ‛alaynā [literally, their being at war against us]."[18][19] The Hanafī jurists al-Shaybānī and al-Sarakhsī state that "although kufr [unbelief in God] is one of the greatest sins, it is between the individual and his God the Almighty and the punishment for this sin is to be postponed to the dār al-jazā’, (the abode of reckoning, the Hereafter)."[18][20] War, according to the Hanafis, can't simply be made on the account of a nation's religion.[16] Abdulaziz Sachedina argues that the original jihad according to his version of Shi'ism was permission to fight back against those who broke their pledges. Thus the Qur'an justified defensive jihad by allowing Muslims to fight back against hostile and dangerous forces.[21] Offensive conflict [ edit ] Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i (d. 820), founder of the Shafi'i school of thought, was the first to permit offensive jihad, limiting this warfare against pagan Arabs only, not permitting it against non-Arab non-Muslims.[16] This view of al-Shafi'i is mitigated by the fact that an opposite view, in agreement with the majority, is also attributed to al-Shafi'i.[22] Javed Ahmad Ghamidi believes that after Muhammad and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam. The only valid basis for military jihad is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. Islam only allows jihad to be conducted by a government.[23][24][25] According to Abdulaziz Sachedina, offensive jihad raises questions about whether jihad is justifiable on moral grounds. He states that the Qur'an requires Muslims to establish just public order, increasing the influence of Islam, allowing public Islamic worship, through offensive measures. To this end, the Qur'anic verses revealed required Muslims to wage jihad against unbelievers who persecuted them. This has been complicated by the early Muslim conquests, which he argues were although considered jihad by Sunni scholars, but under close scrutiny can be determined to be political. Moreover, the offensive jihad points more to the complex relationship with the "People of the book".[21] Some major modern scholars who have rejected the idea of "offensive jihad" include the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hasan al-Banna (1906–1949), the Al-Azhar scholar Muhammad Abu Zahra (1898–1974) who thought that "military jihad is permitted only to remove aggression ('udwân) and religious persecution (fitnah) against Muslims", as well as Syrian scholars Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti (1929–2013) and Wahbah al-Zuhayli (1932-2015), the latter saying that "peace is the underlying principle of relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. al-Zuhayli maintains that this view is supported by 8:61, as well as 2:208 and 4:94 that establish the principle of international peace. For him, Muslims should be committed to peace and security (on the basis of 4:90 and 60:8)."[26] International conflict [ edit ] International conflicts are armed strifes conducted by one state against another, and are distinguished from civil wars or armed strife within a state.[27] Some classical Islamic scholars, like the Shafi'i, classified territories into broad categories: dar al-islam ("abode of Islam"), dar al-harb ("abode of war), dar al-ahd ("abode of treaty"), and dar al-sulh ("abode of reconciliation"). Such categorizations of states, according to Asma Afsaruddin, are not mentioned in the Qur'an and Islamic tradition.[16] Declaration of war [ edit ] The Qur'an commands Muslims to make a proper declaration of war prior to the commencement of military operations. Thus, surprise attacks are illegal under the Islamic jurisprudence.[citation needed] The Qur'an had similarly commanded Muhammad to give his enemies, who had violated the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, a time period of four months to reconsider their position and negotiate.[28] This rule, however, is not binding if the adversary has already started the war.[29] Forcible prevention of religious practice is considered an act of war.[30] Conduct of armed forces [ edit ] During battle the Qur'an commands Muslims to fight against the enemy. However, there are resrictions to such combat. Burning or drowning the enemy is allowed only if it is impossible to achieve victory by other means.[31] The mutilation of dead bodies is prohibited.[32] The Qur'an also discourages Muslim combatants from displaying pomp and unnecessary boasting when setting out for battle.[33] According to professor Sayyid Dāmād, no explicit injunctions against use of chemical or biological warfare were developed by medieval Islamic jurists as these threats were not existent then. However, Khalil al-Maliki's Book on jihad states that combatants are forbidden to employ weapons that cause unnecessary injury to the enemy, except under dire circumstances. The book, as an example, forbids the use of poisonous spears, since it inflicts unnecessary pain.[34] Civilian areas [ edit ] According to all madhhabs, it is not permissible to kill women or children unless they are fighting against the Muslims.[35] The Hanafi, Hanbali, and Maliki schools forbid killing of those who are not able to fight, including monks, farmers, and serfs, as well as mentally and physically disabled.[35] Harming civilian areas and pillaging residential areas is also forbidden,[36] as is the destruction of trees, crops, livestock and farmlands.[37][38] The Muslim forces may not loot travelers, as doing so is contrary to the spirit of jihad.[39] Nor do they have the right to use the local facilities of the native people without their consent. If such a consent is obtained, the Muslim army is still under the obligation to compensate the people financially for the use of such facilities. However, Islamic law allows the confiscation of military equipment and supplies captured from the camps and military headquarters of the combatant armies.[36][40] Negotiations [ edit ] Commentators of the Qur'an agree that Muslims should always be willing and ready to negotiate peace with the other party without any hesitation. According to Maududi, Islam does not permit Muslims to reject peace and continue bloodshed.[41] Islamic jurisprudence calls for third party interventions as another means of ending conflicts. Such interventions are to establish mediation between the two parties to achieve a just resolution of the dispute.[42] Ceasefire [ edit ] In the context of seventh century Arabia, the Qur'an ordained Muslims must restrain themselves from fighting in the months when fighting was prohibited by Arab pagans. The Qur'an also required the respect of this cease-fire, prohibiting its violation.[29] If, however, non-Muslims commit acts of aggression, Muslims are free to retaliate, though in a manner that is equal to the original transgression.[43] The "sword verse", which has attracted attention, is directed against a particular group who violate the terms of peace and commit aggression (but excepts those who observe the treaty). Crone states that this verse seems to be based on the same above-mentioned rules. Here also it is stressed that one must stop when they do.[3][5] Ibn Kathir states that the verse implies a hasty mission of besieging and gathering intelligence about the enemy, resulting in either death or repentance by the enemy.[44] It is read as a continuation of previous verses, it would be concerned with the same oath-breaking of "polytheists".[3] Prisoners of War [ edit ] Men, women, and children may all be taken as prisoners of war under traditional interpretations of Islamic law. Generally, a prisoner of war could be, at the discretion of the military leader, executed, freed, ransomed, exchanged for Muslim prisoners,[45][46] or kept as slaves. In earlier times, the ransom sometimes took an educational dimension, where a literate prisoner of war could secure his or her freedom by teaching ten Muslims to read and write.[47] Some Muslim scholars hold that a prisoner may not be ransomed for gold or silver, but may be exchanged for Muslim prisoners.[48] Women and children prisoners of war cannot be killed under any circumstances, regardless of their religious convictions,[49] but they may be freed or ransomed. Women who are neither freed nor ransomed by their people were to be kept in bondage - also referred to as malakah, however dispute exists among scholars on the term's interpretation. Islamic law does not put an exact limit on the number that can be kept in bondage.[citation needed] Internal conflict [ edit ] Internal conflicts include "civil wars", launched against rebels, and "wars for welfare" launched against bandits.[27] During their first civil war, Muslims fought at the Battle of Bassorah. In this engagement, Ali (the caliph), set the precedent for war against other Muslims, which most later Muslims have accepted. According to Ali's rules, wounded or captured enemies should not be killed, those throwing away their arms should not be fought, and those fleeing from the battleground should not be pursued. Only captured weapons and animals (horses and camels which have been used in the war) are to be considered war booty. No war prisoners, women or children are to be enslaved and the property of the slain enemies are to go to their legal Muslim heirs.[50] Different views regarding armed rebellion have prevailed in the Muslim world at different times. During the first three centuries of Muslim history, jurists held that a political rebel may not be executed nor his/her property confiscated.[51] Classical jurists, however, laid down severe penalties for rebels who use "stealth attacks" and "spread terror". In this category, Muslim jurists included abductions, poisoning of water wells, arson, attacks against wayfarers and travellers, assaults under the cover of night and rape. The punishment for such crimes were severe, including death, regardless of the political convictions and religion of the perpetrator. Further, rebels who committed acts of terrorism were granted no quarter.[51] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ]"Titans Hunt" It's DC Comics's Fall 2015 trade paperback and hardcover collections! This list is now complete and updated with my comments, barring any late-breaking additions.Big items on this list are two from Grant Morrison,and a deluxe-size edition of. Don't miss, however, a couple of nice Chuck Dixon reprints,and(to go along with the recent Dixoncollections), and acollection;; a deluxe edition of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino's; a newcollection by Mike Grell and a newcollection by Marv Wolfman; plus acompanion collection. Read on for more!Note that all of this information is subject to change before publication.As solicited just this past month, we have some suspicion this might be the first in a series of Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo Absolute Batman collections.Obviously I have no objection to Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams's seminalgetting all the continued attention it deserves, though I do wonder how the 1970s artwork will hold up in large-scale format.I don't know much about, but by popular demand, theproper collection includes issues #18-21 and 23-24.is #1/2 and 4-9.is #11-16.Said to include#35-40,Annual #3, the Damian Wayne story from#4 (one of the best of the initialstories), and, though not. Since this is the last trade of the series as it's cancelled before, I expectwill actually be in here, too.Continuing this series of meant-to-attract-video-game-fanscollections. It doesn't say it specifically in the solicitations, but the temporary cover art for this collection showsAnnual #14 by Andrew Helfer and Chris Sprouse, which I consider history's creepiest, most definitive Two-Face story. Hope it's in there.Final collection of the weekly series.So "Noir" is "black and white"; "Unwrapped" is pencilled but without inks. Nice to see "modern" stories getting this treatment, as our history becomes classics...A collection of Superman/Batman "clashes." Given we already got our, I wonder what else this will collect, and if the emphasis will really be on fights between Batman and Superman, and whether that means full storylines or just parts of stories (, excerpted?). This seeming emphasis on Superman and Batmangetting along is troubling; the movie producers have the unenviable job of making us take sides but then they ultimately need us to come to like both characters., on the other hand, has largely emphasized the characters' teamwork; I'm not sure the DC movie team has the right idea.Appears to collect just#35-40 and none of the tie-ins (which will appear in their owntrade, below), which keeps with the pattern of thetrades that preceded it.The full contents aren't listed, but these are previously-uncollected stories between(recently announced for a new collection) and(roundabouts#560,#727,#80, and so on). I've probably literally been waiting for this collection for almost fifteen or so years. A good amount of this is written by Chuck Dixon, reflecting an overall trend lately toward DC reprinting Dixon's work --, previously, and in these solicitationsandRather surprised to see DC reprinting this. I appreciate the sentiment -- though I don't completely recall, apparently the original trade was printed maybe with some non-essential material excluded, and this new collection "includes chapters never before reprinted chapters." At the same time, this story was not great, up to and including the weird torture death of Robin/Spoiler Stephanie Brown that was written and drawn so awkwardly that everyone involved's discomfort nearly bled off the page, and in the spirit of DC'sit surprises me they're choosing to bring this up again. Good for completists, though!I've never read this mini-series written and drawn by Matt Wagner, but I've heard good things about it; something silly that put me off it is that there seemed some fan interest in finding where this fit into continuity, when it ultimately doesn't; likely this deluxe edition is meant to coincide with themovie. I have some sense this is set within the same "timeframe" as Wagner'sbooks.A new collection of Chuck Dixon's firstmaterial, namely#1,#1,#1-4,#1,#1, and#3. This is essentially the contents of the existingandtrades, except it excludes#1-6. I think this is athing, however, because it suggests the next volume might collect#1-6 and beyond; Dixon's#7-19 and issues from the #20s and #30s have never been collected, but hopefully this is a sign that they might be.Glad to see this Will Pfeifer collection that follows the Ed Brubaker collections. It wasn't surprising we got re-printed, more-complete Ed Brubaker collections because, well, Ed Brubaker, but whether DC would continue to collect this into theera ofwas another story. Collects the pre-series #38-49.DC recently announced this expanded collection of Neil Gaiman'sVertigo event, with a new story added. It does seem a little strange to me though that this should only collect the Gaiman material and not the, andannuals that went along with it. That would make it more of a must-buy for me.Here's a nice surprise in time for. If you don't have it, the deluxe size would be a lovely, special-but-not-too-imposing format in which to readHooray! A second collection of Marv Wolfman's 1990sseries! This one collects the "Terminator Hunt" storyline, issues #10-13 and Annual #1 (there was acrossover issue, #68, where Lois Lane's sister Lucy gets caught in the crossfire, that I think they should include here, too). Either this is the last of thesecollections or something really extraordinary is about to happen, because the nextissues are part of the"Total Chaos" crossover with[and], which I have wanted to see collectedbut never have been. [Edit: Mistakenly identified this as "Titans Hunt," not "Total Chaos." Verily I'd like to see all of this collected -- basicallyand its related series all the way from issue #71 through issue #92, if not all the way to issue #100. Still,] I'm not optimistic that now is the time.Don't let the title fool you; what's really notable about this collection of Garth Ennis's#40-48 and Annual #2 is all Hitman -- the origin of Hitman (also collected in thebooks) plus a Demon/Hitman team-up.A paperback of the previously-releasedVol. 1. This one was thinner than the next two, by comparison; I wonder how paperback binding and a paperback spine is going to work when these collections really get to omnibus-size.Collects#36-40, up to, plus a story from#7.I really liked what I've read of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino'swork, and no disrespect to the new team but I was sad to see Lemire leave the book, seemingly somewhat suddenly. This is reported to beissues #17-34, theissue, and the story from, about three trades worth. Given how quickly this run came and went, I'm glad to see it get this recognition.Hooray also for the next collection of Mike Grell's(though neither collections of John Ostrander'snoron this list is concerning). This collects issues #21-28 of the 1980s series, including a guest appearance by Warlord Travis Morgan, another of Grell's popular characters.If I understand correctly this is the soletrade bywriters Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski, collecting issues #35-40, before Ben Percy takes over post-Collects#1,#35-37,#35-37,#35-37,#35-37,#6-8, andAnnual #3, verily the lastcrossover before. Somewhat worrisome is that the already-solicitedcollects#35-40 and the annual but#1; I really hope the only place to read that isn't just here.This would seem to collect Dr. Fate material from his Golden Age appearances to 1970s material, to theminiseries by J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen (Kent Nelson as Fate to Eric Strauss and his mother Linda as Fate), sending just before the ongoing DeMatteis series in the late 1980s.Collects the variousspecials:#1,#1,#1,#1, andAnnual #3, back-ups from#35-39.I'd have been all over this had it been released when Kid Eternity was regularly appearing ina couple of years ago. That's just me; I'm sure the impetus nowadays is author Grant Morrison.Something special was inevitable for thecollection, and deluxe format is a satisfactory opening salvo. This includes thein addition to all the issues.No word on the contents yet, but of course we're still waiting to see if these paperback editions will result in more complete or straightforward collections ofthan the omnibuses did.No word on the contents other than this is the next collection of the Chuck Dixon series. Last volume collected the same as the original second volume,, issues #9-18. The original volume three collected issues #1/2, #19, #21-22, #24-29. The missing issues, #20 and #23, were respectively parts of the "Cataclysm" and "Brotherhood of the Fist" crossovers; for completeness, I wouldn't mind seeing them restored to this volume.Among other issues, this collects the Phantom Stranger material from, making it the third (by my count) collection to includematerial, afterandWe know this is a collection of Robin Tim Drake stories by Chuck Dixon, and the apparent presence of artist Tom Lyle suggests this could be one collection of all three of theminiseries that preceded Dixon's ongoing series. If indeed it includes, that would be the first time that miniseries has been collected. Othermaterial has been collected out of order inand, so maybe this new collection series will put all of that back in order.No word on the contents, but asVol. 2 collected issues #1-14, the first two (numbered) trades, this could collect Vol. 3 and 4,and, issues #15-24, and that would leave the fourth new volume to collect the final two trades, issues #25-36.Another definitively 1980s series that I've really wanted to read; afterandis only logical. Said to collect issues #1-18 of the series plus#24.I guess this re-print of the already-released collection of John Ostrander's firstissues is meant to coincide with the movie. My hope is that maybe this will finally lead to the release of, previously solicited and then cancelled ; I'd been looking forward to that one.I liked Scott Snyder'sOK, and the Yanick Paquette artwork is going to be sensational in this large-scale format. Seems to me that if DC is going to do the New 52deluxe, only fair that Jeff Lemire's related, superlativeseries get the same treatment.Make that four collections now ofmaterial, with this collection of Max Allen Collins's Wild Dog stories. (I mainly remember Wild Dog for the stark-looking DC house ads.) Between this and the, seems about time for a collection of Collins'sThe first volume written by Meredith Finch with artist David Finch.Collecting what will apparently be, but I hadn't heard announced yet, a twelve-part digital series written and drawn by Jill Thompson ().Not to save the highlight for last, but it seems we can expect the Grant Morrison/Yanick Paquette graphic novel in November. No additional clues on the story aside from that Morrison "once again pushes the boundaries of the graphic novel page in his mind-bending new take on the most powerful woman in the DC Universe."Maybe not as many real shockers in this list as in the one from last August, but still some stuff to look forward to.6th episode of the third season of Black Mirror "Hated in the Nation" is the sixth and final episode of the third series of British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by James Hawes, it premiered on Netflix on 21 October 2016, along with the rest of series three.[1] It is the longest episode in the series at 89 minutes. The episode is a murder mystery, and follows Detective Karin Parke (Kelly Macdonald) and her new partner Blue Coulson (Faye Marsay) who, together with the help of National Crime Agency officer Shaun Li (Benedict Wong), try to solve the inexplicable deaths of people who were all the target of social media. The episode was critically acclaimed. Plot [ edit ] Detective Chief Inspector Karin Parke (Kelly Macdonald) has been summoned to a hearing. She begins speaking about Jo Powers (Elizabeth Berrington), a journalist subjected to online death threats after publicly lambasting a disability activist's recent self-immolation. Powers returns home to the delivery of a cake reading "Fucking bitch", and sees death threats and hate messages directed at her on social media; she is later found dead, and her husband injured. Parke investigates the death, with Trainee Detective Constable Blue Coulson (Faye Marsay) as her shadow, and Nick Shelton (Joe Armstrong) also working on the case. The death is assumed to be murder by her husband, but he claims that Powers cut her own throat with a wine bottle, injuring him as he tried to stop her. Parke and Coulson visit the sender of the cake, Liza Bahar (Vinette Robinson), who had crowdfunded the money for it, and posted a message online reading "#DeathTo Jo Powers" along with Powers' image. The following day, a rapper named Tusk (Charles Babalola), who had also become a target of online hate for insulting a young fan, has a seizure; he is hospitalised and sedated. When Tusk is put in an MRI machine, a metal object in his brain is pulled out of his head by magnetism, killing him instantly. The object is identified as an Autonomous Drone Insect, or "ADI" – artificial substitute bees developed by a company called Granular to counteract a sudden colony collapse disorder in the bee population. Parke and Coulson visit Granular's headquarters, where project leader Rasmus (Jonas Karlsson) finds that an ADI was locally hacked near Powers' house on the night she was killed. A National Crime Agency (NCA) officer, Shaun Li (Benedict Wong), is also assigned to the case. Coulson realises that Tusk and Powers were both targeted with a social media hashtag, "#DeathTo". The tweets originating the hashtag had a video called "Game of Consequences" attached which explains that each day, the person that is subject of the most "#DeathTo" tweets will be killed. Clara Meades (Holli Dempsey), who posted a photo where she pretended to urinate on a war memorial, is currently mentioned in the most tweets; the team take her to a safe house. Rasmus attempts to catch the hackers, but fails, and a swarm of ADIs invade the safe house through keyholes, windows and other small gaps. Though Parke and Blue attempt to hide from them with Meades, she is killed by ADIs entering through an air duct. Noticing that the ADIs attacked Meades but not herself or Parke, Coulson realises that they use a facial recognition system; Li admits that the ADIs are used for government surveillance. The news begins to report on the #DeathTo hashtag, which is rapidly growing in use. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Tom Pickering (Ben Miles) is the current target. Meanwhile, Parke interviews Tess Wallander (Georgina Rich), a former Granular employee who attempted suicide after receiving online hate, but was saved by her flatmate and work colleague Garrett Scholes (Duncan Pow). Coulson and Li's analysis of the compromised ADIs reveal a digital manifesto written by Scholes, which is about forcing people to face consequences without hiding behind online anonymity. Coulson traces the location where a selfie in the document was taken; the police raid this location, yielding a disk drive. As Rasmus is preparing to use this to deactivate the ADI system, Coulson discovers the drive contains a list of hundreds of thousands of International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, which can be connected to the owners' details via the government's monitoring system. They realise the list is of those who used the #DeathTo hashtag, and Parke concludes that Scholes' true plan was to use the ADIs to kill these people. However, Li ignores this and activates Rasmus' code; the system appears to be deactivated for a moment, but then the ADIs come back online and are seen targeting Bahar and Shelton, who had used the hashtag. All 387,036 people on the list are killed by the ADIs. At the hearing, Parke explains that Blue Coulson has gone missing, presumed to have committed suicide; however, Parke later receives a text from her reading "Got him". Scholes had fled abroad and changed his appearance, but Coulson has managed to locate him. The episode ends with Coulson following Scholes down an alley in an unnamed foreign country. Production [ edit ] I think that social media is an amazing invention and really I suspect what needs to happen is that we just as a species get better at dealing with it and comprehending the etiquette of it and appreciating the fact that everyone on there is a real human being and that you could gravely upset someone with the things you’re saying and doing. I’m generally against legislation against free speech but I can see it’s a massive problem when you’ve got people who are going out of their way with targeted abuse. It’s a very difficult thing to deal with. I don’t know the answer. I don’t know the answer! People should be more accountable for what they say. It’s just difficult to see how you do that without the law getting involved. I think it’s like we’ve evolved an extra limb – social media is just like we haven’t worked out how to walk with three legs yet – we just keep banging into the walls. People should be more accountable for what they say. It’s just difficult to see how you do that without the law getting involved. I think it’s like we’ve evolved an extra limb – social media is just like we haven’t worked out how to walk with three legs yet – we just keep banging into the walls. Charlie Brooker, Interview with The Debrief[2] As of series 4, "Hated in the Nation" is the longest episode of Black Mirror at 89 minutes.[3] In an interview in October 2016, Brooker revealed that there were characters in the episode who could recur in the series in the future.[4] According to Brooker, the episode was inspired by "Scandi-Noir thrillers like the TV series The Killing and Borgen".[5] The episode is also partly inspired by Jon Ronson's book So You've Been Publicly Shamed (2015), about online shaming and its historical antecedents,[6] and by a public backlash after Brooker wrote "Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr – where are you now that we need you?" in a satirical 2004 article about George W. Bush, in The Guardian.[7] When asked whether "policing Twitter is the answer" to the issues in the episode, Brooker answers "I don’t know the answer!", and comments that "I think that social media is an amazing invention and really I suspect what needs to happen is that we just as a species get better at dealing with it" and "People should be more accountable for what they say. It’s just difficult to see how you do that without the law getting involved."[2] References to earlier episodes [ edit ] In the opening flashback sequence, Karin Parke sits down in her living room to watch the news. Scrolling below the feature about the chancellor, the news ticker clearly reads: "US military announces MASS project". This is in reference to the previous episode "Men Against Fire" where the MASS project was the featured technology for the episode. This may indicate that at the time of the flashback sequence, the events of Men Against Fire hadn't yet occurred. Later on, another news ticker displays "ECHR rules 'cookies' have human rights" which is a reference to the technology seen in the "White Christmas" episode. When DCI Parke asks Blue Coulson why she left forensics, she reveals that she was the one who cracked Iain Rannoch's "souvenir folder" containing all the pictures and videos that had been taken by his girlfriend Victoria Skillane of the torture and murder of six-year-old Jemima Sykes. Iain Rannoch committed suicide while in custody, but the series 2 episode "White Bear" covers Victoria's punishment. In the ending scenes, when Garrett Scholes is watching the news, the headline ticker includes "Shou Saito announces immersive new gaming system." This is a reference to the previous episode "Playtest" and indicates that the tests of Shou Saito have concluded and his new game is available to the world. Also included is "Skillane appeal thrown out of court", another reference to "White Bear". Critical reception [ edit ] The episode was acclaimed by critics, who praised its writing, use of Twitter, themes, acting, and final twist. Suchandrika Chakrabarti of the Daily Mirror extolled the episode, awarding it a perfect 5 rating and calling it "a huge achievement", stating "it's an illuminating, compelling watch, as Black Mirror does what it does best: telling us about human nature through the technology we wish for, but don't deserve".[8] Digital Spy also gave a very enthusiastic review, considering the episode "a great example of how the show at its best can merge its heady high-concepts with more traditional storytelling to effectively hold that black mirror up to our own society". They highly praised the "once downbeat and low-key, and yet expansively devastating" climax, and called the episode "a feature length story that's captivating throughout".[9] Adam Chitwood of Collider noted that the episode was the "most thematically relevant... of this new batch, with a direct connection to the ugly side of social media and its lack of consequences."[3] The Telegraph called the episode "an inspired, frost-fringed police procedural" and gave it a rating of four out of five. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, stating "Black Mirror ends its season with a solid but unremarkable thriller". He criticized the length of the episode, despite recognizing that "at least the story has enough complications that it never felt empty."[10] See also [ edit ]Editor's note: This story was first published in November, 2015, and is now going viral again. Bella Belkin, the businesswoman who was trying to recover payment for Hermes bags bought by Maira Nazarbayeva and her son, was terrified when the latter dropped Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s name and threatened to harm her. Bella’s family was threatened by Maira at least three times since June this year, according to court documents obtained by Malaysiakini. “As a result of Maira’s repeated threats to both Bella and (husband) Edward Belkin, the Belkins feared for their safety and for the safety of their children,” it said. According to the documents filed with the Southern District of New York, the first threat, where Najib’s name was used, happened during
the Culture Festival Arc, except Yukino was absent during that instance. She wasn’t absent here, and she was furious. She was furious at Hikigaya, and furious… …disappointed, depressed, and then finally resigned at herself. “I don’t want a replica like this — I’m fine with only having things that can be called ‘real.’ I’ll go on searching, following this path…” “But that’s just a well made fairy tale.” For the longest time in the Service Club, for this assignment and so many others she has accepted, without fully realizing it until that point in the show, she counted on Hikigaya as her knight. He was a knight that, from his swearing into service, would solve the bulk of issues they were confronted with, to the point of even saving her and the day during the Cultural Festival. The Field Trip finally sunk into her cognition how black his chivalry was, however, and Yukino was forced to confront an unfamiliar and uncomfortable three-pronged reality. One, that he broke the superficiality pact she thought they both understood. Two, that he’s doing all the work. Three, that she has a problem with how he’s doing said work. These three simultaneous harms Yukino perceives aren’t mutually exclusive, and nor do they simply stack on top of each other. They intertwine and interlock, above and below, without and within, as multiple emotional jeopardy. Yukino takes Hikigaya’s violation of the superficiality pact more harshly than otherwise. Yukino takes it hard precisely because it’s their superficiality pact, because it’s Hikigaya. “I stare at the blank space where the answer vanished; I thought I’d buried it in here, But no matter what, I can’t figure it out.” Yukino takes Hikigaya’s assumption of her labors, labors that she struggles with, yet labors that she resolves to see through, as harshly as she did because it’s him that assumed it. Second season Episode 4 “And Then Yui Yuigahama Makes a Declaration,” had Yukino taking the drastic action entering herself as a presidential candidate, with all the responsibilities attached to it, to honor Iroha’s request of losing the student council presidential race with grace. While Yukino had her elder sister Haruno Yukinoshita’s goading in great mind, she likely wouldn’t have taken that point of departure into a presidential running without being also troubled by Hikigaya to the point that she had to prove something both to him and herself. To him, about the legitimacy of the proper process in the face of his underhanded and superficial methods. To herself, that her methods are not irrelevant to achieving her ideals of helping people, her ways of doing things are not irrelevant to his, that she herself, her whole existence, isn’t irrelevant. “Even if you carefully raise a beautiful flower, It will simply be trampled, By dirty feet lacking hesitation.” A more rigorous breakdown of Yukino’s character is necessary to examine her motivations toward running for the presidency outside of the reductive assumption that she decided to become president so she’d be in a better position to help more people. Second season Episode 5 “The Scent of Tea Doesn’t Fill That Room Anymore” features an alternative solution to Iroha’s request where Yukino, Yui, and Hikigaya all join the student council as president, vice president, and general affairs respectively. Some commenters focused on this scene as a slight against Hikigaya for not being imaginative enough to come up with this solution. That may be true, but what they fail to mention or understand in shaming Hikigaya (perhaps due to either a sort of constraining tunnel vision caused by Hikigaya being the first person narrator and/or some personal beef with some or all of Hikigaya’s motivations) is that Yukino is none the wiser either. She decided to become the president without the rest of the Service Club’s approval or support. She decided to become president not from when it was possible to procedurally run for one, but when she was simultaneously burdened by Hikigaya’s betrayal and Haruno’s goading. She decided to become president in contradiction to her philosophy that she shouldn’t provide the fish for Iroha and become president for her, but should teach her how to fish and enable her to find the solution to her dilemma on her own terms. This closer look at Yukino during the Student Council Election arc makes me question the sincerity of her attraction to the presidency. It makes me inclined to believe that she’s perfectly content being the head of the Service Club. In addition to not actively vying for the student council presidency from the outset of the Student Council Arc, she did not vie at all for the committee chairmanship during the Cultural Festival Arc either. She officially ran for president and effectively worked as chairman when she ended up being externally pressured to, these pressures always related to both her family issues with Haruno and her personal feelings towards Hikigaya. Haruno picked on her for not becoming chairman and goaded her into running for president. Hikigaya caused her distraught when she omitted to knowing she had a part in his earlier hospitalization, and disillusioned her when he betrayed her trust and understanding. “Under the building white, A tiny bud is steadily covered up.” “The far, far off spring, Is beneath the snow.” And then we arrive at Hikiagaya. The reason for her vehement denial of Hikigaya’s methods and the drastic actions she took in response is also due to the fact that she cares about him enough to get furious and depressed over him. The person with whom she believed she shared a special bond of substance with, the person who stood up for her and defended her in his own peculiar way when the superficiality of other people were sieging her into resignation, not only betrayed her with a compulsive demonstration of superficiality. He also belittled himself, trivialized himself, ripped himself apart in the process. The superficiality bothers her, to be sure, but equal or even more significant than that, in spite of Hikigaya’s assertions to the contrary, she is bothered with Hikigaya looking down on himself like that. She’s bothered by Hikigaya hurting herself. And she’s grappling with these feelings she’s unable to fully parse together and voice, feelings that, subconsciously, are intimate and even romantic. “And yet they aren’t a couple, nor actively attempting to forge a romance. Why? Personally, I think it’s because I don’t think they’re ready for a romance. They’re too socially maladjusted. They’re too busy trying to figure themselves out. I think Yukino got at when she (half-)jokingly dismissed Hikigaya’s second attempt to formally reach out to her as a friend, that there’s a special connection. It’s a connection between them that transcends friendship.” She’s not accustomed to being genuine to her feelings, however. She can’t even figure out exactly these feelings are, and yet she feels them enough to act in any manner to distance herself away from the hurt of not being genuine. And how these troubling feelings are manifested itself instead through that which is familiar to her. The default is something she’s comfortable with, her own status quo. Rejection of superficiality is something she can latch on to, which is why Yukino reacted in the vehement and desperate way she did towards Hikigaya’s breach in their mutual understanding, their one special bond. Every person isn’t without their superficial elements on some fundamental level, Yukino being no exception. Yet her current expectations for Hikigaya as a knight are unreal to the point of obsessive, just like Hikigaya’s former expectations of Yukino as an angel are unreal to the point of the same. Hikigaya’s high expectations of Yukino bit him like a rabid dog during the Cultural Festival Arc, and Yukino’s high expectations of Hikigaya did the same in the Field Trip, Student Council Election, and Christmas Planning Arcs. Hikigaya once idolized Yukino and felt disillusioned once he realized she wasn’t all he thought she angelically was. Yukino, who idolized Hikigaya in turn, is feeling the same cuts from the shards of shattered images of the dark nature of his knighthood. While the similar in many respects, Hikigaya’s and Yukino’s temperaments are also different from the other in flip-opposite ways. I speculate this is part of the reason why takes Yukino three arcs to resolve her disillusion with Hikigaya, or three times as long, while Hikigaya takes only one arc. Whereas Hikigaya’s response was self-loathing at being wrong about Yukino, Yukino’s response is vehement towards Hikigaya because Hikigaya is just wrong. Unlike Hikigaya, she can’t direct any of the blame for her disillusion on herself, because that’s anathema towards what she is or who she made herself out to be. It’s fine for Hikigaya, he insists, because he’s used to shitting on himself. It’s not fine for Yukino, however, because he’s someone she cares about. Yet she can’t bring herself, is in fact unable, to express this sentiment to Hikigaya or herself. She doesn’t know, and yet she wants to know. She wants to connect with him genuinely. But wanting both taps into her insecurities. Wanting both makes her vulnerable. So she insists desperately on rejecting superficiality. They are the damn flip-sides of the same freaking coin. “I don’t want a replica like this — I’m fine with only having things that can be called ‘real.’ I’ll go on searching, following this path…” The fitting thing about Oregairu’s English title, “My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU,” is that the SNAFU in the narrative as it stands is that there is no romantic relationship. These two are so socially inept and insecure that it’s impossible for the two of them, as they are now, to engage in that kind of conscious intimacy and romance. And so the narrative of the show focuses on developing the two to the point where they are socially mature, where they can engage in that conscious intimacy. And what’s driving it all, what’s driving the two to develop the most dramatically, is the subconscious intimacy they share. And where these dramatic developments occurs is where their subconscious intimacy and romantic feelings with each other lies: their obsessive expectations with each other. These expectations are not only the result of them obsessing with each other specifically, but also because they are immature. Having those expectations betrayed by specifically them is key to having them mature, because it’s only between them that they care enough for each other to make fundamental changes for the better happen in the first place. They want to genuinely connect with each other, so they’ll gradually, and unevenly, keep trying. “Thank you for finding this tiny bud for me.” Management: A great “in the (episode) moment” analysis of Yukino’s psyche can be found on Kyakka’s site here. AdvertisementsThe most comprehensive AngularJS training program is here. We love this amazingly powerful framework for web apps and we promise you will love this course. By the end of it you will understand the concepts behind Angular design and will be able to create you own websites and apps. AngularJS was initially released in 2009 and it has been growing rapidly ever since. If you want to be a web developer you must learn AngularJS and with time it is going to be as essential as HTML. Our Angular course will focus on important features such as decoupling DOM manipulation and to decouple client side from the server side implementation in web apps. 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So join us now and start building the next awesome web app using AngularJS.Pope Francis (AFP Photo / Filippo Monteforte) The Pope led Catholics in prayer for persecuted Christians around the world at a Good Friday service in Rome, a day after 148 students and security officers were massacred by Shebab Islamists in Kenya. A small group of believers carried a cross between 14 “stations” evoking the last hours of Jesus’s life during the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession, as the Pope looked on. Tens of thousands gathered for the service, many clutching candles in the imposing surrounds of the Colosseum. “Lord Jesus, inwardly support the persecuted. May the fundamental right to religious freedom spread far and wide,” believers heard in a “meditation” written by Italian bishop Renato Corti. “Men and women are imprisoned and even killed solely because they are believers or committed to justice and peace. They are not ashamed of the cross. They are outstanding examples to everyone,” Corti’s meditation continued. The procession was led by believers from Iraq, Syria and Egypt — all of whose minority Christian populations face persecution from armed groups including Islamic State militants — and Nigeria, where thousands have been murdered by jihadist organisation Boko Haram. The focus on religious persecution came after Thursday’s day-long siege of Garissa University, Kenya’s deadliest attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, and the bloodiest ever by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants. Hurling grenades and firing automatic rifles, Shebab gunmen stormed the university at dawn as students were sleeping, shooting dead dozens before setting Muslims free and holding Christians and others hostage. “In union with all people of good will throughout the world, His Holiness condemns this act of senseless brutality and prays for a change of heart among its perpetrators,” a papal telegram sent earlier on Friday said. Corti’s meditation also contained a passage expressing hope for an end to the death penalty, a long-held position of the Church, and went on to describe paedophilia as “barbaric”. “You have given us immense dignity, you beckon us towards freedom. Free us from all forms of slavery,” the meditation said, in prayer for child soldiers and victims of human trafficking.Counties that flipped for Trump are abandoning him as his presidency flails and the Russia investigation tightens around him. One year after flipping from Democrat to Republican and supporting Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, voters in those counties across America have buyers remorse and think America is now “worse off” than when Barack Obama was president. Just 32 percent of voters in flipped counties “believe the country is better off now than it was before Trump became president,” according to a new NBC/WSJ poll. A plurality, 41 percent, says the country is “worse off” one year later. The poll sampled residents in more than 400 counties that either flipped from voting Democratic in the 2012 presidential election to Republican last year, or saw a significant surge for Trump last year. The counties in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin, are generally “whiter, more rural, less educated and older than the nation as a whole,” according to NBC. In order words, they represent Trump’s base, and they’re not impressed with his presidency. Trump received especially bad marks among “Trump county” voters for helping to unite the country (60 percent are dissatisfied) and improving the U.S. health care system (59 percent dissatisfied). The findings are just the latest in a mountain of polling data released in the last week that suggest the Trump presidency is in a slow-motion collapse, and that the revelations of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation have gravely damaged Trump. His overall approval rating continues to hit new lows in poll after poll (Fox News, NBC/WSJ, ABC News, CNN), as more and more independent voters flee Trump. According to the recent ABC poll, Trump’s approval rating dropped to 37 percent, the lowest of any president at this point in office since 1946. The Russia investigation that continues to envelope the White House appears to driving Trump’s falling fortunes. More Americans are paying attention to the story and think it’s morphing into a very big deal. In fact, 64 percent believe the Russia scandal is “a serious matter that should be fully investigated,” according to a recent CNN poll. Additionally, 59 percent believe Trump knew that some people “associated with his campaign had contact with suspected Russian operatives.” Trump’s strategy in recent weeks, to distract from the Russia scandal by trying to criminalize Hillary Clinton, appears to be a colossal flop, as more and more Americans tell pollsters that Trump is a failure, and the country’s worse off for having him in the White House.Edward Gingerich killed his wife, Katie, at dusk on March 18, 1993, a cold gray Tuesday preceded by several days of snow. The twenty-eight-year-old Amish man attacked his spouse in front of two of their children who witnessed the atrocity in stunned horror. In the kitchen of their western Pennsylvania farmhouse, he knocked her down, crushed her skull by stomping on her face, ripped off her clothing, and then opened up her belly with a kitchen knife. Through the gaping, seven-inch gash, he removed her heart, lungs, spleen, liver, kidneys, ovaries, and intestines, stacking these in a neat pile beside her corpse. Within an hour, volunteer ambulance personnel from a nearby village stared at the bloody shell sprawled nude on the kitchen floor and at the knife plunged into the dripping mound of organs. The tall, pale-skinned lumber-mill operator was arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police at a dirt road intersection near his house. Bearded, denim-clad, wild-eyed, blood-splattered, and virtually incoherent, the Amish man mumbled biblical passages and made vague references to the devil. Gingerich's non-Amish neighbors were thunderstruck by the slaughter. They told reporters and police investigators that he's suffered a recent brush with mental illness but had never exhibited tendencies toward violence. For the first time in American history, an Amish man stood accused of homicide, raising a host of bewildering questions. What had driven this quiet, easygoing man to commit a crime so ghastly as to defy description? Who was Edward Gingerich? What was he? How would his family, the Amish community, and Pennsylvania's criminal justice system deal with this unique and disturbing case? Ultimately, Ed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to imprisonment at the State Correctional Institution in Pittsburgh for a minimum term of two and a half years and a maximum of five years.It’s an unprecedented match-up of familiar faces. The major-party presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have spent decades in the public eye as key figures of American culture. Their portraits have covered magazines, newspapers and websites for decades. We asked some of the greatest portrait shooters who have photographed Hillary Clinton to scour their archives and select their favorite photographs from these one-on-one sessions. Here are the stories, told by the photographers, behind these iconic portraits.—Tara Johnson, Chelsea Matiash and Paul Moakley. Suzanne DeChillo, photographer, who shot Clinton for the New York Times in Washington on Jan. 31, 1993: “This is Hillary in the famous ‘Cold Shoulder’ dress designed by Donna Karan. During a hectic day before the Clintons hosted their first official dinner at the White House in 1993 – for a brief moment she relaxed and smiled. As first lady, she generated a lot of comment with her dress, her role in health care reform or whether she baked cookies. As a staff photographer for the New York Times, I was assigned to photograph a food story about Hillary Clinton preparing for the first dinner in the State Dining Room. The writer Marian Burros got a scoop that the new first lady was banning smoking at the White House beginning with removing the ashtrays from the tables in the State Dining Room. Suddenly I was shooting for two different stories, a photographer’s nightmare. We needed a dynamite photo of Hillary and of the marinated shrimp. I spent over 12 hours photographing in the White House. Not only did the Times need several pix of Hillary, but I photographed the White House chef, the pastry chef, the flower arranger, preparations of the smoked marinated shrimp, the Reagan red chinaware and the toast at the banquet for the governors. The Times‘ front-page smoking ban story ran with a pix of Hillary fussing with the table setting with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln looking down on her. The ‘Cold Shoulder’ picture ran days later in a story with comments on her dress. As First Lady, she generated a lot of comment with that dress, her role in health care reform or whether she baked cookies. In the end, no one complained about the smoking ban. And now, I read that the dress is one of her favorites.” Deborah Feingold, photographer, who shot Clinton in Little Rock, Ark. for Redbook in January 1993: “We were shooting her for a cover of Redbook. She was on her way (literally!) to the White House with Bill who was to begin serving as president. We were shooting in her home in Little Rock, Ark., where we had the pleasure of meeting Socks, their cat, who moved with them into the White House. What I love about these images is that she was one of the kindest, friendliest subjects I have ever photographed. Contrary to public opinion, I found her to be open, funny, kind and so easy to speak with. These pictures portray the woman that I met and a shoot I will always remember.” Michael O’Neill, portrait photographer, who shot Clinton in Washington for the New York Times Magazine in 1993: “The article in the New York Times Magazine was about ‘Saint Hillary.’ Magically, that day she appeared in white, perfect and saintly! Her purpose in life was to make things better, her goals lofty and pure.” Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, photographer, who shot Clinton in Washington for Elle on March 4, 1994: “This session with First Lady Hillary Clinton was at the White House in 1994. It was going okay, but I could feel handlers behind me nixing the poses that I was suggesting. I’m not big on profile shots but I adjusted my light, asked Mrs. Clinton to look away in profile and at the last minute, I said, ‘Think of our mutual friend, Brian d’Amato.’ She burst into a big smile, a real one… and I clicked the shutter on my 8×10 Deardorff. Mrs. Clinton had once been Brian’s babysitter.” Harry Benson, photojournalist, who shot Hillary in Washington for People in 1995: “I have photographed Hillary Clinton many times — before, during and after her days in the White House. I like this photograph taken in the Blue Room in 1995 because Hillary looks happy and relaxed — like that is where she belongs. She dressed the part — wearing navy blue to compliment the room she had just redecorated.” Chuck Close, photographer, who shot Hillary for the New York Times Magazine in 1999: “In the chaos of The White House with everyone wanting a piece of Hillary Clinton, she remained an island of calm and helped me produce this and other images. I can’t believe how easy she managed to make the shoot.” As told by Martin Bell, husband of Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015), photographer, who shot Clinton in New York City for New York Magazine in 2000: “Mary Ellen took this portrait for New York Magazine when Hillary was running for the Senate in 2000. It was shot at Industria Studios in the West Village. Because of her status as the former First Lady there was lots of security. Mary Ellen especially liked the bomb-sniffing dogs.” Platon, photographer, who shot Clinton in New York for the New York Times Magazine on Sept. 12, 2005: “I took this picture of Hillary at a march in New York. She was wearing a sash, which said ‘Honorary Guest.’ As she’s surrounded by the usual hangers-on in the crowd, I noticed in the background Huma Abedin wearing her signature dark sunglasses, never too far away from Mrs. Clinton. This is the closest I could get to Hillary. As of yet, Hillary has still not granted me a private studio portrait sitting. Perhaps, compared with Donald Trump, she is more guarded. Perhaps she is more cautious in exposing all facets of her character. Donald Trump has played an all-access – for better or worse – approach in the last year, and Hillary, conversely, has been more controlling and hesitant. In my opinion, both approaches have risks. Saying too much, or not saying enough.” Andrew Eccles, photographer, who shot Clinton in New York City for New York Magazine in 2006: “I’ve photographed Hillary Clinton three times. My experiences with her couldn’t have been warmer, friendlier and more lovely. This photo was made the second time I photographed her in 2006, when she was Senator. Like most politicians she was really well briefed on who I was and she remembered from our last shoot that I had a daughter. I told her that my daughter Isabel, who was five at the time, had referred to two iconic New York City landmarks as ‘The Entire State Building’ and ‘The Statue Delivery’ which made her laugh warmly and genuinely. This moment is connected to me, my daughter and her remembering.” David Burnett, photojournalist, who shot Clinton in New York City for Essence in July 2007: “Senator Clinton was always, even in moments of distraction, focused on the business that was at hand. If you were lucky enough to catch her otherwise unengaged, that energy would flow into your pictures.” Nadav Kander, photographer, who shot Clinton in Washington for the New York Times Magazine in 2008: “Although it was a joyous time in America I wanted to show the truth of each person or something about the inner condition that was genuine. Within the portfolio I was photographing, I wanted her to portray solidity and experience, something that the young Obama administration needed. A serious cornerstone in a vibrant new White House. She would not let me lift the camera without beaming a smile so the one photo that I got without a smile meant more to me than any others.” Marco Grob, portrait photographer, who shot Clinton in Washington for TIME on Oct. 26, 2009: “When I began photographing politicians I was often surprised how well prepared and coached they were for our interactions. Often with our second or third meeting the subject would greet us by name, forgoing introductions. With Secretary Clinton, she knew my name walking in the door for our first sitting, which incidentally was my first sitting for TIME. For me, being a European, Clinton looked like American royalty. She exuded opulence and power, with a posture and pose that reminded me of renaissance paintings.” Martin Schoeller, photographer, who shot Clinton in Washington for The New Yorker in 2011: “When I photographed Hillary Clinton, she was a little nervous. I said, ‘You will not look as bad as the Chuck Close portrait,’ and she laughed and trusted me. In this photograph, I think she looks authentic and unposed.”The more I read about budgeting, the more often I come across the same tip and hint when it comes to saving money: have more'meat-free' days. Almost every budgeting blog and book seems to recommend this. Now I'm not much of a carnivore on the best of days and the older I've got, the fewer meat meals I eat. It's not because I'm a stereotypical long armpit-haired, tree-hugging, animal lover (although I do love animals), and it's not because I don't like the taste of meat (although I do sometimes find meat - bad meat especially - very plain). Mainly it's because I had been single for so long that somewhere along the grocery line, stopping off at the meat department ceased because it was expensive and something I could do without. Before you baulk at my possibly low iron count, I can assure you it's fine - I had it tested recently. Anyway today is World Vegetarian Day so I thought it was kind of fitting to look at vegetarianism from a financial perspective. (And going from previous blogs, such as this post on Burger She Wrote, vegos love nothing better than a place to rant against us animal killers.) So as I've said, when it comes to planning meals and budgets, meat generally slips off on every occasion. The thing is: you pay for what you get when it comes to meat. I really do believe this. Prime example: mince. Do you go for the cheap munty mince? Or splash out on the twice-the-price, half-the-fat, premium mince? Well, I tried to give the cheap mince a whirl once when I made a huge batch of spag bol-type mince which I was going to stretch out over a few meals. The first night was OK, I managed to put enough other nice stuff in the pan to disguise the tasteless mince and when it came to scooping out the final product, I was able to by-pass the pools of fat that had formed on the top. Yuck. But come Day Two, I nearly hurled. The container I'd put the leftovers in had this two centimetre thick orange solidified fat on the top. I chucked the entire lot out there and then and ate toast in place of the meals which I'd put in the bin. What. A. Waste... both of food and money. From that moment I swore never again to compromise on mince. But this is what always happens. Rather than perusing the meat aisles at supermarkets, I prefer to load up on other tasty food and not risk making myself sick on undercooked food (food poisoning is a huge fear of mine!) And yes I know, you can get that from other food as well... the worst I got it from was rice once. (That too is now off the menu for me most days) I just save eating meat to restaurant meals where I'm generally paying for quality. Although in saying all this, with a meat-loving male in the house now, I'm sure the grocery bill will need to stretch to include his tastes - and hopefully his cooking skills too. Do you have'meat-free' days as a way of budgeting? Would you and your family be able to give up your carnivorous ways? Or are you already a vegetarian and therefore rolling around in the money you save on not eating dead animals? » You can follow Greer on Twitter or on Facebook. » Follow NZStuffBlogs on Twitter and get fast updates on all Stuff blogsWith Obama doubling down late Thursday on accusations of a Putin-orchestrated Russian hack, and going as far as vowing retaliation against the Russia for "its meddling in the US presidential election", telling NPR that "there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action and we will at a time and place of our own choosing," moments ago Donald Trump likewise retaliated on his favorite medium, Twitter, when shortly after 6am, Trump suggested that the so-called "Russian hack" disclosed information that was in the public's interest, once again bringing up the age-old question: if the information is critical and serves the public, does it matter where it came from? Specifically, Trump asked on Twitter if “the same cyberattack” U.S. intelligence agencies believe struck the Democratic National Committee and other groups was the one that revealed the DNC had been handicapping the presidential primary in favor of eventual nominee Hillary Clinton. Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2016 Meanwhile, as it escalated its allegations about a Kremlin-directed hack, the White House on Thursday claimed that Trump knew about Russian hacking of the campaign well before Election Day, and a spokesman for the Obama administration called on the president-elect to cooperate with a congressional probe into the matter. Keep an eye on Obama's impromptu 2:15pm press conference this afternoon, on the off chance the outgoing president decides to launch cyberwar shortly before leaving for his Hawaiian golf outing.It’s 40 Days of Supergirl here at Multiversity Comics and we’re celebrating the Girl Of Steel and everything she brings to the DC Universe! Here, I’m going to be taking a look back at somewhat overlooked chapter in the Maiden Of Might’s life as Kelly Sue DeConnick and ChrisCross closed out the “Supergirl” series prior to the New 52 in a beautiful and poignant way that reminds us of the humanity at the core of the character. Read on below for the full review of issues #65, #66 and #67 of “Supergirl,” collecting the story titled ‘This Is Not My Life’ by Kelly Sue DeConnick and ChrisCross. Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick Illustrated by ChrissCross “This is Not My Life” part 1! Supergirl goes undercover on a college campus to help Lois Lane uncover the truth behind a string of recent student disappearances! 2011 was a strange time for DC Comics. For most of the year, its comics were living on borrowed time as the reboot of the New 52 reared it’s head. The looming reset button meant that larger stories were going to be cut short, as was the case with most of the series at DC. One of the lucky ones was “Supergirl”, which managed to sneak in one last three-part story that, at the very least, managed to provide some closure for the character before the big switch up. That closure came in the form of a story by Kelly Sue DeConnick and ChrisCross, with inks by Marc Deering and colours by Blond, which sees Supergirl going undercover at a Metropolis university to investigate a number of missing children. Just as 2011 was a strange time for DC as a whole, it was a very interesting time for Supergirl herself. If you’re coming into this story clean, the landscape of Kara Zor-El’s life might look fairly different than what you’d expect, especially if you’re main experience with the character is the CW show. For one, Kara’s secret identity is not that of Kara Danvers, but instead she is working as an intern at the Daily Plant under the name Linda Lang. This isn’t necessarily important to the story, but does give a sense of how this character has evolved different and explains why she goes undercover as Linda Lane, a niece of Lois’, at the university. The other notable thing about this story is how little Supergirl is actually in it. Kara shows up in costume during the first and third issues of the story, but remains in character as Linda Lane for the entirety of the second issue and most of the third. This focus on Linda puts the humanity of the character at the forefront, focusing on her intuition and investigative skills more than on how much she can punch which is a nice change of pace for a story about a Kryptonian character. This is where we see Kelly Sue DeConnick’s skill at character interactino and dialogue (something she, apparently, was always fantastic at) shine as Linda meets a host of weird and wonderful characters including her new roommate and a pyjama-sporting secret society. Fans of DC’s current “Gotham Academy” series will find a lot to love in the character dynamics and general storytelling of this series as will pretty much anyone who loves stories in the vein of Nancy Drew. Except, you know, with Kryptnians. This focus on mystery and investigation not only allows for a new side of Kara’s character to be explored as she connects with her peers on a level we’ve rarely seen in Supergirl stories, but it also allows DeConnick and ChrisCross to explore a sidestory with Lois Lane. Having Lois Lane be a major aspect of the story both ties the story to the larger mythology of Metropolis as well as keeps the story from defining Kara by her connection to Superman. In fact, the Big Blue Boy Scout is barely even mentioned in the story and that’s something that haunted this particular volume of “Supergirl” for a while (and, when you think about it, most Supergirl stories) so having a story that focused on Kara’s skills outside of her Kryptonian abilities or the costume she wears or who she’s related makes this, truly, a story that’s actually about who Kara Zor-El is. It may not have had the space to explore that concept, but it’s one that I feel gives the story a lasting impression. Continued below The other benefit of keeping Kara’s antics as Supergirl to a minimum is that it allows for ChrisCross to illustrate some fantastic dialogue scenes. ChrisCross’ artwork may not be for everyone, but there’s an exaggerated playfulness to the expressions he gives his characters that keeps the story from ever getting to serious. Sure, it’s a story about college kids being kidnapped,
reason for the Ravens to come in at #3 in the consensus rankings is due to their schedule. Their 2009 schedule is a bit harder than last year's, but they'll still keep points off the board while putting up some of their own. 4 Minnesota Vikings You'll have a difficult time arguing against the superior line in Minnesota. Jared Allen along with Pat and Kevin Williams can not only stop the run, but they'll grab a number of sacks along the way. The question in Minnesota isn't can they stop the run, it's can they stop the pass? Darren Sharper fizzled last year and the Vikings won't have him on the field this year. If you liked the Vikings last year, you'll like them again. I'm expecting only a slight decline in their fantasy production. 5 Philadelphia Eagles The Eagles blitz and blitz and blitz. In fact, they finished 3rd in sacks last year. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there's a new cast of characters in Philly. The secondary may struggle from time to time, but the front line will make up for that. Oh yeah, they still have Asante Samuel. 6 New England Patriots Even though the Patriot's defense didn't come close to expectations last year, they've made enough moves to solidify their defense ensuring a strong 2009. Jerod Mayo has a year under his belt and the New England offense should be very, very solid. 7 Tennessee Titans I'll admit that I thought I'd see Tennesse in the Top 5 and perhaps the Top 3 so I was a bit surprised by their #7 billing. I'd personally take the Titans ahead of Minnesota, Philly, and New England. Here's why: Even though they lost Albert Haynesworth, they basically retained everyone else. The Titans had more turnovers than anyone else last year and were ended last season with the 2nd most fantasy points. They no longer have the depth I'd like to see, so as long as they stay healthy, they're a stellar fantasy option. 8 New York Jets The Jets D came out of hibernation last year to the delight of many fantasy owners. Like a bear waking up from a long winter's nap, the Jets will come out in 2009 very, very hungry. This is an aggressive team and blitzing attacks should be anticipated by opposing offenses. Calvin Pace will miss the first four games, but there are big names to pick up any temporary slack. How about Revis, Sheppard, Ellis, Jenkins, and Harris? I think the Jets will put a smile on many fantasy faces this year. 9 Chicago Bears I'm not completely sold on the Bears this year and that's not because I'm a Packer fan. The once mighty Bears haven't shown that they're a Top 10 Defense and I can't find many reasons to believe that they will in 2009. The secondary is suspect and they don't play with any consistent purpose. Urlacher and Briggs are still very talented but they're not performing very well. I find myself disagreeing with the Nerd on the #9 ranking considering the fact that the Bears couldn't find their way into the top half of the league in points and yards allowed last year. Don't get me wrong. The Bears D isn't bad. It just isn't worthy of a #9 ranking. 10 Dallas Cowboys DeMarcus Ware leads a good Cowboys team back onto the field. Even without problematic Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson, Dallas still has a strong team overall. The secondary will get burned again like 2008, but the front line will record a ton of sacks. Beyond the Top 10 12 Green Bay Packers It's difficult to be born in and live in Wisconsin and not be a Packer fan. Don't let my love for this team take away anything from the Packer's 2009 defensive capabilities. Don't let that interfere with my prediction that the Packers will be the Super Sleeper Defense of 2009. With the new 3-4 defense implemented by new coordinator Dom Capers, they've looked incredible during the pre-season. I don't care for white-haired-owl-face (aka Ted Thompson), but I do like the B.J. Raji pick. Raji will go toe to toe with some of the best backs in the league and stop them short. Barnett is back and AJ Hawk completes this dynamic duo. Opposing runners will find it difficult to get through the line, but if they do, they'll find a stone wall with these two. Aaron Kampman is one of the hardest working defensive players in the NFL and he's doing very well in the 3-4 transition. I also like Charles Woodson and Al Harris. These veterans are just as good today as they have been in years past. The Pack is back! 14 Miami Dolphins I firmly believe that the Dolphins could be ranked higher than 14 if their schedule was as attractive as last year. Unfortunately, that's not the case. For Miami fans, you've still got Jason Taylor and the awesome Joey Porter. Porter provided 17.5 sacks in 2008 which was good enough for 2nd in the NFL. Expect another solid year out of the Fins. Wrapping it up Steer clear of the following teams. These are the kinds of teams that will happily give you negative points should your league allow for that type of scoring. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Raiders should bring back Bo Jackson just so they can start looking like an NFL team again. The Oakland Defense (ranked #25) has one good stud. Nnamdi Asomugha is simply phenomenal, but he can't do everything for them. Even the worst rushing teams in the league don't fear the Raiders. Oakland gave up more than 150 yards to opposing rushers last year. Oh how I love to see my fantasy players facing Oakland. The Broncos (ranked #26) are the NFL's version of a soap opera (Minnesota's soap opera is on ESPN). I relish my fantasy QB's facing the porous Bronco's secondary. Denver can't stop the run and you can drive a truck through their secondary which means lots of fantasy points for the offense! The Bronco's offense has the ability to make the team shine, but the defense keeps the shine to an ugly dull. I (and millions of other fantasy players) actually enjoy the fact that the Saints' defense (ranked #27) is poor. I wouldn't ever, ever, ever start the New Orleans defense, but that doesn't make me love them any less. It's the defense that makes the offense such a fantasy scoring machine. When the Saints are behind, they have to throw. When they have to throw, Drew Brees becomes the go-to man. When Brees takes charge, the offense provides you and I with all the points we can handle! There's one thing in common with the bottom five teams on the Fantasy Football Nerd's defensive rankings: they all are so bad that they don't warrant even a bench spot on your fantasy team. The Browns, Bengals, Rams, Chiefs, and the 0-16 Lions are offensive meals. Don't let me catch you with any of them on your teams. :-)I'll explain to my sons what happened, how a California jury found 20-year-old Turner guilty of three counts of sexual assault. How he wound up getting only six months in county jail and probation despite facing a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Brock Turner, right, attends court. Credit:AP And I'll make sure they read, slowly and carefully, how the woman described the moment she read a news story about her assault: "I read and learned for the first time about how I was found unconscious, with my hair dishevelled, long necklace wrapped around my neck, bra pulled out of my dress, dress pulled off over my shoulders and pulled up above my waist, that I was butt naked all the way down to my boots, legs spread apart, and had been penetrated by a foreign object by someone I did not recognize." I want my sons to read that, and I want them to understand what rape is and I want them to know, without a hint of doubt, that it is an unconscionable crime for which there is no excuse. I'll show them the tone-deaf statement Turner's father made in court, asking the judge for leniency. The father said of his son: "This is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life."Angry and isolated, Trump remains consumed with Charlottesville, and wallowing in self-pity. As he awoke Thursday morning and found himself more isolated than any time this year and more isolated than any president in recent memory, Donald Trump took to Twitter for a pity party. Of course. Lashing out at fellow Republican, as well as the press, Trump remains completely consumed with the deadly events in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday. But he’s only consumed with himself, and how he feels he’s been badly treated in the wake of his public flip-flopping on who was to blame for the street chaos. He’s consumed with all the blame he’s getting for singling out “both sides.” And he’s clearly feeling bruised by watching longtime allies abandon him — allies in big business, in the military, and in his own party. The public is learning (even more so) how dishonest the Fake News is. They totally misrepresent what I say about hate, bigotry etc. Shame! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017 But it’s not fake news. Everyone can watch the video of Trump’s Tuesday afternoon temper tantrum press conference inside Trump Tower, or they can read the transcript. Trump unequivocally gave cover to the white nationalist movement in America and praised how some “very fine people” had gathered in Virginia for the white supremacy rally. Trump then turned his ire on fellow Republicans — Republicans who have, despite their criticism of him, supported him and his agenda with their votes. Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017 …and people like Ms. Heyer. Such a disgusting lie. He just can't forget his election trouncing.The people of South Carolina will remember! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017 Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He's toxic! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017 The fact is, the GOP remains in complete shock of Trump’s stunning performance and terrified about facing the midterm election cycle with a party leader who, incredibly, is viewed as being pro-Nazi. No issue to date — not the offensive Trump outbursts, the vindictive policy initiatives, the incompetent West Wing staff — has caused loyalist Republicans to doubt Trump’s fitness for office the way recent days have. Yes, many Republicans are still hiding behind passive, overly timid statements about Charlottesville — statements that fail to call the president out by name. But for a party that has put up with endless Trump outrages, this one feels different. That’s why Fox News’ Shepard Smith announced on Wednesday that he couldn’t get any Republicans to appear on his show to discuss the state of the presidency. White House insiders can sense the seismic shift. “The president’s top advisers described themselves as stunned, despondent and numb. Several said they were unable to see how Mr. Trump’s presidency would recover, and others expressed doubts about his capacity to do the job,” The New York Times reports. Everyone is sprinting away form Trump and his toxic comments. All five branches of the armed services chiefs — of the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines and the National Guard Bureau — posted statements on social media forcefully condemning white supremacy and racism. Meanwhile, fellow business leaders continue to express their shock and anger and Trump, and now insist they want nothing to do with the White House or its agenda. Everywhere Trump turns he sees open, defiant resistance. When he announced a campaign rally in Phoenix next week, the city’s mayor stepped forward and urged Trump to stay away. So now Trump sulks, completely isolated.Image copyright Torquing Image caption More than 12,000 people gave a total of £2,335,119 to fund the Zano drone via Kickstarter The company behind the failed mini-drone Zano has provided some details of how more than £2.3m in funding was allocated. Torquing Group was criticised for a lack of communication over the Zano after the project folded last week. An apology has been issued along with the new information. The collapse of Zano caused embarrassment for Kickstarter when many disappointed backers questioned whether they would get their money back. In the new update, which was published to the project's Kickstarter page, the firm detailed how its funding had been apportioned across the project. 'Significant financial impacts' The four largest areas to which more than £2.3m in donations had been distributed as follows: 46% - Stock and manufacturing 14% - Wages 9% - Purchase taxes 5% - Kickstarter and payment fees Developing improvements to the Zano prototype had been one significant example of expenditure, the company said. Image copyright Torquing Image caption Torquing released a pie chart explaining how funding had been divided up "Ultimately these upgrades coupled with delays caused by the creation of a bespoke and automatic testing rig had significant financial and timeline impacts upon the project," the statement added. The firm also reiterated its intention to "co-operate fully" with Trading Standards within Pembrokeshire County Council. In a closing comment, Torquing added an additional apology: "We would like to make a sincere apology for the understandable disappointment felt by all of those that have supported the project." 'Extremely frustrated' The BBC had also learned that Kickstarter had contacted Zano backers following the announcement of Zano's collapse last week. "Like you, we're extremely frustrated by what's happened with this project," the message said. It added that Kickstarter had asked Torquing to provide a more detailed update to backers by November 30 - or Kickstarter would pursue an inquiry into the Zano project.Copyright © 2013 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of Statewide News Network, Inc. This story may not be reproduced in any form, by any media, without express written consent. This includes rewriting, broadcasting and/or printing of material from MidHudsonNews.com, by radio and television stations, newspapers or other media. WEST POINT – Two people were rescued from the Hudson River late Wednesday night near West Point and Constitution Island by a member of the West Point Swimming Team and a friend who swam out. Three cadet rescuers Reports came in around 10 p.m. of two people in the river calling for help. They had been kayaking and had been stranded for hours in the river. Cadet Sam Mo, a member of the Class of 2016, from Great Neck, New York, a member of the swim team, and a friend, swam out and stayed with the kayakers treading water for about 20 minutes until a rescue boat arrived. Other cadets were also involved in the rescue. Cadet Daniel Bleyl, Class of 2014, from Tucson, Arizona, also jumped in the water with Cadet Mo, while Cadet Pierre Archambeau, Class of 2016, from Bacaville, California, notified emergency services about the situation. Both were also members of the Army swim team. The cadets had heard a call for help from the direction of the river and although it was too dark to see anything, they realized someone was in the water and needed assistance. Mo and Bleyl dove in the cold, dark river and swam some 300 to 400 yards to get to the kayakers. A powerboat operated by Dr. Pete Hanlon, the crew team officer representative, along with an assistant coach, arrived 20 minutes later to assist them to shore along with the West Point Military Police and Fire Department. The kayakers were treated for hypothermia on the dock at West Point and transported to an area hospital for observation.New rules allowing Canberrans to grow vegetables on their nature strips are expected by early September, the government has confirmed, with the guidelines now being finalised. A spokeswoman for City Services Minister Meegan Fitzharris said the guidelines, which did not need legislation, were expected to be in place before the government goes into caretaker mode on September 9 for the October election. An O'Connor verge, extensively planted with vegetables and other plants. Credit:Rohan Thomson She did not release the 29 submissions and 327 survey responses, but the final guidelines are not expected to be significantly different to the draft rules released for comment in February. The draft would allow householders to plant ground cover, native grass, fruit and vegetables and shrubs without getting approval. They can also install temporary fences using rope, string and hardwood stakes to protect new plants, and use garden edging of stone, brick or timber up to 15 centimetres high.All the world wants to know the results of today's presidential election in Iran, not least the Republican Guard supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But will it make a difference, either to the Iranians or to the rest of the world? Of course the West wants to be told that this dramatic poll will change Iran's desire for nuclear facilities. Whatever it is, this election is not about nuclear power. It may be about presidential arrogance and stupidity and fear, or about responsible government or unemployment or the economy. But the West should abandon hope of any real change in Iran's nuclear strategy. Mirhossein Mousavi may talk more sense to the Americans – if he wins – but the nuclear facilities will keep functioning. It is all a matter of pride in Iran – where pride is a special quality. And the thick, dark skin of clerical rule that covers Iran will remain, scratched occasionally perhaps, but unable to bleed or to re-imagine history or to reform a nation which so badly needs the change that only Mousavi, among the candidates, dreams of. Government for and by the dead – symbolised in the continued "supreme leader" ethos that old Ayatollah Khomeini constructed before his death, has effectively sealed off Iran from those human rights which obsess the West. Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent Without the ads – for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Only one month ago, a 22-year-old woman was dragged shrieking to the gallows as she pleaded with her mother on a mobile phone to save her. Delara Darabi was hanged for a murder supposedly committed – if indeed she was guilty – at the age of 17. In any Western election, this would cause an earthquake, the resignation of governments, the destruction of whole political parties. In Iran, the most serious scandal involving a woman during this election has been an apparently slanderous remark by President Ahmadinejad about the university qualifications of Mousavi's wife. Is there something sick in all this? Or is savage childishness the word we are looking for? Mousavi is at least backed by the saintly ex-president Mohamed Khatami – the West's rejection of his rule brought us the triumph of the oddball Ahmadinejad, another victory for America at the time – and this might just give Mousavi the 50 per cent plus one seat for a clear win. But the Basiji and the Iranian Republican Guard Corps (IRGC) scream about velvet and green revolutions à la Ukraine, as if threatening a coup to overthrow a coup. It is interesting to remember that only a month ago, the corps stated that "on the eve of elections, the IRGC, as a matter of policy, does not let its official and contractual personnel nor the special Basiji interfere in election affairs, including support for or against a particular candidate." A month is clearly a long time in Iranian politics. True, the campaign has given us some spectacular television bust-ups in which Ahmadinejad's loopy views on the world – not to mention his doubts about the Jewish Holocaust – have been held up to ridicule by Mousavi. But does that have them laughing in the millions of villages and hundreds of cities across Iran where the poor last gave their vote to the humble man who is the incumbent President and claimed a "halo" shone around him at the United Nations, causing his listeners not to blink for 25 minutes? Iranian politics has always produced a weird combination of sacred old men and smart economists – occasionally in highly unsacred coalition – and Mousavi's steady hand as prime minister during the Somme-like Iran-Iraq war may add to his popularity. But this was a war fought largely by the Basiji and the Republican Guards – as Ahmadinejad is well aware – and which Iran lost. And now to find on the very eve of the election that Ahmadinejad is threatening to jail his opponents because of what he claims are their Hitler-like lies is surely moving towards infantilism of a unique kind. It is certainly odd that Ahmadinejad denies Hitler's greatest crime and then accuses his opponents of being Hitler. If Hitler didn't kill the Jews of Europe, which crimes, one wonders, was Iran's weird President thinking of? We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads. Subscribe nowThis information comes from Nintendo’s investors briefing as stated by president Tatsumi Kimishima… With respect to Fire Emblem Fates released in February, this graph shows a comparison between the total sell-through in the U.S. market and the total sell-through in the Japanese market, where the title launched earlier. The week of each launch is counted as Week 1. Sales surpassed the 500,000 mark in the U.S. in Week 6 and have continued without losing momentum. Recently, sales caught up to Japan and are even maintaining a pace slightly higher than in the Japanese market. This graph adds a comparison with the previous entry in the series, Fire Emblem Awakening. As you can see, there are major differences in the trends in the Japanese and American markets. In Japan, most of the demand is filled within the first few weeks after launch, but the Fire Emblem series continues to perform well over a long period in the U.S. In the past, the Fire Emblem series did not sell as well in the U.S. as it did in Japan. However, Fire Emblem Awakening greatly expanded the user base for the series, and the current entry, Fire Emblem Fates, has been popular abroad as well since launch.In Using iterators to write highly composeable code, we saw that the staged approach to data transformation is decomposed, but duplicates the entire data set. Whereas, the single pass approach is more efficient, but the code was entangled and monolithic. Now we’re going to look at an interesting approach for building composeable pipelines of transformations without incurring a memory penalty, transducers. Let’s start with a review of reducing (a/k/a “folding”): reducers A reducer is a function that takes an accumulation and a value, and folds the value into the accumulation. For example, if [1, 2, 3] is an accumulation,and 4 is a value, (acc, val) => acc.concat([val]); is a reducer that returns [1, 2, 3, 4] : const acc = [ 1, 2, 3 ]; const val = 4 ; const reducer = ( acc, val ) => acc. concat ([ val ]); reducer ( acc, val ) ///=> 1, 2, 3, 4 (acc, val) => acc.concat([val]) is a reducer that returns the catenation of a list and a value. Likewise, (acc, val) => acc.add(val) is a reducer that.add s a value to an accumulation. It works for any object that has a.add method and returns itself from.add, like Set.prototype.add: const acc = new Set ([ 1, 2, 3 ]); const val = 4 ; const reducer = ( acc, val ) => acc. add ( val ); reducer ( acc, val ) ///=> Set{1, 2, 3, 4} Here is a function that makes an array out of any iterable using our catenation reducer: const toArray = iterable => { const reducer = ( acc, val ) => acc. concat ([ val ]); const seed = []; let accumulation = seed ; for ( value of iterable ) { accumulation = reducer ( accumulation, value ); } return accumulation ; } toArray ([ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> [1, 2, 3] We can extract our reducer and seed variables as parameters to create a reduction function: const reduce = ( iterable, reducer, seed ) => { let accumulation = seed ; for ( const value of iterable ) { accumulation = reducer ( accumulation, value ); } return accumulation ; } reduce ([ 1, 2, 3 ], ( acc, val ) => acc. concat ([ val ]), []) //=> [1, 2, 3] Thankfully, JavaScript is evolving towards a convention of writing functions like reduce to take the reducer first. In JavaScript Allongé-style nomenclature, we can write: const reduceWith = ( reducer, seed, iterable ) => { let accumulation = seed ; for ( const value of iterable ) { accumulation = reducer ( accumulation, value ); } return accumulation ; } reduce ([ 1, 2, 3 ], ( acc, val ) => acc. concat ([ val ]), []) //=> [1, 2, 3] // becomes: reduceWith (( acc, val ) => acc. concat ([ val ]), [], [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> [1, 2, 3] In JavaScript, arrays have a.reduce method built in, and they behave exactly like our reduce or reduceWith functions: [ 1, 2, 3 ]. reduce (( acc, val ) => acc. concat ([ val ]), []) //=> [1, 2, 3] Now, (acc, val) => acc.concat([val]) makes a lot of excess copies of things, and in JavaScript, we can substitute (acc, val) => { acc.push(val); return acc; }. Either way, what we get is a reducer that accumulates values into an array. Let’s give it a name: const arrayOf = ( acc, val ) => { acc. push ( val ); return acc ; }; reduceWith ( arrayOf, [], [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> [1, 2, 3] Here’s yet another reducer: const sumOf = ( acc, val ) => acc + val ; reduceWith ( sumOf, 0, [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> 6 We can write reducers that reduce an iterable of one type (such as an array) into another type (such as a number). decorating reducers JavaScript makes it easy to write functions that return functions. Here’s a function that makes a reducer for us: const joinedWith = separator => ( acc, val ) => acc == ''? val : ` ${ acc }${ separator }${ val } ` ; reduceWith ( joinedWith ( ','), '', [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> "1, 2, 3" reduceWith ( joinedWith ( '.' ), '', [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> "1.2.3" JavaScript also makes it easy to write functions that take functions as arguments. Decorators are JavaScript functions that take a function as an argument and return another function that is semantically related to its argument. For example, this function takes a binary function and decorates it by adding one to its second input: const incrementSecondArgument = binaryFn => ( x, y ) => binaryFn ( x, y + 1 ); const power = ( base, exponent ) => base ** exponent ; const higherPower = incrementSecondArgument ( power ); power ( 2, 3 ) //=> 8 higherPower ( 2, 3 ) //=> 16 higherPower is power, decorated to add one to its exponent. Thus, higherPower(2, 3) produces the same result as power(2, 4). We have been working with binary functions already, of course. Reducers are binary functions. Can we decorate them? Yes! reduceWith ( incrementSecondArgument ( arrayOf ), [], [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> [2, 3, 4] const incremented = iterable => reduceWith ( incrementSecondArgument ( arrayOf ), [], iterable ); incremented ([ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> [2, 3, 4] mappers We have produced a mapper, a function that takes an iterable and returns a mapping from the iterable’s values to the incremented iterable’s values. We map values all the time in JavaScript, but of course we want to do more than just increment. Let’s take another look at incrementSecondArgument : const incrementSecondArgument = binaryFn => ( x, y ) => binaryFn ( x, y + 1 ); Since we’re using it to decorate reducers, let’s give it some more relevant names: const incrementValue = reducer => ( acc, val ) => reducer ( acc, val + 1 ); Now we see at a glance that incrementValue takes a reducer as an argument and returns a reducer that increments its value before reducing it further. We can extract the “incrementing” logic into a parameter: const map = fn => reducer => ( acc, val ) => reducer ( acc, fn ( val )); const incrementValue = map ( x => x + 1 ); reduceWith ( incrementValue ( arrayOf ), [], [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> [2, 3, 4] Although it looks unfamiliar to people not used to the idea of a function taking a function as an argument and returning a function that takes a function as an argument, we can write map(x => x + 1) anywhere we can write incrementValue, therefore we can write: reduceWith ( map ( x => x + 1 )( arrayOf ), [], [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> [2, 3, 4] And because our map decorator can decorate any reducer, we can also join the increments of the numbers from one to three into a string or sum them: reduceWith ( map ( x => x + 1 )( joinedWith ( '.' )), '', [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> "2.3.4" reduceWith ( map ( x => x + 1 )( sumOf ), 0, [ 1, 2, 3 ]) //=> 9 Armed with all we’ve seen so far, what is the sum of the squares of the numbers from one to ten? const squares = map ( x => power ( x, 2 )); const one2ten = [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]; reduceWith ( squares ( sumOf ), 0, one2ten ) //=> 385 filters Let’s go back to our first reducer: const arrayOf = ( acc, val ) => { acc. push ( val ); return acc ; }; reduceWith ( arrayOf, 0, one2ten ) //=> [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] What if we want an array of just the numbers greater than five? Easily done: const bigUns = ( acc, val ) => { if ( val > 5 ) { acc. push ( val ); } return acc ; }; reduceWith ( bigUns, [], one2ten ) //=> [6, 7, 8, 9, 10] Naturally, we can combine what we already have to produce an array of the squares of the numbers greater than five: reduceWith ( squares ( bigUns ), [], one2ten ) //=> [9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100] This is not what we wanted! We have the squares that are greater than five, rather than the squares of the numbers that are greater than five. We want to do the selecting of numbers before we do the squaring, not after. This is easily done, and the insight is that what we want is a decorator that selects numbers, and we can use that to decorate the reducer: reduceWith ( squares ( arrayOf ), [], one2ten ) //=> [1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100] const bigUnsOf = reducer => ( acc, val ) => ( val > 5 )? reducer ( acc, val ) : acc ; reduceWith ( bigUnsOf ( squares ( arrayOf )), [], one2ten ) //=> [36, 49, 64, 81, 100] bgUnsOf is rather specific. Just as we did with map, let’s extract the predicate function: reduceWith ( squares ( arrayOf ), [], one2ten ) //=> [1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100] const filter = fn => reducer => ( acc, val ) => fn ( val )? reducer ( acc, val ) : acc ; reduceWith ( filter ( x => x > 5 )( squares ( arrayOf )), [], one2ten ) //=> [36, 49, 64, 81, 100] We can make all kinds of filters, and name them if we want. Or not: reduceWith ( filter ( x => x % 2 === 1 )( arrayOf ), [], one2ten ) //=> [1, 3, 5, 7, 9] With all this in hand, the sum of the squares of the odd numbers from one to ten is: reduceWith ( filter ( x => x % 2 === 1 )( squares ( sumOf )), 0, one2ten ) //=> 165 “transformers” and composition Denizens of other programming communities have a word for a function that takes an argument and transforms it into something else: They call such functions “transformers.” What we call decorators are a special case of transformers, and so if some talks about a “transformer” function that transforms a reducer into another reducer, we know that they are talking about the same thing as when we talk about a function that “decorates” a reducer with some additional functionality such as mapping or filtering. The mappers and filters we have discussed so far are transformers. Within the context of this programming pattern, an essential characteristic of transformers is that they compose to produce a new transformer. As a refresher, here’s a function that composes any two functions: const plusFive = x => x + 5 ; const divideByTwo = x => x / 2 ; plusFive ( 3 ) //=> 8 divideByTow ( 8 ) //=> 4 const compose2 = ( a, b ) => (... c ) => a ( b (... c )); const plusFiveDividedByTwo = compose2 ( divideByTwo, plusFive ); plusFiveDividedByTwo ( 3 ) //=> 4 What does it mean to say that transformers compose to make a new transformer? Just that if we compose2 any two transformers, we get a new transformer that transforms a reducer. Thus: const squaresOfTheOddNumbers = compose2 ( filter ( x => x % 2 === 1 ), squares ); reduceWith ( squaresOfTheOddNumbers ( sumOf ), 0, one2ten ) //=> 165 squaresOfTheOddNumbers is a transformer we created by composing a filter with a mapper. Being able to compose decorators lets us decompose complex and highly coupled code into smaller units with a single responsibility that we can name if we choose. composition with transformers Now that we know how to compose2, what if we want to compose an arbitrary number of functions? There’s a reduction for that! let’s start by rewriting compose2 as a transformer, compositionOf : const compositionOf = ( acc, val ) => (... args ) => val ( acc (... args )); Now we can write compose as a reduction of its arguments: const compose = (... fns ) => reduceWith ( compositionOf, x => x, fns ); so what’s a transducer? Given reductions written in this style: reduceWith ( squaresOfTheOddNumbers ( sumOf ), 0, one2ten ) We can note that we have four separate elements: A transformer for the reducer (which may be a composition of transformers), a seed, and an iterable. If we tease these into separate parameters, we get: const transduce = ( transformer, reducer, seed, iterable ) => { const transformedReducer = transformer ( reducer ); let accumulation = seed ; for ( const value of iterable ) { accumulation = transformedReducer ( accumulation, value ); } return accumulation ; } transduce ( squaresOfTheOddNumbers, sumOf, 0, one2ten ) //=> 165 And there you have it: A reducer is the kind of function you’d pass to.reduce —it takes an accumulated result and a new input, and returns a new accumulated result. A transformer is a function that transforms a reducer into another reducer. And a transducer (“transformer” plus “reducer,” get it?) is a function that takes a transformer, a reducer, a seed, and an iterable and reduces it to a value. The elegance of the transducer pattern is that transformers compose naturally to produce new transformers. So we can chain as many transformers together as we like, and since we end up with one transformed reducer, we only iterate over the collection once. We don’t need to create intermediate copies of the data or iterate over it multiple times. Transducers come to us from the Clojure programming community, but as you can see they “cut with JavaScript’s grain” and are a natural fit for what JavaScript makes easy. So, if someone asks us what a “transducer” is, we can now reply: afterward The code we’ve written to explore transducers is quite compact and elegant: const arrayOf = (
after it’s destroyed. By increasing the number of monsters in a Co-Link with one another, you can activate the multiple effects of the two Link Monsters “Trigate Wizard” and “Binal Sorceress”, while using Spell & Trap Cards or “Encode Talker” who specializes in support to defend them, as your Co-Links make you stronger. By banishing a Cyberse-Type on your field temporarily, you can add 1 Cyberse-Type with less ATK than that monster from your Deck to your hand. And since it’s a Quick-Play Spell Card, you can use it to protect your monster. Activate their effects when they’re banished! Aim to use their effects by using the effect of “Dual Assembloom” who banishes cards from the hand or field.. By using the effect of “Encode Talker”, you can strongly defend the monsters it’s in Link Point with! By increasing your Co-Links, you can activate powerful effects! Use Cyberse-Type Monsters To Link Summon! Link Monsters: Aim To Co-Link For The Sake Of Combos! 3 powerful Link Monsters appear! They’re a strong crew who become stronger in terms of how their combos vary due to Co-Linking!!! The Allies Close To It Become The Source of It Powering Up! You an Also Aim For Double Damage (4600) Via Co-Link With “Trigate Wizard”!! Encode Talker [Link 3/Cyberse-Type/ATK 2300] 2+ Cyberse monsters (1) Once per turn, before damage calculation, if a monster you control that this card points to battles an opponent’s monster with higher ATK: You can activate this effect; make that monster you control unable to be destroyed by that battle, you take no battle damage from that battle, also, after damage calculation, this card or 1 monster it points to gains ATK equal to the current ATK of that opponent’s monster, until the end of this turn. It Gains A Total Of 3 Intense Effects Based On The Number Of Co-Links! Use It In The Main Monster Zone! Trigate Wizard [Link 3/Cyberse-Type/ATK 2200] 2+ monsters, except Tokens (1) This card gains these effects depending on the number of monsters in a Co-Link with it. ● 1 or more: If a monster in a Co-Link with this card battles an opponent’s monster, any battle damage it inflicts to your opponent is doubled. ● 2 or more: Once per turn: You can target 1 card on the field; banish it. ● 3: Once per turn, when a card or effect is activated (Quick Effect): You can negate the activation, and if you do, banish that card. It Gains Up To 2 Battle Support Effects Based On The Number Of Its Co-Links! You Can Also Aim For Gaining LP Via Battle! Binal Sorceress [Link 2/Cyberse-Type/ATK 1600] 2 monsters, except Tokens (1) This card gains these effects depending on the number of monsters in a Co-Link with it. ● 1 or more: When a monster in a Co-Link with this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent by battling an opponent’s monster: You can gain LP equal to that battle damage. ● 2: Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can target 2 face-up monsters you control; the ATK of 1 of those monsters becomes half its current ATK, and if it does, the other monster gains that lost ATK. These changes last until the end of this turn. ▶ Point ◀ Check the directions of your Link Arrows, when your Link Monsters are arranged in Co-Links, they get stronger! ⇒ “Trigate Wizard” and “Binal Sorceress”, gain effects depending on the number of monsters they’re in a Co-Link with! New Cyberse-Type Monsters Appear! Many new monsters of the new Cyberse-Type appear with effects related to bringing monsters out, easily allowing you to Link Summon! It Can Special Summmon Itself Whether Sent To The Graveyard Or Banished, Making It Great Support For Link Summons!! Dot Scaper [ATK 0/DEF 2100] You can only use 1 “Dot Scraper” effect per turn. You can only use each effect of “Dot Scraper” once per Duel. (1) If this card is sent to the GY: You can Special Summon it. (2) If this card is banished: You can Special Summon it. [⇒ Even if you use it as a material for Link Summoning (which sends it to the Graveyard), you can Special Summon it with its 1st effect! It’s an intense effect that can easily lead to further Link Summons! Even if you banish it with the 2nd effect of “Dual Assembloom” or so such, you can use its 2nd Effect! ] Power-Up Your Fellow Cyberse-Types! It Also Has An Effect To Protect Itself From Destruction! Kleinant [ATK 1500/DEF 1500] (1) While this Normal Summoned/Set card is on the field, Cyberse monsters you control gain 500 ATK and DEF during your turn only. (2) If this card on the field would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can destroy 1 Cyberse monster you control or in your hand instead. [⇒ Its Second Effect destroys a Cyberse-Type in its place, you can choose the monster you need to prepare for your combos! We recommend using the effect of monsters like “ROM Cloudia” or “Dot Scaper” whose effects activate even if they’re destroyed in the hand! ] Not Only Can It Special Summon Itself From The Hand, But It Has An Intense Effect To Return All Monsters In The Extra Monster Zone To The Deck!! Back Linker [ATK 1600/DEF 0] (1) If your opponent controls a monster in the Extra Monster Zone and you do not, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). (2) You can Tribute this card; shuffle all monsters in the Extra Monster Zones into the Deck, also you cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck for the rest of this turn. [⇒ If only your opponent controls a monster in the Extra Monster Zone, and you can then use its 2nd effect to return the monster in your opponent’s Extra Monster Zone! By the way, the 1st effect is easy to use even if there’s a monster in your Main Monster Zone (all that matters is there you don’t have a monster in the Extra Monster Zone)! ] Two Effects Useful For Bringing Out Monsters, Which Supports Link Summons!! Balancer Lord [ATK 1700/DEF 1200] You can only use the (2) effect of “Balancer Lord” once per turn. (1) Once per turn: You can pay 1000 LP; you can Normal Summon 1 Cyberse monster during your Main Phase this turn, in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.) (2) If this card is banished: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your hand. [⇒ Its first effect not only lets you bring out additional monsters for a Link Summon, it also supports effects that activate when you Normal Summoned! Not only this “ROM Cloudia”, but it lets you combo with “Draconnet” or “Cyberse Gadget” whose effects activate when Normal Summon them! ] It Leads Into Combos By Adding Allies From The Graveyard To The Hand! Its Effect That Calls Allies From The Deck Helps To Maintain The Frontline! ROM Cloudia [ATK 1800/DEF 0] (1) When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 Cyberse monster in your GY, except “ROM Cloudia”; add it to your hand. (2) If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Cyberse monster from your Deck, except “ROM Cloudia”. [⇒ Its first effect lets you add monsters that Special Summon from the hand to your hand, allowing you to Link Summon! Not only “Backlinker” in this Deck, but you can use the Special Summon from hand effect of “Backup Secretary” as well! ] It Special Summons From The Hand When An Ally Normal Summons!! Let’s Link Summon By Using The Effect That Special Summons A Token! Boot Stagguard [ATK 2300/DEF 500] You can only use the (1) effect of “Boot Stagguard” once per turn. (1) When a Cyberse monster is Normal Summoned to your field: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. (2) When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can Special Summon 1 “Stag Token” (Cyberse/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0). [⇒ By combining it with the 1st effect of “Kleinant”, the effect of “Kleinant” can raise its attack, which makes it easier to activate this card’s 2nd effect! ] Its ATK Is The Key! Banish Monsters On The Field To Use Its Intense Effect! Dual Assembloom [ATK 2800/DEF 1000] You can only use the (1) effect of “Dual Assembloom” once per turn. (1) If this card is in your hand or GY: You can banish 2 Cyberse monsters from your hand and/or face-up from your field; Special Summon this card, but its ATK becomes halved. (2) Once per turn: You can banish 1 card from your hand; banish 1 monster on the field with ATK less than or equal to this card’s. [⇒ Its 1st effect Special Summons it, but its ATK is lowered, making the second effect difficult to use! At such a time, remember to banish it with cards like “Cynet Backdoor” to return its ATK back to normal! ] A Level 2 Normal Monster Also Appears! Card Name Description Digitron [ATK 1500/DEF 0] A “Normal Monster”, i.e. it has no effect. Aim to Special Summon your Normal Monsters using the effects of “Link Spider” and “Draconnet” to use a Normal Monster for as a Link Material for “Link Spider”! Spell & Trap Cards That Support The Moves Of The Cyberse-Type Also Appear! Spell & Trap Cards appear that strongly support bring out Cyberse-Type and Link Monsters! A Quick-Play Spell Card That Not Only Adds Cyberse-Types From Your Deck To Your Hand But Also Allows Various Combos!! Cynet Backdoor [Quick-Play Spell] You can only activate 1 “Cynet Backdoor” per turn. (1) Target 1 Cyberse monster you control; banish it, and if you do, add 1 Cyberse monster with ATK less than the banished monster’s original ATK from your Deck to your hand. During your next Standby Phase, return that banished monster to the field, and if you do, it can attack directly that turn. [⇒ A Quick-Play Spell Card that banishes a Cyberse-Type, that you can activate in response to an opponent’s effect. You can use it to move an Extra Monster Zone monster to the Main Monster Zone, and you can also use it to co-link Link Monsters!! If you use it on “Balancer Lord” whose effect activates when Banished, you can pull off a combo by Special Summoning the monster you add to your hand! ] A Trap Card With A Powerful Effect That Calls Forth “Encode Talker” And “Decode Talker”!! Recoded Alive [Normal Trap] (1) Target 1 LINK-3 Cyberse Link Monster you control or in your GY; banish it, and if you do, Special Summon 1 “code Talker” monster from your Extra Deck. (2) If you do not control a monster in the Extra Monster Zone: You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 of your banished “code Talker” monsters; Special Summon it. [⇒ Banish an “Encode Talker” or “Decode Talker” about to be taken out by your opponent or that’s been sent to the Graveyard, and Special Summon a “code Talker” monster! Its 1st effect can be activated by use a “Trigate Wizard” in your Graveyard as well. ] Also Pay Attention To The Reprinted Cards! It also includes that have been used up to now along with many powerful cards that are quite useful! There’s cards with Special Summon effects that support Link Summoning, such as “Jester Confit” and “Glow-Up Bolb“, but there’s also powerful cards used in a variety of decks, such as “Mathematician“, “Soul Charge“, “Cosmic Cyclone“, “Gold Sarcophagus“, “Storming Mirror Force“, and “Solemn Strike“! Check Out This Video! Check out this video and head to the Deck Experience Event! ▼ An event where you can Duel using a Deck filled with the latest cards before they go on release! A Link Summon Experience Event: “Playmaker” Deck Version is being held！[ Until June 16th, 2017 ] What Cards Will You Add Together For Your Deck? Let’s add cards that fit you! ─── Check the Card Database for cards already out and discover new possibilities!! ▼ Check The Card Database For Cards That Are Already Out Cyberse-Type Monsters Cyberse-Type Monsters (Level 4 or Lower) Cyberse-Type Link Monsters Link Monster STRUCTURE DECK Cybese Link [On Sale June 17th, 2017] The form which the hero, “Yusaku”, of the new animated series “Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS” uses to fight in VR cyberspace… … Its name is “Playmaker”. A preconstructed Deck appears that makes use of the Link Monster and Cyberse-Type monsters used by this hero, that will be sure to let you enjoy the wonders of Link Summons! Many new cards appear, and also many powerful cards that support Link Summons are included! Enjoy this protaganist themed Deck that lets you use Link Summons! [ To the Product Page ]On Wednesday, Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple had violated antitrust law by coordinating an effort among five leading publishers to raise e-book prices. Randal Picker is a professor of law at the University of Chicago and a leading antitrust scholar. We spoke by phone Wednesday afternoon. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Timothy B. Lee: Judge Denise Cote described Apple coordinating a price-fixing conspiracy among the major publishers. Do you think that's a good way to think about the case? Randal Picker: Judge Cote tells a good story about how Apple was a co-conspirator in what seems a crystal-clear conspiracy by the publishers. But I think the case is vastly more complicated than that. There's a simple story about publishers wanting to change prices and failing until the white knight appears in the form of Steve Jobs. But there's a flip side to that. Apple would say: "we didn't do anything here that we didn't have an independent interest in doing, independent of whatever happened in e-book prices. "We'll run a platform. We don't want to set prices. We wanted the same [30%] deal we do in the app store. We just don't want to be at a competitive disadvantage when we sell e-books. If those books are at different prices, we've got a problem. We want to those prices to be the same." TBL: But there seems to be a lot of evidence that Apple expected e-book prices to rise as a result of its agreements, right? RP: I wish the opinion cited to the record more, but based on [Judge Cote's] rendition of the evidence, it seems very clear that Apple should have known, probably did know, that publishers would try to raise e-book prices. But Apple also wanted to make sure they didn't go too high. If they went too high, people weren't going to buy e-books at all. The tier structure was intended to be sure that the pricing flexibility that the publishers had would not push those prices too high. Apple should have known that those prices were going to go up and didn't want them to go up too much. TBL: The publishers have already settled their cases with the government. Earlier you said there was a "crystal-clear conspiracy by the publishers." Do you think the government's case against the publishers was stronger than its case against Apple? RP: Everything in the opinion suggests that would have been a straightforward case. Based on the opinion, [Judge Cote] says this is a strong case. That complicates this case because Apple wants to say "look, there's lots of evidence of coordinating pricing [among the publishers], but that's not what we were doing." TBL: Amazon itself seems to have a lot of market power. Doesn't preventing the publishers from colluding put them at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace? RP: I think the law says no. You can never say "there's a good reason for my cartel." That's not how Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act [which deals with cartels] works. Under standard U.S. antitrust law, it's not a good defense to say we've organized our cartel to beat up on the monopolist. How Amazon prices particular items is really complicated. I don't assume that Amazon is doing something that would give rise to a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act [dealing with monopolies]. To the extent that Amazon has monopoly power, as long as it's achieved that power through legitimate means, you get to exercise that monopoly power. TBL: Does this ruling make it harder for firms that want to get into the digital content business? RP: Apple tries to argue this. When you're going to launch a platform, you want to have stuff on it. An e-book store with five books is not very attractive. They're going to want to enter at a certain scale. There's a lot of parallel communications going on. That's not necessarily surprising. [Judge Cote] goes through a list of all the individual clauses [in Apple's contracts with publishers], and says none of those are problematic individually. [But Judge Cote ruled against Apple because of] her sense that the launching pad for this particular negotiation was the lure of higher prices. But Apple can make a defense of each of these clauses. I run into these cases with some frequency. You teach a case and you say what's the practical advice? The line between the legal and the illegal seems so thin. Apple's trying to make a decision in a very narrow window [the negotiations with publishers lasted from November 2009 to January 2010], and we're going to scrutinize it at leisure after the fact. I'd tell [technology companies], don't say you're going to be able to raise prices, even if everyone is thinking to themselves that maybe they'll do that. That's an atmospherics point, but it also often carries a lot of weight. I think it's fair to say that one should be concerned that when we bring antitrust liability to bear in these situations that we're going to make it harder for people to do these kinds of deals.Steven Summerton of the Magpies in action during the 2015 SANFL Round 04 match between the Port Adelaide Magpies and the Norwood Redlegs at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide on April 24, 2015. (Photo: Michael Willson/AFL Media) EIGHT Port Adelaide SANFL players have signed with the club, just days before the Magpies pre-season begins. Captain, Steven Summerton, led the charge signing up for his 11th season of league football at Alberton. Joining Summerton in signing on for 2016 is Louis Sharrad, Tom Gray, Sid Masters, Jonathon Ross, Robbie Young, Luke Reynolds and academy product Tom Corcoran. New Magpie senior coach Chad Cornes says he’s rapt to have so many players commit even before they’ve started training. “It’s great news for the club to have eight guys signed up this early, it shows the boys are keen to get stuck into it,” Cornes said. Cornes said he was looking forward to choosing the rest of the 15 man contracted players over the pre-season. “Having those seven spots available gives guys an incentive to train really well to impress and they’ll get rewarded if they do the right thing,” Cornes said. The Magpies will start pre-season on Monday with a 3km time trial at the Uni Loop followed by a light training. Cornes also looking forward to kicking off his senior career next week but admits to being a little apprehensive. “There’s a bit of nerves going into my first training session, not knowing the boys but from what I’ve heard it’s a great group and a group that’s willing to work hard,” Cornes said. The 36-year-old says he’s planning to tap into Summerton’s knowledge of the group. “I’ve spoken to Summo a few times and I’ve also heard so much about him and how he plays the Port Adelaide way,” Cornes said. “He’s a great role model and a guy I’ll rely on to fill me in on players along the way.” Cornes is also enjoying tapping into the coaching knowledge at Alberton too, particularly senior coach Ken Hinkley and Magpies coach for 2014 and 2015, Garry Hocking. “There’s just so much experience here, you just look around and you’ve got so many people who can teach you and I’m willing to learn off,” Cornes said. “Myself and Buddha have spoken a few times and he’s let me know what to expect, how to balance the work load and filled me in about the players.” Chad says he has had qualified support from his family on his decision to return to Alberton from Greater Western Sydney, when he was an assistant coach. “He (Graham Cornes) was pretty comfortable with me up there (at GWS) and they’d treated me really well,” Cornes said. “But then he could see I was really keen to get back to the club I love and the club I’ve got so much history with, once he realised that, he was quite supportive of it.” He’s also looking forward to coaching against Glenelg, with brother Kane, a fellow premiership player, taking on a mid-field coaching role there. “I found out about that on facebook so that was good of him to tell me that he was going down there,” Cornes said. “There will certainly be a strong rivalry when we take on Glenelg this year which will be good.”Toronto police have arrested a man wanted in a TTC bomb threat investigation at the Bloor-Yonge subway station earlier this month. Police say Jonathan Fox, 30, from Toronto, faces three charges: threatening death, mischief under $5,000, and mischief over $5,000. He is expected to appear in court on Monday. Just before 2 p.m. on Aug. 13, police responded to a call for a bomb threat at Bloor-Yonge Station. The incident temporarily shut down all train lines at the station. According to police, the suspect announced to the people on board a crowded southbound train that he had a bomb and would blow up the train. Police say this led to an unsafe evacuation of the train and the man left the station in the midst of the chaotic crowd. The bomb squad was called in to investigate and determined there was no threat. Related stories: Photo released of man wanted in TTC bomb threat scare Additional images released of man wanted in TTC bomb threatWhen Robert Mugabe was finally pushed out of the presidential palace in Harare after 37 devastating years in November, the Zimbabwean people celebrated joyously. The departure of the 93-year-old dictator, however, was not primarily the work of those citizens or their movements, despite decades of patient protest. Rather, it was brought about in large part by foreign governments, which used their institutions, their political advice and their economic influence to provoke and guide the transition, ensuring that their values and aspirations were part of the new Zimbabwe. A decade ago, that role might have been played in large part by Canada, whose agencies had poured tens of millions of dollars into opposition movements and democracy-building causes in Zimbabwe during a period when Mr. Mugabe overturned election results and tightened his dictatorship. Hundreds of Canadians had worked to prepare Zimbabweans for just the sort of transition that took place this year. But Canada's last project to return Zimbabwe to democracy and build the institutions of multiparty government, the $3.4-million Zimbabwe Civil Society Fund II, dried up in 2013 after Prime Minister Stephen Harper shut down its major democracy-promotion agencies, and withdrew resources from countries such as Zimbabwe as part of a larger shift in Canada's foreign-policy focus. Story continues below advertisement Instead, the country that ended up playing an outsized role in Zimbabwe's transition was China. Beijing hosted former vice-president Emmerson (the Crocodile) Mnangagwa when he was exiled by Mr. Mugabe in early November, reportedly worked closely with him to help engineer the military coup that pushed Mr. Mugabe out, and used its sizable investments in the country's resource industries and infrastructure to ensure that the new regime is coherent with Beijing's political values. Competing for sway was Russia, which has used investments, diplomacy and influence to help the Zimbabwean dictatorship get around Western sanctions and steer away from multiparty elections. Zimbabwe's popular opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has been shunted to the sidelines by a new regime that appears to be putting stability ahead of democracy – in line with the values of its sponsor countries. The Globe in Zimbabwe Africa bureau chief Geoffrey York explains the long and troubling history of Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. Democracy is in trouble these days, and not just in Zimbabwe. A half-dozen formerly democratic countries, from Cambodia to Turkey to Niger, have seen single parties or strongman rulers seize power and shut down opposition in the past couple of years; many others have seen the collapse of rule of law and fundamental rights, and even the most stable Western countries are threatened by populist movements. The monitoring organization Freedom House reports that the past year has seen a "dramatic decline" in democratic rights on every continent – just the latest in 11 straight years of erosion. That's partly because countries such as Russia and China are doing a better job winning the hearts and minds of foreign leaders, and spending more money selling their vision of one-party rule or "managed democracy." By comparison, established democracies are often losing the war of ideas in poor and middle-income countries (and even in some Eastern and Central European states) – in part because many the traditional exporters, notably the United States, have fallen prey to illiberal forces at home, and have seen a loss of their international reputations in the wake of the failed regime-change missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it's also because the number of countries pouring substantial funds into democracy movements and opposition parties abroad has dwindled. This is where Canada can have a vital, disproportionately influential effect on the fate of the world. It is time for Ottawa to get back into the democracy business: A large-scale commitment to stopping the backslide of democracy and encouraging opposition movements would achieve far more than, for example, an increase in peacekeeping forces or a larger grant to a United Nations institution. It is the most important thing Canada could do, in the long term, to protect its national interests, its domestic security and its citizens' livelihood, because the rise of undemocratic forces threatens to strip us of our trusted political and trading partners and foster a more threatening, less secure international neighbourhood. A return to the field of full-scale democracy promotion, more robustly and directly than in previous decades, would be the missing linchpin in the Trudeau government's other big international initiatives, including advocating for the rights of women and Indigenous peoples. But it would not be a simple matter of restoring and expanding the institutions and budgets that existed in previous decades. If Canada is to be a successful exporter of democracy, we need to reinvent the way we do it. To sell democracy today, we need to an approach that is more direct, more independent and more honest. Story continues below advertisement To understand how Canada can bring democracy to the world today, we need to understand how we've done it in the past. Democracy promotion has been a significant part of the Canadian political vocabulary since the end of the Second World War – both through Ottawa's significant role in setting up and funding democracy-building organizations in the United Nations and elsewhere to bring these ideas to the ruins of Europe and to the newly postcolonial countries of the developing world. (When future prime minister Lester B. Pearson helped establish NATO in 1949, he unsuccessfully tried to give it a democracy-building role, as well as its eventual military function.) Nov. 14, 1956: Fifty cheering members of the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Rifles, board an RCAF transport to join UN forces policing Suez. The use of UN peacekeepers to de-escalate the Suez Crisis is considered the birth of modern peacekeeping, and it won future Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson a Nobel Peace Prize. HAROLD ROBINSON/THE GLOBE AND MAIL In the 1980s, when the Cold War began to transform into a postcommunist transition, the Mulroney government launched two new organizations intended to promote democratic institutions and ideals in the world. The first was an arms-length, semi-independent but taxpayer-funded organization called the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, which later operated under the abbreviated name Rights & Democracy. The second was a division within the foreign-aid agency Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), devoted to "Human Rights, Democratic Development and Good Governance." What they had in common was a mission to advocate for democracy indirectly: not by backing opposition movements and parties, as the United States was known for doing, but by using international treaties and agreements to support the development of rule of law, accountable public institutions, human rights and political freedom, and build a stable foundation. These organizations were small and limited in scope, though. By the mid-2000s, it was glaringly apparent that they were no longer working – that is, the number of democratic countries had stopped growing. In response, in 2007, Canada appeared poised to make a big push into overt democracy promotion. A report by the House of Commons standing committee on foreign affairs and International Development (under a Conservative minority government) called for the creation of a "Canada foundation" to actively advance democracy. It criticized Canada's approach as "an incremental sprinkling of resources across an array of small organizations" and called for a big and assertive organization. The Harper government did not take the committee's advice – quite the contrary, once it had achieved a majority, Mr. Harper decided, in 2012, to eliminate both Rights & Democracy and CIDA entirely, replacing the first with a smaller institute devoted strictly to religious freedom, and wrapping the other into the foreign-affairs bureaucracy with a much smaller budget. But Canada wasn't completely out of the democracy game. Under both Mr. Harper and Justin Trudeau, Canada has quietly backed movements and promoted change in Ukraine, Venezuela and elsewhere, but this is done largely through its embassies (which must be careful not to be too openly political in their efforts), providing indirect funds and political support to domestic anti-authoritarian movements. Canada has also continued to support the UN bodies devoted to democratic institution-building. Story continues below advertisement Sept. 19, 2016: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. BRENDAN McDERMID/REUTERS In 2016, Justin Trudeau announced plans to restore some of the idealism and funding to Canada's international institutions, and announced the creation of a new Office of Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion, which replaces the Office of Religious Freedom with a larger rights-promoting body. With a modest $15-million annual budget, it has a special focus on women's and Indigenous rights. He also created the much larger Peace and Stabilization Operations Program, which devotes about $150-million a year to post-conflict stabilization of formerly war-torn countries. Both institutions have a tangential role in building democracy, or at least in creating democracy-supporting institutions. But neither is explicitly designed to counter the rising tide of anti-democratic forces in the world. A 2016 Ottawa workshop organized by Gabrielle Bardall, a veteran democracy-rights scholar who has worked with the major international institution-building groups, concluded that Canada needs a new "dedicated, semi-autonomous organization" devoted to democracy-promotion. "Of the many foreign policy tools at Canada's disposal," wrote Dr. Bardall (whose report was unrelated to her current position with the Washington-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems),"supporting democracy abroad is one of the least costly and most effective contributions the country can make to resisting these forces, upholding global values and protecting national security." But "supporting democracy abroad" does not mean what it used to. If Canada is to have a significant effect in countering anti-democratic forces in countries that need its help, it will not just need to do more, but do things rather differently in several ways. Feb. 18, 2014: Anti-government protesters clash with riot police in Kiev's Independence Square. The ‘Euromaidan’ uprising was one of several showing citizens can halt their countries’ slides into autocracy. SERGEI CHUZAVKOV/ASSOCIATED PRESS A less soft approach. A decade ago, when Canada proposed yet another institution-building organization, political scientist Jennifer Welsh criticized this approach as "softening the edges of democracy promotion" – making it more about rights and institutions to avoid the appearance of a U.S.-style wholesale export. Canada needs to shift, fast, to a less soft approach. We are no longer in an era when democratic institutions are merely being weakened or eroded – in more and more places, they are collapsing completely. We want to be promoting, funding and influencing democracy itself. Recent years have shown that the slide into autocracy can be halted if citizens and their political movements are given direct support. The Ukrainian "Euromaidan" uprisings of 2013 and 2014, which led to new elections and a more democratic, pro-European government; the South Korean mass protests of 2016 and 2017 against a corrupt administration, which led to a democratic regime change; and the large-scale Romanian protests that began in January, 2017, and forced the government to retract rights-stripping legislation, all showed just how successful overt influence can be. Caracas, Sept. 1, 2016: Protesters clash with riot police at a rally to demand a referendum to remove Venezuela's President. Direct support for opposition movements can be a risky strategy. CARLOS GARCIA/REUTERS Fewer institutions, more real people. Democracy is not all, or even mainly, about elections. It requires institutions to support the rule of law, the security of markets and the protection of fundamental human rights. However, such establishments mean little if power is being seized by forces with different values and do not represent the public – precisely the emergency the world faces today. "We were really, really focused on institutions previously – I think that's a really Canadian thing, that we love institutions, so all of our democracy promotion was about building institutions abroad," says Ben Rowswell, a former Canadian diplomat who got involved in hands-on democracy work in the Middle East during the Arab Spring uprisings and then, as ambassador, in Venezuela as it tilted into outright dictatorship in recent years. "I don't think we should abandon that institutional focus completely," he says, "but there's an opportunity to think about how Canada can promote democracy by encouraging mobilization of citizens and doing things to decrease political polarization by assisting the mobilization of movements overseas." That approach is politically risky. Canada faced criticism when it provided direct support to the Orange Revolution movement in Ukraine in 2004 – a movement (ultimately unsuccessful) that was directly opposed to the government. Likewise, Mr. Rowswell faced accusations from the Venezuelan regime of trying to undermine it by backing opposition movements. There is certainly a lot more risk in the direct approach – but a far greater scope for tangible rewards. But it is much easier, and politically safer, to carry out through an arms-length organization that does not get Canada's diplomats directly enmeshed in movements that seek to defeat autocratic governments. Canadian democracy has its own imperfections, and when promoting democracy abroad, it should approach the task with humility. ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS A more humble, more equal voice. One of Canada's greatest strengths in democracy promotion is that it is a flawed, imperfect place whose own democracy still struggles with serious problems. From the failure of Quebec to ratify the Constitution, to the two decades of secession crises, to the still imperfectly resolved constitutional role of Indigenous nations, Canada appears to the world less like an act of divine providence and more like a well-meaning experiment – something to which many less fortunate countries can relate. "Democracy assistance is unique from other fields of international development in many ways – it can't be measured the same way, it's a constantly moving target, it reflects our own national values as well as our shortcomings," Dr. Bardall says. The democracy-promotion business itself, she notes, has been subject to some of the worst inequities of Western societies – it is a largely male-driven field (none of the major democracy organizations has ever had a woman in charge). In that light, Ottawa's current commitment to delivering feminist values in foreign policy isn't so much a case of exporting Canadian virtues as acknowledging that we are struggling with many of the same weaknesses as "recipient" countries. This could become a more general policy: One of the things Canada can promote is the fact that its democracy is flawed and unequal; it is a shared struggle rather than a colonial-style imposition. In this view, Prime Minister Trudeau's UN General Assembly speech, in which he acknowledged at considerable length Canada's failings in Indigenous relations, was a step toward a more mature kind of democracy promotion: It was selling a search for a path to democracy, rather than a complete product out of the box. "Democracy promotion should be less about the idea that we are exporting the institutions that we more or less have figured out – what is sometimes characterized as 'exporting democracy.' I think the context today is that all democracies face similar challenges – it's a little more about mutual learning and less about transplanting of existing institutions," Mr. Rowswell says. If it is sold with humility, brought directly to the people and their movements, and done through a hands-on organization that is unafraid of
musical “If/Then.” Broadway in Atlanta subscribers and those who purchased tickets via Ticketmaster will receive an email reminding them of the new procedure. Vella said he realizes that, as with any change, there is the possibility of grousing from some patrons. But he believes those numbers will be small. “The large majority of people who have already experienced (the process) have been appreciative,” he said. “The goal is to have a safe environment, and the majority will understand that.” Follow the AJC Music Scene on Facebook and Twitter.After a rough start to 2016, data from the Commerce Department confirmed what many on Wall Street suspected: Growth in the world’s biggest economy slowed in the first quarter. Continue Reading Below U.S. economic growth dropped to its slowest pace in two years during the first three months of the year as gross domestic product increased at a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of 0.5%. That’s down from growth of 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015, and below consensus estimates for a 0.7% pace. Growth during the period came from positive contributions from personal spending, residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending. The drag came from declining business spending, private inventory investment, exports and federal government spending. Scott Shellady, SVP of derivatives at TJM investments told FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney that, in his views, these data should have set off alarm bells on the Street. However, equity markets were mostly flat on Thursday following the data’s release. “Eight years of 0% interest rates and this is what we get in the first quarter of 2016,” he said. “We’ve got retail sales going down, savings rate going up, people at home getting more nervous, consumer confidence not doing what it used to do, personal consumption not doing what it used to do. Where is the good news going to come from?” Advertisement Shellady said in his view, the chance of a recession in the U.S. went up to 50% from about 40% after the data’s release. IHS Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh noted that the biggest concern for him was the 5.9% drop in non-residential fixed investment, and a 10.7% plunge in structure spending, or investments on the construction of oil rigs, factories, machinery and the like. “The story behind the ongoing decline in structures is fairly clear – the plunge in oil prices early in the year triggered another sharp decline in energy sector capex,” he explained in a research note. Further, Behravesh explained that the drop in equipment spending could be due in large part to increased caution for corporations after the stock-market turmoil in the first two months of the year. Still, he said if history is any indication, the weak first quarter is likely to be followed by stronger growth the rest of the year. He said the recent pullback in consumer spending is likely temporary and estimated growth of about 3% is likely for the rest of the year. “We expect that business fixed investment will show some positive growth in the second quarter, as rising oil prices bring an end to the energy sector rout and as diminished financial sector stress gives businesses more confidence,” he explained. Barclays economist Jesse Hurwitz, in a note, agreed that the first-quarter slowdown is unlikely to persist, and more robust growth in the latter part of the year will likely be helped by increased consumer confidence. “A sizeable portion of this slowdown [in personal consumption] was due to motor vehicle sales, however, which moved back toward a more sustainable pace of sales…other categories of durable goods consumption including furnishings and recreational goods have continued to grow in line with recent trends,” Hurwitz noted. Barclays expects to see continued strength in the labor market and strong household income growth to encourage consumer spending in the second quarter.More at The Real News JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: It’s been about four years since the financial crash, and the Federal Reserve has been scaling back its program of monthly purchases of government and mortgage bonds. Each month, they’ve tapered off their purchases by $10 billion, and they’re on track for spending $45 billion this year, which is a big dip, considering they spent $85 billion last year. There are certainly a lot of numbers there and financial terms that we need to break down. And now joining us is our guest to give us that bottom line, Michael Hudson. He’s a distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Thanks for joining us, Michael. MICHAEL HUDSON, PROF. ECONOMICS, UMKC: Thank you, Jessica. DESVARIEUX: So, Michael, just briefly remind our viewers what is the purpose of quantitative easing and who’s really benefiting. HUDSON: Well, the purpose of quantitative easing is to help the banks’ balance sheets and to help the banks, give the banks enough money to make up for all of the losses that they made by their toxic waste and their junk mortgages and their bad loans to the real estate market. The Fed has created $4 trillion of bank reserves at about 0.1 percent–that’s one-tenth of 1 percent–interest since 2008, thinking, if you give give the banks enough money, somehow they’ll have enough money to begin lending to the economy again and getting the economy enough deeper into debt that the banks can make a killing and not go broke. The theory is that if you help the banks enough, they’ll help the economy by running the economy further into debt. DESVARIEUX: But that hasn’t happened. HUDSON: Well, right. The banks saw, number one, that the mortgage market was already so over-lent with junk mortgages that they stopped lending mortgage money, they began to reduce the credit card debt. The only kind of debt that they’ve been providing to the household sector is student loans, and that’s because the government has guaranteed student loan interest rates at a free premium and a giveaway to the bank. So what the banks did with this $4 trillion is, largely, speculate. They bought foreign currency bonds that yield much higher than 0.1 percent. They bought foreign currencies. When you buy foreign currency bonds in Brazil or the BRIC countries or Third World countries, this forces up the foreign exchange of these countries against the dollar. So they not only made an interest-rate premium; they also made a foreign-exchange gain. And that helped them earn their way out of debt. They lowered the interest rates a little bit, but they weren’t making many loans at these lower interest rates, except for the really big borrowers and speculators for office buildings. So the fact is that the real estate prices have continued to drift downward. And what has taken off are bank loans for corporate takeovers, bank loans to the large borrowers, and bank speculations and derivatives. So banks have basically been lending to each other and making a profit. DESVARIEUX: Make this relatable to everyday citizens. How has this affected household debt, for example, and just debt in general in the U.S.? HUDSON: Well, it’s harder to borrow from banks, but if you do borrow from a bank, you can get a little bit of a lower interest rate than you could back in 2008. But the banks are making a huge margin. If they can borrow reserves from the Federal Reserve at 0.1 percent and lend to mortgage borrowers at 4 percent, that’s a arbitrage, a wider arbitrage difference than they’ve been able to make for a long time. So, essentially, the banks are borrowing short-term at a low rate, lending long-term at a high rate, and using the profits to be so high [sic] that at the last report, 40 percent of all corporate profits in the United States are bank profits. The banks have made a killing off quantitative easing. DESVARIEUX: And how have foreclosures been affected by holding the Fed’s interest rate to basically zero? HUDSON: They pretty much continued, because the debts have all been left in place. What people expected and what President Obama had promised when he came in, when he was running for election, was he was going to write down household debt, write down mortgage debt to the actual market price and write down mortgage debt to the price that could be paid. But as soon as he came in, he appointed Tim Geithner and all of the Wall Street nominees to run the things, and they had no intention at all of writing down debt. So they’ve kept the debts in place. Ten million families have indeed lost their homes just as was forecast in 2008. And Wall Street’s made a killing, the hedge funds have made a killing, by coming in and buying homes for all-cash deals, just buying up all the foreclosed homes and all the homes that are being sold under distress by homeowners that have fallen behind. The Fed has not–had promised to help the homeowners, but that hasn’t really happened. The help for the homeowners never materialized, as there have been whole books written about that, such as Bailout. DESVARIEUX: Let’s turn the corner a little bit here, Michael. What alternatives could have been pursued instead of quantitative easing? HUDSON: The alternative that has been for the last few hundred years would have been to let the bad debts go under. In other words, you would have done two things. Either you’d let the banks foreclose as they have–but the banks would have taken a loss. The purpose of quantitative easing was to do something that had never been done before in modern history: to make sure that the banks wouldn’t lose and to make sure that the 1 percent behind them didn’t lose. The money was poured into the economy, and instead of writing down the debts, the debts were all left in place. What I was advocating and Steve Keen was advocating and most other people in our group were advocating was write down the–let Citibank go under, let the banks that have made the bad loans go under. And Bill Black on your show has been telling you about how bad these loans were. Let them go under. The government would have taken over the banks, and nobody would have lost the money. The secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner, just wrote his autobiography last week, pushing the big lie again that the ATM machines would have been closed down. None of the ATM machines would have been closed down. Sheila Bair wrote in her book that there was plenty of money–and even in Citibank and Bank of America, even in these most rotten banks–to bail out all of the insured depositors. But the Fed came in and said, we don’t want the speculators to lose money; the depositors, the homeowners, the economy can be sacrificed in order to help the speculators. And normally it’s the speculators who would have lost, but in this case it was the taxpayer who lost. That was basically the principle at work. DESVARIEUX: Michael Hudson, it’s always a pleasure having you on. Thanks so much for joining us. HUDSON: Thank you, Jessica.Moderate physical activity performed in midlife or later appears to be associated with a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment, whereas a six-month high-intensity aerobic exercise program may improve cognitive function in individuals who already have the condition, according to two reports in the January issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate state between the normal thinking, learning and memory changes that occur with age and dementia, according to background information in one of the articles. Each year, 10 percent to 15 percent of individuals with mild cognitive impairment will develop dementia, as compared with 1 percent to 2 percent of the general population. Previous studies in animals and humans have suggested that exercise may improve cognitive function. In one article, Laura D. Baker, Ph.D., of the University of Washington School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, and colleagues report the results of a randomized, controlled clinical trial involving 33 adults with mild cognitive impairment (17 women, average age 70). A group of 23 were randomly assigned to an aerobic exercise group and exercised at high intensity levels under the supervision of a trainer for 45 to 60 minutes per day, four days per week. The control group of 10 individuals performed supervised stretching exercises according to the same schedule but kept their heart rate low. Fitness testing, body fat analysis, blood tests of metabolic markers and cognitive functions were assessed before, during and after the six-month trial. A total of 29 participants completed the study. Overall, the patients in the high-intensity aerobic exercise group experienced improved cognitive function compared with those in the control group. These effects were more pronounced in women than in men, despite similar increases in fitness. The sex differences may be related to the metabolic effects of exercise, as changes to the body's use and production of insulin, glucose and the stress hormone cortisol differed in men and women. "Aerobic exercise is a cost-effective practice that is associated with numerous physical benefits. The results of this study suggest that exercise also provides a cognitive benefit for some adults with mild cognitive impairment," the authors conclude. "Six months of a behavioral intervention involving regular intervals of increased heart rate was sufficient to improve cognitive performance for an at-risk group without the cost and adverse effects associated with most pharmaceutical therapies." In another report, Yonas E. Geda, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., studied 1,324 individuals without dementia who were part of the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Participants completed a physical exercise questionnaire between 2006 and 2008. They were then assessed by an expert consensus panel, who classified each as having normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment. A total of 198 participants (median or midpoint age, 83 years) were determined to have mild cognitive impairment and 1,126 (median age 80) had normal cognition. Those who reported performing moderate exercise--such as brisk walking, aerobics, yoga, strength training or swimming--during midlife or late life were less likely to have mild cognitive impairment. Midlife moderate exercise was associated with 39 percent reduction in the odds of developing the condition, and moderate exercise in late life was associated with a 32 percent reduction. The findings were consistent among men and women. Light exercise (such as bowling, slow dancing or golfing with a cart) or vigorous exercise (including jogging, skiing and racquetball) were not independently associated with reduced risk for mild cognitive impairment. Physical exercise may protect against mild cognitive impairment via the production of nerve-protecting compounds, greater blood flow to the brain, improved development and survival of neurons and the decreased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases, the authors note. "A second possibility is that physical exercise may be a marker for a healthy lifestyle," they write. "A subject who engages in regular physical exercise may also show the same type of discipline in dietary habits, accident prevention, adherence to preventive intervention, compliance with medical care and similar health-promoting behaviors." Future study is needed to confirm whether exercise is associated with the decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment and provide additional information on cause and effect relationships, they conclude. ### (Arch Neurol. 2010;67[1]:71-79, 80-86. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.) Editor's Note: Please see the articles for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. For more information, contact JAMA/Archives Media Relations at 312/464-JAMA (5262) or e-mail mediarelations@jama-archives.org. To contact Laura D. Baker, Ph.D., call Clare Hagerty at 206-685-1323 or e-mail clareh@u.washington.edu. To contact Yonas E. Geda, M.D., M.Sc., call Elizabeth Rice at 507-284-5005 or e-mail Rice.Elizabeth@mayo.edu.Punk Magician Doesn’t Give a Fuck If This Is Your Card GLENDALE, Calif. — Punk magician Dakota Fremont finished a trick at a child’s birthday party on Saturday by informing him that Fremont “didn’t give a fuck” about which card he had chosen, report stunned parents. “He said the ‘F’ word!” whispered an excited Connor Spears, 11. “He said the actual, F-ing ‘F’ word right in my face! Right in front of my mom! It was awesome!” Party organizers were taken aback by the punk magician’s foul language and apathetic nature towards magic. “I’ve never been so furious in my life,” complained Jennifer Spears, the boy’s mother. “We paid him $25 for six hours of magic, and I plan on canceling that check and formally complaining to the local magician’s union.” Fremont showed no remorse when reached for comment. “Fuck those clowns,” said Fremont. “[Those] bunch of idiots need some guy to pretend to do magic so they can just hide away from reality? Fuckin’ sheeple, every one of ‘em. These kids need to learn the world doesn’t care about them, and you don’t always get what you want.” Related: Despite Fremont’s total disregard for “the magician’s code,” some party goers were won over. “He pulled my watch out of his hat,” said parent Joan Smitterly. “Not only that, but the watch was broken before he did it, and now it works perfectly. Honestly, I don’t know how he got the watch in the first place. Maybe he stole it out of my purse. But he still saved me a good amount of money, so it isn’t all bad.” Some parents and party-goers claimed Fremont even displayed a gift for mentalism. “He looked right at me and asked if the name ‘Doris’ meant anything to me,” recalled tear-stricken parent Tim Parks. “Doris is my mother. She passed away two years ago. He said she wanted me to know she forgave me for not being there when she first got sick. I was so moved, I didn’t even care when he told me to ‘fuck my own capitalist pig scum asshole.’” Show your support for The Hard Times and pick up a shirt today: Article by Dan Rice @DanRiceComedy. Photo by Shelby Kettrick @ShelbyShootsStuff.Turns out the gun that discharged “accidentally” in a US Air cockpit recently was no big deal. A statement released today by the airliner sought to reassure the public that “…while the gun was not in the pilot’s luggage when it discharged” as had been previously reported, “all the pilot who fired it was doing was demonstrating bravado in order to get some sex.” The airline agreed that, like the face-shooting “hunting” incident involving Vice President Dick Cheney “there were some beers.” Still, the company maintained, “at no time was the flight crew doing shots of duty-free Jägermeister.” This despite accounts by disgruntled passengers of empty bottles of duty-free Jäger flying in the “general direction” of a nude flight attendant fleeing the cockpit subsequent to the pistol’s firing, but prior to the plane’s landing. “Usually, our pilots might horse around, landing ‘no hands’ while wearing S&M hoods to impress the ladies, that sort of thing,” said airline representatives. “This episode is a bit out of the ordinary for us and the public can rest assured we looked into it and found it to be the least of the public’s worries.” “Nevertheless,” airline reps insisted, “at no time were passengers threatened by sudden decompression of the cabin, because the pilot actually passed out over the bullet hole in the jet’s fuselage.”On Tuesday Nov. 24, the City of Berkeley posted a notice declaring the occupation in front of Old City Hall illegal, and the occupiers guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct. This warning from the City to the homeless occupation, now proclaimed “Liberty City,” is unfortunate news. As Peace and Justice Commission chair, I had been calling senior city staff people to urge a stance of communication and collaboration to meet the immediate health and safety needs of the occupiers. Requests such as sufficient bathrooms and garbage cans, first aid equipment and cooperative relations with police and city staff, would also serve the interests of the neighbors and the larger community. Late on the 24th I talked with a senior city staffer. He depicted the notice not as a warning or a threat, but as a helpful provision of information about the illegality of the occupation and about the resources available to homeless people in Berkeley. I pointed out to him that the occupiers are there not as a squat, but as a demonstration, which is constitutionally protected free assembly and expression. I also reminded him that the broader community has an interest in the well-being of the occupation, as well as in its message of human rights for the homeless. For people who are opposed to criminalizing the homeless, support for the occupation needs to be a key part of the campaign in the weeks and months to come. The occupiers are putting their bodies on the line for our common objective: the primacy of human rights as a governing principle of government. A successful and healthy occupation can serve to refute the negative messaging and outright lies that are told about the homeless. At this moment, powerful political and economic interests are pushing for punitive measures that will increase the burdens of daily life for the homeless. On the other side, professionals and activists are arguing for alternatives that promote human rights of the homeless. The only people whose voices are not heard are the people at the center of the issue. This is a critical time for the community to hear from them, to see their humanity. These voices must gain a hearing at the court of public opinion. They have much to tell about how they want their lives to change, how the punitive measures affect their ability to survive; even what their condition should reveal about our society and its priorities. Instead the opposite is happening: the homeless are seen not as persons, but as a symbolic target, an obstacle, a problem to be solved. In a cynical calculus, their rights are disposable compared to the imperatives of commerce, and they are made pawns in a political wedge issue. Assuming that there is not a heartless post-Thanksgiving eviction, the December 1 city council meeting will be an important moment to protest the eviction threat. Council will take the required second vote on the ordinances criminalizing homelessness. After that point, the City could move quickly to evict, unless a broad show of community support is organized. Moments like this one are the reason I became part of the city’s Peace and Justice Commission. I hoped to do more than just solve other people’s problems for them. My goal was to facilitate the access of marginalized communities to the decision-making process of the City. Peace and Justice functions as a human relations commission. Part of our role is to “develop ways to resolve conflict which may be applied on a local level…help create citizen awareness around issues of social justice… act as a liaison between community groups organizing around issues of peace and social justice and City government.” We who believe in the empowering impact of collective self-determination can help humanize homeless people in the public eye, by facilitating their efforts and their voices. We must hear the message of the Liberty City occupiers, who say, “We are asking to be allowed to take care of ourselves in the commons,” as they create a self-managing village with a democratic decision-making process and a code of conduct to ensure a clean and safe environment. As with affirmative action, women’s rights, and same-sex marriage, these are not “special rights,” they are human rights. As the homeless community finds its public voice, it should come to be seen as a legitimate constituency and an actor in the life of the city. It has the potential to be a part of civic negotiations for conflict resolution and restorative practices. This process could promote a healing that will benefit all constituencies, on both immediate health and safety issues and longer-term transformational change. To the extent that homeless people become agents for change, the pretext for them to be treated like “aliens” would be reduced. No longer can we sweep homeless people from city to city like, in Woody Guthrie’s expression, so many “dry leaves.” Human rights, under the international framework, begin with the right to dignity, which in turn requires self-determination. Up to 3.5 million people in the U.S. are homeless at some time in the year, 100 million are homeless around the world, and an incredible one billion are squatters, refugees, or in temporary shelter. These numbers are likely to explode in years to come, due to climate change and other social dislocations. Berkeley is moving to copy the demeaning and historically tragic treatment of the Roma people and the Irish Travelers. We can find better models for how to live side by side with the homeless. Widespread homelessness is a symptom of our troubled civilization. Respect for the dignity and self-determination of marginalized communities is essential to turning around the social and economic polarization that is rapidly growing in our society. Here are four ways you can take action to support the homeless and oppose criminalization. 1. Come to the Council meeting, 7pm Tuesday Dec. 1 at Longfellow Middle School (1500 Derby Street). You can join the assembly and march from the “Liberty City” occupation at Old City Hall (2134 MLK Jr. Way) beginning at 4pm. You can also attend the special Council meeting at 5:30 pm, at which important measures to promote affordable housing will be considered. The Stop Urban Shield Coalition will hold a press conference at Longfellow at 6:30pm. Many critical issues are on the docket for the 7pm meeting, including, among others: Criminalization of sidewalk behavior (item 4, will probably be moved from Consent to Action agenda) BPD Agreements with external law enforcement agencies including NCRIC and UASI (item 26) Implementation of Tier One Recommendations from Homeless Task Force (item 29) Investigation into BPD Response to December 6 2014 Black Lives Matter Protests (item 32) 2. Meet with city management to press for humane treatment of the Liberty City occupation. The interim city manager has stressed her commitment to equity. Although elected leaders apparently have directed the staff to ban the occupation, staff should be pushed to remember their constitutional and moral responsibilities. Faith leaders, students, legal and other community organizations can play a key role in expressing the moral concerns of Berkeley at its best. If your organization is interested, please contact Peace and Justice at the e-mail address below. 3. Form a community support coalition, composed of organizations and individuals who want to make a commitment to defending Liberty City. This coalition could have committees working on outreach, material aid, lobbying, action, phone tree, and other activities. 4. The Peace and Justice Commission will address the homeless emergency at its next meeting, Monday night December 7, 7-10pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst and MLK. This meeting will be a supportive place to have a strategic conversation.An explosion in the southern Lebanon city of Sidon killed an official from the Palestinian Fatah movement on Tuesday, members of the group said. The dead man was identified as Fathi Zaydan, a Fatah official responsible for the Palestinian camp of Mieh Mieh in Sidon. An Al Jazeera Arabic reporter in Beirut said Zaydan was leaving a meeting in Sidon and heading to Beirut when the blast went off. Footage of the blast site near a Palestinian refugee camp showed a man's body lying next to a burning vehicle. "His identification card was found near the car which exploded, which was also his," a source told the AFP news agency, adding that it was unclear if Zaydan had been in the car at the time. READ MORE: Refugees seek lasting peace in Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh An army forensics unit arrived at the scene and cleared away scorched body parts lying by the flaming car, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, and most live in squalid conditions in 12 official refugee camps. The camps are administered by Palestinian officials and security forces, rather than Lebanese authorities. In recent years, tensions have grown between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and the Jund al-Sham group, especially in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, which is also near Sidon. The rival factions in Ain al-Hilweh have clashed several times in the past year, with each side accusing the other of assassination attempts.A dog trots on the Minipacer, a treadmill for small dog, in Las Vegas, Nevada. REUTERS/Daria Artsybasheva/DogPACER/Handout As the obesity rate soars among Americans, their dogs are getting potbellied, too, encouraging fitness companies to come up with a range of equipment and classes to get pampered pets back into shape. From canine-tailored treadmills, to puppy pedometers and group fitness classes, there's no shortage of tools to trim and tone the sagging paunches of pooches. As part of his fitness routine, Rocky, a rotund dachshund, traipses a mini-treadmill designed for small dogs. "When Rocky first came to us, he looked like a small marine animal," said Dr. Dennis Arn, veterinarian at the Desert Inn Animal Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada. "He's got a waistline now and his conditioning is significantly better." Just like their owners, obesity affects pets' longevity and quality of life. About 53 percent of adult dogs are classified by their veterinarians as obese, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. To combat the weighty issue, Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Massachusetts, announced the creation of the nation's first obesity clinic last month, geared specially towards pets. "If you can't lay your hands on them and feel the ribs pretty easily, they're obese," said Arn, adding that too many pet owners reward their charges with treats. "As a blanket statement, a dog needs at least 30 minutes (of exercise) a day," said Geralynn Cada, who has been training dogs for more than 30 years. "A dog who is less active is less happy and has more health problems." Cada, who is based in Nevada, teaches classes such as dog yoga, puppy Pilates, and a canine interval training course known as Retrieve and Burn. Physical issues aside, dogs that are denied exercise often develop behavioral problems, she said. "A tired dog is a happy dog," Cada said. "If your dog gets bored, they'll search for purpose and that purpose will be to chew up your wallet." To burn off her high-strung husky's extra enthusiasm as well as calories, Cada runs him regularly on his dog treadmill, dubbed the DogPACER. David Ezra, CEO of DogPACER, said he got the idea for the canine cardio machine after observing clients at his fitness centers. "I thought, "Why not a treadmill for dogs?"" he said. Hundreds of canine treadmills - which sell for $500 and come in regular and mini sizes - have been sold since they hit the market seven months ago. "We've run over 1,000 dogs at this point," said Ezra, adding that 60 to 70 percent of the treadmills go to dog owners, including seniors whose health problems prevent them from exercising their animals. Others are purchased by grooming salons, veterinarians, police and government agencies, and animal rehabilitation centers. "Grooming facilities will throw the dog on (a treadmill) to de-stress them before grooming," he said, adding that dogs must be supervised and will initially be taken aback by the equipment. Studies have shown that people who wear pedometers routinely walk more. Perhaps in that spirit, developers of Tagg, a pet location device, developed an activity monitor that makes it possible for owners to keep tabs on their dog's exercise. "Tagg's combination of activity monitoring and GPS location tracking puts pet parents in control of their pet's well-being," Dave Vigil, president of Snaptracs Inc. which created Tagg, said in a statement. Cada is so devoted to keeping animals fit, she has also devised ways to stimulate her dogs mentally. "I have them doing a mental obstacle course for me," she said. "I'll have them sit down, roll over, jump on and off the bed, and do all the tricks they know in a random order." The animals will also fetch and engage in a series of rapid-fire hand-to-paw high-fives. "It's like a test," she explained, "for a treat."EXCLUSIVE: While it seems the Comic Con movie panels largely exist to hype sequels and line extensions, there are a couple of attempts at Con-worthy new franchise creations to ponder. Luc Besson flew in from Paris to unveil the visuals to his ambitious $180 million film Valerian, based on the French comic book series (I’ll have more on Besson in Sunday column with Peter Bart). Separately, Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital just closed the deal with Nikolaj Arcel to direct The Dark Tower, Stephen King’s long-gestating novel series set in a world woven with magic and revolving around the gunslinger Roland Deschain. Deadline broke the story last month that the studio was courting Arcel, the Danish helmer of the Oscar-nominated film A Royal Affair, and also the co-writer of the Swedish version of the Stieg Larsson novel The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Arcel, who just turned in a script for a Robert F. Kennedy film that Matt Damon will star in for Warner Bros, will go right to work, and he has enlisted fellow Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen to work together on a rewrite of the script, the last draft of which was written by Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner. Jensen is a prolific writer-director, who won the Oscar for his short film Election Night. As I wrote last month, the project is a high priority at Sony and gives new studio head Tom Rothman a strong franchise play. Sony will distribute what is planned to be the first in a series of movies. A complementary TV series is also being developed by MRC. Producing are Weed Road’s Goldsman and Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Erica Huggins. King is also a producer. That quartet has been involved in this franchise since the beginning, and MRC kept it going after Universal and then Warner Bros developed it and then dropped out. Pinkner is en exec producer. First installment of The Dark Tower focuses on the first book in the series, The Gunslinger, establishing the relationship between Roland and young protege Jake Chambers. After a quick pass at the script, they will start casting the gunslinger (Javier Bardem and Russell Crowe flirted with the role in past iterations), and the young protege. Arcel is repped by United Agents and WME, and WME reps Jensen.Coroner records suicide ruling for Carol Woodward, who was the long-serving head of Woodford primary school near Plymouth An award-winning headteacher hanged herself shortly after Ofsted downgraded her school, an inquest has been told. Carol Woodward, the long-serving head of Woodford primary school near Plymouth, suffered a swift decline in her mental health that coincided with an inspection by Ofsted as well as disruptive building work to expand the school. Police who investigated the death told the inquest in Plymouth that the Ofsted inspection in July was “completed in a fair manner but the timing, without assigning culpability, was wrong”. DC Peter Riley, the investigating officer, said: “The chaotic environment this caused, coupled with the pressures of the academic year and the timing of Ofsted’s inspection, triggered an immense amount of pressure on Carol.” Ian Arrow, the Plymouth senior coroner, ruled that the cause of death was suicide by hanging. “There is nothing suspicious about Carol’s tragic death,” Arrow said in summing up. “She just felt she was under so much pressure.” The Ofsted inspectors downgraded the school’s rating to inadequate and placed it in special measures. The school had been rated as good in its last inspection, in 2012. The school of more than 400 pupils was undergoing extensive building work at the time of the inspection in order to add capacity for a further 200 pupils across all year groups. Under the terms of Ofsted inspections, schools can delay visits in exceptional circumstances such as building disruption. The inspectors’ report was critical of the standard of teaching and pupil attainment, after a decline in key stage two results. It also criticised the school’s governors and the local authority for failing to take measures to improve the school. After the inspection, Woodward contacted her doctor several times to discuss stress and other health problems, the inquest was told. In late July, the 58-year-old told her GP that the school had failed the Ofsted inspection and that she felt she had let everyone down, the inquest heard. She later complained of being unable to sleep. Woodward had been headteacher at Woodford infants school since 1996, becoming head of Woodford primary after the merger of the two schools in 2010. Headteacher killed herself after six months in job, coroner rules Read more In 2006 Woodward was named a regional primary school headteacher of the year, in an awards programme sponsored by the Department for Education. In 2007 the school’s results were in the top 5% in England, and two years later the school was feted by Ofsted for its results and outstanding teaching. Debbie Johns, the school’s assistant head and chair of governors, told the Plymouth Herald in August: “Carol was extremely proud of the school and believed in the importance of focusing on the needs of each and every child to ensure they felt confident, happy and safe.” An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Like so many others, we offer our sincere condolences to Mrs Woodward’s family, friends, colleagues and pupils at this very difficult time.” In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.Julia Roberts is grieving following the loss of her half sister (Picture: Getty) A ‘devastated’ Julia Roberts pulled out of a pre-Oscars lunch after her half-sister was found dead following a suspected drug overdose. The grieving star missed the do in Beverly Hills after 37-year-old Nancy Motes was found in her bathtub just after 2pm on Sunday by her fiancé John Dilbeck – with her sibling’s death shining a light on an apparent bitter and deep family feud. ‘It is with deep sadness that the family of Nancy Motes … confirms that she was found dead in Los Angeles yesterday
