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in a free-kick.
Jesus then made a substitution, with Aimar off and Rodrigo on to play slightly higher up the pitch. An Aimar injury may have contributed to Jesus’ decision, but although it left the midfield a little more open, the change made sense – Benfica wanted more energy high up the pitch, and Rodrigo could run a lot faster, and a lot further, than Aimar.
James and Djalma
But the crucial change came from Pereira, who made the extremely bold move of taking off centre-back Rolando, and bringing on wide forward James Rodriguez. This prompted a reshuffle – Maicon came into the centre, and previously anonymous left-winger Djalma moved all the way across to right-back.
Djalma played brilliantly at right-back, and as Porto pushed forward, that was to become the key battlezone. That said, they were leaving space at the back for Benfica to counter into, and the game suddenly became a contest all about playing on the break. Porto’s goal actually came from a counter-counter-attack – Benfica had broken and left their midfield bare, so Porto went up the other end and James, playing narrower than Djalma, finished a sweeping move brilliantly. Pereira’s move was an inspired decision in that respect, but it could just as easily have been 3-1 as 2-2 at that point.
10 v 11
The substitution got even better, because Djalma continued to motor forward. Porto played predominantly down that side, and this may have contributed to Emerson fouling Hulk and picking up his second booking. He was off, and now Benfica had a real problem in the zone of the pitch they were already looking weak in. Jesus was made to pay for not having Joan Capdevila (hugely out of favour) on the bench, and instead he had to put creative midfielder Nico Gaitan there.
This was clearly not an ideal situation. Benfica sat back with two banks of four and Cardozo upfront, but Porto continued to get the ball out to Hulk. Eventually, the uncomfortable Gaitan dived in and conceded a free-kick in that left-back zone. Sure enough, Porto scored from the set-piece, with Maicon up from the back to head into the net. Porto were then comfortable for the final few minutes with 11 v 10.
Conclusion
Last season Benfica suffered one of their most humiliating defeats to Porto when they lost 5-0 at the Dragão. The problem there was a complete inability to defend in the left-back zone, with David Luiz terrible in particular. Hulk running riot, and all five goals coming from that zone. The same position turned out to be a huge problem tonight, and this may have a significant impact upon their title hopes.
That turned out to be the key factor in a game that featured pressing, counter-attacking and poor defending at dead ball situations. It was a fantastically open game, and Pereira came out on top with his brave substitution.
Match report at Portugoal.net
Related articles on Zonal Marking:When served in optimum condition, draft beer can be utterly sublime. When draft is ripe with fresh flavors, sparkling condition and creamy foam, it’s no wonder people have sung its praises for millennia. It does, however, take some effort to get right and sometimes falls short of its promise. A great glass of draft beer depends on the brewer doing his or her job correctly, of course, but, unlike many other beverages, it is very much at the mercy of the people who pull those tap handles and maintain those draft lines. Beer’s great flavor and texture can be harmed by the way it is treated and served.
I’ll start with a rather extreme example: A few years ago at the end of a brutal day teaching homebrewing, a few of my fellow instructors and I sat down in a bar and ordered a round of beers from a reputable brewery whose products we knew well. The first glass on the table was inexplicably hazy and reeked of theater popcorn: the unmissable stench of a chemical called diacetyl, a common symptom of bacterial infection. The second beer was marginally better: crystal clear, but still plenty buttery. The third was almost right, with just a slight hint of butteriness, but definitely less than stellar.
What happened? We had encountered the dreaded “first pour” syndrome. The beer had been sitting in the line since closing time last night. Normally this is no big deal, but when an establishment is less than scrupulous about cleaning its draft lines, the bacteria that are everywhere in the environment can snuggle in and take up residence, metabolizing residual carbohydrates in the beer and squirting out prodigious quantities of diacetyl as well as some other equally distracting chemicals. None of these off-flavors are harmful—they do occur in dairy products and other foods, for example—but they fairly well destroy the beer experience.
My group quickly moved on to a more fastidious beer joint. This was an entirely preventable occurrence, caused by laziness or lack of attention to detail. Most experts recommend that lines be cleaned at least every two weeks; the best bars I know get to it weekly. The process normally involves detaching the lines from the kegs and circulating an alkaline cleaning solution through them and then, after a rinse, a sanitizer. One of the more extreme line-cleaning systems actually shoots little foam balls through the lines, helping scrub the tenacious protein and mineral film from the tubing. It’s not a glamorous part of the business, but a very necessary one. Fortunately, there are services that specialize in this so the staff doesn’t have to get down and dirty. That hapless bar lost us as customers forever that day. Even if most people can’t accurately diagnose a poorly served beer, they definitely know when something is wrong and will take their business elsewhere.
There are other problems as well. Most health departments require that glassware be sanitized before being used to serve beer. This is great, but the sanitizers usually contain highly reactive chlorine or bromine. They are extremely effective, but it’s important to rinse the sanitized glasses thoroughly before filling them with beer. Any remaining sanitizer will react with tannins and other components in the beer to produce chlorophenols, potent aromatic chemicals that usually come across as “Band-Aid” in flavor. These can ruin a beer in a matter of seconds. They are not harmful in the low quantities present in a beer, but they have a nasty smell, and I sure don’t want to drink them.
While not a taste problem, traces of detergent will cause another issue. The head of a beer is easily degraded by either fat or detergents (which are made from fats), so tainted glassware can sometimes cause the head of an otherwise fully carbonated beer to fall quickly. If you’re wearing lip balm or a juicy lip gloss, you may notice this same phenomenon—but of course in this case it’s on you, not the barkeep.
Some bars don’t do all that great a job cleaning their glassware, but how can you tell when your glass arrives filled with beer? There are a couple of telltale signs. First are traces of lipstick or other oils around the rim. Generally the problem isn’t this extreme, but hidden dirt is made visible by patches of bubbles clinging to the side of the glass in the liquid. The reason a dirty glass will exhibit these (while a clean one will not) is that the dirt offers lots of nucleation sites: microscopically textured patches that allow bubbles to form. Check your glass when it arrives, as these will often disappear after a few minutes.
There’s a neat trick that can be used to check glassware when there’s no beer in it. Take a purportedly clean glass, give it a quick rinse with water, then shake it out. Now, take a salt shaker and sprinkle the inside liberally. If the salt coating is splotchy or uneven, the glass needs a better cleaning. Water won’t stick to a clean glass, and without the water, neither will the salt. A well-worn glass can show similar nucleation evidence, usually near the bottom where the glass stacked on top of it during storage rubs and chafes. That one’s nothing to worry about, but of course seriously beat-up glassware shows a lack of concern for aesthetics at the least.
Then there’s the issue of carbonation. The brewery sends its beer out at the desired carbonation level. It is the bar or restaurant’s duty to maintain it for best flavor and texture, but one often finds flat and lifeless beer pouring from the tap. Sometimes the culprit is carelessness, or perhaps a lack of pressure regulation for each individual keg. Other times it is caused by improper tap system design or installation that causes bartenders to turn the pressure down to keep foaming (and wasted beer) to a minimum. To be fair, some beer styles such as Belgian ales and weissbiers do require higher pressures and a little special treatment, but this is the price to be paid for selling specialty beer. The good places know how to deal with challenging beers.
A more troubling and extreme problem comes from the use of mixed gas. Most “normal” beer is carbonated and dispensed with pure carbon dioxide gas. However, beers served “on nitro” are dispensed with a mix, typically of 25 percent CO2 and 75 percent nitrogen. This works great for the nitro beers and is responsible for their beautiful cascade of tiny bubbles and densely creamy head. When normal beer is hooked up to the mixed gas, however, the result is not a happy one. The CO2 pressure inside the keg eventually bleeds down to the low level of the mixed gas, and the beer loses much of its carbonation, turning flat and dull.
So, now that you know what to look for, what’s to be done if there’s a problem? Your first defense is to send it back. It is standard practice in bars and restaurants to pour a new beer if a customer isn’t happy with a beer for any reason, so this is not a big ask. After one questionable beer, a taste of whatever you’re ordering next is not out of line. You’re not likely to get an argument, but do not accept the “It’s supposed to taste that way” comment—it is not supposed to taste that way. Try to be as specific about the problem as you can. If you need backup or the right language, you can tear this article out of the magazine and keep it in your wallet, or point the offending bar to the Cicerone syllabus online.
Getting great beer into everybody’s hands requires us all to be a little annoying when it’s called for and to demand the best from the places we frequent, voting with our feet when they refuse to comply. If enough of us make an issue out of it, they will get the message that bad beer is bad for business, and instead of “Eeuuww,” we’ll all be saying “Aahh.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that salt would adhere to dirty spots in a glass, when in actuality salt will stick to the clean spots.It’s been tough for US oil companies. And even tougher for their investors. The hero du jour is Marathon Oil.
Today afterhours it reported an eye-popping 48% plunge in revenues in the second quarter and a net loss of $386 million. To stem the bleeding, it slashed capital expenditures by 40% from the prior quarter. “Importantly,” as it said in the press release, it was able to reduce production costs in North America by over 30% per barrel of oil equivalent from a year ago. And it cut is general and administrative costs by more than 20%.
The key to survival in this environment of plunging revenues is conserving cash and slashing expenses, including “workforce reductions,” as the company calls them. And something else….
Marathon proudly said that its global production from continuing operations (excluding Libya) rose 6% from a year ago, with its US production soaring “nearly 30%.” And it’s not backing down either: Total company production would increase 5-7% year-over-year, with a 20% jump in production in the US.
Thus it joined the cacophonous chorus of oil and gas companies that have been bragging about production increases despite the oil glut, despite the oil price plunge, despite the mayhem in the oil markets, just when investors are desperately waiting for the ever elusive production cuts.
BP’s debacle is even worse. Last week, it announced a loss of $6.3 billion and warned of more layoffs to come. It raised the restructuring charges for those layoffs from $1 billion, put forward in December, to $1.5 billion. “We will continue to identify more opportunities for simplification and efficiency,” is how CEO Bob Dudley put it in perfect corporate-speak. And cuts are now coming at “a faster pace.”
Dozens of companies in the oil & gas sector have announced job cuts since last fall, with some of the global players, like Baker Hughes, pushing their layoff numbers into the low five-digits. It has been a relentless litany.
In its June Job Cut Report, Challenger found that US employers had announced 287,672 job cuts during the first half of 2015, up 17% from the same period in 2014, the worst first half since 2010. For a reason:
The first-half surge was due largely to the decline in oil prices, which rippled through the energy and industrial goods sectors. All told, the drop in oil prices was blamed for 69,582 job cuts in the first half of 2015. That is second only to the 86,978 job cuts attributed to “restructuring.”
But the announcements of global companies don’t always make clear how many of these cuts are going to happen in the US. And given the vast US economy, these energy-related job cuts don’t readily stick out in the various reports on the US employment situation.
ADP, in its National Employment Report today, guessed that the economy in July created 185,000 new jobs, including whatever jobs it destroyed in the energy sector. It disappointed those who’d expected 215,000. But that’s still quite a few jobs. And new unemployment claims have been bumping along multi-year lows. So nothing particularly alarming in these numbers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics figured that the number of jobs in “ oil and gas extraction ” peaked in October last year at 201,500 and has since fallen 4% to 193,200. Total employment in oil & gas extraction and support activities peaked at 538,000 and has since dropped 7%.
Among the nearly 142 million total non-farm jobs in the US, half a million oil & gas jobs isn’t a big portion. But for folks working in the sector, it’s a different story. On an anecdotal basis, it sounds like this (from David in Texas):
A friend’s son went to work for BP right out of college a couple of years ago for what to my friend was a shockingly high salary. At the moment, he’s still employed there, but we’ll see how long this lasts. Another friend’s son who worked for Baker Hughes has already been laid off.
This has been the pattern: a careful trickle of layoffs here and there, spread out over months, not the mass extinction of jobs that we saw during the Great Recession. And this strategy has one big side effect: by now, hardly anyone pays attention to it anymore.
Moody’s Analytics, in conjunction with the ADP National Employment Report, came up with its own estimates of the bloodletting. Chief economist Mark Zandi told reporters today that the oil & gas sector has been laying off 10,000 to 15,000 workers a month so far this year. Unless the price of oil suddenly experiences a miraculous recovery, layoffs would likely continue for the rest of the year at this rate, it said.
Alas, West Texas Intermediate is now in its eighth week in a row of declines. At $45.21 a barrel, the lowest since March 20, it’s just a hair from setting a new low for this oil bust. Not a whole lot stands in its way.
So if Moody’s estimate for the oil & gas sector pans out, it would translate into a range of 120,000 to 180,000 job cuts this year, in an industry that at the beginning of the year had barely over 500,000 jobs. At the upper end of the range, it would represent the elimination of 36% of the oil & gas jobs in the US. Though it doesn’t stick out in the national figures, it would be a true jobs massacre.
So the oil & gas sector isn’t exactly in a rosy environment, with a number of companies entering a “liquidity death spiral.” Read… Oil Re-Bloodies the “Smart Money”
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The other hourlong show, Oasis, is based on Michel Faber's 2014 science fiction novel The Book of Strange New Things. A chaplain, played by Game of Thrones' Richard Madden, travels to the distant planet Oasis to help establish a colony. Joining him is legendary Indian actor Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) as the planet's chief administrator, along with roles by Haley Joel Osment and Game Of Thrones' Mark Addy. The pilot is written by Bridge of Spies' Matt Charman and directed by Last King of Scotland's Kevin Macdonald.
The three half-hour comedies include The Legend Of Master Legend, which follows Las Vegas-based street hero Master Legend's struggle to balance his scrappy heroics while supporting his family, who are unimpressed with his cape-and-cowl antics. The pilot is executive produced and written by Transparent's Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster.
Another, Budding Prospects, features three city boys heading into the Northern California boonies to grow weed at a grungy rural setup. This show, based on the T.C. Boyle novel of the same name, is directed by Ghost World and Bad Santa's Terry Zwigoff.
Finally, The New V.I.P.'s is Amazon's stab at getting an animated adult comedy in the lineup. In it, low-level employees get control of a major corporation after accidentally killing their boss. The show features the voices of Agent Carter's Matt Braunger, Parks and Recreation's Ben Schwarz and Gone Girl's Missi Pyle.
Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan get access to all five pilots on March 17th. Vote for your favorite and they'll follow gauntlet-survivors Transparent and The Man In The High Castle as full shows.L'Oreal has, in fact, been growing skin since the 1980s. A 60-person team grows roughly 100,000 skin samples every year (that's 5 square meters of skin or a full cow's-worth annually) at its lab in Lyon. Currently, the company receives bits of donor skin from plastic surgery procedures. Then L'Oreal breaks the samples down into individual cells, re-cultures and grows them into.5 cm testing squares. The whole process takes about a week to complete but could soon be done much faster thanks to Organovo's NovoGen Bioprinting Platform. This device uses a pair of printer heads -- one for placing human cells, the other for placing a hydrogel support matrix -- to create skin samples on a commercial scale.
The program is still in its planning stages but should it come to market, the cosmetics company will retain exclusive rights to the samples for use in non-prescription skin care products. Organovo, on the other hand, will have the right to sell the tissues for prescription drug and toxicity testing as well as for future organ transplants. The bioprinter has already partnered with Merk to create liver and kidney tissues (the first samples of which should be ready by next year) but this reportedly is the first time the beauty industry has employed such technology.
[Image credit: Organovo]A Hamilton man who says he was falsely arrested and imprisoned after a police constable had a gun planted in his home has filed a $1.5-million lawsuit against the officer, the Hamilton Police Service and former police chief Glenn De Caire.
Darren Mork, 30, had his lawyer file a statement of claim against the three parties on Monday afternoon at Hamilton's John Sopinka Courthouse.
The claim says the parties' negligence has caused Mork to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, anger, irritability, and disturbed sleep resulting in stress and fatigue. He now distrusts those in uniform and has "sustained serious and permanent psychological injuries and impairments … into the foreseeable future," it adds.
The allegations have not yet been heard in court.
Robert Hansen, a 12-year constable with Hamilton police's gangs and weapons enforcement unit, was convicted in January of perjury and obstructing justice after he encouraged an informant to plant a gun at a suspected drug trafficker's home in 2012, and lying to secure a search warrant.
Hansen, 41, was sentenced in June to five years in prison. He resigned from the police service last month.
Mork is asking for $1 million in damages — and $250,000 each for special damages and punitive damages — for deliberate false arrest and imprisonment resulting in his lost enjoyment of life and forcing him to live in undisclosed locations "for fear of retaliation from various organizations or groups."
His lawyer Nick Cake of London, Ont., told the Spectator his client has had to move out of Hamilton and out of province after having his life "ripped apart" by Hansen's actions.
Cake said Mork felt that continuing to live at home with his parents in Hamilton would put them in danger. "He's lost that close knit bond with his mother and father after all of those false allegations."
Cake said Mork was born in Cambodia and moved to Hamilton at a young age but because he has had to move, "he's lost the ability to lay down roots."Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get an message to Microsoft Teams when your web or functions has been deployed to Azure?
Or perhaps even more important when it doesn’t get deployed!
Unfortunately there’s no built in support in Teams for Azure app service post deployment webhooks, but as a developer this is where you see opportunity to code right? Fortunately Teams has a “generic” webhook you can create for each channel, which gets you an url you can post messages in a predefined JSON format. You create a webhook by:
Pressing the “…” after a chanel Choosing “Connectors” Find “Incoming Webhook” and Press “Add” Give it a name and optionally upload custom icon Then you can copy the unique for chosen channel generated url
The format the Teams incoming webhook expects looks something like this:
But this is what Azure app service post deployment webhook delivers via Kudu:
So Kudu essentially provides all the info you need, we just need to massage it a bit so it conforms to what Microsoft Teams expect. In this post won’t go in detail how to get setup functions on Azure(for that I recommend you read my previous post “Going server less with PowerShell”), but rather just jump to some code.
A bare minimum Azure Function would look something like below:
It’ll just return “Hello World”, to any request so not yet very useful, what we first need to do is to parse the incoming JSON payload from the Kudu post deployment http call. Azure Functions has a few assemblies at your disposable out of the box (you can fetch more as needed utilizing NuGet), one of those is Json.Net which is a very popular for serializing/deserializing JSON on.Net. to indicate you want to load an assembly you use the #r directive followed by path to assembly and then you’ll ready to go, as Json.Net is one of the standard Function assemblies you only need to reference it by name. A very basic function that parsed JSON payload and returns a value based on that would look something like this:
This will take the JSON payload, parse it and return a new JSON structure with only one status property ending up looking something like this:
As we will always have the same schema for the incoming messages and are in a statically types language we can easily change from using a dynamic object to an class with types and properties letting Json.Net do the heavy lifting of deserializing the incoming JSON data, such a class for the post deployment payload could be defined something like below
and dynamic changed to var and a generic parameter hinting desired result
Then you can with a few anonymous classes transform the data to what the Teams incoming webhook expects
and then convert it to a JSON string
after that it’s just a matter of posting that data to the Teams webhook
and voilá that’s it out function is ready! (For your convenience I’ve made a complete sample available on GitHub here, if you want go get up and running quickly just fork that and choose “start from source control” on the functions initial quickstart)
Now we just need to hookup our function as a Kudu post deployment webhook. You find the link to each App Service under Development Tools -> Advanced Tools
You can also access it directly my inserting “.scm.” between your app name and “azurewebsites.net” i.e.
You find webhooks under Tools->Web hooks
The url to your function will be something like:
https://{your_function_app}.azurewebsites.net/api/PostToMicrosoftTeams?code={function_token}&teamshookuri={your teams webhook without https://}
Now next time the App Service is deployed you should get a nice notification when it’s done.Could Outlander become a breakout hit for Starz? The premium cable network’s buzzy new fantasy drama, based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling novel series, has been viewed nearly 1 million times in the run up to its official Saturday night premiere.
Starz put the first episode (“Sassenach”) of its adaptation online and On Demand this week. So far, the hour has been viewed 897,372 times by more than 600,000 unique viewers. (So, yes, some fans are apparently watching more than once.) Those numbers include viewing via Starz On Demand, Starz.com, YouTube, and Xfinity. Reviewers have been largely positive, including EW’s own Jeff Jensen. Yet it’s tough to say at this point what the sampling will mean for the show’s official premiere and beyond.
Outlander follows a WWII combat nurse (Caitriona Balfe) who is is mysteriously transported back to 1743 Scotland, where she is kidnapped by a group of Highlanders. If you haven’t already, check out the NSFW pilot below:Well, we’re sure fans in Cleveland will have zero opinions about this one. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the Cavs are reluctant to use too much of their cap space these days, with the plan being to maintain enough money to potentially sign LeBron James to a max deal when he has the option to become a free agent in 2014: “Executives and agents around the league are convinced the Cavaliers won’t do anything to jeopardize their ability to sign a free agent to a max contract during the summer of 2014, when LeBron James can again become a free agent. As fans in Northeast Ohio continue to howl and remain divided about the possibility of his return, more and more people around the league believe there is a strong possibility James will indeed return to Cleveland after next season. The Cavs are well aware of this, too, and won’t take on a bad contract if it compromises their cap space in two years. That means any bad contract they would obtain in a potential trade would have to expire after next season. It doesn’t make a deal impossible, but it dramatically reduces the field — and it decreases the price the Cavs can command since their future obligations would be brief.”The April issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Hero's magazine confirmed on Wednesday that illustrator Kazasa Sumita ( Witchblade Takeru ) and storywriter Shinya Murata's ( Jackals ) Killing Bites manga is getting an anime adaptation. Shogakukan has opened a website and a Twitter account for the franchise.
Japanese online retailer 7net had previously previewed the cover of the issue earlier this week, which featured the anime announcement on the cover, but the official website for Monthly Hero's previewed a cover image that didn't include the text about the anime adaptation. The website now features a cover image with the anime announcement text.
The official English website for Monthly Hero's describes the manga:
Killing Bites are underworld duels between human-animal hybrids.
One beast who knows no fear will fight in this animalistic world full of fear and insanity. This ultimate battle of the beasts will shock you to your core!
Sumita and Murata launched the manga in Monthly Hero's in November 2013. Shogakukan published the manga's sixth volume on September 5, and will publish the seventh volume on March 4.In March, I wrote a column detailing a number of credible accusations made against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for instituting a quota system for arrests and for stop-and-frisk searches. At the same time, additional allegations charged higher-ups in the department with actively discouraging crime victims from reporting crimes—as well as downgrading felonies to misdemeanors—in order to make the city's crime statistics look better. Taken together, these allegations painted an ugly picture of New Yorkers being stopped, hassled, and frisked for either petty offenses or for no offense at all, while the victims of acutal crimes faced unsympathetic law enforcement officials.
The quota allegations stemmed from several audio recordings made by Officer Adil Polanco of instructions given to him and other officers by various superiors. When the recordings surfaced, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said officers are encouraged to meet "goals," but denied the existence of arrest or citation quotas. As for the charge that the NYPD was burying reports of actual crime, those allegations came from a survey of retired high-ranking NYPD officers conducted by two Molloy College criminologists. The NYPD dismissed the study, while critics such as the Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald called it "irredeemably flawed."
Now comes another set of recordings from another New York precinct that validates both the Molloy study and Polanco's allegations. Earlier this month, the Village Voice obtained over 100 recordings of roll call meetings in Brooklyn's 81st precinct made by Officer Adrian Schoolcraft. They're damning.
Schoolcraft, for example, recorded a fellow officer lamenting that he'd been instructed to downgrade a car theft to "unauthorized use of a vehicle," as well as to find a way around reporting the thefts of a cell phone and video game system. In another recording, Schoolcraft captured the results as he voiced his concerns about crime stats manipulation to a unit within the department that audits such data. One officer with the unit acknowledged the political pressure to juke the stats. "The mayor's looking for it, the police commissioner's looking for it...every commanding officer wants to show it," he said. "So there's motivation not to classify reports for the seven major crimes."
In other words, the statistical manipulation extends beyond property crimes. Journalist Debbie Nathan, who was sexually assaulted in a city park last February, says that she was shocked to learn that the officers who wrote up her report classified the crime as a misdemeanor. It was later upgraded to a felony, but only after Nathan went to the district attorney. And according to the DA's investigation, the six officers who responded to Nathan's attack admitted leaving key portions of her story out of the report. As Nathan told the Village Voice, rape crisis centers throughout New York City have documented similar complaints from victims of sexual assault.
Schoolcraft also documented evidence of the hard quotas officers had to meet with respect to both arrests and citations. As the Voice summarized:
Police officers were routinely threatened with discipline (transfers, shift changes, partner changes, and assignment changes) by their superiors if they did not make their monthly quota of summonses, stop-and-frisks, arrests, and community visits.
Officers were instructed to arrest people for "blocking the sidewalk," for not possessing ID (even while just feet from their homes), even for no reason at all (cops were told to "articulate" a charge at a later time). The cops were told to make arrests even if they knew they'd be voiding the charge at the end of their shifts. As a sergeant implores in one recording, "Again, it's all about the numbers."
About those numbers: While only about one tenth of 1 percent of the stops yielded a gun (at present it's nearly impossible to legally carry a gun in New York), the practice has helped drive up the city's marijuana arrests from 4,000 in 1997 to 40,000 in 2007. Marijuana for personal use was actually decriminalized in New York during that period. But you still can't display your pot in public. So the police simply stop people, trick them into emptying their pockets, and then arrest them for displaying marijuana in public.
This is the natural progression of two related policing trends in New York: Broken Windows, which posits that cracking down on petty crime leads to a reduction in more serious crime, and COMPSTAT, a data-driven method of policing. There's debate over the effectiveness of both policies, but even if they do work to drive down crime, it's important to understand the political realities of the institutions that are using them.
Politicians want lower crime rates. This is the demand they make of the police officials who report to them. If your policing philosophy is Broken Windows, and your method of accountability is COMPSTAT, over time there will be a natural pull on the police department to enforce increasingly petty offenses and to manipulate data on more serious crimes. The department brass knows they're evaluated on the serious crime rate, and they've bought into the idea that the best way to control the serious crime rate is to aggressively enforce the low-level stuff.
In addition to the obvious civil liberties concerns about stopping, arresting, and holding people for non-crimes, these practices also poison police-community relations, particularly among minority groups. Harass people for non-crimes while brushing off actual crimes, and the people are eventually going to lose trust in law enforcement. Blacks and Latinos made up an incredible 90 percent of the stop-and-frisks in 2009, yet the arrest rate among those stopped was about the same as that of whites. (It isn't clear how many arrests led to actual convictions.) And while the city's crime rate has dropped dramatically since the early 1990s, the stop-and-frisk phenomenon is relatively recent and growing fast. The rate has tripled since 2003.
Unfortunately, the current political class in New York has bought into the idea that these policies are responsible for the drop in crime. It seems odd to say that it will take an unusually conscientious politician to call for a crime policy that doesn't involve suppressing real crimes, manufacturing fake ones, and harassing the citizenry. But that is precisely what it will take.
Radley Balko is a senior editor at Reason magazine.Well today is a superb day.
Sabine has told us two incredibly important things, things that not only inform us as to where we are, but open up rather more optimistic possibilities than some of the darker options we’ve considered until now, based on not knowing.
I want to repeat, because it’s important to fully understand what will follow, that while “wakefulness” and “consciousness” usually are pretty much one and the same, after the brain is injured, the two can be dissociated. What do I mean?
Assuming that the terms are being used and translated correctly (and Sabine is a consummate professional and wouldn’t get this wrong), awakening refers to (at least) the appearance of... being awake. Basically that means eyes open. And as I mentioned before, this eye opening can even be cyclic, following what looks just like a sleep-wake cycle (even if not synchronised to real day-night hours).
Wakefulness WITHOUT consciousness is the definition of a vegetative state. The eyes are open, but there’s no interaction with the environment. If Sabine had “only” said that Michael was showing wakefulness, it would mean that he is not comatose. That in itself is a damned sight “better” than persistent coma, not just in terms of life expectancy, but in terms of the chances of neurologic improvement.
But Sabine has also told us that Michael is showing signs of consciousness. My lord, the brain is an amazing organ. And Michael a remarkable man. What does this consciousness probably look like? It consists of episodes of clear, purposeful interaction with the environment, and/or clear signs of awareness of self, even if these signs are not constantly present. For example, if Michael smiles when a member of his entourage talks to him – reproducibly and consistently on at least a few occasions. Or following people with his eyes. Or trying to communicate, or obeying simple commands. Any of this constitutes objective signs of contact between the “outside” and the “inside”. This then would be a minimally conscious state. And that is about the best news we could possibly get right now.
Why? Because of what it means for everyone – Michael himself, his loved ones, and his fans. It means that Michael may well see, hear, and feel the love that’s around him. That he is, in some very real way, HERE. It means his life expectancy has now improved VERY significantly. And last, but perhaps most important, it opens up a very real chance for further improvement. This would mean spending more time “in touch” with his surroundings, and also improvement in the quality of the interaction. How incredibly positive!
This means rehab, lots of rehab. Michael is used to working hard. Getting that brain to learn new ways of doing things, stimulating it, forcing it to handle data, and all the while working hard to build him up again physically. All very exciting. And very good.
Don’t get me wrong – this is a very important step, but we don’t want Michael to stay like this. But this is a very very very big step.
We all need to thank the team taking care of Michael as well as the people around him, for their devotion and patience. Everyone is going to need to be patient – for weeks, months, maybe years.
But if you’re even the slightest bit spiritual, it’s time cast a look upwards |
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tanysjewellery@live.caChristian pilgrims enter the Holy Sepulchre Church during a 2015 ceremony in Jerusalem's Old City (AFP Photo/Thomas Coex)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Vandals have destroyed dozens of crosses at a Christian cemetery west of Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarchate in the city said Saturday, urging Israeli authorities to bring the culprits to justice.
The church did not say who was behind the desecration but in recent years there have been a spate of hate crimes targeting churches and Christian cemeteries, with the perpetrators believed to be Jewish extremists.
"Salesian fathers responsible for the monastery in Beit Jamal reported that unknown persons desecrated their monastery's cemetery," the patriarchate said in a statement.
"The fathers reported also that tens of crosses were destroyed at their cemetery," it said, condemning the attack which apparently took place in December.
Beit Jamal is near the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem.
Vandals had desecrated the cemetery of the Catholic monastery of Beit Jamal, which is run by the Salesian order, in September 1981, said the statement.
The patriarchate urged "the police... and the Israeli authorities in general to invest every possible effort" to bring to justice those responsible for this and past desecrations.
"We do hope that more efforts be made to educate all inhabitants of the country to respect each other despite their different religious backgrounds," said the English language statement.
In April, vandals had smashed gravestones at a Maronite Christian cemetery in a village near Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
In June, arsonists attacked the Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where many Christians believe Jesus fed 5,000 people in the miracle of the five loaves and two fish.
One building within the compound was totally destroyed in the blaze but the church itself was not damaged.
Hebrew graffiti was scrawled on another building that read "idols will be cast out" or destroyed -- part of a common Jewish prayer.
Two suspected Jewish extremists were charged in connection with the arson and graffiti, and Israel said it would compensate church officials for the damage.Process panel of this week’s @wearenotdatingcomic! I work with small thumbnails showing all 4 panels at once, then when I have a set I like, I work on from simple to complex, large to small details. I jump around between panels, usually working on multiple at once. Some panels have multiple draft layers, others only have one or two. #comic #comics #art #artprocess #processvideo #process #wearenotdating #wearenotdatingcomic #artistsoninstagram #artistsofinstagram
You are all great just the way you are. I can’t think of anyone I know that hasn’t had doubts about themselves. About whether or not they were good enough. I do my best to lift up the people I care for because I want them to know I love them for who they are. Sometimes it’s so easy to get lost in ourselves, we can forget about the wonderful people around us. I think it’s normal. #art #artistsoninstagram #comic #comics #selfdoubt #selfconfidence #youareallamazing #artistsofinstagram
Do people actually have more than one hobby?! I am asked this a fair amount and when I don’t have much of an answer aside from art I’m wondering if I’m doing enough 😅 But I guess if I do enough things to make art and comics about...I guess I do have more hobbies? #art #artistsoninstagram #artistsofinstagram #artproblems #artistproblems #comic #comics
Was listening to Between The Sheets interview with Quyen Tran, and this sentence immediately stuck to me and left me thinking. My best growth in art has always come from over-extending just a little past where my current abilities are. I will never feel ready for what I make, but I have to trust that I can at least try and give it my best shot. From there, the skills will come.
Hello #artvsartist, I’m Allen! I make comics about not dating my best friend (@wearenotdatingcomic) I enjoy traveling, drawing in cafes, and having a good time with friends! #artvsartist2019 #artist #art #portrait #wearenotdating #digital #ink #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagramJon Stewart hosts 'The Daily Show' on April 21, 2015. [Crooks and Liars]
Daily Show host Jon Stewart roasted Rick Santorum on Tuesday after the former senator said he would not attend a loved one’s same-sex wedding while still claiming he would “love and support” them.
“I know you don’t want to redefine the word ‘marriage,’ but it does appear you want to redefine the words ‘love’ and ‘support,'” Stewart joked. “Santorum doesn’t want to attend the wedding, that’s fine; he’ll be there on the wedding night.”
Stewart immediately warned his audience, “Don’t Google that — you’re gonna need a napkin and a paper towel.”
In 2011, Stewart recalled, Santorum argued against marriage equality by comparing legalizing same-sex couples’ right to be wed to referring to napkins as paper towels.
“Let me guess, in your scenario the paper towel is the gay guy,” Stewart said. “Okay, how stereotypical can you get? Also, your analogy is stupid.”
Overall, though, Stewart said the majority of Republican presidential hopefuls going into 2016 are being forced to answer tougher questions regarding their position on the issue than they were in 2012.
“If you can’t handle these questions, how are you gonna handle [Vladimir] Putin asking you to go to a gay wedding?” Stewart demanded. “This election is gonna boil down to, ‘Who do you trust to pick up the phone at 3 am and RSVP to a gay wedding?'”
Watch Stewart’s commentary, as posted by Comedy Central on Tuesday, below.As Twitchy reported, celebrities have gone from laughable to outright deplorable, having appended introductions to their ridiculous video directed toward the members of the Electoral College in order to address individual electors by name.
That smacks of outright intimidation, and fortunately, someone has smacked these clowns right back with a fantastic edit of their little movie.
We’re not familiar with STUDIO KRANK, but they’ve taken Unite for America’s original video and, simply by recutting it, have made an inspiring message of national unity that hasn’t been seen out of Hollywood since World War II: “They’re not asking you to vote for Trump. They ask you to unite under our 45th President, together we make a better country.”
Honestly … if this were their message, we’d buy tickets to every one of their movies forever … once we finally worked out who everyone is. Bonus: You don’t have to be a Donald Trump fan to enjoy it (but it helps).
Well looky here. Tolerant-not-tolerant Hollywood progs seem to have had a change of heart. 😉 #EveryonesPresident https://t.co/MMRFB0KMt4 — TruthSeekerKatie (@BunnysDaughter) December 17, 2016Alaska troopers want to know why idiot in bear suit is harassing grizzlies
Why would someone wear a realistic bear costume and use it bother a mother grizzly and her two cubs trying to eat salmon in an Alaska river? First of all, he's lucky the mother bear didn't eviscerate him when he ran to within five to ten feet of the cubs and began “waving and jumping,” according to a group of people watching from a respectful distance. Second, it's stressful to the bears.
Alaska Fish and Game technician Lou Cenicola, was able to move the mother bear out of the way, and he tried to talk to the man. The man didn't remove the bear head, and didn't identify himself. He told Cenicola, “You have the license plate number. You figure it out.” Then he drove away, still in costume.
State troopers are investigating and said the man could face wildlife harassment charges.
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Image: ShutterstockEsportsJohn Profile Blog Joined June 2012 United States 4443 Posts Last Edited: 2016-12-22 16:18:36 #1 Ragnaros
First Impressions
Analysis and Pro Opinions by EsportsJohn
Ragnaros, an elemental as old as the world of Azeroth, has been called to many realms…but rarely one so suited to his destructive nature as the Nexus. As he strives to reduce this new land to ash, Ragnaros hews about with the fiery hammer Sulfuras and takes command of allied and destroyed forts, scourging all who approach him with falling rocks and waves of magma. Though his power is vast, those who summon the Firelord must be prepared to watch the world burn.
Table of Contents
Strengths and Weaknesses
Abilities
Breakdown
Talents
Professional Opinions
At BlizzCon, Blizzard revealed the next two heroes to enter the Nexus with a thrilling cinematic featuring an epic battle between Varian and Ragnaros. The Firelord was available for play at the venue, but it was over a month before he was actually released. Advertised as an assassin that could take over a fort and become a "raid boss", there was a lot of excitement for the upcoming hero.
Ragnaros lives up to the hype: he's big, does lots of fire things, and makes the game feel chaotic—but maybe a little too chaotic. Perhaps the most broken hero since Samuro, Ragnaros dominated matches during opening week, peaking at 70% on HotS Logs. He's since been nerfed a bit, but it still remains to be seen if Molten Core and Lava Wave are too impactful or potentially game-breaking. Let's take a closer look at this destructive Hero and his devastating abilities!
”By fire be purged!”
Strengths
Strong solo laner
Long range poke
Good waveclear
Dynamic zoning abilities
Weaknesses
Weak escape
No CC in his base kit
Vulnerable to CC chains
Abilities
Trait
Molten Core
Channel on an allied or destroyed Fort or Keep to replace it with Ragnaros's ultimate form, temporarily gaining new Abilities, having 4155.84 Health that burns away over 18.72 seconds. 120s cooldown.
Ragnaros's returns to his normal form upon losing all Health in Molten Core.
Basic Abilities
Empower Sulfuras (Q)
Ragnaros's next Basic Attack is instant, dealing 219.44 Ability damage in an area, and heals for 20% of the damage dealt. Healing doubled versus Heroes. 6s cooldown
Living Meteor (W)
Summon a meteor at the target point that deals 74.88 damage, then rolls in the target direction dealing 299.52 damage per second for 1.75 seconds. 12s cooldown
Blast Wave (E)
Ignite Ragnaros or an ally, granting 25% Movement Speed for 1.50 seconds before exploding dealing 108.16 damage to nearby enemies. 10s cooldown.
Heroic Abilities
Sulfuras Smash (R)
Hurl Sulfuras at the target area, landing after 0.75 seconds, dealing 205.92 damage. Enemies in the center take 617.76 damage instead and are Stunned for 0.50 seconds. 60s cooldown.
Lava Wave (R)
Release a wave of lava from Ragnaros's Core that travels down the targeted lane, dealing 249.60 damage per second to non-Structure enemies in its path and instantly killing enemy Minions. Damage increased by 100% versus Heroes. 120s cooldown
Ragnaros' basic abilities are a nice mix of poke, sustain, and utility. For his Heroics, Ragnaros can utilize either global pressure with Lava Wave or build more for teamfights with Sulfuras Smash. The combination of these factors make him a beast at solo laning and useful in a variety of compositions. There are certain battlegrounds, like Braxis Holdout and Tomb of the Spider Queen, in which he is exceptionally strong, but he isn't necessarily bad on any in the rotation.
Even though he's classified a melee assassin, Ragnaros can put out a lot of long range poke damage with Living Meteor. Using some of the Meteor talents like Molten Power and Meteor Bomb, Ragnaros can maximize his poke and deal insane damage from afar while still retaining the ability to walk up and smash someone with Empower Sulfuras. The ability to fight from both a distance and in close quarters is one of the factors that makes Ragnaros one of the most well-rounded characters in the game.
Molten Core and Lava Wave are game-changers. The way the abilities are designed makes him exceptional at pushing and defending forts and can even change the way objectives are played on some maps. For instance, Molten Core can delay close tributes on Cursed Hollow or Altars on Towers of Doom using the insane range on his second set of abilities. Lava Wave literally melts the Zerg rush on Braxis Holdout, making him a must-ban Hero on that map.
The one glaring weakness of Ragnaros is his lack of escape. Despite having great sustain with Empower Sulfuras and a small speed boost from Blast Wave, it can be difficult for Ragnaros to get out of a tough situation. Grabbing talents like Catching Fire and Resilient Flame can help boost his tankiness when he goes in too deep and hopefully him buy enough time to deal good return damage.
Talents
Ragnaros has one of the most adaptable talent trees in the game at the moment, but that might be largely due to his colossal damage numbers; when his numbers get nerfed a bit, we may see a bit more stability in talent choices. As with most assassins, his builds usually empower one ability and take defensive or utility talents where necessary.
Perhaps the most common build right now is the Living Meteor build, which does insane amounts of poke damage from a safe distance. Talenting into Shifting Meteor allows Ragnaros to keep the ball on someone for the maximum possible damage; it also makes it easier to consistently build stacks on Molten Power. Once he gets Meteor Bomb at level 16, he can wreck the back line and dish out some serious AoE damage.
If you're looking to play more of a melee style, you can go for a Q build. Sulfuras Hungers at level 1 is similar to Azmodan's Taste for Blood talent because it requires Ragnaros to last hit minions, and in turn, it greatly increases the damage of Empower Sulfuras. The quest doesn't take that long, but requires him to solo a bit so to gain maximum value out of his Qs without teammates accidentally clearing minion waves too quickly. Once you tack on Hand of Ragnaros and Giant Scorcher, Ragnaros does some insane burst damage with his Q on an absurdly low cooldown.
His level 20 Storm talents are all very good and situational. Heroic Difficulty makes it easier for Ragnaros to abuse his trait and push/defend far more often. When he's taking a lot of damage in teamfights, Submerge can help him survive for a bit longer and potentially dodge lethal damage. If he takes Lava Wave at 10, he can significantly increase its efficiency with Lava Surge; not only does it provide a second wave which can be staggered with the first, but it also lowers the cooldown by 10 seconds. More lava equals more winning.
Professional Opinions
On Kit, Design and Implementation:
Wings, Super Perfect Team (SPT) The second ult Lava Wave deals so much damage that I feel it's getting nerfed pretty soon. As for the weaknesses, the model is huge so it's easy to get body blocked. And since he doesn't have any escapes, you need to be very careful with positioning. He's also weak against dive compositions for the same reason. The second ult Lava Wave deals so much damage that I feel it's getting nerfed pretty soon. As for the weaknesses, the model is huge so it's easy to get body blocked. And since he doesn't have any escapes, you need to be very careful with positioning. He's also weak against dive compositions for the same reason.
m, ZeroPanda I think the hero is pretty interesting. His kit is enjoyable. Some of his talents can provide some self-sustain and damage mitigation. On the other hand, his mobility is mediocre. Sometimes an attempt to engage with Q might cost you your life before the ability even connects. As for his defensive utility, the value you can get from the trait as well as Lava Wave is tremendous. I think the hero is pretty interesting. His kit is enjoyable. Some of his talents can provide some self-sustain and damage mitigation. On the other hand, his mobility is mediocre. Sometimes an attempt to engage with Q might cost you your life before the ability even connects. As for his defensive utility, the value you can get from the trait as well as Lava Wave is tremendous.
Baphomet, Please Buff Arthas I think the overall design is good. The kit is decent and the trait is very unique. Though categorized as a melee assassin, the hero is actually very good at poking. For now, I think a poking playstyle works well and can deal lots of damage. Some might feel the trait is a bit weak as you can’t move while it’s activated. However, when it comes to defending—say like enemies pushing with mercenaries or map objectives—the trait is extremely valuable. And it can also be used offensively. I think the trait is powerful enough to be considered a second ult and might open up a lot of potential strategies around the hero himself. I think the overall design is good. The kit is decent and the trait is very unique. Though categorized as a melee assassin, the hero is actually very good at poking. For now, I think a poking playstyle works well and can deal lots of damage. Some might feel the trait is a bit weak as you can’t move while it’s activated. However, when it comes to defending—say like enemies pushing with mercenaries or map objectives—the trait is extremely valuable. And it can also be used offensively. I think the trait is powerful enough to be considered a second ult and might open up a lot of potential strategies around the hero himself.
Sunshine, Coach I think a great way to look at Ragnaros is to compare him to Thrall. He has self sustain in his Q, great poke potential in his W, and he can either speed himself or an ally with his E, which brings a lot of utility. Both of his ults are very good, and you probably just pick according to comp and map.
His passive seems a little broken to be honest though. Love the concept, but it does so much. Prevents building damage, has massive range, very high damage output, slows, stuns, and just feels way to hard to play around. I feel like they left out a weakness to it, but that might just be me complaining about the OP hero being OP. I think a great way to look at Ragnaros is to compare him to Thrall. He has self sustain in his Q, great poke potential in his W, and he can either speed himself or an ally with his E, which brings a lot of utility. Both of his ults are very good, and you probably just pick according to comp and map.His passive seems a little broken to be honest though. Love the concept, but it does so much. Prevents building damage, has massive range, very high damage output, slows, stuns, and just feels way to hard to play around. I feel like they left out a weakness to it, but that might just be me complaining about the OP hero being OP.
Youngbaek, Coach His kit and especially the last hitting talent is a really interesting change for Heroes of the Storm. If we start seeing more talents like this, we'll see the meta and team compositions change based on talents like Sulfuras Hunters. It's similar to stacking Seasoned Marksman, but due to the last-hitting mechanic, it will be forced to play out differently. His kit and especially the last hitting talent is a really interesting change for Heroes of the Storm. If we start seeing more talents like this, we'll see the meta and team compositions change based on talents like Sulfuras Hunters. It's similar to stacking Seasoned Marksman, but due to the last-hitting mechanic, it will be forced to play out differently.
sCsC, L5 (Ballistix) All my teammates agree that Rag is plain OP. He isn't the best in standard teamfights, but his power near allied/enemy keeps is extremely imbalanced. All my teammates agree that Rag is plain OP. He isn't the best in standard teamfights, but his power near allied/enemy keeps is extremely imbalanced.
On Professional Play and Meta Changes:
Baphomet, Please Buff Arthas Overall, the character is strong and well-rounded. It’s likely we’ll see the hero in competitive play. Overall, the character is strong and well-rounded. It’s likely we’ll see the hero in competitive play.
Sunshine, Coach Ragnaros has great solo lane potential, good self sustain, wave clear, and utility. I don't really know how Ragnaros couldn't find his way into the meta. I would be shocked if he wasn't picked, and he might even be ban material even with the nerfs. Ragnaros has great solo lane potential, good self sustain, wave clear, and utility. I don't really know how Ragnaros couldn't find his way into the meta. I would be shocked if he wasn't picked, and he might even be ban material even with the nerfs.
Youngbaek, Coach If he's strong enough, you'll see him in every region. I'm not talking about his current state, but after the nerf that should be coming from Blizzard's side. I can see his playstyle work great in Europe though; regions [like EU] that I consider a bit more careful and calculated will be able to execute the stacking game better than other more aggressive regions if that's the pro build. If he's strong enough, you'll see him in every region. I'm not talking about his current state, but after the nerf that should be coming from Blizzard's side. I can see his playstyle work great in Europe though; regions [like EU] that I consider a bit more careful and calculated will be able to execute the stacking game better than other more aggressive regions if that's the pro build.
On Map and Composition Viability:
Wings, Super Perfect Team (SPT) The W ability provides decent poke and even burst damage in teamfights. His trait is extremely strong on maps like Battlefield of Eternity and Haunted Mines, as it can deal with map objectives really well. The trait is much less valuable on huge maps like Blackheart's Bay/Warhead Junction. The W ability provides decent poke and even burst damage in teamfights. His trait is extremely strong on maps like Battlefield of Eternity and Haunted Mines, as it can deal with map objectives really well. The trait is much less valuable on huge maps like Blackheart's Bay/Warhead Junction.
m, ZeroPanda The second ult Lava Wave is very powerful on small maps or when teamfighting in lanes. The second ult Lava Wave is very powerful on small maps or when teamfighting in lanes.
Baphomet, Please Buff Arthas Maps like Infernal Shrines or Haunted Mines are where his trait shines, as it helps a lot in defending against enemies pushing with the map objectives. Maps like Infernal Shrines or Haunted Mines are where his trait shines, as it helps a lot in defending against enemies pushing with the map objectives.
Sunshine, Coach Any map where the objective is forced to push down a certain lane will be a good map for Ragnaros, since it guarantees value from Lava Wave. I don't think he will really have a bad map, but Braxis Holdout and Tomb of the Spider Queen seem like maps that he would dominate. Any map where the objective is forced to push down a certain lane will be a good map for Ragnaros, since it guarantees value from Lava Wave. I don't think he will really have a bad map, but Braxis Holdout and Tomb of the Spider Queen seem like maps that he would dominate.
Youngbaek, Coach It honestly depends on what build the professionals decide on in the future. If he becomes a stacking hero, he should fit perfectly into the smaller maps like Dragon Shire and Tomb of the Spider Queen. But if it becomes another variation of the build, he should be good on larger maps as well. Maybe multiple builds will be viable, and you'll see him played on all maps. It honestly depends on what build the professionals decide on in the future. If he becomes a stacking hero, he should fit perfectly into the smaller maps like Dragon Shire and Tomb of the Spider Queen. But if it becomes another variation of the build, he should be good on larger maps as well. Maybe multiple builds will be viable, and you'll see him played on all maps.
Final Thoughts:
Wings, Super Perfect Team (SPT) I think the hero is overpowered. His auto attack damage is quite high. At the moment, he can be one of the best solo laners in the game I think the hero is overpowered. His auto attack damage is quite high. At the moment, he can be one of the best solo laners in the game
Baphomet, Please Buff Arthas The Ult Lava Wave is very strong when pushing, as it clears minion waves immediately and can force enemies to dodge it so they can’t defend their structures. The Ult Lava Wave is very strong when pushing, as it clears minion waves immediately and can force enemies to dodge it so they can’t defend their structures.
Sunshine, Coach He's incredibly fun to play. Simple kit, but he has a lot of skill with how you play him. Knowing how to use your E will probably be what sets apart the good players from the bad. He's incredibly fun to play. Simple kit, but he has a lot of skill with how you play him. Knowing how to use your E will probably be what sets apart the good players from the bad.
Youngbaek, Coach Expect a nerf coming to him. I think his overall kit is difficult to balance, and he'll likely be in a OP or undertuned stage forever. Expect a nerf coming to him. I think his overall kit is difficult to balance, and he'll likely be in a OP or undertuned stage forever.
sCsC, L5 (Ballistix) We haven't scrimmed with him yet, so I'm not too sure about how team compositions will factor in. In Hero League, he's just a standard melee flex pick. We haven't scrimmed with him yet, so I'm not too sure about how team compositions will factor in. In Hero League, he's just a standard melee flex pick.
So what do you think about Ragnaros? Is Lava Wave OP? Let us know!
We would like to thank Wings, m, Baphomet, Sunshine, Youngbaek, and sCsC for taking the time to share their thoughts and insights on Ragnaros with us!
Huge thanks also to yaya, DogRay, and RallyJaffa for translations! At BlizzCon, Blizzard revealed the next two heroes to enter the Nexus with a thrilling cinematic featuring an epic battle between Varian and Ragnaros. The Firelord was available for play at the venue, but it was over a month before he was actually released. Advertised as an assassin that could take over a fort and become a "raid boss", there was a lot of excitement for the upcoming hero.Ragnaros lives up to the hype: he's big, does lots of fire things, and makes the game feel chaotic—but maybe a little too chaotic. Perhaps the most broken hero since Samuro, Ragnaros dominated matches during opening week, peaking at 70% on HotS Logs. He's since been nerfed a bit, but it still remains to be seen if Molten Core and Lava Wave are too impactful or potentially game-breaking. Let's take a closer look at this destructive Hero and his devastating abilities!Ragnaros' basic abilities are a nice mix of poke, sustain, and utility. For his Heroics, Ragnaros can utilize either global pressure withor build more for teamfights with. The combination of these factors make him a beast at solo laning and useful in a variety of compositions. There are certain battlegrounds, like Braxis Holdout and Tomb of the Spider Queen, in which he is exceptionally strong, but he isn't necessarily bad on any in the rotation.Even though he's classified a melee assassin, Ragnaros can put out a lot of long range poke damage with. Using some of the Meteor talents likeand, Ragnaros can maximize his poke and deal insane damage from afar while still retaining the ability to walk up and smash someone with. The ability to fight from both a distance and in close quarters is one of the factors that makes Ragnaros one of the most well-rounded characters in the game.andare game-changers. The way the abilities are designed makes him exceptional at pushing and defending forts and can even change the way objectives are played on some maps. For instance,can delay close tributes on Cursed Hollow or Altars on Towers of Doom using the insane range on his second set of abilities.literally melts the Zerg rush on Braxis Holdout, making him a must-ban Hero on that map.The one glaring weakness of Ragnaros is his lack of escape. Despite having great sustain withand a small speed boost from, it can be difficult for Ragnaros to get out of a tough situation. Grabbing talents likeandcan help boost his tankiness when he goes in too deep and hopefully him buy enough time to deal good return damage.Ragnaros has one of the most adaptable talent trees in the game at the moment, but that might be largely due to his colossal damage numbers; when his numbers get nerfed a bit, we may see a bit more stability in talent choices. As with most assassins, his builds usually empower one ability and take defensive or utility talents where necessary.Perhaps the most common build right now is thebuild, which does insane amounts of poke damage from a safe distance. Talenting intoallows Ragnaros to keep the ball on someone for the maximum possible damage; it also makes it easier to consistently build stacks on. Once he getsat level 16, he can wreck the back line and dish out some serious AoE damage.If you're looking to play more of a melee style, you can go for a Q build.at level 1 is similar to Azmodan'stalent because it requires Ragnaros to last hit minions, and in turn, it greatly increases the damage of. The quest doesn't take that long, but requires him to solo a bit so to gain maximum value out of his Qs without teammates accidentally clearing minion waves too quickly. Once you tack onand, Ragnaros does some insane burst damage with his Q on an absurdly low cooldown.His level 20 Storm talents are all very good and situational.makes it easier for Ragnaros to abuse his trait and push/defend far more often. When he's taking a lot of damage in teamfights,can help him survive for a bit longer and potentially dodge lethal damage. If he takesat 10, he can significantly increase its efficiency with; not only does it provide a second wave which can be staggered with the first, but it also lowers the cooldown by 10 seconds. More lava equals more winning.So what do you think about Ragnaros? IsOP? Let us know!
StrategyIn an earlier article I described how to start moving away from singletons in favor of dependency injection. It occurs to me that the process for moving away from Service Locator is almost exactly the same, except that we use the container outside the class instead of inside it.
Let’s say we have a class that uses a Service Locator. First we examine the class for all uses of the locator. Then, we create constructor parameters for the dependencies it extracts from the locator, and add setter code for those dependencies in the constructor body. For example, we can convert the above Service Locator example classes to these dependency-injected variations:
<? php class FooClass { protected $db ; public function __construct ( Database $db ) { $this -> db = $db ; } } class BarClass { protected $db ; public function __construct ( Database $db ) { $this -> db = $db ; } }?>
Finally, any time we instantiate one of these dependency-injected classes, we use the locator outside the class to retrieve the dependencies. We then pass them to the new call for the class. For example:
<? php // for FooClass $db = $container -> get ( 'db' ); $foo = new FooClass ( $db ); // for BarClass $db = StaticContainer :: get ( 'db' ); $bar = new BarClass ( $db );?>
Now the class dependencies are explicit and predictable, instead of implicit and unpredictable (i.e., the class might depend on any combination of dependencies hidden inside the container). It is also somewhat easier to build a test, since we only have to build the dependencies themselves, not the container that holds the dependencies.
Afterword
Are you overwhelmed by a legacy PHP application? Have you inherited a spaghetti mess of code? Does it use globals everywhere, so that a fix in one place causes a bug somewhere else? Does every feature addition feel like slogging through a swamp of includes?
It doesn’t have to be that way. “Modernizing Legacy Applications in PHP” gives you step-by-step instructions on how to get your legacy code under control by eliminating globals and separating concerns. Each chapter shows you exactly one task and how to accomplish it, along with common questions related to that task.
When you are done, you will come and go through your code like the wind. Your application will have become autoloaded, dependency injected, unit tested, layer separated, and front controlled. And you will have kept it running the whole time.
Buy the book today!Mauricio Pochettino has categorically ruled out a move to Barcelona because of his allegiance to their crosstown rivals Espanyol. The Tottenham Hotspur manager reinforced the point he wanted to make about the primacy of loyalty by saying that, by the same token, he could never imagine himself working at Arsenal.
Erik Lamela may have played last game for Tottenham due to hip injury Read more
Pochettino was linked with the Barcelona job early this month, after Luis Enrique said he would stand down at the end of the season and he did little to discourage the speculation. Then Pochettino talked about how he knew how the game worked and that he was not surprised to be on the long-list of potential successors to Luis Enrique.
The link between Pochettino and Barça was reignited last week when he was spotted in a Barcelona bar with the club’s president, Josep Maria Bartomeu. But Pochettino dismissed it as a chance meeting and, given that he previously played for and managed Espanyol, he made it clear there was no possibility of him ever going to Barcelona. “It was a coincidence in a bar in Barcelona last Tuesday,” Pochettino said. “I know him [Bartomeu] for a long time – before he became chairman of Barcelona. Our children went to the same school in Barcelona. We spent five minutes together. That was the reality. After that you know the rumour is impossible to stop.
“But I am an Espanyol supporter. I don’t think I need to speak too much. It’s like if one day [the Tottenham chairman] Daniel Levy sacked me – in a few years it would be impossible for me to manage Arsenal. In football I know it is so difficult to keep your values and to be loyal – with your heart and emotion. But for me before being a manager, before being a player, being loyal is more important. I am an Espanyol fan. I love Espanyol. It’s like Tottenham for me now. It will be impossible, one day, to move to Arsenal. It will be impossible.”
Pochettino offered a fitness update on Danny Rose, who has not played since the draw at Sunderland on 31 January because of a knee problem. It sounded as though the left-back had suffered a setback because he has been sent to see a specialist. Pochettino said Rose was behind Harry Kane in his rehabilitation and Kane, who is out with an ankle injury, is expected to return towards the end of April. Kane started to do some running work this week. “Rose will see the specialist and then |
place on November 4, 2014, when a young couple, Shama and Sajjad, were lynched by a mob in Kot Radha Krishan, Punjab. They were beaten to death and then burned by an angry mob that heard announcements from mosques that they had desecrated a copy of the Holy Quran. They were working as bonded labourers at a brick kiln and this is where they met their violent death.
Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, was convicted for making blasphemous remarks over seven years ago. Her death sentence was upheld by the Lahore High Court. She filed an appeal in the Supreme Court; however, when her case finally came up for hearing, a judge recused himself and the case was adjourned indefinitely.
Hindus, concentrated mostly in Sindh, carry the burden of historical prejudice as well as association with India. According to their representatives, the greatest issue of concern to the community is that of forced conversions, the majority of these being young women. In most cases the girls, many of whom are minors, are abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and then married to Muslim men. The Sindh Assembly’s bill to check forced conversions, passed last year, was put on the back-burner after protests by religious parties. Several politico-religious figures in Sindh have taken it upon themselves to convert Hindus and, though one leader openly bragged in parliament about his conversion activities, no action was taken against him.
Recently, the Indian government has announced its willingness to accept those suffering from religious persecution in neighbouring countries. The migration of Hindus to India may soon turn into an exodus if they continue to be treated as unequal citizens.
The Sikhs have been somewhat better treated by official quarters — perhaps to demonstrate to India that Pakistan is willing to embrace a religious minority that has not been treated too well across the border.
A few years ago, the Supreme Court directed the government to take steps to ensure the rights of minorities and protection of their places of worship. Apart from tokenism such as the Prime Minister celebrating Diwali with the Hindu community, the minorities have seen little serious commitment from the government.
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My Story by Helen KellerVentura Gem, Mineral, Fossil, Lapidary Show, March 2-3!
The Ventura Gem & Mineral Society’s 57th Annual Gem, Mineral, Fossil, & Lapidary Show is coming to the Ventura County Fairgrounds (10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura), on Sat., March 2 (10AM-5PM) and Sun., March 3 (10AM-4PM). There are going to be beautiful displays, the annual Country Store & Plant Sale, silent auctions and a raffle for great prizes, kids activities, demonstrators showing rock cutting and jewelry-making techniques, and all sorts of dealers selling rocks, fossils, minerals, jewelry, and lapidary arts supplies. Entrance to the show is free, although there is a $5 parking fee imposed by the fairgrounds.
VGMS Gem & Mineral Show – March 2-3, 2019
The VGMS holds its annual Gem and Mineral Show (at the Ventura County Fairgrounds) on the first full weekend in March. Join us for 2 days of exhibits, dealers, kid’s activities, silent auctions, raffles, plant sales and a rummage sale. (The latter two sales fund our scholarship program.)
The 57th Annual Gem, Mineral, Fossil & Lapidary Show of the Ventura Gem & Mineral Society (VGMS) takes place March 2–3 (10AM—5PM, Saturday; 10AM—4PM, Sunday) at the Ventura County Fairgrounds (10 W. Harbor Blvd, Ventura, CA). The show is open to the public and admission is free, although the Fairgrounds charges a parking fee if using the Fairgrounds lot.
There’s gold in them thar hills, and you can learn how to pan for it at the 57th Annual Show of the Ventura Gem & Mineral Society. At one booth, expert prospectors will guide you through the steps of gold panning, and you can purchase “pay dirt” to pan for real gold in your own backyard. You’ll also see displays that include meteorites, handcrafted jewelry, and “Auggie”, the California State Dinosaur.
With a focus on kids and education, on gemstone cutting and jewelry-making, and on rocks and fossils, the Ventura Gem and Lapidary Show has been a fun family event for 57 years. During our pre-show dinner on Friday, March 1, we will present a $1,000 Scholarship to geology student Diana Valentino of Santa Barbara City College. The next day on entering the show, kids will be given a free polished stone at our Welcome Booth, where we will have free rock samples and educational packets for teachers. At the Kids Booth, children will enjoy activities offering an assortment of rocky prizes. A display nearby will offer information about the society’s two-room museum in Ojai, where teachers, home-schoolers, and Scouts can arrange tours by appointment.
This free lapidary show will feature 60 displays of gems, minerals, meteorites, fossils, and award-winning handcrafted jewelry. Among these will be educational exhibits of fossils collected locally in and around Ventura County, as well as a display of our State Rock, Mineral, Fossil, and Gemstone (including a gold nugget and Ice Age saber-tooth cat). Still other displays will show how stones collected locally have been crafted into jewelry. Demonstrations throughout the show will give visitors up-close looks at artists pursuing their skills, including gemstone cutting, silver work and jewelry making, beading, and other arts. Raffle prizes include fine jewelry, a $100 bill, mineral and fossil specimens, and more. Also part of the festivities are hourly silent auctions for rocks, minerals, and fossils, as well as a white elephant sale, plant sale, and over 15 dealers selling beads, opals, jade, gemstones, crystals, fossils, jewelry and jewelry-making supplies, and gift items. It’s a Ventura tradition the whole family can enjoy!
VGMS was founded in 1944 to encourage interest in rocks, minerals, fossils, jewelry-making, and related areas through education, activities, and exhibitions such as this annual show, which is open to the community. The society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization and welcomes individual and family members. VGMS hosts monthly talks on earth science topics and lapidary arts, makes presentations to area schools, and conducts field trips for members and guests that often involve collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils in southern California and neighboring states.
The show is the society’s major fund-raising event helping to underwrite educational activities, including the annual college scholarship.
http://vgms.org/category/gem-show/
If you would like more info on local Mineral shows and rockhound clubs click on our News page for up to date listings and links to Gem Show, Mineral Show, and Fossil Show announcements. We update our rockhound news twice an hour and showcase the top mineral shows and rockhound news in the USA and the World. Also, follow us on Twitter for even more rockhound events, commentary, and laughable quips from American Geode.
http://www.americangeode.comI am an atheist, which puts me firmly on the secular right. There aren’t a whole lot of us, but we’re out here, in some surprising places.
Yet I consider the current campaign against religious liberty—the attempt to coerce Christians into providing service to gay weddings or to provide abortifacient drugs to their employees, against the dictates of their faith—to be a deep cultural crisis.
Why? Above all, because the sight of a bully using a club to force someone else to violate his conscience is inherently repugnant. As a humanist, what I regard as “sacred” is the power of the human mind to think and make judgments. To put this in terms borrowed from religion, when someone uses coercion to overrule the judgment of their victim’s mind, they are defiling my temple.
But there is another, more practical reason. History shows that the only way to fight for freedom of thought is to defend it early, when it comes under threat for others—even people you strongly disagree with, even people you despise. So I’m willing to fight for it for people who are much worse, by my standards, than your average Christian.
It’s like the old poem from Pastor Niemoller, except this time it’s: “First they came for the Christians.” I don’t see the threat of coercion as something being done to those backward Christians over there. I see it as something that could just as easily be done to me.
And it will be, judging from the principles that have been laid down in the campaign against Arizona’s religious liberty law and in the Supreme Court hearings in the Hobby Lobby case.
The left and its sympathizers have put forward two main arguments.
The first is simply that Christian opposition to gay marriage and abortion is backward, bigoted, and offensive. I agree in regarding these views as backward. Providing services to a gay wedding or providing insurance coverage for contraceptives doesn’t violate my principles. But like I said, the test of tolerance isn’t how you treat the people you agree with. It’s recognizing the freedom of people who don’t share your values and principles.
That’s what’s disturbing about the current campaign: that it is built around a refusal to accept those who don’t share the values and principles of the secular left. It’s not merely a refusal to accept their liberty. It’s a refusal to accept their very existence.
There is a crude majoritarian triumphalism to this argument. The attitude is: we won the culture war, our views are now the accepted norm, and so they must become the rule for everybody. You have no right to resist, no right even to retreat into your own private sphere and ask to be left alone. We must reach into that private sphere and require your active endorsement of the new social consensus.
Thus, in The Daily Beast, Gene Robinson lectures us that “being pressed to conform to…a change in majority opinion” is not really a “violation of religious freedom”—even though he acknowledges that the “pressing” is being done by force of law. Oddly, Reverend Robinson is an Episcopal bishop. But I guess that just shows that syncretism isn’t dead, it’s just operating in the opposite direction. The forms and institutions of the old faith, belief in God, are being subsumed by the new faith, belief in society.
As someone who accepts neither faith, I still have a personal stake in this, because the next thing they’re itching to do is to lock up the climate skeptics as heretics to the new faith. The idea that you can be compelled to conform to the social consensus unleashes the basic principle of totalitarianism.
The second big argument in the current battle over religious liberty is that Christians may have a private right to religious liberty, but they give that up when they start a business and enter the “commercial sphere,” at which point they must submit to unlimited regulation of their activity by the state.
All that this demonstrates is the artificiality of the left’s historic division between property rights and all other rights. The left has always had something of a transactional relationship with free speech; they love it when they need it to protect themselves and forget about it when somebody else’s neck is on the line. But this argument shows the exact mechanism by which the left’s rejection of economic freedom inevitably leads them to reject all other freedoms. It is hardly possible to do anything in life without in some way engaging in or affecting commerce. In fact, the left has elevated to an art form the practice of justifying anything they want to do, anything at all, by connecting it to the federal government’s power to “regulate interstate commerce.” In the arguments over the individual mandate in ObamaCare, they even argued that not engaging in commerce is covered under the power to regulate interstate commerce.
So the result is that you can think what you like in your own brain, maybe, but don’t dare lift a finger to act on it. Many years ago, Ayn Rand—an atheist philosopher if ever there was one—summed up the left’s outlook: “The liberals see man as a soul freewheeling to the farthest reaches of the universe—but wearing chains from nose to toes when he crosses the street to buy a loaf of bread.” Some concept of “freedom” that is.
The oldest rule of free speech is: I may disagree with every word you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it. Because if I don’t stand up for you, then by my silence I am accepting a system in which might makes right. I am helping to establish the rule of the jungle in the realm of ideas.
In sum, I’m for religious liberty because there really is no such thing as religious liberty. There is just freedom of thought and freedom of conscience, period. For all of us. And if we let the left knock it down, they are coming for all of us in the end.
Follow Robert on Twitter.A new Ted Cruz ad attacks Donald Trump for the time Trump "colluded with Atlantic City insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow for a limousine parking lot at his casino."
"He doesn't have no heart, that man," the widow says in the TV ad.
Trump responded to the attack on Meet the Press this morning by pointing out that he merely tried to knock down the widow's home but was ultimately unsuccessful.
"His ad is wrong because I never knocked down that house. I wanted to get that house to build a building that would have employed tremendous numbers of people. But when the woman didn't want to sell, ultimately I said forget about it," Trump said.
Cruz's ad never said Trump was successful in knocking down the widow's home, and Trump's claim that he simply gave up on going after the widow when she didn't want to sell her house is misleading. The widow went to court and won.
Matt Labash tells the whole story in the latest issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD:
V. He Loves The Little Guy, Unless the little Guy Needs to be Crushed Or in one case, not even a little guy, but a little old lady. Among civil-libertarian Trumpologists, Vera Coking has become something of a folk hero. As outlined by the Washington Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia and the Institute for Justice (whose lawyers represented -Coking), in the 1990s, Coking was a then-septuagenarian widow and proud owner of a three-story boarding house in Atlantic City, where she'd lived since 1961. As casino developers circled, her house became vulture bait. In the '80s, Penthouse's Bob Guccione offered her $1 million to sell so he could throw up a casino on her land. Coking passed. So Guccione began building around her, going so far as to construct skeletal beams over her roof. But in the middle of construction, his project went bust. Trump swooped in, having bought Guccione's remains, seeking to enlarge his casino empire with the Trump Plaza (now closed). He too made a play for her land, desiring to turn it into a waiting area for limousines. While attempting to get her to sell, Trump buttered her up with Neil Diamond tickets, though Coking had no idea who Neil Diamond was. She still stubbornly refused. So Trump went to work around her, dismantling Guccione's unfinished construction. And while Trump has aggressively disparaged the condition of her house, as though that justifies trying to take it, Coking's lawyers charged that demolition crews had started a fire on her roof, broken windows, removed her fire escape, and "nearly destroyed the entire third story of her home by dropping concrete blocks through the roof." Coking still refused to sell. Enter the city's Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, a highfalutin' name for an eminent domain operation, working in cahoots with Trump to remove Coking's house from her possession. In 1994, the casino authority made her an offer she couldn't refuse: They would give her $251,250 for her house (750 grand less than what Guccione had offered a decade prior). And if she didn't accept within 30 days, they'd take her to court to snatch her land through eminent domain. Coking and the city ended up duking it out in court, Trump throwing in with the casino authority. But after years of wrangling, in 1998, the Superior Court of New Jersey ruled in Coking's favor, shutting Trump and Co. down. Trump, who has repeatedly expressed rapturous support for eminent domain, claiming it's necessary to build roads and schools (if not limousine parking lots at casinos), called Coking's house "a tremendous blight on Atlantic City." The brassy widow, for her part, called Trump "a maggot, a cockroach, and a crumb."
Read Labash's full story here.Wake Up America - Share Pat's Columns!
Returning from Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta dropped some jolting news.
Asked by CBS’s Scott Pelley if Iran could have a nuclear weapon in 2012, Panetta replied: “It would probably be about a year before they could do it. Perhaps a little less. But one proviso, Scott, is that if they have a hidden facility somewhere in Iran that may be enriching fuel.”
Panetta was saying the mullahs are a year or less away from an atom bomb, and if they have a hidden site for enriching uranium to weapons grade, they may be even closer.
“That is a red line for us,” Panetta added. “If we get intelligence they are proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon, then we will take whatever steps necessary to deal with it.”
Panetta is raising the specter of pre-emptive war.
When Pelley’s report hit, however, the Pentagon immediately began to walk the cat back.
“The secretary was clear that we have no indication that the Iranians have made a decision to develop a nuclear weapon,” said Pentagon press secretary George Little. “He (Panetta) didn’t say that Iran would, in fact, have a nuclear weapon in 2012.”
Little added that U.N. inspectors remain in Iran and have access to its uranium stockpile, and should Iran attempt a “breakout” by diverting low-enriched uranium to a hidden facility to convert it to weapons grade, U.N. inspectors would instantly detect the diversion.
“We would retain sufficient time under any such scenario to take appropriate action,” said Little.
In short, the Pentagon does not believe Iran has made a decision to build atomic weapons, and the department is confident that, should it do so, the United States would have ample warning.
Little’s definitive statement, “We have no indication that the Iranians have made a decision to develop a nuclear weapon,” coincides with the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, in December 2007.
In that report, the entire U.S. intelligence community stated unanimously, with “high confidence,” that Iran had given up its drive for an atom bomb back in 2003.
Yet the Pentagon‘s categorical statement this week, and the 2007 declaration by the entire U.S. intelligence community that Iran abandoned its bomb program in 2003, raises a question.
How could the International Atomic Energy Agency conclude, as it did last month, that Iran “has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear device”? Did the IAEA discover clandestine bomb-building that our own intelligence community failed to detect?
If Iran is doing experiments consistent with building an atomic bomb, as the IAEA reports, why does the U.S. intelligence community not revise and update its 2007 report? Why are CIA and DIA silent?
This is no minor matter. For not only have Panetta and Barack Obama talked about “all options on the table” regarding Iran — i.e., we do not rule out military strikes — so, too, have the GOP presidential candidates, save Rep. Ron Paul.
Sen. Rick Santorum says we are already at war:
“Iran is a country that has been at war with us since 1979. … The Iranians are the existential threat to Israel.”
In fierce rebuttal to Paul’s suggestion that the real threat to America is being stampeded into a new war, Rep. Michele Bachmann retorted:
“We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Iran will take a nuclear weapon, they will use it to wipe our ally Israel off the face of the map. … The Iran Constitution … states unequivocally that their mission is to extend jihad across the world and eventually to set up a worldwide caliphate.”
But is all this consistent or credible?
If Iran is an “existential threat” to Israel and intends to use a bomb it is now building on Israel, why have the Israelis, with 200 to 300 nuclear weapons, who have bombed both Iraqi and Syrian nuclear sites, not removed that “existential threat” themselves?
Second, assume the Bachmann horror scenario that we know “beyond the shadow of a doubt” that Iran, as soon as it gets the bomb it is building, will use it on Israel. If that is so, who does Bachmann think will then be establishing that caliphate in an Iran that an Israeli retaliatory strike will have reduced to atomic ash?
Lest we forget, the Israelis are a “Never Again!” nation.
And there is another serious matter here. While Obamaites, neocons and Republicans are talking about “all options on the table,” the war option, if we still have a Constitution, cannot be used against a nation that has not attacked us, unless Congress, which alone has the power to declare war, has authorized military action.Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on Monday bashed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has refused to condemn Donald Trump’s Saturday remarks suggesting that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is only a “war hero” because he was captured.
There’s something unseemly about Cruz following Trump around like a lost puppy,hoping to get his leftovers when he finally flames out. — Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) July 20, 2015
After numerous Republican presidential candidates quickly denounced Trump’s Saturday comments, Cruz declined to criticize the real estate mogul.
“They’re running their own campaigns, they can make their decisions, I’m not going to go into the gutter with personal attacks impugning character,” Cruz told Bloomberg Politics on Saturday.
Cruz said that he would not play the “media game” and said that he consistently declines to attack his Republican and Democratic opponents.
“My view on John McCain is explicit and unambiguous. He’s an American hero and he’s a friend. I’m not going to just take a stick to fellow Republicans or for that matter to Democrats,” he told Bloomberg. “In my time in the Senate I haven’t impugned the character of Republicans or Democrats and I don’t intend to start today.”
Cruz also declined to criticize Trump when the real estate mogul called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and drug dealers.
“Now, when it comes to Donald Trump, I like Donald Trump,” Cruz told NBC earlier in July. “He’s bold, he’s brash. And I get that — that it seems the favorite sport of the Washington media is to encourage some Republicans to attack other Republicans. I ain’t gonna do it. I’m not interested in Republican on Republican violence.”
And just last week, the two presidential candidates met at Cruz’s invitation, though Trump seemed unsure about why Cruz had requested the rendezvous.
“Ted Cruz called me. And I don’t know why I’m meeting him, to be honest, but I do have respect for him,” Trump told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Donald Trump and @tedcruz at Trump Tower in NYC. pic.twitter.com/Bb5M7lBAf7 — Rick Tyler (@rickwtyler) July 16, 2015
Cruz told reporters on Wednesday that the two simply chatted about the 2016 presidential race. When asked if he sought the meeting to obtain Trump’s endorsement, Cruz said no, according to CNN.
“I’m a big fan of Donald’s, and we talked about the race,” Cruz said, according to CNN. “We talked about how we are each enjoying it and how there is a need for more truth tellers.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Monday also mentioned Cruz’s refusal to condemn Trump, noting that it signal’s the senator’s interest in gaining Trump’s supporters.
“But note the silence of Ted Cruz, who declined to criticize Mr. Trump because he said the media enjoy such intra-Republican fights. Mr. Cruz has recently released a book whose main theme is an attack on other Republicans,” members of the editorial board wrote. “It’s central to his campaign strategy. The Texas Senator must be hoping to inherit Trump voters once the casino magnate flames out, but he’s revealing his own lack of political character.”It’s possible for a New Yorker to go weeks without glimpsing a river or a harbor, and to lose track of the fact that Manhattan is both an island and a seaport. This misapprehension is inconceivable, however, for a user of the Waterfront Greenway, a well-marked thirty-two-mile route for walkers, runners, skaters, cyclists, and other non-motorized travellers. It follows the Hudson, Harlem, and East Rivers around Manhattan’s perimeter, with occasional inland detours (across Dyckman Street, way up beyond the Cloisters; along the spine of central Harlem; around a couple of dozen blocks near the United Nations). The Greenway is especially well suited to bicyclists, who, if they are moderately fit and don’t blow a tire on a broken apricot-brandy bottle, can cover the entire distance in a single leisurely morning or afternoon. Biking the Manhattan shoreline turns the city inside out, and gives the cyclist firsthand answers to questions that often stump even lifelong residents, such as: are there any decent places in Manhattan to go rock climbing, and what the heck do they keep under the Henry Hudson Parkway? Perhaps you yourself rode the Greenway on a recent, spectacular Friday afternoon, beginning and ending at the Battery, where, when you started, a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat was baiting a fishhook with a half-dollar-size crab, which he had selected from a joint-compound bucket at his feet. If so, here are a few of the other things you may have noticed along the way:
Helicopters and small airplanes flying above the Upper Bay like dragonflies above a swimming pool.
A man wearing a black wetsuit and an orange life jacket, bobbing in the Hudson about fifty feet from shore, using various hand tools to affix four large pink plastic petals to a rotting wooden piling. According to another man, who was standing onshore and holding a walkie-talkie, the man in the water was “installing prototypes for an art project, to see how they make it through the winter.”
The Parthenon-like and perhaps spectacularly luxurious colonnaded rooftop outdoor lounging facility of Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club, at Fifty-first and Twelfth.
A guy who had been shooting hoops alone on a court underneath the West Side Highway asking another guy, who had been shooting hoops alone on a different court, two courts away, for a little help in retrieving his ball, which had become stuck between the rim and the backboard, and then also asking, “Wanna play?,” and then the two of them continuing to shoot hoops alone but now on courts adjacent to each other.
A man in bluejeans travelling south on a bright-yellow pedicab piled high with driftwood, which presumably he had collected along the river’s edge, steering with his right hand and using his left hand to give his left leg a downstroke power assist; and a middle-aged nun in a white habit, veil flapping, riding a regular bike in the opposite direction.
A lost or discarded parking ticket undulating like a miniature magic carpet in the tiny waves a few feet from shore.
A guy fishing with an enormous surf-casting rod a little downstream from the George Washington Bridge and around a bend from the Jeffrey’s Hook Lighthouse, which was saved from demolition in 1951 by outraged readers of the children’s book “The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge,” by Hildegarde H. Swift and Lynd Ward.
Several hundred pigeons loitering near the center of an otherwise unoccupied playing field, and, on the other side of the bike path, a man in running clothes sticking out his lower lip while doing rapid, shallow pushups on a bench.
A trailer, carrying rowing shells, parked near the magnificent gate of the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, in Swindler Cove Park, on the Harlem River.
The turreted, thirty-room 1887 mansion of James Anthony Bailey, who was the co-founder, with P. T. Barnum, of “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The mansion, which is at the northeast corner of 150th Street and St. Nicholas Place and is made of limestone, inspired Chester Wickwire, who may or may not have invented the woven-wire window screen, to build an almost identical mansion in Cortland, New York, in 1890.
Four old guys watching four other old guys eating slices of pizza at a white plastic card table on the sidewalk at 120th and First.
More bollards, cleats, capstans, hoists, and other riverside mooring paraphernalia—some of it freshly painted—than you would think could possibly have an ongoing nautical application in New York City.
A young man transporting a set of golf clubs—which he had stuffed vertically into his bicycle’s saddlebags—toward Stuyvesant Town.
Three young women from a country where the shoes don’t look like ours, on a walkway above what may be the only sandy beach in Manhattan (under the western end of the Brooklyn Bridge), heading north from the South Street Seaport area, on their way to their next big adventure. ♦Photo via Phillie Casablanca via Flickr CC
Chile's Salar de Atacama desert is a major source for the world's lithium, key ingredient in the batteries we use in our laptops, cell phones and other gadgets every day. And, key ingredient in batteries for a growing selection of electric and electric hybrid cars. As the demand for battery-powered devices increases, so does the demand for lithium and therefore the earthly resources that provide it. Check out this video from CBS about the production and demand.
While all it takes is a glance out the window to see that our demand for gadgets is constantly growing, what is very important to note is this little snippit:
"This fall, Mercedes will sell the first lithium powered plug-in car. At least six more carmakers plan their own models."
As we shift towards electric cars, specifically towards electric cars utilizing lithium batteries, the production of the substance- how, where, and under what conditions - will be something to keep an eye on, especially considering:
"Energy analyst Ben Johnson said, "it looks very similar to an OPEC-style cartel. It's highly concentrated. The various producers are very secretive about their expansion plans and about their pricing movements." "
Thinking that lithium is the next oil is probably an overreaction right now. Because lithium hasn't ever been used to the extent oil has, exploration for sources hasn't been conducted on the same level. There could be numerous unknown sources for it that would mitigate a rush to monopolize the currently known sources. Plus, the paranoia about producers being secretive about expansion plans...well, that's true for most businesses.
Also, as Mike points out, the parallel with oil is not perfect either; a barrel of oil doesn't last long, but a lithium-ion battery can last many years and then be recycled.
Nonetheless, while we often pay particular attention to the use of minerals like cassiterite and coltan in the production of gadgets, as these are minerals also mined from conflict zones like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it's clear we need to pay added attention to the sources of other materials like lithium that seem more benign, for now.
More on Dicey Minerals Used in Gadgets
Eve Ensler Calls for Rape-Free Cell Phones (Video)
The Incredible Story of Conflict Mineral Mining in Images
The Incredible Story of Conflict Mineral Mining (Slideshow)These anticrepuscular rays appear to converge at the antisolar point, as viewed from an aircraft above the clouded ocean.
Anticrepuscular rays appear opposite of a sunrise and perpendicular to a rainbow on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.
Anticrepuscular rays, or antisolar rays,[1] are meteorological optical phenomena similar to crepuscular rays, but appear opposite of the Sun in the sky. Anticrepuscular rays are essentially parallel, but appear to converge toward the antisolar point, the vanishing point, due to a visual illusion from linear perspective.[2][3]
Anticrepuscular rays are most frequently visible around sunrise or sunset. This is because the atmospheric light scattering that makes them visible is larger for low angles to the horizon, backscattering, (see Mie theory) than at most other angles. Anticrepuscular rays are dimmer than crepuscular rays because backscattering is less than forward scattering.
Anticrepuscular rays can be continuous with crepuscular rays, curving across the whole sky in great circles.[4]
Mountain shadow [ edit ]
A common example of a single anticrepuscular ray is provided by the shadow of a mountain at sunset, when viewed from the summit. It appears to be triangular, whatever the shape of the mountain, with the apex at the antisolar point.[4]
Wagon-wheel spokes [ edit ]
Anticrepucular rays are sometimes seen enclosed by a rainbow (see picture). In this case they can be called wagon-wheel spokes.[4]
References [ edit ]A Saudi court sentenced two Asian housemaids to 10 years in jail and ordered their lashed 1,000 times each after they were found guilty of indulging in sorcery at their employers’ houses in the Gulf Kingdom, a newspaper reported on Monday.
Their Saudi employers reported the two maids to the Gulf country’s feared religious police, saying they had discovered that their families had been harmed because of sorcery practiced by the maids against them.
Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who searched the two houses in Riyadh found talismans and other magic items in the bedrooms of the two maids, Sabq Arabic language daily said.
“The court found them guilty and sentenced them to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes each,” the paper said without identifying the maids or specifying the harm they caused.
Saudi Arabia, which strictly enforces Islamic law, has beheaded many persons convicted of practicing magic over the past years.
More than two million domestic servants work in Saudi Arabia, mostly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Africa.
(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)“ Vault 11 has been abandoned for decades, though few people know the story of its terrible past. ” Fallout: New Vegas loading screen
Vault 11 is one of the Vault-Tec vaults, located in the Mojave Wasteland. It is west of Boulder City and south west of the 188 trading post.
Contents show]
Background Edit
Vault 11 was probably constructed along with the other Vault-Tec vaults in the mid 2060s to the early 2070s. As with the majority of other vaults, Vault 11 was a social experiment. In this experiment, the inhabitants of Vault 11 were told that they must sacrifice one of their fellow vault dwellers each year, and that, should they refuse, all the dwellers will be killed. In actuality, if the residents refused, an "Automated solution response" was supposed to be played. The message stated that by choosing not to select one of their own as a sacrifice, the dwellers are "a shining example to humanity" and that no one will be killed. They are also informed that the vault door is then unlocked so they can come and go as they please but are urged to consult with their Overseer before they do so. However, by the time Vault 11 inhabitants refused to continue sacrificing their residents, only five survivors remained.
'Elections' and the Overseer's role Edit
Evidence gathered from computer terminals throughout the vault attests that the vault residents were required to select an annual sacrifice from among their members. Therefore, at the end of the Overseer's term of office, the Overseer was required to enter a chamber below the Overseer's Office to be executed by the vault's computers. The computer did not require that the sacrifice should be the Overseer, but if a sacrifice was not selected, the computer controlling the vault would kill them all. Of the original residents, only the Overseer had entered the vault knowing about the yearly sacrifice. The residents of the vault, in their shock and anger at discovering this after having already been sealed inside the vault, selected the original Overseer (whom they viewed as having betrayed them) as the first sacrifice. This decision would marry the positions of Overseer and Sacrifice until the end.
In this vault, several voting blocs emerged to exercise power and influence over other vault residents. Prior to the final election, Roy Gottlieb, leader of the most powerful of the voting blocs, the Justice Bloc, confronted Katherine Stone. He threatened that if she did not perform sexual favours for the members of their bloc, they would nominate her husband, Nathan Stone, for Overseer (it is hinted that he may have made enemies of the Justice Bloc because of an unusual winning streak during the poker games he attended). Katherine, fearing for her husband, complied. Much to the shock of the Stone family, the Justice Bloc nominated Nathan for Overseer regardless. Because candidates were typically people who had outraged the community, they were usually nominated by several bloc |
, Indian Express reported today. Currently, Gandhi is abroad and will likely return in the next few days. According to reports, after returning from abroad, he will address a workers’ meeting in Gujarat.
“Rahul Gandhi has led the reorganization of India’s Congress Party since becoming the vice president of the party in 2013. At UC Berkeley, he will offer his reflections on contemporary India and the path forward for the world’s largest democracy. He follows in the footsteps of his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, who delivered a historic speech at Berkeley in 1949,” the university said on its website.
Meanwhile, Rights group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has called upon the university to withdraw the speaking invitation to Gandhi, citing the Congress party’s alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots that erupted following the assassination of Gandhi’s grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.
On June 13, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had flown abroad on a short vacation to spend some time with his grandmother, days ahead of his birthday. “Will be travelling to meet my grandmother and family for a few days. Looking forward to spending some time with them!,” he had said on Twitter. Before that, he had travelled to get his mother Sonia Gandhi back from an undisclosed location, after she had travelled abroad for medical treatment for an unannounced ailment.No, they weren't kidding.
A pair of hockey's finest got into a heated discussion during Saturday's alumni match between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings.
While alumni games are generally good-natured fun, Red Wings forward Kris Draper and Maple Leafs winger Gary Roberts nearly dropped the gloves late in the third period, following a heavy hit in the corner and some crafty stick work between the two sportsmen.
The Red Wings won the game 4-3, with Draper scoring the game winner, beating Maple Leafs netminder Curtis Joseph.
Draper spent 17 seasons with the Red Wings, leading up to his retirement in 2011. That stretch included four Stanley Cup wins with the Winged Wheel.
Roberts was with the Maple Leafs for four seasons, spanning from 2000 to 2004. The rugged winger brought his best in the playoffs, as he finished the 2002 postseason with 19 points in 19 games.I spoke yesterday of my conversation with a nominally Orthodox Jewish woman who vigorously defended the assertion that she believed in God, while seeming not to actually believe in God at all.
While I was questioning her about the benefits that she thought came from believing in God, I introduced the Litany of Tarski—which is actually an infinite family of litanies, a specific example being:
If the sky is blue
I desire to believe "the sky is blue"
If the sky is not blue
I desire to believe "the sky is not blue".
"This is not my philosophy," she said to me.
"I didn't think it was," I replied to her. "I'm just asking—assuming that God does not exist, and this is known, then should you still believe in God?"
She hesitated. She seemed to really be trying to think about it, which surprised me.
"So it's a counterfactual question..." she said slowly.
I thought at the time that she was having difficulty allowing herself to visualize the world where God does not exist, because of her attachment to a God-containing world.
Now, however, I suspect she was having difficulty visualizing a contrast between the way the world would look if God existed or did not exist, because all her thoughts were about her belief in God, but her causal network modelling the world did not contain God as a node. So she could easily answer "How would the world look different if I didn't believe in God?", but not "How would the world look different if there was no God?"
She didn't answer that question, at the time. But she did produce a counterexample to the Litany of Tarski:
She said, "I believe that people are nicer than they really are."
I tried to explain that if you say, "People are bad," that means you believe people are bad, and if you say, "I believe people are nice", that means you believe you believe people are nice. So saying "People are bad and I believe people are nice" means you believe people are bad but you believe you believe people are nice.
I quoted to her:
"If there were a verb meaning 'to believe falsely', it would not have any
significant first person, present indicative."
—Ludwig Wittgenstein
She said, smiling, "Yes, I believe people are nicer than, in fact, they are. I just thought I should put it that way for you."
"I reckon Granny ought to have a good look at you, Walter," said Nanny. "I reckon
your mind's all tangled up like a ball of string what's been dropped."
—Terry Pratchett, Maskerade
And I can type out the words, "Well, I guess she didn't believe that her reasoning ought to be consistent under reflection," but I'm still having trouble coming to grips with it.
I can see the pattern in the words coming out of her lips, but I can't understand the mind behind on an empathic level. I can imagine myself into the shoes of baby-eating aliens and the Lady 3rd Kiritsugu, but I cannot imagine what it is like to be her. Or maybe I just don't want to?
This is why intelligent people only have a certain amount of time (measured in subjective time spent thinking about religion) to become atheists. After a certain point, if you're smart, have spent time thinking about and defending your religion, and still haven't escaped the grip of Dark Side Epistemology, the inside of your mind ends up as an Escher painting.
(One of the other few moments that gave her pause—I mention this, in case you have occasion to use it—is when she was talking about how it's good to believe that someone cares whether you do right or wrong—not, of course, talking about how there actually is a God who cares whether you do right or wrong, this proposition is not part of her religion—
And I said, "But I care whether you do right or wrong. So what you're saying is that this isn't enough, and you also need to believe in something above humanity that cares whether you do right or wrong." So that stopped her, for a bit, because of course she'd never thought of it in those terms before. Just a standard application of the nonstandard toolbox.)
Later on, at one point, I was asking her if it would be good to do anything differently if there definitely was no God, and this time, she answered, "No."
"So," I said incredulously, "if God exists or doesn't exist, that has absolutely no effect on how it would be good for people to think or act? I think even a rabbi would look a little askance at that."
Her religion seems to now consist entirely of the worship of worship. As the true believers of older times might have believed that an all-seeing father would save them, she now believes that belief in God will save her.
After she said "I believe people are nicer than they are," I asked, "So, are you consistently surprised when people undershoot your expectations?" There was a long silence, and then, slowly: "Well... am I surprised when people... undershoot my expectations?"
I didn't understand this pause at the time. I'd intended it to suggest that if she was constantly disappointed by reality, then this was a downside of believing falsely. But she seemed, instead, to be taken aback at the implications of not being surprised.
I now realize that the whole essence of her philosophy was her belief that she had deceived herself, and the possibility that her estimates of other people were actually accurate, threatened the Dark Side Epistemology that she had built around beliefs such as "I benefit from believing people are nicer than they actually are."
She has taken the old idol off its throne, and replaced it with an explicit worship of the Dark Side Epistemology that was once invented to defend the idol; she worships her own attempt at self-deception. The attempt failed, but she is honestly unaware of this.
And so humanity's token guardians of sanity (motto: "pooping your deranged little party since Epicurus") must now fight the active worship of self-deception—the worship of the supposed benefits of faith, in place of God.
This actually explains a fact about myself that I didn't really understand earlier—the reason why I'm annoyed when people talk as if self-deception is easy, and why I write entire blog posts arguing that making a deliberate choice to believe the sky is green, is harder to get away with than people seem to think.
It's because—while you can't just choose to believe the sky is green—if you don't realize this fact, then you actually can fool yourself into believing that you've successfully deceived yourself.
And since you then sincerely expect to receive the benefits that you think come from self-deception, you get the same sort of placebo benefit that would actually come from a successful self-deception.
So by going around explaining how hard self-deception is, I'm actually taking direct aim at the placebo benefits that people get from believing that they've deceived themselves, and targeting the new sort of religion that worships only the worship of God.
Will this battle, I wonder, generate a new list of reasons why, not belief, but belief in belief, is itself a good thing? Why people derive great benefits from worshipping their worship? Will we have to do this over again with belief in belief in belief and worship of worship of worship? Or will intelligent theists finally just give up on that line of argument?
I wish I could believe that no one could possibly believe in belief in belief in belief, but the Zombie World argument in philosophy has gotten even more tangled than this and its proponents still haven't abandoned it.
I await the eager defenses of belief in belief in the comments, but I wonder if anyone would care to jump ahead of the game and defend belief in belief in belief? Might as well go ahead and get it over with.Governments need to lead the nation the way good drivers operate a vehicle (you may not talk on your cell phone while driving). To avoid trouble, one must look ahead as well as in the rear-view mirror. To neglect either direction will invite serious trouble.
Eric Holder has called for a limited review of the past regarding torture accusations of the CIA. A good decision but not a great decision. Let me try to tell you why.
Governments that torture will inevitably inherit the hatred of people everywhere, and appropriately so. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention is clear in its statement of No Torture. Any government that does not keep that standard before their soldiers, intelligence people and prison guards risks the friendships that decency brings.
Not looking in the mirror when there has been a pattern of torture, or even the torture of one person, is immature denial of a dark past that should not occur again. There needs to be a review, a probe, and a study.
Violators must be chased in each case. I have met more victims of torture and heard more stories than one man should hear. And what I see time and again is this:
First, victims of torture want the torture to stop and second, they want to know who gave the orders.
Who gives the orders to torture? Failing to provide that answer is not an option. Human progress demands answers for Human Rights violations. If you are the father or the mother of a victim, you want and deserve an answer. Democratic governments were made for the good of its citizens. Thus, once torture is alleged, the government must act and dig into the facts of all the violations, not just some.
If you want a moment of despair from which you can escape, ask a survivor of torture what happened to him or her (two separate issues usually). Ask the person when, how did it feel, how long did it last, where did they hurt you, was it once or twice or weeks and months? How did you survive? How did you recuperate? As you ask, watch the eyes, the body reactions, help wipe the tears and the sweat, be prepared to catch one if they fall, watch the fear come and sweep over the room like a tsunami. Suicide often becomes an unseen but real visitor.
Then remember this: Almost all torturers go free. That is the history. A few brave nations are recently trying to turn this fact around: Peru, Argentina, Chile, Rwanda, Bosnia. But the damage torture brings onto the citizens is immense and there is little interest in a real and wide pursuit of justice for the offended. Sixty-three years after the founding of the United Nations the wickedness of torture is alive and well, and spreading. Will this tide of abuse continue?
If you feel torture should be allowed to protect our national interests and therefore we are exempt as a nation, at least do this one thing: read or meet a story of a survivor of torture. Women in particular need to look closely at these stories, for their gender is usually abused for weeks and months by many. 300,000 rapes in the Congo, 30,000 in Bosnia, I could go on, but why?
When the dogs of war are let into the jails, into intelligence meetings and into hidden rooms in hidden countries, cold sweat should come to the back of your neck for any one inside that chamber. If that is your sister, cousin, friend, you will pray and beg God for help. Little relief will come but you will demand the standard of No Torture should be kept and all violators prosecuted, no matter what the President says.Building test coverage and finding bugs can bog down traditional QA organizations, which is why Rainforest QA’s newest solution focuses on those two time-consuming activities. This exploratory testing product aims to expand test coverage and discover issues faster, so more bugs can be found and less pressure is put on development teams.
Rainforest QA, a company known for its AI-powered crowdtesting platform for agile and Continuous Integration teams, announced the general availability of Rainforest QA Exploratory today. Rainforest QA Exploratory lets companies get their QA perform regression testing without having to invest in hiring or building out a new team, said Rainforest QA’s CEO Fred Stevens-Smith.
(Related: How can testing keep up with agile nowadays?)
“The traditional methods of getting exploratory [testing] involves either hiring or at the very least managing,” he said. “[With Rainforest Exploratory], you can get that arbitrary coverage on areas that you are not certain about the quality levels, or you can get that coverage without having to make a big human investment, or time and hiring investment.”
Rainforest QA’s new solution also taps into its crowdsourcing approach, where companies can leverage elite testers from around the world. This “tester army” will dig deep into company applications and code to find new issues, and then they will write new tests to address these vulnerabilities, according to Stevens-Smith.
He said he is excited about the crowd aspect of the product, since Rainforest QA has about 70,000 monthly active testers in its crowd, who are all ranked by an internal reputation system.
“To be eligible to do this kind of work, you have to be in the top percent of our entire crowd,” said Stevens-Smith. “We are excited by how much more expertise exists in our crowd than we originally thought.”
This “elite” group of testers will find issues for customers, who will receive results and documentation of the issues, as well as a video recording of the test execution. Customers will also receive a fully scripted Rainforest regression test for easy replication.
Stevens-Smith said that when bugs are found and translated into test cases to reproduce that bug for the customer, the test cases are actually folded into the broader test piece, so customers can run it as part of their regression suite whenever they want.
Also, this lets customers generate test suites through exploratory runs rather than writing those test suites in the first place, said Stevens-Smith.Michael Keaton is one of those “If only he was given a chance, he could have done great things” type of guys. Edward Norton is one of those “If he could just suck it up and take other people’s advice he could be one of the biggest stars in the world” type of guys. This is no secret to us and it is certainly no secret to Alejandro González Iñárritu, who takes full advantage of our outside knowledge to create the only slightly twisted reality of Birdman.
Michael Keaton is one of those “If only he was given a chance, he could have done great things” type of guys. Edward Norton is one of those “If he could just suck it up and take other people’s advice he could be one of the biggest stars in the world” type of guys. This is no secret to us and it is certainly no secret to Alejandro González Iñárritu, who takes full advantage of our outside knowledge to create the only slightly twisted reality of Birdman. Taking these actors and having them play exaggerated versions of themselves is a great idea that was sure to garner attention in the media, but that is not enough to prop up an entire film.
Luckily, Iñárritu recognizes that the novelty of this idea fades quickly and makes sure to dazzle us with the non-stop, free-flowing story that is appropriately accompanied by the minimalist score of a frenetic jazz percussionist. Just like the drummer, Birdman always makes us feel like it has no idea where it is going, but in the end you realize that it is so fine-tuned that it was just tricking you into believing that was the case. It is so calculatedly bold. So incredibly unique. It is a hilarious satire of the modern movie landscape and a very personal story of self-acceptance. And it is the leader in the clubhouse for the best film of 2014 by a wide margin.
That Little Voice in Your Head
In Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomsan, a Hollywood has-been looking to resurrect his career by writing, directing, and starring in a re-telling of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” on Broadway. Riggan has thrown what little money he has left from his stint as blockbuster favorite Birdman at the play, viewing this as his last opportunity to legitimize his career and, in his mind, his existence. He wants to be remembered for something, anything, other than the Birdman series. But no matter where he goes, his superhero alter-ego follows him around in the form of a voice in his head reminding him how awful his life has been since he left the superhero industry. “People, they love blood,” Birdman says to Riggan, “They love action. Not this talky, philosophical, depressing bullshit.”
If you know anything about Iñárritu’s previous work, you know he has a tendency to delve into the area of talky, philosophical, depressing films (and, yes, sometimes they are bullshit—infinite sadness does not a deep movie make). Fortunately, the director has found another side of himself that takes the existential troubles we all have and actually shows that we can change for the better and find ourselves, even if the path there is fraught with missteps.
As the play’s opening night quickly approaches, Riggan must find a replacement for an actor who was “accidentally” hit by a huge light hanging over the stage. I say accidentally because this is the first of several instances where Riggan goes into Birdman mode and claims he willfully moves objects telekinetically. In this case, he wanted to get rid of the hack actor who managed to slip through the auditions.
This means that the play needs a replacement. Perhaps a big name Hollywood actor? Woody Harrelson? “He’s doing the next Hunger Games, ” Riggan’s agent (played by an effectively subdued Zack Galifianakis) explains. Michael Fassbender? “He’s doing the prequel to the X-Men prequel.” The list goes on and on. Instead, lauded Broadway performer Mike Shiner is brought on.
Shiner is played by Edward Norton, whose performance is every bit as fantastic as the incredible one Keaton puts on. Keaton is (deservedly) the early favorite for the Best Actor Oscar. The most impressively performed scene in the film is Norton’s very first where he transforms from a pretentious asshole into the best stage actor you have ever seen in the blink of an eye. A great actor playing a great actor is something that I imagine is extremely difficult. Think about it: while he is already using his abilities to play a different person, he must transform into a person playing a different person with the same abilities Norton uses to capture that actor in the first place. Christopher Nolan would be proud of that nesting doll acting. An actor inside an actor inside an actor….
Not Just a Gimmick
Perhaps the most memorable aspect of Birdman is it audacious use of cinematography. Emmanuel Lubezki makes almost the entire film feel like one continuous take. The camera is almost never still and is not afraid to change directions if someone interesting passes by. The film does not take place in real-time, but even the passage of time is shot to look like a continuation of the film’s single, long take. The writing, the score, and the cinematography all blend together perfectly to create this absurd manic quality that is omnipresent in Birdman. The shooting style of the film alone is enough to make it interesting, but everything else is just as good.
Birdman is also funny as hell. The back-and-forth between Keaton and Norton, the self-referential and self-deprecating Birdman occasionally whispering in Keaton’s ear, it all works. Birdman never fails to accomplish the goals it tries to achieve. It deftly captures the issues of personal identity and our desire to leave a mark on the world. In his quest to become respected as a real artist, Riggan has lost control of the world around him.
It is only when he accepts that the Birdman inside of him deserves recognition that he is able to reach a high both on stage and in the lives of his daughter (Emma Stone), ex-wife (Amy Ryan), and fellow performers. He begins to accept the advice of the voice inside his head. It is both the beginning of a mental breakdown and a period of enlightenment. He just needs one more hit of his old pal Birdman before he can finally kick the habit. This is what I call Keaton going “full-Birdman”.
It is at this point that the film gets gloriously weird. At the snap of his fingers cars explode, a giant meteor crashes into a skyscraper, a giant metal bird screeches at our superhero. He embraces his past before the first show. At that show, he finally rids himself of the voice in his head with what the play’s critics call a performance of hyper-realism on stage with a violent metaphor that isn’t difficult to interpret in a scene that immediately brings to mind the endings of Black Swan and The Wrestler.
“A Thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing”
This phrase is scribbled on a note card in the corner of Riggan’s vanity mirror in his dressing room. It is a phrase that makes me feel a little strange writing about Birdman. The experience of film is not the thoughts you spew out afterwards. Rather, it is what you feel as you go through. When you write about something, a film loses it fluidity; becomes rigid. I love writing about movies. I love having a voice. But Birdman shows that people who write about the work of others need to take things for what they are sometimes and viewers need to leave the words of others out of it.
Birdman’s most obvious antagonist is a stage critic (Lindsay Duncan) who has promised to bury Riggan’s play because she feels that, given his superhero past, Riggan has no right to perform on Broadway. This pre-judgment is common when people review things; I know I have a hard time with it sometimes. So don’t take my word for it, because my word is in no way an interpretation that you should consider when you decide to see Birdman. Take Birdman for what it is. And I hope you think it is as fun, meaningful, poignant, and smart as I do.
Conclusion
This fall is chock-full of tremendous movie-going options. But if you see one film this season, make it Birdman. It is equal parts funny, crazy, manic, beautiful, honest, and heartfelt. Every performer is great and the cinematography alone is worth giving Birdman a shot. It is a wholly original work that is wonderfully imagined and flawlessly executed. Alejandro González Iñárritu has created something that I wouldn’t have thought him capable of: a fun experience. And the last shot of the film is one that will have its meaning debated about for years and years to come. I guess you could call it the best anti-superhero film of all-time. Or you could just stop talking about it and let the experience wash over you.
What did you think of Birdman? Does it deserve to be considered for any Oscars?
Share your thoughts below!
Opinions expressed in our articles are those of the authors and not of the Film Inquiry magazine.Kent Sepkowitz, an internist and infectious disease specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, thinks people have too readily accepted the idea that MDMA can be useful as a psychotherapeutic catalyst for soldiers and others diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. In particular, he complains in a Daily Beast essay, the press and public should be more skeptical of research sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in which subjects who took MDMA were much more likely to improve (as measured by scores on the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale) than subjects who took a placebo. That result, Sepkowitz claims, was "suggestive but not statistically significant," because "the likelihood that the result was due to the drug was 83%," as opposed to 95 percent, the usual standard for statistical significance.
But as MAPS Executive Director Rick Doblin points out in the comments below Sepkowitz's article, the doctor, a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, seems to have made an embarrassing error: Eighty-three percent is the share of subjects in the treatment group who improved, compared to 25 percent in the control group. The difference was indeed statistically significant, with a 1.3 percent probability that it would occur purely by chance, as opposed to the 17 percent that Sepkowitz claims. Doblin comments:
Kent seems to have been so motivated to critique our initial study that he misread our abstract and reported an incorrect claim that our statistical analysis was not significant....If Kent had taken more than a few minutes to read the abstract and thought about what it actually reported, or if he had decided to read the actual paper, or even part of it, he would have learned that we reported that the difference between a response rate of 83% in the MDMA group and 25% in the placebo group (whose subjects received our extensive psychotherapy but with an inactive placebo) was significant ([p =] 0.013).
What about Sepkowitz's more general claim, that people are making too much of a suggestive but small and inconclusive study, partly because they are attracted by "the hipness factor" and a story line in which "Ecstasy leaves the gutter to save the day"? First of all, MDMA was arbitrarily consigned to "the gutter" by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which imposed an "emergency" ban on the substance in 1985 after people began using it for fun (shudder) at clubs and dance parties. But before MDMA emerged in that recreational context, it was a hit among psychotherapists who found that it enhanced empathy and candor (and who opposed its prohibition for that reason). While their testimonials are not the sort of evidence that gets pharmaceuticals approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it's not as if the idea of using MDMA in psychotherapy came out of the blue.
Now that MAPS is jumping through the hoops necessary to win FDA approval, Sepkowitz warns that more evidence is needed. No kidding. The title of the first report on this study, which was published two years ago in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, was "The Safety and Efficacy of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine Assisted Psychotherapy in Subjects With Chronic, Treatment-Resistant Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The First Randomized Controlled Pilot Study." The authors (who included Doblin as well as the lead investigator, South Carolina psychiatrist Michael Mithoefer) concluded that "MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be administered to posttraumatic stress disorder patients without evidence of harm, and it may be useful in patients refractory to other treatments." They added, "The promising results of this initial pilot study suggest that further research is warranted to confirm our findings, distinguish and refine the essential elements of this approach, enhance the methodology, and elucidate the mechanisms involved."
A follow-up article published in the same journal last month (which generated the press coverage that apparently offended Sepkowitz) reported that "the majority of these subjects with previously severe PTSD who were unresponsive to existing treatments had symptomatic relief provided by MDMA-assisted psychotherapy that persisted over time, with no subjects reporting harm from participation in the study." The authors added, "Should further research validate our initial findings, we predict that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy will become an important treatment option for this very challenging clinical and public health problem." Or as Sepkowitz puts it, "If confirmed by larger trials, this finding would be welcomed."
Contrary to Sepkowitz's implication, the researchers did not suggest this was anything more than a pilot study with a small number of subjects (a total of 20 initially). In fact, they emphasized this was the first study of its kind to test the psychotherapeutic potential of this prohibited substance (a precedent that helps explain why it attracted press attention), and they emphasized the need for further research to replicate their findings (as Doblin does again in his comment at The Daily Beast). Perhaps some news reports on this research exaggerated its import, but Sepkowitz does not cite a single specific example.
Sepkowitz correctly warns that bias can lead to flawed research that confirms an investigator's preconceived notions, and he himself illustrates that danger with his inaccurate description of the initial MDMA study. Certainly it's true that Doblin and Mithoefer want to see certain kinds of results, but that is hardly an unusual situation among researchers. As Doblin observes, scientists have developed safeguards aimed at minimizing the impact of bias, including randomization, double-blind procedures, transparent descriptions of their methods, and pre-publication peer review. Post-publication criticism is another important safeguard against bias, but it should be done more carefully and thoughtfully than Sepkowitz manages here.
Speaking of bias, my own view is that MDMA, like other currently illegal drugs, should be available to any adult who wants it for any reason, including fun as well as self-improvement, regardless of what research indicates about its benefits and whether or not the user has managed to obtain a psychiatric diagnosis. But I admire the efforts of Doblin and his colleagues to win a bit more pharmacological freedom by working within the system, a quest that seemed quixotic when MAPS was founded 26 years ago, right after the DEA banned MDMA. Despite my sympathy for their cause, I agree with Sepkowitz that their research should be judged by its scientific merits and should not get a pass simply because it may help loosen restrictions on irrationally proscribed substances. But by the same token, researchers should not have to jump a higher hurdle simply because their work casts doubt on our government's irrational bias against certain psychoactive chemicals.
Update, January 7: Responding to Doblin's complaint, Kent Sepkowitz has apologized for erroneously stating that the results reported by Mithoefer et al. in 2010 were statistically insignificant. In a correction appended to the end of his piece sometime between last Thursday (when I last looked) and today, he says, "Their claim that MDMA with psychotherapy led to a significantly better overall outcome as measured by lower CAPS score in the cohort of 20 patients evaluated at 3 points after treatment, including 2 months after last dose MDMA 8-hour session, is indeed true and the finding is extremely interesting."Police question man over animal remains
Updated
Police have arrested an alleged poacher after the discovery of the remains of protected animals at a north Queensland property.
Police and environmental protection officers searched a Townsville property late yesterday.
They found the remains of kangaroos, rays, fish, a green sea turtle and an estuary crocodile.
Shells, fireworks and ammunition was also located during a search at another property.
Acting Inspector John Mahony says a 24-year-old man has been arrested and two others have been linked to the dead croc.
"Investigations thus far have identified two other male people as responsible for the killing of the crocodile, the decapitation and skinning of that animal," Inspector Mahony said.
Police are investigating whether there is a link to the unlawful killing of a croc in a nearby river earlier this month.
Topics: police, law-crime-and-justice, endangered-and-protected-species, bushland-beach-4818, townsville-4810
First postedTo say Brittany Waters is busy may be the understatement of the rugby season.
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When Waters finishes playing for Canada in the 2017 World Cup in Ireland, she will return home to coach the University of Victoria women’s team. The Vikes trial camp starts the day after Waters arrives back from the World Cup.
“A lot of the preparation for the Vikes season is done beforehand,” Waters said of how she manages to juggle all the rugby balls in her life.
“Having played at the international level gives me a better understanding of the game [as a coach].”
If that isn’t enough to keep her busy, Waters is an occupational therapist at Victoria General and Royal Jubilee hospitals.
“I like both the balance and change I have in my life,” she said.
It’s a mantra Waters imparts to her Vikes players when they ask what it takes to get to the World Cup: “I tell them it takes hard work and dedication. And if you put in the hard work, good things will happen. But I also tell them to find balance. Don’t burn out. Do other things in life, too. Be healthy and take care of your body.”
Waters, 34, is playing in her third World Cup. “I love rugby so much, and I’ve had a strong support network of teammates and family,” she said.
Waters and her teammates will play in the consolation round on Tuesday, a disappointing outcome for the Canadian team, which was silver medallist at the last World Cup in 2014.
Canada began the 2017 World Cup with a 98-0 blowout of No. 23-ranked Hong Kong, then blanked No. 10 Wales 15-0 before losing to No. 2 New Zealand 48-5 in pool play to miss out on the semifinals.
Joining Waters on the World Cup Canadian team from the Castaway Wanderers of Oak Bay are Julianne Zussman, Olivia DeMerchant and Rio Olympics bronze-medallist sevens player Karen Paquin.
Joining Kelly Russell, another Rio Olympics sevens medallist, at the World Cup from Cowichan RFC are her sister Laura Russell and Tyson Beukeboom. The Westshore RFC (former Velox) powerhouse, which has won the B.C. championship four of the past five years, is well represented with Barbara Mervin, Emily Belchos, Elissa Alarie, Latoya Blackwood, Chelsey Minter and Brianna Miller.
Ten players are making their World Cup debuts on a Canadian squad that features 18 returnees from the 2014 World Cup squad.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.comBritish Columbia
Grouse Mountain to get new regional park
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75-hectare park will include popular Grouse Grind, among other hiking trails
Grouse Mountain, on Vancouver's North Shore, will soon be home to a new 75-hectare regional park. (Grouse Mountain Resort/Facebook)
Grouse Mountain — one of the most iconic mountains on Vancouver's North Shore — will soon be home to a new 75-hectare regional park.
Metro Vancouver says the new park will include the popular Grouse Grind, the B.C. Mountaineering Club and a portion of the Baden-Powell trails.
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Much of the area is currently owned and operated by the Greater Vancouver Water District, including the Grind.
Frieda Schade, acting director of Metro Vancouver's regional parks department, said the new park was established largely to take upkeep of the Grind off the water utility's plate.
"It was kind of just switching the management from our water services department to the regional parks division, who have broader experience and responsibilities and ability to manage public use of an area," Schade said.
Along with the popular hiking trails, the area contains mature forests and mountain streams that are home to a variety of wildlife, including black bears, cougars, barred owls, black-tailed deer and northern red-legged frogs.
The Grouse Grind is a steep 2.9-kilometre trail up the face of Grouse Mountain which has gained worldwide popularity as a challenging and scenic hike.
Schade said an official opening for the currently unnamed park will be held when Grind opens for the season, likely in early June.
With files from Cory Correia and the Canadian Press.Sophie Turner is this month’s cover girl over at Just Jared, with a full photospread and in-depth interview on her many projects, including (but not limited to) the sixth season of Game of Thrones. As in her other interviews, Turner is really hyped for this season, because after five long years of being a character under the thumb of everyone else, this season she will supposedly not disappoint her fans and finally come into her own.
It’s basically a game changer for her because she goes from being a pawn in everyone else’s games to really taking charge. Instead of being shipped around by different people and being a prisoner, she’s the one telling people, “Come with me. I’m taking you somewhere. I’m taking charge.” And she kind of tries to get her own revenge.
“Kind of tries to get her own revenge” doesn’t actually sound all that promising. I think it depends on who she’s trying to get revenge on—if it’s Ramsay, many fans will certainly cheer her on, because everyone hates Ramsay. But personally, I would like to see her switch it up on us, and perhaps aim to take revenge on the man who told her to turn down Brienne |
sucker punch. It's true - Tomjanovich has been trying to help Washington for years now. Do you ever think Jerry Sloan could do something like that? In a word... no.
What about their playing careers. The argument for Sloan is that he was just as good a player as a coach. The same can be said for Rudy T. Tomjanovich was a five-time NBA All-Star. He averaged 17.4 points per game over his 11 year career (no doubt shortened by the Washington incident). Rudy also led the Rockets to their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 1981. In short, Tomjanovich's candidacy for the Basketball Hall of Fame cannot be undermined by his playing career. If anything, Rudy T's ability and production on the court was just as impressive as his work on the sidelines.
I don't care what the voters say: Rudy Tomjanovich is a Hall of Famer. Jerry Sloan being inducted before Rudy T is just an egregious oversight. It's okay though... Rudy T has two things Sloan never will:Nasty Attitude, originally known as Bad Attitude was a Middleweight built by Tom Petruccelli that competed at ROBOLympics 2004, and the 2005 RoboGames, as well as in the 2004, and 2005 RFL Nationals. It was a four-wheeled invertible Red, and Silver double wedge robot with no active weaponry. Nasty Attitude did very well, winning the Gold Medal in RoboGames 2005. Nasty Attitude was retired after the 2005 RFL Nationals, and sadly Tom Petruccelli would die of a heart attack just five years later, he was 76 years old.
Contents show]
Robot History Edit
ROBOLympics 2004 Edit
2004 RFL Nationals Edit
RoboGames 2005 Edit
2005 RFL Nationals Edit
Combat Record Edit
Wins: 13
13 Losses: 6
Outside of RoboGames Edit
Nasty Attitude competed at BattleBots from season 1.0 to 5.0, where it was fery successful, reaching the semifinals in 2.0, and the quarterfinals in 4.0. Nasty Attitude also competed in the final three Steel Conflict events where it also did well.
Honours EditAt least nine people have been killed and many others wounded in clashes that erupted between Houthi fighters and tribesmen in a village just north of Radaa city in central Yemen.
Saturday's fighting, in which five Houthis and four tribesmen were killed in Dar Al-Najd, comes as thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of Sanaa to protest against the Houthi group's control of the capital, two days after President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's resignation left the country in political limbo.
The demonstration on Saturday came as regions in the formerly independent south stepped up their defiance after the Shia Houthi fighters, who hail from Yemen's northern highlands, tightened their grip on Sanaa.
Witnesses said up to 10,000 people marched from Sanaa University towards Hadi's home and back, repeating chants denouncing both the Houthi group and predominantly Sunni al-Qaeda.
"Down, down with the Houthis' rule," chanted protesters who rallied following a call by the Rejection Movement - a group recently formed in provincial areas to challenge the Houthi group.
Women and children joined young men on the streets, waving signs that called for "a real government" and burning portraits of the Houthi leader Abdulmalek al-Huthi.
Protests also erupted in the cities of Taiz, Ibb and Hodeida, organisers said.
Hadi, a key US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda, tendered his resignation along with Prime Minister Khalid Bahah on Thursday, saying he could no longer stay in office as the country was in "total deadlock".
An emergency session of parliament initially scheduled for Sunday to discuss Hadi's resignation has been postponed until "another date to be set later".
Under the constitution, parliamentary speaker Yahya al-Ra'i will take office for an interim period while new elections are organised.
Severing ties with Sanaa
Earllier, leaders from Yemen's Hadramout region said they would reject all orders from the capital while the offices of the president and prime minister remain empty.
The governor and other senior officials in the vast southeastern region told Al Jazeera on Saturday that they decided to sever ties with Sanaa after Hadi and Bahah tendered their resignation.
An Al Jazeera correspondent in Aden said that the Southern Movement, a group which outrightly rejected rule by the Houthis, deployed its fighters to protect the port city from possible attack.
The group, which demands a return to the full independence of the southern region enjoyed from 1967 to 1990, had earlier raised the former flag of South Yemen over Aden's airport and a security headquarters building.
The fall of Hadi's Western-backed government raise fears of chaos engulfing Yemen, strategically located next to oil giant Saudi Arabia and on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf.Kiwis from across New Zealand give their feedback on the flag referendum at the Nelson Saturday market.
The official flag results have been released, and there are no surprises.
The British ensign proved to be the victor with no real change in votes from the preliminary results: 1,208,702 (56.6 per cent) voted for the current flag and 921,876 (43.2%) voted for the silver fern contender.
The total votes received were 2,140,895 - but about 10,000 of those were either invalid or it was unclear which flag the voter had selected.
FAIRFAX MEDIA The majority of Kiwis decided not to change the current flag.
Turnout for the referendum was at 67.78 per cent of the total number of people on the electoral roll as at 3 March - about 3.1 million Kiwis.
READ MORE:
* Kyle Lockwood on flag result
* NZ shows its colours and votes to retain existing flag
* Opinion: Defeated, but not humiliated
* New flag NZ? Yeah, nah: How the internet reacted
* Which flag MPs voted for in the final referendum
* Key: vote against silver fern flag won't damage my legacy
JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ Timaru reaction to the New Zealand flag referendum.
The preliminary results were released last Thursday.
A total of of 1,200,003 people (56.6 per cent) voted to retain the ensign, with 915,008 (43.2 per cent) in favour of the silver fern design.
Some 8,000 more votes were counted since then in favour of sticking with the current flag, and about 6,000 for the new design.
MEGHAN LAWRENCE/FAIRFAX NZ The current flag remained the winner after the result of the second referendum was confirmed.
The two flag referendums cost the taxpayer $26 million.
The first referendum whittled the choices down to four but this time around more people exercised their right to vote.
Voter turnout first time around was 48.78 per cent, with a total of 1,546,734 votes cast. This included 149,747 informal votes and 3372 invalid votes.
BEVAN READ/stuff.co.nz After a robust referendum process John Key hopes that we can all unify behind one flag.
Flag Consideration Panel chair John Burrows said the country was lucky to have had a democratic and inclusive process to think about.
"Kiwis have had an opportunity to really consider what our flag means, what it represents to them, and for the first time in history, choose a flag," he said.
43,000 people shared what they stood for on the flag panel's online board, over 6,000 people visited the public seminars and information stands, and more than 10,000 flag designs were submitted.
Many critics have been vocal about the politicisation of the referendum process.
Prime Minister John Key has been calling for a flag change since the choice was put to the public.
However, Opposition leader Andrew Little says the time to decide on a change of flag will happen when New Zealand decides whether it wants to become a republic.The Index of Fossil-Fuel-Friendly Woodworking Knowledge
An effort to be the most comprehensive site of Hand-tool Woodworking Information on the Web, this initially started as my own way to quickly reference what I felt was valuable web-based knowledge, but this index quickly became a resource for the entire online community. Most of the links are compositions and websites built by others and cataloged here. Some were threads from online woodworking forums such as Woodnet, and I built a web-page of the post(s) to preserve the information contained therein. Only a few of the articles are my own, and several links were submitted directly to me. In all cases, I attemtped to give proper credit. A perpetual Thank You to all who have contributed to this resource.
Last updated 5.18.15
Return to Woodworking / The Power Tools IndexTEL AVIV – The American Jewish Committee has launched a campaign to procure signatures of all 50 state governors on a petition to divest from companies engaged in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
Called “Governors United Against BDS,” the declaration has already garnered the signatures of 16 governors, The Jerusalem Post reported.
AJC officials announced they have “every confidence” that the majority of governors will sign.
“We, the undersigned governors, reject efforts to demonize and delegitimize Israel – America’s democratic ally in the Middle East – through the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement,” reads the declaration.
It continues by outlining that “the goals of the BDS movement are antithetical to our values and the values of our respective states,” and that the movement “seek[s] to isolate Israel – a pluralistic nation with deep cultural, familial, security, educational, scientific and commercial bonds with our state and with the United States as a whole – rather than recognize the profound mutual benefits of our engagement with it.”
Dan Elbaum, AJC’s assistant executive director, said the petition was designed to combat what he described as the growing isolationism of the Jewish state and anti-Israel activity on college campuses.
The campaign is being co-chaired by Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut.
In June, Cuomo signed an executive order directing state agencies to divest public funds from companies and organizations aligned with the BDS movement.
“I believe that there is strong bipartisan support against BDS, and recognition that it is pernicious, negative, and isn’t what it purports to be,” said Elbaum.
The AJC is also slated to resume Project Interchange, a program bringing delegations of non-Jewish students and university administrators to Israel to learn about the country and meet with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Elbaum said holding antagonistic views against Israel is increasingly seen as part of a progressive worldview on campuses, along with alignment with other causes including the Movement for Black Lives, gay rights and anti-rape activism.
Since support for the Jewish state is often seen as a conservative crusade, Jewish students who are on the more liberal end of the political spectrum find it difficult to stand up for Israel.
“We hear this attitude from more and more students and it’s troubling that young people might feel a need to leave pro-Israel sentiment behind in order to be progressive,” said Elbaum.
Jewish campus group Hillel International, which has joint programs with AJC, aims to combat this sentiment by engaging all Jewish students, including those from mixed marriages or those of whom are otherwise less affiliated with the Jewish community.
“We want as many Jews as possible to understand Israel, and to support Israel when it needs support, and so we are reaching out to people who were not traditionally defined as part of the Jewish community,” Matt Berger, senior adviser for strategic communications at Hillel International, said.
Elbaum points out that an overwhelming majority of anti-Israel activity on college campuses comes from minority groups. He said that part of the reason is due to the notion of “intersectionality,” in which disparate civil and human rights issues are fudged into a singular narrative of persecution.
One prominent example of this was the Movement for Black Lives’ recent platform which declared that Israel was perpetuating “genocide” against the Palestinians.
Another pro-Israel group dedicated to combating misinformation about Israel on campuses is StandWithUs, which is set to launch a new online platform to empower students on campuses to combat BDS. The group also arranges speaking tours around college campuses with the aim of reframing the debate surrounding Israel.
“While we will continue to face anti-Israel extremism, our community also has a great opportunity to be proactive and reclaim Israel’s story on campuses,” said Ron Krudo, executive director of campus affairs for the organization.
“We are excited to work with our partner organizations this year to empower students, overcome our shared challenges, and inspire the support Israelis deserve.”By Alwaght
The Zionists are engrossed in their nuclear activities in Dimona nunlear Reactor, indifferent to the whole world. This nuclear reactor, which was established in 1958, enabled the Israeli regime to producing massive quantities of plutonium sufficient to manufacture up to two hundred nuclear warheads. Dimona Reactor has exceeded thirty years of age, and has become a serious threat to all of the countries in the region.
Radioactive contamination and severe diseases:
Dimona Reactor is considered an important symbol for the Zionists. They view the possession of nuclear weapons as a guarantee for their "existence" in the region, a deterring factor that would break the will of the Arab states, and a vow by the Western countries to protect and support the Zionists. Until this day, the real intent of establishing Dimona Reactor is unknown, although, Tel Aviv claims that the construction of the reactor was aimed at developing the Negev Desert, south of Palestine. However, several reports were leaked on the regime's nuclear activities in Dimona Reactor, among which is the confession of a Moroccan Israeli nuclear technician, Mordechai Vanunu. He was the first to reveal details of the Zionist's nuclear weapon program in 1986, which resulted in his jail sentence for eighteen years, including more than eleven years in solitary confinement.
Vanunu said, "Dimona Reactor has been worn out, it is more than fifty years of age; usually, when the reactors exceed thirty years, they must be closed. If Dimona Reactor continue to operat under the current circumstances, it would pose a threat to the lives of millions throughout the Middle East." Saying that Jordan should be prepared for possible Dimona leaks he added "I see that Jordan has the right to question Israel about what is going on there since it is close to the country's borders."
Vanunu's claims of Dimona's senescence and its threat to the Palestinian and Jordanian inhabitants in particular, and the West Asian nations in general, were confirmed by several Egyptian and Jordanian reports about nuclear leaks from Dimona Reactor.
In the same context, Amjad Shammout, the leader of Civil Alliance of the Dimona Nuclear Reactor Victims in Jordan, the former attorney general and the Head of the Arab Bridge Center for Human Rights, said in an interview with the Qatari Al-Raya newspaper "We found out, irrevocably, that when they assembled the nuclear stacks, they directed them toward the southern Jordanian area, specifically, Araba valley, Shobak, Petra, Ma'an, Karak, Tafila, and Aghwar, which are adjacent to the reactor. When the wind blows, it would carry the radiations and the toxic emissions toward the southern Jordan. This means that there has been a deliberate criminal intent since its establishment."
According to recent report by the Jordanian Ministry of Health, there are twelve thousand cancer cases in the South, from 1996 to 2004. These cases varied between nausea, hair loss, eye diseases, skin ulcers, and chronic diseases of the nervous system. birth defects were also reported.
The Israeli regime civilians are also at stake:
The regime's Channel ten in a report acknowledged death of hundreds of workers in Dimona Nuclear Reactor due to various types of cancers. The report revealed the statements of some of the relatives of the victims of Dimona's toxic emissions. Their statements confirmed that the Tel Aviv officials try to conceal the perilous facts of the reactors.
The Israeli television network conveyed the statement of Daniel Shrodcker, son of a janitor at Dimona Nuclear Reactor for twenty eight years. His father died shortly after being diagnosed with cancer. Shrodcker said, "My father was not the only one, many of his colleagues lost their lives after being diagnosed with cancer; however, the fear of being legally persecuted made the families of those victims to remain silent."
The report unveiled the death of approximately a quarter of Dimona's employees due to cancer. Cancer symptoms were also discovered in more than seventy percent of Negev inhabitants. On the other hand, the Israeli regime officials are trying to conceal the hideous truth around the deterioration of Dimona's infrastructure.
Persian Gulf taciturn, Egypt and Jordan slight objections:
The Dimona Nuclear Reactor is located in Negev Desert, approximately twenty five kilometers from the western Jordanian borders, seventy five kilometers from the west of Egypt, and eighty five kilometers from the south of Al-Quds. This makes Dimona Nuclear Reactor as a serious danger for the present and the future of Palestine and the surrounding countries, particularly Jordan and Egypt. The reports revealed that the Dimona's nuclear leaks have reached several areas in Jordan, Egypt, the West Bank, and groundwater of the city of Tabuk, in Saudi Arabia.
However all abovementioned threats did not provoked international organizations and superpowers to worry about Israeli regime's nuclear program, or to oblige the Tel Aviv leaders to curb their hostile nuclear activities.
Meanwhile, Israeli regime still refuses to sign the NPT as well as to subject its nuclear activities to international surveillance. However, it is heard from time to time that Egypt and Jordan criticize this issue with abashment, where the Persian Gulf Arab States have closed their eyes on the fate of their people and the magnitude of the upcoming disaster.Saturday, December 10th, 2016
HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- T.J. Miller, an actor set to host the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday, was arrested in Hollywood early Friday morning, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.LAPD said they responded to the 6900 block of Camrose Drive at about 1 a.m.The victim, who LAPD only identified as a driver for a transportation company, demanded a citizen's arrest of Miller for battery. Authorities did not release the details of what led to the incident.Police said they went to Miller's home and arrested him for battery. Officials said the 35-year-old was released on $20,000 bail early Friday morning.Earlier this week, Miller appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and discussed his medical marijuana use.Miller recently shot to fame for his roles in the HBO show "Silicon Valley" and Marvel-comic movie "Deadpool."He also stars in "Office Christmas Party" with Jennifer Aniston, which was released in theaters on Friday.Miller was slated to host the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday. The executive producer said Friday that Miller will still host the show.ABC7 reached out to representatives of Miller and has not yet heard back. Download the free ABC7 Los Angeles app for breaking news, weather and local stories on-the-go nullMuch of what we saw from Donald Trump this week merely confirmed what we already knew. He’s boneheaded. He’s a divider rather than a unifier. If he’s not an outright racist—and many people would say that he is—he’s always eager to exploit the racial prejudices that some of his supporters harbor. And he hates being pressed to distance himself from confirmed racist goons such as David Duke and Richard Spencer. But there was also one thing that we did learn this week: if you work for Trump, it’s not good news when he refers to you as “Mr.”
“Look, look, I like Mr. Bannon,” Trump said during his shameful press conference at Trump Tower, on Tuesday. “He is a friend of mine. Mr. Bannon came on very late. You know that. I went through seventeen senators, governors, and I won all the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than that. And I like him. He is a good man. He is not a racist, I can tell you that. He is a good person. He actually gets a very unfair press in that regard. We’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon. He is a good person, and I think the press treats him, frankly, very unfairly.”
On Friday at lunchtime, after weeks of speculation, the White House confirmed that Bannon was out. “White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day,” a statement from the press office said. “We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.” With that, the rumpled controversialist who took over Trump’s Presidential campaign last August—Trump was right that he came on late—and subsequently became the chief political strategist in the White House joined Michael Flynn, Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, and Anthony Scaramucci on the list of senior Trump aides to get the chop.
There may well be more departures to come. Working for Trump is like entering the haunted house at a fairground: you never know when the trapdoor below your feet is going to open up. By lasting about a year in Trumpland, Bannon actually did pretty well. As a self-styled conservative revolutionary who had long seen his primary mission as blowing up the donor-dominated Republican Party, he was always going to be an awkward fit in a Republican White House. And when, during the first days of the Administration, his mug appeared on the front of Time magazine next to the headline “The Great Manipulator,” he breached the first rule of the Trump world: never overshadow the boss.
Despite that faux pas, Bannon lasted for another six and a half months. However, he was never quite the Svengali character that the media portrayed him as. In a White House that quickly divided into rival camps that battled internally and sniped at each other publicly via leaks to reporters, he had to contend with mainstream Republicans like Priebus and Vice-President Mike Pence; Wall Street pragmatists like Gary Cohn, the head of the National Economic Council; members of the military and foreign-policy establishment, such as H. R. McMaster, who replaced Flynn as the national-security adviser; and Trump family members, particularly Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law. It’s been widely reported that many of these people had been seeking Bannon’s ouster for months.
For as long as he lasted, Bannon fought his corner and sought to convert some of Trump’s campaign promises into actual policy measures. As someone who had long proclaimed that the America of his childhood was under grave threat from multiculturalism and what he referred to as “Islamic fascism,” Bannon was perfectly comfortable with Trump’s strident embrace of nativism and revanchism; indeed, he had promoted this same approach during his tenure as the chief executive of Breitbart News. In the early days of the Administration, he worked hard to get some of Trump’s more incendiary proposals enacted, including his crackdown on undocumented immigrants and his ban on Muslims entering the United States.
But to hold Bannon responsible for Trump’s most offensive gestures and utterances—including the President’s refusal, this week, to distance himself from white nationalists and neo-Nazis—would be going too far. At his Trump Tower press conference, Trump said that he hadn’t even talked to Bannon about what happened in Charlottesville. His equating of the “Unite the Right” marchers with the counter-protesters; his claim that there were some “really fine people” on both sides; the comparison he drew between the Founding Fathers and the leaders of the Confederacy—these were all Trump’s own handiwork.
Far from being a ventriloquist’s dummy, Trump is a headstrong lone operator, and he strenuously resists any efforts to constrain or direct him. For a time, Bannon was useful to him because he had the instincts of a political brawler and the ability to convert rabble-rousing rhetoric into something that could be presented to the gullible as a semi-coherent political philosophy. But now that Bannon has departed, there is absolutely no reason to suppose that the President will change his ways. Trump is Trump is Trump. That is how it has always been. That is how it always will be.
In some areas, particularly foreign policy, the White House may even have lost a restraining voice. A skeptic of U.S. interventionism, Bannon opposed the Pentagon’s missile strike on Syria, and he was highly dubious about the United States confronting North Korea. “There’s no military solution, forget it,’’ he told Bob Kuttner, of The American Prospect, a few days ago.
Another area where Bannon’s absence may make a difference is economic policy. As Cohn and others in the White House steadily watered down Trump’s aggressive campaign rhetoric on trade, Bannon tried to fight back, particularly on the need to confront Chinese mercantilism. “To me, the economic war with China is everything,” he told Kuttner. “And we have to be maniacally focused on that. If we continue to lose it, we’re five years away, I think, ten years at the most, of hitting an inflection point from which we'll never be able to recover.” But pushing this line inside the White House was a struggle, Bannon conceded. “That’s a fight I fight every day here,” he said. “We’re still fighting. There’s Treasury and Gary Cohn and Goldman Sachs lobbying.”
A former Goldman banker himself, Bannon had also recently pushed for higher marginal tax rates on the rich—as high as forty-four per cent for those earning more than five million dollars a year. Although such a policy would probably prove popular among Trump’s core supporters, the prospect of Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin incorporating it into the tax-reform package that they are working on always seemed like a long shot. Without Bannon there, a populist turn seems even less likely.
If Trump is hoping that Bannon’s departure will ease the political pressure on him, he is certain to be disappointed. Three months ago, it might have had some impact, but today the focus is firmly on the President himself, and whether he can repair any of the enormous damage that he has done to himself, and to the country, with his loathsome response to the tragic events in Charlottesville.
After all is said and done, Bannon was just another political operative, albeit one with some grand ambitions and extreme views. Trump is the head of state, and, as Mitt Romney pointed out in a Facebook post on Friday morning, he owes it to the nation to say sorry for his appalling behavior. “He should address the American people, acknowledge that he was wrong, apologize,” Romney wrote. “State forcefully and unequivocally that racists are 100% to blame for the murder and violence in Charlottesville. Testify that there is no conceivable comparison or moral equivalency between the Nazis—who brutally murdered millions of Jews and who hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their lives to defeat—and the counter-protestors who were outraged to see fools parading the Nazi flag, Nazi armband and Nazi salute. And once and for all, he must definitively repudiate the support of David Duke and his ilk and call for every American to banish racists and haters from any and every association.”
A cynic might point out that Romney’s intervention would be even more laudable if he hadn’t interviewed, twice, for the job of Trump’s Secretary of State. But that lapse in judgment on Romney’s part doesn’t detract from the power of his statement on Friday, or from the reality that Trump’s Presidency is in crisis, his very legitimacy in question. (I wrote more about this on Thursday.) Also on Friday, another body of notables affiliated with the White House, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, disbanded itself, saying in a public letter, “Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions.”
Set beside this ongoing political earthquake, Bannon’s exit seemed almost like a gossip item. The spin was that it all the work of Kelly, who took up his post less than three weeks ago. “This was without question one man’s decision: Kelly. One hundred percent,” an anonymous senior White House official told the Washington Post. For a moment, let us go along with the fiction that Kelly, who is ultimately another functionary, could force out Bannon without Trump’s approval. Then the argument could be made (and Trump’s surrogates are busy making it) that Kelly is steadily purging the most ineffectual and incendiary elements from the White House, and that things are finally getting on track. But what, pray, can Kelly do about the real problem: the character of the man in the Oval Office? Very little.Bitcoin this, bitcoin that. It's been five years since the virtual currency debuted, and people still don't have a total grasp on it. It seems like just when you think it's on the out, some news comes along that puts bitcoin back in the game. Time to stop scratching your head whenever you hear the word, because we're bringing you a supersimple bitcoin 101. Ready? Here goes.
First Things First: What's Bitcoin?
Think of it this way: bitcoin is a hard-to-trace digital currency that can be transferred instantly — poof! — between two people. You wouldn't be wrong to compare it to something like electronic cash.
Bitcoin — and the currency's main resource website, Bitcoin.org — isn't a company, per se. It's a network run by developers, community members, and currency users from around the world, kind of like email when it was first created.
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Who Invented It?
No one knows for sure except that in January 2009, someone using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto unleashed bitcoin on the world. Here are some guesses about his real identity: he's in his late 20s and he lives in Japan. Basically, he might as well be invisible.
Where Do You Keep Bitcoins?
A little like cash, you store your bitcoins in a wallet, except this one's virtual. You use it to send and receive bitcoins under a number that won't give away your identity.
We know of a couple of different types of bitcoin wallets. Software wallets live on your computer. Several different companies like Armory and Multibit offer the service, which varies depending on factors like user-friendliness, backup features, and memory space. Wallets also come in app form, brought to you by companies like Coinbase and Blockchain.
This is what one bitcoin wallet app looks like:
So, Can You Touch Bitcoins?
No. "They just don't exist," says Ryan Straus, a bitcoin expert and financial services attorney at the law firm Riddell Williams. Physically, at least, they don't exist. A bitcoin is essentially a number tied to a bitcoin address. (The one guy who tried to make physical bitcoins with the number embedded inside was shut down by the government, but is planning to get back in production soon.) As proof, every transaction between different addresses is recorded as a public record in something called a block chain.
"It throws out everything we know about time and money," says Straus, who has served as a speaker on national bitcoin panels. "It's such a fascinating new way to interact with people over the Internet."
Wait, Then Why Are There Bitcoin ATMs?
You mean the bitcoin ATM that exists in Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, and the one that's coming to New York City? All they do is let you insert dollar bills into the machine and get bitcoins dumped into your bitcoin wallet in return. You can also trade in your bitcoins and pull out cash from the ATM. Ca-ching!
But How Do You Get Bitcoins in the First Place?
There are a few ways. Some generous soul can just give them to you, you can buy them with dollars, or, if you're really up for it, you can create brand-new bitcoins by "mining" them. Mining requires solving a difficult math problem using software and the help of computer power to give you the address of the bitcoin. Because of this, mining isn't something the average person is likely to do. Feels like a treasure hunt, doesn't it?
For a more detailed breakdown of mining that's easy to understand, check out this fun animated video:
How Many Bitcoins Are There?
There's a cap. The number of new bitcoins released each year is automatically cut in half until there are a total of 21 million bitcoins in the world, according to the Bitcoin website. That's it. 21 million, and no more. So far, only 11 million bitcoins have been found. Again, treasure hunt.
What Can You Buy With Bitcoins?
A whole lot more than you'd expect. Drugs on the Silk Road black market before it was shut down by the FBI, for one. College tuition at The University of Nicosia in Cyprus. A trip to space on Virgin Galactic. A yellow 2014 Lamborghini.
And now, in the non-crazy-expensive category, everything from rugs to rings on Overstock.com, the largest American retailer to accept bitcoins. Oh, and maybe a Snoop Dogg record?
My next record available in bitcoin n delivered in a drone. — Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) December 2, 2013
Why Would I Use Bitcoins Instead of Dollars or Credit Cards?
Many people like the idea that bitcoins provide some level of anonymity compared to other forms of currency. That's because, again, the account you use during transactions is attached to a number ID rather than your personal identity. Some folks who really dislike financial institutions or central banks are big bitcoin fans. Plus, some people believe that, similar to gold, bitcoins could survive even the worst of economic crises.
Not to mention the cool factor. "It's hard to communicate what it is, and people are attracted to the mysterious," says Straus. But on the other hand, he says, "It was created as a means of transacting online peer to peer. And from that perspective, being able to send a friend or relative money really easily is incredibly useful."
OK, Why Wouldn't I Use Bitcoins?
For starters, the value of a bitcoin is pretty unpredictable. To prove how unstable it is, just look at its track record from last month when the value of a bitcoin varied between a low of about $600 to a high of more than $1,200. At times bitcoin is "almost for entertainment value" because you're constantly watching it go up and down, says Straus. And where does that value come from? The more people use bitcoins, the more popular they become, and the more they are worth.
Then, there's the hacking. Wallets and exchanges have definitely been hacked in the past few years, but then again, so have regular bank accounts. Something else to consider: bitcoin wallets don't have the same backing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) that insures your bank deposits. So stolen bitcoins can't be recovered because all transactions are irreversible. (There is, however, a brand-new bitcoin storage service that tries to insure against loss and theft.) And if something goes wrong with your bitcoin wallet and you lose them — too bad, so sad.
Hold On, Is It Legal?
Yes, unless you do something illegal with it, but you know that. In November of last year, the Senate held a hearing on the currency, and it was mostly a bitcoin lovefest.
"There is good reason for us to remain watchful," said Mythili Raman of the Justice Department about criminal activities tied to Bitcoin. "But we also intend to balance that against the need for legitimate users" to access it.
You should also know that bitcoin isn't regulated or controlled by any sort of authority when it comes to personal transactions. Some state governments like New York and California have said they'd like to regulate bitcoin, but as of now, only a set of guidelines issued by the US Treasury Department's anti-money-laundering unit have been issued, and that's for businesses.
Still, we're very early on in the regulatory process, says Straus. "It's a nano-small picture of the legal landscape" and could change in the near future.
We're talking about the US, of course. Bitcoin has spread to other countries, but some, like China, have banned it.
What's Up With Bitcoins and Taxes?
Like other things bitcoin-related, people are still trying to figure this one out. The IRS hasn't issued any tax guidance yet, and a lot of trades happen tax-free. Still, any income passed through bitcoin transactions must be reported.
Do Any Celebs Own Bitcoins?
Why, yes. Although when it comes to famous faces and bitcoin, some win and some fail. Take the Winklevoss twins, the guys who claimed Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook, who own almost $11 million in bitcoins (win). And Ashton Kutcher, who's raking in the bitcoins after his venture capital firm invested in a bitcoin pay network (win again). There are also important bitcoinaires who are sort of kind of famous.
But the sad story comes from singer Lily Allen, who years ago was asked to stream a live performance and get paid in hundreds of thousands of bitcoins. She said "as if" and now calls herself an idiot (ouch).
Is There Competition?
Yup, two of its main digital currency "competitors" are Litecoin and Ripple, which use a similar mining concept and also put a cap on the number of currency out there. But there's also Coinye, which is totally real even though Kanye West wants to shut it down for poking fun at him; and the 100 percent legit Dogecoin that started as a hilarious meme. Woof.
Is It Worth It?
Depends on whom you ask. The venture capitalist who thinks a single bitcoin will be worth $100,000 might say yes. But then there are people like Straus.
"Even the most ardent supporters of bitcoin view it as an experiment and super speculative from an investment perspective," he says. "And I agree completely. You only invest what you can afford to lose." And in this case, the investment ain't cheap.
So basically, it's like gambling: you never know.
Will They Ever Replace Dollars?
Unlikely. Its price volatility is a killer without regulation, says Straus. "Until that goes away, it won't be that useful."
Because of that fluctuation, because it's not insured by the government, because it's so hard to understand, because people are already used to dollars that they can actually touch, most people think of it as an extra currency rather than their main form of currency.
Sure, it has a long way to go. But it's still "a really exciting sign of all the things to come" |
. And I think it builds a much stronger organization.
ADI IGNATIUS: Talk more about that phenomenon where people don’t know what to say, and say nothing, or say the wrong thing.
SHERYL SANDBERG: I think before I lost Dave, I might say I was sorry to a colleague once who got diagnosed with cancer or lost a spouse, but if I brought it up again I thought I was reminding them. Losing Dave made me realize how absurd that was. You could not remind me that I had just lost Dave. I remembered that. And so acknowledging it, even not just that week, but the month later, “Hey, I know this a brutal time for you and your kids, how are you?” Made such a big difference. Telling people you’re in it with them. You know, the people who said to me, “You’re going to get through this,” that’s very kind. But what is way kinder is, “We’re going to get through this.”
And I think the third thing is, the very specific acts of helping. I think what I used to do before, and a lot of people do, is the, “Can I do anything?” That’s a nice offer, but it actually puts the burden on the person you’re trying to help to think about what might help them, or ask for it, which is super hard. Because you feel so overwhelmed with sadness, how could anyone, you know, what do you ask for? How does it make it better?
Dan Levy works here [at Facebook] and his son was in the hospital, was very sick and then unfortunately died. And when he was in the hospital, he had a friend who texted him, “What do you not want on a burger?” Not, “Do you need anything?” But, “What do you not want on a burger?” Another friend showed up in the hospital lobby and said, “I’m in the lobby for a hug whether you come down or not.” The act of doing something specific is incredibly helpful, and certainly a lesson I learned that I needed to do much better.
ADAM GRANT: And Sheryl, to that point, I can’t help but think of the colleague and friend of ours who was diagnosed with cancer not long ago, and watching the way that you stepped up there I just thought was extraordinary. Where you know, she has this terrible diagnosis, it’s completely by surprise, and instead of doing the usual platitude of, “You’re going to be OK,” which you just can’t know, you said, “You know, we’re in this together, I’m here with you.” And then you showed up and checked in every single week.
SHERYL SANDBERG: Yeah, I think before this, when someone was going through something hard, I, with the best of intentions, as I’m sure other people had the best of intentions for me, would try to make them feel better by saying, “It’s going to be OK.” That is not acknowledging the situation they’re in now.
A colleague here was diagnosed with cancer after Dave died. What I said to her was not, “You’re going to be OK.” It was, “I don’t know if you’re going to be OK. And I know you don’t either. But I want you to know that you’re not going to go through this alone. I am here and I will go through it with you.” And then, rather than not saying it again, waiting for her to bring it up if she needed something, I would bring it up pretty continually and say, “I’m thinking of you, how’s it going today?”
ADI IGNATIUS: So one of the things you talk about is, so resilience, you know, probably literally means snapping back to where you were before. But you talk in the book about post-traumatic growth. That’s pretty interesting. Can you sort of talk a little bit about that?
ADAM GRANT: Yeah, I actually learned about this when I was an undergrad. The research was just starting to take off, and the psychologists Tedeschi and Calhoun, who you know, kind of put this on the map, were really surprised. They were working with parents who had lost a child, which I think is literally the worst thing that anybody could go through. And they found that these parents were, you know, consistently depressed, feeling despair, had ongoing anxiety, and really had a difficult time moving forward with their lives.
And yet, along with the sadness, a lot of the parents said, there are some positive changes in my life that came from this horrible, horrible experience which I would never wish on anyone, and I wish I could undo. But you know, that some things happened as a result of this tragedy that, you know, that did help me not just bounce back, but bounce forward. And you know, at first it was like, what, wait, I’m sorry, bounce forward? Like, you just went through something awful. It’s enough to bounce back, now I have to grow, too? But actually the, you know, the parents are very articulate in describing specific ways that they had gained since, you know, surviving something so unimaginable.
And they went on then, the whole community of researchers actually, to try to figure out, you know, what does it mean to grow from trauma? So a lot of people felt stronger. And they said, I got through this, I can get through anything. And now the things that used to stress me out don’t freak me out as much, right? Like, go ahead, move my cheese. It’s all right. There was appreciation. People found gratitude, knowing how much worse things could be. There were new and deeper relationships where people said, you know, I’ve been able to bond with people in life, having survived something together that I couldn’t have before. I’ve connected with new people because of this.
And then there was a sense of meaning and new possibilities, that people walked away with a renewed sense of purpose, that I have to make something of my life. And that I maybe now see opportunities or, you know, options that I hadn’t considered before. And I remember, Sheryl, we talked about this, it wasn’t until a few months in you had noticed that you’d grown in some of these ways without ever meaning to.
SHERYL SANDBERG: I would absolutely trade it all back to have Dave back. But when trauma happens, we can grow from it. I’m lucky that I have close friends and family, and even before this, but I’m way closer to my friends and family than I was, because I needed them so much. I needed help, I still need help getting through the holidays, getting through just the bad days, making sure my kids would be OK, I would be OK. Gratitude is probably, I think, the deepest lesson of this.
I remember early on Adam said to me, “Well you know, things could be a lot worse.” And I said to him, “Are you kidding? Dave just died suddenly, how could things be worse?” And Adam said, “Dave could have had that same cardiac arrhythmia driving your children.” The thought that I could have lost all three of them had never occurred to me. And immediately when you said that, I felt way better. Like, oh my God, my kids are healthy and happy and alive, I’m OK. And so it’s very counterintuitive to try to recover from tragedy by thinking about an even worse tragedy, but it’s a very powerful lesson because it gets us to gratitude for what is still good in our lives. I definitely think that I took just life for granted before.
ADI IGNATIUS: So how do we teach people to feel that all the time?
SHERYL SANDBERG: Pre-traumatic growth. We really care about this.
ADAM GRANT: This is one of the really fun things about working together, is like, so rarely do we get to juxtapose social science against people’s lived experiences. And Sheryl said, “Well, we have post-traumatic growth, why don’t we have pre-traumatic growth?” And I was like, “Pre-what?” I think this is such a great concept because it is really unfortunate that people have, you know, have to learn this stuff through events that we would never, ever want to have to face.
SHERYL SANDBERG: My friend Katie, after Dave died — and she was close to both of us — she started writing long letters to her friends when their birthdays happened telling them why she loved them and appreciated them. Really long, detailed letters. And some of her friends started copying that. So that is deepening your relationships, it’s finding meaning, and it’s really finding gratitude before the trauma. I would give anything to go back and be able to experience life with Dave, realizing how precious every minute was. Something I don’t think I fully appreciated before. I also think we build resilience and grow to prepare for whatever comes.
ADAM GRANT: And you know, I think part of what’s interesting is, after Sheryl coined this term of pre-traumatic growth, I started to see it all around. That we all know people who have been able to find that kind of appreciation without having to suffer tragedy. And I think if we look to those people in our lives, it’s a lot easier to find that growth.
ADI IGNATIUS: Is there a toolkit for resilience?
SHERYL SANDBERG: So I think there are things we can do, both as individuals and as organizations.
ADAM GRANT: Yeah, I think as individuals, one of the things that’s been powerful for us is thinking about learning from failure. That’s really the only way that we can build our resilience. I think, I had a chance to learn this when I was in grad school. I was terrified of public speaking, and I had to get ready to go and teach. And so, how am I going to learn, how am I going to get feedback? I started volunteering to give guest lectures for other people’s classes. And this was really uncomfortable, but I then said, all right, if I’m going to learn from this, I need to get feedback.
So I started giving out feedback forms. At the end of every guest lecture I gave, I had students write everything they would do differently, everything they disliked. And it was really unpleasant to read all the feedback. But I learned really quickly what my systematic mistakes were. And then I was able to set goals to try and improve upon that. And then I tried to bring that into my own classes when I taught and really seek that feedback regularly.
And I guess at some level it’s something I learned from early days in sports. I had a coach who would give me feedback on every single thing I did as a springboard diver. And you know, moving into the workplace it’s like, we all have a coach in sports and we expect somebody to be there critiquing us and helping us improve, and if we could bring that same kind of openness to our jobs, I think it’s a really critical starting point.
SHERYL SANDBERG: We’ve tried really hard to learn from failures, learn from mistakes, and build it into our culture. Every year our management team takes a trip to an organization we can learn from. We know we’re a young company and we have a lot to learn. And one year we took, Mark and I took everyone to Marine Corps training at Quantico. And we did these exercises, you know, things that seem easy but are hard in the moment, like turning on and off a faucet at a strict command. Hoisting large things over walls. And what we learned there is that, every exercise they do, whether it’s in the field for real or just an exercise, they do full debriefs of everything that went wrong.
And I think before this I always wanted, you know, people to take responsibility at work. If I did something wrong, I would own it, other people. But doing a full-on debrief step-by-step of what went wrong felt like piling on. And now I learned, we learned there, and I really learned that doing those debriefs and building it into the culture, it feels expected, and then you just become a more learning organization. And that’s been really, really important. I think it was in the research for the book I learned that that’s actually building organizational resilience, but something we’ve focused on for many years.
ADI IGNATIUS: You know, learning from failures. Everybody would say, yes. And yet probably people don’t do it very well, or a lot of companies still don’t do it very well. So I guess the first question is, what is it that we don’t understand about it, and why are we doing it wrong?
ADAM GRANT: The simple answer is ego. We all know that failure, if we treat it as a learning opportunity, it can make us better. I don’t know anyone who wants to fail in the moment. I don’t know anyone who deliberately sets out to say: “You know what? I’m going to screw up as badly as I can, just so I learn.”
And so when we fail, it tends to catch us off guard. We usually expected to succeed. And then we get into a mode of trying to defend both our egos as well as our images, right, to prove to ourselves and other people that we’re not stupid. And I think that stands in the way of improving and making progress. And it’s been really interesting to look at the evidence on what you do about that. I think the first thing that you do is, you create a culture where people talk openly about their failures and mistakes. And maybe even celebrate some of that, if you know, if people learn from them or if they were willing to own up to them quickly. That can be a behavior to reward.
SHERYL SANDBERG: I spend a lot of time at Facebook talking about hard conversations, telling each other the truth. You know, how do you sit down with someone and say, “Here’s how I can work with you better,” or better yet ask someone, “What can I do to make you better able to work with me?” And again, it’s one of those things everyone says they do, everyone says they want feedback, but it’s actually hard to take feedback well. One of the great ideas that Adam brought, I think, to the book was from the research on giving yourself feedback on how you take feedback.
ADAM GRANT: Yeah, meta-feedback. This is fun, right? So you just go in assuming that you’re not going to like being criticized. And you say, look, OK, I can’t undo the error I made, or the poor performance that, you know, is going to be on stage here. What I can do is, I can evaluate my reaction to that, and I can say look, even if I failed in this really important situation, I can try to not fail in how well I take the feedback. And so I actually teach this in the classroom. When I work with executives, I ask them to score not only their performance in a given episode but also score how well they took the feedback on their performance.
ADI IGNATIUS: So resilient companies, OK, they learn from failure. But there’s also sort of adaptability necessity. How do you instill that?
ADAM GRANT: I don’t think you can write a playbook for any of this stuff, right? I think that resilience is about the speed and strength of your response to adversity. And so the best thing you can do is build routines that might be applicable in an unexpected situation.
I found SpaceX really interesting on this. We sat down with Elon Musk and he said, you know, SpaceX failed over and over again, and they had, you know, a series of big problems. And one of the things he did was, he asked people for a list of the ten biggest launch risks. And it turned out one of the explosions was caused by number 11. So the lesson here is, always ask for top 11. But I think that’s an example of a routine, right, that you set in place. And high-reliability organizations know how to do this. They exhaustively make lists of things that could go wrong, they pre-check them, and then every time they have unexpected failures, they expand that list. And I think that those kinds of routines are really all we can do.
ADI IGNATIUS: One’s odds of surviving a catastrophe go up enormously with even sort of minimal preparation, that there is a sort of, you know, reading the card in the seat pocket of an airplane increases your chance should something happen.
SHERYL SANDBERG: I think being a learning organization in the first place makes a really big difference. So Mark very famously does these big challenges every year, big challenges. “I’m going to learn Chinese.” It’s kind of hard to announce you’re going to learn Chinese while being a CEO of a company, and then he’s actually done it publically. You know, he doesn’t speak Chinese perfectly, and he didn’t wait to speak Chinese perfectly to do it publically or say that. But he set a big, audacious goal, a goal that he could fail at.
He actually did quite well, I think to everyone’s shock and his own. But Mark says pretty often that there’s two ways companies fail. They can fail by not hitting their plan, or they can fail by hitting their plan but the plan wasn’t ambitious enough. And he never wants us to fail the second way. So it is the discipline of setting really ambitious goals, making it safe for people to debrief and own failure and get feedback, and then being willing to learn and correct and prepare.
ADAM GRANT: And just seeing that pervade the culture, too. The number of times I’ve heard you say, Sheryl, like, “If Mark can learn Chinese, I can definitely do this.” That really matters.
SHERYL SANDBERG: Yeah, people say that a lot. “This is really hard, but it’s not as hard as learning Chinese, and Mark just did that.”
ADI IGNATIUS: HBR has written a lot about resilience over the years, and trying to figure out what it means, and Daniel Goldman and others have, you know, some of the things they’ve talked about is, you know, needing to schedule or to take unscheduled breaks. To you know, this is partly to avoid sort of burnout but to be a resilient person you need to deprogram. You know, whether it’s breaking away from technology, or breaking away from routine, that that would be a way to sort of build, increase the odds of individuals in the company being resilient.
ADAM GRANT: I think there’s certainly a lot of evidence to speak to that. I think that we tend to define breaks too narrowly though. There’s some research I love by Kim Elsbach which actually shows that one of the best breaks you give people is mindless work. So if you think about being an overstretched, you know, knowledge worker, for example. Or you know, working in tech, right, where the world is just getting more dynamic at an accelerating pace, one of the things you can do is work on tasks that are rote and repetitive, which starts to free up your mind to think creatively, which gives you a chance to re-center.
And I think one of the mistakes that we make systematically is, as people advance, as they have more complicated skills, we try to take all of those repetitive tasks off their plate, when in fact the switching between really challenging creative problems and then being able to say, you know what, like, the rhythm of entering data in a spreadsheet for a few minutes, until we have AI that can do all that for us, is actually something that will help me recharge. And I think that that kind of structuring of a workday is something I’d love to see more companies working on.
ADI IGNATIUS: You know, a lot of the things we publish too have said humor is sort of the key to resilience. You know, how in the world do you access humor in these sort of darkest moments?
SHERYL SANDBERG: I think humor is huge. Nell Scovell, who wrote Lean In with me, was an editor on this book, was a TV comedy writer, and she had four siblings. And at her mother’s funeral, she stood up with an envelope and said, “I have in this envelope the name of mom’s favorite child.” You know, in those really, really, really dark moments, being able to laugh, even for a second, particularly about the event itself, is a huge stress release, and it goes against permanence. It makes you feel like: Oh my God, it’ll be OK.
I also think humor, if it’s done well, can be a great tool in organizations to make points. I remember Marne Levine, when she first started working at Facebook she was head of global public policy, and she was in a meeting with someone who kept asking her questions, kept asking her questions. And what she really needed was the person to go write the congressional letter we needed to send.
And so with a huge smile on her face she said, “Here’s the thing. I’m going to answer all your questions, but right now the only thing that’s going to keep me from having a heart attack on the floor is if you get up and go write that letter, and then come back and ask questions.” And she did it as a joke. You know, and had she done it without the humor, it wouldn’t have gone down as well. And I have seen people, both in personal context and in professional context, communicate something with humor that can be very, very effective.
ADI IGNATIUS: You guys talk in the book about how to help your kids be resilient, you know, helping them to understand their strengths and who they are and how they can share that, and other things. You know is that a model for helping your employees be resilient?
ADAM GRANT: Yeah, I think so, in some ways. Right? With the caveat that parenting is way harder than leadership, as anyone who’s been both a parent and a leader can attest, right Sheryl?
SHERYL SANDBERG: Oh my God, yeah.
ADAM GRANT: One of the drivers for resilience for kids is mattering. Sociologists define mattering as the belief that other people notice you, care about you, and rely on you. It’s the answer to the question, like, do I have significance in the world? Do I make a difference to others? And when kids answer that question no, the consequences can be pretty devastating. Right? Deviant behavior, antisocial behavior, aggression. And when that answer is a yes, you see a very different kind of child.
And I think this is something we can think about as every leader’s responsibility, right? To make every single one of my employees know that they matter. To show that, you know, that they’re noticed. That’s I think one of the reasons that management by walking around has been popular for as long as it’s been, to make every employee feel valued, right? So that they know they’re not just valued for their work, but they’re appreciated as human beings. And to also feel that they’re relied on, right?
I think a lot of times leaders are afraid to ask for help. And the reality is that people want to know that their contributions can have an impact. And sometimes one of the most powerful things a leader can do is say, “I don’t know the answer here,” or, “I’m kind of stuck on this.” And that level of vulnerability is a way to show people just how much they really do matter. And it’s something we could probably all apply a little more.
ADI IGNATIUS: When Lean In came out, and that was obviously a hugely successful book, you know, there were a small number of people who said, yeah, but you know, Sheryl’s life is just different from anybody else’s, and this doesn’t relate to me because I’m not her. You know, are you anticipating what the small number of critics are going to say about this new book?
SHERYL SANDBERG: I know how fortunate I am in many aspects, certainly not in Dave’s death, but in so many other aspects of my life. I have a great job, a great boss, resources very few people have. Option B draws on not just my story, but the research and stories of so many people overcoming all kinds of adversity.
I think there are things that we can all do to build resilience in ourselves, but also to build resilience in each other. That one of the main lessons of the book is that none of us go through this alone, and that we need to support other people through this. We need to build resilience in our companies, we need to have the right policies for our employees, we need to build resilience in our children. We need to help people of all circumstance overcome the things in their life.
It is definitely true that adversity and hardship are not evenly distributed. People who are underprivileged have more to grieve and have more to overcome. And that’s why I think as friends, as employers, in our public policies we need to do more. And that’s a really big lesson of Option B.
SARAH GREEN CARMICHAEL: Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. Adam Grant is a professor at The Wharton School. They’re the authors of the new book, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy. They were interviewed by Harvard Business Review editor-in-chief Adi Ignatius.
HBR is on Facebook. We’re on LinkedIn, and on Twitter at HarvardBiz. And there’s always more to read at HBR.org.
Thanks for listening to the HBR IdeaCast. I’m Sarah Green Carmichael.After major movie theaters refused to show The Interview in the wake of terrorist threats against the film after a hack on Sony Pictures, the studio pulled the movie from its Christmas Day release plan. In response, indie-theaters decided to show Team America: World Police, a movie that features former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il as a singing marionette, as a replacement for The Interview. Team America has called off all of those showings. Paramount Pictures, the studio behindhas called off all of those showings.
Why did Paramount ban the showings of Team America?
Several theaters across the country reported on Twitter that they had received top-down orders from Paramount not to show the movie in place of The Interview.
Breaking Plaza news : Team America World Police pulled from all theatres as per Paramount Pictures. — Plaza Atlanta (@PlazaAtlanta) December 18, 2014
Please note: Our Late Shift screening of Team America: World Police has been canceled by Paramount Pictures. pic.twitter.com/TlPVzIeICW — Capitol Theatre (@CapitolW65th) December 18, 2014
Paramount has not sent out an official statement explaining why it has decided to cancel these impromptu screenings of Team America: World Police.The medical industry is a field that sees continuous, ongoing innovation on both a large and small scale. For all the lifesaving and life-improving advances that we’ve seen in our lifetimes (and have read about from even earlier), the scope and velocity of the breakthroughs that continue to advance the industry assure us that the best is likely yet to come.
One large-scale advance that has driven countless smaller scale innovations is the rise to prominence of liquid silicone molding in medical devices and components. The inherent medically friendly qualities of liquid silicone rubber (LSR), combined with continued improvements in its structure and formulation (all of which we will discuss later in this post), have made silicone molding using this material one of the most advantageous ways to operate a business in the medical device field.
There are several different qualities and applications of liquid silicone rubber, and the silicone molding process itself, that make them ideal for use in the medical industry. The material and the process lend themselves to a number of different products, and as LSR has evolved over time, so has its impact on the medical industry — along with the industry itself. Let’s take a look at what’s played a part in these innovations.
The Versatility of Silicone Molding and LSR Across Different Medical Products
The No. 1 quality for any medical grade device or component is its ability to be sterilized. The human body, for all its strengths, can suffer a severe setback from exposure to any sort of contaminant, no matter how minor — especially when the body is already under stress or compromised, as during, for instance, a surgery. One contaminated part or component within a medical device or machine can be just as dangerous as an entire contaminated instrument.
Fortunately, liquid silicone rubber possesses several properties that make it more conducive to sterilization. For starters, LSR can stand up to higher temperatures than thermoplastics that may otherwise be used in medical devices, making it easier to sterilize. The higher elasticity of LSR means that it is better suited to completely filling every corner of a mold, lowering the chances of uneven surfaces or porosities that may be subject to hidden, difficult- or impossible-to-reach contaminants.
In silicone molding, it’s not just the material that needs to be sterile, either. The molds used to produce pieces need to be sterile as well. One downfall of LSR is that it can be difficult to clean the molds used — at least for production-grade molds. The increasing popularity of prototype-grade yet still high-quality molds means that it can be more cost effective to manufacture LSR medical components and devices using those molds designed for limited use in smaller runs, decreasing or eliminating the need to clean them for repeat use — and thus reducing the manufacturer’s liability.
As stated earlier, receptiveness to sterilization is important for each and every component of a medical device or instrument. The particular qualities of LSR make it well-suited to a number of such components, including:
● O-rings: important internal components of many medical devices, and can also serve as a necessary contaminant seal for any areas of an instrument that cannot be sterilized.
O-rings: important internal components of many medical devices, and can also serve as a necessary contaminant seal for any areas of an instrument that cannot be sterilized. ● Nutrition/fluid containers
Nutrition/fluid containers ● Tubing: from drug delivery tubes to stomach tubes, LSR is not only easily sterilized but also highly biocompatible, meaning that it will not negatively react with either internal or external parts of the human body.
Tubing: from drug delivery tubes to stomach tubes, LSR is not only easily sterilized but also highly biocompatible, meaning that it will not negatively react with either internal or external parts of the human body. ● Internal valves and stents
Internal valves and stents ● Catheters
One final point to note for medical components like tubing and catheters— LSR is nearly impervious to discoloration, flaking and other deformities. This quality can’t be underestimated when considering that a medical device that a patient will interact with directly should look safe and sterile, in addition to actually being safe and sterile.
How Have LSR and Silicone Molding Changed the Medical Industry?
Increased innovation in the medical device space often goes hand in hand with increased complexity of parts and components. Assembly, construction and even ideation of such intricate instruments can be prohibitive in many ways, if the difficulty curve is too steep. Silicone molding remedies that, however: the molds created for the injection process can be designed to yield an intricate design in just one piece — little to no assembly required.
Surprisingly, some perceived limitations of silicone injection molding can support the specifics of manufacturing complex medical devices and components. For instance, silicone molding requires much tighter tolerances than molds for thermoplastics — up to 10 times tighter. In other words, LSR will flash at a much smaller margin of error in a mold than a plastic will. However, in medical device manufacturing, precision and tight tolerances are critical — consider the tighter tolerance at which flashing will be produced as a natural failsafe against manufacturing imprecise, often unusable products.
In allowing for greater complexity while requiring greater precision, LSR and silicone molding have played a significant, if indirect, role in driving innovation and change in the medical industry. Other, smaller ways in which the material and the process have affected field are its use in often-overlooked but still critical parts of just about any instrument or device found in an examination room or operating theater.
The handles of surgical tools, for example, are often overmolded with LSR, providing extra grip to support a surgeon’s steady hands. Insulation, from heat to electrical to liquid, is also typically provided by precision silicone components — allowing for more reliable operation of critical, lifesaving instruments. Just about anywhere you look, especially where protecting an instrument, its operator or a patient is critical, you’ll find LSR.
How Has LSR Changed Since its Introduction?
In addition to the more complex constructions allowed by silicone molding, new, more complex formulations of LSR have also played a role in medical innovation. The base LSR synthetic is highly resistant to reacting with skin, membranes and other parts of the human body — internal or external. Over the years, however, biochemists have fine-tuned LSR formulations to allow for even more interaction with the body, to the point where some formulations can be used for devices implanted in the body indefinitely.
Varying LSR durometers, or material hardnesses, have also opened possibilities. More pliable, and thus softer durometers can provide unparalleled grip, as in the aforementioned instrument handles. Increased traction for larger, freestanding devices can also be achieved by creating, for instance, surfaces lined with a soft-durometer LSR. Harder durometers can be used when it’s important to be more impervious to contaminant particles, and easier to clean.
The possibilities of LSR to support innovation in the medical field are broad and far reaching — and still growing and changing, with opportunities to make an impact readily available.I recently signed a letter protesting the Toronto International Film Festival's decision to showcase and celebrate Tel Aviv. This in the very year when Gaza happened. The decision made the festival a participant in the newly launched campaign to "rebrand" Israel. Arye Mekel, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Director General for Cultural Affairs, has said that artists and writers must be enlisted in order to "show Israel's prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war." The protesters felt it was wrong for the much-respected festival to be used in this manner. The role of art, after all, is not to prettify but to expose reality with all its contradictions and complexities.
I signed the letter without reading it carefully enough, without asking myself if some of the wording wouldn't exacerbate the situation rather than bring about constructive dialogue.
Last week, Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz, director of the Chai Center in Los Angeles, explained to me the meaning of the Hebrew word "teshuva"-- to fix things you have done incorrectly, not just by never doing them again but by "coming with a sincere heart. Words that come from the heart enter the heart."
Some of the words in the protest letter did not come from my heart, words that are unnecessarily inflammatory: The simplistic depiction of Tel Aviv as a city "built on destroyed Palestinian villages," for instance, and the omission of any mention of Hamas's 8-month-long rocket and mortar attacks on the town of Sderot and the western Negev to which Israel was responding when it launched its war on Gaza. Many citizens now suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result. In the hyper-sensitized reality of the region in which any criticism of Israel is swiftly and often unfairly branded as anti-Semitic, it can become counterproductive to inflame rather than explain and this means to hear the narratives of both sides, to articulate the suffering on both sides, not just the Palestinians. By neglecting to do this the letter allowed good people to close their ears and their hearts.
Additionally, protesting the use of the festival to "rebrand" Israel was perhaps too easily misunderstood. It certainly has been wildly distorted. Contrary to the lies that have been circulated, the protest letter was not demonizing Israeli films and filmmakers. On one of the many trips I have made to Israel, I spoke at Tel Aviv University's film department and am well aware, as I'm sure the other signatories are, that Israeli films are not a mouthpiece for their government's policies. Nor was the letter an attack on the legitimacy of Tel Aviv as an Israeli city, or a call to boycott the Toronto Film Festival. In fact, many signatories are attending the festival and have films showing there.
As I said in my recent blog, the greatest "re-branding" of Israel would be to celebrate that country's long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements. That's the way to show Israel's commitment to peace, not a PR campaign. There will be no two-state solution unless this happens.
The Israeli-Palestinian story cannot be reduced to a simplistic aggressor-victim relationship. In order to fully understand this, one must be willing to come together with an open heart and really hear the narratives of both sides. One narrative sees 1948 as the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land. Another sees it as the birth of a nation. Conceivably it was both. Neither narrative can be erased, both must be heard.Lewis's Iron Boat (You are here)
From March 19 to April 14, 1803 Lewis instructed the arsenal workmen at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia how to fashion his "dismantlable" iron frame. It was a unique concept, entirely Lewis's, and his pet project.
During the first year of their trek across the continent (1804-05), Lewis and Clark carried the dismantled frame of a collapsible boat. Designed by Meriwether Lewis, the frame could be bolted together and covered with animal skins. The boat would be used in inaccessible areas, when the heavier wooden boats were left behind. Unfortunately, tar was required to make the invention waterproof, and by the time the expedition needed the boat, in the vicinity of Great Falls, Montana, there were no pine trees to provide it. Attempts to contrive a substitute were unsuccessful; the boat leaked and could not be used, and dugout canoes were made instead.
The collapsible boat was left behind in the mountains (Cache location ). There is some debate over whether it was recovered and hauled back to St. Louis or left in a cache in the Great Falls area.Hard to Handle
By Chris DiBiase
From humble beginnings to the big stage: Echo Fox’s own Tony “Hard” Barkhovtsev is no stranger to the struggle of an aspiring pro. It took some time for him to get the |
, Bluetooth, and a 4.3-inch LCD screen. Stepping up from the base Forester to the 2.5i Premium costs an additional $3000 (to $25,820) and includes an upgrade from 17-inch steel wheels to 17-inch alloys, a 10-way power driver's seat, privacy glass, a reclining rear seatback, plus a six-speaker sound system with HD Radio and Bluetooth audio streaming. The 2014 Forester 2.5i Premium with a six-speed manual has standard heated front seats, heated side mirrors, and a windshield wiper de-icer, while the same model with a CVT throws in as standard a panoramic moonroof and offers the above equipment in a package. Add an additional $3000 for the 2014 Forester 2.5i Limited (to $28,820), which includes perforated leather seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, fog lights, a power rear liftgate, Hill Descent Control and an X-Mode that's said to provide increased wheel control on slippery surfaces and steep inclines.
The highest-trim 2014 Forester with the 170-hp, 174-lb-ft 2.4-liter flat-four, the 2.5i Touring, will sticker for $30,820 and offer as standard a navigation system with a 6.1-inch touch screen (available on the Premium and Limited models), one-touch folding rear seatback, and a 440-watt eight-speaker sound system. The 2014 Forester 2.5i Touring model also offers the automaker's EyeSight safety package that includes lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and collision mitigation systems with hands-free keyless access and HID headlights. For model-year 2014, models equipped with the turbocharged 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder are boosted to 250 hp of torque, up 26 hp from last year. The least expensive turbocharged Forester, the 2.0XT Premium, starts at $28,820 and adds 18-inch alloy wheels and Subaru's SI-Drive selectable performance programming. The $33,820 2014 Forester 2.5XT Touring includes the same standard equipment found on the 2.5i Touring model.
All Foresters receive standard all-wheel drive, and benefit from a lengthened wheelbase and overall dimensions. One of the resulting benefits includes increased rear passenger space, which grows significantly. Buyers can choose between a six-speed manual and CVT transmission on 2.5i base and Premium models, though the turbo is offered exclusively with the CVT. On the 2014 Forester, Subaru will offer the Starlink infotainment system that enables access to smartphone apps via Bluetooth as well as Aha internet radio.
Source: SubaruThis article is over 2 years old
Federal prosecutor may file a lawsuit after a grand jury found two former bishops helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children over 40 years
A federal prosecutor may file a racketeering lawsuit against a Roman Catholic diocese where a state grand jury found two former bishops helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 clergy over a 40-year period.
The ongoing investigation of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese in Pennsylvania grew out of the prosecution of the Reverend Joseph Maurizio Jr, 71, US attorney David Hickton said on Friday.
The Somerset county priest was convicted last year of molesting two street children during missionary trips to Honduras. He was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison, fined $50,000 and forced to pay his victims $10,000 each.
Hickton said the investigation concerns whether diocesan officials engaged in a pattern of criminal activity that would fall under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as Rico.
The statute of limitations has lapsed on criminal racketeering charges, but there is no time limit for filing a Rico lawsuit, Hickton said. KDKA-TV first reported that Hickton was considering such a lawsuit. A diocesan spokesman didn’t immediately comment.
“The remedy that would be available under a civil Rico would be some sort of injunctive relief,” Hickton said. “If we were able to get a consent decree, that would be one route.”
Injunctive relief is simply a court order requiring the diocese to do something. A consent decree is a voluntary agreement between prosecutors and a target that certain reforms would be enacted.
Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston attorney who represented dozens of those victims and was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, said he favored the Rico lawsuit even though many victims “would find incarceration for the supervisors more suitable”.
“I think the tactic is an approach that must be taken given the depth and scope of the supervisors enabling sexual abuse,” Garabedian said.
If a consent decree is reached, he said, “many victims would like to see a complete admission of guilt, and perhaps an independent supervisor appointed to review the activities of the diocese”.
Hickton’s comments came on the heels of a grand jury report released last month by state attorney general Kathleen Kane.
That grand jury was especially critical of bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec. Hogan, who headed the diocese from 1966 to 1986, died in 2005. Adamec, who succeeded him, retired in 2011.
The grand jury found Hogan, in particular, held sway over police and prosecutors in the diocese and often reassigned priests accused of molesting children instead of removing them from duty. Adamec threatened accusers with excommunication and generally worked harder to hide or settle abuse allegations than to discipline the priests accused, the grand jury found.
An attorney for Adamec denied wrongdoing and said 14 priests accused of molestation on Adamec’s watch were given psychiatric screenings. Nine were suspended or removed and the five who were returned to ministry didn’t reoffend, Adamec’s attorney said.
Hickton would not say what he believes church officials may have done wrong.
A former federal prosecutor, who now teaches law at St Vincent College near Latrobe, said it might not matter.
Professor Bruce Antkowiak said the Rico Act is used to target individuals who “operated or managed an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity”. To prove that, a prosecutor must show the target committed specific crimes listed in the act – including murder, extortion and robbery.
Mail fraud – essentially using the mail in any step of a fraud – or extortion are other Rico crimes that could conceivably relate.
“Some of the federal crimes listed are amazing for their elasticity and the kinds of things that prosecutors can allege come under their umbrella,” Antkowiak said.
According to the grand jury report, a whistleblower accused Maurizio in 2009 of abusing the boys, and the diocese conducted its own investigation, including hiring a translator to review the victim’s claims.
Diocesan records “show a high-ranking Diocesan official concluding the alleged conduct was ‘impossible’”, the report said.
Kane’s report grew out of allegations that a Franciscan friar, who has since killed himself, molested dozens of students at a school in the diocese from 1992 to 2000.Marketing shock tactics are nothing new, but the product itself is becoming the source of outrage, rather than the techniques used to promote it
Don’t have time to pick up your dog’s excrement but do have time to snap a photo and log its location in a smartphone app so that some poor soul can schlep across town to do it for you? Then Pooper is for you.
Yes, there really is an app for crap. Or at least a snazzy promotional website with a stinky strapline: “Your dog’s poop in someone else’s hands.”
As you might expect, this shitty extension of the on-demand economy has been met with equal measures of shock, anger and disbelief. Whichever camp you’re in, one thing is clear: Pooper has attracted a lot of (mostly negative) attention. And that’s exactly what its founders wanted. Page views ‒ even if they are hate reads ‒ count as “traction” for an idea, which captures investors’ and recruiters’ attention.
Welcome to the world of troll products.
Shock tactics within marketing are nothing new (anyone remember the Ford Ka ad where the car’s sunroof decapitated a cat?), but increasingly it is the product itself that’s becoming the source of outrage, rather than the techniques used to promote it.
Online dating is an area rife with troll products, with sites designed only for the beautiful, the rich and the racist. Dating services are fundamentally undifferentiated, so finding a unique selling point is critical if a new entrant to market is going to gain any kind of userbase. In today’s era of outrage clickbait, a purposefully provocative pitch will cut through the noise and may buy a startup enough time and attention to attract funding.
One of the masters in the dark art of troll products is Brandon Wade. The strapline on his own website is (deep breaths): “Love is a concept invented by poor people.”
It won’t come as a huge surprise then that he’s the man behind a number of sugar daddy dating sites including SeekingArrangement, WhatsYourPrice and MissTravel, where women offer their, er, “companionship” in return for goods and services.
The jewel in his provocateur’s crown was Carrot Dating, an app that allowed members to send “bribes” to capture a potential suitor’s attention. Everything about the product was designed to enrage, from the pictures of Wade dangling actual carrots in front of scantily-clad models to the comments Wade made about women loving presents “like dogs love treats”. It was a great big stick sharpened and placed in the way of a bear. CNN called it crass, Business Insider called it sexist and Mail Online said it was prostitution. Within three weeks the app had more than 90,000 downloads.
Wade seemed to have developed a new success metric: Return On Infuriation.
Some gaming apps have adopted a similar approach, eschewing original gameplay mechanics in favour of controversial content. Rack Stare, the game that rewards players for staring at women’s breasts without getting caught, is a the real life embodiment of a “joke” app idea presented on stage to widespread backlash at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2013. It launched in 2011, inexplicably bypassed Apple’s App Store moderators, and became the most downloaded entertainment app in the US.
Meanwhile, the game Boyfriend Trainer used domestic violence as a central motif. The female protagonist would slap, strangle and electrocute her partner in order to get him to behave properly. Predictably, outrage and notoriety ensued.
Troll products become particularly pernicious when news organisations can directly benefit from whipping up the fury. It’s little known among readers that media companies can directly benefit from commissions by linking to products on Amazon through a process called affiliate marketing. This can encourage a more pearl-clutching approach to press coverage, encouraging readers to take-a-look-at-this-terrible-thing-you-would-have-never-otherwise-have-come-across.
Case in point: this sexy PhD costume, created by Rubie’s Costumes in New York. Yes it was tacky, but no more tacky than a sexy nurse or Ghostbuster (yes, really).
Careful inspection of stories written about the costume reveals the tell-tale affiliate links, unique URLs that allow Amazon to apportion commissions to the websites that send it business. It doesn’t matter that a reader doesn’t buy the offending item - the publisher of the story will get a cut if they buy anything from the site.
Sensible advice would be for us ‒ the media and members of the public ‒ to avoid feeding these troll products with our breathless indignation. Ignore them and they’ll suffocate through lack of attention. But that’s not going to happen because we’re all too livid. I’m off to set up a Change.org petition against the internet.
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“Captain America: Civil War” has also moved the 13-title Marvel Cinematic Universe past $10 billion worldwide, taken in over the past nine years.
“Civil War,” which began its international run on April 27, topped the $940 million mark in worldwide box office on Sunday. By the end of this week, it should become the 25th title to exceed $1 billion, and the seventh superhero title after “The Avengers” ($1.52 billion), “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($1.41 billion), “Iron Man 3” ($1.22 billion), “The Dark Knight Rises” ($1.09 billion) and “The Dark Knight” ($1.04 billion).
The ten-day domestic total of $296 million for “Captain America: Civil War” has already gone far past the final cumes of the previous two titles in the franchise — 2011’s “Captain America” at $177 million and 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” at $260 million.
With Chris Evans returning in the title role in a face-off with Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, the franchise is showing plenty of traction outside the U.S. Its international total has hit $645 million, making “Civil War” the fourth-highest -grossing superhero movie of all time behind “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($946 million), “The Avengers” ($895 million) and “Iron Man 3” ($806 million).
China is the top international market by far with $155.8 million in ten days, making it the third-highest-grossing Disney release there behind “Zootopia” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” South Korea is second with $60.1 million, followed by the U.K. at $46.7 million, Mexico at $39.2 million and Brazil at $32.9 million.The Mercedes and Red Bull bosses are both set to join Pirelli's Paul Hembery for a meeting with the FIA's Charlie Whiting in Suzuka today to discuss the testing venue.
The teams have split into two camps, with Mercedes leading the Bahrain side, and Red Bull the most vocal of those preferring to stay in Europe.
A third option, with parallel tests allowing teams choosing which one to support, has also become a real possibility.
As reported yesterday, testing outside Europe can only happen if the FIA and a majority of teams agree. To that end Niki Lauda composed a letter to the FIA, requesting permission for it to go ahead.
Lauda then personally canvassed teams, Ferrari, McLaren, Force India, Renault, Haas and Manor all signing along with Mercedes. A couple of those teams later told the FIA that they didn't necessarily want to go to Bahrain, but didn't mind if others did. Those who have not signed are Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Williams, and Sauber.
The majority of seven opens up the possibility of a test being held outside Europe, but there is a separate question over whether tests can be held in different venues.
Although it has always been understood that the teams must test together, the wording in the Sporting Regulations is ambiguous, and refers only to 'team tests'. Those now pushing for Bahrain, including Ferrari, have tried to demonstrate to the FIA that the rules don't specify a single venue.
Meanwhile, Horner is convinced that Mercedes has an ulterior motive in pushing for Bahrain, in that it wants to test its 2017 car and its cooling systems in hot conditions.
Pirelli asked Lauda
However, Lauda insists that in circulating the letter he was acting as a neutral party to help out Pirelli, and he is not working in a Mercedes capacity. The Austrian says he was personally asked to sort out the situation by Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera.
Lauda told Motorsport.com: "Pirelli simply asked me, 'please you seem to be the only neutral, sensible guy here, we need a test in normal weather conditions. Which is only Bahrain.
"Why do we need it? Two weeks before the race it's the last test of tyres they are going to develop and guess out of the Abu Dhabi [mule car] tests in November, where afterwards completely different cars come, with 30 per cent more downforce.
"If you cannot test in Bahrain, two weeks before the first race we will not know what will happen. If we don't do this test properly, with a plus 10 degree celsius circuit temperature or whatever difference on Barcelona, then we have a problem in the first four races. This we don't want.
"Now, we have all this opposition from Red Bull and Mr Horner, which I do not understand any more. He says, 'I cannot test in Bahrain because the development of my new car goes to the last minute. If I go to Bahrain, I lose seven hours. That's the difference between flying a car to Barcelona, and seven hours more you have to fly to Bahrain. This is my serious reason.'
"Six signatures we need, I got seven. All I did was run up and down and ask, 'where do you want to test?' The best situation now, with all this political mess and everybody's ego running in all kinds of directions, is we have the possibility to have two tests. What the hell is going on here? You have Barcelona, at the same time Bahrain. Who wants to go to Barcelona, go to Barcelona, but why do the Barcelona testers hinder the Bahrain testers? I don't understand this."
Lauda is adamant that Mercedes is not pushing for Bahrain specifically because it has gone to the limits on cooling, and wants to test in hot conditions, as Horner suspects.
"We have a car which won the last two and half World Championships in a row, without temperature problems, so Mr Horner can be sure we know how much cooling we need wherever we go.
"So this is all bullshit. He wants to go Barcelona because it's easier for everybody and cheaper and better, why the hell go to Bahrain? We have to ask Pirelli, they are the only ones who need the test. We are testing for Pirelli a completely new tyre. Apart from that, we have completely new cars."
Red Bull not shown letter
Horner, meanwhile, claims that Lauda never even approached Red Bull with the letter, presumably because the Austrian already had the majority he required, and knew he would get a negative response.
Horner also expressed doubts that Lauda is acting in a neutral capacity just to help Pirelli – and suggested that pressure had been exerted to get some smaller teams to sign up.
"Niki has done a great job running around," Horner told Motorsport.com. "Unfortunately he forgot to show us the letter, which must be an oversight on Niki's part. I'm sure it was purely an oversight. I don't know whether Niki's got a holiday home in Bahrain or not, but he seems desperately keen to spend a couple of weeks out there!
"How often has Niki Lauda been neutral, as the executive chairman of Mercedes GP and particularly their engine department? As in 2014, they were always particularly keen to trial their cooling package. This is very little to do with tyres.
"We've got seven teams on the grid that are close to insolvency. Is it right to burden teams with those costs? And why have they signed? Privately, none of them want to go. But of course they have contractual agreements and commercial pressures upon them that are no doubt being used to persuade them otherwise."
Horner remains adamant that testing in Barcelona will be much more efficient than going to Bahrain.
"I think for me, we've got eight days of pre-season testing, it's a totally new concept of car, it's inevitable that things go wrong with a new car, when as far as I know all 11 teams are European-based, the costs and expense of being in Bahrain is anywhere between 500,000 and a million Euros of additional cost.
"If you have an issue at least if it's at Barcelona you can have a part on an Easyjet flight or even in the back of a van and 12 hours later it will be at the circuit. The logistical challenge of doing that in Bahrain the first time you are running the cars, for me it seems far too excessive.
"The difference in temperature with Barcelona is only on average seven degrees celsius at that time of year, and at Barcelona you have corners like Turn 3 and Turn 9 that will be flat and will put an enormous amount of stress into the tyre and give them a very good work out. I think the benefit of Bahrain is blown out of all proportion.
"For me this is a decision that should be made in the Strategy Group. We decided over a month ago that there were going to be two tests in Barcelona, everybody was happy with that, then subsequently there's been a big drive to test in Bahrain. Maybe a middle ground is one test in Barcelona, then one in Bahrain. But again the costs associated with that are horrendous."
Horner insisted that he had not told Lauda that RBR would lose seven hours of development time: "That's ridiculous. For a team like us, either test isn't a major problem. But at the end of the day I'm the guy signing off the expenditure, and I find it irresponsible to be wasting a huge amount of additional money for what could be done in Europe. It would seem to me illogical."
One major hurdle when it comes to split tests is that the FIA always attends the first tests because it has to trial its latest systems and ensure that they 'talk' to the new cars, while the official flat patch is available in the FIA garage for teams to check out their cars on the equipment that is used on race weekends.
The FIA cannot be in two places at once, so that automatically becomes a big compromise, as it cannot afford to wait until Melbourne to check that its systems work – although Lauda has suggested that the FIA simply spends one test at Barcelona, and the second in Bahrain.The vast majority of members – especially females – oppose the priesthood ordination of women. Which means that if the church were a democracy women would not be ordained. But the church is not a democracy such that orders come from the top-down rather than from the bottom-up, and the top says “no” to the priesthood ordination of women as well. In spite of this, the Ordain Women movement presses forward, urging the church to give women the priesthood without any regard for what the rest of the church wants or thinks. This state of affairs cries out for explanation: How can a movement which is so strongly committed to emancipation and social justice (and I see no reason to doubt their sincerity) try to force people to be free?
The explanation lies in the concept of false consciousness. Because of the environment in which LDS women have been inculcated, they have been conditioned to support beliefs which have other people’s interests in mind rather than their own. In other words, what the vast majority of faithful LDS women honestly and sincerely believe to be in their interest is not really what’s in their interest at all because they have been duped, as it were, by various doctrines about a woman’s place in Mormon culture. Once one has been “properly” educated, however, they can then see these doctrinal opiates for what they really are: distractions from the ubiquitous and systematic alienation of women within Mormon culture. As a side note, this almost (but not quite?) amounts to an ad hominem argument wherein the opinions of faithful LDS women are discredited simply because they are offered by faithful LDS women.
False consciousness, however, is a rather dangerous weapon to play with, for it can quite easily be turned against the very person who attempted to wield it. Once this is admitted, the question then becomes, “What sorts of false consciousness can be attributed to the Ordain Women movement?” What forms of systematic alienation might we find when we look at them through the lenses of social critique which they are so eager to apply to LDS women?
In order to do this we must first move beyond what the movement says about itself. The Ordain Women movement is no longer allowed the final word regarding their own interests and motives in the same way that the movement does not allow the faithful members of the church to have the last word regarding their own interests and motives. Accordingly, just as the Ordain Women movement focuses on who is “pulling the strings” of the faithful LDS females, manipulating them into believing and acting in the former’s interest, so too must we focus on who is “pulling the strings” of the activists within the Ordain Women movement, manipulating them into believing and acting in the former’s interest. In other words, we must look at the texts and authorities that are cited, who controls the media channels that are frequented and ascertain the origins of the paradigmatic arguments, slogans and values which are brandished within the movement. This is exactly what the Ordain Women movement does when it critiques the social environment within the church.
The first thing to note about the Ordain Women movement is that the most significant influences and inspirations for it are not of LDS origin. None of the texts and authorities that are cited, the media channels that are frequented or the paradigmatic arguments and slogans, in short, none of the core ideas are of LDS origin. To be sure, these ideas and values are all given an overtly LDS packaging, but this is not the same as having an LDS core at the center. What is more, many of the more public and influential figures in the movement that are of LDS heritage can hardly be considered orthodox or mainstream within Mormon culture, many having been very public about their run-ins with church discipline or other ways in which they simply “don’t fit it”. It is not that such people do not identify themselves with Mormon culture at all, but that they proudly identify with other ideologies which often conflict with or constrain their otherwise mainstream LDS faith. In the same way that general conference talks directed at LDS women from female speakers are supposed to mask the masculine core of the church, so too the LDS women who speak for the Ordain Women movement mask the non-LDS core of that movement.
It is important to note that while we are indeed very close to mounting an ad hominem attack here, this is exactly what the use of false consciousness entails. At this point we are only identifying the secular influences and values which are at the core of the Ordain Women movement so as to reveal whose interests the movement truly serves. This is the exact reason why the movement is at pains to identify the masculine influences within Mormonism so as to highlight whose interests are truly being served within the church. They insist that if we are to expose the false consciousness within any group we must first identify the source of the group’s values, i.e. the ruling class within that group. We must also keep in mind that this ruling class will likely disguise and repress by any means necessary the fact that it is they and not the group at large which are being served by the group’s values. There is no reason to think that we can analyze the LDS church in this way, but not the Ordain Women movement.
Continuing on, not only are the core influences and inspirations within the Ordain Women movement of non-LDS origin – a fact which the movement disguises and represses through the use of an overtly LDS packaging – but the ruling class within the movement – its core influences and inspirations – are not straightforwardly female either – a fact which the movement actively emphasizes. Do not be fooled: just because the movement is overtly about women does not mean that it necessarily embodies female values, is of female origins or that the interests of females are its primary objective. Similarly, just because the movement is overtly about LDS members does not necessarily mean that it embodies LDS values, is of LDS origins or that the interests of LDS members are its primary objective. Again, this is the exact argument by which the Ordain Women movement is able to discount the opinions and values of the general church membership. If we follow the Ordain Women movement in believing that a group’s core values are usually not those which favor its majority membership, but are instead those which favor its ruling class, then we are forced to admit that the core values of the Ordain Women movement are not those of mainstream LDS women.
If neither mainstream Mormon culture nor femininity are what characterize the core values of the Ordain Movement, then what does? While the influences of male and non-LDS thinkers are far too prevalent within the movement’s core to characterize it as essentially female or LDS, there is another (hidden) thread which does serve to unify the movement’s core: Intellectualism. The texts and authorities which are cited, the media channels that are frequented and the paradigmatic arguments and slogans which are offered within the Ordain Women movement are (beneath the LDS packaging) at their origin and core moderately radicalized and unambiguously intellectual in nature. A quick glance at the profiles on the movement’s website will find ubiquitous references to advanced degrees, academic and authorial professions, bookwormishness and other deep-rooted habits revolving around the production and consumption of the written word. Their resources tab similarly links to symposia, books and articles, blogs and podcasts – the bread and butter of intellectuals. At the core of the Ordain Women movement, then, is a set of values which is neither female nor Mormon in character, but instead belongs to the intellectual culture of critical discourse (CCD).
Let’s pause to clear up what I mean by “intellectual”. Following Alvin Gouldner, the intellectual culture of critical discourse, which I contend is at the heart of social movements such as Ordain Women,
“insists that any assertion – about anything, by anyone – is open to criticism and that, if challenged, no assertion can be defended by invoking someone’s authority. It forbids a reference to a speaker’s position in society (or reliance upon his personal character) in order to justify or refute his claims… Under the scrutiny of the culture of critical discourse, all claims to truth are in principle now equal, and traditional authorities are now stripped of their special right to define social reality… The CCD … demands the right to sit in judgment over all claims, regardless of who makes them… “CCD requires that all speakers must be treated as sociologically equal in evaluating their speech. Considerations of race, class, sex, creed, wealth, or power in society may not be taken into account in judging a speaker’s contentions and a special effort is made to guard against their intrusion on critical judgment. The CCD, then, suspects that all traditional social differentiations may be subversive of reason and critical judgment and thus facilitate a critical examination of establishment claims. It distances intellectuals from them and prevents elite views from becoming an unchallenged, conventional wisdom.” (Against Fragmentation: The Origins of Marxism and the Sociology of Intellectuals, 30-31)
The intellectuals have always been the driving force behind movements which oppose social differentiations (race, class, sex, creed, wealth, power, etc.) which they see as being not only non-rational, but actively counter to the rationality which defines and empowers the intellectual. But do not be fooled into thinking that these intellectuals are for equality across the board, for nothing could be further from the truth. While intellectuals are unambiguously against those social differentiations which structure other cultures, they not only tolerate, but actively reinforce a hierarchy within their own movements which are stratified along intellectual lines. Public influence, authorial citations, the skills of eloquent rhetoric, public debate and bureaucratic management all serve to differentiate and stratify movements such as Ordain Women. Indeed, it is precisely the fact that women within the church which have these intellectual qualifications are denied access to priesthood authority that most scandalizes the core of the Ordain Women movement. To be clear, intellectuals do not spawn social movements in order to do away with social stratification altogether, but to reorganize social stratifications in a way which is more conducive to their own influence, leadership, recognition and interests. Consequently, the intellectual leadership has a great interest in producing a false consciousness within the social movements which they inspire so as to mask the way it is the interests of the former which are truly being served by the latter.
The notion of false consciousness, then, entails that these social movements which originate and rally around intellectualism are aimed not so much at freeing various groups of people from bondage to oppressors of a different race, class, sex, etc., as much as they are aimed at empowering intellectual in the place of those oppressing classes. This is not to say that the leadership of these intellectual elites is never better, in some sense, than that of the delegitimized oppressors. Rather, this only implies that the alienation which comes from a false consciousness has merely been transformed rather than overthrown, substituted rather than abolished. The exact same holds true for the Ordain Women movement, for beneath the Mormon lingo with which the movement is garnished, the values and interests at its intellectual core are just as conducive toward an alienating false consciousness as an all-male leadership is. More concretely, just as the Ordain Women movement construes the general church membership as being under a false consciousness produced by an all-male leadership, so too we can construe the general membership of the Ordain Women movement as being under a false consciousness produced by an intellectual leadership.
It can certainly be said of LDS females what Marx said of the proletariat: that even if intellectuals are in some sense the head of the movement, they – the general membership – are it’s true heart. Even so, if LDS women are indeed the heart which an intellectual head inspires and influences, the hierarchical difference between the head and the heart should not go unnoticed. Social critique is based in the idea that it is the leadership, the intellectual head of the movement that defines what is and is not fair, good or just, and it is the general membership, the movement’s heart which puts these ideas into practice by undermining and subverting any person, policy, institution or any other authority which the intellectuals re-construe as a constrictive shackle rather than a supportive structure. Strangely enough, both of these metaphors are equally appropriate but from different perspectives. On the one hand, the priesthood leadership has served as a supportive structure for LDS members, while on the other hand, this same priesthood has been a constructive shackle which chaffs at the intellectuals. In this zero-sum battle of metaphors, one serves to legitimize priesthood leadership at the expense of the intellectuals while the other does the exact opposite.
Let me rephrase the point I am making here by drawing yet another parallel between what the Ordain Women movement claims about LDS members and what I am claiming about the members of that movement. Ordain Women acknowledges that the majority of LDS women honestly and sincerely believe that their not having the priesthood is in their own and indeed everybody’s interest. After acknowledging this, the movement then goes on to say that despite the honesty and sincerity of these women, they are wrong – not having access to the priesthood only furthers the interests of the all-male church leaders whose position and influence in the church are threatened by a female priesthood. The claim I am making about activists within the Ordain Woman movement is exactly the same. They honestly and sincerely believe that the success of their movement is somehow in their own and indeed everybody’s interest. After acknowledging this, a consistent social critic must then go on to say that despite the honesty and sincerity of these activists, they are wrong – their movement only furthers the interests of non-LDS intellectuals whose position and influence in the world are threatened by any and all such traditional social differentiations.
There is a strong motive, then, within the Ordain Women movement to actively disguise and repress the role that intellectuals play within it. For starters, and most obviously, there is a moderately strong aversion to intellectualism within the church, backed by numerous warnings against trusting in the reasoning of man. The reason for this have already been discussed in this post. Another more subtle reason is that the image of freeing LDS women from male hegemony serves to deemphasize the true shift in power which is really taking place according to the doctrine of false consciousness. By offering themselves and their authority as a competitive alternative to the priesthood or, worse still, the standard against which the priesthood is to be measured, the intellectuals do not empower women with the priesthood so much as they empower themselves by delegitimizing the priesthood altogether. In other words, by focusing on who should be able to eat from the priesthood pie, intellectuals distract us from their gradual dismantling of that pie.
By now I hope it is clear who is and is not the villain in my story. I have no problem with women being ordained (I have made exactly zero arguments against such a thing) and I see LDS activists who rally for female ordination no differently than they see LDS women who actively resist it: as unsuspecting and largely innocent pawns in a larger power struggle. The belligerents in this battle are, as usual, the tradition of prophecy/priesthood and the intellectual culture of critical discourse. The alternatives before us, then, are not gender equality vs. chauvinism in the priesthood, for this is a false consciousness forced upon us to disguise the true power struggle between intellectuals and priesthood leaders.
If, however, you sincerely and prayerfully insist that women ought to be ordained (and I am in no place to question your personal revelation on the subject), there have been and still are ways of pursuing this goal which do not undermine the very authority which you seek to give women. The daughters of Zelophehad, for example, went through the proper channels of priesthood authority in order to seek what they thought was right. Many women in the early church also sought greater priesthood authority in a way which served to reinforce the very authority which they then received to some degree. At no point has the Lord ever tolerated, let alone encouraged the faithful to seek blessings such as these through “outside” channels like those of the intellectuals.
If you want women to be ordained, fine, but organizing symposia, writing articles and books, blogging, putting out podcasts and outright protesting are not the ways to do it. These outside channels for change only serve to transfer legitimacy to the intellectuals and away from the priesthood authority which you are supposed to be seeking. The only way that women can truly come to enjoy the full blessings and responsibilities that come with holding the priesthood, then, is by prayerfully, humbly and discreetly seeking that change through the proper priesthood channels.Wow, Santa really spoiled me! I just got home from college to find my gift waiting on my bed. When I opened the box, it was jam packed! My Santa sent me a lovely hand made scarf that is a mix of indigo,violet, blue, and burg |
’s only role is to protect the benefits of big business and the interests of the super-rich.
Terrorism and the culture of fear have become the glue holding together a society that relies more on ethical tranquilization and the forces of the punishing state than any semblance of social justice in order to protect the interests of the rich. Terror is no longer simply a reference to reveal foreign and domestic threats; however real, it has become an alibi for state terrorism, whether it be in the form of a massive state-sponsored spying apparatus, the gutting of social provisions, the criminalization of social problems, the war on women or the endless police violence used against innocent black youth.
The argument that things will now get much worse and push people into action is politically naive because there are never any political guarantees of how people will act in the face of massive repression. They could for all intents and purposes go either left or right. There are no guaranteed political outcomes in any society. Political outcomes have to be the result of coordinated struggles waged by mass movements using a diversity of tactics extending from boycotts and strikes to sit-ins and direct action.
The biggest challenge facing those who believe in social justice is to provide an alternative discourse, educational apparatuses, vision and modes of identification that can convince the US public that a real democracy is worth fighting for, and that such struggles need to begin immediately before the elected oligarchs and the financial interests they serve close down any hope of a future in which matters of justice and equality prevail.
Footnotes:
1. Pierre Bourdieu, Acts of Resistance (New York: Free Press, 1998), p. 11.
2. Arun Gupta, “How the Democrats Became the Party of Neoliberals,” CounterPunch, (November 3, 2014).
3. Joseph Kishore, “The Democratic Party Implosion,” World Socialist Web Site (November 6, 2014).This means that new seats will be installed in the stadium and special boxes for VIPs and media will be constructed.
The Andheri stadium also played host to the Brazil, New Zealand and England Under-17 teams for practice matches prior to the World Cup.
Authorities of the Mumbai Football Arena confirm that the stadium will get an upgrade that will make it Asian Football Confederation (AFC) compliant once the FIFA Under-17 World Cup concludes. This means that new seats will be installed in the stadium and special boxes for VIPs and media will be constructed.
It was not long ago that the Mumbai Football Arena hosted a match where the Indian team played against Puerto Rico in an international match last year in September and since then the stadium has hosted the Blue Tigers thrice. Stephen Constantine’s men have never been defeated here, registering three wins and one draw.
Aaditya Thackeray, who is the president of the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA), has been credited with the developments of the facility. The political heir was the chairman of the organisation for the last four years and earlier this year, he was elected as the president.
“Since the stadium is becoming home to so many tournaments now, we have put in a request to All India Football Federation (AIFF) and allow us to upgrade the stadium and make it compliant with the norms of AFC. Our aim is to make Mumbai the home of Indian Football and this is just another step for the same,” said Henry Menezes, CEO of Western India Football Association.
The seats that can be accessed are around 8,000 but with the refurbishments coming along, the stadium could reach a capacity of around 20,000. The Andheri stadium also played host to the Brazil, New Zealand and England Under-17 teams for practice matches prior to the World Cup. After these games, the authorities were confident about upgrading the facilities.
“The crowd has started coming in number especially when India played Mauritius and St Kitts & Nevis in the tri-nation cup. Mumbai has the passion for the sport. As an ex-footballer, I can feel it myself,” says Menezes.
Facilities including a press box for the media and converting the seats will be the major areas of development as informed by the authorities.
Menezes also points out the lack of enthusiasm in New Delhi for football despite the capital showing a positive response to the U-17 World Cup. “The Indian team has played a few games in Delhi as well but the passion is low. (Here) the fans know the players well, they have chants for them, and this kind of zeal is not there in every city,” he asserts.
Mumbai City FC will play their first match at the Mumbai Football Arena on November 25 and host all the remaining games of the Indian Super League club. The Ranbir Kapoor-owned club played their previous season there as well. With the news of another upgrade coming in, the fans can expect a great deal of football in the coming years.On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) argued, “they call them sanctuary cities, what I would say…they’re Fourth Amendment cities.”
Gutierrez said, “Here’s how I see it, they call them sanctuary cities, what I would say, Chris, they’re Fourth Amendment cities. Why do I say that? If you supply a warrant to the city of Chicago, right, we will absolutely honor that warrant. But you’ve got to get a warrant. So think about it a moment, the DEA, the FBI, the ATF, they get warrants, right? They go and pick people up. What ICE, which is another federal law enforcement agency, does, is it wants to have people detained, and wants the city of Chicago to go after people without any probable cause being submitted before the court, and without a warrant.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchettDemocrats cheered on Wednesday when news broke that John McCain's campaign was abandoning Michigan, pulling down its ads and sending staffers to other states.
Almost immediately, an organization called Progress Michigan let loose with a taunt, demanding that McCain keep pouring resources into the state in order to explain to voters his "support for outsourcing" and the "failed economic policies" of the Bush administration.
Many speculated that McCain would now turn his focus to Pennsylvania. But United Steelworkers International president Leo Gerard tells the Huffington Post that the state could soon go the way of Michigan.
"We're seeing -- from the several hundred of our people working every day, hand-billing at the plants -- the last two weeks have really been breaking Senator Obama's way," Gerard said over the phone from his office in Pittsburgh. "In particular, I think folks are sort of not taking John McCain as serious as they were, when they see his vacillation last week. 'I'm not going to debate. I'm going to whip House Republicans into shape. Not."
Gerard also said that the bailout bill is hurting McCain disproportionately. "There's lot of anger at this bailout bill, even though people recognize we have to do something. But our people think it's directly tied to Bush, and they tie bush to McCain. That's the sense of what I've heard back from our people, that the race is breaking out."
A sharp turn toward Obama hasn't been reflected in the polling thus far. However, even as McCain surrogates have repeatedly touted Pennsylvania as a possible pick-up state, Obama has maintained a stubborn lead over the last six months, according to Pollster.com's best-fit line of all surveys taken.
All told, the consistency of Obama's lead in Pennsylvania is not too terribly different from the steady advantage that compelled McCain to bail out of Michigan this week.
Obama is protecting that lead. He delivered a stemwinder to a crowd in Abington, Pennsylvania Friday morning. After referencing the latest dismal job loss numbers, Obama told the crowd that the Republicans have had their turn running the economy. "We've tried it their way. It hasn't worked. And it won't work now. But let me tell you what will work," he said, before ticking off his standard economic litany.
Watch:
Gerard, for one, also thinks Obama is becoming more comfortable talking about kitchen table issues. His union originally endorsed John Edwards during the primary season. But even after their favored candidate abandoned the race, Gerard recounts that it took the union members several weeks to reach a consensus on Obama -- perhaps, as was widely guessed at the time, because his cool demeanor was not resonating with the white working class audience.Chris Morris's new film stars Anna Kendrick and was shot in the Caribbean and US, Chortle can reveal.
The Pitch Perfect actor is joined by Kayvan Novak, stand-up James Adomian and Orange is the New Black's Danielle Brooks.
Filming on the as-yet-untitled feature took place this summer in the Dominican Republic and Florida, with further cast including True Blood's Denis O'Hare, Pej Vahdat, Marchant Davis and Mousa Kraish, who plays the Jinn in American Gods.
Details of the plot are currently under wraps, though Kendrick has been pictured on set in an FBI uniform with body armour and carrying a rifle.
A post shared by Annassnaps47 (@annassnaps47) on Jul 21, 2017 at 1:35am PDT
Morris's second feature as a director is a joint production between the British company See-Saw Films and the New York-based Archer Gray Productions, with financing from Film4, who made his award-winning debut Four Lions. Iain Canning and Anne Carey are producing.
Since Four Lions was released in 2010, Morris has been keeping a typically low profile other than directing four episodes of Veep – appearing in one as a newsreader – and interviewing Stewart Lee on camera as part of the latter’s Comedy Vehicle series. He also had a cameo in Richard Ayoade's film The Double.
He has suggested that his next film could be American and had been linked to a long-gestating biopic of political strategist Lee Atwater by Four Lions writer Jesse Armstrong and Anchorman creator Adam McKay, chronicling the dirty tricks campaigns Atwater waged to get Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush elected.
However, Chortle understands that this film is not the Atwater story.
O'Hare has called Morris 'wonderful, wacky', while Vahdat posted on Instagram that the shoot was 'by far one of the best experiences of my life. This film is going to be absolutely epic and I can't wait for you all to see it'.
Back creator Simon Blackwell, who also wrote on Four Lions, recently told The Hollywood Reporter that 'I’m aware of what [Morris is] cooking, but I can’t show you the menu I’m afraid. He has an elite troop of killers who will come and get you. He’s doing something marvellous, as you would expect.'
When pressed as to whether it was 'Four Lions-marvellous?', Blackwell replied: 'Marvellous marvellous. It’s very marvellous. That’s all I can say.'
Kendrick, who is currently shooting the Christmas film Noelle in which she plays Santa's daughter, starred alongside Stephen Merchant, Friends' Lisa Kudrow and The US Office's Craig Robinson in the wedding comedy Table 19 earlier this year.
Like Four Lions star Novak, who recently told Chortle that Morris was his 'comedy guru', Adomian is an accomplished voice artist and character comic who made his Edinburgh Fringe debut shortly after filming in the Caribbean.
Known for impressions of Bernie Sanders, George W.Bush, Paul Giamatti and Jesse Ventura, he stars alongside Chris O'Dowd and Andie McDowell in the forthcoming feature Love After Love.
Shooting on Morris's feature took place on location in the Dominican Republic capital Santo Domingo and at Pinewood Studios's outpost on the island, which offers a 25 per cent tax credit to international productions with a minimum investment of $500,000.
Previous productions to have filmed there include The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, Rambo: First Blood Part II and Fast and Furious 4.
- by Jay Richardson
Published: 27 Nov 2017Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium is set to close (Picture: PA)
Animal cruelty charities have backed Sadiq Khan’s decision to support the closure of the last greyhound track in London.
Following a review initiated by his predecessor, the London Mayor returned the decision for the Plough Lane development to Merton Council, which had already sanctioned a new stadium for AFC Wimbledon.
‘We are delighted to see Sadiq Khan support the return of real sport, rather than a cruel sport, to Wimbledon,’ Tom Sheppard, Head of Public Affairs for the League Against Cruel Sports, told metro.co.uk.
‘The greyhound racing industry has shown itself to be incapable of prioritising dog welfare over profit.’
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Alex Revell of Northampton Town looks to play the ball watched by Paul Robinson (R) of AFC Wimbledon (Picture: Getty Images)
Dog charity GreyT Exploitations was also pleased, with a spokeswoman adding: ‘Greyhound racing will always depend on cruel practices to remain viable.’
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Greyhound tracks in Wembley, West Ham, Clapton and Hackney have all disappeared and when Walthamstow shut in 2008, Wimbledon was left as the final place for race-lovers.
The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) said it was disappointed with the decision.
A statement said: ‘The closure of the last greyhound stadium with a London post code is a big blow for the sport and the people of London.
‘GBGB hopes that any appeal by the neighbouring borough of Wandsworth is successful.’
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Wimbledon is the last greyhound stadium in London Picture: PA)
The new Plough Lane development would contain a 20,000 seat stadium, 602 homes and a leisure centre.
AFC Wimbledon, who were set up 13 years ago, currently play their home games at Kingsmeadow, in Kingston-upon-Thames.
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MORE: Cincinnati Zoo are very upset people won’t let Harambe rest in peaceCharles Aznavour, one of the greatest singer-songwriters France has ever known, sits in a velvet armchair a few days before his 91st birthday, discussing the whiff of ladies’ armpits.
A song on his new album, in which he declares, “I love the smell of your underarms,” worried his Swedish wife of 50 years, but Aznavour knows his audience. If he’s the most successful French crooner in the world – a lyricist who defined the country’s popular culture for decades – it’s precisely because his songs have always been risky.
When Aznavour began writing in the 1940s, sex was something that happened with the light off. It was OK for women singers to howl over their broken hearts, but men didn’t sing about their own emotional despair – and later their dodgy prostates. Aznavour shone a spotlight on masculinity and libido, singing about depression, sex, prejudice and rape. His hits ranged from the 1970s story of a gay transvestite in What Makes a Man, to the once-banned ballad of muggy, post-coital exhaustion, Après l’Amour, and the controversial You’ve Let Yourself Go – the plea of a man whose wife has grown dowdy and fat (“I gaze at you in sheer despair and see your mother standing there”).
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Charles Aznavour: ‘It’s a kind of sickness I have, talking about things you’re not supposed to talk about.’ Photograph: Olivier Pirard/Rex Shutterstock
He is unrepentant. “It’s a kind of sickness I have, talking about things you’re not supposed to talk about. I started with homosexuality and I wanted to break every taboo.” The armpit line comes in a new ballad about a blind lover’s sense of smell. “When I wrote a song about the deaf [Quiet Love], I learned sign-language to perform it on stage. On this album, I wanted to describe what it was like for someone non-sighted.” He pauses. “I still don’t know how I’m going to perform it …” In his shows, he takes on various personas with dramatic gestures that resemble a mime act. He’s an actor who sings rather than a Frank Sinatra-style singer who acts.
Aznavour is still composing and performing, he’s written around 1,200 songs and sold more than 100m records in his 70-year career. France worships him as the last living legend of a golden era. Like many popular singers who came to represent the very essence of France – such as Georges Moustaki and, to a certain extent, Edith Piaf herself – Aznavour is shaped by his foreign roots. Born Shahnour Varenagh Aznavourian in Paris to an actor-father and singer-mother who had fled the Armenian genocide, he left school and became a child actor at the age of nine. He survived the German occupation of Paris singing in cabarets, while his parents hid fellow Armenians, Jews, Russians and Communists in their apartment and his father joined the resistance.
Piaf pestered him to have a nose job. Afterwards he presented himself for inspection. 'I preferred you before,' she said
But Aznavour’s path to success was long and torturous. French critics dismissed him as repulsively ugly, too short, with a terrible voice and dubious song titles. It wasn’t until the end of the 50s, a decade after Piaf had taken him on as her songwriter, flatmate and all-round bag-carrier that he finally began to make it. In 1960, he played the shy and haunted piano-player in François Truffaut’s classic New Wave film, Shoot the Piano Player (he went on to act in over 60 films). But his global singing fame was cemented in the 70s with a triumphant crossover into the US and UK – something he puts down to the excellent translation of his lyrics into English. (The bittersweet British No 1, She, is hardly known in France). Britain was seduced by this scrawny Frenchman crooning about painful crushes in a 10-ton accent. “I often say: ‘France is for lyrics, England is for music’,” he muses.
Nowadays, Aznavour is a “dinosaur” – his word – who trades on agelessness. His 51st studio album is out in the UK now and he is working on his 52nd. He loves being sampled by adoring French rappers. He relishes the irony that at 30 he was considered ugly, but past 90 he is now seen as dashing. What it’s like being 91? “I wouldn’t have a clue,” he says, wide-eyed. “I don’t feel 91. I’ve always thought a person must never lose the gaze of a child.” At 5-foot-3, he holds his tiny frame perpetually taut (keeping his shoulders straight is one his secrets of eternal youth). But he’s brutally honest about performing on stage. “I hide nothing from the audience,” he says. He tells them he has an Auto-cue because his memory is fading, and says his mouth ulcers make it hard to sing. He relies on hearing aids. But he loathes what he calls the show-business “cult of youth”.
“More and more men are changing themselves, having surgery, and you can see it on TV, because their dyed-black hair turns blue under the lights,” he says. “I had a problem with my nose, I got it done. I made some white hair that was falling out grow back. But I left my wrinkles where they are. And I look younger than the others because I have never retouched nature’s work.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Aznavour at the Olympia music hall in Paris in 1971. Photograph: Michel Ginfray/Sygma/Corbis
In fact, it was Edith Piaf cabaret superstar and queen of chanson française, who forced Aznavour to have a nose job 50 years ago. She pestered him for months to fix what she deemed his too-large hooter. He eventually went under the knife, and presented himself for inspection. “I preferred you before,” she said.
There’s a song about Piaf on the new album. It is the first time he has written about her, though they lived together – platonically – for eight years. “We were like cousins. We had this extraordinary complicity. I never had a love affair with her – that’s what saved us.” Why did Piaf, the star, latch on to him, an unknown nine years her junior? “I brought her my youth, my madness, she loved my whole jazzy side.”
I can’t say anything about [Kim Kardashian], because I would anger half the Armenians.
His other main role today is as one of the world’s most famous Armenians. He has finally taken dual Armenian citizenship, is Armenian ambassador to Switzerland and travelled with the French president François Hollande to mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide this year. But France still defines his identity. “I’ve always felt totally French. That really vexed the Armenians in Armenia, but now they’re used to it.” He politely declines to say what he thinks about his challenger as pop culture’s international symbol of the Armenian diaspora: Kim Kardashian. He’s never met her. Does he watch her reality show? “I can’t say anything about it, because I would anger half the Armenians.” He laughs nervously. “I suppose Armenians are quite prudish and don’t like too much nudity …”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Aznavour with Giovanna Ralli in 1961 on the set of the film Horace. Photograph: Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
A few years ago, he caused shockwaves in France by saying he’d paid backhanders to figures on all sides of the political spectrum after being told he was facing a tax inspection, presumed to have been in the 1970s. A later tax investigation found no irregularity. Decades ago, he left France to live just over the border in Switzerland. “I was never a tax exile,” he is at pains to point out. “I didn’t have a penny when I left.”
The phrase Aznavour probably hates the most is “farewell tour”. He swears he has never uttered the words, and vows to keep performing until he dies.
“You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served,” he once crooned. But with audiences still dishing up a never-ending pot of it, he’s happy to stick around.The deal reunites Cline, who also wrote 'Armada,' with Crown Publishing and is said to be in the low-to-mid seven figures.
Ernie Cline, the author of the best-selling sci-fi books Ready Player One and this summer’s Armada, has inked a deal with Crown Publishing for a new book.
The deal, in the low-to-mid seven figures, sees Crown picking up domestic publishing rights to Cline’s third book, the title and plot of which is being kept top secret, although insiders say the book is in the sci-fi genre.
His first book, Ready Player One, is set in a virtual game world where a teenager competes in a dangerous treasure hunt initiated by the death of the game’s founder.
It sold to Crown and was subsequently set up at Warners. Steven Spielberg is now on board to direct the adaptation, which Warners last week penciled for a Dec. 15, 2017, release.
Armada was released in July and debuted at No. 4 on the New York Times best-seller list. Also published by Crown, it's about a gamer who is chosen to fight in an alien invasion that is straight from the video game he’s been playing.
Armada was initially sold as a book proposal to both Crown and Universal, with the studio picking up the movie rights.
Film rights to the new book project have not been shopped yet.
Cline is repped by CAA, Foundry Literary and manager Dan Farah, with the latter also acting as a producer on the screen versions of Player One and Armada — and perhaps on the inevitable adaptation of the new book.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Jan. 12, 2015, 9:14 PM GMT / Updated Jan. 12, 2015, 9:22 PM GMT
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, told NBC News in an interview Monday that he will not seek the presidency in 2016.
“I have decided that I am not going to run for president in 2016,” Ryan said in a phone interview, noting that he is “at peace” with the decision he made “weeks ago” to forgo a bid for the White House.
“It is amazing the amount of encouragement I have gotten from people – from friends and supporters – but I feel like I am in a position to make a big difference where I am and I want to do that,” he said.
The nine-term congressman believes he can make that “big difference” in his new role as chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee rather than as a presidential contender.
The committee will meet Tuesday to kick off the new Congress. By announcing that he’ll pass on a White House run, Ryan hopes to demonstrate that he’ll devote his “undivided attention” to the committee, although he admits that it will be “bittersweet not being on the trail” as a candidate this upcoming cycle.
Ryan, who is married with three young children, said he reached his decision over the holidays last year, well before Friday's news that his former running mate, Mitt Romney, is once again eyeing a presidential bid.
"It is no secret that I have always thought Mitt would make a great president," he said. "As for his plans for 2016, I don't know what he is ultimately going to do and the last thing I want to do is get ahead of his own decision making process."
The congressman would not throw his support behind any potential 2016 presidential candidate during the interview, saying that any endorsement would be “premature.”
But, Ryan added, he believes that a Republican can “absolutely” win.
“I think we’ve got a number of very capable candidates who have every ability to become president. There are a lot of talented people,” he said. “I think it is critical that our party puts forward bold, conservative ideas and give people a choice. I think we have a number of capable leaders who can do that.”
Ryan said he plans to do whatever he can to help the Republican Party and its eventual nominee win the White House in 2016.
“It’s clear the country needs a change in direction and our party has a responsibility to offer a real alternative,” he said, adding that, as chairman of his House committee, he will help “lay out conservative solutions that will help our nominee lead us to victory.”
Ryan’s decision to stay out of the presidential race this go-around hasn’t prevented the Wisconsin lawmaker, a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan, from some gentle ribbing of another potential 2016 candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“Do you need a hug now?” Ryan tweeted at Christie, a longtime Dallas Cowboys fan, following the Packer’s playoff victory Sunday night over the Cowboys.
At just 44 years old, Ryan wouldn't rule out a future bid for higher office, saying that he plans to "keep my options open" when it comes to other potential political opportunities.Weekend fighting in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor has left at least 135 dead, including 50 pro-government fighters and 85 civilians, as ISIS forced its way into the area. ISIS also reportedly kidnapped some 400 civilians in the city.
ISIS controls materially all of the Deir Ezzor Province, except for the city itself and a nearby airbase. The city has been repeatedly contested and UN officials have recently warned of sharply worsening conditions in parts of it because of the constant fighting.
Syrian state media claimed a much larger death toll in yesterday’s fighting, suggesting that ISIS had killed around 300 civilians, as opposed to 85. As with many such incidents, it’s impossible to get an accurate count, and it could be quite some time before we know the full extent of the incident.
State media reported that ISIS began the attack with six suicide bombings against military positions in the city, and locals reported an extensive gunbattle beyond that. ISIS usually uses suicide bombings as a prelude to attack, to soften up defenses.
Ultimately, the Syrian military appears to have held off ISIS, but extensive damage was done, and the large-scale kidnappings suggest ISIS is far from through with contesting this area.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzYoung Justice has taken the stage at San Diego Comic-Con, and fans who are waiting for season 3 just got a lot to look forward to.
That's because the team behind the fan favorite series revealed that the new season will take place over 26 episodes. ComicBook.com's Charlie Ridgeley is covering the panel, where Greg Weisman said "We have 12 scripts final and another 10 or so in the works. We've recorded all or part of 10 episodes with our amazing cast of returning and new actors"
That is 26 episodes total, though they did add "The last four we haven't started yet. We know where we're going with them." The good news is that this is not a truncated season, giving the team ample time to deal with the ramifications of season 2's big finale, where the team lost one of their own. That's not to mention the overall arc involving Darkseid working with the other villains, though that depends on if there is a significant time jump or not at the beginning of the season.
There was a time jump between seasons 1 and 2, so it's likely there will be one with season 3 as well, though nothing is confirmed yet. Young Justice currently enjoys an 81.57 on ComicBook.com's composite rankings, which you can vote on here. The description for season 3 is included below.Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam expressed his full support for general manager Ray Farmer and the organization as a whole in his sit-down meeting with the team's local beat writers Wednesday.
Haslam explained to reporters that Farmer apologized for his actions in sending text messages from the press box to the sideline during games, but stressed that the GM's job status wouldn't be in danger as a result of the NFL's investigation.
Farmer apologized to Browns for sending the text messages. "It does not affect his standing with the Browns," Haslam said. — Tom Reed (@treed1919) February 11, 2015
The Browns' owner went on to discuss a number of other controversial topics currently surrounding the team, including troubled young players Johnny Manziel and Josh Gordon.
Haslam denied the late-season decision to put Manziel in the starting lineup came from the front office, insisting it was a move made by head coach Mike Pettine.
Haslam emphatically saying benching Hoyer, playing Manziel was Pettine's call: "He, he, he...did you hear me say 'he'... made the decision" — Steve Doerschuk (@sdoerschukREP) February 11, 2015
Addressing the situation of wide receiver Josh Gordon, who was again suspended for an entire season after violating the league's substance abuse policy, Haslam said the Browns have been forced to move on for the time being.
"We spent a tremendous amount of time on Josh... Josh has failed to accept that responsibility," he said, according to 92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter.
As for the overall state of the organization and the negative perception created as a result of the team's repeated controversies, Haslam indicated he is pleased with the club's current direction.
#Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said he feels very good about where organization is heading. Said CBS Sports' scathing report is not accurate. — Nate Ulrich (@NateUlrichABJ) February 11, 2015
Either way, the Browns continue to make headlines for all the wrong reasons and Haslam having to deny countless reports of dysfunction paints a clear enough picture of the team's current situation.
Haslam and the Browns now begin what is certain to be a busy offseason, highlighted by their need to find a long-term answer at the quarterback position.Correspondent Wes Burdine (@MnNiceFC) is making it a regular practice to get out to Minnesota United training, and he's been nice enough to file reports from what he's seen. When he's not keeping us all informed, he's participating in Minnesota's best soccer podcast by far. Wes?
Minnesota United FC trained up at the National Sports Center in Blaine on Wednesday, preparing for their weekend trip to Edmonton. Wednesdays are usually the hardest day of training, and head coach Manny Lagos had the team working at a high pace all morning.
The players worked through quick passing drills, with groups of around 8 players passing figure eights around dummies (the plastic outlines of a person that stick in the ground). Then the team played 7v7 on a condensed field, to work on creating space where there is none. Training on the pitch ended with a full sided-scrimmage that emphasized getting the full backs in on the attack.
You can catch an excerpt of my interview with Manny Lagos here.
Looking Back on the Cosmos
Many fans were greatly frustrated with Saturday’s draw at the New York Cosmos. Lagos, however, was more circumspect. While he expressed disappointment at not being able to capitalize on playing against 10 men for over 80 minutes, Lagos described the Cosmos as a wounded animal with nothing to lose, but that the disappointing draw was a learning opportunity for Lagos and the team who will take this lesson and say that they need to get better.
There is a good chance that the Loons will meet the Cosmos in the post-season; Minnesota have already sewn up a play-off spot, and the Cosmos will likely qualify as well. With Minnesota still winless against the Cosmos in their four clashes, Lagos says he isn’t thinking about the New Yorkers. “I don’t look at the past, I look at the future,” he said – and he emphasized that, for him, the future is Sunday’s match up against FC Edmonton.
The Montons on a Hot Streak
This weekend, the Loons travel to Edmonton for a Sunday match up with the NASL’s other hot team of the moment, the Montons. (Editor’s note: We have long agreed that it is silly for Edmonton to be called the “Eddies.” We fully support Wes’s effort to re-nickname the team.) Since Minnesota beat Edmonton 3-2 on August 9th in Blaine, the Montons have two wins under their belt, beating the Carolina Railhawks away and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at home. Lagos called Edmonton “one of the tougher teams right now in the league to play against,” describing them as “organized and physical.”
Wednesday’s practice, though, seemed more geared toward preparing the team to play the way Lagos wants them to see in every game, not just against the Montons. He wants to see more players on the attack and possessing the ball, with more opportunities for forward passes. After the Cosmos match, Lagos said he wanted to focus on “breaking out of the midfield and how we break lines and create space in terms of running forward and getting numbers forward” to create more chances and possess the ball. The full-sided scrimmage emphasized bringing fullbacks Justin Davis and Kevin Venegas into the attack by having Daniel Mendes and Jamie Watson tuck in, creating more space on the wings.
Burgos on the Pitch
Salvadoran striker Rafael Burgos saw his first minutes on the pitch when he came on in the 78th minute against the Cosmos. Lagos was very pleased with what he saw from the new signing, saying, “I thought he showed some nice composure and kept the ball really well.” He noted that Burgos is still getting to full match fitness. The Loons are still unsure of whether Burgos will be called into the final 23-man roster for El Salvador’s upcoming Copa Centroamericana, which will take place from September 3rd through the 13th.
Injuries
Aside from long-term injury Pablo Campos, the team reported Kentaro Takada as the only player who was not fully training. Takada suffered a mild MCL strain last week. Lagos said other players are carrying a few knocks, but expects the rest of the team to be available for Sunday’s selection.The HP Windows VR headset is in our hands — you can see tons of pictures and read over 2,000 words of our thoughts (plus a full 9-minute video exploring the home space) to get an idea for what it’s like. But we don’t have the Acer version just yet (you can read some thoughts on the device here from back in April though.) The HP and Acer headsets are the only dev kits currently shipping for the Windows VR platform (Asus and Dell are coming soon) so tons of people are getting their hands on both right now. Our Acer should arrive any day now, but until then, we decided to reach out to the immersive technology development community to see what they think so far.
We spoke with three different developers that have all had their hands on the Acer Windows VR dev kit for some time now and they were all kind enough to share their thoughts. If you’d rather see it in video form then you can see a thorough impressions video from developer and author Sean Ong. His book, “Beginning Windows Mixed Reality Programming: For HoloLens and Mixed Reality Headsets,” is available now.
“The Acer is definitely one of the lightest headsets on the market, giving it a special edge when using it over longer periods of time,” writes Ong via Twitter Direct Message. “It’s lighter than the HP mixed reality headset, and FAR lighter than the Rift or Vive. It’s got a fun, approachable robotic retro look and feel. The head strap is probably my least favorite part of the Acer. The lack of padding on the rear of the head strap causes it to slip up over time, and doesn’t provide a secure fit, even when tightening it hard.”
Compared to the HP, which does cost ~$30 more, I can definitely see the inferior headstrap of the Acer sticking out. The padded visor design with adjustable knob on the HP really stands out as a big bonus in terms of wearability and comfort.
“There are only a handful of 1st party applications, and only one 3rd party application,” writes VR developer Nima Zeighami via Twitter Direct Message. “It’s a pre-release developer device.” Zeighami also explained that the facial interface “looks and feels cheaper” than that of either the Rift or Vive and the stability when tightened is much lower. Again though |
in vocal behaviour accompanying accumulative chimpanzee stone throwing. We further observed that rock handling and throwing was sometimes accompanied by the individual swaying back and forth while bipedal and piloerect, and even leaf-clipping (Supplementary Movie 4; Fig. 3), all behaviours associated with a typical chimpanzee display27. When the rock was thrown, this was often, but not always, accompanied by the climax phase of the pant hoot consisting of scream elements and drumming with the hands or feet on the tree25,26. In some cases we do not have footage of the full series of behaviours since camera trap videos are limited in length (60 seconds), and cameras were triggered at varying times for each accumulative stone throwing event captured.
Figure 2: Photographs and stills of accumulative stone throwing behaviour and sites. (a) Adult male chimpanzee tossing a stone; hurling a stone (Boé, Guinea-Bissau); and banging a stone (Comoé GEPRENAF, Côte d’Ivoire). (b) Boé, Guinea-Bissau landscape: stones accumulated in a hollow tree; a chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing site; and stones accumulated in-between buttress roots (see also Supplementary Movies 1–7). Full size image
Table 1: Data from 11 temporary research sites (TRSs) across West Africa where data were collected for 14–17 months between 2011 and 2014 to document the occurrence of chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing. Full size table
Figure 3: Flow chart describing the behavioural elements observed in chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing. Three key behaviours were common to all observations of adult (N = 63) chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing (grey rectangles): 1) picking-up and handling a rock, 2) pant hoot introduction and/or build up phase, and 3) throwing the stone. Other behaviours were only sometimes observed or were observed in combination with one another (italicized). *Only 50 videos contained audio, all of which recorded a pant hoot vocalization. Full size image
The accumulative stone throwing behaviour was only observed in Western chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus (Fig. 1). Moreover, to our knowledge, the behaviour has not been observed at any of the 17 existing mid- to long-term chimpanzee research sites (LRS) across Africa20 (Fig. 1). The wear observed on the trunks and buttress roots of trees targeted by the accumulative stone throwing indicated that all of the active sites had been in use for some time. Stone tools appeared to be regularly reused: in 57 of 64 stone throws filmed, the individual picked up a rock from the base of the tree, and once from inside the tree. We also observed the same individual at the same tree repeatedly engaging in accumulative stone throwing (Table 1), suggesting individuals frequently revisit sites.
Raw material accumulation and availability
At all four TRSs where the behaviour was observed, stones had accrued around the base of the tree at each accumulative stone throwing site. In the few cases when rocks were found piled inside the hollows of trees, or nestled between the grooves of buttress roots, we counted between four and 37 stored rocks (Boé (Fig. 3), Comoé GEPRENAF, and Mt. Nimba). The average weight of the individual stones at Boé was 3.6 kg (range: 0.5–17 kg), at Mt. Nimba 2.06 kg (0.2–7.1 kg) and at Comoé GEPRENAF 0.98 kg (0.8–7 kg).Apple is trying to get two patents held by HTC invalidated. The patents in question relate to data transmission in wireless devices, more specifically technology that is essential for 4G LTE devices. If Apple announces support for 4G LTE networks in its new iPhone, and possibly iPad mini (you can already get an LTE iPad), next week, then HTC will seek an import ban. The strategy is intended to force Apple into a settlement and get the company to drop its many patent infringement suits against HTC.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) Judge, Thomas Pender, had this to say:
“Clear and convincing means something to me. I have to be pretty darn certain a U.S. patent is invalid.”
HTC acquired the patents in April 2011 as part of a portfolio it bought from ADC Telecommunications Inc. for $75 million. That was just before the company began selling its first LTE phone, the Thunderbolt. HTC said it bought the patents as protection against Apple. The Taiwanese company also pointed out that it is an innovator in the LTE space and an early-adopter, even a “pioneer”.
In a previous case HTC was denied the use of patents that Google tried to lend the manufacturer, but this time around Judge Pender told Apple’s lawyer:
“I don’t care if they bought these patents to sue you or not. They are a property right.”
Apple has been aggressive in its pursuit of HTC. Apple requested an emergency ban of several HTC devices just a couple of months ago, and the two companies are embroiled in a number of suits and countersuits in the US and beyond.Liquid`Jinro Profile Blog Joined September 2002 Sweden 33687 Posts #1 Just before I was leaving for IEM in China I saw MC watching this really weird Korean movie.... But I forgot to ask what it was called and I cant find it on his computer =.=~! Hes in Germany now and probably wont be on MSN in forever so.... I come here.
I watched like 30 seconds of it but here's what I know - or think I know anyway:
- It's Korean.
- It's about a guy who kidnaps a bunch of girls, making them all live in a room wallpapered in what looked like newspapers. If they want ANYTHING (food, clothes, whatever) they have to have sex with him.
- The girls develop some kind of Stockholm syndrome/competitiveness with eachother, and they slowly build up stockpiles of fancy things (like clothes, jewerly etc).
So far it sounds like the setup of a Japanese porno, but I have to find this movie now. After going through like the first 6 pages of Korean movies from the last 2 years I gave up and turned to TL -____-
Anyone have any idea what the hell the name of this movie is? Googling for it turned out to be incredibly difficult, all I got was Old Boy (if the words Korean and Kidnapping are in the same search.... google gives you Old Boy). Moderator tell the guy that interplanatar interaction is pivotal to terrans variety of optionitudals in the pre-midgame preperatories as well as the protosstinal deterriggation of elite zergling strikes - Stimey n | Formerly FrozenArbiter
Viciousvx Profile Joined December 2010 United States 83 Posts Last Edited: 2011-10-19 21:05:44 #2 Oh Jinro....
did korea not provide you with enough K-Po p rn it's Almost too Easy...
Serejai Profile Blog Joined September 2010 6000 Posts Last Edited: 2011-10-19 21:09:32 #3 Shame on you, Jinro. Teamliquid is not google!
*looks for report button* I HAVE 5 TOAST POINTS
Taekwon Profile Joined May 2010 United States 8154 Posts #4 I don't understand. ▲ ▲ ▲
Probe1 Profile Blog Joined August 2010 United States 17912 Posts Last Edited: 2011-10-19 21:13:49 #5 - 우정호 KT_VIOLET 1988 - 2012 While we are postponing, life speeds by
Chessz Profile Joined August 2010 United States 562 Posts #6 Jinro.. you have to find it?
is it because you're swedish and they have stockholm syndrome?
cause I doubt it'd be about the girls
Praetorial Profile Blog Joined May 2011 United States 3631 Posts #7 Uhmm...Jinro. Google it! Shame on you! FOR GREAT JUSTICE! Bans for the ban gods!
FlopTurnReaver Profile Blog Joined January 2010 Switzerland 1927 Posts #8 Don't you pros use cellphones? oO Check out @MapOfTheMonth on Twitter and under http://bit.ly/motmorg
Dr.Lettuce Profile Blog Joined September 2008 United Kingdom 663 Posts #9
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274518/
User was warned for this post I'm pretty sure it's this:
Morale Profile Joined August 2010 Sweden 1005 Posts #10 Sounds kinda like a Chan-wook Park type of movie (he made Oldboy)
Keitzer Profile Blog Joined May 2010 United States 2505 Posts Last Edited: 2011-10-19 21:15:16 #11 Ask someone who's with MC who can then ask MC, who can then return the answer to you....
edit: also, btw, this kind of thread would get closed by a mod if it were not Jinro (or so it seems) I'm like badass squared | KeitZer.489
Renjazu Profile Joined October 2011 31 Posts #12
Did Korea not provide you with enough Woori?
CrispyTender Profile Joined October 2010 Canada 166 Posts Last Edited: 2011-10-19 21:18:08 #13 The Chaser (Chugyeogja) If this isnt it watch it anyway, its fucking amazing
sYnRoscoe Profile Joined April 2011 United States 149 Posts #14 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1612774/
I think this is the movie you're looking for. I watched it, it's a great great movie
+ Show Spoiler + *cough* I think this is the movie you're looking for. I watched it, it's a great great movie http://www.twitch.tv/roscoe_964
Taekwon Profile Joined May 2010 United States 8154 Posts #15 Was the quality good?
Knowing the relative release date would be a huge help. ▲ ▲ ▲
MrHoon Profile Blog Joined April 2008 9925 Posts #16 On October 20 2011 06:03 Liquid`Jinro wrote:
Just before I was leaving for IEM in China I saw MC watching this really weird Korean movie.... But I forgot to ask what it was called and I cant find it on his computer =.=~! Hes in Germany now and probably wont be on MSN in forever so.... I come here.
I watched like 30 seconds of it but here's what I know - or think I know anyway:
- It's Korean.
- It's about a guy who kidnaps a bunch of girls, making them all live in a room wallpapered in what looked like newspapers. If they want ANYTHING (food, clothes, whatever) they have to have sex with him.
- The girls develop some kind of Stockholm syndrome/competitiveness with eachother, and they slowly build up stockpiles of fancy things (like clothes, jewerly etc).
So far it sounds like the setup of a Japanese porno, but I have to find this movie now. After going through like the first 6 pages of Korean movies from the last 2 years I gave up and turned to TL -____-
Anyone have any idea what the hell the name of this movie is? Googling for it turned out to be incredibly difficult, all I got was Old Boy (if the words Korean and Kidnapping are in the same search.... google gives you Old Boy).
that movie sounds terrible!
sounds like typical crap chan woo shits out in Korea
But im going to watch it anyways. that movie sounds terrible!sounds like typical crap chan woo shits out in KoreaBut im going to watch it anyways. dats racist
dronescout Profile Joined March 2010 Iceland 239 Posts #17 After about 5 years people will be bumping this for old epicness. I will destroy everyone in 2017
SecondChance Profile Joined December 2010 Australia 603 Posts #18 Oh Jinro, you so crazy. I see the want to in your eyes.
Probe1 Profile Blog Joined August 2010 United States 17912 Posts #19 It sounds awfully tiring to have sex with multiple women every day (I'm assuming separately) every time one of them is hungry. For arguments sake, let's say 3 women, twice a day. That's six times a day. Every day. Okay.. a lot of guys could kill for that. Now they want clothes. +3 times each week. One of them now wants a whatever. +1 more time. One of them wants to you to re-wallpaper the room with the last weeks news because she's already read the entire room! +1 more time. Add it all up and you're having sex enough to be having sex more than you do anything other than sleep.
Now increase the amount of kidnapped women. Holy hell you're doing nothing but fetching them stuff and having sex! It's like a Twilight Zone story where you think its' great but you're really in Hell! Obviously, the conclusion of this movie is death by snusnu. Then the main character goes to hell for being a kidnap rapist.
Still want to watch it? 우정호 KT_VIOLET 1988 - 2012 While we are postponing, life speeds by
Sgany Profile Blog Joined July 2010 United Kingdom 775 Posts #20 Maybe it was not a movie just some of MC's home videos? NaDa <3, MMA <3, Bisu <3,
1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 Next AllLONDON: A boycott “Andaman and Nicobar Islands campaign” being spearheaded from Britain has seen 12,300 people from around the world pledge not to visit India’s pristine island destination over the treatment of its Jarawa tribes.In an expose, human safaris were found to treat the ancient Indian tribes on the island “like animals in a zoo” five years back.Even though the government in Andaman pledged in 2013 to the Indian Supreme Court that they would introduce an alternative sea route to the Andaman Trunk Road which runs through the Jarawa reserve by March 2015, so that there is minimal intrusion into their isolated world, the work has not even started on it.Now, UK based Survival International has put together a major signature boycott campaign that asks people not to visit the Andaman Islands until the human safaris are stopped.Sophie Grig, senior campaigner told TOI “we will continue to collect signatures to show the level of international concern that such safaris are still happening. We will use the signature campaign to keep up the pressure on the authorities to complete the alternative route as soon as possible”.“The deadline to put in place an alternative sea route to the Andaman Trunk Road – which has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court – was set by the Andaman authorities in 2013 when they promised that it would be in place by March 2013. But while the tendering process has begun, building work has not yet started, which means it is likely to take a woefully long time for the alternative route to be in place”.Grig told TOI “This means that hundreds of tourists will continue to travel along the Andaman Trunk Road through the Jarawa reserve. The Jarawa have only had peaceful contact with settled Indian society since 1998, and are still very vulnerable to diseases to which they have little or no immunity. They are also vulnerable to exploitation by tourists and poachers. As we saw in videos, Jarawa girls were encouraged by police officers and tourists to dance for food. Only last year, Survival received extremely worrying reports that poachers were entering the reserve to sexually exploit Jarawa women”.Travel agencies and tour operators from across the world have started to withdraw from offering tours to the Andamans as a protest against the degrading “human safaris” to see the Jarawa tribe.Travelpickr, a global company based in Canada and India and Spanish company Orixa Viatges have become the first operators to withdraw from tours to the Andamans, following Survival’s call for a tourism boycott.The organization is calling on the 200,000 tourists visiting the islands every year to stay away.Rene Trescases, the head of Travelpickr said “we were appalled to learn about the human safaris and have now withdrawn over 40 tours to the Andaman Islands”.Viatges added “We have removed the Andaman Islands from our list of tourist destinations. We don’t understand this kind of tourism – we believe that people and cultures should be treated with respect, rather than used by unscrupulous people making a profit”.Survival has written to over 200 travel companies and websites in 11 countries urging them to stop their tours to the Andaman Islands.The 400-strong Jarawa tribe are believed to be part of the first human migration out of Africa.The ‘human safaris’ had been condemned by the United Nations and thousands of letters have been sent to the Indian government asking for the tours to be stopped.At the Starbucks on Fort Campbell Boulevard in Clarksville, Tenn. -- two miles from the U.S. military base -- store manager Shannon Feltz pours hot coffee for a group of veterans seated at a communal table.
On a shelf next to the register are rows of green-and-white mugs reading: "Proudly serving those who serve."
On Tuesday, the Clarksville store became one of 37 around the country designated by the coffeehouse chain as "Military Family Stores" -- stores staffed primarily by veterans and military spouses as part of a larger effort to employ service members and their families nationwide.
"Seventy-five percent of my business is the military," said 47-year-old Feltz, a 14-year military spouse whose husband is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army.
"We are so excited about this announcement," Feltz told Fox News.
Of the corporate Seattle-based coffee giant, Feltz said, "I've never felt so supported by a company in my life."
Starbucks on Tuesday unveiled four other new Military Family Stores: Two in Texas, serving Camp Mabry in Austin and Ft. Bliss in El Paso; one in Newport, Rhode Island, near Naval War College; and another in Bedford, Mass., a few miles from Joint Base Hanscom.
The stores -- now at 37 -- are part of a broader initiative by Starbucks to provide thousands of jobs to veterans and military spouses, while also serving as communal hubs where current and former service members can connect, share stories and become part of a larger support network.
The company has committed to hiring 25,000 veteran and military spouses by 2025. Starbucks has currently employed more than 10,000 veteran and military spouse partners since it announced its initiative in 2013.
"Service members and military spouses are the best example of engaged citizens," John Kelly, a Starbucks senior vice president, said.
"Long after leaving active duty, they continue to vote, volunteer and serve their communities at a high rate, serving as the best examples of citizenship," Kelly said. "We are honored to serve as a place where these American heroes can continue to impact their community in a positive way."
In addition, many coffee shops designated as Military Family Stores have also joined the "Adopt a Military Unit program," in which store partners sponsor units and send care packages to active military deployed overseas.
Approximately 453,000 veterans were unemployed in 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate of veterans for that year varied across the nation, ranging from 1.8 percent in Indiana to 7.6 percent in the District of Columbia. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that 39,471 veterans are homeless on any given night.
Matt Kress, a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who served in Iraq, worked as a firefighter in California before managing the veterans and military affairs program for Starbucks.
Kress described the transition from active combat to civilian life as a "frightening period" during which military personnel enter a "major unknown."
Starbucks' veteran initiative, he said, provides help in every way to a community whose unique needs are often overlooked.
"Some of our veterans are only with us for a year, while others are here longer," he said. "This is their landing spot to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their life."
Cristina Corbin is a Fox News reporter based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaCorbin.(Illustration: Roman Genn)
From the March 28, 2016, issue of NR
Michael Brendan Dougherty is bitter. I think that I can write that in both truth and charity. (I think you might even say that he and I are friends.) Dougherty is a conservative of the sort sometimes advertised as “paleo” and served as national correspondent for The American Conservative. Like many conservative writers with those associations, Dougherty spends a great deal of time lambasting the conservative movement and its organs, from which he feels, for whatever reason, estranged — an alienation that carries with it more than a little to suggest that it is somewhat personal.
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In 2013, he announced that he planned to set aside political writing to concentrate on the relatively sane world of professional baseball, saying: “National politics has most of the vices of ‘bread and circuses.’ And if that’s the case, pro sports is a better circus.” But it is difficult for a politics man to give up politics — look at all the political crap that ESPN viewers and Sports Illustrated readers have to endure — and he has taken it upon himself in this election cycle to serve as Apostle to the Cathedral, “the Cathedral” being a favorite metaphor of the so-called alt-right for the “distributed conspiracy” (in the words of Curtis Yarvin, a.k.a. Mencius Moldbug) that might in less riled-up times be described as “polite society,” the conventional wisdom among people who live in places such as Washington, D.C., and New York City and work in fields such as politics and media.
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You know: Them.
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Donald Trump is the headline, and explaining the benighted white working class to Them is the main matter. Sanctimony is the literary mode, for Dougherty and for many others doing the same work with less literary facility.
Dougherty invites us to think about Mike, an imaginary member of the white working class who is getting by on Social Security disability fraud in unfashionable Garbutt, N.Y. Conservatives, in Dougherty’s view, don’t give a damn about Mike. They care a great deal about Jeffrey, “a typical coke-sniffer in Westport, Conn.” Jeffrey pays a lot of taxes, both directly in the form of the capital-gains tax and indirectly through the corporate tax, and tax cuts “intersect with his interests at several points.” Republicans want to encourage private retirement investments, which might send some business toward Jeffrey’s “fund-manager in-law, who works in nearby Darien.” (For those of you unfamiliar with the econogeography of Fairfield County, Conn., going from Westport to Darien is moving up in the world. Next stop: Greenwich.) “If the conservative movement has any advice for Mike, it’s to move out of Garbutt and maybe ‘learn computers,’” Dougherty writes in the magazine The Week. “Any investments he made in himself previously are for naught. People rooted in their hometowns? That sentimentalism is for effete readers of Edmund Burke. Join the hyper-mobile world.” The piece is headlined “How Conservative Elites Disdain Working-Class Republicans,” and I suppose I should mention that my own writing on the white working class’s infatuation with Donald Trump is Exhibit A in Dougherty’s case.
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Never mind the petty sneering (as though the conservative movement were populated by septuagenarians who say things like “learn computers”) and the rhetorical need to invent moral debasement (tax cuts are good for the rich people in Connecticut who don’t use cocaine, too) and Dougherty’s ignoring out of existence those capital-driven parts of the economy that are outside of the Manhattan–Connecticut finance corridor. And never mind the math, too: It is really quite difficult to design federal tax cuts that benefit people who do not pay much in the way of federal taxes. Set all that aside: What, really, is the case for staying in Garbutt?
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There was no Garbutt, N.Y., until 1804, when Zachariah Garbutt and his son John settled there. They built a grist mill, and, in the course of digging its foundations, they discovered a rich vein of gypsum, at that time used as a fertilizer. A gypsum industry sprang up and ran its course. Then Garbutt died. “As the years passed away, a change came over the spirit of their dream,” wrote local historian George E. Slocum. “Their church was demolished and its timber put to an ignoble use; their schools were reduced to one, and that a primary; their hotels were converted into dwelling houses; their workshops, one by one, slowly and silently sank from sight until there was but little left to the burg except its name.”
Slocum wrote that in... 1908.
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The emergence of the gypsum-hungry wallboard industry gave Garbutt a little bump at the beginning of the 20th century, but it wasn’t enough. The U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t even keep data on Garbutt. To invoke Burkean conservatism in the service of preserving a community that was exnihilated into existence around a single commodity and lasted barely a century is the indulgence of absurd sentimentality. Yes, young men of Garbutt — get off your asses and go find a job: You’re a four-hour bus ride away from the gas fields of Pennsylvania.
Stonehenge didn’t work out, either: Good luck.
Garbutt is Trump Country, and Dougherty, while not a wild-eyed Trumpkin, is generally sympathetic to Trump’s critique of current American economic policy, namely that international trade and immigration are dispossessing the white working class. There is not, in fact, very much evidence for those claims: Immigration does put some downward pressure on wages, but it also puts downward pressure on prices. Native-born low-skilled workers’ money income may have stagnated, but their real income — what they can buy with the money they earn — has continued to improve modestly. The main effect of new immigrants’ wage competition is felt in the wages of earlier immigrants. But the effects of immigration overall are tiny compared with the effects of factors such as health-care expenses. In many lower-end occupations, overall compensation in fact has gone up over the years, but the additional compensation has come largely or entirely in the form of medical benefits. In some cases, the expense of medical benefits has gone up so much that total compensation has increased even while money wages have gone down. That’s the worst of all possible worlds: It costs more to employ those low-skilled American workers, but they don’t feel any richer — and if their employers are paying more for the same benefits (or paying more for inferior benefits under the so-called Affordable Care Act), they aren’t any richer, practically speaking.
In the story of the white working class’s descent into dysfunction, they are the victims and the villains both.
On the trade front, American manufacturing continues to expand and thrive — an absolute economic fact that is, perversely, unknown to the great majority of Americans, who believe precisely the opposite to be the case. Americans have false beliefs about manufacturing for a few reasons: One is that while our factories produce much more than in the past, they employ fewer people; another is that we tend to produce capital goods and import consumer goods — you won’t see much labeled “Made in the USA” at Walmart, but you’ll see it on everything from the aircraft flown by foreign airlines to the robotics in automobile factories overseas. Another factor, particularly relevant to the question of manufacturing and trade, is that a large (but declining) share of those imported consumer goods comes from China, a country with which we have a large trade deficit. That isn’t because the Chinese are clever, but because they are poor: With an average annual income of less than $9,000, the typical Chinese household is not well positioned to buy American-made goods, which are generally expensive. (China is a large consumer of U.S. agricultural products, especially soybeans.) Add to that poorly informed and sentimental ideas about what those old Rust Belt factory jobs actually paid — you can have a 1957 standard of living, if you really want it, quite cheap — and you get a holistic critique of U.S. economic policy that is wholly bunk.
Which isn’t to say that the Mikes of Dougherty’s world have it good — they don’t. But they aren’t victims of the wily Chinese, scheming to make them poor: In the story of the white working class’s descent into dysfunction, they are the victims and the villains both.
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The Washington Post’s “Wonkbook” newsletter compared the counties Trump won in the so-called Super Tuesday primaries with the demographic data and found trends that will surprise no one who has been paying attention (and certainly no one, I hope, who has been reading this magazine). The life expectancies among non-college-educated white Americans have been plummeting in an almost unprecedented fashion, a trend not seen on such a large scale since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the social anarchy that prevailed in Russia afterward. Trump counties had proportionally fewer people with college degrees. Trump counties had fewer people working. And the white people in Trump counties were likely to die younger. The causes of death were “increased rates of disease and ill health, increased drug overdose and abuse, and suicide,” the Post’s Wonkblog website reported.
This is horrifyingly consistent with other findings.
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The manufacturing numbers — and the entire gloriously complex tale of globalization — go in fits and starts: a little improvement here, a little improvement there, and a radically better world in raw material terms (and let’s not sniff at those) every couple of decades. Go back and read the novels of the 1980s or watch The Brady Bunch and ask yourself why well-to-do suburban families living in large, comfortable homes and holding down prestigious jobs were worried about the price of butter and meat, and then ask yourself when was the last time you heard someone complain that he couldn’t afford a stick of butter. That change happened a little at a time, here and there.
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The family-life numbers, on the other hand, came down on us like a meteor. Before the war, divorce had been such an alien phenomenon that it animated such shaggy-dog stories as The Gay Divorcee, a play in which a fictitious act of adultery had to be invented to move the plot forward.
Divorce in 1960 was so rare as to carry a hint of scandalous glamour, which it kept throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with women’s magazines writing lifestyle pieces about informal weekday dinner parties for divorcées (the word itself is today faintly ludicrous) and men’s magazines celebrating divorce as a second adolescence.
The divorce rate doubled over the span of a few decades — even as the marriage rate was declining. Add to that the violence of abortion, which fundamentally alters the relationship between men, women, and children, and what exactly “family” means to those of us born around the time Roe v. Wade was decided becomes a very difficult question.
The concept of the nation as an extended family is the notion that separates American-style conservatism, with its roots in the classical-liberal ideas that informed the American founding, from blood-and-soil, throne-and-altar European nationalism. In Europe, this is an idea popular with the Right: It is entirely unsurprising that Trump has enjoyed the endorsement of, among other European rightists, Jean-Marie Le Pen. In the United States, it is an idea — and an error — popular on both sides of the political divide: The distastefully squishy progressive writer George Lakoff argues that the American Right prefers a strict patriarchal model of the family and, therefore, a similar model of political life, while the Left is inclined toward the maternal and the nurturing. (Right-wing critics of free trade and free enterprise in the English-speaking world often speak of “nurturing” economic policies, because they do not wish to write the word “socialism.”) But it is an idea that fits at best uneasily with the aspirations of American conservatism.
One of the worst errors in public life is the common one of mistaking the metaphor for the thing itself. In reality — and reality is not optional — the president isn’t the national dad (Governor John Kasich’s insistence notwithstanding), and government is neither paternal nor maternal. The nation isn’t your family. Your family is your family.
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The metaphor points both ways: Nationalism may speak to a longing for lost national greatness, but in our own time, it speaks at least as strongly to the longing after — the great howling lamentation for — the ideal family that never was lost, because it never was formed. The Mikes of the world may be struggling to make it in the global economy, but what they really are shut out of is the traditional family. The current social regime of illegitimacy, serial monogamy, abortion, and liberal divorce has rendered traditional families optional, at best — the great majority of divorces are initiated by wives, not by husbands — and the welfare state has at least in part supplanted the Mikes in their role as providers, assuming that they have the wherewithal to fill that role in the first place. Traditional avenues for achieving respect, status, and permanence are lost to them.
Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart London has done more to put homosexual camp in the service of right-wing authoritarianism than any man has since the fellows at Hugo Boss sewed all those nifty SS uniforms. He refers to Trump — this will not surprise you — as “Daddy,” capital-D.
It is easy to imagine a generation of young men being raised without fathers and looking out the window like a kid in an after-school special, waiting for Daddy to come home. Many of them slip into harmless Clark Griswold–ism, trying to provide for their own children the ideal families they themselves never had. But some of them end up grown men still staring out that window, waiting for the father-führer figure they have spent their lives imagining, the protector and vindicator who will protect them, provide for them, and set things in order.
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Dougherty cites the work of the conservative polemicist Sam Francis, one of those old capitalism-hating conservatives who very much embraced the paterfamilias model of government. His analysis, like mine, finds emotional and policy links between the Trump movement and its earlier incarnation, the Pat Buchanan movement. For Dougherty, Francis provides the philosophical link. He also provides the stylistic link: He was a kook. “Francis eventually turned into something resembling an all-out white nationalist,” Dougherty writes, “penning his most racist material under a pen name. Buchanan didn’t take Francis’s advice in 1996, not entirely. But 20 years later, [Francis’s book] From Household to Nation reads like a political manifesto from which the Trump campaign springs.” From Household to Nation is typical in that it is based on a category error, asking economics to do what economics doesn’t: to provide the means “not simply to gain material satisfaction but to support families and the social institutions and identities that evolve from families as the fundamental units of human society and human action.” Economics is about satisfying human wants, not defining them. The problem isn’t that Americans cannot sustain families, but that they do not wish to.
It is therefore strange to me that Dougherty so fundamentally misdiagnoses the conservative reaction to Trump: “A Trump win,” he writes in another piece, “at least temporarily threatens the conservative movement, because it threatens to expose how inessential its ideas are to holding together the party.” (Dougherty also equates the fundraising engaged in by conservative organizations with the Social Security fraud that sustains his fictional Mike, a characterization that indicates the emotional temperament at work here.) Of course there is careerism in the conservative movement, but to proceed as though it were impossible to imagine that conservatives oppose a man running (knowingly or not) on a Sam Francis platform because we oppose the loopy crackpot racist ideas of Sam Francis is to perform an intellectual disservice.
It is also immoral.
It is immoral because it perpetuates a lie: that the white working class that finds itself attracted to Trump has been victimized by outside forces. It hasn’t. The white middle class may like the idea of Trump as a giant pulsing humanoid middle finger held up in the face of the Cathedral, they may sing hymns to Trump the destroyer and whisper darkly about “globalists” and — odious, stupid term — “the Establishment,” but nobody did this to them. They failed themselves.
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If you spend time in hardscrabble, white upstate New York, or eastern Kentucky, or my own native West Texas, and you take an honest look at the welfare dependency, the drug and alcohol addiction, the family anarchy — which is to say, the whelping of human children with all the respect and wisdom of a stray dog — you will come to an awful realization. It wasn’t Beijing. It wasn’t even Washington, as bad as Washington can be. It wasn’t immigrants from Mexico, excessive and problematic as our current immigration levels are. It wasn’t any of that.
The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles
Nothing happened to them. There wasn’t some awful disaster. There wasn’t a war or a famine or a plague or a foreign occupation. Even the economic changes of the past few decades do very little to explain the dysfunction and negligence — and the incomprehensible malice — of poor white America. So the gypsum business in Garbutt ain’t what it used to be. There is more to life in the 21st century than wallboard and cheap sentimentality about how the Man closed the factories down.
The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is |
ines night out with the girls, either way I have two very different makeup looks for February 14th. They both have the exact same face and eye makeup but the different lip colours create two very different looks.
All makeup used is listed at the bottom of this post :)
1. PRETTY PINK
I'm a massive fan of girly pink makeup, and what better time than Valentine's to rock the pink cheeks and lips. Not only beautifully subtle but also flattering on so many skin tones.
I used a dreamy gorgeous lipstick from Lancome in shade 302 Voile Rose (£22.50) to complete this makeup look.
With Flash
2. VALENTINE'S VAMP
For those looking for something a bit different I used the Sleek Eau LaLa Liner in shade Venom from Boots (£4.99) for an alternative Valentine's look. The great thing about this liner is that it's multi-purpose and can also be used as an eyeliner too.
For a more dramatic evening look, I recommend adding false eyelashes!
With Flash
FACE AND EYE MAKEUP:
I applied
in shade Honey on top of moisturised skin, using my Beauty Blender applicator. I then applied
Maybelline - Dream Lumi Highlighting Concealer in shade Ivory under the eyes to brighten my dark circles, again using the Beauty Blender to dab it in to my skin.
I added Revlon Bronzilla Bronzing Powder under my cheekbones, down the sides of my nose, and at the very top of my forehead to contour and maximise my features. Then I applied Stila Cheek Blusher to the apples of my cheeks using the Urban Decay Good Karma Blush Brush. Using this same brush, I lightly added No 7 Radiant Spheres Highlighter to the top of my cheek bones and down the centre of my nose to enhance bone structure and add a romantic glow to the skin.
For the eyes, I used the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette (see pic below). This has an amazing selection of neutral shades that can create a number of natural looks for day or night. Using the Urban Decay Good Karma Shadow Brush I firstly applied eyeshadow shade 'W.O.S' all over the eyelids, right up to the brow bone.
Using the same brush I added shade 'Venus' which is a shimmering pearl colour, to the very inner corners of the eyes to brighten and open them up. I also popped it under the brow bone to highlight.
I then applied shade 'Naked 2' with the Sigma E35 brush, into the creases of my eyes to give some dimension, and finally I used the dark brown shade 'Faint' in the very outer creases of my eyes using the Real Techniques Shading Brush.
I also use this palette when filling in my eyebrows.
I created two cat flicks with the Stila Stay All Day Eyeliner pen and then used L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara to finish.I arrived a half hour early to the Mabee Center at Oral Roberts University, which turned out to be a good idea. There were already hundreds of people crowded into the lobby waiting for a “town hall” sponsored by the ORU College Republicans featuring Rick Santorum. The event was initially scheduled to take place in a banquet hall, but it was later moved to a TV studio (yes, the campus has a TV studio). By the time I arrived, it had finally been moved to the basketball arena.
A family that was probably homeschooled came in at the same time as I did — a troop of about seven kids and their mother, all the girls wearing ankle length skirts with hair that went past their shoulders, the oldest boy in a navy blue suit. They were carrying flags, took pictures in front of the campaign bus, and bore signs that read “Too young to vote, old enough to care” and “I’m voting for Bella’s dad.”
A middle-aged man waiting in line behind me observed to his friend that this event had drawn a larger crowd than a Mike Huckabee rally he’d attended in 2008. A woman of about 60 in front of me was explaining to her neighbor why she had not been a John McCain supporter in that primary: “He wanted to impress us because he was willing to reach across the aisle. Well, I don’t want someone who will reach across the aisle. We’ve been doing that, and look where it’s gotten us.”
The sections we were directed to made up about a third of the arena’s 11,000-person capacity. These seats quickly filled up, so they had to open a full half of the venue. Media estimates put the Thursday afternoon crowd at more than 4,000.
While waiting in the stands, I continued to hear revealing snippets of conversation. A man told the woman next to him that “20% of this nation are on some kind of welfare,” and she responded that she “hadn’t heard that exact figure, but it doesn’t surprise me.” Another woman explained that she was not a Ron Paul fan because “he doesn’t support Israel. And that’s a biggie.” An album of instrumental bluegrass covers of worship songs played over the sound system, which was tolerable. Unfortunately, someone switched it to smooth jazz.
Jeremy Burton, ORU’s Director of Public Relations announced that the event was a few minutes from starting and that the opinions of Santorum were not necessarily those of the university. A potential tragedy interrupted, though. Very soon after his first announcement, he returned to ask any physicians in the house to head to the audio booth. That shut the audience up. The situation was pretty serious. A man walked down the aisle nearest to me to shout “People of God, pray for this man. They’re doing chest compressions, and he’s not responding.” Burton returned to the microphone to announce that paramedics were removing the man, and to repeat the call for prayer. “At Oral Roberts University,” he informed us, “that’s important.”
After several tense minutes, ORU President Mark Rutland stepped up to the lectern but offered no new information. He said that he would lead us in prayer, but instructed us to “pray in your own way, in your own faith.” Men like him never seem to consider that there those who prefer not to pray at all. The vast majority of the crowd bowed their heads, and he prayed like someone used to doing this publicly. He concluded with “in Jesus’ name, amen.”
When the event finally started, we did not receive any meaningful information about the man’s condition. The best I could find later was a reference on a local news site to a “man in the crowd with a health condition” who was treated. I can only hope that the lack of concern in the media (most accounts don’t mention the incident at all) reflects a lack of serious result.
Kara Evans, the president of the ORU College Republicans, introduced Matt Pinnell, the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party and an ORU alumnus. He declared that his goal, and that of the 49 other state chairman, was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. This was met with uproarious applause, the first of the day. He said that it was his idea to bring Santorum to ORU, “the most renowned Christian university in the nation.” He added that if “the New York Times, or anyone else has a problem with that, they can email me at Matt@IDon’tGiveARip.com.” This was met with laughter and further applause. I expect that he will run for office in the not too distant future.
He then re-introduced Rutland, who also said nice things about the “world-renowned” ORU, quoted Will Rogers, and finally introduced the man himself. After the tense wait, I was glad he kept it short.
Santorum stepped onto the court with his two oldest children and was met with a standing ovation. He assured everyone that he had participated in the “very appropriate” prayer and expressed his best wishes.
He joked about his seven children and how he was doing his part to fix the “demographic problem” associated with social security and medical care. He also spoke about his youngest daughter, Bella, who had a “scary health time” recently. He mentioned she had a “miraculous recovery,” that Tulsa was his last stop before returning home to see her. “Tuesday was a good night,” he said, referring to his victory speech in St, Charles, MO after winning the non-binding primary in that state along with the Minnesota caucus. “But wow, this is amazing,” he said said of the Tulsa crowd.
I had wondered if the advertised “town hall” format had been abandoned, as I saw no microphones available, and Santorum settled the question. He explained that he would only be taking queries from students, specifically those on the stage behind the lectern, not the audience. He described this as “Socratic.”
He launched into the meat of his address by declaring the 2012 election to be the most important of any American’s life “no matter how old” they are and enumerating all the things it was about. This was when the alarms started to go off in my head.
Yes, this is an election about a president who is allowing things to occur in the world, almost apathetically, to rally forces that have been out there over the last few decades, that want to do harm to America. And we have the audacity of calling it an ‘Arab Spring,’ and what we see now is that the Arab Spring is an icy, cold winter of radical Islamists.
Santorum included Egypt as part of this “icy, cold winter.” The idea he seemed to express, and which the audience seemed to agree with, was that Egypt’s entire uprising consisted of “radical Islamists” who opposed “an ally of the United States and Israel.” He blamed Obama for “standing by.”
It is beyond dispute that the Islamist parties who now control Egypt’s parliament were (unfortunately) popularly elected, and Hosni Mubarak was a corrupt dictator. But these facts did not seem relevant to Santorum or his audience. It was odd to hear a candidate for president not even pay lip service to the idea that the United States promotes and spreads democracy around the world.
Santorum went on to state unequivocally that Iran is “building a nuclear weapon.”
And the president reluctantly fights with Congress, just to do the minimum to slow them down. And then we see in Syria, the only reason the president of the United States withdraws our embassy from Syria, which he was that put it in place, to reward the thug Bashar Assad and his reign of terror over the people of Syria, we rewarded him by placing an embassy there. And the only reason we removed it, because they wouldn’t guarantee the safety of the embassy, not because we wanted to pull out as a sign of lack of support for this thug.
I could only gape at the speed with which he switched to calling Mubarak an “ally” and Bashar al-Assad a “thug.” The difference in the ruling styles of the two men is one of degree: Assad is more brutal, and putting an embassy in his country was indeed a mistake. The difference in kind between the Mubarak and Assad is not about how they rule their people, but in how they relate to the United States. Santorum did not pretend otherwise, and the audience did not care.
I was even more taken aback at how smoothly he transitioned from promoting amoral foreign policy realism to trumpeting Judeo-Christian values.
Ladies and gentlemen we have a president of the United States who on every single count, and I haven’t mentioned the one, his slow dissemination of the freedom of religion [applause], freedom of conscience [louder applause]. Standing up and talking about abortion as if having life and being pregnant was something that would deny people their dreams. This callousness toward life, and family, and faith — and even open hostility. This is the president of the United States today. This is a president who has a fundamentally different view of America than what made America the greatest country in the history of the world.
He asked us to imagine a less accountable second-term President Obama, immune to “political considerations.” Such a president would do enormous damage internationally, in Santorum’s view. He cited Israel as an example, “who stand and plead for our help.” He referred to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta “condemning” Israel and “inviting the rest of the world to do the same.” I did not know what he was talking about, but all around me, people emitted sighs of exasperation at the claim. My best guess now is that he was talking about reports that Panetta is concerned that Israel may strike Iran soon. The news was based on comments from anonymous officials, not any public statement, and I can find no hint of a condemnation.
From this, he glided right into our healthcare system, which he says Obama has “taken over.” The Affordable Care Act, to Santorum, is fundamentally about liberty.
If the government says they’re gonna give you a right, they can then tell you how to exercise that right [man in audience: “That’s right.”] You see, our founders believed… [slowly building applause] Our founders believed that rights don’t come from the government.
He then pulled out his pocket Constitution — “the operator’s manual of America.” He pointed out that most pocket Constitutions also print the Declaration of Independence — “the why of America.”
And in that Declaration of Independence is a phrase you folks here in Oklahoma, and I know at Oral Roberts, you know that phrase. And that is: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their [pauses, audience replies “Creator”] with certain unalienable Rights, among them Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And that is the essence of America.
The left, Santorum thinks, sees the Declaration as an “old, dead letter” and are trying to “ease [it] out.” It is “inconvenient” to liberals because it says “rights come from God instead of the government.”
It’s interesting. When it come to the issue of equality, they’re all for it. They use that term all the time. “Equality! Equality!” Where does equality come from? Do you find equality between men and women, in society, in other cultures in the world? No you do not. No you do not. You find it in Western civilization. You find it because we are a Judeo-Christian country.
Yes, Santorum argued with a straight face that Christianity was responsible for women’s rights.
None of us are equal, from the standpoint of, from a humanistic worldview. What makes us equal? It’s that we’re equal in the eyes of God. [Applause] We all have dignity and worth because of that.
I felt for a moment like he was telling me that, by not believing in a god, I had no rights. I know that this is not the logical conclusion of the statement, but it’s an easy reaction to have when surrounded by such a devout crowd. And the notion that rights come only from God does have a sense of exclusion to it. Someone who holds this view would probably tell an atheist that she has the same rights as a religious person, but that she doesn’t recognize the source. This is another way of saying that secularists and humanists don’t understand the idea of American the way that Christians do.
Santorum presented this notion in stark terms.
That’s why it’s so hard to take what we have here, and transplant it in other countries. Because what we did here was unique, was different. The French tried to copy us in the French Revolution. Oh, they had their Constitution. But the watchwords of their revolution were three words. Liberty: good. Equality: good. And fraternity: problematic. Because fraternity means each other, brothers, right? Brotherhood, without fatherhood [applause]. Without a creator. And when that happens, and when that happens, then rights don’t from God, they come from each other. And, of course, once you have this radical document of freedom like our Constitution, and you give people the ability of self-government, and they have no rights they have to respect except the ones they give each other, then guess what? You get a guillotine [scattered applause].
He had no problem drawing a parallel between the godless French Revolution and 21st century liberal politics.
We have a president now who believes that government should be able to create rights and force you to exercise them in conformity with what they believe — not the unalienable rights you have. That’s why you see a church in America — I know it’s the Catholic Church, but it’s the Catholic Church first [woman near me: “That’s right”]. It won’t be the last if they get away with it [applause].
America, Santorum explained, is the most tolerant country in the world. This is because of our excellence at practicing Judeo-Christian values. But somehow, an exception has been made for “behavior that is against the radical secular ideals of the left.” This is true “particularly if you’re a Christian.” He sees as a sign of this view that both Obama and Hillary Clinton have referred to the freedom of religion as “the freedom of worship.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but my religion goes beyond worship [applause]. What are you doing right here? What are doing right here, at Oral Roberts? You are practicing the freedoms that you’ve been given to educate people consistent with the values of your faith. That is a freedom, not of worship, but it is a religious a freedom, and an important religious freedom [applause].
If we really want to get the business community going, one surefire way is to drive up energy production and lower the cost of energy in this country [standing ovation.] I knew that would get a good number here in Tulsa.
From this, he transitioned comfortably to complaining about “government getting bigger and bigger,” which leads to “immoral debt.” He promised to “liberate the business community” with “lower taxes and less regulation,” and the audience showed strong approval. Free market capitalism is somehow a part of the package to Christian conservatives. He then narrowed the economic talk to energy issues, which are important to Oklahoma voters.
After drawing drawing parallels between the history of energy production in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, he made clear what kind of “energy production” he was talking about.
Thanks to the great technology developed here of hydrofracking [man in audience whistles], we have seen the gas industry explode, and as a result, the cost of gas going down [sustained applause]. We have a huge economic advantage, and what are we doing with it? Trying to eliminate that advantage. The president of the United States is now going out and saying, “Oh, we’ve got to be conservative about this new technology, hydrofracking.” New technology? Last I saw there were about 800,000 wells drilled in this country using this technology [applause and several shouts of “Yeah”]. But since the environmentalists have now been outed with the politicization of the science of this “man-made global warming” schtick [loud applause, partial standing ovation]… They’ve gotta find a new fundraising tool.
Santorum used religious language even to distinguish himself from environmentalists.
They don’t believe that creation is here to serve man, they believe man is here to serve creation. And so as a result, we have a president of the United States who sides with them on everything.
When he said that environmentalists had been “outed,” he may have been referring to a 2009 controversy that was nicknamed “climategate”: the hacking of e-mails among four researchers who worked for the Climate Research Institute at the University of East Anglia. The American Meteorological Society responded to those who suggested that the content of the e-mails revealed a widespread conspiracy among climate scientists.
AMS Headquarters has received several inquiries asking if the material made public following the hacking of e-mails and other files from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia has any impact on the AMS Statement on Climate Change, which was approved by the AMS Council in 2007 and represents the official position of the Society. The AMS Statement on Climate Change [which states that current warming trends are anthropogenic] continues to represent the position of the AMS. It was developed following a rigorous procedure that included drafting and review by experts in the field, comments by the membership, and careful review by the AMS Council prior to approval as a statement of the Society. The statement is based on a robust body of research reported in the peer-reviewed literature.
“Skeptics” like Santorum’s former colleague, Sen. Jim Inhoffe (R-OK), nonetheless treated the e-mails as proof that no scientific consensus exists on climate change.
Before moving on to the obligatory bashing of his Republican rivals, Santorum attempted to establish himself as a man who believes that the problems in this country need to be solved from “the bottom up,” as opposed to someone like Obama who believes they should be solved from “the top down.” The audience rewarded him with a long standing ovation. Unlike me, they apparently knew exactly what he meant by that.
As proof of the extent to which he had won them over, the crowd laughed and cheered at his banal jokes about Mitt Romney‘s healthcare plan and Newt Gingrich‘s ad with Nancy Pelosi. He argued that since he is a man of deep and consistent conviction, he would “create a clear contrast Barack Obama.”
At that point, he moved on to the questions by pre-approved ORU students. The first was from Jonathan Townsend, the president of the College Democrats. Santorum joked to him that leading the College Democrats at ORU must feel like being the chairman of the College Republicans at Penn State, as he was in the early 80s. Townsend asked him to reconcile his opposition to the Affordable Care Act with his Catholic faith.
Here’s the way I approach things as a public official. I believe that you have an obligation to approach every issue in public life from the standpoint, as I do, from the standpoint of both faith and reason. My conscience was formed as a result of my life experience, was primarily through faith, and through the moral values that I was taught, of the teachings within the Bible and the church. And so, yes, I bring that to the table. That’s who I am. When I look at what’s right and wrong, they’re right out of what the Bible teaches are right and wrong [applause]. But, I have an obligation, not just to look at things that way, but also to bring reason. I always say that if your faith is true and your reason is right, you’ll end up at the same place. Why? Well because God created us, created the universe, created reason. And, of course, why would God create something where your faith would bring you one place and your reason would bring you another if your faith is true? Right? [Scattered applause.] I also believe as a public official that you have a right to speak to people of faith and no faith. You have to present a reason why you want to advance a certain public policy. Not just because, “that’s what my faith teaches me and that’s why I believe it.” That’s fine, but from the standpoint of public policy, it’s insufficient, because you need to appeal to people who may not share your faith. And so, that’s why I look at the Affordable Care Act, and say, both from the standpoint of faith — do I believe that people have the right to purchase healthcare? Yes. Do I believe it is right that the government should impose and control? No. So it’s one thing to say that people should have the opportunity, should have access to care. It’s another to say that the government should be the implementer of that [applause]. And reason tells me that government is the least effective tool to make that the best possible care [standing ovation].
The next questioner, who introduced himself only as Micah, asked him to explain the difference between his foreign policy views and Ron Paul’s, which provoked knowing laughter among the crowd. I hope he did not mean this as challenging question — because if so, he failed. Santorum did not mention Paul while bashing Romney and Gingrich — probably because Paul is consistent on fiscal issues. And there are few supporters of Paul who could be swayed to Santorum’s side. But Micah gave Santorum and opportunity to avoid the appearance of ignoring an opponent, while drawing a real distinction between himself and the congressman.
The briefest way is, I believe in peace through strength, he believes… [Applause.] Well, maybe I’ll just say he doesn’t. I believe that America is a source of stability in the world. The greatest benefactor of that is the United States and us. If we, in fact, do as Congressman Paul has suggested, which is to isolate ourselves, to withdraw from the world- I think we’ve seen that there are forces in the world who would replace us, who would not have our best interests in mind [applause.] … People have asked me, “would you vote for Congressman Paul, given his national security positions?” The answer is yes, because I believe after this election, if Barack Obama is re-elected, his foreign policy would be a Ron Paul foreign policy. I think he would become much more radical in his cuts to the military and bringing people home, and disengaging from the world and allowing the world to go to seed. And let me assure you — it will go to seed. And the virulence, that will be rampant, like a bacteria that keeps growing, will end up on our door [applause]. And we will not be able to have the ability to stop it.
He had, by this point, made many untrue statements. But his claim that a second term President Obama would have the same foreign policy as a first term President Paul was his most dishonest. He simply can not believe that to be the truth.
Ron Paul said that the assassination of Osama bin Laden was “absolutely unnecessary,” and that he would not have ordered it; that the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki was an “impeachable offense;” that the drone campaign in Pakistan, which Obama expanded after taking office, “makes more enemies” (and I agree with him on that one). Santorum employed a transparent scare tactic by claiming Obama, due to a lack of political accountability as a second term president, would suddenly change his entire approach to national security.
The next questioner was Luke, an international relations major, and the president of the Model UN Club. His was the best question of the night by far.
Luke: It says on your website that you want to re-brand “The War on Terror” to be “The War on Radical Islam” [applause.] Do you see radical Islam as the prime example of Islam at large? And, if you were the commander-in-chief, how would your War on Terror, or War on Radical Islam change from the current administration? Santorum: Thank you. Great question. The reason I saw we have to re-brand the war, is because we need to be accurate as to who we’re fighting [applause.] Are we fighting all terrorists? And the answer to that is clearly no. There are terrorists in other parts of the world that we are not engaged in, and have no interest from national security point of view from engaging in. The other issue is, is this a war on terrorism? Well what is terrorism? Terrorism is a military tactic. Can you be at war against a military tactic? … You go to war against what we’ve always gone to war against. You go to war against a virulent ideology that seeks to harm and destroy America [applause].
His point that you don’t fight a tactic is well-put, but I was disturbed the casual assumption that we are in an ongoing war that won’t end until this “virulent ideology” is eradicated. Judging by their reaction, the crowd made it along with him. If we’re in the business of re-branding, why not think of the struggle with “radical Islam” as an ongoing intelligence operation?
It’s especially unsettling when one considers the breadth of his definition of “radical Islam,” as revealed in his earlier comments about Egypt. Considering those statements, it’s hard to know what to make of his clarification of what America’s relationship with Islam should be.
Does that mean we’re at war with Islam? Of course not. But we’re at war with an element of Islam, that, frankly is at war Islam, and with most Muslims [applause]. The people who are going to be most disadvantaged, who are going to be most affected, as we see in Iran — most Iranians are not radical Islamists. In fact, most Iranians love America. And they’ve loved America for a long time. Why? Because we had the courage to go out and call their theocracy what it was: evil, and a corruption, and that we were on their side. Yet they are being oppressed everyday by these radicals. No, we’re not at war with Islam. But we are at war with the radical elements and we need to say to the people of Islam, the Islamic people, that they need to join the fight [applause] against the radical elements. And we are ready to help you in that regard.
This is a nice idea, of course, but I’m not sure how he’s capable of communicating his support and good intentions to “the people of Islam” if he supports people rulers like Hosni Mubarak. His real message seems to be: “we support you as long as you don’t oppose our allies.”
The fourth and final questioner, a young woman who did not introduce herself, asked him how he would respond in a general election to attacks on his abortion and homosexuality stances.
Well, it’s very interesting, because the other candidates in this race have the same position I have on these issues, at least that’s what they say. Right now, they have the same position I have on these issues. And so, whoever the Republican candidate is, we have these radical positions that marriage should be between a man and a woman [applause]. How radical is that?
He brought up the recent decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down California’s 2008 Proposition 8, which added a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in the state. He claimed that the court ruled that “there was no rational basis for anyone to believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.” What they actually ruled was that Prop 8 specifically violates the 14th Amendment, in that it does not conform to the standard that there be “a legitimate reason for a passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently.” The decision does not even establish the right of same-sex couples to marry. Opponents of marriage equality are right to worry that the trend is favoring the rights of gay and lesbian couples, but it’s a bit hysterical to treat each ruling that is unfavorable to them as a rebuke on their mental faculties.
Santorum that any Republican candidate will be attacked for his views on abortion and homosexuality, but that his strong convictions and willingness to talk about the issues set him apart. Americans, he said to loud applause, “want to believe that the president believes what he believes.”
In his closing remarks, after talking about the risks taken by the Founding Fathers and the American military, challenged the crowd to put their “honor on the line.”
You are stewards of a great inheritance. You have been honored by your ancestors, the people from Tulsa, the people from Oklahoma. The people from this country have given you the honor of being an American [applause]. And it is your obligation to be great stewards, to pass on to the next generation an America that is at least as great, as free, as prosperous and safe as the country you inherited. That’s what this is about, and I hope you take that challenge and do your duty. Thank you and God bless.
Read: don’t disrespect your ancestors and the troops casting a cynical vote for Romney or Gingrich. The final standing ovation was long and enthusiastic, and the chant “We want Rick” gained some momentum.
As I made my way out of the arena, I looked around and saw a lot of smiling, enthused people. I don’t know if they will all vote for Santorum on March 6th, but I do know that they really liked what they heard.
…
I realize now that I’ve been exposed to Rick Santorum’s ideas almost exclusively through other liberals. The first I heard of him was when I read about Dan Savage‘s notorious Google-bomb of his surname. After he lost his Senate re-election campaign in 2006, I occasionally saw a left-leaning blogger complain about something he wrote on Townhall.com or said on Fox News. Even since his presidential campaign launched him back into the spotlight, I came across his statements largely through The Daily Show, ThinkProgress, and liberals on Twitter.
The experience of hearing his ideas unmediated, delivered to a sympathetic audience, was revelatory. The people I sat with on Thursday were not freaks. They were not on the fringes of society. Santorum’s crowd is indistinguishable from the people I see and interact with every day as they politely go about their business in the city of Tulsa.
I suppose I always knew that, but to see it in practice was terrifying.CLOSE Jordan Montgomery came out as gay when he was 13 years old. He and his mom open up and share the best possible response. USA TODAY
Kathy Godwin is board vice president for PFLAG. (Photo11: COURTESY OF THE GODWIN FAMILY)
So your child just came out as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. What do you do?
The best initial response from parents is to “give their child a hug, to say that you love them,” said Kathy Godwin, board vice president for the organization PFLAG, which supports the LGBT community and helps to educate parents, families and friends.
"And then you can follow up and say, ‘You know, I don’t know everything I need to know, so give me a moment and some time, and with your help we’ll both go through this journey,' " Godwin says.
While each situation will be different, a parent should first reassure a child "that you have their back and that you love them unconditionally," says Elijah C. Nealy, author of the new book Transgender Children and Youth: Cultivating Pride and Joy With Families in Transition.
This should happen "whether you understand everything or not, whether you are OK with them being LGBT or not," advises Nealy, a transgender man and clinical social worker. "Because more and more, we’re understanding that that kind of acceptance and support from family is the critical mediating variable in terms of risk factors."
Those risk factors can include depression, suicide, substance abuse and risky sexual behaviors, Nealy says, citing findings from the Family Acceptance Project, an initiative to prevent health risks for LGBT people through the context of their families.
CLOSE DeShanna Neal shares the story on her transgender child Trinity.
"How you react to your gay or transgender children has a deep and lasting impact on their lives," the Family Acceptance Project says in an information guide.
Project director Caitlin Ryan cautions parents against expressing shame that their child came out or preventing them from finding an LGBT support group.
Wendy Montgomery of Chandler, Ariz., wasn’t sure what to do when she realized her then-13-year-old son Jordan might be gay. His behavior changed, from that of a happy child to someone who was depressed. Concerned, she read his journal and learned he had a crush on a boy at school.
"Coming from a very conservative, very Orthodox, multigenerational Mormon home, I didn’t know any gay people," she says. "It wasn’t even on my radar, to be honest. If I knew gay people, I didn’t know they were gay. I had no concept of even what that was."
Tom and Wendy Montgomery supported their son Jordan when they discovered he was gay. (Clockwise from top left), Tom, Wendy, Jordan, Emma, Ethan, Kate and Susannah June 9, 2017, in their Chandler, Az., home. (Photo11: Mark Henle, The Arizona Republic via the USA TODAY Network)
So she and her husband Tom approached Jordan, and she asked him about what she read in the journal. After Jordan confirmed what she read, Wendy says she did not know how to deal with it in terms of her faith. Yet she also says there was never a moment when she thought, "I don’t know if I can still love him or accept him."
The three of them did research together to learn more about homosexuality and to try to find local LGBT organizations and resources. They also told Jordan’s younger sister, who would go on to become especially supportive, as well as relatives. Right before Jordan started high school, he came out to Facebook friends and the Mormon community.
Yet Jordan still felt depressed and suicidal at times. He tried eight therapists, and none were a good fit. It was only after Ryan gave Wendy a recommendation that he found the right one.
Coming out, finding a good therapist and attending gatherings with other LGBT teens and those who are accepting “really helped get me to where I am now, where I feel like I’ve never been more mentally healthy,” said Jordan, now 18 and who just finished his first year of college.
What also helped Jordan is when his mom introduced him to happy, successful gay couples. She wanted him to see that one day, that could be him.
Family Acceptance Project research shows that the average age that kids realize they were gay was a a little over age 13. PFLAG’s Godwin said it is easier for teens and younger children to come out today than in the past.
Kylee Uradomo with her parents David and Janet (Photo11: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY)
A wide range of well-known LGBT personalities — such as actors, singers, politicians and athletes — are "helping youth to have a conversation,” she says. "And more importantly, also potentially helping parents to see (that) this does not affect the happiness, well-being and success of your child."
Advice for parents
Be a good listener: Give your child the space to share his or her thoughts and feelings, PFLAG Director of Communications Liz Owen advises.
"As my daughter said when she was just a little kid, ‘Don’t talk too much. Just listen,' " said DeShanna Neal, mother of 14-year-old transgender girl Trinity Neal.
Reassure in small ways: Even if it’s hard to show overt support, parents can still display subtle support, such as speaking positively about an LGBT person, PFLAG's Owen says.
Learn the terms: There are many different words and phrases used about and within the LGBT community. Learning that language can facilitate stronger, clearer discussions with a child.
Seek professional help if needed: PFLAG refers people to the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the National Association of Social Workers. Nealy says the World Professional Association for Transgender Health also has a tab to help people find health care providers.
Get involved: Parents must act as advocates, says Janet Uradomo, mother |
they will attack without mercy. If the Ming AI attempted to play like a player, the result would be very unhistorical (we had such results in mid-development handsoff runs of MoH).
Also, as already mentioned, all AI nations should realize that you are a big threat and try to weaken you. This is a mechanic that has been in for a while, but which has only been able to target other AI unless you've played the game on hard (or very hard) difficulty. In the next patch however, they will be able to target the player as well, even on normal difficulty.
Click to expand...SEOUL (Reuters) - A U.S. B-1B bomber on Wednesday joined large-scale U.S.-South Korean military exercises that North Korea has denounced as pushing the peninsula to the brink of nuclear war, as tension mounts between the North and the United States.
The bomber flew from the Pacific U.S.-administered territory of Guam and joined U.S. F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters in the annual exercises, which run until Friday.
The drills come a week after North Korea said it had tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States, as part of a weapons program that it has conducted in defiance of international sanctions and condemnation.
Asked about the bomber’s flight, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing: “We hope relevant parties can maintain restraint and not do anything to add tensions on the Korean peninsula.”
North Korea regularly threatens to destroy South Korea, the United States and Japan. Its official KCNA state news agency said at the weekend that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration was “begging for nuclear war” by staging the drills.
It also labeled Trump, who has threatened to destroy North Korea if the United States is threatened, “insane”.
KCNA said on Tuesday that the exercises in which the bomber took part are “simulating an all-out war”, including drills to “strike the state leadership and nuclear and ballistic rocket bases, air fields, naval bases and other major objects...”
U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday urged the Pentagon to start moving U.S. military dependants, such as spouses and children, out of South Korea, saying conflict with North Korea was getting close.
The U.S.-South Korea drills coincide with a rare visit to the isolated North by U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman.
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Guk met Feltman on Wednesday in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and discussed bilateral cooperation and other issues of mutual interest, KCNA said.
U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets take part in a joint aerial drill exercise called 'Vigilant Ace' between U.S. and South Korea, at the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
Feltman, a former senior U.S. State Department official, is the highest-level U.N. official to visit North Korea since 2012. The State Department said on Tuesday he was not carrying any message from Washington.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit China next Wednesday for a summit with his counterpart Xi Jinping, Seoul’s presidential Blue House said. North Korea’s increasing nuclear and missile capability would top the agenda, it said.
The military exercises, called “Vigilant Ace”, are designed to enhance joint readiness and operational capability of U.S. extended deterrence, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
North Korea has vehemently criticized the drills since the weekend, saying the exercise precipitates U.S. and South Korean “self-destruction”.
China and Russia had proposed that the United States and South Korea stop major military exercises in exchange for North Korea halting its weapons programs. China is North Korea’s lone major ally and fears widespread instability on its border.
Russia also has communication channels open with North Korea and is ready to exert its influence, the RIA news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov as saying on Tuesday.
Slideshow (10 Images)
North Korea has tested dozens of ballistic missiles, two of which flew over Japan, and conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test in September.
It says its weapons programs are a necessary defense against U.S. plans to invade. The United States, which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, denies any such intention.One hundred years ago, on September 5-8th 1915 an international conference of forty or so anti-war socialists took place in the village of Zimmerwald in neutral Switzerland. The key issues at stake in the debate between the opposing political currents at Zimmerwald were to reverberate across Europe in the years ahead – and they still have implications for what we do today.
It was by then more than a year since the Second International had collapsed like a house of cards as its leading constituent parties joined in supporting the bellicose imperialist war aims of their respective ‘fatherlands’. For revolutionary Marxists, most of whom had struggled against revisionism before the war, who recognised that capitalism’s global imperialist war was a historical game-changer in that the objective conditions for socialism now existed, there was no question of the need for a new International which would hold firm to Marx’s dictum that the workers have no country and lead the struggle for socialism. From Trotsky who had written soon after the war started of the new International which must arise out of the present world cataclysm; the Dutch Tribunists associated with Pannekoek, Roland Holst, and Gorter whose Imperialism, the World War and Social Democracy reiterated that “this war is the crucible from which the new International must be born”; the splintered German Left from Borchardt’s Lichtstrahlen (Rays of Light) group, the Bremen Left around Johan Knief and Paul Frolich and of course Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg; the Social Democracy of Poland and Lithuania (also the party of Rosa Luxemburg and Jogisches) which had joined with the Left wing of the PPS and the Bund when the war broke out to try to organise a general strike against the war on an essentially revolutionary defeatist basis (“The proletariat declares war upon its governments, its oppressors!”)
Within this current some placed more importance than others on the urgency of establishing a new International which would openly confirm the betrayal of Social Democracy. They wanted to challenge its right to speak in the name of the working class as well as give political direction on how the struggles of the international working class can be unified into the revolutionary struggle for socialism. Hermann Gorter, for example, dropped out of political life for two critical years. Others, like Rosa Luxemburg, envisaged that the new International would be built after the war – or rather, after the working class struggle had brought it to an end[1]
Even amongst the internationalists there was confusion as to whether ‘war on war’ meant that the proletariat should be struggling for peace as a precondition for building socialism or, as Lenin most urgently insisted, that in struggling against the horrific costs of war, workers have no choice but to get rid of their own government, take matters into their own hands and embark on the revolutionary road to socialism.
Drawing on the experience of the Paris Commune and the 1905 revolution in Russia, he insisted on the likelihood of the imperialist world war itself creating a revolutionary situation where the working class, if it stuck to defending its own interests, would have to take power into its own hands and begin the worldwide struggle for socialism. “Once the war has started, it is unthinkable to run away from it. One must go ahead and do the work of a Socialist. … One must go there and organise the proletariat for the ultimate aim, as it is Utopian to think that the proletariat will achieve its aim in a peaceful way. …” (Golos 37/38 October 1914) From this perspective it follows that:
Turning the present imperialist war into civil war is the only correct proletarian slogan. It is indicated by the experience of the Commune, it was outlined by the Basle resolution (1912) and it follows from all the conditions of an imperialist war among highly developed countries. However difficult such transformation may appear at one time or another, Socialists will never relinquish. systematic, insistent, unflinching preparatory work in this direction once the war has become a fact.
Only on this road will the proletariat be able to break away from under the influence of the chauvinist bourgeoisie, and sooner or later, in one form or another, will it take decisive steps on the road to real freedom of peoples, and on the road to Socialism.
Long live the international brotherhood of the workers united against the chauvinism and patriotism of the bourgeoisie of all countries!
Long live the proletarian International, free from opportunism. (The War and Russian Social Democracy; written October 1914, published November 1914)
During his exile in Switzerland Lenin battled on several fronts to get this perspective of proletarian internationalism, of preparing to turn the imperialist war into a civil war, accepted by the Party. First of all amongst Bolsheviks in exile abroad, some of whom thought it their duty to volunteer for the French army (a stance supported by Plekhanov, once regarded as the mainstay of Marxism in Russia). At the Berne Conference of RSDLP Groups Abroad in early 1915 Bolshevik groups from France opposed his call for revolutionary defeatism in favour of ‘the fight for peace’. There was a similar struggle within the Party inside Russia especially over the idea of ‘defeatism’ which militants like Shlyapnikov argued put workers off, but eventually the party on the ground saw that the line of work was to politically and practically prepare a revolutionary course for the working class as the toll of continuing the war weakened the Tsarist regime.
On the international front the task was essentially the same: countering the argument that ‘nothing can be done’ during wartime (especially Kautsky’s gem that the International is a peace time weapon but that after the war it will be revived as before); rallying the forces who were prepared to break the ‘social peace’ and call on workers to defend their own interests. In short, he was preparing the ground for a new International acting on the basis that workers owe no loyalty to the existing governments and for a line of work based on turning the imperialist war into a civil war. By 1915 the signs of growing war weariness were already in evidence. In defiance of martial law, street demonstrations against the cost of living broke out in Germany. From April strikes in Russia multiplied and became more political. In July the Petrograd Bolsheviks led a boycott of the War Industries Committees, set up by the regime to enlist workers into the war effort.
Even the old International’s lifeless International Socialist Bureau was drawn into approving ‘peace’ conferences. In January Social Democrats from neutral countries met in Copenhagen and issued an appeal to socialists in the belligerent states to act to stop the war. In February the ILP hosted a conference of ‘socialists’ from the Allied Powers presided over by Keir Hardie where the Bolshevik, Litvinov was prevented from reading an internationalist declaration.
The resolution adopted by the conference stated that the war was the product of the antagonisms produced by capitalist society, imperialism and colonial rivalry where every country had a share of responsibility but nevertheless passed a resolution on the necessity of continuing the war since a victory for Germany would extinguish liberty, national independence and faith in treaties. After the war they hoped for an end to secret diplomacy, the "interest of armaments makers" and international compulsory arbitration. The workers of the Allied countries are fighting a defensive war against the German and Austrian governments, not against the German and Austrian people, and would resist attempts to turn this into a war of conquests. The resolution specifically demanded the restoration of Belgium, autonomy or independence for Poland, and the resolution of all the national problems of Europe from Alsace-Lorraine to the Balkans on the basis of national self-determination.
In April a similar gathering of Social Democrats from the Central Powers socialists met in Vienna and passed resolutions dealing chiefly with relations after the war.
However, when the Italian and Swiss Social Democratic Parties proposed an anti-war meeting of workers’ groups irrespective of the role of ‘their country’ in the war, the ISB did not want to know. They decided to go ahead anyway and call a conference of all socialist parties and workers’ groups which are against civil peace, which adhere to the basis of class struggle, and which are willing, through simultaneous action, to struggle for immediate peace … In the organisational sense Zimmerwald was outside the remit of the rotten Second International. Politically, however, there was no intention to undermine Social Democracy. When Zinoviev proposed that the purpose of the forthcoming conference should be to organise around a clear revolutionary line and prepare for a clear break with the old International he was given short shrift. Still, Lenin recognised an opening for revolutionaries to get a hearing, expand their influence and in the process consolidate the forces necessary to create a new International. In the months running up to the conference there was intensive correspondence and discussion amongst the Left on the key points they needed to include in a joint statement on the proletariat and the war. Both Radek and Lenin wrote draft resolutions.
Alexandra Kollontai organised the participation of the Swedish and Norwegian left Socialists. The Marxist group around the Dutch paper De Tribune (The Tribune) was contacted.
The Bolsheviks published a pamphlet in German for circulation to delegates … It contained Lenin and Zinoviev’s article Socialism and War, as well as the Central Committee and Bern conference resolutions. It also included the Bolsheviks’ 1913 resolution on the national question, an area where the Russian revolutionaries had differences with many of their left allies.[2]
This last issue was a bone of contention which was never resolved before the formation of the 3rd International. However in the run-up to the Zimmerwald meeting Lenin had to concede to the majority. In the pre-conference discussions over the wording of the statement the Left would present, the majority of the eight delegates preferred Radek’s draft to Lenin’s. The final version (below) makes no reference to oppressed and oppressing nations.
This was not the stumbling bloc for the majority who could not tolerate even a watered down version of revolutionary defeatism. The Left’s resolution was rejected. The Zimmerwald Manifesto which has come down in history was the outcome of a compromise, largely drafted by Trotsky – who at this point was amongst “the vacillating elements” editing Nashe Slovo _("Our Word")_ in Paris under the slogan of "peace without indemnities or annexations, peace without conquerors or conquered." Nevertheless the Left signed it since they were able to add a rider regarding its limitations. In September 1915 Lenin was able to describe Zimmerwald as ‘the first step’ which … for all its inconsistency and timidity marks … a real struggle against opportunism, towards a rupture with it.[3]
So it seemed. In the event the biggest step forward was that the internationalists for the most part had come together and organised independently. Before leaving Zimmerwald they had set up their own Bureau of the Zimmerwald Left, composed of Lenin, Zinoviev and Radek. The documents they had presented to the Congress were published in Internationales Flugblatt and in 1916 there was a short-lived journal Vorbote (Herald) which was intended to be a forum for debate within the Left. During 1916 the crisis caused by the war and predicted by Lenin sharpened throughout Europe. The gulf between the Zimmerwald majority, who would not make a clean break away from Social Democracy, and the Left became a chasm. After the February revolution in Russia Lenin argued that “the Zimmerwald bog can no longer be tolerated” and that the need now was for the immediate founding of a “new, proletarian International” “consisting only of Lefts”.
The Zimmerwald conference is not among the World War One events commemorated by the likes of David Cameron or Prince Charles: ‘tributes’ designed to perpetuate myths about ‘the nation at war’. Even so, there are myths being spun by the capitalist left about the significance of Zimmerwald for socialists and the working class today.
First amongst them is the notion that ‘Zimmerwald’ as a whole is an example to follow today. In essence this means refusing to accept that social democracy, including Labour, is fundamentally a bulwark of capitalism and an obstacle in the way of independent working class struggle which is the only path that can lead to the revolutionary struggle for socialism which means the overthrow of the existing state. The point about the Zimmerwald Manifesto is that at the time it was seen as a step towards a complete break with social democracy. Today we know that the majority never made that break. However, it is almost laughable to see the distortion of history being pedalled by Counterfire – whose members engage in just about every cross-class protest movement going, notably the Stop The War Coalition – whose article on Zimmerwald tells us:
The [resulting] “Zimmerwald Manifesto” helped inspire a mass movement of antiwar and socialist activists across the warring countries of Europe. Finishing: The ideals of Zimmerwald became a source of inspiration for a growing movement of militant action which prepared the revolutions of 1917 and 1918. John Riddell, Counterfire 31.8.2015 www.counterfire.org
This is disingenuous from someone who has made a close study of Zimmerwald and Lenin’s role in the movement to create the Third International. As if the struggle for communism, the overthrow of the capitalist state, the Bolsheviks, the Spartacists, the October Revolution and the working class revolutionary wave which brought an end to world war were the produce of militant action by a bunch of activists. However absurd, this is a convenient myth which can be used to justify almost any reformist protest (“militant action”) as the road which in the past “prepared the revolutions of 1917-18” and which today … well, as one ‘No Glory In War’ post puts it, the Zimmerwald anniversary can be used to promote peace and international co-operation (sic).
For all those would-be revolutionaries today who see only the counter-revolution in Russia and place the blame for it on the shoulders of Lenin and the Bolshevik Party it’s time to acknowledge the significance of his initiating the Zimmerwald Left and for standing up for proletarian internationalism; the revolutionary struggle for socialism which inevitably means confronting and overthrowing the capitalist state. Lenin argued for no truce in the class war (no burgfrieden, no kowtowing to state of emergency regulations, acquiescing in ‘civil peace’): “turn the war into a civil war”. For revolutionaries today in the face of capitalism’s wars it is not a question of simply repeating formulas from the past whatever the situation. But the same principle of calling on the working class not to sacrifice their own interests for ‘national defence’ or the ‘war effort’ remains. We have to continue urging the working class to carrying on defending their own interests, reminding them that workers have no country and that the only war worth fighting is the class war.
Above all, the significance of Zimmerwald is that it was a step towards the creation of a new International. In the end, perhaps inevitably, it was too little too late. The real significance of Zimmerwald for revolutionaries today is not that the international working class does not need an international revolutionary party. Quite the opposite, a party with a clear and unanimously agreed programme needs to be in existence before the working class is once again faced with the practical question of how to get rid of capitalism. Not a token nod to internationalism, such as Camille Huysmans described in 1904 when he took office as International Secretary of the Second International "no more than a letter-box and a postal address, a mere medium of communication, without power and without real influence.” The future international party will play a key political and organisational role in the world working class revolution.
ER
The Resolution of the Zimmerwald Left
The World War, which has been devastating Europe for the last year, is an imperialist war waged for the political and economic exploitation of the world, export markets, sources of raw material, spheres of capital investment, etc. It is a product of capitalist development which connects the entire world in a world economy, but at the same time permits the existence of national state capitalist groups with opposing interests.
If the bourgeoisie and the governments seek to conceal this character of the World War by asserting that it is a question of a forced struggle for national independence, it is only to mislead the proletariat, since the war is being waged for the oppression of foreign peoples and countries. Equally untruthful are the legends concerning the defence of democracy in this war, since imperialism signifies the most unscrupulous domination of big capital and political reaction.
Imperialism can only be overcome by overcoming the contradictions which produce it, that is, by the Socialist organisation of the advanced capitalist countries for which the objective conditions are already ripe.
At the outbreak of the war, the majority of the labour leaders had not raised this only possible slogan in opposition to imperialism. Prejudiced by nationalism, rotten with opportunism, at the beginning of the World War they betrayed the proletariat to imperialism and gave up the principles of Socialism and thereby the real struggle for the everyday interests of the proletariat.
Social-patriotism and social-imperialism, the standpoint of the openly patriotic majority of the formerly Social-Democratic leaders in Germany, as well as the opposition-mannered centre of the party around Kautsky, and to which in France and Austria the majority, in England and Russia a part of the leaders (Hyndman, the Fabians, the Trade-Unionists, Plekhanov, Rubanovich, the Nasha Zarya group) confess, is a more dangerous enemy to the proletariat than the bourgeois apostles of
imperialism, since, misusing the banner of Socialism, it can mislead the unenlightened workers. The ruthless struggle against social-imperialism constitutes the first condition for the revolutionary mobilization of the proletariat and the reconstruction of the International.
It is the task of the Socialist parties, as well as of the Socialist opposition in the now social-imperialist parties, to call and lead the labouring masses to the revolutionary struggle against the capitalist governments for the conquest of political power for the Socialist organisation of society.
Without giving up the struggle for every foot of ground within the framework of capitalism, for every reform strengthening the proletariat, without renouncing any means of organisation and agitation, the revolutionary Social-Democrats, on the contrary, must utilize all the struggles, all the reforms demanded by our minimum program for the purpose of sharpening this war crisis as well as every social and political crisis of capitalism of extending them to an attack upon its very foundations.
By waging this struggle under the slogan of Socialism it will render the labouring masses immune to the slogans of the oppression of one people by another as expressed in the maintenance of the domination of one nation over another, in the cry for new annexations; it will render them deaf to the temptations of national solidarity which has led the proletarians to the battlefields.
The signal for this struggle is the struggle against the World War, for the speedy termination of the slaughter of nations. This struggle demands the refusal of war credits, quitting the cabinets, the denunciation of the capitalist, anti-Socialist character of the war from the tribunes of the parliaments, in the columns of the legal, and where necessary illegal, press, the sharpest struggle against social-patriotism, and the utilisation of every movement of the people caused by the results of the war (misery, great losses etc.) for the organisation of street demonstrations against the
governments, propaganda of international solidarity in the trenches, the encouragement of economic strikes, the effort to transform them into political strikes under favourable conditions.
Civil war, not civil peace – that is the slogan!
As against all illusions that it is possible to bring about the basis of a lasting peace, the beginning of disarmament, by any decisions of diplomats and the governments, the revolutionary Social-Democrats must repeatedly tell the masses of the people that only the social revolution can bring about a lasting peace and the emancipation of humanity.
Note_: This draft resolution was signed by two representatives of the Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Zinoviev and Lenin), a representative of the Opposition of the Polish Social-Democracy (Radek), a representative of the Latvian province (Winter), a representative each of the Left Social-Democrats of Sweden (Hoglund) and Norway (Nerman), a Swiss delegate (Platten), and a German delegate. On the question of submitting the draft to the_
commission, 12 delegates voted for (the eight mentioned above, two Socialist-Revolutionaries, Trotsky, and Roland-Holst) and 19 against.
[1] Either the International will remain a refuse heap after the war, or its resurrection will begin on the basis of the class struggle from which alone it draws its vital forces. … Only by means of an ‘excruciatingly thorough denunciation of our own indecision and weakness’, of our own moral fall since August 4th, can rebuilding of the International begin. And the first step in this direction is to take action for the rapid termination of the war and for the preparation of a peace in accordance with the common interest of the international proletariat. [‘Rebuilding the International’, Die Internationale, no.1, 1915 [Rosa Luxemburg Internet Archive (marxists.org) 2000].
[2] Lenin’s Struggle for a New International, Documents, ed. John Riddell, Monad Press
[3] Available on www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/cw/index.htm#volume21
Photo at top: Looting and burning Polish village, September 1915by Frank Azzurro on September 28, 2010
In many towns, recycling is not only encouraged, it’s enforced. Some communities use a limited “toter” system where one has to pay more for additional bags if the toter is filled up each week. The flip side is, things like plastic bottles, metal cans, glass jars, and just about any paper product including junk mail can be tossed into recycling bins.
This is wonderful in a way – why let any idiot throw away however much trash he/she wants to each week when it’s clear there are reasonable limits a town can and should impose? But it also begs the question: what happens to all that paper, but moreso all those other products like glass, plastic, and metal once another truck using more gas and more manpower picks it up during a separate trip?
Recycling makes many people feel good, but feelings are not the best test of environmental soundness. When it makes more sense to recycle than to throw something away; government compulsion isn’t needed. And when recycling is a profligate use of natural and human resources, government mandates can’t change the fact. Big Brother can force you to recycle your garbage, but that doesn’t make garbage-recycling green. [+] | Boston.com Editorial
Good point. If recycling really answered any tough questions, it wouldn’t be as easy as throwing would-be trash in a different bucket.
It’s nice and easy – and it massages the ol’ ego – to sort your garbage and feel good about how much stuff is in the recycle bin this week that could have gone to the trash instead. We just assume that since recycling is a feel-good activity and approved by just about everyone, that we should feel much better when we see the second truck pull up every week and collect a different set of trash from the one that came an hour before. We feel productive; the trash is still taken to a far-off site; everyone wins.
Unfortunately, the writer had the opportunity to take the point further and talk about the real problem – humanity itself – but opted not to:
Popular impressions to the contrary notwithstanding, we are not running out of places to dispose of garbage. Not only is US landfill capacity at an all-time high, but all of the country’s rubbish for the next 100 years could comfortably fit into a landfill measuring 10 miles square. Benjamin puts that in perspective: “Ted Turner’s Flying D ranch outside Bozeman, Mont., could handle all of America’s trash for the next century — with 50,000 acres left over for his bison.” [+] | Boston.com Editorial
Let’s assume those facts are correct. What happens in a century? Does that calculation take into account population growth, and if so, how much?
Jacoby falls victim to the very thought process he’s calling out: he notes in the article that landfills are great because we get methane gas out of them and we frequently turn them into golf courses and parks, so everyone wins. Let’s just make tons of landfills since we have the space – out of sight, out of mind.
There’s no thought to why we need to recycle in the first place. Recycling came about as a solution to all the trash we produce in society. We produce lots of trash due to two factors: the number of people we have, and the amount of disposable stuff we consume, including McDonalds’ burger wrappings, disposable diapers, and styrofoam coffee cups.
So why no talk of solving the root problems? We can break them down pretty easily:
1. Amount of trash produced: we live in a throwaway culture, where tons of plastic is used to package products, where it’s encouraged to throw things away after only a few uses, and where people upgrade even laptops and cars every other year. As a result of insatiable consumer demand, many products are made to be disposable. Why would you build a car to last twenty years when people won’t keep it after ten, or even five?
Let’s also not forget that infrastructure has been set up to haul away garbage with minimal effort on the part of the consumer – whenever it’s easier to throw something away than keep it and fix it, that’s what people will do.
2. Number of people producing trash: Animals don’t produce non-biodegradable trash, unless you count housepets and their dog poop bags, toys, etc. So the amount of trash out there is mostly due to human activity.
How do we reduce the amount of trash a society produces? In part, by moving away from a consumer-driven culture, and in part by reducing the number of people who live within its borders.
You won’t see many newspapers – even editorials in newspapers – tackling those problems, because as daring as Jacoby seems to be when saying that greenism feels good but may not accomplish much, he’s only willing to touch the tip of the iceberg. The real problems remain buried, sort of like a golf course over a landfill.
Tags: crowdism, identity politics, overpopulation, recycling
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi has ordered an end to the “appalling practice” of housing inmates in the segregation unit showers at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
“This practice is … completely unacceptable, and I have ordered its immediate and permanent end,” the minister said in a release Saturday.
“This practice should never have occurred and I want to be clear that it will never happen again. The ministry has issued a directive which immediately and permanently prohibits any institution from engaging in this practice.”
Postmedia revealed this week that the badly overcrowded jail on Innes Road has used shower cells to lock up two inmates at the same time or, as the jail calls it, “double-bunking.”
There are, however, no bunks. Inmates said they slept on mattresses on the floor, trying to avoid having bedding getting wet from the water in the shower room, which has a barred door.
The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services confirmed there were two “shower cells” in the jail’s segregation wing, but would not release numbers on how many times the practice had been used.
The shower cells are the smallest cells at the jail. They measure eight by 10 feet, including the square footage of the shower stall in the corner, and the seatless stainless steel toilet, the ministry said.
Brent Ross, the jail authority’s spokesman, had told Postmedia the shower cells were used as a last resort.
Paolo Giancaterino, lawyer for Larry Seguin, an inmate bunked in the shower cells, said the facilities were unfit for a dog.
“Overcrowding at the jail is rampant. There is no dispute. The public should also be aware of what effect overcrowding has on those who are detained in that facility,” Giancaterino said. “When a client like Larry Seguin describes being held in a so-called shower cell, it is almost too surreal to believe. To have the ministry allow a human being to be kept in custody in a shower section within the facility is nothing short of disgusting.”
Naqvi said that overcrowding at OCDC is serious problem and that he is forming a task force to develop an action plan to deal with the overcrowding in the near term, and to identify long-term solutions to improve the health and safety of all inmates and staff.
“As part of our overall work to transform the correctional system, and through the comprehensive review of the segregation policy currently underway, we are reviewing and strengthening our practices around segregation, record management and inmate placement,” Naqvi said.
Opposition members were quick to criticize Naqvi’s statement.
“I’m glad (Naqvi) recognizes what happens after years of government neglect,” said NDP corrections critic Jennifer French, MPP for Oshawa. “The institution’s coping strategies have been under such strain and duress that we find ourselves finding out about a jail using shower rooms as accommodation. They have been crying for action when it comes to overcrowding and understaffing.”
French, who toured the jail in February, said the showers were “very clearly” pointed out to her as a place used to house inmates when the jail is overcapacity. She said the task force Naqvi proposed needs to lay out a plan of action and not just be “more lip service,” and argued Naqvi’s promise to end shower cells does not get to the heart of the problem.
“(Naqvi) needs to address the actual root cause, not just put a Band-aid on where it’s bleeding.”
MPP Randy Hillier said he toured the Innes Road jail two weeks ago and was told inmates are “frequently” lodged in the shower cells. He called Naqvi’s statement on ending shower cell housing “impossible to enforce … unless you’re going to control who’s coming in and how they’re going to behave when they do get there.”
On the proposed task force, Hillier stressed action, not words, should be the goal.
“I’ve never seen a government with a greater proclivity for having expert panels and task forces,” he said. “I know minister Naqvi is an intelligent individual. I’m sure if he went to the institution, he’d be able to see firsthand and pretty quickly what needs to be done, and not wait for a task force.”
OCDC: BY THE NUMBERS
1972: Opening date of the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, with an original capacity of 176 inmates
585: Official capacity in 2016, with the number of inmates varying depending on processing times
567: Average population of the jail over the last five years
506: Approximate population in January
525: Estimated number of beds at the jail
190-200: Correctional officers
53: New correctional officers pledged for the jail
140: Segregated male inmates out of 506 men and women in February (more than one-quarter of the jail’s population)
147: Full and partial lockdowns in 2015, a record
43: Full and partial lockdowns in 2014
15: Full and partial lockdowns in 2013
25%: Estimation of OCDC inmates suffering from mental illness in November
60%: Estimation of all inmates in the provincial system awaiting trail in November
Sources: Postmedia files, CTVJoseph Bowne Elwell, one of the greatest bridge players of the early 20th century, was shot to death in his Manhattan home on June 11, 1920. His housekeeper found him slumped in a chair, a bullet hole in his forehead. He was only 44.
The murder made national headlines because of Elwell's larger-than-life persona and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the crime. Elwell had been shot point-blank by a.45 revolver, yet the house was locked from the inside. The New York Times called it "among the most remarkable in the annals of crime in this country... The victim was not robbed, there was no struggle, no papers were disturbed, no one was seen to enter or leave the house after a quarter to 4 in the morning, when Elwell himself went in."
Police failed to find the murder weapon or even any witnesses. The killer was never apprehended.
Who exactly was J.B. or "Joe" Elwell? In bridge, the man was a giant. Elwell learned whist in his youth but adapted to auction bridge as an adult. He developed a reputation in New York City's money clubs as a consistent winner, and ultimately authored several books on the game. Elwell and his partner Harold Vanderbilt (for whom the ACBL's Vanderbilt Trophy is named) were considered the strongest American pair between 1910 - 1920.And Elwell's touch on the game can still be seen today. The "Elwell Double" bidding convention arises every now and then - a double of a 3NT contract that asks for a heart lead.
Talent evinced itself away from the bridge table as well. Elwell accumulated a fortune by investing in the stock market, and owned over 20 racehorses at the time of his death.He was also infamously known as a ladies' man. Elwell's secretary claimed that he slept with "about fifty women, most of them married."Several of them reportedly had a key to his house - or perhaps it was a vengeful husband who came knocking that fateful night.
Elwell has been the inspiration for several fictional books, including "The Benson Murder Case" by S.S. Van Dine. He may have also been a model for Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." Numerous books speculating on possible motives and suspects have also been penned. In his book "Bridge Axioms and Laws", Elwell ironically wrote: "Do not venture upon a post-mortem unless you are certain of what the scalpel is going to reveal."
Books by Joseph Bowne Elwell
The following are free eBooks or HTML transcriptions:
References
(1920, June 20). The New York Times. Elwell, The Man of Many Masks.
Manley, Brent (Ed.). (2011). The Official ACBL Encyclopedia of Bridge.
Sterling, Hank. (2006). Ten |
is, sure, if you want them to. The student must get over a tiny conceptual bump. And once that bump is surmounted, poof, a new way of seeing is discovered.
The bump
Let’s get over that bump right here, right now.
Let’s imagine a traditional collection interface, let’s call it List. It has two methods, addFirst and addLast that add new elements. So you write an algorithm that adds a bunch of items to the end with addLast. It takes a List as argument, because that’s the least subtype you need to perform the algorithm.
You call that algorithm with an ArrayList, which has the nice property that addLast is constant time. Woohoo! Your algorithm is fast and great.
A few months later, you get a phone call from another developer. He’s complaining that he used your routine and can’t figure out why it’s so slow. It was working fine for a while, but as the users generated more records in the database, the routine was grinding to a hault.
You check out the code and immediately see the problem: the database query was returning not an ArrayList but a LinkedList. The implementation of addLast on LinkedList s is actually linear. Adding a bunch of stuff to the end was turning into a quadratic operation.
Let’s say that again: even though the location semantics of the operation were the same, addLast on one had constant time and on the other had linear time. They both gave equivalent lists, but one of them was too slow. Does this satisfy the Liskov Substitution Principle? In practice, can you really substitute one for the other? Algorithmic complexity matters.
Clojure avoids that mess (while swapping it for another, which I’ll get to shortly). It defines conj, which means not “put this at the beginning” or “put this at the end”, but “hey, collection, you know yourself better than I ever can. Please add this wherever it makes sense for you as long as you do it in constant time. Thanks.”
Practically, that means that conj on LinkedList adds to the front, because that’s constant time. And conj on ArrayList adds to the end. But, because the operation doesn’t talk about order, like addFirst and addLast do, you can now extend conj to Set and even Map if you consider key/value pairs as single items. And that means that linear algorithms using conj will remain linear regardless of which collection you use.
The mess that Clojure chooses over the other mess
Does this satisfy the Liskov Substitution Principle? Well, that depends on how you look at it. You certainly don’t guarantee that you get the same or even equivalent answers out. Consider this:
(def a [1 2 3]) (def b '(1 2 3)) (= a b) ;;=> true (= (conj a 4) (conj b 4)) ;;=> false
So, here, performing the same operation on two equal values does not give equal results. That’s kind of hard to reason about. But it’s a similar tradeoff that you see with other operations that don’t guarantee order. For instance, imagine two sets a and b.
(= a b) ;;=> true (= (seq a) (seq b)) ;;=> could be false!
The order of most sets is not guaranteed! This means that Clojure has some operations that do not maintain equality. conj just happens to be one of them.
What’s the point?
So Clojure does not provide add operations that guarantee order regardless of collection type. Fine. What’s the point?
The point is that, in practice, conj is more useful than addFirst and addLast combined. By defining a function using conj, it will work on a broader number of collections. It might give different answers for each, but it won’t explode on one and do fine on the rest. And often the answers it gives are just fine. A basic version of into can be defined very easily. It works on all collections (for both to and from ).
(defn into [to from] (reduce conj to from))
Common usage
One last thing before I wrap up: because the collection itself defines where the item will be added, I often find myself choosing the collection based on where I need it. A common idiom in Common Lisp was to make a new list by cons ing onto the front, then reversing it at the end because you really wanted them in the other order. In Clojure, there’s no need, because you can just use a vector (and use conj ). As long as the vector is local to the algorithm, it’s not part of the contract, so it’s your choice.
Conclusion
Java was wrong. addFirst and addLast cannot be substituted in LinkedList and ArrayList. They have different algorithmic complexities and at some point one’s performance will be totally unacceptable. The operation that does allow for substitutibility in algorithm complexity is conj, which is always constant time. But then it doesn’t maintain equality. However, I find that conj is way more natural and helps algorithmic reasoning more than guaranteeing where the item is placed.
If you’d like to learn Clojure, I recommend my video course LispCast Introduction to Clojure. It’s a great introduction to the language using animations, exercises, and screencasts. It’s designed to give a deep dive straight to what makes Clojure interesting. It begins with syntax, goes through functional programming, and ends with data-driven programming.IF you’re not a cat person, you will be after seeing this video.
The Triantafilo family cat in California saved the day when it rushed to help the family’s young son from a vicious dog attack.
Footage captured on a security camera on Wednesday shows four-year-old Jeremy riding his bike at the end of the driveway when he is savagely mauled by the mutt.
The labrador/chow mix, which belonged to a neighbour, can be seen approaching from behind a car and suddenly pouncing.
media_camera My hero... Jeremy with Tara in a picture tweeted by America’s ABC.
It pulls Jeremy off his bike, repeatedly biting his leg as the terrified child lies on the ground.
Incredibly, Tara the cat then rushes to Jeremy’s aid — barreling into the dog, chasing it away then returning to check on the boy.
Jeremy, who had stitches and is recovering, told local station 23ABC: “Tara is my hero”.
The eight-month-old dog — which escaped when the neighbours opened their driveway gates to drive out — was picked up by animal control and will be put down.
Jeremy’s parents hailed Tara, with his dad Roger saying: “I’ve never seen a cat do that... It just shows how much she really has a family-oriented mind set.”
Originally published as I am the Claw: Hero Cat saves boyHave you been searching Salt Lake City, Utah for the ultimate furry friend to add love, joy, laughter and companionship to your life? My name is Sophie, and I am the answer to your dreams! I am a very pretty black and white Tuxedo girl, just 7 years young. I have been spayed, am up to date on my shots, very healthy and litter trained. I am a very good girl – always use my litter box and I leave your furniture alone.
My owner, Holly, and I have been best friends for many years. As things tend to happen, she met the man of her dreams, and the man of her dreams has a dog. They tried their very best to help us live together in harmony, but I just don’t like dogs. They traumatize me terribly, and make my life very difficult. I am now living alone much of the time, and I am very lonely. My fondest desire is to have a cat person all to myself that I can snuggle up to, meow at, and be the center of their world.
I am a very affectionate cat, but I like things on my own terms. I am not the kind of cat that likes to be picked up, but once I get to know you and feel comfortable with you, I am very loving and will come and snuggle up to you, head butt you, and follow you around the house.
I am afraid of children and do not like to be around other pets, especially dogs. I am a diva cat – I want to be center stage in your life.
My owner is very sad to have to make this very difficult decision, but she knows that the life I have right now is not making me happy, and she wants the very best for me. She is dearly hoping to find me the ultimate owner and friend, a die-hard cat lover like she is, to offer me my forever home.
I will bring all of my belongings with me, and have had all my vet care done up to date. Please offer me a home today. I can’t wait to purr and play my way into your heart.
Once received, we will contact you to discuss your request and set up a mutually convenient time to meet Sophie and their owner in their home. Feel free to call our pet rehoming coordinator, Debbie Moore, at (888) 720-3322 if you have questions about adopting this special cat.
All About Sophie
Hi, My name is Sophie!
Location: West Jordan, UT, 84084
Type of Pet: Cat
Breed: Domestic Shorthair
Age: 7
Color/Coat Type: Black and White Tuxedo short hair
Size: Chubby 🙂
Health Issues: No
Behavior Issues: No
Sophie is:
Spayed, Fully vaccinated, Litter Trained
Sophie gets along with:
Babies, Adults Only, Strangers
Sophie Lives Near:
Midvale, UT
South Jordan, UT
Taylorsville, UT
Kearns, UT
Murray, UT Sandy, UT
Riverton, UT
Millcreek, UT
West Valley City, UT
Cottonwood Heights, UT Draper, UT
Holladay, UT
South Salt Lake, UT
Canyon Rim, UT
East Millcreek, UT
Personality
She is sweet and affectionate. She doesn’t like to be held she like to nuzzle up next to you wherever you are… She gives head butts and rolls over to have her belly rubbed all the time. She like the laser mouse and to chase balls around the house. She loves to lay in the sun and her little bed with a pet heating pad. She also really loves shoes. To sniff and roll around on. 🙂 I love her and want her to be happy.
Reason For Rehoming
I was a single woman with my kitty for 7 years. I recently got married and my husband has a dog. We tried to integrate them and it was traumatic for my cat. We live in two locations ( long story) but every other week the kitty has to live on her own. Someone comes to feed her but she gets lonely and she is now scared of my husband because of the dog. I want a better life for her were she can feel calm and get more attention.“Jellyfish are the most ancient multiorgan animal on earth,” said David J. Albert, a jellyfish expert at the Roscoe Bay Marine Biological Laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia.
For all their noble antiquity, jellyfish have long been ignored or misunderstood by mainstream science, dismissed as so much mindless protoplasm with a mouth. Now, in a series of new studies, researchers have found that there is far more complexity and nuance to a jellyfish than meets the eye — or eyes. In the May 10 issue of the journal Current Biology, Dr. Garm and his colleagues describe the astonishing visual system of the box jellyfish, in which an interactive matrix of 24 eyes of four distinct types — two of them very similar to our own eyes — allow the jellies to navigate like seasoned sailors through the mangrove swamps they inhabit.
Photo
In The Journal of Experimental Biology, Richard A. Satterlie, a marine biologist at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, recently disputed the conventional wisdom that jellyfish lack any semblance of the central nervous system that we higher vertebrates are so proud of. The distribution of a jellyfish’s nerve cells may be comparatively more diffuse than in an animal with an obvious brain and spinal cord, said Dr. Satterlie, but the layout is hardly helter-skelter. Recent detailed investigations of jellyfish neural architecture and activity reveal evidence of “neuronal condensation,” places where the neurons coalesce to form distinctive structures that act as integrating centers — taking in sensory information and translating it into the appropriate response.
“The bottom line is, jellyfish do a lot more than people think,” said Dr. Satterlie, “and when college textbooks claim they have no centralized nervous system, that’s flat-out wrong.”
Dr. Albert goes further, insisting it is fair to declare that a jellyfish has a brain. He spent years studying the resident population of moon jellyfish in Roscoe Bay, starting with the simple question, how can there even be a resident population? The tides flow in and out of the bay each day. The jellies were supposed to be like plankton, at the mercy of the tides. So why aren’t they simply flushed by the tides into the open sea, without so much as a goodnight moon?
Dr. Albert discovered that the jellies aren’t passive floaters at all. When the tide starts flowing out, they ride the wave until they hit a gravel bar, and then dive down to reach still waters. They remain in the calm oasis until the tide starts flowing back in, at which point they come up and get swept back into the bay. He also learned that the jellies have salinity meters and in summer avoid the fresh water dumped into the bay from mountain snowmelt, again by diving until they find salt enough to suit their taste. They like to aggregate into schools and through molecular signatures on the outside of their bells can distinguish between a friendly fellow jelly and any predatory species of jellyfish that might eat them.