, Moldova's capital, are reluctant to blame political motivations for the current ban. When pressed on the subject, Mr Bumacov chose his words carefully. He said: "In our discussions with Moscow I was assured that this has nothing to do with politics, so what can I say?" "We appreciate the Russian market but when we negotiate agreements with the EU, they say, 'OK guys, we tell you to open your markets for the EU products, but we will come with finance to support improvement and modernisation.'" Image caption Local councillor Ion Gangan with his EU-funded plan for a new covered market If you look closely, pockets of European money are now in evidence across Moldova. Sixty kilometres out of Chisinau in the small rural commune of Farladeni local councillor Ion Gangan is delighted to show a Western audience his glossy EU-funded plans for a new covered market. "Soon we will have EU standards and conditions for our products and a new school is going to be built too," he said. But it is in the same modest market - selling bric-a-brac, pork, and cheese - that the tug of Russia can be tangibly felt. Farladeni is on the eastern Moldovan border, and many vendors have travelled in from separatist Trans-Dniester. Trans-Dniester is the product of a bloody civil war in the early 1990s after the Republic of Moldova declared independence from the disintegrating USSR. Unlike Moldova to which it still officially belongs, Trans-Dniester is very much in the pocket of Russia. It is subsidised by Moscow and Russian is the first language. Many vendors clearly preferred the motherland to the EU. One woman clutched my hand and then her heart and explained she depended on the pensions supplements from Moscow. Her story was a common one. The EU has its work cut out if it's serious about countering Russian influence in this region. Moldova's Communist Party also supports a pro-Russia line and views the Eurasian Union between Russia and former Soviet countries such as Belarus and Kazakhstan as a preferable option to closer EU relations. Mr Gangan's Moldovan constituents had mixed opinions about a European future. They conceded life was tough with a punitive "internal" border, guarded on the eastern side by soldiers from Russia and Trans-Dniester. Unlike neighbouring Trans-Dniester they don't get financial support from Moscow. However, despite the pro-EU noises of their political leaders in Chisinau, for many Russia's proximity and power are too great to ignore. In Farladeni, I met Aurelia who is one of the hundreds of thousands of Moldovans who spend most of their year working illegally in Russia. Due to her Romanian heritage, Aurelia considers herself a European - Moldova was part of Greater Romania between the two world wars - but unlike some 300,000 Moldovans she doesn't have a Romanian passport and therefore cannot work in the EU. It is easier to catch a train to Moscow where she can earn seven times more than at home in Moldova. But her tears suggest the process is not easy and Russia has recently made a point of sending many Moldovans home. Moldovan wine Moldova is a predominately agricultural economy, with wine its most important product The large-scale production of wine employs 150,000 people - about 10% of the labour force - in farms and factories Grape growing and wine making is also the biggest cottage industry in rural Moldova. Almost all village households have their own vines Cricova and Milestii Mici wineries are two of the largest wine cellars in the world Cricova has 120km of underground roads and produces 10 million bottles of wine a year. Before the ban, three million of those bottles went to Russia Back in Chisinau the imposing white structure and tinted windows of the Russian embassy - the largest in the capital - speaks volumes about the imbalance of power between Moldova and its giant neighbour. Russia's ambassador Farit Mukhametshin didn't mince his words when it came to underlining Moldova's dependency on Russia. "About half a million Moldovan immigrants are working in Russia," he said. "Yearly they send about $2bn back home, which is one third of Moldova's [gross domestic product]. We therefore inform and we tell the Moldovan authorities that when they choose a European path, there will be changes and so they should be aware and prepare for some future adjustments." It's not difficult to read between the lines - Moldova can flirt with the EU but it needs to remember who the main power is in this part of the world. Moldova's agricultural minister is unlikely to forget. When challenged over Moldova's tolerance of Russian bullying he replied: "I would like to ask you to look at a map of the world and see Russia and see Moldova and I think you would not ask me this question anymore." But while Mr Bumacov, like his country, has little control over what happens with Russia. He was keen to point out the embargo may have backfired. "This Russian wine ban has helped promote our wine elsewhere - it has helped us find new markets in Europe," he said. Several wine producers made similar comments - their tone remarkably upbeat given they have just lost 28% of their market. But then they are used to Russia controlling affairs from the east. The difference now is that the EU is emerging as a counter-balance in the West.News A few hours before the deadline, a person from Hyderabad reportedly declared Rs 10,000 crore. With the deadline for Indians to disclose their hidden black money under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) 2016 finished on Friday, reports suggested that the total amount declared was over Rs 65,000 crore. India Today reported that the department would recover tax worth around Rs 30,000 crore in its kitty (at 45 per cent) on the declared amount. However, in a surprising turn of events, Mumbai came second in declaring black money, with the first place going to Hyderabad and the two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra. "In the last few hours, an individual in Hyderabad came with a declaration of Rs 10,000 crore, taking the total amount of black money declared in Andhra Pradesh to Rs 13,000 crore," an official told India Today on Friday evening. Business Standard reported that while Hyderabad saw a declaration of Rs 13,000 crore, Mumbai followed with Rs 8,500 crore. New Delhi was third with Rs 6,000 crore followed by Kolkata with Rs 4,000 crore. Last week, reports suggested that a business house in Hyderabad coughed up Rs 150 crore of undisclosed money last week, which was the highest disclosure in the two states. The New Indian Express had then reported: The quantum of disclosures has been such that the IT department of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which till last month stood 14th in terms of statewide collection of undisclosed income under the IDS scheme, has shot up to ninth in the country. However, with the latest reported declaration of Rs 10,000 crore, the state has shot up to the first place. A press statement is expected on Saturday with specific details on the amount collected. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is also expected to address the media.The new boss of Indian Railways, Ashwani Lohani, has taken the unconventional route to discipline its workforce in order to improve functioning of the railway ministry. Lohani, the chairman of the Railway Board (CRB), has made it clear to the ministry officials that 'VIP culture' must be stopped to bring about a substantial change in the system. There will now be a strict prohibition on accepting gifts for all railway officers and they have also been told to give up unnecessary protocols. And for the young officers who have joined the railways in the recent time, Lohani has a rather unconventional advice to keep their tables and office uncluttered if they really want to make railways clean and garbage-free. The directives came on Sunday while Lohani interacted with young railway officers of Delhi division, which he had headed seven years ago as the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM). Railway officers less than eight years old in the organisation were present in the meeting, apart from senior officers. The chairman has strictly ordered to end the tradition of bouquets, gifts and 'buttering'. "There will be zero tolerance towards corruption. The bouquet and gift culture has to be abandoned and only performance on the given post will be judgmental," Lohani told officers. A railway ministry officer said Lohani wants an immediate end to the VIP culture. He has told the DRMs to treat all staff members as equals and pay due attention to every suggestions of the ground staff. To end this culture, the CRB has ordered removal of name plates from the chambers of senior officers in the Rail Bhavan. On Sunday, Lohani urged all senior officers to spend maximum time in field duty rather than clearing files in the comfort of their offices. "Indian railways has a proven track record and its performance is comparable with leading railway organisations of the world. But due to recent spate of incidents its image has taken a severe beating. To overcome shortcomings, perceptible changes should come from those working on the ground," he added. Railway ministry sources said the CRB has also asked seniors to be present in office on Saturdays to executor office-related works. Lohani took over after a series of rail accidents and deteriorating conditions of food and hygiene were reported. While consecutive derailments prompted AK Mital to quit as Chairman of Railway Board; Railway minister Suresh Prabhu also offered to resign owing moral responsibility. Earlier, as the CMD of Air India, Lohani had issued similar disciplinary circulars to its staff. He not only asked Air India staff to carry their hand baggage on their own instead of using porters, but also ordered them to maintain a proper dress code during travel, be it on leave or on duty. Urging employees to do away with 'petty courtesies', he asked them to stop presenting him with bouquets and also ensure that minimal number of officials are present to see him off at airports. Also Read Railways image harmed, need to change perception: Lohani Food served by Indian Railways not fit for human consumption: CAGA 43-year-old mother of two died after being stabbed in a parking lot dispute at a swap meet in Santa Fe Springs, California on Friday. Two suspects have been arrested for her murder.Whittier Police responded to a report of a fight in the parking lot of the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet at 13963 Alondra Blvd. at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17.Officers found a female victim on the ground with multiple stab wounds to her neck and back. She was hospitalized at UCI Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.Police determined the victim, identified as Elizabeth Yanez, had been stabbed by a man and a woman during a dispute over a parking space in the lot.Yanez's two adult children, 22 and 23, were present when she was stabbed, police said.Yanez's son Daniel Crable said when they got out of the car, the male suspect pulled out a knife and chased Crable off."He turns midway and pulls out this blade. And I'm like, 'Oh my God.' I have to go into survival mode. I didn't even know what to think," Crable said.The man, later identified as Reggie Cervantes, 22, then allegedly turned to Crable's mother and sister - involved in an argument with a female suspect - and stabbed Yanez in the base of the neck.Crable later returned and performed CPR on his mother."Little did I know that the wound she had had taken her life before she hit the ground," he said.Whittier police detectives identified suspects and a vehicle in South Los Angeles, and early Saturday morning, Cervantes and Brenda Rangel, 19, were arrested for murder.The two suspects were charged with murder on Tuesday. They were both held on $1 million bail each in the L.A. County Jail.A roundup of what people are saying about James Comey's testimony. President Trump on June 8, 2017. (Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP) Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., House speaker: “Of course there needs to be a degree of independence between (the Department of Justice), FBI and the White House and a line of communications established. The president’s new at this. He’s new to government, and so he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses. He’s just new to this.... I’m not saying it’s an acceptable excuse. It’s just my observation.” OUR VIEW: Marc Kasowitz, personal lawyer to President Trump: “James Comey has now finally confirmed publicly what he repeatedly told the president privately: The president was not under investigation as part of any probe into Russian interference. He also admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any Russian interference. Mr. Comey’s testimony also makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted Russian interference in the 2016 election, and in fact, according to Mr. Comey, the president told Mr. Comey, ‘It would be good to find out’ in that investigation if there were ‘some “satellite” associates of his who did something wrong.’... The president never, in form or substance, directed or suggested that Mr. Comey stop investigating anyone, including suggesting that Mr. Comey ‘let (Michael) Flynn go.’... It is overwhelmingly clear that there have been and continue to be those in government who are actively attempting to undermine this administration with selective and illegal leaks of classified information and privileged communications. Mr. Comey has now admitted that he is one of these leakers.” Peter Baker, The New York Times, on Twitter: “Can’t remember the last time someone in D.C. openly acknowledged orchestrating a leak — and without any senator having even asked.” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. “In my experience of prosecuting cases, when a robber held a gun to somebody’s head and said, ‘I hope you will give me your wallet,’ the word hope is not the most operative word at that moment.” Carol Costello, HLN, on Twitter: “ ‘Lordy, I hope there are tapes.’ — Oh, Mr. Comey, so do I.” Greg Sargent, The Washington Post: “Republicans have widely said that Comey’s written testimony exonerated Trump, because in it, Comey also said several times that he informed Trump that he is not personally under investigation, as Trump had previously claimed. But Comey’s testimony reveals this to be nothing more than a laughable exercise in misdirection. What’s at issue here is Trump’s broader conduct — his effort to convert his relationship with one of the most powerful law enforcement officials in the country, one who oversees vast investigative machinery, into what Comey termed a ‘patronage relationship.’... This idea — that Trump only needs to learn what the rules are — elides the much more likely explanation, which is that Trump’s behavior is rooted in a sincerely held belief that our institutions and rules should not represent a check on his power and that he’s willing to actively abuse his power to further weaken those constraints. Comey’s testimony should substantially increase press scrutiny of the widespread refusal of Republicans to acknowledge how serious a problem this has become.” Kayleigh McEnany, The Hill: “High hopes turned to dashed dreams when Comey’s testimony cleared President Trump. Not only did the testimony vindicate the commander in chief, it included a startling revelation that Obama-era Attorney General Loretta Lynch attempted to influence the criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton.” Christian Schneider, USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors: “To say that Comey’s testimony ‘vindicates’ Trump in any way ignores giant swaths of what the former FBI director actually said — it’s like leaving the theater after seeing Wonder Woman and telling people it’s a World War I documentary. This is the place where Trump’s supporters exist: Rather than seeing the president for who he clearly is, they construct an entirely different Trump in the negative space around him.” Mark Bauerlein, CNN: “Comey didn’t sound like the head of a fearsome investigative agency. He sounded like a middle manager in business who has just attended a human resources seminar on inappropriate behavior in the workplace.... Most of us have felt pressured by higher-ups at one time or another, but we didn’t freeze up.... Trump’s approach was not unusual, and we wonder why the Democratic opposition and the media hang such explosive meaning on it.” Tom Nichols, Naval War College professor: “Comey’s testimony is not even close to the end of this episode. As Comey himself noted, there were multiple matters he could not talk about in an open session. He repeatedly stressed that many of the questions raised Thursday — including whether Trump tried to obstruct justice — will fall to Robert Mueller, a possibility that likely chills the blood of the White House and national Republicans. In that respect, Comey left tantalizing clues. Asked why he suspected that Attorney General Jeff Sessions would have to recuse himself from any Russia matters, for example, Comey demurred, implying the answer was both classified and yet to be investigated. The Democrats who hoped Comey would nail shut a charge of obstruction of justice were too hopeful. The Republicans who hoped Comey could be smeared and discredited were too cynical. This is the opening soliloquy in a potential tragedy that has many more characters to be heard from in subsequent acts.” Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2sZG4QOBreaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Nov. 2, 2015, 2:10 PM GMT / Updated Nov. 2, 2015, 3:02 PM GMT By Sarah Burke A suspected war criminal has been arrested in the Netherlands in connection with the 1979 massacre of more than 1,000 men and boys during the Afghan civil war. Sadeq Alamyar, 64, was detained in Rotterdam on Tuesday. The Dutch citizen is accused of being the commander of an elite Afghan army unit during the communist government’s civil war against Islamist rebels which authorities say "dragged large numbers of men and boys from their homes" before killing them. At least 1,000 men and boys are alleged to have been rounded up by government troops and shot dead in the Kerala area of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan on April 20, 1979. According to Dutch prosecutors, the "commando unit under [Alamyar's] orders took part in several killings" while he also "allegedly fired shots himself." Human Rights Watch described the massacre as “one of the most horrific crimes of the early years of Afghanistan’s long wars.” Following the collapse of the Afghan government and a decade of imprisonment, Alamyar was granted asylum in the Netherlands in the 1990s and later became a Dutch citizen. A criminal complaint lodged by relatives of the victims triggered the investigation. In April, Dutch police searched four homes and a vehicle around the Netherlands and interviewed some of Alamyar’s family members. In a statement, the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office said that the country was "committed to not being a safe haven for war criminals." Patricia Gossman of Human Rights Watch highlighted that it was "rare when victims of 36-year-old crimes get their day in court." She added: In Afghanistan’s wars, there have been thousands of killings, systematic torture, rapes, and a litany of other war crimes and grievous human rights abuses. Many Afghans have called for accountability, but few perpetrators have ever faced justice.”The fact that many on the left are now embracing GOP talking points in order to attack Hillary and Bill Clinton is troubling. To wit: A new story in Salon about Bill Clinton’s “odious” presidency, which echoes a lot of what I’m hearing from a number of supporters of Bernie Sanders of late. Don’t be mistaken, Sanders didn’t start this. Over the past several years, there’s been a growing movement by some on the left — who have become more vocal and more powerful of late — to eat our own. They regularly question the loyalty of progressive colleagues who’s political purity was proven decades ago. They way these folks win an argument isn’t by proving you wrong, rather they prove you bad and evil. They don’t question your ideas, they question your integrity. And if the facts don’t back them up, they rewrite history. Which takes us back to this notion that the 1990s were a terrible time, and that Bill Clinton’s presidency was just awful.* I came out in 1991, and started working as a fellow for Senator Kennedy, on gay rights issues, in early 1993. I worked on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, ENDA, HIV/AIDS and more. And on gay rights and HIV, Bill Clinton was a god-send. No, he wasn’t perfect — he gave us DOMA and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and I was supremely ticked about both. (Though it’s important to remember that we got DADT because Clinton tried to repeal the policy altogether — something unheard of before he got to office — and did so inartfully.) But President Clinton also gave us openly gay and openly HIV+ senior administration officials, and an openly HIV+ speaker during prime time at the Democratic convention. Keep in mind, we’re talking 1992 and 1993, nearly 25 years ago. These pro-gay moves were unheard of at the presidential level. Bill Clinton appointed openly-lesbian Roberta Achtenberg(Jesse Helm’s “damn lesbian”) to HHS, even though the GOP opposition was fierce. He appointed the first openly-gay US ambassador, Jim Hormel. He also finally protected gay federal employees. Up until Bill Clinton came around, for example, you couldn’t be openly gay at the State Department. That rule was why I turned down a commission in the US Foreign Service in 1989. I passed both versions of the Foreign Service exam and was offered a position, and I said no because I’m gay. So, just on gay rights and AIDS, what Bill Clinton did was beyond historic. Here’s a list of some of the gay and HIV accomplishments — again keep in mind, this was over 20 years ago, following the Reagan and Bush presidencies, when being gay was not acceptable: 1997, Clinton endorsed adding sexual orientation to the Hate Crimes bill. Appointed first-ever openly-gay US ambassador. Had an openly-gay person with AIDS speak during prime time at the Democratic Convention in 1992. This was a multiple “first.” Tried to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military. Ended discrimination against gays in the federal workforce. Ended discrimination against gays in getting security clearances to work for the feds. Endorsed ENDA. Blocked Republican efforts to pass legislation prohibiting unmarried couples from jointly adopting children in the District of Columbia, and legislation which would have denied certain federal funds to localities with domestic partnership laws. Issued first-ever presidential gay Pride Month proclamation. Dramatically increased funding for HIV/AIDS. Worked to stop discrimination against people with AIDS. Opposed anti-gay ballot initiatives in Colorado and Oregon. Fought discrimination against people with AIDS in the military. Directed the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to vigorously prosecute those who discriminate against people with AIDS, leading to actions against health care providers and facilities that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. First administration to help asylum-seekers based on sexual orientation. First president to grant asylum for gays and lesbians facing persecution in other countries. Fought harassment of students based on sexual orientation. Fought for and signed the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which bans insurance discrimination against people with pre-existing medical conditions including HIV/AIDS. In addition, President Clinton issued a directive that ensures that all providers of Federal health insurance abide by non-discrimination rules including sexual orientation. Under President Clinton’s leadership, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention commissioned scientific panels to study lesbian health issues and to suggest research methods for scientists who want to study specific lesbian health issues. This is the first time a U.S. Government agency has commissioned an examination into this subject. Appointed more than 150 openly-gay appointees to his administration. Again, this simply wasn’t done before Clinton’s presidency. Appointed first-ever White House gay liaison. Appointed the first-ever White House AIDS Czar. Convened the first-ever White House conference on HIV/AIDS. First president to speak before a gay organization. And on HIV/AIDS, the list is just as long. You can read it here. I can appreciate that some people like Bernie more than Hillary. And that’s fine. But rewriting history, and eating our own, is wrong. Such an approach does a disservice to the truth; which as usual, is far grayer than some advocates would like you to know. Disagree with Hillary on trade or the Wall Street bailout if you will. (Though personally, I believe we’d have gone into a depression without the bailout.) But let’s stop pretending Bernie is a saint and Hillary the devil. They’re both politicians. They both have a spotty record, depending on the issue. Both will have a difficult time getting things done with a GOP congress. And both are better than Trump. _______ * Attacking a woman because you don’t like the job her husband did 20 years ago is also a right-wing talking point. And a little bit sexist, too :) Follow me on Twitter: @aravosis — Win a pony! (not really)Article updated January 2018 Content note: Below is a compilation of several different studies that work to provide information about perpetrators. Much of this data comes from studies that are outdated and contain heteronormative language, although still providing important information. SAPAC recognizes that many of these articles fail to provide inclusive information about perpetrators and survivors. It is important to question how statistics, like the ones below, can enable skewed perceptions and further misconceptions about sexual assault and harassment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The purpose of this section is to provide information about perpetrators. This section will address societal myths, contributing factors to why a person commits rape, the role of alcohol, and studies focusing on college male rapists. It is designed to inform panelists about the reality of this offense so that they are as informed as possible when hearing sexual-violence related cases. Main Points from the Literature: No two sex offenders are exactly alike. In fact, one sexual assault expert said that ‘sex offenders comprise an extremely heterogeneous population that cannot be characterized by single motivational or etiological factors’ (Schwartz, 1995). However, sex offenders often exhibit some similar characteristics: Men are more likely to commit sexual violence in communities where sexual violence goes unpunished. (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2004). Sex offenders minimize their number of victims. Speaking with 99 male sex offenders, court records showed 136 victims between them, but later during treatment, they eventually confessed to 959 victims between them (Slicner, 2007). Sex offenders are experts in rationalizing their behavior. (Slicner, 2007) There is no “typical profile” of a rapist. Many defense attorneys will talk about whether their client, the alleged assailant, either fits the profile of a rapist or doesn’t. This is an invalid argument because there is no typical profile of a rapist. This is why it is good to focus on that person’s behavior instead of who they are in their community (Maas, 2007). Example: Ted Bundy was an A student, volunteered for his university’s suicide prevention center, and was active in the church. Does this sound like someone who would ‘fit the profile’ of a violent person? 2015 Campus Climate Survey of U of M students 22.5% of undergraduate women reported receiving unwanted sexual activity 6.8% of undergraduate men reported receiving unwanted sexual activity Both statistics are not representative of trans folk Campus survey participants 51.5% male, 48.5% female 92.0 heterosexual 8.04 “gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other” No identification of cisgender/transgender Participants can only identify themselves within gender binary Direct research from Stotzer, R.L. and MacCartney, D. (2016) The role of institutional factors on on-campus reported rape prevalence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(16), 2687- 2707. Individual factors that have been found to lead to increased rape proclivity among men include (p. 2691) Rape myth acceptance High sexual arousal to rape depiction or sexual violence Pornography consumption Desire to have power over women Increased levels of hostile sexism Increased gender stereotyped attitudes toward women One out of three college-aged men reported some likelihood to rape if they were assured they would not be caught (p.2689) Although many studies suggest fraternity membership alone facilitates propensity to rape, it its more of an indicator to look at the type of masculine group membership (p. 2691) High risk masculine groups: perceived to have parties that created a high-risk environment for sexual assault, expressed higher levels of sexual aggression toward women, hostility toward women, and male peer support for violence against women Positive correlation between higher athletic division and reports of sexual assault (p.2700) Positive correlation between college campuses that were highly residential and increased reports of sexual assault versus primarily commuter campus (p. 2700) Male Sex Role Socialization: When men are taught to be dominant and aggressive, this often leads to hyper-masculinity, male peer support for sexual aggression, development of rape myths, and adversarial sexual beliefs (Kilmartin, 2000; Rozee & Koss, 2001). In his classic study of college date rapists, Kanin’s sample (Kanin, 1985) were significantly more sexually active, but also more sexually frustrated than controls, and believed that rape could be justified under certainconditions. Although the association between rape and pornography remains controversial, a number of studies have linked violent pornography and sexual arousal to rape depictions, violent sexual fantasies, rape callousness, and woman abuse (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 1998; Malamuth, 1984; Malamuth & Check, 1983). Alcohol Abuse: Alcohol abuse has been identified as a strong correlate of college rape (Abby, 1991; Abby et al., 1996; Frintner & Rubinson, 1993; Koss & Gaines, 1993; Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; Norris & Cubbins, 1992; Prentky & Knight, 1991; Presley et al., 1998). Although the media has labeled drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB as the date-rape drugs of the present, these are only two of the many drugs used to incapacitate a victim. Of the 22 substances used in drug-facilitated rapes, alcohol is the most common. (LeBeau, M., et al., Recommendations for Toxicological Investigations of Drug Facilitated Sexual Assaults, Journal of Forensic Sciences. 1999.) The relationship between alcohol and rape is multifaceted, and alcohol may be both a precipitant of and an excuse for sexually aggressive behavior by men (Abbey et al., 2001; Berkowitz, 1992; Larimer et al., 1999; Richardson & Hammock, 1991). Men who have committed sexual assault also frequently report getting their female companion drunk as a way of making it easier to talk or force her into having sex. (Abbey, McAuslan, & Ross, 1998). A Study on Sexual Assault: A study compared complex relationships among sexual attitudes and experiences, substance abuse patterns, and child abuse histories in college men. The comprehensive survey that was implemented measured risk factors found in the literature to be associated with male sexual aggression. In terms of the results, most of the hypothesized risk factors were predictive of sexual aggression, including negative gender-based attitudes, heavy alcohol use, and pornography consumption. Few men acknowledged using physical force to obtain sex, whereas more men acknowledged some form of sexual coercion. This included pressuring women and saying things they did not mean to obtain sex, using alcohol to obtain sex, and having sex with a woman even when she wanted to stop. A few men reported some likelihood of raping if they could be sure of not getting caught. (Carr and Van Deusen, 2004). Also, a pattern of alcohol-related sexual coercion emerged. Fifteen percent of the men acknowledged using some form of alcohol-related sexual coercion. Thirty five percent of the men reported that their friends approved of getting a woman drunk to have sex with her and 20% acknowledged having friends who have gotten a woman drunk or high to have sex. (Carr and Van Deusen, 2004). Pornography consumption was common among the men in the sample and may further add to the risk of sexual aggression. Specific violent or rape-theme content of the pornography has been associated with propensity to rape and pro-rape attitudes in laboratory analogues, as well as from self-reports of men who have admitted raping. (Carr and Van Deusen, 2004). The patterns of sexual coercion, aggression, and rape-prone attitudes found in this study are very similar to patterns reported by other researchers and further strengthens our understanding of factors that may contribute to why a subset of college men rape. (Carr and Van Deusen, 2004). Peer pressure to have sex and alcohol-related sexual coercion emerged as important factors in the social milieu at the campus surveyed. (Carr and Van Deusen, 2004). Methodological challenges in the study of rapists: Incarcerated rapists also tend to be “stranger rapists” who were promptly reported by their victim, who left physical evidence, and who were successfully prosecuted, convicted, and received prison time. (Carr and Van Deusen, 2004). Summary of important points from this section:As a result, they are either leaving the profession completely or are taking their expertise abroad.This is according to the latest Hays quarterly report for Australia, October to December. The report revealed “hotspots” of where the predicted future sought after roles will be, as well as looming trends within the sector.Louise Gibson, Hay’s manager of professional services in Queensland, told Australasian Lawyer that the recruitment company is being bombarded by calls from graduate lawyers who are not able to find jobs.“I get a lot of graduates coming in who should be going into junior legal roles but are now filling paralegal roles or starting to look at opportunities overseas. It’s going to be an interesting one over the next couple of years,” she says.“I think a lot of people doing a law degree are starting to think about other options and not practicing as a lawyer.”Due to the abundance of choice, firms are now only selecting the crème de la crème of graduates, says Gibson.She adds that the “sad reality” is that there may be too many law schools as it’s beneficial for universities to put people through a law degree because they make a lot of money out of them.But young graduates turning their backs on the law profession could also see a repeat of another current trend – a lack of good quality mid-level lawyers – in a few years’ time.The Hays report revealed that the gap in the mid-level lawyer market hasn’t gone away yet, and was partly propelled by law firms putting a pause on hiring junior lawyers during the GFC, says Gibson.But the good news is that demand for lawyers in private practice is becoming more buoyant as mid and top tier firms grow their teams and practice areas, according to the report.“There is a little bit more confidence in private practice. It’s been tough for most law firms [until now], and it goes hand-in-hand with how the economy has been, however people are more prepared to pay for things like commercial litigation now,” says Gibson.“Top tiers haven’t done much recruiting at all over the past 18 months… but I’m starting to see more adverts now. There’s more confidence coming back in.”Activity has also picked up in the in-house market and demand is high for candidates with mid-level experience as organisations try to keep as much work in-house as possible, while only briefing out to firms when absolutely necessary in order to reduce costs, according to the report.And within the public sector, there is demand for talented lawyers with both private and public experience who can immediately add value. Many candidates are interested in moving from private practice into the public sector in order to find a new challenge within a stable environment.Hays board director for Australia and New Zealand, Darren Buchanan, told Australasian Lawyer that firms should be planning their recruitment needs further ahead.“The legal profession can be quite reactive – people resign when they’re not expected to. But if you work out what your typical turnover rate is you can plan for that. It also helps that firms pitch what they’re paying employees, and what the benefits are,” he says.In terms of the current “hot spots”, Buchanan says the construction industry is experiencing a general lift nationally. Banking and finance, a sector once “on the doldrums”, is now quickly picking up the pace too, he says.May 7, 2009 8:50:18 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums This is the official thread for the Sins of the 13th Tribe mod. Please note that it only works for Entrenchment v1.05 This is a total conversion mod, so the TEC, Advent, and Vasari are no longer playable The Colonials and Cylons are now playable races Download Sins of the 13th Tribe v0.96: MegaUpload: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ABORTM4L Original Sins Version by Larkis: MegaUpload: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=N0DA2GR0 Note I am not responsible for the OS version. Direct all comments, questions, concerns, etc, at Larkis. Credits: Coding by: kyogre12 Models by: Kreeargh, Coxxon, Unknown Warrior, Dnkids, Major A Pain, Koobalt, Larkis, and the members of Cloak & Dagger Studios. Textures by: Kreeargh, Coxxon, Fallen Warrior, File'o'soft Koobalt, larkis, and others Special Thanks to ManshOOter, Bailknight, Tenhunter, rjhughes, Danman, the Distant Stars Team, and the sins of Alethia Team. Distant Stars: Nacey, Skyling, Uzii, Gurkoz, Boshimi336, Solitaire, Titan, Nataku, -Ue_Carbon, Ryat, & Madeiner Known Bugs: Some ships do not have names or are improperly named Colonials still glow occasionally If you have any ideas for abilities, or want to
as the field marshal and judges, and there were three members of the Knights of Valour in attendance in addition to Adams. Advertisement Continue reading the main story A few other American and Canadian competitors hadn’t shown, either because the purse was too small or the event conflicted with paying Renaissance-fair gigs. But what rankled Adams and Andrews was the lack of European jousters. It was hard to have an international championship when the only nations represented were the U.S. and Canada. “I tried everything, including paying for airline tickets, to get them to come from Europe, but nobody wants to play with us,” Adams told the competitors. “Sorry guys — we’ll have to beat up on each other.” Shortly before going to Pensacola, I went to Ramona, Calif., to meet Jeffrey Hedgecock, the one American jouster who regularly competes with Europeans. Hedgecock is an artisan armorer, polo player and sculptor who jousts in his own meticulously crafted creation, a replica of an Italian suit from 1470. He and his wife, Gwen Nowrick, produce the Tournament of the Phoenix outside San Diego every October. It is the only tournament in the U.S. sanctioned by the Royal Armouries museum in England and affiliated with the International Jousting League, the largest of the world’s many jousting associations. Last year, the event featured competitors from England, Australia, Norway and New Zealand. Participation is by invitation only, and thus far neither Andrews, Adams, nor any other full-contact-style jouster has been invited. Hedgecock and Nowrick have the same goal as Andrews and Adams — they want to see jousting divested from its Renaissance-fair trappings and staged as a competitive equestrian sport. But they, like most European jousters, came to the sport through historic re-enactment. Whereas the armor at the Gulf Coast Championships was an amalgam of different periods and styles and often worn over sweat pants or motorcycle jackets, Hedgecock and Nowrick require their competitors to wear historically accurate 15th-century armor, clothing and accessories, including arming doublets and hose. (This is for safety as much as appearance, they say.) Hedgecock’s lances are lathe-turned poplar, modeled on ones in 15th-century paintings. Each eight-foot lance is fitted with a three-foot balsa-wood tip that shatters in competition while the lance usually remains whole. Photo The son of an electrician and a real-estate agent, Hedgecock has always liked to make things. He learned machining in high school so he could replicate the props he saw in movies like “Star Wars,” and he taught himself how to make armor while studying film at U.C.-San Diego. He has made his living as an armorer ever since, catering to museums, filmmakers, jousters, re-enactors and anyone else who can afford one of his suits, which can run from $25,000 to $60,000. For Hedgecock, it makes no sense to joust while ignoring the past. “Without the history, you might as well do it on motorcycles,” he says. “If we didn’t have historical knights, we wouldn’t have jousting.” Hedgecock began jousting competitively after seeing a tournament at the Royal Armouries in Leeds in 2003. He was captivated by the combination of historical accuracy and genuine combat. He had done mounted re-enactments back home, so he knew how to ride in armor, and his reputation as an armorer helped him persuade the museum’s artistic director to let him compete in the next tournament four months later. The compensation for his appearance was enough to cover the cost of a two-week vacation in England, and while Hedgecock didn’t stand out, he acquitted himself well enough to be invited back the next year. His skills have improved since then. He was less than a point shy of winning the 2008 tournament at Leeds, and he has jousted in Belgium, France, New Zealand and the Netherlands. He competes in about six tournaments a year, each one an invitational. But the armor remains an asset. He wouldn’t get invitations if he were lousy at jousting, he admits, “but the kit opens some doors.” If you’re someone like Andrews or Adams, dragging a trailer of horses from one festival to another for 10 months of the year, the notion that a beautiful suit of armor would get you an all-expenses-paid trip to an exclusive European tournament is a bit hard to swallow. Nearly all the American jousters I interviewed had tried to wrangle an invitation to Hedgecock’s Tournament of the Phoenix. The news that they were rejected because their armor wasn’t historically accurate left them sputtering. “If you’re a historian, go ahead and play your little game,” Adams says bitterly. “There’s a warrior class and an artistic-historic class.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story North American- and European-style jousters can spend all day criticizing one another’s style of competition, and they frequently do. The “full contact” jousters find the I.J.L. style froufrou and weak, dismissing their combat as “a sorority pillow fight.” I.J.L. jousters, for their part, portray the full-contact jousters as a bunch of ego-driven braggarts who have substituted brute force for safety, elegance and finesse. They dismiss the Americans’ lumberyard lances as “closet poles,” their armor as looking “like a trash can” and their draft horses as “tractors with four legs.” (Both Hedgecock and the Europeans use swifter draft crosses rather than the full-blooded drafts used by American jousters.) Nowrick and Hedgecock’s tournament features several types of medieval combat — poleax battles, mounted melees — in an arena decked out with colorful banners and costumed field judges. Adams and Andrews, on the other hand, maintain that audiences want to see action more than pageantry. The lances may not look like the ones used by the knights of old, but their tendency to flex on impact makes them quite effective at vaulting competitors off their horses. In a bigger sport, there might be more tolerance for both styles of play, but in one that is still trying to attract investment, both sides are convinced that if their dream sponsor saw the other group’s tournaments, they’d lose all interest in the sport. “The sport of jousting is only going to survive in the United States if there is that ferocity in it,” Adams says. “If it’s just a bunch of guys hitting each other with balsa-wood lances, the only people going will be the Renaissance crowd.” Lurking under the surface of the debate over jousting styles are deeper questions about masculinity itself. “American culture is a certain way,” Nowrick says. “The hubris and the braggadocio about how tough I am, the whole Rocky Balboa thing. But when you go to Europe, there’s a different yardstick by which men are measured.” By the second day of the Gulf Coast International Jousting Championships, there were eight competitors left. Rhos Tolle, for one, injured his leg too badly in the previous day’s unhorsing to continue, and a member of the Knights of Valour dislocated his shoulder in a sword-fighting demonstration for a school group. A certain pattern emerged. The first matches in a tournament tended to be sloppy and unsatisfying, and then, once the most inexperienced knights had been eliminated, the action turned crisper, culminating in a series of swift, beautifully executed collisions punctuated by helicoptering lance shards and the occasional flying knight. At the end of each session, there were first-, second-, third- and fourth-place winners — including Adams, Andrews and Lambke in some order — and afterward the knights took off their helmets, signed lance shards in black Sharpie and answered questions from the spectators about the hotness and heaviness of their armor. Back in the stable area, other dramas were unfolding. Several jousters were complaining that Lambke was “ducking out” — failing to present an adequate target for his opponents — and, indeed, the field marshal had taken him aside to warn him that he would be disqualified if he continued. (Lambke insists that he simply shifts his weight into his legs to brace for the hit, and that if the other knights had better aim they could adjust.) His teammate, Dustin Stephens, who has been jousting for 25 years, was struggling with every kind of humiliation: his horse was shying out of the list, his armor was malfunctioning and in more than one match he had committed the cardinal sin of visibly flinching away from the oncoming blow. Andrews made it clear that he thought Stephens was out of his depth. You stink, he told him, or words to that effect. “Go home and get better.” (Stephens, for his part, accuses them of trying to rig the tournament.) Meanwhile, Adams and Andrews were watching the gate. Friday night’s crowd of 750 spectators was the largest of the weekend, but many in attendance had free tickets. The event cost about $25,000 to put on, and the first two sessions brought in a little under $8,000 each. “If we can get this amount one more time, we might — we might — kind of break even,” Andrews said on Saturday afternoon. “I don’t know. You keep thinking, One of these times, it’s going to take off. Somebody’s going to see it that’s going to get behind it, and we’ll be fine.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Two producers did in fact make their way back to the horse stalls during the weekend. One, a portly, white-bearded fellow named Dennis White, handed out brochures for his venture, Medieval Knights of Honor Tournament Promotions Inc. The fliers were spottily punctuated and full of slightly off-kilter references to “morals” and “pride in ones family name” [sic], but they promised $12,000 in purse money at each tournament, and that was enough to earn him a hearing. “If you’ve got money, I’m there to fight,” Adams told him. “I’m a prize jouster.” The second was Gustavo Sanchez, a producer of Latin American music who came on Sunday to scout for a traveling show he planned to produce, a kind of medieval-themed Cirque du Soleil. It wasn’t the best atmosphere for an audition. Only a few hundred spectators were present. The announcer was telling the audience for the third time that the joust had been delayed, although he didn’t explain that this was because Andrews was throwing a tantrum in one of the stalls over a judge’s call the day before. Sanchez watched everything with analytical curiosity: the intensity of the competitors, the bleakness of the arena, the often lackadaisical pace of the proceedings and the way Lambke won over the spectators with his hammy Black Knight persona. He noted how tough the sport was, and how expensive, and how difficult it is to do anything with horses. He understood that the men cared more about proving themselves on the list than about décor or costumes. “This is not what I’m looking for,” he said at last. “I need a show. This is not a show — it’s a competition.” Certainly a show would have built to a more satisfying climax than Sunday’s tournament. First, Stephens was disqualified in a match against Andrews for failing to drop the reins at the start of a pass, a requirement meant to keep competitors from yanking on the horse’s mouth if they’re knocked off. Later, Lambke was disqualified for failing to present a target. The crowd was mystified, and its confusion made the awarding of trophies to the weekend’s champions feel hollow and anticlimactic. After three days of competition, Adams came in first, Andrews second and Lambke — despite losing all his points for the final day — third. That evening, some of the competitors and their squires gathered at McGuire’s, a Pensacola pub and steakhouse. Everyone was sweaty and sore and more or less broke, and nobody could seem to talk about anything but horses and armor and lances. If the championships were held again tomorrow, you knew they would all be there. “To the sport of jousting,” Stephens said when the first round of beers arrived. “May it live forever.” Lambke nodded and raised his glass. “It already has,” he said.CLOSE Blanchard and James were among the plaintiffs in Kentucky's gay marriage case, which ended last week with the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples in all 50 states have the right to marry. Philip Scott Andrews, Special to The C-J Buy Photo The Rev. Maurice “Bojangles” Blanchard, right, and partner Dominique James show off their marriage license at the Jefferson County Clerk's Office on Monday. (Photo: John Sommers II/Special to The Courier-Journal)Buy Photo The Rev. Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard and his partner, Dominique James, walked into Jefferson County Courthouse on Monday on much different terms than they did two years earlier. The security guard who greeted them at the door was the same one who had helped a police officer escort them on their way to jail back then, when they had organized a "pray in" after being denied a marriage license. As Blanchard and the security guard exchanged formalities Monday, all the guard said was, "Congratulations." RELATED \| Preacher: 'We are on the right side of history' RELATED \| Gay marriage ruling defied by some Ky clerks A short time later, Blanchard and James walked out of the courthouse with their marriage license in tow. "Equality feels real good," Blanchard said. Blanchard and James were among the plaintiffs in Kentucky's gay marriage case, which ended last week with the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples in all 50 states have the right to marry. While the couple said they were excited they would now be able to enjoy the roughly 1,400 benefits that come with being legally married, they also acknowledged the men and women who will never have those rights. "Obviously we are very glad and excited, but it's mixed feelings today," he said. "We are also thinking about all the couples who have passed away already and they never enjoyed this." Shannon Fauver and Dawn Elliott, the lawyers who first represented Blanchard and James in their case against Kentucky, accompanied them to the courthouse Monday. Elliott said they have received overwhelming support on social media since the case went to the Supreme Court and wanted to be there to support Blanchard and James on their achievement. "There's not a lot of times that as an attorney you can sit back and watch the fruit of your labor and see them get married," she said. "It's going to be wonderful to sit back and watch the legal system work." Blanchard has led the True Colors Ministry at Highlands Baptist Church since 2011. True Colors bills itself as the first "open and affirming" LGBT Baptist ministry in the South. In 2012, Blanchard was ordained as a Baptist minister. Highlands Baptist opted out of the Southern Baptist Convention roughly a decade ago for differences that included wanting to be more open to the LGBT community. NEWSLETTERS Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Breaking news alerts Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-866-2211. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Though many church leaders in Louisville have been vocal about their qualms with Friday's Supreme Court decision, Blanchard said he believes the nation's highest court was guided by God. "I understand God's love as inclusive — radically inclusive — as opposed to other ministers who see it as exclusive," he said. "When you start talking about issues that go beyond tradition, people shut down. But I think God has been calling us to understand love as inclusive." Lawyers, petitioners and the public will come together to celebrate the court decision at Marketplace Restaurant, 651 S. Fourth St., on July 11 at 7 p.m. "It has been an incredible journey and we have never felt like God has left us at any time," he said. "It seemed impossible all the way through. It seemed like it was never going to happen, but it did. It just reminds us that God makes the impossible possible." Read or Share this story: http://cjky.it/1LRuOtbStory highlights Two former Cecil Hotel guests file a lawsuit against the L.A. hotel They were guests in the hotel where a woman's corpse was floating in tank The woman, Elisa Lam, is believed to have been there for as long as 19 days Lawsuit says the water was "not fit for human ingestion or to use to wash" Two former guests have sued the proprietors of Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel, where a 21-year-old woman's corpse was found floating in a rooftop water tank. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by Steven and Gloria Cott. Deeming it a "class action," the complaint specifies it could apply to "all persons similarly situated" -- meaning anyone who stayed at the hotel between February 1 and 19 this year. For as long as 19 days, Elisa Lam's decomposing body was in one of the hotel's four cisterns while the Cotts and other guests below drank cups of water, bathed and brushed their teeth. A maintenance worker, checking on complaints about the hotel's water, found the young Canadian tourist on February 19, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Rudy Lopez said. JUST WATCHED Cecil Hotel's dark history Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Cecil Hotel's dark history 00:59 Photos: Photos: Body found in hotel water tank Photos: Photos: Body found in hotel water tank Body found in hotel water tank – Firefighters work to remove a body found inside a water tank on the rooftop of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles on Tuesday, February 19. A young woman's body had likely been decomposing for more than two weeks, police said. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Photos: Body found in hotel water tank Body found in hotel water tank – A team works to remove the body. The body of Elisa Lam, 21, of Vancouver, Canada was found in the Cecil Hotel's rooftop water tank by a maintenance worker who was trying to figure out why the water pressure was low on Tuesday. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Photos: Body found in hotel water tank Body found in hotel water tank – Authorities stand on the rooftop of the hotel as the recovery continues. Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Photos: Body found in hotel water tank Body found in hotel water tank – It was not clear whether the water presented any health risks to those who drank it. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Photos: Body found in hotel water tank Body found in hotel water tank – Firefighters leave the Cecil Hotel after removing the body. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Photos: Body found in hotel water tank Body found in hotel water tank – Lam is shown in this undated image released by the Los Angeles Police Department. Lam's parents reported her missing in early February and the last sighting of her was in the hotel on January 31, according to police. Hide Caption 6 of 6 The lawsuit claims the hotel effectively contracted with its guests to provide water "fit for human ingestion and human consumption through showering" -- an obligation that the Cotts allege the hotel did not meet. "Instead, the defendants provided water that had been contaminated by human remains and was not fit for human ingestion or to use to wash," the lawsuit states, claiming the Cotts believe that water was "tainted." The Los Angeles Public Health Department immediately tested the water supply, but told the manager they could stay open as long as they provided bottle water and warned guests not to drink the tap water. The results of the testing showed no harmful bacteria in the tank or the pipes, according to Angelo Bellomo, director of environmental health for the department. Chlorine in the city's water may be the reason it is safe, he said last week. The hotel did not immediately respond Thursday to a CNN request for comment. New guests continued to check into the Cecil in the hours after firefighters removed Lam's body from the water tank. But each guest was asked to sign a waiver releasing the hotel from liability if they become ill. "You do so at your own risk and peril," the hotel's release said. Guests who already paid for their rooms would not get refunds if they moved out, it said. In their lawsuits, the Cotts ask for a refund of the $150 total they paid to stay two nights -- checking in February 12 and checking out February 14 -- at the Cecil Hotel. They also are seeking medical costs of approximately $100 and possibly more, if needed; court and attorney fees; and any "further relief as this court may deem just and proper." Lam checked into the Cecil Hotel on January 26, on her way to Santa Cruz, California, according to police in her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. Five days later, she was seen on a security camera video walking into the elevator, pushing the buttons for four floors and then peering out of the opened elevator door as if she is hiding or looking for someone. Clad in a red hoodie, Lam at one point walks out of the elevator before returning to it, pushing the buttons again. She then stands outside the open elevator doorway, motioning with her hands, before apparently walking away. It was the last day Lam was seen. Authorities still have not officially determined how she died. Los Angeles robbery-homicide detectives are treating this as a suspicious death for obvious reasons, since falling into a covered water tank behind a locked door on top of a roof would be an unusual accident, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Rudy Lopez. An autopsy has been completed, but the cause of death is deferred pending further examination, assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said last week. That may take six to eight weeks. Any marks, injuries or wounds may suggest Lam died elsewhere and was dumped into the tank by her killer. Water in Lam's lungs could be a sign that she drowned, but it might not tell why she was inside the small tank.Dame Stella Rimington invoked the wartime spirit as she said the public had a duty to act as the “eyes and ears” of the security services in combating terrorists. She made the plea as she warned that MI5 could not be expected to spot every danger and that further attacks were likely unless Britain wanted a “Stasi” state where everyone was monitored. However, Dame Stella, who was Director General of MI5 from 1992 to 1996, said she supported the Conservatives’ plans to give the police and spy agencies the power to monitor every phone call, email and web visit. She also warned against using drones to gather intelligence saying they should only be “weapons of war”. Dame Stella, MI5’s first female chief, was speaking at The Telegraph Hay Festival in the aftermath of the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby by alleged Islamist fanatics in Woolwich last Wednesday. The 25-year-old soldier was allegedly hacked to death by Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, in a suspected anti-Western attack. It was the worst apparent terrorist atrocity on UK soil since the July 7 London bombings in 2005. It emerged today that Mr Adebolajo made a second attempt to travel to Somalia to join extremist groups after failing in 2010, and the former Home Secretary, Jack Straw, warned that threats to ban extremist preachers from television would act as a “recruiting sergeant” for extremists and damage democracy. Meanwhile a 10th man was arrested in connection with Drummer Rigby’s death while three others previously detained were released on police bail. The atrocity has raised serious questions for MI5 after it emerged both suspects were known to them for up to a decade. Mr Adebolajo had been detained in Kenya in 2010 trying to join the al-Shabaab terrorist group in neighbouring Somalia. Friends claimed MI5 tried to recruit him as an informant when he returned. The parliamentary intelligence and security committee is now conducting an inquiry to examine whether there were any intelligence failings that could have prevented the atrocity. Dame Stella, 78, who was at Hay to promote her latest spy novel, The Geneva Trap, revived images of the Second World War when she urged the public to do their bit. She said it was impossible for the security services to spot every risk, especially amid the growing threat of people radicalising themselves over the internet. Speaking to Gaby Wood, the Telegraph's head of books, the former spy master said: “The community has the responsibility to act as the eyes and ears, as they did during the war … where there were all these posters up saying the walls have ears and the enemy is everywhere.” She said: “There have often been indications in the community, whether it’s Muslim or anywhere else, that people are becoming extremists and spouting hate phrases.” Dame Stella said the alleged ideology behind the Woolwich killing made it a “terrorist attack”. She said the nature of the al-Qaeda threat, whose strongholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been weakened, meant such ideologies had become “rooted in certain parts of society”. That was more difficult to deal with, she said. She defended her former service and said the public had to accept there was a risk people would slip through the net. There were “thousands” of people being radicalised in the UK, which meant MI5 had to prioritise the greatest dangers. The alternative was to have a “police state”. The former MI5 chief also warned against the expanding use of drones, saying: “Drones are a weapon of war and at the moment they’re being operated by security services.” She also revealed how she and her family had to be moved to a secret address after a member of an active IRA cell in London was found with a copy of her home address in his pocket.The shooting of Justine Ruszczyk has attracted international attention and outrage for reinforcing the idea that American cops look at citizens as threats rather than employers who hire them to serve and protect them. A Minneapolis police officer reportedly shot Ruszczyk, who was dressed in pajamas, while she was talking to his partner. The officer shot the woman through the driver's side window of the squad car while in the passenger seat. The officer who shot her was not identified but was placed on paid leave, according to the police chief, Janee Harteau. Neither officer had his body camera activated despite department policy. Because the cop shot her from inside vehicle, the incident was not caught on dash camera. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is investigating the shooting, and acknowledged in a press release that the officers' body cameras were off and that the dash camera didn't record the shooting. Investigators are looking for whether other video of the incident might exist. "I am heartsick and deeply disturbed by what occurred last night. My thoughts are now with everyone affected by this tragic incident, especially the deceased woman and her family," Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said in a Facebook post. "The City will continue to provide updated information on this incident, and the BCA's investigation, as soon as we have it." Ruszczyk, an Australian, had lived in the U.S. for three years and was set to marry Don Damond, a local businessman, whose surname she sometimes used. She had called 911 herself to report a possible assault in the alleyway outside her home. "America sucks, these cops need to get trained differently," Ruszcyk's step-son, Zach Damond, said on a video posted online. "I'm just done, fuck the police. I'm just done. This has to stop." The incident demonstrates the urgent need for higher employment standards at police departments across the country. Specifically, policies requiring the use of body cameras should be coupled with disciplinary measures that include termination for failure to activate body cameras as required. And this kind of policy needs to be enforced vigorously. In that way, it can be possible to remove officers who have a habit of ignoring their body cameras before they fail to activate it during a violent incident. Further, a national police offender's registry, if used vigorously, could keep such problematic cops from getting employment in law enforcement elsewhere. For there to be any hope about improving police standards and reducing incidents of violence, it has to become easier to fire bad cops and harder for such cops to get jobs in other jurisdictions. Minneapolis police were equipped with body cameras starting in early 2016, and department policy require them to be turned on during suspicious person and traffic stops, chases, and public contact that involves verbal or physical confrontation. It also calls for disciplinary measures up to and including termination for failing to comply. It won't be known whether any disciplinary measures will be taken against these two officers for their failure to turn on the body cameras in the first place at least until their names are released to the public. The Minneapolis police body camera policy also calls for officers to obtain consent when possible before turning on their body cameras. It remains to be seen whether this offers enough of a loophole for cops to wriggle out of trouble in police shootings such as this one. The city apologized last year for not publicizing the department's body camera policy before rolling ou the cameras themselves. UPDATE: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota has called on the two officers to face penalties for violating department body cam policy. "This violation of policy thwarted the public's right to know what happened to Ms. Damond and why the police killed her," said Teresa Nelson, the interim executive director of the Minnesota ACLU, in a statement. "The two officers broke the policy not only when they didn't activate the body cameras before the incident, but also when they failed to do so after the use of force." "These two officers should face penalties for breaking policy 4-223 and making the truth so much harder to find," she said. "Consequences should be added to the policy to ensure better compliance and accountability. The ACLU also called for the release of audio of Damond's 911 call and any audio that may have been recorded by the dash camera.The fascinating story of the world’s northernmost mosque, The Midnight Sun Mosque, is inspiring Canadian filmmakers to turn it into a documentary. “When we heard about the story of the mosque project, we immediately thought it was unusual and would definitely make a great story for a documentary,” filmmaker Saira Rahman told IQRA.ca. Saira and Nilufer Rahman are making a documentary about the Midnight Sun Mosque in Inuvik in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Titled “Arctic Mosque”, the documentary will tell the story of the 4,000km journey the mosque took in 2010 from the prairie city of Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba to Inuvik, the most northern town in Canada’s Arctic. “Actually, two days before the mosque set out on its 4,000 km journey, Hussain Guisti, the general manager of the Zubaidah Tallab Foundation (the Canadian charity that sponsored the mosque building), asked us if we’d be interested in making a film about the “Arctic Mosque,” said Saira. The small Muslim community in Inuvik could not afford to build a new mosque as prices for labor and materials in the arctic region are much higher than in southern parts of Canada. The Zubaidah Tallab Foundation, a Manitoba-based Islamic charity, stepped in and raised funds to build the mosque. The group also found a supplier of prefabricated buildings in Manitoba that shipped the building to Inuvik for half the price of building a mosque from scratch in the town. The epic journey of small prefabricated mosque grabbed international attention as it slowly made its way, by road and on a river barge, to its final destination. Inuvik is in Canada’s Northwest Territories and has a population of 3,600 people, about a hundred of who are Muslims. Muslims have been migrating to smaller resource towns, such as Inuvik, in search of jobs and hoping for a better quality of life. According to the latest census numbers, the Muslim population of the Northwest Territories is growing at a rate of 300 percent every decade, Due to its northern location, Inuvik is called the ‘Light of the Midnight Sun’ as it experiences an average of 56 days of continuous sunlight every summer and, for almost 30 days, it is blanketed in complete darkness every winter. The Muslim community in Inuvik follows the prayer and fasting times of the city of Edmonton. New Perception The filmmakers are hoping to capture the drama of the mosque’s odyssey and change the perception about Muslims in a world that often responds to mosques with fear and controversy. “We hope that people who watch the film will discover that this documentary is so much more than a story about the building of a mosque,” Saira told IQRA.ca. “It’s about the forging of a unique community and we’re not just talking about a unique Muslim community.” Saira says that the film will show the impact the mosque has made on the small town. “The Midnight Sun Mosque, as it’s been named, has impacted the entire town of Inuvik and put it on the map, so to speak. “We hope viewers will be inspired by the positive energy and community spirit that we witnessed while filming the documentary.” The documentary is being co-produced by Buffalo Gal Pictures and Snow Angel Films, which is owned by the two sisters, Nilufer and Saira Rahman. The sisters are currently in post production, going through 120 hours of footage, while seeking funding for the documentary. They have launched an online campaign and the response has been encouraging. “After only three days of posting our trailer on YouTube, we got over 10,000 views,” said Saira. ### Support the Film: http://www.indiegogo.com/arcticmosque Arctic Mosque OFFICIAL Teaser Trailer from Nilufer RahmanThe Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday called on law enforcement authorities to increase security and patrols around synagogues, schools and other Jewish institutions in northern New Jersey following the firebombing of a synagogue in Rutherford. Authorities said the fire in Congregation Beth El synagogue was sparked by an incendiary device thrown through a window. It was the second reported case of attempted arson against a Jewish house of worship in Bergen County in the past week. Police are also investigating the January 4 firebombing of a Paramus synagogue. Hate Crime Special service held at desecrated NJ shul Associated Press Northern New Jersey community, church leaders join Jewish community members to rededicate synagogue, demonstrate'solidarity against hate' Special service held at desecrated NJ shul “We are also urging Jewish community institutions to consider adding cameras and other preventative security measures that can help deter acts of vandalism or other attacks,” said Neuer. “We can help put a stop to stop these attacks if the entire community is aware and vigilant.” In December, two additional Bergen County synagogues were targeted by anti-Semitic graffiti. No arrests have been made in either of those cases so far. “We applaud the work of the Bergen County prosecutor’s office, which has made this investigation a top priority,” Neuer said. ADL, which initially offered a $1,000 reward for information in the first Bergen County synagogue arson, has increased the reward to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attacks. ADL will be taking part in a security briefing for the Jewish community Thursday evening in Bergen County.Australians who were exposed to radiation from nuclear bombs while in the military services have welcomed the Federal Government's decision to give them a veterans' Gold Card. The Gold Card, which covers health costs, had not been available to those sent to Hiroshima in the 1940s and those who were at British test sites in Western Australia and South Australia. But that is set to change, with $133 million allocated for survivors in the federal budget. Speaking in Mandurah, the Member for Canning and former SAS captain, Andrew Hastie, said there was a high cancer rate among the RAN sailors sent to the Montebello Islands off the coast of Western Australia. "These men worked on the islands only four years after the first atomic test with no protective gear," he said. "Many were on [the] deck of their ships and fully exposed during a subsequent test, in very close proximity to the explosion. "Of the surviving 51 members who have been surveyed, 43 per cent have had some kind of cancer. Of the 28 who have already passed on, 14 have died from cancer. "This is a story of young Australians who answered their country's call during the period of national service — they served in dangerous and hazardous conditions in the Montebello Islands." Share RAN sailors witnessed nuclear testing in the Montebello Islands. A long fight for recognition HMAS Junee was about 11 kilometres from the epicentre of a test in May 1956, while HMAS Fremantle was about 17 kilometres away. Bevan Pearce, a constituent of Mr Hastie's, was a national serviceman who was on the Fremantle. "I can't fully express the appreciation of our group to the fact that we're going to get a Gold Card," he said. "The incidence of cancer amongst our fellows has been very great. "To think that we've got a Gold Card and we can stop worrying about the expenses of medical bills and all the benefits a Gold Card gives you, it's what we've been praying for for a long, long time." Australians were included in the occupation force sent to Hiroshima in 1946, the year after the city was devastated by an atomic bomb. Others were involved in later nuclear tests at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia. The ensuing decades have seen the men, their relatives and advocates campaigning for recognition of their unique claims and problems. Gold Card a 'good first step' Share Sailors sent to the Montebello Islands have had high rates of cancer. Secretary of the Australian Ex-Services Atomic Survivors Association Jim Marlow met the Veterans Affairs Minister in October and presented him with nine options to consider. Among these options was the Gold Card, despite Mr Marlow already holding one due to his service in Malaya. Mr Marlow said the Gold Card was a good first step, and was accepted "with glee". WA Greens senator Scott Ludlam said the Gold Card decision was "unambiguously good news". "We've been working on this for nine years and the servicemen that we've been working with have been working on it for 50 or 60 years, so it should've come sooner, but we're delighted that it's happening at all," he said. "If they'd been bombed by Imperial Japan or Nazi Germany they would've been eligible for the Gold Card. "Because it was an ally who bombed them, they weren't eligible for this health care." Failure to deem atomic survivors service as 'warlike' But Mr Marlow also spoke of the effort to gain official recognition, complicated by lost or faulty records and promises
were asked to identify the missing part to complete the pattern. Intelligence (general cognitive ability) was indexed by taking the mean of verbal and non-verbal abilities. Because not all the TEDS birth cohorts participated in the intelligence assessment at 16, and not all of those had been genotyped, the sample with all relevant measures would not have been sufficient for the GCTA analysis of grades corrected for intelligence. For that reason, we chose to construct a composite measure of ‘g‘ using all earlier measures from the longitudinal study. A composite was used to assess intelligence in order to control for intelligence in GCSE mathematics, GCSE English and GCSE science: a robust measure of ‘g’ derived from intelligence data collected longitudinally across nine ages from early childhood to age 16. At age 2, mean ‘g’ measure was calculated as a mean of a parent-administered design drawing task34, a matching task (match to design)35, a brick building task, a folding task and a copy task36,37,38,39,40; at age 3, mean ‘g’ was calculated as a mean of a parent-administered oddity task (odd-one-out)35, a design drawing task34, a matching task35, and a parent-reported conceptual knowledge task36,37,39; at age 4, ‘g’ was calculated as a mean of parent- administered oddity task (an odd one out task)35, a design drawing task, a draw a man task34, and a puzzle task33,38 ; at age 7, ‘g’ was calculated as a mean of conceptual grouping34, a WISC similarities test41, a WISC vocabulary test41, and a WISC picture completion test41 all collected over telephone testing; age 9, ‘g’ was calculated as a mean of a shapes test42, a WISC vocabulary test43, a WISC general knowledge task43, and a puzzle test42 all collected by the booklets sent to the twins by post; age 10, ‘g’ measure was calculated as a mean of the Ravens standard Progressive Matrices33, a WISC vocabulary43, WISC picture completion41, and a WISC general knowledge test43 all collected via internet testing; at age 12, ‘g’ was calculated as a mean of the Ravens Progressive Matrices33, a WISC picture completion41, a WISC vocabulary43, and a WISC general knowledge test43 all collected via internet testing; at age 14, ‘g’ was computed as a mean of the Raven’s Progressive Matrices33 and a WISC vocabulary43; and age 16, ‘g’ was measured as described above. The mean score of intelligence was calculated across the nine ages. Prior to any genetic analyses all measures were corrected for small age and sex differences (see Table 1), using the regression method, which is a standard practice in twin analyses. Standardized residuals of the variables were used in all further analyses. This method avoids overestimation of shared environmental influences, as twins are identical for age, and MZ twins are also identical for sex44. All outliers beyond three standard deviations from the mean were also removed from the analyses. The GCSE grades also showed negative skew, indicating a ceiling effect. Similar ceiling effect is observed in the UK population as demonstrated in the data from the National Statistics (NPD; https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/251184/SFR40_2013_FINALv2.pdf). To correct for the ceiling effect, all measures were transformed to the standard normal distribution using the rank-based van der Waerden transformation45,46. Analyses The measures were described in terms of means and variance, comparing boys and girls and identical and non-identical twins; mean differences for age and sex and their interaction were tested using univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA). Twin Design The twin method was used to conduct univariate and multivariate genetic analyses. The twin method can be used to estimate the relative contribution of additive genetic (A), shared environmental (C) and non-shared environmental (E) effects on the variance and covariance of academic achievement measures and intelligence, by comparing monozygotic (MZ) correlations to dizygotic (DZ) correlations. MZ twins share 100% of their segregating genes, while DZ twins share around 50% of the segregating genes, just like any other siblings. Both MZ and DZ twin pairs are assumed to share 100% of their shared environmental influences, when growing up in the same family. Non-shared environmental influences are assumed to be unique to individuals, that is, uncorrelated between twins and not contributing to similarities between them. Heritability can be roughly calculated by doubling the difference between MZ and DZ correlations; shared environmental influences can be calculated by deducting the heritability estimate from the MZ correlations; and non-shared environmental influences can be calculated by deducting the MZ correlation from unity (following the Falconer’s formula)28. These parameters can be estimated more accurately, including calculating the confidence intervals, using structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation, which also provides estimates for the model fit. Structural equation modeling program OpenMx was used for all model fitting analyses47. Multivariate genetic analysis is the extension of univariate genetic analysis. While univariate twin analysis investigates the variance of one trait, multivariate genetic analysis investigates the genetic and environmental nature of covariance between multiple traits. Multivariate genetic analyses is a method that compares the MZ and DZ cross-twin cross-trait correlations to decompose the covariance between two or more traits of interest into additive genetic (A), shared environmental (C) and non-shared environmental (C) components3,28. As shown in Supplementary Fig. S1 for the correlated factor solution, the genetic correlation (r G ) assesses the extent to which the same genes influence two traits; the shared environmental correlation (r C ) indicates the extent to which the same shared environmental influences that make twins more similar on trait one, also make the twins more similar on trait two; and non-shared environmental correlations (r E ), indicating the extent to which the same non-shared factors influence two traits. Importantly, genetic correlation is different from bivariate heritability estimate, as it does not take into account the heritability of two traits, which means that trait one and trait two can have low heritabilities, but the genetic correlation could be high, implying that if a gene were found for one trait, there would be a good chance that this gene would also be associated with trait two3. Alternative representation of the same analyses is the Cholesky decomposition (see Supplementary Fig. S1). The central question of Cholesky decomposition is the extent to which the heritability of trait one can be accounted for by the heritability of the other trait, thus answering the question ‘to what extent does the heritability of one variable explain the heritability of the other variables’. In the multivariate model, when studying how much variance in trait three is accounted for by trait two, the model controls for the variance of trait one. The Cholesky decomposition is conceptually similar to hierarchical regression, therefore, the order of the variables entered influences the results. Each variable in the model controls for the variance in the previous variable, as illustrated in Supplementary Fig. S1. Genome-Wide Complex Trait Analysis (GCTA) GCTA is a technique that estimates genetic and residual components of variance directly from the DNA of unrelated individuals, unlike twin analysis that relies on family resemblance data3. In order to create a sample of unrelated individuals, we randomly selected one twin per pair for GCTA analyses. Studies to date have shown that the heritability of complex behaviours, such as academic achievement, is highly polygenic, influenced by a large number of genes, each having only a small effect25. This explains the relatively slow progress in identifying the specific genes involved in educational achievement, as well as most other traits in the life sciences. GCTA can estimate heritability directly from DNA while not identifying the specific genes involved. The GCTA method uses hundreds of thousands of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) from thousands of individuals to calculate the proportion of phenotypic variance due to the additive effects of common SNPs3. First, the genetic relatedness matrix (GRM) is calculated by weighing the pairwise genetic similarities with the allele frequencies across all SNPs on the array. All participants who are found to be even remotely related (genetic relatedness 0.025 or greater) are removed from the analyses, as this would otherwise bias the results48. The matrix of pair-by-pair genetic similarity of all the participants is compared to the matrix of their phenotypic similarity using residual maximum likelihood estimation, without testing the association of any single SNP individually25,49,50. The advantage of this method is that heritability estimates can be calculated using a sample of unrelated individuals; the disadvantage is that very large pools of participants are needed to detect overall genetic similarity from the matrix of hundreds of thousands of SNPs. Notably, the heritability estimate calculated using the GCTA method only assesses additive genetic effects, not gene-gene or gene-environment interactions and only common SNPs are analysed50. Univariate GCTA analyses can be extended to bivariate analyses by comparing the phenotypic covariance matrix to the GRM51,52. Prior to the GCTA analyses we adjusted the GCSE English, GCSE mathematics and GCSE science grades for age and sex, using the regression method. Additionally, to control for population stratification, the principal component analysis was conducted for 100,000 quality-controlled SNPs, and eight axes were identified with p < 0.05 using the Tracy Wisdom test; these eight principal components were added as covariates in the bivariate GCTA analyses53. Power was calculated using an online tool for calculating power for GCTA heritability and genetic correlation in both univariate and bivariate GCTA analyses (http://spark.rstudio.com/ctgg/gctaPower/)54. Genotyping The analysis is based on the genotypic data generated for 3,665 TEDS unrelated individuals by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK as part of the Wellcome Trust Case Consortium. Briefly, DNA was collected from 3,665 individuals using buccal swabs, which was thereafter genotyped using AffyrmetrixGeneChip 6.0 genotyping array. This yielded to genome-wide genotype calls for all individuals for around 600,000 SNPs (See Trzaskowski et al., 2013 for full details)55. The data were thereafter imputed to 1000 genomes reference data using Impute 2 software and the standard quality control was applied. This left over 5.2 million SNPs available for molecular and GCTA analyses. All analyses were carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines. Ethical approval was received from King’s College London Ethics Committee: PNM/09/10-104 Twin Early Development Study; and informed consent was obtained from all subjects.Foxtel launches new round of piracy site blocking applications in Australian Federal Court Posted Foxtel has launched another case in the Federal Court to have the piracy streaming websites Yes Movies, Los Movies, Watch Series and Project Free TV blocked in Australia. Key points: PirateBay, Torrentz, Torrent Hound and ISOHunt have previously been targeted Documents filed target TPG, Telstra, Optus, Vocus/M2 Online tech savvy users have already found ways around the blocks It is the country's fifth site blocking case to be brought before the Federal Court and is Foxtel's second. The documents were filed with the court late last week and target internet service providers TPG, Telstra, Optus and Vocus/M2. Those sites primarily stream movies and television to users, who watch the pirated content with their web browser. It is now a familiar legal process for Foxtel, which was successful in having The Pirate Bay blocked in Australia late last year. The 2016 landmark case was the first time Australia's site blocking laws had been used. The case resulted in the country's largest ISPs — including Telstra, TPG and Optus — being ordered to block customer access to the piracy websites. Along with The Pirate Bay, Foxtel was successful in getting the websites Torrentz, Torrent Hound and ISOHunt added to the blocked list. A Foxtel spokesman said the company was confident the next round of sites would be blocked. "Foxtel believes that the new site blocking regime is an effective measure in the fight to prevent international operators illegitimately profiting from the creative endeavours of others," he said. "We trust that Australians recognise that there are increasing numbers of ways to access content in a timely manner and at reasonable prices." "Which ensure that revenue goes back to the people who create and invest in original ideas." Rights industry strategy Australia's major rights holders — like Foxtel, movie distributor Village Roadshow, and music corporation Universal Music — have all filed and won site blocking applications over the last 12 months. The latest case is part of a broader industry strategy to systemically knock large piracy websites off the internet. Village Roadshow has been successful in getting orders to have streaming service Solar Movie taken offline and Universal Music was successful in having KickassTorrents removed. However, the legal argument has never been about whether the websites can be blocked, as the site blocking legislation only requires proof that the torrent website's "primary purpose" is to "facilitate" piracy. Instead, the cases have primarily been about how the sites should be blocked and, most importantly for the rights holders and ISPs, who should pay for it. In Foxtel's first case against The Pirate Bay, Justice Nicholas ordered that rights holders would have to pay ISPs $50 per domain being blocked. Site blocking efficacy questioned Following the series of court orders, it appears technically savvy internet users have figured ways around the blocks. A video on YouTube was published in the days after The Pirate Bay was ordered to be blocked showing users how to change their computer settings to avoid it. "How to fix The Pirate Bay now that Telstra blocks it", says the video which has currently been viewed more than 25,000 times. Discussing the blocks on Reddit, user "Arasuki" said they made the simple change to their computer "months ago [before the blocking begun]". "The torrenting block was effective on me for a grand total of zero seconds," they said. "Congratulations you big Hollywood knobs, you played yourself." Topics: piracy, computers-and-technology, law-crime-and-justice, business-economics-and-finance, industry, telecommunications, company-news, australiaHTML5 Canvas is a good example of immediate graphics. This "draw and forget" way of working is enough for some purposes. For instance you could write a simple drawing application this way. Unfortunately it isn't entirely trivial to implement interactive applications on top of Canvas without some decent effort. It gets more complicated when you are dealing with a lot of objects and you have to consider performance. This is where various libraries wrapping the Canvas kick in. I will concentrate on a few popular ones in this post. You can find various others at our canvas wrapper category. In addition you might be interested in checking out various visualization libraries and those focusing on image manipulation. EaselJS EaselJS is an example of a library inspired by Flash. You will gain hierarchical display list, interactivity and animation helpers there. The concept of display list is quite powerful. It allows you to define relationships between graphical objects. As you manipulate parent objects, these manipulations are propagated to the children as well. Paper.js As you might want sometimes a whole scene graph (or as we call it on web development side, Document Object Model), you could complement EaselJS with AtelierJS. Paper.js actually implements scene graph as a core feature. This allows you to split objects on multiple layers within the same Canvas. Sometimes you might get away with using multiple Canvas elements and CSS z-index but that's not what you want always. Interestingly paper.js comes with a language of its own, PaperScript. As you probably know dealing with math can be sometimes a bit painful in JavaScript as you cannot overload operators easily. Instead your code ends up looking like v1.mul(v2.add(v3)) which doesn't parse particularly well. PaperScript solves this and provides a couple of custom objects. Fabric.js Just like EaselJS, Paper.js comes with its own interactivity helpers. Fabric.js provides support for interactivity as well and comes with its own Object model as these libraries usually do. The specialty of Fabric.js seems to be its SVG-to-Canvas parser. Interestingly this applies to the other direction too! KineticJS KineticJS seems more or less comparable to libraries mentioned already. It's specialty is that it uses multiple canvas elements internally to achieve better performance. @softrLi seems quite excited about it in his comparison of Canvas libraries. Probably for a good reason. Comparison Conclusion The libraries discussed here are just a tip of the iceberg. @kangax has compiled a more comprehensive listing with more data. In this post I wanted to focus specifically on a limited selection to give you a some idea of what sort of capabilities these libraries commonly provide. How do you choose one then? It depends a lot on what your goals are. Perhaps give a couple a go and see if the syntax sticks. If you happen to need something really special like SVG support, Fabric might be the way to go.MADRID — Spain’s National Court on Wednesday dealt a setback to victims seeking justice for the abuses of the Franco dictatorship by refusing to extradite to Argentina a former police inspector accused of torture during the 1970s, the final years of the Franco regime. The case of Antonio González Pacheco, a former police inspector in Madrid once known as Billy the Kid, has renewed attention on official mistreatment during the Franco era, as well as on the post-Franco amnesty law that prevents victims from having their cases heard in Spanish courts. Many victims have taken their claims to Argentina, where a judge has invoked the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which holds that certain crimes, like crimes against humanity, transcend borders. But in Wednesday’s opinion, the National Court in Madrid ruled that the 13 counts of torture brought against Mr. Pacheco in Argentina did not qualify as crimes against humanity because they were “isolated” rather than part of a systemic persecution. The court also noted that in Spain, the statute of limitations on torture expires after 10 years.In an unlikely twist of labour fate, Canada’s two largest universities are hit by strikes at the same time, throwing more than 100,000 undergraduates across the GTA into turmoil in the final stretch of the academic year. At the University of Toronto, 6,000 teaching assistants in CUPE 3902 already walked off the job Friday night on all three campuses, cancelling tutorials, labs and some classes and leaving unclear who will mark assignments. “We have directed our bargaining team to go back to the table (Tuesday),” said CUPE 3903 Chair Faiz Ahmed. “I am confident that this is going to be wrapped up … the university knows we’re not that far apart.” York’s 3,700 teaching assistants and contract professors voted Monday night, rejecting an offer the union executive urged them to turn down for not providing the wage hikes and job security it was seeking. More 1,100 members attended the meeting, with 71 per cent voting to shoot down the offer. York University on Tuesday suspended all classes, exams and academic activities, with limited exceptions, after the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3903 voted to strike, to ensure all students are affected equally. “But our contract faculty often can’t predict when their next contract will be one year after another,” Ahmed recently told the Star. He said contract faculty, who teach 64 per cent of York’s undergraduate courses, should “be assigned to courses for up to three years at a time, not just be slotted in on short notice which can hurt the quality of education.” At York, the strike comes six years after the same union waged the longest strike in Canadian history at an English-language university, cancelling classes for three months, pushing final exams into the summer and ending only on orders from Queen’s Park. York vice-president Rhonda Lenton said it’s only fair to cancel all classes because “there is potential for confusion when some classes are cancelled (taught by CUPE 3903 members) but others are not (taught by tenured faculty members).” At the U of T, contract faculty already have a tentative deal, so those on strike are TAs. These are largely full-time master’s and doctoral students who work part-time for the university as a way to help pay for their studies. Research grants, scholarships and fellowships also cover costs such as tuition and fees. The minimum funding package a U of T grad student receives is $23,400, of which $15,000 is tied to work they may be asked to do for the university, explained Provost Cheryl Regehr, “and it is this part of the funding we negotiate with them in their role as employees.” TAs carry different workloads depending on their department, she said, but the university offer would raise the wage for this work to about $44 per hour from $42, and limit the hours a TA can be asked to work each week to six down from seven, or 180 hours a year, down from 205. But the $15,000 minimum would not change. “We believe we’ve reached a very generous tentative agreement that both bargaining committees unanimously endorsed,” said Regehr, “and we hope CUPE will take it to its members for a full vote.” However CUPE Chair Erin Black has said 1,000 members rejected putting the tentative deal to a vote Friday because it failed to raise the overall $15,000 minimum. Thousands of U of T students were left confused about how a strike by 6,000 teaching and lab assistants, who do the bulk of undergraduate marking, will affect them as final assignments come due. “I’m pretty concerned; I have an essay due in two weeks and I’m not sure what to do,” said third-year human biology student Gurjot Chahal, whose evolutionary biology class was cancelled Monday because the instructor is a graduate student and member of CUPE 3902. The union says hundreds of members are “course instructors” whose classes are cancelled, as well as most labs and tutorials, noted CUPE 3902 chair Erin Black. “There’s a large number of grad students teaching lecture classes of 200 to 300, so for the university to say the strike doesn’t directly affect classes is frankly disingenuous,” said Black, who is a contract professor in a part of the union that is not on strike, but who supervises five teaching assistants for an American history course who are on strike and will not be grading student work for Black. “Both parties thought we had found creative ways to improve the funding package — with funds for tuition rebates and other benefits — but in the end, our members wanted a change to the $15,000, and that didn’t change,” said Black. First-year student Camille Garcia said she takes two 50-minute tutorials in political science each week with only 15 to 20 students, “which is really helpful for a class where the lecture has 1,200 students in Convocation Hall. I do think it’s about time the TAs got a raise, but I really hope they reach an agreement with the university soon.” Abdullah Shihipar is president of the Arts and Science Student Union, whose 23,000 members are the largest group affected by the strike. Students have been “scrambling to find out what’s cancelled,” he said, adding it is frustrating and “there has been some panic, but there is also a lot of support for their TAs.” The last strike by U of T’s tutorial assistants was in 2000 and lasted three and a half weeks. Human biology student Seyi Ajayi said some students have heard that if there is no one to mark midterm assignments, “the final exams could be weighted as high as 70 per cent. But I do hope the TAs get what they’re fighting for.” One life sciences student with an “I ‘heart’ TAs” button did not want to give her name but said while she supports better pay for TAs, ‘We’re paying tuition and I just hope they get an agreement soon.” The TTC has altered bus routes to the U of T’s Mississauga and Scarborough campuses during the strike, and public transit would do so at York as well. With files from Sean WetselaarStreet Fighter IV Damage Scaling Demystified Those of you who managed to pick up Street Fighter IV know just how incredibly well balanced and well made this game is. It has an impressive amount of polish, and the whole experience (except for maybe the [shal]final boss[/shal]) is fun and addictive. But there has still been some mystery over how the [shal]damage[/shal] system works. That is until now. The Combo System: The combo system works in the following way. The first two successful hits deliver 100% damage, while the third hit delivers 80% of that move’s original damage. And each subsequent hit has an extra 10% of damage shaved off. For example, the fourth hit will deliver 70%, the fifth move 60%, etc. After the ninth successful hit, damage is shaved off in 1% increments. This is vital information if you have multiple combos that you want to string together, and also lets you know when to stop attacking, as combos have steadily diminishing returns. Ultras and Focus Attacks: Ultras and Focus Attacks count as two moves. If used within a combo, the damage scaling will affect them accordingly. For example, if a focus attack or ultra is the 4th move within a combo, it will only count as 60% of the original damage. This is because it counts as the 4th move and the 5th move. The Exceptions: Throws, Supers, and EX-Moves only count as one move. E. Honda’s Hundred Hand Slap only counts as one move. [shal]Chun Li[/shal]’s Jumping Hard Punch counts as two moves. If a move requires extra controller input to pull off, it’s going to count as two moves Damage Reduction: The more damage a fighter receives, the less damage they’re going to take. This works in tandem with the damage scaling Combo System, so there’s some notable math involved if you’re a fighting game statistician. Damage scaling is flipped on when a fighter’s health dips below 50%. When health dips to 26~50%, damage is scaled to 95%. When health dips to 16~25%, damage is scaled to 90%. When health dips to 1~15%, damage is scaled to 75%. This information should help out both the hardcore players, as well as casual players who simply wondered why damage dished out and damage received isn’t consistent during each match. There are specific rules, and this knowledge will definitely give you a leg up if you study the move list of each character. [Source]A bomb threat targeting Muslim students forced an evacuation Wednesday of nearly 4,000 students from the downtown campus of Concordia University in Montreal. In an email to school administrators and local media, a group identifying itself as the “underground” chapter of C4, or the Council of Conservative Citizens of Canada, at the university directly warned “Muslim students” there it would detonate one homemade explosive a day through Friday to protest their activities. “Now that President (Donald) Trump is in office south of the border, things have changed. We will not tolerate your behavior anymore,” the group said in its emailed letter, referring to the US president. Also read: Canada to welcome 1,200 Yazidi refugees in $21m operation “Until Concordia University stops religious activities of all kinds on campus, we decide the following action to show how far we are ready to go to fight Muslims,” the group vowed. Montreal police said they were investigating the “threatening email.” They swept the campus for explosives but found none. A similar threatening letter was also sent to nearby McGill University, which was put on heightened alert, but it did not specify a time or place of a possible attack. Three Concordia University buildings were evacuated just before midday, and would remain closed until around 6:00 pm (2300 GMT), Concordia spokeswoman Christine Mota said. One of the sites was hosting an “Islam awareness week.” Quebec Universities Minister Helene David, speaking to reporters at the scene, called the threat against Muslim students “deplorable.” “We strongly denounce these attacks against a university which is a model of living together,” she said. “Quebec is an inclusive place,” the minister added. “We want to live together. We will not tolerate this kind of situation.” Last Update: Thursday, 2 March 2017 KSA 08:54 - GMT 05:54By, hellspawn88 Source:http://blog.csdn.net/weixin_40... Introduction: This tutorial describes how to build an Ethereum private chain for development experiments The purpose of creating a private chain : The purpose of building a private chain is to facilitate the experiment on the chain.An experimental development on a public chain can lead to unnecessary waste of money.Because you need gas to do anything on the ethereum chain.So for experimental development, we usually use our own private chain to do experiments. Environment Setup: Operating system ：Windows10 Ethereum Client ： Geth 1.6.7 You can download it here: https://gethstore.blob.core.windows.net/builds/geth-windows-amd64-1.7.0-6c6c7b2a.exe ：Windows10 How to create a private chain: Create a creation Genesis file: First we need to create a “genesis” json configuration file that describes some parameters of the genesis block.The following is the contents of the file: { "coinbase": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "config": { "homesteadBlock": 5 }, "difficulty": "0x20000", "extraData": "0x", "gasLimit": "0x2FEFD8", "mixhash": "0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000647572616c65787365646c6578", "nonce": "0x0", "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "timestamp": "0x00", "alloc": { "dbdbdb2cbd23b783741e8d7fcf51e459b497e4a6": { "balance":"100000000000000000000000000000" } } } Copy the above code into a text file and rename it genesis. json Genesis！: To prevent private chain data from conflict with the public chain, it is recommended to create your own private chain data folder.On my computer in the E Disk I created a EthDBSpace folder as the ethereum workspace used in experiments, and created a PrivChain folder as my first private chain data folder. In this case, the genesis. json file is placed under the EthDBSpace folder for management convenience. Open the Windows command line Type the following command Type the following command geth --datadir "E:\EthDBSpace\PrivChain" init "E:\EthDBSpace\genesis.json"1 –datadir option is used to specify the data directory of our private chain.On my computer is E:\EthDBSpace\PrivChain*. The init command is the genesis command followed by our genesis configuration file path. Press enter and the result is shown below The Genesis of private chain is Complete! Create account: In order to do experiments on the private chain, we also need to create our own account on the private chain. Type in the Windows command line geth --datadir "E:\EthDBSpace\PrivChain" console1 Since the blockchain has been successfully created, we don’t need to specify the genesis. Json file path again when we enter the client for the second time, but directly -datadir indicates the private chain data path. The console command is used to start the command line of geth. When you press enter, the client will be initialized for a period of time.After the command prompt appears, it indicates that you have entered the geth console successfully. Type in the geth console personal.newAccount('Your password')1 The personal. NewAccount function is used to create an account, where the parameter is the account password. Press enter and the result is shown below We can check the account balance first.Type in the geth console: my=eth.accounts[0] eth.getBalance(my)1 2 The purpose of the first sentence is to assign the address of the account we just created to my variable.This simplifies the code. eth. Accounts array records all the account addresses on the machine.Since we created our account for the first time, there is only one account on the computer.So here we use eth. Accounts [0] to extract the first account address. eth. GetBalance function is used to get the account balance, and the parameter is account address.The my variable here records the address of the first account. The results are as follows： You can see that there’s no money in my account.It costs money to transfer funds, issue contracts and execute contracts in the ethereum block chain. And money comes from mining, and now we need to make some money by mining. Mining: Currently, ethereum uses the POW(Proof of Work) consensus mechanism.The consensus mechanism is used to motivate people to maintain block billing.The main method of this mechanism is to let the system create problems, so that the whole network node that wants to get the billing right of the new block will be solved.The first node that solves the problem will acquire the billing rights of the new block and receive eth as a reward.The nodes that are interested in billing are called miner nodes.Now we need to make some money on our private chain by digging up mines so that we can follow up the transfer experiment. Type in the geth console: miner.start()1 When you press enter, you will see the client start mining, and the command line will continuously display the progress of the production block. Since it is a private chain, there is only one node that is mining, so there is no competition.So you can wait a few seconds to stop mining.The amount of money made at this point was enough to carry out follow-up experiments. Type the following command to stop mining miner.stop()1 Let’s check our account balance again eth.getBalance(my)1 At this point we will see a large sum of money in our balance, which is calculated by wei.See the conversion table for wei to eth http://www.ethdocs.org/en/latest/ether.html Transfer: Below we will attempt to transfer money on our own private chain To create a second account.Type the following command on the geth console personal.newAccount('123') other=eth.accounts[1]1 2 Assign the second account address to other variable to facilitate subsequent coding You need to unlock your account before transferring it.Type the following command on the geth console personal.unlockAccount(my)1 Now ‘my’ account have money, and ‘other’ account have no money. Here we need to transfer ‘my’ account money to other account, so we need to unlock ‘my’ account. After pressing the enter key, the prompt needs to enter the password.After you type your password, you can unlock your account. Start transferring money.Type the following command on the geth console eth.sendTransaction({from:my, to:other, value:10000})1 ‘from’ account if for the transfer, here we enter my variable that records the first account address ‘to’ account is the target account, here we enter the ‘other’ variable that records the address of the second account ‘value’ specifies the amount to be transferred, which is wei. Here we transfer 10000wei The results are as follows You can see that the transfer request has been submitted Let’s check the balance of the two accounts again eth.getBalance(my) eth.getBalance(other)1 2 The check balance results are as follows: At this point, a strange thing is found. The previous transfer request has been submitted. Why hasn’t the balance of the two accounts changed?In retrospect, ethereum used the POW consensus to motivate the miners’ billing.Since we created the private chain, we only have one node at the moment, so no other nodes have been involved in the bookkeeping.So we need to do the mining ourselves to record this transfer into the block. So keep mining! Type in the geth console miner.start()1 Wait a few seconds and stop mining miner.stop()1 Check the two accounts again and find that the transfer has been completed!There is no good reason to ever buy an inkjet printer Inkjet printers have been in the news lately, thanks to HP’s attempt to fleece their customers by pushing out an update that would cause those printers to reject third-party ink cartridges. (They were forced to backtrack on this plan by understandable consumer outrage.) Which gives me, as your nerd friend who gets asked about this stuff all the time, an opportunity to pre-emptively pass along to you a little bit of purchasing advice. The advice is this: under no circumstances should you ever buy an inkjet printer. This advice isn’t specifically about printers from HP; it’s about the entire category. Despite their enormous popularity, inkjet printers are always a bad deal. Inkjets became popular in the 1990s as a middle ground between laser printers, which produced superior output but were then very expensive, and dot matrix printers, which were loud and ugly but cheap. Back then, inkjets gave home and small-busines users an affordable way to produce printed documents that, while still a bit rough-looking, were at least better than what they could have gotten before. But that was twenty years ago, which is a long time in computer-world, and today the landscape of printer options is very different. Dot matrix printers, which were everywhere in 1990, have completely disappeared. And laser printers, which in 1990 were huge, colossally expensive machines only suitable for large offices, have plummeted in price and size to a point where they’re nearly as cheap as their inkjet cousins. Which changes everything, because literally the only thing that inkjets had going for them was the fact that they were massively cheaper than lasers. They lose on every other front. Laser-printed documents are so much sharper and clearer than inkjet-printed ones that it’s silly to even compare the two. Inkjet printing uses, well, ink, which means that if an inkjet-printed document gets wet the ink can blot and run; laser-printed documents don’t have this problem. And then there is the big problem with inkjets, which is that ink for them is just ludicrously
the group stage. Ghanbarzadeh, a former executive committee member of the Iranian Football Federation and now a standard member, said more millions were owed from the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, while subsidies from the Asian Football Confederation, the regional body, never made it through. He added that importing basic requirements like match balls had been problematic, while players and federation members were often required to carry cash in and out of the country to pay for training camps. Best in Asia Despite the troubles, Iranian football has managed to hold its own on the world and regional stage. The men's national team is currently Asia's best side in the FIFA rankings, at 38th. Three-time Asian champions, the Iranians won plaudits at the World Cup where they drew with African champions Nigeria and came within a minute of holding eventual runners-up Argentina. Ghanbarzadeh's club Naft, who just missed out on the Iranian title in May, are through to the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League, alongside wealthy Emirati, Chinese and Qatari clubs, despite being unable to pay transfer fees for foreign stars like their regional rivals. "Despite all the sanctions, sport could move on and we were very active in Asian competition and FIFA competition, World Cup and Champions League," Ghanbarzadeh said. "We hope we can be more successful and it can re-energise football in future."Canadian Video game QA service and testing outfit Enzyme Testing Labs has been acquired by tech service company Keywords for $3.65M as Keywords further their goal of cornering the game "services" market. Keywords snapped up playtesting research company Player Research just last month, while it's also grabbed hold of video game art services studio Liquid for $9 million and visual development studio, Volta. "The acquisition of Enzyme brings together two of the leading video games testing providers, reinforcing Keywords' position as the market leader in the field, with testing operations in Montreal, St-Jérôme, Seattle, Tokyo, Singapore, New Delhi, Milan and Dublin,” said Andrew Day, chief executive of Keywords Studios. "The acquisition will not only generate considerable cost synergies but it will provide greater scale, flexibility and breadth of services for our combined interactive media clients globally,” he added.The prolific artist and multi-instrumentalist had a trademark sound of deep synth funk grooves with provocatively sexual lyrics and heart-piercing ballads sung in pure falsetto. Prince, a prolific multi-instrumentalist and virtuosic performer, was found dead at his home and recording studio in Minnesota early on Thursday, his publicist confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. "When deputies and medical personnel arrived, they found an unresponsive adult male in the elevator," said Carver County sheriff Jim Olson in a statement. "First responders attempted to provide lifesaving CPR, but were unable to revive the victim." Deputies arrived at the residence at 9:43 a.m. after being called and Prince was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m., the sheriff's office said. An autopsy will be performed by the Midwest medical examiner's office on Friday. The Carver County Sheriff's Office released the transcript of the 911 call (attached in full below), which came from an unidentified male at Prince's Paisley Park residence who said "the person is dead here" and "the people are just distraught." The performer was born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis. He released his debut album, For You, in 1978, followed by Prince (1979), Dirty Mind (1980) and Controversy (1981). All of them traded in his trademark sound — deep synth funk grooves with provocatively sexual lyrics and heart-piercing ballads sung in pure falsetto. His mainstream breakthrough came with back-to-back albums with his backing band the Revolution: In 1982, 1999 launched several pop and dance floor hits onto the charts, including "Little Red Corvette" and the title song, a post-apocalyptic party anthem. "I'm blown away and may he rest in peace. Music has lost one of its greatest icons," Charlie Murphy, a close friend of the artist, told THR. Two years later Prince released the album — a soundtrack, actually, to his movie-starring debut — that would launch him into the same superstar stratosphere of other 1980s pop titans like Michael Jackson and Madonna. The soundtrack was 1984's Purple Rain, a searing musical backdrop to a semi-autobiographical tale of "the Kid," a Minneapolis rocker from an abusive family. The album launched five singles, two of which — "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" — went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart. The title ballad reached No. 2 and has gone on to become one of the most recognizable rock anthems in history. The soundtrack itself is frequently cited on music critics' polls as being one of the best of all time, and Prince won an Oscar for original score in 1985. Subsequent releases grew more experimental in nature, including the psychedelic Around the World in a Day (1985) and Sign o' the Times (1987), a double album recorded partly before a live audience in Paris that dispensed with the Revolution and that is widely considered to have been produced at Prince's creative peak. (Among the compositions on it are "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker," "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man.") In between, he starred in another film, 1986's Under the Cherry Moon, in which he played a gigolo wooing Kristin Scott Thomas in the south of France. The movie bombed, but produced a successful soundtrack album, Parade, which featured the hits "Kiss" and "Mountains." Throughout the 1990s, Prince was backed by a large band known as The New Power Generation, and his sound moved away from synth and heavy rock guitars and into one of brassier R&B. In 1993, he famously changed his name to that of an unpronounceable glyph that melded the symbols for male and female. The move was one of protest against his label, Warner Bros., leading him to shave the word "slave" into his face at one point. Between 1994 and 1996 he churned out the five remaining records due on his contract and signed with Arista Records in 1998. By the 2000s, the glyph was retired and he was once again referring to himself as Prince. In 2001, Prince became a Jehovah's Witness and moved to Los Angeles to "better understand the music industry." In a 2008 interview with The New Yorker, he compared his religious conversion to "a realization … like Neo in The Matrix." In that same interview he grew uncharacteristically political, saying, "So here's how it is: You've got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this." (He gestured at a Bible.) "But there's the problem of interpretation, and you've got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn't." "And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you've got blue, you've got the Democrats, and they're, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.' Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right," said Prince. The comments drew criticism from gay rights groups and fans, many of whom felt the musician had turned his back on them since the days of Controversy, when he toyed with ideas of gender and sexuality and sang on the title song, "Am I black or white, am I straight or gay?" In the 15 years since, he's released an astonishing 15 records and toured tirelessly. His latest tour, dubbed "Piano & a Microphone," saw him crisscrossing the globe from Melbourne, Australia, to Oakland, Calif., cycling through an intimate, improvised evening of hits performed solo at a grand piano. On the night he learned of his collaborator Vanity's recent death, Prince told the crowd, "I just found out a little while ago that someone dear to us has passed away. So I'm going to dedicate this song to her." The song was: "Little Red Corvette." Carver County Sheriff’s Office \| Transcript of 911 Call for ServiceZahour Abu Miala and other organizers together with police at the Saint George Hotel in East Jerusalem, March 8, 2017. Israeli police raided an East Jerusalem hotel on Wednesday to stop a cultural event for local Palestinian women, scheduled for International Women’s Day. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan issued an order preventing the performance, on the grounds that it was organized by the Palestinian Authority. After Erdan issued the order, policemen delivered it to organizers at the Saint George Hotel. The event’s organizers denied that it was connected to the PA and stressed that its purpose was to give women living in East Jerusalem a break from the daily grind. “There is a struggle over sovereignty in East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority repeatedly tries to undermine Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem and I won’t allow that to happen,” Erdan said, adding, "Any attempt by the PA or other forces to gain a foothold in Israel will be blocked immediately.” Zahour Abu Miala, the director of the women’s advocacy organization that sponsored the event, told Haaretz that “We just wanted to take women out of their difficult routines in order to enjoy a modest artistic performance – they won’t allow us even that.” She said that her group and the event had no connection to the Palestinian Authority. “We are registered in accordance with Israeli law and all our activities are for women, especially in weaker segments of society in Eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods and the Old City." Abu Miala said she was surprised by the number of policemen who came to stop the event. “They came as if this was a war against criminals – they saw me holding flowers, and I tried telling them this was purely an event for women.” Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter Email * Please enter a valid email address Sign up Please wait… Thank you for signing up. We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting. Click here Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again later. Try again Thank you, The email address you have provided is already registered. Close The Public Security Ministry explained that Erdan’s decision was based on repeated attempts by the PA and Hamas to strengthen their hold in East Jerusalem. The minister recently extended the closure of Orient House, the PA’s former headquarters in East Jerusalem.You’ve heard many of them before, those statements about teachers and public schools that are said to be true but are just plain wrong. In their book, “50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools,” authors David C. Berliner and Gene V. Glass addressed many of them, including: * Teachers are the most important influence in a child’s education. * Merit pay is a good way to increase the performance of teachers. * Subject matter knowledge is the most important asset a teacher can possess. * Teachers are well paid. * Subject matter is the most important asset a teacher can possess. [Fifty myths and lies about public schools] You have also no doubt heard that teachers have it easy because they have summers off, and can go home in mid-afternoon when their students leave, and that they can get tenure and therefore are protected from ever being fired. Myths, all of them. And here’s some new ones, offered by Alice Trosclair, who has been teaching for nine years in south Louisiana. She currently teaches American literature, English Language and Composition (AP), and English Literature and Composition (AP). She lives with her husband and son, and has what she calls hundreds of “adopted” children — her students. A version of this was first published in The Educator’s Room, and I am republishing it with permission. By Alice Trosclair “Stop being such a martyr.” “All these teachers do is whine about how bad they have it.” “It is your choice to put so many hours in. No one is forcing you to do all this.” And my favorite, “You knew what you were getting into.” Whether you want to admit it, society as we know it would fall apart without teachers. This a response to some of the comments that have been made on articles I have written or that I have heard over the past year. Stop being such a martyr. I don’t consider myself a martyr, but I would die for my students, and I know any educator would. Some have. I would throw myself in front of my kids to protect them from a bullet or tornado. I think that entitles society to at least listen to what educators have to say. Someone who is willing to risk their lives for child deserves to be heard. You may not agree with what we have to say, but you should at least listen with respect. We love education, and we love our students. And we are willing to put everything on the line for them, even for the students that don’t want me to or the people who are rude and disrespectful to our profession. Yes, we would risk our life for your child too. Whining about how bad we have it. Please. Whining and exposing the reality of a field are two different things. Whining is just complaining and not doing anything to solve the problem. Teachers are not just complaining. We go to in-services, training, and spend hours researching new ways to teach a concept your child did not understand. We meet with parents, we go back to school to get better at what we do, and we march to show (among other things) that there are only 20 textbooks for 100 kids to share. We are not whining. We want the best for our students. If we don’t write, speak, and protest for our kids, would anyone see what our students need? We spend our own money to give our students basic materials that parents, the district, the state or even the federal government won’t provide. So, yes, some of us will loudly discuss and openly write about problems facing our students and schools to try to catch the ear of people who can do something to fix them. No one is forcing you to put in all those hours. Technically, no. But I am thankful for the doctor who stops to help those in a car accident. Are they on the clock? No. But I am thankful they stopped to save lives. If we see a child is not performing well in our class, of course, we are going to go home and see if we can find something to help him or her. There is simply not enough time in the day for us to do all this extra work at school. For example, If we only wrote recommendation letters to get your child a scholarship while we were at school, they would not have one. If your child needs tutoring to make up a test, or wants advice about something going on in their lives, do you want us just to walk out and say, “Oh, I’m sorry, it’s three o’clock. I can’t do that?” If you are one of those people who think that we can just leave our job at the door, I want you to think about your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or some other child in your life. Do you think that child deserves all the time and energy in the world to help him reach his or her potential? We think so too. And frankly, eight hours just isn’t enough time to help foster the kind of growth in a child. Not every child is lucky enough to have a parent that reads to them or can afford a tutor, or afford to pay for an after school sport or club. Schools provide these things. And we give our time to nurture those kids. Yes, it is a choice, but it is the right choice. You knew what you were getting into when you took the job. Yes, we did. We have the best job in the world. It’s not all peaches and cream, but it is one of the careers that gives back and impacts the world. There are days when we are exhausted, and unless you are a teacher, you probably can’t quite understand just how had our job really is. We knew we would give up a chunk of our paycheck to those kids. We knew that we would spend summers writing curriculum, going to classes, and in-services. We knew that hours would be long and we would be expected to tutor students and sponsor clubs. Yes, we knew all this. What we didn’t know is that we would constantly be attacked for doing what we love. That we would be criticized for speaking our mind about things that need to change for the betterment of our kids. That we would be unfairly evaluated. We didn’t know that we would be called selfish for asking for a living wage. We didn’t know that being a teacher meant we would be watched and questioned by those who have never set foot in a classroom. What I do know is that we work our hardest every single day for our students. I know we would lay down our life for those kids. We knew that some time would be taken away from our families for this career. Teaching is not for the faint of heart. No matter what we do, there will always be those that question and criticize. But we keep trying to reach young men and women and hope they know the miracles we try to work and the lengths we will go to make things better for them. We can only hope they will carry the memories of what we did for them and make society see that education is the foundation of society and those laying the foundation deserve respect.Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET How do you contain a leaky nuclear reactor when you can't find the leak? Send in the robots. Japan continues to struggle with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was smashed in the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. It's radioactive and very dangerous. Decommissioning it will take decades. Several robots and other tech are being thrown at the mess north of Tokyo, and Chiba Institute of Technology's Future Robotics Technology Center (fuRo) is developing another. Sakura is a small recon bot on treads that's designed to get into the bowels of the plant. Operator Tokyo Electric Power is still pumping water into the reactors, which suffered meltdowns in the crisis, in an effort to keep the fuel rods cool. Water in the No. 1 reactor's containment vessel was recently reported to be about 9 feet deep. That was higher than expected. But reactor water is leaking out, and Sakura will help find any cracks in the vessels. It will use a camera to hunt for them, as well as a microphone to listen for water. Both are part of a mast that can be raised or lowered depending on the situation. As the institute's Eiji Koyanagi explains in the vid below, Sakura can navigate narrow staircases and handle gradients of up to 53 degrees. It has a 0.19-inch-thick stainless steel plate to protect it from radiation as it prowls around the basements of the reactor buildings. It can be remote-operated from about 330 yards away. Sakura will be tested for a few more weeks before trials with Tokyo Electric Power begin. With luck, it will help find the water leaks so workers can further stabilize the reactors. (Via DigInfo News)The winger arrived at Chelsea in June 2013 and went on to make 65 appearances, scoring 14 goals. Recruited from Bayer Leverkusen, Schurrle made his full debut as a lone striker away at Manchester United. A first Chelsea goal followed in the home win over Manchester City that October with an impressive double coming in a defeat at Stoke, but his hat-trick in the 3-1 win at Fulham and the crucial opener in our comeback against Paris St-Germain, both in the spring, would be the highlights of his campaign. The summer of 2014 will live long in the memory. Schurrle was a part of Germany’s victorious World Cup squad, coming off the bench to lay on Mario Gotze’s winning goal in the final having netted three himself on the way to Rio. Having started this season with a goal at Burnley, Schurrle struggled with form and fitness with the creative talents of Oscar, Eden Hazard and Willian preferred. Schurrle’s final Chelsea appearance was as a goalscoring substitute in our 5-0 win at Swansea. We thank Andre for his efforts and wish him the very best of luck for the future.This Week In Boxing: October 16–18 a c Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 13, 2014 [lead]Thursday October 16[/lead] From The Trusts Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand TV: Sky Arena (New Zealand) Main Event (Australia) Joseph Parker 10(9)-0 vs Sherman Williams 36(19)-13–2 12 rounds heavyweight division The boxing world has had their sights set on heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua, but down south there exists another heavyweight. A younger one. He lacks the looks, the medal, the big promotional outfit, the charisma, the physique, the famous sparring sessions, the height, etc. that we’ve come to associate with Matchroom Sport’s prized heavyweight prospect. Where he pales in comparison to Joshua, he makes up for in raw talent. Joseph Parker has the kind of obvious talent that people saw the moment he put on a pair of gloves. As an amateur he was impressive and he was a projected medalist at the London Olympics. Unfortunately, Parker didn’t quite make it that far. He failed to qualify for the Olympic games and it was Anthony Joshua who scored the gold. It was Joshua who got the big debut with an entire nation behind him. Parker quietly turned pro in Auckland, New Zealand with little pressure or fanfare. Parker remained quiet and got little attention amongst the boxing community until he decimated Frans Botha. Not as if it was an overly impressive win. Not against Botha. It was simply that he’d beaten a name. A name that resonated with boxing fans and Parker officially created a buzz for himself. He’s built it quietly and it came to a head when he stopped Brian Minto this past summer. With that win Parker officially threw his hat in the ring of promising heavyweight prospects. Parker is of Samoan descent and boxing runs through his veins. His father was named after former heavyweight champion of the world Jack Dempsey. As of right now Parker is far away from challenging for a belt. He’s farther than Anthony Joshua, but the title is at least a glimmer on the horizon. So far he’s feasted on domestics and over the hill opponents. We can’t fault him for, nor complain about the opponents given his youth. It comes with the territory. For now he’s a promising prospect who can be projected to turn into something spectacular or terrifying at heavyweight.[hr gap=””] [lead]Saturday October 18[/lead] From 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, PA TV: NBC Sports Network (US) Time: 6:00 PM PDT, 9:00 PM EDT, 2:00 AM BST Steve Cunningham 27(12)-6 vs Natu Visinia 10(8)-0 10 rounds heavyweight division When Steve Cunningham enters the ring this Saturday more is on the line than just his pride or maybe the chance at lining himself up for a title fight. Steve fights for his daughter’s life. Kennedy Cunningham is 9 years old and was born with a life threatening heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Kennedy Cunningham lives with a defect in the left ventricle of her heart, the chamber of the heart responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of her body. There are surgeries available to treat this problem, but the Cunningham’s luck has worn thin and Kennedy’s final option is a heart transplant. Earlier this year, days before Cunningham’s bout with Amir Mansour, Steve and his family were told by their local hospital that they would not be a candidate to receive a new heart. Devastated, Steve fought on and won a 10 round decision. This past July things turned around. A Pittsburgh based hospital contacted the Cunningham’s and told them they would do the operation and place Kennedy on a waiting list for a new heart. Cunningham and his wife Livvy began a fundraiser to help raise money to pay for the operation as well as buy a new home close to the Pittsburgh hospital that will operate on Kennedy. Natu Visinia started out fighting MMA before transitioning to boxing. His record is padded with knockouts and given the level of opponents he’s faced it’s expected. Cunningham has shown that the toils of his life outside the ring don’t impact him inside. If anything he performs better. I don’t expect Visinia to provide much of a challenge. Edner Cherry 32(17)-6–2 vs Osumanu Akaba 31(24)-6–1 10 rounds super featherweight title There are few fighters more frustrating than Jerry Belmontes. Belmontes is talented. You can’t deny that… But if you say that you have to explain his 5 losses in the last 7 fights he’s fought. Okay let’s go. His loss to Omar Figueroa. Come on! It was a close split decision! He might have even been robbed! Figueroa was pressuring, but it was all sound and fury with no substance. Belmontes made him miss! Clearly the judges are incompetent or Al Haymon pa — what’s that? You want me to explain his unanimous losses to Andrew Cancio and Eric Hunter? Well, you know what… I can’t. Those are clear as day losses. Hunter dropped him and both were obvious losses to fringe contenders who may never get near a world title. Akaba will be a fill-in for Jerry Belmontes who pulled out of the fight. This looks about as even matched as you can get. Similar numbers across the board except for one big thing: level of opposition. Akaba has fourthly mostly on a domestic level in Ghana against inexperienced opponents. The times he’s stepped up have been costly to his record. Cherry has fought a stiff level of competition and while his record in those fights is only slightly better than Akaba, he’s overall a more well rounded fighter. [hr gap=””] From The Stubhub Center, Carson, CA TV: HBO (US) Sky Sports (UK) Televisa (Mexico) Sport 1 (Hungary) Main Event (Australia) Time: 7:00 PM PDT, 10:00 PM EDT, 3:00 AM BST Gennady Golovkin 30(27)-0 vs Marco Antonio Rubio 59(51)-6–1 12 rounds WBA super world middleweight title interim WBC middleweight title Marco Antonio Rubio is a 34-year-old Mexican middleweight with 86% of his wins coming by knockout. He turned pro at 20 and his biggest win is arguably stopping and giving David Lemieux his first loss. Rubio has attained numerous fringe titles and he currently holds the interim WBC middleweight title. Tangent: There are 2 theories I have as to why in the world Marco Antonio Rubio has the interim WBC middleweight title. (First, he wasn’t selected because he was the most talented guy who also did not have a title. If we listed the ten best middleweights in the world, I’m not sure Marco Antonio Rubio is one of them. I have 2 explanations. The first is that the Mexico-based WBC wants a Mexican champion to hold their title. They stripped Sergio Martinez as soon as they got the chance and gave upgraded the interim-at-the-time-Mexican-boy-wonder to full on champion status. Perhaps this is another ploy by the WBC to have a Mexican champion. Second, the WBC is taking a preemptive strike. They anticipate that Miguel Cotto will never defend his middleweight title (a shame) and want to be able to strip him when he choses to balk at a middleweight foe.) Rubio can punch and that’s about all he has going for him. The only problem is that he may not be skilled enough to outbox and set up a big power shot. Golovkin may not move his head very much but his footwork and feints will likely be enough to withstand Rubio. Rubio once faced a Golovkin-esque opponent in Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik had moved up in weight to face Bernard Hopkins and lost before moving back down to defend his lineal middleweight title against Rubio. Rubio was battered for 9 rounds before his corner had seen enough. It’s tough to envision that Rubio will provide much of a challenge against Gennady Golovkin. Golovkin has made everything look easy so far. If there’s a wild card here, and really we’re stretching it, it’s that Marco Antonio Rubio has been training with Robert Garcia. We’ve seen the effect Garcia has on his fighters. Marcos Maidana went from a one-dimensional brawler into one of the most awkward and vaguely technical punchers in the sport. If Garcia can work his magic, there are 2 things we can expect. One: This will be a hellacious fight. Golovkin has shown he can take a big punch and Rubio isn’t elusive by any stretch. If Rubio is up for it we’ll have a classic on our hands. Two: Rubio could pull off a surprise. Garcia will need to be far more involved with Rubio’s tactics which is rare given Garcia usually allows his fighters to work things out themselves and he offers minimal input. What’s most likely is that this is all just a fantasy. Under the bright lights is where we’ve seen Rubio falter and Golovkin rise to the occasion. This shouldn’t be any different. Nonito Donaire 33(21)-2 vs Nicholas Walters 24(20)-0 12 rounds WBA super world featherweight title Let’s turn the clocks back two years. Nonito Donaire was on top of the boxing world. HBO was ready to crown him as the next Manny Pacquiao. Max Kellerman would inject Donaire’s name whenever a pound-for-pound number one conversation occurred. With every blow Donaire landed Jim Lampley would lead us to believe it was the next one that would put his opponents to sleep. If you wanted to break from the spell that HBO and Top Rank had us under you could have seen it then. But did you want to? It was fun. Just like with Golovkin and the magical ride he and all his fans are on now. We knew that every time we saw Donaire someone was going to get hurt. Hindsight tells us that all the signs were there if we had only just looked. Donaire had struggled with defensive fighters and when fights went 12 rounds it was difficult for judges to give him a decisive verdict. When he faced Guillermo Rigondeaux, it was only those who hadn’t peeked behind the curtain that figured he’d knock Rigondeaux out with ease. To those that did look it came as no surprise that Guillermo Rigondeaux crafted a scathing 12 round exposé of Donaire. Thanks to the work of Rigondeaux we saw what Donaire had become at that point. A one-trick pony who wasn’t taking his boxing seriously anymore. A guy who thought his left hook was all he needed to win a fight. A guy whose confidence had blinded him to the hard work he’d done in the past to be successful. Donaire left Radio City Music Hall that night without his belts, a date to repair an injured shoulder, and a mouthful of crow. His return to action would be his first at featherweight and his second against Vic Darchinyan. A feared opponent in another decade and a knockout victim of Donaire’s past, Darchinyan had salivated over the opportunity for several years. Donaire pulled out a 9th round comeback left hook, but the story wasn’t that it was the left hook that had returned. It was the fact that it was a comeback shot. Donaire was behind to Vic Darchinyan. A guy who moved up just to face Donaire and had looked old and done for years prior to the rematch. Donaire had moments, but ultimately was underwhelming in a fight that led many to wonder if Rigondeaux had also stolen Donaire’s boxing heart. Donaire then faced featherweight titleholder Simipwe Vetyeka. Whether or not you want to call shenanigans or not is fair game. Vetyeka got the short end of the stick on a four round contest that was stopped after a headbutt. Ultimately, the result was that Donaire got himself a belt at 126. Saturday we’ll find out if Donaire is living on borrowed time or not. This time his opponent won’t be a guy who’s never fought in this country, he won’t be unknown, and he won’t be close to retirement. Donaire will face his youngest opponent since he fought Hernan Marquez in 2010. Nicholas Walters is fast rising Jamaican prospect that can punch, but there’s enough to be concerned about with him that I’m not quite ready to fully embrace him or pick him as a winner. He struggles to use his abnormally long reach with any real effectiveness. Donaire will be an underdog and it will be the first time in a very long time he’s been on the plus-side of a moneyline. His name, after all, is the Filipino Flash and that’s what Donaire has become. He’s a fighter with blazing speed that shows flashes of unbelievable skill and destructive power. Those flashes can work when they’re well-timed or against an opponent who buckles at the first sign of trouble. The question for Saturday is whether or not Walters can’t survive the flashes. If he can, this could be the end for Nonito Donaire. Edwin Rodriguez 24(16)-1 vs Azea Augustama 17(9)-1 10 rounds light heavyweight division Rodriguez looked, weighed, and withstood punches like a light heavyweight the last time we saw him against Andre Ward. Ward hit him with everything he had and Rodriguez took it in stride en route to a wide shutout loss. Rodriguez took nearly a year off and will return to face once defeated Azea Augustama. Augustama was a solid amateur who competed as high as the Olympic games. As a professional he’s had about the same level of success. Augustama is a good fighter, but when placed against other good fighters he falls short. Denis Grachev is a common opponent between these Augustama and Rodriguez. Rodriguez destroyed Grachev inside of one round before the referee stopped their contest. Augustama lost a majority decision. Rodriguez is a grinder type of fighter. He doesn’t do anything that you would point to and say that is phenomenal. Even his power is just above average. Rodriguez does have exceptional determination and grit and that alone will take him past Augustama… unless the long layoff leaves him in Chad Dawson-like shape with Chad Dawson-like ring rust.As Google announced late last year, the company is making things difficult for Chrome Extensions installed outside of the Chrome Web Store. Any Chrome extension installed directly from a website or as part of a program install will be remotely disabled. Google is looking to crack down on malicious extensions, which have increasingly become the preferred attack vector against Chrome users. While installing a program, it's easy for developers to include an unwanted Chrome extension that injects ads into webpages or hijacks search queries. Google is trying to put a stop to malicious extensions without hurting legitimate local extension use cases. Local installs can still be performed by enabling "Developer mode" from the extensions screen, and installs via Enterprise policy are still supported. Websites or programs that want to include a Chrome extension can use the inline installation feature, which pops up a box from the Chrome Web Store asking users if they want to install the extension. Now Google just needs to do a better job of policing its extension store and, in theory, malicious extensions should be reduced. Strangely, this change is only happening on Windows. Users on other operating systems will still be able to install local extensions without having to click the developer checkbox. Apparently program installs for those OSes can be trusted.A drug currently used to treat strokes in certain Asian countries has now shown potential as an Alzheimer's drug. Early trials in mice show that the medication, known as Edaravone, can help alleviate the mental decline associated with Alzheimer's disease and improve memory and learning abilities. Publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers from Australia and China reports that the drug appears to work through multiple pathways - which is whether other potential drugs have failed. Alzheimer's is triggered when amyloid beta proteins and tau proteins build up in the brain and form toxic protein fragments known as plaques and tangles, which kill nerve cells and break down cognitive function. There are currently no treatments available. "Edaravone can bind the toxic amyloid peptide which is a major factor leading to degeneration of nerve cells," said Xin-Fu Zhou, the lead researcher from the University of South Australia, in a press release. "It is a free radical scavenger which suppresses oxidative stress that is a main cause of brain degeneration." Testing the drug on in the lab, the team showed that the drug effectively blocks the toxic function of the amyloid beta cells and stops them from killing off brain cells. But it doesn't stop there. "It also inhibits the Tau hyperphosphorylation which can generate tangles accumulated in the brain cells and disrupt brain functions," explained Zhou in the release. The team then tested the drug, which is currently on the market in certain Asian countries as a stroke treatment, on mice that had been genetically modified to develop amyloid build-up in their brains. Compared to a control group, they found the mice that had been given Edaravone performed better in memory and cognition tests as they aged, and also had less amyloid build up and inflammation in the brain. While the results are promising, the researchers stress that people shouldn't use Edaravone to treat Alzheimer's anytime soon. Simon Ridley, the head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, who wasn't involved in the study, added in a press release that further research is now needed. "This early-stage study suggests that Edaravone may have some future beneficial effects in Alzheimer’s, but further work is needed to know whether the drug could help people with the disease," he said. Just last month, another group had success using ultrasound technology to break down the amyloid plaque in the brains of mice - the non-invasive treatment restored memory abilities in 75 percent of animals. And we're also finding out more about the cause of Alzheimer's. Fingers crossed that one of these potential options eventually leads us to a treatment, if not a cure, for this debilitating disease.Forum Forums Share Share 'For The First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration' will join the ranks of FastPass+ attractions from tomorrow at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The show, which takes place inside the park's Premiere Theater, had previously used a paper-ticketed return standby system, but from September 2 2014 it will be available on FastPass+ via My Disney Experience. The