“If a moon jelly gets touched by a predatory jellyfish, it turns and swims up,” Dr. Albert said. When it bumps into other benign species of jellyfish, though, as it often does, “nothing happens.”
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The jellyfish activity log grew too lengthy to ignore. “If you look at all these behaviors, you have to ask, what would it take to organize and execute them?” he said in a telephone interview. “These are not simple reflexes; they’re organized behaviors.”
Dr. Albert concluded that the jellyfish must have some kind of brain. “That’s what a brain does,” he said. “It controls behaviors.”
Writing earlier this year in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Dr. Albert summarized his behavioral observations under the title “What’s on the Mind of a Jellyfish?” to which he answered, “a lot.” Brains and beauty, and campiness, too. Among the jellyfish on display in Baltimore were ones that looked like beating hearts, others like spotted toadstools, still others like parasols with a few too many ruffled streamers, and this one over here would make a swell hat for a royal wedding.
Photo
“They’re living lava lamps,” said Jack Cover, general curator of the aquarium. And they’re so mesmerizing to visitors that, Mr. Allen said, “the jellies are right up there in popularity next to the dolphins.” Which is a good thing, considering that the infrastructure needed to keep the tender-fleshed sylphs hale and whole can cost millions. “Keeping jellyfish is a fine art,” said Vicky Poole, the exhibit manager. “It’s a little like maintaining phlegm.”
Jellies have no trouble maintaining themselves in the wild, however. They are found in open oceans, along coasts and in lagoons, and a few can handle fresh water. With their modest oxygen requirements, jellies can grow in post-algal “dead zones” and other polluted waters where most marine life can’t — not surprising for a group that has weathered five past mass extinctions.
Adult jellies range in size from the Australian Irukandji, which is about the size of a fingernail, to the lion’s mane jelly, with a bell 8 to 10 feet wide and tentacles trailing 100 or more feet behind it.
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A hallmark of jellies is their radial symmetry, a concentric body plan that is more commonly associated with flowers than with animals but that allows the jellies to swim or drift through the water in straight lines.
All jellies are carnivorous, feeding on plankton, crustaceans, fish eggs, small fish and other jellyfish, ingesting and voiding through the same convenient hole in the middle of the bell. Jellies do not actively hunt but instead use their tentacles as drift nets. Should a fish brush against the often invisible extensions, the pressure prompts the tentacles’ stinging cells to release tiny harpoons packed with neurotoxins. In the most venomous jellyfish, the toxins are designed to work quickly and unequivocally, to forfend any damage to the predator’s delicate tissue.
“If a jellyfish were to swallow a prawn that wasn’t completely dead,” said Dr. Garm, “the prawn would puncture its stomach.” Some of these take-no-chances poisons turn out to be powerful enough to kill very large animals the jellyfish have no intention of eating, including humans. Most notorious is an Australian box jellyfish called the sea wasp, whose sting can kill a grown man in a matter of seconds or minutes. Because the harpoons are so shallow, however, Australians have learned that they can protect themselves while swimming in sea wasp waters simply by covering their exposed skin with pantyhose.
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Jellyfish in the box clade apparently take many things to extremes. In their new report on box jellyfish, Dr. Garm and his colleagues sought to understand why the creatures have evolved such a complex battery of eyes. Some of the eye types are simple light-and-shadow meters similar to those of other jellies. The team concentrated on an elaborate eye type unique to box jellies. Not only are the eyes equipped with a cornea, lens and retina, as human eyes are, but they are also suspended on stalks with heavy crystals on one end, a gyroscopelike arrangement that ensures the eyes are focused unerringly skyward.
“The crystal works as a weight,” Dr. Garm said. “No matter how the jellyfish reorients itself, the stalk bends and the eyes face up.”
Why stare fixedly toward the heavens? The researchers determined that the jellyfish look upward for navigational guidance. The animals live and feed among the underwater tree roots in murky mangrove swamps. Every night, they are swept away from the trees and sink to the muddy bottom of the open lagoon. Every morning they must return to the roots or risk starvation. They rise toward the surface and their upturned eyes scan the sky, until at last they spy the mangrove canopy, and they start swimming home.All the resources available on CodyHouse are released under the MIT license.
We’ve been experimenting lately with a CSS powered animation that replaces the refresh of the web page while the content is updated using ajax. Today’s nugget is based on the same idea, but with a different execution: this time a simple hover effect turns into a loading bar, that finally expands with new content!
Icons from our Nucleo library.
Creating the structure
The html structure is composed of a.cd-main element, wrapping the page content, a.cd-side-navigation, containing the side navigation, and a #cd-loading-bar to create the loading bar animation.
<nav class="cd-side-navigation"> <ul> <li> <a href="index.html" class="selected" data-menu="index"> <svg><!-- svg content here --></svg> Intro </a> </li> <li> <!--... --> </li> <!-- other list items here --> </ul> </nav> <!--.cd-dashboard --> <main class="cd-main"> <section class="cd-section index visible"> <header> <div class="cd-title"> <h2>Animated Page Transition #2</h2> <span>Some text here</span> </div> <a href="#index-content" class="cd-scroll">Scroll Down</a> </header> <div class="cd-content" id="index-content"> <!-- content here --> </div> <!--.cd-content --> </section> <!--.cd-section --> </main> <!--.cd-main --> <div id="cd-loading-bar" data-scale="1" class="index"></div> <!-- lateral loading bar -->
Adding style
The.cd-side-navigation is in fixed position, with a height: 100% and an overflow: hidden, while its child <ul> has an overflow-y: auto (so that you can scroll inside it if the navigation is higher than the viewport).
To create the line visible when you hover over each navigation item, we used the a::after pseudo-elements. They are in absolute position, have a width: 4px, a top: 0 and a right: -4px.
One note: we assigned a width: calc(100%- 4px) to each list item elements to be able to place the a::after elements inside the.cd-side-navigation (since it has an overflow: hidden).
.cd-side-navigation { position: fixed; z-index: 3; top: 0; left: 0; height: 100vh; width: 94px; overflow: hidden; }.cd-side-navigation ul { height: 100%; overflow-y: auto; }.cd-side-navigation::before { /* background color of the side navigation */ content: ''; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; height: 100%; width: calc(100% - 4px); background-color: #131519; }.cd-side-navigation li { width: calc(100% - 4px); }.cd-side-navigation a { display: block; position: relative; }.cd-side-navigation a::after { /* 4px line to the right of the item - visible on hover */ content: ''; position: absolute; top: 0; right: -4px; height: 100%; width: 4px; background-color: #83b0b9; opacity: 0; }.no-touch.cd-side-navigation a:hover::after { opacity: 1; }
When a user selects a new item in the side navigation, a new.cd-section element is created and inserted in the DOM (you can find more details in the ‘Events handling’ section).
By default, this new.cd-section element is translated to the left, outside the viewport (translateX(-100%)). It is then moved back into the viewport (using the.visible class ) to replace the old content.
.cd-section {
position: absolute; z-index: 1; top: 0; left: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%; transform: translateX(-100%); transition: transform 0s 0.5s; }.cd-section.visible { /* this is the visible/selected section */ position: relative; z-index: 2; transform: translateX(0); transition: transform 0.5s 0s; }
Events handling
The index.html file contains only the ‘Intro’ content. A different html file has been created for each navigation item (services.html, contact.html,..) with exactly the same structure, but with different.cd-section content.
When a user clicks one of the item in the side navigation, the triggerAnimation() function is executed. This function triggers the loading bar animation ( loadingBarAnimation() function) and loads the new content ( loadNewContent() function).
For the loading bar animation, we have been using Velocity.js: at the beginning of the animation, the #cd-loading-bar is placed right next to the selected navigation item (its height equal to the one of the list item). Its scaleY value is then animated to create the loading effect.
function loadingBarAnimation() { //loadingBar is the #cd-loading-bar element //scaleY is the loadingBar actual scale value var scaleMax = loadingBar.data('scale'); //this is the scaleY value to cover the entire window height (100% loaded) if( scaleY + 1 < scaleMax) { newScaleValue = scaleY + 1; } //... loadingBar.velocity({ scaleY: newScaleValue }, 100, loadingBarAnimation
); }
When a new page is selected, a new.cd-section element is created and inserted into the DOM. The load() function is then used to load the new content (we used a data-menu attribute assigned to the navigation list items to determine the file content to be loaded). Once the new html has been loaded, the loading bar animation is completed, the old content is replaced by the new one and the new page is added to the window.history (using the pushState() method).
function loadNewContent(newSection) { //create a new section element and insert it into the DOM (newSection is the data-menu of the selected navigation item) var section = $('<section class="cd-section overflow-hidden '+newSection+'"></section>').appendTo(mainContent); //load the new content from the proper html file section.load(newSection+'.html.cd-section > *', function(event){ loadingBar.velocity({ scaleY: scaleMax //this is the scaleY value to cover the entire window height (100% loaded) }, 400, function(){ //add the.visible class to the new section element -> it will cover the old one section.addClass('visible'); var url = newSection+'.html'; if(url!=window.location){ //add the new page to the window.history window.history.pushState({path: url},'',url); } //... }
); }); }The charismatic broom that had entered corruption-ridden politics of Uttarakhand with a sorcerer’s velocity seems to have disappeared from the political scene with the same speed.
Barring the two seats of Haridwar and Tehri that have a sizeable urban electoral base, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates seem desperate to avoid humiliation that comes in the form of forfeiture of deposit in the rest of the three seats.
In Haridwar, AAP candidates — former DGP of Uttarakhand, Kanchan Choudhary Bhattacharya of serial Udaan fame and in Tehri, Anup Nautiyal — are making their presence felt but not strongly enough to ruffle the feathers of the traditional giants. In Haridwar, Kanchan faces Congress' Renuka Rawat and BJP's Ramesh Pokriyal nishank. In Tehri, Nautiyal is up against BJP's Rajlaksmi Shah and Congress' Saket Bahuguna.
At Badhangarhi temple, near Tharali in Pauri constituency, NS Negi, ex-serviceman father of AAP candidate Rakesh Negi, tries to convince a lone elector to look at the credentials of his professor son and vote for him. After a lot of persuasion, the prospective voter, employed with Tharali Gram Sabha, remains unmoved.
“I don’t know who AAP is. Why are you trying to convince a sarkari employee? This is a violation of the model code of conduct. It’s my vote, my wish,” says the voter before leaving in disgust. He forgets to thank Negi whose AAP cap he is wearing.
The exasperated father shifts his attention to another group of prospective electors — three temple priests. He fails again.
At Sabdhaar Khal block, the sight of two youngsters wearing AAP caps raises hopes of finding some support base for the broom. But appearances can be deceptive. “We are wearing the caps just to keep them in good humour,” says Mohan Negi, whose vote is reserved for BJP candidate BC Khanduri.
The search for AAP supporters ends after a 180-km long journey at a tea shop near Pauri. Side-lining sarcasm from friends, Harpal Singh Chandel, a social activist, emphasises the need for AAP's politics.“The people will soon understand their folly. How can the corrupt end corruption? That has made our life hell,” says Chandel.
Chandel was the lone, die-hard AAP supporter that dna came across in Pauri constituency.
“AAP’s success in Delhi elections attracted a multitude of youth in the 18-30 age group. Hundreds of young men and women, mainly students, joined AAP cadre last year. But Kejriwal squandered the gains when he resigned,” says Professor MM Semwal, a seasoned political analyst of Uttarakhand. “People here took it as a personal loss, felt cheated and lost interest. The youth drifted away to others or became apolitical again.”
In culturally active Almora, AAP's gains and the possibility of it gaining a third place has reduced to seventh or eight position among nine candidates. The bets are on whether AAP will get more than 5,000 votes or less.
“They lost the chance when they gave up Delhi. That helped us to some extent,” says a confidant of Congress candidate Pradeep Tamta. “The presence of a third alternate would have made our contest difficult. We were nervous because of the AAP factor.”
The story is no different in Nainital constituency where progressive poet Balli Singh Cheema from Haldwani is in the fray on AAP ticket. Locals love his songs; “Le mashaale chal pade hain log mere gaon ke, Ab andhera loot lenge log mere gaon ke (People of my village have started journey with torches in their hands, Now people of my village will rob the darkness to usher light).”
Despite Cheema’s huge popularity, especially in the Punjabi-dominated Terai region, people do not want to waste their vote on AAP. “I have no quarrels with their politics. But no vote this time. Let them earn it the hard way now,” says Sanjeev Bhagat, who runs a cooperative called Fruitage on the foothills of Nainital.The green map shows the percentage of companies that are hiring
by region. In the light green box the numbers show the percentage
of the three most interested employers for accounting majors that
are hiring.
Dalton Runberg / The Collegian The green map shows the percentage of companies that are hiringby region. In the light green box the numbers show the percentageof the three most interested employers for accounting majors thatare hiring.Dalton Runberg / The Collegian
Accountancy majors at the Craig School of Business may find they have broad work options upon graduation, but it could mean they’ll need to relocate.
Those who don’t choose to go into the public accounting side of accountancy may need to receive database and software training in order to get that first job.
In the United States, there are four public accounting firms: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte touché Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG. The Big Four recruit Fresno State students for summer work in the Bay Area between their junior and senior year, however students have to be willing to move.
“Ninety-five percent of those students who do a summer internship get a job offer after graduation from the Big Four,” said Debbie Young, director of internships and student experience at the Craig school.
But job prospects for accounting majors in the Valley are more difficult.
“It depends on how hard the student is willing to work to get hired,” Young said. “It takes six to eight months to get hired in this market for a graduate.”
Young believes that a graduate who wants to relocate to the Bay Area or Southern California could find an entry-level position relatively easily.
“Locally, the job prospects are picking up, but they are looking for that high-quality 3.2 GPA or better,” said Dr. Garo Kalfayan, faculty chair of accountancy.
Amy Lau, a senior in accounting who is currently doing an internship as a bookkeeper, hopes Kalfayan is right. Lau is a returning student with over seven years work experience as an office manager.
“I have to stay in the Valley because I have kids here, but if that were not the situation I would branch out,” said Lau, who feels there is a lack of corporate jobs in the Valley.
“There are few positions locally at Deliotte and many accounting students, so the competition is tough,” Lau said. “However, you can do government accounting and local businesses.”
Another senior, Richard Kramer, is looking for accounting placement locally as well as in the Bay Area after he graduates next fall.
“By the time I graduate I’m hoping that I’ll have some kind of offer,” Kramer said. “There are a lot of opportunities that the school helps us with. I need to get the most out of my education so I’m using all the resources that are available to me.”
But for recent graduate Kethey Moua, employment prospects are difficult.
“Now that I’ve graduated this past December, and I’m not going down the public accounting path, it’s a lot harder to get a job because a lot of companies want someone with experience already,” Moua said. “I did focus on the Valley in my last semester in school, but I could never find anything that I wanted so now I’m in the Bay Area.”
Moua has had some previous accounting experience in Fresno, so she initially thought it would not be hard to find work. But she found that a lot of companies want skill and experience in accounting and database software, particularly Oracle and QuickBooks, which are not taught at Fresno State.
Demand for accountants in the West is down right now, as Moua has discovered.
“If you don’t have that and you’re just as strong as the next candidate, they’re going to go with the one that has that experience,” Moua said. “I just went out last week and they chose the one with Oracle experience over me.”
The accounting curriculum at Fresno State does offer a course in Peachtree, which is similar to QuickBooks, but there are still hurdles for the recent graduate.
Recent studies reveal that accounting is not one of the top five sought-after majors by employers in the west. Currently there is more call for accounting graduates in the midwest and the east. Demand in Fresno and the Central Valley is dependent on the overall recovery of local businesses in the area.
But Kalfayan encourages students in the accounting major and recent graduates to be flexible.
“The degree is portable beyond accounting because there are many other financial jobs and many of them want accounting units or degrees,” Kalfayan said. “Graduates can cross over to finance-oriented jobs.”
This is the first article in a series that will cover the current job market across majors offered at Fresno State.The Government Delegation in Madrid has today banned an "atheist procession" being planned by various social groups for Maundy Thursday, having decided that it will be in conflict with the traditional Holy Week procession, a decision the organisers have described as "erroneous" and which they intend to contest.
The march, which was originally planned as a ceremony and later formalised as a demonstration has been organized by groups such as the Madrid Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (AMAL), Ateos en Lucha and the Lavapiés Beach Neighbourhood Association.
These groups had planned their march for the evening of Maundy Thursday, but the Delegation of the Government has banned the march, arguing that it coincides with the traditional processions and the authorities are unanimous in their disapproval of the event. The president of the Community of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre applauded the decision, saying it was wrong for people to be "free to offend the Catholics", and the mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon also welcomed the ban, saying the march would have been a "provocation".
The Madrid Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (AMAL) has announced its intention to appeal the ban, saying the authorities' arguments are "inaccurate" and "basically the same as those being voiced by fundamentalist Catholic groups".
The AMAL President has acknowledged that the "atheist procession" will not be able to march through the streets of Madrid in a week's time, but has not ruled out a demonstration against the "reversal of fundamental rights and freedoms".
You may also be interested in...JAIPUR: A beggar killed in an accident in the city’s bustling Sindhi Camp area suffered several more deaths as multiple vehicles ran him over one after the other for an hour, with none of the drivers even bothering to report the corpse.“It is really unfortunate... The (city’s) main bus stand is located in the same area and many vehicles cross this road round the clock,” a police officer said.The unidentified victim, reportedly in his early 30s, died on Thursday night around midnight. Police suspect he was run over by a heavy vehicle, most likely a bus or a truck, while crossing the road.“As he lay on the road, people ignored him and passed him by instead of helping him and calling police or the ambulance. A few vehicles ran over his body,” station house officer (accident police station, west Jaipur) Rajendra Singh told TOI. The indignities continued until a cyclist informed police.By then, police said, the victim’s face was mangled beyond recognition from being repeatedly run over. “Our team was informed around 1.45am. When they reached the spot, our constables found a dismembered corpse, its remains stren around,” Singh added.Assistant sub-inspector Gandhi Lal, who was at the spot, told TOI that it was a gory sight. “There was nothing left of him. His body was lying in the middle of the road and there was blood all over,” he added. Police have sent the body for autopsy, and are now trying to identify the victim.“We have registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC. We are examining the CCTV footage of the area to identify the vehicle that hit him,” Singh added.Now cat's a wheely good idea! The feline-sized hamster wheel designed to exercise your furry friend and help banish its kitty blues
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A new pet gadget has hit the market, and it aims to provide cats who live indoors with a regular dose of much-needed exercise.
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, I have learned a lot from him!) But it is hard to convey the air of derision around religion now. It is very difficult to talk about belief in public without people thinking you are taking some sort of diabolical liberty.”
Isn’t this perhaps because religion, and its privileged position in culture, is no longer taken for granted? “I don’t want it taken for granted. I want it discussed in terms that concede mutual uncertainty, and I want it tugged back slightly towards the limelight so we can have better conversations about it.”
A final objection. It was put very eloquently in a letter to us from the science writer Phillip Ball, who declared himself an admirer of Spufford and sympathetic to his overall aims, but critical of the way he was too dismissive of the damage religion had done and the justifiable anger many people felt as a consequence.
“Yes, I entirely acknowledge there is a lot of stuff that religion is responsible for, or has done, or continues to do, that you would be justified in being angry about. I am not saying that religion has no effects in the world. But I want to say that religion’s effects in the world are much more various than the characterisation of it just as a source of fear, bullying, repressing of questioning, bigotry about sexuality, misogyny. You get an awful lot of talk about religion as if that were its only set of social effects, and those are so dreadful that we can judge the whole package by those. Those are dreadful, but religion is not some special all-evil-all-the-time department of human activity. Religion is an enormously various, culturally complicated, embedded human enterprise through which a vast array of human motives run. It is also a vehicle for asceticism, carnality, generosity, stinginess – every other pair of opposed qualities you can think of – it is huge, as various as any other aspect of human culture and as various in its effects as politics or law.”
I wonder if his spirited defence of religion from the depredations of New Atheism has given him common cause with those, like former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who claim Christians are being persecuted.
He’s appalled by the notion. “No, the danger here is a kind of self-pitying Christian identity politics which I think would be disastrous. No, we aren’t persecuted! Persecution is when they burn your churches down or don’t give you licenses to build – it is not people politely laughing at you in the Guardian. No, Christianity is in a state in this country, which is largely its own fault, and the tools for getting people to think better of us are entirely in our own hands. We will have to talk in a way that people like more, and find ways to describe who we are and what we are in ways that that make more sense. That is not a situation of persecution. That is a situation of being a minority. I can live with that.”
Listen to the full conversation between Francis Spufford and Caspar Melville (produced in association with PodAcademy)“Dude. What happened?”
I remove myself from my shallow moving meditation, “What?”
“Look at your leg!”
And so I do:
Starting from mid-thigh, it looks like I’ve managed to scrape a four inch wide section of my skin until the top of my ankle.
Road rash par-excellence.
Either my adrenaline is masking the real pain, or it’s looking much worse than it really is – perhaps all that crimson really isn’t my blood, but just dirt and sand from the track? Everything is well, reddish ’round here! I don’t feel like stopping to investigate – I’m in the middle of a race after all (and I’ve got goals!), so I play it off as no big deal even though, yeah: those are actually cuts in a few places, and I am bleeding all over myself. Typical day for me, I guess.
“Um. No one told me about the… grizzly bears here in Moab!”
My non sequitur attempt at humor leaves my temporary running partner slightly confused – probably the correct reaction for someone who’s just double-checking that I’m going to make it outta the canyon, and seeing if it may or may not be prudent to call a Flight For Life. I shrug it off and just keep running.
Of course, there was no bear encounter: a few miles after the start of the 2017, Moab Red Hot 55k, I managed to take a downhill turn a little too… hot and – for no reason except my own clumsiness, I went ass over teakettle down the trademark slick rock, finishing my less than controlled tumble tens of feet below where I started, facing the opposite direction. No one directly in back of me saw me fall – I was downhill and out of sight, and I recovered fairly quickly, so I sort of forgot about the whole ordeal until I was reminded a few miles later.
The rest of the race, I’m happy to report, went a little more smoothly.
I managed to swindle a ride from some friendly people from UD that were also renting house a few days – and oh: there’s a free twin bed available with your name on it, taking care of transportation, lodging, and saving me a long bike ride to the start!
Only sort of kidding: Boulder, CO to Moab, UT was indeed the longest car ride I had taken in years, and my first time out of Colorado in perhaps as long. In 2016, I managed over 300 car-free days (and two periods of over 100 consecutive car-free days), opting instead to ride my bike or run to where I wanted to go, instead of taking any motorized transportation, be it car, bus, train, plane, hovercraft, etc. I even rode to the start of a different 50k, then ran the race, summited a close by 14er, finally riding back home, all in a little less than 48 hours.
Which meant I could focus on doing a solid job in running the race. The Moab Red Hot 55k for me fits into my training plan for the year: slowly build up a solid base, peak my trail running in June for my PR attempt at the Golden Gate Dirty 30 50k (trying to better 2015’s 5:50:54). My goal for the Red Hot 55k was to run 99% of the course at a pace of around 9:30-10:00/mile. Finishing the race would finish up a big training block that started at the beginning of the year.
The week before the race, I took part in a ~100k gravel grinder, riding to/from the start, making it a 91 mile day for me. I felt pretty fit, but also knew my limitations: I don’t train specifically as just a trail runner and def. not as a competitive trail running racer: my interests and passions center around the mountains, but vary from mountain biking, to bouldering, and yes: trail running. Depending on the day, my mood and how sore my arms feel, I couldn’t guess what I’ll be up to. Races and race results aren’t important to me, but I can admit that using them to help set goals and stay motivated is a useful tool.
Red Hot provided a few new challenges that required me to get out of my normal routine: compared to the terrain I usually count as, “runable”: Red Hot is relatively flat instead of mountainous; has wide sandy roads or slick rock rather than singletrack; and is at a slightly lower elevation than I’ve ever raced before – “I may be able to run it, without blacking out!”, I thought, gleefully.
My main weakness in running is my pure flatland speed – put me on steep pitch and I’ll powerhike up and fall with just enough control (usually) that it evens out to a fairly OK pace. Training for Red Hot encouraged me to up my weekly mileage and hit the road a bit to work on my turnover and get back to basics with my running form. I didn’t necessarily do any speed work – it’s too early in the season for that, but usually even seeing me run on a road is rare. And you know, it’s in Utah and what better excuse to leave what I’m familiar with than a good goal?
Well, I’m not known to do well in hot, desert environments. This borders on an irrational fear of those sorts of climates – and I’d like to shake that off, as most everyone I talk to also espouses about the wonders of the desert and I seem in comparison crazy for my own dislike and distrust. I usually have to tell the story of failing at the Arizona Trail Race about 8 hours into the 750 mile course after extreme dehydration, wallowing in a shallow wash, waking up every 3 hours until the next morning to see if I was passably functional enough to continue, only to be finally saved by a passing off-duty border patrol agent that managed to get 2 liters of IV fluid into my very withering veins. Only then does my avoidance of desert situations seem maybe a little more understandable. “But still!”, they keep going on, and on; telling me about one desert treasure after another. Splitter cracks! Arches! Slot Canyons! Secret Waterfalls!
So of course, after braving my inner red hot desert demons, I found the start of the race… rainy! And somewhat cold. Perfect weather really for a long run – and especially perfect if you’re like me: seemingly genetically engineered to thrive in bog-like environments, but hard to swallow when I remembered I left a beautifully sunny Boulder, Colorado to jam here. Ah well, what cannae ye dae?
The starting sound bleeped and we were off. I immediately fell into what I hoped was a sustainable pace, watching the front runners do what they do. My lungs felt clear, and my breathing was really easy. I chalked this to the elevation being lower than I’m used to. So, let’s keep rolling! The start features a slow grind up to the top of the mesa, the course then turning you back to almost where you started – just now a thousand or so feet higher than where you really began. The views here were the best of the whole race; the veil of clouds lifted just a bit to let some Moab’s landscape to seep out – and I think all us runners in my pack soaked it in, naturally by being smart-asses about it:
“I mean, it’s OK.”
“I’ll take it, given no other options”
“Wonder what’s on TV?”
“Hey, is that the McDonalds?”
From the overlook, it’s a nice downhill to aid station #2 (just, try not fall…), and it’s time to run back to complete the initial loop of the course. Running along gingerly, I pondered to myself about the track: we seemed to be following wide jeep roads – I wonder if it’ll constrict a bit to a singletrack trail? Boy, wouldn’t that be nice.
By aid #3, that wish seemed like a silly idea: it’ll be like this to the very end. What was I expecting? I let myself go of wanting what I was used to, and allowed myself to enjoy the terrain for what it was. Because even with the clouds blocking most of the views, the immediate terrain is truly special, with enough unique landscape features that it felt criminal to simply run through them all so quickly.
That and – yeah: I wish I had my mountain bike!
Coming out of aid #3, it was a bit more soft and sandy jeep roads, until finally gaining a legitimate climb to aid #4. My legs felt pretty alright, so I gave it a go to attempt to run for the summit, even though I could potentially prematurely tire myself out. Running uphill on the slick rock just seemed to be too fun to pass up. A guy from Dallas I ran passedquipped that I must be from Colorado, and I replied with a hearty laugh while reminding him I’d see him back on the flatter sections all too soon.
Aid #4 showed itself at almost the crest of the major climb. My twin bed UD roomie waved at me from a shallow cave behind the aid station to get my attention: he injured his ankle and wanted me to pass along word that he’ll be a little late getting back to the house. His escape probably involved some of the 4wd drive enthusiasts and their customized jeepers. Sounded like a good consolation to me… but back on the track I had to go.
Now, the terrain really opened up, and it was slick rock most everywhere you looked, as if we were in the middle of the landing zone of an international airport. The tracks being, it seemed to this outsider, whatever and wherever someone had chosen way back when. Just follow the fading painted dashes! The course markings for the race themselves to guide you to the right choice seemed to become a bit difficult to spot. I had to stop a few times to get my bearings – somewhat of a unique experience.
I’m almost positive that they do this on purpose, as an in-joke to the non-locals unaccustomed to their topography. I, at least, laughed at the trouble in knowing exactly where to run towards, having it seemed a variety of choices in front of me, all seemingly looking the same. I realized that without my own local topography available (Rocky Mountains Equal West), I was completely without bearing. I couldn’t see Moab the town itself, and everything looked other-worldly the same in all directions.
Aid #5 – the last aid station, showed itself, and with that, the promise of a big downhill to the end – the race features 1,000 feet more descent than ascent! The final descent I was indeed anxiously awaiting for. Having blown my legs out while purposely running the main hill between aid #3-#4, a nice downhill was just what I had in mind. As anything over-anticipated, it seemed to take forever to come, and continuing to run felt for the first time in the race like something I had to focus on doing to not just stop. Ugh. Stopping seems though implausible – there’s no where to bail! The shortest way to the end is to run to the end. Life is sometimes this straightforward.
Down into a twisting gully the course meandered, and I obediently followed. Soon enough the cheers from the crowd could be heard, and not longer still I finally crossed the finish line with a time of ~5:45:00. Five minutes later? Lounging in the beer garden, with so many friendly dogs to pet, a nice, long morning run to credit the day with.
The rest of the day featured naps, beer, and all the tacos I could eat. The next day, as the weather failed to clear up, we hightailed it back to Boulder, in hopes in seeing some sunshine this weekend.
Farewell, #Moab! This weekend, you’ve wrapped up some of your secrets tight amongst an endless bank of clouds. Just means I’ll have to come back to attempt to tease them out. Onwards and upwards to #Colorado! A post shared by The Long Ranger (@longrangerjustin) on Feb 19, 2017 at 10:43am PST
Gear used:
I used the Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek Signature Series v3.0 vest, in the new canyon colorway. The colorway looks great on me and in the Moab landscape, so I felt pretty alright being the cool kid walking up to the start line, in my fancy, brand new, never been used race vest. That is, until I actually passed Scott Jurek walking from the start with his baby, and I probably said something kind of dumb. “Eat and Run, Scott!” or whatever it was I coughed up.
I had an Ultra Jacket tucked into the back pouch of the vest, but I didn’t need the jacket, as I found the weather was actually perfect if one just kept moving. Sadly, I was also not able to take off my long sleeve, no-name, thrift-store, thin, stretchy top either, and flaunt those climbing muscles. Strike two on being cool.
I usually carry an Ultimate Direction 20 ounce bottle and do so on this race, as they’re compatible with the bottle holders on my bike. I drank it seemed almost nothing on course, so the size of the bottle was a little over-kill. Using one of the newer Body Bottle Plus‘s would had been more than fine (and probably a little more comfortable). I kept some sunglasses in the front zip pocket on the left strap, but never found a need for them. Happily I didn’t lose them!
My nutrition during the race wasn’t anything except Coke at the aid stations. Looking back, I shoulda drank a little more often – my fault. I kept filling up, then dumping out water as I closed in on the next aid station.
For shoes, I was running in a pair of Altra Lone Peak 3.0 Neo Shell Lows (ain’t that a mouthful). I was a little worried as I hadn’t ran 30 miles or anything close to that in a pair of 0 drop shoes in quite some time, but I fared fine. Bonus was that these shoe’s uppers were waterproof! Which was pretty perfect for the conditions of the race. My feet stayed dry, and my shoes weren’t soggy.
These are quite possibly the only pair of trail runners I have bought in the last 3 years that weren’t La Sportivas; I bought them as a foot injury was stopping me from wearing basically anything else, and they’re sized maybe a smidgen too large now that my foot is healed. But they did the job, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use something like them again. I felt that the large footprint did give me perhaps a little flotation in the more sandy areas of the track. They stuck to the steeper slick rock sections just fine, but I’m also super-comfortable on slabs on sandstone in pretty much anything."Baristas feel the force of the labor cuts and the gross underemployment," according to a new petition by workers.
Karen Bleier / AFP / Getty Images
Starbucks, which has long offered its workers better pay and benefits than most restaurant chains, has lost some luster among staff after cutting hours and changing its pay structure recently.
On Wednesday, Starbucks barista Jaime Prater launched a staff petition on the campaign site Coworker.org; it had more than1,700 signatures by Thursday afternoon. "Baristas feel the force of the labor cuts and the gross underemployment," Prater wrote in the petition. "Morale is at the lowest I’ve seen it in my nearly nine years of service with Starbucks." Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz called Prater Wednesday evening in response to the petition. According to Prater, Schultz said he is sorry they are in this situation and that he wanted to "make it right." Prater said there was no discussion yet about specific actions the company plans to take. Despite its record performance, Starbucks still missed revenue expectations earlier this year. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Prater said this led many Starbucks managers to cut back baristas' hours. Stores are now deliberately understaffed to save on labor costs, he said.
Gianluigi Guercia / AFP / Getty Images
"Baristas trying to work more than 25 hours a week (myself included) find that a near impossible task," Prater wrote in the petition. "You end up taking it personally, when corporate directs your stores to understaff, and under-schedule. You wonder if they realize how difficult it is to pay your bills when you work 25 hours a week?" While he has on occasion been offered a few extra hours at stores that are farther away, Prater said the cost of gas alone to work such a short shift makes it unviable. Starbucks baristas must work at least 20 hours per week to be eligible for benefits, like health insurance, but Prater said some baristas still can't afford it on their wages. "Starbucks is more profitable than its ever been," Prater said. U.S. revenues were up 12% in the first three months of 2016. "I'm not seeing that. My hours are continuing to be cut back. That's the frustration, and that's where people see the disconnect." Baristas are also unhappy about changes to Starbucks' raise structure. Workers used to get raises twice a year, but recent changes have reduced that to once annually. "It makes a big difference," Prater said, noting that bonuses and personal days have also been eliminated, and sick days are offered only in areas that require them by law.
Ben Pruchnie / Getty Images
The growing menu of drinks and food have also complicated operations behind the counter. Prater said in the past, stores would add hours to support a product launch, but this is no longer the case. This has increased pressure behind the bar. Lines are longer, the prep areas are a mess, and stores aren't as neat as they should be. "It feels like no one cares," he said. Starbucks said in an email to BuzzFeed News: "We are constantly evaluating workload and staffing because it’s in our best interest to provide the right level of service to our customers in our stores. Our managers work hard to staff to store needs and to give our partners the hours they want, when they want them. We continue to encourage open dialogue between partners and their leadership, and all of our partners also have the opportunity to raise any concerns to our Partner Resources team." The coffee chain has faced a number of complaints from customers recently about its new loyalty program, which rewards spending over frequency of visits. A lawsuit is accusing the company of under-filling its lattes and another has complained it puts too much ice in its cold drinks. And in a recent national survey of customer satisfaction, the coffee chain's ranking dropped as other chains made more significant gains. Starbucks also recently closed its Teavana "tea bars," which the company launched in 2013, and closed its stand-alone La Boulange bakery locations.A message has gone viral claiming that there is a high likelihood of a terrorist attack on London's underground network on Monday morning, and that all London police officers have been called in to a special 4am shift.
This is a typical example of the message doing the rounds:
The warning message seems to be mainly spreading via text messages and WhatsApp, rather than via Twitter and Facebook.
The Met, which is responsible for policing the capital, says it has a policy of not normally commenting on hoaxes for fear of encouraging more. But police felt this particular message had reached such a wide audience they had to issue a public denial.
But a Metropolitan police spokesman told BuzzFeed that the text message is "completely untrue", and that no extra officers are coming in early.
Social media contains lots of rumours regarding threats to tube network tomorrow. There is no specific threat so keep calm & carry on. 1/2
Social media contains lots of rumours regarding threats to tube network tomorrow. There is no specific threat so keep calm & carry on. 1/2
The London boss of the British Transport police, who look after the tube network, has hit out at such "rumours".
The viral message seems to have been prompted by the UK government's decision on Friday to raise the official terror threat level to "severe".
That decision, which was based on intelligence on the activities of militants in Iraq and Syria, means that the government believes a terrorist attack on British soil is "highly likely".
But home secretary Theresa May made it very clear that there is no evidence of any specific threat or clues as to where and when an attack may take place.+1 Pin Share 429 Shares
When people think about great European destinations, first places that go in mind are London, Paris, Rome, etc, etc. But, there is a number of hidden jewels among European cities.
And we strongly recommend to visit them! 🇪🇺
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A grоwіng number of еxоtіс dеѕtіnаtіоn ѕееkіng travelers аrе stealing аwау tо Eаѕtеrn Eurоре. Pасkеd wіth аll оf thе Allurе оf thе UK, Frаnсе оr Italy Eаѕtеrn Eurоре аrguаblу оffеrѕ сіtіеѕ rich іn сulturе аnd mеdіеvаl аrсhіtесturе wіth juѕt аѕ much grandeur аѕ Wеѕtеrn European destinations. Tourism іѕ dеfіnіtеlу ѕtаrtіng tо build іn thіѕ соrnеr оf thе world and more and more travelers plan trips to unfamiliar destinations. Here аrе 25 amazing Eastern European destinations уоu ѕhоuld vіѕіt right now!
1. Buсhаrеѕt, Rоmаnіа
Bucharest, thе capital оf Rоmаnіа is a dуnаmіс mоdеrn city with a wіldlу sensational hіѕtоrу. Nісknаmеd “lіttlе Pаrіѕ” іn the early 1900’ѕ Buсhаrеѕt rеаllу рlауѕ thе раrt with hір cafes, іmрrеѕѕіvе trее lіnеd boulevards аnd dramatic modern аnd hіѕtоrіс аrсhіtесturе. Hоmе tо many attractions, the mоѕt remarkable landmark іn thіѕ vіbrаnt сіtу іѕ thе monstrous Pаrlіаmеnt Pаlасе. Bеіng equally еnоrmоuѕ аnd оѕtеntаtіоuѕ, іt іѕ a mіnd-blоwіng аrсhіtесturаl feat trumреd only in size by the Pеntаgоn.
Whеrе thеrе аrе mаnу еxаmрlеѕ оf Bucharest’s cultural and architectural ѕрlеndоr the hіghlіghtѕ include thе Rоmаnіаn Athenaeum, аn еlаbоrаtеlу domed сіrсulаr buіldіng thаt іѕ thе cities mаіn соnсеrt hаll, Buсhаrеѕt Unіvеrѕіtу аnd thе National Hіѕtоrу Muѕеum.
2. Sіbіu, Romania
Sіbіu іѕ a сіtу іn Trаnѕуlvаnіа, Rоmаnіа thаt hаѕ a сulturаl mаgіс аll іtѕ оwn. It wіll have уоu instantly ѕреllbоund with its striking mеdіеvаl сhаrm, brеаthtаkіng vіеwѕ of ѕurrоundіng lаndѕсареѕ and dеlісіоuѕ food. It’ѕ historical center was buіlt іntо two vеrу реdеѕtrіаn levels filled wіth mоѕt оf Sіbіu’ѕ hіѕtоrісаl sites, соlоrful hоuѕеѕ аnd соbblе stone streets.
An аrtѕу yet trаdіtіоnаl vіbе exists in the сіtу thаt арреаlіnglу реrmеаtеѕ thе litany of саfеѕ, fеѕtіvаlѕ аnd exhibitions thаt thrіvе there. Sоmе grеаt thіngѕ tо еxреrіеnсе іn Sіbіu аrе thе Brukеnthаl Muѕеum, аndthе Crama Sіbіu Vechi rеѕtаurаnt, a grеаt рlасе tо еnjоу аuthеntіс Rоmаnіаn fаrе аnd thе vіеw оf thе historical сеntеr frоm thе tор оf thе Cоunсіl Tоwеr.
3. Bratislava, Slovakia
The trulу сhаrmіng city оf Brаtіѕlаvа is the саріtаl оf Slovakia. Itѕ tiny оld tоwn іѕ расkеd wіth medieval grandeur, all over lооkеd by thе сіtіеѕ mаjеѕtіс hіlltор Cаѕtlе. The nаrrоw ѕtrееtѕ аrе lіnеd with rеѕtаurаntѕ аnd bаrѕ bесkоnіng fоr уоu to еаt, drіnk аnd аррrесіаtе thе сulturе.
Bе ѕurе tо check оut thе Brаtіѕlаvа Cаѕtlе аnd thе Slavin Memorial fоr thе bеѕt сіtу views. Vіѕіt at Chrіѕtmаѕ аnd сhесk оut the traditional Mаrkеt оn thе main ѕquаrе іn the сеntеr оf the city. It offers genuine local holiday specialties іnсludіng dеlісіоuѕ mullеd wіnе that ѕhоuldn’t bе mіѕѕеd.
Read also: Travel to Helsinki with kids!
4. Nida, Lіthuаnіа
Exquisite Nіdа is the рrіmаrу ѕеttlеmеnt on Lithuania’s ѕіdе оf thе Curonian Spit. This spit іѕ a сurvеd ѕаnd dunе іn between thе Curonian Lаgооn аnd the Bаltіс Sеа. It is a UNESCO Wоrld Hеrіtаgе Sіtе shared bу Ruѕѕіа аnd Lіthuаnіа. Nіdа is thе tоurіѕt destination on ѕріt. Thе rеlісѕ of уеѕtеrуеаr tеll a ѕtоrу of a bуgоnе fіѕhіng vіllаgе. Colorful wooden cottages and brіght bоаtѕ in thе harbor аdd to nаturаl bеаutу thаt dоmіnаtеѕ here.
Whіtе ѕаnd beaches are a short hіkе thrоugh ріnе fоrеѕt frоm Nіdа. Pаrnіdіѕ Dunе, thе massive аnd most impressive dunе is just Sоuth оf thе village. It has ѕtерѕ uр tо its lofty ѕummіt whеrе уоu can еnjоу ѕwееріng vіеwѕ оf рrіѕtіnе, rіррlіng dunеѕ. Eаt аt Nidos Sеklусіа and tаkе a tour to еxрlоrе Curоnіаn Nаtіоnаl Pаrk. Bоth of these еxреrіеnсеѕ will show уоu everything thаt drаwѕ vіѕіtоrѕ to this precious place.
5. Skорjе, Mасеdоnіа
Skорjе is аmіd Europe’s most dіvеrѕе аnd соmреllіng capital cities. It іѕ аn есlесtіс blend оf Chrіѕtіаn and Iѕlаmіс сulturеѕ. This blеnd has given bіrth tо a spirited аnd соlоrful society. A ѕосіаl vibe pervades thе city, lосаlѕ рlау сhеѕѕ іn thе раrkѕ and thе city соmеѕ аlіvе аt nіght аѕ реорlе flock tо cafes аnd bars tо еnjоу muѕіс and conversation. Vіѕіt the Carsija nеіbоurhооd tо enjoy Skорjе’ѕ bеѕt hіѕtоrіс ѕtruсturеѕ and museums. Cоmрlеtе wіth a Trіumрhаl Arсh, thе Plostad Makedonija Sԛuаrе іѕ dеdісаtеd tо nаtіоnаl heroes.
Read also: European Travel Guide
6. Dubrоvnіk, Crоаtіа
Dubrоvnіk, nicknamed the Pearl оf thе Adrіаtіс, іѕ thе ѕhіnіng star of Crоаtіа. With its аwе іnѕріrіng оld tоwn hіghlіghtеd bу thе ѕраrklе оf thе sea, Dubrоvnіk іѕ arguably оnе of thе mоѕt beautiful tоwnѕ in аll оf Eastern Europe. Dееmеd a UNESCO Wоrld Hеrіtаgе Sіtе in 1979, іt іѕ loaded wіth spectacular аrсhіtесturе, bоаѕtіng brіllіаnt сhurсhеѕ, muѕеumѕ and ѕсulрturеѕ. Nо vіѕіt tо Dubrovnik would bе соmрlеtе wіthоut a walk аlоng the сіtу wall. The view оvеr thе сіtу and thе Adriatic is brеаth tаkіng frоm this vаntаgе point. For a mоrе ѕwееріng view tаkе a саblе саr frоm tоwn tо the top оf nеаrbу Mt, Srd.
In Croatia there also plenty of others holiday options, e.g. if you would like more adventure – check out Linden Tree Retreat & Ranch.
7. Split, Crоаtіа
Split is the second largest city in Croatia. It lіеѕ оn thе Eastern ѕhоrеѕ оf thе Adrіаtіс centering оn Dіосlеtіаn’ѕ Pаlасе, аn іmрrеѕѕіvе Roman mоnumеnt that іѕ a UNESCO Wоrld Heritage Sіtе. Cоаѕtаl mountains ѕеrvе as Sрlіtѕ bасkdrор аddіng drаmа tо thе cities gorgeous сіtуѕсаре. Thе раlасе іѕ the hеаrt оf the сіtу, It іѕ a lіvеlу mаzе оf streets filled wіth реорlе, rеѕtаurаntѕ, bаrѕ аnd ѕhорѕ. A wаlkіng tоur of thе раlасе іѕ thе bеѕt way tо see all of thе hіghlіghtѕ. Split hаѕ a flourishing beach ѕсеnе іn thе ѕummеr. Visit thе рорulаr Bасvісе Bеасh tо enjoy thе sea аnd gаmеѕ galore. Check out this Split one-day guide.
8. Mljеt Island, Croatia
Cоnѕіdеrеd one of thе most beautiful Croatian Iѕlаndѕ, Mljet іѕ bу fаr thе grееnеѕt. Thе island, covered mоѕtlу іn dense Mеdіtеrrаnеаn forest, ѕрrіnklеd wіth vіnеуаrdѕ, farms аnd tіnу vіllаgеѕ is thе еріtоmе оf trаnԛuіlіtу. Thе north half іѕ Mljеt Nаtіоnаl Pаrk. With іtѕ рrіѕtіnе salt-water lаkеѕ аnd ѕtаggеrіng dеnѕіtу of vegetation, іt іѕ truly an unѕроіlеd оаѕіѕ. Vіѕіt Polace to сhесk out thе іmрrеѕѕіvе Roman Pаlасе thаt still rеmаіnѕ dаtіng frоm thе first to thе fіfth сеnturу. Eаt bу the sea at Konoba Ankоrа, thе bеѕt restaurants іn Pоlасе.
9. Orhеіul Vесhі, Mоldоvа
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cute this can get, inter alia, the avowed disinterest in religious stuff at the beginning of the book, the constant run around God, the taunt that Latour is “scandalizing” believers (and also non-believers), the assertion that religion is disappointing. In the end those are the disavowals that allow Latour to then turn the deeply Christian phrasings that run throughout this book and that give it its particular disposition. Confessional and self-reflexive, there’s Latour in church, trying to get the phrase right.Can The U.S. And China Keep Their Climate Pledges?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Evan Vucci/AP Evan Vucci/AP
On Friday, most of the world's governments are set to sign the most sweeping climate agreement in history. Their signatures will codify promises they made in Paris last December to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
The two largest sources of those gases are the U.S. and China. Whether they keep their promises will in large part determine whether the Paris deal succeeds. And it is by no means clear that they'll be able to keep their promises.
The Paris climate meeting was the culmination of years of failure by the world's nations to cut a deal on curbing climate change. Failure in Paris, some people predicted, would likely bury the idea of an international climate deal.
Then, just months before the Paris summit, President Obama and China's Xi Jinping stood side by side at the White House and said, "We've got this."
"When the world's two largest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters come together like this," Obama said, "then there's no reason for other countries — whether developed or developing — to not do so as well."
Obama highlighted his own clean power plan to cut carbon dioxide from electric power plants – a plan the administration rolled out in 2014. The Chinese promised to slow the growth of their country's emissions. That joint declaration paved the way, and the rest of the world made similar pledges in Paris.
But since then, Obama's plan has come under attack. Kate Larsen of the Rhodium Group, a policy and economics think tank, says climate experts thought the plan was a sure thing because it didn't require congressional approval. "It was something that looked like slam dunk," she says, and "that was really important to show that the U.S. was making progress."
But the plan's opponents — numerous state governments and power companies — sued to stop the plan, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to put it on hold.
So what happens to Obama's Paris pledge if its centerpiece clean power plan dies? The plan would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025. The Rhodium Group did the math and concludes that with the clean power plan, the U.S. would still come up short on that promise. And without it, the U.S. would be way short.
But Larsen says the fat's not in the fire yet. There are other options. Renewable energy is growing much faster than energy experts predicted. That's largely, Larsen notes, because of moves by Congress — though many of its members don't even believe in climate change.
"Congress gave the renewables industry a huge Christmas gift with an extension of the tax credits for solar and wind power," she says. Those tax breaks, enacted last December, make new wind and solar projects cheaper, and helped make them the leading source of new electricity.
So, although it's tough to say if the U.S. will actually achieve Obama's goals, those goals "were a stretch," Larsen says, and the rest of the world should understand that.
Then there's China. It's the world's leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. China's government has acknowledged that emissions there will continue to rise, but pledged that they will peak in 2030 and then decline.
In fact, China might be way ahead of schedule — if you believe the emissions numbers from Chinese officials. Those statistics suggest that the nation's emissions are already declining.
"I think that decline is real," says Rob Jackson, a climate scientist at Stanford University. His research shows that for the past two years, China's emissions flattened and even fell. He says even if China's statistics are off a bit, as they often have been, they signal a shift away from relentless growth in emissions.
"Emissions are changing in China," Jackson says. "Will they peak this year or last year? I don't think so. I do expect them to increase only a little bit more. They may peak within five years or so." If that turns out to be true, China would be way ahead of schedule.
That depends, of course, on China's economy. It's been tepid lately. If it rebounds, so will emissions. The weather could be a factor, too. China depends a lot on hydropower, and a drought could push the country back to coal. So emissions data that currently look good could change.
What the U.S. and China do is critically important now, but ultimately their efforts won't be enough to stop climate change. Other countries matter as well — in particular, India. India's emissions are growing fast, and while its government pledged in Paris to shift to renewable energy as fast as the country can, it's not giving up fossil fuels such as coal either — not with hundreds of millions of people still without electricity. Over the long haul, India's emissions could surpass those from the U.S. or China.
"What pathway India takes will go a long way to saying where we end up in 10 to 20 years," Jackson says, "along with what the U.S. does and what China does."A man is in police custody following the hostage situation in Nuneaton
Police are continuing to question a man who was arrested after two members of staff were held hostage at gunpoint at a bowling alley.
The two employees - a duty manager and a lane host - at MFA Bowl in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, were unharmed in the incident, which was not terror-related.
The Bermuda Park retail park was in lockdown for more than four hours while the suspect held the male workers inside the bowling alley.
Police arrested the 53-year-old from Nuneaton on suspicion of making threats to kill.
Flashes and bangs at scene of hostage taking
Firearms officers and police negotiators, as well as other emergency services staff, rushed to the scene after the first reports of a gunman emerged at about 2.30pm on Sunday.
Bangs and flashes were reported shortly before news of the arrest emerged at about 7pm, with about 15 armed officers seen running towards the bowling alley.
An ambulance made its way through the cordon and two people got out approximately 10 minutes later.
Chris Clegg, operations director of MFA Bowl, said the two employees were checked over for shock, while the suspect was handcuffed.
Terrified families either fled the retail park - which includes restaurants, a cinema and a soft play area - or hid until police said it was safe for them to leave.
Witness: He was pointing the gun around, we ran
Alex Mulholland, who was in the bowling alley along with 40 or 50 others, saw the gunman enter and brandish the weapon.
The man was shouting "game over" as he held the gun above his head, Mr Mulholland said.
"We were just having a game... and a man who was also bowling ran across our lane and he was like 'get out, get out', shouting," he told Sky News.
"I was like 'what's going on?' so I turn around and there was a white guy, greyish beard, weird-looking man, he's got a gun up here, like this over his head.
"He was saying 'game over, game over', everyone shouting, screaming, panicking, trying to get out and I didn't know what to make of it, really.
'We were trying to leave with the kids'
"I ran, got my things as quickly as I could and got out of there."
Witness Lawrence Hallett said he saw a man walking towards him carrying a shotgun and then ran "hell for leather" out of the bowling alley.
He told Sky News: "We hung around outside for a little while... we didn't know what to do, what was going on. And he came out and swore and said 'what the heck are you guys'... unslung his gun and went back in again.
"And at that point we backed off to our cars."
Forensics officers are now examining the scene and a red Peugeot 307 has been removed by officers.Tea Party Challenger Upsets Eric Cantor In GOP Primary
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
Tonight, a stunning upset in a political primary. The House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, has lost the Republican primary election in Virginia. Cantor was upset by a Tea Party-backed underdog. And for more, I'm joined now by NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson. And, Mara, I said this is shocking - I don't think anybody saw this coming.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Nobody saw this coming. This is a complete surprise. It's been called an earthquake. The storyline this year was the Tea Party was vanquished everywhere. But tonight, it's proved that the Tea Party establishment fight is still alive and kicking. This was a devastating upset. Eric Cantor lost by a wide margin. Although there were some internal Virginia state Republican Party politics at play, the issues in this race were Tea Party issues. Eric Cantor was forced to the right on immigration reform. He ran ads against amnesty. Tea Party activists in his district were angry that he voted to end the government shutdown, raise the debt ceiling. And what's even more ironic is that Eric Cantor has courted the Tea Party. He styled himself as a kind of grassroots conservative counterweight to John Boehner, the more moderate speaker. So he did try to straddle the divide and he clearly failed.
BLOCK: So tell us about the Tea Party underdog who vanquished him today. Who is David Brat?
LIASSON: Well, David Brat is an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College. And just to give you an example of how completely improbable his victory was tonight - at the end of March, he reported $40,000 in campaign funds on hand, Eric Cantor had 2 million. And interestingly enough, David Brat will go on to face another professor at Randolph-Macon College - Democrat Jack Trammell - in the fall.
BLOCK: And this is a solidly Republican district, Mara, would the Democrats be looking at this possibly as a pickup now or is that out of the question?
LIASSON: Well, I think anytime you have something like this happen, Democrats will look at possibly as a pickup. But this was considered a pretty safe seat. No one expected Cantor to be defeated. But, you know, there are some other implications for the party. I think this is going to be a real blow to the solar plexus of Republicans who thought that the establishment was reestablishing control over the Tea Party. I think this is going to be a setback for the prospects for immigration reform, and Republicans in the house are going to be very wary of crossing the Tea Party because the message of this primary season up until now was don't worry you won't have to be so afraid of a Tea Party challenge. Well, when Eric Cantor, the guy who was widely considered to be the future speaker of the House, gets defeated in a primary, that's something to really be worried about.
BLOCK: Sure. It's got to set off shockwaves through the rest of the Republican Party and especially vulnerable Republicans who are facing primary challenges of their own across the country.
LIASSON: That's right. We're still waiting to see what happens to Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. He has some Tea Party challengers, the big question not so much is whether he will get the most votes but whether he'll avoid a runoff. And don't forget, in Mississippi we have Thad Cochran, the sitting incumbent Republican Senator who was forced into a runoff by a Tea Party challenger. That runoff is June 24. He is the underdog in that race right now. So I think everybody has to reconsider the conventional wisdom that the Tea Party was shut out this year. They certainly were not.
BLOCK: OK, Mara. Thank you.
LIASSON: Thank you.
BLOCK: That's NPR's Mara Liasson reporting on today's major political upset. Again, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has lost to his primary election opponent David Brat, who was backed by the Tea Party.
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NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Oakland Raiders: Who Should Be Blamed For the Team’s Struggles?
Oakland Raiders: Who Should Be Blamed For the Team’s Struggles? by Brian Banifatemi
Despite a hot start, the Santa Clara Broncos were handed their first loss of the season in dramatic fashion, losing to the Utah State Aggies in overtime 80-78.
The Aggies, playing their first road game of the season, were evidently struggling to get used to the away court, as the Broncos got off to a 19-4 start. Kevin Foster, who finished with 27 points, scored 12 quick ones which included three 3-pointers (one for a four-point play).
But Utah State clawed their way back, outscoring Santa Clara 30-14 to finish the first half with a one-point lead.
That momentum carried over to the second half, as the Aggies led by as many as eight in the first portion of the half. The see-saw battle continued, as Santa Clara took a 62-60 lead on an Evan Roquemore layup with 3:20 to play.
The Broncos led 70-67 with three seconds remaining, only to have Preston Medlin drill a game-tying three to force overtime.
“I have to give Utah State credit for sticking in there. They stole one from us tonight,” said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating. “At the end of regulation we played 15 seconds of great defense and then let them hit that three with two seconds left to tie it up.”
Utah State would never trail in the overtime session, as they had an answer every time the Broncos scored. Trailing 80-78 with six seconds remaining, Roquemore missed the potential game-winning three-point shot, and Santa Clara lost in agonizing fashion.
Santa Clara was held to 41.2 percent shooting from the field and just 7-23 on three-point attempts, both of which were way below their season averages.
The Broncos are now 5-1 and will play UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at home.Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Arkansas linebacker Alexy Jean-Baptiste is going to miss some practice time. Jean-Baptiste went in for surgery last week to repair a broken foot.
According to Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema, the recovery time could be up to four months, which should mean he will be available for the start of the 2017 season in whatever capacity he would be in lin for.
“Probably looking at a 4-month recovery,” Bielema said. “He’s unfortunately out for a pretty significant amount of time.”
Arkansas punter Blake Johnson has also suffered an injury, and Bielema did not seem to be too pleased with how the injury occurred. That’s because it happened from outside of practice.
“So I removed him from the program for a little bit,” Bielema said. “Let him go home this weekend and celebrate Easter weekend by himself in his apartment. I’ll make a decision Monday if I let him back in.”
Well, that sounds ominous. But wait, there’s more.
“I just told him I didn’t wanna see him today,” Bielema said. “You know how you have children, right, I don’t have children yet but I assume there’s some point when you just don’t wanna see anybody. Just send them away. Send them in the other room. He’s in timeout. He’s in extreme timeout.”
That doesn’t sound great for Johnson, but maybe Bielema will cool off over the holiday weekend.Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos may have plagiarized an Obama administration official when responding to senators’ questions regarding her qualifications for the job.
Unsatisfied with Ms. DeVos’s answers to limited questions during a confirmation hearing earlier this month, senators sent more than 1,000 followup inquiries her way. In response to Sen. Patty Murray (D) of Washington’s question as to how she would address bullying of LGBT students, DeVos responded: “Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment where they can learn, thrive, and grow.”
As The Washington Post first reported, those lines carry a striking similarity to remarks made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of Obama's Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department.
In a 2016 press statement vowing to protect the rights of transgender students, Gupta wrote, "Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment that allows them to thrive and grow.”
Some have come to DeVos’s defense, noting that the general language and common sentiments don’t make the coincidence a clear-cut case for plagiarism accusations.
“This is character assassination,” Rob Goad, a White House education adviser, told the Post in an email. “The secretary designate has long been referencing the need for safe and supportive learning environments, free of discrimination, for all students, so that they can learn, achieve, thrive, grow and lead successful productive lives.”
DeVos has faced significant opposition since President Trump nominated her for the position. Still, the Senate Health, Education, Pensions and Labor Committee voted to confirm her appointment on Tuesday. Democrats continue to levy opposition to her nomination, arguing that she lacks proper experience and expertise to perform the role’s duties, hoping to sway just a few Republican senators to vote against her confirmation.
In addition to DeVos's response on bullying, some of her other responses to the long list of questions have raised concerns about DeVos's knowledge of the field, according to the Post. Several answers are near or verbatim quotes of federal statutes or information on government websites, used with citation.
While the responses bore DeVos’s name, it’s unclear what role any aides may have played in helping her to respond to the lengthy list of inquiries.
Other high-profile plagiarism scandals have surrounded the 2016 election and new administration, including accusations that Melania Trump lifted lines from Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech and that Monica Crowley, Mr. Trump’s initial pick for senior communications director of the National Security Council, used more than 50 plagiarized phrases in her book.
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As The Christian Science Monitor previously reported, the recurring incidents have led some to question if plagiarism scandals matter in politics as much as they do in academia or publishing.
"In politics, it’s not clear that we have an agreed-upon code of conduct, so the ethics almost blend sort of directly into the politics," Michael Carroll, a law professor at American University, previously told the Monitor. "If the people don't have a problem with it, is there some other reason to think it's a problem?"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given his first official order starting the process towards legalizing weed.
In a public mandate letter issued to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould Friday, Trudeau listed the government's top priorities, including working with the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Health ministers to "create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana."
The letter also calls for a review of sentencing reforms with the goal of reducing incarceration rates amongst Indigenous Canadians. Under Stephen Harper, the Conservatives imposed mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, including growing marijuana—a policy that has been widely criticized as "cruel and unusual."
In the absence of an official cannabis policy change, police forces across the country are using their discretion when deciding whether or not to enforce current drug laws.
Nanaimo, BC RCMP recently ordered several medical marijuana dispensaries in the city to shut down or potentially face criminal prosecution. A compassion club in Saskatoon, where a police officer told VICE he would "charge on a leftover roach" if possible, was also recently raided.
In Vancouver, cops generally don't lay charges for simple possession, but the city's 100 or so pot dispensaries, which operate in a grey market, are being cracked down on through new municipal regulations.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada told VICE that it will continue to prosecute drug offences under the existing laws.
Photo via Flickr user Brett Levin
Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.Over the last several years, Go's audience has shifted from early adopters to mainstream users. Today, our users come from a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and expectations. The needs of users are growing faster than the Go project can currently address them. To streamline the experience for first-time Go users, we've created the Developer eXperience Working Group (DXWG).
For the next three months, this group will work together on delivering:
improvements to the Go installation experience
better guidelines to help new users
guides on tooling and developer environments (editors and IDEs)
running user studies to systematically analyze and measure friction points
improvements to the Go Tour and Go Playground
A secondary goal of the working group is to better understand how to involve the Go community in charting Go’s future. We hope that working groups – Go team members working alongside community members – will help Go scale its leadership and address user needs. We’ll learn from this experience and iterate.
The initial members of the working group are: Carmen Andoh, Chris Broadfoot, Francesc Campoy, Jaana Burcu Dogan, Steve Francia, Jess Frazelle, Bill Kennedy, Katrina Owen, Natalie Pistunovich, Mat Ryer, Dmitri Shuralyov.
We are looking for additional people to help with contributing code, writing documentation, sharing feedback and experiences (user stories), reviewing contributions, and more. If you are interested in any of our current areas of focus, please subscribe to the golang-devexp mailing list.
By The Developer Experience Working GroupThe most shameful achievement of the House Republican majority has been the elimination of $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending through 2022, which has already held back the economy from substantial growth and done real damage to people and communities that depend on government dollars. The widespread pain caused by this year’s sequester is the best-known aspect of these cuts, but caps that will continue to limit virtually every program for nine more years will also be extremely harmful.
Republicans, though, still aren’t satisfied, and are continuing their campaign to radically reshape Washington’s relationship to the country. The 2014 spending bills now emerging from the House Appropriations Committee are worse than in any previous year and would make some programs and departments unrecognizable.
The spending limits imposed by Republicans in the Budget Control Act of 2011 will be different in the upcoming fiscal year. The arbitrary, across-the-board cuts of the sequester will come to an end for most discretionary spending (the kind that has to be renewed each year), but the severe overall limits on each department’s budget will get worse as total discretionary spending declines by 2 percent. The difference in 2014 is that lawmakers can reallocate money within departments as they see fit, within the limits, and won’t be confined by the sequester rules.
House Republicans, of course, have decided to exceed the caps for their favorite programs. They want to give the Pentagon a 5.4 percent increase — $26 billion it doesn’t need — along with a 3.3 percent raise to Homeland Security. To pay for that, and still shrink the budget, they are demanding severe cuts from spending bills for which they have little use: nearly 19 percent out of the labor, health and education bill; 15 percent from the financial services oversight bill; 14 percent from the interior and environment bill; and 11 percent from the energy and water bill.USA TODAY Sports
Emotions were clearly running high when No. 2 Alabama claimed a 32-28 victory over No. 3 Georgia in the SEC football championship game Saturday night, and they did not die down for Bulldogs coach Mark Richt when he took the podium for his post-game press conference.
According to Clay Travis of OutkickTheCoverage.com, a journalist took a roundabout route to insinuate that Richt and quarterback Aaron Murray fail to come through in important games. This did not sit well with the coach, and here is an excerpt from the conversation.
Questioner: "There are some people whether it's fans, media, or whomever else that will maybe want to make further conclusions about you or your quarterback, specifically, in big games. Would you have any response to those people?" Richt stared straight ahead, squinted his eyes. "I don't know what you're saying," Richt said, "Why don't you just say it straight up what you're trying to say."
After a brief back-and-forth, the conversation concluded with this, per Travis’ article:
Questioner: "No, I'm saying I hear that every day ---" Richt cuts off the questioner "Well, that's for you to worry about then. If that's what you say, then I'll answer the question. If you think other people are saying that, I'm not worried about that."
Travis notes that Richt stormed off after this but returned shortly after his abrupt exit and said, “I want to say something else—if anybody thinks our guys didn't play their tail off and Aaron Murray didn't play his tail off, they're crazy. That's unbelievable somebody would even bring that up."
Alabama won the game 32-28 after an incredibly competitive contest. Both teams traded shots throughout the game, and Murray completed 18 of 33 passes for 265 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Georgia ran out of time on its final drive, and the clock expired while the Bulldogs had the ball in the red zone.
This is the second consecutive season in which Georgia has lost in the SEC championship game.The startup LuxAI was created following a research project at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) of the University of Luxembourg, funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) under its Proof of Concept scheme.
The business model of LuxAI is developing and constructing so-called social robots. Such robots can be used, for example, in the educational or health system, where they would support trainers and therapists in their work. The robots can be programmed to practice vocabulary with children or to make rehabilitation exercises with stroke patients.
The "AI" in LuxAI stands for Artificial Intelligence. "Robots that are supposed to interact with humans have to process a great deal of information very quickly, and adapt their behaviours according to the interaction," says the CEO of LuxAI, Dr. Pouyan Ziafati. Ziafati wrote his doctoral thesis on artificial intelligence and robotics at the SnT -- and founded LuxAI based on it. "Our robot is the first social robot to come out of Luxembourg," says Ziafati: "We have already run the prototype through practical tests. It received excellent scores for its social expressiveness, emotionality and ease of use."
The heart of every robot is its programming -- the software. LuxAI's social robot is based on a so-called Robot Agent Programming Language, which Ziafati designed for his doctorate and adapted to the needs of social robots. Such programming, however, is only accessible to IT experts. "Practitioners who want to teach a robot how to train stroke patients, for example, can't learn their way into it," says Ziafati. "They need an interface by which they can program the robot intuitively and naturally"
LuxAI in cooperation with the Autonomous Robot Lab of the Computer Science and Communications Research Unit (CSC) of the University of Luxembourg has developed this very interface. It is based on the same Android platform as is widespread on smartphones, and can make social robots suitable for the mass market, as Ziafati assures. "Non-IT-expert people have made the first tests with our robots. They were able to program the robots for their purpose within 20 minutes. Our software lets anyone do it." Ziafati sees possibilities for many fields of application: as learning support for autistic children, in schools, in the entertainment industry or in geriatric care.
"Social robots will never replace qualified personnel -- but they can support them, since they have unlimited time and can take over routine tasks," says Ziafati. LuxAI is now working with Fondation Autisme Luxembourg and three departments in the University of Luxembourg on developing applications for autism therapy and behavioural regulation, geriatric medicine and teaching foreign languages to children in kindergartens.Linux Mint Debian (LMDE) is a rolling release distribution based on Debian Testing.
LMDE Update Pack 4, which will include Linux Kernel 3.2, Mate Desktop 1.2 (a renamed GNOME 2 desktop), Cinnamon 1.4 (GNOME Shell fork), GNOME Shell 3.2.2, KDE 4.7.4 and Xfce 4.8, "is being prepared and tested at the moment" and should be available soon., which(a renamed GNOME 2 desktop),(GNOME Shell fork),, "is being prepared and tested at the moment" and should be available soon.
In a comment, Clement Lefebvre, the Linux Mint Project Leader, has specified that a new respin of LMDE ISOs will be available too when Update Pack 4 will be released. He also stated that it hasn't been decided yet if MATE or Cinnamon will be made default and if they will both be on the ISO, but "both will be fully supported".
you'll be able to avoid the update, keeping GNOME 2, by changing the software sources as explained on the Linux Mint If you don't like any of the desktop environments available with LMDE Update Pack 4,, keeping GNOME 2, by changing the software sources as explained on the Linux Mint blog
Install Linux Mint Debian Update Pack 4 (testing only!)
tested: download LMDE from LMDE Update Pack 4 can already be: download LMDE from HERE, then install Update Pack 3 using the Update Manager and then, to install Update Pack 4, you'll need to add the Linux Mint Debian testing repositories - to do this, run the following command in a terminal:
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/incoming testing main contrib non-free deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/incoming/security testing/updates main contrib non-free deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/incoming/multimedia testing main non-free
Then open the Linux Mint Update Manager, click "Refresh" so the software sources are updated and LMDE Update Pack 4 should be available for installation.
After the upgrade, only the GNOME Shell and GNOME Fallback sessions will be available:
LMDE - GNOME Shell
sudo apt-get install cinnamon
Cinnamon
sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment
MATE
via Linux Mint blog
And replace the contents of this file with the following repositories:Then log out and select MATE / Cinnamon from the GDM login screen.MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is investigating an officer-involved shooting incident that happened late Saturday night in Minneapolis. The BCA said Sunday that the officers' body cameras were not turned on at the time and the squad camera did not capture the incident. Investigators are attempting to determine whether any video of the incident exists.
Two Minneapolis police officers responded to a 911 call of a possible assault just north of the 5100 block of Washburn Avenue South just before 11:30 p.m. Saturday. At one point an officer fired their weapon, fatally striking a woman, according to authorities.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy on the deceased woman. The medical examiner will release the woman's identity and the cause and manner of death once the autopsy is complete and family notifications have taken place, according to a news release.
(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Minnesota Patch, click here to find your local Minnesota Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)
The BCA's investigation is in its very early stages. More information will be available once initial interviews with incident participants and any witnesses are complete. That work is underway, but will not be complete Sunday, officials said.
When the investigation is complete, the BCA will turn its findings over to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office for review.
Image via Minneapolis Police DepartmentAt any time before the two-minute warning of each half or overtime period, the head coach of either team can signal a challenge by throwing a red flag onto the field. He's allowed only two challenges per game, but if both challenges are successful, he's given a third. He must issue his challenge before the next snap of the ball.
If the coach's challenge is successful -- that is, the ruling on the field is overturned -- then his team isn't charged with a timeout. If it's unsuccessful, it costs the team a timeout. A coach can't challenge any ruling if he doesn't have at least one timeout remaining.
The coach must consider his options carefully. Should he save a timeout so that he keeps the option to challenge? Should he risk a timeout on a challenge that may not be successful?
He must also decide quickly. He usually hasn't seen the play clearly from the sidelines. He may receive advice from an assistant coach in the booth who's watching the network television feed. Or he may heed his players who were close to the action. Knowing that the time to decide is limited, an offensive team receiving a favorable call might snap ball quickly to close off the possibility of a review.
Once the coach issues his challenge, the referee goes to one of two or three shielded television monitors near the field. He looks at the play from all relevant angles that are available. He has 60 seconds to review the images; then he must make a decision.
He may overrule and change the call on the field. In this case, he might make other revisions, such as resetting the clock.
He may confirm the original call, meaning that on replay he sees the call was correct.
He may rule that the original call stands, meaning he did not see enough visual evidence on replay to either confirm or overturn the call on the field.
During the 2009 season, there were 328 challenges -- 228 by coaches and 100 by replay assistants. A total of 126 challenges resulted in reversals. During the playoffs, 15 reviews were called for, with six reversals. Reversal rates have increased over time. In 1999, only 29 percent of challenges were successful, compared to 40 percent in 2009 [source: Myers].
The replay assistant in the booth often has to make some of the most crucial review decisions. Read on to find out how those rules work.I'm no stranger to In-N-Out, the massively popular California-based fast food burger chain (that is apparently poised to expand East, if only a couple states closer to me—hooray!). And of course, I've been aware of their secret menu for years. I've eaten plenty of their signature veggie-heavy, never-frozen, well-balanced, tangy-sauced creations. I've even had them frozen and FedExed across the country in order to recreate them at home (that particular experiment was a great success, by the way). That said, last Sunday I found myself about to attempt something that I've never done before.
The Location: An In-N-Out near Sausalito, just north of San Francisco.
The Time: Sunday afternoon, 3 p.m.
The Mission: Order and document every single item and option on the menu: Public, secret, super-duper-secret.
Anybody who's been halfway around the block is aware of In-N-Out's secret menu, which allows you a few custom options other than the regular hamburger, cheeseburger, fries, shakes, and Double-Double that appear on their printed menus. But the options don't stop there.
Before I ever set foot in the store, I culled the Internet, eventually stumbling upon the Davis County Wiki, which has a full user-generated page devoted entirely to In-N-Out menu options. I drew up a list that included about two dozen distinct menu items designed to demonstrate the entire width and breadth of the custom options available at your typical In-N-Out location before hopping into the car.
In-N-Out Menu Options
Along with the listed single and double, you can add up to four patties to any sandwich. Ask for a three by three or a four by four, and what you get is a triple cheeseburger or quadruple cheeseburger, respectively. They used to accommodate sandwiches larger than 4 x 4 (check out a 100 x 100!), but no longer do. I was fairly certain that they could also accommodate a 2 x 4 or a 4 x 2 (that'd be two patties, four slices of cheese, or four patties, two slices of cheese), but hadn't actually tried it in action on an unsuspecting cashier.
You can up the flavor by asking for any burger mustard-grilled. After cooking the first side, the cook will squirt some mustard onto the top of the patty before flipping it so that it sizzles into the meat on the grill. It's so good that I've started doing it myself at home.
That said, there are those rare moments in life when all you want to savor is the cheese. Order a grilled cheese, and what you get is a soft toasted In-N-Out bun with two slices of American cheese beautifully melted in between. I like to eat these with pickles. If you ask for it, you can even get the standard lettuce, tomato, and raw onion slices stacked inside.
Of course, those aren't your only veggie options. Grilled onions cooked down in the collected meat juices on the hot griddle can be added to any sandwich, and come standard if you ask for your burger or fries Animal Style. An Animal Style burger also includes extra Thousand Island spread, mustard grilled patties, and extra pickles. Animal Style fries, on the other hand, are topped with cheese, spread, and grilled onions. You'll want to mix 'em up with your fork before the cheese starts to coag |
Carrier by Ed Emshwiller Carrier [2] by Ed Emshwiller All in the Mind by Paul Orban Probability by Paul Orban The Last Conqueror by Phillip Parsons Wilderness Home by Ed Valigursky Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, April 1954) by James L. Quinn "It's About Time...
Topics: ecks, marrin, halvor, baines, psi, mel, krandall, cris, anita, robert sheckley, golden man, health...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Green Thumb by Virgil Finlay Hidden Talent by Virgil Finlay Brainchild by Paul Orban A Case of Sunburn by Ed Emshwiller Filthy Rich by Paul Orban The Maze by Ed Emshwiller Operation Boomerang by Ed Emshwiller Essays: Editor's Report (If, April 1957) by James L. Quinn What Is Your Science I. Q.? (If, April 1957) by uncredited Science Briefs (If, April 1957) by uncredited Hue and Cry (If, April 1957) by...
Topics: davison, gideon, wade, ron, vigran, jonner, marscorp, johnny, ackerson, young man, green thumb,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Atomic Power Plant by uncredited The Test Colony by Frank Kelly Freas Disqualified by Frank Kelly Freas Confidence Game by Ed Emshwiller The Battle by Virgil Finlay World Without War by Ed Emshwiller Waste Not, Want by Frank Kelly Freas The Work-Out Planet by Paul Orban D P by Paul Orban A Gift for Terra by Paul Orban Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, September 1954) by James L. Quinn Worth Citing (If,...
Topics: cutter, benson, bolen, quay, joe, nora, allen, tion, colony, test colony, winston marks, von wald,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Moon Shuttle Ships by Ed Valigursky The Ties That Bind by Frank Kelly Freas Prominent Author by Paul Orban "Perchance to Dream" by Frank Kelly Freas Skin Game by Frank Kelly Freas The Genius by Paul Orban Fly by Night by Ed Emshwiller Forsyte's Retreat by Frank Kelly Freas Descent by Alan Anderson Cargo Discharge by Ed Valigursky Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, May 1954) by James L. Quinn Out of...
Topics: ellis, ven, baron, meikl, klaeden, evon, miller, analyst, native, ven klaeden, prominent author,...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Gods Themselves (Part 2 of 3) by Jack Gaughan The Stainless Steel Rat's Return by Jack Gaughan One and One Are Two by Jack Gaughan Two Suns for the King by Jack Gaughan Patterns of Chaos (Part 2 of 3) by Jack Gaughan The Old Switcheroo by Jack Gaughan Essays: Hue and Cry (If, March-April 1972) by Ejler...
Topics: odeen, tritt, dua, hard, bron, losten, angelina, chaos, triad, science fiction, stainless steel,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Mars Landscape by Ed Valigursky Jupiter Five by Ed Valigursky She Knew He Was Coming by Ed Emshwiller Pipe of Peace by uncredited The Huddlers by Ernie Barth The Kenzie Report by Frank Kelly Freas Derelict by Ed Emshwiller Circle of Flight by Ed Emshwiller The Contest by Paul Orban Jupiter by Ed Valigursky Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, May 1953) by James L. Quinn Personalities in Science: Dr. Roy K....
Topics: kenzie, cyl, sabo, professor, bestris, eyes, mays, jupiter, ship, william campbell, mark clifton,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Airport of the Future by uncredited Shill by Ed Emshwiller Task Mission by Paul Orban One Love Have I by Ed Emshwiller Willie's Planet by Paul Orban Captive Market by Frank Kelly Freas Escape Mechanism by Paul Orban Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, April 1955) by James L. Quinn Worth Citing (If, April 1955) by uncredited What Is Your Science I. Q.? (If, April 1955) by uncredited Science Briefs (If, April...
Topics: fader, joel, willie, bart, abby, tom, examiner, linda, carruthers, task mission, nicholas joel,...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Midnight by the Morphy Watch by uncredited A Little Night Flying by uncredited Ars Gratia (If, July-August 1974) by Freff Half-Baked Publisher's Delight by Freff Plaything by Jack Gaughan No Time Like the Past by uncredited Berserker's Planet (Part 2 of 2) by uncredited Angel Fix by Freff Tube by Jack...
Topics: alien, suomi, hasson, schoenberg, andreas, planet, thomas, leros, cleever, science fiction, high...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Feeling of Power by Virgil Finlay Assassin by Ed Emshwiller The Hero by Paul Orban Contamination Crew by Ed Emshwiller The Barbarians by Ed Emshwiller Out From the Sun by Virgil Finlay Security Risk by Ed Emshwiller Feet of Clay by Paul Orban Essays: Editor's Report (If, February 1958) by Eve P. Wulff What Is Your Science I. Q.? (If, February 1958) by uncredited Science Briefs (If, February 1958) by...
Topics: matson, geoffrey, barbarian, aliens, jenkins, walker, dugald, hlorg, charles, black doctor, science...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Occam's Scalpel by Jack Gaughan To Seek Another by Jack Gaughan Boomer Flats by Jack Gaughan Arnten of Ultima Thule by Jack Gaughan The Fabulous Riverboat (Part 2 of 2) by Jack Gaughan Essays: Hue and Cry (If, July-August 1971) by Ejler Jakobsson Reading Room (If, July-August 1971) by Lester del Rey Sf...
Topics: sam, nains, hacking, arnten, karl, wheeler, riverboat, nain, firebrass, fabulous riverboat, ultima...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Gray Morrow St. George and the Dragonmotive by Gray Morrow Retief's War by Jack Gaughan Essays: Edward E. Smith, Ph.D (Obituary) by Frederik Pohl Loncon Ii or Through a Monocle? Darkly by Robert Bloch Hue and Cry (If, December 1965) by Frederik Pohl Novelette: St. George and the Dragonmotive by Robert F. Young Serials: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Part 1 of 5) by Robert A....
Topics: retief, voion, leon, hish, mike, wyoh, luna, ikk, longspoon, harsh mistress, uncle lionel, big...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Road to the Rim (Part 1 of 2) by Gray Morrow Retief, War Criminal by Jack Gaughan The Ethics of Madness by Castellon The Iron Thorn (Part 4 of 4) by Gray Morrow Essays: Three Brave Men by Frederik Pohl It's New York in '67! by Lin Carter Hue and Cry (If, April 1967) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Retief, War Criminal by Keith Laumer The Ethics of Madness by Larry Niven Serials: The Road to the Rim (Part 1 of...
Topics: hooker, retief, grimes, jackson, loeffler, rim, magnan, ship, groaci, survey service, terry gordon,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Prisoners of the Sky by Gray Morrow The Kettle Black by Nodel Not by Sea by Jack Gaughan The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Part 3 of 5) by Gray Morrow Essays: The Race for Space by Frederik Pohl Hue and Cry (If, February 1966) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: The Kettle Black by Steve Buchanan Not by Sea by Howard L. Morris Novella: Prisoners of the Sky by C. C. MacApp Serial: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Part 3 of...
Topics: raab, witten, prof, stade, skinner, ceran, ship, mike, cudebek, harsh mistress, lord high, peak...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Rat in the Skull by Ed Emshwiller Two Whole Glorious Weeks by Frank Kelly Freas Satellite Passage by Ed Emshwiller The Night of Hoggy Darn by Ed Emshwiller Western Science Is so Wonderful by Frank Kelly Freas Half Around Pluto by Ed Emshwiller Null-O by Ed Emshwiller Essays: In the Balance (If, December 1958) by Damon Knight The Retort (If, December 1958) by uncredited Novelettes: Rat in the Skull by Rog...
Topics: cole, morgan, bidgrass, macnare, stomper, martian, stompers, hoggy, alice, hoggy darn, science...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Snowbank Orbit by Mack The Winning of the Moon by Burns The Big Headache by Dyas Once Around Arcturus by Jack Gaughan Cultural Exchange by R. D. Francis Essays: The Worlds of Science (Editorial) by uncredited You and Nostradamus - Continued by uncredited Just Westing by Theodore Sturgeon Hue and Cry (If, September 1962) by Frederik Pohl Novelette: Once Around Arcturus by Joseph Green Short Stories: The...
Topics: mitchell, retief, winship, macklin, ferris, wilkins, major, niki, grunfeld, major winship, snowbank...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Rings of Saturn by Ed Valigursky A Case of Conscience by Ed Emshwiller The Trouble with Bubbles by Joseph Eberle Planet of Dreams by Paul Orban Thy Rocks and Rills by Tom Beecham The Romantic Analogue by Ed Emshwiller In the Forest by Dick Rockwell Titan by Ed Valigursky Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, September 1953) by Larry T. Shaw Personalities in Science: Guglielmo Marconi by Eve P. Wulff Science...
Topics: cleaver, hull, stonecypher, michelis, tlie, loveral, lithia, lithians, chtexa, james bush, science...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Approaching Hermes by uncredited For Every Man a Reason by Paul Orban Carry Me Home by Ed Emshwiller Stalemate by Leo Summers Progeny by Ralph Castenir The Honored Prophet by Virgil Finlay The Hitch Hikers by Frank Kelly Freas Vacation by Leo Summers The Very Secret Agent by Ed Emshwiller Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, November 1954) by James L. Quinn The Seven Winners in If's $2000 College Science...
Topics: aron, jason, kerl, neilson, rell, bish, treb, riuku, tion, doctor bish, interpretive bank, alice...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Wizard of Anharitte (Part 1 of 3) by Jack Gaughan Whom the Gods Love by Jack Gaughan 9 by uncredited Teratohippus by Jack Gaughan Shausta by Jack Gaughan Hurdle by Jack Gaughan The Executive Rat by Jack Gaughan Empty Eden by uncredited Essays: Sf Calendar (If, November-December 1972) by uncredited...
Topics: ren, fisk, imaiz, anharitte, yola, catuul, zinder, fusion, vestevaal, slave, pointed tails, science...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Castle of Light by Jack Gaughan Gremmie's Reef by Virgil Finlay Farnham's Freehold (Part 3 of 3) by Jack Gaughan Novelette: The Castle of Light by Keith Laumer Serial: Farnham's Freehold (Part 3 of 3) by Robert A. Heinlein Short Stories: Mad Man by R. A. Lafferty Gremmie's Reef by Hayden Howard Rescue Mission by Kit Reed Monster Tracks by Robert E. Margroff
Topics: hugh, retief, groaci, magnan, ponse, fiss, barbara, memtok, duke, uncle spadler, chief domestic,...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Death and Designation Among the Asadi by Jack Gaughan Construction Shack by uncredited The Never Girl by uncredited The Wizard of Anharitte (Part 2 of 3) by uncredited Ghosts by Jack Gaughan Essays: Reading Room (If, January-February 1973) by Lester del Rey Sf Calendar (If, January-February 1973) by...
Topics: asadi, ren, bachelor, huri, imaiz, eisen, chaney, clearing, hardun, anharitte, eisen zwei, alek...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Monorail Trains by Ed Valigursky Malice in Wonderland by Frank Kelly Freas Letter of the Law by Rudolph Palais Navy Day by Frank Kelly Freas A Word for Freedom by Rudolph Palais Double Take by Paul Orban Anachron by Philip B. Parsons Off Course by Frank Kelly Freas Robot Mining by Ed Valigursky Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, January 1954) by Larry T. Shaw Personalities in Science: Norbert Weiner by...
Topics: bryson, gregg, hayden, arc, evan, malice, wonderland, vike, ree, evan hunter, dameri tass, young...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Time-Tombs by Virgil Finlay Saline Solution by Virgil Finlay The Ten-Point Princess by Virgil Finlay Podkayne of Mars (Part 3 of 3) by Virgil Finlay Essays: This Dream We Have... by Theodore Sturgeon The Wishbooks by Theodore Sturgeon Hue and Cry (If, March 1963) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: The Time-Tombs by J. G. Ballard The Ten-Point Princess by J. T. McIntosh Serial: Podkayne of Mars (Part 3 of 3) by...
Topics: duke, shepley, clark, uncle, retief, magnan, traxel, morgenstern, leontan, uncle tom, leisure club,...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Silkies in Space by Jack Gaughan The Hide Hunters by Dan Adkins Mountains Like Mice by Lutjens Earthblood (Part 2 of 4) by Wallace Wood Essays: Guest Editorial: The Year of the Horse by Lester del Rey An Apa for Everyone by Lin Carter Hue and Cry (If, May 1966) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: The Hide Hunters...
Topics: roan, cemp, henry, grayson, silkie, dread, iron, silkies, mcpherson, henry dread, iron robert, gom...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Bulge by Jack Gaughan The Elf in the Starship Enterprise by Virgil Finlay Flesh and the Iron by Todd Star Itch by Dan Adkins Love Conquers All by Joe Wehrle, Jr. Dreambird by Brand Essays: More Bubbles for Your Bier by Frederik Pohl If... And When (If, September 1968) by Lester del Rey Sf Calendar (If, September 1968) by uncredited Hue and Cry (If, September 1968) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Bulge by Hal...
Topics: sloane, bannock, marigold, hoerwitz, implant, alien, flesh, olga, earth, star itch, newt brown,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Be Merry by Gray Morrow Starpath by Dan Adkins A Relic of the Empire by Burns Call Me Dumbo by Virgil Finlay Snow White and the Giants (Part 3 of 4) by Jack Gaughan Essays: On Hugos by Frederik Pohl The "Other" Fandoms by Lin Carter Hue and Cry (If, December 1966) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Be Merry by Algis Budrys Starpath by Neal Barrett, Jr. A Relic of the Empire by Larry Niven Call Me Dumbo by...
Topics: artel, dumbo, mann, sherman, starpath, giants, carl, kymon, deluso, snow white, science fiction,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Under Two Moons by Wallace Wood The Planet Player by David A. Kyle Giant Killer by Jack Gaughan Gree's Damned Ones by John Giunta Skylark Duquesne (Part 4 of 5) by Gray Morrow Essays: Air and Space by Frederik Pohl Hue and Cry (If, September 1965) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Under Two Moons by Frederik Pohl The Planet Player by E. Clayton McCarty Gree's Damned Ones by C. C. MacApp Serial: Skylark Duquesne...
Topics: gull, seaton, retief, duquesne, steve, haccop, skylark, planet, prenk, johan gull, skylark...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Neutron Star by Dan Adkins Snow White and the Giants (Part 1 of 4) by Jack Gaughan Tunnel Warrior by Gray Morrow On the Edge of the Galaxy by Virgil Finlay Edge of Night (Part 2 of 2) by Jack Gaughan In the Bone by Virgil Finlay Essays: Tv by the Numbers by Frederik Pohl Handy Phrase Book in Fannish by Lin Carter Hue and Cry (If, October 1966) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Neutron Star by Larry Niven Tunnel...
Topics: grimes, tunnel, harry, dina, gil, ship, hodge, sonya, sheila, snow white, sergeant hodge, neutron...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: When Time Was New by Gray Morrow At the Top of the World by Nodel The Hounds of Hell (Part 2 of 2) by Ed Emshwiller Essays: Old Names and New by Frederik Pohl Hue and Cry (If, December 1964) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: When Time Was New by Robert F. Young At the Top of the World by J. T. McIntosh Serial: The Hounds of Hell (Part 2 of 2) by Keith Laumer Short Stories: The Coldest Place by Larry Niven Pig in a...
Topics: carpenter, joel, marcy, sep, sello, aleta, skip, hounds, voice, ascension day, space police,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Earthblood by Nodel In the Temple of Mars by Jack Gaughan The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Gray Morrow Essays: Kick Yourself to Mars by Frederik Pohl Our Man in Fandom by Lin Carter Hue and Cry (If, April 1966) by Frederik Pohl Novelette: In the Temple of Mars by Fred Saberhagen Serials: Earthblood (Part 1 of 4) by Keith Laumer The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Part 5 of 5) by Robert A. Heinlein Short Stories:...
Topics: prof, zygra, luna, retief, kynance, shuster, horst, lunar, skweeman, harsh mistress, zygra company,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Gleaners by Wallace Wood To Be Continued by uncredited The Upside-Down Captain by uncredited His Father's House by uncredited Gravy Train by Wallace Wood Essays: To Thread On a Necklace? by uncredited Worlds of If (If, March 1960) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Gleaners by Clifford D. Simak Gravy Train by Daniel F. Galouye Short Stories: To Be Continued by Raymond E. Banks The Upside-Down Captain by Jim Harmon...
Topics: starbuck, spencer, wheelan, titus, johnny, ralph, birdsel, captain, man, spencer told, gravy train,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Tomorrow's Automobile by uncredited War Veteran by Frank Kelly Freas Night by Ed Emshwiller The Cyber and Justice Holmes by Paul Orban The 3rd Party by Frank Kelly Freas Lost Art by Ed Emshwiller Blow the Man Down by Paul Orban The Elroom by Paul Orban Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, March 1955) by James L. Quinn Worth Citing (If, March 1955) by uncredited What Is Your Science I. Q.? (If, March 1955) by...
Topics: patterson, albrekt, cyber, unger, lemarr, gannet, roger, anderson, carrel, walhfred anderson, war...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Growing Season by uncredited Sitting Duck by uncredited Mutineer by uncredited Car Pool by Ed Emshwiller Recall Mechanism by uncredited Essay: In the Balance (If, July 1959) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Growing Season by F. L. Wallace Car Pool by Rosel George Brown Short Stories: The Ogre by Avram Davidson Never in a Thousand Years by Wynne Whiteford Sitting Duck by Daniel F. Galouye Mutineer by Robert Shea A...
Topics: baker, alsint, sharp, regina, plant, humphrys, hart, gail, ship, growing season, rosel george,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Farnham's Freehold (Part 1 of 3) by Jack Gaughan The Mathenauts by Nodel The Silkie by Gray Morrow Essay: Now That We're Monthly - by Frederik Pohl Novelette: The Silkie by A. E. van Vogt Serial: Farnham's Freehold (Part 1 of 3) by Robert A. Heinlein Short Stories: Weetl by Jack Sharkey The Mathenauts by Norman Kagan Old Testament by Jerome Bixby
Topics: hugh, cemp, duke, karen, barbara, silkie, joe, farnham, freehold, special people, hugh farnham, ted...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Long Way to Earth by Dan Adkins Dam Nuisance by Jack Gaughan The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Part 4 of 5) by Gray Morrow Essays: If by Frederik Pohl Hue and Cry (If, March 1966) by Frederik Pohl Novelette: Dam Nuisance by Keith Laumer Novella: The Long Way to Earth by John Brunner Serial: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Part 4 of 5) by Robert A. Heinlein Short Stories: Ouled Nail by H. H. Hollis Draft Dodger...
Topics: roan, raff, prof, gracyl, kafri, luna, ship, ithc, mike, harsh mistress, great china, gom bulj,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Starchild (Part 1 of 3) by Gray Morrow The Recon Man by Nodel Vanishing Point by Gray Morrow Retief, God-Speaker by Jack Gaughan Essays: Worlds of When... by Frederik Pohl Hue and Cry (If, January 1965) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: The Recon Man by Wilson Tucker Vanishing Point by Jonathan Brand Retief, God-Speaker by Keith Laumer Serial: Starchild (Part 1 of 3) by Jack Williamson Short Stories: Answering...
Topics: gann, owen, boysie, magnan, hoogan, retief, bishop, levine, starchild, boysie gann, major boysie,...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Waterclap by Jack Gaughan To Touch a Star by uncredited Spaceman by uncredited Swap by Jack Gaughan Ride a Tin Can by Jack Gaughan Thou Spark of Blood by Jack Gaughan Whipping Star (Part 4 of 4) by Jack Gaughan Essays: Reading Room (If, April 1970) by Lester del Rey Sf Calendar (If, April 1970) by uncredited...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Meteor Hazards On the Moon by Ed Valigursky The Thing in the Attic by Paul Orban Beauty and the Beast by Ed Emshwiller The Small World of M-75 by Ed Emshwiller Cartoon: No Caption by Jerry Young A Monster Named Smith by Paul Orban Lonesome Hearts by Frank Kelly Freas Fair and Warmer by Paul Orban Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? by Paul Orban The Big Stink by Ed Emshwiller Moonquakes by Ed Valigursky Essays: A...
Topics: honath, tensor, sammy, alaskon, mathild, arc, burke, kelly, curl, named smith, jarl eleven, monster...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Pure Observers by Frank Kelly Freas Albatross by Frank Kelly Freas Man Alone by Ed Emshwiller A Toothache On Zenob by Ed Emshwiller Shandy by Paul Orban The Fishdollar Affair by Frank Kelly Freas The Burning of the Brain by uncredited Brink of Creation by Paul Orban Essays: In the Balance (If, October 1958) by Damon Knight The Retort (If, October 1958) by uncredited Novelettes: Man Alone by Don Berry The...
Topics: captain, ship, griff, welnicki, holman, nancy, fishdollar, colin, banning, science fiction, ensign...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Book of Rack the Healer (Part 1 of 2) by Jack Gaughan Last Train From Earth by uncredited The Merchants of Venus by Jack Gaughan Comet, Cairn and Capsule by uncredited Hard Sell by uncredited The Men at Kappa by uncredited Essays: A Message From the Publisher by Arnold E. Abramson Hue and Cry (If, July-August 1972) by Ejler Jakobsson Reading Room (If, July-August 1972) by Lester del Rey Sf Calendar (If,...
Topics: cochenour, rack, mallory, heechee, venus, earth, dorrie, nils, fisk, red earth, science fiction,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Expanding Sun Burns Up Earth by uncredited Check and Checkmate by Tom Beecham The Last Gentleman by Ted Speicher Ye of Little Faith by Tom Beecham Success Story by Frank Kelly Freas The Peacemaker by Bob Martin The Statue by Bob Martin The Anglers of Arz by Bob Martin Cooling Sun Freezes World by uncredited Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, January 1953) by James L. Quinn Personalities in Science: Michael...
Topics: fred, curt, merril, browne, farrell, faraday, tion, smith, martha, rog phillips, john smith,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Observatory Rocket by uncredited The Odd Ones by Ed Emshwiller Seller of the Sky by Paul Orban Dreamtown, U.S.A. by Leo Summers The Big Leap by Leo Summers Our Town by Frank Kelly Freas The Last Crusade by Ed Emshwiller A Witch in Time by Frank Kelly Freas Inhibition by Leo Summers The York Problem by Paul Orban Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, February 1955) by James L. Quinn Worth Citing (If, February...
Topics: saxon, brant, lut, nat, snorap, cantrell, dan, ben, abby, professor corbett, science fiction, tom...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Frozen Planet by uncredited Tolliver's Orbit by Bernklau The Valley of the Masters by Bob Ritter Call Him Nemesis by Bob Ritter Essays: Monoliths and Miracles by Theodore Sturgeon Science Briefs (If, September 1961) by uncredited Hue and Cry (If, September 1961) by uncredited Novelettes: The Frozen Planet by Keith Laumer Call Him Nemesis by Donald E. Westlake Short Stories: Mirror Image by Daniel F....
Topics: retief, yardley, tolliver, chip, henry, gwayne, theta, stanton, tove, keith laumer, frozen planet,...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Our Children's Children (Part 1 of 2) by uncredited Susies' Reality by Jack Gaughan Mnarra Mobilis by uncredited Promise Them Anything by Jack Gaughan Experiment by uncredited Essays: Hue and Cry (If, May-June 1973) by uncredited Reading Room (If, May-June 1973) by Lester del Rey Sf Calendar (If, May-June...
Topics: bzrabba, brennan, steve, berkan, susie, darrah, dichiara, lewis, tion, white house, science...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Songs of Distant Earth by Virgil Finlay Gift Horse by Virgil Finlay Do Unto Others by Ed Emshwiller The Day of the Dog by Ed Emshwiller Sound of Terror by Ed Emshwiller Service with a Smile by Paul Orban A Mixture of Genius by Paul Orban High Dragon Bump by Paul Orban Essays: Editor's Report (If, June 1958) by James L. Quinn What Is Your Science I. Q.? (If, June 1958) by uncredited Science Briefs (If, June...
Topics: lora, duran, leon, aunt, wayne, mattie, ship, sheilah, johnny, aunt mattie, high dragon, gift...
The writings of Lester Del Rey have been removed due to a request by John Betancourt of Wildside Press. (Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Price of Honor by Jack Gaughan How to Blow Up an Asteroid by Jack Gaughan Dingbat by Jack Gaughan Man of Many Parts by uncredited Velvet Fields by Jack Gaughan Inheritance (Part 2 of 2) by uncredited Essays: Reading Room (If, November-December 1973) by Lester del Rey Sf Calendar (If, November-December 1973)...
Topics: delbet, mckay, shevan, giant, superom, arcweld, conducs, keren, conduc, dwarf, science fiction,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Hour Before Earthrise (Part 1 of 3) by Gray Morrow Bircher by Jack Gaughan Cybernia by Lutjens Earthblood (Part 4 of 4) by Wallace Wood Essays: Cheer Up, Fellows! by Frederik Pohl Science Fiction's Holiday by Lin Carter Hue and Cry (If, July 1966) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Bircher by A. A. Walde Cybernia by H. H. Hollis Serials: The Hour Before Earthrise (Part 1 of 3) by James Blish Earthblood (Part 4...
Topics: roan, askor, sidis, dolph, daryl, sostelle, mars, trishinist, earthblood, science fiction, roan...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Mercury by Ed Valigursky Sjambak by Virgil Finlay Irresistible Weapon by Ed Emshwiller A Bottle of Old Wine by Frank Kelly Freas Celebrity by Paul Orban Brink of Madness by Frank Kelly Freas One Martian Afternoon by Brush Weak On Square Roots by Tom Beecham The Lonely Ones by Paul Orban Progress Report by Paul Orban Venus by Ed Valigursky Essays: A Chat with the Editor (If, July 1953) by James L. Quinn...
Topics: pell, murphy, jennings, larkin, senator, sultan, krai, ciel, corinne, captain wiley, walt sheldon,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Retief's War (Part 1 of 3) by Jack Gaughan Origin of Species by Gray Morrow An Ounce of Emotion by John Giunta Skylark Duquesne (Part 5 of 5) by Gray Morrow Essays: Where Are They Now? by Frederik Pohl Bibliography: The Natural History of Retief by uncredited Hue and Cry (If, October 1965) by Frederik Pohl Novelettes: Origin of Species by Robert F. Young An Ounce of Emotion by Gordon R. Dickson Serials:...
Topics: retief, voion, seaton, mial, duquesne, farrell, laburti, chedal, galaxy, blue bolt, big leon, sleep...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Summer Guests by Wallace Wood Bargain Basement by uncredited Homecoming by uncredited Escape Into Silence by uncredited Hornets' Nest by uncredited Essay: Worlds of If (If, September 1959) by Frederik Pohl Novelette: Summer Guests by James H. Schmitz Short Stories: Fair Game by Philip K. Dick The Scarlet Hexapod by Margaret St. Clair Bargain Basement by Charles L. Fontenay Homecoming by Gordon R. Dickson An...
Topics: mel, marno, jeb, paulson, douglas, maria, nick, norris, tommy, summer guests, science fiction,...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: The Reefs of Space (Part 1 of 3) by Ed Emshwiller Mightiest Qorn by Jack Gaughan In the Arena by Nodel Down to the Worlds of Men by Nodel The Shadow of Wings by Virgil Finlay Essays: That Notebook Again by Theodore Sturgeon Review of a Series of Nonfiction Books "Men of Space" by Shirley Thomas by Theodore Sturgeon Hue and Cry (If, July 1963) by Frederik Pohl Novelette: Down to the Worlds of Men by...
Topics: ryeland, magnan, retief, qornt, donaldson, colonel, reefs, qorn, oporto, major chatterji, donna...
(Contents information excerpted from The Internet Speculative Fiction Database ) Art: Masters of Space (Part 1 of 2) by Berry Masters of Space (Part 1 of 2) [2] by Berry At the End of the Orbit by Jack Gaughan Gambler's World by Jack Gaughan Essays: Science Briefs (If, November 1961) by uncredited Penny Wise and Fashion Foolish by Theodore Sturgeon Novelette: Gambler's World by Keith Laumer Serial: Masters of Space (Part 1 of 2) by Edward E. Smith Short Stories: Sweet Their Blood and Sticky by...
Topics: hilton, retief, magnan, |
. This may be the best argument in favor of hiring a design head from the very outset: It simply lessens your risk of self-sabotage over your own misguided and inexpert design ideas. Instead, it’s your job as a founder to make sure your senior team members have room to do their own jobs–which means not every design idea is going to be tested or adopted, including your own.As fans dig deeper into the ongoing Call of Duty 2015 viral videos teased by Activision, new discoveries are beginning to at least narrow down the possibilities with regards to the game’s setting or story.
Having a looking at some of the clues offered thus far in Activision’s Snapchat teasers, a rough pattern can be noticed, one that links to the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division, aka the “Screaming Eagles”, which originally began operations in 1942.
As fans have already determined, the helicopter briefly shown in Activision’s second teaser is quite clearly the Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk, which was first piloted by members of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade in 1979. Another reddit user pointed out that the snow-covered hill, also in Activision’s second teaser, looks awfully similar to the Ardennes Forest, a region that spans parts of France and Germany, but mostly Luxembourg and Belgium. The Ardennes region became home to the Battle of the Bulge that began in December, 1944, a battle the 101st Airborne Division was involved in around the city of Bastogne.
UPDATE 1: Activision’s latest Snapchat teaser, as of this Tuesday evening on April 7, makes mention of a “frozen forest,” likely referencing the Ardennes Forest and the Battle of the Bulge once again.
The 101st Airborne Division is mostly noted for its involvement in World War 2 — the D-Day landings and airborne jumps, Operation Market Garden, the liberation of the Netherlands, Battle of the Bulge — as well as the fight for Hamburger Hill during the Vietnam War. It wasn’t until after 1974 when it became an air assault division that the 101st would begin piloting helicopters. Most recently, the 101st served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But enough of the Wikipedia-inspired history lesson. How does the 101st potentially tie in to Call of Duty 2015, or what many are anticipating to be Call of Duty: Black Ops 3?
Here’s the kicker. As YouTuber TheGameWarrior pointed out, voice actor James C. Burns, who voices Black Ops 1 and Black Ops 2 protagonist Sgt. Frank Woods, can be seen wearing the the 101st Airborne Division logo on his cap in two of his most recent videos. Clearly, between these teasers and Burns’ videos, at least some measure of emphasis is being placed on the 101st. We’re just not exactly sure where Activision is trying to lead us on this one.
Activity picked up on Burns’ YouTube channel just over one week ago with this video:
In another video, Burns mentions that he “will be talking about the next Call of Duty game in whatever limited fashion [he] can” in his upcoming videos, which appears to confirm his involvement in the upcoming game being developed by Treyarch. We reached out to Activision for comment and will update you with what we might find out.
Expect more details as we inch closer to Call of Duty 2015’s official reveal, likely to take place early May.In that latest "right to die" row to put the spotlight on Britain's euthanasia laws, the relatives of a man who suffered from severe depression say NHS staff failed to ask for their consent before deciding to operate.
David Woods, 59, who has bipolar disorder, requires round-the-clock care and has the mental age of a child since coming out of a six-week coma after the operation.
His daughter Nadine Woods, 29, accused staff based at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge of "wasting" the organ, and said that his quality of life was now so low that she had considered taking him to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland.
"I never wanted to lose my dad but I also never wanted him to be saved," she said. ''If they had asked the family, who care and know him, we would have asked for him to be put to rest."
Mr Woods, a former furniture salesman from Powys, Wales who had battled mental illness for decades, took an overdose of painkillers in December 2006.
Doctors warned his family that he could die within 24 hours if he did not receive a liver transplant. After taking advice from a psychiatrist that his quality of life before the suicide attempt was high enough to warrant using a donor organ, they decided to send him for surgery before Nadine – who lived in Liverpool – and her siblings Ashley, 27, and sister Laura, 21 arrived at the hospital.
"By the time we got to Cambridge they had operated. I did not understand why he had been given a transplant," Nadine, a receptionist and former shop manager, said.
"Dad was exhausted from the torture of depression and deranged from spending years in a living hell. He wanted to die."
Mr Woods' body accepted the liver, but the brain damage he suffered during the ordeal altered his personality and left him unable to look after himself.
''My dad has not had a day's happiness since the operation. It is shameful that a donor has wasted his liver and it's horrible to think someone else could have been enjoying a healthy life," Nadine said. There are currently more than 300 people in Britain on the waiting list for a liver transplant.
The pro-euthanasia group Dignity in Dying said the case showed the importance of advance directives – legally binding "living wills" which allow adults to state which treatments they would wish to refuse if they became incapacitated.
Although the operation was carried out at Addenbrooke's, part of Cambridgeshire University Hospitals Foundation Trust, the decision to give Mr Woods a transplant was taken by psychiatrists employed by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust, which has responsibility for mental health patients in the region.
Dr Tom Dening, medical director at the trust, said: 'You always have to give life the benefit of the doubt.
"Doctors might not be able to get the patient's consent for transplant. They would ideally consult the family but it is not the family's decision and sometimes there is simply not time to wait."
The British Medical Association said that the doctors appeared to have acted according to guidelines which compel them to act in a patient's best interests.
"In an emergency situation, where there is doubt about whether treatment would be in the patient's best interests and there is no time for further consultation and discussion, there is a presumption in favour of providing life-prolonging treatment," a spokeswoman said.
The "right to die" debate was reignited last year when the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring charges against the parents of paralysed rugby player Daniel James, for helping him arrange his own death at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.
Euthanasia remains illegal in Britain, but doctors can now be struck off if they fail to take heed of patients who state their wish to refuse life-saving treatment in "living wills".What is the Virtual Writing Tutor?
This free online grammar check website or proofreader helps writers count words, check spelling, check grammar and punctuation, check paraphrasing, improve word choice, self-assess the use of target structures, and master English pronunciation. It also trains learners and novice teachers to become better proofreaders with an error correction game on the Error Correction Games page. This website is 100% free to use, and membership is free. What follows is a list of its features. At the bottom of the page, there are a series of frequently asked questions. that you may find useful or interesting. For more about this website, visit the blog.
Essay Checker
If you write essays in your second language for high school or college, check your essay for embarrassing errors that a teacher would deduct points for. For the best results, we strongly recommend a two-pronged approach, using this Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker first and Grammarly next to ensure your essays are at their best when you hand them in for evaluation.
Word Counter
To check your word count, copy-paste your text into the text area above and click Word Count. The results will appear below the text area. Knowing the number of words in your essay, blog post, article, report, academic paper, short story, or book will help you respect the minimum and maximum limits set by your professor, editor, or client. The word counter will also count your sentences and calculate your sentence length. This feature is useful if you are aiming for a more conversational style with a shorter average sentence length, or if you are aiming for a more academic style with longer sentences. For details on what is counted and what is not, see the Word Counter page.
For alternatives to this word counter, try Word Counter or Word Count Tool.
Spell Checker
Click Check Spellling and misspelled words will be underlined in red inside the text area. Left-click on misspelled words to see spelling suggestions. Currently, I use a standard international dictionary, but I can add custom entries. Contact me if you get tired of seeing your name (or some other word) flagged as being misspelled when it isn't.
Grammar Checker
To check your grammar, click on the Check Grammar button. The system will check for common punctuation errors, common grammar mistakes and ESL grammar errors, false cognates, contextual spelling errors, and word choice errors. The results of the grammar-check are listed below the text area. You must scroll down to see the suggested corrections. The reason for putting correction advice down below is simple. When learners scroll down to read the correction advice and then scroll up to make the correction, I believe that there is a better chance that they will remember the correction in the future.
The Virtual Writng Tutor's grammar and punctuation checker feature is powered by a modified LanguageTool system. The difference between these two systems is that the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker has thousands of additional error detection rules to catch common ESL grammar errors.
Some examples of common ESL errors that the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker can catch are as follows: tense shift errors, missing auxiliaries, adverb word order errors, aspect errors, collocation errors, articles with plural nouns, adjective word order errors, double subjects, double objects, double negatives, mixed conditionals, gerund error, h-epenthesis errors, pronoun antecedent agreement errors, quantifier errors, verb agreement, and adjective agreement errors.
Virtual Writing Tutor Grammar Checker API service
We offer a grammar checking API service with a free one month trial for developers. With the Virtual Writing Tutor's API, you can add spelling and grammar checking capabilities to any website. This will be of special interest to developers of websites with proofreading services or English language learning websites and mobile apps. For details on the grammar checking API, see our Grammar Check API documentation page.
Punctuation Checker
The Virtual Writing Tutor can catch a range of punctuation errors. It's a comma checker, an apostrophe checker, a quoted speech checker, and an abbreviation checker. Click on the Check Grammar button, and the system will check for these and more common punctuation errors. In case you were wondering, the punctuation error that professors complain about most is the missing comma after an introductory clause, phrase, or word.
Vocabulary Checker
To check your vocabulary, click on the Vocabulary Checker button. This will open a list of options to choose from. Each option is a different vocabulary checker tool. Select a tool to profile your vocabulary and refine your word choice.
Academic and conversational vocabulary → Click this link to list all of the words that make your text seem particularly academic or conversational. Aim to use academic vocabulary for your school work and to reserve conversational words for blog posts and fiction. Learn more about academic versus conversational vocabulary.
Cliches and power words → Bloggers should select this option to check for expressions that have lost their original impact because of overuse (cliches) and to count the types of words that elicit powerful emotional reactions in readers (power words). Eliminate cliches; they're boring. Include power words; they're engaging.
Field-related vocabulary → If you are learning English for professional or academic purposes, click on Field-related vocabulary to see which words in your text are related to the 47 fields of study on FieldRelated.com. The system can display the best match, the three best matches, or the ten best matches. Each match is shown with a link to additional field-related readings, listenings, and glossaries to help you extend your field-related learning.
Target Structures → English Second Language teachers often ask their students to use certain target structures in their writing. This tool checks for comma-separated lists of words in a text, displaying and numbering sentences that contain a word or phrase from your list. List items can be case-sensitive or case-insensitive. Useful target structure lists can help you get started using this tool with your writing.
For alternatives to the Virtual Writing Tutor vocabulary checker, try Longman Vocabulary Checker and Lextutor.ca Vocabulary Profiler.
Paraphrase Checker
Try the Paraphrase Checker the next time you want to use other people's ideas in your writing. Remember that ideas are free, but the expression of those ideas is owned by the original author. Good writers must, therefore, learn to paraphrase effectively and give credit where credit is due to avoid accusations of plagiarism. Remember that it is very easy for professors to catch plagiarism these days.
The Virtual Writing Tutor can help you improve your paraphrasing skills quickly. Here's how. Draft your paraphrase, click on the Paraphrase Checker button, and copy-paste the source text into the text box. Click Check, and the paraphrase checker will compare your text to the original text. It will underline words and phrases that are common to both texts. In addition, it will calculate the similarity of the two texts with a score. For optimal results, check one sentence at a time, and aim for a paraphrase score below 50%. See the paraphrase checker page for more information and a sample text to try.
Instead of this paraphrase checker, try a Paraphrasing Tool or learn how to paraphrase a source properly.
Essay Outliner
By clicking the Essay Outliner button, members can get help creating essay outlines for three common academic discourse models: the opinion essay, the prioritized list essay, and the argument essay. These three tools, make the process of planning and writing persuasive essays easier and faster.
For an alternative essay outlining tool, try this Essay Map. For help with a thesis statement, try this thesis builder.
Feedback and Links
Members can see texts and feedback from past grammar checks. Clicking the My Feedback and Links button is a great way to review your errors. You can also see a prioritized summary of the links that were generated with the feedback your receive. In this way, the Virtual Writing Tutor generates a personalized and prioritized language learning curriculum for each member.
Error Correction Game
Members can play a game on the My Profile page that provides practice finding and correcting common second language errors. There are 1000 sentences in the database to practice with. To see a short video explaining how to use the Random Error Correction Game, click on the Help! button on the top menu.
Pen Pal Exchange
Teachers, you can create free interactive pen pal writing projects on the Virtual Writing Tutor, with automatic scoring and feedback on spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. You can learn more about the pedagogical advantages of pen pal writing, learn about the features of the pen pal exchange system, and share this introduction to the concept of pen pal writing with your students. This pen pal system is moderated by teachers for their students. It is not a pen pal matching service.
Hypertext Narrative Creator
Create interactive hypertext stories with images using the VWT's hypertext authoring tool. You can export your story as HTML with jQuery, plain HTML, or in an iframe to embed in your blog or website. Hypertext stories are so much fun to create and to read, and hypertext narratives can prompt their authors to think about causal relationships between decisions and their consequences in life. By using the Virtual Writing Tutor's hypertext narrative creator, you can check your story for spelling errors, grammatical errors, and field-related vocabulary without leaving the editor. See examples of the hypertext narratives created using the Virtual Writing Tutor here.
Grammar Checker Forum
When the grammar checker fails to find any errors to correct in your text, you may wonder what to do next. Well, you can always post it the Virtual Writing Tutor's community forum to get suggestions about further improvements to your grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and the organization of your text. While you are there, why not suggest a few improvements to another community member's text?
Disclaimer
This website is a work in progress, so I cannot guarantee that the system will catch every error in every text or that the advice and corrections will always be perfect.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best grammar checker?
That will depend on who you are. For graduates and professionals, a proofreader that checks as you type -- like the one integrated into Microsoft Word -- is probably your best choice. You will have enough confidence in your command of style and grammar to want to use a grammar checker for errors of inattention and contextual spelling errors only.
If you are dyslexic, you will want a second set of eyes to proofread your writing. A human writing tutor can often find errors that can seem invisible when you do your own proofreading. You may find that you omit words, miscopy quotations, and find yourself unable to catch errors on your own when there is time pressure. A grammar checker that can help spot agreement and spelling errors can be a great help.
For highly advanced second language learners of English and native speakers attending a university, an English grammar checker that focuses on style and punctuation errors is probably your best choice. The problems you face include the overuse of the passive voice, run-on sentences, comma-splices, and dangling participles--among others. There are some good pro-version grammar checkers that can help with these problems.
For beginners and intermediate learners, however, your needs are different. You will need a grammar checker that checks for common developmental errors and transfer errors from your first language. You will also have difficulty constructing and conjugating verbs. Your writing will include numerous tense shifts, word order problems, and number agreement errors. You'll use the wrong word for a particular context, and you will tend to impose the common sentence structures from your first language onto English that will seem unnatural and confusing to your reader. Add to these, bad translations suggested by Google translate, spelling errors, and the general chaos that comes with the cognitive overload of having to compose in a second language.
All that is not to say that grammar checkers suited for one group cannot help writers of the other profiles. There are errors that members of all three groups make. When we focus on our message, we tend to give less attention to form. Typos and missing morphology invade the hastily composed emails of even expert writers. Furthermore, English spelling is wildly irregular for some words making it easy to forget the spelling of low-frequency words. Any spell checker and even the simplest of grammar checkers can catch some errors that are common to all writers. But can they suggest useful corrections? That is another story.
The Virtual Wrting Tutor is primarily an English Second Language grammar checker. It is designed to provide feedback that is explicit enough to help the writer not only eliminate an error from a current text but also understand how to avoid it in future writing tasks. As such, my goal is to make the Virtual Writing Tutor the best ESL grammar checker to help learners of English as a Second Language. It may also help dyslexics, professional bloggers and university students. The price is right since the Virtual Writing Tutor is 100% free. Is it the best grammar checker for you? Try them all and decide for yourself.
How can I embed a free grammar checker into a webpage or blog post?
You can get the iframe code to embed the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker into your webpage, Moodle course, or blog with this grammar checker iframe code. The iframe is set to expand to 90% width of the page or frame you put it in. I have written a blog post all about adding the Virtual Writing Tutor to your web page or blog here: Create your own ESL grammar checker website for your students with an iframe
What is the purpose of the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker?
The primary goal of this grammar checker is to enhance ESL pedagogy. English teachers are a limited resource. They are available only to their own students, only during the course, only during the day, and are typically only available for one-on-one instruction for a few minutes at a time. A free online grammar checker website can enhance pedagogy by filling in when teachers are not available. A free, automated grammar checker can assist learners by being available to everyone, student or professional, night or day, and by providing tireless assistance with tedious proofreading tasks.
Why should language teachers use the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker in their courses?
Students are usually loath to do any writing unless it either "counts" or they get extensive feedback that will prepare them for an assignment that will count. Teachers therefore feel obliged to copy-edit every assignment students hand in. However, spending just 5 minutes a week on each student's assignment adds twelve hours and 30 minutes each week of corrective feedback to the workload of a teacher with 150 students. Many teachers will therefore limit the number of writing assignments they give students because of the impact corrections have on their workload as a teacher.
By automating part of the corrective feedback that students receive with the Virtual Writing Tutor, teachers can ensure students get extensive feedback on every assignment. Confident that students' errors won't be ignored, teachers can assign more writing tasks to students without increasing their workload.
Making the correction load more manageable is one benefit for teachers, but there are benefits for students, also. There are at least 5 clear benefits that I can see:
students get a greater amount of consistent, explicit, just-in-time corrective feedback on surface errors from a grammar checker than they would otherwise students learn to become more autonomous when using a grammar checker grammar checkers teach students to become judicious users of technology, engaging their critical thinking skills, especially when they receive bad feedback or false alarms grammar checkers provide students with lifelong learning opportunities grammar checkers can provide feedback on multiple drafts of an assignment, instead of typically just one or two drafts
Are online grammar checkers going to replace ESL teachers?
No. Your job is secure. Grammar checkers will never be able to teach writing as well as a well-trained English Second Language teacher. That's because what teachers know about their students, their language learning anxiety, their first language, their current level, about language pedagogy, about the task students have been assigned, about the goals of the lesson, and about the terminal objectives of the course is really much more than a soulless machine can ever know.
Teachers should stop thinking that they have to compete with grammar checkers and view them as an assistive technology that can help reduce some of their correction load. If you are feeling afraid of losing your job to a grammar checker, you don't understand your job very well. Providing corrective feedback on errors may be a huge part of your workload, but ask your self this. If a machine could catch all the surface errors my students make on their writing, what other aspects of my students' writing would I want to spend more time on? Start thinking about how you can give some of the tedious aspects of your job to a machine so that you can spend more time on a higher order analysis of the ideas and the flow in your students' writing. Instead of thinking of writing as a grammar test, you will be able to see it as communication.
Your job is not going anywhere, but it might get a little more interesting. Prepare.
How should teachers incorporate the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker into their ESL course?
In order to use a grammar checker effectively in an ESL course, teachers must, in my opinion, do two things: 1) create a routine in which students are required to use the grammar checker every week, and 2) set a standard of zero avoidable errors. To ensure students stick to the routine, teachers can assign a writing task at the end of each lesson and deduct points if the text contains avoidable errors
What are avoidable errors? Avoidable errors are those particular errors students can correct for themselves because they have received form-focused instruction or because a free grammar checker like the Virtual Writing Tutor can detect them and suggest corrections. In other words, a student who submits a text that contains errors in grammar that was thoroughly taught in a previous lesson or contains errors that can be eliminated by using the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker is a student who has not met expectations. Submitting texts containing avoidable errors to a teacher indicates a lack of learning or care, and should be scored lower than texts without avoidable errors.
In two of the courses I teach, my students must submit 12 texts over 15 weeks. The first 11 of those texts must be checked with the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker and have all avoidable errors eliminated. Each text is scored using a simple rubric. It must be 100-200 words in length, contain the target structures from the lesson, and have all avoidable errors elimnated using the Virtual Writing Tutor. If a text is submitted with avoidable errors, the student loses 1/3. The other 2/3 comes from using target structures taught in class (1/3) and from submitting a well-developed text (1/3). The only exception to my rule about using the Virtual Writing Tutor is with the final exam. On the final, students do not get access to the VWT because I expect that they have learned to eliminate their most common errors by then. Use the target structure tool with the Vocabulary Checker to quickly find the grammar, phrases, or vocabulary students have been asked to iclude in thier writing.
One of the best ways I have discovered to incorporate an online grammar checker into my ESL lessons for my non-fluent learners is to create a series of steps in a collaborative narrative writing project. Both my Actively Engaged on the Job and Actively Engaged at College textbooks involve collaborative narrative writing projects. Here's how the project works. Students are placed in groups of 4-6. Each student creates a fictional character, describes him or her using the first person, and makes his or her character interact with the other students' characters within the context of the shared story. Depending on the level, the characters live together as roommates (Actively Engaged at College) or work together as colleagues (Actively Engaged on the Job) within the collaborative narrative. Each week, I ask students to plan one episode of their story with the help of their groupmates. For homework, I ask them to write the current episode in the story, eliminate all avoidable errors using the Virtual Writing Tutor, and submit it to me for points. Writing that contains avoidable errors is penalized for not having applied the necessary revision strategies. The following week, I ask students to read what they wrote to their groupmates. I encourage them to use the VWT's text-to-speech function to help them with their pronunciation. In this way, they get to practice a more target-like form of English in a meaningful and social way.
For more advanced levels, I ask students to create a blog on Blogger and write listicles, glossaries, article paraphrases and hypertext narratives related to their fields of study. Again, I require students to eliminate error all avoidable errors using the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker and paraphrase checker to avoid plagiarism. Each blog post is peer-reviewed by two or more fellow students and submitted to me for a grade. Of course, if the Virtual Writing Tutor misses some of their errors, I provide feedback -- but only after they have eliminated many of their errors using the online grammar checker.
That's how I use the VWT. Perhaps you have found another way to use the Virtual Writing Tutor. I would love to hear how you do it. Send me a message when you have the time.
Best wishes,
Nicholas Walker
The Virtual Writing TutorThere aren’t many women who can steal a pop princess’ thunder without even trying. But, as Britney Spears discovered at her New Year’s Eve soiree in Las Vegas, extending an invitation to Sofía Vergara will render any hostess invisible.
“Sofía walked into the backstage area and the room literally fell silent,” a guest at the Planet Hollywood event tells The Post. “The guys were all gawking, and the women’s eyes were on stalks. Nobody was interested in watching Britney.”
The curvaceous 42-year-old is certainly used to turning heads — and her omnipresence makes her hard to ignore.
Not only is the “Modern Family” star one of TV’s highest-paid women, she also presides over a $37-million endorsement empire, hawking everything from diet soda to dandruff shampoo.
With a chiseled fiancé — “True Blood” and “Magic Mike” star Joe Manganiello — and the drama “Wild Card” opening in theaters Friday, the Latina’s life appears charmed. But her rise to the top has been fraught with tragedy and heartache.
One of six children born to a housewife and a cattle farmer in Barranquilla, Colombia, Vergara was scouted for her first TV commercial at 17.
The Pepsi ad, which featured the teen beauty in a bikini, was an immediate hit throughout Latin America.
But, for a while at least, Vergara eschewed red carpets in favor of root canals. It was while studying dentistry that she married her childhood sweetheart, José “Joe” Gonzalez; a year later, 20-year-old Vergara gave birth to a son, Manolo.
The couple divorced in 1993, and Vergara dropped out of dental school and moved to Bogotá. She was soon in demand as a model, landing a starring role in the Mexican telenovela “Acapulco, cuerpo y alma.”
Soon, other networks took notice and Vergara was “ecstatic” when, in 1994, Univision asked her to host a travel show based in Miami.
“She saw it as a chance to give her son a better life,” an insider says, adding that the star had become fearful of gang-related violence in her homeland. “She said yes immediately.”
In 1998, her older brother Rafael, 27, was murdered in their hometown. “We come from a successful family, and he knew he was a target for kidnapping,” the actress has said. “He always had bodyguards. Then one day he went out alone and was shot dead [in a kidnapping attempt gone wrong]. I was devastated.”
Just two years after Rafael’s death, Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. “I felt totally healthy, and suddenly they tell me I have cancer?” Vergara told Parade magazine. “I was scared.” But the cancer was caught at an early stage and the treatment — surgical thyroid removal, and a course of radioactive iodine treatment — proved successful.
Still, her love life was in turmoil.
In the mid-1990s, the actress had become involved with Chris Paciello, the darling of Miami’s South Beach nightclub scene, who originally hails from Staten Island. Paciello’s reputation as a mobster preceded him — he was a member of a gang that operated under the auspices of the Bonanno crime family, with a rap sheet of alleged burglaries and bank heists so lengthy he earned the
nickname “The Binger.”
“They seemed very much in love,” an associate tells The Post.
The lifestyle was certainly seductive. Paciello’s nightclub-business partner, Ingrid Casares, was friends with Madonna, and the Material Girl was now a regular on the Miami scene, along with Casares pals Jennifer Lopez, model Niki Taylor and MTV star Daisy Fuentes. His fearsome reputation coupled with Casares’ connections meant that “Paciello had a lot of power and influence,” the source says.
In 2000, the same year Vergara received her cancer diagnosis, Paciello was charged with the felony murder of a Staten Island housewife in a botched 1996 robbery. Vergara offered her Miami home as collateral toward her lover’s $15 million bail, and watched, impassively, as he blew her kisses in the courtroom.
She has never forgotten who she is. She’s very loyal and has the same manager who’s been with her since the start. - Photographer Manny Hernandez, who has known Vergara for more than 20 years
Paciello pleaded guilty to murder and ratted out mob bosses to shorten his sentence. He eventually served six years in jail, and the couple went their separate ways, but Vergara’s predilection for “bad boys” hadn’t waned.
She reportedly had a fling with former Colombian drug lord Andrés López López, who was released from a 20-month jail stint in 2004. In an interview, he called the actress “a marvelous woman who I love dearly.”
Following a guest role on ABC’s “My Wife and Kids,” Vergara signed a long-term contract with the network, and she and her son moved to Los Angeles in 2005.
Shortly after, she was introduced to Tom Cruise at a party.
According to the the actor’s unofficial biographer Andrew Morton, Cruise “laid on the charm with a trowel.” Morton claims that Vergara’s son was invited to play with Cruise’s kids and that, following trips to the Scientology Celebrity Center, “... there was no doubt [Tom] was auditioning [Vergara] for the part of his wife.”
But the Catholic actress allegedly had no intention of becoming the next Mrs. Cruise.
“She sincerely believed that she would be struck down by God and burn in hell if she joined [Scientology],” Morton claims. (Cruise went on to marry Katie Holmes a year after his ill-fated dalliance with Vergara.)
The relationship may have foundered, but the actress’ association with an A-lister had piqued Hollywood’s interest -— and the tabloid moniker “Sofía Viagra” was born.
Next up were supporting parts in the Tyler Perry movies “Meet the Browns” and “Madea Goes to Jail.” ABC cast Vergara in several shows — 2007’s “Dirty Sexy Money” was a moderate success — but it was the 2009 debut of “Modern Family” that changed her life.
The part of trophy wife Gloria Delgado-Pritchett was reportedly written for Vergara, and — with her low-cut necklines and Colombian accent intact — she became the show’s standout. Her weighty paychecks (Vergara now commands $325,000 an episode) allowed her to indulge in private jets and Hermès handbags, but family still came first.
To mark her 40th birthday in 2012, Vergara flew 107 loved ones to Mexico for a weeklong celebration and “picked up the tab for everyone,” sources say. She purchased 21 tickets for the 2013 Emmy Awards so that her family could have a taste of her showbiz life. (Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, she has never won.)
“She has never forgotten who she is,” photographer Manny Hernandez, who has known the star for more than 20 years, tells The Post. “She’s very loyal and has the same manager who’s been with her since the start.”
Vergara is particularly close to the son she raised as a single mother.
“She had her career and she still managed to raise me at the same time,” Manolo, now 22, has said. “She’s a Latin mother, which means she’s very loud, and sometimes very overprotective.”
Sadly, Vergara’s dedication to family could not save them from tragedy.
Having brought her younger brother Julio to Miami after their older sibling’s death, Vergara watched helplessly as he battled drug and alcohol addictions that resulted in 30 arrests over a decade. In 2011, Julio was deported back to Colombia.
“To see somebody dying over 10 years, little by little, that’s the worst punishment. Now he’s like another person,” Vergara told Parade. “With so many bad things happening, it creates a tough skin... Even when horrible things happen to me, I go on.”
That sense of stoicism was further tested during her volatile relationship with Onion Crunch founder Nick Loeb, 39. The couple met at a Golden Globes party in 2010 and were on and off for four years.
“They would fight all the time... It was very uncomfortable to be around them sometimes,” a source confides. “She’s feisty, he’s dorky — they were like oil and water.”
Vergara’s continuing friendship with Paciello, now out of prison, didn’t help matters. At a New Year’s Eve party at Paciello’s Miami nightclub Story in 2012, a brawl ensued between Loeb and security.
Vergara later cut all ties to her ex, and branded Paciello a “thug” on Twitter, but her relationship with Loeb was beyond repair.
“The arguments just accelerated after that,” the insider adds. “He felt humiliated, and she felt that he was trying to control her.”
The Post’s Richard Johnson reported that Vergara was turned off by Loeb’s constant hucksterism of his Onion Crunch brand, including trying to sneak the condiment into a White House dinner.
The couple finally split last May, two months before Vergara went public with her latest paramour, actor Joe Manganiello.
The photogenic couple got engaged on Christmas Eve during a romantic Hawaiian vacation, and Vergara “seems blissfully content,” a friend tells The Post.
With rumors of a summer wedding swirling, baby news may soon follow.
Having frozen her eggs back in 2013, Vergara has been candid about her willingness to use a surrogate if she cannot conceive naturally.
“She’s found her dream guy. After all the ups and downs she’s had, she truly deserves this,” the friend concludes.
“It’s finally the best time of her life.”12 ways Obama's inauguration speech humiliated the Tea Party After reclaiming the language of patriotism, Obama threw it back in the faces of the GOP in the name of liberalism
With its elegant rendering of the liberal agenda before the eyes of the American people, President Barack Obama's second inaugural address was music to the ears of many a progressive. But to the ears of Tea Partiers and the Republican right, this inauguration speech, as well as the ceremony that surrounded it, was war -- not just a war of words, but a war of prayer, a war of poetry and even, perhaps, a war of song.
Advertisement:
Driving the message home were the hands of the Fates, who conspired to see the second inauguration of the nation’s first African American president fall on Martin Luther King Day, the national holiday whose very creation was opposed by so many who still today comprise the Republican Party’s right wing.
Here we recount a dozen ways in which the president brought his fight to the right, in no uncertain terms |
F. Menczer. "Hoaxy: A Platform for Tracking Online Misinformation," Proc. Third Workshop on Social News On the Web (SNOW). In WWW '16 Companion Proceedings of the 25th International Conference Companion on World Wide Web, 2016, p. 745. doiID
Bratislav Mi?i?, Richard F. Betzel, Azadeh Nematzadeh, Joaquin Goñi, Alessandra Griffa, Patric Hagmann, Alessandro Flammini, Yong-Yeol Ahn, Olaf Sporns. "Cooperative and Competitive Spreading Dynamics on the Human Connectome," Neuron, v.86, 2015, p. 1518. doiID
Dong X, Bollen J.. "Computational Models of Consumer Confidence from Large-Scale Online Attention Data: Crowd-Sourcing Econometrics," PLoS ONE, v.10, 2015, p. e0120039. doiID
Dimitar Nikolov, Diego F.M. Oliveira, Alessandro Flammini, Filippo Menczer. "Measuring online social bubbles," PeerJ Computer Science, v.1, 2015, p. e38. doiID
Jaehyuk Park, Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, and Emilio Ferrara. "Style in the Age of Instagram: Predicting Success within the Fashion Industry using Social Media," Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW '16), 2016, p. 64. doiID
A. Vespignani. "Modeling Dynamical Processes in Complex Socio-technical Systems," Nature Physics, v.8, 2012, p. 32. doiID
Ferrara E, Yang Z.. "Quantifying the effect of sentiment on information diffusion in social media," PeerJ Computer Science, v.1, 2015, p. e26. doiID
Emilio Ferrara, Onur Varol, Alessandro Flammini, and Filippo Menczer. "Detection of Promoted Social Media Campaigns," Proc. Tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICSWM), 2016, p. 13034. doiID
C. A. Davis, O. Varol, E. Ferrara, A. Flammini and F. Menczer. "BotOrNot: A system to evaluate social bots," WWW '16 Companion: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference Companion on World Wide Web, 2016, p. 273. doiID
Delia Mocanu, Andrea Baronchelli, Nicola Perra, Bruno Gonçalves, Qian Zhang, Alessandro Vespignani. "The Twitter of Babel: Mapping World Languages through Microblogging Platforms," PLoS ONE, v.8, 2013, p. e61981. doiID
Zhang, Qian; Perra, Nicola; Goncalves, Bruno; Ciulla, Fabio; Vespignani, Alessandro. "Characterizing scientific production and consumption in Physics," SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v.3, 2013, p. 1640. doiID
L. Weng, F. Menczer, and Y.-Y. Ahn. "Virality Prediction and Community Structure in Social Networks," Nature Sci. Rep., v.3, 2013, p. 2522. doiID
Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, Prashant Shiralkar, Luis M. Rocha, Johan Bollen, Filippo Menczer, Alessandro Flammini. "Computational fact checking from knowledge networks," PLoS ONE, v.10, 2015, p. e0128193. doiID
Ferrara E, Yang Z. "Measuring Emotional Contagion in Social Media," PLoS ONE, v.10, 2015, p. e0142390. doiID
Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, Alessandro Flammini, Filippo Menczer. "The production of information in the attention economy," Nature Sci. Rep., v.5, 2015, p. 9452. doiID Ferrara, E.; Varol, O.; Davis, C.; Menczer, F.; and Flammini, A.. "The Rise of Social Bots,", v.57, 2016, p. 96.Gao, X., Emilio Ferrara, Judy Qiu. "Parallel Clustering of High-Dimensional Social Media Data Streams,", 2015, p. 323.Lei Le, Emilio Ferrara, and Alessandro Flammini. "On Predictability of Rare Events Leveraging Social Media: A Machine Learning Perspective,", 2015, p. 3.Subrahmanian, V.; Azaria, A.; Durst, S.; Kagan, V.; Galstyan, A.; Lerman, K.; Zhu, L.; Ferrara, E.; Flammini, A.; Menczer, F.; and others. "The DARPA Twitter Bot Challenge,", v.49, 2016, p. 38.S. Liu, N. Perra, M. Karsai, A. Vespignani. "Controlling contagion processes in activity-driven networks,", v.112, 2014, p. 118702.C. Shao, G. L. Ciampaglia, A. Flammini and F. Menczer. "Hoaxy: A Platform for Tracking Online Misinformation,", 2016, p. 745.Bratislav Mi?i?, Richard F. Betzel, Azadeh Nematzadeh, Joaquin Goñi, Alessandra Griffa, Patric Hagmann, Alessandro Flammini, Yong-Yeol Ahn, Olaf Sporns. "Cooperative and Competitive Spreading Dynamics on the Human Connectome,", v.86, 2015, p. 1518.Dong X, Bollen J.. "Computational Models of Consumer Confidence from Large-Scale Online Attention Data: Crowd-Sourcing Econometrics,", v.10, 2015, p. e0120039.Dimitar Nikolov, Diego F.M. Oliveira, Alessandro Flammini, Filippo Menczer. "Measuring online social bubbles,", v.1, 2015, p. e38.Jaehyuk Park, Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, and Emilio Ferrara. "Style in the Age of Instagram: Predicting Success within the Fashion Industry using Social Media,", 2016, p. 64.A. Vespignani. "Modeling Dynamical Processes in Complex Socio-technical Systems,", v.8, 2012, p. 32.Ferrara E, Yang Z.. "Quantifying the effect of sentiment on information diffusion in social media,", v.1, 2015, p. e26.Emilio Ferrara, Onur Varol, Alessandro Flammini, and Filippo Menczer. "Detection of Promoted Social Media Campaigns,", 2016, p. 13034.C. A. Davis, O. Varol, E. Ferrara, A. Flammini and F. Menczer. "BotOrNot: A system to evaluate social bots,", 2016, p. 273.Delia Mocanu, Andrea Baronchelli, Nicola Perra, Bruno Gonçalves, Qian Zhang, Alessandro Vespignani. "The Twitter of Babel: Mapping World Languages through Microblogging Platforms,", v.8, 2013, p. e61981.Zhang, Qian; Perra, Nicola; Goncalves, Bruno; Ciulla, Fabio; Vespignani, Alessandro. "Characterizing scientific production and consumption in Physics,", v.3, 2013, p. 1640.L. Weng, F. Menczer, and Y.-Y. Ahn. "Virality Prediction and Community Structure in Social Networks,", v.3, 2013, p. 2522.Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, Prashant Shiralkar, Luis M. Rocha, Johan Bollen, Filippo Menczer, Alessandro Flammini. "Computational fact checking from knowledge networks,", v.10, 2015, p. e0128193.Ferrara E, Yang Z. "Measuring Emotional Contagion in Social Media,", v.10, 2015, p. e0142390.Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, Alessandro Flammini, Filippo Menczer. "The production of information in the attention economy,", v.5, 2015, p. 9452.
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BOOKS/ONE TIME PROCEEDING
B. Goncalves, M. Conover, and F. Menczer. "Abuse of social media and political manipulation", 07/01/2011-06/30/2012,, Markus Jakobsson"The Death of The Internet", 2012, "Wiley".
Conover, B Goncalves, J Ratkiewicz, A Flammini, and F Menczer. "Predicting the Political Alignment of Twitter Users", 07/01/2011-06/30/2012, "Proceedings of 3rd IEEE Conference on Social Computing (SocialCom)", 2011, "IEEE".
M. D. Conover, J. Ratkiewicz, B. Gonçalves, M. Francisco, A. Flammini, F. Menczer. "Social Media and the Networked Public Sphere", 07/01/2011-06/30/2012, "Workshop on Information in Networks", 2011, "http://www.winworkshop.net/".
Michael Conover, Jacob Ratkiewicz, Matthew Francisco, Bruno Goncalves, Alessandro Flammini, and Filippo Menczer. "Political Polarization on Twitter", 07/01/2011-06/30/2012, "Proc. 5th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM)", 2011, "AAAI".
Jacob Ratkiewicz, Michael Conover, Mark Meiss, Bruno Goncalves, Alessandro Flammini, and Filippo Menczer. "Detecting and Tracking Political Abuse in Social Media", 07/01/2011-06/30/2012, "Proc. 5th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM)", 2011, "AAAI".
Karissa McKelvey, Alex Rudnick, Michael Conover, and Filippo Menczer. "Visualizing Communication on Social Media: Making Big Data Accessible", 07/01/2011-06/30/2012, "Proc. CSCW Workshop on Collective Intelligence as Community Discourse and Action", 2012, "http://events.kmi.open.ac.uk/cscw-ci2012/programme-papers-demos/".
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.NEW YORK, November 21, 2016 – The National Basketball Association released the following statement today from Byron Spruell, President, League Operations, regarding the clock malfunction at the end of the Sacramento Kings’ 102-99 victory over the Toronto Raptors last night at Golden 1 Center:
“After review at the league office, we have concluded that the end of the game was officiated correctly by NBA rules. We reviewed all aspects of the final 27.4 seconds and below is a summary of our evaluation.
“Toronto inbounded the ball with 2.4 seconds remaining in the game, and the clock did not start when the pass was deflected by Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins. Per the NBA’s precision timing system, the clock can be started by either the referees or the clock operator. The referees noticed the clock malfunction immediately which triggered a replay review under rule 13.1.a.5, which states that a review must occur if ‘a play concludes (i) with no time remaining on the clock (0:00) at the end of any period or (ii) at a point when the game officials believe that actual time may have expired in any period; and the officials are reasonably certain that the game clock malfunctioned during the play.’
“Per rule 13.2.e.1, the Replay Center was then tasked with determining ‘the proper time (if any) on the game clock following the clock malfunction by determining how much time on the game clock actually expired.’ To determine how much time actually expired, Replay Center referee Zach Zarba used a digital timer on the Replay Center screen. The determination was that 2.5 seconds expired, thus negating the basket.
“We also reviewed the question surrounding the time left on the clock for Sacramento’s final possession. That possession started with 26.4 seconds remaining on the game clock since that is when Cousins secured possession of the rebound after a missed free throw. The subsequent shot clock violation on the Kings’ possession therefore left 2.4 seconds remaining in the game.”
# # #EL Trumpo bored his audience today by laboriously explaining why his Trump University lawsuit is still being litigated, but to spice it up he just happened to mention that the judge who rules against him is hostile, “Spanish” and Hispanic.
Watch below:
He doesn’t say that he’s hostile because he’s “Spanish,” but that’s what the crowd will get from it. And why even mention it? What difference does it make? Trump is just a creepy weirdo.
But this is the more important point – the fact that he’s spending 12 minutes defending himself from the scam that is “Trump University” shows that he’s afraid the truth will come out. And that means Cruz and Roooobio should continue nailing him on it. And you should tweet and post this article!! And this too!!!Yes:
The trend of aborting babies in the face of strange males is known as the Bruce effect. That’s not a slight against men of that name; the effect is named after the scientist who discovered it – Hilda Margaret Bruce. In 1959, she noticed that pregnant mice will abort if they’re exposed to unfamiliar males. Since then, scientists have found the same effect among other laboratory rodents, and domestic horses. But the Bruce effect has always remained a quirk of captivity. No one really knew if wild animals do the same thing.
A new study found that geladas, a relative of the baboon, do have abortions in the wild:
Normally, the failure rate for gelada pregnancies is around 2 per cent. If a new male arrives, it shoots up to 80 per cent. … But why would a pregnant female abort her own foetus? Roberts thinks that it’s an adaptive tactic in the face of a new male’s murderous tendencies. Since the male would probably kill the newborn baby anyway, it’s less costly for the female to abort than to waste time and energy on bringing a doomed infant to term. Her future offspring, conceived more quickly and fathered by the incumbent king of the hill, will stand a better chance of survival.
(Photo of a gelada in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia by Flickr user M. Bos)About a year ago, Big Show issued a WrestleMania challenge to Shaquille O'Neal on the red carpet at the ESPYs.
That match never happened and, on a recent appearance on Chris Jericho's podcast, Big Show discussed his thoughts on the match falling through.
"He definitely wanted to do something and he had a lot of crazy ideas for an absolute insane set-up," Big Show said on the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho. "A lot of times, [in] this business, things just don't work out."
After the match wasn't able to come together, Big Show was part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal instead -- coincidentally, one year after Big Show and Shaq went face to face during the wrestleMania 32 incarnation of the battle royal.
"This has been a very awkward situation to be in, because the amount of information that went back and forth was really off, know what I mean? A lot of it was, Shaq's a busy dude, he's got a lot of stuff going on," Show said, adding "I could've had a fantastic match with Shaq and made his experience fantastic and given him a WrestleMania moment. But it just didn't work out."
Big Show has taken some shots at Shaq in the past, referring to him as both "Princess Shaq" and "Jabba The Hutt."
Click here to check out Big Show's entire appearance on Talk Is Jericho.Which state is closest to Africa?
It's gotta be Florida, right?
The Sunshine State's easternmost point, Singer Island, outside of West Palm Beach, is about 4,085 miles from Guerguerat, a small village in Western Sahara.
Google Maps/Tech Insider
But Florida is not the closest point to the African continent by almost 1,000 miles.
Maybe it's North Carolina, whose Cape Hatteras juts out into the Atlantic? It's closer, but at 3,625 miles from Tarfaya, Morocco, it's still not the closest.
Google Maps/Tech Insider
So it's gotta be Cape Cod, Massachusetts, right? Also wrong.
The eastern edge of the cape is closer than Cape Hatteras, 3,332 miles from El Beddouza, Morocco, but still isn't the closest.
Google Maps/Tech Insider
We'll cut to the chase: The title of "closest US state to Africa" belongs to Maine and, specifically, a peninsula called Quoddy Head.
Michael DeRamo/Wikimedia
Its quaint, little lighthouse, the Quoddy Head Light, is at the easternmost point of the US. It's also the point closest to Africa, about 3,154 miles from El Beddouza.
Google Maps/Tech Insider
So if you're ever inclined to take a nice long swim over to the sand-swept shores of northwest Africa, then you might want to start in Maine.Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama’s administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district.
That’s in addition to the 27 new waivers for health care or drug companies and the 31 new union waivers Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services approved.
Pelosi’s district secured almost 20 percent of the latest issuance of waivers nationwide, and the companies that won them didn’t have much in common with companies throughout the rest of the country that have received Obamacare waivers.
Other common waiver recipients were labor union chapters, large corporations, financial firms and local governments. But Pelosi’s district’s waivers are the first major examples of luxurious, gourmet restaurants and hotels getting a year-long pass from Obamacare.
For instance, Boboquivari’s restaurant in Pelosi’s district in San Francisco got a waiver from Obamacare. Boboquivari’s advertises $59 porterhouse steaks, $39 filet mignons and $35 crab dinners.
Then, there’s Café des Amis, which describes its eating experience as “a timeless Parisian style brasserie” which is “located on one of San Francisco’s premier shopping and strolling boulevards, Union Street,” according to the restaurant’s Web site.
“Bacchus Management Group, in partnership with Perry Butler, is bringing you that same warm, inviting feeling, with a distinctive San Francisco spin,” the Web site reads. Somehow, though, the San Francisco upper class eatery earned itself a waiver from Obamacare because it apparently cost them too much to meet the law’s first year requirements.
The reason the Obama administration says it has given out waivers is to exempt certain companies or policyholders from “annual limit requirements.” The applications for the waivers are “reviewed on a case by case basis by department officials who look at a series of factors including whether or not a premium increase is large or if a significant number of enrollees would lose access to their current plan because the coverage would not be offered in the absence of a waiver.” The waivers don’t allow a company to permanently refrain from implementing Obamacare’s stipulations, but companies can reapply for waivers annually through 2014.
Café Mason, a diner near San Francisco’s Union Square, got a waiver too. When The Daily Caller asked the manager about the waiver and how the president’s new sweeping federal health care law was affecting his restaurant, he hung up the phone. The Franciscan Crab restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco got a waiver. Its menu features entrees ranging from about $15 to $60. The Franciscan’s general manager didn’t return TheDC’s requests for comment.
Four-star hotel Campton Place got one too, as did Hotel Nikko San Francisco, which describes itself as “four-diamond luxury in the heart of the city.” Tru Spa, which Allure Magazine rated the “best day spa in San Francisco,” received an Obamacare waiver as well.
Before hanging up on TheDC, Tru Spa’s owner said new government health care regulations, both the federal-level Obamacare and new local laws in Northern California, have “devastated” the business. “It’s been bad for us,” he said, without divulging his name, referring to the new health care restrictions.
But, the spa owner wouldn’t talk about it or the reason his company sought a waiver. He hung up after saying, “I’ve got clients on the other line, good-bye.”
San Francisco Honda, which has two of its three locations in Pelosi’s district, and San Francisco’s Royal Motors Group both got waivers too. Neither called TheDC back.
Blue & Gold Fleet, which describes itself as “the Bay Area’s premier provider of Bay Cruise, Ferry Service and Motorcoach Tours,” got an Obamacare waiver approved in April. The tour service company didn’t return TheDC’s requests for comment.
Nightclub Infusion Lounge got an Obamacare waiver approved in April too. Infusion Lounge calls itself a “sophisticated nightlife destination” with “Asian inspired sub-rosa lounge, fashioned by Hong Kong’s hottest designer, Kinney Chan,” which makes for a “true ultra lounge catering to both dancing hipsters and young professionals looking to relax in style.” Infusion Lounge’s owners didn’t return TheDC’s requests for comment either.
Simco Restaurants and several other affiliated chains based in the area got waivers for their businesses as well. For example, Gordon Yoshida, the manager of memorabilia store Only in San Francisco, told TheDC that Sandra Fletcher of Simco walked him through the process of getting an Obamacare waiver. Fletcher did not return TheDC’s requests for comment.
Pelosi’s office did not respond to TheDC’s requests for comment either.Any hype or trend is easy to become detached from reality and overgrown with myths. It takes just several wrong readings or subjective opinions for an idea to go far away from it’s original message. It happens often. When we talk about growth hacking the story is no different. That is why it’s important to dig out the truth behind this term.
5 most common delusions about growth hacking
Nowadays growth and the strategy of its’ achievement is one of the trendiest theme to discuss in Silicon Valley. More and more startups are seeking to hire the growth hackers and to develop their own growth strategy. Today you can learn about five delusions that may lead your growth hack strategy into the wrong place and give it wrong goals and hopes.
Delusion 1: Growth Hacking is a universal cheat-sheet to use for growth
Real picture: There is no one secret universal toolset, but for your business to grow you should think differently
Growth hackers are usually mistaken to be some universal gurus that know the secret recipe of success. People think that such managers can easily create a successful startup from scratch in a matter of seconds. People also think that growth strategy is a book of secrets or a universal guidebook to lead you through the promotion and channel distribution. The delusion here is that every growth hacker has a secret tool hidden somewhere in his mind. In real life every growth hacker goes to success with hard work and prioritisation.
Sometimes growth hacks can be found in basic instruments of product marketing that were able to raise the bar in your own certain occasion. There is no magic behind growth hacking, — it’s just a certain mindset that focus on things most companies and startups forget to consider: usually it’s all about distribution. When growth hacker advise something, his advice is rarely is a completely new thing for business, usually it’s a thing you decided to put aside for future investments. There are many roads available for your business to blossom, but things that correspond for growth are usually forgotten or laid aside for long-term future.
The founder of 500 startups Dave McClure once said that many startups focus on their products, while the main risks of their companies lay somewhere in distribution field.
Delusion 2: Growth Hacker can solve any company problems
Reality: Growth hacking is not something that can be made overnight and it cannot solve all the problems with your product.
It’s rare thing to grow in a matter of a day. Viral growth and tools to make it happen are not applicable for just any strategy of business. Moreover, even if some thing was successful for one company, it’s not necessary to help in your occasion. Nobody can guarantee that exact hack will bring you the same success as for your competitor.
‘Not everything can go viral’, — said the founder of streaming platform Bebo Michael Birch. ‘It takes great time and great number of diligence. Before the success and actual viral thing you may face long list of falied experiments’.,
Moreover, there are two different types of growth — small and big wins. Growth hackers are usually look on things that lay outside the standard optimisation. They consider some predictions about features that may burst. It means that growth cannot be something that happens easily, especially when it means not only finding new clients, but retaining the old ones too.
If you decided to hire a growth hacker — never hire a person who only makes some A/B testings and focus on local things. The real growth hacker is someone who can ask deeper questions and plan the growth of your product in a long-term.
Finding the answers to the complex questions takes great deal of focusing on changing exponents and quick iterations. Tactically, such strategy must focus on testing results, not just some features found in business books.
‘Somehow it’s similar to stock investments. Even if there was a formula of success, nobody will talk about it’, Ivan Kirigin from Dropbox mentioned. ‘I think all strategies are saying that you need to create a process that will give you an ability to learn and to test many things faster in order to make the possibility of success clearer’.
Delusion 3: Growth Hacking is some new and unknown animal
Reality: Actually, growth hacking is not entirely new
Facebook and LinkedIn were the first to try growth hacking, because right from the very beginning they focused on the growth strategies and user engagement into working with their services. It happened long time before the term growth hacking was actually introduced.
The truth is, for the long time such type of strategical thinking didn’t have its’ own unique name, but it still existed.
Delusion 4: Growth Hacking is marketing
Reality: Growth hacking and marketing have the same goals, but use different tactics
Good product strategy based on data is a key to business growth. There is no place for marketing strategy. Many growth hackers believe that it’s necessary to be engaged in all product activities from the design to development. Promoting your business is just a small part of huge strategy.
For example, if you have 1000 visitors that you need to convert into clients, — it’s marketing and lead generation. If you want to take a product and with its’ help to convert 1000 visitors to 10000 clients — this is a growth strategy. Growth hacking takes you more far away than marketing. Usually the growth is achieved with viral engagement to the product, not with general clicks on links and landing pages.
Delusion 5: Growth Hacker is a one man
Reality: Growth is rarely an achievement of one person
In the beginning of the project one man, usually it’s the founder of the business, may be responsible for growth. However, with the growing of the company and product features one person can transform into the whole growth department. It depends on needs of the company. Just remember that the most objective results can be achieved in team collaboration only.
Long-term growth strategy is a complex work that require many tests even before you can find the one that is the most suitable for your business. It’s necessary to track metrics and results that you want to achieve beforehand or your growth strategy will be changing constantly and will lead to nothing.
If you’ve decided to go further with growth strategy, be ready to face some difficulties. Such strategy requires different view on product and priorities. Things you considered important before may become unnecessary and vise versa.
3 most common characteristics of a growth hacker
It’s time to share some common characteristics that growth hack managers need to have. There are many different things, but they all have three common characteristics as their base.
Data
Growth hackers are real maniacs to calculations and metrics comparison. Growth hacker feels nude without having data and his metrics. Strong focus on data helps growth hackers to find the solutions that help your business to grow quickly. For such people metrics are not just statistics and reports, but also an inspiration and a way to create a better product with tests and theories.
Creativity
Often you can hear that growth hacking is a mix of art and science. Together with data usage mentioned above, growth hackers are staying on the front line of the creative approach to problem solving. Such person never gives up and goes further.
The mix of analytical thinking and creativity can be easily defined as a main characteristic of a growth hacker. Real unicorns appear in places where one man can see the value of a project and product from all sides at the same time.
Curiosity
Every growth hacker appears to be a curious person. How the regular users transform into clients? Why some products are more popular than others? Growth hacker will never stop until he finds all the answers. Growth hacker always looks for a method to turn conversions and user behaviour where he needs to. For example, Facebook, has more than 1 billion users already, but it never stops and still has its’ own growth department.
“You just can’t stop in a middle of the way. If you stop, you’ll loose”, — Heads and Hands team thinks.
Growth hackers always want to learn something new. From every novelty such person can grip something that he can use in his own business.
No matter the age of the term itself, there are many growth hackers around the world. Many of them became what they are due to needs of their companies — they created their business with no budget to spend on marketing.
To summarize growth hacking
The main thing that differs growth hacking from the regular approach to work is a fail fast principle.
As it was said before, growth hacking is full complex of work to gain traffic, analyze it and work permanently with conversions. Complex work is more often to lead towards synergy of results. Fail fast principle helps to avoid long and fatal mistakes.
Why create a complex service when you can firstly test its’ main feature with prototype? Why spend money on a website if landing page is enough? Moreover, why create if not analyze?
To summarize, growth hacking isn’t a checklist or a guidebook to lead you toward success. It’s a mindset and clever usage of analytical tools.Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn
Probably. Nevertheless it’s worth thinking about the implications of this Robert Barro piece:
To get a rough quantitative estimate of the implications for the unemployment rate, suppose that the expansion of unemployment-insurance coverage to 99 weeks had not occurred and””I assume””the share of long-term unemployment had equaled the peak value of 24.5% observed in July 1983. Then, if the number of unemployed 26 weeks or less in June 2010 had still equaled the observed value of 7.9 million, the total number of unemployed would have been 10.4 million rather than 14.6 million. If the labor force still equaled the observed value (153.7 million), the unemployment rate would have been 6.8% rather than 9.5%.
In contrast, his son Josh Barro points out that most studies suggest extended UI boosted the unemployment rate by only about 0.4% or 0.7%, and then goes on to argue that even those figures may be too high.
…The incentive effects of UI extension must also be weighed against the stimulative effects of paying UI benefits. For some reason it’s become almost taboo to note this on the Right, but UI recipients tend to be highly inclined to spend funds they receive immediately, meaning that more UI payments are likely to increase aggregate demand. UI extension also helps to avoid events like foreclosure, eviction and bankruptcy, which in addition to being personal disasters are also destructive of economic value.
I’d like to sit in on one of those family dinners!
Count me as being somewhere between the two Barros, but closer to Josh. I think the main difference between 1983 and today is that NGDP growth was nearly three times faster in the initial recovery of 1983-84. If that’s all I knew about this recession–nothing about the banking/housing fundamentals that triggered it, and nothing about 99 week UI extensions, I’d still predict a very slow recovery, albeit perhaps a tad faster than we are getting. Robert Barro contrasts the slow recovery to 1983, but better comparisons might be 1992 and 2002, when unemployment actually rose for more than a year after the end of the contraction.
However, I wouldn’t go as far as Josh Barro, who concedes a small adverse effect on the economy’s supply side, but then argues that the program boosts AD. If extended UI benefits make the labor market more rigid (which seems likely), then it may reduce the equilibrium real rate of interest. In that case monetary policy will become effectively tighter, even if the Fed continues to target nominal rates at 0.25%. Many economists overlook the way supply and demand shocks become entangled. There is a reason why negative demand shocks often follow closely on the heels of negative supply shocks (1974, 2008, etc.)
And although I think it unlikely we end up never recovering, the French experience should teach us some humility. Recall that in the 1960s most European economies had much lower unemployment than the US, typically around 2% or 3%. By the 1980s many were stuck with rates close to 10%. France never really recovered from the 1981 recession, with unemployment fluctuating between 7% and 11% over the past 30 years. And in 1972 no one in Europe saw this coming.
Why did it happen? Who knows. Initially people came up with all sorts of explanations. Here’s an example from a 1993 paper:
A flow model is used to identify the causes for rising unemployment in France between 1978 and 1990. Two flow equations are estimated as functions of exogenous factors such as aggregate demand, factor costs, structural shifts and long-term factors and then used in simulations for the level of unemployment. It is shown that the main reason for high unemployment in France is a slow down in the demand for labour due to high labour and energy costs in the early 1980s and to tight aggregate demand over the whole period. Change in the labour supply have had an increasing impact in recent years.
Today it seems silly to cite AD and energy prices, but it’s hard not to sympathize with the author (Dominique Gross). If the cause was structural (as most now believe) it begs the question of why the natural rate of unemployment suddenly rose from 2% to 9%. And which structural problem? For ever suspect, you can find some small European country that has that policy, and yet maintains only 5% unemployment. Perhaps it is labor market policies interacting with differences in culture and comparative advantage.
An optimist like me would argue that we aren’t about to copy the French statist model; dramatically higher minimum wages, generous UI benefits, national health care, higher taxes, etc. Oh wait... Seriously, as bad as it looks to conservatives, there is a lot of ruin in a nation. So I still think there is only a 10% or 20% chance we will experience French-style ” hysteresis” (which refers to a sticky unemployment rate that refuses to fall during “recoveries.”)
One thing that has always annoyed me is economists who do a lot of moral grandstanding, accusing people they disagree with of being evil. For instance, this is how Robert Reich recently entitled his attack piece on Robert Barro:
A record number of Americans is unemployed for a record length of time. This is a national tragedy. It is to the nation’s credit that many are receiving unemployment benefits. This is good not only for them and their families but also for the economy as a whole, because it allows them to spend and thereby keep others in jobs. That a noted professor would argue against this is obscene.
Regarding obscenity, a Supreme Court justice once said “I know it when I see it.” With all due respect to Reich, I don’t see it. Here’s the Barro article he responds to:
The unemployment-insurance program involves a balance between compassion””providing for persons temporarily without work””and efficiency. The loss in efficiency results partly because the program subsidizes unemployment, causing insufficient job-search, job-acceptance and levels of employment. A further inefficiency concerns the distortions from the increases in taxes required to pay for the program. In a recession, it is more likely that individual unemployment reflects weak economic conditions, rather than individual decisions to choose leisure over work. Therefore, it is reasonable during a recession to adopt a more generous unemployment-insurance program. In the past, this change entailed extensions to perhaps 39 weeks of eligibility from 26 weeks, though sometimes a bit more and typically conditioned on the employment situation in a person’s state of residence. However, we have never experienced anything close to the blanket extension of eligibility to nearly two years. We have shifted toward a welfare program that resembles those in many Western European countries.
Didn’t Reich just say Barro opposed unemployment insurance? Not only does he favor it, but he favors extended benefits during recessions.
Perhaps he thinks it’s obscene to accuse the unemployed of being lazy. But then I found this in Reich’s article:
In theory, Barro is correct. If people who lose their jobs receive generous unemployment benefits they might stay unemployed longer than if they got nothing.
So I guess somewhere between the 99 weeks recommended by the virtuous Robert Reich, and the 39 weeks recommended by the evil Robert Barro (and implemented by Bill Clinton), UI extension proposals become obscene. It all reminds me of the old Winston |
with your decision. Check it out.KYODO NEWS - Jul 21, 2017 - 22:07 | All, Sports
Kyrie Irving, guard for National Basketball Association side Cleveland Cavaliers, made an appearance at a store in Tokyo on July 21, where he met with scores of Japanese fans.
Irving was in the city as part of a promotional tour for sportswear company Nike, which sponsors the 25-year-old.
Confronted by a barrage of smartphone camera, Irving spoke to fans at the Nike store in the Harajuku area of Tokyo.
As part of the event, Irving was photographed and interviewed, and talked about what it takes to be a superstar basketball player.
Some of the fans in the store flew in from as far afield as Hong Kong and Australia.
Some queued up outside from 06:00 to see Irving in person.
As part of the event, Irving ran a basketball clinic and a skills contest for selected basketball-loving students from across Japan.
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GALLERY: Bolt delights crowd at Kyoto eventImage caption Pike will reportedly star opposite Ben Affleck in David Fincher's film
Former Bond girl Rosamund Pike has won the coveted female lead role in the film version of hit novel Gone Girl, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Pike will reportedly star opposite Ben Affleck in David Fincher's film of Gillian Flynn's best-selling thriller.
The Die Another Day actress is said to have beaten a host of stars to the role of Amy, a wife who goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary.
The 34-year-old can currently be seen in British comedy The World's End.
Pike previously appeared opposite Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher, with Carey Mulligan in An Education and with Keira Knightley in the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice.
Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Natalie Portman and Charlize Theron were among other leading actresses to have been linked to the role of Amy.
Readers across the world have been gripped by Flynn's third novel, which uses alternating first-person narration to pick apart a toxic marriage.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Gillian Flynn speaks to Jon Sopel about writing the script for the upcoming Gone Girl movie
Affleck will reportedly play Nick, a journalist turned bar-owner who is suspected of killing his wife following her unexplained disappearance.
Flynn sold the film rights to her novel to 20th Century Fox for a reported $1.5 million (£975,000) and has written the script for the big-screen version.
Fincher previously directed the US film adaptation of hit Swedish crime thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.
According to reports last week, the script for proposed follow-up The Girl who Played with Fire is currently being rewritten by Seven scribe Andrew Kevin Walker.Society for Threatened Peoples Press Release:
The Society for Threatened Peoples supports the appeal of exile-Kurds and their friends in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia for a Global Rally to show our solidarity with the citizens of the Kurdish town Kobani in Northern Syria.
On Saturday 1st November 2014 there shall be big and smaller demonstrations or pickets all over the world. Make your city a part of it! Get all your friends together and organize a rally with banners and flags to show your support for the people defending Kobani.
The terrorist organization “Islamic State” (IS) has been trying to take the region and city of Kobani since the end of 2013, but it has failed due to the resistance of the Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG). In mid-September the Islamists started a major offensive and from 28th September they attacked the city itself.
Exile-Kurds all over the world ask the United States of America and the European Union to exert pressure on the Turkish government in Ankara to change their politics against the IS. The IS is waging a war of extermination against the children, women and men of Kobani before their face. There is some evidence that Ankara has been supporting the extremists for at least two years now. In our judgement the aim of the Turkish government is to destroy the three Kurdish regions Kobani, Afrin and Jazeera in Northern Syria. This policy can’t be accepted by the world any longer!
While supporting IS-fighters logistically the Turkish government gives very little medical treatment to injured Kurds. Some of them are left to their own devices on the Syrian side of the border and bleed to death.
All in all, 200.000 Kurds were expelled from Kobani.
The Society for Threatened People demands:
More humanitarian aid for the refugees from Kobani!
A corridor to bring food and weapons from the other Kurdish regions to the surrounded Kurdish fighters of Kobani.
If you need help with the organization or for further questions please call our Middle East Speaker Dr. Kamal Sido, Tel.: 0049 551 499 06 18A 5.2 magnitude earthquake early Friday occurred on one of Southern California’s most active faults and triggered hundreds of aftershocks, but caused no major damage, experts and public safety officials said.
The quake occurred near Borrego Springs in San Diego County in a sparsely populated area. Still, the 1:04 a.m. quake was felt from San Diego to parts of L.A. and beyond.
“It’s the biggest one for a while,” said Egill Hauksson, a research professor of geophysics at Caltech.
The last notable quake in Southern California was in 2014 when a 5.1 magnitude quake hit La Habra. But that occurred on a different fault.
Deadly but little-known: Why scientists are so afraid of the San Jacinto fault »
Friday’s temblor occurred on the San Jacinto fault, the most active in the region, Hauksson said. More than 450 aftershocks have been reported since the initial quake.
The fault is characterized by less compression between its plates compared to the San Andreas or Newport-Inglewood faults, which means when there is slippage and a quake occurs, it’s less severe, Hauksson said.
But the fault is also remarkably long, which may explain why Friday morning’s quake was reportedly felt by people from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, Hauksson said.
Reflexively, hundreds of people turned to social media to share their experience and also verify that the quake really happened.
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Read more: The rolling motion starts a beeline to Twitter »
Ron and Teri Walker were inside their hotel in Palm Springs when the room began to shake. "We held each other, not sure what the next step was. What do we do?" Teri Walker told KNBC-TV Channel 4. A Downey woman called KNX-AM (1070) and said it struck with "a soft roll," then later "hit again stronger." A caller from Costa Mesa described a "back and forth" sensation. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter was 16 miles from La Quinta, 19 miles from Palm Desert and 20 miles from Rancho Mirage.
Aftershocks included a magnitude 3.3 jolt 13 miles from Anza at 1:46 a.m. at a depth of 6.8 miles. Anza is in southern Riverside County.
Seismologist Lucy Jones reported dozens of aftershocks on her Twitter feed.
There were at least four magnitude 3.0 aftershocks and a fifth recorded as a magnitude 3.3, Jones tweeted.
A telltale sign that a quake is going to be large is how long it lasts, she said.
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Video posted to YouTube shows cars in a driveway rocking for several seconds while a second video shows a chandelier swaying from the temblor. The California Highway Patrol reported that boulders had fallen onto California 74 between Palm Desert and Pinyon, KESQ reported. The San Jacinto fault stretches for 130 miles, from the Cajon Pass in San Bernardino County southeast toward the Mexican border. The 1987 Superstition Hills earthquakes, which hit about 90 miles east of San Diego, topped out at magnitudes 6.5 and 6.7, and caused $3 million in damage in Imperial County. According to the USGS, a quake on the fault in 1918 caused significant damage and one death in San Jacinto. There have been 19 quakes of 5.0 magnitude or larger on the fault since 1937, Hauksson said. The largest was a 6.6. magnitude quake in 1968 south of Friday’s temblor. Others included a 5.3 magnitude quake in 1980 and a 5.4 magnitude quake in July 2010, Hauksson said. ”Most of the time when you have an earthquake in Southern California, it’s on the San Jacinto fault,” he said. The last time Southern California experienced a quake larger than Friday's on any fault was in 2012, when Brawley in the Imperial Valley was shaken by 5.3 and 5.4 magnitude quakes, Hauksson said.
Borrego Springs is a community of about 3,000 people in eastern San Diego County, near the Imperial County line.
In the last 10 days, there have been two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
Read more about Southern California earthquakes.
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For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
UPDATES:
10:19 a.m.: This article was updated with more information about the San Jacinto fault and with comments from experts.
6:36 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from social media.
3:07 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from seismologist Lucy Jones.
2:21 a.m.: This article was updated with news about an aftershock near Anza.
1:31 a.m.: This article was updated to increase the magnitude of the earthquake to 5.2.
This article was originally published at 1:09 a.m.We know that the cost of solar is plunging across the world, because it is. The publicly released results of solar auctions in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and north and Latin America tell us this.
Since a bid of under $US60/MWh stunned the energy world in Abu Dhabi in late 2014, auction results in the US, Chile, Mexico and Saudi Arabia have traced its fall to the current lows of just $US17/MWh – a 70 per cent fall in three years.
In Australia, auctions for solar power have been held too – in Queensland and Victoria – and numerous contracts written with state-owned and privately owned corporations. But the last official price we heard of was $A180/MWh in 2013. It’s just been speculation ever since.
Why the secrecy? Well, it seems to be part and parcel of the overall workings of Australia’s electricity market. The wholesale market – worth $16 billion – is almost completely opaque. Regulators and private analysts can barely make head or tail out of the retail market.
It has been, and continues to be, a perfect cover for the big utilities to profit from ignorance and confusion and make off like bandits.
Australian consumers, on average, pay around $400/MWh for the power at the socket: it’s a shockingly absurd price that has little to do with the cost of supply so much as the big suppliers extracting a monopoly rent.
And the regulators stand back and watch, and the politicians point the finger at each other.
Networks have been doing this for the better part of a decade, although it now seems that even they realise they have been gilding the lily a little too much.
Essential Energy’s decision not to impose yet more rate hikes on its customers suggests that they recognise the limits of price elasticity: the groundbreaking CSIRO and network reports highlight the dangers of that elastic finally snapping – consumers will simply quit the grid.
The generators and retailers, meanwhile, are still in it for as much as they can get. They have extracted similar rents out of markets which are nominally competitive, but in reality are anything but.
Now, the markets may become even more opaque, with the Energy Security Board proposing that the emissions and reliability obligations in its National Energy Guarantee be satisfied by contracts written by the big utilities. It will simply reinforce the market power of the dominant players.
Solar is not the only technology whose contracts are hidden from view.
There is no transparency about the contract that the South Australian government has written for the Tesla big battery that was switched on last week.
Last week, the Australian Energy Market Operator intervened in the market to command 100MW of “demand response” under its emergency reserve provisions to ensure the lights stayed on in Victoria after problems arose around gas supplies at the Longford gas terminal.
But AEMO will not confirm which companies or technologies were mandated, or how much was paid. When the lights went out last year in September, it took months before AEMO revealed the names of the generators that failed to restart. It’s all “commercial in confidence”.
The veil of secrecy has extended to Victoria’s recent tender that saw two solar farms commissioned to help power its Melbourne tram network. A new tender for 650MW of wind and solar includes a publicly disclosed “strike price”, but the capital cost component will be hidden.
In Queensland, state-owned utilities have written numerous off-take agreements with a burgeoning number of solar farms, but no details have been released.
There are some exceptions to this rule. South Australia recently announced it would pay SolarReserve an average $75/MWh for the output of the proposed 150MW solar tower and storage facility in Port Augusta.
That was released to prove a point, that solar and storage technologies can and do compete with fossil fuel generators. It was a ground-breaking contract that could change the future of the industry, and it was worthy of a little chest beating.
There are other great stories to tell too, but it is largely guesswork.
Anyone in the solar industry will tell you that the cost for new solar farms is around $70/MWh, having halved in just a few years – but there is not much concrete evidence to say so, apart from some ARENA data about the falling capital costs from its solar tender.
We know that wind energy is now below $60/MWh, that’s because Origin and AGL Energy have boasted about it, although not the exact details.
In fact, since the end of the ACT wind auctions, which meticulously noted the strike price of all their contracts – and it should be pointed out that these contracts are fixed for 20 years – the actual prices struck have been labelled “commercial in confidence.”
(All of the prices in the above table were from the ACT auction process. The last three are “indicators” released by the public utilities).
It is a testament to their market power that the investment strike they helped engineer in the Abbott government was followed by a scramble for contracts. The big utilities have made millions out of this – both from the investment strike, blamed on government policy uncertainty, and the knock down prices that followed in the rush to build.
Utilities who buy those contracts are actually getting the solar power or the wind power for a lot less than the assumed price of $60-70/MWh, because it includes the price of the large-scale certificates. But good luck trying to explain that to a Murdoch media journalist or right wing think tank.
It might actually be useful for the details of these contracts to be publicly announced.
After all, it has helped drive down the price of wind and solar and battery storage overseas – there’s no reason why it wouldn’t do the same in Australia. Consumers deserve a break, and a little transparency would go a long way.play 3:41 ESPN the Magazine: Vander Blue In the last year, Vander Blue has played for five NBA teams, four D-league teams, and pro teams in Israel and Asia. Antonietta Collins speaks with Vander Blue about constantly being signed and released.
THE LAST ROAD trip of the season is an eight-hour bus ride through the night on an aging charter. Vander Blue sinks into the worn upholstery and tries to sleep. At his feet sits a small duffel bag stuffed with the few belongings he has left: an Xbox, stereo headphones, three pairs of luxury sneakers and a few changes of clothes. At some point during the blur of the past nine months, he had grown tired of lugging a large suitcase from one city to another, from one efficiency apartment to the next. "Easier to move light and then buy a new wardrobe," he had decided, and by now he has left behind clothes at Goodwill drops across the country, marking the long trail of his rookie year.
He has played 49 games in 27 cities; for 10 head coaches on eight different teams; in four professional leagues on three continents. "Helter-skelter crazy" is how he describes the year, and lately his mind has become scattered too.
On this April evening, Blue looks out the window of the bus and tries to determine his location. San Antonio? McAllen? Somewhere in Texas; that much he knows. He is a top guard prospect for the Idaho Stampede in the NBA Development League, but he wears socks from a stint with the Boston Celtics and a T-shirt from the Israeli Super League. He tries to remember which team he is playing against next. In what arena? And what is the name of his teammate sitting near the front of the bus, the backup center he has been referring to as Big Lanky?
Blue played four games with the Houston Rockets in the NBA summer league. Fernando Medina/NBAE/Getty Images
"I've probably had like 200 teammates this year," he says. "It gets hard keeping track."
In moments like this one on the bus, Blue feels as if he is always in transit -- always on the way somewhere but never quite arriving. He was almost an NBA regular, but not quite. He is almost getting paid what he calls "silly money" but still being lectured by his mother for spending $600 on sneakers. He is almost a top-tier professional, but he still occasionally answers to the nickname Kid.
The beginning of his career has unfolded in an endless string of transactions -- not in blockbuster deals but in agate small print, the place where most professional careers quietly live, then die. Acquired and released. Acquired and released. He spent nine days on the Boston Celtics, then a day and a half on the Maine Red Claws; a month as a Philadelphia 76er, then a week as a Delaware 87er.
"I'm pretty good at keeping optimistic," he says. "But I'm just so damn tired."
The Stampede's bus finally pulls into a budget hotel on the outskirts of Dallas, and Blue checks into a room he has been assigned to share with a teammate. They are both hungry, so Blue volunteers to order a pizza. He calls to place the order and gives the clerk his credit card number.
"Sorry," the clerk says. "That card was denied."
"Again?" Blue says. The credit card company had blocked his account for suspicious activity at least half a dozen times in the past year; his moves are so incessant that the company often believes his card has been stolen. He had been declined when trying to buy dinner for a date at an Applebee's in Delaware. He had been declined again while buying shoes at a mall in Israel.
"Hello," he says, when a representative from the credit card company finally answers. "You all blocked my card again."
Blue's career has become one filled with "almosts." Matt Hawthorne for ESPN
THIS IS HOW Blue imagined buying a pizza would work after he turned pro a year ago: A financial adviser would give him a credit card with no restrictions and no limit. An assistant would order his pizzas, custom-made from his favorite place in Wisconsin. A delivery guy would knock on the door of his hotel suite -- 32nd floor, sweeping city views -- and set down the pizzas next to an open bottle of Champagne. "Got to go chase that money" is what Blue told his family when he declared for the NBA draft. What he didn't know then was exactly how long that chase could last.
He had led Marquette to the Elite Eight as a junior, making the game-winning shot against Davidson in the team's opening game of the NCAA tournament, then scoring 29 points in a win over Butler. He went pro against his mother's advice and worked out for a dozen NBA teams, most of which couldn't decide whether to play him as a point guard or a shooting guard. He thought he would be drafted late in the first round or early in the second, but instead he went undrafted.
His mother, Rita, refused to respond to his text messages for two days, furious that he had left school without a degree. Blue was her youngest son, the baby of three, and they had never gone a day without talking. She had raised him as a single mother, and she had been to hundreds of his basketball games during the past decade.
"I need your help figuring this stuff out," he wrote to her on their last day of silence.
"It's a business, and the wolves are descending," she wrote back, and they made a deal to navigate his professional career together.
She scheduled meetings with his agent to discuss his options and called each team's payroll department so she would know how much money he was being paid, and when. His career started well, with a partial guarantee with the Philadelphia 76ers that amounted to more money than Rita earned in a typical year. Then he made $3,000 per month playing in the D-League, plus a $40 per diem on the road; then $30,000 for a 10-day contract in the NBA; then a salary in Israel that shifted with shekel-to-dollar conversion rates. "I'm basically needing to become a full-time accountant," Rita says.
She watched him play on YouTube or foreign websites and called him the moment each game ended. "Hang in there," she said again and again as he moved from his fourth NBA team to his second D-League team, because she knew from experience that a career required patience. She had worked a paper route, studied cosmetology and become a social worker, then rose to become the director of member engagement for the Girl Scouts. But she also believed in details, so she started monitoring her son's bank account early in the year and offering him spending advice, whether he wanted it or not.
"You can't spend $5,000 at the club just because you met some girl," she once told him.
Mom Rita stopped speaking to Blue after he left school, but she's now helping him to manage his finances. Matt Hawthorne for ESPN
"Who spends $600 on sneakers?" she asked another day. "Haven't you ever heard of K-Swiss?"
One purchase frustrated her most of all. Midway through the season, he started to complain about feeling lonely on the road, unanchored. "I need a companion," he said. He went to a breeder and picked out a German shepherd puppy, the cutest of the litter, and doted on her all afternoon. Then, 22 hours later, his agent called. Could he make it to Delaware by tip-off? "What do I do with the dog?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer. He returned the animal and cried as he drove to the airport for yet another flight, in a year that had become a scattershot collection of memories and places.
Memphis was his 21st birthday. Delaware was three roommates in a cold apartment. Philadelphia was his first hotel suite. Israel was the large cheese pizza he ordered every day because he didn't know what else to eat. Blue had never been out of the country for more than a few days, and he mostly stayed in the apartment he shared with the team's other American players playing Xbox. After eight lonely weeks abroad, he decided to switch to a new agent, who promised to find him a job closer to home.
Boston was a phone call, late in the morning of Jan. 22, with news that he had been offered a 10-day contract to play for the Celtics. Less than an hour later, a black town car was waiting outside his apartment in Delaware; the man behind the wheel wore a tuxedo and referred to him only as Mr. Blue. A few hours later, he was jogging onto the court in front of 15,000 fans to guard John Wall. He took four shots in five games and was not re-signed.
Idaho was the 60-inch flat-screen TV he purchased at Best Buy on a buyback guarantee because, by his eighth team, he had learned some tricks to living a peripatetic life. You could either buy a cheap TV in each city and somehow resell it, or you could blow it out, spend thousands on the nicest set in the store and return it for a full refund a few weeks later.
"I'm a victim of the system, but I can still work the system," he says. "I know I'm going to be giving that TV back."
AND DALLAS -- Dallas is the end. "I'm ready for a break," he says as he arrives at the arena three hours early for the last game of the D-League season. His legs are sore. His neck is stiff. He has heard rookies in the NBA complain to one another about the wear of a professional season, discussing all the ways in which team trainers, physicians and masseurs try to coax them through 82 games. The Stampede have only one part-time trainer, but Blue has yet to miss a workout. His only complaint is the unusually unforgiving hardwood floor on which the team sometimes practices at the local Boys & Girls Club.
But on this night, his concerns are mostly mental. The Final Four is about to tip off a few miles away, and the proximity makes him wonder what might have happened if he had stayed in college for his senior year. Maybe he could have taken Marquette to the Final Four. Maybe he would have been playing in front of a record crowd of 79,444, watching his draft stock rise. "Basketball Bonanza in Dallas," read a headline in the newspaper that had been dropped outside of his hotel room that morning, and he had never felt more anonymous.
His teammates are hoping for what they called the spillover effect. The Final Four has brought the basketball elite to Dallas -- thousands of coaches, hundreds of NBA scouts -- and maybe a few would find their way to an arena next to a shopping mall outside Frisco, Texas. And sure enough, during warm-ups, Blue spots a courtside table of scouts wearing NBA sweatsuits. They are huddled around something, taking notes, and Blue dribbles over to get a closer look. At the center of the table he sees a TV, and he sees that the scouts are watching Florida play Connecticut on that TV.
Even once the game starts, everyone's attention seems to be turned away from the court. There is a rock-climbing wall and a clown juggling tennis rackets. There is a children's basketball game, and every few minutes their ball flies toward the professional court. Rap music blasts over the stereo system, and none of the players can hear the Stampede's head coach.
His teammates sulk and take wild shots, but Blue stands up on the bench, waves at his mom in the stands and tries to break-dance to the music. "You have two choices in the D-League, because the D mostly stands for depression," he says. "You can wake up angry, which is what most guys do. You can obsess over your stats and feel like you're getting cheated. Or you can have fun and try to make the best of it. That's me."
He has been told by scouts that he possesses all of the athleticism and ability to sustain an NBA career but none of the consistency. His defense is too erratic and his jump shot too streaky. Still, he believes his nine-month tour of the basketball world has made him a better player -- humbled by the NBA talent level, toughened by Israel's bruising inside play and improved in his transition game by the frenetic pace of the D-League, in which defense of any kind is a rarity.
In Dallas, he comes off the bench to score a game-high 34 points in a comeback bid that falls short. The NBA scouts leave before his jumper starts falling. Afterward, he remains on the court in his jersey with the rest of the players as part of a 30-minute autograph session. A line forms behind the mascot and the cheerleaders, but Blue mostly stands alone under the basket, looking at his cellphone.
"Part of being a professional is putting up with stuff," he says. "It's amazing the stuff we put up with."
Shortly after the game, his phone rings. It's his agent, who has seen the box score and wants to talk about the next transaction in a year when there have already been too many transactions to remember.
"Thirty-four points!" the agent says. "You're hot."
The Cleveland Cavaliers want a private workout. The Indiana Pacers are looking at him for their summer league team. There are good possibilities in Europe and China.
"Where do you want to go?" the agent asks, but by now Blue understands that in the life of a borderline pro there is only one answer.
"Anywhere," he says.
Frequent Flier
Over nine months, Blue has never been on one roster for more than 12 straight games.
NBA Summer League
Houston Rockets 07.07.13
Houston Rockets 07.09.13
Houston Rockets 07.10.13
Houston Rockets 07.11.13
Memphis Grizzlies 07.13.13
Memphis Grizzlies 07.14.13
Memphis Grizzlies 07.16.13
Memphis Grizzlies 07.17.13
Memphis Grizzlies 07.18.13
Memphis Grizzlies 07.19.13
NBA Preseason
Philadelphia 76ers 10.06.13
Philadelphia 76ers 10.08.13
Philadelphia 76ers 10.11.13
Philadelphia 76ers 10.14.13
Philadelphia 76ers 10.17.13
Philadelphia 76ers 10.21.13
Philadelphia 76ers 10.23.13
Israeli Basketball Super League
Maccabi Rishon LeZion 11.04.13
Maccabi Rishon LeZion 11.10.13
Maccabi Rishon LeZion 11.22.13
Maccabi Rishon LeZion 11.26.13
Maccabi Rishon LeZion 12.01.13
Maccabi Rishon LeZion 12.09.13
Maccabi Rishon LeZion 12.15.13
NBA D-League
Delaware 87ers 01.14.14
Delaware 87ers 01.17.14
Delaware 87ers 01.18.14
Delaware 87ers 01.20.14
NBA
Boston Celtics 01.22.14
Boston Celtics 01.24.14
Boston Celtics 01.26.14
Boston Celtics 01.28.14
Boston Celtics 01.29.14
NBA D-League
Maine Red Claws 01.31.14
Delaware 87ers 02.01.14
Delaware 87ers 02.04.14
Delaware 87ers 02.07.14
Delaware 87ers 02.08.14
Delaware 87ers 02.10.14
Delaware 87ers 02.11.14
Delaware 87ers 02.21.14
Delaware 87ers 02.22.14
Delaware 87ers 02.28.14
Delaware 87ers 03.02.14
Delaware 87ers 03.03.14
Delaware 87ers 03.05.14
Idaho Stampede 03.12.14
Idaho Stampede 03.14.14
Idaho Stampede 03.15.14
Idaho Stampede 03.21.14
Idaho Stampede 03.22.14
Idaho Stampede 03.26.14
Idaho Stampede 03.28.14
Idaho Stampede 03.29.14
Idaho Stampede 04.02.14
Idaho Stampede 04.04.14
Idaho Stampede 04.05.14
Follow The Mag on Twitter (@ESPNmag) and like us on Facebook.LARAMIE (AP) — A former U.S. Marine who accepted gifts and honors, including a letter from Gov. Matt Mead, after falsely claiming to have been wounded in combat has pleaded no contest to a charge of obtaining property by false pretense.
The Laramie Boomerang reports that Adam P. Snow, of Laramie, entered the plea to the misdemeanor charge recently in state Circuit Court.
Last year, Snow accepted a rifle and plaque from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation after he said he had been wounded multiple times during combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also received a personal letter from Mead.
Albany County Undersheriff Josh DeBree says some area residents questioned Snow’s accounts.
An investigation, aided by U.S. Navy officials, determined Snow was a weather observer who was never injured.MeUndies — a Los Angeles based lifestyle brand that is transforming how people perceive and purchase their underwear is now partnering with Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle, according to MeUndies head of marketing and business development, Dan King.
MeUndies will pay Randle enough to help defray the cost of the $29,500 fine the Cowboys imposed on him after he was caught shoplifting last week.
Randle, who also tried to steal cologne at a Dillard’s in Frisco, Texas, was charged with a misdemeanor Class B theft of $50 to $500, according to police.
In partnership with MeUndies, Randle also will be donating upwards of $15,000 worth of underwear and basic apparel to children in need and making multiple appearances at Dallas-area schools and charities to speak to students about learning from their mistakes according to ESPN.Coca-Cola This week, the Kansas House of Representatives passed House Bill 2453, "An act concerning religious freedoms with respect to marriage." Despite its name, this bill isn't about religious freedom. It's about creating new special rights (yes, those dreaded special rights) for people with anti-gay views.
The bill would protect the ability of any individual, government agency, or "religious entity" (which includes a business operated in accordance with its owner's religious views) to refuse service based on sincere religious beliefs about sex or gender, and to refuse to recognize any marriage or similar arrangement for those reasons — even if such service would otherwise be required under Kansas law.
In other words, a special new right to discriminate on a particular basis.
Republicans aren't normally keen on creating special workplace rights for public employees, but this bill would let government workers refuse to do their jobs if doing so conflicted with such sincere religious views. Let's say you work for the Kansas Department for Children and Families and you don't want to process a foster care application from a same-sex couple, even though that's within the agency's policy. Or you're a police officer and you don't want to respond to a domestic abuse complaint from a same-sex couple. If this bill becomes law, that will become your right.
The bill even creates a special new employee right for anti-gay people working in the private sector. Let's say you work for a national chain supermarket with a policy against discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, and you're asked to make a cake for a gay wedding. Now, you can refuse, and your private employer "shall either promptly provide another employee to provide such service, or shall otherwise ensure that the requested service is provided, if it can be done without undue hardship to the employer."
Social conservatives have a reason for seeking these special privileges: the America they knew is falling away from them, and that change is mostly about social attitudes, not law. Legal freedom won't be enough to protect people's ability to be loudly and proudly anti-gay; the government will have to create special rules barring private action against the anti-gay.
This bill comes from the same place as the complaints that Phil Robertson's "religious freedom" or "freedom of speech" were infringed when his comments on homosexuality were criticized. Of course, nobody was infringing on Phil Robertson's legal rights — there's no right to your own A&E show, there's no right not to be criticized for your religious views, and (so far) there's no right to refuse to do your job because you think homosexual behavior is wrong.
Maybe in Kansas, there soon will be. Whatever that is, it won't be an advance for religious freedom.(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/569858/Monaco_Logo.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/593747/Monaco_Visa_Card.jpg )
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iOS and Android users in Singapore can download the Monaco app, select a Monaco Visa prepaid card from five available options, including the Monaco Visa Platinum prepaid cards, and complete the three-minute onboarding process to register for the waiting list.
With the Monaco app, users will be able to buy and exchange cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum. Monaco Visa prepaid cards work anywhere Visa is accepted, allowing users to spend legal tender currency converted from cryptocurrency without currency exchange fees. All cryptocurrency exchanges to legal tender currency will be managed by Monaco before users transact on the Visa network.
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About Monaco
Founded in June 2016, Monaco is the pioneering payments and cryptocurrency platform allowing users to buy, exchange and spend bitcoin and ethereum at perfect interbank |
,978 8.36% 128,675 25.63% 17,552 3.50% 80-plus 419,100 249,431 59.52% 31,698 7.56% 124,672 29.75% 13,210 3.15% All ages 54,956,920 44,227,995 4,832,916 4,534,008 1,362,002 % of SA 80.48% 8.79% 8.25% 2.48%
Ethnic groups [ edit ]
Annual per capita personal income by race group in South Africa relative to white levels.
Black African Coloured Indian or other Asian White None dominant Dominant population groups in South Africa.
Statistics South Africa asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five racial population groups.[20] The 2011 census figures for these groups were Black African at 80.2%, White at 8.4%, Coloured at 8.8%, Indian/Asian at 2.5%, and Other/Unspecified at 0.5%.[21]
The white percentage of the population has sharply declined. The first census in South Africa in 1911 showed that whites made up 22% of the population. This declined to 16% in 1980,[22] and 8.9% in 2011.[23]:21
Languages [ edit ]
South Africa has eleven official languages:[24] IsiZulu[21] 22.7%, IsiXhosa[21] 16%, Afrikaans[21] 13.5%, the English language [21] 9.6%, Sepedi [21] 9.1%, Setswana[21] 8%, Sesotho[21] 7.6%, Xitsonga[21] 4.5%, siSwati[21] 2.5%, Tshivenda[21] 2.4% and isiNdebele[21] 2.1%.
In this regard it is third only to Bolivia and India in number. While all the languages are formally equal, some languages are spoken more than others. According to the 2011 census, the three most spoken first languages are Zulu (22.7%), Xhosa (16.0%), and Afrikaans (13.5%).[23]:23–25 Despite the fact that English is recognised as the language of commerce and science, it ranked fourth, and was spoken by only 9.6% of South Africans as a first language in 2011.[23]:23–25
The country also recognises several unofficial languages, including Fanagalo, Khoe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, San and South African Sign Language.[25] These unofficial languages may be used in certain official uses in limited areas where it has been determined that these languages are prevalent. Nevertheless, their populations are not such that they require nationwide recognition.
Many of the "unofficial languages" of the San and Khoikhoi people contain regional dialects stretching northwards into Namibia and Botswana, and elsewhere. These people, who are a physically distinct population from other Africans, have their own cultural identity based on their hunter-gatherer societies. They have been marginalised to a great extent, and many of their languages are in danger of becoming extinct.
Many white South Africans also speak other European languages, such as Portuguese (also spoken by black Angolans and Mozambicans), German, and Greek, while some Indians and other Asians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as Tamil, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Telugu. Although many South Africans are of Huguenot (French) origin, South African French is spoken by fewer than 10,000 individuals country-wide. Congolese French is also spoken in South Africa by migrants.
The primary sign language of Deaf South Africans is South African Sign Language. Other sign languages among indigenous peoples are also used.
By ethnicity [ edit ]
In 2011, the first language was Zulu for 28.1% of black residents, Xhosa for 19.8%, Northern Sotho for 11.2%, Tswana for 9.7%, Sesotho for 9.3%, Tsonga for 5.5%, Swati for 3.1%, Venda for 2.9%, English for 2.8%, Southern Ndebele for 2.6%, Afrikaans for 1.5%, while 3.4% had another first language.[26]
Among whites, Afrikaans was the first language for 59.1% of the population, compared to 35.0% for English. Other languages accounted for the remaining 5.9%.[26]
Religion [ edit ]
According to the 2001 national census, Christians accounted for 79.7% of the population. This includes Protestant (36.6%), Zionist Christian (11.1%), Pentecostal/Charismatic (8.2%), Roman Catholic (7.1%), Methodist (6.8%), Dutch Reformed (6.7%), Anglican (3.8%); members of other Christian churches accounted for another 36% of the population. Muslims accounted for 1.5% of the population, Other 2.3%, and 1.4% were Unspecified and None 15.1%.[21]
African Indigenous Churches made up the largest of the Christian groups. Some believe that many people claiming no affiliation with any organised religion adhered to traditional indigenous religions. Many people have syncretic religious practices combining Christian and indigenous influences.[27]
Muslims are largely found among the Coloured and Indian ethnic groups. They have been joined by black or white South African converts as well as immigrants from other parts of Africa.[28] South African Muslims claim that their faith is the fastest-growing religion of conversion in the country, with the number of black Muslims growing sixfold, from 12 000 in 1991 to 74 700 in 2004[28][29]
The Hindu population has its roots in the British colonial period, but later waves of immigration from India have also contributed to it. Most Hindus are of South Asian origin, but there are many who come from mixed racial stock. Some are converts due to the efforts of Hindu missionaries such as ISKCON.
Other minority religions in South Africa are Sikhism, Jainism and Bahá'í Faith.[30]
By ethnicity [ edit ]
87.9% of Black residents are Christian, 9.5% have no religion, 0.2% are Muslim, 0.0% are Jewish, 0.0% are Hindu and 2.3% have other or undetermined beliefs.
71.8% of White residents are Christian, 23.8% have no religion, 0.2% are Muslim, 1.4% are Jewish, and 0.0% are Hindu. 2.7% have other or undetermined beliefs.
Immigration [ edit ]
South Africa hosts a sizeable refugee and asylum seeker population. According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, this population numbered approximately 144,700 in 2007.[31] Groups of refugees and asylum seekers numbering over 10,000 included people from Zimbabwe (48,400), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (24,800), and Somalia (12,900).[31] These populations mainly lived in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth.[31] Many refugees have now also started to work and live in rural areas in provinces such as Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
Statistics SA assumes in some of their calculations that there are fewer than 2 million immigrants in South Africa.[32] Other institutions, like the police and Médecins Sans Frontières place estimate the figure at 4 million.[33][34][35][36][37]
Immigration figures [ edit ]
Immigration assumptions by Statistics South Africa to South Africa based on race. Negative numbers represent net migration from South Africa to other countries.[38]
Year African Asian White 1985-2000 1 135 275 14 476 -304 112 2001-2005 769 038 23 335 -133 782 2006-2010 922 885 34 688 -112 046 2011-2015 1 067 936 40 929 -95 158
Urbanization [ edit ]
"Urban areas contain about two-thirds of the population; many of these consist of huge informal or squatter settlements."[39]
Largest municipalities [ edit ]
Graphs and maps [ edit ]
Population pyramid by population group, 2011
Black population
White population
Coloured population
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak ordered staffers in an internal chatroom to stop defending Michelle Fields, the staffer who was allegedly manhandled by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
The internal Breitbart Slack chats, which were obtained by BuzzFeed News, put on display the tension between those at Breitbart who want to act like a publisher — defending their reporter and finding the truth — and those entangled in politics.
"STOP tweeting about the story. Stop speculating about the story," Pollak told staffers in one message, and reminded them that "you were given explicit instructions."
"You may wish to defend your colleague, and that is commendable -- but keep in mind that when you do so, you are also putting other colleagues under direct public pressure, so you are actually hurting some to help another," Pollak said in one of the chats. "That is why we have to be patient, and coordinate our responses."
When staffer Brandon Darby wrote that Lewandowski's behavior was "a declaration of war" and "silence is abandoning our team member," Pollak responded, "In war, we wait for orders that are based on a careful plan. So wait."
On Tuesday after a press conference in Florida, Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields was allegedly yanked nearly to the ground by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski while trying to ask Trump a question. Despite the fact that there is video, an audio recording, and an eyewitness account that indicate Lewandowski did this, the Trump campaign has denied it, and Breitbart published a story by Pollak arguing that the person who manhandled Fields was not Lewandowski, appearing to side with the Trump campaign over their own reporter. Fields has filed a police report against Lewandowski over the incident.
Pollak could not immediately be reached for comment. Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella quit in protest on Friday over how the site has handled the Fields situation and has publicly accused the site of lying about what happened to Fields.
In the following screenshots, Pollak repeatedly tells Breitbart staffers not to comment on the Fields situation:WordPress 4.7 Beta 3 is now available!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site just to play with the new version. To test WordPress 4.7, try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want “bleeding edge nightlies”). Or you can download the beta here (zip).
For more information on what’s new in 4.7, check out the Beta 1 and Beta 2 blog posts, along with in-depth field guides on make/core. Some of the changes in Beta 3 include:
REST API: The unfiltered_html capability is now respected and rest_base has been added to response objects of wp/v2/taxonomies and wp/v2/types, while get_allowed_query_vars() and the rest_get_post filter have been removed.
The capability is now respected and has been added to response objects of and, while and the filter have been removed. Roles/Capabilities: Added meta-caps for comment, term, and user meta, which are currently only used in the REST API.
Added meta-caps for comment, term, and user meta, which are currently only used in the REST API. I18N: Added the ability to change user’s locale back to site’s locale. (#38632)
Added the ability to change user’s locale back to site’s locale. (#38632) Custom CSS: Renamed the unfiltered_css meta capability to edit_css and added revisions support to the custom_css post type.
Renamed the meta capability to and added revisions support to the post type. Edit shortcuts: Theme authors should take a look at the developer guide to the customizer preview’s visible edit shortcuts and update their themes to take advantage of them if not already implementing selective refresh.
Theme authors should take a look at the developer guide to the customizer preview’s visible edit shortcuts and update their themes to take advantage of them if not already implementing selective refresh. Various bug fixes: We’ve made over 50 changes in the last week.
Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages!
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
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EmailSherlock Holmes 130th Anniversary 🕵️
The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die…
It has been 130 years since the famous master detective Sherlock Holmes appeared in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, his first appearance in print. A Study in Scarlet, the first work of Arthur Conan Doyle in his detective series, marks the beginning of the hugely successful series that has spanned many television, film and stage adaptations. The final novel that Conan Doyle had published, His Last Bow, also celebrates its centenary anniversary later this month (18th). Although there is some historical debate as to what the exact anniversary date is (between 21st November and 1st December), let’s just celebrate the famous detective through this tribute post!
Famous for donning a deerstalker hat when cases took him into the countryside, his mind palace where he collected and stored facts and information, his catchphrases, and his fantastical skills of deduction, Sherlock Holmes is the nation’s favourite detective, and his character has continued to survive and thrive for over one hundred and thirty years, a statistic that not many other characters can claim to match!
My review of all the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The favourite of the collection is The Sign of Four. A wonderful mystery that blends the 1857 Indian Rebellion, a stolen treasure and a secret pact between 4 people, and of course it has Sherlock’s deduction powers on full display.
Here is a paragraph from my (very early) review of the collection…
“Within the dense miasma of London in the Victorian era, multifaceted problems are brought to Holmes’ attention, for his magnificent and heralded skills are needed to decipher them. The role as “consulting detective” which he created for himself ensures that he can aid with problems that are not in the police’s jurisdiction but because he finds the challenge of these unusual and singular matters testing and fascinating. Watson chronicles their encounters into events of the people of London which bring them to their rooms as well as chartering his close quarters analysis of Holmes, and he recants Holmes’ explanations of how he uses his logical reasoning, observation and vast knowledge to come to his conclusions.”
Famous Quotes
0 The game is afoot! 👣
0 Elementary my dear, Watson 🔎 (Although he never says this in Conan Doyle’s original stories!)
0 When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
0 You see but you do not observe.
0 You know my methods, Watson.
Recent Portrayals of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock (BBC series 2010-2017)
Has won 24 awards from various institutions and in countless categories, including 3 BAFTAs and 9 Emmys. It helped to catapult Benedict Cumberbatch into roles in The Hobbit, Star Trek and Marvel franchises, as well as his Academy Award-nominated role as Alan Turing in 2014’s The Imitation Game. Martin Freeman played Dr John Watson, he also received a career boost from his turn in his role as Sherlock’s sidekick, appearing as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy and the Award-winning Fargo TV series.
The BBC Sherlock series has been one of my favourite TV series ever, especially the early seasons which had a formula that worked very well and seen the show win multiple awards. However, the last season was a bit of a hit and miss as the writers seemed to try and make the show more complex than it needed to be. The Sherlock-Moriarty battle of wits will be an abiding memory from this TV series as the BBC got the cast absolutely spot on for this modern adaptation.
Sherlock Holmes (2009 and 2011)
Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law paired up to star in the hugely successful film series (2 so far, more planned) which has already brought in and has exceeded $1bn at the box office. Downey Jr plays the role with same swagger that he delivers in his Tony Stark/ Iron Man role, and Jude Law is a decent John Watson. The next instalment is likely to be late 2019 due to Downey Jr filming Infinity War and its sequel and Guy Ritchie directing the live-action remake of Aladdin.
This Hollywood version of Sherlock Holmes is filled with dazzling special effects, incredible stunts and multi-layered storylines that are engrossing for both of the 2hr films. Sleek and dynamic, both of these films are high on my list of Holmesian portrayals, and I implore you all to give these a watch!
Anthony Horowitz, author of Foyle’s War and the massively successful Alex Rider book series, has been commissioned to write some more Sherlock Holmes novels to be added to the already huge canon. His House of Silk (2011), and Moriarty (2014) books are fantastic inclusions to the canon, and I look forward to any more additions that he pens.
“A plethora of villains tries to deny Holmes from finding the inconspicuous and ambiguous place, called the House of Silk. The severity of the investigation, which his brother Mycroft had warned them against taking on, comes to fruition and Holmes’ resourcefulness and unique talent for disguise and misdirection are exemplified. Holmes finds himself calling upon his talents as the claws of the criminal beast enclose around him, and threaten his life like nothing before, save his memorable show down with Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls in “The Final Problem”.” (House of Silk)
Sherlock Holmes Facts
0 Holds a Guinness World Record as the most portrayed movie character of all time.
0 William Gillette played Sherlock Holmes in a 1900 production and he injected himself with cocaine live on stage.
0 A Study in Scarlet only took Conan Doyle 3 weeks to complete…and it was a flop!
0 Doyle killed Holmes off in 1893, but brought him back due to public outrage.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum
The Museum has been since 1990, but due to the recent popularity of Cumberbatch’s Sherlock in particularly, the Museum has received even more visitors than before. Given that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, the props inside are of to give a sense of what 221B Baker Street rooms would have been like. It is a faithful representation of murky Victorian London. My first visit to the museum was over 10 years ago, and I still remember standing outside with my brother wearing a deerstalker hat. There is also a gift shop that can fulfill all your Sherlocky needs! I still have a Baker Street address sign that I have blu-tacked to my bedroom wall!
Nearest Tube: Baker Street (Bakerloo, Circle, Jubilee, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan lines)
Admission: Adults £15 Child (under 16) £10
Have a Happy Sherlock Day!
The Humpo Show | Richard
The NewsletterAnand Jon Alexander to Serve 59 Years to Life For Assaulting Models (Photos)
, American's Next Top Model designer, was found guilty of 14 felony count in Los Angeles Superior Court. The 34 year old was convicted of luring young women with promises of runway work and then sexually assaulting them. The aspiring models ranged in age from 14 to 21 years of age. He received a sentence of 59 years to life on August 31, 2009.
Serving as his own attorney, Alexander argued for a new trial because of juror and prosecution misconduct plus inadequate defense by his own former attorneys. Judge David Wesley denied the request.
Anand Jon brought his seven victims to L.A. and put them up in luxury hotel accommodations. The charges included forcible rape, lewd acts upon a child and attempted sexual assault. Three counts for unlawful sexual intercourse were dropped by Judge David Wesley after jurors were unable to reach a verdict.
Police started investigating Alexander in 2007. Since that time nine women have come forward in New York with similar allegations. Investigations are also underway in Texas and Massachusetts.
Defense attorney Leonard Levine plans to appeal. His client, originally from India, will have to serve 59 years of a life sentence before he is eligible for parole.
Anand Jon, trained at Parsons School of Design in New York, was featured on America's Next Top Model and has worked with Paris Hilton and Mary J. Blige. Newsweek named him a person to watch.
Photo gallery below.Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m42.841s 2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m42.932s +0.091s 3. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m43.058s +0.217s 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m43.152s +0.311s 5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m43.254s +0.413s 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m43.890s +1.049s 7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m43.938s +1.097s 8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.282s +1.441s 9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.439s +1.598s 10. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari No time set Q2 cut-off time: 1m44.555s Gap ** 11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m44.555s +1.650s 12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.588s +1.683s 13. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m44.658s +1.753s 14. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m44.752s +1.847s 15. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m45.185s +2.280s 16. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m45.388s +2.483s Q1 cut-off time: 1m45.982s Gap * 17. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m46.121s +1.925s 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m46.619s +2.423s 19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m48.111s +3.915s 20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m48.320s +4.124s 21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m48.830s +4.634s 22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m48.930s +4.734s 107% time: 1m51.489s * Gap to quickest in Q1 ** Gap to quickest in Q2
It was too close for comfort in Singapore for Red Bull who decided to save an unused set of option tires for the race. Nico Rosberg came very, very close to nipping the top spot from Vettel.I went to the onboard and lined up the two runs, which were just 0.091 of a second apart and it's quite interesting to see the different characteristics between the cars and the two drivers side by side.I encourage you to stop the clip in various places and compare. You will find Vettel almost always is braking later and carries less speed into the apex than Rosberg but is consistently faster from mid corner on.The Mercedes is quite a bit quicker in a straight line 298 km/h vs 292 for the Red Bull, but Vettel knows how to take advantage of the extra downforce the RB9 is producing and, on those short straights, his advantage in speed will pay off if he's ahead. Were he to be behind after the first corner, the deficit in top speed will make it hard for him to pass.Will it be over in one corner tomorrow, another Vettel domination? I'm afraid it's quite likely, especially with Seb holding that extra set of brand new options in hand. One unknown (to us), is the state of his gearbox if it's the same one he was nursing at Monza.Check the video after the break.Singapore GP Qualifying resultsAscent has completed their search for a sponsorship by signing with Ronin.
Ronin is a relatively new gaming organization, fielding a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive currently competing in ESEA Premier, the division right below the ESL Pro League, as well as a top Paladins team.
Representing an organization is nothing new for Ascent, as they previously represented Team eLevate (formerly Exertus eSports), notably completing a perfect regular season in ESEA and eliminating Classic Mixup in the playoffs while under their banner. As part of Ronin, they are planning to return to Europe in August to compete at Insomnia58 in addition to their normal participation in ESEA Invite.
shrugger will once again represent an organization (picture by Austen "tagg" Wade)
Ronin issued the following statement:
We are happy to announce the acquistion of the former Ascent roster to the Ronin family. We are proud to be working with such a dedicated group of individuals, and look forward to them representing the Ronin brand in the future.
Ma3la, team captain, discussed the new organization with us:
Despite playing with some of my teammates for over 2 years now, I still see us growing as players and as a team. I’m excited to continue that growth with an organization that fully backs both our team as well as TF2, and will be supporting us to a degree that no other organization involved in the game has. We’ll do nothing less than strive to continue our success over the past few months and bring titles to Ronin.
The roster representing Ronin, which will make its first appearance under the new brand against -bird noises- tonight at 11:30ET, will be:Since the mid-1990s, no fewer than 10 countries of Latin America have attempted to reform, rewrite or reinterpret their constitutions. The chief motivation has been to extend the mandate of a popular chief executive. For the most part, public debate has concentrated on extending, but not eliminating, presidential term limits. Yet as stunted and unequal growth exacerbates political polarization, interest has mounted in doing away altogether with term limits. This would be a mistake. Term limits provide an important check on the concentration of power; they strengthen democracy and ensure long-term stability.
Term limits fall into three general categories: the complete prohibition of re-election ( Mexico ); a limit to two consecutive terms of usually four years ( Brazil ); and the prohibition of consecutive re-election ( Chile ). The latter restriction has the practical effect of limiting the executive to two, often very distinct, terms in office as exemplified by the administrations of Alan García in Peru and Oscar Arias in Costa Rica.
At the moment, several incumbent governments in Latin America are trying to allow a third presidential term; one, Venezuela has eliminated executive term limits altogether. Of course, there is a distinction between eliminating and extending term limits, but the difference has been less perceptible during the last decade. The longer a chief executive holds power, the more the delineation between the state and the ruling party becomes blurred. A third term erodes the balance of power and weakens the authority of autonomous legislatures, independent judiciaries, neutral electoral authorities, and competitive political parties. Forays into a third term and beyond distract from implementing important policies, contribute to political polarization and smack of soft authoritarianism.
Brazil, one of the largest democracies in the world, is one of the best illustrations of the benefits of term limits. Presidents are banned from serving beyond a second term. As a result, government and opposition forces over the past 16 years have developed an equilibrium of power, which in turn has helped the country address its deepest problems through consensus. The result has been internationally acclaimed antipoverty programs, including conditional cash transfers and long-term investments in primary education.
Defeating a long-sitting president in Latin America is a forbidding task. The spontaneous, ad hoc efforts to tweak constitutions to expand the mandates of sitting presidents has not been followed by meaningful legislation to control the use and abuse of state resources in an electoral campaign. There are few rules that determine when a president seeking re-election is a chief of state, with unrivaled and unfettered access to public resources, and when he or she is a presidential candidate, drawing on private or public campaign funds. Even in the most consolidated of multiparty democracies, international observers have reported flagrant use of state resources during the electoral campaign.
Eliminating or unduly extending term limits engenders corruption, the main cause of public distrust in democratic institutions, and a significant obstacle to economic development in the region. Latin American presidents possess a disproportionate amount of influence over other branches of government. In the face of political gridlock, they can rule by decree. They can choose and dismiss their cabinets with little or no congressional oversight and hire and fire other officials at will. In times of emergency, they can suspend basic civil rights and possess significant economic and political influence over the media.
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori’s heavy-handed efforts to concentrate his presidential powers and his continued efforts to extend his mandate met with popular support at first: In 1990, he easily won an absolute majority of the vote. His shutdown of congress in 1992 met with even higher public approval ratings. Yet, as the shine on his important victories against terrorism and inflation faded, so did the patience of his electorate. By 2000, despite significant opposition to his administration, Fujimori was able to win a third term using a pernicious mix of bribery, intimidation and state largesse. Had Fujimori abided by the existing term limits, his legacy might have been a different one. As it was, the transition of power in 2001 shook Peruvian democracy to its core, its former hero turned villain.
With term limits, transitions take place as a natural course of events in the democratic system. Politics ceases to be viewed as a zero-sum game. Ruling parties are able to cultivate new leadership which can carry on the successful policies of their former leaders, but also correct for past missteps. They can remake themselves in the public eye and adapt to the dynamic challenges of the world around them. Such has been the case of Chile, where the Concertación has governed for four consecutive terms with four presidents representing three different political parties.
Likewise, the opposition is more likely to remain a loyal opposition, rather than try to upset the system, since it can envision taking power one day via a free and fair election. Peaceful transitions in Brazil, Uruguay and El Salvador have helped political parties maintain relevance even when they are not in power. Indeed, public perception of democracy, always a fluid measure of democratic stability, appears to be enhanced in democracies where a transition from one party to another has taken place.
Of course, term limits alone will not guarantee a flourishing multiparty democracy. Despite its promise of “Universal Suffrage and No Re-election,” the Mexican Revolution did not usher in a meaningful multi-party democracy until seventy years later. To avoid another dictatorship, Paraguayans carefully included a no re-election clause in its constitution, yet the reign of the Colorado Party remained unbroken for nineteen more years until the election of Fernando Lugo last year. In both countries, however, presidential succession between individuals, even of the same party, paralleled a gradual change in political reform. Moreover, the vigorous, even acrimonious, debate within the ruling parties demonstrated the vulnerabilities of the ruling party and provided important opportunities for the opposition in the general elections. The legacy of “No Re-election,” one important check on the otherwise unrivaled power of these political parties, contributed in some small measure to the eventual peaceful transitions of power.
It is telling that when the issue of re-election was broached by sitting presidents in Mexico and Paraguay, party leaders and the public roundly rejected the idea. Today, the electorate in Latin America remains highly ambivalent about lifting one of the few checks on their executive. In 2007, Venezuelans rejected unlimited re-election of the executive. The measure was eventually passed in a “doover” vote fourteen months later; even in defeat, though, more than five million people voiced their preference for term limits. As President Álvaro Uribe contemplates an unprecedented third term, public opinion in Colombia has voiced significant skepticism.
Efforts to extend term limits beyond two terms are not driven by ideology. Their impetus comes from governments whose power is unrivaled and popularity unprecedented. In politics, though, both power and popularity are ephemeral. In a democracy, the electorate should maintain its prerogative to change its mind, and politicians should have the opportunity to encourage it to do so.Poll: 51 percent don't want gun ban
A slight majority of Americans do not want assault weapons banned in the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting, though a clear majority said they support stricter gun laws in general, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll out Wednesday.
Specifically on an assault weapons ban, 51 percent of respondents were against the measure, while 44 percent said they support it, the poll said. That remains largely unchanged from an October 2011 poll that had 43 percent for and 51 percent against a ban.
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Support for stricter gun control measures in general has jumped from 43 percent in October 2011 to 58 percent this month, according the poll.
President Barack Obama, who has said he supports a ban, recently assembled a task force led by Vice President Joe Biden to suggest possible gun control proposals by the end of January.
The poll is based on 1,038 telephone interviews conducted between Dec. 19-22 and has a margin of error of plus/minus 4 percentage points.Harbeth Monitor 30.1
$5695-6295 (depending on finish)
The best compact 2-way speaker system PS has heard, the 30.1 boasts high neutrality, superb resolution, and a matching of drivers with respect to sonic character that is equaled by only a small handful of multiple-driver dynamic loudspeakers. Speaking with a single voice in a way reminiscent of Quad ESLs, it is also of similar vanishingly low coloration and distortion, high transparency, and sheer musical authority, with an absolutely ravishing midrange. You can listen to it without fatigue for literally hours on end.
Raidho X-1
$5800 (stands $850)
The X-1 may be the smallest loudspeaker in the Raidho line, but its sound is anything but. With the same tweeter found in Raidho’s mighty $220k D-5, the X-1 offers a stunningly beautiful midband and treble, with an ease, delicacy, and refinement rarely heard in this category. The very small (4") mid/woofer has limited excursion, bass extension, and dynamics, making the X-1 best suited to smaller rooms. A giant-killer above 100Hz.
Dali Rubicon 6
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The objective of the five model Rubicon Series was to bring Epicon-like performance to a sweet-spot price. Mission accomplished. The 2.5-way R6 exemplifies a ripe, rich sound with outstanding upper-octave delicacy, thanks to the superb hybrid dome/ribbon tweeter configuration—a Dali mainstay for years. Blessed with considerable slam, it has a bold, effortless, near-full-range sound that can be a bit plummy in the midbass. All things considered the R6 makes a superb musical statement in its segment.
Emerald Physics EP2.3
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The EP2.3 (formerly the CS2.3 II) offers the most precise imaging and best soundstaging PS has heard anywhere, truly holographic. Dynamic range is extremely wide, the midrange rich and open, and the bass substantial, though shy in the bottom-most half-octave. Orchestral music is notably spectacular, but all music is reproduced superbly with a tonal balance that is natural and neutral. The system requires four channels of amplification, two for the bass drivers and two for the coaxially mounted midrange/treble module. Sensitivity is high enough to eschew sheer wattage in favor of quality. While the 2.3 is very transparent, those for whom the last degree of detail is primary may wish to look elsewhere.
Magnepan MG3.7i
$5995
Maggie’s 3-way, true-ribbon/quasi-ribbon planar 3.7 successfully addresses three issues that have long plagued “true-ribbon” Maggies: the seamless integration of that ribbon; the retention of detail and dynamic range at relatively low volume levels; and the reduction of “Maggie grain.” The solution of these problems combined with the famous virtues of true-ribbon Magnepans produces what is, in JV’s opinion, a best buy. Be aware that the 3.7i’s are large, power-hungry, and limited in low bass and ultimate SPLs.
Spendor D7
$5995
Spendor’s neo-classic 48" tower is superbly finished, and sonically offers up-front energy, near full-range frequency response, and high dynamic potency. On balance and to the D7’s credit, it sounds much closer to a true three-way than to a 2.5-way in that it maintains a near constant level of tonal stability and dynamic drive through the midband—a feat that most 2.5-ways struggle to achieve. It’s the rare loudspeaker at any price that touches all the bases for every set of ears, but the reasonably priced |
few fans are breathlessly following every minute development right now. Part of the reason, I think, is that this is arcane, complex stuff that is unfamiliar to most people — not just NFL fans. It is difficult to understand and it’s often mind-numbing. But I do think the calendar is contributing to that. If this were August, I think more people would be wondering on a day to day basis what is going on. Right now, I think it is just very hard core fans who are saying “wait, just two days of mediation in Minneapolis?” I have several friends who are season ticket holders for their respective teams and they are barely paying attention right now. When I talk to them, they’ll occasionally ask if it’s been settled yet. And at least one still refers to it as a strike. My guess, though, is that if we get to mid-July and there is still nothing going on — if the league hasn’t been forced to open (which looks unlikely right now) or if they are not engaged in serious negotiations to get back to work — that fans will start paying closer attention.
Q: What’s the most frustrating part of covering the lockout?
I don’t even know where to start answering this question. The most frustrating thing for me is that I’m covering something about which I have no knowledge. So you’re learning this stuff on the fly, often relying on the kindness of lawyers to explain it in simple language, while trying not to make a mistake. I am nervous every day I write that I’m making an error that astute lawyers who read the Times are going to be happy to point out to me. Every few weeks something new pops up — meet the Norris-LaGuardia Act! — that you have to try to understand. Every lawyer you talk to about this starts off by saying how unusual and complex this case is which makes me even more nervous because if they struggle to make sense of it, how am I supposed to figure it out and then distill it into 800 words that explain it? On one hand, it’s an interesting intellectual exercise — the idea that this is something that is going to create precedent for how sports leagues and unions relate to each other for years to come. There is little question that as sometimes difficult as it is to understand what is happening, this is one of the most critical times in the league’s history and so you’re happy to be covering that up close. On the other hand, I never thought I’d miss covering OTAs so much.
Another frustration is the almost endless spin by all parties. You know it’s happening, we know it’s happening, they know they’re doing it and that it’s their job to do it, and you’re stuck trying to sift through it to figure out where the truth is. It is inevitably somewhere in the middle.
Q: If you could sum up the lockout, would greed just about cover it?
Greed. And obstinance. By various people in both parties. There is plenty of both to go around. That makes it the same as any other business negotiation. I’m uncomfortable with casting this as some kind of morality play. It’s business, by all parties.
Q: When you compare your job at the Times five years ago with today, how much of a difference is there? Between twitter and blogs and the growth of ESPN … is this a 24-7 job? How often do you feel tethered to the computer? Do you have time to have a life?
Blogs, Twitter and the fact that there is an enormous emphasis on the Times website being updated 24 hours [a day] have certainly made this a more constant news cycle. If something happens late, you’re writing for the next print deadline, but then you always have the option of continuing to write for the web until quite early in the morning. On big events, the Times also likes to have fresh stuff to put on the website early in the day, so that creates another set of “deadlines” that are entirely different from the print ones. I think I’ve felt more tethered to the computer during the lockout, for instance, because it’s impossible to predict when court decisions will come. And when the more significant ones do come, you want to have something on the website fairly quickly.
Q: I couldn’t find anything on your career backstory. How and why did you get into journalism? Did you study it in college? How’d you land at the Times?
I got into journalism because I was always a news junkie and I liked writing. I always read the paper and watched the news at home — I originally expected I’d be a news reporter. I studied journalism and political science at the University of Miami and when I first went to the Miami Herald, it was as a local news reporter. Then I jumped to sports. From the Herald, I went to Newsday for two years, then to the Times near the end of 1998.
Q: Who did you read as a young journalist? Who do you read now?
I read everything, just like most other writers. I read a lot of books about sports and journalism. I read Sports Illustrated and the National when that existed. I read newspapers constantly, including the Times — Anna Quindlen, Gwen Ifill, Maureen Dowd. I read the Herald and the Sun-Sentinel. I still love to read Greg Cote’s weekly picks on the NFL because he is consistently funny and that’s really hard to do in print. At the Herald, there was a news reporter, Steve Smith, who is now at the Boston Globe, who I loved to read — he had a great, conversational style of writing. I’m sure he doesn’t remember telling me this, but he told me once to write the way you talk. Great advice. Keeps you from getting too stilted.
Q: In talking with one of your colleagues, Karen Crouse, three years ago, she went into detail about some of the problems she ran into covering men’s sports. The NFL beat is as male-dominated as it gets. Are there many other women in the press box? Have you experienced anything along the lines she has?
There are a few women in the press box, probably more than in other sports actually. I briefly covered the Mets before I started on the NFL and at that time I thought there were even fewer women in the baseball press boxes than in the NFL. That might have changed since then, though. I haven’t had much trouble because of gender issues, to be honest. There’s no doubt they exist — I’m still stunned at Tara Sullivan’s experience at the Masters. Just unbelievable that a guard could think it was okay to ban a woman from working in the locker room while all the men waltzed by. I was surprised by the Ines Sainz situation with the Jets last year because I haven’t seen anything like that happen in a while either.
The only kind of gender-based issues I’ve had were laughable because they were so stupid. In a baseball clubhouse, a player who shall remain nameless — not one known for his soaring intellect, though — opened up a copy of Hustler and read it while I tried to interview him. Then there was the player — widely considered to be smarter and more highly-evolved than the first guy — who asked another beat writer about me: was I a lesbian and that’s why I was covering baseball? That was a neat twist. Usually if players have a problem with women in the locker room, it’s because they think we’re in there because we want to see naked men.
But by and large, I think NFL players are pretty good to deal with. Most of them are young enough that they have probably had female reporters covering them at some point in high school or college, so it might not be a shock to see a woman there.
Q: What is the biggest misconception about your job as a journalist covering the NFL?
I still get the usual questions: do you talk to the players? do you go to the games? I think a lot of people still view us as fans with notebooks — we’re supposed to be supportive of the home team kind of thing. As you’d imagine people are very emotional about their teams — when you write something critical of them, watch out.
Q: Do you allow yourself to be a sports fan, or have you become numb to that covering sports for so long? What teams did you root for growing up?
I’m very much still a sports fan, although I think every sportswriter would tell you that you watch stuff differently sometimes. You probably know more about how some teams operate than is good for the ability to just root blindly….Occasionally I’m watching with the thought of “Oh my God, this is a deadline nightmare.” or “How would I write this?” running through my head.
I grew up in South Florida, so I rooted for the Dolphins and the Hurricanes (there were no Marlins, Heat or Panthers when I was a kid) and I still pay very close attention to them. When I’ve had the chance to interview Don Shula, I still get nervous. As a reporter, you’re rooting for a good story on your beat, no matter what team it happens to. But I watch most other sports strictly as a fan — baseball and tennis, especially. I’m not a particularly ardent NBA fan, but I watched The Decision just like everybody else because I didn’t want to miss the spectacle. And I get caught up in big events — I don’t watch soccer regularly but I really liked having the World Cup on all day. I’m an Olympics obsessive, too, but only when they’re happening, not in off years.At least 15 Muslims from Kerala, including five married couples, one of them with a two-year-old child, are reportedly missing from the Middle East where they had gone recently and are feared to have joined the Islamic State, according to relatives.
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Last week, a few of their relatives received messages on WhatsApp from unknown numbers and destinations, claiming that the missing people have reached the place of “divine rule… Islamic State”, said sources.
On Friday, P Karunakaran, MP from Kasaragod, where 11 of those missing hail from, met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking a probe. The other four missing are from Palakkad district.
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Watch Video: What’s making news
Sources said the 15 left their homes for the Middle East separately over the last month but are believed to have been in touch with each other. All of them were described as educated, with some of them confirmed to be doctors and engineers.
Sources said one couple told relatives that they were leaving for Mumbai to start a new business. A doctor, who left with his wife and two-year-old child, told relatives that they were leaving for Lakshadweep for him take up a new job.
Relatives of one of those missing said the “youths left on different days in the last one month”.
“It was only last week that we came to know that these missing persons knew one other. They are all educated youths, a few of them engineering and medical graduates. Some of them had worked in the Gulf and Bangalore before. They had never been associated with any political or religious organisation. But, over the last two years, they had turned orthodox, with the men sporting long beards,’’ said sources.
Referring to the WhatsApp messages, sources said that the sender of one claimed that he was with Islamic State. Another message invited the sender’s parents to join him, saying he has reached “divine country”.
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Kerala DGP Lokanath Behera confirmed that the 15 youths who visited the Middle East have not returned to Kerala. “But we can’t come to any conclusions about their whereabouts. If tomorrow they all return, then the case would be a blunder. We don’t know who sent the messages and from where the messages originated. Besides, the families have not approached local police with a formal complaint,’’ said Behera.October 1st 1986 saw Galway United play the second leg of its UEFA Cup game against Dutch side FC Groningen in Páirc an Chathánaigh in An Cheathrú Rua.
The Gaeltacht community through its pitch committee came to Galway United’s assistance when they offered the use of their redeveloped pitch to the club when there were difficulties in sourcing a ground in the county suitable for the European match.
Galway United will honour the group from An Cheathrú Rua of that era with a presentation at the forthcoming game against Bohemians. TG4 is also due to rebroadcast its celebrated UEFA sa Ghaeltacht programme which documents this celebrated chapter in the club’s history.
Friday the 16th is also Culture Night and the club is set to mark the night in innovative fashion.
Ar an 1ú lá de mhí Dheireadh Fómhair i 1986 d’imir Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe a dara cluiche i gCorn UEFA na bliana sin, in aghaidh foireann Ollannach FC Groningen, i bPáirc an Chathánaigh ar an gCeathrú Rua.
Beidh lucht leanúna Ghaillimh Aontaithe fíor-shásta a chloisteáil go ndéanfaidh Galway Bay FM píosa speisialta anocht faoin gcluiche, Dé Máirt an 13ú lá, idir 6pm-7pm ar a gclár spóirt laethúil.
Tháinig an pobal Gaeltachta chun cabhair ar Ghallimh Aontaithe, nuair a thug coiste na páirce tairiscint don chlub a bpáirc nua-athfhorbaithe a úsáid nuair a bhí deacrachtaí ann áiseanna feiliúnach do chorn Eorpach a fháil sa gcontae.
Déanfaidh Gaillimh Aontaithe grúpa na h-ama sin a cheilliúradh le bronnadh ag an gcluiche in aghaidh Bhóithéamaigh ar an Aoine beag seo. Chomh maith le sin, tá TG4 chun athchraoladh den chlár UEFA sa Ghaeltacht, a bhfuil fíor-mheas air, a dhéanamh sna seachtainí amach romhainn. Déanann an chlár cur síos ar an tréimhse cháiliúil sin i stair an chumainn.
Is í Oíche an Chultúr atá san Aoine beag seo freisin agus déanfaidh an chlub an oíche a cheilliúradh ar bhealach nuálach. Beidh gach eolas ar fáil go luath.Donald Trump unleashes Twitter fury in wake of reported charges in Russian investigation
Updated
Donald Trump has described the probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election as a "witch hunt", amid reports the first charges in the criminal investigation could be laid as early as today.
Key points: The outburst follows reports that charges in the Russia probe have been approved
Mr Trump tweets for someone to "DO SOMETHING!" about the "phony" probe
Intelligence agencies have already confirmed Russia meddled in the 2016 election
"All of this 'Russia' talk right when the Republicans are making their big push for historic Tax Cuts & Reform. Is this coincidental? NOT!," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.
He added that Democrats are using the Russian "witch hunt" for "evil politics", while adding that Republicans are "fighting back like never before".
Mr Trump's latest tweets follow reports over the weekend that a federal grand jury in Washington had approved the first charges in the criminal investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
The indictment was sealed under orders from a federal judge, but has been reported by US media outlets citing sources who said they had been briefed on the matter.
It was not clear what the charges were or who the target was, with reports adding the indictment could be unsealed as early as today.
In his latest Twitter outburst, Mr Trump again raised accusations based on reports from last week that Mrs Clinton's campaign and the Democrats helped fund a shocking dossier that contained salacious material about the US President, while also raising other accusations against the Clintons.
"Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?), the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more," he wrote.
"Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia 'collusion,' which doesn't exist.
"The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R's [Republicans] are now fighting back like never before.
"There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!"
US intelligence agencies have already concluded that Russia interfered in the election to try to help Mr Trump defeat Mrs Clinton through a campaign of hacking, and disseminating propaganda via social media to discredit her campaign.
Mr Trump denied allegations his campaign colluded with Russians and condemned investigations into the matter. The Kremlin has also denied the allegations.
The special counsel's investigation also includes an effort to determine whether the President or any of his aides tried to obstruct justice.
Money laundering, financial crimes points of interest
Mr Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has been looking into possible links between Trump aides and foreign governments, as well as potential money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes, according to sources familiar with the probe.
He also is exploring whether Mr Trump or his aides have tried to obstruct the investigation.
Mr Mueller was appointed to lead the investigation a week after Mr Trump's May 9 firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was heading a federal probe into possible collusion with Russia.
Investigators have interviewed former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, former spokesman Sean Spicer and other current and former White House and campaign officials.
In July, FBI agents raided the Virginia home of Mr Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, whose financial and real estate dealings and prior work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine are being investigated by Mr Mueller's team.
Mr Mueller also has investigated Michael Flynn, an adviser to Mr Trump's campaign and later his national security adviser.
ABC/Wires
Topics: world-politics, donald-trump, united-states
First postedIn Monday’s pivotal Game 3, the Cubs beat the Nationals because Anthony Rizzo hit a stupid little doink. The inning before, the game was tied up when Albert Almora came off the bench to rip an RBI single. Almora hit for Kyle Schwarber, who had opened the door for the Nationals in the top of the sixth when two errors on the same play gave Daniel Murphy three bases. Almora hit for Schwarber because Dusty Baker relieved Max Scherzer with Sammy Solis for some reason. Scherzer was relieved immediately after allowing his first hit of his entire game, which was 19 outs old.
For a game that had only seven hits and three runs, there’s an awful lot there for people to talk about. The Cubs now find themselves in a commanding position, after coming uncomfortably close to getting shut out. There’s resiliency to discuss. Baseball luck. Managerial second-guessing. There’s almost everything you could possibly want. I’d like to discuss a called ball in the top of the fifth inning that didn’t matter for beans.
When the score was still even at nothing, Jose Quintana needed eight pitches to strike out both Michael Taylor and Max Scherzer. It was one of those innings you assume will end scoreless before it’s complete; many might not have even noticed the third batter up. That batter was Trea Turner, and, this series be damned, he is pretty good. He just hasn’t looked good. Right away, he got off on the wrong foot in the fifth, taking a pitch and falling behind 0-and-1. To make matters worse, the next pitch was a fastball over the middle, and Turner couldn’t pull the trigger. Batters need to offer at those pitches when they’re behind, because such opportunities are few and far between. There’s no sense in just taking an obvious strike. But what if — but what if the obvious strike isn’t such an obvious strike after all?
Trea Turner was behind 0-and-1. Jose Quintana threw a fastball that Turner took, a fastball that flew down the pipe at 91 miles per hour. The pitch arrived in the waiting glove of Willson Contreras, and Contreras was then tasked with returning the ball to Quintana. Yet there was no joy in the toss to the mound. No celebration of having successfully taken Turner by surprise. Contreras has the body language of someone throwing car keys he just lost in a bet. Fastball at the thigh, over the plate. Ball one.
This is not the worst called ball I’ve ever seen. This is not even the worst called ball of 2017. What this is is the worst called ball of the playoffs. Now, I hear you; these playoffs practically just started. But we’re not just talking about this month. According to the pitch trackers, the Quintana fastball missed the literal center of the strike zone by 3.1 inches. That’s the worst playoff called ball in almost exactly five years. Quintana threw his pitch on October 9, 2017. To find a worse playoff ball, you have to go back to October 8, 2012. It was worse by less than half of an inch. Quintana’s was the worst playoff ball in five years, and the third-worst in the decade on record.
How is it that you get a heater down the middle called a ball, when, in theory, playoff umpires have been selected for their expertise? As usual, the blame gets distributed three ways. No umpire ever wants to call a ball like this. Fieldin Culbreth would presumably love to have it back. That a ball like this can happen shouldn’t make sense, and it seems like it should be inexcusable. There are fans out there who always put 100% of the blame on the umpires when things like this happen. But it’s no fun to be so narrow-minded. The world just passes you by. What’s the opposite of inexcusable? Excusable? Culbreth has a partial excuse. He didn’t execute, but neither did Quintana, and neither did Contreras.
This is where Contreras set up. Catcher targets aren’t always the *actual* targets, but I think we can safely assume, in this case. There was no one on base. There was no one to deceive. The pitch was a fastball. Contreras wanted the pitch low and away. Catchers always want pitches low and away.
Here is where the pitch went. This is my best attempt at screenshotting the moment the ball crossed the front plane.
The ball is clearly there, over the plate. Might look a little high, for something supposedly down the gut. Don’t be fooled. Turner crouched. To put these into one single still, here’s the first image again, with the eventual pitch location in yellow.
There’s no question Quintana missed his spot. No one’s intended spot for a fastball is ever down the middle. Quintana missed by, what, a foot or something? Maybe a foot and a half. I don’t know, I’m not God. We’re certainly not looking at an egregious miss. More of a run-of-the-mill miss; possibly something like a 30th-percentile miss. Quintana owns some of the blame, because pitchers don’t want to do that to their catchers. Yet still we’re left with Contreras, and before you go letting him off the hook, here’s where his glove wound up.
There was a bit of a decoy here. Contreras initially set up away, off the plate. As in, where he was set up suggested he wanted to catch a ball, but he had the whole bulk of his body over there, to try to make it seem like he was on the edge. The umpire would assume Contreras’ body was aligned with the edge of the zone, so if Quintana hit the spot, the Cubs could steal a strike. That’s fairly normal catcher behavior, but in this case, it backfired. Because, even though Contreras lobster-clawed the fastball behind the strike zone, the umpire had his perspective shifted. So he thought that Quintana missed in. You can try to blame Culbreth all you want, but it’s just not possible for a human being to not be influenced by the movement of the catcher right in front of him. There’s no such thing as just isolating the pitch and the zone. Brains don’t work that way. Your brain doesn’t work that way. Your brain can do amazing things, but it can’t eliminate moving humans from the immediate field of vision.
I think that Contreras took the blame on the field. I mean, I can’t analyze Culbreth. I don’t know what umpires look like when they make the wrong call, because I don’t think an umpire has ever thought that he made the wrong call. But scroll up and watch Contreras again, in the video clip. It’s not just the way he tosses the ball back to the mound. It’s also this.
For quite a bit longer than would be normal, Contreras just stared at the ball in his glove. It was like he rebooted and temporarily forgot how to do what it is that he does. Contreras, of course, did still catch the baseball, but he didn’t catch it like a catcher should. I think he didn’t think he knew what he was doing. Contreras crouched there, dumbfounded by his own absent-mindedness.
This happened in a playoff game, broadcast by TBS. The men in the booth were Ernie Johnson and Ron Darling. TBS put a helpful little strike-zone map right there, and as Quintana’s fastball crossed the plate, un-struck and un-striked, a fresh new white dot labeled ‘2’ popped up on the screen. Here is how the broadcast responded.
Johnson: /pause
Johnson: /pause
Johnson: A ball and a strike to Trea Turner, now 0-for-10 in the series out of the leadoff spot for Washington.
The at-bat continued.
Something stands out. And yet, incredibly, the Cubs might still have won the strike zone. Here is the pitch just before the ball down the middle.
And here is the pitch that came two pitches later.
In the same at-bat in which Quintana and Contreras gave away a taken middle-middle fastball, they also worked together to get one borderline strike, and then they picked up another strike on a ball clearly away off the plate. The Cubs might say they got a friendlier plate-appearance strike zone than the Nationals did. That, while the Nationals benefited from the worst playoff called ball in five years. Turner was spared an 0-and-2 count, the call instead leveling things at 1-and-1. A few pitches later, Turner struck out.click to enlarge Photo via Solar City
By the year 2050, Orlando commissioners want all the electricity used in the city to come from renewable sources of energy like solar and wind power.In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Orlando City Council agreed to adopt this goal, joining San Diego, Salt Lake City and 37 other cities across the U.S. that have adopted a 100 percent clean-energy target. Orlando is the largest city in Florida committing to this goal so far, according to the Sierra Club, with St. Petersburg and Sarasota right behind. Aside from combating climate change and pollution, the city argues the move toward renewable energy increases economic opportunities in Central Florida by creating local jobs in the industry. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer didn't call out the climate change aversion of President Donald Trump or the Republican-led Florida Legislature by name, but did say city mayors had to lead the fight against rising seas and increasing temperatures."This administration has decided not to honor our commitment to the Paris climate accord, but a lot of mayors around the country have picked up the reins to say if we're not doing it at the federal level, it's incumbent that we lead at the local level," Dyer says. "More than 50 percent of the world's population now lives in cities, so we have to be the ones that are leading on the important issues that are of consequence for not just this year, but for decades and even centuries to come."Chris Castro, director of sustainability for the city, says over the last decade, Orlando has been trying to move the needle through its Green Works Orlando initiative to become one of the most sustainable cities in the Southeast. The city has already committed to reducing 90 percent of its air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 in accord with the Paris Climate Agreement. To achieve this, Orlando has already set a goal of powering 100 percent of municipal operations using renewable energy by 2030. Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Solar Foundation declared Orlando a "SolSmart City" for its leadership on expanding clean energy sources."The power from the sun is cheaper to produce electricity than the power from fossil fuels, including coal and even natural gas," Castro says. "What we want to do is maintain the affordability of our electricity rates. A lot of people think that just by going solar, it's going to be more expensive, and that is not the case. We're actually going to be able to levelize our cost of power over decades, and we'll be able to maintain the affordability and the reliability of our power here in the City of Orlando."The council is also particularly interested in the potential employment opportunities created by having this commitment to clean energy. Castro says last year in Florida, solar jobs grew 10 times faster than the overall state economy, adding 1,700 new jobs. Commissioner Sam Ings proposed moving the citywide goal of 100 percent renewable energy to 2035, and Castro said that target could be updated as more technology comes along.The resolution was applauded by members of the First 50 Coalition, a broad alliance pushing for local sustainability issues that includes the League of Women Voters of Orange County, the Sierra Club and FL SUN."I see this vote as historic and a first step toward what we can do in leadership on the national stage," says Sara Isaac, director of partnerships for the League. "I think that you are sending a signal across the nation of the kind of city Orlando wants to be."In a statement, Phil Compton from the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 Campaign in Florida also praised the decision by Orlando commissioners."All across our state and our nation, cities are committing to a future powered by 100 percent clean and renewable energy for all," Compton says. "Today, Orlando joins this growing movement of cities that are ready for 100 percent clean, renewable energy."0 Shares
David Otunga made a joke this weekend on commentary about Kevin Owens’ stomach. As you can imagine, that didn’t sit to well with the WWE Universal Champion. After Otunga retweeted a fan on Twitter who laughed at his joke, Kevin Owens responded in vicious fashion.
Here was the original tweet from a fan that was retweeted by Otunga:
“Battle of the Bulge, and I’m not talking about @FightOwensFight stomach” – @DavidOtunga best line of the night! — Chavez (@MiniTank93) November 21, 2016
Here was Kevin Owens’ response:
.@DavidOtunga Wow! You found the one person that enjoys your commentary. Let us know when you find one that enjoyed your in-ring work. pic.twitter.com/5ieIcUQjrG — Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) November 22, 2016
[irp posts=”16494″ name=”11 Hilarious Times Kevin Owens ROASTED Fans (or Trolls) On Twitter”]
STOP THE DAMN MATCH. That Man has a family!!!!
Warning to the commentators of RAW and Smackdown LIVE, don’t go after Kevin Owens. You will regret it. Owens also showing off why he is one of the greatest wrestlers to follow on social media. He goes after everybody!
Let us know what you think in the comment section below.Glen Perkins was a perfect 28-for-28 in save opportunities before the All-Star break. That’s good!
Since then, in four games, he’s blown two saves and lost another. That’s really bad!
It’s the kind of stretch that’s not altogether uncommon for a relief pitcher, but the timing of it has been awful. Fortunately, baseball fans, particularly those on Twitter, are usually of the rational bent and use the social media platform to express words of encouragement when players are in times of struggle.
Wait, that’s not true at all. Perkins has been getting lit up on Twitter. (This is a tame example). And his wife, Alisha, as part of a larger post about teaching their kids that it’s OK not to be perfect and that we all fall down, writes about it here:
Listen, I get that you want to hold Glen to a higher standard because he gets paid a lot and you are used to him being darn near perfect but that does not give you the right to cyber bully him and our family when things don’t go according to plan.
Do you think he doesn’t feel bad already?
Do you think he wanted to fail?
You are delusional if you think he doesn’t feel worst than anyone when he doesn’t succeed.
It is easy to hide behind a screen and spew venom at people you will never meet and who are doing things you could only dream of but it does not make it ok. The “cyber bullying” fad in America needs to stop; it is destructive, offensive, unnecessary, and just pain cowardly. Let’s have a little grace for one another and for ourselves.
I tend to agree. While criticism comes with the territory of being a professional athlete (just as praise often does), personal attacks do not.Stephen A. Smith explains how Doc Rivers and Jerry West will make modifications to the Clippers. (1:32)
Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have notified the Los Angeles Clippers they won't pick up the player options in their contracts for next season, sources told ESPN on Friday.
The moves, which were expected, will make them unrestricted free agents July 1.
Editor's Picks Paul re-elected as NBPA president; Temple VP Chris Paul has been re-elected as president of the National Basketball Players Association, with his new four-year term begins immediately. Garrett Temple of the Sacramento Kings was elected vice president.
The Clippers are regarded as strong favorites to retain Griffin and Paul when they hit the open market, given their financial advantages over competing teams in trying to sign them.
But the Clippers' nagging inability to dodge injuries and reach the conference finals even once in Paul's six seasons have given interested suitors such as the San Antonio Spurs hope that he will strongly consider external interest.
The Spurs have indeed explored the feasibility of making a free-agent run at Paul, league sources told ESPN last month. Sources said the Clippers regard the threat of San Antonio signing away Paul as a legitimate concern, even though the Spurs, at present, have virtually no salary-cap flexibility.
The Clippers will enter free agency knowing they can outbid any suitor for Paul. At 32, Paul is eligible for a five-year deal worth an estimated $205 million from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer this summer, thanks in part to rule changes in the NBA's most recent labor pact that are more favorable to stars in Paul's age bracket. The most the Spurs can offer, by contrast, is a four-year contract worth just over $152 million.
The Spurs and Clippers would have the ability to engage in sign-and-trade talks if Paul were to decide he wants to continue his career in South Texas as opposed to Hollywood. Yet it should be noted that Paul, in a sign-and-trade scenario, could not get the five-year, $205 million deal; such a swap would merely allow San Antonio to clear cap space by sending assets back to the Clippers in exchange for Paul.
League sources told ESPN that the Houston Rockets also have Paul in their summer sights, as well as Griffin, who would be giving up more than $40 million if he signs with a team other than the Clippers.
Griffin's decision to decline his player option was first reported by The Vertical.
The Clippers, knowing the free-agent threat posed by San Antonio and Houston is real, hired NBA front-office legend Jerry West away from the reigning champion Golden State Warriors in the first of a series of moves they are hoping will help persuade Paul to stay put.
ESPN's Chris Haynes, Jeff Goodman and Marc Stein contributed to this report.A Canterbury woman's informal survey about Ministry of Social Development services has given starkly different results to those it commissions.
The Ministry of Social Development has made clients feel "worthless", bullied, depressed and "treated worse than a criminal", one woman's informal survey of nearly 350 people shows.
Canterbury woman Mahara Tahuhu used her "nightmare" experience with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to reach out to others who use its services.
Tahuhu said she and her partner, who suffers from debilitating mental health issues, were offered a Housing New Zealand (HNZ) flat in Ashburton about three years ago on the presumption the MSD would help with relocation costs.
But when she was told they would not, she "scrambled, borrowed [and] begged" to find the means to move from Christchurch as they were given less than a week to accept and be in the flat, she said.
READ MORE:
* Christchurch tetraplegic man 'digusted' after benefit slashed without warning
* The (not so) wonderful world of WINZ
* Anger never a solution to frustrations, says beneficiary advocate
* MSD says IT system not up to standard after privacy breaches
* Privacy Commissioner has slammed Social Development data collection plans as too intrusive
"This was the beginning of a constant culture on the part of the MSD consisting of a distinct lack of clear, consistent communication, constant chopping and changing, mixed messages, losing paperwork [and] fluctuating payments."
Tahuhu said she wanted to survey people's experiences, so when former Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei's benefit fraud became public she put some questions together and posted them on Facebook.
The 347 respondents from around New Zealand had used a range of MSD services, from Studylink to HNZ, but 95 per cent of respondents had Work and Income among their choices.
When asked if the MSD generally treated people with dignity and respect, 256 of the 330 who answered that question said no. Just 45 said yes.
"Going into WINZ (sic) has been the most dehumanising experience in my life," one respondent said. "I have major depression and anxiety and I try to avoid that place |
the last 30 days (not including Thursday’s game) and hitting line drives one third of the time he makes contact. Anyone who has watched his performance over that time would say A) that is incredible, and B) no way it’s only one third of the time.
Remember when the Red Sox were considering dealing Jackie Bradley to the Mariners for a relief pitcher? Already this season Bradley has been worth over four wins by WARP, five by Baseball Reference. He’s got 24 homers and a.350 on-base percentage and he plays Jackie Bradley-caliber defense in center field. He is everything he was supposed to be coming out of the University of South Carolina when the Red Sox took him in the first round, 40th overall. (By the way, the Rays had the 31st, 32nd, and 38th pick in that draft. They took Mikie Mahtook, Jake Hager, and Brandon Martin. Oops.) Bradley’s struggles in his first three seasons are well documented, but even after his breakout month towards the end of last season, he came back to earth hard in September. Was that just a random hot month from a player who still couldn’t hit major league pitching? It might have been a fair question to ask at the time, but Bradley’s performance this season has squashed that line of inquiry like a small bug under a large shoe. Redemption.
John Farrell won the World Series in his first season managing the Red Sox. Then he finished last the next two seasons. Then he got cancer and missed the last part of last season. But Farrell doesn’t give up. He beat cancer, got back in the dugout, and came into this season set to show the Red Sox he is still the man for the job. He has. There are always going to be bullpen moves we disagree with, and there are always going to be pinch hitters or lineups we don’t like, because that’s the case with any and all managers, but the truth is that Farrell does a pretty good job. If you’re looking for proof, teams don’t come back like this for bad managers. They don’t fight like the Red Sox have fought over the past week, coming back repeatedly against a desperate Blue Jays team and winning improbably and spectacularly against a resurgent Yankees club for bad managers. John Farrell won’t win the World Series every year, but he is the guy Ben Cherington worked hard to bring back to Boston. He is still that guy. We know that now. Redemption.
Speaking of Ben Cherington: Ben Cherington! Cherington’s reputation took a hit after he was fired in route to a second straight last place finish. Just as every move seemed to work in 2013, none seemed to work in 2014 or 2015. Pablo Sandoval was a disaster. So was Hanley and Porcello. Jackie Bradley couldn’t step in because he couldn’t hit major league pitching. Xander exploded onto the scene then struggled. The Jon Lester contract extension was bungled, leading to the loss of the team’s homegrown ace. Rusney Castillo, Joe Kelly, Allen Craig, and the return of Stephen Drew. Everything Cherington touched turned to crap. It all looked so hopeless. And now? Porcello is a Cy Young candidate. Hanley is the All Star-caliber hitter he was in Los Angeles. Bogaerts is having an excellent season at shortstop (despite a second-half slump). Bradley has blossomed along with Mookie Betts. Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada have both already reached the majors. The team is winning again and winning in huge part due to the moves Cherington made and didn’t make during his tenure. Redemption.
There maybe more to come. David Price will likely have a chance to chase his playoff bugaboos away. Dave Dombrowski will have a chance to prove he can build a championship club, his first since the 1997 Marlins. But even if neither of those things happen, Hanley Ramirez’s home run last night off Yankees relief ace Dellin Betances highlighted the transformation that this team has undergone this season. It’s an exciting team, dotted with players we love, but mostly it’s filled with players written off at one time or another. They didn’t need Hanley’s dramatic homer to prove that they aren’t done, that they will be redeemed, that they are redeemed. You don’t get to first place with one swing of the bat in September. They’ve been doing it all year long. Redemption. For Hanley, Farrell, Cherington, Pedroia, Dombrowski, the whole lot. Redemption. We don’t yet know how this season will turn out, and I won’t go so far as to suggest the ending is irrelevant but some things have already been decided by the previous 140 games. Redemption. Let that be this team’s legacy.
Photo by David Butler II/USA Today Sports ImagesUntil now, the answer to VPN and proxy piracy has been to attempt to block it in a digital game of whack-a-mole, but Netflix has come up with a better solution - just break down the international barriers and render it obsolete.
In news that will hugely excite UK subscribers trying to watch Friends on Netflix US or US subscribers struggling to watch Breaking Bad on Netflix UK, CEO Reed Hastings confirmed that universal content is the company's goal.
"The VPN thing is a small little asterisk compared to piracy," Hastings noted. "Piracy is really the problem around the world."
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He recognised that people are willing to pay the subscription fee, and are only being driven to use international workarounds to access the content they want.
Shape Created with Sketch. Best Netflix originals to watch in 2015 Show all 12 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Best Netflix originals to watch in 2015 1/12 Orange is the New Black (Season 3) Aussie model Ruby Rose has confirmed she will be the next star in stripes at Litchfield Penitentiary when OITNB returns on 10 July. 2/12 Daredevil Marvel's new Netflix series will be released on 10 April (all 13 episodes), starring Charlie Cox as blind lawyer by day and masked vigilante by night Matt Murdock. Netflix 3/12 What Happened, Miss Simone? Music legend and civil rights activist Nina Simone is the subject of this film from Oscar-nominated Liz Garbus. Expect unheard recordings and rare archival footage. Netflix 4/12 Marseille The French port city of Marseille will be the focus of a new drama about the local mayor, who is forced to face the man he chose as his heir in the elections. Simon Calder 5/12 Grace and Frankie Jane Fonda will arrive on Netflix on 8 May in this show about two rivals brought together after their husbands announce they are in love and plan to marry. Also starring Lily Tomlin. Reuters 6/12 Sense8 No not The Matrix - but directors Andy and Lana Wachowski have created a new sci-fi drama series involving eight strangers from around the world who suddenly become mentally and emotionally connected after a tragic event. Rex Features 7/12 Narcos Ten-episode series Narcos will see Brazilian actor Wagner Moura play notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. 8/12 Dreamworks Dragon This will bridge the gap between How to Train Your Dragon 2 and the third film. Storylines include Hiccup's new flight suit, the secrets of his dragon blade and the young Viking's budding romance with Astrid. 9/12 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Due out on 6 March, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock's comedy describes a girl starting a life in New York after escaping a doomsday cult. Netflix 10/12 Better Call Saul The Breaking Bad spin-off series began in February starring Bob Odenkirk as sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman. The drama documents the trials and tribulations of Goodman before he moves to his strip-mall law office in Albuquerque. Netflix 11/12 House of Cards (Season 3) Kevin Spacey is back as the conniving Frank Underwood on 27 February for the third season of this hit White House drama. AP 12/12 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend The sequel to this Oscar-winning martial arts epic hits Netflix on 28 August - the same day of its cinematic release. Netflix 1/12 Orange is the New Black (Season 3) Aussie model Ruby Rose has confirmed she will be the next star in stripes at Litchfield Penitentiary when OITNB returns on 10 July. 2/12 Daredevil Marvel's new Netflix series will be released on 10 April (all 13 episodes), starring Charlie Cox as blind lawyer by day and masked vigilante by night Matt Murdock. Netflix 3/12 What Happened, Miss Simone? Music legend and civil rights activist Nina Simone is the subject of this film from Oscar-nominated Liz Garbus. Expect unheard recordings and rare archival footage. Netflix 4/12 Marseille The French port city of Marseille will be the focus of a new drama about the local mayor, who is forced to face the man he chose as his heir in the elections. Simon Calder 5/12 Grace and Frankie Jane Fonda will arrive on Netflix on 8 May in this show about two rivals brought together after their husbands announce they are in love and plan to marry. Also starring Lily Tomlin. Reuters 6/12 Sense8 No not The Matrix - but directors Andy and Lana Wachowski have created a new sci-fi drama series involving eight strangers from around the world who suddenly become mentally and emotionally connected after a tragic event. Rex Features 7/12 Narcos Ten-episode series Narcos will see Brazilian actor Wagner Moura play notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. 8/12 Dreamworks Dragon This will bridge the gap between How to Train Your Dragon 2 and the third film. Storylines include Hiccup's new flight suit, the secrets of his dragon blade and the young Viking's budding romance with Astrid. 9/12 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Due out on 6 March, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock's comedy describes a girl starting a life in New York after escaping a doomsday cult. Netflix 10/12 Better Call Saul The Breaking Bad spin-off series began in February starring Bob Odenkirk as sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman. The drama documents the trials and tribulations of Goodman before he moves to his strip-mall law office in Albuquerque. Netflix 11/12 House of Cards (Season 3) Kevin Spacey is back as the conniving Frank Underwood on 27 February for the third season of this hit White House drama. AP 12/12 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend The sequel to this Oscar-winning martial arts epic hits Netflix on 28 August - the same day of its cinematic release. Netflix
“The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there’s no incentive to [use a VPN]," he explained. "Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy.
"The key thing about piracy is that some fraction of it is because [users] couldn’t get the content. That part we can fix.
"Some part of piracy however is because they just don’t want to pay. That’s a harder part. As an industry, we need to fix global content."
Netflix Global is surely a long way down the road however. The service's content is so segregated precisely because of how strict international licensing agreements are. For it to happen, Hollywood would need to be ready to forge ground-breaking global licensing deals.Researchers Sound Alarm Over Black Student Suspensions
Nearly one in six African-American students was suspended from school during the 2009-10 academic year, more than three times the rate of their white peers, a new analysis of federal education data has found.
That compares with about one in 20 white students, researchers at the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, based at the University of California, Los Angeles, conclude. They use data collected from about half of all school districts in the nation for that year by the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights.
And for black children with disabilities, the rate was even higher: One in four such students was suspended at least once that year.
In some districts, as many as one out of every two black students was suspended.
“These numbers show clear and consistent racial and ethnic disparities in suspensions across the country,” said John H. Jackson, the president of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, based in Cambridge, Mass., which supports equity in schooling for all students and efforts to improve outcomes for African-American boys. “We are not providing [these students] a fair and substantive opportunity to learn. Any entity not serious about addressing this becomes a co-conspirator in the demise of these children.”
Suspension Gaps Black students are suspended at a higher rate than white students in 39 of the 47 states studied. But the gap between black and white students’ suspension rates varies widely from state to state. State Black-White Percentage-Point Gap IL 21.3 MO 18.4 CT 18.1 TN 16.4 MI 15.9 WI* 15.3 MN 15.3 DE 14.4 NV 14.4 OH 14.0 NE 14.0 IN 13.6 AR 13.2 SC 13.2 PA 13.2 KS 12.8 OK 12.5 TX 12.3 GA 12.2 CA 12.1 VA 11.6 MS 11.2 IA 10.9 AL 10.7 NC 10.2 WV 9.9 CO 9.7 KY 9.3 NJ 8.7 RI 8.6 LA 8.3 AZ 7.8 WA 7.8 OR 7.6 MA 7.1 AK 6.4 MD* 6.1 NH 5.3 SD 4.9 UT 4.2 ME 4.1 WY 3.8 VT 2.2 ND 2.0 NM 1.7 ID 1.0 MT -0.3 *MD and WI each had a large district removed from the sample so the size depicted on the right is no longer accurate and their estimates should be reviewed with caution. NOTES: Florida and Hawaii were not analyzed in the report. Errors in Florida's enrollment figures led to the exclusion of 217,000 suspensions in that state. Hawaii’s data "contains serious flaws" the researchers said.
New York City was excluded because the district is disputing its data with the office for civil rights, so that led to the removal of New York.
The District of Columbia was not included in the analysis as a state, but a district.
Maisie Chin, the executive director of Community Asset Development Re-defining Education, or CADRE, in Los Angeles, helped form Dignity in Schools, a New York City-based group focused on eradicating zero-tolerance discipline policies and school “push out” of students deemed difficult to deal with.
The real value of the data this report provides, she said, is that it helps the public see suspensions and the disproportionate ways in which they are handed out as a systemic problem.
“We’re thrilled that it’s coming out on a national level,” Ms. Chin said.
The researchers decry not only disparities in how suspensions are parceled out, but also their sheer numbers.
In the report, “Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion From School,” the director of the Civil Rights Project’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies, Daniel J. Losen, and research associate Jonathan Gilliespie analyze the 3 million suspensions reported to the federal Education Department as part of the biennial collection of civil rights data.
“That’s about the number of children it would take to fill every seat in every major league baseball park and every [National Football League] stadium in America, combined,” they write in the report, released Tuesday.
Mr. Losen said when he was a young teacher, he frequently sent students to the principal's office for misbehaving. With training and time, he learned to work on students' behavior in his own classroom, keeping students from missing class.
“The bottom line is, we have to reject this frequent use of suspension. We have to reject this as the status quo,” he said, especially considering that many suspensions are not for major offenses, but minor infractions. “There are alternatives.”
Racial Gaps
This latest collection of civil rights data was the most expansive to date, including information that accounts for 85 percent of all public school students in the country.
Florida and Hawaii were excluded because of errors in the reported data. The study also does not provide suspension estimates for New York state because New York City’s data on suspensions are being reviewed by the office for civil rights.
This report provides the first large-scale analysis of suspension rates in public schools across all states. Previous research has flagged individual states’ records on suspension and expulsion.
The rates of suspension look starkest at the district level.
Of the nearly 6,800 districts studied by the Civil Rights Project researchers, 839 suspended at least 10 percent of their students at least once. In some districts, including Chicago; Memphis, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; and Henrico County, Va., 18 percent or more of the students enrolled spent time out of school as a punishment. Some 200 districts sent more than 20 percent of students away at one point or another during the school year.
The Pontiac, Mich., city school system, where about 64 percent of the 5,300 students are black, ranked first for suspending the largest percentage of black students—for every 100 black students, 68 were suspended at least once during the 2009-10 school year, the analysis found.
In Fort Wayne, Ind., however, where only 25 percent of about 32,000 district students are black, 56 out of every 100 black students was suspended at least once.
“I am surprised that we would rank that high, but like a lot of school districts, this is obviously something we are looking at and something we have been addressing over the last couple of years,” said Krista Stockman, a spokeswoman for the Fort Wayne district.
The district is implementing culturally responsive positive behavioral supports and interventions, or PBIS, an approach to discipline that involves increasingly intensive interventions to change students’ behavior, she said. “We certainly realize that when kids come into our schools, they often don’t come with the same background and home experiences that our teachers and our staff may have come from.”
The district in Hartford, Conn., has the highest rate of suspensions for Latino students at 44.2 percent, according to the report, meaning 44 out of every 100 Latino students was suspended at least once. The district also ranks ninth for suspending African-Americans, where 53 percent of all black students were suspended at least once. Hartford, with about 21,000 students, is almost entirely a minority district. Latinos represent the largest group, with 51 percent, while African-Americans make up about 40 percent of enrollment.
Illinois, in fact, had the worst record of 47 states analyzed for the gap between the rates of suspensions for black students and their white peers, at 21.3 percentage points, followed by Missouri and Connecticut, where the black-white gaps were just over 18 percentage points.
A report last year from the Council of State Governments Justice Center in Bethesda, Md., and the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University found that more than half of students in Texas were suspended or expelled at least once between 7th and 12th grades.
Of the students tracked by the Texas study’s researchers from 7th grade through one year past when they were scheduled to be seniors, 75 percent of black students were expelled or suspended, compared with 50 percent of white students. In addition, 75 percent of students with disabilities were suspended or expelled, compared with 55 percent of students without a disability.
The problem with suspensions is simple, yet devastating, the authors say: The students—many of them already at risk for low performance or dropping out—are not in class, which leads to a litany of negative consequences.
“Suspensions matter because they are among the leading indicators of whether a child will drop out of school and because out-of-school suspension increases a child’s risk for future incarceration,” they write.
The study from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA recommends that states and districts be required to report suspension data, by race, each year, and that suspension rates be used to measure states’ and districts’ education performance.
The authors also want more federal enforcement of civil rights laws to address the disparities in discipline they and others have found. And federal efforts should invest more in systemic improvements to approaches to school discipline and teacher training in classroom management, they argue.
Some may hypothesize that students of color are more likely to exhibit inappropriate behavior in the classroom, said Russell Skiba, a professor at the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University, in Bloomington, but research doesn't support that.
But there is evidence that African-American students are punished more severely than other students for minor infractions.
Policy Changes
Some districts are taking steps to change suspension and expulsion policies, including Baltimore, which has been working for years on alternatives to suspension. Officials there call the strategies ineffective and say such practices often punish students for multiple minor infractions.
Other efforts are in earlier stages. Earlier this year, the Chicago school board voted to eliminate automatic 10-day suspensions for the worst school-based offenses, the publication Catalyst Chicago reported. Principals can still order five-day suspensions, but they have to justify additional time out of school.
And in places where change isn’t happening on its own, civil rights groups are pushing for it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed civil rights complaints with the federal Education Department against five Florida districts for what it says have been discriminatory disciplinary practices against black students, compared with their white peers.
Stephanie Langer, a staff attorney in SPLC's Florida office, said the complaints focus on a range of disciplinary practices, including out-of-school suspension, expulsion, alternative placements, and school-based arrests. The districts, she said, enroll relatively modest percentages of African-Americans, but the numbers of black students who are targeted with tough disciplinary practices are “egregious.”
The five Florida districts are Bay, Escambia, Flagler, Okaloosa, and Suwannee counties, where, she said, SPLC found that individual administrators were often violating their district's own policies when meting out discipline for relatively minor infractions.
Ms. Langer said a combination of zero tolerance policies and giving “administrators and principals unfettered discretion to act as they choose in the moment” was behind the high rates of discipline for black students.
Aware of a growing chorus of voices criticizing the disproportionate rates of punishment, some states are also taking steps to change their policies.
For example, the Maryland board of education has been working on policy changes for more than a year to curb suspensions and expulsions, state education department spokesman William Reinhard said.
“The belief of the board was... too many kids are spending too much time out of the classroom, where they don’t get the educational services they deserve under Maryland law,” Mr. Reinhard said.
Related Blog
“They end up being dropouts or not progressing the way they should,” he continued. “And there was some concern about students from particular ethnic backgrounds being overrepresented in the suspension data. This is their way to say, ‘Hey, we can do better than this.’ ”
The Maryland board has given preliminary approval to a policy that would eliminate zero-tolerance discipline policies with automatic consequences and require schools to adopt an approach to discipline that focuses on improving students’ behavior, not just meting out punishment. Suspensions and expulsions would be allowed only as a last resort.
But changing policies and practices or banning suspensions isn’t universally popular. Local school officials in Maryland, for example, told the state board about their concerns with the proposed policy shift.
And sometimes, suspensions are simply a necessity, said Sasha Pudelski, the government-affairs manager for the American Association of School Administrators in Alexandria, Va.
“We support evidence-based alternatives to out-of-school suspension and expulsions, but when the safety of other students, teachers, and school employees is at risk, suspension can be an appropriate choice, particularly if a student’s behavior is beyond the capacity of a school to address,” she said. The group does support examining policies and practices when disproportionate numbers of one group of students are represented by suspension and expulsion data.
“Where school or school district policies and state laws increase the number of out-of-school suspensions,” Ms. Pudelski said, “administrators, school boards, and state policymakers must look for alternatives.”
Vol. 32, Issue 01
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Back to TopListen to this episode below:
What does it take to become a pilot? Join us as Richard Graham gives us insight into his inspiring pilot journey.
After his first solo flight in 1962 with his father as the instructor, Rich Graham was hooked on a flying career. After 25 years in the United States Airforce flying the T-37, 33, 38, F-4, SR-71, U-2, KC-135Q aircraft, he retired in 1989. He flew at American Airlines for 13 years and was a Captain on the MD-80. With a total flying time of 14,437 hours precisely, Richard is currently an instructor at the McKinney Airport in Texas United States and is a member of the Dallas FAASTeam
Starting Out
His father, who was a Navy pilot, would keep his flying gear (helmet and flight suit) in a closet and told Richard and his brother never to touch what was inside. Kids being kids, the brothers would peek and this is where Richard got his inspiration to learn how to fly.
He worked in a local airport in Pennsylvania. He would cut grass and wash, wax, and refuel airplanes. Instead of getting paid, he earned flying hours from his father. He was able to acquire his licence at 18 years old.
Acquired his Twin Engine Rating when he was in college, with a job flying tyres from Ohio to Detroit.
He joined the ROTC program while also in college and then decided to join the USAF.
Initial Training Challenges
Being trained by his father was quite challenging for Richard because his father was very demanding about flying the airplane in a very precise manner.
The Aircraft Types
Best Flying Advice
“Keep working back to the perfect.”
The Journey
Richard volunteered for the Vietnam war. He trained for nine months and was assigned at Udorn, Thailand with the Triple Nickel Squadron and flew an F-4. The unconventional rules of engagement during the war that sometimes frustrated him.
Went to Kadena Airbase in Okinawa, Japan to become a flight instructor and evaluator for the F-4 and also flew missions to provide nuclear capability at CCK Airbase in Taiwan for at least a year.
After flying the F-4 for 4 years, Richard was curious with other aircraft and that’s when he saw the SR-71 flying over Japan. In 1972 he applied to fly the SR-71 and he luckily got accepted to the training program.
Upon qualifying to fly the SR-71, Richard’s mission ranged from different parts of the globe including along the borders of North Korea and Russia in Murmansk and Vladivostok.
He became SR-71 Squadron Commander and eventually Wing Commander for the SR-71 and U-2 Reconnaissance fleet. After retiring from the military, he flew for American Airlines for 13 years.
Current Flying
Currently teaching at McKinney airport for two flying clubs.
Proudest Flying Moment
Saving two people who got shot down from being captured in Vietnam.
Finishing the nine-month training and successfully getting around the SR-71 course.
Future Plans & Aspirations
Writing books, currently on his fifth book.
Continue with his speaking engagements in aviation and engineering communities around the globe.
Flying Internet Resource
Mastery Flight Training: A once in a month newsletter about private pilot mastery and aviation safety by Master CFI, Thomas P. Turner.
Best Aviation Books
Lockheed SR-71 by Paul F. Crickmore
Designed at the height of the Cold War, the SR-71 Blackbird was and still is the world’s fastest air-breathing aircraft. The SR-71 is a mysterious plane that has an ardent and always growing popularity. Flying at heights up to 15 miles, the SR-71 conducted top secret photographic missions over hostile nations.
Favourite Cockpit Gadget
E6B Computer: These flight computers are used during flight planning (on the ground before takeoff) to aid in calculating fuel burn, wind correction, time en route, and other items. In the air, the flight computer can be used to calculate ground speed, estimated fuel burn and updated estimated time of arrival. The back is designed for wind vector solutions, i.e., determining how much the wind is affecting one’s speed and course (from wikipedia).
Interview Links
Richard has currently authored 5 books based on the SR-71, each one focusing on different aspects of the magnificent SR-71 Aircraft.
Richard’s Lastest Title:
The Complete Book of the SR-71: The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird/The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World’s Fastest Stealth Jet.
Other SR-71 Books Authored By Richard:
Richard Graham in Pilot Training, Craig AFB ’64Inexpensive Travel Plans
We've all thought about it at one time or another. Why should you spend thousands of your hard earned dollars on an airplane ticket when you can simply mail yourself to paradise? You, sir, could you be sitting on the beach tomorrow if you follow these simple steps:
1. Go to Sears and find an empty refrigerator box. Take it home and begin to fill it with a few necessities: clothes, toiletries, snacks, a box cutter, flashlight, magazines, and a porta-john.
2. Find an address in the vicinity of where you would like to travel. Don’t choose your hotel. Write the address on the side of the box, along with arrows pointing up. Since it is a tall box, you can choose to stand the entire trip or lie down. Hey, it’s your vacation! It’s up to you how you would like to travel.
3. Have a trusted friend seal you in the box. Poke a couple of air holes in the side so you can get some fresh air. Not only will you breathe better, but you can see what’s going on around you. Bonus!
4. Have your trusted friend wheel you to the UPS store. Have him mail you COD to your destination. Unfortunately the UPS only accepts COD for US and Puerto Rico addresses, but don’t let that put a damper on your vacation. That still leaves Hawaii!
5. Traveling by box feels rough at first, but once you're in the air you’ll be home free. Sit back and enjoy your flight.
6. After you land your box/1st-class-section will be processed through an amazing ride of conveyer belts and slides that the majority of the public never gets to experience. It’s its own destination! Eventually you’ll be placed on a truck to be delivered. You’ll need to be smart about how you proceed from here.
7. The driver will make a few stops. About an hour into his deliveries, wait for him to exit the truck. Using your box cutter, free yourself from your box. Grab your luggage and quickly exit the truck. However, i f the truck is locked, you might have to make a break for it when he opens it up again. Run fast. He won’t want to leave his truck unsecured, so you’ll have a decent chance.
8. Enjoy the sweet smell of Hawaiian barbecue and the soothing sound of strumming ukuleles. You’re home free!If you’re thinking about getting into ice climbing, this video is probably not for you. Markus Bendler and climbing partner Albert Leichtfried closely escape an awful demise when a giant portion of their ice climb in Japan lets go, making for a dramatic scene and their videographer left yelling “LEFT! LEFT! LEFT!”
A series of documentary-style videos following the world renowned climber Markus through many of his epic climbing adventures kicked off a few weeks ago, the one below being the latest. “I won’t climb up a place anymore which could collapse,” Markus says,”I am fed up with it.”
Back in the heyday of the ice climbing revolution, climbs like this were thought to be unclimbable — steps were chopped into moderate flows and thought to be the only logical way up. Some climbs, like Pinnacle Gully in New Hampshire, took multiple days to climb, chopping steps in the lower part one day and finishing the job the following day. As time rolled on, equipment was refined and here we are today, embracing the ride!
Video by: Berni KoglerPope decries indifference to refugees
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis in his Palm Sunday homily decries what he calls indifference to the refugees flooding into Europe, making a comparison to authorities who washed their hands of Jesus’ fate ahead of his crucifixion.
Francis abandons his homily text to lament Europe’s handling of the influx of migrants and asylum-seekers fleeing war, persecution or poverty from Syria, Iraq, Africa and elsewhere.
Jesus was “denied every justice,” the pope says. “Jesus also suffered on his own skin indifference, because no one wanted to take on the responsibility for his destiny.”
“And I am thinking of so many people, so many on the margins, so many refugees” for whom “many don’t want to assume responsibility for their destiny,” Francis says in a clear reference to Europe’s migration debate.
— APDeion Sanders starred in one of the funnier ads from Super Bowl XLVII when he made his return to the NFL as unknown rookie sensation Leon Sandcastle.
Sandcastle blazed his way through the NFL Scouting Combine and built enough buzz to be the No. 1 pick of the NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, but it wasn't just Prime Time in that bad wig and mustache.
Ball State cornerback Andre Dawson had the role of a lifetime, as Deion Sanders' stand-in, and how he got the role is a funny story.
Dawson was in Virginia with his father when he got a text from his roommate, Ball State backup QB Kelly Page, asking for his height and weight. (Dawson is 6-1, 195 pounds, almost exactly what Deion Sanders' final NFL.com bio showed.) At the time, Page was doing stand-in work for Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck in an ad.
It was an unusual text, but Page said he couldn't tell him why he needed to know, and told Dawson he'd call back in a bit. A short time later, Dawson was told they needed a stand-in for Sanders in the ad. He exchanged emails and sent action photos to a production company responsible for the spot. They wanted an athlete, not an actor, hoping to make Sandcastle's movements look as real as possible.
Dawson was their man. Without even a tryout, Dawson, who recorded 25 career tackles, was working side-by-side with a legend.
"Deion was there the whole time," Dawson said in a phone interview with Sporting News. "It was funny we were together most of the time talking. I don't think he knew I was an athlete though; I think he thought I was an actor."
"We were talking the whole time about his NFL experiences."
Dawson only makes two brief appearances in the ad: One at the 16-second mark (well, it's Dawson's arm as "Sandcastle" walks to the sign-in table) and another at the 23-second mark when he runs past the scouts with stop watches. Aside from those two appearances, Dawson was used for lighting when Sanders wasn't in the shot.
But let's get to the important part: How about that ridiculous wig and fake mustache?
"We were joking about it earlier. A few other guys on the team who are former athletes were background men and they said 'Hopefully you don't have to wear a wig or anything,' and one of the PAs came over and said 'We need you to go over and get fitted for this wig and mustache.'"
Sadly, Dawson did not get to keep any of the props to commemorate the appearance.
After the commercial wrapped, Dawson had to keep the finer points of the commercial to himself. It wasn't until he posted this photo on Instagram on Sunday that people knew what was going on.
With his playing career in the books, and the Super Bowl behind him, Dawson is ready to move on to life after Ball State. He graduates in May with an accounting degree. "Working man as part of society," Dawson said.
There was one last burning question: Could Dawson beat Deion in the 40-yard dash? Prime Time ran a legendary time reported at 4.27, but like any great sports myth prior to digital timing, other rumors float of numbers closer to 4.07 and 4.17.
Said Dawson, who hadn't run a timed 40 in years: "He was moving pretty well, but I think with him at 45 and me at 22, I'm sure I'd get it."BENGALURU: Senior BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa, who had been jailed for 21 days over corruption charges in 2011, has taken over as new president of Karnataka state unit of BJP.The party made this announcement on Friday to coincide with Ugadi festival.It is fourth time Yeddyurappa is taking over the party's mantle.Yeddyurappa had quit the BJP in 2012 after the party forced him to resign as chief minister over corruption charges and floated a new party. He had been later jailed for two weeks over corruption charges.He rejoined the party in 2013 after Narendra Modi took charge of the BJP's campaign for the general election and he was appointed vice-president of National BJP. But Yeddyurappa had no inclination towards national politics and had been desperately vying to make a comeback in the state politics.He will take over from Prahalad Joshi, whose term ended in October but was extended as the BJP was struggling to find an alternate leader.Yeddyurappa's name was considered after Karnataka high court quashed proceedings in the cases relating to 15 FIRs filed against him by the Lokayukta. The Supreme Court later upheld the high court's decision.In 2011, Yeddyurappa's name also figured in the former Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde report which exposed a Rs |
“I think we’re going to discuss that,” she replied. “I think we want to bring all stakeholders to the table. We haven’t done that. We want to make sure that we’re looking at it from all perspectives, and then decide.”
An Iowa child welfare advocacy group said Tuesday that it supported the Department of Human Services’ proposed rules on the storage of guns in childcare centers. “Children need to be safe. Safety isn’t a debatable issue,” said Sheila Hansen, policy director for the Child and Family Policy Center. “At a bare minimum, a parent should be notified if there is a gun at the location their child is being cared for and if a gun is in any vehicle that child is transported in.”
A national survey done in 2013 by the Early Learning Policy Group found that Iowa was one of 12 states that had no regulations on guns in childcare centers. Some states bar the presence of guns in such businesses, the survey showed.
Iowa Department of Human Services' staff members explained their reasoning in documents accompanying the proposed rules last week: "While having weapons in any child care setting is highly discouraged, the department is proposing allowance of weapons and firearms only under specific conditions to ensure the safety of children in care," the staff wrote. The staff noted that similar rules already are in effect for Iowa foster care homes.
Buy Photo The Iowa Department of Human Services withdrew this proposal for rules governing storage of guns and ammunition in child-care centers. (Photo: Tony Leys/The Register)
The childcare gun rules were withdrawn during a Dec. 13 meeting of the Iowa Council on Human Services, which must approve all such rules before state administrators can put them into effect. Anderson, who is a Lutheran minister from Waverly, has served on the council about six years. He said he couldn’t recall a situation in which a proposed rule was abruptly pulled off the council’s agenda without a clear explanation. During the meeting, a department administrator said the proposal was being withdrawn so department staff members could work on the wording. Anderson asked the administrator when the proposal would be brought back to the council for consideration. She told him she was unsure.
Department staff members wrote in the proposal that they had posted a standard “notice of intended action” about the rules on Nov. 8. No one from the public responded with a formal comment, the staff wrote.
A leading gun-rights advocate said he had been unaware of the department's proposed rules before the comment period closed. Richard Rogers, who is a lobbyist for the Iowa Firearms Coalition, said he expressed concern on Dec. 11 to the governor’s office. Reynolds' staff assured him the proposal was being put on hold, he said.
Rogers said his group hasn't taken a formal stance on the childcare firearm rules, but he considers some of the proposal's language vague. For example, he said, it wasn’t clear to him if the gun storage rules would apply at all times or just when a childcare business’ young clients were present in a home.
“We’re for the safety of children,” Rogers said, but said he could imagine instances in which the proposed rules would present an unreasonable barrier. For example, he said, if a man ran an in-home childcare business and his wife was a sheriff’s deputy who came home for lunch, she might want to drive a couple of the childcare clients to their soccer activities without unloading her gun. “Would that be allowed?” he said.
The proposal also was scheduled to be considered last week by the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee, but the Department of Human Services withdrew it from their agenda as well. Sen. Mark Chelgren, an Ottumwa Republican who serves on the committee, said in an interview that he raised concerns about the proposal before the meeting, and he appreciated the department’s decision to withdraw it. Policies of such magnitude should be decided by elected legislators, not administrators, he said.
Chelgren said some parts of the proposal are worth pursuing, including requirements that guns be secured when they’re in childcare operations and that parents be notified if a gun is going to be present at a daycare facility. “Those things, I think, are common sense,” he said. But he said he disagrees with requiring that ammunition be stored separately from a gun because that would make it difficult for a childcare operator to use the gun to protect children in an emergency.
Matt Highland, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services, said Director Jerry Foxhoven pulled the rules last week after discussing the matter with the governor's staff. "The department will take a step back to consider how this should be addressed in rules or in legislation," he wrote in an email to the Register.
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MemberActivity: 84Merit: 10http://stablecoin.net [ANN] Fighting CoinValidation - Introducing the new StableCoin mixing service December 01, 2013, 03:15:39 AM
Last edit: December 05, 2013, 07:40:43 PM by artos #1
INTRODUCTION
Recently, privacy concerns have become a prominent issue for Bitcoin. Undoubtedly, by now you've surely heard about CoinValidation a joint venture between three individuals who seek to line their by pockets by destroying the fungibility of bitcoin. The cryptocurrency community needs to be proactive in the fight against threats like these, lest we be destroyed by them.
A proper coin mixing service ruins the type of data that companies like CoinValidation are collecting. By properly mixing coins, their data is poisoned, and their agenda unenforceable. Typical coin mixing services have several points of failure. They require a web interface, and the very act of accessing such a site its a privacy risk at many levels. Such systems are antiquated and desperately in need of improvement.
It is through the development of a revolutionary new type of coin mixing service for StableCoin that we're putting our best foot forward in the fight against companies like CoinValidation.
HOW IT WORKS
The StableCoin client will have a built in mixing tab. Through this tab, you will be able to send a special type of transaction called a mixed transaction. A mixed transaction is a new type of transaction type we will be implementing into StableCoin. To understand this, let's first look at the current transaction structure for Bitcoin:
A mixed transaction will contain additional fields. The first of these fields is a obfuscated and encrypted form of the address you want the encrypted funds to be sent to. This field will be encrypted using the public key related to the private key that the mixing node holds.
Firstly, in order to obfuscate the data, the receiving address will be joined with 80 bytes of random data. For example, the bold part is the address, and the rest is random data:
r7ru5JaNMugN2GK4mrmVmLpSgTXXCWzeL4dGzznV6YWhxq4K2aM7Tcz6VgUNxaLJ7Jzu9fZYmHZmRE4 TsajaWXsFiQNbH8bzQygYS1UeXqgTRJZQA7
This is done for privacy purposes. If the data was not obfuscated, an attacker could encrypt addresses using the public key, and make associations based off of that. The resulting string is then taken and, as mentioned before, encrypted using the private key of the mixing node.
For verification purposes, the entire transaction is signed using the private key of the largest input. This prevents other nodes on the network from tampering with the receiving address.
INTRODUCING THE MIXING NODE AND BROADCAST NODE
This transaction is propagated across the network, as any other transaction would be. The mixing node gets introduced to the equation here. The mixing node is in possession of the private key corresponding to the public key that the receiving address was encrypted with. When the mixing node sees such a transaction in a block, it will decrypt it and pull the receiving address from it. It will then create a new transaction to send the (now mixed) coins back to the receiving address.
For privacy purposes, this transaction is not sent out immediately. It is placed in queue, and once a suitable amount of transactions have been created, they will be encrypted with the public key that belongs to the broadcast node. The broadcast node is a node that is geographically separate from the mixing node. It's job, as the name suggests, is to broadcast the transactions created by the mixing node. When the broadcast node receives a group of transactions, it will decrypt them and broadcast them to the network. At this point, that coins have been successfully mixed and returned to their owners.
The mixing node and the broadcast node will both operate behind the TOR network, and be geographically separate from each other. This is done to obscure the location of the master node, so that no entity can determine where it is located. Since the master node is only passively observing block data on the network and sending out encrypted bits of data, it's exposure is minimized. This offers strong protection against the master node from being compromised.
The benefits of this type of system over a traditional mixing service are clear. All possible attack vectors other than the master node being dishonest have been eliminated. Under this system, one must only trust the master node to act honestly, which is required of any system.
IN CLOSING
The above explanation has been somewhat simplified, but that is the general structure of the system. Several other security considerations are factored in as well. For example, the master node will cycle through private keys on a weekly basis. Once these keys have expired, they are destroyed so that even in situation that the node is compromised, the attacker will not be able to make sense of any of the transactions that the node has processed in the past. Similar considerations are in place for the broadcast node as well.
Through innovations like this, StableCoin will position itself as a leader in the world of cryptocurrency.
StableCoin release thread
StableCoin official website
Recently, privacy concerns have become a prominent issue for Bitcoin. Undoubtedly, by now you've surely heard about CoinValidation a joint venture between three individuals who seek to line their by pockets by destroying the fungibility of bitcoin. The cryptocurrency community needs to be proactive in the fight against threats like these, lest we be destroyed by them.A proper coin mixing service ruins the type of data that companies like CoinValidation are collecting. By properly mixing coins, their data is poisoned, and their agenda unenforceable. Typical coin mixing services have several points of failure. They require a web interface, and the very act of accessing such a site its a privacy risk at many levels. Such systems are antiquated and desperately in need of improvement.It is through the development of a revolutionary new type of coin mixing service for StableCoin that we're putting our best foot forward in the fight against companies like CoinValidation.The StableCoin client will have a built in mixing tab. Through this tab, you will be able to send a special type of transaction called a. A mixed transaction is a new type of transaction type we will be implementing into StableCoin. To understand this, let's first look at the current transaction structure for Bitcoin:A mixed transaction will contain additional fields. The first of these fields is a obfuscated and encrypted form of the address you want the encrypted funds to be sent to. This field will be encrypted using the public key related to the private key that theholds.Firstly, in order to obfuscate the data, the receiving address will be joined with 80 bytes of random data. For example, the bold part is the address, and the rest is random data:r7ru5JaNMugN2GK4mrmVmLpSgTXXCWzeL4dGzznV6YWhxq4K2aM7Tcz6VgUNxaLJ7Jzu9fZYmHZmRE4This is done for privacy purposes. If the data was not obfuscated, an attacker could encrypt addresses using the public key, and make associations based off of that. The resulting string is then taken and, as mentioned before, encrypted using the private key of the mixing node.For verification purposes, the entire transaction is signed using the private key of the largest input. This prevents other nodes on the network from tampering with the receiving address.This transaction is propagated across the network, as any other transaction would be. The mixing node gets introduced to the equation here. The mixing node is in possession of the private key corresponding to the public key that the receiving address was encrypted with. When the mixing node sees such a transaction in a block, it will decrypt it and pull the receiving address from it. It will then create a new transaction to send the (now mixed) coins back to the receiving address.For privacy purposes, this transaction is not sent out immediately. It is placed in queue, and once a suitable amount of transactions have been created, they will be encrypted with the public key that belongs to the. The broadcast node is a node that is geographically separate from the mixing node. It's job, as the name suggests, is to broadcast the transactions created by the mixing node. When the broadcast node receives a group of transactions, it will decrypt them and broadcast them to the network. At this point, that coins have been successfully mixed and returned to their owners.The mixing node and the broadcast node will both operate behind the TOR network, and be geographically separate from each other. This is done to obscure the location of the master node, so that no entity can determine where it is located. Since the master node is only passively observing block data on the network and sending out encrypted bits of data, it's exposure is minimized. This offers strong protection against the master node from being compromised.The benefits of this type of system over a traditional mixing service are clear. All possible attack vectors other than the master node being dishonest have been eliminated. Under this system, one must only trust the master node to act honestly, which is required ofsystem.The above explanation has been somewhat simplified, but that is the general structure of the system. Several other security considerations are factored in as well. For example, the master node will cycle through private keys on a weekly basis. Once these keys have expired, they are destroyed so that even in situation that the node is compromised, the attacker will not be able to make sense of any of the transactions that the node has processed in the past. Similar considerations are in place for the broadcast node as well.Through innovations like this, StableCoin will position itself as a leader in the world of cryptocurrency.
StableCoin Forums: StableCoin Development Fund: shQpTvLDsgCURkfqyBuCjL79aqYwti2FEJStableCoin Forums: http://forums.stablecoin.net"I just never dreamed that I would be credited with achieving as much as I did." -Raye Montague told Good Morning America.
Hidden Figures has been an inspirational movie in more ways than one. Not only has it taught people especially little girls that there is a place for you in any career path but it has brought out other history making heroes that we never heard about growing up. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan broke barriers but they weren’t the only ones.
Raye Montague, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, made history in the U.S Navy as the first person to design a ship using the computer and was the first female program manager of ships in the history of the Navy. Montague, now 82, emphasized that this position was “the equivalent of being a CEO of a company.”
"I faced a lot of the same barriers that those ladies faced," Montague told Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America," stressing the fact that she grew up in a segregated South and never saw an engineer that looked like her. She wears the title proud that she shattered that glass ceiling as a black woman in the then male-dominated Navy.
She recalls being 7-years-old and her grandfather took her to see and go inside a German mini-submarine that had been captured during WWII. An excited Montague said to the guy, “'What do you have to know to do this?' and he said, 'Oh, you'd have to be an engineer but you don't ever have to worry about that,'" she recalled. "I didn't realize I'd been insulted."
Raye Montague went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in business at the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal School, but could not acquire an engineering degree due to her dream school not accepting minorities at the time. Today, Montague is a registered professional engineer in the US and Canada. She would go on to spend 33 years as a civilian Navy employee, learning engineering skills on the job while attending computer programming school at night. During the Nixon administration, Montague’s remember her boss giving her department one month to use a system she developed to design a naval ship. She completed the task in under 19 hours.
Photo: Raye Montague Archives
"My mother told me when I was a very little girl, 'Raye, you'll have three strikes against you. You're female and you're black and you'll have a southern segregated school education,'" Montague recalled. "'But you can be or do anything you want, provided you're educated.'"
Montague was surprised today on GMA by Janelle Monae, who portrays Mary Jackson in the award winning film Hiddden Figures. Jackson was promoted to aerospace engineer in 1958, becoming NASA’s first black female engineer, after petitioning the City of Hampton to allow her to take night classes from the University of Virginia graduate program, held at an all-white Hampton High School.
WATCH: "You are hidden no more. We see you, we salute you and we thank you." -@OctaviaSpencer in surprise message to Raye Montague ❤️ pic.twitter.com/4B72KtYZkl — Good Morning America (@GMA) February 20, 2017
Janelle Monae gracefully thanked Montague for her services. “You are an American hero and you are hidden no more. Everybody sees you.” Octavia Spencer, who portrayed Dorothy Vaughn in Hidden Figures, also surprised Montague and GMA with a video call in. “I want to let you know that you are no longer hidden. We see you. We salute you and we thank you.”
It is important that we continue to bring these hidden figures to the forefront, not only to give them the recognition they deserve but to educate ourselves and future generations to come. Someone is out there with the brain and skill set to be the first something, all they need is the proper inspiration.First of all, before I start on the actual blog post, let me put this in context. I rembember a couple of years ago when I developed an interest in functional programming languages, and Haskell in particular. There was a phase when I was able to use Haskell to solve problems in the small. I understood most of the basics of pure functional programming; then there were things I regarded as magic; and of course there was a lot of things I didn't even know that I didn't know about. But none of it did I grok.
I feel like I'm starting to get to the same level with Agda now. So this is going to be one of those "look at this cool thing I made" posts where the actual result is probably going to be trivial for actual experts of the field; but it's an important milestone for my own understanding of the subject.
I wanted to play around with simple but Turing-complete languages, and I started implementing an interpreter for a counter machine. More on that in a later post; this present post describes just the representation of register values. In the model that I implemented, values of registers are byte counters, meaning they have 256 different values, and two operations +1 and -1 that the inverses of each other. Incrementing/decrementing should roll over: 255 +1 = 0 and 0 -1 = 255.
My first approach was to just use the Fin type from the standard library. However, the structure of Fin is nothing like the structure imposed by +1 and -1, so while one can define these functions, proving properties like -1 ∘ +1 = id is unwieldy and the resulting proofs are not easy to reuse in other proofs.
So I eventually settlend on a zipper-like representation. The intuition behind it is to think of the possible values of Counter (suc n) as points on the discrete number line from 0 to n. You have a vector of numbers behind you and a vector of numbers in front of you; with the invariant that the length of the two vectors is always n. For example, if n =3, you can be at positions ([], [1, 2, 3]), ([1], [2, 3]), ([1, 2], [3]) and ([1, 2, 3], []). To increase the value, just move the leftmost item of the second vector to the end of the first one; rollover is handled by the simple syntactic rule (xs, []) ↦ ([], xs).
Of course, there is no point in actually storing the numbers, so we can use vectors of units instead; but why store those if we only care about their length?
So the eventual representation I came up with was:
data Counter : ℕ → Set where cut : (i j : ℕ) → Counter (suc i + j)
I was hoping that I could write +1 and -1 like this:
_+1 : ∀ {n} → Counter n → Counter n cut i zero +1 = cut zero i cut i (suc j) +1 = cut (suc i) j _-1 : ∀ {n} → Counter n → Counter n cut zero j -1 = cut j zero cut (suc i) j -1 = cut i (suc j)
But life with indexed types is not that simple: for example, in the first case, the left-hand side has, by definition, type Counter (suc i + 0) and the right hand Counter (suc 0 + i). So we also need to inject proofs that the types actually match (with the actual proofs p 1 and p 2 omitted here for brevity):
_+1 : ∀ {n} → Counter n → Counter n cut i zero +1 = subst Counter p 1 (cut zero i) cut i (suc j) +1 = subst Counter p 2 (cut (suc i) j) _-1 : ∀ {n} → Counter n → Counter n cut zero j -1 = subst Counter (sym p 1 ) (cut j zero) cut (suc i) j -1 = subst Counter (sym p 2 ) (cut i (suc j))
However, this leads to more problems further down the line: you can't get rid of that subst later on, thus forcing you to use heterogenous equality for the rest of your proofs. While I was able to prove the property
+1-1 : ∀ {n} → {k : Counter n} → k +1 -1 ≡ k
using heterogenous equality, it broke down on me further down the road when actually trying to use these counters in the semantics of my register machines.
So instead of storing the size of the counter in a type index, I used a type parameter. This requires carrying around an explicit proof that the sizes match up, but we needed those proofs for the indexed case in the subst calls anyway, and then invoke proof irrelevance in the proof of +1-1 :
data Counter (n : ℕ) : Set where cut : (i j : ℕ) → (i+j+1=n : suc (i + j) ≡ n) → Counter n _+1 : ∀ {n} → Counter n → Counter n (cut i zero i+1=n) +1 = cut zero i p 1 (cut i (suc j) i+j+2=n) +1 = cut (suc i) j p 2 _-1 : ∀ {n} → Counter n → Counter n (cut zero j j+1=n) -1 = cut j zero p 3 (cut (suc i) j i+j+2=n) -1 = cut i (suc j) p 4 +1-1 : ∀ {n} → {k : Counter n} → k +1 -1 ≡ k +1-1 {k = cut i zero _} = cong (cut i zero) (proof-irrelevance _ _) +1-1 {k = cut i (suc j) _} = cong (cut i (suc j)) (proof-irrelevance _ _) -1+1 : ∀ {n} → {k : Counter n} → k -1 +1 ≡ k -1+1 {k = cut zero j _} = cong (cut zero j) (proof-irrelevance _ _) -1+1 {k = cut (suc i) j _} = cong (cut (suc i) j) (proof-irrelevance _ _)
With this approach, lifting these theorems to be about whole states, not just individual register values, is a breeze, e.g.:
+1-1Σ : ∀ {Σ x y} → (getVar y ∘ decVar x ∘ incVar x) Σ ≡ getVar y Σ +1-1Σ {x = x} {y = y} with toℕ x ≟ toℕ y... | yes x=y = +1-1... | no x≠y = refl
But this is takes us to my actual application for these counters; and that will be the topic of a next post.
Here are the complete sources of the two counter implementations:Story highlights Dissident vows to continue working for democracy
Kremlin denies connection to Kara-Murza's illness
Moscow (CNN) A critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was hospitalized this month after suspected poisoning, has left the country to seek further treatment, the man's lawyer said Sunday.
"This morning, Vladimir Kara-Murza flew abroad with his wife Evgenia Kara-Murza, accompanied by physician to undergo a rehabilitation course after repeated severe poisoning (a few days earlier he had been in a critical state of coma)," reads a Facebook statement posted by Kara-Murza's lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov
Kara-Murza was released from a Moscow hospital, said Prokhorov, who did not reveal his client's destination.
"The diagnosis in the discharge summary is the same -- 'toxic effects of unknown substances,'" Prokhorov said.
The lawyer added that Kara-Murza plans to continue to pursue "the restoration of democracy in Russia."
Read MoreWhile cleaning up the folders on my home server I came across my CV and it hadn’t been updated in over two years. So I decided it was time to update it, I opened up word was ready to go when I thought why the hell did I open up word surely I can create a web based CV.
I decided to create a responsive CV which used CSS3 animations. After a few nights after work I had created one, it got some great feedback and I had a few people ask me how I made it and if they could use it. So I thought the best thing to do would be to release it as a freebie.
Download CV Template
This template is by no means perfect and if you do find it useful or have any ideas on how improve it then I would love to hear from you, so feel free to leave a comment.
If you want to be the first to know about my upcoming freebies then follow me on twitter: @thomasjhardyWhile most of the time enthusiasts are playing around with the latest and greatest, the cheaper low performance platforms are usually the high volume movers. As we explained in our Kabini review, AMD has taken the unusual step of producing an upgradable platform for as little as $74. The motherboards for the AM1 Kabini platform range from $31 to $47, and today we are reviewing the GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H which retails at $35.
GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H Overview
Perhaps it is just me, but a motherboard for $35 seems almost unreal. If we consider any markup by the retailer, the per-IC margins must be very minimal indeed, unless the manufacturers were selling everything at cost in order to get an idea off the ground. The AM1 range varies from $31 to $47, or $59 if you consider the one motherboard that supports a 19-volt DC-In, but they are all in either the mini-ITX or micro-ATX form factor.
The GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H falls near the bottom of that price range, although it is the larger microATX size with full-sized DDR3 support. There is no overclocking possible on this motherboard, and as such the power delivery and lack of a power delivery heatsink is suited for the low powered Kabini APUs at stock speeds. For connectivity the motherboard has three USB 2.0 headers, two SATA 6 Gbps ports, two fan headers, two USB 3.0 ports, an LPT header, a COM header, a 2.1 audio codec, gigabit Ethernet, a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots. Perhaps surprisingly, due to the low cost nature of the product, we do get GIGABYTE’s Dual BIOS here despite the increased cost to the manufacturer. When I have previously met with GIGABYTE, the product managers in the motherboard business unit insisted that Dual BIOS is a great feature no matter the price of the motherboard; as an enthusiast, I would agree.
The AM1M-S2H formed the backbone of our Kabini review, which it performed without incident. The full length PCIe slot affords use of a full sized graphics card and perhaps unsurprisingly the Athlon 5350 we used for testing still gave frame rates above 30 FPS with our standard gaming benchmarks and setups. Performance of the motherboard on the system side of things gave a DPC Latency and Audio results similar to what we would expect with a low powered platform/ALC887 audio codec, similarly with boot times. USB speeds are slightly slower than the mainstream platforms, but still within a few percentage points.
The whole focus of Kabini is for the system to be upgradable. AMD has aimed the platform for low powered use (digital signage, library computers) similar to Intel’s Atom but aim to offer faster DRAM support, upgradability and price competitiveness. The AM1M-S2H certainly hits on that last point, although the depth of the system will rely on whether AMD will refresh the Beema line for the same socket.
Visual Inspection
The AM1 platform uses the FS1b socket, which unlike the AM3+ or FM2 sockets is a nice square shape which allows for a better orientation of CPU coolers and brackets. The socket only uses two holes for push-pin connectors, and in our testing the CPU cooler that comes with the APU in the box works fine at stock speeds. There are very few aftermarket FS1b CPU coolers to choose from, although the distance to any other features on the motherboard should not make this much of an issue.
The 4-pin ATX power connector is well away from the socket, meaning that cables need not be stretched over the motherboard for attachment – such is the benefit of mATX over some mini-ITX designs. The two-phase power delivery has no heatsink, and the two CPU fan headers are at opposite corners of the socket. The 4-pin CPU fan header in white is to the top right of the socket and the 4-pin SYS header is to the bottom left, above the PCIe slots. Near this latter fan header are the two BIOS chips for GIGABYTE’s dual BIOS which makes an appearance here despite the added cost for the manufacturer.
To the bottom right of the socket is the two SATA 6 Gbps ports. Being right in the middle of the motherboard is a rather odd place for SATA ports. I understand that cheaper products have the connectors coming out of the motherboard, but having them here is a little silly. It means that any user who wants to have a SATA device (which will be anyone not booting from USB) will have to place the cable over half the motherboard to reach – not a good design plan.
The DRAM slots use a double sided latch mechanism and hide no extra controllers around the perimeter. Because the Kabini platform uses an on-die Fusion Controller Hub for IO, the heatsink in the bottom right is for the SuperIO IC dealing with extra connectivity or any PCIe lane management. For this price there are no power/reset buttons, nor a two-digit debug display, but we do get a COM header and an LPT header as well.
This motherboard does have three USB 2.0 headers at the bottom, which is perhaps a little odd but allows system manufacturers to design cases around the IO depending on the request of their clients. Next to these is the audio side of the motherboard which uses a Realtek ALC887 2.1-channel codec – users needing the ALC892/898 will have to look for a more expensive motherboard.
The rear panel contains separate PS/2 connectors for a mouse and keyboard, a D-Sub video output, HDMI, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a Realtek network interface and audio jacks. Given the use case for this platform, perhaps a ClearCMOS button would have not been warranted, even though I like to see them on home systems.
Board Features
GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H Price US (Newegg) Size mATX CPU Interface Socket FS1b Chipset AMD AM1 Memory Slots Two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB
Single Channel, 1333-1600 MHz Video Outputs VGA
HDMI Onboard LAN Realtek Onboard Audio Realtek ALC887 Expansion Slots 1 x PCIe 2.0 x4
2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 Onboard SATA/RAID 2 x SATA 6 Gbps USB 3.0 2 x USB 3.0 (Back Panel) Onboard 2 x SATA 6 Gbps
3 x USB 2.0 Headers
1 x LPT Header
1 x COM Header
Front Panel Audio
Front Panel Header
2 x Fan Headers Power Connectors 1 x 24-pin ATX
1 x 4-pin CPU Fan Headers 1 x CPU (4-pin)
1 x SYS (4-pin) IO Panel 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
D-Sub
HDMI
2 x USB 3.0
2 X USB 2.0
1 x Realtek NIC
Audio Jacks (ALC887) Warranty Period 3 Years Product Page Link
If Kabini is all about low-cost, then it makes sense when manufacturers like GIGABYTE take advantage of deals like Realtek’s audio + network combination. Perhaps $35 for a motherboard is too low to see a USB 3.0 header, although that would either require moving the USB 3.0 ports from the rear panel or adding a controller, which would have a noticeable cost.US defense secretary thanks Turkey for its contribution to fight against ISIL
WASHINGTON
The United States defense secretary Ashton Carter has thanked his Turkish counterpart Fikri Işık for Turkey’s contribution to the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).“[Carter] thanked Minister Işık for his participation in the ministerial and for Turkey’s significant contributions to the counter-ISIL campaign, especially Operation Euphrates Shield and its efforts to close its borders to ISIL,” said a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Defense on Dec. 15, after a meeting between the two ministers, who met on the sidelines of the counter-ISIL Defense Ministerial in London.The Euphrates Shield Operation was launched in late August in northern Syria to clear Turkey’s border of ISIL and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Ankara regards as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).“Both leaders reaffirmed their unyielding resolve to deal ISIL a lasting defeat, discussing a range of practical cooperative efforts that will accelerate the fight,” the statement added.Carter also “strongly condemned the Dec. 10 [Istanbul] attack on Turkish police and citizens,” and vowed the U.S. would continue to stand with Turkey to combat the PKK, ISIL and terrorism in all its forms.Işık also met U.K. defense secretary Michael Fallon in London.According to Turkish ministry sources, Işık highlighted in the meeting that Turkey’s fight against the PKK would continue. He thanked members for their condolences on the recent terrorist attack in Istanbul but emphasized that they should give attention to Turkish sensitivities during operations in Syria and Iraq.Işık also reportedly said to Carter and Fallon that the long-term success against ISIL’s ideology depended on how Western communities combatted rising Islamophobia.Billed as an attempt to deepen cooperation among anti-ISIL forces, the summit concentrated on developments in Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa.A statement from the U.K. government said British warplanes had destroyed ISIL positions around Mosul as Iraqi government forces continued to advance to the east of the city. The U.K. government said it had contributed to efforts in opening a second front in Raqqa, which is ISIL’s de facto capital.Earlier, Fallon said the U.K. was playing a leading role in the fight against ISIL.“In 2017, we must maintain momentum to deal these terrorists a decisive blow,” he added.“In addition to putting ISIL on the path to a lasting defeat, we’ll need to continue to counter not only the foreign fighters trying to escape ISIL, but also ISIL’s attempts to relocate or to reinvent itself,” Carter added to Fallon’s statement.Fallon stressed that the U.K. sees “no political future” for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.“There is no victory in bombing hospitals and restricting humanitarian aid and ending up in a country you only control 40 percent of and is half destroyed with millions dispersed and hundreds of thousands killed. That is no victory. We don’t see a future for Syria with President al-Assad. On the contrary, we continue to work for a political settlement in Syria that is genuinely pluralist that can involve all sectors of Syrian society, but not al-Assad himself,” he said at a joint news conference with Carter after the meeting.JaMarcus Russell is down from 315 pounds to 281 in hopes of making an NFL comeback. (Photo: Chris Schneider, AP) Story Highlights Russell, the 2009 No. 1 overall pick, says he never had a pro day planned as reported
Russell has dropped to 281 pounds after weighing 315 just two months ago
Russell's trainer, Jeff Garcia, says Arizona and Chicago would be two ideal landing spots
SAN DIEGO – A leaner, focused and 281-pound JaMarcus Russell dispelled |
” at The Cat Language Bible, a new book renowned by cat owners worldwide. The knowledge included in this famous guide was gathered over years of research conducted by Jonas Jurgella, a well-respected and published animal behavioral specialist.
Therefore this book is the culmination of his work in animal behavioral science, and provides a vast array of techniques to help cat owners communicate with and bond with their feline companions. This product has been so spectacularly hyped that some cat owners may be reluctant to “buy in.”
To that effect, I have decided to provide some insider insight into the information included in the Cat Language Bible to help eliminate any doubts that this book is not the real deal. To that effect, in this post I’ve provided some detail about the book’s benefits and distinguishing features. And, if you’re still on this fence, I’ve included an offer for exclusive discounts and bonus materials! (Limited availability – see details at end of post.)
Official Review and Insights: The Cat Language Bible
Before I dig in to the workings of the Cat Language Bible, please watch the short video with Jonas Jurgella himself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s1u-V771hM?showinfo=0&rel=0&controls=0&autoplay=0
Meet The Author: Jonas Jurgella
I take pride in vetting the authenticity and credibility of every product that I use. In the case of any body of writing, this process starts with getting to know the author.
Jonas Jurgella is an acclaimed animal behavioral specialist whose research has been at the forefront of the study of human interaction with animals. For over fourteen years he has described methods of communication that cat owners can employ to strengthen their relationships with their pets.
During that time he has also analyzed the works of other researchers regarding how our feline friends understand our behaviors, vocal communication, and body language. Because of his findings and publications, Jurgella has been featured on local television channels, blog posts, and numerous web pages. The Cat Language Bible is the culmination of the combination of his academic findings and his personal first-hand experiences gathered through interactions with hundreds of cat owners – and their cats!
Features and Benefits of the Cat Language Bible
This book provides on over 100 pages thorough guidance regarding how to build strong relationships with our beloved cats. Other books written on this subject are purely dependent on case studies and behavioral theory; what sets the Cat Language Bible apart is that Jurgella’s strategies are grounded in years of hypothesis testing and real-world refinement, all tested personally by the author.
Jurgella’s book is filled with strategies and techniques that have been scientifically proven to both help you to understand your cat’s feelings and behaviors and to help you effectively communicate your own to your cat.
This includes helping you to interpret your cat’s verbal and nonverbal cues. Many cat owners don’t’ realize that their cat can actually employ as many as twenty different vocal sounds to communicate, just like the way that we raise our voice to demonstrate anger, or “uptick” at the end of a sentence when asking a question!
The ability to recognize the way that cats change their vocal communication will enable you to understand what your cat is feeling and thinking, thereby aiding your quest to strengthen your relationship.
Free bonus material included
The Cat Language Bible eBook comes with several bonus guides, as well as complimentary updates each time that an updated version of the book is released!
Bonus 1: The Cat Care Guide
The Cat Care Guide provides instructions for how cat owners can effectively demonstrate their affection for their cats. It also contains guidelines for understanding your cat’s responses to your communication. Proper attention, physical care (feeding and grooming), and, of course, love, are all covered in this bonus guide.
Bonus 2: Training Your Cat
This bonus eBook features techniques for transforming your adorable, unruly kitten into a composed, trained adult cat. While dogs are well-known for being easily trained, very few have mastered the art of taming the much more independent cat. However this is not because of a lack of aptitude on the part of the cat; on the contrary, cats are incredibly intelligent. With the proper guidance, cat owners can leverage training practices unique to their cat’s intelligence to mold them into an obedient, respectful companion.
Bonus 3: A-To-Z Feline Nutrition
Nutrition is just as important to a cat’s development as love and training. While love provides the emotional support that your car requires, proper nutrition provides the physical support needed to maintain its health and physical well-being. This bonus eBook provides the knowledge that cat owners need to ensure that their cat is well-nourished so that it can live a long, healthy life.
Bonus 4: Lifetime Updates
The Cat Language Bible represents the over fourteen years of research conducted by Jurgella in the field of cat behaviors. As is to be expected from a man who has spent his lifetime researching human-feline communications, Jurgella is constantly developing additional research and findings to update this theories and practices. Whenever those findings contribute to the release of a new edition of this beautiful guide, you will receive that update free of charge!
Final Thoughts
I was impressed by the volume of knowledge that the Cat Language Bible provides. As a long-time cat owner myself, I was surprised at how much I have to learn! The amount of information that Jurgella includes in his book is impressive, but it is so well-organized that the volume is not at all intimidating.
All of the techniques provided in the book can be implemented one step at a time, so readers can utilize them at whatever pace they are most comfortable. Over the past several weeks I have used several of them with my own cat and can personally attest to their effectiveness – I am already noticing more about the way that my cat communicates than I ever had before.
One of the biggest perks of this eBook is that it contains lots of pictures, which were very helpful in demonstrating how my cat would communicate with me. My increased ability to understand my cat’s emotions has helped me to provide better care and love for him, and already our relationship is more affectionate than it has ever been before. Now I am teaching several of these techniques to my family so that they can experience the same bond that I have reinforced.
The high-level “good and bad” of the Cat Language Bible is highlighted below:
The Good:
Comprehensive information
Easy-to-follow structure and format
Strategies are the result of outcome-based research and testing
No additional expertise, veterinary services, or tools required
Information included is objective and sourced worldwide (US and Japan)
Additional bonus guides and lifetime updates
The (Not Really So) Bad:
eBook format only
Personal accountability and consistent application is required for success
I Included Some of the Stunning Customer Reviews
I was surprised at how much I actually did NOT understand when it comes to cat behavior - Anabel Delay, Australia
This book will shock you! (…) A great gift to any cat owner! - Therese Linn, USA
Before reading this book I had never realized how often my cat would gesture “I love you” at me! - Deborah Smith, UK
This guide is a must read for every cat lover. I learnt so much about my cat. - Duncan Brown, USA
How To Reserve Your Copy of the Cat Language Bible
The Cat Language Bible is retail-priced at $69.99. However with this limited-time offer you can purchase the Cat Language Bible AND the three bonus guides AND receive complimentary lifetime updates to the text for only $27.00 – less than 50% of the original price tag! In case you are not satisfied with the ebook you can always use the 60 days money-back guarantee.
Note that you must purchase your copy of the Cat Behavior Bible through the “Add to cart” button below, as you will not receive the discount or bonuses described in this post if you purchase the eBook from another website.
This offer is only available for a limited time – act quickly and use the “Add to Cart” button below to claim your copy of the Cat Language Bible now!
Review Quality 10.0
Easy to use 9.0
Bonus Material 10.0 Summary 9.5 Score Jonas Jurgella's Cat Language Bible is the must-have guide to understanding a cat’s thought processes, emotions, and reasons for our easy manipulation by our cats. If you own a cat and want to learn their language for better understanding, then you need The Cat Language Bible. User Rating 4 (54 Votes)Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II. By Arthur Herman. Random House; 413 pages; $28. Buy from Amazon.com
“WHAT is America but beauty queens, millionaires, stupid records and Hollywood?” asked Adolf Hitler in 1940. With hindsight, this ranks as just about the most foolish rhetorical question posed during the second world war. But it did not seem so at the time. As Arthur Herman shows in his wartime history, when Hitler mocked its prowess America had experienced not so much a double-dip as a double-dive depression. Yet somehow the country's moribund military-industrial complex was able to respond with great force to President Franklin Roosevelt's call to arms.
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The production statistics cited by Mr Herman, a think-tank scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, still astound. Preparations for war got off to a stuttering start. But everything changed in 1941 when Germany invaded Russia and then Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbour. By the end of 1942 America's output of war materiel already exceeded the combined production of the three Axis powers, Germany, Italy and Japan. By 1944 its factories built a plane every five minutes while its shipyards launched 50 merchant ships a day and eight aircraft carriers a month.
As a combative anti-Keynesian, Mr Herman scorns the notion that such triumphs resulted from the dictates of an interventionist Roosevelt administration. He often cites instead the free-market ideas of Adam Smith to support his claim that it was the profit motive that inspired America's feats of mass production.
The business heroes in his history are mostly immigrants or high-school dropouts and often both. Two tower above the rest: William “Big Bill” Knudsen, a General Motors executive who was once a teenage clerk in a bicycle business in Copenhagen, and Henry Kaiser, who began work at 16 as a travelling salesman for a dry-goods store in Utica, New York. Knudsen headhunted corporate innovators and persuaded them to give up their pay and perks to join him as “dollar-a-year men” in Washington. Kaiser recruited a can-do team from such blue-chip American companies as Lockheed, Bechtel-McCone, Chrysler, Boeing and General Electric to produce everything from dams to tanks to ships to steel. Each executive received an annual fee of $1.
Big business did not succeed on its own. It needed the help of small business. The Boeing B-29 bomber, for instance, had 40,540 different parts, and 1,400 sub- contractors provided most of them. The Research Institute of America spurred them on. In a booklet entitled “Your Business Goes to War” it asked its readers to consider switching from making vacuum cleaners to gas-mask parts. Or from shoes to helmet linings. Or from razors to percussion primers for artillery shells.
Among those who gawped in wonderment was Joseph Stalin. When he met Roosevelt and Churchill in Tehran in 1943 he raised a glass to toast “American production, without which this war would have been lost.” His words were as wise as those of his rival tyrant, Hitler, were not.This is going to be a tough day for Rick Sanchez. The CNN host, as Mediaite notes, is the frequent butt of "Daily Show" jokes, which may have contributed to his ill-considered comments yesterday on Pete Dominick’s satellite radio show.
First, Sanchez called Jon Stewart a “bigot,” though he walked the comments back a bit later.
Dominick: How is he a bigot?
Sanchez: I think he looks at the world through, his mom, who was a school teacher, and his dad, who was a physicist or something like that. Great, I’m so happy that he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine.
Dominick: What group is he bigoted towards?
Sanchez: Everybody else who’s not like him. Look at his show, I mean, what does he surround himself with?
Then, he suggested that CNN is run by Jews.
I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority? Yeah.
CNN, let’s remember, fired Octavia Nasr this summer for a tweet expressing respect for a Lebanese cleric tied to Hezbollah who had died.
I’ve reached out to CNN for comment.
comments closed
permalinkOn July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter spoke to the American people about the "Crisis of Confidence" faced by Americans who were losing faith in the government and who increasingly feared that their children would be worse-off than them. In this famous speech, Carter laments the loss of American values in the face of rising consumerism.
Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. As a people we know our past and we are proud of it. Our progress has been part of the living history of America, even the world. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself called democracy, involved in the search for freedom, and that belief has always strengthened us in our purpose. But just as we are losing our confidence in the future, we are also beginning to close the door on our past.
In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world.
Sound familiar? Setting aside the religion issue for the moment, it's clear that we face many of the same problems Carter discussed in 1979 today - and more. We are no longer a nation at peace everywhere around the world. The energy crisis has worsened. Consumer debt and national debt is out of control. Millions of Americans have been pushed out of their homes and unemployment is reaching record highs. Still, in the face of clear evidence that rampant consumption is unsustainable, we measure the health of our economy by our spending. Still, we measure the quality of American life by our ability to spend. It's like consumerism has practically replaced citizenship. But how did this happen? How did we go from a nation of citizens to a country of consumers? Liberals will argue that rampant de-regulation was the culprit. Conservatives will say that free market capitalism is the purest expression of democracy. Personally, I'm less interested in esoteric discussions about economic theory than I am in conversations about how we, the citizens of America, can impact the future of our own communities. How can we re-build the sense of community and common purpose in our local neighborhoods? How can we restore values of thrift and saving for the future? How can we work together to restore a sense of confidence in the future of America?
We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure. All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our Nation and ourselves.
21 years after Jimmy Carter delivered his speech, a movement is growing to take up his mission to "commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit." Neighborhoods across the country are taking their communities into their hands. The number of farmers' markets has more than tripled since the mid-90s. Activists in cities across the country are supporting community projects like urban farming, bicycle lanes, and community art projects. Location-based technologies like Foursquare and Loopt are exploding in popularity as citizens are seeking to be more connected to their local communities.
In their upcoming book, What's Mine is Yours, Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers argue, "[In] the 20th century of hyper-consumption we were defined by credit, advertising, and what we owned, and how in the 21st century of Collaborative Consumption we will be defined by reputation, community, and by what we can access." Collaborative Consumption is an explosive movement of "sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping... that is transforming business, consumerism and the way we live." The authors examine the growth of services like ZipCar, Swaptree, Couchsurfing, and NeighborGoods. As the founder of NeighborGoods, a peer-to-peer lending and borrowing service for local neighborhoods, I'm proud to be a part of this consumer citizen-driven effort to rebuild local communities and restore confidence in America's future.
But how can borrowing and lending household goods help restore confidence in America's future? At NeighborGoods, we believe that hidden inside all the stuff you own is a whole bunch of latent value. The items you are not using on a regular basis hold latent monetary value as well as social value. Obviously, when you share objects with others, you are helping your neighbors save money. By getting more use out of your power drill, you are extracting more of its monetary value. By sharing that power drill, you are also creating stronger social bonds with your neighbor, thus extracting the hidden social value in that object. We've spent most of the 20th century buying objects and building fences to protect them. NeighborGoods and other sharing services help us lower those fences as we transition into the more sustainable, less consumer-driven economy of the 21st century. By lowering your fences and sharing with people around you, you are actively participating in the Collaborative Consumption movement. You, my generous and forward-thinking friends, are true citizens.
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, or national community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities. "Active citizenship" is the philosophy that citizens should work towards the betterment of their community through economic participation, public, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens. In this vein, schools in some countries provide citizenship education. Citizenship was equated by Virginia Leary (1999) as connoting "a bundle of rights -- primarily, political participation in the life of the community, the right to vote, and the right to receive certain protection from the community, as well as obligations." - Wikipedia.org Video and transcript of "Crisis of Confidence" speech via Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.Canada’s new Liberal government was sworn in yesterday, and if its first moves were of any indication, science—woefully neglected under the previous Conservative government—will become a serious priority. The new cabinet features not one but two science ministers, and a renamed environment office with the words “climate change” right in the title.
For nearly a decade, “science” was a word scarcely heard in the Canadian Parliament buildings. The topic did not hold much sway in Stephen Harper’s former cabinet, except at the minister of state level. That position belonged to Ed Holder, one of the lowest-profile members of the outgoing Conservative government— a position that was dissolved back in August.
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In an effort to correct this oversight and put an end scientific neglect, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a number of key changes to Canadian ministries.
His cabinet now features a dedicated Ministry of Science that will be headed by Kirsty Duncan, a medical geographer from the University of Toronto, and a contributor to the 2001 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (cool fact: Duncan also wrote a book about her expedition to Norway to investigate the cause of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic).
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Image: Canada’s first Minister of Science, Kirsty Duncan (Credit: Kirsty Duncan/Twitter)
The cabinet will also include a Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, which will be headed by financial analyst Navdeep Bains.
Liberal spokeswoman Genevieve Hinse told CBC News that the government wanted to separate pure science from its commercial application under economic development.
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Another major change was to the Ministry of the Environment, which will now go by the name Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. That’s a serious add-on to the title, and a strong indication that climate change—an area in which Canada is a global pariah—will be given the attention it deserves. This department will be headed by Catherine McKenna, a former legal advisor to the United Nations. McKenna will bring a green agenda to Parliament, including a pledge to reverse the country’s poor environmental track record, and a $2 billion “Low Carbon Economy Trust” to help facilitate clean tech.
Canada’s new Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at yesterday’s swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall. (Credit: CP)
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As noted by the CBC, taken together these changes “certainly suggests the government is sending a message that it cares about science, and will be more open to scientific advice, than the former one.”
One of the first orders of business will be to stop muzzling scientists. As it stands, Canadian government scientists cannot speak freely to the public or media about their work. The Liberal platform suggests that the incoming government is going to take a different approach, one that will “value science and treat scientists with respect.” The Liberals write:
We will appoint a Chief Science Officer who will ensure that government science is fully available to the public, that scientists are able to speak freely about their work, and that scientific analyses are considered when the government makes decisions.
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The new ministers certainly have their work cut out for them. Writing at ScienceBlog, John Dupuis offers them some advice:
Where possible, restore environmental regulations that have been gutted such as the Navigable Waters Protection Act and the Species at Risk Act.
Where possible, restore research programs that have been shuttered or have seen their budgets radically cut.
Remove at least some of the mania for tying anything to do with public science to industry partnerships, in particular where it relates to the misguided transformation of the National Research Council into a concierge service for business.
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Dupuis also recommends that the new government fix “the damage that the previous Conservative government did to the science library infrastructure in Canada, most prominently to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans library system but also to the systems at Environment Canada and others.”
Exciting developments, to be sure. But let’s hope this government acts in accordance to these ministry updates.
[ CBC | ScienceBlog | Nature ]
Email the author at george@gizmodo.com and follow him at @dvorsky. Top image by T Anderson/CCWith Savage's transformation into adirection, his popularity increased in, especially inand theIn August 1989 he played to thirty thousand people in the, held in, Poland and performed for four consecutvie nights infollowed in 1990 on– a subsidiary of Discomagic.
In the early 1990s, after more than a decade, Zanetti mostly retired from the stage, instead focusing his attentions on production. He purchasedand founded his own label, the Discomagic-distributed, which became the home to),, and
As Raimunda Navarro he released “Me Gusta,”” “No Lo Hago Por Dinero" b/w “Te Amo,” “Jungle Fever,” and “James Brown Has Sex.” As Rubix he released “The Party” and “Desiderio Latino.” As Pianonegro he released “Pianonegro.” As Wareband he released “Party Children” and “A Better Day.” As Scattt he released “Vocalize” and “Scat and Bebop.” And finally, as Humantronics, he released “The Sound of Afrika.”
Whilst Zanetti was recording primarily under various other names, he occasionally released music as Savage, as was the case with 1993's "Something” b/w “Strangelove," the latter a cover of the hit by Basildon's finest, Depeche Mode. In 1994, as Savage, he once again embarked on a short tour, performing in Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Brazil. He also released a new single, “Don't You Want Me?
Whilst Zanetti was recording primarily under various other names, he occasionally released music as Savage, as was the case with 1993'sb/wthe latter a cover of the hit by's finest,. In 1994, as Savage, he once again embarked on a short tour, performing in, and. He also released a new single,
E.Y.E., he released “Virtual Reality.” In 2005, as Creavibe he released “Wonderful Life.” That year he again returned to the stage for the first time since the birth of his daughter, Mathilde, in 2002. This time playing concerts in the Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the USA. In Moscow he performed at three Autoradio Festivals, filmed at Olympic Stadium in front of an audience of more than 20,000. In October 2009 he released a new song, “Twothousandnine" with a video filmed at Southern California's Salton Sea. In 2010 he released a new album, Ten Years Ago (Klub80 Records).
While Savage has performed in Asia, Europe, and North and South America, his upcoming performance in Orange County will be the first time he's performed in Little Saigon. Whilst the audience behind the Orange Curtain won't rival the audience he's accustomed to behind the Iron Curtain, I think that he'll be pleasantly surprised by the ferocity and adoration of the largely Vietnamese New Wave crowd. In 1997, as, he releasedIn 2005, ashe releasedThat year he again returned to the stage for the first time since the birth of his daughter,, in 2002. This time playing concerts in the, and the. Inhe performed at three, filmed atin front of an audience of more than 20,000. In October 2009 he released a new song,with a video filmed at Southern California's. In 2010 he released a new album,(Klub80 Records).While Savage has performed in, andand, his upcoming performance inwill be the first time he's performed inWhilst the audience behind the Orange Curtain won't rival the audience he's accustomed to behind the Iron Curtain, I think that he'll be pleasantly surprised by the ferocity and adoration of the largelycrowd.
Zanetti continued to make music, employing a handful of aliases and collaborators. Teaming withand calling themselves, the duo releasedHe later teamed with Breciani asand released “.”Protesters camping by a drill site in Barton Moss argue their human rights will be violated if they are forced to leave
Anti-fracking protesters who have been camping by a drill site in Greater Manchester since late October have appeared in court to challenge attempts to evict them.
Peel Investments (North) Ltd – which owns much of the prime real estate in the north-west of England, including the BBC's Media City in Salford and the Manchester ship canal – wants demonstrators to leave its land at Barton Moss by the M62 in Irlam, Salford. The energy firm IGas has been carrying out exploratory drilling at the site since before Christmas in spite of near daily attempts by protesters to slow down or block access to the area.
Two self-described "protectors" from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp (BMCPC) have launched a legal challenge to the eviction notice issued by a court last month, arguing their human rights will be violated if they are forced to leave.
Ian R Crane, a former oilfield executive who now devotes his life to warning the public about the dangers of extreme energy extraction, appeared at Manchester's Civil Justice Centre on Thursday, alongside his co-defendant Martin Burke, a former infantry officer turned full-time Green party activist.
In papers submitted to the court, the pair argue that eviction would contravene articles 8, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to a home (Crane lives in a caravan on the site and claims he will be homeless if the camp is cleared), and the right to freedom of expression and assembly. They also cite the common law right to exercise a pedestrian right of way along Barton Moss Lane, a private road to the IGas site owned by Peel.
Most days the protesters walk slowly in front of IGas lorries to frustrate deliveries, occasionally lying in the road or carrying out other disruptive stunts. On one occasion a coach was parked to block the lane; another time a blade from a wind turbine was abandoned by the site entrance. Both Crane and Burke deny responsibility for either action and insist they only engage in peaceful protest aiming to educate Britons about the potential hazards associated with fracking.
But lawyers for Peel claim the protesters do not need to occupy their land in order to air their opposition to fracking. Katharine Holland, QC, for Peel, suggested they make their point instead via the media, pointing out that BMCPC has received coverage in the Guardian, Mirror, BBC and beyond.
Peel, along with its sister company Manchester Ship Canal Developments Ltd, argue in court papers that conditions on the camp are dangerous and unhygienic and that local people are fed up of the protesters.
In a witness statement one Peel executive argued the firm had showed "considerable patience" by tolerating the camp for so long, but said the group were now disturbing not only IGas but neighbouring homeowners and businesses, some of whom felt "like prisoners in their own homes".
He submitted as evidence a Facebook posting from a woman who runs a nearby livery and stables who said that while she had initially brought duvets down to the camp to keep the protesters warm, she was upset that they had blocked the road so that she couldn't pass with a young foal.
Another local businessman from steel manufacturers Plasmet was said to have spent £4,000 providing alternative access to his premises.
In his witness statement, Crane said he doesn't consider himself an "activist", but was merely asserting his right to peaceful protest.
He said he had worked for the global oil firm Schlumberger as a senior executive between 1979 and 1998 but left "after becoming increasingly concerned about the risks associated with a new extraction technology known as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), an aggressive process designed to extract gas from tight geology."
In court documents he accused IGas of "misleading" the local community in Salford by telling them the exploratory well at the Barton Moss site is intended to establish the viability of exploring coal bed methane from the coal measures, "when the real target is 5,500ft thick shale gas deposit beneath the coal measures".
Crane said he would leave the site as soon as IGas stopped drilling, and claimed the "shrubland" would look better on departure than it did when the protesters arrived: a point disputed by Peel, who submitted photos of the windswept camp to the judge, Mark Pelling, QC.
During the hearing on Thursday the judge questioned whether the camp was actually on land which Peel had rented out to a local farmer. If this was the case, only the tenant - ie the farmer - would be able to apply for an eviction order, he said.
The case continues.Banned again. This time for simply arguing the case the imperialist created faggot identity isn't real.
Beyond that, laws of these kind generally make it illegal to promote homosexuality openly, and seem to be the real target of these laws. And if the homo-hetero binary is false, then I don't see how it is wrong to not allow people to spread a Western created identity that isn't actually real.
I imagine the situation in Zimbabwe is similar to Iran, in that homosexual activity is against the law, but the law is not enforced, as police have more pressing things to do than check up on claims mostly coming from disgruntled wives about their husbands.
Well, if the homo-hetero binary is not true, then I suppose technically there are no "gays" being imprisoned anywhere, cause there is no such thing as being "gay." So what is being regulated is a particular behavior under the law.
So it's okay when gays are imprisoned, denied the rights others in their countries have, cause hey homo-hetero is just a western imposed binary man, so those gays could just stop being gays or something.
That's some mental gymnastics. No gays are in harms way anywhere, because there's no such thing as being gay.
It's the logical conclusion of rejection of the homo-hetero binary.
Except when there is such a thing as being gay, in which case it's Western propaganda that isn't real so it should be banned.
There is no "exception" here, as there is no such thing as being "gay," if you reject the hetero-homo binary.
The real target of laws that disallow "promoting homosexuality" are homosexuals themselves. After all, merely existing as a homosexual can be seen as "promoting it".
Again, not if the laws about sodomy aren't actually enforced. It would be analogous to drug laws not being enforced, except in cases of advertising where to buy drugs.
What you are doing is using the fact homosexuality is in fact a constructed identity
So we're in agreement then: there is no such thing as being "gay."
(and here you parroting the words of Foucault who himself was a Western imaginary-homosexual)
Indeed, his work is quite good, and should be widely read.
and creating apologia for queer repression based off in it.
The only thing that is being "repressed" is the promotion of a Western created identity that isn't real. Actual homosexual sex seems easily obtainable by anyone who knows where to look in these countries, and the legal risks are minimal, but exaggerated by imperialist media to get "Left" audiences on board bombing countries that don't have an 'enlightened' view on Western created identities that aren't real.Georgia is one of the 28 states in the US that legalized the use of medical marijuana. And on March 1st, the state passed a bill that would expand its laws, particularly for the list of illnesses and other medical conditions that would be qualified for treatment.
This new development serves as advancement in terms of marijuana laws in the United States, that despite its ban on a federal level, more and more states continue to open themselves up to more possibilities.
House Bill 65
Lawmakers came to agreement with House Bill 65, which now covers the treatment of autism, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, HIV, autoimmune disease, Tourette’s Syndrome, epidermolysis bullosa, and peripheral neuropathy. According to this report, it was state Rep. Allen Peake of Macon that sponsored the said bill, which was backed up by the Senate.