ized regulations from coming into effect. This is exactly the sort of situation that leads to concentration of wealth (Uber's stock now has a market value of $68 billion), without generating efficiency gains for the economy. It is a good illustration of the problem noted in Porter's column.If you’re one of a thousand folks who pick up a special Entertainment Weekly magazine in New York or Los Angeles this week, you may end up getting a dirt cheap Android smartphone as part of the deal. The CW took out a special ad which includes a video screen that displays information about some of the network’s fall shows, as well as live updates from the CW Twitter feed. When the folks at Mashable ripped apart the advertising insert, they found the secret sauce: the guts of a modified Android smartphone. When you open the magazine, a small screen springs to life, connects to the internet, and starts displaying data (although the process takes a little while). But there’s more than just a screen. If you rip open the paper covering the electronics, you’ll find the screen is connected to a motherboard for a generic Chinese smartphone. There’s a speaker, a spot for a rear-facing camera, and a rather big battery pack. There’s no touchscreen. Instead this appears to be an Android-powered BlackBerry clone with a QWERTY keyboard — but the keypad has been ripped off. You’ll need a piece of metal to make contact with the number, letter, and function keys. But Mashable figured out how to switch apps and initiate a phone call. There’s a T-Mobile SIM card installed, which explains how the system is connecting to the internet to grab Twitter updates. Theoretically you could also use that SIM card to surf the web, make free calls, or run wild (until T-Mobile or the folks at the CW notice the unusual activity and shut down your internet access). Mashable reports that at least some parts of the phone appear to have been manufactured by Foxconn, and what we may be looking at is a modified ABO 3G QWERTY phone which sells for $87 (although it’s probably cheaper if you buy it in bulk and don’t need the keyboard or phone casing). You can check out a teardown video at Mashable.Many expected Kevin Love to be the second option in the Cleveland Cavaliers' offense this season. Pick and Rolls with LeBron James and Love would destroy worlds and conquer heavens. Kyrie Irving would have to find ways to improve his spot up three point shooting and create when LeBron James went to the bench. For a variety of reasons, it just hasn't worked out this way. Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, and Timofey Mozgov aren't ideal floor spacers, so on PnR's, Love has often been the one spotting up to create the space. Kyrie Irving has been better than just about anyone expected. And Love has appeared to be hurt at various points. He talked to espn.com about it this weekend: The three-time All-Star denied that he might need a procedure after the season to address any specific concerns but acknowledged that he has been dealing with stiffness and recurring back spasms since November. "It's something I want to get right before we get to the playoffs, because that's what's most important at this point," Love, 26, told ESPN.com before Saturday's practice in preparation for Sunday's game against the Magic. "It's not something that's -- I'm going to have to address my body. But I address my body every offseason. I'll go from my toe all the way up to my head to try to figure out how to better my body for next season. It's not something that's going to bother me down the road." People have speculated about Love's mindset all season long. He's given no indication he wants to be anywhere other than Cleveland, but his stats have gone down and he didn't make the All-Star Game. It's fair to wonder if he's thrilled with the arrangement. At least publicly, though, he's still saying the right things: Love has spent much of the season trying to prevent his challenge of fitting in and finding a rhythm from becoming a distraction to the team. The recent success on the court has made the process far less of a hassle. "Everything is easier when you're winning," Love said. "So you can have some really good games, and then some tough times. The rotation might be different. But as long as you're winning, it kind of makes up for everything. And that's the kind of way it's been here." And that's really what it comes down to. Is Kevin Love going to leave the best team he's ever been on, that employs Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, and take less money somewhere else? The most likely scenario, to me, is that he opts into next year. That gives the Cavs two years to work out Love's role in the offense and try and win a championship. If they do that, well, it's hard to see him going anywhere.Australians are in a unique place today – we are witnessing our democracy being called to account. The nature of Australian democracy is being debated by on the one hand, its Treasurer and on the other, one of its richest men. They have fought it out in the nation’s media in two key articles. The first is an emotional essay by Wayne Swan in The Monthly magazine, and the second a comparatively short response by Clive Palmer in Fairfax media outlets today. Both boil down to how Australians understand equality – a core principle of the theory of “basic democracy”. A question of equality It is mainly economic equality – or, to be more precise, inequality – that is at stake. This is not about individuality, which Palmer appears to think is the issue at hand. His tirade is essentially calling on the government and citizenry of Australia to leave him, and presumably other truly unusually wealthy individuals, alone – but that is not human society. No one person is an island. Nor, would I argue, is Mr Swan calling for anything beyond what for example Hans Blokland, John Maynard-Keynes, Franklin D Roosevelt and Barack Obama have argued in the past. All look to a competitive, compassionate, and sustainable capitalist system where individuals are celebrated, social networks are promoted, and the whole citizenry enjoys the advancements and peace of our times. How does Australia stack up? We can look overseas to help understand the nature of this debate. When we think of shrinking the income gap, many turn to Scandinavia. But many other countries, like Switzerland, Germany, France, greater China, El Salvador, and Spain score similar economic points when it comes to quality of life. Switzerland, while boasting many elite wealthy individuals, is in general one of the world’s highest paying countries. There is a sense there that everyone should have access to the best society can offer, that every individual is important and should have a “fair go”, that people will be helped to get back on their feet if they fall, and that they will give back to society generously. What else, save for including concern for the environment, could be nobler? Economic acts of violence AAP/John Pryke International standards, as formed by the United Nations and its affiliated institutions like the International Labour Organization or the United Nations Development Program, argue that economic disparity between people in any given society foments violence, resentment, and the breakdown of democracy. It is not, as Palmer suggested, the other way around. Indeed, as Professor John Keane and other internationally recognised experts have expressed, democracy cannot operate well when violence abounds and fractures the citizenry. I will extend the point further and argue that one individual amassing unimaginable sums of money is actually committing an act of economic violence. International standards promote the reduction of economic disparity for many reasons including the reduction of violence and the improvement of democracy. Swan on the money Most scholars agree there are two main tenets of modern democracy. The first is the capacity for citizens to reach decisions and to right whatever wrongs there may in a non-violent way. The second is for citizens to be able to improve and progress their condition. It is truly difficult to argue that democracy does not stand for at least those two things. For this reason, Wayne Swan’s position is the right position for Australia, as it is for all other polities internationally. Clive Palmer, and I address this to you, unless you place yourself on a salary cap, agree to sharing the wealth that your market-tactics have created with Australians, as well as offer any profits that exceed your salary-cap to projects addressing societal problems, there is no legitimacy in your position. Clive’s behind the times There is great anxiety among scholars over the influence of money, vested interests, and corporate lobbies in most modern governments. Moves looking to place spending caps on political campaigns, caps on the salaries of politicians, and the banning of private contributions are all in motion – so too are far more robust accountability, transparency and anti-corruption measures. This is happening almost across the board internationally and speaks to the need to ensure individuals are not getting shafted by the wealthy and powerful. Swan’s position is more in line with the broad international and deep humanistic ethos of democracy. Palmer has no legitimacy and his comments have served to further erode the power of money, crass materialism and useless greed.Altoona will be Altoona again at the end of June. To drive home his point with humor-- and get some cash-- Spurlock has done a lot of deal-making with the documentary's devil. He used plugs and product placements to fund the project, even selling the title rights to pomegranate product maker Pom Wonderful. Sheetz, the Altoona-based chain of convenience stores, was also a proud sponsor-- reportedly to the tune of $100,000-- of Pom Wonderful, which starts rolling out in theaters April 22. "We've learned to love and appreciate him," said Louie Sheetz, executive vice president for marketing. "We're in on the joke." I'll scratch your back, you scratch my back, and we'll both make a little scratch, the thinking clearly goes. Spurlock has been his own guinea pig before. He sickened himself on fast food in Super Size Me and tried to interview the world's most wanted man in Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? "We're really excited about it," said Bill Schirf, current mayor of Altoona and future mayor of Pom Wonderful Presents. "... Clearly, the people of Altoona have a sense of humor - and an asking price." Rio Linda is a suburb of Sacramento, where Limbaugh got his start in radio. The town has just over 10,000 people and the median income for a family is slightly over $45,272. They're in 3rd congressional district-- currently held by right-wing fanatic Dan Lungren-- and Limbaugh, apparently high on oxycontin tried to persuade them to change the name of the town to Limbaugh. He offered "to move there if they would change the name to 'Limbaugh, California' and by just moving there, I would increase property values," the drug-addicted wing nut bragged. They told him to pound sand and he's used the town as the butt of insulting jokes ever since.Altoona, on the other hand, just succumbed to an offer they couldn't turn down. With a population of around 50,000 people (the 10th biggest city in Pennsylvania), Altoona, which is virtually all white and has a medium family income of around $37,000, is unique in the U.S. as being the only city that imposes no property tax on buildings, taxing land values only. Richard James, the inventor of the Slinky, was born there (as was Charlie Crist) and Hedda Hopper is buried there. The congressman who represents Altoona is right wing kook Dan Shuster, who voted-- true to form-- to phase out Medicare yesterday. In 2010 he was re-elected with 73% of the vote (although only 71% in Blair County, which is where Altoona sits). In 2008, when Obama was racking up a solid 55% of the vote across Pennsylvania (though he lost Blair Co with only 37%), Shuster took 64% district-wide and 61% in Blair Co. Got it? A red backwater; even an extremist kook like Toomey, who squeaked by with 51% in 2010, managed to rack up an impressive 68% win in Blair. Low education, lots of bigotry... and a dying economy. Wednesday the Altoona City Council agreed to change the name of the city to Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. It will be known as Pom Wonderful though. It's all based on the new documentary about advertisers' publicity stunts by Morgan Spurlock, who's paying Altoona $25,000 for the naming rights (for 6 weeks). Labels: Limbaugh, Morgan Spurlock, product placementLast I checked, none of the three hosts of Fox & Friends have any personal experience in either foreign service, the military or intelligence. But that didn’t stop them from declaring that they know better than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the reliability of a Facebook post by an Islamic militant group claiming responsibility for attacks on the consulate at Benghazi, Libya last month. In case you haven’t turned on Fox News any time recently, the entire network has been foaming at the mouth accusing the Obama administration of some kind of nefarious cover up in its response to the attacks on September 11, 2012. Their latest hyperactivity is over a batch of recently unearthed emails showing that the administration knew that a militant group had claimed responsibility in a Facebook post. What’s not mentioned so much is that the same group later denied responsibility. But who needs to wait for a real investigation when you’ve got former sportscaster Brian Kilmeade on the case? And, of course, an election coming up in less than two weeks. This morning, Steve Doocy, feigning balance, said in a scornful tone, “Yesterday, Hillary Clinton went out and …said, ‘Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence.” Kilmeade interrupted to say, “In this day and age it is!” "Yeah, absolutely!" Doocy agreed. Kilmeade added, "And they did it on Twitter, though." Oh, THAT makes a difference. Doocy went on to quote another email that said the consulate was under attack by mortar fire. “Mortar fire means terrorists,” Doocy said. He was suggesting that only an organized terrorist attack would include such weaponry. But Special Agent Doocy left out a few facts: As the New York Times reported on September 21, 2012: The organization and firepower used in the assault has also raised alarm in Washington about the possibility of links to Al Qaeda. But to Libyans, the assault underscored instability in a country where militias keep weapons at the ready. The Los Angeles Times noted yesterday: Militias rather than the central government are responsible for security across the country. In other words, it's not just terrorists who would have weapons. Even more importantly, Doocy cropped Clinton’s quote to leave out her overall assessment of the situation: "Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence. I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be… The independent accountability review board is already hard at work looking at everything, not cherry picking one story here or one document there, but looking at everything - which I highly recommend as the appropriate approach for something as complex as an attack like this.” But on Fox News they don’t need no stinkin’ investigation because supposition is as good as facts.Monday night, approximately 50 supporters of Yisrael Beiteinu, the right-wing political party headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, demonstrated in Jerusalem outside an exhibition at the Hansen House that featured a video by dancer/choreographer Arkadi Zaides. The fury of the demonstrators was directed at B’Tselem, the Israeli organization that documents human rights abuses in the occupied territories. Zaides’ video included footage from a B’Tselem project titled “Armed with Cameras.” The demonstration was organized by Mothers of Soldiers Against B’Tselem, a group whose mission is “working with legal tools to weaken human rights organizations,” according to the group’s Facebook page. Tensions were extremely high as an Israeli soldier and a settler had been stabbed to death that day in separate incidents. At the demonstration, at least one person was physically assaulted. “Somebody hit me over the head with a flag pole. They called us Nazis and said ‘May you burn in the gas chambers,’” Zafira Stern said. Three protesters were arrested after they cut the electricity. Over a speaker, one man threatened Nir Barkat, the right-wing mayor of Jerusalem, for allowing the event to take place. “Nir Barkat, remember the best of your people in Jerusalem that have fought and are fighting for the city — and this is just the beginning. All of this will be in spite of you and we will settle the score with you one of these days,” he yelled. The same man urged rioters to attack a woman who was attempting to enter the premise of the Hansen House. “Listen up, don’t be trannies! One of the organizers for B’TSelem is standing over there. Don’t let her go inside at any cost,” he shouted. A few rioters entered the event and threatened attendees. Guy Butavia, who works with the non-governmental organization Tayush, was hounded with threats which he discreetly filmed and uploaded in a series of Youtube videos. They have been translated into English below. “They [Nazis] peeled their [your fathers’] skins off and made soap out of them! We will make soap out of you! The Arabs will make soap out of you!” “May your son be killed by Arabs. The Jews will dominate here — get out of here, seed of Amalek.” “Son of King David… What the prophet Samuel did to you, the day will come… David the king of Israel is alive… We’ll slaughter all the Nazis. Every woman that fucked with Nazis and her kid came out Nazi, Kapo, Kapo, it time to call the child by its name. This is what a Kapo looks like. Ey, like this? They tried to hide themselves, look them in the eyes… Look hard at their eyes, Germans, you see? This isn’t a place of Jews, look, Germans, you see the German on him? Look at that one, German, you see? Totally German, that’s actually Hitler’s grandson, look at him, like two peas in a pod, the same moustache, too. Carries himself the same way, yes, look… And I salute Hitler, did a fine job, granted he didn’t finish the job properly, but hey, that bit with the train was bitchin’. The day will come and we’ll adopt it!” Settler leader and member of Knesset Aryeh King attended and was reportedly inside the event. Outside, demonstrators chanted “B’Tselem is Hamas” and “Kahane lives” between speeches by various figures. Moshe Leon, who ran for Jerusalem mayor and lost against Nir Barkat spoke. “We came here to say ‘stop the incitement against the Israel Defense Forces.’ In the past few days the municipality is trying to deny their part in the event,” he said. “For Jerusalem, we will not be silent and for Zion, we will not fail.” Revital Moshiach, the founder of Mothers of Soldiers Against B’Tselem spoke at length. Identifying herself as an “anonymous woman who loves the State with every bone in her body,” she railed against the Nir Barkat and Minister of Culture and Sport Limor Livnat. “I accuse Nir Barkat that he chose to turn a blind eye to the fact that this is an organization that creates films and exhibitions all across Europe which sparked a wave of anti-Semitism the like of which have not been seen since the last century. I accuse Limor Livnat, the Minister of Culture, that she refuses to stop the funding to the B’Tselem exhibition, together with the artist Arkadi Zaitz that defames and slanders the IDF and the State of Israel. I accuse Limor Livnat, the Minister of Culture, that she chose the easy way to hide behind bureaucracy instead of taking a moral and right decision to cancel the funding of artists who defame the soldiers of the IDF and the State of Israel. I accuse Limor Livnat because she fell asleep while guarding our home.” Yet according to a statement by B’Tselem, the event took place despite the efforts of members of the Jerusalem municipality to prevent it. Moshiach then used language commonly associated with the Holocaust to portray Israeli soldiers as helpless victims. “Along with me here today are 176,000 IDF soldiers who are prohibited from taking part in protest actions. The soldiers are our sons. The soldiers did not decide to go into the horrors. They were sent by us and they meet the horrors every day. The horrors of the showers of stones and the molotov cocktails and recently also live ammunition — like sheep to the slaughter,” Moshiach said. Despite just 50 demonstrators, the endorsement of the protest by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman — a possible future prime minister — reflects the rising fascism in Israeli society. It is these sentiments that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reflecting when earlier on Monday, he made a statement telling Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who demonstrate against the State of Israel to “move to the Palestinian Authority or Gaza.” This language — “Go to Gaza” and “Leftists to Gaza” — is commonly heard at right-wing Israeli demonstrations. Indeed, Netanyahu is considering expelling Palestinian Jerusalemites to the Gaza Strip. As Netanyahu increases his war on Palestinians throughout Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank, the hard-right continues to push for heavier violence and to strip away any remaining veneers of democracy in Israel.I wrote some very simple documentation, a website and an online REPL like the one I found on the Traceur website. This turned out to be essential to adoption. It was super easy to setup and install because the documentation and setup process was so simple. Suddenly the amount of users grew and grew, the philosophy that I set for the project resonated with a lot of people and 6to5 rode the ES6 hype train right to the top. My technical vocab was extremely limited so jumping into reading the specification was pretty much like a toddler trying to understand a book on nuclear physics. I pushed it to GitHub, didn’t really promote it much but then one day I woke up to a few issues. Woah, a bug report! Somebody is actually trying to use it! I promptly fixed the bug, pushed out a new release and continued on. I decided to jump head first into writing my own JavaScript compiler. I assembled a bunch of awesome existing libraries such as esprima, estraverse and escodegen and got at it. I wrote a set of very rudimentary transforms based on reading blog posts about how specific new language features worked. Slowly but surely I worked up the confidence to fix it. I ran for and won school captain which gave me plenty of opportunities to do public speaking. My voice would still shake when I would give presentations but at least I could actually perform them. I came out of it much more resilient and became very comfortable with taking big risks, this would later turn out to be very useful. Over the last year I’d acquired a very naive (but beneficial) approach to problems where I’d just jump in head first. I was battling crippling social anxiety to the point where I’d developed an eating disorder due to body issues. I wasn’t happy with how I looked and failed every single oral presentation in class because I was too scared to get up and talk. I’ve always hated being restricted, not being able to do what I want so having this glooming cloud of self hate was not very pleasant. I still didn’t quite understand how it worked. I’ve always been super not-invented-here and wrote most of my libraries from scratch because I just loved building stuff and had an abundant amount of free time in high school to experiment and learn. How could this possibly work? I tried out the online REPL and surely enough it did exactly what it said on the tin. The code it generated was super intimidating though, this didn’t look at all like code I’d write myself (I would later on discover that there are obvious reasons for this). Previously I’d heard of this JavaScript “converter” called Traceur by a couple of Google engineers that converted something called JavaScript next. At the time it was way over my head but while reading about ES6 I had an epiphany and it was extremely obvious. I decided to look into it again and it was exactly what I dreamed of! I could convert this new version of JavaScript to code that could run today! Brilliant! I learnt of this new version of JavaScript called ES6 that was in the process of being drafted. “Woah”, I thought. I’d had experience with quite a few scripting languages prior to getting into JavaScript and there was certainly a few bells and whistles that I missed. How could I use this? No browser supported it and it was going to be years before I could reliably use it. I’d been writing JavaScript for a few years at that point and no matter how much of it I wrote I never really grasped the higher levels concepts that I was using. How does the language grammar work? How do different languages features interoperate? How does the computer parse and understand my code? These were all questions that I didn’t know the answer to. My ignorance finally got the best of me and I decided to dig in and discover how exactly the pieces fit together. On September 28th 2014 I pushed my first commit to GitHub for a JavaScript library I was working on while studying for my high school exams. I didn’t really think much of it, I’ve always had a project I’ve been working on during class on my laptop instead of paying attention and this was just one of many. It started off as purely a learning exercise. All throughout my childhood I’ve had an interest in computers and the web. When I was eight I published my first website, when I was eleven I was causing mischief on a forum for a kids MMO, and at fifteen I developed a Tumblr-like service with a friend. It was no surprise to my family or school teachers when I said that I wanted to get a job in software development. I didn’t know quite how I’d go about it but I certainly knew the direction that I wanted to pursue. Sometimes I’d fix bugs within minutes of the bug reports being opened because I’d just be chilling on my computer watching TV and with nothing really to do. People were using my stuff, and they liked it! By this point I was basically working on it full time. I was still going to classes but I’d moreorless just sit in the back and program, minimising Sublime Text and opening Microsoft Word when the teacher would walk past. It was November at this stage and was meant to be sitting my final year exams which determines what university you’ll go to. For unrelated reasons I wasn’t able to sit my exams which meant that I couldn’t go to university since I didn’t have an ATAR score which is awarded when you complete them. I could have likely battled with my school to resit them or get an exception but I didn’t really care. I hated school anyway and the thought of more of it made me queezy. Starting my career I was 17, had finished high school and was basically a free spirit. I really wanted to start my career, I’d been waiting my entire life for this! My hometown is in regional Australia. Not super small but not super big, the only jobs in tech were crummy ones at web design agencies doing basic jQuery and WordPress. Not that I considered myself above that, I did my fair share of freelance work for local football clubs maintaining their websites. I just wanted something more. But how do I get a job? Where do I get a job? There was no way I could get what I want in my hometown. I have no qualifications and the only proof of my abilities is my existing open source portfolio. I hoped my open source work was enough for an employer to give me a chance so put together a resume and started my search. I was 600km from Sydney and 300km from Melbourne. I figured the only chances of finding the kind of job I wanted would be in the big cities. All up I applied for over 30 junior developer positions. I got a few responses and had a few Skype interviews. Nobody was really interested. I don’t particularly blame them. A 17 year old straight out of high school, who’d want to hire that? I just wanted someone to believe in me and take a chance. I realised my current process of going through job websites was not going to work. I was already applying for very enterprisey jobs which I wasn’t particularly happy with but I didn’t particularly mind, I just wanted to get my foot in the door somewhere. Example of two of the junior developer positions I applied for I ended up ruling out Melbourne as my city of choice and decided that Sydney was the city that I wanted to move to. I looked at the local JavaScript community and saw the largest meetup was SydJS, I was just casually browsing the sponsors of the meetup and one of them caught my eye. Thinkmill. Thinkmill were a full Node/JavaScript agency and consulting firm based entirely in Sydney. They had a big open source presence, loved JavaScript and I already had experience with a lot of the tech that they used. It was like a match made in heaven. It was late at night and I decided to test my luck by cold emailing them: Hey, I’m wondering if you had any positions available or knew of any Sydney Node.js or JavaScript companies that would be hiring? I recently finished high school and I’m eager to get out into the workplace. I know i have what it takes to fulfil a development position and have heaps of code to back me up. I’ve created 6to5 which is an ES6 to ES5 transpiler: https://github.com/sebmck/6to5 It’s been extremely successful and receives widespread use and rivals Traceur by Google. In early 2013 I launched a website (which sadly had to be closed down), Amuzor, a content aggregator, that at it’s peak received over 10k views a day. My biggest personal project (which still remains unfinished unfortunately) is nyx (https://github.com/nyx-platform/nyx). It’s a full-stack framework/platform for Node that focussed on modularity. You’d compose applications out of modules and they’d all work seamlessly together, regardless of your combination. Attached is also my resume. Thanks! Within a few hours I received a response from Jed Watson one of the founders: Hey Sebastian, Thanks for getting in touch, I’m keen to have a chat. We don’t specifically have any positions available but it looks like we’ve got a lot of common ground. Nice work with 6to5 :) Not sure how much you know about Thinkmill, but we’ve got a strong combo of agency-style commercial work, startup projects and open source / framework development going on, so we’re potentially a good fit. Otherwise, we know a lot of people in Sydney who work with Node.js and Javascript, and I’d be happy to help you find the right place. My number’s XXXX XXX XXX, let me know when you’re good for a call. Cheers, Jed. We exchanged a few back and forth emails and at almost 1am in the morning we were talking on the phone about working together. The next day I was invited to come to Sydney to spend the day working with them and see how things went. If we liked each other than I could possibly have a job, otherwise they were more than willing to help me find a local company with their connections. It was 7 hours to Sydney by train, long trip but I didn’t care, it was worth it. I went up, spent the day working with them and at the end of the day I was offered a job. I accepted before they even had the chance to give me all the details such as compensation. I was absolutely ecstatic. For whatever reason they decided to take a chance and take me on. Map of directions from Wodonga to Sydney I moved to Sydney on December 1st 2014. It was my first job. I was enthusiastic and raring to go, I wasn’t going to let them down. Despite my age and lack of work experience I was treated with a lot of respect from everyone I worked with, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Second thoughts But suffice to say, agency work got the best of me. It was very hard for me to work up the motivation to work. There was a lot marketing related work and I found it very hard to be passionate about working on it. Work wasn’t my only worry. I’d moved to a new city where I had no family and no friends. I felt extremely isolated and it started becoming difficult to get up every day. The only solace I had was going home every night and working on my baby project, 6to5. I was very fortunate to also be given time at work to work on 6to5 and other Thinkmill open source projects which was by far the most enjoyable part. While in Sydney I gave my first tech talk on 6to5, I walked through what it was, how to use it and why I made it, it was awesome practice for things to come. I felt super guilty. I was so privileged to have been offered this amazing opportunity and was working with some incredible people. I confided with James Kyle who had for a few months been working closely with me on 6to5. He suggested a job at his employer CloudFlare, it sounded amazing, I could write software and libraries that would run on millions of websites that covered a very sizeable portion of the internet. Map of all the CloudFlare points of presence around the world There was a problem though, I’d have to move to San Francisco or London. I’d only been working at Thinkmill for 3 months and I was already considering quitting and moving to an entirely different country. I didn’t even have a passport, I’d never left Australia! I wasn’t even 18 yet and I’m considering moving to another country? It was batshit crazy. I thought it through a lot. What did I want out of a career? Is this a better opportunity? I eventually settled that it’s what I wanted. I had no personal commitments holding me to Australia. I’ve always craved personal freedom and what a better way to use it than to move to another country. It was an epic opportunity, I would have access to a lot of resources and would have a lot of freedom to mostly work on whatever I wanted. The home computer I destroyed RIP I remember the day I decided this is what I wanted. I called my Mum and said “I think I’m going to quit my job and move to another country”. My Mum was super supportive, she always has been. She bought me a laptop with Windows 98 on it for my birthday when I was younger and allowed me to mess around with the family computer which I eventually destroyed when attempting to install an extra sound card. Moving to the US was immediately ruled out. Immigration was way too much of an issue. I didn’t qualify for any of the standard work visas, not even the ones with a lottery as I didn’t have a degree. The UK was far more hospitable, especially to someone from a country in the Commonwealth. I went through an extensive round of interviews with CloudFlare before I was finally offered a job. It was surreal. I was agreeing to move to a country I’d never even been to that was literally on the other side of the world. Around this time 6to5 was exploding in popularity. We put together a users page where companies could list themselves as using 6to5. I was fucking blown away. Companies I could only dream of were using my software. My talk proposals for JSConf US and React Europe were also accepted. It was extremely overwhelming to say the least. Excerpt from babeljs.io/users listing 12 companies who use Babel The move So I quit my job at Thinkmill and shortly after turning 18 I left for the US in April 2015 to spend two weeks of orientation at the CloudFlare HQ in San Francisco before continuing on to my new home in London. Map showing route from Wodonga to London This was my first experience outside of Australia, I’d only ever had my first plane trip a month prior when I went for a visit back home. It was super intimidating, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The first few days in the US I could only help but smile whenever I heard an American accent, the only American voices I’d heard prior were on the TV or in movies. I learnt that a large part of my vocabulary is actually Australian slang and discovered that I actually slur most of the time when I’m speaking… No longer could I suggest “dinking my mate on my BMX down to the fish and chippy to get a battered sav”. Arriving in London I was given a temporary apartment for a month while I looked for a place of my own. I had to open a bank account, deal with leases, tax, getting internet, water and electricity, all of the mundane chores of adult life. My impressions at first were very weird. The UK felt oddly familiar but very different at the same time. It was the small things that I found particularly weird like how two litre bottles were shaped differently or the surprisingly lack of insects and birds. The thing that really threw me a curveball was when I discovered that my favourite food, Chinese honey chicken, is actually Australian Chinese and unavailable outside Australia. I only bring this up as if you live in London and know where to get this please for the love of god tell me and I will be forever in your service. I’ve attempted to make it myself over five times already and every single time it’s been a failure and I’ve just produced undercooked chicken and a putrid yellow sludge. I wasn’t born to be a chef apparently. Honey chicken, the food of gods Just like at Thinkmill I was treated with a lot of respect despite my age and experience which surprised me a lot when compared to the way I was treated socially in tech. There were times were I’d get snarky comments on my age from meetup organisers which made me feel extremely uncomfortable. This unfortunately became a trend. I don’t really go to local tech meetups anymore because I don’t feel like I fit in both due to age demographic and the age related comments I get. Usually whenever my age was bought up it was met with shock and awe. I hated it. I don’t need to be told facts about myself. It didn’t make me feel special or unique, it just made me feel very different and abnormal. Once I had someone harass me for an entire meetup about my age and I ended up going home feeling like shit and crying myself to sleep. My age was particularly of concern whenever I’d go to the US for
stood in seats that are unwinnable, and she's won, and she's ready, and I think she'll make a really good deputy." She said Ms Ardern is going to be "one of the stars of the future".1 of 10 View Caption Jaren Wilkey \| Brigham Young University Jimmer Fredette responds to a standing ovation at his hometown game in Glens Falls, N.Y Djamila Grossman \| The Salt Lake Tribune Jimmer Fredette hits a 3-pointer, pushing aside UTEP's Gabriel McCulley, in a Dec. 23, Djamila Grossman \| The Salt Lake Tribune Jimmer Fredette gives an autograph to fan Trent Boulter after a game against the Unive Chris Detrick \| The Salt Lake Tribune Jimmer Fredette jokes around with coach Dave Rose after a BYU victory this season. Steve Griffin \| The Salt Lake Tribune After fans stormed the court following BYU's victory over San Diego State on Jan. 26, Ji George Frey \| The Associated Press BYU's Jimmer Fredette yells toward the crowd after making a 3-pointer against San Diego Stat Trent Nelson \| The Salt Lake Tribune Jimmer Fredette bulls past Utah's Jace Tavita during the rivals' game in Provo in 2010. Jimmer Fredette looks into the stands as he returns to Glens Falls, N.Y., for a game against Vermont on Dec. 8, 2010. He was welco Leah Hogsten \| The Salt Lake Tribune Jimmer Fredette thanks fans for their support after defeating UNLV in Provo on Feb. 5.(CNN) Germany's foreign minister launched a scathing criticism of Donald Trump on Monday, claiming the US President's actions have "weakened" the West and accusing the US government of standing "against the interests of the European Union." Just 24 hours after German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Europe could no longer completely rely on traditional allies such as the US and Britain, the country's top diplomat, Sigmar Gabriel, went a step further. "Anyone who accelerates climate change by weakening environmental protection, who sells more weapons in conflict zones and who does not want to politically resolve religious conflicts is putting peace in Europe at risk," Gabriel said. "The short-sighted policies of the American government stand against the interests of the European Union. The West has become smaller, at least it has become weaker." Germany and other European nations were unimpressed with Trump's performance at both the NATO and G7 summits last week, where he refused to endorse NATO's collective defense principle or the Paris climate agreement. Speaking on the sidelines of the third Berlin roundtable discussion on refugees and migration, Gabriel called on Europe to stand up to the current US administration and not shy away from offering criticism. "The Trump administration wants to terminate climate agreements, wants to enforce military action in crisis regions and won't allow people from certain religious circles to enter the US," Gabriel added. "If the Europeans are not resolutely opposing to this right now, the migration flow to Europe will continue to grow. Those who do not oppose this US policy are guilty." Merkel's 'beer tent speech' Merkel's address to supporters is being dubbed the "beer tent speech". At a campaign event in Munich on Sunday that has since been dubbed the "beer tent speech," Merkel told her supporters: "The times when we could completely rely on others are, to an extent, over." "I experienced that in the last a few days, and therefore I can only say that we Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands, of course in friendship with the United States and in friendship with Great Britain and as good neighbors wherever it is possible, also with Russia and also with all the other countries. "But we need to know that we have to fight for our own future and destiny as Europeans," she added. Merkel is expected to win a fourth term as Chancellor when Germany heads to the polls in September. Merkel speaks to Trump on Friday in Sicily. UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd reacted earlier Monday to Merkel's remarks by saying that Britain would continue to seek a "deep and special partnership" with Germany and the rest of Europe after Brexit. "As we begin the negotiations about leaving the EU, we will be able to reassure Germany and other European countries that we are going to be a strong partner to them in defense and security, and, we hope, in trade," Rudd told the BBC. Steffen Seibert, Merkel's spokesman, addressed the comments at a Monday news conference in Berlin. JUST WATCHED Trump's awkward visit with Merkel Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Trump's awkward visit with Merkel 02:01 "The Chancellor's words stand on their own," Seibert said. "They were clear and comprehensible." But Seibert also took the opportunity to stress that Merkel remained "a deeply convinced trans-Atlanticist." "Those who have accompanied Chancellor Merkel journalistically for a long time know how important the German-American relations are," Seibert said. "They are a pillar for our foreign and security policy and Germany will continue to work on strengthening those relationships. " Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017 Trump returned to the White House late Saturday from a nine-day foreign tour that he described as a "great success for America". But European leaders were infuriated by his refusal to explicitly endorse Article 5 of the NATO charter, which states that an attack on one member of the military alliance is viewed as an attack on all and requires a collective defensive response. Trump also lectured his counterparts Thursday on their failure to meet NATO spending guidelines. For a man who once called NATO "obsolete," his failure to reassure allies during the NATO summit in Brussels went down badly across Europe. Trump appears to shove Montenegro PM so he could be in front of NATO group https://t.co/CJYJJaPahY pic.twitter.com/53sIskTiBM — Amanda Wills (@AmandaWills) May 25, 2017 Trump's firm refusal to commit to the Paris climate deal at the G7 summit in Italy on Saturday -- along with his description of Germany as "very bad on trade" -- may also have contributed to Merkel switching the rhetoric up a notch. But Almut Möller, Head of the European Council on Foreign Relations' Berlin office and Senior Policy Fellow, believes Merkel's latest remarks should be taken in a more modest light. "It's not breaking away from anything she has said in the past," Möller said. "She has been relatively consistent on this." "It's not a choice against the US, she's still engaging as a powerful European leader and she is someone whose voice who will be heard around the table. Merkel took the decision to rejuvenate Europe post-Brexit and post-Trump. She's not looking to push Britain or the US away -- she is looking to strengthen Europe."Confloose A confloose (or "loose configuration") is a collection of the worst a startup script can do to you. There has been a prank going on for quite some time in my IT school -- when someone leaves his computer unattended, and without locking it, one would append a script to the victim's shell startup file. The deal is to put really annoying things right off the bat while not harming the computer and the data on it -- this prank is meant as a lesson (you should not leave your computer unattended in public space), and a fun challenge (at least for the one watching from afar) How to confloose somebody : curl -L confloo.se/the_script_name >> ~/.the_shell_rc So, as an example, confloosing someone with the "hard" script, using zsh : curl -L confloo.se/hard >> ~/.zshrc Available scripts : hard [bash, zsh]: Snaipe's original confloose Rules : Don't destroy anything. Don't steal anything. Try to be cryptic. Be fun and creative. Contributing : Think you have the perfect script to prank your coworkers? Submit a pull request with your script and add it to the readme, with the compatible shells enclosed in brackets.Recently Super Tires had a miss fire and someone on our customer email list passed our list on to a competitor who used it to contact our customers. We would like to apologize to our true customers for this inconvenience. Super Tires wants to thank our supporters who questioned the ethics behind the misuse of our customer email list, we appreciate your concerns and loyalty. We also want to thank the competitor who used our list, as you have exposed the type of person that you are to a great number of slot car racers. Unfortunately for you, you cannot change the fact that Super Tires supplies a superior product at a fair price. We have been in business for 21 years, which is a major testament to the quality of our products. People are always going to try new products, and some of them will be happy with what our competitors provide. More often than not, we hear from the people that tried another product that they were disappointed and they order more Super Tires. Super Tires has always let our tires do the talking and thats really all that we need to do. Nick & Sandy Team Super TiresThe Mission In this suspenseful game, there are 3 battles going on simultaneously: the attack on the Death Star, the shield assault, and the battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Opponents choose to either be a Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire player. The mission of the Rebel player is to destroy the Death Star, but first they must destroy the shield generator protecting it on Endor. The Rebel player must be careful that the Emperor and Darth Vader don’t destroy Luke, though, as that will tilt the game to the dark side. The Empire player's mission is to defeat all Rebel ships before they destroy the Death Star. The Empire player must stop the Rebels from destroying the shield generator, and make sure Luke doesn’t destroy Darth Vader...or worse, redeem him and strengthen the Rebels’ assault. Star Wars products are produced by Hasbro under license from Lucasfilm Ltd. Hasbro and all related terms are trademarks of Hasbro.The federal government pledged $3.2 million on Monday to help save the monarch butterfly, the iconic orange-and-black butterfly that can migrate thousands of miles between the U.S. and Mexico each year. Pat Sullivan/AP By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government pledged $3.2 million on Monday to help save the monarch butterfly, the iconic orange-and-black butterfly that can migrate thousands of miles between the U.S. and Mexico each year. It has experienced a 90 percent decline in population recently. About $2 million will restore more than 200,000 acres of habitat from California to the Corn Belt, including more than 750 schoolyard habitats and pollinator gardens. The rest will be used to start a conservation fund that will provide grants to farmers and other landowners to conserve habitat. The move by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comes as it considers whether to classify the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, which would afford the butterfly more protection. "We can save the monarch butterfly in North America but only if we act quickly and together," said Service Director Dan Ashe. The monarch lays its eggs exclusively on the milkweed plant. Conversion of prairies into cropland and the increasing use of pesticide-resistant crops have greatly reduced milkweed, which is also an important food source, particularly in the heartland, according to the petition filed last August by environmental groups. The conservation projects will be focused on the I-35 corridor from Texas to Minnesota, areas that provide important spring and summer habitat along the butterfly's migration path. Those groups said the new announcement was a positive step but said the species needs legal protection. Monarchs are pollinators and indicators of broader environmental problems. "The specter of listing will spur a lot of conservation for the monarch," said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that asked the Fish and Wildlife Service last August to protect the monarch butterfly and set aside critical habitat. But Curry said the butterfly needed to be listed for it to recover.TPM Reader AA flags that just as Trump was cutting his check to Pam Bondi he was claiming that the New York Attorney General asked for contributions to kill the Trump University lawsuit … Neither you nor The Post’s David Fahrenthold have yet made the connection to this Aug 23, 2013 article in the WSJ. Quoting from that 9/23/2013 article: Mr. Trump’s attorneys also accused Mr. Schneiderman and his surrogates of soliciting campaign donations from Mr. Trump’s family members and employees during the probe. According to state records, Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump gave Mr. Schneiderman’s campaign $500 in December 2012. In April 2013, Michael Cohen, the Trump Organization’s executive vice president and special counsel, gave the campaign $1,000. So according to Trump’s attorney himself, the donations to the NY Attorney General, while an investigation is in progress, are prima facia evidence of a shake down. Unfortunately for Trump, his accusations just don’t hold water. The timeline for those donations and the date the case was filed just don’t line up. And the amounts donated were insignificant and the donations came from disinterested third-parties, not Trump himself. On the other hand, the date of that article (9/23/2013) and the date of the Trump’s conversation with Bondi are very significant. Bondi solicited the donation from Trump about a week or two before he sent check (I don’t know the exact date). And, almost immediately, Trump made his $25,000 donation to Bondi on Sep 17, 2013. In other words, almost immediately after he publicly accused Schneiderman of a donation shake down, he’s approached by Bondi for a donation. Trump already knows a investigation is in progress in Florida. So what does he do. Does he reject the solicitation and accuse Bondi of a shake down. Nope. Instead he makes a sizable donation. And Bondi kills the investigation almost immediately. When Bondi solicits Trump for a donation, how could someone like Trump not be thinking that Bondi has heard about the NY case and is shaking him down. The only difference between the NY scenario and the FL scenario is that Trump got exactly what he wanted from FL (and kept his mouth shut about it). BUT, in NY scenario, the shake down is either figment of Trump’s imagination, or Trump thinks it was real and is upset that he didn’t get his money’s worth.Sen. Elizabeth Warren urged the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday to enact strong net-neutrality rules to ensure that all websites receive equal service. "Reports that the FCC may gut net neutrality are disturbing, and would be just one more way the playing field is tilted for the rich and powerful who have already made it," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote in a Facebook post. "Our regulators already have all the tools they need to protect a free and open Internet—where a handful of companies cannot block or filter or charge access fees for what we do online. They should stand up and use them." FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler plans to advance net-neutrality regulations that would allow Internet service providers to charge websites for faster service as long as the arrangements are "commercially reasonable." The rules would bar ISPs from blocking any websites or degrading service.A report in Defense News states China is making steady progress on its second aircraft carrier, the Shandong. Under construction near Shanghai, Shandong is set to be China's first domestically produced aircraft carrier and the first to be combat-ready. Previously known as Type 001A, the carrier's official name was recently announced on Shandong province television and radio. Shandong is currently under construction at the Dalian shipyards, where the nation's first aircraft carrier, Lioaning, was converted from a rusting, unfinished ex-Soviet Navy hulk to active duty Chinese Navy ship. In a rundown on Shandong's construction progress, Defense News says "the new carrier is broadly similar to the Liaoning and retains the ski jump for launching aircraft, but contains a revised flight deck arrangement." The article states the superstructure—the island overseeing the flight deck from where flight operations are controlled—has been mated to the hull and the ship should be launched later this year. "Launching" in warship construction is the floating of a partially constructed hull in water. The ship will still require several more years of fitting out before it can be commissioned into military service and considered ready for combat. Artists' conception of Shandong operating with escorts. Via Chinese Internet (mil.qq.com) Like Liaoning, Shandong will also utilize a STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) system. Under STOBAR, aircraft are launched taking off from a ramp on the ship's bow. Although China has constructed traditional steam-powered catapults at its naval aviation base, it apparently wants to leapfrog to the latest Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) technology, which is being fitted to the U.S. Navy's new Ford-class carriers. The short take-off ramp method of launching planes is less than ideal. In order to take off in such a distance without a steam or electromagnetic-powered assist aircraft must keep their takeoff weight down. That, in turn, limits the amount of weapons and fuel they can carry, curtailing their range and combat effectiveness. It also rules out using larger and slower propeller-driven aircraft such as the U.S. Navy's E-2D Hawkeye airborne early warning and control aircraft. Unlike U.S. Navy carriers, Shandong will likely be limited to an all-fighter fixed wing aircraft force, with early warning and control provided by land-based aircraft. This will ultimately restrict how far the carrier can operate from land-based support. Chinese Navy J-15 fighters taking off from Liaoning's bow-mounted ramp. STR/AFP/Getty Images. Shandong will be China's first combat-ready carrier. The first, Liaoning, will probably remain a training ship for future carrier crews. According to Defense News, China's naval aviation base appears to have an EMALS catapult installed. The article also states that an aircraft mock-up with a large rotating rotodome over its fuselage, like the E-2D Hawkeye, has also been sighted. This suggests that the Chinese Navy's future carriers will have both new features, making them increasingly capable versus the U.S. Navy's Nimitz and Ford-class nuclear aircraft carriers. Read more at Defense NewsJust like there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to formulate the perfect training plan. The trick is finding that critical balance of workouts, recovery, and training paces that work for your body and your particular strengths and weaknesses. The variety of different training approaches is one of the many reasons that we have a unique and diverse coaching staff here at RunnersConnect. Our different backgrounds and training philosophies allow us to easily find that perfect blend that works for your body and your goals. Even better, since our staff of coaches are on the cutting-edge, elite side of the sport, the training models we’re able to deliver to you are often revolutionary and represent innovative ways to help you make consistent progress. One unique training model brought in by one of our coaches turns the whole idea of the training pyramid upside down – literally. Let’s take a more in-depth look at this training concept and how it can help make you faster: The Traditional Training Model The traditional training model, popularized by Authur Lydiard, is often called the pyramid model. The pyramid model is based on the idea that you begin with a large aerobic base, transition to strength work such tempo runs, add in speed work, and then peak at the end of the training cycle. The most important and longest phase in this model is aerobic development, so it occupies the base of what looks like a pyramid. As each cycle progresses, you reduce overall volume and the total amount of running you do. Therefore, by the peak phase of the pyramid, you’re aerobic mileage and tempo work makes up very little of your overall training week. If you’ve never seen the traditional model before, it looks something like this: The benefit of the pyramid model is that you spend ample time in each training cycle working on aerobic development before adding in speed work. Aerobic development is universally considered the most important physiological adaptation to running faster long-term, so it’s important to spend time building your mileage base. The argument against the pyramid In recent years, the pyramid model has come under increasing scrutiny as elite athletes search for ever faster performances. As new training models emerged, cracks started to form at the base of the traditional pyramid model. The main argument against the pyramid model is the notion that aerobic development, lactate threshold, and speed do not have to be trained independently of each other, i.e. you don’t have to run months of just mileage or taper off your tempo runs as you introduce speed work. Second, when you train using the typical pyramid model, you’re forced to revert back to a base building period after each training cycle and you lose many of the of the strength and speed gains you’ve made at the top of the pyramid. Therefore, you spend a good portion of your next training cycle just trying to get back to that level of speed and strength, instead of constantly improving the current point that you’re at. The New Training Model Many elite coaches now believe that you can safely improve all these physiological elements within the same training cycle as long as you approach development in a progressive fashion. This radical shift in thinking by the top minds in the sport has lead to a new model of training that develops your speed, aerobic endurance, and strength at the same time. This new model is often called the diamond training model. The diamond training model is a system in which runners work to improve all aspects of training at the same time by starting at a low, fairly easy total training volume and slowly increase the total amount of work the complete each week. Interestingly, the diamond model resembles an upside down pyramid: The beauty of the diamond model is that each physiological training element is trained simultaneously at your current level of fitness. Each week you slowly build upon each component so that no particular energy system is left behind. You start at whatever fitness level you’re at and by the end of the training cycle, your aerobic development, speed, and threshold are at their maximum levels simultaneously, which leads to optimal performance on race day. The Benefits of the Diamond Model With the diamond model, you never get too far away from any one training component. With the traditional model, you may have weeks or months where you don’t run higher mileage or do tempo workouts. With the diamond model, you can place slightly more emphasis on speed when you’re training for a 5k or aerobic development when running the marathon, but the concept of the training model never allows you to neglect one training element for too long. This system has numerous potential benefits: Racing more consistently In the diamond model, because you’re never too far away from having done speed work or improving your lactate threshold, you can race more consistently in your tune-up races. While you won’t be at your ultimate peak fitness, the diamond model ensures that you can at least have all your systems running at full current capacity. This is especially helpful for runners who have multiple goal races or who are building up to racing for the first time. The diamond model allows for noticeable progression from week-to-week and the opportunity to test yourself at multiple race distances. Better development for older runners For you older or more experienced runners, especially those of you who have generated significant gains in aerobic endurance thanks to years of running, the diamond model can help capitalize on your strengths while developing your weaknesses. How? Since speed is one of the first training aspects to deteriorate as you age, the diamond model allows you to continually work on speed and make it a part of your weekly training cycle. Therefore, the deteriorations in ability are less dramatic and your overall race times will improve. Less injuries The main cause of running injuries, especially for beginners, is that often the muscles, tendons, and ligaments aren’t at the same fitness level as aerobic conditioning. Simply speaking, you’re able to run fast without breathing hard because you’re strong aerobically, but your muscles can’t keep up with the intense demands of running hard. The diamond model reduces the occurrence of these types of injuries because you’re increasing your muscular strength and endurance at the same time as your aerobic capabilities. Therefore, you’re less likely to be able to push beyond what your body can handle and progressively build your tolerance for volume and speed. The Right Training Model for You Choosing the right training model and correct way to address your specific needs often requires a little trial and error as you learn what works for your body and what doesn’t. The optimal training philosophy for your running partner may or may not work for you, so it’s important to continually learn. Moreover, you don’t need to adhere religiously to one training model. You can pick and choose the specific aspects of each training model or philosophy that work best for you. This is how many of our coaches approach training and coaching. We combine the vast amount of knowledge we’ve gathered over our careers training and coaching at the highest levels of the sport and create a unique philosophy for each athlete we coach. If training philosophies seem harder than calculus, and figuring out how to solve the training plan puzzle on your own is daunting, we’re here to help you every step of the way. Sign-up for our online running coach service and we’ll work one-on-one with you to create the perfect plan. Or, you can start a free trial of for our basic membership and let us guide you step-by-step through the entire training process. If you have any questions about training models, both new and old, leave a comment and we would be glad to help you solve the puzzle.10-time IBJJF black belt world champion Roger Gracie has said he’s considering a return to jiu-jitsu tournaments, with an eye on the IBJJF World Championships in June of this year.Speaking at the 2016 IBJJF European Championships in Lisbon, Portugal, Gracie said that he feels his time is running out and hinted that should he not make it back this year, he may not come back at all.“I’m not sure about Worlds yet, I keep saying that I might come back!“The last time I fought Worlds was in 2010. Since then I only had two fights in the gi; ‘Bucheca’ on Metamoris, and ‘Comprido’ last year.“This is the last year I could really come back to fight at the Worlds. If I wait until 2017 it’ll be 7 years, that’s too much time away.”Gracie has spent the last few years focused on a career in MMA, fighting on promotions including UFC, Strikeforce and ONE FC, amassing a 7-2 record in the ring and cage.For Wilmer Valderrama, Father’s Day means more than a summer Sunday reserved for a round of golf — it’s also a way to honor the man who gave his family a better life. “As a Latin man and someone that grew up in Venezuela, to see your father make such a sacrifice and sell everything he had just to bring us to the United States and have the education he never had, it’s so admirable,” Valderrama told PEOPLE Monday night. Get push notifications with news, features and more. The That ’70s Show star has teamed up with Johnnie Walker to help sons and daughters give their fathers the perfect gift – a personalized engraved bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, the rarest and most exclusive blend from the portfolio. This Sunday, Valderrama’s inscription on his dad’s bottle holds a particularly special meaning from back when his family had just moved to California from Venezuela. That week of his That ’70s Show audition had been hard. While struggling to keep up with their rent, Valderrama’s father had his car stolen, so he’d been running errands on foot around town trying to make ends meet. But this particular day, he skipped the errands and decided to take his son to the audition instead. In the audition hallway, they told Valderrama and his father the money he’d be making if he landed the gig. “It was my fourth audition for That ’70s Show. I didn’t have the job yet,” Valderrama recalled. “I looked at my dad and I said, ‘Could you imagine? We go from 99 Cents stores to Ralphs. We’ll be going to a real grocery store.’ “ Right before it was Valderrama’s turn, his dad looked at him and said, “Mijo, if you get it, very good. If you don’t get it, very good.” Suddenly, all the pressure was off, and later that day, his family received a phone call from his agent at the time. “[The agent] said, ‘Yeah, they want you to come back tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that,’ ” Valderrama remembered. That day sprung what would be an eight-year, 200-episode run for Valderrama. “Everything changed overnight,” Valderrama recalled. So, what’s the inscription on his father’s Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle this Sunday? “Mijo, if you get it, very good. If you don’t get it, very good” — but in Spanish! Michael Simon/startraksphoto Valderrama’s engraved bottle Back in Venezuela, the Valderramas usually celebrated Father’s Day fishing out on the lake. He recalls one year almost being yanked into the water by a massive, vicious-looking fish. “It was the ugliest, most angry fish I’ve ever seen. It just completely traumatized me,” Valderrama joked. “It took me about a year to get back out on the lake again.”Happy April Fool’s Day! Gotcha there, didn't we? While it would be great for late night snacking, for now we’re sticking with peanut butter that brightens your day with its delicious taste. Please enjoy this $3 off 2 coupon to pick up two jars of your favorite Peanut Butter & Co. flavor at your local supermarket, grocery store, or natural food shop. To make glow in the dark peanut butter, we blended a combination of vitamin B12 and tonic water with our Smooth Operator peanut butter and put it in the freezer overnight. The next day we put a black light next to the jar and voila –it glows! Please refer to the vitamin label for directions and serving information. Let us know if you try this at home!Infowars August 14, 2009 Download the poster: Large \| Medium \| Small In order to drive the point home — there is no difference between the New World Order’s front men — Infowars has created a poster displaying George W. Bush as the Joker. Please remember when posting the Bush as Joker poster around town as a compliment to the Obama as Joker poster not to put the poster on private or government property, as this provides our enemies with an excuse to call us criminals and even terrorists. Post only in public commons areas where other posters, fliers, handbills, etc., are posted. — The latest Infowars poster is now also available as an instant classic Infowars t-shirt. Surf over to Alex Jones’ Infowars Store and get your Bush Joker Fascist black t-shirt today.The only building in Europe that bears Donald Trump's name stands in the European part of Istanbul. The popularity of the high-rise towers has, however, fallen dramatically since 2015, when the Republican presidential candidate made a campaign issue of barring Muslim immigrants from entering the United States. Since then, Turkish politicians have sought to have the Trump name removed from the towers. The Trump Organization also operates golf courses in Scotland and Ireland. These are pretty much the only two points of contact between Donald Trump and Europe. The golf course, near Aberdeen, which Trump praised as if "made by god himself" because of its painterly location, has been the source of numerous court cases and headaches for investors and even the Scottish government. The Trump Organization never actually invested the amount of money it had promised to, and the number of jobs created was also far lower than projected. But that didn't keep Trump from claiming that he had "conquered Scotland," during a June visit. He said he would do the same in the US presidential election. In good times, and bad German EU parliamentarian David McAllister, who has Scottish roots himself, summed up the Republican thus: "Donald Trump is a big unknown here in Europe. We don't know much about him. We don't know much about his foreign policy, because he rarely speaks about it. And frankly, when he goes into detail it sounds frightening." McAllister chairs a parliamentary group that deals with US relations. "Naturally, we know Hilary Clinton much better. She believes in strong transatlantic relations. No doubt we could accomplish a lot with her." Many of Europe's current politicians know Clinton from her tenure as US secretary of state. McAallister: Europe could accomplish a lot with Clinton To date, most Democrat and Republican presidents have been firmly committed to supporting NATO's role as an anchor of stability. But Donald Trump has been questioning the relevance of the military alliance. He says that he will only maintain it if Germany, for instance, pays for its own security. David McAllister tries to formulate his expectations diplomatically: "The EU and the US have strong, close ties. We should concentrate on strengthening them further still, no matter how the election turns out. We have to be prepared for good times as well as bad times." Not running for pope But there are Trump fans in Brussels, too, especially among right-wing populists. British EU parliamentarian Nigel Farage has even appeared at Trump campaign rallies. Farage was the victorious champion of the Brexit vote. He wanted a more independent Great Britain and emphasized nationalism just like Trump has done in the US: Britain first, America first. Farage thinks Trump's sexist comments and macho demeanor, both of which are alienating female voters, are forgivable sins. Farage: Trump 'not running to be pope' "At least there's an honesty about Trump," Farage said in an interview with Fox News. "Whether you like it or not, he is what he is. And - you know what - he's not running to be pope, he's running to be president of the USA - a human being. Every human being is flawed." The British politician continued by saying that no one knows what secrets Hillary Clinton may still be hiding. Donald Trump cheered Great Britain's vote to leave the EU. He sees the Union as outdated, and Germany as a safe haven for terror and violence. 'God help us' The shrill tone of the US election, which shows no apparent need for facts or even substantive issues, has evoked unusual reactions in Germany - even from long-serving government ministers. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble mentioned that he had watched the second televised debate between Clinton and Trump, when talking to reporters after a meeting of European finance ministers in Luxembourg. During the debate Trump threatened to have Clinton jailed should he be elected president. "I watched the debate on TV. I just sat back and enjoyed the era of post-factual politics. If that becomes the guiding principle of how we make political decisions, god help us all when it comes to democracy and the rule of law," warned Schäuble. Steinmeier has likened Trump to populist politicians in Europe German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has also abandoned his usual reserve, calling Trump a "hatemonger," and even building him into stump speeches. Steinmeier puts the Republican candidate, who is convinced that the US election system is "rigged," in the same category as rightwing and leftwing populists here in Europe. "Look at that loudmouth Donald Trump in America. These groups all have one thing in common, they prey on people's fears," decries Steinmeier at market squares around Germany. Lack of substance Conservative European parliamentarian McAllister has been watching the election very closely. He even got up in the middle of the night to watch the debates live. He says afterwards he was astonished by what the candidates were actually talking about. Emails, affairs and strong language? When so many problems in places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Russia need to be addressed? "In my view, the subjects they talked about were irrelevant. I would rather they spoke on serious political issues during presidential debates. Some of the things that come out of the Republican candidate's mouth are truly cause for concern."It’s official: Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain is coming to a TV near you. The Hollywood Reporter reveals cable network FX (home of edgy fare like Justified, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and American Horror Story) has ordered a 13 episode first season of the horror series starring House of Cards‘ Corey Stoll. Announced a little over a year ago, The Strain is an adaptation of del Toro’s own vampire trilogy of the same name, co-written with Chuck Hogan, who is also working on the show along with Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse. The Strain in book form is followed by The Fall and finally The Night Eternal, so there’s plenty of source material to pull from even if this is a very faithful adaptation. Stoll plays Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of a team of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City whose team is tasked with investigating a mysterious virus outbreak with “hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism.” I haven’t read the books, but I’m betting they don’t do so good a job at containing it and it gets a bit out of control. Mia Maestro, Sean Astin and Kevin Durand co-star. They’re getting ready to shoot the pilot now, and the series will premiere in July 2014. Perfect light-hearted summer season viewing! About Linda Ge (Last Updated ) Related Posts None foundBEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian security forces intensified their assault on protesters calling for President Bashar al-Assad to quit, killing at least 34 demonstrators in the latest crackdown in the city of Hama, activists said. People demonstrate in the Syrian town of Kafranbel May 31, 2011. REUTERS/Handout Thousands of protesters took to the streets after noon prayers on Friday in defiance of security forces determined to crush an 11-week a revolt against Assad’s 11-year rule. Security forces and snipers fired at tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the city of Hama, where 29 years ago President Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, crushed an armed Islamist revolt by killing up to 30,000 people and razing parts of the city to the ground. Activists said at least 34 people were killed and scores wounded. “The firing began from rooftops on the demonstrators. I saw scores of people falling in Assi square and the streets and alleyways
’t spend so much time warming us up to his tournament appearance, perhaps his early exit would have felt less anticlimactic, even if he coyly prepares us for what happens to him. For a memoir, The Noble Hustle is remarkably aloof as well. Whitehead doesn’t tell us the name of his daughter, instead referring to her as “the kid” throughout. In contrast, McManus’s 385 page poker memoir includes a disquisition on his family tree and ends with his cringe-worthy confession to his wife that he received a lap dance during his Vegas stay. There are several missed opportunities in The Noble Hustle. In 2011, the Feds shut down the major American online poker sites; known as Black Friday among poker insiders, the shutdown had major financial implications on the game and its players. Whitehead refers to Black Friday only offhandedly and fails to explore its impact on the 2011 tournament. We also don’t get any real insight into the type of people who make a living off poker, as we do in McManus’s and Alvarez’s books. As a breezy and sarcasm-soaked account of one man’s very unsuccessful attempt to repeat what McManus accomplished in 2000, The Noble Hustle does not earn a rightful place in a tradition begun by Alvarez and continued by McManus. Whitehead is as capable a writer as they are. But his forerunners had a more probing and contagious interest in the game and the people who play it. Image credit: Joo0ey/FlickrWelcome to the third post in the Pencil Panel Page roundtable on George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. We are glad to have found a new home over at Hooded Utilitarian, and as Adrielle said in her inaugural post, you should dive into our archives. Be sure to update your bookmarks for our future posts. Since there has been some concern expressed on the Hooded Utilitarian site about the state of linguistic analysis, I wish to start my post on Krazy Kat with a note about the linguistic analysis of comics in general. As a linguist, I am most interested in the way that linguistic codes function in comics. I concentrate on the analysis of dialogue using methods borrowed from conversation analysis, primarily but not exclusively to highlight the interrelationship of language and identity. You might take a look at my essay on verbal camp in the Rawhide Kid as an example. But in addition to discourse analysis, and especially for my posts on Pencil Panel Page, I draw broadly on morphology, lexical semantics, dialect and register, as well as principles of bilingual code-switching, among others. Some commenters on Hooded Utilitarian have cited Hannah Miodrag’s book, Comics and Language (2013); Adrielle’s post two weeks ago mentions it. I would also like to note that I edited a collection of essays called Linguistics and the Study of Comics, published by Palgrave in 2012. You can read the table of contents and the introductory chapter here. My understanding is that Neil Cohn has a new book in the works, as well, about visual language. This is a very exciting time to be a linguist and to have interest in comics! And for those of you who are concerned about the dearth of linguistic analysis in comics, never fear! Much more is coming. And now—on to language and sound in Krazy Kat. The point of Miodrag’s chapter on Herriman is ‘sidelining the visual (and thematic) content in favor of linguistic [in order] to illustrate how comics might truly be approached as literature, and to present a more convincing argument than has previously been achieved for their literary potential’ (p. 21). Some people will agree with Miodrag that comics are literature, and her goals are laudable. But for linguists, the point of a linguistic analysis of comics has very little to do with proving their literary worth. For me, a linguistic analysis demonstrates the nature of comics as comics and their relationship to linguistic systems. The aim is not to use linguistics to measure the nature of comics as literature or architecture or fine art or anything else. But Miodrag does make some fine points in her discussion of arbitrary minimal units, which are essential in understanding linguistic systems. The arbitrariness of language can be discovered at the phonetic level: with just so many vowels available and a larger but nevertheless limited number of consonants, the tiny phonetic inventory of human speech sounds must necessarily be manipulated to produce vast numbers of unique combinations ranging across more than 6000 languages. (See Ethnologue for more about the world’s linguistic diversity). Depending on the dialect, English has roughly 12 to 14 vowels; other languages have more, others fewer. What this means is that phones cannot have frozen or static or essential functions: their functions are assigned by the speech communities that use them, and those functions always change. Arbitrariness, of course, may also be illustrated at the morphological, syntactic, and lexical levels. Whether we call it chicken or poultry or fowl, we know that those words refer to a type of bird used around the world for food. Eventually, we’ll call that same bird something else, because languages change and the sign that we use to refer to that type of bird is arbitrary. We could even call it frindle if we wanted to. Most linguists agree, though, that not every single unit in language is arbitrary. Sometimes, a syntactic form is only semiarbitrary. Consider these two sentences: (a) We had pizza and beer after we finished our workout at the gym. (b) After we finished our workout at the gym, we had pizza and beer. The events here occur in the same order chronologically, but they are reversed syntactically. But in (b), the syntactic order of events mimics the chronological order of events. Workout at the gym comes first, pizza and beer comes next, so the order of (b) is not entirely arbitrary. I think that the limits of arbitrariness play an important role in Krazy Kat. Like many comics creators, Herriman uses sound effects to provide an auditory element to the page. Many linguists consider human sounds meant to mimic sounds from the environment as semiarbitrary in nature. Even though a rooster says cock-a-doodle-doo in English, says quiquiriquí in Spanish, and says gokogoko in Cantonese—even though these are different phonetic representations—they are not completely arbitrary. They in some sense mimic the acoustic sounds outside the linguistic system. Herriman’s use of sound effects is fascinating, and a quick survey of the Sunday comics (Fantagraphics, 1916–1918) demonstrates his playfulness and creativity. I’d like to consider one particular sequence when Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse switch bodies. In the opening panel of the September 9th strip, we see a Krazy Kat throw a brick and hit an Ignatz Mouse with it: p. 96. The sound effect of the brick sailing through the air is Zizz. (Zizz probably because bricks don’t go fap fap fap or sklircha sklircha when they nudge their way through air molecules.) When the brick strikes Ignatz, the sound is Blop!! Naturally, the other characters in the strip are mystified. They simply cannot believe that the mild-mannered, gentle, and kind Krazy has turned the tables on that spiteful bully Ignatz. The mystery is so deep that Herriman takes three Sunday comics to reveal the secret to readers. In the second installment, on September 16th, the strip opens with a memory. It is an inset of the same event shown on September 9th, with a couple of different details: p. 97 This time, when Krazy throws the brick, it says Jazzzz. And when Brick hits Ignatz, the sound is MBOB. There are a few other differences, too, like Krazy’s stance and the absence of speech on 16 September. (In both scenes, Krazy throws the brick from right to left: see Roy Cook’s earlier post about this.) In the third installment, on Sunday 23 September, Herriman solves the mystery and puts Krazy and Ignatz back in their proper roles. In scene 12, we witness (the real) Ignatz throwing a rock at (the real) Krazy. The sound of the rock sailing through the air is Jazz, and the rock strikes Krazy with a Pap. The anomalous characters and actions have been resolved, and all is right with the world again. Miodrag is right when she argues that Herriman pushes the boundaries of the standard English linguistic system by making full use of the arbitariness of minimal units. The same can be said for his sound effects. But not all of Herriman’s sound effects push the boundaries of the units. He often uses a standard(?) pow or bop or bam or zip, but his tool kit is wide-ranging. Herriman’s use of sound effects is highly creative. Just as he plays with arbitrary minimal units in creating the linguistic repertoire of characters, he also plays with the representation of nonlinguistic sound. Of course in Krazy Kat, bricks don’t always make sounds when they fly through the air or hit someone on the head. And at times, even on the same page, the sound effects for the same action are variable: p. 74 Ignatz throws a brick (from right to left), and the sound effect is Zib. Later on this same page, the sound effect for a similar action is Bzip. My main question on arbitrariness has to do with the sound jazz. Unlike bam or fwip, jazz is a word that has standing in other areas or domains of English. Its precise etymology is unclear, but early uses of the word associate it with such activities as baseball. (The American Dialect Society voted it the Word of the Century in 2000.) Nowadays, it is most often associated with an important musical genre. I believe Herriman uses jazz as the sound of an object whizzing through the air not because of its arbitrariness but because of its multiple meanings. Herriman plays with these multiple meanings—the arbitrary ones—that jazz contains and brings them to bear on the semiarbitrary representation of acoustic sound in comics. Maybe the relationship between Krazy and Ignatz needs something more than a regular old sound effect, and Herriman uses jazz as a way to give their relationship a little something extra. Maybe the sound of the brick is more than physically acoustic: maybe it’s music to their ears. Earlier comments on our Krazy Kat roundtable express the sense that Herriman’s comic is best read slowly, in small doses. A slow reading allows us to savor the visual and the verbal, but we also get to revel in the playful, almost-but-not-quite arbitrary representation of acoustics. As much arbitrariness as we sometimes see in the language and behaviors of Krazy Kat characters, as well as the background scenes, we know that Herriman doesn’t go too far afield lest he lose the reader in a fog of inscrutability. But Herriman does make his readers work for it, and as a result of this slow, sumptuous reading, we are very richly rewarded.Intel announced Tuesday that it is acquiring deep learning startup Nervana Systems in a move that looks to bolster the role of AI solutions within the company. Recode reports that the price tag of the deal is north of $350 million, adding to what has been a pretty active (to put it mildly) last few weeks in tech M&A. In a blog post, Nervana CEO and co-founder Naveen Rao specified that his company is intending to continue development on efforts related to its deep learning framework, platform and hardware. The San Diego-based team of 48 will all join Intel’s Data Center Group once the deal has closed. “[Nervana’s] IP and expertise in accelerating deep learning algorithms will expand Intel’s capabilities in the field of AI,” Diane Bryant, EVP and GM of the Data Center Group at Intel said in a blog post. “We will apply Nervana’s software expertise to further optimize the Intel Math Kernel Library and its integration into industry standard frameworks.” Furthermore, Bryant specified that the startup’s expertise would “advance Intel’s AI portfolio and enhance the deep learning performance and TCO of our Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi processors.” The two-year-old startup had raised nearly $25 million from investors including DFJ, Data Collective, Fuel Capital, Lux Capital and Allen & Co. The company captured attention early-on with its hardware-centric approach to AI solutions and has since pursued technologies aimed at training neural nets. Data Collective Managing Partner Matt Ocko, who directed the firm’s Series A lead investment in Nervana had nothing but praises to sing of the company’s potential. “Intel didn’t just buy something that is simultaneously faster and more power-efficient than Nvidia,” he said. “Intel bought something that it can sell on boards and systems and even supercomputers to its customers ready-to-go that out-punches anything that Facebook or Google or Baidu or Microsoft has.” Ocko believes that there was little standing in Nervana’s way from continuing to make waves in the space and going on to be worth “multiple billions,” but Intel’s scale and prestige offered Nervana the quickest route to getting their tech into people’s hands as quickly as possible. “This thing was a freight train,” Ocko told me. “[The founders] wanted to get the technology to the maximum number of people at the maximum speed and Intel came in and said, come on in, we’re going to give you guys the world’s best semiconductor process at the biggest scale with an effectively unlimited budget, marketing, customer support, you name it.” Ocko detailed. “And no one says no to Intel.”Just updated to 0.18.1712! I figure I'll just post the raw git changelog since the last update so y'all can see a bit how the sausage is made. ------------------------ Fix: Pawn column shift click doesn't work on Linux. Fix: It's possible to create a starting pawn with blank name. Fix: If you resurrect a pawn, his luciferium addiction is gone but the buffs stay forever. Changed cold bog texture a bit because it was too similar to tundra. Cleaned up PawnsFinder. Fix: Errors during saving if you kill a pawn and then remove his outfit from the outfits database. Fix: Scrolling is slow and reversed on Linux. Fix: JobDriver_TakeToBed can cause 10jobs10ticks errors if the other pawn is also trying to find a bed at the same time. Fix: It's not possible to deliver resources to 2 blueprints in the same cell in one go. Fix: Pawns can wear multiple clothes of the same type after changing the game language. Added "Remove hediff" debug action. Fix: Downed pawns can't watch TV in their bed without falling out from it. Blight now spreads 50% faster. Fix: Min construction skill requirement applies to install blueprints. Optimized Dialog_DebugLogMenu so it doesn't lag. Add Battle Royale combat-power tester. Disable Steam flag in Unity in order to prevent Unity from automatically connecting to Steam. Fix: Some ground tiles get silently converted into inconsistent water tiles when generating a map. Fix: Mineable items could show up as both the request and the reward. Add a few more log categories. Categorize debug logs more easily. Make psychite pekoe a little less immediately dangerous to use. Add patch operation to test for mod existence. Fix: Birch has leaflessGraphicPath defined twice. Fix: It's not possible to reinstall infinite chemreactor. Fix: Uninstalled CompSpawners can sometimes cause errors. Fix: Cave plants can spawn in hydroponics basins. Fix: Now that frames are passable it's possible to construct walls on top of pawns and items. Refactored how blocking things are handled. Cleaned up GenConstruct. Reduced the probability of tornadoes by 50%. We no longer send the area-revealed letter if the revealed area is on-screen and it is less than 600 cells. Added forced trait to Xia 'Xue' Xue: Beautiful. Fix 3099: Too many iterations. - error during all melee raid. Fix: StartErrorRecoverJob() can sometimes cause errors. Added debug command: "Spread blight". Removed copyrighted name. Balanced tornado damage. Tornadoes now deal less damage to downed pawns. Refugees from downed refugee quests no longer spawn without legs. Support clicking transition logs to select pawns. Tweak downed/dead/damaged icons in battle log. Fix: Many combat log messages make no sense for mechanoids. Simplify usages of GrammarUtility.RulesForPawn(). Fix 3093: Mace and Club lack tool labels for main attack Fix 3145: Inspect string for uninstalled firefoam popper contains empty lines. Fix: Combat log can show up with a small font size. Ensure that non-pawn death messages show up properly. Properly record turret ranged attacks. Fix 3109: Tutorial, dragging character from Left Behind to Selected resets Randomising Characters tutorial Fix 3101: Melee fighters don't always use their melee weapon as excepted Fix: butcherProducts prevents butchers from hauling meat to stockpile Fix: Command+key system-wide hotkeys are caught by KeyBindingDefs. Removed unused PawnKindDef XML node: MechanoidBase. Fix: Released prisoners stay in bed longer than necessary, and are still in restraints. Tweak world features a little further to generate more applicable forest names. Fix: GameEnder.gameEnding is never reset, even if new colonists join the colony. Fix 3055: Attempting to get melee damage for a non-melee verb VerbProperties(LMG) when clicking Info icon on colonist Fix 049: Tried to add health diff to missing part BodyPartRecord(LeftFootSecondToe parts.Count=0) Fix 3014: Fog does not render correctly on all ores Add specialized rainforest namer. Fix: Charge rifle missing weapon bulk stat. Modify bedroll description to make it clear that cloth isn't necessary. Fix: RectTriggers send incorrect signals after save/load Reverted minor tornado visuals change. Fix: Colonists can join parties outside their allowed area. Fix 3113: Psychoid pekoe research cost is way too high. Animal migration incident can no longer use thrumbos. Caves are no longer so big all the time. Tornadoes no longer damage natural walls. Reduced the amount of wood per tree. PlayerItemAccessibilityUtility now takes into account items you can craft. Fix: The form caravan command appears in the landing site screen and overlaps other buttons. Fix: Colony name dialog never shows. Fix: Per-maneuver flavor text isn't properly connected. Tweak a few messages on the Shredded maneuver type. Add tornado combat event log messages. Fix: Flavorful combat tests don't work in a subtle way on non-weapon-based damage types. Improve debug instrumentation for failed grammar resolutions. maneuver_->damaged_ Split smash/scratch damage into its own rulepack for tornado use. Fix: Flavorful combat tests don't work on non-weapon-based damage types. Flesh out Bite maneuver text. Add combat log entries for the power beam. destroyed -> destroyed_past, damaging -> damaged_present, destroying -> destroyed_present Display proper combat text for orbital bombardment. Fix 3000: Team skills don't always show the correct values Add rulepacks for the remaining mortar type damages. Rebalance new tale interest. Allow miniguns to target empty ground. Caravan request incidents now ask for only those resources which the player has or can get soon.Dr Ariza BT Mohamed demonstrates which genital areas are affected by circumcision. Photos by Thomas Cristofoletti I meet 19-year-old Syahiera Atika at the mall. She spends most Sundays prowling Kuala Lumpur's mega malls like other women her age, but as she eagerly points out she's also different. Syahiera is a modern incarnation of Malay culture: She happily embraces Western-style capitalism, while at the same time strictly following the local interpretation of Islam. And as she proudly informs me, that also means she's circumcised. 19 year-old Syahiera Atika (center), poses with her friends in front of a Kuala Lumpur mall "I'm circumcised because it is required by Islam," she says. The Malay word she uses is wajib, meaning any religious duty commanded by Allah. Syahiera is aware of how female circumcision is perceived in the West, but rejects any notion that it's inhumane. "I don't think the way we do it here is harmful," she says. "It protects young girls from premarital sex as it is supposed to lower their sex drive. But I am not sure it always works." She giggles at this thought. Female circumcision, as you may know, involves surgically removing part or all of a woman's clitoris, which is classified as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by the World Health Organization. FGM has no medical benefits whatsoever, and a WHO fact sheet says that it "reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women." In 2012 the United Nations General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution calling it a "human rights violation" and urged nations to ban the practice. A mother and daughter stand in the waiting room at the private Global Ikhwan clinic. Women from all over the region visit the Islamic clinic where FGM is performed regularly Regardless of how cruel FGM is, the majority of Muslim women in Malaysia are, like Syahiera, circumcised. A 2012 study conducted by Dr. Maznah Dahlui, an associate professor at the University of Malaya's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, found that 93 percent of Muslim women surveyed had been circumcised. Dahlui also discovered that the procedure is increasingly performed by trained medical professionals in private clinics, instead of by traditional circumcision practitioners called Ma Bidans. Dahlui insists Malaysia's version of female circumcision is less invasive than some types practiced around the world—she says it involves a needle prick to the clitoral hood and is performed on girls between the ages of one and six. However, as I discovered, more invasive procedures are also widespread. Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Mighilia of the Global Ikhwan private clinic located in Rawang, north of Kuala Lumpur, admitted that she performs a more drastic version with a needle or scissors. "I just take a needle and slit off the top of the clitoris, but it is very little," she said. "Just one millimeter." Dr. Mighilia demonstrates how she performs female circumcisions with scissors Genital mutilation isn't banned in Malaysia, although public hospitals are prevented from performing the surgery. In 2009 the Fatwa Committee of Malaysia's National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs ruled that female circumcision was obligatory for all Muslim women, unless it was harmful. That's not to say, however, that all Malaysians support it. Syarifatul Adibah, who is the Senior Programme Officer at Sisters in Islam, a local women's rights group, insists that sunat (Malaysian for circumcision) isn't once mentioned in the Quran. Instead she points to its popularity as stemming from an increasingly conservative interpretation of Islam. "Previously it was a cultural practice, but now, because of Islamization, people just relate everything to Islam," she said. "And when you link something to religion, people here follow it blindly." According to Adibah, FGM became more socially acceptable in 2012, when the Ministry of Health announced it was developing guidelines to reclassify the procedure as medical. To her, this misleads people into thinking mutilation is medically sound. "If you come up with the guidelines and you medicalize it this means you're OK with it, despite it having no medical benefit," she said. (The Ministry of Health did not respond to multiple requests for comment.) Not that the "medicalization" of female genital mutilation is unique to Malaysia—the practice was recently identified as a new "disturbing trend" by the UNFPA, UNICEF, the International Confederation of Midwives, and the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. But some Malaysians believe that international organizations like those shouldn't be telling them how to live. "The problem with the West is that it's just so judgmental," said Abdul Khan Rashid, a professor at Penang Medical College. "Who the hell are you to tell us what to practice and what not to practice? A lot of women now do it in private clinics in safe conditions, but if you're going to make it illegal, the practice will just go underground." Dr. Ariza Mohamed is a prominent member of the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia, which condones "Holistic,edicine based on Islam" Malaysian medical practitioners also defend the practice by passing judgment onto other countries. "We are very much against what is going on in other countries like Sudan," said Dr. Ariza Mohamed, an obstetrician and gynecologist at KPJ Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. "That is very different from what we practice in Malaysia," she added. "And there is a big difference between circumcision and female genital mutilation." Photos by Thomas Cristofoletti Follow Marta on TwitterAdvertisement This is the moment two stallions fight over a female horse in a barbaric Chinese tradition which dates back hundreds of years. The event was held at Rongshui Miao Autonomous County in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Auang Autonomous Region yesterday in front of a huge audience. A mare enters the ring, before they allow two males in to fight over her. The crowd look on gripped by the bloody action in front of them. Some people are seen taking pictures and videos on their phones and cameras. The female horse watches on and dances round the ring, flattered by the interest in her. These type of competitions are held in small villages by Miao people across southern China to ring in the new year. When it's the Year of the Horse, the fights are said to hold more significance. Before each fight people bet on who the winner will be and can often earn around 10,000 yuan (£1,064) per battle. Animal rights campaigners condemn the fights, which are said to be around 500 years old. But those who take part are adamant that they take care of the horses. Scroll down for video This is the moment two stallions fight over a female horse in a barbaric Chinese tradition which dates back hundreds of years. Pictured are the horses fighting with the brown one going in for a bite (right) Two horses fight during a competition in Rongshui Miao Autonomous County in Liuzhou, in front of an enthralled audience The event was held at Rongshui Miao Autonomous County in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Auang Autonomous Region yesterday in front of a huge audience The crowd look on gripped by the bloody action in front of them. Some people are seen taking pictures and videos on their phones and cameras These type of competitions are held in small villages by Miao people across southern China to ring in the new year. When it's the Year of the Horse, the fights are said to hold more significance Animal rights campaigners condemn the fights, but those who take part are adamant that they take care of the horses Before each fight people bet on who the winner will be and can often earn around 10,000 yuan (£1,064) per battleNo policy maker or economist has publicly suggested such a huge sum. Trillions of dollars is a commonplace reference in talking about the financial bailout, but not yet the stimulus. The debate instead revolves around the proper mix for a stimulus package — that is, the most effective combination of outright spending and lower taxes. Prominent economists argue that more than 50 percent of the next package, whatever its size, should be devoted to spending — on public infrastructure like highway and school repair, and on items like food stamps and stepped-up aid to state governments, subsidizing their spending. Mr. Zandi, who advised the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, said in testimony last month before the Senate Budget Committee that nearly every dollar spent in this fashion generates $1.50 or more in economic activity. Repairing a road, for example, means hiring workers who spend their new salaries at supermarkets, which in turn hire more store clerks and stock more groceries to handle the extra spending. This “multiplier effect” is missing, however, when the stimulus comes as a tax break. A $750 billion stimulus package devoted entirely to spending could achieve, through the multiplier effect, more than the $1 trillion rise in output that the Obama administration apparently seeks to generate the 2.5 million new jobs. A stimulus devoted entirely to tax breaks, in contrast, would require the entire $1 trillion in rebates or lower taxes, and probably more, to create those jobs, in part because taxpayers getting this windfall might not spend all of it. Photo “The multiplier effect is clearly less than $1,” said Nigel Gault, chief domestic economist for Global Insight, “and perhaps as low as 30 cents if only some of the tax break is spent.” The one stimulus enacted by Congress — a $168 billion package that the president signed early this year — consisted entirely of tax breaks, mainly in the form of rebate checks mailed to millions of Americans. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Some of that windfall was saved or was spent on imports rather than on goods and services produced in this country. Spending on domestically produced goods and services adds to the nation’s economic output, but imports do not, helping to explain why this first stimulus failed to arrest the contraction. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. The problem with a stimulus package weighted heavily toward public spending is that there is a shortage of projects on which spending could begin in two or three months. The labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute, for example, has listed $65 billion in ready-to-go work, a third of it highway and school repair. Mr. Zandi offers a similar estimate. “Still,” he said, “if you don’t pick a big enough number for a stimulus package now and you have to announce another number next year, people will say: ‘Oh, the stimulus didn’t work. What makes you think this one will?’ ” Until now, big numbers have been noticeably absent from the stimulus debate. The House approved a $60 billion package in late September, sending it to the Senate, which has not voted on the measure. The House action was followed in mid-October by talk among Democratic Congressional leaders of upgrading the $60 billion to as much as $200 billion in a lame duck session. And then a week ago, Senator Charles E. Schumer, the senior Democrat from New York, suggested that any package should be $500 billion to $700 billion — numbers that begin to approach the $1.4 trillion already spent to resurrect the financial system. “By our estimates,” Jan Hatzius, chief domestic economist for Goldman Sachs, said in a newsletter last week, “the private sector retrenchment could subtract an annualized 4 percentage points or about $600 billion from economic growth through the end of 2009.” The financial sector bailout does not address this decline. Rescuing banks and other lenders has little direct impact on economic growth or job creation. The chief goal of the bailout is to get credit flowing again from reluctant and damaged lenders. The stimulus package, in contrast, puts up government money as a substitute for the spending and investment that is no longer taking place in the private sector — despite low interest rates — so that the economy can grow again, or at least stop shrinking. That makes the stimulus package ever more important if the economy continues to deteriorate at its present pace. Not since the first quarter of 1982, in the midst of a severe recession, has the gross domestic product contracted at a 4 percent annual rate in a single three-month period, as a growing number of forecasters say it is now doing, according to Blue Chip Economic Indicators. In America’s $14.4 trillion economy, that means the output of goods and services has been declining by nearly $50 billion a month since September — a decline the government will find itself under ever more pressure to reverse if demand in the private sector does not revive.Sims 4 Creators camp is a full three day hands-on experience. There were about two dozen of us invited in total, simmers from across the spectrum. Some were machinima makers, some custom content creators, others builders and modders, and still others were Let’s Players and other Youtube figureheads. Everyone was given the same level of access to the game, but everyone approached their time with the game differently. After the break, I detail MY experience with the game from start to finish. I was invited there as the creator of the Legacy Challenge, so my #1 priority was playtesting my own start of a Legacy. While three days would only scratch the surface of a Legacy Challenge, it would give me some very important framework to which I could mold the new version of my challenge. Like all good Legacy Challenge starts, everything began with a founder, Lady Cheshire Masque, given the creative aspiration with a focus on writing, art Lover, music lover, and delightfully insane. There are two neighborhoods to start with, though they intend to add more. And sadly you cannot customize lot sizes. The largest lot size in the game is 50×50, a bit smaller than past Legacy Challenge lots, but still quite sizeable. I was invited there as the creator of the Legacy Challenge, so my #1 priority was playtesting my own start of a Legacy. There are four 50×50 lots to choose from in the game. My first inclination was to bulldoze one of the two parks which occupied two of the 50×50 lots. The game lets you change the lot type to whatever you want. So it was easy for me to convert the park-type lot to a residential lot. However, even after bulldozing the whole park, the lot still cost me $25,000 simoleans to buy. A starting CAS sim only has $20,000 in starting funds and sadly there is no Family Funds cheat that I could find (There ARE cash cheats like motherlode, kaching and rosebud that you can use once in game, but not from the neighborhood screen.) Not wanting to get too complicated with the steps needed to start a Legacy Challenge, I tried my luck with the two residential 50×50 lots. Both of these start with mansions pre-built on them, and in the case of Oasis Springs, the Landgraab family lives there…but I could easily bulldoze and evict. What was left was a 50×50 lot that cost me exactly $10,000. That was both good and bad. Good that I was able to afford the lot directly out of CAS, bad in that the $10,000 lot would leave me with $10,000 in starting cash, which is WAY too much for a Legacy Founder to start with. With no Familyfunds cheat to artificially decrease my wealth, I had to find an alternative. Luckily one presented itself. There is a decorative set of armor that costs $8,200. Buying that and sticking it in your family inventory leaves you with $1,800 in starting cash and nothing on the lot: A perfect Legacy Challenge start. Since her aspiration was writing, I decided to enroll her in the new writing career. This wasn’t registering as self-employed, this was a full-fledged career. Both military and law enforcement are absent, so I wasn’t sure which careers paid the most in the early stages. In hind sight, writing wasn’t one of them, but I don’t regret going into it. My initial purchases included a mid-quality double bed for $1500 and a crappy (haha) toilet for about 300. Off I went to the community lots to go build her skills, meet potential mates and friends and fulfill her needs. While she wasn’t famished I went off in search of cheap food. Notably absent were restaurants, but there were grills in the park. However, even a batch of hot dogs was $32 a pop! Luckily I found a source of free food: Bars. You can walk up and order “Chips” from a bar for free. The bartender will hand you a bowl of bar snacks that your sim can casually munch on. It won’t fill the hungerbar all the way and my sim would sometimes not finish them if she got distracted by something else, but I did get a great preview of the new multitasking system. After getting her bowl of chips she would either grab a seat or just stand and munch on them. With a gaggle of other people in the bar, some eating, some drinking, others dancing, she was able to join in the conversation. I could even command her to do specific socials like flirting with potential mates and she was able do that without abandoning her snacks. Bars aside, community lots are good for social interactions. If the time of day is appropriate, there is normally a gaggle of people coming and going. And whatever you came to the community lot to do, you can probably do that plus talking with nearby people as a multitasking action. Now, chatting DOES slow down your action, so if you want your Sim to buckle down and finish that book or finish that skill point, you may want to seek out solitude. In my visiting of the community lots, I found one of the most powerful uses for multi- tasking out there. At one of the gyms, there is a trio of treadmills setup side-by-side in front of a wall-mounted TV. While the writing career didn’t require any athletic points, I wanted to make sure Lady Cheshire maintained her figure. So she got onto a treadmill and started working out. I then told her to watch TV and she turned it on and started watching it WHILE ON THE TREADMILL. I could even change it to the cooking channel and build cooking skill at the same time as athletic. Then a townie wandered in and hopped on a treadmill next to her and while still working out and still watching TV, she was able to strike up a conversation with her fellow gym goer. So multi tasking is NOT limited to just two actions. After her workout it was shower time. And let me tell you about showers: They play a pretty big role in the Sims 4, and not just with hygene. So at base your sim can “Take a shower” “Take a brisk shower” “Take a steamy
public and general labs Computer clusters The Mathematica license at Radford allows for grid computing on dedicated research clusters and in ad-hoc, or distributed, grid environments. For more details, please contact Andy Dorsett at adorsett@wolfram.com. Mathematica can also be installed on: University Owned Machines (other than Computer Labs) University owned PC machines can access and install Mathematica via the Software Center. Faculty and staff personally owned machines Fill out this form to request a home-use license from Wolfram. Student personally owned machines Follow the directions below to download from the Wolfram User Portal. Create an account (New users only) : Go to user.wolfram.com and click "Create Account" Fill out form using a @radford.edu email, and click "Create Wolfram ID" Check your email and click the link to validate your Wolfram ID Request the download and key: Fill out this form to request an Activation Key Click the "Product Summary page" link to access your license Click "Get Downloads" and select "Download" next to your platform Run the installer on your machine, and enter Activation Key at prompt Mathematica Tutorials The first three tutorials are excellent for new users, and can be assigned to students as homework to learn Mathematica outside of class time. Teaching with Mathematica Mathematica offers an interactive classroom experience that helps students explore and grasp concepts, plus gives faculty the tools they need to easily create supporting course materials, assignments, and presentations. Resources for educators Mathematica for Teaching and Education—Free video course Learn how to make your classroom dynamic with interactive models, explore computation and visualization capabilities in Mathematica that make it useful for teaching practically any subject at any level, and get best-practice suggestions for course integration. How To Create a Lecture Slideshow—Video tutorial Learn how to create a slideshow for class that shows a mixture of graphics, calculations, and nicely formatted text, with live calculations or animations. Wolfram Demonstrations Project Download pre-built, open-code examples from a daily-growing collection of interactive visualizations, spanning a remarkable range of topics. Wolfram Training Education Courses Access on-demand and live courses on Mathematica, SystemModeler, and other Wolfram technologies. Research with Mathematica Rather than requiring different toolkits for different jobs, Mathematica integrates the world's largest collection of algorithms, high-performance computing capabilities, and a powerful visualization engine in one coherent system, making it ideal for academic research in just about any discipline. Resources for researchersPakistan International Airlines was reported earlier this year to be making a loss, leading to cost-saving exercises like changing the menu (Picture: Anjum Naveed/AP) A pilot who wasn’t happy with the onboard food menu reportedly delayed his commercial New York-bound flight for two and a half hours because he wanted sandwiches. Captain Noushad apparently asked the catering department at Pakistan’s Allama Iqbal airport (AIIAP) for his own tailored foodstuffs to take onboard. When they said they could only provide items that had been pre-approved, they directed him towards a five-star hotel in the city which would have to courier his order over. Having demanded the sandwiches for his Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight Pk-711, the 6.45am departure had to be revised to 9.15am instead. The delay to the New York via Manchester flight is likely to have resulted in inconvenience for any passengers needing to change for connecting flights. Advertisement Advertisement As reported by Pakistan’s The Nation newspaper, PIA management changed the menu on international and long-haul flights from November 25 onwards. It downgraded lunch-time sandwiches to peanuts, crisps and biscuits in a cost-cutting exercise.After watching Ben Roethlisberger take dozens of hits week after week, Steelers offensive lineman Marcus Gilbert doesn't have much empathy for Cam Newton, who used his postgame press conference Sunday to express his dismay with the way his games are being officiated. After Carolina's 30-20 win over the Cardinals, Newton said that he doesn't feel safe and that he's not having fun anymore due to all the hits he's taking, and the fact that opposing players aren't being penalized for them. "It's not fun. It's really taking the fun out of the game for me," Newton said. "Honestly, it really is. At times, I don't even feel safe. Enough is enough. I plan on talking to commissioner Goodell about this. It's not fun. And I don't know what I have to do." Cam Newton isn't happy with NFL officiating right now. USATSI Gilbert said Newton should be more like Roethlisberger, and not complain. "Ben gets hit more than anybody in the league and he never complains. C'mon man. This is the game of football," Gilbert said, via ESPN.com. Gilbert's advice to Newton: If you don't want to get hit, then don't play football. "If you're out there and you're scared to take a shot, then don't be out there, especially if you're a running quarterback," Gilbert said. "[Defenses] are going to take shots at you. Just the way, his style of playing football, how he celebrates, I guess he gives the guys a chip, like let's go hit the reigning NFL MVP." The Steelers offensive lineman also added that defensive players seem to be out to get Newton because of the way he sometimes celebrates after a big play. "When he's running over people, he's going to stand right up and he's going to celebrate," Gilbert said. "This is the game of football. I'm sure there are cornerbacks or linebackers, whoever he's running over, the safeties, they aren't complaining about getting run over or getting crowned, facemask to facemask with the quarterback from a guy his size. Of course, guys are going to take shots.... I don't think anybody is trying to purposefully hurt him, but you're going to get those extra hits, especially against such a great player." If Newton wants to get hit less, then Gilbert says he should go talk to the Panthers' coaching staff. "If you don't like it, then tell the coach or the coordinator to change the whole game plan," Gilbert said. "Try to do something to protect you, because back a couple of years ago when Ben was getting hit a lot, we had to change our offense a little bit, put in a little extra protection to help him stay upright because he is the franchise player." If Newton does takes his complaints to Goodell, there's a chance they won't go anywhere. Pro Football Talk reported on Sunday that the NFL has been tracking missed roughing the passer calls since 2013, and Newton's not even in the top-10 for missed calls.A man being searched during a traffic stop in Manatee, Fla., allegedly admitted to police that a bag of marijuana hidden in his buttocks was his, but swore that the bag of cocaine also lodged there belonged to someone else, the Bradenton Herald reports. The police report says officers who searched 25-year-old Raymond Stanley Roberts "felt a soft object in his buttocks," the newspaper says. Roberts volunteered to retrieve the object, the report says, and pulled out a plastic bag of marijuana weighing 4.5 grams. But deputies then felt another soft object in the same area, and removed it themselves (through the exterior of Roberts' shorts, the newspaper hastens to point out). This bag, the police report says, contained 27 pieces of rock cocaine weighing 3.5 grams. When it fell to the ground, however, Roberts allegedly explained: "The white stuff is not mine, but the weed is." He said the cocaine belonged to a friend who had borrowed his car earlier. Roberts says he only spotted the bag as he was being pulled over, the report says. In the end, Raymond was charged with possession of rock cocaine and marijuana, the newspaper sreports. (Posted by Doug Stanglin)PETTUS, W.Va. — Alpha Natural Resources announced Thursday it will open a new underground coal mine in Raleigh County this summer. Marfork Coal Company, an Alpha subsidiary, plans to begin mining coal as early as July at Panther Eagle Mine near Pettus, according to a news release from the company. There are 8.8 million tons of metallurgical reserves available for Panther Eagle. “Recent improvement in the market has created more demand for our coal and strategically increasing production will help meet that need,” said Alpha Vice President of Operations Charlie Bearse said. Metallurgical coal is used in the making of steel. Panther Eagle is expected to produce 110,000 tons of Alpha’s 14 million tons projected in 2017. According to the company, the opening of the mine will create 50 full-time jobs. Four job fairs are scheduled in the region. They’ll be looking for mine management, fire boss, electrician, equipment operator, dispatcher and other general labor. “We are thrilled to be bringing mining jobs back to our counties,” Bearse said in the news release. “When you have good jobs, it benefits the many businesses, schools and charities that rely on a strong local economy to serve their communities.” The job fairs will also be used to fill another 30 jobs at other Alpha operations in the area. The job fairs will be held in the following locations from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 9 Independence Middle School Coal City June 16 Country Inns and Suites Beckley June 23 Sherman Elementary School Comfort June 30 Sharon Dawes Elementary SharonICO date: 19 September Whitepaper Available Company Website Creating a secure link between real-world data and the blockchain ecosystem ChainLink (aka Link Network) is a product by the team at SmartContract and has been in development since 2014. The startup seeks to solve a significant problem in the world of blockchain innovation by deploying a solution to interact with external and centralized data-feeds. In brief, the goals of the ChainLink technology are the following: 1) to provide a secure and decentralized middleware known as ‘oracles’ that can be used to communicate with centralized data feeds 2) to become a standard solution for such use cases as financial data, financial agreements, insurance, etc. 3) to combine and interact with other off-chain services such as payment gateways, execution of contracts and other actionable services on any API Want to see the rest? Download the entire research report freeAmerican alternative rock band They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG expanded to include a backing band.[1] The duo's current backing band consists of Marty Beller, Dan Miller, and Danny Weinkauf. The group has an unconventional and experimental style of alternative music. Over their career, they have found success on the modern rock and college radio charts. They have also found success in children's music, and in theme music for several television programs and films. TMBG have released 22 studio albums. Flood has been certified platinum and their children's music albums Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and Here Comes Science have all been certified gold. The band has won two Grammy Awards. They were nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.[2] The band has sold over 4 million records.[3] History [ edit ] Linnell and Flansburgh first met as teenagers growing up in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They began writing songs together while attending Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School but did not form a band at that time. The two attended separate colleges after high school and Linnell joined The Mundanes, a new wave group from Rhode Island. The two reunited in 1981 after moving to Brooklyn (to the same apartment building on the same day) to continue their career.[4] Earlier years (1982–89) [ edit ] At their first concert, They Might Be Giants performed under the name El Grupo De Rock and Roll (Spanish for "the Rock and Roll Band"), because the show was a Sandinista rally in Central Park, and a majority of the audience members spoke Spanish.[5] Soon discarding this title, the band assumed the name of a 1971 film They Might Be Giants (starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward), which is in turn taken from a Don Quixote passage about how Quixote mistook windmills for evil giants, which itself was taken[6] from Dante's Inferno Canto 34. According to Dave Wilson, in his book Rock Formations, the name They Might Be Giants had been used and subsequently discarded by a friend of the band who had a ventriloquism act.[7] The name was then adopted by the band, who had been searching for a suitable name. A common misconception is that the name of the band is a reference to themselves and an allusion to future success. In an interview, John Flansburgh said that the words "they might be giants" are just a very outward-looking forward thing which they liked. He clarified this in the documentary movie Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) by explaining that the name refers to the outside world of possibilities that they saw as a fledgling band. In an earlier radio interview, John Linnell described the phrase as "something very paranoid sounding".[8] The duo began performing their own music in and around New York City – Flansburgh on guitar, Linnell on accordion and saxophone and accompanied by a drum machine or prerecorded backing track on audio cassette. Their atypical instrumentation, along with their songs which featured unusual subject matter and clever wordplay, soon attracted a strong local following. Their performances also featured absurdly comical stage props such as oversized fezzes and large cardboard cutout heads of newspaper editor William Allen White.[9] Many of these props would later turn up in their first music videos. From 1984–87, They Might Be Giants were the house-band at Darinka, a Lower East Side performance club.[10] One weekend a month they played on the stage there and by the end of their three-year stint sold out every performance. On March 30, 1985, TMBG released their 7" flexi-disc, dubbed "Wiggle Diskette" at Darinka. The disc included demos of the songs "Everything Right Is Wrong" and "You'll Miss Me".[citation needed] At one point, Linnell broke his wrist in a biking accident, and Flansburgh's apartment was burgled, stopping them from performing for a time. During this hiatus, they began recording their songs onto an answering machine, and then advertising the phone number in local newspapers such as The Village Voice, using the moniker "Dial-A-Song".[11] They also released a demo cassette, which earned them a review in People magazine. The review caught the attention of Bar/None Records, who signed them to a recording deal.[12] Dial-A-Song consisted of an answering machine with a tape of the band playing various songs. The machine played one track at a time, ranging from demos and uncompleted work to mock advertisements the band had created. It was often difficult to access due to the popularity of the service and the dubious quality of the machines used. In reference to this, one of Dial-A-Song's many slogans over the years was the tongue-in-cheek "Always Busy, Often Broken". The number (718) 387-6962, was a local Brooklyn number and was charged accordingly, but the band advertised it with the line: "Free when you call from work". At one point in 1988, the Dial-A-Song answering machine recorded a conversation between two people who had listened to Dial-A-Song, then questioned how they made money out of it. An excerpt from the conversation has been included as a hidden track on the EP for (She Was A) Hotel Detective. In March 2000, TMBG started the website dialasong.com, which was more reliable than the original, phone-based version, as it used a Flash document to stream the songs. This was replaced in August 2006 with a page promoting the They Might Be Giants podcasts. John Linnell stated in an interview in early 2008 that Dial-A-Song had died of a technical crash, and that the Internet had taken over where the machine left off. On November 15, 2008, the Dial-A-Song number was officially disconnected, though the number has at times been re-used in a similar style by other independent artists. They Might Be Giants and Lincoln (1986–89) [ edit ] The duo released their self-titled debut album in 1986, which became a college radio hit. The video for "Don't Let's Start", filmed in the New York State Pavilion built for the 1964 New York World's Fair in Queens, became a hit on MTV in 1987, earning them a broader following. In 1988, they released their second album, Lincoln, named after the duo's hometown. It featured the song "Ana Ng" which reached No. 11 on the US Modern Rock chart. Both albums were produced on 8-track tape at Dubway Studios in New York City. Move to Elektra (1990–92) [ edit ] "Birdhouse In Your Soul" Chorus of the charting single "Birdhouse In Your Soul". Problems playing this file? See media help. In 1989, They Might Be Giants signed with Elektra Records, and released their third album Flood the following year. Flood earned them a platinum album, largely thanks to the success of "Birdhouse in Your Soul" which reached number three on the US Modern Rock chart, as well as "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", a cover of a song originally by The Four Lads. In 1990, Throttle magazine interviewed They Might Be Giants and clarified the meaning of the song "Ana Ng": John Flansburgh said, "Ng is a Vietnamese name. The song is about someone who's thinking about a person on the exact opposite side of the world. John looked at a globe and figured out that if Ana Ng is in Vietnam and the person is on the other side of the world, then it must be written by someone in Peru".[13] Further interest in the band was generated when two cartoon music videos were created by Warner Bros. Animation for Tiny Toon Adventures: "Istanbul" and "Particle Man".[14] The videos reflected TMBG's high "kid appeal", resulting from their often absurd songs and poppy melodies. In 1991, Bar/None Records released the B-sides compilation Miscellaneous T. The title referred to the section of the record store where TMBG releases were often found as well as to the overall eclectic nature of the tracks.[citation needed] Though consisting of previously released material (save for the "Purple Toupee" b-sides, which were not available publicly), it gave new fans a chance to hear the Johns' earlier non-album work without having to hunt down the individual EPs. In early 1992, They Might Be Giants released Apollo 18. The heavy space theme coincided with TMBG being named Musical Ambassadors for International Space Year. Singles from the album included "The Statue Got Me High", "I Palindrome I", and "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)". Apollo 18 was also notable for being one of the first albums to take advantage of the CD player's shuffle feature. The song "Fingertips" actually comprised 21 separate tracks — short snippets that not only acted together to make the song but that when played in random order would be interspersed between the album's full-length songs. Due to mastering errors, the UK and Australian versions of Apollo 18 contained "Fingertips" as one track. Recruiting a band (1992–98) [ edit ] Following Apollo 18, Flansburgh and Linnell decided to move away from the guitar & accordion (or sax) plus backing tracks on tape nature of their live show, and recruited a supporting band that consisted of live musicians (Kurt Hoffman of The Ordinaires on reeds and keyboards, longtime Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone, and drummer Jonathan Feinberg). John Henry was released in 1994. Influenced by their more conventional lineup, this album marked a departure from their previous releases with more of a guitar-heavy sound.[15] It was released to mixed reviews amongst fans and critics alike. Their next album, Factory Showroom, was released in 1996 to little fanfare. The band had quickly moved away from the feel of John Henry, and Factory Showroom returns to the more diverse sounds of their earlier albums, despite the inclusion of two guitarists, the second being Eric Schermerhorn who provided several guitar solos. They left Elektra after the duo refused to do a publicity show, amongst other exposure-related disputes.[10] In 1998, they released a mostly-live album Severe Tire Damage from which came the single "Doctor Worm", a studio recording. Around this same time period, Danny Weinkauf (bass) and Dan Miller (guitar) were recruited for their recording and touring band. Both had previously been members of the bands Lincoln and Candy Butchers (Previous opening acts for TMBG). Weinkauf and Miller have continued to work with the band to the present day. Beyond Elektra and move to Restless Records (1999–2003) [ edit ] For most of their career, TMBG has made innovative use of the Internet. As early as 1992, the band was sending news updates to their fans via Usenet newsgroups. In 1999, They Might Be Giants became the first major-label recording artist to release an entire album exclusively in mp3 format. The album, Long Tall Weekend.[16] is sold through Emusic. Also, in 1999, the band contributed the song "Dr. Evil" to the motion picture Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Over their career, the band has performed on numerous movie and television soundtracks, including The Oblongs, the ABC News miniseries Brave New World and Ed and His Dead Mother. They also performed the theme music "Dog on Fire", composed by Bob Mould, for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.[17][18] They composed and performed the music for the TLC series Resident Life, the theme song for the Disney Channel program Higglytown Heroes, and songs about the cartoons Dexter's Laboratory and Courage the Cowardly Dog.[19] During this time, the band also worked on a project for McSweeney's, a publishing company and literary journal. The band wrote a McSweeney's theme song and forty-four songs for an album that was meant to be listened to with the journal, with each track corresponding to a particular story or piece of artwork. Labeled They Might Be Giants vs. McSweeney's, the disk appears in issue No. 6 of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. "Boss of Me" Sample of the band's Grammy award winning theme song to Malcolm in the Middle. Problems playing this file? See media help. Contributing the single "Boss of Me" as the theme song to the hit television series Malcolm in the Middle, as well as to the show's compilation CD, brought a new audience to the band. Not only did the band contribute the theme, songs from all of the Giants' previous albums were used on the show: for example, the infamous punching-the-kid-in-the-wheelchair scene from the first episode was done to the strains of "Pencil Rain" from Lincoln. Another song to feature in the series was "Spiraling Shape". "Boss of Me" became the band's second top-40 hit in the UK which they performed on long-running UK television programme Top of the Pops, and in 2002, won the duo a Grammy Award.[20] On September 11, 2001, they released the album Mink Car on Restless Records. It was their first full album release of new studio material since 1996 and their first since parting ways with Elektra. The making of that album, including a record signing event at a Manhattan Tower Records, was included in a documentary directed by AJ Schnack titled Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). The film was released on DVD in 2003. In 2002, they released No!, their first album "for the entire family". Using the enhanced CD format, it included an interactive animation for most of the songs. They followed it up in 2003 with their first book, an illustrated children's book with an included EP, Bed, Bed, Bed. Podcasting, independent releases, and children's music (2004–2015) [ edit ] They Might Be Giants performing at Bar None, in Brooklyn, NY In 2004, the band created one of the first artist-owned online music stores, at which customers could purchase and download MP3 copies of their music, both new releases and many previously released albums. By creating their own store, the band could keep money that would otherwise go to record companies. With the redesign of the band's website in 2010, the store was reincarnated. Also, in 2004, the band released its first new "adult" rock work since the release of No!, the EP Indestructible Object. This was followed by a new album, The Spine, and an associated EP, The Spine Surfs Alone. It was at this time that Dan Hickey was replaced by Marty Beller who had previously collaborated with TMBG. For the album's first single, "Experimental Film", TMBG teamed up with Homestar Runner creators Matt and Mike Chapman to create an animated music video.[21] The band's collaboration with the Brothers Chaps also included several Puppet Jam segments with puppet Homestar and the music for a Strong Bad email titled "Different Town". In 2006 they recorded a track for the 200th Strong Bad e-mail, where Linnell provided the voice of The Poopsmith.[22][23] TMBG also contributed a track to the 2004 Future Soundtrack For America compilation, a project compiled by John Flansburgh with the help of Spike Jonze and Barsuk Records. The band contributed "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", a political campaign song from the presidential election of 1840. The compilation was released by Barsuk and featured indie, alternative, and high-profile acts such as Death Cab for Cutie, The Flaming Lips, and Bright Eyes. All proceeds went to progressive organizations such as Music for America and MoveOn.org.[24] Flansburgh and Linnell made a guest appearance in "Camp", the January 11, 2004, episode of the animated sitcom Home Movies. They voice both a pair of camp counselors and members of a strange hooded male bonding cult.[25] On May 10, 2004, they made a guest star appearance on episode 141 of Blue's Clues called "Bluestock" alongside several other stars, such as Toni Braxton, Macy Gray, and India.Arie. They Might Be Giants were in a letter for Joe and Blue. They Might Be Giants perform a free show at Amoeba Music in Hollywood, CA on March 25, 2005 Following the Spine on the Hiway Tour of 2004, the band announced that they would take an extended hiatus from touring to focus on other projects, such as a musical produced by Flansburgh and written by his wife, Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser, titled People Are Wrong!. 2005 saw the release of Here Come the ABCs, TMBG's follow-up to the successful children's album No!. The Disney Sound label released the CD and DVD separately on February 15, 2005. To promote the album, Flansburgh and Linnell along with drummer Marty Beller embarked on a short tour, performing for free at many Borders Bookstore locations. In November 2005, Venue Songs was released as a two-disc CD/DVD set narrated by John Hodgman. It is a concept album based on all of the "venue songs" from their 2004 tour. TMBG covered the Devo song "Through Being Cool" in the 2005 Disney movie, Sky High. Since December 2005, They Might Be Giants have been making podcasts on a monthly, sometimes bi-monthly, basis. Each edition includes remixes of previous songs, rarities, covers, and new songs and skits recorded specifically for the podcast. The band contributed 14 original songs for the 2006 Dunkin' Donuts ad campaign, "America Runs on Dunkin'", including "Things I Like to Do", "Pleather", and "Fritalian". In the aired advertisement, Flansburgh sings "Fritalian" along with his wife, Robin Goldwasser. In a 2008 commercial, "Moving" is played.[26] The band has produced and performed three original songs for Playhouse Disney series: one for Higglytown Heroes and two for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse features two original songs performed by group, including the opening theme song, in which a variant of a Mickey Mouse Club chant ("Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse!") is used to summon the Clubhouse, and "Hot Dog!", the song used at the end of the show. The song references Mickey's first spoken words in the 1929 short The Karnival Kid. They also recorded a cover of the Disney song, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for the movie Meet the Robinsons and wrote and performed the theme song for The Drinky Crow Show. The band was recruited to provide original songs for the Henry Selick-directed movie of Neil Gaiman's children's book Coraline but were dropped because their music was not "creepy" enough.[27] Only one song, titled "Other Father Song", was kept for the film with Linnell singing as the titular "Other Father". Their twelfth album, The Else, was released July 10, 2007, on Idlewild Recordings (and distributed by Zoë Records for the CD version), with an earlier digital release on May 15 at the iTunes Store. Advance copies were made available to stations by mid-June 2007.[28] The album was produced by Pat Dillett (David Byrne) and The Dust Brothers (Beck, Beastie Boys).[29] On February 12, 2009, They Might Be Giants performed the song "The Mesopotamians" from the album on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[30] In the rest of 2007, They Might Be Giants wrote a commissioned piece for Brooklyn-based robotic music outfit League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots and performed for three dates at the event, and covered the Pixies "Havalina" for American Laundromat Records Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES compilation. They Might Be Giants' new logo The band's 13th album, Here Come the 123s, a DVD/CD follow-up to 2005's critically acclaimed Here Come the ABCs children's project, was released on February 5, 2008.[31] On April 10, 2008, They Might Be Giants performed the song "Seven" from the album on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In 2009, the album won the Grammy Award for "Best Musical Album For Children" during the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.[32] The band's fourteenth album, Here Comes Science, a science-themed children's album.[33] This album introduced listeners to natural, formal, social, and applied sciences. It was released on September 1, 2009, and nominated for a Grammy Award on December 1, 2010. On November 3, They Might Be Giants sent out a newsletter stating "The Avatars of They", a set of sock puppets the Johns manipulate for shows, will have an album in 2012, suggesting another children's album. However, a new adult album titled Join Us was released on July 19, 2011.[34][35] On October 3, 2011, Artix Entertainment announced that the band would be performing in-game for a special musical event to commemorate the 3rd birthday of their popular MMORPG AdventureQuest Worlds. They were featured in AdventureQuest World's special third birthday event as John and John.[36] John Flansburgh (left) and John Linnell in 2012 (by photographer Shervin Lainez) On March 5, 2013, the band released their sixteenth adult studio album, Nanobots, on their Idlewild Recordings label in the US and on British indie label Lojinx in Europe.[37][38] The live album Flood Live in Australia was made available for free digital download by the band in 2015. Also in 2015, the band reactivated its Dial-A-Song service under the banner of Dial-A-Song-Direct, promising to release one new song every week for the entire year, beginning with the track "Erase" on January 5. Several of these songs were planned to be collected on a new studio rock album entitled Glean on April 21, 2015. The band released their newest children's album, Why?, on November 27, 2015. It was their fifth children's album and the first children's album to be released under their own label, Idlewild Recordings. In a video released on December 20, 2015, John Flansburgh announced that the band would be taking a temporary break following their 2016 U.S. tour. Dial-A-Song revival, Phone Power, and I Like Fun (2015–present) [ edit ] Flansburgh (left) and Linnell (right) in 2016 Dial-A-Song was revived in 2015, with a new phone number ((844) 387-6962), the website, and a radio network.[39] It ceased production sometime in early 2016, but the band announced via Twitter that Dial-A-Song would return again, in a modified format, starting in January 2018.[40] On March 8, 2016, the band released Phone Power, their nineteenth studio album and the third containing songs from the 2015 revival of their Dial-a-Song service. This was the first TMBG album to be sold as a "pay what you want" download, available ahead of the physical release on June 10.[41][42] The band's twentieth album, I Like Fun was released on January 19, 2018.[43] Their twenty-first and twenty-second studio albums, My Murdered Remains and The Escape Team, were both released on December 10, 2018. My Murdered Remains contains many songs from the 2018 and 2015 revivals of Dial-A-Song. Members [ edit ] Timeline Discography [ edit ] Throughout their career, They Might Be Giants have released 22 studio albums, 10 compilations, 10 live albums, 8 EPs, 7 videos and 11 singles.[44] Studio albums [ edit ] Charting singles [ edit ] Music videos [ edit ] The band has released 25 main music videos for songs from their rock albums.[3] All of their children's albums have also included video content or run alongside DVD releases. The band also has videos for each of the Dial-A-Song tracks from 2015 and 2018 on their main YouTube channel, ParticleMen. Direct from Brooklyn [ edit ] In 1999, They Might Be Giants released Direct from Brooklyn, a VHS compilation of their music videos from 1986 up to that point. It was reissued on DVD in 2003. The following music videos were included: Other videos [ edit ] See also [ edit ]Ian Rizzio was a 24-year-old mechanical engineering student in Portland, Oregon, managing a sandwich shop to pay his tuition. One day, he woke up sick, but went to work anyway, as he later testified to the Portland City Council. After vomiting in the bathroom, Rizzio spent two hours trying — unsuccessfully — to reach his boss before going home to rest. When Rizzio came into work the next day, he was fired immediately. With $35,000 in student loans, he feared he’d have to withdraw from school. Unfortunately, Rizzio is not alone. More than 40 million Americans — disproportionately low-income, black and Latino workers — cook, clean, fold, and ring us up without any paid time off when they or their children are ill. On any given day, these workers must choose between caring for a sick child and their job. They handle our food and our purchases, coughing and sniffling through Kleenex, to avoid being handed a pink slip. The absence of paid sick leave is a glaring injustice that puts American workers in the distinguished company of workers in Syria, Somalia and North Korea. It’s an affront to our values and the dignity of a hard day’s work. And it’s a drag on our families, our businesses, and our society. For all the vibrant national debate on work/life balance and encouraging women to “lean in” at their workplace, sometimes we need to make it easier for women and men—for all working adults—to stay home. After all, should catching a cold really mean you could wind up out in the cold? Many businesses claim that paid sick leave is another burdensome regulation — part of some dastardly “mandate madness” — but the truth is paid sick leave keeps workers and businesses healthy. Employees with sick leave are less likely to go to work sick. They’re less likely to send their sick children to school or day care, where contagious kids can infect others. And they’re less likely to wind up in the emergency room because they weren’t able to visit a doctor during the day—leading to lower health-care costs for employers. According to one study, offering U.S. workers seven paid sick days a year would save the American economy an estimated $160 billion annually in reduced turnover and increased productivity. Fortunately, the push for paid sick leave has been picking up steam. Since 2006, when San Francisco became the first city to pass sick leave laws, Washington D.C. and Seattle have enacted their own versions of this humane, common-sense legislation. So has the state of Connecticut. Just a few weeks ago, the Portland City Council voted unanimously to require paid sick leave, thanks to the testimony and advocacy of Ian Rizzio and workers like him. The Philadelphia City Council has passed similar legislation, which Mayor Michael Nutter threatens to veto. Despite the predictions of some critics, these laws haven’t exactly brought businesses to their knees. After Connecticut passed its sick-leave law, employment actually rose in the most affected industries. The same