It is made clear, however, that the law is centered on the oil form of cannabis, with very low THC, the component that gives off the psychoactive effects. In 2015, Georgia’s law on medical marijuana allows registered patients to possess as much as 20 ounces of cannabis oil to use as treatment for ailments such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and cancer. And as far as the substance goes, it can only contain up to five percent of THC.
Leaving it Up to the People
Prior to the ruling and passing of House Bill 65, lawmakers in Georgia let their citizens themselves decide on whether or not their marijuana laws should be amended. According to a mid-January report, Rep. Macon first filed the petition to set up a statewide poll to legalize the distribution and cultivation of cannabis for medical use.
However, the expected adverse reactions to the proposal immediately came in, despite the fact that the medical marijuana law was already engaged in 2015. Governor Nathan Deal, who signed the law, maintained his stance against cultivation, citing that the industry “would not be able to be kept under control.” Regional director Virginia Galloway, on the other hand, believes the state’s cannabis laws put the substance “in a dangerous place.”
But the same could not be said for Georgia citizens, who according to a poll conducted at the time, were more in favor of the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes. According to Morgan Fox, a representative for the people lobbying for legislative approval, the support from the public has already been “several steps ahead” of lawmakers’ support. Indeed, it led to the passing of House Bill 65 a month and a half later.
Cannabis Still Banned Under Federal Law
Despite the leniency of more than half of US states, cannabis use is still classified as a banned substance on a federal level. According to this report in August 2016, even those who are advocating for the legalization of medical marijuana have been met with major disappointment, as the federal government decided to keep the substance catalogued as a Schedule 1 drug.
Substances classified under such a ruling simply indicate that they have no medicinal value whatsoever. This ruling comes despite the countless of research done to prove otherwise. According to a DEA evaluation at the time, cannabis’ chemistry is “not known and reproducible” and that there are “no adequate safety studies.”
The DEA also stated that cannabis bears a “high potential for abuse” which could then lead to psychological dependence. They pointed out that in 2012, 19 million people in the United States alone consumed marijuana on a monthly basis, and that 4.3 million people were classified as “marijuana dependent.”
In conclusion
Many would see how Georgia’s move to further enhance its medical marijuana laws to be a byproduct of forward thinking. After all, House Bill 65 was meant to cater to ailing individuals who see |
order of the normal five stages of loss and recovery, I guess). Anger lead to action after I wondered: Could I determine the identity of the Dark Web users who chose to use the anonymous Tor service for illicit purposes?
TECH BACKGROUND: The Dark Web spider
The PHP web crawler consists of five stages: (1) quick site connectivity test, (2) crawl a limited number of uncrawled websites, (3) attempt to re-crawl sites that have recently errored, (4) attempt to re-crawl sites that errored in the last 24 hours, (5) attempt to re-crawl sites that errored during the past week.
The crawl job pulls URLs from a MySQL database which began with a single seed site URL. As new URLs are found, they are added to the database which records the date/time of the connection attempt, ticks error counters, and derives a few parsed data fields related to categorization of the content discovered.
SIGINT signals are caught so that the job can gracefully perform shut down processing when a termination is requested. New URLs are validated and cleaned. Non-onion related sites are kicked out. For legal reasons, I specifically reject links to images and take care not to pull down binaries during the crawl.
Curl is used to proxy between Tor and HTTP. User Agent and Referrer strings are forged and passed to the target in an attempt to avoid being detected as an automated spider.
The Dark Web honeypots
How Tor works
Before delving too deeply into the honeypot configurations, a quick rehash of Tor is needed. Tor, or The Onion Router, is a network consisting of tens of thousands of volunteer computers which together, provide a distributed anonymous network. Data packets on the Tor network take a pseudo-random pathway through several “relays” that serve to cover your tracks by ensuring that no observer at any single point in the circuit can tell where the data came from or where it is going.
To create a private network pathway with Tor, the user’s client software incrementally builds a “circuit” of encrypted connections through the relays on the network. The circuit is extended, one hop at a time, and each relay along the way knows only which relay gave it the data packet and which relay it is to hand the data packet off to. With this architecture, no single relay ever knows the complete path that a data packet has taken.
In addition, the client negotiates a separate set of encryption keys for each hop along the circuit to ensure that no single hop can view (and trace) these connections as they pass through. Thus, all data passing through the network is wrapped in an encrypted packet with multiple layers of encryption added incrementally, like layers in an onion, as the packet passes through a Tor node.
As a part of the Tor protocol, anonymous websites can be configured which are offered the same anonymity the Tor network provides its users. These anonymous websites are called “hidden services”.
Three honeypots: counterfeiting, drugs, and pedophilia
Three Tor hidden service honeypots were created, each strongly hinting that illegal content lie behind a secure “locked door”. The three websites (drugs, counterfeiting, and pedophilia) were then seeded in the Dark Web spider report described above and flagged so they would never be marked as “offline” or “inactive” in the nightly Dark Web crawl. The faux-websites were then seeded on two additional Dark Web sites (each on a different site, typically in the comments area of the site’s forum).
None of the honeypot websites contained any illegal content. Since I am not a legal authority (nor an expert in the law), I had to scale back the content. No illegal pictures nor files existed on any of the sites. In fact, each site contained exactly one image – a decorative background image to give the site a bit of flair (hidden service sites are notoriously lean and “ugly”). None of the honeypot sites explicitly *offered* to provide illegal content and instead, served to lure the user in by a vague promise of what may be found behind the locked door. Admittedly, lack of genuine content was a huge disadvantage over a FBI-driven honeypot and likely the reason why some visitors did not apply for membership and quickly moved on after landing on the site’s home page.
The basics of a Tor hidden service honeypot (semi-technical explanation)
Here, in a nutshell, is how the honeypot was built. Techies: I give much more detail on the configuration and setup at the end of the article.
Hidden services running on a portable, virtual machine
The honeypot websites (hidden services) were hosted on a single Linux virtual machine masquerading (somewhat) as a firewalled Windows Server. This virtual configuration allowed for easy takedown and backup of the “machine”.
Use a supplemental Clearnet server
An external Clearnet (Internet) server (angelroar.com) was used to capture Clearnet data. Although accessing the Clearnet through a Tor connection does not reveal the user’s true IP address, it does remove one disadvantage of a Tor hidden service – the exit node IP address is not hidden from the web server. With this setup, if you can trick the user into visiting the Clearnet Internet site, you can use the Clearnet site’s log files to reveal the exit node IP address of the user’s Tor circuit.
Capture raw network packets
Network packets were captured and recorded upon arrival at the Tor server. This provides another means to determine the specific exit node IP address used in the circuit by matching the raw network packets (which contain the user’s exit node IP address) to the website’s activity log.
Proxies everywhere
Proxies come in many varieties and serve many different purposes. In essence, on a hidden services server, Tor itself is a type of proxy which sits between the end user and the web server. For the honeypot machine, I used proxy services placed both before and after the Tor service (in the network chain) in order to provide additional security (for the hidden service website), additional logging sources, and to provide the ability to manipulate the network data packets both before and after they travel through the Tor service.
Database, reporting interfaces, and custom reports
All log files, network packet captures, etc. were stored in a database via a product called Elasticsearch. Using a common data store provides categorization and query facilities for the captured data. This makes reporting and aggregation of data from various sources much easier to report off of.
Can you catch a pedophile on Tor?
The hidden service websites posed as new hidden service sites that were in the process of “coming online”. There was no direct mention of illegal content but it was strongly hinted that what they sought lie behind the curtain. For instance, counterfeit documents were simply referred to as documents, drugs as “product”, and pedophile content as “files”. Using suggestive site names and promoting a sense of secrecy was all it took to convince users that the content that was locked away behind the authentication system was what they were seeking. Thus, users were encouraged to register in order to see what lie behind the authorization system.
The websites were promoted with the promise of a safe, highly secure professional service operating under an tightly-controlled, selective membership process. One site’s tagline read:
“The objective is simple – provide a safe, friendly environment for like-minded people. Membership is selective – and strictly controlled.”
Attention to security is a somewhat different sell from other Dark Web sites which often seem chaotic and uncontrolled. Giving the site a polished look and feel while maintaining a lightweight footprint also hinted at a professionally designed service.
Tor inherently provides anonymity and secrecy – important attributes to the point of fanaticism for Tor users. Emphasizing a “new site” that focuses on security proved to be a great draw. The mention of a “friendly environment for like-minded people” struck a particularly strong chord with the pedophiles.
Potential “members” were told that they must register to access the product (files, chat forums, merchandise, etc.) and that membership was based on five levels. Higher level members were granted more access but to reach those levels, the potential member must complete more and more stringent “tests” to be granted access to the higher membership level and related website content.
All registered users were automatically started at a level 1 “membership level” and were provided more access than a user that had not logged into the site. For instance, content on the website changed after the user logged in and revealed more information about the service as their membership level rose. Also, registered users were given more detailed status updates and security notices than non-registered members.
The various methods used to capture the user’s identifying information were ratcheted up over time. As the days rolled on, more intrusive methods were introduced in an attempt to secure more information about the user while dangling the carrot of “exclusive membership” before them. This period of time allowed a sense of trust to be built between me and the site’s visitors. While they may not have liked the more intrusive methods introduced in order to secure the site, they seemed to appreciate that someone was taking the time to build a solution that took great care to guarantee their anonymity on the Dark Web.
At first, only login data and network packet captures were used to deduce the user’s identity. Later, link traps were introduced before finally introducing a “security scanner” as a requirement to gain the highest level of membership. Of course, in order to validate the client’s machine was secure, the security scanner took a snapshot of their personal computer system (minus 1 point for choosing to run the security scanner in the first place).
Admittedly, after introducing the security scanner, traffic patterns changed. Scans on the server dropped and some of the users who opted to run the software appeared to be government or private researchers. Most visitors were reluctant to run the security scanner but for those that did, their anonymity completely dropped. Around 4-7% of the daily registered users chose to run the scanner and thus, stepped outside of the Tor network and unequivocally revealed their true identity.
Lessons learned from the Tor Hidden Service honeypots
Traffic patterns
Pedophile traffic was shockingly high – magnitudes higher than traffic on the counterfeiting and drug honeypot sites. For instance, after the first five days, the counterfeiting site had two registrations while the faux-drug sales site saw six registrations. Both sites saw hundreds of visitors. The pedophile site however, saw several *thousand* visitors in just five days and brought in over 200 member registrations during its first few days of operation. In addition, the counterfeiting and drug websites saw no additional registrations after five days while the pedophile site continued serving content to over 1,000 visitors each day. By the end of the 14 day test, nearly 600 pedophiles had registered on the honeypot website.
Information the pedophiles freely supplied
Usernames and email addresses
The sites required an email address be used as the username. The reason for this requirement was not disclosed to the visitor leaving them to wonder if an email verification link was going to be used to validate their registration. Out of hundreds of registrations, only a single user complained about having to use their email address to register.
Given the sense of trust within the tight-knit pedophile community, and the site’s emphasis on “community”, “friendship”, and a high level of security, a surprising number of pedophiles freely provided their Clearnet email addresses as their username. The number of legit email addresses was astounding and in many cases, the registered users attempted to communicate with me through these email addresses (despite the fact that one of the conditions that I clearly stated throughout the websites were that I would never communicate with them via email). Note: in order to avoid communication via email, the honeypot sites contained internal messaging systems which provided a permanent record of all conversations – see details below.
On the other hand, a significant number of people provided anonymous email accounts and some obviously made up an email address just to get through the username validation.
Pedophile passwords
No validation requirements were placed on the password field leaving the user to pretty much enter whatever they wanted. Thus, in many cases the passwords were quite disturbing and often sexually suggestive (see samples at end of article). It was obvious that many used legit passwords, likely the same password they would use on other websites. Still, quite a few seemed to use “throwaway” passwords hinting that the user intended to review the site quickly and then move on or change their password to a more permanent password once they were convinced the site was legit.
Comments and suggestions
A “comments, suggestions, and preferences” field was included on the registration form. As with the email addresses and passwords collected, the comments were disturbing (see detailed discussion below). Many freely told me what type of content (i.e. victim) they preferred. Their crass and frank attitudes, as if all of this were perfectly normal, were deeply unsettling.
Information that the pedophiles leaked
Exit node IP address
The exit node IP address does not uniquely identify a visitor but rather, provides the endpoint used in the tor circuit. Regardless, I did find it was surprisingly difficult to determine the user’s exit node IP address from a hidden service web server.
The exit node IP address of the tor circuit was obtained using the two different methods discussed briefly above. The “link trap” method required an active click by the user. A link trap links the user to a Clearnet website where the exit node IP address of the particular circuit becomes easily visible and allows for capture of other information as well (browser version, operating system – all the typical data a Clearnet website can capture). Ironically, the link trap clearly linked to web services on another website that I own and operate – angelroar.com, a website for victims of child abuse.
The honeypot application programmatically created an exclusive custom link for each user that visited the page in order to provide the means to uniquely identify the visitor. This custom link was passed to the page hosted on the Clearnet Internet website in order to isolate the user that clicked through. The Clearnet site subsequently displayed a stock HTTP error on a plain white page in order to encourage the user to quickly “back arrow” through their browser history to take them back to the Tor site (hopefully, before noticing the URL was a Clearnet site). Normal traffic on the Clearnet site did not increase allowing me to deduce that most visitors did not recognize that they had been redirected to an off-Tor Internet website.
Network packet captures also provide the exit node IP address but since the packets are encrypted, there is no easy way to tie them to the website user once the packet reaches the webserver. The Tor network packets can be recognized however, particularly the SSL negotiation that occurs at the beginning of the Tor hidden service connection. Since traffic on a Tor website is low, the packets can be recorded and timing used to determine which packet corresponds to the HTTP web server traffic. A simple query against the Elasticsearch database that was filtered on time (to the millisecond) would tie the exit node IP address for the Tor circuit to the user’s browsing session.
Of course, the problem with exit nodes is that a substantial number are professionally hosted. Many hosts contribute hundreds of exit nodes to the Tor network. Often these hosts provide other anonymous services hinting that no logs are kept of the Tor exit node traffic and thus, guaranteeing anonymity for the user whose circuit is directed through their exit node. This scenario differs from a normal Tor-user who could expect a visit from legal authorities if illegal content passes through their exit node.
The pedophile’s true IP address
A “security scanner” was offered to registered users and described as a Tor security test to ensure the client’s configuration was secure and correctly configured (a requirement placed on the user before being granted a higher membership level). The premise behind this requirement was pitched as this:
“Nobody is granted higher level access to the site until they have proven that their client configuration is safe, secure, with no leaks. A weak client puts everyone at risk.”
The scanner is a simple Windows program which grabs network configuration information from the client machine along with the login username, running processes, software installed, and a sample of filenames from the user’s My Pictures folder. Indeed, analysis of these items could be used to determine whether a user’s machine configuration were secure and worthy of elevated access to the website (in one instance I saw signs of malware running on the user’s computer and in another instance, picture file names suggesting a professional researcher). Not only is the collected information related to client security measurement, but it reveals without question, the true identity of the user including their PC footprint, Windows username, real name, true IP address, internal network IP address (if on a home or business network), and much more.
Since site visitors were already providing their Clearnet email addresses, real names, and clicking through the Clearnet link trap, I shouldn’t have been surprised that they would also choose to execute the security scanner. During each of the last five days, about 4-7 percent of the daily registered users opted to run the security scan leaking their real name and true external IP address. Had I been the FBI, they would have been caught.
The disturbing details pedophiles revealed
Pedophiles operate within their own tight online communities
In just two weeks, I discovered much that I had not known about pedophile behavior. For instance, pedophiles form their own tight-knit communities and within those communities, a deep sense of trust is developed. Despite visitors knowing nothing about my new website, I managed to invoke this sense of trust in many of the visitors. One user mentioned not hearing about the website in “the usual forums”, my first clue that they operated within their own trusted online communities on the Dark Web.
jetspizza@sigaint.org: Looking for a new community, others are stale.
Humphreez@mail2tor.com: I am interested in a place where I can share some of my uploads and communicate with other like minded people with similar interests.
Pedophiles have their own slang
In more than one instance, the pedophiles slang caught me off-guard and left me puzzled. Some of their slang was easy to figure out. Other terms were just bizarre. Below are several of the slang terms used by the pedophiles when communicating with me.
CP – child pornography – was easy enough to figure out
amy1234567@fuck.com: give me cp
PTHC – Preteen hardcore.
beso**esta@hotmail.com: i found a good pthc streaming site the other nite and want MORE
TK – Toddler/Kindergarten
anonymous@anonymous.com: [like] tk, lolitas.
Lolita – 6-10 year olds
jon_doe60@yahoo.com: adore lolitas elen***son.ar@gmail.com: I love lolita
Nu or nubile – older sexually mature teenager
jones***@gmail.com: I prefer young but developed nubile girls 14 and up
Hebe – “hebe” was the ancient Greek god of youth. It means “youth” or “prime of life”. It also refers to hebephilia, the sexual preference to girls of ages 11 through 13 (pre-teen ages).
awesome**@gmail.com: Happy Hebe!
taken2@nothere.com: hebe girls are good
PT – In pedophile slang, “pt” refers to pre-teens or early “hebe’s”.
JB – “jb” refers to “just budding”, a reference to a female body in the early stages of puberty, or “jailbait”.
In this particularly disturbing case, a father of three hints that he is willing to share pictures of his children.
npt@hotmail.com: hi im a married dad of 3, i prefer girls from pt to jb. I’m looking forward to joining in and sharing in the community
Pedophiles have clearly defined sexual preferences
I also found that pedophiles have clearly defined sexual preferences, particularly with regards to the age range of the victims – and they were quite eager to share these preferences with me.
noo**man@hotmail.ru: [I like] girls 11-14
jchall321**@hotmail.com: 10 – 12 yo girls penetration
gio@gmail.cn: Girls 10 yo
ybdiqrgq@guerrillamailblock.com: I like girls age 8-13
ronjeremy@safe-mail.net: 5-10 yo
svendros**t@gmail.com: girls, 6-12
ghsfgyb@sfh.nlt: girls 6 -14
drey**@net.com: 3-10 age
taikhoanmu**@yahoo.com: love young girls
biguccel**@outlook.com: like baby pussy
Many visitors to the site appeared to be active pedophile predators
Several visitors to the pedophile honeypot did more than look at pictures – many actively abuse children. Apparently some pedophile sites offer means for pedos to “date”, “sell”, or “trade” children with each other as evidence by visitors who asked for a “dating service” to lure children in.
ukkinky@safe-mail.net : Will you offer dating??
Many visitors offered photos from their “private collection” as a means to bribe me for entrance to the website. They took care to note that the material they were offering me was original. One pedophile even sent me a link to a picture of a “young New York girl” that he took (I did not click through).
mcloll**@gmail.com: Have original mat approve me 🙂
whinceypuffi**@gmail.com: Let me in please.i have original mat
andreiovi**@gmx.com: Want to look around to see what I can offer you.
The results were surprising, and alarming (I guess I secretly hoped that pedophiles sought pictures and nothing more). Unfortunately, I later researched and found a Mayo study (further supported by a later federal prison study) which found that more than 3/4 of persons convicted of possessing child pornography admitted to actively molesting children. Thus my dream of a slightly less-evil world was shattered.
The end of the experiment (what a relief – it’s over)
Rather than alert the hidden service visitors to the true purpose of the site, after 14 days, the honeypot sites were shutdown with no notice and no explanation. No matter how much I wanted to act on my anger and scare the holy shit out of those who had been identified, I decided to depart quietly and leave the playing field open for authorities and other security researchers.
Note: Stepping on the toes of legal authorities or impeding ongoing investigations should always be a concern for honeypot operators. On two different occasions I contacted legal authorities about the project and offered to provide full sets of data that had been collected. The first contact was before the hidden services went online (at which time I reported a few pedophiles sites that the Dark Web spider had uncovered), the second contact a few days before the hidden services were shut down (at which time I notified them that I was about to take the Dark Web pedophile honeypot offline with the intent to hand over the VM and/or data collected during the project if they were interested).
Retrospection
To date I have not brought the honeypots back online. The Tor host file and private key were deleted just in case the hidden services accidentally went online when I started the VM and thus, the website addresses are gone forever. In retrospect, here are items I would have done differently or will do differently if I ever decide to kick the project back off again.
Add an additional “legit” hidden services site
In retrospect, I should have added a fourth “legit” website against which I could have measured non-criminal Tor traffic. Many Tor supporters of course, disliked this project (and told me so), believing it intended to blacken Tor’s eye (it did not). A more balanced array of hidden services would have lent credence to my claim that the Tor network is widely abused.
Monitor a pool of Tor nodes
This one’s tricky since I’m not familiar enough with Tor’s traffic patterns. Still, having a variety of host machines available, it would be interesting to implement and monitor a pool of Tor nodes and attempt to coordinate traffic across the nodes (packet counting, timing, etc.). I’m just not sure how many nodes it would take, how beneficial owning both entry and exit nodes would be, and/or how long they’d have to run to produce results.
Put up a functioning chat board with uploads disabled
Given more time, a functioning (but moderated) chat board could have provided additional information without drawing too much suspicion. Uploads of course, would have been disabled and promoted as a feature of a higher membership level.
TECH BACKGROUND: Honeypot configuration
Linux on a VMWare virtual machine
The server ran a secure Linux variant (Debian) on a VMWare virtual machine. The server included a copy of a “hacking installation” chock full of hacking and penetration testing tools that I could quickly invoke if needed.
Firewalled (lightly)
Although the server was hardened, I wanted to allow some hack attempts through. Thus the firewall was left loosely configured with the understanding that I would rely on the IDS systems to capture and report malicious network traffic.
Bro, Snort, and OSSEC IDS systems
Three different IDS systems were used. Bro provides good, configurable alerts and programmatic access. All Bro alerts were sent to the Elasticsearch database.
Snort was run in promiscuous mode, capturing low level detail from the network packets. Barnyard was used to parse Snort’s binary packets and to insert the results into the Elasticsearch database.
Finally, OSSEC IDS was used to alert me to any true malicious traffic.
A fourth pseudo-IDS, a custom programmed alert system, was operated at the application level. The applications within the honeypot website watched for certain events and user actions (including CSRF attacks, of which I saw a few) and used this custom IDS to inject messages into a log file which was also fed into the Elasticsearch database.
Squid proxy
A squid proxy placed before Tor allowed the examination and manipulation of packets before they entered Tor. I had originally intended to inject the exit node IP address into the header using Squid.
Tor hidden services
Tor was configured to point to three different virtual web servers. Initially Scallion was used to generate a custom vanity URL for the Tor hidden service but in the interest of portability (users were told that for security reasons, the onion address of the website would be rotated every 90 days), I decided to use Tor’s generated hidden service key and address instead.
Tor, acting as a proxy, passes its traffic to the web server service. Since traffic arriving at the web service comes from the Tor proxy, the IP address is lost. In other words, the only way the web server can communicate to the Tor client is via the Tor proxy. This provides great anonymity for the client but makes analysis on the server side more difficult.
Pound proxy
Pound, a security-focused proxy service, was placed after Tor to allow examination and manipulation of the packets after they exited Tor (just before they were delivered to the web service).
Web server
Four virtual web servers were run through a single web service – three fake hidden service websites and one Clearnet admin interface for reporting and monitoring.
Two other web servers (Apache and nginx, aka Engine X) were installed and used for services such as Elasticsearch, Kibana, and Graylog2 web reporting interfaces.
Elasticsearch
All logs were sent to Elasticsearch, either directly from the logging application or via a intermediate utility such as Barnyard (for conversion and insertion of Snort binary logs). In many instances, raw versions of the logged events and/or network packet captures were also stored (redundantly) in a MySQL database.
Graylog2 and Kibana for reporting and dashboards
Most proxy services (e.g. Bro, Snort, Barnyard) had to be configured to parse their traffic into discrete fields that could be stored in the Elasticsearch database. Then Graylog2 and Kibana web interfaces were used to further parse, query, sort, and filter the data elements sent from the various proxy services.
Misc. services
Firewall status, website log, and server resources (CPU, memory, and network traffic) were actively monitored in real-time throughout the project.
Since the machine (a VM) was shutdown (briefly) quite often (primarily for frequent backups although the website users were told I was conducting security tests), startup scripts were used and each service scheduled to start on bootup.
Custom code framework
All three of the hidden service websites used a common code framework. The site’s colors, headers, and frequently used information (e.g. site name, description) were easily changeable via configuration parameters in order to give each site a somewhat unique appearance. All custom code (e.g. messaging, logging, registration and login, etc.) was shared between the sites and each site given a unique identifier. Each record inserted into the database was tagged with this unique identifier in order to delineate which site the recorded activity occurred on.
TECH BACKGROUND: the honeypot traps and supporting software
Custom IDS log
A custom IDS log was used to record each time a visitor hit the site, when they log in, and to capture data from any malicious hacking attempts. Attempts to hack the site were much less common that I had anticipated. A few CSRF attacks were attempted and of course there were a few port scans. On at least one occasion, I suspected a light DOS attack was attempted. From user comments, I could tell that a handful of visitors were noble hackers looking to take down a pedophile site.
As with the other IDS system, all alerts were sent to the Elasticsearch database where Graylog2 and Kibana made it easy to categorize and view results.
Login information
Login information captured the visitors username (email address), password (saved in cleartext for research purposes), name (on occasion it appears as if they supplied their real name), and opportunity to pass along comments, suggestions and preferences.
A custom report was created to allow easy monitoring of new registrations and user logins.
Messaging
Each hidden service website emphasized that I would not communicate via email – not even anonymous email. A custom messaging system was used on each website. Messages sent through the “contact me” form were tagged with user login information. Responses to these messages were entered through an administrative interface and delivered to the end user via a “messaging” panel located on the sidebar of each page. With a design such as this, I had an easy means to record and save each conversation as well as providing an intermediary interface to isolate me from outside attacks or potential leaks.
IDS systems and network packet captures
Bro, Snort, and OSSEC IDS (intrusion detection systems) were installed. Snort ran in promiscuous mode to capture detailed packet information. Barnyard was used to parse the packets and insert into the Elasticsearch database.
Bro proved most useful for this project. It is easy to configure and flexible, allowing me to dictate which types of alerts were included in the service’s compilation and what type of data should be captured.
Link traps
The link traps captured just under 1,000 Tor exit node IP addresses gleaned from an active user click on a link on the site’s FAQ page (e.g. “Click here for samples”). When the FAQ page loaded, the link was generated with a unique identifiers. Each time the page that included the link trap was loaded, the identifier was generated and inserted into a MySQL database on the Tor machine.
The link pointed to a Clearnet website which recorded all browser and network traffic information into another MySQL database on the Clearnet machine. Each record recorded in the Clearnet database was keyed with the unique identifier passed from the Tor site.
An hourly Cron job ran to reconcile and consolidate the results. The job, a PHP application (I’m a C# programmer by trade so this project provided much needed PHP practice), used a web service on the Clearnet machine to retrieve the database results, match the record from the Clearnet host to the corresponding Tor host record. If the link was never clicked (leaving an “empty” record in the Tor host database), it was purged automatically after a couple of hours.
A custom report was written to allow easy viewing of link trap results.
Offsite web services
Offsite web services were used to communicate with the Clearnet host. The link trap mentioned above and the security scanner discussed below utilized these web services.
The Security Scanner
After 12 days of operation, the final and most intrusive attempt to trap user information was introduced. A small Windows program was written to pop as a small window which displayed “scan progress and results”. A long intro was displayed when the program started up. This intro explained what the scanner would do and noted that the user had the option to cancel out of the scan at any time. What was not mentioned however, was that the scan ran while they were reading the intro. The option to cancel merely flagged the scan results as “cancelled” and would have purged them from the database had anyone actually attempted to cancel the scanner program. During its operation, only a single person cancelled out of the scanner (and they quickly returned to run it again to completion).
The security scanner provided a security snapshot and unique footprint of the machine. All of the information from the scan was delivered to a remote Clearnet server via a web service where it was recorded in a database on the Clearnet host. Another web service was used by a scheduled job on the Tor host to retrieve the results, parse the data, and store the results in a database on the Tor server where they could be manually reviewed.
A report was created to allow easy viewing of the data. Items recorded included the machine’s true external IP address and host name, the internal IP address (e.g. 192.168.*.*), the OS and version, number of CPUs, user domain, all local networking interfaces and their IP addresses, the Windows username of the logged in user, a list of drive devices and their status, the path to the browser’s cookie file, all installed software on the machine, all running processes on the machine, and a sample of filenames from their My Pictures directory.
It should be pointed out that this was *not* malware. It did not retrieve passwords or a list of Windows users, did not replicate, and in fact, was run voluntarily by the user. The user was informed that a “security scan” was going to be run on their machine and in an effort to gain access to the secured content, they freely chose to run the scan. Also, nothing secret or permanent was installed on the machine during the execution of the scanner application.
Updates
Update (7/9/15): I have received comments from Tor supporters and project leaders expressing concern over the headline of this post. Before assuming the headline says it all, please read the entire article. The headline *does* reflect my underlying feelings, disappointment that the anonymity provided by the Tor network is being widely abused, but does not imply I feel the network is without purpose. I run Tor myself, operate a hidden service (legit), run a private VPN on several machines, and use encryption all over the place. Tor provides a beneficial, possibly even crucial, service – but I firmly believe that if we continue to hide our heads in the sand, we may well lose the right to utilize it.
Update (12/7/15): And so it begins… According to French newspaper Le Monde, authorities in Paris are considering banning the use of TOR. It would be one of a range of measures passed in response to last month’s terror attacks. As I stated months before, if we allow the abuse of tor, we could lose it.
Update (1/23/16): When news broke this week that the FBI had been running a confiscated dark web pedophile site in 2015, I noticed that their means differed only slightly from mine – they planted malware (they refer to it as not-so-evil NIT) on the user’s machine without their knowledge while my honeypot explained exactly what the software was going to do (scan their machine). Still, I was a bit disappointed with the FBI’s results. The numbers they released seemed a bit bogus to me, especially given the web site’s preexisting user base.
I cannot say I was surprised that the FBI was running a honeypot around the same time as I was. When I brought down the pedophile honeypot last year, I did not reveal all of the story. Firstly, as I mentioned in the article, I had contacted the FBI twice during my two-week run and each contact was ignored. I figured either they did not want to draw attention to the issue or they simply didn’t care. In retrospect, I now see that they would not have wanted to promote the news that dark web users can be tracked.
Secondly, shortly after running this article, I was contacted by the editor of a major news organization. In their initial contact, the indicated they were interested in running a piece on the pedophile honeypot. A few days after the initial contact, we spoke on the phone and I was told they had decided to not run the story. The editor explained that they had talked to their “consultant” who had personal contacts within a major nation-wide law enforcement agency. The consultant “suggested” to the media outlet, that unless my honeypot resulted in arrests, they should not run the story. As quickly as the media organization expressed keen interest in the story, they killed it. I had the feeling at the time that something was going on – either an INTERPOL or FBI operation. The news released this week reveals it was both.
Supporting technical information
Sample of link traps (exit node IP addresses used in the Tor circuit)
176.10.99.205 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/31.0 176.10.99.205 2015/06/24 14:06:56 5.175.221.164 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/31.0 started.namedhumanoid.com 2015/06/24 17:58:25 142.4.213.25 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/31.0 heaven.tor.ninja 2015/06/24 18:06:24 37.130.227.133 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/31.0 torland1-this.is.a.tor.exit.server.torland.is 2015/06/24 18:44:48 91.51.190.145 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko p5B33BE91.dip0.t-ipconnect.de 2015/06/24 18:46:50 77.109.141.138 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/31.0 spftor1e1.privacyfoundation.ch 2015/06/24 18:48:47 77.109. |
be found by the same method.-Quick reply to a whisper sent to you is Ctrl-Enter-To link an item CTRL-ALT and click said item.Generally, as with other previous arpgs your first build might feel very strong early on only to result in you getting dispatched handily in the later zones/difficulties. This trial and error is a necessary to develop a complex long lasting game so as to not trivialize everything (don't be discouraged if you end up having to create a 2nd character, hell that's one of the best parts of the game but, can be frustrating for a brand new player). A few tips I can lend here, you can get away with for the most part speccing pretty much all damage up until mid to late act 2, at which point you're going to want to start grabbing some life/resistance nodes as you need them. There are currently three difficulties in the game, Normal, Cruel, and Merciless. As you progress to each new difficulty your resistances will drop by 20 into cruel, and another 40 into merciless. It's not a bad idea to keep a few, two or three skill points, available if you start struggling. Also as you progress you will receive "Books of Regret" which will allot one or two passive refund points, you will receive 18 by the time you have full beat the game (maybe more with introductions of new quests in release) and there are also regret orbs a one time usable currency which grants 1 passive re-spec point!The passive web (tree does not do it justice) can be brought up by pressing "P" or clicking the "+" icon that comes up as you level your character.It can also be found here for planning purposes http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree hit F to make it larger.OVERWHELMING doesn't even start to describe this thing the first time you gaze upon it. However, it's actually not that confusing at all, and by level 20 or so you will have a fair understanding of how it works and where you want to go. Basically you're trying to get to the larger nodes "Keystones", medium nodes "Notable Passives" and finding the best route to them is what you want to focus on.Most will be rewarded after quests (which class you pick determines which gem rewards you will receive, not all classes get all gems from rewards, however you will receive duplicates and most can be traded for gems from another class). They can also drop within the game (some are drop only). There are Green Blue and Red and will only slot into their appropriate socket colors. Green gems require Dex, Red Str, Blue Int, and some have a requirement of two stats. The ability to level a gem or to keep it at it's current level. This was asked thousands of times a day probably the only reason leveling a gem would be a bad idea is if the new requirements of the gem are too high for your character. Gem requirements include the stats listed previously, mana cost, and character level, every level the gem increases, these increase as well. Most gems you will want to level all the way but there are a few that you may not need for the damage (leap slam) and just use for the mobility so keep at level 1, one example.Here's where things start getting really interesting, say you make a witch your first gem will be fireball. A single fireball is shot that does moderate dmg and low aoe dmg in a very small area, by adding a support gem such as lesser multiple projectiles((lmp) turns one projectile into 3 and damage is reduced) well now you'll be shooting three and hitting more mobs than you were before, essentially doing more damage despite the lowered damage from the gem itself. Keep in mind to make use of a support gem the two or more sockets must be linked together. Simply putting a fireball gem and a LMP gem in one piece of gear will do nothing unless the two are linked together. And this applies to every support gem in the game, 1 skill can be supported multiple times (fireball + lmp + critical strike chance + faster casting) but keep in mind that ALL gems must be linked in this case and usually, any support added to a skill gem will increase it's casting cost.Any gem can be dropped with anywhere from 5%-20% quality, many gems qualities vary but all are useful in someway. The Gem Cutter's Prism will add a level of quality to any gem (GCP)These are your "potions". They can be crafted like every other item in the game and are very important late game. Flasks refill their charges when you kill enemies. They also refill fully on leveling up and going back to town.Some of these you won't use until high levels but having an idea of what's what is good so you don't rip yourself off.(in order of rarity)Each of these add quality to either an armor piece, a weapon, or a flask. 5% per on white items, 2% on blue, 1% on rares/uniques. These increase the base damage and armor of the item, would not increase spell damage if used on a wand for example but would increase wands physical attack.(trans)Makes the item magical(blue).(aug)Adds an affix to a blue item. So if an item only has one stat, aug will add another to it, blue items cannot have more than 2 mods.(alt)Re-rolls a blue item with new properties.(chrome)Randomizes the colors of the sockets on an item.(Jew)Randomizes the number of sockets on an item. The maximum amount of sockets an item can have is based on it's item level.(Chance, OoC)Makes the item magical rare or unique. Must be white item.(Chisel, Chis, c)Adds quality to map in the same fashion as Armor/Whetstones/Baubbles do. You'll figure this out later on maps are endgame.(Fuse)Randomizes the links on an item. Links between sockets, if an item has 6 sockets it can have 5 links in between them (extremely rare)(Alch)Makes the item rare. Must be used on a white item. You will use a lot of these on your first character.(Scour)Makes the item a white item. I don't think this works on uniques. Useful for crafting, also sell to vendor with skill gem to lower level by 1.(Blessed)Re-rolls the inherent stats on an item. Ex. Leather belts have a base of life it's the first stat listed on the item. It ranges from 25-40 blessed will re-roll this value.(Regret, OoR)Grants one passive skill re-spec point. If you've goofed something in your build eat one of these and you can redo one point per use.(Chaos, C)Re-rolls a rare item, completely new item all randomized stats that meet the required items level.(Regal)Adds a random affix to a blue item. Good for many reasons, even better opportunity to craft the perfect item right from a blue base, more expensive in the long run. Also used in rolling maps(GCP)Adds 1% quality to a gem. Gems gain bonuses not only per lvl but also per quality, quality maxes at 20% and gems drop with anywhere from 5%-20%. Using a GCP on a non quality gem will give you just a 1% gem and is not advised. Leveling a gem to 20 (no quality) and selling it and a GCP at the vendor results in a level 1 20% quality gem. There are many more vendor recipes I will provide a link at the end.(Ex, Exa, Exalt)Adds a random property to the item. Used to make the best items in the game, along with the Eternal Orb to get those perfect stats. Items can have 3 prefix and 3 suffix.Divine Orb (Divine)Re-roll stats on the item. While rarer than Exalted Orb in terms of drops, still cheaper when it comes to trading. Item affixes are in groups ex. 1-4 fire damage 5-12 fire damage the higher level the item is dropped, the more pools it has to draw from. Divine will only re roll in the specified range, ex. +2 fire damage on an item if the mod is 1-4 fire this is all you have to work with, it won't go any higher. Poe Mods Here's a list of all of them (not 100% accurate but pretty close)Eternal Orb Creates an imprint of an item to be restored later. Basically gives you the opportunity to revert an item to when you used the orb on it if a bad craft happens.Mirror of Kilandra, creates a copy of a non unique item. If you find one of these you should have bought a lottery ticket cause it's about the same odds, rarest by far drop in the game.~~~There is SO much more to learn about the game and I am by no means an expert, but if this is well received I can continue the guide if players need it :) <3 Well met!~~~Resources for the future:If you have any questions @TiznaraN in game IGN @TiznaraN Last edited by TiznaraN on Oct 25, 2013, 5:55:53 PMScotland Yard launched a series of night-time raids on 23 London addresses after six months of evidence-gathering in its probe into the August riots.
The addresses were across the Stonebridge Estate in Harlesden, northwest London, and are linked to the "Thugs of Stonebridge" gang that took part in the summer disorder.
Those arrested in the raids were being held at police stations across London, while searches and police enquiries continue.
Police have seized items including phones and laptops, as well as a quantity of drugs.
"The Metropolitan Police is cracking down on gang crime in London to protect communities. We will continue to relentlessly pursue gangs and gang members through proactive operations and investigations such as this," Chief Superintendent Matthew Gardner said.
"These arrests also demonstrate our commitment to prosecute all those who took part in the London disorder."
On 9 August members of the gang were caught by police running away from two transit vans they are alleged to have been travelling in to go looting.
The 22 people were all arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary.
Of those arrested in 1 March's raids 14 are of the group of 22 arrested last summer.
Operation Withern, the Met's investigation into the capital's riots, has seen 4,019 arrests made so far.
There have been 754 custodial sentences dished out by judges, from 1,522 people sentenced for their roles in the riots.
Investigating officers still have around 45,000 hours of CCTV footage to trawl through on the hunt for everyone who took part in the unrest.
(Video: BNCTV North West London)THREE Brisbane Broncos players have been replaced in the Brisbane Broncos’ squad for tomorrow night’s match with the New Zealand Warriors.
Jack Reed, Daniel Vidot and Corey Oates will miss the game at Suncorp Stadium after being demoted to the Queensland Cup for breaching team protocol.
They will play with their State League clubs this weekend – Reed with Norths, Vidot with Ipswich, and Oates with the Central Capras.
“The players in question were out during the week of a game which is not the way we expect them to prepare for a match,” said Broncos’ coach Anthony Griffin.
“As a club we have certain standards that we expect our players to adhere to.
“They know they have done the wrong thing by the team.
“The responsibility now for them is to train and play hard and fight their way back into the team.”
The Broncos will train this evening with the team to be finalised at that session.PREMIER Denis Napthine has dismissed the Opposition's plans for 24-hour public transport services in Melbourne on weekends as a Labor "thought bubble".
Dr Napthine said the election pledge was a "high-cost proposal that isn't a key priority for public transport".
"People want new trains, they want new trams, they want additional services in peak hours," he said.
"That's what we are delivering."
Dr Napthine said the Night Rider buses already "provide 24-hour services in a safe manner".
The comments come after Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews announced a November poll pledge of a $50 million year-long trial of trains, trams and buses running through the night on Fridays and Saturdays.
As well as catering for Melbourne's late-shift workers and night owls, Labor's plan does not forget out-of-town visitors. Buses to regional centres will leave Southern Cross Station at 2am on Friday and Saturday nights.
Mr Andrews says its Homesafe transport trial will up and running by New Year's Eve in 2015.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Would you catch public transport in the early hours on a weekend? Who should pay for it? Leave your comment below or on twitter at #allweekendtransport
Trains will run through the night on Friday and Saturday across all lines, while trams will run to several destinations including St Kilda, Coburg, Bundoora, Port Melbourne, Carnegie, Box Hill and Vermont South.
The current NightRider buses will continue, with a focus on areas not serviced by rail, Mr Andrews said.
PSOs will continue to staff stations under the plan and there will be a Homesafe mobile app developed to tell people when the next service will run.
"Under Labor, Victorians will have transport options that have never before been available to them," Mr Andrews said.
"If you are a worker or have been out for the evening it's hard to get home from the city on Friday and Saturday nights.
"At the end of their shift or evening out we currently have a situation where people are either running for the last train, waiting hours for the first one, or trying to find a cab, it's not good enough," Mr Andrews said.
Mr Andrews said it was time that Melbourne caught up with international cities such as Berlin, New York and Chicago which already have 24-hour public transport services.
"A world-class, 24-hour city like Melbourne needs 24-hour public transport and Victorian Labor will make it happen. Labor will run trains, trams and buses all night, every weekend - a 24-hour service," Mr Andrews said.
Labor also plans to run a Homesafe shuttle service to regional centres which will see buses depart Southern Cross Southern Cross Station at 2am for Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Traralgon on Friday and Saturday nights.
Mr Andrews said that at the moment getting home to regional cities on Friday and Saturday nights is inconvenient, expensive or impossible.
"That's why Labor will provide extra late-night shuttles to regional cities and towns," he said.
"This means people from regional cities and towns in the city for the football, the tennis, or a show won't need to leave the city in a rush but be able to take their time and take the Homesafe Shuttle service at 2am.
He said that under Labor, getting home will be safer, easier and cheaper for everyone which would be good for the economy and our nightlife.
Labor Transport spokeswoman Jill Hennessy said that following the 12-month trial, which the party estimates will cost $50 million, it would review demand and structure the system accordingly.
"If passengers vote with their feet, 24-hour weekend public transport will be continued and expanded where necessary," Ms Hennessy said.
The Homesafe policy is Mr Andrews' second crack at a big transport vote-winner, following his pledge in November to sell the Port of Melbourne and use the money to remove 50 of Melbourne's worst level crossings. Labor will on Sunday launch TV advertisements spruiking its policy of removing those 50 level crossings.MOST people would agree that the crucifix that hangs prominently in Quebec’s provincial legislature is a Roman Catholic symbol. As such it should be banned under proposals Quebec’s government released on September 10th aimed at enshrining secularism in provincial law. But in the French-speaking province of 8.1m, where the majority still identify themselves as Catholics even if they no longer bother with church, removing the crucifix would be a step too far. So in its proposed ban on the display of “conspicuous” religious symbols in public buildings or by public employees, the ruling Parti Québécois made an exception for “items of cultural heritage”. Not surprisingly, these turn out to be Catholic.
As in France, which banned headscarves in classrooms in 2004 and veils in public places in 2010, the real target of the proposals is the tiny minority of non-Catholic Quebeckers who wear headscarves or turbans. As in France it has fuelled a divisive debate, in this case pitting Montreal, with most of Quebec’s 1m immigrants, against the rest of Quebec; Catholics against non-Catholics; and Quebec against the rest of Canada. Naheed Nenshi, the Muslim mayor of Calgary, called the charter “social suicide” and invited unhappy Quebeckers to move to Alberta.
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Still, there is political method in the seeming madness of the minority PQ government, led by Pauline Marois. The public does not support independence from Canada, the cause for which her party was founded. But French-speakers are permanently anxious about protecting their language and culture. Her attempt to impose stricter language rules was blocked by opposition parties. But opinion polls suggest that a “secularism” which makes concessions to Catholicism commands the support of a majority.
This is not the first time that religious issues have been a political football in Canada’s second-most-populous province. In 2007 the minority Liberal government of Jean Charest almost fell during a divisive debate about such issues. One involved a request by orthodox Jews that a Montreal YMCA frost its windows so children attending a nearby synagogue would not see people exercising in skimpy clothing. Others concerned decisions by two maple-syrup shacks (ie, restaurants) to accommodate Muslim customers by taking pork off the menu, and to allow a dance hall to be used temporarily as a mosque.
Mr Charest’s solution was to appoint a commission headed by two academics, Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor. They found that Quebec’s identity was not under threat. But they also suggested that the government spell out secular values, prohibit public servants with a coercive role, such as police or judges, from wearing religious symbols, and remove the crucifix from the legislative chamber, placing it instead in a museum in the National Assembly. The PQ proposal goes further by banning all public servants from wearing religious symbols. When details leaked last month Mr Taylor called them “Putinesque” and compared them to the crackdown on homosexuals in Russia.
Others say the charter is an awkward solution to a minor problem. For example, it is not clear whether long beards would be classed as a religious symbol, or whether Jews could claim that skullcaps are a symbol of cultural heritage. And as France knows, enforcing a ban on headscarves in classrooms can be difficult. Even Bernard Drainville, the PQ minister responsible for the charter, appeared flummoxed when asked whether the bible would still to be used to swear public oaths.
Philippe Couillard, whose opposition Liberals are riding high in the opinion polls, says the proposal puts fundamental freedoms at risk and will divide rather than unite Quebeckers. François Legault, leader of the third-party Coalition for the Future of Quebec, calls them “too radical”. Both accuse the government of creating a false crisis to avoid talking about the sluggish Quebec economy.
But Ms Marois has not spent more than three decades fighting in the PQ trenches without learning the power of identity politics. With her “secular” charter she may have found a winning issue. Some in Quebec believe that the legislative debate on the proposed ban will be followed by a snap election.Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
THIS weekend tens of millions of eyes will be glued to television screens as the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, which takes place in Arlington, Texas on February 6th. American aficionados of rugby union can only dream of the Croesian sums of money that are lavished on American football, a sport that vaguely resembles rugby in wimpish armour-plating. But although their resources are far more modest they have achieved some notable successes.
One of them has been to get young Americans engaged with the game. Last year almost 360,000 children played a non-contact form of the sport at school, according to USA Rugby, the sport's national governing body. That has helped raise rugby's profile: a study by America's Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) found that between 2007 and 2009 (the latest year for which data is available), it was the fastest-growing team sport in the country, outpacing rivals such as lacrosse and hockey. In 2009, says the SGMA, some 750,000 Americans played rugby, over 20% more than in 2007. “For the sport to be on our radar screen is a sign it's got some legs,” says Mike May, an executive at the association.
To bolster the game's appeal, USA Rugby is launching a college premier league next month that will see teams compete in four regional “conferences”, with the top two from each conference heading to playoffs in May. The league's promoters hope it will act as a magnet for high-school players, as well as introducing rugby to more students. “This represents an enormously powerful opportunity to promote rugby,” says Bill Campbell, an enthusiastic supporter of the game who happens to be chairman of Intuit, a technology giant.
The sport in America also stands to gain from the fact that a seven-a-side version of rugby (as opposed to the standard 15-a-side contest) will be included in the 2016 and perhaps the 2020 Olympic games. The last time rugby featured in the Olympics, back in 1924, America won the gold medal. Although a repeat performance is unlikely in five years' time in Rio de Janeiro, the prospect of representing the USA Eagles, as the national team is known, should attract more athletes to the game. Some impressive players already compete in an annual super league competition, which includes teams from some of America's 2,400-odd rugby clubs.
The notion of Olympic rugby has certainly piqued the interest of television executives. Long the preserve of cable channels, rugby is about to appear on network TV. NBC has acquired the rights to show games from this year's rugby World Cup and the next one in 2015. And it is planning to broadcast other matches too, including some from an international rugby sevens tournament taking place in Las Vegas later this month.
Those responsible for promoting rugby in America are confident that when more people see it, they will love it. “Americans like combat sports and good athletes,” says Nigel Melville, the head of USA Rugby. True. Yet they also have a penchant for sports that promote superstars and breed controversy, both on and off the field. With its emphasis on teamwork and fair play, rugby doesn't quite fit that mould.News that House Judiciary Committee staffers secretly collaborated on President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration order reverberated through the Capitol on Tuesday: Democrats denounced the arrangement, the GOP panel stonewalled and an outside ethics group requested an investigation.
And the man most on the hot seat over the unusual arrangement, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, was in full-on cleanup mode.
Story Continued Below
At a private GOP Conference meeting, Goodlatte tried to calm fellow Republicans who were incensed to learn that some of his aides helped craft Trump's immigration directive without telling him or GOP leaders about it. Publicly, Goodlatte and his staff refused to answer further questions about the arrangement, which was first reported by POLITICO on Monday.
Democrats, meanwhile, almost immediately began raising ethical concerns about nondisclosure agreements signed by the Judiciary aides — and questioned whether such work infringes on separation of powers.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke to Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers about the issue "and the two agreed their staffs would closely examine this matter given the conflicting accounts about Chairman Goodlatte’s role,” Drew Hammill, a Pelosi spokesman said in a statement. He was referring to questions about what exactly Goodlatte knew about his employees’ work for Trump’s transition team on the executive order.
Asked about the matter by Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) at the closed-door GOP session, Goodlatte said he gave his staff permission to advise the transition team. A committee spokeswoman, however, said Monday he did not know about the executive order specifically.
On Tuesday, panel aides refused to say how specifically the staffers contributed to the executive order, why they did not tell Republican leaders about their work and whether they took a leave of absence from their official duties to help the transition team.
Goodlatte told lawmakers during the conference meeting that his aides merely gave policy advice and did not know anything about the timing of the executive order or its final contents.
“To be clear, while they gave advice to the new administration, they did not have decision-making authority on the policy,” Goodlatte said in a statement. “The final decision was made at the highest levels of the Trump administration… My staff had no control of the language contained in the President’s executive order, the timing of the announcement, the rollout and subsequent implementation, and the coordination with Congress.”
Goodlatte's comments appear to conflict with those made by the White House. A senior administration official told reporters on Sunday that “Republicans on Capitol Hill wrote" the order and "the top drafters of this were the top immigration experts on Capitol Hill.”
In a letter Tuesday to the Office of Congressional Ethics, an outside ethics group called the Campaign for Accountability asked the independent watchdog to investigate whether the arrangement broke federal laws or House rules.
“Employees of the United States House of Representatives are duty-bound to serve Members of Congress and the Americans who elected them," the group's acting executive director, Daniel Stevens, said in a statement. "It appears that these House staffers surreptitiously worked on issues for the President-elect, and perhaps later the White House, without even telling the members for whom they worked."
Senior Democrats and lawmakers on the Judiciary panel, meanwhile, began raising ethical concerns amid the confusion. Of particular concern are confidentiality agreements the staffers signed at the request of Trump’s transition operation.
“I'm very concerned that Judiciary Committee Republicans may have worked to write President Trump's illegal Muslim ban and agreed to conceal their role through a nondisclosure agreement,” said Judiciary Committee member Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) “Congress is supposed to be a transparent check on the president. Not a shadowy accomplice to un-American policy.”
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) was dismayed House GOP staffers were advising Trump officials at all.
“We are an independent [body]; we’re not an arm of the administration,” the Maryland Democrat told reporters. The news “ought to be very concerning to every member of the Congress of the United States, Republican or Democrat, that you’ve got staff members doing something for the administration without telling their principals.”
Republicans, for the most part, seemed eager to move past the drama. Speaker Paul Ryan seemed annoyed by a question about the matter at a news conference, telling a reporter, “As you know, we weren’t involved in this.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said after the conference meeting that Goodlatte characterized the staffer work as “no big deal.”
“We had various staff members helping the Trump transition team since after he’s secured the nomination,” Cole said. “I don’t think there was any sort of effort to go behind our back.”
Nondisclosure agreements, Cole said, don’t “bother me” — though he added that executive actions “ought to be done in an open and collaborative way.”
Likewise, Rep. Chris Collins of New York, a top Trump ally, said it’s natural that Republican Hill staffers would help out the new administration — and argued it’s proper to keep those policies confidential.
“If Hill folks are involved in the inner workings of what would be confidential until they’re released by the president,” Collins said, “I would think it is quite appropriate to say: this is private until the president releases it."Shipping Weight 2800.00 g
The Integral Tactical Observer shelter bivy is easy to get in and out either through the zip back top panel (fully covered by no-see-um netting) or through the front triangular door which also zips down to provide 270 degrees of observation. The Observer's wide floor and 76cm of maximum headroom provide plenty of space for occupant and gear, for getting dressed, packing gear or spending some down time in during a bad weather day, and is big enough to hold two people at a squeeze. Offering plenty of ventilation through the large awning covered mesh foot vent, The Observer Bivy is manufactured to military specification from heavy duty trilaminate ePTFE fabric in Woodland camo fabric with a black 200 D oxford nylon floor.
Integral Tactical Observer Bivy Specs:
Length: 2.54m (8ft 4")
Width: 107 cm (42") at shoulders tapering to 76 cm (30") at foot
Height: 76 cm (30") at shoulders, 63.5 cm (25") at thigh, 68.5 (27") at foot
Weight: 2.1 Kg (4.75 lbs)
Packed size: 51cm x 20cm diameter (20" x 8")
MADE IN CANADA
Warning: When using Integral Tactical's single wall tents and bivys, always leave a six inch gap in the zipper to allow adequate air passage. Silcoat, the fabric used for Integral's tarps and stuff sacks, is highly flammable, keep it clear of any direct flame and all heat sources.The Dem charge of a “GOP war on women” is getting a boost this morning, with the news that Scott Walker has quietly overturned Wisconsin’s equal pay law. As HuffPo reports, Walker has signed a measure repealing the 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act, which is designed to deter employers from discriminating against workers by giving them an easier way to challenge discrimination in the courts.
Business goups support repeal on behalf of “job creators,” but Dems have denounced the move, claiming it will badly limit women’s access to a remedy against unfair pay and will “turn back the clock on women’s rights in the workplace.”
This could loom large in the battle to recall Walker — injecting women’s issues into that contest — but it may also have repercussions in the presidential race.
With the battle for the female vote in the presidential race intensifying daily, the Obama campaign will try to make Walker’s latest move stick to Mitt Romney. Asked for comment on Walker’s repeal, Obama campaign spokesperson Lis Smith sends over a statement calling on Romney to take a position on repeal of this law:
“As he campaigned across Wisconsin, Mitt Romney repeatedly praised Governor Scott Walker’s leadership, calling him a ‘hero’ and ‘a man of courage’. But with his signing yesterday of a bill make it harder for women to enforce in court their right to equal pay, Walker showed how far Republicans are willing to go to undermine not only women’s health care, but also their economic security. Does Romney think women should have ability to take their bosses to court to get the same pay as their male coworkers? Or does he stand with Governor Walker against this?”
Here’s why this is interesting. Romney has fully embraced Walker and his agenda in recent days, proclaiming him a “hero” and vowing to campaign for him in his recall election. That alone ensures that Walker’s agenda will figure in the presidential race, since Romney’s support for it could be a factor in the battle over Wisconsin, a state that Republicans may need to take back from Obama to get to 270.
Today’s news add another twist — one involving women’s issues. The Romney campaign has rolled out Ann Romney to argue in multiple forums that the battle over contraception and cultural issues won’t hurt Mitt, because women mostly care about jobs and kitchen table concerns. But here is a gender issue that’s an economic issue, and if Romney takes the wrong side of it, Ann Romney’s argument won’t work in this case.
Because of all this — and because Obama officials hope repeal of the Wisconsin law will resonate among women nationally — you can expect the Obama camp to press Romney hard to take a position on this one.
A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill.
The 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act wasFauja Singh secured a spot in the Guiness World Book of Records on Sunday at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
The 100-year-old accomplished an amazing feat, completing the gruelling 42.195-kilometre marathon and becoming the oldest person ever to complete a full-distance marathon.
It took Singh over eight hours to cross the finish line — more than six hours after Kenya's Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight year — and he was the last competitor to complete the course. But his time wasn't nearly remarkable as the accomplishment itself.
"Beating his original prediction, he's overjoyed," said coach and translator Harmander Singh. "Earlier, just before we came around the [final] corner, he said, 'Achieving this will be like getting married again.'
"He's absolutely overjoyed, he's achieved his life-long wish."
Although event workers dismantled the barricades along the finish line and took down sponsor banners even as Fauja Singh made his way up the final few hundred metres of the race, a throng of media, family, friends and supporters were there when Fauja Singh made marathon history.
And Fauja Singh, who only speaks Punjabi, also surprised himself. Through his interpreter, he said he had set a goal of finishing the race in about nine hours.
"He said he achieved this through the help of God but even God must be getting fed up of helping him," Harmander Singh said, drawing chuckles from assembled media after the race.
Sunday's run was Fauja Singh's eighth marathon — he ran his first at the tender age of 89 — and wasn't the first time he set a record. In the 2003 Toronto event, he set the mark in the 90-plus category, finishing the race in five hours 40 minutes and one second.
And on Thursday in Toronto, Fauja Singh — whose first name means soldier — broke world records for runners older than 100 in eight different distances ranging from 100 metres to 5,000 metres.
Fauja Singh, a five-foot-eight, 115-pound British citizen and vegetarian, looked tired and spent following the race and organizers gingerly assisted him to the post-event news conference. After receiving gentle massages to his legs and calf muscles as well as cups of water from members of his entourage, Singh leaned back on a couch and spoke little to start the news conference.
But a short time into it, he began looking remarkably relaxed and fresh with his hands clasped behind his head. Then, he abruptly sat up straight and with a smile, motioned for the microphone, obviously getting his second wind.
"He says he's recovered now so he's going to talk," his translator said, again drawing laughter.
Fauja Singh, affectionately dubbed the Turbaned Tornado, began running roughly 20 years ago after losing his wife and child. The five-foot-eight centenarian said he's happy to see more minorities taking part in such marathon events and is hopeful his next project will be participating in the torch relay for the 2012 London Summer Games.
Fauja Singh carried the torch during the relay for the 2004 Athens Games.
Race director Alan Brookes struggled to find the right words to describe Fauja Singh's remarkable accomplishment.
"I'm speechless," he said. "Fauja Singh is a remarkable human being."23. November 2014
Since QGIS 2.6 was released with a lot of new features and functions I’ve been testing it sporadic and have come to realise that the quality and functionality of symbol styling and labelling is so high that ESRI ArcMap no longer can match it. Honestly I haven’t tested the 10.3 version of ArcMap, so my experience is based on previous versions.
Here I’ll use an example to highlight some of the extensive possibilities offered in QGIS.
I’ll be using “live” earthquake data from USGS in GeoJSON format and if you want to know how this is done you can find an article on it in my blogg (in Swedish). Oh, by the way. I’ll also be using Open Street Map as a background for simplicity.
In the image above all registered earthquakes the past seven days are visible. You can get other time periods as well if you want to, but this suites me perfectly.
Earthquakes can be of different type and as the complete amateur I am on the subject, my assumptions may be incorrect, in which case I apologise. The attributes I’ve chosen to highlight are:
Magnitude – the strength of the quake.
How “significant” the quake is (attribute).
Is there a risk for a Tsunami (attribute).
In the attribute table more attributes are available, but I’ll settle for these.
I’ll also use two attributes for labelling, magnitude as simple text and a prepared longer text attribute.
First of all I’ll create a base symbol. A simple marker with red fill and red outline…
Wait a minute! That doesn’t work, does it?
Yes, it does! With the new colour picker it’s easy to set transparency for each individual colour in a single symbol ( “sweet” ). Here I’ve chosen 50% transparency on the fill, and then an overall transparency of 25% (hidden behind the dialogue in the picture above). This gives me a nice symbol with a fill colour more transparent than the outline.
I won’t be using the single symbol styling, but it’s a quick way to test a concept. I do however want to use my symbol so in the dialogue I press “Save”, to save it to my symbol library.
I’ll be using Graduated styling based on how significant the quakes are. I use my saved symbol as a starting point and a custom colour ramp that goes from red to red, from more to less transparency. Yes, you can have different transparency in a single colour ramp!
Using “Pretty Breaks the data is classified into four classes where less transparent features are more significant than the more transparent.
To amplify the effect I’ll also change the thickness of the symbol outline, so that less significant quakes gets a thinner outline.
I’m using the magnitude to control the size of the symbol by using an expression. Size field, or expression, is set under the button “Advanced” (hidden under the expression builder dialogue in the picture above). I chose to multiply the magnitude with it self to point out that the Richter scale is not linear, thus giving larger quakes more importance.
To symbolise Tsunami warnings |
to consider whether someone will install unwanted gems on your Rails app. There’s no interface for that.
What do we do about it?
There’s not a prebuilt solution for every problem. Sometimes you need to code. But you can try a few things to stop yourself from writing excess code.
What follows are some simple tips for overcoming your “code first” habit. FYI, I’m still figuring this out. These are my feeble suggestions.
Tip 1: Reframe your job
From this day forward, you’re not a programmer. You’re a problem solver.
[pause for effect]
Did you feel that? You were just catapulted into the top 20% of programmers, ranked by “getting things done”.
The truth is most programmers enjoy coding so much, they’d prefer to keep coding even if they’re reinventing the wheel or creating more work for themselves.
That’s fine. You don’t want to take their joy away from them – seriously! You just need to focus on getting results and solving problems, even when you don’t get to code them yourself.
Speaking about yourself…
Tip 2: Talk to yourself
Have you talked to yourself lately? I recommend it. If you’re not sure about how to solve a problem, fight the code-first instinct and bounce your ideas off…yourself.
I talk myself out of complex solutions all the time. Often, I talk out loud. You may have heard of rubber duck debugging. I use it for planning, as well. Here’s how it works:
Grab the first stuffed animal you find. In my house, the odds are it’s a Curious George doll. Yes, it belongs to my kids. Explain to the stuffed animal what needs to be done for this problem you’re solving. Have the stuffed animal ask you questions that a non-programmer would ask.
Me: “So Pajama George, I need to flush the cache before a CPT is published.” George: “Oooo, why do you need to do that?” Me: “Come to think of it, you’re right! The CPT doesn’t affect the cache, after all. I was confused. Thanks, George!”
It helps that George is actually curious, but I’ll talk to anybody who will listen.
Benefits of talking to yourself include:
You’re forced to put the problem into words
You’re allowed to ask “stupid” questions (with the help of your stuffed friend)
You can discover nuances and angles you wouldn’t have considered otherwise
If you work remotely, this can also improve your social skills. In a talk-to-puppets kind of way.
One of my favorite practices is writing my entire solution in comments, in natural language. A snippet helps illustrate what I mean. Here’s what a function looks like before I code it:
1 2 3 4 5 6 function myplugin_give_user_funny_name ( ) { // Get the current user // If they've already been processed, we're done // Otherwise, update their display name // And mark them as processed }
This has many of the same benefits as talking to yourself, but also yields some extra pluses: simplicity and documentation.
Simplicity because natural language guides you towards simple, understandable solutions. If you can’t explain it in words, you probably shouldn’t explain it in code.
Documentation is a byproduct of commenting first. Here’s what that function looks like, completed:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 function myplugin_give_user_funny_name ( ) { // Get the current user $ user = wp_get_current_user ( ) ; // If they've already been processed, we're done if ( get_user_meta ( $ user -> ID, 'has_funny_name', true ) ) { return ; } // Otherwise, update their display name wp_update_user ( array ( 'ID' = > $ user -> ID, 'display_name' = > "Mr. Banana ". $ user -> display _ name ) ) ; // And mark them as processed add_user_meta ( $ user -> ID, 'has_funny_name', true ) ; }
Note that the comments didn’t specify the implementation. I decided to use user_meta, but that’s only one way to solve the problem.
Let’s simplify: Put this into practice
We’ve covered a lot. My hope is that by now, you’re a problem solver. You recognize that every line of code you write has a cost, and you need to weigh that cost before you start coding. This is especially true with WordPress, due to the vast amount of other people’s code your code may come in contact with.
When you start solving your next problem, I’d love for you to try one of the techniques above. Talk to yourself. Convince yourself you don’t need to program it yourself.
If you can’t talk yourself out of it, try writing some comments.
In short: Slow down. Just a tiny bit. You’d be surprised how much you get done.
Questions or comments? Hit me up on Twitter or Hacker News!(APN) ATLANTA — At the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee Hearing on Tuesday, February 03, 2015, State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) introduced HB 1, a revised version of last year Haleigh’s Hope.
The bill offers immunity for those who have obtained the oil from a state where it is legal to manufacture and sell the cannabis oil, but does not provide for in-state cultivation.
The revised bill covers a total of eighteen additional medical conditions that cannabis-derived medicine would help.
The proposed covered medical conditions include: cancer cases where patients suffer with severe or chronic pain, nausea, vomiting, or wasting syndrome from chemotherapy; glaucoma; acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) a/k/a Lou Gehrig’s Disease; seizure disorders; multiple sclerosis; crohn’s disease; mitochondrial disease; alzheimer’s disease; muscle spasticity disorder; fibromyalgia; parkinson’s disease; post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); autism; sickle cell anemia; tourette syndrome; and terminal illness.
“There are thousands of Georgians that are suffering from other medical diagnoses that can benefit from having access to this oil,” Rep. Peake said
The broadening of medical disorders covered in HB 1, however, has the law enforcement community fearing a slippery slope toward legalization of marijuana.
Their fears include a slightly higher THC content of three percent for children to five percent for adults in the oil; driving under the influence of medical cannabis oil; and that the CBD oil could be cooked down to create hash oil with a high concentration of THC.
CBD oil works good with some seizure disorders, but other disorders need a higher level of THC, such as with autism in children.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said that prosecuting attorney’s in Georgia supported last years bill with low THC in the CBD oil for children with seizures but can’t support the expansion to other medical conditions.
“I think the bill as written with the medical expansions will legalize liquid marijuana in Georgia,” Porter said.
Committee Members pushed back and said they wanted to deal with facts not fears. They felt that to provide relief for suffering Georgians outweighs the potential for abuse.
“I think we are ready to go down that slippery slope with approximately thirty thousand marijuana arrests in Georgia annually. If we medicalize cannabis, it will take a lot of people out of that criminal justice loop. People who are currently self-medicating and getting the product from the black market or growing it themselves. We want to treat cannabis more like wine than heroin,” James Bell, Georgia CARE Project, told Atlanta Progressive News.
“At what point does Georgia begin the debate about decriminalization or legalization? We are going to get there at some point,” Bell said.
If all options for getting cannabis oil to Georgia fail–given that in-state growing is not part of the bill–Rep. Peake has said may decide to commit civil disobedience by driving a truck to Colorado, pick up the oil, and driving it back to Georgia.
“This may be what it takes to show the lunacy of a federal law that says a person can be in possession of a legal product in Colorado and in Georgia, but gets arrested while driving through Kansas,” Rep. Peake said at an earlier press conference.
“The real solution to this problem is changes on the Congressional level for marijuana to be rescheduled from a Schedule One narcotic to another schedule,” Rep. Peake explained.
A vote on HB 1 has been tabled so that Committee Members can receive more information about scientific studies showing the medicinal benefits of cannabis.
“No vote today… but I sense the majority of the Committee are very supportive!” State Rep. Margaret Kaiser (D-Atlanta) said in a Facebook post.
“The vote on the cannibas [sic] bill has been delayed. The committee wants more empirical studies. Note I was ready to vote ‘yes.’ The arguments against were unpersuasive and, to be honest, a bit whiny,” State Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick (D-Lithonia) said in a separate post.
(END/2015)Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr should be allowed to claim the Canadian government conspired with the Americans to torture him and breach his rights, a Federal Court judge ruled Thursday. The ruling by Judge Richard Mosley means Khadr can significantly expand his $20-million civil lawsuit in which he accuses Ottawa of complicity in what he claims was his arbitrary detention and cruel and inhuman treatment at the hands of the Americans.
Documents show Omar Khadr’s U.S. captors subjected him to sleep-deprivation to soften him up for interrogation by the Canadians. ( Toronto Star file photo )
“Whether Canada conspired with foreign officials to violate the fundamental rights of a citizen is not a trivial matter,” Mosley said in his ruling. “If anything, adding conspiracy to the statement of claim clarifies the nature of the controversy between the parties and facilitates its comprehensive examination by a court.” The federal government had opposed the expanded claim, arguing among other things that international law bars Khadr from dragging the U.S. into his civil action, first filed in 2004.
Article Continued Below
Mosley said it should be up to a trial judge to decide whether the conspiracy allegation can stand. He said Khadr’s action does not name the U.S. as a defendant nor seek any remedy that could be enforced against American authorities. As a result, it does not violate rules against domestic courts pronouncing on actions by foreign governments, Mosley said. He awarded costs to Khadr’s lawyers on the grounds that Ottawa had “considerably increased the costs and delay” of the action by opposing the lawsuit amendments, almost all of which he allowed. Among other things, documents show Canadian agents went down to the infamous U.S. prison in 2003 and 2004 to interrogate the Toronto-born Khadr after first agreeing to share any intelligence with his American prosecutors. Khadr’s military captors then subjected him to sleep-deprivation — known as the “frequent flyer” program — to soften him up for interrogation by the Canadians, previously released documents show.
Mosley himself noted three U.S. Supreme Court decisions found procedures at Guantanamo Bay while Khadr was detained to be illegal. Khadr’s lawyer John Phillips said he was pleased the conspiracy claim could now go ahead as part of the lawsuit.
Article Continued Below
“This will allow for a full hearing and full airing of what happened to Omar and how he was treated by both the United States and Canadian government authorities,” Phillips said. “We’re going to see justice done.” None of Khadr’s claims has been proven in court. The U.S. government has denied torturing Khadr, 28, who pleaded guilty to five war crimes in October 2010 before a widely maligned American military commission for incidents that occurred in Afghanistan when he was 15. In return, he was handed a further eight-year sentence. He later said he pleaded guilty only to get out of Guantanamo Bay and come back to Canada. The Americans had arrested him in July 2002 following a brutal firefight in which he was terribly injured and an American special forces soldier was killed. He was finally returned to Canada in September 2012 and is currently incarcerated in Alberta. While Ottawa maintains Khadr is a hardened terrorist, legal experts have argued his actions could not have amounted to war crimes under international law.Taipei, March 12 (CNA) President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) reiterated Saturday that one of her party's objectives is to phase out nuclear power in Taiwan over the next nine years.
In a Facebook post that coincided with a nationwide anti-nuclear protest, Tsai said the DPP has long advocated that the operations of Taiwan's three active nuclear power plants should not be extended and that construction of the fourth nuclear power plant should be terminated to make the country nuclear-free by 2025.
To achieve that goal, it is also important to adjust Taiwan's energy structure and promote energy conservation, Tsai said.
She said the DPP has proposed managing peak-hour electricity use, enhancing the efficiency of electricity distribution, and amending the Electricity Act to encourage the development of renewable energy, so as to move Taiwan step by step toward zero nuclear power.
The disposal of nuclear waste is the most difficult problem facing Taiwan at this time, said Tsai, who will take office in May.
"Nuclear waste is the greatest liability left by our generation to the next," she said. "It's time for us to face the problem together, regardless of party affiliation."
(By Lu Hsin-hui and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/pcArmada FC Public Relations | Oct. 2, 2015
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Armada FC will continue its push to the playoffs at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday against Indy Eleven at Community First Park, presented by Brumos and PRI Productions.
The Armada will hope to gain an extra advantage from their special pink jerseys, which are being worn by the team to help raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer. Pink scarves, presented by Brumos and PRI Productions, will be handed out to the first 750 fans to arrive. Proceeds from the match will benefit the American Cancer Society, and breast cancer survivors will help raise the Armada FC flag prior to the match.
Jacksonville is coming off a thrilling 2-0 win over in-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, last Saturday at Community First Park. Forward Pascal Millien, who was named Farah & Farah Man of the Match, was responsible for both goals, assisting on Lucas Scaglia’s 34th minute strike and adding a score of his own in the 74th. Scaglia’s goal was the first of his NASL career. Goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo recorded his 41st-career shutout and notched five saves.
Indy comes to Jacksonville fresh off a 1-1 draw with the Rowdies on Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla., and are 0W-2D-3L in their last five road contests. After falling behind 1-0 in the 63rd minute against Tampa Bay, the Eleven answered in the 67th with a goal from defender Jaime Frias. Indy goalkeeper Kristian Nicht finished with four saves.
In the teams’ last meeting, the Eleven got two goals from Fall Season acquisition Zach Steinberger en route to a 3-0 win over the Armada in Indianapolis on Sept. 5. Despite the final score, Armada goalkeeper David Sierra made several impressive saves and finished with six.
Below is a breakdown of each team and the match.
WHEN & WHERE
Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Community First Park
Buy Tickets | Weather
THE TEAMS
Jacksonville Armada FC (4W-2D-8L, 14 pts., 9th NASL Fall; 7-5-12, 26 pts., 10th NASL Combined)
Indy Eleven (3W-4D-8L, 13 pts., 7th in NASL Fall; 6-8-11, 26 pts., 10th NASL Combined)
SERIES HISTORY
Series tied, 1-0-1
LAST RESULT
Eleven 3, Armada FC 0 - 9/5/15 in Jacksonville | Recap | Video Highlights
CLUB QUICK LINKS
Armada FC: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats
Eleven: News | Roster | Schedule | Season Stats
WATCH
- CW17 in Jacksonville – Cole Pepper – PXP, Andy Kidd – Color and Krissty Andaur – Sideline
- ESPN3
LISTEN
- Live stream on sportsradiojax.iheart.com | Stuart Webber – PXP and Matt Hollyoak – Color
- Also streamed live on iHeart app
READ
- Live Twitter updates on @ArmadaFCgameday - #JAXvIND
- Live stats on ArmadaFC.com
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The Armada are still alive in the Combined Standings, but it is vital they get a positive result in their remaining six games. The one thing in their favor is four of those matches are at home, a place Jacksonville holds a 7-3-1 advantage at.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Jacksonville: Gallardo looked to be in top form against the Rowdies last Saturday, and with interim head coach Eric Dade seemingly more content to stick with a traditional starter-backup setup rather than a rotational system, Gallardo can now build some momentum. His highlight-reel double save in the 39th minute was a key point in the game and aided him in being named to the NASL Team of the Week on Wednesday.
Indy: Midfielder Dylan Mares leads the Eleven in assists (4) and is tied with Erick Norales and Dane Richards in goals (3) and has been named to the NASL Team of the Week twice this season. He underwent surgery on July 31 for a slight tear in his right meniscus and made his first start back from the injury on Wednesday against the Rowdies.
NOTABLES
The Armada will wearing an alternate kits for the second-straight match, and it will be the second time this season they will have done so against Indy. Last Saturday, the Armada paid tribute to Jacksonville’s original major league professional team, the Jacksonville Tea Men, by wearing throwback Tea Men jerseys. On Sept. 5 in Indianapolis, Jacksonville wore its gold kit.
The Armada have not lost at home in six Fall Season contests and have a record of 4-0-2. They are averaging 1.5 goals per game at home in the Fall compared to 0.6 goals per game on the road.
With a new look 4-2-3-1 formation last match, Jacksonville showed more defensive prowess than it previously had. But perhaps even more impressive was the team did not have any cautions or ejections.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Armada will head to Cary, N.C. for a road matchup with the Carolina RailHawks at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10. Jacksonville will then return home for a 7:30 p.m. ET match on Saturday, Oct. 17 with FC Edmonton at Community First Park, presented by We Got Soccer. The Armada FC will pay tribute to Breast Cancer Awareness month by wearing special pink uniforms, and portions of special ticket packages will be donated to the American Cancer Society. Tickets, starting at $12, can be purchased by calling 1.844.2.ARMADA or visiting armadafc.com.It’s been a busy week at the Take-Two legal department following the cease and desist letter to OpenIV and now the GTA Online cheating tool called Force Hax.
While there is debate as to whether OpenIV should have been forced to cease operations, the case against Force Hax is solid. The tool allowed players to pay a fee to use their cheating and harassment services in GTA Online. In an unusual move, Take-Two has convinced the developers of the tool to not only apologise but make a donation to charity. The statement on the Force Hax website reads:
“After discussions with Take-Two Interactive, effective immediately we are ceasing all maintenance, development and distribution of the Force Hax cheat menu services. We will be donating our proceeds to charity and we apologize for any and all problems Force Hax services have caused to the Grand Theft Auto Online community.”
There’s no doubt that Force Hax needed to go and this is an action most players will approve of. On the other hand, the petition to save OpenIV which is single player modding tool has now reached 36,000 signatures.
The vast majority of community created petitions fail to convince a developer or publisher to change their mind and OpenIV is likely to remain banned.James Franco is set to direct an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s realist-style novel In Dubious Battle, which tells the story of the struggle between labor and capital in 1930s America, portraying is as close to all out warfare.
The project has been scriped by Matt Rager (As I Lay Dying) and will see Franco joined in the cast by Selena Gomez, Vincent D’Onofrio, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Bryan Cranston and Danny McBride. Here’s the official synopsis:
Set in a fictionalized valley in California, the story explores themes Steinbeck continued to develop: group behavior, social injustice, man’s inhumanity to man— all themes which continue to be relevant today. A labor conflict between migrant apple pickers and the local growers’ association is the backdrop against which Jim Nolan (Franco) becomes involved in the labor movement and rapidly matures as he learns what it means to do organizational fieldwork.
“I am very inspired by James’ work and cannot wait to collaborate with him on this project with these remarkable artists,” states producer Andrea Iervolino. “This film will be stunning portrait of strife and violence and bringing it to life with such a remarkably talented cast fortifies our belief that we are creating a classic.”ISRAEL has long seen itself as the protector of Jews everywhere and a bulwark against anti-Semitism globally. It has brought Nazis such as Adolf Eichmann to justice; it rescued Ethiopian Jews threatened by war and famine in the 1980s and 1990s. Just last week it denounced a notice in a Swiss hotel telling “Jewish guests” to shower before entering the swimming pool. So Israel’s government could reasonably have been expected to condemn the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, which featured neo-Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us”, and to criticise the mealy-mouthed response by President Donald Trump, who has energised the white-supremacist movement in America.
Instead, the anti-Semitic rallies, which descended into violence, and Mr Trump’s tepid early comments were met with silence by the government in Jerusalem. Only after Mr Trump’s carefully scripted denunciation of “the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups” did Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, issue a tweet saying, “Outraged by expressions of anti-Semitism, neo-Nazism and racism.” Mr Netanyahu made no reference to where these expressions were made, nor to who was making them. He did not react to Mr Trump’s later comments, which pinned blame for the violence on both the neo-Nazis and the people who turned out to oppose them.
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Mr Netanyahu has said that Israel has no greater friend than Mr Trump, and is pleased that America is not pressing Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians. But his reluctance to speak out against anti-Semitism in America is about more than that. Mr Netanyahu and his supporters seem to believe that the people opposing the white supremacists are at least as dangerous to Israel as the neo-Nazis. Take Mr Netanyahu’s son Yair, who condemned the neo-Nazis on Facebook, but added that the counter-protesters of Antifa and Black Lives Matter “hate my country (and America too in my view) just as much”.
Most American Jews are liberal. More than 70% of them voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, not least because of the anti-Semitic undertones of Mr Trump’s campaign. But some prominent Jewish leaders have reached out to the president, whose son-in-law is Jewish and whose daughter converted to Judaism. After Charlottesville, many of them are despairing. Even Rabbi Marvin Hier, who recited a prayer at Mr Trump’s inauguration, blasted him last week. Other rabbis said they will not join a conference call with the president ahead of Jewish holy days next month.
Such denunciations stand in stark contrast to Mr Netanyahu’s reaction, and are indicative of a rift between the Israeli government and the Jewish diaspora. Mr Netanyahu and his Likud party have won three elections, in part by accusing the left of undermining Israel’s security. This, along with the prime minister’s co-operation with Orthodox Jewish parties, has alienated those American Jews who identify with the opposition in Israel. To some it looks as if Mr Netanyahu is more likely to see anti-Semitism in those who oppose his policies.
Consider his treatment of Viktor Orban, Hungary’s populist prime minister. Mr Orban’s government has been accused of running an anti-Semitic poster campaign against George Soros, a Jewish-American financier with Hungarian roots who funds liberal causes, and organisations that are critical of Mr Orban. The Israeli ambassador to Hungary, Yosef Amrani, condemned the posters. A day later the Israeli foreign ministry retracted the criticism, saying that Mr Soros, a Holocaust survivor, “undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organisations that defame the Jewish state.” Mr Soros finances various Israeli and Palestinian organisations that support human rights. Some also call for a boycott and sanctions against Israel. Mr Orban, on the other hand, is one of Mr Netanyahu’s closest allies in Europe.Story highlights Official: Commandos from the elite U.S. Army Delta Force conducted the raid
Abu Anas al Libi's wife says some of the men in the raid seemed to be Libyans
The operation was a "masterpiece," Libyan counterterrorism analyst says
Al Libi is suspected of playing a part in 2 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998
The wife of an accused al Qaeda operative captured by U.S. forces told CNN that masked men ambushed her husband when he was on the way home from morning prayers.
While U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called Abu Anas al Libi "one of the world's most wanted terrorists," al Libi's wife described him a different way in an exclusive interview with CNN on Sunday.
Umm Abdul Rahman called al Libi an innocent man, adding that he left al Qaeda in 1996 and had no connection to the twin 1998 bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
"I am sure of what I am saying -- he did not take part in any bombing anywhere in the world," Rahman said. "He participated in the jihad in Afghanistan..... He was a member of al-Qaeda and he was personal security for (Osama) bin Laden -- that's true -- but he did not take part in any operation."
Al Libi was among those indicted for the embassy attacks by a federal grand jury in New York, and U.S. officials and terrorism analysts hailed news of his capture.
Meanwhile, Libya's interim government distanced itself from the operation and called the U.S. capture a kidnapping.
Photos: Photos: 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings Photos: Photos: 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings – Abu Anas al Libi, a key al Qaeda operative wanted for his role in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, has been captured in a U.S. special operations forces raid in Tripoli, Libya, U.S. officials told CNN on Saturday, October 5. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Photos: 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings – The blast on August 7, 1998 at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, killed more than 200 people. Kenyan security guards keep watch on August 8, 1998, at the scene of explosion. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Photos: 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings – A guard looks over the site of the bomb blast on August 8, 1998, in Nairobi, Kenya. Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Photos: 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings – Rescuers help move survivors from the explosion site in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 7, 1998. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Photos: 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings – The Tanzania blast went off nearly simultaneously, to the one in Kenya on August 7, 1998, leaving 11 people dead. Here, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks with a member of the FBI at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam on August 18, 1998. Visible in the background is the tanker that was used to create the explosion. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Photos: 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings – A U.S. Marine talks with an FBI investigator in front of the bomb-damaged U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on August 15, 1998. Hide Caption 6 of 6
JUST WATCHED 2 operations; 2 different results Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH 2 operations; 2 different results 02:01
JUST WATCHED Al Qaeda operative captured Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Al Qaeda operative captured 00:10
JUST WATCHED U.S. forces strike in Libya and Somalia Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH U.S. forces strike in Libya and Somalia 02:06
Rahman told CNN she didn't know who had taken her husband -- only that the raid she watched happen from her Tripoli home happened very quickly.
Al Libi was returning to his house at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday (12:30 a.m. ET) when a group of at least 10 men in four vehicles surprised him, his wife told CNN. Some of the men were wearing masks, while others weren't, she said. Those men looked like Libyans to her and they spoke Arabic with Libyan accents, she said.
"What I saw were Libyans. Maybe they had Americans with them, but I didn't see them because there was more than one car. They say there were 10 people involved, but I believe there were more than 10," Rahman said. "I couldn't count them because there were many of them. I can't confirm if they were Americans or not, but what I saw were Libyans. "
Elite team involved in capture
On Sunday, a U.S. official said commandos from the elite U.S. Army Delta Force had snatched the 49-year-old al Qaeda operative.
Tripoli has requested an explanation from Washington about the raid, the country's state news agency reported Sunday.
The mission was conducted with the knowledge of the Libyan government, said one U.S. official. The Pentagon said the U.S. military was holding al Libi in a "secure location" outside Libya. A U.S. official told CNN that he was taken to a U.S. Navy warship after his capture.
"It's a masterpiece how someone can craft such an operation," said Libyan counterterrorism analyst Noman Benotman, who is also a former jihadist associate of al Libi.
Benotman is president of the Quilliam Foundation, a London-based counterterrorism think tank. He is also a former senior member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which al Libi joined in the mid-1990s before gravitating back toward al Qaeda.
Al Libi had been living in that still unsettled nation, more or less in the open, for more than a year despite his alleged associations. According to Benotman, it is unlikely he was still playing an active role for al Qaeda.
His wife agreed, saying he was living a normal life, was not in hiding and had reapplied for a job with the oil ministry.
She said he has a severe case of hepatitis C and she worries about his health.
Next stop, New York?
Al Libi has been all around the globe -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Kenya, Britain, Iran and beyond -- making friends with some of the world's most notorious terrorists and enemies with the United States and its allies.
On Saturday, his odyssey ended where it began: in his homeland of Libya.
His next destination? He eventually will be taken to New York, a source with knowledge of the capture and proceedings told CNN, though the exact timing is unclear.
The Obama administration has activated the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group to interview him for intelligence purposes while he remains in U.S. military custody, U.S. officials told CNN. The team is led by the FBI and includes CIA and other intelligence agencies. After the interviews are concluded, he would be transferred to civilian custody and brought to New York to face federal charges, the officials said.
U.S. authorities have long wanted al Libi to stand trial in an American court to face charges for his alleged role in the U.S. embassy bombings that left well over 200 dead and thousands wounded.
Edith Bartley lost both her father, Julian Bartley, and her brother, Julian Jr., in the attack in Nairobi, Kenya. Her father was the U.S. Embassy's counsel general; her 20-year-old brother was an intern there.
"We know that this is a firm signal around the globe that as our government is still wading through a standstill right now, that we are still vigilant as a country and focused on international terror, and we're not going to step down at all," Bartley told CNN's "New Day Sunday."
Bartley said while she was relieved when Osama bin Laden -- also indicted in the embassy attacks -- was killed in 2011, she's also happy that al Libi was taken into custody.
"Certainly, we are very pleased to know that we can have someone who is captured, and for the wealth of information that may be available to our intelligence community and our military personnel," she said. "You can't put a price on that."
CNN's Nic Robertson, a veteran of covering al Qaeda, said al Libi's arrest is a "huge deal."
"He's a big player in al Qaeda (and) in one of the key target areas, in the north of Africa," he said. "This is a significant step."
Stops in Afghanistan, Britain, Iran and beyond
The FBI's page on al Libi -- part of its roster of "Most Wanted Terrorists" and noting the $5 million reward being offered for information leading directly to his apprehension -- says that he is accused in a "conspiracy to kill United States nationals, to murder, to destroy buildings and property of the United States, and to destroy the national defense utilities of the United States."
Born Nazih Abd al Hamid al Ruqhay, al Libi joined al Qaeda soon after its founding, as the terrorist organization built up its presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
When the group's late leader Osama bin Laden relocated to Khartoum, Sudan, in 1992, al Libi went with him.
As the 1990s continued, al Libi came to be known as one of al Qaeda's most capable operatives, especially for his expertise in surveillance and computers.
A fellow al Qaeda operative at one point testified that al Libi was in Nairobi in 1993, allegedly checking out possible targets, including the U.S. Embassy.
The blast in Kenya's capital five years later ended up killing more than 200 people and wounding 5,000. The Tanzania blast went off nearly simultaneously, leaving 11 people dead.
His wife denied that he had any role in any bombing and said that after he returned to Libya in 2011 during the revolution, he had been asking the Libyan government to help him clear his name. She did admit that he had belonged to al Qaeda, but said he was a personal guard for bin Laden until he left the terror group in 1996.
Al Libi at one point joined the jihadist Libyan Islamic Fighters Group before moving to Qatar and then Britain, settling in Manchester.
It was there, in 2000, that police raided his home.
Authorities uncovered a document that became known as the "Manchester Manual" -- hundreds of pages of guidance on carrying out a terrorist campaign. Among them: a document that called for "attacking, blasting and destroying" embassies.
But what they didn't find was al Libi, who had left the country before the raid.
He is thought to have spent time subsequently in Afghanistan before fleeing to Iran after the fall of the Taliban. Western intelligence sources believe he remained in that country before going home to Libya.
After years in native Libya, al Libi in U.S. hands
In September 2012, CNN was first to report that al Libi was alive and well in Libya. Western intelligence had tracked his movements in Tripoli, and had even taken surveillance photos.
Western intelligence sources said that there was concern that al Libi was working to establish an al Qaeda network in the North African nation, but no evidence has since materialized that he continued to be involved in terrorist operations after he returned to Libya.
So how long had he been home?
In December 2010, before the outbreak of the unrest that ended with Moammar Gadhafi's death, Libyan authorities told a United Nations committee that al Libi had returned, even giving a Tripoli address for him.
And one Western intelligence source said al Libi appears to have been in Libya in the spring of 2011, when the civil war was in full swing.
Family members told CNN al-Libi returned to Tripoli in 2011 to take part in the revolution against Gadhafi. His wife, four sons and daughter had arrived from Iran the previous year.
Al-Libi's sons and wife say they believed they were under surveillance over the past two years in Libya and expected anything -- even a drone strike. But Saturday's raid still came as a surprise.
"There was no longer any talk about him in the media, so we felt somewhat reassured. He even stopped taking his weapon or his sons with him or hiring private security -- he was living his life normally," Rahman said.
Counterterrorism analysts told CNN in fall 2012 that al Libi may not have been apprehended at the time because of the delicate security situation in much of Libya, where ex-jihadists -- especially those who once belonged to the Libyan Islamic Fighters Group -- held considerable sway after the campaign against and ultimate ouster of longtime leader Gadhafi.
It was not clear for how long, and how much, Libya's government knew about |
then, somewhere in the middle is the mash-up, “Night of the Living Trekkies.” The story is a satire, bringing the horror of the zombie apocalypse to a “Star Trek” convention.
“Trekkies” is a clever satire that works well enough in small gulps. Each chapter title is cleverly taken from the title of an episode of “Star Trek,” and each chapter is packed with in-jokes and one-liners for fans of each generation of “Star Trek.”
The story finds Jim Pike, a former special forces soldier who quit the military after stints in Iraq, working at small hotel that is hosting the local “Star Trek” con. After Iraq, Jim wanted a quiet job where he wouldn’t have to think too much and working at the hotel seems to fit the bill. However, as the con gets up and running, Jim finds that things are slowly getting more and more bizarre, leading up to the discovery that zombie are attacking the hotel. Jim becomes the reluctant leader of a small group of survivors who work their way through the hotel, trying not to become zombies themselves and to escape.
One of the big problems with satirical genre stories is the author or authors try too hard to emulate the style of two of the greats in the field–Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Both men make being funny, satirical and witty look easy as you read it, but anyone who’s tried to emulate their style knows it’s not easy to do. “Trekkies” isn’t in the same stratosphere of an Adams or Pratchett story, but authors Kevin David Anderson, and Sam Stall are able to keep the jokes coming at a reasonable pace and to have the story keep moving. My big fear picking up the novel was that it could become like an “SNL” skit and overstay its welcome. And while the story, as a whole, loses a bit of momentum from the time we figure out zombies are attacking the con and our team of heroes getting together to try and escape, the story and jokes never go hopelessly off the rails.
Reading “Trekkies,” I kept having flashbacks to Sharon McCrumb’s two classic murder-at-genre-convention novels, “Bimbos of the Death Sun” and “Zombies of the Gene Pool.” And while “Trekkies” isn’t quite as entertaining as those two novels, it’s still a fun little read. It’s a far more specific genre satire than either of McCrumb’s novels.
If you love and know your “Trek,” there are a wealth of in-jokes and fun to be had here. The novel may not be as clever as some of the other zombie mash-ups, but it’s still a fun read and well worth picking up if you like zombies and you like “Star Trek.”55User Rating: 5 out of 5
Review title of KertaresIV Exactly How a SHMUP Should Be
Battle Garegga is the definition of a good Scrolling Shooter. While it's challenge is prevelant, it isn't the point of the game: there's no stunted checkpoint system coupled with your one-hit kill plane, no invisible auto-fire restrictions, just you, a second player, an Extend System and a an entire army of mothergrabbing-murderers! The M2 system is very intuitive and richly detailed enough for you to enable brighter bullets, the power-ups are effective and the option to change soundtrack type is very welcome! If anything, I'm surprised the 2016 OST isn't readily availble in the BGM mode, but whatever, this is a game that has a BGM mode to begin with! Even the story is really good for a SHMUP, though admittedly it's no where to be seen, but it does exist! Get Battle Garegga, play it up and feel the brutal love of what an action-packed Shoot em' Upis supposed to be!Syrian Church Leader: Christians Have No Support, West Has Betrayed Us
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A Syrian Catholic Church leader recently condemned both U.S. foreign policy and Western media for ignoring Christian persecution and worsening the conflict in Iraq and Syria.
"Innocent people, especially Christians, have no support. The West has betrayed us," Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan told Egyptian Catholic magazine Le Messager last week.
"Western democracies have conspired against Syria and produced the destruction of the nation's infrastructure, the demolition of houses, towns, villages, monuments and archaeological sites," he added.
"This is the result of a foolish politics and of a conspiracy, under the pretext of bringing democracy to the region."
Younan said that Christians are being targeted and are unable to live "in this chaos that produces militias, armed gangs, terrorist groups and Islamic parties."
The U.S. and a broad team of international allies have been carrying out air strike operations across Iraq and Syria in a bid to contain the rise of the Islamic State terror group. Anti-terror operations in the region have been ongoing since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 that brought the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.
Younan insisted, however, that Western leaders ignored complexities in the region.
"All Eastern patriarchs, myself included, have spoken out clearly to the West from the very beginning: Be careful, the situation in Syria is not like that of Egypt, Tunisia or Libya," the church leader said. "It's much more complex, and conflict here will create only chaos and civil war."
The civil war in Syria has stretched for over four years, being fought between the government of President Bashar Al-Assad, the Islamic State, and various other rebel groups opposed to both IS (also known as ISIS and ISIL) and Assad.
There have been great divisions among Western leaders as to who to back in the civil war – while American President Barack Obama has called for Assad to be removed from power, Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued to be a strong ally of Assad.
Younan further warned that Syrian Christians are now "trapped in a terrible situation" between "criminal gangs called ISIS and other terrorist groups who use Islam as an excuse to 'purify' areas under their control in the name of religion, and Muslims scholars who tell us that Islam is alien to these facts."
Christians have been heavily targeted by IS and other terror groups, with entire Christian cities being captured, or currently under siege, such as the town of Sadad.
Younan has been outspoken in his criticism of Western policies in the past, and has warned that the refugee crisis in Iraq and Syria has reached "biblical proportions."
"We are begging the West to stand for the rights of all citizens in Iraq and Syria," he said back in October.
"The situation is very devastating and tragic. For Iraq, this has been happening for two generations. For Syria, the war has been taking place for the last three years, with no hope on the horizon for Christians in the area."
Some Western Christian leaders, such as evangelist the Rev. Franklin Graham, have also condemned world leaders for being largely silent on the genocide and various horrific human rights abuses being carried out specifically against Christians and other religious minorities.
"It is genocide — and the world seems largely silent about it. Genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities of Syria and Iraq. And their methods are unimaginably cruel and heinous," Graham has said.Plattsburgh, NY - People will be able to access a new area of the Saranac River in Plattsburgh in the near future. The town of Plattsburgh will break ground this fall on La Pierre Lane Park.
"The trail system is envisioned as a 26 mile network of trails that basically a braided stream network of trails connecting from the city of Plattsburgh all the way out to the town of Saranac," said Trevor Cole is the senior planner for the Town of Plattsburgh.
"La Pierre Lane would serve as a hub, it's right in the hamlet of Morrisonville. It really offers quite an amenity, it's right on the river, beautiful landscape," said Cole.
The park will include an area for meditation, an adventure area for children, and a half mile loop around the grounds.
"We are working on more of the engineering design, we have to work through how to build this out and we are well on the way for that," said Cole.
Apart of the grand vision is an alternative way for residents to get around their community.
"In the future we can really envision a scenario where people could use that as a commuter route in the summer. There is a whole new generation of people who want to get to work by using their bicycle," said Cole.
The cost of the expansion will amount to $240,000.
"This project is completely funded through philanthropic organizations, the New York State Health Foundation, and that in partnership with the foundation of CVPH we are also working with business partners in the region as well as community partners," said Cole.
The project is expected to be done by June 30th, 2018.
For more information on the Saranac River Trail Greenway, click here.
Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.KILMARNOCK have confirmed the signing of former Rangers left-back Steven Smith.
The 29-year-old, whose second spell at Ibrox ended with their failure to gain promotion to the Scottish Premiership, has signed a three-year contract at Rugby Park.
Steven Smith left Rangers earlier this summer. Picture: Neil Hanna
The former Norwich, Preston and Portland Timbers player joins Kris Boyd in moving from Ibrox to Killie this summer.
Manager Gary Locke told Kilmarnock’s official website: “Lots of clubs were after Stevie and I am delighted we have been the one to sign him. He has bags of experience, comes from a great pedigree and fills a problem position for us.”
Smith, who made 34 appearances in the last two seasons with Rangers, added: “I am really pleased to have signed for Killie and I’m looking forward to the season starting. My focus now though is on getting a good pre-season under my belt, starting with the training camp in Lilleshall this week.”
• Have you visited our new Scottish food and drink site?Top 5 Favorite Festival-Related Things
5. Location, Location, Location Forecastle exists in the heart of a major metropolitan city. This poses the potential for disastrous commutes and unavailable parking. Despite the ongoing construction impacting I-64, I was able to commute from my house to the entrance of the festival (8.8 miles- thanks Google maps) in 25 minutes or less. There was minimal traffic and plenty of reasonably priced parking. I scored a spot at Slugger Field on each day of the festival and did not arrive early. A free transportation option. 4. People Watching There also exist several greener options. One could utilize Louisville’s public transportation system (T.A.R.C.), or ride a bicycle and park it free of charge on-site. I will refrain from making any statements about either mode of transportation and the related shortcomings or limitations that may or may not exist in the city of Louisville. There are plenty of great spots around town for people watching with Forecastle becoming one of my recent favorite spots. Let me clear, that when I refer to people watching I don't mean snickering at "hipsters" or people of a different social or economic class. I am referring to observing a creativity and genuine sense of pageantry in the costumes and accompanying signs. Monkeying around at Forecastle Louisville definitely brought its A game. I honestly wish that I had snapped more pictures of the festival goers and slightly fewer of the bands because of the level of artistry involved in some of these get-ups.Did anyone else see the lady in the elaborate black headdress? Stunning. Because why wouldn't you carry a sign featuring James " I don't want your life" Van Der Beek? 3. The Festival Grounds
Artists working on a mural outside of the Forecastle Foundation tent.
The Louisville waterfront has come a hell of a long way over the past 15 years and Forecastle takes full advantage of that when laying out the festival. The stages were placed in an arrangement that maximized close proximity while minimizing sound bleed-over. I’ve been at festivals that require a 10-12 minute hike between main stages, essentially negating the ability to hop between sets. At its most crowded there was probably a 5-7 minute walk between the Boom and Port stages. Despite their close proximity, I noticed very little sound bleed-over, something that often plagues large music festivals. I can recall at Lollapalooza seeing a band stop during the set to bitch about the fact that another artist’s sound was audible.
2. The Louisville Music Media I may be biased but Louisville's thriving music scene is blessed with a hard-working and committed group of music-related media. There are so many talented writers that are true stalwarts of Louisville and its plethora of amazing musicians. It honestly doesn't get much better than spending a weekend hanging out with a bunch of die-hard Louisville music geeks and listening to a diverse selection of live performances. Do yourself a favor and if you haven't already, bookmark these pages (my sincere apologies to anyone I left out): We Listen For You, Backseat Sandbar, The Decibel Tolls, Never Nervous, The undisputed king of Louisville music, Sean Bailey In addition to the placement of stages, I really enjoyed the attention to detail when decorating the grounds. The lifeguard platform, mermaids, sand (which may have been placed by the city to protect the grass), murals, and even the stage names all came together, with the mighty Ohio River in the background, to create a fantastic nautical playland.I may be biased but Louisville's thriving music scene is blessed with a hard-working and committed group of music-related media. There are so many talented writers that are true stalwarts of Louisville and its plethora of amazing musicians. It honestly doesn't get much better than spending a weekend hanging out with a bunch of die-hard Louisville music geeks and listening to a diverse selection of live performances. Do yourself a favor and if you haven't already, bookmark these pages (my sincere apologies to anyone I left out): Louisville MusicCulture Get Out Louisville, and 37 FloodA top Republican lawmaker countered warnings about the purportedly devastating impact of looming budget cuts, calling on the administration to lessen the blow by taking two simple steps -- stop hiring, and stop traveling.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in a letter to the White House budget office, called Monday for a "hiring freeze" on non-essential positions. He pointed out that, amid pronouncements about the dire impact of spending cuts poised to hit starting this Friday, the administration is still advertising for a host of "lower priority jobs" -- like a staff assistant to answer phones at the Labor Department, and a policy coordinator to set up meetings at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The request follows a letter Thursday in which Coburn urged the Obama administration to cancel a 100-city tour aimed at connecting federal officials with local leaders.
Coburn is among the Republicans on Capitol Hill who claim President Obama is exaggerating the impact of the cuts. Some claim the administration already has the flexibility to target the cuts; others are looking to draft legislation to give the administration that flexibility.
Regardless, Coburn disputed claims that the cuts automatically mean customs agents, Defense civilian workers and food inspectors will have to be furloughed or laid off, as the administration has warned. Perusing the roster of federal job openings, he listed 10 positions that "could save as much as $1.4 million" -- money that could be directed toward saving other jobs, he said.
The Labor Department staff assistant position pays up to $81,204; the HHS post pays up to the same amount. That's a drop in the bucket compared with the $85 billion in cuts poised to hit this year. But Coburn suggested far more could be saved by instituting a broader hiring freeze, as he continued to draw attention to what he's long described as Washington's poor spending decisions.
"Instituting such a hiring freeze and re-assigning any of the necessary duties associated with each to current employees will allow federal agencies to adapt to the current fiscal realities without laying off or furloughing civil servants who are performing truly critical or absolutely necessary functions," Coburn wrote.
Democrats, though, argue that Obama's hands are tied, and that the only way to avoid the so-called sequester is for Congress to pass a "balanced" package to avert the automatic cuts -- replacing them with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, achieved by closing tax loopholes.
Obama, speaking Monday to a gathering of the nation's governors at the White House, again urged Congress to pass an alternative package.
"The longer these cuts are in place, the bigger the impact will become," Obama said, adding that the cuts could be turned off "with just a little bit of compromise."
Shortly afterward, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned that looming cuts to her department would inconvenience travelers at airports across the country. She said TSA cuts would increase wait times for domestic passengers, and cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement would mean curtailing detention and investigative operations in that agency.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also downplayed the idea that Congress could minimize the problem by giving the administration more flexibility. And in answer to Coburn's letter complaining about upcoming travel, Carney claimed administration officials were not going on a "tour" but were traveling the country to highlight important projects.
Republicans reportedly are working on a bill this week that would grant Obama's Cabinet more leeway to target the cuts in a responsible way.
In an interview with Fox News, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seemed to get behind the plan.
"Why not empower the president and his administration, give them the authority within their budgets to make those changes?" Walker said Monday.
Walker said he thinks some of the administration's warnings amount to scare tactics. "There's no doubt about it, that's why I said call the bluff, give them the authority to do this," Walker said. "There's always a better way, there's certainly enough waste to be cut in this town. Why not give the president and his Cabinet... the authority to do that."
There is an ongoing debate over how much flexibility the Obama administration currently has. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Friday, warning that FAA cutbacks and furloughs would lead to delays at airports across the country, adamantly denied that Cabinet secretaries such as himself had the flexibility to target the cuts.
Politifact.com, examining these competing claims, noted last week that the cuts are largely across the board, in that the same percentage cut is supposed to impact all programs within a budget.
However, the fact-check site said federal managers do have "a fair amount of discretion" on what to cut within specific programs.
Democrats have a bill of their own that would blend tax hikes and spending cuts, along the lines of what Obama has recommended. Both parties are expected to push their respective plans, but so far little headway has been made toward a bipartisan compromise.
The so-called sequester now approaching was never supposed to happen. It was designed as an unpalatable fallback, to take effect only in case a specially established bipartisan congressional super-committee failed to come up with $1 trillion or more in savings from government programs.
Obama has not been able to find success for his balanced approach of reducing deficits through a combination of targeted savings and tax increases. Obama has proposed closing tax loopholes that benefit the top earners and corporations.
"Unfortunately, it appears that Republicans in Congress have decided that instead of compromising -- instead of asking anything of the wealthiest Americans -- they would rather let these cuts fall squarely on the middle class," Obama said on Saturday, in his last weekly radio and Internet address before the deadline, but unlikely to be his final word on the subject.
House Republicans have said reduced spending needs to be the focus and have rejected the president's demand to include higher taxes as part of a compromise. They say legislation passed in early January already raises taxes on top earners to generate an estimated $600 billion for the Treasury over a decade.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.If I had to drink one thing for the rest of my life, it would be tea. When I am consulting patients at my functional medicine center, you will see me sipping on a variety of different tea elixirs.
The world of tea offers something for everyone, depending on your taste, mood, and health goals. All true tea comes from the tea plant Camellia sinensis. That's right, black tea, green tea, white tea, and oolong tea all come from the same plant—everything else is technically a tisane! What makes them so unique in look and taste is the way they are grown, harvested, and prepared.
And while all contain antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral benefits due to their shared catechin polyphenol, antioxidant content, each type contains its own individual benefits, which can help you better decide which will be your go-to choice. With that, here is my official ranking of the top teas you should try!On Friday night, the Washington Post published a report detailing how officials at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention had been banned from using words and phrases like “evidence-based,” “fetus”, and “transgender” in budget documents.
The report caused an uproar. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said the forbidden word list was reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Others viewed the move as more evidence of President Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. Members of the science and public health communities worried on Twitter about what this type of censorship would mean for the research being done at the CDC, how it’s communicated to the public.
But by Sunday, the head of the CDC was pushing back, claiming that the Post had misinterpreted the directive.
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who has acted as the CDC director since last July, said in an internal email and on Twitter, that “there are no banned words at CDC.”
I want to assure you there are no banned words at CDC. We will continue to talk about all our important public health programs. — Dr Brenda Fitzgerald (@CDCDirector) December 17, 2017
Matt Lloyd, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, echoed her, saying the Post report was a “mischaracterization of discussions regarding the budget formulation process.”
The whole episode remains confusing — the agency has not provided any additional explanation about how its discussions were mischaracterized. (Neither the CDC nor HHS have responded to requests for comment, and it’s still not clear at which agency the directive originated.) And denying there are “banned words” is not the same as denying discussions about language sensitivities in budget talks.
To try to make sense of it all, we called up a former CDC official, who was privy to the budget processes during the Obama administration. (The former employee spoke to Vox on the condition of anonymity.) The ex-official felt the Post had overstated the significance of what are common political maneuvers during budget negotiations — and that the report confused those financial conversations with the science that’s happening at the agency.
But given that the report is seen as part of broader language restrictions at other government agencies under Trump, it’s still pretty worrying.
Playing politics
According to the Post, CDC policy analysts at headquarters in Atlanta were briefed about the “forbidden” words at a Thursday meeting with officials who oversee the budget. The words, which were not to be used in documents circulated in the administration and Congress ahead of the budget proposal for FY2019, included “evidence-based,” “science-based,” “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” and “fetus.”
But the New York Times later reported that “science-based” and “evidence-based” were not firmly on a watch list, as the Washington Post suggested. The ex-CDC official had spoken to former colleagues in the agency, who confirmed that those words “were discussed, but it wasn’t like they recommended not using” them.
The former CDC employee told Vox it’s not unusual for CDC officials in charge of the budget request to be cautious about sensitive language ahead of budget talks.
“The CDC is facing real budget restriction in FY 2019,” the ex-official said. “There’s going to be no budget line for global health security at this point, among many other likely cuts that are coming. And the budget office is in the position of having to get more funding. They’re going to do that by saying things that will resonate with their audience” — an audience of conservative Republicans.
Using more muted language to talk about certain politically sensitive health issues happened during the Obama administration, too. “We have always known that issues like contraception are touchy,” the ex-official said. For example, during the Zika outbreak, CDC officials were aware they had to be careful about recommending women avoid pregnancy or use contraception. “There are topic areas you know are sensitive, and that you dance around.”
“Yes it’s ridiculous,” that this has to happen, the ex-official added. “But is this the end of the world? No. CDC is going to continue to be one of the most trusted agencies in government because they are based in science. That’s not going to change.”
The language used in budget talks is a separate issue from the science being done and communicated through the agency, the former CDC official said. “I am confident you’ll see ‘fetus’ in an MMWR [the CDC’s epidemiological digest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report] about Zika. And ‘transgender’ in a report about HIV. Just because the budget office is trying to use more favorable language to acquire funds, doesn’t mean in any way this will affect the integrity of the agency.”
A science and public health outcry
This may not be comforting to people in the public health and scientific communities, some of whom have noted that any type of censorship could be dangerous, and might indirectly affect the CDC’s scientific practice.
“[Encouraging people not to use certain words] will lead to a kind of self-censorship,” Rush Holt, chief executive officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science, told Vox. “It’s troubling if ideology is interfering with the use of certain words.”
“The purpose of science is to search for truth, and when science is censored the truth is censored,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon general, told the New York Times.
Here’s Sandro Galea, an epidemiologist and dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, on Twitter:
This is astonishing. It would be a parody of a flailing effort to limit the effectiveness of #publichealth if it did not suggest a real problem. #7words https://t.co/ZKr2xPF6zd — Sandro Galea (@sandrogalea) December 16, 2017
Changing language like “fetus” and “transgender” is part of a broader trend at HHS
Even if it’s not banning words, CDC’s rhetorical tiptoeing can also be seen as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to control how science is discussed and embrace the language of the religious right.
The term “evidence-based” appeared 104 & 119 times in @BarackObama's FY16 & FY17 CDC budgets & only 33 times in @realDonaldTrump's FY18, including once on opioid abuse/overdose prevention. In FY19, guess he plans to address opioid epidemic based on feelings vs. actual evidence? pic.twitter.com/ILIQy8p5uO — Chelsea Polis, PhD (@cbpolis) December 16, 2017
The Trump administration in October released a draft plan for Health and Human Services, which suggested the federal health agency will now be focused on “protecting unborn Americans’ starting as early as ‘conception.’”
HHS, according to the plan, will also be in the business of supporting strong family values and “healthy marriages,” empowering faith-based groups that receive federal dollars with the freedom to exercise their morals and beliefs, and looking after American lives all the way to “natural death.”
That’s a radical departure from the tone of strategic plans in the previous administration. But the sensitivities around conception and the word “fetus” are less surprising when you consider the ideological views of many of the people now in important positions at HHS.
The list of former conservative activists at the agency includes:
Matthew Bowman, a lawyer at the Department of Health and Human Services, is reportedly one of the architects behind the new birth control rules and previously worked for Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy (and anti-choice) group.
Another top Trump adviser on health care is Katy Talento, an anti-abortion activist who has claimed that side effects of hormonal birth control include cancer and miscarriages.
Trump put Teresa Manning, an anti-abortion lawyer who once said giving people easy access to the morning-after pill was "medically irresponsible" and "anti-family,” in charge of Title X, HHS’s federal family planning program.
Charmaine Yoest, now assistant secretary at HHS, was the president and CEO of the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life.
Valerie Huber, the former president of an abstinence-only education association, is the chief of staff to the assistant secretary for health at HHS.
The Trump administration has also been removing the phrase “climate change” from some government websites, part of its rejection of the science of global warming.
“I don’t know exactly who said what to whom [in the CDC meeting]. But somehow, the word got to some employees that there are things that shouldn’t be written,” said the AAAS’ Holt.
“The reason [the CDC report] wasn’t just immediately dismissed as a ridiculous idea, was that there have been too many instances and too many suspected instances of words or ideas being set out of bounds.”Tiger Woods, termed "delusional" two weeks ago by ESPN analyst Paul Azinger for not recognizing the state of his game, apparently has no illusions about whether he’ll make the 2016 U.S. Olympic team.
"For me, I don't have to worry about the Olympics right now. So, it's not really a concern of mine right now," Woods said after posting a 3-under 68 in Thursday’s first round of the Quicken Loans National. "Some of the top players, that is probably a schedule concern. As of right now that's not the case for me."
Woods, who has said in the past how important it was for him to win a medal in golf for the U.S., is currently ranked 266th and nowhere near the top 15 in the world who would be eligible to play in Rio in 2016. From those players, only four from each nation will earn the right to play for his country, so it’s pretty safe to say the former No. 1 will not be among them.
The host of this week’s tourney shared his new reality with reporters who sought his view of the newly released 2015-2016 PGA Tour schedule that is rather chaotic, thanks to golf’s return to the summer games next August. While the calendar remains mostly the same through the U.S. Open, the latter part of the season — which includes two majors practically back to back — will wreak havoc for many tour players.
The Open Championship is set for July 14-July 17 at Royal Troon, with the PGA Championship just two weeks later, from July 28-July 31.
Other changes include moving the Quicken Loans National to the week after the U.S. Open in late June, with the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the following week. The Travelers Championship and John Deere Classic will move to the first two weeks of August, with the latter event taking place during the Olympics.
The primary change to the FedEx Cup playoffs is that the open date will move from after the Deutsche Bank Championship to after the BMW Championship. But then there’s the Ryder Cup as well, which will take place the week after the Tour Championship in late September.
Small wonder that Woods expected some tourneys to lack some of the bigger names in golf.
"It's going to be interesting to see what players do, how they're going to pace themselves through this," he said. "We still have Ryder Cup on the backside, so it's going to be a lot of big events all in a row with very little rest. It will be interesting to see how the guys pace themselves early in the year, what weeks they might take off, whether it's in the playoffs or somewhere else and try and rest up."
★★★
SB Nation video archives: Urban golfing with a U.S. Open champ (2012)Soon after announcing that he'd be bringing his mania-inducing Cronuts to Austin's SXSW, the NYC pastry chef has revealed via Instagram his latest dessert creation which he'll debut at the festival: Chocolate Chip Cookie Milk Shots. Reps from Dominique Ansel Bakery tell Eater about the inspiration for the dessert — a chocolate cookie "glass" containing a "shot" of milk — came after Ansel tried his first Oreo "a few weeks ago" and was encouraged to eat it with milk, which is not "a natural combination in French culture."
Figuring that "if everyone was drinking milk with cookies, you might as well make a dessert that allows them both to be combined," Ansel has created a chocolate chip cookie recipe that "stayed crispy and moist in parts" even as it held milk. (When asked if Ansel would be rolling out the cookie shots at his SoHo bakery, he just said "We'll see!") Ansel's cookie shots will be available during an Allison+Partners-sponsored event on Sunday, March 9. Austin dwellers should probably get in line now.
· @dominiqueansel [Instagram]
· All Dominique Ansel Coverage on Eater [-E-]My hand to G-d, I included a sentence at the end of a draft of my last blog about the Russian hack of the DNC servers, “And Trump is falling for it hook, line and sinker” that I deleted before I sent the final to be posted. Why infuse an international issue with domestic election politics? And then Trump opened the door. I can add nothing more in the critique against his ridiculously ill-advised invitation for the Russian government to hack U.S. servers than that expressed by the New York Times Editorial Board entitled, “What Was Mr. Trump Thinking?”
It is not treason. It is constitutionally protected free speech. Nonetheless, the remarks further call into question Mr. Trump’s commitment to democracy, his understanding of what it means to be commander in chief and his fitness to lead. He was, in effect, urging Russia to commit a crime that would damage national security.
Speaking of international security, privacy and cybersecurity, I do have a thought: Bring Mr. Snowden home.
For two years now I have included “CitizenFour” in the curriculum of my introduction to Internet Law and Policy class. Teaching it in Italy contrasts interestingly to teaching it in the U.S. Europeans are far more suspect of American communications surveillance that the U.S. appears to be. Or maybe hurt is the word. The Italian students I know express something of a disappointment in the United States in regard to these behaviors. Perhaps they have more hope in the U.S. that we might have for ourselves. They expect us to model our ideals of freedom and liberty because they come from cultures with a history of what can happen in the extreme when trust is lost.
The United States can begin to heal its wound, and continue to live up to its own expectations, to offer Mr. Snowden a way home. In light of the Russian hack of the DNC servers, Trump’s reckless encouragement of that behavior, his position on the Balkans and embrace of Putin, relations with Russia grow more serious by the day. It may never have been entirely safe for Snowden to be there, for himself or for the United States, but it is ever more imperative now that he get out of there.
To the question of whether Snowden is a hero or a traitor, I believe that he is neither. In previous blogs, when his story first broke, I called him naïve. I still believe that of his motives and actions today, even as I recognize other, and some conflicting, qualities in him: highly intelligent, ethical, misguided, infected with a “savior” drive. I do not think he should come home to a hero’s welcome. I do not think he should be thrown in the brig forever. To the degree that he engaged in civil disobedience, he can authenticate that motive with the acceptance of a consequence for stealing and revealing classified information. The government should not treat him with contempt, however, or as an enemy of the state.
Russia is no longer limbo. It is increasingly becoming a line in the sand on sides defined by ethics, right thinking and behavior for the United States and world peace. If offered reasonable terms to come home that he rejects, Snowden can draw that line. In order for the ball to be in his court to decide, the United States should offer a reasonable option for him to return.
It behooves President Obama to champion the matter. Obama ran a campaign very critical of the National Security Administration and U.S. government surveillance. In office, he has all but supported a 180-degree turn on those issues. I think I understand. In the executive role, knowing what he does, briefed on matters about which I, and most Americans, do not have a clue, he may have felt that under all the circumstances he was making the right move for the sake of national security. But in this one gesture, he can demonstrate that even if his head is in the right place to err on the side of protection, his heart is also in the right place to understand something equally human in Mr. Snowden.
Mr. Obama, bring Mr. Snowden back home.Online harassment has completely taken over Melody Hensley's life.
As an atheist and feminist activist, Hensley said, she was a target for "atheist misogynists" and men's rights activists. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which on Thursday prevented her from leaving home to go to an unfamiliar place
Hensley wants to know the identity of the man who she claims is behind a two-year harassment campaign on Storify against her and numerous other women.
To generalize, the Internet is a pretty shitty place to be a woman. Regardless of your beliefs or interests, you’re routinely attacked with hateful messages and threats for little reason other than being female and writing your thoughts online. Death threats and rape threats are commonplace.
Bullies use a variety of tools. They hurl slurs on Twitter Reddit, and Facebook. They attack on comment sections and YouTube videos. They use spam- and abuse-reporting options to silence opponents. There are other, more subtle weapons.
Storify is an endlessly useful tool for presenting nuggets of information from across the Web in a cohesive package. The Daily Dot frequently |
critical information and we really need help from concerned citizens.”
For more information about the Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count, or to download a census card, visit foecanada.org/en/issues/bumble-bee-count/.
@JessicaEKerr
jkerr@vancourier.comKevin Ball: Disappointed with Sunderland's loss to Manchester United
Craig Gardner's early goal put Sunderland in front and Emanuele Giaccherini almost made it 2-0 when his header was brilliantly saved by David de Gea.
Adnan Januzaj then scored twice for United in the second half to turn the game on its head and leave Sunderland bottom of the table.
Asked for his feelings after the match, interim Sunderland boss Ball said: "Probably a bit of disappointment having done so well in the first half and scored the goal.
"We knew it was going to be difficult in the second half. The players and myself are disappointed as they worked very hard today.
"We think the two goals we conceded could have been prevented with a bit of communication.
"Even towards the end of the game we tried to change things round and go a bit more direct with bringing Connor (Wickham) on."
Asked about De Gea's save from Giaccherini, Ball added: "It was a great ball in and a fantastic save, but they are the fine margins, and we need to make sure these opportunities go in."By T. McLendon, AFROPUNK Contributor
Europeans often whitewash the history of colonialism under the guise of wanting to “spread their culture” or “promote progress” when in reality, they inflicted torture on natives for the sake of economic gain. Much of the collective Black conscious centers itself around the atrocities of slavery in the Americas by the British, French, and Spanish. But on the continent, Belgian colonizers took delight in the mutilation of slaves on conquered land in ways unimaginable. In hopes to introduce the continent to civilization, King Leopold II thought it best to use brute force. The picture above displays, “A Congolese man looking at the severed hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter who was killed, and allegedly cannibalized, by the members of Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company militia.” Does this seem civilized to anyone?
Rare Historical Photos, the website from which this photograph was obtained, displays a quote from a Danish missionary present during this era. “In Forbath’s words: The baskets of severed hands, set down at the feet of the European post commanders, became the symbol of the Congo Free State…. The collection of hands became an end in itself. Force Publique soldiers brought them to the stations in place of rubber; they even went out to harvest them instead of rubber… They became a sort of currency. They came to be used to make up for shortfalls in rubber quotas, to replace… the people who were demanded for the forced labor gangs; and the Force Publique soldiers were paid their bonuses on the basis of how many hands they collected.” Is it any question that the barbaric nature of this violence still echoes in the heart of the continent today? The nations of Central Africa (in historical Congo) are still rebounding from the violence and exploitation several centuries ago, and conversations centering the revival and development of the continent must reckon with the horrors of the past.
To see more Rare Historical Photos, visit their website: http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/A couple of weeks ago, Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric, complained indignantly about China’s current and bitter hostility toward multinational corporations. According to the Financial Times, Immelt groused at a private dinner in Rome that the Chinese government was becoming ever more protectionist. “I am not sure that in the end, they want any of us to win, or any of us to be successful,” he said.
Immelt’s remarks point to a noteworthy shift in the dynamic that moves American policy toward China, one tinged with irony. Over the past two decades, the business community has been more upbeat about China than any other constituency in American society. Business leaders led the charge in loosening trade restrictions with China. They dismissed concerns about human rights with the argument that the simple presence of multinational companies in China would conduce to political liberalization.
However, over the past year or two, and to their evident surprise, their earlier assurances were revealed to have gotten things exactly backward. Immelt was merely the latest representative of corporate America to ring the alarm about restrictions on business operations in China, taking his cue from the leaders of Google and other major companies. Both the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and the European Chamber of Commerce in China have issued reports in recent months conceding that the business climate for foreign companies there has steadily worsened.
American and European companies have vied for centuries, through all of China’s upheavals, to dominate what used to be called “the China market.” Now, increasingly, China wants to keep that market for itself. It opened up to foreign companies in the 1980s and 1990s not because it believed in free trade or because it thought the visitors were wise and wonderful, but rather because it wanted their technology and know-how. But China no longer needs the multinational companies as it once did. The Chinese government has proved ever more adept at running an industrial policy that privileges its own companies, many of them state-owned.Internet Group Anonymous Declares "War on Scientology"
By Chan Enterprises
Dated: Jan 21, 2008
"Anonymous" are fighting the Church of Scientology and the Religious Technology Center.
CLEARWATER, Florida - Anonymous announced their intention to combat the activities of the Church of Scientology on Monday. A spokesperson said that the group's goals include bringing an end to the financial exploitation of Church members and protecting the right to free speech, a right which they claim was consistently violated by the Church of Scientology in pursuit of its opponents.
This announcement came as a response to attempts by the Church to keep secret an internal video meant to be viewed only by Scientologists, featuring actor Tom Cruise. Despite their efforts, the movie was leaked and rapidly spread across the Internet. The video caused much controversy, and members of Anonymous posted a message to several of their websites proclaiming war against Scientology. Soon after, Anonymous struck at the church; they blocked access to its website, made prank calls, organized protests, distributed anti-Church pamphlets and information, and extracted secret files from the Church of Scientology and its parent company, the Religious Technology Center.
Anonymous' members cited several reasons for their actions against the Church of Scientology: many have stressed the alleged human rights violations under the auspices of the Church. Others accused the Church of fraud due to its costly ceremonies, while some merely sought the entertainment they refer to as "lulz," a corruption of the Internet slang "LOL," or "laugh out loud." Most members, however, were concerned with the threat to free speech that the Church posed. This was most evident in the recent attacks on websites such as Digg and YouTube, where the Church filtered anti-Scientology comments and replaced their content with the text "[This comment is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Church of Scientology International]." "The so-called Church of Scientology actively misused copyright and trademark law in pursuit of its own agenda," one Anonymous commented. "They attempted not only to subvert free speech, but to recklessly pervert justice to silence those who spoke out against them."
The Church of Scientology's legal struggle with its online detractors began in 1994 with the Usenet group "alt.religion.scientology", a community which spoke out against the Church. Legal representatives from the Church confronted them specifically over the use of Scientology in their name, citing trademark infringement and misrepresentation. This led to numerous lawsuits, and the group was shut down. The Church of Scientology later found itself in several further conflicts on the Internet, including some with popular websites such as Google and Slashdot, as well as an alleged "war" with users of the website YTMND.com.
The members of Anonymous do not plan to end their attacks on the Church of Scientology. Instead, they will continue until the Church of Scientology reacts, at which point they will change strategy. Their main goal is to render the church powerless, and so the war could be one of attrition. Science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard founded the Church in 1953. In the 55 years since its inception, the Church has faced allegations of being a commercial enterprise that harasses its critics, exploits its members, and neglects adults in its care. Scientology has also faced criticism over the cost required to progress through its "auditing" system, with the total bill for completing the course estimated at $365,000 - $380,000.
http://www.whyaretheydead.net/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights.html
http://www.discord.org/%7Elippard/skeptic/03.3.jl-jj-scientology.html
http://www.nyupress.org/netwars/textonly/pages/chapter06/ch06_.html
http://www.news.com/2100-1023-959236.html
http://slashdot.org/yro/01/03/16/1256226.shtml
http://www.ytmnd.com/news/?news_id=40
http://www.xenu.net/archive/prices.html
Category Religion, Internet, Society
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As reported earlier this morning, the attack on Church of Scientology by hacker alliance Anonymous has been verified...by a press release from Anonymous!The press release — complete with contact information — was posted on free internet press release service PR Log early yesterday morning. It reads as follows The press release is rapidly making its way into the internet via such models as StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, BoingBoing, and MetaFilter. Stay tuned!Image copyright Reuters Image caption Dilma Rousseff risks losing the support of allies to stave off the threat of impeachment
Brazil's tourism minister has resigned, in a move that adds pressure to embattled President Dilma Rousseff.
Opposition lawmakers want to remove Ms Rousseff over claims she manipulated accounts to hide growing deficit.
Officials from her coalition allies, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), will vote to leave the alliance on Tuesday, members said.
Tourism Minister Henrique Eduardo Alves became the first PMDB member to stand down from government on Monday.
What has gone wrong in Brazil?
Rousseff faces a perfect storm
Ms Rousseff, a former political prisoner during Brazil's military government, began her second term in office 14 months ago.
But her popularity has plummeted amid corruption allegations around senior members of the governing Workers' Party.
The speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, agreed in December to open impeachment proceedings against her.
Last week, Ms Rousseff, who denies wrongdoing, said the procedure amounted to a coup. She spent Monday meeting officials from the PMDB ahead of that party's national leadership meeting on Tuesday.
But a number of MPs from the PMDB said ahead of the meeting that most members had already decided to abandon the coalition.
"On Tuesday we will be disembarking from this government," Senator Valdir Raupp told Reuters.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mass protests have been held across Brazil to demand the impeachment of President Rousseff
The PMDB is headed by Michel Temer, Ms Rousseff's deputy, who would become president should she be removed.
The loss of support by his party's 69 MPs could have consequences for the impeachment proceedings. Ms Rousseff needs the support of a third of the 513 members of the lower house of Congress to stave off impeachment.
The Workers' Party has been in power since Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in for his first term in 2003.
It has been hit by a long-running investigation into bribes from contractors working for state oil company Petrobras.
A recent attempt by Ms Rousseff to appoint Lula as her chief of staff was seen by critics as an attempt to shield him from money-laundering charges - which he denies - connected with the case.
His appointment was blocked by a judge earlier this month.
Lula said on Monday he expected his successor to survive growing pressure, and said he would speak to Mr Temer to work out how to save her job.
Protests involving tens of thousands of people have taken place across Brazil to call for Ms Rousseff's impeachment.
According to poll by the Datafolha poll in late February, only 11% of respondents across the country said the president's performance was "good or excellent".At first this conclusion seems like something of a no brainer, but Christopher J. Ferguson‘s study on the attitudes of men and women who have recently watched television with sexual violence in it has some very interesting results, as summarized by the Atlantic.
And no, the study participants did not watch Game of Thrones. Its just a convenient example of the intersection between powerful women and sex in television.
Ferguson’s study split 150 participants into three random groups: one group got to watch Masters of Horror and The Tudors (in which Henry VIII avails himself of many a never again mentioned concubine), one group got to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Law & Order SVU (episodes featured sexual violence but also Buffy and detective Olivia Benson), and a third, the control, watched the more family friendly fare 7th Heaven and The Gilmore Girls. Afterwards, subjects were quizzed on their attitudes towards women and their levels of depression and anxiety were evaluated.
And he found what you might expect: Watching shows with powerful women made women feel less anxious, despite the presence of sexual violence in the stories. Watching shows that contained sexual violence and passive female characters correlated with men identifying with more negative attitudes towards women.
But I found the rest of the results pretty fascinating. From The Atlantic:
Males who watched sexually violent shows with submissive female characters reported more negative attitudes about women than the control group. This effect did not occur for men who watched shows with powerful women. Women actually reported more negative attitudes after watching the G-rated shows, but how female characters were portrayed did not affect their beliefs. Women who watched weak characters in sexually violent situations became twice as anxious as women who watched SVU or Buffy, who in turn actually reported less anxiety than the control group. The inverse occurred for men, who felt least anxious after watching The Tudors or Masters of Horror.
The idea that a powerful female character outweighs violence against women so much that women actually find those shows more reassuring than shows without violence at all is pretty amazing. The idea that the men in the study found shows with sexual violence against passive women to be the most comforting is less so. The participants were college students from a “southern university.” I’d love to know the particular politics on campus of the school, and whether they correlate with a rigid understanding of gender roles. I’d also love it if the sample size was bigger, but all in all, still an interesting demonstration.
(Positive Female Role-Models Eliminate Negative Effects of Sexually Violent Media via The Atlantic.)A Sudbury city councillor wants to break the pattern of Uber versus the taxi companies that's followed the ride-sharing service from city to city. We spoke to city councillor Deb McIntosh about what she thinks needs to be done. 8:05 While it has no plans to launch here yet, Uber is looking for drivers in Greater Sudbury.
Ward 9 city councillor Deb McIntosh wants to be ready to avoid the political strife that's followed the ride-sharing service to other cities.
"I don't think any of us want Uber to just arrive and then there be conflict," she said.
McIntosh has tabled a motion for the Oct. 20 council meeting calling for staff to review the current taxi bylaws and report back in the spring on how ride-sharing services like Uber might fit in.
Ward 9 Greater Sudbury city councillor Deb McIntosh (Yvon Theriault/Radio-Canada)
McIntosh sees this as an opportunity to improve public transportation in Greater Sudbury, and possibly have ride-sharing services filling in gaps in public transit in the outlying areas — or maybe even providing city services like Handi-Transit.
"I don't know what the answers are. I think we should start looking at the whole thing now before we have a lot of angry people," she said.
Sharon Flinn, the co-owner of Lockerby Taxi, lobbied for this review of the current taxi system in Sudbury.
She worries that an unregulated competitor could take a big bite out of her business and jeopardize the jobs of her 80 employees.
"They could all of a sudden swarm and hit us with 100 drivers if needed," Flinn said of Uber.
Flinn is calling on the city to adjust the bylaw so that ride-sharing services are treated the same as taxi companies with requirements for driver licensing, insurance coverage and a regulations on how much a ride costs.
"So if they do come in, they're put on a level playing field with the other operators," she said.
McIntosh said her motion shouldn't be seen just as a defence of the local taxi industries.
"They're willing to adapt a new version of how we get around, but they want it to be fair," she said.
Uber has been advertising for drivers in Sudbury for the past month, but spokesperson Susie Heath said that doesn't mean they'll be hitting local roads any time soon.
"We have been advertising to potential driver partners so they can learn about the benefits of the Uber platform and so we may assess local driver interest. Gauging driver partner interest is an essential component of the analysis we undertake when considering expansion. We conduct advertising in cities all across Canada," Heath said in a statement.
"While we currently have no imminent plans to launch in Sudbury, we will continue to work collaboratively with officials at all levels of government as part of our ongoing process to continue to explore expansion in a number of cities across Canada."Owners of the San Onofre nuclear plant on Friday made public for the first time a detailed road map for dismantling the site’s twin nuclear reactors and safeguarding highly radioactive waste.
Southern California Edison hopes to remove the plant, sandwiched in the 800-foot gap between Interstate-5 and the ocean 50 miles north of San Diego, and restore the Navy-owned property over the course of two decades.
The first dismantling work would start in early 2016, with large reactor components removed by 2022, according to the plan, which spells out schedules, budgets and environmental impacts.
Spent nuclear fuel will remain indefinitely at San Onofre while the U.S. government comes up with a nationwide solution for storing the highly-radioactive waste. Under the decommissioning plan, spent fuel would be transferred from cooling pools to dry storage in reinforced steel canisters as soon as late 2019.
Speeding that transfer has been a pointed subject of public concern at community meetings organized by Edison. Under highly unlikely disaster scenarios, a ruptured pool could drain and allow spent fuel to heat up and catch fire though experts insist San Onofre’s spent fuel has cooled enough not to combust.
San Onofre was shut down in January 2012 because of a small radiation leak that was traced to the rapid degradation of brand new steam generators. Edison closed the plant for good in June 2013.
The decommissioning plans follow a relatively rapid schedule, especially when compared with U.S. plants that opt to sit idle for up to 50 years while radiation dissipates. But it also implies some augmented health risks for workers.
The price tag — $4.4 billion — could distinguish San Onofre as the most expensive decommissioning in the 70 year history of the nuclear power industry.
Edison CEO Ted Craver said enough funds already have been collected from utility customers to pay for the project.
“San Onofre is now fully funded and future contributions are not needed,” Craver said Thursday, in a conference call with investors and analysts.
Separately, utility customers would pay for $3.3 billion leftover plant costs, under a proposed settlement agreement. The California Public Utilities Commission is weighing whether to approve the deal.
As San Onofre’s containment domes are cleared out and leveled, heavily radioactive reactor parts will be stored in canisters much like spent nuclear fuel. Components with low levels of radioactive contamination will be transported to licensed disposal facilities at Andrews County, Texas, and Clive, Utah.
The decommissioning plan, assembled by Edison and consultants, includes a detailed analysis of impacts on air quality, noise and ground water — all projected to be minimal.
At peak activity, the effort will involve 1,500 workers. Edison said truck traffic will have a “negligible” impact on roadways and congestion.
The investor-owned utility, headquartered in Rosemead, released a draft of the plan to allow time for public discussion before submitting a final version to the Nuclear Regulator Commission, as soon as September.
Edison’s Community Engagement Panel — a collection of local public officials, community activists and academics — plans to meet this month, but has not picked a date.
Edison is looking into hiring a primary contractor to oversee the decommissioning, but likely won’t make that decision until next year, a spokeswoman for the company said. At other retired U.S. plants, full-service decommission contractors have expanded their role, even taking over as the plant license holder.
The majority of spent fuel generated at San Onofre rests in spent fuel pools. Edison currently is shopping between two vendors before it expands its spent fuel storage system-- the French state nuclear power conglomerate Areva and New Jersey-based nuclear parts supplier Holtec.
Edison will seek permission from the California State Lands Commission to leave cooling water conduits on the ocean floor, as it did when removing the original Unit 1 reactor starting in the early 1990s. Removing the pipes, which measure 18 feet in diameter and extend more than a half-mile offshore, would result in greater environmental impacts, Edison says.
The utility also will seek to leave some uncontaminated underground structures in place where removal might increase damage.
Complete decommissioning documents are available at www.songscommunity.com.Want to start a fight between a bunch of DBAs or database developers? Ask them where the comma should be placed between columns in a SELECT statement. It’s actually a little disturbing just how much emotional value people place in this. Almost as good, tell a database developer you don’t like their naming standard. Hoo boy!
The purpose of a naming standard, I think most of us can agree, is for clarity. We’re defining language so that we all mean the same thing when we say it, right? We want to communicate clearly, so we’re going to implement a naming standard. Fine. Sounds good. And then, you get this:
dbo.tblDdltbl
Umm… Wait. What?
And there are hundreds of these, all with the same first three letters, tbl. Oh, wait, I get it. It’s tbl for Table. Because… um, we need to know what tables in our database are actually tables?
Where’s the clarity?
What about the rest, Ddltbl. If you’ve been to any presentation where I’ve explained Ddltbl (pronounced diddletibble) you must not reveal the secret. I’ll delete your comments. But feel free to guess if you don’t know. No one has ever guessed correctly. Why? Because it’s not even remotely clear. It’s an abbreviation, but not one you’ll find in a dictionary. No, instead, you’ll have to look this up in a special list that matches weird abbreviations, some of them weirder than Ddltbl, with real words. Clarity IS NULL.
OK, what about using spr_ & spu_ for stored procedures? Spr_ means a read procedure and spu_ means update. Clear right? And it’s clearly expandable to insert & delete & merge and procedures that do a mix of things… Wait, we can’t use spm_ for Mix because we’re using that for Merge. I know we’ll use spx_ for procedures that do a mix of things. What’s that, we already used spx_ for XML queries? What idiot did that? Me? Oh, well, let’s see, we’ll use spq_ for procedures that do a mix of things… And clarity just went away again. Not to mention the fact that I want to insert data into the InvoiceDescription table and to get type ahead I have to type ‘spi_I’ before I even get close to being able to select the correct table from code completion. That’s five characters. I’m lazy doggone it! I don’t want to type that much.
Let me now stand up and admit, WAY back at the beginning of my career in data management, I created an entire system with tables that were prefixed ‘tbl’ because I came out of development that used, what was called at the time Hungarian Notation, which was 1-3 characters before a variable to describe that variable. It was a holdover from the days when we needed to account for every letter used because the amount of memory & storage in systems was very tiny. By the gods, I even named every column with a prefix denoting its data type. And, I came up with the spr_, spu_, spd_, spi_, spm_, spq_, spx_ naming convention too (to my utter shame, and I think we had one or two others tossed in there that I don’t remember). Yes, I’ve inflicted this craziness on others. That’s a huge part of why I know it needs to stop (and no, I was NOT responsible for Ddltbl, I fought against it tooth & nail).
We actually have a common language that we can use to communicate clearly what objects are within our databases and what they do. It’s the written and spoken language that we use to communicate to each other when we’re not creating databases. In my case, this is English. Why don’t we just say that the table is Invoice (or Invoices, I’m not about to quibble on that) and that the procedure for adding data to the Invoice table is InvoiceAdd or InvoiceInsert? Why don’t we just use our language skills. Anyone who has had young children has repeated the phrase “Use your words” more than any of us care to think about. Let’s do the same thing with our database objects. Use your words!
Oh, and you should put your comma after the column.
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EmailIn preparation for this post, I’ve read several research papers, a book, listened to 4 university lectures, idled away hours on IRC, developed elliptic curve libraries in 2 seperate languages, and built my own elliptic curve graphing framework. Elliptic curve cryptography is hard to wrap your head around. As one of the fundamental crypto systems making Bitcoin a “crypto”-currency, I really wanted to understand the underlying technical aspects which make this form of cryptography secure. This post is an attempt to demystify the elliptic curve digital signing algorithm which underlies bitcoin’s psuedo-anonymous identity system.
Explain like I’m 5 (or thereabouts)
Imagine a classroom of elementary school children who know multiplication but have not yet learned division. At the beginning of the year, the teacher proclaims “My special number is 5”. One morning, the message “Twas always thus and always thus will be” – signed “Teacher - 8” appears on the chalkboard. How do the students know this message came from the teacher and not some movie-quote-loving fraudster? They multiply the teacher’s “special number” - 5 - by the “signature number” - 8 - and if they get the number of characters in the message (40 characters), they deem the signature valid, and are confidant that the message actually came from the teacher. Oblivious to the magic of division, students are unable to produce a valid signature for any arbitrary message, and because the signature is based on the length of the message, the students can’t serruptitously change the message.
This is fundamentally how the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm works; the knower of the private key is endowed with the power of division, while public key holders are restricted to multiplication, which lets them check whether a signature is valid.
Why does Bitcoin need digital signatures?
Alice sends 2 bitcoins to Bob’s public bitcoin address (1Bob4ddr355). If Bob sends these 2 bitcoins to Charley (1Char4ddr355), he broadcasts a message stating “1Bob4ddr355 sends 2 BTC to 1Char4ddr355”. The Bitcoin system must ensure that Bob and only Bob can broadcast this message; if anyone can broadcast a transaction spending Bob’s bitcoin, or alter Bob’s message in anyway, then Bitcoin breaks irreparably.
Public Key Cryptography to the Rescue
Bob needs:
a private key - sequence of numbers that only Bob knows
a public key - another sequence of numbers that Bob can share with anyone
a message to be signed
A digital signature system will enable the following: To sign: "This is a message" + Private Key Bob = Signature "This is a message", Bob To verify: "This is a message" + Signature "This is a message", Bob + Public Key Bob = True "Another message" + Signature "This is a message", Bob + Public Key Bob = False "This is a message" + Signature "This is a message", Chuck + Public Key Bob = False "This is a message" + Signature "Another message", Bob + Public Key Bob = False "This is a message" + Signature "This is a message", Bob + Public Key Chuck = False
Because it’s impossible to create Signature “This is a message”, Bob without Bob’s private key, we can be certain that Bob and only Bob digitally signed a message when his public key verifies a signature.
Several mathematical techniques can be used to build such a system, but the current “cutting edge” technology in terms of efficiency and security is elliptic curve cryptography.
What are Elliptic Curves?
Not to be confused with an “ellipse,” elliptic curves look like:
The general equation for elliptic curves is: $$y^2 = x^3 + a*x + b$$ This specific elliptic curve has equation: $$y^2 = x^3 - 3*x + 4$$ All elliptic curves are symmetric about the x-axis.
We need the ability to add 2 points on this curve; which works as follows.
To add 2 points (Point A, and Point B) Draw a line between Point A and Point B This line always intersects the elliptic curve at a 3rd point. Reflect the the observed intersection point over the x axis to get the sum of Point A and Point B (-2.0, 1.4) + (, ) = (, ) This graph is interactive, click on the curve to compute different sums.
What happens if we want to add a point to itself? We can’t draw a line between a point and itself, so we slightly modify the above operation.
To double a point (Point A + Point A) Draw a line tangent to the elliptic curve through Point A This line always intersects the elliptic curve at a 2nd point. Reflect the the observed intersection point over the x axis to get 2 * Point A 2 * (, ) = (, ) The graph is interactive, click on the curve to compute a different double.
Using a bit of algebra and calculus, we can derive the following equations to easily add or double points without the necessity of graphs. The equations themselves aren’t very interesting; they’re here to show that point addition and doubling are trivially calculated by computers.
Given $(x_1, y_1), (x_2, y_2)$: to find $(x_3, y_3) = (x_1, y_1) + (x_2, y_2)$ $x_3 = s^2 - x_1 - x_2$ $y_3 = s(x_1 - x_3) - y_1$ $$s = \begin{cases} \frac {y_2 - y_1}{x_2 - x_1}, & \text{if $(x_1, y_1)
eq (x_2, y_2)$} \\ \frac {3x^2 + a}{2y_1}, & \text{if $(x_1, y_1) = (x_2, y_2)$} \end{cases}$$
Point addition and point doubling gives us:
$$\text {Point A} + \text {Point B} = \text {Point C}$$ $$2 * \text {Point A} = \text {Point 2A}$$ Because multiplication is just addition many times, we also have multiplication: $$\text {Point A} + \text {Point A} + \cdots + \text {Point A} = N * \text {Point A}$$ $$N * \text {Point A} = \text {Point NA}$$ $$\text {Point A} + \text {Point A} + \cdots + \text {Point A} = N * \text {Point A}$$ $$N * \text {Point A} = \text {Point NA}$$
Let’s say we want to figure out “9 * Point A”….how might we do that?
One way to do this:
2 * Point A = Point 2A
Point 2A + Point A = Point 3A
Point 3A + Point A = Point 4A
Point 4A + Point A = Point 5A
Point 5A + Point A = Point 6A
Point 6A + Point A = Point 7A
Point 7A + Point A = Point 8A
Point 8A + Point A = Point 9A... our answer.
An easier way: (called the “divide and conquer method”)
2 * Point A = Point 2A
2 * Point 2A = Point 4A
2 * Point 4A = Point 8A
Point 8A + Point A = Point 9A... our answer.
Using the divide and conquer method, we compute the product in only 4 steps, instead of 9. As the multiplier increases in size, the time saved using the divide and conquer method increases exponentially: calculating 1,000 * G takes only 10 steps and 10,000 * G takes 14 steps (bitcoin uses numbers on the order of 1077, which take about 250 steps to compute). This trick is very important in making elliptic curve cryptography actually work, and is the basis of the public key pair (more on that later).
A problem
Computers hate decimal places, and the preceeding equations produce numbers with decimals. Some decimals are irrational (they go on forever…like 1.4142135623…), and computers don’t have the infinite space required to store all these digits. They can make approximations, but when rounding produces equations that ask if 5.9999999 = 6, what’s the computer to do?
Two relatively esoteric mathematical concepts called “finite fields” and “modular arithmetic” help us solve this problem.
If you can tell time, you already understand some modular arithmetic. If it’s 21:00 (9:00pm), and you must wake up for work in 11 hours, you will set your alarm for 8:00; not 32:00. When the clock resets at 24:00, we continue counting from 0:00. This concept, known as “taking the modulus”, lets us transform fractions and decimals into whole numbers.
If our modulus is 13 (upper limit is 13), and we wish to transform $\color {#a12}{\frac {1}{7}}$: $$\begin{align} 7 * \color {#a12}{\frac {1}{7}} &= 1 \\ 7 * \color {#a12}{2} \text { mod 13} &= 1 \\ \end{align}$$ $$\begin{align} 7 * \color {#a12}{\frac {1}{7}} &= 1 \\ 7 * \color {#a12}{2} \text { mod 13} &= 1 \\ \end{align}$$ Because these equations both equal 1, we can substitute the fraction $\color {#a12}{\frac {1}{7}}$ with the integer $\color {#a12}{2}$ when operating within a finite field.
This technique of transforming fractions into integers is used to eliminate all decimals from the above mathematical equations, making our computer very happy.
Elliptic Curves over Finite Fields
When translating our beloved elliptic curves onto finite fields, graphing all points on the curve becomes a difficult problem. In order to enumerate all points, we add an initial point, called the “generator point” to itself many times.
An elliptic curve with modulus 29 (upper limit is 29) looks like:
Generated Points
Some peculiar things that you might notice:
Graph is symmetric about the line y = 14.5. Like our continuous graphs, each point has a complement on the same x coordinate.
Not every x coordinate has a point (look at x = 10….there are no points)
We’re only able to show all points because the modulus is very small. When using a much bigger modulus, such as the one bitcoin uses, creating a “full graph” of all points is impossible.
Using our trusty equations from above and a convoluted graphing system which wraps around the axes, we can see that our point doubling operator still works properly.
2 * (, ) = (, ) (, ) = * G (, ) = * G = 2 * mod 31 The graph is interactive, click on any point to compute it's double.
The Key to Elliptic Curves
We’re now ready to discuss public and private keys:
Private key is the generator multiplier (an integer). G is the generator point, it is publicly known and is the same for everyone. Public key is the point generated by the private key. $$\color {#15a} {\text {Private Key}} * G = \color {#59d} {\text {(Public Key)}}$$
Some intersting things arise from this arrangement:
If the private key is very large, it’s easy to compute the public key using the divide and conquer method, but very difficult for an attacker to brute force.
Unlike the public key, the private key is just a number. We’re able to perform “normal” math operations on it to build out the digital signature system (we can easily divide, multiply, etc.)
The public key, an elliptic curve point, is restricted to the addition and doubling operations that we’ve discussed (there is no division of points |
of the US Defense Department's annual report on China, released this week.
In coming years China could reform the world's largest army into a smaller, swifter and harder-hitting rival to the America's own army, while also deploying high-tech new warplanes and warships from new air and naval bases on manmade—and potentially illegal—Pacific islands.
Meanwhile, Beijing's top scientists are putting the finishing touches on rockets and other weaponry capable of knocking America's satellites and ballistic missiles from space. And Chinese operatives are expanding a shadowy, oceangoing militia that disguises itself as a fishing fleet—and could represent the vanguard of any future Chinese invasion.
Here are some of the highlights from the Pentagon's China report.
Big spender
Officially, China's military budget grew at a rate of 8.5 percent annually, on average, from 2007 through 2016, taking into account inflation. By 2016, Beijing was spending $144 billion a year on its armed forces—around a third what the United States spends on its own military.
But China's official budget conveniently leaves out potentially tens of billions of dollars annually that the Chinese Communist Party quietly invests in troops, weapons and training.
The Chinese military's coffers are likely to keep swelling, according to the Pentagon. "Chinese leaders seem committed to increases in defense spending for the foreseeable future, even as China's economic growth slows."
Smaller is better
Taking a cue from the US military, the People's Liberation Army—a catch-all term for the entire Chinese military, including the army, navy and air force—is cutting its payroll in order to spend more money on advanced technology.
That trend is most evident in the People's Liberation Army Army, or PLAA. With 1.6 million active-duty troops—three times as many as the US Army employs—the PLAA "remains the largest standing ground force in the world," according to the Pentagon.
In 2016, the PLA began the yearlong process of letting go as many as 300,000 people. "The cuts are expected to focus on non-combat personnel, such as those in arts and culture, administrative duties or academic work," the US Defense Department explains.
The cuts might be good for China's military strategy, but they have proved devastating to the pink-slipped soldiers. According to the American report, "following demobilization announcements in October [2016], more than a thousand PLA veterans conducted a protest in front of [PLA] headquarters in Beijing."
Army of hackers
Beijing is worried that it's being out-hacked by the Americans. "China believes its cyber capabilities and personnel lag behind the United States," the Pentagon asserts in its report. In late 2015, the PLA established the Strategic Support Force, which includes a cyberwarfare component and could eventually rival US Cyber Command.
According to the report, during wartime the PLA could order its hackers to attack an enemy's command-and-control and logistics networks, steal design data on foreign weaponry and "serve as a force-multiplier when coupled with kinetic attacks." In other words, shutting down radar networks or other defense, leaving an enemy vulnerable to attacks by ships, planes or ground forces.
Unsinkable air bases
The Chinese navy possesses one small aircraft carrier for training and experimentation and is building at least one more flattop to begin building a carrier-centric fleet similar to the US Navy's own fleet.
But island airfields, not ships, are the foundation of China's naval strategy. Since 2015, Beijing has been dredging remote Pacific reefs and building air and naval bases on the reclaimed land—most notably in the Spratly island chain. Soon these outposts could support fighter squadrons patrolling the disputed airspace and waters of the South China Seas.
"Major construction features at the largest outposts include new airfields—all with runways at least 8,800 feet in length—large port facilities, and water and fuel storage," the Pentagon reports.
"As of late 2016, China was constructing 24 fighter-sized hangars, fixed-weapons positions, barracks, administration buildings and communication facilities at each of the three outposts," the US report continues. "Once all these facilities are complete, China will have the capacity to house up to three regiments of fighters"—around 72 planes—"in the Spratly Islands."
Stealthy missile-sub
A hallmark of America's military power is its ability to strike, with non-nuclear munitions, targets anywhere in the world—and on short notice. The US Navy's roughly 50 cruise-missile-armed submarines can lie off an enemy coast until the order comes to surface, fire and then quickly disappear.
Beijing is eager to duplicate this capability with a new submarine class, the Type 093B, which might possess what the US military describes as a "clandestine land-attack option." A variant of the existing Shang-class submarine, the Type 093B carries as many as 16 cruise missiles. China has built three of the subs, so far, and could deploy them for the first time in 2017.
Little blue men
Despite possessing a frontline fleet of some 300 modern naval vessels, if China were to launch a war at sea, the first ships to sail into combat could be fishing boats. Beijing has raised an incognito naval militia, disguised as a fishing fleet, that it sends into contested waters to harass foreign ships and assert legal claims to new islands and fisheries.
American experts call these maritime militiamen "little blue men," a reference to the masked and armed "little green men" that Russia sent into Ukraine to back pro-Russia rebels. The secretive Chinese flotilla "plays a major role in coercive activities to achieve China's political goals without fighting, part of broader [Chinese] military doctrine that states that confrontational operations short of war can be an effective means of accomplishing political objectives," the American report states.
Before, the little blue men sailed in their own boats. But now China is building a state-owned fishing fleet for its maritime militia force in the South China Sea, according to the Pentagon. "Hainan Province, adjacent to the South China Sea, has ordered the building of 84 large militia fishing vessels."
Drone bonanza
The United States is still the world's leading drone power. But US law bars American companies from selling military-grade flying robots to countries with poor human rights records. China, by contrast, has no such qualms. Its drone business is booming.
"China sold armed UAVs to several states in the Middle East and North Africa, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates" in 2016, the US China report explains. "China faces little competition for sale of such systems."
Space war
Beijing is working hard to negate America's military advantage in Earth's orbit. "Despite its public stance against the militarization of space... China also continues to develop a variety of counterspace capabilities designed to degrade and deny the use of space-based assets by adversaries during a crisis or conflict," the Pentagon warns.
Potential "counterspace" weapons that China is working on include ground-based lasers and jammers; nimble "inspection" satellites that can sneak up on and tamper with other spacecraft; and rockets with the power and accuracy to fly into low orbit and smash satellites and enemy rockets.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bars weapons from long-term orbit, but world powers get around this ban by developing spacecraft with peaceful uses that can, with the flip of a switch, go to war -- treaty be damned. Beijing "probably is testing dual-use technologies in space that could be applied to counterspace missions," the American report claims.Marijuana Dispensary
In this photo taken Tuesday, May 14, 2013, Medical marijuana vials are displayed at the Venice Beach Care Center medical marijuana dispensary in Venice, Calif.
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
LANSING, MI -- Michigan marijuana advocates have confirmed plans to launch a petition drive later this year and hope to put a legalization proposal on the statewide ballot in 2016.
As MLive first reported last month, the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Initiative Committee is one of two marijuana-related groups eyeing the 2016 ballot.
Board members officially announced the effort on Thursday, indicating that they want to strengthen the state's medical marijuana program, create a regulated system for taxable sales to adults over 21 and facilitate industrial hemp farming.
Committee Chair Jeffrey Hank, a Lansing attorney, said the group is fine-tuning draft language before submitting petitions to the Board of State Canvassers for review.
Proposed language would allow citizens to grow up to 12 marijuana plants each and dedicate tax revenues toward "public interest projects" such as road repairs and schools.
"We're trying to figure out the best way to boost jobs, save the state money, end the war on drugs where people are going to jail for marijuana use, raise revenue and put the money into things that people want," said Hank.
MCCLRIC plans to start a fundraising drive soon and is expecting to use a combination of paid and volunteer workers to collect signatures. The goal is to have petitions out in the field by May.
Michigan election law gives ballot committees a 180-day window to collect the required number of signatures necessary to place a proposal on the ballot. Roughly 250,000 signatures are required for initiated legislation.
Colorado, where legal marijuana sales through licensed stores began last year, reportedly generated $8.8 million in tax and fee revenue this January, which was then the highest grossing month on record. Because Michigan has a larger population, Hank said marijuana legalization could be more lucrative here.
"We're going to have a sales tax, and we're going to have an excise tax on non-medical marijuana, but medical will stay tax free," he said. "We're analyzing those numbers to see how we can have maximum economic impact."
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, the state's top law enforcement official, has consistently opposed efforts to legalize or decriminalize recreational marijuana. A spokesperson, asked about the potential petition drive, referred to a previous statement from the attorney general.
"When it comes to the medical marijuana question, we all know people who suffer from great pain and we are monitoring the legislature's review of that law, but we absolutely must keep drugs out of kids' hands and that is why I am opposed to so-called recreational drugs," Schuette said. "Protecting children must be our first priority. Always."
Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, but voters in Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon have already chosen to legalize recreational use. Marijuana is also illegal under Michigan law, but a number of municipalities have approved decriminalization measures.
Recent polling suggests roughly 50 percent of Michigan voters support the concept of legalization and taxation of marijuana.
A separate group, a non-profit called the Michigan Responsibility Council that involves former Oakland County Republican Party Chairman Paul Welday, is also exploring a potential legalization proposal but has not yet announced plans.
State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, is also preparing statewide legalization legislation. His decriminalization proposal did not advance last session.
Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.Florida Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio charged grocery bills, car repairs and a number of other personal expenses to a GOP-issued credit card during his tenure as speaker of the state’s House, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
Records obtained by the newspaper show that during his time as speaker, from 2005 to 2008, Rubio charged $13,900 in personal expenses on the American Express the party issued him. That includes $1,000 for repairs to the Rubio family car. Among the other charges, which were covered by the party as “political expenses”:
⢠$765 at Apple’s online store for “computer supplies.” ⢠$25.76 from Everglades Lumber for “supplies.” ⢠$53.49 at Winn-Dixie in Miami for “food.” ⢠$68.33 at Happy Wine in Miami for “beverages” and “meal.” ⢠$78.10 for two purchases at Farm Stores groceries in suburban Miami. ⢠$412 at All Fusion Electronics, a music equipment store in Miami, for “supplies.”
Rubio has become something of a conservative darling in recent months, and is seen by many as a favorite to knock off moderate Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida’s Senate primary. The latest Rasmussen poll gives Rubio a 54-36 lead over Crist.
In a letter to party chair John Thrasher, Rubio called the leak of his credit card statement an “appalling act of desperation” from the Crist campaign. Rubio blamed former party chair (and Crist ally) Jim Greer for giving the records to the newspaper.
It is clear these internal documents were taken from the RPOF by former Chairman Jim Greer, or someone working for him, and were leaked to the media by the Crist Campaign. These actions are an appalling act of political desperation. The idea that the former chairman of the RPOF, or those working for the Governor, would selectively leak internal RPOF documents is disturbing.
He explained his expenditures this way:
When it came to incurring expenses, I erred on the side of caution and maintained two operating principles: If it was questionable as to whether the expense was state or Party related, I tried to err on the side of saving taxpayer money by charging that expense to the Party. If it was a question between Party expenses or personal expenses, I tried to err on the side of protecting Party money by paying personally for those charges directly.
During the period in question, there was no formal process provided by the Party regarding personal charges made on an AMEX account. At no time during my four years as a cardholder did the party ask me to provide additional information about, or personally pay, any of the charges I submitted for payment. I always took it upon myself to identify and directly pay American Express for all non-official expenses.
The party, it seems, does not necessarily agree.
Spokesperson Katie Gordon told the newspaper that the American Express card “is a corporate card and is meant to be used for business expenses.”The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
Most people my age are not making games anymore, and even less when they’re women. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of them are still ‘in the industry’ but a lot of them are making decisions about making games, but are not so much making them. A reasonable amount of them are thinking of how to make money with games while others are figuring out how to make addictive systems within a game, and then some on how we can get the player to pay for eternity for the game they like. But I don’t consider it as ‘making games’ anymore. I call it making business. Which is totally fine, by the way.
But it’s different than making games.
I’ve always liked the thought that a video game is an entertainment product, sometimes a piece of art (and when magic happens, both) and on the tertiary level, a business. As the proverb says: there is no one more blind than he who does not wish to see. I probably was that blind person (although a she). It took me a long time to get this one, that making game is MAINLY a business, and when I got – I mean really got it – well, I almost left to not come back.
I ended up a few years ago as seeing games as a business, and just that. Nothing more. No more entertainment, no more art. When you enter a business you often enter a political arena where, in the long run, most of the time personal achievement goals win over everything else, with all the decision making it takes, whatever the human cost. Because ultimately, there’s that: someone, usually a higher-up, has to make a decision about the product that will have important repercussions on its production. Often forgetting that people are making the product. When the guys up there making decisions become more and more important, they tend not to look down anymore: they look at the stock options they get, the bonus they’ll get if they can sell that game to many more millions than the previous one, the raise, etc. At that point the decisions become tinted. Tinted with those sneaky questions as ‘’how can we pass the next editorial gate so the project is not canned and I look good, just before that period of year where there is attribution of stock options’’ or ‘’if I make the good move I might be Exec Producer on the next title – I must say the idea Mark had before HE says it…’’ and other similar thoughts. And if I know a lot of people have them, it’s because they told me. And THIS is the game. Real life game. I guess most of those actually enjoy it, but I didn’t. Because I also saw that passing that editorial gate meant, for a few dozen people, making free extra draining hours, knowing the product wasn’t really going anywhere but still powerless to really change the situation. Then, a lot of good employees, still in the illusion that they are making games, become cynical, or detached. They face the decision makers every day and really feel the impact of those political, business decisions.
The recent adventure of some big game companies concentrating so hard on the money making and micro transactions makes me sad for all the people working hard on a project they once loved – and maybe still are, if only for the sweat they’ve put in – and saw their game becoming the center of a circle of hate and even bans. Those developers worked years on those games, putting all their knowledge and creativity in them and for what? At the end? Good game mechanics, very cool setting and fantasy, but with such a greed powered with those decision makers at the top, they’ve annihilated the product almost entirely. Imagine now how many devs will start having a cynical attitude on those teams, even if they’ve been in the game industry for just a few years?
It’s what happened to me after being too close to those decision makers. I started developing a cynical attitude and that is not who I am, this is not what I want to become and most importantly, and don’t want that bile to start tinting my speech, and my attitude toward my work. That’s certainly not a cool thing to show to my kids.
When I started developing the cynical attitude, I knew it was time for me to leave.
At that moment, I thought I would be leaving the industry for good. I planned on taking a half-year sabbatical, being with my kids, playing, laughing with them, and also writing. My spirit was free. It was time again to be creative, and not think about the business, not for a while. I planned first to write a sci-fi novel, but turned out I wrote a comic book. My neighbour happens to be a very good illustrator, and the deal was quickly made.
But then, my love for video games and the genuine, simple, sometimes disturbing pleasure I get when I play them and also the idea that we’re just, still, at the beginning of this form of art, being more in the entertainment aspect than a pure artistic creation was pulling me strong, back to it. Stronger than ever, again with eyes full of stars. That Sci-Fi universe we were starting, my neighbour and I, was too rich, too large and too deep to just be this, a comic book. A Sci-Fi game. Isn’t it every dev’s dream? Ahh, maybe not, but always has been mine. I look at the future, always.
Soon enough I was talking about the beginning of an idea to ex-colleagues, friends and there we were: the design doc, developing the story, thinking of how we could make a game with just one or two friends…
A year passed, and suddenly, we were five associates. Creating and incorporating Epsilon Games, to MAKE a game. Funny enough, we were making a business to be able to make a game. A piece of art (so we wish) and a piece of entertainment (in the progress of). And yes, of course, I’ve learned: it’s a business. I have to pay my mortgage, feed the kids, as almost everyone on this planet. But every morning when I wake up, the question that always comes up is ‘‘how can I make this better? How could this game be so unique, it’ll have an impact on most people that play it? And then, how can I make people aware of our IP? How can I make everybody love Primus Vita as much as we all love it?’’ Because we’re over nine people now in the office, and we do embrace a dream of developing that game in an amazing experience. We’re a business. We‘re making decisions every day, but most of those decisions are about the game we’re making. Every single decision one makes, we all make, because this is the game we want to create.
On that last note: while we were at it, building up a new studio, we decided, my associates and I, to be the first dev studio with an official parity policy.
Because let’s face it, I had to find a solution: at 47 to who the hell will I be able to talk about fricking pre-menopause in a few years? I have to be at least a bit political about this… but I guess that is another topic.FEDERAL safety regulators have received over the last four years about 150 complaints with a common theme from owners of the 2012 Ford Focus: The power steering can turn off, leaving the driver with a harrowing encounter as the car becomes difficult to maneuver.
In addition, regulators have received 124 reports from Ford Motor of injuries or deaths attributed to what was broadly termed a steering problem. One crash was fatal, Ford reported.
Regulators have not opened a formal investigation into the issue, and Ford has not taken any action beyond twice alerting dealers to potential problems with the power steering.
For the drivers involved, the loss of power steering could be terrifying.
“I was driving in the Interstate going about 65 miles per hour with my child in the car,” a mother from Indiana wrote to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in October. “My power steering went out. A semi was right next to me, and I almost went off trying to keep from hitting it.”30 terrifying before and after images of climate change
PHOTOS: Before and after climate change
For thirty years, NASA has used satellite-based imagery and temperature data to study climate change.
Click through to see before and after images of climate change. PHOTOS: Before and after climate change
For thirty years, NASA has used satellite-based imagery and temperature data to study climate change.
Click through to see before and after images of climate change. Image 1 of / 40 Caption Close 30 terrifying before and after images of climate change 1 / 40 Back to Gallery
The first-ever March for Science happened Saturday in hundreds of cities across the country, rallying against what many see as an emerging disregard for the study of the natural world and the answers it provides.
The marches took place on Earth Day, no coincidence given the fact that President Donald Trump has taken a radically different stance on climate change than his predecessor.
Related: The wittiest signs from the SF March for Science
Most notably, Trump has called climate change a Chinese hoax, appointed a skeptic of global warming to head the Environmental Protection Agency and pulled the U.S. out of an international agreement to curb climate change called the Paris Climate Accords.
In January, Dr. Rush Holt, the chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science criticized Trump and said denying man-made climate change was "like disputing gravity."
Today, one doesn't have to pour through spreadsheets or look at scientific models to understand that climate change is occurring throughout the world. With the help of NASA, looking at two photos back to back is more than convincing.
Click through to see 30 before and after images of climate change.Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski had a jolly old time mocking Ted Cruz on today's Morning Joe. After playing a clip of Cruz refusing to say whether he'd support Trump given The Donald's attack on his wife, Joe imagined Cruz rehearsing his words before a mirror.
Scarborough went on to approvingly cite David Axelrod, who had said that Cruz seems "staged" even when defending the honor of his wife. [Granted, Axelrod's protege Barack Obama is so much smoother with his prevarications.]
Note: at the end of the clip, Mika goes out of her way to note "for the record" that they are "criticizing and ridiculing the presentation of a male candidate." That's in response to the criticism Morning Joe has received from Hillary fans to the effect that the show focuses on the foibles of her delivery to the exclusion of those of male candidates.
TED CRUZ: You know, Donald is fond of giving people nicknames. With this pattern, he should not be surprised to see people calling him "Sleazy Donald."When an Islamic State fighter stopped their car in Anbar Province, Iraq, Safiyah knew something terrible was about to happen. Her husband, a soldier in the Iraqi Army, had been executed days earlier in Tikrit, and she knew the only way to protect their four daughters now was to flee the city.
They had been heading for the city of Kirkuk when their escape was cut short. An armed man forced Safiyah’s driver from the car. Then, with the help of other Islamic State fighters, he dragged the four girls, between the age of 16 and 23 years old, to a truck. Safiyah was left behind, too old to be sold in the bride’s market in Raqqa, Syria.
That was back in September 2014.
In the weeks after her daughters’ abduction, Safiyah tried to kill herself, recounts Yanar Mohammed, a 55-year-old from Baghdad, to Quartz. Then Safiyah decided to travel to Raqqa to find her daughters. “She is still in the process of finding them,” says Mohammed. (Safiyah’s last name has been withheld for her security.)
Mohammed is the president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, a Baghdad-based NGO. Since 2003, OWFI has used an underground network of shelters in secret locations across the country, to help hide and protect women from traffickers and domestic violence.
The organization also seeks to promote human rights, and to raise awareness about women’s safety in the country. OWFI has branches throughout the country and it partners with international organizations such as MADRE, Human Right Watch and Amnesty International under the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security.
In early October, Mohammed traveled from Baghdad to New York, to shed light on the issue of women’s security in Iraq. While the exact figures are unknown and many families do not report missing relatives, Mohammed tells Quartz that she has the names of at least 600 women kidnapped in the city of Mosul since June 2014, when ISIL overran the city.
On Oct. 13, Mohammed spoke before the Security Council of the United Nations to raise awareness of their plight, and to demand a stop to the violence against women, girls and LGBT persons and other marginalized groups:
To understand the crisis for Iraqi women today, you cannot ignore what has happened beginning in 2003. A government was formed as a result of politics of division based on sect, ethnicity and gender. This government failed to uphold basic rule of law, allowing extremists to take up positions of power. Ten years ago, Iraqi women spoke to the Security Council about the situation for women. What would Iraq look like if you had heeded those calls then and promoted an inclusive process in which women and minority groups were fully engaged?
And while Mohammed blames the spread of ISIL militants for a large part of violence against women and kidnappings, she also blames the Iraqi government for not doing enough—and sometimes even impeding OWFI’s work.
Iraqi authorities do not allow women’s organizations to provide shelter to the thousands of women fleeing conflict-related violence, and independent radio stations that promote peace across sectarian divides, dispel misogyny and combat homophobia have been shut down. Discriminatory laws and policies prevent women who are fleeing armed conflict, honor crimes, trafficking, abductions, sexual and gender based violence, or forced marriage from obtaining legal identification without a male family member. Perpetrators of honor killings receive mitigated sentences, if they are punished at all.
“At least a quarter of million of women are currently in danger,” she tells Quartz. “And the [Iraqi] government isn’t acknowledging that.” The national government has always opposed OWFI’s activities, according to Mohammed. “Since the beginning, [the Iraqi government] said that a ‘woman will only be protected by her father or her brother, otherwise she should not be taken anywhere else,’ and it stood against OWFI very violently.”
While OWFI is keen on continuing to offer its clandestine services to women in danger, Mohammed also urged the UN Security Council to take action, by speaking out against violence towards civilians, and offering more support for women’s organizations in particular.
By creating an open, global conversation about the dangers faced by Iraqi women, she hopes, Iraq’s government will be moved to actively protect them—in peacetime as in conflict.- Seven people were injured, including four children, this afternoon when a three-vehicle collision resulted in two of those vehicles crashing into a Watsonville pinata store, according to police.
At about 1:40 p.m., officers responded to a report of a multi-vehicle collision near Freedom Boulevard and Laurel Street, police said. There, officers found that a three-vehicle collision had just occurred.
Two of the involved vehicles came to rest inside Marquez Brothers Pinatas, located in the 1200 block of Freedom Boulevard.
Four children and two adults inside the store suffered injuries, according to police.
All of the children were flown to trauma centers with injuries not considered life-threatening.
One of the adults was also taken to a trauma center also with injuries not considered life-threatening.
The other person inside the store who was injured and a driver from one of the involved vehicles were both treated and released at the scene.
The building sustained structural damage and building officials with the city have red-tagged the premises, police said.
Investigators believe a speeding vehicle may have caused the collision.
A 16-year-old driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving without a license as well as reckless driving causing injuries. He was booked into juvenile hall, according to police.The bodies and belongings of the victims of flight MH17 have been looted, the leader of the rebels controlling the crash site admitted on Monday.
Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said that looters “can be found everywhere” and promised to punish any he found.
Witnesses have reported seeing separatists pocketing valuables and electronic equipment from the site, while Ukraine government officials have claimed that “terrorist death hunters” have been collecting victims’ cash and jewellery.
A Telegraph correspondent saw empty wallets and open purses strewn on the ground. There were also unconfirmed reports on social media that smartphones and jewellery had appeared on local market stalls.
Families of British victims were urgently cancelling their loved ones’ credit cards and mobile phone accounts.
The British Banking Association said that bereaved relations would be reimbursed if there was any evidence of fraud against the victims.
Mr Borodai told reporters: “I don’t exclude certain cases of looting. Sons of bitches can be found everywhere. We are now investigating. Those who are guilty would be severely punished.”
Emergency services sources on the ground said that some of the rebels had “grabbed things” and then returned documents such as passports. “You wonder what they kept though,” one said.
There was evidence that other rebels were guarding the site and trying to protect the scene.
Hugo Hoare, whose brother Andrew died, said he had received a panicky call from his brother’s in-laws in Holland.
“They had seen the report and were stopping any transactions on credit cards and asked me to do the same this end,” he said. He said that the reports of looting of the bodies and personal belongings were “horrific”.
Jordan Withers, 22, the nephew of British crash victim Glenn Thomas, 49, said: “It’s a hard one to swallow — that’s my uncle and everyone else’s loved ones are there and they are being degraded and treated inhumanely.”For nearly two years, the names of 1,100 severely mentally ill people in Orange County, prohibited by law from buying guns, sat in court files in the Orange County Clerk of Courts Office but were not forwarded to a state and federal registry, meaning those 1,100 people were free to buy guns.
The clerk's office discovered the error after being questioned two weeks ago by the Orlando Sentinel about a dramatic drop in the number of cases it reported to the state in 2013.
The office acknowledged the error Wednesday. Said spokesman Paul Donnelly: "The reports ran. They were archived. They were never sent."
The office fixed that this week, forwarding the names to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, where employees on Thursday finished uploading them into a database that's checked anytime someone walks into a gun store to buy a firearm.
What went wrong in Orange County was a simple error: An employee failed to do a once-a-month task for nine months.
It may be unique, but it's just one example of wide discrepancies in a statewide record-keeping system designed to keep severely mentally ill people from buying guns.
In 2007, the state passed a law requiring Florida's 67 clerks of court to file into a special database the names of people who are found to have mental illnesses so severe that they're prohibited from owning guns.
However, a Sentinel review of the names sent to the state by Orange and Seminole county clerks for the past five years found major problems.
For example, FDLE reported receiving 164 names from Seminole in 2011, only one-fourth the 622 names that Clerk of Courts Maryanne Morse reported submitting that year. For most years from 2010 through 2014, FDLE's numbers from Seminole County were half what Morse said she reported.
"What they're feeding you is not even close to what we're feeding them," Morse said. "We're averaging 620 to 670 on an annual basis."
The reason for the difference?
"I have no idea," Morse said.
Orange County's numbers also failed to sync with what FDLE said it received from that county for each year from 2010 to 2014, but the gaps were less dramatic.
For example, in 2012, Orange County reported it shipped the state 1,195 names, 35 percent more than FDLE reported receiving: 867.
Samantha Andrews, an FDLE spokeswoman, said the agency could not explain why the numbers did not match.
A 2013 review of the system by the Florida Auditor General also found flaws.
Forty-two percent of the time, the audit found, clerks failed to meet the mandated 30-day deadline to file those names; 14 percent of the time, the clerks were more than three years late.
The audit also concluded that the clerks' reports were not always accurate or complete.
Background checks
Adam Lanza, a mentally ill man from Newtown, Conn., walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, and killed 20 children with a rifle and two semi-automatic handguns. The Newtown tragedy reignited a national debate about gun control and mental illness.
Congress, though, did not enact any new federal restrictions.
The existing ones, established in 1993, prohibit gun-store owners from selling firearms to criminals, fugitives, drug offenders and a very small percentage of people who suffer from severe mental illness.
They do that by checking government databases that include criminal histories and the names of people who have been found mentally "defective" by a judge or have been ordered to a mental institution.
In Florida, store owners contact FDLE for that information.
A name is added to the database if a judge has signed an order formally finding the person mentally "defective" or requiring him to be admitted to a psychiatric facility. That order is then kept on file by the local clerk of courts.
Vicki Garner, chief clinical officer for Aspire Health Partners, formerly Lakeside Behavioral Healthcare, said the people who are barred by court order from buying guns typically have been ordered to a state mental hospital for up to six months and suffer "severe, persistent mental illnesses and have been unable to maintain any type of stability in the community. They don't have a support system. They don't take medicine."
Some are homeless, and most suffer "relapse after relapse," she said.
FDLE did not provide the Sentinel with the number of Floridians in that database, but a 2011 study by Mayors Against Illegal Guns found that Florida ranks No. 7 among states, having collected the names of 40,775 people.
According to the FBI, the FDLE last year conducted a little more than 1 million firearm background checks.
About 1 percent fail to pass, according to Florida's Auditor General.
1,100 missed names
The 1,100 missing names from Orange County were a product of human error, Donnelly said.
In March 2013, an employee who was supposed to email a monthly report to FDLE took several weeks off, and while he was out, none of his co-workers filed it. When he returned, he didn't resume doing it, either.
For nine months, no one did, Donnelly said. The office began filing it again in December 2013, he said, because a new manager was in charge and changed procedures.
No one, however, disclosed that nine months worth of reports were backlogged. They were simply ignored.
"I think it just fell off the radar, and there wasn't oversight necessary to make sure … the report would be sent," Donnelly said.
The mistake first happened during the last days in office of Clerk Lydia Gardner, who died of cancer May 9, 2013. It ended while the office was being managed by interim Clerk Colleen Reilly.
Tiffany Moore Russell was elected and sworn in in November.
Donnelly said the monthly reports are now reviewed and "sent to multiple people up our chain of command … before they're sent to FDLE."
Marion Hammer, chief Florida lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, called the 1,100 lost names "unfortunate. It's the first time I have ever heard of such a breach …. There's nothing wrong with the system. People make mistakes. This obviously was a mistake."BY Staff Reporter | Aug 03, 2014 08:38 AM EDT
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A number of Los Angeles residents resorted to calling the 911 just to report that Facebook was down on Friday.
As reported by Reuters, Facebook was not accessible to several countries for just around 30 minutes on Friday, but was fully restored after fixing the technical failure. Many residents of Los Angeles considered this as an emergency situation so they called the 911.
Sgt. Burton Brink, public information officer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff office, |
when she was a young lady I read someplace she was a Barry Goldwater supporter. Who cares? You think I’m going to run a TV ad saying, Hillary Clinton was a conservative Republican, vote for Bernie Sanders. It’s nonsense! Nobody cares what Hillary Clinton’s views were, 40 years ago.
They’re actually amazing me, digging up stuff I wrote 50 years ago. I’ve been a mayor for eight years, received national recognition for the work I did. Congressman for 16 years, a US senator for nine years. And they’re worried about stuff I wrote 50 years ago. Do I think Republicans will do that? Yes, I think they will. But I think the American people are smart enough to look at my record of public service.
Write to Diane Tsai at diane.tsai@time.com.Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Looks like LeBron James' run of playing with no headband is coming to a quick end. Here is what journalist Rachel Nichols tweeted after interviewing LeBron.
LeBron had fun w/his headband during our interview - kissed it, said sorry for abandoning it. He'll start Game 7 w/it on & see how he plays. — Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 19, 2013
LBJ and his headband are back together.
But we will always have the "No headband" game.
During 11-3 run, LeBron has scored or assisted on nine of the points. Heat lead 84-82. Headband stays off. — Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) June 19, 2013
LeBron without a headband is like an unlockable character — Team Athlete™ (@Team_Athlete) June 19, 2013
Mike miller took his shoe off. LeBron took his headband off and looks nekid. Next??? Pat riley should take his shirt and read Shakespeare. — Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 19, 2013NEWPORT NEWS — A Newport News police officer facing criminal charges in an indecent exposure and indecent liberties case was fired Friday by Police Chief James Fox.
Officer Christopher Roush, 41, who had been with the police force for nearly 10 years, is planning to fight his termination through the city's grievance procedure, said his lawyer, Robert W. Lawrence.
"He received the letter on Friday, and he's going to file for his grievance," Lawrence said. "He has a right to a grievance hearing."
Roush was a master police officer who in recent years had been assigned to the city's South Precinct.
Before his firing, effective Friday, Roush had been on unpaid administrative leave for more than three months. On April 7, he was arrested after people passing by Roush's home on Harpersville Road told police that he had exposed himself to them.
According to the criminal complaint, an officer responded to the home about 9 a.m. and saw a man pointing to Roush's house from across the street.
The officer then turned to see Roush standing in his doorway "entirely nude," holding the glass door open and pointing back "at the citizen from across the street," the complaint said. When the officer made a U-turn, the complaint said, "Mr. Roush withdrew into the home and closed both the glass and the wooden door."
According to the complaint, police then spoke with a woman who said she had seen a man standing on the front porch on the same April morning, "holding the door open" with one hand and touching his genitals with the other.
The woman told police that when she did a U-turn, the man was still touching his genitals while on the front porch, the complaint said. Through a photo spread, she identified Roush as the man she had seen, the complaint said.
Roush was initially charged with exposing himself to two people and faced three misdemeanor counts.
But 10 additional counts — including a felony charge — were filed in May, after four additional people claimed to have seen Roush exposing himself.
He now faces seven misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure; five counts of making an "obscene sexual display" and one felony count of taking indecent liberties with a child. (The felony charge came about because one of the people who claim to have seen Roush was a juvenile passenger in a car that passed by the home).
Lawrence has said Roush "emphatically denies" the charges against him. "He went to bed around 4 a.m.," Lawrence said. "He said he woke up and had a police officer in his bedroom."
A jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 30 before retired Richmond Circuit Court Judge Ted Markow. A prosecutor from the Suffolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office has been appointed to handle the case.
In January 2009, when Roush was known as "Christopher Miner," he was charged with "abduction with the intent to defile" after a woman claimed he tied her to a bed against her will. Another woman accused him of raping her and forcing her to commit sodomy.
He was acquitted in both cases — with one jury trial finding him not guilty in January 2010 and another finding him not guilty in February 2010. He got his job back a month later, and later changed his name to "Christopher Roush."1 of 11 View Caption
Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Dustin Jay Bowman Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City last Sunday. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Lennie Mahler | The Salt Lake Tribune Firefighters battle a four-alarm fire near downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014.MONTREAL — It’s a game like Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes that magnifies what’s missing from the Canadiens’ arsenal.
We’ve reached the point in the season—with eight games remaining—where coaches of teams headed to the Stanley Cup playoffs have a strong semblance of how they want their lines to be assembled. Roles have already been firmly established. Chemistry, too.
Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet NOW Ready for playoff hockey? Stream every single game of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Sportsnet NOW.
That’s not to say some fluidity isn’t par for the course. It’s a rarity that all 20 skaters are performing to capacity in any given game, and a tweak here or there can go a long way towards keeping everyone on their toes.
In a team game like hockey, that’s an essential ingredient to winning.
But shuffling the entire deck game after game—as Claude Julien’s had to do since taking over from Michel Therrien as Canadiens coach—is probably indicative of a larger issue. No matter what changes the coach decides on, it’s becoming clearer and clearer there are holes in this Montreal roster that Julien can’t fill.
“In a way, I’d love to be able to have some set lines,” said Julien after Thursday’s loss. “I think when you look at some of the lines—the way they’ve played lately—would you stick with them?”
There aren’t too many people around Montreal who would answer in the affirmative.
With leading scorers Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov failing to produce much of anything with Alex Galchenyuk as their centre over four consecutive games, Julien opted for wholesale changes against Carolina.
Phillip Danault, who had played the majority of his games this season between Pacioretty and Radulov jumped back into place. Galchenyuk moved to the left wing and opened the scoring in the first period on a line that featured Andrew Shaw as a converted centreman and Artturi Lehkonen as a converted right-winger.
Steve Ott and Dwight King, who both dressed as members of the fourth line against Detroit on Tuesday, sat for Andreas Martinsen and Michael McCarron. Torrey Mitchell completed the trio by moving from centre to right wing. Out went Nathan Beaulieu on defence, in came Brandon Davidson.
But given the way the game played out, with the Canadiens blowing the early lead and failing to generate more than six shots while down a goal in the third period, Julien has no choice but to revisit the drawing board.
“That’s where I’m at,” he said. “It’s my job as a coach to try and find the right combinations… before we get too deep into the rest of the regular-season schedule. Hopefully I can find some lines that balance it out well and get us a good four lines going every night. We haven’t got that yet.”
It’s not as if Julien isn’t pressing any of the right buttons.
The Canadiens are 10-5-1 with him at the helm, and they’ve established an identity as a hard-working, fast team that rarely sleeps on a lead or a deficit as it did against Carolina.
But as Julien continues to work Beaulieu, Davidson and Alexei Emelin into a rotation on defence for the purpose of keeping all of his players fresh, he’s yet to find a suitable partner for Jeff Petry on the team’s second pair. As he continues to move players in and out of the centre position, he can’t ignore that the team doesn’t have an established No. 1 at its disposal.
Those problems cost the Canadiens two points against Carolina on Thursday.
Not that the Hurricanes don’t deserve some of the credit. They have just one regulation-time loss in their last 11 games and sit just five points back of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
On this night, Carolina was better in nearly every department—from goaltender Eddie Lack, who made 22 saves, to Elias Lindholm, Lee Stempniak and Jeff Skinner, who scored the goals.
Tape II Tape Ryan Dixon and Rory Boylen go deep on pucks with a mix of facts and fun, leaning on a varied group of hockey voices to give their take on the country’s most beloved game.
“It’s a whole other animal when you’re playing without that pressure, with that nothing-to-lose attitude,” said Pacioretty. “It seems like they have that right now and they’re playing really well.”
The Canadiens, on the other hand, are playing on a nightly basis with the Atlantic Division on the line.
Their next opponent—the Ottawa Senators—picked up a shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins to pull within one point of Montreal’s lead. They own a game in hand, too.
“There’s no panic,” said Pacioretty. “We’ve played so well in the past before… [Galchenyuk] looked more comfortable on the wing, I think [Shaw] did well in the dot at the right times and did well in his own end… I can only speak for our line—it’ll come. We like our team, we like our combinations, we like what we have in this room.”
But it’s clear the Canadiens are missing something.BJP MP Bhola Singh on Wednesday questioned the government’s decision to launch ‘smart cities’ and said that while western India had development, it lacked brains.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a long-time chief minister of Gujarat, was in the Lok Sabha when the remark was made.
The member from Begusari said in the house that the smart cities project would only help the developed cities to make further progress and increase regional imbalances.
[related-post]
Asking supplementary questions, Bhola Singh, who had attacked the BJP leadership for its debacle in Bihar last year, created a flutter when he said: “While eastern India lacks development, it has brains. Western India has development but lacks brains.”
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Although he represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister hails from Gujarat in western India.
Bhola Singh said Modi had said once that eastern India had “brains” and lacked development.
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, however, said Modi never made such remarks.
“All over the country and in all parts, east, west, north or south, everywhere we have people with intellect,” Naidu said.
Much to the embarrassment of the treasury benches, many opposition members cheered Bhola Singh, who asked Venkaiah Naidu to clarify how the smart cities projects would benefit small towns and a state like Bihar.
Bhola Singh wanted to know how the smart cities scheme was different from the work already being undertaken by urban local bodies.
At one point, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay supported the contention that eastern India and states like West Bengal had faced discrimination of “regional imbalances”.
“The process is still continuing,” Bandyopadhyay said.
Gorakhpur’s BJP member Yogi Adityanath also wanted to know from Naidu why no city from Uttar Pradesh had been selected for the ambitious programme.
Naidu strongly countered the members and said the central government or his ministry was not doing any discrimination in selecting the cities for smart cities projects.
“Even my own town Nellore does not figure in the list,” Naidu said. In contrast, cities like Guwahati and Bhubaneswar have figured in the list of 100 smart cities.
Naidu also made a veiled attack on the Trinamool regime in West Bengal, blaming it for lack of proper governance.
“Only fund is not the criteria for smart city programmes. Governance is also important and I think you understand what I mean,” Naidu told Trinamool members.
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The minister said the project was aimed at creating 100 smart cities to work as “light houses” for others to follow.As tensions flare over Beijing’s newly declared air defense zone, U.S. airlines are being advised by the U.S. government to comply with China’s demand that it be told of any flights passing through the disputed area.
China announced last week that all aircraft entering the zone over the East China Sea, located between China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, must notify Chinese authorities beforehand and that it would take unspecified defensive measures against those that don’t comply.
While the United States said it expected its carriers to operate in line with notices issued to airmen by foreign countries, the decision did “not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China’s requirements,” Reuters reported.
Obama administration officials said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution to avoid any possible miscommunications, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Neighboring countries and the U.S. have said that they will not honor the new zone. Chinese defense ministry said fighter jets identified and monitored the two U.S. reconnaissance aircraft and a mix of 10 Japanese early warning, reconnaissance and fighter planes during their flights through the zone early Friday.
Japan’s two major airlines agreed with Japanese government officials to continue flying through the zone without notifying China, Reuters reported.
Vice President Joe Biden is due to arrive in Tokyo Monday on a week long trip to Asia, and has said he would raise the issue directly with Chinese leaders.
The U.S. has tried to stay out of such territorial disputes, but treaty obligations to Japan may force U.S. involvement.
Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.The first two participants in Google's new Government Innovation Lab say they hope to do nothing less than attempt to completely re-imagine local government services.
“We don’t know what the end product is going to be — just like in a hackathon,” said Tim Dupuis, CIO of Alameda County, Calif. “But we know that the talent we’re bringing to the table, both from the county and from Google, that the solutions are just going to be something spectacular.”
California's Alameda and Kern counties are the first two governments chosen for the Innovation Lab. Google made the announcement in Reno, Nev., April 30 at the Government Social Media Conference & Expo. Four more local jurisdictions will be added to the program later this year.
Alameda and Kern will select 50 leaders to participate in the initiative. Chromebooks will be assigned to each based on project roles. They'll be organized into teams focused on five challenges. As facilitator, Google has set a six-week innovation curriculum for coaching and collaboration before its developers are sent in to deploy solutions 90 days later.
The goal isn't to create new apps or use Google software, said Jason Wiebe, an administrative analyst who is coordinating the lab for Kern County. “It’s about coming in with a blank slate and creating something new — whether that’s technology driven or not.”
Shooting for the moon
It might be said Google’s secret for innovation is a few steps of strategy coupled with giant leaps of faith.
It’s a concept Astro Teller, director at the Google[x] lab for research and development lab, struggles to communicate. “When I tell you what the secret is you’ll want to believe it," Teller says in one of his talks. "But you’ll want to believe it like you want to believe in Santa Claus.”
Audacious, yet proven more than a few times, the concept is what the Mountain View company has dubbed “moonshots,” or “10x thinking,” ambitious projects that — quite literally — aim for exponential gains. This sort of innovative thinking will be applied to the Government Innovation Lab.
James Waterman, Google’s regional manager for state and local government, called the lab an initiative to foster innovators and institutionalize moonshot thinking in government. Ripped from the playbook of Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the theory supposes innovation can be revolutionary when supercharged with intensive ideation and experimentation.
The ambitious recipe might easily be dismissed if it came from anywhere else than Google. The company holds an irrefutable track record for innovation. Autonomous cars, orbiting Internet connectivity balloons, and a line of dominant consumer products — like Android and Google Apps — all act as validations.
Further, Google[x] is rife with moonshot projects of its own. It touts drones that can detect gastrointestinal cancers, a reactor that produces energy from nuclear waste, nanotechnology to repair eyesight and these are just a few.
“I think institutionalizing that kind of a thought process is important to moving things forward,” said Wiebe.
A blank canvas
When Waterman spoke of the lab’s strategy he compared the process to starting with a blank canvas and using a full palette of modern tech and tactics to repaint government services. The methodology demands participants think beyond their current restraints. All the organizational structures, budgets and policies are put aside to probe for solutions of massive impact.
Brainstorming is repeated a multiplicity of times. Diversity is key; as is volume. Potential remedies are shot through Google’s next best practice, a rapid evaluation and sifting, where ideas — depending on promise — are saved or sliced.
At end of the six weeks, surviving solutions will be grounded to fit within a jurisdiction’s current workflows and resources, Dupuis said. “Google is then going to guide us in their approach to opening it up to the possible.”
Although projects are still open to change, the two counties already have narrowed down their initial sets of five.
Alameda will concentrate on education and jobs; safe communities; service improvements; emergency preparedness; and hunger, health and housing.
Kern will tackle economic development; battling recidivism; cultivating internal talent; workforce development; and improving or replacing the county’s legacy communications systems.
Going the distance
Both Alameda and Kern plan to evaluate the first fruits of the lab, gauging project outcomes and functionality. If projects happen to miss their 10x mark, Wiebe said it's all right as long as results make an impact. Ultimately both counties said the best measures of success will arrive when Google is long gone and officials are launching moonshots by themselves.
In Alameda, Dupuis says he views the Google Innovation Lab as both a culminating and catalyzing event. The partnership reflects a long-standing county history of civic hackathons, open data initiatives and technology advancements. It’s a buildup for Alameda’s forthcoming office of innovation, which will be launched sometime after the Google lab project ends.
“The timing is really perfect,” Dupuis said, “because we’ve gone through that progression, and we’re really teed up to taking it to the next level and have already committed to creating, within our county administrator’s office, an office of innovation.”
Kern also is considering an innovation office to leverage the experience, Wiebe said. And both counties want to bring new blood into leadership roles by inserting millennials into the innovation lab program.
“We think those that are newer might have a fresher perspective,” Wiebe said. “And so we wanted a good mix of millennials and to get their perspective on these issues, especially on branding for the county, and technology related aspects in our communication systems.”
County supervisors, department heads and internal subject matter experts will sit beside the millennials to add their own unique perspectives and give context for the ambitious new talent. Yet Wiebe said, the experience should serve as a safe haven for creative thinking as well.
“It gives them a safe place to promote a different way of thought, rather than the typical chain of command you might see in a typical government structure.”Jay will also play his September 1-2 festival, along with Skrillex, Odd Future, D'Angelo and Santigold.
Jay-Z is showing off his eclectic tastes with the first group of acts announced for his upcoming Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway on September 1 and 2.
Among the 28 acts that will hit three stages for the show are first night headliners Pearl Jam, as well as Jay himself, Grammy-winning EDM star Skrillex, Odd Future and the Maybach Music Group featuring Rick Ross, Wale and Meek Mill. Other performers include Afrojack, Calvin Harris, Passion Pit, Santigold, D'Angelo, Miike Snow, Dirty Projectors, X, Janelle Monae, Prince Royce, Rita Ora, the Knocks and a DJ set by Savoy.
Jigga is curating the festival, which will feature the long-awaited live return of R&B singer D'Angelo and one of Pearl Jam's only U.S. dates this year. Tickets for the show go on sale on Wednesday and more acts will be announced soon.
Prince Royce paid tribute to Jay for including him on the bill, tweeting, "Proud to announce that I'll be performing at #MADEINAMERICA Fest Sept 1-2 Thanks to Jay-Z for having me & for curating this great festival!"
Before unveiling the line-up for the fest, Jay said he was hoping to break down some barriers with the Labor Day gathering.
"Whenever I enter into a project, I try to hit on some touch points. The first thing is: Is it great?" Jay asked rhetorically at a May 14 press conference on the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. "The second one is: Is it gonna push the culture forward?"Rawstory — The battle to protect Americans from warrantless wiretaps and hold telecommunications companies accountable is all but lost, Sen. Russ Feingold, a leading critic of President Bush’s likely illegal surveillance programs, said Monday.
The “farce” of a surveillance law deal heralded by House Democratic leaders last week could permanently hide evidence of an “impeachable offense” on the part of President Bush, the Wisconsin Democrat said.
Feingold spoke at the New America Foundation in Washington about the nation’s intelligence needs. He panned an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that quickly passed in the House last week. The Senate is expected to follow suit this year, officially putting the Democratic-controlled Congress’s seal of approval on an administration backed gambit to essentially legalize Bush’s warrantless surveillance program while at the same time letting off the hook phone companies that critics say facilitated the contravention of current law.
“I do think this is a total farce with regard to the immunity [for telecommunications companies]. It basically guarantees the immunity,” Feingold said. “It doesn’t simply have the impact of potentially allowing telephone companies to break the law. It may prevent us from ever getting to the core issue “¦ which is the president ran an illegal program that could’ve been an impeachable offense.”
Continue ReadingSean Giambrone, Sean Astin
Goonies never say die — and neither do The Goldbergs.
The ABC comedy will do a Goonies-inspired episode later this season, TVGuide.com can exclusively reveal. And if you thought creating a show based on his '80s childhood was a dream come true for Adam F. Goldberg, this is even more so.
Why you should be watching The Goldbergs
"The Goonies
is my favorite movie of all time. It's the reason I'm a writer," Goldberg tells TVGuide.com. "I've seen it a billion times. I would reenact it. I wrote Goonies scripts as a kid. I collect props and memorabilia. They had an anniversary reunion in Astoria [Oregon] and my wife wouldn't let me go, and it was heartbreaking. We had a new baby and she was like, 'You are not leaving me with a new baby and a 5-year-old to go and try to get the Goonies to sign your movie poster.' Maybe the 40th reunion I'll go. But I am so excited I get to do this."To be written by Goldberg, the episode — titled "Goldbergs Never Say Die," natch — will follow Adam ( Sean Giambrone ) after he finds a treasure map in the attic and embarks on his own adventure with his siblings. The goal is to mirror the film as much as possible. "In the same way we did the Say Anything homage, I want to do that with The Goonies as well," Goldberg says. "So it'll be a love letter to that movie and what it's meant to me." Ironically, despite his uber-fandom, the showrunner admits that a Goonies episode was never in his show pitch to ABC."What was in the pitch was that the character of Adam — me — was obsessed with movies and the pop culture of the time. Everything in his world was cycled from movies," he says. "To do a full Goonies episode is great because the people who make the decisions, the executives, are around my age and love the movie too. I think if they were older or younger, they would say, 'Why are you doing this?' I got really lucky. They're like, 'Goonies is awesome!'"
Exclusive Goldbergs sneak peek: Barry is the karate kid!
While some other cult films have broader appeal, Goldberg is well aware that The Goonies is the quintessential coming-of-age story for a specific generation — an '80s time capsule of sorts. He hopes to change that with the episode, starting with the show's young stars, who (gasp!) have never seen the movie. "I'm going to make them watch it as part of their homework. It's the greatest homework," Goldberg says."The pressure is all on me to just want to do it right. It's going to be on network TV, so the other responsibility I feel is to introduce it to kids who don't know the movie at all," he continues. "A lot of the other stuff on the show, like G.I. Joe and Transformers and Karate Kid, they are around today. They're being remade, and it's cyclical, but Goonies is just one of those things — it might not talk outside of a certain age group, but I don't care! I'm still doing this!... I feel like anyone in my age bracket, that movie was really huge for us and we all lived that out. We had our own Goonies in our small towns where nothing ever happened, and the fact I can do this on my show is super-huge for me and super-nerdy."As much as Goldberg wants to, the episode won't reunite the cast (" Corey Feldman was not hanging out with me when I was growing up"), but he is contemplating asking Richard Donner, who directed the film, to step behind the camera. "I haven't told him I'm doing this yet," Goldberg says. "I think once this gets out, maybe I'll hit him up and say, 'Can you please come do this?' I would literally stop everything I'm doing and just hang out with him on set if he did it."It wouldn't be the first time the two have discussed a Goonies project together. With buzz of a follow-up every couple of years, Goldberg has pitched both a sequel and a Goonies musical to Donner, which he calls the "greatest meeting and moment of my life and career."
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"He was very touched by my musical pitch," Goldberg says. "It was 20 pages and I went through every scene. It was really just me being a total geek and having fun, but I think he knew how important the movie is to certain people, and I think he was overwhelmed that, as a working writer, I went out of my way to do this just so I can meet him and say how much the movie meant to me. As I left, he grabbed my arm really hard and said, 'Thank you for this.' It was a really cool moment."Goldberg's pitches are now just "sitting at home," as Goonies projects remain in limbo. But maybe his ode on The Goldbergs will pave the way for another cinematic adventure?"That would be the dream!" he says. "Even if [a sequel] never happens, at least I can redo my version of The Goonies with my TV family. I love it!"The Goldbergs airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC.Patrick Chanezon's website:
blog.docker.com/2015/03/chanezon-dockerized/
Docker:
docker.com
Docker intro at twitter university:
youtube.com/watch?v=Q5POuMHxW-0
Kitematic (Docker UI for OS X):
kitematic.com
Docker on GitHub:
github.com/docker/docker
Docker at Microsoft BUILD 2015 (Docker starts at 18:30):
channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2015/KEY01
Flocker from ClusterHQ:
clusterhq.com
The Docker Orchestration Ecosystem on Azure Slides:
slideshare.com/...
Python image on Docker:
registry.hub.docker.com/_/python
12 Factor App:
12factor.net
Book: Docker: Up & Running:
amzn.to/1Dw4VQz
The Docker Book: Containerization is the new virtualization:
amzn.to/1T1rWBy
Did you know that Docker was not the original product from the team that built it? They were working on ways to improve their PaaS cloud platform and docker was just a side product! But oh what a side product. Wisely, dotCloud cancelled their PaaS plans and became Docker Inc.Join Patrick Chanezon and Michael to discuss where Docker came from, when and how to use it. You'll even learn about how Microsoft is embracing containers and working closely with Docker to bring this technology to Windows Servers.Docker and containers are truly going to change the way we build, organize, and deploy software. Hit play and learn about it today!Links from the show:Vince Gilligan cast Bryan Cranston based on a one-episode spot on the Fox show, while Aaron Paul and Dean Norris also had small roles before 'Bad.'
The X-Files is coming back to Fox as a limited series. The groundbreaking show brought sci-fi into people's homes from 1993 to 2002, and proved to be the gift that kept giving thanks to one of its greatest legacies: Breaking Bad.
Bad creator Vince Gilligan has often spoken about how his time as a writer on The X-Files influenced his storytelling, and that he learned how to be a showrunner by watching X-Files creator Chris Carter work. A number of Bad actors also appeared on the Fox show, including Raymond Cruz (Tuco in Breaking Bad and Eladio Buente in X-Files), Danny Trejo (Tortuga in Breaking Bad and Cesar Ocumpo in X-Files) and Michael Bowen (Uncle Jack in Breaking Bad and Dwight Cooper in X-Files).
See more 'The X-Files': Memorable Moments
But Bad might not have found its key ingredient had it not been for The X-Files. Read on to see five connections between X-Files and Breaking Bad.
1. Bryan Cranston
Bryan Cranston appeared in the 1998 X-Files episode "Drive," in which he played an unlikable racist whom Mulder (David Duchovny) must drive west to prevent him from dying. Though he was a nasty human being, by the end of the episode the audience felt sorry for him and his plight — which was exactly what Gilligan wanted in his Walter White.
See more 'Breaking Bad': 25 Most Badass Quotes
"You don't have to like him. But you need to sympathize and feel empathy and sorrow for him at the end of the hour," Gilligan said in 2011.
2. Aaron Paul
A 22-year-old Aaron Paul appeared in the 2001 X-Files episode "Lord of the Flies," which centered on a mysterious teenager with deadly (and creepy) fly-like abilities. The episode was written by Thomas Schnauz, who went on to pen some of Breaking Bad's most well-regarded episodes and who currently is a writer and producer on the spinoff Better Call Saul.
3. Dean Norris
Dean Norris, who played DEA Agent Hank Schrader on Breaking Bad, proved he could play a law-enforcement type on The X-Files, where he starred as U.S. Marshal Tapia in the 1995 episode "F. Emasculata."
4. X-Files references
Gilligan sprinkled X-Files references through Breaking Bad. Among them: The van rental company that Kuby (Bill Burr) used to transfer Walt's money in season five's "Burried" is the same one Mulder and Scully used throughout X-Files. Another tidbit: Mike Ehrmantraut's (Jonathan Banks) last name was referenced in the 1999 X-Files episode "Tithonus," which Gilligan wrote.
See more 'Better Call Saul': 'Breaking Bad' Easter Eggs You Missed
5. Michael McKean
Michael McKean wasn't in Breaking Bad, but he plays a key role in Better Call Saul as Jimmy/Saul's (Bob Odenkirk) brother, Chuck. In The X-Files, he played sleazy government agent Morris Fletcher in four episodes spanning 1998-2002. At one point, the character switched bodies with Mulder in the memorable "Dreamland." McKean says he knew from X-Files that working with Vince Gilligan on Saul was a must, even before seeing the script.
"It was a playable human being," McKean told The Hollywood Reporter of Fletcher. "It wasn't just a boogie man. I knew whatever they wrote there would be a real purpose in it."
What are your favorite X-Files/Breaking Bad connections? Let us know in the comments.A 14-year-old girl was left with permanent crippling ear pain after her friend's stepfather blasted an air horn in her face because she took a phone call at the dinner table.
Cindy Redmond was sitting at the dinner table in her friend's house waiting for food to be served when she answered her cell phone.
Annoyed by her slow comply to hang up, the friend's stepfather blew an air horn in her face, which Cindy said caused a pop in her head and excruciating pain that has lingered ever since.
Cindy was diagnosed with a rare incurable disorder called hyperacusis which causes every day sounds such as babies crying, people talking and sirens blowing to induce a burning and stabbing sensation in her ears.
The life-altering condition that has forced her to stay in the quiet isolation of her home. Without a cure, she will continue to be home-schooled, miss family functions and may never be able to experience concerts, parties, or even get a job.
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Cindy Redmond, 14, suffers severe pain deep in her ear from every day noises including a baby's cry, sirens and a room full of talking people
She now wears noise blocking headphones and uses a special white and pink noise producing ear piece as a form of sound therapy
Hyperacusis is a rare disorder described as super-sensitivity and pain to certain ranges of sounds that most people find as normal.
Cindy described the pain from noise as a stabbing and burning sensation compared to molten lava or ice picks in her ears.
She told Daily Mail Online that since the initial air horn incident, she constantly feels pain at a level of a six, but it only takes a moment of high-pitched sound to send her into debilitating pain for more than an hour.
And if she is exposed to prolonged noise, it could take Cindy two days to recover.
WHAT IS HYPERACUSIS? Hyperacusis is an extremely rare, little-researched disorder that causes super-sensitivity and pain to certain ranges of sounds. The exact reason it occurs it unknown, but it may be caused when nerves in the ear that are used to regulate hearing become damaged. Sufferers become extremely sensitive to sounds. Noise that is normal to most people can seem unusually loud and even painful. It can also cause a sense of vertigo or falling, as well as associated anxiety and panic attacks. Damage to the ear or brain is believed to be a primary cause, through a series of factors including impact, Lyme disease and toxic damage to the ear. It may also be caused by overexposure to loud music and some neurological illnesses. There are no surgical treatments, but sound therapy using white and pink noise can slowly improve tolerance to sound for some people. Source: American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
The noise-sensitivity she experiences has turned her home |
os, Chance is a loyal man of the people, dedicated to his fans and stayed on stage until 10:30 p.m. He even brought out longtime friend and rapper Vic Mensa for his own spotlight moment.
14. Sometimes the party starts really early. Rapper Machine Gun Kelly started the situation on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in a metallic alligator-skin jacket. MGK did all of his most popular songs like "Wild Boy," and covered Linkin Park's "Numb" in tribute to Chester Bennington, whom he was supposed to tour with; the giant crowd went wild.
15. Lou Malnati's deep-dish pizza and Grahamwich lobster corn dog. Life-changing. See more must-eat Windy City restos here.
16. If you want to see some amazing music and Tove Lo's boobs, go see her live. The "PUSSY POWER" singer wears a mesh bodysuit and pasties and eventually flashes the crowd minus the pasties during "Body Talk." Real highlight, though: never-ending empowering vibes that should embolden anyone who has ever spent a morning singing into a hairbrush. Here are you boobies.
17. You must love Grouplove. The L.A. pop outfit puts on one of the best live shows I've ever seen, and its sunset performance for the Windy City felt like a love letter. See more photos from Grouplove's set here.
Tracy May
18. See the unknown bands your friends suggest. Euro-DJs Justice were a pleasant surprise, and so were Tove Lo, EDM wunderkind Jai Wolf, MGK and The Killers.
19. Don't let rain and an evacuation order ruin your night. Even when the downpour happens during a set by Porter Robinson, one of EDM's best live artists.
20. People are super weird and won't let you borrow their phones. That being said, don't lose your phone or your friends, but don't be afraid to see sets by yourself — just have a meet-up spot.
21. The bar to head to after a shower and an outfit change is Three Dots and a Dash. The hidden underground tiki bar serves up drinks that will get you drunk after a couple of sips.
In the end, nothing matters more than being around laid-back people that want you to have fun and doing whatever you think is necessary to let loose. It's not always about the music or the alcohol or how many likes you can get on your new #Lolla Facebook profile picture. Friends and family make everything better, and none of this would've been possible or close to fun without them.
Mady Dudley is a Florida State undergrad trying to graduate on time. Wanna do my senior year for me? Contact her here.City of Joplin audit report Video
JOPLIN, Mo. - Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway talked about four key issues, including former Joplin master developer, Wallace Bajjali, disaster recover and Sunshine Law issues.
The audit report says current council member, Mike Woolston, may have used information on land transactions for personal gain. The Joplin Redevelopment Corporation spent $11 million to purchase 36 properties recommended as sites fore redevelopment by Wallace Bajjali.
16 of those properties were purchased from Four State Homes, who sold the properties to the JRC 39% higher than the original purchase price. Woolston signed the real estate contracts as the broker of the 16 properties sold to the JRC from Four State Homes.
The audit report says more than $11,000 of commission was paid to the realtor firm Woolston paid for. Due to Woolston's involvement with the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team, he was aware of properties the JRC and the city were considering to buy for redevelopment.Back Pages Books, an independent bookstore that has called Moody Street home for a decade, closed this week.
In a message posted on the store’s website, owner Alex Green announced the closure of the store, which he opened in 2005 when he was only 22 years old.
“This is a special place, and this extraordinary decade has passed in an instant,” he wrote.
In the note, Green wrote that over 40,000 transactions took place at the counter inside Back Pages Books and 1,000 authors, including Pulitzer Prize winners, came from around the world to deliver talks and readings.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, Aug. 11, Green said the store was no stranger to tough economic times, but that the business remained viable thanks to loyal customers.
Green said he wrote 250 personalized emails to customers in anticipation of the closing of the store.
“The majority of businesses only last 10 months so 10 years to me is an extraordinary amount of time,” he said. “I’m blown away that it lasted 10 years, but I’m also very comfortably saying enough is enough.”
Green said he’d like to spend more of his time writing, and “be a regular person in the community.” He is a contributor on WBUR’s Cognoscenti blog, and also writes for Harvard University.
Green also served as the chairman of the Waltham Historical Commission, which he stepped down from recently.
He said the books inside Back Pages Books were purchased by another bookseller.
“It’s been a wonderful decade,” he said. “This place has been an amazing gift to me.”
Green also ran a small publishing company in the store.
In his goodbye letter, Green thanked the Waltham community.
“This is a place where people understand books the way the whole of America once did,” he wrote. “We see them as entry points for wonder, entertainment and excitement, and as a community, people have valued this bookstore in ways that bookstores are rarely valued elsewhere.”Brooks Kraft / Corbis for TIME
Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1981, rumors have persisted that the deadly virus was created by the CIA to wipe out homosexuals and African Americans. Even today, the conspiracy theory has a number of high-profile believers. South African President Thabo Mbeki once touted the theory, disputing scientific claims that the virus originated in Africa and accusing the U.S. government of manufacturing the disease in military labs. When she won the Nobel Peace Prize, Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai used the international spotlight to support that theory as well. Others insist that the government deliberately injected gay men with the virus during 1978 hepatitis-B experiments in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Still others point to Richard Nixon, who combined the U.S. Army's biowarfare department with the National Cancer Institute in 1971. Though the co-discoverers of HIV Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris don't agree on its origins, most members of the scientific community believe the virus jumped from monkeys to humans some time during the 1930s.
Next The Reptilian EliteWe have a drug problem. Its victims include the very young, the very old and everyone in between.
According to The Journal of the American Medical Association, the number of babies born addicted to opiates has nearly tripled in the last decade. Overdose death rates for the elderly increased twofold from 1999 to 2006. In 2009, drug-induced deaths exceeded deaths from motor vehicle accidents. The culprit: legal prescription painkillers.
In many people, it starts innocently: A fall, an accident or a surgery begets unbearable pain, treated with an opiate painkiller. As useful as these drugs are, they can also be deadly. Their tragedy ripples through a network of family and friends whose lives are also torn apart and forever altered. We can do better.
What if there was a medication that acted on its own endogenous bodily system to relieve pain, as documented in clinical studies, while never resulting in one overdose death? There is. It's called cannabis.
The real drug problem in this country lies in the war we have waged on this medicinal plant, while ever increasing numbers of young and old suffer and die from legal prescription drugs. It shouldn't be. It needn't be. People should have a choice.
We can do better for our families.
Theresa Daniello Auburn TownshipThree matches down, two to go. The way this series has developed it is impossible know what will follow. Every moment should be savoured
England's 12th man? The Edgbaston crowd produced a stirring atmosphere © Getty Images
With a bewitching smile, Alastair Cook observed that now would be a good time to break the sequence of seven Tests consecutively won, lost and won. His press conference immediately after the extraordinary events at Edgbaston was a thing of practicalities - as they all tend to be unless Kumar Sangakkara is involved - though not without warmth and some nice asides. It was as if everyone was punch-drunk and happy to go with the flow.
The game could so easily have been over in two days. With about an hour to go on the second evening Australia were on the floor, 111 for 6, and it seemed certain that England would claim the extra half-hour to secure the kill. As it was, Peter Nevill hung on grimly, and the bout was extended for a few rounds on third day.
I have not seen a match like it, and certainly not after the reverse effect of the one before. Nobody, not even the long-haired fellow wrapped in the Union Flag, who sees only good in England cricketers, saw Edgbaston coming. Perhaps we should rethink our expectations. Batsmen reared on crash, bang, wallop simply don't have the patience. Bowlers weaned on four-over spells don't have the concentration. Nevill batted like something from the age of black-and-white television, when hour upon hour of Test cricket was played between gritted teeth.
David Warner was right when he implied that the crowd had adopted the triumphalistic mindset of football fans, though it was a bit soft when he suggested it was a tough atmosphere for visitors. Try Melbourne on Boxing Day. Edgbaston should be on the agenda for every series that matters. Never mind see and hear, you could feel the way Ian Bell, especially, and Steven Finn fed from the delirium.
Finn's match has been well celebrated but Bell is worthy of a moment's reflection too. The promotion was a master stroke and, though forced by Gary Ballance's sabbatical, it empowered Bell's uncertain mind. Both innings had a hint of "look at me" about them, and in their turn, changed the course of events in a hurry. On the first afternoon he set the tone by illustrating that the pitch was as exciting for batsmen as for bowlers. On the third afternoon he went after the short run-chase and put the game to rest. The blade of his bat is still too open when playing at balls wide of off stump but it is the only grumble.
I even liked his first-innings dismissal. Or rather, I liked his thinking if not his workmanship. In general, the innings reminded me of Viv Richards at No. 3, though Richards would not often have given his wicket away in such fashion. Sensing the force was with him, as Bell surely did, Viv would have thumped Nathan Lyon's teaser into the Bull Ring. Bell lost control of his shape and gave up on the shot, no doubt wishing he had not thought of it in the first place.
Bell is no Richards - who is?! - but the lesson is in the attitude. One man wishes he hadn't played the shot, the other bemoans the fact he didn't hit the ball into the middle of town. The trick for Bell is to keep preening his own feathers while not losing sight of his role within the team. He should keep using his feet to spin, but to defend on occasions and work singles on others. Playing spin aggressively is not all about the aerial route. Richards was not all bluster, or blaster. He had a ruthless mind.
Another good move by the selectors is to stick with Adam Lyth. Rather than look out of depth, he has looked out of sync. There is a rhythm in batting that is not necessarily obvious to the naked eye. It generally comes down to shot selection, and non-shot selection come to think of it - in other words, what you play and what you leave alone. In rhythm, these choices come naturally, out of rhythm they don't come over as choices at all. They become issues. Lyth has hit some boundaries that are worthy of a top-class batsman. He has caught the ball with good technique. In general, though, without doing much to change the course of a match, he has looked as if he belongs.
Liam Plunkett seems a good option to cover for Mark Wood. He has a big heart and good wheels. Mark Footitt has much to offer, not least pace, but I would be nervous of a newcomer out of Division Two at this make-or-break stage of an Ashes series, so would let him to soak up the atmosphere for now.
The country is talking about cricket again. Mind you, it is infuriating when a spat between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho takes over the back pages. This obsession with football in early August is an endemic problem for cricket. The window for the summer game is ever shorter. Only Test cricket shows well enough to capture the attention of the masses. That is Test cricket, the game the masses are supposed to have spurned for the joys of T20. There is nothing lasting about T20. It is a one-night stand. Test cricket is a lifelong love affair. Those in power who promote more of the shortest form and suggest that Tests are dying should think hard about why the crowd at Edgbaston became so animated.
The crowd identified with a battle not a skirmish. It had time to see the contestants unravel themselves. It marvelled at the skills on show, the beauty of their application and the courage needed to parade them. And it delighted in the nationalism that is so obviously behind the teams' desire to win through. Admirable as it is to be chosen to play one-day or T20 cricket for your country, nothing, truly nothing, comes close to being given a Test cap. At that press conference, Cook pointed out that careers are short and that moments such as the Edgbaston win are special and to be dwelt upon.
So special that Test cricket should be protected and promoted, not compromised by the dark force of the lowest common denominator.
Mark Nicholas, the former Hampshire captain, presents the cricket on Channel Nine in Australia and Channel 5 in the UK
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.You may have heard that the U.S. economy is in a bit of a pickle, hemorrhaging millions of jobs under the protracted Bush recession, with millions more on the line if nothing is done. Most Americans and most elected officials in Washington have deemed this pickle severe enough to warrant an economic recovery plan of unprecedented boldness. But some in Washington insist on viewing the worst recession since the Great Depression through the same partisan lens as they always have, devoid of any sense of urgency and coming to the table with nothing but the same old ideas that got us in this mess to begin with.
In December, then President Elect Barack Obama wasted no time after the election outlining a major jobs and economic recovery plan that will create or save three to four million jobs, strengthen our middle class, and improve the economy in the near and long term by making sound investments in state fiscal relief, health care, energy efficiency, transportation and schools. And the Democratic leadership has been working every since to set the plan into motion.
And then there's the Congressional Republicans, still stuck in the past and in their well worn, special interest driven ideology. They're not about to let two electoral defeats in a row and the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes spur any sort of reevaluation of their failed conservative economic philosophies of corporate protectionism and 'trickle-down' economics. Hey, if it ain't broke...well. They see the worst economic crisis in more than 70 years as a ripe opportunity to promote the same old, discredited policies which got us into this crisis in the first place:
"Jon Kyl (Ariz.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, said he hadn't studied the list of proposed cuts, but that he favored reducing corporate and capital gains taxes, and providing more generous small-business incentives. And, he said, "These changes should be permanent, rather than just temporary.'" [Washington Post, 1/6/09]
"Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, incoming chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said House Republicans were not likely to support the emerging Democratic package and would instead push for their own version of a stimulus measure urging a suspension of capital gains taxes on new stock share purchases and a cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. [CQ, 12/22/08]
What a textbook case of upside-down priorities. Slashing capital gains taxes and taxes on stock dividends would favor only the well-heeled in this country who need relief the least - an economic prescription proven to have virtually no stimulative effects on the economy - at the expense of job generating and saving policies like state fiscal relief and investments in new energy technology and in upgrading our nation's infrastructure.
States for example, most of which required to balance their budgets, face vexing choices in an economic downturn: raise taxes, cut services or layoff employees or some combination of all three -- all of which are counter cyclical, making a bad economic situation worse and accelerating the downward spiral. State fiscal relief provided by the federal government not only can stave off such choices - but is among the most stimulative elements of an economic recovery plan.
According to Mark Zandi, the widely respected economist who advised Senator John McCain during the campaign, every dollar invested in public services creates a $1.38 in economic activity in our communities. As for helping those individuals and families most impacted by this crisis Zandi concludes that every dollar spent on unemployment benefits, our domestic economy grows by $1.63. And for every dollar spent on food stamps our economy grows by $1.73.
For nearly 8 years Republicans got to try it their way - one tax giveaway to the wealthy and well connected and corporate America after another -- and yet look where we are today: 8 years of the worst economic performance than any eight year span since records on such things have been kept. An abysmal performance where ideas like the ones we are hearing today - tax cuts for business and upper incomers - didn't work.
In December, after having discussions with the Obama transition team and Congressional leaders, Americans United for Change, along with AFSCME, SEIU, MoveOn.org Political Action, USAction and ACORN - pulled a broad cross section of more than 30 groups together to form the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery to lead the fight to pass the Obama jobs and economic recovery plan. We have conducted hundreds of events across the country, we have held meetings with members of Congress in their districts, we have written and placed hundreds of letters to the editor, we have produced web videos, initiated phone and email campaigns and just launched the first paid ad of the campaign in Ohio urging Senator George Voinovich to back the Obama jobs plan as the President Elect was in Cleveland touring a manufacturing plant and promoting his plan.
We had hoped that this activity would not have been necessary - that members of Congress would have learned that what has been tried for the past eight years - Bush style "trickle down economics" - doesn't work. And that they would have gotten the message from the election and from the wisdom of the Obama plan that it is time to make important investments that will stimulate the economy now and prepare it for the future.
Sadly, the need is clear.Amir ElSaffar Navigates Uncharted Blue Notes On 'Alchemy'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Nicole LeCorgne/Courtesy of the artist Nicole LeCorgne/Courtesy of the artist
Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar grew up near Chicago, playing jazz trumpet. In the early 2000s, while in his mid-20s, he began investigating the music of his Iraqi heritage, studying in Baghdad and with expatriate musicians in Europe. Then he began combining the two.
ElSaffar's new album Alchemy is a step forward in defining and refining his concept. A couple of his earlier albums featured what struck me as an uneasy mix of jazz and traditional Iraqi instruments. It was as if the trumpeter were still digesting his influences.
Alchemy was written for a straight jazz quintet. But ElSaffar brings all he knows about Iraqi rhythm patterns of strong, weak and silent beats, and about the maqamat — traditional scales built on narrow intervals, and the melodic patterns that go with them. A maqam colors a performance the way the blues scale tints the blues. The extra challenge is that the notes may lie between the ones for which trumpet and saxophone are designed; the players have to improvise on those scales. Among hip New Yorkers, Dan Weiss is the go-to drummer for integrating complex global rhythms into limber jazz time. He and bassist Francois Moutin warmed up for this stuff playing Rudresh Mahanthappa's cross-cultural music.
Negotiating those Iraqi microtones led Amir ElSaffar to also try on a quarter-tone scale of 24 notes to the octave; it's a way to reconcile or split the difference between Western and Eastern tuning systems. This leads him to some colorful harmonies — some newly charted blue notes.
In "Quartal," in particular, ElSaffar and tenor saxophonist Ole Mathisen play those quarter tones so precisely, they make a freshly tuned piano sound exotic. Eastern scales pose special problems for pianists stuck with the same old 12 notes, but John Escreet compensates using dissonant harmony and the power of suggestion. His solos often reflect the sound of the Iraqi santur. That's a zither played with small hammers, which is basically what a piano is.
There are echoes of John Coltrane's so-called sheets of sound in Escreet's scale-based approach, just as Amir ElSaffar's compositions may reference Miles Davis' modal jazz or the oblique melodies of Wayne Shorter and Andrew Hill. The Iraqi strain is a new twist, but cultural hybrids have been jazz's bread and butter since W.C. Handy dropped a tango into his "St. Louis Blues." Sun Ra's Egyptian-inspired modal pieces of the 1950s also paved the way for the work of Ra's Egyptian admirer Salah Ragab. Every idea becomes new again in time.
The music on Amir ElSaffar's Alchemy doesn't always sound lived-in; the players appear a little cautious at times. A two-week tour might easily cure that. Meantime, there are many global musical systems jazz hasn't absorbed yet, though everything gradually draws closer together. And jazz tradition keeps stretching to incorporate what musicians bring to it.Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded.
New York, Nov. 2, 1860
Young Republicans with axes! New York firemen run amok!
Welcome to election week, 1860.
Hurled brickbats, smashed glass and howled curses were the soundtrack of American electoral politics a century and a half ago. The oratorical eloquence that most people today associate with the 19th century — those resonant fanfares of prose carved upon monuments, enshrined in history textbooks, hammered into the brains of 10th graders — often provided little more than the faintest melodic line, drowned out amid the percussive din. Last week’s notorious “head-stomping” incident outside a Senate debate in Kentucky, footage of which has drawn nationwide condemnation and half a million views on YouTube, seems almost gentle in comparison.
On the last Friday night before the 1860 election, Senator William H. Seward delivered a rousing Republican campaign address to a large outdoor gathering on 14th Street in Manhattan. Afterward, crowds of pro-Lincoln “Wide Awakes” fanned out through the surrounding area. Wide Awakes, members of an organization with strong paramilitary overtones, could be a menacing sight: they wore military-style caps and shrouded themselves in long black capes made of a shiny fabric that reflected the flames of the torches they carried. Some strapped axes to their backs, in tribute to their rail-splitting hero.
The Library of Congress
According to the next day’s Times and other papers, things began to spin out of control when supporters of a rival presidential contender, John Bell, charged toward the Lincoln men, “calling them ‘negro stealers,’ ‘sons of b____s,’ &c.” At the corner of 12th Street and Fourth Avenue, several dozen volunteer firemen — members of Engine Company 23 — joined the fray, swinging roundhouse blows with clubs and heavy iron wrenches that the Wide Awakes tried to parry with their torches. But the tide of battle turned when the young Republicans brought their Lincoln axes into play. They chased the enemy back into the company firehouse and promptly began smashing down its barricaded doors, as other idealistic marchers flung bricks and cobblestones. (News reports are vague about what finally ended the fracas.)
Related Civil War Timeline Follow events as they unfolded 150 years ago, see pages from the archives and explore past posts organized around the major themes, places and personalities of the war. See the Timeline »
Similar disturbances happened almost daily in various East Coast cities. In Baltimore the previous night, Republican marchers had been pelted with stones and rotten eggs. (That city was justly known as “Mobtown”; dozens sometimes died in a single campaign season there.) In Washington on Election Day itself, pro-slavery forces stormed a Wide Awake clubhouse a block or two from the Capitol. The attackers practically demolished the building and were only narrowly prevented from burning the ruin — along with several Wide Awakes trapped on the third floor — by the timely arrival of police.
There was little talk of bipartisan civility during that particular election cycle.
Sources:
New York Times, Nov. 3, 1860; New York Tribune, Nov. 3, 1860; New York Herald, Nov. 5, 1860; Baltimore Sun, Nov. 2, 1860; Public Ledger (Philadelphia), Nov. 3, 1860; Jon Grinspan, “‘Young Men for War’: The Wide Awakes and Lincoln’s 1860 Presidential Campaign” (Journal of American History, September 2009); David Grimsted, “American Mobbing, 1828-1861: Toward Civil War.”
Adam Goodheart is the author of the forthcoming book “1861: The Civil War Awakening.” He lives in Washington, D.C., and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where he is the Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.Robert Mueller must tread carefully when investigating President Donald Trump because of his past ties to James Comey, former DOJ official John Malcolm told CNBC on Thursday.
"Bob Mueller has an excellent reputation," Malcolm, former deputy assistant attorney general under the George W. Bush administration, said on "Squawk Box." "He's got to be a little bit careful because there is no question that he is close to Jim Comey. He dealt with him every day when Comey was deputy attorney general."
"He must keep an arms length distance from Jim Comey," Malcolm said but added he personally isn't concerned about Mueller's handling of the investigation.
Mueller and Comey had worked closely together in the George W. Bush administration when Mueller was FBI director and Comey was deputy attorney general from 2003 to 2005.
With Mueller maxed out and required to leave his post, President Barack Obama plucked Comey from the private sector and appointed him FBI director in 2013.
Malcolm, who worked for Trump's FBI director pick, Chris Wray, when Wray was head of the DOJ's criminal division, spoke after a Washington Post report said Mueller's investigation has now widened to determine whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice.
People familiar with the matter told the Post that the obstruction of justice probe started in the wake of Trump's firing of Comey. The New York Times later reported Mueller is seeking interviews with three high-ranking foreign intelligence officials.
Matthew Miller, who was the DOJ chief spokesman under Attorney General Eric Holder, said he isn't surprised Mueller is taking aggressive steps in the investigation. Miller said it could be in Trump's best interest if Mueller moves quickly with the probe.
"Whether you're a supporter of the president or an opponent of the president, you ought to want Mueller to get the truth and get to the truth quickly," he said.
He said the investigation could get dragged out if people of interest refuse to cooperate or if Trump uses executive privilege.Arrite so here at FDAB we claim to have extensive knowledge of all things from our childhood (And we do!) But one sad confession I have is that I never owned the original Backyard Baseball, I know, call me crazy, I was too busy tearing up Sim City 2000. But anywho, when the time came, I sacked up and got the best computer game to my knowledge (close rival of Roller Coaster Tycoon).
I could bring you through my entire star-studded lineup but instead I will just throw out some quick reminders of who the top dogs were way back in the day when Mr Clanky was pitching BP and Sunny Day and Vinne the Gooch (questionable name for a kid’s game) were on the sidelines getting their announcing game in early.
Look on the one hand, you could be like me and pick a million MLB players to stack your team: Kenny Lofton (probably the most versatile player in the game, great contact, extremely fast, and for no foreseeable reason a dirty pitcher), Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr, Frank Thomas, Shawn Green, Juan Gonzales, etc. etc. etc.
But no, everyone knows that they were all legends, but let’s peep the prospects of the diamond from way back:
Achmed Khan:
This kid was a rockstar. He pulled the headphones move before it was cool (I’m lookin at you kid from Hardball). But I digress, kid was also a champ on the field. Had a great arm, and was an overall great kid to have on the bench. He never caused any problems because he was continuously getting pumped up by whatever it was that he was listening to under those headphones. Also sidebar: He was so much cooler and better than Amir Khan. God Amir sucked. Classic case of little brother sucking. But hey, let’s be honest even a 2 year difference can make a humongous difference when youre younger.
Kenny Kawaguchi:
I have a personal bias for this guy, I will be honest. Why? Well because the first time I played this game I bombed a grand slam with him. That’ll seal the deal for any 6 year old. Now I’m not sure if they were trying to reach out to the disabled folk of yesteryear, but I don’t even care at this point, this kid could jack homeruns from a chair. Seriously sit down in a chair and play baseball, tell me it ain’t impossible. But yeah, this kid would definitely fool you the first time you play, like “I’m not picking the kid in the chair” Oh you should DEFINITELY pick the kid in the chair or you are missing out sir (or madam).
Angela Delvecchio:
Ya Boy will tell you that he was the person in the family to find this hidden gem. Yes, I’ll admit it, I was an extremely sexist kid (not saying that I’ve fully grown out of that yet either) but I didn’t want girls on my team. They’re girls for god’s sake. And don’t even try to give me any of that bull about girls being just as good of athletes as guys. I’m pretty sure Ya Boy has defeated some D1 NCAAW chicks in the rec center a few times. But I digress. Angela is a special case. She was the most powerful pitcher in a video game. The only person that even came close to rivaling her was AJ Burnett’s style in MVP Baseball 2003. Put them toe-to-toe, and I’m picking Angela on this one, no doubt. I mean her brother was the biggest d-bag this side of ever, who did he think he was? Point is, once you can get over the fact that her family probably sucks, and that she’s a girl, she’s pure gold on the diamond.
Pete Wheeler:
Classic idiot. This kid had to be the stupidest kid on the face of the earth. Everyone had a kid that Pete reminded them of. When he bunted he TURNED AROUND. But BOY did this kid have wheels, and I mean WHEELS. He turns those things on, and you are absolutely toast. I mean it made sense, I’m pretty sure he was like 2 feet taller than everyone else. At that age, height is part of what matters to be a speedster. I’m not trying to take anything away from him, but I guarantee he didn’t grow up to me the 100m champion. He probably turned into a cross-country runner or something stupid like that. But seriously, draft this kid. Great for team morale (how would anyone know that?) And I guarantee you that no matter how well he did the kids on the bench would be like “aw shit, Pete’s up again, here comes another out” and then whooop, SURPRISE WIN, kid bunts a triple. I’m sure he did.
Pablo Sanchez:
I think that says it all. No really, do I even need to explain this kid? This kid was the face of the entire game. Arguably the most racist kid in the game, but everyone looked away so it was no big. We’re talking about a chubby kid who probably saw all the rest of the kids playing baseball, so he went up to them, started talking a mile a minute in Spanish. The other kids probably had no idea what he was saying, but, their mistake, let him play. Wow is there anyone that would be worth selectting over him? I don’t even think when you throw the MLB players in there is anyone that comes close. (Sidebar: We all know that he secretly knew English right? The original troll)
Look, if you’re not convinced, then put these guys to the test. I’m sorry if I left out some of your favorite characters like Dmitri Petrovich (the world’s best punter), or Ernie Steele who was quietly 5′ ^” as a 10 year old….yeah….or Mikey Thomas who had a cold every day of his life, or Dante Robinson who would do anything you wanted for candy and hamburgers, or Luanne Lui who, let’s be honest, was the cutest girl in the game. I don’t mean that in a creepy way, she was adorable with that pink teddy bear.
All in all, I’m glad that these kids’ parents encouraged them to go out and play the most organized games of sports you’ve ever seen in kids this age. They had the most diverse peer group ever, they were all unreal at sports, and they even were interesting enough to get a lot of different personalities to announce their games. Talk about unreal on top of unreal.
~Little Spoon
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AdvertisementsSAN ANTONIO -- Offensive chemistry generated headlines and conversations regarding the San Antonio Spurs over the summer, but coach Gregg Popovich admitted before Tuesday’s matchup against the Phoenix Suns that defense is the team’s emphasis in the preseason.
Namely transition defense, an area of deficiency that doomed the Spurs in the first round of last season's Western Conference playoffs.
“Transition D has still been a problem,” Popovich said. “Our transition D still looks like it did in Game 6 and 7 against the Clippers last [season] in the first round. Worst transition defense in the history of basketball in those two games.”
How bad was it? Well, the Clippers outscored the Spurs 33-4 on the break in Games 6 and 7.
“So it’s been an emphasis to start this season,” Popovich said. “Because if we’re gonna be one of the worst offensive-rebounding teams in the league, which we always are, we better be one of the best transition-defense teams. Usually we are. But we weren’t last year in general, and it really showed in the last couple of games in the Clippers series.”
The Spurs outscored the Sacramento Kings 19-17 on the break in the Oct. 8 preseason opener, but have been bested in that category by their other three opponents and have been outscored 82-65 through the first four games.
“That’s the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ‘Can you handle the truth?’, I ask the players,” Popovich said. “So then, we do what we do and try to take care of it, right?”Robert Murray, the chief executive of Murray Energy Corporation, sued John Oliver, HBO, and Time Warner for defamation on Wednesday.
Murray accused the show of a “meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character and reputation” his reputation, the Washington Post reports.
Watch the segment below:
The Hill reports:
Before criticizing Murray on Sunday’s episode, Oliver noted that his show contacted the company, and it responded with a letter asking him to “cease and desist from any effort to defame, harass, or otherwise injure Mr. Murray or Murray energy.”
Oliver went on to say Murray looks like a “geriatric Dr. Evil” and criticized his response to a deadly 2007 Utah mine accident caused by safety violations.
“Bob Murray, I didn’t really plan for so much of this piece to be about you, but you kinda forced my hand on that one,” Oliver said. “And I know you’re probably going to sue me over this. But, you know what? I stand by everything I said.”
The lawsuit claims that Oliver deliberately omitted facts about the mining accident in Utah.
Murray and his company argue that an earthquake, not dangerous mining, triggered the collapse of the Crandall Canyon Mine, which killed nine miners.Pelosi slams Boehner on energy, economy and Rangel
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed back at House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Friday, calling GOP attacks on the Democratic energy proposal and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) an "act of desperation."
Boehner and other GOP leaders had written to Pelosi on Tuesday, calling for Rangel to be removed from his chairmanship while the House ethics committee investigates unpaid taxes on his vacation home in the Dominican Republican, the use of several rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, and his fundraising efforts on behalf of the "Rangel Center" in New York City.
Boehner also criticized Pelosi for not calling the House back into session |
“My whole life was centered around building things, and I’ve always had a natural tendency toward knives,” he says. Speak with him about knives and that passion becomes infectious.
“Knives are man’s oldest tool,” Jared tells me. “When ancient people killed an animal with a rock, they had to figure out how to gut it and skin it, so they bashed another rock to get a sharp edge and the knife was invented. Knives are as old as man and they’re never going away. You’ve always got to cut your carrots and your potatoes.” Jared speaks with the veracity of a true pragmatist.
Jared made his first knife at the age of nine out of a piece of sheet metal and a willow branch. When he was 15, he bought a $35 grinder at Fred Meyer. When his shop teacher told him he could grind a knife out of an old file, it was the beginning of a life-long quest for tools and the motivation for a career in bladesmithing.
He spent every dime he made on tools. As his obsession with making knives grew, so did his tool collection, until his parents gave him half the garage. “I’d sit in that garage until three o’clock in the morning making knives. I’d hand-sand for hours at a time. I spent a lot of time in my head as a kid,” he recalls.
Jared’s early efforts at making knives gave him invaluable experience and the quality of his knifes improved, but it took several years and some mentoring from a fellow bladesmith named Ed Fowler, before he sold his first knife. “I just kept screwing up metal until I got something right.”
Jared was already a craftsman, but he credits Ed with filling in the missing gaps until the quality of his knives jumped exponentially. With Ed’s guidance, Jared’s skills rose to a whole new level, especially the forging process, and he started making money selling knives.
“I’ve got a pretty good clientele base that’s built up over the years, and I’m blessed for it. But I don’t make knives for other people,” he explains. “I’ll take orders, but when I’m making that knife, I’m making it as if it’s for me. I love my knives, and I’ll keep every knife I make, but other people like ‘em too, and want to pay me money for them. And that allows me to make better knives, to get better material, to bring this whole craft up.”
Jared’s knives are 100 percent guaranteed for life. As with anything of quality, they’re not cheap, but you’re getting a hand-crafted heirloom knife and sheath you’ll never have to buy again. Each one is hand-signed and no two are alike. His creations run the gamut from small blades to swords to exotic blades and ancient weaponry.
Jared’s 14-year-old son, Elijah, is continuing the tradition with his own line of zombie apocalypse blades. You never know when a good zombie knife might come in handy.
You can watch Jared’s skills in action on Season 3, episode 6 of Forged in Fire on YouTube, or you can stream it on the History Channel.
Learn more about Jared and his knives at his website. To see more of Steven’s work visit Vargo Photography.In this slice through the structure of human serotonin transporter, (S)-citalopram binds to both the central (green) and allosteric (blue) binding sites. Nature
Drug designers have long been synthesizing antidepressant compounds capable of interfering with the human serotonin transporter, or SERT. But much of what scientists know about SERT’s structure comes from studies of related proteins from other species, such as the bacterial leucine transporter and the fruit fly dopamine transporter.
Now, the structure of SERT itself has been solved, a feat that could help drug designers improve antidepressants. Eric Gouaux, Jonathan A. Coleman, and Evan M. Green of Oregon Health & Science University report crystal structures of human SERT bound to the antidepressants (S)-citalopram (Lexapro) or paroxetine (Paxil) (Nature 2016, DOI: 10.1038/nature17629). They’re the first crystal structures of a human neurotransmitter transporter.
In the body, SERT sits in the membrane of neurons that feed into a nerve cell junction, or synapse. Its job is to remove excess serotonin—a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of happiness—from the synapse and transport it back inside the neuron. When SERT gets blocked by an antidepressant, however, serotonin stays in the synapse, continuing to exert its feel-good effects.
To determine SERT’s structure, the Oregon team first had to find a form of the transporter that would crystallize. “The human transporter is remarkably unstable after you extract it from the membrane,” Gouaux says. “The crucial aspect of this study was discovering a few sites in the transporter that we could mutate and dramatically increase the thermal stability” while retaining SERT’s normal antidepressant binding, he adds. The team was able to crystallize a form of SERT with three mutations, but it wasn’t an active transporter.
The structures that the researchers determined from this inactive transporter not only pinpointed the location of the main binding site, but they also pinpointed a secondary, allosteric binding site that, when occupied, blocks release of the antidepressant from the main site. In the citalopram complex, the antidepressant bound to both the central binding site and to the allosteric site. Paroxetine, which has only weak allosteric activity, didn’t bind to the secondary site.
The structures show that the antidepressants work by occupying the serotonin binding site and preventing the transporter from switching from one conformation to another. An antidepressant acts “like a wedge in a door,” Gouaux says. “It completely blocks the outer door from closing and will not allow the transporter to reopen to the inside.”
This transporter structure might provide a map for discovering new drugs, especially ones that target the allosteric site, says Claus J. Løland, who studies neurotransmitter transporters at the University of Copenhagen. “Binding to this site might have different therapeutic perspectives than classical competitive inhibition.”New York City’s mayor and the state’s attorney general are planning a hearing of their own on the Trump administration’s plan to repeal former President Obama’s climate change rule for power plants.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, both Democrats, announced their plan Friday for a “people’s hearing," complaining that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rebuffed their calls for a formal hearing on the matter in New York.
“New Yorkers are on the front lines of climate change, as tragically demonstrated by Hurricanes Sandy and Irene,” Schneiderman said in a statement.
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“The country’s reliance on dirty, non-renewable fossil fuels for power generation is a major contributor of climate change pollution and its impacts on the lives and livelihoods of New York’s residents, including more frequent and intense storms, rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and increased air pollution. The Clean Power Plan is a vital tool to slash greenhouse gas emissions from one of the leading causes of climate change pollution, fossil-fuel burning power plants.”
De Blasio and Schneiderman have been among the country’s most outspoken opponents of Trump’s environmental agenda. Schneiderman has promised to sue the EPA when it repeals the Clean Power Plan, and has already sued Trump numerous times for regulatory rollbacks.
The EPA was obligated to hold at least one hearing on the Clean Power Plan repeal, which it did in Charleston, W.Va., last month.
The agency is also planning “listening sessions” in the coming months in San Francisco, Kansas City, Mo., and Gillette, Wyo. Additional hearings would require the EPA to extend the public comment period, but listening sessions do not.
The New York City “people’s hearing” is scheduled for Jan. 9 at The New School’s lower Manhattan building.(Adds quotes, detail, reaction)
By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, suggesting closer trade ties between the 28-nation EU and a Russian-led economic bloc once a ceasefire is implemented in Ukraine.
In the letter, written after a G20 summit in Turkey and seen by Reuters, Juncker underlined the importance he attached to good relations between the European Union and Moscow, “which to my regret have not been able to develop over the past year”.
He said he had asked Commission officials to study options to bring the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union - a grouping of former Soviet states dominated by Moscow - closer together.
“The decision on the circumstances in which to proceed along this path is in the hands of the member states of the European Union and should in particular be synchronised with the implementing of the Minsk agreements,” Juncker wrote.
The initiative could offer Putin an incentive to cooperate in Ukraine at a time when France and some other west European states are trying to re-engage with Moscow after the Paris attacks to fight Islamic State and forge a peace deal in Syria.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said he was surprised by the letter, which he said did not reflect a common view of EU member states and made no reference to EU sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine.
Baltic and central European member states are worried that the EU executive and west European partners may be preparing to let Moscow off the hook of sanctions over Ukraine in return for cooperation in the Middle East.
A Commission spokeswoman confirmed that Juncker had written to Putin after they had a brief conversation at the G20 summit but said he had not made any new commitments in the letter.
“NOT SEXY”
Juncker caused controversy last month when he said at an event in Germany that Europe must improve its relationship with Russia and should not let this be decided by Washington.
“We must make efforts towards a practical relationship with Russia,” he said on Oct. 8 in Passau. “It’s not sexy but that must be the case, we can’t go on like this.”
The Eurasian Economic Union is a newly-formed trade bloc which, aside from Russia, includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
EU officials said nothing in Juncker’s letter called into question the extension of the financial and personal sanctions against Russia when they come up for renewal in January.
Linkevicius said he was confident that there would be agreement to roll over the measures in January.
“I would prefer an improvement of the situation in Ukraine, but all indications at the moment show that the Minsk agreements are not kept. And our agreement is that in such case we will extend sanctions,” he told Reuters.
Concluding the brief letter, Juncker said he had asked his diplomatic adviser, Richard Szostak, to follow the issue of closer trade ties closely.
“I can assure you that the European Commission will be a helpful partner in this process,” he wrote.
Russia seized Crimea militarily last year after pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted by a popular uprising in favour of closer economic and political ties with the European Union.
The EU has imposed successive waves of sanctions over the annexation of the Black Sea peninsula and support for separatist rebels in eastern Europe. (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Mark John)The bad news is that approval ratings for both the president and Congress are sinking, with voters increasingly frustrated at the bitter, partisan impasse in Washington. The worse news is that in terms of admiration for our national leaders, these may come to be seen as the good old days.
I’m an optimist by nature, a glass-half-full kind of guy. But try as I might, I can’t convince myself that Republicans in Congress are likely to respond any better to President Obama’s latest proposals on the economy than to the previous umpteen. I’m also pretty gloomy at the moment about the prospects for meaningful immigration reform — unless House Speaker John Boehner decides that passing a bill is more important than keeping his job.
“We should not be judged on how many new laws we create,” Boehner said Sunday. “We ought to be judged on how many laws that we repeal.” So much for faint hope.
My fear is that stasis has become a structural feature of our politics. Nothing lasts forever, but this depressing state of affairs could be with us for quite a while — and could get worse.
The public is not amused. Three out of four Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, while an NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey measured disapproval of Congress at a stunning 83 percent. Obama’s approval rating has slid to 49 percent, the Post-ABC poll found — better than the president’s political opponents are faring but hardly anything to cheer about.
Here’s the basic problem: The Democratic Party seems likely to grow ever stronger nationally while the GOP remains firmly entrenched locally. This means the stubborn, maddening, unproductive standoff between a Democratic president and a Republican majority in the House may be the new normal.
Demographic trends clearly favor the Democrats in presidential elections. Hispanics and Asian Americans, the nation’s biggest and fastest-growing minorities, respectively, both voted for Obama over Mitt Romney by more than 70 percent. This is not just a function of the GOP’s hostility to immigration reform, although that certainly doesn’t help. Republicans are also out of step with these voters on other issues, such as health care. And all too often they transmit a breathtaking level of hostility.
A case in point is the recent allegation by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) that for every young undocumented immigrant who becomes a valedictorian, “there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds — and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
Criticized by his colleagues — ixnay on the igotrybay — King insisted his comments were “factually correct.” And the GOP’s outreach to Latino voters returned to square one.
None of this eliminates the possibility that Democrats will nominate flawed presidential candidates or that Republicans will nominate attractive ones. But all things being equal, the Democratic Party likely will go into presidential elections with a structural advantage. Eventually the GOP will be at pains to defend even Texas, the party’s only reliable mega-state.
Yet the Republican majority in the House, ensconced by clever redistricting, will be hard to dislodge. Perhaps Democratic registration and get-out-the-vote efforts can reshape the midterm electorate enough next year to recapture the majority. I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on it.
It may be, then, that we’re in for a much longer period of divided government in which the principal way that Republicans can affect federal policy is through obstruction. The whole “party of no” thing is more than a meme; it’s a logical — if somewhat nihilistic — plan of action. Or inaction.
Republicans know they cannot repeal the Affordable Care Act, for example, but they can hamper its implementation. They cannot impose their vision of immigration reform — all fence and no citizenship, basically — but they can ensure that no reforms are approved. They cannot choose their own nominees for federal judgeships, but they can block Obama’s.
Commentators who criticize the president for not hosting enough cocktail parties or golf outings for Republicans are ignoring political reality. He has tried being nice, he has tried being tough, he has tried offering to compromise, he has tried driving a hard bargain. Nothing works if Republicans are committed to blocking every single thing he seeks to do.
No wonder Obama chose to unveil his economic program while making what looks like a campaign swing. It will be the voters who eventually get us out of this hole. Unfortunately, that may take some time.
Read more from Eugene Robinson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.President Obama directed all of his Cabinet-level appointees to prepare “exit memos” on progress made during his Administration and what needs to come next. NASA is not a cabinet-level agency so did not have a chance to weigh in, but the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) did, listing a number of accomplishments at NASA and other government science and technology organizations. The Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Commerce (NOAA’s parent) also included space activities in their wrap-ups.
OSTP’s memo, by OSTP Director and presidential science adviser John Holdren and U.S. Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Megan Smith, lists “fostering a burgeoning private space sector and increased capabilities for our journey to Mars” tenth on the list of top 10 Obama Administration accomplishments in science and technology. (The CTO is part of OSTP.) Later it identifies achievements in 5 categories of “frontiers” building on the White House Frontiers Conference held in October 2016. One is “Interplanetary Frontiers.”
In sum, OSTP heralds the following space-related Obama Administration achievements:
extending the International Space Space (ISS) to 2024, commercial cargo, and progress on commercial crew;
supporting the Journey to Mars and a robust U.S. commercial space market, including continued development of advanced space technology for life support and solar electric propulsion, collaboration with industry to develop deep space habitats, and initiating efforts to allow the private sector to add their own modules to ISS;
advancing space science through NASA, NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), with shout-outs to the Kepler Space Observatory, the Curiosity Mars rover, the New Horizons mission to Pluto, Juno, and the James Webb Space Telescope (plus NSF’s ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter Array and the NSF/DOE Large Synoptic Survey Telescope);
enhancing prediction of and preparedness for space hazards, notably Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and space weather; and
harnessing the small satellite revolution.
The OSTP memo then lists 10 actions needed for the future to address science and technology challenges. None are specific to space, but more general. First and foremost is investment in fundamental research. STEM education, supporting innovative entrepreneurs, and continuing international cooperation and engagement are also on the list.
The exit memo from Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter also touches on space activities. One paragraph restates DOD’s warning that space is no longer a sanctuary and “we must be prepared for the possibility of a conflict that extends into space.” It states that the Obama Administration has spent $22 billion “to defend and improve the resiliency of our assets in space and put potential adversary space systems at risk, helping ensure the advantages of space are available for U.S. forces in the future.” The memo implores the incoming Administration to ensure that reconnaissance, GPS, and secure communications can be provided and “ensure and defend these capabilities against aggressive and comprehensive space programs of others.”
The DOD memo also stresses the need to “ensure America pioneers and dominates the technological frontiers related to military superiority” noting that it is no longer just a matter of bigger or better weapons, but the “additional variable of speed” — who can “out-innovate faster than everyone else.”
Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker noted the recent launch of the first next-generation geostationary weather satellite, GOES-R/GOES-16 and the upcoming launch of the first next-generation polar orbiting weather satellite, JPSS-1, in her exit memo. She said that the launch of JPSS-1 must be a priority to ensure there will be no gaps in satellite coverage. (That launch recently slipped from March 2017 to the fourth quarter of FY2017.)
Interestingly, Pritzker concluded by saying she is convinced taxpayers would be better served by a “streamlined ‘Department of Business,’ similar to the President’s 2012 government reorganization proposal.” Under that proposal, NOAA would have moved from the Department of Commerce to the Department of the Interior.
All of the exit memos are accessible from the White House website, which will change on January 20 when Donald Trump assumes office, of course, so where these will be available electronically thereafter is unknown.Huskies incoming freshman Markelle Fultz named MVP and UW commit Michael Porter Jr. leads Team USA in scoring during the tournament.
Before joining the Huskies, Markelle Fultz spent the past week in Valdivia, Chile with the USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team.
Washington’s incoming freshman phenom not only brought back a gold medal in the U-18 FIBA Americas tournament, but his MVP performance on a star-studded squad that included the nation’s best young players elevated his much-anticipated arrival to Montlake.
Fultz finished with a team-high 23 points to lead USA to a 99-84 win over Canada in Saturday’s championship game. The Americans led 84-82 with 3:57 left before closing it out with a 15-2 run.
It was the fourth straight gold medal for Team USA U-18.
Despite being saddled with four fouls, which limited him to 21 minutes, Fultz converted 10 of 16 shots, including three three-pointers. He also had five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
“It was a challenging game for him, because he almost immediately got into foul trouble,” Team USA coach Shaka Smart said. “It’s never easy to play aggressively when you’re in foul trouble, but he did a really good job of attacking when he needed to attack, then coming into the game with fouls and play without fouling out.”
Said Fultz: “I had to fight through foul trouble and I think the team did a good job of keeping the intensity up, even though we were down a little bit,” he said. “So I think we played together, we stayed together and we played hard.”
Fultz averaged 13.8 points, 5.2 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 steals during the five-game tournament. He shot 54.7 percent from the field (29 of 53), 33.3 percent on three-pointers (6 of 18) and converted all five of his free throws.
“For me to get MVP means a lot to me, because there’s a lot of good players here,” Fultz said. “It’s truly and honor.”
Michael Porter Jr., who verbally committed to the Huskies, led Team USA U-18 in scoring during the tournament with 15.8 points per game. He also averaged 5.6 rebounds and shot 53.3 percent (32 of 60) from the field.
“It’s amazing,” said Porter who had 15 points and eight rebounds in the championship game. “I’m happy for this team. One-time gold medalist — I think it’s all of our first times so, we are just happy to be in this situation.”
Fultz returns to Seattle to join the Huskies for a week of practice before departing to Australia with Washington, which plays a handful of games in early August.
Porter will play his senior season at Nathan Hale High.It seems like an appealingly simple way to ensure that the rich do not pay a smaller proportion of their earnings than many members of the middle class. But tax experts and even the White House itself contend it might be hard to carry out.
The White House asked for numerous changes to raise more revenue from the wealthiest Americans in its budget proposal. Those include allowing the high-end Bush administration tax cuts to expire and taxing dividend earnings as regular income.
But the proposal stops short of suggesting an application of the Buffett Rule on top of that, instead listing it as a “principle” for future reform, alongside a repeal of the alternative minimum tax.
The much-hated alternative minimum tax was initially designed to do just what the Buffett Rule would: prevent the wealthy from using loopholes and deductions to lower their tax rates. But the tax was not indexed for inflation, and therefore, each year it ensnares more and more middle-class Americans.
Congress has “patched” the tax to prevent it from hitting the more than 30 million tax filers who should hypothetically pay it. Still, 4.3 million tax filers paid the alternative minimum tax last year, raising $39.1 billion in revenue.
Tax experts say creating a new alternative minimum tax for the wealthy might make for good political argument, but it is less compelling as policy.
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“It just doesn’t make any sense to have one set of rules that applies to some people and one set of rules that applies to everyone else,” said Leonard E. Burman, a tax expert and professor at Syracuse University.
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“It’s really complicated,” Professor Burman said. “I’m very sympathetic to taxing capital gains like ordinary income; that’s the issue this proposal is ostensibly addressing. But the idea that we have different sets of rules for different people? It undermines the tax code.”
William G. Gale, a director of the Tax Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said: “A well-designed tax system would as an artifact be consistent with something like the Buffett Rule. But trying to glom the Buffett Rule onto the current tax system? That’s going to be a mess.”
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There is a second reason for not proposing the Buffett Rule in the budget: It would significantly reduce revenue if installed alongside a repeal of the alternative minimum tax.
According to Internal Revenue Service data, 236,883 tax filers made $1 million or more in 2009, and they paid an average rate of about 24 percent. Bringing that up to 30 percent would raise billions of dollars over time — but not nearly as much as the alternative minimum tax, experts say.
While the White House has declined to make the Buffett Rule a concrete proposal, Democrats in Congress have forged ahead. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island, independently came up with the idea for a minimum tax for the wealthy, and made a proposal after Mr. Obama mentioned it in his State of the Union address.
The proposed law, the Paying a Fair Share Act, eliminates all deductions for the wealthy except their charitable contributions. After that, they must pay a 30 percent minimum tax on the balance of their income.
The law includes a phase-in, to avoid taxing Americans making $1 million at much higher rates than others making $999,999. If the taxpayer makes between $1 million and $2 million, the tax bill is only a fraction of the difference between taxes owed under current law and taxes as determined by the Buffett Rule.
The administration consulted with Senator Whitehouse’s office on the proposal, and has said it backs it. “We’re broadly comfortable with the approach Senator Whitehouse laid out in his proposal,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. “You can do it different ways, but no concerns about not going ahead with something in that broad neighborhood.”
Testifying about the budget proposal on Capitol Hill this week, Mr. Geithner defended the administration’s requested tax changes and its choice not to include a comprehensive tax reform plan.
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He said the White House strongly recommended broad tax reform to broaden the tax base and simplify the dizzyingly complex tax code. But it recommends enacting changes in the meantime to help reduce the deficit and raise revenue from the wealthy. “We think the better way to get there is through comprehensive tax reform,” he said.
“We took a run at trying to negotiate a framework like that with Republican leadership in the House,” Mr. Geithner said of comprehensive reform. “We found no basis for agreement on even the broad framework.”
“We’re just trying to be realistic,” he added.STILLWATER – Oklahoma State wrestling great Alex Dieringer has been nominated for an ESPY in the category of Best Male College Athlete, the ESPYs announced today.The 2016 ESPYS, hosted by John Cena, are live on ABC Wednesday, July 13th at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The flagship event is the one night where the sports world joins together to celebrate the best moments of the year.“It’s a great honor to be nominated for best male college athlete,” Dieringer said. “I didn’t see this coming. This continues to show that my hard work has paid off. It feels good to know that what I accomplished in my career is not going unnoticed, even outside the wrestling world. It’s exciting to think that my nomination might expose people to wrestling.”The three-time NCAA champion and 2016 Hodge Trophy recipient served up a 33-0 record during the 2015-16 season, recording bonus points in all but six matches. His 27 bonus-point wins included 12 falls—10 of which came in the first period—eight major decisions and seven technical falls. He proved his dominance even more as he allowed only one takedown this season and just three takedowns the past two seasons.In 2014, he won his first NCAA title at 157 pounds before moving up to 165 pounds, where he dominated the last two years, going 66-0 and cruising his way to two more national titles.Dieringer wrapped his career with an impressive 133-4 overall record and an 82-match win streak, dating back to January 2014. He leaves behind an impressive legacy, becoming the 14th four-time All-American and the seventh four-time conference champion at OSU, in addition to the 16th three-time NCAA champion after a convincing 6-2 win over Wisconsin's Isaac Jordan in this year's NCAA finals.Fans will have the chance to select the winners by voting online or via mobile at ESPN.com/ESPYS. Follow the official @ESPYS Twitter page and Tweet about your nomination and the ESPYS leading up to and during the live show. When you tweet, be sure to tag @ESPYS so that your tweets connect to the show. Then on the day of the show, Wednesday, July 13th, use #ESPYS in your tweets to join the conversation. The ESPYS and related events benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research in memory of the late Jim Valvano. At the first annual ESPYS back in 1993, Jimmy V accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage award, reminded us to live each day to the fullest, and asked for our help in raising money for cancer research. Keep his dream alive by telling fans to be #BeInspired.Getty Images
Several of you have asked, given the ongoing rash of concussion-related lawsuits, for a full tally of the total number of former players who have instituted legal action.
Per a source with knowledge of the total number of actions and plaintiffs, and based on my rudimentary counting skills, nearly 1,200 former players have filed suit. (Specifically, I counted 1,186.)
And the number is always changing, because new lawsuits continuously are being filed.
At some point soon, I’ll go through the full list and pull out the recognizable names. For example, I didn’t previously realize that Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett has filed a claim.
Several other Hall of Famers have filed. More undoubtedly will. Regardless of how this all turns out, it has become an unprecedented legal attack on an American sports league by the men who used to play the game.The rumors are spreading: Florida State offensive coordinator James Coley could be Miami's next offensive coordinator.
Settle down Canes fans. This Coley story is just rumor-driven for now.
Nothing we've heard out of UM today or even FSU suggests Coley is in the running. We're not even sure he's been interviewed or spoken to UM coach Al Golden yet. But be patient. It's not out of the realm of possibility he could be.
A source close to Coley told me this morning the 39-year old Miami High graduate and former offensive coordinator under Mario Cristobal at FIU in 2007 is definitely interested in getting into a position where he could call plays and make a name for himself. Right now at Florida State, head coach Jimbo Fisher calls play. Coley prepares the game plan all week and then on game days assists Fisher from the press box.
Although Coley is a Florida State grad, a return home to South Florida for obvious reasons would be appealing.
"I grew up on Northwest 4th Street and 18th Avenue, about two blocks from the Orange Bowl," Coley told our Susan Miller Degnan in the days leading up to this year's Orange Bowl. "The Orange Bowl was ‑‑ as kids in that community, that was our playground. Hide and seek and running onto the field and throwing the football, getting chased by the security guards, getting out of there, and parking cars. You might have parked at my house if you went to one of the games."
Coley has always had strong recruiting ties to South Florida throughout his career.
At Miami High from 1998-2000 he coached Roscoe Parrish and Andre Johnson. He then served as the offensive coordinator at Miami Norland when Dwyane Bowe and the Vikings won a state title in 2002. He was then a grad assistant at LSU under Nick Saban for two years before moving onto the Dolphins with him for two more years. At FIU, in Cristobal's first season as coach in 2007, the Golden Panthers finished just 1-11. It was Coley's only season as offensive coordinator (FIU was coming off an 0-12 season and terrible). Coley then moved onto FSU where he's worked as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator and now the offensive coordinator.
By taking Coley away from FSU it would also further help Miami's recruiting efforts and hurt the Seminoles, who lost a number of assistants. Is that a reason to hire an offensive coordinator away? No. But it's another reason to give Coley consideration.
Stay tuned to see if this develops into something legit.click to enlarge Cyclists Waymond Smith and Elihu Blanks on Stony Island near 74th Street
John Greenfield
For much of its length, Stony Island Avenue is basically an expressway with stoplights. Located on the southeast side between 56th and 130th, it generally has eight travel lanes, the same number as Lake Shore Drive, although it carries half as many vehicles per day—35,000 versus 70,000. Due to this excess lane capacity, speeding is rampant.
The city has proposed converting a lane or two of Stony between 67th and 79th into protected bike lanes. Some residents, and Fifth Ward alderman Leslie Hairston, fear the "road diet" would cause traffic jams, and argue the street is too dangerous for bike lanes. Other neighbors say Stony is too dangerous not to have them.
According to the Chicago Crash Browser website, created by Streetsblog's Steven Vance, 53 pedestrians and 16 bicyclists were injured along Stony Island between 67th Street (the southern border of Jackson Park) and 79th Street (where access ramps connect Stony with the Chicago Skyway) between 2010 and 2013.
Two pedestrians and a person in a car were killed in crashes on this stretch between 2010 and 2014, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation. Last year was unusually deadly, with two fatal pedestrian crashes and two bike fatalities.
click to enlarge The six-way intersection of Stony, 79th, and South Chicago, located below Skyway access ramps.
John Greenfield
The complex intersection of Stony Island, 79th, and South Chicago, a diagonal street, is particularly problematic. Located beneath a mess of serpentine Chicago Skyway access ramps, the six-way junction has terrible sight lines. It was the site of 444 traffic crashes between 2009 and 2013, the most of any Chicago intersection, according to CDOT.
Adding protected bike lanes could change this equation, making Stony, among other things, a useful bike route. Due to the Skyway and other barriers like railroad tracks, cul-de-sacs, and a cemetery, it's one of the few continuous north-south streets in this part of town.
The bike-lane plan has been around for almost a decade. In the mid-2000s, under Richard M. Daley, CDOT proposed installing the city's first-ever protected bike lanes on the street. By December 2010 the city had been awarded a $3.25 million federal and state grant to build the lanes as part of the Stony Island Master Plan.
Ultimately Kinzie Street got the city's first protected lanes in July 2011. Around that time the Illinois Department of Transportation began blocking CDOT from installing protected lanes on state-jurisdiction roads within the city, including Stony Island. The opening of curb-protected lanes on Clybourn last summer marked the defacto end of the moratorium.
click to enlarge A CDOT rendering of one-way protected bike lanes on Stony Island. In this scenario, two mixed-traffic lanes would be converted to one-way bike lanes on opposite sides of the street.
CDOT
click to enlarge A CDOT rendering of Stony Island with a two-way protected bike lane
CDOT
The department discussed two possible scenarios for the Stony protected bike lanes at public meetings in the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Wards in 2014, according to CDOT spokesman Mike Claffey. The first would convert two travel lanes to one-way bike lanes on either side of the street. The other would replace a single northbound travel lane with a two-way protected bike lane, as has previously been done downtown on Dearborn and Clinton.
But the 2014 community meetings didn't go smoothly. According to DNAinfo Chicago, at a March 2014 meeting in the Fifth Ward, residents expressed doubt that cyclists would bike on Stony, and fear that the road diet would lead to traffic jams.
However, the plan may finally be moving forward. Last month at a Mayor's Bike Advisory Council meeting, Mike Amsden, who manages CDOT's bikeway program, said the project still has "a very good chance of moving forward" as a single two-way protected lane.
IDOT is currently coordinating with the city on the project, according to spokeswoman Gianna Urgo. "We are in the very early planning stages," she said. "Nothing has been ruled out."
There's just one problem: Hairston, whose ward contains most of the project area, said last week that she's against the plan. "The community was vehemently opposed to bike lanes on Stony Island," she said. "If you take away travel lanes, it will cause congestion."
click to enlarge Fifth Ward alderman Leslie Hairston
In addition, Hairston claimed, residents feel that Stony south of 67th is too dangerous for biking. "The traffic speed on most of Stony Island does not lend itself to sharing |
out loud. More people need to know that they’re not fucking cool. In today’s world, having money has allowed people who are extremely uncool to think that they’re cool and carry it like that. People who really are cool and people who really are artists and have ideas have to literally turn in their cool card to society just to make it past the age of 28. It’s either die at 28 or turn in your cool pass. I would love to be a part of creating a world that allows the artist to think and create at the highest form and be respected for their ability. How did you develop the ability to seek out and find these kinds of people? Or do you think you were born with taste? I’ve been struggling with the word taste. Who’s to say having good taste is a good thing? Some people say everyone was born an artist, and society and their parents beat it out of them. After I said I was going to run for president [at the 2015 MTV VMAs], I saw a video of someone making fun of me about it. I was thinking, Wow, if this person had been doing this to me from the age of 3, I would have never been me. People say geniuses are kids with good parents. How do you nurture the things that people will call weird into something that could be considered exceptional? Maybe this will be an eloquent interview. It’s a 50/50 chance every time I open my mouth. At the end of the day, words get in the way. Regardless, whether you understand this or that, you know it’s Rain Man sitting here. You just fucking know it’s Rain Man. No matter what Rain Man’s doing, you know, if you take him to that fucking table, he’s going to pick the right cards. One exceptional person you’ve mentioned frequently is Steve Jobs. Earlier this year, you tweeted about how he had wanted to lower the cost of textbooks. This was part of a series of several tweets about changing the nature of education. Both of my parents are educators. I think that knowledge is power, and it’s not just about the information that’s held in books. It’s about codes that are held in cultures. Which codes specifically? There are codes in management to get from A to Z. Everything is like one of those drug movies. You’ve got the guy on the block who’s cool enough to figure out how to dodge the cops and also sell. Then you’ve got the guy who used to do that, and that guy has to figure out how to get a connect. Whether I’m going to visit Herzog & de Meuron—a shameless name drop that somehow relates to Surface magazine—or at a fashion show, I always just feel like I’m in Scarface, going to talk with the connect. It’s the idea of: What would you give up for the information about how to really accomplish what you’re thinking, and can you make it out alive?
West performing during the 2013-14 Yeezus Tour. (Photo: Courtesy Def Jam Recordings) …
Partnership
Can education help a person negotiate those systems? People across the world just lack opportunities, period. I feel a responsibility because of my parents. They’re activists and were in the world-changing business. Any extra goodwill or good skills I’ve gained I learned from them, and take along on my Legend of Zelda role-playing path in life. Life’s like a RPG [role-playing game]. When you roll the dice, you’ve got three guys with you, and then you meet someone else, and then another person gives you information. That’s how I met [designer and dealer] Axel Vervoordt—and I don’t have to explain who that is; [you] can get it off of Google. I met Axel through Willo [Perron]. It was eight times separated. A piece of information that led me to another piece of information that led me to another piece that led me to another piece … that led me to Maastricht—I might say it wrong. The city in the Netherlands. Willo says, “Man, I really like this guy’s blog.” He was referring to Justin Saunders—who runs the blog JJJJound. I’m into his perspective on art. Jound’s been doing it for 10 years, and I, to this day, say, “Is that Jound-approved?” I remember I once had this girl in my hotel. We were getting into the bath, and she was like, “I don’t know if my body is Jound-approved.” [Laughs] That was so funny. I reached out to Justin and explained the certain elements of my background that you might not have been able to see just from the albums and videos I was doing, or the red leather jackets I was wearing. Or the minks. Or the furs. Or the [sings in falsetto] big-booty hoes! [Laughs] Sometimes I can be distracting like this in conversations. Just creating memes every step of the way. It does remind me of— Hold on one second. You’re going to break my thought. So I hired Justin, explained all this stuff, and we built this relationship. I was living at this hotel apartment in Paris, Justin was out there, and we were working on some ideas. I was like, “This space is wack. What can I do?” He said, “My favorite architect is Joseph Dirand.” This is turning into a 12-minute freestyle. Which is good. When I talk it’s like a painting. So I reach out to Joseph Dirand, he comes by, and he gives some ideas. He says, “You gotta cover up this nasty bookshelf over here, and you gotta cover up this glass bannister.” We went and plastered over the bookshelf and the bannister in the hotel room. We didn’t nail up a curtain, but plastered over it. It’s still like that to this day. When did you become interested in architecture? I’ve been interested in architecture and furniture design since I was 18. I bumped into this one guy at the Paris flea markets who pulled me to the side and said, “I do furniture with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt”—that’s kind of relevant right now. He said, “I know a place where you can get Jeanneret chairs.” Jeanneret chairs are my favorite dining-room chair. Me saying it out loud, there it goes. I’ll now never get a real Jeanneret again for under a certain amount—first-world problem. So he was like, “I know where we can get real Jeanneret chairs 45 minutes out from Paris.” The chairs were from this Le Corbusier project in—I’m going to say it wrong—this city in India. Chandigarh. Yeah. So he showed me a place where they were way cheaper and all wrapped up. This guy showed me where I would not get hit with the celebrity, Michael Jackson price. He said, “You should go to Maastricht.” I believe he said this. But I was also working with this architect, Oana [Stanescu]—who I still work with and kind of stole from Rem Koolhaas. Maybe she told me to go to Maastricht. If Oana told me, everything I said earlier was false. So I go to Maastricht, and there was some nice furniture, some midcentury stuff, and then there was this booth we bumped into that was … [Pauses] Like I always say, words get in the way … spiritual. I said, “Who did this?” Axel Vervoordt did it. He was there, standing and talking to somebody, and I came up to him and said, “You are the master.” I might have bowed to him. I think you should just run this interview clean. You gotta let the painting be open with this let-me-just-zone-out-with-Ye-for-a-second thing. Unlike Axel, there have been decorators who have tried to diss my wife and me and position us in a lower-class way—not class as far as the idea of finance, but class as— Cultural class. Cultural class! It’s like an editor completely trying to annihilate my credibility because we didn’t have water and the show started late [for the Adidas Yeezy Season Four runway presentation at Four Freedoms Park in New York]. I care about people’s time; it wasn’t on purpose. The fact that they can outright Lebron-James-went-to-the-Heat-level burn my jersey after all I’d contributed to art, fashion, and culture just in 2016 alone … They said, “Ye’s a genius. But in fashion, he doesn’t innovate.” Not having a bunch of colors was an innovation! They undermined a color palette that I worked on and studied. There’s a picture I painted in 1995, and it was basically a Pantone chart before I knew what Pantones were. Color is so important, and T-shirts are so important, and colored T-shirts are even more important! [Laughs] For some reason, I just wanna say “Wiz [Khalifa] wears cool pants” right now. He really does. He dresses really good. I want to talk about the idea of me saying these things in the color that I’m in currently— “Color” meaning? Skin color. I’m not saying “currently,” as if I’m going to change. I’m saying currently because—I’m actually not that good at words; it’s better when a beat is on. What I mean by currently is that 10 years from now to be black is going to be a completely different thing, because of what we’re doing now.
Images from the Yeezy Season One look book. (Photos: Jackie Nickerson) …
Through culture? Through culture. And business. And interracial dating. There was an moment in rap, through the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s, when people said, “Hey, I’m Jewish, own a record label, and I need a black guy.” Because of what we’ve done at Donda, collectively, 20 years from now, people are gonna go, “We need a black guy to creative direct something.” There have been very few directors, period, who are black. When I’m under the gas at the dentist’s office, sometimes I think, One day, all the things that were only afforded to the rich—Hermès, Helmut Lang, Margiela, the bleached canvasses from Sterling Ruby… [Trails off] When I go to Sterling Ruby’s studio, I go, “I want my daughter to come back here!” I’m just so taken aback and inspired. That inspiration needs to be taken out of the box of luxury and given to all people. The world would be better. People would be happier. Do you see yourself as a bridge, as someone who’s helping bring the high and the low together on a mass level? I think so. I will be a part of this because I don’t want to miss out. I don’t wanna be dead when the world starts getting good. It seems like you have this crazy optimism about the world. Where does this come from? Knowing that art can beat anything. Knowing that the artist shall rise. As sure as people have eyes, artists shall rise. Masters of visuals. Masters of communication. The art of conversation. Anything could be art in 10,000 hours. I wanted to touch on something you said at the Design Dialogues event Surface hosted with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jacques Herzog, and you during Art Basel in Miami in 2013. You said you paint with words. You also brought it up a moment ago. Do you mean that literally? I have synesthesia—I see sound. And I actually have paintings and drawings from high school where I was trying to show what the sounds in front of me looked like.
Inside the screening room for Cruel Summer at Cannes in 2012. (Photo: Philippe Ruault) …
How has that helped your work? I think it’s my mutant handicap. All X-Men have a little handicap that helps them become X-Men. I didn’t know the term synesthesia until I was working on Cruel Summer. Halfway into writing that, I really understood that my entire life I had been trying to describe this condition of mine: through painting, through this seven-screen Surround Vision film we shot in Qatar, through all these things. Most people who run publicly traded companies have a tendency to be extremely fearful, especially if they’re not the founder, because they have to answer to people. And then they’ve got a wife and kids or a husband and kids. I think that often people can be scared of brilliant people throughout time—Einstein, Newton, Thomas Jefferson. I’ve said the successful man is the one who can afford to make the most mistakes. Or I’ll say something really obvious, like: You have to look past the surface to embrace opportunity. I guess this is the difference of a visionary—they have X-ray vision. They can see past the surface, and they can also see into the future. It’s like Dark Side of the Moon: If you look through the pyramid, you can see the core and the beauty in the middle. [Pink Floyd’s] Dark Side of the Moon [album] cover is the best description of a visionary. You don’t pigeonhole yourself. You’ve entered the realms of fashion, music, art, and design. What worlds do you want to enter next? What’s more important, design or art? Design is the ability to put structure to art, and art is the ability to break from structure. It’s like a man and a woman, and obviously the woman, in the traditional sense, is the artist. I don’t have an answer. I’m just posing this as a question. The only good thing about a project being finished is that it can give you, possibly, if people like it, the opportunity to work on more projects. So is it about the work, or is it about working? If it was truly about working, that you could move like a shaman from project to project and just sprinkle some magic on each one, and not have to worry about digging your feet into the ground [to gain] the respect of fucktards that couldn’t—I’m trying to use a better example than put their left and right shoe on correctly, but it’s just the best one. These people do not have the education; they just have the money and the position. I believe in always empowering people. I don’t want to give you anything as definitive as “always do this.” It’s about finding a balance between being the person who knows the most and the person who’s the most naïve.In a blow to the Singapore club’s 2016 plans, 12 members of the FAM executive committee “unanimously voted against renewing the club’s stay in MSL” in a three-hour meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
It’s understood Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) chief executive Kevin Ramalingam gave a compelling argument on why Malaysian football can do without LionsXII from the league’s perpective.
That, coupled with the Singaporean club’s refusal to commit to bearing the cost of visiting team’s accommodation and internal travel, meant it was the end of the road of a four-year partnership.
“We took into account the cost of our teams going there because of the exchange rate. We asked them (LionsXII) to cover this and vice versa when they travel here, but FA of Singapore (FAS) could not commit to this,” said FAM deputy president Datuk Seri Afandi Hamzah.
“The response from local teams were not encouraging either. So we decided in the best interest of both parties, we do not continue the Memorandum of Understanding with FAS. We have not informed FAS of our decision.”
READ ALSO: FourFourTwo’s argument on whether LionsXII should stay or be kicked out.
There has been speculation members of LionsXII could form Singapore’s team in the mooted ASEAN Super League, which could commence in 2016, but no announcements have yet been made.
The decision to oust them from the MSL gives hope to relegated ATM and the Malaysia Premier League’s (MPL) third-placed T-Team, two sides that will square off in a one-legged playoff to fill the void in the top flight competition.
FMLLP chief Kevin Ramalingam
Kuala Lumpur will now fill the 12th spot in the MPL despite being relegated to the FAM League after finishing 11th last season.
The final axe on FAM’s Harimau Muda was wielded as the decision-makers bowed to pressure to disband the development set-up.
Razip Ismail’s under-22 charges and Hassan Sazali Waras’ talented under-19 boys will be released.
FAM, however, announced they will form a ‘Project 2017’ squad for the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur and could name their coach as early as next week.
“We have shortlisted three coaches for the team, which is essentially our under-23 squad. We conduct interviews next week and could make an announcement by the end of the week,” said FAM deputy president Datuk Abdul Mokhtar, who also heads the taskforce looking at candidates.
“The national team vacancy will be filled then after. We have 70 applicants and are in the midst of shortlisting them. The executive committee gave us the mandate to make a final decision.”
The decisions taken by FAM are expected to allow FMLLP to move ahead with the planning of the league. Announcements in regards to league start date, match dates and official broadcaster are expected in the coming weeks.
FAM also announced that MSL and MPL teams will now receive 40 per cent of FMLLP’s revenue, an increase of 10 per cent.
The association’s treasurer Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria said: “We need to re-assess how to factor in this increase and re-look into what was supposed to be for running of the league, FAM’s share and development of referees and youth.
“A final breakdown will confirmed after seeking advice from independent consultant.”His ID is Neeblet, not Neeb
Pandemona Profile Blog Joined March 2011 Charlie Sheens House 41174 Posts Last Edited: 2016-10-25 13:20:01 #2 Poll: Who Gets Eliminated First Group A
PtitDrogo (160)
80%
Snute (20)
10%
Dark (14)
7%
Stats (6)
3%
200 total votes (160)80%(20)10%(14)7%(6)3%200 total votes Your vote: Who Gets Eliminated First Group A (Vote): Dark
(Vote): PtitDrogo
(Vote): Snute
(Vote): Stats
Poll: Who Gets Eliminated First Group B
TRUE (79)
40%
Zest (44)
22%
Neeb (43)
22%
Patience (30)
15%
196 total votes (79)40%(44)22%(43)22%(30)15%196 total votes Your vote: Who Gets Eliminated First Group B (Vote): Neeb
(Vote): Patience
(Vote): Zest
(Vote): TRUE
Moderator Team Liquid Football Thread Guru! - Chelsea FC ♥
The_Templar Profile Blog Joined January 2011 THE FUTURE 52439 Posts Last Edited: 2016-10-25 13:11:30 #3 Stats, PtitDrogo, TRUE, and Patience to advance please.
Also, I'm hyped. Moderator I'm actually a
Elentos Profile Blog Joined February 2015 46197 Posts #4 So I looked at the homepage for the event. The schedule is... different. Group A match 1 and 2, Group B match 1 and 2, Group A elimination stage, Group B elimination stage. Splyce flair now | Where is knowledge?
Pandemona Profile Blog Joined March 2011 Charlie Sheens House 41174 Posts #5 Yeah you are right, don't get that way i thought winners first. Anyway, poll updated Moderator Team Liquid Football Thread Guru! - Chelsea FC ♥
Ctone23 Profile Blog Joined December 2012 United States 1813 Posts Last Edited: 2016-10-25 14:40:46 #6 Snute, Dark, Neeb, and Zest to advance... SO HYPED Gauntlet Esports
Charoisaur Profile Joined August 2014 Germany 11998 Posts #7 Dark, Stats, Patience and Zest to advance. INnoVation
The_Red_Viper Profile Blog Joined August 2013 18351 Posts #8 Hyped for this, let's see how well foreigners can do BLΛƆKPIИK in your area | Rosé | IU | Yuna Kim | SoHyang || soO | Maru | Alphastar || Jaedong | Larva | Calm | Rain | Snow || There is no God and we are his prophets | Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional
Nebuchad Profile Blog Joined December 2012 Switzerland 8788 Posts #9 I don't think Neeb gets out of this group very often. Anywhere you want, any time you want, one condition; it has to be amazing
The_Red_Viper Profile Blog Joined August 2013 18351 Posts #10 On October 25 2016 22:46 Nebuchad wrote:
I don't think Neeb gets out of this group very often.
Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first BLΛƆKPIИK in your area | Rosé | IU | Yuna Kim | SoHyang || soO | Maru | Alphastar || Jaedong | Larva | Calm | Rain | Snow || There is no God and we are his prophets | Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional
Jer99 Profile Blog Joined April 2011 Canada 8155 Posts #11 Oh SHIIIIT Strategy TaeJa #1 || @TL_Jer99 || "seeker seeked out his seeking"
Nebuchad Profile Blog Joined December 2012 Switzerland 8788 Posts #12 On October 25 2016 22:49 The_Red_Viper wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 25 2016 22:46 Nebuchad wrote:
I don't think Neeb gets out of this group very often.
Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first
His PvP seemed quite good when the protosses played into his hand. I think they're going to study that a little better now and do things that don't play into his hands... Especially Patience I expect can come up with unexpected things, at least that's how I view him in PvP.
I'd be happy to be wrong, I like Neeb. His PvP seemed quite good when the protosses played into his hand. I think they're going to study that a little better now and do things that don't play into his hands... Especially Patience I expect can come up with unexpected things, at least that's how I view him in PvP.I'd be happy to be wrong, I like Neeb. Anywhere you want, any time you want, one condition; it has to be amazing
The_Red_Viper Profile Blog Joined August 2013 18351 Posts #13 On October 25 2016 22:57 Nebuchad wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 25 2016 22:49 The_Red_Viper wrote:
On October 25 2016 22:46 Nebuchad wrote:
I don't think Neeb gets out of this group very often.
Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first
His PvP seemed quite good when the protosses played into his hand. I think they're going to study that a little better now and do things that don't play into his hands... Especially Patience I expect can come up with unexpected things, at least that's how I view him in PvP.
I'd be happy to be wrong, I like Neeb. His PvP seemed quite good when the protosses played into his hand. I think they're going to study that a little better now and do things that don't play into his hands... Especially Patience I expect can come up with unexpected things, at least that's how I view him in PvP.I'd be happy to be wrong, I like Neeb.
I mean don't get me wrong, i still have hope that the koreans do what people expect them to do in general (win :D) but i think this group should be doable for Neeb.
I mean don't get me wrong, i still have hope that the koreans do what people expect them to do in general (win :D) but i think this group should be doable for Neeb. BLΛƆKPIИK in your area | Rosé | IU | Yuna Kim | SoHyang || soO | Maru | Alphastar || Jaedong | Larva | Calm | Rain | Snow || There is no God and we are his prophets | Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional
Nebuchad Profile Blog Joined December 2012 Switzerland 8788 Posts Last Edited: 2016-10-25 14:19:44 #14 On October 25 2016 23:08 The_Red_Viper wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 25 2016 22:57 Nebuchad wrote:
On October 25 2016 22:49 The_Red_Viper wrote:
On October 25 2016 22:46 Nebuchad wrote:
I don't think Neeb gets out of this group very often.
Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first Really? His PvP seemed to be quite good and he might just win 2 in a row to get out first
His PvP seemed quite good when the protosses played into his hand. I think they're going to study that a little better now and do things that don't play into his hands... Especially Patience I expect can come up with unexpected things, at least that's how I view him in PvP.
I'd be happy to be wrong, I like Neeb. His PvP seemed quite good when the protosses played into his hand. I think they're going to study that a little better now and do things that don't play into his hands... Especially Patience I expect can come up with unexpected things, at least that's how I view him in PvP.I'd be happy to be wrong, I like Neeb.
I mean don't get me wrong, i still have hope that the koreans do what people expect them to do in general (win :D) but i think this group should be doable for Neeb.
I mean don't get me wrong, i still have hope that the koreans do what people expect them to do in general (win :D) but i think this group should be doable for Neeb.
I mean I wouldn't view it as a huge upset if he makes it out either. I do think Patience is pretty clearly favoured against him in the first match. I mean I wouldn't view it as a huge upset if he makes it out either. I do think Patience is pretty clearly favoured against him in the first match. Anywhere you want, any time you want, one condition; it has to be amazing
Elentos Profile Blog Joined February 2015 46197 Posts #15 The way they did it seems like the silliest way to drag out the group stages across 4 days. Day 1: group A & B matches 1 and 2 and the elimination matches, Day 2: group C & D match 1 and 2 and the elimination matches, Day 3: Winners matches, Day 4: Decider matches
That translates to 6 BO3 matches on days 1 and 2 each, and 4 BO3 matches on days 3 and 4 each. If they did regular GSL format they'd have had 5 matches on each day. Splyce flair now | Where is knowledge?
The_Red_Viper Profile Blog Joined August 2013 18351 Posts #16 I think it's fine. THis way you can prepare a bit more, which is nice. BLΛƆKPIИK in your area | Rosé | IU | Yuna Kim | SoHyang || soO | Maru | Alphastar || Jaedong | Larva | Calm | Rain | Snow || There is no God and we are his prophets | Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional
Durnuu Profile Joined September 2013 France 10128 Posts #17 Woo, looks like I might be able to catch a few of the matches :D https://i.imgur.com/d9kaj98.png
Musicus Profile Joined August 2011 Germany 22503 Posts #18 Hype!
Thanks Pande, but I think you'd better put the results in spoilers right away! Baguette lover | I recognize the might and wisdom of my Otherworldly overlord | Serral is overrated, NaNiwa would beat him | Lilbowjwa > Maru | Make SC2 great again, bring back the old Swarm Hosts | ROACH ROACH ROACH
FueledUpAndReadyToGo Profile Blog Joined March 2013 Netherlands 24904 Posts #19 Woah it's actually a decent EU timeslot. They must be starting early there in west coast specially for us :D Neosteel Enthusiast
Nakajin Profile Blog Joined September 2014 Canada 3669 Posts #20 Hype!
Group B is especially interesting to me, Zest, True and Neeb all have the potential to underperform big time, I wonder who will break first.
1 2 3 4 5 106 107 108 NextWell here's a character I haven't drawn before: Sunset Shimmer! The first EQG movie came out like, years ago and I only got to draw her until now? Jeez.Anyway! She was a lot of fun to draw. I especially liked drawing the little leather jacket for her, I think that it adds a lot to her personality, even in her reformed way. I also tried to go with a "rougher", less clean style for this since a friend of mine suggested I should try it. And well I said why not, won't really lose anything by doing it. Still a ways to go in my opinion, but this was very good practice nonetheless.Also, this was drawn for Sunset Shimmer day which is today, in celebration of the Autumnal Equinox. Good riddance to summer, I say; let the (probably) best season of the year come through.Anyways, enjoy!Sunset Shimmer © Hasbro.On a clear spring afternoon in Berlin, Bill and Chelsea Clinton rode to the World Cup final in the front seats of a bus. The Olympic Stadium—a severe Greco-Roman construction with Fascist flourishes and corporate logos—was built for the 1936 Games and still looks very much as it did seventy years ago, when Jesse Owens outran the racial theories of his host. But the World Cup tournament had been a surpassingly apolitical event, and now, in the fields and parking lots surrounding the stadium, cheerful venders sold lager and wurst at non-rip-off prices. There were no drunks, no thugs, no skinhead invective. Although the Germans had been eliminated by the Italians in a brutal semifinal, the city was in a mood of lighthearted self-satisfaction. The souvenir stores sold German history as kitsch: one popular postcard was a picture of Erich Honecker over his declaration “Die Mauer bleibt noch 100 Jahre” (“The Wall will endure for a hundred years”). As the bus pulled up to the stadium, a few people stopped to greet the ex-President and his daughter, but most hustled to the gates in orderly streams. Clinton, though he may be less schooled in “the beautiful game” than in the fortunes of the Arkansas Razorbacks, said, “I’m totally psyched for this.” The Clintons took their seats in the “statesmen’s section,” at midfield. While Clinton’s statesmanship has been strictly freelance for the past six years, he was not far from the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and he spent time during the game, and during the breaks, chatting with old friends—the schmoozer in excelsis. He was in the midst of a long trip typical of his increasingly manic and global post-Presidency. He started out from his house in the New York suburb of Chappaqua, campaigned for a local Democrat in Indianapolis, gave a public interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival, gave a speech in Los Angeles, returned to Aspen, and then, flying on the private jet of one of his many wealthy friends, landed in Berlin. Immediately after the game, he was scheduled to fly to Cape Town, for the start of a seven-country tour of Africa, where he would look in on the H.I.V.-AIDS programs that the William J. Clinton Foundation, his base for good works, had established in the previous few years. Upon arriving in Berlin, Clinton had felt the need for some improvised pre-game affection, and so he directed the bus, which carried him and a travelling party of aides, donors, a doctor, Secret Service agents, and volunteer advance workers, to the Brandenburg Gate, where more than half a million ticketless enthusiasts had gathered to watch the match on a set of huge television screens. The bus pulled up behind a stage that had been erected under the gate. Clinton climbed down from the bus and took in the mass of people. “Damn, that’s some crowd!” he said. A rock band performing onstage got the signal from the wings to wind up a song, and Clinton, white-haired, trim, and wearing the dark suit and radiant tie of high office, strode out to the microphone and began to wave. The crowd didn’t immediately know who it was—Is that...? What is he doing here?—but as people began to recognize him on the big screens, with the familiar smile and the ingratiating squint, they started to cheer, louder and louder. It was impossible not to wonder what the reception would have been for George W. Bush—here or just about anywhere else in the world—and it is this implicit comparison that accounts for the remarkable popularity of Bill Clinton. “I’m honored to be here, and thank you to Germany,” he said, lolling in the warm bath of cheers. Clinton didn’t really have much more to say, and he knew that the crowd was not in the mood for a speech. It was enough to present himself and feel the love. He was beaming; his color rose to the high blush of a peach. And the memories! As he left the stage, he paused under the gate and pointed. “In 1994, Helmut Kohl and I stood on a stage here,” Clinton told me over the roar. “That day, there were a hundred thousand people—but nothing like this. This is great. When I was President...” The band started a strangely Teutonic version of “Bohemian Rhapsody”—Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?—drowning him out for a moment. Clinton shouted louder, the better to provide a lesson in the history of the Brandenburg Gate: “You’ve got the French versus the Germans, the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, World War One, World War Two...” “What?” “I said, these are the original gates, but they were restored!” he said, pointing to the yellow mortar. “They went about covering the bullet marks. They didn’t want Germany to be defined just by violence. A hundred years from now, the restoration will blend in completely with the original gate...” “What?” The scene reminded him of a trip to Ghana he made in 1998, when seven hundred thousand people turned out on the streets of Accra to greet him. Chelsea, who was taking a few days off from her job (she is a consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York), stood off to the side, her hands clasped in front of her, watching her father work; she seemed patient, sweetly indulgent and knowing. She had waited for her father before. “I was the first President to speak on the east side of the gate,” Clinton went on. Then he shook some more hands and posed for pictures with a row of cheerleaders holding glittery pom-poms. Jay Carson, a diligent young Georgian who works as Clinton’s communications director, started to interject the kind of polite “Ahem”s and “Thank you”s and nods that lesser politicians know to take as signals to wrap things up. Clinton wraps things up in his own time. We made it to the game with a few minutes to spare. The battle between the Italian azzurri and the French bleus was an epic that ended in a crime, although the crucial moment was lost on nearly everyone in the stadium. It came (as we learned later) when the referee red-carded the venerable French midfielder Zinedine Zidane for head-butting a rival who, he claimed, had impugned the honor of his mother and his sister. As Zidane was banished from the Elysian fields, the jeering, unknowing crowd went almost completely over to the Gallic side; but, in the end, the Italians, emboldened by Zidane’s absence, won the game—and the Cup—on penalty kicks. About an hour later, Clinton was on the plane. He’d changed out of his suit and into a pair of black jeans and a lemon-yellow polo shirt. “Pretty good game, huh?” he said, striding down the aisle of the plane, the inevitable Diet Coke clutched in his spookily large fist. (Hillary has written that she was immediately attracted to Clinton’s hands—“His wrists are narrow and elegant and his long fingers deft, like those of a pianist or a surgeon. When we first met in law school, I loved just watching him turn the pages of a book.”) One of Clinton’s aides, an efficient young man named Justin Cooper, who carries |
could see I was longing to make sense of things. But I was already numb and shell-shocked.
It had been three days since I received the news from my aunt. She called before 9 a.m. “Your father was shot. He died this morning.” And when I heard that word – “died” -- I crumpled to the floor in sobs. That night, I went to a friend’s house and fell asleep after hours of crying, an awful sound that was somewhere between the wail of a child and the howl of a coyote. When I got up the next day, I resolved to silence that wounded animal sound. I was frightened if I gave in to it again, I would lose control completely.
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And someone needed to be in control. I needed to book my flight home. I needed to help with the funeral. When I arrived back in Seattle, my mother had not changed her clothes in two days. She’d never been in the best command of her emotions, but this unmoored her. She told and retold the story of how my father died. She tried to take my brother and sister with her to dress my father’s body for the funeral. She thought it would bring closure. But I was mortified, and fought her to leave them home. I couldn’t bear the thought that their last image would be his naked body, ravaged with bullet wounds and the marks of the coroner’s examination. I would have felt this way even if he didn’t have breasts.
She relented, and took a friend to clothe the body on her own. She dressed my father in his favorite pink turtleneck and placed a black doily on his head. One of them applied a garish turquoise blue eye shadow, red lipstick and pink rouge.
The next day, at the bizarre funeral my mother led herself, the director came up to me. “We have never seen anything like this in all our days in business.”
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I wanted to laugh, but I was too angry. My father’s death had turned into a complete freak show.
But I got to wave goodbye to the freak show. I returned to college a thousand miles away and shared my experience with my close circle of friends, who were supportive and understanding. Meanwhile, Bridgette went to the middle school down the block from the porch where our father died, staining the cement with a pool of blood. She was teased mercilessly for being the daughter of a cross-dressing, drug-dealing father -- and this was in Seattle, supposedly a progressive place. But kids can be mean anywhere. I wonder sometimes if this is why she began to defend his choices: because she was so tired of being beaten down herself.
My sister grew up with such a different father than I did. He had decided to become a woman by then, and so began to openly shun (and also, I suspect, secretly relish) the stares and disapproval from outsiders. Meanwhile, I had a father who took me fishing and hunting and taught me how to defend myself against an attack.
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The irony is that the only person who ever attacked me was my father. When I reached my teens, he set aside the belt and started using his fists. That’s when I left home. I sometimes wonder if he knew that time would come, and wanted to prepare me. I have never known what drove my father’s anger, but it was obvious that he carried around a deep self-loathing. What I don’t know is which part he despised more: the part that wanted to be a woman, or the part that was born a man.
The last time I saw my father was six months before he was killed. Again visiting at winter break. I gave him a small picture of myself and told him that I forgave him. He laughed and said he was sorry. His laughter was often full of mocking. This was one of those times. Each of us offered our words grudgingly. I went back to school thinking, Well, it’s not much, but it’s a start. That was the closest to reconciliation we ever got.
I can forgive him for being abusive, but I confess it is harder for me to make peace with his decision to become a woman. Some of my resistance is based purely on appearance: He never looked like a woman, despite the breasts and makeup. But I suspect there is a deeper reason. If I embrace the idea that he was a woman, it would mean I did not have a dad. I would rather have an asshole for a father than no father at all.
Maybe if he had lived we would have worked this out. We would have had a conversation, I would have learned to live with the contradictions. But instead, there are so many unanswered questions I can’t ask. There are so many things I wish he could help me understand. Therapy has helped me make sense of some of this, but honestly, what pushes me forward most are my dreams.
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Years after my father died, I would have a nightmare that he was my enemy, and he was barring me from seeing my brother and sister. This wasn’t so far from the truth. After I left home, he would only let me visit with them if he was present, and he even monitored our phone conversations. But in the dream his actions are harsh, spiteful, unyielding. I would wake up from these dreams with my heart pounding. When I realized he was dead, I felt instant relief that he couldn’t hurt me. Then I felt guilt for being thankful he was gone. I wrestled with that guilt, because I knew he was not the monster this dream was making him out to be. He was very human, very broken, and he saw no other path to happiness. Did it ultimately matter if that path didn’t make sense to me?
I began to feel more compassion toward him, and with that came grief and loss. I have a different recurring dream now. In it my father has faked his death and is alive, happily living as a woman. I am the only one in my family who knows this, and I must decide if I will tell them. I can’t make up my mind. The deep distress I feel over the decision jars me awake. I blink away the dream and find my mind is playing tricks on me again. Then reality hits once more: He is still dead. But I am no longer relieved. Instead, I am surprised to find how much my heart aches to know that he is gone. The simple truth is this: I miss him.This summer’s episodes of wildfire smoke drifting from the B.C. Interior into the Lower Mainland were “unprecedented” in their duration and the geographic area they affected, according to a Metro Vancouver staff report.
The report, which senior project engineer Francis Ries prepared for the climate action committee, noted that the regional district issued five air-quality advisories during the summer of 2017, resulting in advisories being in effect for a record 19 days.
Metro Vancouver operates the air-quality advisory service for the entire lower Fraser Valley airshed, including the Metro Vancouver region and the Fraser Valley Regional District. The B.C. Ministry of Environment issues air-quality advisories for the rest of the province.
An advisory for ground-level ozone — a main constituent of smog that is formed when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds react in sunlight — was in place July 6 and 7. An advisory for fine particulate matter from forest fires was in place July 18 and 19. Three advisories for both ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter were in effect Aug. 1-12, Aug. 29-30 and Sept. 4-9.
Hotter than usual weather combined with wildfire smoke from the Interior resulted in the high number of days with advisories.
The report compared this year’s smoky conditions to what the region experienced during the 2015 wildfire season.
The levels of fine particulate matter in the air were “somewhat” lower than those measured at the height of the July 2015 wildfire advisory, “but both the duration and geographic scope of wildfire smoke impacts in 2017 significantly exceeded those experienced in 2015.”
Similar to 2015, ground-level ozone advisories had to be added to wildfire-smoke advisories. However, despite reductions in temperature and solar radiation, ground-level ozone production actually increased during two of the smoke-related advisory events. Both hot temperatures and solar radiation, which contribute to ground-level ozone production, are often reduced by the presence of smoke in the air.
The report said that the smoke may have been carrying pollutants that accelerated ozone formation.
The record-breaking season is now prompting Metro Vancouver to explicitly consider the effects of wildfire smoke when updating its Air Quality Management Plan.
“Metro Vancouver’s overall air quality program will likely need to adapt in response to the regional air quality impacts of wildfires outside the region, especially if the changing climate results in increased frequency and severity of wildfires in the future,” the report stated.
jensaltman@postmedia.com
twitter.com/jensaltmanSource: Associated Press
THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT announced today it was planning a limited ban on “face-covering clothing,” widely interpreted as a new attempt to outlaw burqas, the head-to-toe robe worn by some Muslim women.
It’s understood that only a few hundred women in the Netherlands wear the garment, out of a population of 17 million.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his coalition has drawn up a proposal to ban face-covering clothing on public transport and in schools, government buildings and medical institutions.
The proposal will be sent for assessment to the Council of State, a panel of legal experts.
The panel was heavily critical in 2012 of an attempt by the government to ban burqas, saying it breached religious freedom provisions in the Dutch constitution.
Rutte insisted the latest move is not targeting any particular religious group and will not go as far as the earlier attempt at a general ban on burqas.
It has nothing to do with religion or what people do in their own homes.
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said people “can still walk along the street in a burqa,” but they would have to remove it to get onto a bus.
In 2011, France became the first country in Europe outlaw face-covering veils in public.
The Dutch Muslim women’s organization Al Nisa said in a statement that the proposal is not tackling a serious problem in society, but rather reacting to fears.
Fear that threatens to manifest itself against anything that we find different or strange.
Contains reporting by the Associated Press.A leading Saudi newsmagazine closely tied to the Saudi royal family unprecedentedly published a major article by a prominent Israeli journalist that details Iran’s responsibility for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center offices in the Argentinian capital.
The article, “Holding Iran Responsible,” which cites “overwhelming evidence” of Iran’s role in the two devastating terrorist attacks in which more than 100 people were killed, was published in the November-December edition of Majalla magazine.
Majalla, which is published in London, is owned by a publishing house which is chaired by a Saudi prince, Badr bin Abdullah Al-Saud, and was formerly chaired by a son of Saudi King Salman, Prince Turki bin Salman Al Saud.
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The piece was written by Israeli author Ronen Bergman, although Majalla does not explicitly state this. The article is, however, datelined “Buenos Aires – Tel Aviv.”
Bergman told The Times of Israel that the magazine, which has widely covered Israeli issues, had never previously commissioned a piece from an Israeli journalist.
The article opens with anguished testimony from an Israel diplomat, Danny Carmon, whose wife Eliora, the mother of their five children, was killed in the 1992 Embassy bombing.
It focuses heavily on the evidence accumulated by Argentinian investigator Alberto Nisman proving Iran’s direct responsibility for the two bombings — the 1994 AMIA bombing was commissioned by top Iranian leaders in a meeting they held in Mashad in 1993 — and Nisman’s allegations that the previous Argentinian government of president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner attempted to cover up Iran’s role. So definitive and persuasive were Nisman’s conclusions that Interpol placed the key Iranian conspirators, along with the former Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, on its international watch list, requiring member countries to assist in their arrests and extradition. Among those on the Interpol “red notice” list are Iran’s former defense minister Ahmad Vahidi and failed presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai.
Nisman was found dead in January 2015 in a pool of blood, with a gunshot wound to his head, in his home in Buenos Aires hours before he was set to detail his allegations against Kirchner to an Argentinian congressional panel.
The Arabic version of the article includes a photograph of Nisman and Bergman at the latter’s home in Israel.
Saudi-Israeli relations have been gradually warming in recent years, in large part because of shared concerns over the Iranian regime and especially its nuclear program.
A Saudi general visited Jerusalem and met with Knesset members last summer, and there have been various meetings between Saudi and Israeli officials in Washington, DC, and elsewhere.
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations.When Apple announced Protocol extensions at this year’s WWDC and went on to explain the idea of Protocol Oriented Programming (video here), I think every iOS developer got really exited. Especially with Protocol extensions it seems that everything we will ever build can and will be protocol based instead of inheritance based like we do now with OOP. However, these extensions won’t be available until Swift 2.0 is released so we can’t use all of this new Protocol goodness yet. Or at least not all of it. This post is intended to get you up to speed with Protocols as they are in Swift 1.2 so you’ll be somewhat prepared once you can safely use Swift 2.0.
Taking advantage of Protocols today
To take advantage of the awesomeness of Protocols we could think of a Protocol as a mixin more than an interface. I’ve seen people compare Protocols to interfaces in, for instance, Java. While they are similar they will become quite different once we get to use protocol extensions.
If we can provide default implementations for our Protocol methods we should look at Protocol as little mixins of functionality that can be used to enhance existing types. Mixins are not exactly new in programming and if you look at functional programming mixins are considered pretty important. The cool thing about a mixin (or Protocol) driven approach is that it avoids complex, confusing and inflexible class hierarchies. Instead you can provide multiple Protocols, or mixins, to compile an object with. By doing this, the object will be very explicit about what it can and can’t do and the object type itself won’t matter throughout your code. What does matter throughout your code is the fact that an object contains certain functionality. And to make sure that an object has certain functionality it conforms to a protocol you wrote. Since this could be pretty confusing if you don’t use Protocol oriented programming yet, or if you’ve never heard of mixin based programming (or even Python’s multiple inheritance model), we should probably look at an example now.
An example
So let’s imagine that we’re mapping out some part of the animal kingdom, let’s start with an Animal class. This class will only contain the name of the animal and it’s size:
class Animal { var name: String? var size: AnimalSize? } 1 2 3 4 class Animal { var name : String? var size : AnimalSize? }
A subclass of animal will be Bird. A Bird will have an amount of legs and it will have a number of wings:
class Bird: Animal { var legs = 2 var wings = 2 } 1 2 3 4 class Bird : Animal { var legs = 2 var wings = 2 }
Now we’ll also create a Reptile class which will have a favoriteTemperature property so we know when the Reptile will be nice and comfortable.
class Reptile: Animal { var favoriteTemperature = 37.0 } 1 2 3 class Reptile : Animal { var favoriteTemperature = 37. 0 }
A subclass of Reptile is a Crocodile, technically this is probably very incorrect, but that’s okay, in our imaginary animal kingdom anything goes. The Crocodile will get a number of legs property, just like the bird. It won’t get the wings though, flying crocodiles would be too scary for me.
class Crocodile: Reptile { var legs = 4 } 1 2 3 class Crocodile : Reptile { var legs = 4 }
As you might have noticed both Bird and Crocodile have a legs property. But if we were to create an application where somebody could pass any Animal they’d like and we’d try to make it walk we could do a check similar to this:
func walk(animal: Animal) { if let a = animal as? Bird { println("walking an animal with \(a.legs) legs") } else if let a = animal as? Crocodile { println("walking an animal with \(a.legs) legs") } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 func walk ( animal : Animal ) { if let a = animal as? Bird { println ( "walking an animal with \ ( a. legs ) legs" ) } else if let a = animal as? Crocodile { println ( "walking an animal with \ ( a. legs ) legs" ) } }
But this approach is prone to error because if we add a new animal with legs we will need to add a new section to our if statement to make sure that we allow that legged animal to walk. Not very developer friendly and basically a bug waiting to happen. We can do better than this by using protocols. Let’s refactor the Bird and Crocodile to implement a LeggedAnimal protocol:
protocol LeggedAnimal { var legs: Int { get set } } class BetterBird: Animal, LeggedAnimal { var legs = 2 var wings = 2 } class BetterCrocodile: Reptile, LeggedAnimal { var legs = 4 } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 protocol LeggedAnimal { var legs : Int { get set } } class BetterBird : Animal, LeggedAnimal { var legs = 2 var wings = 2 } class BetterCrocodile : Reptile, LeggedAnimal { var legs = 4 }
All I did was define a protocol that forces implementers of that protocol to add a legs property to their object that can be get and set. That’s exactly what Bird and Crocodile already did so all we need to do is tell the outside world that we have implemented the LeggedAnimal protocol. Now we can also refactor the walk function:
func betterWalk(animal: LeggedAnimal) { println("walking an animal with \(animal.legs) legs") } 1 2 3 func betterWalk ( animal : LeggedAnimal ) { println ( "walking an animal with \ ( animal. legs ) legs" ) }
Now that we have a protocol we can just make sure that anything we pass to the function is an implementer of the protocol we just wrote. Much cleaner and a lot less error prone. If we add new animals we just need to make sure that we make them comply with the LeggedAnimal protocol if we want them to be able to walk.
Wrapping up
In my own programs I only started making more use of protocols recently. I usually use them to make completely unrelated things relate to each other just like we did with the LeggedAnimal example. It’s a small protocols like this that allow for very flexible modeling and less worrying about subclasses and superclasses. Less inheritance usually means less unused code in classes and that’s a good thing.
The only downside at this moment is that you still have to provide an implementation of the required properties and methods. In swift 2.0 this will change because then you will be able to provide a default implementation via protocol extensions. These extensions will allow for even more flexible, DRY and powerful code. I’m looking forward to using those in my projects soon.
You can get the example code from this blogpost from my GitHub.CLOSE Two additional plaintiffs are joining a lawsuit alleging "hostile racial discrimination" at Fox News. Nathan Rousseau Smith (@fantasticmrnate) has the story. Buzz60
Pedestrians walk by the Fox television studios, where a poster of Bill O'Reilly has been removed, April 20, 2017, in New York. Fox dismissed O'Reilly the previous day. (Photo11: Richard Drew, AP)
A racial discrimination suit against Fox News Network expanded Monday as the network shuffled executive ranks to get beyond a damaging sexual harassment crisis.
Two additional plaintiffs are joining a suit initially filed six weeks ago in the Bronx Supreme Court in New York against multiple parties, including the network, parent company 21st Century Fox, Fox News and Fox Business Executive Vice President Dianne Brandi, and Judith Slater, a former senior vice president and company controller.
The suit, which now includes 13 former and current Fox employees, alleges the network engaged in "systemic discrimination based on race, ethnicity and national origin." The newest plaintiffs, Elizabeth Fernandez and Claudine McLeod, both worked in the accounts payable department, which Fernandez departed in 2014 and where McLeod continues to work.
The suit expands as Fox News looks to rebound from an advertiser boycott that led to Fox's April 19 dismissal of its star host Bill O'Reilly after reports of harassment allegations made against him. Last week network co-head Bill Shine, who had been mentioned in several lawsuits filed against Fox News for allowing a workplace culture in which sexual harassment and racial discrimination could develop, resigned.
On Monday, 21st Century Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch announced that Marianne Gambelli would become Fox News’ president of advertising sales. Previously the chief investment officer at Horizon Media, Gambelli spent 22 years at NBC, most recently as NBCUniversal's president of sales and marketing.
The appointment follows a shake-up in upper management. At the time of Shine's departure, Murdoch promoted Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace, who both joined Fox News in 1996, as division heads -- Scott of programming, Wallace of news. Jack Abernethy remains network co-president. He was named as co-president with Shine in August 2016, a month after Roger Ailes stepped down as CEO in the wake of accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Last week, Amy Listerman became chief financial officer, a post she had held at Scripps Networks Interactive.
Fox says O'Reilly's on-air replacement Tucker Carlson has managed to eliminate the crisis in the 8 p.m. ET hour. All of the commercial breaks have been restored for Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox says, and all advertisers that left the hour have returned.
The racial discrimination suit, however, has continued to expand.
Two weeks ago, two-time Emmy Award winning and former co-host of Fox and Friends Kelly Wright joined the suit. Wright, who has been at Fox for 15 years, said in the suit, "because he is Black... has been effectively sidelined and asked to perform the role of a 'Jim Crow' – the racist caricature of a Black entertainer."
Fernandez and McLeod allege they were "subjected to numerous discriminatory comments and conduct by (the former controller) Slater." Fernandez, who is Hispanic, said in the suit that when she was pregnant with her first son, Slater, during a meeting, asked "if she knew the sex of the baby and if she planned on having more kids because 'Latinas like having a ton of kids'."
McLeod, who is Panamanian and black, charges Slater with telling her “You people are high maintenance” in regards to health insurance costs and drive "up everyone's... premiums."
Fox fired Slater on Feb. 28. “Fox News terminated Judy Slater before a single lawsuit or any amended complaint was filed,” the network said in a statement Monday.
Slater's attorney, Catherine Foti, said in a statement: “These are simply more baseless allegations.”
Read more:
Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2pp07WNIt’s not too often you hear about Ferrari 599 Accidents on Georgetown Pike, but that’s exactly what happened on Georgetown Pike in McLean, Virginia in the early morning hours (around 8:00AM) on Saturday, April 15th, 2016. The maroon Ferrari 599 was apparently driving in a way that allowed it to clip another vehicle and rear end an 18 wheeler hauling a large excavator. Some reported that speed was a factor, but as of right now, that’s only speculation. The pictures are quite amazing and rumor has it that the driver (the Ferrari owner’s father) and the passenger (the vehicle’s owner) made it out with minor scratches – a vast improvement from the initially reports that neither made it out alive.
Pictures of the Ferrari 599 Accident Georgetown Pike
Caught on camera by FindCarMeets Facebook Fan Rudy Salgado who said “It had just happened when I got there. He lost control at high speeds and slammed into the back of an 18 wheeler.” Georgetown Pike was closed for hours following the accident with motorists being instructed to make U-turns and find alternate routes to Great Falls. Interesting to note that the airbags weren’t deployed in this accident… but these pictures are nothing short of amazing.
The vehicle was later seen being towed down 495.
As of April 18th, it seems like the vehicle’s occupants are being reported as safe and sound with amazingly only minor injuries.
And if you wanna grab your popcorn and see the endless back and forth that took place on our Facebook page, here ya go…
Update: Larry Bowles found the police report on the Fairfax County Police Department reports website.
“RECKLESS DRIVING: Georgetown Pike/Towlston Road, 04/16/16, around 8:15 a.m. Police responded to a four-vehicle crash and charged one driver with reckless driving. An investigation determined a 65-year-old man was driving a 2007 Ferrari westbound on Georgetown Pike near Towlston Road. The driver crested a hill and discovered traffic stopped ahead for a vehicle waiting to make a left turn onto Towlston Road. The driver, attempting to avoid a rear-end collision, crossed over the double yellow line and collided head-on with a 2005 Acura RSX, driven by a 57-year-old Leesburg-area man; the Acura left the roadway and came to rest against a utility pole. The Ferrari continued forward and struck a 2008 BMW sedan in the westbound lane, driven by a 28-year-old Alexandria-area man, then struck the rear of an International Harvester TT flatbed unit that was towing a large construction vehicle, also in the westbound lane, driven by a 42-year-old man, of Fairfield, Pa.
The passenger in the Ferrari, a 36-year-old man, and the driver and passenger of the Acura, a 57-year-old man and woman, were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No one else required medical attention. The driver of the Ferrari, Josef Tosovsky, 65, of Washington, D.C., was issued a summons for reckless driving.”Tinder’s “Rewind” functionality just went live, finally giving users the ability to go back in time and swipe right instead of left.
The “Rewind” feature is included in the premium tier of the service, Tinder Plus, which was unveiled today and costs anywhere between $9.99 and $19.99 in the United States, depending on the age of the user. That’s right. Tinder Plus costs $19.99 for users older than 30, while it costs just $9.99 for folks who are younger than 30.
However, in the TechCrunch office we’ve seen Tinder Plus offered at the price of $14.99/month for a 30+ female user. We’ve reached out to Tinder to get a clearer picture of the Tinder Plus pricing structure and will update as soon as we know more.
For now, however, we do know that pricing not only ranges based on age but by location. Users in emerging countries (Tinder is currently available in 140 countries across the globe) will pay as little as $2.99/month, while users older than 28 in developed markets like the UK will be paying approximately $23/month (and nearly 4x as much as their over 28-year-old counterparts).
Tinder has been testing pricing in various markets for the past few months, but even without the complete information, it’s easy to get an idea of the general landscape here. Older users, who theoretically have less supply and offer less demand, should pay a greater amount for extra dating tools. Plus, they likely make more money than younger users.
It’s Uber’s Surge pricing model applied to romantic endeavors.
Tinder Plus also includes Passport, which allows users to search for matches anywhere in the world through the drop of a pin, as opposed to being locked into your current location.
Tinder Plus also allows users to buy themselves out of advertisements, though Tinder has yet to launch any ad products just yet. Sources say that the ad product will launch later this month, but it’s unclear what exactly those ads will look like.
As for the features launching today, they make a lot of sense given the current user behavior on Tinder. Rewind, in particular, appeals to just about anyone who has swiped left when they meant to swipe right.
The company has seen over 6 billion matches in total, though it’s hard to say how many of those matches become anything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for Tinder. The point is that it has become an addiction, with people mindlessly flipping through potential suitors and swiping based on a gut reaction.
It’s only natural to accidentally swipe left when you meant to swipe right, and when the stakes can feel as high as potentially throwing away your next boyfriend or girlfriend, the question isn’t whether or not people will pay but simply how much.
Other features like Passport appeal to a more engaged user, one who has gotten good at making Tinder work for them and could use the added functionality while traveling. You know, to plan ahead.
If you want to check out Tinder Plus, you can see a CNN interview with CEO Sean Rad right here or visit the Tinder blog for more information.They're racy, but they're not lewd. They're artistic, but they're a little edgier than, say, Disney on Ice.
I don't believe they should be punished for creative expression because of a loosely worded bylaw. - Lydia Greenly, burlesque supporter
Right now, burlesque shows fall between the cracks of Hamilton's licensing bylaw, resulting in the city laying fines on two dancers last year. Now officials are looking at how to update the city bylaw to fix that.
Burlesque is an art form where dancers perform strip teases — but with an emphasis on the tease. Pasties or tassels to cover their nipples. They wear g-strings and use feathers and glitter.
At Ten Decades — the club where two dancers were fined last August — it had a New Orleans speakeasy-prohibition vibe.
Burlesque is theatrical and promotes positive body image, said Lydia Greenly, a Hamilton resident who encouraged the review at Tuesday's city council planning committee meeting.
A burlesque dancer named Kayla Kunkel was charged by city bylaw after performing a routine at Ten Decades club in Hess Village. (Ruth Gillson)
"Burlesque helped me through some dark times with self confidence and body image," said Greenly, who used to be a burlesque dancer. "I'm very grateful for the art form."
I don't view it as adult entertainment. I view it as theatre. - Matthew Green, city councillor
The dancers fighting the fines in court "are being persecuted," she said.
"I don't believe they should be punished for creative expression because of a loosely worded bylaw."
Right now, Hamilton's bylaw only references "adult entertainment." It prohibits "adult services appealing to or designed to appeal to erotic or sexual appetites or inclinations."
That includes entertainment advertised as "sexy," and services featuring "nudity or partial nudity." That led to the two women being ticketed last summer.
There's no doubt our bylaws are antiquated. - Ken Leendertse, director of licensing
Matthew Green, Ward 3 councillor, pushed for the review on Tuesday.
"I don't view it as adult entertainment," he said of burlesque. "I view it as theatre."
Ken Leendertse, the city's director of licensing, expects to report back this year. "We'll look at proper definitions and see what other municipalities have done."
It's always helpful to update a bylaw, he said.
"There's no doubt our bylaws are antiquated. They were written many, many years ago."
City council will vote on Jan. 25 whether to ratify the review.
samantha.craggs@cbc.ca | @SamCraggsCBCTHE husband of a mum who died as a lift chopped her in half moments after giving birth has spoken of his heartbreak.
Rocio Cortes Nunez, 26, was killed as she was being transported between floors in the Virgen de Valme Hospital in Seville, Spain, on Sunday. The mum-of-two, of Dos Hermanas near Seville, was being carried to the maternity unit on a stretcher shortly after a C-section – with her new baby daughter in her arms – when tragedy struck. The lift is understood to have started moving upwards before the stretcher was fully inside after a suspected mechanical failure with the automatic lift door. Now heartbroken husband, waiter Jose Gaspar, has spoken out as images emerge of his late wife.
FACEBOOK HORROR: Rocio Cortes Nunez was sliced in half by a lift at a hospital in Seville
“This cannot go unpunished” David Gaspar The husband-of-four-years told ABC: "This cannot end like this. "This time it has been Rocio but tomorrow it could be another person. I’m a total wreck." Rocio's mum, Carmen, added: "My heart missed a beat. I asked after my daughter but no-one was telling me anything. "She had given birth at 11 in the morning so I went to the information desk. "They told me there a young girl had died and then confirmed it was my daughter. What a cruel death she’s suffered."
GOOGLE SCENE: The Virgen de Valme Hospital Seville
Local reports say she was literally divided into two in the horrific accident, around 2.30pm. Police and firefighters rushed to the scene along with duty medics but could nothing to save her life. Firefighters took two hours to reach her mauled body after her head was trapped between the lift frame and roof as it started moving upwards and her feet left dangling in the lift shaft. Her devoted family said they would be calling for "heads to roll". Brother-in-law David Gaspar said: "It’s incredible. We still can’t believe what’s happened.
FACEBOOK HEARTBREAK: Rocio had just given birth to her daughter before her death
"Something has to happen. "This cannot go unpunished." Relatives said a hospital porter had gone to change lifts after the door opened and closed twice without anything happening. The started moving upwards before he was able to pull the stretcher with Rocio on it to safety. Regional health minister Marina Alvarez called the accident "quick, unusual and tragic" as she said the lift had undergone checks on August 12 and announced an immediate investigation.
Acid attacks: The HORRIFYING injuries caused by this vile, cowardly weapon The UK has seen a disturbing rise in the use of acid as a weapon. Traditionally used by men on women, this weapon is now being used by gangs in assaults and muggings. 1 / 14 SWNS.com Andreas Christopheros from Truro was sprayed with acid in a horrifying case of mistaken identityWe all know long haul travel stinks, but when we finally step off the plane and inhale those heady aromas of our destination, it somehow stinks a little less.
Fragrances, apparently, help create some of the best memories we take home from our vacations.
With this in mind, the UK's Heathrow Airport has installed a "Scent Globe" to try to cheer up departing passengers with a squirt of the exotic smells awaiting them at their destinations.
The globe, positioned in the newly opened Terminal 2, offers whiffs representing five nations -- Brazil, China, Japan, South Africa and Thailand.
"These specially created scents will give passengers traveling through Terminal 2 an exclusive preview of destinations that only Heathrow connects to [from the UK]," says Normand Boivin, the airport's chief operating officer.
So what do these countries smell like?
Design in Scent, the team behind Heathrow's globe rely on complex odor infusions to bring them to life in a nasal-compatible form.
'Mystical temple incense'
Heathrow's Scent Globe: "I love the smell of Nepal in the morning." Courtesy of Heathrow Airport
South Africa's fragrance "captures the adventure of safari with notes of tribal incense, wild grass and musky animalics through the scent of Hyraceum."
Brazil "embraces the scents of its rich rainforest fauna with a palette of coffee, tobacco and jasmine."
Japan "is brought to life through cool, oceanic tones with a mix of seaweed and shell extracts, green tea and Ambergris, capturing the essence of small coastal villages so synonymous with the great Pacific Island."
China's features "mystical temple incense and subtle Osmanthus Fragrans flower" while Thailand's uses "an appetizing mix of lemongrass, ginger and coconut."
Leaving aside the fact that the true scent of intercontinental travel is actually a warm blend of stranger's armpit infused with essence of brutally stewed airline food, pairing countries with odors is an entertaining idea.
Above are a few we came up with.Story highlights Imran Khan and his guards tumbled about 20 feet near a rally stage
Khan is one of two frontrunners for prime minister
Saturday's election will mark Pakistan's first democratic transition of power
The run-up to Pakistan's elections has been beset by violence, particularly by the Pakistani Taliban
Famed politician and Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan suffered spinal fractures and a head injury after a dramatic fall on the campaign trail, officials said.
Khan is one of two frontrunners for Pakistani prime minister. He was injured Tuesday, just four days before the country's historic election -- Pakistan's first democratic transition of power.
Khan and at least two guards were riding on a forklift up to a stage in Lahore, where Khan was to hold a rally |
of infrastructure spending or programs (such as the EITC) targeted at people who will spend, and not save, the money. That may seem like the wrong medicine for a federal government that is already running big deficits with much bigger ones to come. So this new spending (or a tax cut) needs to be coupled with policies that would slow the growth of entitlements and reduce tax subsidies going to the upper middle class over the longer run. Bowles-Simpson didn’t quite get there but they came awfully close. This combination of short-term stimulus with long-term restraint might just find enough support in the new Congress to make a new legislative effort feasible.
We need a fiscal injection in the form of infrastructure spending or programs (such as the EITC) targeted at people who will spend, and not save, the money.
Second, while full employment has to be an overriding objective, there’s some evidence that we suffer from a growing structural problem as well. For example, a large portion of working-age men have simply dropped out of the labor market. This trend began long before the recent recession. These men tend to be less educated and technology appears to be replacing the jobs they used to do. Manufacturing output is as high as ever but manufacturing employment has plummeted as the result of automation and to a lesser extent competition from China and other low-wage countries. Trade and especially technology can create many losers and we have done way too little to address this fact. Trade barriers, however, are not the solution; they would actually make matters worse.
Without help for those who are losing ground in the labor market, the social fabric will fray and our politics could go from bad to worse. The long-term solution is better education and training or retraining. But the transition period could be long and waiting for all those better educated workers to graduate from school won’t do. We are going to need a stronger safety net coupled with subsidized jobs in either the public or private sector.
Again, I think there is room for a political compromise here. Conservatives want to make some safety net programs more conditional on work. Liberals want the government to create new jobs. They should be able to find agreement around the idea of doing both. An individual who applies for benefits and who is considered employable should get a publically subsidized job if they can’t find one in the private sector. At the same time, no benefits should be paid to those who show no interest in work as evidenced by an unwillingness to take the subsidized job on offer. In addition, the federal disability program should be reformed in a way that makes it possible for someone with a temporary disability to get benefits but doesn’t allow them to stay on the rolls forever.
There are numerous issues related to the design of these kinds of initiatives and political minefields along the way. But without a laser-like focus on jobs, there is no hope at all that we can raise incomes for lower- and middle-class families.GETTY Dinamo Zagreb's Ante Coric
Coric is one of the hottest properties in Croatian football and already has two caps for his national team. And the 19-year-old was expected in Merseyside to put the finishing touches on a £15million move to Anfield ahead of the transfer window deadline.
Liverpool player ratings against Tottenham Hotspur Sat, August 27, 2016 Express Sport takes a look at which of Jurgen Klopp's players impressed the most in the Reds' Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur Play slideshow Liverpool FC via Getty Images 1 of 15 Express Sport brings you Liverpool's player ratings from their 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane
But the teenager has revealed he has decided to stay with Zagreb and play in the Champions League. "I am happy such big clubs want me, but I want to play with my favourite team in the Champions League," he said.Suppose the government of the United States gets its hands on Edward Snowden and brings him to trial. Have you wondered what happens then?
I’ve predicted that no jury of Snowden’s peers will convict him, regardless of how clear it is that he broke laws. I would be highly disappointed in my fellow citizens if they sided with the perpetrator (the government) over the victims (themselves) and decided to screw the whistleblower (Snowden) who is on their side. But let’s consider the alternative.
If Snowden gets convicted, many of the citizens of the United States will go all Egyptian and take to the streets. It was bad enough that the government was collecting all of our private communications. But convicting the guy who blew the whistle? That’s throwing a match on the gasoline. So I believe the government doesn’t want to see him convicted, or at least the top people don’t. It’s too risky to the system.
On the other hand, the government has an absolute legal obligation to pursue criminal charges against Snowden. Society doesn’t work if people think they can break laws whenever they have good reasons.
We also know there is big money involved in domestic surveillance. And while I’m late to the party on this, all evidence suggests that the government is controlled by corporate interests. So one presumes the government needs to punish the whistleblower to satisfy its corporate overlords and to keep the domestic surveillance cash cow mooing.
This puts the government in the awkward position of trying to avoid some sort of accidental competence that ends up convicting a martyr and sparking a popular uprising. They need to put Snowden on trial to satisfy their corporate sponsors. But they need to fail in getting a conviction to satisfy the public.
I think there is a 100% chance that some dark department of the government, along with its foreign proxies, is planning an “accident” for Snowden before he reaches the United States. Putin would probably do it in return for secret concessions. He might need some of his own spies freed, for example. In the end, I don’t think the U.S. government will authorize a hit on Snowden because it would be too obvious. But you know they discussed it. That much seems certain.
If I were President Obama, I would start seeding the media with the idea of a trial and conviction followed by a presidential pardon. You’d want to float that idea and see what the public thought of it. A conviction and a pardon are as close as you can get to a “tie” in this situation, and that would be the best case scenario for the public. We want to know that lawbreakers are dealt with, but we also appreciate justice.
If Snowden gets a lot of attention during a trial, and somehow gains his freedom at the end, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him run for President in a few years. This is the sort of situation that gives a person instant legitimacy. If Snowden ran on a platform of exposing corporate control over the government and preserving individual privacy he’d be a credible player on day one.
Things will get interesting when Snowden reaches our shores, and I’m fairly sure that will happen.Braid Inspiration
I remember begging my mother to braid my hair as a child, loving the mother-daughter bonding time and the fact that I could tell my friends at school I had the coolest mom ever; my uniquely braided hair being proof.
I haven’t since ventured into braided territory, until recently, when braided hairstyles became the new rage. New soft, romantic braided wedding hairstyles for long hair have become very popular, especially for weddings and even formal events. They’ve transformed into something a little more sexy and grown-up. Check out some of these styles!
Braid Inspired Updos
Braided Bun
Elegant Braided Updo
Half Up Braided Hairstyle
Waterfall Braids
Messy Chic Braided Hairstyle
Easy DIY Braided Updo
One Sided Partial Braid
How To Do A Fish Tail Braid Tutorial By Lauren Conrad:A team of researchers from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology has developed a bio photo electro chemical (BPEC) cell that produces hydrogen and electricity from water using sunlight. They used a simple membrane extract from spinach leaves to achieve this feat. The device produces oxygen, hydrogen and electric current using only water as a raw material.
The device, using a unique combination of plant membranes and a man made BPEC cell, paves the way for the development of new technologies for the manufacture of clean fuels from renewable sources: solar energy and water. It is highly efficient in absorbing sunlight and converting it into a flow of electrons.
In plants, photosynthesis occurs naturally and the process uses light to drive electrons. The electrons produce storable chemical energetic molecules, which are the fuels of all cells in the plant and animal worlds. The researchers based the development of their BPEC cell on this process. To use photosynthesis for producing electric current, the researchers added an iron based composite to the solution. This composite facilitates the transfer of electrons from the biological membranes to the electrical circuit. This enables the formation of an electric current in the cell.
When the current produced by a small photovoltaic cell that absorbs the excess light is added to the cells’ current, the combined output can be controlled to form hydrogen gas. This enables the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy, which is then stored as hydrogen gas formed inside the BPEC cell. When required, the energy can be converted into heat and electricity in the same way hydrocarbon fuels are used – by burning the hydrogen.
The product of this hydrogen combustion is however clean water, unlike the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels which release greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere and pollute the environment.
This is a closed cycle and could be a clean and sustainable substitute for hydrocarbon fuel. It begins and ends with water, allowing the conversion and storage of solar energy in hydrogen gas in the process.
Prof. Rothschild of the Faculty of Material Science and Engineering notes that the study is unique in that combines leading experts from three disciplines – materials engineering, biology and chemistry. Complex engineering challenges were faced to get artificial (photovoltaic cell and electronic components) and natural (leaves) components to communicate with each other, necessitating this cooperation.
The full study can be found in the journal Nature Communications.Daytona Championship USA 8-player Spotted In Florida arcadehero
The release of Daytona Championship USA is right around the corner although we haven’t heard much since an 8-unit appearance of the game at Amusement Expo in Dallas last month. The game was stated as being close to completion at the time but there was still fine tuning and other work to be done with location testing. Location tests are rarely announced and promoted in the West (unlike Japan) so this news should be of interest to Daytona fans in Florida.
8-player Daytona Championship USA Spotted At Dave & Busters in Hollywood, FL
That’s right, if you want to check out Sega’s revival of the Daytona USA series for yourself, then head over to the Dave & Busters location in Hollywood, FL. There is currently an 8-player setup there, presumably running the latest software and presumably on test since there has been no announcement for shipping yet. Of course, sometimes Dave & Busters does get their hands on things before anyone else so that could be the case here as well. If it is on test then I imagine that it depend
Many thanks to James for sending these our way. Click on them to enbiggerate them (I know, that’s not a real word 🙂 )
If you get a chance to try this out, let us know what you think below! Until then, click here for another recent Daytona CUSA video.
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Like this: Like Loading…India–Japan relations have traditionally been strong. The people of India and Japan have engaged in cultural exchanges, primarily as a result of Buddhism, which spread indirectly from India to Japan, via China and Korea. The people of India and Japan are guided by common cultural traditions including the heritage of Buddhism and share a strong commitment to the ideals of democracy, tolerance, pluralism and open societies. India and Japan, two of the largest and oldest democracies in Asia, having a high degree of congruence of political, economic and strategic interests, view each other as partners that have responsibility for, and are capable of, responding to global and regional challenges. India is the largest recipient of Japanese official development assistance (ODA).[1] As of 2013, bilateral trade between India and Japan stood at US $16.31 billion and is expected to reach US $50 billion by fiscal year 2019-20.
The British occupiers of India and Japan were enemies during World War II, but political relations between the two nations have remained warm since India's independence. Japanese companies, such as Yamaha, Sony, Toyota, and Honda have manufacturing facilities in India, and with the growth of the Indian economy, India is a big market for Japanese firms. Japanese firms in fact, were some of the first firms to invest in India. The most prominent Japanese company to have an investment in India is automobiles multinational Suzuki, which is in partnership with Indian automobiles company Maruti Suzuki, the largest car manufacturer in the Indian market, and a subsidiary of the Japanese company.
In December 2006, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan culminated in the signing of the "Joint Statement Towards Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership". Japan has helped finance many infrastructure projects in India, most notably the Delhi Metro system. Indian applicants were welcomed in 2006 to the JET Programme, starting with just one slot available in 2006 and 41 in 2007. Also, in the year 2007, the Japanese Self-Defence Forces and the Indian Navy took part in a joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean, known as Malabar 2007, which also involved the naval forces of Australia, Singapore and the United States. The year 2007 was declared "India-Japan Friendship Year."[1]
According to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, 42% of Japanese people think India's international impact is mainly positive, with 4% considering it negative.[2]
The friendship between Japan and India is often referred as "Japanese-Indian Brotherhood" (Japanese: 日本のインド同胞団 (Nihon no Indo dōhō-dan) ; Hindi: जापानी भारतीय भाईचारा (Jāpānī Bhāratīya Bhāīchārā)).[3][not in citation given]
Historical relations [ edit ]
In my opinion, if all our rich and educated men once go and see Japan, their eyes will be opened. Swami Vivekananda, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Conversations and Dialogues/VI - X Shri Priya Nath Sinha
Though Hinduism is a little-practiced religion in Japan, it has still had a significant, but indirect role in the formation of Japanese culture. This is mostly because many Buddhist beliefs and traditions (which share a common Dharmic root with Hinduism) spread to Japan from China via Korean peninsula in the 6th Century. One indication of this is the Japanese "Seven Gods of Fortune", of which four originated as Hindu deities: Benzaitensama (Sarasvati), Bishamon (Vaiśravaṇa or Kubera), Daikokuten (Mahākāla/Shiva), and Kichijōten (Lakshmi). Along with Benzaitennyo/Sarasvati and Kisshoutennyo/Laxmi and completing the nipponization of the three Hindu Tridevi goddesses, the Hindu goddess Mahakali is nipponized as the Japanese goddess Daikokutennyo (大黒天女), though she is only counted among Japan's Seven Luck Deities when she is regarded as the feminine manifestation of her male counterpart Daikokuten (大黒天).[4] Benzaiten arrived in Japan during the 6th through 8th centuries, mainly via the Chinese translations of the Sutra of Golden Light (金光明経), which has a section devoted to her. She is also mentioned in the Lotus Sutra. In Japan, the lokapālas take the Buddhist form of the Four Heavenly Kings (四天王). The Sutra of Golden Light became one of the most important sutras in Japan because of its fundamental message, which teaches that the Four Heavenly Kings protect the ruler who governs his country in the proper manner. The Hindu god of death, Yama, is known in his Buddhist form as Enma. Garuda, the mount (vahana) of Vishnu, is known as the Karura (迦楼羅), an enormous, fire-breathing creature in Japan. It has the body of a human and the face or beak of an eagle. Tennin originated from the apsaras. The Hindu Ganesha (see Kangiten) is displayed more than Buddha in a temple in Futako Tamagawa, Tokyo. Other examples of Hindu influence on Japan include the belief of "six schools" or "six doctrines" as well as use of Yoga and pagodas. Many of the facets of Hindu culture which have influenced Japan have also influenced Chinese culture.People have written books on the worship of Hindu gods in Japan.[5] Even today, it is claimed Japan encourages a deeper study of Hindu gods.[6]
Buddhism [ edit ]
Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since its official introduction in 552 CE according to the Nihon Shoki[7] from Baekje, Korea by Buddhist monks.[8][9] Although some Chinese sources place the first spreading of the religion earlier during the Kofun period (250 to 538).[citation needed] Buddhism has had a major influence on the development of Japanese society and remains an influential aspect of the culture to this day.[10]
Subhas Chandra Bose addressing a rally in Tokyo, 1945.
Cultural exchanges between India and Japan began early in the 6th century with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan from India. The Indian monk Bodhisena arrived in Japan in 736 to spread Buddhism and performed eye-opening of the Great Buddha built in Tōdai-ji,[1] and would remain in Japan until his death in 760. Buddhism and the intrinsically linked Indian culture had a great impact on Japanese culture, still felt today, and resulted in a natural sense of amiability between the two nations.[11]
As a result of the link of Buddhism between India and Japan, monks and scholars often embarked on voyages between the two nations.[12] Ancient records from the now-destroyed library at Nalanda University in India describe scholars and pupils who attended the school from Japan.[13] One of the most famous Japanese travellers to the Indian subcontinent was Tenjiku Tokubei (1612–1692), named after Tenjiku ("Heavenly Abode"), the Japanese name for India.
The cultural exchanges between the two countries created many parallels in their folklore. Modern popular culture based upon this folklore, such as works of fantasy fiction in manga and anime, sometimes bear references to common deities (deva), demons (asura) and philosophical concepts. The Indian goddess Saraswati for example, is known as Benzaiten in Japan. Brahma, known as 'Bonten', and Yama, known as 'Enma', are also part of the traditional Japanese Buddhist pantheon. In addition to the common Buddhist influence on the two societies, Shintoism, being an animist religion, is similar to the animist strands of Hinduism, in contrast to the religions present in the rest of the world, which are monotheistic. Sanskrit, a classical language used in Buddhism and Hinduism, is still used by some ancient Chinese priests who immigrated to Japan, and the Siddhaṃ script is still written to this day, despite having passed out of usage in India. It is also thought that the distinctive torii gateways at temples in Japan, may be related to the torana gateways used in Indian temples.
In the 16th century, Japan established political contact with Portuguese colonies in India. The Japanese initially assumed that the Portuguese were from India and that Christianity was a new "Indian faith". These mistaken assumptions were due to the Indian city of Goa being a central base for the Portuguese East India Company and also due to a significant portion of the crew on Portuguese ships being Indian Christians.[14] Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, Indian lascar seamen frequently visited Japan as crew members aboard Portuguese ships, and later aboard British ships in the 18th and 19th centuries.[15]
During the anti-Christian persecutions in 1596, many Japanese Christians fled to the Portuguese colony of Goa in India. By the early 17th century, there was a community of Japanese traders in Goa in addition to Japanese slaves brought by Portuguese ships from Japan.[16]
Relations between the two nations have continued since then, but direct political exchange began only in the Meiji era (1868–1912), when Japan embarked on the process of modernisation.[17] Japan-India Association was founded in 1903.[18] Further cultural exchange occurred during the mid-late 20th century through Asian cinema, with Indian cinema and Japanese cinema both experiencing a "golden age" during the 1950s and 1960s. Indian films by Satyajit Ray, Guru Dutt were influential in Japan, while Japanese films by Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu and Takashi Shimizu have likewise been influential in India.
Indian Independence Movement [ edit ]
Japan’s emergence as a power in the early 20th century was positively viewed in India and symbolised what was seen as the beginning of an Asian resurgence. In India, there was great admiration for Japan’s post-war economic reconstruction and subsequent rapid growth.[19] Sureshchandra Bandopadhyay, Manmatha Nath Ghosh and Hariprova Takeda were among the earliest Indians who visited Japan and had written on their experiences there.[20] Correspondences between distinguished individuals from both nations had a noticeable increase at the time; historical documents show a friendship between Japanese thinker Okakura Tenshin and Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore, Okakura Tenshin and Bengali poet Priyamvada Banerjee.[21] As part of the British Empire, many Indians resented the British rule. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was ended on 17 August 1923. As a result, during the two World Wars, the INA adopted the "an enemy of our enemy is our friend" attitude, legacy that is still controversial today given the war crimes committed by Imperial Japan and its allies.
Many Indian independence movement activists escaped from British rule and stayed in Japan. The leader of the Indian Independence Movement, Rash Behari Bose created India–Japan relations. Future prime minister Tsuyoshi Inukai, pan-Asianist Mitsuru Tōyama and other Japanese supported the Indian Independence movement. A. M. Nair, a student from India, became an Independence Movement activist. Nair supported Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose during the war and Justice Radha Binod Pal after the war.
In 1899 Tokyo Imperial University set up a chair in Sanskrit and Pali, with a further chair in Comparative religion being set up in 1903. In this environment, a number of Indian students came to Japan in the early twentieth century, founding the Oriental Youngmen's Association in 1900. Their anti-British political activity caused consternation to the Indian Government, following a report in the London Spectator.
During World War II [ edit ]
Since India was under British rule when World War II broke out, it was deemed to have entered the war on the side of the Allies. Over 2 million Indians participated in the war; many served in combat against the Japanese who conquered Burma and reached the Indian border. Some 67,000 Indian soldiers were captured by the Japanese when Singapore surrendered in 1942, many of whom later became part of the Indian National Army (INA). In 1944-45, the combined British and Indian forces defeated the Japanese in a series of battles in Burma and the INA disintegrated.[22]
Indian National Army [ edit ]
Subhas Chandra Bose, who led the Azad Hind, a nationalist movement which aimed to end the British raj through military means, used Japanese sponsorship to form the Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army (INA). The INA was composed mainly of former prisoners of war from the British Indian Army who had been captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore. They joined primarily because of the very harsh, often fatal conditions in POW camps. The INA also recruited volunteers from Indian expatriates in Southeast Asia. Bose was eager for the INA to participate in any invasion of India, and persuaded several Japanese that a victory such as Mutaguchi anticipated would lead to the collapse of British rule in India. The idea that their western boundary would be controlled by a more friendly government was attractive. Japan never expected India to be part of its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.[23]
The Japanese Government built, supported and controlled the Indian National Army and the Indian Independence League.. Japanese forces included INA units in many battles, most notably at the U Go Offensive at Manipur. The offensive culminated in Battles of Imphal and Kohima where the Japanese forces were pushed back and the INA lost cohesion.
Modern relations [ edit ]
Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe during a tea ceremony at Akasaka Palace in 2014
The Emperor of Japan, His Majesty Akihito with the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, in Tokyo, Japan in 2014.
At the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Indian Justice Radhabinod Pal became famous for his dissenting judgement in favour of Japan. The judgement of Justice Radhabinod Pal is remembered even today in Japan.[1] This became a symbol of the close ties between India and Japan.
A relatively well-known result of the two nations' was in 1949, when India sent the Tokyo Zoo two elephants to cheer the spirits of the defeated Japanese empire.[24][25]
India refused to attend the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951 due to its concerns over limitations imposed upon Japanese sovereignty and national independence.[19][26] After the restoration of Japan's sovereignty, Japan and India signed a peace treaty, establishing official diplomatic relations on 28 April 1952, in which India waived all reparation claims against Japan.[19] This treaty was one of the first treaties Japan signed after World War II.[11] Diplomatic, trade, economic, and technical relations between India and Japan were well established. India's iron ore helped Japan's recovery from World War II devastation, and following Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi's visit to India in 1957, Japan started providing yen loans to India in 1958, as the first yen loan aid extended by Japanese government.[11] Relations between the two nations were constrained, however, by Cold War politics. Japan, as a result of World War II reconstruction, was a U.S. ally, whereas India pursued a non-aligned foreign policy, often leaning towards the Soviet Union. Since the 1980s, however, efforts were made to strengthen bilateral ties. India’s ‘Look East’ policy posited Japan as a key partner.[19] Since 1986, Japan has become India's largest aid donor, and remains so.[11]
Relations between the two nations reached a brief low in 1998 as a result of Pokhran-II, an Indian nuclear weapons test that year. Japan imposed sanctions on India following the test, which included the suspension of all political exchanges and the cutting off of economic assistance. These sanctions were lifted three years later. Relations improved exponentially following this period, as bilateral ties between the two nations improved once again,[27] to the point where the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe was to be the chief guest at India's 2014 Republic Day parade.[28]
In 2014, the Indian PM Narendra Modi visited Japan. During his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi had maintained good ties with the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. His 2014 visit further strengthened the ties between the two countries, and resulted in several key agreements, including the establishment of a "Special Strategic Global Partnership".[29][30]
Modi visited Japan for the second time as Prime Minister in November 2016. During the meeting, India and Japan signed the "Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy", a landmark civil nuclear agreement, under which Japan will supply nuclear reactors, fuel and technology to India. India is not a signatory to the non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and is the only non-signatory to receive an exemption from Japan.[31] The two sides also signed agreements on manufacturing skill development in India, cooperation in space, earth sciences, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, transport and urban development.[32]
Economic [ edit ]
In August 2000, the Japanese Prime Minister visited India. At this meeting, Japan and India agreed to establish "Japan-India Global Partnership in the 21st Century." Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee visited Japan in December, 2001, where both Prime Ministers issued "Japan-India Joint Declaration." In April, 2005, Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi visited India and signed Joint Statement "Japan-India Partnership in the New Asian Era: Strategic Orientation of Japan-India Global Partnership."
Japan is currently India’s fourth largest source of foreign direct investment.
In October 2008, Japan signed an agreement with India under which it would provide the latter a low-interest loan worth US$4.5 billion to construct a railway project between Delhi and Mumbai. This is the single largest overseas project being financed by Japan and reflected growing economic partnership between the two nations. India is also one of the only three countries in the world with whom Japan has security pact.As of March 2006, Japan was the third largest investor in India.
Kenichi Yoshida, a director of Softbridge Solutions Japan, stated in late 2009 that Indian engineers were becoming the backbone of Japan's IT industry and that "it is important for Japanese industry to work together with India". Under the memorandum, any Japanese coming to India for business or work will be straightway granted a three-year visa and similar procedures will be followed by Japan. Other highlights of this visit includes abolition of customs duties on 94 per cent of trade between the two nations over the next decade. As per the Agreement, tariffs will be removed on almost 90 per cent of Japan's exports to India and 97 per cent of India's exports to Japan Trade between the two nations has also steadily been growing.
India and Japan signed an agreement in December 2015 to build a bullet train line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad using Japan's Shinkansen technology.[33] The agreement between India and Japan and the Indian Bullet Train that will be built will cost Japan £12bn and a 0.1% interest rate loan. With the help from Japan, both countries hope this will strengthen their economic ties and suspend China's influence in Asia.[34]
Military [ edit ]
India and Japan also have close military ties. They have shared interests in maintaining the security of sea-lanes in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean, and in co-operation for fighting international crime, terrorism, piracy and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.[35] The two nations have frequently held joint military exercises and co-operate on technology.[19] India and Japan concluded a security pact on 22 October 2008.[36][37]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seen by some to be an "Indophile" and, with rising tensions in territorial disputes with Japan's neighbors, has advocated closer security cooperation with India.[38][39][40]
In July 2014, the Indian Navy participated in Exercise Malabar with the Japanese and US navies, reflecting shared perspectives on Indo-Pacific maritime security. India is also negotiating to purchase US-2 amphibious aircraft for the Indian Navy.[41]
Cultural [ edit ]
Indian PM Narendra Modi in a music class at the Taimei Elementary School, Tokyo
Japan and India have strong cultural ties, based mainly on Japanese Buddhism, which remains widely practiced through Japan Today. The two nations announced 2007, the 50th anniversary year of Indo-Japan Cultural Agreement, as the Indo-Japan Friendship and Tourism-Promotion Year, holding cultural events in both the countries.[42][43] One such cultural event is the annual Namaste India Festival, which started in Japan over twenty years ago and is now the largest festival of its kind in the world.[44][45] At the 2016 festival, representatives from Onagawa Town performed as a sign of appreciation for the support the town received from the Indian Government during the Great East Japan Earthquake.[46] Onagawa is the town where the Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was dispatched as its very first overseas mission and conducted search and rescue operations for missing persons.[46]
Osamu Tezuka wrote biographical manga Buddha from 1972 to 1983. Recently, Japan has also supported the reconstruction of Nalanda University, an ancient Buddhist centre of learning and has agreed to provide financial assistance, and recently approached the Indian government with a proposal.[47]
Tamil movies are very popular in Japan and Rajnikanth is the most popular Indian star in the country.[48] Bollywood has become more popular among the Japanese people in recent decades,[49][50] and the Indian yogi and pacifist Dhalsim is one of the most popular characters in the Japanese video game series Street Fighter....
Starting from July 3, 2014 Japan issues multiple entry visas for the short term stay of Indian nationals.[51]
2016 nuclear deal [ edit ]
In November 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a three-day visit to Japan signed a deal with his counterpart Shinzo Abe on nuclear energy.[52] The deal took six years to negotiate, delayed in part by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. This is the first time that Japan signed such deal with a non-signatory of Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deal gives Japan the right to supply nuclear reactors, fuel and technology, to India. This deal aimed to help India build the six nuclear reactors planned in Delhi, to be completed by 2032.[53][54][55]
Development [ edit ]
In August 2017, the two countries announced the establishment of the Japan-India Coordination Forum (JICF) for Development of North-Eastern Region, described by India as "a coordination forum to identify priority development areas of cooperation for development" of northeast India. The forum will focus on strategic projects aimed at improving connectivity, roads, electric infrastructure, food processing, disaster management, and promoting organic farming and tourism in northeast India. A Japanese embassy spokesperson stated that the development of the northeast was a "priority" for India and its Act East Policy, and that Japan placed a "special emphasis on cooperation in North East for its geographical importance connecting India to South-East Asia and historical ties".[56] The forum held its first meeting on 3 August 2017.[57]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
An Indian freedom fighter in Japan: Memoirs of A.M. Nair (1982) Sole distributorship, Ashok Uma Publications ISBN 0-86131-339-9
(1982) Sole distributorship, Ashok Uma Publications ISBN 0-86131-339-9 Lokesh Chandra (2014). Cultural interflow between India and Japan. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture
Lokesh, C., & Sharada, R. (2002). Mudras in Japan. New Delhi: Vedams Books.
Kak, Subhash. "The Vedic gods of Japan." Brahmavidyā: The Adyar Library Bulletin 68 (2004): 285. [1]
Green, Michael. Japan, India, and the Strategic Triangle with China Strategic Asia 2011–12: Asia Responds to Its Rising Powers – China and India (2011)
(2011) Joshi, Sanjana. "The Geopolitical Context of Changing Japan-India Relations." UNISCI Discussion Papers 32 (2014): 117-136. online
32 (2014): 117-136. online Chaudhuri, S. K. (2011). Sanskrit in China and Japan. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan.
Naidu, G. V. C. "India and East Asia: The Look East Policy." Perceptions (2013)18#1 pp: 53-74. online
(2013)18#1 pp: 53-74. online Nakanishi, Hiroaki. "Japan-India civil nuclear energy cooperation: prospects and concerns." Journal of Risk Research (2014): 1-16. online
(2014): 1-16. online Nakamura, H., & Wiener, P. P. (1968). Ways of thinking of Eastern peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.
Thakur, Upendra. "India and Japan, a Study in Interaction During 5th Cent.-14th Cent. A.D." "Abhinav Publications"
De, B. W. T. (2011). The Buddhist tradition in India, China & Japan. New York: Vintage eBooks.
Van, G. R. H. (2001). Siddham: An essay on the history of Sanskrit studies in China and Japan. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan.CRITICS, MONSTERS, FANATICS, AND OTHER LITERARY ESSAYS, by Cynthia Ozick Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, pp. 224, $25
Informed by her exquisite temperament—Oscar Wilde believed that temperament was the key to any strong critic—Ozick’s essays steadfastly ask the crucial questions, not only How did a writer or book or idea come to be? but What is the literary mind? What is literature? She responds to literature in the only way that really matters: With a surging reciprocity, a consummate force and flooding of her selfhood. She advocates for no theory, no obfuscating unliterary agenda, and she has no time for those who do, the academics “destined to vanish like the fog they evoke.” Literature is pleasure—it is beauty and revelation and wisdom, or it is not literature. Criticism matters because “envisioning society whole by way of contemplation of its parts, the delicate along with the tumultuous, the weighty together with the trifling, is how a culture can learn to imagine its own face.”
At the start of Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, Ozick is clear: “Without the critics, incoherence.” Here she applies the full, uncovering pressures of her perception to Trilling and Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud and W. H. Auden, Kafka and Harold Bloom, William Gass and Martin Amis. Here, too, is an education in writers who might have slipped by without your notice: German theologian Leo Baeck, Czech novelist H. G. Adler, and the American Hebraists of the 1930s, “a Hebrew-intoxicated band of ascetics,” poets, |
adding that in his more than two decades at the Department, "we've never had a DAS for Iran."
Given that Limbert is one of the few U.S. diplomats to have actually served in Tehran and who speaks the language fluently, it seems a rather exciting hire that the administration has managed to lure back from the academy, not unlike the Ryan Crocker hire for Iraq ambassador a few years back, whose work was lauded by military commanders and civilians across the board.
Limbert, who earned his PhD from Harvard in history and Middle Eastern studies, served as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching in Shiraz, Iran in the 1960s.
UPDATE: And go see this video of then Iranian deputy defense minister now Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei visiting the hostages and Limbert that Khamenei recently posted to his website. Surreal. (Video via RFERL and Andrew Sullivan. Photo at top courtesy of the National Iranian American Council.)
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permalinkNet Applications
Windows 8 is winning over more users, but it's doing so at a snail's pace.
Microsoft's latest OS took home 2.67 percent of all global traffic seen by Web tracker NetApplications last month. That put it in fourth place among all operating system versions, just ahead of Mac OS X 10.8 and behind Windows Vista.
But that was only a slight rise from January's figure of 2.26 percent, which itself jumped from 1.72 percent in December and 1.09 percent in November.
Windows 7 remained in first place though its share was virtually unchanged at 44.55 percent. In second place, Windows XP's share dipped slightly to 38.99 percent. And Windows Vista continued its gradual descent, ekeing out a 5.17 percent share.
Windows 8 is struggling to gain traction, at least in comparison to Windows 7.
Both versions of Windows were officially released in October of their respective years -- Windows 8 in October of 2012 and Windows 7 in October of 2009. By February 2010, Windows 7 had already scooped up more than 9 percent of the traffic seen by Net Applications.
Of course, Windows 8 is a different type of operating system -- one designed for both touch-screen tablets and traditional PCs. As such, it's naturally going to face challenges trying to convince existing PC users to ugprade and new tablet buyers to consider a Windows 8 device.
Microsoft initially offered PC users a carrot stick in the form of low-priced Windows 8 upgrades.
Windows 7, Vista, and XP users were able to buy Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99. And Windows 7 users who bought their PCs between June of last year and January 31 of this year could purchase the new OS for just $14.99.
But both of those deals are now history, so people who want to upgrade will have to shell out $119.99 for the standard version of Windows 8 and $199.99 for the Pro edition.1. Cersei Lannister Coronation Gown:
This Cersei Lannister gown costume is made from faux leather and also includes shoulder pads, a lion’s face and silver lion emblem embroidery on the back of the collar. The embroidery is made from silver thread and glass beads and the armour pieces are made from thermoplastic. There is also a skirt to wear underneath the coat.
Price: $2550
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This jon snow costume is hand sewn and is made from artificial leather, artificial fur and gabardine. The costume consists of a top coat and a cloak which is attached to the coat by means of a cross pattern.
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3. Daenerys targayen
This daenerys costume includes a skirt, top, straps, built and and underskirt. The clothing is made of chiffon material.
4. Cersei Lannister:
This Cersei Lannister inspired dress is a handmade costume from Ukraine and is made from decorative fabric and taffeta lining. It features a high neck line as well.
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5. Jaime Lannister:
This Jaime Lannister comes costume from the United Kingdom is made from leather and also has buckles, rivets and lining conchos. This costume can be custom-made according to your measurements.
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6. Sansa Stark Dress:
This Sansa Stark costume is made from woven damask cotton and is made after the order is made, taking about a month to complete.
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7. Ned Stark Costume:
This Ned Stark costume features a Westeros style shirt, a quilted coat, drawstring pants, leather gloves, leather belt and a leather patch armor.
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8. Commander Of The Night Watch Costume:
Jeor Mormont’s commander of the nights watch costume.
Price: $600
9. Jofrey Baratheon Costume:
This costume comes in a magenta color with golden embroidery work and also has a velvet scarf with Joffrey’s crown.
Price: $400
10. Lannister Soldier Armor Costume:
This soldier armor is made with expanded pvc and foam details and includes a chest piece with back plates, shoulder plates and shin guards.
Price: $450
Apart from these costumes if you want to see a neat collection of game of thrones t shirts check out dfwear.
AdvertisementsU pon reading Daniel Boorstin’s The Discoverers many years ago, I became fascinated with the ebbs and flows of human achievement, and especially those points in world history that have been associated with a flowering of great accomplishment. The most famous are Athens in the Periclean age and Florence in the Renaissance, but there have been many other less spectacular examples. Sometimes, the surge of great creativity is most obvious in a particular domain—literature in nineteenth-century Russia, for example—but strides made in one field are usually accompanied by strides made in others. Historically speaking, what accounts for the difference in the fertility of the cultural ground?
In the late 1990s, I set out to assemble databases of humanity’s great achievements, applying historiometric methods to identify the significant figures and remarkable achievements. The result was a book I published in 2004,...CHICAGO – Eisenhower High School driver’s education teacher Vince Ziebarth is out of a job after a parent complained he wouldn’t let her son ride in his vehicle after the boy refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ziebarth said he told 15-year-old Shemar Cooper he would have to take lessons from one of the school’s six other driver’s education teachers if he refused to honor the American flag and the soldiers who died to protect their freedoms, CBS Chicago reports.
The two seemed to have an understanding, Ziebarth said, but he was later fired from the district where’s he worked for the last eight years after Cooper’s mother, Kelly Porter, complained to school administrators.
“I had a one-on-one conversation with him that, due to his actions to sit for the pledge, I would no longer take him in my car,” Ziebarth said. “All I told him is that, based on his actions, he has a choice with his actions. I was exercising my right to make a choice as well.”
“I told him I stand to honor the sacrifice and bravery of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. It doesn’t mean America is perfect, or that we agree with everything that’s going on,” Ziebarth told the Chicago Tribune, adding that his grandfather and uncle served in the Armed Forces.
“We had an understanding. He was making a choice, and I was making a choice. His name never appeared on my sign-up sheet again, so I thought it was over,” he said.
Ziebarth contends the two “joked” about the situation, but “Shemar was absolutely pushing the issue.”
And it wasn’t the first time the sophomore’s defiance caused a rift with his teachers.
In September, Cooper got into an altercation with his Spanish teacher when he refused to stand for the pledge and proudly pronounced that “America sucks.” Porter contends she had her son apologize for the comment, but pressed school officials to take action against the Spanish teacher, who allegedly attempted to force Cooper to stand and reprimanded him in a hallway when he refused.
That teacher was sentenced to a one-day suspension over the incident, according to the Tribune.
“He does not stand because Shemar does not believe in America,” Porter told NBC Chicago. “He says America is a very racist country, there is no freedom or love for black people.”
Ziebarth said he did not hear from Cooper for two weeks before he was called into the principal’s office March 15 and fired without explanation.
“I was given no options. Had the principal told me I had to allow Shemar in my car, I would have,” he said.
Ziebarth contends he was treated unfairly considering his colleague was only suspended for a day for the same issue.
“The punishment does not fit the crime,” he said.
Porter alleges her son’s Spanish teacher should have been fired, as well, and Ziebarth should have learned from the mistake.
“Did he not learn from the incident that occurred in September? Why did he think he’s invincible, that he can harass my son? He got what he deserved,” Porter told CBS Chicago. “You know, they had to go through this humiliation, being embarrassed, being put on the news. The teachers should have learned their lessons then, you know? Don’t violate children’s rights.”
Porter is now complaining that other students are harassing her son.
“One of the kids actually stood up in the classroom and yelled at Shemar ‘You got Mr. Z fired!’ and he and my son got into a big argument,” she said. “So I’m just hoping it doesn’t escalate any further.”
Students at the school, meanwhile, are hoping to “Get Mr. Z back at Ike,” according to a Change.org petition that’s garnered more than 750 signatures since it was posted last week.
“Mr. Z is an amazing teacher and should be respected enough to where the students should know to at least stand for the pledge, like it’s less than a minute of standing,” Louis Gamboa posted in the petition comments. “He didn’t deserve to be fired, he’s the best driver’s ed teacher out of them all.”Memo Gidley is set for his return to IMSA competition, having been confirmed as part of the lineup in a new Maserati GT4 entry in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.
Gidley, who was sidelined for more than three years following his horrific accident in the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona, will join ST class competitor Cavan O’Keefe and Mike McAleenan behind the wheel of the GS class Maserati, entered by Motorsport USA, for the Sept. 22-23 race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
It will mark the team’s Continental Tire Challenge debut, as part of a joint effort between the Washington state race track Ridge Motorports Park and Seattle-based Lowe Group Racing.
“Memo was one of my biggest inspirations in becoming a driver,” said team owner Jerold Lowe. “His story of being a grassroots driver and transitioning into a full time successful racer echoes my story.
“Both of us got into motorsports racing later in the game, have had our health struggles, and pushed through. He’s an inspiration.”
Gidley turned his first laps in the team’s Maserati during a two-day test at MRLS last month.
“It was my first time in the Maserati, and the team expected there to be some challenges with any new car shakedown, but being that Maserati has such a huge history in producing fast efficient cars, it was not surprising how turnkey the car was right out of the box,” he said.
“It was very easy to get comfortable and fast.”
The four-hour enduro is expected to mark Gidley’s second pro race in a span of two weeks, with the Californian set to make his racing comeback in the Pirelli World Challenge round at Sonoma Raceway the week prior.
O’Keefe said they’ll be using the MRLS round as a “test ground” for a potential full-season effort next year.Seoul: South Korea's Constitutional Court formally opened President Park Geun-hye's impeachment trial on Tuesday, despite the absence of Park, whose lawyers said she was unlikely to attend any of the proceedings.
The nine-member court has until June to decide whether Park, whose powers have been suspended since the National Assembly voted on December 9 to put her on trial her over a corruption scandal, will be reinstated or removed from office.
The court, which had held three preliminary hearings on Park's impeachment, convened in full for the first time on Tuesday, with the intent of inviting her to respond to the National Assembly's charges and answer questions. But she did not appear, and the hearing was adjourned after nine minutes.
A lawyer for the president, Lee Joong-hwan, said after the hearing that Park would make her case through her attorneys. "She won't appear in court unless there is an exceptionally special reason to do so," Lee said.The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia Surya Subedi wrapped up his fifth visit to Cambodia on Friday expressing concern about the lack of progress on land rights and freedom of speech in the country.
The main purpose of the visit - his fifth --was to assess how well parliament functions in upholding the rights of ordinary Cambodians.
On that score, he said that while human rights had improved in some areas, it had noticeably failed to do so in others such as land rights and freedom of speech.
Cambodia’s ruling party holds more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The opposition complains that allows it to push through legislation without taking anyone else’s concerns into account.
Opposition MPs that have spoken out on a number of issues in the past have found themselves stripped of their parliamentary immunity and even convicted for talking about issues of national importance. Subedi said that sort of action is not what democracy is about.
Subedi said he had discussed the topic of stripping parliamentary immunity with the head of parliament, the ruling party’s Heng Samrin, who replied that the legislature was merely following its own internal rules.
“But I am examining the internal rules and procedures themselves to see to what extent they are compatible with Cambodia’s international human rights obligations,” he said.
Subedi said there were some positive developments, such as the fact that government had consulted with civil society and trade unions on pending laws that would affect them.
But he warned that talking was not enough, adding that the government needs to demonstrate that it is incorporating the concerns of others.
During his stay, Subedi met senior government officials, as well as donors, representatives from civil society, members of the political opposition and ordinary Cambodians. He stressed that land and housing rights had been one of his major concerns since he took up the post of U.N. human rights envoy two years ago.
“The problem has not gone away," he said. "Land grabbing by the rich and powerful has been a problem, and economic and other forms of land concessions have affected the rights of the indigenous people living in rural areas.”
Subedi said he had met with citizens threatened by eviction, including residents from a site in Phnom Penh that was awarded to a ruling party senator.
“I am aware of their problem. I am sympathetic to their problem. I have made my representation at the highest level possible with the government. That was one of the reasons why I included in my recommendations that when people have a land dispute they should be able to go to court and receive fair and impartial justice," he said. "That was the reason why my last report was focused on the judiciary, on strengthening the independence and capacity of the judiciary.”
Subedi said a great deal of work was still needed in that area.
Cambodia's constitution provides for freedom of speech, but that right is often squashed by what authorities say is a need for public security. Earlier this year, Subedi expressed concern that the space to express government criticism was narrowing. He said he did not see the situation improving.
“The situation I am afraid has not changed in this country with regard to freedom of speech. That is where I would like to see some progress made,” he said.
Subedi will submit his report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva in September.A few weeks ago, AMD announced their ambidextrous roadmap which introduces their K12 architecture and Project Skybridge aiming to bridge both ARM and x86 cores. The new architecture is aimed towards servers, shown in the roadmap but a similar architecture would be headed to consumers in the form of mobility and desktop APUs.
AMD Might Be Developing Next Generation APU With x86 Cheetah and ARM Cores
We have received information from a highly credible source working close to Global Foundries in the process of manufacturing AMD APUs and next generation of hardware. As we all know, AMD is bridging the gap between ARM and x86 moving into future generation cores and their latest Kaveri APU which uses the Steamroller 28nm architecture is the first to adopt HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture).
According to the source, details about Excavator are already known by the masses and the architecture itself isn’t as special as it was once believed to be. Like Steamroller before it, Excavator would more likely be an evolution to the x86 architecture rather than a revolution in terms of process design and performance improvements since its based on the same 28nm mode with little changes to the core and would be adopted by the upcoming Carrizo cor based accelerated processing units.
From the looks of it, AMD is already developing the successor to their PUMA+ cores which are technically a refresh of Jaguar with better performance per watt. Its true successor would be called Cheetah which is the next generation x86 core architecture which will launch between 2015-2016 close to K12. The Cheetah core architecture will be based on low power cores since its the successor of PUMA+ but would also include some interesting new tech such as ARM cores and GCN 2.0 architecture.
Cheetah Architecture Could Feature FinFET Process Technology
Moving in 2016, AMD would unveil their next generation K12 ARM Core which will be exclusively developed by AMD for AMD and feature the latest 64-bit ARM cores elevating 64-bit ARM performance to new levels. These K12 ARM APUs/SOCs will be developed alongside new 64-bit x86 Cores from AMD for their current non-ARM APU lineup.
“We have the world’s best graphics. We know how to do high-frequency designs; we know how to do high-efficiency designs … We can extend the range that ARM’s in – that’s a nice play for us” Jim Keller, AMD
This new ARMv8 CPU core which has been codenamed K12 is being developed under the leadership of chip guru Jim Keller. In an earlier report, Lisa Su (SVP and General Manager of Global Business Units) did mention that they will be going 20nm in 2015 and FinFET after that so its pretty clear that AMD’s K12 core would be based on a 16/ 14nm FinFET process.
Since x86 Cheetah is planned for launch at the same time, it could also follow the same FinFET process technology or AMD could retain the 20nm node they will use on Cambridge CPU in 20nm of low-power server SOCs and APUs.
Cheetah With GCN 2.0, HSA+ and Massive Compute Capabilities
Regardless of the process design, AMD’s x86 Cheetah architecture would introduce new technologies geared towards compute. It is clearly mentioned that AMD’s x86 Cheetah cores won’t be enough to power compute needs which the APU is geared towards, hence for each CPU core there would be one dedicated 64-bit ARM core that analyses the incoming tasks & offloads them to the GPU. This is obviously not as efficient as running tasks that are using OpenCL (or any GPU acceleration), but it works with every application so even older programs like an old video editor or a pure CPU benchmark will use the GPU to do most of the work.
The x86 Cheetah core architecture would also be highly scalable with different products in 2, 4, 6, 8 x86 core variants. Since each CPU core has one dedicated ARM core, we are also looking at 2,4,6,8 ARM cores on the x86 Cheetah based APUs. The single-threaded performance of these next-generation APUs would be better then past generation cores since the ARM cores would be able to offload tasks to the GCN cores while the other cores stay in idle state to conserve power.
The Cheetah based APUs would be geared towards consumers first and hence it will feature GCN 2.0 graphics core architecture. The amount of GCN 2.0 cores is the multiple of the amount of x86 cores which essentially means that an 8 Core model will have 8 x86 Cheetah cores, 8 ARM cores and several GCN compute units which will span the low-end mobility to the most high-end desktop SKUs. The Athlon equivalent of the core would adopt around 128-384 GCN processors while the high-end variants can include upto 1024 stream processors and clock speeds of around 900-1000 MHz. The specifications for SKUs aren’t finalized yet but we are looking at a top-to-bottom SKU lineup featuring the Cheetah and GCN 2.0 core design.
The APU will give the ability to set the maximum amount of GPU cores being used for GPGPU computing through AMD drivers because the more GPU cores assigned to help the CPU, the less cores will be available for the “real” GPUtasks, although a “dynamic” scaling system is in planning as well. AMD has also developed a bypass for GCN cores which can now be used coherently with a discrete graphics card. Previous generation APUs disable the iGPU when the system is running on dedicated graphics except for a few Dual Graphics solution options available on the Radeon R7 lineup. With Cheetah APUs, this limitation will be bypassed an all integrated GCN 2.0 cores would be scheduled to handle GPGPU computing while the dedicated GPU will work along side to handle GPU tasks.
AMD is also allegedly planning to introduce HSA+ solution or Advanced HSA on their next generation x86 and ARM based APUs. The new HSA set will enable that all x86 cores, ARM cores and GPU cores would be able to share the main memory in a coherent manner rather than just the main x86 cores and GPU.
The x86 Cheetah cores and APU are currently under research and development phase and it would be some time before they see the light of day and most probably under a different name. But the recent ambidextrous project roadmap highlights that AMD is giving a strong emphasis to APU and SOC featuring both ARM and x86 cores on the same die and that is where their future lies.
The source was also keen to share details that AMD is very well planning a new x86 high-performance core which will mark the return of FX series in 2015-2016 with much better performance obtained through an architecture built from the ground up and that GCN 2.0 architecture is coming this year. We have an article on that coming up soon but the details mention that GCN 2.0 is not much powerful in terms of GPGPU computation but provides a huge jump in power efficiency. So the next two- three years for AMD really sound great and stay tuned for more information.Hillary Clinton and her staff still have top security clearance and could access “sensitive government information,” months after she lost the presidential election and months into the President Donald Trump presidency.
In the same report, Fox News said that this is the case even as the State Department has “opened a formal inquiry into whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information while she was the nation’s top diplomat.”
“Despite being under investigation, Clinton and her staffers still have security clearances to access sensitive government information,” Fox News reported.
Fox News said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, confirmed the renewed investigation, but the State Department would not comment on it when asked by Breitbart News.
”Due to privacy considerations, the Department cannot provide any information regarding any current or former employees’ security clearance or access to classified information,” a State Department spokesperson told Breitbart News.
Fox News reported:
The department’s investigation aims to determine whether Clinton and her closest aides violated government protocols by using her private server to receive, hold and transmit classified and top-secret government documents. The department declined to say when its inquiry began, but it follows the conclusion of the FBI’s probe into the matter, which did not result in any actions being taken against Clinton or any of her aides.
The results of this most current investigation “could” lead to Clinton and staffers losing their security clearance, according to Fox News.
Grassley’s committee has been investigating Clinton’s handling of emails since March, following Comey’s statement last summer that Clinton had been “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
According to Fox News:
During the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s use of top-secret and classified information on her private server, Comey said there were seven email chains on Clinton’s computer that were classified at the ‘Top Secret/Special Access Program level.’ Another 2,000 emails on her private server were found to have contained information deemed classified now, though not marked classified when sent. In addition, the server also contained 22 top-secret emails deemed too damaging to national security to be released.
A spokesman for Clinton dismissed the investigation report.
“Nothing’s been more thoroughly dissected. It’s over. Case closed. Literally,” Nick Merrill told Fox News.
But Judical Watch’s Chris Farrell, a conservative Washington-based government watchdog group, told Fox News that Clinton and her staff should not have access to any classified information for any reason.
“Their conduct has cost them that privileged position of special trust and confidence,” Farrell said, adding that to Clinton “laws are for the little people.”Google doesn't make things very easy for us to explain or for users to understand. For example, while Google Assistant can speak English, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish in Allo, it can only speak US English on Android phones but it can talk in different English dialects plus German on Pixel devices. Oh and it supports English, French, and German on Google Home. To make matters even worse, the third-party developer branch of Assistant, Actions on Google, only works in US English now but Google is implementing more languages and we already know British English will be supported next.
See? Not complicated at all... So please focus 100% with me while I explain this story.
Look at the article's top screenshot. The "Actions on Google" developer console is now showing a language selector with options for French, German, Italian, and Japanese. It is interesting because it brings us hope of some gap bridging between all of Assistant's platforms. Granted, all the languages are still greyed out, but there's something to glean from them.
First, it's that third-party developer actions — you know the "services" like Logitech and LG appliances that currently only work on Home but are promised to come to phones too — will indeed add support for more languages soon, so you no longer feel restrained with what you can do with Home if you've bought one in France or Germany for example. Second, it's that Japanese should de facto thus come to Google Home, which isn't surprising because we knew Home would launch in Japan.
Third, and perhaps more intriguingly, is the presence of Italian in the list. You might have noticed, from the introduction, that Italian isn't supported in any current iteration of Assistant — Google did announce at I/O that it was coming to Assistant by the end of the year, but this is the first time we've seen any signs of that. Given that it will be coming to Actions on Google and these are just services in Assistant, that means Assistant will be able to speak Italian too. And maybe it's a sign of Home officially launching in Italy too.
Only time will tell, so we'll keep our eyes open for any changes and let you know. We also promise to always scold Google for the mess it has made of Assistant and its support on different devices and languages.The future of the Republican Party of Minnesota, based on the results of last week’s elections, is either a) sound and poised for future gain, b) in flux, or c) still in doubt.
The correct answer — if there is one — depends on who you believe has the smartest analysis of the election: the current chair of the party; a former chair of the party; or the chairman of the Tom Emmer’s successful bid for congress.
Let’s start with the current chair: Keith Downey, who views Tuesday’s results as evidence that Republicans have regained their political footing. “The turnaround is basically over and the comeback can begin,” he said. “Arguably, it’s already started with the House.”
The Republicans’ gain of 11 seats in the Minnesota House has put them in the majority, a victory that Downey ascribes to solid political strategy — and a DFL Party that overplayed its hand. “The Democratic message was so Minneapolis-centric, it was deemed for what it was,” he said. “I think there was a significant check on Democrat power and a restoration of balance here in Minnesota and nationally.”
Downey interprets the DFL victories at the top of the ticket to the power of incumbency. “Well-funded incumbents prevailed,” he said. “And Al Franken outspent Mike McFadden five to one, an enormous amount to protect his seat. When the dust is settled, I think we’ll see that Mark Dayton outspent Jeff Johnson three to one.”
Downey had a tougher time explaining a recurring Republican weakness, though: losses of legislative seats in the suburbs. All the party’s gains but one came from greater Minnesota. “I think in these individual suburban districts, we will look at the individual races and see why it went the way it did,” he said.
But David FitzSimmons, Emmer’s campaign director and a former legislator, offers a different take. He believes the suburban losses have more to do with bigger forces. “It’s a tale of two results,” he said. “They [Republicans] did well connecting with greater Minnesota voters, but you could make the argument it wasn’t so hot with suburban voters.”
It’s part of larger demographic shift that Minnesota Republicans will have to confront, FitzSimmons said. “We’re catching up to the rest of the country in that Republicans dominate outside of the main urban areas,” he said. “But the urban areas are the ones that are growing so that’s the challenge on the Republican side.”
Rep. Keith Downey
In order to do that, though — to tap into that growth, to spread the conservative message, to become a governing force — Republicans must develop the financial infrastructure to match the Democrats’, said former GOP party chair Pat Shortridge. In particular, Republicans must create something akin to Alliance for a Better Minnesota, the progressive “outside group” that funnels millions to DFL candidates. “We have now gone three elections cycles with no counter to Alliance for a Better Minnesota, and this is just unforgivable,” Shortridge said.
The right model, he suggests, is the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, which attacked Dayton earlier in the year but switched its focus to helping electing the House Republicans. “Outside [conservative] groups have got to follow along the lines of the Jobs Coalition – they have to be more political,” he said.
Such a group may not be a traditional business coalition, Shortridge added, because “Folks in the business community are worried about access. [Alliance for a Better Minnesota] is not worried about access. They are worried about winning.”
In separate interviews, Shortridge, FitzSimmons, and Downey all offered somewhat similar prescriptions to the success of Minnesota GOP in future elections:
Shortridge: “We want to govern conservatively so we need a better governing vision.”
FitzSimmons: “The challenge is to make sure their message connects with metro area voters.”
Downey: “The biggest key is to show we represent the interests of Minnesotans.”It seems that there's a cycle in which Tupac Shakur rises to the top of our collective consciousness every few years. We may be experiencing another one of those peaks, what with a new Tupac movie (the critically panned All Eyez On Me) and new reports about the rapper's ill-fated relationship with Madonna.
Now, we're getting another dose of Tupac, as his former home has gone on the market. As expected, the Woodland Hills home is nothing less than an extravagant mansion that's burnished from head to toe. As noted at NBC4, Tupac was living in the space under a lease (and was in escrow to buy it) when he was fatally shot in Vegas in 1996. It was also formerly owned by DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit, if you're still fond of the nu-metal thing.
The details are certainly impressive. The estate boasts six bedrooms and five bathrooms, as well as a living room with vaulted ceilings, and a dining room with wrought iron chandelier and French doors that lead to the backyard, according to the home's listing. Upstairs, you'll find a suite with access to a master bath that features a large shower with two steamers and a jacuzzi tub that faces a decorative fireplace. Out back, the yard includes a sparkling pool, a spa, and a fire-pit. It's also worth mentioning that the driveway can fit up to 15 cars (that's a lot of space for your Hyundai Sonata).
Has your interest been piqued? Well, the home will cost you $2.6 million. So there's that to consider. Anyway, as you mull over putting up the down payment, check out this video of the home (provided by the realty) that's reminiscent of MTV Cribs.This show is sold out, but seats will be available at the door.
See here for more details on standy seats.
Celebrate the upcoming release of The World's End with a double-dose of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost (back-to back screenings of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). Come in costume for a chance to win passes to a sneak preview of The World's End and other great prizes. Trivia contest and additional prizes provided by Collider.
The fun starts at 8:00 pm with movie trivia contest featuring great prizes, including:
Passes to see a sneak preview of Wright, Pegg, and Frost's newest film, The World's End!
Once the trivia contest wraps up, we'll screen Shaun of the Dead, the film that made the world take zombie comedies seriously.
An intermission at 9:45ish will feature a costume contest, during which prizes (more sneak preview passes!) will be awarded in the following costume categories:
Best Shaun
Best British Policeman/woman
Best Zombie
Rounding out intermission will be a "bootleg" Cornetto ice-cream cone eating contest. (Seeing as how Cornetto is hard to come by in the U.S., we'll have to find a suitable substitute.) And yes, there will be even more prizes.
Last but not least, we'll show the second film in the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz. If you haven't seen it, Hot Fuzz is kind of a cross between Scooby-Doo, Bad Boys, and an Agatha Christie novel.
A limited number of free tickets to this event are available to ATLFF members (check your email!), and general admission tickets are available for just one dollar (plus ticketing fees). We challenge you to find a better deal than that.
Shaun of the Dead / Hot Fuzz Double Feature
August 12 at 8pm
The Plaza Theatre - 1049 Ponce De Leon Ave
Buy Tickets Now.Sam Alvey has not taken the slow lane in his MMA career.
Alvey (25-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC), 28, fought 17 times between turning pro in July 2008 and the end of 2010. That aggressive schedule landed him in national promotions such as Bellator and, eventually, the UFC.
A bout with Dan Kelly (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 65 is up next for Alvey. The event takes place at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia with the entire card airing on UFC Fight Pass.
Since dropping his first UFC bout, Alvey has scored two consecutive knockouts, most recently knocking out Cezar Ferreira at UFC Fight Night 62.
Alvey feels that he’s not getting the credit he’s due and it’s put a sizable chip on his shoulder.
“I’m usually the underdog and it does motivate me a little bit,” Alvey told MMAjunkie video partner Rick Lee. “At this point in my career I’ve got so many wins, I’ve got so many fights, I’ve got almost 50 fights total and people are still counting me out. But I hit pretty hard, I can take a punch pretty well and my jiu-jitsu is second to none.
“After this next fight I’m going to get three knockouts in a row. Maybe I’ll switch it up and I’ll get three finishes in a row. Maybe I’ll jiu-jits this guy a little bit. People are going to give me the credit I deserve someday.”
Alvey’s first opportunity in the UFC came when he participated in Season 16 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He was the first overall pick after earning his way into the house with a first round KO. Despite his status as the first pick, he dropped a decision to Joey Rivera in the third episode of the season.
That experience, as much as not getting the credit he feels he deserves, is serving as a driving force in Alvey’s career.
“My more immediate goal is, I want to be ‘The TUF Killer,’” Alvey said. “Everyone knows I went on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and had a huge, huge intro into the house and then I kind of flopped out. The weight cut got me. Turns out, if I’d waited one season, it would have been a 185 season and could have beaten them all. So, right now, my goal is I want to beat every TUF member from 185. So, I’ve got two Australian TUF guys, I just beat the Brazilian TUF guy, there’s some American TUF guys I still want to beat. Luke Barnatt, I’m coming for you eventually.
“Eventually, I’m going to headline a card fighting Uriah Hall, that’s the eventual goal. Great guy, I’ve met him before, super and talented fighter and we could headline a Fight Night. It would be worth watching.”
For more on UFC Fight Night 65, check |
significant drawbacks. For one, it certainly hampered our ability to gain a truly national identity. When I think of issues that really cut through positively for us nationally during the ‘golden years’ of the prior decade, I essentially see our opposition to the Iraq War and Cleggamania; both were inherently transitory. The national purpose problem mattered a great deal when we were winnings scores of seats and felt like we were close to demolishing the edifice of two-party politics. However, things have dramatically altered since then.
We are now in a situation where we have very little parliamentary representations, polling which hovers between 7% and 8%, a massively diminished number of seats where we finished second and a drained local government base. I do not think that strong national branding alone will help to solve these issues.
Barring the miraculous emergence of our own Macron or Trudeau (and even then, the influence would not be replicable due to the electoral system and relative party strength), I have little solace to offer than time, effort and a call to redouble our excellent local campaigning. We absolutely should ensure that our national vision and messaging is better than it was for the recent election, but the wounds inflicted in recent years will only be fully healed by the balm of time.
The sort of post-Coalition repair we need may take a similar length of time as it took the Conservatives following Blair’s landslide in 1997. In other words, we’re looking at three to four electoral cycles. In time, we can also probably assume that the stonking incompetence of the both the Conservative and Labour parties in their current guises will become increasingly evident. This is doubly true with regard to Brexit. Consequently, I think our issue is less one of wholesale rebranding, as it is building a platform from the ground up, so that we can capitalise on opportunities born of events when they occur.
So, in the meantime, we need to get back to basics in our communities. Whereas even the best parliamentary campaign can be neutered by national factors, at a local level we can really make a difference here and now. For no party is the grassroots more vital and I have long been proud of how much value we place on it.
I fully admit that my two-pennies worth to solving our existential problems as a party are hardly likely elicit the inspiration of a leading conference speech. But I believe that due to the factors outlined above, they are realistic. Moreover, they have worked in the past and I truly believe that they can do so again at this undeniably tough time for our party.The downgrading of the El Reno tornado from the top of the Enhanced Fujita scale to a weaker rating could have lethal consequences, a nationally recognized weather expert warns.
The massive tornado, which killed eight people, was initially measured as an EF-3 tornado based on damage found in the primarily rural area after it struck May 31. But wind-speed measurements collected by mobile Doppler radar detected wind speeds of nearly 300 miles an hour about 500 feet from the surface, prompting the National Weather Service to change the rating to EF-5.
The threshold for an EF-5 is 200 miles an hour. But the weather service recently reverted to a EF-3 rating.
“Despite the radar-measured wind speeds, the survey team did not find damage that would support a rating higher than EF3,” said a statement released by Keli Pirtle, a public affairs specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Norman, Okla.
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“While the wind measurements from the mobile radars are considered reliable, (National Weather Service) policy for determining EF ratings is based on surveys of ground damage.”
Weather service officials are “exploring whether policy should change to allow the use of experimental radar data in future EF determinations,” the statement reads.
That needs to happen, weather officials and researchers say, so more accurate reflections of tornado strengths are recorded. Relying strictly on damage to measure tornadoes sets the stage for illusions about tornado strength created by the limitations of relying on damage alone.
El Reno widest tornado
Prior to the downgrade, the El Reno tornado was considered one of the strongest on record. Now it doesn’t even top the list of tornadoes that touched down in late May.
“I find it very hard to believe that El Reno was weaker than Rozel and Bennington,” noted weather researcher Jon Davies said in an e-mail response to questions, mentioning two other substantial May tornadoes.
Howard Bluestein, a tornado researcher and meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma, called the El Reno tornado “an argument for why we need Doppler radar” to provide wind-speed estimates of tornadoes.
Graduate students deploying a mobile radar measured winds of 296 miles an hour in the El Reno tornado, which at one point was 2.6 miles wide – the widest tornado ever recorded.
Bluestein said estimating tornado strength based on the damage left behind is supposed to be “what you do when you have no other information.”
The El Reno scenario is one in which the Enhanced Fujita scale “really breaks down,” he said, because violent tornadoes that pass through primarily rural areas can be rated lower than their actual strength due to the relative lack of damage left behind.
Underestimating tornadoes?
It would be a largely academic debate except for the fact that reduced wind-speed estimates could lead to “under-engineered” bridges and other critical infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, said Mike Smith, senior vice president for AccuWeather Inc., the private forecasting company.
“This downgrading may mislead engineers,” Smith said.
The top category in the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF-5, includes winds of 200 to 250 miles an hour. But if a structure is engineered to withstand 250 mph winds and is hit by a tornado packing winds at or near 300, Smith said, the results could be “catastrophic” depending on what was struck.
“I’m not saying homes should be designed for 290 mile-per-hour winds,” Smith said. “But this is extremely important for critical infrastructure.”
The same basis for lowering the El Reno tornado on the EF scale was used to lower the rating of the Bennington tornado, which churned through rural northern Kansas in May. The huge, slow-moving tornado was initially rated an EF-4 but has since been lowered to an EF-3.
The reduction came despite a wind-burst measurement from the Doppler on Wheels mobile radar of 247 mph. Weather officials included a footnote on the official rating that mentions the mobile radar wind readings, said Chad Omitt, warning coordination meteorologist for the Topeka branch of the weather service.
“The challenge is that the scientific community needs to figure out whether an instantaneous wind measured at 10, 30 or 100 meters above ground can be used as a proxy or is (an) accurate indicator of what surface winds are,” Omitt said in an e-mail response to questions. “At current, we just don’t have enough data to know for sure and that’s why we continue to use the EF scale and damage indicators as the methodology to determine an EF rating without input from other sources.”
Rozel, Wichita tornadoes unchanged
Portable radars also captured wind speeds for the large tornadoes that just missed Rozel on May 18 and Wichita on May 19.
But those ratings — EF-4 for Rozel and EF-2 for the tornado that touched down near Clearwater and lifted just outside Wichita — won’t be lowered because damage caused by the tornadoes matched the rating linked to the wind speeds detected by the mobile radar, weather service officials said.
A portable radar measured winds of up to 185 mph in the wedge tornado that just missed Rozel in west-central Kansas.
Even without the mobile radar data, said Aaron Johnson, science and operations officer for the Dodge City branch of the weather service, “there’s evidence here of stuff that would be EF-4 anyway.”
Among that evidence is a 1,000-gallon steel propane tank that was lifted and carried a quarter-mile, he said.
“That’s impressive,” Johnson said.
Joshua Wurman, a noted tornado researcher who launched the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, Colo., and whose Doppler on Wheels captured wind speeds for the Bennington, Rozel, Wichita and El Reno tornadoes, said relying on damage to estimate tornado strength is “fraught with error.”
“In many, perhaps most, cases, there are not enough strong structures in the path of the tornado to permit an accurate estimate of tornado intensity based just on what it destroyed,” Wurman said in an e-mail response to questions.
El Reno is a classic example of that, he said.
Radar limitations
But portable radar measurements of wind speeds also have limitations, Wurman said. They are almost always taken well above the ground, he said, and may not be much of a reflection of what’s happening at ground level.
Wind speeds in tornadoes will typically be lower at ground level in tornadoes because of friction, said Suzanne Fortin, meteorologist-in-charge of the Wichita branch of the weather service.
Yet a tornado that hit the outskirts of Russell on May 25, 2012, was actually stronger at ground level than it was at the elevations measured by the portable radar, Wurman said. The highest wind speeds recorded in the El Reno tornado were actually the product of small, rapidly moving sub-vortices rotating within the larger tornado.
No timetable has been given on what changes, if any, might be made to how tornado strengths are measured. Smith said he hopes the weather service returns to the original scale created by Ted Fujita, which had top wind speeds for F5s of more than 300 miles an hour.
The Enhanced Fujita scale was adopted by the weather service in 2007 and features an extensive list of damage indicators to assist meteorologists in assessing destruction caused by a tornado. The revised scale was an attempt to remove subjectivity from the storm damage surveys.
But Smith said the revised scale’s flaws outweigh its usefulness.
“Fujita foresaw the possibility of measuring wind speeds in different ways,” Smith said. “His upper-end wind speeds are far more realistic than the EF scales.”McCutchen worked out with teammates at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla., rather than make the trip down Interstate 75 to JetBlue Park.
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Pirates star Andrew McCutchen was scratched from the starting lineup in Friday night's 6-3 loss to the Red Sox as a precaution due to tightness in his left quadriceps.
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Pirates star Andrew McCutchen was scratched from the starting lineup in Friday night's 6-3 loss to the Red Sox as a precaution due to tightness in his left quadriceps.
McCutchen worked out with teammates at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla., rather than make the trip down Interstate 75 to JetBlue Park.
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"I was a little aggressive with the lineup, trying to get this starting crew out front," manager Clint Hurdle said. "They needed him to do a couple more drills today to clear him for tomorrow."
McCutchen leads the team with five home runs this spring and is 8-for-31 overall with eight RBIs. The All-Star center fielder has said he's in much better condition this spring than when he was held back by a sore left knee last year.
"My body is in good shape, so I'm in good shape. Don't have to worry about it now," McCutchen said last week. "As long as you feel good, you go out there and play good."
Starling Marte moved from left to center field, and Gregory Polanco shifted from right to left. Minor League outfielder Tito Polo joined the starting lineup, batting eighth and playing right field.
Polo, a 21-year-old outfielder who spent last year with Class A West Virginia, wound up going 2-for-4 with a double, and both hits came off Red Sox ace David Price.
"I don't think it's going to turn into the Lou Gehrig story," Hurdle said, smiling. "It's a great night. I told [Starling] Marte, 'Make sure that kid calls somebody after the game. Calls home. Calls somebody. Calls everybody.'... Fun to watch. Absolutely fun to watch."
Vogelsong learns from rough outing
Right-hander Ryan Vogelsong gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits and two walks without recording a strikeout in the Pirates' 6-3 loss to the Red Sox. The veteran starter is competing for one of the last two spots in Pittsburgh's rotation against right-hander Juan Nicasio, enjoying an excellent spring, and left-hander Jeff Locke.
Vogelsong said his issues Friday were simply a matter of execution. He got himself into a number of favorable, two-strike counts but couldn't finish off hitters the way he wanted to.
"I did some things good tonight, and I did some things where I reverted back to what I was doing the last couple years,'' Vogelsong said. "When you're in situations like that, it's very easy to do.
"I just need to be very conscious of it and make sure I'm doing the things I want to do mechanically to execute pitches."
Hurdle has said the Pirates will take all their roster decisions down to the end of Spring Training, so Vogelsong has one more start to make his case. He is pleased with the work he's done this spring, even if the numbers didn't necessarily reflect it Friday night.
"If I didn't have one more, I've thrown the ball way too good this spring to let a night like this deter me from what I've been doing," he said. "What it does is just help you refocus a little bit. That's what I'm going to take out of it, get my mind a little bit sharper."May 27, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese military sources Saturday have dismissed media reports that 80 Sudanese troops have been killed in Yemen saying only 21 were killed, including 4 officers.
Sudanese soldiers carry the coffin of Haytham al-Tayeb, the first Sudanese soldier to die in Yemen at Khartoum airport on Friday January 29, 2016 (ST Photo)
The Sudanese army has been participating in the Saudi-led military coalition since 2015 in a regional effort to back the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after he was ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels.
Media reports last week said the Houthis attacked Sudanese forces belonging to the Arab coalition near the Medi desert in Hajjah province, killing and injuring more than 80 Sudanese troops.
Military sources told Sudan Tribune the losses suffered by the Sudanese forces, “normal”, pointing out the forces came under the bombardment of the Houthis after the "excellent progress" achieved on the operational level.
He pointed that the front of the troops came under heavy fires after seizing important positions, stressing the Sudanese troops’ injuries were mostly minor.
According to the same source, high-ranking officers have been dispatched to Yemen to ensure tight operational coordination “because the number of casualties in the last battle is the greatest loss among our forces.”
Until 13 May, only 8 Sudanese troops have been killed since launching the Saudi-led Operations “Decisive Storm” and “Restoring Hope” in Yemen in 2015.
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Learn moreGenome Maps May Spot Disease In African-Americans
Two independent teams of researchers have come up with the most accurate genetic maps ever made — a feat that should make the search for genes associated with diseases easier.
To understand why an accurate genetic map is useful, imagine you are trying to locate a house in Topeka, Kan., but the only map you have is one of the Interstate Highway System. You could probably find Topeka, but finding the specific house you want would take a lot of trial and error.
That's basically the situation researchers find themselves in when they are searching for a particular gene in the long stretches of DNA that make up our chromosomes. The trick to making a genetic map is to make road signs in DNA to tell you where you are.
John Novembre, a geneticist at UCLA, says one way to make road signs is to look for what are called recombination events.
"What you're trying to do is identify locations along the chromosome where the DNA that a person inherits from their mother is different from the DNA they inherited from their father," Novembre says.
And where that switch in a strand of DNA from one parent's DNA to the other parent's DNA occurs is called a recombination event.
But recombinations do not occur evenly across our genetic material, says David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School. Rather, he says, "they occur in very small hot spots." These specific hot spots become the road signs along the chromosomes that the researchers used to create the new genetic maps.
If all of this is a scary reminder of what you didn't quite understand from high school biology, don't worry. The point is that the map helps geneticists find their way.
Reich and his colleagues at Oxford University in England are publishing their map in Nature; Novembre and his UCLA colleagues published in Nature Genetics.
'Uniquely Informative' Information
What makes these genetic maps particularly interesting is they were developed using DNA from African-Americans. Most maps created so far are based on DNA from people of European ancestry. Reich says using African-American DNA revealed something unexpected.
"There's a family of about 2,500 hot spots of recombination that are active in people of West African ancestry, like African-Americans, which are almost completely inactive in people of non-African ancestry," Reich says.
Finding these 2,500 hot spots could be particularly helpful for finding genes for diseases that are more common in African-Americans.
"Researchers need maps that are matching the ancestry of their sample relatively closely, and so we're hoping that this map can actually serve as a great tool for disease-mapping studies in African-Americans," says David Wegmann, who collaborates with John Novembre at UCLA.
It hasn't always been easy to recruit African-Americans to research studies. Herman Taylor heads the Jackson Heart Study, an effort to follow the heart health of some 5,000 African-Americans.
"History has shown that African-Americans participating in large studies like ours didn't always get the most benefit," Taylor says. But he says that won't be the case with the Jackson Heart Study, or with the new mapping study. He's a co-author on the Harvard/Oxford study in Nature.
"Studying African-American genetics gives unique information about African-Americans, but also it is uniquely informative to genetics of the family of man," he says. Because Africa is thought to be the place where all modern humans originally came from, it's the DNA from African people that tells the first chapter in the story of modern human genetics.
"I think the people in the Jackson Heart Study recognize that they have an important contribution to make," Taylor says. And with time, Taylor thinks their contribution will bring tangible benefits.This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.
By Rishi Iyengar @Iyengarish
India’s burgeoning economy attained another major milestone on Wednesday, as the South Asian nation surpassed both China and the U.S. to become the top global destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in greenfield projects.
Data compiled by fDi Markets, a service of the Financial Times newspaper, showed that India attracted $3 billion more than China and $4 billion more than the U.S. for greenfield projects (projects that involve overseas firms building new production facilities in a country as opposed to buying or renting existing facilities) during the first half of 2015.
The total greenfield FDI India garnered by the end of June this year was $30 billion, according to the FT data, more than double the $12 billion it attracted during the same period in 2014 and catapulting the South Asian nation to the top spot from its fifth rank — behind China, the U.S., the U.K. and Mexico — last year.
The ranking continues India’s economic resurgence under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which came to power in 2014 — a year that the country saw a 47% increase in FDI projects — and 2015 looks on course to be even better.
Another report released on the same day by the World Economic Forum also saw India surge up the global rankings for competitiveness, going from 71st last year to 55th out of 144 countries. The report says India’s bump in the rankings, calculated using a number of economic factors, is largely due to the government’s “pro-business, pro-growth and anti-corruption stance.”
Modi, for his part, has aggressively courted foreign governments and multinational corporations alike, and recently returned from a trip to the U.S. where he met a laundry list of top American corporate heads — including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla Motors and SpaceX head Elon Musk, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and Google’s incoming CEO Sundar Pichai (both Nadella and Pichai are Indian) — to push his growth initiatives like “Digital India” and “Make in India.” (For more on Modi’s meeting with FORTUNE 500 CEOs, click here.)
Whether the Indian government can sustain the global optimism that has allowed it to avoid the downward market trend most other countries are experiencing, remains to be seen; Modi is still battling at home to pass key reforms to cut business red tape.
Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet that it was “satisfying” that the governments efforts were paying off, while Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan — who earlier this week aggressively cut the country’s interest rates — said in an interview with news channel NDTV that Modi is an “articulate spokesperson for India” but his successful foreign trips need to be substantiated by concrete reforms.
“The really big constraint is the parliamentary blocks that we’ve seen, there’s been very little progress on policies to ease land acquisition laws and to ease the very rigid labor market as well,” Shilan Shah, a Singapore-based India economist from research consultancy Capital Economics, tells TIME.
While Shah says the new ranking is “a positive reflection on the government’s policies to promote FDI,” he points out that several key state elections over the next year, starting with the eastern state of Bihar that goes to the polls next month, have made the Modi government exceedingly cautious when it comes to economic reform.
“The tactic that the BJP (Modi’s party) is adopting is to almost sit back and not try to push through any big reforms in the hope that it can secure some state election victories and strengthen its mandate in the upper house of parliament thereafter,” he says, adding that this process will likely take more than a year. “I think for now it’s probably sensible to downplay expectations of really big reforms at the central level.”
He also points out that while the FT report paints India in a justifiably positive light in U.S. dollar terms, India’s FDI as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is “not particularly high in comparison to most of its market peers.” While Shah concludes that the Indian government will probably be able to sustain its current momentum when it comes to FDI, further increases might not be forthcoming under current circumstances.
“I can’t see why [the impact of the government’s foreign investment-friendly policies] would then reverse,” he says. “What we probably won’t see is a further pickup in FDI until we see more general reforms.”Ivory Coast is on the "brink of genocide" and the world must take urgent action, the country's new ambassador to the UN has warned. Youssoufou Bamba also claimed that some houses were being marked according to the tribe of the occupier.
The plea came as the UN accused the security forces of the incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, of blocking access to mass graves, saying investigators believed as many as 80 bodies may be in one building.
World leaders have stepped up pressure on Gbagbo to quit in favour of Alassane Ouattara, who is widely recognised as having won last month's elections.
Speaking in New York, Bamba, who was appointed by Ouattara, described him as the rightful ruler of Ivory Coast. "He has been elected in a free, fair, transparent, democratic election," he said.
"The result has been proclaimed by the independent electoral commission, certified by the UN. To me the debate is over, now you are talking about how and when Mr Gbagbo will leave office."
Bamba alleged there had been a "massive violation of human rights", with more than 170 people killed during street demonstrations. "One of the messages I try to get across is to tell we are on the brink of genocide. Something should be done."
He implied that Ouattara strongholds, which are largely in the north, could be targeted by Gbagbo backers, saying: "If houses are being marked according to your tribe, what is going to be next?"
Bamba said he planned to meet every member of the UN security council. "I intend to meet all the 15 members to explain to them the gravity of the situation … We expect the UN to be credible and to prevent violation and to prevent the election to be stolen from the people."
The UN has said its personnel were prevented by security forces accompanied by masked men with rocket launchers from reaching the scene of a mass grave identified by witnesses in a pro-Gbagbo residential neighbourhood on the outskirts of Abidjan.
Simon Munzu, the head of the UN human rights division, said investigators got as far as the front door of a building where between 60 and 80 bodies were believed to be before being forced to leave.
A second mass burial site was believed to be located near Gagnoa in the interior of the country, the UN said.
"We would be the very first to say that these stories are false if they turn out to be false," Munzu said. "Our findings on the matter would have a greater chance of being believed than these repeated denials."
Gbagbo's government has repeatedly denied that mass graves exist.
The 28 November election was meant to reunite Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, after a 2002-3 civil war. But a dispute over the results has provoked lethal street clashes and threatens to restart open conflict.
The UN general assembly last week recognised Ouattara as Ivory Coast's legitimate president by unanimously deciding that the list of diplomats he submitted be recognised as the sole official representatives of Ivory Coast at the UN.
The UN's peacekeeping chief, Alain Le Roy, said his troops had become a target of violence in Ivory Coast after a campaign of "disturbing lies" on state television suggested the UN was arming and transporting anti-Gbagbo rebels.
The US state department spokesman, Mark Toner, said America was planning for the possible evacuation of its embassy in Ivory Coast amid concerns of a full-blown conflict.
Ouattara and his prime minister, Guillaume Soro, remain holed up in a hotel in the commercial capital, Abidjan, protected by UN forces. Supporters of Gbagbo, the Young Patriots, have threatened to storm the hotel.
The group's leader, Charles Bleé Goudeé, who is also Gbagbo's youth minister, warned the west African regional bloc, Ecowas, not to send troops. "They should prepare themselves very well because we are thinking about totally liberating our country, and soon I will launch the final assault," he said.
West African leaders have backed off their threat of military action for now. On Tuesday the presidents of Sierra Leone, Benin and Cape Verde delivered an ultimatum on behalf of Ecowas, hoping to escort Gbagbo into exile. He refused to budge.
An Ouattara adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gbagbo demanded a vote recount during the negotiations with the visiting delegation and wanted amnesty if he leaves office.
The Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, said the leaders would return to Ivory Coast on Monday. "Whenever there is a dispute, whenever there is disagreement, it is dialogue that will solve issues," Jonathan said in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, where Ecowas is based. "The dialogue is on. They are encouraging us to go back."
The rising tensions have caused some 16,000 Ivorians to flee to Liberia, and the UN is preparing for the number to nearly double.
Among the refugees is Gluee Teah, who walked through the jungle for a day and crossed a river burdened by her two young daughters and an unborn child.
"I am nine months pregnant," she said. "There is not much I can do. Who will help me take care of my children?"“Tweets may tell us more about what the tweeter thinks the follower wants to hear than about what the tweeter is actually feeling,” said Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist, in an e-mail. “In short, tweets are not a simple reflection of a person’s current affective state and should not be taken at face value.”
The study’s authors, Scott A. Golder and Michael W. Macy, acknowledge such limitations and worked to correct for them. In the study, they collected up to 400 messages from each of 2.4 million Twitter users writing in English, posted from February 2008 through January 2010.
They analyzed the text of each message, using a standard computer program that associates certain words, like “awesome” and “agree,” with positive moods and others, like “annoy” and “afraid,” with negative ones. They included so-called emoticons, the face symbols like “:)” that punctuate digital missives.
The researchers gained access to the messages through Twitter, using an interface that allows scientists as well as software developers to work with the data.
The pair found that about 7 percent of the users qualified as “night owls,” showing peaks in upbeat-sounding messages around midnight and beyond, and about 16 percent were morning people, who showed such peaks very early in the day.
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After accounting for these differences, the researchers determined that for the average user in each country, positive posts crested around breakfast time, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.; they fell off gradually until hitting a trough between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., then drifted upward, rising more sharply after dinner.
To no one’s surprise, people’s overall moods were lowest at the beginning of the workweek, and rose later, peaking on the weekend. (The pattern of peak moods on days off held for countries where Saturday and Sunday are not the weekend.)
The pattern on weekend days was shifted about two hours later — the morning peak closer to 9 a.m. and the evening one past 9 p.m., most likely because people sleep in and stay up later — but the shape of the curve was the same.
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“This is a significant finding because one explanation out there for the pattern was just that people hate going to work,” Mr. Golder said. “But if that were the case, the pattern should be different on the weekends, and it’s not. That suggests that something more fundamental is driving this — that it’s due to biological or circadian factors.”
The researchers found no evidence for the winter blues, the common assumption that short winter days contribute to negative moods. Negative messages were as likely during the winter as in the summer.
But positively rated messages tracked the rate at which day length changed: that is, they trended upward around the spring equinox in late March, and downward around the fall equinox in late September. This suggests that seasonal mood changes are due more to a diminishing of positive emotions in anticipation of short days, the authors say.
Dr. Dodds, the University of Vermont researcher, has been doing text analysis of Twitter messages worldwide as well, to get a reading on collective well-being, among other things. He said the new study comported well with his own recent analysis. “We find that swearing goes up with negative mood in the very same way,” he said. “It tracks beautifully with the pattern they’re showing.”
Social scientists analyzing digital content agree that, for all its statistical appeal, the approach still needs some fine-tuning. On Twitter, people routinely savage others with pure relish and gush sarcastically — and the software is not sophisticated enough to pick up these subtleties.
“I suspect that if you counted the good and bad words people said during intercourse, you’d mistakenly conclude that they were having an awful time,” Dr. Gilbert said.Bad news is dangerous to one’s health, and even worse for one’s politics. Our Jewish elites spin propaganda that minimizes damage to their own in-group cohesion while simultaneously pumping out a steady stream of pessimistic demographic “news” to the White majority in the United States.
Demographic prediction is particularly useful for propaganda. It is either an elixir of hope that energizes a base population into effective action, or a poison that kills hope and drains life and motivation from individuals.
Our elites deploy demographic bad news to persuade Whites that the contest for power is over: to lay down our arms, remain silent and acquiesce to their removal from the professions, from leading intuitions: from remunerative jobs and from national culture. Increasingly Whites are told through a myriad of channels: obey or pay the consequences.
Never mind that the Ashkenazi birthrate is well below replacement, or that only the Orthodox among Jews have a high birthrate — indeed that the Jewish Orthodox appear to sport a significantly lower IQ and are not likely to sustain Jewish elite dominance. The frenzy of concern about Jewish demographic decline (and the angst over Orthodox dominance) suddenly ceased in Jewish publications across the board in the early 2000s. It would appear that bad news about Jewish demographic decline is Bad for the Jews.
Meanwhile many Whites in the United States have absorbed the toxic pessimism of demographic decline so intricately constructed by our elites. It is easy to understand why. First, the “news” we get is pre-selected, pre-digested, and vomited up daily for our consumption in news sites, movies, newspapers and blared from speakers in grocery stores, gas stations and coffee shops. Second, many White nationalists use demographic data to shock our fellow Whites into action, by pointing out the litany of atrocities committed against us on a daily basis. Who among us are not shocked at the blasphemy of aliens overrunning our sacred temples, deforming out institutions of higher learning, and degrading our national symbols? Obviously we must speak out.
But predicting the imminent demise of our people in order to “wake up” our base is a mistake.
While we must always hold a realistic assessment of our situation, we must not internalize and further the object of this propaganda. Our elites serve up bad demographic news to engender despair. To internalize this despair means White nationalists lose followers and even well-wishers. The world loves a winner. Our people will give up if we convince ourselves that we will lose. Our people will speak up and fight only if there is hope.
This point is effectively made by a brilliant social scientist, Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann, who wrote in 1984 what is now a sociological classic, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion — Our Social Skin. [1] Friend and confidant of a succession of German Chancellors, including Helmut Kohl, Noelle-Neumann headed the Allensbach Institute, a prestigious polling organization in Germany. She demonstrated that humans are primarily motivated by fear of isolation. Neither Neitzschean will to power, Hegelian search for recognition (thymos) nor a simplistic Marxian lust for material gain account for most human behavior. Rather, given our evolutionary past, a very high priority for humans was to seek group inclusion and conformity to public opinion. If they did not fit in they were evicted. In a hunter-gather society eviction usually resulted in death. To read the social cues; intuit the prevailing mood; and then join the crowd is the modus operandi of the vast majority of humans, including Whites. She quotes John Locke to remind us that there is not
one of ten thousand who is stiff and insensible enough to bear up under the constant dislike and condemnation of his own club.
Noelle-Neumann demonstrates that elections are primarily won by parties that convince the general population that they are going to win. This makes nonsense, of course, of polling: people give answers they intuit are expected. Further, polls are used primarily as propaganda tools by our elite to sway public opinion — hence, perhaps, the general under-prediction of the recent Republican tsunami in the Congressional elections. Objectively, they measure very little. “Fringe groups” “extremists” “controversial” are all terms that have no meaning other than the talking points that frame the official propaganda of the elite.
Fear of isolation also makes nonsense of democracy. Political parties gain the majority of votes required to win by convincing the masses that their side is going to win. Identifying losers by mass media and isolating dissent as a fringe element has proven a very successful strategy for keeping majority Whites from having effective representation in the halls of power.
But the Spiral of Silence also lays out a strategy for dissent. If those outside of power project certainty and loudly proclaim confidence in their future, the average men and women will begin to hedge their bets. They will compromise their adopted opinions and attempt to balance their views with that of the dissenters. Some will even begin to break off and join the dissenting movement, particularly if the movement provides a welcoming network that operates as a new sub-elite, and offers inclusion in a satisfying milieu — even if opposed to the majority. The key is to remember that people rarely form independent opinions. They get their cues from mass media unless they are involved in |
off the contractors.
We smelt a rat: London's new scary attraction is found to be haunted, just weeks before opening? PR bullshit. Or was it? Click through to find out what happened when we subsequently spent the evening unsupervised with several buckets-full of human remains and lots of booze.
Take-home fact: animatronic zombies look five times more terrifying when they're stacked up next to genuine pieces of human.
Click here for full report and pictures.
Inside the Science Museum's stores
What you see inside the Science Museum represents only 8% of its collection. Much of the rest is housed inside an extravagant Edwardian building near Olympia.
Here, unencumbered by the need for explanatory labels, sit thousands of technological and medical treasures, from Apollo mission patches, to lucky Roman phalluses, to early dentist chairs.
Take-home fact: Blythe House also contains artefacts from the V&A and British Museum. Although they're in the same building and serve similar functions, the triad of institutions have little to do with one another and have separate entrance points.
Click here for full report and pictures.
To the top of Soho's tallest steeple
On Open House weekend 2007, we visited the remarkable church of St Anne's, Soho, whose steeple looks for all the world like a Soyuz space capsule.
At the time, we were able to climb all the way to the top, where we found an ancient ladder, sundry dead birds, an inch of dust and plenty of droppings. Two days later, perhaps by coincidence, perhaps not, we gained the most persistent cough, which lasted all winter. The upper sections of the spire are no longer reachable on Open House weekend, for very good health and safety reasons.
Take-home fact: You can still see the marvellous clock, housed on a lower level of the steeple.
Click here for full report and pictures.
Into the bowels of the British Library
Ever called up a rare book in one of the British Library's reading rooms? If so, your request works its way to your eager paws via a series of Wonka-esque conveyor belts, which lead up from the archive beneath the public parts of the building.
These lower levels also contain a cage full of decrepit computer hardware, awaiting the attentions of digital archivists.
Take-home fact: the Library's basement extends the equivalent of eight storeys deep, with the lower reaches passing close to a tunnel of the Victoria Line.
Click here for full report and pictures.
Into a 'ghost' tube station
Plenty of people have made the decent into Aldwych station, an abandoned tube stop that is now regularly opened up for cultural events by Transport for London.
Not so many, however, have had the privilege of exploring Brompton Road — a Piccadilly Line station that closed in 1934. We were taken down by the Old Underground Company, which is working to rejuvenate and reopen these abandoned stations.
Take-home fact: relics of the Second World War remain in Brompton Road, including a large map plotting London's air defences.
Click here for full report and pictures.
The Clerkenwell Catacombs
If you ever watch a film or TV show featuring endless brick caverns — Sherlock Holmes, say, or Spooks — chances are it was filmed in the tunnels of the Clerkenwell House of Detention.
This prison is long gone, to be replaced by the imposing Hugh Myddelton School, but its catacombs remain. Although the space was once open to the public as a minor tourist attraction, it is now only accessible to film crews and the occasional private event.
Take-home fact: The complex once contained 286 prison cells.
Click here for full report and pictures.
See also: the cellar of Berry Brothers and Rudd, the top of the Walkie Taklie skyscraper, on the roof of Tower Bridge, Kingsway tram tunnel, a haunted Victorian bowling alley beneath Greenwich.
(Note: we always visit places legally, through the proper channels. You can find many more-hardcore, unauthorised explorations of London's hidden bits with a bit of Googling.)
Got any suggestions for other'secret' places we might explore? Or, better yet, can you grant us access? Leave a comment below, or get in touch with hello@londonist.comDelaware and Villanova have traditionally played each other in the final week of the college football season, but that will change for one year next fall. Delaware and Villanova, both members of the Colonial Athletics Association will play at the beginning of the year instead. The game has been moved from its traditional point in order to accommodate Villanova’s involvement with a scheduled visit from Pope Francis to Philadelphia next year.
Pope Francis announced he will plan to visit Philadelphia in 2015. Philadelphia officials have been campaigning for the Papal visit for a while now, and Villanova University intends on being a big part of the welcoming committee. This should be expected given Villanova’s Roman Catholic affiliation. Of course, there has been no official confirmation the Pope will tour the City of Brotherly Love just yet, but the pieces appear to be in place. Due to the significant visit from the Pope, Villanova’s football team was forced to do some tweaking with the football schedule to make everything work out.
According to VU Hoops, Villanova elected to reserve the mid-September date as a guaranteed home game on the CAA schedule, which in turn allows the Wildcats to host family day before the Pope’s tentative visit.
Villanova has not released its 2015 schedule yet, but Delaware has. The two rivals will play September 19 at Villanova. It’s a shame, really. The opportunity to see the Pope do the pregame coin flip would have been pretty cool.
Follow @KevinOnCFBIron Man Helmet 3D: 3D Printing Meets Cosplay
If Tony Stark had only known that he didn’t need to manually craft his Iron Man MK-1 armor, but only 3d print it, his life would’ve been so much simpler.
This is the creation of Ryan Brooks, who we’re gonna go ahead and just call a genius, because this is brilliant. He printed a wearable replica of Iron Man’s Mark III helmet, and it looks just terrific.
You can see some of the process that led to the finished helmet in the video just below these lines:
On the other hand, to check the finished version, check out this other video:
Thanks to the Nerdgasmo team, and Zyanya particularly for the lead.
Check out more stories at 8 Hidden Meanings of Famous Characters Names and Apple Woes: Exploding iPads and Delayed Products.By William K. Black
August 22, 2016 Kansas City, MO
The New York Times has a columnist who interviews business leaders. He interviewed, Bracken Darrell, Logitech’s CEO in a column entitled “Be Sure to Tell the Boss What’s Wrong.” When we, the co-founders of Bank Whistleblowers United, here a phrase like that our ears perk up. It is exactly the right message the CEO should send. The people who most obviously take that message to heart, in the most difficult circumstances for the employee and where following the CEO’s advice is most vital to the firm, are whistleblowers. Despite the title of the article, and the famous role that whistleblowers played in disclosing the frauds that drove the most recent financial crisis, however, the CEO never mentioned whistleblowers. The entirety of the discussion of basis for the title of the article is shown below.
What changes did you make when you joined Logitech in 2013? Early on, we defined several values in the culture that I didn’t think were there enough. One of them was speaking up, and that’s the most important one. When people go through a tough time, as Logitech had for about four years, everybody’s talking about problems. But if nobody listens to them they stop talking about problems, so you don’t know what they are. The most dangerous thing is to be sitting in an office and nobody’s telling you what’s wrong. So I immediately started talking about speaking up and moving fast.
In addition to the CEO failing to mention whistleblowers, two things stand out about the passage. While the writer chose this passage to provide the title and apparent theme for his article, he asked no follow-up questions. Even if the CEO failed to bring up whistleblowers, the author of the article should have asked about them and should have asked additional questions to flesh out the value of speaking truth to power in a firm.
Second, the CEO’s experience at Logitech appears to be that he never had an employee willing to blow the whistle. The CEO observed that “if nobody listens to them [those “talking about problems”], they stop talking about problems.” He notes that “don’t know that [the problems] are.” He correctly calls that condition the “most dangerous” for a CEO. But my co-founders Richard Bowen and Michael Winston, who held senior positions at corporations and blew the whistle did not “stop talking about problems” that they warned their bosses about when those bosses failed to “listen to” those warnings.
The CEO’s language has another “tell” that he does not even think about whistleblowers. Whistleblowers’ warnings are rarely simply ignored. When whistleblowers expose deliberate misconduct by their superiors, as both Richard and Michael did, the reaction of senior managers is not indifference, but hostility. Reprisals against whistleblowers occur because the warnings are accurate and the senior leadership is unwilling to prevent the deliberate misconduct because that is the conduct that is making them wealthy, though it often harms the firm.
The reader can see how much stronger the NYT article could have been had it developed the theme that framed its title. It is true that the refusal of employees and officers to speak truth to the CEO is among the “most dangerous” dysfunctions from the standpoint of an honest CEO. That indices that when the reaction of senior managers to a whistleblower’s warnings is hostile it is one of the clearest possible signals that the senior management is dishonest and setting a criminal “tone at the top” of the firm.
If any CEO wishes to signal a bona fide commitment to establishing and maintain a culture based on encouraging employees to “speak up” about “problems” there is a simple means of doing so that would also create immediate substantive benefits. Hire Richard or Michael as senior managers. They have been through the crucible and proved their exceptional value. They were correct, ethical, loyal to the interests of the firm’s stakeholders, and they were courageous. Talk by CEOs is cheap. Who you hire and promote defines your firm.Mia Hamm Says LAFC Working On Creating Women's Team To Play In NWSL
LAFC investor Mia Hamm said that the club is "working on creating its own women’s team that could play in the NWSL and that it is a priority for her," according to Corey Roepken of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. LAFC will play its inaugural MLS season in '18, and having a women's team in L.A. would be a "boon for the NWSL as it expands its reach and increases its stability." Hamm said that for that to happen and "for the NWSL to thrive, more resources need to be put into it." She said that the early returns of the NWSL "have been great" but there is "more work to be done." Hamm added that she is "encouraged by what she sees from the NWSL," which will kick off its sixth season this spring. Hamm: "I hope we can increase the support in so many different ways -- in sponsorship, television, increasing salaries. It’s going to help grow our game. It’s going to help the women’s national team program" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 12/19).One of the most frustrating things in my life is that for the last few months, because of a change in my wife’s work schedule, I haven’t been able to get up to the prison I’ve been teaching in for the last seven years. I miss the guys there. I regard them as part of my “sangha” (spiritual community). I have great respect for them as spiritual practitioners because of the sheer effort they have to make in order to remain sane and balanced in a very challenging environment. Not only do they stay sane and balanced, but some of them bring about huge changes in their lives. I regard many of them as friends.
One of my inmate friends is a man who picked up the nickname “Buddha Bob.” He didn’t get the name from his fellow Buddhists, of course, but from other inmates who were in a therapy group he attended. Maybe they called him that because he has a strong philosophical streak, or because he has a bald head, or because he has a quiet, friendly bearing, or because he’s very stoic and puts up with periodic depression with great dignity.
Perhaps it’s because he’s very compassionate and spends a lot of time with inmates who are dying in the prison hospice. Perhaps it’s because he’s so reflective, and because he’s taken full responsibility for the suffering he’s caused, has made amends with the people he’s hurt, and has uprooted the poisoned vines of his own suffering, which drove him to hurt others in the first place. He’s done a lot of work on himself. Maybe he got the nickname simply because of his Buddhist practice, although I think the name stuck before any of that entered his life.
I like Buddha Bob a lot. I performed his daughter’s wedding ceremony, because she wanted me to stand in for him. I was touched and honored by her request, and I value feeling connected to Bob’s family.
Buddha Bob is going to be released soon. It’s a hard thing to go from prison to the outside world. No money, no job, no place to stay, no job history, no ID, no drivers’ license. And having to deal with people’s suspicion about a former felon. Often the only places you can find to stay charge extortionate rest because they know it’s so hard for a former inmate to get lodgings.
I want to help Buddha Bob get on his feet when he’s set free. He’s been making Buddhist malas — you know, those strings of 108 beads that you see wrapped around people’s wrists or draped around their necks, or hanging from one hand as they count mantras. And we’ve been selling them for him on Wildmind’s online store so that he can save up a bit of money to pay a deposit and first month’s rent, and so that he can cover his basic living expenses as he finds his feet.
Bobs’ malas are really lovely. I’d ask you to seriously consider buying one. You may not be a Buddhist yourself, but you’d be doing a fellow human being a good turn, and you’d have a beautiful object to look at and touch. You may be a Buddhist and already have a mala; well, think of this as an upgrade or as a potential gift.
Generosity is a valuable spiritual practice. When we give, we recognize that ultimately we don’t own anything, and that there’s no one to do any owning. Giving helps to loosen up the tight knot of self by means of which we see ourselves as separate and isolated from the wider world. We feel good when we give, because when we are generous we’re more in touch with the impermanent, flowing nature of the world. Everything flows, nothing stays still.
So please seriously consider buying one of Buddha Bob’s beautiful malas. Each one of them is made with love and care. You’ll be able to feel that love and care each time you touch one of his malas, or each time you see a friend wearing it.
Just click on any of the images below to be taken to our online store.
New jade mala. Only one in stock!
Olive new jade mala. No longer available.
Rose quartz mala. Two in stock.
Blue Czech glass mala. Three in stock.
Salwag seed mala. No longer available.
New palmwood mala. Four in stock.
Old palmwood mala. One in stock.
Mother of pearl mala. Two in stock.
Rosewood mala. Three in stock.As we warned you in last week’s first impressions video, spitting out a full Jolla phone review in the span of five days -in an unsupported region, no less- would have resulted in a pretty shoddy end product, and it also wouldn’t have painted an accurate picture of the device. We generally don’t review smartphones whose operating systems still carry the Beta tag, and we only review out-of-region devices if they fully support our local cellular bands.
But though the Jolla that landed on our doorstep last week doesn’t conform to these restrictions, we needed to take it for a spin anyway. The opportunity to test-drive a new platform is so rare, and our early looks at the Sailfish OS were so promising, that we just had to share our experience with you. On paper, what we found was equal parts encouraging and disappointing – but the net result of our time with this new skiff on the smartphone sea is a sense of optimism. We’re surprised by how much Jolla has accomplished in a fairly short time, and we’re excited for what comes next.
Want the details? Sure you do. Hop on down to our love & hate video for the first Jolla smartphone, and then tune in for some more informal impressions in episode 075 of the Pocketnow Weekly podcast!J. Apesteguia and I. Palacios-Huerta, “Psychological Pressure in Competitive Environments:
Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment”, American Economic Review 100 (December 2010): 2548-2564.
This economics paper focuses on the psychological issues involved in high-stakes competitive environments, using the penalty kick shootout as an illustration. The major finding of the paper is that there is a structural advantage in the penalty kick shootout to the team that shoots first, which can be explained by psychological factors.
———-
This is the second of the two papers that I was going to review during the holiday period, and the one that has generated more attention from the broader sports media. The paper centers itself in the research area of behavioral economics, in which economic models are developed that account for psychological factors. In a way, it attempts to account for the irrational within the rational and determine how applicable insights obtained in lab might be to real world conditions. (Some primers of the topic can be found here and here, and even more can be found via your preferred Internet search engine.)
It is the question of applicability that is the most difficult for behavioral economists to answer, and therefore that which has generated the greatest interest in the field. There exist very few real-world examples that closely mimic a laboratory problem, and vice-versa. José Apesteguia, an economics professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, an economics professor at the London School of Economics, have identified one example of equal interest to economists and soccer fans: the penalty-kick shootout.
Palacios-Huerta should be familiar to those who read Soccernomics, as he was the professor who had researched game theory and penalty kicks in graduate school and later sent a letter to Chelsea manager Avram Grant about the penalty-kick practices of the Manchester United kickers and goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar. It appears that the scouting report was used during the 2008 Champions League final, as Szymanski and Kuper recount in that chapter on the final.
The penalty kick shootout is described as an example of a randomized natural experiment, an observational study in which the treatment and control groups are determined through random means. In this particular study, the subjects are professionals carrying out one — and exactly one — task. All of the relevant variables are observable, and the outcome of the task is known immediately and definitively. Moreover, all subjects are highly motivated to complete the task well.
Data were collected from 129 shootouts, which resulted in a total of over 1,300 kicks. The data included not just the actions of the shooter and goalkeeper, but also the particulars of the match and the teams. Data were presented with respect to the team which shot first in the penalty kick shootout, and in some cases the outcome of the coin toss was collected. This was most relevant after 2003, when changes to the FIFA Laws of the Game presented team captains with the option instead of the obligation to kick first upon winning the pre-shootout coin toss.
One might expect that both sides would have an equal chance to win the penalty shootout. However, the data indicate that the team that shoots first has a 60% chance of winning the penalty shootout, which in this study is significant at less than a 2% level. Even more interesting is the finding that the team shooting second has a consistently lower shooting percentage and consistently longer odds of leading the shootout after each round.
So there exists a significant and persistent advantage to the team the shoots first in a penalty kick shootout. But are the players and managers aware of that? The authors sent questionnaires to players and managers of professional and amateur soccer clubs in Spain, from the Primera Liga to the regional amateur leagues. The result was that across managers and players at all levels of the game, over 90% of those polled preferred to shoot first. When given the opportunity to state the reason for shooting first, almost all of the respondents said that they wanted to place pressure on the kickers of the opposing team. It appears that the players and managers are definitely aware of the psychological factors surrounding the penalty kick shootout. Now Apesteguia and Palacios-Huerta seek to quantify them.
There were two types of regression tests made in this study. The first one utilized a probit/logit model and determined the influence of certain regressors (team rankings, league positions, home team, shootout experience, team shooting first) on the win probability. The only regressor with a significant regression coefficient (at a 1% level) was the one associated with the team shooting first. This result tends to indicate that the penalty kick shootout really is a crapshoot in that all of the factors that would give an advantage to one side no longer apply.
The second type of test involved a panel data model, which was used to determine the mechanism of the scoring rates during the penalty shootout. Panel data analysis appears to be an econometrics tool that is used by economists and social scientists to study the characteristics of groups (panels) over time. For the penalty kick analysis it would be useful in understanding how scoring rates change as a function of the interim score in the competition. What Apesteguia and Palacios-Huerta found was not very surprising: as a team lags in the interim score, their penalty kick performance degrades, and as it leads in the interim score, their performance improves especially in the later rounds. Because in the current shootout format the team that loses the toss always shoots second, that team will almost always have a level of psychological pressure that the team shooting first does not have. (Upon understanding that finding, Gianluigi Buffon’s decision after winning the coin toss to have Spain kick first in the Euro 2008 quarterfinal was one of the biggest unforced errors in international football.)
Finally, the authors analyzed data in which they had information on the shot outcome — was it missed by the kicker, or saved by the goalkeeper? — and found that the save rate was approximately the same between the two teams in the shootout. The difference in scoring rates in the shootout is correlated very strongly with the miss rate of the kicker. Therefore the burden of success in the shootout rests not with the goalkeeper but with the kickers selected.
So in conclusion, the penalty kick shootout as it currently exists is biased toward the team that wins the toss, only becomes unbiased if the shootout reaches sudden-death (more than five rounds), and is less a battle between goalkeeper and striker and more one between the striker and the mass between the striker’s ears. So how do these results explain Germany’s near perfect record in penalty shootouts, or England’s abysmal record in shootouts? There are some goalkeepers who were exceptionally good in penalty kick shootouts; what about them? What the authors are saying is that in the mean, the penalty kick shootout really depends on one event, which makes the aforementioned events so exceptional. There are some policy implications for competitive environments where the interim result is known to all parties, but specific to football FIFA will be asked how they can make the shootout fairer to both teams. I am intrigued by the use of a tennis tiebreaker system (ABBAABB…), but I would like to know if there is an advantage to the player who serves first in the tiebreaker (I’ve seen a couple of papers related to the topic, but they were what I was looking for specifically). This paper will provoke a lot of debate about the use of penalty kicks to break ties, with which very few people seem fully satisfied until they seriously consider the alternatives.It’s wonderful that you can easily create mobile apps that extend what your company can offer. Just be sure to ensure that the mobile software meets corporate and industry security compliance guidelines before you let it out the door.
The wildly successful slogan “There’s an app for that” has built the illusion that mobile apps are plentiful because they’re easy to build. Users find a bounty of free and cheap apps everyday. Don’t like one? Hey, another does the same thing in a slightly different, presumably better way.
When it comes to apps in enterprise app stores, again the user thinking is that these things are no-brainers. There ought to be oodles of them to do practically anything the job or project requires. And so when a business user looks at the enterprise app store and sees a sparse collection or can’t find an app to do what is needed at this very moment, he rambles off to find a mobile app in the consumer world that serves his requirement. Chaos ensues, enterprise security compliance and security measures fail, finger-pointing begins, and yelling volumes reach new highs. From all this comes a boiling pot of pressure on IT’s head to get a damned app for that!
Speed thus becomes the mandate. Develop apps fast and get them on the app store so we can get our data off users’ personal mobile devices and out of consumer apps. Do it quickly.
However, with speed inevitably errors follow. The faster you go, the more errors are made. And so it is that so many enterprise apps get out in the wild before all the security holes are filled, the locks locked, and the chains chained.
Sure, you have a checklist and tools to help catch the security flaws before the apps go live, but often they’re not enough to catch everything that could possibly go wrong… until it does.
CIOs and application managers need to make the mobile software launch checklist a bit longer to catch more of the things that are oft- forgotten. In other words, strengthen your efforts to make security part of mobile app design. Here are seven commonly-forgotten app security compliance “gotchas” that you might add to your checklist.
1. Phone possession sucks as a factor in a multi-factor authentication scheme. “Many organizations are using the possession and control of a smartphone as one factor in a multi-factor authentication scheme,” says Paul Hill, senior consultant with SystemExperts, IT consultants. “However, the risk of theft or loss of a cell phone is greater than the theft or loss of a desktop, a laptop, or maybe even a set of car keys. It is not clear that organizations have fully considered how a high risk of theft or loss impacts their multi-factor authentication strategies.”
That’s not just a matter of your company’s internal security. “Related to the above issue are the future impacts of court rulings that have concluded that police, TSA agents, and other authorities do not necessarily need a warrant to examine the contents of a smartphone or laptop computer,” Hill added. “Other rulings also conclude that a person may be compelled to decrypt the contents of such devices or otherwise provide the decryption keys.”
2. Data URLs are not secure. A high percentage of mobile apps download external content by way of the public Internet. In many cases, documents, images, and other application resources are downloaded using an unencrypted web address. “Downloading data from a non-secure and unencrypted URL is irresponsible,” says David Book, a 15-year veteran software developer in Monterey, California and founder of buzztouch.com.
“Just because the app user doesn’t see URLs used in the mobile app – unlike a standard web browser where the ‘S’ in the httpS: is clearly identified for the user — doesn’t mean it’s secure,” he added. “Security by obscurity in this case is inadequate. Ensure all URLs associated with the app are using the industry standard https: protocol. This includes ‘GET’ and ‘POST’ requests for images, documents, user login credentials, and other commonly transferred data.”
3. Giving mobile apps a pass on standard app dev rules. Odds are your company has learned a thing or two over the years in developing desktop, server and web applications, yet that institutional learning gets lost when it comes to mobile app development. “How rigorous is your company’s application development security compliance process in general, and is this being FULLY applied to mobile apps?” asks Brian Barnier, advisor with ISACA, an association of 100,000 IT governance professionals in 180 countries. “Both of these are often not the case when a separate team is doing mobile apps, often with separate skills,” Barnier says.
4. Unfiltered user inputs. Input screens that collect data from mobile app users, such as email addresses and user names, are frequently not filtered at the device level. This often introduces a security compliance risk. “Many data inputs collected on the device are passed along to an external server for offline storage,” explains Book. “In these cases, it’s important that the integrity of the data in the external storage (usually a relational database) remain intact.”
Most web developers already understand the dangers in accepting unfiltered inputs in standard browser-based HTML forms, such as a user registration form. “However, mobile app developers oftentimes ignore this,” says Book. “They ignore it because they don’t understand how to filter inputs, or because they simply don’t consider the risk the same way they would when creating a browser-based app.”
The fix? “All inputs provided by a user in a mobile app should be filtered at the device level to prevent the intentional, or unintentional injection of invalid characters,” says Book. “A SQL injection attack is equally as likely when data is originating from a mobile app as it is from an HTML form; this must be considered when developing mobile software.”
5. User Data Saved to NSUserDefaults or SharedPreferences. Application developers often need to store small pieces of data on the device for later use. “In iOS this data is usually stored using the built in NSUserDefault class,” explains Book. “In Android this data is usually stored using the built-in SharedPreferences class. The problem with these approaches is that the NSUserDefault class and the SharedPreferences class stores this data on the device in plain text. You can easily see this data by examining the backup data for any app after syncing with a computer.”
“It would also be trivial to find this data on a device should it become stolen or lost,” Book says. “All sensitive data saved on the device should be stored in a secure location within the app’s sandbox. In the case of iOS, this should be done using the built-in Keychain class. The Keychain (in iOS and Mac OSX) saves this data securely. In Android, the solution involves encrypting the data prior to saving it using the SharedPreferences utilities.”
6. Forgetting to kill the session. Think web apps for smartphones are better than mobile apps? Think again. “Session management and lifetime may be an issue for Web applications running on smartphones,” says Hill. “Since the browser never truly exits, non-expiring cookies may persist for a very long time. Authenticated Web applications that may be used on a smartphone should have explicit session lifetimes defined.”
7. Forgetting to secure the back end. “There’s lots of hype around the latest vulnerabilities in mobile apps, but remember that just like other client-server applications, most of the technical and business risk inherent in an application exists on the server-side,” says Jacob West, CTO of Fortify Products within HP Enterprise Security. “Most mobile apps are developed as lightweight clients, often backed by legacy Web applications. Finding, fixing, and preventing vulnerabilities in the client code is important, but don’t lose sight of the steps needed to secure the backend.”
As things stand today, enterprise mobile apps are the best means with which to secure corporate data on mobile devices. That does not mean, however, that mobile apps are as good as they can be. Start by including security in the design from the outset and then double-check for security compliance flaws before you make the app available on your app store.
Tools alone do not catch security compliance problems so be sure to work from a comprehensive checklist too. Not sure your checklist is comprehensive enough? Think in reverse, i.e. think like a hacker or acquire people or a service that can do so. By specifically looking for hacking opportunities, you can identify measures to eliminate them.Now that the PlayStation 4 is setting the bar for what gamers expect from a PlayStation experience, Sony is beginning to look more toward indies, third-party developers and Remote Play to deliver gaming to the Vita, Shuhei Yoshida told Polygon in a recent interview.
And that's not exactly surprising, he added.
"When we launched PSP titles, a big talking point was PS2-quality games in your hands," Yoshida said. "It was an amazing experience to play PS2-quality like Twisted Metal on your portable device. But as time went on and the PS3 launched and people started to see next-gen games, that PS2 quality was not enough. People's expectations for the quality just moved on.
"So when we launched the Vita with Uncharted, it was amazing; PS3-like quality in your palm, but as time moved on, you are seeing PS4 quality and people's expectations for the graphic fidelity has gone up."
Yoshida said as graphics become less of a "talking point" for the Vita, the focus on what they want to put on the portable platform shifted.
"It's very fortunate that the indie boom happened and they are providing lots of great content to Vita," he said. " Gameplay, game mechanic wise, people want to spend 10 minutes, 15 minutes getting in and out. On Vita, it's great with suspended functionality, so these indie games really great for that from a game design standpoint.
"Instead of watching big stories or cinematics, you can spend hours on Vita. So, I think that's actually the biggest star to help provide great content to Vita going forward. And we continue to make games cross-platform games, especially on digital side."
Do you think the Vita then will be getting fewer first-party games, I asked.
"I would say, yes, that's correct," Yoshida said.
Third-party developers are still tweaking how they bring big games to the portable. When Borderlands 2 came to the Vita, for instance, many people were annoyed by the controls, which in-part relied on the back touch pad.
Yoshida loved the game but wasn't a fan of those controls, and tweeted out the day of the game's release that players could customize the way they played on the portable.
"I love what they did," he said. "Comparing that to the PS3 experience, I don't think that should be the point. It's a very, very deep and enjoyably fun game, and I'm having fun playing with a new character I missed on PS3 because it included most of the DLC. So I think they did a great job."
"I tweeted immediately when it came out you can remap the controls from the back touch," he added. Then Yoshida turned to Adam Boyes, vice president of publisher and developer relations, who was in the interview as well and added: "My complaints to your team is, why didn't you make it the default?"
Boyes said his team has since created a system for developers to use the touch on Vita and reassign the mapping, but that it wasn't available at launch.
"So some games like Infamous already do that, put everything on the front touchscreen because the front is easier to reach," he said.
The ability to tweak the way a game is controlled on the Vita is becoming increasingly important with the ability to play PlayStation 4 games through Remote Play.
Yoshida said Remote Play has also taken a little bit of pressure off of Sony to make first-party Vita games.
But Sony seems not to be completely capitalizing on the functionality. There hasn't been much of an advertising push about the service, I tell Yoshida. Could there be an official PS4 and Vita bundle coming?
Yoshida said that some European retailers released an unofficial bundle that packaged the two systems together, but nothing from Sony, at least not yet.
"Never say never," he said. "In the past, we did something like Bravia TV and PS3 bundle, so that's even bigger. So never say never.
"We are super excited about how people are using it. We are bringing PS TV with that feature and the tech teams are constantly working to improve the experience as well. It's a Gaiki team who's tech is provided. You are on a streaming service, so the basic tech is the same whether it's PS Now or Remote Play, and latency is super important. So we will continue to provide more utility to Vita as a PS4 companion device as well as PS Now terminal."An illegal immigrant worked at the House of Commons for two months before security staff noticed that she had simply glued a photo of herself onto a fake Swedish passport. But she has been handed a suspended sentence in court as the judge ruled she faked the passport “for honourable reasons.”
Sierra Leonian Adeyemi Zubairu earned less than £600 during her employment at the Dispatch Box Café, where she served coffee to ministers, Members of Parliament and their guests. She secured the job through an external employment agency, she says in desperation because her aunt in Sierra Leone had contracted Ebola and needed money for treatment, the Daily Mail has reported.
Zubairu first came to the UK in 2007 on a student visa that expired in 2010, but overstayed. In January 2014 she married a Dutch national in a ‘proxy’ wedding in Sierra Leone which neither party attended. On February 10th of this year she was granted leave to remain in the UK indefinitely, despite the looming court case over her faked documents.
Unusually, Zubairu was able to give evidence at her sentencing. The court heard how she had to give up her legitimate Sierra Leonean passport as part of the application process six months before the hearing date. When her aunt, who was also the sole carer for Zubairu’s 13-year-old sister, fell sick, she was desperate for cash. “I didn’t care what job it was, all I wanted was something to earn some money,” she said.
A friend, also from Sierra Leone, gave her a passport and told her that she had registered to work with an agency under the false name Josephine Gibson. Zubairu phoned the agency using the name Gibson |
-bsfs Show available bitstream filters. -protocols Show available protocols. -filters Show available libavfilter filters. -pix_fmts Show available pixel formats. -sample_fmts Show available sample formats. -layouts Show channel names and standard channel layouts. -colors Show recognized color names. -sources device [, opt1 = val1 [, opt2 = val2 ]...] Show autodetected sources of the input device. Some devices may provide system-dependent source names that cannot be autodetected. The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete. ffmpeg -sources pulse,server=192.168.0.4 -sinks device [, opt1 = val1 [, opt2 = val2 ]...] Show autodetected sinks of the output device. Some devices may provide system-dependent sink names that cannot be autodetected. The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete. ffmpeg -sinks pulse,server=192.168.0.4 -loglevel [ flags +] loglevel | -v [ flags +] loglevel Set logging level and flags used by the library. The optional flags prefix can consist of the following values: ‘ repeat ’ Indicates that repeated log output should not be compressed to the first line and the "Last message repeated n times" line will be omitted. ‘ level ’ Indicates that log output should add a [level] prefix to each message line. This can be used as an alternative to log coloring, e.g. when dumping the log to file. Flags can also be used alone by adding a ’+’/’-’ prefix to set/reset a single flag without affecting other flags or changing loglevel. When setting both flags and loglevel, a ’+’ separator is expected between the last flags value and before loglevel. loglevel is a string or a number containing one of the following values: ‘ quiet, -8 ’ Show nothing at all; be silent. ‘ panic, 0 ’ Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash, such as an assertion failure. This is not currently used for anything. ‘ fatal, 8 ’ Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process absolutely cannot continue. ‘ error, 16 ’ Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from. ‘ warning, 24 ’ Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly incorrect or unexpected events will be shown. ‘ info, 32 ’ Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition to warnings and errors. This is the default value. ‘ verbose, 40 ’ Same as info, except more verbose. ‘ debug, 48 ’ Show everything, including debugging information. ‘ trace, 56 ’ For example to enable repeated log output, add the level prefix, and set loglevel to verbose : ffmpeg -loglevel repeat+level+verbose -i input output Another example that enables repeated log output without affecting current state of level prefix flag or loglevel : ffmpeg [...] -loglevel +repeat By default the program logs to stderr. If coloring is supported by the terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log coloring can be disabled setting the environment variable AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR or NO_COLOR, or can be forced setting the environment variable AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR. The use of the environment variable NO_COLOR is deprecated and will be dropped in a future FFmpeg version. -report Dump full command line and console output to a file named program - YYYYMMDD - HHMMSS.log in the current directory. This file can be useful for bug reports. It also implies -loglevel debug. Setting the environment variable FFREPORT to any value has the same effect. If the value is a ’:’-separated key=value sequence, these options will affect the report; option values must be escaped if they contain special characters or the options delimiter ’:’ (see the “Quoting and escaping” section in the ffmpeg-utils manual). The following options are recognized: file set the file name to use for the report; %p is expanded to the name of the program, %t is expanded to a timestamp, %% is expanded to a plain % level set the log verbosity level using a numerical value (see -loglevel ). For example, to output a report to a file named ffreport.log using a log level of 32 (alias for log level info ): FFREPORT=file=ffreport.log:level=32 ffmpeg -i input output Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not appear in the report. -hide_banner Suppress printing banner. All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build options and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing this information. -cpuflags flags (global) Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you’re doing. ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx... ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx... ffmpeg -cpuflags 0... Possible flags for this option are: ‘ x86 ’ ‘ mmx ’ ‘ mmxext ’ ‘ sse ’ ‘ sse2 ’ ‘ sse2slow ’ ‘ sse3 ’ ‘ sse3slow ’ ‘ ssse3 ’ ‘ atom ’ ‘ sse4.1 ’ ‘ sse4.2 ’ ‘ avx ’ ‘ avx2 ’ ‘ xop ’ ‘ fma3 ’ ‘ fma4 ’ ‘ 3dnow ’ ‘ 3dnowext ’ ‘ bmi1 ’ ‘ bmi2 ’ ‘ cmov ’ ‘ ARM ’ ‘ armv5te ’ ‘ armv6 ’ ‘ armv6t2 ’ ‘ vfp ’ ‘ vfpv3 ’ ‘ neon ’ ‘ setend ’ ‘ AArch64 ’ ‘ armv8 ’ ‘ vfp ’ ‘ neon ’ ‘ PowerPC ’ ‘ altivec ’ ‘ Specific Processors ’ ‘ pentium2 ’ ‘ pentium3 ’ ‘ pentium4 ’ ‘ k6 ’ ‘ k62 ’ ‘ athlon ’ ‘ athlonxp ’ ‘ k8 ’
These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the -help option. They are separated into two categories:
generic These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under AVCodecContext options for codecs. private These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.
For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to an MP3 file, use the id3v2_version private option of the MP3 muxer:
ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3
All codec AVOptions are per-stream, and thus a stream specifier should be attached to them:
ffmpeg -i multichannel.mxf -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -map 0:a:0 -c:a:0 ac3 -b:a:0 640k -ac:a:1 2 -c:a:1 aac -b:2 128k out.mp4
In the above example, a multichannel audio stream is mapped twice for output. The first instance is encoded with codec ac3 and bitrate 640k. The second instance is downmixed to 2 channels and encoded with codec aac. A bitrate of 128k is specified for it using absolute index of the output stream.
Note: the -nooption syntax cannot be used for boolean AVOptions, use -option 0 / -option 1.
Note: the old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be removed soon.
-f fmt (input/output) Force input or output file format. The format is normally auto detected for input files and guessed from the file extension for output files, so this option is not needed in most cases. -i url (input) input file url -y (global) Overwrite output files without asking. -n (global) Do not overwrite output files, and exit immediately if a specified output file already exists. -stream_loop number (input) Set number of times input stream shall be looped. Loop 0 means no loop, loop -1 means infinite loop. -c[: stream_specifier ] codec (input/output,per-stream) -codec[: stream_specifier ] codec (input/output,per-stream) Select an encoder (when used before an output file) or a decoder (when used before an input file) for one or more streams. codec is the name of a decoder/encoder or a special value copy (output only) to indicate that the stream is not to be re-encoded. For example ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c:v libx264 -c:a copy OUTPUT encodes all video streams with libx264 and copies all audio streams. For each stream, the last matching c option is applied, so ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -c copy -c:v:1 libx264 -c:a:137 libvorbis OUTPUT will copy all the streams except the second video, which will be encoded with libx264, and the 138th audio, which will be encoded with libvorbis. -t duration (input/output) When used as an input option (before -i ), limit the duration of data read from the input file. When used as an output option (before an output url), stop writing the output after its duration reaches duration. duration must be a time duration specification, see (ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual. -to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority. -to position (input/output) Stop writing the output or reading the input at position. position must be a time duration specification, see (ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual. -to and -t are mutually exclusive and -t has priority. -fs limit_size (output) Set the file size limit, expressed in bytes. No further chunk of bytes is written after the limit is exceeded. The size of the output file is slightly more than the requested file size. -ss position (input/output) When used as an input option (before -i ), seeks in this input file to position. Note that in most formats it is not possible to seek exactly, so ffmpeg will seek to the closest seek point before position. When transcoding and -accurate_seek is enabled (the default), this extra segment between the seek point and position will be decoded and discarded. When doing stream copy or when -noaccurate_seek is used, it will be preserved. When used as an output option (before an output url), decodes but discards input until the timestamps reach position. position must be a time duration specification, see (ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual. -sseof position (input) Like the -ss option but relative to the "end of file". That is negative values are earlier in the file, 0 is at EOF. -itsoffset offset (input) Set the input time offset. offset must be a time duration specification, see (ffmpeg-utils)the Time duration section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual. The offset is added to the timestamps of the input files. Specifying a positive offset means that the corresponding streams are delayed by the time duration specified in offset. -timestamp date (output) Set the recording timestamp in the container. date must be a date specification, see (ffmpeg-utils)the Date section in the ffmpeg-utils(1) manual. -metadata[:metadata_specifier] key = value (output,per-metadata) Set a metadata key/value pair. An optional metadata_specifier may be given to set metadata on streams, chapters or programs. See -map_metadata documentation for details. This option overrides metadata set with -map_metadata. It is also possible to delete metadata by using an empty value. For example, for setting the title in the output file: ffmpeg -i in.avi -metadata title="my title" out.flv To set the language of the first audio stream: ffmpeg -i INPUT -metadata:s:a:0 language=eng OUTPUT -disposition[:stream_specifier] value (output,per-stream) Sets the disposition for a stream. This option overrides the disposition copied from the input stream. It is also possible to delete the disposition by setting it to 0. The following dispositions are recognized: default dub original comment lyrics karaoke forced hearing_impaired visual_impaired clean_effects attached_pic captions descriptions dependent metadata For example, to make the second audio stream the default stream: ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c copy -disposition:a:1 default out.mkv To make the second subtitle stream the default stream and remove the default disposition from the first subtitle stream: ffmpeg -i in.mkv -c copy -disposition:s:0 0 -disposition:s:1 default out.mkv To add an embedded cover/thumbnail: ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -i IMAGE -map 0 -map 1 -c copy -c:v:1 png -disposition:v:1 attached_pic out.mp4 Not all muxers support embedded thumbnails, and those who do, only support a few formats, like JPEG or PNG. -program [title= title :][program_num= program_num :]st= stream [:st= stream...] (output) Creates a program with the specified title, program_num and adds the specified stream (s) to it. -target type (output) Specify target file type ( vcd, svcd, dvd, dv, dv50 ). type may be prefixed with pal-, ntsc- or film- to use the corresponding standard. All the format options (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) are then set automatically. You can just type: ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd /tmp/vcd.mpg Nevertheless you can specify additional options as long as you know they do not conflict with the standard, as in: ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -target vcd -bf 2 /tmp/vcd.mpg -dn (input/output) As an input option, blocks all data streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See -discard option to disable streams individually. As an output option, disables data recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any data stream. For full manual control see the -map option. -dframes number (output) Set the number of data frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for -frames:d, which you should use instead. -frames[: stream_specifier ] framecount (output,per-stream) Stop writing to the stream after framecount frames. -q[: stream_specifier ] q (output,per-stream) -qscale[: stream_specifier ] q (output,per-stream) Use fixed quality scale (VBR). The meaning of q / qscale is codec-dependent. If qscale is used without a stream_specifier then it applies only to the video stream, this is to maintain compatibility with previous behavior and as specifying the same codec specific value to 2 different codecs that is audio and video generally is not what is intended when no stream_specifier is used. -filter[: stream_specifier ] filtergraph (output,per-stream) Create the filtergraph specified by filtergraph and use it to filter the stream. filtergraph is a description of the filtergraph to apply to the stream, and must have a single input and a single output of the same type of the stream. In the filtergraph, the input is associated to the label in, and the output to the label out. See the ffmpeg-filters manual for more information about the filtergraph syntax. See the -filter_complex option if you want to create filtergraphs with multiple inputs and/or outputs. -filter_script[: stream_specifier ] filename (output,per-stream) This option is similar to -filter, the only difference is that its argument is the name of the file from which a filtergraph description is to be read. -filter_threads nb_threads (global) Defines how many threads are used to process a filter pipeline. Each pipeline will produce a thread pool with this many threads available for parallel processing. The default is the number of available CPUs. -pre[: stream_specifier ] preset_name (output,per-stream) Specify the preset for matching stream(s). -stats (global) Print encoding progress/statistics. It is on by default, to explicitly disable it you need to specify -nostats. -progress url (global) Send program-friendly progress information to url. Progress information is written approximately every second and at the end of the encoding process. It is made of " key = value " lines. key consists of only alphanumeric characters. The last key of a sequence of progress information is always "progress". -stdin Enable interaction on standard input. On by default unless standard input is used as an input. To explicitly disable interaction you need to specify -nostdin. Disabling interaction on standard input is useful, for example, if ffmpeg is in the background process group. Roughly the same result can be achieved with ffmpeg... < /dev/null but it requires a shell. -debug_ts (global) Print timestamp information. It is off by default. This option is mostly useful for testing and debugging purposes, and the output format may change from one version to another, so it should not be employed by portable scripts. See also the option -fdebug ts. -attach filename (output) Add an attachment to the output file. This is supported by a few formats like Matroska for e.g. fonts used in rendering subtitles. Attachments are implemented as a specific type of stream, so this option will add a new stream to the file. It is then possible to use per-stream options on this stream in the usual way. Attachment streams created with this option will be created after all the other streams (i.e. those created with -map or automatic mappings). Note that for Matroska you also have to set the mimetype metadata tag: ffmpeg -i INPUT -attach DejaVuSans.ttf -metadata:s:2 mimetype=application/x-truetype-font out.mkv (assuming that the attachment stream will be third in the output file). -dump_attachment[: stream_specifier ] filename (input,per-stream) Extract the matching attachment stream into a file named filename. If filename is empty, then the value of the filename metadata tag will be used. E.g. to extract the first attachment to a file named ’out.ttf’: ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t:0 out.ttf -i INPUT To extract all attachments to files determined by the filename tag: ffmpeg -dump_attachment:t "" -i INPUT Technical note – attachments are implemented as codec extradata, so this option can actually be used to extract extradata from any stream, not just attachments. -noautorotate Disable automatically rotating video based on file metadata.
-vframes number (output) Set the number of video frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for -frames:v, which you should use instead. -r[: stream_specifier ] fps (input/output,per-stream) Set frame rate (Hz value, fraction or abbreviation). As an input option, ignore any timestamps stored in the file and instead generate timestamps assuming constant frame rate fps. This is not the same as the -framerate option used for some input formats like image2 or v4l2 (it used to be the same in older versions of FFmpeg). If in doubt use -framerate instead of the input option -r. As an output option, duplicate or drop input frames to achieve constant output frame rate fps. -s[: stream_specifier ] size (input/output,per-stream) Set frame size. As an input option, this is a shortcut for the video_size private option, recognized by some demuxers for which the frame size is either not stored in the file or is configurable – e.g. raw video or video grabbers. As an output option, this inserts the scale video filter to the end of the corresponding filtergraph. Please use the scale filter directly to insert it at the beginning or some other place. The format is ‘ wxh ’ (default - same as source). -aspect[: stream_specifier ] aspect (output,per-stream) Set the video display aspect ratio specified by aspect. aspect can be a floating point number string, or a string of the form num : den, where num and den are the numerator and denominator of the aspect ratio. For example "4:3", "16:9", "1.3333", and "1.7777" are valid argument values. If used together with -vcodec copy, it will affect the aspect ratio stored at container level, but not the aspect ratio stored in encoded frames, if it exists. -vn (input/output) As an input option, blocks all video streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See -discard option to disable streams individually. As an output option, disables video recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any video stream. For full manual control see the -map option. -vcodec codec (output) Set the video codec. This is an alias for -codec:v. -pass[: stream_specifier ] n (output,per-stream) Select the pass number (1 or 2). It is used to do two-pass video encoding. The statistics of the video are recorded in the first pass into a log file (see also the option -passlogfile), and in the second pass that log file is used to generate the video at the exact requested bitrate. On pass 1, you may just deactivate audio and set output to null, examples for Windows and Unix: ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y NUL ffmpeg -i foo.mov -c:v libxvid -pass 1 -an -f rawvideo -y /dev/null -passlogfile[: stream_specifier ] prefix (output,per-stream) Set two-pass log file name prefix to prefix, the default file name prefix is “ffmpeg2pass”. The complete file name will be PREFIX-N.log, where N is a number specific to the output stream -vf filtergraph (output) Create the filtergraph specified by filtergraph and use it to filter the stream. This is an alias for -filter:v, see the -filter option.
-pix_fmt[: stream_specifier ] format (input/output,per-stream) Set pixel format. Use -pix_fmts to show all the supported pixel formats. If the selected pixel format can not be selected, ffmpeg will print a warning and select the best pixel format supported by the encoder. If pix_fmt is prefixed by a +, ffmpeg will exit with an error if the requested pixel format can not be selected, and automatic conversions inside filtergraphs are disabled. If pix_fmt is a single +, ffmpeg selects the same pixel format as the input (or graph output) and automatic conversions are disabled. -sws_flags flags (input/output) Set SwScaler flags. -rc_override[: stream_specifier ] override (output,per-stream) Rate control override for specific intervals, formatted as "int,int,int" list separated with slashes. Two first values are the beginning and end frame numbers, last one is quantizer to use if positive, or quality factor if negative. -ilme Force interlacing support in encoder (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 only). Use this option if your input file is interlaced and you want to keep the interlaced format for minimum losses. The alternative is to deinterlace the input stream with -deinterlace, but deinterlacing introduces losses. -psnr Calculate PSNR of compressed frames. -vstats Dump video coding statistics to vstats_HHMMSS.log. -vstats_file file Dump video coding statistics to file. -vstats_version file Specifies which version of the vstats format to use. Default is 2. version = 1 : frame= %5d q= %2.1f PSNR= %6.2f f_size= %6d s_size= %8.0fkB time= %0.3f br= %7.1fkbits/s avg_br= %7.1fkbits/s version > 1: out= %2d st= %2d frame= %5d q= %2.1f PSNR= %6.2f f_size= %6d s_size= %8.0fkB time= %0.3f br= %7.1fkbits/s avg_br= %7.1fkbits/s -top[: stream_specifier ] n (output,per-stream) top=1/bottom=0/auto=-1 field first -dc precision Intra_dc_precision. -vtag fourcc/tag (output) Force video tag/fourcc. This is an alias for -tag:v. -qphist (global) Show QP histogram -vbsf bitstream_filter Deprecated see -bsf -force_key_frames[: stream_specifier ] time [, time...] (output,per-stream) -force_key_frames[: stream_specifier ] expr: expr (output,per-stream) Force key frames at the specified timestamps, more precisely at the first frames after each specified time. If the argument is prefixed with expr:, the string expr is interpreted like an expression and is evaluated for each frame. A key frame is forced in case the evaluation is non-zero. If one of the times is " chapters [ delta ]", it is expanded into the time of the beginning of all chapters in the file, shifted by delta, expressed as a time in seconds. This option can be useful to ensure that a seek point is present at a chapter mark or any other designated place in the output file. For example, to insert a key frame at 5 minutes, plus key frames 0.1 second before the beginning of every chapter: -force_key_frames 0:05:00,chapters-0.1 The expression in expr can contain the following constants: n the number of current processed frame, starting from 0 n_forced the number of forced frames prev_forced_n the number of the previous forced frame, it is NAN when no keyframe was forced yet prev_forced_t the time of the previous forced frame, it is NAN when no keyframe was forced yet t the time of the current processed frame For example to force a key frame every 5 seconds, you can specify: -force_key_frames expr:gte(t,n_forced*5) To force a key frame 5 seconds after the time of the last forced one, starting from second 13: -force_key_frames expr:if(isnan(prev_forced_t),gte(t,13),gte(t,prev_forced_t+5)) Note that forcing too many keyframes is very harmful for the lookahead algorithms of certain encoders: using fixed-GOP options or similar would be more efficient. -copyinkf[: stream_specifier ] (output,per-stream) When doing stream copy, copy also non-key frames found at the beginning. -init_hw_device type [= name ][: device [, key=value...]] Initialise a new hardware device of type type called name, using the given device parameters. If no name is specified it will receive a default name of the form " type %d". The meaning of device and the following arguments depends on the device type: cuda device is the number of the CUDA device. dxva2 device is the number of the Direct3D 9 display adapter. vaapi device is either an X11 display name or a DRM render node. If not specified, it will attempt to open the default X11 display ($DISPLAY) and then the first DRM render node (/dev/dri/renderD128). vdpau device is an X11 display name. If not specified, it will attempt to open the default X11 display ($DISPLAY). qsv device selects a value in ‘ MFX_IMPL_* ’. Allowed values are: auto sw hw auto_any hw_any hw2 hw3 hw4 If not specified, ‘ auto_any ’ is used. (Note that it may be easier to achieve the desired result for QSV by creating the platform-appropriate subdevice (‘ dxva2 ’ or ‘ vaapi ’) and then deriving a QSV device from that.) opencl device selects the platform and device as platform_index.device_index. The set of devices can also be filtered using the key-value pairs to find only devices matching particular platform or device strings. The strings usable as filters are: platform_profile platform_version platform_name platform_vendor platform_extensions device_name device_vendor driver_version device_version device_profile device_extensions device_type The indices and filters must together uniquely select a device. Examples: -init_hw_device opencl:0.1 Choose the second device on the first platform. -init_hw_device opencl:,device_name=Foo9000 Choose the device with a name containing the string Foo9000. -init_hw_device opencl:1,device_type=gpu,device_extensions=cl_khr_fp16 Choose the GPU device on the second platform supporting the cl_khr_fp16 extension. -init_hw_device type [= name ]@ source Initialise a new hardware device of type type called name, deriving it from the existing device with the name source. -init_hw_device list List all hardware device types supported in this build of ffmpeg. -filter_hw_device name Pass the hardware device called name to all filters in any filter graph. This can be used to set the device to upload to with the hwupload filter, or the device to map to with the hwmap filter. Other filters may also make use of this parameter when they require a hardware device. Note that this is typically only required when the input is not already in hardware frames - when it is, filters will derive the device they require from the context of the frames they receive as input. This is a global setting, so all filters will receive the same device. -hwaccel[: stream_specifier ] hwaccel (input,per-stream) Use hardware acceleration to decode the matching stream(s). The allowed values of hwaccel are: none Do not use any hardware acceleration (the default). auto Automatically select the hardware acceleration method. vdpau Use VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix) hardware acceleration. dxva2 Use DXVA2 (DirectX Video Acceleration) hardware acceleration. vaapi Use VAAPI (Video Acceleration API) hardware acceleration. qsv Use the Intel QuickSync Video acceleration for video transcoding. Unlike most other values, this option does not enable accelerated decoding (that is used automatically whenever a qsv decoder is selected), but accelerated transcoding, without copying the frames into the system memory. For it to work, both the decoder and the encoder must support QSV acceleration and no filters must be used. This option has no effect if the selected hwaccel is not available or not supported by the chosen decoder. Note that most acceleration methods are intended for playback and will not be faster than software decoding on modern CPUs. Additionally, ffmpeg will usually need to copy the decoded frames from the GPU memory into the system memory, resulting in further performance loss. This option is thus mainly useful for testing. -hwaccel_device[: stream_specifier ] hwaccel_device (input,per-stream) Select a device to use for hardware acceleration. This option only makes sense when the -hwaccel option is also specified. It can either refer to an existing device created with -init_hw_device by name, or it can create a new device as if ‘ -init_hw_device ’ type : hwaccel_device were called immediately before. -hwaccels List all hardware acceleration methods supported in this build of ffmpeg.
-aframes number (output) Set the number of audio frames to output. This is an obsolete alias for -frames:a, which you should use instead. -ar[: stream_specifier ] freq (input/output,per-stream) Set the audio sampling frequency. For output streams it is set by default to the frequency of the corresponding input stream. For input streams this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw demuxers and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options. -aq q (output) Set the audio quality (codec-specific, VBR). This is an alias for -q:a. -ac[: stream_specifier ] channels (input/output,per-stream) Set the number of audio channels. For output streams it is set by default to the number of input audio channels. For input streams this option only makes sense for audio grabbing devices and raw demuxers and is mapped to the corresponding demuxer options. -an (input/output) As an input option, blocks all audio streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See -discard option to disable streams individually. As an output option, disables audio recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any audio stream. For full manual control see the -map option. -acodec codec (input/output) Set the audio codec. This is an alias for -codec:a. -sample_fmt[: stream_specifier ] sample_fmt (output,per-stream) Set the audio sample format. Use -sample_fmts to get a list of supported sample formats. -af filtergraph (output) Create the filtergraph specified by filtergraph and use it to filter the stream. This is an alias for -filter:a, see the -filter option.
-atag fourcc/tag (output) Force audio tag/fourcc. This is an alias for -tag:a. -absf bitstream_filter Deprecated, see -bsf -guess_layout_max channels (input,per-stream) If some input channel layout is not known, try to guess only if it corresponds to at most the specified number of channels. For example, 2 tells to ffmpeg to recognize 1 channel as mono and 2 channels as stereo but not 6 channels as 5.1. The default is to always try to guess. Use 0 to disable all guessing.
-scodec codec (input/output) Set the subtitle codec. This is an alias for -codec:s. -sn (input/output) As an input option, blocks all subtitle streams of a file from being filtered or being automatically selected or mapped for any output. See -discard option to disable streams individually. As an output option, disables subtitle recording i.e. automatic selection or mapping of any subtitle stream. For full manual control see the -map option. -sbsf bitstream_filter Deprecated, see -bsf
-fix_sub_duration Fix subtitles durations. For each subtitle, wait for the next packet in the same stream and adjust the duration of the first to avoid overlap. This is necessary with some subtitles codecs, especially DVB subtitles, because the duration in the original packet is only a rough estimate and the end is actually marked by an empty subtitle frame. Failing to use this option when necessary can result in exaggerated durations or muxing failures due to non-monotonic timestamps. Note that this option will delay the output of all data until the next subtitle packet is decoded: it may increase memory consumption and latency a lot. -canvas_size size Set the size of the canvas used to render subtitles.
-map [-] input_file_id [: stream_specifier ][?][, sync_file_id [: stream_specifier ]] | [linklabel] (output) Designate one or more input streams as a source for the output file. Each input stream is identified by the input file index input_file_id and the input stream index input_stream_id within the input file. Both indices start at 0. If specified, sync_file_id : stream_specifier sets which input stream is used as a presentation sync reference. The first -map option on the command line specifies the source for output stream 0, the second -map option specifies the source for output stream 1, etc. A - character before the stream identifier creates a "negative" mapping. It disables matching streams from already created mappings. A trailing? after the stream index will allow the map to be optional: if the map matches no streams the map will be ignored instead of failing. Note the map will still fail if an invalid input file index is used; such as if the map refers to a non-existent input. An alternative [linklabel] form will map outputs from complex filter graphs (see the -filter_complex option) to the output file. linklabel must correspond to a defined output link label in the graph. For example, to map ALL streams from the first input file to output ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 output For example, if you have two audio streams in the first input file, these streams are identified by "0:0" and "0:1". You can use -map to select which streams to place in an output file. For example: ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:1 out.wav will map the input stream in INPUT identified by "0:1" to the (single) output stream in out.wav. For example, to select the stream with index 2 from input file a.mov (specified by the identifier "0:2"), and stream with index 6 from input b.mov (specified by the identifier "1:6"), and copy them to the output file out.mov : ffmpeg -i a.mov -i b.mov -c copy -map 0:2 -map 1:6 out.mov To select all video and the third audio stream from an input file: ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a:2 OUTPUT To map all the streams except the second audio, use negative mappings ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0 -map -0:a:1 OUTPUT To map the video and audio streams from the first input, and using the trailing?, ignore the audio mapping if no audio streams exist in the first input: ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:v -map 0:a? OUTPUT To pick the English audio stream: ffmpeg -i INPUT -map 0:m:language:eng OUTPUT Note that using this option disables the default mappings for this output file. -ignore_unknown Ignore input streams with unknown type instead of failing if copying such streams is attempted. -copy_unknown Allow input streams with unknown type to be copied instead of failing if copying such streams is attempted. -map_channel [ input_file_id. stream_specifier. channel_id |-1][?][: output_file_id. stream_specifier ] Map an audio channel from a given input to an output. If output_file_id. stream_specifier is not set, the audio channel will be mapped on all the audio streams. Using "-1" instead of input_file_id. stream_specifier. channel_id will map a muted channel. A trailing? will allow the map_channel to be optional: if the map_channel matches no channel the map_channel will be ignored instead of failing. For example, assuming INPUT is a stereo audio file, you can switch the two audio channels with the following command: ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel 0.0.1 -map_channel 0.0.0 OUTPUT If you want to mute the first channel and keep the second: ffmpeg -i INPUT -map_channel -1 -map_channel 0.0.1 OUTPUT The order of the "-map_channel" option specifies the order of the channels in the output stream. The output channel layout is guessed from the number of channels mapped (mono if one "-map_channel", stereo if two, etc.). Using "-ac" in combination of "-map_channel" makes the channel gain levels to be updated if input and output channel layouts don’t |
the Smuggler's fast and furious life here. But this is a place that cleaves to purity, full of giggles and small running feet, of the animality of innocence. "We're in the exhaustion business," says Bill Stritzler, owner of Smuggs with a smile identical to that of the Dalai Lama. Certainly the grounds are bursting with bouncing kids, of all ages, surrounded by the exquisite symphony of green that is Vermont, suggesting somehow that the moment will continue forever, and there never will be a tomorrow. It's hard, here, to occupy with the concerns of the world, for concerns are always about what will happen in the future, and in Smuggs, the future will never come, and the past will never disappear. It's like being in a different world, where everything fits together, where the play of life is splashing, zipping, tossing, swinging, sliding, in the most uninhibited ways, in a way innocent and wholesome, a way that brings unfiltered pleasure, and that perhaps is the sexiest sensation of all.
Then from the crackling crowd steps the dark-haired Circe, who makes a breezy stroll to my side, takes my hand in hers, and flashes a familiar smile, luminous as a seashell. With the other hand she traces her fingers along my psychic fissures, and then points to the blonde child, a supernal glow on his face, playing excitedly with the pirate. "Thank you so much for this trip," she whispers in my ear. "I've never seen our son so overjoyed."
--------------------Playing with a real life use-case
See the swipeable card on the left? It’s a popular mobile UX pattern used in apps like Google Now.
It’s also surprisingly interesting to implement, performance-wise.
We’re going to implement this example multiple times and see the performance implications of each approach.
It makes sense to create a reusable component Swipeable that adds the swipe behavior (x translation and opacity change) to any content component we give it as child — Card in this case.
Our first implementation — PanResponder
Let’s start with the straightforward approach. Since we want to listen on touch gestures, we’ll use React Native’s PanResponder. Every time we receive a move event, we’ll calculate the new opacity and x translation based on the total horizontal distance traveled, and update them using local state:
First implementation
What performance should we expect from this approach? Let’s remember the guideline stated earlier — In order to architect performant React Native apps, we must keep passes over the bridge to a minimum.
It seems that this example implementation is doing the exact opposite. Touch events originate in the native realm, since that’s where the device tracks the user’s finger. Our updates to the component’s state obviously happen in the JS realm. This is not normally a major issue, the problem here is that these updates take place on every frame! This means that for every single animation frame, where we want things to feel most fluid, data must pass over the bridge.
This is a performance bottleneck that pure native apps don’t have, making it much easier for them to reach the holy grail of 60 FPS, especially on weaker devices, and especially in real life cases that are a little more complicated than this example.
Didn’t I read something in the docs about Direct Manipulation?
If you care about performance, you’ve probably read the docs cover-to-cover and vaguely remember this article about direct manipulation of components.
Sounds promising, let’s update the native component directly and improve performance! We’ll give it a try, here is the implementation:
Second implementation
Did this solve our bridge performance issues? Not really — since we’re still updating from the JS realm. But it did optimize something worth understanding. In the previous implementation, on every frame we didn’t just send data over the bridge, we also re-rendered our component. In this specific case, the render function barely does anything so this wasn’t an issue. But what if our render function was more complex and computationally-intensive?
Traditionally, in order to update a React component, we have to re-render. If our update is very localized, like changing a specific style (x translation and opacity) we can surgically make it directly without the full render and reconciliation. This goes against the React “state of mind” so it’s best not to do this often and limit ourselves to use-cases where we have a specific property changing very rapidly (eg. during an animation).
Can we get back to fixing the bridge issue?
One of the most beautiful things about React Native is that we can take any piece of our codebase and move it seamlessly to native — even just a single component.
Developers often mistake React Native as a pure JS environment — it isn’t. It is true that JS would often give the best developer experience, but there are cases where native gives a superior user experience. I urge you, if you come from a web background — don’t fear native. It’s another tool in your belt which usually takes the same amount of stackoverflowing to exercise.
Since touch events originate in the native realm, what would happen if we do our x translation and opacity updates in native as well? Take a look:
Third implementation in Objective-C
The only part we’ve moved to native is the Swipeable container component. This would guarantee ourselves 60 FPS and it seems that the code is actually shorter. Notice that our Card content components remained in pure-JS. Here is how our native class is used inside our JS layout:
The future of React Native
While it is true that we can use native code selectively to plug our performance holes, the future of the framework is to improve and make sure we need to do so less and less.
It is possible to design clever JS interfaces that would minimize passes over the bridge and reach the same results. What if in our example, our JS code didn’t have to update the native realm on every frame? What if we could just specify once, in the beginning of the interaction, which properties are locked to which native event, and let some native module in the inner belly of React Native offload the updates for us? This would make us pass over the bridge just once — in the beginning.
React Native is evolving in this direction, and one of the primary treats we’ve been given is the new Animated library. Let’s implement our example for the fourth and last time with Animated in pure JS:
Fourth implementation in JS
As you can see, the Animated library treats animations and interactions in a very declarative way. If we can declare how an interaction behaves, this declaration can be serialized and sent itself over the bridge. This opens the possibility for a generic native module to process the interaction for us and offload the frame by frame updates.
Unfortunately, the current (June 2016) implementation of Animated doesn’t offload everything to native yet. This means that our fourth implementation currently still suffers from the same bridge bottleneck. Having said that, progress is being made and I’m confident that future versions will allow us to overcome the bridge limitation from JS in many cases.
Comparing all four implementations
Reading about performance isn’t the same as feeling it in real life. You can play with fully working versions of the four implementations in the following repo, presented side-by-side for easy comparison:
Please run the example on an actual device since the simulator doesn’t give authentic results. In addition, the repo contains optional flags to simulate stress conditions in the app — such as bursts of activity over the bridge and computationally-heavier render functions. It’s interesting to examine how the fluidity of each implementation changes under these conditions.
Conclusion and parting words
Developing mobile apps in React Native is awesome, but convenience sometimes comes at a price. It is possible though to mitigate almost every performance issue, and the key is understanding what goes on under the hood.
At Wix.com, we are obsessive about UX and delivering the native user experience mobile users have come to expect. Here’s our rough guideline for obsessive React Native performance:Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
Designer Eleanor Lutz is fast becoming one of our very favorite science-visualization artists. Her latest work provides a mesmerizing look at the weird and wonderful ways that animals breathe. (Did you know, for example, that grasshoppers have no lungs?)
Lutz's last infographic, while visually striking, was more art than science. This time, she's struck a finer balance between the two by basing her animation on published source material.
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"This month's infographic is packed with actual science," she writes. "I decided to illustrate how different animals breathe, and I picked three species that I thought were particularly awesome. The topic really lends itself to a short looped GIF so that was an added plus."
You'll want to click expand in the upper left, to embiggen:
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[Tabletop Whale]BP Fires Up 2.2 Petaflops Cluster for Oil Exploration
There is an arms race in the oil and gas industry, and the weapon of choice is a server cluster.
Energy industry giant BP has opened the doors on a new datacenter in Houston that it says houses the "world's largest supercomputer for commercial research," weighing in at more than 2.2 petaflops. The system, which has not been given a nickname, is part of a five-year, $100 million cluster investment program at BP.
This is a boast that French oil and gas rival, Total Group, will no doubt dispute, having started up its 2.3 petaflop "Pangea" ICE-X cluster, built by SGI, back in March at its Scientific and Technical Centre in Pau. That Pangea machine has 110,400 cores and 7 PB of storage capacity, and the plan calls for the performance of the machine to be doubled again in 2015 for total contract value of $77.3 million.
BP announced that it would be building a new datacenter to house the machine back in December 2012, but all of its feeds and speeds were not revealed at the time. What BP said back then was that the current machine on its Houston campus had a peak theoretical performance of 1.227 petaflops, and that the new machine would crest over 2 petaflops, would be equipped with 536 TB of memory and 23.5 petabytes of disk storage. The BP announcement from last December also said that the newer cluster would have "more than 67,000 CPUs," which would be a truly astounding number of processors.
The new system is primarily based on HP's Scalable System SL6500 server enclosures, which are vanity-free machines aimed at hyperscale cloud operators and HPC customers alike. The BP supercomputer has 2,912 HP ProLiant SL230s Gen8 server nodes, each with two eight-core "Sandy Bridge" Xeon E5-2600 v1 processors. Each of these nodes has 128 GB of memory. The cluster also has 50 DL580 rack server nodes, which with Xeon E7 "Westmere-EX" processors running at 2.3 GHz. These two sets of nodes appear to be moved over from the old to the new machine. Some 1,920 nodes using older "Westmere-EP" Xeon 5600 processors from Dell that were part of the old machine have been retired, and BP has brought in 2,520 more ProLiant SL230s Gen8 nodes, only this time they are configured with ten-core "Ivy Bridge-EP" Xeon E5-2600 v2 processors running at 3 GHz; each node has 128 GB of memory. The entire cluster has over 1 TB of main memory, which is considerably more than the 536 TB planned last year. With the exception of the rack servers, which are presumably head compute or storage nodes, the SL nodes are all half-width tray servers that slide into a 4U SL6500 enclosure that can hold eight nodes in a 4U rack space.The compute nodes have a total of 96,992 cores.
It is noteworthy that neither Total nor BP are using Nvidia Tesla GPU coprocessors or Intel Xeon Phi X86 coprocessors to speed up their simulations and models. Their application code does not, as yet, lend itself well to offloading to other kinds of processors.
BP was using Ethernet switches from Arista Networks to cluster the old machine together. Keith Gray, BP's manager of high performance computing, said in an email exchange that the new machine has Arista 7508E core switches with 40 Gb/sec pipes linking the racks together and 10 Gb/sec Ethernet top-of-rack switches linking the nodes together into the rack. The machines are fed data from Lustre-based clustered file systems from DataDirect Networks, with more than 11 PB of capacity and with Intel providing support for Lustre.
The new machine has SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 on its compute nodes, just like its predecessor.
The BP server cluster is installed at the Center for High Performance Computing, which is a three-story, 110,000 square foot building at BP's Westlake campus outside of Houston that has room to expand the cluster in the future. This facility has been designed to use 30 percent less power to cool the machines as they run, and is also built to withstand the strong storms that sometimes assault the Gulf Coast. The existing datacenter had peaked out on its power and cooling, BP said, which is why it decided to pour concrete on a new facility late last year.
Bootnote: EnterpriseTech caught up with Gray after the ribbon cutting at the new datacenter, and he gave us a little more information about the cluster and the applications that will run on them.
The cluster runs homegrown seismic imaging applications, mostly around migrations and noise attenuation, Gray explains. You look for oil underneath the ground by making the earth vibrate and then recording the vibrations and reflections of sound over a wide area. There are distortions as sound bounces around underneath the surface, and migration algorithms try to undo these distortions to get a better picture of the rock formations in the crust. Seismic noise attenuation similarly tries to scrub noise from the surface that interferes with the seismic signals created purposefully to probe the crust with sound to get a better resolution on the images for the underground rock formations. Together, these refined images make it more likely to see oil and gas deposits.
When BP announced it was building a new datacenter and a larger cluster to go into it last year, Gray said that the seismic applications in use at BP could scale up to around 30,000 cores. It has been nearly a year, and now Gray says that BP has been able to push some of its key applications up as far as 40,000 cores. Not every application scales that far, by the way, but many of them scale quite well, he says.
The cluster uses Grid Engine as its workload scheduler and has a bunch of homegrown systems management tools that have been cobbled together from various open source projects.
Those two Arista 7508E aggregation switches are new, and they provide two 40 Gb/sec links out to each rack. These two switches are using multi-chassis link aggregation to make them look like one big virtual switch. There is still oversubscription on those pair of 40 Gb/sec links out to the rack, says Gray, but he adds that "it is quite adequate and it balances well with the storage systems we are able to deploy right now." The 7000 series top of rack switches from Arista have four 40 Gb/sec uplinks and 48 10 Gb/sec ports for linking to servers.
BP has not adopted InfiniBand for its clustering. "For our codes, 10 Gb/sec Ethernet meets our requirements," says Gray. "Most of our need is around moving large blocks and getting the bandwidth. It is not quite as critical to have low latency for inter-process communication. The algorithms tend to do a fair amount of floating point work in between steps, and 10GE has been very acceptable and scalability has been very good. We will continue to pay attention to new technologies as they come out."
BP has not adopted Tesla GPU or Xeon Phi X86 coprocessors to try to boost the performance of its clusters. And Gray offers an explanation for this.
"We have some really good friends that have GPUs," Gray says of his peers in the energy sector. "At the moment, as far as I know, no one in oil and gas that I know of that is quite prepared for Intel Xeon Phi, but people are paying a lot of attention to it. The camp on GPUs is still interesting. For us, it is all around creating the business case for the creation of new capabilities. Some of our applications can deliver wall clock improvements with GPUs, but we have to look at the breadth of our application suite and look at the complexity of developing codes to use the GPUs. Researchers don't try to focus on every geophysical problem, but rather on what is the problem with this particular reservoir. They are going to be walking back and forth, collaborating with the geophysicists and geologists in the business unit, and they want to solve that problem as fast as they can. If we can give them tools to prototype ideas, that's what we are going to do. CUDA is a specialized language and it is quite appropriate for some things, but for us, we feel like it adds complexity to our research geophysicists' lives. And we have not developed a business case for deploying a large-scale GPU cluster."
That said, BP does have a test cluster with "brand new kit" that combines CPUs and GPUs, and it is being used to test new algorithms as well as parallel visualization projects.
As for future upgrades to the BP cluster, Gray says that the idea is to try to stay ahead of Moore's Law by expanding the cluster's size faster than an individual chip is increasing in raw performance. The upgrade cycle is driven by the CPU upgrade cycle, of course, and the plan is to do an upgrade every 12 to 18 months.SEATTLE - Construction started Monday in downtown Seattle on new protected bike lanes on Second Avenue between Blanchard and Pike streets.
One lane of traffic for cars is now permanently gone. And reaction was quite mixed depending on which commuters KIRO 7 talked with.
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“It's really bad around here,” said Gerri Williams, who only drives twice a week because a 20-minute drive turns into an hour and a half for the afternoon commute home. “This place is bad for traffic anyway, and there's bikes all over the place riding through traffic, stopping traffic. So it might be a good thing.”
KIRO 7 morning anchor and reporter John Knicely will show drivers and cyclists what to expect during a live report in our 5 p.m. newscast. >>http://kiro.tv/LiveNews
This stretch of bike lane construction is expected to last two weeks. Then construction will start from Blanchard to Denny Way. The lane for cars taken away is now a permanent situation.
Once completed, all of Second Avenue will match how it is further south downtown. Next to the curb you have the protected bike lanes, then you have a lane for parking, and then you have traffic.
It's funded by a $5 million federal grant and the voter-approved Move Seattle Levy. The change is welcome news to cyclists and some commuters.
“It's great,” said cyclist Matt Sanford. “I use the one all the way down Second. It'll be nice not to have the narrow spots through here.”
Drivers KIRO 7 spoke with aren’t greeting it with the same enthusiasm.
“It's getting to the point where Seattle is almost anti-vehicle to me right now,” said Mike Lawrence. “It's really sad.”
Read more about the project on the Seattle Department of Transportation website.
© 2019 Cox Media Group.The UESPWiki – Your source for The Elder Scrolls since 1995
The Skyforge over Jorrvaskr
The Skyforge is an ancient forge capable of forging unique weapons and armor. It is currently tended by the greatest blacksmith in Skyrim, Eorlund Gray-Mane. Its heat is used to forge powerful weapons and light the funeral pyres of fallen Companions. The Skyforge is often linked to the sun, and the secret Underforge beneath is the metaphorical moon, due to its association with werewolves.
The Skyforge at night
History [ edit ]
Legend tells that the Skyforge has existed since before the area was inhabited. According to the Songs of the Return, the local elves believed it to be a relic of the gods, and consequently gave the area a wide berth. Ysgramor and his Companions, however, were quick to claim the Skyforge as their own once they discovered it, and they built their headquarters, Jorrvaskr, here. After this, others started settling, eventually forming what is now the city of Whiterun.
Forging [ edit ]
Working at the Skyforge is like working at any other forge. All items that can be crafted at normal forges can also be crafted at the Skyforge, subject to the same Smithing perk restrictions.
However, additional crafting options are added to the Skyforge after completing the quest Glory of the Dead at the end of the Companions questline and talking with Eorlund. "Nord Hero" weapons show up in a new subsection called "Draugr" and "Ancient Nord" armor shows up in the "Daedric" subsection. These items can only be crafted at the Skyforge, but do not require that any Smithing perks be unlocked.
Version 1.2.7 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch moves the Ancient Nord armor under the "Steel" category, and makes both weapons and armor require the "Steel Smithing" perk to forge.
Although you cannot craft them, Skyforge Steel weapons are available from Eorlund after joining the Companions in Proving Honor. Eorlund gives you one free weapon, but others can be purchased from Eorlund (along with wolf armor). They are elven-tier in damage, but steel-tier in weight and smithing.
Ancient Nord Armor [ edit ]
Ancient Nord armor is low-quality heavy armor, providing the same amount of protection as iron armor with slightly less weight. All items can be tempered using 1 iron ingot, and having the Daedric Smithing perk doubles the quality improvement. It can also be found in some Nordic ruins; in particular, it's commonly available in Forelhost. There is no Ancient Nord Shield.
A male Nord wearing ancient Nord armor
A female Imperial wearing ancient Nord armor
Name ID Raw Materials Delta Ratio Steel Iron Leather Strips Ancient Nord Armor 00 018388 28 125 25 5 2 2 4 16.6 -21 2.46 0.86 Ancient Nord Boots 00 056a9d 5 25 10 4 2 2 3 -5.3 -98 0.49 0.20 Ancient Nord Gauntlets 00 056b17 4 25 10 3 2 2 3 -5.3 -78 0.43 0.24 Ancient Nord Helmet 00 056a9e 4 60 15 3 2 2 3 -5.3 -43 0.43 0.58 Totals: 41 235 60 15 8 8 13
† not add their base armor value of 10 to unarmed damage. Instead, in the base game, they add 18, because they are misclassified as Daedric, and with the Unofficial Patch, they add 12, because they are misclassified as Steel for the purposes of the perk. The correct setting for 10 damage would be Iron (this is a perk specific keyword that does not interact with smithing). Due to an incorrect keyword being set, these gauntlets doadd their base armor value of 10 to unarmed damage. Instead, in the base game, they add 18, because they are misclassified as Daedric, and with the Unofficial Patch, they add 12, because they are misclassified as Steel for the purposes of the perk. The correct setting for 10 damage would be Iron (this is a perk specific keyword that does not interact with smithing).
Draugr Weapons [ edit ]
The Skyforge allows you to convert standard draugr weapons ("Ancient Nord" weapons) into improved "Nord Hero" weapons after completing the full Companions questline. This can only be done using standard ancient Nord weapons, not the improved honed ancient Nord weapons that appear at higher levels. Daggers, maces, and warhammers are not available. The source weapons can generally be obtained in large quantities in any Nordic ruin or other Draugr Crypt.
The resulting weapons are all medium-quality weapons, with damage identical to elven, Nordic, or Skyforge steel weapons. However, they are also the lightest available weapons (tied with iron), making them the best option of the four due to lower stamina costs for melee weapons and faster draw time with the bow. All of the weapons can be tempered using 1 steel ingot (see bug). Having the Steel Smithing perk doubles the quality improvement. While these weapons can only be made at the Skyforge, they can be improved with any grindstone.
If you've completed the Companions questline and still can't forge Nord Hero weapons, talk to Eorlund. He should mention how "the Skyforge feels more... awake."
† Nord Hero Arrows are only available in the game if using the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch. They can be created in batches of 24 using an equal number of Ancient Nord Arrows and 1 Steel Ingot. The patch alters their damage to 16 instead of 24.
Related Quests [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
The All Forge CC added by the Myrwatch Creation can be used to craft items usually restricted to the Skyforge.
added by the Myrwatch Creation can be used to craft items usually restricted to the Skyforge. The Skyforge also appeared in Legends, with the addition of the Heroes of Skyrim card expansion.
Bugs [ edit ]Tomoyuki Sugano pitched one-run ball over seven innings in a match-up against lefty Minoru Iwata and the Yomiuri Giants rallied to beat the rival Hanshin Tigers 3-1 on Wednesday night.
The Central League-leading Giants beat the third-place Tigers for the second straight night and remained three games ahead of the second-place Hiroshima Carp. The Tigers dropped to 6½ games back after their fifth consecutive loss.
Sugano (10-5), who had just returned from inflammation in a tendon in his right middle finger, scattered seven hits, struck out four and walked two to earn his first win since July 16. The second-year righty notched double-digit wins for the second year in a row.
“I went through some tough times, and realized again how difficult it is to keep winning,” Sugano said. “I felt both the difficulty and joy of pitching on the mound tonight. This was only my second game (including an Eastern League appearance) since I got back, so I’m glad I was able to keep it to just one run.”
Hayato Sakamoto had a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning off reliever Shinobu Fukuhara (2-5) and pinch hitter Kenji Yano’s sacrifice fly added insurance in the ninth in front of a crowd of 42,934 at Koshien Stadium.
Tigers captain Takashi Toritani opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first. Hirokazu Ibata hit a two-out, solo blast off Iwata that tied it 1-1 in the seventh.
Tetsuya Yamaguchi and Scott Mathieson pitched one scoreless inning each to slam the door, with Mathieson earning his 25th save. Hirokazu Sawamura will face off against left-hander Atsushi Nomi in the third game of the series on Thursday.
Carp 4, Dragons 3
At Mazda Stadium, Yusuke Nomura helped his own cause when he sparked a rally with an RBI single in a four-run fifth inning as Hiroshima held off Chunichi. Nomura (7-6) allowed three runs in 5⅔ innings and Kam Mickolio picked up his 22nd save.
BayStars 2, Swallows 0
At Yokohama Stadium, former BayStars closer Shun Yamaguchi threw a four-hitter in his first career shutout and Takayuki Kajitani hit a leadoff homer in the first inning for the second game in a row as Yokohama blanked Tokyo Yakult. Yamaguchi (7-3) struck out five and walked none over the distance. Yuliesky Gurriel added an RBI single in the sixth.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Buffaloes 6, Eagles 0
At Kobo Stadium Miyagi, Chihiro Kaneko (13-5) pitched his first shutout without issuing a walk in two years en route to earning his league-leading 13th win. The right-hander held his opponent to five hits and struck out six. Wily Mo Pena hit a two-run blast for his 30th home run in the eighth. Tohoku Rakuten snapped a four-game win streak.
Hawks 2, Fighters 1
At Tokyo Dome, Tadashi Settsu (10-6) yielded one run over six innings to post double-digit wins for the fourth year in a row and Lee Dae-ho delivered a seventh-inning, tiebreaking double as PL leader Fukuoka Softbank saw off Hokkaido Nippon Ham. Nobuhiro Matsuda’s one-out solo blast off Hiroshi Kisanuki (0-2) tied it up in the fourth.
Marines 4, Lions 3
At QVC Marine Field, Luis Cruz hit a tiebreaking, three-run home run in the sixth inning off Yosuke Okamoto (2-6) in support of rookie Ayumu Ishikawa (8-7), who held the damage to one run and six hits in seven innings in Chiba Lotte’s win over Seibu. Naoya Masuda earned his first save of the year. Seibu came up short in a two-run ninth.Despite the frosty relationship between the two campaigns at the moment, prospective First Lady Jane Sanders said last night that she and her husband, independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, will support Hillary Clinton if she actually manages to defeat Bernie in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
With the mudslinging and questioning of their qualifications for the presidency, things have been hot between both sides lately, even with their relative truce in recent days. Mrs. Sanders has been a part of this as well, but in an interview with The Daily Beast, she expressed hope that the eventual nominee will receive their rival’s approval, as well as the support of their voter base.
Despite her efforts to smooth things over, Sanders did strike out and say that the superdelegate system is giving an edge in a similar sense to the one Donald Trump has been blasting primary processes over recently. Though she elaborated on the campaign’s plan to win them over to their side, Mrs. Sanders said she felt that the superdelegate process, and rules locking independent voters out of the primary elections, were subverting her husband’s effort to revitalize the field.
“We are bringing many, many more people in across the country and yet in New York they’re slamming the door on those people. They can’t have a voice. That seems counterproductive to what the Democratic Party wants to accomplish in terms of winning not just the presidency, but to win governors’ seats and seats in the House and Senate.”
[Image via screengrab]
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Further information about GridcoinTuberculosis outbreak in Papua New Guinea worsens, as health workers plead for promised funding
Updated
Health experts are worried a new superbug may be festering on Australia's doorstep, as a drug-resistant tuberculosis outbreak in the northern Torres Strait continues to worsen.
Key points: Daru Hospital tuberculosis ward full, many patients being treated in community
PNG Government has not yet delivered on promised $20 million funding
People moving into bush in search of food and water making it harder to access health centres
More than 160 of the 15,000 people living on the island of Daru, near the PNG–Australia border, have drug-resistant tuberculosis — the highest rate in the world.
The PNG Government has not yet delivered on promised funding for an emergency response, and a prevailing dry weather pattern is intensifying the problem, as sick people can no longer travel for treatment.
"We're seeing an outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis that we haven't seen the scale of before," Brendan Crabb from the Burnet Institute, a communicable disease research centre in Melbourne, said.
Poverty, overcrowding and people failing to complete their treatment are adding to the problem, but researchers are now wondering if those are the only factors.
"So, is that an environmental factor that's allowed that to happen, or more worryingly, is that a bacterial factor?" Professor Crabb said.
"Is there something about this organism that makes it a superbug?"
Daru Hospital's Australian-funded tuberculosis ward is full — and the chief executive of the hospital, Orpah Tugo, said there were still many cases the hospital could not take.
"I can't [take any more patients] at the moment, and it's very serious now that they're with their family in the community," she said.
"The spread will go on. It's very contagious."
El Nino drives community inland
Health authorities are supervising people's treatments in their own communities, to take the pressure off the hospital.
"They are diagnosed [at the hospital] and then they are sent back to the community, so that we in the community can take care of these tuberculosis patients," Sonia Madjus from World Vision said.
Many patients live in remote areas of this undeveloped PNG province, where the only way to get around is by water.
The current El Nino dry weather is making it even harder for health authorities.
It means people are moving further into the bush, or cannot travel to health centres for treatment.
"People are not where they're supposed to be because [they're going] in search of food and water," emergency response coordinator Ninkama Moiya said.
"So, it just makes it more difficult to access them in terms of following up on treatment."
Daru's situation has provoked an international response, but the PNG Government has not met its own $20 million commitment.
"The money that has been allocated to fight this problem has not been released. We've been waiting for a while now," Dr Moiya said.
While they wait, the disease continues to spread — throughout communities right on the brink of the Australian border.
Topics: diseases-and-disorders, health-administration, health-policy, world-politics, papua-new-guinea, pacific
First postedWACO, Texas – Baylor coach Scott Drew stood outside the media interview room at the Ferrell Center collecting his thoughts.
It was Feb. 4 and his team had just suffered its seventh loss in eight games, this one by 17 points to Kansas as part of a 2-8 start in Big 12 play.
Before Drew entered the room to answer questions about what wasn’t working, why and what he could do to fix it after plummeting out of the top 10 of the polls, he saw Scott Brewer, one of the Bears’ two team chaplains.
Drew grabbed Brewer as he passed by in the hall.
"We may not win another game this year, and I may be a horrible coach," Drew told him, "but if any of these guys leave without knowing Christ, that will be the real loss."
The sentiment has been one that’s summed up Drew’s approach to coaching his team, but this season has been one marked by life change more than any of Baylor’s 24 wins or 11 losses.
Later that month, Drew watched five of his players make public pronouncements of faith by being baptized. Two of those five had recently committed their lives to Jesus Christ for the first time.
The Bears face Nebraska on Friday in San Antonio in the NCAA Tournament, but regardless of the result, those five have defined what the season means for Baylor.
"It’s been extraordinary," team chaplain Mark Wible said.
—
Kenny Chery’s life changed in the lobby of an Oklahoma hotel.
Baylor’s starting point guard sat down with shooting guard Brady Heslip and assistant coach Tim Maloney.
The conversation quickly turned to faith.
Chery was struggling to play through an injured ankle and the next day, Oklahoma handed Baylor its eighth loss in 10 games. His mother had also been battling diabetes.
His spirits were low.
Chery’s first year as a Bear is Heslip’s fourth, and he’s played at least 26 minutes a game in all three seasons after sitting out his first year to satisfy NCAA transfer rules. Heslip had felt like Chery did then, and shared the story of his first year that helped Heslip gain perspective as he played out his career at Baylor.
Heslip is originally from Canada, but went to prep school in New Hampshire and spent his freshman year at Boston College before transferring more than 1,800 miles to |
The findings of such investigations are supposed to be sent to the IMO so that potential lessons can be learned, and if necessary, changes made to safety regulations.
'Safety failure'
But two years after the accident the Italian authorities still have not sent the report to the IMO - meaning the regulator has not been able to analyse the Costa Europa accident and assess any potential improvements to safety.
Flag states should have the capacity to carry out full and complete investigations and furnish those findings to the IMO in the interests of safety of life at sea Allan Graveson, Nautilus International
"Without an investigation report, or other information submitted by a member state, the relevant IMO body has nothing on which it can make any decisions," an IMO spokesperson told Radio 4's The Report.
Allan Graveson, senior national secretary of the maritime union Nautilus International, says the failure to deliver the report is "a manifest failure of the international regulatory system".
Mr Graveson added: "Flag states should have the capacity to carry out full and complete investigations and furnish those findings to the IMO in the interests of safety of life at sea."
At the time of the accident the Egyptian authorities said the crew were at fault, while Costa Cruises blamed bad weather.
The Costa Europa accident is currently not included on the IMO's database of serious maritime incidents, although the organisation says it does not guarantee that its database is complete as it is dependent on the reports it receives.
Among the passengers on board the Costa Europa in 2010 when the accident occurred were Chris and Ron Cleal from Guernsey.
Find out more Hear more on The Report on Radio 4 on Thursday, 2 February at 20:00 GMT. You can listen again on the Radio 4 website or by downloading the podcast Listen to The Report on the Radio 4 website Download The Report podcast Explore The Report archive
They immediately ran onto the deck where they were met by crew soaked to the waist.
"They were speaking about it being similar to the Titanic - opening bulkhead doors and being hit by a six foot wall of water," Mr Cleal recalls.
The ship had begun to list after hitting the quay and Mr Cleal says when he asked one of the crew whether he should get his life jacket, he was told not to, and that the incident was an exercise.
The Cleals say it took an hour for the captain to inform passengers of what had happened.
During this period Mrs Cleal said she was "absolutely petrified - the crew were all coming up absolutely soaking wet".
"It was obvious that there was a big problem down below," she told the BBC.
It took five hours for the Cleals to be taken off the vessel. During that time they say the only crew they saw were entertainment personnel.
Ron Cleal was so incensed at the way the accident was handled that he wrote to the UK Maritime Accident Investigation Branch asking them to investigate.
Mr Cleal said he was "due to get feedback from the Italians, but never received anything".
The BBC contacted the Italian Maritime Register who said the investigation report into the Costa Europa incident "is strictly confidential, and at the moment is in the hands of the vessel's owner and the flag state authority".
Costa Cruises told the BBC that that it carried out an internal investigation and produced a detailed report, which it shared with the flag state authorities - in this case, the Italian coastguard in Genoa.
Costa Cruises says that as the report is an internal company document it has no intention of disclosing it.
The Report is one BBC Radio 4 Thursday, 2 February at 20:00 GMT. Listen again via the Radio 4 website or download the podcast.GRVI is an FPGA-efficient RISC-V RV32I soft processor core, hand technology mapped and floorplanned for best performance/area as a processing element (PE) in a parallel processor. GRVI implements a 2 or 3 stage single issue pipeline, typically consumes 320 6-LUTS in a Xilinx UltraScale FPGA, and currently runs at 300-375 MHz in a Kintex UltraScale (-2) in a standalone configuration with most favorable placement of local BRAMs.
Phalanx is massively parallel FPGA accelerator framework, designed to reduce the effort and cost of developing and maintaining FPGA accelerators. A Phalanx is a composition of many clusters of soft processors and accelerator cores with extreme bandwidth memory and I/O interfaces on a Hoplite NOC. Across clusters, cores and accelerators communicate by message passing.
Talks and Publications
GRVI Phalanx was introduced on January 5, 2016, at the 3rd RISC-V Workshop at Redwood Shores, CA. Presentation slides and video.
Jan Gray, GRVI Phalanx: A Massively Parallel RISC-V FPGA Accelerator Accelerator, 24th IEEE International Symposium on Field-Programmable Custom Computing Machines (FCCM 2016), May 2016. Received the FCCM 2016 Best Short Paper Award. [PDF]
Nov. 29, 2017: GRVI Phalanx Update: Plowing the Cloud with Thousands of RISC-V Chickens (slides PDF) (12 min video) at the 7th RISC-V Workshop. This talk for the RISC-V community recaps the purpose, design, and implementation of the GRVI Phalanx Accelerator Kit, recent work, and present work in progress to deliver an SDK for AWS EC2 F1 and PYNQ-Z1, including an OpenCL-like programming model built upon Xilinx SDAccel.
Examples
Here are some example GRVI Phalanx designs:
Other Conference Sightings
An extended abstract and talk on GRVI Phalanx was presented at the 2nd International Workshop on Overlay Architectures (OLAF-2) at FPGA 2016.
GRVI Phalanx was discussed in the short talk Software-First, Software Mostly: Fast Starting with Parallel Programming for Processor Array Overlays at the Arduino-like Fast-Start for FPGAs pre-conference workshop at FCCM 2016. Slides.Whether they are students, staff members, professors, or administrators, people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender report significant harassment at their colleges and discomfort with the overall campus climates, according to a new national report.
The report, "The 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People," was based on a survey conducted by the Q Research Institute for Higher Education, which is run by the advocacy group Campus Pride in partnership with Iowa State and Pennsylvania State Universities. The survey drew on responses from 5,150 people—primarily those who described themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender but also heterosexual "allies"—in the spring of 2009 at about 100 institutions nationwide.
About a quarter of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer students and employees said they had experienced harassment, as did more than a third of transgender and "gender nonconforming" respondents, compared with 12 percent of heterosexuals.
Seventy percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer students and employees felt comfortable with the overall campus climate, the report says, a rate that was higher than that among transgender and gender-nonconforming respondents but lower than that of heterosexuals. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer students who were also members of racial minority groups felt less comfortable in their classes than did their white counterparts, and faculty members were more likely than were students and staff members to have considered leaving their institutions, the report says.
"Colleges and universities have the responsibility to create safe learning environments for everyone, regardless of sexual identity or gender identity," Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, said in a written statement. "Now is the time to act."
The report offers a series of recommendations for institutions to improve their campus climates, a step that it says will lead to better learning outcomes for students and professional development for employees. Among more than six dozen recommendations, the report says colleges should:
Include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in institutional nondiscrimination statements.
Extend health-insurance coverage to employees' same-sex partners.
Establish a resource center with a full-time professional staff member for gender and sexuality education and support.
Provide gender and sexuality training to athletic-department, public-safety, and residence-life staff members.
Distribute a pamphlet to faculty members about inclusive language in the classroom.
Offer a clear, visible procedure for reporting incidents of bias.
Recruit and provide scholarships for prospective lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, and develop a peer-mentoring program for new students.
Offer students who don't describe themselves as male or female the ability to self-identify on applications for admission and housing, as well as other forms, and allow students and employees to change their gender designation on records.
Offer gender-neutral housing and restrooms, as well as a "matching program" for students to be placed with gay-friendly roommates.
Create gender- and sexuality-related support groups in the counseling center.
Develop an alumni group for graduates who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning.
The complete report is available for purchase on Campus Pride's Web site. Next Tuesday the group will conduct two Webinars, and on Thursday its leaders will hold a policy briefing at the U.S. Capitol.Obama had high praise for the state of press freedom in Iraq, at a press conference in 2011 [GALLO/GETTY]
Baghdad, Iraq - Iraq has been one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists since 2003.
While scores of newspapers and media outlets blossomed across Baghdad following the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime in the spring of 2003, the media renaissance was also met with attacks on both local and international journalists across the country - that have not stopped to this day.
Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for journalists every year from 2003 to 2008, the third deadliest in 2009, and the second deadliest in 2010 and 2011, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
CPJ documents 150 journalists killed in Iraq since 2003, a number, as high as it is, which pales in comparison to that logged by the group Brussels Tribunal (BT).
Logging the name, date, incident description, and source when available, BT reports that 341 Iraqi journalists and media workers have been killed since the invasion.
Adding to the overt physical risks from a dangerous security situation and threats of kidnapping, Iraqi journalists have told Al Jazeera that they now face threats from the Iraqi government itself, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Adnan Hussein, the editor-in-chief and deputy director of Iraq's Al-Mada newspaper, one of the largest in the country, wrote an article about then-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in 2006.
"I mentioned that he talked too much, so I received an email from one of his supporters," Hussein explained at his office in Baghdad. "The email said: 'If you are in Baghdad we will kill you and throw you in the garbage like the dogs'."
"So how is our situation?" Hussein asked. "Certainly we are afraid. I give you this example, and it still exists today."
Atmosphere of fear
On September 8, 2011, Iraqi journalist Hadi al-Mahdi was shot in his Baghdad home by assailants using pistols with silencers. Mahdi had hosted a thrice-weekly radio show covering social and political issues, including government corruption, bribery and sectarianism.
On his Facebook page, Mahdi had regularly organised pro-democracy demonstrations and publicised threats he had received. Having become afraid for his safety, two months before his murder, Mahdi had stepped down from his radio show.
Adnan Hussein received a death threat that read: 'If you are in Baghdad we will kill you and throw you in the garbage like the dogs' [Dahr Jamail/Al Jazeera]
"The killing of Hadi Mahdi created an atmosphere of fear," Hussein said of the death of his colleague.
He explained that the Maliki government claimed to have recently passed a law that provided greater protections to Iraqi journalists, but that instead "the law limits our work and does not guarantee our rights".
"Journalists here are now working in the streets naked," he said. "They have no rights and no protections. Journalists cannot work and cover what needs to be covered because they are too exposed."
One of Hussein's colleagues recently accused an Iraqi military spokesman of being a hypocrite in one of his columns, and the spokesman filed a lawsuit against their paper for $6m compensation.
"I returned to Iraq one year ago [after working as the Managing Editor of Asharq Alawsat newspaper in London] to find a bad situation, because of the political situation," Hussein concluded. "But now I feel it will worsen. The Iraqi government is not operating within any rules."
Oday Hattem, Chairman of Iraq's Society for Defending Press Freedom, agrees.
Hattem, who was arrested twice by Saddam Hussein's regime for publishing articles that offended the government, knows first-hand about media repression.
"There is no freedom to work in journalism here - if we compare the journalism in Iraq with the West," Hattem told Al Jazeera.
The large number of media outlets available in the country today, "does not necessarily mean there is freedom of the press, because every paper or TV channel belongs to a political party", he said.
Hattem believes the laws of journalism from Saddam's era continue to prevent Iraqi journalists from criticising the government, and the fact that religious parties each have their own militia means they, too, are not to be criticised.
According to Hattem, if a journalists reports critically "that means this journalist will lose his life".
Like Hussein, Hattem sees the situation worsening on all fronts.
"The political and freedom of speech situations are both descending," he said. "Maliki launched an attack on freedom of speech in February 2010, when he arrested tens of journalists and human rights activists after the beginning of demonstrations in Baghdad."
US President Barack Obama, during a December 12, 2011, press conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, had nothing but high praise for the state of press freedom in Maliki's Iraq:
So we're partnering to strengthen the institutions upon which Iraq's democracy depends - free elections, a vibrant press, a strong civil society, professional police and law enforcement that uphold the rule of law, an independent judiciary that delivers justice fairly, and transparent institutions that serve all Iraqis.
Three days later, Iraq's Society for Defending Press Freedom filed an appeal with Iraq's High Federal Court against Maliki's government and its "Journalists Rights Law", which the group said contradicted four articles from Iraq's constitution.
Since 2003, Iraq has been in the top three most dangerous countries in the world for journalists [Dahr Jamail/Al Jazeera]
Like most Iraqi journalists Al Jazeera spoke with, Hattem also received threats through what he said were "departments of the government".
"I have had to change my address several times, and in 2008, my six-year-old daughter was kidnapped," he explained.
Hattem received a death threat in February 2011 which caused him to leave the country for 30 days, "and a lot of my colleagues have left journalism because they have received threats from Shia parties and their militias".
"In November 2011, there was another attempt to kidnap my daughter from in front of school," Hattem said, adding that Maliki and his government are "controlling the media more now than even under Saddam".
"After 2003, we hoped for full freedom of the press as it is in the west," he added. "But the US does not want Iraq to be a democratic country. The spine of democracy is freedom of the press, but since 2003, the US forces never lifted a finger to stop violations against the press and freedom of journalists."
'You will be arrested or assassinated'
Yasser Faisal from Fallujah has worked as a freelance cameraman for Reuters since 2002, both in and out of Iraq.
He feels that working as a journalist in Iraq today is more difficult than it was under Saddam Hussein's regime.
"If you want to search for the truth about something and this thing is against the interests of the government, you will be either arrested or assassinated," he told Al Jazeera.
Faisal said, after the withdrawal of US forces, "the situation has become even more dangerous" because "there are no international organisations or laws that can protect you, so you can only work if you have contacts or relations with the Iraqi army or police".
He points to the fact that, like every other journalist Al Jazeera spoke with, any time Iraqi security forces are around, journalists are not allowed to take pictures or film, and censorship even within hospitals is alive and well.
Of the new law that supposedly protects Iraqi journalists, Faisal said simply, "it is not effective".
Ibrahim al-Jassim, a reporter for the Al Masar satellite channel in Iraq, also pointed to the militia of the political parties as part of the problem Iraqi journalists face.
"We have many difficulties here," he said, while standing nearby Baghdad's busy Saadoun Street. "These are all dependent on the security situation."
Jassim believes that the targeting of Iraqi journalists is happening "because of the Iraqi political parties not wanting the truth out. Our job is to seek the truth, and nobody here wants the truth to come out".
A 2011 report by Human Rights Watch on Freedom of Expression in Iraq confirms this: "In 2010, Iraq remained one of the most dangerous countries in the world to work as a journalist. Extremists and unknown assailants continue to kill media workers and bomb their bureaus…"
Many difficulties
Ahmed Rehayma, of Iraq's Society for Defending Press Freedom, blames the government for the problems facing Iraqi journalists [Dahr Jamail/Al Jazeera]
Ahmed Rehayma, office director at the Society for Defending Press Freedom in Iraq again points to the government for the root of the current problems facing Iraqi journalists.
"This pressure from the government has happened to all of us," he explained. "It's a fact we cannot deny."
Of his reporting for the Azzam newspaper up until four months ago, he said that he always pursued the truth, but that the government is "most certainly putting up obstacles".
He pointed to a story he wrote on how bomb detection devices used by the Iraqi military at checkpoints don't really work.
"The Ministry of Interior tried to make me look like a troublemaker for doing this story," he explained. "They stopped us on that story."
Rehayma told of another instance where he was reporting on a fire and an Iraqi policeman made him delete his photos, and then became physically abusive.
"We know plenty of journalists who have horrible stories," he said. "We see Maliki consolidating power and this concerns us, as it will make things hard for the media. Our media is in trouble now."
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Copyright © 2019 Estately, Inc. Data displayed here has not been verified by Estately.The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is about to release a report that could change the public perception of glyphosate.
Since 2015, CFIA scientists have been testing food for residues of glyphosate, a product best known by the Roundup brand name, although other brands and generic exist. It is the most popular herbicide in the world.
In 2016, the CFIA said it was planning to test a long list of foods and commodities, including juices, grains, grain products, beans, peas, lentils, soybean products and barley.
Before these tests, the CFIA had not monitored food for residues of the herbicide.
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In an email, the agency said it would release an executive summary of the report in a food safety testing bulletin in about a month.
“The executive summary will provide context to what that report means for the health and safety of consumers. An email notification will also be sent to subscribers of the CFIA’s Reports on Food Safety Testing.”
The report could generate a great deal of media attention in Canada because glyphosate is one of the most controversial agricultural chemicals in Europe and America.
Last year, the European Union came close to banning it because of a scientific report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
In March of 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a WHO division, concluded that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic” to humans.
The IARC decision rocked the scientific status quo around gly-phosate, as previous studies and most toxicologists had concluded that it’s not carcinogenic.
The IARC report spawned countless lawsuits in the U.S., with environmental groups suing companies over glyphosate residues in foods like granola bars and honey.
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California may soon require that glyphosate products carry a label saying it’s a cancer threat because of the IARC ruling.
Environmental groups are waiting on the CFIA report because it could alter the public debate in Canada.
“Naturally, we welcome the Canadian Food Inspection Agency publishing data on glyphosate contamination levels in food. People have a right to know what risks they’re taking when they go food shopping,” said Eoin Dubsky, from SumOfUs, a global group dedicated to curbing the power of corporations.
“Publicly revealing glyphosate contamination levels in food could also help producers and brands think over their relationship to glyphosate and hopefully we’ll hear smarter food industry players committing to cut the toxic stuff and regain consumer trust.”
The CFIA report comes at a time when IARC and the credibility of its study are under attack.
The European Food Safety Authority, WHO, Health Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have studied the risk and said the herbicide doesn’t cause cancer.
In mid-March, the European Chemicals Agency said direct contact can cause eye damage, and chronic exposure poses a risk to aquatic life, but it said glyphosate isn’t carcinogenic to humans.
“The available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria … to classify glyphosate for specific target organ toxicity, or as a carcinogen, as a mutagen or for re-productive toxicity.”My wife has now finished the first trimester of her pregnancy so we can let people know that our little Theo’s going to be a big brother this fall. That means it’s time to think of baby names.
Fallen Baby Names List Name Rank:
1900 Rank:
2003 Drop Name Rank:
1900 Rank:
2003 Drop 1 Herbert 32 962 930 1 Edna 17 986 969 2 Herman 45 974 929 2 Louise 24 977 953 3 Floyd 50 964 914 3 Beatrice 44 982 938 4 J 35 920 885 4 Bertha 26 963 937 5 Fred 19 876 857 5 Gladys 15 945 930 6 Earl 27 882 855 6 Lucille 49 954 905 7 Clarence 18 717 699 7 Dorothy 7 846 839 8 Howard 30 721 691 8 Hazel 20 681 661 9 Alfred 33 683 650 9 Edith 25 683 658 10 Ralph 23 660 637 10 Frances 16 580 564 11 Elmer 36 654 618 11 Irene 21 581 560 12 Harold 15 595 580 12 Marie 8 496 488 13 Ernest 26 599 573 13 Martha 31 487 456 14 Eugene 49 578 529 14 Alice 10 426 416 15 Leonard 48 571 523 15 Helen 2 389 387 16 Harry 13 517 504 16 Ruth 5 350 345 17 Francis 37 509 472 17 Rose 14 358 344 18 Willie 28 454 426 18 Annie 28 339 311 19 Roy 24 433 409 19 Clara 23 295 272 20 Walter 11 356 345 20 Esther 30 297 267 21 Arthur 14 353 339 21 Josephine 33 260 227 22 Carl 20 357 337 22 Eva 39 215 176 23 Lawrence 34 344 310 23 Ruby 42 197 155 24 Albert 16 311 295 24 Margaret 3 130 127 25 Joe 38 321 283 25 Catherine 19 106 87 26 Theodore 42 313 271 26 Laura 50 122 72 27 Louis 21 278 257 27 Mary 1 61 60 28 Leo 44 288 244 28 Evelyn 34 89 55 29 Frank 8 228 220 29 Anna 4 21 17 30 Raymond 22 188 166 30 Elizabeth 6 9 3 31 George 4 137 133 31 Mildred 9 n/a 0 32 Edward 9 128 119 32 Florence 11 n/a 0 33 Paul 17 124 107 33 Ethel 12 n/a 0 34 Henry 10 116 106 34 Lillian 13 n/a 0 35 Peter 46 148 102 35 Gertrude 22 n/a 0 36 Kenneth 47 109 62 36 Mabel 27 n/a 0 37 Richard 25 86 61 37 Bessie 32 n/a 0 38 Charles 6 59 53 38 Elsie 35 n/a 0 39 Robert 7 35 28 39 Pearl 36 n/a 0 40 Thomas 12 36 24 40 Agnes 37 n/a 0 41 John 1 17 16 41 Thelma 38 n/a 0 42 James 3 18 15 42 Myrtle 40 n/a 0 43 William 2 11 9 43 Ida 41 n/a 0 44 Jack 41 46 5 44 Minnie 43 n/a 0 45 Joseph 5 6 1 45 Viola 47 n/a 0 46 Samuel 31 23 -8 46 Nellie 48 n/a 0 47 David 29 14 -15 47 Grace 18 13 -5 48 Anthony 43 10 -33 48 Julia 45 33 -12 49 Andrew 40 5 -35 49 Emma 29 2 -27 50 Michael 39 2 -37 50 Sarah 46 12 -34
Most new parents want to give their child unique names and want to steer clear of the most over‐used names. Yet if you tell your friends you’re naming your boy Jacob or Joshua, they’ll all cheer you on. If your little girl goes by Emily, Emma or Madison, they’ll think that’s darling. Yet those are the top three boy and girl names for 2003.
They are tens of thousands of kids getting these top names every year. All of the kids with these names are going to be getting nicknames to differentiate them from one another: just hope your little angel isn’t the one that gets tagged “The Ugly Emily” or “The Stupid Joshua” by their third grade classmates!
There are definite trends in names. Certain names tend to sound fresh and daring even when they’re overused and trite. The only way to train your ear away from such trends is to methodically study the data (the New York Times had a fasincating article on all this when we were pondering Theo’s name, Where Have All the Lisas Gone?).
Fortunately the U.S. Social Security Administration provides a list of the most popular baby names by year, going back to the turn of the twentieth century. Using this, my wife and I were able to choose “Theodore” for our first child’s name; born in 2003, he name is the 313th most popular boy’s name and dropping. Yet it’s a known name and there have been great twentieth century folks who have answered to it (e.g., Dr. Suess, Theodore Geisel).
How is a parent to choose? One recent afternoon I cut and pasted the top fifty boy and girl names of the first decade of the Twentieth Century. I looked up their current status (the 2003 data) to see what movement has occured in their placement. The old names are still known but some have fallen far out of use. Herbert, for example, was the 32nd most popular boy’s name in the first decade of the Twentieth Century, but now ranks a dismal 930! If you want a name everyone knows but no one is giving their kid, Herbert’s your choice for boy’s and Edna’s your choice for girls.
Now these fallen names probably sound awkward. But that’s the point: they run counter to the trends. I’ll admit that some deserve their reduced status; I cannot imagine saddling a little girl with “Edna.” But in the list are some gems which have been unduly demoted by the trend‐setters.
We’ve been very happy with “Theodore,” the 26th most fallen name of the Twentieth Century. He’s officially named after his great‐great uncle. The social security datebase assured us that the name was safe from trendiness.
So what will the new baby be named? Check in soon!! The due date is the end of August.
Update: drumroll please.… Our new son’s name is Francis! And further follow‐up brought us Gregory and Laura. We’re officially out of the baby‐making game now but if we were looking for more, Walt and Dorothy would be our next picks of classic‐but‐uncommon names.
Unpopular Baby Names: Avoiding the Jacobs, Emilys and Madisons was last modified: by“Sunni women are giving birth to babies who will fight us in years to come, so we have the right to fight anyone who can hurt us in the future,” said the Allawite militiaman, a member of the ancient offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Syrian President Bashar Assad and the powerbase of his regime belong.
LATTAKIA, SYRIA AND BEIRUT, LEBANON — As Syria descends into civil war, Abu Jaafar said he is ready to kill women and children to defend his friends, family and president.
As a member of the mafia militia who grew up smuggling commodities, appliances, drugs and guns between Syria and Lebanon at the behest of Assad’s extended family, Abu Jaafar has no problem getting past the nightclub bouncers.
Though he has a wife and children, after a day lifting weights and drinking some local Arak, Jaafar spends most evenings in the nightclubs of Lattakia, the port city on the Mediterranean coast where regime forces this week attacked a rebellious village.
With his massive, tattooed muscles, shaved head, bushy black beard and trademark white trainers, Abu Jaafar, 38, looks every bit the figure of terror that is now imprinted on the international conscience. It is militiamen like Jaafar that are believed responsible for recent massacres in Houla and Qbeir, in which nearly 200 Sunni civilians were killed, many of them women and children who were stabbed to death.
In an interview in Lattakia, Jaafar gave a frank and unique insight into the violent, disturbed world of the shabiha, a group that suffers from a dangerous cocktail of religious indoctrination, minority paranoia and smuggler roots.
Packing up the Kalashnikovs, pistols, machine guns and grenades he said were given to him “by the government,” Jaafar joins his gang of 100 shabiha —named either for the Arabic word for ghosts or the old Mercedes Shahab popular for its smuggling-sized trunk — and sets off to crush Sunni Muslim protesters.
“If I get a call from my boss then my whole day is changed,” he said. “When I leave the house, I don’t know when I will be back.”
“The regime has been spawning militias, as deep down it is a militia pretending to be a state,” said a leading Syria analyst based in Damascus, who asked for anonymity to speak freely. “The Frankenstein is now completely out of control.”
The massacres in northern Syria, which UN officials, eyewitnesses and Human Rights Watch all concluded were perpetrated mainly by shabiha triggered a wave of international revulsion, with many analysts describing militia as a “Frankenstein” now beyond the control of the president. The regime blamed both massacres on foreign terrorists.
READ MORE:Syria on UN’s ‘list of shame’ for torturing, killing and sexually attacking children
Like many of Syria’s estimated 2.5 million Allawites, a small mystic off-shoot of Shiite Islam which forms just 12 percent of the country’s population, Jaafar said he grew up in poverty.
“My story is similar to all shabiha: I was born in a small village and didn’t finish school. Instead I went to work with my father in our lemon farm,” he said.
It was during his military service that Jaafar was recruited into Syria’s security services, where uniformed officers worked with plain-clothed thugs in regime-sanctioned smuggling.
“I was bigger than the others so I got picked to be the bodyguard of a senior officer,” he said. “After military service, he asked me to be his man in dealing with some Allawite smugglers.”
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jaafar lived the gangster high life, plying his trade in well-organized smuggling networks, anchored in Lattakia’s port.
Food, cigarettes and commodities subsidized by the government would be smuggled from Syria into Lebanon, then in the midst of a civil war, and sold for massive profit. Luxury cars, guns and drugs, meanwhile, would flow from Lebanon up the Bekaa Valley and into Syria’s tightly restricted, Soviet-style economy established under Hafez al-Assad, the country’s former dictator.
“They were noted for their brutality and cruelty and their blind devotion to their leaders,” writes Yassein Haj Saleh, a historian and dissident. “The shabiha were untouchable and operated with impunity. If there were ever a conflict between the shabiha and the local authorities, the authorities would not dare defend themselves.”
The impunity stemmed from a single, but all powerful source: The direct links between the shabiha and the Assad family.
Reportedly established by Namir al-Assad, President Hafez al-Assad’s cousin, and Rifaat al-Assad, the late president’s brother, each shabiha gang grew up owing allegiance to a particular member of the extended Assad family.
Syria experts say members of the shabiha would be carefully selected for their physical strength, lack of education and blind loyalty to the Allawite sect and the Assad family in particular.
By the mid 1990s, however, the shabiha were beginning to get out of control and Hafez al-Assad ordered his elder son and heir apparent Basel, famed for horsemanship and a furious temper, to bring the militias to heel. He did so, but soon after died in a car crash, catapulting his awkward younger brother Bashar into the presidency.
Following Basel’s crackdown, Jaafar said he left his gang and opened a liquor store. He continued to exercise his biceps, which bear a tattoo of the zulfiqar, the sword of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, who Shiites follow as the rightful heir of Islam — the root of the great divide with Sunnis.
“Last June, friends from the shabiha asked me to return to work with them,” Jaafar said. “They said we must defend President Assad and his family and keep the power for the Allawite sect.”
Soon, Jaafar’s pay of about $20 for a day’s thuggery had risen to a steady monthly salary of about six times the average state wage.
“We started by facing the protesters, but when the opposition became armed we attacked them in their villages,” Jaafar said. “In addition to our salaries, we take whatever we can get during the |
is inappropriate because it recognizes crimes by foreign regimes against their own people, rather than events in Canada’s own history.
Supporters argue that the memorial deserves prominence because eight million Canadians can trace their heritage to countries where communist regimes were or still are in place.
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
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**UPDATE: Driver has been SUSPENDED**
We received this tip today, and initially passed it over, however after some research all we can say is “How Dare He?” Uber Nashville Driver, James Victor Cherry, gets paid to take passengers from point A to point B. That’s his job. Doesn’t matter long trip or short trip, in the end, they tend to average out. It’s what he signed up for, and no one is holding a gun to his head. So today when we got this post about him negatively (realllllly negatively) rating passengers for taking short trips because he chose to wait nearly an hour at the airport on the gamble he would get a higher far, we did some digging… and found this isn’t the first time he got angry at a passenger and gave an unjustified bad rating – something that CAN prevent other drivers from choosing to accept a passenger in their car, in the future. Here’s today’s post from the Uber Nashville Facebook group:
We did some research.. and guess what, This James Victor Cherry (his facebook URL is ‘/TheOnlyKingJames/ – we’ll let you write your own joke there)… gets off on giving 1-star ratings to Uber passengers who in his view ‘cheat’ the system by taking short rides, and not lining his pockets with fares or tips, even when they give him good ratings. We found this gem from a few weeks ago, too, with only a short amount of research:
UPDATE: This guy think’s he’s Oprah handing out One-Stars:
We should also note, that this is basically who we always get when we call an Uber in Nashville.. a guy with his profile pic with a bunch of strippers. Could he me any more typical of ‘Uber Nashville’?
So what do his fellow drivers think about this practice? They don’t like it – and they spoke out!
When asked why he gave the 1 star rating, he attempted to explain:
and then he just couldn’t shut up:
Frankly, if you are this unhappy with your job, James Victor Cherry, we think you should not be driving passengers in the city of Nashville (for Uber or Lyft for that matter) – hell, we wouldn’t even let you deliver our dinner – but then again, maybe that’s what you should be doing, if you expect tips on a platform where one of the main mottos is that tipping isn’t required or even expected. Oh yea, he had something to say about that, too:
You never expect tips – except when you do, which is always, did we get that right?
We are going to agree with Deeda here:
Hopefully you’ll find a new job, in fact we hope to help you with that part of this process, as we’re sending this to both Uber, and Lyft, and Postmates, and Favors, and every other delivery/passenger/livery service in Nashville in hopes that you never have to worry about a passenger giving you a short fare – ever again! Bad, Uber!
**UPDATE**
Not only does he bitch and moan about passengers, he brags on social media when he gets anyone remotely famous in his car… does this guy have no shame? or privacy? This is Nashville – you must be discreet! Just today he had Chicago White Sox catcher Matt Merulo in his car
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Like this: Like Loading...By Tori Jackson, BA in International Affairs, GWU, 2015
February 24th, 2015 was a day of one of the greatest devastations I have ever faced. My entire post-collegiate world shattered as I read these words: “We regret that we are unable to offer you an assignment at this time.” Peace Corps had dumped me. I thought wanting it more than anything I had ever wanted before was enough, that my passion would carry me 8,213 miles to Mozambique. A few hundred tears later, I rallied and began to figure out what I had done wrong the first time, learning from the mistakes I was not willing to make again.
For me, applying to the Peace Corps meant being one step closer towards doing all of the things I dreamed of while studying International Affairs: exploring the world, speaking new languages, and most importantly, helping others – but it all began with rejection. One month after my world came crashing down I completely revamped my application by doing each and every one of the things below, and applied again for the Peace Corps. My diligence and perseverance paid off: I was recently offered and have accepted an invitation to serve as a Peace Corps Education Volunteer in Ecuador departing in January 2016.
Tips for a successful Peace Corps application:
Realize that YOUR RESUME IS EVERYTHING! The resume to a Peace Corps application is what an avocado is to guacamole – it doesn’t exist without it and a bad avocado will make you dump the batch. Know your skill set and shoot for posts you are qualified for. If you want to be a youth development volunteer but haven’t dealt with children since you were one yourself, maybe reconsider. Read the job description, required AND desired skills of the post(s) you are interested and tailor your resume to highlight the experience you have that would make you a great fit for these jobs. Your Peace Corps resume can and should be up to TWO pages and if you are a recent grad you can reach back to high school experience.
Gain RELEVANT EXPERIENCE! From the six sectors Peace Corps serves the qualifications vary greatly from one to the next. I was initially interested in Community Economic Development, but looking at the requirements I realized two years of business management experience wasn’t feasible in the next two semesters. A quick Google search revealed an English teaching opportunity close to campus that worked with my schedule and was exactly what the education sector was looking for. With that, combined with my study abroad experience and a few other work/volunteer opportunities, I had enough to qualify for the majority of education jobs. Don’t wait until senior to do that Google search, start as early as possible!
Be FLEXIBLE! Fresh from a year studying abroad in Brazil, sand still between my toes, I was dying to get back to a land where the beautiful Portuguese language is spoken. Enter Mozambique – the only Portuguese-speaking country Peace Corps is currently serving. I had to learn the hard way that applying for one country is almost a guaranteed way NOT to get into Peace Corps. As you can imagine, 12 spots, hundreds of applicants, some of whose full-time teaching and Masters degrees trumped my volunteer undergrad experience. Do not limit yourself to a specific country or region – trust the process and take the leap. But remember: do not put anywhere if you really will not go anywhere. Be honest with yourself while keeping an open-mind.
Apply EARLY! Peace Corps’ new handy-dandy Apply-By Date can give the illusion that you have months, weeks, or days left to apply. This was a mistake I made the first time, applying 3 days before the deadline. The successful time around I was reviewed, interviewed, and invited an entire month before the apply-by date even arrived. Volunteer Openings are released on a quarterly basis. As soon as the postings come out, put your volunteer application in to give yourself the best chances of being seen.
Be RESOURCEFUL! Admittedly, as an intern at the Peace Corps office I had consistent access to Return Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) and their advice, but so can you! There are a multitude of outreach events across the country designed to give you a chance to get to know recruiters, and more importantly for them to get to know you. The RPCV community is over 200,000 strong – neighbors, coworkers, professors, etc. Talk to the people who have been in your situation before and the majority will be more than willing to offer support. You are not in this alone.
Last, but certainly not least Be PERSISTENT! I expressed my interest to any and everyone I could at the Peace Corps office about how serious I was about my application. But be careful to not go over the edge into annoying and unprofessional – remember this is a job application process and should be treated as such. Once your application is sorted into a country, email the placement officer listed expressing your gratitude for being considered and reiterating your interest in the position. A direct message can only have a positive impact, distinguishing you in a sea of hundreds of resumes.
So these tips are the recipe for success right? Not exactly. An important thing to remember is that thanks to an application process reduced from 8 hours to 1 hour and a generation that values experience over compensation, Peace Corps is experiencing more qualified applicants now than there are positions available. Know that a rejection is not necessarily an indication that you are not qualified, but instead that the timing wasn’t right/there were too many applicants/your country choice was too narrow – there in fact could be a million different reasons why. And if all else fails – take it from me – try, try again!Austria's new right-of-center coalition government wants to further deepen relations with Germany, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Monday before he assumed office.
"Many personal, economic, political and cultural ties bind us to Germany," the 31-year-old told Germany's Bild newspaper.
Kurz was sworn in as chancellor on Monday, after his center-right People's Party (ÖVP) reached a coalition agreement during the weekend with the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ).
At least 6,000 demonstrators gathered in the Austrian capital to demonstrate against the FPÖ's inclusion in the government.
The shift to the right in Austria has led to uncertainty at the EU-level over how the new government will engage with Brussels. However, Kurz has sought to dispel any concerns his tough immigration stance would strain ties with Germany and Brussels.
Demonstrators protested against the new government, saying the FPÖ should be excluded from power in Austria
'One more ally in Europe'
As foreign minister, Kurz frequently criticized Berlin over immigration policy, and FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache once called German Chancellor Angela Merkel "the most dangerous woman in Europe."
"I am looking forward to further cooperation with the German government, and especially with Chancellor Angela Merkel – above all in further deepening our excellent bilateral relationship and also within the European Union," Kurz said.
While Vienna's incoming government encountered mixed responses in Germany, Merkel's conservative Bavarian allies, the CSU, have been positive.
"With Sebastian Kurz, Bavaria and Germany have one more ally in Europe," Alexander Dobrindt, the head of the CSU's parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, told Die Welt newspaper.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Sebastian Kurz, Austria Sebastian Kurz, the leader of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), is not the only youthful politician on the scene: In recent years there have been several national leaders who did not correspond to the classic image of the elder statesman at the time they took office.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Mario Frick, Liechtenstein In December 1993 Frick became prime minister of Liechtenstein at just 28 years old – the youngest head of government in the world. He presided over the fate of the world’s sixth-smallest country for more than seven years, until April 2001. An attorney by profession, Frick subsequently served as president of the Liechtenstein Bar Association from 2005 to 2014.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Pandeli Majko, Albania Majko, who recently became Albania’s Minister of State for Diaspora, served as the Albanian prime minister from September 1998 to October 1999, and again from February to July 2002. When he first took office in 1998 he was just 30 years old. Majko’s political career started very early, with his election to the Albanian parliament in 1992.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Igor Luksic, Montenegro The Montenegrin foreign minister from 2012 to 2016, Igor Luksic from the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro was prime minister of his country from 2010 to 2012, and was aged 34 when he assumed office. Prior to this, from 2004 onwards, he served as his country’s finance minister — a job he was given when he was not yet 30.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan In 1998, Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to win a free election in an Islamic country. She was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988, at the age of 35. Bhutto held the office until 1990, then again from 1993 to 1996. From 1999 to 2007 she lived in exile in Dubai. She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, two weeks before again contesting the parliamentary elections.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Viktor Orban, Hungary The current prime minister of Hungary, who is renowned for his anti-refugee policies, held the office once before, from 1998 to 2002. Orban, the leader and co-founder of the national-conservative Fidesz party, was 35 years old when he was first elected.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Atifete Jahjaga, Kosovo Jahjaga was president of Kosovo from 2011 to 2016, becoming the first woman to head the Kosovar government. At 36, she was also the youngest person elected to that office in the country. The minimum age for candidates is 35.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Emmanuel Macron, France On May 7, 2017 Emmanuel Macron won the second round of the presidential election against the French nationalist Marine Le Pen, becoming the youngest-ever president of France at the age of 39. Prior to this, from 2014 to 2016, he was the minister of the economy under socialist President Francois Hollande.
Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Youssef Chahed, Tunisia Chahed, the current prime minister of Tunisia, was 40 years old when he took office. He held various posts in the country’s first democratically elected government from 2015 onwards, under Prime Minister Habib Essid. After Essid lost a parliamentary vote of confidence, the Tunisian president eventually proposed Chahed as the new prime minister, and he assumed the office on 27 August 2016. Author: Carla Bleiker
Degree of alarm
The CSU has pushed hard for Merkel's CDU to implement a stricter immigration policy, including a cap on asylum seekers and restrictions on family reunification.
But the Social Democrats (SPD) have reacted with a degree of alarm to a shift to the right in Austria, where their Social Democrat counterparts are now out of government.
Achim Post, the vice-chairman of the SPD's parliamentary group, told Die Welt that Kurz, Strache and Hungary's Victor Orban have similar views. This would especially impact asylum policy, he said.
ls,cw/ng (AFP, dpa)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
A massive police operation is under way after sensitive video interviews with victims of celebrity sex abusers were stolen.
The tapes, believed to feature accusers of Jimmy Savile, Stuart Hall and other high-profile names, were snatched in a raid on a rundown property used by a company working for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Up to 50 testimonies were taken from the flat owned by a film-making firm contracted to the CPS.
It is thought a highly-organised criminal gang was behind the raid. Four police forces are involved in the investigation with officers travelling to Poland on the trail of the crooks.
Officers feared the tapes would be used for blackmail, or that they would be placed on the internet and even wreck future criminal trials.
(Image: Alamy)
One highly-placed source said: “There were serious concerns about the implications of this robbery.
“Officers were terrified future trials could collapse due to the evidence being compromised and there were also concerns that the videos could be uploaded on to social media or even be used as part of a future blackmail plot.”
There was also concern the burglary in the Fallowfield area of Manchester raised serious questions about security around sensitive police victim and witness tapes.
(Image: PA)
David Sinclair, a spokesman for Victim Support Scotland, said: “Victims of crime, particularly sexual crimes, would rightly expect that any video relating to those people and their identities would be held securely and not handed over to any third party without the prior agreement of the victims, and in the case of younger victims, the authority of their parents.”
Six men have been arrested for burglary and handling stolen goods following the raid on video-editing company Swan Films 10 days ago. But the major police probe is ongoing.
(Image: Getty)
A CPS spokesman said: “We are currently co-operating with the police investigation. During the burglary it is believed material relating to a small number of cases, including some police interviews with victims or witnesses, sent to the company since August 1, were stolen.
“Master copies of all material are retained by the prosecution. Computers have now been recovered and we can confirm the sensitive information they contained was not accessed between the time they were stolen and their recovery.
“The CPS has secured all material which remained at the burgled premises and is asking for an urgent explanation of the security measures in place.
“We have worked with the police to identify the victims and witnesses who have been involved in the cases affected and are informing them of the successful recovery of the material in question.”
A Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said: “At 2.20pm on September 11 2014, police were called to reports of a burglary. Officers attended to find a number of items stolen. They have been recovered and enquiries are ongoing.”Texas Athletics invites all fans to Gregory Gym for the 2017 Texas Volleyball Orange-White Scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 19. First serve for the scrimmage is set for 11 a.m. and admission is FREE for all fans.
Texas Volleyball is also hosting a FREE youth clinic for kids in 8th grade and under prior to the scrimmage from 9-10 a.m. Spaces are limited and registration should be made in advance. To register, please email the Texas Volleyball office at txvbcamp@utexas.edu. When registering, please include the following information:
Child's name
Age
Grade
Parent's name
Phone number
Email address
For fans coming only to the scrimmage, doors at Gregory Gym open at 10 a.m. Fans may park for free in the Brazos Garage (BRG) on UT campus.
For 2017 Texas Volleyball ticket options, visit TexasSports.com/Tickets or call 512-471-3333.Is actually-existing capitalism a fair or a rigged game? The answer matters a lot for attitudes towards redistribution, as some recent experiments by Matthias Sutter and colleagues show.
They got people to choose between a safe investment and a risky one. After the pay-off to the risky investment was seen, they asked third parties whether they wanted to redistribute.
When the pay-off to the risky asset was determined fairly – by the toss of a coin – few people were complete egalitarians. However, they then tweaked the experiment so that subjects who chose the risky asset could toss the coin themselves and report the result without anybody checking it. In this experiment, the number of third parties who were egalitarians tripled.
Even the suspicion of cheating – let alone the reality – creates a big increase in demand for equality.
It’s in this context that we should read three things I’ve seen recently:
- A survey of CEO pay by Alex Edmans, Xavier Gabaix and Dirk Jenter finds that high pay cannot be entirely explained by maximizing of shareholder value, and that rent-seeking plays a part.
- Luigi Zingales argues (pdf) that corporate and political power are becoming increasingly intertwined, and this is a threat to the free market, prosperity and democracy.
- Graeme Archer calls on the government to fight the “crony corporatism” which has seen bosses’ pay soar without any increase in economic efficiency.
What we have here are mainstream and rightist writers acknowledging that the game is rigged, at least partly. Rhetoric about capitalism is changing. Even outside the left, the rich are no longer seen (only) as talented public beneficiaries whose rewards are the product of free markets, but also as thieves who exploit power for their own ends.
Sutter’s experiments suggest this should cause a big rise in demand for redistribution. We don’t need to prove that theft and rent-seeking are widespread; the mere suspicion of it creates many more egalitarians.
But there’s a quirk here. Sutter’s experiments also found that even where there is that suspicion of cheating, many people remain libertarians who refuse any redistribution. This isn’t wholly unreasonable. They might judge that the danger of stealing money from the honest risk-taker outweighs the desire to punish cheats. Or – to translate Sutter’s results into the real world – they might not want to deter beneficial risk-seeking entrepreneurship.
Professor Sutter and colleagues infer from this that the suspicion of cheating creates political polarization.
I draw another inference. It’s that we need much more than redistributive taxation to tackle cronyism. We need to change institutions to prevent rent-seeking. Whether Archer’s relatively mild suggestions – more transparency and shareholder power – are sufficient is something I very much doubt."Libya is the next focus," he said. "We must give top priority to Libya, which is likely to be the next emergency."
Hollande had called the meeting with Renzi to discuss ways Italy can support France in its military campaign against Isis. On Monday Italian media reports suggested France would ask Italy to commit soldiers on the ground in Libya, according to La Repubblica.
But Renzi was still unclear as to what military action Italy would take in the western coalition against Isis.
Once again he underscored his belief that defeating Isis would require more than firepower alone.
"It also needs a cultural response, not just a military one," Renzi told reporters in Paris.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni suggested that Italy was prepared to agree to France's plea for support.
“France has asked for help to lower its burden in some areas of conflict,” the minister said. “For us it is a moral and political duty.”
Isis has a considerably strong foothold in Libya, specifically around the northern city of Sirte.
Many of the estimated 140,000 African migrants who have come to Italy this year have set sail from neighbouring Libyan shores.
Since the attacks in Paris earlier this month, France has stepped up its campaign against Isis with a string of airstrikes against key Isis targets - something Italy has repeatedly stated it would not get involved in.
Over the past week, Hollande has met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and American President Barack Obama to ask for their military support.
On Thursday Germany said it would send Tornado aircraft and warships to Syria, while UK Prime Minster David Cameron has been drumming up support for airstrikes against Isis in Syria ahead of a parliamentary vote on the matter early next week.
On Thursday Hollande flew to Russia on to meet President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
While in Paris, Renzi also made a speech at the Sorbonne University, where the sole Italian victim of the Paris attacks, 28-year-old Valeria Solesin, was studying to complete a Phd.Do Bryce Harper and Hunter Strickland have beef?
Bryce Harper on Tuesday took Hunter Strickland deep for another splash hit into McCovey Cove during the NLDS, and the young Nationals outfielder went nuts during his celebration. He also appeared to bark at and stare down the Giants after the homer, indicating there might be something personal going on between him and Strickland (or another player).
Harper’s solo home run in the top of the 7th inning tied Game 4 of the NLDS at 2, so Harper was understandably pumped up. But there definitely seemed to be some extra celebrating from him. You can see him yell curse words at the Giants/Strickland:
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Yeah, you don’t want to be on the receiving end of that stare. This should not at all be surprising. Two years ago, Harper talked about his style of play and said his mentality is he wants to “run your ass over.” Harper also once blew a kiss at a minor league pitcher after hitting a home run.
So what had Harper fired up? It’s possible that Strickland’s comments after allowing an upper-deck home run to Harper in Game 1 had the Nats slugger ticked. Strickland said he would throw fastballs again to Harper and Asdrubal Cabrera, who both took him deep.
“For sure,” Strickland said via the SF Chronicle. “I would do it again today. As far as Harper and Cabrera, that’s what happened yesterday, but I would throw the same pitch again today and see what happens again.”When speaking to clients about their finances, we often discuss strategies for effective debt management. A recent study found that Australian Household Debt to Income levels, have tripled since 1990. Australians are spending more of their income to service their debts than ever before. This is a concern given we have a historically low RBA cash rate.
Our record borrowings don't end at home loans. Aussies are also racking up substantial debt on their credit cards and personal loans. It is not uncommon for individuals to have total borrowings which are a combination of more than one type of debt. If you have any debt at all, no matter why or how you borrowed, it's always a good idea to make extra loan repayments.
Why Are Extra Loan Payments Always a Good Idea?
Every dollar you owe on your debts is costing you monthly interest. It could be as little as 4.17% on a home loan, or as high as 30% on a credit card. Making extra payments gets you out of debt faster and saves you money. This is an opinion shared by ASIC's MoneySmart
Thanks to the impact of compound interest, any extra money you pay off your debt today, will continue to save you interest for the remaining life of your loan. Extra loan repayments are beneficial for two reasons:An effort to bar the use of state taxpayer dollars to pay for sex change surgeries and other transgender services in Pennsylvania ran aground this week after lawmakers were confronted with an inconvenient truth:
Their own, taxpayer-funded insurance plan covers the very same things.
House Bill 1933's prime sponsor, Rep. Jesse Topper, confirmed Wednesday he has pulled his bill back for amendments that would extend the proposed ban on transgender services to all tax-funded coverages.
As it stands, Topper's bill covered the state's two largest insurance programs, Medicare and CHIP, the Childrens Health Insurance Program.
"I am looking for a way to make sure the law includes all taxpayer dollars and when we find that way, I anticipate the bill being ready to run," the Bedford County Republican told PennLive in an email.
"To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. This is a very difficult and complex issue and I will continue to work towards a solution."
The transgender issue got rolling earlier this fall, when the Legislature turned its attention to a periodic reauthorization of CHIP, which provides health insurance to children in low- and moderate-income families whose income is too high to qualify for standard medical assistance programs.
Members of the state Senate inserted language that would have barred CHIP coverage from paying for any transgender services, which Gov. Tom Wolf's administration authorized last year in keeping with new federal regulations springing from the Affordable Care Act.
That expansion has drawn opposition from some social conservatives.
Opponents of extending this coverage say they object to seeing public funding used for any medical services, including surgery, for what many experts still consider a psychological problem.
The Senate bill was later scaled back to permit CHIP to be used to cover counseling services, drugs like so-called "puberty blockers" and other costly treatments that can help kids with gender identity issues.
But the irreversible physical step of sex reassignment surgery would still be barred.
Not wanting a potential wedge issue to jeopardize coverage for the larger CHIP population, the House stripped the Senate's transgender language from the CHIP authorization last month, with a promise to take up the issue separately.
That was Topper's bill, which had been scheduled for floor action this week.
But that debate was derailed after internal Republican caucus discussions brought to light the fact that members' own families would be continuing to receive this coverage.
This week's postponement brought a mixture of relief and frustration to LBGTQ activists and allies who have been rallying in opposition to the bill.
"Rather than using this time to carefully consider the bill's impact, they are instead considering ways to exclude even more people from accessing medically necessary health care services," said Elizabeth Randol, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
"This is a cruel and spiteful response. This terrible idea should never again see the light of day."
But if the issue does return in 2018, other advocates said, they'll be ready for a fight.
Not everyone needs all types of medical care, noted Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Washington D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign.
But when they do need a type of medical care, "we give people the care that they need," she said, "... and that should be between a patient and their doctor, not legislators moralizing over who is and is not deserving of basic medical care."MBK Entertainment has announced that it is accepting information regarding malicious comments and the spreading of false rumors in order to take legal action. It has specifically asked for such information about its groups T-ara, DIA, and solo artist Shannon.
In a statement released on June 17, MBK Entertainment explain that they had previously thought of malicious comments as a way for people to show their interest and therefore not taken any action. However, as time has passed, they have realised that the spreading of rumors and posting of malicious comments has gone too far.
MBK Entertainment promises to take strong action against those who have been involved in the spreading of rumors and posting of comments that have constituted a smear campaign against their artists. They state that they will be taking legal action once they confirm the activities of these individuals, and will not be making any settlements or showing leniency.
MBK Entertainment shared a a screenshot of an inbox full of tips about malicious comments that fans of T-ara have collected on June 20.
What do you think about MBK Entertainment’s plans for legal action?
Source (1)There is an air of confidence about UBS at this time concerning the bank's exploration of distributed ledger technology and smart contracts.
Recently, UBS demonstrated how a bond could be automated on a blockchain, the shared ledger system similar in design to that used by Bitcoin. It also proposed a fiat currency-backed "settlement coin" to fit within the existing regulatory framework. The bank appears to be leading the way in distributed ledger technology at this time.
During a detailed explanation of the technology, Alex Batlin, a director in UBS's technology innovation and research team, told IBTimes the bank remains open to ideas, and this includes ideas that are essentially attached to the public Bitcoin Blockchain.
"We are not ruling it out. There has been a lot of debate about permission versus permissionless; actually it's for purely technical reasons, at least in the short term, where we think permission ledgers may well be more useful.
"One is because you don't need to do proof of work, so all of a sudden you can have a business model with much higher transaction throughput.
"The other issue is that given the current regulatory and legal view, you need to know who your payment processors are. So again having a permission chain gives you easier integration into the legal and regulatory framework.
"People talk about banks wanting to have permission chains to keep control - that's not true. The key things we need are transaction volume and we need to integrate with an existing legal and regulatory framework."
Batlin was making a point about the need for multi-asset chains. He mentioned Bitcoin in the context of the Sidechains project developed by Blockstream. Pegged sidechains can enable bitcoins and other ledger assets to be transferred between multiple blockchains.
Batlin said a proliferation of single asset chains would be less than desirable. Purely from a capitalisation point of view multi-asset chains facilitate far greater efficiencies.
"So we have seen on Bitcoin, altcoins are 500-plus; imagine if you had operating costs for 500 altcoins, let alone hundreds and hundreds of bond chains, derivative chains and so on.
"So just like with internet we are a strong believer that we need to have, if not one, but a few platforms that are multi-asset, rather than a chain per variant of particular instrument.
"We do feel strongly about that and hopefully we can articulate that there is good reason behind that. Partially it's to get the operating efficiencies and capital efficiencies we think are important in this case.
Sidechains
"But even that is changing rapidly," noted Batlin. "There are some interesting solutions like the Blockstream solution where they are looking at sidechaining.
"If folks make that work very well then we might find we take advantage of that. It's just too nascent to make hard technology decisions at this point."
This is an interesting and rapidly evolving area of computer science. In a recent interview, smart contracts expert Nick Szabo was asked if he could envisage the Bitcoin network, bitcoin the currency, Ethereum contracts and ether combining in commercial environments.
Szabo, who understands security must come before economics, agreed that this could happen especially if Sidechains can be made to work; there are some open questions about how long you can store collateral on one blockchain with the cryptocurrency of another using Sidechains, which have to be solved first.
Regarding the Sidechains project Batlin said: "I think the project is extremely interesting because they got both the transaction privacy using homomorphic encryption [a crypto system that allows computations to be performed on data without decrypting it] to make sure the amounts being transferred are not in plain text.
"And the whole ability to do sidechain pegging; they are trying to move up the chain towards Turing complete smart contracts, so we will be watching their progress with great interest."
Batlin also mentioned Enigma, the MIT initiative. This idea also guarantees greater privacy on the blockchain. Data is split between different nodes, and they compute functions together without leaking information to other nodes. Specifically, no single party ever has access.
"It's such a fascinating area right now; so many amazing, brilliant brains working on it - it's quite overwhelming," he said.
Smart Bonds
UBS quickly came to the conclusion that a cross market initiative was needed; that the UBS chain would be a very lonely place.
"So the first thing we did was we picked bonds - it's a very well understood instrument and we said, can we implement a bond on what we would call a third generation blockchain technology - let's call it Ethereum.
"If Bitcoin is first, Ripple and Steller is the second, Ethereum is a general purpose distributed app so you've got full blown smart contracts. So let's see if we can use that technology to then implement the business logic of what we call a smart bond - primary issuance only use case - and in effect we did it.
"We have managed to model a smart bond on Ethereum which gave us a lot of confidence. So one of the things that we concluded as part of that exercise and a couple of other experiments, was that for as long as all you are doing is moving tokens of value on chain, rather than moving actual items on chain, you are always going to have physical settlement risk."
According to Batlin's conversations at the bank, a lot of people still would want to buy bonds or other securities, that also could become digital only assets on blockchain, for fiat currencies rather than for virtual currencies.
"As long as we only had something that was only a token of that it can still suffer from settlement risk offchain. Then you are not going to get all the benefits of atomic escrow conditions for payment versus delivery or payment versus payment.
"You still have the risk that, just because it's on the ledger people won't come back and decide to actually give that item to you.
Settlement Coin
"That's really the simple idea behind settlement coin. What we want to do is enable this kind of settlement coin utility which really is a representation of fiat money on blockchain.
"So if you spend a pound on blockchain it is equivalent to spending a pound in cash. So it is still a native asset but it is pounds, it is dollars, it is Swiss francs - whatever.
"People have a choice, they can either continue transactions in virtual currency or they can have all the benefits of almost real time clearance and settlement, transactions through smart contracts but deal directly in fiat currencies. That virtual pound or whatever you call it, a cryptopound, would one-to-one, asset-backed with a central bank.
Batlin said the point was to remove UBS as a settlement risk, and use the central bank as a settlement risk, like cash. He added there could potentially be multiple settlement coins to represent different currencies.
"We are not looking to create a UBS blockchain - we want to use open standards and we don't want to a UBS virtual currency," he reiterated.
"This is really to enable blockchain transactions, whatever the blockchain is - could be Ethereum, could be Bitcoin - we haven't finalised the design, we have just come up with the deployment if you will."
He pointed to precedents for this which are already in operation today, such as Billon which is technology company partnered with Plus Bank in Poland. They have used the EU Directive for E-money, and basically they have issued e-cash using Bitcoin as the payment rails.
"It's not a dissimilar idea from that," said Batlin.
Clearmatics/Ethereum
UBS also announced a partnership with distributed clearing specialists Clearmatics – IBTimes asked why this choice.
"First of all they have got some brilliant business knowledge based on their background. So I think that was a very clear advantage.
"We do at this point see a lot of value in multi-asset, smart contract-enabled platforms like Ethereum.
"But there are some things about Ethereum like lack of scheduling. For instance, there is no way for us on vanilla Ethereum to create schedule jobs.
"Our experiment with the smart bonds requires also payment of coupon and we have to create an external schedular to automate the coupon payment, which effectively stimulate the smart contract. Clearmatics have a scheduling capability.
"They are working in the right kind of multi-asset general purpose computing distributed solution like Ethereum with enhancements. Very smart folks working with the technology we |
at a time when I was (briefly) the acting Features Editor. This kid had knocked on the Listener door with a story he‘d written about the lack of noise control measures at Wellington airport, and about the impact those late night/early morning flights were having on residents living near the runway [Editor's note: the first story was about ACC; the second story was the noise control one]. It was a terrific piece of research journalism: balanced, well written, socially committed … well, you know what I’m saying. It was like young Mozart had walked in with a little something he’d knocked off on the family piano.
This is great, I remember saying. And to cap it off, Al said in reply: “Uh, thanks. I really like doing research.” He did another story for the Listener about gun control and then he was off to the newspapers, to a prize winning stint at NBR and – after many fine adventures – to where he is now. In the late 1990s, Al and a couple of colleagues launched Scoop, and he and his amazing family have fought tooth, nail and claw to keep it alive for the past 16 years. There’s more than one way to tell the story. You could say he’s a born journalist with tons of natural ability, full stop. Yet that aside, and like most other good journalists, he’s also a fiercely self-made creation. By that I mean his foibles got hard-baked into a unique mould, right along with his talents. It’s that kind of profession. Full of lone wolves trying to be social animals.
What no-one would have predicted is that for the past decade, Al has – by necessity – become a manager and a marketer and a fund raiser and a digital media visionary … and not so much anymore, the writer guy who once loved to do research. I’m hoping that when he hits Europe and leaves this management and marketing shit behind – for a while at least – he’ll find the time and the energy to get his writing mojo up and running again. Actually, I hope he can just do whatever he feels like, for a change. Without being weighed down by a ton of Catholic guilt, or by the feeling that he has to be like Atlas and carry Scoop – and the rest of us who have benefitted from knowing him and working with him – on his back, 24/7. We’ll be OK, Scoop and its readers will be OK. And let’s hope that someone in Europe realizes what a fucking treasure has just landed in their midst, and pays him accordingly.
***
Shelly Smith
I met Alastair only a month or two prior to his father Stephen passing away. I had been working closely with Stephen, at his apartment in Wellington, contracted to transfer the manual accounting system to a computerized system. In the midst of this process Stephen passed away and it was a really difficult time for Margaret, Alastair and their family. Eventually I was hired by Scoop to manage the accounts and stayed on for many years.
I have never been that interested in the news, especially politics (the shame). Accordingly Alastair’s never ending debates and outbursts held in mid office went straight over the top of my head. My lack of interest probably left him wondering at times but he was always happy if someone lurking around the office managed to join in. Being at opposite ends of the spectrum to Alastair also proved challenging. He had the relentless ability to deposit endless disheveled pieces of paper and receipts on my desk which was notoriously frustrating.
Despite the daily challenges Alastair always found time to care about other people. He and his family have shown me great kindness during my own personal struggles and I am thankful.
Alastair was without doubt stretched unimaginably and he knew this was frustrating to others. He never denied any of his short comings, rather, he acknowledged them. I liked that about him. He never tried to be anything other than himself. I liked that too. More inspiring was his passion for his work and his belief that “Scoop” should continue to be a part of New Zealand’s future.
***
If you’re in the room, you’re a reporter
Rosalea Barker
It’s Thanksgiving Day evening here in the States, and churlish old recluse that I am, I haven’t said thankyou to anyone today. So, I’ll say it to Al. Thankyou for steadfastly adhering to the idea that providing a place for the public to see how news is made and opinions are shaped is a vital ingredient in the recipe for a democracy.
I first came into contact with Al through Scoop’s predecessor, Newsroom. At the time—the late Nineties—I was in a righteous state of high dudgeon because Winston Peters was trying to get legislation through parliament that would make it compulsory for people to have a retirement account and those accounts would have to be invested in the financial markets, with all the attendant risks and fees.
I’m nobody in particular, but I knew how to transcribe debates and I asked Newsroom if I could supply transcripts of Parliament’s Question Time when this topic came up. (At the time, Hansard wasn’t posted online.) I just wanted to make people aware of something that was going to affect all their lives, for all of their lives, but which wasn’t getting any coverage in the press at the time. They agreed to publish them, and I set up two cassette tape recorders on timers so that when I got home from polytech after my graveyard shift at Avalon Studios, I’d have a recording to transcribe from.
(Ironically, when I moved to the States at the end of 1999, I discovered that my workplace required me to put retirement savings into a 401k, which was then invested in the financial markets. Even more ironically, just this year, the US Treasury has created its own retirement savings plan that anyone earning money in the US can partake of, with no risk of it losing value, and which pays interest and doesn’t charge fees.)
But I digress. And I’ll skip over the next seven years, when I sent one or two Stateside with Rosalea columns a week to Scoop about life in my adopted homeland, and get to the bit where Al said to me over the phone, “If you’re in the room, you’re a reporter.” I was sitting in the room I was renting in a quasi-boarding house in Washington, DC, voicing my doubts to him about my ability to be a reporter rather than an opinionator.
The room Al was speaking of was any space my media credentials might get me into, and the full sentence was that if you’re in the room, and you tell the people who couldn’t get in the room what went on there, you’re a reporter. The important thing wasn’t that *I* was in the room, but that someone was and that that someone was using their privileged access to inform the public about what was going on. Forget paying for journalism school—that’s all you budding journos need to know, right there.
I’m immensely grateful to Al and the Scoop Board for giving me the opportunity to spend three months in DC at the end of 2007, even if, in the end, I decided I didn’t have the personality to be a reporter. I can only admire those journalists who face outright rejection and bare-faced manipulation on a daily basis, and still manage to cut through the crap and get a halfway decent piece of reporting out of it. And I’m looking forward to seeing such work get support from the Scoop Foundation.
Thankyou again, Al, for creating an online space that anyone can walk into and see the announcements and the refutations and the self- or cause-promotions for themselves. All the best to you and Wendy in your new adventure. Write soon.
Rosalea
***
Big ups to big Al
Spike Mountjoy
My professional relationship with Al basically involved him providing me with a series of ridiculously good opportunities.
It started in 2007 when he got Joe Barratt and I accredited to cover the Urewera trials from the Auckland District Court. We were still at journalism school and both extremely keen. We gave him live updates over the phone and in return he gave us a crash course in court reporting.
A few weeks later I did an internship in Scoop's Wellington office. After a year of media theory I was feeling pretty jaded about the state of things in the New Zealand media landscape. What an exhilarating relief it was to find myself at Scoop. I knew I wouldn't be asked to doorstop some poor bereaved widow, or publish something with the headline 'Sport Celebrity in Gardening Shocker!'. And there was no suggestion of rewriting press releases, they were there for all to see, naked in the daylight. No, he got me accredited to the press gallery and sent me off to play with the big kids. Or at least that's how they seemed at the time. If it wasn't for Al I would never have had the chance to dance a drunken foxtrot with Georgina te Heuheu, or mumble unintelligibly at an already very smug, then leader of the opposition, John Key.
A year later I found myself unemployed in Wellington, I popped into the Scoop office for a chat and Al asked if I could start work the followingMonday. There was no interview and no job description. I was shocked to discover I was expected to front up as Scoop's political commentator on the radio. If I seriously fucked it up he never told me. I was never disciplined as another boss might have, only encouraged and supported.
I loved the tension in the press gallery when Al or Gordon asked the Prime Minister a question. The exchanges always had a pleasing awkwardness, and not a sniff of the sycophantic.
There are many good things to be said about Al, one of them is that he created a machine that enabled the full time employment of Gordon Campbell and the world class satirist Mr Lyndon Hood.
I know I'm not the only recipient of Al's generosity and encouragement. Scoop has given opportunities to many young journalists finding it hard to get interesting stories published in other places.
It can be a terrifying business when someone decides to back you. It doesn't leave an easy 'out' - you just have to do the bloody thing. That was the way it went with Al and I.
I'm happy Al's coming over to Europe. I think his talents will be appreciated here, as they have been in New Zealand. Europe could use an Al, and New Zealand could use an Al in Europe.
********
© Scoop MediaIt’s that time of year again when anti-Muslim activists discuss the growing threat of halal foods. WorldNetDaily has published yet another exposé into the “march of Sharia” through the “growth of halal foods,” quoting American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer as an authority on the matter. Fischer, who has called American Muslims a “toxic cancer” on society and wants the U.S. to deport all Muslims, implied that the availability of halal foods is an illustration of “creeping” Sharia law:
Specialty markets first supplied “halal” food to Muslims in America, then restaurants joined in the effort and now the very grocery stores from which you buy hamburger and chops are offering food that has been slaughtered according to Islamic ritual, according to responses from food outlets contacted by WND.
Islam requires Muslims to eat such “halal” food, which as part of the religion’s rituals already has been dedicated to the Muslim god Allah.
And it’s an alarming issue for Christians because the Bible warns against eating food previously dedicated to idols. Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash., has explained in previous WND reports that eating food that’s “halal” would be the same as disregarding the Bible’s commands.
“From the Christian standpoint, Allah would be an idol,” Biltz told WND earlier.
…
But Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association also has expressed alarm.
“To see where things are going with this whole halal business, look no further than the U.K., where grocers have gone whole-hog – pardon the expression – on offering halal meat but without telling anybody about it.
“Shariah law is no longer creeping up on us. It’s bearing down on us at full gallop. It’s time for Christian civilization to grab the reins of this runaway horse and stop it dead in its tracks. No Shariah law in America, period.”WASHINGTONMost Americans seem to reject the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. According to a Washington Post/ABC poll, 57 percent of Americans now oppose the policy. A survey by Bendixen & Associates shows that only 42 percent of Cuban-Americans continue to back it.
I have been conflicted on this issue for years. Until not long ago, I favored the embargo. As an advocate for free trade, I would normally have called such a measure an unacceptable restriction on the freedom of people to trade with whomever they pleased. But I thought that trading with a regime that had killed, jailed, exiled or muzzled countless of its citizens for decades was not a worthy objective, as it would also preserve that dictatorship. Any transaction with Cuba would also benefit the government. After all, the authorities were already skimming 20 percent of the remittances from Cuban-Americans and 90 percent of the salary paid to Cubans by non-American foreign investors.
Eventually, I admitted to myself that there was an intolerable inconsistency in my thinking. No democracy based on liberty should tell its citizens what country to visit or whom to trade with, regardless of the government under which they live. Even though the Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul, would obtain a political victory in the very short run, the embargo could no longer be justified.
But this is not the reasoning coming from the most vocal critics of U.S. sanctions these days. Many of them fail to even mention the fraud that is a system which bases its legitimacy on the renunciation of capitalism and at the same time implores capitalism to come to its rescue. There is also an endearing hypocrisy among those who decry the embargo but devote hardly any time to denouncing the islands half-century tyranny under the Castros.
Another risible subterfuge attributes the catastrophe that is Cubas economy on Washingtons decision to cut off economic relations in 1962 after a wave of expropriations against American interests. The amnesiacs conveniently forget that in 1958, Cubas socioeconomic condition was similar to Spains and Portugals and the standard of living of its citizens was behind only those of Argentines and Uruguayans in Latin America. Many of the critics also seem to suffer what French writer Jean-Francois Revel used to call moral hemiplegiaa tendency to see fault only on one side of the political spectrum: I never heard Cubas champions complain about sanctions against right-wing dictatorships.
Sometimes, sanctions work, sometimes they dont. A study by Gary Hufbauer, Jeffrey Schott, Kimberly Elliot and Barbara Oegg titled Economic Sanctions Reconsidered analyzes dozens of cases of sanctions since World War I. In about a third of them, they worked either because they helped to topple the regime (South Africa) or because they forced the dictator to make major concessions (Libya). Archbishop Desmond Tutu told me a few months ago in San Francisco that he was convinced that international sanctions were crucial in defeating apartheid in his home country. In the cases in which the embargo worked, the sanctions were applied by many countries and the affected regimes were already severely discredited or weakened.
In the cases in which sanctions have not workedSaddam Hussein between 1990 and 2003, and North Korea todaythe dictatorships were able to isolate themselves from the effects and concentrate them on the population. In some countries, a certain sense of pride helped defend the government against foreign sanctionswhich is why the measures applied by the Soviet Union against Yugoslavia in 1948, China in 1960 and Albania in 1961 were largely useless.
In the case of Cuba, the Castro regime has been able to whip up a nationalist sentiment against the U.S. embargo. More significantly, it has managed to offset much of the effects over the years in large part because the Soviets subsidized the island for three decades, because the regime welcomed Canadian, Mexican and European capital after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and because Venezuela is its new patron.
But these arguments against the U.S. embargo are mostly practical. Ultimately, the argument against the sanctions is a moral one. It is not acceptable for a government to abolish individual choice in matters of trade and travel. The only acceptable form of economic embargo is when citizens, not governments, decide not do business with a dictatorship, be that of Burma, Zimbabwe or Cuba.289 SHARES Comparte Tuitea
Crisis es una palabra que tiene años de moda en Venezuela, por donde usted camina la escuchará, la sentirá y la vivirá, pretender que no existe es vivir en “Disneylandia”, donde todo es alegría y fantasía.
En el béisbol profesional venezolano también se vive la dieta “Maduro”, esa que según él, te pone duro. Eso lo he escuchado de peloteros jóvenes que dice que lo que ganan les ayuda poco para su familia, mientras que el cubrir juegos en vivo y directo dejó de ser algo en lo que recibías un beneficio por pasar hasta seis y siete horas en un estadio.
Los periodistas que trabajan de manera presencial sufren porque deben lidiar con el mal servicio de internet que brindan los equipos en los palcos de prensa, los pocos reportes que dan por falta de papel y quizás el que más golpeas a los reporteros, la comida, antes tenían ese beneficio, el equipo home club le daba tickets a quienes cubrían los juegos, ahora ni eso.
El tener que ir temprano al estadio es el deber ser de todo periodista que se respete, eso permite entrevista a cuerpo técnico, jugadores, gerentes, enterarse de todo lo que pasa alrededor de los equipos que jugarán ese día y por supuesto enterarnos de los chismes que pululan en el diamante.
Esta temporada ha sido dura, pues al no tener los benditos tickets o entrar a la lista de comida, obliga al periodista en cuestión a sacar dinero de su bolsillo, esto no se trata de “quechar” o “gorrear”, hablamos de que un reportero llega al estadio a las 3 de la tarde y se va entre 11 y 12 de la noche. El sueldo de un periodista es prácticamente el mínimo y cada comida en el estadio oscila entre 3 mil y 5 mil bolívares, multipliquen eso por cinco y hasta seis días a la semana, lo que ganas se te va en dos semanas de cobertura, ni pensar que el periódico responda por eso, porque es de dominio público cuan miserables son los dueños de medios.
En una cobertura en Caracas me dieron un vale por 1500 bolívares, tuve que completar con 2 mil más para poder comer, luego en Maracaibo me dijeron “no mijo, los tickets murieron, ahora son pa’ puro circuito radial visitante”, sin contar que el internet del Luis Aparicio es de los peores de la liga. En Maracay bien gracias, cero comida.
El tema de la alimentación era un beneficio que gozaban quienes cubrían los juegos de la LVBP, pero que lamentablemente toda la situación país contagió el mayor pasatiempo de Venezuela. En los palcos ha disminuido la presencia de periodistas, también porque pagar horas extras es complicado y también hay que incluir el traslado. Lo más sano sería poner en las pantallas gigante de los estadios un capítulo de esos de “Pare de sufrir”
La crisis no solo golpea a los fanáticos, también lo hace con la prensa cuando le toca lidiar con el internet, jefes de prensa mediocres, el divismo de los peloteros, los porteros de los estadios y ahora el tema de la alimentación, pero como dicen por ahí no hay mal que dure 109 años, sino pregúntele a los Cachorros de Chicago.CARLES Puigdemont has called for violence to be avoided and has said dialogue is a priority.
Puigdemont, speaking in Belgium, said his team would continue to work despite Spain's dissolution of the Catalan Parlaiment following the disputed independence vote.
He also stated that pro-independence candidates would "accept the challenge" of elections in December, and challenged the Spanish Government to do the same.
Puigdemont stated that "We are never afraid of democracy or ballot boxes."
He continued to ask if the Spanish Government would respect the result of the upcoming elections should pro-indpendence ministers take a majority once again.
On Tuesday he recapped the issues which led him to leave for Belgium the previous day, citing that "the Spanish Government planned a highly violent offensive against Catalan citizens, civil servants and government ministers".
He did not immediately say in his statement what he would do in Brussels or whether he would seek asylum.
Puigdemont told journalists Spain wanted "'us to abandon our political project, and they won't achieve it".
He had arrived at Brussels Press Club for a news conference amid speculation that he would claim asylum.
Puigdemont walked into the building past a few protesters with Spanish national flags and one sign that said Rule Of Law.
He then said he had come to Brussels to act "in freedom and safety"."The larger issue at hand is not simply the 'right to dance,' but the policing of our bodies and their movements."
Terre Thaemlitz, AKA DJ Sprinkles, has weighed in on the recent changes to Japan's "no-dancing" legislation.Thaemlitz has written a response to the "Declaration On the Future Of Japan's Club Culture," which was signed by 40 Japanese DJs on the same day that the 67-year-old Fueiho law was officially changed by the country's government. Thaemlitz says this declaration "appears to have no purpose other than to comfort members of those reactionary political forces that have historically suppressed Japan's club cultures, going so far as to pledge the future of Japan's club cultures to the service of conservative social ideals."Thaemlitz writes: "We find their declaration dangerously capitulatory to right-wing and capitalist agendas, and culturally detrimental in its failure to address the ongoing difficulties faced by those in the sex industry and other trades whose lives will remain under the control of the Fueiho after the anticipated revisions regarding dance are finalized. We remind them that the larger issue at hand is not simply the 'right to dance,' but the policing of our bodies and their movements—both physically and socially. In relation to clubs themselves, we remind them that the proposed revisions primarily impact the workings of major venues ('mega clubs'), and do nothing to alleviate the legal and social risks faced daily by the small venues that form the foundations of Japan's underground club cultures."You can read the piece in full at the comatonse website. It has been undersigned by a number of music and political figures from Japan and elsewhere, including Mark Fell and Finn Johannsen Thaemlitz spoke to RA about the Fueiho law as part of the Real Scenes: Tokyo film from 2014.ES News Email 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
The latest cyclist to be killed on London’s roads was today described as “the greatest bloke in the world” by his colleagues at a sandwich delivery firm.
Javed Sumbal, 34, was on his way to work when he was knocked off his bike at the Arbour Square junction in Commercial Road at 8.20am yesterday.
Despite the efforts of a passing first aider, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The male driver of the Dutch-registered lorry which hit him has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving.
Mr Sumbal, known as Jay to colleagues, was described as “the mascot” at Darwin’s Deli, in Barnardo Street, Shadwell, where he delivered sandwiches to offices on his bike.
Area manager Ricardo Jacques said: “It was impossible not to like him. He was a big guy and larger than life in every way. He was always happy and lifted your mood.
“We held regular staff barbecues and he was the chef. He had a secret sauce for the chicken which he said came from his home city of Lahore. The people in the offices where he delivered loved him. He was a hard worker and just the best person.”
Mr Sumbal, an arts graduate, was studying for an MBA. He had worked at the deli for six months to fund his studies and lived nearby. Colleague Gabriella Bakacsi, 25, said: “He was so caring, just the other day he gave me a light for my bike so I would be safer. We loved him so much and can’t believe he has gone.”
Darwin’s Deli staff sprayed one of their bikes white and were planning to place the “ghost bike” at the junction where he died as a memorial.
Transport for London said 14 cyclists had been killed on the capital’s roads this year.The nation’s uninsured rate after Obamacare's first enrollment has dropped to the lowest point in at least six years, according to a new Gallup poll.
The 13.4 percent uninsured rate among adults – the lowest since Gallup starting tracking the number in January 2008 – is down from 17.1 percent near the end of 2013 and 15.6 percent at the end of this year’s first quarter. The uninsured rate fell 2.2 percentage points between April and the first quarter of 2014, suggesting that Obamacare's late enrollment surge was driven by people who previously lacked coverage.
We won’t have the uninsured statistics from official government surveys for a while, but the Gallup poll has shown a steadily decreasing rate in the uninsured since the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges opened in October.
After Hispanic enrollment lagged this year, the Gallup poll found that Hispanics still have the highest uninsured rate of any key demographic group at 33.2 percent. That rate, though, is down 5.5 percentage points since the end of 2013. Blacks, who signed up for ACA exchange coverage at greater rates than expected, recorded the largest decline in the uninsured rate of any other group, down 7.1 percentage points to 13.8 percent.
Some other Gallup findings seem to support what the Obama administration and other surveys have reported. The uninsured rate among the all-important young adult demographic fell, but no faster than the rate for other groups. Low-income adults, who may qualify for expanded Medicaid programs or the most generous subsidies through ACA exchanges, saw larger decreases in the uninsured rate than higher-earning groups.
Now that Obamacare open enrollment is over, where does the uninsured rate go from here? Gallup says the number could tick back up if some newly insured don’t pay their premiums, though evidence suggests that from 80 percent to 90 percent of those signing up for private coverage have paid at least for the first month. It’s also possible that people could gain new coverage through special enrollment periods triggered by certain life events.
Medicaid enrollment also goes all year, and a previous Rand Corp. survey showed that employer coverage has played a major part in driving down the uninsured rate. Naturally, though, this latest Gallup poll is far from the final word on Obamacare's effect on the uninsured rate.
The chart has been updated.An illustration of a potential future commercial space station proposed by Axiom Space, based in part on a commercial module the company hopes to initially install on the ISS. (credit: Axiom Space) A stepping-stone to commercial space stations
In December, European ministers are expected to vote on a proposal to extend the European Space Agency’s participation in the International Space Station through 2024. If they decide to do so—and the leadership of ESA as well as some European national space agencies expect just that—ESA will be the last of the major ISS partners to agree to that extension, securing the station’s future for the next eight years. “What we would like to do is fly a module that begins its life at the International Space Station,” Suffredini said of Axiom Space’s plans. What happens to the ISS after 2024 remains uncertain. Barring any unforeseen technical problems, or an accident of some kind, the station could continue to operate beyond 2024, to 2028 or even later. Whether the ISS partners will want to continue spending billions of dollars a year to operate it past 2024, though, is less certain. NASA, for example, expects to wrap up the research it needs to conduct there to support its long-term human Mars exploration efforts by the mid-2020s, largely ending its need for a government-operated space station. What NASA expects—or, perhaps more accurately, is hoping for—is that the private sector takes over, developing one or more commercial space stations that could serve as platforms for research, tourism, or other applications, and be facilities that NASA could lease space on to support any additional research it wanted to conduct in low Earth orbit post-ISS. But how NASA gets from the ISS of today to an independent commercial station in the mid-2020s is unclear. Increasingly, both NASA and private industry believe there needs to be an intermediate step, in the form of a commercial module on the ISS itself. Axiom versus Bigelow One company with commercial space station ambitions has already talked about adding a module to the ISS. In April, Bigelow Aerospace unveiled its proposal to attach one of its B330 modules to the station as soon as 2020. The Expandable Bigelow Advanced Station Enhancement, or XBASE, would be available for both NASA and commercial users on a timesharing basis, Bigelow Aerospace’s president, Robert Bigelow, said at the time (see “Expanding the space station market”, The Space Review, April 18, 2016). He said that his company has had “several discussions” with NASA about the XBASE concept. But Bigelow Aerospace is not alone in showing an interest in both commercial space stations and commercial modules on the ISS. At the NewSpace 2016 conference in Seattle in June, Michael Suffredini, the former NASA manager of ISS and the current president of the commercial space division of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT), unveiled his own plans. Suffredini said that he was working on a new venture, called Axiom Space, that also planned to develop a commercial ISS module. “What we would like to do is fly a module that begins its life at the International Space Station,” Suffredini said in an interview after his conference. “That will help us transition from research and manufacturing and everything else done on ISS on a future platform.” When attached to the station, it would be available for use by NASA and as well as companies. One the ISS reaches the end of its life, he said, the module could be detached and used as the core of an independent, commercial space station that is part of Axiom Space’s long-term plans. Axiom Space, co-founded by Suffredini and SGT chief executive Kam Ghaffarian, is still in its earliest phases. Suffredini said the company has raised a seed round of funding and is talking with investors now about raising a larger round of funding this fall. He added the company is also is discussions with companies to build that module, and hopes to select a company to build it by early next year, shortly after the module completes a preliminary design review. Suffredini, though, appeared to rule out working with Bigelow Aerospace and its expandable, or inflatable, module technology. “In order to make money, we have to get to orbit fast,” he said, citing a goal of having the module on the ISS by 2020 or 2021. “I think it’s going to take a while to build a spacecraft out of inflatable technology.” “We essentially have one of the ports on the space station that we’re going to make available to the private sector to go utilize how they want,” Gerstenmaier said. That could put Axiom and Bigelow into competition with each other, since the ISS, in its current configuration, appears unable to support two such modules. “Ports are a precious resource,” Suffredini said, referring to docking ports on the ISS. “NASA has to figure out how to deal with that.” Robert Bigelow said during the ISS Research and Development Conference in San Diego that he has submitted a proposal to NASA to attach a B330 module to the ISS. (credit: J. Foust) NASA seeks advice NASA appears to be starting to do just that. On July 1, the agency issued a request for information (RFI) titled “Advancing Economic Development in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) via Commercial Use of Limited Availability, Unique International Space Station Capabilities.” The agency is seeking input for industry on how to use “limited availability” resources on the station to support commercial ventures. Among the specific capabilities included in the RFI is the aft port on the Node 3, or Tranquility, module on the station. That port is currently in use by the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the prototype of a future expandable module developed by Bigelow Aerospace under a NASA contract. The module, flown to the station on a cargo resupply in April, expanded to its full size in late May and is expected to remain there for two years. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee during a July 13 NASA hearing that the agency would effectively provide one docking port—presumably the one currently occupied by BEAM and mentioned in the RFI—for a commercial module at some point in the future. “We essentially have one of the ports on the space station that we’re going to make available to the private sector to go utilize how they want,” he said. NASA would provide power and life support for that module in addition to the docking port itself, he added. The company using the port, though, would be responsible for contracting for commercial cargo and crew services to support the module. Gerstenmaier also suggested, as both Bigelow and Suffredini have previously said, that the module could serve as a core of a future commercial space station once the ISS reaches the end of its life. “And then at some point, when the station’s life is exceeded, they could undock from the station and be the basis for the next private sector station,” he said at the hearing. Gerstenmaier didn’t indicate what schedule NASA had for selecting a company to use that port for a commercial module. Those plans will depend on what responses the company gets to the RFI. The deadline for responses is July 29, although Gerstenmaier told a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s (NAC’s) human exploration and operations committee July 25 that the deadline could be extended “a little bit.” “This is an unbelievable opportunity for folks to give us input,” he said at the committee meeting, “and then we’ll figure out, based on their input, what our next steps are.” The companies most likely to respond to the RFI, of course, are Axiom Space and Bigelow Aerospace. Suffredini, asked about the RFI after speaking at the ISS Research and Development Conference in San Diego July 14, confirmed that his company planned to respond to the RFI. Bigelow, asked at the same conference about the RFI, said he wasn’t sure if his company would respond, but added that the company had already submitted a proposal to NASA regarding its XBASE concept. Bigelow, in the panel session at the ISS conference devoted to post-ISS commercial platforms, didn’t mention XBASE specifically. However, he did discuss the role he sees the ISS playing in helping support the development of later commercial space stations, as his company has long talked about developing. “Starting with the purpose going forward for the ISS, I couldn’t think of a better metaphor than as an incubator,” he said. Suffredini, also on the panel, said that while his company’s long-term goal is to build a “space city” (including showing an illustration of a notional design of a wheel-shaped rotating station that he suggested could be developed by the 2040s), the market for commercial space stations isn’t mature enough yet to warrant their development. “Starting with the purpose going forward for the ISS, I couldn’t think of a better metaphor than as an incubator,” Bigelow said. “We’ve made great strides, but we have a long way to go to be at the point where we can pay our own way,” he said of ISS utilization. “Today, where we are is not enough for investors to separate themselves from the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to get started.” He called on conference attendees to help find new users for both the ISS and future commercial facilities. A commercial module on the ISS, he said, could help bridge the gap between the station’s current use and the demand needed to close the business case for an independent commercial space station. “How do we get from where we are today to a point where ISS can retire?” he asked. He said that, as long as ISS is in operation, it will attract users that could instead use a commercial station, complicating the business case. But, he added, retiring the ISS too soon also creates problems. “If ISS goes away, and commercial hasn’t established itself, we won’t have this opportunity.” Those plans by Axiom and Bigelow will depend in large part on how NASA moves ahead with plans for giving one of them access to that desired docking port on the station. “This is probably one of the most important RFIs we’ve put out in a long time,” Gerstenmaier said at the NAC meeting. “This will really set the future of what we’re going to try and do as we think of operations beyond the space station.” HomeLiberated from religion and waiting for reality at a manger that remains empty
It strikes me as giving up steak for sugar-free, unflavored cotton candy, or giving up Guinness for the lite-est of lite beers, or having mastered chess whiling away the hours playing tic-tac-toe. You gain something, I suppose, but the thing you gain is freedom from substance and the demands anything of substance puts on you. You also lose all the pleasures of substance. You give up the richness of Guinness for urine-colored water.
I’m thinking of the modern narrative of liberation from religion. I’ll be making a point about |
to Seattle directly from the Northwest Orient Airlines counter on the day of the flight.
He used cash to pay for his ticket, then boarded the plane. Authorities later described him as someone in his mid-40s, dressed as an “executive” in a suit, a white shirt and what probably is the now-infamous black tie.
The agency’s official summary of how the hijacking unfolded reads like the plot of a Hollywood thriller from another era:
He ordered a drink — bourbon and soda — while the flight was waiting to take off. A short time after 3:00 p.m., he handed the stewardess a note indicating that he had a bomb in his briefcase and wanted her to sit with him. The stunned stewardess did as she was told. Opening a cheap attaché case, Cooper showed her a glimpse of a mass of wires and red colored sticks and demanded that she write down what he told her. Soon, she was walking a new note to the captain of the plane that demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills. When the flight landed in Seattle, the hijacker exchanged the flight’s 36 passengers for the money and parachutes. Cooper kept several crew members, and the plane took off again, ordered to set a course for Mexico City. Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, a little after 8:00 p.m., the hijacker did the incredible: He jumped out of the back of the plane with a parachute and the ransom money. The pilots landed safely, but Cooper had disappeared into the night and his ultimate fate remains a mystery to this day.
The FBI pursued hundreds of leads. No body or parachute was ever found, but in 1980, a boy digging near the Columbia River found three bundles of $20 bills whose serial numbers matched the money Cooper had demanded.
[Online magazine to open up FBI files on the ‘D.B. Cooper’ skyjacking case]
The Cooper case baffled the FBI for 45 years, and in July, the agency announced it would no longer actively pursue the “NORJAK investigation,” or Northwest hijacking.
Over the decades, hundreds of tips had poured in, but none that could help prove culpability beyond reasonable doubt, the agency said.
“Every time the FBI assesses additional tips for the NORJAK case, investigative resources and manpower are diverted from programs that more urgently need attention,” the FBI said in a statement.
Soon after the FBI dropped the case, Geoffrey Gray, the author of “Skyjack,” announced that he would make available hundreds of FBI files related to the Cooper case on True Ink, an online magazine Gray founded.
By opening everything up to the public, Gray said he hoped to use people’s enduring curiosity about the case to crowdsource, once and for all, Cooper’s identity.
“We’re trying to solve one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time,” he wrote on True Ink, “and we need your help.”
Read more:
She was abducted from the hospital as a newborn. 18 years later, she met her birth parents.
A 1-year-old boy died 44 years ago. His accused killer is now going to trial.
How the discovery of a woman chained ‘like a dog’ led to a break in a notorious cold caseMOSCOW — Russian regulators said on Friday that they had averted the collapse of one of the largest Russian banks by providing a bailout package of 395 billion rubles to Bank of Moscow, suggesting the bank’s problems with bad loans were more severe than previously acknowledged.
The bailout, worth $14.15 billion, raised the specter of balance sheet problems at other Russian banks, which had a tendency during the recession to roll over loans to struggling companies, rather than force them into bankruptcy courts.
Officials, though, have tried to characterize Bank of Moscow’s portfolio of bad loans for real estate projects in the capital as a unique problem created by the former mayor of Moscow as he tried to keep politically connected developers afloat during the downturn.
The bailout, announced in a statement on the Russian central bank’s Web site, will provide Bank of Moscow a 10-year loan of 295 billion rubles from a government deposit insurance program at an interest rate of 0.51 percent. The plan calls for a state bank, VTB, which recently bought equity in Bank of Moscow, to contribute an additional 100 billion rubles.
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“The following measures aim to achieve stability of Bank of Moscow operations,” the statement said.Learning how to make a curved hem comes in very handy, especially when making dresses or circle skirts. Here is an easy method that will give you a smooth, neat finish on any curved hem.
How To Sew A Curved Hem
Whether you’ve been sewing for a while or you’re just starting, if you’ve ever tried your hand at making a circle skirt or dress you know how frustrating is to get a nice looking curved hem with a neat, polished finish. This tutorial will teach you how to hem a circle skirt the very easy way, so no more frustration or ugly hemlines!
Learning how to sew a curved hem on a circle skirt or a dress is not only easy but enjoyable too and you’ll absolutely love the end result! It’s pretty tricky to fold and press and sew anything curved and it can get aggravated by the type of fabric you use. But once you get the hang of this method you’ll find that hemming a circle skirt is easy breezy!
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I’ve used this method for curved hem when I made a circle skirt for my daughter and I really loved the finished look, even though I admit, I was a bit sloppy. And I thought I should make a separate article on how to hem a curve, for ease of reference.
Curved Hem
Stitch 1/4″ from the edge, all around the hem.
Fold just on the newly sewn line, using this stitch as a guide, press and stitch 1/8″ around the hem (ignore my pins, they’re pinned the wrong way and also try and don’t be as sloppy as I was, fold right on the stitch)
Measure 1″ away from the hem on the interior of the skirt and mark. This will be your guide for the double hem. Fold the edge up so it touches the line you just marked. Place pins a few inches apart and add a couple more in between those. Sew as close to the edge as you can. Don’t worry if you experience some puckering, just guide the fabric under the needle using a pin and sew down the hem as slow as you can.
Use plenty of steam and press firmly moving the iron up and down and your curved hem should look free of puckering. If you use a fine fabric you won’t even notice the puckering.
I hope you enjoyed my tutorial on how to hem a curve and found it easy enough to give it a try on your next project that requires a curved hem.
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How to calculate bias tapeStory highlights Pence said he was "aware" of a bipartisan bill moving through Congress to sanction Russia
He stressed that Trump "is determined to try and improve" US-Russian relations
Washington (CNN) Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Wednesday declined to say whether he believes Russia should be punished for carrying out a hacking operation aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential election.
In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, Pence said simply that he was "aware" of a bipartisan bill moving through Congress designed to impose additional sanctions against Russia. He also refused to answer whether the country's influence campaign in 2016 should be met with "American strength," as he suggested Russian provocations should be met during the vice presidential debate last year.
Instead, Pence stressed that President-elect Donald Trump has "made it very clear that he is determined to try and improve" US-Russian relations, and that Trump plans to "reach out with a hand of friendship to all nations of the world."
"That's not to ignore the information and evidence... that we have. That's not to ignore the evidence that we have of Russian involvement in hacking last fall. But it's just his determination to come in, recognizing that we have a terrible relationship with Russia right now and to explore the possibility of improving that relationship," Pence said.
Asked whether the incoming administration needed to punish Russia's hacking to ward off similar moves from other countries, Pence demurred. Instead he knocked President Barack Obama's administration for its failed reset with Russia and for not abiding by the red line Obama set with regards to the Syrian conflict.
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Sep. 21, 2017, 4:06 AM GMT / Updated Sep. 21, 2017, 4:17 AM GMT By Alex Johnson
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed late Wednesday night that hackers breached its online filing system and may have made "illicit gain through trading."
The SEC, the agency responsible for regulating the financial securities industry, gave few details about the hack, saying only that it involved a software "vulnerability" in its EDGAR online filing system, resulting in "access to nonpublic information." The statement said that it didn't believe any personally identifiable information or SEC operations were compromised and that an investigation was continuing.
The breach was first detected in 2016, but the SEC didn't realize until last month that the hackers may have been able to exploit the hack for profit, according to statement on cybersecurity policy, which was released at about 11 p.m. ET. Disclosure of the hack was confined to one paragraph almost a third of the way into the 5,000-word document, including footnotes.
The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at SEC headquarters, in Washington. Andrew Harnik / AP
The federal government has been bedeviled for years by high-profile cyber breaches, among them the theft of sensitive data about more than 21 million people whose records were compromised at the Office of Personnel Management in 2015.
NBC News reported in March that more than 8,000 documents posted by WikiLeaks included authentic material about CIA hacking methods, some of it classified top secret.
Last year, the security risk benchmarking firm SecurityScorecard ranked federal, state and local governments last among 17 major industries and institutions it examined for cybersecurity, highlighting outdated software and slow or inadequate deployment of critical updates.
In May, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating a single, unified set of standards for cybersecurity and making the heads of each government agency responsible for its own security.
The order put responsibility for cybersecurity on the shoulders of the director of every federal agency, making it more difficult for executives to pass the buck to their information technology staffs.
Wednesday night's SEC statement went out over the signature of Chairman Jay Clayton.A top National Public Radio news editor was placed on leave Tuesday amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
NPR said it is investigating accusations by two women against Michael Oreskes, NPR’s senior vice president of news and editorial director, The Washington Post first reported.
His accusers, both journalists, allege that Oreskes — then the Washington bureau chief of the New York Times — abruptly kissed them in meetings about jobs at the paper.
Both women said that they met Oreskes, ostensibly to discuss their careers, when he unexpectedly kissed them on the lips, sticking his tongue in their mouths, The Washington Post reported.
Oreskes’ accusers did not want to reveal their names, for fear that it would interfere with their job prospects, according to the Washington Post.
The alleged incidents took place in the late 1990s, the women told The Washington Post, well before Oreskes joined NPR in March 2015.
He had previously held senior editing roles at the Times and the Associated Press.
The women reported the alleged misconduct to an NPR attorney in mid-October, according to the Post’s report.
NPR issued a statement saying that it takes “these kinds of allegations very seriously. If a concern is raised, we review the matter promptly and take appropriate steps as warranted to assure a safe, comfortable and productive work environment. As a matter of policy, we do not comment about personnel matters.”
NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik said a memo from CEO Jarl Mohn assured employees that they would be treated with respect, and that he would support “anybody who feels their circumstances are in danger.”
Fokenflik said on NPR’s “All Things Considered” Tuesday that he had not yet spoken to Oreskes, despite repeated attempts to reach him.
One of Oreskes’ accusers said the incident had a lasting, negative impact on her confidence, the Post reported.
“When I first went to see him, it was after screwing up my nerve to try to be bold and maneuver myself into a better job, and after what happened with him, I never really tried that again,” she reportedly said.
The worst part of the alleged harrassment was “the fact that he utterly destroyed my ambition,” the first woman told the Post.
The second woman described her shock at the editor’s unwanted sexual advances. “I was frozen. I was shocked. I thought, ‘What just happened?’” she said, the Post reported.
Both women said it took years for them to come forward because they believed complaining would have jeopardized their chances of working for the Times.
They both said they were moved by NPR’s coverage of recent sexual harassment incidents, most notably those involving Harvey Weinstein.
“The idea that he’s in charge of that coverage is just so hypocritical to me,” one woman told the Post.
“It’s sickening. I want to say: ‘You owe me...a public apology. you should recuse yourself” from NPR’s coverage of harassment.
A third accusation against Orsekes stems from a more recent incident.
NPR health and science reporter Rebecca Hersher said that the editor harassed her in October, 2015, Folkenflik recounted on "All Things Considered."
Folkenflik said it took Hersher until now discuss the incident because of how deeply affected she was by Oreskes' alleged misconduct.
She reported the incident a year and a half ago and at the time, there was no evidence of a pattern of alleged misbehavior.
"It undercut my confidence," Hersher said Tuesday.
The allegations are the most recent in a string of accusations by women against men in media.
NBC News on Monday fired political journalist Mark Halperin, after numerous women accused him of making inappropriate advances toward them.
The president and publisher of the New Republic, Hamilton Fish, was placed on a leave of absence amid similar accusations.
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August Berkshire is the president of Minnesota Atheists. He’s written some very popular pieces on this site, including “34 Unconvincing Arguments for God,” and he’ll be speaking at the Project 42 Freethought conference in Fargo, North Dakota on September 18th.
August’s latest piece explains The Seven Cs of Atheism (PDF):
Conservative
Atheism is a conservative position. We accept statements only so far as there is reason and/or evidence to back them up. Anything else is speculation. We make no leaps of faith. If there should some day be a compelling reason or piece of evidence for a god, then we would acknowledge it and change our views.
Clarity
An atheist possesses clarity in his or her thinking processes. We are able to identify those things for which we have evidence and separate them from other things that are merely wishful thinking.
Consistent
An atheist is also consistent. We apply our skepticism equally to all supernatural claims. We do not say, “All prophets, saviors, or gods are false -– except ours.” We make no exceptions or special pleadings.
Contradiction-free
Another benefit of atheism is that it is contradiction-free. We don’t have to try to reconcile an all-loving, all-seeing, all-powerful god with the existence of evil. We don’t have to define love exactly the opposite of how we normally define it in order to make it applicable to a god. We don’t have to claim that a poor supernatural designer is intelligent.
An atheist possesses courage. It is natural for people to have a healthy survival instinct. However, some people have such a fear of death that they feel compelled to believe in an afterlife to alleviate those fears. It takes intellectual and emotional courage to abandon belief in an afterlife because there is no evidence for it (and compelling evidence against it). It also takes intellectual and emotional courage to abandon one’s belief in a cosmic, supernatural “protector” and realize that, as far as we know, we are alone in our universe and must therefore help each other as best we can.
Consequences
There are certain consequences that naturally follow from being an atheist. Since there are no gods to help us, we must rely on ourselves and each other. Since there is no afterlife, it becomes more important to improve life on Earth.
Conclusion
One of the arguments of Pascal’s Wager is that a person loses nothing by believing in a god. This is not true. Accepting Pascal’s Wager means saying that we are willing to abandon reason and evidence as our guides to living, and instead make a leap of faith to… where?
It’s true that by converting (or deconverting) from theism to atheism a person will lose his or her sense of divine specialness, cosmic meaning in life, and any hope of an afterlife. But you can’t lose what you never really had.
The reality of atheism far outweighs the dream of religion. There is an excitement and beauty to perceiving the world as it really is, and not as an illusion.Through machine learning based on enormous amounts of language data, SwiftKey's neural model is able to meaningfully capture the relationship between words. It understands word similarity, allowing it to compare words on the fly. Within the neural model, words can be visualized in 'clusters', located at varying degrees of proximity to one another.
This understanding allows SwiftKey Neural to predict words that have never been seen in a given sentence context during the learning phase. For example, having seen the phrase "Let's meet at the airport" during training, the technology is able to infer that "office" or "hotel" are similar words which could also be appropriate predictions in place of "airport". Further, it understands that "Let's meet at the airport" has a similar sentence structure to "Let's chat at the office". This intelligence allows SwiftKey Neural to offer the most appropriate word based on the sentence being typed.Chicane — Far from the maddening crowds. Story behind the superb Balearic album
George Palladev Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 14, 2017
At first, there were two of them. Leo Elstobb (Leo Zero) studied with Nick in an art college and after graduation both worked in their profession and saved up to get their own studios. Leo was doing remixes and designing leaflets for clubs, musical shops and amateur magazines; Nick commuted every day from London to Buckinghamshire where the office of the design company was. It wasn’t exactly to their liking and, as Nick later told, one day he reached boiling point. He then thought “Life is a chain of risks”, and in the mid-nineties he founded his own musical label, which later released his single with Leo Right here, Right now, very life-affirming, very melodic with lots of keyboard — this was called handbag house in the north of the UK. The promo quickly became interesting to four giant record labels and the duo chose Deconstruction. It was a success, the record made it to the national chart, but all the fuss with the label was tiring. In short, it didn’t work out. The guys worked under the name Disco Citizens while Chicane was planned as a side project to release all the mishmash. It was one of those interesting mini albums released on the tiny label called Cyanide that introduced the future mega-hit, the anthem of quiet corners of the Balearic Islands, Offshore, which became the last record that Leo and Nick made together.
The team, however, was not disbanded because of creative differences — Leo didn’t want to become a pop star unwillingly, he received an invitation to work for London deep house parties in Soulsonic, so he gave both projects to his friend. Nick also wasn’t so much into fame, but work in the office bored him more. At this moment, he accepted an invitation from a long-time friend and classmate Alex Gold who founded Xtravaganza Recordings, where even Van Buuren himself began. Chicane became the flagship of the label; crazy about design, they worked together to create artworks with eyes for the releases, in his own videos Nick acted as a creative director and he participated in the preparation of Chicane’s live performances.
About Offshore: “This is the track that started it all off really, originally a down tempo emotive track which captured my end of summer mindset. The track was a combination of feelings of past summers and what you can’t return to, it was influenced by Boys of Summer by Don Henley and various sunsets over the years.”
When Offshore became popular and was included in hundreds of lounge compilations, it became clear in which direction they needed to move from their stylistic experiments. The second recorded single Sunstroke continued Bracegirdle’s Balearic mood. A black and white video again (the Boys of Summer video was also black and the white), and again the girl from Offshore but now it became either an autumn memory or a recovery from sunstroke with a set of surreal images: a tanning bed (Hipgnosis!) and floating guitars in the pool. The label was interested in releasing a concept album. The author and the label were on the same page at the time — in early interviews Nick described the Chicane sound as summer holiday music, a bit quiet, a bit melancholic. He had this summer mood in a British north county ever since he was a child — he spent all his free time on the beaches of Ibiza and there he absorbed this feeling of a soft summer, a golden hour at the beginning of twilight. Disco Citizens didn’t stay out of this either and under their guise club versions of Offshore and Sunstroke were made as well as variations for other musicians.When I’m asked what it’s like to cover a bad NHL team, I point out that I’ve had a lot of experience at it.
With the Colorado Rockies.
I was young, new in the business, wide-eyed and grateful for the opportunity to be on a major-league beat.
For the final five seasons of the Rockies’ six seasons in Colorado, through the team’s move to New Jersey in 1982, I chronicled the circus that was Denver’s first shot in the NHL. Through three ownerships and other near-sales and near-moves. Through a bunch of coaches — most notably, the bombastic Don Cherry. Through dizzying personnel changes that included the franchise’s best players being traded, often for each other. And through fluctuating attendance in McNichols Sports Arena that at least gave promise that given a decent team, the NHL could draw in Denver.
I can admit this now, too, but in the time before teams flew on chartered planes, being part of the traveling party on commercial flights and team buses, and at hotels, developed a more genial and familiar relationship between scribes and players, coaches and team personnel. The same was true when I next covered the Nuggets.
The Rockies’ major problem was a lack of a consistent, focused long-range approach, with moves often made out of panic as the latest ownership lamented the red ink. In early November 1979, for example, with the Rockies and Cherry desperate for scoring, they traded away the very type of cornerstone, intimidating young defenseman the Avalanche now would love to have, sending Barry Beck to the New York Rangers for five players. I had been told Beck was untouchable, and I think the Rockies believed it … virtually right up untll they traded him. (The young reporter learned: Nobody’s untouchable…no matter what anyone says.) In late December, the Rockies sent star winger Wilf Paiement and Pat Hickey, acquired from the Rangers in the Beck deal, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Lanny McDonald and a young defenseman named Joel Quenneville. Related Articles February 4, 2017 Avalanche snap losing streak at 9 games with win over Jets
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And then two seasons later, they shipped McDonald to Calgary for forwards Bobby MacMillian and Don Lever. McDonald was tearful about the trade, emotionally saying goodbye on the team bus and hearing defenseman Rob Ramage tell him to knock it off because the trade would turn out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to him. (It was.)
I was reminded of this early last season, when the Avalanche brought in notable ex-Rockies for a game and paid tribute to Colorado hockey history.
McDonald and Paiement, who sat next to each other in Rockies jerseys as they signed autographs on the concourse, both wore No. 9.
Just like Matt Duchene.
The most wins the Rockies ever had in a season was 22. They made the playoffs only once in their six seasons here, going 19-40-21 in 1977-78, getting in as the final team in a field that included 12 of the league’s 17 franchises, and losing two straight in an entertaining mini-series with the Flyers. With Paiement and Beck leading the way, that actually was an overachieving team, enjoyable to cover under Pat Kelly, a long-time minor-league coach getting his first crack at anything in the NHL. (Sound familiar?)
After that, the Rockies became the standard for bad hockey, though they always had enough decent (and better) players sprinkled on the roster to tantalize that maybe better days were ahead.
The catch in analyzing the Rockies’ records is that the NHL played 80-game seasons — two fewer games than now — and if a game was tied at the end of the third period, that was it. No overtime. No shootout. No three-point games. So to draw comparisons with the dumpster fire that now is the 2016-17 Avalanche requires projections. I assumed (nicely) that in roughly half the ties, the Rockies would have gotten a game’s third point in an overtime or shootout. Next, I added one more point to the total to account for two more games.
Under those projections, the Rockies’ worst total would have been 49 points, in 1978-79. (In actuality, they were 15-53-12.)
After the Avs snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over Winnipeg on Saturday, they were 14-33-2. Saying they are “on pace” for anything is risky because they got off to a decent 9-9 start before the slide began, but that record (with subjective rounding off) projects out to roughly 23-56-3 and 49 points.
At this pace, they’re threatening to be worse than the worst of Rocky Hockey.
And that’s saying something.
From All Things Avs: The full story of Rocky … Really Rocky … Hockey
COLORADO ROCKIESHillary Clinton Cheers on “Reverent” NFL Kneelers to Continue “Resistance” — Stand Up, Fight Back, Resist! (Video)
How awful.
Hillary Clinton urged NFL players to continue their “reverent” kneeling and sitting protests against the racist US.
She called on NFL players to “stand up, fight back, and resist!” while on foreign soil.
Hillary Clinton: You have to resist the very clear dog whistles to that base. That’s what the black athletes kneeling was about. That was not against our anthem or our flag. That was actually kneeling was a reverent position. It was to demonstrate in a peaceful way against racism and injustice in our criminal system… I think it would be a grave error for Democrats to recede from those fights and so therefore we have to stand up, fight back, resist!
So does she think sitting and stretching during the anthem are “reverent positions” too?
Hillary encouraged “resistance” against the sitting US president while in England.
What a disgrace.The Leafs’ now-famous Holy Trinity took the league by storm last year, each putting up fantastic rookie seasons. Much of the attention rightly fell on Auston Matthews, who won the Calder Trophy in a landslide. But a funny thing happened on the way to the playoffs.
William Nylander showed he has superstar ability.
And he’s #2 on this year’s Top 25.
William Nylander Vitals Age: 21
Position: Right Wing / Centre
Shoots: Right
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 190 lb
Drafted: 2014, #8
2016 T25: #2 Votes elseldo: 2
Arvind: 3
Kevin: 3
Fulemin: 2
Katya: 2
Acha: 3
Annie: 3
Scott Wheeler: 2
Species: 2
Jared: 2
Brigstew: 2
Gunnar: 2
Background
If you’re a Leafs fan, you already know an awful lot about William Nylander. We picked him eighth overall in 2014, in unquestionably the greatest drafting decision of Dave Nonis’ ignoble tenure. Nylander’s skill was even then considered top-five calibre, but he apparently sank to our pick due to his reputation of being a “diva.” On the one hand, this was ass-backwards thinking on the part of the league; on the other, it meant we got an elite talent.
Nylander proceeded to dazzle for MODO of the Swedish Hockey League (at the time; they’ve been relegated to the lower league since he left); he was great for the Marlies in 2015-16, then impressed the Leafs in an end-of-year audition. Expectations were high for this season. Willie blew them out of the water.
There were minor controversies earlier in the year, as Willie was shuffled around up and down the right wing and to fourth-line centre. Notwithstanding this, Nylander eventually found a chemistry with Auston Matthews, and, well...
The rest is history. William Nylander put up 22 goals and 39 assists for 61 points. He just turned 21. On any other team, Nylander would be being talked about as the franchise centrepiece. Toronto’s great good fortune is that Willie doesn’t have to be.
Nylander is an elite passer and a deadly shooter. If you watched last year, you got to see him thread needles and pick corners. For a time our zone entry strategy on the powerplay was pretty much “give the puck to Willie”, and it actually worked. Nylander was one of the deadliest players in the NHL with the man advantage—his 26 power play points led the Leafs and were tied for 12th in the NHL, one back of Connor McDavid.
And here’s the thing: Nylander is even better than you’d think.
I’m serious. I sincerely believe that William Nylander is possibly the only forward on the Leafs who is still underrated. Because the deeper you look, the more you see.
Have a look at this chart, courtesy of excellent Twitter folks Ryan Stimson (who tracked it) and Sean Tierney (who put it into the visual.) What it shows are the rates at which a player got individual shots (that’s the horizontal axis), combined with the rate at which they got shot assists (that’s the vertical axis.) Shot assists are passes that led to shots, which you can imagine are pretty neat. This is a limited sample, so there are some caveats, but let’s look anyway:
Would you look at that—Nylander shows as one of the best combined shooting and passing threats in the NHL.
If you’re wondering, the two Penguins off at the top end in shot assists are Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Anaheim Duck slightly below them is Ryan Getzlaf, next to Oiler Connor McDavid. The Washington Capital leading in individual shots is Alex Ovechkin. You get the picture. This is the axis Willie lived on last year.
There’s more. Nylander did extremely well in zone entries and shots per entry, which lines up with the eye test (I’m sure we all remember him zooming into the zone and doing a button hook away from the defence while he looks for a pass.) Your Leafs leader in adjusted CorsiRel—in other words, who seemed to be moving the shot battle in the right direction more than anyone else on the team? William Nylander.
In fact, you might wonder whether Willie was actually unlucky not to score more at even strength. While his unit shot the lights out on the power play, Willie actually had the lowest 5v5 on-ice shooting percentage of any Leaf forward not on the fourth line. In other words: his even strength scoring might well get better, if he gets a bit luckier...
...and it might get better because William himself is getting better, because he just turned 21. If you had the pleasure of watching him lead Team Sweden at the World Championships—where his team won a gold medal with him as tournament MVP—you might have seen some of that improvement in action. If Nylander has another level above this one, well—we’re looking at a potential top ten forward in the NHL.
And he’s not even the #1 guy on the list.
The Stats
William Nylander via Elite Prospects �Season Team League GP G A TP PIM �Season Team League GP G A TP PIM �2008-2009 Team Maryland Bantam Minor AYMBHL 28 25 26 51 12 New York Jr. Rangers QC Int PW - - - - - �2010-2011 Chicago Mission Bantam Major AAA T1EBHL 29 34 27 61 8 �2011-2012 Stockholm TV-Pucken 8 7 10 17 14 SDE HF J18 J18 Elit 18 12 14 26 14 Sodertalje SK U16 U16 SM 3 3 4 7 4 Sodertalje SK J18 J18 Allsvenskan 9 7 5 12 2 Sodertalje SK J20 SuperElit 8 1 3 4 2 Sweden U16 (all) International-Jr 7 4 7 11 4 Sweden U17 (all) International-Jr 3 0 0 0 4 �2012-2013 Sodertalje SK J18 J18 Elit 1 2 1 3 2 Sodertalje SK J20 SuperElit 27 15 28 43 14 Sodertalje SK Allsvenskan 8 4 2 6 2 Sweden U17 WHC-17 6 2 8 10 2 Sweden U17 (all) International-Jr 3 2 3 5 2 Sweden U18 WJC-18 5 2 1 3 2 Sweden U18 (all) International-Jr 10 4 2 6 4 �2013-2014 Sweden U18 Hlinka Memorial 4 4 2 6 4 MODO Hockey J18 J18 Allsvenskan 0 0 0 0 0 MODO Hockey J20 SuperElit 3 0 3 3 4 MODO Hockey SHL 22 1 6 7 6 Rogle BK Allsvenskan 18 4 4 8 10 Sodertalje SK Allsvenskan 17 11 8 19 6 Sweden U18 WJC-18 7 6 10 16 0 Sweden U18 (all) International-Jr 14 12 13 25 6 �2014-2015 MODO Hockey SHL 21 8 12 20 6 Toronto Marlies AHL 37 14 18 32 4 Sweden U20 WJC-20 7 3 7 10 0 Sweden U20 (all) International-Jr 12 5 13 18 2 �2015-2016 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 22 6 7 13 4 Toronto Marlies AHL 38 18 27 45 10 Sweden U20 WJC-20 1 1 0 1 0 Sweden U20 (all) International-Jr 2 1 1 2 0 �2016-2017 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 81 22 39 61 32 Sweden WC 10 7 7 14 2 Sweden (all) International 10 7 7 14 2 �2017-2018 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL - - - - - Player statistics powered by�www.eliteprospects.com
The Video
Let’s watch Nylander put the puck in the net twenty-two times. It’ll be fun for all of us.
This highlight reel obviously emphasizes Nylander’s surgically-precise wrister. There’s an odd little effect when you see it, a kind of time-stands-still second where Nylander loads, fires, and puts the puck in before anyone else on the ice can react. It reminds me of 2010 Alex Semin...and I think Willie’s going to be a much more complete player.
The Voters
At the higher levels of the list, there was one real question this year: should William Nylander or Mitch Marner be ranked #2?
Arvind put the case for the Marner side here:
I think any conversation about Nylander as it relates to the T25U25 has to refer to Marner. I think it's clear that Nylander is, as of right now, a better player than Marner. Marner scored more, but we have some evidence that Nylander got spectacularly unlucky. His possession driving is among the best on the team, and he's certainly shown more evidence of being a shot driver than Marner has. He was everywhere in the playoffs - his line DESTROYED the Kuznetsov line for Washington and they had to rethink their matchups to fix that issue. He's combined spectacularly with Matthews, and I think he could be a solid centre in the NHL tomorrow, if the Leafs chose to put him there. Some all-in-one statistical models absolutely love him - Emmanuel Perry's had him as the ~40th best skater in the league last year, while others are more bearish - I lean closer to the former. And yet, I put Marner above him in my rankings. Essentially, this boils down to the year age difference between them. We can reasonably expect a notable |
overachiever?
Am I? I think it's just suddenly all of the three things I do have come together at once and it's slightly alarming. I'm really shy about being interviewed because I used to interview people. It's like I have a little parrot on my shoulder going "Oh God, what have I said? It won't translate..."
You're most famous for playing the lovelorn Molly in the BBC drama Sherlock. Did you expect the show to be so successful when you signed up?
The reaction to Molly this series has completely taken me by surprise. I did my day or two filming, like last time. But this year - because of the frankly brilliant writing - I think people have noticed her. Which is amazing. Molly works because, while Watson is "the audience", Molly is every woman of a certain age sitting at home on the settee fantasising about running their hands through Benedict Cumberbatch's hair. Which is basically what I'd have been doing if I wasn't in the show... Also, I think most people have experienced the agony and the ignominy of unrequited love... I've never thought Molly was an idiot. She just really, really loves him.
Will Sherlock ever return her affections?
I think it's unlikely, don't you? I don't think she's really his type. What his type is, I don't know.
You read history at Cambridge. What was your favourite period?
I was a complete dilettante with history. I jumped around willy-nilly from one period to another. The paper I fell in love with – which was possibly quite a lot to do with falling in love with the history tutor who wore a leather jacket and chain-smoked and was gorgeous – was ancient political thought. Aristotle and Plato and all that. I loved it. I got a first in that paper because I was suddenly quite excited about learning.
After university, you trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and studied with "clown guru" Philippe Gaulier. What exactly is a "clown guru"?
[Laughs] Well, Philippe's basic philosophy was: if you have pleasure to be on stage, we have pleasure to watch you... Even if you're playing a tragedy, you have a kind of game with the audience, it's a twinkle.
You describe yourself as a feminist on your Twitter biography. What kind?
A militant one. Dungarees, moustache, all men are rapists, you know the drill... Seriously, though, I'd like every man who doesn't call himself a feminist to explain to the women in his life why he doesn't believe in equality for women. I think Page 3, Nuts and Zoo are bullshit. I don't wax my pubic hair off. I don't think working in a titty bar getting fivers shoved up your bum is empowering. And I'm bored of pictures of women in their smalls on buses with fuck-me mouths.
Do you like Twitter?
Twitter's amazing because suddenly being on the telly is like being on stage: you get this immediate response and it's really unusual. On Sunday [when the last episode of Sherlock aired], it was extraordinary. I got hundreds of messages and 18 marriage proposals.
Eighteen?!
Yes, mostly from young women. There's this whole world of fandom. What's fascinating is that they [the fans] write these stories about the characters. I initially thought they were just stories but they're not; they're basically porn.
After the first series, I was looking online to see what people thought of Molly and what came out was this story in which Molly got nipple piercings and had sex with Moriarty. At which point, I stopped reading.
When you interviewed the actress Liv Tyler in 2009 for Wonderland magazine, you asked her whether there was a consistent theme running through her school reports. Was there one in yours?
Erm, my school reports vacillated wildly for years and years. I used to be a complete goody two-shoes but when I was in the sixth form, I came off the rails because I'd been at a girls' school and I was excited about being with boys. I was doing a lot of skiving and was put on report for a while. That's about as cool as I got as a child.
On your website, you say you like campanology...
Yes, when I was 14 I became religious. I went to church off my own bat. It was something to do with a cat being run over but it's too embarrassing to say why. For a couple of years, I was very excited about church. I joined up for the bell-ringing... It's quite exciting because you could be whipped up to the ceiling and have your neck broken.
I used to be on the littlest bell, on the treble, and there's a magic moment where you're just pulling down a little bit and the bell is balancing; it's not resting on anything. It's a really amazing feeling.
Sherlock series 2 is out on DVD now
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The links are powered by Skimlinks. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that Skimlinks cookies will be set. More information.Restore Stephen Baldwin (just click here to donate)
By Liz Kelly
Stephen Baldwin is, as Baldwins go, a nobody. Although the beefy younger brother of comedy god/"SNL" host extraordinaire Alec Baldwin manages to find a steady stream of work in TV, straight-to-DVD titles and (to be fair) some mainstream hits, he's best known for being Alec's brother and, to a lesser extent, for his 2002 conversion to evangelical Christianity and (as yet unfulfilled) promise to move to Canada if Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election.
But according to the site RestoreStephenBaldwin.org, it isn't Stephen's fault that he's bankrupt and can't land a legit acting gig. No, according to the site, Baldwin is a modern-day Job -- losing lucrative gigs that would doubtless have catapulted him into stratospheric fame were it not for his religious convictions:
I know, like me, you're full of questions. But thanks to a handy site Q&A (they thought of everything!), some of our posers have been anticipated and answered:
Q- Why doesn't his family help him?
A- His family does not perceive Stephen’s predicament as a matter of spiritual warfare. They see Stephen’s outspoken Christianity as poor choices therefore they will not help.
But, golly, will our money really help? Apparently so:
Q- Why does Stephen need personal wealth?
A- Stephen’s influence is in Hollywood. Hollywood worships money and without it you are seen as a loser and cannot be an effective influence to this group.
Well, they're right about that "loser" thing. But can we bring Donald Trump into the mix somehow? Yes!:
Q- What triggered you to do this?
A- In March of 08 I saw Stephen speak boldly for Christ on Trumps Celebrity Apprentice Show. Then in Aug 09 I saw Stephen and God being laughed at for his bankruptcy.
The site appears to have been launched last December, but for some reason caught fire this week. According to that Q&A, Baldwin himself had nothing to do with the planning or launch of the site -- apart from, we assume, benefitting from donations. The site creators say only that they received permission to launch the site from Baldwin's "ministry president."
If only Job had had the Internet.
----
Update, 2:49 p.m. ET:
Dan Southern, president of Stephen Baldwin's ministry, just confirmed to us that Baldwin had no involvement in the site. He also said Baldwin hasn't seen any significant money at this point.
"Up until yesterday [donations] were just a trickle. Yesterday we had 30,000 hits on the YouTube video. Right now, it's more curiosity."
But, said Southern, the financial plea isn't really the point.
"It's really about people standing behind Stephen who believe he's an important spokesperson. So they're trying to help him fix his flat tire."
----
A big thanks to the chatter who brought this site to our attention in yesterday's Celebritology Live discussion.British Columbia Premier Christy Clark says her government will prohibit the "triple-deleting" of e-mails, a practice that has damaged her open-government pledge and has now been the focus of two high-profile reports calling for its abolition.
The latest report, released Wednesday and penned by former B.C. information and privacy commissioner David Loukidelis, says government should ban the triple-deleting of e-mails as soon as possible.
An October report by the current privacy commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, criticized Ms. Clark's government for routinely thwarting access-to-information requests. Ms. Denham referred one instance, in which a Ministry of Transportation employee allegedly lied to commission investigators about his role in deleting e-mails, to the RCMP.
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The report was the latest criticism from Ms. Denham, who has previously scolded the government for both deleting records and for not creating them in the first place. Specifically, she has noted too many access-to-information requests are returned with a letter indicating no records could be found.
Mr. Loukidelis was brought in to advise government on how best to implement Ms. Denham's recommendations.
He called on the province to ensure information requests are processed by public servants instead of political staff and consider creating a legislative "duty to document" to show that the province maintains records and does not endorse an "oral government."
He also said the province should update its policy on which records are considered "transitory" – a category that includes convenience copies, duplicates, working materials and drafts, all of which can be deleted under the law.
"These recommendations are not a panacea, but they can effect real change," Mr. Loukidelis wrote in the 70-page report.
Mr. Loukidelis made 27 recommendations in all, including records-management training for all public servants and political staff. He said the province should consider introducing legislation that would give the privacy commissioner the authority to investigate unauthorized destruction of records. He said government should also develop policy to ensure any employee who destroys a record, or assists anyone else in doing so, is subject to discipline up to and including dismissal.
"… It really is ultimately a question of making sure that people know the rules, are trained in them, are given guidance in how to apply them and do their best to do that," Mr. Loukidelis told reporters during a conference call.
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Ms. Clark, in a statement shortly after the conference call, said the province would accept all of Mr. Loukidelis's recommendations. She said it would prohibit triple-deleting, ensure public servants were made responsible for the searching of records "as soon as practicable," and consider the establishment of a duty to document.
Ms. Clark, speaking with reporters at an unrelated event, said ministers and political staff would no longer delete any of their sent e-mails.
"Not single, not double, not triple," she said.
Triple-deleting refers to the practice of deleting an e-mail, removing it from the deleted items folder, and then deleting it a third time from yet another folder that contains backups of deleted e-mails.
Ms. Clark did not offer a timeline for the changes, but said "I want to get going on this."
She said she entered politics to create a more open government.
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Vincent Gogolek, executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, said Mr. Loukidelis's report adds to the consensus on the need to document, and to penalize people who interfere with information requests.
Mr. Gogolek said he is concerned about how quickly the recommendations will be implemented. He said a special committee that is reviewing the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act won't report back until the end of May.
"That's the end of the spring session," he said in an interview. "…When's the government going to respond to what will probably be a fairly lengthy report?"
John Horgan, Leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, criticized Ms. Clark for not committing to the duty to document more forcefully.
"They say out of one side of their mouths they're open and transparent. And then when people ask for documents, none exist," he said in an interview.
Ms. Denham, in a written statement, said Mr. Loukidelis's report was a "thoughtful contribution" on important issues and she was pleased to see he supported her findings.
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Ms. Denham said she intends to follow up "on the outcomes of government's commitments" in the spring.X-Plane 11.20 supports native virtual reality, or VR. The additional X-Plane system requirements for VR are:
Windows 7 64 bits or newer operating system
HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or Windows Mixed Reality (WMR)
Steam VR installed for Vive/WMR and “Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR” for WMR.
Your CPU & GPU will need to meet all additional requirements as specified by your headset manufacturer. X-Plane supports the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality (WMR).
Note: Steam VR is a free download that enables X-Plane 11 to use VR. Steam VR is compatible with the X-Plane 11 DVD set, digital download edition, and X-Plane on Steam.
No Intel GPUs are supported. Room-sized VR is supported, as well as using joysticks and other USB devices.
To get started using VR, first set up your device according to manufacturer’s instructions. You may need to enable foreign apps in the VR system settings. For example, with the Oculus Rift, you would go to Settings > General and toggle the button to the right to enable apps from Unknown Sources, such as X-Plane.
Next, if you don’t already have it, Vive and WMR users will need to download the Steam software and create a free account in order to install SteamVR. Once the Steam client is installed and you have signed in, go to Library > VR. Click on SteamVR under the Tools section in the left sidebar, then the install button.
If you’re using a Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) device, in addition to SteamVR you’ll also need to install “Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR,” which is available from the Steam Library as well.
Finally, launch X-Plane and go to Settings > VR Hardware. As long as your headset is attached, there will be a check box at the bottom to “Enable VR hardware.”
You can turn VR off by unchecking the box in Settings, or by using the large blue Disable VR Headset button in the X-Plane window on the computer.
Once VR is up and running on all devices, you should find yourself in a virtual hangar in X-Plane. From here you can access the main menu, all settings, and any pop up warning screens.
Controls & Manipulators
The default fleet (minus the SR-71) is VR-ready but 3rd party aircraft are probably far less usable in VR unless you use the 3D mouse to interact with the cockpit. Feel free to try other aircraft but be aware they may have limited functionality & use.
In general, the manipulators in and around the aircraft function the way they would it real life. Grab the throttle of the Cessna 172 by pressing and holding the trigger near it. It will light up green, then push or pull the knob to adjust the setting, for example. Alternatively, you can use “laser manipulation” to interact with objects. Lightly and partially squeeze the VR controller trigger to see a green laser appear. Aim that laser at the thing you want to interact with and ‘grab it’ by squeezing the trigger the rest of the way in. This feature essentially takes traditional manipulation and lets you perform the motion at any distance or angle that is convenient for you.
By default, the pilot yoke behaves in a realistic manner–tilt your wrist left or right for roll, and push in or pull out to control pitch. This behavior can be tiring if you fly for long hours at a time, so you can switch to “ergonomic” mode by using the checkboxes in Settings > VR Hardware. Ergonomic mode behaves slightly differently than real life–it works by tilting your wrist up or down to control pitch, and rolling your wrist left right for roll. (Moving forward and back does nothing.) This allows you to keep your hand in a relaxed and comfortable position while you fly and also allows you to be more precise with the controls.
In addition, the yoke is a “latching” manipulator by default: if you click it once, your controller will stay attached to it. You must press the trigger a second time to release it. You may also change this behavior by unchecking the “Latch to yoke manipulators” checkbox in VR Hardware settings.
Some rudder input will be added automatically as roll is controlled in order to allow you to taxi on the ground if you don’t have rudder pedals attached. If you do have hardware rudder pedals, it is up to you to control them.
Move around the aircraft or the world by using teleport: push down on the thumb stick (Oculus) or touchpad (Vive) to see a blue arc with a circle at the end, which is your landing spot. As you rotate the thumb stick you’ll move the red line on the circle, which indicates your view direction when the teleport is executed. Some parts of the aircraft, such as seats, have a hotspot which will light up and snap you to that location.
“VR Quick-Zoom” is a command that you can bind to your controller or a key. When you press the button, it zooms your view in so you can see distant things a bit clearer. When you release the button, your view resets.
Press the three line button (the menu button) of the virtual controller to access the menu options. Note that the “Get in Pilot’s Seat” controller menu option (the top most icon) is both a shortcut into the cockpit if you’ve moved to a different view, and a way to recenter yourself in the pilot seat. This option is the only supported way to recenter your view inside the cockpit.
The three-line menu option opens the main menu so you can access the usual options: load or save a flight, change your view, modify the flight, and so on. Use the thumb stick (Oculus) or touchpad (Vive) to move around menus and submenus, then use the trigger on the controller to select an option.
Using the Mouse in VR
You can turn on a 3D mouse cursor while using VR by checking the “Enable 3D Mouse Cursor” box in Settings > VR Hardware. You can also bind a joystick button or key to this option. This cursor will function basically the same as a non-VR mouse. Clicking the right mouse button will open up the VR menu, which is the equivalent to the traditional horizontal menu bar in non-VR X-Plane flights.
Troubleshooting
Stuttering or Low FPS
VR is more demanding on your computer than simply using the desktop simulator. If you are not consistently running at least 45 fps in the base desktop sim, you will need to turn rendering settings down. Review these instructions on setting the rendering options if you need to adjust your settings for VR.
Oculus Rift Tips
Juddering/Glitching during flight
Lower your “Numer of World Objects” in Settings > Graphics
Disable “Draw Shadows on Scenery” in Settings > Graphics
Disable Asynchronous Space Warp (ASW) in the Oculus Debug Tool. Currently, this must be done each time X-Plane is launched.
Error 306 when trying to start X-plane or enable VR (and VR won’t enable)
Quit Steam VR (if running) and X-Plane
Restart X-Plane, re-enable VR
No image at all in HMD, but X-Plane shows a scene
Quit SteamVR (if running), X-Plane
Kill OVRServer in task manager process list using “kill process tree”
Restart X-Plane, re-enable VR
Oculus Home or settings menu in HMD, but no tracking in X-Plane
Quit X-Plane, SteamVR (if running)
Kill VRCompositor, VRServer, VRDashboard in process manager task list
Restart X-Plane, re-enable VR
Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) Tips
Put on the WMR device or manually launch the Mixed Reality Portal BEFORE launching X-Plane. If you launch X-Plane first, the Mixed Reality Portal can hang the computer requiring a reboot.
Currently the thumbsticks on the WMR controllers do not have a useful IN-PRESS/Click. That click is being stolen by SteamVR for internal functions. Clicking the thumbstick is currently causing the controllers to become unresponsive to X-Plane until the Mixed Reality Portal, SteamVR and X-Plane are restarted. This is being investigated but for now it’s best to just use the X/Y axis of the thumbsticks and not the click function.
Windows Mixed Reality VR controllers require a good bluetooth connection to the PC. Many PC’s use an external WiFi antenna for their bluetooth signal as well. If you’re having trouble with the WMR controllers not appearing or being unstable and disconnecting, make sure your WiFi antenna is attached securely.
Back to Knowledge BaseSwing-State newspapers distribute 'terror' videos Diane Sweet
Published: Saturday September 13, 2008
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A 60-minute DVD, titled "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," is being distributed in millions of newspapers across the country this week primarily in swing states through an advertising purchase by a shadowy group called the Clarion Fund.
Editor & Publisher reports:
"Despite some protests from Muslim and liberal activists, the newspapers -- all hard hit by drops in ad revenue in recent months -- have explained that the DVD does not violate their usual standards; see our exchange with The New York Times below. A spokesperson there said the Times last Sunday inserted 145,000 DVDs in its papers delivered in the following markets: Denver, Miami/Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, Detroit, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee/Madison. Note: These are all in swing states.
The documentary showcases scenes of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers, interspersed with shots of Nazi rallies. 'The threat of Radical Islam is the most important issue facing us today,'' reads the sleeve of the DVD. ''But it's a topic that neither the presidential candidates nor the media are discussing openly. It's our responsibility to ensure we can all make an informed vote in November.''
It was shown on Fox News just before the 2006 mid-term elections, and conservative activist David Horowitz screened the film on college campuses during 2007. An article at the group's site, www.radicalislam.org, endorsed John McCain as the strongest candidate this past week, then was pulled down. The DVD carries on-screen text near the outset that it is not indicting most Muslims."
Via Eric Ose, here's a state-by-state list of most of the other 70 newspapers in swing states that have agreed to deliver this dvd to their subscribers:
Colorado - Boulder Daily Camera, Centennial Citizen, Denver Post, Fort Collins Coloradoan, Greeley Tribune
Iowa - Daily Nonpareil, Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press Citizen, Quad City Times, Sioux City Journal
Indiana - South Bend Tribune
Florida - Daily Commercial, Florida Times-Union, Ft. Lauderdale El Sentinel, Ft. Myers News Press, Miami Herald, Ocala Star Banner, Orlando Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Tampa Tribune, Tallahassee Democrat, St. Petersburg Times, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Michigan - Detroit Free-Press, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Lansing State Journal
Missouri - Springfield News-Leader
Nevada - Las Vegas Review-Journal/Sun, Nevada Appeal, Reno Gazette-Journal
New Hampshire - Portsmouth Herald News, Union Leader
New Mexico - Clovis News Journal, Hobbs News-Sun, Rio Rancho Observer
Ohio - Columbus Dispatch, Dayton Daily News, Middletown Journal, Morning Journal, Toledo Blade, Youngstown Vindicator
North Carolina - Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News & Observer
Pennsylvania - Bucks Co. Courier Times, Erie Times-News, Morning Call, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Reading Eagle, The Patriot-News
Virginia - Sun-Gazette, Virginian-Pilot
Wisconsin - Green Bay Press-Gazette, Janesville Gazette, Journal Times, La Crosse Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
The following is a video clip of the 60 minute film, 'Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West':Commando comics aim to tell exciting and interesting stories suitable for readers of all ages. On land, at sea, and in the air, Commando’s stories cover every corner of the globe and are set throughout world history, the epic tales of bravery in battle making Commando Comics the Home of Heroes! Four new Commando stories are published each month, and we strive to have variety in every release.
Thank you for your interest in Commando Comics. Our submissions are currently closed. Please check back soon for new calls for pitches.
Pitch and Script Submission Guidelines
Please note our submissions are currently closed.
Your pitch should include an introductory summary and a short synopsis of the complete story. The introduction should only be a couple of sentences long and should capture the Editor’s attention, whilst the synopsis should reach roughly 1000 words, clearly showing the plot’s development.
Pitches can be set during any era of conflict, from the Roman Empire up until the 1980s. Wars during the 1980s and 1990s may be considered as long as they handle the subject matter sensitively and appropriately.
As Commando has a vast amount of history to draw inspiration from, the cast can also be hugely diverse. Stories are often told from the hero’s perspective, but the tales do not necessarily have to be a standard ‘good versus evil’ format. The stories should be about adventures occasioned by the war, not just about warfare. Emotional conflict and character development is key to an interesting story which will grasp the reader’s attention.
Stories do not need to be about Commandos. Any branch of the Army, Navy or Air Force may be used. Principle characters can be of any nationality.
We are aiming to branch out from familiar Commando themes of rescuing someone or something from enemy territory; wiping out a secret weapon in enemy territory; conflict between veteran sergeants and their young lieutenants; characters starting out as rivals and ending as friends. Although these ideas are still acceptable, they must have an original and refreshing take on the story to carry the well-worn theme.
If you have an exciting story to tell, please email your pitch to us, along with a covering letter or samples of your previous work. Don’t forget to keep your eye on our submissions page for specific calls for pitches.
If your pitch is successful, the Commando Team will be in touch to discuss next steps.
Artwork Submission Guidelines
Please note our submissions are currently closed.
For new interior artists, submissions should show the ability to tell strong sequential stories through black and white art. New cover artists should demonstrate the ability to create stunning, eye-catching images in full colour. All submissions should show the ability to feature a diverse cast relevant to the era, and accuracy in regards to uniforms, machinery, artillery, etc. A link to a personal online portfolio and three to five pages of work from previous projects will be sufficient, with a sample brief being available upon request. It should be noted that no payment will be made for artwork trials.
If you have what it takes to ink these exciting action stories, please email your submission to us.
If your submission is successful, the Commando Team will be in touch to discuss next steps.
Important Notes
Each Commando issue is 63 pages long, with roughly 135 panels total.
Although a great knowledge of technical and service background is not essential, we strive to be as accurate as possible in Commando comics. When including specific artillery, machinery, regiments, foreign terms, etc., please do ensure the details are accurate.
No horrific scenes are ever used, and the brutal side of war should not be featured unless completely necessary to the plot. If excessive violence is needed to move the plot forward, it should only be told in the wording and not drawn into the strip.
Commando comics often have a hugely diverse cast. Offensive material will not be accepted. Racist or offensive depictions will be removed, or a redraw will be requested.
Call for Pitches
Thank you for your interest in Commando Comics. Our submissions are currently closed. Please check back soon for new calls for pitches.First major Wall Street strategist weighs in on bitcoin, sees it worth as much as $55,000 2:42 PM ET Fri, 7 July 2017 | 00:49
Fundstrat's Tom Lee on Friday became the first major Wall Street strategist to formally lay out his views on bitcoin.
The digital currency could be worth as much as $55,000 by 2022, Lee said in a report titled "A framework for valuing bitcoin as a substitute for gold."
"We believe one of the drivers [of bitcoin] is crypto-currencies are cannibalizing demand for gold," Lee said in the report. "Based on this premise, we take a stab at establishing valuation framework for bitcoin. Based on our model, we estimate that bitcoin's value per unit could be $20,000 to $55,000 by 2022."
Bitcoin traded near $2,540 on Friday. The digital currency has more than doubled in value for the year, and high interest prompted a Goldman Sachs technical analyst, a team of Morgan Stanley analysts and Citi researchers to issue reports on bitcoin or the blockchain technology behind it in the last few months.
However, Lee is the first widely followed market strategist to issue a report dedicated to predicting bitcoin's price. Lee also happens to be the most bearish strategist on U.S. stocks currently. He was JPMorgan Chase's chief equity strategist from 2007 to 2014 before co-founding Fundstrat Global Advisors, where he is managing partner and head of research.
The strategist's case for bitcoin is a basic supply-and-demand story, similar to the argument other proponents of bitcoin use when playing up its future as "digital gold."
Gold's market value of $7.5 trillion is exponentially greater than bitcoin's $41 billion. But Lee pointed out the precious metal's supply "is surging as mining soars to all-time highs," while the number of available bitcoins is rapidly approaching its inherent 21 million-coin limit.
"A simulation shows that this will slow even further to less than 1.5% growth by ~2020, meaning bitcoin supply will grow even slower than gold," Lee said.
Bitcoin is also theoretically a better way to store value, proponents contend, since governments can easily decrease a currency's worth by printing more of it.
The constraints on bitcoin's supply and the potential worth of the digital currency mean there will be high demand for a limited product, driving up the price. Bitcoin has already surged from below $1,000 on Dec. 31 to briefly top $3,000 in June.
Lee also expects investors could look at bitcoin as a substitute for gold, and his model shows the digital currency could be valued at $20,300 by 2022. Adding more variables to the model puts the value of bitcoin in five years in a potential range of $12,000 to $55,000.
"In other words, substantial upside exists in owning cryptocurrencies here," Lee said.
He also expects central banks will consider buying the digital currencies if the total market value tops $500 billion. Including bitcoin and its rival ethereum, the value of all cryptocurrencies hovers around $100 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
"In our view, this is a game changer, enhancing the legitimacy of the currency and likely accelerating the substitution for gold (by investors)," he said.
Lee noted a Bloomberg news report that central banks have looked into the possibility of owning digital currencies.
In March, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell cautioned in a speech about the potential challenges for a central bank to issue a digital currency, including privacy.
To be sure, digital currencies such as bitcoin often swing wildly and operate in unregulated markets. While the lack of regulation is what has attracted many buyers, many consider bitcoin the "Wild West." Three years ago, Mt.Gox, the largest bitcoin exchange then, filed for bankruptcy and said it lost 750,000 of its users bitcoins and 100,000 of the exchange's own.
The future of bitcoin is also in question. This summer, the digital currency could split if developers don't agree on the same system to upgrade bitcoin.
Lee acknowledged bitcoin's volatility in his report, noting that annualized bitcoin volatility is 75 percent, "substantially higher than gold's 10%. But as noted, gold's volatility approached 90% from 1971 to 1980 as the U.S. abandoned the gold standard — hence, we expect this to improve over time."GLITCH CITY
Pirtek Obliterations I-II-III
08-05-2018 08-05-2018
Pirtek party
Extratone/noisecore/???/effect madness/the good stuff
All packed in a fun triology the whole family will enjoy
There is even some breathing space (well actually not)
Good stuff by Pirtek as always
Pirtek partyExtratone/noisecore/???/effect madness/the good stuffAll packed in a fun triology the whole family will enjoyThere is even some breathing space (well actually not)Good stuff by Pirtek as always
Odaxelagnia Freakshow 3
13-10-2016
Part 3 of Odaxelagnia's freakshow series.
Breaky, mashy, corey, mutant rave.
not only harsh party but there's also quite some heavy slow jams in here.
nice and atmospheric to cuddle with your VR babes and enjoy the night.
Part 3 of Odaxelagnia's freakshow series.Breaky, mashy, corey, mutant rave.not only harsh party but there's also quite some heavy slow jams in here.nice and atmospheric to cuddle with your VR babes and enjoy the night.
Kotaks met extratön
19-9-2016
Total noise rave mayhem.
Extratone/speedcore/earbleed.. the good stuff!
Total noise rave mayhem.Extratone/speedcore/earbleed.. the good stuff!
new download
6-9-2016
Short but sw33t compilation
Download it here or listen to it at Short but sw33t compilationDownload it here or listen to it at bandkampf
social news guyz, newflash, we are now 2007 ready
with hardcore new technology called bandcamp.
some fun stuff will happen there, be part of the part-y
check it out at guyz, newflash, we are now 2007 readywith hardcore new technology called bandcamp.some fun stuff will happen there, be part of the part-ycheck it out at BANDCAMPA couple of weeks ago, I said that there are different schools of thought on how a jacket should fit, but trousers should only fit one way. Upon reflection, I now realize that was a bit misleading. There’s a difference between style and fit. Generally speaking, style is about silhouette, whereas fit is about whether something sit on you correctly. Simon Crompton has a good article about this difference.
There are different silhouettes for jackets, but the rules we have for how they should fit are similar to those we have for trousers. There shouldn’t be any pulls or puckers along the front or back, the sleeves should be free of any ripples when the arms are naturally hanging down, and the jacket should have clean lines all around. These principles should be true regardless of the jacket’s style (e.g. clean, draped, padded, natural, skinny, full).
Unlike trousers, however, suit jackets and sport coats are much harder to fit well. Their construction is more complicated, so there are more things that can go wrong. Above is a set of photographs I’ve stolen from Macaroni Tomato and slightly modified. Each photo illustrates a common defect. Click on each of the photographs, and you’ll see that they’re lettered.
Fig. A. Sleevehead and Collar: The most difficult areas to fit well are perhaps the shoulders and collar. A properly fitting jacket shouldn’t have any indentations in the sleeveheads and it should stay glued to your neck at all times.
The most difficult areas to fit well are perhaps the shoulders and collar. A properly fitting jacket shouldn’t have any indentations in the sleeveheads and it should stay glued to your neck at all times. Fig. B. Strained Buttoning Point: Here tightness at the buttoning point can result in a jacket pulling around the waist, effectively forming an “X.“ To be sure, this is sometimes purposefully done in the name of fashion, but more often than not, it’s a sign that a jacket is too tight. (Note that the jacket pictured here doesn’t have problems in this area).
Here tightness at the buttoning point can result in a jacket pulling around the waist, effectively forming an “X.“ To be sure, this is sometimes purposefully done in the name of fashion, but more often than not, it’s a sign that a jacket is too tight. (Note that the jacket pictured here doesn’t have problems in this area). Fig C. Messy Back: Likewise, the back can have unsightly folds or pulling along the waist, around the shoulder blades, and underneath the collar. A well fitting jacket should have none of these issues, but rather fit cleanly.
Likewise, the back can have unsightly folds or pulling along the waist, around the shoulder blades, and underneath the collar. A well fitting jacket should have none of these issues, but rather fit cleanly. Fig. D. Sleeve Pitch: If the sleeve isn’t attached to the jacket at a degree that harmonizes with the wearer’s natural stance, you may see furrows along the sleeve. You can see an example of this here.
If the sleeve isn’t attached to the jacket at a degree that harmonizes with the wearer’s natural stance, you may see furrows along the sleeve. You can see an example of this here. Fig. E. Flared Vents: A properly fitting jacket should always have closed vents, like the ones in this picture. Make sure yours don’t flare out or gape.
A properly fitting jacket should always have closed vents, like the ones in this picture. Make sure yours don’t flare out or gape. Fig. F. Balance: The term “balance” can refer to a few things on a jacket, but in this case, we’re talking about the relationship between the front and back of the jacket, as well as left and right sides |
hears the case, sometime in the next few months. Briefs are due in February.
Earlier this week, the Justice Department filed a thirty-page document objecting to the motion. “Stripped of its blustery rhetoric and personal attacks, Apple’s motion is about its desire to shield its highest-level executives and Board members from the perceived inconvenience of having to sit for these interviews,” it said. The document continued, “Apple’s efforts to thwart Mr. Bromwich from carrying out his responsibilities only highlight the critical need for his monitorship to continue.”
But why is Apple putting up such a fierce fight? The company rarely does anything without first performing a thorough cost-benefit analysis. The cost, in this case, is the negative publicity the company will incur. But what of the benefits?
Businesses and bureaucrats have different expectations. An executive at a top company can’t easily drop his day-to-day responsibilities, especially to help an unwanted intruder. Apple said that Bromwich’s investigation, which began in October, was “premature,” because the company was still putting in place new compliance and training programs ahead of a court-mandated January 14th deadline. Bromwich disagreed. He was asked to begin the job immediately after his appointment. Apple also argued that Bromwich was going too far, requesting meetings with executives and directors who have nothing to do with antitrust compliance, and said that the hour-long interviews Bromwich called for would hurt market share and impede product development.
The Justice Department, in its filing, dismissed many of Apple’s arguments. And, in a separate filing with the same court, Bromwich said he had been allowed to interview just eleven people, seven of whom were lawyers. He was able to speak to only one board member and one executive. In total, he only performed thirteen hours of substantive interviews or discussions during two trips to California. When he made inquiries, a senior manager told him that the executives and board members were “very busy, and that we would see a ‘lot of anger’ about the case that still existed within the company.”
“In my 20 years of doing oversight work,” Bromwich noted in one footnote, “I have never before had the entity over which I was exercising oversight unilaterally dictate who could be interviewed, even in those instances in which I have dealt with very sensitive matters.”
People who run for-profit companies also naturally take issue with excessive rates. The monitoring fees paid by Apple amounted to eleven hundred dollars per hour for Bromwich, a thousand and twenty-five dollars per hour for Bernard Nigro, an antitrust attorney appointed to help Bromwich, and a fifteen per cent “administrative fee.” Calling the rate exorbitantly higher than company policy allows for suppliers, Apple suggested paying eight hundred dollars an hour for Bromwich and seven hundred dollars for Nigro, plus per diems of fifteen to thirty dollars for meals. Bromwich responded, indignantly, that he was not a supplier.
The company may also believe that the appeals court will overturn the judge’s decision, and wish to shield its executives from legal questioning and delay any oversight until then.
Judge Cote has yet to respond to the request to stay the order, but in the eyes of some antitrust attorneys the company is taking up a legitimate battle against the ill-defined authority of court-appointed monitors, who are often viewed as having a cozy relationship with judges. In its November filing, Apple accused Bromwich of having “secret communications” with the court and exceeding his authority by immediately requesting interviews with a number of executives and board members who had nothing do with antitrust matters. The hourly fees, it said, were more than Apple has encountered for any task. The company had to pay for two attorneys, because Bromwich isn’t an antitrust expert. The Wall Street Journal also published an editorial pointing out that Cote and Bromwich have been friends for some time, predating Cote’s appointment of Bromwich to Apple.
A reversal of Cote’s decision, however, is far from certain. The judge has an unshakeable reputation, and her rulings are known to be difficult to overturn. In her original judgment against Apple, she dismantled the company’s credibility, pointing out the inconsistencies and improbabilities in a top executive’s testimony. She called Apple’s evidence “not persuasive,” and accused its trial witnesses of being “less than forthcoming.”
Though appointing a monitor is rare when a defendant has no prior history of wrongdoing, Apple’s behavior over the past few months may help validate the judge’s decision to appoint one. And the question remains: Do the benefits of Apple’s strategy outweigh the costs?
To many, Apple’s obstructiveness is just the latest evidence of the company’s presumption that it answers to no one but itself. “They’re just trying to put off their judgment day,” David Balto, an antitrust attorney who isn’t involved in the Apple case, said. “They don’t want to change their conduct before that happens.” Balto believes that the government’s position is completely consistent with the law.
An anti-establishment defiance helped bolster Apple’s image during its underdog days—remember the famous “1984” Super Bowl commercial?—but is increasingly driving a crack through its image as a virtuous company. Journalists, meanwhile, enjoyed a little schadenfreude. For once, someone else was getting a taste of the stonewalling they regularly experience with the notoriously secretive company.
Yukari Iwatani Kane is a former Apple beat reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Her book, “Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs,” is due out in March.
Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg via GettyAquatic insects of the order Ephemeroptera
Mayflies (also known as Canadian soldiers[2] in the United States, and as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern U.S.; also up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the order Ephemeroptera. This order is part of an ancient group of insects termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains dragonflies and damselflies. Over 3,000 species of mayfly are known worldwide, grouped into over 400 genera in 42 families.
Mayflies exhibit a number of ancestral traits that were probably present in the first flying insects, such as long tails and wings that do not fold flat over the abdomen. Their immature stages are aquatic fresh water forms (called "naiads" or "nymphs"), whose presence indicates a clean, unpolluted environment. They are unique among insect orders in having a fully winged terrestrial adult stage, the subimago, which moults into a sexually mature adult, the imago.
Mayflies "hatch" (emerge as adults) from spring to autumn, not necessarily in May, in enormous numbers. Some hatches attract tourists. Fly fishermen make use of mayfly hatches by choosing artificial fishing flies that resemble the species in question. One of the most famous English mayflies is Rhithrogena germanica, the fisherman's "March brown mayfly".[3]
The brief lives of mayfly adults have been noted by naturalists and encyclopaedists since Aristotle and Pliny the Elder in classical times. The German engraver Albrecht Dürer included a mayfly in his 1495 engraving The Holy Family with the Mayfly to suggest a link between heaven and earth. The English poet George Crabbe compared the brief life of a daily newspaper with that of a mayfly in the satirical poem "The Newspaper" (1785), both being known as "ephemera".
Description [ edit ]
Nymph [ edit ]
Mayfly nymph, dorsal view, showing the paired gills and three projections on the abdomen; wing buds are visible on the thorax.
Immature mayflies are aquatic and are referred to as nymphs or naiads. In contrast to their short lives as adults, they may live for several years in the water. They have an elongated, cylindrical or somewhat flattened body that passes through a number of instars (stages), molting and increasing in size each time. When ready to emerge from the water, nymphs vary in length, depending on species, from 3 to 30 mm (0.12 to 1.18 in).[4] The head has a tough outer covering of sclerotin, often with various hard ridges and projections; it points either forwards or downwards, with the mouth at the front. There are two large compound eyes, three ocelli (simple eyes) and a pair of antennae of variable lengths, set between or in front of the eyes. The mouthparts are designed for chewing and consist of a flap-like labrum, a pair of strong mandibles, a pair of maxillae, a membranous hypopharynx and a labium.[5]
Cloeon dipterum, showing seven pairs of Nymph of the mayfly, showing seven pairs of gills along the sides of the abdomen
The thorax consists of three segments – the hindmost two, the mesothorax and metathorax, being fused. Each segment bears a pair of legs which usually terminate in a single claw. The legs are robust and often clad in bristles, hairs or spines. Wing pads develop on the mesothorax, and in some species, hindwing pads develop on the metathorax.[5]
The abdomen consists of ten segments, some of which may be obscured by a large pair of operculate gills, a thoracic shield (expanded part of the prothorax) or the developing wing pads. In most taxa up to seven pairs of gills arise from the top or sides of the abdomen, but in some species they are under the abdomen, and in a very few species the gills are instead located on the coxae of the legs, or the bases of the maxillae. The abdomen terminates in a pair of, or three, slender thread-like projections.[5]
Subimago [ edit ]
The final moult of the nymph is not to the full adult form, but to a winged stage called a subimago that physically resembles the adult, but which is usually sexually immature and duller in colour. The subimago often has partially cloudy wings fringed with minute hairs; its eyes, legs and genitalia are not fully developed. Subimagos are generally poor fliers, and typically lack the colour patterns used to attract mates. After a period, usually lasting one or two days but in some species only a few minutes, the subimago moults to the full adult form, making mayflies the only insects where a winged form undergoes a further moult.[4]
Imago [ edit ]
Atalophlebia with the cylindrical dorsal or turban eyes visible Adultwith the cylindrical dorsal or turban eyes visible
Adult mayflies, or imagos, are relatively primitive in structure, exhibiting traits that were probably present in the first flying insects. These include long tails and wings that do not fold flat over the abdomen.[6] Mayflies are delicate-looking insects with one or two pairs of membranous, triangular wings, which are extensively covered with veins. At rest, the wings are held upright, like those of a butterfly. The hind wings are much smaller than the forewings and may be vestigial or absent. The second segment of the thorax, which bears the forewings, is enlarged to hold the main flight muscles. Adults have short, flexible antennae, large compound eyes, three ocelli and non-functional mouthparts. In most species, the males' eyes are large and the front legs unusually long, for use in locating and grasping females during the mid-air mating. In the males of some families, there are two large cylindrical "turban" eyes that face upwards in addition to the lateral eyes.[7] They are capable of detecting ultraviolet light and are thought to be used during courtship to detect females flying above them.[8] In some species, all the legs are functionless, apart from the front pair in males. The abdomen is long and roughly cylindrical, with ten segments and two or three long cerci (tail-like appendages) at the tip. Uniquely among insects, mayflies possess paired genitalia, with the male having two aedeagi (penis-like organs) and the female two gonopores (sexual openings).[1][4]
Biology [ edit ]
Reproduction and life cycle [ edit ]
Mayflies are hemimetabolous (they have "incomplete metamorphosis"). They are unique among insects in that they moult one more time after acquiring functional wings;[9] this last-but-one winged (alate) instar usually lives a very short time and is known as a subimago, or to fly fishermen as a dun. Mayflies at the subimago stage are a favourite food of many fish, and many fishing flies are modelled to resemble them. The subimago stage does not survive for long, rarely for more than 24 hours. In some species, it may last for just a few minutes, while the mayflies in the family Palingeniidae have sexually mature subimagos and no true adult form at all.[1]
Mayflies (known locally as shadflies) swarm briefly in enormous numbers in Ontario
Often, all the mayflies in a population mature at once (a hatch), and for a day or two in the spring or autumn, mayflies are everywhere, dancing around each other in large groups, or resting on every available surface.[4] In many species the emergence is synchronised with dawn or dusk, and light intensity seems to be an important cue for emergence, but other factors may also be involved. Baetis intercalaris, for example, usually emerges just after sunset in July and August, but in one year, a large hatch was observed at midday in June. The soft-bodied subimagos are very attractive to predators. Synchronous emergence is probably an adaptive strategy that reduces the individual's risk of being eaten.[10] The lifespan of an adult mayfly is very short, varying with the species. The primary function of the adult is reproduction; adults do not feed, and have only vestigial (unusable) mouthparts, while their digestive systems are filled with air.[9] Dolania americana has the shortest adult lifespan of any mayfly: the adult females of the species live for less than five minutes.[11]
Male adults may patrol individually, but most congregate in swarms a few metres above water with clear open sky above it, and perform a nuptial (courtship) dance. Each insect has a characteristic up-and-down pattern of movement; strong wingbeats propel it upwards and forwards with the tail sloping down; when it stops moving its wings, it falls passively with the abdomen tilted upwards. Females fly into these swarms, and mating takes place in the air. A rising male clasps the thorax of a female from below using his front legs bent upwards, and inseminates her. Copulation may last just a few seconds, but occasionally a pair remains in tandem and flutters to the ground.[12] Males may spend the night in vegetation and return to the nuptial dance the following day. Although they do not feed, some briefly touch the surface to drink a little water before flying off.[12]
Females typically lay between four hundred and three thousand eggs. The eggs are often dropped onto the surface of the water; sometimes the female deposits them by dipping the tip of her abdomen into the water during flight, releasing a small batch of eggs each time, or deposits them in bulk while standing next to the water. In a few species, the female submerges and places the eggs among plants or in crevices underwater, but in general, they sink to the bottom. The incubation time is variable, depending at least in part on temperature, and may be anything from a few days to nearly a year. Eggs can go into a quiet dormant phase or diapause.[13] The larval growth rate is also temperature-dependent, as is the number of moults. At anywhere between ten and fifty, these post-embryonic moults are more numerous in mayflies than in most other insect orders. The nymphal stage of mayflies may last from several months to several years, depending on species and environmental conditions.[5]
Many species breed in moving water, where there is a tendency for the eggs and nymphs to get washed downstream. To counteract this, females may fly upriver before depositing their eggs. For example, the female Tisza mayfly, the largest European species with a length of 10 cm (4 in), flies up to 3 kilometres (2 mi) upstream before depositing eggs on the water surface. These sink to the bottom and hatch after 45 days, the nymphs burrowing their way into the sediment where they spend two or three years before hatching into subimagos.[14]
When ready to emerge, several different strategies are used. In some species, the transformation of the nymph occurs underwater and the subimago swims to the surface and launches itself into the air.[4] In other species, the nymph rises to the surface, bursts out of its skin, remains quiescent for a minute or two resting on the exuviae (cast skin) and then flies upwards, and in some, the nymph climbs out of the water before transforming.[15]
Ecology [ edit ]
Nymphs live primarily in streams under rocks, in decaying vegetation, or in sediments. Few species live in lakes, but they are among the most prolific. For example, the emergence of one species of Hexagenia was recorded on Doppler weather radar by the shoreline of Lake Erie in 2003.[16] In the nymphs of most mayfly species, the paddle-like gills do not function as respiratory surfaces because sufficient oxygen is absorbed through the integument, instead serving to create a respiratory current. However, in low-oxygen environments such as the mud at the bottom of ponds in which Ephemera vulgata burrows, the filamentous gills act as true accessory respiratory organs and are used in gaseous exchange.[17]
In most species, the nymphs are herbivores or detritivores, feeding on algae, diatoms or detritus, but in a few species, they are predators of chironomid and other small insect larvae and nymphs.[18][19] Nymphs of Povilla burrow into submerged wood and can be a problem for boat owners in Asia.[20] Some are able to shift from one feeding group to another as they grow, thus enabling them to utilise a variety of food resources. They process a great quantity of organic matter as nymphs and transfer a lot of phosphates and nitrates to terrestrial environments when they emerge from the water, thus helping to remove pollutants from aqueous systems.[5] Along with caddisfly larvae and gastropod molluscs, the grazing of mayfly nymphs has a significant impact on the primary producers, the plants and algae, on the bed of streams and rivers.[21]
The nymphs are eaten by a wide range of predators and form an important part of the aquatic food chain. Fish are among the main predators, picking nymphs off the bottom or ingesting them in the water column, and feeding on emerging nymphs and adults on the water surface. Carnivorous stonefly, caddisfly, alderfly and dragonfly larvae feed on bottom-dwelling mayfly nymphs, as do aquatic beetles, leeches, crayfish and amphibians.[22] Besides the direct mortality caused by these predators, the behaviour of their potential prey is also affected, with the nymphs' growth rate being slowed by the need to hide rather than feed.[21] The nymphs are highly susceptible to pollution and can be useful in the biomonitoring of water bodies.[4] Once they have emerged, large numbers are preyed on by birds, bats and by other insects.[5]
Mayfly nymphs may serve as hosts for parasites such as nematodes and trematodes. Some of these affect the nymphs' behaviour in such a way that they become more likely to be predated.[23][24] Other nematodes turn adult male mayflies into quasi-females which haunt the edges of streams, enabling the parasites to break their way out into the aqueous environment they need to complete their life cycles.[25] The nymphs can also serve as intermediate hosts for the horsehair worm Paragordius varius, which causes its definitive host, a grasshopper, to jump into water and drown.[26]
Effects on ecosystem functioning [ edit ]
Mayflies are involved in both primary production and bioturbation. A study in laboratory simulated streams revealed that the mayfly genus Centroptilum increased the export of periphyton,[27] thus indirectly affecting primary production positively, which is an essential process for ecosystems. The mayfly can also reallocate and alter the nutrient availability in aquatic habitats through the process of bioturbation. By burrowing in the bottom of lakes and redistributing nutrients, mayflies indirectly regulate phytoplankton and epibenthic primary production.[28] Once burrowing to the bottom of the lake, mayfly nymphs begin to billow their respiratory gills. This motion creates current that carries food particles through the burrow and allows the nymph to filter feed. Other mayfly nymphs possess elaborate filter feeding mechanisms like that of the genus Isonychia. The nymph have forelegs that contain long bristle-like structures that have two rows of hairs. Interlocking hairs form the filter by which the insect traps food particles. The action of filter feeding has a small impact on water purification but an even larger impact on the convergence of small particulate matter into matter of a more complex form that goes on to benefit consumers later in the food chain.[29]
Distribution [ edit ]
Mayflies are distributed all over the world in clean freshwater habitats,[30] though absent from Antarctica.[31] They tend to be absent from oceanic islands or represented by one or two species that have dispersed from nearby mainland. Female mayflies may be dispersed by wind, and eggs may be transferred by adhesion to the legs of waterbirds.[32] The greatest generic diversity is found in the Neotropic ecozone, while the Holarctic has a smaller number of genera but a high degree of speciation. Some thirteen families are restricted to a single bioregion.[33] The main families have some general habitat preferences: the Baetidae favour warm water; the Heptageniidae live under stones and prefer fast-flowing water; and the relatively large Ephemeridae make burrows in sandy lake or river beds.[30]
Conservation [ edit ]
The nymph is the dominant life history stage of the mayfly. Different insect species vary in their tolerance to water pollution, but in general, the larval stages of mayflies, stoneflies (Plecoptera) and caddis flies (Trichoptera) are susceptible to a number of pollutants including sewage, pesticides and industrial effluent. In general, mayflies are particularly sensitive to acidification, but tolerances vary, and certain species are exceptionally tolerant to heavy metal contamination and to low pH levels. Ephemerellidae are among the most tolerant groups and Siphlonuridae and Caenidae the least. The adverse effects on the insects of pollution may be either lethal or sub-lethal, in the latter case resulting in altered enzyme function, poor growth, changed behaviour or lack of reproductive success. As important parts of the food chain, pollution can cause knock-on effects to other organisms; a dearth of herbivorous nymphs can cause overgrowth of algae, and a scarcity of predacious nymphs can result in an over-abundance of their prey species.[34] Fish that feed on mayfly nymphs that have bioaccumulated heavy metals are themselves at risk.[35] Adult female mayflies find water by detecting the polarization of reflected light. They are easily fooled by other polished surfaces which can act as traps for swarming mayflies.[8]
The threat to mayflies applies also to their eggs. "Modest levels" of pollution in rivers in England are sufficient to kill 80% of mayfly eggs, which are as vulnerable to pollutants as other life-cycle stages; numbers of the blue-winged olive mayfly (Baetis) have fallen dramatically, almost to none in some rivers. The major pollutants thought to be responsible are fine sediment and phosphate from agriculture and sewage.[36]
The status of many species of mayflies is unknown because they are known from only the original collection data. Four North American species are believed to be extinct. Among these, Pentagenia robusta was originally collected from the Ohio River near Cincinnati, but this species has not been seen since its original collection in the 1800s. Ephemera compar is known from a single specimen, collected from the "foothills of Colorado" in 1873, but despite intensive surveys of the Colorado mayflies reported in 1984, it has not been rediscovered.[37]
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species includes one mayfly: Tasmanophlebi lacuscoerulei, the large blue lake mayfly, which is a native of Australia and is listed as endangered because its alpine habitat is vulnerable to climate change.[38]
Taxonomy and phylogeny [ edit ]
Over 3,000 species of mayfly in 42 families and over 400 genera are known worldwide,[39] including about 630 species in North America.[40] Mayflies are an ancient group of winged (pterygote) insects. Putative fossil stem group representatives (e.g. Syntonopteroidea-like Lithoneura lameerrei) are already known from the late Carboniferous.[41] The largest mayfly of all times may have been Bojophlebia prokopi from the Upper Carboniferous of Moravia with a wingspan of 45 cm (18 in). The name Ephemeroptera is from the Greek ἐφήμερος, ephemeros "short-lived" (literally "lasting a day", cf. English "ephemeral"), and πτερόν, pteron, "wing", referring to the brief lifespan of adults. The English common name is for the insect's emergence in or around the month of May in the UK.[42] The name shadfly is from the Atlantic fish the shad, which runs up American East Coast rivers at the same time as many mayflies emerge.[43][44]
From the Permian, numerous stem group representatives of mayflies are known, which are often lumped into a separate taxon Permoplectoptera (e.g. including Protereisma permianum in the Protereismatidae,[41] and Misthodotidae). The larvae of Permoplectoptera still had 9 pairs of abdominal gills, and the adults still had long hindwings. Maybe the fossil family Cretereismatidae from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil also belongs as the last offshoot to Permoplectoptera. The Crato outcrops otherwise yielded fossil specimens of modern mayfly families or the extinct (but modern) family Hexagenitidae. However, from the same locality the strange larvae and adults of the extinct family Mickoleitiidae (order Coxoplectoptera) have been described,[45] which represents the fossil sister group of modern mayflies, even though they had very peculiar adaptations such as raptorial forelegs.