something, for the newest prerequisite for victory was a new years-long project that would transform theagencies:Yes, even our economic institutions need change.Lucky America never came up with a plan to succeed without relying on Iraqis, because by January 12, 2007, "To establish a civil society, Iraqis must rebuild their basic infrastructure," Gingrich decided. "Iraqis must take control of their destiny by rebuilding houses, stores, schools, roads, highways, mosques and churches." Americans would help with -- you guessed it! -- a transformative new program.It's often "only the beginning" with Gingrich, because itsthe beginning. Before you even have time to fundamentally transform your bureaucrats into efficient Lean Sigma Six machines you're suddenly forced to abandon that plan so you can build a successful New Deal-style employment agency in a war zone... and meanwhile on the home front/battleground, the War on Terror would suddenly require transforming our understating of the Bill of Rights. Said Gingrich: "At a dinner hosted by the Nackey Loeb School honoring our First Amendment rights, I called for a serious debate about the First Amendment and how terrorists are abusing our rights--using them as they once used passenger jets--to threaten and kill Americans."Last but not least, there's the op-ed that Gingrich co-wrote with Rudy Giuliani, and that could've almost been in In a Gingrich Administration maybe Tommy Thompson can draw up the plans for pacifying postwar Iran. TRANSFORMING CRIMINAL JUSTICE Yes, Gingrich applies a variation on the same formula here too. Begin with an absurdly formulated statement of the problem: "There is a war here at home, and it is even more deadly than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Far more Americans are being killed by violent, evil people here in America than in our official military 'combat zones' overseas. Americans are killed by violent criminals all too often, of course. But the senselessness and tragedy of these killings and too many others is that they were completely preventable. Their perpetrators were men who should not have been in the United States to begin with and, after multiple previous arrests, shouldn't have been on the streets. Instead, they should have been in jail awaiting trial, sentencing, prison, and eventual deportation." So, a war on illegal immigrant criminals. To be sure, this is an actual problem. Back in 2008 I proposed what still strikes me as a common sense solution: before releasing criminals from jail, check their immigration status, and if they're here illegally, deport them rather than putting them back onto American streets. Easy enough, right? But too simple for Gingrich. Here's what he proposed in the wake of murders committed by an illegal immigrant. First, "the president should call Congress back for an emergency session for three days to pass a single, decisive bill." It should be "very simple and straightforward," he wrote. "Its central feature should be the development of a real-time identification system to check legal status of felons. The system should be measured against the speed of automatic teller machines and should be run by private-sector companies who know how to build and maintain real-time identification systems and how to combat fraud. Every person arrested for a felony will be checked against the federal database, and unless there is positive proof they are American citizens or legal residents in America, they will be presumed to be here illegally and will be detained." Of course, the chances were nil that an emergency session of Congress would be called for such a thing... or that such a measure would be passed, without study, in three days... and it isn't clear why a "real time" system is needed if you're only checking felons who are, you know, locked up for awhile. Plus Gingrich's additional demand that "and any city, county, or state that refuses to participate in checking every felony arrest will immediately lose all their federal aid" is both objectionable on federalist grounds and made his proposal even more politically untenable. TRANSFORMING THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Before any of these proposals -- and I've just scratched the surface -- Gingrich orchestrated his takeover of the House of Representatives, where he applied this same philosophy to leadership. There was the Contract with America, his most famous iteration of laying out a sweeping master plan as a beginning. And there was his politicking inside the House of Representatives too. See, some Speakers of the House focus on pushing their agenda. But Gingrich set about trying to fundamentally change the institution. He consolidated his power by getting rid of normal seniority procedures, started trying to replace the committee system with "task forces" that he could exercise more control over, started forcing Republican members to raise money for the party rather than just themselves... Whether you think those were good or bad ideas, Gingrich just will try to transform everything. He won't be denied. He has got lots of ideas, you see. It isn't a conservative impulse. Nor is it always radicalism in service of his larger right-wing agenda. He just likes to think of himself as a transformative guy. As Connie Bruck relates in her 1995 New Yorker profile: About a year after arriving at West Georgia, Gingrich, at twenty-eight, applied to be made chairman of the History Department - and, the following year (undaunted by his failure), to be president of the college. When that, too, failed, he met with the new president, delivered a critique of the institution, and was given the assignment of reorganizing it. Daryl Conner, then a graduate student in psychology, was enlisted to assist Gingrich in his reorganization efforts, and Conner quickly learned that Gingrich viewed this attempted reformation of the West Georgia system as training for something much, much larger. "It couldn't have been more than a few days before we were talking about what he thought he needed to do to save Western civilization." It's a tick that often causes Gingrich to propose changes so absurdly unrealistic that no reform happens. And if he ever had the time, discipline or power to implement one of his schemes in full, the unintended consequences would be epic. He'd be a uniquely awful president, whether of a large corporation or the United States, accomplishing very little, and possibly mucking up a lot along the way. And he'd totally remodel the White House before he got started. Image credit: ReutersIn last week’s developer diary I talked about the various forms of combat you’ll see in Ships and Scurvy. In a nutshell, there are sea battles, hero battles and land battles – which are in fact the subject of today’s update! I’ve always been a fan of the 1984 game Ancient Art of War’s battle system, mainly for its simplicity and visual appeal. Lots of little troops running at each other, you give them basic orders during the combat. I’ve tried to emulate this battle system a few times in the past but never quite nailed it – when I built Swords & Sandals Crusader, I ended up having to make combat turn based instead of realtime because with the vast number of troops it just became unwieldy and too chaotic. See the image below: Troops would move into the center of the field, attack, then retreat to their positions in formation. It worked fairly well, but some battles felt like they went for far too long – combat was one of the central parts of the game, so I didn’t want it to feel tedious. For Ships and Scurvy, I took what I’d learnt from previous battle systems and came up with the following key issues: The battle was to be on one screen, with no panning left to right – this means limited real estate In realtime combat, it’s too difficult to control individual soldiers – especially as they die so quickly More than 30 troops on either side becomes visually too busy and combat becomes hard to follow There’s a technical limitation of about 100 troops on each side before framerate drops, but battles of these size were too chaotic in early tests Controlling groups of troops with general orders makes combat a much more tactical affair Knowing all of this, I started work on creating a basic sailor class – this extends my character class (which controls animations, basic movement etc ) and adding to this some battle specific AI functions. I then grouped the sailor into either Heavy, Ranged or Light troop class and created a hero and enemy array full of such sailors. Each sailor has five statistics: Speed affects how fast the character moves in battle affects how fast the character moves in battle Attack is how likely the character is to hit their enemy is how likely the character is to hit their enemy Defence is the character’s chance of defending an attack is the character’s chance of defending an attack Health represents how many hits the player can take before falling in battle represents how many hits the player can take before falling in battle Morale represents how likely the character is to flee the battle The basic premise of the groups (and the heart of the tactics ) is thus: HEAVY troops have an advantage against LIGHT troops LIGHT troops have an advantage against RANGED troops RANGED troops have an advantage against HEAVY troops It’s essentially a variation on rock paper scissors, each troop is stronger or weaker than another troop. Once these battle groups have been created, I then ask the player to select battle tactics from an optional menu. Each troop can change their behaviour by either cautiously or furiously attacking a specific group. In the below example, the light troops will cautiously attack the enemy’s ranged troops, giving them an advantage in attack accuracy but a disadvantage in firing speed. Once battle tactics have been selected, the battle begins. I start battle by having the troops rush out on the the field (from the left and the right) and then looping through each group array and assigning them orders based on their tactics. Each sailor has the following basic battle AI functions. FindTarget: The sailor seaches for an enemy who is a) alive and b) in the group their are tactically programmed to attack. If they fail to find one, they will try to attack any enemy on the field. Move: The soldier then moves towards their target. Using the cos/sine method, I get the player to look at a target, then move their x and y velocity according to the cos/sin of the looking angle. It’s pretty basic but it works well. The characters move per pixel at their speed stat, but furious characters will move twice as fast. PrepareAttack: Launches the soldier into their attack animation. If the character is ranged, it actually fires a projectile at their enemy and waits half a second. Once the animation is complete, I then launch into DoAttack. DoAttack: The heart of combat. Here, the character ‘flips a virtual coin’ once per attack stat. Each coinflip that returns ‘tails’ is considered a successful attack. The defensive character then flips coins a total amount of times per defence stat. If the defensive character rolls more tails than the attacking character, they defend the attack; otherwise they lose health. If their health reaches zero, they of course invariably perish on the field. So, for example: Soldier A has 3 attack, and solider B has 2 defence. Soldier A flips a coin 3 times and gets (heads/tails/tails) for a total of 2 hits. Soldier B flips 2 coins and comes up with (heads/tails), defending one of the hits. They take 1 damage. CheckMorale: Each second that passes in battle, I force each soldier to do a morale check. Morale is a number between 1-100, determined by the ship’s crew going into battle. Underfed, poorly treated sailors will go into battle with low morale, for example. Upon performing this function, the character rolls a number between 1>100. If this number is lower then their morale, they will flee the field. Each death or sailor that flees reduces the squad’s morale by a number, meaning that the longer goes on and the poorer your squad fares, the more likely they are to flee. Battle continues until all the soldiers on one side have either fled or died. At this point the winning side may either free the captive enemies, invite them into the ship’s crew (for a fee), enslave them or even put them to the sword. The player’s reputation through the game will of course depend on actions like this. Nobody likes a slaver ( except perhaps another slaver.) Anyway, thus end’s today’s development diary – as a bonus, here’s some a video of two squads in battle on a beach. Enjoy! As always, happy journeys! Oliver Joyce Whiskeybarrel StudiosWASHINGTON — The House may weigh in next week on whether women must register for the military draft. A Texas congressman is challenging a proposal by a House committee that requires women 18-26 years old to register with the currently all-male Selective Service. The draft expansion passed in April by the House Armed Services Committee is now part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act policy bill. Legislation sponsored by Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican, strikes the committee’s Selective Service changes from the NDAA and is among the very first proposed amendments to be filed Monday as the House gears up for debate and passage of the massive bill next week. A series of political skirmishes over the draft appear headed for a decisive battle during the House vote on the NDAA. The Senate is expected to debate the draft and its version of the defense bill this week. Congress has been wrestling with the draft system since the military decided in December to open all combat jobs to women, all but eliminating a rationale excluding them from the Selective Service. The United States has relied on an all-volunteer force since the end of the Vietnam War and many lawmakers see the possibility of a new draft as remote, though registered men could still be called up to fight on the front lines of future wars. “I have the utmost respect and deepest appreciation for the young women who bravely volunteer to serve our country, but I am adamantly opposed to expanding the draft and coercing America’s daughters to fight on the front lines,” Sessions said in a statement provided to Stars and Stripes. The legislation has set up a showdown in the House between lawmakers who oppose forcing women to fight and others who see draft expansion as a step toward female equality. Ironically, the draft expansion voted into the NDAA by the House Armed Services Committee late last month was sponsored by another Republican who opposes women participating in the draft – Rep. Duncan Hunter of California. Hunter, a former Marine and member of the committee, had attempted to stoke opposition to the draft changes and wider combat roles for women by forcing fellow lawmakers to consider mass female casualties during a large-scale future war. An earlier bill that he sponsored called the Draft America’s Daughters Act was also designed to evoke outrage and opposition. But other members on the Armed Services Committee came out in favor of Hunter’s legislation during debate including Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who said she would be “delighted” to vote in favor of the draft expansion because it will end discrimination toward women. Hunter voted against his own measure. His spokesman Joe Kasper said Monday that the congressman’s intention is to force a House floor vote on the draft and he backs Sessions. “He has communicated to Rep. Sessions that he fully supports the amendment” that strikes the draft expansion from the NDAA, Kasper said. tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_TrittenAlex Trebek isn’t here for your nerdcore hip-hop. The game show host didn’t mince words when it came to describing followers of the underground music genre, which contestant Susan Cole, a legislative librarian from Bowie, Maryland, described in detail during Wednesday’s episode of Jeopardy! “Your favorite type of music is something I’ve never heard of, but it doesn’t sound like fun,” Trebek said. “I think it’s very fun. It’s called nerdcore hip-hop. It’s people who identify as nerdy rapping about the things they love: video games, science fiction, having a hard time meeting romantic partners,” Cole responded. “It’s really catchy and fun.” RELATED: 25 Funniest Game Show Bloopers Without missing a beat, Trebek, using his signature deadpan voice, jokingly asked: “Losers, in other words?” Cole’s admittedly “nerdy” ways paid off, however, as she walked away from the competition with $22,600. Following the episode’s airing, prominent nerdcore hip-hop artist Mega Ran crafted a short song in response to Trebek’s comments. In a video posted to Twitter, the Philadelphia native raps: “Alex Trebek, you lost a lot of respect / I gotta check you off the rip for coming outta your neck / Talking sideways on geeks, man, you’re a trip / Guess you hadn’t heard, nerds make up half of your viewership / Nerdcore is home to some serious lyricists / I’ll break this down in a format you’re familiar with / This host gets roasted on SNL yearly / Hosts a show for nerds and doesn’t know it, clearly / Nobody likes a know-it-all, condescending blowhard / Easy to be snarky when you’re holding all the notecards / But Susan got the last laugh: 20 grand in cash / And you’re good at all my shows, you don’t even have to ask / Suck it, Trebek” Wrote some words for #AlexTrebek on the way from the venue tonight… your move, haha 🤓💥🔫 pic.twitter.com/NFzJjRlG9U — Mega Ran (@MegaRan) October 13, 2016 Watch Trebek call nerdcore hip-hop followers “losers” above.A little over a year ago, Bernie Sanders expressed one of the themes of his presidential campaign in a speech at the Brookings Institution: “We are moving rapidly away from our democratic heritage into an oligarchic form of society… billionaire families are now able to spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase the candidates of their choice. The billionaire class now owns the economy, and they are working day and night to make certain that they own the United States government.” This gets at the heart of the justification for our economic system. According to economic theory, one of the wonders of capitalism is that the pursuit of self-interest by individuals in society is guided, as if by an invisible hand, to maximize the collective social interest. Ruthless, cutthroat competition between individuals and businesses is magically transformed through the marketplace into a harmonious outcome that is best for society as a whole. But there are important questions about the extent to which this describes how our economy actually works. Related: Here’s Why Bernie Sanders’ 5% Growth Plan Isn’t Crazy After All First, this result relies upon particular “rules of the game.” Who sets those rules, and are they set in a way that maximizes the social benefit or do they serve special interests? The model that produces the harmonious, socially optimal outcome relies upon several important assumptions. For example, it assumes there is pure competition. The existence of some degree of market power by firms, or unequal bargaining power between firms and workers, upsets this result. If there are externalities – costs to society from the production of goods and services that firms do not have to pay – societal interests will not be maximized. Ideally, when there are deviations from the conditions needed to fully serve society’s interests, government will step in with agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission, or devices such as carbon taxes or cap-and-trade to realign private and public interests. Can this happen when one class in society has enough political power to tilt the rules in its favor? Recently, “A novel conference at Harvard Business School brought together top scholars in order to answer the question: Is Milton Friedman’s dictum that firms that maximize shareholder value maximize social value as well still relevant in a post-Citizens United world?” It probably won’t come as a surprise to learn that “a majority of speakers and participants generally agreed that, among other things, firms maximize profits by also tweaking the rules of the game to their advantage.” Our democratic process does not give all members of society an equal voice in determining the rules of the game, some voices speak louder than others. Related: The Pros and Cons of Bernie Sanders’ $50 Billion Tax Idea A second question, a difficult one for me, is how the social interest is defined. Is it confined to US borders, or does it extend to people across the world? If a corporation moves jobs from the US to a developing country, to what degree should the fact that this lifts the incomes in developing nations, sometimes substantially, matter in thinking about how much it serves the social interest? This is complicated by the fact that some people in the US care deeply about eliminating poverty in developing countries, and others are far more concerned with the impacts of trade on their own jobs, and what it means for their children or their local communities. The Democratic process is supposed to reconcile this by giving us all an equal say and then coming up with an answer, but there is good reason to question whether all interests are equitably represented in the political process. There has also been a change in how well corporate interests are aligned with national interests and the interests of the communities they serve. At one time, these interests were closely aligned, but in today’s globalized economy corporations extend across national borders and shareholders come from different countries. When a corporation pulls up its stakes and moves to another part of the world in search of higher profits, what definition of social interest is being served? Should we be surprised that this is an issue in a national election that is based upon the interests of people within our borders, many of whom feel that their interests have been ignored? Related: Bernie Sanders: ‘We Will Raise Taxes. Yes, We Will’ Finally, it should be noted that the social harmony result has little to say about wealth inequality. The social harmony result will prevail for any initial distribution of wealth, just or not. What does seem apparent is that inequality is an important factor behind the political capture that allows the rules to be tilted in favor of special interests, and that this has undermined the conditions needed for the marketplace to serve the broader social interest. Breaking up monopolies, adequate regulation of the financial sector, reducing the threat of global warming, enhancing the bargaining power of workers, and so on is more difficult, if not impossible when a small segment of society has undue influence over attempts to legislate change. This is not an attempt to identify which presidential candidate has the best chance of moving us toward a more socially harmonious outcome, either incrementally or through revolution. You will have to decide that for yourself (though I will go so far as to say the ideas I hear about how to “make America great again” will do anything but). Instead, this is an attempt to make the case that one of the justifications for our economic system, the idea that it magically produces an outcome that maximizes social welfare, relies upon assumptions that are increasingly distant from how our economic and political systems actually work. I don’t know if the forces that have allowed special interests to become so powerful can be overcome, but I am far more optimistic than I was before this year’s presidential campaign that change is on its way.You've probably noticed, if you've played Grand Theft Auto V, that the persistent virtual day–night cycle is just a little faster than our own. One hour in GTA V time is two minutes in real life. One year in GTA V is 17,520 minutes, or 292 hours, or a little over 12 days. That has some basic implications, like, say, if you take 35 hours or so to beat the game, you've played about a month and a half of "GTA time." A 25-year-old man like Franklin, with a life expectancy of 79 years, would have approximately 648 real-world days to live, or less than two real-world years. Nico Bellic, it goes without saying, is long dead. More broadly, that means that the planet on which GTA V takes place orbits the sun — or some star — every 12 days. That's more than seven times faster than the closest planet to the sun, Mercury, which circles the sun every 88 days. This got us to wondering: Where, exactly, would this mystery planet that orbits the sun be? What would it look like? Could planet GTA actually exist? Caleb Scharf is the director of astrobiology at Columbia University. Here's what he told us about the location and composition of planet GTA, if planet GTA existed in our solar system: So, to orbit our Sun every 12 days means the planet would need to be about a 10th of the distance from the Sun as the Earth currently is (from Kepler's laws), or about 0.1 astronomical units in radius [1 Astronomical Unit = 92 955 807.3 miles]. This is inside the orbit of Mercury (whose orbit is roughly 0.39 astronomical units in radius). That's a brutal place to be. My very crude estimate of what the surface temperature would be (keeping everything else about Earth the same, like its absorbency of radiation): 1,200–1,300 Fahrenheit — pretty toasty. That's the melting point of aluminum and twice the melting point of lead (so much for bullets). In terms of composition, there would be no surface water (obviously!), rock, and metal ores on the surface. If there was an atmosphere it'd be pretty nasty — I suspect a lot of evaporated minerals/metals, etc., and a very nasty radiation environment this close to the Sun. Josh Peek is a postdoctoral Hubble fellow at Columbia, and he was kind enough to find a planet meeting this description in a map of exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) discovered by the Kepler space telescope. It has the awesome-sounding name of Kepler-29b, and here is what we know about it: So, Kepler-29b orbits a sunlike star, and fits the orbital requirements for planet GTA. One problem: According to the Extrasolar Planet Encyclopedia, the surface temperature is approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, as Scharf predicted. OK, so planet GTA, in our solar system, or a solar system like ours, would be a tough place to live. BUT! That's assuming the residents of planet GTA have not figured out a way to deal with the heat of the sun and terraformed the planet into a lovely place (classic assumption). Here was Scharf's best idea for cooling the surface: Well, you could construct some kind of orbital shade out of partially transparent material — e.g., quartz doesn't melt until 2500°F — but you've got to cut about 99% of the solar light to get back to Earth like heating! Those are some pretty heavy-duty sunglasses. Peek had few ideas too: The easiest way to solve this problem would be to make it orbit a much smaller (and therefore dimmer and redder star) which puts out much less energy. I am not sure how you would mitigate that kind of influx of energy — maybe paint the whole planet white to reflect most of the light? I am kinda at a loss — planets that close to sunlike (G-dwarf) stars are out of the "goldilocks" zone — they have ~100 times the energy input that we get from the Sun. So! Either a giant quartz orbital shade or painting the planet white or jogging planet GTA over to another star. Let's work for the time being with that assumption, that planet GTA, an Earth-like planet with no galactic Ray-Bans, moved to another star, and maintained its 12-day year. What would this star look like? Caleb Scharf figured it out. This was tough to work out, but I think I've got it about right — the issue is that small mass stars are fainter, but since they're less massive, the 12-day orbital period location changes too. To maintain roughly Earth-like conditions, but have a 12 Earth-day-long year, you'd need your planet to orbit a star one-tenth the mass of the Sun (such things exist, they're called M-dwarf stars) at about 0.03 astronomical units, so roughly 33 times closer to the star than the Earth is to the Sun. And that star is overall about 1,000 times less luminous than the Sun, and also much redder, it would not look like the Sun. Much redder than our sun, eh? Well, wait just a minute!Penis transplantation is a surgical transplant procedure in which a penis is transplanted to a patient. The penis may be an allograft from a human donor, or it may be grown artificially, though the latter has not yet been transplanted onto a human. 2006 allotransplant procedure [ edit ] The first such procedure was performed in September 2006 at a military hospital in Guangzhou, China. The patient, a 44-year-old male, had sustained the loss of most of his penis in an accident. The transplanted penis came from a brain-dead 22-year-old male. Although a surgical success, the patient and his wife suffered psychological trauma as a result of the procedure, and had the surgery reversed 15 days later.[1][2] Following this, Jean-Michel Dubernard, who performed the world's first face transplant, wrote that the case "raises many questions and has some critics". He alluded to a double standard, writing: I cannot imagine what would have been the reactions of the medical profession, ethics specialists, and the media if a European surgical team had performed the same operation.[3] An example of a critic is Piet Hoebeke, a reconstructive urologist in Belgium, who wrote a letter that raised the question of whether or not ethics committees were involved, and criticized the group for the follow-up time of only 15 days. Hoebeke asserted that successful voiding at two weeks is not predictive of long-term outcomes, and even that inadequate arterial anastomoses might not manifest themselves in this time.[4] The hospital that performed the first transplantation later issued a set of guidelines which, among other considerations, "recommended that the procedure be restricted to individuals with severe injuries who are unwilling to undergo traditional reconstructive surgery", according to a mini-review of the ethical issues surrounding penis transplantation published in the Asian Journal of Andrology.[5] Laboratory-grown penis [ edit ] In 2009, Anthony Atala and colleagues at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina transplanted bioengineered penises onto 12 rabbits. All of them mated and four produced offspring. It was a test for a concept he had been working on since 1992, with the aim of making human penises for transplant. He has produced test versions of bioengineered human penises, and there have been multiple successful transplants.[6] 2014 procedure in South Africa [ edit ] medical campus pictured) The first successful penis transplant was performed at Stellenbosch University in South Africa ( In December 2014, the first successful penis transplant was performed on a 21-year-old man by specialists led by urologist André van der Merwe from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. The surgical team consisted of urologist Andre van der Merwe and plastic surgeon Frank Graewe. The immunosuppression was conducted by Rafique Moosa. The nine-hour procedure used microsurgery to connect blood vessels and nerves.[7] The patient had lost his penis as a result of a botched circumcision procedure he underwent aged 18. As of 13 March 2015, the recipient was reported to have recovered function in the organ, including urination, erection, orgasm and ejaculation, but sensation is expected to take two years to return fully.[8][9] The doctors who performed the transplant were surprised by this, as they had not expected the patient to recover fully until about December 2016.[7] Given that circumcisions are performed frequently in parts of South Africa to mark a boy's transition to adulthood, and these are often unsanitary procedures, frequently carried out by uncertified amateurs, doctors have said that South Africa has some of the greatest need for penis transplantations in the world.[9] In 2015, the recipient announced that he had successfully conceived a child.[10] 2016 Massachusetts General Hospital procedure [ edit ] In May 2016 surgeons, co-led by Curtis L. Cetrulo Jr. and Dicken S. C. Ko at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School performed a transplant on a 64-year-old man from Halifax, Massachusetts.[11] The surgeons demonstrated that it was possible to perform penile transplantation using a new technique of genitourinary vascularized composite allografts (GUVCA) to replace lost tissue under conventional immunosuppressive medication. The clinical results of this pioneering procedure in reconstructive transplantation in the United States was published in Annals of Surgery, May 2017.[12] 2017 procedure in South Africa [ edit ] A surgical team from Stellenbosch University and the Tygerberg Academic Hospital performed a second penis transplant on 21 April 2017. In a nine and a half hour procedure, André van der Merwe and his team successfully transplanted a penis onto a 40 year old male who had lost his penis 17 years prior, in a botched traditional circumcision. The patient is set to receive medical skin darkening tattoos in order to correct skin tone differences, as the donor was white and the recipient black. Stellenbosch University is the only medical center in the world to have successfully completed two penile transplants.[13] Johns Hopkins program [ edit ] In December 2015, The New York Times reported that surgeons from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore would soon be performing experimental penis transplantation surgeries on injured veterans, and were optimistic that such surgeries could result in sexual and reproductive function.[14] In April 2018, The New York Times reported that surgeons from Johns Hopkins, led by W. P. Andrew Lee, had performed the first penis transplant performed on a combat victim and the third successful penis transplant so far. This transplant also included the scrotum, but not the testicles, for ethical reasons. The patient's identity was not disclosed.[15] See also [ edit ] Penectomy, surgical amputation of the penis Phalloplasty, surgical reconstruction of the penis In popular culture [ edit ]Dear Graduate Directors, I hope all is well with you, and that all of your charges have landed safely and happily in tenure-track positions at high salaries in desirable locations with compatible cultures, happy partners, and book contracts. I hope a lot of things. That doesn’t always make them happen. Anyway, I’m still reeling from a wonderful meeting I had on Monday with some of your counterparts. The ‘hook’ for the meeting was a sense that many Ph.D.’s aren’t landing in R1 positions, like they had been trained for, but that they weren’t well-prepared for full-time positions at more teaching-focused colleges. As a result, even in a market with a severe labor surplus, it’s often difficult to find good people. It seems like there’s a potential harmony of interest here. If your grads were better prepared for teaching-intensive places, they’d be more competitive and have more options. We’d have better candidates. You’d have better placement records. For present purposes, I’m addressing programs in traditional academic disciplines. Fields like Culinary or Nursing have different needs. I’m focusing here on the liberal arts, broadly defined. I have a couple of suggestions that shouldn’t be difficult to implement. In fact, I hope you’re already doing them, and you find this redundant. First, make sure that any grad student with potential designs on a teaching institution gets experience teaching online. Preferably more than once, and with some sort of mentoring or support. At my college, as at many others, online classes are the area of fastest growth. Students are voting with their devices. Whatever your philosophical position on online teaching, it’s where the growth is. That’s particularly true in the parts of the country where the number of 18 year olds is likely to remain flat or drop over the next decade or so. Given the limited number of full-time faculty lines we can afford to carry, a candidate who offers no experience in what is rapidly becoming the future simply isn’t competitive. In some cases, your students may need to teach at other institutions to gain that experience. I strongly encourage you to let them. In fact, to the extent that you can, you should encourage them by building bridges to those institutions. I will much sooner hire the Northeastern grad with online experience at Bunker Hill Community College than the Harvard grad who thinks he’s the second coming of Professor Kingsfield. Think of that what you will, but it’s the truth. Second, and you should already be doing this anyway, train your people in ADAA compliance and universal design. They should know that it’s not just a matter of sending copies of an exam to the testing center for extra time when they get a note from the relevant office. It’s about consciously designing classes and other learning experiences to be accessible to everyone from the outset. That means, for instance, ensuring that any textbooks used are accessible even before ordering them. It means ensuring that any videos you use in class or online are captioned. It means a host of small details that make a real difference to students, and that make a real difference in job interviews. Hint, hint. And that’s something you should be doing anyway. Incorporating universal design into classes on your own campus -- whether onsite or online -- could only help your undergrads. I’ve heard philosophical arguments against online instruction, but I’ve never heard a philosophical defense of excluding people with disabilities. You can do better by doing the right thing. Neither of these should be budget-busters. I don’t think either would require that you completely rethink everything you’re doing. If you aren’t already doing them, it wouldn’t take much. It’s not enough anymore to send us people who are good in the classroom with students who are traditionally prepared to be there. That’s an important, but decreasing, part of what we do. Candidates who bring those other skills tend to win. Thanks, and I hope your summer goes well. Sincerely, Matt ReedA five-acre land was brought by the Corporation for the project and the eco-friendly buildings were done by COSTFORD. #Ente Thiruvananthapuram: The Kalladimukham housing colony, one of the slum eradication project of Trivandrum Corporation has finally inaugurated. With this, 318 families at Kalladimukham spread across Ambalathara and Attukal wards will realise their dream of a home. The housing project will ensure better livelihood for people and to provide something more than just living spaces. The housing colony which is the model project of the Trivandrum Corporation is a full-fledged community living system The housing colony which is the model project of the Trivandrum Corporation is a full-fledged community living system with old-age home, destitute home and anganwadi. The colony also includes a community hall, works centre, library, biogas plant, internal pathway and roads. As many as 318 housing units have been constructed in two phases under the project. This includes 105 units for SC/ST families and
a penis. ● Red lights, walk signs, and pedestrian crosswalks are mere suggestions. They may be state laws, but not in New Haven. Motorists don’t care. Many believe they always have the right-of-way — even Prius drivers — and would gladly run you over to prove it. This, the Type-A driver, tops the list of a runner’s most feared natural enemies, followed by off-leash dogs, plantar fasciitis, and potholes. If you want to stay safe, cross the street after the light turns green. Distracted drivers are typically too busy checking out how many likes they have on their latest selfie to notice traffic lights. ● Don’t wear headphones while running in New Haven. This puts you in a vulnerable position. I recently saw a young woman in her 20s running alone in the dark with headphones on. Really?! I wanted to grab her by the ponytail and shake some sense into her. If you want to shut out society for an hour or so by listening to Justin Bieber, fine. But not while you’re running in a busy and potentially dangerous city. Something bad is more likely to happen to you when you stop paying attention to your surroundings. (Editor’s Note: Is this really that dangerous? Are people being kidnapped from the streets?!) ● Please pay attention to these signs scattered around New Haven: Sidewalk etiquette must be maintained, both by walkers and runners alike. We all know this is not always the case. For some reason, it’s easier to get into an Ivy League school than navigate sidewalks. (Ed: True.) Runners can sometimes appear invisible. I’m often unnoticed by your typical electronic device-user: head down, walking straight ahead, completely oblivious. They’re not going to move out of your way, so don’t expect them to. They can barely get out of their own way. If I am coming up behind you, I will give a little friendly, “On your left,” to let you know I am coming. Just trying to be courteous. But don’t expect that it will be reciprocated. ● Beware the turtle showing its head. One of my biggest fears about running is ending up back home without my socks. (Let that sink in for a second.) (Ed: Gross.) There are port-a-potties located at the base and top of East Rock, the Wilbur Cross track, and sometimes at Edgerton Park. If you’re lucky, a cafe will let you use its facilities. Other than that, you’re on your own. Plan your route and poop accordingly! ● Running up East Rock is a great hill workout and the view of the city at the top makes it totally worthwhile. However, drivers also race up there and it’s important to be careful. Sometimes you have to run in the middle of the road to notify a driver you’re coming. Other times, you may find yourself running through a cloud of marijuana smoke wafting out of passing car’s window. (Ed: Woo free drugs!) It gives a whole new meaning to the term, “runner’s high.” (And, oh yeah, if you recently left your lace maroon underpants on the road to the rock, they’re still there.) ● If you need to run after a snowstorm and you don’t want to use the “dreadmill”, go to St. Ronan Street, often dubbed “The Gold Coast” of New Haven. Because it’s a beautiful road and home to several Yale bigwigs, it’s one of the first roads to be plowed. Privilege does have its perks. ● I don’t care what color, race, religion, gender, size, or age you are, you should be able to run freely without getting accosted. Sadly, this is not always the case. Some people just have a revulsion to running and runners in particular. And it’s important for them to let you know how they feel. Why? Maybe they’re insecure bullies, or resentful of people with healthy lifestyles, or Trump supporters. I think it was Mother Teresa who first said, “Mean people suck.” And she was right. In the past, here’s what I’ve had to endure from haters: I’ve been called a “cunt” for running on the correct side of the road. (For the record, I’m not.) I’ve gotten cat calls; I’ve been physically threatened; and I had guys who’ve tried to win me over by lasciviously licking their tongues on their lips — a method that has probably hasn’t worked since the Stone Age. On the lighter side, I’ve also been asked, while running ( yes, while running), where Yale’s secret societies are housed. Pretty ironic. The first thing you learn as a New Haven runner is the exact coordinates of Yale’s secret society network. The second thing you learn is never give out that information. ● When it’s dark out, be sure to wear some bright, reflective gear. Common sense 101. Even if you may look like a yellow Hi-Lighter or the ‘Clark Griswold’s’ Christmas display, it’s better than looking like a half-squished squirrel on the side of the road. Prospect Street is often well-lit, as well as most areas near and around Yale. Stick to those if you have to run at night. ● Stay off the Farmington Canal Path unless you are running with someone. After you leave “Yale Land,” you’re crossing into unpredictable and possibly dangerous terrain. However, the path is nice and safe north of Hamden High School. Happy running and good luck not dying! Like this: Like Loading... Related [FBW]Fate Apocrypha: Zugzwang 1 Sagara Hyouma didn’t understand. +++ He didn’t understand why he was lying on the ground here, why he was losing blood and why his eyes were filled with tears from overflowing pain. Such a nightmare couldn’t be. Such despair was impossible. He should have been participating in the Great Holy Grail War as a magus and as a member of Yggdmillennia. He had chosen a catalyst he was confident in. He had gotten a hold of knives that had actually been used by Jack the Ripper through his channels as a magus, and had proceeded to summon him in the Shinjuku district in Tokyo. He was to control the Servant who most specialized in killing Masters—Assassin—in order to perform stealthy maneuvers in the war. That should have been the duty of the Black Master, Sagara Hyouma. +++ But now, not only was his throat crushed and his Command Spells forcefully ripped out, his Achilles tendons were cut and he couldn’t move at all. Why did it turn out like this? After all, he still hadn’t participated in the war yet. Even though he was recognized as Yggdmillennia’s Seventh Master in the Great Holy Grail War, why was he on his knees and begging for his life? He couldn’t accept this as reality. His mind recalled the instant he was betrayed over and over again in a refrain. +++ Rikudou Reika was the start of how everything had failed. When he had tried to use her as a sacrifice (to be precise, he had tried to reproduce Jack the Ripper’s crimes in order to maximize the summoning’s chances of success), she had displayed greater resistance than he had expected. Because she had refused to be killed, the summoned Servant ended up choosing not him, but Reika, as her Master. Even if he had Command Spells as a Master, he couldn’t do anything if he was hit by a surprise attack. Moreover, the Servant he had summoned was Assassin—there was no way an ordinary magus like Hyouma could react in time to her attack speed. +++ Sagara Hyouma still didn’t understand. The Great Holy Grail War had already ended for him. Unable to even live miserably as a loser, he was in a situation where it wouldn’t be strange if he was killed in the next instant. Sagara Hyouma still didn’t understand. Why had Assassin of Black betrayed him? The unmatched serial killer who was famed for killing (at least) five prostitutes was a young, innocent-faced girl. But she wasn’t a Berserker. She had the appearance of a child, but she could hold a conversation, and based on her conversation with Reika, her intelligence didn’t seem to be low either. That’s why he couldn’t understand. Reika was an ordinary human, not a magus. Servants were familiars who obeyed their Masters. So why? +++ “Hey, Mother. Can we kill him yet?” “Not yet. We still have a ton of things to ask him.” A voice so calm it seemed false. Hyouma looked at the face of the woman he had tried to use as a sacrifice. The woman, who should have been so foolish that he ensnared her just by whispering words of love in her ear, gazed at him. There was no fear, hatred, sadness, malice, disdain or even displeasure in her eyes. Hyouma shuddered. Her gaze held only the madness of someone who could feel so indifferent towards another human being, and one who she had made love with so many times at that. He felt as if he had been with a man-eating shark all this time. “Hyouma-san.” Even so, Rikudou Reika’s whisper was like sweet honey. Even though her expression contained not the slightest compassion, her voice alone was sweet. “Tell me about the Holy Grail. About the war. About your true identity. About everything.” +++ —The Holy Grail which could grant all wishes. It had been created by three great magi in the city of Fuyuki in the Far East, and it had been stolen by the head of Yggdmillennia, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, sixty years ago using the help of the Third Reich of Nazi Germany. And Darnic had declared the clan’s separation from the Association of Magi. He built up a new organization using the Greater Grail as a symbol. Naturally unable to accept this, the Association sent magi to reach the Greater Grail and brought about the Holy Grail War which shouldn’t have occurred, the Great Holy Grail War. The Yggdmillennia clan were the Black camp and the Association magi were the Red camp. Each camp had seven Masters and seven Servants. It would undoubtedly be a battle that would shake the world of magecraft— +++ “Next.” +++ There were several rules in a Holy Grail War, and the Great Holy Grail War also followed them. They would battle at night. They would avoid involving those who didn’t enter into the domain of magi. There were seven Servant classes. The Servants were beings who had carved their names into legend and myth. Servants should fight Servants, and Masters should fight Masters. However, there was one class that was an exception. That was Servant Assassin. Specializing in killing Masters, this class was both hated and feared by Masters. Servants couldn’t exist in the current age without Masters to act as spiritual anchors, and they couldn’t fully unleash their power without a prana supply. That was why Servants had to protect their Masters. +++ “Next.” +++ Sagara Hyouma. A member of the Yggdmillennia clan. A magus who utilizes a style of magecraft that uses sacrifices, formed from a mix of Japanese cursing techniques and Western magecraft. An exploitive-type protective magecraft which uses human lives as sacrifices to establish the safety of a building or other human lives. +++ “Is there anything else?” +++ When he was asked about himself, there was nothing else he could say. Sagara Hyouma was an average magus living in the modern era. He had ambition, but he lacked the skill. Though he was on the verge of destruction here, he knew no method to escape from it. He scorned people who knew nothing of magecraft, but he understood that he himself was a second-rate magus worthy of scorn. …He had wanted to win. Sagara Hyouma had intended to wager his life, honor and everything he had on this Great Holy Grail War. He had devoted himself to preparing for it as well. —He made every possible preparation so that, even if he lost, he would have no regrets. A magus’ valuation of life was quite different from that of normal humans. Their primary objective of making children was to continue their bloodline and pass on their family’s inheritance, the Magic Crest. No matter how many lives of others he had to trample over, as long as it was necessary and wouldn’t be exposed, he didn’t care. Everything was for the sake of the Holy Grail. If it was for that, he would even sell his soul to every devil there was. He would kill his own relatives. He would trample over happy families without hesitation and kick over people suffering in misfortune. With that conviction, Sagara had vied for the Holy Grail—and failed before he even managed to participate in battle, losing with no trace of his former self. His Command Spells had been stolen. Even if he trained himself for a hundred years, he wouldn’t be able to win against this monster that had the form of a very young girl. Having everything stolen from him, he trembled in fear of death. +++ “That’s true. You’ve lost everything, Hyouma-san. But it can’t be helped. Because you were mistaken.” +++ What do you mean, it couldn’t be helped? What was he mistaken about? No matter how he thought about it, he didn’t understand. He hadn’t made a single mistake. +++ “But Hyouma-san, you aren’t suited for the act of killing one another. Even if you can trample over and take away from others—you don’t have the sincerity to exchange life for life.” +++ Hyouma’s thoughts froze. +++ “Yes, that’s right. You lied insincerely and tried to kill insincerely, and the result of that lack of prudence is your current state, Hyouma-san. You probably thought that you wouldn’t win in any straight-up battle of killing. Even though you can wager your own life, you’re unable to live while shouldering the lives of others, and because of that, you take an insincere attitude. Because you’re insincere, you show openings.” +++ Magi sometimes killed people, and sometimes killed things other than people. That was fine; killing was a natural fact. As long as humans existed, they would definitely kill other humans or things that weren’t human. “But if you’re going to kill them face-to-face… you need to at least be sincere,” said Reika. Jack the Ripper—Assassin ran up to her new Master Reika and whispered in her ear. “Is that enough now?” Those words were, in a sense, equivalent to a death sentence. Reika nodded and asked Assassin to lend her a knife. The fear of death immediately rose up in Hyouma’s throat. At the same time, a sober emotion ruled his thoughts. Sagara Hyouma was going to die. He was going to meet an extremely unseemly end of being rebelled against by his sacrifice, in this modern and inorganic Japanese apartment with not a trace of the beauty of magecraft—— +++ That premonition of his became realized a second later. While enduring overwhelming pain, Hyouma looked at Reika’s face. Though she looked faintly sorrowful, her grip didn’t loosen on the knife she held. Even if it wasn’t intentional, she carved out his heart in the most painful manner. In the midst of that agonizing pain, Hyouma understood. He had never left anything worth being called an achievement in the field of magecraft. He had lived the life of a second-rate magus like a completely unnoticeable rat. The magecraft of the Hyouma family would end here. But, although it couldn’t exactly be called an achievement— +++ Ah, I’ve created an unimaginable monster. +++ It was something that had nothing to do with magecraft. A Joker card that he had come across by chance. He had unleashed the monster known as Rikudou Reika upon this world. While feeling a strange sense of accomplishment, Sagara Hyouma died. …Three days after that, Rikudou Reika finished systematically reading all of the grimoires in Hyouma’s apartment while idly playing with Assassin of Black. “Why are you reading books?” “It’s in order to grant your wish, Jack. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to fight on our own.” Though Reika had listened to the rules of the Holy Grail War from Hyouma, it still wasn’t enough, so she was learning as much as she could about the war by reading his books. Firstly, fighting by cooperating in a team of seven Servants and Master pairs as is done in the Great Holy Grail War—was impossible for them. Reika wasn’t a proper Master. She was clearly an enemy from Yggdmillennia’s perspective. Even if they forgave her for that, logically speaking, there was no way they would leave Reika be as a Master. Because it was possible for Servants to change Masters in the middle of a war. If there was some clause that prevented changing Masters once they were chosen, there might have been some room for negotiation, though. “Hey, Jack.” “?” The young girl with doll-like eyes tilted her head curiously. While finding that adorable gesture charming, Reika asked her. “Are you really all right with me as your Master? “I can’t supply your prana. You are… umm, a soul eater… was it? If you don’t eat other souls, it will be impossible for you to even fight.” Rikudou Reika had made a contract as a Master that allows the manifestation of her Servant in this world. It was a ‘bond’ that allowed Assassin to exist. However, Servants couldn’t survive on that alone. They needed prana in order to survive. And an enormous amount of prana at that. Rikudou Reika had no prana. If she wanted Assassin to continue living, a different approach was necessary. They had to supply the needed prana by killing humans and having Assassin devour their souls. Of course, if she used her Noble Phantasms, prana would be required for that as well. Each day Assassin lived, someone died—and more would continue to die. “It’s fine. There’s no other Master for me besides Mother.”12 “I see.” With that, her mind was decided. She would kill, kill as many people as possible and lovingly care for this little girl. Rikudou Reika had died as a human. That day, when Sagara Hyouma had tried to use her as a sacrifice, she lost her reason to exist as Rikudou Reika. Now, she was the Master of Jack the Ripper. That alone was enough to give her a reason to live. So in order to live, she decided to fight. The path ahead was precipitous, complex and multifarious. She might die no matter what path she chose. …But well, that was fine. +++ After all, Rikudou Reika had already died once. She had nothing to be afraid of. —Things needed in the Great Holy Grail War. Master, Servant, information, prana, fighting power (besides the Servant), a stronghold. Final objective—grant wish with Holy Grail. Necessary process—kill the six other Black Servants, the Seven Red Servants and their Masters. Necessary actions—securing of information, prana, fighting power and a stronghold. +++ Communicating in Romanian wasn’t that hard for Reika. Since it was derived from Latin and was strongly influenced by Italian, the language was easy for her with her proficiency in language studies. She could also converse in English. Since they weren’t going sightseeing either, she would have no problems with talking with the locals. The information she had on the city where the Great Holy Grail War would take place, Trifas, was extremely little. She had researched all there was to find in the history books on Romania in the library, but there was very little data on this city besides its population and size, and there were no famous tourist attractions there either. Though there was a huge castle known as the Fortress of Millennia there, it wasn’t advertised as a tourist attraction. “Hmm,” Reika pondered—and then decided to make an international phone call to the Romanian government’s tourist bureau while pretending to be from a Japanese tour agency. “Thank you very much.” <So, for your tour destination, the first place to go to has got to be the capital Bucharest—” “We’re interested in going to Trifas.” After Reika cut off the other end’s sales pitch and said that, the contact from Romanian was silent for a little while. And then he spoke out in a strangely lowered voice. “Do you know of… the Fortress of Millennia?” The contact gulped slightly. There was a nuance of surprise to his reaction, surprise at how she knew about such a thing. Even over the telephone, she could imagine his shocked expression. “Actually, there’s been a quiet boom lately among rich Japanese in visiting old overseas castles and—” Before she could finish, the contact frantically interrupted her. “Private property? Really? It’s a huge castle that occupies most of Trifas’ land. Such huge castles are quite rare even in Europe. We’d really like to produce a tour there.” The contact’s voice became more shrill and nervous. Reika knew that this was a sign he was ‘lying’. “In that case, we’d also like to contact the owner in order to negotiate—” This was also another obvious ‘lie’. Due to piling lies upon lies, his speech became even easier to see through. The way he was adding on this information he should have said beforehand was if he were bluntly saying, ‘I’m frantically trying to smooth this over’. “That’s unfortunate to hear. Is there no hope of him changing his mind in the future?” “Vlad III—the vampire Dracula, huh.” The instant Reika said that, the tone of the contact changed once again. It indicated a low, growling ‘anger’ on his part. <With all due respect, miss, the vampire part is a mistaken image of him. Vlad III is our country’s great hero. He protected Romania from the fearsome Mehmed II…” “Ah, pardon me. That’s true. Then, I think we’d like to make a different tour with Sighișoara as the destination. We’ll contact you again later.” There was a sigh of relief from the other end just before the call ended. I see, thought Reika. Ever since she mentioned Trifas, the person on the other end had been on guard, and he had frozen at the mention of the Fortress of Millennia. It wasn’t just that it was a taboo subject. Most likely, the person she had spoken with—was connected to Yggdmillennia in some way. “Hey, hey.” Perhaps interested in the phone call conversation, Jack had appeared in materialized form and brought her face near Reika. “Did something happen?” “There’s a Chinese proverb that says ‘If you do not enter the tiger’s cave, you will not catch its cub’.” “?” Seeing Jack’s confusion, Reika explained the proverb’s meaning. “It’d be nice if the tiger cub comes to us thanks to this.” “Are tiger cubs tasty?” Hearing Jack’s innocent question, Reika patted her head. +++ —And as expected, ten magi visited Reika’s apartment that evening. 3 AM. Choosing the time when there would be the fewest people on the streets, they set up a Boundary Field to clear out everyone nearby. People passing by, drunkards and even those living in this apartment building were induced to avoid coming near the building. “We’ve finished confirming the presence of any spells. There are no other Boundary Fields set up nearby. There are no traces of any magecraft being used, and there is no sign of any disordered prana either.” “All right, there’s no question that she’s here?” About ten men and woman were there dressed in outfits that didn’t draw attention. They were plain, commonplace suits. However, if the wrong person saw them, they might notice something abnormal about them. They were the quick disposal squad of the Einskaya family, a group within Yggdmillennia which utilizes group spells. They were the assassins directly under Darnic’s command—the [Zugzwang]. “There’s no mistake. If possible, we will capture the woman who spoke on the phone and question her.” Relatives of the Yggdmillennia clan lived across the world, and their network wasn’t to be underestimated. Should contact by an outsider relating to the Fortress of Millennia or Trifas be confirmed, they would investigate and deal with the perpetrator within twenty-four hours no matter where they were in the world. That was the main duty of [Zugzwang]. Their skills as magi wasn’t that high, but they were some of the best when it came to combat experience within the clan. In combat, skill in magecraft wasn’t that important as long as there wasn’t an overwhelming difference between the opposing sides. The vital point was how far you understood your own magecraft and applied it to battle. “The Great Holy Grail War is going to begin soon. That person’s orders are to eliminate any possible obstacles.” A man with a black-coated dagger and blowpipe in his hands spoke. The dagger and the darts of the blowpipe had paralysis poison coated on them. This poison, made for use against magi, did affected not only the body, but also someone’s Magic Circuits, and though it didn’t completely stop them, it did remarkably slow down their ability to weave spells. “The location where we detected her is in the apartment N.903 on the ninth floor. We’ll take a multi-directional siege formation. Pawn 1 and Pawn 2 will guard the first floor and neutralize the surveillance cameras. Pawn 3 and Pawn 4 will go to the rooftop. Pawns 5 to 8 will come with me to the ninth floor. We’ll break in through the outer wall. Eliminate all witnesses. Understood? Pile together your arms’ Magic Crests. Increase the rank in tandem with me. 3, 2, 1—Integration start.” The Magic Crest of Zugzwang was divided among them. Half of it was possessed by the King, and the other half was possessed by those who were designated as Pawns. Normally, it was only powerful enough to somewhat supplement their Magic Circuits. However, by having them all activate the Magic Crest together like this, the Crest demonstrated its original power. That was to link with the power and minds of the others. It was a form of magecraft which didn’t raise their power individually, but increased all of their powers to the level of the King. Naturally, the price was enormous. This magecraft which abuses their bodies and Magic Circuits beyond their limits was truly just like doping. In exchange for temporarily raising their abilities, the Pawns lost the general utility of their Magic Circuits and could only exist as ‘soldier ants’. Naturally, their lifespan after being turned into soldier ants was extremely short—but they had no regrets about being sacrificial pieces for the prosperity of their clan. “Charge!” The first two immediately disabled the surveillance cameras in the entranceway, and the remaining seven lightly jumped through the air with weight-reducing magecraft and climbed the outer wall up to the ninth floor. With nimble lizard-like movements, five of them reached the fifth floor in the blink of an eye. The last two went up to the rooftop and prepared to intercept any attempts to escape through the air. Escape was impossible. Even if the enemy was a first-rate magus, no one could win against the teamwork of these nine. The members of Zugzwang broke through the entranceway door and rushed into the apartment— The next instant, they noticed the abnormality there. The members of Zugzwang, who possessed the ability to equally share their perception without having to give orders, all spread out at once. It was a display of superb reaction speed that surpassed human limits. But Zugzwang’s combat skills only worked on enemies of the same status as them. They were extremely skilled game animals who efficiently hunted every form of beast using equal power spread among them. However—the enemy wasn’t a game animal like them, let alone a hunted herbivore. “Ah—————” When the enemy was a steel monster that didn’t even need to worry about the fangs of beasts, their spell which they had spent two hundred years refining didn’t work at all. At first, the Pawns thought a cool wind had passed through. An innocent wind that passed through them— +++ Their field of vision suddenly changed. The ceiling became the floor and the floor became the ceiling. And they were falling. Even though there was no sensation of falling, the scenery alone fell downwards. As if they were watching a film moving at ultra-high speeds. Did they understand that it was because their heads had been cut off? Either way, in just a slight fraction of a second, the ‘Pawns’ had lost. Impossible… why, why is this…? How could this… be possible…! The only survivor, King, understood he was just lucky just to be alive. He had merely been in a fortunate location. He just happened to not be in the path of it. His heartbeat hammered in his chest. He hadn’t escaped death. What stood before his eyes was a walking disaster—a being that existed on a plane that couldn’t be reached by the power of a magus. “A Servant…!?” The decisive weapon in the Holy Grail War. The peerless and strongest being that manifests a Heroic Spirit of legend in the mold of a class. The young girl clad in a beguiling and provocative bodysuit waved her knife, and the blood of the Pawns trickled off it to the floor with a splashing sound. Her doll-like eyes pierced King. His vision broke down so much he wanted to laugh. He understood that his ‘death’, which he hadn’t truly felt despite tasting it many times until now, was approaching reality. “—You.” But the girl whispered in an innocent voice with her innocent face. “You will be killed by my Mother.” And then, she jumped through the destroyed entrance door and jumped down to the ground below from the outer passageway, her form disappearing in the blink of an eye. The reaper of death had gone, leaving King be. But the member of Zugzwang wasn’t foolish enough to optimistically think he had been spared. Just now, that Servant had said “Mother” and “Master” at the same time in a muffled voice. +++ Master. In other words, the one who controlled that Servant was here. While his hair tensely stood on end, the only remaining survivor ‘King’ readied his dagger and blowpipe whilst standing amidst a sea of flesh. Half of their Magic Crest completely vanished in less than a minute. In other words, it meant all of the other eight Zugzwang members he had brought as his doubles this time had been annihilated. He was alone. He was alone, but even so, King didn’t lose sight of his remaining chance to survive. Because Servants were Heroic Spirits that manifested in the current age through the contract with their Masters. If the Master died, the Servant would quickly run out of prana and disappear. The idea that he could fight and win against a Servant was more than a fairy tale. He wouldn’t last a second if he fought that thing. His only chance to survive was to kill its Master. That Servant had also said it. ‘You will be killed by my Master’… +++ He strained his nerves. Though he systematically and unfalteringly ran his Magic Circuits and completely devoted himself to the linkage of his Magic Crest, the King of Zugzwang couldn’t really use any high-level magecraft. Their only magecraft was produced within their body—a spell that perfectly prepared their bodies as much as possible and raised their specs to the maximum. King reacted instantly to a sudden bang. He blew his blowpipe and cut with his dagger at the shadowy figure that had suddenly appeared. But he immediately realized that that was a mistake. “…Sagara Hyouma…” The magus of a small Far Eastern family, who should have been chosen as a Master in the Great Holy Grail War. He had died while wearing a strange smile on his face. King understood from the stiffened feeling of Sagara Hyouma’s flesh. King hadn’t killed him—this man had died much earlier. But why had this corpse suddenly appeared before him? When he looked closely, he saw that he was hung up with a rope around his neck without his feet touching the floor. He examined the corpse for a little while, and then understood. His neck and feet had simply been tied to the ceiling with cord, and the cord around his feet had been made to sever after some time passed. But for what purpose? +++ —The answer to that was simple. It was in order to grasp King’s abilities. +++ Just as Sagara Hyouma had thought on the verge of death, Rikudou Reika had a monster inside her. It wasn’t simply that she had conspicuously antisocial feelings. Rather, it was the exact opposite. She was a loving monster who, while embedding herself into society and acknowledging her own deeds as evil, would still calmly kill even a baby if it was for the sake of the little girl who believed in her. And she fully demonstrated that monstrous part of her in this Holy Grail War—and in this battle against Zugzwang as well. The Zugzwang members sent by Yggdmillennia would have all been dealt with in an instant if she left things to Assassin of Black. Even an amateur Master like Reika understood that well. But this situation today was the only chance for her to fight a magus in as safe conditions as possible. Reika had read the piles of grimoires that Hyouma had left behind and deepened her understanding of the principles of magecraft and of the ‘people’ who used it, even if she couldn’t use it herself. They utilized techniques and principles that surpassed human knowledge, and if it was for the sake of the pursuit of magecraft, any and all sacrifices were permissible for them. Naturally, if the interests of different magi were in conflict, they would fight and kill each other. While fighting, they used magecraft. As long as they weren’t seen by a third party (and even if they were, there would be no problem if witnesses were eliminated), they would battle each other with the magecraft their families had spent many years piling up. Of course, there was no room for modern weapons to interfere there. An expert magus would have no problem dealing with any individual small arms. According to what she read about magecraft within the grimoires, they were those kinds of beings. Reika had to fight such fearsome beings as a Master. Even if she and Assassin were blessed with unexpected luck, there would only be a few chances for them to use surprise attacks against other Masters without their Servants interfering. At most, once or twice. That was the limit. But, it was a different story if Reika killed them. If she simply tried to kill them rather than engage in a mutual test of skill as magi, even Reika could find a slight possibility to succeed. This battle was a test for that. +++ Reika had already grasped that King’s magecraft enhanced his physical abilities. The spell likely extended to his nerves too, which was why he attacked so swiftly earlier before he even saw Sagara Hyouma’s corpse. And even in his current state, he had failed to hear even the slightest sound from Reika. In other words. It meant—she could deal with him. +++ The sound he heard was extremely unnatural, and it was ringing from Sagara Hyouma. King searched his pockets—but didn’t find anything. Moreover, he noticed something terrifying while he was searching for the source of the sound. He gulped. The sound was ringing from somewhere he couldn’t identify. He lifted up Hyouma’s shirt. Hyouma’s abdomen was clumsily sewn with stiches. It definitely wasn’t the work of a physician. He cut the stiches with his dagger—and a cell phone came bursting out along with entrails. “Damn it.” He didn’t want to touch it, but the phone’s shrill ringing grated even worse on his sharpened hearing and dealt endless pain to King’s brain. Losing to his anger, he took the cell phone and smashed it to pieces on the floor with his foot. It was then that he realized. He had shirked his vigilance towards his surroundings for just an instant. Even if he was an expert magus and had enhanced his physical abilities to superhuman heights, he had inevitably slackened for an instant. He was too shocked by the abnormality of the cell phone lodged in the stomach, and was too slow in noticing the presence behind him. The woman who had an inner monster easily came around from behind King— +++ “Checkmate.” +++ And without an instant of hesitation or mercy, she swung a large razor at his neck and cut his trachea. King let loose of cry of surprise and tried to grab the woman that had appeared before him, but he slipped on Sagara Hyouma’s entrails and fell down. After he had fallen into a crouch, Reika swung the razor once again. Carefully and precisely. Magi died harder compared to regular humans—she had also learned this from the grimoires. This was her second time killing someone, so she felt even less emotion than the first time. I don’t feel any joy from it, so I must not be suited as a maniacal murderer, thought Reika. Dealing with the magi on the ground floor and rooftop was as easy as clapping their shoulders to Assassin of Black. She hadn’t received any particular orders from Reika to hide or not wound the bodies, so she killed them as she liked and devoured their hearts. Her only worry was her Mother. We should go check, thought Assassin as she looked up at the ninth floor from the apartment building’s entrance. Rikudou Reika waved her hand from the ninth floor’s outer passageway. Jack frantically jumped up to the ninth floor. “Mother… Are you okay?” Reika was covered all over in blood. Jack was also similarly covered in blood. But it didn’t seem she was hurt, and Reika
a newspaper column. “As I tried to rest and recover, my phone rang dozens of times every day. … Being barraged with automated voices and scams was exasperating and anything but healing. … Until I was forced to stay home during the day, I did not realize how invasive robocalls had become.” She wrote, “The Do Not Call list has failed to protect consumers, and we need a new way to combat this frustrating trend. “Technology to block robocalls exists. But it’s not widely available or easy to use.” Her bill would block politicians’ calls, too, and require phone companies to crack down on Caller ID spoofing. “People deserve peace in their own homes, and that is impossible when the phone is ringing off the hook.” Tell your U.S. senators and members of Congress that you demand passage of Speier’s ROBOCOP bill. Looks like this is the only solution. A federal law forcing phone companies to give us existing tools to stop these phone devils. Let’s not give up on the idea that our phones can once against be safe-haven sanctuaries. Until then, remember that the most powerful phone man in the world gets them, too, and he hates them as much as you do. Yet even he is not rushing to fix this. Coming Sunday: You won’t believe who parks for free at our two major airports. Check out The Watchdog on NBC5 at 11:20 a.m. Mondays, talking about matters important to you. Twitter: @DaveLieberRichard Nixon and Barack Obama are rarely compared. But the way these two presidents have dealt with crises in the Middle East provides instructive contrasts on the nature of leadership. This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the resignation of President Nixon, a man more associated with skullduggery than leadership. But in October 1973, when his Vice President was resigning in disgrace and the congressional investigation into his own misconduct was moving to its fatal conclusion, Nixon demonstrated how a leader can take command, master events, and shape history. His example provides a contrast to the current President, whose concept of leadership involves “leading from behind.” To the extent it involves taking initiative, it is the initiative of “avoiding doing stupid shit.” President Obama has not abandoned Israel, nor has he declared himself neutral in its current struggle against Hamas. But time after time, he has undercut Israel’s position, in an effort to curry favor with a hostile world. His Secretary of State tried to involve Turkey and Qatar, two implacable foes of Israel, in the cease-fire negotiations, even though their financial support enabled Hamas to amass the missiles and build the tunnels that threaten Israel. After an Israeli shell landed close to a UNRWA school in Rafah, his Administration joined the global anti-Israel chorus. Before any investigation could be conducted, the State Department immediately declared itself “appalled” by Israel’s “disgraceful” act – even though Hamas rockets have been found in UNRWA schools at least three times, and even though the U.S. armed forces conducted similar attacks against schools used by hostile forces in Afghanistan. (The Israeli 4-year old boy killed on Friday was the victim of a missile fired from a site near a UNRWA school.) Most disturbing, Obama’s White House has recently changed the military-to-military relationship by which American weaponry has been transferred to Israel, to require White House and State Department approval. Now these are U.S. weapons, and it is of course up to the U.S. government to set the protocols for their transfer. But to change the rules so abruptly, while Israel is under daily bombardment, is unprecedented. Once again, it represented the Obama Administration’s tendency to placate the world, rather than stand by a lonely ally. This emerges from an observation by a “senior Obama Administration official” to the Wall Street Journal: “We have many, many friends around the world. The United States is their strongest friend,” the official said. “The notion that they are playing the United States, or that they’re manipulating us publicly, completely miscalculates their place in the world.” In other words, the Administration was telling Israel by these leaked remarks: We have many friends. You do not. Don’t ever forget it. Sniping at friends to placate their enemies is not leadership. It is not even shrewdness. The United States has won no new friends from undercutting Israel. To see a different kind of leadership, travel back in time and consider the performance of Richard Nixon in October 1973. Israel faced a military crisis. Egypt and Syria, backed by nine Arab states and lavishly supplied by the Soviet Union, attacked on Yom Kippur. Israeli forces were thrown back in the Sinai and on the Golan Heights. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told Prime Minister Golda Meir that Israel faced imminent defeat. The situation was so dire, that the Israeli government considered resorting to a last ditch nuclear option. In this crisis situation, Richard Nixon ordered a massive airlift of military supplies to Israel. During a 32-day period beginning October 14, jumbo U.S. military aircraft touched down in Israel 567 times, delivering some 22,300 tons of material. Conducting such an operation was a complicated task. Then, as now, Israel was not popular on the international scene. Fearful of the Arabs’ oil weapon, NATO allies refused to allow U.S. transport planes to refuel in their countries – even while NATO members Turkey and Greece were allowing Soviet supply planes to overfly their territory. Ultimately, the U.S. managed to pressure Portugal to allow landing in the Azores for refueling. Meanwhile, in Washington, bureaucratic hurdles threatened to delay the airlift. Nixon took charge personally. White House counsel Leonard Garment recalled: It was Nixon who did it. I was there. As [bureaucratic bickering between the State and Defense departments] was going back and forth, Nixon said, “This is insane….He just ordered Kissinger, Get your [behind] out of here and tell those people to move. “ Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, concerned by the reaction of the Arabs and Soviets to the airlift, advised sending just three transports. Nixon responded: “We are going to get blamed just as much for three as for 300…Get them in the air, now.” Nixon worked closely with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the airlift. When Kissinger gave him a list of the type and quantity of weaponry sought by the Israeli military, Nixon ordered him to double it, then added: “Now get the hell out of here and get the job done.” Informed of a delay caused by disagreements in the Pentagon over which planes to use, Nixon shouted at Kissinger: “[Expletive] it, use every one we have. Tell them to send everything that can fly.” The airlift helped turn the tide. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat proposed a ceasefire enforced by Soviet and U.S. troops on the ground. The U.S. rejected the proposal. Soviet leader Brezhnev then threatened to send Russian troops to the Middle East unilaterally. Nixon ordered that U.S. military to be put on high alert. Air Force strike units were prepared for attack, and two aircraft carriers were deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean. Brezhnev backed down. Richard Nixon neither sought nor received any political gain for his decisive leadership. The Watergate investigation intensified, culminating in his resignation ten months later. American Jews, who voted overwhelmingly for Humphrey in 1968 and McGovern in 1972, remained, and remain today, hostile to the man. But Golda Meir never forgot Nixon’s leadership. For the rest of her life she referred to him as “my president.” She once said, in tones reminiscent of the Passover haggadah: “For generations to come, all will be told of the miracle of the immense planes from the United States bringing in the material that meant life to our people.” It is doubtful that any Israeli, of any political persuasion, will ever remember Barack Obama as “my president.” It is also doubtful that friends of the United States in other parts of the globe will remember him that way. When Iranian populists remember Obama, they are likely to remember him as the President who reached out to the regime’s theocratic dictators, but failed to support the courageous demonstrators of the Green Revolution. When the Poles and Czechs remember Obama, they are likely to recall him as the President who reneged on the promise to build a missile defense shield in Europe, to avoid irritating the Russians. When Ukrainians remember Obama, they are likely to recall him as the President who, after the non-irritated Russians annexed the Crimea, responded by airlifting, not weapons, but 300,000 ready-to-eat meals. The irony of leadership is that it often proves a more effective tool to win over foes than supplication. Obama’s forbearance has won the United States no points from Russia or Iran, or any of our other opponents. It has only disappointed our friends. In contrast, Richard Nixon steadfastly supported Israel during wartime – and was lionized by Egyptians in the aftermath of that war after brokering a ceasefire. In June 1974, just weeks before his resignation, Nixon visited Egypt and rode in an open railway car from Alexandria to Cairo with President Sadat. An estimated 6 million Egyptians lined the route, cheering him. Sadat saluted Nixon with these words: Since the 6th of October, and since the change that took place in the American foreign policy, peace is now available in the area. And President Nixon never gave a word and didn’t fulfill it; he has fulfilled every word he gave. Richard Nixon was a man of many flaws, not least of which was a strong strain of anti-Semitism. But he was also a leader. The current President, driven to make America liked again, may have more charity in his heart, but he has far less spinal fluid in his backbone. Lawrence J. Siskind is a San Francisco attorney, who blogs on issues of politics, foreign policy, law, and culture, at ToPutItBluntly.com.Perched on a hill overlooking a valley of cherry trees and vines, the tiny medieval village of Lacoste is a fantasy of tranquil, peasant life. Peter Mayle wrote his bestselling A Year in Provence from a ramshackle house nearby; Tom Stoppard settled in a cottage near the belfry; and John Malkovich likes to practise his French at local markets. Only the imposing, half-ruined castle that once belonged to the Marquis de Sade hints at a darker truth of the feudal rulers who for centuries lorded it over the villagers in this south-eastern corner of France. But de Sade's chateau, said to have inspired the gothic settings for his novels of sexual perversion, is at the centre of a different outrage: its new, rich owner is accused by villagers of trying to take over as a self-styled feudal lord. Pierre Cardin, the millionaire Paris fashion designer and businessman who has spent millions restoring the castle, is trying to turn the village into a "St Tropez of culture". After establishing his own music festival, he has started buying up scores of cottages and buildings in the village of 430 people. The ageing couturier says he wants to "leave his mark" by turning Lacoste into a refuge for world artists, complete with luxury hotels, a top restaurant, a de Sade cafe and a piano bar. But a growing group of villagers warn that his plans are ruining this Provençal community. Lacoste, once a Protestant and later a communist stronghold, is no stranger to rebellion. Campaigners have already gone to a tribunal to stop Cardin building a Greek amphitheatre in the local quarry. But the row escalated this week after Cardin insinuated in a TV interview that his village opponents were bumpkins who didn't understand his great vision. They now call him an egotistical "invader" bent on killing village life. On the tiny square at the top of winding cobbled streets, 85-year-old Cardin steps out of his black BMW in designer glasses and a tweed waistcoat, on his weekly inspection of his rural empire. Rue de Basse, the tiny, main village street now hosts 12 building sites bearing Cardin's name. He has bought more than 20 houses and owns almost the whole quaint and winding street. The newspaper shop has his name over the door, he has built two galleries, a boulangerie, a boutique and plans a restaurant and two hotels. He owns two castles, employs dozens of people on his projects, and a van emblazoned with "Pierre Cardin perfumes" can be seen regularly climbing the hill. "I'm happy here," he told the Guardian. "I just want to make the village beautiful". He declines to comment on the outrage caused when he recently likened himself to a "seigneur" and said that while other rich people gamble or collect stamps "I collect houses". In the Café de France, a group of angry villagers, including artists and teachers, warned of a "predator". They said Cardin sometimes paid double the price for old stone buildings, once offering €1m to a couple for their house worth €300,000. "This village is fragile, it has an ageing population, our school has around 30 children; we just want to ensure young couples can afford to live here and keep the place alive," said Bruno Pierret, a jurist who stood with a group of leftwing candidates on an anti-Pierre Cardin ticket at recent local elections. His group did not get elected but they continue to lobby the mayor to closely monitor Cardin's moves. At a public meeting this week, more than 20 villagers decided to launch a fresh petition and letter-writing campaign. Eliane Ferres, a retired teacher whose father was the last communist mayor of Lacoste said: "He treats us like "natives" and has a complete disdain for people not of his milieu. He has no right to say he saved the village when in fact he's sucking out its soul." Most approve of Cardin's much-needed work to restore de Sade's castle. But the international artists who settled here from the 1950s and 1960s laugh off the idea that Cardin alone is bringing in culture. "Artists and writers have long settled in Lacoste," said Inge Boesken Kanold, a German painter. Previous residents include Andre Breton and Max Ernst. Genevieve Recubert, a teacher, said: "I'm scared he will change the face of the village forever." Yves Ronchi, a local wine-maker, who founded the Association for the Harmonious Development of Lacoste to monitor Cardin's expansion, warned: "Since the Middle Ages, this has been a feudal place where villagers were not treated as equal; that has produced a local mentality of deference, of bowing down to landowners. That's what's happening now." One of Cardin's right-hand men running the Lacoste project said: "He sees himself as a patron, he gives without asking for anything in return. He doesn't look to buy. People say: 'Pierre Cardin, I would like to sell my house'. He has brought a dying village back to life." Cardin seems hurt by the outrage in Lacoste, but he is also an ageing man in a hurry to realise his dream.With growing instability and political turmoil inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, due in no small measure to American efforts on both sides of the “Afpak” divide to “stabilize” the region for multinational energy companies, this spring will see the rise of combat operations inside both countries. Pakistan is already feeling the heat generated by the imperialist Dracula and the jihadi Frankenstein. Despite promises that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) would lay down their arms once the Army ceased operations in Swat Valley, the state’s capitulatory compact has instead provided militants with an excuse to exact vengeance on their opponents whilst establishing new training camps for pressed-ganged “recruits.” Call it Pakistan’s “Year Zero” when “everything changed.” Not that the Americans, the state or the corporate grifters who preside over IMF-dictated privatization schemes and debt payments to foreign banks give a hoot. The New York Times reported March 6, that just days after the truce was signed “a member of a prominent anti-Taliban family returned to his mountain village, having received assurances from the government that it was safe. He was promptly kidnapped by the Taliban, tortured and murdered.” Pir Samiullah, a moderate religious leader who took up arms against the Taliban–it should be noted against “advice” by the Army–organized a local militia that fought the TTP and booted the miscreants from their mountain village. His cousin told the Times, that after his abduction the man was held for five days before his body was dumped February 25. “There was no skin on his back,” he said. “We had advised him, ‘You shouldn’t go, you shouldn’t trust.'” On the ground, the situation for women is immeasurably worse. Dawn reported March 7: “Terrified, locked up at home and courting death if they go out alone, women oppressed by extremists in Swat have nothing to celebrate on International Women’s Day.” Which is precisely the regime the purveyors of religious obscurantism and murderous sectarianism intend to impose throughout Pakistan, with or without blessings from Washington. After all, what better means to facilitate the drug trade or other illicit activities controlled, or “taxed,” by TPP “emirs” chauffeured about in up-scale Land Rovers or Mercedes! With death threats against “immoral” women proliferating like flies around a corpse, the prospects for education, health care, or even the simple pleasures of going shopping with friends have all but evaporated. One ninth grade pupil told Dawn, “My mother told me I can do anything, but my inner soul is shattered.” And with a recently concluded 17-point “peace” agreement with the TTP, the state and nominally “secular” parties such as the bourgeois Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Awami National League (ANL)–which trounced the fundamentalist Army clone, Jamaat-i-Islami party in last year’s national elections–has agreed to close shops, ban music, “obscene” videos and in general, make life a living hell. As the state’s writ continues to contract in the face of the Taliban offensive, women, workers, religious minorities are under attack. On Thursday, a bomb partially destroyed the mausoleum of the 17th century Sufi poet Rahman Baba, in NWFP’s provincial capital Peshawar. Why? Because “women were coming to pray there,” according to the Los Angeles Times. I. A. Rahman, the director of Pakistan’s independent Human Rights Commission told the L. A. Times, “They’ve given them a yard and now they’re taking 2 kilometers.” Needless to say, the majority of Swat residents are terrified of TTP armed thugs and have voted on the compact with their feet, refusing to trek back to their homes, exiles in their own country. The prospects of ever returning to a semblance of a “normal” life are grim, particularly after TTP “emirs” announced in a local mosque “that every family in the village would have to contribute one young man to their ranks, according to the The New York Times. Some “peace.” Mullah Omar Enters the Frame While corporate media have focused on last month’s truce in Swat Valley, signed-off by the Zardari regime and the Army with the TTP’s sociopathic “emir” Maulana Fazlullah, little mention has been made of the strategically far more critical agreement hammered out by Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. That pact, forged between the TTP and their on-again, off-again allies in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) will have far-reaching ramifications for both nations. While the Obama administration plans to deploy 17,000 additional American troops between now and May in Afghanistan, with additional deployments possibly numbering 30,000 by years’ end, Washington is desperate to wrest control of large swathes of territory controlled by the Taliban and the TTP. It would appear however, that Omar has other plans. On February 21, The News reported that “three prominent Pakistani militant commanders … on Friday set aside their differences and promised to jointly fight their enemy in future.” A “senior militant commander” said that Pakistani and Afghan Taliban leaders, had played a role in resolving differences among the three militant commanders. He said a 14-member Shura was formed after their final meeting that would comprise banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Taliban commander in North Waziristan and Maulvi Nazeer, militant commander in South Waziristan. (Mushtaq Yusufzai, “Top militant commanders resolve rift,” The News, February 21, 2009) In a further sign that stepped-up attacks are in the offing, Mullah Omar and the “emir” of the Afghan-Arab database of disposable Western intelligence assets, Osama bin Laden, demanded that allied jihadi outfits in North and South Waziristan “immediately stop their attacks on the Pakistani security forces,” The News reported February 24. According to the Lahore-based newspaper, Omar first sent an envoy and then wrote a letter to the TTP’s leadership council led by Mehsud, admonishing the group for attacks on their “Muslim brethren.” He told them that if they really want to participate in Jihad, they must fight the US and Nato troops inside Afghanistan because their attacks on the Pakistani security forces are undermining the objectives of the war against the invaders and cause of the Taliban movement. “If anybody really wants to wage Jihad, he must fight the occupation forces inside Afghanistan,” the source quoted Mullah Omar as having told the TTP leaders. “Attacks on the Pakistani security forces and killing of fellow Muslims by the militants in the tribal areas and elsewhere in Pakistan is bringing a bad name to Mujahideen and harming the war against the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.” (Mazhar Tufail, “Mullah Omar orders halts to attacks on Pak troops,” The News, February 24, 2009) The elusive Taliban leader, a protégé of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI), was groomed by leading circles within the Army’s military and intelligence bureaucracy to seize the initiative in the 1990s, and bring an end to the chaos stoked by internecine fighting amongst former mujahedin chieftains squabbling over the spoils of that destroyed nation. By 1996, when the Taliban swept out of Pakistan’s NWFP and seized Kabul, providing what Pakistan’s elite (including the Bhutto and Sharif families) believed would be “strategic depth” vis-à-vis imperialist arch-rival India, the move was applauded by the Clinton administration and the multinational petroleum giants whom they served. It would appear that Omar is reprising that role today. The Guardian reported March 3 that as a result of February talks, the warring factions that previously fought over lucrative smuggling routes have launched a new organization, the Shura Ittihad-ul-Mujahideen (Council of United Holy Warriors, SIM). According to Daily Times, SIM issued a pamphlet late last month vowing to target the militant groups three enemies: “Obama, Zardari and Karzai”. While Mehsud and the others have promised to stop attacking the Army, Daily Times points out that “the announcement of ‘Zardari’ as a target while letting the Pakistan army off the hook is a menacing signal for Pakistani politics.” Pakistan is already under heavy pressure by the United States to crack down on the host of jihadi groups threatening to spread the TTP’s writ outside the tribal areas into major population centers. This will prove a daunting task considering that many alleged “holy warriors” are creatures of the ISI and organized crime-linked outfits who profit from the heroin trade, illegal logging, as well as lucrative extortion and kidnapping rackets. In this context, Omar’s demand that jihadists cease attacks on Pakistani security and police and concentrate their fire instead on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, may represent maneuvers within ISI and the Army to pressurize the weak Zardari administration into doing their bidding, i.e. supporting the return of a fundamentalist Afghan government that would provide Pakistan with its ever-elusive “strategic depth.” This was hammered home by Omar: “Our aim is to liberate Afghanistan from the occupation forces and death and destruction inside neighbouring Pakistan has never been our goal,” he added. The source said according to Mullah Omar, the US was devising a new strategy and adopting new tactics to crush Mujahideen in Afghanistan so the Taliban, too, must forge unity in their ranks, and instead of operating in Pakistan, they must concentrate on actions against the US and Nato forces. (The News, ibid.) The United States, ever-eager then as now, to secure oil and gas pipelines across Afghanistan for U.S. energy companies once courted the fundamentalists. Despite the upcoming “surge,” America may do so once again if dictated by ubiquitous “facts on the ground.” On February 20, the Canadian Broadcasting Company reported that U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a Bush holdover, said that the U.S. would be willing to accept a similar deal in Afghanistan if the Swat pact succeeded. Gates, speaking at last month’s NATO conference in Krakow, Poland said: “If there is a reconciliation, if insurgents are willing to put down their arms, if the reconciliation is essentially on the terms being offered by the government, then I think we would be very open to that. We have said all along that ultimately some sort of political reconciliation has to be part of the long-term solution in Afghanistan.” How would such a “reconciliation” play itself out? Al Jazeera reported February 27, that “secret negotiations are under way to bring troops fighting alongside the Taliban into Afghanistan’s political process.” Negotiations between “Taliban-linked mediators, Western officials and the Afghan government,” might see the return of none other than Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the narcotrafficking leader of the ISI and CIA’s favorite gang during the anti-Soviet jihad, Hezb-i-Islami. Believed to be directing attacks against NATO and American forces from northwest Pakistan, Hekmatyar “would first be offered asylum in Saudi Arabia, under the proposal being backed by the British government.” Indeed, Al Jazeera reveals the talks have progressed to the point that Ghairat Baheer, one of Hekmatyar’s two son-in-laws released from the US prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan in May last year after six years in custody, is involved in the process, according to reports. Baheer, an ambassador to Pakistan in the 1990s, was given a visa to travel to London by British authorities last month. Humayun Jarir, a Kabul-based politician and son-in-law of Hekmatyar, is also said to have been involved. (“Secret talks with Taliban under way,” Al Jazeera, February 27, 2009) This is rich though unsurprising, given the Americans’ love affair with a man once described as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker. And considering alleged ties between President Hamid Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali and the heroin trade, perhaps a deal with Hekmatyar isn’t as crazy as it seems at first blush. According to The New York Times, “several American investigators said senior officials at the D.E.A. and the office of the Director of National Intelligence complained to them that the White House favored a hands-off approach toward Ahmed Wali Karzai because of the political delicacy of the matter.” So, if Hekmatyar is ready to come on-board and kick his al-Qaeda pals to the curb–as the U.S. is preparing to do with former “best friend forever” Hamid Karzai–why not let bygones be bygones? Stranger things have happened. Whose Hand Is Behind the Lahore “Cricket” Attacks? Inside Pakistan however, it appears some militants haven’t gotten Omar’s memo. On March 3, 12 heavily-armed gunmen staged a brazen attack in Lahore, Punjab’s capital and Pakistan’s second largest city. While the bare facts are known, the question of who the perpetrators are–and from a parapolitical perspective, who controlled them–remains as of this writing a mystery. There are however, any number of likely suspects. To recapitulate Tuesday’s events: A convoy transporting Sri Lanka’s national cricket team to a Test match against Pakistan’s cricketers was ambushed by AK-47 toting terrorists who fired rockets and grenades at the entourage, killing six policemen as well as the driver of another van. 20 people were wounded including six of the athletes, two of whom remain hospitalized with bullet wounds. Dawn reports that all of the attackers escaped and that police reinforcements from a nearby police station “only a couple of minute’s walk” from Qaddafi Stadium, arrived only after the gunmen had fled. Large quantities of hand grenades, rockets launchers, AK-47s, suicide jackets, plastic explosives, pistols and walkie-talkies were recovered near the scene of the attack. The paper avers, The large arms cache indicated that the attackers were prepared to hold out law enforcers for a longer period and raised suspicion that it might actually have been an attempt to hijack the bus carrying the Lankan cricketers. If the ambush, however bloody, was all that the attackers were looking for they did not need to burden themselves with all the weapons they were carrying. Even though the police later on displayed the large seizure of the weapons, they refused to comment on the possibility of it being an attempt at kidnapping. (Muhammad Faisal Ali, “Sri Lankan team narrowly escape terror attack,” Dawn, March 3, 2009) Television images of backpack-toting assailants firing at the convoy bore striking similarities to last November’s Mumbai terror attacks by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) militants, aided and abetted by Dawood Ibrahim’s ISI-linked organized crime gang. Indeed, on February 26, The Guardian IPS that “India wants to declare Pakistan a terrorist state” and that the Lahore assault “is related to that conspiracy.” Similar charges were made, though more circumspectly, by Rehman Malik, the Prime Minister’s Interior adviser, who claimed that the LET had “no links” to the attacks. He did however, manage to imply according to Dawn, that “the involvement of foreign hands in the incident cannot be ruled out.” However, Asia Times reports, Rather, judging by what was shown on Pakistani television, the attack is the hallmark of those that were waged by militants (many of them Punjabi) against Indian security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir up until a few years ago. They were trained by the Indian cell of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In 2005-06, these militants joined forces with the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan resistance after Pakistan closed down their training camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a move that changed the dynamics of the war theater in the region. (Syed Saleem Shahzad, “‘Cricket’ attack marks a shift in Pakistan,” Asia Times Online, March 4, 2009) And considering the uncanny similarities to other recent attacks, The Independent avers, The numerous failings fuelled speculation that the attack might have been, at least in part, an “inside job”. In previous terror attacks in Pakistan, the perpetrators appeared to have considerable intelligence about their targets. Car bombers have struck at army and anti-terror police headquarters in the past two years without the slightest hindrance. (Omar Waraich, “Suspicions grow that attack was an ‘inside job’,” The Independent, March 5, 2009) Stressing the close interconnections amongst Pakistan’s security services, organized crime outfits and the shadowy networks of allied jihadi groups, security analyst Robert Emerson told The Independent, “There are various elements within the Pakistani military and intelligence set-up who appear to have special relationships with militant groups. There are also links between political and criminal organisations. It is a complex and shadowy world with conflicting agendas.” Lashkar also has connections to the murky world of Pakistani cricket. Dawood Ibrahim, a Muslim gangster boss in Mumbai, is believed to have been responsible for organising a series of bombings at the Indian city in 1993, killing 250 people, after which he fled the country for Pakistan. Ibrahim, named by the US State Department as a “global terrorist with links to al-Qa’ida and Lashkar-e-Taiba”, and a major trafficker of Afghan opium, has also been accused of playing a part in the last Mumbai attack. Victor Ivanov, the head of the Russian counter-narcotics service, said: “Evidence suggests that the regional drug baron Dawood Ibrahim had provided his logistics network to prepare and carry out the Mumbai terror attacks.” (Kim Sengupta, “Strike had hallmarks of Mumbai massacre,” The Independent, March 4, 2009) What is not mentioned however, is that Ibrahim’s D-Company enjoyed historical ties with the American CIA and was an asset who assisted Washington’s arms smuggling to Afghan “holy warriors” during the anti-Soviet jihad. After the CIA’s favorite criminal financial institution, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) went belly-up in the early 1990s, Dawood took over “management” of the port of Karachi from BCCI’s “Black Network” of enforcers and assassins. As I reported in mid-December, D-Company enjoys protected status afforded by the ISI and that Ibrahim’s extensive smuggling networks along the Indian coast were in all probability used to infiltrate LET thugs into Mumbai. Asia Times investigative journalist Raja Murthy was told by Lahore-based journalist Amir Mir that “Dawood’s underworld connects and business ventures are extensive. And he sublets his name in Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, to franchises in the fields of drug trafficking and gambling dens.” With contacts amongst serving and retired ISI officers, LET, other jihadi outfits and the near boundless riches afforded by his drug trafficking, smuggling and gambling empire, one cannot discount Dawood’s hand as a “plausibly deniable” asset capable of providing the Lahore attackers with intelligence, arms and the means to escape the area after Tuesday’s brazen assault. Other analysts suggest that Tuesday’s attack was carried out to free LET and other militant leaders arrested in the wake of the Mumbai atrocities. Investigative journalist Amir Mir writes that authorities “are trying to ascertain whether it was an attempt by the Lashkar-e-Taiba militants to hijack the bus carrying the team and to bargain the release of their chief operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.” Lakhvi is currently detained in a Rawalpindi jail for his alleged role in the Mumbai attacks. Mir reports, The authorities say the Lashkar militants involved in the Lahore assault might have in their mind the successful hijacking of an Indian passenger aircraft in 2000, which eventually compelled the BJP government in India to release Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad who had been serving term in an Indian jail on terrorism charges. (Amir Mir, “Was attack on Sri Lankan team a bid to release Lakhvi?”, The News, March 5, 2009) In December 1999, Indian Airlines flight 814 was hijacked and flown to Afghanistan where 155 passengers were held hostage for eight days. In return for the release of three militants incarcerated in Indian prisons, the hostages were finally freed although one passenger was brutally murdered by the assailants. In addition to JEM leader Azhar, Omar Saeed Sheikh, a reputed ISI-MI6 asset was also freed. Sheikh, currently under a death sentence in Pakistan for the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was a former student at the London School of Economics. In the early 1990s, he joined Harkat ul-Ansar (Movement of Supporters of the Faith, HUA) and fought in Bosnia in support of U.S.-NATO destabilization operations against the former Yugoslavia. But as with the multitude of shadowy jihadi factions operating in Pakistan, JEM and HUA were creatures of the ISI and the Army. Indeed, The History Commons reports that HUA was “a Pakistani militant group originally formed and developed in large part due to Pervez Musharraf in the early 1990s.” After their release, Azhar and Sheik both returned to Pakistan, received a hero’s welcome and toured the country “for weeks under the protection of the ISI.” Shortly before the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, it is alleged that Sheikh, an ISI asset and al-Qaeda operative wired $100,000 to lead hijacker Mohamed Atta. Some versions hold that Sheikh did so with express authorization by ISI chieftain Mahmoud Ahmad. The History Commons avers, In 2001, the flight’s captain, Devi Sharan, will say that the hijackers of his plane used techniques similar to the 9/11 hijackers, suggesting a common modus operandi. The hijackers praised Osama bin Laden, had knives and slit the throat of a passenger, herded the passengers to the back of the plane where some of them used cell phones to call relatives, and one hijacker said he had trained on a simulator. (“Profile: Maulana Masood Azhar,” The History Commons, no date.) All of which begs the question: If the Lahore commando which attacked the Sri Lankan cricketers employed an operational script similar to Mumbai’s, and are connected to LET or other militants yet unknown, what role did ISI, retired officers or other elements of Pakistan’s deep state, including organized crime assets play in the terrorist atrocity? Just as importantly, with the obvious motive of destabilizing the country and sowing chaos, it cannot be ruled out that the United States will seize on the attack and the Swat compact with the TTP, to pressure the Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, and particularly Chief of Staff General Asfaq Parvez Kayani, newly returned from “comprehensive multilateral talks” in Washington, to once again leave the barracks. The emergence of a highly-trained and motivated far-right jihadi base in major population centers is an ominous development for Pakistan’s democratic opposition. With the weak and increasingly isolated, Zardari government planning to take stern administrative and police measures against pro-democracy protesters planning to shut Islamabad down next week, the potential for attacks by Army-backed provocateurs, under color of the “enforcement of Islamic
for stoking fears about President Obama's address to school children last year. Greer, now under indictment on fraud and money-laundering charges after being drummed out of the state party, also accused "many within the GOP" of having "racist views." In September 2009, conservatives raised questions about the motives of president's back-to-school speech, which was beamed into many of the nation's classrooms. Greer was among them, charging that "taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology." "While I support educating our children to respect both the office of the American President and the value of community service, I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda," he said then in a statement that made waves around the country. Greer is now apologizing for those comments. "In the year since I issued a prepared statement regarding President Obama speaking to the nation's school children, I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served," Greer said in a statement Tuesday to CNN and other media outlets. "Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views and I apologize to the President for my opposition to his speech last year and my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our Party today. My children and I look forward to the President's speech."Oregon Firearms Federation Political Action Committee candidate ratings for Oregon House and Senate races are attached. See our take on Federal races here. Please keep in mind that these ratings are almost exclusively for members of the major parties. “Minor” or “third” party candidates are typically chosen at their conventions. (UPDATE. Minor party candidates have now received surveys and these ratings will be updated as results are returned.) The process of rating candidates can be very complex and while we do our best to provide the best overview of a candidate, in some cases it simply cannot be done. There are some candidates that are very easy to rate. Floyd Prozanski is not only militantly anti-gun but is also very deceptive about his positions. Floyd is an easy “F-“. Others like Michael Dembrow and Mitch Greenlick have demonstrated such massive contempt for the rights of Oregonians that rating them is also very simple. Others have been true pro-rights heros. It’s easy to rate Kim Thatcher. She’s a solid pro-gun vote and introduces many good bills. But other candidates are more complicated. Many are people who have never held office before. If those people don’t respond to our survey, we usually just don’t know enough about them to rate them one way or another. That’s why so many candidates are rated “NR” for “not rated.” They are simply unknowns. But there are legislators who are in office now who really can’t be easily rated either. One of the reasons for that is that we’ve been so successful at killing anti-gun bills that many legislators (especially in the House) have never had to vote on a really controversial bill. In the 2014 session, most legislators voted in favor of two bills OFF supported, HB 4035 and HB 4068, but these were not controversial bills and the one really dangerous anti-gun bill, SB 1551, never made it to the floor for a vote in either House, so for many legislators we simply don’t know how they would have voted. (Some, like Ann Linniger stated they supported the bill even though they did not get to vote on it.) So wherever possible we took into account votes in past sessions. We also take into account other factors such as party. In the Senate, Betsy Johnson received an “A+” not only because her record on guns is so good, but also because she was willing to take on her entire caucus when faced with anti-gun votes making her the only pro-gun Democrat in the Oregon Senate. Similarly, Jeff Barker, (D. H-28) received an “A+” because of his willingness to stand up to the House Democratic caucus and defend gun rights even when we disagreed with him on other issues. A case in point was HB 4054. This bill was a clear attack on the initiative process that was supported by all but one House Democrat (Brent Barton) and we believe that although it was not actually a “gun bill” it was bad for Oregonians and the process. We were surprised and disappointed that it was supported by two Republicans who are running again, Greg Smith and Vic Gilliam. But we feel that Smith and Gilliam had virtually no explanation for this vote given that they faced no pressure from their own (Republican) caucus. (At least Greg Smith returned our survey and went on record. Gilliam refused.) Candidates who have not held office before but answered our survey were, obviously, rated based on survey answers. It is our policy to give a maximum rating of B+ to someone with no voting record. However, we make exceptions for candidates, who in spite of a lack of voting record, have a clear history of public support for the Second Amendment. (For example Bill Post who is seeking a House seat in the 25th district and Timothy McMenamin in the 41st District.) Candidates who are NOT incumbents, but whom we recommend, are listed in bold, italics and underlined. .BROOKFIELD – Brookfield Zoo encourages animal lovers to bundle up and head on out to the zoo's annual FREEze Day this Sunday. Throughout February, admission to the zoo will be free on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. A $10 parking fee still applies. On Sunday, the Green Valley Dog Drivers will demonstrate dog sledding from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the zoo's West Mall. The Lemont-based organization will also engage guests in games and musher talks with their canine teams. Guests will also get a chance to learn about some of the zoo's animals during special Zoo Chats. At 11 a.m. they can get an update on the Mexican gray wolf pack at the Regenstein Wolf Woods exhibit, as well as the reintroduction program for the species. Zookeepers will bring a red-tailed hawk to the West Mall at 1 p.m., where guests can learn about this bird of prey that is native to the Chicagoland area. At 2:30 p.m., guests can learn some interesting facts about the African pinted dogs at Habitat Africa! the Savannah. Athletico Physical Therapy will be on hand to present winter safety tips and activities. More information is available at 708-688-8000 or by visiting www.CZS.org.Secret Space Program Whistleblowers Under Scrutiny – Response to Richard Dolan On July 16, leading UFO historian, Richard Dolan, released an article setting out his views about how to assess individuals who have claimed to have direct knowledge and experience concerning secret space programs. He explains his sympathy for the view that such programs exist, and that people have been through these programs where they have or want to come forward with what they know. However, he describes his general skeptism about individuals who not only claim to be whistleblowers with detailed knowledge about secret space programs, but who also achieve a certain degree of public acceptance, while providing no evidence in support of their claims: But when it comes to significant claims being made–really big claims that are not only radical on their own merits but which transform the field (and bring fame and money to those making them), then we clearly need a higher standard than “he seems like a good guy with a detailed story so I believe him.” Richard views such individuals as wittingly or unwittingly muddying the waters, making it increasingly difficult for independent researchers seeking to ascertain the truth about these programs. He describes three whistleblowers in particular who have come forward and gained a level of public attention with their incredible claims: Some of the most prominent of these people include Andrew Basiago, Randy Kramer, and Corey Goode. These three individuals have each claimed to have gone to Mars for extended periods of time. That’s explosive enough, of course, but they have also stated that they have engaged in time travel. Richard points out that the lack of evidence means that we need to take the whistleblowers word for it, which can be a dangerous thing for researchers: Again, I must emphasize that none of these whistleblowers has made a claim that an independent investigator can confirm. Everything is based on trust. Believing such stories without genuine evidence takes us down a dangerous road within an already treacherous field that is constantly in the crosshairs of a skeptical establishment. He is here attempting to steer what he perceives to be the middle path between a highly critical group of skeptics and debunkers claiming such whistleblowers are, at best, delusional or at worst pathological liars, and supporters accepting whatever the whistleblowers have to say on trust alone. Richard refers to a series of emails he received encouraging him to come out against Goode in particular, who has recently been subjected to sustained criticism from Bill Ryan and Daniel Liszt (aka Dark Journalist) in a series of interviews. Ryan and Liszt have been a focal point for an internet campaign to discredit Goode as a pathological liar. I have responded to their alleged impartial investigation of Goode elsewhere in terms of how they ignore documents and expert testimonies that validate Goode’s claims about his two-decades long background in the Information Technology industry. By ignoring Goode’s verifiable background, both investigators have deliberately attempted to cast doubt on his credibility by asserting that he came forward purely for monetary gain, as opposed to genuine whistleblower’ desire to reveal the truth about official wrong doing even at the cost of a once lucrative career. I have reached out to Richard to share my assessment of Ryan and Listz’s hoax investigation, and included a link to the documents and experts I contacted and who corroborated Goode’s background. Richard has not replied, which I find surprising. Surely the willful obfuscation of a whistleblower’s background deserves public scrutiny and rebuke when investigators have acted inappropriately! Yet apparently, Mr Dolan doesn’t agree. He doesn’t bring up any problems with Ryan and Liszt’s investigation of Goode in his post, but he does mention a problem with me. Apparently I have a trust issue: I’ve known Michael for over a decade, and have had several long conversations with him. What I say here I have said to him personally: I believe he has done genuine and good research on a number of matters, but has a tendency to be too trusting. From my perspective, it’s always been like that. There are people who love his work, and there are haters. I am neither, but am always looking for information I can use. Sometimes I get good information and insights from his work and so I find him worthwhile to listen to, even if I don’t approve of his quickness to jump to conclusions. I find Richard’s assessment that I have a “tendency to be too trusting” unsurprising since it reflects my contrary view of his tendency to be too dismissive of those sincerely and honestly stating their experiences. They may well be telling the truth about extraordinary experiences, but are dismissed simply because they don’t provide sufficient evidence to satisfy whatever standard he and other UFO researchers arbitrarily set. To me, it has always been far more dangerous to exclude witness testimony simply because they don’t provide sufficient evidence to some arbitrarily defined standard, as opposed to seriously investigating it based on their sincerity, honesty and often sacrifice in coming forward. It’s wrong to assume that an investigator “trusts” a whistleblower simply because he or she consider them sincere and thus worthy of serious investigation. I have found the above three whistleblowers sincere and worthy of serious investigation. That doesn’t translate into trust, however, which is a different thing altogether. Richard Dolan and I agree that the entire subject matter of UFOs, extraterrestrial life and secret space programs is very highly classified, and that security measures have been implemented to perpetuate this. Indeed, the Edward Snowden document release confirms that the intelligence community in the five Echelon countries (USA, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) does perform covert online activities to sow confusion in the UFO field. Richard believes that it stands to reason that the Deep State (aka Cabal/Illuminati) would attempt to muddy the waters by arranging for hoaxers, mind-control victims, assets, etc., to come in with false testimonies and disinformation. On this we agree, but it also stands to reason that there would be a lot of effort put in as well to discredit genuine whistleblowers, experiencers, etc., by the Deep State and its assets. Why only focus on one aspect of what the Deep State is doing? After all, in the case of Corey Goode, I’ve found clear evidence of an underhanded attempt to smear him, where two investigators, Ryan and Liszt, have ignored documents and expert witnesses corroborating his work history, and claims in this regard. Couldn’t Ryan and Liszt be Deep State operatives who have been activated to discredit Goode? Richard then takes on the case of William Tompkins, who unlike Goode, Basiago and Cramer, has numerous documents and experts supporting key aspects of his testimony. He says: Bill Tompkins is an interesting case. He is in his 90s, and recently wrote a book entitled Selected by Extraterrestrials, which details his life and claims about having participated in the Navy’s top secret program to create a secret space fleet. Unlike the other alleged whistleblowers, Tompkins has a career that has been confirmed: he did work at Douglas Aircraft for many years and has very impressive credentials. That counts for something. I should add that Dr. Salla and Dr. Bob Wood have both done a great deal of work to investigate and confirm Tompkins’ background and found what they believe is at least some corroboration to Tompkins’ claims. Indeed, Dr. Wood and I have found many documents and independent third parties supporting Tompkins’ testimony. I spoke with three retired Navy officers, who all vouched for Tompkins bona fides and aspects of his testimony which I detailed in my book The US Navy’s Secret Space Program and in earlier articles. Despite this abundant pool of evidence which has been publicly available for some time now, Richard Dolan remains on the fence about Tompkins: Even so, I have my doubts about Mr. Tompkins. It’s not widely known, but I had the opportunity to be his publisher. After I learned about his credentials from Bob Wood, but before I read his manuscript, I had agreed in principle that I would publish it. But after reading the manuscript, I had to decline. I found the tone of this book to be perfectly designed to bring disrepute to the field and I wanted nothing to do with it. I found a number of obvious errors in the book and what seemed to me examples of self-aggrandisement that didn’t sit well with me. I wished Tompkins well and that was that. I haven’t made my final judgment on Tompkins, and perhaps I never will. If evidence can be brought forth to substantiate his key claims, then I will look at it. Tompkins’ tone, draft book errors and self-aggrandisement were red flags to Dolan so he backed off. That’s fair enough for any publisher assessing a potential book, however, these are not things that would exclude Tompkins from being truthful in his recollections of events and people as he best recalls. After all, Tompkins is 94 and was part of historic process which has culminated in the present state of affairs concerning secret space programs. I personally gave Richard a copy of my US Navy Secret Space Program book in which I lay out the evidence as I have so far been able to find. Richard finishes his article by saying: I remain willing to engage in a civil discourse with Corey, Andrew, Bill Tompkins, Michael Salla, or anyone else who has made claims. In a sense, I understand their position, since I know what it’s like to speak to staunch skeptics about the UFO subject. However, in any sort of engagement I have with such people, they must realize that the onus is on them to provide their evidence. That is what I do regarding UFOs. A story that is inherently unverifiable just doesn’t count, nor does it help if some other random person seemingly supports the story. Words alone aren’t good enough. Nothing can be taken at face value. I am happy to engage in a civil discourse with Richard about the issues he has raised in his article and what I have pointed out in this reply. I consider him as someone with the kind of intellectual rigor and forthrightness that makes a public debate on these issues something valuable for all readers. In finishing, I do have to express my disagreement with his conclusion that a story that is “inherently unverifiable just doesn’t count”. Just think of the implications of eyewitness testimony to crimes being dismissed because there is no evidence they provide, or means of investigating the veracity of their claims, which may appear incredible given the present level of technological awareness in open source society. Wouldn’t that play into the hands of criminal syndicates with the power to remove and manipulate incriminating evidence? My conclusion is that this is precisely what is happening when it comes to learning the truth about secret space programs, the groups running these operate very similarly to criminal syndicates under the cover of national security. All testimonies count. We can learn a lot by both exposing those out to hoax us or who act out of delusion, as well genuinely investigating those telling us the truth as best as they recollect. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is precisely what the Deep State wants us to do when it comes to assessing incredible whistleblower claims about secret space programs. © Michael E. Salla, Ph.D. Copyright Notice Further Reading Share this: Share Twitter Reddit Facebook LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Tags: Corey Goode, Michael Salla, Richard Dolan, secret space programs, whistleblowers, William TompkinsSubmitted for your approval: New Year’s Eve, 2014. The revelries have begun; sparkling party hats, and glasses awkwardly framed around the numbers 2, 0, 1, 5 are already being donned across the world. For some, champagne corks and fireworks will be the soundtrack of the night. For others, the entrance of the new year will be accompanied by a familiar arrangement of guitars and bongo drums that evoke mystery, fear, love -- and maybe even madness … Tune in to the Syfy channel (disclosure: Blastr is owned by Syfy) any time today through 6 a.m. on Jan. 2 and you will find yourself traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, for the 20th year in a row, is Syfy’s Twilight Zone New Year's Marathon. Although the original 1959 series concluded its five-season run 50 years ago, The Twilight Zone has remained a landmark destination since Syfy began its annual marathon on Dec. 31, 1995. Since then, while there are several holiday marathons out there (The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Futurama), none match the iconic status of Zone for those who prefer seeing creator/host/television genius Rod Serling in their living rooms to Ryan Seacrest. Beyond the theme song, what leaps to mind when someone mentions the Zone is Serling, wearing a black suit with a cigarette in hand, introducing the tale about to unfold in a sober, yet inviting, fashion. And the stories themselves were, and remain, some of the best that sci-fi and horror could offer. Twilight Zone elevated the genre to a respectable art form with intellectual plots with a frequently creepy atmosphere. Written by Serling, or exceptional writers such as Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Jerry Sohl, and -- once -- Ray Bradbury, the episodes contained political messages and moral lessons while also scaring you. And even though they, at times, look a little frayed, production-wise, the stories hold up and are amazing to binge on. In fact, even Breaking Bad honcho Vince Gilligan gets into the marathon. In an interview with the Kansas City Star last May, Gilligan -- a zoney instrumental to The X-Files success – called the marathon a “bit of a holiday tradition.” “I wind up consuming one right after the other, like potato chips, for hours on end,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to matter that I already own every episode, uncut and commercial-free, on pristine Blu-ray and can watch them anytime I like.” If you also plan on consuming episodes like chips this holiday, as I do, then you need a little additional seasoning for the 20th anniversary of the Syfy Twilight Zone marathon -- and Doug Brode, Ph.D., is just the man to add the spice. A journalist, academic, screenwriter, novelist and historian, Brode knows Twilight Zone and Rod Serling better than just about anyone. While a young professor at a community college in upstate New York, Brode approached Rod in 1971 for an interview, which led to the two men remaining close friends until the latter’s death in ’75. Brode remains friends with the family, and he and Serling’s widow, Carol, collaborated on Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone: The Official 50th Anniversary Tribute in 2009. Brode -- who currently teaches at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has a two-volume anthology on Star Trek arriving in 2015 -- joined me to provide insight on The Twilight Zone and the mastermind behind it. To celebrate Syfy's 20 years of the holiday spent in the fifth dimension, check out these 20 things you didn't know about the Zone. Zoom In 20. Serling hated Hollywood While Rod Serling did spend a lot of time out west and was one of the best writers working in the business, the Syracuse, N.Y., native hated it out there. “He refused to live there because he thought it was so phony,” said Brode. Rod and Carol did actually live out there for a short time before Zone took off, and in the early days of the show, but got out fast to avoid becoming an L.A. “pod person.” Until his death, his best friends remained those from his Army days, and he and Carol socialized near their home in Interlaken, N.Y. 19. He was a “suburban beatnik” Rod always wore a suit, and he enjoyed living in a nice home with his wife, kids and dog, “but inside he was Kerouac,” said Brode. “He didn’t live in Greenwich Village or do drugs or drink, but there was an inner, angry young man trying to write serious stuff.” 18. Serling’s favorite episodes aren’t the most popular While scary Twilight Zone episodes such as “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” “To Serve Man” and “Eye of the Beholder” are among the most iconic, Serling preferred smaller stories such as “A Stop at Willoughby” and “Walking Distance.” Instead of being the most spectacular, these intimate stories -- about successful middle-aged men in suits who feel they’ve sold out and go back in time -- were Serling’s most personal. These also connected to the writer’s upbringing. “He was such a political liberal -- against racism or the war in Vietnam,” said Brode. “But there was a closet conservatism to Rod with a nostalgia for the past.” 17. That anti-Serling episode Written by Reginald Rose, the season-four episode "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" features Pat Hingle as a toy designer who longs to return to his blissful childhood. When he gets his wish, he realizes that things weren’t so great, after all, and he was a target for bullies. The notion conflicted with Serling’s nostalgia for how things once were. Ironically, even Serling’s idealized past in Ithaca was in reality marred by anti-Semitism when he we was devastated to be rejected by a fraternity he wanted to join. Zoom In 16. The Star Trek connection William Shatner starred in two beloved Zone episodes -- “Nick of Time” and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” –- but other Enterprise crew members also traveled to the fifth dimension. Leonard Nimoy appeared in the season three’s “A Quality of Mercy,” and George Takei took center stage in the racially charged season five episode “The Encounter.” Additionally, Gene Roddenberry read the eulogy at Serling’s funeral when his friend died at age 50. 15. Serling wanted to be Arthur Miller “Rod didn’t want to be remembered as a writer of science fiction,” said Brode. He referred to his work as “imaginative fantasy” and didn’t like the sci-fi characterization. Brode added that Serling wanted to write something of importance, such as Miller’s realistic plays or Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead. Brode said Serling, while “incredibly appreciative” of his success, felt bound by his genre work. 14. He thought Zone would be forgotten Rod Serling died completely unaware of the show’s legacy, said Brode. He died in 1975 -- following a heart attack and open-heart surgery -- believing he'd be “entirely forgotten.” Brode added Serling was surprised the show continued to air for 10 years following its cancellation and that it’d only run for a couple more years in re-runs. “He thought his work was minor and would be forgotten because it wasn’t realistic.” Zoom In 13. Planet of the Apes is a two-hour Zone episode Although debate continues how much of the final 1968 film he wrote, the Statue of Liberty ending was all Rod Serling. There were other writers on the film, but other scenes in the film are signature Serling (such as the See No Evil/Hear No Evil/Speak No Evil orangutans). He also enjoyed the movie, though Brode said it wasn’t what he envisioned and wanted the ape world to be more futuristic. “In his script, everything was Tomorrowland, not this primitive thing,” but budgets were cut after the expensive disaster of 20th Century Fox’s Cleopatra. 12. The mediocre Zone Serling said the reputation of Twilight Zone rested on 25 episodes. Of the 156 episodes, he said most were mediocre, with 10 really bad ones but about 25 great installments. Serling himself was responsible for writing 94 episodes. Also, to save money, CBS shot six episodes on videotape instead of film. Brode said Serling thought those were the least successful from the show’s run and lacked the spontaneity of film. 11. JFK’s assassination hurt the show The fifth season of Twilight Zone contained multiple stories that seemed recycled, and Brode said Serling had lost some of his enthusiasm for life by that point. “There is an optimism to early Twilight Zone, and I think to a large degree that optimism got kicked out on Nov. 22, 1963.” He added, “It took the bottom out of a lot of people of that generation, and Rod was one of them... he was a different person and writer after that.” Zoom In 10. Serling loved Mickey Rooney “You mention Mickey Rooney and Rod’s eyes would light up,” said Brode. “He’d almost forget where he was.” Serling admired Rooney’s performances so much that he wrote the one-man season five episode “The Last Night of a Jockey” specifically for the actor, who died last April. Brode added that Serling overall admired actors -- who had one take to get it right on the show -- and would listen to suggestions they had. 9. The Ray Bradbury feud Rod Serling was a big fan of Ray Bradbury’s work, and the author’s story “I Sing The Body Electric” was the 100th episode of the series. However, Brode claimed that Bradbury was “extremely bitter” and thought he should be the one hosting a show, not Serling. The author also claimed Serling was not a “real” science fiction writer (though Serling didn’t intend to be; see #15 on this list). “This got back to Rod and he felt betrayed and hurt, and there was no more Ray Bradbury on the show,” said Brode. But Serling’s official reason for not having additional Bradbury episodes? As brilliant as his stories were, Serling said Zone was having trouble making them work for TV and that they didn’t film particularly well. “Which is absolute bullsh-t,” said Brode. “He was being a gentleman.” 8. Serling was the first showrunner Serling was unique at the time for creating, producing and writing for his own show. Like Vince Gilligan above, Serling was a showrunner before the term was even invented. As such, he also wanted to give more exposure to writers during the golden age of television. Richard Matheson was already established when he first worked on the show, but Zone certainly furthered his career. And Earl Hamner Jr., who went on to create The Waltons, got his big Hollywood break on the show with the episode “The Hunt” (featuring very Walton-esque characters). But instead of mentoring unpublished writers, he viewed the ones he hired as underappreciated equals. 7. Prof. Serling During the fourth season of the show, Serling needed a break from the show and taught at Antioch College in Ohio (where he was an alum) as a writer in residence. He also went on to teach at Ithaca College in the late 1960s until his death. Brode said Carol Serling revealed Rod was unappreciated at Antioch because students viewed his TV writing as inferior. 6. Serling was a paratrooper, boxer and parachute/ejection seat tester Before he worked in show business, Serling was an Army paratrooper during World War II in the Pacific Theater -- and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for his service. During his time in the army, he enjoyed some success as a flyweight boxer. To pay for college after being discharged, Serling also tested parachutes and a jet ejection seat. His writing was influenced heavily by his time in the Army; the teleplay “Requiem for a Heavyweight” was initially titled “Requiem for a Lightweight” and based on his own experiences. Zoom In 5. The Forbidden Zone The Twilight Zone was filmed in the same MGM studios in Culver City as 1956’s Forbidden Planet, which ended has having a major impact on the show. The props from the movie were re-used on Zone, including the C-57D saucer (seen in “To Serve Man,” "Third From the Sun," "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby," "The Invaders" and "Death Ship"). Marc Zicree, author of The Twilight Zone Companion, said every prop from the film was eventually re-used on the show and that Serling even drew inspiration for stories by visiting the prop room. 4. The Simpsons are big zoneys Out of all the pop-culture references to Twilight Zone, The Simpsons may be the series that has shown the most love to it. It has paid homage to the show no less than 10 times in its annual "Treehouse of Horror" specials. The very first "Treehouse" episode introduced the Rigel VII aliens Kang and Kodos in the “To Serve Man”-inspired story, “Hungry Are the Damned.” 3. Twilight Zone: The Ride The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida -- which opened 19 years after Serling's death -- is supposed to be based on a “lost” episode hosted by Serling. In reality, part of his intro from the episode “It’s a Good Life” is modified with an original script and read by voice actor Mark Silverman. The ride also takes passengers through the season-four opening sequence of the show. Zoom In 2. Child of the Zone Actor Bill “Billy” Mumy appeared in three episodes of the original series before becoming known as Will Robinson on Lost In Space. In “Long Distance Call,” Mumy plays a boy communicating with his dead grandmother via a toy telephone. The episode is notable for being one of only 16 ghost stories on Zone. Instead of teaching a life lesson, this ghost has a darker agenda: She wants little Billy to die so he can be with her for eternity. Mumy also played psychic tyke Anthony in the episode “It’s A Good Life” -- a role he reprised in the second revival of the show when he portrayed the father to his real-life daughter, Liliana. 1. Living in Twilight Though he didn’t think he’d be taken seriously, Serling’s creation has been adapted to theater, radio plays, comic books, novelizations, games, theme park rides and a movie. The show has had two revivals, and Leonardo DiCaprio continues to pursue a film adaptation of the show (which will not be associated with the 1983 movie). Serling himself has appeared on a United States Postal Service stamp, and his high school alma mater in Binghamton holds an annual video festival dedicated to him. TV Guide ranked Serling as number one of greatest sci-fi legends in 2004; he was the only real-life person on the list otherwise comprised of fictional characters. Zoom In Are you tuning in to the Twilight Zone marathon? Which episodes are your favorites? Let us know in the comments!Spotify has been forced to acknowledge that pop star Justin Beiber is not now, and—barring some truly extraordinary future life events—likely never will be a “Latin king.” The streaming service has pulled online ads dubbing Bieber as such, in reference to his chart-topping appearance on a remix of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito.” Advertisement The ads were not well-received, to say the least, especially since there are videos out there of Bieber flubbing the song during a nightclub performance, replacing lines in Spanish with “blah blah blah blah,” “I eat a burrito,” and “I don’t know the words, so I say Dorito.” A representative for Spotify noted that the ads were intended to “celebrate ‘Despacito’”—the first primarily Spanish-language song to hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since “Macarena” in 1996—“as a key cultural moment when music genres crossover.” Still, they admitted, “We realized that this could be seen as culturally insensitive so we have pulled those ads.” Advertisement [via Fader]Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Dec. 27, 2016, 3:49 AM GMT / Updated Dec. 27, 2016, 12:18 PM GMT By Tim Stelloh A series of apparently unconnected fights and disturbances broke out at malls across the country the day after Christmas, leaving shoppers desperate for an exit and authorities struggling to wrangle unruly crowds. Several arrests and multiple injuries were reported — including an assault on an officer — and authorities and witnesses described panic-stricken scenes from Aurora, Colo. to East Garden City, N.Y. In Manchester, Conn., police said what began as an unspecified “disturbance” among 10 teenagers on Monday afternoon quickly escalated as multiple fights broke out simultaneously, NBC Connecticut reported. A video posted to Facebook shows a mass of people at the Shoppes at Buckland Hills throwing wild punches, then fleeing with authorities and a large crowd giving chase. “Never go to the mall right after Christmas,” the accompanying post says. A police officer was assaulted while trying to break up the fight, NBC Connecticut reported, and several people were arrested, though they had not been identified. In Colorado, the Town Center at Aurora was shuttered and evacuated on Monday afternoon after the Aurora Police Department reported “multiple skirmishes” and “a large disturbance” inside the mall. Video obtained by NBC affiliate KUSA shows a crowd gathered outside the mall and several police officers trying to control it. Two people who appeared to be handcuffed can be seen lying on the ground. Someone can be heard saying “she is dragging her by her hair,” though it’s unclear who is being referred to. Moments later, someone else screams: “I can’t breathe.” The department said in a Twitter post that no officers or customers were injured. In Beachwood, Ohio, a mall outside Cleveland was closed after a "large-scale disturbance" among "sizable groups of juveniles" was reported, local police said in a statement. They added that the incident "appears to have been loosely organized on social media." Cleveland.com reported that responding police officers disbursed the crowd with pepper spray. “My whole body burned,” a witness, 19-year-old John Boyd, told the site. In Chattanooga, Tenn., and Elizabeth, N.J., there were reports of gunshots on Monday afternoon. At Hamilton Place, in Tennessee, that gunfire turned out to be a cover-up attempt, NBC affiliate WRCB reported: teenagers threw firecrackers to divert attention from a shoplifting incident. The teens were still at large, though they were seen on surveillance footage, a police spokesman told the station. Several customers were injured in the crush of people trying to flee the mall. In Elizabeth, Mayor Chris Bollowage said someone shouted “gun” after a chair was slammed at the Mills. “People began to panic,” he said in a post on Twitter. A witness described the scene on Instagram as "mass hysteria," and an accompanying video showed police officers in tactical gear marching through the mall’s food court. Bollwage said that eight to 10 people were injured in the ensuing chaos. They were treated at the scene and transferred to local hospitals for additional evaluations, he said. Meanwhile in Fayetteville, N.C., a mall was evacuated after a fight on Monday afternoon, though no injuries were reported, according to the Associated Press, and in East Garden City, N.Y., a security officer at Roosevelt Field Mall told NBC News on Monday night that a “small fight... caused a wave of panic.” No injuries were reported and the mall remained open.The next new solo Avenger to get a film will be put in a unique position in many ways. That's because Black Panther won't have an origin story to serve as his first film's main plot, breaking from every other Marvel Studios film so far. Instead, in Black Panther, we have a hero that's already been a hero - heck, he even fought both with and against Avengers when he was introduced in Captain America: Civil War. Now, he'll be dealing with the challenge of being a hero, but also becoming a king. "Panther exists in a grey area," director Ryan Coogler said in the Phase 3 preview feature on the Doctor Strange home release. "In addition to being a soldier, he has a more important job as a politician. He's constantly making these choices in the fog of politics and the fog of war." Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is excited to be dealing with a political and royal situation on Earth, as opposed to
Emily Books took a toll on their friendship—and stretched their professional lives thin. “It’s hard to run a business with your best friend,” Gould said. “It’s running a business that you work hard on, pretty much every day, and don’t make any money from.” The two friends consciously set aside time to work both on their relationship and their business, all the while doing their best to keep things separate. In 2015, both Gould and Curry looked to a Kickstarter campaign as a litmus test for Emily Books’s eventual success or failure. In addition to re-vamping the Emily Books website and providing better customer service, the publishers needed to know if they could solidify their audience. Up until that point, the business had struggled to support a community of readers big on individual book sales but less apt to spring for a monthly subscription. “We’re not, like, ascetic saints or anything,” said Gould. “We do care a ton about this business and what we’ve built with it, but if there isn’t the potential to reach a wide audience, then we needed to know that. And the Kickstarter was a great vote of confidence because the support that we got for it completely surprised and overwhelmed us.” The community Gould and Curry originally envisioned had finally started to coalesce. And it’s this ability—to build and cultivate an audience—that Kickstarter’s publishing outreach lead, Maris Kreizman, admires about Emily Books. “They have great taste, and they are elevating books that otherwise might be passed over, helping people rediscover wonderful classics of feminist literature,” said Kreizman. “But also they have this built-in community. They have people who love what they do already.” Even so, there was a lot riding on the Kickstarter, with its fundraising goal of $40,000, to secure the future of Emily Books. “They wanted to be realistic,” Kreizman explained. “If they didn’t meet that goal, then it would be a good sign that maybe they shouldn’t devote any more time to expanding Emily Books. And so a lot of it was just seeing how many people would back the project, to figure out if there was an audience. And what a fucking delight to realize, yes. Yes, there are a lot of people who are interested in this and want to take part.” Kreizman’s resounding “yes” refers to the success of the campaign, which collected more than $41,000 from 730 backers. Emily Books would live. And now, a year later, Gould and Curry are headed in the opposite direction from which they started, from MOBI files to perfect-bound books. This summer the duo will launch their imprint with Coffee House, which has shepherded indie breakouts like Eimear McBride’s A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing and Valeria Luiselli’s The Story of My Teeth. According to Curry, she initially hesitated over their decision to publish print titles. “Print doesn’t work! Print is dead!” she said, gently poking fun of herself and of the alarm bells publishers have been clanging since the eBook came to market. “The only thing that’s working about our model right now is that it’s electronic,” said Curry, re-tracing her thoughts. “That means we don’t have to deal with warehousing and insurance and real estate and shipping. Why would we ever want to invite these headaches into our lives? I honestly couldn’t see a way to do it.” Partnering with Coffee House offered an elegant solution to Curry’s feared roadblocks. Since Curry interned at the publishing house as an undergraduate, she had an existing relationship with the publisher. At the same time, Coffee House was interested in expanding its editorial staff to continue to diversify their list. The match, according to Coffee House Press’s managing director Caroline Casey, seemed like a natural one. “As a publisher, we prefer a messy and ambitious book to a cautious and extremely competent one,” said Casey, who loved the selections Emily Books had made. “They had absolutely told us in the books that they’ve picked for the subscription that that’s the way that they think, too.” “Even though we do have different aesthetics, to a certain extent, [we have] really similar goals in terms of how ambitious books should be and what our place is in terms of championing them,” she added. First out of the gate for the new venture is the utterly ambitious and unique Problems, a debut novel from Jade Sharma that offers a disturbing, but also humorous, glimpse into heroin addiction and the end of a crumbling marriage. The book’s narrator, Maya, is sharp and self-destructive. She possesses a wicked sense of humor and a penchant for bad decisions; she is the kind of narrator that internalized misogyny tells you to loathe. “She doesn’t need anybody to come save her,” Casey confirmed. “At a certain point, she’ll get sick of being a mess, and she’ll save herself if she feels like it. And I love that. I love that it’s an anti-damsel in distress narrative.” For that reason alone, this book might seem like too much of a risk for major publishers. But Sharma pushes her narrative further still, writing frankly and unapologetically about sex, masturbation, and drug use. Thanks to Sharma’s quick, episodic style, Maya’s fall from grace blisters off the page. It’s electric writing. When Curry read the manuscript, she felt certain this could be the book she and Gould were looking for to launch the new imprint. “One of the rubber stamp rejections that I got used to sending out when I was working either as an agent or as an editor was like, ‘Oh, I just don’t have the vision for this,’” said Curry, referring to her time as an agent’s assistant at Sterling Lord Literistic and as an editorial assistant at Hyperion, where she and Gould first met. “I read [Problems] and thought, ‘I do have the vision and the enthusiasm to make this stand out in a crowded marketplace.’ I got the book. I knew what she was going for, and I felt really confident I could help her get there.” Putting commercial success behind an unconventional female voice fuels the imprint’s second title—Chloe Caldwell’s collection of essays, I’ll Tell You in Person—too. Due out later this year, Caldwell’s book ricochets between light and dark episodes from her 20s in New York City. Whether she’s acting up as the listless employee of a jewelry store on Bleecker or mourning the death of her new friend (writer Maggie Estep), Caldwell writes with astonishing clarity, self-awareness, and humor. Both Problems and I’ll Tell You in Person exhibit trademark Emily Books writing—and it’s refreshing to see these two unabashedly feminist books prepare to take the publishing world by storm. Sharma’s book, for instance, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was named one of their summer picks. It’s early days yet for Caldwell’s collection, but everyone, from Gould to Curry to Casey, is hopeful. “It’s starting to feel like we’re at this really exciting moment, where there’s this new cultural openness to radical honesty [and] mostly female subjectivity,” said Gould. Certainly, voices who don’t fit the straight, white norm have a much more difficult time breaking through to commercial publishers. A look at the Lee & Low diversity survey released earlier this spring explains why—publishing is overwhelmingly straight and white and female, although men still hold 40 percent of positions at the executive level. Even so, it’s possible to see recent evidence that the old guard is changing. Lisa Lucas, former publisher of Guernica, was hired as executive director of the National Book Foundation just this past February. Poet Saeed Jones, who was promoted to BuzzFeed’s Executive Editor of Culture late last year, runs the site’s new literary vertical, BuzzFeed Reader. But it’s not nearly enough. The Emily Books and Coffee House Press partnership is extraordinary in its newness, and it offers a viable model to other publishers, big and small, to make similar editorial changes, and to grow their lists in a sustainable way while injecting startling new voices into the conversation. “I think that one of the benefits of being at a smaller press is that you have a lot of freedom to do things differently, to envision your mission and the way that you serve whoever your constituents might be,” said Casey. In a way, Emily Books became an emblem of that freedom. “We could create a space and offer resources for them to explore and experiment with being a publisher,” she added. So it’s as easy—and as difficult—as handing the reins over to someone else. As making women and people of color, queer writers and editors, whose stories have long been relegated to the sidelines, actual decision-makers. Still, writers and editors from marginalized communities—the very voices we need to hear from most—are those who might not have the time, financial resources, or industry connections to wait it out on the long, slow road from start-up to imprint. “When we started this, we weren’t thinking, ‘Oh, this will definitely work,’” said Gould. “We were thinking, ‘Well, we have nothing to lose.’” “We started the business with nothing, and we still run the business on a total shoestring. We’ve never paid ourselves. And we can do whatever we want. So when you start from that vantage point, there are a lot of tradeoffs—but the upside is total freedom.” Visit here for an interview with Jade Sharma, author of Problems. Visit here for an interview with Chloe Caldwell, author of the forthcoming I’ll Tell You in Person. Photos by Nicolas MaloofHow One Group Is Working To Build A More Diverse Teaching Force Enlarge this image Mai Ly Degnan for NPR Mai Ly Degnan for NPR There are more nonwhite teachers than there used to be. But the nation's teaching force still doesn't look like America. One former education school dean is out to change that. New research shows that the number of K-12 teachers who belong to minority groups has doubled since the 1980s, growing at a faster rate than the profession as a whole. But big gaps persist, with around 80 percent of teachers identifying as white. Meanwhile, the need for minority teachers is especially glaring since people of color now make up about half of enrollment in public schools. And a growing body of research suggests that these students benefit greatly from the "role-model effect" of having teachers who look like them. Cassandra Herring first confronted this issue as the dean of the school of education at Hampton University, a historically black college in Virginia. She left that position, and the security of academia, to found a new nonprofit that has just launched, called The Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity or BranchED. They are aiming programming at the 253 educator-preparation programs at federally-designated colleges and universities that serve African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. BranchED's mission is to get more people from these groups to consider teaching as a career. Herring says candidly that the future wasn't always so rosy for would-be teachers at Hampton. "When I became dean, the program was struggling. Enrollment was dropping, students were disengaged, and our partners weren't really partners... we needed to go beyond 'please take our student teachers.' " She began a reinvention that started with understanding what motivates students from diverse backgrounds to choose teaching as a profession. To generalize: While white education students may be more likely to talk about that one great teacher who inspired them, Herring explains, black students are often passionate about "righting a wrong... being the teacher that they never had." Hispanic students, she adds, often talk about education as a privilege and a way to give back to their communities and lift others up. While, for Native Americans, becoming a teacher for students like themselves can be a path toward preserving their culture. Beyond changing the marketing and messaging, Herring says, minority serving institutions may need to update their curricula. BranchED is offering programming to help programs focus more on hands-on classroom practice, and on the use of data. They are partnering with nonprofits like TeachingWorks at the University of Michigan. They are also offering professional development to the faculty who teach teachers. The third "branch" of BranchED is an effort to help minority serving programs form stronger, "mutually beneficial" partnerships with school districts. At Hampton, Herring forged a relationship with a district in far-off Milwaukee, Wis., that recruited students to come to the college, and return to their school district as teachers. Two major factors that contribute to the underrepresentation of minorities in teaching are working conditions and pay. A study just out from the nonpartisan Learning Policy Institute shows higher turnover rates for minority teachers. And, in surveys, these teachers were more likely to cite, as a reason for leaving the profession, management, leadership and tough organizational conditions, especially at less-resourced schools. Herring says that education schools can get involved in improving retention by offering ways for alumni to connect and build mutual support among teachers who "may otherwise feel isolated." Meanwhile, national data shows that teachers continue to earn less and less, when compared with similarly educated professionals. This may be of particular concern, Herring admits, for graduates of private institutions like Hampton. Talking about "the value proposition" of an education degree, "was a conversation that we had often." In response, she adds, "we emphasize some of the intrinsic rewards and opportunities to help the community."The Maryland Stadium Authority helped solve a big problem for Baltimore by providing a place to dump 60,000 tons of snow after the record-setting winter storm on January 23, but now it has a problem of its own. When the snow finally disappeared, state officials discovered that one of the Camden Yards lots used to deposit snow was damaged so heavily by the city’s contractors that it is no longer usable as a parking lot. Now, with the Orioles April 4 Opening Day game less than a month away, the city is scrambling to repair that lot and one next to it and has agreed to pay for the work to be completed – work that could cost up to $500,000. “They have to be done by Opening Day,” said Philip B. Hutson, the stadium authority’s associate vice president for capital projects and planning. Hutson and stadium authority executive director Michael Frenz said that the Baltimore Department of Transportation (DOT) has taken responsibility for making repairs and understands the urgency with the baseball season about to start. “They are working to repair the damage,” Frenz said. “They are working to make sure [the repairs] are completed by Opening Day.” DOT decided to use an on-call contractor, P. Flanigan & Sons, to do the repair work, so it wouldn’t have to spend time seeking bids, Hutson said, adding that the anticipated completion date is March 25. Hutson said he does not have a figure for the cost of the work but he understands the city may seek reimbursement from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for the cost of repairs. “They’ve committed and they’re working on it,” Hutson said. “The contractor started Monday. “ Craters and Gashes The state-owned parking lots that were damaged after the storm are Lots G and H. They are east of M & T Bank Stadium and partially under I-395, an easy walk to Oriole Park. The state-owned lots are part of the 85-acre Camden Yards sports complex, managed by the stadium authority. Lot G, which is out of commission, has 277 marked spaces. Lot H, which received less extensive damage, has 998 spaces. The entire sports complex has 4,600 parking spaces. When the snow melted around March 1, state officials said, they could see that Lot G is unusable because of large craters in the surface and other imperfections that make the area unsafe to drive on. One of the craters is more than a foot deep, enough to nearly swallow an orange traffic cone. In addition, there are gouges and ruts in the pavement, broken curbs and damaged light poles. In other areas, the top surface of the parking lot was torn or ripped up by heavy equipment. Parts of Lots G and H have been blocked off with yellow caution tape. Cost estimates for repairs have ranged up to $500,000, according to industry sources. Next Time, a Written Agreement The damaged parking lots see significant use throughout the year, according to state officials. They are used for fans and employees during Ravens games, as recently as December, and for the baseball season. And in January they were made available in the wake of the historic storm, which dumped more than 29 inches of snow in some areas. Photos of the clean-up effort show a convoy of trucks on Ostend Street, bringing snow from city streets. At times, there were two or three truckloads per hour, officials say. Officials attribute the damage to the intense use of the area by snow removal contractors who couldn’t see areas to avoid once the snow reached a certain height. In an emailed response, William Johnson, city DOT director, provided The Brew with information on the repair plan and schedule, but did not say how much the work will cost. The stadium authority has made Camden Yards parking lots available for snow removal in the past, during the 2010 “Snowmagedden” storm, for instance. But the city didn’t cause as much damage then as they did this year, state officials said. Lot J used to be made available for city snow dumping, but that parcel is now controlled by the Horseshoe Casino. Despite the damage and the rush to make repairs, Frenz said the authority likely would make its lots available for snow removal again. But next time, he said, “we’d probably want to have more of a written agreement in place.” Contractors Need Training, Vetting City officials reviewing Baltimore’s overall response to the storm at a City Council committee hearing yesterday said that any storm becomes more of a problem once the snow gets above 12 inches. “Twelve inches is the threshold – it slows the city down enormously,” said Robert Maloney, director of the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. Council member Bill Henry said the city should be candid with residents about clean up efforts. “My concern is that …we were giving people false hope,” he said. “People were going online and seeing... that a snow plow had gone by three times. But then they would look out the window that see that their street hadn’t been touched.” Another concern discussed was poor performance by snow removal contractors. City emergency operations officials should meet with contractors in the summer for “training in and agreement to certain principles of positive plowing,” council member Mary Pat Clarke said. She said contractors need to “avoid blocking entrances to adjoining streets and alleys when plowing a given street.” Clarke also said they should “honor their contracts with the city by avoiding the recruitment of un-vetted vendor associates to operate as substitute contractors.”As many homeowners, you are taking steps to reduce your carbon footprint at home. You dutifully recycle glass, metal, paper, and plastic waste each week. You replace all the incandescent light bulbs in your home with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) or LED light bulbs. However, you may be unwittingly contributing to carbon emissions and interfering with delicate ecosystems through light pollution. Light pollution, unlike other forms of contamination and waste, remains largely overlooked and unregulated in many countries. Learn the cause, types, and effects of light pollution, and how adjusting your outdoor lighting habits can reduce this form of waste with the information below: What is Light Pollution? The definition of light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is the excessive, misdirected or invasive use of artificial outdoor lighting. Mismanaged lighting alters the color and contrast of the nighttime sky, eclipses natural starlight, and disrupts circadian rhythms (the 24-hour processes of most organisms), which affects the environment, energy resources, wildlife, humans and astronomy research. The threat of light pollution continues to grow as the demand for artificial light increases each year. Photopollution is not a new phenomenon. Over the last 50 years, as countries became affluent and urbanized, demand for outdoor lighting increased and light pollution sprawled beyond the city limits and into suburban and rural areas. This form pollution is now prevalent in Asia, Europe, and North America, particularly in cities like Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. In 2008, National Geographic magazine named Chicago the most light-polluted city in the United States. However, the most light-polluted spot in the world is Hong Kong, China. In March 2013, the University of Hong Kong named the city the most light polluted in the world. A study by the university found the night sky in Tsim Sha Tsui, an urban neighborhood in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong, to be 1,200 times brighter than a normal urban city sky. Luminous pollution of this magnitude is on the rise worldwide. In a 2010 article from the Ecology and Society Journal, Hölker and others stated the use of artificial lighting increases by 20% each year, depending on the region, and noted there is an urgent need for light pollution policies that surpass energy efficiency to include humans, animals and the environment. 7 Tips to Prevent Light Pollution Luminous pollution, unlike other forms of contamination and waste, can be contained and/or reduced by improving outdoor lighting practices. Remember that outdoor lighting serves a purpose - to provide visibility and safety at night, but lighting that exceeds its purpose can quickly become offensive to others. Here are some simple tips to help you reduce light pollution without sacrificing your comfort or safety. 1. Warm It Up Use compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and LED bulbs that produce warm white lighting. Many LED lights emit a blue short wavelength light that scatters easily into the atmosphere, which causes eyestrain, impairs night vision and adds to light pollution. 2. Shield It Choose outdoor light fixtures that are shielded, meaning there is a solid cap above the light bulb that prevents light from being emitted directly to the sky, to minimize sky pollution. You can shield exiting fixtures by buying and installing reasonably priced shades. 3. Cut It Off Select exterior light fixtures with cutoff angles to prevent light from escaping above the horizontal plane (nadir), minimize uplighting, and reduce high-angle brightness. Cutoff lighting emits illumination down to the ground where it's most needed and in many cases, improves visibility. The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) provides the following cutoff classifications: Full Cutoff - No light is distributed at or above an angle of 90 degrees from the nadir. Candela per 1000 lamp Lumens does not numerically exceed 100 (10 percent) at a vertical angle of 80 degrees from the nadir. This applies to all lateral angles around the light source. Cutoff - Cutoff light fixtures allow a small amount of uplighting. Candela per 1000 lamp Lumens does not numerically exceed 25 (2.5 percent) at a vertical angle of 90 degrees from the nadir. Candela per 1000 lamp Lumens does not numerically exceed 100 (10 percent) at an angle of 80 degrees from the nadir. This applies to all lateral angles around the light source. Semi-Cutoff - Semicutoff light fixtures emit more light directly into the sky and provide little control at the property line. Candela per 1000 lamp Lumens does not numerically exceed 50(5 percent) at an angle of 90 degrees from the nadir. Candela per 1000 lamp Lumens does not numerically exceed 200 (20 percent) at an angle of 80 degrees above nadir. This applies to all lateral angles around the light source. Non-Cutoff - Noncutoff light fixtures distribute light without Candela limitation in the zone above the max Candela. 4. Sensor It Install motion sensors on outdoor fixtures so they turn on when needed and turn off after a short time. Make sure to test and adjust the motion detector's sensitivity as needed to prevent the lights from turning on and off unnecessarily. 5. Get Certified Use IDA certified Dark Sky Lighting, which is designed to minimize glare, light spill, and sky glow. Dark-sky approved light fixtures are available in a variety of chandeliers, flush mounts, pendants, and wall sconces. If you live near the beach, use certified Turtle Safe Lighting. These shielded light fixtures produce a long wavelength light, which does not scatter easily, and should be mounted low to avoid high-angle brightness. Shop IDA Lighting Shop Turtle Safe Lighting 6. Turn It Off Turn off any unnecessary outdoor lights when you are home for the night or before going to bed to prevent wasteful dusk to dawn lighting. If you're in doubt, turn them off by 11 PM. While you're at it, make sure to turn off indoor light fixtures, like wall lights, when you're not home or before bed to reduce energy consumption. 7. Be Involved Take steps to prevent and reduce light pollution in your home, work, and community. Close the blinds and curtains to prevent light spill. Ask management to turn off or dim office lights after all workers have left the property for the day to prevent light and energy waste. Petition local business owners to dim after-hour signs to prevent glare and light clutter. Propose lighting ordinances to your local and state governments to reduce light pollution. Causes of Light Pollution Luminous pollution is caused by using outdoor lights when and where they are not necessary. Poorly designed residential, commercial, and industrial outdoor lights also contribute significantly to light pollution. Unshielded light fixtures emit more than 50% of their light skyward or sideways. In many instances, only 40% of the light emitted actually illuminates the ground. It is estimated that nearly 30% of outdoor lighting is wasted due to this poor design. In the United States alone, wasted lighting accounts for 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide and $2.2 billion in wasted electricity each year Effects of Light Pollution Luminous pollution has dire effects on our environment and resources of energy as well as wildlife ecology and astronomical research. Light pollution also affects the quality of life and safety of humans. Here are some of known side effects of light pollution. Environment The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), a non-profit organization that raises awareness of light pollution, estimates that excessive nighttime lighting releases more than 12 million tons of carbon dioxide, the most serious greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere each year. It would take nearly 702 million trees to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by wasted light. Light pollution may also contribute to other forms of pollution. According to a 2010 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, photopollution increases air pollution by suppressing a naturally occurring radical that cleans the air at night. Nitrate radical, a form of nitrogen oxide, breaks down vehicle and factory emissions at night. The nightly process prevents the emissions from becoming smog, ozone pollution, or other harmful irritants. The process only takes place at night because sunlight destroys nitrate radical. However, artificial lights from buildings, cars, and streetlights, although 10,000 times dimmer than sunlight, also affect nitrate radical and slow down the cleansing process by 7%. Artificial light also increase the chemicals for ozone pollution by 5%. Energy Wasted light results in energy waste. A 2007 IDA study estimated that 30% of all light emitted by public outdoor light fixtures is wasted, which amounts to 22 Terawatt Hours (TWh)/year of wasted electrical energy. This is equivalent to the following: About 3.6 million tons of coal per year per year About 12.9 million barrels of oil per year The total amount of wasted electrical energy each year is enough to illuminate over 11 million homes and power over 777,000 cars. Wildlife Luminous pollution affects the feeding, sleeping, mating, and migration cycles of all wildlife. Wildlife can also experience disorientation of time when there is too much artificial light at night. Mammals - Mammals such as bats, raccoons, coyotes, deer, and moose can experience difficulty foraging for food at night due to over illumination. They risk exposure to natural predators and increased mortality due to night vision impairment. They also experience a decline in reproduction that leads to a shrinking population. - Mammals such as bats, raccoons, coyotes, deer, and moose can experience difficulty foraging for food at night due to over illumination. They risk exposure to natural predators and increased mortality due to night vision impairment. They also experience a decline in reproduction that leads to a shrinking population. Birds - Birds such as owls and nighthawks use moonlight and starlight to hunt and migrate at night. Artificial lights sources can overwhelm natural light sources, causing birds to be drawn to or fixated on the artificial lights. This results in birds deviating from their intended migration route, flying until they experience exhaustion and collapse, and becoming prey to other animals. Marine birds such as albatrosses are known to collide with lighthouses, wind turbines, and drilling platforms at sea due to their bright lights. In North America alone, 100 million birds die annually in collisions with illuminated buildings and towers. - Birds such as owls and nighthawks use moonlight and starlight to hunt and migrate at night. Artificial lights sources can overwhelm natural light sources, causing birds to be drawn to or fixated on the artificial lights. This results in birds deviating from their intended migration route, flying until they experience exhaustion and collapse, and becoming prey to other animals. Marine birds such as albatrosses are known to collide with lighthouses, wind turbines, and drilling platforms at sea due to their bright lights. In North America alone, 100 million birds die annually in collisions with illuminated buildings and towers. Amphibians - Sky glow affects amphibians such as frogs, toads, and salamanders in marshes and wetlands. The orange haze confuses and disorients them, which causes a decrease in feeding and mating. It also impairs natural instincts that protect amphibians against natural predators and the elements. - Sky glow affects amphibians such as frogs, toads, and salamanders in marshes and wetlands. The orange haze confuses and disorients them, which causes a decrease in feeding and mating. It also impairs natural instincts that protect amphibians against natural predators and the elements. Reptiles - Reptiles such as sea turtles are greatly affected by light pollution. Female turtles nest on dark, remote beaches, but bright coastal lights prevent them from finding safe nesting areas for their eggs. This leads the female turtles depositing their eggs in an unsafe area or the ocean. Sea turtle hatchlings instinctively crawl toward the brightest part on the beach, which for many centuries was the moonlight and starlit ocean; however, excessive lighting on the beach or near the shore confuses the hatchlings and causes them wander away from the ocean. The hatchlings may be eaten by predators, run over by vehicles, drown in swimming pools, or die from dehydration or exhaustion. Artificial lights may also disorient other nocturnal reptiles. - Reptiles such as sea turtles are greatly affected by light pollution. Female turtles nest on dark, remote beaches, but bright coastal lights prevent them from finding safe nesting areas for their eggs. This leads the female turtles depositing their eggs in an unsafe area or the ocean. Sea turtle hatchlings instinctively crawl toward the brightest part on the beach, which for many centuries was the moonlight and starlit ocean; however, excessive lighting on the beach or near the shore confuses the hatchlings and causes them wander away from the ocean. The hatchlings may be eaten by predators, run over by vehicles, drown in swimming pools, or die from dehydration or exhaustion. Artificial lights may also disorient other nocturnal reptiles. Insects - Insects such as moths are naturally attracted to light and may use all their energy to stay near a source of light. This interferes with mating and migration as well as makes them vulnerable to natural predators, which reduces their population. This also affects all species that rely on insects for food or pollination. Astronomy Light pollution alters our view of the sky and stars, but no group of people is more affected by this phenomenon than astronomers. Light spill and sky glow interferes with astronomical equipment, and makes viewing faint celestial bodies difficult even with the aid of a telescope. Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences in human history, and has made countless contributions to technology, economy and society with applications like personal computers, communication satellites, mobile phones, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), solar panels, and Magnetic Resonance (MRI) scanners. Today, astronomy helps us determine the Sun's effect on Earth's climate, and identify any potential threats to Earth from space. In order to conduct observation and research, astronomers require dark skies. Humans Humans, like plants and wildlife, are regulated by circadian rhythms, the physical, mental and behavioral changes that occur in a 24-hour cycle. The circadian clock regulates physiologic activities such as brain wave patterns, hormone production, and cell regulation. The rhythms respond to the light and darkness around an organism. Disrupting these rhythms can result in a variety of health problems, including sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, diabetes, cancer (particularly breast and prostate cancer), cardiovascular disease, immunological disorders, and obesity. Melatonin, the naturally occurring hormone that regulates the sleep and wake cycle, is acutely affected by light pollution. The hormone is activated by darkness and repressed by light. Melatonin deficiency can result in anxiety and mood disorders, insomnia, and elevated estrogen/progesterone ratio. In 2009, the American Medical Association (AMA) unanimously supported the reduction of light pollution, and advocated the development of energy-efficient outdoor lighting to reduce glare and energy waste. Types of Light Pollution Photopollution occurs in a variety of forms, including light trespass, glare, sky glow, and light clutter. One source of light can result in multiple forms of pollution. Here is how you can identify each form of light pollution. 1. Light Trespass Light trespass, also known as spill light, occurs when a light fixture casts illumination beyond the property lines, unintentionally illuminating other homes, businesses, or areas. Spill light is the most subjective form light pollution because there are no guidelines to determine when, where, or how much light is unwanted. A common example of spill light is light from a streetlight coming through a window and illuminating a bedroom, light from outdoor wall lights that direct light up towards the sky rather than towards the ground, or light from a neighbor's floodlight or security light shining over the fence and illuminating your property. 2. Glare Glare is the visual sensation one experiences when stray light, light in the visual field, is greater than the light to which the eyes are adapted. Glare, depending on the intensity, can result in reduced contrast, color perception, and visual performance. Glare occurs in the following three forms: Discomfort Glare – Discomfort glare is also known as psychological glare, and is the most common type of glare. Psychological glare occurs when lighting causes annoyance or irritation, but does not decrease visual performance and physical discomfort is short term. Reduce discomfort glare by installing a light dimmer to dim lights, such as recessed lights, in your home. Disability Glare – Disability glare, also known as veiling glare, occurs when stray light scatters in the eye, producing a veil over the retina, affecting visual performance. Veiling glare reduces contrast as well as color and spatial perception, which can lead to unsafe driving conditions. Older drivers are more prone to experience disability glare while driving. Blinding Glare – Blinding glare, also known as absolute glare or dazzle, occurs when a light source impairs the field of vision, preventing the eye from seeing anything but the light source. Visual performance may remain affected for some time well after the incident. 3. Sky Glow Sky glow originates from natural and man-made sources; however, poorly designed and targeted artificial lights are the main cause of sky glow. Sky glow occurs when light is emitted directly into the atmosphere, accidently or purposefully, where it is scattered by dust and gas molecules, creating a dome-like orange glow that covers the night sky. The glow reduces the contrast between the stars and the galaxies in the sky, making celestial objects difficult to see even with a telescope. Light domes also affect the polarization of moonlight, which nocturnal animals use to navigate. Glow domes are visible in cities and towns throughout the world, and they appear in a variety of sizes such as large domes over metropolitan hubs or small domes above over-illuminated commercial areas and sport complexes or stadiums. Cloud coverage, snow, trees, and the quantity of dust and gas molecules in the atmosphere can amplify sky glow. According to the National Park Service, artificial sky glow from major cities is visible up to 200 miles away in many national parks. For example, the bright lights of Las Vegas are visible in Nevada’s Great Basin National Park, located 295 miles west of the city, and in California’s Death Valley National Park, located 118 miles west of the city. The lights are even visible in the Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, known as one of the darkest spots in North America, located over 260 miles northeast of the city. 4. Light Clutter Light clutter is the excessive grouping of bright lights that cause confusion and distract from oncoming or surrounding objects. Light clutter is visible on roads surrounded by unshielded street lights and brightly lit advertisements or signs. This creates a hazardous environment for drivers and pilots because it competes with traffic and navigation signals. Clutter contributes to other forms of light pollution, including light trespass, glare, and sky glow. The Dark-Sky Movement The dark-sky movement is a grass roots movement by professional and amateur astronomers to reduce light pollution. The movement raises awareness about the effects of photopollution and advantages of cutting down on energy usage. The following groups and events are at the forefront of the dark-sky movement and light pollution awareness: International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) - Founded in 1988, the IDA is a non-profit organization recognized as the authority on light pollution and night-sky conservation. The organization is responsible developing the following campaigns to raise awareness about luminous pollution: Fixture Seal of Approval (FSA) - A program that review and certifies outdoor lighting fixtures based on strict criteria to determine sky friendliness. Dark-sky compliant lights are fully shielded and do not emit illumination above a horizontal plane. These lighting fixtures provide color temperatures 4100K CCT or below. Manufacturers like Minka Lavery offer beautiful dark sky approved outdoor light fixtures. Dark-Sky Places - Parks, reserves, and communities that have exceptional or distinguished quality skies, and are protected for scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment. IDA certified dark-sky places adhere to strict lighting codes and regulations, and promote anti-photopollution education. Dark-sky parks and reserves have been established in Hungary, Namibia, New Zealand, Scotland, Slovakia, United Kingdom, and the United States. Flagstaff, AZ, Borrego Springs, CA, Homer Glenn, IL, and the Island of Sark, Channel Islands, UK, have been certified as dark-sky communities. - Founded in 198
Arabia would blast through economies everywhere. The temptation to hit the panic button will become increasingly irresistible. Our systems need more redundancy, and our temperament would benefit from a heaping dose of prudence. But it's hard to see where the encouragement to change our ways will come from. Because if there's one thing that's even more clear than the emergence of a constantly-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown global economy, it's that, for the most part, our political systems are not up to the task of dealing with these challenges. Which, of course, just increases our overall sense of antsy powerlessness. As individuals, we've never been so much at the mercy of events that play out thousands of miles away, and we are remarkably unable to do anything about it. Advertisement: And here comes 2012, which will witness a U.S. presidential election, crunch time for the European fiscal union, a potentially slowing Chinese economy, more weather disruptions, and a whole bunch of stuff that we have no idea is coming. If 2011 was the year when globalization's downside became impossible to ignore, then 2012 will likely raise the ante by another order of magnitude.SHARK Exposes Electro-Shocking Cruelty at Reno Rodeo Dear Friends, In 2011, SHARK exposed the cruel Again in 2012, a SHARK investigator filmed repeated shockings during every rodeo performance. Rodeo organizers are claiming they wanted to stop the shocking, but that's obviously just more public relations propaganda, because our cameras don't lie. Watch the video HERE Tragically, there were also calves who were injured and even killed. No accident: This vile rodeo thug presses down on the broken neck of a severely injured calf The story of the Reno Rodeo's cruelty broke in the Reno Gazette-Journal. Next it was picked up by the Associated Press and has been published on dozens of newspaper sites around the US and beyond. You can read the entire story It's an amazing article that exposes how integral cruelty is to rodeos, and how the The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), whose job it is to whitewash rodeo abuse, in reality sanctions animal cruelty. From the article: "SHARK's Stuart Chaifetz said that if the livestock contractors knew that shocking was not allowed at the Reno Rodeo and went out of their way to disguise it and do it anyway, "it destroys the myth that the horses are athletes who want to do it. Literally, these animals have to be tortured to get them to perform, and that is animal cruelty pure and simple."" Electro-shocking is torture, pure and simple. The PRCA, however, says it's okay to pump 5,000 volts into a horse if it is to force the animal out of the chute, but not okay if it's done for any other reason. This is senseless, as forcing a horse from the chute to perform is the exact reason they hurt horses. This incident rips the PRCA's PR spin to shreds and exposes the violent hypocrisy in their own rules and actions. This Friday, SHARK will hold a press conference in Reno to expose much, much more cruelty at the Reno Rodeo. We will update you after the event. Rodeo thug electro-shocking a horse In 2011, SHARK exposed the cruel electro-shocking of horses at the 2011 Reno Rodeo, in Reno, Nevada. You might think that in 2012 they would have smartened up, but you'd be wrong.Again in 2012, a SHARK investigator filmed repeated shockings during every rodeo performance. Rodeo organizers are claiming they wanted to stop the shocking, but that's obviously just more public relations propaganda, because our cameras don't lie.The story of the Reno Rodeo's cruelty broke in the Reno Gazette-Journal. Next it was picked up by the Associated Press and has been published on dozens of newspaper sites around the US and beyond. You can read the entire story HERE Electro-shocking is torture, pure and simple. The PRCA, however, says it's okay to pump 5,000 volts into a horse if it is to force the animal out of the chute, but not okay if it's done for any other reason. This is senseless, as forcing a horse from the chute to perform is the exact reason they hurt horses.This incident rips the PRCA's PR spin to shreds and exposes the violent hypocrisy in their own rules and actions. SHARK Exposes Horse Tripping at Oregon Rodeo A Horse Violently Roped at an Oregon Rodeo On July 1, 2012, the Oregonian newspaper covered the story of how a SHARK Investigator filmed horrific footage of "horse tripping," where horses are roped and thrown over themselves, landing on their head or necks, at the Jordan Valley Big Loop Rodeo in Oregon. Our video has reignited the debate in Oregon over a ban of horse tripping. Now we have added another video of the Big Loop Rodeo which exposes the behind the scenes cruelty that the public usually doesn't notice. Watch it Now we have added another video of the Big Loop Rodeo which exposes the behind the scenes cruelty that the public usually doesn't notice.Watch it HERE You can read the story in the Oregonian HERE. Take Action! You can help our efforts by contact Les Schwab Tires, and the Idaho Power Company, and letting them know exactly what you think about their sponsorship of animal abuse. Please let us know if you get any response. Les Schwab Tire Centers Idaho Power Company Please politely contact Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and ask him to ban horse tripping. Email Governor John Kitzhaber VICTORY: GEICO No Longer Supporting Rodeos! When SHARK discovered that GEICO insurance sponsored the PRCA and rodeos, we launched a major campaign against them, including launching a website and illustrations of what the GEICO gecko would look like if he was really at a rodeo. We are pleased to announce that GEICO is no longer listed as a rodeo sponsor on the PRCA website, and it appears that they are not supporting any rodeos this year. Congratulations to all of you who wrote and supported this effort! Wing Pointe's Newest Venture: Brush Walls On Sunday, June 24, SHARK documented a live pigeon shoot at the Wing Pointe canned hunting resort. In their latest effort to block our view of the shooting areas, Wing Pointe dumped trees and brush into the open areas that border their property. It was another Joe Solana (owner of Wing Pointe) farce, of course, as they didn't stop us filming and all they did do was to create a massive fire hazard, for all the dried brush is fuel that any lightning storm may set off. That they pulled entire trees out of the ground of their property shows how desperate they are to stop us, and the impact we are having in saving lives, as only a few shooters even bothered to show up. Cruel Cowards Hide Behind Brush Walls Kmart Australia Rejects Rodeo Cruelty From Animals Australia: A major Queensland rodeo will have one less financial backer thanks to Kmart taking a strong stand against animal cruelty and withdrawing its support. Kindest Regards, Steve Hindi and Your SHARK Team "Kindness and compassion towards all living beings is a mark of a civilized society. Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and cock fighting, bullfighting and rodeos are all cut from the same fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves." - Cesar Chavez, civil rights and labor leader, founder of the United Farm WorkersBio: Jon Ingold is the narrative director and co-founder, with Joseph Humfrey, of inkle. They’re best known for IGF-winning 80 Days and the open-sourced scripting language ink. Jon was previously a lead designer at SCEE, and a writer and parser-based interactive fiction author. Data Box: Developer: inkle / Steve Jackson Publisher: inkle Initial Release Date: May 2, 2013 Platforms: iOS, Android, Steam Number of Developers: 2 core people, 2 additional contributors, and 4 art / music contractors Length of Development: 4 games over 4 years Budget: ~ £10k / title, not including our own salaries Lines of Code: Just over 60k significant lines of code (non-whitespace) Development Tools: Xcode, Objective-C, ink Downloads across the series so far: >1.5 million About five years ago, Joe and I sat down in a West London pub with Steve Jackson, co-founder of Games Workshop and Lionhead, and co-creator of Fighting Fantasy (and a personal game-design hero of mine). We were showing him our early prototype of an “inklebook” -- an iPad-based choice-driven story made of “pages” which stitched together into a single flow via frequent choice points. It was a lovely UI for a choice-based game, even in prototype form, and we had a strong scripting language underneath it -- the first version of ink. Steve listened, nodded, and told us to come back when we’d sold ten thousand copies. A year later, after the release of Dave Morris’ Frankenstein, we met Steve again. The timing was perfect: the Sorcery! license, previously with another developer, had just become available. We promised him the world: a full adaptation, with graphics and sound; a slick, Apple-friendly UI; dynamic characterization of the player character; strategic combat narrated in natural prose which would write “as well as David Gemmell”; a map with day-night cycle effects; an intuitive yet powerful gesture-based spellcasting system. Then we set about adapting Part 1, which was released in May 2013. Not all of our initial promises came to pass: over the course of four years and four games, we iterated, throwing things away and developing in new directions. Overall, however, we grew in ambition, complexity and scope. It’s a little tricky writing a retrospective of a four-game series. We’ve changed things from game to game, and we’ve been steadily back-porting features and fixes into the earlier games. The first game is much better now than it was on release. But here are five things that went well -- and went well four times over; and five things that went badly, that we never managed to resolve. WHAT WENT RIGHT 1) Steve Jackson, and the Sorcery! fans When we first approached Steve, he took a chance on us. We talked a good game, I think, but we didn’t have that much to back it up with. He talked through a lot of our ideas with us before we started, but then he took a step back and let us get on with development. He didn’t micro-manage, he didn’t hassle us for updates or explanations of every decision we took. He waited for the first, early build, and then gave us some considered feedback, but otherwise, he let us do what we needed to do. He put an enormous amount of trust in us to handle his IP -- and his fanbase! -- with the care and respect they deserved. Me and Steve in Steve’s library, holding a copy of the printed Spellbook. For the first release, we played it safe. Part 1 is a tight adaptation of the original book, only expanding on hints dropped by the book and largely keeping the original prose, albeit expanded upon. All the same, we were terrified: would the fan-base declare our version a heresy? Steve had agreed that we needed to remove dice-based combat, but would the fans feel that was a change too far? And our version had small choices every 100 words or so; many, many more than the book had -- but some were mere flavor. Would people find it a chore to play? Thankfully, the response was overwhelmingly positive, and that fan support allowed us to start taking more risks, opening up and reshuffling events in Part 2, and then exploding the world entirely in Part 3, where we created two overlapping time periods and distributed the original content between them. Both Steve and the fans got happier and happier. Here’s was a world and an adventure they loved 30 years ago, and it wasn’t just being repeated, it was being rejuvenated. It was being made into something they could get some kudos for knowing about. At least, we hoped that was how they felt! As a Sorcery! gamebook fan myself (my first ever computer game was an adaptation of Part 4 begun when I was eleven, which I quickly abandoned when I realized I was going to have to type the whole thing in), it was that sense of making a great thing great again that made me excited to be working on the series. Steve and Joe testing Swindlestones At inkle’s 3rd birthday party, somewhere between the launch of Part 2 and Part 3, Steve came and brought with him a signed first edition of the Shamutanti Hills, one of two from his study. At the moment, it’s sitting in pride of place next to 80 Days’ IGF award. 2) The map The single best design decision we took was “the map.” It began as a purely visual thing. We were thinking of the maps one sees at the start of fantasy novels, which offer a world to explore and discover, but which are ultimately disappointing, when the places marked never show up in the book. What if you could visit any of them? What if they all had stories to tell? But the map has proved to be more than eye-candy. It is our progress meter, showing how far along you are. It is our proof of branching and consequence: we don’t need “the game will remember that,” since you can see that by taking the river, you’ve avoided the village. It’s our strategic layer: where were you heading? What risks will you take to get there? It’s our checkpoint system: to revert the game to a previous point, you simply rewind along the line of your journey. Finally, it’s your end-of-game achievement: you can look back, and see how far you’ve come. The city of Kharé, with the player’s route marked out by markers. The map became the heart and soul of the game, and as we adapted we used it more and more, moving as much choice as possible from the story layer to the map layer, and adding additional interior maps to buildings, so players could explore room-by-room. Then in Part 3, we took the leap that truly puts the map first, by going open-world and throwing away the gamebook’s ‘always forwards’ structure. From Part 3 onwards, players could go anywhere they liked, by any route, and we were even able to add in direct map-manipulation gameplay, allowing the player to remix the landscape itself before setting off to explore what they’d made. There are quite a few mechanics in Sorcery!, from the combat system, which is a mixture of rock-paper-scissors and the Prisoner’s Dilemma, to the gentle memorization required for spellcasting, to the spirit animal Gods that reflect your character. But none compare to the map. The map is what turned Sorcery! from a gamebook into a game. 3) Great collaborators As a small studio -- two people when we started the series -- we live and die by those who fill the gaps we can’t cover. Obviously, there was Steve providing the original game concepts, the world and its curious semi-humorous, semi-dark tone, and a whole lot of words. There was also John Blanche, whose bizarre, idiosyncratic original illustrations pop-up throughout the game, delighting old-school players who recognize every image. But we’ve also been lucky enough to bring in some excellent people of our own, who’ve all left their mark. First up was Eddie Sharam, who did the character art, and was given the unenviable challenge of bringing some of Blanche’s maniacal original characters to life, such as the Sightmaster: John Blanche’s Sightmaster, and Eddie’s version mid-combat. Then there was Graham Robertson, whom we brought in to write a few sequences for Part 3 and liked so much that he wrote a good two-thirds of the basic content for Part 4. Graham worked remotely, and taught himself the darkest gizzards of ink scripting in order to write for the game’s open-world ad-hoc layout, while at the same time mastering the Jackson prose style and coming up with a few original scenarios that are the creepiest and/or funniest in the game. Should you find yourself worshipping a whale-head, being entranced by cats, or breaking a poor Goblin’s heart, you will have Graham to thank. Iain Merrick, an ex-Googler and a very talented coder indeed, handled the Android and desktop porting, and has been doing technical buffing on all platforms ever since. Every now and then Joe and I peer at an aspect of the game -- most recently the swirling clouds in the prologue sequence -- and remark, “Has that got better somehow? Has Iain done something?” Perhaps he has, perhaps he hasn’t, but at this point we’re convinced enough to give him credit for pretty much anything. But the special mention has to be for Mike Schley, our cartographer. (He does illustrations in general, but maps are one of his specialties.) Mike was an incredible collaborator across the series. His work defines the game’s core visuals: when you think of Sorcery!, you think of the map, and Mike’s work in bringing our world to life. To give an example of what he did for us, here’s the Sorcery! 3 draft map we gave him (along with copious notes): Our sketch map for the wilds of Kakhabad... And here’s what he sent back: … and Mike’s version of the same. “Post-Mike” became a phase of the writing, in between “first pass” and “beta”. We’d write the game, sketch out the map, get Mike’s version -- and then go back through, filling in all the interesting extra locations he’d invented along the way. Post-Mike was when, for example, we decided to let the player explore the more interesting-looking buildings of Kharé, take the shortcut alleyways he’d added, and visit the additional rooms he’d included in the building interiors. Our final hire was composer Laurence Chapman, who wrote the tremendous theme for 80 Days. We brought him back to do themes for Sorcery!, including the parts we’d already shipped. We think the results are magnificent. 4) Four games, rather than one with unlockable episodes When we launched Part 1, the most common question (after “Android?”) was “Why didn’t you make the episodes available by in-app purchase?” At the time, IAPs were new and exciting; people were just catching on to their potential to generate earnings on mobile. But it wasn’t widely understood at the time that IAPs work best for repeated transactions within repetitive game environments, rather than one-off episode purchases in non-repetitive narrative games. We were worried that IAPs would “cheapen” the later episodes by implying they were “more of the same”, rather than delivering new, bigger and better adventures, and they’d limit our ability to on-board new players directly into the later episodes. Looking back, this was something of a life-saving decision. As the games got more complex, they took longer to make, and so the chances of people still having Part 1 on their phones plummeted. Had we delivered our games via IAP, I don’t think anyone would have had the Sorcery! app at hand by the time Part 4 appeared, four years later -- and if they’d played and deleted, there’s no way we would have been able to get them to play through again to get back to where they were! The IAP route would have stifled our visibility too. When Part 3 came out, it was the first in the series to net an Editor’s Choice slot on the App Store. That opportunity came about because Part 3 showcased new touch-screen-friendly mechanics. That slot would have been harder to secure for a simple content update. Lastly, by the time we came to Steam and Android, promoting separate games gave us the opportunities to make the most of bundle releases, which is a core revenue stream for small studios. That said, when we came to Steam, we did bundle up Parts 1 and 2 together into a single release, because we felt that Part 1 was no longer a great standalone experience, but more of a quick intro to the game mechanics -- a solid tutorial level -- and it needed something with more content to make it feel worthwhile. We’ve been pretty happy with that decision too. That said, messaging how the series works has remained difficult. Saying it’s the Mass Effect model has helped, but that doesn’t always convey quite how much is carried over from part to part, or how much will play differently if you don’t load from a previous game. Playing through from Part 1 to Part 4 should be a single, continuous, seamless adventure, with a steadily ramping difficulty curve; whereas picking up Part 4 on its own provides tutorial content, easier enemies, more liberal items and information -- but misses out on several big plot threads that rely on choices in previous installments. That definitely isn’t the Mass Effect model -- but there’s no good name for what it is! 5) Cross-platform compilation of Objective C When we began the company, our sole target platform was iOS. At the time, Apple was a clear market leader in terms of revenue, exposure and opportunity, and as a micro-studio we knew we needed focus. However, once Part 1 came out to good reviews we began to consider the options for porting to Android. The “simplest” route would have been simply to rewrite the code-base, either in Unity or Java. But we were reluctant to undertake this: we knew that each successive game would bring with it new code, fixes to old code, and new features. We didn’t want to be maintaining several code-bases simultaneously. Enter Apportable -- a company who offered the ability to compile Objective-C code onto Android devices. It sounded like magic, but like all magic, it was in fact simple hard graft. Software written in Xcode sits on top of a set of Apple-provided libraries, and the team at the company has rewritten a sizeable chunk of Apple’s UI Kit libraries in Java, so the same Objective-C code could run the same API calls on a different device. We tried it out -- and it sort of worked. The idea was sound, but the parts of the Apple codebase they’d ported solidly weren’t the parts we really needed, and other parts we leant on weren’t there. It wasn’t good enough for us to ship the game with… but it was good enough for us to believe we could do the same thing ourselves. It was Iain who undertook the significant technical challenge of replicating Apple’s beautiful UI-systems from scratch. After six months of silence, he proudly showed us a Nexus tablet running the intro screen of Sorcery. The text was rendering upside down, and when the clouds of the prologue screen loaded, they ran at about a frame a second. Still, it was working. An early build of the Android version of the game. A few more months, and we were down to tweaks and niceties. The whole process of porting Sorcery! 1 took around a year, but the payoff was fantastic: porting Sorcery! 2 took just a couple of months, just fixing up the new features, and Sorcery! 3 similar. Even better, when we fixed any bugs in any of the games, the fixes propagated into all versions of the game with a minimum of fuss. But the real win here didn’t strike us for nearly a year more, when apropos of nothing we suddenly realized that the Java implementation we were using on Android would also run perfectly well on a desktop computer. Iain set about creating a Steam version of the game, and a few months later, we had it up and running. Without the initial investment into cross-platform compilation, it’s likely that the Android and Steam builds simply would never have happened, or they would have been buggy and hard to maintain. As it is, however, we’re launching Sorcery! 4 simultaneously cross-platform -- without expanding our technical team, and without limiting ourselves creatively. WHAT WENT WRONG 1) The visual style The original Sorcery! series was memorable among gamebook fans for its mechanics, but also for its unusual aesthetic. Inspired by hiking in Nepal, Steve Jackson blended an eastern flavor with the more traditional Tolkienesque tone of classic D&D to create something which felt recognizable but quite different. For our adaptation we wanted to draw out that eastern flavor, to try create a world that felt new, and unknown, and hence would be worth exploring. Our initial mood outline document We aimed for this in the visual style, for instance, by using prayer flags for the UI. For the music, we wanted some eastern instrumentation, and when Laurence Chapman wrote his first Sorcery! Theme for Part 3 we took the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon soundtrack as a reference point. We even used a few Tibetan glyphs in the spell-casting system. But somehow the whole package never quite came together. The map itself was a particular problem. It was difficult to avoid a stock fantasy feel -- a font here, and a glyph there wasn’t enough to capture a true sense of “otherness,” and though Mike added lots of details -- things like curved roof-tips in the city map of Kharé inspired by those on Chinese buildings -- the parts didn’t add up to a coherent whole. Our original idea had been to use a more unusual color palette, and perhaps even a more abstract presentation akin to the landscapes seen on a Japanese scroll -- but these fought against the functionality and clarity of simply presenting the map as a map. And of course once Part 1 was out, the style was set in stone, for better or for worse. Looking back now it seems quite heavy in places. Sorcery! was released at the same time as iOS 6, when skeuomorphism was still classy, and so our emphasis was on detailed material textures. Four years later that look hasn’t aged especially well. The main positive from this was that the sense of a missed opportunity galvanized us to really do something different for 80 Days, and inspired a long visual design process that ended with that game’s highly-stylized-yet-elegant look and feel. 2) Spellcasting Our original idea for spellcasting was to make something that let the player feel empowered and magical -- something that allowed them to reach down into the game and do something to twist the narrative, change the story on a whim. We imagined some kind of gesture-based spellcasting that would have players learning glyphs for the spells, which they could apply at will… It was a terrible design, that never made it past the discussion phase. How would the player know what gesture to make? Were there enough gestures to cover fifty spells? How would they know when a gesture would work? If they could cast any spell, any time, wouldn’t they just ZAP (lightning bolt) everything in sight all the time? How could we do more interesting narrative moments with magic if we had to cover every possible moment of casting? What we did instead was closer to the original gamebook -- offering a choice from five or six spells at prescribed moments in the story. The allocation of spells is arbitrary -- there’s some narrative gloss about constellations and suchlike, but the reality is that we offer spells we think players might want to cast, or that they haven’t used for a while, or that might do interesting things in the current circumstance. Ultimately, this was a good decision -- it gave us a stable set-up, and meant we could put in a lot of spells, and a lot of easter eggs, secret paths and jokes built around casting the more unusual spells. (Using “talk to animals” on attacking monsters is always fun, for instance.) But it meant the spells never felt quite natural; they didn’t integrate into the game as seamlessly as the map layer, or the combat system. And the interface still took us a while to get right. In the first release of the game, spellcasting was done by lining up letters “underneath” the story, through holes in the paper on which the story was written. It was a nice visual effect, but was fiddly to use, and there was no space on the screen to add any tutorial text or contextual information. Players had to remember which spell was which, and what items were needed to cast them. Those were the rules in the old gamebook, but of course back then people cheated a lot -- for a computer game, it was simply too strict. When we made Part 2. we revised this to the current “spell globe” system, which is basically just a pretty touch-based keyboard. We provide UI highlights to help players find spells by experimentation, and then we tell people what the spell they’ve found does, and what item it requires. Players never need open the spellbook at all and can just skim through different spells. But then, should it just be a list of choices? I feel like we never quite hit the “best” spellcasting design. What we have is fun enough, and it’s still satisfying to cast a spell and watch its effects turn the story upside down. But it feels like something outside of the core flow, rather than something integral to it. The old spellcasting interface, and the newer version. 3) Move along, move along Sorcery!’s gameplay trades between moving a counter across a map, and making choices within story sections. In one direction, this is seamless -- you draw a path to where you want to go, the character slides there, and on arrival up comes the narrative -- but in the other direction it’s always been a little clunky, especially when the encounters in a scene are optional. All too often, the story flow looks like this: Story choices, and the dreaded “move on” option. The first few options can be anything -- explore, investigate, try something, risk something. They can be exciting, mysterious, curious, intriguing… But underneath there’s always the dull thud of the “Make a move” option. And should you explore, it’ll probably still be there next choice -- and in the next location, and the next. And while sometimes we manage a nicer wording (“Keep climbing,” “Turn back”) the basic functionality is the same -- “stop doing this and go back to the map. The choices presented by the story are a big part of the storytelling in a game like Sorcery! -- in fact, we try to write on the assumption that people will always read the options first, and then merely skim the text above for context. But what message does “make a move” send? It says, this is skippable. Move along, there’s nothing to see. And then there’s what happens when you choose it. We generally try never to have empty paragraphs in the gameflow -- so if you choose “move on”, the game always tries to say something even though it has nothing whatsoever to say: “You move onwards.”, “You must keep going.”, ‘You should not stop now.” Even the times we manage to contextualize it (“You should keep going. It will be night soon.”) it still reads pretty badly. The “move on” option is necessary -- especially when people might be replaying a game and wanting to skip past certain encounters and exploration that they’ve done before -- but it casts a dismissive tone over the whole game. We would have liked to find a UI-level way to achieve the same goal, but we never found a design that worked. A cross in the corner would have been missed, or seemed like a sub-option, implicitly “worse” than the real ones in the text. An icon rather than text would have been confusing. If we were redesigning, we would be tempted to do something rather more drastic, like leaving the map and the movement flags visible during the story-flow, so the player could make choices or move on, directly, using the usual UI system for movement. But that would be difficult to make work with the screen real-estate of an iPhone. 4) New tools and legacy scripts The first Sorcery! episode was only the second game produced in ink, and it was the first to really test its logical and structural capabilities. At the time, the language had some hard limits and some bugs, that we worked around at the time rather than fixing in order to get the game done. As a result, the first part contained a few really poor scripting choices, which then proceeded to haunt us for the remaining four games, as we were forced to support old data structures passed from one part to the next. But we couldn’t update the older games without having to support two different save data formats! The worst offender here was the weapon modifier system. Like any RPG, Sorcery! rewards the player with improved weapons. But this only happens once in the first book, and at the time, we didn’t realize it would be a fully fledged mechanic, so instead of building a weapon stat, when you gained weapons or armor, we simply altered your combat power statistic directly. That meant when, in Part 2, you were able to buy another sword and upgrade, we had to undo the first stat change and then apply the second, but we also had to deduce what the first stat change had been based on what was in your inventory… And then, what about if you’d damaged the blade along the way via story choices…? And we carried on with this terrible, buggy, ad-hoc system for all of the weapons given to the player throughout the four parts. By Part 3, it was at least black-boxed into an outwardly friendly, internally hideous script file, but it still threw up a few hard-to-place, gameplay-breaking bugs during the testing of Sorcery! 4. And while that was the worst such issue, it wasn’t the only one. There was the provisions counter, which included both named rations and generic ones, meaning when you chose to eat a meal we had to work out what kind of meal it might be, and then adjust the right inventory variables to keep up. There was the Gods system, hard-coded into a massive switch statement in the game code rather than a data file, that grew bigger and more twisted as we added more Gods, and began to hugely limit what Gods could and couldn’t affect (and that’s definitely not how Gods are supposed to be). Each of these mistakes cost us some development time, and debugging time, but more critically they limited our scope. If Sorcery!’s weapon system feels underdeveloped or the UI for it is lacking, it’s because the script behind it is fragile and buggy. In general, the Sorcery! games were a learning curve for us in terms of how ink could be used -- we were still ironing out engine bugs when Part 1 shipped and learning patterns for coping with large-scale branching in the storylines, and there were major ink features added during the development of Parts 2 and 3 that revolutionized what we could do (namely return values from functions, and ink “tunnels” -- sub-stories which include options and run, until returning to the point in the story where they were invoked.) It would have been good to find more ways to throw our early design mistakes away and build better structures for the later parts. (And the places where we managed this, the pay-offs were huge: for instance, we turned the ink required to cast spells into a system rather than having each spellcasting instance be a copy-and-paste job, and suddenly the number of spellcasting opportunities for the player rocketed.) 5) The combat text generator The last point is almost a specific case of the above, but one that warrants its own section. For the combat sequences, we wanted the game to “narrate” the action in live prose that reflected the game state -- what the monster did, what you did, what happened to your stamina and what happened to theirs. We figured that action sequence descriptions in fantasy novels are generally pretty generic anyway (“The ogre swung his club, but the barbarian ducked at the last moment, bringing up his dagger in response.”) The combat prose generator / AI prototyping tool. In some places, we achieved a pretty good result, and when the narration works, it’s magical: when you cast a spell of dizziness on a monster and the combat text reflects that, or when a pirate taunts you for missing his attack, it’s a lot of fun. But getting it to work took a huge amount of mostly tedious effort, and polishing it was very difficult -- and the reason for that was that we wrote a special data-format and editor for combat text, rather than simply using ink. The combat prose generator tool. When we made Part 1, we were still thinking of a game’s ink file as its “script.” The player had a position in that script, and moved through it, beat by beat. By the time we made 80 Days, ink had become a place to put all the game’s text, and we had engine code that was able to run content alongside of the main content. We could even peek ahead to see what a particular option might do without actually doing it. But by then, the combat system had been built, and we’d made fight scenes for the first two games, and it was too late to change the way we were authoring content. (We would have to have gone back and rewrote all the fights for the first two games.) So even though moving fight sequences to ink would have made them considerably better -- we could have produced much more interesting, varied and context-sensitive text, and redrafted much faster -- we didn’t make that transition. Instead, consciously or not, we put less and less combat into the game because it wasn’t worth the effort of authoring it. A shame, really, because the combat system -- though somewhat divisive amongst players -- is something we’re pretty proud of. It’s a simple system, very easy to play and learn -- and easy to play without much attention if you just want to hack and slash your way through -- but there is enough depth that it’s continued to be fun to play, four games later. CONCLUSION The Sorcery! series will always hold a special place in the inkle pantheon -- Sorcery! was our break-out title that jump-started our company, both financially and in terms of our reputation and confidence. 80 Days took a lot of lessons from Sorcery! 2’s design -- and in turn, inspired several decisions in Sorcery! 3, and the whole series is influencing what we’re doing next. The response from players has also been amazing. Sorcery! has never captured the limelight, and yet has still been pretty successful all the same, and it’s built a small but firm core fan-base who have played the games scores of times over, trying to rinse them of all their secrets
of the Royal Navy tweeted: "As a Royal Navy LGBT champion and senior warfighter I am so glad we are not going this way." And Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Jonathan Woodcock tweeted: "So proud of our transgender personnel. They bring diversity to our Royal Navy and I will always support their desire to serve their country. "I suspect many who doubt the abilities of our diverse service personnel might be more reluctant to serve than they are to comment." In February, the Army's LGBT champion, Lieutenant General Patrick Sanders said: "Only if individuals are free to be themselves can we release the genie of their potential." Image caption The Houses of Parliament were lit up with the rainbow flag during this year's LGBT Pride celebrations Each of Britain's armed forces welcomes transgender people to serve. The Ministry of Defence told the BBC that President Trump's tweets were "an American issue". A spokesman added: "We are clear that all LGBT members of our armed forces play a vital role in keeping our nation safe. We will continue to welcome people from a diverse range of backgrounds, including transgender personnel." BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the MoD would not provide the number of transgender people serving in the British military, but that one source had told him there were fewer than 10."We will bring saffron revolution in Jammu and Kashmir," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Leh on Tuesday, quickly adding it was kesar (the spice) of the state he was talking about. Saffron is the colour associated with Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. "I am fortunate to have worked as a BJP worker in Jammu and Kashmir and will repay the debt I owe you for all the love," he said. "I am aware of the difficulties of the region and also strengths. Centre will work with the state for the development of the region," the PM added after inaugurating a power plant. Modi, who has been to the state twice now after assuming office, said there was a time when PMs never visited the Himalayan areas for years. Modi met Army and IAF personnel and also laid a foundation stone for the 349-km Leh-Srinagar transmission line. JUST IN: PM #Modi lays foundation stone of #Leh Srinagar Transmission Line pic.twitter.com/BQsPpY0Os0 — Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) August 12, 2014 Modi's visit to the two high-altitude Himalayan towns is expected to touch on demands of locals in Leh and Kargil including employment generation and an assurance to take up with China and Pakistan respectively the issue of opening of Mansarovar road from Leh and re-opening of Kargil-Skardu road. His visit also comes ahead of the assembly polls later this year. Leh town was all decked up to welcome the PM, with hoardings erected at various places and the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) lotus flag seen prominently at various traffic intersections. The BJP bagged the Ladakh parliamentary constituency for the first time this year when its candidate Thupstan Chhewang won the seat by a slender margin of 36 votes. Chief executive councillor of Ladakh Hill Development Council Rigzin Spalbar told PTI that the people of Ladakh had high expectations from the Prime Minister's visit. "I hope the BJP lives up to its promise of granting Union Territory status to the region," he said. Spalbar, who has been raising various issues about the difficulties faced by people of this region, said he would also flag the frequent incursion bids by Chinese and attempts to terrorise the local population living along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC). The new Army Chief General Dalbir Singh arrived in Leh on Monday to firm up arrangements for the PM's visit. The jawans of ITBP have been pressed into service for securing all the venues. BJP leaders Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Avinash Rai Khanna (Rajya Sabha MP who looks after Jammu and Kashmir) reached Leh on Monday to work out last minute preparations for a public rally at the Polo Ground where Modi dedicated to the nation 45 MW Nimoo Bazgo Hydroelectric Project. The PM is scheduled to fly to Kargil town, where he will hold a public rally and dedicate to nation the 44 MW Chutak Power station and. BJP will be trying hard to win at least a couple of assembly seats from Ladakh parliamentary constituency, which sends four MLAs to the state assembly. People in Kargil are hoping the PM will address some of their long pending demands like construction of the Zojjila Tunnel, Airport, opening of Kargil Skardu Road and establishing High Altitude Sports Authority of India Campus for Sports like Ice Hockey. A National Adventure School and a Doordarshan kendra in Kargil and employment avenues for youths in Army and paramilitary forces are among other demands. The two projects which have already started generation are expected to solve a lot of power woes of the border state but only after the transmission line from Leh to Srinagar is completed. (With inputs from Agencies) Highlights of PM Modi's speech in Leh: * I know the problems people face and most importantly I know the strength of this land: PM * After a very long time this place is seeing such a large gathering of people: PM * The government is dedicated to working towards the development of J&K: PM * There was a time when PMs never visited this state. I have come here two times already: PM * We have put Leh at the focus of our solar energy initiatives: PM * We must link all corners of India in every way: PM * Development must be such that it positively transforms the lives of the common people: PM * We have to bring about a'saffron revolution' in Jammu and Kashmir. Saffron farmers will get special attention: PM First Published: Aug 12, 2014 10:39 ISTThere was a sigh of relief at the Montreal Canadiens practice rink when goalie Carey Price skated out and began his usual game day routine on Monday morning. Some were holding their breath when Price was slow to get up after a collision with teammate P.K. Subban late in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. Price finished the game, but there was fear that the league leader in every major NHL goaltending statistic may have suffered an injury only two weeks ahead of the playoffs. Story continues below advertisement Shortly after the game, Subban sent out a tweet that read: "The answer is "yes" I am happy that my home boy "Carey Cash, CP0031 Money" is ok!" And Price looked his usual self during the skate. That had Subban smiling. "I knew if there was a problem, he probably wouldn't have finished the game," the defenceman said. "It was a scary moment for everybody." Price was playing a puck near his net when Subban suddenly lost his footing and crashed into the goaltender's pads. Subban said a trainer told him a skate needed sharpening before he went on the ice, but decided to take one more shift and use the break before the overtime to get it done. Then he slipped and nearly took out the team's most important player. "Lo and behold, I'm just gliding back and... I looked at the replay and it doesn't even look like I lost my edge," he said. "It was worse than the Kreider hit, I think. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement "I'm happy he's OK. Once I knew it, I was relieved. I thought I'd get a lot more blow back for that and I didn't. So, let's say I slept well on Saturday night." Price was injured during the Eastern Conference final last spring when the New York Rangers' Chris Kreider crashed into him. Stellar play by Price is the main reason the Canadiens led their conference with six games left in the regular season. He will be counted on heavily in the post-season. Another key player is Subban's defence partner, veteran defenceman Andrei Markov, who was voted by the media who cover the Canadiens as the team's candidate for the Masterton Trophy for dedication, perseverance and sportsmanship. The 36-year-old Markov, not a big fan of media interviews, said with his usual deadpan humour: "It's probably even more special because it comes from you (reporters)." "He deserves it," said Subban. "We know what he's gone through in his career. Story continues below advertisement "He's helped me as a defence partner for a while now, but he's helped all the young guys with his leadership. Not so much talking, but walking the walk, on and off the ice." Markov, a sixth round draft pick by Montreal in 1998, is closing in on 850 NHL games and 500 points despite a series of career-threatening knee surgeries. The Russian played only 65 games in a three-season stretch between 2009 and 2012 He isn't as quick as he once was, but Markov makes up for it with strong positional play and intelligence. And his partner Subban, has plenty of speed for both. "A lot of times we don't talk, we just read off each other," said Subban. "When I play with Andrei I feel like I'm playing shinny on my backyard rink sometimes. "We have a structure, but within it, there's a lot of creativity." Defenceman Tom Gilbert skated but remains out of action with a fractured jaw. He was to miss a third game when the Canadiens faced the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson spoke out in a new film ahead of Iceland's crucial referendum on whether to bear the €4bn (£3.6bn) cost of Icesave's failure. Over the weekend, more than 90pc of Iceland's electorate voted against a deal that would see the country pay back Britain and Holland for compensating 400,000 savers in the two countries. Mr Björgólfsson and his father, Björgólfur Gudmundsson, the former owner and chairman of West Ham FC, owned 41pc of Landsbanki before it collapsed in October 2008. Asked what he would say to people who describe the bank's owners as criminal, Mr Björgólfsson replied: "I have nothing to say to them. I am not a criminal and never have been." He then detaches his microphone and walks off. Mr Björgólfsson, whose wealth has fallen from $3.5bn (£2.3bn) at its peak to $1bn last year according to Forbes, denies any wrongdoing in relation to the crash in the new film, Maybe I Should Have. The documentary has been shown in Icelandic cinemas and was brought to Britain last week by its director, Gunnar Sigurdsson, whose attempt to trace the billions lost in the banks takes him to London, Guernsey, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands. Asked what happened to the bank's money, Mr Björgólfsson claimed: "When you lose capital in this way, a lot of money goes to money-heaven. The value that has been wiped off the stock markets, the deposits in the banks and investment funds has gone. [It] has evaporated. It's a common misunderstanding to ask: where did the money go?" Attempts to negotiate a better Icesave deal are set to continue this week, with Chancellor Alistair Darling indicating that he understood Iceland's position: "The fundamental point for us is that we get our money back - but on the terms and conditions and so on, we're prepared to be flexible." Over the past 18 months, there have been demonstrations in Reykjavik against the idea ordinary people should pay the debt of a commercial bank, with particular concern about the 5pc interest rate demanded by Britain and Holland. Public anger has intensified since the news that the authorities are pursuing 43 cases of potential fraud in Iceland's financial institutions, including Landsbanki and rivals, Kaupthing and Glitnir. Icesave was set up and marketed to British savers with high interest rates in October 2006, when analysts were already warning that the banks were financially unstable.James Corden has said he is "gobsmacked" by the success of his new show The Late Late Show with James Corden as he was expecting it to be "torn apart". The 36-year-old TV presenter and actor began hosting the show in March and told Heat magazine that he didn't expect it to be a success. Corden said, "I was so braced for the show to be torn apart that I'm gobsmacked by how quickly people have taken to it. "And it's amazing to be able to sit with people like Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell and just be in their orbit for a bit." He added that all of his guests so far have been down-to-earth, "No one has turned up with an entourage yet. Mila Kunis showed up with three people - her make-up artist, stylist and assistant, which seems fair enough. "Mariah Carey was fantastic [when she did carpool karaoke]. With someone like her, who is such a megastar, you almost forget she's human and we really showed the human side of her. It was so much fun." The star, who moved with his wife Julia and children Max and Carey to Los Angeles to work on the show, added that he feels like he's on holiday, "It still feels like I'm on holiday here. In no way have I taken on board that this is my job - I still haven't really adjusted to the fact that this is where I live now. "But it turns out it's a really lovely place to be with the kids. The main thing is I miss my wider circle of family and friends. But at least I have a good supply of marmite."Next week, millions of Americans will celebrate Earth Day, even though, three months into Donald Trump’s Presidency, there sure isn’t much to celebrate. A White House characterized by flaming incompetence has nevertheless managed to do one thing effectively: it has trashed years’ worth of work to protect the planet. As David Horsey put it recently, in the Los Angeles Times, “Donald Trump’s foreign policy and legislative agenda may be a confused mess,” but “his administration’s attack on the environment is operating with the focus and zeal of the Spanish Inquisition.” The list of steps that the Trump Administration has already taken to make America polluted again is so long that fully cataloguing them in this space would be impossible. Here’s a sample: In February, the Department of Energy delayed putting into effect new energy-efficiency standards for, among other things, walk-in freezers, central air-conditioners, and ceiling fans. The new standards, according to the department’s own estimates, would prevent the emission of nearly three hundred million tons of carbon dioxide while saving consumers almost twenty-four billion dollars over the next three decades. (Ten states, led by New York, have sued the Administration over the delay.) In March, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department announced their intention to roll back fuel-economy standards for cars that were set to go into effect in 2022. Earlier this month, the E.P.A. announced its plans to review—and presumably revoke—President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, a set of regulations aimed at reducing pollution from power plants. The Clean Power Plan would not only have cut carbon emissions by almost nine hundred million tons a year but also, according to E.P.A. figures, prevented more than thirty-five hundred premature deaths and ninety thousand asthma attacks annually. The plan is central to the commitments that the United States made under the Paris climate accord, which the Administration may or may not formally abrogate, but which it has apparently already informally abandoned. Meanwhile, the Administration has proposed slashing the E.P.A.’s budget by thirty-one per cent, which is even more than it has proposed chopping the State Department’s budget (twenty-nine per cent) or the Labor Department’s (twenty-one per cent). The proposed cuts would entail firing a quarter of the agency’s workforce and eliminating many programs entirely, including the radiation-protection program, which does what its name suggests, and the Energy Star program, which establishes voluntary efficiency standards for electronics and appliances. The zeal with which the Administration has attacked the environment recently prompted the comedian Bob Vulfov to imagine a set of National Geographic headlines from the year 2030. “These Striking Photographs Show the Best On-Fire Lakes from Around the World,” one read. “Five Ways the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Should Use Its $400 Budget” was another. How is it that a group as disorganized as the Trump Administration has been so methodical when it comes to the (anti) environment? The simplest answer is that money focusses the mind. Lots of corporations stand to profit from Trump’s regulatory rollback, even as American consumers suffer. Auto manufacturers, for example, had argued that the 2022 fuel-efficiency standards were too expensive to meet. (This is the case even though, when they accepted a federal bailout, during the Obama Administration, the car companies said that the standards were achievable.) Similarly, utilities have argued that the power-plant rules are too costly to comply with. Coal companies will probably benefit from the rollbacks. So, too, will oil companies, and perhaps also ceiling-fan manufacturers, though, in the case of the appliance standards, the affected manufacturers were at the table when the proposed regulations were drafted. But, while money is clearly key, it doesn’t seem entirely sufficient as an explanation. There’s arguably more money, in the long run, to be made from imposing the regulations—from investing in solar and wind power, for example, and updating the country’s electrical grid. Writing recently in the Washington Post, Amanda Erickson proposed an alternative, or at least complementary, explanation. Combatting a global environmental problem like climate change would seem to require global coöperation. If you don’t believe in global coöperation because “America comes first,” then you’re faced with a dilemma. You can either come up with an alternative approach—tough to do—or simply pretend that the problem doesn’t exist. “Climate change denial is not incidental to a nationalist, populist agenda,” Erickson argues. “It's central to it.” She quotes Andrew Norton, the director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, in London, who observes, “Climate change is a highly inconvenient truth for nationalism,” as it “requires collective action between states.” This argument can, and probably should, be taken one step further. The fundamental idea behind the environmental movement—the movement that gave us Earth Day in the first place—is that everything, and therefore everyone, is connected. “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe,” John Muir famously put it. The toxic chemicals that Town A dumps into the river reappear downstream, in Town B’s tap water. The mercury from power plants in Ohio poisons fish on the New Jersey coast that then get shipped back to supermarkets in the Midwest. The CO2 spilling out of tailpipes in New York is helping to melt the ice sheets at both poles. The water running off these ice sheets is raising sea levels, and this, in turn, threatens coastal cities everywhere. Eventually, to bring things full circle, New York’s highways will either have to be elevated or turned into canals. To acknowledge our interconnectedness is to acknowledge the need for caution, restraint, and, yes, rules. Almost a hundred days into Trump’s Presidency, it’s obvious that he has no agenda or coherent ideology. But two qualities that clearly have no place in his muddled, deconstructive Administration are caution and restraint. As a result, the planet, and everything on it, will suffer.N.H. GOP: Take down your yard signs Yet another storm-related precaution, this one sent Monday by the New Hampshire Republican Party via email to the rank and file: Good Morning, As hurricane Sandy quickly approaches today, we ask that all lawn signs be taken down so they are not blown away and cause damage. With the election a week away, the campaigns won't be able to replace all missing signs, and this way they will be ready for you to put back out after the storm passes. Thank you for your assistance, and stay safe and dry! — NH GOP From canceled campaign events to disruptions in ad traffic to fears of storm-tossed yard signs, it’s clear that Hurricane Sandy could not have hit at a more politically inopportune time than eight days before the election. (VIDEO: Yard sign missiles)A California high school pool was closed by the city after students reported symptoms including burning eyes, bleached hair and a loss of body hair. Berkeleyside reported that parents of the Berkeley High School water polo team sent a letter to the principal expressing concern over their children’s alleged symptoms. One parent told Berkeleyside that her son had lost all of the hair on his arms and legs and that the his eyes were continuously watering and stinging due to irritation from the pool. During a voluntary water test, the City of Berkeley reportedly found the levels of chlorine and chloramine were ten times the recommended level, and the pH reading was above the accepted level. The imbalance was reportedly caused by a faulty CO2 tank. In a phone call with The Huffington Post, Berkeley Unified School District Public Information Officer Mark Coplan confirmed the report, but downplayed the situation. “It’s a routine chemical imbalance,” he told HuffPost. “When you use ‘loss of body hair’ and ‘but we don’t want the kids taken out of the pool’ in the same sentence, that says to me that someone might just be looking at the pharmacy bottle and listing the possible side-effects.” Coplan said the pool’s closure was only an extra precaution until the chemical balance was restored. “We received a report from a parent and voluntarily called the city out to test the water," he said. "It’s something that if you or I went swimming once a week we’d never notice, but when someone is spending two to three hours a day in the pool, it might have an effect.” According to Berkeleyside, the closure is the second at the pool in the past few years. Coplan noted that, “ironically,” both complaints came from the same parent.Abstract A simple question about climate change, with one choice designed to match consensus statements by scientists, was asked on 35 US nationwide, single-state or regional surveys from 2010 to 2015. Analysis of these data (over 28,000 interviews) yields robust and exceptionally well replicated findings on public beliefs about anthropogenic climate change, including regional variations, change over time, demographic bases, and the interacting effects of respondent education and political views. We find that more than half of the US public accepts the scientific consensus that climate change is happening now, caused mainly by human activities. A sizable, politically opposite minority (about 30 to 40%) concede the fact of climate change, but believe it has mainly natural causes. Few (about 10 to 15%) say they believe climate is not changing, or express no opinion. The overall proportions appear relatively stable nationwide, but exhibit place-to-place variations. Detailed analysis of 21 consecutive surveys within one fairly representative state (New Hampshire) finds a mild but statistically significant rise in agreement with the scientific consensus over 2010–2015. Effects from daily temperature are detectable but minor. Hurricane Sandy, which brushed New Hampshire but caused no disaster there, shows no lasting impact on that state’s time series—suggesting that non-immediate weather disasters have limited effects. In all datasets political orientation dominates among individual-level predictors of climate beliefs, moderating the otherwise positive effects from education. Acceptance of anthropogenic climate change rises with education among Democrats and Independents, but not so among Republicans. The continuing series of surveys provides a baseline for tracking how future scientific, political, socioeconomic or climate developments impact public acceptance of the scientific consensus. Citation: Hamilton LC, Hartter J, Lemcke-Stampone M, Moore DW, Safford TG (2015) Tracking Public Beliefs About Anthropogenic Climate Change. PLoS ONE 10(9): e0138208. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138208 Editor: Vanesa Magar, Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y Educacion Superior de Ensenada, MEXICO Received: May 5, 2015; Accepted: August 27, 2015; Published: September 30, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Hamilton 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 Data Availability: Some data are available within the paper and its Supporting Information. The General Social Survey and its background information is publicly available through NORC at http://www3.norc.org/GSS+Website/. The authors are not authorized to re-publish these data because they were obtained from a third party, but anyone can access the data from NORC. For the authors' regional datasets (GSP and CERA/CAFOR), multiple human-subjects protection agreements explicitly state that individual-level data cannot be made freely available. De-identified subsets of the individual-level data are available upon request to interested researchers, pending Institutional Review Board approval. Please send requests for the data to the corresponding author, Lawrence Hamilton. Funding: Climate questions on the Granite State Poll are supported by three grants from the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/): New Hampshire EPSCoR EPS-1101245 (LH), PoLAR Climate Change Education Partnership DUE-1239783 (LH), and Sea Ice Prediction Network PLR-1303938 (LH). Further GSP support came from the Carsey Institute (http://www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/, LH DM) and Sustainability Institute (http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/, LH DM) at the University of New Hampshire. CERA and CAFOR surveys were supported by grants from the US Department of Agriculture (http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome): 2014-68002-21782 (JH LH); 2010-67023-21705 (JH LH); RSA-10-32 (JH), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (http://www.noaa.gov/): AB-133F-11-SE-0724 (TS), Ford Foundation (http://www.fordfoundation.org/, LH TS JH), Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund (http://www.nhcf.org/page.aspx?pid=667, LH TS), and the Carsey Institute (http://www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/, LH TS JH) and College of Liberal Arts (http://cola.unh.edu/, LH TS JH) at University of New Hampshire. The UNH Survey Center conducted all telephone interviews for NCERA, CERA/CAFOR and the Granite State Poll, while the Carsey Institute provided logistical and administrative support. 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 “Human activities are changing Earth’s climate,” reads the opening sentence of the American Geophysical Union’s position statement on climate change [1]. The same point is central to statements by other science organizations, broad interdisciplinary reviews [2], direct surveys of scientists [3][4], and literature reviews [5][6]. No major science organization takes a contrary position that human activities are not changing the Earth’s climate [7]. While the scientific consensus has strengthened, public opinion remains seriously divided, without a clear trend [8][9]. Repeated surveys report annual-scale variations possibly related to developments such as release of the 2007 IPCC report, the 2008 economic crisis, “climategate” attacks on scientists in 2009, or a snowy northeastern US winter in 2011 [10][11]. Decadal-scale surveys provide essential perspective, but must employ questions with wording that has changed over the years, or else was frozen at a time when the discourse was different. Whereas recent scientific statements emphasize the term “climate change,” referencing regional differences and shifts in precipitation, storms or extreme events, the legacy survey questions often ask about “global warming” instead. Non-scientists sometimes misinterpret this term to mean that every place should be constantly warming, which seems easily refuted by pointing out a place that is cooling. Moreover, there has been publicity about a “pause” or slowdown in the rate of global air temperature rise, leading to unscientific claims that global warming had stopped [12]. The term “global warming” by itself apparently can elicit more conservative opposition than the term “climate change” on surveys [13]. A potentially greater problem with wording is that some of the longest-running survey questions do not specify human causation, which today (rather than the mere fact of change) forms the main point of public contention [14]. The reality of climate change has been publicly acknowledged even by political leaders who dismiss human causation as a hoax [15]. These complications in public discourse make it harder to interpret responses to survey questions designed long ago. To unambiguously track public acceptance of the scientific consensus, in 2010 we started asking a question with three response choices: Which of the following three statements do you personally believe? Climate change is happening now, caused mainly by human activities. Climate change is happening now, but caused mainly by natural forces. Climate change is NOT happening now. Respondents can also say they don’t know, or decline to answer. Our question is present-tense and neutrally worded, with no mention of policies or future consequences. One response corresponds to the central point of scientific consensus statements, while others present the main logical alternatives. Although some scientists might argue that “belief” is the wrong term for their conclusions, it makes more sense with regard to acceptance by the general public. Trained telephone or face-to-face interviewers read the response choices in rotating order to avoid possible bias. From 2010 to 2015 over 28,000 people answered this question on 35 random-sample surveys, including the benchmark General Social Survey and a unique statewide time series. Below we synthesize data from all of these surveys, analyzing them in a common multivariate framework. Logistic regression quantifies the effects of respondent age, gender, education and political orientation. This broad replication establishes a set of robust and consistent results. Regional surveys reflect the scale of place-to-place variation in climate-change beliefs, while the single-state time series shows temporal variation, permitting tests for the influence of daily weather, seasons and trends. Data Three US nationwide surveys, 11 surveys in selected, often rural US regions, and a series of 21 surveys in the state of New Hampshire comprise the data for this paper. Individual surveys, which include questions on many topics besides climate, have been introduced in previous papers. Here we undertake the first synthesis bringing all of them together, and analyzing responses to the common climate-change question. General Social Survey (GSS 2012, 1,295 interviews) The climate beliefs question was asked in face-to-face interviews for a panel subset of this representative US survey (variable clmtchng in GSS terminology) [16]. The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, supported by the National Science Foundation, conducts the GSS and publishes its data as a resource for research. Intensive sampling and diagnostic efforts make GSS a benchmark for representativeness among US surveys. The 2012 response rate is given as 71%. Our analysis applies probability weights (variable wtssall) calculated by NORC. National Community and Environment in Rural America Survey (NCERA 2011, 2,006 interviews) Climate belief and knowledge questions were carried on this representative 50-state telephone survey conducted in summer 2011 [14]. NCERA was developed by researchers at the Carsey School of Public Policy, with sampling and interviewing done by the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Survey Center. The response rate was 31%, as calculated by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) definition 4 [17]. Probability weights (named ncerawt in S1 Dataset attached; see S1 File for a complete list of variables) that take account of household size, age-sex-race distributions by region, and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan composition are applied with relatively minor effects. iMediaEthics Poll on Climate Change (IME 2014, 1,002 interviews) Princeton Survey Research Associates International conducted this landline and cell phone survey with a nationally representative sample of adults living in the continental United States. Interviews were done in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source from July 17–20, 2014. Probability weights (variable wt2 in S2 Dataset attached) correct for known demographic discrepancies. Wording of the climate change question on other surveys described here is identical, but the context and wording for the iMediaEthics survey are slightly different, as given in the documentation file attached (S3 File). New Hampshire Granite State Poll (GSP 2010–2015, 11,548 interviews) The Granite State Poll conducts telephone interviews with independent random samples of about 500 New Hampshire residents four times each year. Our core climate question has been carried on 21 surveys to date, from April 2010 through May 2015. Sampling and interviews for the GSP are done by the UNH Survey Center, with response rates averaging 25% (AAPOR 2006 definition 4). Probability weights (variable censuswt2) provide adjustments for minor design and sampling bias. The S3 Dataset attached contains the climate-change responses from all of the New Hampshire, CERA/CAFOR and other surveys described in this paper, a total of 28,962 individual interviews. Community and Environment in Rural America and Communities and Forests in Oregon (CERA 2010–2012 and CAFOR 2011, 2014, 13,111 interviews) These telephone surveys, done by the UNH Survey Center under direction of Carsey School researchers, employ sampling, interviewing and weighting methods similar to those of NCERA. They target small clusters of counties, many of them nonmetropolitan. The locations are diverse but selected non-randomly for different projects. The CERA and CAFOR surveys used here involve regions in Appalachia, the Columbia River, Gulf Coast Florida, Gulf Coast Louisiana, northern New England, eastern Oregon, the Olympic Peninsula, Puget Sound, and southeast Alaska. Table 1 lists the counties, dates and number of interviews comprising each of these CERA/CAFOR surveys. Citations to many papers describing individual studies are given in [18][19][20]. Response rates for individual surveys (AAPOR 2006 definition 4) range from 18 to 48%, with a mean of 31. For all analyses here we adopt the original CERA or CAFOR weighting schemes, which take into account household size, county adult population and age-sex or age-sex-race distributions. PPT PowerPoint slide PowerPoint slide PNG larger image larger image TIFF original image Download: Table 1. Community and Environment in Rural America (CERA) and Communities and Forests in Oregon (CAFOR) surveys that carried the climate-beliefs question. Conducted by Carsey School of Public Policy (formerly Carsey Institute) researchers over 2010 to 2014.[18][19][20] N denotes the number of interviews. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138208.t001 The privacy and interests of subjects interviewed for these surveys are protected through protocols approved by Institutional Review Boards at NORC (for GSS) or UNH (for NCERA, GSP, CERA and CAFOR). All data are recorded, analyzed and presented anonymously, as specified for these protocols. Results Climate-change beliefs across 35 surveys Three nationwide US surveys with diverse sampling and interview methods find 52% (in 2011) or 53% (in 2012 and 2014) agreement with the scientific consensus that human activities are now changing Earth’s climate (Fig 1A). A series of 21 statewide New Hampshire surveys over 2010 to 2015 runs a few points higher than the national surveys overall (55%). On these surveys a substantial minority (31 to 39%) concede that climate change is happening, but caused mainly by natural forces. Few (3 to 8%) say they believe climate change is not happening, or decline to express an opinion. In social, cognitive or political terms, the now/human and now/natural respondents prove distinct, whereas now/natural and not now respondents are less distinct [14]. Survey questions that simply ask whether global warming/climate change is happening, without specifying a cause, confuse two opposing viewpoints—in effect, grouping some of the now/natural responses together with now/human. The CERA and CAFOR surveys target small and often rural clusters of counties, in regions selected for a variety of separate projects. Agreement with the scientific consensus ranges from 36 to 58% across these 11 surveys (Fig 1B). The regions studied include growing amenity-rich or near-urban areas, others dependent on coal or oil production, and still others with declining traditional resources such as forestry. Details of local environment and society help to understand place-to-place variations in climate and other environmental perceptions [18][19][24][25]. Tracked over time Fig 2A tracks the percentage of now/human responses on nationwide and New Hampshire surveys over time, and their 95% confidence intervals. The different surveys line up surprisingly well, with New Hampshire results a few points higher. Fig 2A gives a visual impression of slight upward drift, to be tested by the year coefficient in Table 2. In the New Hampshire time line we see no sign of a lasting impact from Hurricane Sandy, which brushed this state but caused no disaster there in late October 2012 (between our October 2012 and January 2013 surveys). The placid surface of Fig 2A covers a deep partisan divide (Fig 2B). Overall around 80% of New Hampshire Democrats, 55% of Independents, and 31% of Republicans agree with the scientific consensus that climate change is happening now, caused mainly by human activities. This partisan gap is one of the largest in questions asked on our surveys. The gap is somewhat greater in New Hampshire than nationally, partly reflecting a higher proportion of college graduates who, as will be seen, tend to be most polarized on this issue. For GSS the partisan gap is just 27 points, but even that is wider than historically polarizing abortion or gun control questions asked on the same survey. Surveys using different questions suggest that partisan gaps in climate beliefs have widened over the past decade [9][26]. Individual-level predictors Political orientation and education dominate other characteristics in predicting individual responses. Moreover, politics moderates the effects of education. Table 2 quantifies these effects in logistic regression models that predict odds of a now/human response to
guide track, which we did not have permission to use in the final mix. You listen to an Apple text message and ask, how are these made? I had to recreate these to match the original samples which was no easy task—sorry no trade secrets to give away here. Of course, now I should license them!SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) – The State of California has filed a civil case against anyone willing to challenge $8.6 billion in voter-approved bonds for the high-speed rail project. According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, the state has issued the legal challenge as a pre-emptive move to prove the legitimacy of issuing bonds to pay for the initial phase of high-speed rail construction this summer. The open summons, which carries the legal name “High-Speed Rail Authority v. All Persons Interested”, allows parties hoping to block the project to sign up with the court and join others challenging project’s funding. The move is an effort to dispense with all objections now so that future funding challenges can be set aside. The rail authority will be represented by the California Attorney General’s Office. The call for challengers will be published in major newspapers over a three week period to inform people about their ability to join the legal action. It’s was not immediately clear when the case would be heard or whether it would have any impact on the projects planned construction timeline, according to the Merc. The case will not cover challenges to the project based on environmental concerns. (Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)Asian markets wavered on Monday, the first trading day of the New Year, in very thin holiday trade. The benchmark Kospi was nearly flat, down 0.01 percent or 0.3 point, at 2,026.16 while the Kosdaq gained 0.1 percent, or 0.6 point, to close at 632.04 after wavering between negative and positive. The market had opened at 10:00 a.m. local time, one hour later than usual trading hours. The South Korean won was weaker against the dollar, at 1,207.25 as of 3:35 p.m. local time, compared with the pair trading as low as 1.197.04 last week. Other major Asian financial markets, including Australia, Japan, China and Hong Kong, were shut for the New Year's holiday. In stock news, smartphone maker Samsung Electronics was up 0.17 percent, after its Chief Executive Kwon Oh-hyun said to employees in a New Year's speech that no compromises should be made on the quality of its products. Kwon also made calls for employees to improve manufacturing processes and safety inspections. This year, Samsung's reputation and profit took a big hit after multiple reports of its latest smartphone model's faulty batteries exploding. Even after a product recall and exchange, the new devices continued to catch fire, ultimately resulting in Samsung killing the Note 7 model. South Korean automakers Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors announced a higher combined sales target in 2017 of 8.25 million vehicles globally, compared with its 2016 goal of 8.13 million vehicles which both automakers missed. After the market closed, Hyundai Motor said it sold 4.86 million vehicles in 2016, missing its goal of 5.01 million vehicles, while Kia sold 3.02 million vehicles, 100,000 vehicles short of its target, Reuters reported.As expected, the Kremlin did not respond kindly to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's no holds barred op-ed in The New York Times Wednesday. In the piece, entitled, "I Am Proud of Our Diplomacy," Tillerson condemns Russia for undermining U.S. elections and worsening relations between the two countries. On Russia, we have no illusions about the regime we are dealing with. The United States today has a poor relationship with a resurgent Russia that has invaded its neighbors Georgia and Ukraine in the last decade and undermined the sovereignty of Western nations by meddling in our election and others’. The appointment of Kurt Volker, a former NATO ambassador, as special representative for Ukraine reflects our commitment to restoring the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Absent a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine situation, which must begin with Russia’s adherence to the Minsk agreements, there cannot be business as usual with Russia. (New York Times) Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, accused Tillerson of using "a language of coercion," according to CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who was reporting from Moscow. The op-ed was "confrontational" and "fake news," other Russian spokesmen noted. Still, in his op-ed Tillerson noted that the two countries must try and find common ground on sensitive situations like Syria, since the two share "mutual interests" in the outcome. Why not work together to remove Bashar al-Assad from power? Pleitgen reached out to Russia for a comment on Tillerson's suggestion the two governments could work together on a Syria solution. They told him no way. "As far as the Russians are concerned, there is no cooperation" there, Pleitgen reported. Tillerson did not just single out Russia in his op-ed. He also had plenty to say about North Korean aggression, China’s "troubling military activities in the South China Sea," and Pakistan's thus far lackluster effort in helping defeat terrorism.The University of Colorado's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft made observations Sept. 11 of a solar event at Mars that lit up the red planet "like a lightbulb," according to one scientist. (Image courtesy of NASA) Two teams of Boulder researchers helped detect an unexpected strong blast from the sun that hit Mars earlier this month and lit up the planet "like a lightbulb," according to one scientist. The solar event was observed by NASA missions both in orbit and on the surface, led by two Boulder teams, the University of Colorado's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, and the Mars Science Laboratory's Radiation Assessment Detector led by the Boulder office of Southwest Research Institute. The Sept. 11 solar event created a global aurora at Mars more than 25 times brighter than any previously seen by the MAVEN orbiter, which has been studying the Martian atmosphere's interaction with the solar wind since 2014, according to a news release. It also produced radiation levels on Mars' surface more than double any measured before by the Curiosity rover's Radiation Assessment Detector, since that mission's landing in 2012. The high readings lasted more than two days. "When a solar storm hits the Martian atmosphere, it can trigger auroras that light up the whole planet in ultraviolet light," said Sonal Jain of CU's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and a member of MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument team. "The recent one lit up Mars like a light bulb."No, it's worse. A passthrough that's got significant lag to it? What sort of madness is that? Why even call it a passthrough at that rate? You're using it for your DVR? Fantastic. What about everything else? You're going to tell me the XBox One apparently isn't powerful enough to be able to scale a video feed without significant lag, despite there being multiple cap cards/devices that allow you to do this with a computer without issue? Hauppauge? Avermedia? And Microsoft can't swing it? Why would I buy this then? If it's screwed up this bad, why didn't they just make it a cable box/DVR on its own, like they clearly wanted to? CableCARD slot, peace? Cool with the clarification and all, but no. It's bad. It astounds me that this is the case. It's useless now.2 days ago I had an experience that will stay with me forever. I almost lost a patient on the operating table for the first time. Never before had I been as terrified and it seared into me the incredible responsibility that we have as we take people’s lives in our hands. As a physician we are taught to “do no harm” however as a neurosurgeon we are often operating on pathologies to prevent a problem, not necessarily to treat an active problem. The patient was diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm, a small balloon or blister that grows from a larger vessel of the brain. Should I treat the aneurysm or let her live with it and hope that it doesn’t bleed? The lifetime risk of a ruptured aneurysm this size for my patient was approximately 20% with an attendant 10% risk of death. The risk of surgery for an aneurysm like this was less than 5% with a negligible (<1%) risk of death. The odds of surgery were in her favor. We decided to go ahead. I brought her to the OR to repair her small aneurysm which emanated from the proximal right internal carotid artery, one of the dominant arteries of the brain. She had had a prior bleed from an aneurysm of the left carotid artery so despite the fact that this aneurysm was somewhat small and relatively low risk to bleed, I recommended treatment due to her prior bleed which theoretically puts her in a higher risk group. She delayed the surgery for a few months until she was ready, appropriately fearful of a brain surgery. On the morning of surgery I spoke to her prior to taking her to the OR and we discussed when she would go home and how presumably straightforward that the surgery was. We talked about her small haircut and she smiled and laughed, happy to be finally getting this over with. I walked away and waited for the OR to call me when ready. I returned to the OR 40 minutes later and she was asleep, blissfully unaware of what was taking place. We placed her head in a Sugita stabilizing frame, a small shave, surgical prep and then she was draped. Her body completely covered, dehumanized, with the exception of a small window over her right forehead where the incision and craniotomy would be. We made the skin incision and the operation continued no different than the hundreds of other aneurysm surgeries that I have performed. I easily exposed the aneurysm, a small mushroom of tissue growing from the carotid artery, its thin wall holding back the swirling blood within. All had gone to plan. I was under the microscope lowering the clip onto the 3mm blister of vessel, slowly closing it on its base, confident and relaxed, when something went wrong. As I was closing the clip on the aneurysm a little bleeding began around the clip. Nothing terrible at first just some oozing. I inspected the clip and it appeared to be fine. I carefully looked around the sides of the clip and saw some pulsatile bleeding coming from below the clip blades. I opened the clip slightly and tried to cinch it lower but the bleeding continued. Then the bleeding worsened. I had a major problem on my hands. Significant bleeding at high magnification. If I don’t stop the bleeding she will bleed to death on the table. No blood pressure. no pulse. No good way to stop the hemorrhage with a beautiful 40 year old woman on the table, asleep. Her husband in the waiting room, very much awake. I have never lost a patient on the table, not once. It can happen but I have been lucky enough to not have had that experience. I have been in dire situations before but never one where the patient died in my hands. No one can prepare for that. There is no course in medical school or residency to prepare you for that. This suddenly became a horrible possibility. Neurosurgery cases run the gamut from the most difficult and high risk to the banal. Unruptured aneurysm surgery of small aneurysms is not “easy” but generally, one sleeps well the night before. The stress and risk levels are usually quite low and patients do remarkably well. When challenges occur in high risk cases, they are expected and subconscious thoughts remain restrained and compartmentalized. When disaster strikes in low risk cases, I find compartmentalizing much more difficult. I find that the detachment from the humanity of the patient, so vital in treating high risk disease, is harder to maintain. Doctors are human beings. We feel emotion. We laugh. We cry. As a neurosurgeon we are confronted with difficulties and emergencies where these emotions get in the way of action. One cannot allow fear to invade our thinking for it only negatively impacts our ability to act. As I struggled to get control of this horrible bleeding, fear did begin to creep in. Fear for the patient and fear for myself. I was able to remain calm and it seemed like I was making progress when the unthinkable happened. I had my suction tube at the depth of the opening against the bone edge where the aneurysm rested, staring it down through the lenses of a high magnification microscope when the brain began to swell. I was losing access to the bleeding as the brain itself closed my window to the bleeding point. I was falling behind. There was nothing more that I could do. I was losing control of the patient and began to lose control of my mind. I began to think of my patient as a human being. My detachment was lost. I began to think of her as a mom, wife and friend. I have never lost a patient on the table and now I was about to for the first time. What would I tell the husband? What do I tell her young children? I began to think about my own wife, my kids. I felt my heart racing. The room felt hot. My throat tight. I could feel the angst of the people in the room. I was the only one who could do anything and I was failing. I had almost given up when something remarkable happened. The bleeding stopped. I could only get one instrument into the field because her brain was so swollen but as I pulled back there was no more blood. Her vital signs were stable. The anesthesiologist could catch up on her blood loss with transfusions of blood products and fluid. She would survive this surgery. As we began to close the case, I realized how truly exhausted that I was. Hours had passed but it seemed as if time was nonexistent. Everything had happened so quickly. “Dr.Langer, the patient’s husband is calling from the waiting room and asking if everything is ok” said my circulating nurse. “Tell him that I will be right out to talk with him” I said. As difficult as the surgery had been physically, this next task was more difficult emotionally. I had to talk to her husband and explain how something had gone wrong. How she will survive the surgery but how she may have had a stroke. She may not recover to the way that she had been before the surgery. She may not be the same. I certainly won’t. Share this: Twitter Facebook Google Like this: Like Loading...PERTH AMBOY – An attorney for the family of a man shot and killed by police on Hall Avenue last year has filed notice they intend to sue the city, claiming the man was not dangerous, according to mycentraljersey.com. In a notice of tort claim, the family of Dixon Rodriguez states he was not armed with a knife as officers said after they shot him to death in front of the family’s apartment about 1:18 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2013, according to the report. The family says that Rodriguez’s mother had called 911 for help because Rodriguez “was not on medication and was not in control of himself; Ms. Rodriguez indicated in the 911 call that her son had not injured anyone,” according to the report. Acting Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said a preliminary investigation showed two Perth Amboy police officers were attempting to speak with Rodriguez when he pulled out a knife and attacked one of the officers. RELATED COVERAGE: Family of man killed by Perth Amboy cops takes legal action, says he was not armed Prosecutor: Man shot to death by Perth Amboy cop was armed with knife Perth Amboy police shoot, kill man in street, sources say Man shot to death in Perth Amboy streetThere is nothing pretty about feminism. Like most kind of ‘isms’ it only spells bad news. Margaret Thatcher likened it to ‘trade unionism for women’. My first hand experience of ‘feminists’ saw me jeered, abused and threatened for heresy after I had dared question the legitimacy of this ideology at a public debate. Only it wasn’t a debating chamber, but a gas chamber for free speech. I quickly learned how it felt to walk into a flat-earthers meeting holding a globe. Campaigner Erin Pizzey had warned me before hand that there was nothing more menacing than the angry women whose threats had once required her to need Police protection. The fact is feminism a fraud played out on women and men alike. Guardianista whipping boys like Ally Fogg are complicit in this fraud providing succour and sympathy for feminism whilst maintaining a deafening silence about the gender cleansing of fathers from millions of families. He then condemns those that have the temerity to do something about it. The double standards are such that protest groups like Pussy Riot and Femen are lavished with praise, but lycra clad superheroes are ridiculed with the same contempt that was reserved for the Suffragettes a hundred years ago. Perhaps we should rebrand as ‘Fathers4Jus-tits.’ The message is clear. It’s perfectly acceptable for feminists to protest, but not for men. But the real fraud of feminism is this. It has turned women against men, driven fathers from families with catastrophic consequences for our children. In turn it has fuelled the economy by splitting the nuclear family into at least two entities, all requiring two houses, two cars, two flat screens…two of everything. Family breakdown IS good business for the Treasury. It has turned women into ‘victims’ addicted to state benefits with a controlling partner – the state. They have been forced into low paid ‘plantation’ labour working at Tesco pretending to be free whilst shackled to a till or worse, a lap dancers pole. They have absolved themselves from any personal responsibility by blaming all their woes and crimes on men – from murder to pornography – and playing the victim card at every opportunity. So much for 30 years of ‘liberation.’ There are several tragedies that flow from the Trojan Horse that is feminism. The first is that after 30 years of fanatical feminism led by the humourless High Priestess of Feminism, Osama Bin Harman, nothing has changed. Women don’t have any more freedom, aren’t more successful and are working harder, for longer with less child support because many have consigned one half of their family to the dustbin. What has changed doesn’t make for an edifying spectacle. There is more female porn, more violence, more plastic surgery, more Botox and more nips and tucks that you could wave your scalpel at. Where once we had Florence Nightingale and Jane Austen, feminism has produced such starlets as Kerry Katona, Katie Price and the vajazzled cast of Towie. Just for good measure we have an abortion epidemic and the highest rate of teen pregnancies and underage sex in Western Europe. So much for acting in the ‘child’s best interests’. Feminism isn’t just a fraud and a scam, it has been a catastrophe for our children who have grown up in increasingly dysfunctional fatherless families created through Nazi style social engineering and the policies of bigoted, hateful, feminist extremists. The feminist dream the snakeoil saleswomen have been selling has in fact turned into a dystopian nightmare for everyone. The fact is Femen and Fathers4Justice are two sides of the same coin. We need to wake up to the fact that we have ALL been enslaved and that one gender is being played off against the other for economic and social reasons – not to empower women. One of the reasons Feminism has spread so virulently is that it has been unopposed by a generation of men who have been so feminised themselves, that they have allowed the extermination of fatherhood to continue without any resistance. That’s why a few of us continue to fly the flag of equality for all – not just equality for those who happen to have XX chromosones. To paraphrase MLK, I hope that my three sons will not be judged by their gender, but on the content of their character. The facts speak for themselves. Feminism is a fraud and fraud is a crime whose victims aren’t just men and women – but the very children we claim to care about so much. Oppose it at all costs. Matt O’Connor AdvertisementsMatt Ridley has done it. He has written a book that takes a realist's approach at looking toward the future. His findings... it's a heck of a lot better than people are predicting. True Story. On a recent flight I had the misfortune of sitting next to a white knuckle anarchist. I decided that talking to him during the flight was probably the best way to keep me free from wearing vomit. The anarchist would make statements like, "anyone who can not feed their own subsitience deserves to die" and "The world is so over-populated that we need to blow up the big cities." Obviously, both of these statements are laughable (although scary that someone actually has that view point). What I found that by reciting passages from the "The Rational Optimist" I was able to offer very CONVINCING arguments against his viewpoints. The Rational Optimist shows us that Self-Sufficiency is a figment of our imagination. Who produces the steel for your shovel? Are you using a tractor... who made it? While engaging in these activities the proprietor would be able to grow their own food (Make steel or farm... you probably do one but not both). The key to our civilization (quite literally) is our ability to specialize in a task and trade those services for something that we are less efficient at doing. Anyhow - that is the premise for the first 250 pages of the "Rational Optimist." The remainder shows us why we have cause to be optimistic - here are a couple of examples - Food production - using fertilizers and pesticides we are able to greatly increase the productivity of land. This helps to both feed more people and to save land from deforestation. Organic food made sound enticing, but it will cause millions (if not billions) of people to die of starvation. It will also cause the need for additional farmland - MUCH more farmland. It will require more tractors which increases our need of fossil fuels. In short, organic foods have the markings of an environmental disaster. - Global warming - Higher CO2 levels means that plants grow faster. It also means longer growing season and the likelihood for more rain. This will allow us to save (more) forest land while feeding (more) people. What Matt Ridley has done is to show that through specialization and collaboration mankind has made several significant jumps in technology and economic growth. Why does economic growth matter? The more economic growth the less hungry people are... the less likely they to die from treatable diseases. Roughly 20 years ago the internet became the greatest tool for collaboration that the world has ever known.... If specialization and collaboration are the keys to economic growth and we now have this great tool.... Why shouldn't we be optimistic? Matt Ridley's writing can be a bit dry at times, but this is a very minor detriment. The true strength of the book his methodical approach in building a case that outlines (quite convincingly as my new anarchist friend can attest to) a scenario for a very rosy future.July 15, 2014 IN 2003, I picked up a copy of Noam Chomsky's Hegemony and Survival and devoured it within a week. It had been two years since 9/11, and I was still reeling, trying to wrap my head around the daily racism that I was now being subjected to. The year before, I had spent hours watching Israeli forces pummel the West Bank on my parent's Arab satellite stations--dramatic images of Israeli soldiers laying siege to the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, combat bulldozers crashing through the homes of families in the old city of Nablus, helicopter gunships firing missiles at the refugee camps in Jenin, Israeli tanks surrounding Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah. With the racism unleashed by September 11, the drowning of the Second Intifada in blood, and the shock and awe of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, I, like many young Arabs and Muslims in the U.S., was beginning to draw radical conclusions about the nature of U.S. empire, the roots of Islamophobia and its connections to a system of capitalist exploitation. Protesters in New York call for boycotts against Israeli occupation Hegemony or Survival helped fortify my newfound radicalism, confirming my suspicions of the long and ugly history of U.S. imperialism and the economic interests that it served. I soon was reading every Chomsky article and digging up every Chomsky YouTube video I could find. Along with Edward Said and Karl Marx, Chomsky's ideas and biting critique of the capitalist system were critical in helping to shape and give confidence to my emerging socialist leanings. Over a decade later, Israel is again terrorizing Gaza and the West Bank, and the Israeli state is, as Max Blumenthal aptly put it, inciting Israel's population into a "tribalistic frenzy." But the most recent article I've read by Chomsky was published on July 2 at TheNation.com, with the title "On Israel-Palestine and BDS." The article on the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid amounts to a disappointing rationalization for abandoning some of the core rights of the Palestinian people. The effect of such an article--if its suggestions were taken seriously--would be to narrow the horizons of a movement that is finally changing the mainstream dialogue in the U.S. about the Israel-Palestine conflict--and gaining serious momentum that neither Israeli nor U.S. officials can any longer ignore. In writing this article about Chomsky, I kept asking myself what had changed from 11 years ago. At that time, Chomsky gave me confidence as an emerging young radical, and he was clearly a stalwart of the Palestine solidarity movement. Today, his critique feels like a betrayal to that same generation. The more I researched and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Chomsky's approach has been consistent. It is the movement that has changed. Today, a thorough critique of all that is wrong in the world is still necessary, but it is no longer sufficient. Criticism that doesn't also seek to identify the strategies and actual forces that can advance an alternative vision of what's possible can have a conservatizing, rather than radicalizing effect, because it gives the impression that there is little we can do to change the world. But the lesson of social movements throughout history is that they must begin to organize themselves at a time when the rest of society dismisses them as "impractical." In recent years, the BDS strategy has begun to show that the goals of equality and Palestinian liberation once dismissed as "wishful thinking" are now gaining a wider hearing. Today, it is Noam Chomsky, not the BDS movement, that lacks a sense of practicality. CHOMSKY'S CRITIQUE of the BDS movement derives from his overall strategic vision of the resolution of the Palestine-Israel question. Chomsky regularly repeats that he has supported a one-state solution for 70 years, but that this is currently just a "proposal" with no way of being implemented. Instead, according to Chomsky, the most "realistic" way for those in solidarity with Palestinians to move forward is to apply pressure to implement the "internationally supported" two-state solution. Given this strategic orientation, Chomsky criticizes two of the goals of the BDS movement, as put forward in the July 2005 call for a campaign by more than 170 Palestinian civil society organizations. While Chomsky approves of the BDS movement's goal of "(1) Ending [Israel's] occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and dismantling the Wall," he rejects the remaining two goals of "(2) Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and (3) Respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194." The movement's tactics should focus on only the first demand, according to Chomsky, which he claims has a "clear objective and is readily understood by its target audience in the West." With this rationale, Chomsky sweeps aside the elementary demand of equal rights for the Palestinian citizens of Israel--even though one might think that equality before the law is also a clear objective readily understood in the West. Indeed, Chomsky's willingness to gloss over Israel's differential granting of rights on the basis of ethno-religious distinctions illustrates just how much he is willing to concede to the empty arguments of the Zionist right (which is why they are so enthusiastic about quoting from his Nation.com article). According to Chomsky: There are "prohibitions against discrimination" in international law, as [Human Rights Watch] observes. But pursuit of (2) at once opens the door to the standard "glass house" reaction: for example, if we boycott Tel Aviv University because Israel violates human rights at home, then why not boycott Harvard because of far greater violations by the United States? THIS ARGUMENT is problematic on several levels. Other writers have pointed out why demanding that a movement must simultaneously take on all injustices is nothing more than an attempt at deflection. If applied consistently, such a criterion would disqualify many of the most important movements for social justice from being worthy of support before they got started. But even if we set this aside, the logic of Chomsky's argument is still flawed. The "glass house" charge in this case raises a tactic to the level of a principle. If we could end the scourges of U.S. imperialism by boycotting Harvard University or by starting an entire BDS movement against the U.S., this would be a great tactic to pursue. But BDS would not be an effective tactic against the world's largest economy and military superpower. Israel, on the other hand, is economically and politically dependent on Western trade--and specifically U.S. support. Therefore, BDS as a tactic is appropriate for isolating Israel and helping to pressure it. Chomsky might say that he doesn't agree with the glass-house criticism, but is merely pointing out that demanding full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel is bound to elicit such a criticism. His article, however, doesn't make clear that this is his meaning. Even if we grant him this interpretation, though, it flies in the face of the experience of BDS campaigns that have been carried out. Chomsky says that initiatives focused on the full equality demand of BDS will continue to fail "unless educational efforts reach the point of laying much more groundwork in the public understanding for them, as was done in the case of South Africa." The problem with this argument--if we can set aside the casual dismissal of the educational work that Palestinian rights activists and intellectuals have done over many years--is the fact that BDS campaigns themselves are among the greatest educational tools we have available to us. What better education about the nature of Israeli apartheid can there be than packed student senate halls and campus newspapers debating divestment bills introduced by chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine across the country? Or churches debating their ethical investment rules and how they apply to Israel's violations of human rights? Or supporters of academic boycott in the American Studies Association having to argue with and win their colleagues to support their resolution? Furthermore, education about Israeli apartheid through BDS campaigns is less abstract and directly draws out the complicity of American institutions in the oppression of the Palestinians. More importantly, the demand for equal rights for Palestinians, far from falling outside of "public understanding," readily invites comparisons between Israel's racist apartheid policies and the more familiar history of racism and the struggle for civil rights in the American South. "The unfairness of it is so much like the South," said Alice Walker in a 2012 interview. "It's so much like the South of 50 years ago, really, and actually more brutal, because in Palestine so many more people are wounded, shot, killed, imprisoned. You know, there are thousands of Palestinians in prison virtually for no reason." Especially for young people, for whom it seems self-evident that discrimination based on one's ethnicity is unacceptable, this comparison is compelling, and its power derives from the idea of equality before the law, which is one of the few remaining gains of the civil rights movement at a time when many of its material gains are being or have already been clawed back. Some of these BDS campaigns are being won, and some are being lost, but in every situation, a new generation of young people--largely Arab and Muslim, but also a growing number of young Jews--is learning how to stand up for justice and challenge Israel's impunity. Students and community members are no longer just organizing events for well-known speakers to come lecture on Palestine and Israel--they themselves are presenting their ideas before student groups, student senates, fellow church members and boards of investment firms to explain why business-as-usual with regards to Israel must end. CHOMSKY ALSO admonishes the BDS movement for not doing more to challenge U.S. military and financial support for Israel. Of course, the BDS movement does call for an end to U.S. support for Israel, but it is hard to imagine how the BDS movement can grow to the size and gain the support necessary to truly challenge U.S. policy on Israel without the current campaigns it is engaged in at universities, churches and businesses. It is these campaigns that are training a layer of sophisticated activists, educating the American public about Israel's crimes, and eroding U.S. institutional and corporate support and complicity with Israel. As Chomsky knows, it takes more than a simple knock on the door of congressional representatives, or a phone call to your state senator, to upend the U.S.-Israeli relationship. In the U.S., organizing around the issue of ending support for South African apartheid began as early as the 1950s. Already by 1965, the shape of the anti-apartheid movement would sound familiar to us today. As one history of the struggle against South African apartheid explained: Activist student groups began to target investments by educational institutions in these companies, while activist caucuses within Protestant denominations and the ecumenical National Council of Churches began to target investments by church agencies. While the specific demands varied, from calls to ensure that the companies implement fair employment practices in South Africa to demands that they withdraw entirely, each such action provided the opportunity for debate about the apartheid system and the complicity of US business. It was not until 1986 that Congress passed a bill breaking ties with South Africa, and it took until 1994 for the election of Nelson Mandela, the country's first Black president. The Palestinian BDS movement was launched in 2005, and as many observers have noted, it appears to be making more rapid progress than the anti-apartheid struggle from which it draws inspiration. Breaking the U.S.-Israel relationship may prove to be more difficult due to the greater strategic weight of U.S. interests in the Middle East and the historic role that Israel has played as a watchdog of those interests. But this speaks to the need to deepen and strengthen the BDS movement and continue to connect it to other struggles against oppression and economic injustice in this country, so that we can rally the necessary forces to end U.S. complicity in Palestinian suffering. PERHAPS MOST shockingly, Chomsky casually dismisses the right of return that millions of Palestinians living for decades in refugee camps throughout the Middle East still dream of. For Chomsky, however, the BDS movement should simply drop this demand: While there is near-universal international support for (1), there is virtually no meaningful support for (3) beyond the BDS movement itself. Nor is (3) dictated by international law. The text of UN General Assembly Resolution 194 is conditional, and in any event, it is a recommendation, without the legal force of the Security Council resolutions that Israel regularly violates. Insistence on (3) is a virtual guarantee of failure. Apparently, Chomsky does not believe the Palestinian people's own overwhelming support for the right of return is worth describing as "meaningful." Unfortunately, erasing Palestinian agency appears to be a central theme of Chomsky's essay, as I'll discuss further in a moment. But what about Chomsky's claim that the right of return of Palestinian refugees in UN Resolution 194 is "conditional"? This is a red herring. The right of refugees displaced by war, including Palestinian refugees, to return to the homes from which they fled is a basic component of international law that supersedes any UN resolution. This principle is enshrined in international law, as the Cambridge Journal of International Comparative Law explains: UN law renders the right of return unquestionable...All these international legal bases indicate that the right of return for refugees is a customary rule. Such a right has long been deemed to constitute a natural entitlement for any citizen. The right of return has not during the course of history been subjected to questioning by states. Chomsky's assertion that the right of return should be dropped from BDS demands because Israel regularly violates UN resolutions is deeply troubling. As Tom Suarez wrote in one of the responses to Chomsky, such a position renders all international law irrelevant, because "non-compliance becomes self-justifying." Instead, Suarez points out, "exposing the non-compliance is part of the very value of BDS." Chomsky is surely aware of this dynamic, but he seems to prefer to pick and choose which aspects of international law should be enforced, based not on the wishes of the people whom he purports to advocate for, but on what he has deemed within the realm of "realistic" possibilities. Chomsky thus dismisses the right of return, but doesn't shrink from excoriating the U.S. and Israel for their failure to abide by international law by ending the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. We should have no illusions in international institutions, under a capitalist system, to bring justice to the oppressed, and we should understand that these institutions ultimately function as a form of "soft power," wielded by dominant states to ensure their international supremacy while providing a veneer of concern for human rights. But that said, it's also clear that international law, like any other laws, should be used in the fight against oppression wherever possible--if for no other reason than to expose the hypocrisy of the ruling classes when it comes to living up to the values they profess to have. Whether a particular aspect of international law can be enforced to the benefit of an oppressed people is dependent on the balance of forces for and against, and the role of any individual or movement that stands for social justice is to weigh in on the side of the oppressed, not legitimize the actions of the oppressor and demand that the oppressed
Fig 4 Primary outcome analysis: diet; physical activity; attendance at screening or behavioural support programmes. SMD=standardised mean difference Smoking cessation Six studies assessed smoking cessation,28 36 37 39 42 46 all but one37 using self report measures. The genetic risks communicated were for lung or oesophageal cancer28 36 39 42 46 and Crohn’s disease.37 Comparisons were between DNA based risk estimates versus no risk estimates for four of six studies,36 39 42 46 with one study comparing DNA based plus non-DNA based risk estimates versus only non-DNA based risk estimates,28 and one study comparing DNA based versus non-DNA based risk estimates.37 Pooled analysis (n=2663) showed no significant effect of DNA based risk communication on smoking cessation (odds ratio 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.63 to 1.35, P=0.67; I2=39%, fig 2⇑). Within intervention arm subgroup analysis, assessing the effect of the presence (versus absence) of a risk-conferring genotype, was possible for five of the six studies.36 37 39 42 46 Pooling these data revealed no evidence of a benefit from communicating the presence of a risk-conferring genotype (odds ratio 1.26, 95% confidence interval 0.81 to 1.97, P=0.30). Medication use One study (n=162) communicated the genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease and assessed self reported medication use to reduce this risk, at 12 month follow-up.30 The comparison was between DNA based plus non-DNA based risk estimates versus only non-DNA based risk estimates. The odds ratio of 1.26 (95% confidence interval 0.58 to 2.72, P=0.56) suggested no effect of DNA based risk communication (fig 2⇑). In subgroup analysis comparing those receiving a positive versus a negative APOE e4 disclosure, the odds ratio was 2.61 (95% confidence interval 1.09 to 6.23, P=0.03), indicating a positive effect on medication use of information concerning the presence of a risk-conferring genotype. Alcohol use Three studies34 35 40 assessed self reported alcohol use, with genetic risks communicated for cancers34 40 and for cardiovascular disease.35 Comparisons were between DNA based risk estimates versus no risk estimates. Pooled data (n=239) revealed no evidence of an effect of DNA based risk communication on reducing alcohol use (standardised mean difference 0.07, 95% confidence interval −0.20 to 0.35, P=0.61, I2=13%, fig 3⇑). Subgroup analysis of data from one study,35 showed no effect of communicating a high risk genotype (standardised mean difference 0.17, 95% confidence interval −0.42 to 0.76, P=0.57). Sun protection behaviours One study (n=73) communicated the risk of melanoma and assessed self reported sun protection behaviours.31 The comparison was between DNA based risk estimates versus no risk estimates. The standardised mean difference was 0.43 (95% confidence interval −0.03 to 0.90, P=0.07), suggesting no effect of DNA based risk communication (fig 3⇑). Subgroup analysis was not possible. Diet Seven studies assessed self reported dietary behaviour.30 32 35 41 43 45 47 The genetic risks communicated were for type 2 diabetes,32 47 obesity,43 familial hypercholesterolaemia,41 Alzheimer’s disease,30 cardiovascular disease,35 and hypertension.45 Comparisons were between DNA based risk estimates versus no risk estimates for three studies,35 43 45 with three studies comparing DNA based plus non-DNA risk estimates versus only non-DNA based risk estimates,30 41 47 and one study comparing DNA based risk estimates versus non-DNA based risk estimates.32 Pooled data from these studies (n=1784) showed no significant evidence of a benefit from DNA based risk communication (standardised mean difference 0.12, 95% confidence interval −0.00 to 0.24, P=0.05, I2=17%, fig 4⇑). Pooled subgroup analysis of data from three studies,30 35 45 showed no effect of communicating a high risk genotype (standardised mean difference 0.18, 95% confidence interval −0.13 to 0.50, P=0.25). Physical activity Six studies assessed physical activity as an endpoint behaviour,30 32 35 41 43 47 all but one32 using self report measures. The genetic risks communicated were for type 2 diabetes,32 47 obesity,43 familial hypercholesterolaemia,41 Alzheimer’s disease,30 and cardiovascular disease.35 Comparisons were between DNA based risk estimates versus no risk estimates for two studies,35 43 with three studies comparing DNA based plus non-DNA based risk estimates versus only non-DNA based risk estimates,30 41 47 and one study comparing DNA based versus non-DNA based risk estimates.32 Pooled data from these studies (n=1704) revealed no evidence of an effect of DNA based risk communication (standardised mean difference −0.03, 95% confidence interval −0.14 to 0.07, P=0.54, I2=0%, fig 4⇑). Pooled subgroup analysis of data from two studies30 35 showed no effect of communicating a high risk genotype (odds ratio 1.23, 95% confidence interval 0.49 to 3.11, P=0.65). Attendance at screening or behavioural support programmes Two studies assessed attendance at screening or behavioural support programmes33 49 following communication of genetic risks for type 2 diabetes33 and colorectal cancer.49 Comparisons were between DNA based risk estimates versus no risk estimates. Pooled analysis (n=891) suggested no effect of DNA based risk communication (standardised mean difference −0.04, 95% confidence interval −0.20 to 0.11, P=0.59, I2=0%, fig 4⇑). It was possible to conduct subgroup analysis with data from both studies, which showed no effect of communicating a high risk genotype (standardised mean difference −0.16, 95% confidence interval −0.47 to 0.16, P=0.33). Secondary outcomes The few data reported on prespecified secondary outcomes of motivation to change behaviour and of depression and anxiety provided no evidence of any intervention impact on these outcomes. Five studies assessed motivation or intention to change behaviour,32 33 34 36 46 two studies measured depression,41 46 and three studies measured anxiety.32 41 46 In all cases, confidence intervals included no effect. Assessment of risk of bias and quality of evidence Only four of the 18 studies were considered to have a low summary risk of bias, having met all of the specified criteria (fig 5⇓).32 33 37 49 The inability of 14 of 18 studies to meet criteria for low summary risk of bias reflected both a lack of clarity in reporting and a failure or inability to safeguard against risk of bias. In terms of GRADE assessment of the quality of the evidence across outcomes, evidence was determined to be of low quality for all outcomes other than attendance at screening or behavioural support, meaning limited confidence is placed in the effect estimates. Evidence was downgraded twice for these outcomes owing to study limitations (with all or most information for the outcome from studies at high or unclear risk of bias) and imprecision (with sample sizes failing to meet the optimal information size and/or 95% confidence intervals for the summary effect estimate overlapping no effect and including appreciable benefit or harm). For the outcome of attendance at screening or behavioural support, the evidence was downgraded only once owing to imprecision (and not study limitations, as information came from studies at low risk of bias). Therefore, the evidence for this outcome was assessed to be of moderate quality. Fig 5 Assessment of risk of bias Discussion The evidence in this review suggests that communicating DNA based disease risk estimates has little or no effect on health related behaviour. The evidence for concluding an absence of effect was strongest for smoking cessation and physical activity, where for both, six studies contributed comparably consistent effects, with pooled point estimates of effect size close to unity, supported by relatively narrow 95% confidence intervals. The evidence concerning attendance at screening or behavioural support shared similar characteristics and indicated an absence of effect, although findings were based on only two studies (albeit both well conducted trials). The results from the seven studies on dietary behaviour are compatible with a small effect of genetic risk communication and with a narrow pooled confidence interval. For all other behaviours, data were considerably fewer. There were also no effects on motivation to change behaviour, and no adverse effects on depression or anxiety, although again there were few data for these secondary outcomes. Finally, the supplementary subgroup analyses within participants in the intervention arms only, suggest that there is no clear effect of genetic test result. Only one of six analyses showed a statistically significant effect of communicating the presence versus absence of a risk conferring mutation, and this was derived from one study. Strengths and weaknesses of this review We conducted the review using rigorous Cochrane methods to minimise the risk of bias. We included quantitative synthesis using meta-analysis and systematic assessment of risk of bias of included studies and of quality of the evidence by outcome, and we identified a substantive body of randomised studies able to inform our specified aims. Previous reviews had identified few clinical studies using randomised designs, did not include quantitative syntheses of effects on behaviour, or were focused on single behaviours. However, our review does have several limitations, linked to limitations of the available evidence. Principally, we found that several studies were limited in their ability to address the review objective. They were often underpowered to detect plausible small effects of risk information on behaviour, and many of the studies (10 of 18) were judged to have control groups of low relevance because their content differed from the intervention group in more than only the absence of DNA based information on disease risk. For example, one study that produced a medium sized effect on behaviour had an intervention group that differed from the control group both in the use of DNA based risk communication and in the provision of telephone counselling.42 Also, few included studies were determined to be at low summary risk of bias. In particular, the failure or inability to use valid measures of behaviour may have introduced error and bias. While we acknowledge that the use of self report measures is sometimes necessary, included studies typically used self report measures even when viable objective measures were available (for example, in relation to smoking cessation).51 Participants and providers are not blinded to the intervention and it is important that outcome assessors are blinded, but this was rarely the case (at least as reported), and, where self report measures are used, is not possible. The potential for selective outcome reporting was also notable, with few instances of trial registration or published protocols. The substantive risk of bias and seemingly poor quality of many of the included studies, and the relative imprecision of the effect estimates, suggests caution in interpreting the results. Interpretation of study results We outlined three possible competing hypotheses on the possible behavioural impact of DNA based disease risk information evident in the literature—that it strongly motivates risk-reducing behaviour change, that it demotivates risk-reducing behaviour change, and, finally that, at best, it has only a small effect on risk-reducing behaviour. Our results do not support the first two hypotheses, but are consistent with the third, suggesting that high expectations of the potency of such communications to change behaviour are unfounded. This is consistent with the results of a recent cohort study reporting no impact on diet or physical activity of direct-to-consumer genome-wide testing.52 It is also in accord with the results of a Cochrane review in which the authors concluded that the current evidence does not support the hypothesis that biomedical risk assessment increases smoking cessation.14 The theoretically oriented literature on behaviour change also highlights the typically small effect of risk communication on behaviour.12 While the results of the current review are strongly suggestive of, at most, small effects on health behaviours, high quality research evidence is currently insufficient to engender confidence of this for each individual behaviour included in the review. However, given the overall pattern of the combined evidence, any additional large scale trials, even if better designed and conducted, need a clear justification. Such justification would be based on incrementally developed evidence indicating that efficacy of a clinically important degree is possible (that is, higher than the priors based on this review) given the particular characteristics of the intervention and target population. Previous reviews of the behavioural impact of genetic risk communication have included non-randomised studies, predominantly of those with family histories of breast, ovarian, and colorectal cancer, with the dominant behaviours reported being screening or prophylactic surgery. These indicate an increase in screening and prophylactic surgery, particularly among those found to be carriers—that is, those with an increased risk of disease.16 17 18 19 Such findings suggest that DNA based risk assessments are more likely to motivate clinical means of reducing risk (such as undergoing surgery or attending screening) than behavioural means (such as altering smoking, diet, or physical activity behaviours) that are the main focus of this review.53 In spite of this, the one large and well conducted trial included in this review49 that assessed the impact of DNA risk communication on colorectal screening found no effect on uptake. Implications for public health and research The available evidence does not provide support for the expectations raised by researchers and proponents of personalised medicine as well as direct-to-consumer testing companies that the receipt of results from DNA based tests for gene variants that confer increased risk of common complex diseases motivates behaviour change. Concerns that communicating DNA based disease risk estimates may demotivate behaviour change are also unsupported by the results of this review. Where such tests exist, be it in public or private sector domains, their use warrants the collection of evidence on behaviour change as part of research protocols, thereby contributing to the limited existing evidence base. At present there is little evidence to suggest that simply communicating the results of DNA tests has a role in strategies aimed at improving population health by motivating risk-reducing behaviour change.54 Such tests may, however, have a role in such strategies if supplemented by the offer of effective behaviour change interventions. DNA testing, alone or in combination with other assessments of disease risk, may have a role in stratifying populations by risk, to enable clinical and behavioural interventions—such as screening tests, surgery, and drug treatments—to be targeted at those at increased risk.55 The communication of genetic information may differ in respect to how much it is framed as a “risk” to health, or used to inform recommendations for wellness (even if these are derived from associations with increased risk). For example, nutrigenomic information may not be presented or characterised as risk information but may be used to inform behavioural recommendations, which can be highly specific and targeted. This is demonstrated by one of the included studies,45 which used nutrigenomic testing to provide specific intake recommendations for foods. However, as yet there are too few trials to assess whether this type of genetic testing has a different impact from more traditional genetic testing providing information about the likelihood of a health harm. Given the continued high expectations for the communication of DNA based disease risk estimates to motivate risk-reducing behaviour change, it is important that any additional randomised controlled trials are conducted using methodologically robust designs. These would be powered to detect possible small effects on behaviour (that might have important population consequences), and conducted and reported cognisant of the risks of bias—for example, by incorporating prespecified outcomes, valid measures of behaviour, and the blinding of outcome assessors. Conclusion The results of this review suggest that communicating DNA based disease risk estimates has little or no effect on risk-reducing health behaviour. Existing evidence does not support expectations that such interventions could play a major role in motivating behaviour change to improve population health. What is already known on this topic Genetic testing is being increasingly used in a growing number of healthcare settings and in direct-to-consumer testing for a range of common complex disorders There is an expectation that communicating DNA based disease risk estimates will motivate changes in key health behaviours, including smoking, diet, and physical activity There is a need for a rigorous systematic review to examine whether communicating genetic risks does indeed motivate risk-reducing behaviour change What this study adds The results of this updated systematic review with meta-analysis using Cochrane methods suggest that communicating DNA based disease risk estimates has little or no impact on risk-reducing health behaviour Existing evidence does not support expectations that such interventions could play a major role in motivating behaviour change to improve population health Footnotes Contributors: GJH, SK, and TMM searched for, screened, and selected studies. All authors extracted data. GJH, SK, ATP, and TMM conducted the analysis. All authors interpreted the analysis, drafted the final manuscript, and read and approved the final version. TMM is the guarantor. Funding: A previous version of this review was funded as part of a grant from the Medical Research Council, UK (Risk communication in preventive medicine: optimising the impact of DNA risk information; G0500274). Updating this review was funded by a National Institute for Health Research senior investigator award to TMM. The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. Competing interests: GJH, SJG, ATP, SS, and TMM were authors on at least one of the included studies. These authors were not involved in decisions regarding the inclusion of these studies nor in the extraction of data from these studies. All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; and no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work. Ethical approval: Not required. Data sharing: All data used for the review are available from the authors. Transparency: The manuscript’s guarantor (TMM) had full access to all of the data in the review and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and accuracy of the data analysis. She accepts full responsibility for the conduct of the review and has controlled the decision to publish. She affirms that the manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned (and, if relevant, registered) have been explained. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.When we were building Front-end Front, my brother and I, we ran into a bit of an issue. Similar to HN and DN, we wanted to deemphasise the visited links, so people wouldn’t have to click again on articles they’ve already read. A pretty simple task. Our problem, as you see in the picture, was the icons’ presence in front of the links. Ideally, an icon should become semi-transparent if it’s corresponding link was visited. The non JavaScript solution we thought of, comes in two steps. The DuckDuckGo trick I’m calling it so because I first saw it used on the DDG website. In short, they use two <a> tags and style the first one to be an icon. When someone clicks on the link with text, the <a> in front also gets affected. You can read more about this trick here. But it was not enough in our case. As you may know, for privacy reasons, browsers limit the number of CSS properties that can be applied to visited links. Whether it’s text, background, or border, you can only change the color. A note: yes, you can use only one link, but for certain layouts, like ours, it might introduce other problems. CSS blend modes Coming back to the issue, we still need to fade the icons somehow. Since, like I mentioned, “opacity” is not a supported CSS property for :visited, we have to simulate it. This is where I can finally make use of my 10 years of Photoshop :). I know that if an element on a black background has a screen blend mode applied to it, it will be fully opaque. While if it’s on a white background, the element in question becomes completely transparent. So in order to achieve the semi-transparency we were looking for, using a shade of gray as the background will do the trick. You can have a better look at the code in the pen bellow: See the Pen Styling :visited with CSS blend modes by Stelian Firez (@stelianfirez) on CodePen. Here are some other projects of mine: Front-End Front – A crowd-curated news website focused on front-end development PSD Repo – Free quality PSDs available for download Sketch Repo – Free, high quality Sketch resourcesGet the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email What does your accent say about you? Well according to researchers at a Manchester university, an awful lot... and it’s not all good. Sociolinguists at Manchester Metropolitan University have created an ‘accent and dialect map’ for Greater Manchester illustrating people’s opinions about some of the region’s different twangs. Participants were given a blank map of the area of Greater Manchester within the M60 and asked to write words they associated with accents in different places. Researchers say they weren’t so much interested in whether people knew where borough boundaries were, but which areas they thought were associated with different accents. It’s good news if you hail from Stockport, where your voice, according to the study paints you as ‘soft’, ‘posh’ and ‘well-spoken’. But towards the east, around Oldham, common words included ‘working-class’, ‘common’, ‘rough’ and ‘poor’. It’s better news for those in Manchester city centre. If you live in the heart of the region, your voice is more likely to come across as ‘artsy’ and ‘metropolitan’. (Image: Mark Waugh) North vs South: Accents there were also said to represent the city’s ‘diverse’ and ‘multicultural’ nature. South Manchester accents - and those around plush parts of Trafford - were thought to be more ‘standard’. Towards Bury and Rochdale, accents were described as ‘broad’, ‘northern’, ‘common’, ‘country’ and ‘strong’. One example was Milnrow being pronounced as ‘Milnra’. Accents Salford-way were described as ‘rough’ and ‘common’ but ‘strong’. The word ‘scally’ even popped up. Dr Erin Carrie and Dr Rob Drummond asked ‘non-experts’ to identify accents and dialects on a map and give their opinions about their speakers. Participants were asked to draw borders to show areas they though people spoke differently and provide words to describe voices. A composite map from 62 people's efforts was created, with different areas showing where people thought major dialect areas were. Darker sections indicate accent ‘cores’. The most commonly used words are bigger on the map than those used less frequently. Linguistics lecturer Dr Drummond said: “The findings suggest perceptions of accents and dialects are closely linked with social stereotypes about the people who speak them, and several of the words that were provided appear to be descriptions of people or areas rather than accents or dialects.” Barmcakes or croissants? Towards the south of Greater Manchester, participants wrote: ‘ginnel’ for ‘alleyway’ ‘eee-arr mate’ For the north: ‘ee it’s cowd outside lad’ ‘you get me?’ ‘ey-up’ To the east of the map: Pronunciation of ‘year’ as ‘yeeyer’ Pronunciation of Milnrow as ‘Milnra’AN emotional Michael Clarke dedicated Australia’s World Cup victory to his “little brother and teammate”, the late Phillip Hughes. Clarke played an inspirational captain’s knock in his final one-day international match, hitting 74 to guide Australia to an emphatic win over New Zealand at the MCG. Here’s what the Aussie skipper and several of his teammates had to say in the moments after sealing victory. AUSTRALIA STORMS TO WORLD CUP GLORY CLARKE BOWS OUT AS WORLD CHAMPION WORLD CUP FINAL PLAYER RATINGS MICHAEL CLARKE on playing for Phillip Hughes... “You can see it’s (Clarke’s black arm band) got PH on it. I wear it every game I play for Australia. For everybody in Australian cricket it’s been a really though few months. “I’m sure I don’t speak for myself, I’m sure everyone standing on this stage tonight will say we played this World Cup with 16 players and tonight is certainly dedicated to our little brother and our teammate Phillip Hughes. “Hughesy used to party as well as any of us so we’ll make sure we drink two at a time tonight, one for Hughesy and one for us.” MICHAEL CLARKE on what winning the World Cup means... “To the Australian fans, to all the fans of the game I think it has been an amazing turnout this tournament. “People coming to all the games, people watching on TV, so for the support we’ve had throughout the tournament thanks to every Australian and every cricket supporter out there. “Most importantly to the amazing team and support staff, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. “The support I have received since coming back into the team, the way they’ve stood up and played, they certainly deserve to stand here tonight and hold that trophy up. Michael Clarke held aloft by David Warner and Aaron Finch. Picture: Phil Hillyard. Source: News Corp Australia MICHAEL CLARKE on retiring the No.23 shirt... “I might give it back to Warnie. I haven’t thought too much about it to be honest. “It’s been an honour and a privilege to represent my country in Test and one-day and Twenty20 cricket. The time’s right for me to walk away from one-day cricket but I’ll keep playing Test cricket. “I’ll have a think about the number 23 but I’m honoured to have received it from Shane Warne.” DARREN LEHMANN on whether there would be a week of celebrations... “More than that I would think. Why not?” DARREN LEHMANN, after being given a Gatorade shower... “That’s why I love them,” STEVE SMITH on Michael Clarke... “You know, I thought it was a very fitting farewell for Pup. He’s been a terrific one-day player over a period of time. I wish he was out there there with at the end. I was saying, ‘Pup, say with me stay with me’.” DAVID WARNER on the win... “I’ve lost my voice already. It’s a magical feeling. Credit to the guys, the bowlers did their job early on and we were pretty clinical there.” BRAD HADDIN on what it feels like to win a World Cup on home turf... “It was special. The staff have been challenging us all tournament to play the perfect game and we delivered on the biggest stage. “It’s a great feeling at the moment and we’re going to try and have a beer with every Aussie spectator in the building so it’s going to be good run tonight.” MITCHELL STARC on dismissing Brendon McCullum in the first over... “There was a lot of luck involved I think but it’s a little plan Craig (bowling coach Craig McDermott) and I had going a couple of days ago. “Brendon has been fantastic throughout the whole tournament so I think there was a lot of luck involved but I’m just happy to get that one.” SHANE WATSON on New Zealand’s performance at the tournament... “They’ve been the form side in world cricket for the last six months especially in one-day cricket. Brendon McCullum’s has done a great job leading the team. They have world match winners through the whole team. We knew we had to be at our absolute best.” JAMES FAULKNER on playing in front of his home crowd... “It’s an amazing feeling. To play in front of 93,000 fans here at MCG. Win a World Cup. It’s amazing.” GEORGE BAILEY on what it was like to watch from the sidelines... “You’d prefer to be playing, no doubt about that, but to be part of the whole journey has been amazing and I’ll tell you what, I couldn’t think of a better team to sit on the sidelines and watch. “It’s been the best seat in the house, it’s been phenomenal. The players have been so outstanding, it’s been an privilege.” GLENN MAXWELL on the fun of playing in a World Cup... “It’s been a lot of fun and it’s been a lot of fun having success as well. “Riding the back of our wins has been great and to not have to do a thing during this final (apart from a wicket and a run-out) and watch the boys go about their business has been great.”The UK’s High Court has turned all of its computer users into outlaws overnight, in a new ruling that makes it unlawful to create a copy of copyrighted content, without the direct permission of the copyright holder. The new law means UK citizens can no longer create backups of their computer (because pretty much every PC has copyrighted content). You’re also not allowed to rip your CDs into iTunes or convert media files into another format, which means Apple’s software services like Time Machine and iTunes are now considered illegal. To find out exactly what citizens are and are not allowed to do, TorrentFreak got in touch with the UK Intellectual Property Office and got some pretty clear cut answers. “It is now unlawful to make private copies of copyright works you own, without permission from the copyright holder – this includes format shifting from one medium to another,” a the spokesperson told TF. “It includes creating back-ups without permission from the copyright holder as this necessarily involves an act of copying.” Because Apple promotes iTune’s ripping feature during installation, the company is actively facilitating copyright infringement and makes the company vulnerable to facing a huge claim for damages from the music industry. Why would the music industry possibly take advantage of the situation and sue Apple? Music groups objected to the High Court last year when the UK government legalized copying for private use, claiming they’d lose income. Copyright holders previously suggested taxing blank CDs and hard drives in exchange of implementing a private-use exemption. Despite the strict new laws, UK citizens probably shouldn’t worry about getting thrown in the slammer for running Time Machine or ripping your CDs. “The Government is not aware of any cases of copyright holders having prosecuted individuals for format shifting music solely for their own personal use,” the IPO spokesperson says. Source: TorrentFreakFebruary 13, 2016 Blog Personal I see that there’s some interest around my “Day when I gave up on C++“. People on reddit discover this article of mine from time to time, and it’s somewhat boring to see the same things discussed over and over again. To be honest, I don’t agree with my article, but I do agree with the points I’m making. I was very upset that day – it was yet another try to start a project when I had to work for two days for the basic setup only to see that things don’t work. After a set of frustrating cycles of try/find errors/search-for-solutions/try-again-with-something-else I just gave up on a project that is very dear to me. I don’t have the energy to fight with the language, even though I follow it closely. But it’s the same with advanced physics. Yes, neutrinos, bla bla bla, but does that make my car go faster? No? Ok, I will just say one last thing about that article. It was written after I came to the conclusion that it was impossible to have graphics and a proper C++11 compiler working together. Not to mention a proper IDE – it was before Microsoft came around and fixed a few of the rough edges of their C++ IDE. There was no CLion. QtCreator was quite weak and buggy. Don’t get me started on people that thing that vim is a proper IDE – there were enough of these as well. So no, that day it was impossible for me to love C++. In a sense, it still is. I will repeat that joke, though. What does the 11 from C++11 mean? The number of feet they glued to the octopus to make it a better. This is felt throughout the language, and today the first thing I suggest to people is to stop thinking that C++ is a superset of C. It is, but let’s forget that. That’s what Kate Gregory suggested a long time ago, and she made a kick-ass presentation at CPPCon about it. I’ll rehash a bit the ideas I had back then. I wasn’t that stupid, I just wasn’t offering the proper arguments. So let’s see: C++ IDEs suck. As of 2016 they still do. You can take each IDE and find incredible sucky points, but they all come from the same root cause – it’s not the complexity of the language, but from the fact that they try to offer too much or too little. The offer is quite big, I will make a simple list of things I don’t like “at a glance” Visual Studio: they made it a bit uglier, but they actually support C++17 (as much as they can). That’s amazing, but the IDE is still a pile of confusion when it comes to including an external library in your project. If I remember correctly, while they offer a standard C library it still matters if you compiled your library for multithreaded debug or for single threaded release. It’s hard to reference a library, it’s hard to deliver a library with your executable. You still have to deliver a runtime. CLion wants to be the big, smart guy in this area. I actually bought their IDE. I love it, it’s pretty fast, it’s neat, it’s responsive (except when it’s not). They only support cmake (and cmake is horrible, you can’t write proper modules without a lot of pseudo-coding in their funky language which I don’t care about and don’t want to learn). They don’t deliver a compiler that compiles stuff on the platform they deliver (they don’t have a MSys/Cygwin like system that actually works, I wish they would). They don’t support remote debugging. QtCreator is the IDE I really wanted to love. It’s focused, it is obvious that it’s inspired by the old Visual C++, the good one. It delivers its own tools, which is a plus. But you can’t create qmake projects if you have a cross compiler or you don’t have a Qt library in that toolchain, and qmake is the only sane way do projects (simple, without complex programming of features in strange languages. But limited and badly documented 🙁 ). QtCreator is, like CLion, an IDE I really really want to use, but it’s hard to when it suggests I should do manual steps in order to do what they could easily automate. I know, it’s open source and I can help improve it. Eclipse. Eclipse is huge and offers an amazing set of features, alongside lack of speed and yet another build system. If you go for an autotools project you simply forget that it has those features – it manages to hide all those features from you or forget that it has them. For example there’s no way to deploy and debug remotely if you use the autotools project. You have addins for everything, but it’s a moody system (for example it keeps forgetting my settings for the toolchain if I click on the wrong area, and it keeps forgetting that when I hit debug I really want to go on the remote platform because I use a cross compiler. Eclipse is not a C++ IDE, perhaps Java developers are more accustomed with tools that they can’t understand and they have to perform magic in order for them to work relatively appropriate. Netbeans. Faster than Eclipse, pretty much the same deal. KDevelop is getting worse and worse every year. In 2003 I was working on real, production projects with KDevelop, I wouldn’t entrust my code to KDevelop now. [Your favorite IDE here]. To put it plainly it sucks as an IDE (perhaps not as a glorified code editor). You can include here Code::Blocks, Vim, Emacs, SlickEdit, etc. For each IDE there are a lot of points I could hit on. I chose the things that really make me hate them. It’s a barely manageable language I think that was one of those misunderstood points. My point was that there is no clear flow to work with the language. That can be a blessing, it allows a lot of freedom. That can be a curse. Let’s discuss the downsides. The split between source and headers, which makes project management quite slow. If you make all header libraries you’ll have a lot of copied code – the binaries will be larger. You’ll have to recompile that code every time you want to use it. And the split between the two is always troublesome – you can’t add a new field to your class without a few CTRL-TABs until you find where to write the proper definition. You still can’t write template code in.cpp files. You have to write code in the headers. If you mix that with some #ifdef & friends, it becomes a mess quite fast. Not to mention that you include content that is really implementation dependent. C++ still uses the C preprocessor. That is the first feature that should’ve gone from the language. If you think about it, the header should represent the features that your object offers and not a letter more. However, people ended up delivering these huge files that can be used everywhere even if they will be used in one place and one place alone. Namespaces are useless and make the code way too verbose. Instead of making your code cleaner and clearer, the programmers will end up doing a using namespace xxx. If you don’t believe me, look at how the code for using the duration_cast looks without some usings (auto only hides the dirt under the rug). Lack of ABI makes it impossible to deliver C++ components without a C interface. If you don’t, you’ll crash quite fast when you use the flag -fsuper-duper-new-feature because you should’ve used the flag -fsuper-duper-extra-cool-newer-feature. 5 are enough. There are others, but let