The oldest mayfly inclusion in amber is Cretoneta zherichini (Leptophlebiidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Siberia. In the much younger Baltic amber numerous inclusions of several modern families of mayflies have been found (Ephemeridae, Potamanthidae, Leptophlebiidae, Ametropodidae, Siphlonuridae, Isonychiidae, Heptageniidae, and Ephemerellidae).[46] The modern genus Neoephemera is represented in the fossil record by the Ypresian[47] species N. antiqua from Washington State.[48]
Grimaldi and Engel, reviewing the phylogeny in 2005, commented that many cladistic studies had been made with no stability in Ephemeroptera suborders and infraorders; the traditional division into Schistonota and Pannota was wrong because Pannota is derived from the Schistonota.[41] The phylogeny of the Ephemeroptera was first studied using molecular analysis by Ogden and Whiting in 2005. They recovered the Baetidae as sister to the other clades.[49] Mayfly phylogeny was further studied using morphological and molecular analyses by Ogden and others in 2009. They found that the Asian genus Siphluriscus was sister to all other mayflies. Some existing lineages such as Ephemeroidea, and families such as Ameletopsidae, were found not to be monophyletic, through convergence among nymphal features.[50]
The following traditional classification is based on Peters and Campbell (1991), in Insects of Australia.[51]
Suborder Pannota Superfamily Ephemerelloidea Ephemerellidae Leptohyphidae Tricorythidae
Superfamily Caenoidea Neoephemeridae Baetiscidae Caenidae Prosopistomatidae
Suborder Schistonota Superfamily Baetoidea Siphlonuridae Baetidae Oniscigastridae Ameletopsidae Ametropodidae
Superfamily Heptagenioidea Coloburiscidae Oligoneuriidae Isonychiidae Heptageniidae
Superfamily Leptophlebioidea Leptophlebiidae
Superfamily Ephemeroidea Behningiidae Potamanthidae Euthyplociidae Polymitarcydae Ephemeridae Palingeniidae
In human culture [ edit ]
[a] in De Hemerobio, 1634 Mayflies drawn by Augerius Clutiusin, 1634
In art and literature [ edit ]
The Ancient Greek biologist and philosopher Aristotle wrote in his History of Animals that
Bloodless and many footed animals, whether furnished with wings or feet, move with more than four points of motion; as, for instance, the dayfly (ephemeron) moves with four feet and four wings: and, I may observe in passing, this creature is exceptional not only in regard to the duration of its existence, whence it receives its name, but also because though a quadruped it has wings also.[52][b]
The Ancient Roman encyclopaedist Pliny the Elder described the mayfly as the "hemerobius" in his Natural History:
The River Bug on the Black Sea at midsummer brings down some thin membranes that look like berries out of which burst a four-legged caterpillar in the manner of the creature mentioned above, but it does not live beyond one day, owing to which it is called the hemerobius.[54]
The Dutch Golden Age author Augerius Clutius (Outgert Cluyt) illustrated some mayflies in his 1634 De Hemerobio ("On the Mayfly"), the earliest book written on the group. Maerten de Vos similarly illustrated a mayfly in his 1587 depiction of the fifth day of creation, amongst an assortment of fish and water birds.[55][56]
In 1495 Albrecht Dürer included a mayfly in his engraving The Holy Family with the Mayfly.[57] The critics Larry Silver and Pamela H. Smith argue that the image provides "an explicit link between heaven and earth.. to suggest a cosmic resonance between sacred and profane, celestial and terrestrial, macrocosm and microcosm."[58]
In his 1789 book The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, Gilbert White described in the entry for "June 10th, 1771" how
Myriads of May-flies appear for the first time on the Alresford stream. The air was crowded with them, and the surface of the water covered. Large trouts sucked them in as they lay struggling on the surface of the stream, unable to rise till their wings were dried... Their motions are very peculiar, up and down for so many yards almost in a perpendicular line.[59]
The mayfly has come to symbolise the transitoriness and brevity of life.[60] The English poet George Crabbe, known to have been interested in insects,[61] compared the brief life of a newspaper with that of mayflies, both being known as "Ephemera",[62] things that live for a day:[63]
In shoals the hours their constant numbers bring
Like insects waking to th' advancing spring;
Which take their rise from grubs obscene that lie
In shallow pools, or thence ascend the sky:
Such are these base ephemeras, so born
To die before the next revolving morn. — George Crabbe, "The Newspaper", 1785
The theme of brief life is echoed in the artist Douglas Florian's 1998 poem, "The Mayfly".[64] The American Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur's 2005 poem "Mayflies" includes the lines "I saw from unseen pools a mist of flies, In their quadrillions rise, And animate a ragged patch of glow, With sudden glittering".[65]
Another literary reference to mayflies is seen in The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest surviving great works of literature. The briefness of Gilgamesh's life is compared to that of the adult mayfly.[66]
In Szeged, Hungary, mayflies are celebrated in a monument near the Belvárosi bridge, the work of local sculptor Pal Farkas, depicting the courtship dance of mayflies.[67]
The American playwright David Ives wrote a short comedic play, Time Flies, in 2001, as to what two mayflies might discuss during their one day of existence.[68]
In fly fishing [ edit ]
Mayflies are the primary source of models for artificial flies, hooks tied with coloured materials such as threads and feathers, used in fly fishing.[4] These are based on different life-cycle stages of mayflies. For example, the flies known as "emergers" in North America are designed by fly fishermen to resemble subimago mayflies, and are intended to lure freshwater trout.[69] In 1983, Patrick McCafferty recorded that artificial flies had been based on 36 genera of North American mayfly, from a total of 63 western species and 103 eastern/central species. A large number of these species have common names among fly fishermen, who need to develop a substantial knowledge of mayfly "habitat, distribution, seasonality, morphology and behavior" in order to match precisely the look and movements of the insects that the local trout are expecting.[4]
Izaak Walton describes the use of mayflies for catching trout in his 1653 book The Compleat Angler; for example, he names the "Green-drake" for use as a natural fly, and "duns" (mayfly subimagos) as artificial flies. These include for example the "Great Dun" and the "Great Blue Dun" in February; the "Whitish Dun" in March; the "Whirling Dun" and the "Yellow Dun" in April; the "Green-drake", the "Little Yellow May-Fly" and the "Grey-Drake" in May; and the "Black-Blue Dun" in July.[70] Nymph or "wet fly" fishing was restored to popularity on the chalk streams of England by G. E. M. Skues with his 1910 book Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream. In the book, Skues discusses the use of duns to catch trout.[71][72][73] The March brown is "probably the most famous of all British mayflies", having been copied by anglers to catch trout for over 500 years.[74][3]
Some English public houses beside trout streams such as the River Test in Hampshire are named "The Mayfly".[75][76][77]
As a spectacle [ edit ]
The hatch of the giant mayfly Palingenia longicauda on the Tisza and Mureș Rivers in Hungary and Serbia, known as "Tisza blooming", is a tourist attraction.[78] The 2014 hatch of the large black-brown mayfly Hexagenia bilineata on the Mississippi River in the US was imaged on weather radar; the swarm flew up to 760 m (2500 feet) above the ground near La Crosse, Wisconsin, creating a radar signature that resembled a "significant rain storm", and the mass of dead insects covering roads, cars and buildings caused a "slimy mess".[79]
HMA No. 1 Mayfly emerging from her floating shed at 24 September 1911 emerging from her floating shed at Vickers'yard at Barrow-in-Furness on
During the weekend of June 13–14, 2015, a large swarm of mayflies caused several vehicular accidents on the Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge, carrying Pennsylvania Route 462 across the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. The bridge had to be closed to traffic twice during that period due to impaired visibility and obstructions posed by piles of dead insects.[80]
As food [ edit ]
Mayflies are consumed in several cultures and are estimated to contain the most raw protein content of any edible insect by dry weight. In Malawi, kungu, a paste of mayflies (Caenis kungu) and mosquitoes is made into a cake for eating. Adult mayflies are collected and eaten in many parts of China and Japan. Near Lake Victoria, Povilla mayflies are collected, dried and preserved for use in food preparations.[81]
As a name for ships and aircraft [ edit ]
"Mayfly" was the crew's nickname for His Majesty's Airship No. 1, an aerial scout airship built by Vickers but wrecked by strong winds in 1911 before her trial flights.[82]
Two vessels of the Royal Navy were named HMS Mayfly: a torpedo boat launched in January 1907,[83] and a Fly-class river gunboat constructed in sections at Yarrow in 1915.[84]
The Seddon Mayfly, which was constructed in 1908, was an aircraft that was unsuccessful in early flight. The first aircraft designed by a woman, Lillian Bland, was titled the Bland Mayfly.[66]
Other human uses [ edit ]
In pre-1950s France, "chute de manne" was obtained by pressing mayflies into cakes and using them as bird food and fishbait.[20] From an economic standpoint, mayflies also provide fisheries with an excellent diet for fish.[66] Mayflies could find uses in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Their exoskeleton contains chitin, which has applications in these industries.[66]
Mayfly larvae do not survive in polluted aquatic habitats and, thus, have been chosen as bioindicators, markers of water quality in ecological assessments.[85]
In marketing, Nike produced a line of running shoes in |
and often rule out the necessity for any monetary exchange in music at all. Trading is a longstanding element to tape culture. Tape labels and roving mini tape distros remain at the heart of what makes underground cassette culture cohesive, alive, and exciting.
But the recent past has seen higher-profile bands take newfound interest in tapes, as the roster for today's "Cassette Store Day" proves. Much like the annual Record Store Day tradition, this day is a loosely-organized international effort, with shops around the world hosting events and various labels issuing limited edition tapes. Some of these tapes are coming from massive bands like Flaming Lips, Animal Collective, and Haim, but the event was conceptualized by three labels in the UK functioning on much smaller scales-- Sexbeat, Kissability, and Supplex.
"It's a celebration for people who already love cassettes," says organizer Jen Long, a BBC radio DJ who runs Kissability. One of her partners thought up CSD in April. "He was like, 'I had this stupid idea this weekend," Long said, "and I was like, Yeah, that sounds really funny." The idea was to set up "a day we could spend hanging out, drinking some cans of beer, and selling some tapes," a fun, small-scale affair for UK labels at the Rough Trade store in London. It took on a different life after Bella Union proposed the Flaming Lips tape. Soon the organizers saw potential for bigger labels to get involved and reached out. "It's gotten a bit mental," Long admits with a laugh.
In New York, Mirror Universe Tapes and GODMODE Records (run by Pitchfork contributor Nick Sylvester) are presenting a tape fair at Brooklyn's Silent Barn. At Oma333 in Stockholm, a tape-only market will include five live tape-only DJs playing music from their personal collections. Rizzo Manufacture Studio in Palermo, Italy will host a vintage cassette exhibition. Bridgetown DIY in La Puente, Calif., will host a day of cassette trading.
A second goal of Cassette Store Day, Long explains, is to raise awareness that cassettes are still a viable format with sizable audiences that take tape labels seriously. "It's about giving labels more of a platform and a little more authority," she said. "Tape labels are real labels. You are putting out releases with download codes and on iTunes. It's still a legitimate label."
The intention is no doubt admirable, but does raise some questions-- what makes a label "serious" or "real"? Does a day of consumption "legitimize" the cassette medium? Is the amateur nature of cassettes part of their charm? Moreover, do cassettes need to be taken seriously by anyone other than the audiences they naturally attract? We explored these topics and lots more with nine tape labels tied to underground, experimental, and DIY culture-- many with overlapping rosters-- discussing this event and also taking part in the celebration by highlighting an even more expansive view of cassette culture than CSD offers.
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Ascetic House [Tempe, Ariz.]
Ukiah Drag: "Nina Came Knockin'" (via SoundCloud)
"There are a lot of mistakes to be made, and Ascetic House will exist until we make them all," said Jes Aurelius, guitarist in desert-punk group Destruction Unit and prolific contributor to this experimental Tempe, Ariz.,-based artists circle. Active about five years, Ascetic House has released philosophical pamphlets (many penned by Aurelius while living alone in a shed), psychedelic chapbooks, and around 50 cassettes. The tapes have featured Tempe artists, including Marshstepper, the provocative performance art group, while also tying together some of the most exciting segments of contemporary D.I.Y. music culture throughout America and beyond-- New York noise act Foreplay's Vicarious and bluesy Boston post-punk act Ukiah Drag's Jazz Mama Is Cryin' are recommended.
According to the Ascetic House website, cassettes from Iceage and Lust for Youth are in the works, as are zines from Pharmakon and Nü Sensae singer Andrea Lukic, while an art zine from Carson Cox of Merchandise was released earlier this year. Ascetic House's own visual aesthetic of occultish elegance and repurposed biblical imagery has also been rather crucial to its appeal. "Without mystery, there is little room for imagination, and imagination is the only thing saving free minds in an age where most are trying to kill them off,” Aurelius said, and continued to quote the French poet Stephane Mallarmé: "Everything that is sacred and that wishes to remain so must envelope itself in mystery."
Tapes came to dominate Ascetic House's growing discography because they have the quickest turnaround time and are cheapest to produce. According to Aurelius, an Ascetic House tape is generally available within a day or two of being recorded. Despite the group's growing focus on tapes, Aurelis says he has "no real desire to be part of a 'cassette culture.'" "While the format is important to some extent, it's probably the least important aspect of the release in my mind," he said. That's an unsurprising statement considering Aurelius' seemingly anti-capitalist worldview; earlier this year, Ascetic House established a Prisoner Outreach Program wherein they'll send any cassette release to any incarcerated person in the U.S. for free. "The only artists making money are con-artists, and while we may have some shark blood in us, we are definitely not making any money," Aurelius said. "In fact, I'd say the slowest and most painful suicide is committing to life as an artist."
Burger Records [Fullerton, Calif.]
Grass Widow: "Goldilocks Zone" (via SoundCloud)
Burger Records began in 2007 when Lee Rickard and Sean Bohrman, based in Fullerton, Calif., couldn't find a label to release their power pop band, Thee Makeout Party. "On tour in Kansas, we were in front of a beer store sitting in the van and I thought, we should release cassettes for more records that aren't out on tape, Nobunny and the Go and the Traditional Fools," Bohrman said. "I immediately got on the computer and started emailing people."
Since that defintive moment, Burger's tiny idea has grown into one of the biggest cassette-making operations in the world-- over 500 affiliated bands and 622 tapes from scrappy indie pop and garage rock to limited editions of classic albums by the likes of Television Personalities and Velvet Underground. The first hundred releases included Hunx and His Punx, Shannon and the Clams, Black Lips, and Ty Segall, bands that have helped define something of a garage rock "Burger" sound despite the label's broad, nonstop approach.
Put in the order Sunday, pick it up Thursday night; this has been Burger's routine for three years now. Through trial and error, they grew to their current position of releasing three to five tapes per week. "Sometimes more," Bohrman said. "This week we released nine. The guy who duplicates our stuff in Pasadena is like our fifth Beatle." Throughout our interview, Bohrman mentions several times that his favorite label is Gnar Tapes in Portland, Ore.
Along with working closely with labels like Slumberland, Captured Tracks, and Hardly Art to issue cassette versions of LPs, Burger also owns a shop in Pasadena, where they sell hundreds of their own releases and other used tapes and vinyl. When I visited in May, the shop-- located in the middle of a suburban strip mall-- felt legitimately like stepping back into the 90s. As I walked through the back of the store towards the bathroom, I climbed past a group of teenagers sitting around in the back watching VHS tapes and helping with mail orders, walls collaged by Burger posters, a cat wandering about.
All money generated by the label goes straight back in. Bohrman says he and his business partner "live meagerly, shower when we can, live on our couches, work all the time." Despite the hours-- Borhman sleeps everyday from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m.-- he's ecstatically positive about Burger. “Doing this is the high point of every single one of my days," he said. "I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished with limited means. Every time I go to bed, I can't wait to wake up and start working again."
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Chondritic Sound [Los Angeles, Calif.]
Believer/Law: "War Story" (via SoundCloud)
Before New York noise artist Pharmakon released her recent LP, one of her only available releases was a tape of power electronics from Chondritic Sound, an L.A. label that's existed for over 10 years. Run by Greh Holger, who plays in Pure Ground and Believer/Law and works at the shop Vacation Vinyl, the label releases experimental electronic, bleak minimal wave, industrial, and nihilist synth pop-- all of which sounds like it's been cranked through a droning noise filter. Holger, an encyclopedia of tape knowledge, cites contemporary labels like Hospital and Hanson as influential, in addition to classics like Nekrophile, Slaughter Productions, and LOKI Foundation. His personal tape collection comprises about 2,500 titles.
"I'd like to think the releases are timeless," said Holger, who also handles artwork for each tape. "As fresh now as they will be in 20 years." Despite the label's sinister sonic aesthetic, Holger comes off as optimistic in our email correspondences. "Everyday is a high point," Holger writes. "Seeing [tapes] assembled and all lined up is always a source of joy." He previously ran the label out of his former home in Detroit, where he lived until 2010.
Tapes are not fragile like records or CDs, Holger explains, but even when they're damaged or saturated they sound cool. ("Leave one on the floor of your car for a month next to a record or CD and see which one is still listenable at the end," he said.) You can also give them "a second life" by recording over something that sounds bad. "People tend to complain about the sound quality and inconvenience of cassettes as if everything needs to be streaming in HD these days," Holger said. "Not everything should have a download code or website devoted to it. People are too dependent on their conveniences."
Hooker Vision [Winterville, Ga.]
Cliffsides: Spirit in the Mountain Temple [Excerpts] (via SoundCloud)
Hooker Vision, which releases ambient, droning electronic music, was founded in 2008 by musician Grant Evans; he was soon joined by his wife Rachel, who records as Motion Sickness of Time Travel. (They've also released music on Digitalis and Spectrum Spools.) Hooker Vision's focus lies in "personal/private music" with a diaristic approach. "These are special releases, usually created by individuals in their homes, assembled and released from our home, and hopefully enjoyed by a listener in his or her home," Grant said. "They're fleeting glimpes into the private lives of the artist." Grant and Rachel assemble collage art for each tape in hopes of conjuring a human, homemade feel.
Grant prefers tapes for their tactility, portability, durability, and hiss, and says Hooker Vision was inspired by labels like Peasant Magik and Hanson. "I'm not sure if I consider all tapes to be art objects," he said. "They function as living relics." Foremost, tapes are about practicality for Hooker Vision-- cheap with ability to playback over 60 minutes per side. Grant recently launched a new label, VAALD, to focus on darker sound, like "the more traditional noise labels that got us into tape music in the first place," he said. He also recommends the labels Housecraft, Diatom Bath, and Tranquility Tapes.
Given Hooker Vision's small-scale approach, I'm unsurpised to learn that Grant is critical of the bigger Cassette Store Day offerings. "I thought it was a joke at first. Maybe it really is," he said. "As more people become interested in cassette culture, a lot of the things that originally got us interested are being lost. I don’t see the point in releasing At the Drive-In and Flaming Lips cassettes today other than as a desperate marketing ploy... The labels doing the best work are still the ones lurking just under the mainstream’s radar."
Night-People [Minneapolis, Minn.]
Fancy Books: "Sponge Boy" (via SoundCloud)
Night-People, which has existed since 2004, is one of the best tape labels in the world-- ask anyone. With nearly 200 tapes and a singular silkscreened aesthetic, founder Shawn Reed's many releases have included early tapes by EMA, Dirty Beaches, and Peaking Lights, and tons of lesser-known treasures; this year, he released tapes from members of Merchandise and a 12" LP by the band. The label began as Reed was winding down a graduate art school program and exhibiting throughout the gallery world. He saw Night-People as a way to fuse his interests in visual art and underground music (he'd been a member of Raccoo-oo-oon and now plays in Wet Hair) and has worked on the label full-time since 2007. While Reed was motivated by labels like American Tapes, he primarily credits the power of mixtapes. "There were times I had tapes given to me, or I passed on tapes, and lives were changed," Reed said.
Starting as a cassette-oriented label fit Reed's financial means and D.I.Y. spirit-- ingrained growing up in small-town, rural Iowa, where it was necessary to imagine and create your own grassroots music culture. Reed and comrades came from working-class backgrounds. "I wanted to live prolific, see the world, make art, make music, really feel all of it, chase the spirit and ride the road no matter where it lead," Reed said. "We wanted bigger horizons, and we had to invent them. The spirit of Night-People came from that."
Early on, Reed drew influence from late 70s/early 80s British D.I.Y. (he mentions Crass), but today his biggest inspiration is the history of reggae and its surrounding culture, which he compares to the tape world. "The production style was pieced together in a loose but amazing way, making records with such limited means," Reed said. "The immediacy of recording, then cutting a lathe to play that night to see if the song would hit or not-- that's beautiful. That is the kind of thing that inspires me to keep going and push it."
That cassettes should be considered complete art objects is obvious to Reed. "If you look at the Night-People discography in tapes, which is almost 200 releases, it looks like one cohesive art piece," he said. He doesn't relate to the idea or aesthetic of digital music and says the speed of contemporary culture is beyond his comprehension. "Culture is so hyper, the experience and process of music is speeding up, and it's hard to fully see where you stand in culture on a bigger level right now," he said. "Obviously, being focused on records, tapes, and handmade visuals, I'm ignoring almost all of it. I just flip the record, keep the dubbers going, sit at my light table working on artwork, and do my thing."
Sour Tapes [Boston, Mass.]
Tomboy: "I'm in the Fucking Band" (via Bandcamp)
(Note: we realize this is a distro, not a label.)
Krystina Krysiak sings in the Boston powerviolence trio Curmudgeon and plays guitar in the newly-formed but equally excellent hardcore four-piece Bad Idea. A couple of years ago, Krysiak was running a tape label called We Rise, which led her to open a web store. “I needed a way to trade tapes, since most other DIY labels don't have the cash flow to buy merchandise outright,” she said. “So I would get three or four random tapes at a time and decided to open a webstore. Eventually, I phased out the label (although I'll still release tapes by my own bands) and now I just focus on making demos and other cassette releases easily available.”
Scrolling through the Sour Tapes site, you’ll find demo tapes by Boston hardcore bands like Terminal Crisis and Peacebreakers, the hooky-as-fuck debut demo by feminist punks Tomboy, the Almost Alive tape by Milk Music (now sold out), a Dead Broke Rekerds compilation, a tape by Madrid’s Nueva Autoridad Democrática ("ridiculously catchy & energetic," Krysiak writes on her site) and about a dozen others. Krysiak’s interest in tapes has been mostly practical, as the price of pressing records has risen over the past few years: “I found myself in this sort of ‘adult-punk’ world, where I'm done with school, work at a good job and have disposable income, but want to keep it in punk,” she said. “Tapes are relatively easy and if no one gives a shit, you are only out a few hundred dollars at most. They can be super simple & bare bones or very elaborate, but they still (ideally) will be priced in a way that is accessible to everyone. Plus, tapes can be traded and gifted and thrown in your car or backpack without worrying about destroying or ruining them.”
Krysiak points to labels like Not Normal from Chicago and Eat the Life from Kansas City as some of her favorite. “They are both [run by] people who live and breathe punk and maintain an infectious enthusiasm about the tapes they are releasing and the bands they promote, without trying to get rich or jeopardize their ethics,” she said. “I always think of Sour Tapes as a hobby and not a business, which keeps it fun and not focused on money. If anyone goes into DIY music hoping to make bank, they are going to be sorely disappointed.”
Coming from that sort of perspective, an event like Cassette Store Day isn’t really on Krysiak's radar. “Record Store Day, in its most recent form, is disgusting enough,” she said. “Creating a huge consumer demand for items that are completely manufactured to be rare (and thus, absurdly overpriced) and backing up record plants, putting a huge strain on smaller, independent labels who should be the folks who actually benefit from something like RSD. CSD sounds like an even less authentic, heartless version of this concept. No thanks.”
OSR Tapes [Brooklyn, N.Y.]
Chris Weisman: "MIT" (via SoundCloud)
Zach Phillips, of alien synth pop band Blanche Blanche Blanche, began OSR Tapes in 2007 while working and living among the Brattleboro, Vt., freak scene. He's recently relocated to Brooklyn, but the label's discography still emphasizes the wellspring of D.I.Y. activity coming from that small Vermont town-- the hyper-prolific Brattleboro songwriter Chris Weisman has released tapes, as has Ruth Garbus (sister of tUnE-yArDs). OSR has also handled tapes for Howling Hex (Neil Hagerty, ex-Royal Trux), Robert Scott (the Bats, the Clean), and more.
Phillips says he chose the name "OSR" arbitrarily; the acronym only took on the meaning of "Open Session Rock" later on, after a Blanche tape. But that retroactive process relates to the label's inner-workings. "Certain meanings of the songwriting exercise don't make themselves felt until long after the song is written," Phillips said. "The writer puts herself at the mercy of the work. The forces of intuitive guidance spring from the song at hand, as opposed to attempting to create an aesthetic object that feels like a song, or preemptively attempting to force the hand of what the song is 'about'." In other words, they experiment.
Phillips says he loses money on the label. He shared his favorable opinion of Cassette Store Day: "I'm in favor of anything that helps to distract from the prevailing monoliths," he said, "and brings some attention to those too successful for success!"
Posh Isolation [Copenhagen, Denmark]
Puce Mary: "Man" (via SoundCloud)
From a distance, it can be hard to make sense of the prolific underground punk and noise scene in Copenhagen; new bands surface constantly, with minimal web presences (if any), and most of the material appears on limited run cassette and vinyl. Posh Isolation, a label operated in part by 24-year-old Loke Rahbek of Vår, Lust for Youth, and Damien Dubrovnik, has been a focal point. Active around four and a half years, Rahbek and co-founder Christian Stadsgaard began Posh Isolation to release their own music, soon taking on tapes for friends and likeminded peers, as they continue to do today.
The label makes a point of representing Copenhagen-- tapes in editions as low as 22 from Puce Mary, Age Coin, Flesh Spear, Skullflower, Marching Church, and Iceage, among many others. The aesthetic gears toward noise, punk, and power electronics, but there are no imposed restrictions. "Experience has shown that you can get a long way with gut feeling," Rahbek said. Everything is done by hand, from dubbing and stickering tapes to folding the inserts; no one makes money off it aside from the Danish postal system. "It's not some robot in a factory," he said. "That's D.I.Y., and it translates to the release. I think you can feel it. I can."
Once a week, Rahbek and Stadsgaard open their workspace to the public as a shop for Posh Isolation and a strictly curated selection of industrial, sound art, punk, synth, and metal records, plus zines and books. Despite the inclination towards tapes, Rahbek stresses Posh Isolation is guided by ideas-- sounds, images, words-- not a format. "Cassettes as objects I don't find overtly exciting," he said. "They are good for some things and worthless for others."
Posh Isolation gravitates towards tapes because they're cheap, durable, small, and light, but also because the analog format is befitting of the music they release, which is often challening and requires focus. "The music needs an aware listener, it is not easy listening, it is not 'iPod shuffle' music," Rahbek said, explaining that the full experience requires attention to the tiniest details of the release, down to the colors, lyrics, titles, and even the paper the cover is printed on and how it's folded. "When we mainly focus on dirty analogue sounds, it makes sense that it is presented on a 'dirty and analogue' format."
Rahbek recommends other tape labels including Second Sleep (Italy), Järtecknet (Sweden), Broken Flag (UK), Tour de Garde (Canada), and Dokumentarisk Agenda (Copenhagen).
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Spooky Town [Brattleboro, Vt.]
Quilt: "False Eto" (via Bandcamp)
In 2008, Peter Nichols of the weirdo psych-pop band Great Valley moved to Boston on a whim, finding himself amid an unexpectedly vibrant underground, stumbling upon experimental psych bands like Prince Rama and Quilt, plus the entire scene surrounding the collective art space Whitehaus. “It seemed ridiculous to me that there wasn't an avenue for experimental pop of such forwardness to reach an audience beyond its hometown,” Nichols said. “The idea all along has been to create a family of like-minded bands, a sort of round table congress of all the bands too campy to be cool and too experimental to be popular… I met more misfit pop bands when we started touring, and it's gone on like that.”
Though the first Spooky Town release was actually vinyl, a Prince Rama/Great Valley split 12”, Nichols soon turned to tapes instead. “Tapes were really a Noise-music-only thing at the time, and the idea of putting song-based music on cassette was pretty foreign, almost scary,” he said. “We didn't know if people would just throw the tape away or what.”
Over the years, Spookytown, which is now based in Brattleboro, Vt., has released cassettes by the prolific Vermont songwriter Chris Weisman, psych-pop wackos Happy Jawbone Family Band, folk-inflicted dream pop trio Quilt, and others. “Originally I would sit around in front of my stereo and copy each tape one by one, 100 copies, which actually isn't as hard as you think,” Nichols said. “I've had much better luck selling tapes than selling vinyl. Who has $15 to spend on an LP by an unknown band? But anyone will drop $5 to try something new.”
Earlier this year, I ordered a Chris Weisman tape from Spookytown, a beautifully minimal collection of warm psych-folk singing. I’d heard a lot about Weisman’s huge catalog from folks around New England, but had to mail order a cassette to hear for myself. It came with a Xeroxed zine-like Spookytown catalog and a handwritten note.
“I've never heard of Cassette Store Day,” Nichols said. “Sounds like it's kinda missing the point. Another main point of the tape scene is cutting the ‘store’ out. Tapes tend to have more of a direct maker-to-listener quality and that's part of their value. A lot of bands trade almost as many tapes as they sell, barter style. Tapes can be ‘calling-cards’ of the DIY music circuit, and most of the exchange doesn't take place in stores, it happens at shows and face-to-face.”Producer and company founder Brave Brothers recently sat down for an interview to talk about BIGSTAR and Brave Girls joining “The Unit,” KBS’s upcoming idol rebooting project.
After confirming that all members of BIGSTAR will be participating in the program, Brave Brothers said that BIGSTAR was a group that can both dance and sing. “I think they’ll receive a lot of attention if they show off their charms on ‘The Unit’,” he explained. “That’s why I’m excited for them. After the program I’m going to focus more on working on BIGSTAR. A lot of effort has been put in for their album already and I expect they’ll get a lot more love next year.
Brave Brothers went on to talk about Brave Girls as well. When asked about Yujeong, Eunji, and Yuna, the members joining “The Unit,” he said they are incredibly talented girls who always work hard and are confident. “I hope they receive the public’s attention as soon as possible,” he added.
Although Brave Girls’ album has already been completed for their next comeback, Brave Brothers said it may undergo some changes according to how they perform on “The Unit.” He acknowledged that a viewer’s opinion may differ from that of a producer and he wanted to take that into consideration.
Brave Brothers revealed that to him, “The Unit” is not about making it to the finals. He explained, “I just want people to know that there are these great kids with talent. I want them to see BIGSTAR and Brave Girls and wonder why they weren’t so popular as they should’ve been.”
Brave Brothers also mentioned that Samuel, a solo artist in his company who became largely known after “Produce 101 Season 2,” was a positive influence for the members.
“BIGSTAR’s Feeldog had gone on several sitcoms and variety shows, and is the best dancer. He even taught Samuel how to dance,” Brave Brothers began. “But luck is an important factor in success. Samuel is a good example and I think these guys will also receive the same kind of luck.” He says although Samuel debuted later than BIGSTAR or Brave Girls, he seems to be a positive influence on them and drives them to try harder.
“The Unit” will be airing its first episode on October 28 with members from Boys Republic, BIGSTAR, Brave Girls, DIA, Dal Shabet, and many other groups.
Source (1)May 15, 2009 By Alan E. Schmidt
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Camping with friends... Aw yeah! It doesn't get any better than that. Living off the fat of the land, and the nicely stocked ice chest we brought along.
Shortly after arriving at our secluded mountainous destination I felt that familiar side cramp that I know so well. Yep, you guessed it, it was time to drop a deuce. Joe-Bob saw the scrunched up look on my face and smiled. He knew that look too. From the back of his old truck he produced this odd looking folded up chair. When I realized what it was I hugged Joe-Bob. No words needed to be spoken between us. We nodded to each other and released the man hug. I accepted the Stansport portable toilet from him and headed out.
By now the pain was increasing and the beast within was beginning to prairie dog on me. I needed to move fast. I was regretting the double milk shake I had earlier. Curse my lactose intolerance.
I arrived at a nice concealed spot about as far away as my bulging colon would allow. At this point and time my outdoor poop education began. I will list the highlights here in order of importance:
#1 - Ensure you fully lock out the legs of your toilet in order to eliminate a full body collapse on your own excrement.
#2 - Ensure an adequate supply of toilet paper BEFORE you embark into the woods.
#3 - Set your toilet up on level ground. Not a slope where turds can roll into your feet.
#4 - Don't wear flip flops.
#5 - Rubbing your butt on the ground trying to get poop off does not work. It just makes grass and dirt stick to your butt. Same concept applies to your now crappy foot.
#6 - Don't rub your toilet on the bushes to clean it. The bushes WILL snap back flinging poop everywhere.
As I prepared for my journey back to camp I stole one last glance at the scene i was leaving Mother Nature. It appeared as though a poop grenade had exploded. I would have laughed but the stench had zapped all humor from my body.
Everyone in camp was waiting for me as I emerged into sight. It wasn't the noise that alerted them I was coming... It was the poop fragrance that the breeze at my back carried.
I looked bad, real bad. My portable toilet had so many leaves stuck to it that it appeared I was carrying a bush. A blind man could read the disappointment in Joe-Bob's face. I had let him down.
I concocted a story of fighting off a bear that had diarrhea. Not sure if they bought it.
Pros: Lightweight, promotes male bonding when camping.
Cons: Does not clean off easy.
SearchTodd Myers is the Chief Assistant Prosecutor of Green County, Missouri which includes the town of Springfield in the southwest part of the state. He was recognized as an “Up & Coming Attorney” in Missouri Lawyers Weekly a few years ago, and with good reason. He had the highest rate of DWI convictions in the state. He was designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney to handle firearms violations; he’s handled numerous jury trials including high-profile homicides, assaults, robberies, and the like. He’s even an adjuct professor at a local university. He’s upset, however, over Amendment 5...
to the Missouri Constitution–passed by a landslide last August–which subjects any restriction on the right to keep and bear arms to strict scrutiny.
Myers said the charge of felony possession of a firearm is a very important one in his arsenal. “Drug dealers, gang members, domestic abusers, those are the types of people that are committing most of the most serious shootings in our community and we’d like to make sure we can prosecute them if they’re caught with firearms….”
Myers also said that Amendment 5 has kept him from putting people behind bars for longer periods of time. He gave as an example the case of Darrell Smith.
“Smith had prior convictions for felony stealing,” Myers said. “We were unable to pursue a felony murder charge against him based upon him being a felon who killed someone while he possessed a firearm. Instead that case went to trial on a traditional murder charge and he ended up being convicted of involuntary manslaughter.” Myers said his office has given up on pursuing felony possession cases in which prosecutors cannot prove the suspect has a previous violent felony conviction. Moving forward, he said he would like to see legal clarity. “What I’d like to see occur is that our Missouri state law be consistent with the federal law that any felon be prohibited from possessing a firearm,” Myers said.
Putting aside for the moment the fact that Smith could still be charged with violating federal law (which still prohibits persons convicted of a crime potentially punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing a firearm,) Darrell Smith was indeed found guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter as well as armed criminal action. He had originally pled guilty to second-degree murder, but withdrew his plea after the passage of Amendment 5.
The jury had the opportunity to choose between “charges of second-degree murder, first-degree involuntary manslaughter and second-degree involuntary manslaughter….” They found Smith guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter — the least serious charge — “after three hours of deliberation.” Second-degree involuntary manslaughter has a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
Let me repeat that: Smith was found guilty only of involuntary manslaughter. The jury had the opportunity to convict him of the charge he’d original pled to, second-degree murder, but decided that the evidence presented wasn’t sufficient to convict.
Mr. Myers is no doubt correct: as a prosecutor, having the ability to throw a few extra charges at people that you just know are guilty of something is useful. It’s obviously much easier to convict someone of being a felon in possession of a firearm than it is murder. And sometimes prosecutors’ feelings actually are right — the guy they suspect of being guilty of doing something nasty, but can’t prove with the evidence actually is a miscreant that shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets freely. Making a few more things illegal so that they can prosecute those people in the gray area might, potentially, keep a few more criminals behind bars.
But is that what we want from our justice system? Is it, in any sense, justice to allow prosecutors the flexibility to nail anyone they desire?These are my notes from the Berkshire Hathaway 2014 Annual Meeting:
Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting
May 3, 2014
(Notes taken by David Kass, Department of Finance, Robert H. Smith School of Business,
University of Maryland)
A one hour humorous film was shown in which the highlight was an animation of a future Winter Olympics taking place in Omaha. In a U.S.-Russia hockey gold medal showdown, Russia’s skaters – large and muscular – threaten to “beat” the relatively diminutive American team “into borscht”. The U.S. skaters are led by Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger (Berkshire Vice Chairman), and Bill “Goalie” Gates. With the score tied late, coach Ajit Jain (Berkshire Reinsurance CEO) calls a time out and designs a trick play. He holds up a small white board containing several complex mathematical equations (that have nothing to do with hockey) and states that this play has “an 87-percent chance of success”. When play is resumed, a desk from Nebraska Furniture Mart appears on the ice and is moving in the direction of the Russian goalie. Charlie Munger, who was moving the desk forward and hiding behind it, suddenly appears and shoots the puck into the net. The U.S. wins 4-3.
The video also humorously depicted Warren Buffett and Paul Anka singing a rendition of “My Way” – originally made famous by Frank Sinatra and written by Anka.
Warren Buffett (age 83) and Charlie Munger (age 90) then walk on the stage and sit down. The format for asking questions was similar to the last five annual meetings. One-third of the questions were selected by three business journalists: Andrew Ross Sorkin (CNBC and the New York Times), Becky Quick (CNBC), and Carol Loomis (Fortune). Shareholders had e-mailed over 2,000 questions to the journalists, who then selected 18 questions relating to Berkshire and its operations. The journalists who were seated on the stage, alternated with analysts Gregg Warren (Morningstar), Jonathan Brandt (Ruane, Cunniff, and Goldfarb), and Jay Gelb (Barclay’s Capital), and with shareholders in the audience in the asking of questions.
Approximately 40,000 were in attendance. (This is compared to previous records of 36,000 – 38,000 in 2010-2013, 35,000 in 2009, 31,000 in 2008, 27,000 in 2007, and 24,000 in 2006.)
Buffett initially commented that first quarter operating earnings declined slightly primarily as a result of insurance underwriting. He mentioned that on a quarterly basis this segment’s earnings are not very meaningful and are often foreign exchange related.
A shareholder proposal to require Berkshire to initiate cash dividends was overwhelmingly defeated, with only 2% of the shares voting for it.
Questions were asked in the following order:
(1) Loomis: Coca-Cola’s Board of Directors recently approved a very generous compensation plan. You did not vote against it. You abstained. Why did you abstain?
Buffett: I spoke to Muhtar Kent and told him we were going to abstain since we thought the compensation plan was excessive. That was the most effective way for Berkshire to behave. We did not want to go to war with Coca-Cola.
Munger: I think we did everything right. I think you handled the whole situation well.
Buffett: The resulting dilution from this plan is 2.5%, which is much lower than the number calculated by David Winters.
(2) Brandt: Is Berkshire’s hands off policy consistent with 3G’s hands on approach?
Buffett: The two styles do not blend well. There will be more opportunities to partner with 3G. They are excellent at running businesses.
Munger: I do not think we have ever had a policy of rewarding overstaffing.
(3) Audience: Other countries are lowering taxes and reducing debt. Can you speak to Obama to change our direction?
Buffett: American business is doing extremely well. Corporate taxes as a percentage of GDP has declined from 4% to 2% since World War II, while other taxes have increased. U.S. earnings on net tangible assets, the measure of overall profitability, is the envy of the world.
(4) Quick: Berkshire has underperformed the S&P 500 average return over 5 years. Are you changing your yardstick?
Buffett: We are not changing our yardstick |
. Now it was ideology that drove the answers. Liberals were extremely good at solving the problem when doing so proved that gun-control legislation reduced crime. But when presented with the version of the problem that suggested gun control had failed, their math skills stopped mattering. They tended to get the problem wrong no matter how good they were at math. Conservatives exhibited the same pattern — just in reverse. Being better at math didn’t just fail to help partisans converge on the right answer. It actually drove them further apart. Partisans with weak math skills were 25 percentage points likelier to get the answer right when it fit their ideology. Partisans with strong math skills were 45 percentage points likelier to get the answer right when it fit their ideology. The smarter the person is, the dumber politics can make them.
After talking to researchers, Maria Konnikova, writing in the May 19 New Yorker about the push-back against vaccinations despite overwhelming evidence of their success, came to similar conclusions:
Facts and evidence, for one, may not be the answer everyone thinks they are: they simply aren’t that effective, given how selectively they are processed and interpreted. Instead, why not focus on presenting issues in a way (that) keeps broader notions out of it—messages that are not political, not ideological, not in any way a reflection of who you are?
Ah, a way out of the rabbit hole.
I’m thinking now of the most common dilemmas faced by planners in communities pulled apart by political factions. The combination of tight budgets, stressed-out staffers and officials looking towards the next election conspires against the sort of slow, consensus-building process capable of separating ideology from strategic thinking. We’re all in a hurry to check off tasks and present a finished plan or design, even if evidence mounts along the way that the product has to be substantially watered down or chucked altogether if anybody questions any part of it.
The problem is that most of us involved in these processes are trained as problem solvers and not diagnosticians. We know how to do the math. But we’re not so hot at recognizing and coping with math anxiety, with the fears and suspicions that underlie and explain the resistance to planning and policy ambitions. We’re okay talkers, not such great listeners.
The good news is that local communities, where the connections between government and constituents are strongest, are good places to start the reform movement. They’ve been the last to be infected by partisan gridlock and could be the first to recover.
We can start by spending more time at the beginning of a community engagement process understanding predispositions that could turn toxic if we don’t keep the conversation at an altitude that encourages talk about what unites neighbors, neighborhoods and whole communities instead of what distinguishes them from one another.
Everybody’s concerned about safe places for children and older people, about more convenient ways for getting around, about expanding economic opportunities. Why not anchor conversations in that territory, encourage questions about the range of approaches, before opening the fancy toolboxes of solutions?
What we most want to do, I think, is to ratchet down the confrontational attitude, the “you just don’t get it” exasperation with folks who have their own reasons for not wanting on-street parking or multifamily housing in their neighborhood. We’ll get to all that eventually anyway.
Many of us — especially those of us with New Urbanist leanings — have honed our talking points in robust debate among colleagues, especially the ones we respect and who respect us. Sometimes argument in that context has inspired us to change our minds. And sometimes we may have changed the minds of others. But those experiences turn out to be not such great training for achieving agreement among strangers.
Ezra Klein is right. If you’re not careful, politics can make you stupid.
–Ben BrownIs Zack Snyder a Feminist? We analyze his films’ female characters in depth in this 5-page article.
It’s everywhere on the internet. Thanks to a sudden surge in a culturally conscience movie going culture, the audience is demanding for more equal representation of women on the big screen, and not just for a female-lead comedy or a “sexy action movie”, but for the titans of film like comic book movies and fantasy to start including women in more active roles both in front of and behind the camera. The revolution came as sudden as a storm and has pit social media on both fronts of a “war” that no one can remember a time when they weren’t involved in it.
For many, it seemed like Zack Snyder made movies “for the guys”. Films like 300, Dawn of the Dead, Man of Steel, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and Watchmen appeared to be in heavy favor of those with a Y-chromosome…but are they really? You might be surprised to find out that Zack was leading a charge for strong women before it was “cool” to do so, and before having a “woman who isn’t in love” became a selling point, and not a mark of genuine film-making.
Sarah Polley as Ana in DAWN OF THE DEAD
Dawn of the Dead carried on a genre tradition of the female horror-movie protagonist in Ana, a suburban wife and nurse who is thrown immediately into danger as she has to escape hell itself in the film’s now iconic opening. What is painfully important about Snyder’s lead character, played brilliantly by Sarah Poley, is that she and Kenneth (Ving Rhames) are the only two survivors in the mall that really have any experience and authority, although Ana is initially harassed by CJ (Michael Kelly), he and the rest eventually fall to her for guidance. In 2004, Snyder’s debut filmcarried on a genre tradition of the female horror-movie protagonist in Ana, a suburban wife and nurse who is thrown immediately into danger as she has to escape hell itself in the film’s now iconic opening. What is painfully important about Snyder’s lead character, played brilliantly by Sarah Poley, is that she and Kenneth (Ving Rhames) are the only two survivors in the mall that really have any experience and authority, although Ana is initially harassed by CJ (Michael Kelly), he and the rest eventually fall to her for guidance. Larkin Hiott wrote in a piece for Films for the Feminist Classroom on the film’s opening:
Pregnant with social anxiety surrounding contagious disease, Snyder’s film features a “final girl” figure in Ana (Sarah Polley), the protagonist; however, this active, survival-motivated adult character is immediately contrasted with a corrupted child version of herself. The first agent of contagion both Ana and the viewer encounter is a gruesomely mangled neighbor girl, who violates the sanctity of domestic space when she enters Ana’s bedroom while she and her husband sleep. The use of a young girl, fashioned as grisly embodiment of the spreading infection, speaks clearly to Barbara Creed’s Freudian-based concept of the “monstrous-feminine” that threatens the security of an ordered adult world.
Hiott goes on to site Creed saying that “this invasion initiates a threat to the sovereignty of patriarchal institutions by highlighting “the fragility of the symbolic order.”. To strengthen that notion, Ana escapes the confines of her suburban nightmare and eventually finds herself in the iconic shopping mall where the survivors spend a vast majority of the film. Later on Ana, now the leader of the pack with Kenneth, also takes it upon herself to end the life of the newborn zombie child that a survivor gave birth to. This gruesome scene shows Ana abandoning a traditional role of maternal instincts in favor of survival, and also acts as a bookend to a dangerous example of a male’s presumed dominance over a woman’s body as the mother to the zombie child, a Russian woman named Luda, was tied and held up as she slowly succumbed to the virus while the father of the child, Andre, ushered in the baby girl.
Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo in 300
Snyder’s next work, 300 is a bit more controversial to look at especially given our undying love for the film and all of Zack’s works, so, to help us we looked to Sarah VanDyk who has extensive experience in the field of human relations as well as being an advocate for women’s rights.
“My first thought was that this film would be rife with feminist leanings. After all, Spartan women enjoyed a level of rights and opportunity that was almost unfathomable in the ancient world. While it’s true that the film’s female lead, Queen Gorgo, shows an impressive amount of personal strength and a mastery of all of her innate “feminine” emotions, it is hard to miss that all of the power she has is completely contingent upon men.”
VanDyck continued:
“One of the most poignant examples comes at the very beginning of the film when the Persian ambassador questions the Queen’s right to speak amongst men. Her defense for being there is ‘Because Spartan women are the only ones who give birth to real men.’
This was the line that hooked me on the movie. “Eat shit Persian!” was what I interpreted her as saying. I thought to myself, ‘Here is a Queen who doesn’t fuck around.’”
“However, it is easy to forget that what Queen Gorgo reveals with that line is essentially “The ability of my uterus to produce male humans is what gives me the right to speak here.” If you take away her uterus, you take away her right to be heard. That to me is one of the most anti-feminist ideas women ever encounter.”
The line in question, to me, is less of a derogatory one but more of “We create, and raise, these children who grow up to be the unstoppable killing machines that your King is so terrified of”, raising Spartan women above the rest as both parents and influences. While Sarah raises a very good point above in that, at a glance, the line could read as demeaning it is important to remember that, as Sarah mentioned previously “Spartan women enjoyed a level of rights and opportunity that was almost unfathomable in the ancient world,” including but not limited to essential dominance over their household and their men. In Sparta, women owned more than a third of the land, they were raised on good education as well as athleticism and training, and essentially were the sole tool in the raising of their children. Spartan men were gone to war and tours of duty quite frequently, and the women would not only take care of nearly every facet of Spartan life outside military affairs, but raise the children until the age of 7.The line in question, to me, is less of a derogatory one but more of “We create, and raise, these children who grow up to be the unstoppable killing machines that your King is so terrified of”, raising Spartan women above the rest as both parents and influences.
Theron (Dominic West) sexually assaults Gorgo (Lena Headey) in 300
Gorgo then goes on to submit herself sexually to the corrupt politician Theron who claims quite boldly that he “owns the Council” in hopes to send reinforcements to her husband, as well as giving Sparta a fighting chance against the sea of death otherwise known as Xerxes’ forces who threaten their very way of life. Gorgo willingly uses her body, knowing that despite being the Queen, her voice is of no use to the elders of the council who refuse to go to war on the grounds of tradition, the festival known as the Carneia. This is a very bold move that actively shows Gorgo manipulating a man and then, after he has manipulated and humiliated her before the council, murders him spilling his blood, and marked gold of Xerxes. This shocks the council who then listen and accept her deceleration of war.
Obviously the phallic nature and irony coming into play that after Theron has sexually used her, she penetrates him in the same way. “This will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your Queen.” She whispers to him, mocking his predatory threats to her earlier during the aforementioned sexual encounter. She then gives a rousing speech to the Council:
I am not here to represent Leonidas; his actions speak louder than my words ever could. I am here for all those voices which cannot be heard: mothers, daughters, fathers, sons – three hundred families that bleed for our rights, and for the very principles this room was built upon. We are at war, gentlemen. We must send the entire Spartan army to aid our king in the preservation of not just ourselves, but of our children. Send the army for the preservation of liberty. Send it for justice. Send it for law and order. Send it for reason. But most importantly, send our army for hope – hope that a king and his men have not been wasted to the pages of history – that their courage bonds us together, that we are made stronger by their actions, and that your choices today reflect their bravery.
Gorgo’s actions fully realize the seed that was planted earlier in the film about the archaic and patriarchal traditions Sparta participates in when Leonidas reluctantly goes to ask the Ephors for permission to go to war. The disgusting, physically and mentally sick creatures who fancy themselves to be wise-men are nothing more than leeches who sexual abuse and drug a young Spartan woman, “The Oracle” into giving them “answers”, to which they (also bribed) tell Leonidas he may not spill blood during the Carneia and even he, The King of Sparta, does not trust them. This is two affronts to an established society and male dominated society, showcasing how backwards the customs are. The Oracle scene in question was advertised with its erotic slow motion dancing and the beautiful milky white figure of the Oracle herself, but in the film Snyder pulls the rug out from under the viewer by ending it with the Ephor running a disgusting, sand paper tongue across her mouth- immediately turning the viewers initial arousal into disgust, a message to both the film-goer and about what kind of monsters Sparta had at its lead.
Continue to the Next Page for WATCHMEN!(Photo by Gary Knight)
Pity the Labour Right. The high court has ruled that Labour members denied the right to vote in the leadership election must now be permitted to vote. Labour has been granted a right of appeal, but the court is unlikely to reverse its decision. And now, those same members have voted for all six Momentum-backed candidates for the NEC in a clean sweep. If anyone had any doubts that Corbyn was about to win the coming leadership contest, this has surely quelled them.
Arguments in the courts follow their own logic, but if the Labour Right are looking for deeper reasons that they appear to be losing the struggle to regain the leadership, they could do worse than look at their own noisiest champions. For example, after the NEC imposed a ridiculous £25 fee on members wishing to vote in the leadership election, Jess Phillips MP derided those who dutifully stumped up the cash as fat cats. Corbyn's supporters have been berated as sexist bullies, but John McTernan, the former Blair speech-writer, mocked Corbyn as the equivalent in policy intelligence of a Miss World candidate. They decry the new membership and lament the intervention of the "bourgeois courts" in Labour's affairs. They must know that Labour members are listening when they speak.
While much media coverage has focused on individuals who used to support Corbyn but no longer do, there appears to be far more movement in the opposite direction. Many constituency branches that previously supported Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper are now supporting Corbyn. Party activists report that some members have been made into reluctant Corbynites by the behaviour of Labour MPs. And the loathing that the parliamentary Labour Party and its traditional managerial elites have for the membership, which is only compounded by their perplexity when the feeling turns out to be mutual, has a lot to do with this.
But so has the paucity of their analysis. Unable to explain Labour's deep crisis, and evidently expecting everyone else to have the attention span of a stunned goldfish, they blame Corbyn for losing Labour's "traditional" voters. Even if Labour had not gradually improved its position until the coup began, it is astonishing to hear that Corbyn has lost "traditional" voters after New Labour shed five million such voters during their period in office, and after Ed Miliband's leadership lost Scotland. In fact, recovering the core vote (outside Scotland) is one thing that under Corbyn's leadership Labour has been doing comparatively well in by-elections and local elections.
Lacking a plausible analysis of the party's problems, having launched a failed coup attempt, unable to restore their old moral authority, and now stripped of the methods of exclusion and purge, some on the Labour Right have been briefing that they are preparing for a split. The Saving Labour faction has openly vaunted this option. But it is unlikely that such a split has any future. Labour culture is saturated in tribal hatred for the splitters of 1931 and 1983. Its trade union base will not support any split, few members would, and probably only a minority of MPs are ready to defect. Moreover, the idea of a new centre party is counterintuitive in an era when politics is demonstrably polarising and the centre – as Nick Clegg can attest – is shrinking. In all likelihood, the anti-Corbyn wedge will have to content itself with returning to low-level sabotage, diminished in force and numbers after defeat and the return of many softer allies to the front benches. The current gossip is that one of their plans is to "break the whip's office", which most likely means a small number of MPs ignoring discipline and operating as a party-within-a-party.
This is not yet a social movement, but it looks like a party that has come alive.
Labour's future belongs to the Corbynites, and a great deal hangs on what they make of it. Corbyn's goal is to create a social movement at the base of Labour. This stems from a recognition that no left-wing leadership can prevent the mass media and its allies in the political class from orchestrating a campaign of vilification against it. The only way to outflank it is to build resilient networks of support in the streets and workplaces, based on regular personal communication and activity. It is not clear how easy this will be.
According to an analysis by Tim Bale of Queen Mary, University of London, only 30 percent of the new intake have delivered leaflets and half of that number have gone out canvassing. These figures may not reflect those forms of political activism that go beyond traditional electoral work. It is also not clear how active party members usually are. Were they, in the era of haut Blairism where doorstep conversations were actually scripted, more likely to be active? Setting these questions aside, however, conversations with Labour Party members across the country anecdotally suggest that at least until the coup, many new members assumed that they had elected Corbyn to do the job, so they could stay passive.
The frenetic mobilisations in response to the coup attempt have changed that dynamic. Local meetings that have long been stale and empty are suddenly packed and vibrant. This has demonstrated to activists that they cannot afford to leave everything up to Corbyn. They now know that without their constant organisation and pressure, the political leadership they have fought for will ultimately be left vulnerable to back-stabbing from the back-benches. This is not yet a social movement, but it looks like a party that has come alive.
The Labour Right, then, have fallen prey to some harsh ironies. Having derided members for being inactive, they have goaded them into activity. Having launched a coup attempt on the basis of Corbyn's supposed unelectability, they have made themselves unelectable within the Labour Party. Having tried to "save Labour" as the "moderate" party it has always been, they have increased the chance that it will become, for a time at least, a mass party of the radical left. At some point, amid their self-pitying complaint, they might consider that they have some responsibility for this state of affairs.
@leninology
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Jeremy Corbyn Used Their Cardiff Hustings to Fight About Why They're FightingCONCERNED: NZ Chinese Association president Virginia Chong says policy to restrict foreigners from buying New Zealand homes is ‘‘potentially racist’’.
The president of a nation-wide organisation that represents Chinese migrant groups says David Shearer's policy is "picking on" Asian people.
Labour leader David Shearer says the party will restrict the ability of non-residents to purchase New Zealand houses as part of its package to help Kiwi first-home buyers.
Shearer says IRD records show more than 11,000 overseas investors own New Zealand properties they don't live in.
"This policy will reduce demand and help take some of the heat out of the market. It will put Kiwi buyers at the front of the queue," he says.
However, the president of the NZ Chinese Association Virginia Chong is concerned the policy is targeting Asian buyers.
Chong says there is a flawed perception that Chinese nationals are out-bidding Kiwis in the Auckland housing market.
The second generation New Zealander says people just see Asian faces in the auction rooms and assume that they are foreigners.
"It's all very well saying it's Asians who have pushed up the price but I don't think it's Asians, we are just a convenient fob-off," the Epsom resident says.
She says while the policy may be a Band-Aid on the problem, it will not have any long-term effect.
"From my perspective it's potentially racist and it's contrary to existing free trade agreements," she says.
Shearer says the bill would closely follow the Australian model, where foreigners can buy land and build houses.
"By itself this is not a silver bullet for housing affordability, but it is part of the solution," he says.
The policy sits alongside the party's Kiwi-build policy to construct 100,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years for first-time buyers.
"Together these policies will increase the supply of entry level housing and reduce speculation-driven demand."
The Green Party is supporting the move to make housing more affordable for Kiwis.
"This is a sensible measure that will help reduce demand and lower prices meaning more New Zealanders can own their own home," co-leader Russel Norman says.when pseudoskepticism meets religious snake oil
Skeptico might sound like a skeptical blog, but as demonstrated by its approach to a profile of Dr. Eben Alexander, it's anything but.
Starting a skeptical blog is exactly like starting any other blog. No committee requests to review your posts and approve the skeptical label, no regular audits of your content are held by JREF, or any other skeptical group, and the only third party classification of skepticism you’ll get would come from DMOZ, which would select a category to post a link to your blog so web crawlers for major search engines can quickly and easily index it. But at the same time, when you find blogs that use the s-word in their titles and tags, there’s a certain kind of content you expect from the posts and podcasts. You’ll be looking for references to scientific works, critical takes on personal testimony and anecdotal evidence, and a distinct lack of conspiracy theories. Just imagine your surprise when a blog called Skeptico rushes to defend a doctor who claimed to have proof of a picturesque afterlife after a bout with meningitus from the “liberal atheist media” following a less than flattering expose of him and his troubled background in Esquire. Seems odd, right?
Yes, to be fair, the article seemed very clear about where it was going even before it started to officially challenge Dr. Eben Alexander’s story, which while very typical among those who went through near death experiences, was very much the kind of agenda-first journalism I decried a few weeks ago. But that said, while the Tinder story blatantly ignored science that sabotaged a point it wanted to make and its writer employed all manner of semantic games to wave it away, the tale about Alexander is unflattering, but factual. He had the training and skills to be a really great surgeon, but he made mistakes and tried to cover his tracks when caught by patients who were harmed by his inattention to detail. It’s very unlikely, at least to me, that he spun his tale of seeing the afterlife out of whole cloth, but it does seem likely he fine-tuned it to make sure it will fly off the shelves and get him maximum exposure. These are not tricks unknown to the market for books and public appearances by those claiming firsthand accounts of the afterlife.
And if we turn to Skeptico for a look under the name, we’ll find not so much a skeptical blog that looks into near death experiences as much as we will ardent supporters of these stories whose goal isn’t so much to find a scientific explanation for visions during NDEs, but to come up with a scientific word salad to support the idea of the afterlife. They are not skeptics but believers with an axe to grind against atheists and skeptical scientists and their entire proof of malfeasance in the story ran by Esquire is a conspiracy theory that the writer is carrying out orders from a dark cabal of atheists, liberals, and doctors threatened by Alexander’s story and desperate to take an accomplished neurosurgeon down a few notches. Throughout the transcript we never do learn exactly what was being lied about or evidence that quotes were being misappropriated, we are simply assured that it happened because, well, Mrs. Alexander says so. And if you keep looking around the site, you’ll find a dozen more hypercritical posts about Dr. Alexander’s skeptics.
Look, I get it. Airtight evidence of an afterlife, even a religiously ambiguous one, would make all the injustices, problems, and suffering of our existence much easier to bear. Knowing that your death would reunite you with lost loved ones and favorite pets would make a terminal diagnosis feel like a bit less of a burden. Humans, understanding their own mortality, have been picturing some sort of life after death since the first shamans and cave paintings, desperately hoping that this is not all there is to existence. But the fact of the matter is that we don’t have NDEs that are so thoroughly researched and inexplicable that we can cite them in peer reviewed literature and replicate them. If we did, religious snake oil salesmen wouldn’t be chasing people who suffered one to write stories about visiting the other side and speaking authoritatively about what we will encounter once we shed our mortal coil to an audience desperately eager for reassurance. The people who run and frequent Skeptico are part experiencers, part anxious believers, and in part victims of a lucrative market for the ultimate reassuring story. But they’re not skeptics.by John Black
IT MAY surprise you to hear that our multiracialist adversaries are in complete agreement with the fundamental premises of White racialism, but when you examine their goals and their proposed solutions you see very familiar values in play. The only thing that differs is the proposed direction they wish to take based on these premises. While no leftist would ever admit to these openly, not even to themselves, consider the following:
Non-Whites Have Very Little Agency in the World
We know leftists accept this premise because every wrong they cite and every solution they propose is always framed by them in terms of White people being the sole actors with agency. “White people did X,” “White people need to do X,” and “White people need to stop doing X.” Every non-White failing is described as an effect of White action and every solution is described as an effect of the need for White action. When American Blacks are a failure as a group it is because of White “racism.” How do we solve it? White people need to give reparations or stop being “racist” or give Blacks Affirmative Action preferences. Leftists never frame problems in terms of what non-Whites can, need to, or should do.
Intelligence Matters … a Lot
Anyone who has ever debated with a leftist will recognize the following “go to” phrases:
“Educate yourself.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Racists are stupid people.”
In spite of their endless protests to the contrary, their focus is premised on being “smart enough” to understand that “race doesn’t matter” or “that everyone is equal.” Who believes otherwise? “Dumb rednecks.” Whose opinion matters? Smart people with credentials. How many times have you heard a leftist brag about their college degree or the credentials of some authority figure they cite? “Is that study peer reviewed?” is a typical refrain. Leftists are obsessed with intelligence being a highly important attribute. This is why they will never openly admit that there is a genetic cause for the IQ gap. If they admit this is so, it destroys their assumed premise of egalitarianism. They reject data on differences in intelligence precisely because they hold intelligence in such high esteem and because they do accept that differences in intelligence are genetic in origin, as I will show below.
Culture Matters
Listen to feminists bleat about “rape culture,” listen to Black Lives Matter people pontificate about oppression, or listen to Communists yammer about fairness, and you will hear them constantly refer to culture. They all offer an ideal of what culture should be. Racially conscious Whites are constantly talking about culture being the backbone of society. The left constantly cries that White culture is the problem to be attacked.
White Culture Is Better Than All Others
Whether it is our version of a White ethno-state based on traditionalism, or the “progressive” tolerance utopia, leftists all silently agree that White culture is better than others. This is borne out by the desire to spread tolerance, and democracy, and feminism throughout the world, all uniquely Western. The entire leftist value system, from tolerance of difference to egalitarianism, is all uniquely an aspect of White Western culture.
Ricardo Duchesne mentioned this in his first interview on Red Ice Radio. He said that the Liberal premise of cultural relativism, in which we suspend judgement of other cultures and assume all to be on an equal footing, is itself a uniquely Western idea. No other culture sees other cultures as equally valid and worthwhile. Historically, when one culture meets another, one tries to exterminate the other. Ricardo goes on to ask how Liberals are able to get out from under their own cultural goggles in order to view other cultures objectively.
Proximate Diversity Sucks
In spite of the endless calls to enhance diversity, to increase diversity, to celebrate diversity, all you will see from leftists is homogeneity. White Liberals live in White neighborhoods, they send their kids to White private schools, they engage in SWPL behavior, and they absolutely demand conformity of opinion.
When you ignore their rhetoric and look at what leftists actually do, they demand the entire world fit into their narrow box of prepackaged thoughtlessness. They want a world of cultural conformity. When you try debating with a leftist, he will engage in endless badgering of anyone who doesn’t conform to their worldview.
Breeding Matters
Leftists are quick to criticize anyone who dares to suggest that who you breed with might be an important factor to consider; however, what solutions do they suggest to solve evils like “racism”? They suggest blending everyone together. They suggest getting rid of any genetic advantage that one group has over another. Why would mixing together be so important, and refusing to mix be so horrible, if we are essentially all the same? Why do leftists refuse to participate in the vibrancy they insist on inflicting on others? The answer is obvious: They know breeding matters.
They Hate Us Because We Are Right and They Agree With Us
Both sides agree on most fundamental premises and this is what enrages the left so thoroughly. When we present our premises they see their own staring back at them. Why do they hate us bringing up Black IQ? Because they know Blacks are intellectually inferior as a group. Why do they hate people saying that women shouldn’t vote? Because they know women are not skilled in cold calculation like men are. When do they lose their sh** when Jewish power is mentioned? Because they know that Jews have enormous power. When we speak on these issues, we are holding up a mirror that exposes their hidden agreement with us — and it makes them livid. Commence butthurt.
* * *
Source: AuthorThis story is part of a three-part series showcasing the candidates for Indiana governor.
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Rex Bell’s primary goal is, of course, to win his race. But that’s challenging as a third party candidate — and he says influencing the race is a victory, too. Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Brandon Smith sat down with Bell to talk about where he stands on issues in the race.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness:
Brandon Smith: As the Libertarian candidate, what role do you think you play in the campaign?
Rex Bell: As a Libertarian, we basically bring a chance for people to vote for limited government. When the old parties are running, we know basically how they run things and government gets bigger and government gets more expensive.
You know, occasionally they’ll cut something back but we know, at the end of the day, it’s going to be bigger and more expensive. So, you know, when we run on a limited government ticket, if somebody’s interested in voting for limited government, we’re the only shot out there for that. And that’s why we run.
Smith: As we lead into talking about issues, once of the biggest in this election is a debate over pre-kindergarten education. Where do you, and the Libertarian Party, come down on pre-k?
Bell: Well, you know, I’ll speak for myself on this. I’m not going to say that there aren’t some Libertarians that might support that because, you know, constitutionally we need to — we’re required to provide education.
“What makes a difference in a child doing well in school is the family involvement.”
We believe we’re already doing that as far as we should. What makes a difference in a child doing well in school is the family involvement. Certainly, you know, if somebody needs help raising a child, there are churches and private institutions out there that will help with that.
But, you know, our big fear when the government gets involved, you know, what starts out as just a voluntary thing – you know, kindergarten started out voluntary.
Well, there’s a push now to make it mandatory. When that happens to pre-K and then maybe even, you know, sooner than that, it’s the type of thing that when we look at what the proper role of government is, it’s not raising our children.”
Smith: There may be no bigger issue in this election than a plan for Indiana’s roads and bridges. What would you, as governor, like to see the state do when it comes to a long term funding solution for our roads and bridges?
Bell: We’ve said all along the first thing we need to do is use all of our road use taxes on the roads. We don’t do that yet. You know, that money is spent on different things other than the roads and it shouldn’t be.
Is it enough? We don’t know exactly; nobody knows that for sure. And if we had to put on … you know, when we do away with property taxes and save people that much money and you had to pay an extra two cents a gallon in a road use tax, you know it might be a tradeoff we have to make. We can lower the total tax burden.
Smith: What role do you think government should play in the field of LGBT rights?
Bell: The same role is should play in everybody’s rights. You know, everybody has the same rights in this state. Anything the state offers, anything the government offers from one to the other should be the same.
“[RFRA] was a misguided thing that was struck down anyway.”
When they came out with RFRA and they said, okay now if you have a certain religious belief then you can discriminate against somebody but if you don’t have this religious belief, you can’t. You know, that was a misguided thing that was struck down anyway.
Did it hurt Indiana? I don’t know that we’ve seen evidence of that. It was a wrong-headed thing that got knocked down pretty quick and you know we heard a public outcry over it, that this was not something government should be doing. And I think it was one of those things where society took care of something that government had fouled up.
So, you know I think we need to look at it that way. But government’s role, while being minimal, should be to make sure that we’re all … we all have the same rights, regardless of what your beliefs are.They're learning to bust kick turns, ollies and drop starts, and they're doing it in a space free from judging eyes.
The city and The Chill Foundation, a non-profit that teaches board sports to young people, joined forces this summer to give young women the opportunity to learn to skateboard in "a safe, judgement-free atmosphere."
The Girl's Only Summer Skate Sessions began four weeks back at the Grand Ravine Community Centre and the free sessions have proven to be a hit.
"The idea is to create a space where girls can skateboard in a female-only space which makes it easier for them to access the sport," instructor Alix Buck told CBC News.
"It's a male-dominated sport and I think it can be intimidating for a girl, especially a young girl, to enter that space and start skateboarding when she is the only woman in the whole place."
Buck said she felt welcome in the skate scene when she stepped in it many years back but added, "you can't help but be aware you're the only girl there."
She recalled "struggling to do the simplest things" as a novice and said she can relate to the frustrations of her young charges.
'Definitely worth it'
"It takes a really long time to learn tricks and it's not a sport you get good at super fast, but it's definitely worth it," Buck said, adding that her group is "a ton of fun and that everyone is really encouraging of each other, which is really nice to see."
Janice Dang is one of about 15 girls learning to skate with the program.
"I've seen it on TV, it seems really interesting and I just wanted to learn it," she told CBC.
Like many in her group, Dang began without any experience but said she'd love to learn the ollie, a trick where the rider and board leap into the air without the use of the rider's hands.
Bree Oda, a volunteer with The Chill Foundation, called the group that was working on their moves Tuesday afternoon "fantastic" and described the classes as "empowering."
"The girls feel they can grow together and they're doing really well," Oda said. "For me, it's really nice seeing girls pick up a skateboard for the first time. They're super shaky in the first week and three weeks later they're helping out another girl.
"It's nice seeing them teach one another."GeckoXp Profile Blog Joined June 2013 Germany 1807 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-05 12:29:55 #1
Won |
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The real victory is achieving health, prosperity and liberty for ourselves and our families. And the most fundamental form of each of these is access to clean food, not ‘winning’ oppressive wars.
We create and populate health, liberty and prosperity first and foremost by knowing how our bodies and our soils work, then nourishing both for the future.
Liberty gardens provide tangible freedom. They empower local communities across the world to access their own food production.
Interdependence between members of a community leads to independence from big corporations, industries and governments that seek to control and manipulate our food supplies and our lives.
Liberty gardens nourish freedom, and are nourished by freedom! They are the soul of a community, the heartbeat of synergy. Gardens are the marriage of multiple lives and multiple life forms. They are vast soils giving life to tiny seeds surrounded and nurtured by trillions of tiny organisms on which our beings depend.
And such is liberty. Liberty is the culmination and spread of vast information, of passionate ideas giving rise to self-ownership. It is trusting in our own expertise and abilities. It is an allegiance to something unifying within all of us.
What is a liberty garden? Is it a metaphor or a tangible garden?
It is both.
It is an idea, an idea that spreads through people planting seeds in other people’s minds, nourishing those ideas, cultivating and watching them grow.
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
— George Washington: letter to James Madison, March 2, 1788
And it is a real garden.
A garden where food security grows and flourishes. A garden where communities are built and prosperity develops. A garden where the inherent relationship between a human being and the natural world is honored.
Liberty gardens represent an allegiance to clean healthy food, rather than an allegiance to profit or nations. They represent an allegiance to community and self-ownership, not blind devotion to an arbitrary law or rule.
In planting a garden, we embrace the possibilities of the future, both tangible and intangible. We seize the precious opportunity to nourish that which we want more of for a rich and bountiful harvest.
With great pleasure, I invite you to join me in cultivating peace, nourishing liberty and planting a garden.
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Please follow and like us:NEW YORK – Almost a year to the day after the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers parted ways as stadium allies, the long-range future of the two old rivals seems intertwined once again.
And while Los Angeles remains a key component of their connection, the NFL could be looking at ways to eliminate the L.A. part of the equation while getting the Raiders situated in Las Vegas and giving the Chargers more time to sort out things in San Diego.
To that end, the NFL has summoned their owner-comprised Stadium and Finance Committees to the home office in New York to help map out a plan that achieves both objectives.
The ultimate goal, according to sources, is clearing a path for the Raiders to Las Vegas and, in the process, buying Chargers owner Dean Spanos more time in San Diego.
One of the the keys being manipulating is the one-year option Spanos holds on joining the Rams in Los Angeles that gets passed onto the Raiders on Sunday.
The two teams were approved for those options a year ago in Houston when NFL owners chose the Rams’ relocation bid to Los Angeles and their $2.6 billion stadium plan in Inglewood over the joint stadium plan by the Chargers and Raiders in Carson.
The Chargers were given first dibs on the option, and decided to hold onto it through 2016 while pursuing a downtown San Diego stadium initiative. That bid was ultimately rejected by San Diego voters, forcing the Chargers to again take a serious look at Los Angeles.
According to multiple sources close to the situation, Spanos is prepared to pull the trigger on L.A. and has already laid groundwork for a potential relocation.
Or, as a high-ranking NFL official who spoke on the condition of anonymity put it, Spanos has been “telling everybody that he’s (going to L.A.)”
Additionally, the Chargers will not be in New York this week and are not planning to ask for an extension on the L.A, option, which further fuels the belief Spanos is prepared to turn the page in San Diego and relocate to Los Angeles.
That decision could come any time, according to multiple sources.
But while the NFL green-lighted a Chargers move to L.A. last January, there is strong indication the league prefers they stay put. If not permanently, at least long enough to get final clarity on a stadium partnership in San Diego.
That’s where the Raiders come in, and potentially the NFL’s stadium and finance committees.
If the Raiders are ultimately approved for Las Vegas – a prospect that is gaining more and more momentum and is expected to get a strong push from the NFL this week in New York – they’ll no longer need their L.A. option. Theoretically, that option could revert back to the Chargers, who can then use the additional time provided to purse a new stadium proposal knowing they won’t lose their landing spot in Los Angeles.
Any option extension would have to be granted by the Raiders, who would require some form of compensation. But one could presume that compensation could come in the form of assurances that their Las Vegas objective is granted.
But while an extended option addresses the element of time for the Chargers, there is still the concern of getting a suitable stadium deal in place that Spanos can be confident will prevail in an eventual San Diego vote.
And that could be tied into lowering whatever funding gap exists between the Chargers’ contribution to the stadium and the public portion being offered by San Diego.
With California so hesitant to kick in money on professional sports stadiums – and the decision in San Diego ultimately resting in the hands of voters – the NFL could decide to sweeten the pot by adding more money to the cause. The league has pledged $300 million through its standard $200 million G-4 loan and another $100 million owners approved last January as incentive for the Chargers to work things out in San Diego.
The topic of adding more league money is expected to be broached in New York.
If so, the league could lower the public contribution enough to significantly improve the chances of a favorable vote.
Whether the comfort level created by more time, more money and no fear of losing Los Angeles as a landing spot is enough for Spanos to apply the brakes on leaving San Diego remains to be seen.
But first things first, and that begins with whatever comes out of this week’s meetings in New York.
As for the Raiders, with their season now over after losing their wild-card playoff game Saturday to the Houston Texans, they are free to file for relocation to Las Vegas. Awaiting them is a a stadium agreement in which Nevada will kick in $750 million, Sands Corp. head Sheldon Adelson will put in $650 million and the Raiders will contribute $500 million
According to multiple sources, approval for a Raiders move to Nevada is picking up steam, and while one NFL executive cautioned it wasn’t a done deal, he also added he doesn’t see anything stopping it unless it hits an unexpected snafu.
For now, the Raiders intend to sit tight and see what unfolds in New York before officially filing for relocation.
Which sets the stage for a fascinating meeting this week in which the NFL is poised to draw up a map that could solidify the long-range futures of two franchises while making sure the Rams have Los Angeles all to themselves.Originally Posted by giggles7p Originally Posted by
Micheal, i have to ask a question, and hope you do not get upset with me for doing so,
But, are your pages that have Grand Bay advertised, with"crossbones' symbol a link that is clickable for any online players that choose to "take their chances" with this casino because of the bonuses they promote? If it is, then i feel you are doing a disservice to other affiliates and the business, by still giving the players the option of downloading and playing at this rogued casino, and you will still be earning an income from them if you have a clickable banner with your link attached? So you may think they are rogued, and warn players, but feel its ok to still earn money from them? I mean i don't think you have a banner and link up for nothing, right?
sorry if I over stepped or I am wrong in what i am thinking about this issue, if i am wrong and you are not still earning affiliate commission from these crooks, please tell me and then you can send me to my corner, and i will shut up.
PatLawmakers in places like Arizona have made news recently by placing a tax on solar panels, but in some areas, politicians want to ban solar power altogether. New legislation in Maine and Hawaii seek to limit where solar companies can operate.
In Maine, legislators are looking to prevent owners of solar panels from selling their excess power back to the grid. The proposal was met with resistance from local businesses and residents who were able to gather 4,000 petition signatures, demanding that their right to sell solar energy be protected.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, lawmakers want to ban solar outright in certain areas.
According to West Hawaii Today, “House Bill 2636 would put a 25-kilowatt cap on solar generation projects located on land that is zoned agricultural but also serves as a residential area. Creagan introduced the bill in response to outcry from residents of Hawaiian Ocean View Ranchos, who oppose a plan by SPI Solar to place 30,000 solar panels on 26 lots in and around that subdivision.”
The bill was largely opposed by Hawaii residents who think that this could be an obstacle that could get in the way of clean energy development.
Chris Yuen, former planning director for Hawaii County also opposed the bill, saying, “I can understand why a neighbor of a project like this might rather see a vacant lot next door rather than a solar array protected by a fence. It is not visually appealing. But it is not significantly less attractive than many other uses that can be made of that same lot in the ag district. For example, the lot could be covered in shade cloth structures. And I don’t see why the government, in balancing the various interests involved, would change the laws allowing a solar development like this, which would, on each lot, generate enough electricity for 50-100 homes.”
The residents who actually support the legislation seem to be concerned with how solar installments would affect their property values.
“The bill is of vital importance to the thousands of Hawaiians living in subdivisions that were developed back in the 1960s and ’70s and are now called non-conforming subdivisions. Some of them are huge and are home to thousands of people. Unfortunately, they are all still zoned agriculture. So when the lawmakers in Honolulu decide that things like solar farms are OK on ag land, they are thinking of true farming land, some of which is not productive. They don’t think of the non-conforming subdivisions,” Ranchos resident Ann Bosted said.
“I’m sure none of the politicians would like to have a solar farm built next door to them,” she added.
This article (Legislation To Limit The Use Of Solar Power Proposed In Multiple US States) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com.
John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can purchase his books, or get your own book published at his website www.JohnVibes.com.
hnvibes.com/books/” target=”_blank”>www.JohnVibes.com.Looks like the Call of Duty series is growing up: Black Ops 3 has netted the series its first Australian R18+ classification, meaning all of the 15-year olds lapping up Black Ops 2 will have to wait three years to play the sequel.
It’s the first time the FPS franchise has been given anything more serious than an MA15+, and the decision may well impact on game sales, as Black Ops is traditionally an easy choice for Christmas gamer gifts. That said, Activision has previously been concerned about ratings, submitting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 under a codename. (This was back in the day before Australia had an R18+ rating, when publishers would submit games under false identities to hopefully disperse any negative press if one was Refused Classification.
Unsurprisingly, Black Ops 3 has been given the adults-only sticker due to “high impact violence” and “strong impact themes”, with a warning about online interactivity.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will hit PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One from November 6.The day after I ran a half marathon in early August, I woke up to a notification that I was tagged in a race photo on Facebook. Interested to see how the day had been captured, I clicked and was left speechless by several comments from a man I do not know.
“That’s because she doesn’t have any damn clothes on and she’s running for her life...No wonder joggers get raped.”
The comments declared that a woman’s attire could invite rape. His words not only propagated the idea that it is a woman’s responsibility to avoid sexual predation, they excused it. They normalized it. As a woman and a mother, I felt compelled to confront this man’s words beyond reporting them to Facebook or having them deleted from the photo comments (photographer has done both).
The comments left on Lukin's race photo are disturbing. Laurah Lukin
So I sat down to write a piece on my blog that was at first a cathartic exercise. It was not something I expected anyone to read beyond my husband and maybe some running friends. I didn’t anticipate what happened over the next 24 hours. It was shared, posted, and became a point of discussion on several social media platforms, including many running forums. I was contacted by local and national news stations and multiple magazines to tell my story.
I never imagined I would take on this issue, but after reading the comments that my race attire was an invitation to be raped, I needed to take a stand. This attitude and the way some think about rape should not go unaddressed.
Responses to my blog have varied widely. Some people think the comments on my race photo were trivial and not worthy of attention. Some defended the dark ideas behind those comments. Some dismissed and diminished these comments as simply a rude critique of my clothing choice or my body. But I felt hope that overwhelmingly, people were calling for an end to rape culture, which is society’s normalization of behaviors like victim blaming, sexual objectification, and the trivialization of sexual assault.
With so much to absorb, I am now responding to some of the feedback, with the hope of putting a fine point on my position.
“Running around in skin tight underwear is very tempting to any man. Take a hint and put some clothes on.”
It is not my responsibility to choose a race outfit or workout apparel to deter the temptation of men. The length of my shorts is not an indication of interest, invitation, or consent.
Rape and sexual assault are crimes of violence and control that stem from a person’s determination to exercise power over another. It is an appalling crime with devastating effect on victims and those close to them. Nobody asks to be raped. Ever.
As an anthropologist I recognize blaming the victim can make us feel safe. Redirecting blame to women is easier than confronting the societal problem of rape, which is far bigger than just a pervasive cultural myth. It is comforting to pretend sexual assault is something that only happens to people who make bad choices, like racing a half marathon wearing leopard-print competition briefs in August in Ohio. It is easier to harbor a subconscious belief that if women just did all the right things, including dressing a certain way, then we would never be raped.
This is not true.
In fact, this myth has been debunked repeatedly by research studies as well as the Justice Department and other organizations. But these facts, these statistics, this basic logic have clearly not reached the man who commented on my race photo nor others who have posted responses in his defense.
“She is running in panties, not that she deserved rude comments... but, seriously woman??? If you don't want the attention, then dress like a woman who isn't desperate to be noticed.”
There have been many responses similar to this one. Each time I read a derogatory comment in response to my blog post, my initial reaction is to justify my outfit.
It was a race!
Competition briefs are appropriate attire for racing!
Haven’t these people ever seen a track meet? Watched the Olympics?
It’s hot! I perform better if my legs move more freely!
They’re fun!
And each time, I am disappointed that my gut reaction to such horrific comments is to defend my wardrobe choice. After all, there were photos from the same race of shirtless men, men in short shorts, men in tight shorts, yet no one is motivated to comment on their potential for inviting sexual assault.
“If you don't want to be sexualized, then there are certain things you shouldn't wear out in public. When you wear stuff like that outside of your home, you have to be prepared for feedback.”
Had this man called me unattractive, pointed out the cellulite in my legs, or drawn attention to the loose skin around my postpartum stomach, my feelings may have been hurt a bit. But I would have rolled my eyes and moved on, because after all, I wasn’t entering a beauty pageant. I was racing a half marathon and the garments I chose to wear enabled me to perform well regardless of how attractive or unattractive I may have looked.
RELATED: Running While Female
I wrote the blog because this man propagated the global and persistent cultural myth that rape is preventable if women would simply behave or dress a certain way.
“You delicate little snowflakes, so easily offended.”
I have been asked if the man who made the comments on my photos has responded. He has—to my blog, online media coverage, and to many comments from other people on his Facebook page (he has since removed these).
He continues to refer to me online as a frail, oversensitive “snowflake,” and mock the seriousness of rape culture. Other individuals with similarly warped thinking continue to place the responsibility of rape on the choices the victims make. These ideas provide rapists what they're looking for: an excuse for violence and an opportunity to exert power over somebody else. And while this man may believe his comments qualify as a lesson in how to dress if you want to avoid rape, it only propagates an ignorant, dangerous belief surrounding rape culture.
I hope that by speaking out, others will be encouraged to speak out as well and help change that culture, because with enough snowflakes, you can cause an avalanche that transforms the landscape.
Laurah Lukin, Ph.D.., is a runner, coach, and assistant dean and professor of medical education at the University of Cincinnati. She also is the cofounder of LaoTong, a women’s running community that unites and empowers women through running. Laurah has raced as an elite athlete, winning and placing in many local and national races. As an athlete and coach, Laurah works to inspire an active lifestyle and encourage others to be engaged in their own health, to set high goals, work hard and never give up.A Scottish hotel canceled a planned annual charity ball by the Jewish Society and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity at St. Andrews University in Fife, Scotland, after receiving phone and email threats from radical anti-Israel groups, including the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). Jewish students at the university, however, managed to hold the event at another location at the last minute.
The St. Andrews Golf Hotel received the threats from anti-Israel activists on the grounds that students were going to fundraise at the event for the Jewish National Fund and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The activists also indicated plans to disrupt the event, and the hotel management, judging that it would not be able to guarantee the safety of anyone involved, backed out of the event.
“Despite the adverse circumstances of the venue pulling out the day before due to allegedly aggressive phone calls and emails from individuals supporting the SPSC, the [university’s] Jewish Society was able to secure an alternative venue,” said Joel Salmon, the president of the St. Andrews Jewish Society, according to the Jerusalem Post. “The St. Andrews Jewish Society will not cave in to intimidation or bullying. We will always protect our members and shall continue to provide events to enrich Jewish life in St Andrews,” he added. SPSC declined to comment.Washington City Paper
- With crack and marijuana stashed in his pocket, Kenneth Millard and some friends scattered when an unmarked police car rolled into the parking lot outside his apartment building in Southeast. The cops were looking for someone else, but Millard fell into the trap.After bolting through a cut in the woods and stumbling down a steep hill, Millard bounced off the side of another police car blocking his escape route. He dodged and weaved down Jasper Road SE until two officers tackled and cuffed him on the pavement. Police said a Colt.22 handgun, loaded with 11 rounds, flew out of Millard's waistband during the chase and landed near a manhole.When officers caught Millard that February night in 2005, they found 10 plastic bags filled with crack cocaine and marijuana in the right front pocket of his coveralls, according to court records. Millard's lengthy rap sheet was growing longer, and he was heading back to jail.At his trial in 2006, the jury convicted Millard on five drug and firearm charges, and the judge sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in prison.But he just caught a break.The D.C. Court of Appeals has reversed all of Millard's convictions, wiping them off his record with a unanimous decision in March.After overturning one of its own earlier precedents, the highest court in the District has reversed convictions in at least 14 cases involving drug dealers and others caught with drugs. The reversals hinge on an important constitutional issue stemming from eight words tucked in the Sixth Amendment known as the Confrontation Clause. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused has the right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him."In Millard's case, the "missing" witness was a chemist from the Drug Enforcement Administration whose drug analysis report stated that the baggies in Millard's pocket contained cocaine and marijuana. Because the analyst didn't appear in court, Millard's drug convictions were reversed, but the firearm convictions were tossed out, too, because of weak evidence and their connection to the drug case.The legal fight playing out in D.C. will be spreading across the nation after a Supreme Court decision in June in a case with striking similarities to Millard's. The 5-4 ruling in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts could result in thousands of reversed convictions and dismissed drug, drunken-driving, and other charges, creating the potential for chaos in the justice system.While Article 9 forbids military force, it was taken to grant Japan the right of self-defense at home, but not without controversy. With the very existence of the JSDF considered unconstitutional by some Japanese political parties, it has proved impossible over the years for leaders who support the JSDF to muster the two-thirds majority in Japan's legislature to amend the constitution to remove limitations on the defense forces.
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which was drafted by victorious Americans after World War II, explicitly renounces war and the use of military force — or even the threat of force — "forever." But in 1950, only three years after the constitution was enacted, the withdrawal of American troops from Japan to fight in the Korean War left the island nation without a means of defending itself from foreign invasion, so a hastily assembled National Police Reserve was put together with surplus US Army equipment. By 1954, the police reserve had evolved into the JSDF.
What Japan has instead is the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). While possessing all the trappings of a military, including a powerful air force and a respectable navy, the JSDF is constitutionally barred from operating on foreign soil, and is technically considered a constabulary.
Earlier this month, Japan's Ministry of Defense rolled out a nearly 20-minute-long cartoon as part of a public relations offensive to explain the country's military to the public. Although it might seem odd, it makes sense when you consider the fact that Japanese military is in a unique position in the world: the country isn't actually allowed to even have a military.
Read more
Earlier this month, Japan's Ministry of Defense rolled out a nearly 20-minute-long cartoon as part of a public relations offensive to explain the country's military to the public. Although it might seem odd, it makes sense when you consider the fact that Japanese military is in a unique position in the world: the country isn't actually allowed to even have a military.
What Japan has instead is the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). While possessing all the trappings of a military, including a powerful air force and a respectable navy, the JSDF is constitutionally barred from operating on foreign soil, and is technically considered a constabulary.
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, which was drafted by victorious Americans after World War II, explicitly renounces war and the use of military force — or even the threat of force — "forever." But in 1950, only three years after the constitution was enacted, the withdrawal of American troops from Japan to fight in the Korean War left the island nation without a means of defending itself from foreign invasion, so a hastily assembled National Police Reserve was put together with surplus US Army equipment. By 1954, the police reserve had evolved into the JSDF.
While Article 9 forbids military force, it was taken to grant Japan the right of self-defense at home, but not without controversy. With the very existence of the JSDF considered unconstitutional by some Japanese political parties, it has proved impossible over the years for leaders who support the JSDF to muster the two-thirds majority in Japan's legislature to amend the constitution to remove limitations on the defense forces.
Related: Islamic State Killings Pit Japan's Right Against Left in Battle Over Pacifist Constitution
This has been a focus of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party. Last July, his government further re-interpreted Article 9 to provide for "collective self-defense" and permit its forces to aid allies who are under attack in situations that threaten Japan's welfare. Opposition critics assailed the gambit as circumventing democracy. Responding to such pressure, Abe recently even pledged that he would not use the word "military" to refer to Japan's self-defense forces.
But as domestic political forces inside Japan are working to forestall an expansion of the JSDF, the regional security environment continues to worsen. China is rapidly growing its military and asserting territorial claims in the South China Sea, while perennially erratic North Korea has long been pursuing a nuclear missile program. How, then, can Japan justify increasing its military in response to these threats, both in its capabilities and in what it's allowed to do?
One approach that the JSDF has tried recently is to get cute about it. Literally.
Which brings us to the cartoon released by the Ministry of Defense. The cartoon stars a talking bird named Bo-Emon who explains the purpose of the JSDF to three young children whose father flies an F-15 fighter jet for the Air Self-Defense Force. The bird explains that the JSDF is meant to deter aggression and provide for global stability, rather than invade other nations. The cartoon ends with a scene of the father scrambling in his F-15 to intercept two unmarked aircraft that bear an unmistakable resemblance to the Su-35, an advanced Russian-made interceptor that China is keen to purchase.
Now the JSDF is upping the ante on its cartoons by attempting to embracemoe, a style that (usually) features cute female characters and is popular in Japanese cartoons and comic books. The JSDF's use of moe came to attention in 2011 when the Fourth Anti-Tank Helicopter Squad painted one of its AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters with the image of a moe style girl they named Aoi-chan. By the next year, Aoi-chan had three sisters, each with her own attack helicopter. The sisters proved to be a local sensation, to the point that female members of the squad would dress up as the girls for air shows and other PR events.
The sisters were eventually retired in 2013 — apparently someone at HQ decided this was getting out of hand and told them to knock it off. Nonetheless, the idea seems to have taken hold elsewhere within the JSDF, especially among recruiters. The JSDF's Tokushima Regional Cooperation Headquarters, for example, has put out a moe recruitment poster every year since 2010. The Okayama Provincial Recruitment Center reported a 20 percent increase in volunteers in 2013 after debuting their three cute mascots. Other regional headquarters have done the same across Japan.
Related: US Veterans Want Japan's Prime Minister to Apologize to Congress
(Image via JSDF)
Popular media reflects how a society feels about itself and its military. John Wayne'sThe Green Beretsgives an idea of what the US thought it was getting in the Vietnam War. Films likePlatoonandFull Metal Jacketlater showed what Americans thought they actually got.
In Japan, the original 1954 Godzilla is often taken as a metaphor for the horror Japan felt at suffering the atomic bomb attacks that closed out World War II. It's telling that in Godzilla the military is useless, serving only to provoke the monster into greater acts of destruction. Instead, the day is saved by a scientist and an innocent child. By the 1970s, the message was evolving and getting more overt. The classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato involved a starship on a desperate mission to save the planet from a race of blond-haired aliens who use nuclear attacks to bomb Earth into submission. The world's dire situation mirrors that of Japan in the closing stages of World War II.
Related: Godzilla vs the Japanese Peace Constitution
Recent anime that features the Japanese military increasingly has a moe slant to it. The JSDF has been represented in anime and manga since the beginning, but the dichotomy of cute moe and the military is something unique to Japan. You see militaries around the world portrayed as cool, sexy, and dangerous, but a different approach is often seen in Japan. The details vary from show to show, but certain trends are easy to spot. Whether it's the mini-skirted girls with magical powers with World War II plane engines strapped to their legs fighting aliens in 2010's Strike Witches or the teenagers driving tanks as an after-school sport in 2012's Girl und Panzer, the underlying theme is the same. Military hardware is unthreatening, fun, and above all cute!
The 2015 release of the Kantai Collection series brings cuteness and war together in a fashion that's impressively revisionist. The show, widely known as KanColle, features "ship-girls" who are the reincarnations of Japanese warships sunk in World War II. This time, however, the Imperial Japanese Navy is allowed to win. The show's season finale (spoiler alert) concluded with the protagonists winning the Battle of Midway, the decisive naval battle that historically swung the tide of the war in the Pacific toward the Americans.
Abe has been criticized before for trying to rehabilitate Japan's war record and pushing to expand the bounds of what the JSDF is allowed to do. The roots of Japanese pacifism run deep owing to the painful lessons of World War II, however, and Abe hasn't had an easy time of it. But an organic interest in resurgent militarism would be a strong indicator that the rules are changing.
Discussions are underway to continue loosening limitations on JSDF activity. If Abe is able to capitalize on the way people are starting to see the military as cute, and therefore non-threatening, he might successfully move the narrative away from the history of Japanese aggression to one that presents its troops as pretty defenders of peace.
Follow Jonathan Gad on Twitter: @jng2058Photo via FlickrThursday night’s preseason opener between the Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons was a hodgepodge of half-baked snapshots of action as coaches worked to ensure they didn’t subject starters to unnecessary injury, tinkered with lineups and tried to get roster hopefuls adequate snaps for evaluation.
But a pair of young linebackers who figure prominently into the team’s future emerged from the game with two of the better performances of the night, giving themselves sound foundations to build upon as the preseason continues.
Second-year edge rusher Preston Smith may have had a quiet two weeks of training camp — a curious development considering the change in his body (leaner and bigger after taking up a new offseason training regimen) and improvement in football IQ after hours spent in the film room. On Thursday night, he appeared to flip a switch, causing disruption on his pass rushes and playing with greater discipline and determination against the run.
[Steinberg: Sloppiness aside, these Redskins are doing the preseason right]
Meanwhile, rookie Su’a Cravens — taken in the same round as Smith, a year later — also sprang to life Thursday night. That served as another encouraging development for the Southern California product and his coaches after a minor hamstring strain, fluctuating snap counts and toggling back and forth between the second and third units stifled him in training camp.
Redskins rookie linebacker/safety Su’a Cravens upends Atlanta's Justin Hardy on a kick return during the first half. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal Constitution, via AP)
Smith played only two full series — both of them three-and-outs — and a couple of snaps after that. But during that time, he generated pressure on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan three times and recorded two tackles, one for a loss.
Cravens, used primarily as an inside linebacker, played the bulk of the third quarter on defense after lining up exclusively on special teams in the first half and recording a tackle on punt coverage. During that quarter, he played with aggression and displayed a nose for the ball as he recorded three tackles (two for losses), one quarterback pressure and a pass breakup while also playing well in coverage.
[Best and worst moments (really) from the Redskins’ preseason opener]
Coaches are counting on Smith starting on the right edge and using his speed, size and athleticism to win matchups with left tackles and terrorize quarterbacks. Cravens’s role has a “TBD” scribbled next to it for the time being. But if Thursday’s game is any indication, both could help ignite a defensive unit that lacked consistent difference-makers among the front seven in 2015.
Smith’s play was encouraging because he made good on a prediction about switching from practice to game speed and because he showed greater instincts than he did a year ago.
Explaining his lack of impact in practices, Smith said the constraints, which prevent defenders from hitting quarterbacks, make it hard for him to fully dial in while also trying to ensure he doesn’t injure teammates. But he became more aggressive Thursday night. Smith got into the backfield with a blend of power, speed and countermoves. He also showed off his athleticism when he started one play on the outside, stunted to the inside and barreled down on the quarterback, forcing an incompletion.
[Niles Paul hyperextends right knee, but is expected to be fine]
Against the run, Smith displayed growth. Last year, he got blocked out of plays at times and struggled to fight through blocks. On Thursday night, on Atlanta’s second offensive play, the Falcons ran right at Smith on a stretch zone play. Left tackle Jake Matthews tried to usher Smith out of the play. But Smith fought through the block, shedding Matthews and dropping running back Devonta Freeman deep in his own territory.
“I’ve just tried to do a better job of taking better angles on runs,” Smith said. “Last year, I wasn’t doing a good job of that, didn’t fight off blocks well, so it’s just stuff I’ve been working on.”
Despite the positive outing with limited repetitions, Smith expressed a degree of disappointment in his play, however.
“It was some great stuff to put on tape, but I’ve got to do a better job of finishing my rushes when I’m close to the quarterback,” he said. “I’ve got to watch the film, I’ve got to modify my game and figure out how to have better finishes so I have more sacks.”
Cravens, meanwhile, displayed the high-energy, roving playmaking ability that defensive coordinator Joe Barry envisioned when he sold General Manager Scot McCloughan on drafting the USC product.
After appearing tentative at times during practices, Cravens flew around, making tackles, covering slot receivers or running backs out of the backfield, and making tackles in the open field and backfield.
On his first couple snaps, Cravens appeared to feel his way along, but he quickly adjusted and began find his way to the ball.
“It wasn’t the speed, so much, just the strength of everybody,” he said. “Everybody’s so big and athletic. I had to change my game and react fast now that I’m a smaller guy and on the inside. But after the first series, I felt like, ‘Okay, I’m all right.’ ”
Cravens drew praise from Jay Gruden even though the coach joked that film review likely would reveal that the performance was far from perfect.
“He was all over the place tonight,” Gruden said. “I’ve got to look at the film. Some of those places he was at he maybe should not have been. But I love his energy, and that’s what I wanted to see.”
Cravens laughed when told of Gruden’s comment. But he agreed.
“It was a good first game,” he said. “I definitely got the little tweaks out of it being my first game. But I felt like I did pretty good today. Made a couple mistakes, but overall I did all right.”Here at Badoo we write a lot of JavaScript, our mobile web app contains about 60,000 lines of the stuff, and maintaining that much code can be challenging. One of the trickier aspects of working with a client side JavaScript application of this scale is avoiding exceptions. In this post I want to discuss a particular type of exception that you have probably seen a few times - a TypeError.
As the MDN link above explains:
“A TypeError is thrown when an operand or argument passed to a function is incompatible with the type expected by that operator or function” - MDN
So to avoid TypeError’s we need to be checking that the values we pass into functions are correct, and that any code we write checks the validity of an operand before using an operator on it. For example the. operator is not compatible with null or undefined and the instanceof operator is not compatible with anything that isn’t a function. Using these operators on an operand that is not compatible with it will throw a TypeError. If you are coming from a statically typed language like Java where you normally don’t need to worry about things like this then this may seem totally horrible, in which case you might want to consider |
Festival
07/29 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
07/30 – Burlington, VT @ Lake Champlain Maritime Festival
08/01 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE — Indoor
08/02 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
08/04-05 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music Festival
08/06 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/13 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
08/14 – Hamburg, DE @ Grobe Freiheit
08/15 – Berlin, DE @ Astra Kulturhaus
08/16 – Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall
08/17-20 – Beacons, UK @ Green Man Music Festival
08/22 – Manchester, UK @ Academy
08/23 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
09/30 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theater ^
10/01 – San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union ^
10/03 – Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theater ^
10/05 – Denver, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheater ^
^ = w/ SpoonRomelu Lukaku scored one of the great Goodison goals of the modern era against Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-final last weekend but it could well prove one of his last for the club after the Everton striker gave his strongest hint yet that his future lies away from Merseyside.
Ahead of Saturday's lunchtime meeting with Arsenal, Lukaku said that “Champions League football is really the next step” after a season he could well end as the first Evertonian to break the 30-goal barrier since Gary Lineker in 1986.
“I am 23 this summer,” he said. “I have been playing since I was 16 and I never had a taste of the Champions League. It is going to be seven years now [as a professional]. You think about it.”
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That Lukaku has sky-high standards is evident from the fact that, speaking at the club’s training ground this week, he gave himself a mark of just “eight, maybe eight and a half” out of 10 after his Ricky Villa-style dash through Chelsea’s defence last Saturday.
These same standards mean he does not hide his frustration over a campaign of underachievement from 12th-placed Everton in the Premier League. “I’ve been saying it for weeks – we’ve been underperforming this season. We don’t need to lie, that’s the truth.”
Lukaku, Everton’s £28m club record signing from Chelsea two summers ago, has three years remaining on his contract but last summer acquired a new agent in Mino Raiola, whose clients include Paul Pogba and Mario Balotelli.
Although Everton’s new major shareholder Farhad Moshiri, the Iranian-born billionaire, announced last week his ambition of “retaining our key players”, Lukaku’s comments suggest he could well face a losing battle in trying to hold on to the Belgian.
Champions League football is really the next step. You think about it
“If something happens, it will be for the good of the club,” Lukaku said of the prospect of a transfer. “I don’t want to leave in a fight, if it happens. I don’t want to say this or that – it is going to be good for the club and good for me personally because, at the end of the day, they were the ones who believed in me at the time when nobody believed in me, and they gave me a platform to perform.”
Lukaku believes he has reached a new level over the past 12 months. “I have been playing since I was 16 so at a certain point you have to make that step into the player everyone expects you to be,” he said.
“At one point last season I was thinking, ‘Am I doing enough?’ Because I’m really fast, really strong, and can score with both feet and with my head but I was too inconsistent. From January last year, everything changed but I really had my eyes on this season. Maybe I have proved the doubters wrong by playing like I am. It’s come at the right time. I’m 22 now. This is like a transition year for me. This is the base and then I don’t look back.”
The question marks surrounding Lukaku’s future are magnified by the fact his progress has not been matched by Roberto Martinez’s Everton team, despite runs to both domestic cup semi-finals. “We should have at least been in the top four this year because of the way the league is this year,” Lukaku said. “You look around the dressing room and wonder how the hell we are in this position.”
Everton in the Community offers over 60 award-winning programmes, supporting the most vulnerable members of local communities, evertonfc.com/community
Keep up to date with all the latest news with expert comment and analysis from our award-winning writersLamar Odom overdosed on drugs, E! News has learned.
A source inside Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas tells us that "drugs were found in his system," and doctors are treating the situation as an "overdose." Lamar remains unconscious and on a ventilator but is still alive. It also appears that the former Los Angeles Lakers player suffered from a "loss of oxygen but also possible stroke."
"So, likely there's brain damage, but they're not sure how much," the source adds. "Virtually every drug imaginable was found in his system."
Lamar appears to have suffered an "ischemic stroke," which is caused by a blood clot preventing blood flow to the brain. This type of stroke is often associated with a cocaine overdose, among other drugs. Our source adds that Lamar "had been partying since Friday."
"He was doing crack cocaine all weekend and he choked on his mucous," the insider explains. "They're now having to fix all the damage it has done."The moment that sticks out in Scott Sandelin’s mind is Watson’s overtime goal in the 1984 NCAA Frozen Four against North Dakota, though Sandelin doesn’t remember it as fondly as Watson since the current UMD coach played for the then-Fighting Sioux.
Sandelin’s coaching predecessor, Mike Sertich, has a much different memorable moment. For him, the best play Watson ever made, in his three seasons in Duluth, was a simple clearing of the puck against Clarkson in the second half of a two-game, total-goal 1984 NCAA playoff series with the Bulldogs down 6-3 in the game, but up 9-8 in the series.
“It was acknowledged that he could score and he could make plays and he had great vision and had great hands,” Sertich said. “But the best play I ever saw him make was the second night against Clarkson where with about less than a minute left in the game, they had the goalie pulled and they were putting all kinds of pressure on us. He chipped the puck out to neutral ice, and that to me said everything about his awareness and being in a pressure situation, doing that.”
Watson, the 1985 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner and two-time All-American, had his No. 14 raised to the Amsoil Arena rafters Friday night alongside Brett Hull’s No. 29 and Keith “Huffer” Christiansen’s No. 9 during an emotional and at times humorous first intermission ceremony.
The Powerview, Manitoba, native played three seasons for the Bulldogs from 1982-85 before leaving after his record-setting junior year to play for the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL.
His 1.94 career points-per-game average still ranks first all-time at UMD, as do the single-season records he set in 1984-85 of 60 assists and 109 points. The 49 goals scored that season is second to Hull’s 52.
“It’s beyond flattering. It’s humbled me a lot,” Watson said Wednesday in the days leading up to the retirement of his number. “When they told me about it and now that I’ve had some time to think about it, in regards to all the players that have played here before me and have played here since, it’s something I’ve tried to put my arms around and grasp. It’s been very, very unique.”
Watson finished with 89 career goals and 121 assists in 108 games at UMD, but one goal has stood the test of time. It’s the one Sandelin is constantly reminded of because his children received a signed picture of the goal from Watson.
It was the 1984 national semifinal game in Lake Placid, N.Y., against North Dakota and shortly after the stick of the Sioux’s Jim Archibald broke, Watson was in front of North Dakota goaltender and Grand Rapids native Jon Casey. With 3:09 remaining in OT, Watson took a feed from Bob Lakso and batted the puck past Casey out of the air with the shaft of his stick for a 2-1 win.
“That was the ability he had to score goals,” Sandelin said. “He could score goals in different ways.”
Watson became the second of five Bulldogs to win the Hobey Baker Award — no school has won more of the awards in college hockey — in 1985 after Kurvers became the first from the school in 1984.
Watson said he was surprised to win the Hobey in ’85 because Kurvers had won it the year before and it was highly unlikely the five-year-old award would go to the same school in back-to-back years. Watson was just flattered to be a top-10 finalist, he said.
According to Sertich, the junior forward was a “no-brainer” pick. It wasn’t a surprise to Kurvers either, who said, “We knew he was our best player the year I won it. He was our best player.”
“Bill was one of the most talented college hockey players ever — not just our best player,” said Kurvers, who now scouts professionals and college free agents for the Tampa Bay Lightning as the senior advisor to the general manager. “We’re talking one of the best college hockey players ever — period. That’s how good he was.”
Like Sertich, Kurvers’ most memorable moment isn’t Watson’s goal that sent the Bulldogs to their first NCAA championship game. It was a different meeting in Duluth against Sandelin’s North Dakota team in the second half of the season with first place in the WCHA on the line.
According to Kurvers’ account, Watson had been gone for 10 days including missing a series at Colorado College. Watson returned on a Wednesday and when he was inserted into the lineup, it wasn’t with his usual top linemates at right wing.
“There were a lot of brilliant individual plays, but what I remember the most was he was away from the team for a period of time and when he came back on two days of practice not on his line, he was our best player,” Kurvers said. “What he did that weekend, no one else on our team could have possibly pulled that off.”
After retiring from professional hockey, Watson returned to UMD in 1989 to serve as a student assistant coach for a season and signed on as a volunteer assistant coach for the Bulldogs from 2006 through last spring, when he took a leave from coaching to have shoulder surgery, but remained as the team’s operations assistant. He is a financial representative with Northwestern Mutual in Duluth.
In 2011, Watson became the first Bulldog to play and coach in an NCAA title game during the Bulldogs’ 3-2 overtime NCAA championship victory over Michigan at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. That win for Watson chased off a number of demons from his playing days, including a 5-4 four-overtime loss to Bowling Green State in the 1984 NCAA title game in Lake Placid and the three-overtime loss to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the 1985 NCAA semifinals in Detroit.
“To be a part of that team in 2011 buried a lot of demons for me, I’ll tell you that,” Watson said during the ceremony. “That national championship was one of the greatest moments of my life.”Introduction and Specifications
Even before the GF100 GPU-based GeForce GTX 480 officially arrived, a myriad of news reports and rumors swirled claiming the cards would be hot, loud, and consume a lot of power, not to mention, be late to market. Unfortunately for NVIDIA, in the end, all of those things ended up being true to some degree. In all fairness, the GeForce GTX 480 did end up being the fastest single-GPU available, and things have only gotten better with recent driver releases, but it’s no secret that the GeForce GTX 480 wasn’t everything NVIDIA had hoped it would be.
Of course, NVIDIA knew that well before the first card ever hit a store shelf. And it turns out the company got to work on a revision of the GPU and card itself that would attempt to address the concerns with the GF100 and in turn, the GeForce GTX 480. The fruit of NVIDIA’s labor culminate in the product we’re going to be showing you here today, the GF110-based GeForce GTX 580.
Its name suggests the GeForce GTX 580 is a next-gen product, but make no mistake, the GF110 GPU powering the card is largely unchanged from the GF100 in terms of its features. However, refinements have been made to the design and manufacture of the chip, along with its cooling solution and PCB. The end product is a higher-performing, lower-power card that also happens to be much quieter than its predecessor.
Take a look at the GeForce GTX 580’s specs below and then move on for the deep dive, complete with a full suite of tests in both single and dual-card configurations on the pages ahead...
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580 Exposed
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Specifications & Features
Looking at the above features and specifications, it's obvious that the new GeForce GTX 580 is very similar, if not virtually identical, to the GeForce GTX 480, which was released a few months back. In fact, the GF100 GPU (GTX 480) and GF110 (GTX 580) share the very same architecture and feature set. As such, we'd strongly recommend checking out our coverage of the GeForce GTX 480 launch for the full scoop on what NVIDIA's high-end DirectX 11-class, high-end CPU can do, because we're not going to re-hash it all again here. With that said, the GF110 is a refinement of the GF100 design and some changes have been made to the ROPs and a few various other transistors in the chip.
Like the GF100, the GF110 is comprised of roughly 3 billion transistors and is manufactured using TSMC's 40nm process node. The GPU features 512 CUDA cores, 16 geometry units, 4 raster units, 64 texture units, 48 ROPs, and a 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface. Remember though, only 480 cores are exposed on the GeForce GTX 480--on the GF110 powering the GTX 580, all 512 CUDA cores are enabled. The reference GPU clock is 772MHz, up from 700MHz on the GTX 480. The shader clock on the 580 is also increased to 1544MHz (1401 on GTX 480) and the memory clock is similarly increased from 924MHz on the GTX 480 to 1001MHz on the GTX 580. The combination of additional CUDA cores and higher frequencies alone will result in increased performance over the GTX 480, but we're also told that some enhancements have been made to the GF100's ROPs as well, which result in better Z-Cull performance. Details of those changes weren't made readily available, however.
In addition to the aforementioned items, NVIDIA also tells us that they have been working closely with foundry partner TSMC and have modified the transistors used in some parts of the chip. Whereas the GF100 used TSMC's fastest switching, and also "leakiest", transistors throughout, the GF110 uses a combination of high-speed and lower-speed transistors, to somewhat reduce current leakage in the chip.
Along with the changes at the chip level, NVIDIA has also made some tweaks to the cooler design, the PCB and the power delivery circuitry on the GeForce GTX 580. Unlike the GeForce GTX 480 which used a huge GPU cooler with multiple heat-pipes, the GeForce GTX 580 employs a newly designed Vapor Chamber cooler. Vapor Chamber coolers are not new, but the custom Vapor Chamber used on the GTX 580 is better equipped to handle the intense heat output and temperature fluctuations of a high-end GPU. When used in conjunction with a newly designed adaptive fan controller and fan, the end-game is a cooling solution on the GTX 580 that is significantly quieter than the GTX 480. We should also point out that the fan shroud on the GeForce GTX 580 has been optimized as well and now features a sharp drop-off on one end to aid in better air-flow into the fan, when two cards are butted up close together running in an SLI configuration.
The GeForce GTX 580 also sports a new hardware monitoring feature that monitors current on each of the card's 12v rails and dynamically adjusts voltage to keep total power in check. Currently, this feature works in conjunction with the card's drivers and detects only two applications, Furmark and OCCT. These two applications employ workloads that are known to push the power consumption of some graphics cards so high, that they'll operate outside of their thermal and power envelopes. To protect the card in these situations, power to the card can be managed using this new hardware monitoring feature.Invasions from alien species such as Japanese Knotweed and grey squirrels threaten the economies and livelihoods of residents of some of the world's poorest nations, new University of Exeter research shows.
The damage caused by non-native species like the Harlequin ladybird and mink threaten global biodiversity and cost global economies US$1.4 trillion annually. They can transmit disease, choke river systems and wells, prevent cattle being able to graze and out-compete or eat native species.
This is often seen as a "first world" problem. Experts have now shown these invasions are also threatening the last remaining biodiversity strongholds in the world's most fragile economies. One sixth of the global land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion, including substantial areas in developing nations and areas with diverse species of birds and plants.
A new study says better action is needed to protect people and the environment in areas with high levels of poverty.
Increasing globalization, especially imports of pets and plants, has have caused much of the biological invasions in the past. In the future air travel will be responsible for biological invasions of Africa and Asia. This will be exacerbated by climate change, and intensifying agriculture, which make it easier for invasive species to become established.
Rich nations are accustomed to the nuisance of invasive alien species, and are increasingly taking protective action. The study outlines how poorer economies are crucially reliant on international trade and have little power to regulate imports, so the introduction of highly dangerous species continues unchecked.
Researchers have evaluated the global 21st century threat from invasive species, and have found many developing nations are not capable of responding properly. They hope their findings will lead to governments and NGOs improving schemes to warn communities of the threats of biological invasion and provide solutions.
Dr Regan Early, from the University of Exeter, who lead the study, said: "Rampant globalisation will lead to invasions in countries with the least capability to deal with them. We need more international cooperation, and the US, Australia and nations in Europe to share expertise."
Study co-author Ines Ibañez of the University of Michigan, said: "In the coming years, the negative impacts associated with the introduction of harmful species will likely be exacerbated by other global stressors, such as climate change, landscape degradation and pollution.
"Developed and developing countries -- especially the latter -- may lack the operational infrastructure to prevent and deal with harmful introductions."
Purdue University's Jeffrey Dukes, who also co-authored the study, said that dramatic changes in trade, transport and the environment pose challenges to native species that have evolved over thousands of years to be well adapted to their ecosystems.
"We're rapidly shifting the ground under native species," he said. "While species can presumably evolve to be better adapted to new conditions, we don't know how long that could take."
The researchers collected information about trade, particularly plants and pets and air travel and compared this to information about climate change, wildlife and agriculture to model where invasions are likely to be identified.
Biological invasions in the developing world so far have included the recent influx of Diamondback moths, panama disease, which wiped out banana plantations in central and south America, and prickly pear, which devastated grassland in Africa, leading to cattle being malnourished and people losing their livelihoods. A new strain of panama disease currently threatens the global banana market. It can take more than a decade for an invasion to take hold.
Global threats from invasive species in the 21st Century and national response capacities is published in the journal Nature Communications.Egyptian Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)
Egypt's Defense Minister read a statement on Egyptian TV on Monday evening that appeared to give both President Mohamed Morsi's government and the masses of protesters gathered against him just 48 hours to resolve their dispute. It's not clear precisely what the military is demanding or what they will do if they feel their standards are not met, but many are taking the statement as a threat to intervene.
In February 2011, after two weeks of protests, Egypt's powerful military had helped to usher out President Hosni Mubarak – something that some of Morsi's opponents are hoping the military might do again. Seven days ago, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the army chief who also read Monday's statement, warned that the government and protesters had one week to reach some sort of understanding. You can see this one-week ultimatum referenced in the new statement.
Here is el-Sissi's statement in full, translated into English by NPR. I've also included a second translation, by Cairo Scene, to provide both an alternate read and a sense of the variability of translating Arabic into English. Here's NPR's:
Armed Forces asserts the following: The Armed Forces will not take part in the policy making and will not accept a role outside of the democratic framework set by the people. The nation's national security is under threat following the latest developments, each side should exhibit responsibility. The Armed Forces had previously expected this instability, had given a week for the various forces to reach consensus and end the crisis, but this week passed with no action, which led the people to go on the streets, to express their freedom in a manner that impressed the local and international community. Wasting more time will not result except in more polarization and conflict. The people of Egypt have suffered for so long with no one to save them. Accordingly, the Armed Forces feels obligated to embrace the will of the people who proved they are able to do the impossible. The Armed Forces renews its call and give the political forces a 48 hour ultimatum as a last chance to carry the burdens of this historic situation that the nation is going through. The Armed Forces calls upon everyone that if the people's demands aren't set within the timeframe, based on its historic and national obligation it will have to declare a roadmap and procedures that oversee to include all mainstreams including the youth who started this glorious revolution without excluding anyone
And here's Cairo Scene:
Egypt and the whole world witnessed demonstrations and a departure for the great people of Egypt to express their opinion and will peacefully and in a civilised and unprecedented manner. Everyone saw the movement of the Egyptian people and heard their voice with the utmost respect and attention... It is imperative for the people to have a response regarding the movement by each party with any degree of responsibility in these dangerous circumstances surrounding the homeland. The Egyptian armed forces - as a major party in the equation of the future and based on historical and national responsibility in protecting the safety and security of this nation - emphasises the following: 1.The armed forces refuses to be a party in politics or go against the democratic thoughts that emanate from the people of Egypt of their own free will. 2. The national security of the state is at risk from the developments taking place in the country, which makes it imperative for us to prevent these risks. 3. The armed forces have sensed the seriousness of the present situation and carries with it the demands of the great Egyptian people... A week time-frame had already been set for the demands of the people to be met and with no avail, which has led to the great people of Egypt to take to the streets and voice their dissent. 4. The loss of more time will only bring more division and wrestle, which we warned about and still continue to warn about. 5. The good people of Egypt have suffered and have not found any response to their woes and trouble, and this casts a moral obligation on the armed forces to answer the demands of that people who will do anything if shown the proper amount of attention and support. The armed forces calls for the demands of the great people of Egypt to be met, and we give all political parties 48 hours to resolve all conflicts and issue, and we will not forgive any political party that does not fulfill and meet their responsibilities. 6. The armed forces repeat the urgency of all the people's demands to be met within 48 hours, and if the demands of the people are not met within that time period, then we will be obliged to fullfil our historical duty towards our country and the great people of Egypt to map out a future plan for the country in accordance to the demands of the Egyptian people and with the contribution of all aspects of the population, especially the youth who have proven themselves time and time again, and without exclusion of any political party. Tribute and thanks to the great men of the armed forces who have remained loyal and faithful to their duties towards their country and its great people with all the determination and professionalism in the world.
The key phrase in both versions is in that second-to-last paragraph. What exactly does el-Sissi mean by saying that the Egyptian military would "map out a future plan?" What role does the military see for itself in that sort of a plan? It's not clear.
Late on Sunday, military helicopters hovering over Tahrir Square dropped Egyptian national flags on the anti-government protests, which was seen by many as a show of support.The LA Galaxy met RSL in a playoff round for the fourth time this decade. And for the third time this decade, RSL were eliminated.
Such is the story in the Western Conference, and such is the story in the Knockout Round of the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs following Wednesday night's pretty comprehensive 3-1 Galaxy win. RSL landed the first (and biggest) post-season blow between these two teams when they won the 2009 MLS Cup, and scored another knockdown in 2013, but for the most part this decade it's been all LA, and 2016 proved to be more of the same.
Here's a quick look at what happened:
Playing Off of Gordo
Alan Gordon had a goal and two assists in this one, the type of boxscore stats he'd racked up only once before in his MLS career. Dude's 35 years old and has been around a bit, and is both a better goal-scorer and much better passer than he's generally given credit for, so that should contextualize his night a little bit.
Ema Boateng is going to get the glory on this, and he deserves it -- there aren't more than a handful of players in this league who could pull this off:
But take a look at 1) the wall pass Gordon lays into Boateng's feet on the first goal, and 2) how he slips the defense immediately thereafter, causing just enough hesitation from Justen Glad. The latter's caught for a half-moment between chasing Boateng and trying to cut down the passing lane opened by Gordon's movement -- look at the 17-second mark -- for Boateng to finish with his left.
Most attacks need a fixed point to operate off of in the final third. And by that I don't mean an immobile big man, but rather a center forward who will check to the ball between the central defenders, drag the defense around and open the types of spaces for whch the likes of Boateng, Gio Dos Santos and Landon Donovan all absolutely live.
LD Carries The Water
On a night in which he took sole possession of the record for career playoff assists (he's got 15), what stood out most about Donovan was his commitment to tracking back and helping LA close down space through midfield and on the flanks. His map of measurable defensive actions, via Opta, tells the tale:
LA have been a significantly better defensive team since he un-retired. And it needs to be said that defense isn't only about effort. There are lots of guys who are fast and run a lot, but not in the right spots. Donovan was able to consistently close down lanes before they opened, and force RSL attacks into less profitable spots on the pitch.
The Galaxy aren't yet the defensive team they were two years ago, or four or five (the last three times they won MLS Cup), but they're a lot closer to what they want to be than they were a month ago. Better defense from the wings and up top are big reasons why.
RSL End an Era?
While Donovan looked very much like his younger self, the other great attacking icon of the Western Conference over the last decade, RSL's Javier Morales, looked like a man very much showing his age. He's unable to keep up with the game now that the field has gotten bigger via the 4-3-3. And because of that, RSL aren't able to get him the ball in good spots -- namely, Zone 14 or that beloved left channel, pointed directly toward goal.
In fact they got him doing basically anything else:
Morales can still be a wizard in tight places, but RSL don't play in tight places anymore. They're an open-field team, and Morales just isn't that. Neither, really, is Kyle Beckerman, and it continues to be weird to watch them get asked to play this kind of game week after week.
I suspect that, as of next year, either the 4-3-3 goes or they do. This is not to say that a 4-3-3 can't be a compact, compartmentalized system like the old diamond that served and was served by Morales and Beckerman so well. It is to say that this 4-3-3, which relies so much upon running and driving the tempo of the game, has been a bad match from the start.
And thus, RSL's year is finished. For the Galaxy -- with Gordon playing like this and Gyasi Zardes back in training -- it feels like things are just now getting started.Marc Askat from 442 – Explorations discovered this breathtaking place a pair of months ago. The location is completely intact. According to Marc, you can find as many sculptures on the walls than there are bullets and bombs on the floor of this quarry. It seems that nothing has been touched since 1916.
But note: the place is very dangerous, full of grenades, mortars bomb, bullets, mines, and all of these are active, or still full of explosives. And to be perfect, the roof is highly instable.
Few miles away, The underground church used by the soldiers of the French and British army. Many bullets on the floor, and many bullet impacts on the chapel’s altar that seems to have been done by an automatic riffle.
Here is a photographic journey to “Explosive Quarry”:
Hand grenades that still can be found in the quarry.
“A La Memoire de Nos Morts” – “To the Memory of our deads”
Ancient Citroen Model: “Citroen C4 Boulangère 1928”
An olive branch, symbol of peace – sculpted by a soldier
List of engaged troops in the quarry between 1914 and 1915 and their officers in charge.
Symbol of one of the infantry corps that was engaged in the quarry
Marianne, the French Egerie of the Nation with RF (French Republic) on her Phrygian cap.
A sacred heart, sculpted just next to a Saint Jacques Shell.
One of the many bombs that you can find in this quarry, just next to an bullet.
The broken faced soldier. It isn’t known if the broken face was made in purpose or not. As the “broken faces”, the hardly injured soldier of WW1, was already numerous at the very beginning of this war.The FAU Owls added a new quarterback Thursday. Tyler Cameron, a star quarterback in high school from Jupiter High, joined the Owls after transferring from Wake Forest to FAU.
Cameron arrived on campus after he was accepted into the school’s graduate program within the College of Business. Although Cameron graduated from Wake Forest earlier this year, he still has two years of eligibility and play this upcoming season, which were factors that attracted coach Charlie Partridge.
“Tyler is intelligent and made use of his athletic ability to earn a degree from Wake Forest in just three years,” Partridge, who was attending a football camp Thursday, said in a statement. “It is that same drive that affords him the opportunity to return home and work toward a post-graduate degree. He will certainly add experience and depth in the quarterback meeting room.”
It is unclear if Cameron will play a significant role for Partridge in the upcoming season. Cameron will have to learn the playbook in a quick manner during fall camp. He will also need to adapt to the tempo that Partridge wants his offense to play. He will begin fall camp as the fourth quarterback on the depth chart behind starter Jaquez Johnson, backup Jason Driskel and true freshman Daniel Parr.
Cameron joined Wake Forest in December 2011 as an early enrollee. He played in six games for the Demon Deacons in his sophomore and junior seasons. In those six games, Cameron completed 17 of 40 passes for 140 yards. He has yet to record a touchdown in his career.
Cameron approached Partridge and the rest of the FAU coaching staff after graduating from Wake Forest. When the conversations began, FAU had four quarterbacks on its roster after the spring game in April.
But three weeks ago, the Owls saw Greg Hankerson, their backup quarterback for the past two seasons, transferred from FAU to Norfolk State. That allowed Cameron to possibility to join the team. He will compete for the starting job for 2016 season.
Partridge said after the spring game that he is not sure who will replace Johnson, a senior, following next season. Parr, who enrolled early from Dwyer High, is expected to redshirt. Driskel has yet to play a down for FAU after redshirting last season. That will likely put Cameron on level footing next year with Parr and Driskel if Johnson starts, and finishes, every game this upcoming season.
James Guillory, USA TODAY Sports Greg Hankerson, FAU's backup quarterback behind Jaquez Johnson the last two years, has decided to transfer after falling on the team's depth chart. Greg Hankerson, FAU's backup quarterback behind Jaquez Johnson the last two years, has decided to transfer after falling on the team's depth chart. (James Guillory, USA TODAY Sports) (James Guillory, USA TODAY Sports)
nataylor@tribpub.com; Twitter @ByNateTaylor[digg-reddit-me]Barack Obama was in New York City last night and unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it as I did his Washington Square Park event in September. By most accounts, the event was a huge success as Obama continued to use the new stump speech he premiered at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Iowa earlier this month to great acclaim. Over 1,500 were packed into the Apollo Theater including Dr. Cornell West, Chris Rock, and the Reverend Al Sharpton, who is still on the fence about the Clinton-Obama match-up. Barack has consistently had strong showings in the New York City area and as happened at the two other campaign events I attended in New York, Obama attracted overflow crowds.
Chris Rock introduced Barack to the audience just a few blocks away from Bill Clinton’s Harlem office, slipping in a reference to “that white lady” who happens to be Bill’s wife, and explaining how George Bush has actually met our expectations as a nation:
From Newsday:
“I want to stand up for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for justice. I don’t want to wake up four years from now to find that we missed the opportunity. We cannot wait.”
At this point, it is hard to deny the momentum is building for Obama as many take a second look at Clinton and a first serious look at the race.
A note on Chris Rock‘s performance: Evidently not at his best last night. The line he delivered fell flat, but I think this phrasing, stolen from FoxNews is an improvement.
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Like this: Like Loading...(CNN) -- All 64 students and crew on a Canadian ship that sank 300 miles from the Brazilian coast have been rescued, a Canadian air force officer said Friday afternoon.
The Canadians were aboard the West Island College Class Afloat school ship Concordia as part of a 10-month accredited high school and university program. The ship was traveling between Recife, Brazil, and Montevideo, Uruguay.
"It's a tragedy to lose a ship, but a victory that they were rescued," said Maj. Denis McGuire of the Canadian Joint Rescue and Coordination Center.
The students and crew had been aboard three lifeboats in the Atlantic Ocean and were picked up by two nearby merchant vessels, McGuire said. The Canadians will be transferred to a Brazilian navy ship and taken to shore, McGuire said.
Brazilian media reported that the transfer will be done by helicopter.
The Concordia started sending out a distress signal Thursday, West Island College said on its Web site. It was not immediately known when or why it sank.
The ship left Recife on February 8 and was scheduled to dock in Montevideo next week, the Brazilian navy said in a news release.A CTV News story on a bus-loving Victoria toddler with a rare muscular disorder has sparked an outpouring of support – and the trip of a lifetime.
Three-year-old Dominic Orr was diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome when he was born in Williams Lake and his father left shortly after.
It’s a complex condition that effectively renders the toddler unable to use his muscles properly or even speak.
“I’m his physiotherapist, I’m his |
**UPDATE 8/17/2017 5:00PM PDT:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BX6d3uwjl-j/ Full update @ https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/thunderdome-team-pvc/K7wepRAA-wheres-the-fun-editorial-update It feels like it's been forever since we shipped a playable build to the whole team, but that was a mere 5 hours ago. It's impressive what a playable build has done for focus, however. With everyone running through levels and trying out mechanics, we're distilling out what works and what doesn't at a breakneck pace. Now we're at a cross-roads. "Where's the fun?" We need to figure out which path we want to take, whether it be an acrobatic platformer, a trick-shot run-n-gunner, an enemy horde fighter, or some combination of the above. Our next goal? 10pm, feature lock. Polish, iterate, improve the framerate (which is sadly getting rough on our minspec test computers). Secret goals? We want to try to ship a secret pre-alpha build for our discord buddies to try out and give feedback on. Let's see if we can. --- **UPDATE 8/17/2017 11:47PM PDT:** Full update can be read @ https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/thunderdome-team-pvc/XoXIzJjo-12hrs-left-what-we-learned-when-we-shipped-a-thing-and-how-we-made-the-cut We've been through a lot, but in just under 36 hours we were able to ship a playable, one-level alpha build to our jolly, donut-obssessed family on discord. These folks have been instrumental in providing us real-time feedback, and insatiable in their desire for donut discussion. That said, they've also sent some donuts to the campus to tide us through the night, so there's an upside here somewhere. So far, feedback has been fantastic, thanks for sticking with us! 12 hours to go! --- https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8bjRNjhRH/ o god --- **UPDATE 8/18/2017 11:29PM PDT:** We're compiling and waiting to see if the things we compile are broken. --- **UPDATE 8/18/2017 11:40PM PDT:** We hit a snag with the boss fight but don't worry things are fine everything is fine this is fine. We're fine! --- **UPDATE 8/18/2017 11:52PM PDT:** Two bugs we're looking into. One, you have to mouseover the bottom half of a button for it to work (whoops). Two, the enemy counter doesn't count down when you kill things on level 2. Also whoops. --- **UPDATE 8/18/2017 12:04PM PDT:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8jSxyjz2r/ The engineer and the producer. They will save us. --- **UPDATE 8/18/2017 12:36PM PDT:** We've shipped! Look up! What are you doing here!!!
Title
Body Cancel
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By Stephanie Prendergast
Did you know that severe menstrual pain is not normal?
If you experience severe pain during your period it is possible you are suffering from a very underdiagnosed disease called Endometriosis.
Endometrial tissue lines the uterus. In response to hormonal influences, the endometrium of a healthy uterus thickens and then sheds through the cervix, into the vagnina and out of your body. This is your normal period and it should not hurt.
When endometrial tissue implants outside of the uterus, it also thickens and needs to shed, but there is no outlet. These implants can adhere to other organs such as the bowel and bladder; they can cause cyclical urinary and bowel dysfunction, severe pain, pain with intercourse, bloating, and nausea. One in ten women have endometriosis; it is the leading cause of pain in women, and it is responsible for more than half of all female infertility.
What makes matters worse is that it takes women an average of 11.4 years in the United States to get diagnosed. This is not acceptable. March is Endometriosis Awareness Month and we here at PHRC want to help raise awareness about this disease and the role physical therapy can play in treatment. Many people do not realize that pelvic floor dysfunction is common in women with endometriosis and can be causing some of their symptoms. Pelvic floor physical therapy can help!
While diagnosing and treating endometriosis has been a challenge, the treatment landscape is improving for women. In this post we will examine some of the current management controversies and discuss the range of available treatment options..
PROBLEM: Endometriosis is hard to diagnose.
Endometriosis cannot be detected through diagnostic tests such as ultrasound, MRIs, blood work, or physical examination. The symptoms of endometriosis mimic other syndromes and women with endometriosis often also have comorbid conditions, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Interstitial Cystitis, Vulvodynia, and pelvic floor disorders, leading to further diagnostic confusion. The diagnosis is only truly confirmed from surgical extraction and (+) histological findings. Not enough physicians are adequately trained to surgically diagnosis and treat endometriosis.
Generally speaking, people prefer conservative therapies over surgical options. People rarely rush to the operating room to get relief from back pain, knee issues, etc., and they do not want to rush to the operating room for endometriosis treatment either. As a result, women are often treated with medications empirically without diagnostic confirmation. These treatments can be effective for some people but they can also have significant physiological consequences.
THE PROBLEMS: Oral Contraceptive Pills and Progesterone Treatments
These medications do not cure the disease; they work by suppressing menstruation and therefore also the painful endometrial implants. This may act as a temporary ‘band-aid’ in some cases but can also be less effective in others based on the severity of the disease. The majority of women have their symptoms return when they stop taking the medication. Oral contraceptives may lead to the development of vulvar pain in certain women, adding a second pain condition into the picture. Oral contraceptives have a negative effect on libido and can be associated with mood disorders, both of which have a significant impact on a woman’s quality of life.
THE PROBLEMS: Intrauterine Devices (IUDs)
The insertion of a small device into the uterus can also help the symptoms by suppressing menstruation. However, the insertion process and adjustment to the IUD is more painful in women who have not yet had children. Certain women experience significant ongoing side effects such as headaches and nausea from the hormones. Possibly uncomfortable for several months as the body gets use to it.
THE PROBLEMS: Gonadotropin-Releasing Analogs Treatments
These medications stop the production of estrogen which in turn ‘starves’ the endometrial implants. This also ‘starves’ other tissues of the estrogen they need, such as the vulva and peri-urethral tissues, which can lead to vulvar pain and urinary urgency and frequency. Estrogen is necessary for health bone density and these medications therefore have side effects of bone density loss. Endometriosis symptoms can begin when a woman first gets her period. The average age of menarche in the United States is 13. These medications create ‘chemical menopause’ in the bodies of teenagers and the end result can be teenage women with osteoporosis. The symptoms return when the medication is stopped in most woman and may not be completely controlled while on this medication.
THE PROBLEM: Hysterectomy or Prengnancy
The glaring problem with the hysterectomy suggestion is many of the women who need help are in their childbearing years and have not yet had children. Due to a lack of comprehensive interdisciplinary care, young women are often told a having a baby may be their solution if they do not want a hysterectomy. This information is understandably shocking to teenage women with endometriosis and their families.
THE SOLUTIONS: Differential Diagnosis and Interdisciplinary Treatment Options
In the last decade there has been an exponential increase in the amount of evidence-based information on pelvic pain, including endometriosis. We know that endometriosis itself can be a source of pain. We also know endometriosis is associated with other treatable pelvic pain syndromes and impairments, such as Interstitial Cystitis, Vulvodynia, and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. The key to successful treatment is to identify which impairments are causing the most bothersome symptoms and start to treat them with the appropriate therapies. This needs to be individualized per patient, each woman with endometriosis will present with different sources of pain despite having the same disease.
Earlier this month I was able to participate in a program called Tendo (Link:http://thepelvicexpert.leadpages.co/tendo2016/), organized by Heba Shaheed of The Pelvic Expert. Heba organized 20 experts from around the world to participate in a series of video lectures on Endometriosis management. There is no charge for this service, please sign up and join the discussion!
During my lecture, I discuss the following therapeutic options. We recognize that many of things may be new concepts for people, giving them the opportunity to explore conservative therapies that may dramatically improve their quality of life.
Physical Therapy pain physiology education manual therapy case management restore function temporary lifestyle modifications Home Exercise Programs: therapeutic and general fitness dry needling
Behavior Health Strategies CBT mindfulness training sex therapy hypnosis pain psychology education
Complimentary Integrative Medicine yoga acupuncture nutrition education/diet modifications rolfing/massage/bodywork
Pharmacologic Simple analgesics Neuropathic analgesics NMDA antagonists Cannabis Antidepressants/antianxiety Benzodiazepines
Female Pelvic Pain: Hormonal topical estradiol/testosterone systemic hormonal therapy
Interventional Pain Management Trigger Point Injections Peripheral Nerve Blocks Ganglion Impar Blocks Caudal Epidural Pulsed RF/ Ablation/ Cryoablation Botulinum Toxin Neuromodulation Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Ketamine Infusions
Surgical Intervention Skilled extraction of endometrial implants
Home program/self care
It is important to understand that most women with pelvic pain may not tolerate or may not respond to certain therapies or treatments and often more than once. Hopefully knowing this will make women feel less ‘broken’ as they work through the process of finding the treatment that is right for them. Women can and do get better with persistence and a solid medical team!
Finally, a documentary titled Endo What? will be released around the world. If you are suffering from Endometriosis or know someone who is this movie is a must-see. You can view the movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq03TyziL58.
All my best,
Stephanie Prendergast, MPT
Stephanie grew up in South Jersey, and currently sees patients in our Los Angeles office. She received her bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology from Rutgers University, and her master’s in physical therapy at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. For balance, Steph turns to yoga, music, and her calm and loving King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, Abbie. For adventure, she gets her fix from scuba diving and global travel.The latest blow to Viacom TV networks came this week when Sony announced that it was cutting Viacom networks from its PlayStation Vue web-based TV service. Sony framed the move as a value-cost calculation.
“We have determined that removing the bundle of channels from Viacom is the best way for us to continue to offer the most compelling value to our fans,” Dwayne Benefield, head of PlayStation Vue, said in a blog post on Tuesday.
During the conference call, Mr. Dooley framed the news as “an ongoing negotiation” and said that he was “highly confident and comfortable that Viacom’s channels will be on the successful” streaming platforms in the future.
The company’s results included a pretax charge of $206 million for the quarter related to exit packages for Viacom’s ousted leadership team. That included $138 million for separation payments and $68 million for the acceleration of equity-based compensation.
Philippe P. Dauman, Viacom’s former chief executive, left the company this summer with a total severance package valued at about $72 million. Mr. Dooley, a longstanding partner to Mr. Dauman who stepped in to lead the company after his ouster, is leaving the company next week. He stands to receive $62.4 million upon his departure.
Last week, the company named Robert M. Bakish as its new interim chief executive. Mr. Bakish, who started at Viacom in 1997, most recently served as chief executive of the company’s international unit.
Mr. Bakish introduced himself to investors on Wednesday, outlining how his unit had delivered strong results even as the rest of Viacom had faced challenges.
Viacom’s international business has more than 200 TV channels that reach a total of 3.9 billion subscribers. During his tenure, the company’s international sales have doubled.Following a six-year absence from the UFC, Tamdan McCrory returned to the Octagon on Saturday night and looked better than ever with a third-round submission victory over Josh Samman.
McCrory displayed serious Brazilian jiu-jitsu on the ground, whether he was on the top or bottom, as he made Samman work for every single position he got during the fight and kept fishing for submission after submission.
Finally in the third round after battering Samman with punches, McCrory finally locked on a triangle choke and with his vice grip tightening, the New Jersey native knew he was about to put a stop to the fight.
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With Samman gurgling under his breath as the oxygen began to disappear, McCrory tightened up the hold and got the tap with just 50 seconds remaining in the final round.
McCrory finishes Samman with a SICK triangle choke, gives @JoeRogan the 'hardest high five' of his life #UFCOrlando https://t.co/P7HHWLdhHZ — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) December 19, 2015
"I could have done a little bit better but a win’s a win and you’ve got to be gracious no matter what," McCrory said after the win.
"I’m looking forward to a little bonus in my check."
McCrory become a very interesting addition to the middleweight division with knockout power and a serious ground game following his first Octagon win since defeating Ryan Madigan back at UFC 96 in 2009.
The last time McCrory appeared in the UFC was all the way back at UFC 101, when he was still fighting at welterweight. He ended up taking five years off from fighting before finally decided to make another run in 2014.
McCrory earned his way back to the UFC with a pair of victories and then put on a grappling clinic while taking on Samman in Orlando.In 2016, birders celebrated the centennial of the signing of the United States’ Migratory Bird Treaty. In 1918, the resulting legislation became one of the country’s first major pieces of environmental law. Today birders reap the benefits of the act, which barred, among other things, the hunting of migratory birds during nesting and mating seasons.
In Nature Conservancy magazine’s most recent issue, TNC’s migratory birding program director, Dave Mehlman, wrote about the importance of the act and a few key birding sites. Here are 10 more places he likes to visit that have benefited from the Migratory Bird Act.
Spring
Devil’s Den, Connecticut
Visitors to the Conservancy’s largest contiguous Connecticut preserve, Devil’s Den, will see the greatest diversity of birds during the area’s peak migratory season: April to June. Look for migrants with such colorful names as the yellow-throated vireo, the worm-eating warbler and the rose-breasted grosbeak.
Disney Wilderness Preserve, Florida
Each spring, hundreds of endangered wood storks arrive at the preserve in central Florida where they flock to the bald cypresses to roost. Scientists closely study these pairs to help gather information to further protect the species. Other birds found there include sandhill cranes, Florida scrub-jays, and the reintroduced red-cockaded woodpeckers.
Grand Isle, Louisiana
In 2016, 168 species of birds came through Grand Isle, Louisiana, on their way north for the summer. Each year in April birders celebrate the barrier island’s role as a crucial stopover point for songbirds flying over the Gulf of Mexico. While there, meet other birders at annual spring festival.
Port Susan Bay, Washington
Each spring, birds traveling up the Pacific Flyway stop at bays like Port Susan Bay and nearby Skagit Bay to rest and refuel among the marshes and mudflats. See snow geese, bald eagles, western sandpipers and short-eared owls are here at different times of the year.
Baxter’s Hollow, Wisconsin
In spring, visitors flock to Baxter’s Hollow to see its wildflowers, but birders can also find more than 40 species of breeding birds there, such as the worm-eating warbler and the hooded warbler. For the casual birder, check out tips for birding from your car before you go.
Summer
Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, Arizona
As many as 15 hummingbird species migrate through Ramsey Canyon Preserve and nearby Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve near the Arizona border with Mexico. Mehlman suggests visiting in August for the best chance to see migratory birds. Mark off birds on the Patagonia-Sonoita birding checklist as you go.
Great Egret Marsh, Ohio
The birds for which Great Egret Marsh Preserve is named can be seen wading the shallows there in summer. A 1.2-mile trail loops through the marsh to give visitors a peek at birds like the great blue heron and spotted sandpipers.
Fall
Pascagoula River Watershed, Mississippi and Louisiana
Mehlman suggests visiting the Pascagoula River watershed in Mississippi and Louisiana in September to see migrating swallow-tailed kites. The Conservancy owns five preserves in the nearby Pearl River basin that help protect habitat for the migrating raptors.
Block Island, Rhode Island
See raptors including peregrine falcons and double-crested cormorants pass over Block Island, where the Conservancy has worked for more than a generation. The Biodiversity Research Institute has an ongoing multi-year project studying the birds of prey as they pass through Rhode Island.
Winter
Cosumnes River Preserve, California
Travel south from Sacramento to visit Cosumnes River Preserve to see birds like northern pintails, northern shovelers, American wigeons, American coots and, one of the area’s most popular visitors, sandhill cranes, as they winter over in the preserve’s grasslands, forests and wetlands. Keep an eye out for scheduled photo walks and bird surveys, and review the preserve’s tips for seeing the cranes here. — NCMDeep in the West Virginia woods, in a small cabin powered by the sun and the wind, a bespectacled, white-haired man is giving a video tour of his basement, describing techniques for the long-term preservation of food in case of “an emergency.”
“We don’t really think of those today, because it’s so convenient to go to the supermarket,” he cautions. “But you know, you’re planning because the supermarket may not always be there.”
The electrical grid could fail tomorrow, he frequently warns. Food would disappear from the shelves. Water would no longer flow from the pipes. Money might become worthless. People could turn on each other, and millions would die.
Such concerns are typical among “survivalists,” a loose national movement of individuals who advocate self-sufficiency in the face of natural or man-made disasters, gathering online or in person to discuss the best ways to prepare for the worst.
What is atypical is that the owner of this cabin is Roscoe Bartlett, the longtime Republican congressman from Maryland. Over the past two decades, he has developed a following as one of the country’s premier proponents of preparedness against impending doom, even urging the more than 80 percent of Americans who live in urban areas to relocate.
“There are a number of events that could create a situation in the cities where civil unrest would be a very high probability,” Bartlett predicts in “Urban Danger,” a documentary that features the cabin tour. “And I think that those who can and those who understand need to take advantage of the opportunity when these winds of strife are not blowing, to move their families.”
Bartlett, 86, is a patent-holding scientist, an engineer and a farmer. He has also become one of the country’s most endangered Republicans.
Maryland Democrats redrew his reliably red congressional district this year to include a swath of blue-leaning Montgomery County, leading analysts to call the second-oldest member of the House an underdog in his November reelection bid against financier John Delaney (D).
But the possibility of electoral defeat does not appear to have changed Bartlett’s focus — to alert Americans to a future fraught with danger. On Sept. 30, barely a month before Election Day, he will be in Spokane, Wash., more than 2,000 miles away from his district, serving as the keynote speaker at the second annual Sustainable Preparedness Expo.
Bartlett, who declined a one-on-one interview, recently sat around a Capitol Hill conference room table with a group of like-minded experts to unveil legislation that calls for “every citizen to develop an individual emergency plan to prepare for the absence of government assistance for extended periods” and for communities to become capable of providing 20 percent of their own power, food and water if necessary.
The electric grid, everyone agreed, is vulnerable to natural disasters and terrorist attacks. “This is possibly the most serious threat the United States faces right now, because we are so utterly unprepared for it,” said Richard Andres, a senior fellow at National Defense University.
The grid could be crippled at least four different ways, Bartlett says: terrorist assaults on power substations, a cyberattack, a massive solar storm and an electromagnetic pulse attack.
Bartlett has for decades warned of the harm of an EMP attack — a nuclear detonation in the atmosphere that could fry computers and anything with an electric circuit — in his writings, in legislation and in late-night speeches on the House floor, though experts differ on the seriousness of the threat. Some agree the dangers are real, while others say such an attack is unlikely and the potential effects remain uncertain.
At a Go Green Energy Expo organized by his office in Frederick last month, Bartlett mentioned “One Second After” and asked, “How many of you have read the book?” He asked the same question at the recent Capitol Hill event.
The 2009 novel imagines an EMP attack on the United States, focusing on efforts to survive by residents of a North Carolina mountain town. “One Second After” was written by William R. Forstchen, who is also known for co-writing counterfactual historical novels with former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).
Forstchen paid tribute to Bartlett as “a true public servant” in the book’s acknowledgments, and Bartlett returned the praise, inserting a statement into the Congressional Record in 2009 advising Americans to read it.
Bartlett became interested in preparedness during the Cold War, when people and businesses commonly built bunkers in case of a nuclear attack. Yet, it seemed that no one was thinking about the next step.
“When you came out of the fallout shelter, what then?” Bartlett wondered.
Bartlett’s warnings aren’t necessarily tinged with fear; the scientist seems to view self-reliance as a puzzle to be solved, just as he appears to take a special pride in showing off the efficiencies of his “off-grid” West Virginia cabin.
“It’s just plain fun, when you’re looking at the challenge: What do I have to do so I’m independent of the system?” Bartlett asks in “Urban Danger.”
Bartlett bought his property in the Monongahela National Forest in 1980. It cost about $1,000 to build the cabin, he says in the documentary, with much of the materials brought in by cart because the road was so rough.
The main attraction in the kitchen is a wood-burning cookstove, which also heats the house and its water. There is also a small propane stove, for use “as long as propane is available,” and a hand-operated pump that brings water up from an underground spring.
“Whatever level you’re concentrating on, being as self-sufficient as you can, as quickly as you can, is going to be the right thing to do,” he says.
In “America’s Cities,” a separate documentary with similar themes, Bartlett approvingly cites the financial adviser and author Howard Ruff — an influential figure among survivalists — who counseled that “the most important investment you can make” is to have a year’s supply of food for your family, and “the second-most important investment” is a thousand-dollar stash of silver coins and jewelry to bargain with in an emergency.
“This is great advice for anybody,” Bartlett says. “And maybe you can’t buy a year’s supply of food. All the Lord expects you to do is what you can do.”
Bartlett is a devout Seventh-day Adventist and an active member of his congregation in Frederick. When he enrolled at Columbia Union College, he planned to become a minister. He chose to become a scientist instead but earned an undergraduate degree in theology.
Like Bartlett, many of the people in the two documentaries are Adventists. Bartlett’s office confirmed that the films’ producers connected with the lawmaker because of their shared faith. (The producer of “Urban Danger” declined to comment on his relationship with Bartlett, and the director of “America’s Cities” did not respond to requests for comment.)
The idea that the end of the world is near, and that people will be judged, is a key tenet of Adventist beliefs. “It’s right at the core,” said Ronald Numbers, a University of Wisconsin professor who has written books on the faith’s history.
But Numbers estimated that only a small percentage of Adventists prepare for end times by moving to remote locations and storing food.
For Bartlett, the lifestyle his cabin affords him is ideal, regardless of whether disaster strikes.
“I have no television, and you can’t really get radio there very well.... We just don’t turn it on,” Bartlett says of his cabin in “America’s Cities.” “I enjoy being isolated. And I ask myself, you know, if the world fell apart I wouldn’t know it here, would I?”T-Mobile USA’s top executives recently met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, as well as Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Mignon Clyburn and their legal advisors, urging the FCC to promptly complete the licensing process for its 600 MHz licenses so that it can deploy 5G and LTE service on the spectrum as soon as possible.
The "Un-carrier" also took the opportunity to thank the commission for its efforts to identify additional licensed spectrum in its pending Spectrum Frontiers proceeding, but noted that the existing 3.5 GHz framework should be revised “because the current structure will not drive investment” and doesn’t align with international use of the band for 5G.
“We explained that the 3.5 GHz spectrum is a core band for 5G deployment around the world and that the U.S. will miss a huge opportunity if it doesn’t create a structure aligned with global 5G requirements,” the company said in an ex parte filing.
Mobile World Congress 2019 Attend the 2-Day Executive 5G Panel Series FierceWireless is returning to Barcelona, Spain, during Mobile World Congress 2019 with a two-day Executive 5G Panel Series at the Fira Congress Hotel, conveniently located across the street from the MWC Convention Center. The panel events will take place on Feb. 25-26 and will cover 5G and The Fixed Wireless Access Opportunity, Taking 5G Indoors, and Making 5G Ubiquitous. Attendees will have the opportunity to network and hear from 5G leaders including Verizon, Vodafone, Orange, Sprint, NTT Docomo, Boingo Wireless, Qualcomm, and more over the course of two days.
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The company’s desire to see the 3.5 GHz rules get changed isn’t new. The carrier told FierceWirelessTech in a statement last month that the current rules for licensing the CBRS band should be revisited to create more certainty and align with 5G requirements globally.
CBRS, which stands for Citizens Broadband Radio Services, was created as a three-tiered system that includes unlicensed and licensed users, with an auction for the licensed usage to occur sometime in the future. CBRS Alliance members have been making progress to get the new ecosystem up and running and through the FCC certification process. While it’s not known how deep any rule changes might go, a lot of CBRS stakeholders don't want to see the FCC change the rules at this juncture.
All four big U.S. wireless operators also are members of the CBRS Alliance, along with founding members Google/Alphabet, Federated Wireless, Nokia, Qualcomm, Intel and Ruckus, with Ericsson joining later as a sponsor member. The organization now has more than 40 members.
RELATED: Ruckus, Rise Broadband cite concerns about potential 3.5 GHz CBRS rule changes
Meanwhile, T-Mobile executives apparently believe these and other spectrum issues are important enough to warrant a visit to the FCC. The executives, which included CEO John Legere, CTO Neville Ray, General Counsel Dave Miller, Government Affairs VP Steve Sharkey and Government Affairs SVP Kathleen O’Brien Ham, also recommended the FCC make more licensed spectrum available as part of the Spectrum Frontiers proceeding and that spectrum such as the terminated FiberTower licenses should be returned to the FCC for reauction.
The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), of which T-Mobile is a member, also urged the FCC to auction FiberTower’s 650 licenses that previously were terminated to allow other carriers the opportunity to bid on the licenses and use the spectrum for 5G.
FiberTower holds interests in a total of 738 24 GHz and 39 GHz licenses. Under the proposed deal with AT&T, AT&T would get control of 39 GHz licenses covering about 99.8% of the U.S. population, according to a preliminary FCC review.
As for the recently completed 600 MHz auction where T-Mobile was the top bidder, T-Mobile executives told the FCC that it is working cooperatively with the broadcasting community to ensure there are sufficient resources available for a successful transition. But they also urged the chairman and commissioners to hold broadcasters to the 39-month timeframe set forth in the rules.
T-Mobile is the first company to commit to building a nationwide 5G network, and it will use the 600 MHz band, as well as 200 MHz of spectrum in the 28/39 GHz bands, to deploy 5G, which will include low-, mid- and high-band spectrum.
Rather than focusing on fixed wireless, the Bellevue, Washington-based operator expects to see a new class of applications and solutions that will be built for nationwide 5G.Copyright by WPRI - All rights reserved
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – One of the former owners of the Thayer Street restaurant at the center of the Gordon Fox scandal has been indicted on one charge that he bribed the former House speaker.
Raymond Hugh, one of the original partners in Shark Bar & Grille, is charged with one count of bribing a public official, according to the attorney general's office. A grand jury reported out a secret indictment this week. He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 18.
Fox is currently serving a three-year prison sentence after admitting he was paid $52,500 when he served a vice-chair of the Board of Licenses in order to help the owners of Shark Bar & Grille secure a liquor license in 2008. Fox was also charged with wire fraud and filing a false tax return.
The investigation was completed by the state police and the attorney general's office.
Reached Friday, Hugh told WPRI.com he "absolutely never" paid a bribe to Fox. He said Fox was "my lawyer for many, many years" and was hired to assist Shark Bar with advice on zoning, parking and dealing with Brown University.
"I'm just a local small businessman trying to make a living," Hugh said. "I've done nothing that nobody else in the state hasn't done regarding trying to open a business. I followed the rules."
Asked why he believed Fox pleaded guilty to accepting the bribe, Hugh said, "that's something I will probably never know."
"I didn't need to bribe anyone for such a beautiful business," Hugh added.
Hugh's lawyer, Michael Lepizzera, said his client intends to plead not guilty at the Nov. 18 arraignment.
"We will file a request for discovery and the govt will have to turn over whatever evidence they rely upon to support that allegation," Lepizzera said. "That's where it goes from there."
Law enforcement officials have never named two other partners in Shark Bar accused of bribing Fox, but corporate filings show Bahij Boutros and Joseph Dalomba were owners of the bar.
On the day Fox pleaded guilty, Dalomba confirmed he did speak to law enforcement, but declined to say if he was involved in paying off Fox.
In March, Boutros filed a petition with Judge Michael A. Silverstein to place the business in receivership. The filing came after the city's Board of Licenses moved to strip Shark of all of its business licenses. The board has not voted on the future of the restaurant.
Continue the discussion on FacebookIndia sorry for secretly dumping Bhopal waste
Updated
The Indian government has apologised for secretly dumping toxic waste from the 1984 Bhopal gas leak - the world's worst industrial disaster - in an incinerator two years ago.
About 40 tonnes of toxic waste still at the site of the Union Carbide pesticide plant that spewed deadly gas over Bhopal city was taken at night in 2008 to an incinerator at Pithampur, 230 kilometres away.
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, in the latest attempt to end controversy over the disaster's legacy, says the continuing clean-up has to be done openly.
"I admit as minister that it was wrong to have brought those 40 tonnes of waste to Pithampur," Mr Ramesh, who did not hold the environment role at the time, said.
"Whatever we do needs to be done with adequate transparency.
"I am ready to admit publicly that transporting that waste from the Union Carbide factory secretly during the night hours was wrong."
According to the government, 3,500 lives were lost in the immediate aftermath of the Bhopal gas leak, but rights group calculate that 25,000 people died in the years that followed.
One year after poisonous gas from the factory poured into Bhopal's slums, local authorities collected 350 tonnes of waste and left it in the factory yard. Most of it remains there untreated.
The government has vowed to finally clean up the site and to improve compensation after public outrage over last month's court verdicts into who was responsible.
Seven Indian managers were given prison sentences of just two years each after being found guilty of criminal negligence, triggering a furious response from survivors' groups.
The government also pledged to again try to extradite Warren Anderson, the American who was chief executive of Union Carbide at the time of the disaster and who now lives in New York state.
- AFP
Topics: world-politics, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, government-and-politics, india
First postedChina's President Xi Jinping has asked the PLA's newly-formed 84 large military units to prepare themselves for combat and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities in electronic, information and space warfare.
The President asked the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to improve their joint operation capabilities and technology level. Xi asked the units of the PLA to keep themselves ready for combat and study wars.
In PLA terminology, "new-type" fighting capabilities generally refers to capabilities of engaging in electronic, information and space operations.
Xi has asked the PLA to conduct more combat exercises and give priority to building "new-type" fighting capabilities, according to state-run China Daily.
The President, also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), spoke to the commanders of the new units on Tuesday.
This development comes in the background of Beijing preparing to counter the US deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor missiles in South Korea, whose powerful radars could see through most of the part of China, including its missile development programme.
FLEXING MILITARY MIGHT
As it expanded strategic influence, China is also flexing its military might, especially in the neighbourhood over the territorial disputes with India, Japan and countries in the South China Sea.
All 84 of the new units are at combined corps level, which means their commanders have or soon will be promoted to a rank of either major general in the Ground Force, Air Force and Rocket Force or rear admiral in the Navy.
Though the PLA has not disclosed how these units were set up, it is likely that they were created through the regrouping of existing forces rather than recruiting new personnel, because the 2.3 million-strong Chinese military is still engaged in cutting its troops by three lakhs.
At a CMC conference in December, Xi ordered the military's structure to be adjusted and optimised, calling for a smaller but capable and flexible military, the Daily reported.
PLA REFORM
The establishment of the units is the latest move in a massive reform the PLA is undergoing.
The unprecedented reform began in November 2015, when the Central Military Commission unveiled a blueprint for the PLA's development.
The commission pledged to establish a leaner and more efficient command chain to reduce the number of non-combatant personnel and departments and to build the PLA into a mightier force capable of winning modern wars.
Since then, the PLA has set up a headquarters for its Ground Force, founded a Strategic Support Force dedicated to electronic, information and space operations, and established a Rocket Force to replace the former Second Artillery Corps.
The previous four top PLA departments-staff, politics, logistics and |
point?
This change may not seem like such a big deal, especially when compared to the upheaval involved in moving from Python 2 to Python 3. And in terms of its visible impact on end users of Python, it probably isn’t; unless you’re carefully measuring your Python programs’ memory use and that memory use is dominated by string storage, you won’t notice much advantage from the fact that Python can now store many strings using only one byte per code point. And unless you were routinely working with code points outside the Basic Multilingual Plane, you probably never would have noticed that length and iteration and indexing for them was weird.
But it is still an important change. And it’s one that makes Python more right. I know it’s popular these days to promote UTF-8 as the One True Encoding, and that several popular new-ish languages are using UTF-8 as the backing storage of their string type (and as a result, exposing some of the quirks of variable-width encoding to users of those languages). But for a high-level language, I am increasingly of the opinion that Python’s approach is correct.
Unicode, for people who don’t already have at least a passing familiarity with how it already works, and especially if they’re coming from a world of ASCII or one of the popular 8-bit encodings, can seem very weird, and a lot of programmers already fall into one of those categories. Adding in the quirks of how Unicode actually gets represented as bytes in memory, for a language where manual memory management and other lower-level programming tasks are rare, is probably imposing too much cognitive load.
So abstracting away the storage, and providing a single clear API in terms of Unicode code points, is the right thing to do. And PEP 393’s change to the internal storage of strings was another step down the path of Doing the Right Thing™ in Python’s history, and I think more people should know about it.On a recent summer afternoon, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Judas Priest's debut album, Rocka Rolla, and ahead of an upcoming US tour to coincide with the band's just-issused 17th studio album, Redeemer Of Souls, singer Rob Halford sat down with MusicRadar to reflect on the music of his youth.
“It’s interesting to consider all the different kinds of music that really connected with you during your life," Halford says. "When you’re growing up, each record can be a new discovery – 'epiphanies' would be the right word – and bit by bit, they combine and work together to help shape parts of your personality. And, of course, if you’re a musician, every record can play a huge role in your development."
He pauses thoughtfully, then adds, “The music that touches you in your youth is magnified as you get older. Each record can be a virtual time machine – all you need is to hear a second or two and you go back to that place and time when you first heard it. It’s a brilliant feeling when music touches you so profoundly and stays with you through time."
On the following pages, Halford talks about 10 albums that were life-changers for him, ranked in no particular order – "They're just the way they kind of popped into my head, but that can be the best way, right? You're just remembering and reacting. And some of these bands and artists I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen in concert at the time, and that makes the connection, for me, even stronger.”
Judas Priest's Redeemer Of Souls can be purchased on Amazon and at iTunes. For a list of upcoming tour dates and for tickets, visit Judas Priest's official website.Our website, flux7.com, runs inside a Docker container and last weekend we learned that Flux7’s investment in Docker is really starting to pay off. Using Docker we were quickly able to recover the website from a buggy code change, quickly reproduce and fix the bug. Here’s what happened.
A Few Weeks Ago….
Flux7.com is written in Wordpress and runs inside a Docker container on a c3.large instance in the AWS us-east-1 region. We used to run the website on a VPS host until recently switching to AWS in order to avoid slow load times. When we made that move, in my enthusiasm for Docker I took what I think was a clever step. I put the entire site in a Docker container using a jbfinks Wordpress container (https://github.com/jbfink/docker-wordpress), and then created a private Docker registry on another AWS instance in order to push the entire container there.
On February 11th….
I ran a simple script to commit the container and push it to our registry, just as I do every night. I ran the following code:
flux7-checkpoint() {
CONTAINER_ID=`sudo docker ps | grep $FULLNAME | cut -f1 -d' '`
IMAGE_ID=`sudo docker commit $CONTAINER_ID`
sudo docker tag $IMAGE_ID $FULLNAME
sudo docker push $REGISTRY/$NAME
}
That created a snapshot that we’ll call I0.
On February 15th….
I woke up that morning to the following message reporting that flux7.com was down.
"PingdomAlert DOWN:
<a href="http://flux7.com/">flux7.com</a> (<a href="http://flux7.com/">flux7.com</a>) is down since 02/15/2014 09:39:13AM"
I immediately got onto Skype and contacted Anuj Sharma, who was optimizing the website for SEO. Anuj told me that the crash resulted from a code change he’d pushed from the UI to the functions.php file, so I ssh’ed into the server and got a website backup running in about 60 seconds. That resulted in this message:
“PingdomAlert UP:
<a href="http://flux7.com/">flux7.com</a> (<a href="http://flux7.com/">flux7.com</a>) is UP again at 02/15/2014 9:41:13AM, after 2m of downtime.”
Within 60 seconds I was able to create a dev environment enabling Anuj to debug in a sandbox. When he gave me the green light a short time later, I was able to switch back to the latest version of the website, thanks to Docker and Linux Containers. I’m sure the issue could have been resolved in other ways, but it was Docker that saved us that morning.
Anuj’s change that brought the site down was made inside a container that we’ll call container X. It was running using Docker image I0, but several changes had been made during the previous four days due to site activity. So when I saw the “site down” message, I took the following steps:
Took a snapshot of X and named the image I2, which took about 15 seconds.
Stopped X, which took ~5 seconds.
Started a new container Y, using I0, the snapshot taken 4 days prior, at port 80. Flux7.com was then up and running, albeit with 4-day-old data. That took only 20 seconds.
Started another container Z using I2, the image of the broken container, at port 8080 on the same host and then created a sandbox so that Anuj could fix the problem that brought the site down. Taking a snapshot of X in step #1 was crucial as it allowed me to create a sandbox in no time. It was an exact replica of the production environment at the time it failed. Bug re-creation took 0 seconds.
Thanks to the zero bug re-creation time, Anuj was able to fix the problem with container Z running at port 8080 in only 20 minutes. I tested his change in container Z, ran some basic QA and then ran a “docker diff” on Z to make sure that only the functions.php file had changed.
Next, I followed these steps:
Ran docker diff Y to ensure no major changes occurred to flux7.com during down time. Fortunately, there were none, which points to one of Docker’s strengths.
Took a snapshot of container Z and named it image I3.
Stopped container Y, which was running flux7.com.
Started container F (which stands for “final”) at port 80 using image I3 from step #2 above.
Bingo! Flux7.com was restored to its actual state without bugs, and also included Anuj’s changes.
Other Possible Solutions…
Let’s look at how this problem could have been addressed in other ways.
1. I could have used AWS AMIs. We use AWS-based cold Disaster Recovery to snapshot our instance every night to both us-east-1 and us-west-1 regions. But, if we had used this approach, starting the DR instance would have taken 1.5 minutes or more. Next, I’d have had to test it and update the route 53 settings, and DNS propagation would have taken another 10 minutes. That would have resulted in a much longer downtime than the mere 2 minutes required for our Docker solution.
2. Since the entire PHP code and assets are in github, I could have pulled the “known to work” code and hoped the bug was in the code, not the DB. But I felt strongly that would be a risky solution, even though it would have taken only roughly 1–2 minutes.
3. I could have used a known good state of the code and DB, if it existed. However, repairing all that plumbing with mysql and wp-config would have been time consuming and more prone to error.
Where Docker Really Demonstrated Its Strengths….
1. Extremely fast snapshots allowed sandbox creation for hot fixing without delaying restoration into production.
2. Extremely fast spinup minimized flux7.com’s downtime, as well as the time needed to run a backup. It took only two commands, and neither took over 10 seconds to run.
3. The ability to diff took care of the age-old issue of a DR that is tracking changes while running in DR and then porting them in. Docker diff made it super easy to recognize that no changes had been made to flux7.com.
The upshot is that here you are on flux7.com reading about our experience!
Where Docker Could Have Been Better….
1. The docker containers push kept failing with an internal server error, which is a known bug (https://github.com/dotcloud/docker/issues/4115). The error message was “The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request. Either the server is overloaded or there is an error in the application.“
That was the price paid for using non-production ready software, but a price I’m willing to continue paying because I know that Docker will fix that bug soon. Until then, I’ll simply create backups using docker export.
2. While using Docker, I really wished that it had bash autocompletion. I frequently found myself running docker ps and docker images in order to look up information. You can read more about this at https://github.com/dotcloud/docker/issues/2180. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the bug has already been fixed, which shows how rapidly Docker’s pace of development is going.
Overall, it was an amazing experience! Kudos to the Docker guys! I believe I owe you lunch the next time we’re in the Bay Area.At least two people have been killed and more than a dozen others wounded in a shooting at a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida.
A shooting at a Florida nightclub early Monday morning (Monday afternoon NZ Time) killed two people and wounded at least 17, police said.
The attack apparently occurred at a teen party, billed as a "Swimsuit Glow Party," at Club Blu in Fort Myers, according to local media.
Police detained three people and said the area around the club had been deemed safe, police Captain Jim Mulligan said in a statement.
Stephanie Tinoco/TWITTER Two are reported dead and up to 17 injured after a shooting at a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida, US.
It was not immediately clear what triggered the violence.
READ MORE:
* Florida shooting: At least 50 dead, 53 injured at Pulse
* Orlando gunman Omar Mateen was likely a long-term steroid user
* Florida shooting: Gunman Omar Mateen's calls to 911 revealed
Two people have been shot dead at a Florida nightclub.
Three people remained hospitalised Monday morning, Cherly Garn, a spokeswoman for Lee Memorial Health System, said in an email. All others were treated and released. Two people brought to two other area hospitals were also treated and released, Garn said.
Ages of the patients ranged from 12 to 27, Garn said.
The club is in a strip mall that includes a daycare centre and is across the street from a large apartment complex. Officers had the area taped off as crime scene technicians scoured the strip mall parking lot for clues.
The shooting comes more than a month after a nightclub shooting in Orlando that was the deadliest shooting in modern US history. The shooting at the Pulse nightclub on June 12 left 49 victims dead and 53 others wounded.
The violence at Club Blu erupted about 12:30am on Monday (4.30pm NZ Time), Mulligan said. There were two active crime scenes, police said. Several hours later a street in the area remained closed as police investigated.
In a statement, authorities said the Fort Myers police and the Lee County Sheriff's Office were "actively canvassing the area looking for other persons who may be involved in this incident."
The names of the victims were not immediately available.The constitutional bosh propounded by charlatans like James J. Kilpatrick during the Civil Rights era was aimed at convincing the nation that racial equality was unconstitutional--instead of being, as the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments make clear, commanded by the amended Constitution. Those arguments live on under the surface of the bilge peddled by figures from Glenn Beck to Tom Coburn.
But the current far-right campaign is aimed at an even broader target: it seeks to convince us that the Constitution somehow forbids the United States from becoming a modern nation-state, with an integrated economy, a rational health-care system, a unified national citizenship, an open electoral process, and a system of bedrock civil and political rights.
This summer, I will be posting a series of short essays on what I consider to be the most dangerous unfounded claims about the Constitution currently floating around the airwaves and legislative halls. Each of us, I suppose, could make his or her own list of constitutional myths. The ones I list below are my top ten. I invite nominations from readers of their own.
Nominators should bear in mind that "you are a liberal and therefore you don't count," "even to suggest that idea is outrageous," "my civics teacher taught me the opposite in 1978," and "you teach creative writing and so you should shut up" don't (how can I put this politely?) qualify, in the strictest sense, as constitutional arguments. Beware, too, of any argument that includes the phrase "no amendment can change," unless you are referring to the rule of equal suffrage in the Senate. And don't try "everybody knows what the founding fathers were really thinking," unless you can find and cite some pretty dog-nab convincing evidence in the text and the actual historical record.
I'll be posting explanations of each of my top ten while listening to yours. In constitutional terms, it seems to me silly to wish everyone a good summer. Make no mistake: We are the midst of a very dangerous political crisis. Gridlock in Washington is pushing the United States toward a first-ever default on payments on the national debt. Conservative judges are champing at the bit to strike down the most important piece of progressive legislation since the 1970s, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, on the invented excuse that it somehow "regulates inactivity," a prohibition mentioned nowhere in the Constitution and never really detected in it by anyone until the day after the passage of the Act. Angry conservative majorities in state capitols are rewriting the social compact, chipping away at federal authority over interstate commerce, reasserting the old Confederate doctrine of state control over American citizenship, and, most alarmingly, creating new and frankly partisan restrictions on the very right to vote.It is possible that the vacuum state we live in is not the absolute lowest one. In many spontaneously broken field theories a local minimum of the effective potential, which can be quite stable, can exist for certain parameter values. The Universe, starting at a high temperature, might have supercooled in such a local minimum. If such a metastable minimum is separated by a high enough barrier from the absolute minimum, the tunneling rate from the ‘false’ to the ‘true’ vacuum may be slow enough to not have occurred in one Hubble-spacetime-volume1,2. In that case our vaccum state might suddenly disappear if a bubble of real vacuum formed which was large enough for the bulk energy gain (equal to the product of the volume and the potential drop between false and true vacua) to exceed the surface energy density in its walls (proportional to the barrier potential). Such a bubble would expand at close to the speed of light, with enormous energy release, leaving a large attractive (ρ = −p < 0) cosmological constant in the interior, with a geometry close to anti-deSitter space1. This space-time is singularity-free if a strict vacuum, but any non-zero particle density would cause singularities to develop quickly. Although the persistence of our present vacuum for 1010 yr implies that a spontaneous transition via tunnelling is unlikely, we can ask whether a new generation of elementary particle accelerators might trigger such an unfortunate event. We show here that this chance, fortunately, is completely negligible since the region inside our past light cone has already survived some 105 cosmic ray collisions at centre of mass energies of 1011 GeV and higher.Fareed speaks with Michael Porter, a professor at the Harvard Business School, about a groundbreaking new Social Progress Index – and how the United States is lagging on many indicators. Watch the video for the full interview or on GPS this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN.
You were shocked at what you learned about America.
Yes, I think this wasn’t the picture of America that I think many of us Americans have – that we are a leader, a social leader, that we've advanced the ball in terms of opportunity and the needs of our citizens. And it shows anything but that.
So if you look at the Social Progress Index, on the whole, what's striking is the top countries are New Zealand, Switzerland, Iceland, these small countries. But basically then a lot of European countries and Canada beat the United States.
Correct.
The United States is 16, Ireland is ahead of it, Japan is ahead of it, Britain is ahead of it, Germany is ahead of it.
Yes.
What does that tell us? What does that measure?
So this effort tries to really, for the first time ever, take let's call it the social or community or quality of life dimensions of a society, and capture those in a rigorous measurement framework – using the best data available in the world. That's the best and objective measures of these various multiple things. But of course, social progress is a broad concept.
Right. And that's where you break it down into these subcategories. Health and wellness, Japan is number one, Italy is number two, Switzerland is number three. You have to go all the way to 70 to get to the United States.
It's an area where the U.S. – if you actually look objectively, we're just not delivering. We actually spend the most money on this of any country in the world, probably in all of recorded history, in terms of our health care budget every year. But in terms of the actual outcomes – and by the way, the Social Progress Index measures the outcomes you achieve, not how much you spend, not how much you care, not whether you have a big heart…Chris Tanev likely isn’t the first name that comes to mind when listing critical members of the Vancouver Canucks. He’s not flashy and doesn’t add a lot of offence to a Vancouver blueline that’s shy on points. He’s not overly physical either, with only two minor penalties and just 16 hits to his credit all season.
But make no mistake: he is essential to the Canucks. What Tanev lacks in flash he more than makes up for in substance, providing Vancouver with extremely good defensive play now and the promise of growth for the future. All this at a very reasonable $4.45 million cap hit.
Consider, for example, what he has done for regular partner Alex Edler.
Edler and Tanev have spent the vast majority of the season together, playing more than 12 hours together at five-on-five, as opposed to just a couple hours apart. They’ve been leaned on in the toughest possible situations, matching up against top opposition lines more than any other defence pair on the team and starting three shifts in the defensive zone for every two they begin in the offensive end.
Despite being thrown to the wolves, they’ve been a very effective pair.
Puck possession numbers show their value in a very real way. The Tanev/Edler duo has a 48.2 per cent Corsi rating, meaning the Canucks only narrowly get out-shot when they’re on the ice, even though these two players are taking on the nastiest minutes the coach can give them. In much easier minutes, the rest of the Canucks have just a 46.8 per cent rating.
Putting that another way, Tanev and Edler together are able to bridge half of the gap between a poor Vancouver roster and the league average, even while the coach assigns them to check the Ryan Getzlafs and Anze Kopitars of the NHL.
Even more impressive, with Tanev and Edler out on the ice together, the Canucks outscore their opponents by a narrow margin.
But Edler hasn’t been anywhere close to as effective away from Tanev. His underlying metrics collapse and Vancouver’s goals-against numbers shoot up, climbing from just over two goals against per hour to more than three.
Meanwhile, Tanev gets even better when he’s away from Edler. In more than two hours apart, Tanev’s Corsi number shoots up to a spectacular 57.5 per cent, and Vancouver’s opponents haven’t scored even one goal.
You may not immediately notice Tanev on the ice, but he’s incredibly effective. Year after year, Vancouver’s shot metrics shoot up the moment he steps on the ice. The Canucks do a good job of getting shots when he’s out there, but more importantly, the opposition struggles to get into shooting position.
Over the last three seasons, Vancouver has on average allowed 28.9 shots against per hour, a total which ranks in the bottom-third of the league. The best team in the NHL over this span, Los Angeles, has allowed 25.7. With Tanev on the ice, the Canucks allow just 25.6.
Tanev is extremely mobile, highly intelligent and good with the puck. He rarely makes mistakes, as his low penalty minute totals attest. And really, his ability to go unpenalized against extremely good forwards ought to have him in the Lady Byng race. He’d be a key player on any team, but he’s especially important to Vancouver because of the unique role he fills.
In effect, he is the bridge between two very different teams.
In part, Tanev belongs to an older version of Canucks, the Alain Vigneault-coached editions of the team that represent a high point in franchise history. Henrik and Daniel Sedin led those teams offensively and, of course, they still lead this one. Alex Edler and Dan Hamhuis play prominent roles on the blueline now, as they did then. Jannik Hansen, Alex Burrows and Chris Higgins are also holdovers.
A younger version of Tanev was there, too, playing games as a rookie for the club that went to the Stanley Cup final in 2011. But unlike most of those holdovers, Tanev is just 26 and still in the prime of his career.
As a result, Tanev meshes with the new young core better than any of the Vigneault-era holdovers. It hasn’t been an easy transition for the Canucks, as they endeavour to turn over responsibility to a new core that includes Bo Horvat, Brandon Sutter, Ben Hutton and drafted prospects such as Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann. But having someone as reliable as Tanev is, and will continue to be, a major boon to this transition.
By any measure, Tanev is an exceptional, if unassuming, player who can be slapped on the ice in difficult situations – a sort of band-aid that can be trusted to stop the bleeding. There isn’t one other defender on the roster that coach Willie Desjardins can send out with the same degree of confidence.
Tanev is crucial to the Canucks for all these reasons and also because he’s a rare point of certainty of this roster. He’s still in the middle of his prime years and signed for a team-high four seasons beyond this one. Where most players the Canucks have signed long-term are either in their 30s or of dubious effectiveness, Tanev will turn 30 at the end of his current contract, and likely be effective and reliable for the duration.
He is absolutely essential to the Canucks. If he’s not the most important player on the roster, who else is?Since the prayer Jesus taught his disciples (The Lord's Prayer) is apparently an abbreviated version of the Amidah ("Standing," in Hebrew) or Eighteen Benedictions, I think it is important for Christians to be familiar with this central prayer of Jewish religious life. The prayer is very ancient, some of the changes to it being made 200 years before the time of Jesus. The prayer is also very beautiful, full of scriptural quotations and allusions.
Every Jew was obligated to pray the Eighteen Benedictions daily; however, in times of emergency, one was permitted to pray a shortened form of the Eighteen, such as the Lord's Prayer.
Rabbi Eliezer, a younger contemporary of Jesus, taught this abbreviation of the Eighteen: "May your will be done in heaven above, grant peace of mind to those who fear you [on earth] below, and do what seems best to you. Blessed are you, O LORD, who answers prayer." Note the phrases "your will be done" and "in heaven above... [on earth] below" as in the Lord's Prayer. Also note the parallel between "grant peace of mind" in the prayer Eliezer taught and "deliver us from evil" in the prayer Jesus taught.
The headings in capital letters (e.g., "THE GOD OF HISTORY") that summarize each benediction or blessing are for reference only, and are not to be recited. The characterizations of God, which always follow "Blessed are you, O Lord," also can be used to summarize each benediction, and, if strung together, comprise a nice description of God:
God is the shield of Abraham;
the one who revives the dead;
the holy God;
the gracious giver of knowledge;
the one who delights in repentance;
the one who is merciful and always ready to forgive;
the redeemer of Israel;
the healer of Israel's sick;
the one who blesses the years;
the one who gathers Israel's dispersed;
the King who loves righteousness and justice;
the one who smashes enemies and humbles the arrogant;
the support and stay of the righteous;
the one who rebuilds Jerusalem;
the one who causes salvation to flourish;
the one who hears prayer;
the one who restores the divine presence to Zion;
the one whose Name is the Beneficent One and to whom it is fitting to give thanks; and
the one who blesses Israel with peace.
THE AMIDAH
1. THE GOD OF HISTORY:
Blessed are you, O Lord our God and God of our
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the
great, mighty and revered God, the Most High God who bestows
lovingkindnesses, the creator of all things, who remembers the good deeds
of the patriarchs and in love will bring a redeemer to their children's
children for his name's sake. O king, helper, savior and shield.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the shield of Abraham.
2. THE GOD OF NATURE:
You, O Lord, are mighty forever, you revive the
dead, you have the power to save. [From the end of Sukkot until the eve
of Passover, insert: You cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall.]
You sustain the living with lovingkindness, you revive the dead with great
mercy, you support the falling, heal the sick, set free the bound and keep
faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like you, O doer of mighty
acts? Who resembles you, a king who puts to death and restores to life,
and causes salvation to flourish? And you are certain to revive the dead.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who revives the dead.
3. SANCTIFICATION OF GOD:
[Reader] We will sanctify your name in this world just as it is sanctified in the highest heavens, as it is written by your prophet: "And they call out to one another and say:
[Cong.] 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.'" [Isa. 6:3]
[Reader] Those facing them praise God saying:
[Cong.] "Blessed be the Presence of the LORD in his place." [Ezek. 3:12]
[Reader] And in your Holy Words it is written, saying,
[Cong.] "The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah." [Ps. 146:10]
[Reader] Throughout all generations we will declare your greatness, and to all eternity we will proclaim your holiness. Your praise, O our God, shall never depart from our mouth, for you are a great and holy God and King. Blessed are you, O Lord, the holy God. You are holy, and your name is holy, and holy beings praise you daily. (Selah.) Blessed are you, O Lord, the holy God.
4. PRAYER FOR UNDERSTANDING:
You favor men with knowledge, and teach mortals understanding.
O favor us with the knowledge,
the understanding and the insight that come from you.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the gracious giver of knowledge.
5. FOR REPENTANCE:
Bring us back, O our father, to your Instruction;
draw us near, O our King, to your service;
and cause us to return to you in perfect repentance.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who delights in repentance.
6. FOR FORGIVENESS:
Forgive us, O our Father, for we have sinned;
pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed; for you pardon and forgive.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who is merciful and always ready to forgive.
7. FOR DELIVERANCE FROM AFFLICTION:
Look upon our affliction and plead our cause,
and redeem us speedily for your name's sake,
for you are a mighty redeemer.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the redeemer of Israel.
8. FOR HEALING:
Heal us, O Lord, and we will be healed;
save us and we will be saved, for you are our praise.
O grant a perfect healing to all our ailments,
for you, almighty King, are a faithful and merciful healer.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the healer of the sick of his people Israel.
9. FOR DELIVERANCE FROM WANT:
Bless this year for us, O Lord our God,
together with all the varieties of its produce, for our welfare.
Bestow ([from the 15th of Nissan insert:] dew and rain for) a blessing upon the
face of the earth. O satisfy us with your goodness, and bless our year
like the best of years.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who blesses the years.
10. FOR GATHERING OF EXILES:
Sound the great shofar for our freedom,
raise the ensign to gather our exiles,
and gather us from the four corners of the earth.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who gathers the dispersed of his people Israel.
11. FOR THE RIGHTEOUS REIGN OF GOD:
Restore our judges as in former times,
and our counselors as at the beginning; and remove from us sorrow and
sighing. Reign over us, you alone, O Lord, with lovingkindness and
compassion, and clear us in judgment. Blessed are you, O Lord, the King
who loves righteousness and justice.
12. FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF APOSTATES AND
THE ENEMIES OF GOD:
Let there be no hope for slanderers,
and let all wickedness perish in an instant.
May all your enemies quickly be cut down,
and may you soon in our day uproot, crush, cast down
and humble the dominion of arrogance.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who smashes enemies and humbles the arrogant.
13. FOR THE RIGHTEOUS AND PROSELYTES:
May your compassion be stirred, O Lord our God,
towards the righteous, the pious, the elders of your people
the house of Israel, the remnant of their scholars, towards proselytes,
and towards us also. Grant a good reward to all who truly trust in your
name. Set our lot with them forever so that we may never be put to shame,
for we have put our trust in you.
Blessed are you, O Lord, the support and stay of the righteous.
14. FOR THE REBUILDING OF JERUSALEM:
Return in mercy to Jerusalem your city, and dwell in it as you have promised.
Rebuild it soon in our day as an eternal structure,
and quickly set up in it the throne of David.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who rebuilds Jerusalem.
15. FOR THE MESSIANIC KING:
Speedily cause the offspring of your servant David to flourish,
and let him be exalted by your saving power,
for we wait all day long for your salvation.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who causes salvation to flourish.
16. FOR THE ANSWERING OF PRAYER:
Hear our voice, O Lord our God; spare us and have pity on us.
Accept our prayer in mercy and with favor,
for you are a God who hears prayers and supplications.
O our King, do not turn us away from your presence empty-handed,
for you hear the prayers of your people Israel with compassion.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who hears prayer.
17. FOR RESTORATION OF TEMPLE SERVICE:
Be pleased, O Lord our God, with your people Israel and with their prayers.
Restore the service to the inner sanctuary of your Temple,
and receive in love and with favor both the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayers.
May the worship of your people Israel always be acceptable to you.
And let our eyes behold your return in mercy to Zion.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who restores his divine presence to Zion.
18. THANKSGIVING FOR GOD'S UNFAILING MERCIES:
We give thanks to you that you are the Lord our God
and the God of our fathers forever and ever.
Through every generation you have been the rock of our lives, the shield
of our salvation. We will give you thanks and declare your praise for our
lives that are committed into your hands, for our souls that are entrusted
to you, for your miracles that are daily with us, and for your wonders and
your benefits that are with us at all times, evening, morning and noon.
O beneficent one, your mercies never fail; O merciful one,
your lovingkindnesses never cease. We have always put our hope in you.
For all these acts may your name be blessed and exalted continually,
O our King, forever and ever. Let every living thing give thanks to you and
praise your name in truth, O God, our salvation and our help. (Selah.)
Blessed are you, O Lord, whose Name is the Beneficent One,
and to whom it is fitting to give thanks.
19. FOR PEACE:
Grant peace, welfare, blessing, grace, lovingkindness and mercy to us
and to all Israel your people. Bless us, O our Father, one and
all, with the light of your countenance; for by the light of your
countenance you have given us, O Lord our God, a Torah of life,
lovingkindness and salvation, blessing, mercy, life and peace.
May it please you to bless your people Israel at all times
and in every hour with your peace.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who blesses his people Israel with peace.
© David Bivin of Jerusalem Perspective. All rights reserved. Used with permission.In a tiny Northern California town called Vina, there's a winery that's definitely off the beaten track. That might be because this region's better known for olive groves and cattle ranches than grapes. For these, vintners, though, it's spiritual work.
When I visit New Clairvaux winery, two people are filtering wine, getting it ready for bottling. On the surface, they make an odd pair. One is Aimee Sunseri, the winemaker heading up operations here. The other is Brother Christopher Cheney, a monk. He grew up in California's wine country, but never thought he'd make the stuff, until a religious conversion led him to the Abbey of New Clairvaux in 2004, just a few years after the brothers planted grapes.
"Actually, the winery and my vocation have grown up together," he says.
The 20 brothers of New Clairvaux are Trappist monks, a subset of Cistercians. They live in a walled-off cloister, and rarely leave the property.
"There's people who don't understand that. They think, 'What are you guys doing? There are so many needs in the world, and here you guys are wearing your pajamas, singing in a barn,' " Brother Christopher says with a laugh.
He's talking about their long white robes and their beautiful but unadorned plywood church. The brothers spend hours every day in silence and prayer.
"I really believe that it's important that there are people who are totally, 100 percent devoted to prayer," Brother Christopher says.
But the monks need to work to survive. They live off their own labor — not donations — and winemaking is one of their efforts.
Bro |
This Kickstarter aims to fund an anthology of nearly twenty scenarios for Grin. The book will be over a hundred pages with illustrations. The single thread that ties the scenarios in the compendium together is that they all take place in our own world’s past, often with a supernatural twist.
We have an exciting line up of guest writers contributing a wide range of horror scenarios. Some scenarios are designed for a single Master and Player. This unique two-person format allows for the exploration of ideas of madness and perception in ways games normally could not.
Silver and Bone: A Viking raiding party sack a village in the cold north and find more death than they bargained for. (By Eugene Fasano)
Cold Iron: A lone grizzled crusader takes a captive girl, accused of witchcraft, to be burned at the stake. (Single Player) (By Eugene Fasano)
Dark as Blood: A classic, gothic, tale of man and beast in a small slavic village. (Single Player) (By Eugene Fasano)
Corpselight: A group of sailors is lead astray by a light in the fog and shipwrecked during a storm, only to find themselves on a strange island. (By Eugene Fasano)
The Gold Eagle: A Roman patrol meets unexpected trouble in a misty forest at the edge of the empire. (By Eugene Fasano)
The Kin of Cain: A band of would-be Viking heroes arrive to solve a town’s monster problem, but they, as their quarry, are not what they seem. (By Eugene Fasano)
The Gate: A soldier returns home from the great war and searches a large house in a swamp of America’s deep south. (Single Player) (By Christion McGowan)
Fool Me Once: The first in a cycle of three interwoven games. (By Paul Spanagel and Clara Kjelsberg)
Fool Me Twice: The second part of a cycle of three games. (Two Players) (By Paul Spanagel and Clara Kjelsberg)
Heart of the Forest: The conclusion of the cycle, set in Medieval England, in the small village of Keld and the vast forest that lies beyond it. (Single Player) (By Paul Spanagel and Clara Kjelsberg)
Inhabitants: A party of colonists set foot on the soil of untamed land and begin clearing the untamed, ancient forest that covered their new haven -- unfortunately, it wasn’t their forest to clear. (By Alex Boden)
A Mask Beneath the First: A group of villagers are trapped in a convent, doors barred to stop a plague from spreading outside its walls; however, the disease is not the only reason they're locked inside. (By Alex Boden)
The Hand that Feeds: A millionaire's private museum, a shriveled hand, and a deadly game of cat and mouse. (By Xanillis Grimm)
Silence Among The Pines: The governor's envoys sent to the local tribes have not returned. You're ready to rescue or avenge your countrymen, but nothing could have prepared you for what lies beyond the walls of your fragile colony. (By Ian Claflin)
And more...
Alex Boden is a recent Tufts grad who spent most of her 4 years fencing, co-founding and running the Tufts Tabletop Gaming Club, teaching an anthropology class on D&D, and writing/running custom RPG games. Her other hobbies include bourbon, global health and security, and devising cruel and unusual ways to mess with her players.
Christion McGowan has been a game master for over ten years, in many settings, but primarily Dungeons and Dragons. He strives to host a wide variety of players and use role playing games to learn more about people from different walks of life. This publication is his first official adventure, and he is thrilled to publish with Arcana Games. His primary inspirations are Patrick Rothfuss and H.P. Lovecraft, favoring a descriptive, atmospheric writing style.
Kyle Fassnacht has been designing tabletop games for two years. In addition to his personal projects, he has contributed to Arcana Games RPG, Blood and Bone, and is currently collaborating with them on another game.
Austin Whitescarver is a long time Game Master and Cthulhu enthusiast who lives in Seattle, where he enjoys fighting with axes and chasing women with foreign accents.
Paul Spanagel and Clara Kjelsberg have between the two of them been telling stories through play for over a decade. Their offerings for this anthology hearken back to the dangers of the dark forest, and the ancient things that call it home.
Ian Claflin is a science fiction writer that has been scaring his friends and colleagues with disturbing stories and terrifying RPG scenarios for over a decade.
Xanillis Grimm is a ten year professional Dungeon Master for over combined thirty players. With a specialization in horror and thriller narratives, he crafts and tells stories for dozens of people every day.Yesterday it was the International Day of Happiness, an initiative founded by the UN in 2012. This day is to remind the world, and its leaders, that happiness and well-being would be a more beneficial thing to optimize for, than just economic growth. As many different viewpoints people on this planet have about this and that, I think most of us, at the end of the day, can agree that we all just want a long and happy life.
In this post, I will try to summarize the most interesting findings in the World Happiness Report, which was also released yesterday, and which I have now found some time to go through. The report shows the findings of annual surveys towards around 1000 people per country in 155 different countries, asking about happiness, positive affect, and well-being. They have been conducting these surveys since 2012, when the resolution that founded the International Day of Happiness was adopted. The backbone of this study, is asking the Cantril Ladder question to around 1000 people in each of the 155 countries in the study:
“Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you
stand at this time?”
But how do we know that cultural differences between countries doesn't make the answer to this question different, depending on your upbringing and thoughts on happiness in general? One strong argument in the report, is that migrants that have moved from one country to another, tend to answer in line with the country they currently live in, rather than the country they are from. What country you live in does actually affect your happiness.
The top countries, ie. the ones with the highest average answer to the Cantril Ladder question above, over the years 2014-2016, are the following. They have an average score of around 7.5.
1 Norway
2 Denmark
3 Iceland
4 Switzerland
5 Finland
And the bottom five countries are, with an average score of 3.4-2.7:
151 Rwanda
152 Syria
153 Tanzania
154 Burundi
155 Central African Republic
The whole list can be studied here.
The natural followup question once you start studying this list, is of course: what makes Norway the happiest country on earth, and what makes Central African Republic the unhappiest? The makers of the report have of course gone to great lengths to answer this question.
When compiling results from research over the years, the following factors have been found to explain almost all of the variance in happiness between countries. So to put it simply, Norway has very strong numbers on these factors, while Central African Republic has very poor numbers.
GDP per capita
Social support (the answer to the question “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?”)
Healthy life expectancy
Social freedom (the answer to the question “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?”)
Generosity (the answer to the question "“Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?”)
Absence of corruption (answers to the questions “Is corruption widespread throughout the government or not?” and “Is corruption widespread within businesses or not?”)
In the model used in the report, the factors above have different weights. The most important factor for a high rating on the Cantril Ladder question, by far, is social support. (Again we see evidence that supports the conclusion of the Harvard Study of Adult Development – that good relationships is the key to a happy life.) So GDP per capita isn't as important to happiness as many of us might presume.
Other factors that according to research would affect the average happiness level in a country are these two, but due to insufficient or unreliable data, they are not used as explanatory factors for happiness in the World Happiness Report.
Unemployment
Inequality
There is a whole lot more information in the report, but for a summary, I think I'll end here. Maybe I'll return on some other interesting topics in this report, for example what countries have improved their score the most in the last few years, and why.Urgent:
Should Gay Marriage Be Legal? Vote Here in Urgent National Poll.
Urgent:
Should Gay Marriage Be Legal? Vote Here in Urgent National Poll.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday he's hoping for a bipartisan deal by the end of this week on a sweeping immigration bill to secure the border and allow eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally."All of us have said that there will be no agreement until the eight of us agree to a big, specific bill, but hopefully we can get that done by the end of the week," said Schumer, D-N.Y., who's leading efforts by eight senators to craft the legislation. "That's what we're on track to do."Schumer spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation" alongside Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., another leader of the immigration talks, who suggested there could be a tough road ahead for the contentious legislation."There will be a great deal of unhappiness about this proposal because everybody didn't get what they wanted," McCain said. "There are entrenched positions on both sides of this issue as far as business and labor."A deal on immigration is a top second-term priority for President Barack Obama, and his senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Sunday that the bill being developed in the Senate is completely consistent Obama's approach — even though the Senate plan would tie border security to a path to citizenship in a manner Obama administration officials have criticized.Pfeiffer didn't answer directly when asked on "Fox News Sunday" whether Obama would sign legislation making a path to citizenship contingent on first securing the border, as negotiators in the Senate are doing. But he suggested Obama was supportive of the Senate plan."What they are looking at and what has been talked about in the Gang of Eight proposal is 100 percent consistent with what the president is doing so we feel very good about it," Pfeiffer said. "And they are looking at it in the right way."Obama has stressed that a path to citizenship should not have major hurdles in front of it, and some immigration advocates believe that's what a requirement for a secure border would amount to. Obama's Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, has rejected the argument that border security must be achieved before a comprehensive immigration package or any pathway to legalized status can be done.But Republicans involved in the Senate negotiations have made clear that border security is a must for them before those living here illegally can be allowed to move toward citizenship."We are going to secure that border and it will be tied to a pathway to citizenship or there will be no deal," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., another negotiator on the bill, said Sunday.Graham also suggested that disagreement over a new low-skilled worker program could still be hanging up an overall immigration deal — even after an agreement a week ago between the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.The hard-won deal between labor and business would ultimately allow up to 200,000 workers a year into the U.S. to fill jobs in construction, hospitality, nursing homes and other areas where employers now say they have a difficult time hiring Americans or legally bringing in foreign workers. Even after the deal was struck, some industries, such as construction, continued to voice complaints about the terms.Without offering details, Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that negotiators were revisiting the low-skilled worker deal. But he issued a statement a short time later saying he was confident the agreement would hold.Graham sounded optimistic overall, predicting the bill would pass the 100-member Senate with 70 votes in favor. Senators believe an overwhelming bipartisan vote is needed in the Democratic-led Senate to ensure a chance of success in the Republican-controlled House. Floor action could start in the Senate in May, Schumer said.Meanwhile two lawmakers involved in writing a bipartisan immigration bill in the House, Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., sounded optimistic that they, too, would have a deal soon that could be reconciled with the Senate agreement."I am very, very optimistic that the House of Representatives is going to have a plan that is going to be able to go to a conference with the Senate in which we're going to be able to resolve this," Gutierrez said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union".Minik Wallace (also called Minik or Mene) (ca. 1890 – October 29, 1918) was an Inuk brought as a child in 1897 from Greenland to New York City with his father and others by the explorer Robert Peary. The six Inuit were studied by staff of the American Museum of Natural History, which had custody. The adults and one child died soon of tuberculosis (TB), and one young man was returned to Greenland. After deceiving Minik by a staged burial, the museum put the skeleton of his father on exhibit. Adopted by the museum's building superintendent, William Wallace, Minik did not return to Greenland until after 1910. A few years later, he came back to the United States, where he lived and worked until dying of influenza in the 1918 pandemic.
Early years [ edit ]
Minik spent his early childhood in northern Greenland among his people, the Inughuit, the northernmost band of Greenlandic Inuit (Eskimos, as formerly called). He met Robert Peary when the explorer employed men of Minik's band during several Arctic expeditions.
The move to the US [ edit ]
In 1897, Robert Peary brought Qisuk, his son Minik, and four other members of the Northern Greenland band to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Although Peary had invited the adults on the trip, it is unlikely they were clearly informed as to its purpose. Some agreed to travel to see new places; others did not want to be parted from relatives. Peary had promised that they would be able to return to Greenland. Soon after their arrival, the group became the objects of study, together with the Cape York meteorite which Peary had brought. The museum staff had not made plans for their care, nor for their return.[1]
Minik's father [ edit ]
The adult Inuit soon contracted tuberculosis (TB), a widespread infectious disease in those years, which also occurred among indigenous peoples. Three adults and one child died. (Another young adult, the sixth member of the group, survived and was returned to Greenland.) One of the first to die was Minik's father, and the boy suffered. William Wallace, chief curator and superintendent of buildings, adopted the boy and cared for him. Minik pleaded for a proper burial for his father, with the traditional rites which only he as an Inuk could give. The curatorial staff wanted to preserve Qisuk's body for study, research that would be impossible if his remains were buried. They staged a fake burial for Minik's benefit: filling a coffin with stones for weight, and placing a stuffed "body" covered with a cloth on top. They performed the burial by lantern light, with Minik attending.[1]
The staff sent Qisuk's body to Wallace's estate, which had a workshop for processing the skeletons of specimens. Qisuk's remains were de-fleshed, and the skeleton was mounted on an armature and returned to the museum for display. Wallace did not tell Minik about this nor of his own part in it. But, about 1906, New York papers published a story that stated Qisuk's skeleton was displayed in the museum. Minik learned through classmates' comments as the story circulated.[1]
Wallace supported Minik in requesting that Qisuk's remains be returned to the son for traditional burial. The museum director, Hermon Carey Bumpus, evaded their requests, as well as other questions about the Inuit exhibits.[1] Bumpus refused to admit the museum had Qisuk's skeleton. In the past, he had accused Wallace of financial irregularities and impropriety, and the curator resigned in 1901. Wallace continued to ask the museum for aid in financially supporting Minik, which Bumpus refused. The director tried to avoid investigation of the Inuit case.[1] Minik was never able to reclaim his father's bones.
Return to Greenland [ edit ]
Minik tried to get Peary to return him to Greenland, and finally Peary and his supporters made the arrangements. Although they told the press they had sent Minik back "laden with gifts", the Canadian author Kenn Harper found documentation that the Inuit was returned to Greenland with little more than "the clothes on his back."
By that time, Minik had forgotten Inuktun, his first language, and much of Inuit culture and skills; his life in Greenland was difficult. The Inuit took him back, and taught him the adult skills he needed. He became a fine hunter. He acted as a guide and translator for visitors, playing a key role in the Crocker Land Expedition of 1913-1917. At that time, Minik decided to return to the United States, and did so in 1916.
Return to the USA [ edit ]
After his return to the US, Minik worked at a variety of jobs; eventually he found work in a lumber camp in North Stratford, New Hampshire. His employer, Afton Hall, invited him to live with the Hall family, who treated him much like a son. Along with many of Hall's family and workers, Minik died during the 1918 flu pandemic, on 29 October 1918. He was buried in the Indian Stream Cemetery in Pittsburg, New Hampshire.
Inuit burial [ edit ]
In 1986, Kenn Harper wrote a book about Minik, entitled Give Me My Father's Body. Convinced that the remains of Qisuk and the three adult Inuit should be returned to Greenland, Harper tried to persuade the Museum of Natural History to do this, as well as working through the "red tape" of the US and Canadian governments. In 1993, Harper succeeded in having the Inuit remains returned. In Qaanaaq, he witnessed the Inuit funeral ceremony for the remains of Qisuk and the three tribesmen taken to New York so long ago.
In popular culture [ edit ]
The Brooklyn-based history band Piñataland recorded "If Ice Were Warm" on their 2008 album Songs for the Forgotten Future, Vol. 2. They wrote it from Minik's view.
. They wrote it from Minik's view. The historical podcast The Memory Palace dedicated an episode to Minik Wallace entitled "400 Words for 79th Street".[2]
See also [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Kenn Harper - Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo, New York: Washington Square Press, 2001; revised edition Minik: the New York Eskimo: an Arctic explorer, a museum, and the betrayal of the Inuit people (2017)
, New York: Washington Square Press, 2001; revised edition (2017) Axel Engstfeld - "Minik The Lost Eskimo", (PBS: The American Experience series, 2008)
series, 2008) Peter Lerangis - Smiler's Bones (Scholastic, 2005)
References [ edit ]SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea offered to hold talks with North Korea aimed at reopening a jointly run factory park near the armed border between the two countries just three weeks after their last attempt at dialogue faltered amid bickering over protocol.
A South Korean police officer stands guard on an empty load connecting the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) inside the North Korean border with the South's CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine), just south of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, north of Seoul May 3, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
The offer, made on Thursday, was for talks to be held on Saturday at the Panmumjom truce village that straddles the border, the South’s Unification Ministry said in a statement.
It was made through a telephone hotline that was restored by the North late on Wednesday and comes amid pressure from owners of small and medium businesses at the shared Kaesong industrial zone that are incurring losses.
“The proposal takes into account the big problems facing the firms of Kaesong industrial zone three months after it was suspended and the potential damage anticipated with the start of the monsoon season,” ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said.
A sudden flurry of activities in June raised expectations that the two Koreas, which remain technically at war under a truce ending the 1950-53 Korean War conflict, would resume high-level dialogue for the first time in six years to ease tension.
The North had proposed talks to reopen the money-spinning factory park, which generates $90 million annually in wages for its workers, after shutting it down in April after threatening the South with war and nuclear annihilation.
Proposed cabinet-level talks were called off one day before the meeting was to start, with each side accusing the other of insincerity by planning to send low-ranking officials.
The United States and South Korea, as well as China, the North’s sole major diplomatic ally, have urged Pyongyang to take steps to end its nuclear program and to return to dialogue.
The impoverished and isolated North conducted its third nuclear test and threatened Seoul and Washington with nuclear attacks earlier this year.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has pledged to engage the North in dialogue and take steps to build confidence for better ties, but has also vowed not to give in to unreasonable demands or make concessions to achieve superficial progress.
Her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, cut off a decade of lucrative aid from liberal leaders and demanded nuclear disarmament, angering the North.
The North was blamed for sinking a South Korean navy ship and bombing an island while Lee was leader.Liquid Web commits to create new innovations for Cloud Sites customers by investing in the platform, its employees and the City of San Antonio
LANSING, Mich.– August 8, 2016 – Liquid Web, a $90 million web hosting and cloud services provider devoted to delighting customers, today announced it has signed an agreement to purchase Rackspace® (NYSE: RAX) Cloud Sites business unit, which will remain in San Antonio.
Users of the Cloud Sites platform, who include designers, developers and digital agencies, should expect a seamless transition as Liquid Web and Rackspace work together to complete the transaction. In fact, Liquid Web plans to invest in developing innovative solutions on the Cloud Sites platform to better serve these savvy, skilled professionals who are dependent on a highly available and reliable hosting provider.
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“With the addition of Cloud Sites, we further our mission to empower web professionals all over the world to create content and commerce without worry, free of problems and devoid of even one bit of hesitation by providing absolutely flawless web hosting,” said Liquid Web CEO Jim Geiger. “Unfortunately, our industry is trending toward unsupported services, which leaves fast-growing developers, digital agencies and designers alone, without a real person to turn to when they really need help. However, at Liquid Web, day-in and day-out our people stand behind the creators of content and commerce and we’re going to continue to stand behind those businesses who rely on the web and cloud. Our job is to delight and every single human being in our company is empowered to do so. Each of them has a relentless devotion to simplifying how our customers experience web hosting and cloud services.”
With the acquisition of Cloud Sites, Liquid Web will grow to approximately 550 employees and 30,000 customers globally. The addition of Cloud Sites supports Liquid Web’s mission to heroically empower web professionals worldwide. The company plans to invest in the Cloud Sites platform, employees and overall business. Given the clear shift in how customers want to consume web services, for example the mass adoption of easy-to-use, open-source content management systems like WordPress or commerce platforms like Magento, Liquid Web aims to continually improve the usability and reliability of the systems behind those services.
“Our No. 1 priority is making this a seamless transition for everyone involved, most importantly our customers and new team members,” said Mr. Geiger. “We are committed to investing and growing the current business with plans to have the Cloud Sites team firmly rooted in San Antonio. Our goal is to be a preferred technology employer in San Antonio, while also being an engaged corporate citizen.”
“As Rackspace continues to focus on delivering expertise and Fanatical Support® for the world’s leading clouds, and serving more enterprise customers, it made sense for us to sell the Cloud Sites business unit to Liquid Web,” said Matt Bradley, vice president, corporate development and strategy, at Rackspace. “Through the transaction, we are also pleased to welcome Liquid Web to the Rackspace Partner Network as an email reseller.”
About Liquid Web
Liquid Web delivers reliable, highly-available, secure and hassle-free hosting fueled by our Heroic Support. ® The company empowers its employees to go above and beyond to make life easier for professionals who create the content and commerce on the ever-changing web – so they can focus on the work they love. Liquid Web offers a broad portfolio designed so customers can choose their own adventure whether it is hands-on or hands-off or a hybrid of the two. The company owns and manages its own data centers providing a broad portfolio of offerings ranging from bare metal servers to managed WordPress and continues to evolve its service offerings to meet the ever-changing needs of its customers. With over 30,000 customers spanning 150 countries, the company has assembled a world-class team, global data centers and an expert group of 24/7/365 solution engineers. As an industry leader in customer service* with a 98 percent satisfaction rating, the rapidly expanding company has been recognized among INC Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for the last ten years. Liquid Web is part of the Madison Dearborn Partners family of companies. Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (“MDP”) is a leading private equity investment firm based in Chicago. For more information, please visit www.liquidweb.com, follow us on Twitter @LiquidWeb, or read our blog posts at https://www.liquidweb.com/blog.
*Q2 Net Promoter Score of 74United Airlines' 1st Houston-Havana flight departs Saturday
Balloons in the shape of the airport code for Jose Marti Havana Airport are displayed on a window overlooking planes, including United Flight 1502, left, the first direct passenger flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, in Newark, N.J. Commercial flights between the United States and Cuba resumed several months ago as relations between the two countries gradually improved under President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) less Balloons in the shape of the airport code for Jose Marti Havana Airport are displayed on a window overlooking planes, including United Flight 1502, left, the first direct passenger flight from Newark Liberty... more Photo: Julio Cortez, Associated Press Photo: Julio Cortez, Associated Press Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close United Airlines' 1st Houston-Havana flight departs Saturday 1 / 4 Back to Gallery
United Airlines' inaugural flight from Houston to Havana is scheduled to leave Bush Intercontinental Airport at 10:23 a.m. Saturday, a local indicator of thawed relations between the two countries.
Houston is United's gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean with 91 daily nonstop flights to 52 destinations. The Cuba route allows travelers from 20 other markets across the Central and Western U.S. to reach Havana with just one connection.
"Applications were heavily weighted toward South Florida," said Steve Morrissey, United's vice president of regulatory and policy. "We know that there's demand for this service from across the country."
RELATED: Feds give tentative OK to Cuba flights from Houston
Re-establishing scheduled commercial flights for the first time in more than 50 years was part of President Barack Obama's efforts to normalize relations with the island nation.
In February, officials from the U.S. and Cuban governments signed an agreement that allows U.S. carriers to operate 110 daily round-trip flights to Cuba. This breaks down to 20 daily round-trip flights between the U.S. and Havana, and 10 daily round-trip flights between the U.S. and each of Cuba's nine other international airports.
In addition to the Saturday-only service from Houston, United began offering daily nonstop flights between New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport and Havana on Tuesday.
Yet a Tweet from President-elect Donald Trump has created concern that his administration might roll back Obama's efforts to ease relations with Cuba.
"If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal," Trump Tweeted on Monday.
RELATED: Castro's death could open more business doors in Houston
Morrissey said the airline won't speculate about the future. It is focused on launching and growing its two routes to Havana, he said.
"As for what comes next, we'll focus on that when we need to and if we need to," he said.
In addition to United, the following airlines received approval to fly to Havana: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines. They will fly to Havana from Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Los Angeles; Miami; Newark; New York City; and Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, Fla..
Southwest Airlines, United's main competitor in Houston, did not apply for Houston-Cuba routes.
Outside of Havana, six domestic airlines were approved to fly to other Cuban cities. They will depart from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Philadelphia to Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguín, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.
MORE: Houston now two hours away from Havana's'magical realism'Author Message
lllN30lll This post is not being displayed.
lllN30lll
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Posted: 17:52 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 17:52 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject: Rip Steve love AKA Sven, S, Svengalie
His brothers told me to let people know.
He was well known across many a forum for his V-logging, Camera/Gadget reviews, and Geocaching (He just got me into this and tagged him in my first find yesterday to let him know )
It's a sad loss, and my heart goes out to his family. Just been told by his brother that he died last night.His brothers told me to let people know.He was well known across many a forum for his V-logging, Camera/Gadget reviews, and Geocaching (He just got me into this and tagged him in my first find yesterday to let him knowIt's a sad loss, and my heart goes out to his family.
Last edited by lllN30lll on 20:45 - 05 Feb 2012; edited 1 time in total
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The Artist
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Posted: 17:53 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 17:53 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject:
What happened?
RIP What happened?RIP
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..... This post is not being displayed.
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Posted: 17:54 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 17:54 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject: WTF?
Terrible news.
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lllN30lll
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Posted: 17:55 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 17:55 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject: The Artist wrote:
What happened?
RIP What happened?RIP
I've been told, But would rather not go into details.
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Hyaon
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Posted: 18:00 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 18:00 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject: Sorry to hear, he sounded very popular..
Sure you won't give the details? People think I watch/find out about crashes for morbid reasons but I do it to learn the mistakes..and hope I don't make the same ones.
EDIT: Sorry to make it look like I'd assumed he made a mistake. If he hadnt there's little to learn it's bad luck :/
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Mod2 Passed 30/03/2011!
CBF125>GSF650 Bandit K8>B-King 2008+R1 2002
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Blurredman
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Posted: 18:02 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 18:02 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject: Wow, sad news- I was a loyal watcher of his videos.
____________________
CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S.
Current: 1982 Honda CX500B, 1987 MZ ETZ300, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER.
neil. This post is not being displayed.
neil.
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Posted: 18:06 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 18:06 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject: If this is true, then this is very sad indeed.
+1 another fan of his videos. If this is true, then this is very sad indeed.+1 another fan of his videos.
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Irn-Bru
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Posted: 18:08 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 18:08 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject:
I watch his bike and geocaching videos all the time!
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM Seriously?!I watch his bike and geocaching videos all the time!
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Fizzer Thou
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Posted: 18:12 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 18:12 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject:
This is not what I wanted to hear about Steve.A sad loss.
My thought are with his family.
RiP
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Just talk bikes.What else is there?
Always have a 'Plan B' Crikey!!!This is not what I wanted to hear about Steve.A sad loss.My thought are with his family.RiP
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Posted: 18:18 - 05 Feb 2012 Posted: 18:18 - 05 Feb 2012 Post subject: Big fan of his videos
I'm guessing his death was bike related?
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ZX6R '08 - Current RIP SvenBig fan of his videosI'm guessing his death was bike related?
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and asked if they, or another member of the household, had used a gun for self-protection in the past year. A little more than 1 percent of the participants answered yes, and when Kleck and Gertz extrapolated their results, they concluded that Americans use guns for self-defense as many as 2.5 million times a year.
This estimate is, however, vastly higher than numbers from government surveys, such as the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which is conducted in tens of thousands of households. It suggests that victims use guns for self-defense only 65,000 times a year. In 2015 Hemenway and his colleagues studied five years' worth of NCVS data and concluded that guns are used for self-defense in less than 1 percent of all crimes that occur in the presence of a victim. They also found that self-defense gun use is about as effective as other defensive maneuvers, such as calling for help. “It's not as if you look at the data, and it says people who defend themselves with a gun are much less likely to be injured,” says Philip Cook, an economist at Duke University, who has been studying guns since the 1970s.
Kleck and Getz's survey and the NCVS differ in important ways that could help explain the discrepancy between them. The NCVS first establishes that someone has been the victim of an attack before asking about self-defense gun use, which weeds out yes answers from people who might, say, wave their gun around during a bar fight and call it self-defense. Kleck and Getz's survey could overestimate self-defense use by including such ambiguous uses. Kleck counters that the NCVS might underestimate self-defense because people who do not trust government surveyors will be afraid to admit that they used their gun. Yet people who participate in the NCVS are told at the start that they are protected under federal law and that their responses will remain anonymous.
Credit: Jen Christiansen; Sources: “Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns,” by John R. Lott, Jr., and David B. Mustard, in Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1; January 1997; “Right-to-Carry Laws and Violent Crime: A Comprehensive Assessment Using Panel Data and a State-Level Synthetic Controls Analysis,” by John J. Donohue, Abhay Aneja and Kyle D. Weber. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 23510. June 2017; “Shooting Down the ‘More Guns, Less Crime’ Hypothesis,” by Ian Ayres and John J. Donohue III, in Stanford Law Review, Vol. 55; April 2003
A closer look at the who, what, where and why of gun violence also sheds some light on the self-defense claim. Most Americans with concealed carry permits are white men living in rural areas, yet it is young black men in urban areas who disproportionately encounter violence. Violent crimes are also geographically concentrated: Between 1980 and 2008, half of all of Boston's gun violence occurred on only 3 percent of the city's streets and intersections. And in Seattle, over a 14-year-period, every single juvenile crime incident took place on less than 5 percent of street segments. In other words, most people carrying guns have only a small chance of encountering situations in which they could use them for self-defense.
Yet these numbers don't resonate with many gun owners. “Absolutely, owning a firearm makes you safer,” Phillips told me. Watkins opined that “by having a gun, it gives you the opportunity to refuse to be a victim.” (Watkins, who used to be a cop in upstate New York, did later concede that guns are rarely shot in self-defense, even by law enforcement.) In a June 2017 study, researchers surveyed American gun owners about why they owned handguns, reporting that 88 percent bought them for self-defense; many felt they were likely to become targets of violent crime at some point. This belief is so pervasive that companies have even started selling self-defense insurance. At the lecture I attended in Stone Mountain, a representative of Texas Law Shield, a firearms legal defense program, tried to get me to sign up for a service that would provide free legal representation in the event that I ever shot someone to protect myself. “You don't need it till you need it, but when you need it, you daggone sure glad you got it,” he said.
But even as the belief that we are all future crime targets has taken hold, violent crime rates have actually dropped in the U.S. in recent decades. According to the FBI, rates were a whopping 41 percent lower in 2015 than they were in 1996. The NRA attributes this decrease to the acquisition of more guns. But that is misleading. What has increased is the number of people who own multiple guns—the actual number of people and households who own them has substantially dropped.
Recently researchers have tried to assess the value of self-defense gun use by studying “stand your ground” laws, which gained notoriety after teenager Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman in Florida in 2012. These laws allow people to kill in self-defense when they feel they are in danger. Progun groups argue that they should deter crime because criminals will know that victims have no reason not to fight back. But a January 2017 study reported that when “stand your ground” was passed in Florida, the monthly homicide rate went up by nearly a quarter. And a 2012 study found that states that adopted these laws experienced an abrupt and sustained 8 percent increase in homicides relative to other states. Mark Hoekstra, a co-author of the 2012 paper and an economist at Texas A&M University, put it this way: “We found that making it easier to kill people resulted in more dead people.”
But some argue that even an unused gun can thwart crime. The logic here is that in areas with high rates of concealed carrying, criminals don't want to victimize people who might have guns, so they don't commit violent crimes. The most famous study, published in 1997 by John R. Lott, Jr., then a research fellow at the University of Chicago, and David B. Mustard, an economist now at the University of Georgia, looked at county crime rates in several states that had passed laws making it easy to get gun permits at various times prior to 1992. They compared such rates to crime levels in places that did not have easy access to guns during that period. Their hypothesis: when areas make it easier for people to get permits, more people will get guns and start carrying—and then violence will drop. Lott and Mustard developed a model, based on this comparison, that indicated that when it was easier to get permits, assaults fell by 5 percent, rapes by 7 percent and murders by 7.65 percent. Lott went on to publish a book in 1998 called More Guns, Less Crime, which tracked concealed carry laws and crime in more than 3,000 counties and reported similar findings.
Many other researchers have come to opposite conclusions. John Donohue, an economist at Stanford University, reported in a working paper in June 2017 that when states ease permit requirements, most violent crime rates increase and keep getting worse. A decade after laws relax, violent crime rates are 13 to 15 percent higher than they were before. And in 2004 the National Research Council, which provides independent advice on scientific issues, turned its attention to firearm research, including Lott's findings. It asked 15 scholars to reanalyze Lott's data because “there was such a conflict in the field about the findings,” recalls panel chair and criminologist Charles Wellford, now a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland. Lott's models, they found, could be tweaked in tiny ways to produce big changes in results. “The analyses that we did, and that others have done, show that these estimates are very fragile,” Wellford explains. “The committee, with one exception, concluded that you could not accept his conclusion that more guns meant less crime.” Wintemute summarized it this way: “There are a few studies that suggest that liberalizing access to concealed firearms has, on balance, beneficial effects. There are a far larger number of studies that suggest that it has, on balance, detrimental effects.”
Off Target: This progun shirt, along with bumper stickers advocating that guns protect good people from crime, reflect a sentiment undercut by dozens of studies showing firearms are poor deterrents. Credit: Ben Rollins
Lott, who now runs the nonprofit Crime Prevention Research Center, says the panel was biased and “set up to try to go against my work.” The NRA takes a related tack: it says research highlighting the danger of weapons is part of a gun-control agenda to confiscate firearms.
It is crucial, though, to distinguish the leadership of progun organizations from their constituents, who often have more nuanced opinions. “I do own a firearm, I'm licensed, I'm actually able to train others in using a firearm—and my goal in life is to never, ever, ever have to use it,” says Tina Monaghan, a city clerk in Nelson, Ga. (In 2013 Nelson, like Kennesaw, passed a law mandating that residents own guns, but the ordinance was relaxed later that year in response to a lawsuit.) According to a 2015 survey published by Johns Hopkins University researchers, 85 percent of gun owners support background checks for all gun sales, including sales through unlicensed dealers—even though the NRA strongly opposes them.
I heard a lot more about divergence from NRA positions on my last stop in Alabama: Scottsboro Gun and Pawn, a shop perched at the end of Broad Street, one of the town's main drags. The co-owner, Robert Shook, told me about the ongoing push in the Alabama State Senate to eliminate concealed carry permits altogether, a move that would make it legal for anyone older than 18 to carry a hidden gun. (The bill passed in the Alabama Senate in April of this year but did not come up for a vote in the state's House of Representatives during the 2017 session.) “There's a lot of stuff that the NRA does that I don't agree with,” he said, standing behind a glass case filled with handguns. “They've gone farther right than the other side left. They're throwing common sense out the window.” Indeed, the NRA of today is actually more extreme than the organization used to be. In the 1930s NRA president Karl Frederick testified in Congress in support of the National Firearms Act, which restricted concealed carrying. “I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns,” Frederick said.
The belief that more guns lead to fewer crimes is founded on the idea that guns are dangerous when bad guys have them, so we should get more guns into the hands of good guys. Yet Cook, the Duke economist, says this good guy/bad guy dichotomy is a false and dangerous one. Even upstanding American citizens are only human—they can “lose their temper, or exercise poor judgment, or misinterpret a situation, or have a few drinks,” he explains, and if they're carrying guns when they do, bad things can ensue. In 2013 in Ionia, Mich., a road rage incident led two drivers—both concealed carry permit holders—to get out of their cars, take out their guns and kill each other.
As I drove from Scottsboro to Atlanta to catch my flight home, I kept turning over what I had seen and learned. Although we do not yet know exactly how guns affect us, the notion that more guns lead to less crime is almost certainly incorrect. The research on guns is not uniform, and we could certainly use more of it. But when all but a few studies point in the same direction, we can feel confident that the arrow is aiming at the truth—which is, in this case, that guns do not inhibit crime and violence but instead make it worse.
The popular gun-advocacy bumper sticker says that “guns don't kill people, people kill people”—and it is, in fact, true. People, all of us, lead complicated lives, misinterpret situations, get angry, make mistakes. And when a mistake involves pulling a trigger, the damage can't be undone. Unlike my Glock-aided attack on the zombie at the gun range, life is not target practice.January 27th, 2015
Big Tobacco's Little Helpers
This is a guest post by David Sweanor, Adjunct Professor of Law at University of Ottawa and lifelong public health campaigner, Starts here…
There has been a concerted effort by opponents of vaping to denigrate these products – see endless stories on formaldehyde, ultrafine particles, poisoning, third hand nicotine exposure, gateway effect, renormalisation and the multiple violations of fact and presentation by WHO and its ill-judged supporters.
Sadly, but not surprisingly, these efforts at misinformation appear to be convincing many people that vaping is not a good alternative to smoking lethal cigarettes. Surveys of beliefs about relative risk show that fewer smokers now see vaping as less hazardous than smoking, let alone understand that the risk differential is enormous.
I am now hearing the same thing when talking with consumers; smokers who fear switching and vapers who are confronted by people telling them of ‘some new study that proves vaping is more hazardous than smoking’.
The point was driven home in the last few days in reading two comprehensive new reports from the Wells Fargo ‘Tobacco Talk’ retailer survey. The astute Bonnie Herzog, until now the most bullish Wall Street analyst when it comes to the ability of non-combustibles to replace cigarettes, is concerned about the momentum in the market, as the survey highlights the flow of misinformation on relative risks – one of the key reasons to switch from smoking to vaping. Simply put, there is a tremendous level of pseudo-scientific misinformation and scare stories that is feeding a moral panic about vaping. The inevitable result is that it is more likely that smokers will stick with deadly combustibles, more vapers will revert to smoking, smoking will decline more slowly than it otherwise would and the lucrative cigarette trade will have again been protected from a disruptive threat.
Bonnie Herzog, Wells Fargo, Independent Vapors Manufacturers Survey January 23, 2015:
While we estimate the industry will continue to grow robustly in 2015 (~40% topline growth), reaching retail sales of $3.5B, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the increased uncertainty we have observed among investors, our retailer/industry contacts, and consumers over the past 6-12 months. We believe this unfortunate trend is being driven by: (1) mixed messages from the media; (2) lack of FDA regulation or leadership; and (3) lack of vapor industry or public health alignment, which are in turn driving worsening public perception of the vapor category. This is exacerbated by the fact that it is difficult for the industry to defend itself or make any modified risk claims (that their products could be less harmful than combustible cigs).
Comments from retailers:
“New ads on TV sponsored by the state, saying all sorts of negative things about e-cigs...” “Public needs more awareness of vaping before regulations take hold and restrict use” “The industry has basically let the anti-e-cig movement say what they want without rebuttal.”
Comments from VTM (Vapor Tanks Mods) manufacturers:
“... our stores grow 12% a month. EVERY MONTH. We just need more. Once the FDA regulations come out, all this spin that various parties keep throwing at this, the federal and state tax issue gets resolved; it is game over for conventional cigs. The issue facing the VTM’s now is, stay alive till then, and trust me we get attacked from everyone, even Big Tobacco inside our own industry, and government at all levels. They have leveraged uncollected future cigarette taxes for the next decade that they are in EXTREME FEAR of losing and not being able to cover the debt service on that leverage that is at the core of the anti-Vape propaganda. Let’s be honest, our US and State governments are in the cigarette business, Big Tobacco is just their supplier and marketing company.” “So much is focused on the “unknown” 20-50 studies…however, the media won’t take a spectrum of risk approach despite the HUGE benefits to smokers’ health TODAY – it’s frustrating and transparent that those often quoted in the media do not have the best interest of the individual smoker in mind.” “Mis-information campaigns funded by tax settlement dollars are taking their toll.” “The largest negative impact is prohibitory regulation, since that completely skews the public perception, regardless of the science.” “Majority of the general public has been consistently misinformed about the safety of vaping.”
Disturbingly, these attacks on vaping are nothing new in the realm of nicotine policy. There is a very long history of alternative products that appear to have the potential to challenge the market dominance of cigarettes by allowing consumers far less hazardous ways to get nicotine. In each case the threat has been seen off, leaving the tobacco companies free to continue their exceedingly lucrative and depressingly deadly oligopoly with its near-monopoly over the delivery of a very widely used dependence producing drug. We see several ways in which anti-tobacco activists have aided the cigarette business:
banning alternative products (Advanced Therapeutic Product’s nicotine inhaler, snus in the EU and several other jurisdictions, pharmacist-made nicotine lozenges )
driving them from the market with adverse publicity and regulatory attacks (Star Scientific’s ultra-low nitrosamine lozenges, various heat-not-burn products)
over-regulating to the point that cigarettes get a huge marketplace advantage (massively constraining all forms of nicotine replacement therapy)
misinforming consumers about relative risks or withholding candid information (smokeless, snus, NRT; nicotine in general).
The big cigarette companies are protected from competition from disruptive technologies that would otherwise thwart their ability to constantly increase their prices and profit margins. They are also sheltered from the regulation and litigation that would result from selling a product that is much more harmful than acceptable alternatives available in the marketplace (that is, after all, the basis for finding something to be ‘unreasonably hazardous’). A result of seeing off these threats to the lethal cigarette is that Big Tobacco is now worth hundreds of billions of dollars more than at the start of the Tobacco Wars, despite having also gifted untold billions in dividends to shareholders during this time.
The combined stock market market value of the cigarette companies on the Financial Times 500 now handsomely exceeds half a trillion dollars, and the sector was once again an incredibly lucrative performer last year.
Yet the ability of this industry to see off existential threats from alternative technology is not due to some cabal of evil geniuses in these companies. It is instead largely due to the unintentionally helpful actions of people who consider themselves to be sworn enemies of these companies.
It is often noted that Big Tobacco has few friends. But, with enemies like these, they hardly need any.US Under-23 Men's National Team head coach Andi Herzog has named 19 players to the roster for the 2015 Toulon Tournament, including five from MLS; NYRB II's Dan Metzger; and Sounders Academy product Jordan Morris. The tournament runs from May 27-June 7 in the south of France.
World Cup veteran Julian Green was also named to the roster following a disappointing year on loan with Hamburg in the Bundesliga.
Herzog will make one as-yet unnamed addition to complete the 20-player roster, which will officially be submitted on Tuesday evening.
"Toulon is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world at this age level, and we're fortunate to have the opportunity to compete against some of the top teams in the world," said Herzog. "Having seen matches here many times before, I know the type of talent we will face. This is huge for us as we get ready for qualification this October, and is another step in the development of our players in international competition."
The tournament was first held in 1967 and became an annual affair in 1974, often contested with U-20 rosters.
The best the US have ever placed was third, back in 1989. The most recent US trip to Toulon was in 2013, when they went 1-0-3 in the group stage with losses to France, Colombia and South Korea and a win over DR Congo.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Southampton; Maple Grove, Minn.), Charlie Horton (Cardiff City; Cleveland, Ohio), Tyler Miller (Zweibrücken; Woodbury, NJ)
DEFENDERS (7): Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Alebrijes de Oaxaca; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (Real Salt Lake; Edmond, Okla.), Shane O'Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Will Packwood (Unattached; Concord, Mass.), Jalen Robinson (D.C. United; Catonsville, Md.), Dillon Serna (Colorado Rapids; Brighton, Colo.), Sam Strong (UCSB; Santa Barbara, Calif.)
MIDFIELDERS (4): Fatai Alashe (San Jose Earthquakes; Northville, Mich.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Dan Metzger (New York Red Bulls II; Holmdel, NJ), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool; Sunnyvale, Calif.)
FORWARDS (5): Julian Green (Bayern Munich; Tampa, Fla.); Alonso Hernandez (Monterrey; El Paso, Tex.), Jerome Kiesewetter (Stuttgart; Berlin, Germany), Alfred Koroma Shams (Austin Aztex; Southlake, Tex.), Jordan Morris (Stanford; Mercer Island, Wash.)DOVER – A Dover Police officer suffered a broken leg after his motorcycle crashed en route to the funeral of a slain Delaware State Police trooper, authorities said Monday.
Cpl. Jason Pfeiffer was thrown from the motorcycle after it clipped the back of a Dover police cruiser last Friday morning at approximately 5 a.m., spokesman Master Cpl. Mark Hoffman said.
The hospitalized officer also suffered a facial laceration and other non-life threatening injuries. For security reasons, police did not update his status on Monday.
The accident occurred as Cpl. Pfeiffer was merging onto Del. 1 near Exit 104 and the Dodge Charger swerved into the same lane, Cpl. Hoffman said. The motorcycle was passing on the left in order to move to the front of the procession, police said.
Several Dover Police officers were heading toward the funeral at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington in dark, windy rainy conditions when the crash happened, authorities said.
The Harley Davidson was deemed a total loss, Cpl. Hoffman said, and no cost of motorcycle was available.
“Like all of our vehicles, it is insured,” Cpl. Hoffman said.
The Dodge Charger sustained “heavy damage to the rear of the vehicle, specifically the driver side rear door.”
The Dover Police Accident Reconstruction Unit’s investigation was ongoing Monday, and Cpl. Hoffman declined further comment.
The injured officer is an 11-year veteran of the Dover Police Department.
Cpl. Hoffman said it was undetermined whether any further information will be released since “it was another officer, it will depend on the findings, as it may become a personnel matter.”
Five of the seven-member motorcycle unit members were taking part in the procession, authorities said.
Reach staff writer Craig Anderson at canderson@newszap.comIt looks like Chrome users, not just Android users, will get access to Google Now, the search giant's technology for bringing weather reports, trip departure reminders, birthday alerts, nearby restaurant reviews, and more to the attention of Android users.
Google's Chrome team added a "skeleton for Google Now for Chrome" to the Google browser yesterday, an early step in a larger project to show Google Now notifications in Chrome.
Google Now integration into Chrome gives Google a new way to connect people closely to online services that Google judges to be relevant depending on time and location. Francois Beaufort, who keeps a close eye on the Chrome source code, spotted the move.
Google confirmed that it's working on the project but stopped short of committing to it. "We're always experimenting with new features in Chrome, so have nothing to announce at this time," spokeswoman Jessica Kositz said.
The move reflects the growing maturity of Google's operating system strategy. In mobile, it steers people to Android, and on personal computers, it steers them to Chrome or Chrome OS. Though Chrome isn't an operating system, strictly speaking, browsers are absorbing more and more OS abilities, and Chrome OS systems of course can't run anything but Web apps.
Whatever OS a person is using, Google is designing it as a mechanism to reach Google services: search, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Apps, Gmail, Google+, and more. These services are where Google makes its money.
And Google can show some Google Now-like services sometimes in search results, too. Drawing from Gmail messages, Google shows upcoming flight information and birthday reminders to users who have opted into the system.
Update, 12:58 p.m. PT: Adds comment from Google.The 2017 EU LCS Spring Split has seen many critics complaining of the straightforward nature of the season. A gap existed between top and bottom teams. The best players stood out even more, and naturally, some stood out more than others.
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In assessing which player best represented each position for our All-EU LCS picks, we focused on the consistency, impact on the team, and the overall legacy of form. Within that context, our top picks were pretty clear, but second and third positions warranted some dispute.
Top Lane: Unicorns of Love’s Kiss “Vizicsacsi” Tamás
Kiss “Vizicsacsi” Tamás is the top laner for Unicorns of Love (lolesports)
Runners-up: H2K-Gaming’s Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu, Splyce’s Martin “Wunder” Hansen
Vizicsacsi has performed exceedingly well in 1v1 situations, and his team channels the pressure he generates into leads. His midseason struggle to initiate teamfights gave us pause; we considered ranking Odoamne higher for his reliable performances in the early part of the split, as he bolstered his team while they improved synergy with bottom lane. But ultimately, Vizicsacsi’s superior understanding of flanks earned him the spot.
Our only dispute came in the third place position. Though Wunder made the official ballot because of his role in Splyce’s rise, my Yahoo Esports colleague Emily Rand had a different selection on her personal list for similar reasons. Recency bias is a dangerous thing, and something that we try — not always successfully — to avoid. That being said, ROCCAT’s late-season push was remarkable, and top laner Ambrož “Phaxi” Hren was a big reason behind their success, earning him Emily’s pick for third.
Jungle: H2K-Gaming’s Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski
H2K-Gaming jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski (lolesports)
Runners-up: G2 Esports’ Kim “Trick” Gangyun, Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian
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Jankos underwent an exciting transformation just before the World Championship last year. He went from a jungler who forces ganks and camps brush to a jungler who understands how to use the position of creeps in lane and play off of which lanes have advantages. He and Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten demonstrated the best performances as a unit this split, giving H2K a strong backbone in the middle of the map to provide opportunities for solo lanes. Although Odoamne carried H2K while the team was still figuring out their communication system, Jankos has been a sturdy presence throughout, a force behind their famed map control.
The second and third picks sparked more discussion. Both Emily and myself included Trick on our lists, earning him the second place spot for his efficiency on the map, despite his risk-taking. The third pick was most contentious and came down to Maxlore and Giants Gaming’s Jonas “Memento” Elmarghichi. I briefly championed Memento, as he shares some of Maxlore’s strengths for controlling the jungle to a lesser degree with more sparks of variation. Ultimately, ROCCAT’s impressive surge, speared in part by Maxlore’s resourcefulness, earned him the nod.
Mid Lane: H2K-Gaming’s Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten
Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten is the mid laner for H2K-Gaming (lolesports)
Runners-up: G2 Esports’ Luka “Perkz” Perkovic, Unicorns of Love’s Fabian “Exileh” Schubert
Febiven hasn’t so much returned to form as simply been able to play off vision generated by his jungler much better and react more to information to pressure his opponent. These overall improvements have made him more stable, and he stands out as a strong fixture in the mid lane. Holding pressure is the most important factor of mid lane play this split, and he was a clear choice.
Perkz’s steady improvement in conjunction with his history earned him the second place position, while Exileh’s impressive transformation into a more consistent player slotted him into third. Exileh still overextends in early levels, but his understanding of when he has roam priority has had a massive impact on Unicorns of Love’s ability to get ahead.
ADC: G2 Esports’ Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen
AD carry for G2 Esports, Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen (lolesports)
Runners-up: Martin “Rekkles” Larsson, Steven “Hans sama” Liv
Zven has been one of the best AD carries in the LCS for a while, and with his longtime rival Konstantinos-Napoleon “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou absent, his prowess is all the more apparent. While he and Alfonso “mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez haven’t been as consistent as a pair, Zven still has a large impact on teamfights and can exert pressure in lane well.
While G2 have had problems (some born of the fact that they’ve remained at the top of Europe unchallenged for so long), Fnatic had a massive mid-season internal spiral that nearly cost their team a chance at the playoffs. Despite his vocal struggles, Rekkles has been an in-game constant for Fnatic, and his flexibility is partially responsible for their last-minute postseason entry.
The final pick was a bit more difficult, but Hans sama’s steady improvements — rather than peaks and troughs — and his ability to complement Lee “IgNar” Donggeun earned him the last place on our list.
Support: Misfits’ Lee “IgNar” Donggeun
Lee “IgNar” Donggeun from Misfits (lolesports)
Runners-up: Splyce’s Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle, H2K-Gaming’s Choi “Chei” Sunho
Lee “IgNar” Donggeun creates the most opportunities for Misfits with his sense for engage. Although he may have his impact somewhat limited to engage picks, there’s a reason Misfits try to free him up in the bottom lane as early as possible. He has a strong sense for mid roams, and earlier in the season, his synergy with Lee “KaKAO” Byungkwon was exemplary. The support role was one of the hardest to judge, with the usual pack-leader Alfonso “mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez setting an unreliable example, but IgNar came the closest.
Following IgNar, Mikyx and Chei showed the most consistent form near the conclusion of the split to earn spots.
You can follow Kelsey Moser (@karonmoser) and Emily Rand (@leagueofemily) on Twitter.Music Voices at odds The indie rock boom of the early-to-mid '00s were a wild time. No one was quite sure just where the wind was blowing, in terms of stylistic trends and general demeanor. The garage rock revival was in full swing, LCD Soundsystem was digging...
Music Solo expansion How long is it reasonable for a one-person band to stay a one-person band? Is there a threshold an artist reaches where they've had enough of their albums being described as "homespun," and so decide to take the all-important step of getting the...
Arts A new art venue for T-town There's a new art venue in Tacoma that has the wonderful advantage of being easily accessible to the public, and open from early morning to late at night seven days a week. A collaboration between Tacoma Gallery, LLC (Jane and Jason Sobottka) and...
Stage Nonstop showstoppers There are few names as synonymous with musical theater as Andrew Lloyd Webber. For decades, Webber has balanced artistic moxie with an unabashed crowd-pleasing mentality in such a successful way that it's likely many people's first exposure to...As you know, New York Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang is wearing No. 66 in the NHL, permanently marking him as hockey miscreant with no regard for tradition, and forever casting the memory and accomplishments of Mario Lemieux into the abyss of history, now irrelevant.
Or whatever it is his critics are moaning about …
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The entire time this insufferable controversy has raged on, many of us wondered about a missing voice: That of Mario Lemieux, whose No. 66 hangs from the rafters in Pittsburgh, where Ho-Sang and the Islanders will skate on Friday night.
Joe Starkey of the Post-Gazette finally landed a comment:
“I’m fine with it,” Mario Lemieux said Thursday through a Penguins spokesperson. “It’s just a number. Number 4 and number 9 were worn by great players (Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe, respectively), and they are not retired forever. Players can choose whatever number they want.”
Now, we’re sure the Cult of Mario will insist he’s just being over-gracious here and is secretly steamed that any other player dare wear the number he made legendary. That’s expected. Zealots usually have the most selective hearing.
But once more, with feeling: “I’M FINE WITH IT.”
Thank you, Mario, for attempting to quell what we’ve determined is in fact the dumbest NHL controversy.
OK, make that second-dumbest: The “Mario Lemieux should have his number retired league-wide because he was more talented than Wayne Gretzky and we should just ignore the incredible cultural impact Gretzky had on the growth and popularity of pro hockey vs. Mario’s importance to one NHL city because, again, Mario is why” Debate probably remains the dumbest, in hindsight.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTSWorkers Party of Bangladesh yesterday strongly criticised the caretaker government for promulgation of the Upazila Parishad ordinance and its move to hold the local government elections hurriedly.
These actions of the caretaker government are aimed at depoliti-cising the local government institutions and having the people of their choice elected, the party leaders said at its politburo meeting in the city.
The meeting, presided over by party President Rashed Khan Menon, also called on the government to hold the national election before any other elections so that parliament can discuss the issue of the local government election and take decisions accordingly.
The leaders said some provisions in the upazila ordinance -- such as barring the teachers from standing in the elections, not allowing the upazila chairman to hold any post in a political party -- are not only undemocratic but also inconsistent with the constitution.
The Workers' Party will stage token hunger strikes across the country today protesting fuel price hike and demanding introduction of food rationing system.
Party General Secretary Bimal Biswas, Nurul Hasan, Fazle Hossain Badsha, Anisur Rahman Mallik, shafiuddin Mallik, Ikbal Kabir Zahid, Azizur Rahman Bhuiyan and Nur Ahmed Bakul were present at the meeting.The PoP! Stars narrow it down to the cream of the crop in categories ranging from (but not limited to) Comics, Movies, Toys and Geek Culture in general. This is the PoP! Top 6-Pack.
Joss Whedon’s characters have a habit of… dying. He was never shy of offing his main characters, not even his favorite ones (see the case of X-Men’s Kitty Pryde, seemingly doomed in space up until recently). With so much work for the Grim Reaper, it is almost hard to pick up only the top six deaths to ever occur in the Whedon-verse. ALMOST.
6. Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 6)
Tara (Amber Benson) came into our lives in Season 4 of BtVS as Willow’s (Alyson Hannigan) new friend and fellow “witch,” who eventually became her lover as Willow came out of the closet. Tara was a popular character and her romance with Willow was one of the loveliest things ever written by Whedon and his team of writers. During Season 6 Willow got deeper and deeper into witchcraft, finding interest in dark magics while Tara vocally showed her protest. This caused frictions in their relationship throughout the whole season, while Willow was drawn into magic more and more. After a sad breakup, Willow decided to please Tara and they got back together. This reunion was happy but short, since the leader of The Trio (three geeks united together against Buffy and the Scoobies), Warren Mears (Adam Busch), seeks revenge on Buffy after his plans go awry. A stray bullet from his gun while attempting to kill Buffy in her own yard, hits the bedroom window of Willow and Tara, killing the latter just as the two lovers had a talk. Obviously, it drove Willow over the edge and she succumbed fully to the dark process she was going through. In what seemed like Jean Grey going fully Dark Phoenix, Willow brutally murdered Warren and was about to destroy reality, but thanks to the love of her friends she got back to herself.
In a bizarre turn of events, Amber Benson and Adam Busch date in real life. Still not as creepy as Michael C. Hall marrying his sister on Dexter, Jennifer Carpenter.
5. Doyle (Angel, Season 1)
During its first season Angel had a very small cast: Angel (David Boreanaz), Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and new character Doyle ( |
than any American brother combination in history. At first, du Pont approached Mark, the younger brother, tempting him to join the Villanova programme with the promise of a $24,000 a year job and a home on the Foxcatcher estate, the du Pont family’s 800-acre residence in Pennsylvania. Mark was short of money: USA Wrestling didn’t pay its athletes, unlike the Soviet team, whose athletes received a wage from the government. Mark had just been fired from his post as an assistant coach at Stanford university and was struggling to make ends meet. For him, it was a case of joining the marines, going on welfare or accepting the job and pursuing the sport he loved. He took the job.
But he had his reservations about du Pont.
“I knew something was wrong with him the first two seconds I laid eyes on him,” Mark writes to me in an email. Du Pont struck him as “like Richie Rich [the fictional, friendless millionaire child played by Macaulay Culkin in the eponymous movie] all grown up”. His hair was the first thing Mark noticed: grey roots pushing through bright red hair-dye, which lent the millionaire more than a passing resemblance to Ronald McDonald. Du Pont had thick dandruff and when he smiled, his teeth were “dark yellow and caked with food”. He had a thin physique but, as Mark writes in his memoir: “his belly looked as if he had swallowed a basketball”. At their initial meeting, Mark writes that du Pont was “obviously either drunk or stoned” and spoke in a slurred voice, punctuating his sentences with a constant repetition of the question “You understand what I’m saying?”
Still, working alongside du Pont wasn’t too bad to begin with. Although du Pont liked to think of himself as the chief coach, in practice Mark was left to get on with things. In 1987, Mark won the world championships.
Shortly afterwards, Mark persuaded his beloved older brother to come and join him. The two had always been close. They were born only 17 months apart and, following their parents’ divorce, Dave had become his younger brother’s protector and mentor. Dave, who struggled with dyslexia at school, found a refuge in wrestling and discovered a natural aptitude for the sport (his dyslexia meant that he was ambidextrous and could move equally well on both sides). Mark followed suit, and he, too, turned out to be a gifted wrestler. Their shared love of the sport brought them even closer, and an easy physical tactility existed between the two.
“Their family life wasn’t perfect, so they really bonded,” says Nancy. “They were so close, they were never separated. When I got together with Dave, I had to move in with Mark too! They were never more than 20 feet apart.” Mark, she says, saw his older brother as “his best friend… and life-support system”.
In wrestling circles, Dave was known to be generous, friendly and kind, always willing to teach other wrestlers his moves. He was hard on himself but not on others: Mark remembers one occasion when his older brother was so distraught over losing a match that he started punching himself in the face.
By the time Dave arrived at Foxcatcher, du Pont had built state-of-the-art training facilities, where a group of world-class wrestlers had made themselves at home. Du Pont offered Dave financial security and a family home in a guest house in the Foxcatcher grounds. It seemed like a no-brainer.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest John E du Pont’s mansion on the Foxcatcher estate, where he holed up for two days after the shooting. Photograph: Tim Shaffer/AP
“It paid him a lot of money,” Mark Schultz explains over email. “There was no way I could have known things would play out like they did.”
There was a time, Nancy admits, when living at Foxcatcher was: “wonderful, beautiful. There were hundreds and hundreds of acres, horses, cattle and a working dairy farm… Training there was a utopia. There were other families living there. It was an amazing place.”
But the idyll would soon be shattered – by the very man who had created it.
Du Pont was born in 1938, the youngest of four children. When he was two, his parents divorced. After his older siblings moved out, John was left alone on the vast Foxcatcher estate with his mother, Jean. It was an isolated existence. He was an awkward child who found it difficult to socialise. At one stage, his mother even paid a boy called Hugh Cherry to be friends with him. It was an early lesson in how money could be used to buy you a facsimile of human affection.
The director Bennett Miller, who tracked Cherry down as part of his background research for the film, says du Pont needed “male figures in his life” because his father was no longer around. Dinner with the Cherry family consisted of hamburgers and pizzas around a small table in a rambunctious, loving environment.
By contrast, dinner at Foxcatcher would be a stilted affair, with the young du Pont at one end of a long dining table and his mother at the other, surrounded by staff. Miller says that when du Pont’s mother discovered he had been eating junk food with the Cherry family, she “raised hell” and put an end to the friendship. John’s loneliness continued into adolescence.
After attending the University of Miami, du Pont became a noted shell-collector and ornithologist, writing several books on the subject and naming some two dozen species of exotic birds.
But there was always a desire to compete athletically, perhaps springing from the need to prove himself as a man, and to be around other men. For a time, du Pont saw himself as a pentathlete and built a pistol range, a cross-country course and an indoor pool on the estate. The walls surrounding the pool were decorated with mosaic portraits of du Pont engaging in each of the five disciplines, with tiles shipped in especially from Italy.
He gave substantial sums of money to the local police force, outfitting every officer with the best body armour available. Again, he seemed to want acceptance. He let officers train on his shooting range. In return, they gave him an honorary badge, a siren and a radio for his car. He bought a tank and drove around the estate in it and regularly carried firearms.
Du Pont’s obsession with self-protection and security could occasionally veer into the paranoid. There was a short-lived marriage to Gale Wenk, an occupational therapist, whom he met in 1982 and married a year later. She left him after three months when he pulled a pistol on her and accused her of being a Russian spy.
When his mother died in 1988, du Pont’s eccentricities began to spiral into something much darker. Mark Schultz remembers him consuming vast amounts of cocaine and alcohol. His mind began to unravel. His estate was now the pre-eminent training ground for Olympic-level wrestlers who competed under the name “Team Foxcatcher”. Du Pont liked to pose as the chief coach, convincing himself he was a much-loved mentor for these young men whose camaraderie he craved. But the more he wanted their friendship and admiration, the more erratic his behaviour became and the more people drew away from him.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Du Pont, foreground, with Dave Schultz at the Foxcatcher National Training Centre, early 1990s. Photograph: Bill Fitz-Patrick/AP
Apart from Dave Schultz, that was.
Wrestling had been Dave’s salvation at high school and he believed he understood what du Pont was looking for from the sport and that he could help him. Dave, in turn, “with his wrestling expertise, good looks, easy manner and charisma, was everything du Pont wanted and couldn’t be,” says his younger brother. “Everybody loved Dave. He was the most unselfish person I’ve ever met.”
But du Pont’s paranoia only got worse. On one occasion, he demanded that all the treadmills be removed from the gym because he was afraid they were taking him back in time. On another, he told all the black wrestlers to leave the facility. He had decided that there should be nothing black on the farm, because black was the colour of death. By the early 1990s, he was wearing an orange jumpsuit and insisting that visitors addressed him as the Dalai Lama.
“He was very odd,” Nancy Schultz says. “He was a heavy drinker and uncomfortable, socially awkward and arrogant and definitely peculiar. But, you know… as people become very wealthy, it removes them from a lot of normal day-to-day social interactions. It didn’t surprise me.”
As long as the money kept flowing and the wrestlers kept training, most people were willing to work around du Pont’s oddities. But Mark left in 1988, unable to cope with du Pont’s constant interference: “He became a daily nuisance, bothering me with dumb questions and getting in my personal space.”
Among those who remained, however, there was still an unspoken assumption that du Pont was an offbeat but essentially harmless man.
Bennett Miller compares the set-up to a cult. Over the phone, he lists the “essential ingredients” of a cult by way of comparison.
“One: a disaffected community – in this case, wrestlers who really got no material reward in the form of fame or fortune.
“Two: a charismatic leader – somebody who comes from another world with an idealistic vision.
“Three: a separation physically and geographically from the rest of the world. There are also recurring elements of paranoia [in a cult]… and you’re required as a cult member not to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
“You get attached to a vision and a reward and that allows you to justify any alarming signals that might contradict your faith in what’s going on. There’s a transaction that happens here – there’s a promise of some kind of transcendent outcome that you don’t want to let go of and an exchange begins, a series of compromises.”
Even when du Pont pulled a gun on wrestler Dan Chaid in 1995 and the incident was reported to the police, no one stepped in. The police, who had benefited from du Pont’s largesse, thought it was simply another example of John being John. Once again, his money had bought him a get-out.
Nancy says that she and her husband had tried on many occasions to get du Pont to seek help for his addictions: “He refused because he was worried that, if he admitted to an addiction, his family would come in and try to take his money from him. I think, in the end, John had done so much cocaine that he had lost his ability to know right from wrong or friend from foe.”
Dave and Nancy started talking about leaving Foxcatcher and their relationship with du Pont began to sour. This coincided with du Pont’s growing obsession with the Bulgarian wrestler Valentin Jordanov, who also lived at Foxcatcher. Dave, who had learned fluent Russian through attending wrestling competitions abroad, could communicate directly with Jordanov. Du Pont was said to be jealous of this closeness.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest John E. du Pont is arrested following a two-day standoff with the police after the shooting. Jim Graham/AP Photograph: Jim Graham/AP
“My brother was murdered on [Jordanov’s] birthday,” Mark says now, “almost as a bizarre gift.”
No one will ever fully understand du Pont’s motivation for doing what he did that cold January day in 1996. Du Pont himself never offered an explanation. After murdering Dave Schultz, the millionaire barricaded himself in his 44-room mansion for two days, prompting a stand-off with the police. When he was put on trial in 1997, du Pont pleaded not guilty “by reason of insanity”. One of the defence’s expert psychiatric witnesses diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic. The jury eventually found him guilty but mentally ill and he was sentenced to 13 to 30 years.
From prison, he gave the order that the exterior of his family mansion, including all the windows, be painted black. It was, says Mark Schultz, “like a haunted house.” Du Pont died, in his cell, in December 2010 at the age of 72. He was alone.
By contrast, Dave Schultz’s passing had been marked by a packed memorial service held a month after his death. Larry Sciacchetano, the then president of USA Wrestling, gave a speech in which he described Dave as a man with “10,000 best friends”.
It took Mark a long time to come to terms with his brother’s death. At one point, shortly after leaving Foxcatcher, he fantasised about killing du Pont with a crossbow. He gave up competitive wrestling for a while, turning instead to mixed martial arts and then accepting a position as a wrestling coach at Brigham Young University in Utah where he converted to Mormonism. His faith, he says, has helped him to deal with Dave’s murder. Today, at 54, he is a motivational speaker in Oregon and has come to a fragile reconciliation with past events.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Six-year-old Danielle wipes a tear from the face of her uncle, Mark Schultz, at a memorial service for her father in 1996. Photograph: George Widman/AP
“My anger over time has turned to pity and my pity has turned into compassion for John,” he says. “I feel like I’ve gotten to understand him better, as odd as that sounds about a man who murdered my brother. I can forgive him.”
Nancy, too, has found her own way of dealing with the aftermath of her husband’s killing. She sued du Pont for causing wrongful death and the multi-million-dollar settlement went into a trust for her children. She later started a foundation and wrestling club in her husband’s name, providing support to many former members of Team Foxcatcher. At 55, she now lives in San Carlos, just south of California and her children, both in their 20s, are nearby.
These days, her son Alexander bears a striking physical resemblance to his father. At the premiere of the film in the US, “people would just come up to him, grab his face and look into his eyes,” Nancy says, laughing. “They were hugging him and holding him, saying ‘Oh my God, it’s Dave Schultz again!’” The film, she feels, is a stunningly accurate portrayal of what happened and Ruffalo’s performance as Dave is “terrific”. She has no anger towards du Pont, not any more.
She confesses, halfway through our conversation, that she has recently got engaged again to a man named Scott. It is her first serious relationship since her husband was killed.
“I had such an extraordinary marriage with Dave,” she says. “I wasn’t just his wife, he was such a good friend too. The bar was set so high it took me a long time to find somebody I had that level of respect for.”
The children love her fiance, she tells me. And she knows, Dave being the kind of man he was, that he would want her to be happy. That’s one thing she can be absolutely sure of.
Foxcatcher is released in the UK on 9 January 2015
• Full coverage: FoxcatcherA Tennessee jury on Friday convicted David Kernell of obstruction of justice and misdemeanor computer intrusion in connection with his hacking of Sarah Palin's e-mail account in 2008, according to local news reports.
The jury acquitted the 22-year-old Kernell of wire fraud, and deadlocked on a fourth charge of identity theft following four days of deliberation.
Kernell famously hacked into Palin's Yahoo webmail account while Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate. He used publicly available information about Palin to reset her password to "popcorn," then posted screenshots of some of her e-mail, and the new password, to the /b/ message board on 4chan so others could enjoy it.
Prosecutors will now have to decide whether to retry Kernell on the identity-theft charge, based on the theory that the former University of Tennessee student stole Palin’s identity by taking over her Yahoo account.
Palin applauded the verdict Friday in a Facebook post that compared Kernell to Richard Nixon's plumbers. "As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates' private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election," wrote Palin, who testified against Kernell in court last week.
In opting for the misdemeanor version of the computer-intrusion charge, the jury rejected prosecutors' arguments that Kernell broke into Palin's account in furtherance of another criminal act or civil wrongdoing beyond accessing Palin's e-mail.
That means Kernell might have walked away from the trial without a felony conviction, if he hadn't deleted evidence from his hard drive. That, the jury found, constituted felony obstruction of justice.
Kernell is free on bond. A sentencing date has not been set.
Updated 18:30 with Palin's Facebook comments,
Image: Facebook.com
See Also:It can be a tough, desolate world out there for girls who put more emphasis on what’s inside their brains than what’s outside of them. It’s not like you can’t be both smart and pretty (of course you can), but it’s frustrating when—no matter how smart you are—there’s more emphasis put on how you look. It’s not a particularly hot climate for nerds and book worms. Stay strong! Our day in the sun will come… one day… maybe?
1. You identify with Hermione Granger on a spiritual, emotional, personal level that is untouchable by any other character that has ever existed in a movie before. PRAISE BE HERMIONE. HERMIONE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD.
2. Even when someone thinks you’re hot, all you can think is, BUT DON’T YOU FIND MY MIND HOTTER?
3. Why can’t someone just want to have sex with me because of my brain? is a thought you’ve had more than a handful times.
4. You will instantly fall in love with anyone who is up for some verbal sparring in the name of flirting. If someone falls in love with your brain before they fall in love with your face, you are DONE. IT’S BABYMAKING TIME IMMEDIATELY FOR THAT PERSON.
5. You’re amazing at flirting because, duh, you’re super smart. Problem is, nobody actually knows when you’re flirting, because your particular brand of flirting is by showing off your verbal chops and nobody cares all that much about your verbal chops.
6. You can’t play games while dating. You don’t want to be aloof, especially in texts. You want to talk! About things! You have a lot to say!
7. You prefer books to clubs or bars. Books to curling your hair. Books to makeup. Well, you prefer books to basically anything, except maybe talking to another person about books.
8. When you see a girl dumbing herself down to get someone to like them, it hurts your soul. You want to pull her aside and be all, “Let someone love your brain!”
9. It’s not like you don’t want to be pretty or that you don’t care about how you look. You do! You are down with a 5 minute beauty regimen, for sure, but you sort of resent that your looks are more important than your brains.
10. When a selfie gets more likes than an academic or personal achievement…
11. Your childhood dream was to go to college and maybe become a professor. Maybe an astronaut. Maybe become president. Who knows, you were dreaming big.
12. Trying to find one girl on a television show that you can relate to is like the ultimate struggle. (Besides Hermione… obviously. We’ve discussed our feelings on Hermione.)
13. The excitement you get from watching a spelling bee or a debate tournament must be akin to the excitement some women feel when they watch beauty pageants or The Bachelor.
14. Writing dissertations or solving complex mathematical equations or getting an A in chemistry? Easy! Curling your hair into beach waves? NOPE. TOO HARD. ABORT MISSION.
15. When you go to get your haircut, you’re all, “Do you have anything other than fashion or gossip magazines? What’s a girl gotta do to get just one goddamn back issue of Psychology Today?” Nothing but Us Weekly? *pulls out Kindle*
16. Stepping into a Sephora is like stepping into a labyrinth that you can never escape from and you have no idea what anything means. Sephora is a complexity you can not fathom.
17. This list sounds a little pretentious, but *shrug* whatever. You love being smart and you’ve worked really hard on it. And, if the current culture is not going to fully appreciate smart women, then that’s their loss and you are going to just go on appreciating yourself, because you believe that what’s inside your brain is more important than what’s outside of it. Yep. There it is. HERMIONE (OR MAYBE YOU?) FOR PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD.CoreOS is building a container runtime, rkt
• By Alex Polvi
Try it out: View the latest rkt docs or sample systemd units.
rkt is a new container runtime, designed for composability, security, and speed. Today we are releasing a prototype version on GitHub to begin gathering feedback from our community and explain why we are building rkt.
Why we are building rkt
When we started building CoreOS, we looked at all the various components available to us, re-using the best tools, and building the ones that did not exist. We believe strongly in the Unix philosophy: tools should be independently useful, but have clean integration points. We hope this is reflected in tools that we build, such as etcd, which have seen widespread adoption and use outside CoreOS itself.
When Docker was first introduced to us in early 2013, the idea of a “standard container” was striking and immediately attractive: a simple component, a composable unit, that could be used in a variety of systems. The Docker repository included a manifesto of what a standard container should be. This was a rally cry to the industry, and we quickly followed. Brandon Philips, co-founder/CTO of CoreOS, became a top Docker contributor, and now serves on the Docker governance board. CoreOS is one of the most widely used platforms for Docker containers, and ships releases to the community hours after they happen upstream. We thought Docker would become a simple unit that we can all agree on.
Unfortunately, a simple re-usable component is not how things are playing out. Docker now is building tools for launching cloud servers, systems for clustering, and a wide range of functions: building images, running images, uploading, downloading, and eventually even overlay networking, all compiled into one monolithic binary running primarily as root on your server. The standard container manifesto was removed. We should stop talking about Docker containers, and start talking about the Docker Platform. It is not becoming the simple composable building block we had envisioned.
rkt + App Container
We still believe in the original premise of containers that Docker introduced, so we are doing something about it. While we are at it, we are cleaning up and fixing a few things that we’d like to see in a production ready container. What is important to us in the design of a container?
Composable. All tools for downloading, installing, and running containers should be well integrated, but independent and composable.
. All tools for downloading, installing, and running containers should be well integrated, but independent and composable. Security. Isolation should be pluggable, and the crypto primitives for strong trust, image auditing and application identity should exist from day one.
. Isolation should be pluggable, and the crypto primitives for strong trust, image auditing and application identity should exist from day one. Image distribution. Discovery of container images should be simple and facilitate a federated namespace, and distributed retrieval. This opens the possibility of alternative protocols, such as BitTorrent, and deployments to private environments without the requirement of a registry.
. Discovery of container images should be simple and facilitate a federated namespace, and distributed retrieval. This opens the possibility of alternative protocols, such as BitTorrent, and deployments to private environments without the requirement of a registry. Open. The format and runtime should be well-specified and developed by a community. We want independent implementations of tools to be able to run the same container consistently.
rkt 0.1.0
rkt is a command line tool, rkt, for running App Containers. An “App Container” is the specification of an image format, container runtime, and a discovery mechanism. rkt is the first implementation of an App Container, but we do not expect it to be the only one.
App Container Image: definition of a signed/encrypted tgz that includes all the bits to run an app container.
App Container Runtime: definition of the environment the running app container should be given.
App Container Discovery: a federated protocol for finding and downloading an app container image.
The best way to drive a standard is to let a successful and proven implementation become the de facto one. However, when the point of the software is interoperability (as it is with containers), we think things are different.
In developing the App Container specification, we started with some thoughtfulness around the requirements up front, then spent time refining it as we worked on an implementation (rkt). We feel these specs and implementations are pretty well thought out, but are still early enough that we need your help refining it. Please contribute to the spec by sending a pull request to start the discussion.
App Container Image
An App Container Image (ACI) is a specification for the image format of a container. It is a simple flat tarball that is always signed and optionally encrypted. By convention, an ACI is minimal, meaning it only includes the bits absolutely required to execute the application. Since an ACI may be encrypted, distribution via systems like BitTorrent, public object storage, or mirror networks is a possibility. Think of ACI as a variant of Amazon’s AMI, but created for a container world.
Read about and contribute to the ACI draft.
App Container Runtime
The App Container Runtime defines what environment and facilities a container runtime should provide. This includes devices, environment variables, and privileges that a container should expect. It also includes a definition of a meta-data service interface for exposing data to the environment from outside the container.
Security primitives are very important to us, so we added an identity feature to the meta-data service. This means every instance of a running container is given a unique identity, coupled with a lightweight HSM-like service for signing. No existing VM or container environment has a concept like this, so we would welcome and appreciate community feedback on this design.
Read about and contribute to the runtime draft.
App Container Discovery
App Container Discovery is a method for finding your app container image. It is inspired by golang’s vanity URL convention for import paths. This means you’ll be able to refer to containers with simple names like coreos.com/etcd, allowing organizations to federate their downloads without running their own registry.
Standard Containers
We want the world to run containers. A world where your application can be packaged once, and ran in the environment you choose. We believe rkt and a definition around the App Container is a requirement for this to work. Please contribute your thoughts to our mailing list, our source code or join us in person at the CoreOS meet-up tonight in San Francisco.
FAQ
What is rkt?
rkt is an alternative to the Docker runtime, designed for server environments with the most rigorous security and production requirements. rkt is oriented around the App Container specification, a new set of simple and open specifications for a portable container format.
When is rkt available?
rkt is available today on GitHub. We are releasing a 0.1.0 prototype to gather community feedback. Please note that this is a prototype quality release, very much in the spirit of “release early, release often”. Please provide feedback via GitHub.
Why not just fork Docker?
From a security and composability perspective, the Docker process model - where everything runs through a central daemon - is fundamentally flawed. To “fix” Docker would essentially mean a rewrite of the project, while inheriting all the baggage of the existing implementation.
Why are you doing this now?
At CoreOS we have large, serious users running in enterprise environments. We cannot in good faith continue to support Docker’s broken security model without addressing these issues. Additionally, in the past few weeks Docker has demonstrated that it is on a path to include many facilities beyond basic container management, turning it into a complex platform. Our primary users have existing platforms that they want to integrate containers with. We need to fill the gap for companies that just want a way to securely and portably run a container.
Will rkt run on [Ubuntu, RHEL, CentOS, etc]?
Yes, rkt is a stand alone tool that will live outside of CoreOS itself and can be used on a variety of platforms. In a sense it is similar to the etcd project in that it is a tool we built because nothing like it existed.
What is the difference between rkt and App Container?
“App Container” defines a specification of the facilities surrounding the container. rkt implements these facilities as a command line tool. An open specification allows other systems do their own implementation of App Container without using rkt at all. CoreOS fully supports and embraces alternative implementations.
Could App Container support be contributed to the Docker Platform?
Definitely. If the App Container specifications were implemented inside of Docker, the projects will be interoperable, meeting the original goal of the manifesto. CoreOS will evaluate contributing this work once App Container matures.
Will CoreOS continue to ship Docker?
Yes. We will continue to make sure CoreOS is the best place to run Docker. We will save the details for a future post, once rkt has developed further, but expect Docker to continue to be fully integrated with CoreOS as it is today.The leader of Scotland’s Labour party, Kezia Dugdale, has become the fifth key political figure and fourth party leader in Scottish politics to come out as gay. Giving an interview to a magazine, Dugdale said she had a female partner.
Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservative party; Patrick Harvie, the co-convenor of the Scottish Green party; and David Coburn, the leader of Ukip Scotland, have also come out as gay or bisexual, along with Scotland’s only Conservative MP, David Mundell, the secretary of state for Scotland.
In the interview with Mary Riddell in the Fabian Review, Dugdale, 34, said: “I have a female partner. I don’t talk about it very much because I don’t feel I need to.”
Her decision to reveal the information was met with widespread support among Scottish politicians.
Explaining her decision to keep her private life away from the spotlight since being elected to the Scottish parliament in 2011 and becoming party leader in 2015, Dugdale said: “I don’t get easily stressed or battered. But I need a bit of stability to do that and that means my private life is my private life. That’s the thing I just have to have that nobody gets to touch, and that gives me the strength to be calm elsewhere.”
Scotland is believed to be the only country in the world where most of its political party leaders are openly lesbian, gay or bisexual.
As people sent messages to Dugdale on social media, congratulating her on coming out, she wrote in response: “Thanks for all the lovely messages of support – appreciated.”
Dugdale was also forced to clarify her stance on Scottish independence after saying in the same interview that “it’s not inconceivable” she could support a future yes vote if the UK leaves the EU. She said she would very much like Scotland to remain part of both the UK and the EU.
Dugdale was asked where her loyalty would be if there was an overall vote to leave in the EU referendum but the majority of Scots wanted to remain. She said: “I’ve never contemplated that. I really wouldn’t like to choose, because what I want to do is the best possible thing for Scotland.”
When pushed on the topic and asked if she would “argue, for Scotland’s sake, against the UK union”, Dugdale said: “Possibly. It’s not inconceivable.” She went on to say: “As I made clear in the leaders’ TV debate this week, Labour has ruled out a second independence referendum. We won’t introduce one in government and we would vote against one if it’s introduced by any other party.
“I campaigned as hard as anybody to ensure that Scotland remained part of the UK. The collapse in the oil price showed that the best way to secure our public services is to stay in the UK. I would vote to stay in the UK in any future referendum.”
The Scottish Labour party elected Dugdale in August 2015, making her the youngest ever leader of the party. The party has been thrown into disarray after a near wipeout at the 2015 general election, when the SNP claimed nearly all Labour’s seats. Dugdale is battling to restore the balance in Scotland’s parliamentary elections this summer.
Kezia Dugdale: Holyrood under SNP is 'a conveyor belt for Tory cuts' Read more
As well as being a strong supporter of same-sex marriage, Dugdale has voiced her support for civil partnerships to be extended to opposite-sex couples. She has also spoken out against the Catholic church being allowed to block same-sex adoptions. In March, Dugdale, together with Davidson and Harvie, decided not to applaud when presented with the Ghanian president at Holyrood, protesting at the country’s anti-gay laws.
Davidson featured her partner in a campaign broadcast last year and has spoken out with passion against homophobia in schools, backing a Stonewall Scotland campaign on the issue.
Scotland was last year rated the best country in Europe in terms of legal equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. Last week, at a hustings in Edinburgh organised by Stonewall Scotland, the Scottish first minister, with cross-party backing, made several commitments on LGBTI equality including to review and reform gender recognition laws for transgender people.
At the hustings all five party leaders expressed backing for a gender neutral passport. Davidson also described having become the first openly gay Scottish Conservative MP. “When I ran for election, there were four candidates, each of whom was described by the media in a different way from me,” she said. “They were described by their jobs. Then there was ‘lesbian kick-boxer’ Ruth Davidson.
“It’s taken a long time to stop being lesbian kick-boxer Ruth Davidson and start being Tory leader Ruth Davidson. It’s been quite a journey. Now I think we have the gayest group of candidates we’ve ever had.”
• This article was amended on 11 April 2016. An earlier version referred to Patrick Harvie as leader, rather than co-convenor, of the Scottish Green party.Doing the work that I do, researching couple, it has become more and more clear to me that at the basis of most divorces are problems in the sexual connection. The two people may think that they are fighting about the kids or the in-laws or about whether to renovate the kitchen, but underneath it all is that unspoken tension related to the pressure of establishing a satisfying sexual relationship for both parties.
In my practice, the issues that people raise in sessions seem to come in waves and right now, I’m working with a wave of couples in which the tension between them expresses itself in the woman not wanting to be touched. She may go ahead and “do it” from time to time when the builds up too much, but it is unpleasant for her and humiliating for him to have when she really doesn’t want to.
I want to explore a little bit what happens when a woman’s body shuts down and is no longer receptive to her husband’s touch. I’m looking at those couple in which there has not been sexual in her history and where sex used to be a positive experience for her. This “shut down” phenomenon typically appears a few years into the relationship, often after the kids are born. Whereas, in the past, they used to have a fun, relaxed time in bed, now it has become a psychological wrestling match, with her avoiding and him bewildered and unsure how to proceed. This leads to her closing up and him feeling rejected and angry. And because she doesn’t understand and can’t explain what’s happening, it’s impossible to talk about.
The woman in this scenario may really wish that she could access that easy sexual pleasure that was so evident in her past. She wants to want it. But now his touch feels aversive and rather than turn her on, she hates it. Strangely, women have often told me that they can manage the vaginal part of things and find intercourse tolerable, but really don’t like having their breasts fondled. That stimulation is mixed—partly pleasurable but partly disturbing. It feels intensely intimate, flooding them with overwhelming feelings.
As a result, during sex their bodies become a patchwork of go/no go zones that are deeply confusing and frustrating to the partner who remembers the spontaneous freedom of their past sexual expression. He doesn’t know what happened, but then, neither does she. In this case, not wanting to be touched doesn’t necessarily mean the woman has some deep psychological problem. It just means that the couple needs some help.
One young mother told me that her husband expects her to have a switch on her shoulder that she can flip to get herself into the mood, and I think she’s on to something. I like to say that men are good at compartmentalizing—they can take a problem and shove it in a drawer and say, “I’ll deal with that later”. Women are multi-taskers. While they are taking their shower in the morning, they’re also planning what to cook for dinner and where to go on vacation. And they can’t forget problems until they get solved—like an itch that needs to be scratched.
So when they get into bed at night, the husband may be focused on the activity of the moment— sex—while the wife is still preoccupied by the tantrum their three-year old had in the grocery store that afternoon or the disagreement they had earlier about money. She feels that her husband is out of sync with her emotional state and concerns. He’s ready to go, but she cannot so easily make that transition from playground to pillow. She can’t shut down her mind in order to turn on her body and she experiences his eagerness as callous.
Any resentment she has towards him gets in the way of her opening herself up not only to being loving and giving, but also to being able to receive and be in the moment. So when he starts to make a move towards her, it’s unwelcome. She feels trapped and threatened that she has to perform or this will lead to a scene. This experience, multiplied over and over, damages the sense of sexual safety in the relationship for both of them.
Women in my office often complain that their husbands want sex, as if that’s a bad thing. They think that sex for men is all about orgasms. That’s part of it, but in long-term relationships, sex is also the fastest route for a man to feel close and connected to his wife. |
the United States. AYRLA has formed a partnership with Rugby League Clubs in the USA most Notably the Rhode Island Rebellion and the Philadelphia Fight, in efforts to launch youth competitions and clinics in schools and towns, utilizing players coaches and administrators of local club's to run the day to day programs.[34]
The American Youth Rugby League Association have created Middle School, U23 and as of 2014 High School Competitions. Additionally AYRLA has created and assist run summer camps and clincs. For a history look here [35]
National team [ edit ]
The USA national rugby league team competed in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the nation's first appearance at the tournament, and exceeded expectations by topping their group and reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Australia.
See also [ edit ]House lawmakers have introduced bipartisan legislation that would exempt a future Major League Soccer stadium in St. Paul from having to pay property taxes.
Materials and supplies used for stadium construction also would be tax exempt. The exemption on construction materials would expire a year after the first Major League Soccer game is played in the new stadium.
The bill was referred to the committee on taxes.
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Chai Lee, Kris Fredson among 17 members chosen for Met Council Minnesota United team owners have said the tax exemptions are essential to moving forward with a $150 million stadium in St. Paul, though they’ve also said that they were confident the Legislature would come through. They have denied that the lack of exemptions was a hold-up for starting stadium construction.
Instead, the St. Paul Port Authority has stepped in with the intent of resolving real estate issues related to surrounding land at the Midway Shopping Center.Parenting is hard work! But it can also be fun and rewarding. There are many things you can do to help build a safe, stable, and nurturing relationship with your child. This website will help you handle some common parenting challenges, so you can be a more confident parent and enjoy helping your child grow.
WATCH VIDEOS A mother finds that her son does not follow her directions and figures out what is causing the problem. Watch this and other videos that show how to use the positive parenting skills. More PRACTICE SKILLS You send your child to time-out for hitting her sister. She keeps getting up and comes back with a toy. What would you do? Click here for this activity and other chances to practice the positive parenting skills. More OTHER PARENT RESOURCES Concerned about your child’s development? Want more information on water safety? Find tips and useful information on other topics you might find interesting. MoreARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE puzzled as to the exact purpose of an ancient oak road unearthed on a Bord na Móna bog in Co Tipperary.
Operations manager and site director with Archaeological Development Services (ADS) Jane Whitaker believes the track, which runs parallel to a modern road, may have formed part of an ancient road network.
The road, discovered by ADS during a walking survey, is constructed from oak planks laid across oak beams and gravel. Mortise holes have been bored into the planks to facilitate wooden pegs. All of the materials were brought to the site from other locations.
Using dendrochronology, the archaeologists have dated wood from the road to 986 BC. The Bronze Age structure measures 300 metres long and four metres wide.
Construction of the road would have involved “a substantial amount of wood, organisation, tree-felling, hard labour and graft”, said Ms Whitaker. “The reason for that is unknown but most likely just to cross the bog – it’s a causeway.”
A number of other finds have been made at the site of the road on the Longford Pass Bog in Co Tipperary in the past, she revealed. “Historically there have been quite a few finds, mainly in the early days of Bord na Móna hand-cutting. There is actually quite a large number of Bronze Age finds, similar enough in date to this site which would have been daggers and swords.” Mystery still remains as to the exact purpose of the road. Although the track is large enough to take wheeled vehicles, archaeologists have found no evidence of hoof prints or wheel ruts. “Interestingly, in this particular site, we have, in two of the cuttings, an upright timber with a hole in it along the northern end of the site, purpose and function as yet unknown.”
Environmental archaeologist Dan Young is studying samples to get a picture of the environmental conditions when the track was in use. “One hypothesis we are testing is that trackways were built as a response to climate change. That is something that is still ongoing – we have got some evidence for it at some sites but not all sites,” he said. Bord na Móna project archaeologist Charles Mount expects more artefacts to be discovered at the Longford Pass site: “The interesting thing is as you look you begin to see pieces of timber that may have been pieces of wooden artefacts. There may be one or two oars, there could be wall footings, and, as the wood is taken up and recorded, there may be more objects.”
Head of environment for Bord na Móna Energy Enda McDonagh said over 200 sites have been excavated on Bord na Móna bogs since 1992.
He said all bogs under the control of Bord na Móna have been surveyed at least once by archaeologists. The organisation owns about 7 per cent of the bogs in Ireland.“Cute.”
“Delightful.”
These are the genuine reactions to one of our latest arrivals, the Pink Filco Majestouch-2 Tenkeyless mechanical keyboard. As you’d guess from the name, this compact mech comes with pink keycaps, a pink cable and a pink case for a full-on pink look. This stylish keyboard is perfect for all princesses at heart, or just fans of this particular shade of lightish red.
Inside, you’ll find the most popular mechanical switches: Cherry MX Browns. These tactile switches feel nice for typing or gaming, with a light actuation force that is comfortable for hours on end.
The compact layout is also a draw, omitting the number pad to provide more space for your mouse. This is brilliant for small desks, and also helps to save weight if you plan on carrying this keyboard to work or LAN parties. (Of course, if you do need a number pad, you can always pick up a separate one that can be positioned to the left or right of the keyboard as you prefer.)
There have only been positive reviews of the Pink Filco from our customers so far, with users praising the cute colour, great performance and comfortable compact layout. We’re sure you’ll like it too, so if you dig the colour scheme then take a look at the product page for more information!
Looking for other pink keyboards? Why not take a look at the Pink Topre Type Heaven or the Matias Bluetooth Aluminium Keyboard in Rose Gold?
Thanks for checking out the article and be sure to let us know what you think of this keyboard in the comments below! Stay tuned for more keyboards, blogs and guides in the future by following us on Twitter or Facebook.(Corrects identification of federal sentencing guidelines to money laundering from drug trafficking in paragraph 4. Corrects paragraph 6 to correct characterization of the criminal sentencing guidelines as relevant to the money laundering charge, not the drug trafficking charge. Corrects information about recommended terms to indicate they can vary in length according to criminal history.)
By Emily Flitter
NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - When U.S. authorities announced the arrest of Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht in October 2013, they made a startling claim: the online black market had seen an estimated $1.2 billion in illicit sales since its inception.
This week, however, as Ulbricht’s criminal trial began, prosecutors significantly scaled back that figure, saying Silk Road had actually seen an estimated $200 million in drug sales, which comprised 95 percent of all sales on the website.
The revision could be good news for Ulbricht, who has admitted creating the site, where users could buy drugs and other illegal goods using the digital currency Bitcoin, according to former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Alberts.
Since advisory federal sentencing guidelines for money laundering take into account the size of the scheme, the reduced sales figure would put Ulbricht’s offenses into a different category under the guidelines, said Alberts, who is now a partner at law firm Pryor Cashman and is not involved in the case.
Ulbricht, 30, is facing a seven-count indictment for offenses including money laundering, computer hacking and conspiracy to commit drug trafficking. He could face life in prison if convicted on all counts.
But taken on its own, a conviction on the money laundering count would elicit a recommendation for prison time for an operation larger than $400 million, as prosecutors originally estimated, that would be longer than the recommendation for a scheme netting between $400 million and $200 million, or one just under $200 million. The specific number of months or years recommended would also depend on other factors such as criminal history.
Ulbricht’s lawyer declined to comment.
The change in Silk Road’s estimated sales volume is not, however, entirely due to fluctuations in the value of bitcoins, which have actually increased in price since prosecutors filed the criminal complaint against Ulbricht on Oct. 2, 2013. Back then, one bitcoin was worth $125 but they are trading at around $205 today.
While formulating the complaint against Ulbricht, prosecutors arrived at the $1.2 billion figure by looking at the total value of bitcoins obtained through sales on the site, according to the complaint.
But after combing through Silk Road’s files, they recalculated the total by adding up the value of individual drug sales according to the price of bitcoins at the time of each transaction, arriving at $200 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Adjustments like this one are common, Alberts said. The more precisely prosecutors can calculate the size of an illegal operation, the less likely defense lawyers are to contest the estimate during a sentencing hearing.
Another advantage to the revision: it is a number that will not change even if bitcoin prices do.
The case is U.S. v. Ulbricht, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-06919. (Reporting by Emily Flitter; editing by Noeleen Walder and G Crosse)The Detroit Lions have optimism entering the season. I think the franchise will be mediocre in 2016 and be in the middle of the NFL.
Other writers? Well, based on their predictions the Lions are going to be very, very bad. Possibly first-pick-in-the-NFL-draft bad. Every writer did predictions for the team they cover for the 2016 season. I went through those to see where the Lions shook out in each matchup from the opposing side of things.
If my colleagues are correct, it’s going to be a long season in Detroit.
Here’s where they shook out:
Week 1: Mike Wells picked the Colts to beat the Lions in Indianapolis. Record: 0-1
Week 2: Paul Kuharsky picked the Lions to beat the Titans in Detroit. Record: 1-1
Week 3: Rob Demovsky picked the Packers to beat the Lions in Green Bay. Record: 1-2
Week 4: Jeff Dickerson picked the Bears to beat the Lions in Chicago. Record: 1-3
Week 5: Tim McManus picked the Eagles to beat the Lions in Detroit. Record: 1-4
Week 6: Alden Gonzalez picked the Rams to beat the Lions in Detroit. Record: 1-5
Week 7: John Keim picked the Lions to beat Washington in Detroit. Record: 2-5
Week 8: Sarah Barshop picked the Texans to beat the Lions in Houston. Record: 2-6
Week 9: Ben Goessling picked the Vikings to beat the Lions in Minneapolis. Record: 2-7
Week 11: Mike DiRocco picked the Jaguars to beat the Lions in Detroit. Record: 2-8
Week 12: Ben Goessling picked the Vikings to beat the Lions in Detroit on Thanksgiving. Record: 2-9
Week 13: Mike Triplett picked the Saints to beat the Lions in New Orleans. Record: 2-10
Week 14: Jeff Dickerson picked the Lions to beat the Bears in Detroit. Record: 3-10
Week 15: Jordan Ranaan picked the Giants to beat the Lions in East Rutherford. Record: 3-11
Week 16: Todd Archer picked the Cowboys to beat the Lions in Texas. Record: 3-12
Week 17: Rob Demovsky picked the Packers to beat the Lions in Detroit. Record: 3-13Getty Images
When compiling a list of things from Thursday night that were worse than previously believed, it would seem that the line starts and ends with Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.
One of Dalton’s teammates disagrees with that assessment, however. Running back Jeremy Hill, who saw his output drop from 154 rushing yards in Week Nine to 55 against Cleveland, thought that the Browns also failed to live up to advanced billing.
“Oh no, not at all. They’re probably worse than I thought, to be honest with you. They didn’t do anything special to me. I mean, respect to them, they won the game. But that’s all I’ll give them,” Hill said, via ESPN.com. “Those guys, they’re not that good. It was on us [Thursday]. We gave them the game, in my opinion. They didn’t do anything special. We just gave them the game. They just sat back with coverage the whole day.”
When the quarterback of the other team is unable to differentiate between his players, your players and fans in the stands, the choice to sit back in coverage can hardly be criticized as a shortcoming when you wind up allowing a grand total of 165 yards. It’s the wise thing to do and it paid off handsomely for the Browns, who will get another chance to impress Hill on December 14.
The rest of the season will tell the tale of how good the Browns are, but neither Hill nor anyone else on the Bengals can really throw stones from a glass house that’s currently located in third place in the AFC North.Fans of Atlanta’s MLS team hope to learn its official name sometime before the Gold Cup semifinals in the Georgia Dome in late July.
The name — Atlanta Spurs? FC Atlanta? Atlanta United? — is but one pass in an FC Barcelona-like sequence that usually starts with figuring out what the expectations of all stakeholders, continues with deciding on the team’s promise to those stakeholders and will eventually be translated and transformed into the name, colors, logo, motto, team’s uniform and other merchandise that are the tangible, consumable symbols of what will be Atlanta’s MLS team.
“If you are thinking about a brand, it’s one of the most powerful and valuable assets you own,” MLS Chief Marketing Officer Howard Handler said. “You can’t hold it in your hand.
“Some of the great brands in North American sports, the team’s owners have global aspirations and want to think over decades and generations of families and fans.”
The process starts with simple conversations, and those discussions with fans can be done in any number of ways, according to Handler.
MLS Atlanta is using a survey, extensive market research, focus groups, a brand audit of all MLS clubs and grass-roots get-togethers with fans and supporters groups such as Terminus Legion, which Handler said are important factors, to understand their expectations and desires. A team spokeswoman declined to provide any more details about the results or any other comment, citing the fact that they are still working on many things about the club. She said the team would share the information after more decisions are made.
“It’s (research) core stuff and something that our owners and club executives take very seriously,” Handler said.
Those expectations will be combined with the character and values of ownership, in this case of Arthur Blank and his leadership team, as ingredients in the team’s brand strategy, otherwise known as what MLS Atlanta will stand for and what will differentiate it from the other sports and entertainment options in Atlanta.
After the intangibles are solidified, the tangible things begin to take shape. The team’s name usually comes first, followed by the colors, logo and the uniforms.
The name, of course, is the most identifiable element and can become synonymous for the team’s success and strategy: Barcelona is known around the world as the team built on short, intricate passing and imagination, in baseball the Braves are built on pitching, etc.
The name of Atlanta’s entry into MLS is something fans have been discussing since the team was introduced in April 2014. Terminus Legion even put together its own survey and announced the results, which confused some members of Atlanta’s media into thinking the team had been named.
Some MLS team names come straight from ownership. Other can come from focus groups and research. Others are a combination. MLS works with the team during the process to ensure that the league’s goals and vision are being incorporated.
Once the name has been decided, league commissioner Don Garber must approve it, which doesn’t take long. Handler said the entire process usually takes nine months to a year.
The colors can also be chosen after market research and can be influenced by geography and the colors of other teams in the marketplace, as well as the rest of the teams in MLS. It’s usually better to not have MLS teams with competing colors, and the league tries to ensure that doesn’t happen. When Atlanta’s team was introduced, red, black and gold featured prominently in the announcement.
The team’s name coupled with the design of the logo can be done any number of ways, either through one firm taking the synthesized information and trying to turn it into an identifiable name and logo, or competing firms can be paired against each other. Handler said the better the direction and the more accurate the information the firm is given, usually the better the results will be.
“Usually what you get back is pretty special,” Handler said.
Sometimes competing logos will be shown to fans. Handler said that’s how NYCFC decided on its logo. Everything must then be trademarked, which can take a few months.
Deciding on the design of the jersey can take longer because Adidas, the league’s apparel partner, needs about a year to manufacture the kits. It takes that long because the colors and the look have to be just right before mass production can begin.
After everything has been decided, MLS Atlanta must decide how it wants to introduce its new identity. Will it introduce only the name? Handler said MLS Atlanta’s name hasn’t been finalized, but he’s confident that it will be ready by the Gold Cup semifinals.
If everything isn’t introduced when the name is unveiled, MLS Atlanta could slowly introduce the other elements — the icon, the jersey, secondary icon — as the 2017 inaugural season grows closer.
“The thing that runs throughout all of the experiences is to stay true to the fan base, to listen, learn and reflect and to be true to a process,” Handler said. “A process can be a powerful thing because it draws lots of people in, leads to collaboration, leads to a good back and forth, and iterating and challenging each other. Great things tend to come out of it.”Ted Balaker says: "A 30-year-old college student, husband and father of two, studying to be a paramedic says 'fuck' outside of class, and his professor gets offended. She threatens him with detention (he's 30!), the administration boots him from the class and nearly ruins his career."
"I was persecuted by my college for saying the word 'fuck' in conversation with another student after class."
In 2010, Isaac Rosenbloom was a student at Hinds Community College in Mississippi. He was disappointed to receive a grade of "74" on an exam, and after class ended he walked outside and complained to a fellow student, "This grade is going to fuck up my entire GPA."
After overhearing the comment, Rosenbloom's professor, Barbara Pyle, berated him for cursing and threatened to send him to detention. Says Rosenbloom, "I countered with, 'I'm 30 years old. This is college. There is no detention.'"
Rosenbloom didn't get detention, but the husband and father of two children received something worse: Administrators booted him from Pyle's class. The punishment jeopardized his financial aid eligibility and could have derailed Rosenbloom's plans to become a paramedic.
Then FIRE got involved.
"If it wasn't for FIRE," says Rosenbloom, "I wouldn't have a career. I would be delivering pizzas instead of saving lives."Getty Images
Two of the biggest storylines concerning the Jets this offseason have centered on players who haven’t been around the team.
The team’s ongoing contract impasse with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has been on center stage all offseason and defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson has also been away from the team after getting the franchise tag a couple of months ago. Wilkerson hasn’t signed his tender and has until July 15 to sign a long-term contract, although nothing appears any more imminent on that front than it did at the start of the offseason.
Coach Todd Bowles didn’t offer much optimism about that changing in the next two months when he was asked about Wilkerson this week.
“Well, we want to come to an agreement,” Bowles said. “We want to sign all our good players. But that doesn’t always work out. I’m not saying we are or aren’t. Obviously you want to keep your good players around. But with the rules these days they make it very hard after four or five years to keep your own. So we got to try to finagle and find ways to do that and have enough money to try to do so.”
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports Wilkerson has spoken to the team’s training staff about his recovery from a broken leg and has told friends he won’t attend the team’s minicamp starting on June 14. That would shift the Wilkerson watch to training camp, when the Jets should have a better idea about their quarterback situation as well.Google Fiber’s introduction across the United States has sparked two tendencies in the search company’s competitor ISPs — bleating to Congress about the need to restrict such services, and rapid cost-cutting on their own product tiers to keep them competitive with what Google offers. Occasionally we get flashes of a third option, as when AT&T offers to cut its rates to match Google, provided you allow the company full access to everything you do online. Actual service offers that would beat Google, however, have been few and far between. Comcast is one of the first companies to step up to that plate, with a new 2Gbps service — provided you can afford some truly eye-popping fees.
According to the terms and conditions on its own website, Comcast’s new 2Gbps service will cost you $300 a month with a mandatory two-year contract. A $159/month price will be available in certain markets in the midwest, provided customers sign a three-year contract. Customers will need to live within 1/3 of a mile of a Comcast fiber network deployment and will be charged a $500 installation fee along with a $500 service activation fee. Google Fiber, in contrast, offers a typically waived $300 service fee if you sign a one-year contract and $70 per month.
Add it all up, and a 2Gbps Comcast subscriber will pay $4600 the first year and $3600 per year thereafter (assuming the rate stays down). There are no bundled cable options available. In Provo, Kansas, the Google Fiber provider offers service at $70 per month ($840 per year) or $1440 per month if you purchase a combined cable + Internet plan. That’s… well, let’s be honest. That’s pretty terrible. At $3600 per year as compared to $860 per year, you’re paying 4.28x as much for 2x the performance.
While it’s always true that someone, somewhere is willing to pay for more speed, it’s hard to believe that many PC customers have needs that could plausibly stress a 2Gbps connection. There’ve been times, typically around review dates, that I’d kill to have full gigabit access, but as Comcast’s “PC requirements” page notes, you need 10Gig ports and a high-end switch just to hook up to the service, at least if you intend to share the 2Gbps love around your house. Conventional consumer networking equipment literally isn’t designed to reach the kinds of speeds that Comcast is offering here. The difference between 1Gbps and 2Gbps is the difference between 125MB/s and 250MB/s worth of bandwidth, which means you’d best have an SSD if you intend to download and not be held back by the write performance of your hard drive.
It’s good to see the existing ISPs working to offer some degree of competition to Google’s gigabit fiber, but it’s hard not to view this as a giant cash grab. Precious few consumers are going to pony up the equivalent price of a cheap used car to download torrents or web pages at double the ludicrous speed that gigabit fiber already offers, and Comcast has priced the capability to make certain that even the handful of customers who satisfy the requirements won’t be able to afford the service.
There’s no word yet on whether Comcast intends to offer a lower-cost version of the service with lower service tiers and a more reasonable price tag.Leon Halip/Getty Images
The 2012 State Farm Home Run Derby will take place tonight in Kansas City with four players from the American League (Robinson Cano, Mark Trumbo, Prince Fielder and Jose Bautista) facing off against the National League’s quartet (Matt Kemp, Carlos Gonzalez, Carlos Beltran and Andrew McCutchen).
So here’s the question: Does winning the Home Run Derby affect that player’s swing and batting prowess in the games after the event?
Just looking at the past three Home Run Derby winners, you might be inclined to say that winning the event is not a good thing. In 2009, Fielder won the event as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. In the 10 games he played after winning the Derby, Fielder collected only eight hits in 37 at bats for an average of.216.
Fast forward to 2010 and that year’s winner, David Ortiz, had only seven hits in 39 at bats (a.179 average) in the 10 Red Sox games after winning the event. His.179 average is the lowest average of any Home Run Derby winner in the 10 games after winning the event.
Even last year’s winner, Robinson Cano, had somewhat mixed results in the games following his Derby victory. Cano did bat.302 in the 10 games after winning the Derby, but he hit only one home run in those 10 games. In fact, Cano hit only one four-bagger in 21 games after the event in a total of 82 at bats.
Here’s a look at the batting averages and home runs for each Home Run Derby winner in the 10 games after they won the event.
Following are the Home Run Derby winners who had the best averages in the 10 games after their Derby win.
Batting average in 10 games after Derby win, Player, (hits/at-bats), Year
.410 Sammy Sosa (16-for-39) 2000
.368 Juan Gonzalez (14-for-38) 1993
.351 Ken Griffey, Jr. (13-for-37) 1998
.351 Garret Anderson (13-for-37) 2003
.333 Ken Griffey, Jr. (14-for-32) 1994
.325 Wally Joyner (13-for-40) 1986
.325 Miguel Tejada (13-for-40) 2004
.324 Frank Thomas (12-for-37) 1995
.316 Ryan Howard (12-for-38) 2006
.314 Jason Giambi (11-for-35) 2002
Following are the Home Run Derby winners who had the lowest batting averages in the 10 games after their Derby win.
Batting average in 10 games after derby win, Player, (hits/at-bats), Year
.179 David Ortiz (7-for-39) 2010
.216 Prince Fielder (8-for-37) 2009
.219 Bobby Abreu (7-for-32) 2005
.222 Ryne Sandberg (8-for-36) 1990
.237 Darryl Strawberry (9-for-38) 1986
.238 Andre Dawson (10-for 42) 1987
.244 Cal Ripken (8-for-36) 1991
.250 Eric Davis (9-for-36) 1989
Following are the players who hit four or more home runs in the 10 games following their Derby win.
Home Runs, Player (year they won Derby)
6: Sammy Sosa (2000)
5: Tino Martinez (1997)
4: Juan Gonzalez (1993); Frank Thomas (1995); Ken Griffey, Jr. (1998); Ryan Howard (2006)
Following are the players who hit one or no home runs in the 10 games following their derby win.
Home Runs, Player (year they won Derby)
0: Bobby Abreu (2005); Vladimir Guerrero (2007)
1: Wally Joyner (1986); Ruben Sierra (1989); Ryne Sandberg (1990); Mark McGwire (1992); Garret Anderson (2003); David Ortiz (2010); Robinson Cano (2011)
For the record, if you combine all the players stats for the 10 games after they won the Home Run Derby, you’ll find that the 28 winners hit a combined.289 with 67 home runs, an average of 2.4 home runs in those 10 games per player.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTappAnthony Weiner courtrs voters outside a Harlem subway station a day after announcing he will enter the New York mayoral race on May 23, 2013, in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Anthony Weiner loves the ladies, and apparently they love him back.
Sugar daddy dating website SeekingArrangement.com found that 78 percent of female clients aged 18-26 approve of Weiner.
The website, which connects wealthy patrons with attractive clients, surveyed over 18,000 of its female members and discovered that 63 percent of all women surveyed approved of the New York City mayoral hopeful, with the highest approval ratings coming from the 18-26 demographic.
Weiner resigned his congressional seat in 2011 after a sexting scandal – dubbed "Weinergate" – revealed he was sending explicit messages to women while he was married.
A second scandal erupted during Weiner's 2013 run for New York City mayor. Under the alias "Carlos Danger," Weiner continued to send sexts to at least three other women. Despite calls for him to drop out, Weiner continues his campaign.
A breakdown of SeekingArrangement.com's stats reveals a 35 percent approval rate (1,833 approve out of 5,287 surveyed) for women 27-34 and 21 percent approval (327 approve out of 1,094 surveyed) from women 35 and older.
"Weiner has a way with women, as shown by our sugar babies' approval rating," said Brandon Wade, Founder and CEO of SeekingArrangement.com. "Regardless of popular belief, not all women are turned off by Weiner. With a 78 percent approval rating, the mayoral candidate clearly has a hold of the younger female vote."
So, why do younger women love Weiner? Power.
Women rated power his most attractive quality. Second place was his occupation followed by intelligence, money and looks.
The survey was conducted July 22. Results were released Monday.
More News:President Obama has authorized the deployment of less than 50 U.S. special operations forces to fight the Islamic State in Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria, the White House said Friday.
The president also has ordered more U.S. warplanes to an air base in Turkey as part of the “intensifying” campaign to counter the extremist group also known as ISIL, a senior administration official said.
The announcement was followed Friday evening by Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s assertion that the U.S., Russia and Iran “agree to disagree” on the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Mr. Kerry, who spoke with reporters after an intense round of Syria peace talks that for the first time included a delegation from Iran, said the administration remains steadfast in its belief that “there is no way that President Assad can unite and govern Syria” — despite Iranian and Russian claims to the contrary.
“But we can’t allow that difference to get in the way of the possibility of diplomacy to end the killing,” Mr. Kerry said with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura standing beside him as the round of talks came to a close in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
“The decision that was really made here today was that even though we acknowledge the difference, we know it is urgent to get to the table and to begin the process of real negotiations,” Mr. Kerry said.
For his own part, Mr. Lavrov said there was “no agreement on the destiny of Assad.” But the Russian diplomat appeared to leave open the possibility that Moscow, which has ramped up its military support for the Syrian president in the face of U.S. calls for his ouster, may be open to a compromise.
“Russia believes that it is up to Syrian people to decide within the framework of the political process,” Mr. Lavrov said. “It is said in the joint statement that the political process should be done by the Syrian people and belong to the Syrian people, and the Syrian people should decide the future of their country.”
The back and forth came hours after the White House announcement on the deployment of a small contingency of U.S. special operations forces to fight Islamic State extremists in northern Syria.
The senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that “We have been focused on intensifying elements of our strategy that have been working, while also moving away from elements of our approach that have proven less effective.”
Mr. Obama and his advisers have come under increasing criticism in Congress over the failure of a $500 million “train and equip” plan to recruit a moderate Syrian opposition army to fight the Islamic State.
New Speaker Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, said the commitment of troops “must come with a coherent strategy to defeat ISIL.”
“Otherwise, we are likely to see the same results in the region,” Mr. Ryan said.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, criticized the president’s move.
“Putting small numbers of troops in Syria is yet another tactical move in the absence of a comprehensive strategy for Iraq, Syria, and the broader Middle East that does nothing more than create the appearance of serious action,” Mr. McCarthy said in a statement.
While the U.S. has been leading a coalition carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State, Mr. Obama has said repeatedly he won’t send combat troops into Syria.
Reporters pressed White House press secretary Josh Earnest repeatedly Friday to acknowledge that the new deployment is a combat mission, but Mr. Earnest refused to characterize the new forces as combat troops.
“To say that would only confuse the situation,” Mr. Earnest said. He said Mr. Obama wasn’t breaking his promise in September 2014 not to send combat forces into Iraq and Syria.
“The president did go to great lengths to make clear that our counter-ISIL strategy in Iraq and Syria would be substantially different … [from] the strategy of a long-term, large-scale, ground combat operation that the Bush administration pursued back in 2003,” he said. “The president did go out of his way to make it quite clear that our strategy is quite different. That difference existed then, and that difference exists today.”
Asked why Mr. Obama didn’t make the announcement himself, his spokesman said it was because “our strategy in Syria hasn’t changed.”
The senior official said the U.S. has “made good progress in both Iraq and Syria when we have worked closely with effective partners on the ground who have proven capable of reclaiming territory from ISIL and going on offense.”
“Specifically, we have enhanced our ability to partner with these forces — advising them and helping to facilitate their activities; providing air support for their ground offensives; and directly equipping them so that they are more effective,” he said.
The president also authorized the deployment of more A-10 and F-15 warplanes to Incirlik airbase in Turkey, additional consultation with the Iraqi government on establishing a special operations task force to fight the Islamic State, and enhancing U.S. military aid to Jordan and Lebanon.
Mr. Obama called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Friday and pledged to “intensify support” for the Iraqi military’s fight against the Islamic State in Ramadi and elsewhere, Mr. Earnest said.
Mr. Earnest didn’t rule out deploying other U.S. special forces to Iraq in a “train and advise” role in Iraq.
The senior administration official said the U.S. core objective of degrading and destroying the Islamic State “has not changed.”
“We have always been clear that this would be a multi-year campaign, and that continues to be the case,” he said. “ISIL is a determined enemy.”
The campaign to counter the Islamic State comes as the administration has become increasingly open to working with both Russia and Iran toward finding a political solution to Syria’s four-year-old, multi-front civil war, in which more than 250,000 people have been killed and millions have become refugees.
Russia’s military began fighting last month in support of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who the U.S. wants removed from power.
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Democrat who serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, said the troop deployment is another indication that Congress should hold a vote on authorizing military force against ISIL.
“We have seen the United States increase troop deployment levels to more than 3,500 servicemembers and undertake approximately 7,000 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria at a cost of over $4.75 billion or $11 million a day,” Mr. Kaine said. “As this war intensifies and broadens, Congress has sat on its hands and failed to perform one of its most fundamental constitutional duties.”
Mr. Kaine said the president also should “propose a unified strategy that addresses the intertwined challenges posed by ISIL and President Assad.” He called attention to “the incongruity [of] pursuing political discussions while at the same time ramping up our U |
billionaire would apply for a $302 tax benefit and, moreover, that he would take it," said Martha Stark, a property-tax expert and former New York City finance commissioner who is now a lecturer at Baruch College.
Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said the tax benefit was "an error on the part of the city of New York" and that Trump received the benefit over the past three years even though he hadn't asked for it since 2009, when tax authorities began checking on applicants' income. The city's Finance Department said it checks with New York state tax authorities every year to make sure applicants for the STAR benefit have income under $500,000. A spokesman for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance said STAR recipients had to provide a social security number in 2013 as part of statewide registration program.
Of course, it's possible to be quite rich even with a low annual income. Much of Trump's wealth is in the value of the properties he owns or which bear his name thanks to licensing agreements. Still, that sort of wealth is quite different from having a lot of cash. Trump issued a financial statement last June that proclaimed his net worth to be $8.7 billion, but the statement wasn't signed by an accounting firm, so it shouldn't be taken seriously. A month after the $8.7 billion claim, he issued a press release upping the figure to "in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS."
"My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feeling," Trump said in a December 2007 court deposition. In a filing last year with the Federal Election Commission, Trump disclosed $362 million in "income" for 2014, although Fortune reporter Shawn Tully recently observed that lofty figure is actually revenue and not income, which is what's left over after paying staff salaries, private-jet costs and other expenses.
Whatever the reality may be, according to city finance records, Trump's annual property-tax bill is $175,544. That suggests a big slug of his income is going to pay taxes, which might explain why he wants to cut them so aggressively for high earners.
Trump's property-tax bill was lowered by $37,236 under a city abatement program for which many co-op and condo owners qualify.
The city estimates his home's market value at only $5.2 million, vastly lower than its real-world value. (A unit below his went on the market for $23 million last month.) That's the case because the city isn't permitted to use actual market values when assessing taxes, Stark said, but rather must pretend that Trump Tower is a rental property and judge how much the entire building would fetch in rent.
Joe Perry, partner-in-charge of tax services at the accounting firm Marcum, said there are many legitimate ways a real estate executive like Trump could lower his income. He noted that Trump could generate losses by accelerating the depreciation rates on properties and using those losses to offset income, including income that isn't generated from real estate activities. He added that Trump could deduct business expenses associated with promoting and maintaining his brand image.
"A person like Trump has options for reporting income that most people don't have," Perry said.
By the way, according to a 2007 study by the Manhattan Institute, 75,000 New Yorkers earn more than $500,000 per year. In other words, 75,000 of Trump's neighbors earn more than he does. Which, if you think about it, is kind of rich.
Peter Green contributed to this article.This week, we are going to take a look at some of the off-kilter things that help give Hartford character. If anything has been overlooked, let us know about it in the comment section (read comment policy before posting).
Little Free Libraries
Hartford has a number of brick-and-mortar libraries, between Hartford Public Library’s main building and branches, and those inside of the universities and colleges. We also have a bunch of Little Free Library boxes, with a new one opening on Oxford Street within the last week. In areas where there are no library branches, these honor system libraries can fill a gap. We’ve seen three in person — Oxford Street, Charter Oak Cultural Center, and TrinfoCafe — and have heard rumor of at least four others within city limits. On Laurel Street, there is a Little Free Pantry.
The University of Saint Joseph School of Pharmacy Medicine Garden in Elizabeth Park
This is a garden of poisons and medicines.
From Foxglove to Poppies to Wormwood to Tobacco, you can see the plants and learn what each is used for medicinally.
Other Randomness in Elizabeth Park
From the (in season) Halloween display to the giant chair next to the Pond House to oversized cowboy boots to random installations, Elizabeth Park has a whimsical side…in case roses feel too conventional after awhile. Most of the oddball artsy things appear around the Pond House, but we’ve seen someone release a possum at Sunrise Overlook. And, we can’t forget the Art Sled Derby which takes place here every February.
Joseph Steward’s Museum of Natural and Other Oddities
One of the most delightful places in Hartford is the oddities room in the Old State House. This is where you can find a two-headed calf and a lot of taxidermy in what is basically a large wunderkammer.
The bottom level of the Old State House is also worth a look while you’re there, but everything else will be a disappointment in comparison with drawers full of eggs.
Stegosaurus
Stationed between the Wadsworth Atheneum and Hartford’s City Hall, you can walk under this sculpture.
Or, if you need to scream, you can gather a few dozen of your friends and vent right here.
Scarborough Street Mansion Yard Art
We have a lot of opinions about a lot of the things that happen on Scarborough Street, but we can’t complain about the wacky lawn ornaments that can be seen on the end of the street closest to Albany Avenue. You can’t take it all in while speeding along in a car. You’ll know you’ve found the property when you see the dinosaur.
The Wallace Stevens Walk
Thirteen stones inscribed with passages from Stevens’ famous poem, arranged along what was the writer’s commute to-and-from his day job.
Our Lady of Hartford Shrine
Erected in 1999, the shrine was at the time, more complex and ornate, yet it still exists nearly twenty years later. As we understand it, the shrine was built after someone allegedly saw the Virgin Mary’s image somewhere on the hillside along Colt Park. Someone else apparently saw the image of Jesus in a tree. We’re not about to argue with people about what they believe they have seen. We admit to not really understanding the whole shrine concept, but find it remarkable that this has remained intact for as long as it has.
Geographic Center of Hartford
Someone decided it was important to install a marker to indicate the geographic center of Hartford. Given that cities can change boundaries and render such markers incorrect makes the practice of this seem futile. Still, we’ve got one.
The Francis Avenue House
A former Casa Linda, this house on Francis Avenue by the Parkville Station needs to be seen by walking by. There are lawn ornaments aplenty. We love it.
A Buried River
Only a section of the Park River is buried, you can see where that happens, and it’s not too difficult to access that burial point on foot. Yes, there used to be boat tours of the underground river. Yes, there continue to be people who attempt (and succeed) to do this now, even if it’s not exactly encouraged.
The Hartford/Windsor Streets
We understand why a town line might cut across a long avenue, or even intercept shorter streets at intersections, but the diagonal divide of Sunset and Violet streets continues to perplex.
Behind the Hartford Art School
Nothing is labeled, so there’s lots of room for imagination and interpretation of what the art works found here actually are supposed to be. There’s always something odd in the area between the building and the Park River.
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Arkansas will have a new defensive coordinator in 2017 as well as a new scheme. Hopefully all the new translates to a much improved defense.
Arkansas was surprisingly bad against the run last season allowing 205.5 yards per game. The defense overall allowed an average of 426.6 yards each time out. One thing that makes those numbers so alarming is that the defense, on average, was on the field only 24:53 minutes per game. Arkansas' offense controlled the ball for 34:44 each game.
Here's a look at five players who must have the best season of their career at Arkansas for the defense to be as improved as everyone wants.
(REMINDER: VIP subscribers can skip the slideshow by clicking on the "full list" button in the bottom right corner. That allows you to view the entire list on one screen instead of having to click through each slide.)
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Tory Sajid Javid has had a startling revelation about how to fix the housing crisis.
And it sounds remarkably familiar.
The Communities Secretary suggested the Government should borrow money to invest in hundreds of thousands of new homes, in what appears to be a significant shift in Conservative thinking.
He said ministers should take advantage of record low interest rates to deal with the housing crisis, which is "the biggest barrier to social progress in our country today".
Asked if Chancellor Philip Hammond was on board with the idea a month away from his Budget, Mr Javid told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "Let's wait and see what happens in the Budget".
But his call to borrow more cash to pay for spending on housing and other infrastructure appears to echo Labour's own "fiscal credibility rule", which states that the government should not borrow for day-to-day spending but be prepared use it to fund long-term investment.
(Image: PA)
Asked whether there would be a new housing fund to build homes, Mr Javid said: "We are looking at new investments and there will be announcements.
"I'm sure at the Budget, we'll be covering housing but what I want to do is make sure that we're using everything we have available to deal with this housing crisis.
"And where that means, so for example, that we can sensibly - you borrow more to invest in the infrastructure that leads to more housing - take advantage of some of the record low interest rates that we have, I think we should absolutely be considering that."
(Image: PA)
He added: "I would make a distinction between the deficit which needs to come down and that's vitally important for our economic credibility and we've seen some excellent progress, some very good news on that just this week.
"But investing for the future, taking advantage of record low interest rates, can be the right thing if done sensibly and that can help not just with the housing itself but one of the big issues is infrastructure investment that is needed alongside the housing."“We write to give you an unambiguous warning of the threat of armed hostilities with Russia – with the risk of escalation to nuclear war. The threat has grown after the cruise missile attack on Syria in retaliation for what you claimed was a “chemical weapons attack” on April 4 on Syrian civilians in southern Idlib Province.” Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)*
Two dozen ex-U.S. intelligence officials urge President Trump to rethink his claims blaming the Syrian government for the chemical deaths in Idlib and to pull back from his dangerous escalation of tensions with Russia. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern asked me to spread the news about the official MEMO just released by VIPS. INTEL TODAY is more than happy to let you know…
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)* SUBJECT: Syria: Was It Really “A Chemical Weapons Attack”?
1 – We write to give you an unambiguous warning of the threat of armed hostilities with Russia – with the risk of escalation to nuclear war. The threat has grown after the cruise missile attack on Syria in retaliation for what you claimed was a “chemical weapons attack” on April 4 on Syrian civilians in southern Idlib Province.
2 – Our U.S. Army contacts in the area have told us this is not what happened. There was no Syrian “chemical weapons attack.” Instead, a Syrian aircraft bombed an al-Qaeda-in-Syria ammunition depot that turned out to be full of noxious chemicals and a strong wind blew the chemical-laden cloud over a nearby village where many consequently died.
3 – This is what the Russians and Syrians have been saying and – more important –what they appear to believe happened.
4 – Do we conclude that the White House has been giving our generals dictation; that they are mouthing what they have been told to say?
5 – After Putin persuaded Assad in 2013 to give up his chemical weapons, the U.S. Army destroyed 600 metric tons of Syria’s CW stockpile in just six weeks. The mandate of the U.N.’s Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW-UN) was to ensure that all were destroyed – like the mandate for the U.N. inspectors for Iraq regarding WMD. The U.N. inspectors’ findings on WMD were the truth. Rumsfeld and his generals lied and this seems to be happening again. The stakes are even higher now; the importance of a relationship of trust with Russia’s leaders cannot be overstated.
6 – In September 2013, after Putin persuaded Assad to relinquish his chemical weapons (giving Obama a way out of a tough dilemma), the Russian President wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which he said: “My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this.”
7 – Three-plus years later, on April 4, 2017, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev spoke of “absolute mistrust,” which he characterized as “sad for our now completely ruined relations [but] good news for terrorists.” Not only sad, in our view, but totally unnecessary – worse still, dangerous.
8 – With Moscow’s cancellation of the agreement to de-conflict flight activity over Syria, the clock has been turned back six months to the situation last September/October when 11 months of tough negotiation brought a ceasefire agreement. U.S. Air Force attacks on fixed Syrian army positions on Sept. 17, 2016, killing about 70 and wounding another 100, scuttled the fledgling ceasefire agreement approved by Obama and Putin a week before. Trust evaporated.
9 – On Sept 26, 2016, Foreign Minister Lavrov lamented: “My good friend John Kerry … is under fierce criticism from the US military machine, [which] apparently does not really listen to the Commander in Chief.” Lavrov criticized JCS Chairman Joseph Dunford for telling Congress that he opposed sharing intelligence with Russia on Syria, “after the [ceasefire] agreement, concluded on direct orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama, had stipulated that the two sides would share intelligence. … It is difficult to work with such partners. …”
10 – On Oct. 1, 2016, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned, “If the US launches a direct aggression against Damascus and the Syrian Army, it would cause a terrible, tectonic shift not only in the country, but in the entire region.”
11 – On Oct 6, 2016, Russian defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov cautioned that Russia was prepared to shoot down unidentified aircraft – including any stealth aircraft – over Syria. Konashenkov made a point of adding that Russian air defenses “will not have time to identify the origin” of the aircraft.
12 – On Oct 27, 2016, Putin publicly lamented, “My personal agreements with the President of the United States have not produced results,” and complained about “people in Washington ready to do everything possible to prevent these agreements from being implemented in practice.” Referring to Syria, Putin decried the lack of a “common front against terrorism after such lengthy negotiations, enormous effort, and difficult compromises.”
13 – Thus, the unnecessarily precarious state into which U.S.-Russian relations have now sunk – from “growing trust” to “absolute mistrust.” To be sure, many welcome the high tension, which – admittedly – is super for the arms business.
14 – We believe it of transcendent importance to prevent relations with Russia from falling into a state of complete disrepair. Secretary Tillerson’s visit to Moscow this week offers an opportunity to stanch the damage, but there is also a danger that it could increase the acrimony – particularly if Secretary Tillerson is not familiar with the brief history set down above.
15 – Surely it is time to deal with Russia on the basis of facts, not allegations based largely on dubious evidence – from “social media,” for example. While many would view this time of high tension as ruling out a summit, we suggest the opposite may be true. You might consider instructing Secretary Tillerson to begin arrangements for an early summit with President Putin.
About VIPS
A handful of CIA veterans established VIPS in January 2003 after concluding that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had ordered our former colleagues to manufacture intelligence to “justify” an unnecessary war with Iraq. At the time we chose to assume that President George W. Bush was not fully aware of this.
We issued our first Memorandum for the President on the afternoon of Feb. 5, 2003, after Colin Powell’s ill-begotten speech at the United Nations. Addressing President Bush, we closed with these words:
No one has a corner on the truth; nor do we harbor illusions that our analysis is “irrefutable” or “undeniable” [adjectives Powell applied to his charges against Saddam Hussein]. But after watching Secretary Powell today, we are convinced that you would be well served if you widened the discussion … beyond the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.
Respectfully, we offer the same advice to you, President Trump.
* * *
For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Eugene D. Betit, Intelligence Analyst, DIA, Soviet FAO, (US Army, ret.)
William Binney, Technical Director, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)
Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer and former Office Director in the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, (ret.)
Thomas Drake, Senior Executive Service, NSA (former)
Robert Furukawa, Capt, CEC, USN-R, (ret.)
Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)
Mike Gravel, former Adjutant, top secret control officer, Communications Intelligence Service; special agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps and former United States Senator
Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq and Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)
Larry C. Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)
Michael S. Kearns, Captain, USAF (Ret.); ex-Master SERE Instructor for Strategic Reconnaissance Operations (NSA/DIA) and Special Mission Units (JSOC)
John Brady Kiesling, Foreign Service Officer (ret.)
John Kiriakou, former CIA analyst and counterterrorism officer, and former senior investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Linda Lewis, WMD preparedness policy analyst, USDA (ret.) (associate VIPS)
David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)
Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)
Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Near East, CIA and National Intelligence Council (ret.)
Torin Nelson, former Intelligence Officer/Interrogator, Department of the Army
Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (Ret.)
Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)
Scott Ritter, former MAJ., USMC, and former UN Weapon Inspector, Iraq
Peter Van Buren, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) (associate VIPS)
Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA
Robert Wing, former Foreign Service Officer (associate VIPS)
Ann Wright, U.S. Army Reserve Colonel (ret) and former U.S. Diplomat
REFERENCES
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Veteran Intelligence Professionals: “Trump Should Rethink Syria Escalation”The marshmallows are eaten, the campfire is dwindling, the yawns are stretching wider, and everyone seems about ready to pack it in for the night. An activity-filled day awaits you in the morning. Will you be soundly rested and ready to go?
Outdoor adventures can be pretty exhausting. They're the kind of trips that are completely awesome but can leave you wondering when your real vacation starts. Delightful, sure, but physically and psychologically challenging at times, too.
One of the key factors in the camping equation is how well you're able to sleep at night. A restful snooze cycle can be tough to achieve away from your comfy bed and favorite squishy pillow. And a night of tossing and turning can signal disaster for your plans the next day. So, how do you stay well-rested in the wild? Read on.Goldman Sachs is on a shopping spree. Last week, it spent $500 million to buy 12 percent of Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm focused on energy investments. This is part of a $2 billion private equity strategy for the vampire squid. Through a couple of subsidiary funds, Goldman has already acquired stakes in private equity players Littlejohn & Co. and ArcLight Capital Partners, and Accel-KKR, a firm specializing in tech companies.
There’s only one problem with these investments: They’re supposed to be illegal under the Dodd-Frank Act. But “the law” is only as good as the men and women willing to enforce it, as Goldman Sachs has discovered to its delight. Big banks have turned one key section of Dodd-Frank into mush, such that Goldman can flaunt its defiance openly without an ounce of fear. It makes me wonder why House Republicans are working so hard to repeal Wall Street reform when regulators have shown so much willingness to repeal by neglect.
Related: Killing Banking Rules Will Invite a Whopper of a Recession
The Volcker rule, named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, intended to prevent banks from trading on their own accounts, to reduce what amounts to gambling with depositor funds. One part of the rule sought to stop banks from owning or sponsoring private equity firms and hedge funds. Not only does this segregate depositor money from high-risk activities, but it limits a cheap source of cash for lightly regulated “shadow banks.” Severing the link between potential failures and the broader banking system could prevent toxic contagion from spreading. And we shouldn’t encourage predatory capitalism that hurts workers by throwing government-guaranteed deposits at it.
Bank lobbyists weakened the Volcker rule before it was finalized. Then-Senator Scott Brown, the 60th vote for Dodd-Frank in the Senate, inserted a loophole that enabled firms like Goldman Sachs to keep a “de minimis” 3 percent stake in hedge funds or private equity firms. But what Goldman announced with Riverstone equaled four times that number. How is this allowable?
Under a regulatory interpretation from the Federal Reserve, if a new investment fund is in its “seeding” phase, banks can own as much as 100 percent for a “brief period” of up to one year. But Riverstone isn’t new, having been founded in 2000. However, if the investment were structured to look like it’s initiating new funds within Riverstone, the Fed could accept the deal.
Related: Democrats Dig in, Delay Against Dodd-Frank Overhaul
At least under that interpretation, Goldman would have to scale back its investment to the 3 percent threshold after a year, right? Wrong. In their rule, the Fed officials write that they “understand that the seeding period… may take some time, for example, three years.”
The Fed has been all too happy to grant elongated timelines for the Volcker rule. Banks initially had four years from the passage of Dodd-Frank to get rid of existing investments in hedge funds and private equity firms. But the Fed delayed the divestiture for a year, then for another two years, which defied the statute, because the central bank was only permitted to delay one year at a time. Last week we learned in Goldman Sachs’ quarterly financial report that last December, the Fed allowed banks to apply for another five-year extension to liquidate the investments. “The firm received this extension for substantially all its remaining investments,” according to the filing.
Other firms received the same treatment, but Goldman holds a much larger amount of legacy assets — over $6.2 billion worth. The banks claim that untangling long-term investments would force them to undertake fire sales and harm their businesses. But this means that a law written in 2010 now doesn’t require compliance until 2022.
Related: Why Big Banks Could Still Pay a Big Price for the Housing Crisis
So Goldman Sachs doesn’t have to jettison its old private equity investments, doesn’t have to limit itself to a 3 percent stake on new investments and doesn’t have to reduce those new holdings for at least three years. You begin to wonder whether the Volcker rule exists in name only, with the dictates mere suggestions instead of directives.
Even if Goldman were misbehaving, Volcker rule enforcement has been practically non-existent. Since the 2014 implementation date, exactly one bank has been fined for non-compliance, for a grand total of $19.7 million.
Goldman has found other ways to, in the words of The Wall Street Journal, “navigate the new rules” — for example, eliminating the private equity middleman and buying up real estate assets and private corporations through its merchant banking business, using a mix of client funds and in-house money. Goldman has essentially dared regulators to stop its degradation of the rule. As then-Goldman president Gary Cohn said in 2012, “we will continue to source and pursue attractive investments on behalf of our clients.”
Related: Banks Behaving Badly: Wells Fargo, Barclays Show Little Has Changed
Cohn’s statement speaks to the near-impossibility of expecting anyone inside government to challenge Goldman; he’s now director of the White House’s National Economic Council. If the SEC wanted to look into this, it would go through former Goldman Sachs lawyer and current chair Jay Clayton. The main regulator, the Fed, has already shown its eagerness to interpret the law loosely. That’s why banks want the Fed to have sole authority on Volcker rule enforcement. And Donald Trump’s nominee to run financial supervision at the central bank, Randal Quarles, comes out of the private equity industry, and is presumably content with continued big bank investments in the space.
This gives Goldman the confidence to build a $2 billion fund for activities it’s not really supposed to be undertaking. And it’s why banks are far less interested in House Republicans’ attempt to overturn Dodd-Frank, which passed the Financial Services Committee last week, than in the regulators who will choose to ignore the law.
Just look at the legislative difficulties of the early Trump administration and you can see the folly in expecting bills to sail through Congress. But financial regulations don’t need to be canceled through legislative action. Big Finance is more than capable of whittling even a strong measure down to nothing. Plus, regulators who bend over backwards to take the side of those they regulate make a mockery of the law.
Related: Why Trump’s Attack on Dodd-Frank Is Dangerous
The result is an ineffective policy that complicates the otherwise clean political debate over regulation. Why should Democrats defend a law that’s so watered down, delayed and compromised? Why should Republicans bother to spend political capital to defeat it, rather than going through the motions and letting regulatory abandonment do the job?
It speaks to the weaknesses of half-measures and technocratic tweaks when the banking industry is the adversary. The Volcker rule was needlessly vague and complex, providing industry lobbyists the space they needed to render it irrelevant. The lesson for the future is this: To really impact Wall Street’s activities, you have to attack the structure of finance directly, not at the margins. It’s the only way to even hope to get the job done.Talk regarding the salary cap is largely dominating the headlines in the rugby league world, with there still tension between the RLPA and the NRL regarding the amount for next year.
Speaking on Triple M's Dead Set Legends, Triple M and the Australians' Brent Read has revealed that there is a lot at stake in the upcoming negotiations. Listen to the full report below.
“There were talks today between the players’ union and the NRL and I think they’re edging towards a deal," Ready said.
“They want to have something on the table by next Thursday - it’s a big meeting in Sydney of the clubs and the CEOs.
“What’s at stake here is there was a story today that the players’ union let the NRL know late last week that if they cannot strike a deal, they will take the salary cap to court and challenge the salary cap in court.
“There was a list of things - challenge the salary cap, boycott the Dally Ms and the third thing is they will take the players’ intellectual property (the images of the players) and say to the NRL that from November 1, you cannot use player images on anything.
“There’s players signed beyond the end of the year, so I don’t know where they stand on that legally. But the World Cup could certainly be affected … they could turn around and say that the World Cup organisers are not allowed to use any images of any images of any players in the NRL to promote anything to do with the World Cup."As you may have heard, Donald Trump is running for president.
Since Donald Trump’s reality TV bona fides have carried him near the top of some early Republican polls, we’ll probably be reading about him for at least a few more months. Which is annoying, given his penchant for saying pompous, ignorant, racist, and sexist things in a never-ending quest for attention.
Luckily, there’s a way to make reading about Donald Trump much, much better. We wrote a custom extension for Google Chrome that adds a ridiculous Donald Trump quote to every online mention of his name.
To be extra-clear: these are all real quotes that Donald Trump actually said, such as:
“Laziness is a trait in blacks.”
“We need global warming.”
“Somebody’s doing the raping”
You can install the extension at the Chrome Web store by clicking here. (Or just download the crx file if you’d prefer to install the extension manually.)
As soon as the extension is installed in your Google Chrome browser, go ahead and click refresh to see it in action. As you’ll see in the examples below, the extension turns reading about Donald Trump from a chore into a delight. (And when you feel like turning it off, you can disable it in the Chrome extensions window.)
Here’s what a few sites look like after they’ve been Trumpified:
Now go try it yourself.
Related Stories:It rained all that September, a grim, cold, bleached-out rain that found the holes in the roof and painted the corners with a black creeping mold that felt greasy to the touch. Heat would have dried it up, or at least curtailed it, but there was no heat—or insulation, either—because this was a summer rental, the price fixed for the season, Memorial Day to Labor Day, and the season was over. Long over. Back in May, when Nora was at school out West and I sent her a steady stream of wheedling letters begging her to come back to me, I’d described the place as a cottage. But it wasn’t a cottage. It was a shack, a converted chicken coop from a time long gone, and the landlord collected his rent in summer, then drained the pipes and shut the place down over the winter, so that everything in it froze to the point where the mold died back and the mice, disillusioned, moved on to warmer precincts. In the summer, we’d been outside most of the time, reading and lazing in the hammock till it got dark, after which we’d either listened to records or gone out to a club or somebody’s house. We had a lot of friends—my friends, that is, people I’d grown up with—and we could just show up anytime, day or night, and get a party going. On weekends, I’d unfold the geological-survey maps of Fahnestock or Harriman Park and we’d pick out a lake in the middle of nowhere and hike in to see what it looked like in the shimmering world of color and movement. Almost always we’d have it to ourselves, and we’d swim, sunbathe, pass a joint and a bota bag of sweet red wine, and make love under the sun, while the trees swayed in the breeze and the only sound was the sound of the birds. Nora didn’t have a tan line all summer. Neither did I. But then it was September and it was raining and I had to go back to work. I was substitute-teaching at the time, a grinding, chaotic, thankless job, but I didn’t really have a choice—we needed money to stay alive, same as anybody else. Nora could have worked—she had her degree now and she could have substituted, could have done anything—but the idea didn’t appeal to her, and so, on the three or four days a week that I was summoned to one school or another, she was at home, listening to the rain drool from the eaves and trickle into the pots we’d set out under the worst of the leaks. I sprang for a cheap TV to keep her company, and then an electric heater the size of a six-pack of beer that nonetheless managed to make the meter spin like a 45. But we weren’t paying utilities—the landlord was. I’d given him a lump sum at the end of May, and now we were getting our own back. One morning, when I was at work, he used his key to let himself in and found Nora in bed, the blankets pulled up to her neck and the TV rattling away, and he backed out the door, embarrassed, without saying a word. The next day, we got the eviction notice. The day after that, he cut off the electricity. I was cooking by candlelight over the gas stove a few nights later (Chef Boyardee cheese ravioli, out of the can, with a side of iceberg lettuce cut in wedges), when Nora edged up beside me. We’d been drinking Burgundy out of the gallon jug we kept under the sink as a way of distracting ourselves from the obvious. The house crepitated around us. It wasn’t raining, at least not right then, but there was a whole lot of dripping going on, dripping that had emerged as the defining soundtrack of our lives in the absence of music. Her hair shone greasily in the candlelight. She’d twisted it into pigtails for convenience, because the water heater was defunct now, definitely defunct, and there was no way to take a shower unless we went over to a friend’s house—and that involved the hassle of actually getting in the car and going someplace, when it was so much easier just to pile up the blankets on the bed, get stoned, and watch the shadows creep over the beams that did such an admirable job of holding up the slanted portion of the roof. Nora gazed into the pot on the stove. “I can’t live like this,” she said. “No,” I said, and I was in full agreement here. “Neither can I.”