for others, reported Dawn, Pakistan's leading English newspaper. According to local media reports, the men belonged to the families of the two girls who were raped. That kind of police action follows a "traditional pattern," said Omar Waraich, Asia spokesman of Amnesty International. After a rape is ordered, government officials typically condemn the act and usually round up some men. But "what they don't do is dismantle these inherently abusive systems," he said, referring to the tribal councils. "There's a lack of political will, and they don't want to deal with it, because they fear there will be a backlash," Waraich said. He pointed to the case of Mukhtar Mai, a woman's rights activist who was gang-raped in 2002 and paraded naked to shame her family on the orders of a different tribal council. Instead of staying quiet, Mai risked more violence against herself and her family by speaking to the media and taking her accused rapists to court. Documentaries, a book, and an even an opera have been made about her. Her case has reached the Supreme Court and last year, was being reviewed again. But until now, none of the men whom she accuses of raping her have ever been found guilty. "What a pity," said Mai of the two rapes in July. "First the life of one girl was ruined and then in order to avenge the disgrace, the life of another girl is ruined."I love Windows 10 however on one of my computers the time is always wrong. Even although I manually set the correct time, time zone and automatically synchronize with Internet time, the time is always a few hours fast once I restart my PC. I’ve tried all sorts of things to correct the time problem and below is what has finally worked in correcting the time to be correct in Windows 10. Instructions to fix the Windows 10 time being wrong Just follow the instructions below and your Windows time problems will disappear. Press Windows key + r ( + r). Type services.msc. Click Windows Time in the Name column. Alternate click and then click Properties. Change Startup type to Automatic (if it’s not already set to Automatic). Click Start if the service isn’t started. Note: If you find that Excel is really slow with Windows 10 then here is the fix.In the aftermath of several days of violence on the streets of Marseille, GoPro footage which appears to show a Russian hooligan fighting running battles with England fans has been posted on YouTube. The footage, which surfaced some time on Monday, shows a large group of Russian fans moving through the back streets of the city and towards the Old Port district. They appear to be well organised and systematic in their approach, deliberately using a back route so as to surprise their intended targets. When they come across a significant number of England fans drinking in local bars, they start throwing chairs and improvised missiles. The two groups exchange kicks and punches, before the England supporters are chased across a city square. Several England fans can be seen being viciously beaten by Russian hooligans, including the man recording the footage. At one point, a man can be seen lying unconscious in the street as Russian fans file past. On top of the violence, the footage shows extensive damage to private property, bars and restaurants. The clip ends with Russian fans showing off captured England flags, before retreating. At no point are they challenged by French police. The authorities are currently looking to deport almost 50 Russia supporters from the country, after a weekend in which 35 people were injured – one seriously – in Marseille alone. Sporadic outbreaks of disorder have occurred elsewhere at the tournament, but the most extreme violence has happened in Marseille. As of Tuesday afternoon, Russia have been fined €150,000 by UEFA and been given a suspended disqualification for the violence inside the Stade Vélodrome on Saturday evening. Russian fans charged England supporters at full time of the match between their two nations, causing widespread panic and a dangerous stampede to the exits.The discovery of a 14,000-year-old ancient village in Canada could forever alter our understanding of early civilization in North America. Researchers estimate the settlement is way older than the Giza pyramids, and have found artifacts dating all the way back to the Ice Age. The village is one of the oldest human settlements we’ve ever uncovered in North America – and lines up with the oral history of the Heiltsuk Nation. Researchers from the Hakai Institute and University of Victoria, with local First Nations members, unearthed revealing artifacts on Triquet Island, around 310 miles northwest of Victoria, Canada. They’ve found fish hooks, spears, and tools to ignite fires. Thanks to the discovery of the ancient village last year, researchers now think a massive human migration may have happened along British Columbia’s coastline. Related: World’s oldest fossils discovered in Canada – and they’re 4 billion years old According to IFL Science, archaeologists once thought humans might arrived in North America via a land bridge between Russia and Alaska, and then moved forward on foot. But the recent discovery suggests people moved down the coast possibly in boats instead; the coastal route likely came before the inland route. University of Victoria PhD student Alisha Gauvreau, who was part of the excavation, told CTV News Vancouver Island, “I remember when we get [sic] the dates back and we just kind of sat there going, holy moly, this is old. What this is doing is just changing our idea of the way in which North America was first peopled.” The find fits right in with the oral history of a First Nations government in British Columbia, the Heiltsuk Nation. For generations they’ve told stories of ancient coastal villages. William Housty of Heiltsuk Nation told CTV News Vancouver Island, “To think about how these stories survived all of that, only to be supported by this archaeological evidence is just amazing.” Via CTV News Vancouver Island, The Independent, and IFL Science Images via screenshot and Hakai Institute TwitterShaikh Raashid ibn Uthmaan az-Zahraani said, “A student asked the Shaikh about giving precedence to the saying of a Companion or a student of a Companion over that of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. So the Shaikh became angry at that statement and struck his head with his hand saying, ‘O so and so! You have to place the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم on your head [i.e., give precedence to it]!’ Then after a while the Shaikh called that person and said, ‘You must free me from that [i.e., the fact that I became angry, i.e., don’t hold it against me], for I did not say that except out of eagerness to establish the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.'” Mawaaqif Mudee’ah, p. 229.RuPaul’s Drag U on Logo It is easy to see why Logo, a cable channel in the MTV network focusing on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, has found so much success recently with two seasons of the reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race. In Drag Race, some of the nation’s best drag queens compete to become “America’s next drag superstar,” taking advice from sage/host RuPaul in a campy nod to Tyra Banks’ now formulaic America’s Next Top Model format. The show, quite simply, is fierce, and every costume and one-liner delivered by the contestants is top-notch entertainment. On July 19, 2010, a spin-off of Drag Race premiered on Logo. RuPaul’s Drag U places some of the most memorable drag queens from the two seasons of Drag Race in the role of professors, and each episode features three biological women contestants in desperate need of a drag makeover at RuPaul’s “school for girls.” The women in the first episode are tomboys hoping to become more feminine, and teasers for future episodes suggest that upcoming shows will focus on transforming single and lonely (straight) women into date-able divas. What makes Drag U so fascinating—aside from the campy university theme and, of course, the drag queens—is that the transformation process is ironic. Men dressed as over-the-top women, in a performative critique of the artificial construct of gender itself, offer advice to women on how to be more feminine. Or, as RuPaul charges the faculty of Drag U in the first episode: “You ladyboys need to show these boy-ladies how it’s done.” A quick glance at Drag U brings to mind Queer Eye Bravo’s groundbreaking series from the mid-2000s, where a crew of five gay men transformed sloppy straight dudes into men capable of charming women with their personal grooming, “metrosexual” fashion, gourmet food sense, and manners. However, while both shows emphasize an LGBT sensibility employed to make straight men and women better at being straight men and women, Drag U is more complex than Queer Eye. First, the men of Queer Eye each had a specialty that played to common stereotypes of gay men—mavens of food and wine, grooming, interior design, fashion, and culture—that ultimately reinforced heteronormativity. These men were fragmented, but taken together they provided a supposed well-rounded slate of advice for the straight man. On the contrary, the professors of Drag U are each in themselves well-rounded, each possessing the skills needed to advise the straight women contestants in the ways of clothing, make-up, movement, and attitude. Thus this show does not fragment the drag queens into areas of expertise, and by keeping the professors whole the show presents drag queens as human. Queer Eye’s Fab 5 Second, the focus of Queer Eye was to make the straight man more suitable to a straight woman, to define the straight man’s identity and purpose in relation to his opposite-sex counterpart. The purpose of Drag U, however, is to make straight women better individually, to focus on self-improvement and self-esteem as a way to unleash an inner diva capable of doing anything, including attracting a man if she chooses. This latter point is evident in Reyna’s transformation in the first episode. Reyna mentions her comfort wearing baggy men’s clothing because it hides her cleavage and femininity and allows her to avoid sexual harassment from men and to be taken seriously. She finds dressing feminine as a surrender of power. Yet RuPaul reminds her that he wears women’s clothes to feel more powerful, and that Reyna’s transformation is as much about attitude and confidence as it is about sequins and wigs. Essentially, to parody femininity in the exaggerated art form of drag is to identify the power embedded in the cultural performance of gender, and to distill that power and own it when the wigs and make-up come off. As the professors of Drag U blur the boundaries of gender and sex so easily, and as they teach the contestants how to confidently play in this liminal space, they empower the contestants to take charge of their own definitions of femininity. As RuPaul puts it in a bonus clip from Logo.com, a drag transformation allows someone to realize a superhero version of herself. And because the final makeover is so visually over-the-top and ridiculous, the lesson that shines through for the contestants has more to do with confidence and self-worth than about shallow appearances. The mantra chanted at the end of each episode of Drag Race, after all, is “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?” The self-esteem boosts extend to audiences as well through new media channels. Drag U’s page on LogoTV.com offers users a chance at their own drag makeover. In the show, contestants’ data are fed into a fake machine called the Dragulator, which returns a dragged-up image of the contestant toward which the professors target their makeovers. The show’s website has its own Dragulator where you can upload a photo of yourself (or your dad) and add drag embellishments. Throughout the process, the on-screen text and RuPaul’s voice-overs are encouraging and, of course, humorous. Once your Dragulation is complete, the website encourages you to upload your drag photo to the wall of the Drag U Facebook page for grading, where queens from the Drag Race and Drag U casts really do comment on photos. A look at the interactions with Facebook fans reveals a consistently positive engagement on the part of the drag queens, helping to underscore the message of self-esteem and empowerment in the shows, as well as connecting the stars of the show with the audience in a savvy use of social media channels. The queens even respond to fan mail. Entertained, empowered, and thoroughly hopeful that this reality TV franchise really does continue for many more seasons, I offer my Dragulated picture for the tenure file. Scholarly realness! Work it! Image Credits: 1. RuPaul’s Drag U on Logo 2. Queer Eye’s Fab 5 3. Scholarly realness! Work it! (made with author’s own photo) Please feel free to comment.After a routine visit to the gynecologist, I received a letter from my insurance company billing me for almost $2000. The letter explained that the procedure I needed was a “gender specific code [and s]ince the referenced code is inconsistent with the Member’s gender, [the company] is not responsible for any additional payment on this claim[s].” Basically, an already very unpleasant experience was going to cost me $2,000 because I was listed as male under my insurance. My existence and my body were literally incompatible with the health care system. The inability of the insurance company to process the idea that a man could need a pelvic exam was going to cost me $2,000. For others, for whom these financial costs and the confused stares and discriminatory judgment of medical providers cause the avoidance of preventative care altogether, the incomprehensibility of trans existence in our health care regimes literally costs people their lives. As a trans person I am very familiar with being denied coverage for medically necessary health care. In law school I took out $10,000 in loans (on top of my educational loans) to pay for care that my insurance company excluded from coverage under a blanket exclusion. Since then, I have been employed in various legal jobs with excellent insurance and still have to navigate regular coverage denials for both transition-related care and care that is deemed “gender specific.” For me, this has ranged from humiliating to inconvenient to enraging but because of my access to legal information, supportive employers and family, and resources, it has been manageable. For many other trans people, these types of coverage denial lead to negative health outcomes and in tragically too many cases, death. The data from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 28 percent of the more than 6,000 transgender respondents postponed medical care due to discrimination and another 48 percent did so because they could not afford it. The same survey found that 41 percent of transgender individuals had attempted suicide at some point in their lives compared with 1.6 percent of the general population. The delays and discrimination literally kill people. This type of systemic discrimination also contributes to the violence that transgender people experience on the streets when others receive the message that our bodies and our lives are disposable. Particularly for transgender women of color, surviving into adulthood remains elusive. As #BlackLivesMatter co-founder Alicia Garza explained, “when the average life expectancy of a Black trans woman is 35 years old in this country, we have a lot farther to go.” With attention finally being paid to the crisis in our community – a crisis that is disproportionately felt by Black transgender women – policymakers and media outlets are asking what can be done. Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offered a transformative answer to the health crisis facing the transgender community. A proposed rule implementing the non-discrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act (Section 1557) includes critical guidance for improving the health outcomes and lives of transgender people. Though the rule only covers insurance plans purchased on healthcare exchanges and entities that receive federal funding, it has the potential to establish changes in the provision of health care even more expansively. The proposed rule mandates insurance coverage for “medically appropriate health services” regardless of “sex assigned at birth, gender identity or recorded gender.” It clarifies that care may not be denied based on it being “gender specific” offering for example that “coverage cannot be denied for an individual for whom a pelvic exam is medically appropriate based on the fact that the individual either identifies as a transgender man or is enrolled in the health plan as a man.” Further, the rule makes explicit that no plan may include blanket provisions excluding coverage for care related to gender transition. As I wrote after Caitlyn Jenner came out on the cover of Vanity Fair: “Health care for transgender people remains highly stigmatized and largely unavailable for the majority of trans people. Both private (i.e., employer) and public (i.e. Medicaid) insurance plans continue to have blanket bans on coverage for health care related to gender transition. Even where there has been progress on coverage generally, insurance coverage for care that trans women need is still elusive. For example, the facial feminization surgery that Caitlyn describes in Vanity Fair is almost universally excluded from coverage. This means that most trans people, particularly trans women of color, cannot access the basic care that they need. It means that going to the doctor feels like a battle — if a trans person can get there at all. It means that trans people participate in criminalized economics like the drug and sex trades to pay for the health care they need or seek the care from friends or unsupervised black markets. It means that trans people die seeking the care they need to live.” The rule proposed would completely transform the landscape of trans health care and we should be fighting to make sure the final rule includes these critical protections.This is for the movies I’ve loved that juuuust don’t seem to fit into the regular categories, and with good reason. They’re not right. They’re a little – off. They got issues. And they rock. Feel free to list YOUR guilty pleasures in the comments. ______________________ Bad Santa – 2003 Directed by Terry Zwigoff Written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa Insults by BBT Inc. A miserable conman and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid, and the security boss discovers the plot. Bad Santa proves one of two things, or may be both: either Billy Bob Thornton is the greatest actor ever or he is the biggest asshole ever. Reason being the way he talks to The Kid (Brett Kelly) throughout the movie. Thornton says the most horrible things to the pudgy wimp who is rejected by everyone in his life. Even the kids who bully him get tired of how easy it is. Willie (Thornton) is a small-time crook who specializes in burglary with the help of Marcus (Tony Cox) a midget (yeah, I like the word midget, sorry) who plays a grumpy sidekick to Thornton’s Santa. At holiday time, the get hired as department store Santa & Co. in order to case the joint in preparation for unloading the safe. It’s a long-term process that takes patience and drinking, and meeting Sue (Lauren Graham), a slut of a bartender with a fantasy to bang Santa. If there were ever a woman from a movie with whom I could spend a night, it’d be Sue. No, I don’t look like Santa, but she makes you wish you did. The problem starts when the store detective Gin (Bernie Mac) gets suspicious and learns about Bob’s rap sheet. The problem gets worse with Bob’s drinking problem and when he meets the kid getting bullied in the mall parking lot. After driving the kid home, Bob learns that not only is the kid’s parents rich, but they’re gone for a while, leaving easy pickings for Bob who has to do little more than charm the incoherent grandmother played by Cloris Leachman. Bob gets slightly, very slightly attached to the kid as he learns more about his sad existence while getting ready for safe-cracking night at the department store. Get the unrated version with nastier, dirtier language, especially when Bob is overheard with a female friend in the dressing room by the shocked and confused store manager John Ritter. Favorite scene – when Santa shows up drunk as kids are waiting to sit on his gross lap. ___________________ Wild Things – 1998 Directed byJohn McNaughton Written by Stephen Peters Champagne by Les Bians A high school guidance counselor is framed for raping two of his students…or is he? It’s a thriller, but a goofy, campy one. It’s an erotic thriller, but it’s just cheap skin flashes and gratuitous girl-on-girl moments. It’s a web of twists, but – it really is. And if you take away Denise Richards in a wet, white t-shirt and white shorts, if you take away the sleazy guidance counselor who ends up in a threesome with two female students, and if you take away the comic relief of Bill Murray, you really have a tight plot and a who-dun-it that isn’t over until the last of the credits has rolled. Kelly is the rich, snobby high school girl. Suzie is the trashy slut. They hate each other, but only when you’re looking. When you’re not, they’re involved in an elaborate scheme to get millions of dollars, fake a death, and disappear. One or both of them was raped, allegedly, by Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon), the guidance counselor at school who is being investigated by his friend, Detective Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon). Yeah, there are lots of things that wouldn’t really happen, but just go with it. There are crosses and double crosses galore, and even when you think you know what really happened and the credits are rolling, pay attention because there are a few extra scenes interspersed right to the very end that bring curveballs enough to totally change what you thought you knew. Favorite scene: when Denise Richards washes the car. __________________________ 1941 – 1979 Directed by Stephen Spielberg Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale Compass by Cracker Jacks Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor. First, let’s list the actors starring, supporting, or just appearing in brief scenes in order as presented by IMDB: Dan Akroyd, Warren Beatty, Lorraine Gray, Murray Hamilton, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, Nancy Allen, John Candy, Eddie Deenzen, Patti LuPone, Slim Pickens, Joe Flaherty, Michael McKean, Mickey Rourke, James Caan, Penny Marshall, and more. You won’t know all their names, but you will know their faces and/or voices, especially Deenzen, mostly remembered as “Eugene” from Grease. In the understandable paranoia that set in after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, citizens and second-rate military outfits along the west coast are watching the skies and seas in fear of another attack. It’s a slapstick party of zoot suiters versus tough soldiers as everyone wants to meet a girl before being sent off to war. And then there’s Wild Bill Kelso (John Belushi) and a rogue pilot in a P40 Mustang strafing Hollywood looking for the Japanese. To describe it would only lessen any excitement you already don’t have, but give it a try. Slim Pickens plays, well, most any other Slim Pickens character ever as he’s captured by the Japanese who can’t find Hollywood. The film was an early warning to Spielberg fans that he had two obsessions: airplanes and American at war. His aerial obsession returns in later films like Always and Empire of the Sun. Favorite scene: getting the compass. _________________________ Used Cars 1980 Directed by Robert Zemeckis Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale Paint by Yellow Cab Co. When the owner of a struggling used car lot is killed, it’s up to the lot’s hot-shot salesman to save the property from falling into the hands of the owner’s ruthless brother and used-car rival. After marginal success with 1941, the team of Zemeckis and Gale said, “We got this,” and too their zaniness to the used car lot. As much as you already hate car salesmen, these are worse. Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell) is a shyster with political ambitions, which makes total sense. If he can sell enough cars, he’ll have enough for his campaign for state senate. Problem: Luke and Roy Fuchs (both by Jack Warden) have competing used car lots. Rudy works for nice guy Luke, who lends Roy money for the campaign. When Luke dies of a stroke, conniving brother Roy wants to take ownership of his brother’s lot, but he can’t until he can prove that Luke is dead. Yeah, it sounds stupid, and it is, but it’s a full-farce laugh riot with inappropriate jokes, black humor, and some fabulous schemes by a team of hi-tech guerillas (Michael McKean and David Lander – aka Lenny and Squiggy) who help steal business from Roy’s car lot, right across the street. Things get sticky when Luke’s daughter Barbara (Deborah Harmon) shows up looking for her father. Just buckle up and go along for the ride (did I really write that?), especially when Jeff the salesman (Garrit Graham) and Jim the mechanic (Frank MacRae) are on screen. Favorite scene – interrupting President Carter’s state of the union address. _________________________ The Kentucky Fried Movie – 1977 Directed by John Landis Written by David and Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams Boobs appearing as themselves Imagine you had a chance to make a bunch of raunchy, politically incorrect, borderline racist, definitely sexist, funny as hell skits and assemble them into a feature film and have John Landis (Animal House, American Werewolf in London) direct. These were the minds that would eventually create a string of hits like Airplane! Police Squad and Animal House. Skits with titles like “United Appear for the Dead,” “Danger Seekers,” “Cleopatra Schwart,” “Big Jim Slade,” “A Fist Full of Yen,” “The Wonderful World of Sex,” “That’s Armageddon,” and my favorite “Catholic High School Girls in Trouble.” Don’t try to make sense of it. Just lock up the kids, get a case of beer, and enjoy. Favorite scene – the glass shower door. ___________________________ Horse Feathers – 1932 Directed by Norman Z. McLeod Written by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby Passwords by Swordfish Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U. Vaudeville, football, and gambling collide when the Marx Brothers hit a college campus where Groucho has been named the new president of Huxley College. The first problem is beating rival Darwin College in their traditional football matchup. Groucho attempts to hire two burley ringers to suit up for Huxley, but Darwin has already paid for their services, leaving Huxley to accidentally pay for two idiots (Chico and Harpo) thinking they are the actual ringers. There’s a sexy college widow and good times in a speakeasy with secret passwords and card games. There’s the usual piano playing with Chico, crooning with Zeppo, and silent slapstick with Harpo, and suggestive innuendo with Groucho. I was raised on this stuff every Sunday up in the New York area right after Abbott and Costello, which was right after The Bowery Boys. Those were good times, and I’ll never let them go. Please give it a peek. Favorite scene – when Groucho teaches about white corpuscles. _______________________________ “And don’t think it hasn’t been a little slice of heaven – because it hasn’t.” – B. Bonny -30- 39.410117 -74.364591One of the biggest mathematical achievements in human history has to do with the origin of nothing—or zero, to be more specific. Researchers at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library recently conducted carbon dating on an ancient Indian text known as the Bakshali manuscript. They found that some pages in the manuscript date to the third or fourth century, five hundred years older than previously thought. That pushes back the origin of what would eventually become the zero symbol, 0, we use today. The manuscript shows a series of Sanskrit numerals. In it, zero is represented by a small dot. “This zero in India is the seed from which the concept of zero as a number in its own right represented by the same dot or circle will emerge some centuries later, something many regard as one of the of the great moments in the history of mathematics,” said lead researcher Marcus du Sautoy. For mathematicians and historians like du Sautoy, the manuscript represents one of the most important clues to understanding a mathematical concept that would help fields such as calculus and physics flourish centuries later. Origins of Zero To understand the origin of zero and the debates that surround it, it’s important to first understand the distinction between what math historians refer to as a “placeholder zero” and what they refer to as zero as a numeral unto itself. Placeholder zeros, or their equivalents, have been documented for thousands of years. Sumerians in Mesopotamia were the first to represent this concept 5,000 years ago, Harvard math professor Robert Kaplan wrote in Scientific American. This concept of zero spread from ancient Mesopotamia into India and eventually China, Kaplan noted. Independently, the ancient Maya used placeholder zeros represented by turtle shells drawings. The first documented use of zero came from the ancient astronomer and mathematician Brahmagupta, said Sautoy. “Brahmagupta’s text Brahmasphutasiddhanta, written in 628 A.D., is the first text to talk of zero as a number in its own right and to include a discussion of the arithmetic of zero, including the dangerous act of dividing by zero,” he said. Historians theorize that zero was spread from northern India by Arab traders along the Silk Road, an ancient trading route that connected Europe and Asia, and may have helped to develop more complex schools of mathematical thought. Origins of the Bakhshali A farmer unearthed the Bakhshali manuscript from a field in what is now Pakistan in 1881. It consists of 70 pages of birch bark, a common writing material before the advent of paper. Translations indicate that it may have been used by Silk Road merchants practicing arithmetic. In 1902, the manuscript was acquired by the University of Oxford, where it has been housed ever since. For the past century, the manuscript’s date has been the subject of debate. Based on the writing style and mathematical content, scholars argued that it was created sometime between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The Oxford researchers’ analysis revealed that parts of the manuscript contain birch bark from three different time periods, ranging from the third century to the 10th century. Previously, the oldest known example of a zero symbol in ancient India came from a temple in Gwalior that was constructed in 876 A.D. If the carbon dating is correct, the Bakhshali manuscript could knock the Gwalior temple text into second place. Why Does Zero Matter? To conclusively prove evidence of zero as a number, Peter Gobets isn’t convinced unless he sees it used in an equation. Gobets is a leading member of ZerOrigIndia, or Project Zero, in the Netherlands, which partners with researchers in Mumbai to pinpoint the origin of zero. He agreed with du Sautoy’s statement that Brahmagupta’s writings were the first to describe zero as a number in its own right, but the first use of zero in practical applications is unclear. Gobets isn’t convinced that the Bakhshali manuscript itself could have led to the creation of zero—he and his team hope to independently study the document themselves—but he said it’s possible. Where and exactly how the number zero made the leap from a concept of nothingness to a circle factored into equations, he said, is still highly debated. “Our biggest enemy is that there is very little evidence,” he said, with speculation but no documentation of exactly who began to use zero in equations and when.A simple burn written in the form of a Twitter bio... After being described by a Fox News presenter as “elaborate moaning and whining”, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood has snapped back at the broadcasting channel in a subtle way. Kat Timpf appeared on Fox’s Greg Gutfeld Show where she gave her take on who will be inducted into next year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame. Timpf said that Radiohead would be shortlisted “seeing as that it’s about fame, and not talent”, adding: “I don’t even like them, but the kind of guys that I like have to be three things: strange, malnourished and sad. Those guys always like Radiohead.” Continuing on to describe them as: “elaborate moaning and whining over ringtone sounds”. Naturally, Jonny Greenwood wasn’t a fan of this. In retaliation the guitarist has changed his Twitter bio for his 137,000 followers to read: “my life in the gush of boasts……….’strange, malnourished and sad’ (fox news – spits three times) Sharethrough (Mobile) Radiohead are among the acts long-listed for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 2018. To be eligible for entry into the hallowed hall, each potential nominee’s first single or album had to be released in 1992 or earlier. Read more: This incredible Spongebob montage sums up every Radiohead album Joining them are Kate Bush, Rage Against The Machine, Depeche Mode, Bon Jovi, Judas Priest, the Cars, Dire Straits, Eurythmics, J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, MC5, the Meters, the Moody Blues, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Nina Simone, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Link Wray and the Zombies. Meanwhile, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke announced a new set of live shows in support of an upcoming reissue of his 2014 solo album ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’.Hemant Kumar Rout By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: India's attempts to develop a robust multi-layered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) shield got further boost on Thursday when a homegrown supersonic interceptor successfully destroyed an incoming ballistic missile over the Bay of Bengal. The missile was intercepted in the endo-atmospheric region -- at an altitude of 15 km. Defence sources said the low altitude Advanced Area Defence (AAD) interceptor missile fired from the Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast zoomed in on the target, which was launched from the launching complex - III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) also based in the island. "The radar of the defense system detected the incoming missile, tracked it and provided the command to launch the interceptor missile. The mission was brilliant as the interceptor missile achieved a direct hit, paving the way for its early deployment in the armed forces" said a defense official. "The Fibre Optic Gyro (FOG) based INS in the interceptor, onboard computers, guidance systems, actuation systems and the critical Radio Frequency (RF) seekers used for the terminal phase all performed excellently. The launch has proved the BMD prowess of the country," the official added. The entire event, including the engagement and destruction of the ballistic missile, was tracked by a number of electro-optical tracking systems using infrared imagery. Indigenously developed by DRDO, the AAD interceptor is a single-stage missile powered by solid propellants. It is 7.5 metres tall and weighs around 1.2 tonnes. It had a diameter of less than 0.5 metre. The target missile was however fuelled by liquid propellants. It was 11 metres tall and weighs five tonnes and had a diameter of one metre. With the success, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has ended its 'Mission 2017' on a happy note. This was the second successful test of ballistic missile defense, this year. The DRDO has developed both high-altitude and low-altitude anti-ballistic missiles. While the first phase seeks to destroy the incoming enemy missiles in the exo-atmospheric region (outside the atmosphere), the second phase envisages killing enemy missiles of more than 2,000 km range within the endo-atmospheric (inside the atmosphere) region.Some of the toughest moments in life involve the death of a family member or friend. That's what happening on Saturday night in the Hedrick family. My friend Tim Hedrick died this morning after a very long battle against a devastating illness. His family was with him when he passed. Tim Hedrick was one of the most popular television personalities in the country, and his wife Cindy asked me to tell you she lost her best friend today. Because you deserve to know. Tim has been battling an elusive disease for many years. The worst of the battle has been over the last two months, which is why you haven't seen him on the air next to me. There will be a memorial service celebrating Tim in the coming weeks, but the planning for that has not yet even begun. Our Local 12 family is in shock as I am sure you are, as we try to understand this devastating news. We'll have more about the passing of Tim Hedrick on the air in the coming days.Officials said the bombers carried no live weapons -- nuclear or otherwise -- and would return to Russia next week. The bombers arrived in South America ahead of planned joint military manoeuvres between Russia and Venezuela -- which some analysts believe is a tit-for-tat response to the United States for sending warships to deliver aid to Georgia following last month's war. It was the first time Russian strategic bombers landed in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. The foray, and the coming military exercises with an avowed US enemy, are likely to strain the already tense relationship between Moscow and Washington. Russian air force Major General Pavel Androsov said that the Tu-160 bombers were carrying only test missiles. He said the jets would conduct several test flights over neutral waters then return to Russia on Monday. President Dmitry Medvedev said he had ordered the Tu-160s to make the flight at the invitation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has expressed interest in flying the massive bombers. Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry tried to quash speculation that Russia was establishing military bases in South America. "Russia has no military bases in Latin America. The bombers landed in Venezuela in line with an earlier bilateral agreement," spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement.(CNN) Last weekend's deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, has put the American Civil Liberties Union on the defensive for representing the white supremacists and
before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Share this: Twitter Facebook Print Email More Reddit Pocket Tumblr Pinterest LinkedIn Like this: Like Loading...How might Harry Potter have played out with Objectivist Supreme Ayn Rand at the keyboard? Over at The Toast, Mallory Ortberg imagines a series of vignettes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Objectivism. They're excellent. One of our favorites: "Give me your wand, boy," Voldemort hissed. "I cannot do that. This wand represents my wealth, which is itself a tangible result of my achievements. Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think," Harry said bravely. Voldemort gasped. "There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist." Voldemort began to melt. Harry lit a cigarette, because he was the master of fire. "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. The minimum wage is a tax on the successful. The market will naturally dictate the minimum wage without the government stepping in to determine arbitrary limits." Voldemort howled. "I'm going to sell copies of my wand at an enormous markup," Harry said, "and you can buy one like everyone else." Voldemort had been defeated. "He hated us for our freedom," Ron said. "No, Ron," Harry said. "He hated us for our free markets." Hermione ached with desire for the both of them to master her, but nobody paid her any attention. They had empires to build.The Obama campaign dropped a bombshell this morning. It announced that, combined with the DNC, the campaign raised a staggering $181 million in September. The windfall is a huge increase over July and August, when the campaign raised around $100 million, although it is slightly down from the $193 million it raised in September 2008. The news should raise eyebrows. The campaign said that just over 1.8 million people made donations to the campaign last month. According to the campaign, over 500k of these were brand-new donors, having neither given in 2008 nor 2012. 98% of contributions were under the reporting threshold of $250. Of these, the average contribution was $53. Its really a tale of two worlds. 35k people gave an average of $2,600, while just over 1.7 million people gave an average of $53. Half the campaign’s haul came from people giving around the maximum amount and half from people who don’t have to be disclosed. Seems a bit odd. The average of $53 from small donors is particularly noteworthy. Contributions under $200 don’t have to be disclosed, but the campaign still has to keep track of the donor’s name, in case subsequent donations push their contribution over the reporting threshold. For contributions under $50, however, the campaign doesn’t even have to keep track of the donor’s name. It is effectively considered a “petty cash” donation. A person could theoretically make 10 $49 donations and never be reported, even though their total contributions are above the FEC’s reporting threshold. With an average donation of $53 from small donors, Obama has A LOT of donors who will never be disclosed and whose names aren’t even known to the campaign. Tens of millions of dollars worth. Today’s report certainly adds a great deal of interest to this news story from last week. Follow me on twitter __________The (14-2) New England Patriots secured the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC's postseason with a convincing 35-14 victory over the (10-6) Miami Dolphins in Week 17. Here's what we learned: 1. The superior team controlled this one from the opening whistle, as Tom Brady led a 13-play touchdown drive on the game's first possession. By halftime, the Patriots had churned out 261 yards to just 105 for the Dolphins. With three more touchdown passes bringing his TD-to-INT ratio to 28:2, Brady strengthened his MVP case by breaking Nick Foles' 2013 record. The 39-year-old now owns two of the top three single-season TD-to-INT ratios in NFL history. Brady closed out the season with the second-best passer rating (112.2) and completion rate (67.4) of his legendary career. If he does capture MVP honors, he will become the oldest player to win the award, bypassing 38-year-old Giants quarterback -- and former Marlboro Man -- Charley Conerly, who was the league's Most Outstanding Player in 1959. With his latest TD pass (to Julian Edelman), Tom Brady now has the highest single-season TD-INT ratio in NFL history: pic.twitter.com/pbvfRUm68F â NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 1, 2017 2. Miami was simply outclassed by a more talented opponent, perhaps a preview of what's to come at Pittsburgh in the wild-card round of the playoffs. After shredding the half-hearted, undisciplined secondaries of the Jets and Bills the past two weeks, Matt Moore was limited to short slants, crossing routes and check downs against the league's top-scoring defense. One game after highlighting Buffalo's carefree attitude toward tackling with a 206-yard effort, Jay Ajayi was held under the century mark for the seventh time in the past eight games. The Dolphins' defense surrendered 396 yards, ensuring that this year's inconsistent unit has allowed the most yards in franchise history. Unless Ajayi can recapture dominant Week 6 form, it's hard to imagine this team pulling off an upset versus the Steelers next week. 3. Wide receivers Julian Edelman and Michael Floyd played starring roles for New England's offense. Floyd powered through a crowd of defenders for a 14-yard touchdown, showed fancy footwork with a toe-dragging sideline catch and sprung Edelman for a 77-yard touchdown with a vicious block on Tony Lippett. More of a complementary player while rounding into form following offseason foot surgery, Edelman was targeted on 26 percent of Brady's attempts through Rob Gronkowski's lung injury in Week 10. Since losing the All-Pro tight end, Brady has run his aerial attack through Edelman, increasing his target rate to roughly 40 percent. Edelman is averaging 7.1 receptions and 93.5 yards over the past eight games compared to 5.1 and 44.8 in the first eight. 4. Jarvis Landry's 8-yard score late in the second quarter ended a streak of nearly 11 consecutive quarters without allowing a touchdown by the Patriots defense. Although this unit has not been tested by a great quarterback since a loss to Russell Wilson in Week 10, the improvement has been steady over the past two months. Trey Flowers is emerging as Matt Patricia's most disruptive defensive lineman while Malcolm Butler and Devin McCourty are playing at a Pro Bowl level in the secondary.Not surprisingly, the popular Irish pub up the street from the brewery Damian McConn helms is a place where everybody knows his name. They also know how proud he is of his work. When the manager at the Liffey learned that McConn was on his way in for lunch, he quickly changed the coasters under our pints of Saga IPA from another beermaker’s logo to Summit’s. “Or I’d never hear the end of it,” he groaned. Arriving with a smile as broad as the Liffey’s wraparound bar, McConn let out an uproarious laugh when the staff told him why the pub was so packed that day: The lunch crowd came from a dental convention at the nearby St. Paul RiverCentre. “That’s pretty ironic business for an Irish pub,” cracked Summit’s longtime head brewer, a native of Ireland with his own playfully imperfect teeth. McConn, 39, was on the Guinness Brewery’s employee dental plan before he “lost all sense of reason” and moved to Minnesota in January 1999, back when beer not made by Budweiser, Miller or Coors was still scarce in the United States. He came to work at a too-ahead-of-its-time brewpub in Minnetonka called Sherlock’s Home, and in 2003 he wound up at the brewery that had been fighting the good-beer fight for Twin Citians since 1983. While he didn’t necessarily fall in love with Minnesota, McConn did become enamored of a Minnesotan named Jennifer, with whom he settled in Roseville to raise three kids. “I’m sure as hell glad he married a Yankee so I don’t have to pay an immigration attorney to keep him here now,” joked Summit Brewing president and founder Mark Stutrud, who quickly realized how “extremely capable and knowledgeable” McConn was. That know-how has been quite an asset in recent years, as new breweries or taprooms seem to pop up in every corner of the Twin Cities — especially since Summit helped chief rival Surly push through legislation in 2011 allowing breweries to serve their beer on-site. McConn has a four-year degree in brewing from the Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, a program steeped in microbiology and biochemical classes. To this day, Summit’s master brewer gets downright nerdy talking about beer. Where many brewers in the Twin Cities came to the craft as a free-spirited creative pursuit that allowed them to quit their day jobs, McConn sees it as more of an exact science that needs to be strictly managed. Not that he has any hesitations about enjoying the fruits of his labor. “Put a pint and a tape recorder in front of an Irishman, and you’re really asking for it,” he warned, as he tilted back his first of three pints during a two-hour conversation. Kegs of Summit beer wait for shipping. You have a lot of people’s dream job, but surely there must be nightmarish days once in a while. What’s a particularly bad day for you? The worst day in the brewing industry is better than most people’s best day at work, I will admit that. A nightmarish day for anyone in brewing is somebody getting hurt. We work with some pretty high-tech equipment — people driving forklifts, high-speed packaging equipment, people hauling heavy bags of grain. Beyond that, a bad day is usually process-related. I can think of one instance about six or seven years ago when I was the morning brewer, so I’m in there mashing at 2 a.m. by myself. That’s not a very glamorous job! A huge thunderstorm came in, and the power went out across the brewery while I was running three separate brews. I went around trying to de-energize everything, then 10 minutes later the power comes back on, so I start everything back up. Then 15 minutes later the power went out again. We lost power five times in an hour and a half. We’ve had a lot of other crazy, random things happen, too. We’ve had people wander down to the brewery from West 7th Street on St. Patty’s Day at 2 or 3 in the morning banging on the door hoping to get a beer — wonderful people, but sorry, we can’t help you. How much beer do you drink on a typical day? My physician would say far too much, but my old mentor at Guinness would say far too little. I try to hit it somewhere in the middle. The role of the head brewer nowadays involves a lot more than being the guy in there behind-the-scenes in Wellington boots, although I’ll be in there again next week doing exactly that. But I also now do a lot of promotional events, and I work with the bars, restaurants and distributors planning and educating with them. I always say to people, “If you’re ever in a bar with a brewer who’s not drinking his own beer, there’s a problem.” So when I go out, yeah, I’m drinking our beer, making sure it’s in good shape and being properly served. In terms of my personal health, you have to find the balance in that. I weigh the same I did as a rugby player in college, 180 pounds. I just have to run a lot more now to keep that weight. I know musicians in town who will play super-complex, arty, innovative music at their show and then go home and listen to ZZ Top. Do you go home and chug a Bud or PBR? Rarely. What I might do is go home and have a glass of some nice cognac, whiskey or Bordeaux along with a nice Summit saison or something like that. Whatever I drink, whether it’s beer, wine, tea, coffee, whatever, I’m looking for flavors in it and something that might challenge my taste buds a little. Is there a beer you also get when you go out sometimes that’s like Mom’s cooking to you? Guinness will always have that place in my heart because that’s where I started brewing a long time ago. It’s been 18 years since I worked there, but I still feel a connection, and I have a lot of friends and mentors there. Besides just being a good Irishman, I have that kind of fondness for Guinness. Getting a four-year degree in brewing sounds like a good major for a slacker, but I’m guessing it’s not. It’s pretty intense. At its foundation, it’s a lot of engineering, biology and chemistry. We work with barley, so we need to know about cereal chemistry. And hops, so organic chemistry. Yeast, so microbiology. And then we deal in pumps, heat exchanges, valves and all types of mechanical stuff. There’s so much technology involved in it today. My professor used to say, “We’re not taking it from an art to a science, we’re taking it from a craft to a technology.” How has the craft brewing explosion in America and especially Minnesota changed your job in recent years? When I came to Minnesota 18 years ago, there were less than a dozen breweries in the state, and now there are over 100. The brewing landscape has changed immensely. My response to it has been to be even more aggressive about looking after our beer quality, and really reinforcing and being passionate about our relationships with our partners. Damian McConn holds Cascade Hops. How close are we to a tipping point of there being too many breweries here in Minnesota? Or have we even passed that point? It all depends on the consumer, and to a lesser degree on retailers and distributors. Are they all going to keep supporting these new brewers that arrive on the scene pretty frequently now? And are the new brewers going to provide the quality and consistency that will keep these consumers? One point I do believe we’ve reached: Right now, distributors and retailers are starting to max out on the number of brands they’re willing to carry. They only have so much space, and it’s getting very crowded. Retailers are starting to conclude that they don’t need every one of these beers to drive their business forward, and not all of these beers are all that great. All of those factors are going to influence whether or not we have a shakeout in the next couple years. Can you describe one particularly bad experience you’ve had going into a brewery or taproom over the past year that has you raising the quality-control question? If I go into a taproom to try a new beer and find that beer to be technically flawed, it might be just too many notes of butterscotch. It might be so oxidized it’s hard to drink. It might have too much butyric acid, which is technically vomit. I’ve found all these things. Those beers should not be served to someone who just put down six hard-earned bucks to get it, it’s as simple as that. Um, back up: Did you say we might actually find “vomit” in a bad beer? I’m sure there’s been a lot of unwanted vomit in beers over the years, especially on St. Patrick’s Day [laughs]. But yes, butyric acid is the main acid you find in human vomit. It’s what gives you that gagging acidic note at the back of your throat. Beer can be contaminated with micro-organisms that will replicate that type of acid. It’s what happens if a brewer doesn’t run a tight sanitation program. You can get the smell of baby’s diapers and sulfur in beer, too, if you don’t keep it clean. Summit unquestionably pioneered the modern era of craft brewing in the Twin Cities, but the flip side of that now is some people look at you as a fuddy-duddy old brewery among the many trendier breweries. How much have you guys worked to counter that perception? Anytime you’re the leader of the pack in any field, there’s going to be people coming up behind you with that view. We’ve been fairly philosophical about our approach to that. I’ll never apologize for taking a rigorously scientific approach to making beer, nor to cultivating long, deeply rooted relationships with distributors and consumers. People here might imagine, since you’re Irish, you started drinking beer when you were 6 years old. Any truth in that? Some truth [laughs]. There’s certainly a different role of beer and liquor in society over there. It’s not the repressed Lutheran approach there is here. The expectations for kids are higher over there. If you’re 18 and you go to a pub to have some pints with your friends, you’d better keep it together. If you have a problem with that, people will have a chat with you — not just your parents, but everybody. There’s an approach that demystifies and respects alcohol more over there. Kids need to be educated about alcohol more over here, because they’re going to be exposed to it for the next 70 years of their lives. What were the hardest things to adjust to coming to Minnesota? People in London, Scotland and Ireland are a lot more black-and-white. They will say exactly what they mean, and they won’t take offense if you do the same. You can call a spade a spade. Minnesota Nice does really exist; people really are generally very nice here. But at times they can communicate in a passive-aggressive fashion and try to get things across in a much less obvious fashion. People here sometimes took offense to things I said, when I really didn’t mean to be rude, I was just saying what I meant. That’s still a hard thing for me to get used to. The other thing was the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit. My first day in Minnesota, I got off the plane in the middle of January and it was 17 below outside — Fahrenheit, not Celsius. So I figured out the difference on that one pretty quickly. It was like I’d been dropped on the Russian Front. But the place does grow on you. What was that first winter like for you? I lived in Hopkins at the time, and I would walk down Mainstreet there in my thick coat because I wasn’t used to being cooped up inside. People would pull over in their cars and ask, “Sir, are you OK? Can I help you?” And when I told them I’m fine, I was just going for a walk, they heard my accent and would say to me, “Oh, you’re Irish? Well, there’s an Irish pub just down the street here!” God love ’em.Only 3.9 per cent of Telstra customer records accessed by policing and spy bodies in 2014 were approved by a court order or warrant, according to the company's first annual Transparency Report. Government agencies and policing bodies gained access to 84,949 Telstra customer records in financial year 2014. Telstra is Australia's biggest telecommunications provider by market share with around 3 million fixed-line internet customers and 16 million mobile customers. Telstra says the majority of access requests were performed to check whether customer accounts were active. Credit:Rob Homer The number of requests has also risen over the past 12 months with 44,305 requests in the second half of the year compared to 40,644 in the first half. "Between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2014, we received and acted on 84,949 requests for customer information," the company said. "Of this, 2,701 were warrants for interception or access to stored communications.1 of 3 2 of 3 Editor's note: As of June 2016, Green on Salt Spring Island is Canada's first permanent zero-waste market. The headline of this article has been amended to acknowledge this opening. Vancouver will soon have another green initiative to tout, thanks to the opening of the city’s first plastic- and packaging-free grocer, Zero Waste Market. “The idea itself is definitely something that isn’t new,” says store co-founder Brianne Miller in a phone interview with the Straight. “We always think it’s kind of funny because people are like, ‘This is such a great idea!’ But this is how our grandparents shopped 100 years ago. So, we’ve kind of come so far from that.” Miller, a marine biologist by trade, decided to pursue the ecofriendly concept after observing first-hand the impact of climate change and pollution on the habitats of marine animals. Drawing inspiration from a number of successful zero-waste stores that operate internationally, she developed Zero Waste Market for Vancouver. “It’s disheartening to see,” she says of the pollution, “and I kind of came to the realization that I wanted to do something tangible to help solve that problem.” Customers are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags or containers in order to stock up on Zero Waste's bulk goods. Jenny C.H. Peng Miller presented the idea when she participated in a small business incubator program at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business in 2015, and after enlisting the help of co-founder Paula Amiama, began hosting a series of monthly pop-up shops in Kitsilano last October. “It’s kind of blown our minds how good the reaction has been,” says Miller. “Every time we do the pop-up now, we’re regularly seeing hundreds of people everyday.” The Zero Waste Market pop-up offers a range of locally and ethically sourced products, including coffee beans, honey, soap, and dry goods like granola, nuts, and seeds. All products are offered in bulk and customers are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags or containers in order to stock up. The pop-up also offers a selection of “ugly” produce, like apples and root vegetables, which Miller obtains by working with local farmers and suppliers. Furthering her commitment to reducing food waste and plastic pollution, she has the products delivered in reusable vessels whenever possible. “We’re kind of working on both ends,” she explains, “educating customers about how their choices affect the environment downstream and then working with suppliers to start creating demand for those products that wouldn’t be used otherwise.” Zero Waste sources its products from B.C.-grown companies like Bows & Arrows Coffee Roasters, Hives for Humanity, and the Capilano Tea House & Botanical Soda Co. SFU Beedie School of Business Zero Waste Market will expand its packaging-free concept to a 1,500- to 2,000-square-foot standalone store this fall. Miller hopes to stock between 300 and 400 different products, including meat, cheese, yogurt, and edible liquids like syrups, oils, and vinegars, plus a wide variety of homegrown brands. Currently, Zero Waste’s price points range from 45-cents for 100-grams of Canadian whole wheat to $5 for 100-grams of fair-trade Denman Island Chocolate. In terms of seasonal produce, local apples are $5.50 and beets are $8.50 for one-kilogram each. “This is one of our main goals,” Miller stresses. “We’re trying to make our products as accessible and affordable as possible compared to similar products.” A location is yet to be determined for Zero Waste Market, though Miller reveals that she is looking at spots in Kitsilano, Olympic Village, and the area that straddles Gastown and Strathcona. Zero Waste Market is hosting its sixth pop-up shop at Patagonia Vancouver (1944 West 4th Avenue) this Tuesday (March 22) from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information about the pop-up, or to RSVP, click here.NEWARK — City police are looking for two men seen in a video brutally attacking a woman in broad daylight on a downtown street. The video was shared Thursday by a Facebook user who describes the victim as a transgender woman. In the video, a man wrestles on the ground with a woman, holding onto her hair, as another man kicks and punches her in the face. One of the men pulls the woman onto the ground several times, holding her by the hair. Instead of helping the woman who is shouting for help, witnesses laugh and shout: "That's a dude!" and "That's a man!" Police said the assault happened on Broad Street. The video clip does not show what prompted the incident or what happened afterward. The downtown street is the same where 15-year-old Sakia Gunn was murdered in 2003 after she rejected a man's advances by identifying as a lesbian. The case was the state's first hate-crime murder trial and her killer was sentenced in 2005 to 20 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and bias intimidation. The Thursday video was shared by Naomi Hill, who says in a separate video that the clip was sent to her. Hill describes the attack as being "like a lynching" and says the spectators who did not help should "be ashamed of themselves." "It’s about humanity. Be a human," says Hill, in a video message that contains profanity. Police shared Hill's video Friday, asking anyone with information to call their confidential 24-hour Crime Stopper tip line at 1-877-695-8477 or 1-695-4867 or online at www.newarkpdonline.org. Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-359-5348 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.To combat wrongful accusations of sexual assault on college campuses, a pro-due process group is distributing flyers meant to prepare young men for potential expulsion. The organization, Families Advocating for Campus Equality has already begun distributing the flyers on California campuses, where " yes means yes" consent policies were adopted last year. The policies purport to make clear what is and isn't consent, but make it impossible for accused students to prove their innocence and in fact redefine normal human actions as rape. "This flyer was created by a small group of California mothers of sons, including some whose sons have been falsely accused, to raise awareness of the propensity of college and university disciplinary panels to find male students guilty of sexual misconduct, often with no evidence except the accuser's claim, and frequently in the presence of tangible evidence to the contrary," said Cynthia Garrett, an attorney and board member of FACE. The flyer includes a large image of a text conversation between two Occidental College students, identified as John Doe and Jane. Even though texts between the two appeared to prove consent and police found no evidence to the contrary, John Doe was expelled from campus and is now suing the school. The flyer warns students: " If she has touched alcohol, do not touch her" (Emphasis original). It also advises students to "Document and save her consent; never delete conversations." These may seem like dire pieces of advice, but given the current culture surrounding sexual assault — where any amount of alcohol can be used to negate consent and accused students are forced to prove their innocence — the warnings are necessary. The flyer also provides sober guidance on what to do once accused of sexual assault: "Your college will treat you as guilty under current interpretations of Federal Title IX." Students are also advised to consult a lawyer before defending themselves to their university, saying schools "will not help you prove your innocence." The flyer tells students to call their parents if they are accused, and to "not be ashamed of being falsely accused." The group behind the flyer also tells students: "Prepare to fight for your future." Garrett says her group has "encountered many young men who were literally blindsided by false accusations of sexual assault made by a former girlfriend or someone whom they honestly believed had consented to a sexual encounter." She stressed that the purpose of the flyer "is not only to encourage young men to carefully adhere to campus policies, but also to alert them to the possibility that they could be falsely accused." (Full disclosure: I have spoken to a group of FACE members about the media's role in perpetuating the alleged campus sexual assault crisis.) Correction: An earlier version of this article erroneously claimed that multiple groups were distributing the flyer, when in fact the groups listed at the bottom of the flyer are places where students can get more information, not a list of groups involved in the distribution of the flyers.A former high-ranking official from the Department of State claims that the mass loss of civilian life caused by American-launched drone strikes in Yemen are creating dozens of new militants with each attack. Nabeel Khoury, the deputy chief of mission in Yemen for the State Department from 2004 to 2007, writes in the Cairo Review this week that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles against alleged Al-Qaeda operatives is breeding anti-American sentiment overseas. The editorial, published Wednesday, comes as the United States’ use of drones is dominating discussions in Washington and around the world. Two leading human rights organizations condemned drones in a pair of reports released earlier this week, and on Wednesday the prime minister of Pakistan urged US President Barack Obama to cease drone strikes in his country and essentially halt an operation that has involved hundreds of attacks since 2004. According to Khoury, similar attacks conducted in Yemen during the last few years have spawned a hatred that could immensely hurt America’s efforts. “Drone strikes take out a few bad guys to be sure, but they also kill a large number of innocent civilians. Given Yemen’s tribal structure, the US generates roughly forty to sixty new enemies for every AQAP operative killed by drones,” Khoury wrote, referring to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. “In war, unmanned aircraft may be a necessary part of a comprehensive military strategy. In a country where we are not at war, however, drones become part of our foreign policy, dominating it altogether, to the detriment of both our security and political goals,” he added. Khoury is currently a senior fellow for Middle East and national security at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a Windy City-based nonpartisan, independent think tank described on its website as “committed to influencing the discourse on global issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation, leadership dialogue and public learning.” His "40-60 new enemies" estimate was not scientifically drawn, but instead relied on his intimate knowledge of Yemeni society. Previously, Khoury was director of the Near East South Asia Office of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and then taught at DC’s National Defense University. Coincidentally, that same school was the site of an address earlier this year in which Pres. Obama insisted the US would be entering a new phase in foreign policy with regards to its use of drones. “As was true in previous armed conflicts, this new technology raises profound questions -- about who is targeted, and why; about civilian casualties, and the risk of creating new enemies; about the legality of such strikes under US and international law; about accountability and morality,” Obama said this past May. “And yet, as our fight enters a new phase, America’s legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the discussion. To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance. For the same human progress that gives us the technology to strike half a world away also demands the discipline to constrain that power -- or risk abusing it. “ “The very precision of drone strikes and the necessary secrecy often involved in such actions can end up shielding our government from the public scrutiny that a troop deployment invites. It can also lead a President and his team to view drone strikes as a cure-all for terrorism,” added the president. “And for this reason, I’ve insisted on strong oversight of all lethal action. After I took office, my administration began briefing all strikes outside of Iraq and Afghanistan to the appropriate committees of Congress.” Earlier this week, both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called on the Obama administration to end its overseas drone programs, blaming those assaults for dozens of civilian deaths. Other independent studies have blamed UAVs on hundreds of innocent casualties. Then on Wednesday, Pakistani PM Sharif told reporters after a meeting at the White House that he “brought up the issues of drones” with the president, “emphasizing the need for an end to such strikes.” That same evening, however, the Washington Post published a report stemming from leaked Central Intelligence Agency documents suggesting that Pakistan’s government has been largely aware of America’s drone program there, even assisting at times.Toronto’s Chief Planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, wrote me in response to Friday’s column about the process our city used to make an allegedly irrevocable decision on the Scarborough subway. I wrote that a series of episodes where questionable information formed the basis of the debate, and procedural rules were sidelined, taken together, made it look to me like the “game was rigged.” Most frustrating, I wrote, is that Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) and Premier Kathleen Wynne and other key power brokers just keep saying the decision is behind us and it’s time to start building, and so on. Toronto's Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat clarifies questIons about ridership numbers. ( ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO ) Keesmaat offers some objections and clarifications. Specifically, she wanted to clarify what she meant when she told my colleague Jennifer Pagliaro that questions about the ridership numbers used in the earlier debate are “irrelevant.” Are they? We’ll come back to that. But first, her other complaint, which is significant and justified. I wrote, as part of a summary of recent reporting by Pagliaro on the ridership projections of up to 14,000 riders in one direction during peak times that the planning department produced at the time, “Keesmaat says that estimate was ‘problematic,’ though no one is explaining who came up with it or what logic went into it.” Article Continued Below It turns out that this statement — mine — is problematic. Keesmaat correctly points out that she and her department have explained the logic of the estimate, including in recent correspondence with the Star: “The morning peak hour, peak direction ridership forecast of 14,000 riders was prepared based on a population forecast of 3.08 million people and 1.83 million jobs within the City of Toronto by the year 2031,” which is significantly higher than the estimates that led to earlier, lower, predictions. “The terminus station was assumed to be at Sheppard Avenue. It assumed that the frequency of service on the subway extension would be the same as the frequency of service on the Bloor-Danforth line west of Kennedy station. The forecast was prepared using the same modelling framework being used in conjunction with work underway for the transportation component of the city’s five-year review of the Official Plan, known as ‘Feeling Congested?’ It assumes a transportation network that includes funded rapid transit proposals (Toronto York Spadina Subway Extension, Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Sheppard LRT, Finch LRT and 25 other transit initiatives contained in either Metrolinx’s Regional Transportation Plan or the city’s current Official Plan.” Now, there are plenty of legit questions about that explanation, including (as the Globe and Mail’s Oliver Moore has written) that the TTC said it was likely to provide service only half that frequently on the extension (which might change the number by a few thousand) and whether we can confidently expect the Sheppard LRT to be built. wondersCouncillor Josh Matlow (open Josh Matlow's policard) wonders how it’s possible that similar modelling could produce a lower number for a more densely populated area on the proposed downtown relief line. You could certainly look at Keesmaat’s own characterization of the political process that took those numbers to council as “problematic,” “very, very chaotic” and “compromised,” or her reference to the then-city manager’s warning that the process had been rushed by politicians, and raise your eyebrows. But the reason you can ask those questions about the explanation is precisely because it has been offered. What you cannot reasonably say, and what I did say, is that no explanation or logic had been offered. I am glad to be corrected and am sorry to have misled readers on this point, especially because I think so much honest debate on it is worthwhile. Now, on the question of relevance. “The numbers were irrelevant to the decision-making going forward — and there are many decisions yet to be made — because the landscape for analysis has changed, which fundamentally changes the ridership analysis/numbers,” Keesmaat writes. “When this decision was made, there was no SmartTrack on the horizon. SmartTrack is now the base case scenario, and its ridership has an implication for the Scarborough subway extension ridership numbers. That’s why the numbers are not relevant to the analysis moving forward.” Here’s the thing: that makes perfect sense if the decision on the Scarborough subway extension is still ahead of us. If the past vote that was based on preliminary, rushed numbers and estimates is interpreted as a decision to study the thing properly in the changing context of other related projects, and that further study is going to give us more solid information on which to make a permanent decision, then maybe that’s fine. Article Continued Below But our highest-ranked decision-makers on this file, the mayor and the premier, keep insisting that is not the case. They say, as I wrote Friday, that “the train has left the station,” and we should “move forward rather than relitigate decisions we have already made.” Stamped it, taxed it, no erasies. In that context, the reliability of the numbers that informed that decision is very relevant. So which is it? Are we preparing to make a decision, or are we analyzing how we made a decision? How relevant old reports are depends very much on the answer to that question. And so does a big part of the transit-building future of the city. Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca. Follow: @thekeenanwire Read more about:A new report from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development found that the gender pay gap for well-educated American women is worse than that of every other OECD country except Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Israel and the Slovak Republic. The report looks at trends in education in the group’s 35 relatively wealthy member countries, examining everything from the number of hours a teacher teaches, to the value of a degree in countries around the world. It shows that women are increasingly pursuing tertiary education—that is, community college, bachel
are, the less room there is for markets to work. And Perry wants to add a doozy. Trump-appointed FERC Commissioner re Perry's #coal plan: "I did not sign up to go blow up the markets" https://t.co/TWnQhMtca0 v @SNLEnergy — Dan Saccardi (@dsaccardi) October 5, 2017 The answer is not to abandon markets, or to abandon the pursuit of those other attributes (especially low carbon!). The answer is to figure out how to integrate the two — how to value those attributes within markets, so that they benefit from market competition. That’s the core issue. The way Silverstein puts it is, “What would market design look like if we started fresh, but informed by 20 years of experience?” 2) Figure out what the grid needs and put a value on it Right now wholesale markets value — i.e., pay for — electricity. In some cases, there are capacity markets alongside electricity markets, which pay plants to stay open even if they aren’t running, just in case. And in some cases, there are “ancillary services” markets alongside those, which pay for things like frequency regulation and voltage control. Insofar as resilience and reliability are undervalued attributes in those markets, the key is to figure out a way to better value the attributes, not to subsidize specific technologies. In other words, figure out what resilience and reliability services the grid needs, and then pay for the services. Let the market figure out the best way to provide the services. Silverstein summarizes thusly: “Identify, define, productize, and compensate essential reliability and resilience services to meet multi-hazard threats and scenarios.” We’re not very good at that yet. There’s a lot of discussion and experimentation to be done to get markets properly valuing those services. But the goal, the North Star, is to design a market in which the services we want are valued in a way that guarantees their provision. That’s not what Perry did. He picked one particular attribute — “fuel assurance,” which means having big piles of coal around — and proposed to exempt plants with that attribute from competition entirely. That’s dumb on both ends. First, it defines resilience and reliability far too narrowly, in terms of just one (only marginally relevant) attribute. And second, it removes the service from markets rather than using markets to better provide the service. Here’s one quick example of a reform grid operators could make. Grids need “frequency response,” which is a fancy way of saying they need sources of electricity that can ramp up and down quickly in response to minute-by-minute fluctuations of demand and supply on the grid. Traditionally that role has been played by “spinning reserves,” plants that are already running (have inertia) and can ramp quickly. Recently, there have been successful cases of distributed renewables and energy storage providing frequency response, through “inverter-based synthetic inertia.” So DOE should investigate other sources of frequency response, and markets for frequency response should be made, insofar as possible, technology-neutral. Define the services so that markets can provide them. That’s the key. 3) Resilience and reliability come from diversity Perry’s core mistake is to ascribe the attributes of resilience and reliability to a particular kind of power plant. That’s a category error. What matters to customers is the resilience and reliability of the grid, which are emergent properties of the interactions of a whole range supply- and demand-side resources. “How many big power plants with big piles of fuel do you have?” is a caveman approach to resilience. As many critics have already noted, big piles of fuel would have done nothing to help in the wake of the polar vortex, Hurricane Harvey, or the other recent US disasters. There are many kinds of disruptions and disasters that can be planned for, but many can’t (and this will become even more true as climate change progresses). The key to resilience is a system that holds up under a wide variety of possible conditions. To build that kind of system, grid operators will need to draw together a diverse array of resources on both the supply and demand side. In his order, Perry purported to be addressing resilience and reliability but completely passed over demand-side tools — the increasing ability to shrink or shift consumer demand, in real time — which are some of the most promising. “Market operators are trying to incorporate societal needs and state preferences into reliability and market rules,” Silverstein says, “but they need help (as do state and federal regulators) to design cost-effective, risk-moderating portfolios of supply- and demand-side resources that will deliver lasting value under diverse, uncertain future paths.” 4) Subsidies should be purposeful and temporary Here is where Silverstein differs from Perry. She notes that every source of energy receives subsidies of some kind: Oil and gas get depletion allowances, renewables get production tax credits, investment tax credits and R&D, nuclear generation gets insurance, R&D and construction work in progress, natural gas gets depletion allowances and R&D, and so on. (I will just note here that by even conservative estimates, fossil fuels are far more heavily subsidized that renewables.) But insofar as there are a bunch of legacy subsidies and regulations in need of reform, the answer is not to do what Perry did, which is stomp in with a big new subsidy for the least competitive plants. “New subsidies for coal and nuclear plants won’t level the playing field relative to renewables nor undo the impact of old subsidies,” Silverstein writes, “they’ll just make the playing field even bumpier.” The renewable energy tax credits are set to phase out. Congress should phase out fossil fuel subsidies as well. If we want resilience, we should define resiliency services in a tech-neutral way and let market actors compete to provide them. If we want carbon-free power, we should define it in a tech-neutral way and let market actors compete to provide it. And so on. Silverstein says: “Any new subsidies — including direct state payments, out-of-market uplift payments, or potential cost-of-service payments for non-competitive resources — should have a specific purpose and a limited duration.” That... does not describe Perry’s proposal. The discussion is just beginning, and Perry is not helping Electricity system nerds (they exist) will read what’s above with wry amusement. It’s easy enough to describe needed reforms in lofty, abstract terms: “Be more market-y!” But there are many contentious fights and boring regulatory hearings to come, zillions of details and devils in every one. Reform in the electricity sector is difficult even in the best of circumstances, and as you may have noticed, we’re on the darkest timeline. We don’t yet know exactly how to value resiliency services in a competitive market. But we know enough about the basic shape of needed reforms to know that what Perry proposes is a step backward, a grievous and distorting blow to markets that would attempt to undo their greatest success. The problem Perry and Trump face is that no sensible, market-friendly reform will help coal. The more coal is exposed to competitive markets, the more it loses. Renewables are storming in, and the more they do, the less the system needs (or can accommodate) “baseload” power services. In case anyone was confused by yesterday’s #California 2030 impact of renewables chart, here is a cleaned-up version. HT @cody_a_hill again. pic.twitter.com/3IFyyoLOQi — Michael Liebreich (@MLiebreich) October 19, 2017 As the chart in Michael Liebriech’s post illustrates, the increase in variable renewables will occasion an increase in the need for flexible resources — supply- and demand-side resources that can ramp up and down quickly, balancing out variability. Coal plants are not good at that. They are big and slow, expensive to ramp up and down. (Nuclear plants are a special case. There’s some evidence that current plants can do “load following” — ramping up and down — and there’s hope for smaller, faster reactors in the future.) As for resilience, it will be better served by good information, planning, and management of diverse, distributed resources than by having big piles of coal around. Electricity markets need to get smarter about valuing important grid services, including resilience (and carbon reduction!). But the smarter they get, they less they will need coal, because coal is dumb.This post is written more in sorrow than in anger. You would think The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell would be an oasis of transparency in a muddled and corrupted news media. Thursday night on Last Word, David Gregory was invited on to promote his web-only show "Pass with David Gregory." I guess the "pass" is, "I'll pass on mentioning, in all my Freddie / Fannie investigations, that my wife, Beth Wilkinson, was one of the four top executives in Fannie Mae who resigned as the federal government took it into receivership in 2008." I'm not accusing Beth Wilkinson of corruption or vice. She's clearly an accomplished attorney, and she joined Fannie as Dodd-Frank was being passed. I have no access to what she did or did not do as a Fannie Mae VP. But then David Gregory comes on a television show and says (at the 2:22 mark) The background's important: Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac are quasi-public/private agencies -- they survived, and they made a great deal of money, because they worked the Hill. But they went way beyond working the Hill -- they had the Hill by the throat. This is Republicans, this is Democrats, both sides of the aisle, made a lot of money through these companies! So, that's the backdrop... Okay, David, but where in the "backdrop" is the fact that your wife was executive vice-president and general counsel of Fannie Mae when they stopped being "quasi-private" and got bailed out by the taxpayer? The Georgetown cocktail circuit that lets this kind of no-transparency BS stand for watchdog media is, ahem, 99 percent of the problem. They come from a world where David Gregory's wife's planned purchase of Jimmy Choo's for spring got splashed on the pages of Washingtonian Magazine, at exactly the same time that Newt collected 30K a month from Freddie Mac for history lessons. And the GE-owned "liberal network" doesn't see fit to mention it? Why give right-wingers that much ammo, Lawrence? And the Chicago Tribune reports that the tentacles of Fannie and Freddie spread throughout the Beltway: While presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich was forced to defend his lucrative former role with Freddie Mac this week, the mortgage giant and its larger cousin Fannie Mae had a roster of Washington heavyweights on their payroll for years, many of them Democrats. Fannie and Freddie hired figures such as Tom Donilon, now President Barack Obama's national security adviser, and Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff, as part of a campaign aimed at protecting government ties that allowed them to borrow money cheaply from financial markets. "It was a mob-like operation," said a senior congressional official who over the years dealt with the political and lobbying operations at the firms, the two biggest sources of U.S. mortgage finance. "They had tentacles everywhere." Gingrich was just one of a lengthy list of political power brokers with close ties to Congress and Republican and Democratic administrations hired by Fannie and Freddie as either board members, senior executives, lobbyists or consultants. Fannie also hired other Washington power brokers during this time, including Bill Daley, who is now Obama's current White House chief of staff; Jamie Gorelick, a deputy attorney-general under Clinton; and Robert Zoellick, the current head of the World Bank. From 1993 until 1997 Zoellick served as Fannie Mae's executive vice-president. Gorelick was vice chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003, after she left the Clinton administration. Kenneth Duberstein, former White House Chief of Staff for Republican President Ronald Reagan, served on the board of Fannie Mae from 1998 until 2007. Financial institutions buying influence in Congress is nothing new. Then the taxpayers are asked to bail out those institutions, and even the media is married (sometimes literally, Mrs. Greenspan and Mr. Wilkinson) to the executive power structure of those institutions. THEN the media neglects to mention that relationship in covering the corruption that ensues. So much for the "liberal media." The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell just gave Newt Gingrich a lovely talking point for the Hannity Show: "David Gregory should talk." Good lord, not to mention Clarence Thomas. Why should Clarence Thomas recuse himself for his wife's activities when David Gregory doesn't have to?Video released of Australian kidnapped in Philippines Updated Australian Warren Rodwell, who was kidnapped by Muslim militants in the Philippines more than a year ago, has appeared in a video in which he says he holds "no hope" of being released. Mr Rodwell, a former soldier from Sydney, was seized from his home in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao last December. In the video, which was uploaded to YouTube from the account of Filipino citizen journalism platform Rappler, he confirms he is being held by the militant Abu Sayyaf group. He says the date is December 16, and is seen holding a newspaper from the previous day. "This video clip today is to say that I am alive," he says. "I am waiting to be released. I have no idea what is going on outside. I'm just held prisoner in isolation. "I understand there are some negotiations. I did not get any updated information. "The people around me normally don't speak English. I understand something is happening but I don't know when. I do not expect to be released before the year 2013 at the earliest. "I personally hold no hope at all for being released. I do not trust Abu Sayyaf. I do not trust the Australian Government. I just don't trust anyone. Personally, I don't care." Previously the Federal Government has ruled out paying the $US2 million ransom being demanded by Mr Rodwell's captors. This morning the Government said it was reading the video as a positive sign and said it attached a high priority to Mr Rodwell's safe release, but added that it would not be appropriate to comment further on the case. "While today’s confirmation of Mr Rodwell’s welfare is welcome, his prolonged captivity is a major concern," Foreign Minister Bob Carr said in a statement. "The Philippines government has the lead in response to this case and is devoting significant resources to securing Mr Rodwell's release." Mr Carr said the Government was assisting Philippines authorities where appropriate. "We are also in regular communication with Mr Rodwell’s family," the statement said. "It would not be helpful to Mr Rodwell to comment further." But Australian terrorism expert Professor Damien Kingsbury, from Deakin University, says Abu Sayyaf will not wait for ever. "If the payment is made he's likely to be released - that's certainly been the history of Abu Sayyaf in the past," he said. "However they will eventually say, 'Look, we're going to give you a deadline,' and if that deadline's not met he faces a very high chance of being executed." Mr Rodwell last appeared in a proof of life video in May. Topics: crime, terrorism, philippines, australia, sydney-2000 First postedThe greatest challenge in building a team is finding good people. But as difficult as finding those people can be, keeping them motivated and in the building after you hire them is where the real work begins. Almost the entirety of our improvement program in the Global Test Center (GTC) is based on talent management. Metrics? Nope. Maturity models? Nope. Best practices? Nope. They only way we are going to improve the state of testing here (or anywhere IMHO) is by focusing on hiring, training, and motivating the best testers in the industry. And the approach we’ve taken has three parts: Creating an environment of honesty and transparency Building a development structure focused on training, coaching and mentoring Transferring control and quality of work to the teams A Case for Transparent Management The greatest advice I ever got on hiring managers was from one of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work for, and her motto was: “People don’t quit their company; they quit their manager”. There is a lot truth in that statement, and it echos a Forbes article published last year that boiled down all the “top 10” reasons why talented people leave companies into one: “Top talent leave an organization when they’re badly managed and the organization is confusing and uninspiring.” Want to run your best people off quickly and efficiently? Make them work for uninspiring leadership that treats people like children by not sharing information. In “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization“, Peter Senge talks about building a learning organization through honesty and actively sharing information. I tell my teams everything I possibly (and legally) can so they aren’t confused about my thought process and as a result, buy into my decisions. Don’t judge me on my access to information – measure me on the decisions I make with that information. That’s where my experience and skill as a manager comes in to play and differentiates me from my peers. Withholding information from your teams is a very standard practice for frightened or immature managers, and is incredibly damaging to the culture of your team. Transparency is probably the most important – and completely controllable aspect of your management style that will impact unwanted attrition. Failure = Success I may have a slight bias from watching him play basketball for the Chicago Bulls, but Michael Jordan’s perspective on failure encapsulates my approach to developing people: “I’ve failed over, and over, and over again in my life – and that is why I succeed.” Letting people fail means you are setting them up for success. Unfortunately, most of the training programs I’ve seen run on the premise that you can transfer knowledge to people through strictly explicit means. The problem is that most of what we need to learn (and specifically to try and fail) only comes from tacit knowledge, which by definition isn’t easily learned through reading and writing.* “I fail…and that is why I succeed.” We have structured our GTC University into three distinct areas: training, coaching, and mentoring. Training is all the stuff we need people to read and understand to do the basics of their jobs. That’s focused on functional knowledge, white papers and books on testing, videos, etc., all stuff they can digest in their own way and time. Coaching takes people through specific techniques and approaches and then lets them practice while we watch with an immediate feedback loop. Test Management Mentoring is our program of pairing “up and coming” test leads and managers with senior test managers they don’t report to and focuses on large, strategic testing problems. Without all three, and especially coaching and mentoring, you run the risk of a shallow development program that only delivers the lowest value knowledge acquisition. People need to try and fail in a safe environment so they can have confidence to suceed in real projects. I think this quote my mom left in my notebook when she dropped me off for my first day at college sums it up nicely: “And if it be said, that continual success is a proof that a man wisely knows his powers, – it is only to be added, that, in that case, he knows them to be small.” – H Melville A Players Hire A Players – B Players Hire C Players Weak managers will actively discourage autonomy to maintain control. Talented people in creative, intellectual activities (like testing software) HAVE to have a large amount of autonomy to be successful. In his book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”, Daniel Pink suggests a terrific technique for gauging how much autonomy the people in your team really have. Autonomy audits put your control issues somewhere on a scale between a “North Korean prison and Woodstock”. If you are not giving people control over their own work, you can only expect them to hire teams whose work they can control. Once you’ve let go of control and really trust your teams, let them take responsibility for the quality of their culture. I encourage my teams to make it difficult to join them as I want them to set their OWN barriers for entry and not let just anyone into our club. And now that they truly own their work and environment, they hold each other to standards I could never enforce as a manager. Great people aren’t easy to find or grow, but I believe if you work in a transparent way, deliver all three elements of development, and give people ownership of their work, your chances of finding and retaining your A players are greatly increased. *For more on that topic I HIGHLY recommend Michael Bolton’s writing and the excellent book he introduced to me by Harry Collins. Like this: Like Loading...In a stark contrast to his smooth-running public appearances with Israeli leaders, the US president found himself on the back foot when forced to address the issue after a 90-minute meeting with Mr Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Mr Obama said he had told Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, that settlement expansion in east Jerusalem and the West Bank on land the Palestinians want for a future state was not "constructive" or "appropriate". But he did not repeat his previous call, issued in 2009, that building must cease, pleading instead for resumed talks on the "core issues" of establishing a sovereign Palestinian state and providing security for Israel. "That's not to say settlements aren't important. That's to say if we solve those two problems, the settlement issue will be resolved," Mr Obama told a press conference in a rambling answer in which his normal fluency seemed to desert him. Referring to Palestinian demands for a building freeze before re-starting talks, he admitted that settlements were "frustrating". Mr Obama and Mr Abbas pose with some Palestinian children in Ramallah today. Picture: Reuters But he added: "If the expectation is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time, then there's no point in negotiations. It's essential to work through this process even if we have concerns on both sides. We can push through these things, not use them as excuses not to do anything." Mr Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, was swift and uncompromising in his riposte. He called settlements a "hurdle and ignoble" and said their presence was killing the belief of a whole generation of Palestinians in a two-state solution. Since 1967, Israel has built dozens of settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem that are now home to 560,000 Israelis - an increase of 60,000 since Mr Obama became president. "Everybody considers settlements more than a hurdle toward a two-state solution," he said. The [United Nations] security council issued more than 13 resolutions, not only condemning settlements but demanding ending and removing them because they're illegal. We're demanding nothing other than the implementation of international law. The issue of settlements in clear." The press conference contained none of the bonhomie that existed between Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu in a similar event the previous evening. Both men appeared stiff, formal and mostly unsmiling. While reiterating his belief in a two-state solution, Mr Obama stressed that he had come with modest goals and without any specific peace plan. "I think part of my goal during this trip is to have helpful discussions with both Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas on what they need and how they see a potential path and how it would be structured," he said. He and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, would draw conclusions from the visit and consider how to plot a future course, Mr Obama suggested. This afternoon the president returned to Israel, where he once again branded Israeli settlements "counterproductive" to peace in a keynote speech to students in Jerusalem. He also warned that Israel "must reverse an undertow of isolation". Mr Obama walked a thin diplomatic line during the speech, urging Israelis to accept Palestinians' right to self-determination, but also insisting it is time for the Arab world to "take steps toward normalizing relations" with the Jewish state. "Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable, that real borders will have to be drawn," Mr Obama said. He also insisted: "Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state, and that Israelis have the right to insist upon their security". Yesterday, speaking after a meeting with Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president admitted: "Ultimately, this is a really hard problem." Mr Obama has said he is in the Middle East to listen to the parties about how to resume peace talks which have been frozen for two-and-a-half years. He said he had decided against coming armed with a comprehensive peace plan that might not be fit for current political conditions. The Arab-Israeli issue has "been lingering for over six decades," he said at the press conference with Mr Netanyahu yesterday. "And the parties involved have, you know, some profound interests that you can't spin, you can't smooth over. And it is a hard slog to work through all of these issues." Mr Obama's new approach was a stark contrast to early in his first term, when he declared Israeli settlement building to be illegitimate and promised to dedicate himself to peace. He admitted on Wednesday that he had perhaps made mistakes, but argued that he was not the only US leader to have done so. "I hope I'm a better president now than when I first came into office," Mr Obama said. "I'm absolutely sure that there are a host of things that I could have done that would have been more deft and, you know, would have created better optics." Mr Obama was met with a colder welcome as he arrived in the West Bank this morning after his effusive reception in Israel yesterday. Palestinians tried to wave away his helicopter, Marine One, as it landed in Ramallah. Around 150 demonstrators chanted anti-American slogans, saying they wanted weapons not presidential visits. Early this morning, two rockets fired by militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip hit southern Israel.Two million. That's the number of views the music video 'Hwages' saw on YouTube in its first week after it premiered last month. In the weeks since, it has sparked widespread debate and caused some controversy across the world, given its bold take on the concept of female stereotypes in the largely conservative Middle Eastern country. Created by director Majed al-Esa of the Saudi production company 8ies Studios, the video sees a group of women wearing traditional black niqabs – a veil that covers the face but leaves the eyes uncovered – over colourful shoes and printed dresses. Youtube: Majedalesa Throughout the clip, the group are seen riding bikes and scooters, rollerskating down the street, playing basketball, bowling, dancing and driving bumper cars. While the video may seem the norm for some, for others it delivers a stark political and cultural message about the perception and freedom of women, most notably in a country that asks them to wear'modest' clothes, limit their interaction with men, forbids them from opening a bank account without a male guardian or driving their own cars and often shames them for competing in sports. One of the video's most strikingly politically engaged scenes sees three women getting into the back of an SUV while a young male sits in the driving seat. In Saudi Arabia, women are largely prohibited from driving or obtaining driving licenses. This is an issue which has been hotly debated in recent years, with many women actively flouting the driving ban. While the song is undoubtedly catchy, its lyrics deliver a clear statement about the patriarchy and female members of Saudi Arabia's society. Youtube: Majedalesa The song's title 'Hwages' – based on an old Bedouin folk song – roughly translates to 'concerns' in English. In one scene, the women are seen clapping their hands and singing an Arabic expression that translates to 'if only God would rid us of men!'. However, the women's words become even more provocative as the video goes on, with lyrics such as'men make us mentally ill' and 'they're making us go crazy' heard numerous times through the clip. At various points in the video, the women also highlight the hypocrisy of Saudi men who disapprove of their behavior with males seen shaking their heads at the expressive dance moves. The group of women also parody the White House press room, with a cardboard cut-out of Donald Trump's face appearing behind the lectern which has a sign that reads 'house of men' on the front. In the audience, misogynistic signs with images of women's faces crossed out are seen waving in front of the political. Youtube: Majedalesa As a result of the video's celebration of female empowerment and rights, viewers have praised its bravery in breaking down stereotypes, including the ex-wife of prominent Saudi prince, Al-Waleed bin Talal, who shared the clip on her Twitter account. Art talks. Rights talk. The best video i've seen all week. https://t.co/gWfVan3GiV #هواجيس — Rawan S. (@Rawan___as) December 27, 2016 What's more, one of the oldest newspapers in Saudi Arabia, Al-Bilad, has congratulated the creators of the video and said it was a testament to a 'new generation of women [that] is different from the past'. Art and feminism at its finest. Watch the video below:Share. Doomed to failure, the 7800 still hosts a handful of fun games. Doomed to failure, the 7800 still hosts a handful of fun games. Welcome to IGN Retro's new weekly countdown of the strange, silliest, and best moments in classic gaming: Top 10. But don't let that "top" part lull you -- we'll point out just as much infamy on these lists as we do the good stuff. The Atari 7800 never had a chance. Stacked against the dominant NES and a stubborn Master System, Atari's competitor was doomed to fail. The console was created in 1983 for full release the following year, but the faltering videogame market forced Atari to full it back. The ascension of the NES proved that consoles were still quite viable (if marketed correctly with good games), so Atari dusted off its shelved system. By the time it was released in 1986, the 7800 was saddled with tech a few years behind the curve. The comparisons between the 7800's launch library -- which was also completed in 1984 -- and the games burning up the NES and SMS were dismal. The system suffered little third-party support. It was eventually binned in 1991. It can be argued, though, that the 7800 never exactly got a fair shake. Atari actually listened to all complaints about the 5200 and address many with the 7800, such as the return to digital joysticks and near-complete 2600 compatibility. And the machine actually turned a profit since it was cheap to manufacture and sales were decent, thanks to consumers readily identifying the brand. And while the overall 7800 catalog does not even belong in the stadium as the NES, there are still several charmers in there that were fun in 1986 and are still enjoyable today. If you love to collect failed systems, the Atari 7800 belongs in your library. And here are the top 10 Atari 7800 games you should pick up. Lucky for you, most are cheap. Most. 10) Crossbow Light gun games almost always deserve the benefit of the doubt -- there is just a visceral enjoyment about pointing the gun at the screen and picking off a target. Now, the actual game itself can work overtime to undermine this sentiment. And many do. Crossbow for the 7800 is a port of a popular light gun game from the arcades that certainly suffers on the visual front, but the core is definitely intact. Blasting through a series of medieval scenes with the 7800's accurate light gun is a lot of fun. 9) Xevious Many home versions of Xevious failed due to wretched graphics, but the 7800 edition is one of the better out there. It is a very accurate representation of Namco's arcade hit. Sure, it doesn't visually mirror the still-cool arcade game, but it gets so much else right, such as the great audio and the slower setting that lets you get in some good practice. The cropped screen also helps out with the arcade emulation experience. A cheap, fun pick-up. 8) Commando What matter in 7800 port of Capcom's arcade blaster is not the graphics (which are sub-standard), but the excellent pacing. This is a gut-punch shooter that keeps you jamming on the fire button while fighting back against wave after wave of enemy soldiers. It's a great arcade port that, if joined by others, could have helped the 7800 carve out a biggest niche in the 8-bit generation. 7) Asteroids Asteroids was an Atari console staple and the 7800 edition is the best of the bunch. The two-player co-op mode is by far the best reason to pick up this edition, although the competitive mode is quite fun too. This version doesn't try to ape the vector graphics of the arcade game, but instead offers its own take with colorful space rocks and UFOs. Asteroids is a standard by any measurement and this is a good version to pocket. 6) Winter Games While the Atari 7800 edition of Winter Games is not as solid as the Commodore 64 version, this Epyx port is still highly enjoyable. Across the four events, you engage is timing exercises such as the biathlon (cross-country skiing and shooting), where you monitor your heart rate to maintain a steady pace. Skating and ski jump are also good events. If you have no access to the C64 version, the 7800 Winter Games is a good substitute. 5) Alien Brigade While Crossbow is certainly a fun light gun game, Alien Brigade trumps it with better graphics, good animation, and more weapons. You must shoot through alien after alien while protecting civilians, and as you push deeper into the game, this gets to be pretty tricky. As mentioned, the 7800 light gun is very accurate, so that certainly helps. Alien Brigade is kinda rare, though, so expect to pay a little extra to secure it for your library. 4) Ikari Warriors If you compare Ikari on the 7800 to the NES, there is no contest. The NES version trumps it on production values. But they are the same game, meaning the 7800 edition still plays well. This is another fast-paced shooter from the eighties arcade scene that holds up well 20 years later. 3) Midnight Mutants How can you not love a game that feature Grandpa from "The Munsters?" This Halloween-themed original action-adventure game for the 7800 hands over and axe, knife, and cross for doing battle with scores of monsters and several big bosses. The world is big enough that Atari included a map, so there is some real longevity here as well as just solid exploration gameplay. Did we mention it has Grandpa Munster? 2) Ninja Golf Alright, so Ninja Golf is a better conversation piece than a game. But how can you deny the concept? Or that box art?Player Streak Finder Full regular season game logs (all stats) available for the 1983-84 through 2018-19 seasons. Full playoff game logs available for 1983-84 through 2017-18 Partial regular season game logs (FG, FT, FTA, and PTS) available for the 1946-47 through 1982-83 seasons. Partial playoff game logs available for 1947 through 1983 Current search: Streaks with Blocks ≥ 1, in 2016-17, in the regular season Show/Hide Search Form __("Use the back button to change the form") Make Tiny URL Click on the red text to pre-fill the form with various values Seasons 1946-47 1947-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 1953-54 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 1957-58 1958-59 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1962-63 1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1966-67 1967-68 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86 1986-87 1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 to 1946-47 1947-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 1953-54 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 1957-58 1958-59 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1962-63 1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1966-67 1967-68 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 1974-75 1975-76 1976-77 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86 1986-87 1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
should see what Chooch sees—and know all he knows. The catcher with the nickname that was once (literally) a curse has proved to be a most unexpected blessing Think it's been a treat to watch the dominance of the Phillies' rotation? You should see what Chooch sees—and know all he knows. The catcher with the nickname that was once (literally) a curse has proved to be a most unexpected blessing It's 6:15 p.m. The locusts with pens and microphones have been swept from the Phillies' clubhouse. It's their living room again. Creeping to the center of the room, like a seven-year-old in Dad's pajamas, is their stumpy catcher lost inside their massive first baseman's uniform and cleats. A half foot of Ryan Howard's pant legs droop from Carlos Ruiz's feet. That alone has the clubhouse cackling... but Chooch has more. He has made a career by watching everyone in silence, recording everything. This one's easy meat. He lowers his backside like an emperor settling onto an invisible throne, imitating Howard's setup in the batter's box, then points the end of Howard's bat at an imaginary pitcher, sighting on his prey like Howie does. Only now Chooch begins tilting his head and squinting, trying to see around Howard's big black war club, then yelps, "Hey! Where ees the peetcher? I can't see him!" and the whole squad's howling. Chooch! comes a request. Do Sammy! That's coach Juan Samuel's nickname. Chooch flashes those big white teeth, those imp eyes and that mierda-eating grin that make every impersonation double delicious, and nails Sammy's slowwww, cool-disco-dude signals from the third base box. The boys roar. Chooch winks. Chooch, do Charlie! He takes a few shambling steps and sends his head bobbing and rolling from shoulder to shoulder, just like Manuel when the Phillies' manager is pissed and heading to the mound to separate the ball from his pitcher's hand, then drops the cherry on top: Charlie's Southern drawl strained through Chooch's Panamanian accent. Chooch, do Shane when Kuroda threw at his head in the playoffs!... Chooch, do Cliff! Wait a minute. He's got a dandy Cliff Lee in his repertoire, teething on his necklace and spitting it out as he peers in for the sign... but Cliff's on the mound tonight. Nope, sorry, no way Chooch will imitate someone he's about to become. When I am catching," says Chooch, "it is not two people out there—a pitcher and a catcher. It is one person. It is my fault if something goes wrong. Whatever is happening to him is happening to me. One person. That means I am a different man with each pitcher." It's 6:35. Cliff and Chooch head to the bullpen to warm up. Lee has come out of the chute in 2011 like a windup action figure wound one turn too many—walking more hitters in the first two months than he has in years and whiffing them at a faster clip than he has in his big league life, reverting to the 16-year-old who used to walk 'em loaded, then fan the side—lurching along with four wins and five losses until June arrives and his body suddenly remembers the dart-throwing routine he discovered a few years ago, and he unfurls five straight dazzlers while allowing just one run over 42 innings, the best month in franchise history and the sixth-lowest National League ERA ever for a month, 0.21, since earned runs became a stat in 1912. Chooch gets him now: He's this big, easygoing country hardballer—the long-haired kid he once was, with the hemp necklace and the fishhook in his ball cap, still lurking just beneath his $120 million skin—and so the catcher knows that tonight it's best if Chooch appears loose and carefree and does not burden his other self with the scouting reports or details that are churning in his head. Look, Cliff! See that crazy man up in the fifth row? Chooch knows he can point anywhere and say anything tonight because then baseball will feel like it should to Cliff, like he's back in Arkansas sitting on an overturned ball bucket between innings and going through a gallon bag of barbecue-flavored sunflower seeds, nodding to whatever number Chooch flashes and playing the same I-couldn't-give-a-flip game of pitch-and-catch that the two of them played when they six-hitted the Yanks in Game 1 of the 2009 World Series. Even more than funny and free, Chooch knows that tonight he must be fast, must keep Cliff in that feeding-frenzy tempo he craves. Eight seconds. That's all Chooch will have from the time the ball thwacks into Cliff's glove before the lefty's flowing into that stream-of-consciousness-smooth delivery. Ayyyyyy, the ball was exploding in Chooch's face almost before he was prepared to catch it the first time he caught Lee. Ohhhhhhh, say, can you see?... Cliff's ready. Chooch isn't. He enters the bullpen bathroom as the national anthem begins for his ritual moment of soul searching, and stands alone in the dark... ... and it all comes whistling back. Who he is. Why he's here. What he comes from. The morning when he was seven, playing baseball in the neighbor's yard in David, Panama, and his mother's scream shattered the quiet. Carlos running into his house and asking her what was wrong, his mother looking up through her tears and ordering him to return to their neighbor's house until she called for him. He tried to obey her, but his nervous eyes kept watching one car after another pulling up in front of his house, dispatching relatives, friends and strangers: Something in it felt familiar. Forever passed, finally the boy was permitted to go home, and at last came the truth. On his father's last shift before a long vacation, a tire had blown out on Sgt. Joaquin Ruiz's police jeep as he patrolled a nearby town. The jeep spun into a ditch, flipped, flung the unbelted man from his seat and then crushed him. Two weeks after Carlos's grandmother died of cancer, his dad, too, was dead. Carlos, the eldest of Inocencia's three sons, knew at once that he must become the new father. "Don't worry, I will play in the big leagues one day," he informed his mother not long after, unaware that the odds of that were roughly two in one million. "I will take care of the family." At the cemetery he dug himself an even bigger hole, repeating the promise to his father's spirit. Then he grew silent and watched what men did, so he could become one too. At 10, Carlos became a laborer in the coffee bean fields, filling his apron pockets with beans till the fields were stripped bare. Then he began walking a half hour to a farm to carry crates of tomatoes on his head for three quarters of a mile to the Pan American Highway, turning around and racing back for the next crate. At dusk he'd take the precious three dollars he'd earned to the grocery store to buy flour, tortillas, yeast, eggs and milk, and stand tall, for such a short boy, when he laid them on his family's table. But he knew that wasn't enough, nor ever could be, unless he kept his two-in-a-million promise. ... O, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave... In the darkness of the bullpen bathroom, he hears the anthem closing. He pictures the place on the edge of the road where he stops at the end of each off-season, on his way to the airport to return to the U.S. for spring training—the cross and candlestick holders that mark the place where the jeep pinned his father—and remembers the words he whispers each time: I don't want to bother you, Father, but I am going to America and I am keeping my promise to you to help our family. God help me this season. I will continue to do my part. Thank you for being my father. He feels the energy surge through his chest and legs as the crowd thunders to the song's last chords, the same gust that swept through him in Panama last December after he learned that his team had added Lee to its extraordinary stable of arms, that sent him flying on his daily run on the dirt road past the cows and the pasture and the forests, past the cemetery where his father slept in a little green chapel, as the voice in his head cried, Let's go!... Let's go!... We got Cliff!... C'mon, let's go!... I can't wait!... We got Cliff! He exits the bullpen bathroom when his pregame reflection is done, blesses himself, touches his fingertips to his lips and looks up to the sky. Then he pats his pitcher on the back with an open hand and pounds him in the chest with a fist. Everything's good now. Cliff Chooch Lee is ready. It's 6:15 p.m. Another night. Another ace. Chooch, do Werth!... Chooch, do Rowand! No, boys, sorry, no oldies but goodies tonight. Chooch drops his head and demurs, far preferring to spring his material when it's not expected, and recedes back into shadows: He's the Tailor of Panama. The discreet man whose job and joy is to make his client look and feel wonderful, materializing in the mirror beside him only to smooth out a wrinkle, make a subtle alteration or offer a few quiet words of praise or advice. "Our starting pitchers do not need a tailor to make them look good," he murmurs. "They make the tailor look good." The perfect tailor's words. The perfect fit for the Legion of Arms that has paralyzed National League hitters the first half of the season, hurling their team to baseball's best rotation ERA and best record in spite of their hitters' anemic support and the loss of Roy Oswalt, Joe Blanton and all three of their closers to the disabled list, their starters hanging up a 1.96 ERA in June that's the lowest that MLB has seen in any month in 19 years. It's Hamels on the hill tonight. Chooch, do Cole, the one where Carlos imitates Hamels walking off the mound when the sky's caving in, looking upward as if asking God how this could happen to a man as talented and well-meaning as he, closing his eyes and drawing a deep breath and blowing out his deep exasperation with the cosmos. No Cole skits. Tonight the two men, both sons of elementary school teachers, are one. They head to the pen for warmups, Chooch already becoming the man he must be tonight. Firmer and gentler both, more aware of every flicker in his pitcher's eyes, swifter to intervene, because Hamels—though day by day becoming less so—remains the most temperamental of the Legion of Arms, the one Chooch knows best from their long history hoeing on the Phils' farms together, the ace he's quickest to soothe or tease or bark at after a bad pitch because theirs, says Cole, "is a brotherly love. He'll get on me if I throw a bad pitch. I'll say something right back at him. We can bicker back and forth. He'll curse and shake his head. But he really believes in you and really cares." The lefty tilts into his windup in the bullpen. It's been heaven, Cole's '11: an All-Star selection, a 2.32 ERA and 11--4 record in the first half that could easily be three wins fatter with a little help from his friends. He uncorks a belt-high changeup. Chooch looks back over his shoulder and opens his right hand, as if asking an ump for a new ball after a pitch has been hit 450 feet, and studies Hamels's jaw. Good. It's grinning, not gritting. Ohhhhhh, say, can you...? That's Chooch's cue. He enters the dark bathroom. Walks straight into himself... ... on that night in 1998, in the dark, when he broke. He was 19 years old, sitting in a telephone agency in La Vega, Dominican Republic, the loneliness and hopelessness inside of him about to burst through his ribs. He dialed his mother, terrified of the words on the edge of his tongue. He looked and felt like a 10-year-old among the tall, athletic prospects surrounding him at the Phillies' baseball academy where he'd just begun. He was playing a position he'd only taken up a few months before, at the urging of the scout who'd signed him as a long shot for a mere eight grand but told him he was too slow to play his native position, second base. He couldn't gauge pop-ups from this new angle. He kept trying to short-hop pitches in the dirt like an infielder. He felt like a small insect inside this strange hard shell he now wore. The telephone call went through to Panama. "Hola, Mami?..." "Carlicho?" Suddenly the power went out in La Vega, the phone went dead, darkness fell over the world... and Carlos surrendered. Tears streamed from his eyes as he sat alone in black silence. When the electricity finally returned, and the signal crossed a thousand miles of sea, he had nothing left. "Mami, be ready," he murmured. "I cannot do it. I am coming home." "O.K., my son, come home," she said. Suddenly he heard a male voice on the phone. "Carlos," cried Uncle Elias, his mom's brother, "if you come home, it is me who will be waiting at the airport! It is my face you will have to see! This was your dream. You must take it. You cannot quit! You are a man now!" Carlos sat there, stunned. He returned to the dorm at the academy and lay looking at the ceiling in the eight-man bunkroom. He taped his father's picture to the inside of his locker, stared at it and began sending shallow breaths back into the promise he'd just nearly crushed. Observing everyone and everything from the shadows from that day on. Mimicking. Arising in the off-season at 5 a.m. in Panama to drive to the farms to fill and hoist 45-liter tanks of milk onto his stepfather's dairy truck until he was 26, mixing cement at his uncle's construction sites, then laying out orange cones for his daily footwork and balance drills. Chucha! That was the word that seemed to burst most from the quiet man's mouth over the long, harrowing years that followed. It was the equivalent of the f bomb in his native land, and in the spring of 2004—when his bat utterly betrayed him—it escaped his mouth so often that his minor league teammate and roomie, Anderson Machado, began to address him that way... and it stuck. How Chucha cringed when he heard his new nickname, praying that no Panamanians were in earshot. His hitting agonies spilled into summer that year, his second season in Double A, but then came his break when Reading's starting catcher was injured and the chance to play regularly brought Chucha's bat back from the dead, his.284 average marking him—at the borderline age of 25—as a man who... well, might be a backup big league catcher one day. When his call-up came in 2006, the Philly writers, thank God, anglicized his nickname to Chooch, and the Philly fans took it as a children's train reference, even sending him cute locomotive pictures as they began to fall in love with his pluck. The man with the steamy nickname became the Little Engine That Could. At age 27, two decades after uttering it to both of his parents—one dead, one alive—Carlos had kept his promise. O'er the land of the freeeeeeee... Chooch's thoughts light on his own two sons, one an infant and the other just a little older than he was when he lost his father—the boy who loves to race around the house whenever Chooch homers, whether on TV or on his MLB video game, and mimic the famed Hispanic baseball broadcaster Ernesto Jerez hollering, "A lo profundoooooooo y no no no no no no no no!" Chooch smiles, blesses himself and emerges gingerly from the bullpen bathroom. Hamels, when his warmup sessions disgusted him, sometimes reared back and fired the ball right into the john, screaming it off the inside wall, and Chooch would go right to reminding him how splendid a hurler he is and how meaningless are warmup pitches. But all's calm tonight. Chooch rubs his pitcher's back and pounds his sternum, a mother ladling out equal portions of love and challenge, and the bullpen gate opens. Cole Chooch Hamels begins the long walk in, a brown hand resting on his shoulder. Oooooh. Look at Chooch! Chooch has new shoes!! Chooch has new batting gloves! Look, with his number on them! It's 6 p.m. Another night. Another ace. Chooch is a superstar now! Chooch has a commercial! Chooch has gone big time! They tease him about everything, and the loudest one laughing at him... ishim. Rather than defend himself, he'll gyrate and turn the pop hit Like a G6 into "Like a cheese steak! Like a cheese steak!" or pull on all his gear, even his mask, and sit in front of his locker punching a fist into his glove, shouting, "Let's go!"... an hour before game time. "It's the catcher's job," he says, "to bring energy and happiness to the game." No tomfoolery tonight. Doc's on the slab, the one guy Chooch won't impersonate. The Tailor grows more quiet and attentive than ever, watching from the corner of his eye as Roy Halladay sits as still as a stone in front of his locker and studies the thick notebooks he keeps on hitters. Waiting for Doc to nod to him, even walking past the pitcher in silence now and then just to give him that opening, so not a second will be lost once Doc's ready to meet and formulate their game plan. It still awes Chooch. He's catching the best pitcher in the game. The first day they got to know each other well—in March 2010, when Chooch found himself opening his car door to drive Doc to Tampa to pitch against a team of Yankees minor leaguers—he froze. What would a poor boy from Panama say to a living legend? Sure, he'd picked the mind of Phils pitcher Jamie Moyer for 3½ years—in clubhouses, in dugouts and on flights—and learned the art of pitch sequence, the divination of batters' body language, the conviction he had to convey in his pitch selections rather than the timid suggestions they were in his first two years in the bigs, becoming so adept that his staff had learned only to nod and launch... but how could he tell the master which pitches to throw? The silence gathered as they drove. "How many kids do you have?" Chooch finally squeaked. "Two boys." "Do they like baseball?" "Oh, yeah," said Doc, and they were rolling. "How do you want me to catch you?" Chooch asked before they got out of the car. "You call the pitches." Doc shook off nothing that day and hurled three dominating innings. At once he sensed what the other Phillies pitchers did, something that was burning in those two eyes and shining from that round moon face looking up at him: all the innocence of the boy who'd lost his father and all the responsibility of the boy who'd become the father. Sensed Chooch's belief that the pitcher's ERA was his ERA, and that every opponent's hit should never, ever have happened to his hurler—it was his fault. Three months after that day Doc was pouring perfection into Chooch's mitt against the Marlins, and four months after that, the second playoff no-hitter in major league history. Of the 219 pitches he threw in those two hitless games, he shook off Chooch once. "Speech!" cried the players, greeting Halladay with a standing ovation as he returned to the clubhouse after the perfect game. Doc pointed to his catcher and said, "Chooch is the man! What else can I say?" End of speech. The numbers, in the end, sang their love song: When Chooch was his receiver last season, Halladay's ERA was 2.13 and the opposition's batting average was.232. When it was anyone else, Doc's ERA jumped to 3.75 and opponents' batting average leaped to.294. The two or three times a game he used to shake off his catchers, Doc says, became two or three times a month with Ruiz, and this season he began striking out more hitters than ever at age 34, steamrolling into another All-Star Game with an 11--3 record and a 2.45 ERA. Words weren't Doc's currency, so how could he thank his masked mate? Here, Chooch. The home plate that the Marlins dug up and presented to Doc after the perfect game—it's yours. Here, Chooch. A wristwatch and a stunning diamond ring with that game's date and line score and thanks, roy etched inside it—yours. Here, Chooch. The topper, a brown box with to chooch and from roy scrawled in the corner, left on a chair in front of Chooch's locker in spring training: an exact replica of Doc's 2010 Cy Young Award. Then came the commercial for the MLB 2K11 video game in which Doc couldn't decide anything—whether to eat a turkey or ham sandwich for lunch, whether to wear his red shirt or blue one—without looking to a Chooch blowup doll for a signal. Each gesture stunned Chooch. He kept Doc's offerings near his father's photograph, police belt and badge, and his eyes filled with equal reverence when he spoke of both men and their keepsakes. It's 6:35. They head toward the bullpen. Tonight the Tailor becomes even more discreet, measuring every word and gesture against the sanctity of the tunnel Doc burrows into when he's pitching. Even on days between starts, rather than risk interrupting Halladay's routine with spoken words, Chooch often exchanges texts with him. Their warmup session transpires in silence tonight, to the metronome of mitt pop. Ohhhhhh, say... Chooch disappears into the dark bathroom and his own cocoon.... The Star-Spangled Banner—the hurrah of a young nation overcoming the same empire twice in three decades—averages a minute and a half in length. Who's to say what odds mightn't be overcome by a man who spent a minute and a half each day touching the bottom of his being and the summit of his dreams? Why, to think... the least-respected hitter in the Phils' lineup, usually relegated to the eight hole, might end up leading his first-place team in hitting, as Chooch's.302 did last season. The man whose nickname was an obscenity hissed in exasperation might bring a city to chorus that obscenity every time he cracked another momentous base hit: Chooooooooooch. The only everyday Phillie who'd never been an All-Star might wind up hitting.353 in 11 World Series games and be anointed with a second nickname each autumn: Señor Octubre. The man who'd toiled eight years in the farm system learning a foreign position might even become the field general for one of the most renowned starting staffs in the history of the game. The most silent and timid Phillie might even become—by consensus of teammates and in the words of closer Brad Lidge—"the heart and soul of this team." The player who was the runaway winner in a team poll asking Phillies whom—if they were Batman—they'd choose as their Robin, proving that his effect extends far beyond his superhero pitching staff. The player who circulated in the clubhouse asking them how their families were doing, and how their hearts and minds and bodies felt. The man who went to each player in the dugout as each game was about to start to exchange a new touch: knuckles yesterday, low-fives today, fist pounds to their hearts tomorrow, so hard that they'd yearn for his chest protector. The one who tore into them when they were lax and verbalized what team leaders Chase Utley and Halladay kept tight under wraps. The one taking charge as if he has been here forever and yet still asking questions as if he has just been called up. The most endearing player to the sold-out crowds at Citizens Bank Park every night, even when his average dips to.255, as it has this season, crossing a cultural moat that Hispanic players often can't—the Phillie whom bartender Tubby Kushner impersonates every game he attends, from uniform down to the shin guards, chest protector, mask and, yes, even cup—because fans feel like he's their little secret, their little golden nugget. And the home of the brave... The bullpen gate opens. The catcher remains six feet to the left of this pitcher and one step behind for the walk back, in deference to the master's tunnel... but don't be fooled. That's just how Doc Chooch Halladay rolls. When their season ended in ashes last October and all the Phillies were scattering after their failure against the Giants in the National League Championship Series, Chooch went looking in their clubhouse for the hardest man to find. There was something he had to tell Doc before they parted. He found him in the trainer's room, made small talk for a moment and finally gathered his courage. "Next year I want to give you a gift," he said. "I want to give you a World Series ring." Then he embraced Doc and walked away, carrying the weight of the second-biggest promise of his life.Camillo Golgi ( Italian: [kaˈmillo ˈɡɔldʒi]; 7 July 1843 – 21 January 1926) was an Italian biologist and pathologist known for his works on the central nervous system. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia (where he later spent most of his professional career) between 1860 and 1868 under the tutelage of Cesare Lombroso. Inspired by pathologist Giulio Bizzozero, he pursued research in nervous system. His discovery of a staining technique called black reaction (sometimes called Golgi's method or Golgi's staining in his honour) in 1873 was a major breakthrough in neuroscience. Several structures and phenomena in anatomy and physiology are named for him, including the Golgi apparatus, the Golgi tendon organ and the Golgi tendon reflex. He is recognized as the greatest neuroscientist and biologist of his time.[1] Golgi and the Spanish biologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal were jointly given the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1906 "in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system".[2] Biography [ edit ] Camillo Golgi was born in July 1843 in the village of Corteno, in the province of Brescia (Lombardy), Italy. The village is now named Corteno Golgi in his honour. His father Allessandro Golgi was a physician and district medical officer, originally from Pavia. In 1860, he entered the University of Pavia to study medicine, and earned his medical degree in 1865. He did an internship at the San Matteo Hospital (now IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation). During his internship he briefly worked as a civil physician in the Italian Army, and as assistant surgeon at the Novara Hospital (now Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Maggiore della Carità di Novara). At the same time he was also involved in the medical team for investigating cholera epidemic in villages around Pavia. In 1867, he resumed his academic study under the supervision of Cesare Lombroso. Lombroso was a renowned scientist in medical psychology such as genius, madness and criminality. Inspired by Lombroso, Golgi wrote a thesis on the etiology of mental disorders, from which he obtained his M.D. in 1868.[3] He became more interested in experimental medicine, and started attending the Institute of General Pathology headed by Giulio Bizzozero. Three years his junior, Bizzozero was an eloquent teacher and experimenter, who specialised in histology of the nervous system and the properties of bone marrow. The most important research publications of Golgi were directly or indirectly influenced by Bizzozero. The two became so close that they lived in the same building; and Golgi later married Bizzozero's niece, Lina Aletti.[4] By 1872, Golgi was an established clinician and histopathologist. He, however, had no opportunity as a tenured professor in Pavia to pursue teaching and research in neurology.[3] Financial pressure prompted him to join the Hospital of the Chronically Ill (Pio Luogo degli Incurabili) in Abbiategrasso, near Milan, as Chief Medical Officer in 1872. To continue research, he set up a simple laboratory on his own in a refurbished hospital kitchen, and it was there that he started making his most notable discoveries. His major achievement was the development of staining technique for nerve tissue called the black reaction (later the Golgi's method). He published his major works between 1875 and 1885 in the journal Rivista sperimentale di Freniatria e di medicina legale.[5] In 1875, he joined the faculty of histology at the University of Pavia. In 1879, he was appointed Chair of Anatomy at the University of Siena. But the next year, he returned to the University of Pavia as full Professor of histology.[6] From 1879 he also became Professor of General Pathology as well as Honorary Chief (Primario ad honorarem) at the San Matteo Hospital. He served as Rector of the University of Pavia twice, first between 1893 and 1896, and second between 1901 and 1909. During the First World War (1914-1917), he directed the military hospital Collegio Borrmeo at Pavia. He retired in 1918 and continued to research in his private laboratory till 1923. He died on 21 January 1926.[3] Personal life [ edit ] Golgi and his wife Lina Aletti had no children, and they adopted Golgi's niece Carolina.[4] Golgi was irreligious in his later life and became an agnostic atheist. One of his former students attempted an unsuccessful deathbed conversion on him.[7][8] Contributions [ edit ] Black reaction or Golgi's staining [ edit ] The first illustration by Golgi of the nervous system. Vertical section of the olfactory bulb of a dog (in 1875). Central nervous system was difficult to study during Golgi's time because the cells were hard to identify. The available tissue staining techniques were useless for studying nervous tissue. While working as chief medical officer at the Hospital of the Chronically Ill, he experimented with metal impregnation of nervous tissue, using mainly silver (silver staining). In the early 1873, he discovered a method of staining nervous tissue that would stain a limited number of cells at random in their entirety. He first treated the tissue with potassium dichromate to harden it, and then with silver nitrate. Under microscope, the outline of the neuron became distinct from the surrounding tissue and cells. The silver chromate precipitate, as a reaction product, only selective stains some cellular components randomly, sparing other cell parts. The silver chromate particles create a stark black deposit on the soma (nerve cell body) as well as on the axon and all dendrites, providing an exceedingly clear and well-contrasted picture of neuron against a yellow background. This makes it easier to trace the structure of the nerve cells in the brain for the first time.[4] Since cells are selective stained in black, he called the process la reazione nera ("the black reaction"), but today it is called Golgi's method or the Golgi stain.[9] On 16 February 1873, he wrote to his friend Niccolò Manfredi: I am delighted that I have found a new reaction to demonstrate, even to the blind, the structure of the interstitial stroma of the cerebral cortex. His discovery was published in the Gazzeta Medica Italiani on 2 August 1873.[10] Nervous system [ edit ] Drawing by Camillo Golgi of a hippocampus stained with the silver nitrate method. In 1871, a German anatomist Joseph von Gerlach postulated that the brain is a complex "protoplasmic network", in the form of a continuous network called the reticulum. Using his black reaction, Golgi could trace various regions of the cerebro-spinal axis, clearly distinguishing the different nervous projections, namely axon from the dendrites. He drew up a new classification of cells on the basis of the structure of their nervous prolongation. He described an extremely dense and intricate network, composed of a web of intertwined branches of axons coming from different cell layers ("diffuse nervous network"). This network structure, which emerges from the axons, is essentially different from that hypothesized by Gerlach. It was the main organ of the central nervous system according to Golgi. Thus, Golgi presented the reticular theory which states that the brain is a single network of nerve fibres, and not of discrete cells.[11][12] Although Golgi's earlier works between 1873 and 1885 clearly depicted the axonal connections of cerebellar cortex and olfactory bulb as independent of one another, his later works including the Nobel Lecture showed the entire granular layer of the cerebellar cortex occupied by a network of branching and anastomosing nerve processes. This was due to his strong conviction in the reticular theory.[13][11] Golgi's theory was challenged by Ramón y Cajal, who used the same technique developed by Golgi. According to Ramón y Cajal's neurone theory, the nervous system is but a collection of individual cells, the neurones, which are interconnected to form a network.[14] In addition to this, Golgi was the first to give clear descriptions of the structure of the cerebellum, hippocampus, spinal cord, olfactory lobe, as well as striatal and cortical lesions in a case of chorea. In 1878, he also discovered a receptor organ that senses changes in muscle tension, and is now known as Golgi tendon organ or Golgi receptor; and Golgi-Mazzoni corpuscles (pressure transductors).[15] He further developed a stain specific for myelin (a specialised portion of axon) using potassium dichromate and mercuric chloride. Using this he discovered the myelin annular apparatus, often called the horny funnel of Golgi-Rezzonico.[3] Kidney [ edit ] Golgi studied kidney function during 1882 to 1889. In 1882, he published his observations on the mechanism of renal hypertrophy, which he understood to be due to renal cell proliferation. In 1884, he described tubular cell mitoses in the kidney of a person suffering from tubulointerstitial nephritis, and he noted that the process was an essential part of repairing the kidney tissue. He was the first to dissect out intact nephrons, and show that the distal tubulus (loop of Henle) of the nephron returns to its originating glomerulus, a finding that he published in 1889 ("Annotazioni intorno all'Istologia dei reni dell'uomo e di altri mammifieri e sull'istogenesi dei canalicoli oriniferi". Rendiconti R. Acad. Lincei 5: 545–557, 1889).[16] Malaria [ edit ] A French Army physician Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran discovered that malaria was caused by microscopic parasite (now called Plasmodium falciparum) in 1880. But scientists were sceptical until Golgi intervened. It was Golgi who helped him prove that malarial parasite was a microscopic protozoan. From 1885, Golgi studied the malarial parasite and its transmission. He established two types of malaria, tertian and quartan fevers caused by Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae respectively.[17] In 1886, he discovered that malarial fever (paroxysm) was produced by the asexual stage in the human blood (called erythocytic cycle, or Golgi cycle).[18] In 1889-1890, Golgi and Ettore Marchiafava described the differences between benign tertian malaria and malignant tertian malaria (the latter caused by P. falciparum). By 1898, along with Giovanni Battista Grassi, Amico Bignami, Giuseppe Bastianelli, Angelo Celli and Marchiafava, he confirmed that malaria was transmitted by Anopheline mosquito.[19] Cell organelle [ edit ] An organelle in eukaryotice cells now known as Golgi apparatus or Golgi complex, or sometimes simply as Golgi, was discovered by Camillo Golgi.[20] Golgi modified his black reaction using osmium dichromate solution with which he stained the nerve cells (Purkinje cells) of the cerebellum of an owl.[21] He noticed thread-like networks inside the cells and named them apparato reticolare interno (internal reticular apparatus). Recognising them to be unique cellular components, he presented his discovery before the Medical-Surgical Society of Pavia in April 1898.[22] After the same was confirmed by his assistant Emilio Veratti, he published it in the Bollettino della Società medico-chirurgica di Pavia.[23] However, most scientists disputed his discovery as nothing but a staining artefact. Their microscopes were not powerful enough to identify the organelles. By the 1930s, Golgi's description was largely rejected.[21] It