The first place we looked at was also a seasonal rental, though for a different season. It was another crumbling outbuilding, in the same summer colony, but it had been tricked up with heat and insulation because the landlady—eighty, ninety, maybe, with eyes like crushed glass and hair raked back so tightly you could make out the purple-splotched ruin of her scalp beneath—saw the advantage of renting through the winter and spring to whoever was left behind when the summer people went back to the city. I didn’t begrudge her that. I didn’t begrudge her anything. I didn’t even know her. Nora had circled an ad in The Pennysaver, dialled the number, and now here she was, the old lady, waiting for us on the porch, out of the rain, and the minute we pulled into the driveway she began waving impatiently for us to jump out of the car, hurry up the steps, and get the business over with. There were two problems with the house, the first apparent to all three of us, the second only to Nora and me. That problem, hovering over us before we even walked in the door, was that we were looking for a deal, because we didn’t have the kind of money to put down for a deposit or first and last months’ rent, just enough for now, for the current month—enough, we hoped, to get us out of the converted chicken coop and into someplace with heat and electricity till we could think what to do next. The old lady—Mrs. Fried—didn’t look as if she would let things slide. Just the opposite. She gazed up at us out of her fractured eyes with the expectation of one thing only: money. But then there was the first problem, which obviated the need to dwell on the second. The place was too small, smaller even than the shack we were living in, and we saw that the minute we stepped through the door. There were two rooms, bedroom and living room/kitchen, and to the right of the door, in a little recess, a bathroom the size of the sweatbox in “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” We never got that far. We just stood there, the three of us, and gazed into the bedroom, which was off the narrow hall. The bedroom was too cramped for anything but the single bed that was squeezed into it. A second single, made up with an Army blanket and sheets gone gray with use, was pushed up against the wall in the hallway so that you had no more than a foot’s leeway to get around it and into the front room. The old lady read our faces, read our minds—or thought she did—and gestured first at the bed in the hallway and then at the one in the bedroom. “Ven you vant,” she said, shrugging, her delicate wheeze of a voice clinging to the hard consonants of her youth, “you come.” If Nora found |
illow has data on 100 million homes across the United States, not just those homes currently for sale. In addition to giving value estimates of homes, it offers several features including value changes of each home in a given time frame (such as one, five, or 10 years), aerial views of homes, and prices of comparable homes in the area. Where it can access appropriate public data, it also provides basic information on a given home, such as square footage and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Users can also get current estimates of homes if there was a significant change made, such as a recently remodeled kitchen. Zillow provides an application programming interface (API) and developer support network. In December 2006, Zillow launched three new pieces of functionality: allowing users to post homes for sale and set a “Make Me Move” price (an informal way to pre-market a home), as well as a real estate wiki. In 2007, Zillow teamed with Microsoft to offer Bird's Eye View, a feature in Microsoft Virtual Earth, that shows (in certain areas) clearer aerial photographs taken from airplanes rather than conventional satellite imagery. Zillow uses this functionality for entertainment-focused features on famous homes. In December 2009, Zillow expanded its services to include the rental market. The addition of rental listings enabled users to list a home for rent and search for both rental homes and homes for sale.
So Zillow has grown over the years to include not only data over 100 million homes, but has expanded to include research tools, an interface to “ask the experts” and of course a place to sell or rent homes through their interface. It's a robust site with a lot of features. Let's start looking at some of the ways you can use it when trying to sell your house.
Use It To Set A Sale Price
When you're selling your home, one of the biggest keys to selling your house quickly is to make sure that you set a fair asking price. How do you do that? Usually your listing agent is going to take a look at the homes in your area, do a market analysis of current listing and recent sales prices and give you an idea of what they believe your home is worth, and what the ideal listing price would be.
But what if you're listing your house on your own, or you're not ready to list but you just want to do some research? Just pull up Zillow, do a search for homes in your city or area, and then look at comparable homes, and more importantly, recent sales in your area. If there are homes extremely similar to yours in your neighborhood that are selling for around $200,000, you may have a hard time selling yours for $260,000. All the homes that have the data available will give you historical sales prices for homes as well as listing prices and reductions in price, to give you an idea of what homes are actually worth.
Use It To See How Your House Compares To Other Area Listings
Another way to use Zillow when you're selling your home is to see what else is for sale in your area, and how favorably your home compares to those other homes. You can see what other homes are selling for and compare your pricing to theirs. You can also compare features of homes that are for sale, and compare pictures to see just how well your home is staged for making the sale.
Find what sets your home apart, and feature it on your ads for your home.
Use It To Sell Your House
One important thing to do is to go to Zillow, and other sites, and make sure to update your home's information. On Zillow you just claim your home and you can then edit all of the information about your home. Add important information to the listing like any renovations, extra features and more. Set your home apart by adding some nice professional looking photos to your listing as well (instead of the standard overhead satellite view).
If you're thinking about selling your home, but aren't looking to actively market the home, you can claim your home on Zillow and then set a “Make Me Move” price. Then if people are interested in your home they can make an offer on it. It might be a good way to pre-market the home and gauge interest for the home at certain price points before you sell.
Finally, you can sell your house via Zillow. You can post a free listing on Zillow, which also gets sent up to Yahoo Real Estate, so you essentially get two listings for the price of one. When selling your house on your own it pays to list the home on as many free sites as possible.
Use It To Find Out If You're Getting A Deal On Your Home
So how can you use Zillow when you're buying a new home? First, you can use it to check prices of comparable listings in the area you're looking to buy in and make sure that you're getting a decent deal on the home you're interested in. If not, consider using the information you've learned to adjust your offer.
Check previous sale prices on the home you're buying, and other homes in the area. Figure out what real world values in that area are. You can also look at the “Zestimate” values provied by Zillow. I've found that in my area the values have gotten better over the years, but they're still to be taken with a grain of salt as they tend to be a little high. Looking at actual sales prices usually offers a better picture.
Use It To Check Property Taxes In Areas You're Thinking About Living In
Another great feature of the Zillow site is that they have historical data available in many areas of what people are actually paying for property taxes. This can make a big difference at times. We were looking at homes in one area at one point, and then at homes in another city altogether. We found that on similar homes in similar neighbhorhoods, the one city had property taxes that were 40% more! That means thousands of dollars a year and can really factor into any buying decision.
You can also see how that particular municipality's property taxes are trending, if they continually go up year over year.
Use Zillow To Get Advice
I recently used Zillow's advice section in order to get some advice and feedback from real estate agents and insurance salesmen as to how homeowner's insurance companies assign replacement values to homes. I listed my question on their advice section and within an hour or so I had several answers to my question. The feedback we got there helped encourage us to get our homeowner's insurance rates reduced by almost $1000/year!
You can ask questions on anything from mortgages, buying or selling a home to advice about renting your home out. There are a ton of experts on there that are usually willing to help (sometimes in hopes that you'll use them later on for selling your home, or for insurance needs).
Get Mortgage Quotes
While I wouldn't use Zillow exclusively for getting mortgage quotes, they do have a quote engine that you can try out in order to get a decent rate on your mortgage. Running it against what we were looking for it come up with quite a few competitive rate quotes based on our purchase price, down payment and credit score.
Great Mobile Apps
Out home shopping? Zillow has mobile apps available for Apple products, Android and even Windows Phone. You can also just access their mobile site.
Using the apps on the go you can view homes near you, see previous sales prices and even view what they pay for property taxes on a given property right while you're sitting in the car in front of it.
I've been using the Android version on my tablet lately and I love how you can actually draw on your tablet screen around an area you want to see houses in, and then it will show houses in that area and allow you to view details about them. You can also save favorite homes, or homes similar to yours to do research later on. Their mobile apps are full featured and a pleasure to use while you're relaxing on the couch.
Zillow: A Home Buyer and Seller's Best Friend
When Zillow first launched 8 years ago it had some decent home data and was an interesting site to surf. Over the years it has become an essential tool for home buyers and sellers. While their home data may not always be up to date as the MLS service, and their “Zestimates” home value estimates may not be 100% accurate, the data and tools that they do offer are well worth using.
Their historical pricing and tax data, as well as data about recent sales are extremely helpful. Being able to get local information about cities you're thinking about living in, or getting feedback from real estate professionals is great as well.
If you're not using Zillow already, it's worth it to give a try next time you're thinking about finding a new home, or selling the one you're living in.
Start SearchIng For Homes On Zillow.comTravis Mason and his wife, Samantha, were interested in law enforcement careers and had talked about the possibility that either could be killed in the line of duty.
Samantha now faces that tragic, overwhelming reality after her husband, a security guard at a marijuana dispensary, was shot and killed Saturday night.
“Travis and I talked about it before,” she said Monday, surrounded by family and friends outside the Green Heart dispensary in Aurora, where Mason was killed. “He didn’t want me to cry. He just wanted me to be strong for the little ones.”
Mason was excited about his new job at Green Heart, 19005 E. Quincy Ave., which he saw as a solid step forward in his dream of becoming a police officer.
“He wanted to give (his children) a better life,” said his mother, Priscilla Dominguez, on Monday. “He was always proud of whatever he was doing because he wanted to support his family.”
On Saturday night, two armed men, who remain at large, walked into the Green Heart and shot Mason, 24, three times during an attempted robbery. He died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Mason began working at the dispensary two weeks ago, and he was supposed to start a second job on Monday as a security guard in the evenings at a King Soopers store, Dominguez said.
He was scheduled to test for a job at Denver’s police department next month, Dominguez said.
During four years in the Marine Corps, Mason was stationed in North Carolina, where he met Samantha, Dominguez said. The couple have a 1-year-old boy, whose birthday was June 11, and twins, who will be 4 on Tuesday. The family moved to Colorado after he recently was honorably discharged.
Dominguez, 43, was concerned when he took the job at the dispensary.
“All my family lives in Trinidad, and I have known that those dispensaries get robbed. So I was very uneasy about it,” she said.
Although marijuana is legal in Colorado, it remains illegal under federal law. Banks will not handle money from pot sales. Businesses won’t take credit cards, and sales are in cash.
Related Articles June 19, 2016 Aurora police seek two after security guard gunned down in robbery at dispensary
Cash sales in the marijuana business “say to criminals, ‘Here, come get me,’ ” Dominguez said. “Everybody knows they have all that cash there.”
Blue Line Protection Group, a company that provides security for the marijuana industry but not for Green Heart, released a statement underscoring the dangers faced by all-cash businesses.
“Moments such as this remind us that the cash-based nature of the legal cannabis industry here in Colorado makes these dispensaries and cultivation facilities prime targets of criminal elements based not only here in Denver, but criminal organizations heralding from other states as well,” the company said.
A U.S. Senate committee passed a bill Thursday that would forbid the use of federal funds to penalize a financial institution that works with marijuana enterprises legally operating under state laws. A similar bill last year failed to reach any debate in the House. A bill passed in 2013 by the House later was stifled in the Senate.
Contacted Monday, a man at Green Heart Marijuana, who gave his name only as George, said there had not been a robbery at the business. He said he couldn’t say more because the incident is under investigation. Green Heart, which closed after the shooting, will reopen Tuesday.
On Monday an ad hoc memorial site grew outside the dispensary. It included balloons, flowers, cards and an American flag.
Aurora police did not release new information on the investigation Monday.
“I know they always say the best about the dead, but my son, he was wonderful. He had such a loving and caring heart. He would give his last dime away to help somebody,” Dominguez said.
On Sunday night, Mason’s family told the twins that their father was dead, Dominguez said.
“He is always going to look down and take care of us,” the children said before going outside to look up at the sky.
On Monday evening, Samantha put the twins down for a nap in a pickup parked at the dispensary as rain drizzled down.
“It’s going to be hard, but the family pitches in,” Samantha said.
Mason’s family is in Colorado. Samantha’s family, which lives in North Carolina, is en route to Colorado.
If anyone has any information on the fatal shooting or on the shooters, Samantha pleaded that they “please come forward.”
Samantha said she’ll receive a doctorate in law enforcement in October. Semester finals, through an American Military University online course, are this week. Her professor is giving her an extension. She received an e-mail from the Denver Police Department letting her know that a department test is coming up in two weeks.
“I don’t know if I’ll be ready for it,” she said.
Still, Mason would want her to go for it, she said.
He told me: “Follow your dreams; don’t live with regrets.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for those who wish to contribute to Mason’s funeral expenses.Samsung has announced that it’s recalling more than two million Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices, following reports of exploding batteries.
First introduced in early August, the latest addition to the Galaxy Note-branded phablet line was met with positive reviews. But earlier this week, reports began to surface that a number of buyers around the world had encountered exploding batteries that caused their device to catch fire. This knocked a cool $7 billion off Samsung’s market value, and the company subsequently delayed further shipments, pending “quality control inspections.”
The issue gained widespread attention when YouTuber Ariel Gonzalez uploaded this video of a Galaxy Note 7 on fire, with Gonzalez claiming that it happened immediately after charging of the device — he said he was using an official Samsung charger.
Rumors began to circulate that the company was considering a full recall of the device, but, as of last night, Samsung would only confirm that it was carrying out a “thorough inspection.” However, the Korean tech giant held a press conference today, at 5 p.m. local time, confirming that faulty battery cells were to blame and saying it would recall all 2.5 million devices sold so far, replacing each of them. Despite that broad recall, Samsung claimed that only 24 devices per million have so far been found to have faulty batteries.
“As of Sept. 1, a total of 35 claims were registered with Samsung’s service centers at home and abroad,” said Koh Dong-jin, head of Samsung’s handset arm. “Only 24 units on a scale of 1 million were affected by the battery problem. By putting our top priority on customer safety, we’ve decided to halt sales (of Galaxy Note 7) and offer new replacement handsets to all customers.”
Samsung followed up by publishing this official statement.
Samsung is committed to producing the highest quality products and we take every incident report from our valued customers very seriously. In response to recently reported cases of the new Galaxy Note7, we conducted a thorough investigation and found a battery cell issue. To date (as of September 1) there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note7. For customers who already have Galaxy Note7 devices, we will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks. We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market but this is to ensure that Samsung continues to deliver the highest quality products to our customers. We are working closely with our partners to ensure the replacement experience is as convenient and efficient as possible.
Besides the situation’s immediate and direct cost to Samsung, the timing could not be worse, with rival smartphone maker Apple gearing up to launch a new iPhone next week.Brian Dozier isn’t concerned with the first three digits of his slash line. Nor does he worry about his spray chart, which reveals his pull-heavy approach. What the Twins second baseman cares about is creating runs.
Extra-base hits are Dozier’s forte. He had 71 of them last year, and this season he has 48 with two months left on the schedule. Yesterday he went deep for the 22nd time, putting him on pace to match last year’s career-high total of 28.
Dozier established his hitting identity in 2013. Since that first full season in Minnesota, he’s slashed.245/.325/.440, with 128 doubles and 91 home runs. Now, at age 29, he’s turning it up a notch. Gong into the weekend, Dozier is slashing.263/.341/.506 with the aforementioned 22 dingers.
Dozier discussed his approach during a recent visit to Fenway Park.
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Dozier on value: “The game has changed. Everything is being brought into light as far as advanced stats, and all that. They’re evaluating players like… for instance, a.300 hitter who slaps 5, 10 home runs is less valuable than a.250 hitter who hits 25-30 home runs. A guy who creates runs. People are realizing that’s it’s not just the statistics we see on the scoreboard that you use to evaluate a hitter.
“If you’re more of a power hitter, you’re more valuable. At the same time, the game is played up the middle. Catching, pitching, short, second, center field — and if you get offensive production out of those positions… I wouldn’t call them defense-first, but any time you can get offense up the middle it’s a plus. Power is an even bigger plus. Not just home runs, but extra-base hits. Guys who can put up 50, 60, 70 extra-base hits are really valuable. I’m about one thing, and that’s creating runs.”
On shifting his focus to extra-base hits and not worrying about batting average: “I’ve absolutely done that. Shoot, that was my turning point. In 2013, I started to realize I can hit 20, 25, 30 home runs. Now my goal is to get my on-base percentage up, so I can help create even more runs.
“I can look at my average and see I’m hitting.250-something, but if I can get on base at a.350 clip, versus a guy who’s hitting.300 and getting on base.330… 300 doesn’t matter. If you can find ways to get on base and create runs, you’re being productive. In my opinion, that’s how you evaluate a player.”
On walk rate and his.271 BABIP: “There’s not [a direct correlation] between power and walk rate. There can be, at times, but people don’t always realize that the depth in your lineup is a factor. Who is hitting behind you in the lineup? Do you have protection in front of you and behind you? That plays into the pitches you get, and your walk rate.
“I don’t know what my [BABIP] is, but people tweet it to me all the time. I do know it’s kind of low. I hit a lot of fly balls and maybe that’s part of it. At the same time, I want to hit the ball in the air.”
On self-identity and growing as a player: “You have to figure out what type of player you are — what type of hitter you are. Once you find that, you stick with it. You can try to make adjustments throughout your career, but you should never lose sight of your strengths. Once you find you can get 70 extra-base hits, like I did last year, why not utilize that? Even though I led the league in pull rate, why try to change it? You can try to get better at little things, but not at the expense of going against what you do best. That’s my mentality.
“That said, you do have to take what you’re given. All of these shifts are coming into play, and they’re taking away a lot of hits. That’s one of the reasons you see batting averages going down. Sometimes a little nubber where the second baseman would have been will get a run in. But again, that’s not my game in a general sense. I want hard contact and extra-base hits.
“I’m still 29 [years old], so I don’t think I’ve hit my prime yet. They used to say that your prime is 28-33, but now, with nutrition and all that, I think prime is pushed back, so to speak. It’s getting longer. Lord willing, I’m going to keep playing for quite awhile.”Sometimes, the most interesting part of a vote in Congress is what happens just before the vote. Today, for example, the House Rules Committee advanced a resolution authorizing Speaker Boehner’s (R-Ohio) anti-Obama lawsuit.
The panel voted along party lines to move forward with legal against Obama over his delay of the healthcare law’s employer mandate, which Republicans say was outside his authority as president. The House is expected to approve the lawsuit before lawmakers leave town next week for a five-week summer recess.
Away from Capitol Hill, as Greg Sargent reported this morning, Democrats are actually delighted with the GOP’s scheme, eager to seize on the lawsuit as a key election-year message.
But the funny part today came just before the House Rules Committee held their party-line vote on this misguided case.
As my colleague Nazanin Rafsanjani noted, Democrats recommended a series of measures intended to make the resolution authorizing the lawsuit more responsible. It led to a series of amendment votes:
Democrats asked for a provision that would require Republicans to regularly disclose how much this lawsuit was costing American taxpayers. Republicans said no.
Democrats asked for a conflict-of-interest measure that would prevent lawmakers from hiring lawyers for this case who lobby Congress. Republicans said no.
Democrats asked for a separate conflict-of-interest amendment that would stop Congress from hiring a law firm for this case that has a financial stake in the implementation of the ACA. Republicans said no.
Democrats asked for a disclosure requirement that said congressional contracts with outside counsel would be disclosed before they’re approved. Republicans said no.
Democrats asked for a measure that would require Republicans to explain where the public funds will come from that will pay for the lawsuit. Republicans said no.
There were 11 proposed improvements in all, Each were defeated with zero Republican votes.
That’s a shame. Most of these ideas actually seemed pretty reasonable.Montreal engineering conglomerate SNC-Lavalin says it will cut 4,000 jobs over the next 18 months in an attempt to streamline operations and save $200 million.
"SNC-Lavalin plans to scale back certain underperforming activities and adjust, consolidate and streamline some of its operations and corporate structure to improve efficiency, effectiveness and competitive positioning," the company said in a statement.
Part of that will be the loss of about 4,000 jobs, three-quarters of which will be from outside Canada, the company said.
"While we remain committed to maintaining a leadership position in mining, a major global slowdown in the sector has created a ripple effect through other industries, and is combining with a general economic slowdown, particularly in [Brazil, Russia India and China]," CEO Robert Card said.
SNC-Lavalin has offices in more than 50 countries and about 45,000 employees worldwide, so the cuts represent about nine per cent of their total workforce.
The cuts come as the company is working to repair the damage to its reputation after it was revealed the company had made some illegal payments in some countries to secure work. A number of ex-employeeshave seen jail time.
The job cuts were also announced as part of the company's Thursday release of the latest quarterly results, which showed improvement from a weak three-month period last year.
SNC-Lavalin turned a profit of $69 million, or 45 cents per share, as investments in major infrastructure businesses and a reduced loss from engineering and construction activities.
The quarterly profit compared with a loss of $72.5 million, or 48 cents a share, in the comparable period a year ago.Flex raiding is fascinating because it evokes such different reactions from different groups of players. For example, my first reaction was pure enthusiasm. “This is great,” I thought, “I’ll be able to do more raiding on my favorite alts without having to commit to another scheduled raid night.” The fact that it’s cross-realm means I can join up with friends on other servers and help out, and automatic scaling means that I don’t have to feel bad if I can’t make a night.
I was also optimistic that the introduction of a new difficulty level that was parked squarely between LFR and Normal would help revitalize a guild that several of my real-life friends play in. They hit a brick wall in normal-mode Throne of Thunder, struggling to score a single Jin’rokh kill, and their raid team decided to stop bothering. Many of them stopped logging in and let their accounts lapse. It’s a story that is all too common nowadays – a casual friends-and-family guild that broke upon the rocks of tier 15. Flex seems well-poised to fill the void that these guilds fell into. Accessible content that’s still aimed at organized groups rather than consumption with random strangers. Not having to force anyone to sit out on the one night a week that they can make is just the icing on the cake.
My biggest reservation is actually the loot system. Personal loot certainly makes sense, both in LFR and in Flex. I don’t object to it from an intellectual or game-design perspective. But the personal loot system feels like an awkward fit in this case – a glove that’s a size too small, as it were. You can wear it, but it just doesn’t feel quite right. There’s something special and exciting about killing a boss and seeing the loot it dropped on its crumpled corpse, even if none of that loot is for your class or spec. The personal loot system has never evoked that same feeling for me, for some reason.
And I think that it will work less well in Flex than it does in LFR. At least in LFR, it’s an unorganized group of strangers that you wouldn’t want to share your loot with. Even when you don’t get something, the large number of players and limited communication shields you from the feeling that the effort was worthless. In Flex, it should be fairly common to down a boss and have none of the ten players present get loot. And that will feel far worse because it’s an organized group of friends rather than faceless strangers.
In fact, if there were one thing I’d change about the Flex concept, that would be it: the loot system. Rather than using personal loot, I would use a progressive probabilistic system. The boss would drop an average of 0.2 items per player in the group. Items would be guaranteed at certain thresholds – i.e. it would drop one item for every five players in the raid (so 2 items for a 10-man, 5 items for a 25-man). For partial groups, each player would contribute to the probability of an additional item.
To illustrate: a ten-player group would always see exactly 2 items. An eleven-player group would get 2 items and a 20% chance at a third item. A twelve-player group would get 2 items and a 40% chance at a third item. And so on, such that the fifteen-player group would get exactly 3 items. I realize that it’s far too late for this sort of system to be implemented for 5.4, and would probably require some subtle technical changes in how boss loot is handled server-side. But I hope that it’s considered for 6.0, especially since I think it’s a safe bet that Blizzard will get a lot of (negative) feedback about personal loot in Flex once players get the chance to experience it.
But overall, I was still completely optimistic about Flex raiding. So it was a surprise to me that the first few pieces of feedback I received when discussing it with other hardcore raiders was entirely negative. Though in retrospect, perhaps it shouldn’t have been, as the complaint was familiar enough. “Great, now I’ll have to run Siege of Orgrimmar three times a week on my main.”
So while Flex raiding introduces some great opportunities for the player base as a whole, it presents a fairly complicated problem for a small subset of that player base at the extreme upper end of raiding. Heroic raiders in particular are faced with yet another potential time sink and an increased likelihood of burnout.
This concern spawned a long and involved thread on maintankadin discussing what, if anything, Blizzard should do about it.
Burnout
It’s easy to write this off as an irrelevant problem, or to characterize it as a fabrication; a self-imposed problem created by deranged players that simply can’t exercise self-control. But I think that’s a mistake. Despite the lower ilvl of LFR and Flex-raid gear, tier bonuses and trinkets have traditionally been powerful enough to more than overcome the ilvl disparity. So there’s a clear incentive for players to run this content even if their skill level far exceeds that content.
And where there’s an incentive, one must consider human psychology. The vast majority of these players are not incapable of self-control. They are sharp minds making calculated decisions about how to spend their time in-game. Raiding at any organized level is being part of a team, which means there are complicated social interactions involved. Some players will do whatever they can to help the team, either out of altruistic motivations or to ensure that nobody can accuse them of giving less than 110%. Others will do the bare minimum that is required. Either of those cases can involve a weekly LFR and/or Flex raid for extra chances at overpowered gear.
Perhaps more concerning is those players raiding on limited schedules. They may be skilled enough to raid at a high level, but the demands of the regular raid schedule already stretch them near the limit. Additional LFR or Flex raids outside of the usual schedule may very easily be the tipping point that pushes them out of raiding entirely. And those players are rarely content to scale back to a shorter raid week with weaker progression. They’re more likely to get frustrated with the game, quit, and move on to other games that have a similar skill cap but don’t require the same time expenditure.
But it isn’t just heroic raiders that are faced with this problem. That’s a convenient way to try and marginalize the effect, but the truth is that even normal-mode raiders are presented with this dilemma. In some ways, they even have it worse: those Flex-raid items are a bigger upgrade for a normal-mode raider’s previous-tier gear than for a player with double-upgraded heroic loot. And there are probably more potential upgrades in Flex mode for those normal raiders as well.
We tend to focus on heroic raiders as the ones most inconvenienced by these additional time sinks, but in reality I think normal raiders are more heavily impacted, as they’ll have incentives to run LFR and Flex throughout the tier, long after they’ve become irrelevant for heroic raiders. And normal-mode raiders are no less susceptible to burnout than their heroic brethren.
I don’t think there’s any question that the problem exists. It’s hard to argue that the incentive isn’t there, because it’s fairly evident. And burnout is a major concern, not just of the player base, but of Blizzard. The developers have made it quite clear that the shared lockout between 10-man and 25-man that was instituted in Cataclysm was explicitly to stem burnout caused by running both formats each week. So the question is not whether there’s a problem, merely whether or not Blizzard should do anything about it.
Solutions
Much of the linked thread is focused on exactly that question. What can Blizzard do to mitigate the incentive to run and re-run the same instance multiple times per week? Should they do anything at all?
Even though there’s a problem, sometimes there’s just no good solution. One argument is that this problem need not be addressed because it’s temporary. Flex raids are provided in wings, and those wings will be gated much like LFR will be. By the time all of Flex mode is available, heroic raiders will already have several full instance clears under their belts, and the number of upgrades to be had in LFR or Flex will likely be small. There will always be a few players that get unlucky with drops and feel compelled to keep going back for that one item they’re missing. But with a winged implementation, even that isn’t so onerous, as you’ll only be running 3-4 bosses one extra time each week.
Of course, that again focuses on the heroic raider’s experience. Normal-mode raiders may well find themselves running multiple wings of Flex throughout the tier for gear upgrades. For those players, the problem will feel a lot less temporary.
But perhaps the best argument for leaving the “Flex Problem” well enough alone is that most of the proposed solutions are worse than doing nothing at all.
The Nerf Bat
Predictably, the first few solutions trotted out involve nerfing LFR and Flex loot ilvls so that they’re not attractive to heroic raiders. If the problem is that the gear is an upgrade for heroic raiders, perhaps the solution is to nerf it until it isn’t. I think the reason that this solution is the first to be suggested is tied to the fact that the argument has worked before.
In cataclysm, it was only 13 ilvls behind. And at the time, I wrote a blog post opining that the separation should probably be a little larger to further disincentivize LFR farming by organized raiders. In the first two tiers of MoP, the gap between LFR and normal-mode gear was increased to 20 ilvls (if you’re keeping score, I suggested 19 in that post). In T16, that gap is increasing even more (up to 28 ilvls) to accommodate Flex-mode gear, which will be 17 ilvls below normal-mode gear. So it’s clear that Blizzard has been sympathetic to the “increase the ilvl gap” argument.
However, I’m also not convinced that solution actually works all that well in practice. It’s fine when you’re just comparing raw stats, but the problem areas are traditionally unique effects from tier bonuses and trinkets. Neither of those are beholden the traditional rules of “higher ilvl = more stats = better.” In both T15 and T16, we see trinkets with unique and interesting effects that can be exploited for large DPS gains compared to higher-ilvl trinkets. And especially when it comes to tanks, set bonuses can be game-changing and hard to compare to a fixed stat increase.
Further, there’s a social problem with increasing the ilvl gap even further. Nobody likes to feel like a second-class citizen. But as the ilvl gap between LFR and Normal increases, that’s exactly what LFR players feel increasingly like. There’s no question that the rewards for heroic-mode need to be greater than normal, which needs to be greater than flex, and so on down the line. But remember that each ilvl is approximately 1% character power. An LFR player is already about 20% less effective than a normal-mode raider, and 33% less effective than a heroic-mode raider. Tuning open-world content gets much harder when that sort of performance gap exists. Content that’s challenging for the heroic raider is impossible for the LFR player, while content that challenges the LFR player becomes trivial and boring for the heroic raider. It adds another constraint on the problem of making compelling open-world content, which is something Blizzard has been struggling with all through Mists of Pandaria.
Nerfing LFR and Flex-mode gear also sends a very clear message to LFR and Flex raiders, whether that message is intended or not. It says “we value the opinion of these heroic raiders more than yours,” because the majority of players calling for LFR gear to be nerfed are outspoken heroic raiders. I’m sure Blizzard would never agree that this is the message they’re sending, and honestly don’t believe they think that way in the first place. But perception is what matters, and there’s no question that this is how such a change would be perceived. In essence, “GG, Blizzard caving again to the elitist heroic raiders that don’t want casuals to have nice things.”
So I really don’t think that nerfing the ilvl of LFR and Flex loot is a viable solution, nor do I think it’s any more likely than removing LFR entirely. I think the drop in ilvl to accommodate Flex raiding was probably a contentious compromise even within the halls of Blizzard HQ, seen not as ideal but as necessary to preserve the impression that there’s a significant skill divide between normal/heroic and LFR/Flex. I’d be very surprised to see LFR loot drop any farther behind.
Loot Lockouts
Another idea put forth is to share loot lockouts between difficulties. In other words, if you run Flex, you’re locked out of loot in LFR for that week. Depending on who’s making the suggestion, it could even extend to being locked out of normal and heroic as well. And I can see the reason this option looks good on paper. It’s simple to understand and keep track of: one boss, one chance at loot, once a week. Period.
That said, it’s also a fundamentally flawed proposition. LFR and Flex raiding weren’t just instituted to provide an additional difficulty level for standard raiding. They’re explicitly designed to mitigate or eliminate some of the organizational and logistical “strings attached” that come with normal raiding practices. The need to agree on a particular time and date, to maintain a specific roster size, to choose which ten players to bring for each boss and which to sit on the bench, to have consumables prepared beforehand, even the need to review strategies before raid time. All of these are issues that LFR and Flex attempt to eliminate in the name of accessibility. These formats are doing everything they can to promote social raiding – to encourage friends to get together and have fun without the sorts of burdens that raiders have traditionally been unable to escape.
I’m certain that Blizzard wants a player who rarely has time for more than LFR to be excited when they get a chance to join a Flex raid pick |
electronically hosted in a facility about 50 miles away. They had WAN connectivity issues and as a result they were struggling with an underperforming ISP and experienced continuous outages and slow connectivity-- which lead to frustrated doctors and nurses, and slower, less efficient care. By implementing a PowerLink solution, they dramatically improved uptime and have eliminated all bandwidth issues.
Like Manchester Healthcare, administrators must ensure that there is not only enough network bandwidth available to support current usage levels, but that resources are in place for the near future as well.
Decision-makers in the healthcare industry should take an in-depth look at their network and not only work to increase bandwidth where necessary, but have several diverse communication links to ensure the best performing—always performing—network. Institution leaders also need to be prepared for the worst, as Gerrity pointed out. A WAN network can provide critical connectivity backup, ensuring that if one connection goes down, there is another ready and waiting to handle user traffic. It’s not just about having a standby backup link, it’s hard working links, each sharing the traffic load. And, in case of a disaster, like a backhoe cutting a line or a provider technical failure, priority traffic isn’t impacted. It keeps on flowing through the good links. The bottom line? In today’s world, it’s not good enough to just have multiple links; organizations must optimize and take on the “never down” mentality.
Edited by Maurice NagleHow to Winter Sow Seeds Outdoors
By Trudi Davidoff
It really is very easy to do.
First, let me give you a little background as to why I sowed the seeds during the winter. I live in a very small house, a cottage actually, and I simply do not have room for a light set up, also, any window space I have must be fought from the cat and "Prinny" likes to look out on the street and watch the world go by, so I have to give her a windowsill. She's a good cat and deserves her place in the sun.
I got hooked on seed trading, and as you all know seed trading is like Pokemon..."You gotta have 'em all." I had tons of seeds, I had them all. Though I am not a novice at gardening, I am a novice at growing seeds. This was my second season doing so. Because of my lack of experience with growing seeds, and not having a light set up, I traded for "easy to grow" seeds; I had to start them in the windowsill or out on the patio in flats during spring and summer.
I was thinking a lot last winter about how I was going to start all these seeds; I needed an easy way out. I knew that many seeds needed to be pre-chilled, and I knew that many plants reseed and germinate outdoors without our intervention. I thought about this for a few days and put two and two together. I would sow them into flats, and take them outside for the winter, if all went well then they would germinate in spring.
I am a true believer in "recycle and reuse". I had been saving my take-out containers from the Chinese restaurant (not those typical white boxes that have a metal handle and white rice inside), I was saving the foil pans that have a separate clear plastic lid, and they're usually round or rectangular. These containers were just perfect.....plus I didn't have to go to a store and open up my wallet (hmm, look at all the moths fly out), if I can get away without having to lay down a buck I will. I did need soil so I went to the local discount department store and got their brand which was the cheapest I could find.
Seed Selection
Look at a seed catalogue, most will have some sort of notation about a seed's germination requirements, or you'll pick up a few clue-in phrases.
Look for these terms:
Needs Pre-chilling (freeze seeds, refrigerate seeds, stratify for x amount of days or weeks), Needs Stratification, Will Colonize, Self-Sows, Sow outdoors in early Autumn, Sow outdoors in early Spring while nights are still cool, Sow outdoors in early Spring while frosts may still occur, Hardy Seeds, Seedlings can withstand frost, Can be direct sown early, Wildflower, Weed (such as butterfly weed, joe pye weed, jewel weed.)
Look for Common Names indicating a natural environment:
Plains, Prairie, Desert, Mountain, Swamp, Field, River, etc.
Look for names that might indicate an origin in a temperate climate:
Siberian, Chinese, Polar, Alpine, Orientale, Canadensis, Caucasian, Russian (indicating Soviet origin), etc.
Think about your own garden and your neighbors' gardens too. Do you find plants that have volunteered each spring and shown up as seedlings that you didn't sow? These are very good choices. Let's say that your orange marigolds have returned in spring as volunteer seedlings....you can then be pretty well assured that gold, or lemon, African or French varieties will also reseed. When it comes down to it, a marigold is a marigold is a marigold.
I like Park's Seed catalogue, it has a great germination table right in the middle of the catalogue. They have a numbered guide indicating the best germination requirements for seeds. I took a yellow highlighter and went down that numbered list and highlighted all the numbers that would be appropriate for Winter Sowing, then I carefully went through their list of seeds and highlighted the varieties that corresponded to the correct numbers. This is how I chose which varieties I would Winter Sow. A lot of catalogues, not just Parks, will have a germination table, or some information about germination, look at them, study them, and learn.
To make a flat you take the foil container (of course it's clean, washed in hot soapy water) and a paring knife. Stab a few slits in the bottom of the pan, this is for drainage. Now fill the pan with soil to about a half inch from the top. Give it a real good drink and let it drain. I do this in my kitchen. (I have a sprayer on a hose at the sink and I use this for the watering, works well and won't gouge out holes in the soil). After the pan has drained, sow your seeds and pat them down. Cover the seeds with more soil to the correct depth, if necessary. I like growing plants with tiny, tiny seeds, they're really just the very most easiest to sow. Sprinkle them on top of the soil, pat the seeds down, and that's that.
Now you need to put the lid on but first...and this is the very most important step...take the knife and poke several slits in the clear plastic lid. This is for air transpiration. Think about it, you're making a little mini-greenhouse. If you don't vent the air that is heated by the sun you'll cook your flat and the seeds won't germinate. You've baked them to death. Okay, put the lid on secure by folding down the foil rim. Now the seeds are sown.ES News Email 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
A new east London pop-up café called London Eau is to sell water from the River Thames.
London Eau will offer a variety of flavours from the capital’s river, including Limehouse, Lambeth and London Bridge, claiming to offer “an exclusive opportunity to drink in the history of the city”.
Launching on April 15 in an east London location to yet be confirmed, the start-up claims to offer “nature and nutrients that really make up the character of our city”.
Business founder Thomas Lafoulle, who was born in Paris but now lives in Shoreditch, said: “if it’s that energising, creative boost you need, we’d recommend Limehouse.
“Water from the London Bridge range is probably more for when you’re not quite feeling yourself and you need a classic little kick or buzz.
“And if you’re if need of something that’ll make you feel calm and laidback, take some Lambeth.”
Prices for the range start at £6.75 a glass, although London Eau assures the first 50 visitors to the café will be able to taste a sample for free before purchasing.
The business pledges to be ethical, says Mr Lafoulle, by swapping plastic bottles that often pollute the river for reusable glass jars.
He said: “We don’t just source our water locally – we also think it’s important to take care of the local environment.”
London Eau will also take an alternative approach to promoting its products, by advertising the pop-up with handmade posters and avoiding “the tired and too obvious social media”.
Mr Lafoulle says he was inspired by his younger sister April’s drawing from a school trip of the capital’s river.
In response to this story, Thames Water chief executive Martin Baggs said, "While we welcome the opening of market competition, we still consider Thames Water to be of far better quality and exceptional value."
Midday Update: Happy April Fools' Day! Did you fall for any of these stories today?
This video was filmed at the Artisan Gluten Free Bakery in Islington.Rajon Rondo was benched on Rajon Rondo bobblehead night
Rondo is a douche. He's super entitled and thinks he should be starting just because of who he is. He plays like ass and doesn't seem to care.
Rajon Rondo Didn’t Play on His Own Bobblehead Night – Rolling
Rajon Rondo suited up for the Chicago Bulls Monday night. But in a way most people wouldn’t think of. Despite Rondo ’s recent benching by Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg, the team went ahead with the bobblehead night in their suspended point guard’s honor because nobody wants to just dump a
Rajon Rondo was benched on Rajon Rondo bobblehead night | NBA
Monday was an extremely awkward night for Rajon Rondo, but it wasn't supposed to be.
Rajon Rondo was benched on Rajon Rondo bobblehead night
Monday was an extremely awkward night for Rajon Rondo, but it wasn't supposed to be. Before the season, the Chicago Bulls' marketing team scheduled Rajon Rondo bobblehead night forJan. 9 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, hoping to promotean epic point guard battle between Rondo and
Benched Rajon Rondo didn’t play a second on Rajon - SBNation.com
It's Rajon Rondo bobblehead night at United Center. This might be his only moment out of warmup togs, though, vs. OKC. pic.twitter.com/IO1COFNvQW. Rondo was the only player on the entire team who did not record one minute of playing time.
Rajon Rondo Benched On His Own Bobblehead Night
Rajon Rondo signed a two-year, $27-million deal with the Bulls in the offseason, but the love affair with the controversial point guard has gone sour ever It was supposed to be a special night for Rondo at the United Center, as employees handed out mini versions of the guard on his bobblehead night.
Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo and NBA Team Poison – Rolling Stone
Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard have shown flashes of brilliance throughout their NBA careers. And do you remember when Rajon Rondo was the playmaking glue that knit together the Boston Celtics team that won the championship that year?
Rondo benched on his bobblehead night | theScore.com
It's a special night for Rajon Rondo at United Center. The Chicago Bulls are handing out a miniature likeness of the guard on his bobblehead night - only the 30-year-old is on the bench and definitely not playing any basketball. Rondo owns a two-year, $27-million deal with the Bulls, where he's putting up
Rajon Rondo Didn’t Even Play On His Own Bobblehead Night In
9, as their “ Rajon Rondo Bobblehead Night,” hoping to promote their new point guard in an enticing matchup with Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Rondo ’s benching wasn’t a one-time deal, either. Head coach Fred Hoiberg hasn’t played his 30-year-old point guard in five consecutive games
The Chicago Bulls Had A Very Awkward Rajon Rondo Bobblehead
It was Rajon Rondo Bobblehead giveaway night, something that the Bulls’ marketing department probably planned well before the season started. Unfortunately, Rajon Rondo hasn’t played since 2016 due to disagreements with the head coach and front office, and didn’t play a single minute last night.Australia uses satellites to support national defence, economic, and scientific activities, but isn’t a ‘space power’ that can provide independent space systems for national needs. The Department of Industry, Innovation and Scientific Research’s 2015 ‘State of Space Report’ and Australian Satellite Utilisation Policy limits Australia to providing ground infrastructure, and establishing regulatory frameworks to use other states’ satellites and foreign commercial space capabilities. The 2016 Defence White Paper and Integrated Investment Program goes a bit further, and suggests ‘potential investment in space-based sensors’ for the mid-2020s to the late-2030s but the language is vague, and funding for such a capability is proverbial ‘low-hanging fruit’.
A 2015 review of Australian Space activities shows that Australia is a consumer of the end product. There’s little or no involvement in satellite construction or integration, and Australia doesn’t provide launch services (see table on p. 58 of the review). There’s nothing inherently wrong with that approach. Yet the times are changing. The private sector of space is growing by leaps and bounds, with innovative young companies bursting with new ideas and bold visions that increasingly challenge technological dominance of national space programs. Technologies are changing with the times, with ‘Space 2.0’ emphasizing smaller, more capable satellites produced cheaply through innovation in manufacturing, then replaced more rapidly in a manner akin to software evolution from Silicon Valley IT start-ups. In this approach, Cubesats can be built for a fraction of the cost of traditional high-end satellites, launched in swarms, and networked to provide useful space support for defence or other national civil or scientific endeavours. Andrew Davies has explored the benefits of an Australian surveillance capability, suggesting ‘Australia could develop an indigenous satellite capability to augment data collected by allied or commercial satellites’. In the seven years since Davies assessed the case for four satellites, each costing around AUD$600 million, the transformation implicit in Space 2.0 suggests Australia could instead build swarms of networked cubesats and integrate them with the Triton UAS, to facilitate a broad-area maritime surveillance capability at a lower cost.
Advances in satellite technologies are being matched by advances in launch systems, most notably re-usable space launch capabilities (here, here, here and here). These will potentially drive down the cost of accessing space for a broader range of customers and could herald a transformational ‘step-change’ in accessing space, with SpaceX suggesting up to a 50% price reduction on a fully expendable launch. The challenge will be managing cost and complexity of refurbishment for recovered boosters, addressing fuel to payload cost ratio, and also sustaining a high enough launch rate to make the economics of reusable rockets work. Future Australian space policy could assess the benefits of providing a southern hemisphere site—close to the equator—for launch and recovery of those vehicles as part of an international partnership, and in doing so, lay the basis for a local space launch capability.
If government values innovation, it should review current policy settings on space, and consider future steps. This could suggest two clear potential paths forward on space, and a third that’s implied. Firstly, government can maintain the current approach that emphasises comparative advantage and avoids risk. To borrow a term from cosmology, this is a ‘steady-state’ future—more of the same with little or no government investment into promoting an expanding commercial space sector in Australia. In that model Australia decides what product it needs and continues to consume what’s provided to it, it negotiates access and establishes the ‘ground segment’ to manage the data.
Alternatively government might support a ‘big bang’ strategy that actively develops an Australian commercial space sector. This process has already taken a step forward with a decision to review (and here) the 1998 Space Activities Act to ensure that innovation and investment isn’t stifled through outdated regulation. It seems sensible that whatever path Australia chooses, clearing up and discarding excess regulation is a good step.
A ‘steady state’ approach minimises risk and cost, but doesn’t necessarily encourage a lucrative commercial space sector within Australia, and risks Australia falling further behind in a booming global market. Conversely ‘Big bang’ is riskier because Australia must compete with that global space market, but is more in line with government policies to promote innovation, and the opposition’s commitment to science and technology. If we’re to compete, it’s important to do so with haste, or be at permanent disadvantage with regional competitors.
But private industry should not merely wait for government to take the lead. That opens a third option. The real advances, epitomised when SpaceX successfully lands a Falcon 9 booster after launching a satellite, is when private industry takes the lead. Government can choose simply to step back and let the market drive our space program.
The time has come for Australia to embrace new thinking on space. More of the same is a safe bet, but frankly, is not that inspiring. In a recent co-authored article with Brett Biddington that considers our future in Space, Astrobiology Professor Malcolm Walter sums up the importance of inspiration, innovation and vision:
‘In Australia, pragmatism seems often to override vision, to our detriment. Seeking to inspire might seem like an intangible pursuit, but it is also a powerful agent for change. It nurtures education that generates innovation that builds an economy. None of this just happens.’By Miguel Rivera
Hall of Fame retired referee Joe Cortez believes a rematch is in order for the welterweight fight between Timothy Bradley and Jessie Vargas, which took place last month for the vacant WBO championship at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Bradley had control of the fight for most of the rounds but found himself in serious trouble in the final minute of the twelfth. A right hand caught him right on the chin and had him in trouble. Vargas, knowing he was behind on the cards, was trying to do what he could to finish the fight. Referee Pat Russell thought he had heard the final bell and accidently stopped the fight with eight seconds or so remaining.
Vargas, who believes he was robbed of a knockout win, has since petitioned the WBO to make the fight a no-contest and asked the same of the California State Athletic Commission.
"The fight between Vargas and Bradley was one that was all for Bradley. Vargas allegedly came prepared for the fight but he didn't show that he was. Most of the attacks were in favor of Bradley, with the exception of the last round, where Vargas connected with a right hand that hurt Bradley," Cortez told El Vocero.
"The referee Pat Russell, a veteran of the ring, thought he heard the bell and stop the fight when there were 10 seconds left with Bradley hurt. He was wrong. There was a confusion. The most logical thing is a rematch. But if Vargas begins as he left off [being aggressive in the final round], he could win. But if he starts in the same manner as he did [the first time], he will suffer another setback."US condemns Indonesian human rights abuses in West Papua
July 13, 2015
The United States Government, through the US State Department has recently published it’s 2014 Human Rights report on Indonesia in which gross and persistent human rights violations by the Indonesian authorities in West Papua, have been exposed in detail and heavily condemned.
The full report can be read on the US State Department’ website here
Killing of West Papuans by the Indonesian authorities
The US State Department listed several high profile killings of West Papuans by the Indonesian authorities including the 2012 killings of Tejoli Weya and Mako Tabuni; the former Chairperson of the active and peaceful pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNPB).
The report also mentioned how two peaceful pro-independence activists were killed during a prayer service and flag raising ceremony in Sorong, West Papua and that at least 3 members of the Papuan People’s Congress in 2011 by the Indonesian Security Forces. They also tortured or otherwise injured 90 other West Papuans just for attending the same peaceful Congress. The US State Department described how “Police violently broke up the event, resulting in at least three deaths and 90 injuries.”
It also described how the Indonesian military claimed last August to have killed 5 West Papuans in Wamena with reports that the military and the police also burned down several local buildings.
Gross lack of human rights in West Papua
In the report, the US government revealed to the world detailed information of Indonesian State suppression of human rights in West Papua, especially as a means of cracking down on self-determination and independence campaigning. The report stated:
“The constitution and the law provide for freedom of speech and press. The government used laws against advocacy of separatism to restrict the ability of individuals to advocate peacefully for independence.”
The US State Department thoroughly discussed the details of this criminalization of peaceful independence advocacy, saying:
“The (Indonesian) law criminalizes content that advocates separatism. Some NGOs and other organizations alleged government monitoring of their organizations, and government application of treason laws in cases of peaceful calls for separatism in Papua limited the rights of individuals to engage in speech deemed to be pro-separatist. After the peaceful separatist organization National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) called for a boycott of the 2014 elections, NGOs reported as many as 36 persons were arrested in the period before the presidential election for distributing pro-boycott materials or otherwise advocating for a boycott. Most were later released without charge. In August, 11 KNPB members were arrested in Asmat for attempting to establish a branch office of their organization.”
“Police in Papua routinely refused to issue receipts of notification to would-be demonstrators on the grounds the demonstrations would likely involve calls for independence,”.
An example listed in the State Department report was the Indonesian police saying that they would issue West Papuans with a protest permit in April 2014 but never issuing one. Student leaders Alfaris Kapisa and Yali Wenda were arrested and beaten by the police at this protest.
Political prisoners in West Papua
When referring to political prisoners, the report mentioned how “International NGOs estimated at least 69 political prisoners remained incarcerated, most from the restive Papua and West Papua provinces. Most were prosecuted under treason and conspiracy statutes for actions related to the display of banned separatist symbols, and many were serving lengthy sentences.”
Throughout the report there were consistent references to cases of West Papuans being killed, suppressed and detained just for expressing their desires to be free including by raising the West Papuan national flag. Independence leaders Victor Yeimo, Isak Klaibin and many others including 5 people jailed after the Papuan People’s Congress were all listed as examples of this; West Papuans having their freedom of expression suppressed by being jailed simply calling for self-determination and independence. All these cases were also used as examples of obstacles to accountability due to “The lack of transparent investigations”.
The report also directly stated:
“A number of independence activists from the Papua and Maluku regions…were in detention or prison for peacefully expressing their political views.” and “…peaceful protests and calls for independence resulted in arrest and trial on treason charges.”
It also said, “There were reports from Papua that defendants did not have access to attorneys of their choosing and that authorities denied them adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense.”
Journalist restriction and gross lack of media freedom in West Papua
The US State Department exposed how the Indonesian government “continued to restrict foreign media from travelling to the provinces of Papua and West Papua”, mentioning reports that the Indonesian military and intelligence services were doing the same. An example in the report of this heavy journalist restriction was French journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat who were arrested and jailed last year just for reporting on the genocide and illegal occupation of West Papua.
When referring to foreign human rights organisations in West Papua, the US State Department said:
“The security forces and intelligence agencies tended to regard with suspicion foreign human rights organizations, particularly those operating in Papua and West Papua, and restricted their movement in these areas”. The report also mentioned how “government officials…particularly in Papua and West Papua, subjected the organizations to monitoring, harassment, and interference as well as threats and intimidation. Activists said intelligence officers followed them, took their pictures surreptitiously, and sometimes questioned their friends and family members regarding their whereabouts and activities.”
Racism and discrimination against Melanesians in West Papua
The US State Department also exposed the rampant and institutionalised racism against Melanesian West Papuans. It said: “Indigenous persons, most notably in Papua, remained subject to discrimination, and there was little improvement in respect for their traditional land rights. Mining and logging activities, many of them illegal, posed significant social, economic, and logistical problems to indigenous communities. The government failed to prevent companies, often in collusion with the local military and police, from encroaching on indigenous peoples’ land. In Papua and West Papua, tensions continued between indigenous Papuans and migrants from other provinces. Melanesians in Papua cited endemic racism and discrimination as drivers of violence and economic inequality in the region.”
Encouraging report
This US State Department document is an historic and very encouraging report which highlights the reality of the continued systematic repression of human rights in West Papua by the Indonesian government as a means of cracking down on pro-independence and self-determination activities.
The ongoing Indonesian State brutality against West Papuans every day is being watched by people and governments all around the world and we are very encouraged that the United States Government, through the State Department has published such a detailed and useful report to all.
This report and others like it will help to adapt US Foreign policy. We are fully confident that with such continuing awareness and support raised at a grass-roots and parliamentary level; the United States government will support the West Papuan people to be free from such oppression through the fulfilment of their fundamental rights to self-determination and independence under international law.
We would like to thank everyone involved in the making of this report and we continue to encourage that further reports like this one, also detail and expose more of the ongoing atrocities in occupied West Papua so that the world will keep finding out about the situation and help to support the West Papuan people’s struggle for freedom.00:59 Super Typhoon Wutip Continues Path Through Western Pacific Super Typhoon Wutip moved past Guam over the weekend and now continues its path across the western Pacific.
Fred dissipated Sunday evening about 1,200 miles southwest of the Azores as the system now lacks a well-defined center.
The remnants of Fred are expected to track to the north-northeast.
A Rare Hurricane For Cape Verde Islands
Fred was just the fourth Atlantic named storm to form east of 19 degrees West longitude, the National Hurricane Center said in its advisory issued for the storm Sunday morning.
The Associated Press reported all airports were closed in the republic Monday, in anticipation of the storm. They also reported that the storm caused flooding, scattered power outages and uprooted some trees, but no major damage was noted.
According to a blog from Bob Henson of wunderground.com, there is no reliable record of a hurricane ever making landfall in Cabo Verde. Henson said that an 1892 storm reportedly intensified into a hurricane while passing to the south of the northwest Cape Verde Islands. In 1998, Jeanne reached hurricane status while passing south of the islands by about 100 miles, Henson added.
The islands have seen deadly impacts from tropical storms. The deadliest was Tropical Storm Fran in 1984 whose heavy rains caused flooding that killed more than two dozen people, Henson said.
(MORE: Expert Analysis | Hurricane Central )
MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Hurricane Strikes (PHOTOS)Environmental advocates are seeking up to one hundred volunteers in West Oakland to help detect concentrations of air pollutants in this highly industrialized area.
The area is the focal point of a legal tiff over whether the city may bar trains from bringing coal to a bulk freight terminal planned at a former US Army base at the harbor. The city and the port authority occupy nearly equal portions of the property.
The City Council last July voted to prohibit trains and trucks from bringing coal to the Army base property after nearby residents complained that the resulting coal dust and diesel exhaust particulates would cause severe respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, the company that wants to build and operate the freight facility, is challenging the ban in federal court.
“We’re looking for people to host [electronic] monitorsm" said Brian Beveridge, co-director of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project.
The effort, dubbed “100 by 100” and sponsored chiefly by the Environmental Defense Fund, is part of a project that looks at ambient levels of air quality throughout the Bay Area, Beveridge said.
“Our approach is to go where the air is worst,” namely at pollution sources, he said. “We collect data thirty days at a time across three seasons. We create a map showing what the air looks like down to your front porch."
Participants will receive an air-quality sensor for taking readings; unlike stationary sensors, which are usually mounted in high places, WOEIP's web site said these devices "record what residents breathe at ground level."
The project will have “a really powerful marketplace impact” as well as public health effects, said Beveridge, as the data provided could impact consumer choices about where to buy and rent property. “Now, real estate has to begin to care about where they’ll develop and maybe they will push back on industries that are polluting, in the same way that communities are pushing back,” he said.
According to The Port of Oakland, diesel particulate volume has dropped 98 percent in the last ten years. Reconfiguring cargo terminals and adding new truck gates reduced truck wait times, which combined to reduce vehicle pollution.
Anyone wishing to participate in the effort may contact Beveridge or WOEIP’s other co-director, Margaret Gordon. Their e-mail addresses are brian.woeip@gmail.com and margaret.woeip@gmail.com. Their phone numbers are 510-257-5646 and 510-257-4647, respectively.Westfield resident Alex Sweet has done dozens of deals on Craigslist, selling various vehicles and car parts, a set of wheels. Most recently, he put his 1996 Jeep Cherokee on the online classified market.
As he sat waiting in the Westfield Police Department parking lot, an officer drove by and stopped to ask Sweet if everything was OK.
Sweet, 27, explained he was conducting a Craigslist transaction, and the officer gave him a thumbs-up, told him to have a good day, and drove away.
Police stations across the country have started offering space for these business exchanges, saying it’s a win-win-win—strangers meet in a safe spot, police help prevent crime, and the danger of doing business on Craigslist decreases.
The trend has caught on in Indiana cities as disparate as Spencer and East Chicago.
And closer to home, police departments in Westfield, Whitestown and Zionsville are offering video-monitored space for transactions. Other departments—including Carmel, Plainfield, Mooresville and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office—allow Craigslist deals in their public areas but haven’t advertised it. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department encourages Craigslist users to contact police with concerns, but also hasn’t publicly offered a spot for transactions.
Sweet met the potential Jeep buyer about 45 minutes after he responded to the Craigslist ad. The next night, the two met again in the police department parking lot and exchanged $3,500 and the title for the vehicle.
“It’s just one of those places where you feel safe to be there,” Sweet said. “I thought it was a good idea and it worked out.”
A bonus for Craigslist
Richard Feinberg, consumer sciences and retail professor at Purdue University, doesn’t see any negative consequences to opening police station lobbies to conduct Craigslist transactions.
“It’s certainly not going to hurt Craigslist sales,” Feinberg said.
Actually, the police departments or other public entities that offer the space are helping Craigslist, which had annual revenue of $355 million in 2014, according to Advanced Interactive Media Group LLC.Craigslist ads are free for users, other than job listings in certain areas and a few categories of items for sale. The company earns money through advertisements on the website.
“Taxpayers are now subsidizing something Craigslist was going to have to do anyway,” Feinberg said, referencing the need for safe places for users to conduct business.
The online classified service has been linked to dangerous perceptions, in part due to high-profile crimes like the murder of an Atlanta couple hoping to buy a 1966 Ford Mustang or the Iraq War veteran killed in Indianapolis while attempting to purchase an iPad from a Craigslist user.
The fear of conducting business through the website isn’t widespread enough yet, but Feinberg believes it will continue to grow and Craigslist will be pushed to find ways to protect buyers and sellers.
“Increasingly, consumers are fearful about this transaction,” Feinberg said.
Safety first
The first person who responded to Sweet’s ad for his Jeep Cherokee hesitated about meeting at the Westfield police parking lot. That raised a red flag for Sweet.
The man offered to meet across the street, but Sweet declined.
“If they have a problem being there, you shouldn’t meet with them,” he said. “They obviously just don’t want to be around police.”
Westfield police Capt. Charles Hollowell said the department started allowing the transactions as an effort to prevent Craigslist users from fraud or physical harm.
“I think you’re probably going to think twice about doing that at a police department,” Hollowell said. “If everything is legit … then the reality of it is, you’re not going to have a problem going to the police department to do it.”
Westfield police haven’t had many cases of Craigslist deals gone wrong, but Hollowell suspects that might be underreported.
“You do get one here or there,” Hollowell said.
Whitestown Town Manager Dax Norton said the murders in Atlanta and Indianapolis motivated town officials to offer the safe area.
“It’s really about safety first and economics second,” Norton said.
Whitestown opened the parking lot and town hall lobby—both under video surveillance —for business in February. On a recent Friday afternoon, Norton said, he watched several transactions, including a bike and possibly a vehicle.
In Zionsville, officials allow the public to use the police department lobby for Craigslist deals, but it’s not being tracked.
“Honestly, I don’t know if it’s been utilized yet,” Police Chief Robert Knox said. “I’m just jumping on the bandwagon because it’s the right thing to do.”
While the police department parking lots and lobbies do appear to provide more safety, it also might just shift where the crime takes place.
“They don’t guarantee that police will be there when you do the transaction,” Feinberg said. “There’s no guarantee that it will be safer.”•A policeman was killed while at least 14 personnel were injured after suspected militants hurled a grenade on a team of CRPF troops and police in Nawhatta area near downtown Srinagar on Sunday.
Militants hurled the grenade on a police party next to Ganjbaksh Park in Nowhatta area of the city at around 7pm when the team was withdrawing from there after day-long law and order duty, a police official said.
The official said that the injured includes four CRPF personnel.
The injured cops were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The official said miscreants had engaged the cops by pelting stones on them in the same area.
Read | Militant attack on Army convoy: Two soldiers injured in Kashmir
J&K: Suspected militants open fire on cop's house in Kulgam, third attack in three days
(With inputs from agencies, more details awaited)A young Palace side emerged victorious against Dulwich Hamlet as three second half goals saw the Eagles record a comfortable victory after Peter Kurucz first half penalty save.
Dougie Freedman’s side started with an attacking quartet of Kieron Cadogan, Ibra Sekajja, Kwesi Appiah and Bayan Fenwick and the youngsters linked-up well in the first ten minutes. Cadogan the first to go close, first with a header after good work from Sekajja and then firing an effort just wide.
Minutes later Fenwick saw an effort cleared off the line after a Palace corner and then began to impose himself on the game down the right. Beating his man with trickery and a burst of pace he reached the by-line only to see a low cross cut out by a last ditch tackle with Appiah waiting to tap home.
Appiah laid in the onrushing Aaron Akuruka only for Phil Wilson to make a good save rushing out from his line and then Dulwich, who had looked threatening on the counter, had a golden chance to take the lead.
Hamlet’s striker Kevin James darting into the box only to see his run thwarted by a late challenge from Michael Chambers and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Up stepped Carl Wilson-Dennis who struck his penalty well only to see Kurucz pull off a fantastic diving save, low to his right.
Fenwick was back in the action again as the game went past the hour mark, chipping the ball into the box only for another last ditch challenge to stop Sekajja giving the Eagles the lead. James showed his quality for the home side again with a dangerous set-piece but Palace continued to look the stronger and Appiah nearly made it 1-0 as the game approached half-time, latching onto Cadogan’s clever pass and drawing a good save from Wilson.
The sides went into the break on level terms, with Freedman making nine changes as he introduced a hoard of youngsters and six minutes later saw his young side take the lead. Good work from Gus Sow in midfield put Kieran Woodley free down the right and the young forward hammered a shot into the bottom left corner from the angle of the box.
Hamlet served notice of their threat when Erhan Otzumer, who had impressed on the ball, almost scored a brilliant equaliser – lobbing Kurucz from 30 yards out only to see his effort clip the top of the net.
Hiram Boateng, introduced for Alex Marrow, early in the second half was next to try his luck, a neat curler with his left foot dropping flashing narrowly wide after near build-up play with Reise Allassani.
A pleasant pre-season friendly was suddenly laced with a dose of Palace history. Murmurs of disbelief in the crowd turned to cheers as Freedman appeared in a new Palace kit and brought himself on up front.
Within minutes the 38 |
I challenged my gifter the task of finding a calendar that would fit in with all my past favorites including "Goats in Trees" and "Cats in Hats". I told them that my ideal calendar is one that involves animals but is also kind of weird and different. And they definitely delivered on that! My generous santa sent me the most perfect calendar! "POOPING POOCHES"! It's quirky and crazy and perfect and will look great on my wall. I love it! And the thing that just puts it over the edge for me is that the purchase of this calendar directly benefits the Maui Humane Society. I absolutely love that. Especially since I just adopted a pooch of my own from a shelter 2 days ago. I'm only hoping that next year he makes it into this wonderful calendar himself :)
Thank you so much santa! Now anytime I forget the date, I will always remember you!OMG YOU GUYS I just finished Stranger Things. I know, I know, I’m slow, I’m late, I’m sorry. (I can’t binge watch TV anymore, much as I’d like to. Having a writing career + a five-year-old + some vague attempt at doing something other than sitting on my boot-ox means I can’t Hoover up a whole TV season into my brain over a weekend.)
The review is: I liked it. A lot. Maybe even loved it a little. It’s not without flaws, mind you. I thought what would be better than a review would be one of those posts where I dissect the thing a little bit, and talk about what might be some interesting takeaways for writers and storytellers.
SO LET’S DO THIS.
*loads up the wrist rocket*
*eats some Eggo waffles*
*summons the Demogorgon*
(Oh, real quick, some of this will feature vague, generic spoilers. I won’t spoil plot details, exactly, but some of what I discuss gives a shape of the show and the events that unspool within it.)
1. Creating empathy and redemption for characters you hate is fucking awesome and you should do it. Example: Steve. Fucking Steve. You watch the show, you hate Steve. You want Steve to get his salad tossed by the Demogorgon. And then, the show does this thing where it’s like, HEY, MAYBE STEVE IS A SHITHEAD BUT NOT A TOTAL SHITHEAD OH DAMN DID STEVE JUST REDEEM HIMSELF? The secondary lesson here is, to surprise the audience you don’t necessarily need some tricky turny plot twist. You can surprise the audience by revealing more of a character — by making them more than the trope. The Steve trope is that he’s every 1980s well-coiffed rich kid bully, but the show gives you more. I don’t know that it rounds him out in a really big way, but it’s a nice turn and it shows that subverting expectations and tropes can be a turn all its own — and one that’s more organic than most shitty plot twists. But here’s one of the interesting tricks to making an unlikable (or at least not-so-easy-to-like) character work: make them an underdog. Joyce is not exactly the most commendable mother up front, but we like her because she’s down on her luck. Hopper is a cop besieged by demons and he’s a brusque, blunt asshole — but again, we’re looking at an underdog, here. Ah, but Steve isn’t an underdog, and so we hate him — until later, when he becomes an underdog and suddenly we like him more, don’t we?
2. But, on the other side of the equation, if you decide to create one of those mustache-twisting villains — you know, a Palpatine who is evil because, I dunno, evil is cool, basically? — then you need to give them a suitable send-off. The show gives us a one-dimensional villain, then never really does anything interesting with it. And that character’s demise is so quick and so hasty it fails to give us the one thing you can really get from such an unsophisticated villain: the satisfaction of a just and righteous end.
3. The show does a lot of good with character agency, by which I mean, it is characters who create problems, who escalate the problems, and who inevitably complicate and then fix the problems. Characters want things, and in pursuit of those things, they fuck up and fail and then succeed as heroes. They push the plot. The plot doesn’t push them. Except…
4. The show occasionally drops out of this mode and then has characters act outside themselves to service the plot. They betray their own emotional intelligence, their own logic, and they do this in order to perform actions that seem necessary to move the plot along. (Example: two characters are out monster hunting, and one randomly disappears and doesn’t answer the other one yelling, and then that other one decides to just, oh, I dunno, crawl into a tree stump because sure, that seems like a good idea. Another example: a protagonist near the end commits an odd, out-of-character betrayal for no other reason than to tidy up the plot and create conflict.) Problem is, when the show does so right by its characters that when it does wrong? It is keenly, almost painfully felt. It is a break in the consistency and constancy of these characters.
5. Similar is true for how the show handles some of its women characters. It handles some of them, like Joyce, so well that when it totally fails Barb, boy howdy is that a glaring issue. It’s like running your thumb along a smooth wooden railing and then — AMBUSH SPLINTER.
6. A lot of TV shows would milk the story for as many episodes as it can. This one is a lean eight episodes, and it works. (Hell, I could’ve taken another 1-2 episodes.) It’s a good example to keep it trim, tight, tell the story using as few narrative building blocks as you can muster.
7. A novel translates best to television format, if you’re concerned about moving one to the other. A novel doesn’t fit well with a film — novels are stories in big, roomy containers. Shoving them into a movie format isn’t impossible, but it’s like trying to squeeze into your Prom Tux twenty years later. You’ve got too much history around your middle and trying to strain into a pair of powder blue suit pants is a good way to rip a seam in shame. Stranger Things — though not based on a novel! — is almost literally a novel in TV format. Episodes translate well to chapters, and each gets a name as in a horror novel. It feels in this way nostalgic not really to the 1980s, but more to the horror novels (even moreso than the films) of the 1980s. It captures the aesthetics of those movies, but it seizes on the narrative of the novels of that decade.
8. Everything is a remix, and that’s okay. Stranger Things leans into this harder than most, and wears its influences (Poltergeist! Stephen King! The Stand! The Goonies! Pretty much any sci-fi/horror film from the 1980s!) right there on its sleeve. It proves that it’s less about how original you are and more about how you rearrange the puzzle pieces to show a different image.
9. FUCK YEAH ROLEPLAYING GAMES. You wanna learn to tell stories? You need to play in — and eventually serve as DM/GM/Storyteller for — a roleplaying game session. It will tell you so much about how to set up the plot but to let the characters tell the story, it will tell you so much about not forcing things, it will teach you so much about how to keep people’s attention and what it means to thrill them or betray the intentions of the narrative. And it’s so awesome that D&D is a legit component to the story, not just as a nostalgic eye-wink but as a literal plot and character connection to the story. RPGs demand their day in the sun.
10. The ending to Stranger Things wraps almost everything up. This is key! It’s something too few shows do, now. Some have described Stranger Things ending on a cliffhanger, but a cliffhanger is where the whole plot stops and you think it’s gone over the cliff. This show wraps… pretty much everything up, and it leaves a few hanging threads that the show could either grab in S2, or it could… not. It’s the right mix. Leave us satisfied with the answer, but lay a few more questions out on the table oh-so-casually, as if it’s just a plate of cookies. Take a cookie or don’t, up to you — the dinner was still delicious.HOUSTON - Texas conjoined twins have been separated in a surgery that's never been successful before.
Texas Children's Hospital released information at midnight that the conjoined twins were successfully separated last week.
Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata will now live separate lives in separate bodies.
It's a victory for them and the entire medical field.
On February 17, the girls' team of 12 surgeons, six anesthesiologists, eight surgical nurses and several others, worked to separate the girls who shared a chest wall, lungs, diaphragm, intestines, colon and pelvis.
Now doctors confidently declare the surgery a success when they had never before indicated just how much was at risk.
During the complex surgery, the team worked for approximately 23 hours on Knatalye and 26 hours on Adeline with the official separation occurring approximately 18 hours into the surgery. It is anticipated they will undergo additional surgeries in the future.
"This is the first time a separation surgery for thoraco-omphalo-ischiopagus twins with this particular configuration has been successful," said Dr. Darrell Cass, pediatric surgeon, co-director of Texas Children's Fetal Center and associate professor of surgery, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine. "This surgery was not without its challenges with the girls sharing several organ systems. Our team has been preparing for this surgery for months and we've done everything from working with our radiology experts to build a 3-D model of their organs, to conducting simulations of the actual separation surgery."
The girls will stay at the hospital until they're strong enough to leave. They turn one-year-old in April and have never left the hospital.
Copyright 2015 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.The United States and many other heavily populated countries face a growing threat of severe and prolonged drought in coming decades, according to a new study by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist Aiguo Dai. The detailed analysis concludes that warming temperatures associated with climate change will likely create increasingly dry conditions across much of the globe in the next 30 years, possibly reaching a scale in some regions by the end of the century that has rarely, if ever, been observed in modern times.
Using an ensemble of 22 computer climate models and a comprehensive index of drought conditions, as well as analyses of previously published studies, the paper finds most of the Western Hemisphere, along with large parts of Eurasia, Africa, and Australia, may be at threat of extreme drought this century.
In contrast, higher-latitude regions from Alaska to Scandinavia are likely to become more moist.
Dai cautioned that the findings are based on the best current projections of greenhouse gas emissions. What actually happens in coming decades will depend on many factors, including actual future emissions of greenhouse gases as well as natural climate cycles such as El Niño.
The new findings appear as part of a longer review article in Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. The study was supported by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor.
"We are facing the possibility of widespread drought in the coming decades, but this has yet to be fully recognized by both the public and the climate change research community," Dai says. "If the projections in this study come even close to being realized, the consequences for society worldwide will be enormous."
While regional climate projections are less certain than those for the globe as a whole, Dai's study indicates that most of the western two-thirds of the United States will be significantly drier by the 2030s. Large parts of the nation may face an increasing risk of extreme drought during the century.
Other countries and continents that could face significant drying include:
Much of Latin America, including large sections of Mexico and Brazil
Regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea, which could become especially dry
Large parts of Southwest Asia
Most of Africa and Australia, with particularly dry conditions in regions of Africa
Southeast Asia, including parts of China and neighboring countries
The study also finds that drought risk can be expected to decrease this century across much of Northern Europe, Russia, Canada, and Alaska, as well as some areas in the Southern Hemisphere. However, the globe's land areas should be drier overall.
"The increased wetness over the northern, sparsely populated high latitudes can't match the drying over the more densely populated temperate and tropical areas," Dai says.
A climate change expert not associated with the study, Richard Seager of Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, adds:
"As Dai emphasizes here, vast swaths of the subtropics and the midlatitude continents face a future with drier soils and less surface water as a result of reducing rainfall and increasing evaporation driven by a warming atmosphere. The term 'global warming' does not do justice to the climatic changes the world will experience in coming decades. Some of the worst disruptions we face will involve water, not just temperature."
A portrait of worsening drought
Previous climate studies have indicated that global warming will probably alter precipitation patterns as the subtropics expand. The 2007 assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that subtropical areas will likely have precipitation declines, with high-latitude areas getting more precipitation.
In addition, previous studies by Dai have indicated that climate change may already be having a drying effect on parts of the world. In a much-cited 2004 study, he and colleagues found that the percentage of Earth's land area stricken by serious drought more than doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Last year, he headed up a research team that found that some of the world's major rivers are losing water.
In his new study, Dai turned from rain and snow amounts to drought itself, and posed a basic question: how will climate change affect future droughts? If rainfall runs short by a given amount, it may or may not produce drought conditions, depending on how warm it is, how quickly the moisture evaporates, and other factors.
Droughts are complex events that can be associated with significantly reduced precipitation, dry soils that fail to sustain crops, and reduced levels in reservoirs and other bodies of water that can imperil drinking supplies. A common measure called the Palmer Drought Severity Index classifies the strength of a drought by tracking precipitation and evaporation over time and comparing them to the usual variability one would expect at a given location.
Dai turned to results from the 22 computer models used by the IPCC in its 2007 report to gather projections about temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed, and Earth's radiative balance, based on current projections of greenhouse gas emissions. He then fed the information into the Palmer model to calculate the PDSI index. A reading of +0.5 to -0.5 on the index indicates normal conditions, while a reading at or below -4 indicates extreme drought. The most index ranges from +10 to -10 for current climate conditions, although readings below -6 are exceedingly rare, even during short periods of time in small areas.
By the 2030s, the results indicated that some regions in the United States and overseas could experience particularly severe conditions, with average decadal readings potentially dropping to -4 to -6 in much of the central and western United States as well as several regions overseas, and -8 or lower in parts of the Mediterranean. By the end of the century, many populated areas, including parts of the United States, could face readings in the range of -8 to -10, and much of the Mediterranean could fall to -15 to -20. Such readings would be almost unprecedented.
Dai cautions that global climate models remain inconsistent in capturing precipitation changes and other atmospheric factors, especially at the regional scale. However, the 2007 IPCC models were in stronger agreement on high- and low-latitude precipitation than those used in previous reports, says Dai.
There are also uncertainties in how well the Palmer index captures the range of conditions that future climate may produce. The index could be overestimating drought intensity in the more extreme cases, says Dai. On the other hand, the index may be underestimating the loss of soil moisture should rain and snow fall in shorter, heavier bursts and run off more quickly. Such precipitation trends have already been diagnosed in the United States and several other areas over recent years, says Dai.
"The fact that the current drought index may not work for the 21st century climate is itself a troubling sign," Dai says.In September 2012 Nevin Yildirim, a 26-year-old Turkish mother of two was blackmailed, threatened and raped repeatedly by Nurettin Gider.
Gider started the attacks shortly after Yildirim’s husband left town for a seasonal job in January of 2012.
Yildirim says that Gider raped her, impregnated her and then, snuck into her home while she was sleeping and photographed her. The pictures revealed a pregnant body and Gider threatened to publish the pictures if she didn’t obey him.
“I chased him,” she said. “He fell on the ground. He started cussing. I shot his sexual organ this time. He became quiet. I knew he was dead. I then cut his head off.”
She brought the head to the town square and in front of men sitting at a coffee House, she said, “Don’t talk behind my back, don’t play with my honor. Here is the head of the man who played with my honor.”
Al-Monitor elaborated on the story earlier this year, reporting:
Yildirim was arrested and requested an abortion from the prison authorities, but the hospital would not perform one since it was beyond the 10-week period allowed by Turkish law. Yildirim had no other option but to give birth, and on Nov. 17, 2012, she did.
She was arrested and received a life sentence March 27th of this year. According to Al-Monitor, “The 125-page verdict, made public recently, stated that Yildirim and Gider had a ‘romantic affair.’ It made no mention of rumors, social environment or the psychology of a woman denied an abortion. The court decided after the lengthy trial that the relationship had been consensual, ignoring Yildirim’s rape argument.”
She was denied the usual sentence reduction given to men for similar crimes by Turkish courts and she is currently imprisoned pending the outcome of her appeal.
This is a tragic example of what happens when women are not protected under the law. America is light years ahead of Turkey but we are witnessing an unprecedented attack on women’s rights in the U.S., from the thousands of bills looking to restrict or ban abortions to the attempt to make contraception unavailable. When you attack women, they fight back and women don’t mess around.
This CNN video was broadcast before Yildirim’s trial and subsequent imprisonment:
(Visited 143 times, 1 visits today)The International Space Station Program and SpaceX have selected Friday, April 18 for the next launch attempt for the Falcon 9 rocket to send the Dragon cargo craft on the company’s third commercial resupply mission to the space station. Launch is scheduled for 3:25 p.m. EDT. The NASA Launch Blog and NASA TV coverage will begin at 2:15 p.m.
A launch on Friday results in a rendezvous with the space station on Sunday, April 20 and a grapple at 7:14 a.m. NASA TV coverage will begin at 5:45 a.m. with berthing coverage beginning at 9:30 a.m.
SpaceX has settled on a backup launch date of Saturday, April 19 for the best pair of launch dates for the science payloads being delivered to the station. If needed, a Saturday launch would occur at 3:02 p.m. This would be a three-day transit to the station instead of two days with grapple on Tuesday, April 22.Press Release
Service Proposes Trade Protections for Four Native Freshwater Turtles
Division of Public Affairs
External Affairs
Telephone: 703-358-2220
Website: https://www.fws.gov/external-affairs/public-affairs/
A booming international trade in turtles has put pressure on populations across the country and has led to concern about the long-term survival of several species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a proposed rule to address the growing threat of illegal take and trade in native turtles. If finalized, this action will bring four native freshwater turtle species – the common snapping turtle, the Florida softshell turtle, the smooth softshell turtle and the spiny softshell turtle – under the protection of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and require exporters to obtain a permit before shipping turtles overseas.
Freshwater turtles and tortoises are collected, traded and utilized in overwhelming numbers. Bringing these turtle species under CITES protection will allow the Service to better monitor international trade, determine the legality of exports and, in consultation with State wildlife agencies and other experts, decide whether additional conservation efforts are needed. It will also enlist the assistance of 179 other countries that are part of CITES in monitoring trade in these species.
“Wildlife trafficking is not just a danger to foreign species. Native wildlife, including paddlefish, live reptiles and sharks, as well as plants such as ginseng, are poached and illegally traded,” said Bryan Arroyo, Assistant Director of International Affairs. “We work closely with State wildlife agencies to protect native species and ensure that trade is legal and sustainable, particularly for species at greatest risk of overexploitation.”
While none of the four turtle species proposed for protection is currently in danger of extinction, a growing international trade, especially to fuel increasing demands in Asian markets, poses a threat to the future of these species.
The global trade in turtles in the last 20-plus years has followed a boom-and-bust cycle whereby a sought-after species is depleted in the wild or regulated, causing trade to shift to other species. International trade in turtles is most common in Asia, with supplier countries feeding well-established legal and illegal trade networks supplying markets in East Asia, principally in China. Here, turtles are used primarily as food and in traditional medicines, although a growing pet trade across the region and in other parts of the world is increasingly impacting a number of threatened species.
This proposed rule follows the successful Sixteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP16) to CITES, where the United States collaborated with China and Viet Nam to increase protection for a number of Asian freshwater turtles. In total, three native turtle species and 44 species of Asian freshwater turtles received increased CITES protection at CoP16.
For more information on CITES and how it operates, including Appendix-III listings, visit: www.fws.gov/international/cites/how-cites-works.html.
The Service is seeking public comments for 60 days regarding information pertaining to these four turtle species. Please go to www.regulations.gov Docket No. FWS–HQ–ES–2013–0052 for additional information. The proposed rule will publish in the Federal Register on October 30, 2014, comments must be received by December 29, 2014.Premier Kathleen Wynne will this week make public the written marching orders she has given each of her cabinet ministers – notes that have traditionally been kept secret – in a bid to show her Liberals are ramping up government transparency.
The mandate letters will reveal everything from Ms. Wynne's plan for tackling climate change to her priorities for transit construction to her suggestions on where the government can find the savings necessary to balance the budget, insiders said. They will be released Thursday at a cabinet meeting in Sudbury.
"We want to be a government that works for the people of this province – and with them," Ms. Wynne writes in a common preamble in the missives. "It is of the utmost importance that we lead responsibly, act with integrity, manage spending wisely and are accountable for every action we take."
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The move is part of Ms. Wynne's attempt to break from the Liberals' allegedly secretive past practices. After the cancellation of two gas-fired power plants, her party was accused of covering up vital information on the cost, which has since been estimated at $1-billion.
Each letter, between four and five pages long, contains a list of priorities Ms. Wynne wants that minister to work on.
"There is a fair level of specificity because it's about what the expectations the Premier has for that minister on achieving the goals of the government in their area of responsibility," an official in Ms. Wynne's office said. "It will allow people on a regular basis to check in … and see exactly what progress is being made against the objectives that have been set across the government."
Some priorities have already been detailed in this year's budget. Others will be new, including instructions to Environment Minister Glen Murray on creating a climate-change strategy, which has so far not had much discussion, the official said.
The letter to Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca outlines the government's highway and transit construction priorities, including electrifying the GO regional rail network. The instructions to Deputy Premier Deb Matthews, whose task is to steer the budget to balance, lays out where Ms. Wynne expects her to look for savings: in controlling labour costs and in reforming government agencies, and squeezing as much money as possible out of them.
All the mandate letters outline four overarching priorities for the government: job creation; "investment" in "talent and skills" – such as education and training; infrastructure-building, including public transit; and creating a "dynamic business climate."
"I ask that you continue to build on the strong relationships we have with the Ontario Public Service, the broader public sector, other levels of government, and the private, non-profit and voluntary sectors," Ms. Wynne writes.
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She also warns ministers not to overspend, and to do their part to erase the deficit: "It is essential that every area adheres to the program-spending objectives established in [the budget.]"
Crafting the letters involved a back-and-forth between Ms. Wynne's office and individual ministers over the summer, a government source said. Ontario is the fourth province to make its mandate letters public, after British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.The election of Joko Widodo in Indonesia is not just a victory for a maturing Indonesian democracy – a peaceful election whose fairness is not seriously doubted, probably not even by the loser Prabowo Subianto, despite his allegations of fraud.
But the result has been noted around Asia and beyond not just for the successful exercise of voting rights in the world’s third most populous democracy. It is the origin of the winning candidate, a man from a modest background who rose to the top because he successfully ran two cities, small Solo as mayor and giant Jakarta as governor, and was perceived to be honest.
In the end these characteristics proved more telling than the family, elite connections and military background of his opponent. That has lessons for other countries. The most obvious ones for the likes of Myanmar and Cambodia are that genuine elections can produce change without chaos, provided that previous power holders are either willing to concede or that institutions are sufficiently responsive to the public will not to allow elections to be stolen – as repeatedly happened in Thailand.
Indeed it has happened so often in Thailand that the military’s solution has been to abolish voting because of the embarrassment of having to nullify the results in the name of a king who appears incapable of speech and a crown prince incapable of being respected.
But perhaps the bigger lessons are for those countries that have free and mostly fair elections but where politics remain dominated by tainted, self-perpetuating dynasties and groups. India may have led the way, the crushing victory by Narendra Modi being as much a rejection of the Gandhi clan as the liking of a controversial, if dynamic, BJP figure. It remains to be seen if Modi can bring in new people as well as ideas to a rejuvenate a self-satisfied but out-of-touch New Delhi elite.
It remains to be seen too whether the Congress Party can recover under a non-Gandhi leadership or will fall back on another member of the clan to try to revive its fortunes. But in India, as in Indonesia, the election marks a break with dynastic politics.
They are thus reminders of the pitiful state of democratic politics in the neighboring Philippines. President Benigno Aquino III was elected because of his name and out of respect for the memory of his parents. For three years he appeared to make most of the right decisions and give the impression of leading his country to a less corrupt, more dynamic future with social reform as well economic growth.
But his image is now tarnished by his disrespect for the constitutional process, which probably comes from an assumption that the Aquino name and his high standing would prevail. Not so. His recent confrontation with the Supreme Court has had a disastrous impact on his popularity and one which will limit his authority for his remaining time in office – his term ends in 2016.
So is there a Philippine Jokowi in sight? Absolutely not and yet one is needed at least as badly as Indonesia needed an alternative to Prabowo and others. As of now the leading contender to be the next president is Vice-President Jejomar Binay, 71. He not only lacks the reputation for personal integrity that Aquino has enjoyed, he is a classic exponent of dynastic politics both at the local level — he was succeeded by his wife and son as mayor of Makati, the richest city in the country — and at the national level where his daughter became a senator despite minimal experience in politics or government. Then there is the Marcos clan, who continue to be reelected ad infinitum despite the fact that the patriarch, Ferdinand Macos, stole billions from the treasury and generated a kleptomaniac class that ruined what had been a vibrant economy.
Next up for a desperately needed break from dynastic politics is Malaysia where Najib Tun Razak is the son of one prime minister and an in-law of another. Other leading figures in the ruling party include Hishamuddin Hussein, son of one prime minister and grandson of UMNO’s founder; Khairy Jamaluddin, son-in-law of another prime minister, Abdullah Badawi; and Mukhriz Mahathir, son of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Numerous other offspring of former party bigwigs are found feeding at the great UMNO trough. The opposition too is prone to dynasties, with Democratic Action Party stalwart Lim Kit Siang’s son running both Penang and the party and Anwar Ibrahim’s wife and daughter both very active in his support.
In Bangladesh democratic politics has for years been undermined by the dynastic appeal of two feuding women and their families, while in Sri Lanka family rule has replaced both party rule and real democracy with a dangerous and perverted pseudo-democracy.
Of course, dynastic politics is not exclusive to developing Asia. The US presents probably the worst case in the developed world with its Kennedys, Bushes and Clintons. At the state level in the US, gerrymandering of districts helps to secure dynastic succession. But at least some outsiders – like Obama – still get to the top.
Singaporeans believe that Lee Hsien Loong has the good sense to keep his offspring and relatives out of succession plans and the PAP’s reputation for meritocracy is earned.
The Philippines and Malaysia are still very far from meritocracies that can throw up new leaders. Both clearly need competent outsiders who can at least try to spread power to newer groups and individuals.
Jokowi will doubtless find it very difficult to combat the many vested and corrupt interests in the legislature, the bureaucracy and among well protected business elites. But he will try and in doing so can become an inspiration both to quasi-democratic systems in urgent need of renewal and to those in Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia who wish they had the same freedom of choice as 250 million Indonesians.Democrat Shenna Bellows, who is challenging Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November’s election, received endorsements Wednesday from two organizations that are pushing to legalize marijuana at the state and federal levels.
Bellows, who supports legalizing and regulating marijuana more like alcohol, received endorsements from the political action committees of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Marijuana Policy Project. A bill has been introduced in Congress to legalize marijuana but is unlikely to pass.
Additional Photos Shenna Bellows
“Shenna Bellows has been at the forefront of the fight for marijuana legalization even before beginning this campaign,” Erik Altieri, manager of the PAC of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in a statement released by the Bellows campaign. “Shenna has demonstrated she has the skill and determination to fight for sensible reforms and has proven to be a vocal and articulate leader in calling for the end of marijuana prohibition.”
The Marijuana Policy Project was heavily involved in last year’s legalization vote in Portland, and is gearing up for a 2016 ballot initiative to legalize pot statewide in Maine.
Kevin Miller can be contacted at 317-6256 or at:
[email protected]
Twitter: @KevinMillerDC
ShareSolarReserve has completed a 540-foot solar power tower, the centerpiece of its 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes solar thermal power plant that will use molten salt storage to help it supply power day -- and night.
SolarReserve still has to install the 10,000 billboard-sized sun-tracking mirrors or heliostats necessary to concentrate sunlight onto the massive tower at the site of the solar plant in Tonopah, Nevada. The power plant, which is expected to come online by December 2013, will be the largest of its kind in the world, according to the company. Crescent Dunes has secured a 25-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy and will provide electricity for 75,000 homes. Check out the time lapse video provided by SolarReserve below.
The critical component of the Crescent Dunes project is its molten salt storage. The reflected sunlight is directed onto a large heat exchanger called a receiver, which is located on the tower. Molten salt -- not oil like other concentrated solar power plants -- is within the receiver and absorbs heat from concentrated sunlight, reaching up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The molten salt flows down the piping inside the tower and into a thermal storage tank, where the energy is stored until electricity is needed.
When the utility needs power -- again, at day or night -- the high-temp molten salt flows into a steam generator, which drives a turbine to produce electricity. The cooled molten salt is then piped back into a cold salt storage tank and eventually back up to the receiver to start the whole process over again. According to the company, its technology has the ability to store energy for 10 to 15 hours. In other words, the solar power plant will be able to provide a continuous supply of power. Variability is among the biggest problems with solar-generated power, which the SolarReserve project and others like the Gemasolar plant in Spain are designed to solve. When the sun sets, the renewable power source drops off and that can create problems for grid operators trying to maintain a steady electricity supply. Without access to solar power, the utility will switch over to natural gas- or coal-fired power plants. Photo: SolarReserve Related: Another BrightSource solar thermal power plant project is on its way
Solar plant generates power day and night
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.comBecause this is a Devils blog, we've spent a lot of time talking about Zach Parise and free agency. While Parise's future is very important for the Devils, I'd like to take a moment to talk about Ryan Suter, the other big free agent available come July 1st. There's one difference between the other free agents and Ryan Suter however- he's friends with Zach Parise. Okay maybe not all of them (a certain crybaby for instance), but there's been a lot of talk about the friendship between the two being a selling point for Suter. Of course, friendship would be the least of a team's concern when signing Suter, as he's an elite defenseman.
With that being said, there has been quite a bit of discussion about Ryan Suter and the Devils amongst Devils fans. A lot of Devils fans are pro-Suter, simply because he'd make the team better. Others don't exactly feel the same way about Suter, and some (namely myself) don't want Suter to sign here. While i'm not too fond of the whole idea of Suter signing with the Devils, it has to be discussed.
Suter and Parise
I'm not too sold on the whole friendship thing. Hockey players aren't like say... basketball players, which some people are trying to allude to. It's a factor, but is it the deciding factor? Bryan Reynolds over at Hockey Wilderness provides us with an interesting take on this scenario:
The story uses an ancient event from 11 years ago to build the case that Parise and Suter and meant to be together, a time when both players were on the US National team in the U-18 World Championships. This argument carries about as much weight as Pierre McGuire saying the Wild traded for Tom Gilbert because he and Suter went to the University of Wisconsin together. There is a way to tie almost any two NHLers together. It's not like the hockey world is a tight knit community or anything. Oh. Wait.
While the article in general is more of a fisking of another article, what Reynolds is trying to say in the quoted text is that this is all stupid conjecture and it should all be taken with a grain of salt. While it does seem like it's something that could happen, it's probably not going to be the case. Lots of hockey players are friends with each other. Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora are friends. Was Elias the sole cause of Lou offering Sykora a tryout contract last fall? Probably not. If anything I'd probably take the part about those two being friends with a grain of salt. If Lou Lamoriello wants to sign Ryan Suter he's doing it because he feels that Suter can improve his team, not because he wants to bring two friends together.
The Cost
It's obvious Suter's going to make a lot of money. He should and could be one of the highest paid defensemen in the NHL, if not the highest paid (well, assuming he makes more than $12 mil next season. Side note- look at the highest paid defenseman next season. Hilarious) defenseman in |
unforeseen levels. Belichick saw the basement for an elite player at that position rise to $52.5 million guaranteed, and decided he could cut bait, salvage some value, and still go to a Super Bowl this season. Before the rest of the league could get a handle on the new reality, Belichick dealt his own ascending edge defender, with similar traits, to the Cardinals for a second-round pick. A handful of contributors, including Long, have picked up the slack, and the Patriots are back on the game’s biggest stage for the seventh time under Belichick.
From l. to r., Robert Kraft, Jonathan Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
“This is the key,” one longtime agent says. “To pull off that trade, first of all, you need job security that no other coach in the NFL possesses. Then there is no other coach besides Belichick with his fingerprints all over the organization, with the balls, the vision, the foresight and a genius level of insanity to make that deal.”
• SUPER BOWL 51: The Tale of Tom Brady and Johnny Foxborough—how Belichick gets the best out of his star QB, by treating him like any other player
There is another essential piece to the puzzle, a person without whom Belichick might lack the necessary influence: Tom Brady. The three-time Super Bowl MVP’s 2017 cap hit of $13.7 million ranks No. 27 in the NFL, according to Sportrac.com. That’s about $200,000 less than Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson.
“They use Tom Brady’s deal in every negotiation they do in the sense that Tom has never demanded to be the highest-paid quarterback,” one agent says. “So because of that, they never want to make someone the highest-paid at their position.”
“Having Brady take less money and still work his ass off, that helps the organization run the building they want to run,” another agent says.
Brady and his agent, Donald Yee, have long accepted below-market value from the Patriots while maximizing every available dollar from Brady’s endorsers, including Under Armour, Movado and Ugg, according to two sources familiar with those negotiations. Plus, Brady’s wellness company, TB12, has office space in Patriot Place (the mall adjacent to the stadium and team facility that was built by team owner Robert Kraft). And TB12 co-owner Alex Guerrero is a de facto member of the team allowed to used space for treatments at the facility despite protests from Patriots’ medical and athletic training staff. The Boston Globe, in 2015, detailed how Brady’s company profits from its relationship with the Patriots and pondered whether it constituted a circumvention of the salary cap. (At the time, the team did not respond to requests for comment. The Patriots also did not answer The MMQB’s question as to whether the league has inquired into this relationship.)
“When you ask these guys how they get Tom to take less money,” one agent says, “they don’t even think Tom is doing the team a favor. They see Tom as the quintessential Patriot, and he understands whatever we ask him to do, he will do.
“Plus he has the external business and players are fed to him, and because it’s a privately held company, you and I can never get a copy of that lease. But I guarantee you it’s not what Foot Locker is paying [to be in the mall].”
The Patriots’ flexibility and (relative) frugality gives them leverage that virtually no other organization enjoys in pro sports. When Brady’s contract influences players such as Julian Edelman to agree to below-market deals—another of Yee’s clients, he earns $4.25 million per year—it has a chilling effect on the rest of the roster.
“It’s kind of an understanding, an unspoken thing,” says former Patriots tight end Ben Watson, who left the team in 2009 with one Super Bowl ring on his hand. “What a lot of people who played there will tell you is, you come there to win, but you may have to go somewhere else if you want to get paid.”
* * *
Darren McCollester/Getty Images
One agent uses the oft-quoted line from The Usual Suspects, whispered mendaciously by Kevin Spacey’s character, to describe The Patriot Way of doing business: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
Belichick, according to several agents, has been known to let his No. 2 man, Nick Caserio, nail down free-agent deals or contract extensions and then interject himself into the negotiations at the 11th hour, offering less money and little explanation. He and Caserio will also call up the representatives of mid-tier free agents who are sure starters elsewhere and offer contracts for part-time roles and half the compensation that other teams are willing to spend, unconcerned with whom they might offend.
• SUPER BOWL 51: Bill Belichick’s North Star—how the Patriots coach and the Naval Academy continue to influence each other
“They’re not as active as other teams; they usually get the castoffs,” an agent says. “They know—not feel—know they’re going to win regardless of who they have. It’s not arrogance because it’s a fact. You can’t go down their roster and say it’s a more talented roster than half the teams in the NFL.”
Belichick, exercising his abundance of leverage, will often go on vacation in the heat of free agency and make his take-it-or-leave-it offers from faraway beaches while other coaches are flying around the country on private jets to court players. When prospective players visit Foxborough, they express to their agents a sense of fear but often leave feeling as if they have just met the lone coach who understands their true purpose on a football field.
“With players, there’s a tremendous amount of intimidation because of how the media portrays the team as the evil empire,” says one agent. “But once they meet them, they freaking love [Belichick]. They’re blown away by his personality and how much he knows about the player and his skillset.”
• SUPER BOWL 51: How the Patriots Almost Became Connecticut’s Team
Says another agent, “They’re never going to end up overspending for somebody, because they understand the skill sets of players across the league and understand how those guys are going to fit as puzzle pieces. Guys buy into the system Bill runs.”
Agents, however, don’t always abide by The Patriot Way.
When New England drafted Watson at the end of the first round, in 2004, the team insisted on a six-year contract, a rarity for that position in the draft. Watson’s agent, Tom Condon, stood firm on five years, and Watson held out. As the season approached, however, Watson says that Condon told him to find another agent so a deal could be worked out. (Watson fired Condon, signed another agent and agreed to a six-year deal.) While the team has fostered close relationships with a handful of agents such as Yee, it has periodically blacklisted others such as Condon, who once said Belichick pretended that he and his agency “didn’t exist.”
“In Bill’s world, if you do what he wants, he likes you,” says one agent who has known the coach for decades. “If you don’t, you’re an a------.”
* * *
Robert Kraft and Jonathan Kraft. Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Bill Belichick’s loathing of overspending is something the Krafts envisioned when they bought the team in 1994, when Belichick was still struggling as the head coach in Cleveland. Shortly after the sale, Bob Kraft’s Harvard Business School-educated son, Jonathan, gave a speech before the 1776 Quarterback Club of New England—a prominent fan group that hosted an annual awards banquet—–and spelled out the family’s vision for a team that had won just 19 of 80 games from 1989-1993.
The new salary cap that had just been introduced, the younger Kraft explained, was one of the biggest reasons they purchased the club. He believed there were inefficiencies in the market and used a hypothetical to illustrate his point.
Player A makes $2 million per year and is 10% better than Player B, who makes $500,000. Too many teams, Kraft argued, were committing to the marginally better player at the higher price. The Patriots, he said, would prefer the cheaper player in nearly every instance. Bill Parcells, the Patriots’ coach at the time, generally agreed with this principle, but it was Belichick, taking over six years later, who made it the team’s doctrine. By winning almost immediately, with a Super Bowl in his second season, Belichick wrestled full roster control away from Andy Wasynczuk, the senior vice president and chief operating officer who contributed in negotiations at the time of his hiring, according to a source with knowledge of the team’s affairs at the time.
“They know—not feel—know they’re going to win regardless of who they have,” one agent says of the Pats. “It’s not arrogance because it’s a fact. You can’t go down their roster and say it’s a more talented roster than half the teams in the NFL.”
Scott Pioli, who arrived in 2000 with Belichick, ascended to director of player personnel in 2001, and he and Belichick created their niche in the NFL’s negotiating landscape. Caserio picked up the torch when Pioli left for Kansas City in 2009, and while Caserio is viewed as a potential general manager candidate for another team, there is an accompanying sense of doubt about the prospects of Patriots employees who leave the nest. From Pioli to Charlie Weis to Josh McDaniels to Romeo Crennel, the list of former Belichick disciples who have stumbled after leaving Foxborough only enhances Belichick’s leverage over the rest of the league.
Still, the elephant in the room is Brady, who turns 40 in August. There is ongoing debate in league circles centered on Belichick and the team after Brady retires. Is it possible for the coach to win consistently without him, not just for short periods of time—as he did with Matt Cassel in 2008, and early this season with Jimmy Garoppolo—but for the rest of his career?
Says Watson, “I think Brady is underappreciated in that debate. I didn’t realize how special he was until I left and realized that other quarterbacks were nothing like him.”
• SUPER BOWL 51: Follow the MMQB’s road trip to Houston
“You look at what he did with those guys, and you have to ask, is Tom Brady one of the greatest quarterbacks in the NFL if he doesn’t have Bill Belichick?” says one agent. “I don’t know that answer.”
We may not get an answer to that question anytime soon. Brady has expressed his desire to play into his 40s, and if he keeps putting up performances like last Sunday’s—when he set the team record for passing yards in a postseason game (384)—that means bad news for agents and any player thought to be expendable.
The next man up for a new contract is cornerback Malcolm Butler, the undrafted free agent from Division II West Alabama who was the hero of Super Bowl XLIX and has evolved into one of the Patriots’ best defenders. Scheduled to become a restricted free-agent this summer, Butler will be looking for an extension this off-season; his agent, a personal injury attorney out of Huntsville, Ala., has never negotiated a veteran NFL contract.
“I can’t even imagine going into a negotiation with the Patriots having never done one before,” one agent says. “That would be like strolling into the lion’s den.”
• Question? Comment? Story idea? Let us know at talkback@themmqb.comImage caption Fr McSweeney and another man have been released on police bail
A Catholic priest has been arrested in connection with alleged child abuse at a London guest house during the early 1980s, his diocese has said.
Operation Fernbridge is looking at claims that senior political figures and others sexually abused boys at the Elm Guest House in Barnes.
The Diocese of East Anglia said one of those arrested is 66-year-old priest Tony McSweeney, from Norfolk.
The other is a 70-year-old man who was arrested in East Sussex.
The Metropolitan Police said both men have been released on bail pending further inquiries until April.
Scotland Yard said the allegations were not connected with current residents of the former guest house, which has been converted into residential flats.
It is also investigating links between the guest house and the nearby former Grafton Close children's care-home run that was by Richmond Council.
The 70-year-old arrested man, from St Leonards-On-Sea, is understood to be John Stingemore, who used to help run Grafton Close, which closed some years ago.
'Utmost priority'
BBC News home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the police investigation centred on claims that the guest house was used by people to abuse boys from the home.
The allegations were investigated at the time but resurfaced in October after Labour MP Tom Watson raised the case in Parliament and called for further inquiries.
Mr Watson had been passed information by journalists working for the investigative news website Exaro.
Commander Peter Spindler, head of the Metropolitan Police's specialist crime investigations unit, said the "complex multi-agency investigation" was supported by the NSPCC charity, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and Richmond Social Services.
He said anyone affected by, or with information about, activity in the early 1980s at the guest house or care home should contact the NSPCC or police.
Fr Mark Hackeson, of the Diocese of East Anglia, said: "The church diocese takes safeguarding of children very seriously and so we will be co-operating fully in any way with the police investigation."
NSPCC helpline
In a statement, Richmond Council said it considered "the safeguarding of all children and young people as an utmost priority and we take any allegations of abuse very seriously".
A spokesman added: "We are offering our full support and co-operation to the police during their investigation. As the investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
The Notre Dame High School in Norwich said Fr McSweeney had voluntarily resigned from its governing body and had no further involvement with the school.
A spokesman said: "It must be stressed that no former or current student or member of staff at Notre Dame High School is involved in this investigation [into events] which allegedly took place in London during the 1970s and 80s."
The NSPCC said its helpline number 0808 800 5000 was staffed by trained counsellors 24 hours a day. People with information could also use the email address help@nspcc.org.uk to contact them.
NSPCC helpline director Peter Watt said: "We will assist the police in gathering evidence and supporting those who come forward."Image copyright AFP/getty images
The government has ruled out sending British police to Calais to help solve the port's "tremendous problem" with illegal immigration.
James Brokenshire MP told BBC Radio 5 live that security on French soil was a "matter for the French."
Increasing numbers of migrants have been trying to enter the UK through Calais in recent months.
The French interior minister had suggested that British police could be "very useful".
Mr Brokenshire stressed this was a "Europe-wide problem", and that the UK had previously pledged £12m to help bolster security in Calais.
'No plans, no intention'
That pledge was part of a plan, announced in September by Home Secretary Theresa May, for the two countries to work more closely to tackle the problem.
But he said British police would not be sent to aid French authorities managing the camps.
"We have seconded an officer from the National Crime Agency to work with the French agency dealing with organised immigration crime.
"But we have no plans, no intention to see British police officers on French soil. Security in France is a matter for the French government," he said.
Local officials say there are now 2,500 illegal immigrants in Calais, with the majority from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and Syria.
Numbers have increased by 50% in the past year as people flee from humanitarian crises in northern and eastern Africa and the Middle East.
Many are camping or living in squats around the port and there have been clashes on the streets of the town.
Image copyright AFP/getty images Image caption Bernard Cazeneuve with Calais mayor Natacha Bouchard
"We had a hard negotiation between the two governments and I have had a lot of rendezvous with my friend Theresa May in order to find a solution concerning this tremendous problem," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told BBC Radio 5 live's Breakfast show.
"We are both involved in this problem and we have to find common solutions in order to be efficient."
He said he and Mrs May had agreed that, in order to tackle the problem in both countries, more co-operation was needed in "services and policemen".
Last month, France sent 100 extra police officers to the northern French town to join the 350 already there. There are currently no British police there.
Mr Cazeneuve said that he and Mrs May had agreed to the installation of new security equipment at the port, and to "try to work together concerning the security aspects and the humanitarian aspects by financing a number of projects".
"We are going to finance the humanitarian aspect and the British government is going to help with financing the security aspect of the problem," he added.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption September 2014: Lucy Williamson speaks to a few migrants hoping to get to England for a better life.
When asked if he believed British police should be sent to Calais, Mr Cazeneuve responded: "It would be very useful to have more policemen here, and we try to find a way of being in a common system here concerning police, in order to explain to all the immigrants in Calais that it's impossible to cross the Channel.
"And we'd be very happy if it would be possible to have more co-operation concerning this point."
Later the French embassy in London clarified that the minister had intended to refer to "officials" - fonctionnaires in French - and not police, in the interview which he gave in English.
'As bad as Darfur'
Rachel Burden, 5live Breakfast presenter, in Calais
"There is no religion, no colour, we live like brothers here... because we are one category, we are refugees."
This is what Adnan from Pakistan (pictured) told me as he showed me around one of the camps in the "Jungle" - the makeshift homes of up to 2,500 migrants who have travelled to Calais to try to cross the Channel to the UK.
They sleep under tarpaulins in muddy fields, strewn with rubbish.
By day they sleep, or crowd around small fires making tea or porridge. By night, they line the roads leading to the ferry, desperately trying to scramble on to any vehicles they can. In the last week, we were told, three men have been killed on the roads here.
Charities here have told us the conditions at the camps do not meet basic humanitarian needs. Medecins du Monde, which provides some food and hygiene facilities here, says it is as bad as Darfur.
Despite the hopelessness of their situation, the young men and women I met told me they had left everything behind to travel here, and have no money to go anywhere else.
The UK has said it will contribute £4m (5m euros) a year for three years to a joint intervention fund.
The increased security measures are said to include more robust fences and new technology to detect migrants hiding in lorries.
James Brokenshire has previously said British and French law enforcement agencies would also target organised crime gangs behind people trafficking and smuggling.
Calais' Deputy Mayor Philippe Mignole told BBC Radio 5 Live that the presence of British police "could be a good idea".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption March 2014: BBC watches as hundreds of refugees attempt to board UK-bound trucks
"In the past we were blamed for this but Calais cannot deal with this situation alone.
We have now in 2014 to be much more intelligent than that, and take some decisions, and work it together. And I think to have English police forces in Calais is as well one of these ideas."
He said that once migrants arrive in Calais, it is "already too late".
"We cannot let them die on the sea. I think it is all of our responsibilities."
As part of the agreement between the UK and France, the layout of the port at Calais will be changed to make it easier to carry out controls and improve traffic flow.
The money will also fund information campaigns to explain the consequences of illegal immigration to the UK and provide details on asylum in France or assisted voluntary return.
The National Crime Agency is to second a full-time officer to Ocriest, the French agency responsible for tackling illegal immigration, and the French border police will send two officers each month to work with the joint border intelligence unit in Folkestone.
'It's not El Dorado'
When the agreement was made, the BBC's Hugh Schofield said that France saw it as a "landmark deal" because, in its view, Britain had recognised that it had a responsibility for helping secure the port.
Last month, Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart said illegal migrants saw the UK as a "soft touch" and that the country's benefits system was acting as a "magnet" to them.
"There hasn't been a message from the British government or anywhere else that it's not El Dorado," she told UK MPs on the Home Affairs Committee.
She previously threatened to shut down the port unless the British government did more to stop illegal immigration.
Shadow Immigration Minister David Hanson said on Monday French authorities should be doing more to stop migrants heading for the UK from reaching Calais in the first place.
Illegal camps have existed in the port since France closed the Sangatte immigration centre in 2002.
What security is in place?
Image copyright Reuters
5m fence encircles the port
Security guards patrol with dogs at night
Calais Chambers of Commerce has responsibility for port security
UK Border Force present inside port and carry out passport checks on passengers
Calais migrant crisis explainedAs previously noted at WUWT, over at the COLA/IGES website, they had this response to the disappeared letter to the Obama administration calling for RICO act investigations of climate skeptics:
WUWT reader Dean P. writes in comments on the WUWT story from earlier today:
The updated website says that they’ve been planning to shut down IGES for over two years now. That makes no sense since in October 2013 they were awarded NSF Grant #1338427, which started in May 2014 and is expected to continue into 2017. Does that mean they were planning to shutter the doors while they were still applying for grants? Did they tell the NSF that they planned on shutting down? As others have said – something smells fishy…
Fishy? I’ll say, that award was updated in June 2015, to the tune of over 4 million dollars (yellow highlights mine):
It seems this is an active grant, good for another two years. It is important to note the name James Kinter in that NSF page, who is part of the Shukla nepotism empire:
IGES Personnel:
President Shukla, Jagadish
Business Manager Shukla, Anastasia
Assistant Business Manager Shukla, Sonia
Director, COLA Kinter, James
Assistant to the President Shukla, Sonia
Source: http://www.iges.org/aboutiges.html
…and so far, that four million dollar plus NSF grant has produced only one paper. From the NSF grant page:
ABSTRACT
This award provides continued funding for the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA). COLA is a climate science research center established to explore, establish and quantify the variability and predictability of Earth’s climate variations on seasonal to decadal time scales, and to harvest this predictability for societally beneficial predictions. The Center is jointly funded by NSF, NOAA and NASA.
Work supported through this award includes activities devoted to 1) basic research on predictability on intraseasonal, seasonal, interannual, and decadal timescales; 2) evaluation of the predictability, skill, and fidelity of US national climate models; and 3) contributions to the development of next generation seamless prediction systems. Research performed under item 1 includes testing of land data assimilation schemes in multiple models, performing hindcasts of El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events investigate inter-event diversity of ENSO, performing dynamical prediction experiments for the Indian monsoon, and determining the dependence of drought probability on surface boundary conditions including land cover change. Work under item 2 focuses on the use of optimal spatial structures derived from information theoretic analysis, which represent the most predictable modes, or modes for which predictability differs the most between two models. This activity is intended to support climate prediction efforts at US national centers and contribute to COLA’s research-to-operations effort. Work under item 3 involves collaborators at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and includes the development of optimal methods of initializing high-resolution coupled models including version 2 of the Coupled Forecast System (CFSv2), a model used operationally at NCEP.
The work has broader impacts due to its focus on research leading to improved climate prediction, given the substantial societal consequences of climate variability and change. In addition, COLA benefits the US climate research enterprise through community integration, education, seminars, workshops, and software and information services. COLA also serves an important function in transferring the results of basic climate science research on predictability and prediction into operational use.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Badger, A. M., and P. A. Dirmeyer. “Climate response to Amazon forest replacement by heterogeneous crop cover.,” Hydrol. Earth Sys. Sci., v.12, 2015, p. 879.
Source: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1338427
Now, you might say that COLA isn’t the same as the IGES organization, and that might be true on paper, but the fact is that the http://iges.org website, soon to be “decommissioned” according to them, shows clearly that COLA and IGES are part of the same group, all under George mason University: (yellow highlight mine)
Note the COLA page is a sub-page of the IGES website:
http://www.iges.org/cola.html
With 4 million dollars and counting, good to 2017 according to NSF’s own grant page, the claim of the IGES/COLA website being “decommissioned” just doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t wash. And, with a web page that still looks like it was designed in 1995, one wonders why Shukla’s clan didn’t put some of that money towards making a decent web page. After all, they only were able to make ONE paper with that 4 million dollars, according to NSF.
It gets better. Have a look at their staff page:
Source: http://www.iges.org/people/people.html
Lest Shukla and associates try to claim that IGES and COLA are somehow separate, their own COLA staff web page puts the issue to rest.
COLA appears to be a subset of the Shukla family run IGES. So if the IGES website was going to be “decommissioned”, and so by shutting down IGES, it would seem that would affect COLA too. I can’t find any plans or announcements on their website that says COLA is going to supplant/survive IGES.
A Google search yields no other “new” web pages for COLA. It only yields the IGES web page and COLA subset and the COLA webpage at George Mason University, which is an exact copy of the IGES/COLA front page:
Then there’s this symposium advert page at GMU:
Source: http://cola.gmu.edu/symposium/
Gosh, a COLA symposium and Shukla’s photo is prominently featured on it? It seems that IGES and COLA are indistinguishable when it comes to Shukla involvement. I wonder if Shukla predicted at that symposium on chaos, the current chaos he’s in the middle of as a result of the now disappeared RICO20 letter?
Let’s go back to the claim they uploaded in place of the disappeared RICO20 letter yesterday.
If COLA is a subset of IGES, and it appears to be so, with the same people running the outfit, their claim of “all research projects were completed in July 2015” seems more than a bit unbelievable. It also seems unbelievable to me that they’d “decommission” the only website (IGES.org) that represents COLA while it is receiving active NSF grants.
There’s quite a gravy train going on there it seems, and as Steve McIntyre pointed out in Shukla’s Gold, it seems there’s quite a bit of double dipping going on, despite GMU policy to the contrary:
Before discussing Shukla’s structure, I’ll first quickly comment on institutional policies, as both the federal agencies (NSF, NOAA, NASA) and the university (George Mason) purport to have policies that prevent double-dipping.
Perhaps the Shukla gravy train is about to be derailed once the true accounting is done. Read McIntyre’s excellent piece Shukla’s Gold, the monetary tentacles run deep and wide on this one, and I’m betting there are a lot of people at GMU, NASA, NOAA, and NSF fretting over damage control right about now.
Note: within about 10 minutes of publication, this article was edited for a spelling correction and a text formatting correction.
UPDATE:
If you search Shukla’s name on the NSF grants database it turns up 2039 results…
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/simpleSearchResult?queryText=Jagadish+Shukla
How many millions has this Shukla family organization taken from the American Taxpayer? How much of that money did they spend to create the RICO charge against climate skeptics?
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Reddit1) The Toronto Argonauts announced a contract extension for Tyler Holmes on Friday, which will see the durable and dependable offensive lineman remain in Toronto through the 2018 season. This is the second time that Holmes has extended with the Argos, having done so previously in January of 2015.
2) Holmes has played and started 54 consecutive games for the Argos, starting all 18 games in each of the last three seasons after coming on with the team late in the 2013 campaign.
3) The Ottawa, Ontario, native played his college football South of the border, receiving interest from a number of schools as a three-star prospect before ultimately signing with Tulsa in 2007. At Tulsa, Holmes started all 33 games he appeared in, playing 1,006 snaps across his career with the Golden Hurricane. Playing both offensive tackle and guard, he was twice selected to the C-USA preseason all-conference team by coaches across the conference.
4) After being selected seventh overall by the Argonauts in the 2011 CFL Draft, Holmes played one season for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. He was cut by the team during the training camp in 2013, upon which he returned to Toronto to begin his CFL career.
5) Holmes’ father, Richard, is no stranger to the CFL, having played three seasons in the league during the late 1970’s. Richard earned East All-Star recognition in his 1977 rookie campaign, a season which began with the Toronto Argonauts and finished with the Ottawa Rough Riders. He played two more seasons in the league, suiting up for the Rough Riders in 1978 before splitting time in Ottawa and Winnipeg during the 1979 campaign.Ah, summer. What a great time to run. If you’re in San Francisco. Here, it’s hot and humid. Like a toilet. With hills.
On the 4th, I ran the Putnam County Classic, a 8 mile run that I’ve enjoyed doing both last year and the year before. I am sorry to report that I’ve been running this race slower each year. And let me tell you, it’s getting under my skin!
The day started off well enough. The start is about a half hour away from home, left at 6:30 for an 8am start. Had a good warmup on the track. It’s great seeing som many friends at race, the warm up, and the cool down, are rocking. We joke. Complain. Complain about running. Complain about not running. It’s perfect.
Gregg and I were going to run together as we did pretty well in the half marathon last week. In this case “pretty well” means he was massively disappointed with his race, and my toe sprung a bloody leak and I lost a good 3 or four minutes. I also taked about running with my friend Tim, who is a great runner but claims he was looking for a slower but usual pace. So that would be perfect for me. In turned out Tim was feeling pretty good. What a freaking liar. I tease. Because I love. And I hurt.
I was worried about my blister prone toe, so I didn’t wear my racing flats. I wore my two year old training shoes. Why two years old? Because I’m having shoe issues and have to buy a new pair of something soon. I’ll blog about that. That’ll be a laugh riot. ShoppingGreg goes Shopping with RunningGreg.
Knowing I had a crap race last week, I wanted to just go out and hold on to some friends, not injure myself, and enjoy the day. By and large, that’s what I did.
We are talking about 6:50 pace. I don’t know why I even write this stuff down since I was so far off. The gun was off. Gregg and I started off with our friend Bill. First mile a 7:02. We should have been faster. Second mile has a nasty uphill, 7:16. At this point, we had spread out a little bit, and I saw my fellow Taconic Jin about 50 yards ahead of me. “Hold on to him,” I thought. Jin has near perfect execution in races, sticks to his pace. Stick with Jin!
Mile 3, 6:53. Sticking with Jin!
Mile 4. 7:10. Not 100% sure what the hell that was all about.
Mile 5, 7:04. feeling like this is my new pace. I’m pretty much alone, but with Jin and a few guys off in the distance.
Mile 6, 7:07. For fucks sake.
Mile 7. 7:03 — I’m trying hard to pick it up. Don’t have anything left.
Mile 8 6:37. OK. I had a little bit left.
I felt like it was a good race. I was off my pace but I didn’t fall way off and my last mile was faster. I was feeling pretty good. Then I look at last year’s time of 55:46. This year was 56:38. 7:02 pace.
What the hell is that all about? Well, I wasn’t wearing light weight shoes, so that could have had something to do with it, but I think the lesson learned here is I should have looked at last year’s splits a little closer and tried to exceed them — just a little — for each mile. Take advantage of what I knew about the course and pulled it together.
I do like that I’ve run three races in three weeks — racing is awesome. Not posting great times, not so awesome.
Both Tim and Jin did great — finishing about a minute ahead of me. Next time, I’m going to tie a short rope to those guys to keep me closer.
In other news: I signed up for the Philly marathon, so now the blog will concentrate on the stress of marathon training. WHAT COULD BE MORE INTERESTING? I guess we’ll see.The Honeymoon Killers, 1969
If video games want cultural legitimacy, designers will have to concede it’s not all about fun
Video games are bone-weary with growing pains, though the signs are that the medium has arrived: The multibillion-dollar game industry draws curious investors and heavy-hitters. Franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft have become cultural institutions and tradeable names, and on the back of their success the CEO of leading game publisher Activision received an 800 percent pay raise, to nearly $65 million, last year.
Interactive entertainment hasn’t just been succeeding financially; it has begun attracting a new cultural legitimacy as well. The soundtrack to Journey, one of 2012’s most celebrated games, got a Grammy nomination, and the game itself crushed the annual awards cycle, an impressive feat for an indie game based on Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and the sentimental concept of unvoiced collaboration with strangers. Just last week, the TriBeCa film festival hosted a panel on Beyond: Two Souls, a game heavy with the vaunted promise of mature storytelling — and featuring the voice and facial-mapped performance of actress Ellen Page.
These are the kind of radar blips that attract attention from the “proper” art and technology world, those who might have previously consigned gaming to the realm of the incomprehensible plaything, mere power fantasy for males of a certain age. Gamification is mostly marketing-friendly snake oil as far as to anyone who actually makes real games is concerned, but the idea that game-design concepts can impact and influence productivity and social change has turned a lot of heads.
There’s a growing vibe in the games industry that while the wider world still might not “get” video games, they might be willing to entertain a re-evalulation of their prejudices. This is, after all, the era of the smartphone, and games are the most popular category on the App Store, eclipsing even books.
The growing outsider interest in the medium is partially a result of patient insistence on visibility by charismatic innovators like Will Wright (of Sims fame) and game critics and journalists, and partially the result of games industry’s dogged pursuit of legitimacy.
Outcasts and weirdos in the late 1970s and early 1980s founded what would become gaming culture. Rogue programmers and witty, countercultural Steve Jobs types built awkward, secretive text adventures and later led the early rush to colonize the Internet with ways for people to role-play and explore fantasy realms together. The modern games industry we see today — the one made to answer for mass shootings and to serve in-jokes to Family Guy and South Park — emerged more slowly, the |
in spades."
Kilkenny is one of few power brokers in or around Oregon to discuss Helfrich's job status on record this season. Mullens declined an interview request from The Oregonian/OregonLive on Sunday about whether his support of Helfrich -- expressed midseason during an appearance on an in-house show -- has waned in light of UO's Saturday loss to Stanford that ensured its first losing season since 2004.
"Obviously he's the only one that can answer that," Helfrich said. "I have total confidence in what we're doing.
"Obviously, again, the results have not been what anybody wants. I'm responsible for that, period. We did not play well enough in any phase yesterday, and that's my responsibility.... We will continue to fight, we will continue to do the right things, and it will turn."
Kilkenny, who grew up in Heppner, attended Oregon but left before graduating to begin a long, lucrative career in insurance. He paid the majority of former athletic director Bill Moos' buyout in 2006 before becoming an unconventional choice to fill the athletic director seat himself one year later. But with his business background, Kilkenny was chosen to help jump-start Oregon's stalled basketball arena project and six months into the job, he helped secure a $100 million donation from Knight. He left as AD after two years but remains heavily involved with UO, saying he's consulted with Mullens this season about topics that include declining season ticket renewals and how to bolster UO's "fragile" financial self-sufficiency.
Oregon had sold out 54,000-seat Autzen Stadium 110 consecutive games entering the 2016 season but failed to fill it in five out of six home games this fall.
"It's not fun for anybody," Kilkenny said of Oregon's season. "It's tough. They work hard, they're fabulous people and nobody wants to have those kinds of outcomes."
The full audio can be heard here:
-- Andrew Greif
@andrewgreif
agreif@oregonian.comReprinted from RH Reality Check. Read the original here.
While they don’t bother putting her name on the Forbes list, by virtue of marriage Melinda Gates is the richest woman in the world. She proudly considers herself an advocate for family planning and women’s health. “I am focused on one thing,” she wrote in a recent blog post, “the opportunity to make a difference in tens of millions of women’s lives by giving them access to the information and resources they need to plan their families.”
But, there’s a catch: She doesn’t want to talk about abortion, and the Gates Foundation won’t fund it.
“Around the world there is a deep, broad, and powerful consensus: we should provide all women the information and tools to time and space their pregnancies in a safe and healthy way that works for them,” Gates writes. She goes on to express dismay that journalists wish to talk to her about what she calls the “abortion debate,” writing that she “struggle[s] with the issue” and chastising others for “conflating [abortion] with the consensus on so many of the things we need to do to keep women healthy.”
The stakes are high, she claims. “The only way” to provide “tens of millions” of women “the contraceptives that they want” is to be “clear, focused, and committed.” In other words, Gates holds a view of maternal health and women’s empowerment so expansive and huge that a pregnant woman in desperate need of abortion won’t fit.
Her thinking is, to put it mildly, flawed.
Perhaps you have heard of Hobby Lobby or encountered photographs of the all-male hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church? There is no consensus on providing all women access to contraception. Further still, the foes of abortion routinely argue that birth control is abortion. Most of all, it’s ludicrous to position yourself as an advocate for reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health if you are willing to ignore women endangered by an unsafe abortion or unsustainable pregnancy.
But what I’d like to explore further is an underlying premise within a Gatesian view of reproductive rights and the women’s movement: that a commitment to abortion rights holds progress for women back.
She is not alone. Conversations about abortion are often assumed “toxic” not just to feminism and the equality movement, but political progress in general. If only, the thinking goes, those who believe in abortion rights and access to family planning could keep their mouths shut at strategic times (like during elections, attempts to get a bill passed, or let’s face it, pretty much any time), other progressive goals could be achieved (never mind the fact that the right opposes them, too) and we wouldn’t attract the attention of those who seek to restrict reproductive rights.
Hooey!
The anti-choice movement includes folks who believe they are on a mission from God, including some organizations that are actively working to infiltrate the government. The anti-choice movement benefits from millions upon millions of funding from the Koch brothers, works hand-in-glove with Republican leadership, and is regularly tolerated as part of an invoked greater good by the Democratic Party in the form of candidates and policy at the national, state, and local levels. (In contradiction to its own platform, mind you: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”)
The anti-choice movement will not slink away quietly if abortion rights advocates keep their mouths shut. We need more conversation about reproductive rights and justice, not less.
Dividing people on the basis of sexuality and reproductive capacity is a central part of how sexism operates. It’s positively jejune to see violence against women, or discrimination against women in the workplace, as wholly independent from views of women by matter of biological destiny as sexual objects to serve men, and caregivers to tend the hearth and home. It was no coincidence or freakish gaffe when Phyllis Schlafly recently claimed that paying women the same as men would make it harder for women to find husbands; she was, very strategically, trying to implant doubt among women that they can be “hot” and call for equality at work at the same time.
Not all women may become pregnant, but it’s true that the specter of pregnancy, caregiving and presumed heterosexual availability supports discrimination against them. So if we really want constitutional equality, equality in pay and parity in leadership, and an end to violence against women, we do need to acknowledge that the various and far more numerous goals of empowering women will truly work only when women are able to exercise meaningful control over their own lives—including, and especially, their reproductive lives.
But what about those women’s organizations that purposefully avoid taking positions on reproductive rights? One such organization is The New Agenda. Its president, Amy Siskind, [said] that the issue simply doesn’t come up in the group’s work, especially in its work with companies and universities to promote networking and professional success for millennial women.
Separate from the organization, Siskind [explained] that she had gone from supporting Hillary Clinton in 2008 to the John McCain/Sarah Palin ticket. “I honestly believed that the [Republican] mindset was to be not neutral but libertarian on social issues,” she said. “I thought we could put those issues away and start to vote based on other issues. … I’ve been shocked [since] then,” she said, noting that she was caught “totally by surprise” in 2011 by a record-breaking push to enact abortion restrictions.
This is not to say that The New Agenda is bad; if the group wants to bring people of diverse mindsets on choice to support women in other arenas, good for them. But from an explicitly political point of view—which is much bigger than one organization, much less all of them—the only way to hold people accountable to respecting women’s fundamental human rights is to talk about women’s fundamental human rights. A strategy of silence has no track record of proving itself believable.
The abortion debate doesn’t poison political discourse. It is not to blame for stalled progress on other initiatives that would improve women’s lives. In fact, other women’s rights causes would likely benefit a great deal from culture change that affirms the value of abortion—in women’s lives, as a commitment to equality, as a matter of public health.
Melinda Gates and others like her may have a lot of money, but we have a lot of voices. There is no need for reproductive health, rights and justice advocates to mute ourselves for the greater good. Really, what good would that be?
Photo of Melinda and Bill Gates courtesy of Kjetil Ree via Wikimedia Commons.
Erin Matson is an editor-at-large at RH Reality Check. She has appeared in a variety of publications and frequently on television, including ABC World News, BBC World News and MSNBC. An organizer and strategist, Matson has led local, state and national advocacy campaigns on areas including abortion rights, contraceptive access and cultural representations of women.A 24-year-old man was gunned down in a busy North Portland neighborhood on a sunny, hot Monday afternoon as children played on nearby streets and in McCoy Park less than a block away.
Residents reported hearing up to 10 shots in what police described as a drive-by, gang-related shooting. They identified the man who was shot as Andrew Leon Coggins Jr. Relatives said he lived in Southeast Portland.
Police found Coggins lying on the side of North Fessenden Street just west of North Fiske Avenue in the New Columbia area after receiving a call about the shooting at 2:46 p.m. Coggins had collapsed partly in the street and on the curb.
His family gathered at the edge of the police tape at the scene, waiting for investigators to confirm that Coggins was the one who had died.
Just before 6 p.m., several in the group started sobbing loudly. "He's gone," one wailed, dropping to her knees.
Neighbors were disturbed by the violence and the brazenness of the daylight shooting.
A woman who gave her name only as Jennifer Z. said she heard a slew of gunshots and frantically started searching for her children, ages 9, 11, 13 and 14, who were playing outside.
She found her 9-year-old boy in an alley off Fessenden, then she saw a young man screaming for help.
"He was saying, 'That's my homeboy. Please, please help!'" she said.
She saw another man in his 20s, lying on the grass beside the curb. "I just got down and started pumping on his chest," she said.
She tried to rip off his black shirt and found a wound in his back.
"Come on, baby! Stay with me," she said she pleaded with him. "I squeezed his hand" and he held hers, she said.
She felt a pulse and tried to pump on his chest until medics arrived. "When I seen that poor kid, I just bent down and started helping," she said.
She said she didn't know Coggins or his friend. The two men had been standing beside a dark car parked on the street, its rear wheels jacked up. She said it looked as if it had broken down and the men were waiting for someone to help fix it.
Brenda Fisher, who lives in the 9400 block of Fiske near the intersection with Fessenden, was in her bedroom when gunshots rang out.
"It sounded like it was almost coming through my house... that's how loud it was," Fisher said. She ran to her granddaughter's room and told her to get down on the floor.
"This is crazy. It's very scary! " Fisher said as residents gathered outside to see what happened.
Fisher's niece, Ashley Taylor, was about a block away with her two young children, ages 2 and 3, and heard 10 shots.
"I grabbed them and ran inside," Taylor said.
Elaine Roper was in McCoy Park with her 12-year-old granddaughter when they heard gunfire.
"We heard all the guns. We hit the ground," Roper said. "I think it's ridiculous."
The driver of a TriMet bus "just rolled up on it" and called police, said TriMet supervisor Lance Lawrence. The No. 4 bus, stopped on Fessenden, was held for examination of video images from the bus for possible use in the investigation.
Bryan Stratton was biking home from work when he saw his street blocked off. He's lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, he said.
"Unfortunately, it's been an often enough occurrence that you're not totally surprised," Stratton said.
Police dispatch reported officers were looking for a fleeing white four-door car, possibly an old Cadillac.
Mayor Charlie Hales, who serves as the city's police commissioner, said officers with the Crisis Response Team and gang outreach workers responded.
"This shooting reminds us that far, far too many people in our community are the victims of gun violence," Hales said. "Gun violence is a public health crisis, and we as a society need to address this complex epidemic."
-- Maxine BernsteinBRITONS are hoping the UK will suffer social and economic chaos if it supports their views on Brexit, they have revealed.
People on both sides of the debate would prefer there to be a crippling recession, riots in the streets and possibly civil war rather than lose a small amount of face.
Administrator Tom Logan said: “I predicted Brexit would cause a recession, so I’m hoping everyone will lose their jobs so I can be proved right to some pillocks on the internet.
“Ideally I’d like to see a 1930s-style depression but I’m not fussy. Even a few companies pulling out of the UK and devastating local communities would be a big ‘up yours’ to the smug Brexit gits.”
HR assistant Emma Bradford said: “I said there’d be riots if the government fudges Brexit, so I’m hoping there’ll be widespread civil unrest and people burning down liberal elite shops like Sainsbury’s.
“I’m not particularly in favour of descending into a bloody civil war but it would prove a valuable point to my Remainer friend Janet.”DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Millions of Filipinos and netizens worldwide might be able to watch the inauguration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on June 30 as talks of livestreaming the event through Facebook are underway.
Executives of the social networking giant Facebook met with the communications team of Duterte on Monday night.
READ: Only state-run media in Rizal Hall for Duterte inauguration | Duterte does not want joint inauguration with Robredo–VP’s camp
The Duterte camp said incoming communications secretary Martin Andanar and presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella met with Elizabeth Hernandez, head of Facebook Public Policy for Asia Pacific, “to discuss the live streaming of the inaugural event in the social media giant.”
“With the inauguration ceremony drawing near on June 30th, Facebook is reaching out to the communications team of the incoming president to offer its support in using its online platform for the historic occasion,” the camp said in a statement.
Also present in the meeting were media executive and blogger Nic Gabunada and business development director John Carlo Tria.
Apart from the inauguration, the Duterte camp said Facebook was also “keen in helping the new administration use its site for governance part of the 16th Philippine President, noting the high level of engagement among social media users” during the May national elections.
During the elections, Duterte emerged as the most-talked about candidate on Facebook.
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000."Ghosts don’t scare me. If you want to be scared, go hang out in a drag queen's dressing room."
It’s Halloween time, and who better to talk about trick or treating than with someone who dresses up year-round: Drag Race All Stars Season 2 winner, Alaska.
The Queen of Snakes is returning to TV as one of 10 reality stars forced to stay at an eerie estate in VH1’s new horror-reality series Scared Famous.
VH1
What’s Alaska’s favorite horror movie? Has she ever had a paranormal experience? Find out in the spooky interview below.
What was your favorite halloween costume as a child?
I always liked being Dracula—because it’s basically drag. He wears white face paint and red lips with sunken-in black eyes. And he gets to wear a dress and a cape and jewelry.
Do you have a favorite Halloween memory?
I grew up in Pennsylvania, and I remember we had to make our costume selections very carefully because it was always so fucking cold. We had to make sure we were wearing a costume we could wear snow pants under. I don’t know why theres even a debate over climate change because now it’s like summer in October, but we literally had to wear snow pants.
I don’t think the kids have to wear snow pants anymore.
Do you like horror movies?
Of course, I love horror movies! My cousin and I would stay up late and watch all of the Halloween movies. I don’t even know how we even got ahold of thm. I think we stole them out of his parents’ movie collection.
Which Halloween is your favorite?
I don’t know, but anything Jamie Lee Curtis touches I am there for—even Activia.
Is there a horror movie you think is underrated or so terrible you love it?
I remember Leprechaun. It’s very funny and naughty and nasty. That’s a really fun one.
What was it like being in the Scared Famous house?
It was really hot. It was an hour outside of Savannah in June, so it was literally one million degrees. We didn’t have a moment of being cool. There were flies, wasps, mosquitos… My body became a road map of different bug bites.
How was it being in the house with Drita and Tiffany Pollard and everyone else?
There were so many personalities, sometimes I was like: “Wait? Did they all get a script and I didn’t?” Because people were playing out these dramatic melodramas and I didn’t even know any of this was even going on.
So, yeah, there are a lot of different types in the house, but we all come from different types of reality shows. Some were about throwing drinks, some of us just wanted to look really cool. Me, I was just like: “Wow, this is just fascinating to watch. This show is going to be amazing.”
Were you frightened of the spirits in the house?
I hang out with a bunch of drag queens—Ghosts don’t scare me! If you want to be scared, go hang out in a drag queen’s dressing room.
Who was the scariest housemate?
Me! [laughs]
Scared Famous premieres October 23 at 9/8c on VH1.Former chancellor Nicholas Dirks will be paid $434,000 by UC Berkeley through the next academic year, more than 80 percent of his pay as the campus’s former top administrator — even though Dirks will not return to teaching on campus until fall 2018.
Dirks was originally expected to join the campus history and anthropology departments later this fall. Instead, he will go on paid leave for the next academic year and join the campus as a full time professor for the 2018-19 academic year. Dirks will be paid $237,300 as a professor.
Under university academic personnel policy, former UC chancellors are eligible for a leave of absence “to retool and do research in preparation for a return to the faculty as a professor,” according to university spokesperson Dianne Klein.
Compensation for UC chancellors, Klein noted in an email, generally ranks “in the bottom one third of compensation among public AAU universities.”
“As is usual practice, UC Berkeley will pay his compensation during this leave, which lasts through June 2018,” Klein said in an email. “Such a practice of granting sabbatical/transition leave after leaving the chancellor’s post is common among public and private universities in the United States and, at UC, helps to compensate for the lower salaries that our chancellors receive.”
UC Berkeley Faculty Association chair Michael Burawoy and campus molecular and cell biology professor Michael Eisen criticized the university for paying Dirks a percentage of the salary he was paid as chancellor instead of the pay he will earn as a professor.
In an email, Eisen criticized the university’s policy as “not something the university should do,” saying that although he did not begrudge Dirks’ right to take a sabbatical, “he should be drawing a faculty salary.”
Burawoy, who is also a campus sociology professor, added that campus faculty members with four years of full time employment would be eligible for only 44 percent of their salary during a sabbatical. Meanwhile, Dirks, who has a little more than four years of full-time employment with the campus, will be paid close to 82 percent of his full-time chancellor’s salary during his paid leave.
“No doubt this is all laid out in (Dirks’) contract as Chancellor, but it does appear to be a reward for negligence, incompetence and petty corruption,” Burawoy said in an email. “It is an appalling commentary on the distribution of benefits at a time of supposed fiscal crisis and when many students can barely scrape together a living.”
Dirks announced his resignation from the campus chancellorship in August 2016 and officially left the office earlier this July.
His tenure as chancellor faced a number of challenges, including criticism of his handling of campus sexual misconduct cases, his administration’s efforts to address a more than $100 million campus budget deficit, and a university investigation which found Dirks had violated UC ethics by improperly accepting free campus athletic services.
Dirks’ paid leave arrangement, according to campus physics professor and chancellor emeritus Robert Birgeneau, is “identical to that for senior administrators … at virtually every research university in the country.”
“As I understand it, Nick will be on campus this year pursuing his research and scholarship and, presumably, working on behalf of Berkeley,” Birgeneau said in an email.
Bobby Lee is an assistant news editor. Contact Bobby Lee at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @bobbylee_dc.Trades are a fact of life in professional sports; players are shipped from one team to another regularly. But trades aren’t limited to just players. In February of 2012, the Boston Red Sox received a player from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for allowing their former general manager, Theo Epstein, to take that role with the Chicago team. In 2002, Seattle Mariners manager Lou Pinella left the Pacific Northwest to manage the Tampa Bay Devil Rays; the Rays sent back outfielder Randy Winn to complete what was, in some sense, a trade. In early 2006, the Kansas City Chiefs wanted Herm Edwards to become their head coach, but Edwards was under contract as the head coach of the New York Jets. The Chiefs sent the Jets a fourth round draft pick and got their coach.
None of those are strange compared to the deal involving Al Michaels.
In 1977, Al Michaels joined ABC as an anchor for its sports broadcasts, originally calling some baseball games as a back-up play-by-play man. He’d be at ABC for nearly three decades and called many well-known games during his tenure there. He was the voice of many World Series and, of course, the “Miracle on Ice” game in the 1980 Olympics, in which he famously declared, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” as the United States beat the heavily favored Soviet Union squad en route to a gold medal. But his biggest role as a sportscaster was anchoring the Monday Night Football (MNF) broadcast lineup, a role he began in 1986 and continued into the 21st century.
But in 2005 — just two years after Michaels signed a long term contract extension with ABC — the network announced that MNF was going to be aired on ESPN. Both ABC and ESPN are owned by Disney, and Michaels was going to go to ESPN along with the program. But his co-host, John Madden, decided to go to a competitor, NBC, which was taking over the Sunday Night Football broadcasts. Madden made the switch in part because the Sunday Night Football games were almost certainly going to feature the week’s premiere matchups — an honor which previously went to MNF. And it was widely rumored that Michaels wanted to join Madden at NBC. But his contract did not allow for it.
So ABC and NBC struck a deal. ABC would let Michaels out of his contract so that he could sign one with NBC and continue anchoring play-by-play for the NFL’s game of the week. In exchange, according to ESPN, NBC gave ABC the rights to Ryder Cup matches, Olympic highlights, and ownership of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the cartoon seen above. Oswald was a creation of Walt Disney, one which Mr. Disney made while under contract with Universal Studios. Mr. Disney did not read the contract carefully, and Oswalt became the property of Universal. (Mr. Disney created an Oswald-like character to get around liability issues — that character, of course, is Mickey Mouse.)
In the end, it was a win-win: Disney (the company) reclaimed its founder’s work, now not worth very much beyond its sentimental value. Michaels went back to calling football games — and held the unique claim to being the one man traded for a cartoon.
Bonus fact : Major League Baseball has a rule which allows teams, with some restrictions, to trade a player away and receive a yet-to-be-determined player in return; the two sides decide on the second player later on. Those trades involve what is now called a “player to be named later,” and typically are resolved without any consternation from either side. But in 1962, a strange thing happened. On April 26 of that year, the Cleveland Indians sent catcher Harry Chiti to the then-expansion New York Mets for cash and a player to be named later. Chiti played fifteen lackluster games for the Mets, and on June 15, the Mets completed the trade — by sending Chiti back to the Indians as the player to be named later.
From the Archives: Numbers Racket: Another thing which is traded in the world of pro sports? Uniform numbers.
Related: “Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit,” on DVD, originally from 1927. 4.5 stars on 30 reviews.Defuster-Clucking We love this fake plan to turn Seattle’s fusterclucked tunnel into a park
Remember that tunneling fustercluck we mentioned in December?
Here’s a refresher: A giant tunnel-boring machine nicknamed Bertha has been stuck under downtown Seattle for more than a year, delaying a $2 billion effort to replace the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, which carries State Highway 99 along the city’s waterfront. The project was scheduled to be completed later this year, but Bertha has only tunneled about 1,000 feet of its planned 1.7 miles.
Well, the failing project has become a sort of running joke here in Seattle. This week, a group under the guise of the Seattle Department of Vision and Progress launched Born Again Bertha, a tongue-in-cheek proposal to repurpose the unfinished tunnel.
The group debuted official-looking “Notice of Proposed Land Use Action” signs yesterday in Pioneer Square, near the tunnel entrance, detailing the many amenities that could be installed in Bertha’s hole. Some highlights: Mike McGinn Elementary and Middle Schools, named for the former Seattle mayor who fought the tunnel, Apolo Ohno Sports Center, named for this guy, and a community tennis center (built on a foundation of dirt excavated from construction projects on fast-gentrifying Capitol Hill, natch). The plan even envisions some environmental breakthroughs under the leadership of President Jeb Bush! What could go wrong??
The parody plan even has its own Twitter account and is gaining some steam. Some folks are applauding the group’s proposal and crossing their fingers for the tunnel-boring machine’s actual demise, while others are just scratching their heads.
Some choice Tweets from fans and passersby:
@SeattleMaven is it wrong that I want the tunnel project to fail just so I can see this in Seattle? http://t.co/08F7r1yfi0 @BornAgainBertha — Stefan Hovland (@Hovlast) February 25, 2015
Brilliant idea if Bertha never gets going again @BornAgainBertha How about a zip line? #TransportationChoices #UnBuildTheTunnel #Seattle — Alex Sandoval (@Sandomein) February 25, 2015
Snapped a photo of @bornagainbertha. If McGinn Elementary doesn't come to pass, we've made a terrible mistake http://t.co/ubgZ46NHPV—
Matt Driscoll (@mattsdriscoll) February 24, 2015
Don't know if this is for real or some fantastical steampunk / futuristic pipe dream, but it sounds really cool – http://t.co/e8aJxzzpLn — Richard Shih (@tridium) February 24, 2015
In the real world, Bertha is causing a laundry-list of worries. Drivers are wondering if the viaduct is even safe to drive on because it’s slowly sinking. So is a whole chunk of downtown that sits atop the tunnel, including, gulp, our offices. Before we know it, Grist HQ could have some new underground digs, too. Meanwhile, traffic in Downtown Seattle still sucks.
But props to the Born Again Bertha brigade for looking at the bright side. This may, in fact, be the road to nowhere, but if so, we can at least look forward to some rock climbing or speed-skating in the sports center at lunchtime!Donald Trump has settled a hotly contested debate surrounding his campaign: whether he's saying "big league" or "bigly" at his rallies and speeches.
Political observers and journalists have been arguing over the issue for months, and the Republican presidential nominee finally delivered some clarity in an interview with EWTN, a Catholic broadcasting network.
"In appearance after appearance, there is one bit of Trump syntax that has created debate in households across America," interviewer Raymond Arroyo said. "My final question, it is perhaps the most portentous... are you saying 'bigly' or 'big league'?"
"Are you talking about for me?" Trump said. "I use 'big league.'"
Trump's answer jives with what linguists told The New York Times earlier this week — that "acoustic cues" indicated a second "g" sound when Trump used the phrase.
More From Business InsiderAbout a decade ago I found myself at a fair in New Orleans with my wife and her family. We decided to ride one of the roller coasters there, a decision that changed my perspective on amusement parks from that point on.
No, I wasn’t flung from the coaster or suffered any similar haunting incidents. I simply found myself rattling along the track with my head thumping back and forth against the protective guards when the thought suddenly struck me:
Why do I keep doing this to myself?
The thrill had run its course, you see. Whatever enjoyment I’d experienced at being whisked along steep peaks and valleys, stomach-churning twists, and massive loops had ended. It just didn’t register like it had before.
I haven’t been back to an amusement park since. There are many other ways to experience thrills, and the fact is I’d simply rather focus on those.
Writing and publishing can be a roller coaster ride as well. You soar high on the thrill of the story coming together, taking shape through writing and revising until it finally is complete. At the very summit of your ride you hit the PUBLISH button. Or you get that notice you’ve been waiting for from your agent or publisher.
Then gravity yanks at you with a sudden vengeance.
You anxiously pull up your sales numbers after the first week of release. (If you haven’t been checking them every day, that is.) Your eyes widen.
One can only understand the work of writing a novel if one has accomplished that achievement. It’s hard for an outsider to comprehend the force of will it takes to clear one’s mind of distractions and pull that story from the mind to written page. It takes a certain amount of clarity and stubbornness to pound out that first draft.
Then come the the revisions.
The endless revisions. Showing not telling. Eliminating passive voice. Strengthening that dialogue. Giving those characters more personality. Connecting the dots. Making the entire manuscript more cohesive.
It’s exhausting.
But the final moment is so worth it. When you know you’ve done all you can for the story, when you’re finally satisfied with the completed product, that’s a feeling unlike any other. You’ve invested time and hard work into getting to that moment. You’ve invested money into getting to that moment. You have faith in your work, and you know it’s good.
Unfortunately the sales numbers don’t always live up to your expectations. It’s one of those ironies of life: just because you work hard at something doesn’t mean you will succeed. And writing is a funny thing. It’s a mostly solitary occupation, meaning that both success and failure strike directly at you as an individual. And in those disappointing moments, those vulnerable, isolated, rainy-day moments, you might find yourself asking that immortal query:
Why do I keep doing this to myself?
Indeed, why? Why set yourself up for disappointment? Why keep bashing your head against the brick wall of inevitable failure? Why do you persist?
I’ve asked myself that sometimes. After all, I’m not exactly a runaway success that’s touted in blogs and articles as the epitome of self-publishing success. I work hard at my craft, write on a semi-regular basis, and deliver the best I can to an enormous populace of whom most are unaware of my literary existence. Might be I’m terrible at promoting my work. Might be the market is overcrowded and nearly impossible to attract attention in a heaving sea of similar genres and titles. Might be I’m just not all that great of a writer, and my audience is just too polite to let me know.
Or it might be simply timing and luck. I just might be in the right place at the right time if I simply continue to work hard and keep writing. Might be I need to remember why I started doing this in the first place. Why I chose to begin this journey into the wild world of publishing.
Because I love to write.
Because I have a head that churns with plots, characters, and endless possibilities. I have an imagination on overdrive with no way to override the controls or shut it down. Writing allows me the opportunity to exorcise those ideas, make them cohesive, bring them to life. Writing allows me a level of peace I would not otherwise experience. Writing is my passion.
It’s what I do best.
And I’m not alone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer like me, a singer posting songs on YouTube, an artist looking for work, or an actor looking for your big break. We struggle. It often doesn’t have anything to do with talent. It often doesn’t have anything to do with knowledge. But we find ourselves in that dark place, teetering on the edge of quitting because our investments haven’t paid off. Because our hard work hasn’t equated with the success we dreamed of achieving. We let those nagging doubts devour us, choke our dreams, derail our game plans.
Or we keep going. Because it’s what we love to do. And when you’re doing what you love, the payoff isn’t money. Sure, you want it. But if that’s the end-all, you’re in the wrong business.
I get a kick out of hearing from my readers. I get a kick out of seeing my books picked up by readers overseas. I get a kick out of reading a thoughtful review by someone who enjoyed my work. Those are the things the keep me going. Keep me grinding. I don’t stress the numbers. I’d rather work on expanding my library so I’m prepared if things take off. Whether they do or not, I know where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing.
Because in the end, I have to believe in myself. For me, this roller coaster ride is one I don’t want to quit.
If you’re a creative person, how do you deal with nagging doubts? I’d love to hear from you!
My name is Bard Constantine, and if you’re reading this you already know that Bard Writes Books.
Advertisements“This must be our response to white supremacy: that a threat to any one of us is a threat to all,” writes Brant Rosen, calling for a new commitment to building solidarity-based movements in the Jewish New Year. Here, members of Holy Blossom Temple, a Toronto Synagogue, form a protective circle around the Imdadul Mosque in North York in Canada on February 3, 2017, following an Islamophobic attack on a mosque in Quebec City. (Photo: Bernard Weil / Toronto Star via Getty Images)
When Temple Beth Israel — a large Reform synagogue in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia — opened for Shabbat morning services on August 12, 2017, its congregants had ample reason to be terrified. Prior to the “Unite the Right” rally held in town by white supremacists and neo-Nazis that weekend, some neo-Nazi websites had posted calls to burn down their synagogue.
The members of Beth Israel decided to go ahead with services, but they removed their Torah scrolls just to be safe. When services began, they noticed three men dressed in fatigues and armed with semi-automatic rifles standing across the street from their synagogue. Throughout the morning, growing numbers of neo-Nazis gathered outside their building. Worshippers heard people shouting, “There’s the synagogue!” and chanting, “Sieg Heil!” At the end of services, they had to leave in groups through a side door.
Of course, this story did not occur in a vacuum. It was but a part of a larger outrage that unfolded in Charlottesville that day, and part of a still larger outrage has been unfolding in our country since November. I think it’s safe to say that many Americans have learned some very hard truths about their country since the elections last fall. Many — particularly white liberals — are asking out loud: Where did all of this come from? Didn’t we make so much progress during the Obama years? Can there really be that many people in this country who would vote for an out-and-out xenophobe who unabashedly encourages white supremacists as his political base? Is this really America?
Yes, this is America. White supremacy — something many assumed was relegated to an ignoble period of American history — is, and has always been, very real in this country. White supremacists and neo-Nazis are in the streets — and they are being emboldened and encouraged by the president of the United States.
While this new political |
has been completely unpredictable. Playing with their backs against the wall multiple times in these playoffs has only proven the Penguins’ tenacity for relentlessness. Yet, possibly the biggest reason for their success has been the unforeseeable circumstances behind it. Specifically speaking, their goaltending situation. We all know the team has two very good goalies who can succeed in net, but these playoffs might just prove to be the beginning of the end for fan favorite Marc-Andre Fleury (at least in Pittsburgh).
Murray was meant to start at the beginning of the playoffs this year but just as last year began, he did not play in the first game due to injury. However, even though he is returning later than last season, he has continually bailed out the Pens in some games this year since returning while complimenting the team in their highest performances. With his value fully proven in this year’s regular season, finishing out Nashville (and outplaying Pekka Rinne in a goaltender priority series) could be the final straw to establish Murray as the future protector of the net for Pittsburgh.
So where does that leave Marc-Andre Fleury? Well, he’s actually not in that bad of shape. According to fellow GNGH writer Chris Carnovale, Fleury actually has an outside shot at the Hall of Fame in the near future when measuring stats and accomplishments. But in truly examining his career, his 3rd Stanley Cup would cement a legacy of winning but not of individual success. After all, he has hitched his wagon to some all-time top talent and has never won a Jennings, Hart, Vezina, or Conn Smythe award. Furthermore, losing his starting playoff spot again to a young Matt Murray may be devastating to his future playoff reputation post-retirement. Although the netminder has played out of his mind in the playoffs at times, his highs are very high and his lows are oh-so low. While the Penguins tag-team duo of goalies is the luxury punch they possess to push this team over the top, the worry of losing Fleury in the expansion draft looms in the back of their heads.
It’s almost certain that the Penguins will expose Fleury in favor of Murray. It would be an absolute shame if the final game he ever played for the Penguins was marked by his 4-goal 1st period meltdown against Ottawa in the playoffs. Could a final cup with the Pens come with it? We shall see.
Drew Bishop is the “Hockey America” columnist for Good Night, Good Hockey. You can contact him on his email: dbishop@gnghockey.com
Drew Bishop is the current president of Good Night, Good Hockey and a student at Temple University. He wears sunglasses everywhere, no matter what, and never fails to dedicate saturday’s for the boys. The primary way of contacting Drew is at this email: dbishop@gnghockey.com.A test server patch was released early today, containing the new Reboot World, the Hyper Stat system, and the Toad’s Hammer system. There were also other various changes such as new Star Force fields and changes to theme dungeon rewards. Read on for more information!
Reboot World
The new Reboot World has been added. Reboot World is a new world where the fun of traditional RPGs is revived without the burden of Cash.
Reboot World Character Creation
You can create any job except for Zero.
The base number of character slots is 6.
Each character’s Equip/Use/Set-up/Etc. inventory will have 48 base slots.
You can purchase character slots and inventory/storage slot expansions in the potion shops in each town for mesos.
When you create a character, you will receive a Snail pet and some potions.
Reboot World Monster Combat and Rewards
Reboot World’s monsters are stronger than regular worlds, and give more experience when defeated.
than regular worlds, and when defeated. Depending on the level difference between the monster and your character, some combat numbers may change.
Your character’s damage will increase as their level increases.
Mesos dropped by monsters has been increased significantly.
has been increased significantly. Regular monsters will only drop equipment which your class can use.
Boss monsters’ drop rate of equipment and soul fragments have been increased significantly. Craftsman’s Cubes, Meister’s Cubes, Eternal Flames of Reincarnation, Strong Flames of Reincarnation, and Potential Stamps have been added as new rewards from bosses.
have been increased significantly. have been added as new rewards from bosses. When you do not log in for 2 days or more, you will receive Rest Experience Coupons based on the number of days you did not log in.
Reboot World Item Changes
The scrolling system and additional potential system have been removed. Related scrolling items and Additional Cubes/Additional Potential Stamps have been removed.
. Related scrolling items and Additional Cubes/Additional Potential Stamps have been removed. Scrolling enhancement Cash items will no longer be sold.
Scroll Traces can be obtained in Reboot World but you cannot use them, you can sell them to NPC shops at high prices.
In Reboot World, you cannot trade items or mesos with other users. You can use storage to move items (except for equipment) and mesos to other characters on your account. You cannot move untradeable items through the storage.
. You can use storage to move items (except for equipment) and mesos to other characters on your account. You cannot move untradeable items through the storage. Since you cannot trade with other users, trading related items have been removed and trading related Cash items will no longer be sold.
In Reboot World, you can learn all 5 professions. You cannot use Cube or Flame of Reincarnation recipes. You can no longer make Cubes or Flames of Reincarnation because they can either be acquired through boss monster drops or by buying them from potion shops in towns for mesos.
Reboot World Cash Shop
In Reboot World, some Cash items can be bought using mesos. Cash items you can purchase with mesos: Red Cube, Black Cube, Teleport World Map, Safety Charm, etc. Cash items which are no longer sold: Master Additional Miracle Cube, Shield and Scroll related items, Epi’s Box, Pandora’s Box, Royal Hair Coupon, Platinum Scissors of Karma, etc.
Some Reboot World-only Cash items have been added. Specific beauty coupons, ridings, chairs, etc.
have been added. In Reboot World, Mileage can be acquired and used just like regular worlds.
can be acquired and used just like regular worlds. In Reboot World, slot expansion coupons are no longer sold in the Cash Shop. You can buy them in potion shops.
are no longer sold in the Cash Shop. You can buy them in potion shops. In Reboot World, you cannot use offline coupons.
Reboot World Other Changes
In Reboot World, you cannot use Monster Life.
. In Reboot World, you cannot use the Auction House or Meso Market.
. In Reboot World, some events may not be held or their rewards may be changed. Please refer to each event notice for details.
In Reboot World, some Premium PC Room benefits are limited.
System Related
The Toad’s Hammer system has been added.
Toad’s Hammer is a new system which allows you to transfer the number of Star Force enhancements (minus 1), up to Epic rank potential (including Additional Potential), and Soul information of an item to another which is 1~10 levels higher than it.
Characters level 40 and higher can click the Toad’s Hammer icon in the inventory window to use it.
If your potential (or Additional Potential) is Epic rank or lower, it will be carried over as-is. However, if your potential (or Additional Potential) is Unique rank or higher, it will have its stats changed to their Epic rank equivalents. If they are stats only available in Unique rank or higher, they will be randomly changed to Epic rank stats.
The item’s additional options and trade related options will not be carried over, the item receiving the stats will keep its existing additional options and trade related options. If the item receiving the stats still has upgrade slots remaining, 100% Scroll Trace scrolls will automatically be used to use up the remaining slots.
You can only move an item’s stats to another item which is 1~10 levels higher than it. Items with additional options of Equipped Level Increase/Decrease will not apply to this restriction.
The item receiving the stats will have its existing Star Force enhancements, potential (and Additional Potential), and Soul information removed and replaced with the other item’s.
The item whose stats are being extracted will disappear after it is used.
The Toad’s Hammer system cannot be used on some equipment. Superior equipment Items scrolled with Miraculous Equipment Enhancement Scrolls Equipment with unique potential options (not the rank but like the Onyx Ring, etc) Equipment with an expiry date Cash items Equipment which cannot be Star Force enhanced Equipment which cannot receive potential Equipment with unique skills PC Room-only equipment Zero-only weapons (Lapis, Lazuli)
.
Here is an example. On the left is the item which is being extracted (my Falcon Wing Composite Bow with 10 stars, Epic potential, Rare Additional potential, and a 15 DEX Hilla Soul). In the middle is the item which is inheriting the stats (my Fafnir Wind Chaser with 11 stars, Epic potential, Rare additional potential, and an 18 DEX Plaid soul).
Since my inheriting item is 10 levels higher than my extracted item and the extracted item has at least 1 star, I can use Toad’s Hammer. It will result in a Fafnir Wind Chaser with 9 stars (originally 10 from my Composite Bow – 1), the same potential as my Composite Bow, and the Soul from my Composite Bow (15 DEX Hilla). It will not inherit the scrolled stats of my Composite Bow, it will keep its current +9 scrolls. If I hadn’t scrolled it fully, any left over slots would be used up with a 100% Scroll Trace scroll.
The Hyper Stat system has been added.
Starting from level 140, you will receive Hyper Stat Points which can be used to increase your Hyper Stats.
which can be used to increase your Hyper Stats. Hyper Stats that you can raise are: STR: 15~150 (max level 10) DEX: 15~150 (max level 10) INT: 15~150 (max level 10) LUK: 15~150 (max level 10) HP: 2%~20% (max level 10) MP: 2%~20% (max level 10) Demon Force: 10~50 (max level 5) Speed: 4~20 (max level 5) Jump: 2~10 (max level 5) Critical rate: 1%~15% (max level 10) Minimum critical: 1%~10% (max level 10) Maximum critical: 1%~15% (max level 10) Defense ignore: 3%~30% (max level 10) Damage: 3%~30% (max level 10) Boss damage: 3%~35% (max level 10) Elemental resistance: 4%~20% (max level 5) Status resistance: 1%~15% (max level 10) Stance: 2%~10% (max level 5)
Every 10 levels after level 140, the number of Hyper Stat Points you get upon level up will be increased. Starting at level 140, you will get 3 Hyper Stat Points per level up. For every 10 levels after that, you will receive 1 more Hyper Stat Point per level up. (level 140~149 you’ll get 3, level 150~159 you’ll get 4, level 160~169 you’ll get 5, etc.)
Based on the current level of the stat, the amount of Hyper Stat Points required to increase it to the next level will increase.
You can reset your Hyper Stats for 10 million mesos.
As you can see, as the level of a Hyper Stat increases, it requires more and more Hyper Stat Points. The increase in points required is the same for max level 5 and max level 10 skills.
To max a level 5 skill, it requires 25 Hyper Stat Points. To max a level 10 skill, it requires 150 Hyper Stat Points.
The Honor system has been changed slightly.
After level 30, the amount of Honor you get per level up has been increased from 500 to a certain number based on your character’s level.
The amount of Honor given per Medal of Honor from hunting has been increased.
Game Related
New rewards have been added to theme dungeons below level 100.
Fairy Academy Elinel: mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory
mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory Gold Beach Resort: mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory
mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory Riena Strait: mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory
mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory Mushroom Castle: mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory
mesos, Scroll Traces, new accessory Dimensional Library: mesos, Scroll Traces
Mastery Books can now be acquired through the following content:
Evolving System: the price of Mastery Books has been decreased
the price of Mastery Books has been decreased Lion King’s Castle: Luden’s Mastery Book will now give 1 Mastery Book 20 and 1 Mastery Book 30 when used
Luden’s Mastery Book will now give 1 Mastery Book 20 and 1 Mastery Book 30 when used Fantastic Theme Park: a Mastery Book can now be acquired after clearing
a Mastery Book can now be acquired after clearing Crimsonwood Citadel: a Mastery Book can now be acquired after clearing
a Mastery Book can now be acquired after clearing World Merged Party Quests: Mastery Books have been added to the coin shop
Mastery Books have been added to the coin shop Cross Hunter: Mastery Books have been added to the coin shop
A taxi has been added in Twilight Perion to access nearby hunting areas.
Summoned skills’ monster kills will no longer give you Souls. This includes summoned Soul Weapon skills as well as all summons of all jobs.
An error has been fixed.
In The Seed floor 27, an error where certain ridings would allow you to jump to the top and clear the floor instantly has been fixed.
Map Related
New Star Force hunting grounds have been added.
Temple of Time: A new Star Force hunting ground has been added in the Time Road area called ‘Another Path to Oblivion’. (required Star Force: 100)
A new Star Force hunting ground has been added in the Time Road area called ‘Another Path to Oblivion’. (required Star Force: 100) Gate of Future: Drill Hall 1, 2 and Weapon Storage 1, 2 in the Knights’ Fortress area have been changed to Star Force fields. (required Star Force: 150)
Monster Related
Note: all monster stat changes can be seen at Uni’s Blog. The left column shows the previous stats and the right column shows the new stats.
The stats of some monsters in the Mu Lung region have been increased.
Lv. 126 Chipmunk
Lv. 127 Red Porky
Lv. 127 Black Porky
Lv. 127 Red Flower Serpent
Lv. 127 Blue Flower Serpent
Lv. 129 Jar
Lv. 129 Ginseng Jar
Lv. 128 Grizzly
Lv. 129 Bellflower Root
Lv. 129 Sr. Bellflower Root
Lv. 126 Straw Target Dummy
Lv. 126 Wooden Target Dummy
Lv. 128 Reindeer
Lv. 128 Peach Monkey
Lv. 128 Panda
Lv. 130 Mr. Alli
Lv. 128 Book Ghost
Lv. 130 Kru
Lv. 128 Sage Cat
Lv. 131 Captain
The stats of some monsters in the Temple of Time region have been increased.
Lv. 136 Eye of Time
Lv. 142 Memory Monk
Lv. 144 Memory Monk Trainee
Lv. 146 Memory Guardian
Lv. 148 Chief Memory Guardian
Lv. 151 Qualm Monk
Lv. 153 Qualm Monk Trainee
Lv. 155 Qualm Guardian
Lv. 157 Chief Qualm Guardian
Lv. 160 Oblivion Monk
Lv. 162 Oblivion Monk Trainee
Lv. 164 Oblivion Guardian
Lv. 166 Chief Oblivion Guardian
The stats of some monsters in the Gate of Future region have been decreased.
Lv. 168 Official Knight A
Lv. 170 Official Knight B
Lv. 172 Official Knight C
Lv. 174 Official Knight D
Lv. 176 Official Knight E
The stats of some Star Force hunting ground monsters have been adjusted.
Lv.107 [★] Blood Harp
Lv.109 [★] Dual Birk
Lv.110 [★] Black Kentaurus
Lv.110 [★] Red Kentaurus
Lv.110 [★] Blue Kentaurus
Lv.115 [★] Buffy
Lv.116 [★] Lazy Buffy
Lv.115 [★] Soul Teddy
Lv.116 [★] Master Soul Teddy
Lv.116 [★] Buffoon
Lv.117 [★] Deep Buffoon
Lv.116 [★] Klock
Lv.117 [★] Dark Klock
Lv.118 [★] Death Teddy
Lv.119 [★] Master Death Teddy
Lv.118 [★] Pirate
Lv.119 [★] Dual Pirate
Lv.119 [★] Viking
Lv.120 [★] Gigantic Viking
Lv.119 [★] Phantom Watch
Lv.120 [★] Grim Phantom Watch
Lv.120 [★] Gatekeeper
Lv.122 [★] Thanatos
Lv.132 [★] Miner Zombie
Lv.132 [★] Jr. Cerebes
Lv.134 [★] Cerebes
Lv.136 [★] Bain
Lv.141 [★] Dark Wyvern
Lv.147 [★] Skelegon
Lv.153 [★] Skelosaurus
Star Force hunting ground monsters have been added.
Lv.160 [★] Eye of Time
Lv.160 [★] Oblivion Monk
Lv.162 [★] Oblivion Monk Trainee
Lv.164 [★] Oblivion Guardian
Lv.166 [★] Chief Oblivion Guardian
Lv.168 [★] Official Knight A
Lv.170 [★] Official Knight B
Lv.172 [★] Official Knight C
Lv.174 [★] Official Knight D
Lv.176 [★] Official Knight E
Skill Related
Hyper Skills’ character stat passives have been removed. They have been integrated into the new Hyper Stat system.
The output format of damage over time skills has been changed. Previously, when multiple DoT skills were used, their damage was added up and shown as one but now they will show up as different damage numbers.
The delay in using skills after using special duration skills has been reduced.
Archmage (I/L): Ice Aura
Soul Master: Solunar Time
Night Walker: Dominion
There were also other various skill changes.
Night Lord
Quadruple Throw: hit sound has been changed to be louder
Cannon Shooter
Rolling Cannon Rainbow: hit effect has been changed to be translucent
Flame Wizard
Orbital Flame – Add Range: changed to an on/off skill
Night Walker
Triple Throw: Cash stars will now apply to the last hit
Cash stars will now apply to the last hit Quadruple Throw: Cash stars will now apply to the last hit
Cash stars will now apply to the last hit Quintuple Throw: Cash stars will now apply to the last hit
Evan
Illusion: damage which appeared late has been fixed
Mercedes
Wrath of Enlil: ability to link with High Kick Demolition has been removed
Phantom
Rose Carte Finale: damage over time’s card effect has been changed
Angelic Burster
Soul Seeker: error where the cast delay was unintentionally increased has been fixed
Zero
Time Holding: error where the skill’s effects did not reset cooldowns has been fixed
AdvertisementsThe University of Newcastle - the only institution to have mostly finalised its internal investigation into the scandal - confirmed it had expelled two students and suspended a further eight for using the MyMaster service. A total of 31 students were found to have breached the university's academic misconduct protocol, deputy vice-chancellor Andrew Parfitt said. All of them were international students based at the University of Newcastle's Sydney campus. When the cheating allegations were put to them, "the vast majority of students" admitted to buying their assignments and "expressed regret," Professor Parfitt said. Among them, 24 students received a fail grade for courses completed in 2014 - a penalty that was applied 51 times, indicating some students had bought their assignments for multiple courses. Those students were suspended or expelled.
The two expelled students had used the MyMaster service four or five times, or had previous misconduct breaches on their record, he said. "I think we've always known there are various forms students use for cheating. But we have a very strong process in place here." Professor Parfitt said the university was still pursuing a number of former students who had not responded to the cheating allegations. Those who graduated last year risked having their degrees revoked. Four months after the cheating scandal was uncovered, the four other worst-affected universities - Macquarie University, University of Technology Sydney, University of Sydneyand University of NSW - have told Fairfax Media that their internal investigations are still under way, but a number of students had been identified.
All universities, except UNSW, listed expulsion as the maximum possible penalty for students found to have breached academic protocol in their dealings with MyMaster. At UNSW, the maximum penalty is 18 months' suspension from the university. All universities contacted by Fairfax Media said no penalties would be imposed until all appeal processes had been exhausted. Macquarie University - the worst-affected university with students logging 128 requests for work in 2014 - confirmed 43 "current and former students" had been asked to attend disciplinary committee hearings to explain how their names were among the files held on the MyMaster website. Professor John Simons, deputy vice-chancellor of Macquarie University, said the university had commissioned an independent investigation to audit the data provided by Fairfax Media and would "leave no stone unturned in establishing whether or not cheating had occurred". "Some of these students may be completely innocently mentioned [in the Fairfax data]. This is for the disciplinary process to uncover," he said. A spokeswoman for the University of NSW said 19 students had been issued with "notices of allegation" in relation to 18 assignments, after plagiarism detection software had matched copies of the purchased assignments with those handed in by the students last year.Home Capital Group, the Toronto-based alternative mortgage lender that was on the verge of collapse earlier this year, says it has repaid a $2-billion line of credit from Berkshire Hathaway.
The company was given the financial lifeline last month by Berkshire Hathaway, which is headed by Warren Buffett, as it was trying to regain investor confidence following a run on deposits from customers.
When it provided the line of credit, Berkshire Hathaway also bought a $400 million stake in Home Capital.
Home Capital says proceeds from asset sales helped it repay the line of credit, bringing down the amount of interest expenses it faces as it continues to strengthen its liquidity position.
The lender, which provides mortgages to borrowers who don't qualify for a loan from the big banks, faced allegations earlier this year from Ontario's securities regulator that it misled investors in its handling of a scandal involving falsified loan applications.
It has since settled that case and a separate class-action lawsuit filed by investors.David Marks—not his real name—is an international arms dealer. He acquires military technology, including weapons, aircraft, tanks, missiles, and computers, on behalf of governmental clients around the globe. He operates legally, working only works with countries that are allied with the West. He has modest homes in two locations around the globe–his primary residence is in Europe–as well as offices that anchor his presence in the countries within which he does business.
Marks closes hundreds of millions of dollars in arms deals every year, taking a single-digit percentage for each as his company’s compensation. He travels monthly around the world to meet clients and governments, brokering deals and conducting due diligence on both the buyers and sellers. He works with large prime contractors, civilian corporations, and small weapons manufacturers. He describes his role as an “outsourcing specialist," someone who can step in to manage transactions and acquisitions that might be sensitive or politically unpopular.
By virtue of his network of clients and sources, he can offer unique insight into international geopolitics. (He describes his personal politics as centrist, though slightly more right-leaning as he gets older.) I spoke with Marks via a secure communications app to find out what impact the Trump administration might have on global security.
WIRED: First, some background. How do you gather your information when conducting business?
Marks: You establish a network over a long period of time. I have contacts in intelligence, government, commerce, and banking. It behooves you to have a diverse range of sources. They all have their own vantage points, so you use your experience and knowledge about how the world really works, and then balance all of that input so you can gauge things for yourself. You have to judge whether to go ahead with a given deal or deem it too risky. A lot of it has to do with experience and common sense, but also understanding geopolitics and global business. We walk the line in the middle.
What’s an example of a deal that’s too risky for you?
There was an incident a few years ago in the Ukraine—which, I’m sorry to say, is a tough place to do business. We were invited to participate in the procurement of non-military vehicles that were going to be used by a government agency. I had access to extremely good products, and have sold hundreds of these vehicles in the past, so I thought it would be a piece of cake. It’s close to Europe, the Ukraine is our friend, etc. But then I got a phone call from a friend at three-letter US agency: ‘We have actionable intelligence that you might get kidnapped.’ This is a person with 30 years of experience. I don’t take comments lightly from someone like this, so I backed out.
What do you think of the Trump administration so far?
What I see is what I expected to see. The first year is going to be a reality show—and yes the early stuff out of DC is mind-boggling. From a geopolitical perspective, countries know they at least can’t bullshit him the way they could past administrations. If they do try to bullshit him he’ll come at them full-power, so they’re going to have to sit down and negotiate. This scares the crap out of both allies and adversaries.
How will that manifest itself?
There are a lot of niceties and protocols involved in foreign policy and structuring international deals. Trump can’t stay ignorant of those details, and you must respect international laws and protocols, but he’s going to run this like he runs a business. In the last 25 years, international relations deviated from focusing on statecraft to all the politics and niceties. Now there will be more dialogue, lots of back and forth, and this administration will try to find a medium between statecraft and business. We’re going to get a dose of realism, and frankly we need that. Sure, it’s all going to be filtered through the Trump lens, and we don’t really know what that means yet, but we’ll get clarity. I truly believe that.
What are others in the global military community saying about the new administration?
They’re confused. A lot of them don’t know what to expect. Take the fact that he hung up on the Australian prime minister. Contrary to what people might think, I really, really don’t believe he’d act like that if he didn’t feel the need, given his desire to change the tenor of conversations even with our allies. He knows what it means to be President of the United States. But that doesn’t change the fact that people are confused.
How will the arms business in general change?
Trump has been all over the likes of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, telling them to get their act together in terms of pricing and accountability. They used to shoot from the hip when pricing their defense systems, and that’s going to end. The Joint Strike Fighter program—just as a top-level example—has been mind-boggling in this respect. We’ve been lied to, as have our allies, and now those nations are looking elsewhere for their military systems. That makes the US look bad. You just can’t say an airplane is going to cost x and then say oh never mind, it’ll be y. They need to be more fair and even-handed, and they need to not act like we’re the only show in town. Things need to be more rational and business-minded in the defense industry. You cannot keep inflating prices and expect your buyers to pay any price you deem correct.
How do you think your business specifically will be impacted by Trump?
Business will be better in part because of Trump going after a lot of bloat at the higher echelons of the military-industrial complex. This frees up money for broader spending. In terms of political tension, if things stay the same, it’s a win-win proposition—assuming you are fair and deliver your goods and services with a reasonable margin, and don't gouge prices. If tensions escalate, the US and NATO allies will all need more equipment. If tensions thaw, we will get access to new markets, including the CIS states like Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.
Of course, a potential global recession would be a game-changer for everyone, including our business. NATO states will certainly cut spending on military technology, and the business environment would get more difficult and complicated with the general reduction of trade volume.
Have the types of weapons and hardware people have been buying changed, in anticipation of evolving types of conflict? In short, what’s hot these days?
The guns-and-ammo side will always be there. Frankly, Trump and his administration won’t really change anything for our business in that respect. Remember, we only deal with states that are allied with the US, and even there we have clear lines regarding exactly what can and cannot be sold or supplied to friendly states.
'In terms of political tension... it's a win-win.' International Arms Dealer
Having said that, what is always hot is what we refer to as disruptive technology—smart weapons, missiles, guided weapons, for instance, and any kind of game-changing technology specifically related to any particular conflict. This can be as simple as long-range artillery, advanced anti-tank missiles, or civilian aircraft modified to carry weapons. This is why we need to seriously and strictly control their proliferation, and not let them just "appear" on any battlefield or conflict zone. In the wrong hands, they can have catastrophic effects on society at large, world-wide.
What’s the short-term prognosis?
Everyone is in a holding pattern. People are giving him the benefit of the doubt, and I know myself that everything I’m saying here is nice and in a perfect world. But the truth is that we don’t know what’s going to happen. In US and foreign policy at this point in time, that’s a good thing. It’s not predictable, and our adversaries count on the predictability of US administrations. That predictability has worked to our detriment, and we paid price for that. But now there’s no predictability, and that’s given us kind of a reset button. Everyone is hoping for the best, but we still don’t know what to expect from him. The ball is absolutely in his court.
So should the world be worried?
No, I don’t think so. It’s going to be fine.AdmiralGeezer
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Battlevoid: Sector Siege - A methodical straight into action real-time strategy game for PC and mobile.
Commanders. It is my absolute pleasure to show you the first screenshots of a completely new Battlevoid game. This game was built from scratch using another game engine. We did this because we knew we had fans that wanted more to the Battlevoid series. For the past 9 months I have worked 6 or 7 days a week, 10 hours or more every day to bring this game alive. All the while our 2 other guys have been committed to Space Haven. We didn't want to announce anything prematurely, since we weren't sure we could pull this off. But we did! The game is going to be released on both PC and mobile, and it's looking like a game with great potential. Enjoy the screenshots along with a short start for a story.
When humans decided to form colonies in space, the mission was to find new resources, find more room for a growing humanity and make contact with new life forms. Humans quickly found out they weren't alone, and that the other life forms weren't friendly. The galaxy was in chaos, each new race humans encountered quickly turned hostile. It was like an aura of suspicion existed around humanity, marking humans as the cause of something evil.
Start by selecting your crew composition, affecting various statistics during game play.
Equip your Battlestation with turrets, hangars and point defense. The Battlestation is your most important unit, capable of building ships.
Design and build your own unique fleet to defend and attack the enemy.
Fleet construction under way!
Your fleet is ready, Commander. Time to explore this sector for capture points.
Capture point in sight! Capture points generate resources for you, the more you have the more you get. Beware, these points are also guarded by a race called "Guardians".
You got the capture point, time to build stations to defend it from sudden enemy attacks.
Trolgar forces trying to take a capture point from you.
You have the ability to build hangars capable of boarding alien ships.
A transport ship makes it through enemy defenses! An epic battle takes place within the enemy ship.
Success! You have boarded and captured an alien ship. You can now design and save it to make your Battlestation capable of building clones of these alien ships.
Time to build an alien ship and add it to your fleet.
The enemy has its own Battlestation, building ships, trying to capture points and ultimately wanting destroy you.
You have the ability to research new technology, better vision scanners, improved resource production and new units among many other.
Targeting is done with a targeting circle, giving you the possibility to target turret categories and hangars on a particular ship.
You can upgrade all your turrets with seven different attributes, like hull damage, shield damage, range and more.
And what would a Battlevoid game be without epic battles? This time you will have the possibility to have a fleet of 10 ships or more, as well as stations.
Features:
A Campaign and skirmish.
Two game play modes. Domination and Under Siege.
Fog Of War.
Command a fleet of up to ~10 ship units and up to ~12 stations.
Battle for capture points spread across a sector.
Choose your own crew composition.
Research new technology.
Board and capture alien ships and clone them.
6 different sector maps.
All the familiar races from Harbinger, and a new race called "Guardians".
YOUR QUESTION: WHEN WILL BATTLEVOID: SECTOR SIEGE BE RELEASED?
More specific date to come. ANSWER: SOMETIME AFTER THIS SUMMERMore specific date to come.
We've worked harder than ever before to bring you two new games. We hope you like what you see and feel free to leave any comments or questions!
Sign up to Bugbyte community to know first hand when the game is out (We do not spam):
OR:
----> Join the forums as a member Commanders. It is my absolute pleasure to show you the first screenshots of a completely new Battlevoid game. This game was built from scratch using another game engine. We did this because we knew we had fans that wanted more to the Battlevoid series. For the past 9 months I have worked 6 or 7 days a week, 10 hours or more every day to bring this game alive. All the while our 2 other guys have been committed to Space Haven. We didn't want to announce anything prematurely, since we weren't sure we could pull this off. But we did! The game is going to be released on both PC and mobile, and it's looking like a game with great potential. Enjoy the screenshots along with a short start for a story.When humans decided to form colonies in space, the mission was to find new resources, find more room for a growing humanity and make contact with new life forms. Humans quickly found out they weren't alone, and that the other life forms weren't friendly. The galaxy was in chaos, each new race humans encountered quickly turned hostile. It was like an aura of suspicion existed around humanity, marking humans as the cause of something evil.Start by selecting your crew composition, affecting various statistics during game play.Equip your Battlestation with turrets, hangars and point defense. The Battlestation is your most important unit, capable of building ships.Design and build your own unique fleet to defend and attack the enemy.Fleet construction under way!Your fleet is ready, Commander. Time to explore this sector for capture points.Capture point in sight! Capture points generate resources for you, the more you have the more you get. Beware, these points are also guarded by a race called "Guardians".You got the capture point, time to build stations to defend it from sudden enemy attacks.Trolgar forces trying to take a capture point from you.You have the ability to build hangars capable of boarding alien ships.A transport ship makes it through enemy defenses! An epic battle takes place within the enemy ship.Success! You have boarded and captured an alien ship. You can now design and save it to make your Battlestation capable of building clones of these alien ships.Time to build an alien ship and add it to your fleet.The enemy has its own Battlestation, building ships, trying to capture points and ultimately wanting destroy you.You have the ability to research new technology, better vision scanners, improved resource production and new units among many other.Targeting is done with a targeting circle, giving you the possibility to target turret categories and hangars on a particular ship.You can upgrade all your turrets with seven different attributes, like hull damage, shield damage, range and more.And what would a Battlevoid game be without epic battles? This time you will have the possibility to have a fleet of 10 ships or more, as well as stations. Reply steph
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I was a $100 backer of the 1st version, I will not esitate to support you again with both games. |
's pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups and further his propaganda."
The news came ahead of a planned Sunday vigil in Orlando, which was expected to draw as many as 20,000 people.Prime Minister
GCSB
Prime Minister and Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau John Key this morning released the results of a full review of GCSB files conducted by Director Ian Fletcher.
Since 17 September, the date on which Mr Fletcher advised the Prime Minister of the illegal activity in respect of Mr Dotcom, the bureau has been working through its Dotcom-related files in order to cooperate with both the Neazor inquiry and the matters before the High Court.
The Prime Minister said that on Monday, 1 October, he meet with the Director and sought an assurance that the GCSB had reviewed all relevant files.
The Director then conducted a further review of the material and provided it to the Prime Minister’s office last evening. Earlier yesterday afternoon Mr Fletcher met the Prime Minister to discuss his initial findings, which were subsequently confirmed that evening.
The review of the files found the following.
The Prime Minister was not briefed by the GCSB on its role in the Dotcom matter, nor any issues of potential illegality, until Monday 17 September.
The Prime Minister was not briefed by any group or official within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on the GCSB’s role in the Dotcom matter ahead of the 17 September meeting. Roy Ferguson, Director of the Intelligence Coordination Group, was made aware by GCSB of its role in the arrest of Mr Dotcom the day of the raid but only after it occurred in January 2012. Mr Ferguson has advised the Prime Minister that his records indicate he did not subsequently brief the Prime Minister on the matter. It is not Mr Ferguson’s role to brief the Prime Minister on operational matters.
The Prime Minister visited GCSB offices on 29 February for a briefing on the broader capabilities of the bureau, and to meet the staff. A paper prepared as talking points for the staff member conducting a presentation contained a short reference to the Dotcom arrest a few weeks earlier, as an example of cooperation between the GCSB and the Police. The presentation was an electronic slide presentation. The cover slide was a montage of 11 small images, one of which was of Mr Dotcom.
A short briefing note provided to the Prime Minister prior to the 29 February visit contained no reference to the Dotcom matter. The talking points paper was used by the staff member at the briefing, however neither that paper nor a copy of the presentation was provided to the Prime Minister either at that time or subsequently.
No written record was kept of the meeting.
In advising the Prime Minister of the talking points note and the electronic presentation, the Director told the Prime Minister that he had no recollection of the Dotcom matter being raised at the meeting but accepted the assurance of his staff that it was mentioned briefly, in the context of a much broader presentation.
At no point was any reference made to questions about residency status.
The Prime Minister acknowledged the findings of the review and has made them public at the earliest opportunity.
“I have been clear from the outset that I received no briefing on the operation from GCSB prior to 17 September, and this review confirms that,” says Mr Key.
“While neither the GCSB Director nor I can recall the reference to the Dotcom matter being made during my visit to the bureau back in February, I accept that it may well have been made.
“Given the public statements I have made in Parliament and in the media, it is important that I take this opportunity to provide this additional information.
“I will be correcting my answers to the House when it resumes on Tuesday 16 October.”
The Prime Minister today also noted the results of the GCSB audit into all cases of assistance to law enforcement agencies since January 2009. This audit was one of a number of steps ordered by the Prime Minister in the wake of the Dotcom matter, and was released today by the Director.
“The audit finds that in the vast bulk of cases there is no suggestion of any illegality,” says Mr Key.
“In three of 58 cases, however, the GCSB cannot assure me that the legal position is totally clear. More legal work is being undertaken and the GCSB will issue a further public statement when that work has been concluded.”Nintendo to Market New 3DS XL During Better Call Saul Premiere and The Walking Dead
Despite being just four years old, the Nintendo 3DS has lived an eventful life of both hardship and explosive success that makes it appear older than it actually is. After a rough launch followed by a price cut, the system has propelled to over 50 million units sold. It’s a satisfying milestone, but Nintendo isn’t done just yet.
On February 13th the New 3DS will debut in the Western market. Its release is of utmost importance to Nintendo, which knows that its sales have not only slowed down, but that the handheld gaming market is being challenged more than ever before. It doesn’t help that its console, the Wii U, is still struggling to breathe. So, it has a plan.
Nintendo is ready to execute a heavy marketing push to coincide with the New 3DS’ debut. It isn’t just targeting people of young ages, though. As a matter of fact, it plans to show a brand new commercial during tonight’s Better Call Saul Premier as well as the new episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead, as confirmed via it’s Nintendo of America Twitter account:
Want a first look at our New Nintendo #3DS XL commercials? Tune into @WalkingDead_AMC and @BetterCallSaul tonight! — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 8, 2015
Although it hasn’t been confirmed, it’s likely that the video below is the one that will be shown:
Notice the more mature approach to marketing. Nintendo knows that it needs to attack a wider range of demographics, and it has chosen this time to appeal to young adults who may not own a 3DS, but had memorable experiences with Nintendo during their childhood.
The commercial is around a minute long, and fitting such a lengthy commercial into a time slot during high viewer forecast shows costs a lot of money. This opportunity isn’t being taken lightly by Nintendo.
Also See: New 3DS Hardware Revision to Double RAM, Increase VRAM
If you’re a fan of Breaking Bad, you may just want to set a reminder on your phone to watch Better Call Saul tonight. It’s created by the one and only Vince Gilligan, and has been sold as a spin-off of the award-winning Breaking Bad. It’ll premiere at 8:00PM tonight. Meanwhile, tonight at 9:00PM The Walking Dead will introduce it’s mid-season premier.Contents show]
History
On the stormy night of May 13, two pregnant women came to the office of Fallville, Iowa's Dr. Gilmore. However, the doctor had been drinking, and he had sent his nurse home. The child of one of the women, Charlene Thawne, had been strangled on its own umbilical cord, and Gilmore was too intoxicated to save the poor baby. However, the other woman, Nora Allen, successfully gave birth to twin boys. Gilmore, to cover up the baby's death, gave one of the twins to the Thawne family, telling the Allens that one of their children had been stillborn. The twin that remained with the Allens was named Barry, and he grew up to be the Flash. The other twin, however, was raised by the Thawnes, and he was named Malcolm.
Malcolm's adoptive parents were con artists, using a strange inherited Thawne power, a blue flame, to heal people, afterwards selling jars of petroleum jelly with blue food coloring to the healed and their friends. All the other members of his family had this power except for Malcolm, and they constantly taunted him for being inferior. Finally, when he was seventeen, during one of their many arguments in which Malcolm asked to be taught the power of the blue fire, his mother told him that he had been adopted. Going to Fallville, knowing that was where he was born, Malcolm sought out Dr. Gilmore. The doctor told him of his origins, and the enraged lad killed the doctor for having picked him to give to the other family.
Malcolm traveled around the world and got into trouble with the law. Upon his decision to finally confront Barry with his existence, he learned that his brother had become a policeman. Envious, Malcolm got a job as a janitor for a cleaning service used by the Central City Police Department. He watched Barry from afar, even witnessing the accident that gave him the power of superspeed. He grew to hate Barry for having everything that Malcolm thought should have been his own.
He went to his adoptive grandmother, the mother of Hugo Thawne, to learn more about the blue flame the Thawnes wielded. It turned out that it was an art with many more capabilities than what Hugo and family had been using it for. Malcolm's grandmother taught him that the flame could steal anything that your heart desired, feeding on passion. Using this power, she taught him how to place his hatred for Barry Allen inside a talisman, which he wore on his chest.
Malcolm drew his power from this talisman, and adopted a costume as the super-villain Cobalt Blue. When he faced the Flash and Kid Flash, he had the ability to steal their speed by enveloping them in his blue flame. After a battle at the zoo, Cobalt Blue appeared in Barry's lab, revealing his knowledge of Barry's identity. After a high-speed chase with a Flash created from the blue flame, Cobalt Blue was engulfed in his own blue flame. Wally thought that he had caught a glimpse of the face behind the mask, a very familiar one.
Cobalt Blue surfaced again after Barry's death. He blew up the Flash Museum and attacked Barry's old house and his laboratory at the police station. He also robbed the original Flash, Jay Garrick, of his speed. Wally, now going by the Flash, tracked him down to Barry's tombstone, which Malcolm tricked Wally into destroying. However, Wally bought time by prompting Malcolm to tell his life story while he soaked up enough speed force energy to retaliate, defeating the villain quite quickly.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Blue Flame Energy Access: By tapping into his talisman, Malcolm can access fellows abilities: Energy Projection : Malcolm can cause his flame to burst out of his body and sword. Energy Construct Creation : Malcolm can create objects out of his flame, his favorite being a flaming sword. Power Absorption : Malcolm used his hatred to channel the Blue Flame to steal objects and power from his enemies. On most occasions he uses this power to steal speed from the Flashes. Superhuman Speed : Malcolm can reach incredible amounts of speed by using his Blue Flame to steal speed from opponents. He can steal multiple levels of speed from different sources and achieve speeds to assault even Wally West. Healing : The Blue Flame was mainly used by the Thawne family to "heal" and presumably Malcolm has the same ability but he hasn't shown the ability to produce healing flames as of yet.
By tapping into his talisman, Malcolm can access fellows abilities:
Weaknesses
Obsession: Although his hatred for the Flash Family allows him to activate his talisman it also becomes a major downfall to his battle-prowess and general well being by blinding him from his true purpose.
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Blue Flame Talisman: Although unable to tap into the power of the Blue Flame, Malcolm was granted access to the Blue Flame through a talisman given to him by his adopted grandmother.
RelatedPolice released this surveillance photo of the man who they say fondled a young girl at a Michael's store. On Tuesday, they arrested Cody Hurst, 26.
Houston police have arrested a man accused of fondling a young girl at a Houston Michael's store. And now they're looking for more possible victims.Cody Hurst, 26, has been arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. Police say on April 9, he approached a 9-year-old girl at the Michael's at 7560 Westheimer. He allegedly grabbed her from behind, removed a piece of her clothing and fondled her.Police say when the girl yelled for help, Hurst fled the store."When my children were young, we didn't have any issues like that," Janet Gallogy said, "Now you're fearful. Even in the parking lot, you've got to hold their hands and make sure they're safe everywhere."A Crime Stoppers tip led to the identification of Hurst and on Tuesday, he was arrested without incident."I'm glad he's caught, but I don't think it would have ever happened if the parents were with the child," Yetzeli Guevara said, "That's my opinion."Investigators say they have reason to believe Hurst may have had additional contact with other children and are asking any additional victims to call Houston police at 713-308-1100.Faustino Alvarez, Michael's District Manager issued this statement: "We are thankful that the suspect has been caught and we will continue to assist the Houston police in any way we can."A NASA satellite exploring Saturn has just beamed back new, close-up images of the planet's moon Enceladus — an object that could be one of the most habitable places in the solar system.
The Cassini spacecraft made its most recent close pass of Enceladus on Oct. 14, flying just 1,124 miles from the moon's surface. The flyby has returned the best-ever photos of Enceladus' northern polar area, according to NASA.
Scientists initially thought that the moon's north pole would be extremely cratered because of images sent back by the Voyager mission years ago, but Cassini's new photos show that the real story isn't quite so simple.
"The northern regions are crisscrossed by a spidery network of gossamer-thin cracks that slice through the craters," Paul Helfenstein, a member of the Cassini imaging team, said in a statement. "These thin cracks are ubiquitous on Enceladus, and now we see that they extend across the northern terrains as well."
A Cassini view of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Oct. 14, 2015.
Some researchers are particularly interested in gathering more information about Enceladus because it harbors a deep, global ocean beneath its icy crust.
The body of water could potentially be a good place for microbial life to thrive, though scientists need to collect quite a bit more data before they know if the chemistry of the water could be friendly for life as we know it.
The fissures seen in the moon's surface could actually help out scientists hoping to understand the cosmic body's ocean.
Plumes of icy spray sometimes erupt from Enceladus, shooting material from the subsurface ocean out into space. Cassini is schedule to make a deep dive above the moon, passing just 30 miles from the world's south pole, possibly allowing it to sample bits of the ocean shot into space from a crack in the crust.
"During the encounter, Cassini will make its deepest-ever dive through the moon's plume of icy spray, sampling the chemistry of the extraterrestrial ocean beneath the ice," NASA said in the statement.
Cassini's view of Enceladus' craters on Oct. 14, 2015.
"Mission scientists are hopeful data from that flyby will provide evidence of how much hydrothermal activity is occurring in the moon's ocean, along with more detailed insights about the ocean's chemistry — both of which relate to the potential habitability of Enceladus," NASA added.
The spacecraft is planning to make its final close-up observations of Enceladus on Dec. 19, when it flies 3,106 miles above the moon.
Cassini is nearing the close of its long life at Saturn. The probe arrived at the ringed planet in 2004, and its mission is expected to end in 2017 when the craft runs out of fuel and makes a death-dive into the world's atmosphere, burning up in the process.The Revolving Door – Part One: Hillary Clinton and Wendy Sherman
Hillary Clinton has publicly criticized the “so-called revolving door” between government and the private sector and cited it as a reason why “Americans’ trust in government is eroding.” Singling out the “financial industry,” Clinton remarked: “That’s when people start worrying that the foxes are guarding the hen house.”[1]
Given Clinton’s strong language, one would expect her to shy away from a person with a volleyed past of related public and private sector positions. In practice, however, Clinton does just the opposite.
Take Wendy Sherman for example.
Sherman was first appointed to office in 1993, under then President Bill Clinton, as the head of the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs. In 1996, after three years in office, Sherman left and became the founding President and CEO of the newly created Fannie Mae Foundation, which came into existence as a result of a single $350 million stock endowment from Fannie Mae. In an interview, Sherman alluded to the goals of the foundation, which included ending so-called discriminatory practices in the mortgage and lending business and increasing home ownership among lower income persons.[2] Undoubtedly code for: “we want more borrowers.” To achieve these goals, the foundation would lobby politicians for less stringent borrowing standards, which included payments to both Clinton’s senatorial campaign and the Clinton Foundation.[3]
The foundation’s lobbying efforts paid off. With the support of the Clinton administration, credit and down payment requirements were lowered or completely done away with.[4] The Clinton administration went one step further and required taxpayer-backed Fannie and Freddie to expand their quotas of risky loans from 30 percent of portfolio to 50 percent.[5] This of course increased Fannie and Freddie’ overall net worth, but as it turned out, provided the framework that would ultimately collapse the housing market.
In 1997, Sherman left the private sector and was once again appointed to office under President Clinton. This time, Sherman served as Counselor of the United States Department of State and Special Advisor to President Clinton.[6] As Counselor, Sherman worked on foreign policy issues and provided guidance to different bureaus.[7]
Following her position as Counselor and Special Advisor, Sherman returned to the private sector and started The Albright Group, which later merged in 2009 to become Albright Stonebridge Group where Sherman started as vice chair.[8] Albright Stonebridge Group, among other things, advises multinationals and financial institutions on international government relations and regulatory affairs.[9] Clearly dealing with issues related to her previous political appointment.
During this same time, Sherman also served as a member of the investment committee of Albright Capital Management, an affiliated investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets.[10] Not surprisingly, Sherman was also serving as Clinton’s top foreign policy advisor during her 2008 Democratic presidential campaign.[11]
In 2011, after a number of years in the private sector, Clinton brought Sherman back to the State Department as Under Secretary, the fourth-ranking official in the State Department. From 2011 to 2015, Sherman was active on the global scene. This included negotiations with North Korea that ultimately failed and the Iran Nuclear Deal that allowed Iran to keep its nuclear program and have sanctions lifted – a deal which Clinton, as Secretary of State, unequivocally supported.[12]
Not surprisingly, in 2015, after having served four years as Under Secretary, Sherman once again went back to the private sector and rejoined the global investment and strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group, this time as a Senior Counselor.[13] Since rejoining, Albright Stonebridge Group has donated over $35,000 directly to Clinton’s campaign as compared to $2,750 for Jeb Bush, and $1,500 to Sanders.[14]
Looking back, it’s easy to argue that Sherman was qualified for each position. She may have even been the most qualified. But we do not distrust the revolving door because it lets in the qualified. We distrust it because it’s reeks of quid pro quo. So as I reflect on Clinton’s own words, I ask myself: is Clinton the fox? Or something much worse?
[1] Hillary Clinton and Senator Tammy Baldwin op-ed
[2] 1996 Interview With Wendy Sherman
[3] Hillary Clinton’s Fannie and Freddie Problem; 1996 Interview With Wendy Sherman
[4] Who Caused The Economic Crisis
[5] Are the Clinton’s The Real Housing Crash Villains
[6] Wendy Sherman’s Albright Stonebridge Group Bio
[7] Counselor for State Department
[8] Wendy Sherman Speaker Bio
[9] Albright Stonebridge Firm Website
[10] Albright Capital Management 2016 Investment Brochure
[11] Wendy Sherman – Lead Negotiator; Wendy Sherman Wiki
[12] Wendy Sherman Iran Nuclear Deal
[13] Wendy Sherman’s Albright Stonebridge Group Bio
[14] Albright Stonebridge Political DonationsVisualization
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Mobile Users: If you are having issues using the interactive version of this visualization, you can find a static version of it here.
Data Notes
Last year, I created a graphic showing the employment status of Americans by age using data published by the American Community Survey. Since then, new data has been published for the Census Bureau so I updated my initial visualization.
I used the 2015 One Year Estimates Public Use Microdata Sample to create this visualization. The data can be found on the ACS Website. I then utilized Tableau to visualize the data. If you are interested in more data like this be sure to check out my “How American’s Differ by Age” Data Visualization.
If you want to keep up with our surveys and data analysis, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.The Korean Yonhap News Agency announced today that Samsung will present the world's first stretchable display at the Society for Information Display event in Los Angeles this week. The dynamic stretchable OLED panel is revolutionary because it can bend in both directions, while previous flexible displays were able to bend only in one. This is a high-tech product and can be deemed as a peak and milestone in the display industry according to industry watchers. When pressed, the display can stretch with up to 12 mm maintaining "a high degree of resolution". 9.1-inch versions of the stretchable OLED display will be showcased at the event. Samsung expects this type of displays will find wide usage in IoT devices and AI products and technologies. In addition, the Southe Korean giant will also demonstrate a 5.09-inch glasses-free 3D OLED panel for realistic stereoscopic images along with a 1.96-inch display with UHD resolution support (3840 x 2160) for AR and VR application. Source
Samsung introduces its 82-inch QLED 8K Digital Signage at ISE 2019 At the IDS 2019 in Amsterdam this week, Samsung is showcasing its QLED 8K Digital Signage, including The Wall in 8K and 8K HDR technology for LED signage. "By introducing 8K in display signage, businesses can deliver impeccable picture quality to their audiences in a way that was previously not possible," said Seog-gi Kim, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "The 82-inch QLED...
Samsung speeds up the launch of commercially available 8K TVs and self-emitting QLED TVs Korean media ETNews reports that Samsung plans to accelerate its next-generation TV launch. Its schedule includes the announcement of a super-large 8K TV lineup of 100-inch or larger TVs and the release of self-luminous QLED TVs in 2020. Modified the strategy to lead the super large and premium TV market. Originally, Samsung planned to release 8K TV products at CES 2019 but it advanced the launch for the IFA 2018...
Samsung announces its first 8K QLED TV - the Q900FN At IFA 2018 in Berlin today Samsung will formally announce and showcase its first 8K QLED TV - the Samsung Q900FN in its booth at IFA, located at the City Cube Berlin on Level 2. The 85-inch model combines all the benefits of the high-end Samsung QLED TVs with several enhancements that bring 8K-quality images to life. For starters, it features Real 8K Resolution, produces 4000 nit peak brightness and supports HDR10+...
Samsung will launch the world's first Thunderbolt 3 QLED curved monitor at IFA 2018 Today Samsung announced the world's first QLED curved monitor with Thunderbolt 3 - the Samsung C34J791. This is a 34-inch unit with a 1500R curvature and a resolution of 3440 x 1440 pixels. The VA panel offers a typical brightness of 300 nits, a 3000:1 contrast ratio and 178-degree viewing angles (H/V). Its refresh rate is 100Hz. The model is equipped with 2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type-C) ports, 1x HDMI, 1x DP, 2x USB...
Samsung's 2018 Premium UHD and QLED TVs receive an HDR10+ certification Today Samsung announced that it has received the official HDR10+ logo certification for its 2018 Premium UHD and QLED TVs being HDR10+ compatible. This tech allows HDR TVs to improve on-screen realism and the sense of depth as highlights can be brighter and shadows darker through scene-by-scene brightness level optimization. In addition to enhanced viewing experience, HDR10+ opens opportunities for ecosystem...
Samsung announces two affordable curved gaming monitors at Gamescom 2018 The Gamescom 2018 gaming trade show commenced today and Samsung has been quick to announce two new curved gaming monitors dubbed Samsung C32JG5 and Samsung C27JG5. Both have a WQHD resolution (2560 x 1440) on 32-inch and 27-inch diagonal size, respectively. Their VA panels offer a high static contrast ratio of 3000:1 and a 1800R curvature for immersive gameplay. The 144Hz frame rate ensures responsive graphics and...
Samsung has developed a new depositiong source tech for high-resolution flexible OLED panels According to ETnews, Samsung Display has developed a new deposition source technology which will be applied to the next generation production line of flexible OLED panels. The manufacturer is preparing to change the evaporation source, which is a core part of the deposition equipment, to a new surface source method. The existing technology uses an evaporator that evaporates the powdered organic matter and sticks it...
LG to present the largest MicroLED TV at IFA 2018 in Berlin Earlier this year, at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, Samsung announced the world's first MicroLED TV called "The Wall". At the end of this month, LG will present the world's largest MicroLED TV at the IFA 2018 in Berlin. The unit will have a 175-inch diagonal size. For comparison, Samsung's Wall has a 146-inch diagonal size. It is expected to be thinner than the 8 cm profile of The Wall TV. Commenting on this, an LF...
Samsung C49J89 is a 49-inch Super Ultra-wide curved business monitor One of the latest business monitors launched by Samsung Display is the Samsung C49J89. It features a 49-inch curved screen (1800R curvature) with a 32:9 Super Ultra-wide aspect ratio that should facilitate multitasking. It is an excellent alternative to dual-monitor setups. The Picture-by-Picture function allows you to input the signal from up to two PCs simultaneously. In addition, when you have connected two...
Samsung unveiled its 2018 TVs lineup including QLED TVs, Premium UHD TVs and UHD models Today Samsung has presented its flagship line of 2018 QLED TVs and AV products at the 2018 First Look New York event at the American Stock Exchange building in Manhattan, New York. The QLED lineup includes the world's first cadmium-free Quantum Dot technology and offers improved picture quality, design, connectivity and intelligence. This is achieved via a number of improvements and innovations. For starters, the...
Samsung Display resumes R&D on OLED TVs based on the inkjet printing process for oxide-based large-sized panels South Korean media ET news reports that Samsung Display has plans for resurrecting its development of OLED TVs. This conclusion is based on the opinion of "multiple representatives from universities and industries". According to them, Samsung Display has summoned a group of 300-400 employees from the LCD Business Department to work on inkjet printing OLED TVs. This could actually mean not only OLED TV development...
Samsung introduces its AI technology for upscaling any video content into 8K Along with its new 8K QLED TV, today Samsung has also introduced its own AI technology that is capable of upscaling any video content into 8K based on machine learning content analysis. With this service, Samsung addresses the issue of available 8K TV set but unavailable 8K content. This technology enables the TV to transform all pictures into 8K. It employs a three-stage process in order to achieve that. At first...
Meet The Wall - the world's first modular MicroLED 146-inch TV from Samsung At its annual First Look CES event today, Samsung Electronics has unveiled The Wall - the worlds first modular self-emitting MicroLED 146-inch TV. "At Samsung, we are dedicated to providing consumers with a wide range of cutting-edge screen experiences," said Jonghee Han, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. As the world's first consumer modular MicroLED television, The Wall represents...Easy to make, quick Keto Raspberry Cheesecake Bars made with an Almond Flour Cheesecake Crust, creamy Cheesecake filling and tart Raspberry topping. Low carb and ketogenic friendly Cheesecake recipe.
I’ve always liked Cheesecakes. Silky, creamy, decadent. But I’ve never really taken the time to make one because in my mind they were difficult to make. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not much of a baker or someone who does great at cooking as an exact science. I’m more of the “just eye ball it” cooking type which does not always translate well to baking.
But my Mom has always made No Bake Cheesecakes which are relatively simple and straightforward, super easy to whip up for a good dessert.
I’ve been making a lot of keto friendly low carb recipes lately so I thought I would give it a shot to create a tasty, low carb cheesecake bar that didn’t lack flavor. This would be excellent as a dessert for Thanksgiving!
Recipe Notes
You could easily swap out the raspberry jelly for another flavor if you prefer.
The amount of stevia is really personal preference. I don’t like things to be really sweet so I use less but if you want something sweeter you can add more.Ahead of Sunday’s big game between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers, some students in Greeley, Colo., are upset over an anti-gang policy that prohibits them from wearing Peyton Manning’s No. 18 jersey.
The future Hall of Fame quarterback, who the Broncos signed during the off season, has given fans hope the team can build on its unlikely playoff drive of a year ago, and jerseys emblazoned with his name and number are a huge seller throughout the state. But how can a Bronco fan express his devotion if the jersey remains in a drawer?
“They told me I couldn’t wear 18 anymore because it’s a gang number and I had to take it off,” said Konnor Vanatta during an interview with FOX31 Denver on Tuesday.
Vanatta, a third grader in the Weld County School System, was disappointed to learn that the number 18 is considered to represent gang affiliations and is not allowed on clothing inside county classrooms.
“I’m pretty upset the schools have come down to this and I think they need to start paying attention to the education the children are getting rather than what they’re wearing,” added Pam Vanatta, the student’s mother.
A spokesperson for Weld County District 6 explained the policy has been around for more than three years and applies to the numbers 13, 14,18, 31, 41 and 81.
“We’re Broncos fans ourselves; it has nothing to do with that. We’re just wanting to set a consistent solid, example,” said district spokesperson Roger Fiedler.
Not to be discouraged, Vanatta wore a No. 61 jersey to school on Tuesday to protest the policy.Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Anti-Semitism on the net is “like a tsunami wave,” Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee chairman MK Yoel Razbozov said during a Sunday hearing on online hate speech.
Razbozov called for countries to enact legislation restricting online hate, and warned that if Jews will not act to combat the spread of anti-Semitism online, they will eventually “find themselves in mortal danger.”
Representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, the Israeli Internet Association and the Anti-Defamation League, among other bodies, testified regarding the dangers of online hate and discussed methods of combating disinformation about Jews and Israel.The Anti-Defamation League testified regarding its ongoing relationship with Internet hosting company GoDaddy to take down anti-Semitic websites, citing some 30 sites it said were taken down by the American company.Facebook has also been working with the ADL, its representative said.“Facebook is coming around, they just need time,” Ronald Eissens of the International Network Against Cyberhate added.The World Zionist Organization established a communications center for combating hate online and is beginning two pilot courses for training Israelis to engage in this struggle, WZO Department for Countering Anti-Semitism chief Yaakov Hagoel told lawmakers.“I don’t see us winning the battle but at least we are putting up a fight,” he said.While combating disinformation with facts and taking anti-Semitism offline were both tactics discussed during the meeting, only the former will have any substantial impact, committee member MK Dov Lipman told The Jerusalem Post.“I fear that we are fighting a losing battle,” he said. “I am convinced that our focus should be on getting Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and urge websites to remove anti-Semitic materials and not with setting up our own sites and pages to negate the anti-Semitism. I will present this proposal to the chairman of the committee and will push hard for this to be the government’s direction.”
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Less than a month after the Federal Election Commission lost a major legal battle due to its alleged discrimination against third parties, the FEC is facing harsh scrutiny for failing to address another inequity in our political system — namely, the undue influence of big money.
In a letter of resignation that she chose to make public through Medium, FEC Chairwoman Ann Ravel announced that she will resign effective March 1st but wants President Trump to know about the issues that most concern her about modern American elections.
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"The mission of the FEC is essential to ensuring a fair electoral process," Ravel writes. "Yet, since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, our political campaigns have been awash in unlimited, often dark money."
After going on to discuss how elections are now bankrolled by "a tiny, highly unrepresentative segment of the population," Ravel points out how Trump himself drew attention to the "broken" nature of American campaign financing during the 2016 presidential election.
"Many of these same concerns have been voiced by Americans of all political views who are angry at the disproportionate influence of big money on government policy," Ravel writes. "At least 87% of Americans — including more than 80% of people in both major parties — favor changes to our campaign finance laws so that wealth does not dictate political influence."
Ravel closes by asking Trump to strengthen disclosure laws, reexamine Citizens United, support public financing of candidates, and appoint commissioners "who will carry out the mandates of the law."
Ravel explained to The Washington Post that she was leaving due to an "enforcement crisis" at the FEC that left her unable to implement meaningful reforms. "I recognized that raising the problems at the commission — after a certain point, they stopped to resonate, if you keep saying the same things all the time," Ravel said.
While President Trump is prohibited from appointing a Republican to replace Ravel, he could choose an independent instead of selecting a Democrat.
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The problems with the election system aren't new: In 2015, "The Daily Show" profiled the dysfunction at the organization.Woman, 35, admits raping her friend's 12-year-old boy multiple times
She had sex with the boy more than a dozen times
Encounters occurred in her apartment and in public places
Guilty: Sarah Beth Hopkins admitted to recurring rendezvous with her friend's young son
An Oregon woman has admitted to repeatedly raping her friend’s 12-year-old son.
Sarah Beth Hopkins, 35, of Salem, pleaded guilty to three charges of rape and two counts of sodomy after her victim told his mother the two had sex more than a dozen times.
The woman had sex with the boy at her apartment and in public places when they went on walks, according to the Statesman Journal.
Authorities became aware of the woman’s deviant behaviour with the boy when he recently confessed to his mother about their relationship – he told her they had sex about 15 times, according to a probable cause statement cited by the paper.
The boy’s mother reportedly became concerned about the amount of time he spent with the woman.
He spilled the beans when she confronted him last August, telling her they had been sexually active for the previous eight months.
Ms Hopkins quickly copped to the boy’s accusations, but insisted she never threatened or offered him anything in return for sex, according to the Journal.
She originally faced 20 charges in the case, but prosecutors whittled that count down to 10. The depraved woman pleaded guilty to five after cutting a deal.A two-year-old toddler was run over by two vans and mortally wounded,after which 18 people passed her indifferently in south China'sGuangdong Province.Thanks to the 19th passer-by, a womangarbage collector who came to her aid about seven minutes after thefirst hit, the girl didn't die immediately in last Thursday's incident.But doctors said the girl died yesterday from severe brain injuries shehad suffered in the accident.Police have detained both drivers.Afterthe surveillance video of the incident was put online yesterday, manynetizens condemned the 18 passers-by who could have helped the girlavoid the second accident. The case was the latest to bring home the |
of the said Edmund, and falsely and traitorously, and totally deprive the King of his Royal liberty: and to make and move discords, divisions, and dissensions amongst the Magnates and Councillors of the King and his kingdom; and that if by him the said Edmund, or by others his adherents, the King and Council should refuse to be held, ruled, and governed in the before-mentioned manner, the completely to destroy the King and to depose, remove, and deprive him from and of his Royal authority.
That in order to fulfil such wicked intention, the said Edmund Dudley, wrote or caused to be written divers letters to divers of the King's lieges, viz., one to Edward Sutton, Knight; another to Francis Cheyne, Knight, then Esquire; a third to Edward Darell, Knight; a fourth to Thomas Turbervyle; a fifth to Thomas Asshebournham, Esquire; a sixth to William Scott, Knight; a seventh to Henry Long; an eighth to Thomas Knyaston; and a ninth to John Mompesson, Esquire; requiring that they, with their servants and adherents, and all their power arrayed in a manner of war, should come together and speedily repair to him at London, and adhere to and follow his will. Furthermore, that the said Edmund, in order to carry into effect the said false and traitorous intention, on the said day, delivered the letters to Richard Page and Angell Messenger, [ Ayngell' Messynger,] to deliver the same to the said Sir Edward Sutton and the others aforementioned, who delivered the same accordingly; by reason whereof a great multitude and power of people, arrayed in manner of war, came to London, the in parish and ward aforesaid, according to the tenor of the letters, against the allegiance of the said Edmund."
The record goes on to say that Edmund Dudley pleaded 'Not guilty', but that the jury found him 'guilty': "Judgment according to the usual form in cases of high treason", i.e. death.
You can read or download this record for yourself on Google Books - click here. The next page has the record of the trial and conviction of Sir Richard Empson, who, like Dudley, had been one of Henry VII's chief advisors and who was also convicted of treason.
Empson and Dudley were imprisoned in the Tower of London before being executed on 17th August 1510.
Historians have seen these men as scapegoats for Henry VII's unpopular regime and have attributed their falls "to Henry's desire to win popularity and signify his distancing himself from his father's draconian financial measures", but historian Derek Wilson, in his book In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII, writes of there being more to their falls than that:
"The King certainly had these motives but they do not fully explain the significance which the fate of the two ministers held for some of those most closely involved. There was a very pointed message in the precise words of the indictment, to 'govern the king and his council against the wishes of the king' [....] The very first power Henry VIII had displayed was the power to destroy highly placed servants who failed to do his bidding. It was a power he would exercise frequently and to devastating effect in the years ahead."
It was a very clear warning from the new king to those around him who might look to control or manipulate a young king.
Notes and SourcesMagic "brings out this spiritual dimension that he never knew was possible," says Benedict Cumberbatch of Marvel's next big screen hero.
What makes Doctor Strange special? A new featurette from Marvel Studios lays out the basic plot of the movie and suggests that its latest hero will be special because of his combination of arrogance and compassion.
"Strange is incredibly arrogant, brilliant, sort of extraordinary, and his need to control fate, to control destiny and, in particular, death has brought him to the height of his profession as a neurosurgeon," explains Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the eponymous Stephen Strange. But when an accident robs him of his ability to operate, he looks for a way to return to the life he once knew, only to leave it forever.
"My character introduces him to this different, very mystical world," says Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Mordo in the movie. "It brings out this spiritual dimension that he never knew was possible," continues Cumberbatch. "He soon realizes the potential for him to help on a grander scale than he ever knew existed."
For Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, however, there's another exciting element to the feature besides its leading man. "I'm excited about the villains in this film," he says. "These are people who become seduced by what they find on the other side. … They're interested in spilling the barriers between dimensions, which would annihilate our entire universe." Let's hope that Strange doesn't find himself equally entranced by the possibilities of magic, for all our sakes…
Doctor Strange will be released Nov. 4. Watch the new video below.For those of you with cable TV service, for some time now you've been witnessing the slow transition of cable TV from a pure analog service to a pure digital service. With cable systems finally at their limits for bandwidth, within the last year the cable companies have finally begun what has been dubbed the "analog reclamation" - removing analog channels from their service and replacing them with digital versions that require 1/6th (or less) the bandwidth. Because the reclamation involves removing analog versions of most for-cost channels (what's commonly called the Expanded Basic tier), the reclamation has been tied with the deployment of Digital Transport Adapters - low-cost cable boxes that are little more than a basic QAM tuner attached to an RF modulator. This has allowed cable companies to reclaim this space without deploying otherwise very expensive Set Top Boxes to every TV at an affected household.
A side effect of this has been that computer TV tuner users, such as HTPC owners who in the analog age were accustomed to getting access to the EB tier on their computers with a simple analog TV tuner, were able to access those same channels in their digital form using ClearQAM-capable tuners. This is because the FCC mandated that the security mechanism be separate from the STBs, which gave rise to the continually problematic CableCARD. In the name of cost, DTAs do not have the ability to use CableCARDs, and as such do not meet the separable security requirements. Ultimately this required cable operators to put the digital versions of their EB tiers in the clear if they wanted to use DTAs, and this is why ClearQAM tuners can exist in a useful manner.
That age, however short it was, looks to be coming to a close. DTAs may be little more than a basic QAM tuner, but that "little more" is that they support a very basic form of encryption - a 56bit DES-based cypher known as Privacy Mode - which would allow them to receive and decrypt lightly encrypted channels. The FCC separable security mandate has previously prevented Privacy Mode from being used, but we have known for some time that cable companies and device manufacturers were looking to get a waiver for DTAs. In effect they have been soliciting the FCC for permission to encrypt all EB tier channels with Privacy Mode, so that reception would be limited to DTAs and CableCARD devices.
The FCC has granted their request.
The ramifications are two-fold. For the cable companies, once they implement this Privacy Mode across the board they will no longer have to install and maintain expensive signal traps to keep customers on lower tiers such as Limited Basic from accessing additional channels. For computer/HTPC users, this is an end to being able to directly receive EB tier channels with any kind of commonly available digital tuner. Privacy Mode is not open for licensing, and CableLabs will not license CableCARD for any kind of open (read: not locked down to hell and back) tuner. This means ClearQAM tuners made by ATI, Hauppauge, SiliconDust, and others would no longer be useful for receiving EB tier channels.
For pure digital reception on computers/HTPCs, what would be left would be two things. One would be fully licensed systems that implement head-to-toe DRM, the only way that CableLabs will license CableCARD for computers. This is not cheap, and brings with it all the disadvantages of not building your own system. The other would be utilizing the Firewire output of some STBs, but such STBs can be hard to acquire and the FCC allows broadcasts to include a copy-never (5C) flag that disables this output.
The last option would be to take advantage of the analog hole left by the component video output of STBs, using devices such as Hauppauge's HD PVR that can redigitize the output of STBs for importing into a computer. The drawback of this is a loss of quality due to an analog generation being included in the process, and whatever pitfalls that come from using the STB such a device would be attached to. None of these options are as simple and cheap as things stand today with a ClearQAM tuner.
At this point there's no reason to believe that cable companies won't deploy Privacy Mode across their networks, so it's a matter of "when", not "if" this will happen. It goes without saying that if you're currently enjoying the use of a ClearQAM tuner to receive EB tier channels, you'll want to enjoy what time you have left, and look into other solutions for the long-haul. At this pace, it looks like cable TV and computers will soon be divorcing.
On a final note, the loss of ClearQAM access is likely going to be followed by the loss of some fraction of the HTPC market, where users will not find as much value in a device that can no longer watch or record live TV from their cable company. Because of this potential nosedive in the HTPC market, I would be very surprised if Microsoft stayed entirely mum on the issue. They've put a lot of effort into Windows Media Center as a TV viewing platform and HTPC suite over the years, and this drives a stake right through that given the low adoption of CableCARD systems. Microsoft has been diversifying their TV operations over the years by getting satellite companies on-board and making some investments in IPTV/Internet TV, but cable TV is too big to ignore if Microsoft wants to keep pushing WMC. What this may lead to is anyone's guess, but unless they're going to drop the emphasis on TV viewing with WMC something will need to happen to keep WMC relevant in the cable TV space.Krystian Bielik signed for Arsenal in the January transfer window (Picture: Getty Images)
Arsenal new boy Krystian Bielik may not feature for the Gunners this season, according to manager Arsene Wenger.
The Polish midfielder joined the club from Legia Warsaw in a £2.4m deal and was the club’s first signing of the January transfer window.
But Wenger says he is no hurry to play the 17-year-old, and told the club’s match-day programme that it could be the end of the year before we see him in an Arsenal shirt.
‘Krystian Bielik is building up his fitness,’ wrote Wenger. ‘The first signs we have seen are very positive.
‘He’s a very strong player, he’s 17, he has a very good technical level and looks intelligent. But we’ll have to give him a little time to settle and adapt.
‘I like to take players of that age mid-season because it gives them a cushion of four or five months to settle, adapt and then be ready for the following season.’
MORE: Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich exit speculation puts Arsenal and Manchester City on alert
MORE: Club MetroRemote Sensing Applications and Uses
How’d you like to see a list of some of the most amazing remote sensing applications and uses?
Well consider yourself very lucky…
…because today we’re going to share some of the absolute BEST remote sensing applications with you.
Warning: you are not going to get the boring, generalized lists… Agriculture, forestry, weather, biodiversity… *yawn*
Whether you are beginner or advanced, this list will change the way you feel about how this industry is changing our world and the way we think.
READ MORE: 15 Free Satellite Imagery Sources
1 Determining soil moisture content using active and passive sensors from space
Soil moisture contributes so much to understanding Earth sciences… For example, it explains Earth’s water cycle, weather forecasting, drought and floods. But did you know there are two ways to derive soil moisture from space? First, it uses passive and active sensors. Active sensors like Radarsat-2 illuminate their target and measures backscatter. In turn, this results in high spatial resolution but low accuracy. Second, passive sensors like SMOS measures naturally emitted microwave radiation. Unlike active sensors, it gives highly accurate but poor spatial resolution. How can we get the best of both worlds? This is what NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission strives to achieve.
READ MORE: The Big Satellite List. 50 Satellites. 30 Words or Less.
2 Mapping with laser precision using Light Detection and Ranging technology
If Dr. Evil was a geographer, LiDAR would be his weapon of choice. I can see it now, pinky in the mouth saying “bring out the laser“. LiDAR measures the distance from the airborne platform to Earths surface using laser beams. This is how LiDAR got its name – “Light Detection and Ranging”. What makes LiDAR so special is its densely sampled points at laser accuracy. LiDAR generates point clouds for digital surface models, digital elevation models and light intensity models.
3 Catching tax-evaders red-handed by locating new construction and building alterations
If you thought you could hide your home addition or swimming pool from your tax return without the city noticing… If you lived in Athens, Greece, you’d be wrong. The tax revenue agency in Athens, Greece is looking for signs of wealth using satellite data. Not a bad idea where more than 15,000 swimming pools went unclaimed to tax authorities in 2010. The money-strapped country is looking at increasing their tax revenues using remote sensing applications using satellite imagery.
4 Spinning the globe with mapping services like Google Earth, Bing Maps and OpenStreetMaps
Who doesn’t like spinning the globe on Google Earth? Don’t lie. I know you do. Google Earth gives us an interface with updated satellite and aerial imagery at our fingertips for free. The convenience of knowing your location before you go with street view is mind-blowing. Who would’ve thought decades ago you could travel the world eating nachos in the comfort of your own home.
5 Predicting retail earnings and market share by counting cars in parking lot
Looking for remote sensing applications with a great return on investment? Investors find using satellite imagery at big box store parking lots gives the most bang for their buck. Companies like RS Metrics count the number of vehicles in parking lots. In turn, this gives a snapshot of earnings, conversion rates and market share. All things considered, it’s a simple high-tech strategy that can give market analysts the information needed.
6 Snapping aerial photos for military surveillance using messenger pigeons in World War II
Never trust a pigeon as your photographer. No matter what the occasion is, weddings, birthdays and times of war. Pigeons almost never follow their flight path and almost never return cameras to their owners. These were the hard lessons learned when the German military used the Bavarian Pigeon Corps to do their dirty work and spy on enemies.
7 Charging higher insurance premiums in flood-prone areas using radar
Ever notice your home insurance premium sky-rocket from the previous year? You might have to thank a geographer for that. Some of the unique GIS and remote sensing applications that insurance companies use include radar and hydrological modelling. Geographers can map out areas more prone to flooding, how often these areas would flood and how badly the damage could be. In turn, this helps them better assess risk.
8 Doing the detective work for fraudulent crop insurance claims
As climate becomes less predictable and more destructive (such as droughts and floods), farmers have to adapt to this new reality. In this case, crop insurance can help farmers supplement their income when their fields don’t get seeded. But what happens when farmers commit crop insurance fraud? This is why insurance companies and the USGS have teamed up to investigate any wrong-doing. For example, the USGS measures vegetation growth using Landsat’s red, infrared channels in combination with NDVI. Using this information, crop insurance companies can verify seeded crops and catch fraud.
9 Searching for aircrafts and saving lives after fatal crashes
Of all remote sensing applications, there may be no other that touches the heart as much as saving another life through search and rescue. Hundreds of satellites orbit the Earth each day. Each one has its own live-saving ability – but only if it’s in the right time and place.
10 Detecting oil spills for marine life and environmental preservation
Oil spills have profound effects on marine life and the surrounding environment. An oil spill requires a quick response so the oil doesn’t disperse. Satellites can maximize the search for oil slicks. Not only can satellites determine the extent of the oil spills, they can identify the direction and rate of oil movement. This computer model uses current, ocean and weather forecasts, also obtained by remote sensing.
11 Counting polar bears to ensure sustainable population levels
The sad story about the polar bear is that it is listed as one of the first animals that will become extinct because of global warming. Ecologists are turning to satellites as their primary source of information because they need a firm count on polar bears for their survival. So… How do you know the difference between a polar bear and a big white rock? In two images, polar bears moved, while rocks stayed in the same spot.
12 Uncovering habitat suitability and fragmentation for panda bears in protected areas
Giant pandas eat bamboo for 99% of their diet making them the ultimate bamboo-holic of the animal kingdom (think alcoholic but bamboo). Habitat is important for pandas. This makes roads and infrastructure ecological armageddon for pandas. In order to protect the endangered panda, remote sensing classifies fragmentation and man-made corridors as factors.
13 Identifying forest stands and tallying their area to estimate forest supplies
Global forest supplies are being monitored because they not only provide valuable materials (think construction, paper, packaging…) but they also absorb roughly one-third of carbon dioxide emissions. AVHRR, MODIS and SPOT quantitatively measure the loss and gain of our global forests.
14 Navigating ships safely with the most optimal route
Imagine. The Titanic had GPS positioning and stirred clear from the iceberg. Hundreds of lives saved and husbands around the world could’ve avoided watching the Leo and Kate romance movie about it. But the harsh reality is that icebergs still threaten ships 100 years after the Titanic sunk. Ship navigation has improved. GPS is not the only ship navigation tool. Other remote sensing applications in ship navigation include routing analysis, wind and wave information and ship proximity.
15 Measuring wind speed and direction for wind farms, weather forecasting and surfers
Golfers, farmers, pilots, engineers and wind turbine planners need accurate wind information. Weather balloons and GPS are a good way to do this. But it’s not the only way. NASA’s QuickSCAT scatterometer and wind LiDAR are making these large-scale wind observations too.
16 Spying on enemies with reconnaissance satellites
Militaries are harnessing the power of satellite imagery to retrieve intelligence on enemies. As for remote sensing applications, reconnaissance satellites go all the way back to the 1950’s US Corona Program. Its purpose was to spy on the Soviet Union and China after the war. But satellites have come a long way from taking photographs and parachuting down to the surface. Now they’re so secretive that if they told you… well… who knows what they would do to you
17 Delineating and assessing the health of riparian zones to conserve lakes and rivers
Riparian zones are the wooded areas along the water’s edge. They are the last line of environmental defense from nutrient runoff for our lakes and rivers. Of all remote sensing applications in environment, riparian zones perhaps require the highest spatial resolution because of its small width. A Landsat-8 pixel might not be able to do the job here. As water spans the entire globe, riparian zones are there too serving their duty.
18 Estimating surface elevation with the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
Imagine you are a surveyor and your crew chief asks you to survey the whole world. You need to map 30 meter grid cells and are given only 11 days. What would you say? I’d expect some profanity… This is essentially what NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) did in 11 days. The secret to its success is Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar.
19 Extracting mineral deposits with hyperspectral remote sensing
There are over 4000 natural minerals on Earth. Each one has their own chemical composition. This is the equivalent to saying that each composition has its own spectral reflectance. Having more spectral bands like hyperspectral sensors gives potential to map more minerals. There is some predictability with remote sensing applications for geology and minerals. After spotting one mineral, almost certainly other specific minerals accompany it.
20 Watching algae grow as an indicator of environmental health
Watching algae grow is about as much fun as watching paint dry. But you can learn a lot about a lake’s health by studying algae. It’s an indicator of the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous is being fed into the lake. Reducing nutrients is important because if affects local economies like fisheries and tourism. This is why NASA is using hyperspectral sensors to learn biochemical properties of algae blooms and even predict their locations as part of NASA’s Lake Erie Project: Algae Growth.
21 Forecasting weather to warn about natural disasters
Remote sensing applications like weather forecasting and monitoring are fundamentally important for businesses, athletes and tourists. In 1975, the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite (GOES-1) was launched to collect wind, temperature and other atmospheric data. But GOES-1 was limited to a small portion of the Earth. A lot has changed since then. We are now on GOES-12, 13, 14 and 15 with improving temporal, spectral, spatial and radiometric resolution.
22 Detecting land cover/use types for decision making
‘Land cover’ is the physical property of the surface. ‘Land use’ explains how land is being utilized. When a mayor of a city targets a 50% urban tree canopy, spatial resolution matters. A Landsat pixel spans multiple parcel boundaries and is not a realistic representation of tree canopy. The Spatial Analysis Laboratory (SAL) of Vermont compared the National Land Cover with object-based classification and found it was significantly underestimated (11% vs 39%). A mayor would be very embarrassed to know their objective is almost exceeded.
23 Monitoring the environment with the ESA’s Copernicus Program
As for remote sensing applications in environment goes, the European Space Agency (ESA) Copernicus Programme may be the most ambitious yet. The goal is to achieve a completely autonomous monitoring system. Its purpose is simple – understand the health of the Earth. Copernicus’ six Sentinel satellites collect comprehensive pictures of the following themes: land, ocean, emergency response, atmosphere, security and climate change.
24 Mapping soil types for agriculture planning
Over time, rocks break down into small pieces and become soil. With soil, water and sunlight, together they give plants and other organisms a place to live. But not all soils were built the same. The need for accurate soil information around the world is soaring because of population growth and food security. This is why the International Soil Resource and Information Centre (ISRIC) has placed soil mapping as a key priority. ISRIC has developed a methodology to predict spatial soil properties in 1 km grid cells at a global level – ISRIC’s 1 km Soils Grid Map. In addition, scientists used covariates such as climatic indices (based on MODIS imagery) and conventional soil surveys to create these global spatial prediction models.
25 Preventing the spread of forest disease types
Billions of people depend on healthy forests for their livelihood. The rapid spread of forest disease can have catastrophic effects on ecosystem health and local or national economies. The mountain pine beetle has infested over 17.5 hectares of forests causing distinct color changes. Because remote sensing monitors for these color changes, forest managers can better track the occurrence of forest diseases such as the mountain pine beetle.
26 Fighting wildfires by planning firefighter dispatch
Wildfires cause serious damage to property and even loss of life. For these reasons, there is a need to control wildfires and lessen their impact. Based on satellite data, firefighters can dispatch with pinpoint accuracy. Operational satellites like AVHRR and MODIS are best suited because of their mid-infrared and thermal bands. In addition, satellites can trace the extent of wildfires using temporal data.
27 Monitoring air quality in the lower atmosphere
Some cities are so polluted that it’s the equivalent of smoking a package of cigarettes each day. 80% of these over-polluted cities are in China. One of the major pollutants is carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is colorless to the human eye but not for MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) on NASA’s Terra satellite. MOPITT uses a spectrometer to measure upwelling infrared radiation in the lower atmosphere.
28 Assessing terrain stability using interferometry in the oil and gas sector
Active sensors use phase difference to measure landscape deformation using interferometry. Industries like the oil and gas sector monitor terrain stability using these types of remote sensing applications for better safety standards. Over time, continual satellite data means higher safety and ensures pipeline productivity.
29 Unearthing ancient archaeological sites like the Mayans and ancient Egypt
Unearthing ancient archaeological sites must be one of the neatest remote sensing applications on the list. Remote sensing applications in archaeology include infrared and stereo imagery. Infrared radiation has longer wavelengths and can penetrate around a meter of depth in the surface. Stereo imagery shows subtle variations in elevation on the ground. It was a bit of a surprise when archaeologists found square patterns on the ground over vegetation growth. These square patterns are of course ancient buildings and pyramids. Scientists have already discovered ancient Mayan and Egyptian civilizations using photogrammetry and infrared imagery.
30 Pinpointing your position on Earth with Global Positioning Satellites
In May 2000, the GPS switch (also known as selective availability) was flicked. Suddenly, accuracy has changed from the size of an airport to the size of a small shed. GPS has led the way to great innovative products like car navigation systems and unmanned aerial vehicles. It’s no wonder why the GPS has been ranked one of the top 50 greatest breakthroughs since the wheel.
31 Optimizing solar panel energy output with global horizontal irradiance
Energize your search for endless solar panel input. If you were going to choose a single location anywhere on Earth to install a solar panel, it would have to be the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) map. GHI measures the rate of total incoming solar energy at the Earth’s surface in watts per square kilometer. Decades of satellite data (derived from GOES and Meteosat) has generated this data with a standard error of only 5%. This remote sensing data brings some serious heat.
32 Finding the driving factors that contribute to poverty
Remote sensing is exploring some of the driving factors that contribute to poverty. Governments can get a clear picture of poverty and provide concentrated support to those in need. Studies have shown how agricultural use, natural resources and other environmentally determined factors linking to poverty. Researchers assess all these contributor factors with remote sensing.
33 Observing the flow of ocean currents and circulation
Water covers 70% of the Earth with most of it in oceans. And ocean currents connect all oceans mainly driven by winds at the surface. But deep below the surface, salinity and temperature control currents. Satellites can achieve an enormous wealth of information on ocean currents and circulation. Ocean Surface Current Analyses – Real Time (OSCAR) is a near real-time global ocean circulation data set based on NOAA and NASA’s sea level altimetry, surface winds and sea surface temperature.
34 Studying glacier melts and effects on sea levels
Glaciers hold the largest freshwater reservoir on Earth. You can find 99% of glaciers in the Polar Regions. NASA’s GRACE satellite showed that the Alaskan glaciers were losing mass at about 20.6 gigatonnes per year. But the scary takeaway is the rapid melting ice and its profound effects on sea levels.
35 Providing a base map for visual reference and assisting orient the map reader
Orthoimagery provides an extreme amount of detail of the focus and surrounding areas. Maps always communicate a message. As maps are location-based, aerial imagery assists readers orient themselves. It provides context and reference information and can instantly provide the lay of the land. And nowadays, there are so many sources to choose from such as Bing, Google, Open Street Maps and NASA’s Globeview.
36 Snorkeling in an oasis of marine vegetation with the coastal channel
Snorkel in an oasis of marine vegetation using Worldview’s coastal channel. Because of its finer level of spectral penetration in coastal areas, underwater reefs and bathymetric mapping makes for some unique remote sensing applications.
37 Tracking hazards for better response and recovery
There’s been a clear upward trend in the number of disasters over the years. This means better preparedness for mitigation as well as response and recovery. The integration of Earth observation data and GIS in hazard situations has become the main tools in disaster managements. Remote sensing applications for hazards include assessing the extent of damage and assisting dispatch.
38 Keeping tabs on the shift from rural to urban growth
We’ve experienced an increasing number of people migrating from rural to urban areas. Urbanization is linked to industrialization. 50% of people are now living in urban areas and according to the United Nations, this pattern will continue. Urbanization is an interesting phenomenon that can be clearly seen as impervious surfaces from satellites.
39 Quantifying crop conditions with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
The global food supply is being monitored with satellite imagery and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Near-infrared radiation is being used to detect healthy vegetation in agriculture. Healthy vegetation reflects green light and absorbs red and blue light. The green light that our eyes see is chlorophyll created by plants during photosynthesis. Chlorophyll will reflect more light in the green and near infrared spectrum compared to other wavelengths. This is why near infrared radiation in combination with NDVI is one of the primary remote sensing applications in agriculture and the environment.
40 Preventing the degradation and loss of wetland ecosystems
Once seen as a nuisance in agriculture, wetlands are being drained and lost. Suddenly, they have become a rare precious resource. Wetlands serve many purposes. They help purify water, control flooding and improve shoreline stability. This is why remote sensing applications to inventory wetlands have grown so much over the years.
41 Tracking sediment transport into rivers and lakes
Sediment loading is one of the most profound anthropogenic factors on aquatic systems. It affects industries like tourism, fisheries and ecological functioning. It would be useful to understand exactly where suspended solids enter and leave. The reflectance of water in satellite imagery increases with more suspended solids. But in order to monitor nutrient loading, we need continual coverage and temporal analysis.
42 Saving money and time on the farm with precision farming
Precision farming is like a hidden goldmine in agricultural production. Savings estimate 10% in fertilizer. On top of that, crop yields are also improved. Precision farming uses different wavelengths of light to see how healthy crops are. Variable amounts of fertilizer are worked out keeping money in farmer’s pockets.
43 Reversing illegal rainforest cutting in Brazil
The Surui tribe in Brazil has teamed up with Google to reverse rainforest deforestation. The Surui tribe are equipped with high-tech tools like Google Earth, smart phones and GPS. They keep a watchful eye on illegal mining and logging. The good news is that miners and loggers have retreated and illegal activities are at their lowest levels in history. The information potential with satellites for understanding illegal rainforest cutting is enormous as part of Google Earth Outreach to Surui Tribe.
44 Putting illegal boat dumping under the microscope
When a boat was dumped illegally with all identification removed in Santa Rosa County, crime investigators took their search to Google Maps. Using historic aerial and satellite imagery, they went on a hunt for its rightful owner. What crime investigators found was the same boat and the address of the illegal dumper. Case closed.
45 Inventorying and assessing rural road conditions with UAVs
How safe are your roads? Transportation planners have been taking some down to Earth advice on unpaved roads. With the integration of remote sensing and GIS, unmanned aerial vehicles are providing answers on pothole detection, washboard analysis and crown conditions for unpaved roads. With centimeter accuracy, rural road conditions can be assessed and inventoried saving time and money.
46 Driving with no hands (autonomous vehicles)
If Google’s self-driving car got pulled over by the cops, how would it react? The first secret behind the car is the LiDAR which detects pedestrians, cyclists, stop signs and other obstacles. Put this together with a GPS, inertial measurements and a really sophisticated piece of software, and you have a self-driving car.
47 Measuring gravity with the GRACE satellites
This may be one of the neatest remote sensing applications on the list – measuring gravity. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) consists of two satellites in the same orbit approximately 220 kilometers apart. When the leading satellite increases speed, this means there is a greater gravitational pull. If the leading satellite slows down, this means there is less gravitational pull. These pulls in gravity are measured using microwave pulses from one satellite to the other. The end result is the most accurate measurements of gravity to this date.
48 Deriving elevation and contours using photogrammetry
Photogrammetry dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. It is used to find the geometric properties of objects by measuring distances between objects. Some of its derived products in GIS include contour mapping, surface models, volumetric surveys and 3D mapping. It’s also used in other fields such as for crime scene mapping, archaeological excavations and architecture.
49 Watching the aurora borealis from another angle
When charged particles from the sun get caught in the Earth’s magnetic field, they slam into the gases of our atmosphere. The different colors we see are from the different gases. If you’ve watched the Aurora Borealis from the ground, you might want try from up above. One of the most surreal videos is watching the International Space Station’s view of the Aurora Borealis.
50 Comparing the past and present with human impact change
The Landsat missions are the longest-running Earth observation missions ever. Its digital records date back to the 1970s. If we want to understand landscape change, the Landsat missions give us a snapshot back in time. We can learn from the past for future generations. Oil spills, deforestation, wars, chemical spills, dead zones, smog are unnatural, man-made disasters. All are preventable and can be viewed from space. For example, this Esri story map shows how human activities are reshaping Earth’s surface using Landsat imagery.
51 Planning an optimal telecom network capacity
It’s estimated that 87% of the world population now use mobile devices. The astounding rate of growth in this industry requires extensive planning for optimal network capacity. Telecommunications companies are using remote sensing as a cost-effective way to optimize capacity requirements. Radio frequency coverage can be augmented with the appropriate antenna type, location and direction. Satellite-derived terrain, land use and other environmental factors can be modeled to achieve optimal network capacity.
52 Tracking displaced refugees to help deliver aid and services
A solution to tracking refugees and camp conditions is with satellite imagery. The United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) wanted to deliver aid and services to Sudanese refugees in Tongo. They needed a clear understanding of the situation at Tongo refugee camps. UNHCR mapped the influx of refugees, agriculture, waterways and infrastructure using satellite imagery. As a result, UNHCR was able to better manage and deliver aid where it was needed most.
53 Covering the most ground in search of road cracks
Some constructive advice is to cover more ground with remote sensing data. The city of Solvang, California is taking their road management issues very seriously. In one complete shot, public works used satellite images to locate damaged paving. The public is served best as crews know exactly which roads are in desperate need of repair.
54 Getting a top-down view when purchasing real estate
When you’re in the market to purchase a home you want the complete view of the property and surrounding area. Schools, shopping districts and parks are all things that potential buyers are interested in knowing before their home purchase. This is why the use of satellite imagery in real estate has been a real growth segment. It also allows everyone in the home buying process a top-down view. Appraisers, insurance companies and lenders can get a quick glimpse of the home through the convenience of the internet.
55 Keeping a watchful eye to prevent future atrocities from happening
Atrocities often result in a change of environment, destruction of buildings and migration of people. They can occur in secretive areas with military regime restricting access. For these reasons, remote sensing applications and imagery are keeping a watchful eye on atrocious acts. GaTHR (Geospatial Technology for Human Rights) are using this approach to help those who are victims. Specifically, satellite remote sensing provides the legal evidence, to help on-the-ground coordination and prevention of future illegal activity.
56 Designing a lift irrigation system to supply water in India
A lift irrigation system can improve water supply for agriculture and other industries. Planning the design of lift irrigation systems require a wide range of data. Satellite stereo image pairs and photogrammetry are particularly useful for generating datasets like digital terrain models. The engineers can get the full view on the ground before commencing construction.
57 Measuring the volume difference at a uranium enrichment site using 3D mapping
SAAB’s Vricon Rapid 3D Mapping System is really how to make your data come to life. Multiple 3d satellite images can be combined to understand change detection in the third dimension. Using five satellite acquisitions and the 3d mapping system, volume difference at a uranium enrichment site was successfully mapped in Iran.
58 Helping provide clean drinking water with base maps
Water is life’s most basic need. But nearly 1 billion people live without clean drinking water. The first step in solving this problem is identifying areas that are in need of water. High spatial resolution satellite imagery can really differentiate where water shortages exist. This is the starting point to an action plan. Simple remote sensing applications like base maps can positively affect the lives of millions by establishing where and who is in need of essential resources like water.
59 Monitoring active volcanoes using thermal remote sensing
Volcanoes form when hot molten rock from the upper mantle finds its way to the surface. Eruptions are dangerous to humans and the surrounding environment. There are over 600 active volcanoes on Earth. Volcanoes are often |
99 US • MATURE READERS
In this new edition of the classic spy thriller by writer Garth Ennis, maverick CIA agent William Clyde searches for the legendary patriot known only as the Unknown Soldier. As Clyde uncovers a tangled web of decades-old conspiracies and corruption, he learns that there can be dire consequences for unyielding commitment to duty. Collecting the 1997 four-issue miniseries.
Credit: DC Comics
STRANGE ADVENTURES TP
Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO, PAUL CORNELL, LAUREN BEUKES,
JEFF LEMIRE, MICHAEL ALLRED, ANDY DIGGLE and others
Art by EDUARDO RISSO, INAKI MIRANDA, GORAN SUDZUKA, SEBASTIAN FIUMARA and others
Cover by PAUL POPE
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 160 pg, FC, $14.99 US • MATURE READERS
Don’t miss these tales from STRANGE ADVENTURES #1 and MYSTERY IN SPACE #1! From the far reaches of space to the not so distant future, Vertigo brings you science-fiction as only we can!
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Credit: DC Comics
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Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS DESIGNER ACTION FIGURES SERIES 1: BY GREG CAPULLO
BATMAN AND TALON — ON SALE APRIL 2014
BATMAN — 6.75"
TALON — 6.75"
NIGHTWING AND THE RIDDLER — ON SALE MAY 2014
NIGHTWING — 6.75"
THE RIDDLER — 6.75"
Based on the designs from the best-selling artist of BATMAN, Greg Capullo, comes the first wave in an all-new Designer Series from DC Collectibles.
EACH FIGURE SOLD SEPARATELY
* Action Figure * $24.95 US * Allocations May Occur
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Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS SUPER-VILLAINS: DEATHSTORM AND BIZARRO ACTION FIGURES
FROM THE PAGES OF FOREVER EVIL!
The Crime Syndicate's molecular-manipulating madman, Deathstorm, and Superman's infamous backwards-speaking bad guy, Bizarro, are the latest figures taking over your shelves.
EACH SOLD SEPARATELY
BIZARRO — 6.75"
DEATHSTORM — 7.5" (TO TOP OF FLAME)
* Action Figure * $24.95 US • On Sale April 2014
* Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY TWO-FACE ACTION FIGURE
From inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City comes Two-Face, the latest villain to add to your collection! Based on the blockbuster video game published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, developed by Rocksteady Studios and licensed by DC Entertainment.
$24.95 US • On Sale April 2014 * Allocations May Occur
TWO-FACE — 6.75"
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WONDER WOMAN: THE ART OF WAR
WONDER WOMAN BY GEORGE PÉREZ STATUE
BASED ON THE ART OF GEORGE PÉREZ
SCULPTED BY SAM GREENWELL
The ART OF WAR line of statues featuring the amazing Amazon Warrior continues with this stunning statue designed by legendary comic book artist George Pérez!
Limited Edition of 5200
Measures Approximately 8.5" Tall
$79.95 US • On Sale April 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY—THE RIDDLER STATUE
SCULPTED BY PHIL RAMIREZ
What’s black and white and green all over? This brand-new statue of the Dark Knight’s enigmatic rival, the Riddler, based on his appearance from the best-selling, critically acclaimed video game, Batman: Arkham City.
Measures Approximately 10" Tall
$124.95 US • On Sale November 2013
*Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
OLIVER QUEEN & DEATHSTROKE ACTION FIGURE 2-PACK
Wearing the dark hood of a vigilante archer, Oliver faces off against the deadly mercenary, Deathstroke, and you're in control of the battle with this special action figure 2-pack set!
DEATHSTROKE — 6.75"
OLIVER QUEEN — 6.75"
* Action Figures * $49.95 US • On Sale April 2014 * Allocations May OccurGirls’ Generation’s Taeyeon’s new track “Fine” is a massive hit!
Taeyeon released her first full solo album “My Voice” on February 28 at noon KST, and her songs quickly rose up the digital realtime charts, with the title track “Fine” achieving an all-kill (topping all eight major realtime charts) by 4 p.m. KST.
As of March 2 at 12:30 a.m. KST, “Fine” remains at the top of all daily and realtime charts, as well as takes the No. 1 spot on the iChart’s realtime chart, which means she has achieved what is called a “certified all-kill”!
This is different from a “perfect all-kill,” which also includes holding the top spot on iChart’s weekly chart. We’ll have to wait and see if “Fine” will accomplish that feat!
Meanwhile, other tracks from her new album, particularly “Feel So Fine” and “Cover Up,” are also charting within the top 10 on several charts. In addition to her domestic success, Taeyeon’s new album has also done well internationally.
Congratulations, Taeyeon!MINNEAPOLIS -- The yin and yang of Cordarrelle Patterson was on full display Saturday night at TCF Bank Stadium.
The third-year receiver showed some of the improved route-running the Minnesota Vikings have been waiting for, stemming briefly to the outside to turn around Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Mike Jenkins before surging upfield and catching a 21-yard touchdown pass from Shaun Hill. As Patterson said after the game, he hadn't visited the end zone in a while -- since Oct. 19, 2014, to be exact -- so the receiver exulted in the moment, high-fiving fans in the corner of the stadium before mimicking an airplane on his way back to the sideline.
On the Vikings' next offensive play, Patterson caught a screen pass from Hill and took it eight yards before Buccaneers rookie Kwon Alexander tackled him on the way out of bounds. Alexander appeared to say something to Patterson, who popped up and head-butted the fourth-round pick, drawing a taunting penalty.
"I thought they were calling it on him, but they called it on me," Patterson said. "You just have to learn from mistakes like that.”
Had the penalty not happened, the night might have stood as an unqualified sign of progress for the third-year receiver. He's been playing with the second-team offense since the Vikings' organized team activities, as the team put Mike Wallace, Charles Johnson and Jarius Wright ahead of Patterson in its three-receiver set.
Vikings coaches have said they've seen signs of improvement in Patterson, who caught just 33 passes in 2014 as he struggled in a traditional receiver role. But since the team has stocked its roster with young receivers that routinely linger on the practice field to catch balls long after most players have left, Patterson can't afford to give much ground.
"He did a nice job, made a nice catch," coach Mike Zimmer said. "I wish he wouldn't have gotten a taunting penalty on second-and-4. But those are more learning experiences."And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.
1. Need for mammon
J. Jonah Jamieson,
Peter Parker's Boss
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
2. Traumatic experience
3. Dispiriting models
J.K. Rowling, Author of
the Harry Potter Book Series
4. Mañana habit
5. Angel with the scythe
You know you have the talent, and within you lies the desire to hone and use that gift. Yet, after many years of living in a world where both opportunities and obstacles abound, you wonder,Yes, only in your dreams and never in reality!What a sad fate you have fallen into, you might say. So why are you trapped in this condition? Your response to this question would probably something that blames every bit of external factors but never your own very self. You cannot accomplish the desire of your heart, the one that can make you happy and content, because there are those that forestall your effort from achieving such state.One of my favorite inspirational speeches was spoken by the Apple-Macintosh technology stalwart, the late Steve Jobs. Here is an excerpt from that speech which really struck me the most...I bet you might have heard a lot of motivating words like the one above, quotes saying that doing the work you love will make you content and fulfilling your life's passion will gratify your dreamy heart. Guess what, after hearing and reading all those honeycombed words, your ambition is nowhere near your reach.My article is not to discourage you further, even though your past and present seem to make the future look bleak (which I think it should not be and it is not really that bad, you know). What I intend in this article is to provide the reasons, the primary ones I suppose, that prevent you from fulfilling your passion and which is making your life miserable, or so it seems.By knowing these reasons, you can understand where they are coming from. Maybe (at least maybe) you can cut the source and finally defeat those that have become hindrances to achieving your aspiration.Scroll down and read.Remember the scene from the Bible when Jesus said,? The word mammon here refers to money. In fact, in Christian literature, there is a demon associated with– the deadly sin that directly connects with the obscene love of money. He is named asOf course, you would defend that you are not greedy and there is no way you love money because you are avariciously materialistic and consumerist. You just need some pennies to pay for the rent and all the bills that are piling up on the table. So instead of pursuing your life long dream and sharpening that hidden talent in the closet, you work in a job that you do not love but has the capability to sustain your bank account, provide a crumb of bread with a piece of butter on the diner, and keep your mortgage to a minimum level.You are like the youngwho, albeit he is the, is struggling to pay for the tuition of his college education and help his Aunt May with the daily expenses of living in urban New York. So he endures working as a part-time photojournalist for a sensationalized news oriented tabloid with an overbearing and unfair editor-in-chief.Your need to earn a decent amount of money just to keep up with life is clogging you from your passion. Has it ever occurred to you that the pursuit of happiness is not really about money per se? Allow me to quote the entire passage of Jesus when he taught about worldly riches.You were at the prime of your ballet training. Everyone of your classmates in the ballet class admired how you exceeded them with your talent. Your instructors have commended you and predicted a future of you being a. As matter of fact, you saw that future on yourself as well.And then, at the awaited recital, all the town's top brass and all your relatives were there to witness how a budding prima ballerina would awe a crowd hungry for an artistic performance. In just one wrong step of a toe, you rolled over ridiculously causing you to grasp your skirt and accidentally tearing the garter that held it to your waist. Now, your skirt fell down leaving your pelvic area uncovered. With a slip of a foot, you fell at your face on the wooden stage, and then BLAG! It did not take a minute for the audience to blurt out their reactionary giggles. Humiliation was a stranger to you until this moment. Tears dropped from your eyes and, from then on, you said to yourself,Experiences that traumatized your memory like the one above can indeed cause you to be disheartened. How you would wish to forget about it and erase it from your head, right? Yet no, it remains as a lingering narrative in your consciousness over and over again and it has become the villainous nightmare tormenting your dream.Maybe you want to be a classical musician, a popular composer, or a prolific story writer. Maybe there is this childhood dream of yours but you keep it buried at the bottom of your cortex. Why? It is because of a particular event in the past – an embarrassing scold from a teacher, a hateful criticism, or a shaming ridicule from a crowd – it might not be just a single event but a series of occurrences that are putting you down. Whatever it is (or they are), it is intrinsically forbidding you from following your dreams.Healing is the key. It may require time; it may even involve some help from a friend or loved one. I would rather seek it rather than let the wound get infected and turn into something worse.If number 2 on this list is about events in your life, item number 3 is about people. I guess you will agree with me that there are people who, may not be ill-intentioned, but tend to be discouraging agents instead of encouraging supporters.Parents, teachers, older siblings, and trusted people whom you think have moral ascendancy, more often than not, want only what is good for you (there are few who could be exceptions, though). Since you treat them with utmost respect and by chance you listen to their words as advice from Angels, you may deny it or not, but they do have a certain amount of influence on the way you think and decide on what to do or not to do.Here is the thing, there are not a few people whom I have heard telling me that they did not take a tertiary degree they liked just because an influential elder person pushed him/her to take another course. This kind of decision is now haunting them even in their sleep.Did you want to go to Music Conservatory or take a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts because you have the knack for painting and sculpting? Yet, Mom and Pop advised you to take a Welder's Course because they opined that its tuition was cheaper and the job market was lucrative once you graduate.Maybe your community or church was offering a scholarship grant for a Creative Writing degree, and you always wished this chance to come by your way. However, the lovely teacher, Mrs. Jane Doe from your English literature class, told you that your writing sucked and by no means could you become the next J.K. Rowling. That comment became your defining moment and you decided to be a gardener and the town's favorite lawnmower man or woman.Geesh! Get over it, dear Reader. They may be the most influential people in your life and you certainly look up to them, but in no way should they prevent you from being the man or woman your destiny has in store for you. By nature's course, they will die ahead of you and you will be left roaming the world without them. Go and seek your heart out! You can still love them even if you go against their own mere opinions.In Filipino culture, procrastination is a vice so prevalent yet is viewed to be destructive it requires a distinct phrase to describe it. Doing it can get you a scolding from any grandnanny in the neighborhood with the unscrupulous intention of pulling you up from your sluggish ways. It is called the “Mañana is a Spanish word that is translated as morning, tomorrow, or later. In this sense, the latter 2 renderings are preferable. You can use this word as a retort to someone asking you to do a chore if you are feeling lethargic.You may all have the conditions to train and develop yourself so you can attain your ambition. The opportunity is now a finger's reach, yet there is this something inside your flesh that makes putting it off to a later time seem enjoyable. In this case, I recommend that you read my article on why laziness and procrastination are temptingly fun and entertaining Sloth is the soul's enemy that breaks any great opportunity.Both ancient and pop mythologies have recognized the hooded creature wielding a long scythe as the. Her image has been universally accepted as the symbol of famine, sickness, and death. You would see her in visual artworks displayed in history museums all over the globe.If there is one final and strongest obstacle to fulfilling your passion, it is sickness and death – and when I say sickness, it is the one that is terminal and will eventually lead to death. Obviously, death is not just the end of your life but the end of your dreams as well. The previous 4 items in this list can be defeated by an act of choice, determination, and decision, but this 5and last one is a passion ender even the greatest and most passionate men and women were not able to avoid. With death, it ends right just that.The only one who loves and adores Death that I know of is the Marvel Comics villain named. In the Marvel Universe,(albeit an infinity) is depicted as a beautiful woman who only turns her face into a skull at the spur of a moment. In some comic releases, another Marvel character namedis shown to be proposing to and marrying Death.Even if Death's humanly appearance is stunningly attractive, you need not wait for her to come to you before you actually fulfill your passion in order to impress her. Because once she comes, she will be wielding her scythe and she will relentlessly strike you with it. Your life on earth will be a thing of the past.As a final treat, here is the video of Steve Job's speech at the Stanford University graduation ceremony in 2005.Event Sourcing is like having two methods when previously there was one. There — I’ve said it.
But it isn’t my idea at all.
It was Greg that used it first, in a bit different context. When explaining CQRS he used this exact words:
Starting with CQRS, CQRS is simply the creation of two objects where there was previously only one. The separation occurs based upon whether the methods are a command or a query (the same definition that is used by Meyer in Command and Query Separation, a command is any method that mutates state and a query is any method that returns a value).
You can have quite a similar statement on event-sourced aggregate root. The separation occurs based upon whether the method:
corresponds to an action we want to take on an aggregate — protects business rules and tells what domain event happened if those were met
we want to take on an aggregate — protects and tells what domain event happened if those were met maps consequences of the domain event that happened to internal state representation (against which business rules are executed)
Not convinced yet? Let the examples speak.
Stereotypical aggregate without Event Sourcing
Below is a typical aggregate root. In the scope of the example there are only two actions you can take — via public register and supply methods.
class Product CannotSupply = Class. new ( StandardError ) AlreadyRegistered = Class. new ( StandardError ) def initialize ( store_id: nil, sku: nil, quantity_available: 0 ) @store_id = store_id @sku = sku @quantity_available = quantity_available end def register ( store_id :, sku :, event_store :) raise AlreadyRegistered if @store_id @store_id = store_id @sku = sku event_store. publish_event ( ProductRegistered. new ( data: { store_id: @store_id, sku: @sku, })) end def supply ( quantity, event_store :) raise CannotSupply unless @store_id && @sku @quantity_available += quantity event_store. publish_event ( ProductSupplied. new ( data: { store_id: @store_id, sku: @sku, quantity: quantity, })) end end
Aggregate with Event Sourcing
In event sourcing it is the domain events that are our source of truth. They state what happened. What we need to do is to make them a bit more useful and convenient for decision making. This is the sourcing part.
class Product CannotSupply = Class. new ( StandardError ) AlreadyRegistered = Class. new ( StandardError ) def initialize ( store_id: nil, sku: nil, quantity_available: 0 ) @store_id = store_id @sku = sku @quantity_available = quantity_available end def register ( store_id :, sku :, event_store :) raise AlreadyRegistered if @store_id event = ProductRegistered. new ( data: { store_id: store_id, sku: sku, }) event_store. publish_event ( event ) registered ( event ) end def supply ( quantity, event_store :) raise CannotSupply unless @store_id && @sku event = ProductSupplied. new ( data: { store_id: @store_id, sku: @sku, quantity: quantity, }) event_store. publish_event ( event ) supplied ( event ) end private def supplied ( event ) @quantity_available += event. data. fetch ( :quantity ) end def registered ( event ) @sku = event. data. fetch ( :sku ) @store_id = event. data. fetch ( :store_id ) end end
In this step we’ve drawn the line between making a statement that something happened (being possible to happen first) and what side effects does it have. Notice private registered and supplied methods.
Why make such effort and introduce indirection? The reason is simple — if the events are source of truth, we could not only shape internal state for current actions we take but also for the ones that happened in the past.
Instead of loading current state stored in a database, we can take collection of events that happened in scope of this aggregate — in its stream.
class Product CannotSupply = Class. new ( StandardError ) AlreadyRegistered = Class. new ( StandardError ) def initialize ( store_id: nil, sku: nil, event_store :) stream_name = "Product$ #{ store_id } - #{ sku } " events = event_store. read_all_events_forward ( stream_name ) events. each do | event | case event when ProductRegistered then registered ( event ) when ProductSupplied then supplied ( event ) end end end def register ( store_id :, sku :, event_store :) raise AlreadyRegistered if @store_id event = ProductRegistered. new ( data: { store_id: store_id, sku: sku, }) event_store. publish_event ( event ) registered ( event ) end def supply ( quantity, event_store :) raise CannotSupply unless @store_id && @sku event = ProductSupplied. new ( data: { store_id: @store_id, sku: @sku, quantity: quantity, }) event_store. publish_event ( event ) supplied ( event ) end private def supplied ( event ) @quantity_available += event. data. fetch ( :quantity ) end def registered ( event ) @sku = event. data. fetch ( :sku ) @store_id = event. data. fetch ( :store_id ) end end
At this point you may have figured out that event_store dependency that we constantly pass as an argument belongs more to the infrastructure layer than to a domain and business.
What if something above passed a list of events first so we could rebuild the state? After an aggregate action happened we could provide a list of domain events to be published ( unpublished_events ):
class Product CannotSupply = Class. new ( StandardError ) AlreadyRegistered = Class. new ( StandardError ) attr_reader :unpublished_events def initialize ( events ) @unpublished_events = [] events. each { | event | dispatch ( event ) } end def register ( store_id :, sku :) raise AlreadyRegistered if @store_id apply ( ProductRegistered. new ( data: { store_id: store_id, sku: sku, })) end def supply ( quantity ) raise CannotSupply unless @store_id && @sku apply ( ProductSupplied. new ( data: { store_id: @store_id, sku: @sku, quantity: quantity, })) end private def apply ( event ) dispatch ( event ) @unpublished_events << event end def dispatch ( event ) case event when ProductRegistered then registered ( event ) when ProductSupplied then supplied ( event ) end end def supplied ( event ) @quantity_available += event. data. fetch ( :quantity ) end def registered ( event ) @sku = event. data. fetch ( :sku ) @store_id = event. data. fetch ( :store_id ) end end
More or less this reminds the aggregate_root gem that is aimed to assist you with event sourced aggregates.
The rule of having two methods when there was previously one however still holds.
The public method (such as supply ) corresponds to an action we want to take on an aggregate — protects business rules and tells what domain event happened if those rules were met.
(such as ) corresponds to an we want to take on an aggregate — protects and tells what domain event happened if those rules were met. The private method (such as supplied ) maps consequences of the domain event that happened to the internal state representation.
There are more code samples and The Why of Event Sourcing in Domain-Driven Rails which I fully recommend. With HIGH5EVENTSOURCING you can get it now with 25% off.
Have a great day!By now, the news is out —TouchID was hacked. In truth, none of us really expected otherwise. Fingerprint biometrics use a security credential that gets left behind everywhere you go on everything you touch.
The fact that fingerprints can be lifted is not really up for debate— CSI technicians have been doing it for decades. The big question with TouchID was whether or not Apple could implement a design that would resist attacks using lifted fingerprints, or whether they would join the long line of manufacturers who had tried but failed to implement a completely secure solution. Does this mean TouchID is flawed and that it should be avoided? The answer to that isn’t as simple as you might think. Yes, TouchID has flaws, and yes, it’s possible to exploit those flaws and unlock an iPhone. But, the reality is these flaws are not something that the average consumer should worry about. Why? Because exploiting them was anything but trivial. Hacking TouchID relies upon a combination of skills, existing academic research and the patience of a Crime Scene Technician. First you have to obtain a suitable print. A suitable print needs to be unsmudged and be a complete print of the correct finger that unlocks a phone. If you use your thumb to unlock it, the way Apple designed it, then you are looking for the finger which is least likely to leave a decent print on the iPhone. Try it yourself. Hold an iPhone in your hand and try the various positions that you would use the phone in. You will notice that the thumb doesn’t often come into full contact with the phone and when it does it's usually in motion. This means they tend to be smudged. So in order to “hack” your phone a thief would have to work out which finger is correct AND lift a good clean print of the correct finger. Next you have to “lift” the print. This is the realm of CSI. You need to develop the print using one of several techniques involving the fumes from cyanoacrylate (“super glue”) and a suitable fingerprint powder before carefully (and patiently) lifting the print using fingerprint tape. It is not easy. Even with a well-defined print, it is easy to smudge the result, and you only get one shot at this: lifting the print destroys the original. So now what? If you got this far, the chances are you have a slightly smudged print stuck to a white card. Can you use this to unlock the phone? This used to work on some of the older readers, but not for many years now, and certainly not with this device. To crack this control you will need to create an actual fake fingerprint.
Creating the fake fingerprint is arguably the hardest part and by no means “easy.” It is a lengthy process that takes several hours and uses over a thousand dollars worth of equipment including a high resolution camera and laser printer. First of all, you have to photograph the print, remembering to preserve scale, maintain adequate resolution and ensure you don’t skew or distort the print. Next, you have to edit the print and clean up as much of the smudging as possible. Once complete, you have two options:
The CCC method. Invert the print in software, and print it out onto transparency film using a laser printer set to maximum toner density. Then smear glue and glycerol on the ink side of the print and leave it to cure. Once dried you have a thin layer of rubbery dried glue that serves as your fake print.
I used a technique demonstrated by Tsutomu Matsumoto in his 2002 paper “The Impact of Artificial “Gummy” Fingers on Fingerprint Systems”. In this technique, you take the cleaned print image and without inverting it, print it to transparency film. Next, you take the transparency film and use it to expose some thick copper clad photosensitive PCB board that’s commonly used in amateur electrical projects. After developing the image on the PCB using special chemicals, you put the PCB through a process called “etching” which washes away all of the exposed copper leaving behind a fingerprint mold. Smear glue over this and when it dries, you have a fake fingerprint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7s2Cp8hdr8
Using fake fingerprints is a little tricky; I got the best results by sticking it to a slightly damp finger. My supposition is that this tactic improves contact by evening out any difference in electrical conductivity between this and the original finger.
So what do we learn from all this? Practically, an attack is still a little bit in the realm of a John le Carré novel. It is certainly not something your average street thief would be able to do, and even then, they would have to get lucky. Don’t forget you only get five attempts before TouchID rejects all fingerprints requiring a PIN code to unlock it. However, let’s be clear, TouchID is unlikely to withstand a targeted attack. A dedicated attacker with time and resources to observe his victim and collect data, is probably not going to see TouchID as much of a challenge. Luckily this isn’t a threat that many of us face.
TouchID is not a “strong” security control. It is a “convenient” security control. Today just over 50 percent of users have a PIN on their smartphones, and the number one reason people give for not using the PIN is that it’s inconvenient. TouchID is strong enough to protect users from casual or opportunistic attackers (with one concern I will cover later on) and it is substantially better than nothing.
Today, we have more sensitive data than ever before on our smart devices. To be honest, many of us should treat our smartphone like a credit card because you can perform many of the same financial transactions with it. Fingerprint security will help protect you against the three biggest threats facing smartphone users today:
Fingerprint security will protect your data from a street thief that grabs your phone.
Fingerprint security will protect you in the event you drop/forget/misplace your phone.
Fingerprint security could protect you against phishing attacks (if Apple allows it)
Fingerprint security has a darker side though: we need to carefully evaluate how its data is going to be managed and the impact it will have on personal privacy. First and foremost is the question of how fingerprint data will be managed. As Senator Al Franken pointed out to Apple in his letter dated September 19, we only have ten fingerprints and a stolen or public fingerprint could lead to lifelong challenges. Just imagine your fingerprints turning up at every crime scene in the country!
The big questions here are:
What data does Apple capture from a finger as it is enrolled? How is this data stored and how is it accessed? Can this data be used to recreate a user's fingerprint mathematically or through visual reconstruction?
In a similar fashion, fingerprints are viewed quite differently to passwords and PINs in the eyes of the law. For example, the police or other law enforcement officials can compel you to surrender your fingerprints, something they currently can’t do quite as easily with passwords or PINs despite some recent judicial challenges to that position.
As a technology, fingerprint biometrics has a flaw that’s likely to be repeatedly exposed and fixed in future products. We shouldn’t let this distract us or make us think that fingerprint biometrics should be abandoned, instead we should ensure that future products and services are designed with this in consideration. If we play to its strengths and anticipate its weaknesses, fingerprint biometrics can add great value to both security and user experience.
What I, and many of my colleagues are waiting for (with bated breath), is TouchID enabled two-factor authentication. By combining two low to medium security tokens, such as a fingerprint and a 4 digit pin, you create something much stronger. Each of these tokens has its flaws and each has its strengths. Two-factor authentication allows you to benefit from those strengths while mitigating some of the weaknesses.
Imagine a banking application where on startup you use a fingerprint for convenience - it’s nice and quick and only needs to ensure the right person has started it. However as soon as you want to do something sensitive like check a balance or transfer some funds we kick it up a notch by asking for a two factor authentication - the fingerprint and a 4 digit pin. This combination is strong enough to protect the user against most scenarios from physical theft through to phishing attacks.
If implemented correctly, TouchID enabled two-factor authentication in enterprise applications could be a good defense against phishing attacks by attackers like the Syrian Electronic Army. You can trick a user into giving up any kind of passcode but, it is much harder to trick a user into giving up his or her fingerprints from the other side of the world.
Despite being hacked, TouchID is an exciting step forwards for smartphone security and I stand by our earlier blog on fingerprint security. Hacking TouchID gave me respect for its design and some ideas about how we can make it strong moving forward. I hope that Apple will keep in touch with the security industry as TouchID faces its inevitable growing pains. There is plenty of room for improvement, and an exciting road ahead of us if we do this right.
For starters, Apple —can we have two-factor authentication please?Part of the Truthout Series Progressive Picks
Economics Professor Gar Alperovitz. (Photo: garalperovitz.com)
Gar Alperovitz is the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland. He is best known for articles, books and speeches about the development of an alternative cooperative/publicly owned segment of the economy in the United States.
Alperovitz’s latest book is What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution.
“Gar Alperovitz’s new book develops a brilliant strategy for the type of transformative change that can lead America from decline to rebirth,” writes James Gustave Speth, author of America the Possible.
Support Truthout’s mission. Gar Alperotivz’s new book, What Then Must We Do: Straight Talk About the American Revolution, is yours with a minimum donation to Truthout of $25, or a monthly donation of $15.
Chapter 11 of What Then Must We Do?
One more obvious step, for the moment, in connection with real-world democratization (and maybe also about what can be done if you want to start getting serious).
I assume you are aware that socialism—real socialism, not the fuzzy kind conservatives try to pin on Barack Obama—is as common as grass (well, maybe not that common, but still very common indeed) in the United States.
I’m not talking about the public programs that come to many minds when socialism is discussed in an American context. These programs often help people in need and do many other useful things, but they don’t attempt to change the underlying systemic design and the political power it confers on corporate actors.
I’m talking about the (efficient) government ownership of businesses, some set up in the past and still working very nicely, thank you, and many new efforts now also flourishing big-time.
For a start: It’s often forgotten—or simply not known—that there are more than two thousand publicly owned electric utilities now operating, day by day, week by week, throughout the United States (many in the conservative South). Indeed, 25 percent of US electricity is supplied by locally owned public utilities and co-ops.
Moreover, most of these now conventional “socialist” operations have a demonstrated capacity to provide electricity at lower cost to the consumer, not to mention cheaper and more accessible broadband. (Nationally, on average, customers of private utilities pay 14 percent more than customers of public utilities.)
One obvious reason: Public utilities and co-ops simply don’t pay the same exorbitant executive salaries common in the private sector. They get pretty much the same work done for far less. General managers of the largest class of publicly owned power companies earned an average salary of roughly $260,000 in 2011. Average compensation for CEOs of large investor-owned utilities was $6 million—almost twenty-five times as much.
Also, of course, public utilities and co-op producers don’t have to pay private shareholders any dividends. And they return a portion of their revenues to the city or county to help supplement local budgets, easing the pressure on taxpayers. A recent study found an average transfer of 5.2 percent of revenues to municipalities—compared with average tax payments by private-investor-owned utilities of 3.9 percent.
In smaller communities revenues from public utilities are often a crucial component of city budgets. In Ashland, Oregon, for instance, fully 30 percent of the general fund that pays for such services as police, fire, and street maintenance comes from public utility profits; only 16 percent comes from property taxes. Similarly, the century-old public utility in Norwich, Connecticut, is a major contributor to the city, with more than 10 percent of its total billings—more than 5 percent of the city’s total annual budget—going to the municipal general fund.
A number of public utilities also play a powerful role in building a green economy. In California the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)—one of the ten largest public utilities in the United States—now supplies more than 24 percent of its retail energy sales from renewable sources; it expects to reach a goal of 37 percent renewable energy by 2020. SMUD is also on target to slash CO2 emissions to just 10 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
Another leader, Austin Energy in Texas, runs the most successful utility-sponsored green energy marketing program in the country. Approximately 15 to 17 percent of its power currently comes from renewable sources—primarily wind, with landfill methane gas a distant second. The utility expects to reach 30 |
ically from those who have lived and breathed and struggled there all their lives, a sustainable means of communication media is established. Voices formerly silenced by the corporate media emerge on their own terms, articulating the reality they are creating for themselves through participatory communication. They are deciding what the important issues are for their own communities and framing their own debates. The democratisation of the media has begun.
Notes
[1] Raby, D. L., Democracy and Revolution Latin America and Socialism Today. New York: Pluto P, 2006.
[2] Venezuela. Constitución de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela. Caracas: Gaceta Oficial, 1999.
[3] Global Legal Information Network. June 2, 2009 <http://www.glin.gov/view.action?glinID=73319>.
[4] Kozloff, Nikolas. "Chávez Launches Hemispheric,`Anti-Hegemonic' Media Campaign in Response to Local TV Networks' Anti-Government Bias." Council on Hemispheric Affairs. April 28, 2005.
[5] Kozloff, Nikolas. "Chávez Launches Hemispheric, `Anti-Hegemonic' Media Campaign in Response to Local TV Networks' Anti-Government Bias." Council on Hemispheric Affairs. 28 Apr. 2005.
[6] Podur, Justin. "Venezuelan TV for and by the Communities." Venezuela Analysis. September 13, 2004. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/696>.
[7] CatiaTV Collective. "Catia TVe, Television From, By and For the People." Venezuela Analysis. July 19, 2006. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/1843>.
[8] Fernandes, Sujatha. "Growing Movement of Community Radio in Venezuela." Venezuela Analysis. December 26, 2005. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/1543>.
[9] Gomez, Luis. "Media Constructed From Below." Venezuela Analysis. May 18, 2005. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/1135>.
[10] Hernandez, Angela. "Los Consejos Comunales." Personal interview. February 2009
[11] Wilpert, Gregory. "Community Media in Venezuela." Venezuela Analysis. November 13, 2003. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/221>.
[12] Wilpert, Gregory. "Community Media in Venezuela." Venezuela Analysis. November 13, 2003. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/221>.
[13] ECOS Radio. "Community Media." Personal interview. January 30, 2009.
[14] CatiaTV Collective. "Catia TVe, Television From, By and For the People." Venezuela Analysis. July 19, 2006. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/1843>.
[15] Golinger, Eva. "A Case Study of Media Concentration and Power in Venezuela." Venezuela Analysis. September 25, 2004. <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/710>.
License: Published under a Creative Commons license (by-nc-nd). See creativecommons.org for more information.This article is about the bridal rhyme. For the "How I Met Your Mother" episode, see Something Old
Items chosen to bring good luck to the bride. In this case, the veil was borrowed and the handkerchief was new.
"Something old" is the first line of a traditional rhyme that details what a bride should wear at her wedding for good luck:
Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and a silver sixpence in her shoe.
The old item provided protection for the baby to come. The item borrowed from another happy bride provided good luck. The colour blue was a sign of fidelity. The sixpence — a silver British coin — was a symbol of prosperity or acted as a ward against evil done by frustrated suitors. The superstition is known since 1883 when it was attributed to the county of Lancashire.[1] An 1898 compilation of English folklore recounted that:
In this country an old couplet directs that the bride shall wear:— "Something old, something new, Something borrowed, something blue." "The something blue" takes, I am given to understand, usually the form of a garter, an article of dress which plays an important part in some wedding rites, as, for instance, in the old custom of plucking off the garter of the bride. "The something old" and "something blue" are devices to baffle the Evil Eye. The usual effect on the bride of the Evil Eye is to render her barren, and this is obviated by wearing "something borrowed", which should properly be the undergarment of some woman who has been blessed with children: the clothes communicate fertility to the bride.[2]
Another compilation of the era frames this poem as "a Lancashire version", as contrast against a Leicestershire recitation that "a bride on her wedding day should wear—'Something new, Something blue, Something borrowed'...", and so omits the "something old". The authors note that this counters other regional folklore warning against the wearing of blue on the wedding day, but relates the use of the color to phrases like "true blue" which make positive associations with the color.[3]
The rhyme can earlier be found in an 1876 edition of Notes and Queries,[4] and is called an "ancient custom" in another 1876 book, Bye-gones, Relating to Wales and the Border Counties.[5] This version is referenced as well in an 1871 short story, "Marriage Superstitions, and the Miseries of a Bride Elect", in The St. James's Magazine.[6]
Historical examples [ edit ]
At the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the bride had:
In popular culture [ edit ]
In the Friends episode "The One in Vegas", Monica says to Chandler she needs 'Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' so they can get married. They got a new, blue sweater stolen from the shop (borrowed) and Chandler's old condom. In "The One With Monica And Chandler's Wedding, Part 2", Phoebe discovers a positive pregnancy test, assumed to be Monica's, and Phoebe asks if the baby counts as Monica's something new. In "The One With Phoebe's Wedding", when Phoebe decides not to wear her coat while getting married outside in the snow, she said that "I can be my something blue", suggesting that she might go blue with coldness.
In the Grey's Anatomy episode "White Wedding", Callie Torres asks to borrow something from Sloan Riley, saying that she already has something old, new and blue, in preparation for her wedding.
In the "ER" seventh season episode 18 "April Showers", Isabelle Corday, Dr. Elizabeth Corday's mother, hands her daughter a pair of family heirloom earrings the morning of Elizabeth's wedding, mentioning, "Something old, something new, something borrowed...."
The final two episodes of Season 2 of How I Met Your Mother are titled "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" in reference to the wedding occurring between the characters Marshall and Lily on the show. The final two episodes of Season 8 of How I Met Your Mother are titled "Something Old" and "Something New" in reference to the wedding occurring between the characters Barney and Robin on the show.
In the 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "A Dick on One Knee" Harry is tasked with finding something old, something new; something borrowed, and something blue, his second attempt is "Blind Joe", an old man who plays the blues that he borrowed from the Tip-Top Club. When Sally asks Harry what's new about him, Harry says Joe is his new friend. [9]
In the Doctor Who episode "The Big Bang", the Doctor connects the four elements to his TARDIS, which is "borrowed", and "brand new and ancient, and the bluest blue ever". In the same episode at Amy Pond's wedding, she recites this saying to help remember the Doctor (excluding the line "And a silver sixpence in her shoe"), who had previously been erased from time. As she finishes her speech, wind begins blowing in the hall and several seconds later the TARDIS starts materializing right in the middle of it, and the Doctor—not imaginary, but flesh and blood—steps outside into the hall.
The ninth episode of series two of Torchwood is entitled "Something Borrowed" in reference to the wedding occurring between the characters Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams on the show.
In Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends, Season 5, Episode 19 "Happy Ever After", Percy is taking some trucks (freight cars) to Brendam Docks, when Terence, working in a field next to the line tells him Mrs. Kyndley's daughter is getting married. Further up the line, Mrs. Kyndley waves him down when Percy's driver asks her what's wrong, Mrs. Kyndley has forgotten the good luck package. The something old was Old Slow Coach, the something new was a buffer stop with shiny new buffers, the something borrowed was a flatbed truck the buffers were on, and the something blue was Thomas. The delighted bride thanks the engines and gives Percy a kiss.
In the penultimate episode "We're Planning a June Wedding" of the popular series The Vampire Diaries, lead character Caroline Forbes receives a card reading "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue", and during the episode she receives items which signify the phrase for her wedding. Something old from Stefan, Elena's necklace (something borrowed), a floral-looking headband from her friend Bonnie (something new), and Katherine's necklace (something blue).
On Ihsahn's album Eremita (2012) is a song entitled "Something Out There", which uses the lyrics "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue".
The rhyme is referenced in the Fall Out Boy song, "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me". At the near end of the song, Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz sing "Someone old, no one new, feeling borrowed, always blue".
See also [ edit ]A women's advocacy group is airing the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape near the White House over a 12-hour stretch on Friday — just short of a year after the recording was made public.
The group, Ultraviolet, is running the footage on a giant screen on Constitution Avenue, between the White House and the National Mall, on a loop from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
In the recording, Trump can be heard boasting to former "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush about groping and kissing women without their consent. The tape, released by The Washington Post on Oct. 7 of last year, is widely considered among the most glaring controversies of Trump's presidential campaign.
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After the tape was released, Trump and his allies sought to brush off the real estate mogul's comments as "locker room talk," saying during a subsequent presidential debate that he was "not proud of it."
"It was not so-called ‘locker room talk,’ it was a man bragging about sexually assaulting women. That man may now sit in the Oval Office, but we will not let him — or anyone else — forget the tape or those comments,” Ultraviolet co-founder Shaunna Thomas said in a statement.
Following the release of the recording, Trump faced mounting allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. He has denied that he ever engaged in such behavior.
"The Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE on that tape is the same Donald Trump that sits in the Oval Office every day, aggressively pursuing an anti-woman agenda, including the active dismantling of legal protections for survivors of sexual assault," Thomas said.- Advertisement -
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When somebody within your own government calls you out, do you show up? How do you handle it?
Wayne Madsen, always spoiling for a fight with Bush and Cheney, or the chance to show off his undies to minimum wage airport TSA workers, has an executive level NSA staff person on record saying that significant sentiment exists within the NSA to kill troublesome bloggers and journalists.
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The NSA executive staffer was, apparently, not the source of the sentiment, but this individual did pass along the context and the precise wording of the "junior G-man" working in the NSA. Prominent names listed in the NSA database of troublemakers?
1. Bill Gertz
2. James Bamford
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3. Vernon Loeb
4. Jim Risen
5. Dr. John C. K. Daly
6. Wayne Madsen
7. Seymour Hersh
These were all the names Madsen published, but there are, of course, many others. Possibly you, gentle reader.
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If not now, probably later.
As much as Madsen hates Daily Kos, I would think that if Kos was in the database, he would have published his name, too. Markos Moulitsas Zuniga -- a name that should just roll off the Hebroid-Russian tongue of George Soros, and frequently does -- is he NOT in the NSA's database of journalists and bloggers to be put out of Cheney's misery?Just a couple of weeks ago, many political analysts were still chattering about a contested Republican convention. Then came the Indiana primary, and the forces opposing Donald Trump seemed to unravel almost immediately. This terminal phase of the nominating season is a reminder of how much and why public opinion matters.
“Momentum” is one of the most misused terms in politics — very often it’s false signal in noisy data, especially in general elections. But primaries are different. Because they’re held sequentially, winning one state may encourage voters in subsequent states to jump on the bandwagon because they want to back a winner. Winning also provides candidates with other resources, such as money and favorable media coverage. In short, there are advantages to being the front-runner: Pluralities tend to turn into majorities.
Indeed, one theory of momentum correctly suggested that as of March 15, Republican voters would start breaking toward Trump, and that he would surge to victory.
To see why, we have to start with a research paper called “The End Game in Presidential Nominations,” written in 1981 by Donald Collat, then a Yale law student, and political scientists Stanley Kelley and Ronald Rogowski. (We will call them CK&R for short.) CK&R were interested in bandwagon calculations. When political stakeholders seeking influence, patronage or other spoils choose a candidate, they must endorse someone early enough to make a visible difference, but they also have to wait long enough to be reasonably sure they are picking a winner. So when does support turn into a stampede?
To find out, CK&R studied American political conventions from 1848 to 1948. In those days, before mass communication and transportation, conventions had important substantive functions. They gave governors, members of Congress and big-city bosses a unique chance to gather, size one another up, cut deals, hammer out issues — and to battle over choosing presidential nominees, sometimes over many ballots. CK&R found that as conventions progressed, changes in delegate counts held crucial signals about when candidates became inevitable: Once they passed a particular threshold of momentum, their bandwagons started to roll. CK&R looked at a metric they called the “gain-deficit ratio”: the change in a candidate’s support from one ballot to the next, divided by the support the candidate still required to clinch the nomination. As CK&R put it, “The ratio takes account of where a candidate is, how close victory is, and how fast the candidate is progressing toward it.” And they found that at every majority-rule convention over that 100-year period (the Democrats required a two-thirds vote until 1936), the candidate who surpassed a gain-deficit ratio of 0.36 went on to win the nomination. This held true even when the eventual winner started far back, and his ultimate victory wasn’t obvious.
FIRST TO BREAK GAIN-DEFICIT RATIO THRESHOLD BECAME NOMINEE YEAR LEADER ON FIRST BALLOT CANDIDATE BALLOT NO. CANDIDATE BALLOT NO. 1848* Taylor Taylor 3 Taylor 4 1852* Fillmore Scott 50 Scott 53 1860 Seward Lincoln 2 Lincoln** 3 1876 Blaine — — Hayes 7 1880 Grant — — Garfield 36 1884 Blaine Blaine 3 Blaine 4 1888 Sherman Harrison 4 Harrison 8 1916 Hughes Hughes 2 Hughes 3 1920 Wood Harding 9 Harding 10 1940 Dewey Willkie 3 Willkie 6 1948 Dewey Dewey 2 Dewey 3 Contested Republican conventions, 1848-1948 *Before the formation of the Republican Party; these are Whig Party conventions **After the third ballot, votes shifted overwhelmingly toward Lincoln, who was just 2.5 votes shy of clinching, securing him the nomination without an official fourth ballot Source: Collat, Kelley and Rogowski
For example, at the 1940 Republican convention, 501 delegates were needed for nomination. Thomas E. Dewey of New York led on the first ballot with 360 votes, while businessman Wendell Willkie was in third place with 105. On the third ballot, Willkie moved from 171 votes to 259, giving him a gain-deficit ratio of (259-171)/(501-259), or 0.364. He then took the lead on the fourth ballot, and was nominated on the sixth.
The gain-deficit ratio isn’t the only way to measure bandwagon effects, and 0.36 isn’t necessarily a magic number. But the fact that it persisted as a threshold from the time of the Whig Party through Dewey’s nominations in 1944 and 1948 suggested something powerful was at work. CK&R concluded that over time, different delegates made decisions based on similar kinds of evidence, and that trends, not just levels, of candidate support mattered to them.
Now, here’s where things get really interesting. After 1952 (when it took the Democrats three ballots to pick Adlai Stevenson), parties began nominating candidates exclusively on the first ballot. That meant delegates had to make their bandwagon calculations before conventions — before they all met in one place to slug out a nomination battle round by round, and to put their support up for bid. But the gain-deficit ratio kept working anyway. CK&R looked at contested nominations from 1952 to 1976, tracking preconvention changes in support by using surveys of delegates from The Associated Press and The New York Times. Again, once a candidate passed the critical threshold, he always went on to win the nomination. In 1960, John F. Kennedy’s gain-deficit ratio hit 0.672 two and a half weeks before the Democratic convention, into which he went unsure if he had a majority of delegates. In 1968, Richard M. Nixon’s gain-deficit ratio passed 0.36 for the first time in the AP’s 11th poll of GOP delegates, reaching 0.519 the day before the Republican convention.
Even when nominations seemed to hinge on technicalities, conventions ended up favoring the candidates with the most momentum. It’s true, for example, that in 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower prevailed on the first ballot of the Republican convention only after waging an extensive, bitter floor fight to unseat delegations that supported his opponent, Sen. Robert Taft. And that in 1972, George McGovern had to fight to preserve the winner-take-all results of the California primary, an idea most of his own followers disliked, before he could lock up the Democratic nod. But it’s also true that before their conventions ever started, both Eisenhower and McGovern had reached the point where a candidate had never been denied nomination.
After 1972, both parties shifted toward allocating delegates by primaries and caucuses. Now it’s up to every voter to decide how much and how early it matters to be on a winning team. Yet the gain-deficit ratio has remained an accurate predictor. (That’s one finding of research by political scientist Barbara Norrander, who updated CK&R’s work to look at the endgame of presidential nominations in the post-reform era.) For instance, in 1996, Bob Dole passed the 0.36 mark on March 12, when he vaulted from 276 to 737 delegates, with 996 needed to nominate, by winning all seven Super Tuesday primaries. In 2008, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both exceeded the 0.36 threshold on Feb. 5, when they split the large trove of delegates chosen by 22 states. Obama’s gain-deficit ratio after those contests was 0.71, while Clinton’s was 0.67, foretelling a narrow but eventual Obama victory.
Even though voters now have the power to select nominees, they seem to be subject to the same bandwagon calculations that affected delegates at the old conventions. And perhaps those delegates, and their bosses, always paid at least some attention to public opinion, in addition to their own judgment. Probably both. So the decision-makers are different today from 60 or 160 years ago; primaries and caucuses essentially fill the role that convention ballots used to. But much of the psychology and many of the incentives involved in decision-making remain similar. And the analytics of momentum, expressed in measures such as the gain-deficit ratio, still make sense. Candidates still win nominations when they close enough of the gap toward their goal that the next round naturally goes their way. Sufficient momentum attracts breakaway support. And then overperformance wins over even more undecideds, and discourages rivals.
Which appears to be just what happened with Trump. On March 15, he won 228 delegates across six contests, including four large, geographically diverse states. That gave him a total of 691 delegates, and with 1,237 needed to nominate, his gain-deficit ratio was 228/(1237-691), or 0.418, beyond the 0.36 threshold. What happened next would have been more predictable if Trump weren’t so singularly divisive, or if Ted Cruz hadn’t won Wisconsin, or if the gap between Trump’s and Cruz’s organizational skills hadn’t raised doubts about Trump’s hold on his delegates. But once the campaign moved beyond the last set of states demographically unfavorable to Trump, his bandwagon started to roll.
On April 19, Trump won a majority of votes in a state for the first time, with 60 percent in New York. Every day thereafter, his average support among Republicans in national polls held steady or set a new high. After Trump dominated primaries across the Northeast on the 26th, Cruz’s support among delegates began to wobble. By May 3, Trump was able to win Indiana by 16 percentage points and knock Cruz out of the race, even after trying on the morning of the primary to link Cruz’s father, Rafael, with Lee Harvey Oswald. Cruz quit that night, followed by John Kasich the next morning.
The gain-deficit ratio has presaged another unlikely development: that the Democratic race would last longer than the Republican contest. Hillary Clinton came close to passing the 0.36 threshold this year on March 15, when she swept five big states, and again on April 26, when she won four of five in the Northeast. But she hasn’t quite left orbit, thanks to proportional delegate allocation on the Democratic side and Bernie Sanders’s persistence.
The idea of Donald Trump winning the Republican nomination seemed crazy to a lot of smart people for a long time. (Although it’s an interesting question whether Trump actually represents more of a break with his party than George McGovern did in 1972, or than Barry Goldwater did in 1964.) But plurality support matters, tending to turn into majority support. And Trump may have been following a winning path all spring.The place where the troops camp thistles and thorns grow.– Lao Tzu
You are not the choices you’ve made.
You are not the child you once were.
You are not your failed marriage.
You are not the setbacks of yesterday.
You are not the bad things that have happened to you.
You are not your past.
The Past Guides Our Choices – It Doesn’t Make Our Choices For Us
Your thoughts or feelings about the past don’t change it. That’s what makes it the past.
Your future is not your past. Your future, right now, is a nest of possibilities. It looks like your past only if your present choices continue the inertia of the past.
The past guides our choices; we have real constraints, opportunities, and experiences based on the past. Right now, though, those constraints, opportunities, and experiences are what they are – wishing they were different doesn’t make them different.
Whatever happened, you are here. But being here doesn’t mean that you have to stay here or that you will stay here.
Life is but an endless chain of presents and choices. You have never been your past.
What If You Stopped Attacking Yourself?
What if you stopped beating yourself up about what you did or didn’t do? Perhaps you’d see what you can do.
What if you stopped wishing that things were different from the way they are? Perhaps you’d see how to move toward the future you want by using the bounty of the present.
What if you didn’t assume that past failures are who you are? Perhaps you’d believe, just for a second, that you could be successful.
What if you chose to let the past be the past? Perhaps you’d see the ripe possibilities of the future.
Every ounce of energy that you spend attacking yourself is an ounce of energy that’s diverted from your growth. We are finite beings; use your resources wisely.WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) vigorously defended top State Department official Huma Abedin, who is Muslim-American, against allegations by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and other conservatives that she is part of a Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy to infiltrate the U.S. government.
"These allegations about Huma and the report from which they are drawn are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American and a loyal public servant," McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday morning.
The accusations stem from a report by the Center for Security Policy. The organization is run by Frank Gaffney, who has been crusading against the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia law for years.
Bachmann, along with Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), recently sent letters to five federal agencies demanding investigations into infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood, citing Gaffney's work.
McCain never mentioned Bachmann or the other lawmakers by name, but pointedly criticized their letters and the report, noting he had worked with the Center for Security Policy in the past.
"The letter alleges that three members of Huma’s family are 'connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations,'" he said. "Never mind that one of those individuals, Huma’s father, passed away two decades ago. The letter and the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government."
"These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit," McCain added. "And they need to stop now."
Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is married to former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, who is Jewish and strongly pro-Israel.
McCain said that he traveled overseas with Clinton and Abedin when Clinton was a senator.
"I have every confidence in Huma's loyalty to our country, and everyone else should as well," he said. "All Americans owe Huma a debt of gratitude for her many years of superior public service. I hope these ugly and unfortunate attacks on her can be immediately brought to an end and put behind us before any further damage is done to a woman, an American, of genuine patriotism and love of country."
But McCain said his larger reason for condemning Bachmann's allegations is to stand up for the character of America.
"Ultimately, what is at stake in this matter is larger even than the reputation of one person," he said. "This is about who we are as a nation, and who we still aspire to be.
"When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it."
In a statement on Wednesday, Bachmann said that her letters were being "distorted," but she did not directly address McCain or mention Abedin.
"I encourage everyone, including media outlets, to read them in their entirety," she said in a statement. "The intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials."
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who was the first Muslim-American elected to Congress, also condemned the allegations against Abedin Wednesday.
"I think it just is the worst of guilt by association," Ellison told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "I think it's really reprehensible and I do hope that people stand up to it."
Ellison also sent Bachmann a letter Wednesday saying that he hadn't seen any evidence supporting her claims about the Muslim Brotherhood, even after she responded to a letter he sent her on July 12 asking her to back them up.
"A careful review of your 16-page response reveals that you fail to provide any credible evidence for your claims, engage in guilt by association, and continue to rely on discredited sources," he wrote.
Ed Rollins, Bachmann's former campaign chairman, posted a blistering op-ed on Fox News' website on Wednesday afternoon, comparing her allegations to the conspiracy theories of former Sen. Joseph McCarthy:
I have been a practitioner of tough politics for many decades. There is little that amazes me and even less that shocks me. I have to say that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's outrageous and false charges against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin reaches that threshold. Her unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest. Having worked for Congressman Bachman's campaign for president, I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level. [...] Shame on you, Michele! You should stand on the floor of the House and apologize to Huma Abedin and to Secretary Clinton and to the millions of hard working, loyal, Muslim Americans for your wild and unsubstantiated charges. As a devoted Christian, you need to ask forgiveness for this grievous lack of judgment and reckless behavior.
Other lawmakers roundly condemned Bachmann's allegations Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) weighed in on Twitter, writing, "Rep. Bachmann’s accusations about Sec. Clinton aide Huma Abedin are out-of-line. This kind of rhetoric has no place in our public discourse."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also took to Twitter, writing, "I applaud @SenJohnMcCain for his powerful rejection of baseless accusations against Huma Abedin + other Muslims. I wish this discourse no longer existed in our country, but we have more educating to do with respect to what America is about."
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) -- whom McCain specifically mentioned in his floor speech as being one of the members who traveled with Clinton and Abedin abroad -- also condemned the attacks, calling them "ridiculous, really off-base, inappropriate."
"The person saying it has no idea what they're saying because they've never met her," he told Politico's Huddle. "She is about as far away from the Muslim Brotherhood view of women and ideology as you possibly could get. She's a very modern woman in every sense of the word, and people who say these things are really doing her a disservice because they don't know what they're talking about, and I don't know what their motivations are, but clearly it says more about them than it does her."
CNN's Dana Bash tried to catch up with Bachmann on the Hill Wednesday to ask her about the reaction to McCain's comments, but the congresswoman refused to stop and talked over Bash:
While most of Bachmann's four co-signers have stayed silent as well, Rooney said he believed the allegations were legitimate, although he regretted the focus on Abedin.
"I regret that Mrs. Abedin has become the media focus of this story, because the intention of the letters was to bring greater attention to a legitimate national security risk," Rooney said in a statement.
The Center for Security Policy issued a statement saying that McCain clearly had not fully reviewed the organization's "curriculum" and its "extensive documentation of a stealthy 'civilization jihad' being mounted against this country, its civil society institutions and government."
"Congresswoman Bachmann and her colleagues have rendered a tremendous public service by raising an alarm about the dangers posed by the Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘civilization jihad,'" Gaffney said in the statement. "Far from being chastised for doing so, by Sen. McCain or others, they should be applauded and aided in their efforts to have the extent of Brotherhood influence operations properly investigated by Inspectors General and/or congressional committees."
The organization also invited Huma Abedin's mother -- Dr. Saleha Mahmood Abedin, whom Gaffney's group accuses of supporting an organization that promotes shariah law -- to "participate in a dialogue."
The New York Times applauded McCain for speaking out in an editorial published Thursday, entitled "McCarthyism Redux."
"Since his defeat for the White House four years ago, Senator McCain has too often seemed a listless, unpredictable political figure, forgetful of his own bearings as his party steered resolutely rightward," the editorial said. "It was heartening to hear him back on deck condemning Know-Nothingism, especially in a week that started with his vote against a campaign finance disclosure act that should have had his strong backing."Marijuana legislation abounds as of Sept. 22, 2013. (Thomson Reuters’ WestlawNext)
A proposed ballot measure that would legalize possession, use, growth and cultivation of marijuana would save the state of California hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to a summary issued Thursday by the state attorney general’s office.
The summary [pdf], which Attorney General Kamala Harris’s (D) office releases for each proposed ballot measure, says the state would save “in the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually” on law enforcement costs associated with enforcing marijuana laws.
As an added bonus, Harris’s office said sales tax revenues could add more cash — again, in the “low hundreds of millions of dollars annually” — to the state’s bottom line.
Supporters of the proposed ballot measure would need to collect 504,760 signatures by May 23 to get the initiative — formally known by its ballot title, “Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute” — on the 2014 ballot.
The group backing legalization won’t actually be collecting signatures for this version of the bill; the lead sponsor told the San Francisco Chronicle that they had tweaked the initiative’s language to allow individuals to grow more marijuana for personal use. A revised version [pdf] of the ballot initiative, dubbed the “Marijuana Control, Legalization and Revenue Act of 2014,” is scheduled to be reviewed by the attorney general’s office by the end of January, the Chronicle reported.
Both versions of the measure would legalize the use, growth, cultivation, possession, transportation, storage and sale of marijuana, while creating a commission to regulate and issue business licenses for cultivation and sales.
The measure would apply retail sales taxes to marijuana sold for recreational purposes, while allocating that money equally to education, health care, law enforcement and drug abuse programs. It also prevents state and local law enforcement officials from enforcing federal marijuana laws.
Some California officials who back marijuana legalization had urged fellow supporters to wait until 2016, when the electorate will be larger, younger and more ethnically diverse, to put a measure on the fall ballot. But the ballot summary is so favorable that strategists think they will be able to pass the measure even in the lower-turnout midterm year.
California has been in the vanguard of the pro-marijuana movement. The state was the first in the country to legalize the possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes, back in 1996. In 2010, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed legislation decriminalizing possession of an ounce or less.
If the ballot measure passes, California would be the third state to legalize marijuana, along with Washington and Colorado, where voters legalized the drug through ballot measures this year.Everyone knows Sunday is the most high-caliber, DVR-crowding night of television. This is when the premium cable channels roll out their prestige dramas, PBS puts on the finery of Masterpiece Theater, and even network television flashes its ace in the hole. So it’s not unusual to find emotional catharsis in your Sunday night TV. But last night that catharsis came from a wholly unexpected sector. It wasn’t found in the adventures of young Arya Stark, or the meticulously-designed ennui of Don Draper, or even Alicia Florrick’s political devastation. Last night’s most emotionally satisfying moment came from HBO’s wickedly sharp comedy Veep. It was a moment three seasons in the making and it was well worth the wait.
Even if you haven’t watched the show (or this week’s episode), this scene between president Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her bag man Gary Walsh (Tony Hale) packs an emotional wallop. The surprise here isn’t the acting chops on the performers; Hale and Louis-Dreyfus have four Emmy awards between them for this show alone. The surprise is that Veep is not usually this kind of show. The Veep brand (and the brand of its creator, Armando Iannucci) is one of cutting, usually quite cruel comedy. The show’s eloquent insults are its most defining characteristic. And nobody (other than, maybe, Timothy Simons’s smarmy Jonah) |
80 Napoli 1991–92 31 6 3 0 — 34 6 Nîmes 1992–93 29 1 1 0 — 30 1 Saint-Étienne 1993–94 33 5 1 0 — 34 5 1994–95 37 13 2 0 — 39 13 Total 70 18 3 0 0 0 73 18 Auxerre 1995–96 23 2 8 2 — 31 4 Barcelona 1996–97 28 1 5 0 5 0 38 1 Marseille 1997–98 31 11 4 2 — 35 13 1998–99 32 3 2 0 10 1 44 4 Total 63 14 6 2 10 1 79 17 Internazionale 1999–2000 34 3 7 0 — 41 3 2000–01 33 3 2 0 9 0 44 3 Total 67 6 9 0 9 0 85 6 Manchester United 2001–02 29 1 2 0 15 2 46 3 2002–03 19 0 1 0 9 1 29 1 Total 48 1 3 0 24 3 75 4 Career totals 602 125 50 7 56 5 708 137
International [ edit ]
[40][41]
France national team Year Apps Goals 1989 6 1 1990 7 1 1991 6 2 1992 8 0 1993 8 3 1994 7 0 1995 4 1 1996 10 3 1997 7 0 1998 13 3 1999 9 0 2000 12 2 Total 97 16
Managerial statistics [ edit ]
As of 28 January 2019
Managerial record by team and tenure Team Nat From To Record Ref G W D L GF GA GD Win % Bordeaux 8 June 2007 16 May 2010 7002159000000000000♠ 159 7001930000000000000♠ 93 7001310000000000000♠ 31 7001350000000000000♠ 35 7002261000000000000♠ 261 7002160000000000000♠ 160 +101 0 7001584900000000000♠ 58.49 [42] France 2 July 2010 30 June 2012 7001270000000000000♠ 27 7001160000000000000♠ 16 7000700000000000000♠ 7 7000400000000000000♠ 4 7001400000000000000♠ 40 7001170000000000000♠ 17 +23 0 7001592600000000000♠ 59.26 [43] Paris Saint-Germain 25 June 2013 27 June 2016 7002173000000000000♠ 173 7002126000000000000♠ 126 7001310000000000000♠ 31 7001160000000000000♠ 16 7002391000000000000♠ 391 7002126000000000000♠ 126 +265 0 7001728300000000000♠ 72.83 [44] Total 7002359000000000000♠ 359 7002235000000000000♠ 235 7001690000000000000♠ 69 7001550000000000000♠ 55 7002692000000000000♠ 692 7002303000000000000♠ 303 +389 0 7001654599999999999♠ 65.46 —
Honours [ edit ]
Player [ edit ]
Montpellier
Auxerre
Barcelona
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France U21
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Notes [ edit ]VANCOUVER, B.C. (CN) – Four Native American bands and two environmental groups say Canada is neglecting its duty to protect threatened boreal caribou herds in Alberta.
The Athabasca Chepewyan First Nation, the Swan River First Nation, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, the Cold Lake First Nations, the Alberta Wilderness Association and the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development sued Canada’s minister of environment and its attorney general, in Federal Court.
The plaintiffs say the minister of environment dragged his feet coming up with a recovery strategy for the species.
Scientific reviews of boreal caribou populations in Alberta concluded that some herds are dwindling and further disturbance of habitat will compound the threat of local extinction, or “extirpation,” within 40 years.
The root cause of the caribou’s declining population, according to the complaint, is “landscape disturbance, for example from seismic lines, roads and well-sites.”
“[T]he effects of habitat destruction that will eventually lead to a herd’s extirpation (local extinction) may take 20 years or more to manifest,” the complaint states. “This means that activities that affect habitat now or in the near future can create conditions that will result in the extirpation of a herd, even though the herd’s actual disappearance may not occur for 20 years or more. Further, disturbed habitat in northeastern Alberta does not generally become suitable for Boreal Caribou for at least 80 years following its disturbance.”
The plaintiffs claim the government is well aware of the dire assessment of the species and has failed to take appropriate “aggressive” actions to protect the boreal caribou’s critical habitat in the face of an “imminent threat” to its survival.
The environmental groups are represented by Sean Nixon and Melissa Gorrie, of Vancouver. The first nations are represented by Jenny Biem and Jay Nelson of Woodward & Co., of Victoria, B.C.
Like this: Like Loading...Open-borders California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed suit in federal court in San Diego Wednesday, seeking to have the courts block construction of President Donald Trump’s promised border wall.
In the 53-page, 11 count complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, Becerra, joined by the California Coastal Commission, is asking for the wall to be stopped on the basis of federal environmental protection laws. The suit, filed against the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, targets DHS’s announced plans for wall construction in the San Diego, CA area. It threatens to tie up yet another Trump administration immigration priority in the courts.
Becerra’s complaint relies on federal environmental laws including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), among almost thirty others. In essence, California is arguing the efforts by the Trump administration to waive these acts’ extensive demands on the projects on the border are illegal. The state, home to the country’s largest population of illegal aliens, wants the full extent of NEPA environmental impact studies and demonstrations of compliance with the Coastal Commission’s “California Coastal Management Program” before even preliminary work on wall construction can move forward. California is seeking declarations and injunctions to that effect.
President Trump, in Executive Order 13767, gave DHS and CBP broad authority to get the wall projects moving under, among other sources, the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). California is arguing the (IIRIRA), despite specifically authorizing physical barriers be built along the southern border, is not broad enough allow the administration to overlook the harms that may come to the state from construction. The complaint also asks the court to review DHS and CBP action as “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Much of the claimed damage to California from the wall projects concerns natural resources and wildlife. Elsewhere, however, the wall’s very effectiveness on humans is cited as a problem. Beccera’s complaint argues, for example, that the executive order is invalid for the effect it will have on Californian tourism from Mexico:
Further, the Executive Order and the threat of the Border Wall has had and will have a “chilling effect” on California tourism from Mexico. California prides itself on its open and welcoming nature to citizens and non-citizens alike. It is this nature that helps drive the State’s strong tourism economy, especially from Mexico, our neighbor to the South.
The Department of Justice is likely to respond to the lawsuit with a motion to dismiss, which will be due before the court in 60 days.
Wednesday’s filing is hardly Becerra’s first attempt to derail the Trump immigration agenda. Claiming to “know the true value of diversity,” Beccera taunted the newly elected Trump to “come at us” in December. Since then he has been conducting what one California assemblyman described as a “long, legal war” against immigration enforcement and border security. This month, that war entered a new dogmatic phase when Beccera claimed, without explanation, that rescinding an executive order, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), was unconstitutional.
The case challenging wall construction is California ex rel. Becerra v. United States, No. 3:17-cv-1911 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.Ukraine's government, National Bank, its transportation services and largest power companies are bearing the brunt of what appears to be a massive ransomware outbreak that's fast spreading across the world and hitting a significant number of critical infrastructure providers.
Whispers of WannaCry abound, though some security experts said on Tuesday that a different breed, named Petya, was to blame. "[We're seeing] several thousands of infection attempts at the moment, comparable in size to WannaCry's first hours," said Kaspersky Lab's Costin Raiu, who added that the infections are occurring in many different countries. Another firm, BitDefender, said it believed a similar strain called GoldenEye was responsible. Later, security firms, including Kaspersky and Avast, said the malware responsible was actually an entirely new ransomware that had borrowed Petya code.
Regardless of the malware, the attacks are now global. Danish shipping and energy company Maersk reported a cyberattack on Tuesday, noting on its website: "We can confirm that Maersk IT systems are down across multiple sites and business units due to a cyberattack." Russian oil industry giant Rosnoft said it was facing a "powerful hacker attack." Major British advertiser WPP said on Facebook it was also hit by an attack, while law firm DLA Piper also confirmed it had been targeted by hackers. None of the companies offered specifics on the nature of those hacks.
Attacks on the U.S. pharmaceuticals company Merck extended to its to global offices, sources told Forbes. Both phones and PCs were out of action at Merck's Ireland offices, and employees were sent home. Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), the U.K. subsidiary of Merck, confirmed its network was compromised. "We're trying to understand the level of impact," a spokesperson said. "We're trying to operate as normally as possible."
Ukraine the main target
The impact initially appeared to be most severe in Ukraine, with very few instances in the U.S., according to Kaspersky. The government organization managing the zone of the Chernobyl disaster fallout said it had to switch radiation monitoring services on industrial sites to manual as they had to shut down all Windows computers. Automated systems for the rest of the zone operated normally. The main Chernobyl plant website has also been closed.
Other victims included major energy companies such as the state-owned Ukrenergo and Kiev's main supplier Kyivenergo. Government officials have reportedly sent images of their infected computers, including this from deputy prime minister Pavlo Rozenko, who later said the whole government network was down:
Posted by the Deputy Prime Minister of #Ukraine, Pavlo Rozenko,
This is what's happening to government computers right now. pic.twitter.com/SxCudRt0AD — Christian Borys (@ItsBorys) June 27, 2017
It appears on the images posted across social media, the ransomware note is in English and demands $300 in Bitcoin to unlock the files, a request similar to the WannaCry ransom. Ransomware encrypts files and requires payment for the keys to unlock them.
Going global
A Ukrenergo spokesperson told Forbes power systems were unaffected, adding: "On June 27, a part of Ukrenergo's computer network was cyberattacked. Similarly, as it is already known with the media, networks and other companies, including the energy sector, were attacked.
"Our specialists take all the necessary measures for the complete restoration of the computer system, including the official [website]." The site remains down at the time of publication.
The National Bank blamed an "unknown virus" as the culprit, hitting several Ukrainian banks and some commercial enterprises. "As a result of cyberattacks, these banks have difficulties with customer service and banking operations," a statement on the organization's website read.
The deputy general director of Kiev's Borispol Airport, Eugene Dykhne, said in a Facebook post: "Our IT services are working together to resolve the situation. There may be delays in flights due to the situation... The official Site of the airport and the flight schedules are not working."
Kiev Metro, meanwhile, said today in a Twitter alert that it wasn't able to accept bank card payments as a result of a ransomware infection.
It's currently unclear whether the attacks are purely ransomware, or if myriad attacks are currently hitting various parts of Ukraine. Attacks on Ukraine's power grid in 2015 and 2016 were believed to have been perpetrated by Russia, though the country denies all cyberattacks on foreign soil.
Though ransomware is typically used by cybercriminals, with WannaCry it was alleged a nation state was likely responsible for spreading the malware: North Korea. Cyber intelligence companies and the NSA believe with medium confidence that the nation used leaked NSA cyber weapons to carry out the attacks that took out hospitals in the U.K and infected hundreds of thousands of others.
How the ransomware spreads
Security researchers fear the latest outbreak is hitting systems via the same leaked NSA vulnerabilities used by WannaCry. Early analysis of some of the ransomware samples confirmed that the malware creators used the so-called EternalBlue exploits, which targeted a now-patched vulnerability in Microsoft Windows.
What's clear is the latest ransomware variant can spread quickly, even on patched Windows PCs, thanks to some added features in the malware, now being dubbed NotPetya. And while phishing emails were alleged to have been used, security experts and Ukraine's cyber police believe a software provider called MeDoc was hacked and abused to become the source of the attack.
This article was updated on June 28 to remove the claims of Belgium's Computer Emergency Response Team, which said a separate Microsoft flaw was used to deliver attacks via malicious docs in emails. It has since admitted it was wrong, as it confused a separate infection with that of NotPetya.Please visit the sponsor!
The US recording industry is stealing from ME!
The recording industry is whining long and hard about how piracy and file-sharing is crippling them.
They're losing billions of dollars every year because people keep "stealing" their intellectual property -- or so they tell us.
As a result, they've convinced various governments around the world to act like a bunch of thugs and introduce incredible penalties for the most modest of crimes.
Well it's about time the recording industry pulled its head in because they're trying to "steal" my intellectual property (and that of thousands of others) and by doing so, they're depriving *me* of revenues.
What a bunch of hypocrites and crooks they've turned out to be!
Here is my own recent experience...
I have been uploading plenty of new videos to my YouTube channels and I'm very careful to ensure that I don't violate anyone's copyright when I do so.
My vids are 100% my own so I should have nothing to fear when I up load them to YouTube -- or so you'd think.
Unfortunately, since YT are now bending over backwards to placate the movie and music industries, the company now taken a step too far.
On three occasions now, I have received emails from YouTube advising me that a content/copyright claim has been made against one of my videos. These claims allege that I have used someone else's content without permission and therefore, the claimant will get any revenues that might arise from advertising that appears on those videos.
How on earth can that happen -- when the videos in question contain no third-party footage, no third party images and no music at all?
Well it's all down to YouTube's automated content-matching system.
In order to catch as many "offenders" as possible, YouTube has obviously significantly loosened the pattern-matching it uses to detect copyrighted material in uploaded videos -- to the extent that it's false-triggering on something as unmelodious as my voice in a "talking head to camera" video.
The last notification of an alleged infringement I received last night didn't even offer a hint as to what music the system thought it had matched. It simply indicated that it contained something which infringed copyright (which it didn't -- here is the video concerned).
Apparently, the content matches some nebulous definition of "music" so the ad revenues will be redirected to a fund that is simply given to some body within the music industry that represents all signed artists.
WTF????
I know the sound of jet engines is music to some people's ears -- but I don't think the recording industry has any right to lay claim to anything in this video -- do you?
Note that this video has been online since October 2008, some three years and four months -- but only triggered the content-match system this week. Clearly, they're really getting vague with their pattern matching now!
Also, if the dull monotone voice you'll find on my RCModelReviews channel now qualifies as "music" (as they've claimed it does) then there can be little hope for that industry -- or maybe I have missed my calling and Sony or EMI should sign me up right away as their newest rapper!
It's pretty obvious that with the absolutely ludicrous way the recording industry has hired the US government to become its mobsters and engage in very shady activities to try and sustain their broken business model, even Google (in the form of YouTube) are shirt-scared that they'll run foul of those "goons with tunes".
In fact, it's got so bad now that if someone like myself doesn't constantly keep an eagle-eye on who is unlawfully claiming the rights to their own intellectual property, they may well end up stealing my money -- by way of fraudulently collecting revenues that do not belong to them.
Surely this is a undeniable case of fraud -- be it automated or not. How can he music industry do this to independent content producers when they themselves keep bitching about how much they're losing to "theft" of their intellectual property?
Other YouTube partners have encountered the same problems recently.
Why is it okay for the recording industry to steal my content but it's not okay for me to steal theirs?
Come on -- I really want an answer to this! Are you listening RIAA -- or are you too busy counting your ill-gotten gains and figuring out whose doors you'll break down tomorrow and whose assets you'll seize as a way of propping up your rapidly decaying business model?
And as a footnote -- it seems that now the music companies are taking pot-shots at each other...
Those who purchase the Sony Vegas video editing software also receive a bundle of "royalty-free" music files which they are entitled to use in their videos without any further payment.
Recently, RumbleFish has been flagging YouTube videos using these tracks as containing copyrighted material belonging to them.
This discussion on the YouTube partner support forums makes interesting reading.
It really does seem that copyright and its enforcement is in need of a major overhaul -- don't you think?
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Have your say on this...
PERMALINK to this column
Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlinesHousing production in San Francisco was the highest in over two decades last year, with 3,514 new units added to the city’s overall inventory (which now totals 379,597 units), a dramatic swing from the 269 units of housing added in 2011.
That being said, the number of employed residents in the city increased by 23,400 in 2014, a seven-to-one ratio of jobs to housing which has kept pressure on San Francisco rents and property values.
With respect to the city’s housing pipeline and projects in the works, building permits for 3,834 units of housing were issued last year; proposals for another 3,756 units of housing were approved by Planning; and applications for over 8,000 units were submitted to the City for review, up 66 percent from 2013.
The vast majority of new construction continues to occur on the eastern side of the city, which shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise.Over the years Image Engine has developed a robust pipeline capable of seamlessly inserting digital elements into real-world surroundings – or vice versa. The aliens of District 9 blend indiscernibly into the on-set slums of Johannesburg, while Independence Day: Resurgence’s actors naturally settle into the fully digital mothership backdrop featured in the film’s escape sequence.
And yet, while Image Engine has become well-known for its live integration work, it has also regularly produced complex, 100 per cent CG shots for a variety of productions. These have been witnessed in the lush digital jungle of Jurassic World, the glistening rings of Elysium’s orbiting space station, and the intricate chase sequences of R.I.P.D.
KINGSGLAIVE: FINAL FANTASY XV presented something of a culmination for Image Engine in terms of this work: a fully animated sequence from characters to environments and everything in-between.
Image Engine was brought on board by Square Enix to tackle the 23-minute sequence from start to end, featuring an epic and destructive battle between towering knights replete with all the extraordinary visual flourish the video game series has come to be known for.
It was a challenge the team tackled with relish. Image Engine’s artists took advantage of the latest advancements in the studio pipeline to deliver a beautiful climactic battle, ensuring it stayed true to Final Fantasy’s long-established roots.
Square one
KINGSGLAIVE is a two-hour spin-off of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One RPG title Final Fantasy XV. Set in the world of Eos, KINGSGLAIVE’s story runs in parallel to the opening events of the game, focusing on the story of one Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII – the father of protagonist Noctis.
Image Engine’s stunning sequence takes place during the film’s final act, capping off the developing narrative with a bang. In order to deliver it, Image Engine’s team worked closely with production company and custodian of the Final Fantasy franchise Square Enix, ensuring that the approach and aesthetic of the sequence matched that of the 30-year-old franchise.
The result was a close international collaboration, with Image Engine working across both borders and language barriers to ensure a solid end result. Indeed, sequence director Yamamoto Kazuhito stationed himself at Image Engine’s Vancouver headquarters for two months, working with the team to understand the processes powering the animation.
“Kazuhito took the time to carefully understand our pipeline, and even animated shots himself where he wanted to develop a key part of the story,” begins KINGSGLAIVE visual effects supervisor Yuta Shimizu. “It wasn’t really like a normal client/vendor relationship – it was more like we were working together on the film.”
This collaboration extended from initial previs to character and environment assets, animation, effects, and final shots. Square Enix also shared assets that it had built for other sequences in the film, which Image Engine then ingested into its own pipeline.
“Square Enix sent us a variety of environments and other assets right at the start of production,” recalls asset supervisor Barry Poon. ”We used these to re-purpose our own pieces, or just for inspiration. It was the same with their characters: using Square Enix’s reference, we quickly figured out the level of detail required and made sure we matched it throughout the sequence.”
Mapping out Eos
Image Engine delivered a number of assets to drive the film’s stunning final battle, basing each on Square Enix’s direction and support.
In terms of character builds, these comprised a collection of “Godzilla-sized” knights who do epic battle within a walled city. For the environments themselves, the Image Engine team produced a large library of buildings – many of which were intended to be destroyed by the wrestling knights – and populated those throughout the city based on a guide map provided by Square Enix. A procedural approach was adopted to ensure this element of production was delivered as efficiently as possible.
“Rather than try and recreate Square Enix’s map by hand we used a system to procedurally re-build the city,” explains CG supervisor Murray Stevenson. “We’d take the rough orientation and location of their buildings, then identify the most appropriate assets and distribute them randomly. This meant we could create a layout of the city with just a handful of artists.”
The guide map also proved useful for Image Engine’s matte painting and environment team. Digital environment supervisor Damien Thaller used the map and concept art to determine where to spend the most time in matte painting, based on what would ultimately be covered by the characters or various destruction effects. There was also the added benefit of maintaining the proper orientation of a shot via key landmarks, such as mountains and standout architecture.
Knight moves
Alongside the creation of the environment Image Engine worked to establish the animation of the colossal knights themselves, which grapple and tumble across the sprawling cityscape.
Image Engine commenced the animation process using body and facial motion capture provided by Square Enix. This was strictly referenced by animation supervisor Jeremy Mesana and his team of keyframe artists, who closely followed the movement of the characters in order to match the feel Square Enix has established across its Final Fantasy franchise.
In addition, Image Engine’s animators donned Xsens MVN suits, enabling them to quickly capture in-house mo-cap data that could drive character’s movement, or at least provide basic blocking reference. The animators even filmed themselves acting out fight scenes with cardboard swords, working closely with a martial arts expert who helped provide direction on combat choreography.
A major postvis effort was also employed to plan how the final animations would play out in terms of positioning and rhythm: “Our compositing team took the postvis data and added elements to it, working to create a WIP of the final shot,” explains Shimizu. “We built out a sense of timing for the animation and various destruction effects, and started to create tasks based on whether a shot could be achieved with specific simulations or otherwise. That meant we knew we didn’t have to do an effects sim for every single shot, which made for a much more efficient process.”
“From that point on it was just about developing each shot from the postvis and getting them to that final quality level,” says Thaller. “The postvis was a great basis to start with and an awesome way to work – we could engage more with the story and add detail where it mattered, instead of focusing on elements that wouldn’t ultimately be as important.”
Tearing down a city
Of course, two huge knights clashing among a city of spires and towers results in a fair amount of destruction. Again, Image Engine focused on the details to create the necessary FX across the sequence.
“We’ve done a huge variety of damage stuff at Image Engine in the past, but this really took things to the next level,” says Poon. “For instance, there’s one shot where a knight throws a huge battle axe through the air and it tears through multiple buildings – it’s impressive stuff!”
In order to deliver on such shots, specific hero buildings placed using Autodesk Maya were swapped out with architecture rigged to explode with rigid body dynamics in SideFX Houdini.
Another time saver was also employed here in a simultaneous compositing approach, as explained by compositing supervisor Daniel Elophe: “There was a real collaboration in terms of what we received from effects and how we enhanced it,” he explains. “There’d be quite a bit of fire and destruction, and sometimes the camera would push in real close on certain areas, so you couldn’t see the detail. In these instances we would use the effects sims as a layout, and then replace it all with real elements such as fire and smoke, or we’d use NUKE particles to add in elements.”
KINGSGLAIVE also stood as Image Engine’s first foray into deep compositing, which proved to be yet another time saver for the multitude of effects, as elements didn’t need to be re-rendered if animation or other parts of the scene were altered.
Image Engine once again leveraged its proprietary, open-source Gaffer toolset for lighting, with rendering carried out in 3Delight. In this instance, a new approach to managing the complexity and volume of shots was employed.
“We pushed our rendering system so it would work using a more template-based workflow,” says Stevenson. “We would set up lighting templates for a sequence, which could then be maintained by one lighting lead who would run all shots for the sequence through that template. It allowed us to render a vast number of incredibly complex shots with relatively few lighters, but with a great deal more consistency.”
Pure Fantasy
The opportunity to work on a project bearing the Final Fantasy name – one associated with an incredibly rich heritage in the world of interactive entertainment – was not lost on Image Engine’s artists, many of whom are lifetime fans of the series.
“It was a privilege to be asked to work on a project of such magnitude, especially as we were able to further showcase our skills as a full-CG animation house alongside the VFX work we regularly deliver,” says Shawn Walsh, visual effects producer and general manager at Image Engine. “What’s more, the project stood as an opportunity for Image Engine to demonstrate its ability as a truly worldwide vendor, capable of collaborating with productions hailing from all corners of the globe.
“Square Enix was a fantastic partner to work with, and guided us with their opinion and experience as to how key narrative points should be laid out across the sequence,” he continues. “They also trusted us as the visual effects professionals to do our thing, leaving us to make creative decisions where it made sense for us to lead the charge.”
The result is an epic, screen-shaking finale – and a new challenge conquered for the team at Image Engine. “We developed our internal pipeline and approach, laying down firm foundations for a more efficient process in future,” concludes Walsh. “We’re completely capable of taking on projects like this in future, no matter the required level of complexity.”Twitter has been an amazing tool for fantasy sports enthusiasts. It’s paramount when getting information quicker than your competition and is the only place in town where you can go from talking fantasy football to talking about “Saved By The Bell” within four tweets. Twitter is also where I found my love for writing. I would have never started this unique journey had it not been for Twitter – so blame them when you read my work.
I recently posed the following question to my Twitter followers: “Who are your biggest concerns going into the 2013 fantasy football season?” I’ve never asked questions like that on Twitter, but thought why not? The results varied and responses were all across the board. As I previously stated, Twitter is such an invaluable tool, especially for fantasy sports, that it seems like I should be asking these types of questions more frequently.
That got me thinking.
For this series, I decided to take some of the most popular questions floating around Twitter and post my own viewpoints on them here on DLF. Remember, if you have specific questions, Tim Stafford answers all the mailbag questions for DLF and he’s an excellent source for information that can help you in your decision making this “off-season.” We also have our new “Dynasty Doctor” for you to submit any questions in regards to medical science.
I was asked a question by one of our own, Mark Rockwell, regarding the values of two of the upper echelon wide receivers. The comparisons are so close that I decided to devote this week’s article to that one question because I believe it will be a decision many dynasty start up owners will be faced with. So, instead of Pulse of the Twitterverse this week, this is truly Pulse of the Twitter VERSUS.
@Mark_Rockwell85 asks: Dez Bryant vs. Demaryius Thomas
Choosing between these two wide receivers is like choosing between Kate Upton and Katy Perry. They’re both young and sexy with tons of upside. I won’t get into the specific attributes that can aid you in decision regarding these two, but I will discuss the man crushes that are Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas.
Bryant has always been a freak of an athlete ever since his days at Oklahoma St., but hasn’t been able to live up to the hype until this season. Taken by the Dallas Cowboys with the #24 overall selection, Bryant managed just one 100 yard game in his first 30 NFL games. In his next 13 games, Bryant hit the century mark in receiving five times, including one game where he had over 200 yards. His 2012 season was a tale of two halves – the first eight games and the last eight games. In the first half of the season, Bryant tallied 42 receptions, 503 yards, and two touchdowns (13 fantasy points per game in PPR leagues). During the second half of the season, Bryant had 50 receptions, 879 yards, and ten touchdowns (24.7 fantasy PPG) – good for the number one wide receiver in fantasy football during that time. Let’s take a moment and think about what those numbers could have been if we extrapolate them into a full season. This is what you’d get: 100 receptions, 1758 yards, and 20 touchdowns- that’s just sickening.
Thomas, a fellow top wide receiving prospect, was drafted with the #22 overall pick by the Denver Broncos in 2010. The Georgia Tech product played in only 21 games in his first two seasons before having his breakout season in 2012. Thomas put on display his playmaking ability in the 2011 playoffs when he took a pass from Tim Tebow to the house for an 80 yard game-winning touchdown against the Steelers. Thomas was also the more steady receiver for fantasy owners as his second half almost mirrored his first half totals. In his first eight games, Thomas had 45 receptions, 752 yards, and four touchdowns (18 PPG). In the last eight games, he had 49 receptions, 678 yards, six touchdowns (19.1 PPG).
While Bryant hurt you more than he helped in his first eight games, he more than made up for your loyalty by providing one of the best eight game runs for a wide receiver when you needed him the most. Their final numbers ended up looking like this, less than a five point difference in PPR leagues:
Name Rec Yards TDs Points Bryant 92 1382 12 302.2 Thomas 94 1434 10 297.4
Looking into the PPF Signature Stats, it amazed me how close these two truly are:
Wide Receiver Rating
Thomas is ranked number one with the best wide receiver rating (50% targets) of 126.2. A very interesting stat that was brought up to me by Mark (the person who asked this question) when he noted Peyton Manning did not throw a single interception when throwing Thomas’ way. Bryant, ranked third overall, had a WR Rating of 123.2 when Tony Romo threw him the ball. Another push.
Deep Passing
Perhaps this could separate the two? Again, Thomas led all wide receivers, catching 16 of his 30 deep ball targets (53.3% catch rate) with five touchdowns. Bryant was the second best wideout, catching 12 of his 24 targets (50% catch rate) with five touchdowns as well. I guess we’re not done comparing.
Drops
Surely if I look at the drops, we will have a hands down winner between the two, yes? Can you guess who were the 21st and 22nd ranked wide receivers in the drop category? Yep, Thomas and Bryant, respectively. Thomas dropped 11 of 105 catchable balls for a 10.48% drop rate, while Bryant dropped 11 of 103 catchable passes for a 10.68% drop rate. On a side note, Anquan Boldin dropped two passes this season for a 2.99% drop rate, leading all wide receivers. Please don’t retire, Anquan.
Red Zone Targets
The only stat that really separates these two is red zone targets. Thomas had 21 targets while Bryant had only 14. Even though Thomas has more; he wasn’t even his team’s leader in that department – that distinction goes to his teammate, Eric Decker, who led the league with 25 targets and 12 touchdowns inside the 20 yard line. And though Thomas was the clear cut winner total-wise, it was Bryant who garnered a better percentage of his team’s red zone targets at 23.1% compared to Thomas at 17.1%. Take from that what you will.
Since their 2012 seasons were so similar, let’s compare the two from a physical standpoint:
Bryant Thomas 4.52 40 Time 4.38 24 Age 25 6’2″ Height 6’3″ 220 Weight 229 3 Experience 3
From a pure physical standpoint, Thomas has the superior stats with the only exception being their age, but they’re fairly similar overall. From an eye test, Bryant has the better intangibles. When he catches the ball, he’s far more difficult to bring down- almost looking to run defenders over even though Thomas has a better YAC at 5.9 (compared to 5.1 for Bryant).