two of the world’s biggest studios have been able to wow us enough to get their name in the record books. Here it is then, 3 finalists, 1 winner... who’s taking home the gold? We decide! Borderlands 2 - With Borderlands 2’s achievement list, Gearbox seems to have ticked most, if not all of the boxes. Interesting breadcrumb achievements. Check. Amusing, more creative achievements. Check. More challenging long-term achievements for the hardcore. Check. Exploration achievements. Check. Fancy tiles and amusing names. Check. An homage to a Borderlands fan who tragically died at 22 all neatly presented in the form of a heart-warming achievement. Check. An achievement where you kill “Donkey Mong.” Check. An achievement for killing a chubby. Check… incidentally, my ex-girlfriend was good at that. Sorry, I digress. But yeah, you get the point: a fantastically rounded and balanced list. Halo 4 - 343 Industries have seemingly picked up where Bungie left off. Yes, we know they did Halo CE: Anniversary and came close last year in this category, but this is different. This is their game and their list. It’s a list littered with creativity, a nice dollop of multiplayer achievements that aren’t too demanding, some neat single-player secondary objective achievements and some supremely challenging achievements in there for the sadistic. It’s a very impressive list. Assassin's Creed III - Despite churning out an Assassin’s Creed title for the last handful of years, Ubisoft's passion for in-game achievements doesn’t appear to have waned. It's learnt that too many multiplayer achievements are against the spirit of what makes an Assassin’s Creed game an Assassin’s Creed game (the single-player) and this more single-player-centric list has a great balance, a solid spread and plenty of creative achievements like ‘Eye Witness’ and ‘Spit Roast.’ It’s an all round great, well thought-out list. ______________ Without further ado, we’re proud to announce that this year’s winner is none other than 2K’s Borderlands 2. Gearbox joins a prestigious cast of developers who’ve won this award that include Valve (4 wins in the 6 years we’ve been running this category) and Bungie (1 win). A huge congrats goes out to the Texas-based studio that not only completely touched our hearts with a homage to a Borderlands fan in the list, but they created a list with humour, a good spread, beautiful tiles, amusing names and one that screamed effort. Exactly what we asked for. Winner: Borderlands 2 Game with Most Potential for Achievements in 2013 Despite Grand Theft Auto V being the big winner in last year’s nomination phase in this category, getting a considerable amount of votes more than anyone else, when push came to shove we refused to put the game in the awards, mainly because we didn’t think it’d be out in 2012. We were right! What it does mean, is that when it came to this year, there was an even bigger landslide and there was only ever going to be one winner. GTA V received another huge slice of the votes in 2012 (getting about 40% of the votes), beating off stiff opposition from BioShock Infinite (16%), GRID 2 (14%) and South Park: The Stick of Truth (10%). As much as we tried to fudge the votes so that GRID 2 would win – we kid, we kid… or do we!? – there was only ever going to be one winner here: Grand Theft Auto V. Out in September, and being described as Rockstar’s biggest open-world ever, with golf, tennis, airplanes galore, crazy cinematic chases, three main characters, quad bikes, mountains - the list goes on - it’s safe to say that the possibilities are pretty much endless. Something we – and you – are hoping comes through in the game’s achievement list. Winner: GTA V Aaaaaannnnddd, that’s a wrap! Another year done and dusted. Thanks for sticking with us, folks. Not just for this year’s awards, but for the last seven years. This could be the last time we see the awards in their present format, what with the next-generation looming and all. Next year could ultimately see a brand new format… or it could stay the same, who the hell knows!? On that note, I shall bid you folks a good day, it’s time to check myself into a clinic now after the gin addiction I’ve somehow picked up writing the War and Peace of the achievement world. Thanks again for your support, folks, here’s to another seven years! Same time next year then, yeah? Sounds good.Welcome to Dumpstermap.org, the collaborative world wide map to share dumpster locations for others to find! It is created for and by dumpster divers, freegans and others of such kind. Traditionally, most people who resort to dumpster diving are forced to do so out of economic necessity. The karung guni, the rag and bone man, waste picker, dumpster monkey, junk man or bin hoker are people who make their living by sorting and trading trash. Dumpster diving is looking for goods, most notably food, in dumpsters. In many Western countries it is possible to find perfectly good food, right in front of supermarkets, in backyards or in dumpsters. If you would like to learn more about dumpster diving in general, have a look at trashwiki.org Some things to keep in mind: Bring a bottle of water, to wash your hands when you dive into bags of fruits and vegetables Always make sure you don't make a mess (i.e. open and close bags nicely) In the unlikely case you did not manage to find a couch and need to sleep on the street: Look for recycling bins to get cardboard for sleeping in Dumpster diving may be illegal in certain places, but enforcement is rare. In either case you may want to keep an eye out for police or unsympathetic property owners D'accordAs you know my site’s got a couple of ads on it. And mostly it’s nothing too ordinary. Either it’s ads for another webcomic or some kickstarter game or whatever. But sometimes we get something very very special in those ads. And yeah, this time around I found this special gem. I haven’t clicked the link yet, but it’s quite interesting isn’t it? I mean, in this day and age when there are plenty of porn streaming sites just a few clicks away, why would you take the time to click a dodgy link, download and run a dodgy program that may or may not be infected with a ton of malware just to see some weird looking CGI boobs? Then again, like I said, I didn’t click the link, Maybe it’s the most awesome thing ever and I am completely missing out? Click it on your own risk I guess! 😛 Enjoy, fellow slackers!Can These 7 Robots Replace Your Doctor? Robots are the newest and shiniest medical professionals. PCMag reviews products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use 7 Mr. Roboto might do the jobs nobody wants to do, but Dr. Roboto does the ones no one has time to do. In busy hospitals, where life or death is on the line, a competent robot can help keep things calm. Robots are increasingly finding themselves employed in clinical environments, where their orderliness and detachment are prized skills. They've started with handing out meals and dispensing pills, and one robot even performs surgery with the assistance of a real, carbon-based surgeon. But it's possible that a robot might one day be making medical assessments all on its own. IBM's wonderbot Watson, for example, wants to help cure cancer. In partnership with the New York Genome Center (NYGC), the machine is aiding oncologists in DNA-based treatments for glioblastoma—the most common type of brain cancer, which kills more than 13,000 Americans every year. According to IBM, doctors are forced to correlate massive amounts of data, from full genomic sequencing to reams of medical journals, new studies, and clinical records—at a time when medical information is doubling every five years. But Watson's quick computerized brain could be the key to unlocking new resources and making greater strides toward patients' health. It will be a while before nanobots swim through your system, but these robots are already making their way to your bedside.foreplay is a heteronormative, patriarchal concept it is founded on the idea that any sexual contact other then a penis entering a vagina is not sex but something meant to lead up to it the idea that doing anything to a vagina-owner other than pounding them with your dick is optional and not all that important the idea that, if a woman does sexual things with you that don’t include your penis going into her, and she decides to not let you put your penis into her, she is a tease because that was all just foreplay, meant to lead up to the “feature event” fore \| play - the real “play” is a cis man inserting his penis in a cis woman - anything else is deviant, optional or not really sex the concept of foreplay delegitimizes sex queer people have and the kinds of sexual contact studies show women enjoy most. it centers the cis heterosexual man’s pleasure over everyone else’s, reducing any other sexual contact to an unimportant optional side quest or deviant predilection. it even reaffirms rape culture, framing other sexual contact between men and women as but an “introduction” to the “inevitable” event of a penis entering a vagina–implying a priori consent. the concept of foreplay directly benefits straight cis men to the detriment of everyone else. EDIT: it’s come to my attention some people use the term foreplay differently, i.e. to get aroused for any sexual activity, HOWEVER this oppressive use of the term is still very common, so my criticism is still valid and importantMore than half of Colorado sheriffs have agreed to launch a legal challenge to the state’s recently passed gun restrictions. Thirty-seven of the state’s 62 elected sheriffs are prepared to sue to overturn laws that now prohibit the sale of ammunition magazines holding more than 15 rounds and require background checks for all private gun sales, Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said Tuesday. Cooke said he expects more sheriffs will sign on to the lawsuit, but other sheriffs said they oppose the effort. The County Sheriffs of Colorado, which represents the state’s sheriffs, will not take part in the lawsuit. “The Board of Directors made a decision this was not something that the association should join in,” said County Sheriffs’ executive director Chris Olson. San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters said he doesn’t think the new laws will be effective, but he won’t join in the legal action. “I’m not going to sue anybody for anything. I understand the frustration but I wouldn’t do that.” The public is screaming for officials to take action to cut down on gun violence, Masters said. But the legislature should have followed a recommendation contained in a County Sheriffs of Colorado position paper that called for tabling all gun control bills for at least a year to allow study of the issue before making any decisions, Masters said. Cooke said he didn’t know if the lawsuit would be filed in state or federal court, but he said it likely would be filed within the next few weeks. Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee said the legal action is in its “infancy,” and it is not certain to be filed. The proposed lawsuit would say the law violates the Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms and the 14th Amendment, which bars states from abridging the “privileges and immunities” of citizens, Cooke said. The lawsuit would be handled by lawyer Dave Kopel, research director of the Independence Institute, a conservative think-tank, and adjunct Professor of Advanced Constitutional Law at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, Cooke said. Kopel couldn’t be reached for comment. Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dpmcgheeDENVER, July 8, 2013 – Headlined by Evan Fournier, Jordan Hamilton and Quincy Miller, the Denver Nuggets have finalized their roster for the 2013 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Rookie shooting guard Erick Green also will be part of the 16-man roster, which will play a minimum of five games at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus. Fournier, selected 20th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, averaged 5.3 points and 1.2 assists in 38 games as a rookie last season. He started the final three games of the regular season, averaging 15.3 points and 3.0 assists on.529 shooting (18-of-34). Hamilton, the 26th overall pick of the 2011 draft, averaged 5.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in his second NBA season. He made 13-of-26 3-pointers in 40 games last season. Miller was limited to seven games as a rookie in 2012-13. He spent part of the season playing for the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League, averaging 11.3 points and 6.9 rebounds in 23 games. Rounding out the roster are Green, Preston Adams, O.D. Anosike, Joel Barkers, Kyle Barone, Ramon Galloway, Luke Harangody, C.J. Harris, Richard Howell, Darius Johnson-Odom, Travis Releford, Chace Stanback and Ben Uzoh. The Nuggets have participated in the Las Vegas summer league since its inception since 2004, compiling a 24-15 record. No team has won more games in the league’s history, and the.615 winning percentage is third among teams who have played at least 10 games. For the first time in Las Vegas, the 22 participating teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament to crown a champion. All teams will be seeded after three games, with the title game scheduled for July 22. Altitude Sports & Entertainment will televise a minimum of three Nuggets games, starting with the opener against Milwaukee on July 13. Coverage will include a 30-minute pre-game and post-game show before and after each game. Additional television coverage will be announced leading up to tournament play. Nuggets 2013 Summer League Roster (Subject to Change) No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. School/Country Exp. 31 Preston Adams G 6-0 171 Webber International R 23 O.D. Anosike F 6-8 241 Siena R 25 Joel Barkers F 6-6 225 Hartford R 14 Kyle Barone C 6-10 220 Idaho R 94 Evan Fournier G 6-7 205 France 1 7 Ramon Galloway G 6-3 180 LaSalle R 11 Erick Green G 6-4 185 Virginia Tech R 1 Jordan Hamilton G 6-7 220 Texas 2 12 Luke Harangody F 6-7 245 Notre Dame 2 5 C.J. Harris G 6-3 190 Wake Forest R 20 Richard Howell F 6-8 257 North Carolina State R 30 Quincy Miller F 6-9 210 Baylor 1 12 DJ Odom G 6-2 215 Marquette 1 22 Travis Releford G 6-6 210 Kansas R 6 Chace Stanback G/F 6-8 215 UNLV 1 4 Ben Uzoh G 6-3 205 Tulsa 2Tommy Wiseau, the director of the film once called “the Citizen Kane of bad movies”, has forced the Sydney Underground film festival to an unexpected milestone: its first ever cancelled screening. Wiseau has threatened the festival with legal action before its proposed screening of Room Full of Spoons, Rick Harper’s investigation into Wiseau and the cult following behind his 2003 film, The Room. The director of the Sydney Underground film festival, Stephen Popescu, says the legal threats hit them from left-field. James Franco set to direct and star in film about 'worst movie ever' The Room Read more “This is the biggest censorship issue our festival has ever had,and it is not from the government – it’s from the man who has delusions of cinematic adequacy, Tommy Wiseau,” he said. “We see the humour and irony in being censored for the first time in a decade by the man who is reputed to be one of the world’s worst filmmakers.” Screenings of Room Full of Spoons will be replaced by what the festival calls “Wiseau-sanctioned” screenings of The Room itself. The Room is a favourite of midnight movie audiences around the world. Screenings are often highly interactive, with audience members shouting in response to particular lines and throwing plastic spoons at the screen. Room Full of Spoons comes after the release of The Disaster Artist, a non-fiction book by one of Wiseau’s former collaborators and stars of The Room, Greg Sestero. Last year, James Franco announced that he had bought the film rights to The Disaster Artist; the forthcoming film, now titled The Masterpiece, also stars Seth Rogen.Thousands Mobilize for Climate Justice 2017 has seen a succession of devastating hurricanes, flooding in Asia, wildfires raging around the world, including in Greenland, an anthrax outbreak in Siberia, and ice shelf collapses. This is a planetary emergency. The Paris agreement as it stands, allows for at least three to four degrees of warming. Yet the devastating natural disasters of 2017 are happening with only one degree. Fossil fuels are the primary cause of global warming. Many other sources of energy are equally dirty, on account of the cost to people and the environment. Some calculations suggest we have less than three years to make cuts to prevent a temperature rise over 1.5 degrees. It is not hard to join the dots. The fossil fuel industry’s time is up. We need to usher in a new people- led and just energy system and put an end to dirty energy and false solutions and tackle climate change. And do all this fairly. Communities around the world are winning battles and the solutions do exist. We can win this fight if we act together. To this end Friends of the Earth International mobilized with friends, groups and allies around the world in October 2017. Although it is pushing both an outdated source of energy and an outdated, centralised model of energy, the fossil fuel industry is still powerful. Over 1600 new coal plants are planned or under development in 62 countries. Some countries are looking to expand into coal for the first time, which is unthinkable in this day and age. Coal should be dead. Clean community energy alternatives exist and are coming down in cost. Coal fuels energy poverty, increasing exports, heavy industry, human rights abuses, social and environmental degradation and corporate profits. Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest coal exporters, is just one country plagued by the detrimental effects of coal. The devastation wreaked by oil, gas, fracking, tar sands and unconventional coal technologies is no better. There is a danger of a tar sands frontier opening up in Nigeria, a country already devastated by oil companies who continue to abuse the people and environment with little sign of cleaning up. Fracking is a reality or threatened in Argentina, Colombia, in South Africa and the UK. The quantity of new conventional gas infrastructure Europe is planning is staggering: a 58% increase in EU gas import capacity. Togo is now threatened with exploitation of offshore oil, which would have dire impacts. Non-fossil fuel forms of energy are not the solution many herald them to be. Many are as dirty as fossil fuels, given their impacts on people and the environment and their centralisation in the hands of corporations. Let us remember Chernobyl and Fukushima. Nuclear is dangerous. The nuclear process is too slow to slow climate change and hugely expensive. Hinkley C is now £1.5 billion over budget and 15 months behind schedule. Offshore wind in the UK is now, officially, cheaper than new nuclear. And its clean and safe. Large scale hydro projects also falls under the dirty energy band. They frequently result in land grabbing, diverted rivers, and the undermining of water and food sovereignty. The impact of hydroelectric dams on climate change has also been underestimated. For example, rotting vegetation in dam waters emit around a billion tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. In 2015, 57,000 large dams choked more than half the world’s major rivers. These projects also cost lives. In 2016 Berta Caceres was murdered for opposing the Agua Zarca dam in Honduras. In 2017 Berta Zúñiga was attacked for continuing her mother’s work. Madre Tierra/Friends of the Earth Honduras works alongside communities to resist large scale hydro projects. Ultimately we need to act to now and from the grassroots to tackle dirty energy and climate change. Governments and corporations are not acting and will not act. The Paris Agreement commitments add up to three or four degrees warming. Following Trump’s ignominious exit, the agreement could be weakened further. We need to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. Paris is a deal that lacks legal enforcement, fair science-based emissions cuts and solutions for finance. It's a dangerous deal because it lulls the public into the false belief that world leaders have solved climate change. They have not. We need to act now with justice to ensure that developed countries are held to account. 10% of the world’s population are responsible for 50% emissions, whilst the poorest 50% are responsible for only 10%. The rich must make the deepest emission cuts rapidly, and pay for emissions reductions and sustainable development in the global South. We, the people must oppose dirty energy, case by case, battle by battle using all the tools and tactics at our disposal. We need to find innovative ways to defeat dirty energy. We need to connect the dots for a comprehensive fight, connect the fossil fuel headquarters with their operations and their financial backers. People power is a powerful tool. This has been proved time and time again; in fracking bans in Victoria state, Australia, New York state, states across America, Ireland, France, Scotland, Bulgaria and provinces in Canada. We need to act globally to support and protect people whose resistance is met with repression. We must usher in an energy revolution; just, sustainable, climate-safe energy for all. This transition must happen fairly. No country can be excluded or disadvantaged because they have not exploited their fossil fuels. As we stop dirty energy in its tracks we must fight for the only viable future, where decentralized, people-centred community energy, agroecology and community forest management are a reality. Examples of community power projects can be found around the world; Scotland, Denmark, Palestine, Ireland to name just a few from around the federation. All over the world, the fight against #DirtyEnergy is growing, and calls for an energy transformation are getting louder. In an explosion of spectacular mobilizations and a frenzy of social media during October 2017, Friends of the Earth groups across six continents demonstrated the power of the people. Join us. Together we can fight the climate emergency.In discussing the upcoming Indian festival of Diwali, a festival of lights observed by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs, an Indian colleague asked me why so many Christian themes emerged in video games when rich narratives from other faiths do not? Good question. But it's worth pointing out an exception released just this year, Asura's Wrath. Asura's Wrath is a story-driven, God of War-style action game that takes place over a 15,000 year period. It charts the betrayal of a god named Asura by his fellow gods and then his subsequent revenge. While Diwali is a holiday of unity and forgiveness, the story of Asura's Wrath is solely a story of vengeance. And in a year when the most popular games seem to all be sequels -- Assassin's Creed 3, Mass Effect 3, Resident Evil 6 -- it is refreshing to see something unique and original. What makes this game so interesting is the ways that it draws on the material in Hindu religious texts while building on them through reader interpretations of those texts. The game falls much in line with my earlier findings about the connection between religion and violence and in many ways critiques the R-rated material in the religious text itself (and, by the way, Asura's Wrath sports a "teen" rating). The game's producers said upfront that the game was meant to be a mix of Hindu mythology and science fiction. Hindu mythology has a rich pantheon perhaps only rivaled by that of Greek mythology (which has its own revenge-centered game series). Not everyone was a fan of the game. Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, claimed to speak on the behalf of Hinduism when he sent out a press release condemning the game shortly after its release earlier this year. According to a press release: "Such trivializing and reimagining of highly revered symbols and concepts of Hinduism was not okay as it is upsetting for the devotee.... No faith, larger or smaller, should be plundered." Of course, the fact that Zed claims to be speaking on the behalf of Hinduism is itself a problem since Hinduism lacks the kind of clear hierarchy that one would find in, say, Catholicism. Asura's Wrath includes many characters lifted from the Vedas: the dragon Vitra (Vlitra) serves as the key antagonistic force, the goddess Durga, Deus and Mithra. Yet in some cases the roles have changed. For example, in Hinduism, asuras are lesser deities than better known gods like Agni, Siva and Indra. Yet the game's protagonist is named Asura and at times he takes on characteristics of each of these gods. While the game has changed the gender roles, some of the underlying themes of those roles remain the same. In the game, Asura is married to a woman named Durga. The character is based on the original material female who serves as the mother of material nature. In Hinduism, Durga serves as Siva's female consort and her sexual union with Siva inserts all souls into material nature. So in a way, Durga's greatest offering is that which she can provide in collaboration with her husband Siva. The warrior goddess, interestingly enough, slays an army of asuras. Yet in Asura's Wrath, Durga is depicted more like a Leave It To Beaver housewife than a warrior goddess. If she overcomes Asura, it is only through her femininity. She doesn't fight, she just tries to calm Asura (who, aptly so, is a pretty wrathful guy). She stays home, she raises their daughter. Like the religious narrative, Durga's most important role is done with the necessity of a male figure. Asura's daughter Mithra seems to be based off the god Mitra -- a god of friendship and accord -- which makes sense since, in the game, it is she who brings Asura together with an ally, and her sacrifice that allows the gods to rule over humanity. Mithra is the quintessential damsel in distress. While she holds great power as priestess -- able to channel the power of human prayers into weapons -- she is unable to put this power to use in defending herself. Here Mithra serves a similar function to Durga in that she appears most often in relation to male figures. In scenes with Asura similarly, her gentleness and fragility serves as a contrast to his hard, vitriolic personality. Yet Asura's Wrath also includes elements that have been read into the Vedas. Some have read the Vedas as prophetic texts and drawn out spaceships and nuclear weapons. Thus in the game, the gods largely reside in outer space, ruling over humanity from spaceships and enforcing their rule with lasers powered by souls. The Brahmastra in Hinduism is a weapon of Brahma that he uses to destroy his own creation. According to the Mahabharata, the weapon is so powerful it can cause environmental damage. And thus in the game, the gods have a Death Star-like weapon called the Brahmastra they use to fight the dragon the Vlitra. The video game is often a medium of social critique. In some ways, Zed has a point -- but it is not a point with which all Hindus would agree. In Asura's Wrath, Hindu themes and images have been appropriated and lifted out of a religious and cultural context. Yet by appropriating these images, the game also works as a subtle critique of the religious text.Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called Tuesday for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down to usher in a new government. In a New York Times op-ed Tuesday, the Massachusetts Democrat appealed to Mr. Mubarak’s sense of nationalism, saying the Egyptian president “must accept that the stability of his country hinges on his willingness to step aside gracefully to make way for a new political structure.” “One of the toughest jobs that a leader under siege can perform is to engineer a peaceful transition,” Mr. Kerry wrote. “But Egyptians have made clear they will settle for nothing less than greater democracy and more economic opportunities.” He also called on the Egyptian president to establish “fair” elections and “to take himself and his family out of the equation” by pledging that neither he nor his son will run. And he urged Mr. Mubarak to think about his legacy, saying he has the opportunity to “turn the Arab world’s most populous country into a model for how to meet the demands for reform engulfing the region.” Mr. Kerry called for change in Washington, too, saying aid to Egypt should focus more on job-creation and economic stability instead of the military.World Bank discovers only 3% of $6bn in fines has been handed back to developing countries whose officials were bribed The World Bank has accused western countries of hanging on to billions of dollars in fines involving corruption cases in developing countries. An investigation of almost 400 cases over 13 years found that about $6bn (£3.7bn) was paid by the companies concerned, mostly in out-of-court settlements. But only 3.3% has been returned to the countries whose officials took the bribes. In Left Out of the Bargain, a report released on Wednesday, the Bank points out that the overwhelming majority of countries that paid over the odds for roads, dams or bridges were in developing countries. Most of these deals involved state contracts, ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. There has been a growing trend over the past decade to use settlements to conclude foreign bribery cases rather than go through full trials. The World Bank concludes: "In the majority of settlements, the countries whose officials were allegedly bribed have not been involved in the settlements and have not found any other means to obtain redress." Tim Jones, of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, described the fact that such a tiny sum of money had been returned as "outrageous". "Governments, especially of financial centres such as the UK and Switzerland, need to be doing far more to find and seize corrupt and stolen money, and make sure it is returned to the people affected," he said. Speaking off the record, officials say the reason why so little of the money has been returned is because governments in the developing world have shown little interest in pursuing corrupt officials. It has been left to Britain, Germany, Switzerland and the US to levy the fines, to ensure a more level playing-field for their own companies. The report makes no mention of how much each western country has retained of the money that has been received, but the World Bank's Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative is launching a website to allow these calculations to be made. Nineteen British companies are named in the report, including some well-known exporters. The construction firm Mabey & Johnson was caught paying bribes to Iraqi officials in a major bridge construction project, as well as making corrupt payments to officials in Ghana and Jamaica. In 2009, Mabey entered into a plea bargain with the Serious Fraud Office and was ordered to pay £658,000 to Ghana, £139,000 to Jamaica and £618,000 to Iraq. Payments have been made to Iraq and Jamaica, but no transfer of funds has been made to Ghana. Macmillan Publishers are also named as having reached an agreement to pay £11m to three African countries in which they were involved. Perhaps the best known settlement was reached by BAE, which repaid £29.5m to the Tanzanian government, after supplying a radar system with military capabilities far beyond the needs of the country. The World Bank is launching the report in Panama, where 1,500 delegates of the UN Convention Against Corruption are meeting. Jean Pesme, co-ordinator of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, hopes the startling lack of money returned to developing countries will persuade them to join prosecutions brought in London, Washington or Zurich. "If you are a developing country, you can be a party to a case," he said. "In our view, the effected countries should be allowed to join the prosecution."213 SHARES Facebook Twitter Linkedin Reddit Speaking at GDC 2017, Jason Rubin described VR wireless technology as “compressed, not perfect, and expensive” and “the wrong direction for right now”. Rubin’s task at Oculus is to deliver compelling VR content, and believes that hardware features such as wireless, while desirable, simply add to the cost of a product that is already considered too expensive. As Oculus’ VP of Content, Jason Rubin’s priorities are steered towards delivering a strong software lineup, but he offered some thoughts about emerging VR hardware technologies when speaking to PCGamesN at GDC 2017. Following the positive reaction to low-latency wireless accessories like KwikVR and TPCAST, and influential figures like Gabe Newell suggesting that PC VR headsets will have integrated solutions in 2018, the expectation for wireless high-end VR is rising. However, it adds a significant cost to products that are already considered very expensive for mainstream adoption, and Rubin believes it is currently the wrong move. “If we add wireless, but it adds $200 to the price of the headset, I think we’re moving in the wrong direction for right now. Some may want it, so as a peripheral it’s interesting, but I don’t think it should be our focus right now, I think our focus should be on bringing the core experience we have down in cost before we add features.” Rubin is being realistic. The hardware needs to improve, but it has to become more affordable as well, and ultimately appeal equally to the mainstream consumer and the enthusiast. In any case, it will remain a matter of tradeoffs. The existing wireless solutions are close to the limit of bandwidth to stream current resolutions at 90Hz, and increasing resolution and FOV is the main expectation for the next generation of VR HMDs. “They’re getting it, not to say it doesn’t work, but it’s compressed, it’s not perfect and it’s expensive”, he says. “If we go wireless and then we decide we’re going to increase the resolution of the screens, now all of a sudden we may have to go back to a wire.” It’s clear that Rubin is discussing the short term here. Wireless is the future, and Oculus’ own Chief Scientist Michael Abrash laid down some impressive predictions of where the hardware could be in five years, which include a wireless solution supporting 4Kx4K displays per eye. Valve are certainly not afraid of pushing the hardware at a high price. Speaking at a recent press event, Gabe Newell described the Vive, which is the most expensive VR device on the market, as “barely capable of doing a marginally adequate job of delivering a VR experience”, and believes major hardware improvements are required to make VR compelling enough for the mainstream, warning that high-end systems will remain very expensive. While it may appear that Valve and Oculus have different priorities here, it’s all a matter of interpretation. Both companies are heavily invested in delivering content and developing future VR hardware solutions – it just depends on who you talk to, and what timescale they’re prepared to talk about. Right now, Rubin’s message is clear. “The two things we think are most important in pushing PC VR forward right now are better and better content and better and better price”.Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan inspect a guard of honour during a welcome ceremony in Athens, Greece December 7, 2017. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that some details in the Treaty of Lausanne which established Turkey’s borders with its neighbours were unclear and that a lasting solution to issues in the Aegean and Cyprus was needed. Speaking alongside Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Athens during the first visit by a Turkish president to Greece in 65 years, Erdogan said protecting the rights of ethnic Turks within Greece’s borders was a priority for Turkey. He said Muslims in the Greek border region of Western Thrace were not able to choose their own chief mufti, while Christian communities in Turkey enjoyed greater freedom to choose their patriarchs, suggesting the 1923 Lausanne treaty was not being applied fairly. “How can we say Lausanne is in effect? Then Lausanne is not in effect. We need to prove Lausanne’s applicability by doing this.” In a tense back and forth between the two leaders, Erdogan also said Greece could not have entered the NATO without Turkey’s support.Philadelphia Union announced today that the club has signed trialist Matt Kassel. Per club and MLS policies, the terms of the deal will not be released. Kassel, a product of New York Red Bulls youth academy, spent the entire 2013 preseason with Philadelphia. In 2011, he signed with New York Red Bulls, becoming the club’s third-ever Home Grown player to join the senior roster. The 23-year-old spent last year with the USL side Pittsburgh Riverhounds, scoring six goals in 18 games. The Bridgewater, N.J. native spent three years at the University of Maryland, being selected as First-Team All-ACC as a junior (2010) and to the All-ACC Freshman team in 2008 when the Terrapins won the NCAA National Championship. While in college, Kassel made 68 appearances, scoring 11 goals and assisting 24 times. Name: Matt Kassel Position: Defender/Midfielder Number: 8 Age: 23 Height: 6-0 Weight: 172 Hometown: Bridgewater, N.J. Last Club: Pittsburgh RiverhoundsMelania Trump: From a small white house in Slovenia to the big one in DC Updated Sevnica, the Slovene town where Melania Trump grew up, only has a population of about 5,000,
Minister's initial comments struck a chord because it suggested an ideological opposition to Alberta's way of life. "In Alberta, this is what we do," she said. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement The federal government is expected to call two by-elections in Calgary to fill seats vacated by former prime minister Stephen Harper and former Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney, who is running for leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives. As Mr. Trudeau tried to contain the controversy over his oil sands remarks, he revealed new information related to another issue that has dogged him in recent weeks. In response to a direct question, Mr. Trudeau confirmed that he and his family vacationed on the Aga Khan's private Caribbean island over Christmas in 2014. Mr. Trudeau is already facing questions from the federal Ethics Commissioner over a similar trip during the most recent holidays. "The first time I went on vacation with the Aga Khan, I was 12 years old. It was a family trip with my father and my brothers and we had a wonderful time in Greece with him there. I have seen him many times since then for dinners, at his place, in various places around the world, and yes, in Christmas, 2014, I spent some time with him on Bell Island as well," Mr. Trudeau said Tuesday. The Prime Minister's Office declined to provide further information about the trip and whether it was disclosed to the Ethics Commissioner. A PMO spokesperson said Mr. Trudeau will answer any questions the commissioner may have about either of the visits to Bell Island. Another issue that came up during the wide-ranging news conference was Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi's request that Ottawa establish its proposed Canada Infrastructure Bank in Calgary. Story continues below advertisement "I can assure you that wherever the infrastructure bank is placed, it will have a strong impact right across the country," Mr. Trudeau said when asked to respond to the mayor's suggestion. "There are a number of cities that are eager to house the infrastructure bank, but we have not made any decisions at this point."iBeani is an award-winning tablet bean bag stand, designed to hold any size tablet, so that you don't have to! Position your iPad, tablet, eReader or book at any angle on any surface. Area Price Delivery Time UK FREE 2-3 working days Europe FREE 3-7 working days Rest of World FREE 5-10 working days For further detailed information on our delivery service, please see our delivery page We offer a hassle free 30 day money back guarantee as standard, with every purchase of an iBeani. If you would like to return your iBeani for any reason within 30 days of purchase, please contact us to arrange the return and full refund. Buy with confidence - We offer a 12 month warranty as standard with every purchase. In the extremely unlikely event that there are any issues with your iBeani (except general wear) within 12 months of purchase, please get in touch and we will repair or replace, free of charge.Phillip Kayser is pastor of the Dominion Covenant Church in Omaha, Nebraska, just across the border from Iowa. Yesterday, Rev. Kayser endorsed Ron Paul for President. The Paul campaign clearly welcomed the endorsement calling Kayser an “eminent pastor.” Ron Paul’s Iowa Chairman, Drew Ivers, commended Kayser’s view of Paul’s approach to government, saying “We welcome Rev. Kayser’s endorsement and the enlightening statements he makes on how Ron Paul’s approach to government is consistent with Christian beliefs. We’re thankful for the thoughtfulness with which he makes his endorsement and hope his endorsement and others like it make a strong top-three showing in the caucus more likely,” said Ron Paul 2012 Iowa Chairman Drew Ivers. Dr. Kayser has degrees in education, theology and philosophy/ethics. He is the author of over 40 books and booklets. The name of one organization that he founded describes well his ministry: Biblical Blueprints. His passion is to see the comprehensive blueprints of the Scriptures applied to science, civil government, education, art, history, economics, business, and every area of life. For his part, Kayser said he had some disagreements with Paul but endorsed Paul due to Paul’s views on limited government, non-intervention abroad and civics. Kayser said Paul’s view of civics is “far closer to Biblical civics than any of the other candidate’s…” Kayser’s endorsement and the Paul campaign’s response (“…how Ron Paul’s approach to government is consistent with Christian beliefs”) is of note because what Kayser believes about government. It appears that Kayser is a Christian reconstructionist (see this post about their views) who believes that the penalties associated with Mosaic law should be implemented today. Also, known as theonomy, the adherents generally believe biblical rules should be promoted by Christians in politics and implemented by legislation. Kayser’s work is promoted on the website Theonomy Resources which is run by Stephen Halbrook. I wrote about Halbrook’s book on biblical law here and noted that he promoted the idea that homosexuality, adultery, idolatry and rebellion in children should be considered capital offenses today (see What would dominionists do with gays? Part 3). In his own writing, Kayser has similar views. In defense of the death penalty, he writes: Whereas Hebrews 2:2 gives a blanket endorsement of all Old Testament penology as justice, the rest of the New Testament gives specifics. It teaches that homosexuals who come out of the closet are “worthy of death” (Rom. 1:32). It teaches that juvenile delinquents who abuse their parents can in certain circumstances “be put to death” (Mt. 15:3-9) and that rejection of this provision was to “transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition” (v. 3). Kayser nuances his teaching somewhat by saying the death penalty is not required by the Old Testament, but instead may be implemented by the state if parents press charges. Would the church of today receive the same scathing denunciation because we do not want the state to enforce this law? In America we have juvenile delinquents who threaten their parents, abuse their parents and keep their parents in constant fear. There should be some provision where this could be stopped. Keep in mind that in the Old Testament the parents couldn’t put their children to death, only the state could. On the other hand, the state couldn’t put them to death unless the parents testified against them. And there are many other checks and balances in Biblical jurisprudence that are outlined in Appendix A. But Christ gives no indication that this commandment has been annulled. Instead, he reproves those who would seek to annul it. Regarding gays, Kayser’s vision for a nation being restored to biblical law allows for a variety of responses: For example, in a society that was being converted, homosexuals could continue to be converted as they were in the church of Corinth. Even after a society implemented Biblical law and made homosexuality a crime, there are many checks and balances that would be in place. (See Appendix A page 40 for specifics.) The civil government could not round them up. Only those who were prosecuted by citizens could be punished, and the punishment could take a number of forms, including death. This would have a tendency of driving homosexuals back into their closets. (p. 24) I don’t know if Ron Paul believes this way or not, but Rev. Kayser and the Paul campaign certainly seem to endorse each other on their views of government. I think Rep. Paul should be asked if he would support the right of a state to implement such a system. If he is consistent with his past writings and current endorsers, I don’t know on what basis he would believe that a federal court could overturn laws recriminalizing homosexuality. Adultery is also listed by Kayser as a potential capital crime. Um, Newt… UPDATE: Phillip Kayser’s endorsement has been scrubbed from Ron Paul’s website. Related: What Does Ron Paul Really Believe About Gays? What do Dan Savage and AFTAH’s Mike Heath have in common?The United States will pledge an additional $40 million for Syrian opposition groups currently battling the Islamic State group and Syrian President Bashar Assad, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Wednesday. More than half of the funding will be allocated toward helping Syria’s moderate rebel groups “build the capacity of governing,” and eventually become a political solution to Syria’s blood-soaked civil war. “Bashar Assad wants you to believe that the Syrian people have two options only: support his murderous regime or face a Syria ruled by extremist thugs from groups like ISIL [Islamic State group] or [Jabhat] al-Nusra,” Kerry said. “But everybody in this room knows better.” Additional funding for moderate groups in Syria was one part of President Barack Obama’s four-point plan to combat the militant group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Of the $40 million, $15 million will cover communications equipment, new vehicles and living necessities for armed opposition groups in Syria. Also at the United Nations meeting Wednesday, Japan pledged $25.5 million in aid for Iraq and Syria, and Britain will provide $26 million in funding so that “moderate rebels consolidate their hold on territory they control,” according to Reuters. Syria’s opposition consists of the Syrian National Coalition and fighters in an array of armed groups. Rebels have been fighting a brutal battle against the Assad regime since the civil war broke out in 2011, which has only been made worse by ISIS’s territorial gains over the last few months. More than 191,000 people have died and at least 10.8 million Syrians are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. More than 50 nations have agreed in some capacity to join the U.S.-led coalition that aims to “degrade and destroy” ISIS, Kerry said. At least five of those 50 nations took part in the U.S.-led aerial campaign targeting ISIS and al Qaeda strongholds in Syria that began Monday. Critics of the U.S. strategy in Syria and experts on the region have warned that the air campaign could lead to territorial gains for the Assad regime. However, Kerry’s pledge Wednesday emphasized that the Obama administration was in no way trying to support Assad. “The moderate opposition remains Syria’s best hope,” Kerry said. “They’re the only option for Syria’s future that we are prepared to accept.”Citing records and interviews, The Times reports showed that Freeman, 42, funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of his union members’ hard-earned dues to his relatives and lavished similar sums on golf tournments, expensive restaurants and a Beverly Hills cigar club. The charges resulted from a nearly four-year investigation by the U.S. Labor Department, FBI and Internal Revenue Service that grew out of a series of reports in the Los Angeles Times on Freeman’s financial dealings as president of SEIU Local 6434. The resulting scandal spread through the 2-million-member SEIU and cost several other union officials their jobs. The 15-count indictment secured by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles also alleges that Freeman violated tax laws and gave false information to a mortgage lender. If convicted on all counts, he could face maximum prison sentences in excess of 200 years. On Tuesday, however, Freeman was indicted on federal charges of stealing from those workers to enrich himself, including by billing the union for costs from his Hawaii wedding. Freeman’s quick climb up the ranks of the powerful Service Employees International Union burnished his reputation as an effective advocate for the disadvantaged, a man who helped improve the lot of about 190,000 workers paid about $9 an hour to provide in-home care for the infirm. Not long ago, Tyrone Freeman was a rising young star in the national labor movement, already the head of California’s biggest union local and a force in Democratic politics from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. Last month, his wife pleaded guilty to an income tax charge in connection with more than $540,000 she received in union consulting payments at Freeman’s direction. Freeman has denied doing anything wrong. Abel Salinas, the Labor Department’s special agent in charge in L.A., said the indictment of Freeman demonstrates the government’s “commitment to investigating allegations of labor racketeering in our nation’s unions.” The SEIU ousted Freeman shortly after The Times disclosures and barred him from the union for life. In addition, it launched an internal inquiry whose findings were forwarded to the federal investigators. The indictment largely focuses on an alleged scheme in which Freeman illegally directed Local 6434 funds to another organization he led, the California United Homecare Workers, to pad his salary by $2,500 a month. He is similarly accused of stealing $17,000 from the local by pocketing funds he ordered paid to a union-affiliated nonprofit group devoted to providing housing for the poor. At the time, Freeman’s total annual compensation was more than $200,000, making him one of the highest paid union leaders in the nation. He is charged with three tax counts for allegedly failing to report about $100,000 in income from 2006 through 2008. According to the indictment, Freeman used his union credit card to cover more than $8,000 in expenses for his 2006 wedding in Honolulu. The count involving his mortgage alleges that he lied to Countrywide Bank by claiming the union paid his personal American Express bills and the leasing costs for his Land Rover. U.S. attorney spokesman Thom Mrozek would not comment on whether Freeman could face more charges. Mrozek said the investigation was ongoing. Sources close to the case said the indictment contains the most clear-cut allegations, but if Freeman is convicted, prosecutors could present at a sentencing hearing information about his use of other union funds. Still pending in state court is a civil lawsuit the union filed against Freeman and his wife, Pilar Planells, that seeks to recover more than $1.1 million they allegedly pilfered. The money allegedly financed Freeman's lifestyle of $175 glasses of cognac, $250 bottles of wine and a $3,400 trip to the NFL Pro Bowl. The Times also reported that Freeman routinely ordered employees of a charity he ran to work on campaigns for political candidates -- a practice barred by law -- according to people who said they participated in such activities. Freeman later denied to the Internal Revenue Service that the charity employees were required to do campaign work, said a person close to an IRS inquiry into the matter. Because they are subsidized by taxpayers, charities are forbidden to take part in campaigns for public office, directly or indirectly. Violations can cost charities their tax exemptions and lead to other penalties. Under Freeman, Local 6434 grew dramatically, largely because of a consolidation campaign spearheaded by SEIU’s then-president, Andy Stern, who had nurtured Freeman’s rise in the union. The local had 160,000 members during Freeman’s tenure--it now lists 180,000--and remains SEIU's biggest California chapter, the second largest in the nation. It has more members than many international unions. Freeman also represented 30,000 workers as president of the California United Homecare Workers. ALSO: Lawyers for Conrad Murray seek evidence review Lakers' Matt Barnes out on bail after allegedly threatening cop Man driving drunk in McDonald's drive-thru, Sacramento police allege -- Paul Pringle and Richard Winton Photo: Tyrone Freeman in 2008. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles TimesI was poking around data.gov, and found a dataset about the leading causes of death in New York City by Year, Sex, and Ethnicity. All of the following visualizations were created from that dataset. I broke down my visualizations into three parts, year, sex, and ethnicity each with three graphs. Some vocab you might want to keep in mind before you venture down further: A malignant neoplasm is essentially a cancerous tumor. Atherosclerosis is plaque build up in the arteries. And, nephritis, and other Neph prefixed words are diseases of the kidneys. First up we’ll look at Ethnicity, and get a sense for what the main causes of death are in NYC. Now, let’s look at the same graph with malignant neoplasms and diseases of the heart removed, so we can get a better look at the other causes of death. Lastly, how do these causes of death break down percentage wise? (Note you can use the Total variable to help understand how disease percentages vary for specific diseases from the whole data set) How do causes of death differ between sexes in NYC? Once, again we’ll remove malignant neoplasms and diseases of the heart. And percentage wise. Lastly, how did cause of death vary between 2007-2011: Some quick thoughts: Diseases of the heart and cancer are far and away the most common causes of death in New York City regardless of gender, ethnicity, and the year. Pneumonitis and Tuberculosis occur so rarely in New York City its impossible to tell how those causes of death are actually distributed across the traits investigated here simply because the sample size isn’t large enough. In case you wanted the general distribution of this population across these traits: code for graphics: #new york deaths #you'll notice me swithc between dpylr, data.table and plyr for my data manipulations #which I shouldn't do, but I just use the function that makes the most intuitive sense to me #Load libraries library(data.table) library(ggplot2) library(dplyr) library(RColorBrewer) library(plyr) library(scales) #read in data nycDeaths <- fread("/Users/nicholasbernstein/Downloads/New_York_City_Leading_Causes_of_Death.csv") #collapse Ethnicity variable COD <- ddply(nycDeaths,.(`Cause of Death`, Ethnicity), summarise, Count = sum(Count)) #bar flot count vs cause of death with ethnicity variable filling the bars EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Ethnicity)) #change y axis scale EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) #just some stylistic changes EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) #use colorbrewer for pallet and coord_flip to make graph more readable EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() #label axis and move the legen to the bottom EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathEthnicity.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) #everything else is just rinse and repeat COD <- filter(COD, `Cause of Death`!= "MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS", `Cause of Death`!= "DISEASES OF HEART") EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Ethnicity)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathEthnicityNoCancer.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) #recollapse to get dropped variables COD <- ddply(nycDeaths,.(`Cause of Death`, Ethnicity), summarise, Count = sum(Count)) #add total rows for reference setDT(COD) total <- COD[,sum(Count), by = Ethnicity] total$`Cause of Death` <- "TOTAL" setcolorder(total, c("Cause of Death", colnames(total)[1:2])) COD <- rbindlist(list(COD, total)) COD.dt <- as.data.table(COD) #add percentage column COD.dt[,`Percent of Disease`:=Count/sum(Count), by = list(`Cause of Death`)] COD <- as.data.table(COD.dt) EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`,Count), y = `Percent of Disease`)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Ethnicity)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Percent of Total Population") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathEthnicityBar.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) nycDeaths$Year<- factor(nycDeaths$Year) COD <- ddply(nycDeaths,.(`Cause of Death`, Year), summarise, Count = sum(Count)) EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Year)) EthCOD <- EthCOD #+ scale_x_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathYear.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) COD <- filter(COD, `Cause of Death`!= "MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS", `Cause of Death`!= "DISEASES OF HEART") EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Year)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathYearNoCancer.jpg", dpi = 500, width= 12, height = 7) COD <- ddply(nycDeaths,.(`Cause of Death`, Year), summarise, Count = sum(Count)) setDT(COD) total <- COD[,sum(Count), by = Year] total$`Cause of Death` <- "TOTAL" setcolorder(total, c("Cause of Death", colnames(total)[1:2])) COD <- rbindlist(list(COD, total)) COD.dt <- as.data.table(COD) COD.dt[,`Percent of Disease`:=Count/sum(Count), by = list(`Cause of Death`)] COD <- as.data.table(COD.dt) EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`,Count), y = `Percent of Disease`)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Year)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Percent of Total Population") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathYearBar.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) COD <- ddply(nycDeaths,.(`Cause of Death`, Sex), summarise, Count = sum(Count)) EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Sex)) EthCOD <- EthCOD #+ scale_x_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathSex.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) COD <- filter(COD, `Cause of Death`!= "MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS", `Cause of Death`!= "DISEASES OF HEART") EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Sex)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathSexNoCancer.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) COD <- ddply(nycDeaths,.(`Cause of Death`, Sex), summarise, Count = sum(Count)) setDT(COD) total <- COD[,sum(Count), by = Sex] total$`Cause of Death` <- "TOTAL" setcolorder(total, c("Cause of Death", colnames(total)[1:2])) COD <- rbindlist(list(COD, total)) COD.dt <- as.data.table(COD) COD.dt[,`Percent of Disease`:=Count/sum(Count), by = list(`Cause of Death`)] COD <- as.data.table(COD.dt) EthCOD <- ggplot(COD, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`,Count), y = `Percent of Disease`)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Sex)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Percent of Total Population") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/NycDeathSexPercent.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) EthCOD <- ggplot(nycDeaths, aes(x= reorder(Sex, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Sex)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Sex") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/SexCount.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) EthCOD <- ggplot(nycDeaths, aes(x= reorder(Year, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Year)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Year") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/YearCount.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) EthCOD <- ggplot(nycDeaths, aes(x= reorder(Ethnicity, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill=Ethnicity)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Ethnicity") + ylab("Death Count") + theme(legend.position="bottom") ggsave(EthCOD, file="/Users/nicholasbernstein/Desktop/EthnicityCount.jpg", dpi = 500, width = 12, height = 7) EthCOD <- ggplot(nycDeaths, aes(x= reorder(`Cause of Death`, Count), y = Count)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", aes(fill="steelblue")) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_y_continuous(labels = comma) EthCOD <- EthCOD + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = 'lightgrey'), panel.grid.major = element_line(colour = "white", size=.5)) EthCOD <- EthCOD + scale_fill_brewer(palette = "Dark2") + coord_flip() EthCOD <- EthCOD + xlab("Cause of Death") + ylab("Death Count") + guides(fill = FALSE) </pre> <pre>Patrick Ewing founded Ewing Athletics, his own line of branded basketball shoes, in 1989, after leaving Adidas. It released several iconic models — most notably the 33-Hi and the Eclipse, the sneaker that Ewing wore while murking the world with the Dream Team in 1992 — before folding in 1996. The company was relaunched in 2012. Last month, Ewing Athletics held an event in Manhattan’s Lower East Side to announce the reissue of the 1992 Ewing Eclipse Olympics shoe. Patrick Ewing was in attendance, and I spoke to him there. Are there any favorite memories from the Olympics? Well, you know, that’s the Dream Team. So we had some great memories. We kicked butts, took names. It was just a great time. The practices were more fun than the games. No one could beat us. We could only beat ourselves. You had me going against David [Robinson]; Michael [Jordan] going against Magic [Johnson] or Clyde [Drexler]. We pushed ourselves, and made ourselves better just by the fact that we were playing against each other every day. And now you work for Mike [Ewing is the associate head coach of the Charlotte Hornets]. What’s that like? It’s great. He’s not around day to day, but I talk with him from time to time. He’s a great owner. Obviously, he knows the game of basketball. He gives his opinion when needed. Or, when he feels that it’s needed. He’s a great owner. What’s it like seeing your Olympic shoes getting this kind of appreciation years later? I feel great. Not only that people still respect what I did, but also that David [Goldberg, of Ewing Athletics] put the shoes in the right places and helped to grow it. What do you think it is about the Eclipse that draws people to it? It’s an iconic shoe, and the Dream Team was an iconic team. That team, those players, were plastered all over the world. People were able to see me performing in it, and see the level of success that we had in that era, in those games, and those Olympics. You almost went to the Warriors (in 1991), before the Knicks brought in Pat Riley. What do you think of Kevin Durant joining them? That’s his decision. That’s what free agency is all about. He chose to go to a place where he could possibly win a title. He would’ve gotten the most money out of OKC, but he chose to go somewhere else. No one knows how it’s going to turn out. Or if they will win a championship again. But that’s a great team. They have the talent to stack up with the great Lakers teams, the great Celtics teams, with all these dominant players. I always wished the Knicks could’ve gotten you just any other guy who could reliably score 20 a game when you were not 35! [Laughs.] Do you ever imagine what it would be like if you were playing today? I think if I played today, it wouldn’t have been any different. I’d still be able to dominate the way I dominated my era. Probably even more. Because in my era, there were a lot more dominant bigs than there are now. The fact that I could score, rebound, play defense, block shots … would be a great asset to any team. You had that corner 3 against the Celtics too! [Laughs.] No, no, I’m not a 3-point shooter. I hit a few of them. Throughout my career I think I might have hit, maybe, 20. [Editor’s note: 19.] But I know where my bread was buttered. I was inside-out to about 17 feet. That’s it. How much space would you have had down low if you had Steph spacing the floor in the mid-’90s? So much. One of the the criticisms you hear is players today are too friendly with each other. Yet I remember you used to work out with Alonzo Mourning every summer. And when the season rolled around, you guys were trying to kill each other. When we played — me, Zo, Dikembe, Michael, whoever — we might have been friends off the court, but once we stepped on the court, it was all about trying to dominate that person. Trying to win. I’m not saying that these guys today aren’t trying to do the same thing. But, because of the AAU-type of atmosphere, everybody’s always traveling together, moving from city to city to join particular teams. There’s [more opportunities to become friendly] than back when I played. Could any of the post–Dream Team Olympic teams, including this one, have, not taken you guys, but given you a game at least? No. No. None of them could come close? Maybe they could come close, but none of them could beat us. Seven-game series, could they get a game? They’d get a win. That’s it.A view of the table setting during a press preview in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, ahead of Tuesday's State Dinner for French President François Hollande. First lady Michelle Obama's office gave the media, and by extension, the public, a peek at the elegant place settings, colorful flower arrangements and other details of the soiree. At least part of the evening's event will take place in a huge white tent going up on the South Lawn. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON (AP) — A slab of dry-aged rib eye beef, American caviar and salad representing the first lady's garden will be on the four-course menu for the elegant state dinner being given by President Barack Obama for French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday. The French president traveled to the U.S. alone on the heels of his very public break-up with Valerie Trierweiler, his longtime companion and de facto first lady. The seating arrangements weren't finalized and there was no word on who will occupy the seat that would have gone to Trierweiler, who once had been expected to attend. Tuesday night's bash, inside a huge white tent on the South Lawn, is the first state dinner of Obama's second term. The wine list is strictly American, with selections from California, Washington state and Virginia. So is the entertainment. Mary J. Blige, a nine-time Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, producer and actress born in the Bronx, N.Y., will perform for some 350 guests who will be seated at a modern-looking assortment of round, square and oblong tables inside the tent. White House social secretary Jeremy Bernard, who on Monday helped preview the dinner for U.S. and French media, explained the choice of Blige by saying she's an internationally known singer who can help celebrate someone like the first-term French president. Blige is an Obama supporter who performed at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. Hollande arrived in the U.S. on Monday and spent the afternoon with Obama touring Monticello, the Charlottesville, Va., home of President Thomas Jefferson, who was an early U.S. envoy to France. A formal welcoming ceremony will come Tuesday morning. As of Monday, one of the most oft-asked questions of any state dinner was still unanswered. Who will design Michelle Obama's gown? At the dinner, guests will first enter the White House and proceed through a receiving line to be greeted inside the oval-shaped Blue Room by Obama and his wife, before exiting and boarding an old-fashioned trolley for a ride to the tent for dinner and Blige's high-octane musical performance. The first course will feature American Osetra caviar, farmed from the estuaries of Illinois, paired with quail eggs from Pennsylvania and a dozen varieties of potatoes from farms in New York
you are surrounded by people who live, breathe, and build marketplaces. North America has the enterprise hubs Let's look at the breakdown of company types in the rest of the top 20: The companies that round out the top 10 follow the same pattern as the top 5. B2B companies are the most represented, followed by B2C companies and SaaS. London and Berlin also have a higher ratio of B2C companies than most in the top 20. Still no love for funded mobile companies in these hubs. Once we get out of the top 10, the breakdown starts to look a little different. E-commerce companies are more dominant in Paris, Sao Paulo, and Moscow. Sao Paulo and Bangalore follow Los Angeles as being hubs for B2C companies above B2B. The final five that round out the top 20 go back to being dominated by B2B/SaaS. In fact, with the exception of a few outliers, B2B/SaaS dominates in pretty much every top startup hub around the world. Whereas Tel Aviv isn't so good for marketplaces, it does seem good for enterprise companies. Along with Austin, Denver-Boulder, and Vancouver, it stands out at the head of the pack: Seven out of the top ten hubs for enterprise companies are in North America. This could be because this is where the majority of large corporations are headquartered. If you're looking to start a company that services these large organizations, then the best people and ideas are going to be in these cities. India is all about mobile and marketplaces Finally, let's check out the other interesting hubs: Delhi and Mumbai are the standouts here. Whereas all the others follow the B2B-dominant mold, both these cities have more B2C companies than B2B. They also both have a significant proportion of mobile and marketplace companies. When we map out and categorize these types of companies in the hubs around the world we can start to see a few patterns: The most striking pattern is that the bluer dots, denoting B2B, B2C, and SaaS are more dominant in North America, whereas the redder dots of e-commerce and marketplaces are in Asia. If we zoom in, we can see this more clearly. First, the bay area: Mostly green, particularly in Palo Alto and San Jose. There are red dots in the city proper though. Contrast that to Mumbai: More red and pink than green and blue, suggesting a dominance of marketplace companies and e-commerce companies in this hub. Again, these types of companies thrive on large populations, just what India has to offer. The same goes for the mobile sector: In Indian startup hubs, particularly Delhi, mobile startups are a higher proportion of all companies than elsewhere in the world. Over 10 percent of companies in Dehli are mobile companies. Compare that to less than one percent in Tel Aviv and Toronto. The three Indian cities we analyzed all make up the top three, suggesting that mobile companies are a more dominant sector in this country than anywhere else in the world. Mobile is huge in the developing world. India is now the second largest smartphone market, ahead of the US. And market penetration is still below 30%. Mobile developers in India have a gigantic consumer base and still plenty of room for growth. Localization Matters If you're sitting in a WeWork in SoMa, this isn't a clarion call to up sticks and relocate to Delhi. Silicon Valley is still the dominant startup hub for all sectors except mobile, where it comes third to New York and Bangalore. In most sectors it is the number one hub by some distance. But it should show that even in the hyper-globalized world of tech, where anyone in the world can use your product, where you base your company still matters. As tech diversifies into a myriad of different industries, tech hubs are starting to specialize. SV is still the king, but it might not be long before new founders are prioritizing LA for their B2C companies, Delhi for their mobile companies, and Austin for their enterprise companies when deciding which hub is going to be their home. If you are in one of these top hubs then you have access to all the people, ideas, and investment that startup hubs generate. If you are in one of the top hubs for your type of company, the support you get and the opportunities you have could be even greater.WHOEVER said you’re wasting your life away playing video games obviously had no idea how big e-sports were going to get. E-sports has become huge business over the past five years, with professional video gaming tournaments offering more prize money than some of sport’s biggest events. This year’s Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) 2 prize pool is currently sitting at nearly $US10.8 million and is expected to be up to $US15 million by the time the tournament actually starts. To put that into perspective, the prizemoney for winning the Superbowl is $US8.5 million, while the ICC Cricket World Cup offers $US10 million and UEFA’s Europa League $US9 million. The popularity of e-sports, in particular the game League of Legends in countries like South Korea, is staggering. Just last year, Chung-Ang University, one of South Korea’s top 10 universities, announced it would allow gamers to apply for athletic scholarships. The 2014 League of Legends championship was watched by more than 27 million people when broadcast on ESPN. Those numbers eclipsed the audiences for both game seven of last year’s baseball World Series (23.5 million viewers) and the decider of 2014’s NBA Finals (18 million). With big popularity and big money involved these days, more and more people across the world are considering pro-gaming as a genuine career. While some gamers have been making a living off their skills since the late 1990s, it wasn’t until 2010’s Starcraft II that things really changed. One of the first games built with e-sports squarely as its focus, Starcraft II became a true spectator sport. With the launch of video streaming services such as Twitch, e-sports was catapulted into the mainstream. “With Starcraft II, timing was critical,” the game’s executive producer Chris Sigaty told news.com.au. “We knew we were building an e-sport and the competitive nature combined with streaming coming into its own really helped catch viewership in Europe and North America. “The constant back and forth, and the ability for the team that looks down and out to come back again and again creates bigger moments more often than traditional sports.” Pro-gaming teams have event created their own “frat houses” at which gamers can spend their time honing their skills and training, both digitally and physically. Yes, physically. Most pro-gamers spend at least an hour or two a day exercising and keeping themselves in shape for big tournaments. If your reflexes and focus slacken during a big tournament, there’s no way you will win, so being fit and eating well is crucial. Gamers live and work together, devising tactics, working with coaches and preparing as diligently as any other traditional professional sporting team. “The best of the best dedicate themselves completely, they’re like traditional athletes,” Mr Sigaty said. While e-sports has been a huge money-spinner and success for his company, Mr Sigatay was the first to admit there was lots of work to be done to ensure the sport continued to grow. In Australia, the biggest challenge is infrastructure. Countries like South Korea and the USA have high-speed broadband that allows competitors to play and practice without the limitations of Australia’s relatively slow connection speeds. As more money is brought into the sport, it’s hoped traditional media companies and sponsors will invest money to help bring world class facilities to Australia’s shores. But even if that does happen — will e-sports be able to truly claim it is a “sport”? Fans argue that e-sports have all the spectacle, skill and competition of a basketball game. On top of that, e-sports has teams, star players, sponsors and millions of dedicated fans across the world. Even the US government grants professional athlete visas to top e-sports players. But e-sports cannot escape the argument that while it does require a significant amount of physical and mental skill to play, it lacks the athletic aspects of other professional sports. Professional sport? Or just an enjoyable spectacle? Have your say in the comments below or join the conversation on Twitter @harrytuckerr.Get the Audiobook The Enchiridion or The Handbook of Epictetus on our Books of Wisdom Audiobook app. The app includes many titles. Get it on Android – Get it on The App Store Collection of Audiobooks from some of the greatest thinkers. Authors Include: * Bertrand Russell * Epictetus * James Allen * Henry David Thoreau * Lao-Tzu * Marcus Aurelius * Seneca * More Added from time to time… Book Titles * As a Man Thinketh by James Allen: Allen’s books illustrate the use of the power of thought to increase personal capabilities. Although he never achieved great fame or wealth, his works continue to influence people around the world, including the New Thought movement. * The Enchiridion or The Handbook of Epictetus, By Epictetus: Although the content is similar to the Discourses of Epictetus, it is not a summary of the Discourses but rather a compilation of practical precepts. * Analysis of Mind by Bertrand Russell: Philosopher, mathematician and social critic, Bertrand Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. In The Analysis of Mind, one of his most influential and exciting books, Russell presents an intriguing reconciliation of the materialism of psychology with the antimaterialism of physics. This book established a new conception of the mind and provided one of the most original and interesting externalist accounts of knowledge * De Brevitate Vitae (frequently referred to as On the Shortness of Life in English) by Seneca is a moral essay written by Seneca the Younger in 49 AD, a Roman Stoic philosopher, to his father-in-law Paulinus. * The Epistulae morales ad Lucilium (English: Moral Epistles to Lucilius / Moral Letters Vol I) by Seneca is a collection of 124 letters which were written by Seneca the Younger at the end of his life. * Intro to Metaphysics by Henri Bergson: An Introduction to Metaphysics (Introduction a la Metaphysique) is a 1903 essay by Henri Bergson that explores the concept of reality. For Bergson, reality occurs not in a series of discrete states but as a process similar to that described by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Reality is fluid and cannot be completely understood through reductionistic analysis, which he said “implies that we go around an object”, gaining knowledge from various perspectives which are relative. Instead, reality can be grasped absolutely only through intuition, which Bergson * Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: The Tao Te Ching, along with the Zhuangzi, is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism, and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Daoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners, have used the Daodejing as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, and it is among the most translated works in world literature * The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: The 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180. * Walden by Henry David Thoreau: First published in 1854, Walden details Thoreau’s experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau used this time to write his first book. Marcus Aurelius Meditations, Stoic Philosophy, Taoism, and MorePhoto illustration by Juliana Jiménez. Photo by Hiroaki Shibata/Thinkstock. Pet owners, you know the look: Your cat hears you pouring the Purina, and suddenly she’s all ears. As she stops in her tracks and turns to face you, her ears swivel straight toward the sound of all those salmon-flavored bits cascading into the bowl. This is your cat’s listening face, all senses trained on the all-important event happening before her. Feed me. Right. Meow. It turns out that humans may do the very same thing! Well, kind of. Remarkably, our brains still retain the ancient neural circuitry that let our mammalian ancestors control the movement of their ears. Steve Hackley, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Missouri, reviews the evidence in a paper in the journal Psychophysiology. The existence of this “evolutionary fossil” is a reminder that humans evolved from species that utilized their ears more fully to assess important, loud, or startling noises, and to express emotions like fear and rage. While people have studied the vestigial muscles of the pinnae—a fancy word for ears—since the early 1900s, no one had yet pulled the information together to come up with a cohesive explanation, says Rickye Heffner, a psychologist at the University of Toledo who specializes in the evolution of hearing. The analysis was “clever and convincing,” says Heffner, who was not involved in the study. To understand our ear-orienting abilities, Hackley combed through more than 60 published studies on vestigial ear muscles. When humans were startled with an unexpected sound behind them, the studies revealed, muscles behind the corresponding ear twitched to attention. In other studies, shifting the gaze to the right or left triggered a subtle curling of the ears. Finally, when people were asked to complete a reading task but were distracted with the sound of typing, sawing, or bird song, researchers found bursts of ear muscle activity. Of course, modern human ears are firm and their muscles are weak, so no amount of muscle activity was likely to move them. But that didn’t stop our ears from trying! The subjects’ ear muscles rose to attention, as if they were “unconsciously trying to orient their ears toward the relevant sounds,” Hackley wrote. Aside from a few modern people who have the uncanny ability to wiggle their ears, “such attempts are in vain,” he added. So the question is: Why do we still have brain space devoted to it? To answer that question, we have to take a quick detour into evolution. In short: You are a living fossil. (I don’t mean that to be rude.) While evolution selects for traits that are useful and allows the ones that are not to drift away, it’s hardly efficient about the process. As it tries out various features only to discard them, it leaves countless traces behind. And so you contain the evolutionary remnants of millennia, from your useless tailbone to your unnecessary appendix to your disease-prone tonsils to wisdom teeth to the way your skin goose bumps in chilly weather (it still thinks it has fur to keep you warm). We call these remnants “vestigial structures.” And the system for controlling our ears is doubtless among them. Recently, many supposedly useless vestigial structures—like the appendix and the spleen—have been shown to actually not be so useless. But the ear-orientation circuit appears to be one of the clearest examples we have of a completely unnecessary feature left behind by evolution, say Hackley and Heffner. “The brain is astonishingly expensive,” Hackley says. “The fact that it would keep doing something like this, which is useless—that’s pretty surprising.” The existence of ear-orienting neural circuits adds to the story of how we evolved from species whose ears could pivot and curl. The story goes something like this: Early mammals probably developed ear-orienting abilities more than 150 million years ago. When our primate ancestors became diurnal, we began to rely more on vision than sound to pinpoint important stimuli, says Heffner. So while cats and the amazing fennec foxes and more distantly related mammals like marsupials kept their ability to orient their ears—think of big-eared cuties like koalas, lemurs, bush-babies—apes and humans lost the skill. Yet the circuits for ear-orientation remained intact, buried in your nervous system just waiting for scientists to find. Part of the study’s strength stemmed from the fact that Hackley compared our ears to that of an array of other species, including bats, foxes, cats, and dogs. “So many scientists tend to focus on a single species,” says Heffner. “You can gain a lot of perspective on humans by comparing what we have and what we do with what other animals do. If you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t know what’s so special about us.”Screenshot: Facebook POČETKOM ljeta osoba s nadimkom "MR. Nobody" otvorila je stranicu na Facebooku na koju je postavljala fotografije djevojaka i djevojčica s područja istočne Hrvatske nazivajući ih pogrdnim nazivima. Osvanulo je tada više grupa s nazivima "Vinkovačke drolje, "Vinkovačke kurve", i slično, a kako je Facebook gasio stranicu po stranicu tako su otvarane nove. S obzirom da je osoba postavljala na stranicu fotografije koja je skidala s Facebook profila djevojaka policija nije mogla ništa učiniti, već su roditelji maloljetnih djevojaka ili one ako su prešle 18. morali podnijeti privatne tužbe kako bi se počinitelja gonilo. No, to nisu učinili. Početkom listopada ponovno je otvorena grupa na kojoj sada Mr. Nobody uz fotografije djevojaka objavljuje i linkove na njihove profile. Uz neke piše i "cijena po satu". "Ekipa, Pozdrav! Kao što i sami možete viditi, vratili smo se. Imali smo kratkotrajnu pauzu,no to sad više i nije bitno. NOVO! Novo što ćemo promijeniti je objava fotografija,drugim riječima uz svaku droljetinu će biti njezin LINK PROFILA. NEMA GAŠENJA!", poručio je Mr. Nobody prilikom otvaranja profila. Tekst se nastavlja ispod oglasa Grupa je prijavljena Facebook administratorima. Policija je u lipnju objavila savjete roditeljima i djeci na koje ponovno podsjećamo. Savjeti roditeljima: ukoliko vaše dijete ima otvoren profil na nekoj društvenoj mreži i vi otvorite profil na istoj mreži i budite prijatelj svom djetetu; ako se ne znate koristiti društvenom mrežom neka vas vaše dijete pouči tome; objasnite djeci da su osim njihovih prijatelja korisnici društvenih mreža i osobe koje mogu imati loše namjere te da stoga ne objavljuju osobne podatke koji se lako mogu zlouporabiti; budite sigurni da vaše dijete razumije osnove sigurnosti i privatnosti na internetu; savjetujte svom djetetu da mu prijatelji budu osobe koje poznaje u stvarnom životu, odnosno, da oprezno prihvaća zahtjeve za novim prijateljstvima; povremeno zajedno s djecom prokomentirajte aktivnosti na društvenoj mreži, neka vaša djeca znaju da ste zainteresirani i za njihov virtualni život; djeca nerijetko putem društvenih mreža igraju igrice od kojih neke mogu stvarati nerealnu sliku o stvarnim životnim situacijama (primjerice: učestalo dobivanje čipova na poker igrici može dijete potaknuti na razne igre sreću i klađenja u stvarnom životu); prekomjerno provođenje vremena u igranju igrica i komunikaciji putem društvenih mreža može izazvati stvarnu ovisnost i bitno utjecati na kvalitetu djetetova života; na svim društvenim mrežama postoje sigurnosni mehanizmi koji služe zaštiti svih korisnika - naučite se koristiti njima; obično se pokraj svake poruke, posta, objavljene fotografije nalazi link klikom na koji možete prijaviti neprimjereni sadržaj; moderatori ili administratori mreže će razmotriti vašu primjedbu i ukloniti s mreže neprimjereni sadržaj; autor, odnosno osoba koja je objavila sporni sadržaj, neće znati tko je prijavio sporni sadržaj; također, na većini društvenih mreža postoji sigurnosna opcija blokiranja određenih korisnika; Savjeti mladim korisnicima:To The Tune Of: Jerry Goldsmith – Total War This was an 10,000 word interview on 10/8/2011 conducted for a feature written for PC Gamer; it covers the entire history of Creative Assembly. We used so little of it, I’m putting the rest up here for kicks. Interviewees: James Russell – Lead Designer Total War series – tenor nerdy. Joined 2004. Mike Brunton: Head Writer – confusingly normal. Joined 2003. Jamie Ferguson – Battle Lead Designer on Shogun II: Total War – baritone loud. Joined 2000. Kevin McDowell – Lead Art Designer on Total War – Canadian, quiet voice. Joined 2000. Mike Simpson – Creative Director – softly spoken. Joined 1996. What was Total War’s prehistory? Mike Simpson -Started off as typical 80s bedroom programmer, doing conversions for various publishers, specialising in PC conversions; Geoff Crammond: Stunt Car Racer and Shadow of the Beast and Microcosm. Other Psygnosis then ended up doing sports games for EA as the bread and butter work. I was his producer back then, working for Psygnosis. We’d worked together for a long, long time – since 1990 maybe. And I still like working with him. And after that he went on to do EA stuff – was that when the studio became more than one person? Mike Simpson: He expanded up to the giddy heights of five, doing things like the first version of FIFA on PC. First game ever to have play-by-play commentary. He went on to a whole bunch of other minority sports; rugby, cricket and Australian Rules football. When I joined, the idea was that I’d start another team doing something different. And was that other team the one that was eventually going to do Shogun? Mike Simpson: Originally, we were going to do a role-playing game based on Monkey, the TV series, in Singapore, as there were huge government tax breaks. But they turned out to not be quite as attractive as they looked on paper, so we stayed where we were and ended up not doing Monkey at all but ended up doing Shogun. The main reason for that was that Command & Conquer had spawned a whole bunch of clones while we were working on our RPG, like Kill, Crush and Destroy, which sold really well. We looked at that and thought that’s so easy to write, we can really do that. So we set off with the intention of making a B-grade C&C clone. As time went on, firstly the 3DFX card came out, which made 3D graphics possible on a PC in anything other than straight lines. Maybe instead of a traditional RTS top-down view, we can have a spline-based landscape, put the camera lower down and surprisingly that would work. It wasn’t designed to be Shogun right from the start; it kind of evolved into it. I found it amazing as I’ve never heard anyone describe their games as B grade… you were setting out to make a clone? Mike Simpson: No, that wasn’t the game, that was our ambition! What was original about Shogun, besides making it 3D? What else was original? Mike Simpson: Right from the start we wanted to be different so rather than having a small number of third unit’s tanks, or whatever, we were going to have lots and lots of little ant-like men, that was the original idea. So it would still be top down, but the men would be like little ants, flocking away. We did some mock ups of that that looked pretty good, but once we got a 3D battlefield with that, suddenly you were making a battlefield look like a proper battlefield. Nobody had done that before. Why did you think you wanted to do it with the Sengoku era of Japan? Why that particular era, was there someone who was a big Japanese geek in the office? Mike Simpson: It gave us all the things we needed to make a decent game out it, things like American contact, we thought Samurai against guns, so we liked that. They also had a really good tech race in that period, going from medieval weaponry to guns by the end of the period and it also had a scenario where there were lots and lots of different factions many of whom could have won. The one that actually did win was pretty unlikely after where it started from. From that point of view it was perfect, but I guess if you really asked us, we just wanted to do that. Mike Brunton: There were some practicalities as well. When you think about it, the Samurai guy has a nice banner on his back so you can see who he is. They all look the same apart from having different cloaks on their back to make them look good…. It sounds silly but it counted for something in those days. You know, when you’ve got 64MB on a graphics card, you need to think about these things. There were other technologies as well, it was a good period. It had good subjects; it just happens to be the technology that was available at the time. So were there any other games you were looking at the time going, I wish we’d made that? Mike Simpson: Not really, I don’t think we do that. We do the opposite sometimes. Jamie Ferguson: It sometimes acts as a good indicator of where NOT to go. Not to say there aren’t loads of really great games out there. We’re all gamers; we’ve played loads of games. James Russell: We just want to do our own thing. Did you just use it as an excuse to watch loads of Akira Kurosawa movies? Mike Simpson: Yeah, we did do that! So originally it was a low risk, B grade game. How did EA react to you asking for extra time and money to make it very high spec for 3D cards that almost nobody has? Mike Simpson: Well, they let us do it… we went back with a pitch for what we wanted to produce and how much better it was than the original idea. It did make sense. They went ahead with it. So, you got your first big hit. Where do you go from there? How come you stayed with Total War instead of sports or porting? Mike Simpson: Well, there were still [ports] going on. There was still the other team there, still working on sports games, at that point. The studio’s always had the two teams, Total War and the other team doing more action oriented games. Why did we continue? Partly it never occurred to us to stop. We’ve not stopped having fun making them, to date. Jamie Ferguson: Making total war, because of the whole team dynamic, is actually a really exciting and fun experience. If you’re having fun doing something, and it makes money, why stop? How big was the studio by the time you started making Total War? Mike Simpson: The Shogun team gradually grew, the core of the team ended up being about 15 people. It might’ve gone up to about 20 by the time we finished. When we finished, certainly we decided that we wanted to …not to desert the team, or take apart all the stuff we’d done, but we also wanted to do a more revolutionary game which was going to take a lot longer so we actually started them both at the same time. Rome and Medieval 1 started at the same time and then we had two separate teams working on it. Kevin McDowell: I think Rome actually started literally one month later than Medieval started, in 2001… August 2001. When I started working here I was working on importing Australian Rules Football pitches from PC to Playstation. Lots to do. The day that we finished, EA called up and said “Actually, we’re not going to publish this game” so the next day I started working on Rome. A new team was built up for Rome, and the Shogun team mostly went on to working on Medieval. Mike Simpson: At the end of Medieval, the teams merged together. That was about a year […] I assume at this point you’re not working out of Ansell’s bedroom anymore? Mike Brunton: We’d taken over his kitchen as well by that point. Mike Simpson: We were in a little village just outside of Horsham. A self-contained building there. Jamie Ferguson: It was quite a good office to work in because there was a country pub across the road, and a pub on the other side of the other road, and wasps, loads of wasps in the air conditioning! Kevin McDowell: Not so good if you didn’t drive. I drove, but a lot of people had to take the bus from Horsham to get to work. The bus was not a very [fluid?] journey in Sussex. Mike Simpson: We’re better off here. When did you move there, when you were starting on Shogun or before? Mike Simpson: A little bit after that. We worked a little bit on Shogun in a small industrial unit out of Horsham somewhere. Then you made the first of your expansions. The expansions all had the same formula: here’s the world, then all the barbarians come in and kill everyone. Was that conscious, or was it just easier to stick an overwhelming force into a world and challenge the players to face off against it? Mike Brunton: I think it was your Britannia message that caused that. Jamie Ferguson: There’s also probably another psychological reason. Once you’ve been working on a project for a few years, what you want to do to it… …You made something beautiful and you wanted to destroy it? Jamie Ferguson: Basically, yes! It seemed like a good idea at the time. You did your first game, the expansion, then you split with EA. Was that because you wanted to go your own way and you felt you could move on? Mike Simpson: Between Tim & EA and Activision, I think Activision made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Then you started on Medieval. It was originally called Crusader. Why did you change the name? Mike Brunton: I think it was political sensitivity. It also expanded out. At one point it was The Crusades, and that was it, and then it was ah! But all these calls could happen in Europe, all these calls could happen in Germany, and oh, it’s not really about Crusades any more. It was a completely rubbish name. That was something else. Kevin McDowell: I’m going to interject here and tell you that Rome was originally titled Imperator. Do you remember that? Mike Brunton: Yeah, for about 2 days Mike Simpson: Oh… that was a terrible title. Kevin McDowell: Well, I had the task of making the logo for it. I was saying, “That doesn’t work, Emper-rar-tor”. It had about 9 letters or something, and it sounded STUPID. Mike Simpson: Medieval just summed it up, because that’s what the period was. It started it what, 1087 give or take, and went up to 1453. Now that is pretty much the high Middle Ages. It covered everything from the Anglo-French assorted wars of the period, then all that comes to an end, all the way through to the […] and the final collapse of what was the Roman Empire. So the best way of describing it was Medieval. You could play it as any of the Arab powers, or any of [the …. powers]; you could do whatever you wanted. The game played differently, that’s what it did do from Shogun. Shogun, your starting position made a difference, your one or two specialist units but that was it. Because that was just one of the tasters of being in Japan. That everybody did the same in Japan and exactly the same way as each other. If you did a game called “England” you’d expect the same traps everywhere. I guess that was a big difference in the reception between Medieval and Shogun. There were only mild differences between the factions in Shogun, and you could complete it. I don’t think I ever completed a campaign in Medieval, because it was so huge and had a wealth of complexity. Jamie Ferguson: It was quite a long game to play to complete. If you got stranded on an island somewhere and couldn’t get a port, you lost all communication with the rest of your empire. The classic mistake everybody made was to invade the island, and then wonder why they couldn’t get off again. There were little bits like that in there… but I think it was easier to explain as far as history went because everyone understands Knights and Damsels and all that stuff. Jamie Ferguson: It didn’t matter what your cultural background was, you could be Russian or German. You could be Saladin, you could be anybody there, you had that archetype already there in your mind, that made the game a lot easier to pick up and understand Also I think it appeals to something particularly British, we love re-enacting things. There’s something wonderfully nerdy about how we approach history in this country, and Medieval really appeals to that for the UK market. Jamie Ferguson: I think also the Germans also have a similar approach to war gaming, from the strategic side. The whole thing of filling in the map in your colour is a very strong motivator. Are you saying Germans like invading places? All: Uh… aahhh…. Mike Brunton: Germans actually tend to like playing the strategy side of the of the campaign map over all the other platforms. They love all that intricate building your camp up, making sure you’ve got all the right buildings in all every area to maximise the bonuses. Jamie Ferguson: …and then maximising your economy to get the most amount of money coming in. Mike Brunton: Whereas the Greeks will just go AWWW I want some more monuments all over the place. Do you find that there’s a breakdown of behavioural patterns of different nations within your games? Obviously this is generalising. Let’s not draw moral lessons from this. Mike Simpson: There’s definitely a tendency but not something we’d use one way, a set of rules. Mike Brunton: We must be doing something right about the countries, because every nation complains that we KNOW their country. Everybody complains about that. Except Americans who complain that they’re not IN the game. James Russell: The biggest complaints are when the country’s not in the game, especially in the more modern settings like Empire, people get very upset. Jamie Ferguson: We’ve had a lot of complaints about our descriptions of the British. The whole thing of the “nation of shopkeepers” observations from foreign powers at the time, we were trying to create the atmosphere of the period. How a faction looks at the other factions. Mike Brunton: The fact that people didn’t actually like the British, they thought they were boorish oiks quite frankly, worried about whether they’d amount to something and whether or not they looked good. …that and the poxy board game thing. Did you draw a lot from the board games, there was one about Feudal Japan wasn’t there? Mike Brunton: Funnily enough, it was called Shogun. Jamie Ferguson: They did a few; there was one called Samurai Swords, one called Shogun… Mike Simpson: There’s a reissue now of Shogun that’s called something different. James Russell: We are to some extent inspired by board games. Board games are almost perfect examples of the type; they end up taking complicated concepts and forming them into some really simple method, which is kind of what we aim to do. ??? (Mike Simpson?): On a computer, particularly a modern machine, you can make something quite satisfying to look at, interesting to watch, but with not a huge amount of game play, where a board game doesn’t have that ability, it has to be distilled pure game play. So yeah, we’ve played board games quite a lot. There are a lot of lunch times we’ve had groups playing all sorts of board games. I think it’s a really good way to think about game rules generally. Jamie Ferguson: We also war game as well, the members of staff who mainly go and carry out war game sessions with friends will join events and clubs, so our history in terms of war games that have ever been played, we try and look everywhere and see what we can take from all of those elements and what we can create that’s new out of that. Mike Simpson: Pen and paper role play as well… I’m still extremely upset you’ve never made a Warhammer game… All : HAHAHAHA (muttered: Never gonna happen) James Russell : We’ve got loads of things that we think about doing, there are just so many different eras and
player to use three buttons and a joystick for batting, baserunning, and pitching, although their vision was in some ways more ambitious than the technology allowed. The game, which was later ported to Super NES and the handheld Atari Lynx, made it to market in 1992, when Eckersley again led the majors with 51 saves, this time winning the Cy Young and the MVP Award (the latter of which relievers have been locked out of ever since). Without the save-driven hoopla that fueled those awards, Relief Pitcher wouldn’t have happened. “The idea of being a relief pitcher might have been less attractive without the contemporaneous hype around the closers of that era — just like Angry Birds would probably have failed if there wasn’t something inherently cool about angry birds,” Lipson adds. “So even if it didn’t drive the design, it made it more likely to succeed.” Hally doesn’t remember making an explicit link between Eckersley, the rise of the one-inning save, and the premise for Relief Pitcher, but he thinks there had to be a subconscious connection. “It was part of the time,” he says. “It was like, that’s what’s going on in baseball, so why not insert it into a baseball game?” Despite the marketing materials’ promise that it would be “the best baseball game ever,” Relief Pitcher wasn’t exactly a smash. “I had fun, but I don’t think I got much of a bonus for it, and I doubt Atari made much,” Lipson says. “It should have been on every bar top in the country, along with Shuuz. Hell if I know why that never happened.” Maybe America wasn’t quite ready for a video game starring a Glavine-rip-off reliever, any more than it was ready for a football game featuring Adam Vinatieri or a basketball franchise that let the player serve as sixth man. But baseball was ready for the reliever’s ascendance, and Relief Pitcher — a cultural artifact unearthed from its era’s archaeological record — reflects that. Relievers have benefited from a rebranding effort better than Burberry’s, which whitewashed their old identity as washed-up starters and gave them their own renown as high-status specialists who excel in an equally indispensable role. The campaign began with the official adoption of the save stat in 1969, and it’s still paying off this postseason, even as the save belatedly loses its luster. You might not have heard of or played Relief Pitcher, but by existing at all, it marked a milestone step in the reliever’s transformation from appendix of the pitching staff to larger-than-life leading man — and, to the team that’s trailing late, formidable final boss.Shedding new light on the controversy over the NSA terrorist surveillance program, the journalist who has served as the mouthpiece for former NSA contract employee Edward Snowden has addressed several Marxist-Leninist conferences over the last few years. New Zealand writer and researcher Trevor Loudon reports that Glenn Greenwald spoke to the Socialism 2011 conference and ended the evening of July 3, 2011, as part of a plenary entitled “Revolution and imperialism in the Middle East.” Prior to Glenn Greenwald’s talk to the group, on civil liberties under President Obama, people in attendance chanted “Palestine will be free” and “Wars of occupation will never bring liberation.” Greenwald is also a featured speaker at the Socialism 2013 conference in Chicago this month. “That Greenwald was willing to address a gathering of some of the most revolutionary, anti-American elements in the country speaks volumes about his personal views,” noted Loudon. “So Glenn Greenwald, the man who leaked America’s vital national security secrets on a massive scale, may not be the objective, impartial journalist he portrays himself to be.” Indeed, the emerging evidence is that Greenwald, who writes for the British Guardian newspaper, works hand-in-glove with the International Marxist movement against the United States and its allies. This would help explain why China, Russia and other American adversaries and enemies stand to benefit from his disclosures. As we have reported, Greenwald proudly accepted an award named in honor of Soviet agent and left-wing journalist I.F. Stone. He has encouraged people to donate money to WikiLeaks, the organization started by Julian Assange that disclosed classified information about U.S. counter-terrorism programs. Assange worked for Moscow-funded Russia Today (RT) before being granted asylum in the London embassy of the Marxist government of Ecuador. Greenwald’s source in the NSA controversy, a former NSA contractor named Edward Snowden, is hiding out in Chinese Hong Kong and has been offered asylum in Russia. Greenwald has attended the socialism conferences since at least 2011, saying, “As someone who speaks at all sorts of political gatherings every year, I can say with certainty that no event assembles more passionate activism, genuine expertise, and provocative insights than the Socialism Conference. This will be my third straight year attending, and what keeps me coming back is how invigorating and inspiring it is to be in the midst of such diverse and impressive activists.” The Socialist Worker website, associated with this year’s conference, features the headline, “A world to win,” paying homage to Marx and Engels, and The Communist Manifesto. The conferences are officially sponsored by the Center for Economic Research and Social Change (publisher of International Socialist Review and Haymarket Books), and co-sponsored by The International Socialist Organization (publisher of Socialist Worker). The International Socialist Organization (ISO) is one of America’s main Trotskyist/ Marxist-Leninist parties. It says, “We stand in the Marxist tradition, founded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and continued by V.I. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky.” It is not clear if Greenwald is an actual member of the group or simply gives them aid and comfort. But a video of Greenwald’s 2011 remarks, posted by the International Socialist Organization, shows him speaking in front of a big conference banner proclaiming socialism. In the talk, he defends WikiLeaks and Julian Assange against charges they illegally released classified information from Bradley Manning, the Army analyst on trial for espionage and aiding the enemy. He also denounced the Tea Party for opposing Obamacare. According to one account from the 2011 conference, Egyptian activist and organizer Bessan Kassab “spoke about US imperialism in Egypt” and “concluded by saying that the Egyptian revolutionaries are committed to a real revolutionary future in Egypt, to fighting imperialism, Zionism and are in support of armed resistance.” Greenwald will be speaking to the ISO’s annual conference this year, at the end of this month, in Chicago. Greenwald, along with Jeremy Scahill, will conduct an “urgent discussion about the attack on civil liberties, U.S. imperialism, and how we can fight back.” This year’s sessions include: Trotsky on the united front Lenin on self-determination Frederick Engels, the family, and social reproduction The relevance of the Communist Manifesto today Harry Braverman’s Labor and Monopoly Capital Leon Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution Under the category of “Struggle in the Middle East,” we find the following sessions: U.S. imperialism in the Middle East after the Arab Spring The new movement against Israeli apartheid The struggle for Palestine Israel, Zionism, and imperialism What happened to the Egyptian Revolution? Greenwald is a hero to the Marxists for challenging the NSA and “the surveillance state.” One account says, “During a speech at the Socialism 2012 conference, Greenwald called the creeping surveillance state—with the expansive NSA hoarding complex at its center—an impediment to any efforts to meaningfully challenge the political status quo.” It appears to be the case that Greenwald—and apparently his “source,” Edward Snowden—see the NSA, the spy agency created in 1948, as standing in the way of the worldwide victory of “anti-imperialist” forces. On Wednesday, at a hearing on Capitol Hill, Army Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, said the terrorist surveillance programs helped thwart dozens of terrorist attacks on the United States and its allies. The evidence of Greenwald’s involvement with the international Marxist movement puts his attacks on the NSA’s terrorist surveillance programs in a new light. But will those who jumped on the Snowden bandwagon reevaluate their support for him now that the involvement of Marxist groups and hostile forces in Snowden’s cause has become impossible to ignore?The following provides a basic outline of how Freemasonry is structured and how members are committed by their oaths, as well as how member... http://humansarefree.com/2016/12/freemasons-luciferians-they-are-bound.html The following provides a basic outline of how Freemasonry is structured and how members are committed by their oaths, as well as how members are introduced to Luciferianism in the higher degrees. It also lists other secret societies that are directly connected to Masonry through overlapping memberships, and explains a little bit about how they are connected and the differences between them. A list of references and suggested reading is also provided. The entry level of Masonry is the Blue Lodge, which consists of the first three degrees: These other secret societies include but are not limited to: The Order of the Illuminati The Origins of FreemasonryDeath of the New Zealand squadron leader means just two crew members remain from the 1943 Dambusters bombing raids The last surviving pilot from the Dambusters raids has died at the age of 96. Les Munro died on Tuesday morning in hospital in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty in his native New Zealand. His death means there are just two survivors from the 1943 bombing raids on Germany’s Ruhr dams: George “Johnny” Johnson, from the UK, who was a bomb-aimer; and Canadian front-gunner Fred Sutherland. In a statement, the New Zealand Bomber Command Association announced the “extremely sad news”, saying: “Our New Zealand Bomber Command Association patron, and well known Dambuster pilot, Les Munro passed away last night following a spell in hospital with heart problems. So, so sad. He was a mighty man.” Along with Leonard Chambers, who died in 1985, John Leslie Munro was one of two New Zealand members of the Dambusters crew. He joined the Royal New Zealand air force in 1941, qualifying as a pilot the following year. On 16 May 1943, as part of 617 squadron, Munro piloted a Lancaster bomber in Operation Chastise, later immortalised as the Dambusters raids. Although Munro’s aircraft suffered flak damage and was forced to turn back before it could carry out its attack on the Sorpe dam, the raids were successful in devastating the Möhne and Edersee dams. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Les Munro, the last surviving pilot from the Dambusters raids has died at the age of 96 The effects of the so-called bouncing bombs caused catastrophic flooding in the Ruhr valley, destroying hydroelectric power stations and factories. More than 1,600 people on the ground are thought to have been killed. Of the 133 crew members who took part in the raids, 53 were killed. Munro was among those who were awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his part in the attack. New Zealand prime minister John Key led the tributes on Tuesday, calling Munro “a remarkable man who led a remarkable life”. John Key (@johnkeypm) Really sad to hear of Les Munro’s death, New Zealand has lost a remarkable man who led a remarkable life. Air vice-marshal Mike Yardley, head of the New Zealand air force, also paid his respects: After the war, Munro returned to New Zealand and later became mayor of Waitomo district, on the north island. Peter Wheeler, administrator for the New Zealand Bomber Command Association, said: “To lose someone is always difficult, but to lose someone like Les, who had a special aura, is pretty tough. “In our association the youngest is 89. We look to people like Les and we think they are invincible. But we have a feeling in bomber command that they could have died 70 years ago.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Les Munro in Germany during the Second World War,. Photograph: New Zealand Bomber Command Assoc/PA Earlier this year, Munro announced his intention to sell his war medals, hoping to raise £50,000 for the upkeep of the Bomber Command memorial, which commemorates the 55,573 men who died in the second world war bombing campaign. Lord Ashcroft, the Tory peer who endowed London’s Imperial War Museum with the world’s largest collection of Victoria Cross medals, donated £75,000 to the memorial to allow Munro instead to donate his gallantry awards to the Museum of Transport and Technology (Motat) in Auckland. At a ceremony at Motat in April, Munro handed over his gallantry medals, flight logbooks and other wartime memorabilia. “I am comforted by the thought of my medals being situated in close proximity to the Lancaster at Motat as I flew all but one of my operations in these planes,” he said. “I appreciate very much indeed that they will have some relationship.” Following news of Munro’s death, Motat signalled its sadness, calling him “a true gentleman and hero”.Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are seen through a window of the Oval Office during a meeting with President Trump on Wednesday. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) THE BIG IDEA: In early 2016, as the field of Republican candidates winnowed, Bob Dole said that Donald Trump was preferable to Ted Cruz because he could “probably work with Congress.” “He’s got the right personality, and he’s kind of a dealmaker,” said the former Senate majority leader and GOP presidential nominee. Cruz pounced on that quote, working it into his stump speech as evidence that “the Washington establishment” believed Trump could be co-opted. “If as a voter, you think what we need is more Republicans in Washington to cut a deal with … Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, then I guess Donald Trump is your guy,” said the Texas senator. That line of attack never resonated with most Republicans. Many rank-and-file conservatives don’t like dysfunction, gridlock and government shutdowns. In the general election, even if they didn’t like him personally, swing voters overwhelmingly felt like the author of a book called “The Art of the Deal” could probably make pretty good deals — whether with foreign countries, defense contractors or Democrats. Indeed, that was a central rationale of Trump’s populist campaign. Yesterday, President Trump cut his first big deal with Pelosi and Schumer. Snubbing Republican leaders and his own treasury secretary, he agreed with Pelosi and Schumer on plans for a three-month bill to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling for the same amount of time. The president also signaled support for a Democratic push to pass legislation that would shield undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children from deportation. “Chuck and Nancy want to see something happen — and so do I,” Trump said. Then he flew to North Dakota on Air Force One with Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, declared he really wants to work with her on overhauling the tax code and called her “a good woman.” -- As some Trump advisers signaled that this is a sign of what’s to come, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill seethed with anger about all three of these developments. Veteran negotiators in Trump’s adopted party think the freshman president agreed to a bad deal that gives Pelosi and Schumer more leverage. They feel like they’re being boxed in on immigration and being set up as fall guys. And they resent that Trump just gave meaningful air cover to one of the most beatable Democrats in 2018. -- Entertaining counterfactuals can be silly, but what if Trump had acted this way from Day One? What if he had positioned himself consistently as a nonideological pragmatist? What if he made an earnest show of bipartisanship and focused on issues which Democrats would have felt compelled to cooperate on, such as infrastructure spending to repair crumbling roads? What if instead of demanding a straight repeal of Obamacare, he had insisted on regular order, supported fixing the health-care system and frontally challenged pharmaceutical companies over drug pricing? What if the White House tried negotiating in good faith on overhauling the tax code, instead of focusing primarily on big corporate tax cuts? Yesterday offered a small taste of what might have been if he had triangulated from the beginning. For one thing, it does not seem unreasonable to speculate that his approval rating would be higher than 37 percent. President Trump meets with Hill leadership in the Oval Office. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) -- Think back to Jan. 20: After railing against political elites of both parties during his inaugural address, Trump went inside the Capitol for a cozy lunch with congressional leaders. He was chummy at a signing ceremony to nominate members of his Cabinet. He handed Pelosi one of the pens he used so she’d have a memento to remember the day. Then he gregariously told Schumer to also take a pen. He called them “Nancy and Chuck,” just like he did yesterday. That backslapping repartee suggested that the new president might be serious about building bridges. Perhaps he would slam Washington on the stump but schmooze his critics behind closed doors. Instead of bargaining, though, he chose to govern with the very scorched-earth tactics that he had successfully employed on the campaign trail. The result is a litany of missed opportunities, essentially no legislative accomplishments and a well that has been poisoned. There are 10 Democratic senators up for reelection next year in states Trump carried. The White House had good reason to believe that several of these lawmakers would feel compelled to work with them. (Trump won North Dakota by 36 points, for example.) But as the president’s approval rating kept falling, even in red states, and Trump seemed to constantly be struggling with self-inflicted wounds, these senators lost that incentive. President Trump walks out of the White House to begin a trip to North Dakota. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) -- Sometimes when Trump looks crazy, he’s being crazy like a fox. The media’s coverage of the debt deal this morning is over-the-top negative. Partly this is because top Republicans on the Hill are angry that Trump didn’t do what they want, so they’re trashing the deal to reporters. Their frustrations are legitimate and sincere. They thought they had a real opportunity to not talk about the debt ceiling again until after the midterm elections. They know from experience how hard it is to get conservatives to vote for raising the borrowing limit, which always forces them to rely on Democratic votes to make it happen. “A three-month debt ceiling? Why not do a daily debt ceiling?” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) joked to Politico. “He’s the best deal-maker ever, don’t you know? I mean, he’s got a book out!” Let’s keep what happened in perspective: Democrats didn’t really win major concessions. They just agreed to prevent the government from defaulting on its debts for three months and funded initial relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey. Schumer and Pelosi are gleeful because they think they’ve positioned themselves perfectly for December negotiations. “Democrats still must prove, however, that they can actually land those victories,” Paul Kane writes. “For now, they have (merely) secured a seat at the negotiating table.” Meanwhile, Trump looks independent from unpopular congressional Republicans and showed he can work across the aisle. In North Dakota last night, as an illustration of this, Trump boasted about his “great bipartisan meeting” with Schumer and Pelosi. “I’m committed to working with both parties to deliver for our wonderful, wonderful citizens,” the president said. “Everybody was happy. Not too happy, because you can never be too happy, but they were happy enough.” He called it a “very good” deal. Trump also recognizes that he cannot force a showdown over funding for his border wall with Houston flooded, another hurricane bearing down on Florida and several must-pass bills on the docket. Now he gets to have that fight in December instead. Democrats insist they will never support money for the border wall, but administration officials believe they will agree to increased border security or some version of a fence if it means protecting 800,000 “dreamers” from deportation. “We believe that helping to clear the decks in September enables us to focus on tax reform,” White House director of legislative affairs Marc Short told reporters on Air Force One. “I think it puts pressure on all of us to get tax reform done before December.” -- Another key reason Republican leaders are mad: Trump has once again humiliated Paul Ryan. Administration officials reportedly told congressional leaders on Tuesday night that the president would endorse their request for an 18-month extension. Based on that, Ryan told reporters at the Capitol that it was “ridiculous and disgraceful” that Democrats wanted just a three-month extension. Acting outraged, the speaker accused the opposition of playing politics “when we have fellow citizens in need.” Less than an hour later, though, Trump accepted that “ridiculous and disgraceful” offer. Then Ryan and Mitch McConnell got on board. They did so because they know Trump has more suction with Republican voters than they do. Just 28 percent of Republican voters said they’d be more likely to vote for a member of Congress that supported McConnell, according to a Politico-Morning Consult poll published yesterday, while 30 percent said they’d be less likely and 15 percent said McConnell’s support would have no impact. -- “The pivot is real, and it’s spectacular,” writes conservative thought leader Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist. “It may be that this is the first sign Trump is himself waking up to the inaccuracy of the conventional wisdom about ‘needing McConnell and Ryan’ which has animated so much of the early failures of the Republican legislative agenda. So he’s being more honest: he doesn’t like McConnell and Ryan, never did. He likes Chuck Schumer, and knows him, and thinks he can work with him. And he knows Chuck always makes money for his partners. … Trump siding against GOP leaders and seeing them bend over illustrates how he could get them to do this on just about everything. The path of least resistance, the path of popularity for him, is to dismiss the demands of Congressional Republicans on virtually everything except abortion, judges, education, free speech, and regulations.” Bill Clinton flies on Air Force One in 1995 with Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich. (File) -- Triangulation worked for Bill Clinton. He got reelected in 1996 after brutal losses in the midterms by positioning himself against both congressional Republicans and Democrats. Clinton declared that the era of big government was over, endorsed an income-tax cut and signed onto welfare reform. Negotiating big bipartisan deals made him look like a third-way centrist after the HillaryCare debacle during his first year. Outside Trump advisers have suggested in recent weeks that the Clinton model is instructive. -- But, but, but: The kind of deal making we saw yesterday probably cannot and will not last. Trump is toxic to most Democrats because of his personal behavior and his reaction to events like Charlottesville. Not to mention rescinding DACA, instituting the travel ban, pardoning Joe Arpaio, firing James Comey, etc., etc. The window for grand bargains has probably closed. Any Democrat who wants to run for president in 2020 recognizes that collaborating with Trump in any way will be a liability in the primaries, and more than a dozen Democratic senators want to run for president. There is also a reasonable expectation that Trump will invariably go back to his old ways sooner than later. Maybe even with a tweetstorm today. Trump’s instinct is still to play to his base and preach to the choir. (Recall last month’s Phoenix rally.) The left also sees the Russia investigation as potentially fatal for the presidency. -- Furthermore, continuing down this new course would require Trump to show self-discipline that he’s lacked over the past seven months. Trump’s biggest cheerleaders in the conservative media are mad that he’s reaching across the aisle and will ratchet up pressure on him not to do it again. He’s tended to be more comfortable pleasing his base than challenging it. There’s another risk: Relationships matter more than anything else in Washington, and trust is the coin of the realm. Trump’s ties with Ryan and McConnell continue to fray. They might put on a good face publicly and show a stiff upper lip, but each time the president embarrasses them they become marginally more likely to turn on him down the road during his darkest hours. For example, what if Trump were to fire Robert Mueller as special counsel? Are Ryan and McConnell really going to risk permanent damage to their own legacies to defend someone who has burned them more often than not? Is that a risk the president would be willing to take? -- Happening tomorrow at 9 a.m.: The Daily 202 Live with Wilbur Ross. Want to attend my discussion with the secretary of commerce at The Washington Post tomorrow? We have lots to cover! RSVP here. Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning briefing for decision-makers. Sign up to receive the newsletter. WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: Shoppers wait in line for the arrival of a shipment of water during preparations for the impending arrival of Hurricane Irma in Florida. (Joe Burbank/AP) FLORIDA BRACES FOR A “CATASTROPHIC” STORM: -- Hurricane Irma continued to tear across the Atlantic Wednesday with record-setting strength, sustaining Category 5 winds of 185 mph as it ripped through the eastern Caribbean and left areas of massive destruction in its wake. The latest models currently show Irma making landfall in Florida by Sunday. Locations in northern Florida as well as up into Georgia and the Carolinas could also get significant impact early next week. (Read the latest from the Capital Weather Gang here.) -- Last night, the National Hurricane Center said a direct hit on Florida is more likely, prompting a new wave of mandatory evacuations in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys. In a blunt warning to residents, Gov. Rick Scott (R) said that anyone who intends to evacuate should “get out now.” (Sunshine State News) -- As Irma continues to track toward South Florida “as if following directions by GPS,” the mood in the state has grown increasingly frantic. Joel Achenbach, Francisco Alvarado, Sandhya Somashekhar and Mark Berman report from Miami: “With the storm still days away, it was relatively unusual for the people of South Florida to go into full-on storm preparation mode. But this is a scary hurricane at a moment when anyone paying attention to the news understands what a big storm can do.” “There are more than 6 million people in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, all concentrated between the beach and the swamps. Many have been streaming north on Interstate 95 or Florida’s Turnpike, and gas stations have plastic bags on the pumps. all concentrated between the beach and the swamps. Many have been streaming north on Interstate 95 or Florida’s Turnpike, and gas stations have plastic bags on the pumps. “The region’s airports were slammed, and it had become difficult to score a seat on any airplane, going anywhere. Seats that were available still for purchase … were often exorbitantly expensive, in the range of $2,000.” , and it had become difficult to score a seat on any airplane, going anywhere. Seats that were available still for purchase … were often exorbitantly expensive, in the range of $2,000.” “[University of Miami professor and Capital Weather Gang contributor] David McNoldy … called up the model forecasts and showed how Irma is expected to move in more or less a straight line toward Florida, west by northwest, but then hang a sharp right to the north. That track could send it right to McNoldy’s cubicle and on up the Gold Coast, as if the storm were trying to grind away a century of urbanization. ‘That’s extremely bad,’ he said. ‘That’s basically every East Coast Florida city. This could easily be the most expensive U.S. storm if this happens.’” -- “Irma’s peak intensity (185 mph) ranks among the strongest in recorded history, exceeding the likes of Katrina, Andrew and Camille — whose winds peaked at 175 mph,” our colleagues report. “The storm has maintained maximum wind speeds of at least 180 mph longer than any other storm on record in the Atlantic.” To put that size into context, if it was dropped over the state of Ohio, it would cover the Buckeye State from Toledo to Steubenville and from Cincinnati to Cleveland, Philip Bump notes. IRMA'S WRATH: -- The New York Times reports that Irma “leveled” the small island of Barbuda, damaging or destroying 95 percent of its buildings and rendering the island “barely habitable.” Barbuda’s prime minister said Wednesday that the island, home to more than 1,500 people, is now “literally rubble.” The storm also passed directly over Anguilla and St. Martin, causing severe damage. -- “As the storm heads west, hurricane warnings are in effect for the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, Haiti and the southeastern and central Bahamas,” Jason Samenow and Brian McNoldy report. “A hurricane watch covers Cuba and the northwestern Bahamas.” In Turks and Caicos, and the southeastern Bahamas, Irma could push ashore a “devastating” storm surge of 15 to 20 feet. -- Meanwhile, two new hurricanes formed late Wednesday in the Atlantic basin: Jose in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, and Katia in the southwest Gulf of Mexico. -- #FakeNews: Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh ludicrously accused the media of faking the potentially catastrophic effects of Hurricane Irma. "There is a desire to advance this climate change agenda, and hurricanes are one of the fastest and best ways to do it," Limbaugh claimed on his talk show on Tuesday. "The media benefits with the panic, with increased eyeballs, and the retailers benefit from the panic with increased sales, and the TV companies benefit … These storms, once they actually hit, are never as strong as they're reported.” Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has accused the federal government of using “weather weapons,” last week suggested Harvey might have been manufactured or manipulated. -- One Florida sheriff's department took heat after it warned fugitives in a series of tweets that they would be escorted to jail if they turned up at a storm shelter, a policy that will likely risk lives. (The Daily Beast) GET SMART FAST: In other extreme weather events, Western states continue to battle out-of-control wildfires. Almost 1 million acres in Montana have burned since the beginning of the summer. (John Hopewell) The Charlottesville City Council unanimously voted to remove a statue of Stonewall Jackson. But the decision could be blocked depending on the outcome of a lawsuit questioning the council’s ability to remove a separate statue of Robert E. Lee, the alleged subject of last month’s violent rally. (Dana Hedgpeth) The Washington National Cathedral began the removal of stained-glass windows honoring Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, citing the “painful, distracting, and one-sided stories” told in the decades-old art. ( Michelle Boorstein ) 2017 appears to be on track to have the second-lowest annual violent crime rate since 1990. The Brennan Center for Justice released data showing that the rate is expected to fall by 0.6 percent, despite previous doomsday predictions from Trump officials like Jeff Sessions. (Philip Bump) Some prominent Republicans are urging the Supreme Court to find partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional. That position puts former politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bob Dole against the Republican National Committee, which is backing the GOP-led Wisconsin legislature’s gerrymandered electoral map. (Robert Barnes) Trump announced the recipients of his $1 million donation to Harvey relief. The Red Cross and Salvation Army each received $300,000, while 10 additional nonprofits split the remainder. (David A. Fahrenthold) A U.S. general in Afghanistan apologized for the distribution of offensive propaganda leaflets, which superimposed a key Islamic text on the image of a dog. Dogs are considered unclean, diseased and dangerous in Afghan society. ( Sayed Salahuddin and Pamela Constable ) A tiger in Georgia was shot dead by police, after residents in an Atlanta suburb discovered the animal slinking through their neighborhood and attacking a dachshund. ( Kristine Phillips ) “Veep” is coming to an end. The HBO series will conclude next year after its seventh season. (The New York Times) THERE'S A BEAR IN THE WOODS: -- Facebook told congressional investigators that it discovered it sold ads to a shadowy Russian company seeking to target U.S. voters during the 2016 election. Carol D. Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman scoop: “Facebook officials reported that they traced the ad sales, totaling $100,000, to a Russian ‘troll farm’ with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda … A small portion of the ads, which began in the summer of 2015, directly named [Trump] and [Clinton]. Most of the ads focused on pumping politically divisive issues such as gun rights and immigration fears, as well as gay rights and racial discrimination. … Even though the ad spending from Russia is tiny relative to overall campaign costs, the report from Facebook that a Russian firm was able to target political messages is likely to fuel pointed questions from investigators about whether the Russians received guidance from people in the United States … “Facebook discovered the Russian connection as part of an investigation that began this spring looking at purchasers of politically motivated ads … It found that 3,300 ads had digital footprints that led to the Russian company. Facebook teams then discovered 470 suspicious and likely fraudulent Facebook accounts and pages that it believes operated out of Russia, had links to the company and were involved in promoting the ads.” (An official familiar with the probe said Facebook does not have the ability to determine whether the ads it sold represented any sort of coordination. The company also turned over information about the ads to special counsel Robert Mueller.) -- Donald Trump Jr. will meet today with Senate Judiciary Committee staff. CNN reports: “Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, [said] her panel ‘will have a public hearing with Mr. Trump at an appropriate time.’ She did not say when or if Trump Jr. has agreed to the hearing. ‘The agreement that we had is that there will be a public hearing and, if they don't come, they'll be subpoenaed,’ she said. Feinstein also clarified Trump Jr. will meet with committee staff for the interview Thursday -- not the committee.... She said members can drop in, but cannot take over.” -- The Don Jr. meeting represents a new challenge for Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has vacillated between defending the president and criticizing him for impeding the committee’s investigation. Karoun Demirjian reports: “Grassley can be punishing with anyone who tries to circumvent his committee’s authority — even the president, whom Grassley recently lectured in a letter to be more responsive to congressional oversight requests from Democrats and Republicans. … Grassley’s refusal to be constrained, and his reputation for putting the integrity of his probes above all, including party, is why many Democrats trust him with the reins of an investigation into Trump.” -- House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) sent Jeff Sessions a letter last week threatening him with an open hearing if he didn't hand over documents tied to the infamous Trump dossier. CNN reports: “Nunes … accused Sessions and the FBI of stonewalling him repeatedly in a Sept. 1 letter … In the letter, he threatened to drag Sessions and [FBI director Christopher Wray] before the committee for a public grilling and hold them in contempt of Congress — a jailable offense — if they don't hand over the documents. Nunes also writes that he subpoenaed to discover whether information from the Russia dossier was used in the crafting of applications to conduct surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In the letter, which was signed only by Nunes and no other [panel] members … Nunes explained that he was extending the deadline for responding to the subpoenas to September 14.” -- “Hackers gain direct access to US power grid controls,” by Wired Magazine's Andy Greenberg: “Security firm Symantec is warning that a series of recent hacker attacks not only compromised energy companies in the US and Europe but also resulted in the intruders gaining hands-on access to power grid operations — enough control that they could have induced blackouts on American soil at will. … Never before have hackers been shown to have that level of control of American power company systems, [Symantec security analyst Eric] Chien notes.” -- “The Gerasimov Doctrine,” by Politico Magazine's Molly K. McKew: “Lately, Russia appears to be coming at the United States from all kinds of contradictory angles. Russian bots amplified [Trump] during the campaign, but in office, Kremlin-backed media portray him as weak, [and Vladimir] Putin is expelling U.S. diplomats from Russia. … Confused? Only if you don’t understand the Gerasimov Doctrine. In February 2013, [Russian General Valery Gerasimov] laid out a new theory of modern warfare — one that looks more like hacking an enemy’s society than attacking it head-on. Thanks to the internet and social media, the kinds of operations Soviet psy-ops teams once could only fantasize about — upending the domestic affairs of nations with information alone — are now plausible. The Gerasimov Doctrine builds a framework for these new tools, and declares that non-military tactics are not auxiliary to the use of force but the preferred way to win. … That they are, in fact, the actual war.” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) makes his way to a meeting with other members of the House Freedom Caucus. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) GOP RIFT DEEPENS: -- House hard-liners target Paul Ryan (again). Robert Costa scoops on the meeting between the perennially disgruntled House Freedom Caucus with the speaker to “candidly express their frustrations with his leadership and his handling of the Republican legislative agenda.” The difference this time is that HFC members first met with ousted Trump adviser Steven K. Bannon, who is back at the bomb-throwing site Breitbart. “Several people close to Bannon and [ HFC Chair Mark] Meadows said on Wednesday that the two men, who met on Monday on Capitol Hill, have begun to discuss who could replace Ryan as speaker, should conservatives rebel against him. But they stressed that those discussions remain speculative and informal, with no plan yet for action.” We've seen this play before and House Republicans are so divided they had a hard time finding someone to replace Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) once they achieved his ouster. But Bannon's influence could help put momentum behind their cause. -- Beginning of a wave?: Dave Reichert, a moderate Republican from the Seattle suburbs,
. I needed to break a national profile. Norman was the same way. Then you had people like Lupica and Feinstein who went there not particularly invested in the project, except for the fact that they couldn’t see a large thing happen in sports writing without them. Granger: I edited Norman. He did a piece about Bob Costas, and every time he’d mention him he’d refer to him as “the 5-foot, 5-inch Bob Costas.” NBC called complaining we’d gotten Costas’ height wrong. Chad: I told the publicist, if I run this correction — The National misreported Bob Costas’ height, he’s 5-8, not 5-5″— at the end of the column, I don’t think it looks good for Bob. Granger: Every time Chad wrote about Costas in a column for The National after that he would talk about “Bob Costas, who was not 5-feet, 5-inches tall.” Chad: One morning my phone rang. I go, “Hello?” And I hear, “Norman Chad?” I go, “Yes.” The voice goes, “This is Bob Costas. You’re an asshole.” Deford: Norman was the guy at The National who went from anonymity to stardom. Kornheiser: Norman basically invented sports media criticism. He was turning out fabulous stuff day after day after day. Everybody should have looked to Norman to see what The National was supposed to be: flip, irreverent, and ahead of the curve. Granger: I don’t think I ever saw Lupica in the flesh. Steve Buckley (Yankees Beat Writer; Boston Columnist): Lupica had a deal where he didn’t do his own expenses. There was actually a secretary in the office who did expenses for him. Spencer: Lupica had an office devoted to him, but he was never there. So that was the place where a lot of people held pizza parties. Carpenter: Lupica’s office had a view of 53rd Street. He was only in the office two or three times. So finally Deford gave his office to Lee Gordon because the door was right by the stats department. Lupica came in and threw a fit. Pierce: Legendarily, Lupica went home from the 1990 Final Four because he wasn’t sitting at midcourt. They put him in the auxiliary press box and he couldn’t stand it, and he went home. Chad: I’m one of Mike’s few defenders. I only met him once. I had a dinner with him and Kornheiser. In an hour and a half, I believe other than ordering my entree and a refill on my Diet Coke, I said nothing else. Carpenter: Lupica wrote a column in The National criticizing our own stats department for doing too much. He said we were sucking the blood out of sports and called us “Roto nerds.” Pierce: In May of 1990 the Times did a story, and Michael had this series of quotes that were really very destructive — the paper didn’t have the urgency of a daily newspaper, he was unhappy with the direction the paper was going in, and he was thinking about leaving. We didn’t need that. We didn’t need one of our acknowledged superstars badmouthing the product on the business pages of the New York Times. I went into Fleder’s office and said, “I’d throw him out a window and fire him before he hit the sidewalk.” Richmond: Two days after that article came out, I had a dream about throwing him out of the Shea Stadium press box. Rebach: Mike left before the end. He used The National; he used his position as the premier New York-area columnist to get to The National, then he used his status at The National to get back. Hinton: Everybody was pissed at Lupica all the time. When he quit, the verbal hyperbole was, “Frank’s doing cartwheels across the newsroom.” Lupica came and went and didn’t really make a ripple, except that everybody considered him a pain in the ass. Mike Lupica (New York Daily News columnist. Responding via e-mail to an interview request): Good luck with your piece, and your website, and thanks for your interest. But I don’t have a lot to offer about my year at The National. VI. “The day of the Mexican assassins.” Price: Distribution was almost impossible. Prior to launching in January 1990, I visited major newspapers around the country and they wouldn’t touch our business. Howard: They assured us that the Wall Street Journal trucks would take the paper. Of course, we found out later that the trucks left too early and we couldn’t get the scores in. Price: We looked at building our own fleet of trucks and printing centers. Color printing presses were just being introduced at the time. There was one manufacturer. The lead time was about a year and a half to order a press, and you had to pay for them up front. They cost about $8 million per press, per city. Remember, Emilio wanted to publish yesterday, which meant not doing things that were a year out. To set up a national distribution network, we would have needed our own trucks and then we would have needed to negotiate contracts with the National Newspaper Delivery Union. It would’ve been tens of millions of dollars. It would have been wonderful if we were the Gannett Company and had the kind of balance sheet and an existing staff to build our own distribution operation for a paper that didn’t exist. That’s a whole different ballgame. As a startup it would have been imprudent — if not insane — to do that. Doria: And there was a recession going on. Advertising wasn’t in great supply. The ability to distribute the paper, printing, and distributing, was a mess. Our writers in the field were always calling, saying, “The same paper’s been in the box for five straight days.” Price: A daily newspaper at that point was running 70 percent advertising, 30 percent edit. Our ad-to-edit ratio was 20 percent as opposed to 70 percent. Hinton: I got to a point where I would count the ads. Often, there was one — a Nike two-pager in the middle. Kindred: I remember Peter Price going through mathematical machinations that showed we could survive without advertising. By newsstand sales alone, we could survive. Advertising would be a bonus. Shaw: One of the ad guys in Detroit told me we were selling 4,500 copies a day in that market, and I was like, “Oh my God, that might be smaller than my college paper’s circulation.” Price: It was a year-by-year plan, but I think the end of the first year we were targeting like 250,000 copies per day. Because, remember, we were only opening market by market. We weren’t blasting out nationally immediately. We estimated that by the end of year two we’d be at 500,000. The million circulation was five or 10 years out. Ostler: Did anybody do any sort of market research? It was kind of along the lines of a bunch of kids in the neighborhood saying, “Hey, let’s put on a play. Maybe we can invite the adults and charge 50 cents apiece.” That was the level of market research and planning that went into it. Price: The lady I hired as Vice President of Circulation, Diane Morganthaler, used to be the Vice President of Circulation of USA Today, OK? So it’s not that we went in without any knowledge of what distribution was all about. Dan Correa (Chief Financial Officer): The break-even went from 400,000 in circulation to about 600,000 because we needed more editorial personnel and to maintain the technology. And when you miss your circulation goals, you lose twice. You lose because you don’t get the 25 cents from the paper, but more importantly you lose ad revenue. That was the big shortfall. The ad revenue. We never hit the ad goals, and we never hit the rates. Price: We had our vending machines smashed with baseball bats in certain markets. The distribution staffs of these papers were told we were threatening. Deford: I live in Westport, Conn. That ain’t exactly the middle of nowhere. They couldn’t deliver the paper to me. I knew we had problems. I remember talking to the guy who delivers newspapers to me. He told me how many people on his route had ordered The National. Now, I can’t remember the figures, but every one of them had canceled because they couldn’t get the paper. And finally I canceled myself. I did! I canceled. Atsales: Even in the box right outside 666, we couldn’t get our own paper. Ostler: Around the end of 1990, Steve Clow, who was the L.A. Bureau Chief, got a call from New York saying, “Steve, you know that water dispenser you have in your lunch room, the one with the hot and cold water tap?” And he said, “Yeah.” And they said, “Well, we’re going to have to swap that out for one with just cold water. We can save five dollars.” This, a company that had been spending like a Saudi sheik for months and months, and now they’re worried about two or three dollars a month. I knew there was trouble. Doria: If people say it was the expense spending, meaning somebody spent $200 on lunch, that’s not what did the paper in. What did the paper in was the inability to produce it and distribute it in a timely fashion. Diane Morganthaler (Head of Circulation): Azcárraga had the money to invest in us because of some antitrust legislation that forbade him from owning TV media in the U.S. as a non-U.S. national or citizen. Right around the time that Emilio pulled the plug, that legislation was changed and he was able to go buy American TV media. Unless we had been profitable right out of the gate, it’s likely that money — all of those millions — would’ve been pulled anyway because print media wasn’t his bag. Correa: Our editorial staff wrote a lot for the editorial staff. Instead of writing a daily newspaper, they were writing a magazine that was impressing other writers. We were a second, maybe a third read. The guy going to Wall Street was reading the Journal, the Times, and then us. The guy I would love to have reached was Joe Six-pack, and Joe Six-pack didn’t need to read how the GM of the Mets reminded the writer of the Phoenicians. My immediate reaction was the guy reading this paper thinks the Phoenicians play in Phoenix. Deford: Peter was fired around November of 1990, and Azcárraga brought his own guy in, Jaime Dávila. Jaime Dávila (Longtime Azcárraga Associate): It is important to point out that Mr. Price was not fired. Mr. Price decided that he would rather leave shortly after my arrival. Deford: It wasn’t like Peter was going to be out of food the next day in his refrigerator. That was the thing. We all had contracts. Nonetheless, it was pretty tough, having your buddy and your colleague and your partner fired. It was hard. I was relieved that the boss acknowledged that the editorial was fine. Dávila: One day, which I think was in October 1990, Mr. Azcárraga informed me that I was to stay in New York and that I was to start working at The National to determine if it could be saved. I was surprised because I had not had any involvement to that point. I told him that I didn’t see how I could help since I had no newspaper experience. In essence, Mr. Azcárraga said that he didn’t feel that he had another choice but to get one of his people involved in the day-to-day operation. Deford (from an internal memo to National staff; January 31, 1991): Under Jamie Dávila, literally tens of millions of dollars have been cut from our annual budget. We are re-examining the entire circulation situation. Pilot home delivery programs are being tried in three cities. Returns have been cut almost 50 percent, even as we sell more copies. The readership is passionate and devoted. Perhaps even by the time you get this we will have a new advertising agency on board and we will be preparing for a major new ad campaign. Really now, does any of the foregoing even remotely suggest something looking to go out of business? Pierce: The Mexicans showed up unexpectedly and asked to see the real books. By the end of the day, the publisher and business manager had been fired and the Mexicans had installed one of their own. He began to lay people off and shift people around the country. I remember, specifically, Mark Vancil, who had been our Chicago basketball writer, was moved to Denver. Mark Vancil (Bulls Beat Writer): I could never find the paper in Denver. Pierce: The story is that the business manager left, and when he left, he locked his desk. So they pried the desk open with a crowbar. And in the bottom drawer, they found unpaid invoices totaling over $2 million. The guy had been doing with the bills for the paper what we did with our college phone bills — throw it in a drawer and don’t pay attention to it again. Correa: They were not sitting in anybody’s desk. That’s an outright lie. Absolutely no hiding, no hoarding. They were sitting in the accounts payable department. We had a cash flow plan. The bills came in, they went to accounts payable, and they got paid depending on the terms. Twenty days, 30 days. Whatever we negotiated. So, absolutely there were millions. Why? Because the bills were several million a month. Payroll was several million a month. The printing bill was a million and change a week. Two weeks of unpaid printing bills adds up to be guess how much? Dávila: The National was bleeding substantial amounts of cash. My first objective was to see how we could reduce the losses while I learned more. Price: Emilio was saddened by the fact that it wasn’t working. He said, “The problem with this fucking newspaper business is that you gotta distribute, you gotta move so many things around in trucks, unlike my television business. If we could only deliver the paper without printing it, that would be more like the business I know.” I said, “All right, well there’s this electronic thing developing called the Internet.” VII. “It was like the train escorting Lincoln’s body from Washington to Springfield.” Tom Keegan (Chicago Bureau, Cubs Beat, National Reporter): There were rumors from the start. Lowery: People outside the paper seemed to take pleasure in it. I don’t know if it was jealousy or morbid fascination, but people would constantly talk about whether the paper was going to fail. I started to wonder, if my mom was sick, would they be doing this? Always telling me she doesn’t look very good? Deford (from an internal memo to National staff; January 31, 1991): At 7:30 in a press box somewhere some guy from the East Cupcake Gazette tells you it’s too bad that The National is being sold to the Medellin drug cartel and turned into a weekly international guns-and-ammo newsletter. And you not only believe the guy, but pass the story on a gospel. Buckley I was one of those naive little fellows who refused to see the obvious. I just figured something being run by Frank Deford, Vince Doria, and all those bright lights of sports journalism — that they would find a way. Jaffe: I think Frank had a staff meeting in April or May of ’91, and basically said we had till the end of the year to turn it around. Keegan: You were always worried and afraid. Not that it would make a difference, but I was always trying to skimp and save on the road, looking for bargain meals so I wouldn’t bankrupt the company. Deford: The thing about Feinstein’s cat was a bullshit story. Pierce: This is how it was told to me: John was set to do the tennis and golf writer’s phony-baloney annual trip to Europe. You go to the French Open, you take a couple of weeks off. You go to Wimbledon, you take a couple of weeks off. You go to the British Open. Sometime between the French Open and Wimbledon, John called Frank and said, “I have to come home.” And Frank said, “Why? And John said, “I have had a death in the family.” Frank’s great blessing is that he’s the most humane man I’ve ever met. He immediately went into sympathy mode and said, “John, I’m sorry, who is it?” And John said, “My cat died.” And Frank, to his credit, apparently said, “What? Your cat died?” And John said, “Yeah, but that’s not why I need to come home.” Rebach: I heard whoever was cat-sitting for him let him know that there was something wrong. He needed to deal with it, so he got on the Concorde, flew back, and he expensed it. Pierce: Apparently Frank said, “Oh, god. OK, fine. Why do you need to come home?” And John said, “I don’t think my other cat can get through it if I’m not there.” Prompting me to have this vision of Feinstein walking into his darkened apartment, with his other cat in a chair with a cigarette and glass of brandy, going, “Oh, John, thank God you’re home. He’s behind the couch over there.” Deford: Oh, Christ. John was overseas. The French Open ends. It’s another three weeks before Wimbledon. He calls me up and says, “Listen. Can I come home? It’s cheaper for me to fly home — and not on the Concorde — than to stay over here. I haven’t been home for a month.” I said, “Sure.” Where that crap came from about the cats, that’s one of those great urban myths. No way in the world did he come home to feed his cat. That is so much bullshit: that he’d come home on the Concorde to feed his cats or because he missed his cats or because a cat died. The cats weren’t in the conversation. I can assure you. Hinton: The day was June 12. The day the Titanic hit the iceberg. Deford: Jaime called me down. He had taken over Peter’s office, right down the hall. I walked in, and he said, “I just talked to Emilio. We’re going to close it.” There wasn’t any need for any explanation. We were going to do one more issue. Price: Emilio had put me in his office in the General Motors Building, and we had taken up this conversation about having CompuServe do an edition of The National on the Internet. That would have been the obvious segue. But by then the paper had already closed. Maybe with broadband, it would not have gone away. It would simply have been reconfigured into a more sensible form of distribution that didn’t require men in trucks. Jaffe: It really caught everybody by surprise because we thought we at least had ’til the end of the year, at least from my level down. Maybe Frank and a couple others might have known, but the rest of the group only knew that we needed to do a lot better. Deford: All I remember was then going out, and there was no sense in pretending, going out and standing on a desk. Everybody grouped around. I don’t think I ever gave a worse speech in my life — all the clichés — and then we put out the final issue. Laymance: Everybody looked stunned. Keegan: I walked behind the writers’ lockers by the bathroom at Wrigley. I thought there was nobody there. I took my scorecard and just rifled it against the wall. Right then, Joe Goddard from the Sun-Times walked out of the bathroom. He said, “What happened? Is everything OK?” The next day in the Sun-Times, that was the lede, me rifling things at the wall. Buckley: I was in a car on Route 2. I was in the process of buying a house out in Concord. I was gonna buy this really nice house. I was listening to the Red Sox game. They were playing the Mariners in the Kingdome. Bob Starr was doing play-by-play. Mike Greenwell was at bat. I still remember Starr’s exact words: “Here’s the pitch, fouled back this way by Greenwell.” Pause. And then he says, “The National Sports Daily,” and I immediately think, “Well isn’t that great? They’re doing drop-ins at Red Sox games now.” Instead he says, “The National Sports Daily has just announced it has ceased publication beginning with tomorrow’s edition. That news just now coming over the wire.” And I’m like, “What?” Lowery: My friend Mike Penner was having my birthday party over at his house that day. We all showed up in black. It was like a funeral for me. I think I dressed up like some French existentialist with a black beret. In a lot of ways, it was like dating that girl where everyone tells you, “Oh, man, you better watch it,” and you think, I’m gonna be different. I’m gonna be the one. And then when it ends, you hang your head and think, “Why’d I feel like I’d be any different?” Buckley: I never did get that house. Howard: Fleder called me: “Bad news.” And I said, “I’m not going to Montreal?” And he said, “No, worse. We folded.” I was so hopelessly inarticulate. I just went, “Whoa.” Kindred: I was at Hazeltine, the U.S. Open, in Minnesota. Deford called and wanted me to know before it was public. “Don’t tell anybody,” he said. Larry Dorman (National Writer, Golf): Kindred said, “We’re outta business.” Those were his exact words. Vancil: I’d been golfing. I walked back into the airport Marriott in L.A., and Jackie MacMullan is the first person I see. Jackie comes up, gives me a hug, and says, “Hey, I’m so sorry.” I have no idea what she’s talking about. I’ve got golf shoes on, I have a bag full of clubs. I thought someone died. And she goes, “Oh, you don’t know? The National is folding.” I said, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Rumors had been going around for so long that I didn’t believe her. So, I get in the elevator and started thinking, Jackie might actually know. I get to my room and call New York, and whoever answered the phone said, “Are you calling about the folding or what you’re supposed to write?” I said, “Give it to me in the order you prefer.” They said, “You’re writing the Lakers. We’re folding tomorrow.” Jeff Horrigan (National Reporter, Boston): Charlie Pierce called me and Steve Buckley and Ian Thomsen. We were the Boston guys. We all met at the Eliot Lounge. The Governor of Massachusetts, Bill Weld, happened to come in and he sat with us for a drink. I know I was really drunk, but the next day I was like, “Did Governor Weld really sit down and drink with us to console us?” Vancil: I remember calling New York at about 3 in the morning. Everyone was still in the office, obviously toasting the demise. I was calling to see whether everything got in. “Did you get my story? Did you run it the way I wrote it?” And whoever was on the other end of the line, in a drunken slur said, “Eeeevvrything got innnnnn.” Horrigan: After the bar, it was me, Ian, and Leigh Montville walking down Newbury Street. We encounter a National newspaper box and decide, wouldn’t this be great if we could take this for a souvenir? We were in the process when a policeman stopped us. He was like, “What are you guys doing?” And we explained, even though we were very drunk, what just happened. He goes, “Hey, sorry. I’m sorry you lost your jobs but you can’t do that.” Deford: And then we had a party. How many guys throw a party when you go out of business? Howard: Did you ever see Roger and Me? When the last car rolls off the assembly line and they all start cheering, and there’s that one guy standing there and he says, “I don’t know what we’re cheering: We just lost our jobs?” It was that kind of thing. Pierce: The story about Feinstein’s cat appeared on Page Six of the New York Post the day we were having our breakup party. We picked up the New York papers in New Haven, and Buckley was reading the Post. His knuckles started turning white. His hands began to shake. Then he threw the Post across the club car. And I said, “What the hell’s going on?” And I picked it up, and there it was, the story of the cat. I said, “Oh god, Steve. I heard about that a week ago.” Buckley: It was like the train escorting Lincoln’s body from Washington to Springfield, Ill. Pierce: It was an extraordinary liquid event. This is when I was hooked up with Van McKenzie and things were getting very liquid, and they put up, on one of the big screens in the bar, the original promotional film they sent to advertisers before we launched. Frank was on it. And Peter Price. And then Mike Lupica came on and I vividly remember getting up on a stool and shouting, “Give us Barabbas!” I’ll never forget it. McKenzie put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Ya know, there are a lot of nutty people in this business. But you’re crazy.” Buckley: Lupica pops up and everybody’s throwing beer cans at it. It was like that scene in Animal House when Flounder’s picture goes up on the screen in the frat house. Horrigan: People were waiting for John Feinstein to show up. I know a lot of people were hoping to give Feinstein a piece of their mind for embarrassing the paper that way. But he did not show. Deford: It must have cost Emilio thousands. All the drinks were free. Guys came up to ask me for his address. They wanted to thank him. I’m not kidding. Everybody knew how much money he’d put into it. There wasn’t a word of sour grapes. It was all a celebration of what we’d been, and I suppose what we might have been. Spencer: The tragedy for The National was that you had people who were very much into their careers and they had to make the difficult decision whether to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but turn your back on 10 or 12 or 20 years of service with your previous employer. The day The National folded I really felt so bad for those people. They risked everything. I really lucked into a job six weeks after The National folded, working for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A lot of people weren’t nearly that lucky. Buckley: I was crestfallen. I’m one of those guys who came up the hard way. I graduated from UMass in 1978 and got a job at a really small newspaper, the Westfield Evening News, when I was 22. From there I went to the Journal Tribune in Biddeford, Maine, and then the Portland Press Herald. Then I went out to Seattle, to the Tacoma News Tribune. The point being that every year was a little bit better than the year before. I was climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing. And now here it is, 13 years after I graduated from college, and I’m a columnist with this ambitious National Sports Daily. What could go wrong? And on that day, when I got that word, now all of a sudden I’m unemployed. Chad: Some of the guys had three- to five-year deals. I only had a two-year deal. I was only getting paid another six months. Pierce: They were really good about paying me. They paid me every dime. I had a June-to-December paid vacation. Horrigan: There was long period of unemployment. There were concerns when it folded that there would be this backlash against us. Particularly the beat guys, it was tough for us to find work. Not that we were blacklisted, but it was almost like, well it serves them right. Deford: Azcárraga was amazing. I think he committed to 50 million and lost closer to 150 million. Amazing guy. Paid every bill at the end. He paid everybody through the end of their contract. Dávila: Our law firm recommended a Chapter 11 filing; I was almost fired for passing along the message. Mr. Azcárraga instructed me to pay every single commitment and employment contract on time and 100 cents on the dollar. Chad: The Washington Post did a story the day The National folded, and they called me. I pretty much indicated to them that I never thought we had a chance. So, Frank sent me the final front page of The National. “We Had a Ball. The Fat Lady Sings For Us.” And they’d replaced the overhead headline over The National logo. On the actual page that day, the headline was, “Bulls stampede NBA Title, pages 7-11.” And he replaced that on my copy with “Deford Says Chad’s Attitude Doomed National.” He signed it. I’m looking at it now. I have it framed. Kindred: Maybe a year later, Forbes did a cover story on Emilio: The World’s Richest Latin American. It was made to look grainy, so he looked mysterious. In the story it talks about The National. It talks about how The National lost $150 million in two years, how this so upset one of Emilio’s partners that he demanded to be bought out. So Emilio bought him out, and then when The National folded, Emilio took his company public, doubling its value. The point of that story was even when he loses, El Tigre wins. Richmond: I don’t know what those gold coins weighed. After I lost the job, I went to a gold broker and I think I got like 500 bucks for it. Howard: It’s a 37.5-gram gold coin. I know because I just sold it. It’s worth $1,300. Pierce: I do miss the place. I always wonder how they got the damn eagle out of the office. Deford: You’d be amazed by the number of people who stop me, bring me papers to autograph. I give a speech and ask for questions afterwards, this is 20 years on, and somebody always asks about The National. People do remember it fondly. The thing they always say is, “I read every issue.” And I think, “Bullshit.” I know you didn’t read every issue because you couldn’t get every issue. Howard: It was the best thing I ever did. In fact, most of us are still around. All we need is a guy with about $100 million. Have another rodeo; get Charlie, get Ian, we’ll all show up. Friend: The National was simply my dream job. Richmond: I’d follow Frank Deford into any foxhole. To this day, I would. If he started this sucker up again and said, “Except this time we’ve only got $10,000 and four writers, and you’ll have to walk to every city,” I’d do it. Kornheiser: I have, in the basement of my house, a National box. I have it and I have the last day’s cover. The one that said, “We Had a Ball.” I have that prominently in the glass part of the box. I will not talk about how I got it. Ever. In Washington they were yellow. My reason for having it? I had great feelings of warmth toward The National. I thought someday, you know, I’d be able to stick this in a living room and somebody will say, “What’s that?” And I’d say, “That was the great and noble experiment of sports writing in America.” (Additional reporting by Robert Mays.)“This is going to be an unconventional presidency,” Ryan told reporters at the joint House-Senate GOP retreat, with McConnell standing by his side. “We’re going to see unconventional activities like tweets and things like that, and I think that’s something we’re all going to have to get used to.” ADVERTISEMENT Added McConnell: “I don’t tend to be reacting to daily comments. What the Speaker has done, which I entirely concur with and the administration is on board with, is to lay out a game plan through the August recess of what we’ll try to accomplish. “For myself, I intend to stick to the plan.” Some rank-and-file Republicans have been concerned that Trump’s over-the-top words during his first week as commander in chief have distracted the GOP from tackling issues important to voters. On Twitter this week, Trump called for a major federal investigation into voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election. The draft of an executive order shows the Trump administration may reinstate a CIA program to keep terror suspects in overseas prisons known as black sites. And on Thursday, Trump again took to Twitter, threatening to cancel his upcoming meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto if Mexico doesn’t pay billions for a border wall separating the two countries. Asked if Trump should tone down his rhetoric to preserve the U.S. relationship with its southern neighbor, McConnell replied: “I don’t have any advice to give to the president.” “I think we’ll be fine,” Ryan chimed in about U.S.-Mexico relations. “We’re working with president on a daily basis. We are on the same page with the administration,” the Speaker said. “And we’ve worked with the administration on the time table and the legislative agenda we have for 2017.” Both Trump and Vice President Pence are set to address Republicans at the Philadelphia retreat on Thursday afternoon.President-elect Donald Trump's choice for budget director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, sponsored legislation in April that would release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control — likely costing taxpayers billions in the process. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are housing entities created by the government and referred to collectively as the GSEs, or government-sponsored enterprises. When George W. Bush's treasury secretary Henry Paulson put them into conservatorship nine days before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, he pledged for the government to cover their costs. This ultimately amounted to $187 billion. Advertisement: While it may seem then like a good idea for the government to rid itself of Fannie and Freddie, Mulvaney's "Housing Finance Restructuring Act of 2016" will only further line their pockets at taxpayer expense. "Unlike earlier housing finance reform proposals, the Mulvaney bill does not phase out Fannie or Freddie," wrote The Wall Street Journal in May. "Rather, it requires both companies to retain earnings to build capital until their capitalization reaches 5 percent of assets. They would be released from conservatorship when capital reaches 2.5 percent of assets." Not only would this reverse the existing government policy, which annually reduces the capital cushions received by each company until hitting zero in 2018, but it also cancels the requirement that the companies pay a dividend to the treasury department every fiscal quarter. The government's shares (which the bill would cancel) have a liquidation preference of $187 billion (appropriately), but last year the GSEs only paid dividends amounting to $15.8 billion to the treasury department. Since 2012 a change to the bailout agreements required companies to pay nearly all of their profits to the treasury department, and Mulvaney's bill would effectively nullify this as well. "Most strikingly, the bill would bar Treasury from charging the companies for the remaining $258 billion the government has pledged as ongoing support for the companies," The Wall Street Journal wrote. "Which means Fannie and Freddie would enjoy an explicit government backstop in perpetuity for which they would pay nothing." As it later added, "The current dividend amounts to a perpetuity owned by taxpayers. Under standard financial calculations, at an assumed discount rate of 4 percent, the present value of $15.8 billion annual payment would be $395 billion. Under the bill, Treasury surrenders that for nothing." When combined with the price of the prohibition on charging the backstop, the total cost of Mulvaney's bill will equal roughly $405 billion. The beneficiaries would be investors in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Advertisement: In September, the same month that it was first reported that Mulvaney was working on this bill, employees of Perry Capital — a major shareholder in Fannie and Freddie — as well as lawyers from Gibson Dunn, which lobbies for Perry Capital, donated $4,500 to Mulvaney's political campaigns.KUALA LUMPUR: Washington’s policies regarding other nations, including Malaysia, may not be entirely the work of its elected representatives, a report suggests. Rather, a report in Southeast Asia Global magazine says, countries and large firms throughout the world are spending heavily on lobbying firms to gain influence in Washington. Lobbying, a practice of paid advocacy in which interest groups seek favour with lawmakers, typically members of Congress in the US, is legal but can have shady connotations. The report said in the past lobbyists were mostly employed by mega corporations but in recent decades foreign governments had realised that retaining Washington-based lobbyists could be an effective way of bending US decision-makers to their agendas in areas such as trade, internal politics, human rights and international prestige. Foreign governments spent USD106 million for this purpose in 2013, according to Sunlight Foundation’s Foreign Influence Explorer, a website that collates lobbying contracts. The Southeast Asia Globe found that in the past 10 years alone at least USD14 million had been spent on US-based lobbyists by Southeast Asian governments and public bodies, based on data from the Foreign Influence Explorer website. However, it said, this figure was most likely a fraction of what was actually being spent by the region’s governments, as the data only comprised formally disclosed lobbying contracts and did not include payments channelled through consultancy firms or government-friendly private bodies. The report said Southeast Asian governments appeared more interested in “nation branding.” It said that between 2001 and 2002, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who, in 2006, was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption and illegal lobbying, reportedly received USD1.2 million from
The Bloomington session had gone so well,” says Mills, “but in fact Don didn’t see us as wanting to have hit records. We were more interested in making good records, good LPs. He wanted a band that was really ambitious, a band that wanted to be on the top 40. That was not us, so he moved on to something else.” Instead, R.E.M. decamped to Nashville, Tennessee with producer Scott Litt, and the resulting album generated the very thing Gehman thought the band was unlikely to create–a hit single, “The One I Love,” which landed in Billboard’s top 10, garnering extensive airplay and video rotation on MTV. Document became R.E.M.’s first platinum album and landed them on the cover of Rolling Stone with the headline, “R.E.M.: America’s Best Rock And Roll Band.” The article proclaimed that R.E.M. had “graduated,” and as the band began to play ever-larger venues for more mainstream audiences, their college-roots fans found the notion to be true. Three decades later, Lifes Rich Pageant strikes me as R.E.M.’s last magical album, although some of the magic comes from knowing that they recorded it here. It has the sound and feel of a Bloomington spring, a sunny, introspective lyricism underpinned by a defiantly youthful vitality. It is R.E.M.’s most successful convergence of the public and the private, a shimmering testament to the beauty of life and the necessity of change. The message is both bright and dark, with warnings of all sorts embedded in the songs, and ultimately a celebration of art, history, passion, community, protest, and hope–all values that seem quintessentially Bloomingtonian. “I think that album was special because it felt like it was something they had made for us, “ says Pete Smith, “for everyone who lived in Bloomington, whether they had heard of them or not. It was like some sister city cultural exchange program love letter between Athens and us.” Thirty years on, that love letter still reminds all of us–artists, business owners, parents, and citizens–to make an insurgency of our pageant, and a pageant of our insurgency. Life is rich indeed, once we learn how to live it. –David Brent Johnson (Special thanks to James Combs, Anthony DeCurtis, Jeanne-Marie Grenier, Steve Llewellyn, Hilary McDaniel-Douglas, Mike Mills, Kevin O’Neill, Pete Smith, Lawrence Wells, and Lee Williams.) (Note: a different version of this article originally appeared in Bloom Magazine.)ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- It is a riddle that has yet to be answered, like some kind of football crop circle. One day it's just there, everybody sees it, but the questions remain about how Chris Harris Jr. went from underdog to top dog without most noticing along the way. The Denver Broncos cornerback once counted his scholarship offers on one finger. After four years as a starter at Kansas, he was not invited to the 2011 scouting combine and was not selected in the NFL draft. And now, although he's just nine months removed from ACL surgery, people can see what so many others missed. Chris Harris Jr. is heading toward a new contract playing as well as any cornerback in the NFL. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images "This didn't just start this year," said the newly retired Champ Bailey, a likely future Hall of Famer who was Harris' teammate for three seasons. "Chris didn't just suddenly put it together and play. It's been building, and the fact is Chris is playing better than anybody right now.... Chris is playing the best of any player at his position in this league." Mike Giddings, a former Broncos assistant coach who now operates Proscout Inc., a scouting service that is used throughout the league for its evaluation of every player on every roster, ranks Harris as "blue," the highest level given to only a smattering of players across the NFL. And this past week, one NFC personnel director, who can't openly comment about the future prospects of a player under contract with another team, was asked if there was any player in the league who plays better with less fanfare. His answer? "None. And not sure I've seen anything like it before. He's an upper-tier player, a top player, and somebody is going to pay him if [the Broncos] don't." The perpetually smiling Harris is also pathologically competitive, with humility wrapped around supreme confidence. He knows he is what an NFL cornerback should be. And he's still not sure why it took so long for others to figure it out. "My mom, she thought I was the best, my sisters maybe; but maybe that's not objective or anything," Harris said. "But if you believe in yourself, your family believes in you, you put in the work, do it right, you only need one other person to believe in you. That doesn't seem like a lot, but sometimes it is." Harris will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end. But consider what had to happen for him to get here from there -- there being a winding trek through other people's doubts. "It's been a long road," Harris said. "It seems like the contract, or endorsements, or being the guy who is talked about, from the world's standpoint, that's what rates people for some. But I like to say football always tells the truth, and maybe right now football is telling the truth. I might not go to the Pro Bowl or be the guy everybody knows right now, but football is telling the truth." Harris had exactly one scholarship offer when he finished an all-state prep career at Bixby (Oklahoma) High School. And that was from Kansas. "That was it. They offered, I said yes as fast as I could," Harris said. "It wasn't like I was sorting through all the letters from coaches all over the place or anything like that." He started as a freshman for the Jayhawks and ended up being a team captain, playing 50 games in his career, 41 as a starter. Harris started 41 games at Kansas but was passed over in the 2011 draft. AP Photo/Steve Pope When he looks for reasons the NFL was slow to notice him, Harris points to one thing: "I guess it's my size. I guess everybody looked at my size.'' Harris measured 5-foot-9, 190 pounds on his pro day at Kansas. There was also the matter of a decision he made to help, when help was needed. Harris played the first half of his senior season at cornerback, but then moved to safety. And when the time for draft evaluations came, there were plenty of folks in the league who saw an undersized safety. "I had moved to safety in the middle of the season just to help," Harris said. "I think some people in the league saw me as a safety, not a corner, but I just volunteered to do it. They weren't throwing at me anyway at corner. I wanted to help our defense and get around the ball." This may have been a factor in Harris not being invited to the NFL combine. "It was frustrating," Harris said. "There were guys at the combine that didn't have anything close to my résumé. I'd see other guys didn't start as many games as I did, but I just told people if I got just one shot, I'll be good. I've always just wanted one shot, because you can turn that into something." The shot did not come via the 2011 draft, which included Denver's Von Miller, Arizona's Patrick Peterson and Houston's J.J. Watt. The Texans made Rice defensive end Cheta Ozougwu the 254th and final pick of that draft, and Harris' name was never called. As the Broncos put together the list of undrafted rookies they would invite to camp -- signing offensive tackle Adam Grant, wide receiver Mark Dell, cornerback Brandon Bing and linebacker Derek Domino -- the available signing bonus money was largely spent and all of the spots were full -- except for one. Former Broncos scout Dave Ziegler offered coach John Fox three choices at cornerback for the final roster spot and the last $2,000 available for a signing bonus. The third player -- as Fox puts it: "The smart guy who started four years at Kansas" -- was Harris. "One shot, that's all I need, just one," Harris said. "My shot was in that camp.'' The Broncos had the likes of Bailey, Brian Dawkins and Andre Goodman in that secondary, but Harris made a fast impression. "You could see it right away," Bailey said. "He didn't talk much, but he paid attention, didn't make mistakes, and in practice nobody competed harder than he did. He jumped in and went against everybody. He didn't back down, and if a guy made a catch on him, he came right back for more. Those are the guys who make it. I felt like after the first week he was making it." The Broncos use the versatile Harris to cover in the slot or outside. Jim Rogash/Getty Images Since then, Harris has lined up wherever the Broncos needed him. He's matched up with any receiver, any time, in the slot or outside. He's willed himself from the team's most active special-teams player to a starter for the past three seasons. Even when he suffered a partially torn ACL in the Broncos' playoff win over the San Diego Chargers this past January, Harris tried to convince the team's coaches he could play in Super Bowl XLVIII three weeks later. "And he attacked his rehab in the offseason," Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said. "He competes every day, every play on the practice field, just competes so hard. So maybe some guys I would have wondered if they were coming back; I never wondered about Chris. I knew he would do everything in his power to get himself back to how he wants to play." So, here he is, a topflight cornerback with his first foray into free agency on the horizon if the Broncos let him reach the open market. A guy an all-time great has called the best at his position. "Champ pretty much stuck his neck out there, so I have to prove him right," Harris said. "I have to prove every week that I'm the best. I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface yet of what I can do. I'm only 25. There are still a lot of things I can do. Looking at it, I think I would have still done the same things, worked as hard, got up every day trying to be the best even if people had looked at me differently. "I'm glad I have a story to tell. It's unique, it's mine and I'm blessed to have it. And it's not done; no way is it done."Normally I usally always write a good report on all the game I have got. This game, I believe has a major flaw to it. If you play the Germans and go into combat with the same odds or alittle better, the Soviets 8 out of 10 times win. We all know from our history, there was NO WAY the Soviet troops were better than the German troops. Stats proved this, what would have happened if the entire German Army was used, not covering other fronts. Plus, we know Germans troops were better trained and lead. If you like playing the Soviets, this gane is for you. If you like playing the Germans,,FORGET IT.....You can't win.... Normally I usally always write a good report on all the game I have got. This game, I believe has a major flaw to it. If you play the Germans and go into combat with the same odds or alittle better, the Soviets 8 out of 10 times win. We all know from our history, there was NO WAY the Soviet troops were better than the German troops. Stats proved this, what would have happened if the entire German Army was used, not covering other fronts. Plus, we know Germans troops were better trained and lead. If you like playing the Soviets, this gane is for you. If you like playing the Germans,,FORGET IT.....You can't win.... Check this box if you received this product for free (?) Do you recommend this game? Yes No Cancel Save ChangesVisit our Re-post guidelines This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2018 Flaxseed has remarkable therapeutic properties, with over 50 potential applications in the prevention and treatment of disease, as documented in the peer-reviewed biomedical literature itself* Flaxseed's role in breast cancer is one of the more compelling areas of research, considering this is the #1 form of cancer afflicting women today, and that most women still equate "prevention" with subjecting themselves to annual breast screenings involving highly carcinogenic 30 kVp gamma rays -- overlooking entirely the role of diet, as well as avoidable chemical exposures. Given that flaxseed already has an exceptional nutritional profile, there are a broad range of reasons to incorporate it into the diet, even if only as a nourishing food. The main reason why the public is so enthralled by flaxseed (and rightly so!) is for its relatively high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, and the density of soothing, mucilaginous fiber it contains. Now, an accumulating body of scientific research reveals flaxseed's hitherto secret'second life' as a medicinal powerhouse, confirming how timelessly true was Hippocrates proclamation that food is also medicine. In 2005, the journal Clinical Cancer Research published a placebo-controlled study involving patients who received a 25 gram flaxseed-containing muffin over the course of 32 days. After observing a reduction in tumor markers and an increase in programmed cell death (apoptosis) in the flaxseed-treated patients, the authors concluded: "Dietary flaxseed has the potential to reduce tumor growth in patients with breast cancer." Additional animal research supports flaxseed's role in suppressing human breast cancer. In immunosuppressed mice (thymus removed), flaxseed and an extract of pure secoisolariciresinol diglucoside from flaxseed was capable of suppressing the estrogen-fed (estradiol-17 beta) growth of transplanted human breast cancer tumors. Flaxseed does not just suppress estradiol production, as do blockbuster hormone-suppressive chemotherapy drugs like Arimidex (created by the chemical company which founded Breast Cancer Awareness Month!), but nudges estradiol metabolism into a positive direction by generating a higher ratio of the beneficial metabolite 2-hydroxyestrone versus the more harmful 16-hydroxylestrone. The anti-cancer effects of flaxseed are not limited to breast cancer. Prostate cancer, another archetypally hormone-senstive cancer, is also benefited from this remarkable seed. In a 2008 study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, prostate cancer patients scheduled at least 21 days before prostate removal were randomnly assigned to one of 4 groups: 1) control (usual diet) 2) flaxseed-supplemented diet (30 g/d) 3) low-fat diet 4) flaxseed-supplemented, low-fat diet. The authors noted "Proliferation rates were significantly lower (P < 0.002) among men assigned to the flaxseed arms." The study concluded: "Findings suggest that flaxseed is safe and associated with biological alterations that may be protective for prostate cancer." How does flaxseed work to prevent and/or regress hormone-associated cancers? The surprising answer is it is due to flaxseed's distinctively hormonal and/or hormone-modulating activity. Flaxseed contains compounds known as phytoestrogens which have the ability to interact with cellular estrogen receptors. Although an increasingly common mantra in the conventional medical community (particularly in the field of oncology) is to identify all estrogens, including phytoestrogens, as "carcinogenic," the weight of the evidence stands against this accusation, both in the case of soy and flaxseed. Our indexing project, for instance, has identified 36 studies on soy's anti-breast cancer properties. It helps to understand the biochemistry in order to make sense of how a plant estrogen may actually reduce estrogen activity in the body. The byproducts of flaxseed fermentive biotransformation in the colon: namely, enterodiol (END) and enterolactone (ENL), are known to modulate estrogen levels in tissues affected by these compounds. They are weakly estrogenic, which explains why they may alleviate hot flash symptoms in women dealing with hormone insufficiency, but are also antiestrogenic, capable of binding to estrogen receptors and blocking out more powerful estrogens (both endogenous and xenobiotic) at the same time. This is also known as Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulation (SERM): the ability to down-regulate estrogen activity in one tissue (breast), and up-regulate it in another (bone or brain). Soy contains the phytoestrogen compound genistein, also a byproduct of the bacterial biotransformation, which shares in this dual-acting SERM activity. Although drug companies have attempted to reproduce SERM-like effects with novel, synthetic compounds, often the unintended, adverse affects far outnumber the intended therapeutic ones. This is one reason why the discovery of pharmacologically active principles in foods, i.e. food as medicine, holds so much promise as the drug-driven system of conventional medicine begins to collapse under the growing weight of its own incompetence. In the meantime, while you are enjoying flaxseed as a nourishing food. One may gain protection from the following health conditions in the process Breast Cancer Dry Skin Prostatic Hyperplasia Breast Cancer: Prevention Diabetes Mellitus: Type 2 Aging Skin High Cholesterol Lupus Nephritis Prostate Cancer Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity Blepharitis Cardiovascular Disease Cholesterol: LDL/HDL Raito Diabetes: Cardiovascular Disease Dyslipidemias Elevated CRP Estrogen Deficiency Hot Flash Meibomian gland dysfunction Metabolic Syndrome X Prostate: PSA Doubling Time Skin Diseases Colon Cancer Adiponectin: Low Levels Polycystic Kidney Disease Fatty Liver Abdominal Obesity Arteriosclerosis And Many More... The information provided in this document is not intended to diagnosis, prevent, treat or cure any disease. By sharing this information, we are pointing the viewer to the research itself as source of education.Original: Colonel Cassad El líder de la RPD Alexander Zajarchenko ha firmado el decreto que aplaza las elecciones locales en la República Popular de Donetsk al 20 de abril de 2016, según informó la web del Consejo de Ministros de la RPD. El día anterior, Zajarchenko había anunciado la fecha electoral para el 20 de marzo de 2016. “Queda invalidado el decreto No.380 del 9 de octubre”, afirmaba el documento. Antes, el líder de la delegación de la RPD en el Grupo de Contacto y presidente del parlamento de la RPD, Denis Pushilin, había expresado que la fecha de las elecciones debería mantenerse como provisional, ya que depende enteramente de la rapidez con la que Kiev ponga en práctica los acuerdos. Kiev debe garantizar un estatus especial para Donbass y amnistía para quienes hayan participado en el conflicto además de adoptar enmiendas a la Constitución de Ucrania de acuerdo con los representantes de las Repúblicas Populares de Donetsk y de Lugansk. Ayer [el viernes], los participantes del Grupo de Contacto continuaron con las conversaciones previstas para la solución pacífica al conflicto. –Agencia de Noticias de Donetsk * * Como ya hemos repetido en numerosas ocasiones, la situación se mantendrá así durante una larga temporada. También hay que resaltar que el resultado de las consultas de ayer no solo fue el aplazamiento de las elecciones sino la reanudación de los bombardeos de Donetsk: Las Fuerzas Armadas de Ucrania bombardearon el distrito de Kievskiy de la capital de la República Popular de Donetsk. En la calle Vzletnaya ardió un edificio de nueve pisos. Así lo comunicó el representante de la administración del distrito de Kuvyshevsky, Ivan Prijodko, a la Agencia de Noticias de Donetsk. “Hace menos de una hora y media, las tropas ucranianas dispararon con sus tanques contra el distrito de Kievskiy de la ciudad. Ahora arde un edificio de nueve pisos”, afirmó Prijodko. [El informe del domingo 11 de octubre de la OSCE confirma que la organización “observó todos los piso en un edificio de nueve pisos ardiendo”–Ed]. Prijodko informó también de que de forma simultánea, las fuerzas ucranianas atracaban también la localidad de Veseloye, en el distrito de Yasinovataya en la RPD. “La localidad de Veseloye, en Yasinovataya, bordea el distrito de Kubishevksiy en Donetsk. Sabemos que se disparó a la vez esa localidad y el barrio de Kievsky”, afirmó el jefe de la administración del distrito. –Agencia de Noticias de Donetsk * * * “Una persona murió y otra resultó herida a causa de los bombardeos de las tropas ucranianas en el distrito de Kievskiy de Donetsk. Así lo informó el Ministerio de Defensa de la RPD a la Agencia de Noticias de Donetsk. “Según la información preliminar, los heridos son civiles”, afirmó el portavoz del ministerio a la agencia. “Los criminales de guerra ucranianos han violado el alto el fuego en cinco ocasiones. La localidad de Gabishevo y la zona del centro comercial Volvo fueron sometidas al fuego de mortero desde las posiciones ucranianas en Peski y Avdeevka. También se utilizaron armas pequeñas y lanzagranadas contra la localidad de Sosnovskoye y la zona de la mina Izotov en Gorlovka”, según informó Eduard Basurin. –Agencia de Noticias de Donetsk Parece ser que las conversaciones fueron productivas.DALLAS -- At the height of last year's Ebola crisis, the name Thomas Eric Duncan dominated the headlines. Dying from the virus, he travelled from Liberia to the U.S., bringing the epidemic disease with him. Louise Troh, the fiancée he'd come to America to wed, not only had to deal with his subsequent death, but also the aftermath of an angry public. But before all that, as described in the new book My Spirit Took You In, they'd pined for each other for years, with Troh having moved to America and Duncan still in Africa, until the fall of 2014. "This man came here for us to live together after 15, 16 years - to get married," Troh told CBN News, sitting in her home in the Vickery Meadows neighborhood of Dallas. Duncan was welcomed into Troh's arms and Vickery Meadows' Ivy Apartments complex where she was surrounded by loved ones and acquaintances from the immigrant community. Many of them shook Duncan's hand or hugged him before they learned what he had brought with him. He'd exposed them to the Ebola virus, and soon made the Ivy Apartments, Duncan and his fiancée the focus of the fears of a nation -- and in many cases, hatred as well. 'An International Pariah' As he lay dying in a Dallas hospital, ugly rumors and accusations swirled about Duncan. "The people were like, 'He came here because he had a virus,'" Troh recounted. "That's why he came to America, to be treated.'" Her co-author, Christine Wicker, said Troh, too, felt the anger and blame. "This woman who had done nothing wrong, who had lived a life of faith and generosity, became an international pariah," Wicker explained. Troh and three of her loved ones who lived with her were trapped and quarantined by authorities while fury gathered around them that an immigrant just like them had brought a deadly African epidemic right to Dallas. But fortunately for Troh, just a few months before all this, she'd begun going to Wilshire Baptist Church, a mostly white, fairly well off church that had lately been reaching out to immigrants like her. "She was baptized in June of last year, just three months before the Ebola crisis happened," Wilshire Senior Pastor George Mason said. "And she realized that this fairly wealthy, very white church was the place God meant her to be," fellow Wilshire member Wicker said. "And I would ask her, 'Louise, didn't you think this was an odd place for you to be?' And she would just say, 'No. It's where God wanted me.'" And as people across America cursed Troh and her dying fiancé, her new pastor and church came to the rescue, with Pastor Mason visiting her in quarantine every day. "I just kept thinking about the fact that we serve a Lord who was willing to touch lepers," Mason told CBN News. No Hazmat Suit for Fearless Pastor "Not one person in the church ever told him he shouldn't do it," Wicker said of her fellow churchgoers at Wilshire Baptist. "His wife never said, 'You shouldn't go there.' People all over Dallas were afraid. But he knew that's where he wanted to be and he knew that's where he had to be. And he just wouldn't back off of that." While men in hazmat suits were destroying all Louise's possessions, Pastor Mason showed up for all his visits to Troh in his usual clothes. "I did not think that wearing a hazmat suit or some such thing was really necessary," he said. His visits brought a light to the quarantined foursome in an incredibly dark time. "He read the Bible to us," Troh recalled. "And he said, 'The church everybody -- they are with you. Your whole church body is with you.'" He came around so much, though, Troh began to feel guilty and resist. "She said to him, 'Don't you have a home?!'" Wicker recalled. Troh remembered saying to Mason, "'You always here. You come every day.' He said, 'Yes, and I'll keep coming, Louise. That's what I'm supposed to do. That's the work of God. That's what He called me for.'" And for Pastor Mason, being present was vital. "The power of God to heal and bring life to people was made manifest in His Presence," he explained. Everything Completely Destroyed Meanwhile, frightened authorities wouldn't listen to Troh -- herself a health care worker and somewhat of a germ-a-phobe. She told them they didn't have to destroy all her possessions to make sure no Ebola virus would escape her apartment. "My daughter and myself disinfect this whole room," she told them, "and from day one I've been disinfecting this place." But that wasn't good enough for the men in the hazmat suits. "Remember that this is the first death that occurred on American soil from Ebola," Mason explained. "And there was a great deal unknown. And so the response to protect the public was quite severe." "They were so frightened, they took days to destroy everything," Wicker stated. "They were just slashing and breaking in these BIG suits. Louise lost everything. She even lost her reputation." "She lost every pot and pan and bed and chair and television," Mason added. "Everything that she owned was completely destroyed." But her Wilshire Baptist congregation and many other believers reached out with love -- and generosity -- replacing most everything Troh lost. "The church responded magnificently and sacrificially to Louise's situation," Wicker stated. Families Put Up $25,000 Each She added, "Three Wilshire families came forward and said, 'We're going to put up money to buy her a place.' They found this three-bedroom place she's in now and they put up $25,000 apiece." "We didn't do for Louise what we wouldn't do for anyone else, but it was on a very public stage," Mason explained. "And so, people I think got a window into how churches operate all the time." "The world reacted in a certain way to Ebola: sue, find fault, find blame, feel sorry for yourself," Wicker said. But she said of Troh's conduct and the way so many religious believers reacted, "There was this sort of society within the society, with values that the society didn't have." "I couldn't be more proud of our church," Mason added. "And I want to say it was not just our church, but it was also the community. Many people pulled together. Other churches helped us. A synagogue was very much involved in helping us, too." "It was our church's chance to live out their faith," Wicker continued. "And for Pastor George, it was what he'd been talking about for such a long time: who we wanted to be. So he leapt at the chance." "Other people were running one way, and we're coming the other because it's our chance to be what we said we were, what we want to be: our highest aspirations," she said. 'They Hug Her and They Love Her' And when Troh returned from quarantine, the church literally embraced her. Wicker recalled, "They had a big party, and everybody runs up and they hug her and they love her. Not only did they love her that day, but they continued to care about Louise, and they still do." Troh doubts whether she would have survived the Ebola ordeal without the love and care of the folks at Wilshire Baptist. "From the babies to the elderly ones, they make me feel like I'm a human being. They embrace me; they love me," she said. "Had it not been for them, I don't know how I was going to be in this world." "She said to me again and again, 'It was God and the people of God just held me together,'" Wicker recalled. "And if it had not been for her faith, for God, and for the faith and generosity and compassion of others, I don't know if she would have survived it. Even though she didn't get Ebola -- to just be SO rejected. And I mean death threats, for her whole family. People were talking about how they should die." Duncan 'The Sacrifice for Africa' And while others criticized Duncan for bringing Ebola to America, believers declared he was used of God. "Eric was the sacrifice for Africa," Wicker declared. Troh believes Duncan had no idea he carried Ebola into the U.S. And she sees great purpose in his death. "His life was given for the Africans to be saved, for everybody to get concerned about this Ebola around the world," she said. "Liberians were dying every day and the world was paying no attention," Wicker said of the period before Duncan's death. "But when Eric became ill and came to America, Ebola now had a face. And all over the world, people now began to pay attention." Much medical care and aid was rushed into Liberia and nearby nations, and the death rate from Ebola was drastically reduced. What that said to Mason was, "God can be in the midst of this, and good things can come out of something terrible because that's the nature of the Gospel." A Moment for Dallas' Redemption As for Dallas, Mason said many officials and leaders during this Ebola crisis were remembering the dark days of the Kennedy assassination. "When we came out of that terrible event, people often referred to Dallas as 'the city of hate,'" Mason recalled. "The mayor especially and many of us in the back of our minds knew that this was a moment for our city's redemption, that we wanted to come out of this new crisis and say that Dallas is a city of love." Wicker summed up, "It was a terrible time and a wonderful time because you saw the worst of people and then you saw the best of people. There were people who just refused to give into fear." "Perfect love casts out fear, as the Bible puts it," Mason added. "Fear tends to make people move away from each other, but the love of God makes us move toward each other."A 25-year old college student has reached a $4.1 million settlement with the federal government after he was abandoned in a windowless Drug Enforcement Administration cell for more than four days without food or water, his attorneys said Tuesday. The DEA introduced national detention standards as a result of the ordeal involving Daniel Chong, including daily inspections and a requirement for cameras in cells, said Julia Yoo, one of his lawyers. Chong said he drank his own urine to stay alive, hallucinated that agents were trying to poison him with gases through the vents, and tried to carve a farewell message to his mother in his arm. It remained unclear how the situation occurred, and no one has been disciplined, said Eugene Iredale, another attorney for Chong. The Justice Department's inspector general is investigating. "It sounded like it was an accident -- a really, really bad, horrible accident," Chong said. Chong was taken into custody during a drug raid and placed in the cell in April 2012 by a San Diego police officer authorized to perform DEA work on a task force. The officer told Chong he would not be charged and said, "Hang tight, we'll come get you in a minute," Iredale said. The door to the 5-by-10-foot cell did not reopen for 4 1/2 days. Justice Department spokeswoman Allison Price confirmed the settlement was reached for $4.1 million but declined to answer other questions. The DEA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Detective Gary Hassen, a San Diego police spokesman, referred questions to the DEA. Since attorney fees are capped at 20 percent of damages and the settlement payment is tax-free, Chong will collect at least $3.2 million, Iredale said. Chong, now an economics student at the University of California, San Diego, said he planned to buy his parents a house. Chong was a 23-year-old engineering student when he was at a friend's house where the DEA found 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons. Iredale acknowledged Chong was there to consume marijuana. Chong and eight other people were taken into custody, but authorities decided against pursing charges against him after questioning. Chong said he began to hallucinate on the third day in the cell. He urinated on a metal bench so he could have something to drink. He also stacked a blanket, his pants and shoes on a bench and tried to reach an overhead fire sprinkler, futilely swatting at it with his cuffed hands to set it off. Chong said he accepted the possibility of death. He bit into his eyeglasses to break them and used a shard of glass to try to carve "Sorry Mom" onto his arm so he could leave something for her. He only managed to finish an "S." Chong said he slid a shoelace under the door and screamed to get attention before five or six people found him covered in his feces in the cell at the DEA's San Diego headquarters. "All I wanted was my sanity," Chong said. "I wasn't making any sense." Chong was hospitalized for five days for dehydration, kidney failure, cramps and a perforated esophagus. He lost 15 pounds. The DEA issued a rare public apology at the time. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, on Tuesday renewed his call for the DEA to explain the incident. "How did this incident happen? Has there been any disciplinary action against the responsible employees? And has the agency taken major steps to prevent an incident like this from happening again?" he said.Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at the RedState Gathering in Atlanta on Aug. 8, 2015. Photo by Tami Chappell/Reuters Almost everyone has something to demagogue in the 2016 Republican primary. For Donald Trump, it’s Latino immigration, and Mexican migrants in particular. For Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, it’s the nuclear deal with Iran; for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, it’s the Kim Davis affair in Kentucky, where a county official was jailed for refusing to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples; and for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, it’s crime. That may seem like a strange choice, given broad trends. National rates of violent crime are down to their lowest levels in a generation, with steep drops in gun homicide among all groups. And while violence is still a problem for isolated, low-income black Americans, the overall portrait is good: Twenty years after the crime waves of the 1990s, American cities and metropolitan areas are as safe as they’ve ever been. Long-term trends can obscure short-term variations, however, and there’s contested evidence that we’re in the middle of a violent crime spike, sparked by a so-called Ferguson effect where less aggressive policing—fueled by “Black Lives Matter” protests—encourages criminals. “Cities across the nation are seeing a startling rise in murders after years of declines,” reports the New York Times in a story on the rising murder rate in Milwaukee. Critics say this is overblown. Writing for the Marshall Project, Bruce Frederick—a senior research fellow at the Vera Institute of Justice—notes that of the 20 most populous U.S. cities for which there’s public data, only three experienced a “statistically reliable increase” in homicide rates. For the rest, “the observed increases could have occurred by chance alone.” If there is a new trend, we need more data. The same goes for the “Ferguson effect”; there’s no evidence that less policing has produced more violent crime. But humans are built to see patterns in unrelated events, and the crime increase—plus a rash of high-profile shootings aimed at police officers—has brought new partisan attacks on Black Lives Matter, even while 2015 stands as an unusually safe year for police officers, so far. “In the last six years under President Obama, we’ve seen a rise in anti-police rhetoric,” wrote Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in an op-ed last week, citing “demonstrations and chants where people describe police as ‘pigs
. His wells have tested negative for sulfolane, but he says he won’t drink the water until investigators find out where the chemical came from and tell him where it went. “It is worrying me because it has to do with my business, it has to do with my family, and it has to do with my health too — and everybody's health." A new arm’s length overseer, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), has now taken over the file and is investigating. AER says it cannot comment while the investigation is ongoing.CA 2014 Gubernatorial Loser Kashkari: NOT the face of the GOP Growing racial diversity is transforming a lengthening list of congressional districts, but not providing as much political benefit to House Democrats as many in both parties expected only a few years ago… …the GOP remains doggedly competitive in seats where the minority population is either slightly above, or slightly below, its national average. In fact, in the new Congress, Republicans will hold a majority of the seats in which minorities represent at least 30 percent and no more than 50 percent of the total population. What was new about Brownstein's article...is the metanews: the concept of “the white vote” is becoming a part of the conventional vocabulary. As I've been pointing out for, roughly, ever: that development is an inevitable product of the much-celebrated demographic transformation of America. The GOP had complete control of the line-drawing in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and Oklahoma: In the new Congress, Republicans will control 60 of the 94 seats in those states where minorities equal at least 30 percent of the population. By contrast, in California, New York, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada, Colorado, Connecticut, and New Mexico—states where either Democrats, a divided state government, or a neutral process drew the lines—Democrats will control 87 of the 112 seats where minorities cross that population threshold. The key to the Democrats' loss of Congress, as we reported here, is their near-total collapse in heavily white seats, particularly those blue-collar places with fewer white college graduates… Democrats will hold 146 of the 235 seats where minorities equal at least three-tenths of the total population, or 62 percent. That's down significantly from the 84 percent they controlled of the 109 seats that fit that definition in 1993. …the GOP's increasing dominance among white voters. In the three elections since 2010, Republican congressional candidates have amassed their highest level of white support in the history of polling, in each case attracting about three-fifths of those voters. The margins have been especially lopsided in several of the Sun Belt states where diversity is growing fastest: While state-level House results are not available, exit polls in both Texas and Georgia, for instance, found that last year's Democratic Senate candidates attracted fewer than one in four white voters. Those big advantages among whites have powered the GOP to a crushing lead in preponderantly white districts: While Democrats as recently as 2009 held nearly half of seats where whites equaled at least 80 percent of the population, Republicans now control 97 of those seats, compared with just 18 for Democrats. At the same time, particularly in the South, Republican margins among whites have reached heights towering enough to withstand, often easily, a rising tide of Democratic-leaning minority voters in the diversifying places. The key to Ron Brownstein’s latest National Journal article is the headline: Demography Is Not Destiny for Democrats January 14 2015Perhaps because according to the credits he has co-writers, Brownstein seems much less willing to discuss dispassionately the racial polarization of the American party system t han he has in the past, for instance in 2011 as analyzed byfor us in National Journal's Ronald Brownstein Confirms Sailer Strategy. Steve said then thatThis time Brownstein spends a great deal of space toying with the more congenial argument that the GOP performance is due to partisan redistricting:But ultimately Brownstein has the integrity to face uncongenial reality:He reluctantly concedes that what enables the GOP to prosper is(VDARE.com emphasis.) I suggest that the partisan redistricting effect claimed above would disappear when adjusted for the fact that the GOP Establishment in many non-Southern States spurns the white vote - as I noted in To California GOP Leadership (Again): LOSE WHITE VOTE, LOSE STATE!!! That is why Democrats do better there in the >30% minority Districts. Brownstein’s essay meanders off to finish in a swamp of happy talk about GOP outreach to non-Whites, but the punch line is disapprovingly delivered well before the end. Even where the GOP is faced with ‘...a rising tide of Democratic-leaning minority voters… They can win those districts because they are racially polarized in their voting patterns," says University of California (San Diego) political scientist Gary C. Jacobson, an expert on Congressional elections. Expressing exactly this thought got VDARE.com banned from Free Republic 15 years ago! As far as elections are concerned, the only thing Republicans have to fear is the GOP Establishment itself. Getting their preferred policies actually implemented is a different matter. Patrick Cleburne [Email him] is a writer and editor for VDARE.com.Posted January 30, 2017 at 12:59 am Oh my god. We found him! We found the one character in EGS who makes excuses when he sees obvious magic and doesn't just accept it as a thing! Well, that, or he's so jaded that he's not impressed by actual magic, and simply regards sleeves resizing as not being noteworthy. It wasn't until after I'd written "someone's skateboarding" that I remembered one of my high school friends getting in trouble for rollerblading in a mall. At least. I believe it was rollerblading. That sounds more true to what I remember than skateboarding, but memory is a tricksy thing that cannot be fully trusted. In any case, I wasn't there when it happened, and I assume the trouble was no greater than "get out and take your sweet roller blades with you", but yeah. People skating in malls is a thing that happens and is not tolerated (short of the mall having a sweet roller rink or something)Dear Asians that are not offended by Yuli (Astro’s dude) and the MLB’s disciplinary action towards the dude, (Also CC: Any non-Asians that don’t understand why Asians are so angry about this.) This will get pretty contradicting but here we go and I’ll try to explain myself. So I had a pretty interesting conversation with my friend Paul about this topic, because he didn’t understand why there were some Asians that would write out, “hey personally i’m not offended….” We got in this whole talk about unity and just how embarrassing it was that MLB would just let this happen and let the dude slide. I’m actually one of those guys, and the conversation with him made me realize why I had to explain to people why I wasn’t offended but at the same time… offended. I’m not offended by the dude. If this dude did it on the street towards me, I would pay it no attention. Its everyday life. So I get where you are coming from. I am not offended by being called Chino because I grew up with that nickname. I just chalk it up as… It’s just another idiot being an idiot… or he thinks it’s okay because he has Asian friends. And at the same time I totally understand the people that are offended because they haven’t grown up around a Spanish neighborhood. But it’s not about ME. Its not about YOU. It’s not about your other Asian friends “complaining” about it on their social media. It’s not about the grown ass idiots that think we’re complaining to complain. It’s not. IT’S ABOUT THE KIDS. You’re showing on National TV it’s okay to act like that towards an Asian person. It’s about the kids at school the next day that saw that on TV. It’s about this kid in the picture attached that thinks its all part of the ball game. I can deal with that stuff because I’m at an age where I know for a fact there’s just some people out here that are ignorant. But try explaining that to a kid. They can’t comprehend that. Try explaining it to the Asian kids that have to deal with that in school. So I’m offended for the community. I’m offended for my future kids. I’m offended for my friend’s kids. I’m offended that they’re willing to let the future of America think, “Hey that’s a bad racial gesture… but it’s not that bad. They’re only suspending him in 2018, it’s not bad enough to spoil this baseball series.” So yes. Be offended for our FUTURE. – Tom Tom Ngo is an Asian-American Entrepreneur/activist who’s worked in the music industry for over 10 years, throws Azn parties, and is the self proclaimed Lord of the Azns. Born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley and doesn’t like boba.About I chose the name Game Gate because it is literally the gateway to the gaming world. The Game Gate itself will come in a multitude of colors, and will utilize technology that is not currently used in other game consoles. But I'll have to keep further details under wraps! This project is something I have been planning for a very long time. I didn't have the funds or the hope of bringing my dream to life until I found kick starter. I am raising funds in order to create a prototype of my device. I plan on hiring a few electronic engineers that I am in contact with, and also a few exceptional programmers that I happen to know personally. I want to revolutionize the way developers and gamers connect with each other by appealing to every type of gamer. The Game Gate will also have a level of connectivity that is much more in depth than just playing with a friend online. Risks and challenges I am very optimistic about the project as a whole, and that's coming from a realistic person. As far as development goes I have gotten the most amount done that I can alone. I have the design,layouts, and I have chosen most of the hardware components that will be used to make the device affordable and portable. I am currently working on how the UI for the menu's will look and work seamlessly, as well as trying to get solid measurements of the casing. Once I have the circuit board complete I will be able to give the exact measurements and dimensions of the device. The casing of the device will be printed using a 3-D printer that I have access to. So, overall the device is in stage one of development, but has a very solid base to build upon. If my Kick Starter reaches its goal, then the other components will fall into place. My entire plan for the Game Gate is extremely specific, which gives me a very good sense of what exactly is needed to my this dream a reality. I believe possible setbacks could arise when it comes to the amount of time it will take to create the device. It will be a piece of work, especially with the extra additions that are a must have, and the online store. But I am confident over all that the Game Gate will turn out excellent. I am beyond excited to show the world what I have in store!This article is over 4 years old Labor could win between 47 and 51 seats in Victoria’s parliament if the polls are on the money a week out from election day. The Coalition won government with 45 of a possible 88 seats in 2010, a tight victory that hurt when Liberal MP Geoff Shaw quit the party. A Herald Sun/Galaxy poll released on Friday predicted a 52% to 48% lead for Labor on a two-party-preferred basis. A Morgan poll predicted 55-45 in Labor’s favour. The election calculator of the ABC election analyst, Antony Green, shows that a 52% to 48% split would win Labor 47 seats, the Coalition 38, and the Greens three. With a 55% to 45% two-party-preferred vote, Labor would win 51 seats, the Coalition 34, and the Greens three. The pollster Gary Morgan said although the two major parties are almost level on primary vote – with the ALP on 35.5% to the Coalition’s 35% – an expected high Greens primary vote of 19.5% would ensure a strong flow of preferences to Labor. Victorians vote on 29 November.One of the most interesting things out of the BridgeGate story today was former Governor, now State Senator Richard Codey’s claim that “Democratic Power Brokers” were and still are trying to block the investigation into the bridge closure. I don’t know Jersey politics enough to be sure. But everybody I talked to today who really knows New Jersey politics was certain this was a reference to George Norcross, the Democratic boss in South Jersey, probably the most powerful Democrat in the State. Earlier this evening I got an email from a longtime TPM Reader, very knowledgeable about New Jersey politics, whose initials I won’t even use, giving me some background on Codey and Norcross and what this jab was about. The details themselves are quite interesting. But as much as that you’ve just got to read it for the bracing flavor and imagery it gives you of how this state runs if you have never lived here or followed its politics before … It’s pretty cool for those of us who have been involved in New Jersey politics now that the rest of the nation is getting an education on the “Game of Thrones” nature of NJ politics. So, about this comment, here’s some critical background that explains it 1) First, he is undoubtedly talking about the nexus of George Norcross (South Jersey power broker and the most powerful D in the State), Joe Divincenzo (The Essex County Executive) and his patron, Steve Adubato, State Senator Brian Stack from Hudson County, who is also mayor of Union City. These three are the major political bosses whose organizations and associations have provided Christie with the necessary Democratic votes on any initiative he has successfully passed. All of the South Jersey Democrats, including State Senate President Steve Sweeney from Gloucester County are part of Norcross’ organization, while some key Essex and Hudson Dems are aligned with Stack and Divincenzo. 2) Incoming Speaker-Designate Vince Prieto comes out of Hudson County and is part of essentially a peace treaty brokered by Norcross between warring factions in Hudson Democratic circles – Stack and State Senator Nick Sacco, who is also mayor of North Bergen. Prieto replaces Assemblywoman Shelia Oliver, from Essex County, who, in her day job, works for Steve Adubato’s non-profit, Newark’s North Ward Center (where Divincenzo worked before he became County Executive. The consensus is that Oliver was deposed because the alliance between Divincenzo and Norcross soured. 3) Sidenote – If a South Jersey D is the presiding officer over one house (Sweeney in the Senate), then a North Jersey D will, by tradition, preside over the other. Hence the need for alliances 4) Stack and Divincenzo publicly endorsed Christie. Norcross did not. 5) A Republican Assemblyman accused Christie of cutting a deal with Norcross so that Christie wouldn’t oppose South Jersey D legislator in exchange for Norcross supporting key Christie iniaitves. 6) Dick Codey and Steve Adubato (and Joe Divicenzo) are implacable enemies 7) Codey, who is the most popular Dem in state, was deposed as Senate President by Sweeney, who was supported by the Norcross/Adubato/Stack axis. He was then redistricted into a more difficult, but still winnable district with many new voters So, that’s the background. re: the GWB 1) Sweeney made statements downplaying the bridge scandal early on…. 2) Prieto had not committed to reauthorizing subponea power for Wisniewski’s committee under the new legislature until the emails leaked last week. So, that’s what you need to know. And this is really bad for Chris Christie, because its also about an internal fight in the Democratic party and the the anti-Christie faction has been empowered, while the Christie accomodationists have been weakened. Tell me again how you figure this stuff plays on the national stage?(CNN) Running four marathons in five weeks wasn't enough. Running 10 marathons in a year wasn't enough. Running more than 70 marathons during her lifetime wasn't enough. Seventy-year-old Chau Smith wanted to challenge herself even further, so she decided to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. In January, the Missouri woman accomplished that goal. Between January 25 and January 31, Smith ran marathons in Perth, Australia; Singapore; Cairo; Amsterdam; Garden City, New York; Punta Arenas, Chile; and King George Island, Antarctica. Each day, Smith woke up and ran 26.2 miles. Then she'd get on a plane and fly to the next destination to do it all over again. "She didn't want to publicize this before doing it," said Steve Hibbs, owner of the specialty travel company Marathon Adventures, which organized the trip. "She overcame a lot, and it was just really impressive to see her run and complete the event." Nine other people joined Smith in running on all seven continents. Although she had done many marathons before, training to run seven in a row took months. "It took me eight months to really train," Smith said. "The last four months, I really put in long, long runs. Every week, I ran from 15 miles to 130 miles." Running across the world The challenge, which Hibbs dubbed the Triple 7 Quest, presented a unique set of obstacles. During the first race in Australia, the temperature was above 100 degrees, Smith said. She became severely sunburned. The most challenging race was in Cairo. The group's connecting flight from Singapore was delayed in Abu Dhabi, so they arrived in Egypt with only a few minutes to change before heading to the race start. "We have 10 minutes to go up to our rooms to change and don't unpack," Smith said. "The key wasn't working for my room. I almost used up my 10 minutes. I was crying." Most of the runners had a set time in which to finish each race in order to pace themselves for all seven. Smith had allotted herself seven hours to finish the race in Cairo, but because of the delay, Hibbs told the group to finish in six. Smith was worried about finishing in time, so Hibbs suggested she run the half-marathon instead. She finished the full marathon in five hours and 51 minutes. "From that day on, they never asked me about thinking about running a half-marathon again," Smith said. A lifetime of adventure Although Smith didn't tell many people about the Triple 7 Quest challenge beforehand, it wasn't her first extreme physical undertaking. A year earlier, she ran a marathon in Tanzania and then hiked Mount Kilimanjaro the next day. "All my life... I always did crazy things," Smith said. "When I was young in Vietnam, I was a stubborn kid. My family always never knew what I was going to do. I always showed them I can do it, just like boys." Smith started running marathons in Missouri but quickly sought out races in other states and countries. She ran the Boston Marathon in 2013 but was unable to finish the race because of the bombing. She ran it the next two years. Last year, Smith ran four marathons in five weeks. She traveled to Southeast Asia for a month and ran a marathon in Myanmar. Six days later, she ran a marathon in New Zealand and then a few days after that in Tanzania. "We never go someplace without looking for the race," Smith said. Born in Vietnam, Smith came to the United States in 1972. She owns and operates an alteration and dry-cleaning business in Independence, Missouri. Even though she works long days, running always makes her feel better. Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. "I live a stressful life. Every day, I work 10 hours a day... but I always feel better," Smith said. "How I feel after I put in my running, I think that's important. It makes you feel good. I can't really put it into words." Smith often runs with her husband, who has also been running for most of his life. When she brought up the idea of completing the Triple 7 Quest, he was supportive, but worried about her health. Her two adult daughters expressed similar concerns. "When I told my husband, he said, 'Well, I support you, and I'm always behind you, but the only thing I worry, you get hurt,' " Smith said. Smith told all three that if she anything happens to her while she's doing something she loves, it would be worth it. Hibbs has organized only two Triple 7 Quest trips, and he's planning a Triple 8 Quest for the upcoming year involving Zealandia, a microcontinent. He believes these longer challenges can test all aspects of a person's being. "It's really about challenging both the body and the mind's upper limits," he said. "What can you handle? What upper threshold can you push past?" For Smith, it seems no challenge is too small. When she retires, she'd like to hike the Appalachian Trail. For now, she's interested in the Triple 8 Quest.In the wake of the terrorist atrocities that left 129 people dead and many more wounded in Paris on Friday, tech companies did what they could to express solidarity with a grieving nation. One of those companies was Facebook, which activated its Safety Check feature to help people in the French capital tell loved ones that they were safe. Facebook launched its Safety Check feature in October 2014, with the intention that it be used for people caught in natural disasters. While many appreciated being able to use the feature in the recent Paris attacks, the social network was heavily criticized for its selectivity in activating the feature for the Paris attacks but not for the Beirut bombings, which had happened a day before (not to mention the many other terrorist attacks that happen around the world, such as the Kenyan university massacre which also happened this year). Mark Zuckerberg eventually responded to the criticism on his Facebook page. “Many people have rightfully asked why we turned on Safety Check for Paris but not for bombings in Beirut and other places,” said Zuckerberg. “Until yesterday, our policy was only to activate Safety Check for natural disasters. We just changed this and now plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward as well. “You are right that there are many other important conflicts in the world,” he continued. “We care about all people equally, and we will work hard to help people suffering in as many of these situations as we can.” Alex Schultz, vice president of growth at Facebook, also responded to the criticism, saying that the decision to activate Safety Check specifically for the Paris attacks was due to the level of activity Facebook was witnessing on the social network. “In the middle of a complex, uncertain situation affecting many people, Facebook became a place where people were sharing information and looking to understand the condition of their loved ones,” he said. “We talked with our employees on the ground, who felt that there was still a need that we could fill. So we made the decision to try something we’ve never done before: activating Safety Check for something other than a natural disaster. There has to be a first time for trying something new, even in complex and sensitive times, and for us that was Paris.” It is true that there has to be a first time for trying new things out, but it was the timing of the launch, so close to the Beirut tragedy, that raised people’s suspicions that Facebook was showing preferential treatment to a specific region of the world, namely Western Europe. But moving forward, Facebook has committed to activating Safety Check for other “serious and tragic” incidents. “We want this tool to be available whenever and wherever it can help,” added Schultz.AMD is officially going to present their next generation Hawaii GPU in Hawaii on 25th September at the AMD GPU ’14 Tech Day event. We have a few details regarding the new Hawaii GPU thanks to Forbes recent chat with AMD’s Matt Skynner (AMD’s Corporate Vice President and General manager) but the key specifications remain unknown. Possible Specifications of AMD R9-290X Hawaii GPU Detailed 3DCenter has done a detailed analysis regarding the specifications of the upcoming Hawaii GPU which is possibly branded as the AMD R9-290X GPU (atleast that’s what the recent leak by HIS hinted at). We know that the GPU would be officially codenamed ‘Hawaii’, its based on the 28nm process though the main architecture would be a complete overhaul compared to the current GCN architecture in Southern Islands (GCN 1.0/ GCN 1.1) cards. The architecture is being called as GCN 2.0 by many and we suspect that might be it, the die size of the Hawaii GPU is said to be around 30% smaller than NVIDIA’s GK110 which is featured on several Quadro and Tesla cards and the GeForce GTX Titan, GeForce GTX 780 GPUs. But it’s time to do a detailed analysis to see whether the AMD R9-290X Hawaii GPU would be able to stand up against the mighty GK110 core? Early performance reports show that it would end up faster than the GeForce Titan which is the absolute best GK110 card you can get at the moment for a price of $1000 US while its little brother GeForce GTX 780 which is not far behind the Titan itself can be bought for $649 US. AMD has already mentioned that they are not aiming to price their Hawaii GPU in the Ultra High-End Enthusiast range such as their Radeon HD 7990 or their rival’s NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan / GeForce GTX 690 which launched at $999 though the Radeon HD 7990 got a price drop to $799 recently. If true, we will be looking at a price range of around $599 for the top tier Hawaii GPU (XT Variant) while the Pro variant would retail for $449-$499 US. 3DCenter has built up two assumptions regarding the Hawaii GPU, in the first case scenario the Hawaii GPU would end up with 44 Compute Units which would amount to 2816 stream processors, 176 TMUs, 32-48 ROPs while in the second scenario which seems much more possible, the Hawaii GPU would feature 40 Compute Units which would amount to 2560 stream processors, 160 TMUs, 32-48 ROPs. The second scenario seems more realistic based on the data acquired over the past few months but its never bad to have more. In either case, the Hawaii GPU would feature a 384-bit memory buffer with possibly 3-6 GB of memory. The memory would feature a clock speed of 3500 MHz while the core would be clocked a little lower than the 1 GHz mark. You can check out detailed specifications in the chart below: AMD Hawaii GPU(Assumption no.1) AMD Hawaii GPU(Assumption no.2) AMD Radeon HD 7970 NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 GPU Codename Hawaii XT Hawaii XT Tahiti XT GK110 GK110 GPU Process 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm Stream Processors 2816 SPs 2560 SPs 2048 SPs 2688 Cores 2304 Cores TMUS 176 160 128 192 224 ROPS 32-48 32-48 32 48 48 Memory Bus 384-bit 384-bit 384-bit 384-bit 384-bit VRAM 3-6 GB 3-6 GB 3 GB 6 GB 3 GB Core Clock 950 MHz 950 MHz 925 MHz 837 MHz 863 MHz Boost Clock 975 MHz 975 MHz N/A 876 MHz 902 MHz Memory Clock 7 GHz 7 GHz 5.5 GHz 6 GHz 6 GHz Launch Price $599-$649 $599-$649 $549 $999 $649 You might notice that AMD hasn’t released their previously showcased Ruby tech demo although it was announced a while back. Ruby is a key icon for the AMD Radeon graphics department and AMD want’s to mark her return in style. For this purpose, AMD would be showcasing a live technical demonstration of their nextgen Ruby powered by CryEngine 3 during the Hawaii GPU announcement. Ofcourse, the card would be running the demo which is a similar approach to what NVIDIA has been doing over the recent years showcasing their GeForce products capabilities with Epic games Unreal Engine. Do note that the final specifications may be different since this is just a technical analysis of an upcoming product. We will be keeping a look out for more reliable and credible information regarding the AMD Volcanic Islands GPU family and the Hawaii chip.Drop a pebble in the water; just a splash and it’s gone; But there’s half a hundred ripples circling on and on and on, Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea. And there’s no way of telling where the end is going to be. -- James W. Foley Tom Butters won’t even pretend he knew the ripple effect he would create when, 34 years ago, he hired a little-known Army coach coming off of a 9-17 season to be Duke's next basketball coach. Aside from admitting to a "gut feeling" that the young, relatively inexperienced man sitting in front of him was the right man for the job, Butters won’t take any credit for the decision, either. Yet as we examine the what-ifs of college basketball this week, Butters’ brazen option -- naming Mike Krzyzewski head coach at Duke in 1980 -- surely goes down as perhaps the smallest pebble that made the biggest splash in the sport. Butters’ trust in his gut has spawned a career that includes 983 victories, four national championships, four gold medals and international recognition not only for a university but also for a guy whose surname has as many Z's as vowels. Mike Krzyzewski has plenty to smile about now, but his first three years at Duke weren't quite as rosy. AP Photo/Nell Redmond But the question isn’t so much the obvious one: What if Butters hadn’t hired Krzyzewski? Or even all the ramifications included: Would Duke have any national titles? Would we have The Shot, or even know who Christian Laettner is? What of the Cameron Crazies? Would anyone slap a floor on defense? With no Krzyzewskiville, would there be any other InsertCoach’sNameHere towns, boroughs, hamlets or other campout sites? No, the real question is: What if Butters had hired Krzyzewski three years ago instead of in 1980? And what if Krzyzewski had gone 38-47 in those first three years, as he did in his coaching infancy at Duke? Would Butters have kept him aboard or would Krzyzewski, like so many present-day coaches with comparable records, have been fired? “Even in those difficult times in the first three seasons, I not only knew I had the right man, but I knew I had to keep him," said Butters, who retired in 1998 after 20 years as Duke’s athletic director. It looks and sounds simple now, what with the hindsight paved by Krzyzewski’s exemplary résumé. But it wasn’t then. Though they lacked the public-venting forum of social media, the critics nonetheless squawked plenty at Butters. “I was inundated," he said. “Oh my gosh. It was not the easiest of three years that I spent in the business. Everybody had an opinion. They wanted him gone and me gone because I was the idiot who wanted him in the first place." Yet Butters stood his ground, firm in his belief that he made the right call. “Would I have kept him now? Absolutely," Butters said. “In my opinion, there are those who don’t fit, and it’s not anyone’s fault -- it just isn’t a good fit. And there are those who are a good fit. A good fit is a good fit." Think about that. How many college athletic directors can afford to think that way anymore? Besieged by big-money donors, potential big-money profits in NCAA tournament appearances, a 24-hour news cycle and social media’s endless barrage, ADs have a much harder job now than Butters did then. Even if their guts tell them they have the right man, how many can take the risk to keep the right man, if the right man doesn’t win immediately? No one wants to wait for a system to be built or a culture to be cultivated. People just want wins and fervor and Madness. They want it instantaneously, and Godspeed to the AD caught in the crossfire, his or her job on the line alongside the guy with the whistle. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the coaching roadkill from this, the Era of Impatience: John Pelphrey, Arkansas, fired after four years, 69-58 Darrin Horn, South Carolina, fired after four years, 60-63 Tony Barbee, Auburn, fired after four years, 48-75 Steve Donahue, Boston College, fired after four years, 54-76 Jeff Bzdelik, Wake Forest, fired after four years, 51-76 Some of those will turn out to be good decisions, some bad and some a push. And certainly no one is saying that the next Mike Krzyzewski is on the list, but the point is, Krzyzewski wasn’t Krzyzewski in 1983. He was a 30-something, ex-Army coach with a name that no one could pronounce, let alone spell. Yet Butters kept him on, and in Year 4 Duke went 24-10 and made the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils have missed the tourney just once since, when Krzyzewski was out because of back surgery in 1995. “I think," Butters said, “it’s worked out pretty well."Here are 40 swimming workouts for sprinters, distance swimmers, butterfliers, IM’ers, and everyone in between courtesy of some of the top programs, swimmers and coaches in the world. One of the benefits of swimming is the endless variety of ways that you can train in the water. Your swim workout can be a two-hour distance odyssey of intervals on short rest, or a high-rest, high-intensity 45 minute sprint-focused set. Below are a collection of workouts and swim sets for sprinters, for distance swimmers, for those looking to improve their kick, and everyone else in between. No matter what your goal for today’s session is, we got ya covered… Swimming Workouts: 40 Epic Practices and Sets for Swimmers These swim workouts are for competitive swimmers. If you are looking for more beginner type practices you came to the wrong place. However, it you want to: Improve your top-end sprinting speed; Swim the same insanely tough swim workout that one of the top collegiate programs in the country did; Do the same workouts and sets the top swimmers in the world do; Or drastically improve your underwater dolphin kick… …then you are in the right spot. Some of the swim practices I have guinea-pigged on myself, others include sets and workouts from elite swimmers, while others have been submitted by some of the top swim coaches on the planet. (If you are looking for a particularly gruesome challenge, try out the Auburn swim workout listed below. It’s not for the feint of heart.) Test Sets for Swimmers The Swimmer’s Ultimate Test Set for Measuring Improvement. We all want to get faster in the water, and it’s not enough to simply get in better shape. you also need to be more efficient. This set will teach you measure and track both. Wanna See If Your Kick Speed is Improving? Try This Quick Kick Set. Want to see if your kick speed is on the up and up? Here is a set that you can do in less than 10 minutes to see whether or not your kick is improving. Swim Practices and Sets for Sprinters The sprint swimmer is a special creature. And while though they tend to get flak for the relatively low amount of meters and yards they complete in comparison to their middle-distance and distance teammates, they make up for it with intensity and swim goggle-flattening speed. Here are a few sprint sets and workouts for you fast-twitch swimmers: 3 Sprint Sets with Nick Brunelli. Nick was a stalwart on the national scene in the United States for a decade. Even though he never made an Olympic team, he did retire in 2012 with over a half dozen world championship medals to his credit. Here are a few of the sets he used during his training for the 2012 US Olympic Trials. Olympian Mike Alexandrov’s Favorite Set for a Faster & Powerful Breaststroke. 2-time Olympian and US Open record holder in the 100 yard breaststroke Mike Alexandrov shares one of his favorite workouts for developing a monster breaststroke. NCAA & World Champion Josh Schneider Shares His Favorite Sprint Set. Unleash your inner beast mode with this punishing sprint workout that features nearly 1,000 meters of all-out swimming. Improve Your 100m Freestyle with this Epic Race Pace Set. Combine a deadly warm-up with race pace work with this workout designed to help you crush your 100m freestyle. Swim Practices for Distance Swimmers The distance swimmer lifestyle is a demanding one. Relegated to the animal lane for their 10k’s for time, they live a solitary and proud existence. Here is our collection of distance sets and workouts that include practices from Olympic coaches Gregg Troy, Ray Benecki, and also feature workouts from the greatest female distance swimmer of all time, Katie Ledecky. This is What Katie Ledecky’s Main Sets Look Like. The greatest female distance swimmer of all time didn’t get that way without some amazing training. Here are a some of the workouts she performed in the year leading up to the 2013 World Championships, where she dominated the 400, 800 and 1500m freestyles. This is How Fast Katie Ledecky Swims in Practice. Here are two more mid-distance sets that Katie Ledecky performed in the months leading up to her world-shattering performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Good luck! Swim Sets & Workouts to Improve Your Kick Having a powerful kick is critical to fast swimming. Whether it is improving your breakouts and underwater dolphin
meat at all, barely cooked and with almost no sauce at all. Pizza arrived half an hour late. Just stay away from this place. They are awful. This has been my go-to late night pizza place, because it's convenient not because they have the best pie. I did experience a problem with an order this evening, I'd ordered a calzone, and I got a pizza. When I called to ask for a resolution, they offered to make a calzone and bring it out to me. The issue being that I had already waited an hour for the wrong thing to be delivered, so I asked if they could place a credit on my account since I'm a frequent flyer at this location, the woman who answered the phone said that she could give me $2 off my next order. Since that wasn't acceptable for me, I mean the delivery charge alone is $3, so she said she would send her driver out, to collect the pizza. So I left the pizza out on my front porch, I wasn't going to wait for the driver. I just think you should be aware of their customer service, prior to ordering. If your ever stay in Boston overnight, don't order late night pizza from this place. They took an hour to get to the hotel, which the driver called my cell but I didn't hear it go off so they left. Doesn't the driver usually come into the hotel and have the front desk call your room. They just left and I paid $35 for nothing. In the morning I asked the front desk if pizza was dropped off for me and they said no one came in. Called Pizza Days the next day to speak with someone and they said they couldn't refund the money. Horrible customer service. Zero stars for this place. Double Cheese & Bacon Burger Sub was disgusting. Not even sure what I was eaten. Took a gamble with this place after reading the reviews cuz a buffalo chicken calzone sounded amazing and nothing else seemed open. I shouldn't have. You shouldn't either. An hour and a half later my food never came. I would've rathered a wrong order instead of nothin. Avoid this place like the plague I had absolutely terrible delivery service as well as further customer service via phone. At the end of my pizza days debacle the food was complete garbage. Horrendous delivery/customer service. Ordered our pizza late tonight after a concert and it never showed up. They claim to be open until 3 AM but don't answer the phone. We had to call multiple times to even speak to someone to place the order and when the food didn't arrive, we called back and never got an answer. Just plain awful. If I could give this pizza spot 0 stars I would my husband and I went here late night and black customers walked in ordered slices got charged 8.00 a slice then white people walked in got charged 5.00 a slice the staff brought the food to the white people but made the black people get up to get theirs. Racist much I am white myself. This place lost my business because of there act of racism and I will make sure to tell my friends and family to avoid at all costs. Says they close at 3 but it's really 1:30 or 2:00 if you're lucky...bad service the pizza is not even mediocre. I even went there way too drunk and it didn't taste good...says a lot in my opinion. If you're gonna lock your doors and stop accepting orders at 1:30 don't advertise that you're open until 3:00! And then have rude service on top of that $1 slices of cheese pizza before midnight, bring tax monies though.... Always a place to sit. A different face at the cash register every time I've gone in. If you're lucky you might be that customer that's offered a whole cheese pizza for $5 cash. Ordered pizza from here when I was dog-sitting for a friend in Arlington and couldn't find anything else. It was decent not the best I've ever had but good enough that I decided tonight to order delivery from them. Just got delivery...was super excited for a big, delicious, unhealthy "Double Bacon Burger sub" sounds delicious right. WRONG - grossest little thing I've ever seen that wouldn't even be identified as a sub in the first place. Got a big Greek salad in hopes of being healthy on the side and ask for no black olives and extra cucumbers...I got 6 cucumbers in total and a huge container of iceberg lettuce. Adios Pizza Days, you suck, and you can suck it. First review I've ever done in 10+ years simply bc it was such a bad experience...ordered a steak bomb pizza, garden salad, chicken bites and mozzarella sticks. The pizza tasted okay but was barely warm by the time it was delivered. The chicken bites and mozzarella sticks tasted like they were microwaved hours before they were delivered; they were both soggy and cold by the time the food was delivered. The salad was salad, not anything special. Only try this place as a last resort, if that. Or go to bed hungry.I’ve been at it close to 20 years now, grooming the trails for my snowmobile club and over the years I’ve seen many things, some funny, some stupid and some just plain crazy. Since the snowmobile season is yet to start I thought it would be good to educate snowmobilers about what groomer operators want you to know before it’s time to hit the trails. I also threw in a couple of stories for some of laughs and to show how following these tips can save a lot of trouble for everyone. Here we go! 1 – Headlights When approaching a groomer from the front or back at night please turn down your lights!!! Just like driving a car on the road, when passing somebody you dim the lights. So why not do it when meeting a groomer? Many people do this, it gets blinding when you have a long line of sleds coming at you. I try to turn down my work light when I can—when my hands are free and I’ve got a chance to grab the switch—but we can’t always do it. 2 – Passing a Groomer Wait for the groomer to stop or give you a sign to pass. Make sure the groomer sees you. I’ll usually turn off my rear work lights when you can pass safely at night. Do not just pass us any time and wide open. Tales from the Trails: One time I came so close to clipping the back end of a snowmobile. I was going down the trail and I came up on a small local trail to my left that I was going to enter and start grooming. It was on a small curve. I looked behind me and there was nothing there so as I started to grab the steering wheel to make the turn when a snowmobile zooms by me wide open, just inches from the groomer! My front blade barely missed the back end his sled but for a moment I was sure I was going to clip him and he would have flew in the trees—it would have been bad. 3 – Following a Groomer Keep a distance when coming up on a groomer, don’t ride right up to the drag with your skis almost touching it. You don’t know when we’re going to stop. Tales from the Trails: There was one time where this guy was following me close and I didn’t know. I stopped for something and he ended running up on my rear pan! I turned around and he was struggling to drive his sled off the pan. I was pissed but I was laughing too. I got out and walked to the back of the groomer and told him “I think you were following me a little too close buddy!” 4 – Meeting a Groomer on the Trail When you pass a groomer that has just laid a fresh new trail try not to run on it right away. Keep as far to the right as possible, in fact you should always keep right and not ride the centre of the trail. Stay off the newly groomed section as long as you can. I know it’s hard on narrow trails that are in forested areas but I’ve been on big 20 foot wide logging road with riders jumping off as soon as they clear back of the drag right onto the fresh groomed trail. There’s no reason for them to do this as I’m on my way back and the other side of the trail is perfect. I’ve had guys go on the new side, stop to talk to their buddies and then both of them peel off creating a huge hump driving in the wrong lane of my fresh groomed trail. 5 – Don’t Dog the Groomers When you are riding and you see the groomer grooming the local trails around your town, don’t follow the groomer around. I hate that, go somewhere else! Tales from the Trails: I had one guy that kept doing this so I stopped one time and told him “One, your light is blinding me when I’m trying to see in the back. Two, you’re wrecking my trail, and three, if I have to back up I won’t see you and I’ll hit you.” Well, he didn’t listen and I ended up giving him a lesson after that. I was grooming on a different night and he was following me again. I stopped to push some debris on the trail and I had to back up… I might have backed up a bit farther than I needed…you should have seen him scramble to get his sled turned around without reverse. My big groomer and drag heading towards him, the guy was in a panic, I could see his eyes wide behind his shield! He never did it again. 6- Riding on the Edge Please, don’t do this. Do not ride the edge of the trail. Some will ride the very edge for fun. They ride their left ski on the trail and the other half of the sled in the powder packing the edge. Doing this makes the groomer operators lose their reference marker. When there’s fresh snow and the trail is covered we need these to keep the groomer on the trail. This is very important later in the season, especially in areas that have lots of snow with a big thick trail base. If we can’t see it properly we could go off the trail and get sucked in and then we’re stuck. Besides creating the risk of breaking the groomer or bust a track trying to get the groomer out, it also wrecks the trail. 7- Power Take Offs Don’t do power take offs. Why do people still do this?! The worst are the small humps left at the edge of the trail, when grooming fresh snow they’re hidden under the snow and frozen solid. You hit one with the groomer track and it’s like hitting a rock. On club rides I try to educated people I’m riding with, I try to explain to new riders not to do this and to ease on the gas when taking off. 8 – Stopped Groomer On the Trail If you see a groomer stopped on the trail slow down and use caution. You might not see us as we could be clearing snow off the machine, cutting a tree or removing a rock and you could hit us. If you see a groomer with its hood open or tools out stop and ask if we need help. How many times riders would go by and not stop and ask to help, some times all we need is an extra pair of hands. 9 – Be Nice to the Groomer Operator Don’t get pissed off at us. We know you’re there, wait till we find a good safe spot for you to pass. Tales from the Trails: Believe it or not but I’ve had people pissed off because I was grooming on the trail and slowed down their ride. I was in a tight section of trail, I couldn’t pull over because of trees and rocks so there was no way for them to go around and I’m not going to break the groomer for them. Next thing you know they’re flipping the bird to me! I see this and I shake my head in disbelief. Being in the groomer for 10 to 12 hours and then you get something like this, it makes me want turn the engine off grab the keys and throw them in the bush and say #%@& you all. But we don’t, we go on. 10 – The Curves When entering a curve try not to turn it wide open. I’ve ridden with guys that were constantly doing this. Once we got to our destination I told them, “You know groomer operators hate guys like you, do you realize we have to go back and fix the trail you just trashed?” Some people think that the only way to turn in sharp turns is to come in hot, break hard then full open throttle. Do like me: I slow down before, coast into it and gradually I’m back at it, and I still can keep up with others. 11 – Keep to Your Side Stop riding in the centre of the trail, it creates a depression and it’s hard to cut with the drag. Stay to the right like you are supposed to and everyone will be happy. 12 – Broken Down Snowmobiles If you break down on the trail and you have to leave your sled there, please move it off the trail. This is good for two reasons: One, it will be safer and avoids other riders driving into it causing an accident; two, when we’re out grooming and we arrive at a sled on the trail we can’t pass so we have to move it. More than once over the years I’ve had to to push snowmobiles off the trail so I can pass. I’m not going to risk the life of other riders and risk hurting myself alone in the night trying to lift and move over a sled. There is a reason there is a plow in the front and it’s not just for pushing snow. Now, there is a proper way to do it, you have to go slow and put your plow on the bumper where there will be no damage. If you are a good operator you can steer it off the trail and you might have a few minor scratches but it sure beats us driving over your sled and making a pancake out of it. When we’re in the thick woods and there is no way of getting around we have no choice. I’ve had to push trucks out of the way before, you can put your plow under the bumper, lift the wheels off the ground and steer it clear. Once I pushed a truck off the groomed road into a ditch, it was an unplaited old beater. Somebody went for a ride and got stuck and abandoned the truck there…I had my fun :) Tales from the Trails: Please guys, pack your stuff right. Make sure your saddlebags are tied down right. You don’t want to get to the hotel at the end of the day only to find out that your clothes and gear didn’t make it. I’ve seen this happen too often. Once I was grooming north on the D108A trail heading to Hornepayne when I started to notice some debris on the trail. First it was bungee cords then a sock, then another sock and then a t-Shirt…. I stopped and I hung them on a tree branch so if the rider were to turn around he would find his stuff. Now it was starting to get very cold and I was comfy in my warm cab listening to some music not wanting to get back out in that cold when suddenly I notice in my rear-view mirror, stuck in one of my drag cutting blades is a pair of white Fruit of the Loom tighty-whities dragging along….. I was like “Hell no…. it’s cold and I’m not going out for that….” I continued on but the damn dirty underwear wasn’t going anywhere. I would see them dragging and flapping in the wind every time I’d look back at my drag—and groomer operators know how many times we look at the back. After a few hours I got tired of seeing them and I stopped and took a stick and snagged them off … what did I do with them? I did what any good snowmobiler would do: I stuck them on a branch at eye level where the next rider would see them up close in their face and get a scare. I even smeared some dirt on the them so they looked soiled! For a few weeks I would hear about those Fruit of the Loom undies in the tree, it was so funny. Well, I hope you learned a few things from this article and that you had a few laughs too. Remember to be respectful, be nice to groomer operators. We are there for you guys and we are snowmobilers too. Trust me, as much as we love grooming we’d rather be out there enjoying those trails as well. So next time you see a groomer on the trail give us a thumbs up or a friendly wave, and share your trail snacks, we like that too! Keep on Grooming, Luc the Groomer Guy Ok one last story before I go. I figure if you’re read this far you deserve a real good one: Tales from the Trails: One time I was stopped in a tight spot where it was clear and easy to see me. I had a problem with my wiper blade so I stopped to fix it, took me like 30 seconds. While I was doing it I noticed some sleds behind me but there was no room so I couldn’t let them pass. To the right of me there was a power line and a steep hill that the locals were using. One of the guys was impatient and decided to use this to pass me along the powerline. Well, he got stuck and by the time I got to the top of the hill of the powerline I was able to let the rest of his group pass me. Continuing down the powerline and again I hit a tighter section with rocks on both sides (I know my area). A snowmobile arrives behind me and I continue grooming until I can find a place to let them go by but the sled decides to overtake me. The rider and passenger head into the deep snow on the power line. Once he gets past me farther down the trail he drives back on the trail and parks his sled sideways to block my way. Now, being local I recognize who it is and the sled, he’s got his arms in the air and he’s giving me the finger. I drove my groomer right up and stopped my front blade inches from his sled. I got out on my track and asked what was his problem, he starts yelling at me for not moving over off the trail to let them pass me and that I should move over every time to let riders go by. What he was mostly pissed about was that he was the sled that tried to pass me in the powerline and he got stuck in deep snow and had to dig out his sled. I yelled back at him and told him not to make me come down the tracks or he would be sorry. He said he wasn’t moving so I threatened to run over his sled and push it into the trees. I got in the groomer, revved the engine, put it in gear and only then did he move it. And it’s a good thing because I was going to do it! I groomed down the road to a lodge in the old bush town called Localsh to meet up with my family that was having dinner there. It had been a while since they had seen me as I was gone for a few days on the F trail and we were celebrating a special occasion. When I got there the same guy was there with his crew and we got into an argument both face to face and yelling. All this because I was grooming a snowmobile trail!Did the CIA fund creative writing in America? The idea seems like the invention of a creative writer. Yet once upon a time (1967, to be exact), Paul Engle received money from the Farfield Foundation to support international writing at the University of Iowa. The Farfield Foundation was not really a foundation; it was a CIA front that supported cultural operations, mostly in Europe, through an organization called the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Seven years earlier, Engle, then director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, had approached the Rockefeller Foundation with big fears and grand plans. "I trust you have seen the recent announcement that the Soviet Union is founding a University at Moscow for students coming from outside the country," he wrote. This could mean only that "thousands of young people of intelligence, many of whom could never get University training in their own countries, will receive education … along with the expected ideological indoctrination." Engle denounced rounding up students in "one easily supervised place" as a "typical Soviet tactic." He believed that the United States must "compete with that, hard and by long time planning"—by, well, rounding up foreign students in an easily supervised place called Iowa City. Through the University of Iowa, Engle received $10,000 to travel in Asia and Europe to recruit young writers—left-leaning intellectuals—to send to the United States on fellowship. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop emerged in the 1930s and powerfully influenced the creative-writing programs that followed. More than half of the second-wave programs, about 50 of which appeared by 1970, were founded by Iowa graduates. Third- and fourth- and fifth-wave programs, also Iowa scions, have kept coming ever since. So the conventional wisdom that Iowa kicked off the boom in M.F.A. programs is true enough. But it’s also an accepted part of the story that creative-writing programs arose spontaneously: Creative writing was an idea whose time had come. Writers wanted jobs, and students wanted fun classes. In the 1960s, with Soviet satellites orbiting, American baby boomers matriculating, and federal dollars flooding into higher education, colleges and universities marveled at Iowa’s success and followed its lead. To judge by the bellwether, creative-writing programs worked. Iowa looked great: Famous writers taught there, graduated from there, gave readings there, and drank, philandered, and enriched themselves and others there. Yet what drew writers to Iowa was not the innate splendor of a spontaneously good idea. What drew writers to Iowa is what draws writers anywhere: money and hype, which tend to be less spontaneous than ideas. So where did the money and the hype come from? Much of the answer lies in the remarkable career of Paul Engle, the workshop’s second director, a do-it-yourself Cold Warrior whose accomplishments remain mostly covered in archival dust. For two decades after World War II, Iowa prospered on donations from conservative businessmen persuaded by Engle that the program fortified democratic values at home and abroad: It fought Communism. The workshop thrived on checks from places like the Rockefeller Foundation, which gave Iowa $40,000 between 1953 and 1956—good money at the time. As the years went by, it also attracted support from the Asia Foundation (another channel for CIA money) and the State Department. As for the hype, it followed the money and attracted more of it. The publishing moguls Henry Luce and Gardner Cowles Jr. conceived of themselves as fighting a battle of ideas, as they contrasted the American way of life with the gray Soviet nightmare on the pages of their newspapers and glossy magazines. Luce published Time and Life, Cowles published Look and several Midwestern newspapers, and both loved to feature Iowa: its embodiment of literary individualism, its celebration of self-expression, its cornfields. Knowing he could count on such publicity, Engle staged spectacles in Iowa City for audiences far beyond Iowa City. He read memorial sonnets for the Iowa war dead at a dedication ceremony for the new student union. He convened a celebration of Baudelaire with an eye toward the non-Communist left in Paris. He organized a festival of the sciences and arts. Life and Time and Look transformed these events into impressive press clippings, and the clippings, via Engle’s tireless hands, arrived in the mailboxes of possible donors. In 1954, Engle became the editor of the O. Henry Prize collection, and so it became his task to select the year’s best short stories and introduce them to a mass readership. Lo and behold, writers affiliated with Iowa began to be featured with great prominence in the collection. Engle marveled at this, the impartial fruits of his judging, in fund-raising pitches. Advertisement The Iowa Workshop, then, attained national eminence by capitalizing on the fears and hopes of the Cold War. But the creative-writing programs founded in Iowa’s image did not, in this respect, resemble it. No other program would be so celebrated on the glossy pages of Look and Life. No other program would receive an initial burst of underwriting from Maytag and U.S. Steel and Quaker Oats and Reader’s Digest. No other program would attract such interest from the Asia Foundation, the State Department, and the CIA. And the anticlimax of the creative-writing enterprise must derive at least in part from this difference. There, in the paragraphs above, is blood squeezed from the stone of a dissertation. If, in 2006, as a no-longer-quite-plausibly aspiring novelist beached on the shores of academe, you’re struggling against the bleakness of the dissertation as a genre, you’ll do your best to work the CIA into yours. You’ll want to write a heroic dissertation—or at least a novelistic one. You’ll read books about soft diplomacy during the Cold War, learn about the Farfield Foundation, and search for its name, on an abject hunch, in the 40 boxes of the Papers of Paul Engle at the Special Collections Library at the University of Iowa. You’ll exhaust those archives and also the ones at Palo Alto (where Wallace Stegner founded the Stanford program) and Tarrytown (home of the Rockefeller archives), tracing the relationship between creative writing and the Cold War. But even as you do, you’ll wonder about your motives. Because you yourself attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop before deciding to enter a Ph.D. program. At Iowa, you were disappointed by the reduced form of intellectual engagement you found there and the narrow definition of what counted as "literary." The workshop was like a muffin tin you poured the batter of your dreams into. You entered with something undefined and tantalizingly protean and left with muffins. You really believe this. But you can also see yourself clearly enough: unpublished, ambitious, obscure, ponderous. In short, the kind of person who writes a dissertation. Were you right to be frustrated by the ethos of Iowa City, or are you merely a frustrated novelist? Were there objective grounds for your sense of creative stultification, or did the workshop simply not love you enough? Was the whole idea of your dissertation a guerrilla raid on the kind of recognition you couldn’t attain by legitimate means? And did the CIA really have much to do with it? At the Iowa Writers’ Workshop between 1998 and 2000, I had the option of writing fiction in one of four ways. First, I could carve, polish, compress, and simplify; banish myself from my writing as T.S. Eliot advised and strive to enter the gray, crystalline tradition of modernist fiction as it runs from Flaubert through early Joyce and Hemingway to Raymond Carver (alumnus) and Alice Munro. Marilynne Robinson (teacher) did this in her 1980 novel Housekeeping. Denis Johnson (alumnus) played devil to Robinson’s angel in Jesus’ Son. Frank Conroy (director, 1987-2005) had this style down cold—and it is cold. Conroy must have sought it in applications, longing with some kind of spiritual masochism to shiver again and again at the iciness of early Joyce. Such lapidary simplicity becomes psychedelic if you polish it enough. Justin Tussing (class ahead of me) mastered it in his prismatic novel, The Best People in the World. I myself, feeling the influence, revised sentences into pea gravel. Second, and also much approved, I could work in a warmer vein—the genuinely and winningly loquacious. Ethan Canin (my favorite teacher) set the example here, writing charismatically chatty prose that, like the man himself, exhibited the gross health of the fortunate and tenderhearted. Your influences, if you tended this way, were F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Irving, or anybody else whose sentences unwind with glowing ease. Cheever loomed as an undisputed great. Curtis Sittenfeld, in the class below mine, displayed this style and charm and unassuming grace in Prep and American Wife. Marilynne Robinson’s recent novels, Gilead and Home, turn toward this manner from the adamantine beauty of Housekeeping. Third, you could write what’s often called "magical realism." Joy Williams (alumna, teacher) and Stuart Dybek (alumnus, teacher) helped to shape a strain of fable-making passed down to my classmates from Kafka and Bruno Schulz and Calvino or their Latin American heirs. Sarah Shun-lien Bynum was writing Madeleine Is Sleeping; Sarah Braunstein was developing the sensibility she’d weave into The Sweet Relief of Missing Children; Paul Harding was laying the groundwork for the enchanting weirdness of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Tinkers. These first three categories were the acceptable ones. But Category 4 involved writing things that in the eyes of the workshop appeared weird and unsuccessful—that fell outside the community of norms, that tried too hard. The prevailing term for ambitious pieces that didn’t fit was "postmodernism." The term was a kind of smackdown. Submitting a "postmodern" story was like belching in class. But what is a postmodern story? In those years, Robinson was already in the Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Fiction, as were Jayne Anne Phillips (alumna) and Bobbie Ann Mason, model citizens of the M.F.A. nation. Joy Williams and Stuart Dybek were certainly not Victorians nor modernists nor best sellers. What was it that you weren’t supposed to do? Advertisement At the time I considered Freud and Rabelais my favorite novelists. Later I understood that I was being annoying. But I thought then, and still think now, that the three-headed Iowa canon frustrated as much as satisfied a hunger for literature that got you thinking. Iowa fiction, published and unpublished, got you feeling—it got you seeing and tasting and touching and smelling and hearing. It was like going to an arboretum with a child. You want exactly that from life, and also more. People at Iowa love to love Prairie Lights, the local independent bookstore. In Prairie Lights I found myself overwhelmed by the literature of the senses and the literature of the quirky sensing voice. I wanted heavy books from a bunch of different disciplines: on hermeneutics, on monetary policy, on string theory, on psychoanalysis, on the Gospels, on the strange war between analytic and Continental philosophers, on sexual pathology. I was 23. I knew I wanted to write a novel of ideas, a novel of systems, but one also with characters, and also heart—a novel comprising everything, not just how icicles broken from church eaves on winter afternoons taste of asphalt (but that, too). James Wood did not yet loom over everything, but I wanted to make James Wood barf. At Prairie Lights, I would have felt much better buying the work of Nathan Englander (alum) if it had been next to that of Friedrich Engels. I felt there how I feel in bars that serve only wine and beer. This aversion to novels and stories of full-throttle experience, erudition, and cognition—the unspoken proscription against attempting to write them—was the narrowness I sensed and hated. The question I wanted to answer, as I faced down my dissertation, was whether this aversion was an accidental feature of Iowa during my time, or if it reflected something more. In July 2007 I returned to Iowa City for the first time since graduating. It’s one of my favorite places in the United States, and I’d always envied both those classmates who published quickly, earning a right to linger around the workshop after their time, and those who felt no shame about lingering despite failing to publish. I sublet an apartment above a pizza restaurant I used to love and spent quiet nights at bars I had rowdy memories of. But the main business was research. Each day from 9 to 5, I visited the papers of Paul Engle in the university library, and in four weeks watched Engle’s life pass three times: once in the letters he sent, once in the letters he received, and once in newspaper and magazine clippings. Three separate times, as the decades slipped by, I watched a broad, supple mind in tune with its era harden into a tedious one, trying to attach old phrases and concepts to a world that no longer existed. I was haunted and smitten. As only an ambitious and frustrated person can fall in love with an ambitious and frustrated person, I fell in love with Engle. His career was a long slow slide from full-throated poetic aspiration into monochromatic administrative greatness—a modern story if there ever was one. At the beginning of the month I didn’t know what I was looking for, exactly. At the end I had a list of unlikely names, a file of ideological quotations, and the smoking gun of the CIA connection. Later, after gathering secondary sources and digesting the primary ones, I would have my thesis: The Cold War not only underwrote the discipline but also gave it its intellectual shape. This was the linchpin of the story, and it would take a long time to develop. That summer I was mostly just mesmerized by a biography. Engle’s life, at least for a while, exuded pure romance and adventure: a boyhood in a Midwestern city still redolent of the frontier; a father who trained horses; an adolescence during the heady years of American modernism; a coming-of-age at the beginning of the Depression; the receipt of laurels for his poetry by his early 20s; travels in Europe as a Rhodes scholar; the witnessing of Nazi rallies in Munich; celebrity back home for American Song, a collection of brawny, patriotic blank verse published in 1934 and touted on the front page of The New York Times Book Review by a conservative reviewer; his undignified, typically American, and only half-successful attempts to befriend Stephen Spender, Cecil Day-Lewis, and W.H. Auden at Oxford in the 1930s, when those poets were striking poses as exciting young Communists; his conversion to Communism; his adoption of the role of the strapping American vernacular savant in the face of English reticence and snobbery; passionate letters to his future wife back home; a honeymoon in Russia; a homecoming so much less exciting than the voyage out; an American lecture tour; a job teaching at his alma mater, the University of Iowa; the strangely anticlimactic war years, including an unsuccessful bid to serve in the Office of War Information; the panicked recantation of his Communist sympathies in the dawning days of the House Un-American Activities Committee; a marriage not long in its happiness; two daughters; the gradual assumption of the helm of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; the inexorable diminishment of his prospects as a poet; and the birth, in the iciest years of the Cold War, of an institutional vision that would transform American literature. Engle longed, above all, for poets to move nations. His poems say it, and his papers do. I doubt he had a happier moment in his life than when he addressed Americans from NBC in London in 1934. "We stand on the thin and moving edge of our history," he crackled distantly to his countrymen, "where it bends down on one side to the irretrievable past and, on the other, swings outward to the flat plain of the future." What was he talking about? He probably didn’t know exactly. Soon Engle would make the Communist conversion; soon after, he would convert back. His youthful exuberance could fit itself to the ideology nearest at hand. Sway, image, ethos, and glory attracted him: the raw power of words. In American Song, in 1934, when he was still a darling of the conservatives, he envisioned the American poet launching poetry into the sky like a weapon: Advertisement America, great glowing open hearth, In you we will heat the cold steel of our speech, Rolling it molten out into a mold, Polish it to a shining length, and straddling The continent, with hands that have been fashioned, One from the prairie, one from the ocean, winds, Draw back a brawny arm with a shout and hurl The fiery spear-shaft of American song Against the dark destruction of our doom To burn the long, black wind of the years with flame. What did this even mean? It meant that the poetic and the public, the personal and the national, could still fuse in the right words. It was a dream that, after 1939, would vanish almost as quickly as Communism in America. The workshop was like a muffin tin you poured the batter of your dreams into. You entered with something undefined and tantalizingly protean and left with muffins. When Engle got back from England, the figure of T.S. Eliot—his hard poems, his oblique criticism, his antagonism to dialectical materialism—had long since embarked on its path to ascendancy on American campuses. The United States, the last power standing, would need some high culture of its own, and Eliot set the tone. The New Critics, his handmaidens, were waiting to infiltrate the old English faculties. Within 10 years, modernism would win an unadulterated victory, and difficult free verse would sit alongside epics and sonnets on the syllabi. The day would belong to Robert Lowell, writing as a latter-day metaphysical. Engle—in his commitment to soaring iambic lines, to the legacy of Stephen Vincent Benét, to the open idiom that had so recently remained viable—would look like a has-been. But it was not in Engle’s character to stand still or look back. His gut told him something that most educated citizens would have to learn from sociologists: that the postwar era belonged to institutions. The unit of power was no longer the great man but the vast bureaucracy. Eliot’s "The Waste Land" had satirized the bold lyrical speaker; that voice now sounded hushed, tiny, tragically diminished, none of which appealed to a mind as brawny and sunny as Engle’s. The unit of power was no longer the poem. But it could be the poet as a concept, a figure, a living symbol—and therefore, implicitly, the institution that handled and housed the poet. Engle began working long hours at Iowa. His new poems, when he wrote them, merely burnished his credentials as an administrator, patriot, and family man. Many were sonnets, earnestly passé, and his audience included political patrons, present or prospective. (The politician
standings will come at the cost of another team, and even just a handful of victories could shave available playoff berths in the Metropolitan from five to four, or from four down to three. To that extent, the job of at least six other coaches in the division just got a bit trickier.Hundreds of migrants nabbed by the border patrol after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border through Texas have been flown to Arizona and left at Greyhound Bus stations in Tucson and Phoenix during the past month. The practice has drawn criticism from activists on both sides of the illegal immigration debate. Critics charge that released border-crossers will vanish into the woodwork. Immigrant advocates accuse the federal government of releasing migrants without providing enough basic necessities such as food and water on days that hover around 100 degrees F. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) calls it "another disturbing example of a deliberate failure to enforce border security policies and repair a broken immigration system" in a letter to President Obama. More deeply, however, it points to shifts in illegal immigration that could have major consequences for border security efforts. The underlying problem is that Texas is replacing Arizona as the busiest sector for illegal border crossings. In fiscal 2013, agents in the Rio Grande sector caught 154,453 migrants, up from 97,762 the previous year. In Arizona's Tucson sector, which long felt the brunt of illegal immigration on the US-Mexico border, agents recorded 125,942 arrests last year, says Andy Adame, a Border Patrol spokesman. Complicating matters further, many of the migrants coming to Texas are comparatively hard to deport. They are from Central America and are coming as families. Various studies conclude that crime, gangs, and poverty are driving people from countries south of the border. Those who make it to US soil agree, and add another reason: back home they've heard the United States may be lenient with illegal border-crossers who travel with children. Ema Morales, dropped off at the Tucson bus station Thursday night with about 25 Central Americans, says that in her Guatemala town, "they're saying that women and children are allowed to stay." The border patrol detained Morales and her two toddlers shortly after they crossed into Arizona. After a couple of days, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) drove her to the bus station with a group. Most were Guatemalan women and children of all ages. Smugglers, who charge Central Americans $2,000 to $3,000 to get them across the border, also spread word among those from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador of an existing opportunity for women to go free and to reunite with family members in the US, says Laurie Melrood, a family advocate working with migrants in Tucson. "But they don't tell them that they're in deportation proceedings as soon as they're captured by the border patrol." Children have increasingly been coming alone, too. From October to May, 33,470 of the 47,017 unaccompanied minors caught along the entire Southwest border crossed through the Rio Grande Valley. In fiscal 2013, the total number of unaccompanied minors detained along entire border was 24,493, according to federal records. On Monday, Mr. Obama described the influx as an "urgent humanitarian situation" that called for a swift response. Federal agencies are moving to provide temporary housing and other services. These factors create problems for ICE, says spokeswoman Lori Haley. "These families have minor children with them, and ICE has only one family detention center in Pennsylvania but otherwise we don't have detention facilities that can accommodate children," she adds. Texas, caught unprepared by the shift, has not been able to cope. "Because of the recent surge of Central Americans, unaccompanied juveniles, and family groups in south Texas, the border patrol is running out of processing space," says Mr. Adame. That's where Arizona comes in. As the focal point for illegal immigration during recent years "the government expended a lot of resources to this area to include detention facilities or processing facilities," adds Adame. After creating biographical files on the migrants and setting them up for deportation hearings, the border patrol in Tucson turns people over to ICE, which drops them off at the bus stations. Immigration authorities for months have transported small numbers of undocumented immigrants at Tucson and Phoenix bus stations. But the larger crowds have turned a new page in Arizona's tumultuous history of illegal immigration. The largest number of Texas detainees, about 400, landed here over the Memorial Day weekend and more arrived before and after, according to Adame. The border patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector is expanding processing space to accommodate the migrants, and it is unclear whether the flights to Arizona will continue. Immigration authorities won't say whether Arizona should expect more arrivals from Texas, but in a Friday statement, Gov. Brewer said some 1,100 unaccompanied children will be transported here over the weekend. "This is in addition to, not inclusive of, adults and family units, for which numbers have not been provided or any information given," she added. Volunteers in Phoenix and Tucson cities have offered assistance, including food and shelter, to migrants stranded in unfamiliar cities while waiting for relatives living in the US to send bus fare. Confusion has run rampant among migrants who are released without their belongings and have no idea where they are, says Dan Wilson, who volunteers with Casa Mariposa, a Tucson organization that lends border-crossers a helping hand. "A lot of them are traveling with small children and they don't have any diapers for the trip." Governor Brewer expressed similar concerns to Obama: "I remind you that the daytime temperatures in Arizona during this time of year are regularly more than 100 degrees." On the other hand, Mr. Wilson commends ICE for keeping migrants out of detention centers and for allowing them to live in communities where families can stay together. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy But Bob Dain, a spokesman for the American Federation for Immigration Reform, which promotes tighter immigration controls, blasted the Obama administration for its handling of the latest wave of illegal border crossings. "Things have gotten out of hand, Congress needs to step up to the plate and compel this president to start enforcing the law," he says. "Otherwise you've got more and more surges of people coming in, overwhelming the system, and we've got a bureaucratic inability to process them."In the heart of the Great Depression, millions of American workers did something they’d never done before: they joined a union. Emboldened by the passage of the Wagner Act, which made collective bargaining easier, unions organized industries across the country, remaking the economy. Businesses, of course, saw this as grim news. But the general public applauded labor’s new power, even in the face of union tactics that many Americans frowned on, like sit-down strikes. More than seventy per cent of those surveyed in a 1937 Gallup poll said they favored unions. Seventy-five years later, in the wake of another economic crisis, things couldn’t be more different. The bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler saved the jobs of tens of thousands of U.A.W. workers, but were enormously unpopular. In the recent midterm elections, voters in several states passed initiatives making it harder for unions to organize. Across the country, governors and mayors wrestling with budget shortfalls are blaming public-sector unions for the problems. And in polls public support for labor has fallen to historic lows. The hostility to labor is most obvious in the attacks on public-sector workers as what Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota’s former governor, calls “exploiters”—cosseted, overpaid bureaucrats whose gold-plated pension and health plans are busting state budgets. But there’s also been a backlash against labor generally. In 2009, for the first time ever, support for unions in the Gallup poll dipped below fifty per cent. A 2010 Pew Research poll offered even worse numbers, with just forty-one per cent of respondents saying they had a favorable view of unions, the lowest level of support in the history of that poll. In part, this is a simple function of the weak economy. The statistician Nate Silver has found a historical correlation between the unemployment rate and the popularity of unions. Furthermore, an analysis of polling data by David Madland and Karla Walter, of the Center for American Progress, shows that, when times are bad, the approval ratings of government, business, and labor tend to drop in sync; voters, it seems, blame all powerful institutions equally. And although organized labor is much less powerful than it once was, voters don’t seem to see it that way: more than sixty per cent of respondents in the 2010 Pew poll said that unions had too much power. The recession has also magnified the gap between unionized and non-unionized workers. Union workers, on average, get paid more than their non-unionized counterparts—most estimates put the difference at around fifteen per cent—and that wage premium widens during recessions. Similarly, union workers often still have defined-benefit pensions, which sets them apart from all those Americans who watched their retirement accounts get ravaged by the financial crisis. That’s given rise to what Olivia Mitchell, an economics professor at Wharton, calls “pension envy.” This resentment is most evident in the backlash against public-sector workers (who now make up a majority of union members). A recent study by the economics professors Keith Bender and John Heywood found that, when you control for a host of variables, public employees are not actually paid more than their private-sector counterparts. But they do often enjoy good retirement schemes, and in states like Illinois and California politicians have agreed to hefty contracts with state employees and then underfunded the pension plans, leaving future taxpayers to pick up the bill. It’s no wonder that people are annoyed. Still, the advantages that union workers enjoy when it comes to pay and benefits are nothing new, while the resentment about these things is. There are a couple of reasons for this. In the past, a sizable percentage of American workers belonged to unions, or had family members who did. Then, too, even people who didn’t belong to unions often reaped some benefit from them, because of what economists call the “threat effect”: in heavily unionized industries, non-union employers had to pay their workers better in order to fend off unionization. Finally, benefits that union members won for themselves—like the eight-hour day, or weekends off—often ended up percolating down to other workers. These days, none of those things are true. Organized labor has been on the wane for decades, to the point where just seven per cent of private-sector workers belong to a union. The benefits that union members still get—like defined-contribution pensions or Cadillac health plans—are out of reach of most workers. And the disappearance of unions from the private sector has radically diminished the threat effect, meaning that unions don’t raise the wages of non-union workers. The result is that it’s easier to dismiss unions as just another interest group, enjoying perks that most workers cannot get. Even though unions remain the loudest political voice for workers’ interests, resentment has replaced solidarity, which helps explain why the bailout of General Motors was almost as unpopular as the bailouts of Wall Street banks. And, at a time when labor is already struggling to organize new workers, this is grim news. In a landmark 1984 study, the economists Richard Freeman and James Medoff showed that there was a strong connection between the public image of unions and how workers voted in union elections: the less popular unions were generally, the harder it was for them to organize. Labor, in other words, may be caught in a vicious cycle, becoming progressively less influential and more unpopular. The Great Depression invigorated the modern American labor movement. The Great Recession has crippled it. ♦Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Runewars Miniatures Game Essentials Pack, an expansion that gives you all the non-figure components you need to field an army in the Runewars Miniatures Game. Tokens, templates, references, cards, and dice are all included in the essentials pack, providing an exciting starting point for new players, or extra components for a veteran to the battles of Terrinoth. Resources of War The Runewars Essentials pack pairs with any army expansion, like the upcoming Latari Elves Army Expansion, to give you all the tools you need to field your own army in the Runewars Miniatures Game. The Runewars Miniatures Game Essentials Pack includes Four terrain pieces with matching cards Six objective cards Six deployment cards Thirty morale cards Ten upgrade cards Four reference cards Four deployment markers Eight objective markers Ten wound tokens Five energy tokens Twenty-two boon and bane tokens Twelve Unit ID Tokens One Round Counter Nine movement templates Six attack dice Many of these components are identical to the ones in the Runewars Miniatures Game Core Set, including the ten upgrade cards, and allow players to immediately jump into the world of Terrinoth with high-quality components. Build your Army Objective and Deployment cards will ensure that every game of Runewars Miniatures Game you play will be a different experience every time. With the Runewars Miniatures Game Essentials Pack, the world of Terrinoth is at your fingertips.To coincide with the release of Foo Fighters’ new album, Concrete and Gold, frontman Dave Grohl sought to throw the ultimate “backyard party for 50,000 people.” His vision will become reality with Cal JAM 17, a one-day rock super fest taking place at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, California on October 7th. In addition to a headlining performance from Foo Fighters, the lineup boasts fellow rock titans like Queens of the Stone Age, Liam Gallagher, The Kills, Japandroids, Cage the Elephant, Royal Blood, Wolf Alice, Bob Mould, Bully, Circa Waves, Babes in Toyland, The Obsessed, White Reaper, and more. CAL JAM 17 also promises carnival rides, a water park, an outdoor movie theater, a mobile recording studio, a Foo Fighters Museum, and more. Limited camping space is also available to festival attendees. Tickets to the festival go on sale June 29th at 10:00 a.m. PST; find more info here. CAL JAM 17 will mark Foo Fighters’ first major U.S. performance in support of Concrete and Gold and will be followed by a full-scale U.S. headlining tour. See the full list of dates here.Doctor who treated YouTube martyr Neda Agha Soltan in her last moments flees to Britain in fear for his safety Doctor who treated Neda flees in fear for family's safety British journalist arrested in Iran after protests Tehran 'like a war zone' after brutal crackdown, say witnesses President Ahmadinejad compares Obama to Bush Fresh images of violence on streets emerges A doctor who was captured on Internet videos helping 'Neda', the young Iranian woman killed during the election protests last week, has now fled Iran. Dr. Arash Hejazi has spoken out about the moment he tried to help the 26-year-old music student. 'I felt she was trying to ask a question, "Why?",' he said, as he recalled her final moments lying in a street with blood pouring from her body. Dr. Arash Hejazi is pictured in the white shirt attending Neda as she lays dying on the ground 'She was just a person in the street who was against the injustice going on in her country, and for that she was murdered.' The doctor is an Iranian who is resident in Britain but told the Times he went to Tehran on a business trip. Hejazi said Neda Agha Soltan, a 26-year-old music student, was killed by a government militiaman. Iran has accused the West, particularly Britain and the United States, of inciting violence. State television has blamed violence on 'terrorists' and 'vandals'. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking yesterday. Iran has blamed other countries, including Britain, for political unrest Martyr: Neda was shot dead at a protest in Tehran on Saturday Hejazi, 38, said he fled from Iran when the video footage sped around the world on websites because he feared his own life might be in danger as he could be seen with Soltan. Before trying to leave, he said he emailed a friend in Britain to say he hoped to join his family in the university city of Oxford where he was studying: 'If something happens to me, please take care of (my wife and son).' He said he had gone outside into Tehran's streets only when he and some friends heard a commotion. Hejazi said Soltan's death would always haunt him but was glad she had become a global symbol. 'This way her blood is not wasted and she did not die in vain,' he said. In Iran, supporters of defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, who says the June 12 presidential poll was rigged, plan to release thousands of balloons on Friday with the message: 'Neda you will always remain in our heart'. About 20 people were killed when the disputed poll sparked the worst unrest in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Shocking: YouTube footage of Neda's final moments have made her an icon around the world A security crackdown by Iran's hardline government has largely driven demonstrators off Tehran's streets this week. Meanwhile Neda's family has been forced by Iranian officials to move from their Tehran home, it has been claimed. Neighbours say that her family left their apartment in eastern Tehran after shocking images of her brutal killing were circulated around the world. They also claim that police did not hand Neda's bloodied body back to her family, that her funeral was cancelled, that she was buried without her family's knowledge, and that the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques. 'We just know that they [the family] were forced to leave their flat,' a neighbour said. The claims were reported in The Guardian newspaper, but reporters were unable to contact the family directly to confirm if they had been forced to leave. The Iranian government is retaliating to criticism over Neda's death by accusing protesters of killing her and describing her as a martyr of the Basij militia. Candles have been lit and prayers said across the world, including in Dubai yesterday Javan, a pro-government newspaper, has gone so far as to blame the recently expelled BBC correspondent, Jon Leyne, of hiring 'thugs' to shoot her so he could make a documentary film. The young woman was shot on Saturday evening near the scene of clashes between pro-government militias and demonstrators. Amid scenes of grief in the Soltan household, neighbours streamed onto the streets to protest at her death. But the police moved in quickly to quell any public displays of grief. They soon arrived at the family flat, took down a black banner - a traditional sign of Persian mourning - and reportedly ordered the family to move out. Since then, neighbours have received suspicious calls warning them not to discuss her death with anyone and not to make any protest. Meanwhile a reporter with joint British and Greek nationality has been arrested in the country as part of a crackdown on foreign media. Jason Fowden was arrested as he was attempting to leave the country at the end of last week Jason Fowden, a Washington Times journalist was arrested as he tried to leave Iran at the end of last week, the Iranian news agency IRNA quoted a culture ministry official as saying. The British Foreign Office said it was aware of the journalist's arrest and understood that Greek officials were providing consular assistance. 'We, of course, stand ready to help if needs be,' a spokeswoman for the department said. Iran's intelligence minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said some people with British passports were involved in post-election violence in the Islamic Republic. He also said one of those arrested was 'disguised as a journalist and he was collecting information needed by the enemies'. Mohseni-Ejei said: 'Whoever, under any name or title, collects information in Iran will be arrested and so far a foreign journalist has been arrested.' It is not known how many British passport holders are being held. As a mass roundup continued across Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad compared Barack Obama with his predecessor George Bush. The leader said there was no point in talking to Washington unless the U.S. commander-in-chief apologised for remarks earlier this week. Armed: Iranian security forces are seen sitting near the parliament buildings yesterday in Tehran Mr Obama had said he was 'appalled and outraged' by the post-election crackdown and has since withdrawn Independence Day invitations to Iranian diplomats. 'He made a mistake to say those things... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously (former U.S. President George W.) Bush used to say,' Ahmadinejad said. 'Do you want to speak with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to talk about... I hope you avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it.' There are reports that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accepted a request by the country's top legislative body the Guardian Council to extend the deadline by five days for receiving and looking into election complaints. However Khamenei has insisted the Iranian establishment and people would not yield to any pressure over the country's disputed presidential election. Thousands of police yesterday brutally suppressed a pro-democracy rally in central Tehran. Witnesses compared the scene to a war zone and described one woman being beaten so savagely that she was drenched in blood and her husband fainted. Fear: Images of violence in Iran recorded yesterday were revealed on the National Council of Resistance of Iran website Bloody: An unidentified victim receives a savage beating There were also unconfirmed reports that Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, had been arrested. In a flurry of postings on blogs and Twitter, demonstrators described people being heavily beaten and shot. There were claims that a girl had been hit by a hail of bullets and that the feared Basij paramilitaries were preventing people from getting to safety. One blog, Revolutionary Road, claimed that there were 10,000 policemen massed in Baharestan Square in the south-east of the city. Correspondents said there were army helicopters flying over the area and that police had used tear gas to suppress the protest. The square itself had been blocked off, shops closed and the local train station also shut. Heavy-handed: Police are bused into the centre of Tehran - more can be seen at the top of the picture following on foot 'The streets, squares around Baharestan is swarming with military forces, civilian forces, the security motorists,' one posting read. 'In Baharestan Square, the police shooting. A girl is shot and the police is not allowing them to help. 'The girl who was shot was taken to a private clinic, not known yet of her well being... alive or not. 'People's mobiles are being controlled in order to find pictures and videos of current violations.' There were reports of multiple shootings and people being subjected to heavy beatings. 'We saw seven to eight militia beating one woman with baton on ground - she had no defense nothing,' another post read.' Revolutionary Road has been one of the more reliable sources of information out of Iran since a media blackout came into force last week. Reports of shooting in Baharestan Square also seemed to be backed up by Twitter. IranFreedom3 tweeted: 'Huge number of arrests in Baharestan. They avoid any stoppage & arrest on the spot' Another wrote: 'Situation today is terrible - they beat (people) like animals.' Out of control: The armed police harass demonstrators on the streets The regime's crackdown comes in the wake of a wave of arrests across the country. Human rights workers estimate hundreds have been rounded up, including students, pro-democracy campaigners and workers. The developments plunged Britain and Iran into an diplomatic row, the kind of which was last seen in the wake of the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Two British diplomats were expelled from Iran on Tuesday. In a tit-for-tat move, Gordon Brown revealed two Iranian diplomats were being kicked out of the UK. ‘Iran took the unjustified step of expelling two British diplomats over allegations which are absolutely without foundation,' he told the Commons. ‘In response to that action, we informed the Iranian ambassador that we would expel two Iranian diplomats from their embassy in London,’ he said. Demonstrators gathered outside the British embassy in Tehran and burned British flags, as well as those of the U.S., France and Italy. A group of about a hundred hardliners gathered in front of the building chanting ‘British embassy should be closed’ and ‘Down with Britain’ as tomatoes were hurled at the walls. Hardline: Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reported to have accepted a request to extend the deadline by five days for receiving and looking into election complaints One of the student leaders said: ‘We don't need to have such useless relations with Britain... If Britain continues its interference in Iran, we will destroy their houses over their heads.' Britain has ordered the families of British diplomats to leave Tehran and warned UK citizens against any non-essential travel to Iran as tensions have grown. There are fears that there could be a repeat of the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in 1979, when students stormed the building and held 52 diplomats hostage for 444 days. Britain has a long history of involvement in Iran and recent relations have been difficult. Britain suspended its diplomatic ties after the Islamic revolution in 1979, only reopening an embassy in 1988, following the Iran-Iraq war. Relations were downgraded again in the early 1990s, with full normalisation only taking place in 1998.Story highlights Sister Megan Rice, 84, was found guilty of damaging and destroying government property She and two other peace activists were arrested in 2012 for breaking into nuclear facility The uranium processing and storage complex was supposed to have been tightly secured An 84-year-old nun was sentenced to 35 months in prison Tuesday for breaking into a nuclear facility, her lawyer said. In May, a federal jury in Knoxville, Tennessee, found Sister Megan Rice; Greg Boertje-Obed, 57; and Michael Walli, 63, guilty of destroying U.S. government property and causing more than $1,000 in damage to federal property. It was not immediately clear what the sentences were for the two other peace activists. The incident began before dawn on July 28, 2012, when the three cut through a chain-link fence surrounding the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They then walked nearly a mile, cutting through three more fences and breaching what was supposed to be the most tightly secured uranium processing and storage facility in the country. It was not until hours later that a guard finally confronted the activists who, by then, had hoisted banners, spray-painted messages and splattered human blood on a building that houses highly enriched uranium. JUST WATCHED Elderly nun sabotages nuclear weapons lab Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Elderly nun sabotages nuclear weapons lab 01:51 "They're at peace about this. They're peacemakers, and they knew that they risked this," Joe Quigley, attorney for Walli, told CNN affiliate WATE in May after their trial. "Nobody is happy to go jail, but they understand." In response to the incident, Congress has held a series of hearings and issued security recommendations to the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs Y-12 and seven other nuclear weapons sites. In March, Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the Department of Energy had taken "several major actions... to improve security" since the breach, including management changes and independent security reviews.Seamus Daly is released from Magheraberry Prison on Tuesday in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. The 45-year-old laborer was accused of murdering 29 people in the 1989 Omagh bombing, but the case collapsed in court Tuesday when prosecutors decided there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. (Charles Mcquillan/Getty Images) The man charged with murdering 29 people in a car bombing in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh walked free from prison Tuesday after prosecutors concluded that the evidence against him — particularly a witness who was supposed to place him in the area that day — was too weak. Seamus Daly had spent nearly two years in prison awaiting trial for the Aug. 15, 1998, attack on a crowd of shoppers, workers and tourists. His case joined a string of failed prosecutions against figures with a group known as the Real IRA who have long been blamed for the deadliest single bombing of the Northern Ireland conflict. Daly, 45, did serve a brief prison sentence in Ireland after pleading guilty in 2004 to membership in the Real IRA, one of several outlawed factions, each of which styles itself as the “true” Irish Republican Army. These small, feud-prone gangs reject the cease-fire observed since 1997 by the major group, the Provisional IRA. The Real IRA planted a string of car bombs in Northern Ireland towns in 1998 in a bid to undermine support for that year’s Good Friday peace accord, which sought to end a three-decade conflict that claimed 3,700 lives. Police prevented deaths in several other car bombings with swift evacuations. But on that unusually sunny Saturday in Omagh, police responding to vague telephone warnings ordered people away from the town’s hilltop courthouse and down Market Street — straight toward the bomb parked outside a shop selling school uniforms. Most of those slain were women and children, including a mother pregnant with twins. In this Aug. 16, 1998 photo, police stand amongst the rubble after a car-bomb attack in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh. (Dan Chung/Reuters) Public horror over the Omagh atrocity spurred an island-wide security crackdown on those IRA factions that refused to back the peace accord. The British and Irish prime ministers and U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the blast scene and vowed to isolate the extremists. But in the nearly 18 years since then, those factions remain active and Omagh has become a byword for justice denied. Police have testified in court that telecommunications records document how a cellphone allegedly used by Daly traveled across the Irish border to Omagh on the day of the attack. A witness, Denis O’Connor, who previously testified that Daly used that phone to call him from Omagh a half-hour after the blast, performed badly on the stand last week during a preliminary hearing designed to test evidence. “He sounded not a credible witness at all, a very untruthful witness. I would not want anybody to be convicted on that evidence,” said Michael Gallagher, who has campaigned since 1998 for the Real IRA bomb unit responsible for the incident to be brought to justice. Nobody has been successfully prosecuted for the crime. Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the attack, noted that three high-profile attempts to convict alleged members of the Omagh bombing team have failed because of weak, disputed or overturned evidence. Daly’s lawyer, Peter Corrigan, compared the prosecutors’ case to “a house of straw.” He said O’Connor committed perjury, while police had misrepresented their evidence on mobile phones used by the attackers. In 2009, a Belfast civil jury found Daly and three other Real IRA figures responsible for the bombing and ordered them to pay about $2.5 million in damages, a judgment that was upheld on appeal in 2013. They have refused to pay. In 2007, electrician Sean Hoey — who had faced 56 charges, including construction of the Omagh bomb’s power-timer units and 29 counts of murder — was acquitted on all charges after a Northern Ireland judge rejected forensic evidence and said police witnesses had lied. Hoey had spent four years behind bars awaiting trial. In this 1998 photo, friends and family carry the coffins of Avril Monaghan and her 18-month-old daughter, Maura, to a church in Augher, northern Ireland. The mother and daughter were among 29 people killed in the Aug. 15, 1998 car bombing in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters) In 2002, pub owner Colm Murphy was convicted of supplying the phones used by the bombers and received a 14-year prison sentence in Ireland. His conviction was overturned on appeal eight years later, after two detectives admitted they had rewritten their interrogation notes to remove conflicts in information.Recent debates about whether public- or private-sector workers earn more have obscured a larger truth: all workers have suffered from decades of stagnating wages despite large gains in productivity. The current public discussion illogically pits state and local government employees against private workers, when both groups have failed to sufficiently benefit from the economic fruits of their labors. This paper examines trends in the compensation of public (state and local government) and private-sector employees relative to the growth of productivity over the past two decades. This paper finds: • U.S. productivity grew by 62.5% from 1989 to 2010, far more than real hourly wages for both private-sector and state/local government workers, which grew 12% in the same period. Real hourly compensation grew a bit more (20.5% for state/local workers and 17.9% for private-sector workers) but still lagged far behind productivity growth. • Wage stagnation has hit high school–educated workers harder than college graduates, although both groups have suffered—and a bit more so in the public sector. For example, from 1989 to 2010, real wages for high school-educated workers in the private sector grew by just 4.8%, compared with 2.6% in state government. During the same period, real wages for college graduates in the private sector grew 19.4%, compared with 9.5% in state government. • The typical worker has had stagnating wages for a long time, despite enjoying some wage growth during the economic recovery of the late 1990s. While productivity grew 80% between 1979 and 2009, the hourly wage of the median worker grew by only 10.1%, with all of this wage growth occurring from 1996 to 2002, reflecting the strong economic recovery of the late 1990s. • The fading momentum of the 1990s recovery failed to propel real wage gains for college graduates employed by private-sector firms or states from 2002 to 2010, despite productivity growth of 20.2% over the same period. These data underscore that there is a bigger story than public versus private compensation and a more penetrating set of questions to ask than who has more than whom. The ability of the economy to produce more goods and services has not translated into greater compensation for either group of workers. Why has pay fared so poorly overall? Why did the richest 1% of Americans receive 56% of all the income growth between 1989 and 2007, before the recession began (compared with 16% going to the bottom 90% of households)? Why are corporate profits 22% above their pre-recession level while total corporate sector employees’ compensation (reflecting lower employment and meager pay increases) is 3% below pre-recession levels? The answers lie in an economy that is designed to work for the well off and not to produce good jobs and improved living standards.1 Essentially, economic policy has not supported good jobs over the last 30 years or so. Rather, the focus has been on policies that were thought to make consumers better off through lower prices: deregulation of industries, privatization of public services, the weakening of labor standards including the minimum wage, erosion of the social safety net, expanding globalization, and the move toward fewer and weaker unions. These policies have served to erode the bargaining power of most workers, widen wage inequality, and deplete access to good jobs. In the last 10 years even workers with a college degree have failed to see any real wage growth.The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has abruptly postponed regional advisory meetings that had been set for Edmonton and Thunder Bay, Ont., next week. The meetings, launched by Ottawa but independent from the federal government, aim to gather advice from survivors and families on what issues should be covered when the inquiry starts public hearings at the end of May. The first meetings took place in Whitehorse this week and were to move to Edmonton and Thunder Bay next week. But in a statement late Thursday, the inquiry said the meetings need to be "reformulated" to make them more inclusive, accessible and focused. Inquiry commissioner Qajaq Robinson said the Whitehorse meetings showed the panel that things needed to be done differently. "We are pausing to learn from those lessons," and work to improve our communications, our engagement, and move forward in a better way." The inquiry has been criticized for failing to adequately contact survivors and families of victims. However, this latest postponement isn't helping families have faith in the process. Michelle Mainville-Atkinson told CBC News she was going to travel a thousand kilometres from Manitoulin Island to Thunder Bay, Ont., for next week's meeting. She found out through Facebook the meeting had been cancelled. Mainville-Atkinson's daughter, Cheyenne Fox, was found dead at the bottom of a Toronto high-rise almost four years ago. She was supposed to advise the commission on how to proceed with hearing testimony from families. The commission has asked families and survivors who want to share their stories to notify it by email or a toll-free number, but advocates say the commission should be initiating contact. The inquiry said it has informed families, survivors, and community members who had planned to participate in the Edmonton and Thunder Bay meetings. No new dates for the meetings have been set. The inquiry is tasked with recommending "concrete actions to remove systemic causes of violence and increase the safety of Indigenous women and girls in Canada," the federal government says. It's slated to provide recommendations in an interim report by Nov. 1, 2017 and a final report by Nov. 1, 2018.Sources confirmed that former President Barack Obama will be in Chicago Wednesday for jury duty.The former president has long been outspoken about the importance of civic engagement. Just last week, while in the city for the first Obama Foundation Summit, he extolled the virtues of public service."Ordinary people in local communities can do extraordinary things when they're given a chance," he said.Now President Obama, a constitutional scholar, will fulfill his civic duty.Sources told ABC7 Eyewitness News he'll report for jury duty Wednesday morning to a Cook County courthouse in Chicago, where he's expected to go through the same mundane drill as the rest of us.He's hardly the only former president to receive a summons. George W. Bush had jury duty in 2015, and Bill Clinton reported to serve in 2003. Neither ended up on a jury.Presumably the president will be paid for his service just like everybody else. That amounts to $17.20 per day.The owner of a popular Pennsylvania bakery

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