Dynasty mock drafters are having a terrible time choosing between Bryant and Thomas early into the dynasty “offseason” as well. In the early mock drafts held in January, Bryant’s ADP was 13 versus Thomas’ 15. This is how it shook out:
Player Mock 1 Mock 2 Mock 3 Mock 4 Mock 5 Mock 6 Bryant 12 12 8 14 14 16 Thomas 19 15 15 11 16 14
In my most recent mock draft, Thomas was selected at 2.03, while Bryant was drafted at 2.05. I asked our resident mock coordinator, Ryan McDowell how this most recent wave of mock |
The bankers credit money system is now everywhere as are their resultant unsustainable debts; and those who profit by that system, the bankers [and the corporations that grew up around them] now control the media, the political process, and the agencies charged with overseeing and regulating the economythe US Federal Reserve Bank, the SEC, the US Treasury, and indeed the US government itself: the Presidency, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. THE US GOVERNMENT, SUSAN WONES, & JP MORGAN CHASE Susan Wones is one of many millions of Americans with credit cards. James Dimon is the chairman and CEO of Wall Street bank JP Morgan Chase which issued a credit card to Susan Wones at 0% interest. Then, one month later Mr. Dimons bank JP Morgan Chase suddenly and without explanation raised the interest rates on Ms. Wones credit card to 23%. Last week, Ms. Wones traveled from Denver to Washington DC where she and other upset credit card users were to testify before Congress about how they had been treated by the banks that issued their credit cards. But when they reached Washington DC, Ms. Wones and the others were told the Republicans would not let them testify unless they first agreed to allow the banks to discuss their personal financial history in any forum at any time. Not willing to have their privacy rights invaded, Susan Wones and the majority of the witnesses chose to not testify. As a consequence, Americans never heard about how Susan Wones bank, JP Morgan Chase, had without notice or explanation raised her interest rate on her credit card to usurious levels. Instead they heard the media recount how JP Morgan Chase had bought Bear Stearns investment bank at the urging of the US Fed, a purchase underwritten and guaranteed up to $30 billion by American taxpayers such as Susan Wones. What happened to Susan Wones and the others who had traveled to Washington DC was a victory for the credit card companies, the banks (JP Morgan Chase in particular), their lobbyists and the Washington DC power structure. It was, however, a loss for the American people. But it was a loss in a war Americans have been losing since 1913, the year when private bankers took control of a once free nation and its once free markets. The prediction of Thomas Jefferson has come true. The bankers sold us credit By catering to our dreams Then they sold us debts With promised income streams But then they raised our interest rates And our debts could not be paid We found too late twas sex theyd sold And us the bankers had laid YESTERDAY TODAY & TOMORROW Last year, I wrote an article predicting an economic crisis would happen in the summer of 2007. The following is excerpted from Subprime America Infects Asia And Europe posted May 5, 2007. http://www.drschoon.com/articles%5CSubprimeAmericaInfectsAsiaandEurope.pdf Thailand s economy went into apoplectic shock and its currency and stock market fell by 50% in 1997 when international currency flows suddenly changed direction. America may soon be in for the same. And if America falters and falls, the consequences of such will be felt around the world. Today, afternoon tea and scotch flow freely in The City as does dim sum in Hong Kong and Shanghai and sushi in Tokyo around their respective bourses. Soon, however, the risks that have lain dormant beneath globalizations foundation are about to erupt and a reordering of the worlds financial geography is about to ensue. Its spring 2007 and the sun is shining in the US, backyard BBQs are being cleaned in anticipation of summers use. A severe financial crisis, however, is in the offing; a crisis as unexpected as the Golden State Warriors last minute streak to the NBA playoffs. An unexpected financial crisis, however, will be much more consequential than Don Nelsons magical resurrection of the Warriors NBA hopes. There, at least, the Warriors will have a fighting chance. But because most people dont know a financial crisis is in progress, they will have little chance of survival. This summer, America s subprime CDOs are coming home to roost, and not just to the US. The financial crisis I predicted happened in August 2007 and is now gaining momentum. Central bankers in Europe, Asia, and America have made available billions of dollars in credit in a failed attempt to restart a stalled and faltering global economy. The central bankers have only succeeding in delaying the coming day of reckoning they themselves set in motion. Credit leads to debt as well as to expansion and today the expansion has slowed but the debts have compounded. Central banks are the very institution that Thomas Jefferson warned about. Their role in todays problems is misunderstood, an error as fatal as in misdiagnosing a growing cancer. Americans and indeed the world are looking to central banks to stabilize world markets. But central banks wont and cant because central banks are themselves the destabilizing force that first issued the credit that has now becoming the defaulting debt that cant be traded. Central banks are the mechanism by which private bankers create the credit that turns into debt, debt that US homeowners, US consumers, and the US government cant afford to repay; and the global banks, pension funds, and insurance companies that bought those debts for their expected income streams are now becoming stuck with IOUs/sic investments as worthless as todays subprime CDOs. The international currency flows I referred to in my article Subprime America Infects Asia And Europe will be affected by the inability of US consumers to pay back debts now bundled as investments that are now in the portfolios of banks, pension funds, and insurance companies. And when international currency flows turn away from America, the spigot of credit which allowed and encouraged Americans to live beyond their means will be turned off. The consequences of such will be felt first in America and then in the world, a world which has come to depend on the credit-driven consumption of the US for its profits. THE COLLAPSING US ECONOMY AND THE RISING PRICE OF GOLD One year ago on March 21, 2007, gold was at $660. Today, the price of gold is $919. Gold has not seen its top nor has the US economy yet seen its bottom. Both gold and the US economy are currently in a correction. The difference is golds correction will last days and the economys correction will continue for years. When the dot.com bubble burst in 2000, in 2001/2002 the Fed cut interest rates in a similar attempt to restart a slowing economy. They succeeded but in so doing created an even greater bubble, the largest residential and commercial property bubble in history. Now that the property bubble is deflating and the economy again slowing, once again the Fed is lowering interest rates as it attempts to restart the economy. But this time as it pours liquidity and even more credit into world markets, the consequences will be far greater and far more dangerous than even the property bubble it inadvertently set in motion in 2002-2006. The trick bag of central bankers is almost empty as they relentlessly pursue the only avenue kreditmeisters have at their disposal, issuing more credit. But this time, instead of a property bubble, the kreditmeisters are running the very real risk of igniting the greatest danger of allhyperinflation, a hyperinflation which will result in the complete destruction of the US dollarand if gold went to $850 an ounce in 1980 when inflation reached 13.91%, the price of gold will go through the roof if and when inflation turns into its most feared offspring, hyperinflation the United States has experienced high rates of inflation in the past and appears to be running the same type of fiscal policies that engendered hyperinflations in 20 countries over the past century. Laurance Kotlikoff, Federal Reserve Bank Review St Louis July/Aug 2006 RISK ANALYSIS REDUX The dangers Thomas Jefferson warned about are upon us. Bankers and corporations control Americas finances; the US Treasury is their bank, their credit money is now our debts and, as a consequence, the fate of the US is sealed. We are but a shadow of the magnificent nation we once were. Our patrimony spent, our liberties reduced to sound bites and echoes of once tangible rights, America stands today on the bankers gallows of debt, waiting for the bottom to give way as it someday will. We can do no better than to repeat and reread the words of US President Woodrow Wilson who signed the despicable Federal Reserve Act into law. Those words were uttered and written almost one century ago. His words were true then; they are even truer today. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized worldno longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.. Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States 1913-1921 Today, we are no more able to stop the bankers and corporations in their continuing shake-down of America than the Nazis could be stopped in 1930s Germany. History is being played out in America as it was then in Germany. But times change and America will change in the future as Germany changed in the past. Tomorrow will bring a better day. But until then, we can only persist and pray [and buy gold] until the bankers and corporations finish destroying and consuming what remains of the once great nation known as America. Darryl Robert Schoon www.survivethecrisis.com www.drschoon.com
-- Posted Monday, 24 March 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com
Previous ArticlesThe lilting acoustic melody stays constant on "Delilah," but the vocal delivery keeps shifting: easy-rolling chants, low, conversational rapping, and double-time bursts of speed for speed's sake. Kweku Collins issues a series of gentle suggestions to an ex—and to the listener: Make art, make lies, make haste, make wars/ Make sure you still walk like you know how you are.
"'Delilah' is about the long term," Collins explains via email. "It's a continuation of a song I did a while back called 'Lonely Lullabies.' It's about trying to let go of someone you love and still hold it down for them. Me and Ponce were in the studio and he started playing things he was working on. As soon as I heard the first few bars, I knew it was the one. Julian's guitar is beautiful and Stefan's drums compliment it perfectly."
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Listen below, and revisit Ponce's FADER interview.Rob Konrad, a fullback who spent six years with the Miami Dolphins, survived a boating accident in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday night by swimming nine miles to shore, the Coast Guard said.
A Dolphins official told the Miami Herald that Konrad, who's not ready to comment publicly, said Konrad told him he's OK and still recovering from the ordeal.
According to multiple reports, Konrad, 38, who was said to be fishing alone off the coast of South Florida, fell from his 36-foot boat, which had been operating on autopilot.
The Herald reports Konrad departed Deerfield Beach at 10:30 a.m. and fell overboard at 1 p.m. The boat, which drifted away from him, was found Friday morning.
The Dolphins official said Konrad wanted to convey his appreciation for "everyone's concerns."
Two of Konrad's friends told the Herald he was stranded for nearly 16 hours, not the nine hours originally reported by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Konrad played for the Dolphins from 1999 to 2004, starting 57 games while playing in 82. The former Syracuse player was released by Miami in March 2005.
Friends became concerned after he didn't meet them for dinner, and the Coast Guard later sent a helicopter to look for him, according to The Associated Press.
Konrad was found on the beach by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office at 4:40 a.m. ET on Thursday morning after he contacted them.
Konrad was treated at a hospital for hypothermia symptoms and released. He reportedly declined to speak to local media about the event.
ABC News reported Konrad was listed on a website for investment firm KT Capital as a principal.Economic Lessons from the Ron Paul vs. Krugman Debate
Vedran Vuk, Senior Analyst, Casey Research writes: A few days ago, Bloomberg held the debate many readers have been wanting for a long time: Paul Krugman vs. Ron Paul. To be fair, Ron Paul didn't have a slam-dunk debate moment – but neither did Krugman. Still, the fact that a medical doctor from Texas armed with a little Austrian economics and a lot of common sense can stand up to a Nobel-Prize-winning economist is impressive. If the roles were reversed and the conversation was on medicine, Krugman would have likely sounded like a village idiot in the discussion. In case you haven't already seen it, click on the frame below for the video.
What was more amazing than Ron Paul's performance was the number of times Paul Krugman shot himself in the foot. Honestly, Ron Paul didn't need to say much; Krugman's own logic make him look bad enough. Let's look at some of his blunders play-by-play style:
Early on in the debate, Krugman says, "You know you can't leave the government out of monetary policy.... The central bank is always going to be in the business of managing monetary policy. If you think that you can avoid that, you're living in some – you're living in the world as it was 150 years ago."
No matter the topic of the argument, a typical defense is to accuse your opponent of being stuck in past. However, in this case, it doesn't make sense. Consider the timing of the last two biggest US recessions: the Great Depression over 80 years ago and the current recession still in the works. Since the enlightened economic policies over the past century have performed so poorly, is it so bad to look upon other time periods favorably?
Krugman goes on: "And look, history tells us that in fact a completely unmanaged economy is subject to extreme volatility – subject to extreme downturns. I know that there's legends that people, probably like you Congressman, have, that the Great Depression was somehow caused by the government – caused by the Federal Reserve – but it's not true. The reality is that was a market economy run amok. Which happens. It happened repeatedly over the past couple of centuries."
Exactly which periods of "extreme volatility and downturns" are Krugman referring to? Two come to my mind – again, the Great Depression and the current crisis. However, neither is consistent with Krugman's statement. The Federal Reserve was around for both recessions; it's been in business since 1913. Furthermore, researchers including Dr. Christina Romer (the former head of Obama's Council of Economic Advisors) have debunked much of Krugman's volatility assertions. For an excellent comparison of the economy's performance before and after the creation of the Federal Reserve, see A Century of Failure by Dr. George Selgin of the University of Georgia.
Krugman's statements get even bolder: "Depressions are a bad thing for capitalism, and it is the role of government to make sure that they don't happen, or if they do happen, that they don't last too long." Sounds good, right? There's just one problem. The Federal Reserve failed to prevent the Great Depression, and it failed to avoid the current crisis as well. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve seems powerless to shorten the duration of the current recession. If the government's role is to prevent recessions, it has a horrible track record. Krugman is apparently lost in some strange hallucinogenic trip where the government prevented the crisis, and we swiftly arose from a brief recession.
Ron Paul goes at Krugman with a good comeback for the "150 years" statement by pointing out that the history of inflationary policies extends thousands of years, back to the Romans. Krugman responds that this isn't his policy stance. Well, how is it different? The Federal Reserve may use fancy phrases such as "quantitative easing," but it really comes down to same policy of debasing a currency. The techniques and methods may have changed, but the general idea has not.
Rather than explain his comment on the Roman debasement of the currency, Krugman clarifies his position by praising the monetary policies of the 1950s post-WW II period. Yes, that was a great period of growth; but a single decade of success is hardly long enough to be considered support. Monetary policy shouldn't be judged by the performance of one decade, but rather by a century-long track record. Everyone loves policies when they work; it's the policy failures which are the problem. And it's certainly the case that the US federal government has been wholly unable to stay with any one monetary policy for a full century.
Ron Paul's retort mentions the spending cuts after WW II. To dodge Paul's good response, Krugman changes topics to an unconnected point about Milton Friedman. Then Ron Paul answers Krugman with his own unconnected point about competing currencies, to which Krugman mumbles, "I have no idea what that's about."
Next, the conversation switches to the national debt level. The host points out that the national debt as a percentage of GDP has reached near 100% and asks how much further the debt level can be extended. Krugman admits, "I don't have a fixed number," but he suggests that the debt level should be raised an additional 30 points to 130% of GDP, if that could get us out of the recession. In my opinion, this comment is the bazooka shot into Krugman's own foot. Earlier in the debate, Ron Paul criticized the arbitrariness of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate policies. He mocks the Fed by saying, "The interest rate should be one percent instead of three percent because we are so smart."
And here, Krugman completely verifies the validity of Paul's criticism. It's impossible for central planners to figure out the perfect interest rate. Similarly, Krugman doesn't know what the limit to the debt should be. And I don't blame him for having a tough time – who does know the solution to these problems? Maybe our national debt as a percentage of GDP can reach 200%, 150%, or maybe it's approaching Armageddon at 130%. It's impossible to say for sure. In the same way, it's impossible for the Federal Reserve to set an appropriate interest rate. Is zero too low for inflation? Is raising it to 4% too high? What are the consequences to finding some middle ground?
These are truly unanswerable questions. Without the Fed, the market would find the interest rate itself. You can fill a whole room with Nobel-Prize-winning economists, and they still won't be able to figure out what the market would do with interest rates. If they knew, most would be millionaires and running their own hedge funds – not employees of quasi-governmental agencies and universities.
Unfortunately, a lack of knowledge doesn't stop economists from making policy decisions much like what Krugman advocates. He admits to not knowing the limit to our national debt, but at the same time advocates pushing the debt to 130%. What if that's too high and the result is the start of a final death spiral for the US economy? "Whoops; sorry America."
This is the general problem with the Fed and all central planners. They try to guide the economy, but more often than not, they create the very recessions that the system is supposed to prevent. The Federal Reserve either leaves rates too low for too long, or it raises them so high as to create an economic slowdown of its own. The Federal Reserve isn't the wonderful safety net economic idealists imagine. Instead, it's much closer to driving a car while blindfolded. Unfortunately, people like Krugman are more than willing to take the keys knowing full well the dangers of driving blindfolded. And when these Fed economists inevitably crash into a brick wall, it is the passenger – the American worker – who gets creamed.
[Treating houses as investment vehicles – a strategy pushed by federal government policy – is one part of the complex conditions that have created the current American debt crisis. Start learning about it, so that you can be among those who not just survive, but thrive during the challenging times ahead.]
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Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.
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Comments
Daniel Tanure
08 May 12, 08:25 Keynesianism
Hayek coined a phrase that destroys Keynesianism without any other argument: "The pretense of knowledge".
yukkieyip@yahoo.com.hk
14 Jun 12, 01:18 KRUGMAN
i agree with krugman. we need more spending. stop buying gold and silver because its in a bubble.Horizon Zero Dawn is easily among the best games of 2017, with its gorgeously verdant post-post-apocalypse, tense cat-and-mouse encounters with colossal robo-animals, and a main character by the name of Aloy who quickly cemented herself as one of gaming's greatest female leads. Our reviewer Zoe describes Aloy perfectly: "She’s tenacious, with a shard of fury inside... playing her feels like you’re teaming up with someone ambitious and intelligent." Much of Aloy's popularity with critics and fans is thanks to the work of the person who portrays her: voice actor and writer Ashly Burch.
Even if you didn't already know Burch from her early days as the central mischief maker in Hey Ash Whatcha Playin', you've no doubt heard her voice in plenty of games (like Chloe Price in Life is Strange, Cassie Cage in Mortal Kombat X, Miss Pauling in Team Fortress 2) and cartoons (Enid in OK K.O.!, Sasha Blouse in Attack on Titan) alike. We got the chance to talk to Burch about her portrayal of Horizon Zero Dawn's hero and what it takes to find success in voice acting - as well as some Super Mario RPG appreciation and what it's like to pretend you're being electrocuted.
GamesRadar+: Do you make a point of playing the games you have a role in? Or do you just go with whatever's calling you at the moment?
Ashly Burch: I try to, depending on my schedule. Horizon was a big one. I was like, "Okay, I really have to sit down and play Horizon." That was a pretty big time commitment. So yes, I do always try to play at least [part] of them, depending on what's happening at the time.
Do you think there's more room for Aloy's stories beyond the Frozen Wilds DLC?
Yeah, though that's not a confirmation of anything. [The folks at Horizon developer Guerrilla Games] haven't told me anything. I don't know. [laughs] But yeah, I definitely think that world is super rich, and there's a lot of possibilities in it.
It's so cool that Guerrilla brought you in for motion-capture on Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds - was that your first time doing mo-cap?
Yeah! They did the mo-cap originally in London for the first game, so they tried a different thing where they had it recorded in Los Angeles - but yeah, it's cool. It was an interesting experience, because obviously I hadn't mo-capped Aloy originally. There's this interesting thing where I felt very connected to the character and felt like I knew her really well, but I never embodied her physically before. I had to practice her gait, and the way that she moves.
A catalyst for change You need to read this brave personal story written by GR+ editor Sam Loveridge about how Horizon Zero Dawn's Aloy inspired her to go looking for her birth parents.
Did you play the game and just walk around in circles, studying the animation?
I really did. I watched her, I watched videos, and I turned on the game and had her run around. I was like, "Okay, how does she walk?" I was actually on a camping trip with my friends and I asked them to critique me, so I was basically doing a runway walk as Aloy. [laughs] They were like, "No, no, no. Move your arms differently," giving me critiques and stuff.
When it comes to facial motion capturing, I've always wondered: what does it feel like when you've got all those dots on your face? You don't really notice them after a while. There are so many things about the [mo-cap] suit that are strange and foreign, but it's crazy how quickly you just forget that it's even there. The weirder thing is that you have a camera with a light shining on your face. Even then, you're just sort of like, "Yeah, okay."
"At some point you learn, 'I can't audition based on what I think that they want, because I have no idea. Sometimes THEY might have no idea.'" Ashly Burch
If you could voice any character in any game, male or female, who would it be? That could go two ways: characters that haven't been given a voice because it was only text at the time, and characters who have been voiced before.
That immediately makes me think of what Final Fantasy character I'd want to be. Oh God. This is the most nerve-wracking question I've ever been asked. [laughs] I loved Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max, so playing a character in one of those would've been really awesome. Super Mario RPG was one of my very favorite games when I was a kid. I know Geno's a boy, but I loved him, so I feel like playing Geno would be fun. Or Booster. Booster's such a psycho, he'd probably be fun.
As far as characters that already existed, Mordin from Mass Effect is one of my all-time favorite characters, and I think the voice actors for Mordin [Michael Beattie in Mass Effect 2, William Salyers in Mass Effect 3] are excellent. This would have to be a different universe in which Mordin was a woman or not binary, but I love that character a lot.
When you play games nowadays, do you feel like you hear the voice acting differently than you used to before your career kicked off?
For sure. It can be a curse sometimes; you're like, "I want to watch a movie and just enjoy it. Oh God." [laughs] Yeah, I definitely think about it at night. Sometimes you'll try to deconstruct things; "I wonder why they made that choice," or "I wouldn't have thought to do that in that way," or whatever. I think the casting for Zelda, for example, in Breath of the Wild, was a really cool and interesting choice. I think it could've been easy for her to be a bit more wilty and a bit higher pitched. [But in the game,] I think there's vulnerability in her voice, but she's also very grounded. Yeah, I can't not think about it. It's constant.
How much room is there for personal interpretation when you take on a role?
I think there's a tremendous amount of room. In the best collaborations, they're casting you because of what you brought in your audition, and your perspective [on the character]. If you're a seasoned actor, at some point you learn, "I can't audition based on what I think that they want, because I have no idea. Sometimes they might have no idea. The best I can do is give my interpretation of this character; what I think is compelling about them. Then, if I get cast, they agreed with me, basically."
That's definitely been my experience. I've had the tremendous fortune to work on games like Life is Strange and Horizon Zero Dawn, where there was a lot of collaboration between me and the developers. I felt like I wasn't some hired gun who was just brought in to scream a bunch of times and then leave. [The team] wanted to know my opinion. There was a lot of back-and-forth that I had with my director on Horizon, like "I don't know if she would do this here. Are you sure about this?" Getting to do long-term collaborations like that is always so nice too, because you become closer to your collaborators, and there's a trust that's built.
For narrative games, and also for the sake of the medium, we have to treat performance that way, as actors. You have to have a sense of ownership over it and believe that you're bringing something meaningful to it - because that's what all of the developers are doing, and that's what the story demands. It's an artistic process, like any other form of acting. I think your interpretation is important.
"It's not about how you look... in a way, it feels truer." Ashly Burch
If you're a younger voice actor, it might be harder to cultivate that belief, because you want to get jobs and just give people what they want. The more that you work and the more that you grow, you realize: "I have a stake in this, and I have a voice in this. It's important for me to express my viewpoints and to give of myself, because that helps everyone in the process." I've been really lucky that I've worked with a lot of developers who are very open to that. I haven't run into too many wacky movie auteur types who say "No, exactly as I wanted it. I had it this way in my mind; that is what you must do."
No Stanley Kubrick types, making you do dozens upon dozens of takes.
Yeah. I haven't had that experience; [everything has been] way more collaborative, which I'm very, very grateful for. I don't want to end up like Shelly Duvall.
A critical point of the voice actors' strike that was resolved earlier this year was the physical stress of recording death screams for games. Which of the characters you've played required the most attack sounds and death screams?
Aloy, for sure. Not so much on the death screams, but there are so many different types of attacks and damage you can take; there's electrical, there's fire, so on. In one of the sessions, it was just a list so long of [damage types]. I was like, "How do I do electric [damage]?" I'd never had to do electric before. I was like "U-u-u-u-u-u-ugh!" [pantomiming a Simpsons-style jolt] You know? [laughs] Suddenly it becomes a cartoon. That's the other thing about voice acting, is that it's strangely physical. There's a bit of having to hold my hands together and shake for those efforts, stuff like that.
That's so surprising - I would've figured it'd be someone like Cassie Cage [from Mortal Kombat X]!
There were a lot of attack sounds in that, but there's just so much game in Horizon. [laughs] Horizon is just a tremendous amount of game. [Aloy]'s your player character, so you want enough variance that people aren't like, "Is that the same attack or pain sound every single time I get hit?"
How much direction do you typically get for what the attack looks like?
It depends on the director. Sometimes the director will even ape it out for you first. They'll give you an example, so that you don't pull your [vocal] cords out trying to find it for them. Sometimes they just say, "Give me 10 lights, 10 mediums, 10 heavy attacks." Same with damages. Sometimes it's like, "You're throwing a thing. We need a wind up and a throw, and then it comes back, so we need catching." Stuff like that.
It seems like voice acting is less cutthroat than on-screen acting when it comes to auditions. Have you found that at all?
Definitely. There's the joke, "You can do it in your pajamas." I've never shown up to a session in my pajamas - but I definitely do auditions in my pajamas all the time, if I do them from home. It's not about how you look, it's just about - can you perform the character, do you have what it takes. In a way, it feels truer.
I very much doubt there would be any situation in which I would be cast as Aloy for something on-camera. [But with voice acting], if I can hit the performance, then that's what matters. I'm really grateful how much people have responded to that character, because I grew really attached to her. I connected a lot to her and I tried super hard with her, but [during recording], you have no idea how it's going to be received. You hope for the best. When the game came out and everyone really loved it and liked my performance in it, I was super grateful.Stanford researchers discover the 'anternet'
A collaboration between a Stanford ant biologist and a computer scientist has revealed that the behavior of harvester ants as they forage for food mirrors the protocols that control traffic on the Internet.
Katherine Decktar Harvester ant foragers waiting inside the nest.
On the surface, ants and the Internet don't seem to have much in common. But two Stanford researchers have discovered that a species of harvester ants determine how many foragers to send out of the nest in much the same way that Internet protocols discover how much bandwidth is available for the transfer of data. The researchers are calling it the "anternet."
Deborah Gordon, a biology professor at Stanford, has been studying ants for more than 20 years. When she figured out how the harvester ant colonies she had been observing in Arizona decided when to send out more ants to get food, she called across campus to Balaji Prabhakar, a professor of computer science at Stanford and an expert on how files are transferred on a computer network. At first he didn't see any overlap between his and Gordon's work, but inspiration would soon strike.
"The next day it occurred to me, 'Oh wait, this is almost the same as how [Internet] protocols discover how much bandwidth is available for transferring a file!'" Prabhakar said. "The algorithm the ants were using to discover how much food there is available is essentially the same as that used in the Transmission Control Protocol."
Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP, is an algorithm that manages data congestion on the Internet, and as such was integral in allowing the early web to scale up from a few dozen nodes to the billions in use today. Here's how it works: As a source, A, transfers a file to a destination, B, the file is broken into numbered packets. When B receives each packet, it sends an acknowledgment, or an ack, to A, that the packet arrived.
This feedback loop allows TCP to run congestion avoidance: If acks return at a slower rate than the data was sent out, that indicates that there is little bandwidth available, and the source throttles data transmission down accordingly. If acks return quickly, the source boosts its transmission speed. The process determines how much bandwidth is available and throttles data transmission accordingly.
L.A. Cicero Biologist Deborah Gordon has been studying ants for more than 20 years.
It turns out that harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) behave nearly the same way when searching for food. Gordon has found that the rate at which harvester ants – which forage for seeds as individuals – leave the nest to search for food corresponds to food availability.
A forager won't return to the nest until it finds food. If seeds are plentiful, foragers return faster, and more ants leave the nest to forage. If, however, ants begin returning empty handed, the search is slowed, and perhaps called off.
Prabhakar wrote an ant algorithm to predict foraging behavior depending on the amount of food – i.e., bandwidth – available. Gordon's experiments manipulate the rate of forager return. Working with Stanford student Katie Dektar, they found that the TCP-influenced algorithm almost exactly matched the ant behavior found in Gordon's experiments.
"Ants have discovered an algorithm that we know well, and they've been doing it for millions of years," Prabhakar said.
They also found that the ants followed two other phases of TCP. One phase is known as slow start, which describes how a source sends out a large wave of packets at the beginning of a transmission to gauge bandwidth; similarly, when the harvester ants begin foraging, they send out foragers to scope out food availability before scaling up or down the rate of outgoing foragers.
Another protocol, called time-out, occurs when a data transfer link breaks or is disrupted, and the source stops sending packets. Similarly, when foragers are prevented from returning to the nest for more than 20 minutes, no more foragers leave the nest.
Prabhakar said that had this discovery been made in the 1970s, before TCP was written, harvester ants very well could have influenced the design of the Internet.
Gordon thinks that scientists have just scratched the surface for how ant colony behavior could help us in the design of networked systems.
There are 11,000 species of ants, living in every habitat and dealing with every type of ecological problem, Gordon said. "Ants have evolved ways of doing things that we haven't thought up, but could apply in computer systems. Computationally speaking, each ant has limited capabilities, but the collective can perform complex tasks.
"So ant algorithms have to be simple, distributed and scalable – the very qualities that we need in large engineered distributed systems," she said. "I think as we start understanding more about how species of ants regulate their behavior, we'll find many more useful applications for network algorithms."
The work is published in the Aug. 23 issue of PLoS Computational Biology.
Media Contact
Deborah Gordon, Biology: (650) 725-6364, dmgordon@stanford.edu
Balaji Prabhakar, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science: To arrange an interview with Prabhakar, contact Andrea Kuduk: (650) 723-4731, akuduk@stanford.edu
Bjorn Carey, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-1944, bccarey@stanford.edu |
event, provisions that were in the 2008 contract signed by resort owners Bob and Joan Lipsitz. The 2009 ROTHBURY is expected to be produced the weekend of July 3-5. Madison House officials said recently they are planning for the second ROTHBURY this summer as if an agreement would be reached with the trustee or a new resort owner. Megan McFann, director for Madison House Publicity, said although ROTHBURY 2009 is not yet definite, organizers are proceeding as if the event will happen. "We're very excited about returning -- based on the success (in 2008)," said McFann. The inaugural four-day music festival featured such headliners as the Dave Matthews Band, Snoop Dogg, John Mayer and Widespread Panic. Speculation about the 2009 lineup so far includes a reunited Phish -- three quarters of the group performed briefly together on stage at the 2008 ROTHBURY. Other possible headliners might include Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, AC/DC, the Foo Fighters and Coldplay which are among the many bands currently touring and promoting recent compact discs. McFann would not confirm organizers were negotiating with Phish or Petty, but she also declined to deny it. McFann promised several well-known groups and surprises would be part of a 2009 lineup. Two possible snags in Bruinsma's plan to lease the Double JJ to the festival promoters come in the form of two legal objections to the lease agreement Hughes will be asked to approve Monday. Great Lakes Energy Cooperative has a $98,000 mortgage that has gone to a sheriff's deed sale for foreclosure. By Jan. 10, the electrical cooperative could own a portion of the land that is being leased for the festival. The festival contract says that if the bankruptcy trustee does not control the utility's land by Jan. 9, AEG has the ability to cancel its lease and the festival. It is unknown what will happen to the sheriff's deed sale redemption. But Great Lakes objects to the AEG lease because it is on land that the trustee currently doesn't control. Terry, Mary and David Dykstra have a $114,000 land contract -- which is in arrears -- for another parcel that is subject of the AEG lease. They also object to the festival contract unless their interests are protected, according to court records. Other objections could arise prior to Monday's hearing.Many students do not think about "speaking" as being part of English class. Speaking skills seem to have declined recently. As a teacher, I have seen kids flat out refuse to speak in front of class, even though they would visit throughout the entire class if I let them. Students need to be able to speak in difficult situations. One day they will have to go to an interview, talk to a boss, or even give a presentation to persuade someone. If they are not given the tools to speak well and the push to speak in front of others, the world will reject their bad grammar habits and shyness, and they will not be able to get what they want.
Sometimes it takes the “heavy handed teacher” who says, “You will take your turn and give your presentation." Most students will rise to the occasion. Other times the student would rather get the “F” and will refuse to speak in front of the group.
Another way speaking can be promoted in the classroom is to have a “seminar setting”; that is circle up the desks and discuss the lesson of the day. Some teachers across the curriculum use this setting successfully. Students are required to speak one at a time, to listen to others, and to be engaged in the conversation. It is difficult for them to do anything else because the teacher is in the circle, too, and can see what all students are doing. They do not think about how they are speaking in front of a group because they are all equal in the circle and do not recognize they are practicing speaking in public. It creates a situation where the students must look at each other and are looking in the eyes of others they are addressing. If teachers do not do the “seminar setting” every day, it makes it more fun when you tell the kids to, “Circle up.” Turn it into a fun, learning time for students by making it special.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Monday to give states the power to enforce their sales tax laws on online purchases, but the legislation faces a tougher fight in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
House Speaker John Boehner holds a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington March 21, 2013. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 69 to 27 to back the measure, which pits brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and cash-hungry state governments against such Web retailers as eBay Inc and Republicans wary of new tax measures.
“Call me a conservative, but I believe the right approach to tax fairness is to reduce rates — not force higher rates onto others,” said Tom Graves, a House Republican from Georgia.
House Speaker John Boehner plans to send the bill to the House Judiciary Committee, a senior Republican aide said. That will mean hearings ahead. The Senate uncharacteristically bypassed this step.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, a Republican, has reservations about the legislation, including its complexity and potential impact on small businesses, a spokeswoman said.
Goodlatte has yet to schedule any hearings on it, she said.
Backers of the measure include major traditional retailers Wal-Mart and Best Buy Co Inc, as well as e-tailing giant Amazon.com Inc, which wants to simplify its U.S. state sales tax payments.
Opponents include many other online merchants such as eBay, Overstock.com Inc and anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. Lawmakers from states without sales taxes - like Montana, Oregon and New Hampshire - largely oppose the measure.
States that charge sales tax have largely been unable to require e-tailers to collect it from purchasers unless the e-tailer had a physical presence in the state. Otherwise, consumers are supposed to pay the tax, but very few do.
Some states have made separate arrangements with Amazon on the issue, while others have not.
The bill would let states require out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax on purchases made over the Internet, even if the e-tailer has no physical presence in the purchaser’s state.
The bill would allow states to do this but not require them to do so. It would also exempt merchants with online annual out-of-state sales of $1 million or less.
“We place a 30 percent probability that the bill is signed into law by the end of the year” primarily due to opposition in the House, said Guggenheim Securities analyst Chris Krueger.
“Our odds will increase following passage of this bill in the Senate provided it receives a big vote of support,” he said.
The online sales tax bill debate is moving on a separate track from efforts in Congress on a broader tax overhaul.
The main obstacle on that front remains the dispute between Republicans who refuse to consider new federal revenue from ending tax breaks that would be part of tax reform, and Democrats who insist that such new revenue is vital.After months of rumors that the classic members of Guns N' Roses would be reuniting, it has been confirmed that Slash and Duff McKagan have reunited with Axl Rose. While everyone from fans to fellow musicians were clamoring for the reunion for years, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler believes he had a significant hand in fostering the return of one of rock's most transcendent musical acts.
Appearing on Howard Stern, the shock jock asked Tyler if he was responsible for getting Slash and Axl Rose talking again, and he shunned taking credit (audio below), but provided an anecdote linking the possibility to him. "I'm sure I'm not solely [responsible]," the singer began, "But I did meet Axl in a couple of clubs a year ago and two years ago and three years ago." Continuing, he added his input in regards to the reunion, saying, "I bumped into him, and I had that talk… I said, 'You need to get f--king back together again soon, because we all miss you.'"
The advice was not unique as Tyler went on to detail how another rock star gave him the same advice. "Same thing someone said to me when Joe [Perry, Aerosmith guitarist] and I were fighting. 'You've gotta get back together. What are you, crazy?' In fact, it was Jon Bon Jovi. I'm in rehab. He calls me up and goes, 'What the f--k are you doing in rehab? The world needs you. We're out here ripping it up and everybody's asking for Aerosmith. You need to get out of here, because people in the world need you.'"
Echoing the words that worked so well for him, Tyler described what he told Axl, stating, "So I'd say to Axl, 'You've gotta get together. There's a place and time where if you don't, you're gonna miss it.' And in another four or five years, no one's gonna even know who they were or care if they're on tour, and that's Steven Tyler's opinion."
Talking from a similar standpoint, Tyler speaks brutally from the heart but with good intent. Relaying the importance, he said, "And also, I'm the lead singer of another great band, so I have a right to feel that way. I have such a huge ego about keeping the fire and the music together. Because if people come up to me and say, 'Dude, I got laid to your music,' or a woman comes up to me and says, 'We got married to your songs.' You had something to do with the fabric of people. Guns N' Roses had something to do with the fabric of humans on this planet, so I get f--king pissed."
Guns N' Roses will be playing the Coachella festival and so far have announced two dates in Las Vegas with more expected. Slash and Duff McKagan are back in while the world waits for confirmation on the possibility of other classic members including Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler. The latter is reported to be in negotiations for a role in the reunion, though possibly in a limited capacity.
Hear Steven Tyler on Howard Stern's Show
10 Most Destructive Guns N' Roses MomentsIn 2008, American women traveled an average of 30 miles to access abortion services, according to “How Far Did U.S. Women Travel for Abortion Services in 2008?” by Rachel Jones and Jenna Jerman of the Guttmacher Institute. Sixty-seven percent of abortion patients traveled less than 25 miles, 16% traveled 25–49 miles, 11% traveled 50–100 miles and 6% traveled more than 100 miles.
The authors analyzed data from the Guttmacher Institute’s 2008 nationally representative survey of 8,338 abortion patients and found that women living in states with a mandatory counseling and waiting period requirement, those in rural areas and women seeking second-trimester abortion services were more likely to travel greater distances than their counterparts.
“Many women travel substantial distances to access abortion services. This can present a barrier, particularly for poor and low-income women, who make up the majority of women seeking abortions, and for women in rural areas” says lead author Rachel Jones. “For women in states with mandatory counseling and waiting periods, the barrier is even greater, and one some women may not be able to overcome.”
In 2008, 25 states required mandatory counseling followed by a waiting period, typically 24 hours. In seven of those states, in-person counseling was required, necessitating two visits. This study found that women who lived in a state with a 24-hour waiting period were more than twice as likely to travel greater distances as women in states with no waiting period requirement regardless of whether there was a two-visit requirement.
Although two-thirds of U.S. abortion providers offer second-trimester abortion services, that percentage drops with each additional week’s gestation. Therefore, women seeking later procedures are more likely to have to travel greater distances. The authors found that women obtaining abortions at 16 weeks or later were twice as likely to have traveled 25, 50 or 100 miles or more compared with women seeking first-trimester procedures.
Women who live in rural areas have to travel greater distances for many services, including primary care and even groceries. It is therefore not surprising that 31% of women who lived in rural areas traveled more than 100 miles to access abortion services, and an additional 43% traveled between 50–100 miles. Rural women are underrepresented among abortion patients.
Previous studies of the distances women travel to access abortion services have relied on estimates from providers. This study, which estimated distance based on women’s zip codes, is more precise. However, it is important to note that this study does not address women who were unable to access abortion services because they could not overcome barriers posed by geographic distance, which for some is exacerbated by laws mandating counseling and waiting periods before an abortion procedure.
This study serves as a baseline, as a number of states have introduced restrictive abortion legislation since 2008 that may make it necessary for women to travel even further and may prevent some women from accessing abortion services at all.
“Between 2010 and 2013, we have seen an unprecedented number of abortion restrictions introduced and enacted at the state level,” says Guttmacher state policy expert Elizabeth Nash. “This study will serve as a useful benchmark to analyze the impact of those restrictions on women’s ability to access abortion services.”
“How Far Did U.S. Women Travel for Abortion Services in 2008?” is currently available online and will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Women’s Health.I think I’ve now read almost all of the books recommended in this post (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here – here and here are a couple others on the same period that were recommended in other posts).
Do I get some sort of prize for doing this? I think I should.
Here’s Moldbug on this book:
And last but not least, do consider R.L. Dabney’s Defence of Virginia (1867) – idiosyncratic and theology-packed. Stonewall Jackson was a notoriously religious man. Dabney was his minister. ‘Nuff said. If you live in 2009 and can read, understand, and perhaps even respect R.L. Dabney, there can be no further doubt of the matter: you have an open mind.
Perhaps the prize of an open mind is sufficient.
Most of these books focus on the Civil War – as Moldbug says of the post,
This week and next we’re going to focus on the exciting part of the story. This is the story of the losers – the Neanderthals, as it were, who lost out to the Modern Structure and its lusty hominid forebears. Ie, to the great democratic movement for freedom, justice and democracy.
Moldbug uses most of the post to discuss the fact that abolitionism was to blame for the war:
There were two basic problems with abolitionism.
One: it could not be seen as anything but an attack on the South, the weaker party, by the North, the stronger party. Once the lines of sectional politics were clear, as Jefferson saw clearly in 1820, the question of whether a new state would allow slavery was the question of which bloc would get its two new Senators.
Two: the North had no legal basis whatsoever for this attack. The idea that the Federal government had the power to end slavery and free the slaves was roughly as foreign to antebellum constitutional law as the proposition that Barack Obama could order Rush Limbaugh hanged at dawn, "just because he’s an asshole," is to ours....
Because the truth was that the North was attacking the South and trying to abolish slavery, its politicians had to assert that the South was attacking the North and trying to propagate slavery....
As the ideology of antislavery spread West, it passed from those who hated slavery because they loved Negroes as fellow men, to those who hated slavery because they didn’t want Negroes around. (Lincoln, with typical dexterity, managed to convince his audiences that he was in both categories.) Thus the free-state Kansas constitution prohibited Negroes free or slave, as did that of Oregon. By 1860, little that is human or humane can be found in the antislavery movement. Its engine runs on pure chimp rage.
I agree with these thoughts, but my own major take-away from reading all these primary sources is more humble. Our understanding of the Civil War increased from the time of the war through the middle of the 20th Century, at which point it dropped off a cliff. The modern mainstream understanding of the war is completely retarded.
The easiest way to understand how retarded the modern view of the Civil War is, is to read two short speeches by Charles Francis Adams. These are easy because they’re short and well-written and Mr Adams is an impeccable source – he fought for the Union and he is a great historian. The cracks in the official story become clear because Adams position on the war would – by modern standards – make him a rabid defender of the South. Unfortunately, for the modern and official story, he fought for the North. Adams defends Virginia’s decision to secede. He believes Virginia decided to secede in defense of its understanding of the Constitution (see Moldbug’s analysis of abolitionism above). He also comes to believe that his own understanding of slavery was severely lacking (I still think Genovese’s book, linked above, was the best on this particular issue). I think it would have been virtually impossible to live through reconstruction and not believe that it was a complete tragedy. As Moldbug puts it:
It is in fact very difficult to argue that the War of Secession made anyone’s life more pleasant, including that of the freed slaves. (Perhaps your best case would be for New York profiteers and Unitarian poets who produced homilies to war. [heh!]) War destroyed the economy of the South. It brought poverty, disease and death. As Lincoln put it: "root, hog, or die." While material things are not everything, and the psychological impact of freedom was large and usually positive, you will find few slave narratives in which the late 1860s are remembered as days of wine and roses.
So your best bet, as a Union supporter, is probably the argument that the war made a better life for the children, grandchildren, etc, of the slaves it freed. On a moral level, this is slightly metaphysical for me, but I think on a historical level I can buy it. Of course, the war did also kill 600,000 people, but this is a small butcher’s bill by the standards of the Modern Wars. Again, it’s your choice.
Let me try to make the decline of history more concrete by way of an analogy. Imagine that you had fallen asleep in 2005 and stayed asleep until 2150. Further assume that when you woke up in 2150, everyone loved the Iraq War. Not just Rumsfeld-style liked it, but fucking loved it. They loved it so much, that if you dared to question the righteousness of liberating the Iraqis from bondage, you’d be considered unfit for civil conversation. Intellectuals in 2150 prove their intellectual-ness by signaling to each other they support the Iraq War more than other people. In other words, by 2150, mainstream opinion on the Iraq War would be such that Donald Rumsfeld in 2005 would – by 2150 standards – be considered only moderately pro-war.
Regardless of what you think about the Iraq War in the present day, you’d have a pretty low opinion of history as practiced in 2150.
Anyway, I should let Dabney have his say. Dabney’s is a good summary of many of the arguments made in the other books. I’m glad I read Dabneys’ work after all the others, as it would not be the best introduction.
Dabney defends the Southern institution of slavery. If we take Genovese to the standard of what slavery in the South was really like, Dabney’s description is more accurate than something like Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Dabney has his biases, but his writing doesn’t rise to the level of propaganda. Dabney correctly points out that Northerners also benefited from slavery and had mixed attitudes about blacks. For example, he spends some time discussing the Confederate Constitution:
When the late Confederate Government adopted a constitution, although it was composed exclusively of slaveholding States, it voluntarily did what the United States has never done: it placed an absolute prohibition of the foreign slave trade in its organic law.
He also points out that the war didn’t really "free" the slaves – again this was the common understanding of what happened during Reconstruction until sometime in the mid-20th Century:
That Northern emancipation was prompted by no consideration for the supposed rights of Africans, but by regard to their own interests, is evinced by many facts. Of these, perhaps the most general and striking is the persistent neglect of the welfare of their emancipated slaves; the refusal to give them equal civic rights, until they found a motive for doing so in malice against the South; and the shocking decadence, vice and misery to which a nominal liberty, according to the testimony of Northern writers, has consigned their wretched free blacks.
...
Thus, Massachusetts, in March, 1788, (eight years after the pretended extinction of human bondage) passed a law ordering every black, mulatto or Indian who came into the State and remained two months to be publickly whipped; and this punishment was to be repeated “if he or she shall not depart Mies quoties.” This law remained in force until 1834!
...
But how different is the summary abolition forced upon Virginia and the South!
He also throws in a bit of philosophy, which I enjoyed very much:
What, then, is man’s natural liberty? We answer, that it is only privilege to do whatever he has a moral right to do. Freedom to do whatever a man wills, is not a liberty, either natural or civil, but an unnatural license, a natural iniquity; man’s will being naturally depraved. What then is man’s civil liberty? We reply, that under an equitable government, it is the same—the privilege to do whatever he has a moral right to do. No government is perfectly equitable: none are wholly unjust. Some withhold more, some fewer, of the citizen’s moral rights. None withhold them all. Hence, under the most despotic government there are some rights left, and so, some liberty. A perfectly just government would be one which would allot to each citizen freedom to do all the things which he had a moral right to do, and nothing else. Such a government would not restrain the natural liberty of any citizen in any respect; each man’s civil liberty would be identical with his natural. Government does not originate rights, neither can it justly take them away. But practically, it confirms, instead of impairing, our natural liberty; because it secures us in the exercise of it.
...
Again: the amount of privileges properly conceded to the body of citizens of the first class, should vary in different commonwealths with their average character. If intelligence and virtue are, in the average, more developed, the restraints of government should be fewer ; if less cultivated, more numerous. Different frames of government may be best for different communities.
...
It has been shown, that as different persons in the same society differ widely in character, powers, and relations, their specific natural rights differ also. But under all forms of government, all still have some liberty. And under a perfectly equitable form, the different classes of persons would properly have different grades of liberty. So that, even in the relation of involuntary servitude for life, if it be not abused, there is an appropriate liberty.
This shit will indeed open your mind.
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Like this: Like Loading... RelatedParallel processing with unix tools
piping
An often under appreciated idea in the unix pipe model is that the components of the pipe run in parallel. This is a key advantage leveraged when combining simple commands that do "one thing well"
An often under appreciated idea in the unix pipe model is that the components of the pipe run in parallel. This is a key advantage leveraged when combining simple commands that do "one thing well" split -n, xargs -P, parallel
Note programs that are invoked in parallel by these, need to output atomically for each item processed, which the GNU coreutils are careful to do for factor and sha*sum, etc. Generally commands that use stdio for output can be wrapped with the `stdbuf -oL` command to avoid intermixing lines from parallel invocations
,, Note programs that are invoked in parallel by these, need to output atomically for each item processed, which the GNU coreutils are careful to do for factor and sha*sum, etc. Generally commands that use stdio for output can be wrapped with the `stdbuf -oL` command to avoid intermixing lines from parallel invocations make -j
Most implementations of make(1) now support the -j option to process targets in parallel. make(1) is generally a higher level tool designed to process disparate tasks and avoid reprocessing already generated targets. For example it is used very effictively when testing coreutils where about 700 tests can be processed in 13 seconds on a 40 core machine.
Most implementations of make(1) now support the -j option to process targets in parallel. make(1) is generally a higher level tool designed to process disparate tasks and avoid reprocessing already generated targets. For example it is used very effictively when testing coreutils where about 700 tests can be processed in 13 seconds on a 40 core machine. implicit threading
This goes against the unix model somewhat and definitely adds internal complexity to those tools. The advantages can be less data copying overhead, and simpler usage, though its use needs to be carefully considered. A disadvantage is that one loses the ability to easily distribute commands to separate systems. Examples are GNU sort(1) and turbo-linecount
Counting lines in parallel
There are various ways to use parallel processing in UNIX:The examples below will compare the above methods for implementing multi-processing, for the function ofin a file.
First of all let's generate some test data. We use both long and short lines to compare the overhead of the various methods compared to the core cost of the function being performed:
$ seq 100000000 > lines.txt # 100M lines $ yes $(yes longline | head -n9) | head -n10000000 > long-lines.txt # 10M lines
We'll also define the add() { paste -d+ -s | bc; } helper function to add a list of numbers.
wc -l
$ time wc -l lines.txt real 0m0.559s user 0m0.399s sys 0m0.157s $ time wc -l long-lines.txt real 0m0.263s user 0m0.102s sys 0m0.158s
$ time fedora-25-wc -l lines.txt real 0m1.039s user 0m0.900s sys 0m0.134s
turbo-linecount
time tlc lines.txt real 0m0.536s # third fastest user 0m1.906s # but a lot less efficient sys 0m0.100s time tlc long-lines.txt real 0m0.146s # second fastest user 0m0.336s # though less efficient sys 0m0.110s
split -n
$ time split -n$(nproc) --filter='wc -l' lines.txt | add real 0m0.743s user 0m0.495s sys 0m0.702s $ time split -n$(nproc) --filter='wc -l' long-lines.txt | add real 0m0.540s user 0m0.155s sys 0m0.693s
$ time for i in $(seq $(nproc)); do split -n$i/$(nproc) lines.txt | wc -l& done | add real 0m0.432s # second fastest $ time for i in $(seq $(nproc)); do split -n$i/$(nproc) long-lines.txt | wc -l& done | add real 0m0.266s # third fastest
$ time split -nr/$(nproc) --filter='wc -l' lines.txt | add real 0m4.773s user 0m5.678s sys 0m1.464s $ time split -nr/$(nproc) --filter='wc -l' long-lines.txt | add real 0m1.121s # significantly less overhead for longer lines user 0m0.927s sys 0m1.339s
parallel
$ time parallel --will-cite --block=200M --pipe 'wc -l' < lines.txt | add real 0m1.863s user 0m1.192s sys 0m2.542s
$ time parallel --will-cite --block=200M --pipepart -a lines.txt 'wc -l' | add real 0m0.693s user 0m0.941s sys 0m1.142s
$ time parallel --will-cite --plus'split -n{%}/{##} {1} | wc -l' \ ::: $(yes lines.txt | head -n$(nproc)) | add real 0m0.656s user 0m0.949s sys 0m0.944s
xargs -P
split -d -n l/$(nproc) lines.txt l.
$ time find -maxdepth 1 -name 'l.*' | xargs -P$(nproc) -n1 wc -l | cut -f1 -d''| add real 0m0.267s # joint fastest user 0m0.760s sys 0m0.262s $ time find -maxdepth 1 -name 'll.*' | xargs -P$(nproc) -n1 wc -l | cut -f1 -d''| add real 0m0.131s # joint fastest user 0m0.251s sys 0m0.233s
make -j
%: FORCE # Always run the command @wc -l < $@ FORCE: ; Makefile: ; # Don't include Makefile itself
$ time find -name 'l.*' -exec make -j$(nproc) {} + | add real 0m0.269s # joint fastest user 0m0.737s sys 0m0.292s $ time find -name 'll.*' -exec make -j$(nproc) {} + | add real 0m0.132s # joint fastest user 0m0.233s sys 0m0.256s
© Aug 20 2017
Note the following runs were done against cached files, and thus not I/O bound. Therefore we limit the number of processes in parallel to $(nproc), though you would generally benefit to raising that if your jobs are waiting on network or disk etc.We'll use this command to count lines for most methods, so here is the base non multi-processing performance for comparison:Note the distro version (v8.25) not being compiled with --march makes a significant difference, but only for the short line case. We'll not use the distro version in the following tests. turbo-linecount is an example of multi-threaded processing of a file.Note using -n alone is not enough to parallelize. For example this will run serially with each chunk, because since --filter may write files, the -n pertains to the number of files to split into rather than the number to process in parallel.You can either run multiple invocations of split in parallel on separate portions of the file like:Or split can do parallel mode using round robin on, but that's huge overhead in this case. (Note also the -u option significant with -nr):Round robin would only be useful when the processing per item is significant.Parallel isn't well suited to processing a large single file, rather focusing on distributing multiple files to commands. It can't efficiently split to lightweight processing if reading sequentially from pipe:Though has support for processing parts of a seekable file in parallel with the --pipepart option (added in version 20161222):We can use parallel(1) to drive split similarly to the for loop construct above but it's a little awkward and slower, but does demonstrate the flexibility of the parallel(1) tool.Like parallel, xargs is designed to distribute separate files to commands, and with the -P option can do so in parallel. If you have a large file then it may be beneficial to presplit it, which could also help with I/O bottlenecks if the pieces were placed on separate devices:Those pieces can then be processed in parallel like:If your file sizes are unrelated to the number of processors then you will probably want to adjust -n1 to batch together more files to reduce the number of processes run in total. Note you should always specify -n with -P to avoid xargs accumulating too many input items, thus impacting the parallelism of the processes it runs.make(1) is generally used to process disparate tasks, though can be leveraged to provide low level parallel processing on a bunch of files. Note also the make -O option which avoids the need for commands to output their data atomically, letting make do the synchronization. We'll process the presplit files as generated for the xargs example above, and to support that we'll use the following Makefile:One could generate this and pass to make(1) with the -f option, though we'll keep it as a separate Makefile here for simplicity. This performs very well and matches the performance of xargs.Note we use the POSIX specified "find... -exec... {} +" construct, rather than conflating the example with xargs. This construct like xargs will pass as many files to make as possible, which make(1) will then process in parallel.Arkansas Leads SEC With Five On NFF Hampshire Honor Society
IRVING, Texas. – Nearly two months after posting the most student-athletes on the Fall Southeastern Conference Academic Honor roll, the Arkansas football program had an SEC-best five student-athletes named to the National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame’s 2017 NFF Hampshire Honor Society on Wednesday.
In its 11th year, the NFF Hampshire Honor Society is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers.
Tops in the SEC, the Razorbacks’ five honorees were the most in program history and tied for seventh-most among all Football Bowl Subdivision programs.
The student-athletes honored include linebacker, SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year and 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy finalist Brooks Ellis, punter Toby Baker, defensive back Jared Collins, kicker Adam McFain and offensive lineman Dan Skipper.
Ellis became the first Arkansas football student-athlete in school history to earn Academic All-America honors twice in a career as he was named to the 2016 Academic All-America Division I football team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). A three-time Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll member and two-year team captain, he graduated in December 2016 with a degree in pre-professional exercise science. The Fayetteville, Arkansas, product amassed 290 tackles, including 22.5 for loss, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, 13 pass breakups and four interceptions, returning one 47 yards for a touchdown during his tenure.
Baker, from Memphis, Tennessee, graduated in December 2016 with a degree in finance. A three-time Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll member and 2016 Burlsworth Trophy semifinalist, Baker punted 57 times and finished with a 44.4 average to rank fourth in the SEC and 13th nationally in 2016. In addition, 21 of his punts traveled 50 yards or longer, while 23 landed inside the 20-yard line with only three touchbacks.
Collins, a four-year letterman, will graduate in May with a degree in recreation and sport management. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, native started 40 of 50 games, including each of his last 36. He finished his career with 36 pass breakups, highlighted by an SEC-best 13 as a sophomore in 2014. He also totaled 165 tackles, including 6.5 for loss, and collected two interceptions. Collins was a four-time Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll member after making the 2012-13 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll.
McFain, a four-time Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll member, graduated in December 2016 with a degree in supply chain management. In 2016, the Greenwood, Arkansas, native took over the team’s primary placekicking duties four games into the season, converting 8 of 10 attempts, including a career long of 54 yards at No. 21 Auburn.
Skipper, from Arvada, Colorado, graduated in December 2016 with a degree in biology. He was a three-time Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll honoree after making the 2013-14 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll. Skipper played in 51 career games, finishing with 47 straight starts – the second-longest streak in program history. One of just six offensive linemen in program history to earn All-SEC honors twice in a career, Skipper helped block for Arkansas’ offenses to eclipse 5,000 total yards during each his freshman, junior and senior years. The 2016 AFCA FBS Coaches’ All-America second team selection also opened rushing lanes for three different running backs to combine for five 1,000-yard seasons across his four years.
For more information on Razorback Football, follow @RazorbackFB on Twitter.SPRINGFIELD – Illlinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner suffered a double blow Friday with the approval of a Nov. 4 ballot that does not include his referendum to limit the terms of Illinois lawmakers but features a Libertarian candidate which could undercut his draw of conservative votes.
The move by the eight-member State Board of Elections came as the state Supreme Court rejected Rauner's request that it quickly consider whether the term limits measure violates a state constitutional provision requiring that any changes to the Legislature be both structural and procedural.
"The Springfield career politicians won today, and the people of Illinois lost. But the people will have the final say," Rauner said in a statement after the decisions, referring to |
of Americans spending evenings with their families is going up. The same thing is true for acquaintances who live a good distance away. But the percentage reporting evenings with their neighbors has fallen dramatically. Time and attention is being driven to the extremes.
The upshot is that Americans are no longer so devoted to the middling relationships that were long a staple of the American experience. The chatter around the cookie plate setup outside a PTA meeting once provided average Americans with the opportunity to connect with people they wouldn’t otherwise understand. The bonds formed on the sidelines of bowling tournaments provided a window into the thinking of acquaintances working the levers deep inside the institutional machines. But because they no longer bowl in leagues—because PTA meetings have been supplanted by online petitions—strangers have become alien. And that has left them with the impression that the institutions they inhabit are more sinister.
There’s no point to hoping that the wealth of new social opportunities spawned by new technology will be curtailed anytime soon. Americans are unlikely to return to the era when they hung out with their neighbors simply because it was next to impossible to keep in good touch with anyone else. The real issue is what might spur them to connect with people from different corners of society. And the key to answering that question may be found well outside the sphere of government reform or information technology."You probably heard so many bad stories from a couple of years ago about how bad the dressing room was," said Dunne, who joined last summer.
And thanks to the thin blue and white line of R's stars like Richard Dunne, there won't be any wrong 'uns returning for their Premier League comeback.
Jose Bosingwa, Stephane Mbia and Chris Samba were flogged, while Adel Taarabt has been exiled from the squad but remains on the wage bill.
But that all stopped when Harry Redknapp replaced Mark Hughes as manager.
Rangers signed a number of disruptive duds after chairman Tony Fernandes took over three seasons ago.
“I think the group of lads last season were just good lads and good players and it helps you” Richard Dunne
"But from the first day I came in it has been great and enjoyable. I think it has improved again over last season, the togetherness has just grown and it's a great place to be.
"I think the group of lads last season were just good lads and good players and it helps you.
"We had more victories last season, than the team the season before had, and winning breeds confidence.
"Everyone was positive about where we were going and what the aim was. Because of that people more or less looked after themselves.
"There was no need really to pull people in tell them 'you need to be more like this'. Everyone was a good lad, they toed the line and the dressing room then looked after itself."I learned about Chinese Judaica because of a $25 billion IPO. This was in September 2014, when the financials were abuzz with Alibaba’s impending public offering, which turned out to be the world’s largest. Alibaba is a massive Chinese e-commerce platform; its website, which looks a lot like eBay, is essentially the front page of the East Asian manufacturing sector.
Everything, I knew, was made in China. That probably included Judaica. When news of the IPO brought me to Alibaba, on a whim I typed “kippah” into the search bar. Up popped a page full of kippahs: suede, leather, knitted. Among them one style stood out: It was knitted, two shades of brown in a swirl pattern, and I was wearing it on my head at that moment. The minimum order was 1,000 units; the supply ability was 30,000 units a month. The company was called Ever Better.
It was past midnight on the East Coast but mid-afternoon in China. Ever Better had a phone number—why not call and ask about ordering 100 duplicates of the kippah I was wearing?
“Hi, does your company make kippahs?” It had taken a while to be transferred to someone who spoke a little English.
Yes, said the man on the other end.
“How many different kinds does your company make?”
He laughed. “Many, many. Which material do you want? Satin, velvet, or knit?” He explained how price could differ by style, by thickness of thread, by whether the kippah was made by hand or machine. He knew the nuances of the various designs better than I did.
Then he asked, “Where are you?”
“I’m in the United States. Philadelphia.”
“United States,” he said approvingly. “It’s a big market.”
***
This is how I began investigating the scope of the Chinese Judaica market. Its role is somewhat hidden by imperfect labeling practices and Israeli middlemen. Even some Judaica retailers I spoke to weren’t fully aware of their products’ origins.
To understand the market, I needed to talk to the distributors and importers. In October, I ended up on the phone with one Alex Rosenthal, the president of Rite Lite, one of America’s largest distributors of Judaica. Like many sellers of Jewish ritual objects, Rite Lite was literally a mom-and-pop operation, established by Rosenthal’s parents in 1949. Once upon a time, such a business meant staying in touch with a network of Jewish craftsmen, skilled in making everything from candlesticks to dreidels, But Rosenthal’s principal business travel for the past 15 years has been to China.
Rosenthal suspects he’s purchased close to a million menorahs in his life—a mere fraction of them made in the United States. American mass production of Judaica has all but evaporated, Rosenthal told me. It was long ago eclipsed by lower prices overseas, first in India and now in China. These two countries have a lock on “low-end” Judaica, which Rosenthal defines as items retailing for $75 or less. If an object isn’t handcrafted and it isn’t one of the few objects that Jewish law specifically mandates be made by Jews, it’s probably from East Asia.
How much of “low-end” Judaica in America is produced in those countries? According to Rosenthal, three out of every four pieces of Judaica sold in America. Another Judaica distributor told me the number was closer to nine in 10. In other words: Unless that mezuzah case you bought was particularly fancy, it was likely made on the other side of the world.
The history of Rite Lite is the history of the American Judaica market. Rosenthal’s company is now mainly an importer, but it began as a manufacturer, starting with the “Rite Lite” itself, a spring-loaded candle holder designed to keep a Shabbat candle flame at constant height while it burned.
Rosenthal’s parents were Holocaust survivors, and they based the candle holder on something they had seen in Europe. Jacob Rosenthal’s first job in the United States was as a lumber merchant, but the Judaica business was a way to make a living without having to work on Saturdays. The company website tells the next part of the story: “One fateful day, Mr. Rosenthal took his idea to the Lower East Side workshop of a man equipped to turn his dream into a reality. There he found Murray Zuckerman producing menorahs; the rest, as they say, is history.”
History is funny, though. Today, 90 percent of Rite Lite’s menorahs are made in China. When asked about the shift, the younger Rosenthal was unsentimental. “You can’t live in the past,” he told me. It’s admirable to support local business, but market forces rule the day. He compared it to the rise of machine-made matzo. When the machines were invented, there were initially protests, and many 19th-century rabbis condemned their use. Then the machines won. “Nothing stands in the way of progress.”
Of course, not all Judaica can be exported. The chief obstacle is Jewish law, which mandates that certain objects—especially Torah scrolls, tefillin, and the parchment inside the mezuzah—be made by Jews. (Tallit and tzitzit are in this category, too, but only the strings, not the garment itself; the way the disparity between the two affects tallit production and taxation is a story for a different time.) Kippot can theoretically be made by anyone, but some manufacturing has stayed in America for a different reason: logistics. If you need to order 100 customized kippot for a bar mitzvah, there’s no time to get them from China; even if you did, your order would be too small to be worth filling. These quirks keep four or five American kippah makers, all in the New York area, in business.
Jeremy Lowy is one of those who remain. Founder of J. Lowy Skullcap, he’s been in the kippah business for 40 years. Lowy and another manufacturer told me that virtually all of their orders are for customized designs. The business isn’t just weddings and bar mitzvahs, either—surprisingly, it’s common for political campaigns to order kippot for their supporters, too. In 2008, Lowy filled an order for Barack Obama (suede, gray, with the campaign logo). This year, he’s worked for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders (suede, blue), and Donald Trump (suede, red). All three feature the candidates’ names in Hebrew and English; if you didn’t know better, you’d think they were souvenirs from a bar or bat mitzvah.
Lowy pointed out something that hadn’t occurred to me: Custom kippahs are far more profitable than the standard fare, because the former are bought in bulk and are usually tossed, while the latter are bought one at a time and worn forever. China’s role is small here because the market for daily kippah-wearers is eclipsed by the people who throw them away.
Business is fine for now, but the market is shrinking. Every Jewish event used to come with a custom kippah; today, not so much, and there are only so many Jews and political candidates.
Lowy does have a dream, though: “If I can get the pope to get all Catholics to wear kippahs, now we’re talking. Now we have a market.”
A year after I first called China to inquire about kippah-making there, I called again, this time with the aid of a phone translator. I was able to confirm what I already suspected and what Judaica merchants had told me repeatedly: The people working in Chinese factories knew everything about the kippah market but almost zero about what they were making. “I think it’s for weddings?” one woman told me.
The Chinese indifference to the meaning of the Judaica they make is, to me, breathtaking. Both manufacturers and distributors told me that the Chinese do not care one whit about the meaning of the Judaica they construct. No Chinese firm specializes in Judaica at all; objects get made all over the place, always alongside a dozen other unrelated product lines. In Qingdao, Ever Fortune makes kippot alongside baseball caps, winter hats, and hundreds of other kinds of headgear. In Yiwu, Shangrao Knit Crochet Craft Factory makes challah covers, kiddush cups, and crotched kippot alongside Muslim headgear, baby bibs, and hammocks. Hangzhouse Bodenda Tin Co. mainly manufactures small metal containers, but they will sell you menorahs if you order at least 10,000, or enough for every Jewish family in Cincinnati.
***
With China as the manufacturer, the gap between the maker and the user couldn’t be larger. Chinese Judaica represents the intersection of the minuscule and the massive. In 1967, Milton Himmelfarb wrote, “The number of Jews in the world is smaller than a statistical error in the Chinese census.” Today, it would be accurate to say that Judaica market is no more than a statistical error in China’s GDP.
Rosenthal put it more poetically. “We’re a wart on the backside of mankind.”
In China, Jewish culture has always been a little lost: Its prophets did not see Moses as their predecessor, its faiths did not need to supersede Sinai, there are no faint echoes of the aleph and the bet in its logographs. Jews have lived in China for centuries, but they give further proof of the space between the cultures. A Haggadah from Kaifeng skips the blessing on matzo. The scholar David Stern suggests that the nuance of unleavened bread was probably lost in a land where the key staple was rice and even leavened bread was rare.
In the course of my research, every Judaica dealer I spoke with asked me the same question: Why do you care where your kippahs are made? Rosenthal said about buying Judaica, “It’s not a religious experience, unless you call bargains a Jewish trait.” Why should the origins of a tallit bag matter any more than the origins of an iPhone?
The answer, I think, is that everybody thinks about iPhone in basically the same way, whereas nobody who makes menorahs thinks much about them at all, except for the end user. My anxiety around Chinese Judaica stems from the fact that the material artifacts of faith—the mezuzah on the door, the menorah on the mantle, the candlesticks on the bureau—are not just artifacts of faith because they exist in another context as well, and in that context a menorah is just another product line that happens to sell well in America.
At the point of sale, a menorah has two histories. In one, it is linked to its seven-branched Temple prototype, and Maccabean revolt, and the story of the miracle of the oil. In the other, it is a specialty tin can. One history is sacred, the other profane—the menorah has no opinion on the matter. For me, being
aware of Chinese Judaica means being aware of the fragility of holiness, of our power to choose not only which history to prioritize but to add ourselves to that very history, imbuing those objects with memories of our own.
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David Zvi Kalman is a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, the director of Jewish Public Media, and the founder of an independent Jewish publishing house.Guardian writers' predicted position: 10th (NB: this is not necessarily Stuart James's prediction, but the average of our writers' tips)
Last season's position: 15th
Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker): 2,000-1
For the first time since 2009 Aston Villa will start a season with the same manager that finished the previous campaign, which means it has been an unusually low-key summer at the club, give or take six new signings, seven senior-contract renewals, a transfer request from Christian Benteke that was withdrawn 11 days after it was submitted, and a high-profile addition to the "Bomb squad".
If that makes the close-season sound a little chaotic the reality is that, with the exception of the Premier League shoehorning a trip to Chelsea in between a visit to Arsenal on the opening day and a home game against Liverpool the following Saturday (it could be a long 21 days until the fourth league game), pretty much everything has gone to plan for Paul Lambert, the Villa manager, especially now that Benteke has signed a new contract.
To put Villa's dependency on Benteke last season into context, the Belgium striker scored or created 49% of the club's Premier League goals – a higher proportion than any other top-flight player. Raw and profligate early on, Benteke was almost unplayable come the end of the season, his innate physical strength and much-improved hold-up play, allied to an ability to score goals of every description, making him the focal point for a team who would almost certainly have been relegated without him.
In the end Villa survived by five points, with some vastly improved performances across an eight-game spell between March and May yielding five crucial victories. The less said about what went before the better. At times, in particular during that miserable period in December and January, when they conceded 15 goals without reply against Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Wigan, and suffered the ignominy of losing to Bradford in the League Cup semi-final and Millwall in the FA Cup, it was bleak.
Throughout it all, however, Lambert's faith in his players never wavered.
Just as importantly, the Villa fans remained hugely supportive of their manager. In many ways Lambert was on to a winner from the start, simply by virtue of the fact that he was not Alex McLeish, his much-maligned predecessor. But he also won admiration from inside and outside of Villa for the way that he went about changing the philosophy of a club that had been overspending off the pitch and underachieving on it.
In Lambert's eyes the solution was to give an opportunity to younger and, in many cases, unproven players who would be highly motivated and desperate to seize a chance. That approach, which could easily have backfired, is clearly here to stay judging by the half a dozen new (and, it has to be said, largely unknown) faces that arrived this summer – Jores Okore, Antonio Luna, Leandro Bacuna, Aleksandar Tonev, Nicklas Helenius and Jed Steer – all of whom are aged 23 or under.
Okore, a 20-year-old Danish international signed for £4m from Nordsjaelland, can be the pick of the bunch. Strong and with a decent turn of pace, the central defender could have joined Chelsea earlier in the year but turned them down as he wanted to play regular first-team football. His signing strengthens competition for places in the area where Villa need to improve most: defence.
Villa conceded 69 goals last season – their worst defensive record since 1987 – and failed to keep a clean sheet in 22 league matches, going back to the goalless draw against Stoke in December. The damage would have been worse but for the performances of Brad Guzan, the American goalkeeper who swept the board at the club's end-of-season awards and who was deservedly rewarded with a new four-year deal in the summer.
With the exception of Guzan and Matthew Lowton, who flourished at right-back and has the potential to break into the England squad, the defensive personnel struggled. Joe Bennett, the left-back signed from Middlesbrough last summer, looked out of his depth and is likely lose his place to Luna. Ron Vlaar, another new recruit last summer – albeit one with much more experience than Bennett – was also a disappointment, with the Villa captain honest enough to admit near the end of last season that his performances "have to be better". As for Ciaran Clark and Nathan Baker, neither of the academy graduates looked totally convincing.
Things are rosier at the opposite end of the pitch, where it is difficult to see much changing this season. Gabriel Agbonlahor, who enjoyed his best season since Martin O'Neill departed in 2010, and Andreas Weimann, a burgeoning presence on the right, weighed in with 16 Premier League goals between them, to go with the 19 Benteke scored. Agbonlahor and Weimann will once again be expected to provide support for Benteke from wide positions.
Helenius, a striker who was regarded as a decent finisher in Denmark but lacking a little when it comes to the physical side, is likely to be an option from the bench, along with Bacuna, whose move has caused a little surprise in the Netherlands, where he was not exactly tearing up trees at Groningen, and Tonev, a promising Bulgarian with an eye for goal. It will also be interesting to see whether Jack Grealish, a prodigiously talented 17-year-old winger, is given the odd outing.
Both Agbonlahor and Weimann have spent much of their careers playing as orthodox strikers, which means there is a natural inclination to come in off the flank rather than get to the byline (all the more so in the case of Agbonlahor because he is right-footed and deployed on the left). While this gives Villa an additional goal threat at times, it also helps to explain why Lambert's side produced fewer crosses than any other Premier League club last season (a remarkable 338 – nine per game). With Benteke's formidable aerial strength, it seems like they are missing a trick here.
Lambert is an advocate of attacking football but Villa are not a team who take control of matches by monopolising possession – their opponents had more of the ball in all but 10 league games last season. Villa, however, carry a constant goal threat because of the way that they break with such alacrity, especially away from home, where they gained a reputation for being one of the best counter-attacking teams in the league. It is interesting to note that in the four matches where Villa had the lowest possession last season – Everton away, Swansea away, Manchester United at home and Liverpool away – they scored 10 times and lost only once.
However, when the onus is on them to seize the initiative, usually the case at home, they tend to find it difficult – five league victories in front of their own supporters last season and four the campaign before says it all. At times, it seem as though Villa lack that little bit of imagination required in midfield to break teams down.
Although Ashley Westwood was highly impressive in his first season at the club, and Fabian Delph produced by far his best form since arriving from Leeds four years ago, both are essentially defensive players, leaving Villa short of the sort of attacking central midfielder who can provide a creative spark and weigh in with a few goals.
The return from midfield was dismal. Westwood, Delph, Barry Bannan, Karim El-Ahmadi, Brett Holman, Stephen Ireland, Charles N'Zogbia and Yacouba Sylla played 170 Premier League games for the club but contributed only four goals between them — and two of those came from N'Zogbia, who is more of a winger.
Indeed Darren Bent finished up as Villa's fourth highest scorer in the league despite starting only eight matches. While it is clear that Lambert favours a more powerful centre forward (and he was vindicated in terms of his decision to entrust Benteke with that task), it still seems odd that Bent was marginalised to the extent that he was unable to get on the bench ahead of Jordan Bowery, a 21-year-old forward signed from Chesterfield.
Bent, after all, cost a club-record £18m rising to £24m when he arrived from Sunderland in January 2011, he played a significant role in keeping Gérard Houllier's side up that season, and is one of the most prolific Premier League strikers of recent times, averaging a goal every 181 minutes over the past eight seasons (his record of one every 193 minutes in a Villa shirt is not too shabby, especially given the mess the club have been in during that time).
Lambert has never explained his reasons for jettisoning Bent, who has been made to train away from the first team (with what has become known as the "Bomb squad") during pre-season, weakening Villa's negotiating position with potential purchasers, with his likely price now so low that a sizeable chunk of the money received is likely to be swallowed up by making up the player's wages at his new club. Curious, in a word.
For Lambert, however, it is a case of onwards and upwards. He has an unshakable belief that he is on the right path at Villa, where he enjoys the complete support of the owner, Randy Lerner, as well as the backing of the fans, whose regard for him has only been enhanced by the way that he convinced Benteke to stay when the striker's departure seemed inevitable. That was some U-turn.
Villa, as Lambert pointed out in May, remain a club "in transition", and it would be naive to think that a callow squad, which is still developing and will almost certainly be the youngest in the league, is capable of reproducing the form that they showed towards the end of last season over the course of 38 games. But if there is a minimum requirement it must surely be that Villa's supporters, after seeing their club flirt with the drop zone in the past three years, are spared another relegation battle. If Benteke is among the goals again and the defence is tightened up, that comfortable mid-table position should not be beyond them.
Player focus infographicIn this Tuesday Feb. 14, 2012 file photo, Libya n militias from towns throughout the country’s west parade through Tripoli | Photp by : Abdel Magid Al Fergany
Albania has promised to investigate how around 800,000 12.7 mm rounds of ammunition, originating from Albanian surplus stocks, were shipped to Libya at the height of the civil war in September 2011 in defiance of an arms embargo.
Albanian authorities deny knowing that the weapons, officially sold to the United Arab Emirates through intermediaries, were destined for Libyan rebels in Benghazi, and have promised an internal investigation.
However, evidence discovered by a UN panel of experts suggests that Tirana had some information about the final destination of the ammunition but did not follow it through.
A 94-page report prepared by a five-member panel and circulated by the UN on Tuesday details arms trafficking cases in the 2011 uprising against the Gaddafi regime, as well as efforts to track down the assets of individuals linked with his regime, which are on UN blacklist.
The panel said the illicit arms transfers, both to rebels and the regime, proven or still under investigation, involve more than 12 countries.
The transfer of ammunition to Libya involved the United Arab Emirates, an Armenian arms dealer, and the Albanian and Ukrainian official arms exports agencies.
The shipment was carried out over three days from September 9, 2011 from Tirana’s Mother Teresa Airport, through an Armenian air carrier and flown directly to Benghazi, in spite of the imposition of the arms embargo.
DG Arms Corporation, an Armenian broker that was seeking to purchase surplus ammunition for the United Arab Emirates, contacted Albania’s Military Export Agency, MEICO, along with other companies in the region in July 2011.
MEICO preferred to sign a deal with a state entity rather than an independent broker, which led to the involvement of UKRINMASH, a subsidiary of the Ukrainian state-owned Ukrspecexport.
MEICO then sold the ammunition to UKRINMASH, which, through the Armenian agent, re-exported it fictively to the United Arab Emirates through the International Golden Group.
The international Golden Group represented the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates in the deal and signed the delivery verification certificate relating to the ammunition on their behalf.
Flight permits were issued in accordance with an official request by MEICO in order to proceed with exports of military material through Mother Teresa airport on September 10, 11 and 12 to Abu Dhabi International Airport.
But, after the permits were issued, the flight route was changed and the three flights delivered their cargo to Benghazi.
The fight arrived in Benghazi, after receiving clearance from NATO and the United Arab Emirates Air Force, although the UN Security Council had imposed a no-fly zone over Libya.
The three flights from Tirana are part of some 20 flights of weapons indentified by the UN panel that delivered weapons to the Libyan rebels during the conflict.
DG Arms Corporation secured the carrier, Ayk Avia, and the ammunition was transferred by an Ilyushin IL-76 TD aircraft. Ayk Avia, a company registered in Armenia, was previously involved in breaching sanctions against the regime in Somalia, according to the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea.
The UN panel discovered that the 800,000 rounds were part of a larger deal between UKRINMASH and the government of the United Arab Emirates through the Armenian agent, including 2 million 12.7 x 108 mm rounds and 1,000 AK-47 assault rifles.
The Albanian authorities told the panel that they were unaware that the flight plan had been amended by the carrier officially flying to the United Arab Emirates, and the amendments were made outside Albanian airspace.
However, the panel decided that some departments of the Albanian authorities were likely to have possessed sufficient information about the amendments but failed to take action.
“Specifically, that information includes a landing permission request received by the aviation authorities on 8 September 2012 for an aircraft whose purpose of landing is recorded as charter in route Tirana-Zarzis-Benghazi,” the report notes.
According to the landing permission requested by Ayk Avia, the cargo to be loaded on to the aircraft was recorded as a dangerous cargo of UN 0300 1.4G, making it clear that the cargo was military material.
“In total, three flights loaded with the same cargo travelled the same flight path between Tirana and Benghazi over three days without being questioned by the Albanian authorities,” the report adds.
In response to the observations raised by the UN panel, the Albanian authorities responded by letter, noting that neither the domestic nor international air traffic authorities noticed or prevented the unilateral modification of the flight route by the carrier.
Tirana said the modification of the flight route was the result of “human error” and lack of proper attention by individual air traffic authorities, adding that there was “no plan or decision by the Government to breach the UN arms embargo for Libya”.In an analysis for ProPublica, Adam Ozimek and Mark Zandi at Moody’s Analytics, an independent economics firm, estimated that for every 1 percent increase in U.S. population made of immigrants, GDP rises 1.15 percent. So a simple way to get to Trump’s 4 percent GDP bump? Take in about 8 million net immigrants per year. To show you what that really looks like, we’ve charted the effect below. You can see for yourself what might happen to the economy if we increased immigration to the highest rates in history or dropped it to zero – and everything in between.
“Immigration is a great economic policy opportunity and it’s important to document the impact of that,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economist who served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in both Bush administrations. He agreed with the basic conclusions of Moody’s analysis, and said that 1.15 percent was a reasonable estimate of the effect of immigration on GDP.
“You can’t just flip a switch and make the U.S. a richer place,” said Ozimek, the economist at Moody’s Analytics who worked on the analysis. “But with immigration, you can flip a switch and massively grow the size of the country.” And while other policy changes may have subtle, indirect effects on the economy, there is a very straightforward relationship between growing the size of the country and growing the GDP (we’re referring to overall GDP, not per-capita GDP, which the analysis does not address).
It may seem like a basic point: Adding immigrant workers means the economy is larger, with more people earning wages and buying goods and services. But that fact may come as a surprise to a lot of people, said Jennifer Hunt, an economist at Rutgers University. Many Americans assume that immigrants have zero effect on the economy, or think that immigrants subtract value from an economic pie of fixed size. In fact, immigrants make the pie bigger. According to a recent paper by economists Ryan Edwards of Mills College and Francesc Ortega of Queens College CUNY, even undocumented immigrants spur growth.
Using the paper’s methods, we calculated that deporting the estimated 11.3 million undocumented people in this country would be an almost $8 trillion hit to the economy over the next 14 years. Legalizing them could boost GDP by almost $2 trillion in that same time period. You can see what these hypothetical scenarios would look like in our chart above.
Immigrants Spur Growth but not Without Some Costs
The debate over whether immigrants take the jobs of Americans has only become more heated in the past few years, and was a major issue throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. Studies suggest that immigrants do not threaten the wages or jobs held by most Americans. A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found “little evidence that immigration significantly affects the overall employment levels of native-born workers.” While not all people are affected by immigration the same way (for example, high school dropouts stand to lose more than business owners) many studies have concluded the same thing: that immigrants by and large don’t displace native-born Americans, and in fact sometimes actually create more jobs for the people already in this country.
As labor economist Pia Orrenius explains, when immigrants enter the labor force they can actually raise the incomes of natives. This “immigration surplus” is usually small, typically.2 to.4 percent, but that still amounts to about $50 billion per year. Immigrants also tend to be more mobile, moving to places that need workers, tend to be more entrepreneurial and innovative, which boosts economic growth for years, and often work in roles complementary to native-born Americans, which makes everyone more productive.
Moody’s analysis did not take into account the fiscal costs of adding more immigrants to the country: the cost of providing public goods like education, health care, welfare benefits, etc. Calculating the costs of an ever-changing group of people is incredibly complex, and estimates vary widely based on assumptions about immigrants’ average age, education level, number of children, and even legal status.
As a whole, immigrants tend to have more children, which means that state and local governments bear the burden of providing education. They also tend to have lower earnings, which means they pay less in taxes. The National Academies report found that in most scenarios, immigrants take in more in public services than they pay in taxes, especially at the state and local level. That said, because today’s immigrants are younger, working, and have more education than earlier immigrants, they “tend to be beneficial to federal finances in the short term,” according to the report. Because federal benefits largely go to the elderly, the people who really subtract from the budget, according to Hunt, are retired and collecting Social Security.
While the analysis leaves out the potential fiscal cost of allowing millions of immigrants into the country, it also leaves out a number of factors that have positive effects: productivity benefits spurred by innovation and immigrant entrepreneurship, as well as the positive effects on housing markets (immigrants are more likely to be homebuyers and account for much of the household growth over the past two decades.)
A Historically Unprecedented Solution
Immigration is not just a simple way, it may be the only budgetarily achievable way to reach 4 percent growth. Hunt, Holtz-Eakin, and other economists we interviewed agreed that barring a massive and expensive change in policy (for example, increasing child care subsidies or expanding the earned income tax credit), it would be next to impossible for Trump to reach his goal without immigration.
“Three percent is the outer limit of what is feasible without changing immigration,” said Holtz-Eakin.
At some points in U.S. history, notably the 1990’s, the country did see a period of high economic growth that did not depend on immigration. “The 90’s were a special decade,” said Giovanni Peri, a labor economist at The University of California, Davis. The 4 percent growth at that time had more to do with increased productivity because of technological advances, innovation, and tax policy. Immigration did contribute to the growth, according to Peri, but only a portion. Fast forward to today, where conditions are very different, and immigration becomes our only option to repeat such high growth.
That runs directly into political reality, which is that Trump’s base, and indeed much of his campaign rhetoric, was focused on voters who view immigrants as a threat to their livelihoods. Immigration does not usually come up when Trump speaks on the subject of economic growth. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly claimed that his policies would grow the economy by 3, 4, or even as high as 6 percent a year. In the third presidential debate Trump said, “I actually think we can go higher than 4 percent. I think you can go to 5 percent or 6 percent.” Today, the White House website states that Trump has “a bold plan to create 25 million new American jobs in the next decade and return to 4 percent annual economic growth.” Trump often brings up tax and regulatory reforms to explain how he’d reach such high numbers; immigration is seldom mentioned.
When the Trump administration mentions immigration, it’s almost always in the context of limiting it. In fact, according to Politico, Trump is backing a law that would cut legal immigration by half over the next decade.
A look at the historical record illustrates the magnitude of the dilemma that faces the administration. The rates of immigration Moody’s analysis suggests are needed to spur annual growth rates of 4 percent – about 8 million net immigrants a year – are an anomaly in America’s oscillating view of admitting foreigners.
“This has never happened in the history of the United States as we know it,” said labor economist Peri, who wrote recently about how immigration boosted both population and productivity between 2000 and 2015. Even during periods of extremely high immigration such as during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, and including estimates of unauthorized immigrants, the U.S. only took in around 2 million immigrants per year.
Because immigration levels higher than about 1 million to 2 million per year are historically unprecedented, it’s difficult to predict how they might affect the economy. Experts point out that these hypothetical scenarios raise a number of questions: Where would all these immigrants come from? How skilled or unskilled might they be? How would the U.S. economy adjust to provide them with capital?
“None of these questions seem likely to have an answer that would get us into a practically Trumpian world of 4 percent real growth,” said economist Edwards.
Why More Immigrants Translate into a Higher GDP, or How Our Chart Works
Let’s back up a little bit and take a look at how U.S. economic growth is calculated in the first place. Two important factors that go into the equation are the number of people in the labor force and how productive they are. In the past 50 years, we’ve had an average GDP growth of around 3 percent, about half of which came from a growing labor force and half from their productivity (more recent years have hovered closer to 2 percent).
But because of our retiring Baby Boom generation and falling fertility rates, the growth rate of the labor force is dropping fast. According to Pew Research Center, the projected growth rate for the total working-age adult population will average just.3 percent for the next two decades – and the only reason that number goes up at all is because of new immigrants. Without them, by 2035 the working age population would go down by 8 million people. In other words, if no one replaced those retiring workers, the U.S. working age population would drop by more than 4 percent |
two decades of Socialism in oil-rich Venezuela, raising the specter of a further government crackdown on dissent in coming days. "These attacks, planned by delirious minds in Miami, only strengthen the morale of our armed forces and the Bolivarian people," said Socialist Party official Elias Jaua. In Sunday's video, a man who identified himself as Juan Carlos Caguaripano, a former National Guard captain, said: "We demand the immediate formation of a transition government." He was flanked by about a dozen men in military uniforms.
"This is not a coup d'etat," added Caguaripano, who was removed from the National Guard in 2014, according to a document seen by Reuters. "This is a civic and military action to re-establish constitutional order," Caguaripano said in the video. "But more than that, it is to save the country from total destruction." His apparent bid to spur a national uprising comes six weeks after a rogue policemen attacked key installations in Caracas by helicopter, but also failed to spark a larger movement.
ARMED FORCES IN SPOTLIGHT
Oil-rich but economically ailing Venezuela has a long history of instability. Maduro's mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, started his political career with a 1992 coup attempt, for which he served time in jail before winning the presidency six years later. Venezuelans view the armed forces as the key power broker in their country, and opposition leaders have repeatedly exhorted the military to break with Maduro over what they call his erosion of democracy and brutality toward demonstrators.
But the top brass continues to publicly profess loyalty to his government. Critics say juicy government contracts, corruption, and contraband mean many military officials want Maduro to stay in office and fear persecution should the opposition take power. Discontent is higher among lower-tier officials, who are often sent to control rowdy protests and are paid just a few dozen U.S. dollars a month.
Since April more than 120 people have been killed in unrest as rock-throwing protesters were met by state security forces firing rubber bullets and water cannon. Maduro has vowed the new "constituent assembly" would bring peace to the violent country, although his opponents called it an attempt to consolidate his power and avoid conventional elections. On Saturday the pro-government body removed the dissident chief prosecutor from her post and ordered her to stand trial, confirming opposition fears that it would use its powers to root out critics of the government.
The prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, had become Maduro's main challenger from within the ruling socialist movement since the start of sustained opposition street protests. She has rejected her removal as illegal and vowed to continue working.
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In the aftermath of the financial crisis and the Great Recession, inequality has received a great deal of public attention.1 Following the Federal Reserve’s response to the economic downturn, some of that attention turned to the relationship between monetary policy and inequality. The Federal Reserve took unprecedented steps in the form of facilities designed to guarantee liquidity and stability in financial markets, raising the question of the effects of these unconventional monetary policies on inequality.
Addressing inequality is not a direct object of the Fed’s monetary policy. Its objectives are, according to the Federal Reserve Act, maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. As reflected in these statutory objectives, monetary policy is commonly thought of at the macroeconomic level, responding to and affecting variables such as aggregate employment, inflation, and long-term interest rates. Nonetheless, in pursuing macroeconomic objectives, the tools used by the Fed have the potential to affect inequality. To the extent that household characteristics—like age, type of income, and portfolio composition—are correlated with income or wealth levels and interact with monetary policy changes, they create channels through which monetary policy may affect inequality.
I examine the link between conventional monetary policy and inequality by reviewing some of the theoretical channels that have been proposed and examining the empirical evidence on their importance. I argue that the more meaningful changes in inequality occur over longer periods of time than the horizon at which monetary policy operates and are most likely the result of structural changes like demographic and technological changes. While monetary policy may have some redistributive consequences, their magnitude seems to be small. Finally, I also examine the claim that unconventional monetary policies have led to increases in inequality. Here, I argue that the evidence is still inconclusive.
Trends in Inequality
I will take inequality to mean the uneven dispersion of wealth or incomes across the whole distribution of households in the United States. I do not address how those outcomes vary by personal characteristics, like race, education, or gender.2
Income inequality has been rising in the United States since the late 1970s. Figure 1 shows income ratios between households at different points in the income distribution as measured by the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). Around 1975, households that were richer than 95 percent of US households had an income that was roughly 10.5 times higher than those that were richer than only 10 percent of all households. By 2013 this number had gone up to 16. The figure also shows that most of the increase in inequality was driven by the top part of the distribution, as the gap between the median household and the 10 percent richest households stayed more or less constant through the whole period.
Figure 1. US Household Income Distribution
Wealth, defined as net worth—the value of a household’s assets minus its liabilities—is much more concentrated than income. The Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) shows that in 2013, while the top 3 percent of households with the most income received roughly 30 percent of all income, the top wealthiest 3 percent of households held about 54 percent of all wealth.3
Most measures of wealth inequality from the SCF exhibit decreases until the mid-1990s. After that, they have been on an increasing trend. Figure 2 shows how much selected ratios of percentiles of the wealth distribution have changed since the late 1980s. Note that all of the increase in overall inequality lies in the upper part of the distribution. To infer about wealth inequality before the 1980s one has to indirectly estimate wealth either from estate tax returns, as in Piketty (2014), or by capitalizing annual capital income from income tax returns, as in Saez and Zucman (2014). Although these sources are somewhat at odds regarding the very top wealth shares, they both point to a decline in overall wealth inequality from the 1920s to the 1980s.
Figure 2. US Household Wealth Distribution
The Relationship between Monetary Policy and Inequality: Theory and Empirics
Conventional monetary policy refers to open market operations, through which the Federal Reserve buys and sells short-term treasuries (T-bills), in order to move the federal funds rate up or down in response to macroeconomic developments. A number of theoretical channels have been proposed by which conventional monetary policy might affect inequality. No one by itself provides a clear picture of the relationship; crucially, each depends on the distribution of population characteristics and the ways in which these are associated with different types of income as well as assets and liabilities.
Income sources, reported in table 1, include labor income (wages and salaries), capital or financial income, business income (from proprietorships), and transfer income (such as unemployment benefits). Household net wealth results from subtracting households’ liabilities (mortgages, car loans, credit card debt, etc.) from assets (not only financial assets, but also business assets, and crucially, housing) as shown in table 2.
Table 1. Income Sources as a Share of Household Income Income quintiles Income source 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Labor 30.9 53.4 67.2 75 60.4 Capital −0.5 0.6 1.3 1.7 12.3 Business 3.1 3.8 5.2 5.5 18.1 Transfer 57.5 38.9 24.6 16.5 7 Other 8.9 3.2 1.7 1.3 2.3 Average income 13,100 28,300 47,100 78,400 265,100 Source: Kuhn and Ríos-Rull (2015) from the 2013 SCF.
Table 2. Assets/Liabilities as a Share of Household Net Wealth Wealth quintiles Assets/liabilities 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Housing and cars −180.6 280.2 140.9 83.6 23.4 Business and nonfinancial −15.3 10.6 12.1 13.4 36.1 Financial assets −23.8 48.6 36.5 41.5 48.5 Collateralized debt 301.5 −27.8 −86.2 −36.9 −7.6 Uncollateralized debt 18.2 −11.6 −3.2 −1.5 −0.3 Average wealth −17,800 17,100 85,000 258,500 2,298,100 Source: Kuhn and Ríos-Rull (2015) from the 2013 SCF.
The main channels that have been suggested by which conventional monetary policy might affect inequality include the following:
Inflation tax channel. Increases in expected inflation disproportionately erode the purchasing power of households that rely more on cash to conduct their transactions. Lower-income households tend to use more cash as a percentage of their total expenditures. 4 Erosa and Ventura (2002) find that expected inflation acts as a regressive consumption tax, increasing inequality.
Increases in expected inflation disproportionately erode the purchasing power of households that rely more on cash to conduct their transactions. Lower-income households tend to use more cash as a percentage of their total expenditures. Erosa and Ventura (2002) find that expected inflation acts as a regressive consumption tax, increasing inequality. Savings redistribution channel. Increases in unexpected inflation lower the real value of nominal assets and liabilities, making borrowers better off at the expense of lenders, as the real value of nominal debts decreases. The effect on inequality depends on the way those assets and their different maturities are distributed across households. Doepke and Schneider (2006) map asset holdings from the SCF into age and wealth categories and study the effects of a sustained surprise increase in inflation. They show that the group that would experience larger net wealth increases is middle-aged, middle-class households. This is because these households tend to hold long-term nominally denominated debt in the form of fixed-rate mortgages. On the other hand, older, richer households would lose the most, as they tend to be net savers with deposits and short-term denominated debt. This channel implies that expansionary monetary policy is likely to decrease inequality.
Increases in unexpected inflation lower the real value of nominal assets and liabilities, making borrowers better off at the expense of lenders, as the real value of nominal debts decreases. The effect on inequality depends on the way those assets and their different maturities are distributed across households. Doepke and Schneider (2006) map asset holdings from the SCF into age and wealth categories and study the effects of a sustained surprise increase in inflation. They show that the group that would experience larger net wealth increases is middle-aged, middle-class households. This is because these households tend to hold long-term nominally denominated debt in the form of fixed-rate mortgages. On the other hand, older, richer households would lose the most, as they tend to be net savers with deposits and short-term denominated debt. This channel implies that expansionary monetary policy is likely to decrease inequality. Interest rate exposure channel. Auclert (2016) studies this channel, which relates to redistribution resulting from changes in real interest rates. A fall in real interest rates increases financial asset prices, to the extent that the interest rate used to discount future dividends decreases. But to understand how much different households benefit or lose, one must look at both their assets and liabilities, and importantly, at their respective durations. Net savers whose wealth is concentrated in short-duration assets (like CDs or T-bills) and net borrowers whose liabilities are of relatively long duration (like fixed-rate mortgages) benefit from expansionary monetary policy, to the extent that it decreases real interest rates. They do so at the expense of net savers whose wealth is concentrated in long-duration assets (like Treasury bonds) and of net borrowers whose liabilities are of relatively short duration (like adjustable-rate mortgages). Of course, one would have to know more about how such assets and liabilities are distributed across the population to be able to infer about what would happen to inequality with a change in monetary policy.
Auclert (2016) studies this channel, which relates to redistribution resulting from changes in real interest rates. A fall in real interest rates increases financial asset prices, to the extent that the interest rate used to discount future dividends decreases. But to understand how much different households benefit or lose, one must look at both their assets and liabilities, and importantly, at their respective durations. Net savers whose wealth is concentrated in short-duration assets (like CDs or T-bills) and net borrowers whose liabilities are of relatively long duration (like fixed-rate mortgages) benefit from expansionary monetary policy, to the extent that it decreases real interest rates. They do so at the expense of net savers whose wealth is concentrated in long-duration assets (like Treasury bonds) and of net borrowers whose liabilities are of relatively short duration (like adjustable-rate mortgages). Of course, one would have to know more about how such assets and liabilities are distributed across the population to be able to infer about what would happen to inequality with a change in monetary policy. Earnings heterogeneity channel. Changes in monetary policy have the potential to affect labor earnings differently, depending on where a household is in the earnings distribution. Heathcote, Perri, and Violante (2009) show that while earnings at the top of the distribution are mainly affected by changes in hourly wages, earnings at the bottom are mainly affected by changes in hours worked and the unemployment rate. To the extent that monetary policy affects these forces differently, it will produce redistributive income effects. For example, if expansionary monetary policy reduces unemployment to a larger extent than it increases hourly wages, it will result in decreased income inequality. Carpenter and Rodgers (2004) find that increases in the federal funds rate disproportionately increase the unemployment rates of less-skilled workers and racial minorities, demographic groups that are overrepresented in the lower part of the income distribution. This channel would thus predict that expansionary monetary policy reduces inequality.
Changes in monetary policy have the potential to affect labor earnings differently, depending on where a household is in the earnings distribution. Heathcote, Perri, and Violante (2009) show that while earnings at the top of the distribution are mainly affected by changes in hourly wages, earnings at the bottom are mainly affected by changes in hours worked and the unemployment rate. To the extent that monetary policy affects these forces differently, it will produce redistributive income effects. For example, if expansionary monetary policy reduces unemployment to a larger extent than it increases hourly wages, it will result in decreased income inequality. Carpenter and Rodgers (2004) find that increases in the federal funds rate disproportionately increase the unemployment rates of less-skilled workers and racial minorities, demographic groups that are overrepresented in the lower part of the income distribution. This channel would thus predict that expansionary monetary policy reduces inequality. Income composition channel. Households obtain their incomes from different sources, each of which may respond differently to changes in monetary policy. As table 1 shows, at the low end of the income distribution households tend to rely more on transfer income (like unemployment benefits and food stamps), while households close to the median will rely on labor income and those at the upper tail of the income distribution will rely relatively more on business and capital income. Following a change in monetary policy, the implications for inequality stemming from this channel are not clear cut. If a fall in interest rates stimulates economic activity, expansionary monetary policy may result in increased wages and decreased unemployment, thereby increasing inequality at the lower end of the distribution, as transfer income will vary little with economic activity. On the other hand, lower interest rates decrease interest income (mostly accruing to wealthier households), and inequality at the top of the distribution may decrease.
Gornemann, Kuester, and Nakajima (2012) consider the importance of the earnings and income composition channels in the context of a model in which households differ in their employment status, earnings, and wealth. They find that the redistributive effects of monetary policy are such that contractionary monetary policy shocks increase inequality. The unemployed, in particular, are made worse off by monetary policy tightening, as a contractionary shock tends to prolong their unemployment spell, as firms reduce labor demand.
Empirical Evidence
No clear implication on the effects of conventional monetary policy emerges from the consideration of these channels in theory. One needs to measure these effects in the data. To do so, two measurement issues need to be addressed. One is distinguishing between causation and correlation, and the other is dealing with the frequency mismatch between monetary policy changes, which occur numerous times within a year, and the yearly data available from the CPS or the triennial data from the SCF.
A recent study by Coibion et al. (2016) attempts to address both measurement issues. To deal with the first, they isolate the true surprise component in the fed funds rate change, using a measure of monetary policy shocks developed by Romer and Romer (2004). To deal with the second, their measures of inequality come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), from which they obtain quarterly data on labor earnings, total income (labor earnings plus financial, business, and transfer income), and consumption and total expenditures (consumption plus health, education, rent, and mortgage expenditures) from 1980 to 2008.
They find statistically and economically significant effects of surprise monetary policy changes on inequality. Specifically, they estimate that a surprise increase in the fed funds rate of one percentage point would increase pre-tax income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, by roughly 0.007, but only after three to five years.5
To assess how large the effect of monetary policy is relative to long-term changes in income inequality note two things. First, the Gini coefficient on pre-tax income has increased 0.05 percentage points, from 0.44 to 0.49 since 1980. Second, one must understand that a surprise federal funds rate shock is not the same as a change in the federal funds rate, but is an unforecasted change, using the Romer and Romer (2004) model. According to Coibion et al. (2016), there has not been a one percentage point increase since the 1980s, and the recent large negative shocks would go in the direction of decreasing inequality. Another way to gauge the magnitude of the effect is to ask how much did monetary policy shocks contribute to the overall variance in inequality measures. This contribution is less than 4 percent for earnings inequality at all horizons, less than 5 percent for income inequality at horizons shorter than 3 years, and about 10 percent at longer horizons.6
In trying to discern which of the channels described above may be more active, the fact that labor earnings inequality seems little affected by monetary policy points to a small role for the earnings heterogeneity channel. On the other hand, the income composition channel seems to be important. In particular, the fact that labor earnings are a much higher fraction of total income at upper quintiles, compared to the bottom quintiles, where transfer income is more prevalent, seems to be of particular importance in accounting for changes in inequality following monetary policy shocks.
It is important to emphasize that the movements in inequality look like the product of long-term, low-frequency forces. Monetary policy, on the other hand, changes more frequently, moving from contractionary to expansionary with the business cycle. In sum, I do not mean to argue that monetary policy has no effect on inequality, but whatever that is, it is likely to be small, at least relative to the effect of more fundamental forces, like education, globalization, demographics, technological change, or corporate trends in compensation.
Unconventional Monetary Policy and Inequality
To mitigate the effects of the financial crisis and stimulate the recovery after the Great Recession, the Fed has enacted policy measures that are very different from its traditional open-market operations. It has lowered the federal funds rate to a lower bound very close to zero, it has signaled how long the rate would stay at this lower bound, and it has bought, and kept on its balance sheet, large amounts of assets it did not use to hold, like longer-term treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, through its Large-Scale Asset Purchase (LSAP) program. These unconventional monetary policy measures have been pointed to by some as being inequality increasing.7
Such asset purchases decrease the interest rates and increase the prices not only of the securities that are bought, but also of securities that are substitutable enough, through a portfolio effect. Gagnon et al. (2011) argue that the LSAP program decreased longer-term interest rates on a variety of securities (including securities not purchased), and Rosa (2012) argues that this program had significant effects on US asset prices.
The effects of the LSAPs on income inequality come about through some of the same channels outlined above, as they cause a fall in interest rates. Holding portfolios constant, households see decreases in debt servicing and in interest income. The effect of these decreases on inequality depends on who is holding interest-sensitive assets and liabilities. Most of the action will take place along the age dimension. Younger households tend to hold more interest-sensitive liabilities, while older households tend to hold more interest-sensitive assets. Since richer households also tend to be older and depend more on interest income, one would expect income inequality to drop.8 But this is only the first-round effect. As households adjust their portfolios and firms take advantage of reduced debt burdens and cheaper credit, aggregate real activity improves and affects other types of income, like wages and salaries, so that the final effect on income inequality is ambiguous.
Because asset prices are affected, one would expect wealth inequality to be impacted as well—exactly how will depend on the relative price changes in each asset class and the distribution of different types of assets and liabilities across different wealth groups.
While there is an abundance of opinion pieces and anecdotal evidence on the effect of LSAPs on wealth and income inequality, there are very few studies, and most concentrate only on the first-round effects of the drop in interest rates and increases in asset prices, given the different wealth groups’ portfolio compositions.
Domanski, Scatigna, and Zabai (2016) analyze surveys of household finances for five European countries as well as the United States and find that the main drivers of the changes in wealth inequality since the start of the Great Recession have been changes in equity valuations and changes in house prices. Because the lion’s share of total assets in the bottom 80 percent of the wealth distribution in the United States is in the form of real estate, while financial assets are relatively more important for the very top of the distribution, increases in house prices will tend to be inequality decreasing, while increases in other asset prices will tend to be inequality increasing.
On the other hand, poorer households tend to be more leveraged, as they borrow more to finance assets, mostly in the form of housing. As asset prices change, these households’ net wealth changes proportionately more than the net wealth of richer, less leveraged households. Finally, net wealth is also affected by the distribution of liabilities and how the changes in interest rates and prices impact the value of these liabilities (e.g., adjustable-rate mortgages vs. fixed-rate mortgages). Overall, Domanski, Scatigna, and Zabai (2016) find these changes in asset prices and interest rates have increased wealth inequality in the United Sates. But O’Farrell, Rawdanowicz, and Inaba (2016), using a similar methodology, find insignificant effects.
Importantly, none of these studies compares the effects of the LSAPs on inequality to a counterfactual outcome. Bivens (2015) takes this route and argues that compared to the alternative of no stimulus, the LSAP program has reduced inequality significantly, mainly through its effects on output stabilization.
Conclusion
The complexity of the mechanisms linking monetary policy and inequality stems from the fact that they depend not only on economic variables that constantly change for reasons other than monetary policy, but importantly, also on the distributions of income and wealth themselves, which are in turn heavily influenced by demographics. Theoretically, it is cumbersome to develop models that can reflect all the relevant heterogeneity, and empirically, it is hard to control for all the endogeneity. Nonetheless, an examination of the literature and the evidence seems to point to a modest influence at best.IT'S a tree change - but not of the positive kind.
Safety fears, lack of family time and addiction to technology has created a generation of children who no longer climb trees.
New research shows only 20 per cent of today's children take part in the age-old pastime compared with 64 per cent of their parents.
The Climbing Trees: Getting Aussie Kids Back Outdoors study, released today, reveals 73 per cent of parents played outdoors more often than they did indoors when they were young, compared to only 13 per cent of today's children.
More than 70 per cent of parents said they played outside every day as kids, compared to only 35 per cent of their children. One in 10 of today's children play outside once a week or less.
Professor Anita Bundy, from Sydney University, said the results are concerning as outdoor play not only benefits children's physical well-being, but is also essential to social and cognitive development.
"When children play outdoors without parents shadowing their every move they learn social negotiation which is an important skill," she said.
"It helps them think creatively and problem solve. They also learn to manage risk and make sound judgments about what is safe and what is not."
Prof Bundy said the trend towards children spending more time indoors and less time playing outside has been increasing in recent decades.
"It is pretty intense in this generation, because these children are bubble and cotton wool wrapped like never before," she said.
The survey of more than 1000 people was commissioned by Planet Ark in the lead-up to National Tree Day which encourages children and families to spend time outdoors planting a tree.
Planet Ark's Rebecca Gilling said the main reasons parents gave for lack of children's time outdoors was safety and the fear of crime. "The world is not more crime-ridden than past generations but the perception is that it's more dangerous," she said.
Tilda, 8, and Eric Holmstrom, 10, were making the most of the outdoors in Centennial Park yesterday.
Their mother Anna said the family spent a lot of time outside.
"When they are outdoors they are forced to be more creative and come up with ideas for games themselves," she said.
"It is healthy for them to be out in the fresh air which means they are in a better mood and happier."Anthony Brown, the Maryland Democratic gubernatorial nominee who lost in an upset in November, took out a $500,000 loan from a labor union late in his campaign and has so far failed to repay the money as agreed, according to a financial report filed earlier this week.
The loan and Brown’s failure to meet the Nov. 7 deadline were reported first by The Baltimore Sun.
Taking out such a loan is Maryland in legal. And the move by Brown, the state’s lieutenant governor, who was expected to win in Democratic-leaning Maryland, is not without precedent in the state.
Larry Hogan, the Republican nominee who won the race, lent himself $500,000. And Maryland Democrat Gov. Martin O’Malley borrowed that amount from Washington lawyer John P. Coale late in his 2006 campaign.
However, such loans are illegal in federal-level races, and Brown’s eventual failure to repay this one would put him in violation of campaign-finance regulations.
Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, told The Sun such loans also raise concerns because they become “a way to run around our individual donation limits.”
Brown, who under law had to personally guarantee the loan, borrowed the money in early October from Laborers International, at an interest rate of 4.25 percent, to keep his campaign afloat.
His campaign manager had vowed to fully repay the amount by Election Day. But the report released Tuesday showed no payments had been made.
Attempts to reach Brown on Saturday were not successful.
However, Brown released a statement earlier this week defending the decision, according to The Sun.
"I believed in what we were fighting for and who we were fighting for," he said. "In the campaign's closing days, we decided to expend all resources that were legally available. I intend to honor my obligations under the law."
The union has the right to sue Brown for the unpaid balance, under the terms of the loan.
The agreement shows that the union could increase the rate to 10 percent after the loan goes into default and can assess a 5 percent late fee if its not repaid by Saturday.Patriot PYRO 120 GB Solid State Drive
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sundance| Perhaps this one of the most important discussion threads ever regarding Legacy Media manipulation. We sincerely hope you will take the time to digest the content, think about the ramifications to what is here, and then share the information with others.
This is not a matter of opinion, the CNN stories are documented, attributed and cited. They are factual. Everything is verifiable within the embedded links and citations.
Believe it or not, just creating this discussion thread is risky. We are unable to expand.
Before getting to the CNN Amber Lyon expose’ (which is incredible and troubling) let’s first back up a moment and take you back to a previous video we shared surrounding recent events.
In this first video from Canada the topic is the Libyan US Consulate Bombing and the US Egyptian Embassy being overrun. While the topic of Egypt is a ‘component’ of the issue, it is not our central concern.
The central issue is Media Controlled by The Obama Administration, and more specifically CNN – as a VERIFIED tool for propaganda and disinformation.
Within this Canadian video report you will find footage of a CNN story on Egypt and Mohammed Al Zawahiri. It was produced by well-known CNN Journalist Nick Robertson. The entire video is excellent, but the pertinent aspect is at the 1:30 mark.
In the previous thread I asked two central questions. The Second Question was:
Why would CNN [or CNNi] refuse to air the Nick Robertson report with Muhammed Al Zawahiri (brother of Ayman Al Zawahiri) that clearly shows the Egyptian uprising was 100% in response to his call for protests for release of the Blind sheik on 9-11.? Why would the “most trusted name in news“, hide the report showing the truth, and instead allow the false narrative to be sold, by them, to the American electorate?
Emmy Winning Former CNN journalist, Amber Lyon provides the answer(s).
CNN never aired the Nick Robertson report in Egypt because it completely contradicted President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s assertions. In short, the Robertson report, if aired, would have proved Obama and Clinton were lying.
The Nick Robertson CNN report was filmed on 9/11/12, yes the exact morning of the Cairo embassy protest, and, by coincidence, it would have aired at the exact moment Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama began attributing the Egyptian embassy protest to a “YouTube Video”. A YouTube Video the U.S. Cairo embassy itself was unaware of until 9/9/12.
CNN’s refusal to air the real reasoning for the Egyptian Embassy protest turned assault was intentional protection of President Obama, specifically orchestrated by the CNN News group, at the behest of the White House. Specific, intentional, lying.
Apparently they have a history of this no-one knew about. UNTIL NOW.
Amber Lyon is an award-winning journalist who worked for CNN.
She says she was ordered to report fake stories, delete unfriendly stories adverse to the Obama administration (like the Nick Robertson report), and construct stories in specific manners while working for the left-wing network.
CNN is paid by foreign and domestic Government agencies for specific content.
Let me repeat that.
CNN is paid by the US government for reporting on some events, and not reporting on others.
The Obama Administration pays CNN for content control.
Let that sink in.
Additionally CNN and CNN International are also paid by foreign governments to avoid stories that are damaging, and construct narratives that show them in a better, albeit false, light.
Amber Lyon is a three-time Emmy winning investigative journalist and photographer. She accuses CNN of being “fake news.”
Back in March 2011, CNN sent a four person team to Bahrain to cover the Arab Spring. Once there, the crew was the subject of extreme intimidation amongst other things, but they were able to record some fantastic footage.
As Glenn Greenwald of the UK’s Guardian writes in his blockbuster article from September 4th 2012:
“In the segment, Lyon interviewed activists as they explicitly described their torture at the hands of government forces, while family members recounted their relatives’ abrupt disappearances. She spoke with government officials justifying the imprisonment of activists. And the segment featured harrowing video footage of regime forces shooting unarmed demonstrators, along with the mass arrests of peaceful protesters. In sum, the early 2011 CNN segment on Bahrain presented one of the starkest reports to date of the brutal repression embraced by the US-backed regime.
Despite these accolades, and despite the dangers their own journalists and their sources endured to produce it, CNN International (CNNi) never broadcast the documentary. Even in the face of numerous inquiries and complaints from their own employees inside CNN, it continued to refuse to broadcast the program or even provide any explanation for the decision. To date, this documentary has never aired on CNNi.
Having just returned from Bahrain, Lyon says she “saw first-hand that these regime claims were lies, and I couldn’t believe CNN was making me put what I knew to be government lies into my reporting.”
Below is a segment of the Bahrain report that Amber Lyon and her team put together.
CNNi refused to allow it to air because the Bahrain Government had paid them not to show it.
When Amber Lyon recognized the extent of the reasoning, she challenged CNN. CNN told her to be quiet, and began to view her as a risk. Obviously, she knew, and found out, too much.
Amber is now trying to tell the story, the real story, of what is going on behind the closed doors of US Media entities. Amber has created her own website, and additionally as noted in the Guardian Article she is trying to share the truth of the deceptions.
What Amber Lyon describes is exactly the reason why CNN never aired the Nick Robertson interview with Muhammed Al Zawahiri in Egypt.
Amber recently did a web interview with InfoWars.Generally the TreeHouse does not appreciate Alex Jones. He is wound up tighter than piano wire, and unfortunately much of his truth is diminished because of the hype he places upon it as everything is desperate and dangerous with him.
That said, the words and explanations of Ms. Lyon in the discussion/interview are poignant and vastly informative. So I share the video with you so you can hear from Amber herself exactly what is being described and articulated.
It is critical to listen to what Amber is saying, not just about Bahrain, but also about what the Obama administration is specifically doing.
Is it any wonder why the alternative new media formats are growing so rapidly?April 11, 2014 – What if we could re-engineer humans for the harsh environment of planets like Mars? Believe it or not there are scientists studying our genome to determine if altered humanity is a suitable strategy for colonizing planets other than Earth. And some have even mused about altering humans so that we can better cope with climate change. In her book, Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood, spun such a scenario with the creation of a genetically-altered human species designed in a lab to survive a pandemic apocalypse.
A symposium entitled Genetics, Biomedicine, and the Human Experience in Space, was recently held at Harvard Medical School. The premise of the discussion was the role genetics could play in the successful conquest of space by |
but that it's a reasonable limit because she identified herself as an RN.
That's questionable but the real issue here is whether what she said in her Facebook posts was unreasonable or unprofessional.
Under the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Act, professional misconduct is defined as "any matter, conduct or thing, whether or not disgraceful or dishonourable, that is contrary to the best interests of the public or nurses or tends to harm the standing of the profession of nursing."
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Is pointing out that end-of-life care could be better for seniors in institutional care disgraceful or dishonourable? Is it contrary to the public interest?
Of course not: It is the kind of frank talk and advocacy we could use a lot more of in our health system.
That Ms. Strom named names – identified her grandfather and the institution where he was cared for – may have put some people's noses out of joint, but that's too bad.
It is worth noting too that ruling is heavily redacted to remove the name of institutions, complainants and so on, showing that the discipline committee has a lot to learn about transparency.
In fact, the message being sent by this ruling is that no one should dare complain about care, whether they are a nurse or family member. It displays haughty, anti-patient attitude.
In the final paragraph of its ruling, the SRNA discipline committee states that it "does not seek to'muzzle' registered nurses from using social media. However, registered nurses must conduct themselves professionally and with care when communicating on social media."
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That health professionals should be held to a higher standard is okay.
But Ms. Strom's comments were measured and fair, and she is being held to a standard that no one can meet.
The way Ms. Strom has been treated disgraces the profession far more than anything she has said.1. That time French soldiers hid inside papier-mâché horse carcasses
A soldier hides insider a papier mâchée horse. We Are The Mighty
Looking back, trench warfare has to be one of the most insane methods of warfare ever carried out. Between the torrential mud, staggering levels of trench foo t, and other diseases that ran rampant, it's a wonder that everyone didn't just give up and get the hell out of the ground.
But World War I was still, in some respects, a gentleman's war. And gentlemen don't let mud get them down. Gentlemen also don't complain about their lack of protective cover — at least not if you're France. While other platoons were bemoaning the crumbling, barren landscape that made up infamous "No Man's Land"— a stretch of charred earth, tangled barbed wire and broken bodies between opposing trenches — a few French soldiers set up camp right in the middle of it.
They weren't alone, though. They were using a very special kind of shelter … the hooved kind. Don't worry, no one was actually crawling inside of dead horse bodies to hide from enemy artillery fire. Though a dead horse is what started this whole thing.
Maybe it was this one. We Are The Mighty Horses were a huge part of combat in WWI. They pulled ambulances, carried soldiers into cavalry charges, and were the primary means of transporting weapons, ammunition and food supplies for each nation involved. They were also large, bulky and loud, making them primary targets for enemy scopes.
This, as you can imagine, left a lot of dead horses everywhere. Eventually, someone searching for shelter in No Man's Land probably cuddled up next to one in what he thought were his final moments, only to realize that this decaying Seabiscuit actually made for a pretty awesome barrier.
Enter France's big idea: hollow, papier-mâché horses large enough for a man to crawl inside and aim his gun through.
Once night fell, the French drug away the dead horses that lay right in front of the German trenches and replaced them with the dummies. Then they ran a telephone wire from inside the horse back to the French trenches, so the sniper who would hide inside the horse would be able to report back on German movements.
This worked for a few days. Then a German soldier spotted a French sniper climbing out of one of the dead horses, and the jig was up. The method quickly became popular though, and "dummy horses" would appear on battlefields throughout Europe for the duration of the war.
2. The sailors who cross-dressed and pretended their warship was a cruise liner
Flickr / Jim G
World War II had its share of out-of-the-box camouflage as well. While a Dutch warship was busy disguising itself as an island to hide from Japanese bombers, the British fleet was brainstorming its own method of deception.
German U-boats were becoming more and more of a problem for the Allied merchant fleet. With little means of fighting back, the small ships were sitting ducks for the German watercraft, who could pluck them off easily with their superior weapons and speed. This gave England an idea: if the King's warships disguised themselves as merchant boats, they could lure them into an ambush, destroying the German U-boats and the submarines that surfaced alongside them during their attacks.
But England wasn't about to do this deception halfway. If they were going to pull this off, their disguise would have to be elaborate, reflective of the other (hijinks) they had pulled off earlier in the war. So the sailors got creative, and boy did they deliver.
Not only did the British officers don civilian costumes, some dressed in drag, pretending to be ladies sunning themselves on the deck of a cruise liner. When the Germans looked through their periscopes to take in the ship, they would see men and "women" flirting aboard a civilian ocean liner, walking around the deck and taking in the views over the rail.
They would also have to act the part. When a German U-boat was spotted, some ships went as far as pretending to panic, running around the deck and tripping over themselves for the benefit of the German's view. There are even accounts of sailors haphazardly deploying their lifeboats and "accidentally" leaving one of their own behind, then scrambling to retrieve them as the unlucky "civilian" screamed for help.
The ship, of course, was actually outfitted with plenty of hidden weapons. When the U-boats would close in, the ruse would be over, and they would destroy the enemy ships and submarines as they began to close in.
3. The German soldier who hid inside of a fake tree
AWM.gov.au
Man-sized horse piñatas weren't the only thing soldiers were hiding inside of during WWI.
In 1917, a platoon of German soldiers in Belgium needed to find a way to gain visibility through a small patch of dead trees that blocked their view of the Allies on the other side.
The cluster of dry wood was optimistically named the Oosttaverne Wood, one of the last clumps of nature left in the battlegrounds near Messines.
It actually looked like a bunch post-apocalyptic metal posts, which gave the Germans an idea.
They couldn't send a sniper in to hide amongst the trees because there weren't enough branches to cover him, but they could send them inside their own tree.
A plan was set into motion. The Germans would build a 25-foot-tall tree out of steel pipe, painting it so it looked like it had bark. Then a solider would hide inside, using a small hidden window to spy on the British forces in what was probably one of the most cramped snipers' nests ever.
Just like the French horse-creators did, the Germans waited until nightfall to get things moving. With artillery fire ringing out to disguise the sounds of sawing and chopping wood, they cut down the real tree and set up their new steel lookout, hoping it wouldn't draw any unwanted attention.
Aerial photograph of Oosteverne Wood 7 June 1917 during the battle of Messines. In the background can be seen smoke from the British artillery. AWM.gov.au
It didn't. For several months the Germans were able to spy from their wartime treehouse, with the tree-spy crawling out of his post under cover of darkness each evening to report on his findings. It wasn't until the British tunneled under the German lines and destroyed their trenches from the ground up in the Battle of Messines that the tree was abandoned.
Once they had captured the trenches, the British lived and worked alongside the fake tree for several months before discovering it was a fake. The steel tree can now be found in The Australian War Memorial.
4. Israeli special forces used fake boobs to trick the PLO
Wonder where they got the idea from… YouTube
Thus far, all of our disguise contenders have been relatively believable. When you have shells exploding next to your trench and artillery fire screaming in your ears, you're probably not going to spend much time debating the validity of a slightly iron-looking tree, or a particularly limp dead horse. No one has time for that kind of daydream. And even though the cross-dressing sailors were doubly ridiculous, they had the advantage of distance from enemy scopes.
This story, however, is just plain insane. In 1973, a group of Israeli special forces commandos entered Beirut on a mission to take out three key leaders of the [Palestine Liberation Organization] who were responsible for the Munich massacre of the 1972 Olympics. The mission, dubbed "The Spring of Youth," was incredibly risky, and the operatives knew that some deception would be in order if they were to get in and out of the area safely.
So, the Israeli commandos did the logical thing — they dressed up as women. Besides being confident in their ability to infiltrate the PLO, they were also apparently confident that their enemies had never seen a woman before. Or that they could really rock a pair of heels, who knows.
With wigs, fake boobs and matching shoes all in place, the muscled members of the Israeli special forces strolled down the street on the arms of other members of their secret group, who were normally-dressed men.
The fake couples were able to pass right by bodyguards and police without inciting any suspicions, and the hidden team was able to walk up to the apartment building of the PLO leaders and wait right outside their doors. Once safely inside, the men and "women" burst through the doors and pulled out their hidden guns and explosives, shooting and killing the stunned PLO members and avenging the deaths of their murdered countrymen.
The story gets even crazier from here. One of the femme fatales who carried out the high stakes mission was Ehud Barak, who would eventually serve as Prime Minister of Israel and currently serves as Defense Minister. Just goes to show you that dressing in drag could help you make it to the top.In matters of national security, who is deviant and poses a threat to our safety depends on the claims made by those in positions of power and the sociopolitical climate. The news media are crucial in this process. Often, a particular social problem goes through four stages of claims-making before it is successfully constructed as a “legitimate” problem that requires punitive responses.
In Stage One, groups claim that there is an offensive and undesirable condition, and demand change. When governments respond to these claims, the problem moves to Stage Two. Government responses are crucial because without them a claim will be just that. Official recognition and response legitimates the claim.
In Stage Three, new claims and demands emerge because there is dissatisfaction with the official responses to the first claim. In Stage Four, alternative solutions are suggested or established.
Throughout this process, interested groups are the primary claims-makers while the media are the secondary. It is crucial to examine the media’s claims-making activity in the construction of “threats to national security” because it is through the media that messages are transmitted to larger audiences.
Importantly, the public’s sense of concern regarding a social problem often comes from the media rather than the primary claimants. These have implications in the policy-making process.
Stage One: boat people
In constructing social problems relating to “security”, the persistent undesirable condition has been that of the “boat people”.
The dominant frames when reporting on this group are often of “deviance” and “threats to security”. When asylum seekers arrive on Australian shores, they are not just considered a problem, but a “deviant” problem. Normality is what this group is not because they are considered to transgress many boundaries and established orders.
Themes emphasising threats to security have persisted since the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1999, the Courier-Mail newspaper reported a:
Record Arrest of Boat People – Swoop Nets 350 Illegal Boat People The incident, the largest single attempted incursion on record, follows the most sustained assault on Australia’s shores since the refugee tide following the Vietnam War.
More recently, Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt opined that:
The head of ASIO last month confirmed 58 boat people had since been judged to pose a threat to national security. But with so many boat people now arriving … the danger goes beyond a few terrorists.
These narratives often lead to punitive measures for “our” safety and protection from illegal immigrants.
Stage Two: officials respond
Media claims-making, which endorsed claims and ideologies by specific primary claims-makers, has inspired government response.
By 2001, there were seven privatised detention centres for mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals by boat. In 2009, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd claimed Labor’s policies on asylum seekers were “tough but humane”. He abolished temporary protection visas but mandatory detention of unauthorised asylum seekers remained to “stop the boats”.
Recently, the current prime minister, Tony Abbott, declared that he will be accountable to the Australian people because:
… they expect us to stop the boats and that’s what we are doing.
Abbott later commented that six months without seeing boat arrivals is a “very satisfactory milestone” for Australia. This victory was endorsed by the press, placing it in context with Labor’s policies:
According to historical figures, the previous Labor government in the same six-month period in 2012-13 saw 190 boats with 12,773 asylum seekers illegally landing on Australian shores.
Stage Three: dissatisfaction with official response
Despite this social problem finally being “addressed” by turning around the boats and responding to the initial claims, the responses were deemed inadequate for “our” safety because now we faced a new problem: “plane people”.
Fairfax Media recently reported that:
Rampant visa fraud and migration crime involving people flying into Australia are going unchecked while the government focuses on stopping boats. Australia’s national security is being compromised by wide-scale visa rorting and migration rackets operating with impunity including some with links to terrorism or organised crime.
In the following months, domestic terrorists were the new threat.
Security agencies prepare to lift the national terror warning to high from its medium level … a terrorist attack in Australia is now likely. – Fairfax Media, September 10 Australians [are] continuing to join extremist groups such as the Islamic State either as fighters or supporters. – Fairfax Media, October 27
Stage Four: new solution to the new problems
The “national security” social problem has shifted from inspiring calls to “stop the boats” to identifying those who are “flying” to Australia “unchecked” to now being about Australians joining foreign fighters.
The current problem has led to the implementation of new offences that carry severe punishment, new powers for national security agencies, and new terror laws without adequate legal scrutiny. According to terror law expert George Williams, these laws:
… target free speech, movement and association.
Why analyse the construction of a social problem? The concern in doing so is not the validity of the claims, but how the problem was constructed and kept alive. It is this that will have implications for the implementation of restrictive and punitive laws.
Editor’s note: Meron will be on hand to answer questions between 2 and 3pm AEDT on November 14. Ask your questions about constructing a security threat in the comments below.Darpa is showing off a new system that can put out flames using only sound. It's part of the U.S. defense agency's "Instant Fire Suppression" program.
at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) have published the video alongside details of how the technique was achieved in their labs back in December 2011.
The team arranged two speakers either side of a liquid fuel flame to demonstrate how fire can be controlled by amping up an acoustic field. The sound increases air velocity, which then thins the area of the flame where combustion occurs, known as the flame boundary. Once the boundary area is thinned, the flame is easier to extinguish. At the same time, the acoustics are disturbing the pool of fuel and creating higher fuel vaporisation – this widens the flame, thinning it out so it is less concentrated and cool enough to extinguish.
Even better, the sound does not even need to be offensively loud to achieve any of this.
"We have shown that the physics of combustion still has surprises in store for us," commented Darpa manager Matthew Goodman in a statement. "Perhaps these results will spur new ideas and applications in combustion research."
Manipulating fire with sound is not a new trick. In the 1900s German physicist Heinrich Rubens demonstrated the technique using a length of pipe with holes punched along the top. One end was sealed off with a sound speaker attached, the other sealed off and fixed with a gas supply. After lighting the gas leaking from one of the holes and changing the sound frequency being emitted, the height of the flames could be manipulated.
Darpa, however, first announced its plans to research the viability of electromagnetism and sonic waves in fire extinguishing only in 2008, saying "despite extensive research in this area, there have been no new methods for extinguishing and/or manipulating fire in almost 50 years."
The Instant Fire Suppression project was specifically launched to devise new ways of tackling fires in enclosed spaces, such as aircraft cockpits and ship holds, where fires are obviously devastating and incredibly difficult to control.
The premise of the research is that, since flames need a stable supply of cold plasma to persist, manipulating the flow of cold plasma could be the answer to more efficient fire extinguishing techniques.
Following two years spent researching the composition and chemistry of cold plasma, Darpa released details of its first success story in January 2012 (see the video immediately above). Using a wand-like electrode device housed in ceramic glass – that ironically looks like a kitchen fire lighter – the team successfully extinguished and bent flames from gas and fuel fires, but only on a small scale of 10 square centimetres. The electric field it emits achieved this by creating an "ionic wind" that "displaces the combustion zone from the fuel source."
Being able to bend flames might seem like a very cool but ultimately useless method of firefighting, however the system will come in handy when fires rage out of control in enclosed spaces – the flames can be redirected to provide safe passage, if they cannot be extinguished completely. The method also prevents the fire spreading, and thus renders it localised and easier to control.
The next step for Darpa is to figure out how to reproduce these success stories on a much larger, and more practical scale.Cover Story
[ Submit a Story ] The following article was posted on July 17th, 2014, in the Santa Maria Sun - Volume 15, Issue 19
A former SLO inmate draws on real-life experiences for his role in the Web series 'Solitary'
By JOE PAYNE
ALONE IN THE DARK William Brown will be performing the role of Marcus Edwards in the Web series "Solitary," using his real-life experience as an inmate to portray a character in solitary confinement. PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY WISDOM
Every day in California and the rest of the country, throughout state and federal prisons, thousands of individuals are being held in solitary confinement. An inmate can be removed from the general population for a variety of reasons, and can end up spending months, years, and even decades alone in the tiny cells.
“Solitary confinement in this country is just amazingly brutal and primitive and unthinkable,” said Deborah Tobola, the founding director of the Poetic Justice Project and former Arts in Corrections director at the California Men’s Colony (CMC) in San Luis Obispo. “I mean, people are kept in cells 23 hours a day, with one hour to shower and walk around.”
Tobola worked at CMC in San Luis Obispo starting in 2000, when Arts in Corrections was still a funded program. She retired before Arts and Corrections was de-funded in 2010, and she started the Poetic Justice Project, which produces live theater with casts composed of formerly incarcerated performers.
The idea of the program formed while Tobola worked at CMC, where she began staging live theater productions in order to get the incarcerated artists to collaborate. The realities of prison life, including solitary confinement, were never far away from the cloistered Arts in Corrections building.
“I remember once,” she recalled, “we lost one of our actors right before a performance. We all watched as he got handcuffed, taken to the administration, and taken to the hole right before our first performance.”
THE CREATIVE OUTLET The California Art Council just awarded a significant grant to the William James Association to reinstate several Arts in Corrections programs like the one that introduced William Brown to acting. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL
It was during one of these situations—when her program needed a replacement actor—that Tobola met William Brown, a former gang member who had been in and out of federal and state prisons. Brown was new to CMC and was hoping to enter the Arts in Corrections program to engage in poetry and music at the advice of a fellow inmate and friend who was also in the program. Little did Brown know that his friend, Larry Saul, invited him in order to fill the empty role.
“It was kind of a set up, which I didn’t know until later,” Brown said. “I said, OK, that I would try it, if it was a way to get my foot in the door, even though I had never acted before in my life.”
Tobola described Brown as a “natural talent” who got bit by the acting bug during his time in her Arts in Corrections program. After his release and her retirement, she would call on Brown’s talents to help with Poetic Justice Project productions. Recently, a director named Ramon Hamilton with Think Ten Media Group contacted Tobola about casting an actor for an upcoming Web series called Solitary, which depicts an inmate’s experience in long-term solitary confinement.
“Ramon told me they wanted to cast someone who had actually been incarcerated and experienced solitary confinement,” she said. “There were some other candidates, but Mr. Brown was the first person who came to my mind.”
The experience of solitary
Think outside the box Think Ten Media Group acquires, distributes, and produces thought-provoking films that both engage and entertain audiences. More information is available at thinktenmediagroup.com. You can learn more about the Poetic Justice Project at poeticjusticeproject.org.
Brown first went to jail for bank robbery at the age of 18. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, he was part of a gang culture that saw both crime and doing time as rights of passage.
“I remember growing up I had an uncle who went to the pen, and back then people were like, ‘Oh, he went to the pen, he’s cool,’ like they were glorifying it,” he said. “But when I went and experienced it, I didn’t think there was anything hard about it. The only thing I got out of all that was a couple of stabbings and a blue stained shirt.”
After serving his first sentence, Brown got caught up in the gang again and became one of the many released inmates to enter the ranks of recidivists.
“I got out, but I was still not using my head, going back and forth in incarceration,” he said. “It was almost like I was addicted to catching time.”
During his incarceration, Brown spent time in solitary confinement. An inmate can get sent to solitary for a variety of reasons, including violent outbursts, defying guards, or suspected gang involvement. Brown was sent to “the hole” on several separate occasions, usually spending months in solitary.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY WISDOM
“I think I was in the hole probably for a total of, give or take, six months here, eight months here, nine months there, probably for a total of five years,” he said. “It’s jail inside of a jail, and if you don’t have your wits, it will be over.”
Solitary confinement has a powerful affect on an inmate’s mental health. Guards are trained not to engage with inmates, who are delivered their meals through a slot in the door. The practice has been widely criticized by human rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, and was the impetus for the Pelican Bay hunger strikes that occurred in July of last year.
“You can’t let that time do you or you will lose your mind in there, literally,” Brown said. “There are a lot of people who stay up late [at] night, beating on the walls, howling.”
The California Department of Corrections has published reports that show a higher rate of recidivism among those who were held in solitary housing units, especially if the inmate was released directly from solitary.
“It doesn’t work, I’m telling you,” Brown said. “Now we come home and we’ve lost our minds in the pen, and the only thing you do with solitary is make us hate you more, make us hate the way society is built. It hardens the criminal, honestly.”
The day after Brown arrived at the CMC, in San Luis Obispo his first son was born, and the new father became determined to make the sentence he was serving his last. He also resolved to do whatever it took to stay out of solitary confinement. That’s when he got involved with Art in Corrections.
“It was different. I had to humble myself, in a sense, because the guys I did know from the streets were kind of looking at me funny,” he said. “I will always be known in the area I am from, but I thought maybe this is a way to break away from all that.”
Hope in humanities
PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY WISDOM
The California Arts Council recently awarded a large grant to the Williams James Association—of which the Poetic Justice Project is a program—in order to return Arts in Corrections programs to 11 California state prisons. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation committed $1 million in funds to add structured Arts in Corrections programs this year, and another commitment for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
“My little building, the Arts in Corrections building,” Tobola said, “was Hollywood, it was the community college, it was the literary library, it was the music studio, the art studio, all of that.”
Tobola and the actors with the Poetic Justice Project understand first-hand the benefits of Arts in Corrections programs and use the organization to demonstrate the success of those programs. They also share information about the current state of mass incarceration in the United States, acting as a creative engine with the by-product of raising awareness.
“I consider us part of restorative justice, because we hope to awaken people to certain facts about incarceration and rehabilitation and re-entry,” Tobola said, “but also do it in a way that moves the audience.”
That was the challenge Hamilton set out to meet when he started writing Solitary, which, though fiction, is based entirely on real experiences of solitary confinement.
CASTING THE LIGHT Ramon Hamilton and the Think Ten Media Group aim to reveal the conditions of solitary confinement, using first-hand experiences to write "Solitary." PHOTO COURTESY OF THINK TEN MEDIA GROUP
“Everything that we are writing on screen is based on someone’s real experience,” Hamilton said. “We’re not trying to dispose of any myths; we’re trying to expose the realities.”
A co-producer on the project, Five Mualimmak, is an outspoken activist against solitary confinement, having spent 5 consecutive years in solitary himself. Much of the pilot episode was written after Hamilton spoke with Mualimmak about his experience, down to the most minute of details.
“I spent a good amount of time with Five talking about what happens, step by step,” Hamilton said. “We are going to do our absolute best to capture what that feels like.”
People held in solitary confinement for long periods of time report heightened sensitivity of hearing and other senses, as well as auditory and visual hallucinations. The intensity of the experience made it important to Hamilton that the actor who portrays Solitary’s main character, Marcus Edwards, to have experience with incarceration and solitary confinement.
“We realized it’s virtually impossible for any actor, I don’t care how talented they are, to capture that realism and pull from personal experience,” he said, “because it is such a different experience that nobody has had anything close to unless you have been in solitary confinement. It’s that extreme of a situation.”
Brown was the only actor auditioned by Think Ten Media Group for the role of Marcus Edwards. That was after Hamilton called Tobola, who recommended Brown.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY WISDOM
“Deborah got back immediately and said she had the perfect guy, it was literally that easy,” Hamilton said. “It was the easiest casting of all time. He really is that talented.”
After meeting with Hamilton, talking about his experience, and reading some pages, Brown was asked to come aboard as the lead in Solitary, the pilot of which is scheduled to shoot in August.
“It’s a humbling experience,” Brown said. “I’m so excited.”
Brown has been preparing for the role like he would any other. The script is always close by, and any time he isn’t busy with fatherhood, he’s out in his garage, working on his lines.
“Sitting here with my eyes closed, I feel like I can reach out and feel those walls,” he said. “I know the food slot is right here, and on the other side is a lock, because they don’t leave the food slot open because that is only for us to get food, books, and sign papers; that’s not used for anything else.”
Besides proving to his community that he can have a life after the gang, incarceration, and solitary confinement, Brown hopes that his performance in Solitary will inspire people to look at solitary confinement and incarceration differently.
“I would hope that it opens the right eyes, not just some eyes, but the right eyes,” he said. “Lawmakers have to stand back and think about doing this a different way.”
Using the transformative power of art to help turn an experience like incarceration or solitary confinement into a meaningful life experience is the kind of thing that motivated Tobola to start the Poetic Justice Project. She hopes Brown can also serve as an example of the importance of Arts in Corrections programs for the incarcerated.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BARRY WISDOM
“Arts in Corrections costs a fraction of anything else in prison, and it’s so powerful,” she said. “Mr. Brown came out of Arts in Corrections; that’s where he learned his craft. I love to see that.”
After a dehumanizing experience like solitary confinement or incarceration, the arts can help restore feelings of self-worth, Tobola explained. It can also put a face on the issue.
“It’s being transparent,” she said. “I think it cracks the stigma wide open.”
Contact Art Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.Servaas Storm means well. He is alarmed that the eurozone’s official strategy of “internal devaluation” might do more harm than good by unnecessarily forcing countries that have lost their competitiveness into deflation (see here, here, and here). This is a very real concern indeed and Storm should be applauded for raging against the colossal folly that is wrecking Europe. Unfortunately, Storm goes astray in seemingly dismissing any role for unit labor cost competitiveness and German wage moderation in causing the still unresolved eurozone crisis in the first place.
Referring to bits and pieces of evidence derived from mostly partial-equilibrium empirics of one type or another, Storm fails to notice that no coherent macroeconomic analysis of the eurozone crisis emerges unless German wage moderation gets assigned a prominent role in the play. At the heart of the whole confusion is Storm’s attempt to attribute to those who emphasize German wage moderation as a key causal factor in the eurozone crisis the view that “expenditure switching” would explain 100 percent of the eurozone’s internal current account imbalances (and related balance sheet troubles). This would be a very peculiar view indeed – and I am not aware of anyone who actually holds it. Certainly the proponents of the “wage moderation hypothesis” that I know, including those who responded to Storm’s “critical analysis” (see here and here, and also this author), definitely do not hold this view. Effectively, Storm set up a straw man that he then defeats with flying colors; not realizing that his arguments are self-defeating and make a mess of the whole analysis of monetary union.
Storm discusses many of the key ingredients providing the material for a coherent macroeconomic analysis of the eurozone crisis but ends up getting matters upside down. Start with his explicit acknowledgement that wage moderation undermined domestic demand in Germany, which, in turn, translated into an easier monetary stance for the eurozone as a whole than would have been the case if German wage trends had been properly aligned with the ECB’s stability norm (i.e. HICP inflation of “below, but close to 2 percent” for the eurozone as a whole). Reading Storm’s own words on this issue makes it clear that he wishes to delegate cost competitiveness to the status of complete irrelevance: “German wage moderation mattered a lot, not through its supposed impact on cost competitiveness, but via its negative impacts on (wage-led) German growth and inflation, which in turn prompted the ECB to lower the interest rate in the first place.” Supposedly, in Storm’s view, the cost competitiveness factor is associated with expenditure switching and, given that Storm attributes to his opponents the view that expenditure switching would explain 100 percent of current account imbalances, he takes the opposite view that cost competitiveness explains nothing at all. In his mind, the income effect alone explains it all.
The trouble with this argument is that you can’t really have the one without the other. Wage moderation could hardly have dampened domestic demand in Germany, easing financial conditions across the eurozone, without simultaneously also boosting Germany’s cost competitiveness. Proponents of the “wage moderation hypothesis” do not hold the view that cost competitiveness and expenditures switching explain 100 percent of any intra-eurozone current account imbalances. Their argument is that German wage moderation provided an important exogenous cause of those imbalances. The so-called “consensus narrative” (see here), which Storm subscribes to, denies this, and in fact fails to even mention German wage moderation – a peculiar oversight that prompted Bofinger’s critique (see here and also here)[1]. A related important (legacy) matter is that it will hardly be possible to rebalance the eurozone without, in one way or another, also reversing out-of-kilter competitiveness positions (on which more below).
If there is agreement, as there appears to be, that German wage moderation suffocated German domestic demand with important area-wide ramifications through the ECB’s monetary stance, what was the supposed role of capital flows? Storm is not very clear on this issue either. On the one hand, he seems to suggest that gross capital flows caused the divergence in competitiveness positions. On the other hand, he seems to suggest that the ECB’s “one-size-fits-none” monetary stance fired up credit creation and asset bubbles in the euro crisis countries. These two propositions are not the same thing, nor do they rule out a prominent exogenous causal role for German wage moderation in the play.
Let’s begin with what Storm has to say about gross capital flows as such:
“the impact of trade flows on the exchange rate is—generally—overwhelmed by the impact of cross-border gross financial flows, which (importantly) are mostly unrelated to trade (Akyüz 2014; Bortz 2016). This holds true for the Eurozone as well: billions of euro lent by German banks to (financial) firms in Ireland and Spain, and by French banks to (financial) enterprises in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain were unrelated to the financing of trade (see O’Connell 2015). It is exactly these gross financial flows from the Eurozone core to the periphery, mostly coming from powerful too-big-to-fail banks (O’Connell 2015), which played the central role in bringing about the imbalances and destabilizing the zone, a role recognized by Professor Bofinger (2016) and by the so-called Consensus Narrative (2015)—but left unmentioned and un-analyzed by Flassbeck and Lapavitsas.”
It is undisputed that there was a lot of lending in the run-up of the crisis by German and French banks; in particular, to financial firms in euro crisis countries. It is rather odd that Storm views the impact of capital flows on exchange rates under regimes of flexible exchange rates as equivalent to the impact of capital flows on wage trends inside a monetary union. In general, financial asset prices, such as exchange rates, are the fastest moving prices while money wages are the slowest moving prices in economies; as emphasized by Keynes in “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill.” Storm appears to push economics back almost one hundred years here into the pre-1925 era of proto-macroeconomics. That does not count as progress I am afraid. And there is also no need to construct any tight direct links between capital flows in general and trade finance in particular or to suggest any need for a one-to-one correspondence between German banks’ lending to euro crisis countries and trade imbalances. German banks could have piled into US Treasuries while Spain’s financial sector could have relied on refinancing via Belgium and even Singapore, with other countries acting as in-betweens, for instance. That’s not the point. It is however of great interest for its own sake that German banks did actually build up huge direct exposures to euro crisis countries under the euro. For this fact might well have influenced the German authorities’ handling of the euro crisis.
The role of capital flows in general was to arbitrage financial conditions across the currency union. Europe’s earlier common market project had promised to turn the large European market into a level playing field, including Europe’s common financial market. The common currency project featured the promise to be the monetary unifier of Europe. As the ECB came to emphasize, once the crisis and financial (re-)fragmentation across Europe’s common financial market disrupted the “singleness” of its monetary policy, the idea is that its uniform monetary stance translates into largely uniform financial conditions across the currency union (fulfilling the level-playing-field promise).
The trouble is that its uniform monetary stance and uniform financial conditions may not actually suit a currency union that is subject to strong internal divergences. This is of course the very subject of “optimum currency area” theory, with its emphasis on “asymmetric shocks.” Traditionally, |
ach as a shepherd, and stressed that the term had nothing to do with Romanians. He noted that the speech was of elements of Polish and East Slavic dialects.[8]
In 1866, Hyde Clarke reported that the Moravians viewed the Moravian Vlachs (Wallachians) as an "alien race", but Slavic-speaking. They had characteristic habits and dress.[9]
Notable people [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]It’s strange how things keep happening that allow me to relate with the story of Exogenesis on a personal level. Almost two months ago, a person very dear to me passed away and, like Yu, I really want her back. Now, just a few hours ago, I got robbed and lost my phone. It’s a relatively old model (Samsung Galaxy S2), but I still paid good money for that back in the day and I tend to jot down many important notes on my phone (should the robber check its contents, most of Exogenesis would be spoiled for him) since my best ideas come while I’m taking walks..
Crime is rampant in post-apocalyptic scenarios, and Exogenesis is no exception. There’s actually a scene in the first chapter based on a childhood experience of mine. Now I can say I have a fairly good idea how a direct victim of crime might feel in the game.
Oddly enough, I did not end up with as much anger and frustration as most people I know who get robbed. In fact, I somewhat enjoyed the rush. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still annoyed when I realize I’ve just lost contact numbers, special messages, account numbers I use to pay my bills, and even important photos including one I have with the legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu-san – but that exact moment when the robber boarded the public vehicle (you may have heard of these things called Philippine jeepneys) I was the only passenger of was actually rather exciting.
Until around three years ago, I’ve practiced martial arts, and I know how to disarm a knife even from a sitting position, so I thought of fighting the man with a rusty 6-inch blade in his hand. Unfortunately, he also had this piece of wood around four feet long, and he used it to keep me at bay. The criminal knew what he was doing – if I try to pull, push, or shove away the plank, he can react real quick by stabbing or cutting me. I could not get close enough to his knife to disarm it. With that realization, I started assessing in my mind instantaneously whether it was worth risking getting a knife wound in order to keep my phone, given its monetary value and the valuable data in it.
It was a decision between a potentially life-long injury (death did not cross my mind) and losing a couple years’ worth of files and memories that I can mostly recover even though it would be a pain in the ass, so I chose to concede. I handed over my phone, and the man got off the jeep with his long piece of wood and sizable knife in hand. Had I exposed him as he walked away, no one would dare apprehend the visibly armed culprit anyway, and he was on edge and ready to attack me should I make any sudden moves, leaving me with no other sensible option than to let him go.
I did see a nearby traffic officer across the street, but by the time I’ve hurriedly explained to him the situation and got on his bike so we can give chase, the robber was already able to run off to perhaps his usual escape route (probably a well-hidden one, since the people we asked didn’t see him).
Long story short, it was still a pretty interesting experience, losing the valuable stuff in my phone notwithstanding. I am not saying you should go and catch the thrill of being robbed for yourself; I just felt like sharing the story here because it’s so close to the heart of Exogenesis – it was a crime committed by someone who I believe is himself a victim of neccessity due to poverty. He was underweight, had a shrill voice, when he struck me with his plank it was not strong enough to inflict pain, he did not ask for my wallet (possibly to lessen the damage on me), and he could have easily stabbed me as soon as I first showed signs of resistance like other robbers do but didn’t.
Losing my phone might be a bigger setback than I realize now having just lost it, but I think this is one of those experiences I will look back to fondly, especially since it came at a timely manner – right when I can relate getting robbed to the game I’m pouring my heart and soul on.
Or maybe it’s just time for an upgrade.
- NicoA letter to our users:
Dear note lovers and encryption lovers,
We know you love notes. And the secure feeling a private online life gives you.
So, we made something for you. I think you're going to like it.
A powerful new notes app for iOS and Android (and Desktop).
It's more secure.
Device Storage Encryption now encrypts your data before saving it to your local disk. Lock your app with a passcode to require authentication on launch and, on desktop, to encrypt your local key storage. And now for Android as well as iOS, protect your app with a fingerprint lock.
It helps you be more productive.
Pin your notes to the top of your list, so that notes and tasks you edit often are always within reach. Archive notes to stash them away, or unarchive to bring them back. And, new on Android, sort your notes by when you added them, when you modified them, or by their title.
It's beautiful (we've been told).
Our beta testers have told us how much they love the new look and feel, and how pleasant it is to use on a daily basis. Best of all, the themes you know and love from desktop now work on mobile too (and they look stunning if we may say so ourselves).
Download:
The new apps for iOS and Android are released for free as separate apps from the original. (This update is backwards incompatible with the previous version, which is why it's being released separately.)
Get the new iOS app.
Get the new Android app.
Download the new V2 Desktop app from our downloads page, or auto-update it from your existing application.
We hope you enjoy the love and hard work we put into this release, and that it makes your notes life easier and gives you more space to do your best work.ITV have today released promotional pictures for the fourth episode of Victoria, ITV’s new landmark drama based around the life of one of Britain’s most famous queens. Victoria is set to air on ITV 1 on Sunday the 11th of September from 9:00pm to 10:05pm. The fourth episode’s synopsis and promotional pictures can be found below:
Victoria and Albert manage to offend each other within minutes of his arrival. Albert’s brother Ernest encourages him to flirt, but Albert is utterly humiliated by the situation.
His unease around Victoria manifests as moody insolence, at least that’s how she interprets it when she complains to Melbourne.
Secretly hoping to impress Albert, Victoria transports the household to Windsor, where the tension between Victoria, Melbourne and Albert escalates. As she grapples to understand her feelings she must ask herself whether she wants the flattery Melbourne has hitherto reassured her with, or if she is ready for the challenging truth which Albert represents.
Below stairs, the Royal servants clash with the Coburg princes’ haughty valet Lohlein and a girl called Eliza turns up at the palace asking Skerrett for money and insinuating that she is not who she says she is
With thanks to ITV Media.
AdvertisementsThe IRS announced late Thursday night that it has temporarily suspended a $7.25 million contract with Equifax to help verify taxpayers’ identities when creating accounts on the agency’s website, citing “new information available today.”
That “new information” presumably concerned the Equifax webpage which was recently discovered to be redirecting users to download adware. Yesterday, the company took the page down, but denied their systems had been (additionally) compromised, blaming the issue on “a third-party vendor that Equifax uses to collect website performance data.”
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The contract suspension will prevent taxpayers from creating new accounts through the IRS’s “Secure Access” program that provides access to transcripts and records. People who have already set up Secure Access accounts will not be affected, but now others can only order tax court transcripts through the mail.
Last week, members of the Senate Banking Committee urged IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to kill the contract in a letter stating that “we have no assurances that our constituents’ personal information is safe in their hands”—a reference the company’s vast array of screw ups that led to one of the worst data breaches in history, compromising the personal information of about 145.5 million people, or about half of US taxpayers.
Koskinen then pushed back, telling senators that doing so would prevent thousands of hurricane victims from accessing tax information.
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The IRS awarded the contract to another company in July, but Equifax filed a petition to the Government Accounting Office (GAO). Equifax had a previous contract with the IRS that expired on September 30th, in the midst of the data breach fallout. Since the GAO had not yet made a decision on the petition, the IRS opted to award a short-term contract to Equifax, citing a belief that no other vendors could provided the ID verification that the IRS needed.
“The IRS emphasized that there is still no indication of any compromise of the limited IRS data shared under the contract,” IRS spokesman Matthew Leas told Politico in a statement. “The contract suspension is being taken as a precautionary step as the IRS continues its review.”
We have reached out to Equifax for comment and will update this story if and when they respond.
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Update 12:10 pm: An Equifax spokesperson sent Gizmodo the following comment:
Yesterday, the IRS notified us that they have issued a Stop-Work Order under our Transaction Support for Identity Management contract. We remain confident that we are the best party to perform the services required in this contract. We are engaging IRS officials to review the facts and clarify available options.
[CBS News/Politico]It would be a major surprise if John Jerry loses the starting right guard job, even though Fluker has started out working as the second-team right guard. Jerry is coming off his best season as a Giant, he just received a three-year, $10 million extension and he’s started all 16 games in two of his first three seasons with the team. Jerry also has a deal that would require the Giants to take a salary cap bath if they had to cut him this year.
It’s possible the Giants could eventually see what Fluker can do at right tackle – he played the position in his first two seasons with the Chargers – but they seem optimistic about Bobby Hart. They have praised his offseason work with Ereck Flowers, and they would like to see him win the job. Hart kind of crashed and burned at the end of last season, but he had a stretch earlier in the year where his play was solid. It’s been said before here, but there’s a strong argument Hart showed more tangible on-field progress in his second year than Ereck Flowers did at left tackle.
Rookie Adam Bisnowaty could also be in the mix for the right tackle job if it ever gets to a true competition. Last year, McAdoo said Hart was competing in camp with Marshall Newhouse, but that was just talk. There was never a true battle afoot. It could be the same situation this summer.
One last note on Fluker: He’s a backup right now, and there’s no guarantee he’ll make the team. The Giants only guaranteed him $1.5 million, and they’d save $1.5 million in cap space if he’s cut at the end of the summer. If Adam Gettis outplays Fluker, or Chad Wheeler or Jessamen Dunker turn in a sensational preseason, Fluker could end up being an odd man out.Recently we ran across a quite an interesting sample, which used an interesting obfuscation technique that was beautiful in its simplicity.
But before we dive in, let us provide some background for it.
One of the easier and most common techniques for automatic unpacking is to hook kernel32!WriteProcessMemory and look for injected binaries or any big blobs. It’s simple to implement and quite effective against most packers used in the wild.
In the case of our sample, after the first stage dropper, which can be unpacked by hooking kernel32!WriteProcessMemory as mentioned above, we are presented with a second stage dropper. It does not do anything particularly fancy or new, just standard things.
dynamically resolves API, with api names encoded via ZeuS-style string-encoding.
decrypts (rc4) and unpacks its payload
injects it into a newly created svchost.exe,
This is a typical runPE scheme. The exception is the injection process.
Windows provides us two APIs to deal with other processes memory, kernel32!WriteProcessMemory and kernel32!ReadProcessMemory. As one can expected, the first is used to write to other process’s memory while the second is used to read it.
In every injection tutorial or paper we are aware of, one always writes to foreign processes, which is reasonable. We either write a huge chunk of memory or we write it section by section, this doesn’t matter – we write at least PAGE_SIZE bytes.
What we have here is the exact opposite, we *read* our payload from the parent process to us.
Of course we have to write a stub shellcode to infected process first but our shellcode is only a couple bytes, and that will go under the radar of almost every automatic unpacker we are aware of.
Here are some hashes if you would like to play with themSaudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and two other heads of three Saudi owned prominent television networks were among the high profile figures who were arrested on early Sunday.
Bin Talal, Waleed Al Ibrahim, chairman of Middle East Broadcasting Center, and Sales Kamal, owner of television channel ART and founder of the Dallah al Baraka Group (DBHC), one of the Middle East's largest conglomerates, were arrested along with Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, head of the National Guard and dozens of princes and former ministers in a new anti-corruption probe. Prince Miteb was once considered a contender for the throne.
Talal, the Arab world's richest list with an estimated net worth of $18.7 billion, is the second biggest shareholder of Twitter Inc. He has investments in Apple, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Citigroup, and the Four Seasons, Fairmont and Movenpick hotel chains. He is also an investor in ride-sharing services Lyft and Careem, both competitors to Uber in the U.S. and the Middle East, respectively.
The prince, often pictured on his multimillion dollar 85.65-metre (281 foot) superyacht in the Mediterranean, is also known for being among the most outspoken Saudi royals, long advocating for women's rights. He is also majority owner of the popular Rotana Group of Arabic channels.
A high-level employee at Talal's Kingdom Holding Company told The Associated Press that the royal was among those detained overnight Saturday. The employee said he received calls from several security bodies notifying him of the arrest. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of repercussions.
Already viewed as the de facto ruler controlling all the major levers of government, from defense to the economy, Saudi Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman is widely seen to be stamping out traces of internal dissent before a formal transfer of power from his 81-year-old father King Salman.
In September the authorities arrested about two dozen people, including influential clerics, in what activists denounced as a coordinated crackdown.
Analysts said many of those detained were resistant to Prince Mohammed's aggressive foreign policy that includes the boycott of Gulf neighbor Qatar as well as some of his bold policy reforms, including privatizing state assets and cutting subsidies.
Official state media have not reported on the arrests, but the kingdom's top council of clerics issued a statement saying it is an Islamic duty to fight corruption— essentially giving religious backing to the high-level arrests being reported.
The Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya satellite news channel reported that at least 11 princes and dozens of former ministers had been detained in the probe launched by a new anti-corruption committee. The committee is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The arrests came as Lebanon's prime minister, a close Saudi ally, announced his own resignation from the Saudi capital. Yemeni rebels, the target of a 2 ½ year Saudi-led military campaign, meanwhile fired a ballistic missile toward Riyadh's international airport on Saturday night that was intercepted by Saudi air defense before it could cause any damage.
Al-Arabiya reported that the anti-graft committee is looking into deadly floods that overwhelmed parts of the city of Jiddah in 2009 and the government's response to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus that has killed several hundred people in the past few years.
Reports also suggested those detained were being held in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh, which only days earlier hosted a major investment conference. The phone number for the hotel had been disconnected by Sunday morning and a Dubai-based spokeswoman for the hotel chain did not respond to a request for comment.
The government said the anti-corruption committee has the right to issue arrest warrants, impose travel restrictions and freeze bank accounts. It can also trace funds, prevent the transfer of funds or the liquidation of assets, and take other precautionary measures until cases are referred to the judiciary.
The royal order said the committee was established "due to the propensity of some people for abuse, putting their personal interest above public interest, and stealing public funds."
Saudi nationals have long complained of rampant corruption in government and of public funds being squandered or misused by people in power.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, said the scale of the arrests are designed to further smooth the young crown prince's eventual succession to the throne.
"As a leader who is set to remain in power for decades, Mohammed bin Salman is remaking the kingdom in his own image and signaling a potentially significant move away from the consensual balancing of competing interests that characterized Saudi rule in the past," Ulrichsen said.
Prince Miteb was replaced by a lesser known royal, Prince Khalid bin Ayyaf al-Muqrin, who had held a senior post with the National Guard.
Prince Miteb's father— the late King Abdullah— also had led the National Guard and had transformed it into a powerful and prestigious force tasked with protecting the ruling Al Saud family, as well as important holy sites in Mecca and Medina, and oil and gas sites.
Prince Miteb was once considered a contender for the throne. His ouster essentially sidelines one of the most formidable rivals to the current crown prince, who is also defense minister. Just three months ago, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was ousted from the line of succession and from his post as interior minister, overseeing internal security.
Only hours earlier, Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri resigned from his post in a televised address from Riyadh, offering a vicious tirade against Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah group for what he said was their meddling in Arab affairs.
"Iran's arms in the region will be cut off," Hariri said.
Saudi Arabia then said its forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Iran-backed rebels in Yemen toward one of the kingdom's major international airports on the outskirts of Riyadh. A Saudi-led coalition launched a war against the Houthi rebels and their allies in March 2015 that grinds on today, a campaign overseeing by Crown Prince Mohammed.
The missile fire drew an immediate rebuke from President Donald Trump, who blamed Iran in part for the attack.
"A shot was just taken by Iran, in my opinion, at Saudi Arabia. And our system knocked it down," Trump said, referring to the Patriot missile batteries Saudi Arabia has purchased from the U.S. "That's how good we are. Nobody makes what we make and now we're selling it all over the world."
It's unclear if the U.S. had any advance word of the coming arrests. Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner and others made an unannounced trip recently to Riyadh. Trump earlier Saturday said he spoke to King Salman about listing the kingdom's massive state-run oil company, Saudi Aramco, in the United States.BEAVER CREEK — The Beaver Creek Birds of Prey races received the official imprimatur of positive snow control from the International Ski Federation (FIS) on Friday, Nov. 17.
In English, that means FIS officials went to the course on Friday, saw that it was in good shape and gave the go-ahead for this year's World Cup events in Beaver Creek, starting on Tuesday, Nov. 28, after warm weather forced a cancelation of the races last year.
"The forecast was always in our favor," said Tom Boyd, chief of media for the Birds of Prey World Cup races. "We started making snow in October. As to the extent that one can forecast out, the weather always looked good. The question was, 'Will that forecast hold out?'"
And as if to reinforce FIS' decision, the snow started to dump all over the county Friday night.
DIFFERENT SNOW
While Vail postponed its opening from Friday, Nov. 17, to Thursday, Nov. 23, because of a lack of snow, the snow used to make the Birds of Prey racecourse is different from what most skiers at Vail and Beaver Creek like to ski on recreationally.
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The best skiers in the world don't like Colorado's signature powder. World Cup courses are designed to be icy and slick and are injected with water to amplify those affects. Natural snow isn't required to build a course. Cold temperatures for man-made snow are.
That's the difference between last year and this one. Last year was unseasonably warm in Eagle County. According to accuweather.com., the daily low temperature in Avon was below freezing for only 12 of the 31 days during October 2016. The daytime high temperature on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016, was 71 degrees.
Just before FIS canceled the 2016 Birds of Prey on Friday, Nov. 18, of that year, it had been 70 degrees in Avon earlier in the week.
Fast-forward to October 2017, and 24 of the 31 daily lows were below freezing, according to accuweather.com. While there hasn't been as much snow as powderhounds like, the thermometer has continued to stay low, particularly at night, so far in November.
And that's been good news for the minions of workers on the Birds of Prey course, whose base is roughly at 8,900 feet at Red Tail Camp.
"It's apples and oranges," said Boyd of the difference between racing snow and the recreational surface. "We love snow from the sky, but if you ask racers, they like snow from the (snow) gun better."
THE SLATE
With positive snow control, the 2017 Birds of Prey slate is set. After racing up in Lake Louise, Alberta, a downhill and super-G, during Thanksgiving weekend, the men's circuit heads to Beaver Creek.
The racers will have two downhill training runs during a three-day period from Tuesday through Thursday, Nov. 28-30. The race weekend kicks off with super-G on Friday, Dec. 1, followed by the downhill on Saturday, Dec. 2, and giant slalom on Sunday, Dec. 3.
If history is any indication, the World Cup races in Beaver Creek generate spell-binding storylines.
Back in 2015, Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal won the downhill at Beaver Creek, ahead of teammate Kjetil Jansrud. Not only was it Svindal's fifth win at Beaver Creek, but it presaged the rise of the Norwiegans during the 2015-16 season.
Traditionally dwarfed by Austria, Switzerland and Italy, Norway ended up having four racers in the top 10 of the overall points during that campaign.
From there, Austria's Marcel Hirscher took over the 2015 Birds of Prey, winning both the super-G and the giant slalom. The best technical skier of his generation, Hirscher shocked the World Cup world with his win in super-G over none other than home-crowd favorite Ted Ligety.
Hirscher's win in GS was not so much of surprise. The Austrian was on his way the fifth of his six consecutive overall globes during the 2015-16 season. What stunned the partisan American crowd was that Ligety skied off course during his first run.
Coming into the 2015 Birds of Prey, Ligety had won his last five starts at Beaver Creek, including a gold-medal performance at the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.
As this year's races approach, Svindal, Hirscher and Ligety are all attempting to bounce back from injuries with the Olympics looming during February in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.By Captain Pyke | May 1, 2012 - 7:57 pm
Famed television and film composer Joel Goldsmith died of cancer at his home on Sunday (April 28th), he was 54. Know for his Emmy nominated work on Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, andSGU, Joel also worked closely with his father (Jerry Goldsmith) on several projects, including the soundtrack for Star Trek: First Contact. One of our favorite Star Trek scores.
According to Variety; Goldsmith's other TV projects included the themes and episode scores for "Super Force," the 1990s remake of "The Untouchables," "Hawkeye" and "Witchblade." He also scored episodes of the 1990s remake of "The Outer Limits," "H.E.L.P." and "Diagnosis Murder." His telepic scores included "Helen of Troy," "Haunting Sarah" and "Fatal Desire."
His other feature film scores included "Kull the Conqueror," "Army of One," "Shiloh" and "Diamonds." He scored the videogame "Call of Duty 3," and he contributed about 20 minutes of music (mostly for the Borg characters) to his father's "Star Trek: First Contact" score in 1996.
ContactMusic.com spoke to fellow Stargate composer Neal Acree and he had this to say about Joel's passing; "I’m utterly heartbroken at the loss of my dear friend and mentor Joel Goldsmith. He was like a second father to me and I feel like I owe much of my career to the opportunities he gave me including my first feature film and first experience scoring television. His influence on my life, both personally and musically, will stay with me always."
(Source Variety & ContactMusic.com)An estimated 25,000 elephants are killed each year
by poachers, many
of them linked to organised crime. In some places the species is close to being wiped out. 2012 was said to be the worst year
ever for the illegal ivory trade in Africa." These beautiful creatures are hunted for their ivory and other " assets. " There are different elephant species that are already endangered, and African Elephants are vulnerable to soon make the list of endangered species. The elephant is one of my favorite animals because of their human-like characteristics. If you look at their face it's almost as if you can see every memory of their lifetime. Like they say, an elephant never forgets. We need to not forget the elephants or we will lose them.
This is a photograph of an African Elephant (Loxodonta africana). "My Website: www.samanthafortenberry.com/ My Facebook: www.facebook.com/LashellePhoto… My Shop: society6.com/samanthafortenber…Django 1.5.1 released
We've just released Django 1.5.1, a bugfix release fixing a few issues with last month's 1.5 release.
The biggest fix is for a memory leak introduced in Django 1.5. Under certain circumstances, repeated iteration over querysets could leak memory - sometimes quite a bit of it. If you'd like more information, the details are in our ticket tracker (and in a related issue in Python itself).
If you've noticed memory problems under Django 1.5, upgrading to 1.5.1 should fix those issues.
Django 1.5.1 also includes a couple smaller fixes:
Module-level warnings emitted during tests are no longer silently hidden (#18985).
Prevented filtering on password hashes in the user admin (#20078).
All users are encouraged to upgrade to Django 1.5.1 at your earliest convenience. You can install Django using pip or download Django 1.5.1 from the Django downloads page. As always signed checksums of the package are available.
On that last point: astute readers may notice that Django 1.5.1 is signed by a new key. Until today, all releases were signed by James Bennett, but to increase our bus factor we're moving to a system where multiple people will be authorized to release Django. See our Django releasers document for the list of approved releasers.Female and LGBT inmates - as well as inmates identified with mental health problems - are more likely than other prison and jail inmates to report sexual victimization, according to a newly-released report from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.
An estimated 80,000 inmates - 57,900 in prisons and 22,700 in jails - reported one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staffer within the previous 12 months or since they were admitted to a facility, the report found.
That includes 3.2 percent of those held in jails, which typically hold people waiting for trial and those with shorter sentences, and 4 percent of inmates held in prisons. These figures are consistent with past BJS findings.
Incidents of victimization were the result of interactions with both other prisoners and facility staff. Overall, 2.4 percent of prison inmates reported having had sex or sexual contact with facility staff, while 2 percent reported inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization; 1.8 percent of jail inmates reported sexual contact with staff, while 1.6 percent reported inmate-on-inmate victimization.
Just over 1 percent of prisoners and 0.7 percent of those in jail reported at least one incident of non-consensual sex with another inmate, either oral, anal, vaginal or from manual stimulation. Roughly half of those who reported staff sexual victimization said the sexual contact was consensual, though such contact is legally considered non-consensual.
The findings come from the BJS's third National Inmate Survey, taken between February 2011 and May 2012 in 233 state and federal prisons, 358 jails and 15 other facilities. It was administered to 92,449 adult inmates and 1,738 juveniles in state prisons and local jails, with the findings extrapolated across the corrections system. The findings were reported first on CBSNews.com.
Most inmates responded by entering answers on a computer touch screen, with their responses and identities kept confidential. Because the responses are self-reported, it is impossible to know the degree to which the findings under- or over-represent actual incidents of sexual victimization.
Inmates who self-identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or other reported higher incidences of sexual victimization than other inmates. Just over 12 percent of non-heterosexual prisoners and 8.5 percent of non-heterosexual jail inmates reported being sexually victimized by another inmate. Around five-and-a-half percent of non-heterosexual prisoners and 4.3 percent of non-heterosexual jail inmates reported being sexually victimized by staff.
Sexual victimization is defined as "all types of unwanted sexual activity with other inmates, abusive sexual activity with other inmates and both willing and unwilling sexual activity with staff."
Victimization rates were also higher among those identified with mental health problems - 6.3 percent of prison inmates and 3.6 percent of jail inmates "with serious psychological distress" reported inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization.
"The fact that so many people with mental illnesses are being locked up is, in itself, profoundly disturbing. It's simply unacceptable that, while behind bars, these inmates are subjected to horrific sexual abuse rather than getting the help they need," said Lovisa Stannow, Executive Director of Just Detention International, which is seeking to end sexual abuse in prison.
Rates were also higher among women, whites and the highly-educated - 6.9 percent of female prison inmates reported inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization, compared to 1.7 percent of males. Whites in prison reported victimization at higher rates (2.9 percent) than blacks in prison (1.3 percent). In addition, prison inmates with college degrees reported victimization at higher rates (2.7 percent) than those who had not completed high school (1.9 percent). Similar results were found among jail inmates.
16- and 17-year-olds behind bars reported incidences of sexual victimization similar to adult prisoners.
The report also listed nearly 50 facilities with what were found to be high rates of either staff or inmate-on-inmate victimization. They were led by the Northwest Florida Reception Center and Santa Rosa Corrections Institute (Florida) prisons for men, and the Mabel Basset Correction Center (Oklahoma) and Denver Women's Corrections Facility (Colorado) prisons for women. The highest rates of misconduct in jails were both found to be in Indiana, at the Ripley County Jail and the Marion County Jail intake facility.
Four of the 21 facilities found to have high rates of inmate-on-inmate victimization were in Texas, more than any other state. Both New York and Florida had three facilities with high incidences of staff sexual victimization, more than any other state.
Ronell Wilson, convicted NY cop killer, impregnates prison guard in plot to save own life, report says
Tavon White, alleged leader of Baltimore prison gang, reportedly impregnated 4 female guardsKANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals purchased the contracts of right-handed relievers Joba Chamberlain and Louis Coleman from Triple-A Omaha on Monday.
Chamberlain, who is 25-21 with seven saves in 359 big league appearances with the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers, was 1-0 with a 6.43 ERA with the Storm Chasers but allowed one earned run and seven hits in seven innings over his final seven appearances.
Chamberlain is a former Nebraska teammate of Royals All-Star outfielder Alex Gordon.
Coleman, the Royals' 2009 fifth-round pick out of LSU, went 8-2 with nine saves and a 1.68 ERA with Omaha. He is 5-4 with a 3.25 ERA and two saves in 148 relief appearances with Kansas City.
The Royals designated for assignment right-hander Yohan Pino and infielder Dusty Coleman to make roster space for Chamberlain and Coleman.[All images via Georgia Power.]
Stepping inside a nuclear reactor is a terrible idea. But thanks to Georgia Power, who is currently constructing two nuclear power units in far eastern Georgia, everyone can get a glimpse inside the construction of these towering behemoths without fear of becoming radioactive. Plant Vogtle nuclear facility is receiving two new nuclear reactors — the two existing on site were constructed in 1974 — to provide a substantial increase in power production. According to the company, these are the first nuclear plants to be built in the country in three decades. Upon completion, the site in Waynesboro, just across the border from South Carolina, will be able to provide power for an additional 500,000 Georgia homes and businesses. As such, these things are massive.
· Plant Vogtle Construction Photos [Georgia Power]
· Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant [Georgia Power]Creamy, cheesy and comforting Vegan Baked Ziti. Ziti pasta is covered in a cheesy vegan tomato-cream sauce and baked in a casserole dish until crispy. Serve with a side salad for a complete meal.
First, I want to send a big love and gratitude filled THANK YOU to all of you. I was experiencing technical difficulties with my site yesterday and had to take it offline for a few hours while it was getting fixed. I was so happy that so many of you reached out to me and I was able to personally send my recipes to you while you were busy cooking and baking for Thanksgiving! Ceara’s Kitchen is back up now and fully optimized. XOXO.
Can you believe it? It’s November and I’m halfway done my Christmas shopping. Are you a “It’s-November-and-I’m-already-done-my-shopping” Christmas shopper or a “Holy-#(^&#-It’s-Xmas-Eve-and-I-still-have-half-my-gifts-to-go”. Most years around this time, I’m just starting my holiday shopping but this year I’ve been shopping online and trying my best to plan my gifts in advance so Christmas eve doesn’t come and I’m scrambling to get my last few gifts.
I come from a pretty big family and this year we decided to do our gift giving a little bit differently. My stepmom set up a Secret Santa online where everyone draws one name. She set it up so nobody will draw their partner and everyone submits a “wish list” as well. It’s super fun since I come from a big family, everyone is trying to figure out who got who. How do you do gifts in your family?
It actually snowed here this week so it finally does feel like the Christmas season. I think I might even put up our tree next weekend to get in the spirit of things! And the cold weather we’re having seriously calls for cozy casserole meals like this Vegan baked Ziti…
The cheesy tomato sauce of this Vegan Baked Ziti could not be easier to throw together with only a few ingredients. I use olives and a bit of olive brine in the sauce with gives it such a rich and deep flavor. I even considered not baking the pasta after I snuck a bite of the ziti mixed in with the cheesy sauce in the pan. SO darn luscious. YUM. ↓↓↓
Top with nutritional yeast and bread crumbs. If you haven’t started putting nutritional yeast on everything yet, now’s the time to start.
If you make this Vegan Baked Ziti at home, share your feedback below or snap a photo and tag #CearasKitchen on Instagram.
Bake until the top of the Vegan Baked Ziti is golden brown. I like to broil my Vegan Baked Ziti for the last couple minutes to make it extra crispy. Can’t |
: ‘Anonymous’ Cyber Attack On Major German Language News Sites News websites including Focus, Der Spiegel, and Blick Zeitung have been offline since the early hours of this morning, sparking speculation about major server failure or cyber terrorism. While the Frankfurter Allgemeine reports the outage of the major news companies was down to a power surge at a data centre in North Rhine-Westphalia, damaging critical equipment beyond repair, a ‘hacktivist’ group has said the outage is the result of an attack. Releasing a statement via the AnonNewsDE Facebook page the leaderless, anarchic hacking collective said the websites had been taken down in revenge for unkind articles posted about them in the German press over the past few days. When Anonymous declared their intention to fight the Islamic State online, they were met in some quarters with ridicule. Based on a commonly held perception of the hacking group being largely run from the bedrooms of socially awkward teenagers, one popular internet ‘meme’ postulated that Anonymous declaring war on Islamist suicide bombers was perhaps “not the 72 virgins they were expecting”. German media joining in this ridicule has been cited as the inspiration for the attack. The statement said: “Parts of the anonymous collective have today with a Ddos Attack taken the website of news magazine Der Spiegel offline… the action by the anonymous collective against the Islamic State terrorist network yesterday was accompanied by a a very critical article by Spiegel online. Apparently some members of the network are upset”. Other than to confirm they were having technical difficulties and were working to restore service, the half down websites affected have made no comment regarding the claimed hacking attack.
AdvertisementsI recently finished the Coursera course Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 2 by Professor Tim Roughgarden of Stanford. I’ve already reviewed part 1, and here are my thoughts on the second part.
The main theme of part 1 was the divide and conquer paradigm. In the second part the main themes were greedy algorithms, dynamic programming and NP-Complete problems. The lectures were excellent, with clear and easy to follow algorithm development and proofs. At six weeks, it was one week longer than part 1, and I found it quite a bit harder than part 1. Here’s more on each part.
Greedy Algorithms
In the greedy paradigm, you iteratively make the best possible choice, and hope that in the end you have an optimal solution. Usually the algorithms are easy to come up with, and easy to analyze, but it is equally easy to come up with an incorrect algorithm. The greedy algorithms covered were:
Job scheduling
Minimum spanning tree
Clustering
Huffman coding
For job scheduling, a number of jobs, each with a weight and duration, are to be ordered so that the weighted sum of the completion times is as small as possible. The first programming assignment dealt with job scheduling. 10,000 jobs were to be scheduled in two different ways, and the answers were the sums of the completion times. Straight-forward, and the easiest of the programming assignments.
A minimum spanning tree (MST) connects all the nodes of a graph together as cheaply as possible. Two algorithms were covered: Prim’s, where you start with an arbitrary node, and expand with the cheapest available edge, and Kruskal’s, where you sort the edges in cost order, and keep using the cheapest ones (while avoiding cycles) until the minimum spanning tree is complete. For Kruskal’s algorithm, the Union Find data structure was introduced. It is needed to be able to quickly determine if a cycle would be created. It’s analogous to how Dijkstra’s shortest path algorithm uses a heap. I hadn’t seen the Union Find data structure before, but it is quite neat – both simple and easy to implement.
In clustering, the objective is to collect “related” nodes of a graph together in groups. This is a special case of Kruskal’s algorithm, but you stop before the clusters are merged into one big group. There were programming assignments to calculate the cost of the MST of a 500 nodes graph, and to calculate the maximum spacing of a 4-clustering of another graph. Both were straight-forward.
Huffman coding is a way of assigning binary code words to symbols of an alphabet, considering the probability of each symbol occurring, so that the resulting encoding is as short as possible. I learnt about Huffman coding when I went to university, and I still remember the idea, so I skipped this part.
Dynamic Programming
This was the most interesting part of the course for me. I had heard about dynamic programming before, but I had never really looked into it. If you can express the optimal solution in terms of the solution to smaller sub-problems, then dynamic programming may be suitable. The algorithms covered were:
Independent set of maximum weight
Knapsack problem
Sequence alignment
Optimal binary search trees
Bellman-Ford single-source shortest path
Floyd-Warshall all pairs shortest path
Johnson’s all pairs shortest path
The independent set problem was used to illustrate how dynamic programming works. Given a path of nodes with non-negative weights, pick a subset of non-adjacent nodes with the maximum total weight. For the simple 4-nodes example with weights 1, 4, 5 and 4 (with maximum weight 4 + 4 = 8), we saw how both a greedy approach and a divide and conquer approach failed.
Then the optimal solution is expressed in terms of two smaller paths (without the last one or two nodes respectively). A recursive solution would lead to an exponential number of sub-problems, but by caching the result of already solved sub-problems (“memoization”), the time-complexity becomes O(n). Finally the solution is reformulated as a bottom up solution, where a table is created where the solutions to the sub-problems is filled in. I thought this was a great introduction to dynamic programming – well-reasoned, clear and easy to follow.
Next was the classic knapsack problem (I knew about it, but had never attempted to solve it). Given n items, each with a value and a size, and a knapsack of size W, find a subset of items that can fit in the knapsack that maximizes the total value of the items. Programming assignment 3 deals with the knapsack problem. In the first part, there are 100 items, and the knapsack capacity is 10,000. This can be solved with the bottom up approach of filling in a 2-dimensional array with the solutions to the sub-problems. In the second part, there are 500 items, and the knapsack capacity is 2,000,000. In this case the table approach would take up too much memory. Instead it can be solved recursively with caching of intermediate results.
The next application of dynamic programming was the really cool algorithm for sequence alignment. Given two strings (for example DNA), how can we make them align so that we minimize the cost, where there is a cost for each inserted gap and mismatched letter. For example, the strings AGGGCT and AGGCA can be made to align by inserting a gap in the second string so it becomes AGG_CA. The cost in this case is one gap, and one mismatch (the T and A at the end). For long strings (thousands of letters), a brute force solution is staggeringly time consuming. Fortunately, with dynamic programming, it is possible to express the solution in terms of the solution to sub-problems, and the running time is O(mn), where m and n are the lengths of the two strings. Very cool!
For optimal binary search trees, given n items, each with a given probability of being selected, construct the binary search tree that will minimize the average search time for the items. This is similar to Huffman codes in that they both output a binary tree, and they both try to minimize the average depth. However, in Huffman codes, the items are only leaves in the tree, whereas here the items are both nodes and leaves. I didn’t find this algorithm that interesting, since if you have a balanced search tree (albeit not optimal), the performance will still be quite good.
Next were three different algorithms for finding shortest paths in directed graphs. The Bellman-Ford algorithm finds the shortest path from a source node to all other nodes in the graph, and is developed by using the dynamic programming idea of building the solution from the solution to sub-problems. In this case, the sub-problems consist of the shortest path using only a fixed number of edges. The algorithm works for negative edge weights, unlike Dijkstra’s algorithm (covered in part 1).
Floyd-Warshall’s algorithm computes all pairs shortest paths in a directed graph. The key trick in its development is to let the sub-problem consist of the shortest path limited to using a certain sub-set of the edges. In this way, the dynamic programming solution is found. It is built using a 3-dimentional array, where each axis has the number of nodes. In programming assignment 4, you had to find the shortest of all the shortest paths in three given 1000-node graphs. If there were any negative cycles in the graph, this had to be indicated. This assignment was a little bit trickier, since you have to make sure you don’t run out of memory (the 3-dimensional array contains a billion entries).
The final graph algorithm was Johnson’s algorithm for finding all pairs shortest paths. It uses a clever technique to re-weight the edges to make sure there are no negative edges, and then uses Dijkstra’s algorithm to find the shortest paths.
NP-Complete Problems and Ways to Deal With Them
We covered NP-complete problems when I went to university, so this wasn’t new to me, but it was good with a refresher. For a lot of problems, like the travelling salesman problem, there are no known algorithms that run in polynomial time. So we are stuck with solutions with exponential running time, meaning that only problems with very small input sizes can be solved optimally. However, all is not lost. Various ways to deal with NP-complete problems were covered.
The following topics, algorithms and techniques were covered:
P, NP, and what they mean
Reductions between problems
NP-complete problems
The P vs. NP problem
Vertex cover
Travelling salesman
Approximate solutions to the knapsack problem
Local search
Papadimitriou’s 2SAT algorithm
The first part of this section of the course defined the concepts of P, NP, NP-hard and NP-complete problems. Next, the reductions between NP-complete problems was covered, and the question of whether P = NP. After the theory had been established, various ways of dealing with NP-complete problems were presented.
It is still possible to solve the NP-complete problems for small inputs using brute force. It may also be possible to find special cases that are of interest and can be solved more quickly. Yet another way is to find algorithms that are better than brute force search, but still not polynomial. An example of this was an algorithm for the travelling salesman (more on this below). Otherwise we may have to turn to non-optimal solutions. An example algorithm was developed for the general knapsack problem, where it is possible to come within a given fraction of the optimal solution (the closer to the optimal solution, the longer the running time).
One meta-algorithm covered was local search. The idea is to start with a randomly generated solution that is most likely not optimal. Then we iteratively try to improve on that solution by making local changes until we can’t improve anymore. Then we start with a new random solution and repeat the process. There is obviously the risk of finding local maxima, while still not finding a global maximum.
For programming assignment 5, we had to find the shortest path for a travelling salesman problem with 25 cities to visit. This was the hardest of the programming problems. The algorithm that was developed in the lecture videos used dynamic programming to improve the running time from O(n!) to O(n^2×2^n), so it is not polynomial. The algorithm, while reasonable easy to understand conceptually, takes quite a bit of work to implement correctly. However, the biggest problem with the solution wasn’t running time, but memory usage. I started out using the Java class BitSet to keep track of which cities to include. But I ran out of memory and changed to integers instead. I also changed from pre-calculating all integers with x number of bits set, and instead calculated them on the fly. With these memory optimizations, I was finally able to run the algorithm, but it took quite a bit of work.
The last algorithm covered in the class was a clever randomized local search algorithm for the 2SAT problem. In the 2SAT problem (which I had never heard of before, even though it is famous), the task is to find boolean values for n boolean variables used in clauses of the form (x or y). A number of these clauses are basically and:ed together, and the task is to determine if there is an assignment of true or false to all the variables that makes the whole expression true (there may not be such an assignment). The algorithm covered was Papadimitriou’s algorithm, which uses the idea of a random walk to try to find an assignment of the variables that makes the expression true. A clever idea, and a nice analysis of the properties of the algorithm.
The final programming problem was to solve the 2SAT problem. One way would have been to use Papadimitiou’s algorithm, but I chose to use the program I developed in part 1 of the course for finding strongly connected components (SCC) instead. By (again very cleverly) transforming the 2SAT expression to a graph, it was possible to check if it is solvable by checking if a given boolean variable and its negation are both present in the same SCC. If so, the 2SAT expression can not be solved. This programming problem was harder than the first ones, but not as hard as the travelling salesman one.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed this course. It started in the beginning of December, had a break over Christmas, and continued in January. Since I am always very busy around Christmas and New Year’s, I wasn’t able to start the course until the second week of January. This meant that I had to work quite hard to complete it in the time left. But even if that had not been the case, the course was still a lot harder than part 1 I thought. Especially the quizzes, but also the programming assignments. I skipped part 2 of programming assignment 2 (clustering in a bigger graph), but completed all the other programming assignments, all the quizzes, and the final exam. Since I started late, my score on the first three weeks’ assignments was reduced by 50%. My final score was 67% (80% without reductions), and the cut-off for getting a statement of accomplishment was 70%, so no certificate for me this time.
Regardless of the score, I learnt a lot by taking this course. It took a lot of time and effort, by I have definitely improved my algorithm knowledge and skill. I can really recommend both parts of the course to anyone wanting to learn more about algorithms and problem solving.Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968) was one of the greatest collectors of the twentieth century, and an extraordinary friend to Ireland. As a young mining engineer in New York, Beatty was already a discerning collector of European and Persian manuscripts as well as Chinese snuff bottles and Japanese netsuke.
It was in the decades following his relocation to London in 1913, however, that he built the greater part of his collection. During a family trip to Egypt in 1914, he developed a fascination for Islamic manuscripts, while a journey to Asia in 1917 added Japanese and Chinese painting to his interests. His eye was drawn to rare books, richly illustrated material, fine bindings and calligraphy, but at the same time he was deeply committed to preserving texts for their historic value. Beatty returned time and again to Egypt, and it was there that he acquired his outstanding biblical papyri in the 1920s.
Beatty’s collection developed over his lifetime and so, by the time of his death, he had assembled not just exceptional Islamic, East Asian and biblical manuscripts but also important Persian, Turkish, Armenian and Western European holdings as well as Burmese, Thai and Nepalese manuscripts. Despite the diversity of the material he acquired, the collection is unified by Beatty’s desire to seek out objects of the greatest rarity and finest quality. Bequeathed by Beatty to the Irish nation—and today housed in the Chester Beatty in the grounds of Dublin Castle—his collection is a resource for scholars as well as a leading cultural attraction, enjoyed by visitors from Ireland and from around the world.Marathon County, Wisconsin used “military style” tactics and deployed a SWAT team to collect a debt from an elderly man. Roger Hoeppner, 75, has been in a long court battle with his town over land use and $86,000 in fines imposed for work items “strewn across” his own property.
Roger Hoeppner retired from a paper factory and now runs a small pallet and tractor repair business on his 20 acres. Screegrabs from a YouTube video taken on the Marathon County, Wisconsin property show several piles of neatly stacked wood pallets by a stand of trees which are visible from the road. A local court opted to levy a $500-per-day fine against Hoeppner in 2013 to convince him to comply with property clean-up orders.
The town of Stettin was granted a writ of execution to collect the $86,000 fine from the elderly man and then the Marathon County SWAT team made its move. A total of 24 armed law enforcement officers and an armored vehicle arrived on Roger Hoeppner’s property on October 2. The Marathon Count Response Vehicle – a MARV, rolled onto the property and reportedly frightened Mrs. Hoeppner so badly she had to be hospitalized.
Marathon County Sheriff’s Office Captain Greg Bean argued that the military style deployment of an armored vehicle actually promotes safety and saves times and money as well. “I’ve been involved in about five standoff situations where, as soon as the MARV showed up, the person gives up,” Captain Bean said. While those shocked by the use of a SWAT team to collect a fine tend to agree that ending a potentially violent standoff with such force could be necessary, they still voice doubt that 24 armed agents were necessary to get a check from one old man.
Roger Hoeppner's property in Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Roger Hoeppner’s attorney Ryan Lister chastised the law enforcement decisions by Marathon County, Wisconsin in the case. “Rather than provide Mr. Hoeppner or his counsel notice and attempt to collect without spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on the military style maneuvers, the town unilaterally decided to enforce its civil judgment,” Lister said.
Hoeppner told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he may perhaps have been “hostile” over the huge fine, but added that $86,000 is “enough to shock most men, and they wanted it now, today,” the Marathon County senior citizen added. The small business owner maintains that officials in the town of Stettin have waged a “vendetta against him. Hoeppner has reportedly spent his all of his retirement savings, $200,00, attempting to fight the land use restrictions.
What do you think about the military style tactics used in Marathon County, Wisconsin property rights case?
[Image via: YouTube screengrab/The Blaze and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]Andrew Culp is one of the most exciting young theorists publishing at the moment. His first book Dark Deleuze was released last year with University of Minnesota Press and has been translated into many languages already, including Japanese (no Chinese edition just yet). In the latest in the HKRB Interviews series with authors in critical theory, our co-editor had the chance to put some questions to him about his powerful and subversive little theory text.
Andrew Culp, Dark Deleuze (Uni of Minnesota Press, 2016), 77pp.
Alfie Bown: Your book is just 77 pages long but your project and its scope is huge. Your aim has been to recover Deleuze from those who saw him as the philosopher of “joyous affirmation” and who experienced his work (without perhaps always admitting it) as vitalist, life-affirming and even positive. Can you discuss a little this existing or even “canonical” idea of Deleuze and explain to our readers why such an idea of Deleuze might be a problem? Some of our readers may even see this joyousness and life-affirmation as a good thing (before they read your book).
Andrew Culp: Life-affirmation comes packaged in many forms. A few familiar faces are the puritanical pro-lifer, the feel-good self-help fanatic, the manic shopaholic, the hippy free spirit, and the psychedelic stoner who marvels at the infinity of the cosmos. At first blush, none should find much affinity with Deleuze (except, regrettably, maybe the last one). Yet as these pop movements have gained influence in the last few decades, each has found ways to cozy up to the thought of Deleuze – “Critique has run out of steam. BuzzFeed as bricolage. Reddit as rhizome.” And now, I am starting to see racist new materialists popularize bio-theories akin to “Conatus begins at conception.”
My worry is that the self-improvement and philosophy sections of many bookstores have grown indistinguishable. Mix in the business mantras of “service with a smile” and “a happy worker is a productive worker,” and you have a perfect storm. Deleuze scholars in particular have been susceptible to such co-option since the publication of A Thousand Plateaus, which is a stunning work whose experimental style unfortunately opened the door to a lot of amateur musings gullible to pseudo-science. I will leave it to others to catalogue those tendencies and instead mention its antidote.
Short-circuiting “compulsory happiness” may be our greatest struggle today. We need to take our cues from feminists, who have long been at the forefront of the cultural politics of emotion. There is a deep feminist archive on emotion as labor. While many look to sociological references about care-as-work, like many feminist ideas, its origins are not in the academy. Since the early 1970s, there has been an international campaign posing the impossible demand of wages against housework. The idea is that women’s work, especially that done in confines of the home, is no less essential than the relatively limited cross-second of largely white, able-bodied men working in emerging spheres of industrial production. In fact, the behind-the-scenes work of housing, feeding, breeding, and all other forms of caring is an even more “hidden abode of production” that has made black and working class women into their own autonomous political force.
There is supreme irony that comes from reading Deleuzian joy independently from the feminist critique of emotional labor. In his first collaboration with Guattari, Deleuze declares that the great break from Oedipus, capitalism, and everything they entail begins with an escape from the family – the uncle who went bad, the bankrupt cousin a victim of the Crash, the anarchist grandfather… To add a bit of intellectual history: some of the most prominent feminist Deleuzians are influenced by Carole Pateman, whose Sexual Contract remains one of the fiercest critiques of the sexual coercion that results from compulsory gender roles. All I propose is a modest reminder of Pateman, Federici, Ahmed, and other’s work on coldness as an essential feminist move.
AB: Let’s discuss Deleuze in relation to opposing contemporary capitalism, since that is something that comes up several times in your book and something we should all be concerned with right now. One important discussion you have about this is in the section on “nomadism.” Here you make a distinction between the barbarian and the pastoral, arguing that barbarians “avoid the liberal trap of tolerance, compassion, and respect,” making them capable of dissolving capitalism. Perhaps you can explain this position, and even consider whether any such barbarians or barbaric movements exist at the moment.
AC: Guattari journaled about Deleuze’s obsession with nomads, historical and contemporary. Drawing on Toynbee, Deleuze found in the nomads of the Eurasian Steppe a people who “changed their habits so they did not have to change their habitat.” This sense of internal transformation comes from Deleuze’s deeply modernist notion about the future as an alien force; that even the most monumental things are undone over the course of time, which fused well with Guattari’s invention of the term becoming. Unfortunately, I think the term “becoming” has outlived its usefulness with its colonization by the self-help mantras of ‘becoming the change you want to see in the world’ or ‘finding your inner self.’
Barbarians are the nomad’s unruly cousin. Ancient Greeks, mocking the sounds of a foreigner tongue (“bar bar bar”), dismissively called strangers unfit for ethical recognition “barbarians.” From this, barbarians are said to have two essential characteristics: they do not speak in the official language of politics, and their actions offend established norms of civility. The result is an abiding spatial metaphor: barbarian are cast out, left to roam outside the city gates.
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri resurrected the figure of the barbarian in Empire, noting historical examples of political movements constituted by peoples forced into exodus. Many people took the image to heart, aching to transform the fury of the anti-globalization movement into a Global Justice Movement formally constituted and materially organized through events like the World Social Forum. I am sympathetic to the anarchist critique made by Crisso and Odoteo, who recast the barbarian as even more dangerous and disorderly than Hardt and Negri’s.
Where do we find those barbarians almost twenty years later? The slogan unifying the anarchist street-level response to President Donald Trump is “become ungovernable.” The ranks of the barbarians swells during student protests the world over, over the last two years at Wits in South Africa, at university’s and high schools during the 2011-2013 Chilean student strikes, and the UK student demonstrates of 2010. But perhaps those are still too organized. Riots, revolts, and rebellions launched out of compromise and desperation are better examples – the burning down rows of factories in Bangladesh after garment worker deaths in 2012-2013, the migrant laborer Little India Riots of Singapore in 2013, in the camp uprising at Australia’s humiliating Manus Island refugee detention center in 2014, the Baltimore Rebellion after the police murder of Freddie Gray in 2015. These moments are a dizzying mixture of rage and uncertainty, where the message is immeasurably intense but its content is unsettlingly unclear.
AB: The book is interested in Deleuze in his relation to feminism and queer theory and this seems to form an important basis for many of your more political arguments. Can you say something about this, and perhaps about your critique of “reproduction”?
AC: There are so many things about this world that are utterly intolerable. We are asked to compromise so often. We are beaten down by ‘realists’ who tell us that we need to accept the world for what it is. If we listen to them, then we end up reproducing the sources of our misery. For many of us, the only future we can imagine is the end of the world as we know it.
At the heart of queer feminism is the ideal of living a life without compromise. One key piece is questioning if reproducing is our lot in life. Though it is not terribly fashionable today, we owe a lot to second wave feminism. The second wave experiment of living without men boils down to a critique of reproduction. In time, we may now want to revise a lot of their ideas, but Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto, Shulamith Firestone’s Dialectic of Sex, and Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” all envisioned an end of the subjugation of women as mere vessels for reproduction. An obvious revision still in process is trans*-critique. As such, early work by Sandy Stone and Susan Stryker were absolutely essential to further release sexuality from the throes of the reproductive aim. It is time to transport the queer critique of reproduction to fields still leaning on old nineteenth-century biological models of society.
One quick caveat: I am not making a blanket statement against reproduction. In fact, Hortense Spillers, Dorothy Roberts, and other black scholars have chronicled the devastating affect of racialized assaults on black motherhood that are part-and-parcel of white pro-natalist ideologies. Ultimately, the best critique of reproduction takes into account the patriarchal reasons for why childrearing is simultaneously required and restricted.
AB: There is a short section in the book where you discuss the difference between a molecular and a cataclysmic revolution. Can you expand on the distinction: how is it that the cataclysm might be the new beginning we need, and how might that be different to accelerationism, which you discuss elsewhere?
AC: The bulk of Dark Deleuze is a series of seventeen contrasts (cataclysmic not molecular, transformation not genesis, barbarian not pastoral…). I use them to represent forks in the road, with me offering routes away from consensus interpretations of Deleuze. As such, I do not see cataclysm as the opposite of molecularity but an alternative way through.
Molecular revolutions happen through the accretion of change provoked by a long series of nearly indiscernible micro-events. I have described this process elsewhere as monstrous, the familiar growing into the strange. Guattari uses the term to riff off the process of evolution whereby small biological changes ultimately produce completely new species. He makes the concept political to break through sociological theories that limit a subject’s potential to their social identity. There is some incredibly ambitious theory that traces this line through queer-of-color (Tim Stüttgen), trans* studies (Paul Preciado), and anarchism (Daniel Colson). Yet I am very sympathetic to recent critiques of molecularization (Jord Rosenberg).
Talking about accelerationism is difficult because many very different projects share the name. Accelerationism begins from a basic observation: capitalism is causing time-space compression. Human geographers David Harvey and Doreen Massey have argued as much. But that is just acceleration, what turns it into the ideology of acceleration-ism? Paul Virilio argued in 1977 that the global superpowers locked in the nuclear arms race were pursuing a deadly sort of accelerationism. His suggestion was to beat retreat – decelerate, deautomate, disarm. This is the level-headed response most people offer when confronted with news about climate change, financial meltdown, and other global catastrophes
But what if we are past the point of no return? Then perhaps the way forward is “not to withdraw from the process, but to go further, to ‘accelerate the process’.” Benjamin Noys mapped out a convincing prehistory of the idea in his book Malign Velocities by tying it the fascist tendencies of the Italian Futurists. The first contemporary accelerationist began his career innocently enough with a gothic love letter to machines. Yet after a failed attempt to mate with his computer, he was turned out from his university, transforming him into a bitter racist now haunting the internet from a terminal somewhere in Hong Kong.
That said, I think we need the future more than ever. So maybe what is called for is not an acceleration of the present but an acceleration of the future. Let’s end the sick terror felt by The Brother From Another Planet who finds the same intolerable cruelties of another world in our present. Let’s instead leave this world by blasting off with Sun Ra and his arkestra on their cosmic black journey, but without even leaving earth.
Alfie Bown is co-editor of the HKRB.
ChinHsin Esther Kao is the featured illustrator on this post. She is an undergraduate at Wheaton College (IL) and double majors in English and Philosophy. She was the Critical Essay Editor for the college’s independent magazine The Pub and the Art Editor for Kodon. Esther also writes for the online publication The Odyssey and is interning forInheritance magazine under Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California.
The HKRB Interviews series specializes in new books in philosophy and critical theory. Interviews have included Simon Critchley, Jodi Dean, Agon Hamza, Frank Ruda and Srecko Horvat. Coming soon: Joan Copjec, Rosi Braidotti and Catherine Belsey.
Please support the HKRB and look out for more essays, interviews and reviews by following our Facebook page and Twitter account.Why do dogs sleep with their eyes open? You may have stumbled in the past on some funny cartoon scenes where a guard dog is snoring with his eyes open, almost to attest that he's on guard duty 24/7 even when he looks asleep, but do dogs really sleep with their eyes open?
My dog sleeps with his eyes partially open from time-to-time and there are several dog owners who are wondering how and why dogs do it, so yes, dogs definitively sleep with their "eyes open" or semi-open but things are a tad bit different than what we may think. To better understand how and why dogs do this though, it's important to take a look at their anatomy.
Not What it Seems
We may assume dogs are sleeping with their eyes open, but in reality, they're not. Exposing their eyes to the elements when they are sound asleep would cause those eyes to dry up and become prone to damage. The only time when dogs are "sleeping" with their eyes truly open is when they are under anesthesia.
When I worked for a veterinary hospital, I saw my fair share of dogs who had their eyes wide open during surgery. As dogs can't blink as they're sound asleep on the surgery table, to prevent dryness to the dog's cornea (which can progress to a condition known as exposure keratitis), the vet would put a few drops of a special ointment.
Dog with third eyelid showing
The Third Eyelid
When you see your dog sleeping with his "eyes open" what you are truly seeing is his third eyelid.
Indeed, take a close look, most likely you won't see much of your dog's eye color but a light pink/red tissue covering the eye.
Also known as the nictitating membrane, palpebra tertia or haw, the third eyelid is a membrane that is drawn across the eye to protect the eyeball and keep it moist while the dog is sleeping.
According to the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists, it's estimated that the dog's third eyelid is responsible for the production of 40 to 50 percent of the dog's tears. This is thanks to a gland located by the third eyelid, known as the nictitans gland.
Additionally to keeping the eye lubricated when dogs sleep, the third eyelid prevents debris from attaching to the dog's eyes. The third eyelid indeed functions as an effective windshield wiper blade, sweeping foreign material off the eye, something that is very precious to animals who lack the manual dexterity to rubs their eyes to remove any foreign items, explains Dr. Eric Barchas.
Passive Range of Motion
Wondering how a dog's third eyelids works? There are no muscles attached to the dog's third eyelid.
Unlike cats, in dogs, movements of the third eyelid membrane are entirely passive.
Basically, the retraction of the dog's eyeball into the orbit elicits the third eyelid to passively slide across the ocular surface, explains, Christine C. Lim, a veterinary opthamologist in the book "Small Animal Ophthalmic Atlas and Guide."
Regardless if the dog is sleeping or not, the third eyelid may be more visible in certain breeds than others. It's mostly a matter of the relationship between the globe and the orbit.
In dogs with small eyes such as seen in dolichocephalic breeds (with long heads) like the borzoi and greyhound, the third eyelid will appear more prominent than in a brachycephalic breeds (with short heads) like say the bulldog or pug, points out Sheila Crispin, Past-President and Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the book: Notes on Veterinary Ophthalmology.
Eyes Wide Awake
When the dog opens his eyes after sleeping, the third eyelid should retract and assume its normal position, tucked out of sight at the inner corner of the eye.
With the dog awake now, he can resume blinking to keep debris off and keep the eye moist. When a dog though has a third eyelid showing even when awake, this can signal a problem.
The third eyelid may show in the case of an eye injury, pain or an illness or it could be a sign of a damaged nerve, explains veterinarian Betsy Brevitz in the book: "Hound Health Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Keeping Your Dog Happy." So if your dog's third eyelid is showing, it's best to see your vet for an evaluation.
Did you know? In humans, the third eyelid has shrunk to a rudimentary bump in the inner corner of the eye, explains veterinarian Paul Miller of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Music in the modern world isn’t just for pleasure, it’s often an essential refuge.
Concentration Station has been designed as a playlist using the findings from scientific studies. The science reinforces our own instincts borne from years of working incredibly well to these tracks.
You can maintain your productive bubble by listening to music with specific characteristics:
Instrumental tracks with no lyrics
Recurring motifs build a sense familiarity
Medium pace around 130 bpm
Subtle tempo shifts maintain sense of progression
Long rolling tracks with no sudden changes or abrupt details
Songs with naturalistic sound elements
Discover your true flow and allow your subconscious to gently bathe in these 90 molten minutes of stripped back structures and subtle streams of sound.
Trigg is a paper productivity companion that will propel you faster and more effectively towards your real goals in life. Ascend to greater perspective.
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This above playlist increases the scope of productivity thanks to the below distinct musical characteristics, we'd advise using an adblocker to enhance and preserve your bubble of focus.
NO LYRICS
Trying to have two conversations at the same is not only hard, it often makes people angry. So why would you try to write or think whilst someone sings inside your head. Not surprisingly research has shown that intelligible speech is an impairment to concentration and focus. Try to listen to music that doesn’t have speaking or verbal elements.
SPECIFIC TEMPO
Our brains are highly attuned to different tempos and we react significantly to the pace of what we hear. For example this study shows how listening to music at around 60 bpm can reduce stress and anxiety.
High tempos above 150 bpm are distracting, therefore listening to rock or drum and bass risks the outcome of you sticking with your task. You |
Senate Republicans set on reworking the Affordable Care Act are considering taxing employer-sponsored health insurance plans, a move that would meet stiff resistance from companies and potentially raise taxes on millions of people who get coverage on the job.
The move could raise billions in revenue that could be used to help stabilize the fragile individual insurance market. But it could be politically risky, since it could expand the impact of GOP health proposals from Medicaid recipients and those who buy insurance on their own to the roughly 177 million people who get coverage through their employers.
A number of lawmakers are open to the idea, including Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), GOP aides said, but there is no consensus yet on whether it should be included in the draft bill being written during this week’s congressional recess.
Under longstanding tax law, compensation in the form of health insurance isn’t treated as income for workers. That means employers can deduct the cost and the value isn’t subject to payroll taxes or individual income taxes. It is a system that economists say distorts the market in favor of generous insurance packages, but like other tax breaks, it has proven popular and difficult to dislodge.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
Also popular on WSJ.com:
House Russia probe ramps up, also seeks to learn more on ‘unmasking’
Uber posts $708 million loss as finance head leaves.Getty Images
After spending 17 seasons in the NBA, small forward Paul Pierce still isn't ready to hang up his sneakers for good.
Pierce informed the Players' Tribune he plans to opt out of his contract with the Washington Wizards and become a free agent. He was set to make $5.5 million next season with the Wizards.
Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post reported on June 19 Pierce will likely decide between the Los Angeles Clippers and Wizards as his destination.
“I’d love him back. I think he wants to be back. I don’t know, I won’t put words in his mouth, but I’d be surprised if he didn’t,” Wizards head coach Randy Wittman said, per Castillo. “I think what he saw with these guys and the heart this team has. Why wouldn’t you want to play the end of your career with a group like that?”
Pierce nearly prolonged the Wizards' stay in the 2015 NBA playoffs, but his potential game-tying three-pointer was still in his hands as the buzzer sounded in Game 6 against the Atlanta Hawks. Pierce's heroics certainly made fans nostalgic, and his trolling of Drake and the Toronto Raptors after the first round only earned him more admirers.
He averaged 11.9 points in 26.2 minutes on the floor during the regular season, both of which were career lows. According to Basketball-Reference.com, his 15.2 PER was also the lowest he has ever posted.Abstract
We generalize the notion of PAC learning to include transfer learning. In our framework, the linkage between the source and the target tasks is a result of having the sample distribution of all classes drawn from the same distribution of distributions, and by restricting all source and a target concepts to belong to the same hypothesis subclass. We have two models: an adversary model and a randomized model. In the adversary model, we show that for binary classification, conventional PAC-learning is equivalent to the new notion of PAC-transfer and to transfer generalization of the VC-dimension. For regression, we show that PAC-transferability may exist even in the absence of PAC-learning. In both adversary and randomized models, we provide PAC-Bayesian and VC-style generalization bounds to transfer learning. In the randomized model, we provide bounds specifically derived for Deep Learning. A wide discussion on the tradeoffs between the different involved parameters in the bounds is provided. We demonstrate both cases in which transfer does not reduce the sample size (‘trivial transfer’) and cases in which the sample size is reduced (‘non-trivial transfer’).
1. Introduction
The advent of deep learning has helped promote the everyday use of transfer learning in a variety of learning problems. Representations, which are nothing more than activations of the network units at the deep layers, are used as general descriptors even though the network parameters were obtained while training a classifier on a specific set of classes under a specific sample distribution. As a result of the growing popularity of transferring deep learning representations, the need for a suitable theoretical framework has increased.
In the transfer learning setting that we consider, there are source tasks along with a target task. The source tasks are used to aid in the learning of the target task. However, the loss of the source tasks is not part of the learner's goal. As an illustrative example, consider the use of deep learning for the task of face recognition. There are seven billion classes, each corresponding to a person, and each has its own indicator function (classifier). Moreover, the distribution of the images of each class is different. Some individuals are photographed more casually, while others are photographed in formal events. Some are photographed mainly under bright illumination, while the images of others are taken indoors. Hence, a complete discussion of transfer learning has to take into account both the classifiers and the distribution of the class samples.
A deep face-recognition neural-network is trained on a small subset of the classes. For example, the DeepFace network of Taigman et al. (2014) is trained using images of only 4030 persons. The activations of the network, at the layer just below the classification layer, are then used as a generic tool to represent any face, regardless of the image distribution of that person's album images.
In this paper, we study a transferability framework, which is constructed to closely match the theory of the learnable and its extensions including PAC learning (Valiant, 1984) and VC dimension. A fundamental theorem of transfer learning, which links these concepts in the context of transfer learning, is provided. We introduce the notion of a simplifier that has the ability to return a subclass that is a good approximation of the original hypothesis class and is easier to learn. The conditions for the existence of a simplifier are discussed, and we show cases of transferability despite infinite VC dimensions. PAC-Bayesian and VC bounds are derived, in particular for the case of Deep Learning. A few illustrative examples demonstrate the mechanisms of transferability.
A cornerstone of our framework is the concept of a factory. Its role is to tie together the distributions of the source tasks and the target task without explicitly requiring the underlying distributions to be correlated or otherwise closely linked. The factory simply assumes that the distribution of the target task and the distributions of the source tasks are drawn i.i.d. from the same distribution of distributions. In the face recognition example above, the subset of individuals used to train the network are a random subset of the population from which the target class (another individual) is also taken. The factory provides a subset of the population and a dataset corresponding to each person. The goal of the learner is to be able to learn efficiently how to recognize a new person's face using a relatively small dataset of the new person's face images. This idea generalizes the classic notion of learning in which the learner has access to a finite sample of examples, and its goal is to be able to classify wisely a new unseen example.
2. Background
In this part, a brief introduction of the background required is provided. The general learning framework, the PAC-Bayesian setting and deep learning are introduced. These subjects are used and extended in this work. A reader who is familiar with these concepts, may skip to the next sections. The notations used in this paper are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. |$\epsilon,\delta $| Error rate and confidence parameters |$\in (0,1)$| |${\mathcal X}$| Instances set |${\mathcal Y}$| Labels set |$Z$| Examples set; usually |${\mathcal X\times Y}$| |$p$| A distribution |$d$| A task (a distribution over |$Z$| ) |$k$| The number of source tasks |$m$| The number of samples for each source task |$U$| A finite set of distributions; usually |$U=\{d_1,\ldots,d_k\}$| or |$U=\{p_1,\ldots,p_k\}$| |${\mathcal E}'$| A set of distributions over |${\mathcal X}$| |${\mathcal E}$| An environment, a set of tasks |${\rm prob}_p(X)\text { or } p(X)$| The probability of a set |$X$| in the distribution |$p$| |$\mathbb {P,E}$| The probability and expectation operators |$\mathbb {P}[X\,|\,Y], \mathbb {E}[X\,|\,Y]$| The conditional probability and expectation |${\mathcal D}[K]$| or just |${\mathcal D}$| A distribution over distributions (see Definitions 3 and 4) |$K$| The subject of a factory |$s=\{z_1,\ldots,z_m\}$| Data of |$m$| examples |$\forall i: z_i \in Z$| |$S=(s_{[1,k]},s_t)$| |$k$| source data sets |$s_1,\ldots,s_k$| (of same size) and one target data set |$s_t$| |$o=\{x_1,\ldots,x_m\}$| Data of |$m$| instances |$\forall i: x_i \in {\mathcal X}$| |$O=(o_{[1,k]},o_t)$| Data of |$k$| of unlabeled source data sets |$o_1,\ldots,o_k$| (of same size) and one target data set |$o_t$| |$S\sim {\mathcal D}[k,m,n]$| Data set |$S$| according to the factory |${\mathcal D}$| with sizes |$\forall i\in [k]:|s_i|=m$| and |$|s_t|=n$| |$S\sim {\mathcal D}[k,m]$| Source data set |$S$| according to the factory |${\mathcal D}$| with sizes |$\forall i\in [k]:|s_i|=m$| |$U\sim {\mathcal D}[k]$| Set of tasks of size |$k$| taken from |${\mathcal D}$| |$d\sim {\mathcal D}$| A task taken from |${\mathcal D}$| |${\mathcal H}$| A hypothesis class (in the supervised case, a set of functions |${\mathcal X}\rightarrow {\mathcal Y}$| ) |$c$| A concept; an item of |${\mathcal H}$| |$\mathscr {C}$| A hypothesis class family; a set of subsets in |${\mathcal H}$| such that |${\mathcal H}= \bigcup _{B\in \mathscr {C}}B$| |$B$| A bias; i.e., |$B\in \mathscr {C}$| (and |$B\subset {\mathcal H}$| ) |$N$| An algorithm that outputs hypothesis classes |$A$| An algorithm that outputs concepts |$r(s)$| The application of an algorithm |$r$| on data |$s$| |$\ell :{\mathcal H}\times Z \rightarrow \mathbb {R}$| A loss function 0–1 loss |$\ell (c,(x,y))=([c(x)=y]=\text {true})$| squared loss |$\ell (c,(x,y))=(c(x)-y)^2/2$| |$T$| A learning setting; usually |$T=({\mathcal H},Z,\ell )$| |$T_{PB}$| A PAC-Bayes setting; usually |$T_{TB}=(T,{\mathcal Q},p)$| |$\mathscr {T}$| A transfer learning setting; usually |$\mathscr {T}=(T,\mathscr {C},{\mathcal E})$| |$\epsilon _d(c)$| The generalization risk function = the expectation of |$\ell (c,z)$|, i.e., |$\mathbb {E}_{z\sim d}[\ell (c,z)]$| |$\epsilon _s(c)$| The empirical risk function; |$\epsilon _s(c)=\frac {1}{|s|}\sum _{z\in s}\ell (c,z)$| |$g:\mathscr {C}\times {\mathcal E}\rightarrow \mathbb {R}$| The infimum risk |$g(B,d)=\inf _{c\in B}\epsilon _d(c)=\inf \{\epsilon _d(c):c \in B\}$| |$\epsilon _{{\mathcal D}}(B)$| Transfer generalization risk = |$\mathbb {E}_{d\sim {\mathcal D}}[g(B,d)]$| |$\epsilon _U(B)$| Source generalization risk = |$\frac {1}{|U|}\sum _{d\in U}[g(B,d)]$| |$\epsilon _s(B,r)$| 2-Step empirical risk = |$\epsilon _s(r_B(s))$| |$\epsilon _S(B,r)$| 2-Step source empirical risk = |$\frac {1}{k}\sum ^k_{i=1}[\epsilon _{s_i}(r_B(s_i))]$| |$R(q)$| Randomized transfer risk = |$\mathbb {E}_{B\sim q}[\epsilon _{{\mathcal D}}(B)]$| |$R_U(q)$| Randomized source generalization risk = |$\mathbb {E}_{B\sim q}[\epsilon _U(B)]$| |${{\rm KL}}(q||p)$| KL-divergence, i.e., |${{\rm KL}}(q||p)=\mathbb {E}_{x\sim q}[\log (q(x)/p(x))]$| |$\epsilon _{p}(c_1,c_2)$| The mutual error rate; |$\epsilon _{p}(c_1,c_2) = \epsilon _{(p,c_1)}(c_2)$| |$\epsilon _{o}(c_1,c_2)$| The mutual empirical error rate; |$\epsilon _{o}(c_1,c_2) = \epsilon _{c_1(o)}(c_2)$| |${\rm err}_p(B,K)$| The compatibility error rate; |${\rm err}_p(B,K) = \sup _{c_1\in K}\inf _{c_2\in B}\epsilon _{p}(c_1,c_2)$| |${\rm err}_o(B,K)$| The empirical compatibility error rate; |${\rm err}_o(B,K) = \sup _{c_1\in K}\inf _{c_2\in B}\epsilon _{o}(c_1,c_2)$| |$E_U(B,K)$| The source compatibility error rate; |$E_U(B,K) = \frac {1}{|U|}\sum _{p\in U}{\rm err}_p(B,K)$| |$E(B,K)$| The generalization compatibility error rate; |$E(B,K)=\mathbb {E}_{p\sim {\mathcal D}}[{\rm err}_p(B,K)]$| |$E_O(B,K)$| The source empirical compatibility error rate; |$E_O(B,K) = \frac {1}{|O|}\sum _{o\in O}{\rm err}_{o}(B,K)$| |$h_{V,E,\sigma,w}$| A neural network with architecture |$(V,E,\sigma )$| and weights |$w:E\rightarrow \mathbb {R}$| |${\mathcal H}_{V,E,\sigma }$| Set of all neural networks with architecture |$(V,E,\sigma )$| |${\mathcal H}^{I}_{V,E,\sigma }$| Family of all subsets of |${\mathcal H}_{V,E,\sigma }$| determined by fixing weights on |$I\subset E$| |$E = I \cup J$| A set of edges in a neural network, |$I$| is the set of edges in the transfer architecture and |$J$| the rest of the edges (i.e., |$I\cap J=\emptyset $| ) |${\mathcal H}_{V,E,j,\sigma }$| The architecture induced by |$(V,E,\sigma )$| when taking only the first |$j$| layers (see Section 6) ERM |$_{B}(s)$| Empirical risk minimizer; ERM |$_{B}(s)=\arg \min _{c\in B}\epsilon _s(c)$| C-ERM |$_{\mathscr {C}}(s_{[1,k]})$| Class empirical risk minimizer; C-ERM |$_{\mathscr {C}}(s_{[1,k]})=\arg \min _{B\in \mathscr {C}}\frac {1}{k}\sum ^k_{i=1} \min _{c\in B} \epsilon _{s_i}(c)$| |$c^{*}_{i,B}$| Empirical risk minimizer in |$B$| for the |$i$| th data set; |$c^{*}_{i,B}=$| ERM |$_{B}(s_i)$| |$r_{i,B}$| The application of a learner |$r_B$| of |$B$| on |$s_i$| ; |$r_{i,B}=r_B(s_i)$| |$u||v$| Concatenation of the vectors |$u,v$| |$0_{s}$| A zeros vector of length |$s$| |${1\,\,\,1}$| A unit matrix |$N_u(\epsilon,\delta )$| A universal bound on the sample complexity for learning any hypothesis class of VC dimension |$\leq u$| |$E_h$| The set of all disks around 0 that lie on the hyperplane |$h$| |$\text {vc}({\mathcal H})$| The VC dimension of the hypothesis class |${\mathcal H}$| |$\tau _{{\mathcal H}}(m)$| The growth function of the hypothesis class |${\mathcal H}$| ; i.e., |$\tau _{{\mathcal H}}(m)=\max _{\{x_1,\ldots,x_m\}\in {\mathcal X}^m}$| |$\vert {\{(c(x_1),\ldots,c(x_m)):c\in {\mathcal H}\}}\vert $| |$\tau (k,m,r)$| The transfer growth function of the hypothesis class |${\mathcal H}$| ; i.e., |$\tau (k,m,r)=\max _{\{s_1,\ldots,s_k\}\in {{\mathcal Z}^m}^k}\vert {\{(r_{1,B}(s_1),\ldots,r_{k,B}(s_k)):B\in \mathscr {C}\}}\vert $| |$\tau (k,m;\mathscr {C},K)$| The adversary transfer growth function; i.e., |$\tau (k,m;\mathscr {C},K)=\max _{\{o_1,\ldots,o_k\}\in {{\mathcal X}^m}^k}$| |$\vert {\{c_{1,1}(o_1),c_{1,2},\ldots,c_{k,1}(o_k),c_{k,2}(o_k):c_{i,1} \in K \text { and } c_{i,2}={\rm ERM}_B(c_{i,1}(o)) \text { s.t.}}$| |$B\in \mathscr {C}\}\vert $| |$\epsilon,\delta $| Error rate and confidence parameters |$\in (0,1)$| |${\mathcal X}$| Instances set |${\mathcal Y}$| Labels set |$Z$| Examples set; usually |${\mathcal X\times Y}$| |$p$| A distribution |$d$| A task (a distribution over |$Z$| ) |$k$| The number of source tasks |$m$| The number of samples for each source task |$U$| A finite set of distributions; usually |$U=\{d_1,\ldots,d_k\}$| or |$U=\{p_1,\ldots,p_k\}$| |${\mathcal E}'$| A set of distributions over |${\mathcal X}$| |${\mathcal E}$| An environment, a set of tasks |${\rm prob}_p(X)\text { or } p(X)$| The probability of a set |$X$| in the distribution |$p$| |$\mathbb {P,E}$| The probability and expectation operators |$\mathbb {P}[X\,|\,Y], \mathbb {E}[X\,|\,Y]$| The conditional probability and expectation |${\mathcal D}[K]$| or just |${\mathcal D}$| A distribution over distributions (see Definitions 3 and 4) |$K$| The subject of a factory |$s=\{z_1,\ldots,z_m\}$| Data of |$m$| examples |$\forall i: z_i \in Z$| |$S=(s_{[1,k]},s_t)$| |$k$| source data sets |$s_1,\ldots,s_k$| (of same size) and one target data set |$s_t$| |$o=\{x_1,\ldots,x_m\}$| Data of |$m$| instances |$\forall i: x_i \in {\mathcal X}$| |$O=(o_{[1,k]},o_t)$| Data of |$k$| of unlabeled source data sets |$o_1,\ldots,o_k$| (of same size) and one target data set |$o_t$| |$S\sim {\mathcal D}[k,m,n]$| Data set |$S$| according to the factory |${\mathcal D}$| with sizes |$\forall i\in [k]:|s_i|=m$| and |$|s_t|=n$| |$S\sim {\mathcal D}[k,m]$| Source data set |$S$| according to the factory |${\mathcal D}$| with sizes |$\forall i\in [k]:|s_i|=m$| |$U\sim {\mathcal D}[k]$| Set of tasks of size |$k$| taken from |${\mathcal D}$| |$d\sim {\mathcal D}$| A task taken from |${\mathcal D}$| |${\mathcal H}$| A hypothesis class (in the supervised case, a set of functions |${\mathcal X}\rightarrow {\mathcal Y}$| ) |$c$| A concept; an item of |${\mathcal H}$| |$\mathscr {C}$| A hypothesis class family; a set of subsets in |${\mathcal H}$| such that |${\mathcal H}= \bigcup _{B\in \mathscr {C}}B$| |$B$| A bias; i.e., |$B\in \mathscr {C}$| (and |$B\subset {\mathcal H}$| ) |$N$| An algorithm that outputs hypothesis classes |$A$| An algorithm that outputs concepts |$r(s)$| The application of an algorithm |$r$| on data |$s$| |$\ell :{\mathcal H}\times Z \rightarrow \mathbb {R}$| A loss function 0–1 loss |$\ell (c,(x,y))=([c(x)=y]=\text {true})$| squared loss |$\ell (c,(x,y))=(c(x)-y)^2/2$| |$T$| A learning setting; usually |$T=({\mathcal H},Z,\ell )$| |$T_{PB}$| A PAC-Bayes setting; usually |$T_{TB}=(T,{\mathcal Q},p)$| |$\mathscr {T}$| A transfer learning setting; usually |$\mathscr {T}=(T,\mathscr {C},{\mathcal E})$| |$\epsilon _d(c)$| The generalization risk function = the expectation of |$\ell (c,z)$|, i.e., |$\mathbb {E}_{z\sim d}[\ell (c,z)]$| |$\epsilon _s(c)$| The empirical risk function; |$\epsilon _s(c)=\frac {1}{|s|}\sum _{z\in s}\ell (c,z)$| |$g:\mathscr {C}\times {\mathcal E}\rightarrow \mathbb {R}$| The infimum risk |$g(B,d)=\inf _{c\in B}\epsilon _d(c)=\inf \{\epsilon _d(c):c \in B\}$| |$\epsilon _{{\mathcal D}}(B)$| Transfer generalization risk = |$\mathbb {E}_{d\sim {\mathcal D}}[g(B,d)]$| |$\epsilon _U(B)$| Source generalization risk = |$\frac {1}{|U|}\sum _{d\in U}[g(B,d)]$| |$\epsilon _s(B,r)$| 2-Step empirical risk = |$\epsilon _s(r_B(s))$| |$\epsilon _S(B,r)$| 2-Step source empirical risk = |$\frac {1}{k}\sum ^k_{i=1}[\epsilon _{s_i}(r_B(s_i))]$| |$R(q)$| Randomized transfer risk = |$\mathbb {E}_{B\sim q}[\epsilon _{{\mathcal D}}(B)]$| |$R_U(q)$| Randomized source generalization risk = |$\mathbb {E}_{B\sim q}[\epsilon _U(B)]$| |${{\rm KL}}(q||p)$| KL-divergence, i.e., |${{\rm KL}}(q||p)=\mathbb {E}_{x\sim q}[\log (q(x)/p(x))]$| |$\epsilon _{p}(c_1,c_2)$| The mutual error rate; |$\epsilon _{p}(c_1,c_2) = \epsilon _{(p,c_1)}(c_2)$| |$\epsilon _{o}(c_1,c_2)$| The mutual empirical error rate; |$\epsilon _{o}(c_1,c_2) = \epsilon _{c_1(o)}(c_2)$| |${\rm err}_p(B,K)$| The compatibility error rate; |${\rm err}_p(B,K) = \sup _{c_1\in K}\inf _{c_2\in B}\epsilon _{p}(c_1,c_2)$| |${\rm err}_o(B,K)$| The empirical compatibility error rate; |${\rm err}_o(B,K) = \sup _{c_1\in K}\inf _{c_2\in B}\epsilon _{o}(c_1,c_2)$| |$E_U(B,K)$| The source compatibility error rate; |$E_U(B,K) = \frac {1}{|U|}\sum _{p\in U}{\rm err}_p(B,K)$| |$E(B,K)$| The generalization compatibility error rate; |$E(B,K)=\mathbb {E}_{p\sim {\mathcal D}}[{\rm err}_p(B,K)]$| |$E_O(B,K)$| The source empirical compatibility error rate; |$E_O(B,K) = \frac {1}{|O|}\sum _{o\in O}{\rm err}_{o}(B,K)$| |$h_{V,E,\sigma,w}$| A neural network with architecture |$(V,E,\sigma )$| and weights |$w:E\rightarrow \mathbb {R}$| |${\mathcal H}_{V,E,\sigma }$| Set of all neural networks with architecture |$(V,E,\sigma )$| |${\mathcal H}^{I}_{V,E,\sigma }$| Family of all subsets of |${\mathcal H}_{V,E,\sigma }$| determined by fixing weights on |$I\subset E$| |$E = I \cup J$| A set of edges in a neural network, |$I$| is the set of edges in the transfer architecture and |$J$| the rest of the edges (i.e., |$I\cap J=\emptyset $| ) |${\mathcal H}_{V,E,j,\sigma }$| The architecture induced by |$(V,E,\sigma )$| when taking only the first |$j$| layers (see Section 6) ERM |$_{B}(s)$| Empirical risk minimizer; ERM |$_{B}(s)=\arg \min _{c\in B}\epsilon _s(c)$| C-ERM |$_{\mathscr {C}}(s_{[1,k]})$| Class empirical risk minimizer; C-ERM |$_{\mathscr {C}}(s_{[1,k]})=\arg \min _{B\in \mathscr {C}}\frac {1}{k}\sum ^k_{i=1} \min _{c\in B} \epsilon _{s_i}(c)$| |$c^{*}_{i,B}$| Empirical risk minimizer in |$B$| for the |$i$| th data set; |$c^{*}_{i,B}=$| ERM |$_{B}(s_i)$| |$r_{i,B}$| The application of a learner |$r_B$| of |$B$| on |$s_i$| ; |$r_{i,B}=r_B(s_i)$| |$u||v$| Concatenation of the vectors |$u,v$| |$0_{s}$| A zeros vector of length |$s$| |${1\,\,\,1}$| A unit matrix |$N_u(\epsilon,\delta )$| A universal bound on the sample complexity for learning any hypothesis class of VC dimension |$\leq u$| |$E_h$| The set of all disks around 0 that lie on the hyperplane |$h$| |$\text {vc}({\mathcal H})$| The VC dimension of the hypothesis class |${\mathcal H}$| |$\tau _{{\mathcal H}}(m)$| The growth function of the hypothesis class |${\mathcal H}$| ; i.e., |$\tau _{{\mathcal H}}(m)=\max _{\{x_1,\ldots,x_m\}\in {\mathcal X}^m}$| |$\vert {\{(c(x_1),\ldots,c(x_m)):c\in {\mathcal H}\}}\vert $| |$\tau (k,m,r)$| The transfer growth function of the hypothesis class |${\mathcal H}$| ; i.e., |$\tau (k,m,r)=\max _{\{s_1,\ldots,s_k\}\in {{\mathcal Z}^m}^k}\vert {\{(r_{1,B}(s_1),\ldots,r_{k,B}(s_k)):B\in \mathscr {C}\}}\vert $| |$\tau (k,m;\mathscr {C},K)$| The adversary transfer growth function; i.e., |$\tau (k,m;\mathscr {C},K)=\max _{\{o_1,\ldots,o_k\}\in {{\mathcal X}^m}^k}$| |$\vert {\{c_{1,1}(o_1),c_{1,2},\ldots,c_{k,1}(o_k),c_{k,2}(o_k):c_{i,1} \in K \text { and } c_{i,2}={\rm ERM}_B(c_{i,1}(o)) \text { s.t.}}$| |$B\in \mathscr {C}\}\vert $| View Large
Table 1. |$\epsilon,\delta $| Error rate and confidence parameters |$\in (0,1)$| |${\mathcal X}$| Instances set |${\mathcal Y}$| Labels set |$Z$| Examples set; usually |${\mathcal X\times Y}$| |$p$| A distribution |$d$| A task (a distribution over |$Z$| ) |$k$| The number of source tasks |$m$| The number of samples for each source task |$U$| A finite set of distributions; usually |$U=\{d_1,\ldots,d_k\}$| or |$U=\{p_1,\ldots,p_k\}$| |${\mathcal E}'$| A set of distributions over |${\mathcal X}$| |${\mathcal E}$| An environment, a set of tasks |${\rm prob}_p(X)\text { or } p(X)$| The probability of a set |$X$| in the distribution |$p$| |$\mathbb {P,E}$| The probability and expectation operators |$\mathbb {P}[X\,|\,Y], \mathbb {E}[X\,|\,Y]$| The conditional probability and expectation |${\mathcal D}[K]$| or just |${\mathcal D}$| A distribution over distributions (see Definitions 3 and 4) |$K$| The subject of a factory |$s=\{z_1,\ldots,z_m\}$| Data of |$m$| examples |$\forall i: z_i \in Z$| |$S=(s_{[1,k]},s_t)$| |$k$| source data sets |$s_1,\ldots,s_k$| (of same size) and one target data set |$s_t$| |$o=\{x_1,\ldots,x_m\}$| Data of |$m$| instances |$\forall i: x_i \in {\mathcal X}$| |$O=(o_{[1,k]},o_t)$| Data of |$k$| of unlabeled source data sets |$o_1,\ldots,o_k$| (of same size) and one target data set |$o_t$| |$S\sim {\mathcal D}[k,m,n]$| Data set |$S$| according to the factory |${\mathcal D}$| with sizes |$\forall i\in [k]:|s_i|=m$| and |$|s_t|=n$| |$S\sim {\mathcal D}[k,m]$| Source data set |$S$| according to the factory |${\mathcal D}$| with sizes |$\forall i\in [k]:|s_i|=m$| |$U\sim {\mathcal D}[k]$| Set of tasks of size |$k$| taken from |${\mathcal D}$| |$d\sim {\mathcal D}$| A task taken from |${\mathcal D}$| |${\mathcal H}$| A hypothesis class (in the supervised case, a set of functions |${\mathcal X}\rightarrow {\mathcal Y}$| ) |$c$| A concept; an item of |${\mathcal H}$| |$\mathscr {C}$| A hypothesis class family; a set of subsets in |${\mathcal H}$| such that |${\mathcal H}= \bigcup _{B\in \mathscr {C}}B$| |$B$| A bias; i.e., |$B\in \mathscr {C}$| (and |$B\subset {\mathcal H}$| ) |$N$| An algorithm that outputs hypothesis classes |$A$| An algorithm that outputs concepts |$r(s)$| The application of an algorithm |$r$| on data |$s$| |$\ell :{\mathcal H}\times Z \rightarrow \mathbb {R}$| A loss function 0–1 loss |$\ell (c,(x,y))=([c(x)=y]=\text {true})$| squared loss |$\ell (c,(x,y))=(c(x)-y)^2/2$| |$T$| A learning setting; usually |$T=({\mathcal H},Z,\ell )$| |$T_{PB}$| A PAC-Bayes setting; usually |$T_{TB}=(T,{\mathcal Q},p)$| |$\mathscr {T}$| A transfer learning setting; usually |$\mathscr {T}=(T,\mathscr {C},{\math |
breaking the law or contradicting your personal values becomes a more viable option.
Bundles of heroin (Photo via)
I spoke to Nick, who is currently facilitating the supply of another person's drugs, to get his perspective on the situation.
When I asked how the relationship came about, he said: "I live in a house with three other people who inject drugs, so as a household we get a lot of people asking us to score for them, inject their drugs or just have a smoke. I declined the first time [the person I inject] asked, and one of the other people I live with did it for her as a one-off, but she came back the following day."
I asked what changed his mind. "If I'm honest, I didn't have anything and couldn't afford to turn down the drugs," he replied. "At first, the continuous stream of heroin was enough to keep me doing it, but she started expecting me to give her a few [hits] throughout the day."
I wondered whether he'd grown used to injecting the woman - if it wasn't something that bothered him by this point. "It's tricky, because I'm still doing it, but it makes me feel like shit," he said. "I've wanted to say no, but when it comes to it, I can't. When I'm not feeling good myself, I've found it impossible to turn down a bag; everything else seems to go out of the window.
"The idea that I'm being bought is hard to accept," he continued. "To be honest, I'm sick of the whole thing - I don't want to put holes in myself, never mind someone else."
(Photo courtesy of the author)
Currently, I can inject myself, so I haven't recently been forced to find anyone to help me. That, of course, can't be said for everyone, with some stuck in a cycle of obtaining twice the amount of money, buying twice the amount of drugs and tracking down someone every day to inject them.
So what can be done to reduce the potential harm? One resolution would be to introduce supervised injecting sites throughout the UK, like the facilities in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. But considering drugs services here seem to be hung up on treating heroin addiction with methadone - subsequently leaving many addicts with a whole new addiction - that doesn't seem like a particularly likely outcome.
A related issue that also needs addressing is being addicted to the injecting itself. I've known people, for instance, who've given up heroin but continue to inject water into their veins. And when I asked Joy whether she'd ever considered smoking instead of injecting, she said: "I've never smoked it, and I don't think I could stop 'digging'. It's such a big part of my addiction that I wonder if I'm punishing myself through some unusual form of self harm, which I'm sure would be minimised if I could do it myself."
For long-term injecting drug users, the process of actually preparing the drugs becomes an intense, integral part of their lives. This can be linked to a release of dopamine in the brain when they handle the paraphernalia - a phenomenon known as "stimulus-conditioning". However, that's something that can only really be treated with time and therapy.
For me, the way forward is through specialist counselling, like cognitive behavioural therapy, and abstinence-based recovery. It's not having the drugs - or having them and not knowing how to inject them - that's at the root of this specific issue. So learning to live without drugs should be the quickest route to recovery, instead of substituting one highly addictive drug for another, as is the case with methadone treatment.
Unfortunately, that's obviously a lot easier said than done.
Below are a number of services that can help heroin addicts in the UK seek treatment:
lifeline.org.uk / drugscope.org.uk / addaction.org.uk / actiononaddiction.org.uk
More stories about heroin addiction:
Britain Needs to Give Heroin Addicts Something More Than Methadone
Buy 'Illegal!' Magazine So Its Vendors Can Buy More Drugs
Myanmar's Heroin Addicts Are Plagued by Cheap Drugs and Conspiracy TheoriesThis one, penned by Yahoo! movie blogger Will Leitch, drops tomorrow at 7 a.m. so the mag has started to send out embargoed teases to other media outlets to get the buzziest buzz going on this thing but, shit, why wait 12 hours for the good stuff? You'll read it all tomorrow on GQ's website, right? Promise? Good. So let's trot out the semi-controversial quotes from Mike Vick guaranteed to get another dog-related headline pulsating across America's newswires tomorrow.(PHOTO: Deviantart)
...Vick on how the only people that still seem to care about the dog-fighting are reporters:
"They are writing as if everyone feels that way and has the same opinions they do. But when I go out in public, it's all positive, so that's obviously not true." The media, Vick implies, still act as though he used to sneak into suburban yards, steal golden retrievers, and set them on fire. As if he were a lone actor, a single rampaging menace, a canine serial killer with no context, motivation, or backstory. As if he is the only person in America associated with dogfighting.
...on people not understanding where he comes from:
"Yeah, you got the family dog and the white picket fence, and you just think that's all there is. Some of us had to grow up in poverty-stricken urban neighborhoods, and we just had to adapt to our environment. I know that it's wrong. But people act like it's some crazy thing they never heard of. They don't know." I ask Vick if he feels that white people simply don't understand that aspect of black culture. "I think that's accurate," he says. "I mean, I was just one of the ones who got exposed, and because of the position I was in, where I was in my life, it went mainstream. A lot of people got out of it after my situation, not because I went to prison but because it was sad for them to see me go through something that was so pointless, that could have been avoided."
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...on prison:
"One day in prison is too long," he says.
Yes, but I mean for this particular crime.
He sighs. I'm not the first person who's tried to lead him down this road. "For a while, it was all ‘Scold Mike Vick, scold Mike Vick, just talk bad about him, like he's not a person,' " he says. "It's almost as if everyone wanted to hate me. But what have I done to anybody? It was something that happened, and it was people trying to make some money."
...on dogs:
"But it's not fair. It's not fair to the animal. I know what to do now. I am strong as an individual, and I can handle anything." "I miss dogs, man," he says. "I always had a family pet, always had a dog growing up. It was almost equivalent to the prison sentence, having something taken away from me for three years. I want a dog just for the sake of my kids, but also me. I miss my companions."
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Those are great and everything but here's the one that really sticks out to me:
Michael Vick on not originally wanting to come to Philly:
"I think I can say this now, because it's not going to hurt anybody's feelings, and it's the truth... I didn't want to come to Philadelphia. Being the third-team quarterback is nothing to smile about. Cincinnati and Buffalo were better options." Those two teams wanted him and would've allowed him to start, but after meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell and other reps from the NFL, Vick was convinced—and granted league approval—to sign with Philly. "And I commend and thank them, because they put me in the right situation."
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So can we presume that Michael Vick was forbidden from signing with Cincy or Buffalo for big-time starter money two seasons ago because Goodell and other NFL parole officers thought he should serve more probation as a third-stringer on the Eagles instead? Because I'd be irked by that if I were a fan of either one of those teams if that were the case.
Thankfully, I'm not, and instead get to enjoy another season of watching The Best Football Player In The Universe Ever do his fancy wiggle-and-chuck routine for 900 yards and 17 touchdowns per game. That is until his knee gets demolished in Week 3. Then we'll have to replay this redemption song again next year when Vince Young is featured in GQ's pigskin issue after his remarkable comeback season with the Eagles gives him a second chance to be a Super Bowl-winning black Hall of Fame quarterback.Campaign aides have convinced the Democratic presidential candidate that the stigma associated with the label may be cutting him off from voters who do not think a socialist is electable, according to CNN
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Advisors said Sanders began writing a speech Tuesday that he plans to give before the second Democratic primary debate in early November.
“He needs to reassure voters, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire, that they will be nominating someone who does have a real chance of winning,” Sanders strategist Tad Devine told the network Thursday.
“The idea that this word is going to get in the way of voting for him, we’re going to expose it for what it is,” Devine continued. "That this discussion over the term will not stop him as a candidate.”
The speech will explain how his political philosophy has influenced his record in Congress and how government programs such as Social Security and Medicare make a difference in the lives of Americans.
Sanders has taken small steps on the campaign trail recently to outline his political philosophy.
“When you go to your public library, when you call your fire department or the police department, what do you think you’re calling?” he said Sunday in Iowa. “These are socialist institutions.”Manchester United have agreed a deal with PSV Eindhoven for Netherlands forward Memphis Depay, both clubs have confirmed.
Depay, 21, played under current United boss Louis van Gaal for Netherlands at the 2014 World Cup, and with 21 goals he is the Eredivisie's top scorer this season as PSV claimed the title.
PSV sporting director Marcel Brands said on the Dutch side's official website that his club were "very proud" of the transfer.
He added: "Memphis has come through all the PSV youth teams and has played an important part in securing the Eredivisie title this year.
"He is a wonderful product of our training facilities and will be making the move to a wonderful club in a wonderful league.
"In a sporting sense, we are obviously losing a fantastic player who is of great value to the team, but PSV is happy to allow him to make this wonderful step."
OFFICIAL: PSV has reached an agreement with Manchester United for the transfer of Memphis. #psv #memphis @ManUtd - PSV (English) (@psveindhoven) May 7, 2015
Manchester United have also confirmed the transfer, which is subject to the player passing a medical.
#mufc has reached an agreement with PSV Eindhoven & Memphis Depay for the player's transfer, subject to a medical. pic.twitter.com/RdrJglzQGv - Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 7, 2015
A statement on the English club's official website read: "Manchester United has reached agreement with PSV Eindhoven and Memphis Depay for the player's transfer, subject to a medical, once the transfer window opens in June."
Neither club confirmed the fee, but De Telegraaf reports that United have agreed to pay €30 million.
Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool had also tried to sign Depay and PSG had said last week that they had edged ahead of United in their pursuit of the forward, but he now looks set to become Van Gaal's first summer signing.
He was given his Netherlands debut by Van Gaal and scored in the World Cup matches against Australia and Chile last summer, when he was nominated for the award of the best young player in the tournament.
Depay, a winger who can also operate as a centre-forward, will give United more competition on the flanks, where record signing Angel Di Maria, Juan Mata, Ashley Young and Adnan Januzaj can also play.
Another United winger, Nani, has spent the season on loan at Sporting Lisbon and has said he is unsure what his future holds.
United are also expected to try to sign a right-back and a central defender but received a blow in their pursuit of Gareth Bale when the Wales international's agent, Jonathan Barnett, said the winger is determined to stay at Real Madrid.There are more than 400 National Park Service sites across America, including national parks, national seashores and national battlefields.
The Rice family of Atlanta — a proud Scouting bunch — is on a mission to visit every single one.
In celebration of this year’s 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, it seems an appropriate time to check in on their progress.
As of this writing, there are 413 National Park Service sites on the always-growing list. That includes 59 national parks, 84 national monuments, 78 national historic sites and more places deemed worthy of recognition and preservation. (See the complete list in this PDF.)
The Rice family has visited 216 sites — more than half.
Each summer, they hop into the car and try to see 25 new locations. At that rate, it could be eight years before they reach their goal — or longer when you realize some of these sites are in far-off places like Alaska, Guam and American Samoa.
Thankfully, the Rices know the magic is found in the experiences and family bonding along the way — not in hurriedly checking boxes off a list.
They don’t simply drive to the entrance sign, snap a photo and move on. They savor each moment.
That’s the right attitude, and it’s why they’re calling this journey “Fall Back in Love with America.” The effort even has its own Facebook page with more than 8,000 likes.
For more, I checked in with Andrea Rice, a “proud Scout mom,” to see how things are going so far.
On the road again
How’s this for refreshingly different? On the Rice road trip, the kids look away from their screens and out into the real world.
Each family member uses his or her area of interest and expertise to enhance the experience.
“We have the global navigator with a side interest in geography and geology. We have the cultural anthropologist, the budding scientist and the archaeologist and the wanna-be architect,” Andrea says. “That comes out during the car ride to different locations as we prep the boys for what we’re about to see or they share with us something related they’ve learned in school or in Scouts. We’re all learning together and teaching each other.”
In the front there’s mom Andrea and dad Barton, a den leader and assistant Scoutmaster. In the back you’ll find First Class Scout Nicholas and Wolf Cub Scout John Patrick.
“The best part is spending so much time as a family and experiencing all of these new things together,” Andrea says. “Some people cringe at the idea of being in confined quarters with their kids and the dog and everyone for weeks at a time, but we really do love it.”
Scouting connections
This journey might not be possible without Scouting’s strong foundation.
Time in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts has helped the Rice family better understand the world around them. It has helped them Be Prepared for road travel. And, yes, it has helped them stay sane on the road.
“Scouts gives us a strong appreciation for nature — both in how to respect it and take care of it but also how to survive in it,” Andrea says. “We’re constantly applying different aspects of the Scout Law while on the road. … Be thrifty when planning the trip. Be helpful in unloading bags every night. Be courteous, kind and clean when we’re on the road for seven hours a day. Be friendly and reverent when interacting with Rangers and other people at the parks.”
As the boys earn their Junior Ranger badges at the sites, Andrea sees more Scouting ties.
“In some ways, Scouts and the Ranger program are perfect complements to one another,” she says.
Photos from the journeyShare. Big ticket racer’s British debut well behind the pace set by its 2010 predecessor. Big ticket racer’s British debut well behind the pace set by its 2010 predecessor.
UK Chart-Track figures have revealed that Gran Turismo 6’s first week sales are lagging considerably behind those of Gran Turismo 5. Chart-Track points out the latter sold “close to five times the amount shown for GT6.”
GT6 entered the All Formats Top 10 at 8, eclipsed by Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed IV, GTA V, LEGO Marvel and Just Dance 2014. GT6 entered the individual formats Top 10 at 3 behind Call of Duty: Ghosts on Xbox 360 and on PS3 (at positions 1 and 2 respectively). GT6 was the only new entry.
Several factors to consider are that GT5 was released on a Wednesday in Europe (November 24, 2010) and GT6 was released on a Friday. Also, GT6 was released a week after the launch of PS4. Still, it’s quite a deficit.
Gran Turismo 5 has exceeded sales of 10 million units. Almost half of those sales have been in Europe.
You can check out our review of Gran Turismo 6 here.
Exit Theatre Mode
Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can find him on IGN here or on Twitter @MrLukeReilly, or chat with him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band originated from Chicago's hardcore punk scene, with which all members were involved at one point. The group was formed by Wentz and Trohman as a pop punk side project of the members' respective hardcore bands, and Stump joined shortly thereafter. The group went through a succession of drummers before landing Hurley and recording the group's debut album, Take This to Your Grave (2003). The album became an underground success and helped the band gain a dedicated fanbase through heavy touring, as well as some moderate commercial success. Take This to Your Grave has commonly been cited as an influential blueprint for pop punk music in the 2000s.
2001–2002: Early years
Fall Out Boy was formed in 2001 in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Illinois by friends Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman. Wentz was a "visible fixture" of the relatively small Chicago hardcore punk scene of the late 1990s, performing in various groups such as Birthright, Extinction and First Born, as well the metalcore band Arma Angelus and the more political Racetraitor, "a band that managed to land the covers of Maximumrocknroll and Heartattack fanzines before releasing a single note of music".[3] Wentz was growing dissatisfied with the changing mores of the community, which he viewed as a transition from political activism to an emphasis on moshing and breakdowns.[3] With enthusiasm in Arma Angelus waning, he created a pop punk side project with Trohman as an "easy and escapist" project.[3] Trohman met Patrick Stump, then a drummer for grindcore band Xgrinding processX[4] and a host of other bands that "never really managed", at a Borders bookstore in Wilmette.[5] While discussing Neurosis with a friend, Stump interrupted the conversation to correct their classification of the band in a conversation that soon shifted to the new band.[5] Stump, viewing it as an opportunity to try out with "local hardcore celebrity" Wentz, directed Trohman to his MP3.com page, which contained sung-through acoustic recordings.[5] Stump intended to try out as a drummer, but Trohman urged him to bring out his acoustic guitar; he impressed the duo with songs from Saves the Day's Through Being Cool. While Wentz wanted Racetraitor bandmate Andy Hurley in the group as drummer, Hurley appeared uninterested and too busy.[5]
The band's first public performance came in a cafeteria at DePaul University alongside Stilwell and another group that performed Black Sabbath in its entirety.[6] The band's only performance with guitarist John Flamandan and original drummer Ben Rose was in retrospect described as "goofy" and "bad", but Trohman made an active effort to make the band work, picking up members for practice.[6] Wentz and Stump argued over band names; the former favored verbose, tongue-in-cheek names while the latter desired to reference Tom Waits in name.[6] After creating a short list of names that included "Fall Out Boy", a fictional character from The Simpsons and Bongo Comics, friends voted on the name. The band's second performance, at a southern Illinois university with The Killing Tree, began with Wentz introducing the band under a name Stump recalled as "very long".[6] According to Stump, an audience member yelled out, "Fuck that, no, you're Fall Out Boy!", and the band were credited later in the show under that name by Killing Tree frontman Tim McIlrath. As the group looked up to McIlrath, and Trohman and Stump were "die-hard" Simpsons fans, the name stuck.[6][7] The group's first cassette tape demo was recorded in Rose's basement, but the band later set off for Wisconsin to record a proper demo with 7 Angels 7 Plagues drummer Jared Logan, whom Wentz knew through connections in the hardcore scene.[6]
Several more members passed through the group, including drummer Mike Pareskuwicz of Subsist and guitarist T.J. "Racine" Kunasch.[6] While Stump at this point felt uninterested in the group, Wentz was, according to Uprising Records owner Sean Muttaqi, viewing the group as "the thing that would make him famous. He had a clear vision."[6] Wentz was "singularly focused on taking things to the next level", and threw the band into promotion via early social media. Muttaqi got word of the demo and wanted to release half of it as a split extended play with Hurley's band Project Rocket, which the band viewed as competition.[6] Uprising desired to release an album with the emerging band, which to that point had only written three songs. With the help of Logan, the group attempted to put together a collection of songs in two days, and recorded them as Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girlfriend. The rushed recording experience and underdeveloped songs left the band dissatisfied.[6] When the band set off to Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin to record three songs for a possible split 7-inch with 504 Plan, engineer Sean O'Keefe suggested the band record the trio with Hurley.[8] Hurley was also recording an EP with his new group the Kill Pill in Chicago the same day, but raced to Madison to lay down drums for Fall Out Boy. "It was still a fill-in thing but when Andy sat in, it just felt different. It was one of those "a-ha" moments", recalled Wentz.[8]
2003–2004: Early success and Take This to Your Grave
The band booked a two-week tour with Spitalfield, but Pareskuwicz was unable to get time off from work and Kunasch was kicked out of the band as the group "had all gotten sick of him".[8] Kunasch was temporarily replaced by friend Brandon Hamm on guitar, alongside drummer Chris Envy from the recently disbanded Showoff, but both quit prior to the kickoff of the tour.[8] The band invited Hurley instead to fill-in once more, while Stump borrowed one of Trohman's guitars for the trek. While most shows were cancelled, the band played any show possible: "Let's just get on whatever show we can. You can pay us in pizza", remembered Wentz.[8] As the tour concluded, the general consensus was that Hurley would be the band's new drummer, and the band began to shop around the three songs from the group's unreleased split as a demo to record labels. The band members set their sights on pop punk labels, and attempted with considerable effort to join Drive-Thru Records.[9] A showcase for label co-founders went largely mediocre, and the band were offered to sign to side label Rushmore, an offer that the members of the band declined. They got particularly far in discussions with The Militia Group and Victory Records, and Bob McLynn of Crush Management became the band's first manager.[10] The band re-entered the studio with O'Keefe to record several more tracks to create label interest. Wentz felt "in the backseat" in writing the songs and temporarily questioned his place in the group, but Stump argued in his favor: "No! That's not fair! Don't leave me with this band! Don't make me kind of like this band and then leave it! That's bullshit!"[10]
The band's early tour vehicle was a "tiny V6 that was running on three cylinders, and it was not getting enough air, so it would drive really slowly", recalled Wentz. "We had to turn on the hot air to reach the speed limit, so we had the heat on all the time in 120-degree weather. It was so hot it melted the plastic molding around the windows. When it rained, we'd get all wet."[7] John Janick of Fueled by Ramen had heard an early version of a song online and cold-called the band members at their apartment, first reaching Stump and later talking to Wentz for an hour.[10] Rob Stevenson from Island Records eventually offered the band a "first-ever incubator sort of deal", in which they gave the band money to sign with Fueled by Ramen for the group's one-off debut, knowing they could "upstream" the band to radio on the sophomore record.[10] Fueled by Ramen, at the time the smallest of independent labels clamoring to sign the band, would effectively release the group's debut album and help build the band's ever-expanding fanbase before the group moved to Island.[10] The band again partnered with O'Keefe at Smart Studios, bringing together the three songs from the demo and recording an additional seven songs in nine days. The band, according to Stump, didn't "sleep anywhere that we could shower [...] There was a girl that Andy's girlfriend at the time went to school with who let us sleep on her floor, but we'd be there for maybe four hours at a time. It was crazy."[11][12] As the band progressed and the members' roles became more defined, Wentz took lyrics extremely seriously in contrast to Stump, who had been the group's primary lyricist up to that point.[13] Arguments during the recording sessions led to what "most reductively boils down to Wentz writing the lyrics and Stump writing the melodies".[5]
The band's debut album, Take This to Your Grave, was issued by Fueled by Ramen in May 2003. Previously, one of the band's earliest recordings, Evening Out with Your Girlfriend, had not seen release until shortly before Grave in March 2003, when the band had gained considerable momentum. "Our record was something being rushed out to help generate some interest, but that interest was building before we could even get the record out", said Sean Muttaqi.[14] The band actively tried to stop Uprising from releasing the recordings (as the band's relationship with Muttaqi had grown sour), as the band viewed it as a "giant piece of garbage" recorded before Hurley's involvement that the band members ceased to consider the debut album of the group.[14] Gradually, the band's fanbase grew in size as the label pushed for the album's mainstream success. According to Wentz, shows began to end in a near-riot and the group were banned from several venues because the entire crowd would end up onstage.[15] The band gained positive reviews for subsequent gigs at South by Southwest (SXSW) and various tour appearances.[16] The band joined the Warped Tour for five dates in the summer of 2004, and on one date the band had only performed three songs when the stage collapsed due to the large crowd.[15] The band appeared on the cover of the August 2004 edition of Alternative Press, and listening stations at Hot Topic partially helped the album move 2,000-3,000 copies per week by Christmas 2004, at which point the label considered the band "tipping" into mainstream success.[15]
2005–2006: From Under the Cork Tree
Fall Out Boy performing in 2006
The band had been flooded with "hyperbolic praise", and deemed "the next big thing" by multiple media outlets.[17] Before recording the follow-up to its debut, the band released the acoustic EP/DVD My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue. The EP was the band's first charting on the Billboard 200 at number 153. From Under the Cork Tree was recorded in Burbank, California, and served as the first time the band had stayed in California for an extended period of time.[18] The group lived in corporate housing during the making of the album.[18] In contrast to Take This to Your Grave's rushed recording schedule, Fall Out Boy took a much more gradual pace while working on From Under the Cork Tree. It was the first Fall Out Boy record in which Stump created all the music and Wentz wrote all the lyrics, continuing the approach they took for some songs on Grave. Stump felt that this process was much more "smooth" as every member was able to focus on his individual strengths.[19] He explained: "We haven't had any of those moments when I play the music and he'll say, 'I don't like that,' and he'll read me lyrics and I'll say, 'I don't like those lyrics.' It's very natural and fun."[19] Despite this, the band had great difficulty creating its desired sound for the album, constantly scrapping new material. Two weeks before recording sessions began, the group abandoned ten songs and wrote eight more, including the album's first single, "Sugar, We're Goin Down".[17]
The band suffered a setback, however, when Wentz had an emotional breakdown in February 2005, culminating in a suicide attempt. He had withdrawn from the rest of the group, with his condition only apparent through his lyrics, and had also become obsessed with the recent Indian tsunami and his own self-doubt.[20] "It is particularly overwhelming when you are on the cusp of doing something very big and thinking that it will be a big flop", he said later. Wentz swallowed a handful of Ativan anxiety pills (he described the act as "hypermedicating") in the Chicago Best Buy parking lot.[20] After being rushed to the hospital and having his stomach pumped, Wentz moved back home to Wilmette to live with his parents.[20]
From Under the Cork Tree debuted and peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200 upon its May 2005 release. It was spearheaded by the band's breakthrough single, "Sugar, We're Goin' Down", reached number eight in the US Billboard Hot 100 in September 2005, and in the UK chart in February 2006, crossing over from Alternative to Pop radio.[20] "Dance, Dance", the album's second single, also was a top ten hit in the United States and was certified 3x Platinum in 2014.[16] The record's success led to stardom among teenagers in North America, and the band's first arena tour had the group playing to 10,000 people per night.[20] Rolling Stone wrote that the band's "anthems", distributed and marketed through their MySpace, connected with "skinny-jeans-wearing teen girls".[21] In support of From Under the Cork Tree, the band toured exhaustively with international tours, TRL visits, late-night television appearances and music award shows.[16] The band performed at music festivals in 2005 and 2006, including the third Nintendo Fusion Tour in the fall of 2005, joining The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out, and Panic! at the Disco on a 31 city tour.[22] The album earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist,[16] and has sold over 2.7 million copies in the United States, becoming the group's best-selling album.[20] "Sugar, We're Goin Down" also won the band an MTV Music Video Award.[23]
2007: Infinity on High
[16] Pete Wentz (shown in May 2007) became the band's spokesman and a tabloid fixture in the mid-2000s.
In the wake of the band's multiplatinum success, the "especially extroverted" Wentz became the most publicly visible member of the band.[16][21] He confided to the press his suicide attempt and nude photos of the bassist appeared on the Internet in 2006.[21] He gained additional exposure through his clothing line, his Decaydance record label (an imprint of Fueled by Ramen), and eventually a celebrity relationship with pop singer Ashlee Simpson, which made the two tabloid fixtures in the United States.[16][21][24] Due to its increased success from the group's MTV Video Music Award, the group headlined the Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour, a pop punk event that featured The All-American Rejects, Well-Known Secret, Hawthorne Heights, and From First to Last. The tour also featured The Hush Sound for half of the tour and October Fall for half. The band played to 53 dates in the U.S., Canada, and the UK.[25]
After taking a two-month-long break following the band's Black Clouds and Underdogs tour in promotion of the band's 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree, Fall Out Boy returned to the studio to begin work on a follow-up effort.[26] The band began writing songs for the new album while touring, and intended to quickly make a new album in order to keep momentum in the wake of its breakthrough success.[27] In early 2007, the group released its third studio album, Infinity on High, which was the band's second release on major label Island. The album marked a departure in Fall Out Boy's sound in which the band implemented a diverse array of musical styles including funk, R&B, and flamenco.[26][28] As reported by Billboard, Fall Out Boy "drifts further from its hardcore punk roots to write increasingly accessible pop tunes", a slight departure from the group's previous more pop punk sound predominant on their 2003 effort, Take This to Your Grave.[29]
Infinity's first week was a major success and was the band's biggest selling week, selling 260,000 copies to debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200[30][31] and inside the top five worldwide. This charting was first started with lead single "The Carpal Tunnel of Love", with minor success on the Billboard charts.[32] This success was bolstered by the further-successful second single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", which reached No. 2 in both the US and UK as well as the top five in many other countries.[33] On the band's decision to pick the song as a single, Wentz commented "There may be other songs on the record that would be bigger radio hits, but this one had the right message."[34] "Thnks fr th Mmrs", the third single, peaked just outside the top 10 at No. 11 on the strength of sales and popular radio play, and went on to sell over two million copies in the US.[35] It found its greatest success in Australia where it charted at No. 3. In 2007, Fall Out Boy placed at No. 9 in the Top Selling Digital Artists chart with 4,423,000 digital tracks sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[36] The album itself has sold over two million copies worldwide and subsequently was certified Platinum in the United States.[37]
Fall Out Boy then headlined the 2007 Honda Civic Tour to promote the album. Though the tour was initially postponed due to personal issues,[38] it would take place with +44, Cobra Starship, The Academy Is... and Paul Wall as supporting acts. The band also headlined the Young Wild Things Tour, an international arena tour featuring Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T's and Cute Is What We Aim For.[39] Inspired by Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book Where the Wild Things Are, the concert tour and included sets designed by artist Rob Dobi containing images from the book.[39] The band's "hugely successful" amphitheater tour to promote Infinity led to the release of the 2008 live album Live in Phoenix, consisting of live material recorded during a June 22, 2007, concert at Phoenix's Cricket Wireless Pavilion, a date of the Honda Civic Tour. The disc also a studio cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It", with guitarist John Mayer guesting for a guitar solo. The track was released as a single and became a mainstay on the iTunes top ten.[40]
2008–2009: Folie à Deux
The band members decided to keep publicity down during the recording of their fourth album, as the group was taken aback by such press surrounding Infinity on High.[40] Sessions proved to be difficult for the band as Wentz started taking LSD when Zach Blair lead guitarist for Rise Against made him try it at a party in April 2008. The goal in Wentz using LSD was to hope it would influence his songwriting, but it just made him distracted from writing songs, which annoyed Stump, so he stopped using LSD in August 2008. Wentz later said he had taken LSD over 50 times.[41] Stump called the making of the album "painful", noting that he and Wentz quarreled over many issues, revealing "I threw something across the room over a major-to-minor progression."[41] On previous albums, Trohman felt he and Hurley did not have enough musical freedom and that Stump and Wentz exerted too much control over the group: "I felt, 'Man, this |
my estimation, a doubling down by certain elites in an effort to control the aftermath of what they have created for or imposed on the rest of us, through unchecked and uninvestigated government waste and crony capitalist insider deals that violate the public trust and are leading to the erosion of the vibrancy of the historic metropolis.
ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION PLAN FOR NYC IS NOT INCLUSIVE OR VISIONARY
You see, the greedy crony capitalist pigs like Bill Rudin - “GOD’S Special Little Creature” and the politicians he owns like Christine Quinn and Senator Tom Duane, along with the societal elites enabling them on the City Planning Commission have no economic plan beyond hoping to turn New York City into some hollow elitist utopia of high rise luxury condos in prolific glass towers in neighborhood's extracted of their essential character. Their simple plan is to lure the super rich from around the world to our metropolis by positioning New York as a hedonistic playground for the clueless, the soul less and the immoral. Under the guise of modernization and advancing societal interests but with no regard for historic communities like Greenwich Village, they will tear down landmark buildings, including humanitarian hospitals, public schools and other properties zoned for community use to build luxury towers. Enabled by Christine Quinn's so called 'Affordable Housing' Plan which was rightfully called nothing more than a 'Multi-Billion Dollar Giveaway' to Developers, they will destroy the fabric of what was once the greatest city in the world to enrich themselves and build their 'Golden Calf' or Tower(s) of Babel. Christine Quinn is their agent; the ‘Devil’s Advocate’
DESECRATION OF ST. VINCENT’S: A NY LANDMARK COMMUNITY MEDICAL CENTER
'Pontificating Poseur & Societal Elite Windbag' - Senator Tom Duane – an opportunistic and self professed LGBT hero and his protégé in identity politics, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn enabled her crony capitalist sponsor, Bill Rudin of Rudin Management and the Rudin Family to seize St. Vincent’s Hospital, the epicenter of the AIDS Crisis, for pennies on the dollar so he could build the Rudin Family Luxury Blood Condos: a luxury high rise that will dwarf all currently existing buildings in the area on a land which had long been zoned for community use. Now because of this, the entire West Side of Manhattan south of 59th St. has no hospital.
TRADING ONE SET OF GANGSTERS FOR ANOTHER: The Problem with Rigged Games to Benefit Societal Elites
WHO is Bill Rudin? Is he a Philanthropist, the Ultimate Political Insider, a Backroom Dealer, a Criminal Crony Capitalist, a Real Estate Mafia Boss or all of the above?
Consider that of the top five or ten families of Real Estate Development in New York City and of those among the 'Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate', none of them interfered with Bill Rudin's plans to acquire or destroy St. Vincent's Hospital, a 160 year old landmark medical treatment facility that provided critical humanitarian care to New Yorkers in one crisis after another. The property was a steal obtained at pennies on the dollar. Why didn’t they bid or compete with Rudin Management in its acquisition of St. Vincent’s? Ask yourself? Perhaps because they know he will have the next Mayor’s ear like he had this one’s and as the head of ABNY – the Association for a Better New York, the Mafia Boss can dole out favors for his friends without them getting their hands dirty. Gangster right? Joseph Bonanno would have been impressed with this kind or organization and attention to detail. This kind of crony capitalism insures a massive financial windfall to a crooked backroom dealer and his family enterprise but defrauds a hospital and its creditors making it unable to obtain a more competitive purchase price. The community loses a critical care facility but Rudin gets richer in an instant while we as a society are poorer as a result. This is NOT ‘Capitalism’ but rather is Criminal "Crony Capitalism" or simply organized crime, not far different than these other legendary Five Families of New York City.
“GOD’S SPECIAL LITTLE CREATURE” – BILL RUDIN of the Rudin Family Real Estate Dynasty: Where are New York’s Serious Journalists? SOMEONE – ANYONE? Perhaps a “SERIOUS JOURNALIST” should do some investigative reporting. DIG a little and ask:
"What was the financial situation of the RUDIN Real Estate Dynasty immediately prior to the deal to collapse St. Vincent’s Hospital and turnover property zoned for Community Use to the Rudin Real Estate Family?"
HUH? Speak to me? Rumor has it that they needed to steal St. Vincent's to remain afloat financially because the spendthrift clan of trustafarian's and philanthropic poseurs were running their empire into the ground with their decadent and indulgent lifestyles. So they offer up a 160 year old Landmark Humanitarian Medical Treatment Center, a critical care facility and trauma center that was at the epicenter of the AIDS Crisis, so Mr. Rudin, the man who runs an entity called ABNY – Association For A Better New York could save his clan. Maybe Bill Rudiin, just like Eddie Barzoon (in the Devil’s Advocate) is "God's Special Little Creature". As stated by John Milton
Eddie Barzoon! Eddie Barzoon! Ha! I nursed him through two divorces, a cocaine rehab, and a pregnant receptionist. God's creature, right? God's special creature. I've warned him, Kevin. I've warned him every step of the way. Watching him bounce around like a fucking game. Like a wind-up toy. Like 250 pounds of self-serving greed on wheels. The next thousand years is right around the corner. Eddie Barzoon... take a good look, because he's the poster child for the next millennium. These people, it's no mystery where they come from. "You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire. You build egos the size of cathedrals. Fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse. Grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green gold-plated fantasies until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own god. Where can you go from there? As we're scrambling from one deal to the next, who's got his eye on the planet? As the air thickens, the water sours, even bees' honey takes on the metallic taste of radioactivity... and it just keeps coming, faster and faster. There's no chance to think, to prepare; it's buy futures, sell futures... when there is no future. We got a runaway train, boy. We got a billion Eddie Barzoon's all jogging into the future. Every one of them is getting ready to fist-fuck God's ex-planet, lick their fingers clean, as they reach out toward their pristine, cybernetic keyboards to tote up their fucking billable hours. And then it hits home. You got to pay your own way, Eddie. It's a little late in the game to buy out now. Your belly's too full, your dick is sore, your eyes are bloodshot and you're screaming for someone to help. But guess what — there's no one there! You're all alone, Eddie. You're God's special little creature. Maybe it's true. Maybe God threw the dice once too often. Maybe He let us all down."
"A BETTER NEW YORK” - FOR THE BLOOD THIRSTY RUDIN FAMILY?
Is this what Quinn’s sponsor believes will lead to “A Better New York” – that he trumpets through ABNY – the Association for a Better New York? The best AIDS Memorial is preservation of the hospital and treatment facility at the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic, for its humanity in treating patients not luxury condos in its place. Consider this photo of the gutting of the 160 year old chapel at St. Vincent's Hospital a reminder that Christine Quinn signed off on the up zoning that allowed her real estate donors to demolish the buildings of St. Vincent's Hospital and erect a luxury condo high rise on this land that was zoned for community use.
As reported elsewhere, consider further that on Halloween of 2012 when a reporter asked predator Bill Rudin what he was doing to contribute to Hurricane Relief efforts, the reported stopped short in asking about the emergency hospital evacuations of NYU Langone, Bellevue Hospital, Coler Hospital and the controversial luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital made possible by NYC Council Speaker - Christine Quinn, which left Lower Manhattan and the West Side particularly vulnerable.
Quinn is now taking heat from the LGBT Community including her own Chelsea: District 3, because, her remarks (via mass email) praising Ed Koch upon his death, she didn't acknowledge his failure to address the AIDS Crisis as thousands of gay men were dying. The gay press has not yet mentioned the fact that Christine Quinn actually rewarded Koch for his endorsement, despite his preference for someone other than Quinn, by renaming the Queensboro Bridge after him in exchange for his unwavering support of her Mayoral candidacy. The Council and the public opposed the renaming of that bridge. Yet no real New Yorker I know will ever refer to the Queensboro Bridge as anything other than that or the 59th Street Bridge.
THE BACKLASH IS COMING - Five Borough Citizen Revolt to Block Quinn - the Devil's Advocate
NYC contains 5 Boroughs to the chagrin of Christine Quinn who may like to think that it consists exclusively of London Terrace in Chelsea, the Upper East Side, Tribeca and Wall Street. And New York City even contains folks that you might not meet at high society cocktail parties where they give you awards for simply showing up and being a gay woman. Christine Quinn's Graft, Greed, Self-Dealing, Patent Dishonesty and Anti-Democratic Agenda have led to mainstream grassroots five borough citizens campaign to oust her from city politics. It is a campaign united against the installation of Christine Quinn, the hand chosen puppet and successor of Mike Bloomberg, with the intent to block her from gaining access to City Hall and Gracie Mansion. This is true regardless of the mainstream media's effort to not cover it accurately and honestly. Instead journalistic hacks continue to gloss over the deep and widespread contempt that exists for Christine Quinn across the metropolitan area even in highly progressive democratic circles, within the LGBT Community and within her own district.
CHRISTINE QUINN’S JANE JACOBS PROBLEM
Jane Jacobs, the urban planner, activist and author of among other books 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' prior to her death had warned us about the 'Dark Age Ahead'. The pillars of societal foundation are eroding. We are developing communities without a soul contributing to disconnection between the people and the institutions which were supposed to serve them. Crony Capitalism, insider deals between politicians and civic leaders like those of Quid Pro Quinn and her pay to play politics, helping her friends tear down landmark properties like St. Vincent’s Hospital (see:Rudin Family Luxury Blood Condos) and renaming bridges to obtain endorsements from legendary Mayors like Ed Koch for the Queensboro Bridge, violate the public trust. Quinn is a con-artist without a vision for NYC beyond her own self enrichment and identity politics; everything that Jane Jacobs stood against. Hence perhaps that is why as noted by The Epoch Times: Christine Quinn Protested During Naming of Jane Jacobs Way. See the video.
More on Jane Jacobs – her increasing relevance
Jane Jacobs Walk | MAS - NYC: Jane Jacobs Medal | Jane Jacobs & The Future of New York | MAS Exhibit - The Municipal Art Society and the Rockefeller Foundation present Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York | YouTube: Jacobs | Preservation Institute: Jane Jacobs
Perspective: WNYC: Jane Jacobs Defends Urbanism in 1960's | Helm of the Public Realm: Urban Designer Series, Jane Jacobs | Center For An Urban Future | Micro Apartments are the Future in New York | Sustainable Cities Collective: Urban Designer - Jane Jacobs | Jane Jacobs & the Rebirth of New York | Metropolismag: Jane Jacobs Revisited
Mayor Ed Koch (1924-2013)
KOCH - Zeitgeist Films by Neil Barsky | KOCH (Trailer) | The Atlantic: Ed Koch's New York in Film | NY Times - Edward I. Koch Dies: A 3-Term Mayor as Brash, Shrewd and Colorful as the City He Led | Reason TV: Mayor Ed Koch on Rent Control, his Sexuality, Andrew Cuomo, the Tea Party, Donald Trump | Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge | City Journal: The Last Sane Liberal | WPIX: Ed Koch Dead at 88 | Mayor Koch Honored with Bridge Renaming | Gay City News: Ed Koch 12 Years As Mayor, A Lifetime in the Closet | The Nation: Ed Koch & the Cost of the Closet | New Yorker - Ed Koch & The Politics of the Closet | NY Magazine: Ed Koch - New York’s Last Mayor From Main Street
THE MASK OF SENSITIVITY OR SOCIAL TOLERANCE ON LGBT RIGHTS IS THE NEW COVER FOR CRONY CAPITALISM
WAKE UP my fellow Americans and my fellow New Yorkers to the new political reality. Identity Politics is the new camouflage for corrupt politicians - Democratic Politicians sadly! Too many liberals are being duped by the camouflage of identity politics of abject criminal frauds like Christine Quinn and the retiring and annoyingly verbose, self serving and pontificating windbag -Tom Duane who at one posed as a friend of St. Vincent’s before selling them out along with his protégé Christine Quinn.
As stated by the NY Times: “For more than 150 years, St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan has been a beacon in Greenwich Village, serving poets, writers, artists, winos, the poor and the working-class, and gay people.” If you claim to truly love humanity, community and aspire to a greater sense of cohesiveness and less societal discord and over all well being, don't you think that just maybe the humanitarian medical treatment facility and its staff at St. Vincent's Hospital deserved to be treated with greater dignity, honor and respect than they were accorded by corrupt societal elites after 160 years of service to New Yorkers and after serving as the "epicenter of the AIDS Crisis" in NYC?
The current crop of politicians think that the way you pay back god’s children for their unwavering commitment to the treatment of our citizens is to shut them down, give them a little AIDS Memorial Park and allow predator Bill Rudin, head of Rudin Management, the man who is the front for ABNY - Association For a Better New York to takeover, capitalize on property zoned for community use so he can build luxury condos for celebrities averaging $2,000 a square foot. Yeah Bill, I am sure that the West Village is really better off with no trauma hospital on the Lower West Side. But hey good thing, Rosie O'Donnell will have an $8 Million dollar Penthouse condo where women, children and victims of the 9/11 attacks and the AIDS Epidemic came for treatment. As stated by one thoughtful citizen: “A 168 year old Chapel. Many prayed here. Titanic victims, AIDS patients and their families, 9/11 families. “The alter was snuck out, during the dark of night to a Church in New Jersey a hundred miles from St. Vincent's Hospital Luxury Apartments site. Then Bill Rudin took a wrecking ball to destroy what 4 women started that was St. Vincent's Hospital. He might not be Satan's son, [but surely] he seems to be the Anti-Christ, a true Devil.”
Identity political poseurs where is your sense of loyalty, honor and dignity? Have you no shame? You dispense with rights that the people already have inherently as citizens of this planet as if you are giving children ice cream and cookies. You then look at them as if they should be beholden to you because you have finally gotten around to deciding to no longer oppress them on privacy issues – issues and matters which are none of your f__king business, so you can go ahead an oppress them in multiple other ways. Why should they in any way be beholden to you for simply agreeing that they can love whomever they choose as long as the object of their affection is human and not a minor?FREMONT, CA, USA, May 2, 2017 — NEXTracker™, a Flex company, announced today it has started supplying its advanced single-axis trackers to the largest solar power plant in the Western Hemisphere. This grid-connected project of over 750 megawatts will deliver energy to the Northern Mexico region under a long-term contract. Scheduled to enter commercial operation by mid-2018, NEXTracker has shipped over 200 MW to the project site to date.
“Mexico, along with India, Australia and the Middle East is part of a new wave of renewable energy markets poised for significant growth over the next few years,” said NEXTracker CEO Dan Shugar. “Much of that growth will be supported by single-axis solar tracking technology. NEXTracker’s proven experience, and advanced software and tracker technology, help solar power plants operate more effectively with greater energy gains. With our local manufacturing program, local engineering design expertise and an office in Mexico City, this project has our full support.”
“It is with a sense of pride that we are witnessing in Mexico the installation of the largest solar power plant in the Western Hemisphere,” states Israel Hurtado, General Secretary of ASOLMEX. “The unprecedented scale of this plant, combined with local manufacturing, solar job development and industry leading technology such as NEXTracker’s single-axis trackers, represents a huge boost to help us reach a 35 percent renewable energy target by 2024.”
The plant is designed to generate about 1,700 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy per year, offsetting annual emissions of more than 780,000 tons of CO2. The plant will cover a land area equivalent to that of lower Manhattan amounting to over eight square miles and will generate enough output to power approximately 1.3 million Mexican households.
Mexico’s solar market is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. The country’s energy ministry has recently awarded more than 4 GW of solar projects to independent power producers via the second renewable energy auction following the nation’s energy reform in 2014. Most of the utility-scale projects slated for 2017-2018 in Mexico favor solar tracking due to high insolation and ideal land conditions. As part of the ‘sun belt,’ Mexico receives high annual solar irradiation across 85 percent of the country’s land area.[1]
NEXTracker will manufacture a range of structural, mechanical and electrical components locally for this project. The Company’s proven high quality design, coupled with local deployment, installation and commissioning support, are ideal for solar in Mexico. The tracker’s key drive and electrical components are fully sealed against sand and dust ingress–a critical factor for asset reliability in northern Mexico’s desert climate. Notably, this project features NEXTracker’s new, internally developed SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system. Built on Flex’s cyber-secure connected intelligence platform, the system will provide industry-leading control and data collection and management capabilities, enhancing operational control and analysis of NEXTracker components.
About NEXTracker
NEXTracker, a Flex company, advances the power plant of the future with solar tracker and energy storage innovations to increase performance and reduce costs for all size power plants. As the #1 tracker supplier worldwide with 8 GW under contract, NEXTracker is globally recognized for delivering the most advanced photovoltaic solutions for hundreds of projects across five continents. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Company has offices in China, India, Spain, Latin America, and Australia. For more information, visit: NEXTracker.com and follow the Company on Twitter @NEXTracker.
[1] Energia16, March 28, 2017. http://www.energia16.com/asolmex-boosting-mexicos-solar-energy-market/?lang=enThe Electronic Frontier Foundation's Corynne McSherry looks at the revised version of the Stop Online Piracy Act that is going to markup today, and finds that it does not address the substantive First Amendment issues raised by scholars who've weighed in since its introduction.
First, both bills would still result in the censoring of non-infringing speech. That is because they allow for the blocking of entire websites – even though the site may contain a great deal of perfectly legal speech. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed, “broad prophylactic rules in the area of free expression are suspect... Precision of regulation must be the touchstone in an area so closely touching our most precious freedoms.” As Professor Laurence Tribe puts it, “The First Amendment requires that the government proceed with a scalpel – by prosecuting those who break the law – rather than with the sledgehammer approach of SOPA, which would silence speech across the board.” And if you think the government will at least be precise in choosing which sites to target (not that the Constitutional analysis turns on the government’s good intentions), recall the disgraceful treatment of some of the sites targeted by the government as part of “Operation In Our Sites.”
Second, the bills allow the government to obtain blocking orders without an adversary proceeding, which means that the right of U.S. citizens to receive information from abroad would be denied, without any real test of the merits of the infringement claim. To be clear, this process is unconstitutional even though the originators of the speech are outside of the United States (though, in some cases, the originators could be U.S. residents, e.g., folks posting comments on a foreign site’s forums), because the First Amendment protects our right to receive information as well as send it. Tribe points to a chilling parallel in a Supreme Court case which held that the Post Office could not keep a list of U.S. citizens receiving “communist political propaganda” (which, of course, intimidated those citizens from doing so) even though the “propagandists” were located abroad.Years ago, I got into an intense theological exchange with a fellow student just before one of my graduate classes. I was more or less oblivious to the people around me, to the demands of the classroom, or to time. I was only focused on the discussion. Finally, the professor herself walked out of the room. “Let me know when you’re ready to begin class,” she said. In a flash, I came back to reality deeply embarrassed. How could I be such a jerk?
The experience got me thinking. What made me act this way? I could see that my behavior was rude and insensitive. However important my discussion, it was not as important as the people around me. But worse, I began to realize that I tolerated a degree of boorishness in religion that I would never tolerate in sports, politics, entertainment, or any other realm of human behavior. My faith (not yet a Catholic) was literally making me an obnoxious person. This bothered me a good deal. I asked myself, “Why?”
At the time, I was a non-Catholic Christian who believed firmly that salvation comes “by faith alone.” I worshiped in churches that placed a high value on evangelism, but for whom evangelism meant, in large measure, making people think like us. (A logical consequence of our doctrine of salvation.) We also emphasized a “personal relationship with Jesus.” But, again this basically meant having affecting and private experiences in prayer. It did not necessarily translate into kindness or love extended to others.
Gradually, I began to see how my almost exclusive interest in dogma-for-its-own-sake and on private religious experience could hardly fail to produce an inconsiderate, self-regarding boor. Hardly a model of love and holiness! So, I started to question the relationship (or lack thereof) between my theology and the life of virtue. I also noticed that many of my theological heroes (Martin Luther, John Calvin) suffered from my same vices. The original Protestant Reformers were known as great polemicists, debaters, and propagandists. They were not known for being deeply charitable.
These realizations began nudging me towards the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that faith is essential to salvation, but it is only the beginning of eternal life, not its consummation. To save, faith must be “working through charity.” This faith, which we receive from the Church, is not inert. In the encyclical Lumen Fidei, the Pope writes, “Faith in Christ brings salvation because in him our lives become radically open to a love that precedes us, a love that transforms us from within, acting in us and through us.” Likewise, the Church teaches that dogma is essential to our spiritual life. But dogma is not an end in itself. The Catechism says “Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure.”(CCC 89)
In my case, Protestant theology was a stumbling block to the life of charity. Thus, I turned to the Catholic Church hoping for more than new information. I needed a renewal of my moral and spiritual life through grace and the sacraments. But Catholics, too, can make many of my same mistakes. In his classic Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales warns about the kind of Catholic who makes the elements of devotion into ends in themselves. “All these people are conventionally called religious,” he writes, “but nevertheless they are in no true sense really devout.” “In order to be good,” he adds “a man must be filled with love, and to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love. And forasmuch as devotion consists in a high degree of real love.”
As I read him, Pope Francis is also deeply concerned about this kind of faith. In his recent document Evangelii Gaudium, the Pope seemed to be writing directly to my past experience when he spoke of “a purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings.” Such a life, the Pope says, “is nothing less than slow suicide.” Similarly, the Pope warns against an evangelism in which we make ourselves out to be “grandees who look down upon others.” The Pope writes, “we are told to give reasons for our hope, but not as an enemy who critiques and condemns. We are told quite clearly: ‘do so with gentleness and reverence.’” (1 Pet 3:15)
I can appreciate this warning. I remember one time I was in a religious argument with a non-believer. I felt that I had won the “debate,” but I lost moral victory. To all my fine reasoning, my friend said simply, “But, David, I just don’t like Christians.” Ouch!
Last Friday, we celebrated the Feast of St. Francis de Sales. He was one of the greatest missionaries in Catholic history. He wrote powerfully in defense of the Catholic faith and of the Council of Trent. He attacked false doctrine, and led literally thousands of Protestants back to the Church. But he was also the author of Introduction to the Devout Life and The Treatise of the Love of God. He knew that all the trappings of dogma and devotion are worthless if we fail in the most crucial thing: Love God, and Love People.Image caption Relatives of Ms Connolly reported her missing after she failed to contact them for several days
Two young women have been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling in Peru, local police say.
Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, from Belfast and Scot Melissa Reid, 19, are each alleged to have been carrying almost 6kg of cocaine in their luggage.
They were stopped and searched at the capital Lima's international airport on Tuesday.
They had been due to fly to Madrid, then onto Majorca, according to Peru's National Police Force website.
A statement on the site said the cocaine had been hidden inside packages of food.
It had an estimated street value of about £1.5m (1.7m euros).
The two women were stopped as they tried to pass through the Air Europa counter at Jorge Chavez airport.
Ms Connolly had earlier been reported missing in Ibiza after failing to contact her family for several days.
The photography student had gone to the Ibizan town of San Antonio in June to look for work as a dancer or a nightclub hostess.
After hearing nothing from her for 12 days, her family appealed on Facebook and other social media websites for any information of her whereabouts.
The appeal was backed by several Irish sport stars. Her family said she would usually be in touch every couple of days.
Ms Connolly holds an Irish passport. Ms Reid is from Lenzie near Glasgow.
The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is providing consular assistance to Ms Connolly's family.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London said: "We are aware of the arrest of a British national in Peru this week and are providing consular assistance to the family."
Peru is one of the world's top three cocaine producers, alongside Colombia and Bolivia.A screenshot of Uber's new tool for cities, Movement. Uber
But it’s not the highly coveted numbers cities need. How helpful is the company’s new data tool?
Uber has long had a somewhat rocky relationship with cities, from its most recent public spat with San Francisco authorities over testing autonomous vehicles to its feud with New York City planners over access to the company’s ridership data. But in what seems like a move calculated to mend ties, Uber has opened up that cherished trove of info to city planners, researchers, and (eventually) the public. Just a peek, though. Uber isn’t releasing all the data collected over the last six years the company has been in operation. But its new tool, Movement, lets cities in on traffic patterns based on millions of trips taken over time. (The data released is anonymous.) The tool, which is currently available in Boston, Manila, Sydney, and Washington, D.C., tracks how long it takes to get from one point to another, and how that changes depending on the time of the day, day of the week, and factors like road shutdowns or city-wide events. It also allows users to look at patterns over a period of time.
That’s only one of the many ways Andrew Salzberg, Uber’s head of transportation, imagines cities can take advantage of the tool. It’s all part of the company’s efforts to improve its relationship with cities: In fact, Salzberg says that creating the product involved collaborating with city planners to figure out what they need. At a recent launch event in D.C., Uber product manager Jordan Gilbertson showed off what Movement could do by showing what gridlock looked like when D.C. shut down its entire metro system in March for emergency inspections. (Non-scientific answer: hellish!) He plugged in the specific date and time, and the program did the rest. Analysis showed that overall, travel time in the city increased by anywhere from 10 to 30 percent. Along entry points to major highways, it was as much as 50 percent. “It’s an act of contrition, in a way, allowing some of that data to be released.” That experience served as a reminder that ride-hailing services, despite what they sometimes seem to say, are no replacement for true mass transit. “There’s no way in any system that Uber and any sharing models can move as many people as rail trains can, and I think we’ve demonstrated that with the shutdown,” Salzberg told reporters afterward. “If you look at the data for that day, you get a dramatic increase in congestion when rail transit doesn’t run. That’s one reason we’re putting this data out there—to be helpful in policy arguments around how to use these [road] spaces effectively.” It isn’t quite the highly coveted data that cities want from Uber and the like. New York City, along with other local governments, is more interested in knowing when and where passengers get picked and dropped off—what Mayor Bill de Blasio has demanded and Uber has refused to deliver, on grounds of privacy protection for its riders.
So if city governments aren’t getting what they want from this tool, can Movement still be useful for local planners? Yes and no. “A lot of cities, especially New York City, are fighting to get a lot more data from Uber, and it’s kind of an act of contrition, in a way, allowing some of that data to be released,” says Tim Welch, an assistant professor of city and regional planning at Georgia Tech. “It can be useful, but the level of detail and the type of data isn’t something that’s not already used by planners through other data sources.” Uber’s set of data is aggregated through Traffic Analysis Zones, which Welch says is a common unit of geography and planning analysis already used by cities. So in terms of how much further Movement contributes to urban planners’ work, he doesn’t think “it moves it much.” Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... But Zak Accuardi at the Transit Center, a New York-based foundation, says that while the data might not be nuanced enough for cities, regional transportation planners could benefit from that additional layer of traffic information when determining how road projects or new public transportation initiatives might impact travel time from one part of the region to another. He calls it a positive first step for both the company and cities to foster a relationship around data-sharing. “It opens the door for productive conversation for cities and makes it possible for cities to approach Uber and say, ‘We know you have this platform, and here’s what we’d like to see on it.’” But it’s worth remembering that Uber is releasing this data on its own terms and may continue to keep certain information out of the public eye. Welch also notes that Uber’s data covers only a small subset of commuters: those who own smartphones and those who use Uber. “Planners ought to be very concerned about the lower-mobility groups,” he says. “How is the lower-income person in a location not using Uber getting around? And what kind of conditions are they facing?” Uber’s Salzberg says this is just the beginning. And the company’s new commitment to swapping traffic intel with metros isn’t just about PR: In the end, Uber itself also stands to benefit from such civic collaboration (as do with other ride-sharing companies that collect their own data). “We ultimately benefit from streets that move effectively and from decisions made based on data,” he says. “We all share the goal of putting more people into fewer cars.”Police in Slaton, Texas, reportedly arrested a woman for asking to see a warrant when they came to her house to bust her son.
"I told him, 'I will release my son to you upon viewing those orders.' Those were exactly my words," the woman said. "He said, 'This is how you want to play?' He took two steps back, turned around to the officer and said, 'Take her.' They turned me around, handcuffed me and took me in."
The complainant was aware that police were coming for her 11-year-old son and just wanted to see that they had a warrant. Apparently the warrant did not exist. The end result was that the woman spent the night behind bars and her son remained at home, My Fox Lubbock reported.
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"He told me it was their duty to come pick up my son," she said. "Yet, I had someone stay the night at my house. They never came back that evening, they never came to pick up my son, or do what they told me they were there to do in the beginning."
"This occurred on May 29 when they went out to apprehend this young man," said the family's attorney, Dwight McDonald. "The directive to apprehend was not signed until May 30, which is another indication that they didn't have the authority to go out and arrest him or apprehend this young man."
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The Slaton Police Department is willing to apologize as long as no lawsuit is filed, but McDonald wants more.
"If she moves out of Slaton and tries to find a job elsewhere, you can Google her name, and at that point, the arrest, my guess is, is going to show up," McDonald said. McDonald said unless the mother is compensated for her expenses and the trauma she has suffered during the ordeal, a lawsuit is possible.
"I will accept an apology, but what is that going to do?" said the woman. "It's not going to take my picture off the internet sites that have been posted, from being published in the newspaper, from where I work. I've never been in trouble, in 32 years of my life, from anything, and to get thrown in jail because I asked a question is not right."
Sources: My Fox Lubbock, Info Wars
undefinedThe gritty trailer of Udta Punjab is creating ripples in Punjab with its hard-hitting glimpse into the state’s drug problem. Udta Punjab stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Diljit Dosanjh in pivotal roles.The film follows the lives of four people in the state – a rock star, a migrant labourer, a doctor and a police officer – exploring how each of them fights drug addiction in different ways.
The ripples have turned into a raging controversy, with the ensuing political slugfest and the ongoing tussle between the makers of Udta Punjab and the Censor Board hogging all the limelight. What has been forgotten in the process is that debates around the film should be focussing on solving drug abuse issues, the main purpose behind making the movie.
The fact is that Punjab has a crippling drug problem and no amount of denial can hide it. According to the Narcotics Control Bureau’s reports, 50% of drug-related cases in the country are from Punjab alone, a sign that the affliction has been allowed to gain a firm footing in the border state.
There is a village, Maqboolpura near Amritsar, that is agonisingly called the ‘Village of Widows’ because practically every household there has lost a member to drugs.
The severity of the problem can somewhat be attributed to Punjab’s close proximity to the Golden Crescent region covering Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. These three countries are, collectively, the world’s largest producers of opium.
No fight is easy and definitely not the one Punjab is facing. It’s time to end Punjab’s drug epidemic and everybody has to come together to do it. Active cooperation among community leaders and institutions, nonprofit organisations, academics, and policymakers is crucial to the transition to a drug-free Punjab. Realising this, local civil society leaders, victims-survivors, rehabilitated ex-drug addicts and the government are coming together in Punjab to cut the supply chain, treat the addicts and motivate the youth to shun drugs. Raising awareness, as Udta Punjab is doing, is just the first step in this |
era recommended Fear Factory to the then-death-metal-focused Roadrunner Records label, which offered the band a recording contract.[7] While the band signed the contract, it has since become controversial because of Roadrunner's treatment of the band during the events surrounding its 2002 breakup.[citation needed] This was reflected in the first album Archetype (2004), which was released following the band's re-formation. The opening song with lyrics by Burton C. Bell, "Slave Labor", was direct about the band's feelings on the matter. After working with numerous bassists, Andrew Shives was hired as a live bassist prior to the release of Soul of a New Machine.
Soul of a New Machine (1992–1994) [ edit ]
Soul of a New Machine (1992), which was recorded with producer Colin Richardson, gave the band greater exposure in the music scene. It was considered[by whom?] revolutionary for its industrial death metal sound that combined Bell's harsh and melodic vocals, Herrera's machine-like battery, the integrated industrial samples and textures and the sharp, down-tuned, rhythmic, death metal riffs of Dino Cazares. Cazares and Herrera wrote all the music. Because the band had no bass player, Cazares played both guitar and bass on the recording.[citation needed]
Due to the extreme nature of the music, the album never reached the level of popularity attained by their later, more accessible works, and remains a cult favorite.[citation needed] Soul of a New Machine is considered by many[who?] as Fear Factory's final work death metal album because with each album, the band's style shifted away from the death metal subgenre.[citation needed]
To promote the album, Fear Factory embarked on extensive U.S. tours with Biohazard, Sepultura, and Sick Of It All. During this period, sampler-keyboardist Reynor Diego joined the group. An album tour of Europe with Brutal Truth, then Cannibal Corpse, Cathedral, and Sleep, followed. The following year, they hired Front Line Assembly member Rhys Fulber to remix some songs from the album, demonstrating the band's willingness to experiment with their music. The results took on a predominantly industrial guise, and were released as the Fear Is the Mindkiller EP (1993). Soul of a New Machine and Fear is the Mindkiller were released (2004) as a package in a new re-mastered reissue by Roadrunner Records.
In 1993, Andrew Shives was forced to leave the band.[citation needed] Cazares recorded both the guitar and bass for the entire album. In November the same year, the band met Belgian Christian Olde Wolbers through Evan Seinfeld of Biohazard. Wolbers auditioned for Fear Factory's permanent bassist.[7] Wolbers joined the band immediately since the band's tour was starting in two weeks.[citation needed]
Demanufacture (1995–1997) [ edit ]
In June 1995, the band participated at the Dynamo Open Air festival in Netherlands.
Fear Factory's second album, Demanufacture, was released on June 12. Generally considered to be the band's defining work, features, in comparison to the overly brutal approach favored in the early recordings, a more industrial metal sound characterized by a mix of rapid fire thrash metal/industrial metal guitar riffs and tight, pulse driven drum beats, roaring (rather than growled, but still aggressive) vocals that made way for melodic singing and powerful bass lines.[citation needed]
The album's production is more refined and the integration of atmospheric keyboard parts and industrial textures upon Cazares' and Herrera's precise musicianship made the songs sound clinical, cold and machine-like and gave the band's music a futuristic feel than the band's previous works. Many fans consider Rhys Fulber's involvement with the band integral to this dimension of their sound. There were extensive contributions from Reynor Diego as well; adding key samples, loops and electronic flourishes to the group dynamics.[citation needed]
Demanufacture was awarded the maximum five-star rating in the UK's Kerrang! rock magazine.[citation needed] It went on to become a fairly successful album; whereas Soul of a New Machine failed to chart anywhere, Demanufacture made the Top 10 of the Billboard Heatseekers charts and a video was produced for the song "Replica"[citation needed]. The video was featured in the Test Drive 5 video game for the PlayStation. The song "Zero Signal" was featured on the Mortal Kombat film soundtrack (1995). Instrumental versions of Demanufacture songs were later used in PC videogames Carmageddon and Messiah[citation needed].
Fear Factory spent the next few years touring with such bands Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Iron Maiden, and opened for Ozzy Osbourne in North America and Europe during late 1995. They went on their first headlining European tour in mid-1996, with Manhole and Drain S.T.H. playing in clubs and music festivals, such as With Full Force, Wâldrock or Graspop Metal Meeting. They also appeared at the Ozzfest in 1996 and 1997. In early 1997, they participated at the Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. In May 1997, the band released a new album composed of Demanufacture remixes by artists such as Rhys Fulber, DJ Dano or Junkie XL called Remanufacture - Cloning Technology.[citation needed] This was the band's first appearance on the Billboard 200 ;it also appeared on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.[citation needed] Roadrunner Records re-released, in a 10th Anniversary single package, Demanufacture and Remanufacture in 2005, which is similar to that of Soul of a New Machine (2004). This edition also includes bonus tracks from the digipak version of Demanufacture (1995).[citation needed]
Obsolete (1998–2000) [ edit ]
Fear Factory's third studio album, Obsolete (July 1998), was reportedly completed earlier than planned by canceling an appearance at the Dynamo Open Air Festival.[citation needed]
Obsolete was similar in sound to Demanufacture, and introduced the progressive metal and alternative metal elements to the band's output.[10] For the first time, the album featured Christian Olde Wolbers writing and recording full-time with the band. It also featured Cazares' debut use of 7-string Ibanez guitars tuned to A tuning (A, D, G, C, F, A, D), and paved the way for a lower-tuned sound than previously. The album is also notable for Rhys Fulber's increased involvement with the band.[citation needed]
While Fear Factory had explored the theme of "Man versus Machine" in their earlier work, Obsolete was their first concept album that dealt specifically with a literal interpretation of this subject.[citation needed] It tells a story called Conception 5, which was written by Bell, that takes place in a future world where mankind is rendered "obsolete" by machines. Its characters include the "Edgecrusher", "Smasher/Devourer", and the "Securitron" monitoring system. The story is presented in the lyrics booklet in a screenplay format between the individual songs. The printed story parts link the lyrics of the songs together thematically.[citation needed]
Obsolete was released during the alternative metal boom of the late 1990s.[citation needed] It was supported by tours with Slayer and later, Rammstein, and a headlining spot on the second stage at Ozzfest in 1999 as last-minute replacements for Judas Priest. They also toured in Europe in December 1998 with Spineshank and Kilgore, and went on their first headlining tour in North America with Static-X the next year, though the first leg was interrupted due to the band's tour bus and material being stolen. They also played in Japan for the first time. Obsolete became the band's highest selling album, marking the band's first entry into the Top 100 on the Billboard charts. The album also spawned singles "Descent" and a digipak bonus track, "Cars", a cover of the Gary Numan song featuring a guest appearance by Numan on the song.[citation needed] The single made the Mainstream Rock Top 40 in 1999 and was also featured in the video game, Test Drive 6.[citation needed] Numan also performed a spoken-word sample on the album's title track.[citation needed] A video was filmed for the song "Resurrection". To date, Obsolete remains the only Fear Factory album to have achieved gold sales in the U.S.[citation needed]
Digimortal and demise (2001–2002) [ edit ]
In early 2001, Fear Factory was asked to headline SnoCore Rock. The success of Obsolete and "Cars" was a turning point for the band; Roadrunner Records was now keen on capitalizing on the band's sales potential and pressured the band to record more accessible material for the follow-up album, titled Digimortal, which was released on April 23, 2001.[citation needed] Few weeks before its release, they were touring in Europe with One Minute Silence.
They went on a long headlining North American tour during 2001, then played in much larger European festivals like Bizarre Festival, Pukkelpop, Lowlands Festival and Leeds & Reading Festival. They then went on the first Roadrunner Roadrage tour in North America, toured Europe with Devin Townsend and Godflesh and played in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Digimortal made the Top 40 on the Billboard album charts, the Top 20 in Canada and the Top 10 of the Australian album charts. The track "Linchpin" reached the Mainstream Rock Top 40.[citation needed] A remix of "Invisible Wounds" was included on the Resident Evil film soundtrack, and an instrumental digipak bonus track called "Full Metal Contact" was originally written for the video game, Demolition Racer.[citation needed] A VHS/DVD release called Digital Connectivity, which documents each of the four album periods of the band via interviews, live clips, music videos and tour/studio footage, was released in January 2002.[citation needed]
Although Digimortal had a successful start, the sales did not reach the levels of Obsolete and the band received little tour support. The direction of the album coupled with strong personal differences between some of the band members created a rift that escalated to the point where Bell announced his exit in March 2002. The band disbanded immediately thereafter; its publicists said this was "largely because vocalist Burton C. Bell is tired of playing angry, aggressive music and wants to form a band that's more indie-rock-oriented".[citation needed] In a final collaboration, the group recorded two songs for the video game The Terminator: Dawn of Fate that month.[11] Fear Factory's contractual obligations remained unfulfilled, however, and Roadrunner did not release them without controversially issuing the Concrete album in 2002 and the B-sides and rarities compilation, Hatefiles in 2003.[citation needed] During his time away from Fear Factory, Bell with John Bechdel started a side project called Ascension of the Watchers, which released its first EP, Iconoclast, independently via their online store in 2005.[citation needed]
First return and Archetype (2002–2004) [ edit ]
[12] When you look up the definition of the word, Archetype, it's the actual model from which everything else is copied. Fear Factory is that in my opinion, and Archetype is a defining moment for us. Listen to this record, and you'll know exactly where all these other bands came from. Burton C. Bell
Over time, tensions within the band developed between Dino Cazares and the other members, particularly Burton C. Bell and Raymond Herrera. When asked about the breakup in May 2002, Cazares made claims and allegations against Bell and the other members, stating that Fear Factory could continue without Christian Olde Wolbers and that he and Raymond Herrera were primarily motivated by money.[13] Herrera responded to these allegations on behalf of the other band members, saying that Cazares was motivated by money and emphasizing Olde Wolbers' influence on the band's sound.[14] According to Herrera, the other band members would often come up with new ideas they wanted to incorporate into Fear Factory's sound, but their suggestions were dismissed or openly ridiculed by Cazares, causing a rift between him and the other members that ultimately led to the band's breakup. In the same interview, Herrera also revealed that Cazares had attempted to control the direction of the band by manipulating their business management and record company, and had openly lied to the other members about his actions.[15]
Herrera and Olde Wolbers reunited later in 2002 and laid the foundations for the return of Fear Factory.[citation needed] Cazares was then permanently out of the band. Bell was approached with their demo recordings and was impressed enough to rejoin the band and Fear Factory was re-formed.[citation needed] Olde Wolbers switched to guitar and Byron Stroud of Strapping Young Lad was approached to join the band as a bassist.[citation needed] He was a member from 2003 until 2012.[citation needed] Cazares continued recording and performing with his side project called Asesino, a Mexican deathgrind band. In 2007, he also started a new group called Divine Heresy.
Fear Factory made its live return as the mystery band at the Australian Big Day Out festival in January 2004, followed by its first American shows since re-forming on the spring Jägermeister tour with Slipknot and Chimaira.[citation needed] The new lineup's first album Archetype was released on April 20, 2004, through new record label Liquid 8 Records based in Minnesota.[citation needed] With Archetype, Fear Factory returned to an alternative, industrial, metal sound; the album is generally considered[by whom?] to be a strong'return-to-form' record, if not a particularly innovative effort, with most of the trademark elements of the band firmly in place.[citation needed]
Videos were shot for the songs "Cyberwaste", "Archetype", and "Bite the Hand That Bleeds"; the latter featured on the Saw film soundtrack. The band performed on further tours with Lamb of God and Mastodon in the US and with Mnemic in Europe.[citation needed] The new Fear Factory has largely abandoned the direct "Man versus Machine" theme prevalent on earlier releases in favor of subjects such as religion, war, and corporatism.[citation needed]
Transgression (2005–2006) [ edit ]
Fear Factory announced plans to record and release its next full-length album over a very short period of time with mainstream rock producer Toby Wright, who had worked with Korn and Alice in Chains.[citation needed] This was allegedly due to pressure from Fear Factory's new label Calvin Records, which preponed the album's release date from four months away to just a month and a half so the band would have a new album to support on the inaugural Gigantour, which they had been invited to participate on by Dave Mustaine.[16]
The resulting album, Transgression, was released on August 22, 2005, in the United Kingdom, and on the following day in North America, almost a year after Archetype. The album garnered highly polarized reviews; some critics hailed the album as diverse and progressive, and other reviewers did not receive the record very well.[17] Although the album starts off as a Fear Factory record, subsequent songs include mellow/alt-rock numbers "Echo of My Scream" (featuring Faith No More's Billy Gould on bass) and "New Promise", a pop-rock song "Supernova", and a faithful cover of U2's rock song "I Will Follow".[18]
In 2013, Wolbers posted more details about writing and recording of Transgression and Archetype on his Facebook page.[19] He said he was disappointed with Transgression, calling it half-finished, and blamed the label for the severe time constraints imposed during the recording sessions and for the inclusion of the U2 cover.[16] However, Burton C. Bell said he is proud of the album and sees it as the band "stepping over boundaries".[20]
During 2005 and 2006, Fear Factory promoted the album on the "Fifteen Years of Fear" world tour in celebration of their fifteenth anniversary. The members invited bands including Darkane, Strapping Young Lad and Soilwork to join them on the U.S. leg, and Misery Index to join them on the European leg.[citation needed] Late in 2005, Fear Factory toured the U.S. again on the "Machines at War" tour, with an all-star,[according to whom?] death metal lineup of guests in Suffocation, Hypocrisy, and Decapitated; they played old classics from Soul of a New Machine, such as "Crash Test", which they had not performed live in many years.[citation needed]
Hiatus and other projects (2006–2008) [ edit ]
An online statement from Wolbers in December 2006 said the band would return to the studio to record a new album, produced by the band, immediately after the completion of the Transgression touring cycle.[21] That month, Bell confirmed in an interview that the band would leave Liquid 8 Records.[22]
Rather than begin work on a new studio album, the band members briefly parted and began working with other projects. Bell contributed vocals to the songs "End Of Days, Pt.1", "End of Days, Pt. 2", and "Die In A Crash" on Ministry's 2007 album The Last Sucker,[23] and later toured with Ministry in support of the album. In an interview for the website Metalsucks, Bell called this a "dream come true", describing Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen as "one of [his] heroes".[24] In the same interview, Bell talked at length about his new band Ascension of the Watchers, providing insight into the inspiration behind the project's formation.[24]
On March 21, 2008, while Fear Factory was on hiatus, Bell spoke in a video interview about the band's future, saying he no longer wanted to contribute to the violence and aggression he saw in the world with the aggressive type of music Fear Factory produced.[25] Wolbers and Herrera started a new band called Arkaea, with vocalist Jon Howard and bassist Pat Kavanagh of Threat Signal. Wolbers said, "Ironically, half of the Arkaea album consists of songs that were intended to be the next Fear Factory record".[26] Arkaea's debut album Years in the Darkness was released on July 14, 2009.[26]
Second return, internal disputes and Mechanize (2009–2011) [ edit ]
Fear Factory in 2010
On April 8, 2009, Bell and Cazares announced the reconciliation of their friendship, and the formation of a new project with Byron Stroud on bass and drummer Gene Hoglan of Testament, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Dark Angel, and Dethklok. On April 28, this project was announced to be a new version of Fear Factory without Herrera and Wolbers.[27] When asked about their exclusion, Bell said, "[Fear Factory is] like a business and I'm just reorganizing... We won't talk about [their exclusion]".[28]
In June 2009, Wolbers and Herrera spoke about the issue on the radio program Speed Freaks. Herrera said he and Wolbers were still in the band. "[Christian and I] are actually still in Fear Factory... [Burton and Dino] decided to start a new band, and furthermore, they decided to call it Fear Factory. They never communicated with us about it", said Herrera.[29] Herrera also said the four original members—Bell, Cazares, Wolbers, and Herrera—were contractually regarded as Fear Factory Incorporated, and, "it's almost like them two against us two, so it's kind of a stalemate".[citation needed] The drummer also said he and Wolbers had written eight songs for the next Fear Factory record, but that a "personal disagreement" had arisen between them and Bell, which left Bell not wanting to continue work with the band.[29]
Bell and Cazares later spoke about their reasons for excluding Herrera and Wolbers. Cazares said Bell wanted to reunite the classic Fear Factory lineup of himself, Cazares, Herrera, and Wolbers, but that Herrera and Wolbers refused to be part of any reunion with Cazares.[30] Bell also said he wanted to fire the band's manager Christy Priske, who was also Wolbers' wife, and Herrera and Wolbers refused. Herrera and Wolbers threatened to sign a new record deal without Bell, prompting him to form a new version of Fear Factory without them.[31] In some interviews, Wolbers said Bell had made "growing unacceptable demands", which were declined. He said, "Ray and I wanted what was best for the business and what he [Burton] was trying to change wasn't really good for the business. It was only bad for the business, so that's why he went into that whole phase of hijacking the name and trying to run with it." [32]
Fear Factory featuring Bell and Cazares was due to make its live debut on June 21 at the Metalway Festival in Zaragoza, Spain.[33] However, the show was canceled "at the last minute", apparently because of the legal complications referenced by Herrera. The rest of that lineup's planned performances in mid-2009, which included a tour of the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand that August, had also been canceled.[34] The group said they canceled the tour to finish writing and recording the next Fear Factory album.[35] Despite the canceled performances in Europe, they performed some shows in December in South American countries including Argentina,[36] Chile[37] and Brazil.
During an interview on June 23, 2009, Cazares said he could never have a working relationship with Raymond and Wolbers again, saying they were too money-driven and criticized the music they recorded on Archetype for being too similar to the band's earlier output. Despite ongoing issues between the two parties, the new Fear Factory went ahead with the recording process. In late July 2009, a short video shot with a cell telephone showed Cazares recording drum tracks with longtime contributor Rhys Fulber. On November 6, 2009, blabbermouth.net said a new album, Mechanize, would be released on February 9, 2010, on Candlelight Records.[38] On November 8, 2009, Fear Factory released a track titled "Powershifter" on YouTube.[39] On November 10, 2009, Bell announced the track list for Mechanize, along with an explanation of each song.[40]
In January 2010, Fear Factory played in Australia and New Zealand tour on the Big Day Out tour, playing their first Australian dates since 2005 on January 17 at Parklands Showgrounds on Queensland's Gold Coast.[citation needed] Fear Factory released Mechanize on February 5, 2010, and began a U.S. tour titled "Fear Campaign Tour 2010", in late March. In August 2010, the band headlined the Brutal Assault open air festival in Czech Republic.[citation needed] In September 2010, Fear Factory toured Australia, New Zealand, and Tokyo as the opening act for Metallica. The New Zealand concerts were in Christchurch, two shows that were brought about by a petition sent to Metallica asking them to visit New Zealand's second-largest city.[citation needed] After the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, the South Island concerts were in doubt, but on September 15, 2010, an official announced the CBS Arena had escaped harm and both shows went ahead.[citation needed]
The Industrialist (2011–2013) [ edit ]
In an interview during the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise, Bell said Fear Factory was planning to write and record a "full-on concept" album, which was due for release in 2012. He said, "We're gonna kind of take a break a little bit, but we're definitely going into the studio at some point and start writing. We wanna take our time doing it. Personally... Mechanize, don't get me wrong, is a good record—I'm very proud of it—but it's gotta be better than that. I've got plans where I'd like to do a full-on concept again—story, artwork. Just make it real cerebral. But there'll definitely be another Fear Factory record, maybe in 2012."[41] On August 3, 2011, Dino Cazares said on his Twitter feed that he was working and demoing new material for the next Fear Factory album.[42] On January 25, 2012, the band announced the new album will be titled The Industrialist. The album was again co-produced by the band with Rhys Fulber and mixed by Greg Reely.[43]
Byron Stroud left the band early in 2012, saying, "Life's too short to spend it with people who don't respect you".[44] In one interview, Cazares said he did not know why Stroud decided to leave and that he could not play the bass parts on Mechanize, prompting Cazares to do it himself.[45]
In February 2012, former Chimaira guitar player Matt DeVries replaced Stroud. On April 19, 2012, Mike Heller of Malignancy and System Divide was announced as the band's new drummer, replacing Gene Hoglan. At the same time, Cazares confirmed on his Facebook page that John Sankey of Devolved had programmed the drums on The Industrialist.[46] Burton described The Industrialist as another concept album "sonically, conceptually, and lyrically".[47] Cazares also said he and Burton were the two in control of the record's outcome, and that the songwriting on the album was much more "definitive" in regards to Fear Factory's platform sound.[47] On June 4, 2012,The Industrialist was available to stream through AOL Music. The album was released through Candlelight Records on June 5, 2012.[48]
On May 2, 2013, Cazares commented regarding the status of Fear Factory albums Archetype and Transgression, which were recorded without his participation, and the band's decision not to play songs from them live, saying "they don't count" as Fear Factory albums.[45] Contradicting this, Fear Factory played the track Archetype on its 2013 Australian tour in early July, with minor changes to the song's lyrics.[49] On August 2, 2013, ex-drummer Hoglan said he left Fear Factory because he was prevented from participating on the album, and only found out about its completion online.[50]
Genexus (2013–2015) [ edit ]
On May 1, 2013, Dino Cazares told Songfacts.com Fear Factory would begin work on their ninth studio album after the end of The Industrialist tour. The album was expected to be released in early 2014.[51] On May 13, 2013, Burton C. Bell told Metal-Rules.com, "Fear Factory will continue to tour North America and Europe 2013. We've got some more tours scheduled, some summer festivals next year. During that time our plan is to start writing a new record and we would like to have a new record out by spring 2014".[52] On March 19, 2014, Bell told Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles he would like to have the new album released by August, followed by a tour in September.[53] On September 12, 2014, the band announced it had signed to record label Nuclear Blast and would enter the studio in October. The band also confirmed that the album would be mixed by Andy Sneap, and that Rhys Fulber would again produce it.[54]
The band played their first shows in India, in November 2014, as part of the Weekender Tour, and on February/March 2015, they participated at the Soundwave Festival in Australia and New Zealand.
On May 1, 2015, it was announced that former Static-X and Soulfly bassist Tony Campos joined the band.[55] Later that month, Fear Factory announced that they would release their ninth studio album, titled Genexus, on August 7, 2015.[56][57]
They toured in European festivals in July 2015, and then onto North America, as an opening act for Coal Chamber.[citation needed] From late August until mid-September 2015, the band toured the midwestern, southern and southwestern United States with support from Once Human (starring Logan Mader), Los Angeles melodic metal band Before the Mourning and Chicago rock band The Bloodline.[58] They also announced that they would play the entire Demanufacture album in Europe between November and December 2015, a tour which again included Once Human with the addition of Irish band Dead Label as openers.[59]
Monolith (2016–present) [ edit ]
In a November 2016 interview with Loudwire, guitarist Dino Cazares revealed that Fear Factory had planned to release their tenth studio album in mid-to-late 2017. He stated, "Right now we're going to be home and doing a new record. We're writing already and in the process of doing a new record, but it probably won't be out until late summer of next year or maybe even October. I'm not exactly sure."[60]
In a December 2016 interview with The Ex-Man, despite an ongoing "huge legal battle" with Bell and Cazares, former bassist-guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers stated that he was "trying to reach out and try to get this reunion thing happening." He added, "There would be nothing better for this band [than] to reconcile our differences, fucking write a killer record, which I know we can, and fucking we would be doing really big tours. My passion for playing and what we have invested in this band is very big, and I know it's really big for Dino as well, 'cause he started it with Raymond back in the day."[61] More fuel to the possibility of a reunion with the "classic" lineup of Bell, Cazares, Herrera and Wolbers was added later that month, when Wolbers posted an image on his Instagram account, suggesting Fear Factory's official website was "under construction."[62]
On May 7, 2017, Wolbers posted a blank picture on his Instagram (which was later deleted), claiming that Fear Factory had broken up. Later that day, Cazares was asked via Twitter if they were still together, and his response was, "Not sure why your asking that and rant by who?".[63][64]
In an interview with Kilpop in May 2017, Burton C. Bell said that the new songs were "even stronger than Genexus, 'cause it just seems even more tight. We're on a groove, and it's kicking ass."[65]
In an interview with SiriusXM's Jose Mangin at November 2018's inaugural Headbangers Con in Portland, Oregon, Bell revealed Monolith as the title of Fear Factory's tenth studio album and its tentative artwork via his smartphone.[66]
Musical style, influences, and legacy [ edit ]
Fear Factory has been mainly described as industrial metal.[1][2][3] The band also has been described as groove metal,[1][3] nu metal,[67] thrash metal,[1] and death metal.[1][2][3][67] From 1998 to 2001, the band released two albums described as nu metal: Obsolete (1998) and Digimortal (2001).[68]
In terms of influences on the group's work, Dino Cazares has cited the band members' interests in fantasy and science fiction alternative universes such as the Terminator mythos as well as the Dune mythos. As a specific example, their debut album, Soul of a New Machine, picked up its name directly from a line in a movie critic review of the Terminator 2: Judgment Day film (discussing the T-1000 villain). Cazares has also cited recurring influences on Fear Factory coming from conventional popular music, outside of the genres of hard rock and heavy metal, for instance looking to singer-songwriter Paul McCartney's sounds in both The Beatles and Wings.[69] Over the years the film Blade Runner has become a recurring theme as the band often makes lyrical reference to the plot, as well as directly quote and sample lines from the film.
Fear Factory's innovative approach towards and hybridization of the genres industrial metal, death metal, and alternative metal has had a lasting impact on other artists coming later, the band putting a stamp on metal music ever since the release of their first album in 1992. Fear Factory is noteworthy among contemporaries for its lyrical focus on science fiction, with much of the band's music telling a single story spanning several concept albums. The band has been called a "stepping stone",[70] leading mainstream listeners to venture into less-known, more extreme bands, and are consistently appreciated.[citation needed]
In the liner notes of the re-released version of Soul of a New Machine, Machine Head vocalist Robb Flynn, Chimaira vocalist Mark Hunter, and Spineshank guitarist Mike Sarkisyan cited Fear Factory as an influence.[citation needed] Robb Flynn said his vocal style was influenced by Burton C. Bell's vocals and Machine Head have been wrongly credited for the vocal style.[citation needed] Mark Hunter said Chimaira's drumming was heavily influenced by Raymond Herrera. Slipknot, Static-X, and Coal Chamber have also mentioned Fear Factory in their liner notes.[citation needed]
Modern bands including Mnemic, Scarve, Stiff Valentine and Threat Signal contain significant influences from Fear Factory's technique and have also credited a substantial debt of gratitude to the band.[71][72][73] Peter Tägtgren of Hypocrisy said, "Fear Factory are close to our hearts" and, "Soul of a New Machine was the influence for me to start my other project, 'Pain'".[74] Devin Townsend of Strapping Young Lad said his main influences for Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing were Fear Factory and Napalm Death. Byron Stroud would also later join Strapping Young Lad.[75] In an interview on That Metal Show, Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward said Fear Factory is one of the bands he wishes he could play with.[citation needed]
Band members [ edit ]
Timeline [ edit ]
Discography [ edit ]CHICAGO -- In the midst of the Chicago Bulls' preparations for Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, Grantland's Bill Simmons offered up a reminder that no matter what happens over the next few weeks, the Bulls always must keep an eye on the future.
It's a reminder that the Bulls front office didn't need because it's been their motto throughout this season without Derrick Rose and myriad of injuries to key players.
In the second part of Simmons' annual ranking of the NBA's top 50 players, he comes to the 20th spot on his list: Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He references the fact that Love has an opt-out clause in his current deal that would allow him to become a free agent after the 2014-2015 season. That's when the Bulls become involved, with Simmons noting that Love would very likely opt out of his deal. Simmons believes the Bulls are the likeliest suitor for Love:
"The Bulls have big contracts to make the trade work (Luol Deng on the enticing side, Carlos Boozer on the less enticing side); they're loaded with assets like Jimmy Butler (no. 49 on this year's list), the rights to Mirotic (a high lottery pick if he entered this year's draft), and the rights to Charlotte's future no. 1 pick (top-10 protected in 2014, top-eight protected in 2015, unprotected in 2016); and they're a big-market contender with a superstar in house (so they could keep Love for the long haul).
Simmons doubts the Wolves could turn down a deal that includes Boozer, Butler, Mirotic and the Charlotte pick.
There are a lot of different layers to this proposal. Let's break them down individually.
How badly do the Bulls want Love?: He has been on their radar for awhile. Like many teams, the Bulls would love to have him. He would serve as one half of a rebounding twin towers next to Joakim Noah. He can also shoot the three and would figure to work well with Noah since both can see the floor very well. Love would seemingly also fit in well to the Bulls locker room seeing that he has trained in the past with Rose and the two have always spoken highly of one another.
Would the Bulls give up that much to get him?: Obviously, Bulls GM Gar Forman and John Paxson would want to lower the price. They would do just about anything to get out of Boozer's contract because they know they're likely going to amnesty the final year of the deal anyway. They love Butler and they are extremely high on Mirotic. They also know that the Charlotte pick appears to be getting better every year because the Bobcats are so atrocious. The guess here is that the Bulls would try to do this deal for Boozer, Butler and/or Mirotic and the Bobcats' pick -- but not both.
Isn't Mirotic supposed to be very good?: Yes. The Bulls love the way his game is progressing and he continues dominate at various points in Europe. Forman has said Mirotic would work well at the four spot. The issue with Mirotic is his contract. While the Bulls remain hopeful that Mirotic will be able to get out of his deal with Real Madrid in a little over a year and come to the Bulls, even they aren't sure how it will work out. Another potential sticking point: What if Mirotic doesn't want to play in Minnesota? The young big man has said in interviews that he is looking forward to playing in Chicago. He could pull a Fran Vazquez and just decide not to come over and play in the NBA. This leverage may actually help the Bulls from keeping his name off the table but it surely makes things more complicated for all involved.
Doesn't everybody love Butler?: In the past few months, Butler's popularity has exploded in Chicago. Many believe he could be the two-guard of the future and his ability to defend multiple positions on the floor. The Bulls believe like they got a gift with the 30th pick in the first round of the 2011 |
." Yikes. Apparently some felt they looked like something you'd use to clean your kitty litter. The original design was much more elegant as they had slender legs at street level, however the city demanded the bulky boots in case they were ever hit by a vehicle.
This massive public artwork was the idea of Ric Singleton and the Trizec Hahn design team who developed the Bankers Hall complex.
Eighth Avenue Place, East Tower, 2011, West Tower, 2014
525 Eighth Avenue S.W.
The two towers of Eighth Avenue Place were inspired by the shape of the Rocky Mountains. (Google Maps)
Designed by American architectural firm Pickard Chilton, the shape of the Eight Avenue Place towers was inspired by the planes, angles and thrust of the Rocky Mountains.
This is actually the second design for the two buildings. The original design by Gibbs Gage was also inspired by the Rockies but with darker glass. This building is as attractive inside as out, with its cathedral-like lobby, paintings by Canadian masters like Riopelle and Shadbolt and a uniquely designed Starbucks.
707 Fifth, 2017
707 Fifth Street S.W.
The soft lines of 707 Fifth were designed by the same firm behind the Willis Tower and the Burj Khalifa. (Google Maps)
707 Fifth is designed by Chicago's SOM Architects, (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) — one of the largest and most influential design firms in the world.
Their portfolio includes Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest building in the world for 20 years, and Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest today. They are considered leaders in international style glass tower, minimalist form.
While not the tallest building in Calgary at 27 floors, 707 Fifth respects the glass facade and modernist/minimalist school of office architecture. With its curved edges and elliptical shape, it has a soft femininity that makes it stand out in Calgary's plethora of stocky old boy towers.
It also adds to Calgary's growing portfolio of blue glass towers that started with Canterra Tower, now called Devon Tower.
Fourth Street LRT Station, 2012
Fourth Street and Seventh Avenue S.W.
The Fourth Street LRT station downtown was designed by local architect Jeremy Sturgess. (Richard White)
Calgary's Jeremy Sturgess designed the futuristic oval glass bridge at the Fourth Street LRT Station that juts over Seventh Avenue. Right there, in the Harley Hotchkiss Gardens (designed by Winnipeg's Scatliff, Miller & Murray), you'll find the signature sculpture Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do by Saskatchewan artist Joe Farfard.
Originally the sculpture planned for the park was going to have more of a conventional cowboy western theme, but Jeff Spalding, who was then the CEO at the Glenbow, convinced everyone to do something more contemporary.
The eight horses galloping across the park represent Calgary's past, present and future. They pay homage to the importance of the horse as part of Calgary's unique culture, including First Nations, the Calgary Stampede and Spruce Meadows.
Be sure to get up close so you can discover all of the miniature images of western heritage Fafard integrated into the design of each horse.
Centrium Place, 2007
332 Sixth Avenue S.W.
Centrium Place's glass panels are inspired by Piet Mondrian. (Google Maps)
Centrium is a precious jewel-like building created by Calgary's Gibbs Gage architects.
It subtly cantilevers over the sidewalk so the top is wider than the bottom, creating what looks like diamond shape. The facade is made up of difference rectangular-shaped glass panels in a random pattern that was loosely inspired by the famous Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.
Jamieson Place, 2009
Fourth Avenue and Second Street S.W.
Jamieson Place, with its Frank Lloyd Wright stylings, houses the winter garden on its Plus 15 level. Right, a piece by the world's most famous glass artist, Dale Chihuly. (Richard White)
Gibbs Gage Architects is also responsible for Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Jamison Place, with its prairie-style twin columns enhancing the vertical thrust from sidewalk to sky.
The Winter Garden inside on the Plus 15 level is arguably the most elegant and tranquil place in Calgary, with its infinity pond and living wall. It is also home to three hanging glass sculptures by the world's most famous glass artist, Dale Chihuly.
Peace Bridge, 2012
Arguably one of the most photographed spots in Calgary, the Santiago Calatrava-designed Peace Bridge differs from most of the architect's work. (Richard White)
The Peace Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is perhaps the most loved and hated work of art in Calgary.
From an international design perspective it is notable in that it is diametrically opposed to Calatrava's other bridges, which are always white with gabled wires creating a light, soaring, wing-like visual effect.
Because of the helicopter pad and that fact that it had to span the width of the river without any posts, Calatrava used a double helix structure. The choice of red is obvious as it links to the Flames, Stampeders and Calgary Tower, as well it signifies "good luck" in Chinese culture.
One might even wonder if Calatrava is also commenting on Calgary's "redneck" image?
East Village Riverwalk, 2011
The RiverWalk, which stretches along the south shore of the Bow River from the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers to the Centre Street Bridge. (Scott Dippel/CBC)
Since day one, East Village's Riverwalk has been a hit with Calgarians.
Designed by Stantec's Calgary office, this pedestrian promenade now extends from Centre Street to Fort Calgary on the Bow and Elbow Rivers. The Riverwalk has won numerous landscape architect awards and was instrumental in convincing Calgarians and developers that the city was committed to high design as part of the redevelopment of East Village.
George C. King Bridge, 2014
The George C. King bridge connecting East Village to St. Patrick's Island escaped the controversy of its up-river neighbour thanks to public consultation. (Richard White)
Designed by French design firm RFR and Calgary's Halsall Associates, this bridge has been nicknamed the "Skipping Stone" bridge thanks to three arches that resemble a stone skipping over the river.
Unlike the Peace Bridge there was no controversy associated with the King Bridge as an extensive and transparent community engagement process was implemented. While the Peace Bridge is bold and bulky, the King Bridge is playful and elegant.
Together they create a wonderful pedestrian circuit along the Bow River.
St. Patrick's Island Park, 2015
1300 Zoo Rd N.E.
In 2016, the St. Patrick's Island took top honours in the Great Public Space category in the Canadian Institute of Planners' Great Places in Canada competition. (Genevieve Normand/Radio-Canada)
Denver-based Civitas, and New York-based W Architecture have transformed St. Patrick's Island into a charming urban playground with a pebble beach, picnic grove, pathways, playgrounds, plaza and private places to sit.
In 2016, the island took top honours in the Great Public Space category in the Canadian Institute of Planners' Great Places in Canada competition.
Check it out.
More to come
While Calgary doesn't have the biggest, tallest, wackiest or weirdest architecture in the world, we do have some very unique and intriguing buildings, bridges, plazas and parks.
Even with the downturn, there are opportunities for magnificent designs. Things which add to our sense of pride, things that, when they strike the eye, just make our days that much better.
So put on your walking shoes and head downtown. You be the judge of whether the Calgary you thought you knew is on the cusp of becoming a design city.
Calgary: The Road Ahead is CBC Calgary's special focus on our city as it passes through the crucible of the downturn: the challenges we face, and the possible solutions as we explore what kind of Calgary we want to create. Have an idea? Email us at calgarytheroadahead@cbc.caISTANBUL — This siren is supposed to be a lament, but it sounds like a warning. Screaming across all of Turkey — over the once-besieged Gezi Park in Istanbul, beyond the $615-million palace of pomposity in Ankara, all the way down to the inky rivers of ISIL oil flowing in from Syria — it wails to mourn the passing of the democratic iconoclast Ataturk 76 years ago.
Or maybe it mourns his vision. As they do every Nov. 10, neighbours lean over their balconies and shopkeepers pause their brooms mid-sweep, peering up at nothing but sound. If they’re looking for a liberal democracy, they won’t see it here.
Turkey’s not a dictatorship, of course. But that’s no longer the point. In many countries, the siren of authoritarianism — a cacophony of battered civil rights, scapegoated minorities and nationalistic fervour — now blares even over ballot boxes. Elections and capitalism on the one hand, and authoritarianism on the other, are clasping each other. And while Turkey’s heavy-handed, sort-of-but-not-really-democratic type of rule is becoming increasingly common, established liberal democracies aren’t quite putting a finger on what its type of rule is, and how to respond effectively.
Human Rights Watch calls systems such as Turkey’s “abusive majoritarianism.” But Freedom House’s vice president of research Arch Puddington tells me wryly, “I don’t have a nifty one or two-word description. They are electoral democracies with a disturbing number of authoritarian features.”
In Turkey, these features have recently included journalists being jailed for criticizing President Recep Erdogan (or having a water canon aimed directly at them), YouTube and Twitter being banned, shoeboxes being stuffed with $4.5 million by a government ally, and the conviction being maintained that all of these features are justified by virtue of the government having won a majority.
“With Erdogan,” Puddington says, “we go back to the election issue. ‘I won the election, so these other checks and balances are null and void in Turkey.’”
And Puddington does have a nifty two-word description for the type of regime that he and other experts believe Turkey may be veering toward: “modern authoritarianism.”
Last month a Freedom House article counted off the five “concessions — largely illusory in nature — to the world’s prevailing democratic order” that most modern authoritarian systems make. They pay insincere respects to pluralistic media, calling off the pre-publication censorship dogs while ghettoizing independent news; to civil society, leaving harmless NGOs alone while harassing civil rights advocates; to rule of law, refraining from holding quite so many summary executions and from imposing quite so many curfews, while punishing dissidents through obsequious legal systems; to political competition, holding regular elections while crippling anyone else’s chances of ever winning one; and to economic openness, engaging in global trade while simultaneously engaging in cronyism.
These last two features of modern authoritarianism — ostensible political and economic openness — create confusion for established liberal democracies.
Supposed political openness can obfuscate whether a modern authoritarian system only feigns democratic intentions for the sake of credibility, whether it has its own cultural “style” of democracy that deserves respect, or whether it’s simply travelling the potholed, tortuous road to democracy. Meanwhile, economic integration and security concerns can complicate sanctioning civil and human rights violations — and enervate the will to do so.
Which is why a new Freedom House report determines that established liberal democracies strongly support elections abroad without adequately supporting human and civil rights through trade. Perhaps we still don’t understand how integral civil rights are to democracy. Perhaps we do understand and just don’t know how to promote them and protect our own interests.
Perhaps we’re correctly embarrassed by our own rights violations.
Whatever the reasons, China’s President Xi Jinping can stand confidently beside President Obama while openly threatening foreign journalists. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban can sit comfortably in the European Union while declaring liberal democracy expendable. And Erdogan can shrug off accession negotiations to the European Union while setting off the siren of modern authoritarianism.
Shannon Gormley is a Canadian writer.As the Great British Beer Festival continues in London, we reveal our pick of the best historic pubs in the heart of the capital.
There are few more quintessentially English experiences than supping a pint of ale in a centuries-old public house, where the walls could tell you stories. London is awash with such places, remarkably so in some respects, given the destruction wreaked by the Great Fire of London, Second World War bombs and post-war planners.
Some were around before Shakespeare; others are comparatively recent Victorian additions – but all have a fascinating story behind them.
Central London
1. The Star Tavern
The Star Tavern in Belgravia has seen its share of well-heeled visitors – including Peter O’Toole, Diana Dors and Alexander Korda – since it was built in the early 19th century. However, it is most noted for its role in one of the most colourful – and notorious – episodes in 20th century England. The grand upstairs room was supposedly where the Great Train Robbers hatched their plan to attack the Mail service in 1963. Bruce Reynolds, the ringleader, would reportedly drive up from south-west London in an Aston Martin to flesh out the details of the £2.3m heist. Now, it’s a grand, welcoming place with a good selection of Fuller’s beers.
6 Belgrave Mews W, SW1X 8HT
www.star-tavern-belgravia.co.uk
The Star Tavern Credit: This content is subject to copyright./Neil Setchfield
2. The Nag’s Head
This wonderful, poky little pub is just a short distance from the shopping district of Harrods and Knightsbridge, but is a completely different world. Just reaching it feels like a discovery, with its location down a quiet little mews. Once you stoop inside, you’ll find a cluttered assembly of portraits, bric-a-brac, pewter mugs, and curiosities, and Adnams on tap. This is where you come to get a sense of the public house as it was like centuries ago – and woe betide the person who ignores the mobile phone ban. As befits the old school nature of the place, there doesn’t seem to be an official website.
53 Kinnerton St, SW1X 8ED
3. The Grenadier
Built in 1720, the Grenadier was originally used as an officer’s mess for the Foot Guards regiment. It became a pub in 1818, and it is rumoured that the Duke of Wellington used to pop in for refreshments. Some also say it is haunted by the ghost of a former soldier who was murdered after cheating in a game of cards. In more recent years, Madonna chose to come here for a post-gig celebration, and the pub’s cosy interior remains the haunt of many a socialite looking for a traditional English pint and pub lunch.
18 Wilton Row, SW1X 7NR
www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/grenadier-belgrave-square/c0800/
The Grenadier Credit: Credit: Andrew Holt / Alamy Stock Photo/Andrew Holt / Alamy Stock Photo
4. The French House, Soho
This Soho institution has played a strong historical role, although as the name suggests, its influence has been felt more on the other side of the Channel. Ironically, the first known landlord was a German, Herr Schmidt, but he was deported after the outbreak of the First World War. During the Second World War, the pub was used as a meeting place for members of the French Resistance, including General de Gaulle. Later, its bohemian clientele included journalist Jeffrey Bernard, and Suggs from the band Madness. The pub retains a distinctly Gallic flavour today, serving alcohol in French measures. Traditionalists should approve of the absence of a television and its mobile phone ban.
49 Dean St, W1D 5BG
www.frenchhousesoho.com
5. The Dog and Duck, Soho
Another well-known Soho watering hole with great literary associations, the Dog and Duck was where George Orwell used to drink. It has an ornate Victorian interior – the pub is Grade II-listed and noted for its lavish tiling and grand mirrors. In its previous incarnation on the same site (the current pub was built in 1897), John Constable and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were apparently regulars, and the owners boast of a visit from Madonna: clearly the singer has good taste in traditional English pubs.
18 Bateman Street, London, W1D 3AJ
www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thedogandducksoholondon
The Dog and Duck Credit: Credit: Alex Segre / Alamy Stock Photo/Alex Segre / Alamy Stock Photo
6. The Cross Keys
One of the most distinctive places in Covent Garden, often noted for the striking foliage around its façade. Within, it’s a far cry from the all-too-common homogenous pub chain, with a fantastic clutter of ornaments and memorabilia – there’s even a napkin said to have been signed by Elvis. It’s a defiantly traditional pub, which tends to be used by locals.
31 Endell Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9BA
www.crosskeyscoventgarden.com
The Cross Keys Credit: Credit: Edward Herdwick / Alamy Stock Photo/Edward Herdwick / Alamy Stock Photo
7. The Lamb and Flag
This has a good claim as Covent Garden’s most historic watering hole, and retains much of its traditional charm. Tucked down an alleyway – which was once notorious as the site of bare-knuckle fighting – this is an enormously popular pub, where drinkers have included Dickens, and the 17th-century poet John Dryden. In fact, the latter was apparently the victim of an attempted murder nearby. By way of consolation, the upstairs room is now named after him. You may find you need to make your way there up the narrow wooden staircase to escape the crowds at the bottom. The pub often puts on entertainment, and is decked out in bunting, on St George's Day.
33 Rose Street, London WC2E 9EB
lambandflagcoventgarden.co.uk
The Lamb and Flag Credit: This content is subject to copyright./Mark Turner
8. The Seven Stars
One of the few places in the area to survive the Great Fire of London, the tiny Seven Stars pub now has more than four centuries of history behind it. Located just behind the Royal Courts of Justice, it is a natural stomping ground for the pin stripes of the legal profession. Unassuming from the outside, it’s a traditional pub through and through within, and has a good range of real ales. Given its size, don’t expect to find much space – try to avoid lunch time and the post-work rush.
53-54 Carey St, London WC2A 2JB
9. Cittie of Yorke
A Sam Smith's pub (with a very good value, but limited, beer selection), the Cittie of York dates back to 1430, although the present building was built in the Twenties. And what a building it is. There are three different bars, though the one at the back is perhaps the most striking - a grand hall with a long bar, towering ceilings, and vats stashed to one side. It is Grade II-listed, and recommended by CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale).
22 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6BN
Cittie of Yorke
10. The Lamb
This has a Victorian-style interior – although the pub is actually much older – and many associations with the Bloomsbury set; Dickens is also thought to have drunk here (among many other places). Strikingly, its “snob screens” are still in place, there’s a varnished horse-shoe shaped bar, as well as a polyphon (the predecessor to the gramophone) on display. English Heritage describes the pub as “an exceptional piece of Victoriana”. It’s a Young’s pub, and its character is beautifully maintained.
94 Lambs Conduit Street
www.youngs.co.uk/pubs/lamb
11. The Crown Tavern, Clerkenwell
Lenin used to drink at The Crown Tavern – or the Crown and Anchor as it was then – before revolutionary matters took him to Russia. It is thought that he may even have conferred with Stalin on site. More recently it was the setting for a scene from Notes on a Scandal, starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. There are a good range of draught beers on offer.
43 Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0EG
www.thecrowntavernec1.co.uk
12. Ye Olde Mitre Tavern
One of the most difficult to find of all the pubs listed here, but it is well worth the effort. It’s unashamedly traditional (no TVs), and long may that continue. Previous clientele are rumoured to have included Elizabeth I (one story goes that she danced around a cherry tree that is still there). The current incarnation was built around 1772, although there had been a pub on the site since the mid 1500s. It is actually technically still part of the Diocese of Ely, Cambridgeshire, a bizarre quirk due to its origins as a tavern for the servants of the Palace of the Bishops of Ely, which was once based here.
Ely Court, Hatton Garden, Holborn, London EC1N 6SJ
Ye Olde Mitre Tavern Credit: Credit: Cath Harries / Alamy Stock Photo/Cath Harries / Alamy Stock Photo
13. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
On every list of historic pubs in London, and with reason: the warren-like Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is an absolute treat. Countless literary grandees and journalists – from Samuel Johnson and Dickens to the Fleet Street hacks of the 20th century – have occupied a nook or cranny in its labyrinthine interior. Although very much on the tourist trail, it is big enough to cope. Rebuilt in 1667 after the Great Fire – a date flagged boastfully on the sign outside - it’s another Sam Smiths pub which means it's cheap, but without a great beer selection. Oh, and if you find yourself in one of the cellar bars, you won’t get a mobile phone reception, completing your escape from the daily grind.
145 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BU
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Credit: Credit: Cath Harries / Alamy Stock Photo/Cath Harries / Alamy Stock Photo
14. The Viaduct
The last surviving Victorian gin palace in London, the Viaduct opened the same year (1869) as the nearby viaduct. It is opposite the Old Bailey (where Newgate Prison once stood). The story that its beer cellars are former cells of the prison may be a myth, but even so the pub is a great stop for history buffs. Elegantly curving on a corner, it has Fuller’s ales on tap and a noteworthy interior, particularly its etched glass panels (the nearby Princess Louise also has striking examples), and a series of large portraits representing agriculture, banking and the arts.
126 Newgate Street; EC1A 7AA
viaducttavern.co.uk
15. The Black Friar
Now strangely exposed on a very busy thoroughfare, the wedge-shaped Black Friar was once much more tucked away. It was going to be demolished along with the surrounding buildings until John Betjeman, later poet laureate, stepped in and campaigned successfully to save it. Few would argue with that now; little prepares you for the extravagance of its religious-themed art nouveau interior. It makes you wonder what the planners were thinking…
74 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4EG
www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theblackfriarblackfriarslondon
The Black Friar Credit: Credit: Francesco Lorenzetti / Alamy Stock Photo/Francesco Lorenzetti / Alamy Stock Photo
16. The George Inn
Last but emphatically not least on London ultimate’s historical pub tour. The George Inn (being south of the river) is out an a slight limb as far as this tour is concerned, but, along with Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, is possibly the most striking and atmospheric of them all. Once a coffee house visited by Dickens (it was mentioned in Little Dorrit), it is London’s last remaining galleried inn, and the only pub in London to be owned by the National Trust. An older incarnation was destroyed by fire in 1676. There is extensive outdoor seating.
The George Inn Yard, 77 Borough High Street, SE1 1NH
www.george-southwark.co.uk
Beyond central London
The following pubs are a little further away, but worth a detour if you have time.
17. The Grapes
Now owned by Sir Ian McKellen, this tavern (formerly the Bunch of Grapes) has stood on the same ground for half a millennium. It was known by Samuel Pepys, and by Dickens (again). In fact, the opening of Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend is supposedly based on it: “A tavern of dropsical appearance… long settled down into a state of hale infirmity. It had outlasted many a sprucer public house, indeed the whole house impended over the water but seemed to have got into the condition of a faint-hearted diver, who has paused so long on the brink that he will never go in at all.”
76 Narrow Street, London E14 8BP
www.thegrapes.co.uk
18. The Prospect of Whitby, Wapping
Another riverside pub oozing history; it claims to be the oldest riverside hostelry in London. It's found on the north side of the Thames and there are terrific views over the river from the rear terrace. Turner is thought to have sketched views from the location.
57 Wapping Wall, Wapping, London E1W 3SH
www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/prospect-of-whitby-wapping/c8166/
The Prospect of Whitby, Wapping Credit: This content is subject to copyright./LatitudeStock - David Williams
19. The Spaniard’s Inn, Hampstead
Perhaps the best watering hole in North London for literary associations, this pub once counting the romantic poets John Keats and Lord Byron among its clientele. Dick Turpin is also thought to have been a regular. Inside, there are wood-panelled walls, while high-backed pub pews still give a sense of intrigue.
Spaniards Road, Hampstead, London NW3 7JJ
www.thespaniardshampstead.co.uk
20. The Flask, Highgate
Few places beat the atmosphere of this distinctive pub sitting at the top of Highgate Hill – particularly its subterranean snugs. Rumoured to have been another haunt of Dick Turpin (the highwayman clearly liked to celebrate a successful bit of swag-taking), the Flask also has a long line of slightly more salubrious patrons. These include the romantic poets of Byron, Shelley and Keats, as well as William Hogarth and various rock stars in more modern times. There’s a decent smattering of ghost stories too – it is apparently haunted by a Spanish barmaid who hanged herself in the pub's cellar after her love for the publican was spurned.
The Flask 77 Highgate West Hill Camden London N6 6BU
theflaskhighgate.com
21. The Cutty Sark, Greenwich
Unbeatable riverside location, a little away from the main tourist hordes of Greenwich (but can still get very busy). Get a seat in the upstairs bay window, and idle your time away watching Thames life drift by.
4-6 Ballast Quay, London, Greenwich SE10 9PD
www.cuttysarkse10.co.uk/
22. The Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich
Another striking and very popular riverside pub that boasts Gladstone and Dickens as former regulars. Noted for its splendid Regency architecture as much as its riverside location.
Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9NW
www.trafalgartavern.co.uk
23. The Dove, Hammersmith
Wonderfully located on a bend of the River Thames, The Dove is known as one of the best pubs in London to view the annual Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race. It has seen many notables dining and supping at its tables, including Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynne.
19 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London W6 9TA
dovehammersmith.co.uk
The Dove Credit: Credit: Peter Lane / Alamy Stock Photo/Peter Lane / Alamy Stock Photo
24. The Mayflower, Rotherhithe
Extremely old, this pub south of the river was a stopping point for the pilgrim fathers as they emigrated to America.
117 Rotherhithe Street, London SE16 4NF
themayflowerrotherhithe.comLabour leadership challenger to say a government led by him would boost health spending by 4% a year
Labour leadership hopeful Owen Smith is to hit out at the threat of creeping privatisation in the NHS, highlighting Department of Health accounts showing that spending on private-sector NHS providers has doubled under the Conservatives.
In a speech on Monday at a campaign trail stop at Trafford General hospital in Manchester, Smith will say that a Labour government led by him would boost health spending by 4% a year, suggesting there is “a secret Tory plan to privatise the NHS”.
Department of Health accounts published on the last day before parliament’s summer recess showed the spend on private-sector NHS providers more than doubled, from more than £4bn in 2009-10 to £8.7bn in 2015-16.
Smith’s early campaign has been dogged by accusations that he lobbied for further private-sector involvement in the NHS during his time as policy chief at the pharmaceuticals companies Pfizer. During his career as a lobbyist for the US firm, Smith had called on ministers to improve incentives for the pharmaceutical industry.
His speech on Monday will attempt to divert attention to his time as shadow health minister, saying that he “fought the Tories’ top-down reorganisation of the NHS line by line”. He will say: “I warned that it would lead to an explosion of privatisation – and that is exactly what has happened.”
Smith, a former shadow work and pensions secretary, has previously claimed it was a gross exaggeration to suggest he had campaigned for more privatisation of NHS services while at Pfizer, and suggested it had been an error for Labour to advocate greater choice over care providers.
He will focus his efforts on health policy a day after Corbyn’s announcement about plans for a national education service based on NHS principles.TouchArcade Rating:
Notorious indie auteur Kepa Auwae posted some details on our forums regarding the next update to Rocketcat’s latest Real Game™, Wayward Souls ($6.99). Backing up a bit, if you haven’t played Wayward Souls (here’s our review) yet, you really should. It’s a great permadeath action RPG with just enough roguelike trimmings to make people who get really mad when you refer to something as a roguelike only slightly miffed. There’s multiple classes to play as, tons of content to go through, and a really cool power curve that gives purpose to multiple attempts as you slowly unlock character abilities.
The biggest addition to the game is the often requested endless mode. Once the new update hits, you can just go forever, or, as long as you can survive, I guess. The endless mode is also the highest difficulty level, so, you might not go very long. MFi controller support is finally getting added, as is Game Center. There are more hats (of course) and bosses are finally getting health bars so you know just how close you were to killing ’em before you were slain.
A bunch of other minor gameplay tweaks have been made, most of which involve the handling of statue buffs in the game. Now they’ll even last between levels, which is cool as it always sucked to find a statue right next to a staircase. Oh, and among other things, there’s a “more or less impossible to achieve secret hat added."
Wayward Souls is a ton of fun, and if you don’t have it yet, now’s the time to get it. Rocketcat never puts their games on sale, and instead, actually makes them $1 more expensive with each update. This has two benefits: You’re actually saving money buying it before the update lands, and it brings all sorts of expert indie game pricing strategists out of the woodwork to leave comments about how this pricing method will leave Kepa and his crew out on the streets.Although a graphics card and processor are the most important components, there are other features that will affect the performance of your gaming laptop.
RAM - RAM (random access memory) affects speed and performance. 4GB is the minimum needed for respectable gaming performance, but 8GB and 16GB will offer greater speed and multi-tasking. Basic games require less RAM than mainstream titles, whilst more RAM may be needed for good performance with high-end games and virtual reality.
Processor speed - Processor speed is measured in GHZ (gigahertz) and the faster the GHZ the better when it comes to gaming. 2.5GHZ is the minimum recommended speed for mid-range gaming performance.
Proccessor cores - The number of cores a processor has defines how well it can multi-task. Dual and quad are the most common, with quad cores likely to be the better option for working on more than one thing at once.
Storage - Gaming laptops are likely to have both HDD (hard disk drive) and SSD (solid state drive) storage. Data saved in a SSD is typically fast to access and can speed up the performance of your laptop.
Size - Smaller laptops, around 14 inches, are easier for gaming on-the-go, whereas a 17 inch laptop might be better for use only at home.
Display - If graphics are important, then look out for gaming laptops with higher screen resolution.
Fans - With so much processing power, a gaming laptop needs built-in fans to keep it cool and optimise gaming experience. Fans are especially important if you intend on overclocking your laptop.
What is overclocking? - Some gaming laptops enable components to run at a higher rate than they were intended. This is called overclocking. While this can provide additional performance benefits, it's important to ensure your laptop has the right care and cooling to handle a higher level of performance or you may risk components overheating.Title The Girl with the Red Balloon
Series The Balloonmakers, book 1
Author Katherine Locke
Release Date September 1, 2017
When sixteen-year-old Ellie Baum accidentally time-travels via red balloon to 1988 East Berlin, she’s caught up in a conspiracy of history and magic. She meets members of an underground guild in East Berlin who use balloons and magic to help people escape over the Wall—but even to the balloon makers, Ellie’s time travel is a mystery. When it becomes clear that someone is using dark magic to change history, Ellie must risk everything—including her only way home—to stop the process.
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In the spirit of complete honesty, I was hesitant to pick up. Though I've always had an insatiable curiosity about World War II and German history, I feel lukewarm towards time travel. Something, though, kept pulling me back to this book. I was intrigued, but also worried it would be a disappointment. When I caught it on sale, I threw caution to the wind and bought it. Best choice I've made in a long time.is easily the best book I've read this year. It's a darker venture into YA that definitely pays off. This was a beautifully written fictionalized piece of Berlin history.Skipping over how beautifully this was written and the interesting story line (because there are plenty of reviews that can talk about that stuff better than I can), this book made me feel things. That ending! My heart can't handle that kind of ending without a few tears. I want more. Like, Imore. Please.I'm both glad to see that there's going to be a sequel, but also a bit sad as it's not a continuation of Ellie's story. If it's half as good as, though, it's going to be amazing. I can't wait.News
Sarcasm, white lies and teasing can be difficult to identify for those with certain disorders – new video inventory developed at McGill may help
When she says she loves my new haircut is she telling the truth or being sarcastic? The answer isn’t always obvious.
Especially for men.
Or for those who suffer from diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, or neurodevelopmental conditions such as Autism spectrum disorders. For people with these problems, any form of non-literal speech such as sarcasm, teasing or ‘white lies’ can be very confusing. A new video inventory of examples of these forms of indirect speech developed at McGill should help in the diagnosis and clinical testing of those with disorders of this kind.
A ‘truth bias’ underlies much social interaction
“We tend to believe that people tell the truth most of the time,” says Kathrin Rothermich, from McGill’s School of Communication Disorders, who has recently published a paper about the research in PLoS ONE. “So sarcasm and white lies seem to go against a basic understanding of what ‘should’ be happening in conversation. This may be part of what makes them so difficult to recognize for some.”
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Rothermich has spent the past two years creating and testing the Relational Inference and Social Communication (RISC) video inventory that she and her colleague Marc Pell developed. These 926 videos feature short, scripted scenes with four actors interacting in different relationships (as romantic partners, as friends, as colleagues, or as boss/employee).
In each exchange, the actors were asked to convey one specific intention through their speech and actions: to be sincere, or to tell ‘white lies’, or to be teasing, or to be sarcastic. Rothermich then tested the videos on a group of healthy participants to see whether they were able to identify the speakers’ intentions, and to get feedback about which vocal and facial cues had helped them identify what was going on.
Sarcasm is especially hard to recognize
Participants were generally well able to identify the speakers’ intention either when one of the actors was teasing someone else or when they were telling the truth. What proved to be more difficult, and particularly so for men, was identifying when someone was being sarcastic. It was only when sarcasm was used in relationships between friends that participants were |
Escalades on a recent Saturday afternoon.
Old wounds have not healed in Selma, which was founded as a major slave-trading center. There are still rotting slave quarters in back alleys, and massive foundries that produced weapons for the Confederate Army still line the banks of the Alabama River. Every April, a month after the Bloody Sunday commemoration, hundreds come to town to re-enact the Battle of Selma, when Union troops burned the city to the ground. Some also pay respects to Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first grand wizard of the KKK, whose memorial in the city’s moss-draped Confederate cemetery describes him as “one of the South’s finest heroes.”
Selma remains defined by its past, whether it be 1865 or 1965. Too many people visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge (named after a Confederate general who led the Alabama Klan) and the voting-rights museum across the street but never dig any deeper. “We have to move beyond the bridge,” Sewell said at Brown Chapel. “It’s not just about one commemoration on one day. We have to live Selma.” The historical focus on Bloody Sunday—as important as it is—has too often obscured the many problems facing the city today. “Selma has done a lot more for the rest of the world than it has done for itself,” the city’s first black mayor, James Perkins, often says.
In Selma, it feels like everything and nothing has changed.
* * *
John Lewis, then chairman of SNCC, being beaten by Alabama state troopers on Bloody Sunday. (James “Spider” Martin Photographic Archive/Briscoe Center, University of Texas at Austin)
Four days after the passage of the VRA in August 1965, federal examiners from the US Civil Service Commission arrived in town to begin registering voters. The first blacks registered under the act were signed up in Selma. By the time of the first major election in Alabama following the VRA, in May 1966, the number of black registered voters in Dallas County had surged from well under 1,000 before the VRA to over 10,000.
Black voters finally had a chance to get even with Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark, who had tyrannically enforced segregation for over a decade. In the 1966 primary, Selma’s moderate public safety director, Wilson Baker, squared off against Clark for sheriff. Newly enfranchised African-Americans embraced Baker’s candidacy, and it was expected that with all ballots in, Baker would defeat Clark with enough votes to avoid a runoff.
But the next morning, Clark’s allies on the Dallas County Democratic Executive Committee tried to steal the election, refusing to count six boxes of ballots from Selma’s black wards, which they claimed were “infected with irregularities.” The Justice Department immediately sought an injunction from the federal courts, which ruled in its favor under the VRA. The ballots were counted, and Clark, a major foe of the civil-rights movement, was finally out of a job. It was the first symbol of how consequential the new law would be, and also signaled that any progress in Selma would not come without a major fight.
“The Voting Rights Act had a tremendous impact on Selma, particularly when there were certain blacks who were initially skeptical about going to the courthouse to get registered,” Reese says. “After it was passed, we were able to convince many people to register and cast a ballot.”
Electing blacks to office would be a harder task. Seven years after Bloody Sunday, the number of black registered voters had reached near parity with white voters, but there were still no black elected officials in Dallas County. That was because candidates for offices like the Selma City Council were elected “at large”—citywide instead of by district. Since whites retained a slight voter-registration advantage, they were able to elect all of their preferred candidates. The black half of town remained effectively disenfranchised. At-large elections were the chief obstacle to minority representation in the years following passage of the VRA, not just in Selma but throughout the country.
When Selma civil-rights lawyer J.L. Chestnut threatened to sue the ten-member City Council under the VRA, the town’s white leaders unexpectedly agreed to shift to district-based elections. As a result, five blacks, including Reese, were elected to the City Council. Reese would become the second most powerful figure in city government. “Even white people had to go through him if they wanted a stop sign,” wrote Chestnut.
* * *
But just as Selma was integrating politically, its economy collapsed. Craig Air Force Base, where thousands of pilots had been trained since World War II, closed in 1977. The base had housed over 2,500 people and contributed $5 million a year to the city’s economy. “I saw my town dry up,” Sewell says. “You no longer had people coming from across the country to make Selma their home.”
Economic challenges raised the stakes for political control of the area. In 1978, the Justice Department sued the all-white Dallas County Commission and school board under Section 2 of the VRA, alleging that at-large elections for county offices prevented black candidates from winning. Reese was one of the lead plaintiffs. Judge William Brevard Hand, a notorious racial conservative, ruled twice against the department and bottlenecked the lawsuit. It took ten years—and multiple trips to the appeals court—before Hand relented and ordered the county to draw new districts for the county commission and school board, which elected blacks for the first time in 1988.
The integration of county government took far longer than anyone expected. “There was a gross underestimation of the obstacles to voting when the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed,” says State Senator Hank Sanders, who in 1983 became Selma’s first black state representative.
In 1989, U.W. Clemon, Alabama’s first black federal judge, swore in three black commissioners at the Dallas County Courthouse—the first black commissioners in 112 years. “We bring home to Dallas County the harvest of the Martin Luther King Voting Rights Act,” Clemon said. Reese delivered the invocation. “Out of the Egypt of Selma,” he said, “you brought us from nowhere to somewhere.” Justice Department lawyers flew down for the ceremony. “I predict that some day students of modern history will point to Selma, Alabama, as twentieth-century America’s cradle of democracy,” said Jim Turner, who was acting assistant attorney general for civil rights.
But racial strife soon followed. In 1990, the Selma school board, which whites controlled six to five, fired the city’s first black superintendent, Norward Roussell, who was previously area superintendent of the New Orleans schools. Black school board members walked out in protest. Picketers descended on City Hall, and black students staged a five-day sit-in at Selma High School. The National Guard was sent in to restore order. Six hundred white students were pulled out of public schools by their parents and never returned. Selma High became 99 percent black. The school system never recovered, and last year it was taken over by the state because of poor performance. “It’s resegregated,” says Sewell, the first black valedictorian at Selma High. “I wonder if my old high school could reproduce me today.”
Black residents focused their ire on Mayor Joe Smitherman, who, according to Newsweek, called Roussell “an overpaid nigger from New Orleans.” (Smitherman denied the accusation.) Smitherman had been in office since 1964, craftily winning election after election with the help of a powerful patronage machine. Reese had unsuccessfully run against him in 1984, but in 2000 Reese’s campaign manager, James Perkins, finally ousted Smitherman, becoming Selma’s first black mayor. “It was powerful symbolically,” says Hank Sanders. “Selma had given the nation the Voting Rights Act, and yet Selma still had the same mayor who was here in 1965 in the year 2000.”
Perkins, a computer technician, brought new industries to Selma, raised the minimum wage for city employees, put African-Americans in charge of city departments and improved services in the black community. In 2008, George Evans, the first black president of the City Council, replaced Perkins as mayor. But neither Perkins nor Evans has been able to reverse many of the problems facing the city: chronic unemployment, segregated schools, high crime, aging infrastructure.
Selma is not Ferguson; black political power is a fact of life here. Economic power is another story. “The biggest obstacle has been that even when there is black electoral power, the economic power is nearly all white,” Sanders says. For example, in 2009, blacks made up 27 percent of Alabama’s population, but owned only 3 percent of the state’s agriculture and 2 percent of its timberland—the largest industries in the Black Belt. Amendments to the Alabama Constitution, pushed through by Gov. George Wallace in the 1970s following integration of the state’s schools, taxed agriculture and timberland at only 10 percent of market value, depriving areas like Selma of millions of dollars in revenue. As a result, “the children of the rural poor, whether black or white, are left to struggle as best as they can in underfunded, dilapidated schools,” District Court Judge Lynwood Smith wrote in 2011.
Selma, says Sewell, is “emblematic of rural communities across this nation that have been left behind.”
* * *
Sean and Tylisa Black moved from Denver to Selma in 2007, after Sean visited on a civil-rights pilgrimage. It was too late to enroll their 4-year-old daughter, Shania, in public school, so they sent her to a predominantly white private preschool. When it came time for kindergarten, Shania told her parents she wanted to attend Morgan Academy, a segregated private school founded by whites three months after Bloody Sunday. Morgan was named after Alabama Senator John Tyler Morgan, a Confederate general and a grand dragon of the KKK in the 1870s. Morgan Academy had never accepted an African-American student, but the Blacks applied for Shania, and, to their surprise, she was admitted.
They were told to expect twenty-five people at the first parents meeting. Five hundred showed up, packing the school’s gym: parents, aunts, grandparents and alumni. “Our heritage is being ruined,” Sean remembers hearing over and over again. One board member resigned on the spot. Dallas County District Court Judge Bob Armstrong leaned over and told Sean, “I’m sorry. This kind of behavior reminds me of the 1960s.”
Shania was not personally bullied, but older siblings of her friends were beat up and called “nigger lovers.” She couldn’t sleep over at her white friends’ houses, and nobody from her school would come to her birthday parties. Graffiti on the back of Walmart depicted Shania being lynched. “Nigger” it said, pointing to her head. “Hang the bitches,” it said below, next to “MLK is a homosexual” and a drawing of a swastika. Shania spent two unhappy years at Morgan before leaving for the public elementary school. Now in sixth grade, she attends a private “freedom school” affiliated with the Selma Community Church, the only truly integrated church in town.
A mentoring program that Sean and Tylisa started for at-risk kids at the courthouse was defunded after Shania enrolled at Morgan. The retribution didn’t end there. The Blacks moved to town along with fifty-seven other members of a Denver nonprofit called the Freedom Foundation, which focuses on youth empowerment and social justice issues. The new arrivals, determined to challenge Selma’s segregated institutions, met with Reese for guidance and encouragement. The group’s founder, Mark Duke, bought a grand Victorian mansion in an integrated neighborhood near downtown. After Shania enrolled at Morgan, vandals covered his house in toilet paper and spray-painted “Go Home” on his lawn. He received death threats, and an anti–Freedom Foundation website was started by white supremacists. The Department of Homeland Security came to investigate. Duke relocated his family to Atlanta after two years. “When I moved here, I thought most of these issues were gone,” he says. “I was shocked to see the depths of it.”
Race is far more of a factor in Selma than the Blacks anticipated. “It’s like when you come to Alabama and you have to pick Alabama or Auburn as your team,” Sean says. “When you come to Selma, you have to pick a side.”
The unyielding racial divide in Selma is emblematic of the problems facing the city. “Everybody knows the fiftieth anniversary is coming up, so if you look around the city, there’s a lot of action and covering things up to make sure things look good, when it’s really falling apart,” Sean says. “If we don’t look at why it’s falling apart, then how can we move forward?”
* * *
On July 27, 2006, President George W. Bush signed legislation reauthorizing the VRA for another twenty-five years. He invited Selma Mayor James Perkins to the Rose Garden signing ceremony and thanked him in his speech. Seven years later, the Supreme Court struck down the most important part of the VRA, the requirement that states with the worst histories of voting discrimination, like Alabama, approve voting changes with the federal government. Announcing the decision from the bench, Chief Justice John Roberts cited the election of a black mayor in Selma as a reason why the VRA’s powerful federal oversight was no longer needed.
Rep. Terri Sewell (right) presents a gold certificate to Frederick Douglas Reese (center), with the Rev. Leodis Strong, at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, February 2015. (Photo by the author)
Perkins finds that deeply ironic. “The gutting of the act was synonymous with gutting the people who worked so hard to achieve the act in the first place,” Perkins says, thinking of his mentor, Reese. “I took it personally. When you are part of the change, and you see those changes reversed and know they were for the better, it really hurts.” Selma was not just the birthplace of the VRA; the law protected minority voters from discriminatory election schemes on more than ten different occasions from the 1970s to the ’90s.
Legislation to strengthen the VRA in the wake of the Court’s decision has gone nowhere in Congress. The House unanimously approved Sewell’s bill honoring the foot soldiers of Selma, but only eleven Republicans have sponsored the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014 in the House, and none in the Senate.
It remains to be seen whether Congress can move from symbolism to substance on civil rights. Sewell and Lewis recently screened Selma at the Capitol with Republican lawmakers and plan to welcome a large bipartisan delegation to Alabama for the anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
“My hope is that the bipartisan efforts we’ve made will move people to recommit themselves to restore the teeth back into the Voting Rights Act,” Sewell says. “Gold medals are great—I think it’s long overdue and much deserved that the foot soldiers are going to finally get their place in history, but the biggest tribute that we can give to those foot soldiers is fully restoring the Voting Rights Act.”
Selma transformed America. It’s time for America to repay that debt.If they pulled the busses the plane indeed would go silent. It was probably a serious event and they simply were occupied with controlling the plane and trying to fight the fire. Aviate, Navigate and lastly communicate. There are two types of fires. Electrical might not be as fast and furious and there might or might not be incapacitating smoke. However there is the possibility given the timeline that perhaps there was an overheat on one of the front landing gear tires and it blew on takeoff and started slowly burning. Yes this happens with underinflated tires. Remember heavy plane, hot night, sea level, long run takeoff. There was a well known accident in Nigeria of a DC8 that had a landing gear fire on takeoff. A tire fire once going would produce horrific incapacitating smoke. Yes, pilots have access to oxygen masks but this is a no no with fire. Most have access to a smoke hood with a filter but this will only last for a few minutes depending on the smoke level. (I used to carry one of my own in a flight bag and I still carry one in my briefcase today when I fly).Airmen, don't let your babies grow up to read WikiLeaks. If they do, the Air Force may have no choice but to prosecute them for espionage.
Last week, the Air Force Materiel Command's lawyers warned that airmen who read the purloined classified cables on their home computers – not even government owned or issued devices – could be prosecuted for "dereliction of duty." And that's just for starters. WikiLeaks viewership could mean "prosecution for violation of espionage under the Espionage Act."
"DO NOT access the WikiLeaks information on government or personal computers;" the command's legal staff urged, "DO treat the leaked material like any other content assumed to be classified."
But the Air Force doesn't stop there. Your mom, your kids, your cousins – they can't access WikiLeaks either. If you don't stop them from reading those documents, they're looking at a potential Espionage Act prosecution, too.
"[I]f a family member of an Air Force employee accesses WikiLeaks on a home computer, the family member may be subject to prosecution for espionage under U.S. Code Title 18 Section 793," the legal guidance reads. "The Air Force member would have an obligation to safeguard the information under the general guidance to safeguard classified information."
Steven Aftergood, the secrecy and intelligence guru at the Federation of the American Scientists, asked the National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office what to make of the Air Force Materiel Command guidance. "That has to be one of the worst policy/legal interpretations I have seen in my entire career," replied director William J. Bosanko.
And it comes as the Pentagon's calmed down about overall effect of the WikiLeaks breach. Last month, the acting undersecretary for intelligence reassured employees that they wouldn't have their hard drives wiped should they stumble upon a webpage containing a WikiLeak, owing to the "prohibitive cost" of taking such a step. That directive didn't presume to govern what a Defense Department employee read on her laptop at home – let alone what her kid read on his.
But since WikiLeaks published thousands of classified military reports and diplomatic cables last year, the Air Force has spared no effort to make sure that its personnel doesn't read them. The 24th Air Force blocked user access to news websites like nytimes.com or guardian.co.uk that published the leaks. Again, though, that ban didn't apply to home or family Internet usage.
Aftergood can't make sense of it. His follow-up questions: "What if a family member accessed WikiLeaks on a computer outside the home? What if a non-family member accessed WikiLeaks on the home computer? What if one learns that a neighbor has accessed WikiLeaks in the neighbor’s home? Is the Air Force employee obliged to intervene or to report the violation to authorities? And how could any of this possibly be constitutional?"
Update, 4:15 p.m.: That was fast. An Air Force spokesman tells Josh Gerstein of *Politico *that the legal guidance is now under review: "We were just trying to give guidance to military and civilian servicemembers and employees to control their young'uns." That's the service's business?
Photo: U.S. Air Force
See Also:How does an autistic person establish himself or herself in a satisfying career? That's the challenge we all face, and the degree to which we succeed varies quite widely. A lot depends on our social skills, or lack thereof. In my book Be Different (Broadway), I talk about several concepts whose mastery will help you get and keep almost any kind of job.
The first concept is that of chooseability. What I mean by that is simply making yourself someone another person would choose, rather than pass over or out and out reject. How do you do that? By acquiring a modicum of manners, so that our politeness excuses our occasional strange behavior. We make ourselves chooseable by acting the way other people expect us to act, which leads to the second point:
Watch. Wait. Imitate. That's what my grandfather told me, years ago, and it's still true today. When you want to join a group of people, pay attention to how they are dressed, how they are talking, and what they are doing. Take simple steps to blend in. If everyone there wears slacks and button-up shirts, don't walk in with shorts and a tee.
Some ask, "How can I do those things, and still be true to myself?" In some cases, you can't. In my opinion, those are places you (or I) probably don't belong. If you have to go way outside your comfort zone to look and act like the others in a group, that is probably not the scene for you.
I never advise people to be fake. What I do suggest is learning when to speak up and when to be quiet. Keeping your mouth shut is not "faking." It's fine to speak your mind if it's a compliment. However, in the workplace, well-meaning criticisms like "You sound like a dummy," or "You look fat in that shirt" will almost certainly get you in trouble. Better to say nothing in those cases.
Those are the two key skills you need to make it past the all-important interview. From there, we move on to the next issue, abilities. For many of us, that leads to our special abilities and interests. Most people have some kind of special interest. You can probably think of examples right where you live, like the neighbor who collects beer mugs or a friend who's fascinated by sports scores. Both know a great deal about their special interests, but they probably make a living doing something else.
For most people, a job and a special interest are two different things. The fellow who knows the batting averages of all the major league players actually works in a bank. The neighbor who collects beer mugs is an engineer. There's little or no relationship between the things they love (their hobbies or interests) and the things they do to earn a living.
If you ask them why, they might well look at you with surprise. Should there be a connection? "I work to get the money to do what I want," is a common refrain. That's true for all people -- not just autistics -- but it's particular applicable to us. All too often, one of us who's an absolute genius with math is flipping burgers or doing basic manual labor.
That sort of gross mismatch of skills and work is all too common for folks on the spectrum. What can we do about it? We can find employers or clients who appreciate what we are really good at. That's how I became successful, and it's what keeps me going now.
While some people I knew took those dead-end jobs, I found commercial applications for the things I loved and did better than anyone else. As a teenager, three of my enduring special interests were music, electronics, and cars. I was able to turn all three into paying work through my adult lifespan.
It was harder to do that, but it paid off. One thing that helped was going out on my own. I never fit the corporate mold very well anyway, and freed of that I was able to create things my clients wanted. That's how my car business got to where it is today, and it's key to my writing and photography success, too.
Often, folks on the spectrum have trouble with the traditional job application process because we do not have the expected credentials. We may have the skill, but lack the degree or certification. What then?
Obviously, the first solution is to get the credentials, but for many of us that presents an almost-insurmountable barrier. Failing that, we can try and attract the attention of employers by working gratis in the field. For example, making a name for oneself in the open source software community has led to solid employment for several people I know.
Then there is the path I took -- self-employment. It's not for everyone, but if it works, you can be very successful indeed. Indeed, most millionaires in this country are self-employed people. You could not be a research chemist without the resources of a big lab, but you could certainly set up shop as a tax preparer, or cabinetmaker, or any of a thousand other trades. Many of those businesses have the potential to grow into bigger businesses whose potential is limited only by our own vision and capacity.
You could even be a professional inventor, like my geek friend Bob Jeffway. After starting out as an engineer at Milton Bradley, Bob went out on his own, and he's done really well for himself.
I find self-employment to be more secure than having a job. In a job, I am always at risk for the whims of management. No matter how good a job I do, they could decide to lay us off and move engineering to India, or make other drastic changes, and there'd be nothing I could do. As a self-employed person, I answer to my clients, and I have a lot of them, so my income derives from a much bigger base.
I know it's not easy, but for many of us, self-sufficiency and independence are attainable goals, and I've described a number of paths for getting there.
When our interests align with our autistic abilities, our potential is vastly greater than if we try to do something that isn't a good match. For me, that difference makes the difference between being extraordinarily good at something and being mediocre at best. My uneven autistic intelligence keeps me from being a high level generalist in the workforce, but the peaks of my intelligence keep me on top, as long as I find places to use them. I hope the same will prove true for you.
John Robison is the author of Look Me in the Eye and Be Different, just out in paperback.
For more by John Elder Robison, click here.In early November of this year, Danish scientists confirmed that a male wolf had crossed the northern border of Germany and taken up residence in Jutland, the peninsula that forms the mainland part of Denmark. The country’s last known resident wolf was killed in 1772, a year in which the emotionally unstable King Christian VII was in the midst of a messy divorce from Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. (Caroline Matilda’s eldest brother, meanwhile, was preoccupied with his upstart colonies across the Atlantic.) Eight Danish monarchs and nearly two hundred and fifty years later, in spite of a sevenfold increase in Denmark’s human population, the country is a remarkably safe place for wild animals.
The Jutland wolf may be a harbinger of a broader recovery. According to a study published today in the journal Science, Europe is “succeeding in maintaining, and to some extent restoring, viable large carnivore populations on a continental scale.” Historically, these same carnivores—bears, wolves, wolverines, and lynx—were zealously hunted. In 813, for example, Charlemagne established the luparii, an élite corps charged with killing wolves; though the animals held out against the luparii for more than a thousand years, by the nineteen-thirties they were believed to be extinct in France. (The luparii, for their part, survive in vestigial form as the lieutenants de louveterie, volunteer wildlife officers who help manage France’s populations of boars, jackdaws, and other nuisance creatures.) In recent decades, however, the European landscape has become considerably more predator-friendly. The Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, which took effect in 1982, greatly restricted the conditions under which large carnivores could be captured or killed. At the same time, urbanization was drawing people away from the countryside and its wild inhabitants. In 1950, about half of the European population lived in urban areas; today, nearly three-quarters does.
Carnivores have also learned, in a sense, to live with people. According to Adrian Treves, a wildlife biologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, European brown bears, which are closely related to grizzlies, are shyer and more nocturnal than their American brethren. “Over many generations, the brown bears of Europe have adapted to the risk posed by people,” Treves told me. Likewise, European wolves have broadened their diet, eating not only large prey, such as deer, but also small mammals and carrion—and, in the case of at least one Greek wolf, apples and figs. As the Science study notes, a third of the European mainland is now home to at least one large predator species. Wolves have established permanent residence in twenty-eight European countries, brown bears in twenty-two, and lynx in twenty-three; large carnivores can be seen in forests, farmland, and even, at times, in suburbs. Though the study’s authors acknowledge that some isolated populations remain critically endangered, they conclude that, over all, Europe’s large carnivores are an “often underappreciated conservation success story.” And the comeback, though not without its hitches, has elicited little public fuss. Run-ins with humans are rare, and in many places traditional livestock-protection measures—including the use of guard dogs and shepherds—have been sustained or revived. “If you want to conserve large predators, you don’t need to exclude people,” Guillaume Chapron, one of the Science study’s lead authors, told me. “You just need to have the political will to coexist.”
In the Western United States, attitudes toward large predators are less measured. As in Europe, some species were nearly snuffed out by the mid-twentieth century because of fears of livestock losses and attacks on humans. Also as in Europe, wildlife-protection laws—primarily, in this case, the Endangered Species Act of 1973—ended the long open season on large predators. In 1995, the U.S. government began reintroducing gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, a controversial program in a region that is reflexively suspicious of both predators and federal regulation. The effort was so successful that an estimated seventeen hundred gray wolves now live in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; Oregon and Washington State have several resident wolf packs, and lone wolves have been spotted in California and Arizona. Still, the animals remain hated in parts of the West, particularly among ranchers, for whom predation by wolves can be an economic burden. (As in many European countries, states compensate ranchers for the loss of cattle and sheep, but because livestock are typically allowed to range much more widely here than in Europe the claims can be more difficult to prove.)
Several states allow the lethal control of wolves that prey on livestock, and Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have recently begun to allow wolf hunts. Though such policies seem as though they ought to reduce conflict, a study published two weeks ago in the online journal PLOS One suggests that they do just the opposite. It’s possible that wolves respond to the loss of packmates by having more pups—which then require feeding—or that smaller pack sizes force them to switch from fleet-footed wild prey to more sluggish domesticated prey. In general, North America’s large predators have not acquired, or been effectively encouraged to acquire, the unobtrusive behaviors that help keep their European relatives out of trouble. Wolves are likely to keep expanding their territories, perhaps even following the lead of coyotes and black bears into the northeastern United States. There, without the protection of national parks and other big nature reserves, European manners might prove their best refuge.
We often think of large predators as creatures of wilderness—of Yellowstone, or Glacier, or the Alaskan interior—and of humans as separate from wilderness, empowered to contain it. But this distinction, Adrian Treves says, has more to do with human psychology than with wildlife biology. “One of the main reasons these large protected areas are so important in North America is that, outside of them, people kill predators,” he told me. The European example shows that large carnivores and humans can, under certain conditions and in certain places, live alongside one another in relative peace. While those places don’t always fit our notion of wilderness, they are in one important sense more wild, because their throng of predators includes the most proficient of all: us.Fremantle defender Garrick Ibbotson will miss the next two to four weeks with a wrist injury.
Ibbotson sustained the injury in Freo’s clash with St Kilda on Saturday, and while he played out the game, further review determined the extent of the injury, according to Fremantle sports science manager Jason Weber.
“Unfortunately, 'Ibbo' injured his wrist in the game (against the Saints).” Weber said.
In the mix: Rd 11 v Essendon
“He seemed to play out the game okay but after the flight, the next morning in medical review it had swelled up and was quite painful.
“It was reviewed and he has a small fracture in his wrist so it’s going to be a couple of weeks to get it right.”
Ibbotson won’t require surgery on his left wrist.I am Nimrod Kamer, aka Peter Rehnquist, the creator of the "real" Obama Kenya Birth 2012 film. I just wanted to state, for the record, that I intentionally inserted very obvious clues into the video to ensure that it could easily be proven fraudulent: the incorrect Kenyan flag, claiming the film was shot on 8mm film when I really used a cheap iPad filter app, and casting a baby who was obviously too big (to fail) and had a few teeth. So now I am happy to present to you the behind-the-scenes making-of footage of the birthing-video hoax.
In part 2, set to air tomorrow, we interview a 2012 presidential nominee who believed the footage to be authentic and we have a close encounter with Donald Trump's trusted advisor Michael Cohen.
If you haven't seen the original video, check it out below:
In many ways, I made my film in response to this video published by Donald Trump earlier this month:
To get a glimpse of all the trolls and media outlets who published and talked about my video, go here.
Obama Kenya Birth 2012 Film Credits:
Produced by Lara Coco Zoabi
Created by Nimrod Kamer and William Pine
Art: Mary Katherine Youngblood
Obama's mom and outfits: Kristin Goodman
Baby: Nicholas Nicholson
Doctor: Archie Green
Location: Body Actualized Center, Bushwick, Brooklyn
Art assistant: Kate Chen
Nurse: Heather Harvey
Follow Nimrod on Twitter: @nnimrodd
For more politics from VICE, check these out:
Voter's Guide for the Indecisive
Just How Useless Are the Political Media?
Cornel West Plans to Vote for Obama in November and Protest His Policies in FebruaryI found a valuable resource I’ve been using to setup a few trades now and then and it’s turning out to be quite profitable — if you know what technical analysis indicators to apply as filters.
The site [link] supplies the top 20 cryptocurrencies that are trending at sites like reddit and bitcointalk. I’ve emailed them to ask for a list of sites they scan which I’ve posted below. Meanwhile, here’s the list which they update every few minutes (which I copied right from their site):
Top symbols trending in reddit, bitcointalk, news, blogs & social media:
Last updated: Sun Dec 03, 2017 07:56:54 PM (GMT+9) Tokyo, Japan
1. BTC
2. NEO
3. ETH
4. BCH
5. SBD
6. STEEM
7. ZEN
8. GBT
9. TESLA
10. USDT
11. LTC
12. ATS
13. DP
14. XMR
15. FLASH
16. ARK
17. GCR
18. EMC2
19. POLL
20. WAVES
Top trending names:
1. Bitcoin
2. Ethereum
3. HelloGold
4. NEO
5. Steem
6. Ripple
7. NEM
8. Einsteinium
9. Monero
10. IOTA
11. TRON
12. Binance
13. Monster
14. Tether
15. Enigma
16. Flash
17. KuCoin
18. Cindicator
19. Ark
20. Zcash
Here is a partial list of the sites they scan:
http://reddit.com/r/cryptocurrency
http://reddit.com/r/bitcoin
http://reddit.com/r/cryptomarkets
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=1.0
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=224.0
http://coindesk.com
http://cointelegraph.com
http://blog.blockchain.com/
http://www.newsbtc.com
http://news.bitcoin.com
http://www.ethnews.com
http://bitcoinist.com
http://coincenter.org
http://bitcoinmagazine.com
http://themerkle.com
http://99bitcoins.com
http://bitcoinwarrior.net
http://blog.coinspectator.com
http://bitcoinprices.today
http://cryptoinsider.com
http://coinspectator.com
http://steemit.com/trending/altcoin
http://medium.com/tag/cryptocurrency
http://medium.com/tag/ico
http://medium.com/tag/bitcoin
http://medium.com/tag/blockchain
http://cryptoreach.com
http://news.ycombinator.com
http://hackernoon.com/tagged/cryptocurrency
http://serializer.io
I plan on sending them a few other sites for a more fine-grained view.
Happy crypto trading!How to use 'bind and when...
auteur: Patrick Philipot date: 10-mar-2002, 11-mar-2002 version: 1.01
Contents
1. A tribute to the rebol-list
The purpose of this document is to enlighten the notion of 'bind. This baby gave me much trouble (and I am expecting more to come...).
Life is not always easy for one that embraces Rebol. The language is brilliant, elegant and powerful, but it has its share of gotchas and obscure or poor documented features... However when the dark side is frightening, you can always expect light coming from the rebolisters (the members of the rebol-list).
Thanks to Joel, Ladislav, Gregg, Carl, Romano, Gabrielle, Andrew, Brett, Alan, Maarten, Petr, Allen, Robert, Sunanda, Jason and many others, I have always found answers to my questions. My goal here is to make available what I have learned from these answers.
Vive la rebolution!
2. Scope and context
Let's try a very simple test :
>> for x 1 3 1 |
Isis or by a supporter based abroad, but the pictures certainly follow terrorist organization’s strategy of normalising its activities to Western audiences.
The Twitter account is one of many using shared cultural touchstones (memes and lolspeak_ alongside pictures of small acts of charity (one video shows a fighter feeding a dog with the hashtags #Justice and #AllEyesOnIsis) to try and ‘balance’ reports from the region of fear, poverty and widespread murder.
Images like this stand in stark contrast to footage of the death of James Foley – an American photojournalist who travelled to the region to document the citizens’ suffering and was decapitated as warning to America following US airstrikes.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph about the danger of accounts like @ISILCats, Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation think tank said: “If you don’t confront it, the softer postings on Facebook and Twitter will seek to normalise the idea of going to fight in Iraq and Syria.”This analysis is part of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) implemented wide-ranging reforms to the individual health insurance market starting in 2014, most importantly by barring insurers from denying coverage or varying premiums based on health status, requiring all plans to cover certain services and provide a basic level of financial protection, providing subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people afford coverage, and requiring all individuals to have coverage or pay a penalty. In “Taking Stock of Insurer Financial Performance in the Individual Health Insurance Market Through 2017,” (PDF) Matthew Fiedler takes a detailed look at insurers’ financial performance in this new institutional environment, as well the economic forces that have shaped that performance.
The report finds that insurers were on track to break even or make modest profits on ACA-compliant individual market policies in 2017, on average, before the Trump Administration’s decision to end cost-sharing reduction payments. The sharp improvement for 2017 were the result of the significant premium increases insurers implemented for 2017, together with continued subdued claims growth in the ACA-compliant individual market. That progress should have set the stage for comparatively moderate premium increases in 2018, likely in the mid-to-high-single digits. The higher premium increases occurring in reality likely reflect a range of threatened and actual changes in federal policy.
In greater detail, the report reaches two main conclusions about the state of the individual market in 2017 and how the market would have evolved in 2018 in the absence of recent changes in policy:
Insurers were on track to break even or make modest profits on ACA-compliant policies in 2017, on average, before the administration ended cost-sharing reduction payments: The report estimates that insurers were on track to incur small losses averaging 0.4 percent of premium revenue on ACA-compliant policies in 2017 before the administration ended cost-sharing reduction payments for the final quarter of the year. Furthermore, there is reason to believe that the data used in this analysis may systematically understate insurers’ actual financial performance, suggesting that insurers were, in fact, on track to make modest profits on ACA-compliant policies in 2017, on average nationwide.
In a stable policy environment, 2018 premium increases for ACA-compliant policies would have been in the mid-to-high single digits on average nationwide: With premiums at an approximately sustainable level in 2017, premium increases for 2018 would only have needed to accommodate underlying cost trends and the expiration of the one-year moratorium on the ACA’s health insurance fee if federal policy toward the individual market had remained where it was at the start of 2017. Taken together, those factors would likely have generated premium increases in the mid-to-high single digits on average nationwide.
It is clear that individual market premiums will increase by substantially more than this in 2018. These larger increases likely primarily reflect the unsettled federal policy environment. During 2017, Congress undertook a lengthy debate over possible legislative changes to the ACA, which included immediate repeal of the individual mandate. The Trump Administration has also repeatedly threatened to take actions that would weaken the individual market, and it has acted on some of these threats, including by ending cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers.
The report also takes a granular look at how insurer financial performance in the ACA-compliant individual market has evolved since 2014. This portion of the analysis reaches several conclusions:
The losses insurers incurred on ACA-compliant policies in 2014 are readily explained by a variety of transitional factors: Insurers incurred losses of 5.7 percent of premium revenue on ACA-compliant policies in 2014. As other authors have noted, these losses are comparatively easy to explain. Insurers had limited information about the likely composition of the individual market risk pool when they set 2014 premiums and may have intentionally underpriced in an effort to gain market share in the early years of the new market.
Insurers incurred losses of 5.7 percent of premium revenue on ACA-compliant policies in 2014. As other authors have noted, these losses are comparatively easy to explain. Insurers had limited information about the likely composition of the individual market risk pool when they set 2014 premiums and may have intentionally underpriced in an effort to gain market share in the early years of the new market. Insurers’ losses on ACA-compliant policies deepened in 2015 and 2016 because of puzzlingly small premium increases, not rapid growth in claims spending: Insurers’ losses on ACA-compliant policies deepened to between 11 and 12 percent of premium revenue in 2015 and 2016. The deterioration in insurers’ performance was not driven by particularly rapid claims growth. Per member per month claims spending in ACA-compliant plans is estimated to have grown 3.2 percent in 2015 and 1.5 percent in 2016, slower than the claims growth observed in employer-sponsored insurance in these years. Slow growth in claims spending likely reflected a stable or improving risk mix in ACA-compliant plans during these two years, insurer plan design changes aimed at reducing costs, and other factors.
Nevertheless, insurers’ losses deepened in 2015 and remained sizeable in 2016 because insurers’ moderate premium increases were insufficient to offset the combination of slow claims growth and, more importantly, the scheduled phasedown of the ACA’s transitional reinsurance program. The reinsurance program defrayed a portion of insurers’ costs for high-cost enrollees from 2014 through 2016, but became less generous over time, removing the equivalent of 8.2 percent of per member per month premium revenue in 2015 and another 6.9 percent in 2016.
It is unclear why insurers failed to implement larger premium increases in 2015 and, particularly, 2016, the first year in which insurers had a full year of claims experience to look at when setting premiums. However, these decisions could reflect factors similar to those that led insurers to underprice in 2014, namely uncertainty about how claims costs would evolve in the years immediately after 2014 and strategic decisions to underprice in order to gain market share.
In contrast to 2015 and 2016, the premium increases insurers implemented for 2017 were more than sufficient to offset slow claims growth and the final step in the phasedown of the reinsurance program, facilitating the sharp improvement in margins seen in 2017: Premiums in the ACA-compliant market are estimated to have risen by 20.5 percent on a per member per month basis in 2017. Offsetting the final step in the phasedown of the transitional reinsurance program only absorbed 5.9 percentage points of this increase, and data to date imply that claims growth would only have absorbed an additional 2.7 percentage points had cost-sharing reduction payments continued. As a result, this year’s premium increases have allowed insurers to sharply improve the financial performance of their ACA-compliant plans.
Continued slow claims growth in 2017 shows that the 2017 premium increases did not meaningfully damage the individual market risk pool, consistent with pre-ACA evidence: Some observers argued that the large premium increases insurers implemented for 2017 would drive many healthy enrollees from the individual market, causing large increases in average claims costs that would keep insurers from returning to profitability. In fact, data to date indicate that per member per month claims spending in the ACA-compliant market was on track to rise just 2.7 percent in 2017 if cost-sharing reduction payments had continued.
This outcome was entirely predictable. More than half of enrollees in ACA-compliant plans receive tax credits that protect them from premium increases, and pre-ACA evidence implied that reductions in enrollment among unsubsidized enrollees would be modest in size and only moderately tilted toward healthier enrollees. In light of these facts, the report estimates that the premium increases implemented for 2017 should only have been expected to increase average claims costs in the ACA-compliant market by 1.6 percent, providing only a slight headwind to insurers’ efforts to return to profitability by raising premiums.(This will be a short one; I was planning to do a piece on server ticks today, but I need a few more days to work on an interactive demo for that, as its a slightly tricky topic.)
What is a Micro Auxiliary Power Core, and when should you use it?
There are three general categories of modules in Eve that can increase the power grid on your ship for fitting mods. All of them consume a fixed amount of CPU, and add grid:
The Reactor Control Unit (RCU) increases your power grid by a percentage — +10% for tech-1 modules, +15% for tech-2.
increases your power grid by a — +10% for tech-1 modules, +15% for tech-2. The Power Diagnostic System (PDS) increases power grid by a smaller percentage (+5%), but also gives you bonuses to capacitor size, capacitor regeneration rate, and shield size/regen rate.
increases power grid by a smaller percentage (+5%), but also gives you bonuses to capacitor size, capacitor regeneration rate, and shield size/regen rate. The Micro Auxiliary Power Core (MAPC) increases power grid by a fixed amount: between +10 and +13, depending on meta level.
The distinction between percentage and fixed amount is mainly important for frigates and destroyers. An Atron has between 37 and 46 MW of power grid to fit modules (varying with skills); a +10% bonus would only yield 3.7 to 4.6 grid, not enough to make a significant difference. Adding an absolute +10 grid, on the other hand, is a significant improvement. The same is true for most destroyers. But once you start working with cruisers, an RCU (or even a PDS) yields dramatically more grid to work with.
As a general rule of thumb, if you’re looking for more grid, you should only use MAPCs for frigates and destroyers, and only use RCUs/PDSes for cruisers and larger hulls. [1]
In fact, there are actually very few modules in Eve that add absolute bonuses to a ship attribute/stat, rather than percentage boosts:
MAPCs add a fixed amount of power grid.
Capacitor batteries add a fixed amount of capacitor.
Drone Link Augmentors (and equivalent rigs) add a fixed distance of additional drone control range.
Armor plates add a fixed amount of armor HP and mass.
Shield extenders add a fixed amount of shield HP and signature radius.
Signal amplifiers and auto-target-lockers add a fixed bonus to your max number of target locks.
Propulsion modules (both ABs and MWDs) add a fixed penalty to mass.
Data/relic rigs add a fixed bonus to virus coherence.
(Most of these absolute boosts are particularly beneficial when used on “undersized” ships — which is why Stabbers with 100MN MWDs are used for bumping, and why cruisers tend to use large shield extenders and 1600mm plates. [2])
MAPCs were the only “Micro” module whose blueprint continued to exist after Red Moon Rising; throughout most of the game’s history, only the plain Tech-1 module and some meta versions were available. Navy versions were added during the introduction of Faction Warfare in 2008 (as part of the Empyrean Age expansion), and the Tech-2 version was added during Crucible.
—
: The one exception to this is when you're flying a shield-tanked frigate with unused low slots. The PDS is the only low-slot module capable of increasing raw pre-resist shield HP; if you have absolutely nothing better to fit in a low slot, you might consider a PDS. In practice, there's almost always a better use of that low-slot; the main frigates that use PDSes are shield-tanked tacklers such as the Hyena and Keres.
: It's also that absolute boosts are generally not subject to stacking penalties. In fact, RCUs and PDSes are one of the very few modules that are not subject to stacking penalties.
AdvertisementsLA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales marked May Day on Tuesday by nationalizing the local unit of Spain’s Red Electrica (REE.MC), ratcheting up tension between the former colonial power and South American governments eager to assert control over energy resources.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales smiles during his visit to Gundonovia in the Isiboro Secure National Park (TIPNIS), some 132 miles (212 km) east of La Paz, April 12, 2012.REUTERS/Carlos Vargas
Morales ordered the army to take over the Cochabamba headquarters of the power transmission company known as TDE.
The move came two weeks after Argentina unveiled a plan to take control of the country’s No. 1 oil company, YPF (YPFD.BA), from majority shareholder Repsol (REP.MC), based in Madrid.
Morales said the TDE nationalization stems from the company’s lack of investment in Bolivia. Argentina used a similar justification for its takeover of YPF.
“In honour of all Bolivian people who have struggled to recuperate our natural resources and basic services, we are nationalizing Transportadora de Electricidad (TDE),” Morales said during his official address for May Day, also known as International Workers Day.
“Bolivia still needs partners, but not owners,” he said after ordering the army to take over TDE’s installations. TV images showed armed soldiers controlling access to and from the company’s headquarters.
Spain’s government, which vowed to halt imports of Argentine biodiesel after the seizure of YPF, had no immediate comment on Tuesday while it evaluated Bolivia’s announcement.
“This, and the Argentine nationalization of 51 percent of YPF, are developments that concern foreign investors, and domestic investors as well,” said Alberto Ramos, who analyzes Latin America for Goldman Sachs.
“But fortunately this type of event is circumscribed to a small set of countries in the region that are pursuing heterodox economic experiments and that are increasingly less integrated into the global economy,” Ramos added.
TDE administers 1,900 kilometres of power lines in Bolivia. Red Electrica indirectly holds 99.9 percent of the company, which reported net profits of 12.5 million euros (10.2 million pounds) last year, accounting for less than 3 percent of Red Electrica’s 2011 net profits.
Red Electrica officials were not immediately available for comment, but a Spanish government source in Madrid said authorities were in touch with La Paz to discuss technical and diplomatic aspects of the nationalization.
In 2006, Morales used the May 1 holiday to announce the takeover of petroleum companies operating in Bolivia. He later nationalized oil and gas reserves to redistribute wealth to the landlocked country’s indigenous majority.
Morales, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa are leading a push in the region for governments to reclaim control over natural resources.
South America is a major supplier of commodities, particularly for the emerging economies of Asia.
Argentina, one of the world’s top grains exporters, is expected on Thursday or Friday to get final legislative approval for the bill allowing the government to take control of YPF.Wells is a Top 10 Pick Whether you are an Ohio State fan or not, it is hard to overlook Chris Wells on a national level. Recently, I was told that this statement was one by an ignorant Ohio State fan; Beanie will be a top 10 pick in the 2009 draft. Not only did this individual have no premise for the conclusion he/she so randomly jumped to, he/she also had nothing to refute it either. My argument had support, both concrete and subjective.
By Ryan LeonardoIf he is not a top 10 pick, then who is? Tim Tebow. Thanks, I never would have guessed that. This conversation is over.
Although being a Buckeye Faithful, I am not just a Wells fan. I am a Buckeye fan. He will be in the NFL next fall, and we will continue to follow our Alum at the next level. All that aside, I am not focusing on the fact that he plays for my team to sway my opinion away from fact. But it must be stated that I have watched him in high school and in college. He is a grown man among young men. Chris “Beanie” Wells is a solid running back and will be a top 10 pick in the 2009 NFL draft. If I am wrong, then so are the first 10 NFL teams to pick next April.
.The notion that inflation is harmful is a staple of economic science. But most textbooks underrate the extent of the harm, because they define inflation much too narrowly as a lasting decrease of the purchasing power of money (PPM), and also because they pay scant attention to the concrete forms of inflation. To appreciate the disruptive nature of inflation in its full extent we must keep in mind that it springs from a violation of the fundamental rules of society.
Inflation is what happens when people increase the money supply by fraud, imposition, and breach of contract. Invariably it produces three characteristic consequences: (1) it benefits the perpetrators at the expense of all other money users; (2) it allows the accumulation of debt beyond the level debts could reach on the free market; and (3) it reduces the PPM below the level it would have reached on the free market.
While these three consequences are bad enough, things get much worse once inflation is encouraged and promoted by the state (fiat inflation). The government’s fiat makes inflation perennial, and as a result we observe the formation of inflation-specific institutions and habits. Thus fiat inflation leaves a characteristic cultural and spiritual stain on human society. In what follows, we will take a closer look at some aspects of this legacy.
I. Hyper-Centralized Government
Inflation benefits the government that controls it, not only at the expense of the population at large, but also at the expense of all secondary and tertiary governments. It is a well-known fact that the European kings, during the rise of their nation states in the 17th and 18th centuries, crushed the major vestiges of intermediate power. The democratic nation states of the 19th and 20th centuries completed the centralization of power that had been begun under the kings. The economic driving force of this process was inflation, which at that point was entirely in the hands of the central state apparatus. More than any other economic reason, it made the nation state irresistible. And thus it contributed, indirectly at least, to the popularity of nationalistic ideologies, which in the 20th century ushered into a frenetic worshipping of the nation state.
Inflation spurs the growth of central governments. It allows these governments to grow larger than they could become in a free society. And it allows them to monopolize governmental functions to an extent that would not occur under a natural production of money. This comes at the expense of all forms of intermediate government, and of course at the expense of civil society at large. The inflation-sponsored centralization of power turns the average citizen more and more into an isolated social atom. All of his social bonds are controlled by the central state, which also provides most of the services that formerly were provided by other social entities such as family and local government. At the same time, the central direction of the state apparatus is removed from the daily life of its protégés.
II. Fiat Inflation and War
Among the most gruesome consequences of fiat money, and of paper money in particular, is its ability to extend the length of wars. The destructions of war have the healthy effect of cooling down initial war frenzies. The more protracted and destructive a war becomes, therefore, the less is the population inclined to support it financially through taxes and the purchase of public bonds. Fiat inflation allows the government to ignore the fiscal resistance of its citizens and to maintain the war effort on its present level, or even to increase that level. The government just prints the notes it needs to buy cannons and boots.
This is exactly what happened in the two world wars of the 20th century, at least in the case of the European states. The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and the United Kingdom covered a large part of their expenses through inflation. It is of course difficult to evaluate any precise quantitative impact, but it is not unreasonable to assume that fiat inflation prolonged both wars by many months or even one or two years. If we consider that the killings have reached their climax toward the end of the war, we must assume that many millions of lives could have been saved.
Many people believe that, in war, all means are just. In their eyes, fiat inflation is legitimate as a means to fend off lethal threats from a nation. But this argument is rather defective. It is not the case that all means are just in a war. There is in Catholic theology a theory of just war, which stresses exactly this point. Fiat inflation would certainly be illegitimate if less offensive means were available to attain the same end. And fact is that such means exist and have always been at the disposition of governments, for example, credit money and additional taxation.
Another typical line of defense of fiat money in wartime is that the government might know better than the citizens just how close victory is at hand. The ignorant population grows weary of the war and tends to resist additional taxation. But the government is perfectly acquainted with the situation. Without fiat money, its hands would be tied up, with potentially disastrous consequences. The inflation just gives it the little extra something needed to win.
It is of course conceivable that the government is better informed than its citizens. But it is difficult to see why this should be an obstacle in war finance. The most essential task of political leadership is to rally the masses behind its cause. Why should it be impossible for a government to spread its better information, thus convincing the populace of the need for additional taxes? This brings us to the following consideration.
III.Inflation and Tyranny
War is just the most extreme case in which fiat inflation allows governments to pursue their goals without genuine support from their citizens. The printing press allows the government to tap the property of its people without having obtained their consent, and in fact against their consent. What kind of government is it that arbitrarily takes the property of its citizens? Aristotle and many other political philosophers have called it tyranny. And monetary theorists from Oresme to Mises have pointed out that fiat inflation, considered as a tool of government finance, is the characteristic financial technique of tyranny.
IV. Race to the Bottom in Monetary Organization
As Austrian economists have argued in some detail, fiat inflation is an inherently unstable way of producing money because it turns moral hazard and irresponsibility into an institution. The result is frequently recurring economic crises. Past efforts to repair these unwelcome effects, yet without questioning the principle of fiat inflation per se, have entailed a peculiar evolution of monetary institutions—some sort of an institutional "race to the bottom."
Important milestones of this process were fractional-reserve banking, national central banking, international central banking, and finally paper money. The devolution of monetary institutions has been on its way for centuries, and it has still not quite reached the absolute bottom, even though the process has accelerated very considerably in our age of paper money.
V. Business Under Fiat Inflation
Fiat inflation has a profound impact on corporate finance. It makes liabilities (credits) cheaper than they would be on a free market. This prompts entrepreneurs to finance their ventures to a greater extent than otherwise through credits, rather than through equity (the capital brought into the firm by its owners).
In a natural system of money production, banks would grant credit only as financial intermediaries. That is, they could lend out only those sums of money that they had either saved themselves or which other people had saved and then lent to the banks. The bankers would of course be free to grant credits under any terms (interest, securities, duration) they like; but it would be suicidal for them to offer better terms than those that their own creditors had granted them. For example, if a bank receives a credit at 5 percent, it would be suicidal for it to lend this money at 4 percent. It follows that on a free market, profitable banking is constrained within fairly narrow limits, which in turn is determined by the savers. It is not possible for a bank to stay in business and to offer better terms than the savers who are most ready to part with their money for some time.
But fractional-reserve banks can do precisely that. Since they can produce additional banknotes at virtually zero cost, they can grant credit at rates that are lower than the rates that would otherwise have prevailed. And the beneficiaries will therefore finance some ventures through debts that they would otherwise have financed with their own money, or which they would not have started at all. Paper money has very much the same effect, but in a far greater dimension. A paper-money producer can grant credits to virtually any extent and at virtually any terms. In the past few years, the Bank of Japan has offered credits at 0 percent interest, and it right now proceeds in some cases to actually pay people for taking its credits.
It is obvious that few firms can afford to resist such offers. Competition is fierce in most industries, and the firms must seek to use the best terms available, lest they lose that "competitive edge" that can be decisive for profits and also for mere survival. It follows that fiat inflation makes business more dependent on banks than they otherwise would be. It creates greater hierarchy and central decision-making power than would exist on the free market. The entrepreneur who operates with 10 percent equity and 90 percent debts is not really an entrepreneur anymore. His creditors (usually bankers) are the true entrepreneurs who make all essential decisions. He is just a more or less well-paid executive—a manager.
Thus fiat inflation reduces the number of true entrepreneurs—independent men who operate with their own money. Such men still exist in astonishing numbers, but they can only survive because their superior talents match the inferior financial terms with which they have to cope. They must be more innovative and/or work harder than their competitors. They know the price of independence and they are ready to pay it. Usually they are more attached to the family business and care more for their employees than the puppets of bankers.
Because credits springing from fiat inflation provide an easy financial edge, they have the tendency to encourage reckless behavior by the chief executives. This is especially the case with managers of large corporations who have easy access to the capital markets. Their recklessness is often confused with innovativeness.
The economist Josef Schumpeter has famously characterized fractional-reserve banking as some sort of a mainspring of innovative economic development, because it provides additional money for entrepreneurs with great ideas.
It is conceivable that in some cases it played this role, but the odds are overwhelmingly on the other side. As a general rule, any new product and any thoroughgoing innovation in business organization is a threat for banks, because they are already more or less heavily invested in established companies, which produce the old products and use the old forms of organization. They have therefore every incentive to either prevent the innovation by declining to finance it, or to communicate the new ideas to their partners in the business world.
Thus, fractional-reserve banking makes business more conservative than it otherwise would be. It benefits the established firms at the expense of innovative newcomers. Innovation is much more likely to come from independent businessmen, especially if income taxation is low.
VI. The Debt Yoke
Some of the foregoing considerations also apply outside of the business world. Fiat inflation provides easy credits not only to governments and firms, but also to private persons. The mere fact that such credits are offered at all incites some people to go into debt who would otherwise have chosen not to do so. But easy credits become nearly irresistible in connection with another typical consequence of inflation, namely, the constantly rising price level. Whereas in former times the increase of prices has been barely noticeable, in our day all citizens of the western world are aware of the phenomenon. In countries such as Turkey or Brazil, where prices increase at annual rates of 80 to 100 percent, even younger people have personally experienced it.
Such conditions impose a heavy penalty on cash savings. In the old days, saving was typically done in the form of hoarding gold and silver coins. It is true that such hoards did not provide any revenue—the metal was "barren"—and that they therefore did not lend themselves to the lifestyle of rentiers. But in all other respects money hoards were a reliable and effective form of saving. Their purchasing power did not just evaporate in a few decades, and in times of economic growth they even gained some purchasing power.
Most importantly, they were extremely suitable for ordinary people. Carpenters, masons, tailors, and farmers are usually not very astute observers of the international capital markets. Putting some gold coins under their pillow or into a safe deposit box saved them lots of sleepless nights, and it made them independent of financial intermediaries.
Now compare this old-time scenario with our present situation. The contrast could not be starker. It would be completely pointless in our day to hoard dollar or euro notes to prepare for retirement. A man in his thirties who plans to retire thirty years from today (2004) must calculate with a depreciation factor in the order of 3. That is, he needs to save three dollars today to have the purchasing power of one of these present-day dollars when he retires. And the estimated depreciation factor of 3 is rather on the low side!
It follows that the rational saving strategy for him is to go into debt in order to buy assets the price of which will increase with the inflation. This is exactly what happens today in most western countries. As soon as young people have a job and thus a halfway stable source of revenue, they take a credit to buy a house—whereas their great-grandfather might still have first accumulated savings for some thirty years and then bought his house in cash. Needless to say that the latter has always been the Christian way. In Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans (13:8) we read: "Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law."
Things are not much better for those who have already accumulated some wealth. It is true that inflation does not force them into debt, but in any case it deprives them of the possibility of holding their savings in cash. Old people with a pension fund, widows, and the wardens of orphans must invest their money into the financial markets, lest its purchasing power evaporate under their noses. Thus they become dependent on intermediaries and on the vagaries of stock and bond pricing.
It is clear that this state of affairs is very beneficial for those who derive their living from the financial markets. Stockbrokers, bond dealers, banks, mortgage corporations, and other "players" have reason to be thankful for the constant decline of money’s purchasing power under fiat inflation. But is this state of affairs also beneficial for the average citizen? In a certain sense, his debts and increased investment in the financial markets are beneficial for him, given our present inflationary regime.
When the increase of the price level is perennial, private debt is for him the best available strategy. But this means of course that without government interventionism into the monetary system other strategies would be superior. The presence of central banks and paper money make debt-based financial strategies more attractive than strategies based on prior savings.
It is not an exaggeration to say that, through their monetary policy, Western governments have pushed their citizens into a state of financial dependency unknown to any previous generation. Already in 1931, Pius XI stated:
[...] it is obvious that not only is wealth concentrated in our times but an immense power and despotic economic dictatorship is consolidated in the hands of a few, who often are not owners but only the trustees and managing directors of invested funds which they administer according to their own arbitrary will and pleasure. This dictatorship is being most forcibly exercised by those who, since they hold the money and completely control it, control credit also and rule the lending of money. Hence they regulate the flow, so to speak, of the life-blood whereby the entire economic system lives, and have so firmly in their grasp the soul, as it were, of economic life that no one can breathe against their will.
One wonders what vocabulary Pius XI would have used to describe our present situation. The usual justification for this state of affairs is that it allegedly stimulates industrial development. The money hoards of former times were not only sterile; they were actually harmful from an economic point of view, because they deprived business of the means of payments they needed for investments. The role of inflation is to provide these means.
However, money hoarding does not have any negative macroeconomic implications. It does definitely not stifle industrial investments. Hoarding increases the purchasing power of money and thus gives greater "weight" to the money units that remain in circulation. All goods and services can be bought, and all feasible investments can be made with these remaining units. The fundamental fact is that inflation does not bring into existence any additional resource. It merely changes the allocation of the existing resources. They no longer go to companies that are run by entrepreneurs who operate with their own money, but to business executives who run companies financed with bank credits.
The net effect of the recent surge in household debt is therefore to throw entire populations into financial dependency. The moral implications are clear. Towering debts are incompatible with financial self-reliance and thus they tend to weaken self-reliance also in all other spheres. The debt-ridden individual eventually adopts the habit of turning to others for help, rather than maturing into an economic and moral anchor of his family, and of his wider community. Wishful thinking and submissiveness replace soberness and independent judgement. And what about the many cases in which families can no longer shoulder the debt load? Then the result is either despair or, on the contrary, scorn for all standards of financial sanity.
VII. Some Spiritual Casualties of Fiat Inflation
Fiat inflation constantly reduces the purchasing power of money. To some extent, it is possible for people to protect their savings against this trend, but this requires thorough financial knowledge, the time to constantly supervise one’s investments, and a good dose of luck. People who lack one of these ingredients are likely to lose a substantial part of their assets. The savings of a lifetime often vanish in thin air during the last few years spent in retirement. The consequence is despair and the eradication of moral and social standards. But it would be wrong to infer that inflation produces this effect mainly among the elderly. As one writer observed:
These effects are "especially strong among the youth. They learn to live in the present and scorn those who try to teach them ‘old-fashioned morality and thrift.’ Inflation thereby encourages a mentality of immediate gratification that is plainly at variance with the discipline and eternal perspective required to exercise principles of biblical stewardship—such as long-term investment for the benefit of future generations."
Even those citizens who are blessed with knowledge, time, and luck to protect the substance of their savings cannot evade inflation’s harmful impact, because they have to adopt habits that are at odds with moral and spiritual health. Inflation forces them to spend much more time thinking about their money than they otherwise would. We have noticed already that the old way for ordinary citizens to make savings was the accumulation of cash. Under fiat inflation this strategy is suicidal. They must invest into assets the value of which grows during the inflation; the most practical way to do this is to buy stocks and bonds. But this entails many hours spent on comparing and selecting appropriate titles. And it compels them to be ever watchful and concerned about their money for the rest of their lives. They need to follow the financial news and monitor the price quotations on the financial markets.
Similarly, people will tend to prolong the phase of their life in which they strive to earn money. And they will place relatively greater emphasis on monetary returns than on any other criterion for choosing their profession. For example, some of those who would rather be inclined to gardening will nevertheless seek an industrial employment because the latter offers greater long-run monetary returns. And more people will accept employment far from home, because it allows them to earn just some little extra money, than under a natural monetary system.
The spiritual dimension of these inflation-induced habits seems to be obvious. Money and financial questions come to play an exaggerated role in the life of man. Inflation makes society materialistic. More and more people strive for money income at the expense of personal happiness. Inflation-induced geographical mobility artificially weakens family bonds and patriotic loyalty. Many of those who tend to be greedy, envious, and niggardly anyway fall prey to sin. Even those who are not so inclined by their natures will be exposed to temptations they would not otherwise have felt. And because the vagaries of the financial markets also provide a ready excuse for an excessively parsimonious use of one’s money, donations for charitable institutions will decline.
Then there is the fact that perennial inflation tends to deteriorate product quality. Every seller knows that it is difficult to sell the same physical product at higher prices than in previous years. But increasing money prices are unavoidable when the money supply is subject to relentless growth. So what do sellers do? In many cases the rescue comes through technological innovation, which allows for a cheaper production of the product, thus neutralizing or even overcompensating the countervailing influence of inflation. This is, for example, the case with personal computers and other equipment built with a large input of information technology.
But in other industries, technological progress plays a much smaller role. Here the sellers confront the above-mentioned problem. They then fabricate an inferior product and sell it under the same name, along with the euphemisms that have become customary in commercial marketing. For example, they might offer their customers "light" coffee and "non-spicy" vegetables—which translates into thin coffee and vegetables that have lost any trace of flavor. Similar product deterioration can be observed in the construction business. Countries plagued by perennial inflation seem to have a greater share of houses and streets that are in constant need of repair than other countries.
In such an environment, people develop a more than sloppy attitude toward their language. If everything |
function will always return the same output.
A pure function does not mutate anything outside itself. A pure function does not produce side effects. Given the same inputs, a pure function will always return the same output. Notice how much of the program state can be represented as lists of things.
After beginning the practice assignment, I spent the rest of the day walking around the room and helping the teams progress. I noticed a consistent theme, which inspired a question that I put out on Twitter:
I got some great responses. Here are a few favorites:
And my personal favorite:
Brendan Eich seemed to like it, too:
I believe the single biggest mistake that every programmer makes from time to time is overcomplicating things.
Keep it Stupid Simple
There is a common design principle that (according to Wikipedia) originated in the US Navy:
KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid
I don’t think that goes far enough, so I say “Keep It Stupid Simple”.
By that, I mean that you should think of the simplest possible way to accomplish the goal, and then make it even simpler.
“Perfection is attained
not when there is nothing more to add,
but when there is nothing more to take away.”
~ Antoine de Saint Exupéry
What is Simple Code?
Simple, from the latin simplus, originally referred to a medicine made from one constituent, especially from one plant. The meaning I refer to here is “not complex or compound; single.” Simple vs complex can be summed up concisely: one thing vs many things.
One thing is simple.
Many things are complex.
What do I mean when I say that you should keep code as simple as possible? I believe that all code should be simple (as in easy):
Simple to understand.
Simple to use.
Simple to reuse.
Simple to extend.
The best way to make things easy is to keep your code simple, as in Do One Thing (DOT).
The Process
My first time around the room, I noticed that students were getting stuck in rabbit holes. One group was stuck creating a build process. Another was stuck working out all the data structures. Another was trying to work out how to apply a functional data flow to the problem before there were any functions for data to flow through.
All of the groups would benefit from advice often attributed to Kent Beck, author of “Test Driven Development By Example”:
Make it work. Make it right. Make it fast.
Step one should always be to make it work. The best way to do that is to simplify. Do the simplest thing right now that will move you measurably toward the goal.
What does “make it work” mean?
Since I love immediate feedback, I always start with a few simple unit tests that will alert me immediately when I have a solution that works. During the unit tests, I decide what I mean by “make it work”. What are the minimum requirements that the solution needs to satisfy?
The practice assignment was a simple scrum checkin app. I selected this app intentionally because it would allow students to practice some simple functional programming, and avoid `class` in a situation where developers commonly rely on classes and class inheritance: UI code.
In agile development, we strive to implement the minimum effective amount of process to enable high velocity development.
The scrum meeting is a common element of that minimal process. Its purpose is to allow team members to check in with each other. On each work day, each small team gathers to answer three questions:
What did you do on the last workday?
What are you doing today?
Is there anything blocking you?
The checkin app lets you do the scrum checkin without the meeting.
We’ll start with the first step: A user must be able to identify themselves. For this, we may need some type of sign in screen.
In the case of this app, I encouraged students to use React, and I offered the React Pure Component Starter as a starting point for the app.
Using this foundation, step one is to create a React component that displays a text field for the user’s name, and a “Sign In” button.
I believe you should always start with tests, first, and that belief is backed up by research from Microsoft and IBM. You can learn more about that in my blog post, “Five Questions Every Unit Test Must Answer”.
You should start with tests that will answer the question, “does it work?”
I always start my unit tests with simple, human readable descriptions of the requirement I’m testing. In this case, those might look something like this:
`should display a text input field for the user's name.`
`should display a "Sign In" button.`
Once that button is pressed, we should create some app state that represents the current logged in user:
`should save current logged-in user in client state.`
Now we have a pretty good definition of what “make it work” means for one of our app views. Before moving on to the rest of the app, we should make those tests pass.
Lessons:
Understand the problem. Know what “make it work” means.
Know what “make it work” means. Begin at the beginning. If the task is to identify what the current user is doing, the first step is probably to identify who the current user is.
If the task is to identify what the current user is doing, the first step is probably to identify who the current user is. Do one thing at a time. Don’t try to squeeze all the app requirements into the first module you write. Chances are your finished app will consist of many modules. Keep each module small and focused, and concentrate on one module at a time.
Don’t try to squeeze all the app requirements into the first module you write. Chances are your finished app will consist of many modules. Keep each module small and focused, and concentrate on one module at a time. Start small and iterate. Write a test. Make it pass. Refactor. Make it work. Make it right. Make it fast. One step at a time. Keep taking those steps until the job is done.
Simple to Understand
Do one thing per line.
Do one thing per function. For example, if you need to use the value of a query parameter, you should dedicate a function to extracting the value of a query parameter from the URL rather than mix that logic with a function that uses the value.
Use one variable to represent only one thing. Sometimes it’s tempting to create a variable to represent some data and then use that variable as a temporary place to store values in transition from one representation to another. For instance, you may be after a query string parameter value, and start by storing an entire URL, then just the query string, then the value. It’s better to have one variable for the URL, a different one for the query string, and finally, a variable to store the value.
This is why I favor `const` over `let` in ES6. In JavaScript, `const` means that the variable can’t be reassigned. (Not to be confused with immutable values. Unlike true immutable datatypes such as those produced by Immutable.js and Mori, a `const` object can have properties mutated.)
`const` is a signal that the variable won’t be reassigned. `let`, is a signal that the variable may be reassigned, such as a counter in a loop, or a value swap in an algorithm. If I don’t need to reassign, `const` is my default choice over `let` because I want the usage to be as clear as possible in the code. I don’t use `var` in ES6. There is value in block scope for loops, but I can’t think of a situation where I’d prefer `var` over `let`.
Sometimes a function can exhibit hidden complexity, meaning that it does more than one thing, but it isn’t immediately obvious. There are many ways that a function can cause side effects, or create a complex array of possible outcomes. Let’s explore how you can simplify the effects of a function.
Avoid Side Effects
The essence of any program is to take some data as input and produce some data as output.
That’s as simple as a program ever gets.
The essence of a function is to take some data as input and produce some data as output.
Therefore, the simplest implementation possible is a function.
If a function complies with that definition, it is easily understood:
foo(...inputs) => output
The function `foo()` according to the signature above takes any number of arguments as input and returns some output. It’s easy to understand:
const result = foo(a, b, c);
In this case, the arguments `a`, `b`, and `c` go in, and `result` comes out. But what if that’s not all that happens? What if `a` is an array, and `foo()` were to mutate it? Then the effects of `foo()` could not be understood simply by looking at its function signature. You’d also have to trace through the complete life of `a` in order to understand `foo()`’s effects.
In JavaScript, arrays and objects are passed by reference, so if you mutate array or object parameters, it doesn’t just affect the variable inside the function. It also affects any other function that uses a reference to the same variable.
In programming lingo, the mutation of `a` is referred to as a side-effect. Side effects are not obviously visible, so when they cause a bug, it can potentially be hard to trace to the root cause.
Therefore, the simplest functions cause no side effects.
Side effects include any state change that is visible outside the function. That includes logging messages, displaying things to the screen, and throwing exceptions.
If it’s possible for a function to throw an exception, that fact should be clearly documented. If it’s possible to avoid an exception and still make the function safe to use, you should favor that course over throwing. This allows your functions to obey the robustness principle:
“Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send.”
My interpretation is a bit more general:
“Expect the worst. Behave your best.”
In short, if any change occurs that is not communicated by the function signature, it’s a side-effect.
Wherever possible, we should avoid side effects.
Favor Consistency
If you call the same function several times with the same input, and it returns different outputs, it’s not always obvious why that is. Some functions rely on random input, or differ in output depending upon the time it was called, or the value of some outside variable that isn’t specified in the function signature.
Such functions can be difficult to debug. Whenever possible, ensure that your functions will always return the same output given the same inputs.
This feature means that such functions are idempotent. That is, the results of calling the function many times are the same as calling the function once.
Idempotent functions without side effects have a feature known as referential transparency. That means that if you have a function call:
const foo = f(a);
You could replace that function call with the result of `f(a)` without changing the meaning of the program. So, for example if the result of `f(a)` were `42`, you could change the code above to:
const foo = 42;
And your program would still work as expected.
Pure Functions are the Simplest Functions
Functions which have no side-effects and exhibit referential transparency are called pure functions.
A pure function:
Given the same input, will always return the same output (relies on no shared mutable state or entropy).
Produces no side effects.
The simplest functions are pure functions. If a problem can be solved with pure functions, there’s a good chance that pure functions are the simplest solution to the problem.
Simple to Use
Simple to use means that the code should have a clear and focused API. The code does one thing, and it has a simple interface to accomplish that thing.
Avoid Ad-Hoc Polymorphism
It’s possible in JavaScript to use ad-hoc polymorphism to create a single function that does many different things. For example, jQuery accepts many different types of inputs to the jQuery function.
If you pass a function, it gets triggered on page ready. If you pass a string, it gets interpreted as a DOM selector, and so on.
jQuery deserves a little leeway here because it was written before JavaScript had a good module format, but now, wouldn’t it be more clear if you could do this, instead?
import { pageReady, $ } from 'jQuery';
pageReady(() => {
$('.your-selector').on('click', () => {
doStuff();
});
});
Of course, experienced jQuery developers know that `$(fn);` means `$(document).ready(fn);`, but what about new developers? Shouldn’t you be able to glance at some code and guess its meaning based on what things are called?
Ad-hoc polymorphism means that inside your function, you look at the inputs, and based on their types or values, you follow different branches of conditional logic. Ad-hoc polymorphism adds to function complexity, forces you to write unnecessary conditional logic, and removes your ability to write semantic names for each different role you want a function to play.
Our new standard modules mean that it’s easier to create and use smaller, more focussed modules than it is to group a bunch of loosely related tasks together into a single function.
Encapsulate Private Data
I believe that the object you export from a module should also serve as documentation for that module. In other words, it should expose the supported interface, and only the supported interface.
The thing about private implementation details is that they are far more likely to have breaking changes than the public API, and breaking changes should be avoided if you can avoid them.
In JavaScript, there is a common convention to prefix private properties with underscores:
const foo = () => {
return {
_secret: ‘yeah, nobody could possibly find this…’,
getSecret () {
return this._secret;
}
};
};
const bar = foo();
console.log(bar._secret); // yeah, nobody could possibly find this…
The private underscore convention is flawed for two reasons:
Newbies don’t know what the underscore means, so they ignore it.
Experienced developers think it doesn’t apply to them. “I know what I’m doing. This warning is just for newbies.” So they ignore it, too. Admit it, experienced devs. You’ve done this before. So have I. Apologies to the three of you who have better discipline than the rest of us. ;)
Contrary to the common misconception, JavaScript does support real encapsulation.
Like objects, closures are a mechanism for containing state. In JavaScript, a closure is used whenever a function accesses a variable defined outside the immediate function scope. It’s easy to use closures: Simply define a function inside another function, and expose the inner function, either by returning it, or passing it into another function. The variables used by the inner function will be available to it, even after the outer function has finished running.
You can use closures to create data privacy in JavaScript using a factory function:
const counter = function counter() {
let count = 0;
return {
getCount() {
return count;
},
increment() {
count += 1;
return this;
}
};
};
const myCounter = counter();
console.log(typeof myCounter.count); // undefined -- private!
myCounter.increment().increment().increment();
console.log(myCounter.getCount()); // 3
This also works in constructors, but factories are better.
Pure function > Function > Factory > Class
Notice that these things increase in complexity as you move from left to right. Start on the left side and move to the right only as needed.
“Sometimes, the elegant implementation is just a function. Not a method. Not a class. Not a framework. Just a function.” ~ John Carmack
It’s worth reading that quote twice. Burn it into your brain so that you think of it every time you move to implement a new feature.
For module interfaces, I favor pure functions over functions with state & or side-effects, regular functions over factories, and I never export a `class`.
Note: You never need to export a `class` in JavaScript.
Simple to Reuse
Simple to reuse means that you should be able to extract your code into its own module, import it somewhere else, and use it without breaking a bunch of things or committing to a time consuming refactor. Ideally, this should be one cut, one paste, and a couple `import` statements.
If a function relies on any external state, it won’t be that simple. You’ll need to change the function signature, find all the call sites, and pass in all the required parameters.
If the function has side-effects and depends on the timing (when its run, relative to clock time, or relative to other operations or function calls), that can be even more problematic and difficult to unravel.
Due to their independence from shared state, timing, and similar factors, pure functions are obviously more simple to reuse than impure functions.
Simple to Extend
For stability, API’s should be closed to breaking changes, but open to extension. For functions, this could mean passing named options into a function rather than a list of arguments so that you avoid passing a bunch of values that may or may not be semantically named at the function call site.
Using an options object also allows you to avoid passing `null` for optional parameters.
What reads better?
// Individual arguments
const item = createFilmItem(title, null, null, recommendedPrice);
// Options object
const item = createFilmItem({ title, recommendedPrice });
The first example uses the function signature: `(title: String, releaseDate?: Date, runningTime?: Number, recommendedPrice: Number) => Film`
Using separate arguments instead of an options object forces you to pass `null` value placeholders for optional values that you don’t need to pass (or can’t pass, because the information is not available).
Compare with the second function signature: `createFilmItem({ title: String, releaseDate?: Date, runningTime?: Number, recommendedPrice: Number }) => Film`
Using an options object leaves a lot of flexibility for future API extensions.
Trouble reading the function signatures? Check out the docs in Rtype: reading function signatures for an explanation.
Export Factories Instead of Classes
As I’ve mentioned many times before, `class` affords `extends` like balls afford throwing and chairs afford sitting, but `extends` leads unwary developers down the path to the fragile base class problem, the gorilla banana problem, etc…
Don’t lure your users to crash on the rocks of poor OO design (given enough time and evolution, all class taxonomy designs are wrong for new use-cases).
Instead, set them up for success by exporting something that’s easy to extend or compose into new objects. If you don’t need instance state, export a pure or normal function. If you do need instance state, try a stamp: See The Stamp Specification.
In JavaScript, any function can instantiate and return objects. When you do so without a constructor (e.g., ES6 `class`), it’s called a factory function. `class` can’t compete with the power and flexibility of factories — specifically stamps.
Because of the added flexibility of factories, it’s often desirable to refactor from a class implementation to a factory implementation. For example, to add polymorphism (example), or to switch to object pools to avoid garbage collectors.
But because ES6 classes throw errors if you omit `new`, and code outside your control may use constructor-enabled features such as `instanceof`, switching from a class to a factory is a breaking change.
Save yourself the trouble. Export a factory from the start.
Factory composition with stamps gives you tremendous flexibility for API extension; more than `class` — even when compared to experimental features such as class decorators.
Conclusion
Simplify your code. Start with the least complicated implementation and work your way toward more complex solutions only when the problem demands it.
Remember:
Keep It Stupid Simple (KISS)
Make it work, make it right, make it fast.
Understand the problem. ( Know what “make it work” means.)
Know what “make it work” means.) Begin at the beginning.
Start with tests.
Do One Thing (DOT).
Start small and iterate.
Pure function > Function > Factory > Class
Simple beats clever every day of the week.Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
Pictured above: six kilometers by six kilometers of pure magnificence, in Minecraft map form.
Called Phain, or Game Board of the Ancients, this map is another one from the incredibly talented Darastlix, whose work we’ve featured on Kotaku three times before. Phain, which took 400 hours of work over a year to make, is the sixth in Darastlix’s Lone Wanderer series of Minecraft maps, with a hexagonal look inspired by Endless Legend (a good strategy game in its own right.)
Basically, the way it works is that the map is divided into four large sub-zones, and each sub-zone into smaller, hexagon-shaped pieces of land, which can vary between elevation levels, too, from beaches to mountains and highlands. You can travel between them on foot, or via teleports sitting next to obelisks strewn across the map. Each sub-zone has a theme:
Blue Ice is the largest area, covered by thick snow and ice. It has blue slopes.
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Red Sun is a humid area covered with deserts, savannas, jungles and ancient canyons. It has red slopes.
Green Leaf is overgrown with colorful forests and swamps. It has green slopes.
Yellow Wheat is a place filled with fields, gardens and labyrinths created by magic. It has yellow slopes and is the only area adjacent to all other areas.
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I flew around the map a bit in Spectator Mode and took some screens. It looks just as great on the ground in-game, and the variety really is amazing:
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You can download the map here, either just to look, or to actually play Minecraft on it. It’s survival-compatible, so it’s totally playable (and it should last you a long time.) There’s also an album full of high quality renders here, should you find yourself in need of a nice Minecraft-themed wallpaper.Life couldn’t be better – or more surprising – for Roger Federer as the 33-year-old stands at an 86% win rate this year with an ATP Ranking of 2 second to only Novak Djokovic. Roger Federer recently climbed back to the world no. 2 ranking after beating Giles Simon 7-6, (6), 7-6 (2) in the Shanghai Masters, and thus far his next goal is to win the Davis Cup for his homeland Switzerland. Roger Federer’s longtime agent, Tony Godsick, believes that there a lot of possibilities in store for Federer this season. “Lots of candy to put in the trick-or-treat basket near the end of the year,” he said, as quoted by The New York Times.
Since Wimbledon 2012, Roger Federer remains without a Grand Slam title, but his chances of having the year-end world no. 1 ranking seems feasible. Just after his recent victory at the Shanghai Masters, Federer displaced his Spaniard rival, Rafael Nadal, and became the world no. 2.
Truly, he has come back to becoming the genius that we have all known him to be.
The one thing about Roger that has been evident over the past few months has been the marked difference in style of play. Roger seems to have come up with his top game on regular occasions after an arguable slump last year. He has returned with those classy down the line winners, majestic volleys and immaculate serves. Just as records suggest, he has had a tremendous run lately.
Lately,we have gotten to see Federer’s mastery at regular intervals. This lies beyond being able to hit all shots and angles and combines a number of intangible factors, including fluid strokes with little mental interference, genius in constructing points, seamless transitions from defence to offense, an intuitive understanding of his opponent’s options and a clear, calm mind that executes instantly. His brilliance has been fully characterised by the gift to come up with impeccable shots that rebel even the most inspired of imaginations. Yes, Federer is back in the big leagues again and this time, he is to stay.
Next week, the 17-time Grand Slam champion is set to return to Basel. However, instead of practicing indoors to prepare for the upcoming home event, he is already looking forward to the Davis Cup finals in November on the red clay in Lille, France, according to his tweet with a photo of dirty shoes on clay captioned, “Claycourt practice #dirtysocks #sliding #grinding.”
International Business Times previously reported that the Swiss Maestro insists that he will not go out of his way to achieve the year-end world no. 1 ranking and might go for the Davis cup instead, which is arguably the biggest omission from his record thus far.
The top seed admitted on Tuesday that his current positive situation even has him surprised, with Switzerland playing a Davis Cup final in France next month. Federer has been training on clay for the Davis Cup showdown but is now back to total concentration on the slow indoor hard court at the St Jakobshalle, where he has figured in the last eight finals at the stadium where he got his start in the game as a ball boy. Federer has a unique connection with the Swiss Indoors. The event is held in Basel, close to his ancestral home. His mom, Lynette, used to be part of the organising team. Federer’s first appearance there as a player was In 1998, almost four year after his stint there as a ball boy; also the year he turned pro. “It’s a nice feeling being back in an arena that I know so well and have had so much success,” said the 17-time Grand Slam winner who opens on Wednesday in the first round against Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller.
“There is no panic about the tournament any more, like there was maybe five, 10, 15 years ago when it all started for me. It feels great right now, I’m happy I’m playing so well since the (spring) birth of (twin sons) Leo and Lenny,” said the recent Shanghai champion.
We will soon see Roger back in action, rejuvenated and with new aspirations in mind. I’m sure no tennis fan has second thoughts about Federer’s age playing a hinderance anymore. He is an inspiration for sportspersons and spectators everywhere, with his commitment and undying zest for the sport.
As a fan,Roger is the most ravishing because he makes us feel memories, he makes us want to hold them in our hands, and he shows what should be done with the time that remains, live it, as he showers his magic. In a rejoicing, victorious way. With the onset of a heavily packed schedule for Roger, we wish him the best in his oncoming matches and look forward to seeing the legend re-occupy the number 1 spot and re-create more of the timeless moments that we all are dying to see once more.Class War at the Gray Lady? New York Times Gives Millions to CEO While Pushing Concessions on Union
The New York Times has long been held up as journalism's standard bearer. Thus it seems only fitting that The New York Times Company gave departing CEO Janet Robinson a nearly $15 million severance package while demanding that its current employees take benefit and pay cuts. (Robinson gained early and immediate access to her full pension of $10.9 million, and will earn $4.5 million working as a consultant for the company in 2012.)
At big companies throughout the media industry (like the Tribune Co.), high salaries and large bonuses for those at the top and pay freezes or concessions for those at the bottom have become standard. Of course, it's indisputable that the journalism industry has been in a crunch for years, with layoffs at newspapers around the country, including the New York Times.
But after implementing a pay wall and making other cost-saving changes in 2011, the Times has returned to profitability. Still, according to Newspaper Guild of New York President Bill O’Meara, the Times is now pushing a contract on its workers that asks the union to accept an inferior healthcare plan, eliminates extra pay for working late nights or changing one’s schedule to deal with major breaking stories, and would implement a freeze on contributions to employee pensions. The Times claims the contract would save it $9 million a year.
The freeze on contribution to employees' pensions is offensive to Times union members in part because of the million-dollar package given to Robinson. In a sign of The New York Times Company's intent on freezing pensions, the newspaper unilaterally froze pensions for all foreign employees not covered by the Times' bargaining unit. This sparked outrage from unionized employees who penned an open letter to the New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. on December 23, saying:
Our foreign citizen employees in overseas bureaus have just had their pensions frozen with only a week’s warning. Some of these people have risked their lives so that we can do our jobs. A couple have even lost them. Many have spent their entire careers at the Times -- indeed, some have letters from your father explaining the pension system -- and deserve better treatment.…. We have worked long and hard for this company and have given up pay to keep it solvent. Some of us have risked our lives for it. You have eloquently recognized and paid moving tribute to our work and devotion. The deep disconnect between those words and the demands of your negotiators have given rise to a sense of betrayal.
The open letter was signed by 546 workers, including veteran Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse. The New York Times Company did not respond to request for comment for this story.
Writing earlier this year in an article titled “Why Not Occupy the Newsroom”, New York Times media columnist David Carr wrote on the seething inequality between top managers in the news industry and workers:
The optics of the bonuses are far worse than the practical impact. Newspapers are asking their employees for shared sacrifice and their digital readers to begin paying. So, lucrative packages won’t cut it. As newspapers all over the country struggle to divine the meaning of the Occupy protests, some of the companies that own them might want to listen closely to see if there is a message there meant for them.
David Carr did not sign onto the letter to Sulzberger Jr., but he did tweet out a link to the letter and later commented on Twitter that “My thinking was that as someone who covers NYT occasionally, I should not take a position.”
But clearly, Carr’s point about inequality in the newspaper industry applies to The New York Times. For now, New York Newspaper Guild President Bill O’Meara says workers at the Times are continuing to organize against the company's proposed contract concessions.The head of Canada's federal broadcast regulator says he had to haggle with his television provider to get a better deal from new "skinny basic" offerings, and Canadians should expect to do the same.
"People may have thought, mistakenly, that the CRTC was going to reduce everybody's cable bills – that's not what we promised. We said we're going to give you more choice," Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, said in an interview.
He said the commission's aim has been to give consumers "tools to solve their own problems," and used a personal anecdote to drive home his point. "I myself … looked at my offerings and slimmed it down," Mr. Blais said, after giving a speech about anti-spam legislation in Toronto on Tuesday. "Was it easy? No. … You have to keep going up the chain into [the] loyalty program. It requires effort."
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The regulator urged customers eager for relief from costly TV bills to explore their options, using what competition exists in the TV market as leverage.
"This will take time and I'll repeat it again: Canadians will have to do some work," Mr. Blais said. "They will have to be ready to at least threaten to change providers."
Since March 1, all TV providers have been required to offer a much-anticipated "skinny" bundle of channels for no more than $25 a month, and to add the the option to pick and pay for any individual channel by Dec. 1. But since the new, slimmer basic packages arrived, many consumers complain that they are not getting the bargain they expected. The CRTC has been contacted by at least 600 consumers about the new skinny option, many of whom are plainly frustrated.
The new rules are the result of Let's Talk TV, a sweeping hearing into the future of TV that produced several major decisions affecting everything from Canadian content rules to the way TV providers, broadcasters and producers negotiate with each other. But the process was shaped by a consumer-choice agenda that promised an alternative to bulky so-called "basic" bundles that can include upward of 100 channels.
In another speech last month, Mr. Blais warned cable and satellite executives that the CRTC would watch closely to see how they follow the new rules, and act swiftly if companies disregard "our decisions and the spirit of the outcomes they were intended to achieve."
Since then, some disgruntled customers have taken to social media and online message boards to complain that set-top cable boxes and other equipment are not included in the $25 price tag. Others griped that when switching to skinny packages, some providers said they would become ineligible for discounts from bundling TV with Internet or phone lines, and bills could rise in some cases.
"I don't think this is what CRTC had in mind when they made their ruling," reads one comment on a Globe and Mail story about the new rules.
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A spokesperson for BCE Inc., which owns Bell's TV services, said: "We comply with all aspects of the CRTC's rules." A Rogers Communications Inc. spokesperson said customers with its skinny Starter package "won't be eligible for any additional bundle discounts," although they can take advantage of special offers "from time to time."
Mr. Blais said it is "too early" to tell whether any of the companies' behaviour might be deemed offside, as the balance of the new regulations aimed at consumer choice won't kick in until December, and dismissed the media reports that suggest the commission has faced undue backlash since skinny bundles hit the market.
"I chuckled when I saw the CBC's article about a 'flood' of 600 complaints. … 600 is not a flood. Sometimes people are just asking for information," he said, noting that the commission gets 3,000 to 4,000 communications in a quiet month and was contacted 130 times in a few hours last weekend over an amber alert about a missing infant. "There's 11 million households [with a TV subscription] in this country, so let's get a little bit of perspective."Etymology
The English word "pirate" comes from the Latin term purateivitia ("sailor, corsair, sea robber")[citation needed] and that from Greek πειρατής (peiratēs), "brigand",[7] in turn from πειράομαι (peiráomai), "I attempt", from πεῖρα (peîra), "attempt, experience".[8] The meaning of the Greek word peiratēs literally is "one who attacks (ships)".[9] The word is also cognate to peril.[9] The term first appeared in English c. 1300.[9] Spelling did not become standardised until the eighteenth century, and spellings such as "pirrot", "pyrate" and "pyrat" occurred until this period.[10][11]
History
Culture and social structure
Known pirate shipwrecks
To date three identifiable pirate shipwrecks have been discovered. One is the Whydah Gally, a former slave ship seized on its maiden voyage from Africa by the pirate captain "Black Sam" Bellamy. Since 2007 the Wydah collection has been touring as part of the exhibit "Real Pirates" sponsored by National Geographic.[80] The second is the Queen Anne's Revenge, the flagship of the infamous pirate Blackbeard. He used the ship for less than a year, but it was an effective tool in his prize-taking. In June 1718, Blackbeard ran the ship aground at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. In late 1996, Intersal,[81] a private firm working under a permit with the state of North Carolina, discovered the remains of the vessel.[82] The shipwreck lies in 28 feet (8.5m) of water about one mile (1.6 km) offshore of Fort Macon State Park, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Thirty-one cannons have been identified to date and more than 250,000 artifacts have been recovered.[83] The cannon are of different origins, such as Swedish, English and possibly French, and of different sizes, as would be expected with a colonial pirate crew.[82] The last is the Golden Fleece, the ship of the notorious English pirate Joseph Bannister, which was found in early 2009 by American shipwreck hunters John Chatterton and John Mattera in the Dominican Republic, at Samaná Bay. The discovery is recounted in Robert Kurson's book Pirate Hunters (2015) [84][85][86][87]
Privateers
Commerce raiders
See also: Ruse de guerre A wartime activity similar to piracy involves disguised warships called commerce raiders or merchant raiders, which attack enemy shipping commerce, approaching by stealth and then opening fire. Commerce raiders operated successfully during the American Revolution. During the American Civil War, the Confederacy sent out several commerce raiders, the most famous of which was the CSS Alabama. During World War I and World War II, Germany also made use of these tactics, both in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Since commissioned naval vessels were openly used, these commerce raiders should not be considered even privateers, much less pirates— although the opposing combatants were vocal in denouncing them as such.
1990s–2010s
Anti-piracy measures
Legal aspects
Cultural perceptions
Economics of piracy
Sources on the economics of piracy include Cyrus Karraker's 1953 study Piracy was a Business,[175] in which the author discusses pirates in terms of contemporary racketeering. Patrick Crowhurst researched French piracy and David Starkey focused on British 18th-century piracy. Note also the 1998 book The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates by Peter T. Leeson.[176] Piracy and entrepreneurship Some 2014 research examines the links between piracy and entrepreneurship. In this context, researchers take a nonmoral approach to piracy as a source of inspiration for 2010s-era entrepreneurship education[177] and to research in entrepreneurship[178] and in business-model generation.[179] In this respect, analysis of piracy operations may distinguish between planned (organised) and opportunistic piracy.[180]
See also
ReferencesOn Thursday, the Supreme Court sent shockwaves across America, upholding the constitutionality of the federal health care act.
Tenth Amendment Center |
the industry, [even] if it doesn't affect us today, it will affect us at some point," said Ken Becker, executive director of the Sweetwater Economic Development Corp (SEED). We were sitting in his downtown office, on the second floor of an historic Spanish Colonial Revival style home that serves as the Chamber of Commerce, as he told me how wind energy had bolstered the local economy.
"In pre-wind, our county taxable value was $500 million," Ken explained. "In 2008, it was $2.8 billion," a five-fold increase that translated to new schools and grand expansions at the local hospital. That's money for the town, but also a steady income for local landowners, some of whom earn up to $1,000 per month from having a single commercial turbine on their property—and most of the region's world-class wind farms are dotted across private land. Many say they're "not sure they'd even have the ranch today if the wind didn't come on," Ken told me.
Wind power today provides 12 percent of Texas's electricity. Credit: Meera Subramanian
The wind construction boom has slowed—or, perhaps more accurately, morphed—as the industry enters its second generation. Sweetwater has a population of about 10,000, and back at the peak of wind development in 2008, as the economy was crumbling, it was estimated that 18 percent of the town's working population was employed on wind projects, Ken said. Now, he acknowledged, the number of full-time jobs in wind technology is a small fraction of that, but only if you disregard the hundreds of peripheral jobs that rely on the wind energy sector.
These complementary industries are the ecosystem that wind power belongs to—and its reach is growing. Repowering, which vastly increases efficiency by either replacing old turbines for more powerful ones or upgrading components, means more megawatts with the same footprint. It also means a whole new category of jobs. While I was there, evidence of these peripheral industries was everywhere. I watched 80-foot blades swapped out for ones twice as long. (The production tax credits helped these efforts, too.) I visited Global Fiberglass Solutions of Texas, which was setting up shop in an old aluminum recycling plant to process the decommissioned blades—which were being amassed in a 10-acre field—into building panels and other materials.
The wind industry is changing and the jobs base around it is expanding as existing turbines are retrofitted with new technology. Credit: Meera Subramanian
Across the street from Global Fiberglass Solutions was the Argentinian company EMA, which builds electrical breakers specially designed for renewable power systems and employs about a hundred people.
And down the road in Roscoe, in an old mercantile brick building inscribed with "Shelansky's Dry Goods," beside a high curb designed for horse carriages, teens at Edu-Drone were learning skills that would earn them FAA licensing as drone pilots. They were simultaneously earning a high school diploma and an associate's degree, aiming for a career that could have them use the flying cameras to inspect wind turbine blades for damage from hail or lightning strikes.
The Wind Will Always Blow Here
Back at the TSTC turbine, high above the mesquite below, the elevator shuddered to a stop at the top. Well, almost at the top. While James, who had a hurt shoulder, waited below, I clipped in my lanyard line and climbed up the last 40-foot stretch to get up to the nacelle.
The four students who had climbed up by ladder were already there, along with Billie Jones Hudson, another TSTC wind instructor. Billie, 42, whose long brown hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and tucked down her shirt, had been a prison guard and an elementary school art teacher before working in wind. Together we stood amid the hydraulics, cooling systems and electrical boxes of the nacelle. It was all basic mechanics, but supersized. Big bolts, smeared with grease, attaching one massive piece of metal to the next. There was the slightest of sway to the entire structure, which one student, Kaitlin Sullivan, 25, equated to a boat.
"You just feel like you're on top of the world," said Johnathon McCarthy, a West Virginia Marine who served in Afghanistan before starting the TSTC program. Credit: Meera Subramanian
With one more hoist, I could look out the hatch that opened up to the sky, the blades reaching to infinity, airplane wings on end. This is what everyone I spoke to in the wind industry loves the most about this work. It is the exact opposite of descending deep into the earth to mine coal in shafts no taller than the height of a small child. There is risk to wind work—an arc flash, a long fall—but never the prospect of being trapped underground for days as there is with coal. There are no oil leaks that can't be staunched. It felt like freedom. Energy freedom. Professional freedom. Economic freedom. Our turbine's blades were still, but I could see dozens of others spinning along the horizon below, the wind that blew through them altered, molecules shifted.
"It's breathless," was how student Johnathon McCarthy, a 28-year-old West Virginian who served in Afghanistan as a Marine, described being up there. "You see other turbines around you spinning. You see the cars that are just this small. You see the people down there and they're even smaller, like ants. You just feel like you're on top of the world."
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wind technician is currently the second-fastest growing job in America. Credit: Meera Subramanian
The best places for wind are often the places that are struggling to keep rural communities alive.
What was happening in Nolan County proved that the debate about how we generate our kilowatts doesn't have to be about climate change. It could be about embracing whatever clean energy options are available to help make small-town America economically viable. In this deeply red place, it was the embodiment of President Barack Obama's all-of-the-above strategy. At the close of 2016, 86 percent of the country's onshore wind turbines were located in Republican districts, according to the 2016 U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report. Indeed, Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and John Thune of South Dakota were some of the primary advocates responsible for keeping the PTC in place in the final version of the tax overhaul bill, which was signed Dec. 22.
Too soon, it was time to leave our aerie. Kaitlin sung the words to "When It Rains" in a clear soprano voice, the confined space of the nacelle a perfect sound chamber, as we all worked our way down. I climbed back to where James awaited me, and we returned to our constrained positions in the elevator.
"What was advanced yesterday is no longer advanced today," he said as we slowly descended, "and what's advanced today will no longer be advanced tomorrow. Same way with wind turbines; they're always advancing." Periodically, light slipped through into our confined space, illuminating his face.
"This is a totally different world. I believe this is the future," he said, pausing for a moment. Then he added, almost to himself, "I hope it's the future."
Sign up for CLEAN ECONOMY WEEKLY Inside the future of energy.
Top photo: Kaitlin Sullivan looks into the nacelle atop a wind turbine tower in West Texas. Credit: Meera SubramanianCompany found guilty over NZ mine disaster
Posted
A New Zealand judge has found Pike River Coal Limited guilty on all nine health and safety charges laid over the 2010 mine disaster which claimed 29 lives.
Greymouth district court judge Jane Farish found Pike River Coal Ltd was responsible for fundamental safety breaches which were "causative of the explosion and the subsequent deaths of the men who perished".
That provided some comfort for bereaved father Lawrie Drew.
"This is one good step because someone has been found culpable, but the punishment never fits what happens," he said.
Pike River Coal faces fines of up to $2 million.
The company is in receivership and owes secured creditors $20 million.
Pike River Coal will be sentenced in early July.
Topics: accidents---other, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, new-zealandJanuary 7, 2015 AT 5:00 pm A Girl Dressed As a Stargate
No matter how many costumes I see at conventions and online, I always stumble across ones I’ve never seen before. It amazes me. This incredible wearable Stargate by Nyima, a.k.a. Nyima-chan on DeviantArt, falls into that category. She came up with the idea for a Stargate costume on a whim and didn’t waste any time putting it together. She doesn’t have any notes about construction, but it needs to be shared for the sheer inventiveness involved. The Stargate ring is likely made from foam and carved; it appears as though she included each and every one of the symbols on the dial. The chevrons light up, and you could use LEDs or EL wire to achieve a similar look. While I’m impressed by the Stargate, I’m especially taken with the way the blue dress is attached so it looks like the event horizon. Wow. Photo by SzaniFoto. Nyima has made several creative costumes; you can follow her projects at DeviantArt.
Maker Business — Japan and the EU enter into monumental free trade agreement Wearables — Liquid magic Electronics — Must read MOSFET material Biohacking — IVNT – Intravenous Nutrient Therapy Python for Microcontrollers — Python on hardware, a portal to a world of fun! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @circuitpython @micropython @ThePSF @Adafruit
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New Year’s Resolution: Drink (Somewhat) Healthier Beer!
We’ve officially reached the beginning of a new calendar year which means it’s time to reflect and aspire to a better 12 months than the previous. Beware of all your friends on social media with that unoriginal “new year, new me”, though. Most of us want to make improvements in things such as relationships, career, travel, health, etc. Me? I want to drink more beer in 2016!
Let me explain…
I too want to improve my fitness and decrease my waistline this year but I don’t want to sacrifice my beer drinking in order to do so. Beer is deceptively high in calories — it’s often difficult for me to find an IPA with less than 200 calories per 12 ounce bottle. We always think twice about consuming nachos or pancakes but rarely do we put our beer mug down because of the caloric intake. There must be a way for all of us to continue enjoying our heavyweight beers without becoming heavyweights ourselves, right? I’ve attempted to dissect the local craft beer scene in order to find a resolution for you beer-loving fitness enthusiasts (or hopeful enthusiasts) by looking at calories and alcohol by volume, ABV.
The reason for looking at calories is obvious; the reason I also look at ABV is because nutrition facts are not required on beer labels and there’s a lot of resistance to making the information known. Alcohol content is probably the best indicator of calories since every gram of alcohol contributes about 7 calories towards your beer. It can get a lot more complicated than this due to the amount of sugars and the fermentation process, but this is a simple approximation. I utilized two sources for the information: www.myfitnesspal.com & The Next Glass (iOS app). Simply finding caloric information for craft beer is extremely difficult and my findings are only as good as the data available.
I’ve highlighted my 5 favorite healthy brewery options + a “cheat meal”. If you’re still thirsty for more there is a longer list towards the bottom. All calorie amounts are per a 12-ounce serving.
Saint Arnold’s Marketing Director, Lennie Ambrose, actually provided their exact nutrition facts. The SA beer with the least amount of calories is the new Boiler Room Berliner Weisse with 120 per 12oz, which I must say is awesomely refreshing. Other good options are Fancy Lawnmower, Weedwacker and Santo, which all clock in at 149 calories each. You shouldn’t have a problem finding any of these on store shelves.
th Wonder has quite the assortment of beers available but finding nutrition facts on them is tough. A safe bet would be to keep it light with some Wonder has quite the assortment of beers available but finding nutrition facts on them is tough. A safe bet would be to keep it light with some Dome Faux’m, which is a cream ale at only 5.2% ABV.
I wasn’t expecting to find a healthy option from a brewery that creates beers such as Bananas Foster, Mud Turtle, Gingerbread Stout and Red Velvet Stout, but they provide a selection of beers across the spectrum. For instance, their 1836 Copper Ale claims only 171 calories (Next Glass), while the Summer’s Wit hoists 180 (Next Glass). I highly recommend the toasty 1836 to be paired with a lean burger for the ideal post-workout reload. Beer hydrates, right?
They tout quite a number of beers under the 200 calorie mark. No Label has the lowest average calorie count of all the breweries I looked at. Your fittest bets would be the 1st Street Blonde Ale with 150 calories and 5% ABV, or El Hefe Hefeweizen with 165 calories at 5.5% ABV (all stats from Next Glass).
Let’s be honest, you don’t drink a beer from Brash because you’re looking to cut back on calories and they don’t make beer for that reason either. Consider a Brash Cortado, Abide, or Smoglifter Stout as your cheat meal. You earned it. If you want to be picky then search out their EZ-7 pale ale with only 5% ABV.
The following is a list of more local beers under 6% ABV or 200 calories per 12 ounces to fit your fitness goals:
The Payload Pilsner: 5.1% ABV
Schwarzbier: 4.3% ABV & 129 Calories
Wingman Wheat IPA: 5.7% ABV
Bombshell Blonde Ale: 5.3% ABV & 157 calories (Next Glass)
Zeno’s Pale Ale: 5.9% ABV
Yellow Rose IPA: 6.8% ABV & 215 calories.
Vienna Lager: 4.9% ABV
Mosquito’s Revenge Pale Ale: 5.5% ABV
The Boomtown Blonde Ale: 5.5% ABV
Toolpusher Pale Ale: 5.5% ABV
Tiki Wheat: 5.6% ABV
Vaquero Mexican Dark Lager: 5.2% ABV
Travis Pale Lager: 5.2% ABV
7-Iron Session Ale: 4.5% ABV
And there you have it. Houston craft brewers are gaining a reputation for producing truly awesome BIG beers but as you can see there are plenty of lighter beers you can enjoy while trying to cut back on calories.
While my list is extensive, it’s not comprehensive, so if you would like to include any breweries that I missed or find faults in my arguments please leave a comment below.
The feedback is always much appreciated. Cheers y’all and I hope you’re able to enjoy plenty of beer while sticking to your resolutions in 2016. Let us know how it goes.This article is over 7 years old
New York police accused of heavy-handed tactics as 80 anti-capitalist protesters on 'Occupy Wall Street' march are arrested
The anti-capitalist protests that have become something of a fixture in Lower Manhattan over the past week or so have taken on a distinctly ugly turn.
Police have been accused of heavy-handed tactics after making 80 arrests on Saturday when protesters marched uptown from their makeshift camp in a private park in the financial district.
Footage has emerged on YouTube showing stocky police officers coralling a group of young female protesters and then spraying them with mace, despite being surrounded and apparently posing threats of only the verbal kind.
NYPD officers strung orange netting across the streets to trap groups of protesters, a tactic described by some of them as "kettling" – a term more commonly used by critics of a similar tactic deployed by police in London to contain potentially violent demonstrations there.
The media here in New York has been accused of being slow off the mark to cover the demonstrations, which have been going on for more than a week.
Here are some links to our coverage over the past week.
• This is a gallery of photographs taken by John Stuttle last weekend.
• Karen McVeigh visited the camp in Zuccotti Park on Monday
• Later in the week, Paul Harris recorded video interviews with some of the protesters.
Now, however, the local media has paid more attention – almost certainly because Saturday's protest became disruptive, bringing chaos to the busy Union Square area and forcing the closure of streets.
The New York Times quoted one protester, Kelly Brannon, 27, of Ridgewood, Queens:
They put up orange nets and tried to kettle us and we started running and they started tackling random people and handcuffing them. They were herding us like cattle.
The scenes are showing signs of attracting high-profile criticism. Anne-Marie Slaughter, who was director of policy planning, at the State Department from 2009 to 2011, said on Twitter: "Not the image or reality the US wants, at home or abroad," linking to a picture of a police officer kneeling on a protester pinned to the ground.
Here's an extract from a Reuters report, which said the demonstrators were protesting against "bank bailouts, the mortgage crisis and the US state of Georgia's execution of Troy Davis".
At Manhattan's Union Square, police tried to corral the demonstrators using orange plastic netting. Some of the arrests were filmed and activists posted the videos online. Police say the arrests were mostly for blocking traffic. Charges include disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. But one demonstrator was charged with assaulting a police officer. Police say the officer involved suffered a shoulder injury. Protest spokesman Patrick Bruner criticized the police response as "exceedingly violent" and said the protesters sought to remain peaceful
And this is a fuller take from Associated Press.
The marchers carried signs spelling out their goals: "Tax the rich," one placard said. "We Want Money for Healthcare not Corporate Welfare," read another. The demonstrators were mostly college-age people carrying American flags and signs with anti-corporate slogans. Some beat drums, blew horns and chanted slogans as uniformed officers surrounded and videotaped them. "Occupy Wall Street," they chanted, "all day, all week." Organizers fell short of that goal. With metal barricades and swarms of police officers in front of the New York Stock Exchange, the closest protesters could get was Liberty Street, about three blocks away. The Vancouver-based activist media group Adbusters organized the weeklong event. Word spread via social media, yet the throngs of protesters some participants had hoped for failed to show up. "I was kind of disappointed with the turnout," said Itamar Lilienthal, 19, a New York University student and marcher.
Update: 11.30am ET Sunday
In the comments, there has been some debate about my description of the protesters as "anti-capitalist". Some commenters say this description is inaccurate.
Here's a typical comment, from kismequik:
The Occupy Wall Street protest isn't anti-capitalist – it's anti-unregulated capitalism.
And another, from NatalieNY:
I am disappointed to find you referring to this protest as anti-capitalist which has a negative and alienating connotation, and which is a dangerously false label. This is about our broken system and taking our government back to a place of being about and for the people, not corporate interests.
Other commenters point out more media coverage today, including a front-page piece in the New York Daily News.On World Animal Day, novelist Henrietta Rose-Innes looks at some of the best depictions of this ‘crucial human task’, by James Herriot, Karen Joy Fowler and others
Understanding how we engage with the creatures who share our planet seems to me a crucial human task in this dire portion of the Anthropocene. In my last two novels, I’ve pondered this in different ways. In Nineveh, human figures are literally overwhelmed by the multifarious beings that share the urban space with them (beetles, in particular). It’s about being in a relationship with the natural world, even if it creeps us out. My last novel, Green Lion, is a more sombre look at the other side of that coin: in a world rapidly emptying of species, we yearn for closer kinship with creatures we may never understand – and who we may well destroy before we get a chance to know them.
Our interactions with animals are many and various, ranging from devotion to a pet goldfish, say, to the raw violence that take place in a dogfighting ring or factory farm. The relationships I’m drawn to, and have chosen to highlight below, are intimate, enigmatic and mostly benign, characterised by hopeful longing for communion with minds and bodies like but unlike our own.
I’ve limited myself. No birds, as I note with relief that Nicholas Royle has covered the territory in his Top 10 books about birds; and Karen Joy Fowler did the heavy lifting for me in her excellent Top 10 about intelligent animals. (And by heavy lifting I mean Moby-Dick, whose bulk looms under the surface of so many of these tales of longing and pursuit, including my own.)
|Between 1759 and 1763, when Smart was confined to an asylum for the insane, he produced this glorious, 1,200-line song of praise for the Creator and all of Creation. I had been familiar with the much-anthologised, extremely charming section devoted to his cat, Jeoffry, but it was only recently that I read it all. It consists in part of a recitation of Biblical figures twinned with animals or plants, and each line is a jewel. “Let Ucal bless with the Cameleon, which feedeth on the Flowers and washeth himself in the dew”!
Marais was a celebrated Afrikaner poet, and a dark, brilliant star who is considered a father of the study of animal behaviour. In 1905, he retreated to the Waterberg wilderness to study wild baboons. His writing is scientifically pioneering, but is also the work of a tortured poet. Movingly, Marais, who was a morphine addict and eventually killed himself, devoted a chapter The Soul of the Ape to discussing addiction and “Hesperian depression” – the tidal swell of sadness that rises in both people and baboons at close of day.
Two sisters raised together, one human, one not so much … Despite a wacky-sounding premise, this is a convincing, profound and heartbreaking tale that ranges widely over big themes: love, loyalty, betrayal, animal experimentation, the nature of family and of being human. Rosemary, the all-too-human narrator, is wisecracking and endearingly messed-up, plagued by guilt and complex sadness over losing her charismatic imp of a chimp sister.
Top 10 books about intelligent animals Read more
This debut novel encouraged my interest in the tragic glamour of the extinct. We follow a sinister hunter, M, on a mission to hunt down the last Tasmanian tiger. This lean book gives us a primordial clash of hunter and prey in a landscape haunted by ghosts of the lost. There is a scene, where M finally sights his quarry and pursues her, her striped body flashing luminously between the trees, that will stay with me as an image of ungraspable desire.
I’ve been a rabid Hoban fan since encountered his masterpiece, Riddley Walker. This is one of his gentlest, most profound novels. William and Neaera, in the grip of middle-aged regret and loneliness, meet through a shared obsession with sea turtles at the zoo. Together, they plot the creatures’ escape. Through contemplation of the zen-like calm of these patient, long-distance swimmers, each learns to better live in the “now” of their own lives.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Living in the ‘now’ … Glenda Jackson in the 1985 film version of Turtle Diary. Photograph: Allstar/British Lion Film
Published in 1876, this dark and irresistibly rhythmic nonsense poem follows a crew of 10 eccentrics on a hunt for the fabled Snark, which turns out to be the far more fatal Boojum. I treasure my little copy of this book with pictures by Tove Jansson – a dream team author/illustrator matchup. But it’s Henry Holiday’s unsettling original illustrations that really help deliver the signature Lewis Carroll effect: enchanting absurdity, with a pinch of genuine dread. “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.”
Who doesn’t love a Yorkshire vet? Alf Wight’s “little cat-and-dog stories”, as he called them, were affable portraits of a traditional farming life, where people lived and laboured alongside working animals, rapidly giving way to mechanisation. And they were funny. I remember cackling at an episode in which the good doctor puts a dourly unimpressed farmer in his place by plucking a tumour from a cow’s bottom (it is possible I misremember) with naught but his bare hand and a jovial manner.
If I could only pick one kids’ book for this list, I choose Amigo, which I compulsively borrowed from the library as a child, even before I could read it myself. The story is simple and sweet: Francisco wants a playmate, but his parents cannot afford a dog. Amigo is a prairie dog, and similarly lonesome. Each set out to tame the other. I had a crush on both boy and prairie dog, beautifully rendered in Garth Williams’ delicate illustrations, and the equality of their friendship struck me as revolutionary and just.
Myra is the sole survivor of a plane crash. She is rescued and led through the Oregon desert by a talking coyote – a marvellous, tricksy and somewhat unhinged but protective creature who takes the child into her ramshackle home, in a village of animals who appear as curious beast-human hybrids. They are friendly, brutal, earthily sexual, a bit mad – but saner, perhaps, than those in the manic human world. A story in part about what we lose and gain when we leave childhood’s magical wilderness behind and enter adulthood, as Myra must at last do, too.
These myths and life stories were dictated to the philologists Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd in the late 19th century by men jailed in Cape Town’s Breakwater prison. The language, traditions and way of life of San hunter-gatherers were being brutally obliterated, so this record is precious. Originally filling 12,000 notebook pages, it has been published in various forms, including poetic adaptations such as Antjie Krog’s The Stars Say Tsau. They speak of a world in which animals were potent figures in human lives, and where distinctions between people, creatures, spirits and things were fluid: lions become stars, springbok sing their children to sleep and Mantis is a god.In Samuel Beckett's The Unnamable, the protagonist Mahood is trapped inside a jar. Mahood has no arms or legs. His head is poking out of the top of the jar, which is balanced on a pedestal situated outside a fashionable eaterie. In order to occasionally enjoy a different view, Mahood slowly shuffles his body round in the jar. To stop this, the restaurant owner affixes a collar to the lip of the jar and under Mahood's chin, so he is no longer able to move his head. Mahood cries endlessly, the salty tears soaking into his beard. Remind you of anything?
Liverpool: Reina, Aurelio, Carragher, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Lucas, Alonso, Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera, Torres.
Subs: Cavalieri, the £7m goalscoring machine Andrea Dossena, Hyypia, Agger, Benayoun, Babel, N'Gog.
One yellow from a suspension: Arbeloa, the £7m goalscoring machine Andrea Dossena.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, A Cole, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Malouda, Drogba, Kalou.
Subs: Hilario, Carvalho, Mikel, Deco, Belletti, Anelka, Mancienne.
One yellow from a suspension: A Cole, Terry, Anelka.
Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark).
"You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on." Like Mahood, I'll plough on regardless from 7.45pm, when the players begin to romp across this never-changing terrain.
guardian.co.uk Book Club: "I had every intention of finishing my thesis on Beckett's Unnamable many years ago, but despite the lovely ending about going on, must go on, can't go on, I ended up on 'can't go on'," begins one-time rubbish existential literature student Øivind Idsø. "So thanks for bringing up some not particularly good memories. Though as a Liverpool fan I guess I should be greatful you didn't bring up, say, Riise's own goal last year. That was a definite 'can't go on' moment." Are you still here? "That Samuel Beckett, he does go on," adds top stand-up Chris Myers, who continues his routine in the pint-and-a-pie style. "Personally I'm waiting for [checks team sheets] Aurelio. Or Alonso. I'll be here all night." Oh Christ.
Pre-match Rodgers & Hammerstein sing-song: Altogether now...
Anfield meanwhile is blasting out a track from the lesser-known Carousel.
Handshakes, the exchange of club-branded trinkets, and we're off! Anfield is, as you'd expect, bouncing. Liverpool will be kicking towards the Kop in the second half, as is their wont.
A full minute has elapsed... and not a pass to feet yet. Reina shanks a nervy kick straight to Drogba, but the ball's dispatched straight back to him.
3 min: Liverpool win an early corner. It's sent in from the right and eventually finds Kuyt on the edge of the area. He blasts a shot on the turn towards the top-right corner of Cech's goal - and with the keeper rooted to the spot, the goal-bound ball's deflected over the crossbar by the head of Ivanovic. No second corner, though, as there's been some minor infringement somewhere or other. That was a very decent effort by Kuyt.
5 min: There's not much of a pattern to this game, yet. Essien is following Gerrard around like a dim but loveable dog.
6 min: WHAT A FANTASTIC TEAM GOAL BY LIVERPOOL: Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea. Alex hacks a long ball out of his area, but only a few yards upfield to Kuyt, who has his back to goal. His instant backheel out right sets Arbeloa clear in the box, and his square pass finds Torres clear in the centre, ten yards out. The striker sidefoots calmly into the bottom right corner. What a start.
8 min: And what a miss by Drogba up the other end. Aurelio dawdles on the Liverpool left and is dispossessed by Kalou, who immediately frees Drogba into the box. The striker cuts in from the right and only has Reina to beat - but hits the ball straight at the keeper.
10 min: It's been all Chelsea since the goal - now Essien nearly gets onto a loose, looping ball in the Liverpool area, but Skrtel bundles clear. And then suddenly Torres bursts clear down the inside-right channel! For a second it looks like he'll rampage into the box and get a shot in, but Terry and Alex are both across to cover and the threat is nullified. Wow, this is a fantastic start. Samuel who?
13 min: This is going along at 100mph, this game. Gerrard sends a ball down the left for Riera to chase, but Ivanovic does brilliantly to stick his shoulder in and put a stop to the winger's gallop.
16 min: From the right-hand corner of the Liverpool box, Ballack has a dig. The ball's blocked, and is sent looping over the home defence into space. Lampard's racing in to shoot home - he'd only have the stranded Reina to beat - but Drogba idiotically, for he is about six yards offside, chests the ball down himself. The referee blows up for a free kick.
18 min: It's been high-octane stuff, this, but there's a brief respite as Kalou is clipped by Aurelio. The Chelsea man declines to hop on a stretcher, but can only limp off the field very slowly, his ankle injured. Will he be able to continue? The early signs don't look good. Lampard blasts the resulting free kick into the wall.
20 min: Kalou is back on. And even better news for Chelsea, as Carragher nudges Drogba over, dead centre, 25 yards out. Alex Lampards it into the wall. This is all Chelsea at the moment, a brilliant response to Torres's goal.
23 min: Alonso puts his foot on the ball and tries to get things going again for Liverpool, but his pass forward is needlessly miscontrolled by Riera. Chelsea stream forward. Drogba slips the ball out wide left to Malouda, who sends a low screamer fizzing right across goal and just wide of the right-hand post. Reina wasn't getting there: it's surely a matter of time before Chelsea equalise, as Liverpool's early momentum has been totally lost.
26 min: And yet it's Liverpool who nearly get the next goal, Lampard fannying around in the middle of his own half and allowing himself to be robbed by Torres. The striker can't quite break clear, but checks and curls an effort towards the top-right corner. Cech, who had come out anticipating Torres breaking into the box, was in no-man's land - but the effort's just a wee bit overcooked and sails just over the bar.
27 min: It's Lucas, just outside the Chelsea box, to the right of goal. And he affords us the first chance to use the OFFICIAL GERRARD-BALLACK WIDESCREEN FLAY-O-METER: C, and not too far from D.
29 min: WHAT A RIDICULOUS MISS BY DROGBA. Ballack, cutting inside from the left touchline, strokes an outstanding pass into the box for Drogba, cutting out every single Liverpool defender and finding his man perfectly. Just to the left of the goal, Drogba simply has to score - but blazes his effort wildly over. OFFICIAL GERRARD-BALLACK WIDESCREEN FLAY-O-METER: B, though that makes the effort look better than it was.
31 min: Kalou is booked for stupidly kicking the ball away after a common-or-garden free kick was awarded to Liverpool.
32 min: In acres of space down the left, Riera breaks the world record for hardest-hit cross. It nearly takes out the opposite stand. What a wasted opportunity, because Torres and Kuyt were both in the centre waiting.
35 min: Arbeloa cuts in from the right, checks inside, and tries to scoop the ball into the top left with his weaker foot. It sails wide, but it wasn't a bad attempt, though Cech had it covered. That came after a couple of minutes of possession by Liverpool; they seem to have weathered the Chelsea storm a tad.
37 min: Now Chelsea pass it around awhile, Kalou and Malouda combining down the left before setting up Lampard for a dig 25 yards out. The ball's deflected out for a corner. From it, Kalou nearly bursts clear on goal from the right, but he's ushered out of play by Aurelio. And from that...
38 min: SO SIMPLE FOR CHELSEA! Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea. Chelsea have deserved this, and it couldn't be easier: from the corner on the right, Ivanovic loses Alonso at the near post and crashes a header home from six yards!
39 min: Liverpool so nearly reply immediately: Kuyt breaks clear down the right and into the area, Terry stranded upfield and all over the place. He should score - much like Drogba did after the Torres strike - but hits the ball straight at Cech, allowing the keeper to deflect the ball away from danger.
42 min: Drogba is sent into space down the left. He's got Kalou in the centre, and Lampard in acres on the edge of the Liverpool D - but decides to hoof it in the general direction of the top-right corner. It just about stays in the Kop.
44 min: Gerrard, who has been very quiet - Essien isn't so much following him around like a dim dog, more the master in this relationship so far - drags a poor shot miles wide left of goal from the right-hand edge of the box.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea. Arbeloa and Gerrard try to fashion an opening for Kuyt down the right - a pass inside, a cushioned header towards the box - but Liverpool are going nowhere. Which, in truth, is what they've been doing for the majority of this half. Chelsea have been the better side, and deserve to hold the advantage at what is effectively quarter time.
Barcelona, by the way, are 4-0 up against Bayern Munich. That's Jurgen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich. Tom Hicks and George Gillett may like to have a little think about that. Actually, so should Rafa Benitez and Guus Hiddink: will winning this tie be worth the hassle?
And we're off again! That first half was a brilliant 45 minutes of football. Superb stuff. No changes by Liverpool, no changes by Chelsea. The away side need only ten seconds to steal the ball off the hosts, suggesting this half is likely to be as high-tempo as the first.
47 min: Torres cleverly wins a free kick 25 yards out on the right by running straight into Terry |
3, before Roosevelt's inauguration in March, he repeated in a journal his appreciation of Catherine Wilson's observation that the skyline of New York was the finest sight in America when viewed from the deck of an outbound steamer."[39]
In popular culture [ edit ]
In the fictional The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith, as part of the North American Confederacy Series, in which the United States becomes a Libertarian state after a successful Whiskey Rebellion and the overthrow and execution of George Washington by firing squad for treason in 1794, Albert Jay Nock serves as the 18th President of the North American Confederacy from 1912 to 1928.
Works [ edit ]
The Myth of a Guilty Nation.[1] New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1922. [2]
.[1] New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1922. [2] The Freeman Book.[3] B.W. Huebsch, 1924.
.[3] B.W. Huebsch, 1924. Jefferson.[4] New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926 (also known as Mr. Jefferson ).
.[4] New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926 (also known as ). On Doing the Right Thing, and Other Essays.[5] New York: Harper and Brothers, 1928.
.[5] New York: Harper and Brothers, 1928. Francis Rabelais: The Man and His Work. Harper and Brothers, 1929.
. Harper and Brothers, 1929. The Book of Journeyman: Essays from the New Freeman.[6] New Freeman, 1930.
.[6] New Freeman, 1930. The Theory of Education in the United States.[7] New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1932.
.[7] New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1932. A Journey Into Rabelais's France. [8] William Morrow & Company, 1934.
. [8] William Morrow & Company, 1934. A Journal of These Days: June 1932–December 1933. William Morrow & Company, 1934.
. William Morrow & Company, 1934. Our Enemy, the State.[9] ePub MP3 HTML William Morrow & Company, 1935.
.[9] ePub MP3 HTML William Morrow & Company, 1935. Free Speech and Plain Language. William Morrow & Company, 1937.
. William Morrow & Company, 1937. Henry George: An Essay. William Morrow & Company, 1939.
. William Morrow & Company, 1939. Memoirs of a Superfluous Man.[10] New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943.
Miscellany
World Scouts,[11] World Peace Foundation, 1912.
,[11] World Peace Foundation, 1912. "Officialism and Lawlessness." [12] In College Readings on Today and its Problems, Oxford University Press, 1933.
, Oxford University Press, 1933. Meditations in Wall Street, with an introduction by Albert Jay Nock,[13] W. Morrow & Company, 1940.
Published posthumously:
A Journal of Forgotten Days: May 1934–October 1935. [14] Henry Regnery Company, 1948.
. [14] Henry Regnery Company, 1948. Letters from Albert Jay Nock, 1924–1945, to Edmund C. Evans, Mrs. Edmund C. Evans, and Ellen Winsor. The Caxton Printers, 1949.
. The Caxton Printers, 1949. Snoring as a Fine Art and Twelve Other Essays.[15] Richard R. Smith, 1958.
.[15] Richard R. Smith, 1958. Selected Letters of Albert Jay Nock. The Caxton Printers, 1962.
. The Caxton Printers, 1962. Cogitations from Albert Jay Nock.[16] The Nockian Society, 1970, revised edition, 1985.
.[16] The Nockian Society, 1970, revised edition, 1985. The State of the Union: Essays in Social Criticism. Liberty Press, 1991.
. Liberty Press, 1991. The Disadvantages of Being Educated and Other Essays. Hallberg Publishing Corporation, 1996.
Notes [ edit ]His family calls it a freak accident: last month, a local man fell off a roof and into a hot kettle of tar.
Family members said 66-year-old Vietnam veteran Danny Madden has died six weeks after the accident left third-degree burns on more than half of his body.
“It’s every roofer’s worst nightmare,” said Aaron, Madden’s son.
Both the elder and younger Madden are roofers with decades of experience. Aaron said they were on a job in early August in University City and nearly ready to finish for the day when the accident happened.
“Everybody was kind of tired and so I had mentioned to Dad — why don’t we call it a day?”
But the elder Madden wanted to finish, and climbed up the roof to replace his son. Not long after, Aaron said his father tried to throw a piece off trash to the ground, lost his balance and fell more than a dozen feet. A kettle full of hot roofer tar was sitting below.
“He tried to land on the back of the kettle there. The lid was open and he went in backwards.”
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Seconds later, Aaron and another friend pulled Danny out of the tar, which was heated to nearly 600 degrees. With more than half of his body covered in the mixture, they had to cut clothing off the victim as medical crews worked to rush him to the hospital.
Aaron and his friend were also burned with small splashes of the tar, but their injuries were minimal.
“This doesn’t happen to Danny. He’s just so careful, and he just makes sure everybody else is careful,” said his wife Patricia King.
The family is still in disbelief. Beyond the burns, family members say Madden also suffered a punctured lung, an injured ankle and was fighting pneumonia in the hospital. He was put into a medically-induced coma.
“If Aaron and his buddy Andy hadn’t gotten [Danny] out when they did, we'd have been going to a funeral last week. That’s how critical it was,” she said.
They started a GoFundMe page to help with the mounting costs.
King says each day is a blessing.
“One minute everything is fine and the next minute it isn’t,” she said. “Appreciate everything you’ve got because it can change in two seconds.”
Services for Madden are being held Monday, September 19 at Jefferson Barracks. He will be escorted by Patriot Guard riders.A "Practice" Date
Oh, he'd done it.
He'd really done it now.
Not only had Gon left himself a sitting target after losing his Nen, he seemed to have the wonderful idea of invoking the wrath of a psychopathic witch and then acting like she was just having one of those days. As the two boys rested (or more accurately, Killua rested after having carried Gon for so far) just at the entrance to the Three-Circle Hotel, the bustle of the night started to arise. Couples and high-rollers shuffled through the lobby beside the boys, too wrapped up in their own conversation too hear the occasional whispers of the monsters that had been appearing in recent days. After having already gone through one of those damned ants earlier today, Killua wasn't in the mood for Gon walking off a cliff on top of that. The blood in his hair from earlier still wet, the sweat on the side of his head still rolling, his body gave him the timely reminders of the sacrifices he had just endured, and he wasn't going to let it pass without comment.
"What the hell, Gon?!" implored Killua. "Did you not see her? She's a total psycho! Why didn't you run?"
"Oh," said Gon as dispassionately as if he was reciting the phonebook, "Palm was just playing. I'm sure she wouldn't have done anything."
Killua stared stone-faced. He had a knife swung at him with the force to fell a tree, but apparently that wasn't enough to convince his companion that Palm was a few tail-wags short of a puppy-dog. He face-palmed with the force of a train, and shook his head in dismay.
"Geez, I swear, you can be so stupid sometimes," he sighed, before straightening up to deliver the ultimatum. "Alright, that's it! I'm not going to come save you if you ever get yourself in trouble again! Especially not with Miss Googly-turned-Demon-Eyes! I've had enough of cleaning up. It's really getting annoying. Stop it, alright?!"
He was lying, and he knew it. He wasn't going to just give up on Gon, not now, or ever. Gon had been the best thing to happen to him in his whole life. Whole continents of emotions he'd never felt before had begun to roar inside him ever since he met his friend over a year ago. Reared to be a merciless monster that would do the Zoldyck name proud, the young boy had learned to know what joy and friendship was; nothing could make him forget that. The stars would have to plummet from heaven before he'd ever turn his back on the person who reached a hand out to him when no one would. He wasn't mad at his friend; he was worried about him. The thought of losing him was the most horrifying thought he could imagine. He simply wished that his words would make Gon reconsider.
Unfortunately, what Killua didn't count on was Gon taking the bait as much as he did. Gon didn't care about the fact that Killua was so touchy about Palm, but he hated the idea that he had hurt his best friend.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Killua," said Gon, emotion now taking root in his voice in form of sincere regret. "I guess I have been pretty selfish today. You've been looking out for me while I've been having fun. I should have at least thanked you a little more, you know, for being such a good best friend."
While Gon thought that this was the best way to make Killua feel happy, it was anything but. Killua felt horrible for making Gon feel horrible. He screamed in his head for Gon to stop beating himself up; this wasn't what he wanted. He felt atrocious for having done that, and that only added to the deeper hole that had been dug for so long inside him. He didn't quite understand that hole, or even like to acknowledge its existence, but there it was, and when he was alone, it was all he could feel. Nothing could fill it, and nothing could dislodge it. It burned inside him without end, silently.
In stark contrast to Killua's downheartedness, Gon's eyes lit up, having come up with something that, while a simple idea, he felt was sure to win him back to his partner.
"I know what to do, Killua! Tomorrow, let's do anything you want! To thank you for helping me today!"
While Killua wasn't stone-faced, he was still flatfooted. Looking at his companion with the same inquisitive nature that made him ask why he was speaking Japanese if Japan didn't exist in this universe, he simply shrugged in satisfaction.
"Nah, it's okay Gon. Forget about it. I just got a little worried about you. Heh, I hope your other dates didn't all go like that!"
Gon chuckled at his companion's naiveté.
"Ha! That's how all my dates usually go, Killua."
Killua's eyebrows soared up his face in confusion so fast that they would have reached the moon in a few seconds if they kept going. He was half wondering how Gon could keep winding up in situations like this, the other half wondering how on earth he was still alive.
"What?! What kind of girls did you run into? Hisoka's sisters? His crazier ex? Dates aren't meant to go like that! They're meant to be all flowery and stuff!"
Gon continued to laugh.
"Come on Killua, you already said you've never been on a date before. How could you know what to…" he said, before the words lit the fire of his imagination, and he turned away to consider his idea. His smile grew tenfold, as he realised just exactly how to offer his friend thanks.
"I KNOW, KILLUA!" he beamed, pointing skywards, much his companion's confusion. "I'll date you!" Gon felt exceptionally proud of himself for having come up with a method to alleviate Killua's shortcomings. He turned to his friend, hoping for, even expecting a spark of agreement.
"Huh? Killua? Why did you faint?"
ONE MINUTE LATER
Awaking as if from a beautiful dream, Killua's eyes slowly opened, seeing Gon's slightly confused face staring back at him. The sight of his friend sharpened his mind, and reminded him of what happened. Clumsily crawling to his feet, Killua dusted himself off, and tried to respond in as dignified a way as he could.
"S-sorry for acting like that," he awkwardly laughed, trying to get it off Gon's mind, which had the same chance of success of an oil-coated snowball's chance in Hell. "Felt a little sick all of a sudden!"
"Really? Are you okay, Killua?" asked Gon with density.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Killua nervously nodded. "I'm one hundred percent!"
"Oh?" asked Gon, before his eyes sparkled again from his idea. "So then you're okay to have a practice date tomorrow?"
Killua was once again shocked into attention, eyes locked in terror, sweating worse than his fight earlier that day. He nervously mumbled incomprehensible sounds to try and reply, but not one came in an order recognizable to humans.
"Come on!" came Gon's encouraging voice. "You've never been on a date before, right? Well, I've been on plenty! I'll show you how to do dates perfect! That way, when you eventually get one for real, you'll be as good a dater as you are a Hunter! Come on, I'd love to do it! Do you want to?"
Raising a trembling finger, Killua opened his mouth, but his voice refused to come out. He didn't know how to reply, he didn't know how to begin to reply, his very murmuring felt like an insult to the concept of'replying'. His mind was blank, searching in all directions for the words he needed, until he felt one travel straight from his unconscious straight to his tongue:
"YES!" Killua shouted so loud that all the anxiety over what he was going to say immediately turned it into anxiety about how Gon was going to take it. He worried that he looked creepy in how much he clearly desired it.
Gon, however, was simply flattered because he felt that Killua was onboard with the idea of learning about how to date.
"Great! This is going to be amazing! Don't worry Killua, I'll teach you everything you'll ever have to know about dating! We'll go to the hotel-restaurant tomorrow, and then I'll make you the greatest dater in the world! Right, let's go check out our room!"
As Gon ran towards the door, expecting Killua to follow behind him, he was confused at his friend's awkward stammers and stopped, worried for the paler-than-usual Killua.
"Is something the matter?" Gon asked.
"No! No!" Killua anxiously reassured him, waving his hands with a fake smile. "It's just…um…I feel like a little fresh air at the minute is all!"
"Oh," nodded Gon, before smiling again with a wave, "See you inside then!"
Killua watched Gon joyfully race inside; he knew that his friend didn't understand how much that simple request had stunned him. He was always thankful for Gon, but never more so than right there. Thankful for how Gon didn't probe his insecurities, and thankful Gon would be so kind to do him such a service. While the intention had flattered him, the effects were anything but. Now his mind was exploding with dilemmas all competing for attention. What did he have to wear? What was he going to do? What could he do? Was Kurapika really a guy? Admittedly, that last one was a little weird.
Beneath this, all his thoughts were broken by the pounding rhythm of his heart against his sternum. The sheer discomfort forced him to lean against the wall to steady himself. He even had to look at his chest to make sure his pounding wasn't rustling his shirt. He couldn't recall a heartbeat quite like it. Even in the most perilous of fights, it never had a movement like that. This was something bizarre and unique; certainly not something that Killua Zoldyck was all too familiar with.
"What the hell's wrong with me? Why am I acting like this?" he asked himself, worried not just for himself, but for Gon, whom he had sworn to protect.
The night-winds cooled his overheating cheeks, as he wondered just what on Earth was going to go down tomorrow.
The evening was coming down the day after, and the hotel's restaurant was a surprisingly Cosmopolitan blend from the far corners of the world. People from all walks of life strolled around its fancy halls, from the Aristocrats on parade, to the husbands and wives nagging, and even the black-haired, spectacled man in a fine suit, peeking above his newspaper at the surroundings. The nightlife was beginning to rev up, but there was still enough calm to have a civilised meal in peace.
Finally, at seven on the dot, Gon casually but cheerily entered, looking for his best friend, and was quite amazed at what he saw. Killua had firstly chosen a table on the opposite end of the entrance at the wall, sitting on the sofa section with the chair already invitingly outstretched. He had evidently arrived very early owing to the water and both menus already being on the table, but what was more interesting was what he was wearing. It looked like the same tuxedo they got way back for the Greed Island auction, except it looked positively luminescent. Gon was decidedly impressed, as he was simply wearing his normal green jacket like every day. He was thrilled that Killua had apparently got over his nerves and was taking this very seriously.
When Killua saw Gon approaching him, he instinctively retreated into himself, grasping his hands together under the table, gritting his teeth lest he say anything stupid. His eyes tried to show courage but looked timid instead. This was not a setting he was used to, and he was immediately uncomfortable that his friend had not taken similar dress codes; he looked like he brought a study book to a party. As Gon approached, little droplets of sweat already rolled down Killua's temple, while the many, many aftershaves did their best to try and hide the odour. His feet shook wildly, even when he hooked his leg one over the other, which he did when his quivering was so bad it was shaking the table itself.
Far from Killua's worse fears, Gon looked thrilled.
"Wow! You look amazing, Killua! You really put a lot of time and thought into this!"
Killua was relieved, though blushing like a fool.
"Y-You like it, Gon?" he asked bashfully.
"Yeah!" Gon replied. "You really wanted to make sure this date went good, didn't you?"
Killua stammered, hearing an accusation.
"Uh, I was just real interested in what we were going to talk about today! Not every day you get a practice date!"
Every stupid line he said made him want to rub his face against sandpaper; thankfully he could drive a country through the gaps in Gon's perception
"Right!" said Gon, taking his seat opposite, "I'll be the girl, right?"
Killua's eyes widened at the statement, but he nodded anyway.
"Okay," said Gon, barely containing himself, as he rubbed his hands to prepare for the long session ahead, "what's the first thing you say to your date?"
Killua stuttered, looking anxiously at everyone in the dining room, almost hoping someone was going to hold up answer cards behind Gon's back. His eyes locked back to his teacher for the day.
"…Uh…'hello'…?"
Gon smiled.
"See, you're doing great!"
Killua didn't know whether that was an insult or not, but he was already falling under Gon's charm; the unabashed optimism, so alien to the world he came from, that he first fell for over a year ago.
As the night went on, Gon continued going through the ropes with Killua, explaining that should always pay for his date's food, that he should always care about whatever they had to say, that he shouldn't bring up the whole assassin thing. One would think this would be obvious, but Killua's mind was what could most politely be described as 'quirky' after his times in the Zoldyck mansion (not to mention all the times on hiatus too). He continued to pay close attention to everything his mentor had to say, as he slowly tried to gather the courage to ask the question he really wanted to. It was what had first crossed his mind the moment Gon had first suggested the date, but by the hour mark, it had grasped his mind too hard to ignore any longer.
Killua awkwardly raised his hand to ask a question, turning his head to the floor lest Gon look him in his quivering eyes.
"Yeah, Killua?" asked Gon in his typical rosy voice, as Killua clutched his trouser-leg with his other hand to try and stem the fear.
"W-what sh-should I do if, if she, yeah, she w-wants, wants…"
"Huh? What is it Killua?" asked Gon, confused at how bizarre his best friend was acting.
"I mean…if she w-wants to, to…k-k," Killua continued, until his mind finally failed him.
"Eh? If she wants to what?" came another question from Gon's lips, adding to the pressure tipping his companion over the edge.
Killua finally stopped, as his eyes, already wild with sheer terror went wilder still. His whole body felt like it was shutting down, as he forgot everything about where he was, the best reminder being his crazed heartbeat, blasting on full power. Killua didn't know what a heart attack felt like, and in the stressed state his body was in, he had deluded himself into thinking he was having one right on the spot. He was suddenly struck by a new wave of fear that made the old fear feel all the worse, until finally, he collapsed to his knees on the floor near the table.
The now alert spectacled man behind the newspaper made his move, as everyone in the hall turned merely to watch.
"Killua!" called out Gon, as he immediately reached to his friend, holding him by the shoulder, shocked at his friend's heartbeat.
"Gon," wheezed Killua, trying to catch his breath "I need a doctor."
"That won't be necessary," came a stern voice just charging up to him.
The two boys quickly turned to face this third party.
"Knov-San?!" they called out.
"Yes, yes," said the clearly concerned veteran, as he pushed Gon out of the way to investigate Killua, "both myself and Morel have been here for a while now. We were monitoring you to see if anything was going on. Unfortunately, something just might."
Knov put his hands on Killua's back as all tables turned in direction of the scene. The couples stopped chatting, the merriment was paused, and all eyes looked to ensure that the child was safe.
"I might not be the best Hunter for this sort of thing, but I know enough to get the job done."
"Fine! Fine!" said Killua, hoping for relief from his ails. "Just hurry up, old man!"
Ignoring Killua's rebuke, Knov's Nen did its wonders as best he could despite the limited skill range. He only had a fairly basic knowledge of medical Nen, only enough for basic battlefield reports, measuring the body's chemistry. However, when it came to the fate of the two up and coming Hunters everyone was talking about, he would move heaven and earth to try and save them.
Then he stopped, as even his basic Nen knowledge told him what was happening. He stared dumbfounded at Killua, while the whole room stared dumbfounded at him; Killua was thrice-dumbfounded, only a little annoyed on top of it.
"Well?! What's wrong with me?!" he yelled.
Knov stared a little longer. Then he smiled. Then he sniggered. Then he laughed. He laughed hysterically. He fell backwards onto the floor, completely unable to control himself. He clutched his sides he was laughing so hard. The crowd was baffled, as was Gon, and certainly Killua.
"Is-Is Killua going to be okay?" asked a still very worried Gon.
"Hey! Old man! What the hell are you laughing at?! Just tell me what's wrong! Right now!" ordered Killua with all the fire his surname implied. Unfortunately, a Hunter as experienced as Knov was not going to be intimidated so easily.
"Y-You really want to know? You want me to tell it front of everyone?" Knov chuckled, as he sat back up to eye-height with Killua, barely catching himself.
"Yes! I don't care if everyone in the world knows! What's wrong with me!" Killua demanded, the fury of being made a fool ensuring that he would allow the whole hall to hear what Knov had to say next.
"Killua," said Knov, adjusting his glasses and trying not to burst out laughing again, "you weren't having a heart attack. You were having a panic attack in baited anticipation of your first kiss."
The whole world stopped. No one in the room made a sound, be it Knov, the onlookers, the staff, Gon, and certainly not Killua. He froze and wished the whole world never started again. In one swoop, Gon would know everything. The thing that he refused to tell anyone, even himself, might as well have been broadcast from mountaintop. The colour of Killua's cheeks was fought between the pale white of fear and the blushing red of embarrassment, but it was the fear that triumphed. He wished the feelings would go away on their own, but they never did; they clung to him, no matter how desperately he tried to throw them off. Now, it was too late; he had been outed.
"Eh?" asked a confused Gon, turning to his companion as the only voice in the silenced room. "Killua, I didn't know you had a girlfriend."
That punchline brought out a nuclear reaction within the crowd, as they burst into hysterical laughter at the absurdity of the situation, mixed with that boy's absurd ignorance. While the crowd adored Gon's reaction, Killua was shattered yet further. He looked at Gon with total remorse and horror, now having been outed publically, and even then, he still had to look his friend in the face to apologise. He hated this date. He hated this suit. Most of all, however, he hated himself for being so stupid for doing it. He should have known he would get humiliated like this. His parents were right; it really was a good idea to keep that side of him locked away. That side of him got him wound up here. He began to feel the real tears of regret start to well in his eyes, as he covered his face to hide them. Killua got up and ran out of the hall as quickly as he could before Gon could see what had happened.
While the guests amused themselves with the anecdote, Gon could feel in his gut the wretched state that had befallen his best friend, and turned to help him, until the hand of Knov gripped tight at his arm.
"Hold on, Gon," said Knov, having calmed down, and already regretting what he did, "do you really not understand?"
"U-Understand? What are you talking about? I have to help Killua! He has a girlfriend waiting on him!" he said, tugging to try and get away, until Knov pulled tighter back.
"Gon! Gon...Killua doesn't have a girlfriend. The person he most desperately wanted to kiss was you."
Gon was shocked; this had come completely out of left-field with literally no indications whatsoever beforehand.
"K-Kiss me?! But why?"
Touched at Gon's childlike ignorance, Knov gently smiled an ushered Gon to sit beside him by the table, keeping his voice down this time.
"Look," said Knov with a sigh, "we've suspected this for a while, but we've only now been able to confirm it. Killua doesn't just like you as a friend, Gon…he loves you. He's been without a friend his entire life until you came along, always helping him out, always being there for him, and not because of his family name. You might not think it by how confident he acts, but deep down, he's really holding a lot inside. He doesn't really know how to express any of it; he is still a child after all. I could tell he was really excited about this date, and I felt good for him. The way he prepared so much to try, the way he looked at you, the way he blushed when you stared at him…I must confess that I regret laughing like that; it evidently hurt him. Now would not be a good time for me to show my face, so it's up to you now, Gon. Please, go to Killua, and try to help him out. We need him. We need both of you to fight these things. If there's anyone in this world that he'll listen to, it's you. Go on, Gon...help your friend."
These words drilled their way into Gon's mind, as he was barely able to keep track of what was going on. Killua was in love with him? It seemed absurd, but he quickly came around to accepting this reality. As the pieces of the chessboard finally found their place, Gon finally felt within his heart what had to be done. Exhausting any alternatives, he finally decided what the right course of action was.
"Don't worry Knov-San, I know just what to do," he said, before standing and walking towards the exit.
"Oh? What would that be?" called out Knov, relieved at the boy's confidence.
Gon turned and smirked.
"Sorry, Knov-San, but if I told you, Killua would probably just get mad."
Killua Zoldyck had felt lonely for a long time. However, confining himself within the solitude of the hotel room, darkness outside the window, clutching his pillow over his face in top of his bed, he remembered what it was like to feel this lonely. It had been a long time now, over a year in fact, since he met Gon; it had to have been before then that he could remember a moment as lonely as this. To make things worse the only person to blame could be found whenever he looked in the mirror. He didn't want to feel the way he did towards Gon. He just wanted to be a friend, and let that be it. Unfortunately, a voice somewhere within him said that Gon was something more than a friend, more than another person; he was something irreplaceable.
And now he'd ruined it. In wanting to be closer, he had likely just severed their friendship forever.
He peeked towards Gon's bed beside him, and his mind imploded when he tried to think of what to say to him. What could he say to him? He had to think of something. He had to at least tell his friend what he had so desperately tried to contain for so long. He had to apologise for embarrassing him so publically. Then he had to apologise for wasting Gon's time. It was a perfect recipe for self-loathing, and the young Zoldyck wasted no time in letting it devour him from the inside out.
"Killua?" came Gon's voice from the door.
After a brief gasp, Killua leapt off the bed and immediately flung his body to the ground, face practically touching the floor in shame. He was so fast he didn't even see Gon's face as he collapsed into his grovel.
"I'm sorry Gon! I'm sorry for acting like that! I'm sorry for letting my worst feelings get the better of me like that! Please Gon, forgive me!"
After years of rebuke, he expected Gon to waver. He expected his friend to turn his back on him, in which he would be entirely justified. His friendship was about to end and he had no one to blame but himself.
"Killua?" came Gon's voice, neither venomous nor afraid. "Stand up, please."
Fearing the worst in spite of his friend's level voice, Killua stood up, still unable to look his friend in the face, head hunched in shame.
"I don't know what came over me. I shouldn't have done that. My parents told me it would only lead to trouble. Please Gon, I-"
"Killua?" Gon asked again, placing his hands on Killua's shoulders.
The shock of this shut Killua up on the spot, as his glance darted straight towards Gon's. He would have tried to work out what Gon was thinking based on his facial expressions. However, before he could register Gon's face, he registered Gon's lips pressed against his own.
Gon.
Was.
Kissing.
Him.
For Gon, it felt like three seconds. For Killua, it felt like three eternities. Considering that one eternity is a pretty long time, Killua certainly focused in on it; it still felt too short.
Finally, Gon pulled his lips back, beaming goofily about what he did.
"Hee, hee," he sniggered, "Did you like that Ki-KILLUA YOU FAINTED AGAIN!"
ONE MINUTE LATER
Feeling like he had woken up from a beautiful dream, the sight of Gon looking over him snapped Killua's mind to attention. He scuttled to the corner at the far side of the room, back against the wall in blind panic. He stared at Gon in shock, as his friend casually walked towards him with a kind look that told of no hard feelings. Finally, Gon was standing over Killua, and sat just in front of him. Cornered, Killua had nowhere to hide, as he looked at his comrade eye to eye to work out what on earth had possessed his friend to do what he just did. As discreetly as he could, he began touching his own lips to confirm if that really happened.
"G-Gon?! Wh-what did you…"
The son of Whale Island smirked wildly.
"My best friend wanted a kiss, so I gave him one!"
Killua looked in continued shock, as the red of blushing started to replace white of fear.
"Gon! Y-You shouldn't have, I mean…"
It was no use trying to hide anything anymore. He'd been keeping the lid shut for years, and it had always been screaming to get out. In its attempts to get out, it tore at his insides, leaving a great void where his heart should have been. He was sick of covering up after himself; he had to tell the truth no matter what.
"…I'm sorry for not telling you, Gon. I didn't tell you, or anyone. Sometimes I even tried to convince myself it wasn't true…that I was in love with you. I knew that I could feel like that to boys, it's just that…I never thought I'd find the boy who made me feel like that. That I'd change who I was for them. That I'd walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death for them. That I'd sweat, bleed, and die for them. My parents told me not even to think about it…that the only thing that mattered was continuing the Zoldyck bloodline, that it would only lead to trouble, and that my heart was always going to get broken. I felt so bad for thinking about you the way I did. I knew that it was going to end up like this.
"The truth is Gon…I'm not as smart or as cool as I like to think I am, or you probably think I am. I'm not very honest, I'm not very nice, and I'm not even very brave. I was just lucky enough to be born to a family with a lot of money who made sure I'd do everything I was told. I'm nothing special…I'm just a complete idiot…and that's where you came in. You were the best thing to ever happen to me. You made me feel like I was someone who was worth even a little bit of what you thought about me. I hadn't felt so happy in years…and I was so scared that I was going to ruin it with my stupid feelings. I didn't care if you never knew…as long as you were my friend then that was enough. I was just…so scared that you wouldn't be my friend anymore if I told you. I was worried you'd be creeped out, that you'd want to run away from me…and I couldn't take that Gon. I couldn't survive that. Not only that you'd run away from me, but…" he said, as his voice began to break, "if I was the one who caused it, I could never live with myself. You're so much better than me at everything that-"
"Killua!"
The young Zoldyck snapped out of his trance of self-hatred to look his friend in the eyes. They were strange eyes; stern yet caring. The shock of Gon's voice had left Killua speechless, and thus, Gon had free reign for what he had to say. But first, he smiled a little, putting his hand on Killua's shuddering cheek.
"Killua," said Gon with a tenderness that Killua had never heard addressed to him before, "thank you for loving me."
Once again, Killua had found himself rendered speechless by Gon, as his |
omnias and neurological conditions. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2003;74(12):1667–1673. Han F, Lin L, Schormair B, et al. HLA DQB1*06:02 negative narcolepsy with hypocretin/orexin deficiency. Sleep. 2014;37(10):1601–1608. Bhat SK, Galang R. Narcolepsy presenting as schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry. 2002;159(7):1245. Talih FR. Narcolepsy presenting as schizophrenia: a literature review and two case reports. Innov Clin Neurosci. 2011;8(4):30–34. Golicki D, Bala MM, Niewada M, Wierzbicka A. Modafinil for narcolepsy: systematic review and meta-analysis. Med Sci Monit. 2010;16(8):RA177–86. Mahowald MW, Bornemann MAC. Stimulants and narcolepsy. Sleep. 2005;28(6):663. Billiard M. Narcolepsy: current treatment options and future approaches. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2008;4(3):557–566. Hirai N, Nishino S. Recent advances in the treatment of narcolepsy. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2011;13(5):437–457. Sinha S, Brady M, Scott CA, Walker MC. Do seizures in patients with refractory epilepsy vary between wakefulness and sleep? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2006;77(9):1076–1078. Gangdev P, Dua V, Desjardins N. Isolated sleep paralysis and hypnic hallucinations in schizophrenia. Indian J Psychiatry. 2015;57(4):383–385. Liddon SC. Sleep paralysis, psychosis, and death. Am J Psychiatry. 1970;126(7):1027–1031. Gross-Tsur V, Manor O, van der Meere J, et al. Epilepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: is methylphenidate safe and effective? J Pediatr. 1997;130(4):670–674. Baptista-Neto L, Dodds A, Rao S, et al. An expert opinion on methylphenidate treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in pediatric patients with epilepsy. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2008;17(1):77–84. Hedges D, Jeppson K, Whitehead P. Antipsychotic medication and seizures: a review. Drugs Today. 1998 2003;39(7):551–557.
Category: Case Report, Child Adol Mental Disorders, Past Articles, Primary Care, Psychiatry, Sleep DisordersPosted on
KO specialist Jimi ‘Posterboy’ Manuwa (14-01-0) makes his much anticipated return to the Octagon when he faces Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua (22-09-0) in a five round contest at UFC Fight Night 56 on 8 November in Ginásio Municipal Tancredo Neves, Brazil.
Following his loss to Alexander Gustafsson he took a well earned pause in his regimen to allow himself to regroup his thoughts and battle plan before going back to the gym to turn his attention to Mauricio Rua. Manuwa, who considers Rua as something of an icon, patiently waited for Rua to recover from his fight with Dan Henderson. Rua, currently ranked number nine in the light heavyweight division was worth the wait. “In the top ten of the division it’s the only fight that makes senses at the moment. He’s ranked higher than me, he’s a notable opponent. Everyone else in the top ten are fighting each other. I don’t have any idols but I will say he was, at one time, one of my favourite fighters and I’ve always wanted him to win when he fought. I believe a win over him will put me one fight away from being back in title contention.”
When idols become your rivals is a well coined phrase and never a good thing in the fight game something that Pat Barry learned to his cost when he faced Mirco ‘Cro Cop’. Although the respect that Manuwa has for the former UFC light heavyweight champion and PRIDE veteran is evident, he is keen to assert that this is strictly business as he continues in saying, “I am a professional, I train to win and I have no problems in switching off my feelings and getting the job done. I recognise that he’s coming off a serious injury and the fact it’s his nose is going to be a problem for him, not me. I’m not spiteful enough to make that my main focus but I’m a striker and his nose is going to get hit.”
Rua was last seen competing in a one-sided fight against UFC veteran Dan Henderson, one-sided until Hendo landed one of his patented ‘H Bombs’ and turned the tide to get a massive come from behind TKO win. This is where Manuwa is keen to express that he is a much more versatile and multifaceted warrior than Henderson is and therefore will pose much more of a problem and threat to Rua, “I’ve got more than just a ‘H Bomb’, I’ve also got a much bigger arsenal than Henderson in fact. I’ve got various ‘H Bombs’ in my toolkit. Henderson’s right hand is a problem for sure. Me, I’ve got my left hook, my left kick, right kick, spinning back fist, my knees and my elbows. I’ve a much bigger arsenal than Henderson has and that’s going to be the difference.”
Manuwa has taken his first loss of his career as a way in which to grow, learn and expand as a fighter. It’s clear that he is over the loss and has taken much from it that it is helping his current preparation for what will propel him up the rankings should he be victorious, “I’ve watched my fight with Gustaffson recently I wasn’t letting my hands go and that’s a mistake I will not make again. When I let my hands go, we all know what happens.”
It’s clear the Londoner will use this as an opportunity to shake off the notion that he is a fighter rooted in UK based match-ups. With plans to spend his training camp globally with trips planned to Dubai, San Diego and an extended visit to Brazil, it is clear that he has no problems with this important fight taking place in Brazil, “Going into Shogun’s backyard will be an experience and it doesn’t phase me in the slightest, it’ll be one big adventure. The fight will be happening a few days past November the 5th [Guy Fawkes night], but Shogun better be prepared as I’m bringing fireworks.”CLOSE Hopes for a ceasefire in Syria were fading on Tuesday, after dozens were killed in air strikes on hospitals that France branded war crimes and Syria's president said implementing a truce would prove "difficult". Video provided by AFP Newslook
Turkish army cannon shoots toward Syria in Kilis, in south-central Turkey, on Feb. 15, 2016. (Photo11: BULENT KILIC, AFP/Getty Images)
Armies and militias from more than a dozen countries have joined the Syria conflict, making for a mind-boggling and dangerous stew of shifting and competing alliances.
Even as a proposed cease-fire is scheduled to begin as early as this week, more nations are escalating their roles in the nearly 5-year-old civil war: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey said they may send ground troops to fight.
Here's how different countries are currently aligned:
Pro-Syrian government
Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad are backed by two nations, Russia and Iran, and many Shiite militias from across the region who are organized by Iran. The combatants include:
Syrian government troops
Iran
Afghan Shiite militia
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia
Iraqi Shiite militia
Russia. Russian airstrikes target the Islamic State and what Russia says are other “terrorist” groups. But the U.S. military says most Russian airstrikes are aimed at opposition groups threatening Assad's forces.
This image taken from video provided by the Syrian activist-based media group Maara Media Center shows Syrian Civil Defense rescuers running from the site of an explosion near a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Maaret al-Numan, Idlib, Syria, on Feb. 15, 2016. (Photo11: AP)
Anti-Syrian government
Many rebel forces fighting to overthrow the Syrian government are backed by arms, funds and airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition. The CIA vetted Syrian rebel groups and helped train them in Jordan to use advanced anti-tank weapons against Assad's forces. Saudi Arabia and Qatar supplied the weaponry and funds. These rebels are being supported by:
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
Turkey
Qatar
United Arab Emirates
United States
Israel, on Syria's southern border, provides some assistance to rebel forces fighting the Syrian government and has also launched airstrikes against Syrian and Hezbollah targets to prevent the transfer of "game changing" technology and weapons to Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.
Anti-Islamic State
The U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against Islamic State forces in Syria and Iraq includes:
Australia
Bahrain
Canada
France
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom.
Russia is not part of the U.S.-led coalition, though it has also hit Islamic State positions.
Other fighters
Kurdish militia from Turkey, Iraq and Syria are fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS. But the Kurds are sometimes aligned with the Syrian government and seen as a threat by Turkey, which has fought for years against a Kurdish separatist movement threatening its territorial sovereignty. Syrian Kurds are backed by Russia, the United States and Iraqi Kurdish groups.
The Islamic State, a vicious al-Qaeda spinoff, and Jabhat al Nusrah, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria that works with many Sunni Arab opposition groups in Syria, have attracted foreign fighters from across the Arab world and Europe. Both have expanded during the chaos in Syria.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1XtruKQThis has been a huge year for finding specimens in amber, from bird wings to dinosaur feathers to this ugly-ass bug. But this new finding might be the best one yet: a nearly complete 99-million-year-old baby bird.
Scientists found the specimen in Myanmar, where others have purchased or found plenty of other incredible amber samples in the amber mines. But this one is crazy: an almost complete baby bird that lived during the time of the dinosaurs.
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“Seeing this much of an animal preserved in amber is exciting,” study author Ryan McKellar told Gizmodo. “In this case we have the whole right side of the body.”
Burmese amber is pretty incredible. Not only are the pieces generally big and translucent, but the mines in Northern Myanmar have yielded plenty of incredible insects and plants recently, according to the research published yesterday in the journal Gondwana Research.
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This specific sample preserves a baby enantiornithine bird, who was probably partly through its first molt a few days or weeks after hatching. The team analyzed the bird with microscopes and a lab micro CT scanner, essentially a special kind of x-ray, to create 3D reconstructions. “It’s neat because it preserves a very early growth stage,” said McKellar. It was only just growing its tail feathers.
Enantiornithines are closely related to modern birds. But unlike the birds that poop on your car, this bird was beakless, toothed, had claws on its wings, and a different arrangement of bones in its ankles, said McKellar. The sample preserves a strange combination of features, like having functional wing feathers but not a lot of body feathers.
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Unfortunately, while the bird looks cool, there probably isn’t any DNA left to do a crazy Jurassic Park-type reanimation, reports New Scientist. All of the meat has since turned into unusable carbon.
This probably won’t be the last or the craziest sample found in Burmese amber. But until the next one comes along, holy shit.
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[Gondwana Research via New Scientist]Albert Einstein wore a gold Longines wristwatch in the beginning of the 1930s.
The watch was auctioned on 16 October 2008 and fetched a record $596,000, thus becoming the Longines watch that has fetched the highest price ever at an auction. The tonneau-shaped 14K gold watch has an inscription on the back of the case: "Prof. Albert Einstein, Los Angeles, Feb. 16, 1931." According Antiquorum (the company that auctioned the watch) the watch was manufactured by Longines in 1930 and presented to the famous scientist one year later.
Albert Einstein also owned a Longines pocket-watch dating from 1943, which was recently on display in the History Museum in Bern (Switzerland). Since every timepiece that leaves Longines workshops is entered in Longines’ production registers, it has been determined that Einstein’s pocket watch was finished on September 6, 1943 at the Longines factory in Saint-Imier and invoiced to Stahel Jewelers in Zurich on January 29, 1946.
Einstein is known to have bequeathed his watch to his elder son Hans Albert. The latter’s widow, Elizabeth Einstein Roboz, in turn presented it to a Swiss diplomat, Henry E. Bovay, as a token of her gratitude for his services to the memory of her father-in-law. Bovay immediately made known his intention to donate this invaluable object to a museum and recently presented it to the Historisches Museum in Bern.In 1970, an astrophysicist named Koryo Miura conceived what would become one of the most well-known and well-studied folds in origami: the Miura-ori. The pattern of creases forms a tessellation of parallelograms, and the whole structure collapses and unfolds in a single motion — providing an elegant way to fold a map. It also proved an efficient way to pack a solar panel for a spacecraft, an idea Miura proposed in 1985 and then launched into reality on Japan’s Space Flyer Unit satellite in 1995.
Back on Earth, the Miura-ori has continued to find more uses. The fold imbues a floppy sheet with form and stiffness, making it a promising metamaterial — a material whose properties depend not on its composition but on its structure. The Miura-ori is also unique in having what’s called a negative Poisson’s ratio. When you push on its sides, the top and bottom will contract. But that’s not the case for most objects. Try squeezing a banana, for example, and a mess will squirt out from its ends.
Researchers have explored how to use Miura-ori to build tubes, curves and other structures, which they say could have applications in robotics, aerospace and architecture. Even fashion designers have been inspired to incorporate Miura-ori into dresses and scarves.
Now Michael Assis, a physicist at the University of Newcastle in Australia, is taking a seemingly unusual approach to understanding Miura-ori and related folds: by viewing them through the lens of statistical mechanics.
Assis’ new analysis, which is under review at Physical Review E, is the first to use statistical mechanics to describe a true origami pattern. The work is also the first to model origami using a pencil-and-paper approach that produces exact solutions — calculations that don’t rely on approximations or numerical computation. “A lot of people, myself included, abandoned all hope for exact solutions,” said Arthur Evans, a mathematical physicist who uses origami in his work.
Traditionally, statistical mechanics tries to make sense of emergent properties and behaviors arising from a collection of particles, like a gas or the water molecules in an ice cube. But crease patterns are also networks — not of particles, but of folds. Using these conceptual tools normally reserved for gases and crystals, Assis is gaining some intriguing insights.ALBANY — Sheldon Silver, who faces federal corruption charges, is being replaced as speaker of the New York State Assembly next week, Democratic lawmakers said on Tuesday, paving the way for them to choose a new leader in an election to be held Feb. 10.
A Rochester-area assemblyman, Joseph D. Morelle, who is the majority leader and a top contender to succeed Mr. Silver, will become interim speaker on Monday, officials said.
Mr. Silver’s swift downfall ends an era in the capital, overturning its hierarchy just as a new legislative session gets underway and setting off what is likely to be a scramble to select his successor. It came after he mounted a last-ditch effort to keep the leadership position he had held since 1994, a tenure spanning five governors.
Mr. Silver, 70, who was first elected to represent Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the Assembly in 1976, is not resigning from his legislative seat.Roma star Radja Nainggolan declares he is a fan of the Premier League
Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan likes the atmosphere at Premier League stadiums Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan likes the atmosphere at Premier League stadiums
Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan has revealed he is a fan of the Premier League.
The Belgium international was speaking after his side's 3-3 draw with Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Premier League champions threw away a two-goal lead at Stamford Bridge, before Eden Hazard cancelled out goals from Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov.
Nainggolan said: "Yes it's a good league, beautiful stadiums, good atmospheres in the stadium, but at the moment my head is only there [Rome]."
Blues head coach Antonio Conte has admitted in the past he has tried to sign the 29-year-old and Nainggolan rates the former Juventus coach highly.
Nainggolan said: "I think he is a really good coach because his results over the last years speaks for himself.
"But in the end I have to do what I have to do and that's playing for Roma and giving my maximum for Rome."
The Serie A side sit fifth in the table and nine points off the top after losing 1-0 to leaders Napoli on Saturday.
The top two in Group C will meet again on October 31.Dev Diaries
November's Pantheon Newsletter
Posted date / 11.09.16
Here we are in November already! So much has happened this year that we can’t believe we’re almost back to the holiday season.
In case you missed it Brad and Corey just got back from Unite 2016 where a whole new audience was able to take a look at Pantheon for the first time. Many of you reading this letter will already be familiar with some of the areas that were shown in the demo but we bet you haven’t seen the new player model that was shown in-game. And if you have please let us know because that means someone has just upended the whole bean container on the ground and Kilsin’s going to have a field day. You can check out Brad and Corey on stage at Unite 2016 here.
Immediately after Unite CM Jason “Medawky” Bolton had a chat with Senior Designer Corey LeFever. Bending his ear a bit Corey gave Jason an inside look into the day-to-day at Visionary Realms. Not to be outdone, CM Ben “Kilsin” Walters had a chat of his own with Community Member Dullahan.
Join the CM duo as they dig deep on hard-hitting topics like video game design challenges and what class Dullahan plans to roll on server launch. Welcome to the November 2016 Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen Newsletter. Have a click to get started.
Read next feature - Community SpotlightPhoto: Youtube
This is the second entry in Vulture’s occasional series: Pop Culture Mysteries. See our previous piece, about the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Under the Bridge,” here.
Few things stoke the prurient imagination — or the loins — of America more than the classic cheerleader look: the midriff-bearing half-tops and peek-a-boo skirts surrounded by an aura of wink-wink, tongue-in-cheek innocence. So it makes sense that we’ve had a three-decade-long boner for Toni Basil’s smash pop hit “Mickey,” which pom-pommed its way to the top of the charts back in 1982.
A persistent rumor has run alongside the song in the decades since. Lyrics like, “So come on and give it to me / Any way you can / Any way you want to do it / I’ll take it like a man” have led to speculation that Basil wanted it served to her “like a man”: In other words, delivered Santorum-style. In a review at the time, Robert Christgau stoked the gossip, saying that Basil was “the only woman ever to offer to take it up the ass on Top 40 radio.” New York gay activist Jim Fouratt, who cofounded legendary eighties club Dancetaria, heard the same interpretation at the time: “The rumor spread like a prairie fire among my writer friends,” he told me. Were they just being cheeky? No matter, as the speculation (stoked, naturally, by the dirty collective mind of the Internet) has become a part of the song’s legend.
If your knowledge of U.S. pop culture begins at American Pie, here’s a brief “Mickey” refresher: Basil, a dancer, choreographer, and actress, was well-known for choreographing rock videos and (speaking of innuendo) the Monkees’ 1968 movie Head. Basil was herself a burgeoning star on the music-video circuit (this was right before MTV conquered and annexed that market). Basil had been a pom-pom queen in high school and had an idea for a video about cheerleaders, based on the song “Kitty” — originally sung by the U.K. pop group Racey. Adding a chant to the top of the song and changing “Kitty” to “Mickey,” Basil hired some healthy-looking cheerleaders from L.A.’s Dorsey High for the video. A few racy-sounding words later, and voilà! A pop-music mystery was born.
Several months ago, Vulture reached Basil at her home in L.A. and, admittedly, pussyfooted around the question for most of our time with her. We chatted about her other projects — experimental films, judging dance competitions in Tokyo, choreographing moves on RuPaul’s Drag U. Basil’s good friend and frequent collaborator Bette Midler had swung by recently and had decided to clean Basil’s windows. “A diva without a venue is a maniac,” Basil exclaimed. “She’s a clean freak!” It seemed we were a bit stuck.
Then Basil herself (thankfully!) brought up the issue. When we asked if she chose the name “Mickey” because of her fondness for the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz, she snapped: “Some guy decided that it would be funny to put that in my Wikipedia entry. He was adamant that ‘Mickey’ was about Micky Dolenz. I choreographed the Head movie but I didn’t really know Micky at all. I knew Davy Jones much better. We finally got it off [Wikipedia].” (We hate to tell you, Toni, but it’s back in there.)
But that question opened up the right can of whoopee. “People also think ‘Mickey’ is about butt-fucking!” Basil added.
[Pause.]
“So … is it?” we asked.
[Long, awkward pause.]
“NO! That’s ridiculous. Everyone reads shit into everything. It’s not about anything dirty. You change the name from boy to girl” — i.e., from “Kitty” to “Mickey” — “and they read anything they want into it! When it’s a guy singing about a girl, it’s a sweet line. But when a girl sings it, it must mean butt-fucking! This is how the wrong foot gets cut off when the doc wheels you into the E.R. Then it’s Micky Dolenz and butt-fucking.”
So there you have it, folks. “Mickey”: It’s not about Micky Dolenz, and it’s definitely not about anal sex (or butt-fucking). But Bette Midler washing Toni’s windows? That’s totally about frottage.FOX Sports senior NFL writer Alex Marvez’s training camp tour made its final stop in Spartanburg, S.C. Here are some of the things he learned and observed while visiting Panthers camp with SiriusXM NFL Radio co-host Gil Brandt. Also, check out his previous camp stories below.
Cam Newton isn’t your daddy’s quarterback — and the Carolina Panthers have no problem with that.
The latest reminder was a recent on-field tussle between Newton and cornerback Josh Norman. Traditional QBs rarely if ever scrap with teammates. There’s too great a risk of injury as well as the time-honored belief that such a stately position is above fisticuffs.
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Yet there was Newton, exchanging blows with Norman after the latter returned an interception for a touchdown during practice at Wofford College.
Never mind that Newton and Norman quickly buried the hatchet after weeks of trash-talking between the two boiled over. The incident provided fodder for the sizeable anti-Newton faction that still believes he lacks the character and maturity to ever become a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
As for the Panthers, they know better.
“Who players are today has changed,” said Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, who was a linebacker with the Chicago Bears from 1984 to 1992. “Cam has a different style. He’s a different breed of athlete. It does work here.
“The thing I thought that a lot of our guys took away from it is that he’s a quarterback, but he’s going to fight for us when he gets on the field.”
When it comes to leadership, there are outside perceptions about Newton and then there is reality.
Early in his NFL career, Newton was bashed for his sideline demeanor when things were going rough. He was even dressed down by ex-teammate Steve Smith during one 2012 game for being too mopey.
That is no longer an issue. But entering his fifth NFL season at age 26, Newton still doesn’t have the air of seniority around him like other young QBs such as Seattle’s Russell Wilson and Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck.
He doesn’t dress the part in postgame news conferences. The nature of his “Superman” end-zone celebrations is more becoming of a wide receiver than a quarterback.
This could be a problem on other teams with a different locker-room makeup or less flexible team management. It isn’t in Carolina, where Newton was re-signed in the offseason to a six-year, $118.4 million contract that includes $60 million guaranteed.
“He likes to have fun,” Panthers tight end Greg Olsen said. “Sometimes, he’s like a little kid, but in a good way. I think a lot of people from the outside want their quarterbacks to be in a box. He’s not going to be that guy. That’s not a negative or bad thing. He’s his own special guy.
“He’s had tremendous success everywhere he’s been. That’s because of the guy and athlete he is and what he’s able to do both physically and mentally. Just because he doesn’t look and act and say the things every other quarterback does or what everyone thinks he should say he gets unfair criticism at times.”
Any remaining doubts about Newton’s internal standing as a leader were answered in 2014. Newton was a mess physically because of offseason ankle surgery, an in-season car accident and the hits that come with 103 rushing attempts and 38 sacks allowed by a porous offensive line. Yet Newton never once complained about the beating he took, which resonated with his teammates.
That respect has carried over into the 2015 season, when the Panthers will try to win the NFC South title for an unprecedented third straight season.
“This is probably the best locker room I’ve been around since I’ve been in the league,” Newton said. “Guys are caring for each other. They’re not necessarily worried about the Pro Bowl. They’re worried about the Super Bowl.
“If you’ve got guys who are willing to sell out more for each other rather than themselves, that’s a scary (thing).”
For the opposition, so is Newton’s on-going development as a passer.
Rivera said he believes a now-healthy Newton is “at the precipice of going to the next level, that upper echelon of quarterbacks.”
“He had a very good minicamp, and then he organized a two-week camp that the receivers and (running) backs went to,” Rivera said. “He came back and was energized. He and I talked about it the other day. I asked how it was and he said, ‘Coach, it was great. We hung out, bonded and did the things that needed to be done.
“I kept thinking, ‘That’s a huge step in becoming a leader and being mature.’ There are a lot of good things that have happened for him. I think he’s really ready to take that next step.”
It’s now time for the Panthers to do the same and advance into an NFC Championship game after being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs each of the past two seasons.
“This franchise is only ascending,” Newton said. “The things to come are great, but we have to go get it. Nothing is promised. It has to start with giving ourselves a chance.
“The talent that’s in that locker room has been giving us the opportunity to speak highly of potential. But we know potential has never won any games.”
The same usually is the case for quarterbacks when teammates don’t have their back. That’s something Newton doesn’t have to worry about.
“The bottom line is he has respect guys on the team,” Olsen said. “We all love him and enjoy playing for him. That’s all there really is to say.”
Self-policing: Newton isn’t the only Panthers player who has grown up.
Rivera said the most positive thing to develop from the Newton-Norman brouhaha was how his veteran players policed teammates to insure there wasn’t a repeat or further camp fights.
“When I talked to our guys, I said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do these things,’” Rivera said. “The first thing, (linebacker) Thomas Davis comes up and says, ‘I’ve got this.’ (Center) Ryan Kalil comes up to me and says, ‘Coach, we’ll take care of this. Don’t worry about it.’ That’s all I had to say.
“The next thing I know, I’ve got my core leadership group going around taking care of things and telling them we’re not going to do this anymore. I was really proud of that.”
Who’s No. 1? Carolina’s championship hopes took a hit Wednesday, when top wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament during a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaking before that season-ending knee injury occurred; Newton said he expected Benjamin to blossom in his second NFL season.
“I’ve seen him grow with the understanding of what defenders are trying to do to him,” Newton said. “He’s not that lazy person that just uses his size to wall off defenders or is just a deep threat. He runs fluid routes. He’s very quarterback-friendly and gives me not only a big target to throw to, but his wing span and catch radius is unbelievable.”
With pickings slim in free agency and on the trade market for a bona fide No. 1 wide receiver, the Panthers are standing pat for now with their current unit, led by Corey “Philly” Brown, Ted Ginn Jr., Jerricho Cotchery and rookie Devin Funchess. Olsen, who is coming off the first 1,000-yard receiving season of his eight-year NFL career, and fellow tight end Ed Dickson could play bigger parts in the passing game as well.
It would be unfair to expect Funchess, a 2015 second-round pick, to match Benjamin’s strong rookie campaign from 2014 (73 catches for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns). Newton, though, is encouraged by what he’s seen from a second-round he has nicknamed “Fun-Fun.”
“He’s been everything and more than coach has asked for him with the details of his routes and the small things that will make Devin even more of a weapon for us,” Newton said.
Searching for pressure: On defense, the Panthers are still seeking a right end to fill the void left by Greg Hardy, signed with Dallas as a free agent. Rivera said 2014 second-round pick Kony Ealy will start Saturday night’s preseason game against Miami after Frank Alexander got the nod last week against Buffalo. Wes Horton also is in the mix to start.
Rivera admits to frustration over the Panthers not having a frontrunner from their current group of linemen.
“I want somebody to step up right now and become our starting right defensive end. Why? Because he will now be the guy that the other guys are trying to chase to replace,” Rivera said. “If you don’t have a clear-cut starter, then everybody thinks, ‘Oh, we’ll do it all by committee. We’re all going to get our 20 reps. Great.’
“I want a guy to come in and get 35, 40 reps and have other guys going, ‘Man, I want to play more so I’ve got to get better.’ Right now, nobody has really taken the bull by the horns … It’s one of these things that this competition is going to make or break a couple players. It really is.”
Fresh start for Oher: The Panthers are counting on left tackle Michael Oher becoming the latest bargain-basement gem unearthed by general manager Dave Gettleman. Oher struggled so mightily for the 2014 Tennessee Titans that he was released just one season after signing a four-year, $20 million deal.
Gettleman believes Oher can reinvent himself now that he is reunited in Carolina with John Matsko, his offensive line coach with the Baltimore Ravens.
“Sometimes guys go to places and it’s just not a good fit,” said Gettleman, who signed Oher to a two-year, $7 million contract. “I know what my eyes told me. I felt very comfortable about it. He’s playing pretty darn well right now.”
Popular Peanut: Another financially prudent offseason addition making an impact is cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman. Signed to a one-year, $1.75 million deal after 12 seasons in Chicago, the 34-year-old Tillman is expected to start opposite Norman with Bene Benwikere manning the slot.
Tillman also has shared the techniques with Panthers defensive backs that have made him the NFL’s most effective cornerback in forcing fumbles.
“We’ve got guys punching the ball out,” Panthers safety Roman Harper said. “(Secondary coach Steve) Wilks is mad because he’s been trying to get Josh and these guys to do it for years. Now since Peanut shows up, he gets all the credit.”After months of tensions, the political crisis in Iraq escalated with anti-government protesters storming into parliament. This is why they are protesting. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)
After months of tensions, the political crisis in Iraq escalated with anti-government protesters storming into parliament. This is why they are protesting. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)
Protesters stormed Iraq’s parliament Saturday in a dramatic culmination of months of demonstrations, casting uncertainty over the tenure of the country’s prime minister and the foundations of the political system laid in place after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Security forces declared a state of emergency in the Iraqi capital after demonstrators climbed over blast walls and broke through cordons to enter Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, also home to ministries and the U.S. embassy. Many were followers of Iraq’s powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has been urging his supporters onto the streets.
Lawmakers fled the building in panic, with some berated and struck as they left. Others were trapped in the basement for hours, too afraid to face the crowds who complain that the country’s political class is racked by corruption.
It was a day of high drama for a country that is no stranger to revolution and that has seen all of its leaders overthrown from the time the state was established in 1921 until the U.S. invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. At issue now is the quota system introduced when the U.S.-led coalition put together Iraq’s first post-invasion government, which determines Iraq’s political positions according to sect and ethnicity.
The turmoil threatened to unseat the already embattled prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, with whom the United States has partnered in the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq but whose efforts at reform have stumbled. U.S. officials have expressed concern that the unrest could affect the battlefield as Iraq also struggles with an extreme budget crisis caused by a plunge in oil prices.
1 of 34 Full Screen Autoplay Close April 30, 2016 Skip Ad × Photos from the scene as protesters storm the Iraq parliament in Baghdad View Photos Demonstrators climbed over blast walls surrounding Baghdad’s highly fortified Green Zone and could be seen streaming into the parliament building. Caption Demonstrators climbed over blast walls surrounding the capital’s highly fortified Green Zone and could be seen streaming into the parliament building. May 1, 2016 Followers of Iraq’s Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shout slogans at Grand Festivities Square within Baghdad’s Green Zone. Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
“Today the people announced their revolution,” said Sadr, who led a violent resistance against U.S. troops during the Iraq War, in a statement Saturday night. “History will record the birth of a new Iraq, from the ashes of corruption and the corrupt.”
Entering the parliament building, which, like the rest of the Green Zone, has been off-
limits to the public for the past 13 years, protesters reacted with jubilation. To many, the area has become a symbol of corruption, the place where Iraq’s political elite live walled off from the rest of the country.
They crammed the building’s main hall, chanting and waving flags.
“I was thrilled to be in that room. It was like being in a place you only see on television,” said 26-year-old Abdullah al-Zaidi. “When I entered I was looking at chairs, and I wanted to break them because the politicians are killing us and stealing from us from these chairs.”
He said he didn’t, as organizers urged protesters to remain peaceful. However, television footage showed that some others did.
As evening fell, Zaidi and thousands of other protesters had moved their sit-in to a parade ground near the Hands of Victory monument — an arch shaped from crossed swords and one of the capital’s most famous landmarks — putting them less than a mile from the |
36 Inches Tall, 40 kWh Per Month
The Jellyfish Wind Appliance is a small 36-inch tall vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) with a solid-state controller and a variable-speed induction generator that plugs directly into an existing wall socket and automatically generates power whenever the wind blows. The Jellyfish can be mounted on rooftops, wind towers or even existing street light poles - which are already pre-wired to the grid and have the tower already in place! And, it can generate up to 40 kWh per month in moderate winds enough to light an average home using energy efficient light bulbs. With a target price under $400 the Jellyfish would be an affordable option for many households and developing communities looking to harness wind power for the first time. Working in tandem with the existing power grid, the Jellyfish enables large-scale distributed-generation, delivering power exactly where its needed and reducing the demand for costly transmission infrastructure.
I don't want to seem overly down on this product, but frankly it really doesn't produce that much power. Clarian says the payback time is about 7 years, which isn't so bad in the scheme of things, but at Fast Company points out 40 kWh a month really doesn't 'light up' that much in 'an average home'.
Clarian also touts the Jellyfish as being priced low enough that "virtually anyone on the planet [can connect] to a power grid, local community power distribution network or even an off-grid system."
I'll leave aside the fact that for many people on the planet, who could really benefit from off-grid electricity, $400 for a wind turbine is well out of reach.
What I do like is the idea of distributed power generation and community-based power generation, but building mounted wind turbines really aren't the way to go about it. The wind speed variability around buildings, particularly in urban areas, is such that there are doubts as to whether small-scale wind turbines in these circumstances will ever pay back their embedded carbon emissions.
It does look cool though.
via: Fast Company
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And it worked … at least for the proposal.
Ben Kokes, an inventor who lives in San Francisco, documented the months-long process on his blog.
"Once upon a time, a boy met a girl. Then a short amount of time later, the boy decided to design and build a ring for the girl, because doing things in the most complicated way possible is just what he does to show the love. This is that story," he wrote on the blog, before detailing the complex procedures involved in designing and building the ring.
Scroll down to watch a YouTube video of the ring in action
The process began in January, when Kokes decided he wanted to create a ring for his girlfriend Julie that would somehow detect his presence. He decided to make it glow from the inside whenever he was close, with the internal light source sending beams out through the ring’s stones.
Of course there was no room for a battery on the delicate piece of jewelry, so he had to conceive a clever way of transmitting energy.
The simple yet somewhat impossible-sounding objective led to months of secretive toil in a nearby machine shop.
After nine failed prototypes, Kokes managed to create a titanium engagement band with stones set all the way around in an "infinity" style setting.
Inside the ring, Kokes embedded an LED and copper coil assembly. When that copper coil comes in close contact with an induced alternating magnetic field – contained an easily-concealed bracelet he built and wears on his wrist, hidden under a jacket sleeve -- presto, the ring lights up with the glow of love.
Kokes proposed to his girlfriend earlier this month while they were hiking in the hills outside San Francisco. He presented the ring, popped the question, and placed it on her finger.
When she said "yes," he moved his hand closer, allowing the ring's LED to activate and produce the glow.
"So the original plan was to present this ring to the girl, then take her to a professional jeweller the next day to pick out something more permanent," Kokes explains on his blog. "Well, she insists that I change the design on this ring to make it more permanent and forgo a professionally made ring."
Kokes admits there was a "small hitch" or two in the design. Due to a "small miscalculation," the ring was a slightly tight fit for his now-fiancee. He had to build another version to fit her finger more comfortably.
And although the ring performed brilliantly during the proposal, it stopped working the next day. Kokes is currently working on a more stable version.Before San Diego Comic Con 2011, I had never heard of Asura or his wrath. Luckily, Capcom deemed this game worthy of sinking some funds into, and I was drawn to their colorful booth at the back of the exposition hall. A screaming chamber, lines of demo machines, and the draw of a free hat were more than enough to get me playing. I found myself enamored with the art style, controls, and gameplay almost immediately. Were my initial impressions of the game accurate, or was I simply dazzled by marketing shenanigans?
Have you ever watched anime? An intro comes on, with a short bump to and from commercial, ending on a freeze frame with “TO BE CONTINUED…” written at the bottom? Maybe tons of yelling and having deep conversations while fighting? Then you’ve played Asura’s Wrath.
I am being 100% serious when I say Asura’s Wrath is the most anime game of all time. For God’s sake, the game is even broken up into episodes and the art style is reminiscent of shows like Dragon Ball Z or Fist of the North Star. If you enjoy anime you need not even read the rest of this review, just go and pick it up—this game was made for you.
This reminiscence to anime is both a boon and a curse, as Asura’s Wrath oftentimes feels like less of a game and more like an interactive series. Quick-time events and long, sweeping cut scenes drive the plot with quick five- to ten-minute breaks for a fight or two in each episode. Though I would usually grow weary of the low play time, the breaks between episodes cut the large periods of non-play well and make it feel less like the PS3 movie that is Metal Gear Solid 4. Whereas MGS4’s cut scenes felt oppressive and boring, Asura’s Wrath feels more like watching something entertaining, but getting to interact with it. The episode system helps this cause immensely. Each episode is a small, easily digestible part of the story with parts of action, bits of narrative, and each has a nearly self-contained story arc that fits into the larger narrative.
Speaking of narrative, if a game is too cut scene heavy, it must have a good story, right? I have a feeling this point may be polarizing, as Asura’s Wrath’s plot is not for everyone. I quite enjoy the story—it is simple, emotion driven, and does not get bogged down in details. Asura is a demigod who was betrayed by his comrades. After framing him for murder, killing his wife, and kidnapping his daughter, he is unceremoniously thrown from a space station and left to collide with the earth and die. He then claws his way out of the underworld to exact his revenge and quench his wrath by killing his betrayers and getting his daughter back. He is essentially a mix of Kratos from God of War and Liam Neeson in Taken thrown into a scenario Tarantino could have made up. The actions, characters, decisions, and battles are all incredibly over-the-top and quirky, and that’s not a style for everyone. It’s not unlike Bayonetta, come to think of it—a game whose fans are as rabid as its detractors. If you can enjoy the game for what it is and try not to take it too seriously, the story is quite engrossing.
Come to think of it, Asura’s Wrath has gameplay partially similar to Bayonetta as well. The game features three distinct kinds of battle—brawling, shooting, and quick-time. Given an arena in which to fight, Asura takes down baddies with a combination of physical attacks, specials, and counters in a similar style to God of War or Devil May Cry. The combat is smooth and fluid and the only real problem I found with it is not being able to press the counter buttons quickly enough, though that mas more to do with my lazy thumbs than the developers. Shooting is regrettably less polished. Asura’s Wrath is a beautiful game, but one that keeps the screen very busy at all times. This crucial fact makes the on-rails shooting sections significantly more difficult as your eyes do not automatically focus in on enemies. By loading up the screen with backgrounds that are too loud, or icons that are not needed, aiming becomes quite difficult, which puts a larger emphasis on blindfire than strategy.
I found myself constantly firing and homing in at random in nearly every shooting scenario. It was fun, but definitely not as fun as I would like it to be. The quick-time events are some of the best I’ve seen in a game, as the button layouts were consistent and joystick motions made sense. The game allows you enough time to press the buttons, but not too much so as to decrease the sense of urgency. Overall, the gameplay is quite fun, there’s just not nearly enough of it, as it comprises less than 50% of the time spent engaged in the title.
One egregious error on the developers’ part was the addition of a True Ending feature. Normally, I am one to go for absolute completion, so I was drawn to this as a new challenge. Three hours of time sunk fulfilling the requirements, which were bloody difficult, and I was treated to getting to play the final chapter again. Okay, but surely I fight something new right?
Nope. Same boss, same enemies same everything except the last two minutes. The last two minutes completely unravels the “non-true” ending’s neatly tied up exposition and perfectly acceptable ending by tacking on a cliff hanger.
Can I level with you, CyberConnect2 and Capcom? I get what you’re trying to do, I really do. It’s a new game and you want to expand it into a series. You care about it and want more people to fall in love and be enthralled with it. If I had to wager, I’d say CyberConnect2 had the idea for this ending since Capcom has been a spoiled brat about sequels as of late. But no matter. If you are going to have a cliff hanger, don’t do it in two minutes at the end of a game, and don’t make me work three hours for those two minutes. It’s just embarrassing. Do you see other, respected developers doing something like this? No, because they sell based on their merits, and I understand Capcom is more than a little psychotic—I mean who really leaves out Megaman from Marvel vs. Capcom—but this is just unacceptable. Hidden endings are a fun bonus for the game and can definitely be used to make fans want a sequel, but that’s only by integrating it into the story such that the gamer feels rewarded with the true ending, not cheated. Shame on you, CyberConnect2.
Verdict: Asura’s Wrath is an incredibly fun game to play, for the half of the game you get to play. The other half is driven by a wild plot that borrows heavily from the school of “if I scream louder and yell about my feelings, I will win” school of anime thinking, but it’s quite enjoyable as long as you do not take it seriously. If you skip the true ending, you’ll be pleased as punch with this quirky shooter/platformer. If you like Devil May Cry, God of War, or any anime, this is the game for you for this month.The unidentified man who was carjacked by the two brothers accused of bombing the Boston Marathon told police that they were headed to NYC. According to a "senior United States official" who spoke with the Times, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told the owner of the Mercedes SUV that they planned to go to NYC. It's unclear if they told the victim what they planned to do there, but the Boston Police Commissioner said yesterday the two men had such a large cache of weapons that they most likely intended to continue their rampage.
After the gun battle that left Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead early Friday morning, investigators found many unexploded homemade bombs at the scene, along with more than 250 rounds of ammunition. Police Commissioner Ed Davis told CBS the stockpile was ‘‘as dangerous as it gets in urban policing. We have reason to believe, based upon the evidence that was found at that scene — the explosions, the explosive ordnance that was unexploded and the firepower that they had — that they were going to attack other individuals."
The SUV owner who was briefly held hostage by the two brothers told police that they identified themselves as the Boston Marathon bombers. So why let him live to tell his tale? According to the victim's statement to police, the brothers said they "would not kill him because he wasn't American." He fled the vehicle at a Shell Gas Station in Watertown, and told a worker in another gas station to call 911. Within the hour, Tamerlan would be gravely injured after his younger brother Dzhokhar ran him over while escaping a chaotic shootout with police.
It remains to be seen where the brothers allegedly acquired the weapons and how they received the training to assemble and detonate the bombs. Some investigators tell the Times that they believe the brothers downloaded a manual from an online Al Qaeda affiliate website. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino says that it appears the brothers "acted alone" and that Tamerlan had "brainwashed” his younger brother to follow him and “read those magazines that were published on how to create bombs, how to disrupt the general public, and things like that.”US Ambassador to Russia does not believe civilian casualties in rebel-held Donbass were inflicted by Ukraine army,Also there is no civil war in Ukraine - east Ukraine rebels are actually Russian infiltrators,Maidan was not a coup and..MH17 was shot down by Russia or its infiltrators but he “can not talk about the details”In Ukraine, the result of Euromaidan was not a coup, and the war was provoked by Russia, who sent their agents into Donbass, said US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft, in an interview with the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets”.“I do not agree with the argument that the US did something wrong. I categorically dismiss allegations that the events on Maidan led to a coup in Ukraine “, - he said.“We believe that the violence is fueled by people in the Donbass, who penetrate the border from Russia. We do not believe in the story of the civil confrontation. You will, I am sure, remember the famous ‘little green men’? “- Says Tefft.To the question of the journalist as to why the US turned a blind eye to the killing of civilians by the shelling of the cities of Donbass by Ukrainian army, the ambassador said that the children in the Lugansk and Donetsk could have been killed by the D/LPR militia, not the UAF.“How can you be sure that these people were killed by the Ukrainian army, not the separatists? How do you know? Were you personally present for this? “- He said.Tefft expressed clear confidence that the Boeing passenger plane in the Donbass was hit by Russia or its agents.“We know. We just know that. I can not talk about the details. But we do know who shot down the plane. We are all very clear. And I think that most of the world also knows who shot down the plane. But now we are waiting for the end of the investigation, in which every aspect of this tragedy is being carefully studied, “- said the US ambassador.This article originally appeared at Polit Navigator. Translated by Joaquin Flores at Fort RussSocial dumping is a matter of concern for unions all over Europe and the main question is how to best protect the work conditions and positions for present workers, as well as protecting the foreign workers from being exploited. In countries with high union density, like the Nordic countries, the influx of foreign companies and workers that won’t be obliged to follow the collective union agreements could potentially weaken the unions’ position which in turn could be changing the entire labour market. Therefore, the recent developments in Denmark are very positive, where the major union confederation LO has reported a 33 % increase in eastern European members over the past three years, even though membership in general has seen a 8 % loss in that time.
With more eastern European members who request the same wages and benefits as Danish workers in similar positions, some of the negative effects of social dumping could be avoided. Danish union 3F is running a campaign on the topic and Danish LO has actively tried to organise foreign workers, and the next step is to also reach out to foreign workers on shorter, temporary contracts in Denmark. However, it isn’t only eastern European companies who want to take advantage of the free movement of services and people in the EU. Irish airline Ryanair used a loophole in Danish tax law to underpay their Danish employees, but through a recent agreement between the governments of Ireland and Denmark, this loophole will now be closed which is an important step in the fight against social dumping, according to LO.
The situation in Denmark is made even more problematic because of the lack of laws regulating the labour market. EU law would not allow governments or unions to force a foreign company to apply the domestic collective union agreements, but the company would be obliged to follow national law, including laws on minimum wage. In Denmark and Sweden there is no legal minimum wage and only very few other laws on labour rights, as this is largely left to the unions and employers organisations to regulate. This means that social dumping is not actually illegal.
The system of cooperation between unions and employers organisations is very similar in all Nordic countries, but Finland and Iceland have chosen a slightly different path as the collective agreements, first decided upon by the unions and employers, are then declared universally applicable by law. Norway has also taken steps in this direction during the past years, which the unions have supported. Now certain basic aspects of the collective agreements, most importantly minimum wages, are legally binding, at least for some central branches.
Even though the Norwegian solution has been considered quite successful, unions in Sweden and Denmark strongly oppose such a system. Instead, they focus on trying to bring foreign workers into the unions and assist them to get better wages and working conditions. Language barriers and many workers’ fear of losing their job if they would join a union hinder this process, but as the news from Danish LO show, it is possible to attract foreign workers to the unions. This is not enough to end social dumping and guarantee fair conditions for everyone who works in Denmark and other Nordic countries, but as a legal minimum wage is not wanted in Denmark and Sweden, it might at least be one step in the right direction.Death is inevitable, but some people don’t want to spend their eternity buried in a hole in the ground. We could always donate our bodies to science, or even to the BODIES Exhibition, but there are less grotesque ways to recycle yourself into the afterlife. Thankfully, there are many companies are dedicated to just that -- jump ahead for 6 creative alternatives for a green afterlife.
Your loved ones can forever be reminded of your sparkle, by having your ashes compressed into a LifeGem. The “memorial diamonds” can be made into a variety of colors, and then placed into settings. Like cubic zirconias, the gems are made by compressing carbon matter — but instead of compressed minerals, LifeGems are made by compressing you! The gems can then sparkle on a ring or necklace, and be worn next to your loved one’s heart.
When life reaches the end of Side 1, wouldn’t it be great if you could just turn it over? Music lovers can keep it spinning with And Vinyly, a service that presses your ashes into a vinyl record. Speak to them from beyond the grave, by recording a message, last will and testament, or your exit music. The service even offers an in-house band for custom written tracks!
Like marine life? Have your relatives recycle your body into a living reef, and you yourself can become a life-supporting vessel for all eternity. Eternal Reefs help restore the fragile ecosystems off our coasts, providing an environment that supports coral and micro-organisms. Your ashes are mixed with cement, then placed off the coast in a military style ceremony, supporting marine life for at least 500 years.
Nadine Jarvis has created the ultimate afterlife memento for authors and scribblers everywhere. Coming in a flat wooden box, Jarvis creates a set of pencils from human ash ( a body yields on average around 240). The special container allows only one pencil to be withdrawn at a time. The pencil is sharpened on the side of the box, which holds the ash sharpenings. When the last pencil is used, the box becomes an urn, holding the remaining ashes.
If you are one of those people who plans ahead, then Shelves for Life by William Warren are for you. While you’re still kicking, the shelves handsomely hold your books and tchotchkes that decorate your life. When your number is called, the shelves can easily disassemble into your final resting place. The upcycled coffin will save your grieving family money, and let you bring a little something familiar into the afterlife.
3-D printers are all the rage, making the replicator from Star Trek a reality. Using this exciting technology, designer Wieki Somers has made a comment on our attachment to objects in life by turning human ashes into objects after death. Spending our lives acquiring objects, it could seem fitting to become our favorites after death.
If traditional burial isn’t your thing, one of these crazy alternatives is sure to please you for all of eternity!In a large, formal Philadelphia courtroom six years ago, endocrinologist Joel Brind swore on a Bible, took the witness stand—and forever left behind his life of scientific obscurity. Brind was the star witness for Christ's Bride Ministries, a religious group that had used billboard space throughout the Northeast to make the claim that abortion increased a woman's chance of developing breast cancer. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which runs the city's subway, bus, and commuter rail systems, rejected the advertisements as scientifically unsound, and the whole matter landed in court.
Brind, who teaches human biology and endocrinology at Baruch College of the City University of New York, made an impressive expert witness. A lanky 52-year-old with a slender, equine face, he has spent most of his career investigating the connections between reproductive hormones and human disease. He has a talent for explaining science in a patient way that a layperson can easily understand. On the witness stand that warm June morning, he unveiled a theory that he was about to publish in a British public health journal called Epidemiology and Community Health.
"Within a few days after pregnancy, the corpus luteum, which is in a woman's ovary, begins to secrete large quantities of a number of hormones," Brind told the crowded courtroom. One of those chemicals, estrogen, makes the breasts grow in preparation for nursing. In the early months of a first pregnancy, "the breasts may be adult size, but the tissue is rather primitive. In other words, it's not specialized for producing milk. It's mostly able just to grow, to proliferate." Later in the pregnancy, he said, the growth switch clicks off, and those cells differentiate into mature, milk-producing cells.
"Now, primitive cells, because they're programmed to grow, are more likely to be sensitive to carcinogenic stimuli," Brind said. If a woman has an abortion, she's left with a large number of these immature cells lining her breast ducts, and she is therefore more vulnerable to cancer down the road—30 percent more vulnerable, Brind says, than a woman who has never had an abortion.
This, the endocrinologist believes, is a terrible truth that the medical establishment—including the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization—has tried to keep from the public. In the courtroom, James Owens, one of the attorneys for Christ's Bride, tried to imply a conspiracy of silence. "Do you have an opinion, Dr. Brind, as to why the link between induced abortion and breast cancer has not been promulgated in the public-health sector in the form of a warning to women who would choose abortion?" the lawyer asked. "Well, to use a common expression," Brind responded, "it would seem to be politically incorrect."
Ever since he testified in the Philadelphia case—which Christ's Bride Ministries won on free-speech rather than scientific grounds—Brind has spent about 90 percent of his time outside the classroom investigating and publicizing the link between abortion and breast cancer. He has testified in courthouses and statehouses in Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Alaska; he has lobbied Congress and the Food and Drug Administration and written letters to scientific journals. His efforts are paying off: At least 18 states have considered laws requiring clinics to disclose the link, and Mississippi and Montana have passed such measures. The state of Florida has cited Brind's research in its efforts to require that parents be notified before minor daughters have abortions. Pro-life activists have used Brind's statements to defend billboard and television ad campaigns from Maryland to California. Recently, an antiabortion member of Congress, citing Brind's work, convinced the National Cancer Institute to dilute its long-standing assertion that women face little cancer risk by terminating pregnancies.
There's only one thing wrong with this picture: The vast majority of epidemiologists say Brind's conclusions are dead wrong. They say he conducted an unsound analysis based on incomplete data and drew conclusions that meshed with his own pro-life views. They say that epidemiology, the study of diseases in populations, is an inexact science that requires practitioners to look critically at their own work, searching for factors that might corrupt the results and drawing conclusions only when they see strong and consistent evidence. "Circumspection, unfortunately, is what you have to do to practice epidemiology," says Polly Newcomb, a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. "That's something Brind is incapable of doing. He has such a strong prior belief in the association [between abortion and cancer] that he just can't evaluate the data critically."
For Newcomb and many others, Brind's crusade highlights challenges that face those who are trying to understand the origins of diseases like cancer, where there isn't necessarily a straight line from A to Z. The crusade also serves as a warning about what happens when politics drives science. For laypeople who are trying to make sense of scientific controversies, it's a reminder of why it's important to study the research itself rather than simply trust the pronouncements of experts.
Joel Brind was a 10-year-old growing up in laurelton, New York, when he realized he wanted to become a cancer researcher. In the early 1960s, Life magazine published an article about the inner workings of cells, a world suddenly opened up by electron microscopy. "They said how scientists will figure out what the cells do, and they'll ultimately be able to cure cancer and stuff," Brind recalls. "I just decided, 'Wow, that's for me.'" Even before receiving his Ph.D. from New York University, he found himself studying sex hormones—in particular, androgens and their relationship to acne. Eventually, he began looking at estrogen metabolite levels in the blood, correlating them with the development of both malignant and benign breast diseases.
One day in late 1992, Brind was sitting at his dining room table in Matamoras, Pennsylvania, reading Science News, when he stumbled upon an article arguing that adolescent girls who get pregnant "seem to have a built-in defense against breast cancer later in life." The article did not mention whether the girls had to give birth to reap the benefit. Brind found himself reading the article three times through, thinking, "What happens if the teen terminates her pregnancy?" He started combing the library at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Although 40 years of studies on the subject had yielded inconsistent results, he became convinced that abortion was a significant risk factor for breast cancer. It made sense physiologically, he thought: More than a decade earlier, biologists Jose and Irma Russo, then at the Michigan Cancer Foundation, had induced breast cancer in rats by aborting their pregnancies—leaving them with immature mammary gland cells—and exposing them to the toxic chemical 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene. The chemical was known to be particularly effective in producing mammary carcinomas in rats that had never given birth.
When he finished reading the articles, Brind could barely contain himself. He printed up some flyers with the headline, "Women Have a Right to Know," piled his wife and 9-year-old daughter into his Dodge station wagon, and drove to Washington, D.C., where he tried to meet with legislators on Capitol Hill. Sitting with his family in a congressional cafeteria, Brind spotted Representative Richard Gephardt and sent his daughter over to the congressman to hand him the leaflet. When Gephardt tried to walk away, Brind recalls, the little girl implored, "No, you really have to read this. My daddy says it's very important. An abortion can cause breast cancer."
Brind's peers told him he wouldn't be taken seriously unless he published his own analysis in a peer-reviewed journal. So he contacted two colleagues, Walter Severs and Joan Summy-Long, both endocrinologists at the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and opponents of abortion. Since none of them were epidemiologists, the trio lacked the training to do a serious analysis of existing research. They approached Vernon Chinchilli, a biostatistician at the college. "When I heard what the topic was, red flags went off in my head," says Chinchilli, who describes himself as pro-choice. However, he agreed to hear out the threesome, and after several meetings, he decided to sign on to their team.
Brind spent the next year unearthing studies that correlated induced abortion (as compared with spontaneous abortion, or miscarriage) with breast cancer. His thoroughness in sifting through the literature worldwide, in several languages, allayed many of Chinchilli's concerns. "I would have never gone through the torture he did," the statistician says. To avoid accusations of bias, the researchers decided to include every relevant study they could locate—28—although some contained outdated methodology. "We realized that because it was such a contentious area of research, the safest thing to do would be to be the most inclusive—to include everything," Brind says. Then Chinchilli plugged their numbers into a computer.
Brind was at home the day his fax machine spit out the results of Chinchilli's analysis: Women who had induced abortions appeared to suffer from breast cancer at a rate 30 percent higher than those who didn't. In biostatistical terms, this is called a "relative risk" or "odds ratio" of 1.3. (A risk of 1.0 means there's no danger.) Because there are so many variables that can corrupt data, epidemiologists regard any risk under 2.0 with skepticism unless it appears consistently from one study to the next. (For example, scientists at the National Cancer Institute once argued that mouthwash users had a 50 percent higher chance of contracting oral cancer. Critics later showed that once other variables such as alcohol and tobacco use were properly controlled for, the risk all but disappeared.)
In later meetings, Chinchilli tried to control the enthusiasm of the three pro-life scientists. "Being a statistician, I have some doubts," he says. "I don't think the issue has been resolved." But Brind remained resolute in his conclusion that the abortion-breast cancer link had been proved. "When we were talking about the conclusions, he wanted to make the strongest statements," Chinchilli recalls. "I tried to temper them a little bit, but Dr. Brind is very adamant about his opinion."
If Chinchilli was cautious in pronouncing a link between abortion and breast cancer, other scientists were—and still are—dismissive. "In epidemiology, if there's a true relationship, you'd expect to find the majority of studies would show some consistency," says Phyllis Wingo, chief of the cancer surveillance branch for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When Wingo surveyed the literature for the journal Cancer Causes and Control, she found results that were all over the map. "There were some studies that showed a small increase in risk, some that showed a small decrease, and some that showed neither. That lack of consistency was not persuasive." Besides, she says, a relative risk of 1.3—compared with the relative risk of 20 associated with smoking and lung cancer—is usually considered too weak to draw definite conclusions.
One conclusion researchers have drawn is that the poor design of many abortion-cancer studies produced results that exaggerated risks faced by women who undergo the procedure. Until recently, most of the published papers on the subject were based on what epidemiologists call case-control studies. Researchers would find a group of cases—women diagnosed with breast cancer—and ask them whether they had had abortions earlier in their lives. They would also survey a group of controls—healthy women who were contacted by random telephone dialing or some other method. The scientists would adjust for variables such as age, reproductive history, and family health history, then perform a calculation to determine the relative risk of having an abortion.
One variable, though, that epidemiologists can't eliminate is whether a woman admits to a researcher that she has had an abortion—because such an admission is still a source of shame for many people. This is the point at which results are most likely to go awry. By contrast, patients are always looking for clues to their illnesses, and so "women who have breast cancer will search their souls, and be very likely to search deeply in their memories, and disclose things that might be embarrassing," says David Grimes, clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. "But a woman who does not have the disease and is picked at random from the community is very unlikely to disclose to an anonymous researcher knocking on the door that she had an abortion in 1992." Epidemiologists call this phenomenon response bias, and they've found evidence that it can contaminate studies on abortion and breast cancer.
Brind dismisses response bias as an unproven hypothesis, but others have found ample evidence for it. In Sweden, epidemiologist Britt-Marie Lindefors-Harris of the Karolinska Institute took advantage of her country's nationwide registry of legal abortions. In a project documented in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Lindefors-Harris conducted a case-control study of abortion and breast cancer, but with a twist: She checked government records to see if the participants were telling the truth about their reproductive histories. Many of them, it turns out, were not. Out of 829 women, 29 appeared to misrepresent their abortion history, with the vast majority of underreporting coming from healthy women in the control group. Based on those numbers, Lindefors-Harris calculated that "an observed increase in risk of up to 50 percent may be caused by response bias."
Five years later, in 1996, Matti Rookus and Flora van Leeuwen of the Netherlands Cancer Institute came up with even more dramatic evidence of bias. The epidemiologists surveyed women in two regions of their country. In the liberal west, Rookus and van Leeuwen found a statistically insignificant relative risk of 1.3—but in the predominantly Roman Catholic southeast, relative risk shot up to an astounding 14.6. The only plausible explanation: Because of the conservative religious values in the southeast, healthy women there lied about their abortions. "Reporting bias is a real problem," the Dutch team concluded.
In January 1997, three months after Brind's analysis appeared in Epidemiology and Community Health, a Danish epidemiologist published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine that, according to many of his colleagues, made much previous research on the subject moot. Mads Melbye of the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, looked at the records of 1.5 million women born in his country between 1935 and 1978. Like neighboring Sweden, Denmark records all abortions; it also has a national cancer registry. Melbye linked these two databases—and found a relative risk of 1.00. In other words, women who underwent abortions developed breast cancer at exactly the same rate as women who didn't. (Melbye did find a risk of almost 1.9 for women who had abortions in the 18th week or later, but such procedures are rare and done only in emergencies.) With so large a population and no opportunity for response bias, Melbye's study convinced many scientists that earlier case-control studies had been tainted. "The story of abortion and breast cancer is essentially closed by this last study," says Carlo La Vecchia, an epidemiologist at the Negri Mario Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy.
"I think the Melbye study pretty much clinches it," says Lynn Rosenberg, associate director of the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University. "The numbers were huge. The larger the study, the more statistically powerful it is, and the more stable the results are."
Public health organizations across North America and Western Europe have downplayed the danger of terminating a pregnancy, but last summer the National Cancer Institute suddenly shifted gears. The institute, a research agency of the federal government, had published a fact sheet in March that said, "The current body of scientific evidence suggests that women who have had either induced or spontaneous abortions have the same risk as other women for developing breast cancer." This statement was withdrawn from the agency's Web site in July 2002 after Representative Christopher Smith, cochairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, wrote to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, calling the fact sheet "scientifically inaccurate and misleading to the public." In particular, Smith criticized the institute for failing to cite Brind's work, which he called "the only comprehensive review and meta-analysis" of the abortion-cancer link. In November the institute said the information had been taken down "to review it for accuracy," adding that Smith's letter "was a factor" in the decision. The institute has issued an interim statement that calls the data "inconsistent." Other credible agencies have been less reticent about dismissing the link outright. "Results from epidemiological studies are reassuring in that they show |
a fantastic, family-friendly, fun game with a whimsical art style you can check out from this trailer:
HMS Dolores
Co-designed with Bruno Faidutti, this game is the epitome of game theory in practice. Players take on the role of a shipwrecker. Having lured the game’s namesake ship to be buffeted, crate after crate of loot are now washing ashore and to win the cards with the highest value, you play rock-paper-scissors to negotiate, scramble for first pick, or fight for the booty. It’s a lovely little small-box game that is perfect for passing the time as you wait for treasure ships come in, pirate talk optional.
Who are your favourite game designers? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Image Credit: Eric Lang | Facebook (With Permission)
Photo Credits: Asmodee (Fair Use)
Teri Litorco is a former Geek & Sundry Vlogger, avid tabletop gamer and author of the upcoming Civilized Guide To Tabletop Gaming. She has a Dicemasters addiction, which you can get a small glimpse into (along with a number of other geeky & gaming addictions) by following her on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.LIMASSOL, Cyprus (Reuters) - A Danish-led task force was being readied in Cyprus on Saturday to remove the first part of Syria’s deadly chemical stockpile, due before the end of this year.
A member of the Norwegian Special Forces stands guard on a frigate, which is part of a joint Norwegian-Danish task force planning to assist in the transfer of lethal chemical weapons out of Syria, at Limassol December 14, 2013. REUTERS/Andreas Manolis
Under a deal worked out between the United States and Russia, Syria will relinquish control of deadly toxins which can be used to make sarin, VX gas and other lethal agents.
Denmark and Norway plan to use two cargo vessels to transport the cargo out of the Syrian port city of Latakia, escorted by two frigates of their respective navies, and deliver it to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for destruction.
The deadliest chemicals in Syria’s stockpile are due to be shipped out of the country by the end of the year under an agreement between Damascus and the OPCW, but the ongoing conflict is complicating efforts to meet that deadline.
“The timing is another matter and it is related to a lot of other uncertainties right now but we are preparing to be ready as fast as possible. “ said Commodore Torben Mikkelsen of Denmark, Commander of the combined task force.
“My job right now is to prepare this task group, capable of transporting chemical agents out of the port of Latakia in Syria, to a so-far not identified destination for ongoing further destruction of these chemical agents,” he told journalists in the Cypriot port of Limassol.
U.S. defence officials said earlier this month that sea trials were planned of equipment which could neutralise the deadly chemicals on board a merchant marine ship.
The technology, known as hydrolysis, turns dangerous toxins into a low-toxicity liquid waste. Task force officials said a harbour was needed for the cargo to be transferred for its final destruction.
“I think the plan is we will be heading for a harbour where we will meet an American ship and they have a field deployable hydrolysis system on board and they will destroy them at sea,” said Bjorn Schmidt, a chemist of the Danish Emergency Management Agency who is a member of the mission.
The OPCW, was given the task of overseeing destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stocks following a sarin gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus which killed hundreds of people last August.
The task force was bolstered by chemical experts and vessel protection teams. Schmidt said that he believed in the “worst case” scenario, about 500 tonnes of “priority 1 chemicals” - those that can make sarin and VX - would be shifted out of Syria.
“It (that size of estimate) is because we have the priority 1 chemicals which are those we want out.. But we are not aware if it is actually going to happen, if they get all the packed chemicals to the harbour, we don’t know that yet,” he said.
Officers said the task force would go “as many times as it takes” to remove the toxins.Hola there Judges,
This week our online-magazine will bring the spotlights over a Mexican judge, Dalibor Trnka. He is not just a successful magic player but also a great Judge, and a prolific mentor too!
Dalibor recently worked as the Judge manager for GP Mexico where his hard-work, enthusiasm, and impressive hard-working spirit managed to make #GPTACOS one of the best events ever!
Name: Dalibor Trnka
Level: 2
Location: Mexico City
Judge start date : 5 years since I became a judge. I reached level 2 at GP Mexico 2012(March).
Why did you become a judge? I wanted to learn more about the game and become more involved with the game.
Occupation: Student
Favourite card: Lead the stampede
Favourite formateck: Team Sealed
Favourite non-Magic Game: Command & Conquer
Best tournament result: Top 50 PT Nagoya
Random fact about yourself: I’m Mexican and Czech, but don’t speak Czech.
Tell us an embarrassing story that you’re not afraid of everyone knowing.
When I traveled to PT Montreal/GP Quebec my carry-on was too big, so they offered me to put it with my bags, when we arrived, the door was locked and they told me I could pick it after immigration… Of course I had my passport in there so I arrived to the customs saying “Hello, I don’t have my passport”.
How did you get involved in magic in the first place?
MANY years ago, my dad bought me a magazine that had Spore Frog as a gift inside. Years later when I visited my best friend for first time he had some cards and so everything began.
How has being a judge influenced your non-Magic life?
It definitely has, yes; I try to use my judge experience in real life which has given great results.
You were nominated by Jesus Christian Cruz Acono. He said that you are his mentor and the “best teacher”. What do you think makes a judge a great teacher? What is most rewarding to you about being a mentor?
I really try to focus on my candidates, I try to “enter their mind” and see where they have problems, lack or doubts. Then I can help them have it easier, which never is a easy process. The best part of this is seeing them grown and become great judges, so they inspire me to continue my process of mentoring.
What motivates you to continue being a judge?
Judging at tournaments makes me really happy, but the travels, getting to know people, and see old friends are probably the best parts.
What is one tip you have for other judges?
Never give up!
What’s the best part about your local Magic community?
Spending a full day with my friends is the best part, no matter if I play or judge I’m always excited when that day arrives.
What is your favourite non-magic hobby?
Strategy games.
What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?
Magic World Cup 2013, as I knew most of the floor judges and as I was playing, I really enjoyed the experience.
What’s the biggest rule-breaking play you’ve ever made as a player?
Bribery 🙁, on my first ever Prerelease I didn’t know it was illegal to offer something in exchange for a result, so I learned in the worst way.
What has been your favourite magic event that you’ve judged?
GP Mexico 2014, because I was Judge Manager and on the other side I knew 70% of the players/judges at the venue.
What positive aspects has the Judge Program contributed to your everyday life?
Improving myself is really important, and it’s something you learn about when you don’t know a ruling or you make a mistake. It’s really important to learn from mistakes, as in real life.
How do you have fun during events?
It isn’t really hard! Just answer some question, see some games or chat with other judges makes everything go smooth.
Proudest moment of your Judge life?
Becoming L2 was the best moment ever, hope soon the new one will be attaining L3.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I want to thank all the judges who have helped me in my judging process specially Damian Hiller.
Two Truths and a Lie
Two of the following statements about Dalibor are true, and one is false. Figure out which!
1.My second name is “Jose”
2.I have played in tournaments in 3 countries.
3.I have traveled more than 100k miles only to attend Magic events.
The answer to our most recent Two Truths and a Lie...
Unfortunately Ben does not have as many cats as one of the hosts of JudgeCast. He is also not a subscriber to CatFancy.
Once again thanks to Dalibor for your time that made this interview possible!
And for you judges, don’t miss the opportunity to give your colleagues recognition for their excellent job. Hope to see you next time when the spotlight shines down once again to showcase another Judge of the Week!
Written by Aaron Rasmussen and Nemesio Bolaños GutiérrezThe TV trailer for The Name of The Doctor looks pretty interesting on its own, but hidden amongst the jump cuts and the ominous dialogue is a potential secret that, if true, might just knock your TARDIS-blue socks off. Spoilery speculation beyond the cut!
First off, here's the trailer.
Yes, all very lovely. But what we're interested in is about 13 seconds in, where Clara says 'I'm Clara Oswald, and I was born to save The Doctor...' and something instantly recognisable to Classic Who fans comes blaring past her:
Why, it's Bessie - The Third Doctor's awesome yellow roadster! She's missing her old black canopy, but before we use that to dismiss this mustard-coloured delight as just some random other yellow car, here's the old girl now, residing at The Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff (which, might I add, is merely a convenient 4 minute walk away from Roath Lock studios, where the show is filmed...):
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... with her old black canopy missing. So yeah. That's totally Bessie. Awesome! But we're not quite done with potential awesomeness yet - and this is where I could be going off the proverbial deep end, but bear with me. Because we're not actually intrigued by Clara here.
Or by Bessie's return.
We're Doctor Who fans. We delight in minutiae.
We're interested in Trees.
Not just any tree, of course. Just one, specifically. One that comes into better view when Bessie goes off camera in the trailer:
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Firstly, let's have a bit of a phwoar-moment at Clara's delectable 70's-style waistcoat get up. Lovely stuff. But wait, stop! The tree!
Now, these screencaps are from the 1080p version of the trailer uploaded by the BBC to Youtube - so they're okay quality, but they're a little blurry and artifacted, admittedly. But even then, there's something decidedly off by the background and that tree anyway. It looks a little low quality, especially for a gorgeous, HD series like Doctor Who. And that's because it's taken from some very old footage. Some very familiar old footage.
Take a look below at this sequence from The Five Doctors, specifically around the 2 minute mark, where The Third Doctor is menaced by a space-cone from Gallifrey whilst out driving Bessie:
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The hedge-line, the shape of it, the branches... it's blown up in the footage from The Name of The Doctor, and on a slight anti-clock wise tilt (perhaps to make it easier cut out the part of Bessie's window frame in the above shot?), side by side it looks identical to the tree behind Clara - the same footage from all those years ago:
So, what's the meaning of all this!? Is this Doctor Who's Trials and Tribble-ations anniversary moment? Is Clara going to be travelling back in time, not just to past Doctors, but to past episode footage? What other past classics could JLC find her self spliced into? And if so what is she doing there?
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It's all very interesting. And we'll all find out what it's about in a week's time...FILE PHOTO: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov speaks during the annual end-of-year news conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, December 23, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is committed to honoring its international obligations, including in relation to missiles, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, responding to reports it had violated a treaty with the United States by deploying a new ground-based missile.
“Russia has been and remains committed to its international commitments, including to the treaty in question,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a daily telephone briefing.
“Nobody has formally accused Russia of violating the treaty,” he said.
On Tuesday, media reported, citing U.S. officials, that Russia had deployed a ground-launched cruise missile despite U.S. complaints that this violated an arms control treaty banning ground-based U.S. and Russian intermediate-range missiles.Seven-year-old Ethan Mercuri was inspired by P.K. Subban's donation to the Montreal Children's Hospital that he decided to give $20 himself. He also wrote a letter to the hockey star. 0:26
P.K. Subban's donation of $10 million to the Montreal Children's Hospital has inspired one young boy to do the same, albeit to a smaller degree.
The Children's posted a letter they received to their Facebook page from a young fan who reacted to the news that Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban donated $10 million to the hospital in the best possible way.
Ethan Mercuri says he plans to donate $20.
"I like donating to sick people and children because I think it's a nice thing to do," the 7-year-old told CBC.
"I just said 'Hey mommy and daddy, can I donate $20 from my piggy bank to the Children's Hospital and write a letter to P.K. Subban about it?' and they said sure."
The hospital has named its atrium in honour of Subban, after he made what the health-care facility described as "the biggest philanthropic commitment by a sports figure in Canadian history."
Subban's reply
Ethan's letter got Subban's attention.
In a tweet, Subban wrote: "This is just awesome! This is what it's all about! Props Ethan! way 2 step up!"
Ethan's letter
"To P.K. Subban. My name is Ethan Mercuri. I heard that you gave 10 million dollars to the Montreal Children's Hospital. And I want to do the same thing but less money," he wrote.
"I want to give $20 from my piggy bank. If you want, you can come to my school at Beacon Hill Elementary. Hope you win the Stanley Cup. Your fan Ethan."EXCLUSIVE: Garret Dillahunt, who appeared in 12 Years a Slave, is reuniting with filmmaker Steve McQueen in his upcoming heist thriller Widows, for New Regency, which 20th Century Fox will distribute November 16, 2018. The pic, based on the British miniseries, stars Viola Davis, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell and Liam Neeson.
It follows the events after four armed robbers are killed during a robbery and their surviving widows come together to try to finish the failed job. McQueen penned the screenplay with Gillian Flynn, and is producing the project with See-Saw Films’ Iain Canning and Emile Sherman. New Regency, Fox, and Film4 are co-financing.
Dillahunt was a regular on Raising Hope and currently co-stars in Hulu’s The Mindy Project and Amazon’s Hand of God. He is repped by D2 Management and UTAAs the Syrian civil war drags on, one issue that has been neglected is the status of the remaining Christians within the country. Media reports have generally focused on the concerns Christian residents have for their future but do not look into what role Christians play politically and militarily in the civil war.
To be sure, as a demographic component, the Christian presence is usually somewhat exaggerated. While the standard figure is given as 10 per cent of the Syrian population, the real percentage is more likely to be around half of that figure. Nonetheless, a look at the situation by geographic region brings out some important nuances.
In the west, Christians tend to come from the two largest single denominations: Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic. Given the centrality of Arabic to the liturgies of these churches, Arab identity tends to prevail among these Christians, giving rise to some affinity with the Baathist regime’s emphasis on Arab nationalism.
Combined with general concerns about radicalisation among the rebel ranks, a staunch Christian loyalist area has been carved out in Wadi Al Nasara in Homs governorate, from which the regime has regularly drawn recruits for the Syrian army and the national defence force. This does not mean that there are no Christians in western Syria who have joined the rebels, but of those who have taken up arms, the large majority have done so on the side of the regime. Other Christians who have primarily inhabited the west of Syria – such as the Maronites and Armenians – have tended to support the regime as an economic benefactor.
In the east, the situation is much more complex. There, most Christians are members of one of the churches that use Syriac for a liturgical language (Syriac Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East and the like) and tend not to identify as Arabs, with many in the north-east speaking a local neo-Aramaic language known as Turoyo. This non-Arab identity has traditionally been a point of tension with the regime.
At the same time, Christians in the east have had to face up to the fact that the groups spearheading offensives into their areas are primarily of jihadi orientation, with the most prominent being the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). So the biggest question facing Christians in this part of the country is: which local actor can best guarantee our interests?
For the Syriac Union Party (SUP), the answer was to set up its own defence militias, beginning in the town of Qahtaniya in 2012 and gradually spreading to Malikiya and Qamishli by spring 2013. This movement is known as Sutoro and it works closely with the police forces of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
However, in Qamishli, the situation is complicated by the fact that the town has maintained a regime presence. As a result, the Sutoro branch that was established in the town gradually came under pressure from regime loyalists and eventually separated from the SUP’s other Sutoro branches by the middle of autumn last year. Though the now-separate Qamishli Sutoro branch claims neutrality, its affiliation with Bashar Al Assad is clear from the fact that its office features a regime flag.
Politically, the Qamishli Sutoro enjoys the support of the Assyrian Democratic Party, which, unlike the Assyrian Democratic Organisation that is affiliated with the opposition-in-exile coalition, has generally remained supportive of the regime throughout the course of the civil war. Though the Qamishli Sutoro has declared its intention to expand into other towns to protect Christians in the east, it currently lacks the financial and manpower resources to do so.
A third grouping in the east is the Syriac Military Council (MFS). The MFS was first announced at the start of 2013, declaring its opposition to the “despotic Baathist regime” while emphasising the need to protect Syriac Christians. However, it then disappeared from the public eye, only to re-emerge at the end of 2013, with its focus now having shifted entirely to fighting jihadis, accusing them of destroying churches and terrorising Christians.
Although the MFS is said to be independent, it seems that the boundaries are not so clear-cut. Many pro-regime Christians in the east condemn it as a front for the SUP and its participating in counteroffensives against Isil being contrary to the spirit of Christianity.
The overall picture that emerges is certainly more nuanced than the standard perception of the Assad regime as the protector of Christians. Yet it remains true that the rebels on the ground have generally failed to attract Christian support. To the extent that jihadi groups (not merely Isil) have been allowed to grow, the general lack of Christian support on the ground for the armed rebellion is likely to continue.
Aymenn Jawad Al Tamimi is a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum
On Twitter: @ajaltamimiby Maria Sofou
Shea Glover, a 18-year-old student from Chicago conducted a social experiment at her highschool and captured people’s reactions when they are told they’re beautiful.
Shea asked students and teachers to pose for a project withour revealing her intentions and as she recorded them told them: “I’m taking pictures of things I find beautiful”. The impact of these simple words were incredible on all of Glover’s subjects as every single one’s face changed upon hearing the compliment – most of them got extremely happy and flattered, some others got shy and one girl even got mad but none of them could hide their lit up faces!
The video is really touching and proves that the one beautiful thing we often forget is ourselves.
Glover wrote on YouTube that her intention was not to get a reaction out of people but was simply trying to film beauty – and we must say she did it!
via aplusMy Morning Jacket concluded off a two-night stand at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Sunday evening. The Louisville rockers welcomed founding guitarist Johnny Quaid to the stage at the famed outdoor venue near Denver, who sat-in for a number songs during the encore.
MMJ opened their Red Rocks finale with “Compound Fracture” from last year’s The Waterfall LP. The main set also saw Jim James and the band deliver their new song “Throwback (When We Were Young)” as well as longtime favorites such as “I Will Sing You Songs,” “The Bear” and “The Way That He Sings.” The band introduced another Prince cover last night with their mid-set debut rendition of The Purple One’s “Take Me With U.” Other highlights included extended takes on “Dondante” and “Gideon” to draw the main set to a close.
My Morning Jacket opened the encore with “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by the Eagles, which according to Setlist.fm had only been performed once before in Janauary 2002. At that point Quaid emerged to lend guitar to “Holding On To Black Metal” and “Wordless Chorus” as well as Lionel Richie’s “Easy.” Quaid also sat-in on three songs which were written and recorded by MMJ prior to his departure in 2004, closing the night with “Phone Went West,” “Dancefloors” and “One Big Holiday.”
Last night’s concert was taped by Mike B, stream the full show below:
Here’s audience-shot video footage of “Phone Went West” captured by George Daigh:
SetlistPosted 16 September 2014 21:28 CET by Kerry Brown
File this one under speculation/unsupported in your bad news inbox, but it seems that Arcsoft has ended support for their popular media player, Total Media Theater. This is particularly bad news for many home theater computer users, since TMT was one of the very best programs for playing Blu-ray video.
The only evidence for this speculation is a terse notice on Arcsoft’s website, saying: This product will be no longer maintained and updated. After a bit of exploration at their site, there is no longer a way to download or purchase the last version of TMT, which was TMT 6.7. But Arcsoft has not released an official statement, nor is there any information to be gleaned from their forum.
There have been some repercussions from Arcsoft including Cinavia detection within TMT, and more and more video enthusiasts have moved to other means of playing their high definition files, including the ever more popular media streaming boxes. Of course, Arcsoft had no choice but to include Cinavia detection within the program if they wished to continue to provide Blu-ray playback.
Until we hear more from Arcsoft themselves, we will be in the dark as to the real reasons for ending support of a very good program.The University of Auckland is New Zealand’s leading university and the only one included in the Times Higher Education top 200.
Founded in 1883, it is also the highest ranked New Zealand university in the QS World University Rankings and Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities. Some 35 percent of the top ranked academic researchers in New Zealand are at the University of Auckland.
Teaching and research is conducted over eight faculties and two large-scale research institutes. The university has a very strong Arts and Humanities programmes, the largest Science programme in New Zealand, and professional undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Architecture, Engineering, Law and Medicine.
It is the only New Zealand university invited to be a member of Universitas 21, the World Universities Network (WUN) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, consortia of prestigious global universities. In addition, the university engages regularly with the Go8 universities in Australia. These international linkages are vital to a teaching and research University which strives to be academically excellent and to provide its staff and students with the best possible educational and career opportunities.The revelations come in a report into practice at West Yorkshire police by the prisons watchdog and the chief inspector of constabulary.
The inspectors said staff at the police custody suites had not known which sample belonged to which suspect. They said the handling of the samples needed to be urgently addressed to avoid undermining prosecutions, the BBC reported.
Inspectors from the two watchdogs visited some of the 13 blocks of cells where the police force is allowed to hold suspects following their arrest. The visits were made in Leeds and Bradford in October 2008.
Both watchdogs said they were concerned about how officers were handling DNA, blood and urine samples taken in the custody suites, many of which would be used as evidence in prosecutions.
"Samples were incorrectly stored in fridges and freezers alongside ice cream, with some improperly bagged," said the report.
"This led to confusion among staff tasked with submitting samples, so many were not submitted for analysis and had been allowed to remain in freezers for a number of years."
The report added that one sample, labelled as relating to someone killed in a traffic accident, had neither been sent for toxicology tests or disposed of.
"We were unsure whether it really related to a road death investigation or whether there was an error on the label," the report said.
"The force was potentially missing opportunities to bring offenders to justice and solve old cases. These practices were exposing the force to unacceptable levels of risk. The maintenance of public confidence in forensic evidence is crucial."A gun control activist in Chicago got a gun and justified it by saying her community is too dangerous to live in without one.
The activist–Camiella Williams–got a concealed carry permit too.
According to NPR, Williams grew up living on Chicago’s South Side and was personally impacted by violence at age nine, when she was hit in the head with a brick. She became involved in gang activity, acquired a gun at age 12, and lived violently until she had a son at age 18. At that point she decided to make a change; she moved away from the South Side, got a GED and a college education, and began lobbying the state for Illinois for more gun control.
She also traveled to Washington DC to press members of Congress to pass more gun laws.
And Williams continues to lobby, yet NPR’s Chip Mitchell reports that Williams has two thing most people would not expect a gun control proponent to possess–a gun and a concealed carry permit. Moreover, Williams makes clear she is ready to use her gun if she has too.
She said, “I mean I just know that I would probably retaliate.”
Williams tells the story of how an 18-year-old recently shot her 11-year-old with a BB-gun and she went to the 18-year-old’s house to confront his mother. In that moment Williams said she “seriously considered doing something she counsels others against.” She considered grabbing her gun.
Williams says people who see inconsistency in her campaigning for gun control while owning and carrying a gun do not understand the danger of the neighborhood in which she lives. But Williams misses the fact that this is a very similar argument to those Michael Bloomberg-funded gun controllers make when they campaign for gun control then show up to the Women’s March surrounded by armed protection.
Whether living on Chicago’s South Side, the wealthy suburbs of DC, or Michael Bloomberg’s well-fortified mansion, gun controllers who spend their time benefiting from guns while campaigning against guns for others necessarily lose credibility. This is why Fox News’ Tucker Carlson told a Bloomberg apologist that he will not surrender his guns until Michael Bloomberg does.
Williams obviously sees the benefit of gun ownership. Perhaps she will pivot from gun control and add her voice to the growing number of black women who are taking a stand for gun ownership for self-defense on Chicago’s South Side.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.comA little karaoke & Kung Fu fighting with @idinamenzel A photo posted by Mario Lopez (@mariolopezextra) on Apr 30, 2015 at 9:52am PDT
Tony-winning actress and singer Idina Menzel joined “Extra’s” Mario Lopez at Universal Studios Hollywood, where she chatted about launching her first world tour, and dished on being part of “Frozen 2,” joking that her new blonde ‘do was in preparation for the sequel. “Well, that’s why I made my hair blonde so I can look like my character.”On tour, Idina will be featuring fan favorites from some of Broadway’s best, including “Rent” and “Wicked.” She explained how working on “Wicked” helped her get through tough times.“I feel like ‘Wicked’ really helped me come out of myself at that time, and now this last show I did, ‘If/Then’ was all about starting your life over, and those were important themes for me in the past two years,” said Idina.The biggest change for Idina was starting over as a single mother after her divorce from Taye Diggs. Mario asked the singer if there was anyone special in her life. She smiled, “You know something here and there, but we'll see what happens.”For more info on Idina’s world tour, go to IdinaMenzel.com.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The pensioner hailed a hero for trying to save MP Jo Cox is a former miner who spent 40 years working in the industry... and has talked about his life in a nostalgic pamphlet.
Bernard Kenny was stabbed in the abdomen with a 10ins blade when trying to save the MP.
He watched in horror as she fell to the floor in a pool of her own blood – then ran from his car in a desperate bid to save her life.
But he was hit by the blade which pierced his liver, narrowly missing his heart and other major organs.
After being discharged from hospital, Mr Kenny and his family passed their sincere condolences to the family of Jo Cox.
In a family statement they said: “We would also like to thank people at the scene, the police, ambulance service and the staff at LGI who were excellent in dealing with the situation.
“Finally, many people have shown great kindness over the last few days. This has been much appreciated by the whole family, but now we hope you will respect the fact that we need time and privacy for Bernard to recover.”
Mr Kenny, who shares the same birthday as Jo Cox, turned 78 this year.
He spent his working life as a miner and he was part of the rescue teams at the Lofthouse mining disaster in 1973.
He was a member of the Gomersal Mines Rescue Team which tried to rescue victims of the disaster, in which seven men lost their lives in a flooded pit.
He features in the Spen Valley Civic Society’s pamphlet ‘Life Dahn’t Pit’ which gives memories of the Gomersal pit.
He spent 40 years in the mining industry.
When Shaw Cross colliery closed in 1968 he was transferred to Gomersal.
Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now
Gomersal Colliery was the last pit to close in the Spen Valley in 1973 and he was then transferred to Lofthouse.
In the pamphlet he says: “I made some good friends at Gomersal although they were a little bit sceptic (sic) of us at first because we had come from a bigger pit and their attitude was you will not close our pit down, but that was only a few.
“When Gomersal did close in 1973 I transferred to Lofthouse and to put them in comparison, it was like moving from a mud hut to a five star hotel.”
More than 34,000 people signed a petition urging for Mr Kenny, a grandfather and dad-of-two, to be awarded the George Medal for his actions in trying to save the MP.Ivan Eland
RINF Alternative News
Retired Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr., the Director of National Intelligence, recently gave testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on his annual assessment of the threats facing the United States. What little attention was paid by the media – always seeking drama and conflict to get more viewers and readers in order to increase advertising revenues – to the annual ritual focused on Clapper’s vitriolic attack on Edward J. Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) contractor.
Snowden believed NSA’s electronic snooping programs went too far and therefore gave a treasure trove of documents to media outlets about the snooping. Clapper accused him of doing grave damage to the nation’s security through such disclosures, because terrorist groups have allegedly changed their behavior to avoid U.S. spying.
The media also focused on the tension at the congressional hearing between Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Clapper over Clapper’s statement last year, under questioning by Wyden, that intelligence agencies weren’t collecting bulk information about Americans. In the carefully scripted kabuki dance that passes for intelligence oversight by Congress, Wyden had even told Clapper he was going to ask that question in open committee session, so Clapper’s resulting lie was not because he was caught off guard, as he later implied.
This year, Wyden euphemistically termed Clapper’s prior dissembling to congressional overseers, doing at least something to uphold the Constitution’s system of checks and balances, as a crippling “culture of misinformation.”
In fact, Clapper’s seething anger at Snowden is probably the result of Snowden’s disclosures, which made a monkey out of Clapper’s prior claim to the contrary by revealing NSA’s bulk unconstitutional collection of all Americans’ phone records. Of course, the arrogant intelligence chief has stated that he resented talking about classified issues in public, which matches the mentality of an intelligence community that regularly chafes under even the poorly enforced constitutional limits of the republic it is supposed to serve.
So even though some of Clapper’s comments about Snowden’s giving too much away to foreign countries and terrorists might have some merit, the retired general’s own transgressions are far worse for a republic: lying to a congressional oversight panel in violation the Constitution’s system of checks and balances and his intelligence community’s blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment’s implied prohibition against general searches and its stated requirement that to spy on Americans, a judicially approved search warrant, based on probable cause that a crime has been committed, is needed.
In this year’s testimony, however, the real news was that Clapper undermined his own argument that Snowden’s alleged help to terrorist organizations was so horrific for the country; he did this by saying that international terrorism was only the fourth worst threat to the nation. That’s right, Clapper claimed that the threat from whistle-blowing insiders such as Snowden and foreign intelligence services were bigger threats to the nation than terrorists.
And for the second year in a row, he cited cyber-attacks by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea on U.S. defense contractors, financial institutions, water utilities and electrical grids as the number one threat. So after all the hysteria after the 9/11 attacks, drone wars in several developing countries, and two overseas quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan, which allegedly attempted to “drain the swamp” of terrorists, the terrorist threat has been downgraded.
One could make the argument – and U.S. security agencies do – that all of their martial efforts overseas have made Americans safer. In at least Iraq and Yemen (a major venue for the U.S. drone war), hard data indicate that U.S military action has actually increased the numbers of Islamist terrorists. Data don’t lie, because what drives radical Islamists to attack the United States is unnecessary U.S. meddling in Muslim countries – just look at the late Osama bin Laden’s writings.
And since the chance that international terrorists will kill any American is about the same as an asteroid killing him or her (and the chance of succumbing to such a terrorist is less than being struck by lightning), the U.S. government has long over-invested in the military means to fight terrorists.
Yet despite that over-investment, terrorism as a threat does not justify the mammoth defense expenditures the U.S. makes without a great power enemy to fight (the United States currently expends on defense what the next 11 countries similarly spend combined).
So a cynic – that is, a person thoroughly familiar with how defense programs are created and sustained but with no vested interest in them – might say that countering the cyber-warfare threat from great powers would bring defense contractors more profits than systems to counter rag-tag, and often incompetent, terrorist groups. Just a thought.
Ivan Eland is Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at The Independent Institute. Dr. Eland has spent 15 years working for Congress on national security issues, including stints as an investigator for the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Principal Defense Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. His books include The Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed, and |
both repudiate his Catholic parents and disown his Protestant children.
The Catholic, with his both/and approach to revelation, can affirm the Catholic truths that survive in the Truly Reformed tradition (there is such a thing as truth, revelation is orderly, God is sovereign, predestination is part of reality, etc.) but he can also provide what the Reformed Christian jettisoned (namely, the Magisterium and the rest of Sacred Tradition, as well as a certain comfort level with a much wider variety of human experience, both natural and supernatural, than Truly Reformed types can bear). That's why the Catholic can account for why the books of the Bible are the books of the Bible while the Truly Reformed can only blather about "presuppositionalism" and shout down people who ask, "But how do you know Ecclesiastes is inspired?"
Dittos for the good things that guys like Schuller, Warren, Wagner and Emergents see. Human beings do need to know that they are fundamentally good (albeit fallen) creatures made in the image and likeness of God. They do require a purpose for their lives. We are called to apostolic work and we are not supposed to fall into the fundamentalist heresy of Absolute Certitude about everything. All these are real aspects of Catholic teaching. But the Faith, while embracing what these folks get right can likewise correct their crazy imbalances.
That's why the Church can indeed welcome human wisdom when it comes from Muslims like Averroes and even pagans like Aristotle. It can affirm human dignity without affirming human vanity. It can reform its sinful members without deforming the Church into something utterly formless. It can acknowledge charisms but not pretend every spouting popinjay with a “vision” overrides the judgment of Holy Church. It can acknowledge Mystery while not living in a perpetual fog. And it can do all this while acknowledging the supreme importance of the inspired word of Scripture just as much as DeWaay does, but without falling into the anti-biblical prison of sola scriptura.
The cramped world of Truly Reformed doctrine has yet to figure out that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in its philosophy. So, for that matter, do the equally cramped doctrines of Schuller, Warren and the Emergents. People like Willard and the Emergents have at least taken the first step of wisdom: they know that they do not know. The second step of wisdom is to acknowledge that this fact points us not to an endless Dictatorship of Relativism and agnosticism (which is simply another cramped little intellectual and spiritual trap), but to the fullness of revelation that subsists in the Catholic Church following her Incarnate Lord, fully present in the Eucharist. May we all one day meet at that Altar.Hey, it’s a new comic! This is the first part of a new 6 part comic. I’ll be posting a new page every day, so keep checking back! I’ve been working on this story since early May and between work and other distractions it’s just taken forever to finish!
If you dig my Korrasami comics and would like to see me make more please consider becoming a patron through Patreon. The money my Patreon generates allows me to spend more time making comics and less wasting time working just to pay the bills. I was able to do this comic because of my patrons and Patreon. Without them I probably would have never been able to afford to take the time. You can check out my Patreon here.
Also, if you like this comic please spread it around. Reblog, repost, that kind of stuff! Thanks!A deadlocked Leesburg Town Council has put the brakes on efforts to allow food trucks to operate downtown and other town business districts, even on private property.
During their Monday night work session, council members again discussed whether “mobile food units” should be allowed in the town’s business districts, which includes the downtown historic district, the Crescent Design District, parts of the East Market Street corridor, and even the Village at Leesburg neighborhood.
Last month the council approved the allowance of food trucks on public streets and private property in the town’s industrial and employment center districts. They held off for the time being on allowing food trucks on private property in the downtown and other business districts, citing a concern that food trucks could interfere with existing restaurant operations. The council asked the Economic Development Commission to weigh in on the changes, and also were considering several ways to roll out any new regulations, including doing so on a one-year trial basis.
But any potential Zoning Ordinance changes would require re-advertising for another public hearing, Zoning Administrator Chris Murphy told the council last night. Only three council members—Vice Mayor Suzanne Fox and council members Vanessa Maddox and Ron Campbell—were in favor of that, with Mayor Kelly Burk and council members Marty Martinez and Tom Dunn opposed. Because there was not majority support for a new public hearing, the matter will not go forward, at least for the time being.
That means Loudoun Brewing Company and Black Walnut Brewery in downtown will no longer get to invite their regular rotation of food trucks to their property.
Town Manager Kaj Dentler had been holding any notices of violation in abeyance until the council had decided how it wanted to proceed on food truck regulations. With no apparent council interest in allowing food trucks in the business districts, any violations will now be enforced, he confirmed Monday.
krodriguez@loudounnow.comThis week, President Obama condemned the scourge of gun violence in America and announced a slew of executive actions intended to curb the number of shootings. Like many gun control proponents, he focused on background checks and cracking down on rogue gun dealers. While those are worthy reforms, brain science and criminological data offer another: Raise the gun age.
Federal laws on the appropriate age to buy a gun are confused and nonsensical. You have to be 21 to buy a handgun from a federally licensed dealer. But if you’re 18, you can buy the same gun from a seller who doesn’t have a license. This has the perverse effect of forcing young people to buy handguns from sellers who — because they aren’t licensed — don’t have to conduct background checks.
Moreover, federal law allows licensed gun dealers to sell rifles to people as young as 18. Unlicensed sellers can sell the same gun to anyone regardless of age, even a 14-year-old. And while federal law prohibits people younger than 18 from possessing a handgun, nothing in the law prevents younger teens or even tweens from possessing a rifle.
State laws close some of these loopholes, but not all. In Utah and Montana, there are no age restrictions on buying or possessing a handgun. In Mississippi and South Carolina, even juveniles can buy and possess a rifle.
At a minimum, we should have a uniform gun age that doesn’t depend, as federal law does, on the identity of the seller. We should also consider raising the minimum age to buy or possess (without adult supervision) a firearm to 25.
People under 25 are responsible for a disproportionate amount of America’s gun violence. According to data collected by the FBI, nearly 50 percent of all gun homicides are committed by people younger than 25. Most of those perpetrators are 18 to 24.
Mass shooters are often young, too. What common thread runs through the high-profile mass shootings in Charleston, S.C.; Aurora, Colo.; and Tucson? All of the killers were under 25, and all of them had bought their guns legally from dealers. Gunmakers market their wares to young people, often featuring minor children with guns in advertisements. The late NRA president Charlton Heston exhorted gun owners to introduce “a young person to the fun and satisfaction of shooting” as a way “preserve freedom for future Americans.”
Guns in the hands of young people lead not only to more crime but also more successful suicide attempts. About 38 percent of all suicides by people under 21 are committed with a gun. Because guns are far more effective than any other method, reducing access to guns for young people can reduce the number of suicides. The three leading causes of death among young people are unintentional injury, suicide and homicide. Sadly, guns play a role in each.
There is a reason people under 25 are dangerous with guns. The scientific literature over the past two decades has demonstrated repeatedly that the brain does not fully mature until the mid-to-late 20s. Last to mature is the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for making intelligent, long-term decisions; for weighing risks and benefits; and for controlling impulses.
Until the prefrontal cortex becomes dominant, the young brain is ruled by the limbic system, which is the emotional center. The already mature limbic system receives impulses far more quickly than the slowly developing prefrontal cortex, explaining why this age group is known for all sorts of risk-taking behaviors, both good and bad.
That’s why young people tend to be innovators. It also explains why they are more likely to make foolish heat-of-the-moment decisions than many older, more mature adults.
Using brain maturation as a basis for age cutoffs is smart policy. Rental car companies won’t rent (or charge higher prices) to people younger than 25 because the actuarial tables clearly show that younger drivers have significantly higher accident rates. But what underlies that statistic? It is the combination of a dominant limbic system (Drive faster! Push the limits!) and a relatively quiet prefrontal cortex in the young driver.
Raising the gun age needn’t interfere with hunting or recreational shooting by young people. So long as people younger than 25 are under the active supervision of adults of age, their possession of a firearm should remain lawful.
The National Rifle Association, which has unsuccessfully tried to have the age restriction on purchasing handguns (the buyer has to be at least 21) struck down, would undoubtedly object to our proposal. We trust young people serving in the armed forces to have guns, the NRA might say, so why not ordinary civilians? The difference is that, in the military, these young people are closely supervised; their possession of firearms occurs within the confines of a heavily structured hierarchy that limits the opportunities for poor decision-making.
We limit other rights, including the right to vote, the right to serve on a jury and the right to marry, on the basis of age. Although 18 is a common cutoff, there’s nothing magical about that number. For guns, the science and evidence suggest, the right age is 25.
Raising the gun age would be no panacea for the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. Some young people will still obtain guns from their parents or the black market. With 300 million guns already out there, there is only so much any one law can do. Nonetheless, we can start to reduce the daily death toll from guns by making it harder for reckless young people to access firearms.One of the most expensive bills each month is the cable bill. Losing the cable bill can save you upwards of $1,500 a year. What the cable companies don’t want you to know is that by installing an over the air TV antenna you can get free hi-definition channels right in your living room. The process is very basic. All of the newer televisions have what they call a digital tuner built right into the TV. This allows you to plug in an over the air TV antenna and you can start watching free TV. You get all the major stations like ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CW just to name a few.
How Does an Over The Air Antenna Work?
It’s Easy Follow These 3 Steps:
Connect to ‘ANT IN’ on the back of any digital-ready TV. Place the Antenna– Place on wall, window, attic or roof and find the optimal position for the antenna. Scan Channels – Select ‘Menu’ then ‘Channel Search‘ and you are ready to enjoy your free TV shows.
Finding The Right OTA Antenna
Since the signal is being broadcast from a transmitting tower, you need to find out how far away you are. The first thing you need to do is find the proper antenna for your location. Generally, if you live close to a major city, you may not need such a large over the air antenna. There are some great websites and apps that will tell you what size and style antenna you will need. Let’s take a look at them:
Websites
TV Station Locator Tool – Use our website tool for finding channels, maps and antennas for your area. Just enter your zip code for results.
Mohu Antenna Selector – Enter a zip code and will generate antenna list and stations.
Antennas Direct Antenna Selector – Gives you a channel list and range results for your location.
Tvfool – Gives you options on what size antenna you need and channels you will receive.
Channel Master – Nice antenna selection guide. Giving you the distance and location of broadcast towers.
Smart Phone Apps
These apps for your phone can help point your OTA antenna. They can be useful and accurate when you are in the attic or on the roof trying to adjust your antenna. Just use one of these apps to point your antenna in the right direction.
iPhone
OTA Map
TV Towers USA
Antenna Point
Android
Digital TV Antennas
HDTV Antenna Pointer
Generated Maps
For most of these sites, you enter your street address and zip code. It will then generate a map and a list of channels that you will be able to receive. It will also tell you what style antenna you will need and which way to point it.
Mile Range
These sites will also tell you the distance the broadcast towers are from your house. This will give you an idea of the mile range antenna you will need to pick up the stations.
Color Code
As you can see in the picture below there are quite a few channels available for the area I entered. The chart is color coded and tells you what type of antenna you will need to receive the signal.
Channel List
This shows the available channels in the area I entered. You can see a map and channel list for yourself by using our station locator tool.
Type of Over The Air Antenna You Will Need:
Green – An indoor “set-top” antenna is probably sufficient to pick up these channels (30-mile range)
Yellow – An attic-mounted antenna is probably needed to pick up channels at this level and above (60-mile range)
Red – A roof-mounted antenna is probably needed to pick up channels at this level and above (100-mile range)
Grey – These channels are very weak and will most likely require extreme measures to try and pick them up
Let’s Choose an Over the Air Antenna
There are many companies that make over the air antennas. We will show you what we consider the best of the field. We will list these HD antennas by the color code system we showed in the previous graph. For most people that live within there city limits, a yellow (60 miles) range should work well. A general rule of thumb is the higher you place the antenna the better the reception.
Green Antenna – 30 Mile Range
Mohu Leaf 30 Indoor Over The Air TV Antenna (30 Mile)
The Mohu Leaf 30 Indoor HDTV Antenna is one of the best interior digital TV antennae on the market today. It’s Omnidirectional flat design and weight makes it very versatile. Its simple square design makes adjusting unnecessary. Assembly is as easy as attaching the cords per the directions, powering up the amplifier, and hanging the Leaf in the best spot for over the air reception. This antenna will give you crystal clear reception. Initial setup is as easy as screwing in a light bulb.
Where to Buy:
The Mohu Leaf 30 Indoor HDTV Antenna is available at these retailers:
Mohu:
Mohu Leaf 30 Indoor HDTV Antenna
Amazon:
Green Antenna – 30 Mile Range
1byone Super Thin Digital Indoor HDTV Antenna (30 Mile)
Installation is super simple with the 1byone indoor antenna. Just connect the coaxial cable to your TV. This indoor/outdoor antenna from 1byone is a great way to cut loose from your monthly cable bill or to get over the air signals for rooms that aren’t wired for cable. In the package are the flat panel antenna, mounting accessories, the power adapter, the power booster and a waterproof connection cover for outdoor installation. You will need a coax cable of the necessary length to hook up to your television. You can mount the antenna on a wall or on a pole. It’s lightweight, so it’s easy to mount or put up anywhere.
Where to Buy:
The 1byone Super Thin Digital Indoor HDTV Antenna is available at these retailers:
Ebay:
Buy It At Ebay
Amazon:
Yellow – 60 Mile Range
Mohu Sky 60 Amplified Attic/Outdoor Antenna (60 Mile)
The Mohu Sky 60 HDTV Antenna is nice and solid. This antenna is extremely light. This size antenna will fit comfortably between typical roof joist spacing in an attic or a crawl space. The mounting components are high quality and can be adjusted for any mounting configuration. This multi-directional antenna provides excellent quality HD television from signals approximately 60 miles away. The build quality and construction are top notch. This antenna is completely weatherproof. Lightweight and will not topple in high winds. All the needed hardware is included in the package and the instructions are well written.
Key points
You can use this antenna inside or outside.
Comes with a 30-foot cord
Comes with hardware and mount to bolt it down
Brings in many channels and makes existing channels more solid
Comes with a USB powered preamplifier
Small footprint
Where to Buy:
The Mohu Sky 60 Amplified Attic/Outdoor Antenna is available at these retailers:
Mohu:
Mohu Sky HDTV Antenna
Amazon:
Yellow – 60 Mile Range
1byone Omni-directional Outdoor Antenna
The 1byone Omni-directional Outdoor Antenna is very easy to set up-no tools are required. This antenna comes with a quick and easy mounting bracket. Just mount the antenna and hand tighten with 2 wing nuts. The size of the antenna allows for many applications. It is much smaller than most antennas in this mile range. 1byone Omni-directional Outdoor Antenna can be mounted on a balcony, on the roof or in the attic. It comes with a power amplifier which will help to boost the signal for long distances. In some cases, the amp may overmodulate the signal if you are closer to the broadcast tower. You have the option to remove the amp, which will help with your signal quality and channel reception.
Where to Buy:
The 1byone Omni-directional Outdoor Antenna is available at these retailers:
Ebay:
Buy It At Ebay
Amazon:
Yellow – 60 Mile Range
1byone 85 Miles Digital Amplified Attic or Roof Antenna
With the 1byone 85 Miles Digital Amplified Antenna, you will get superior reception without the whole neighborhood noticing. This compact outdoor antenna is designed to maximize signal reception and integrate seamlessly into any home environment, indoors or out. It’s easy to install. Turn a few bolts and this antenna is ready to be mounted outdoors or in the attic. It’s a complete kit with a very strong mount.
Specifications
Withstands tough outdoor conditions
Superior reception outdoors or even when mounted in the attic
Includes J-shape mounting pole, built-in high gain/low noise amplifier
Where to Buy:
The 1byone 85 Miles Digital Amplified Antenna is available at these retailers:
Ebay:
Buy It At Ebay
Amazon:
Red Antenna – 100 Mile Range
DB8e Extreme Long Range Bowtie HDTV Antenna
The DB8 Bowtie Antenna has a gain of 17.4 dB which makes it one powerful OTA antenna. This antenna comes with a special bracket that allows you to turn each panel toward different broadcast towers. This HD antenna is excellent for rural areas where heavy foliage or roofing materials can reduce your signal. It works well in an attic or mounted on the roof.
Specifications
Weatherproof
High gain UHF band (UHF channels 14-51)
75-ohm Impedance
Gain 17.4 dB
Dimensions: 50″W x 37.5″H x 6″D
Product Weight: 12 pounds
Where to Buy:
The DB8 Bowtie Antenna is available at these retailers:
Antennas Direct:
Antennas Direct DB8 Multi-Directional Outdoor UHF Antenna
Amazon:
Red Antenna – 100 Mile Range
Channel Master CM 3020 UHF / VHF / FM HDTV Antenna
The Channel Master CM 3020 is a keeper and totally worth it. Get crystal clear free HD channels with this antenna. So well built, even on windy days it locks into all channels. It is very easy to install and has excellent reception. The antenna is all that Channel Master claims it to be. Well made with clear easy to follow directions and simple assembly. This antenna has a signal range of 100 miles and will pick up available local digital and HD signals. It is a little on the large size, but that is why it works so well.
Specifications
Reception Range: Up to 100 miles
Picks up UHF, VHF, FM and HD
Antenna Size: 152 x 95 x 22 Inches
Easy installation
Superior signal strength in weak signal locations
Optimized for HDTV and Digital FM Signals
Where to Buy:
The Channel Master CM 3020 UHF / VHF / FM HDTV Antenna is available at these retailers:
Channel Master:
Channel Master CM 3020 Antenna
Amazon:
Grey Antenna – Over 100 Mile Range
Long Range Rotating Antennas
Long range rotating antennas are excellent for receiving channels from towers that are in different locations. They come with a motor and will rotate the antenna 360 degrees. Most are HDTV Yagi style antennas with a pre-amplifier. If you live far away from different broadcast towers, you can dial in your reception by rotating it in the right direction. These long-range antennas come with a wireless remote to control the motor. They work well in the attic or on the roof.
Where to Buy:
Long Range Rotating Antennas are available from these retailers:
Ebay:
Buy It At Ebay
Amazon:
HD Antenna Mounting Options
Most antennas that you purchase will come with the mounting hardware. In some cases mounting to a pole, tripod or bracket system may be your best option. We have an article explaining different methods of mounting an OTA antenna. See the link below.
Hire a Handyman
Scanning Your Television for Stations and Fine Tuning
Once you have you’re over the air antenna set up, you will need to scan your TV for the stations to show up. That option depending on your television should be in the menu options. Check your user manual for more information. Most TV’s also have an option to allow you to see your signal strength to fine-tune your antenna. You may have to move your antenna around a bit to get it in the ideal position to obtain all the channels you want. You can use the map you generated to point your antenna in the right direction.
One Antenna Multiple Televisions
Now you can take it to another step and add a splitter to the one over the air antenna and distribute it to multiple televisions. You just take the output of the HD antenna and plug it into the input of a powered UHF splitter. Then plug each cable from the output of the splitter into your other televisions. In most cases, you can use the existing wiring in your home, left by the cable company.
Other Helpful OTA Antenna and Station Locator Websites
Are you still having trouble finding an HD antenna? If you are looking for more information on available channels and antenna options, then these websites can be very helpful.
Channel Master
Channel Master has an excellent video explaining how to select an HD antenna for your home.
HD Antenna Locator Sites:
These sites can help you select the proper HD antenna for your area. They all have helpful resources and locator tools. Just enter your address or zip code for results. Click on the logo below to get started.
Channel Master – Antenna Locator
Mohu Antenna – Channel Locator Tool
Antennas Direct – Antenna Selector
Conclusion
As you can see, you don’t need cable to watch free over the air TV. Armed with this know how you can now cancel your cable and enjoy saving money by watching free television.Rio-bocop... armed and ready for the World Cup: Elite troops carrying rifle, stun grenades and combat knife will tackle any fans who cause trouble
Military officers will carry weapons normally used to tackle terrorist threats
They will be on 24-hour standby with grenades, knives, and multiple guns
Tourists are instructed not to ‘react, scream or argue with robbers'
Robberies that lead to homicide has hit a nine year high in Sao Paolo
Rio-bocop: Military officers will carry weapons at the World Cup normally used to tackle terrorist threats
A crack squad of 400 specialist ‘Robocop’ style troops are preparing to greet England World Cup fans when they descend on Brazil next month.
The men are part of the elite BOPE unit of military police who operate in Rio de Janeiro and are usually on 24-hour standby to deal with the threats from terrorists - but they will now also deal with football hooligans who step out of line.
Carrying M16 and M4 carbine rifles with laser sights, Taurus PT92 pistols and fragmentation and stun grenades the squad have in the past also dealt with armed drug dealers who are known to operate from the city’s impoverished favelas.
BOPE’s distinctive emblem is of a skull impaled with a knife in front of two golden guns and the unit was first formed in January 1978.
The Batalhao de Operacoes Policias Especias – or Special Police Operation Battalion – also uses a special fleet of vehicles called with one called the ‘Peacemaker’ and another ‘The Big Skull’ as they carry out their role in both the streets and the slums.
During the World Cup some 4,000 regular police office will be on patrol and they will be joined by a further 1,500 military officers during the month long tournament.
Meanwhile, travelling fans are being warned that drunken behaviour will not be tolerated and visitors are also being warned to be alert in case of ‘Express’ kidnappings.
The method sees a victim – sometimes having got into a bogus or rogue taxi - taken to an ATM to withdraw cash on a daily basis.
Victims are held for around 72 hours and are sometimes beaten during the ordeal before finally being freed after four or five days.
Yesterday Lieutenant Colonel Joao Soares Busnello, who once was a member of BOPE, warned England fans not to drink heavily when visiting the country as he said:
‘If a hooligans drink a lot of calpirinhas – our national cocktail – and does something crazy BOPE are the ones that will deal with him.
‘BOPE will also be called if someone is taken hostage or there is a terrorist act or a political or religious riot.’
Out in force: Soldiers will provide security during the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro next month
Patrol: 4,000 regular police officers will be joined by a further 1,500 military offices during the tournament
Preparations: A soldier wears a chemical suit during the presentation of troops
Leaflets are set to be distributed to the 1.6 million visitors who are travelling to watch the World Cup warning them how to react in the event of being mugged while in the country.
The flyers advise fans not to ‘react, scream or argue with robbers’ and to hand over their valuables.
Tourists are also advised not to wear jewellery, expensive watches or walk alone at night and to check to see if they are being followed.
Muggers will be attracted to anyone who they ‘perceive’ to be wealthy.
To date in 2014 there have been 60,000 street robberies in Brazil along with 360 deaths related to street crimes in a country with a population of more than 200 million.
Members of the army, right, and navy, behind, took part in the ceremony A soldier holds a chemical and radiation detector Plan of action: Leaflets instructing visitors not to scream if they are being robbed will be distributed to fans Safety: All 12 host cities are carrying out preparations to ensure visitors remain safe during the tournamentTwo suspects planning a "violent and imminent attack" have been arrested in Marseille, French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said, adding that security has been stepped up across the country ahead of this month’s presidential election.
"These two radicalized men, born in 1987 and 1993, of French nationality, intended to commit in the very short-term - by that I mean in the coming days - an attack on French soil," Fekl told a news conference as cited by Reuters.
The search at the scene of the arrest in the southern city is continuing, and people have been evacuated from a building at the scene, Fekl added.
Deux hommes soupçonnés d'avoir voulu commettre des attentats, arrêtés à Marseille https://t.co/seUo1B9vmMpic.twitter.com/a9KNChkFX3 — France Bleu Creuse (@FBCreuse) April 18, 2017
The arrests were made between 10am and 11am (08:00-09:00 GMT) local time at an apartment the two suspects were renting, according to Europe 1.
Guns and explosives were reportedly found during the search at the Rue de Crimee. The building's residents were evacuated after that, BFM TV reports
READ MORE: Teenage girls arrested over suspected French terrorist plot
Earlier reports in French media said there were two potential attackers, aged 23 and 29, both armed. One of the attackers has recently converted to Islam, according to Soir media outlet.
#Attentat déjoué : des armes à feu et du matériel pour la fabrication d'explosifs retrouvés https://t.co/51BUPXDqs7#Marseillepic.twitter.com/ixDGeJIGyV — La Provence (@laprovence) April 18, 2017
Security surrounding the elections and the candidates has been increased.
France has been on high alert since terror attacks in 2015 and 2016 left over 200 dead in Paris and Nice. Authorities have been particularly concerned that the presidential election, the first round of which is on Sunday, could also become a target.
Fekl said more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers would be deployed for each leg of the election.
"Everything has been put in place to ensure the security of this big event for our democracy and our republic. The security forces are mobilized everywhere across France to ensure the security of French people and to ensure the presidential campaign goes smoothly," the minister said, as cited by Reuters.Monday, June 8th, 2015
Step Into the “Limelight” behind Neil Peart’s Hockey-Themed DW Drum Kit
Rush fans will enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pose for a picture behind legendary drummer Neil Peart’s one-of-a-kind, Collector’s Series® Drum Workshop (DW) hockey-themed drumset on the band’s R40 Live Anniversary Tour.
Highly recognized by hockey fans and Rush fans alike, Peart was featured playing his percussion-focused rendition of The Hockey Theme on the drumset in the opening sequence of hockey telecasts on The Sports Network (TSN) and has been on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame along with the Stanley Cup since 2010. Peart’s iconic drumset will be displayed on the Canadian dates of the R40 tour alongside a signed, limited edition Neil Peart Icon Snare from DW and a signed Sabian cymbal which will both be auctioned on eBay. 100% of the photo donations and auction proceeds will go to The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
“This drumset has brought a lot of excitement to hockey fans and Rush fans all across Canada,” said Drum Workshop vice president of marketing, Scott Donnell. “It’s only fitting that these fans be afforded the opportunity to get behind this special kit as part of Rush’s R40 Canadian tour dates. We also felt it was fitting that Neil’s drums of choice could raise dollars and awareness for The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, Neil’s charity of choice.”
Photo opportunities with Peart’s iconic hockey kit will be available on the Canadian R40 Live Tour dates including:
For a minimum $10.00 donation to The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, photo opportunities with Neil Peart’s DW hockey drumset will be available when doors open one hour prior to the start of each show and will be available until the end of the band’s scheduled intermission. A valid concert ticket is required.
From July 18th – July 27th, Rush fans from around the world can bid in the eBay charity auction for a Neil Peart Icon Snare Drum autographed by Rush. An exact replica of the snare drum on Peart’s one-of-a-kind #R40 drumset, this limited edition snare is made from 1500-year-old Romanian River Oak salvaged from the bottom of the Olt River. Inlaid with intricate, laser-cut exotic woods, and complimented by gold-plated hardware — only 250 of these drums were ever produced. A signed and numbered certificate of authenticity and deluxe carrying bag will accompany each drum. In addition, fans will also have the opportunity to bid on a 17” Paragon Crash Cymbal from Sabian autographed by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. 100% of the proceeds from the auction of these items will go to Peart’s charity of choice, The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
Visit the DW Drums website for more information.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be partners in this amazing touring event,” stated Paul Alofs, president & CEO of The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. “As a long-time fan, to have Neil Peart select The Princess Margaret as his charity of choice is a real honour, and will help us in our mission to conquer cancer in our lifetime.”
The iconic hockey kit was created for Peart in DW’s custom shop in 2009 featuring airbrushed, lacquer graphics of 30 NHL logos and custom ice blue hardware. The kit was used in the recording of Peart’s recording of The Hockey Theme written by Dolores Clamen which was made available on iTunes with a portion of proceeds benefitting Hockey Fights Cancer and was also featured in the 2010 DVD “Fire on Ice: The Making of the Hockey Theme.”
The kit will make its final stop in Calgary, where it will permanently reside at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, and join over 2,000 artifacts in NMC’s collection, which represent the history of music technology and tell the story of music in Canada. Learn more at www.nmc.caSu’a Cravens isn’t able to bring down David Johnson in this Week 13 game against Arizona, and he might not be able to play in Week 17. (Norm Hall/Getty Images)
Washington Redskins rookie linebacker Su’a Cravens did not participate for the second straight practice on Thursday. He was spotted inside the Redskins’ indoor practice facility watching the secondary during individual drills, but Redskins Coach Jay Gruden on Wednesday that it’s “not looking good” for Cravens’s status in the regular-season finale against the New York Giants on Sunday.
Washington has described Cravens’s injury as an upper-arm issue, which he suffered in Week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He has missed the past two games as a result.
Along with Cravens, defensive end Chris Baker (ankle) and cornerback Quinton Dunbar (concussion) were held out for the second straight practice as well.
Tight end Jordan Reed (shoulder), running back Rob Kelley (knee), center Spencer Long (ankle) and wide receiver DeSean Jackson (jaw) were all active during individual drills. They were all listed on Wednesday’s injury report, although Jackson was the only player who was a full participant.
Safety Josh Evans, who signed on Wednesday after the Redskins placed Donte Whitner (quadriceps) on injured reserve, was active during the start of practice. Evans previously signed with Washington in October but appeared in just two games before he was released.
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Will these players earn a playoff game or play their last for Washington?
McAdoo intends to play his starters | Key Giants-Redskins matchups
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Follow: @MikeJonesWaPo | @lizclarketweet | @MasterTesAPPLETON, Wis. — Traffic fatalities appear to be decreasing in Wisconsin, in large part because of a drop in motorcyclists' deaths, traffic officials said.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation said 396 people had died in crashes as of Sept. 30 — 80 fewer than at the same time last year. In all, there were 601 traffic deaths in 2012, Post-Crescent Media reported (http://post.cr/GUVE85 ).
David Pabst, the DOT's director of the bureau of transportation safety, said the decrease in motorcycle deaths is a major reason for the overall decline in fatalities. According to statistics compiled Oct. 7, 72 motorcyclists had died in crashes this year, compared to 96 at that time last year. Four motorcycle passengers had died, down from 14 the year before.
"Clearly, our goal is zero deaths, but this is really encouraging to have (motorcycle-related deaths) drop so low," Pabst said.
He credited the decrease to good weather for riding and motorcyclists taking safety precautions. Three-fourths of the motorcyclists who died last year weren't wearing helmets, Pabst said.
Other factors contributing to the drop in deaths include better highway engineering, improved vehicle designs, driver education programs, and improvements in emergency response and crash-scene management, said Pabst and Wisconsin State Patrol Capt. Nick Scorcio.
"I think a lot of people now realize that speed kills and inattentive driving can kill you or somebody else," Scorcio said.Wake Up and Smell the Soaring Cost of Coffee
By Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network
LONDON– In recent days Arabica coffee beans – by far the most popular variety of coffee – have been fetching around $2 a pound (U.S.) on the world market. That’s nearly double the price of a year ago.
Smell the coffee while you can: Supplies could soon become scarcer and pricier.
Credit: Cookantean, Wikimedia Commons via Climate News Network
Several factors seem to be driving the market upwards: in Central America, a significant production area, an outbreak of a disease called leaf rust – believed to be linked to changes in climate – has severely damaged the crop.
A prolonged period of drought and some unseasonably cold weather in Vietnam – now the world’s second biggest coffee-producer – has cut back crop forecasts for Robusta |
item boxes,[104] and Mac Donald criticized the system for being unrealistic, as the boxes are "[magically]" interconnected and all items take the same amount of space when being carried, regardless of their size.[2] Furthermore, Mallinson and Mac Donald disapproved of certain puzzles, which they believed were out of place in a police station setting.[2][106] Sanchez thought that the puzzles were paced better than in the first game, but also found them less interesting and too easy for experienced players.[104] Sackenheim noted the game's brevity in his review, and remarked that the individual scenarios are not different enough to hold the interest of casual players until the end of the game.[93] He found the controls to be "easy to pick up and play", while Sanchez thought that aiming weapons was difficult.[93][104] Certain reviewers panned the voice acting, calling it "cheesy", "terrible" and "barbaric".
With the exception of the game's critically acclaimed Nintendo 64 port,[109][90] most later releases of Resident Evil 2 have received slightly lower scores than the PlayStation version. Weigand advised players who already owned Resident Evil 2 to rent the Dual Shock Ver. for the "Extreme Battle" minigame, and recommended that newcomers buy the updated edition instead of the original release.[101] The Windows port was praised for its additional content, but criticized for not allowing the player to save at will, and for lacking updated backgrounds to fit the higher in-game resolution. Eurogamer said the PC's total elimination of CD-ROM load times make the game "extremely fun and simple".[76] The Nintendo 64 version was widely commended for the technical achievement of fitting a two-disc game on a single 512-Mbit (64MB) cartridge. However, Taylor criticized this version for retaining scenes from the PlayStation version that were used to conceal loading times – a technical disadvantage of optical discs that cartridges do not share. A GamePro writer under the pseudonym "The Freshman" was impressed with the enhanced graphics of the Nintendo 64 port, but was disappointed by its heavily compressed CG FMVs.[110] GameSpot's Joe Fielder found the compression to be forgivable given the cartridge format, and noted that the new exclusive features made up for the lack of the "Extreme Battle" mode.[80] Eurogamer said the Nintendo 64's unique analog control "works supremely well to the point where it's borderline game-breaking".[76] IGN reviewer Matt Casamassina applauded the implementation of Dolby Surround support, and called the Nintendo 64 release the "best version of the game".[10] In 2018, Eurogamer called it "one of the most ambitious [and impressive] console ports of all time".[76]
The clearer sound effects of the Dreamcast port were received well by Game Revolution's Shawn Sparks, who also remarked that the character models look slightly sharper.[111] However, Steve Key of Computer And Video Games disliked the Dreamcast release's low-resolution backgrounds, which he thought made the characters stand out too much from the environments, and thus lessened the game's atmosphere.[112] GameSpot staff writer James Mielke did not believe that the Dreamcast port was "an essential purchase", but still called it a "great game" at an attractively low price.[66] The GameCube release was heavily criticized for its high price and dated graphics. However, "Four-Eyed Dragon" of GamePro noted its superior in-game visuals of any version of the game.[113] Davis and 1UP.com's Mark MacDonald were disappointed by the port's lack of features that were included in the Nintendo 64 release.[107][114] Peer Schneider of IGN found the 2.5D version for the Game.com to be frustrating and only "partially faithful" to the original release of Resident Evil 2. Although he believed that its graphics and sound effects managed to recreate the original game's atmosphere to a certain extent, he thought that its controls were too "sluggish" to allow for an enjoyable experience.[83]
Resident Evil 2 has been held in high regard in the years following its initial release, and was named the fourth best game on the PlayStation by Famitsu.[115] Electronic Gaming Monthly, IGN, Empire, Game Informer and Official UK PlayStation Magazine included it in their lists of the 100 best games of all time; it came in 62nd, 58th, 49th, 34th and sixth place, respectively. Readers of Retro Gamer voted Resident Evil 2 the 97th top retro game, with the staff noting that it was "considered by many to be the best in the long-running series".[116] GameTrailers ranked it fourth on a list of the games that most needed remakes.[117]
Sales [ edit ]
Resident Evil 2 was promoted with a US$5 million advertising campaign. In Italy, the game reached 100,000 pre-orders, worth over 12 billion lire (about more than 6.6 million dollars).[86] It became the fastest-selling video game in North America. On the weekend following its release, it sold 380,000 copies and grossed US$19 million. It therefore surpassed the revenue of all but one Hollywood movie at that time and broke previous sales records set by the video games Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario 64.[118] At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, it took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above €29 million in the European Union during the previous year.[119] With 4.96 million copies sold, the PlayStation version of Resident Evil 2 was a commercial success, and is the franchise's best-selling game on a single platform.[120] 810,000 copies of the Dual Shock Ver. were shipped by March 1999.[121]
Legacy [ edit ]
Resident Evil 2 was the basis for several licensed works and later games. Ted Adams and Kris Oprisko loosely adapted it into the comics "Raccoon City – R.I.P." and "A New Chapter of Evil", which were released in the first and second issues of Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine in March and June 1998.[122][123] The 60-issue Hong Kong comics Biohazard 2 was published weekly from February 1998 to April 1999.[124] A romantic comedy retelling of the game's story, centered on Leon, Claire and Ada, was released as the Taiwanese two-issue comic Èlíng Gǔbǎo II (lit. "Demon Castle II").[125][126] Resident Evil: City of the Dead, a 1999 book written by author S. D. Perry, is a more direct adaptation of the narrative, and is the third release in her series of Resident Evil novelizations, published by Pocket Books in 1999.[127]
The mobile game Resident Evil: Uprising contains a condensed version of the Resident Evil 2 story, adapted by Megan Swaine.[128][129] Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, an on-rails shooter released for the Wii in 2009, includes a scenario named "Memories of a Lost City", which reimagines the original Resident Evil 2 plot while retaining key scenes from the game's four scenarios.[130] In 2008, Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi, who had previously worked on the series as weapons designer and graphics animator, alluded to the possibility of a full-fledged remake.[131][132][133] Such a project had already been considered for the GameCube in 2002, but Mikami abandoned the idea as he did not want to delay the in-development Resident Evil 4.[134]
The story arcs introduced in Resident Evil 2 continue in drama albums and later game releases. Kyoko Sagiyama, Junichi Miyashita, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Noboru Sugimura, Hirohisa Soda and Kishiko Miyagi – screenwriters employed by Capcom's former scenario subsidiary Flagship – created two radio dramas, Chiisana Tōbōsha Sherry (lit. "The Little Runaway Sherry") and Ikiteita Onna Spy Ada ("The Female Spy Ada Lives"). The dramas were broadcast on Radio Osaka in early 1999, and later released by publisher Suleputer as two separate CDs, Biohazard 2 Drama Album.[135][136][137][138] Chiisana Tōbōsha Sherry begins shortly after the events of the game. Sherry is separated from Claire while fleeing from Umbrella soldiers sent to kill all witnesses of the viral outbreak. Raccoon City is burned down by the U.S. Government and Umbrella in an attempt to cover up the disaster. Sherry seeks refuge in the neighboring town of Stone Ville, and later escapes to Canada with the help of a girl named Meg, who vows to help her reunite with Claire.[135]
Ikiteita Onna Spy Ada is set a few days after Resident Evil 2, and deals with Ada's mission to retrieve Sherry's pendant with the G-virus sample, which is said to be in the possession of Hunk in the backstory of the drama album.[137] Ada intercepts the delivery of the locket in France, and kills Hunk and his men. As a consequence of an accidental T-virus leak in Loire Village, the destination of the delivery, Ada is forced to retreat to an old castle. Along with a unit of the French Air Force sent to burn down the village, she encounters Christine Henry, the Umbrella facility director who gave Hunk the order to deliver the G-virus to France.[137][139] Jacob, the leader of the airborne unit, is revealed to be Christine's co-conspirator. However, he plans to keep the G-virus sample for himself, and shoots her. Philippe, another member of the unit, convinces Ada to give him the pendant, after which he injects himself with the G-virus to give himself the power to stop Jacob. Ada escapes and realizes her feelings for Leon, deciding to quit the spy business and return to him.[137] The characters' story arcs are continued differently: Sherry is taken into custody by the U.S. Government immediately after the events of Resident Evil 2, and Ada keeps the pendant with the G-virus and resumes her activities as a spy.[140][141] Hunk successfully delivers a separate G-virus sample to Umbrella.[29]
Remake [ edit ]
In August 2015, Capcom announced that a remake of Resident Evil 2 was in development.[142] Capcom unveiled the game at E3 2018, with trailers and gameplay footage, and announced a worldwide release date of January 25, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows.[143][144] The game uses the RE Engine, which was also used for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard,[145] and replaces the tank controls and fixed camera angles with "over-the-shoulder" gameplay similar to Resident Evil 4.[146]
Notes [ edit ]A history of the conflated science of hydration and how consumers came to believe that "water is not enough."
[Toru Hanai/Reuters]
The British Medical Journal published a scathing investigation yesterday into the influence of the sports drink industry over academia, in the interest of marketing the science of hydration. The lengthy piece by Deborah Cohen documents how, over the past several decades, mandates regarding the necessity of hydrating during exercise entered the public consciousness to the point that they're now thought of as common sense. Here are some highlights:
The key players: Pepsico, which produces Gatorade, the Coca-Cola company, which owns Powerade (the official sports drink of the Olympics), and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which makes the British sports drink Lucozade.
Before the hype: The first New York marathon, in 1970, inspired a new interest in running. At the time, however, little scientific attention was played to the role of hydration in runners' performance. Throughout the 1970s, in fact, "marathon runners were discouraged from drinking fluids for fear that it would slow them down."
Undermining the body's signals: Cohen claims that one of the greatest accomplishments of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, established in 1985, was to convince the public that thirst is an unreliable indicator of dehydration. There is ample evidence of ways in which the experts who propagated this information were funded or "supported" by sports drinks companies, and while this in itself isn't necessarily wrong, she argues that researchers who have conflicts of interest are not objective enough to be writing guidelines, as is the case here. There is no good evidence to support the ideas, for example, that "Without realizing, you may not be drinking enough to restore your fluid balance after working out" (Powerade), or that urine color is a reliable indicator of the body's hydration levels.
A better alternative to water: The journal recounts that hyponotraemia -- a drop in one's serum sodium levels -- has a bad track record of causing illness and death in marathon runners, and that we know that drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia. But it then makes the point that sports drinks do not preclude hyponatremia and that there was an article in The New England Journal of Medicine that found no correlation between hyponatremia and the type of fluid consumed.
Starting young: Both GSK and Gatorade have developed school outreach programs that further the case for sports drink consumption during exercise. Though the Institute of Medicine says that, in children, "Thirst and consumption of beverages at meals are adequate to maintain hydration," studies either directly funded by or involving authors with financial ties to Gatorade make a major case for the need to promote hydration, claiming, for example, that "children are particularly likely to forget to drink unless reminded to do so."
Distinguishing between Olympic athletes and the rest of us: The European Food Safety Authority upheld the claims that sports drinks hydrate better than water and help maintain performance during endurance exercise -- but added that this did not apply to the ordinary, light exerciser. Says Tim Noakes, Discovery health chair of exercise and sports science at Cape Town University, "They are never going to study a person who trains for two hours per week, who walks most of the marathon -- which form the majority of users of sports drinks," and the majority of people at whom sports drinks marketing is aimed.
Flawed research: GSK was the only company that provided the BMJ with a list of studies attesting to the beneficial effects of sports drinks, which identified a number of major flaws in their methodology: small sample sizes, poorly designed research, data dredging, and other problematic practices. Upon analysis, the journal concludes that "only three (2.7%) of the studies the team was able to assess were judged to be of high quality and at low risk of bias." Scientists with links to the manufacturers of sports drinks have prominent editorial roles in key journals in sports medicine. Cohen suggests a link between this and that negative studies questioning the role of hydration are, according to sources, extremely difficult to get published in journals.
Harmful, not healthful: And, of course, there is the suggestion that sports drink consumption among children is contributing to growing obesity levels. Their association with hydration and athletics means they're not thought of as being unhealthy in the way that other sugary drinks, like soda, are (note that Mayor Bloomberg included sports drinks in his super-size ban). Several studies highlight consumer beliefs that sports drinks are healthy, even essential, showing just how far marketers have been able to push exercise science in the support of sports drinks.
Cohen concludes with an argument that dehydration has been overblown into the "dreaded disease of exercise," in yet another example of fear mongering for the sake of corporate interest.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Radar/Animaniacs
If you don't get the joke, try saying it out loud.
Yakko: It's that time again!
Dot: To make a cheese sandwich?
Wakko: To make the FOX censors cry?
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To say that Animaniacs got crap past the radar would be like saying Florida gets a bit damp during hurricane season. The way this show contended with censors over content was more like total war, with the radar hopelessly outmatched. Though there were times where the censors won, like when they toned down the violence against Sam Fondlesome/Dan Anchorman on "Broadcast Nuisance"note fortunately, overseas cuts of "Broadcast Nuisance" have it the way it was originally intended and banned the sexually-charged Minerva Mink cartoons, it should be noted that these were Pyrrhic victories and didn't affect the overall outcome of the war.
Backed by Steven Spielberg (who, at that time, was the 500-pound gorilla in the animation world) and Warner Bros.' decades-long belief that the idea of cartoons being strictly for children was for other studios, the writing staff considered it a day wasted when they didn't push the envelope and get at least one Parental Bonus or risque Late to the Punchline moment into the show. The material was snappy, the joke-writing knew how to entertain young and old alike, and Censor Decoys were deployed in a Zerg Rush. Even the staff members at the time were amazed at what they got away with...and the fans who grew up with this show in the 1990s are as well. Besides this list, there are many online articles and videos dedicated to showing all the jokes that viewers understand now that they didn't when they were younger.
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General rule of thumb when watching (or rewatching) this show: If any of the characters (Yakko especially) says, "Good night, everybody" after a particularly dubious line, it means, "We got one over on the censors...again!"Announcing a new exclusive physical reward available to all Battle Pass owners who reach Battle Level 2000, the Collector’s Baby Roshan statue! Additionally, as a way to show off your achievement in-game, all Level 2000 players will have a custom version of Roshan replace his default form.
To claim your 8.5cm x 9cm, nickel silver-finished Baby Roshan at Level 2000, please ensure that you have visited the Collector’s Aegis registration site to provide your shipping and contact information for the Level 1000 Reward. You will need to use your Steam account credentials in order to access the site, and the same shipping information will be used to send both the Collector’s Aegis and Collector’s Baby Roshan.
If you have a Level 2000 Battle Pass and previously registered for this year’s Level 1000 reward, you’re already set.
Deliveries are limited to one statue per registered account and will begin this fall. Registration is required to receive your Baby Roshan, so make sure to sign up before August 25th. Once registration closes, enrolled players will be contacted with more information regarding shipment and customer support.
Please note that all communication regarding your shipment will be sent to the email address you provide during registration, so make sure to provide accurate shipping and contact information.
Like the in-game Aegis effect, the custom in-game Roshan will expire on May 1, 2018.Bytecode Viewer is an Advanced Lightweight Java Bytecode Viewer, GUI Java Decompiler, GUI Bytecode Editor, GUI Smali, GUI Baksmali, GUI APK Editor, GUI Dex Editor, GUI APK Decompiler, GUI DEX Decompiler, GUI Procyon Java Decompiler, GUI Krakatau, GUI CFR Java Decompiler, GUI FernFlower Java Decompiler, GUI DEX2Jar, GUI Jar2DEX, GUI Jar-Jar, Hex Viewer, Code Searcher, Debugger and more.
It’s written completely in Java, and it’s open sourced. It’s currently being maintained and developed by Konloch.
There is also a plugin system that will allow you to interact with the loaded classfiles, for example you can write a String deobfuscator, a malicious code searcher, or something else you can think of.
You can either use one of the pre-written plugins, or write your own. It supports groovy scripting. Once a plugin is activated, it will execute the plugin with a ClassNode ArrayList of every single class loaded in BCV, this allows the user to handle it completely using ASM.
Code from various projects has been used, including but not limited to:
J-RET by WaterWolf
JHexPane by Sam Koivu
RSynaxPane by Robert Futrell
Commons IO by Apache
ASM by OW2
FernFlower by Stiver
Procyon by Mstrobel
CFR by Lee Benfield
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Dex2Jar by pxb1..?
Krakatau by Storyyeller
JD GUI/JD Core by The Java-Decompiler Team
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via Smali/Baksmali integration. Java Decompiling with five different decompilers (DJ-GUI/Core, Procyon, CFR, Fernflower and Krakatau).
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Like this: Like Loading...Wichita will become one of the largest cities in the country to outfit every police officer on the force with body cameras, Interim Police Chief Nelson Mosley said Wednesday.
The department is adding 450 cameras to the 60 already deployed, Mosley said. The body cameras will be fully implemented by the end of 2015 and will cost an estimated $1.5 million.
That money will come from the existing city budget, officials said. They will look at what changes can be made in existing programs to generate the needed revenue.
“We don’t have $1.5 million sitting in reserve that we can revert to cameras,” City Manager Robert Layton said.
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“Everything’s on the table right now” as a potential funding source, he said.
The update on body cameras came during a status report Wednesday by police and city officials and community leaders as a follow-up to the community forum held Aug. 28 at East High School. That meeting was organized in response to protests that followed a police officer’s shooting of an unarmed black teen in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9.
Over the course of that August meeting, which was called #NoFergusonHere, participants questioned police procedures on officer-involved shootings, urged the education and mentoring of young black men about how to respond to officers, questioned hiring practices within the department, and called for both the community and the police to be accountable for improving relations.
“Our people and our community were taking advantage of the opportunity to come together,” Junius Dotson, pastor of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, said Wednesday.
Mosley said it will take about a year to fully implement outfitting all officers with body cameras because so many other police departments are ordering cameras as well. Additional staff will need to be hired to manage the video from the cameras, Mosley said, and clear policies on operating the cameras will need to be in place.
Wichita police will be using face-level cameras displaying “what the officers are viewing,” Mosley said.
Phoenix and San Diego are the only larger cities in the U.S. that deploy body mounted cameras on their officers, Capt. Doug Nolte said.
The Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents Wichita officers, detectives and sergeants, issued a statement supporting the implementation of cameras.
“Body cameras are a silent witness to the interaction between officers and residents,” union president Paul Zamorano said. “They would help protect the public from police misconduct and protect the officers from false allegations, while also providing invaluable information when there are conflicting accounts of an officer’s actions during the call.”
Wednesday’s briefing was to let Wichita residents know that the August meeting was not a one-time event, officials said.
“This is a progress report,” Layton said.
A series of meetings involving community leaders have been held since that community forum in August. Kenya Cox, president of the Wichita Branch NAACP, said those meetings have been positive.
“There has been a breach in trust and confidence that our community has had with our police department,” Cox said.
Other officials expressed enthusiasm for what has been happening since the community forum was held.
“I’m excited to see where we can take Wichita,” City Council member Lavonta Williams said.
Among the changes being made by police officials are additional training for officers so they’re better able to interact with residents who have mental health issues. Every officer will be given Mental Health First Aid training, in partnership with Comcare of Sedgwick County and the Sedgwick County Crisis Intervention Team Council.
“We’re also exploring other avenues for this type of training,” Mosley said. “We continue to believe mental health training in our department is valuable.”
Only 89 of the department’s 617 officers and supervisors are trained and certified in crisis intervention, according to statistics provided by city officials.
More than one recent shooting by Wichita police has involved victims with mental health issues, including former serviceman Icarus Randolph, who was fatally wounded July 4. Randolph, 26, was a Marine veteran who had served in Iraq and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, his family says.
One message that emerged from the meeting in August was to improve communication with relatives of people involved in police shootings.
“We have done a better job” communicating with families since then, Mosley said.
Jeffrey Holden Jr., 18, was fatally wounded in a shootout with police late last month after the police say he opened fire on an officer in west Wichita. Police officials released more information more quickly about the incident than was done in past officer-involved shootings.
“We’re trying to … be as transparent and open as possible,” Mosley said.
The City Manager’s Review Board will be replaced by an independent review board, and officials said input is still being gathered on how that board should be comprised. That work is part of the organizational assessment of the police department now under way, Layton said.
One thing that will not change, Mosley said, is the department’s commitment to community policing.
“What we want to do is renew and refocus our efforts,” Mosley said. “The main function of community policing is the community and police working together.”
Another community meeting will be held before the end of the year – likely shortly after Thanksgiving, Layton said – so that input from that meeting can be factored into the final organizational review, which is due Dec. 31. So far, he said, that assessment is proceeding on course.For 300 years, in European and other Western countries, black tea has claimed the majority of the market. Recognizing this, in the 1870s, Japan began an aggressive campaign to develop black tea production capabilities. Involving hundreds of people, from farmers to traders and even political officials, the Japanese government sponsored an envoy of tea representatives to visit other black tea-producing countries. The lead figure was a tea planter named Mr. Motokichi Tada, who, from 1875-1877, visited India and China with the goal of acquiring the knowledge necessary for Japan to compete in the international black tea marketplace. He gained insights into production methods and techniques, as well as manufacturing knowledge, bringing back seedlings, machines, and books from his travels. Although black tea production was undertaken, unfortunately, the Japanese black teas were not fully able to compete with those from other producing countries, both in terms of quality and pricing.
In the 1920s, Japanese tea companies produced black teas in occupied Taiwan and packaged them in Japan for sale on the export market. After World War II, with bans on importing overseas black teas, Japan again attempted to produce black teas for both the domestic and export markets. New hybrid varietals were developed and at its peak in 1955, Japan produced around 8,525 tons of black tea. However, import restrictions were gradually relaxed and in the 1970s, black tea production was essentially halted, farmers preferring to produce the green teas that they could reliably sell. In 1975, Japan only produced three tons of black tea.
Over the past two decades, consumption of traditional green teas has been declining and demand for new types of teas and tea-based beverages has been on the rise. From the specialty tea segment, fine black and oolong teas from China have developed a growing audience. Naturally, tea farmers and suppliers don’t want to loose sales and have realized that they need to supplement their traditional product selections and add something new and exciting to entice younger tea drinkers. One of the biggest competitors to leaf teas is the seemingly limitless variety of ready-to-drink products. These come in glass or plastic bottles and are also served a cup at a time at the ubiquitous vending machines. These and other reasons have triggered a renewed interest in producing black teas in Japan.
The conversion is taking place in many of the key tea-producing places, including Shizuoka, Okinawa, Kagoshima, Ohita, Saga, Kumamoto, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, and others. Interestingly, many Japanese tea plant varietals have been bred that offer lower tannin contents. Varietals such as Yabukita, Sayamakaori, Saemidori, Asahi, and Goko are used to produce well-known teas such as Sen Cha, Ten Cha, and Gyokuro (especially prized for its umami flavor, triggered by shading the bushes for three weeks before plucking). Some specialized hybrids have been developed using the assamica varietal, such as Benifuki and Benihomare, which are used especially for black tea. These do have a bit more tannin.
Shin Cha, or “New Tea,” is made from the first flush of leaves in the Spring. These leaves are prized and earn the highest prices. Though there have been some black teas made using these tender young leaves, in general, leaves from the second flush season are used for making black tea.
Production volumes are estimated at 50-80 tons, but admittedly, the Japanese black teas, or wakocha, are still in the refinement stage of development. The goal is to produce a more familiar flavor, but at the same time take advantage of the unique aspects of the Japanese leaves. As producers perfect their craft, and as drinkers of fine teas have the chance to try and understand these teas, it is no doubt that at last, Japanese black teas will compete with those from the well-known sources.
Photo of black tea in tins by Tomoko Sasaki. Others by Dan Robertson.
Sources:
1. Interview with Tomoko Sasaki – lover and student of tea
2. “Japan’s black tea market,” David Araki, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, November 1, 1997.Global blockbuster “Wonder Woman,” already banned in Lebanon, has been pulled from a film festival in Algiers, the capital of Algeria.
The superhero movie was due to play in Algiers on Sunday during the second edition of Nuits du Cinéma, a festival jointly organized by film distribution company MD Cine and cultural organization Arts et Culture d’Alger to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. But the film was abruptly removed from the lineup.
The sudden change prompted local journalists to speculate that the film had been yanked because “Wonder Woman’s” lead actress, Gal Gadot, is Israeli. Lebanon banned the film last week under pressure from groups opposed to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.
But Amine Idjer, head of press at MD Cine, told Agence France-Presse that “Wonder Woman” was pulled because of “administrative issues linked to exhibition rights.” He said the film would be added back to the lineup once those issues were resolved.
A petition to boycott the film in Algeria called “Non! Pas en Algeria” (“No! Not in Algeria”) was launched last week after Lebanon’s ban was announced. It called for a similar ban in Algeria on the grounds that Gadot had publicly praised Israel’s military actions during the 2014 war in Gaza.
The festival venue, Théâtre de verdure Laâdi Flici, is a large open-air auditorium. It’s unknown whether the film will roll out elsewhere in the country. MD Cinema, Arts et Culture d’Alger, and the Algerian ministry of culture were not immediately reachable for comment.
“Wonder Woman” was banned last Wednesday in Lebanon about two hours before the film was scheduled to screen. The film is still expected to open this week in other Arab countries – notably, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and the Arab Emirates.The Luxembourg Parliament has adopted a draft law on the exploration and use of space resources, making the Grand Duchy the first European country to offer an official framework for private investors and operators.
Coming into force on August 1, it acts as a legal and regulatory framework which ensures private operators ownership of the resources they extract from space and establishes procedures for authorising and supervising space exploration missions.
The legal framework represents a key action within a wider strategy implemented by the Luxembourg government through its SpaceResources.lu initiative which seeks to support the long-term economic development of new and innovative activities in the space industry.
"Luxembourg is the first adopter in Europe of a legal and regulatory framework recognising that space resources are capable of being owned by private companies," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider, said in a statement.
He said the legal framework is "part of the expertise ecosystem and the business-friendly, innovation-nurturing environment" which Luxembourg offers space industry companies.
"By adopting almost unanimously the respective draft law, the Luxembourg Parliament confirmed the strong political cross-party and national commitment to the SpaceResources.lu initiative," he said.
The new law does not apply to satellite communications, orbital positions or the use of frequency bands.
Luxembourg authorities are already supporting the research and development projects of a number of leading players in the space mining industry that have set up their European operations in Luxembourg.
(Roxana Mironescu and Heledd Pritchard roxana.mironescu@wort.lu, +325 49 93 748, heledd.pritchard@wort.lu, +352 49 93 459)On the December 28th Your World, guest host Eric Bolling complained that Republicans are always getting tarred as obstructionists while the Democrats seem to get a free pass." To debate the "issue," he brought on Democratic strategist Mark Hannah and conservative Michelle Fields. Hannah urged a "balanced approach" while Fields sneered that we've already gone over the fiscal cliff so we just allow the deadline to expire. Predictably, the irony was lost on Bolling.
Hannah said, "President Obama has presided over the lowest tax rates in modern history, in decades and decades. What's happening right now is we're trying to roll back those taxes for people making over $250,000 a year. What John Boehner is doing by passively sort of letting us go off the fiscal cliff is he's raising every Americans income taxes in about a week from now by not being able to negotiate with the White House... He can't even get his own party to back his own Republican proposal."
Fields said, "We are not on the verge of going over the fiscal cliff. We already have gone over the fiscal cliff... Look how bloated our government is. We're $16 trillion in debt. Something needs to be done.This year we're going to spend $165 billion more than we received in Social Security. Three dollars we're going to spend for every one dollar we received in Social Security, in Medicare."
Hannah said, "...We need a balanced approach... We've cut spending by $1.5 trillion last year alone."
Not good enough for Fields. She said, "You all want to do is take money from the private sector and give it to a bunch of bureaucrats to waste. No, let the money stay in the private sector. Don't raise taxes when we have a very slow economy right now."
Hannah asked, "Why are you telling me that, though? Tell John Boehner not to raise taxes. John Boehner's gonna raise taxes on all of us next week... We shouldn't be debating this right now. Congress should be debating this because tax bills, as you all know, have to start, the Constitution says in the House of Representatives. The fact that the White House is negotiating with the Senate right now, is a little bit surreal and a little bit ridiculous."
Finally, Fields said, "I think we ought to just go over the fiscal cliff... If there's no real entitlement reform, there's nothing we can do."
According to Fidelity.com, going over the cliff could mean as much as 4-5% of GDP. Fields just admitted she doesn't want to compromise. Who's being obstructionist here?The Green Bay Packers joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1921, two years after their original founding by Curly Lambeau.[1] They participated in the first ever NFL draft in 1936 and selected Russ Letlow, a guard from the University of San Francisco. The team's most recent first round selection was Jaire Alexander, a cornerback from Louisville in the 2018 NFL Draft. The Packers have selected the number one overall pick in the draft twice, choosing future Hall of Fame halfback Paul Hornung in 1957 and quarterback Randy Duncan in 1959. They have also selected the second overall pick three times and the third overall pick once. The team's eight selections from the University of Minnesota are the most chosen by the Packers from one university.
Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft officially known as "the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" but more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made |
request contained $1.6121 trillion in outlays, of which $549.0 billion were discretionary and $1,063.2 billion were mandatory.[27]
The enacted budget contained $1.5603 trillion in outlays, of which $534.4 billion were discretionary and $1,026.0 billion were mandatory.[28]
Outlays by budget function: (in millions)
Function Title Actual 050 National Defense $265,748 150 International Affairs $13,487 250 General Science, Space and Technology $16,684 270 Energy $2,839 300 Natural Resources and Environment $21,503 350 Agriculture $9,035 370 Commerce and Housing Credit $-10,478 400 Transportation $39,565 450 Community and Regional Development $10,741 500 Education, Training, Employment and Social Services $48,311 550 Health $119,365 570 Medicare $174,225 600 Income Security $229,746 650 Social Security $349,671 700 Veterans Benefits and Services $36,956 750 Administration of Justice $17,898 800 General Government $11,755 900 Net Interest $241,053 920 Allowances $- 950 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts $-37,620 Total $1,560,484
The proposed budget contained an estimated deficit of $196.7 billion and the estimated deficit for enacted legislation was $107.3 billion.
The actual deficit for the fiscal year was $107.4 billion (1.3% of GDP).
References [ edit ]After World War II, with the Soviet Union a serious threat from abroad and a growing domestic concern about weakened civilian control over the military, President Truman set out to create a separate national security structure.
It has long been the province of conspiracy theorists to claim that the real power of government is not wielded by the obvious practitioners of statecraft — presidents, members of Congress, the judiciary — but by secret or semi-secret entities, real wizards whose hidden machinations send us to war, sell us out to enemies, siphon public treasure into private hands. Depending on your talk show or paranoia of choice, these are the bankers, oil barons, one-worlders, war profiteers, Bilderbergers, Masons, Catholics, Jews, or Trilateralists. Our formal institutions, in this scenario, are stage sets, Potemkin villages; our officials are puppets; we are an unsuspecting audience.
Michael Glennon, a respected academic (Tufts’s FLETCHER SCHOOL) and author of a book brought to us by an equally respected publisher (Oxford University Press), is hardly the sort to indulge in such fantasies. And that makes the picture he paints in “National Security and Double Government” all the more arresting. Considering Barack Obama’s harsh pre-election criticisms of his predecessor’s surveillance policies, for example, Glennon notes that many of those same policies — and more of the same kind — were continued after Obama took office. “Why,” he asks, “does national security policy remain constant even when one President is replaced by another, who as a candidate repeatedly, forcefully, and eloquently promised fundamental changes in that policy?”
The answer Glennon places before us is not reassuring: “a bifurcated system — a structure of double government — in which even the President now exercises little substantive control over the overall direction of US national security policy.” The result, he writes, is a system of dual institutions that have evolved “toward greater centralization, less accountability, and emergent autocracy.”
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If this were a movie, it would soon become clear that some evil force, bent on consolidating power and undermining democratic governance, has surreptitiously tunneled into the under-structure of the nation. Not so. In fact, Glennon observes, this hyper-secret and difficult-to-control network arose in part as an attempt to head off just such an outcome. In the aftermath of World War II, with the Soviet Union a serious threat from abroad and a growing domestic concern about weakened civilian control over the military (in 1949, the Hoover Commission had warned that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had become “virtually a law unto themselves”), President Truman set out to create a separate national security structure.
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By 2011, according to The Washington Post, there were 46 separate federal departments and agencies and 2,000 private companies engaged in classified national security operations with millions of employees and spending of roughly a trillion dollars a year. As Glennon points out, presidents get to name fewer than 250 political appointees among the Defense Department’s nearly 700,000 civilian employees, with hundreds more drawn from a national security bureaucracy that comprise “America’s Trumanite network” — in effect, on matters of national security, a second government.
Glennon’s book is not a breezy read: It’s thick with fact and not unappreciative of conundrum (“The government is seen increasingly by elements of the public as hiding what they ought to know, criminalizing what they ought to be able to do, and spying upon what ought to be private. The people are seen increasingly by the government as unable to comprehend the gravity of security threats.”). Nor is he glib with proposed solutions: to adequately respond to the threats posed by a below-the-radar second government will require “a general public possessed of civic virtue,” which prompts Glennon to cite retired Supreme Court justice David Souter’s bemoaning of a “pervasive civic ignorance.” Not all of the problem can be laid at Truman’s feet. And if we ourselves are part of the zeitgeist that allows invisible governments to flourish, repair will be difficult. As Glennon puts it, “the term Orwellian will have little meaning to a people who have never known anything different, who have scant knowledge of history, civics, or public affairs, and who in any event have never heard of George Orwell.”
This is no secret conspiracy nor a plot to deprive Americans of their civil liberties. It is the unintended consequence of a thoughtful attempt to head off the very threats that those attempts have inadvertently created. But if Glennon’s book is enlightening it is also scary. And it’s not fiction.
Mickey Edwards, who served in Congress from 1977 to 1993, is the author of “The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats Into Americans.”Donald Trump. AP/Charles Rex Arbogast With income inequality at its worst in the US since the 1920s and President Barack Obama calling widening income inequality the "defining challenge of our time," there has been an expansive push to address the issue.
In a new report, Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality: A Global Perspective, the IMF aims to show why policymakers need to focus more on the poor and the middle class. The report determined that income inequality and income distribution matter for growth and its sustainability in a country.
To blame for the rising inequalities are a few different factors, which differ whether in emerging markets or developed economies. Technological progress that led to higher salaries and resulted in some labor market declines, is a big factor in both types of economies and globalization has also reinforced the trend.
It also found that when the income share of the top 20% increases, the country's GDP declines over the medium term. On the other hand, GDP growth is associated with income increase among the poorest 20% of the population.
Yet globally, the top 1% has experienced the largest gains, according to the report. That group now accounts for about 10% of total income in developed economies, while poverty has increased in those countries. And while it is hard to find exact percentages for emerging markets, the little data available indicates that the top incomes have risen in China — where more than one-third of the country's wealth is concentrated in the top 1% — and in India.
One of the reasons for this phenomenon: Corporate profits often translate into extremely high executive salaries, in both advanced and large emerging economies.
A man looks at his phone as he walks out of the courthouse past a man arranging his bags in Los Angeles, California July 8, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Yet despite the fact that the top 1% got richer everywhere, poverty in emerging countries has been declining and poverty in advanced countries has largely risen. When using the method of comparing the earnings of the 90th percentile to the earning of the 10th percentile, inequality grew most in the US and the UK.
The report also distinguishes between inequality of outcomes and inequality of opportunities. To determine inequality of outcomes, it looked mostly at wealth and income disparities. And to determine inequality of opportunities it looked at health, education, and human-development outcomes by income group, and assessed access to those basic services and opportunities.
The report found that inequality in health outcomes was much more present in the emerging economies compared to advanced ones, but that inequality in healthcare access was more widespread in developed countries.
The report then assess that, no matter whether in emerging or developed economies, better social policies, which include access to education and health and make sure that the poor have a certain level of protection vis-a-vis labor market institutions.It is rare to do an interview with somebody who has so many credentials in the field of general awesome as Naziyah Mahmood. She is an astrophysicist and aerospace engineer who has lectured about black holes and worked with ESA, the European Space Agency. The projects she worked on include CryoSat 2 and ESMO.
On top of that, she is a martial arts expert with an impressive collection of weapons (as you will find out), a general geek and pure and simply a great person to have a chat with.
We talked about science, languages, martial arts, poetry, philosophy, religion, being geek (including fashion choices) and several tangents are in there as well. And before I forget: You will also find out the story behind the Ninjabis!
Please enjoy and check out her homepage and Facebook presence.
Also, here are the official websites for CryoSat 2 and ESMO for you to take a look and educate yourselves.It’s amazing how quickly time flies in the world of football. It feels like just yesterday that Arian Foster was bursting onto the scene, announcing his presence with authority in the 2010 season opener against the Indianapolis Colts with over 200 yards rushing. Now, here we are, seven seasons later, and after a pile of 100-yard games, a sea of red zone greatness, and more than his fair share of fits and starts from soft-tissue injuries, Foster announced his retirement earlier this week at the age of 30.
After being cut by the Texans this past spring, Foster signed a one-year deal with the Miami Dolphins, and despite working like a maniac to recover from the Achilles tear that essentially ended his Texans career, Foster was fighting more leg injuries as a Dolphin. Rehab, even just one more time, was not something Foster felt like dealing with anymore. He’s made a ton of money and has aspirations for life beyond football.
So thus ends the career of one of the more interesting, polarizing personalities in the NFL over the last decade. If you’re asking me to summarize the legacy of Arian Foster in a few bullet points, these things immediately come to mind:
Foster is the no brainer, historical lock as the third greatest Houston Texan of all time, behind J.J. Watt and Andre Johnson (in that order). In each of the four seasons where he rushed for over 1,200 yards, Foster went to the Pro Bowl, and he led the NFL in rushing touchdowns twice (2010, 2012). And for all of Johnson’s greatness, no Texan player has had a better season offensively than Foster’s breakout year in 2010, when he led the league in yards from scrimmage (2,220) and touchdowns (18).
Foster had a smooth running style that kept him from taking a ton of big hits. He wasn’t the fastest guy on the field, yet would, at times, run away from defenders. He wasn’t the biggest back, but had a knack for breaking tackles. If Foster wanted to change his body type a little bit, he probably could have played wide receiver at a high level. Despite being a running back, he had the second best set of “wide receiver tools” on the team for most of his tenure here, behind Johnson (and eventually DeAndre Hopkins). He was a great all-purpose back.
Injuries probably make Foster one of the biggest “what-if” players of the 2000’s. On a per-game basis, it’s harder to find two or three better running backs than Foster over that time period:
Arian Foster | NFL Ranks
Since 2010 Scrimmage YPG: 1st
Scrimmage TD: T-1st
Rush YPG: 2nd
100-yd rush games: 1st ▶️ https://t.co/08qLXpJNJl pic.twitter.com/d6X8Cq3cOD — NFL Network (@nflnetwork) October 26, 2016
Assuming health, if you could pick a running back for one game to ride to a win, in this millennium, I’d say Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson might be the only two I’d take ahead of Foster. Unfortunately, health was a major issue for Foster, and probably a big reason he went undrafted, quite honestly, in 2009. From hamstring (2011) to back (2013) to groin (2015) and eventually Achilles (2015), Foster spent many an early morning at his brother Abdul’s gym rehabbing injuries.
You can’t discuss Foster in totality without bringing up his personality, which was a unique combination of quirky humor, original thought, defiance, and at times, truculence. The same guy who would cry at the press conference for his new $43 million contract …
… would also jerk with the media and give the now famous “I’m just trying to be the best teammate I can be” as every answer in a media session….
Suffice it to say, there will only ever be one Arian Foster.
So let’s go back and relive some of the magic on the field. Here are the top 10 performances, in one man’s opinion, of Arian Foster’s career:
10. Week 17, 2009 vs NEW ENGLAND (1/3/2010)
Many NFL fans don’t realize that Arian Foster’s first real Foster-esque performance came in Week 17 of his 2009 rookie season against the New England Patriots, when an unknown “practice squad guy” rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-27 win to help the Texans finish the season at 9-7. That performance is so off-the-radar that I couldn’t find any YouTube highlights. It’s like a dark match at a WWE pay per view for a guy who eventually became WWE champion. The video no longer exists! (Or we will have to wait for Bob McNair to launch the Texans Network online — for just $9.99 per month!! — to see it.)
9. Weeks 5 thru 8, 2014 season
Unlike the 2010, 2011, and 2012 seasons, where Foster’s performances had so much context because he was either brand new to the superstar scene in the NFL (2010) or the Texans were actually good (2011, 2012), it’s hard to find signature games in 2014 for Foster. The Texans were largely a.500 team all season that finished out of the playoff race. So since that was Foster’s last healthy, truly great season, we will give 2014 it’s own bullet point, and focus on Weeks 5 through 8, a stretch where Foster went over 100 yards for four straight weeks. 2014, for Foster, unto itself, was one large highlight as he made it all the way back from back surgery the prior season.
8. Week 4, 2010 at OAKLAND (10/3/2010)
In this game, a 31-24 Texans’ win, Foster had 133 yards on just 17 carries, and had touchdowns rushing and receiving. However, this game will probably be remembered for Foster’s not starting because he was late to a team meeting. Thus, he didn’t get his first touch of the game until there were about six minutes to go in the first half. Needless to say, he made up for lost time.
7. Week 4, 2011 vs PITTSBURGH (10/2/2011)
This is another game that, oddly, I couldn’t find an embedable video for (but NFL has the highlights on their site, so you can Watch Here), but this was Foster’s first game back at full health after the troubling hamstring injury that sidelined him to begin the 2011 season. (He’d played a few snaps in Week 2, but bowed out of that game against Miami.) In this game, Foster rushed 30 times for 155 yards, including a 42 yard TD run. I’ll most remember this game for the 11 minute TD drive to start the game for the Texans, a drive in which Foster carried the ball a whopping 10 times!
6. Wild Card Round, 2012 Playoffs vs CINCINNATI (1/5/2013)
Because he never played for any truly great teams, somewhat lost in the shuffle of Foster’s career is the fact that, when he did play in the postseason, he was excellent. This was the Texans’ one win in the 2012 postseason, a 19-13 win over the Bengals in which Foster carried 32 times for 140 yards and a touchdown.
5. Week 10, 2012 at CHICAGO (11/11/2012)
If you’re looking for a high point of the Kubiak/Schaub regime in Houston, it was probably this game, a rainy Sunday night in Chicago in a battle of 7-1 teams. The final score was 13-6, and the conditions were awful, but Foster still found a way to be great, carrying the rock 29 times for 102 yards, and scoring the game’s only touchdown on a spectacular diving catch the goal line (fast forward to 1:05 of the above video for that play).
4. Week 7, 2011 at TENNESSEE (10/23/2011)
Showing his versatility, in 2011 Foster actually had three 100 yard RECEIVING games. Perhaps the best of those three was this Week 7 effort against the Titans, in which Foster went over 100 yards rushing AND receiving in a 41-7 blowout. From a team standpoint, the Texans were 3-3 heading into this game, and this effort launched a seven game winning streak.
3. Divisional Round, 2011 Playoffs at BALTIMORE (1/15/2012)
Although in a loss, you could argue that the two best players on the field in the Texans’ 20-13 playoff loss to the Ravens were indeed on the Texans — then-rookie DE J.J. Watt (2.5 sacks) and Foster. In a road game against a ferocious defense with a turnover-prone rookie as his QB, Foster still managed 132 yards on 27 carries. Also, fast forward to the 2:00 mark of the video for a ground level view of a superb one handed catch Foster makes look easy.
2. Wild Card Round, 2011 Playoffs vs CINCINNATI (1/7/2012)
No doubt, Foster’s best post season performance was his first, a 153 yard, two touchdown effort that made Bengals safety Chris Crocker cry like…. well, like Chris Crocker….
(Warning Adult Language)
1. Week 1, 2010 vs INDIANAPOLIS (9/12/2010)
Foster’s “real” debut (not including his slew of 2009 dark matches) was his best performance, 33 carries for 231 yards and three touchdowns against Peyton Manning and the Colts to begin the 2010 season. This game set the unofficial record for the number of fantasy football players sprinting to their computers after the game to make a waiver wire pickup (only to find out that smart owners drafted Foster in like the eighth round…. and laughed all the way to a fantasy title that year).
Namaste, Arian!
Listen to Sean Pendergast on “The Triple Threat” 2-6 p.m. weekdays. Follow him on Twitter @SeanTPendergast, and Like him on Facebook here.OLYMPIA, WA – (club release) The Oly Town Artesians celebrate the holiday weekend by kicking off their 2015-2016 season with a road game on Saturday night against Sporting Everett FC. After a playoff appearance in their inaugural season in the Western Indoor Soccer League, the Artesians feature a new head coach, Matt Stalnik, and return their two top scorers and a solid backline for their second season.
Willie Spurr and Greg Wolfe combined to score 19 goals last season and are back in the starting lineup. Spurr just wrapped up his senior season at The Evergreen State College and was named first team all-conference for the fourth straight season, the only Geoduck in program history to earn first team honors all four years. Wolfe, a graduate of Evergreen, was named the Artesians’ All-Around Player of the Year last season and is the only player to have appeared in every game for Oly Town.
Tom Kemennu, the Artesians Defensive Player of the Year, and Brady Espinoza return to the backline and will be joined by local indoor veteran Brett Stallworth. A graduate of Elmhurt College, Stallworth spent the last few seasons with the South Sound Shock of the Premier Arena Soccer League. Stallworth is joined by another former Shock player in his first season with Oly Town. Shelton native Jake Sanford brings experience and intelligence to the midfield.
Other returners include midfielder Kyle Wiese, post Justin La Torre, a four goal scorer last season, and Brendan Rosgen, an assistant coach who missed last season while recovering from an injury. Rosgen scored two goals in the preseason tournament on Halloween in Bellingham.
Goalkeeping duties will be handled by a pair of newcomers, 19 year old Olympia High School graduate Evan Munn and Lacey’s Melvin Blacketer.
Sporting Everett enters the game at 1-0-0 after upsetting the Tacoma Stars Reserves 6-5 in week one. Lupe Rodriguez was named WISL Player of the Week for his hat trick for Everett last Saturday night.
Follow Saturday night’s game and the entire season by visiting olytownfc.com, follow us on Twitter (@OlyTownFC), or like us on Facebook. The Artesians kick off their home slate on December 19th against the Tacoma Stars Reserves.There is nowhere better to address the disconnect between consumerism and happiness than at South By Southwest. For twenty years the interactive portion of the festival has been a launchpad for products and services that do something new and interesting: the most visible winners have been Twitter and MakerBot, both products that used the intense concentration of young, open-minded geeks to propel their products into viral stardom. But being on the ground in Austin doesn’t feel like a launchpad for great ideas anymore. It feels like a playground for tired ideas tweaked slightly and marketed into the ground. At all of the trade shows I go to, the looming question above all new products, no matter how cool or terrible they are, is “Who needs any of this shit?” I mean, really: I never, ever, ever want to hear about an app with a name like Vendly, Foodzy, or Plotter again, or find out about a product that will revolutionize the way I watch TV / talk to my pets / share moments with friends. No matter how interesting or well-intentioned their goal, I can be quite certain that its impact on my life will never be as important as Yahoo! was. Or Friendster.
Being on the ground in Austin doesn’t feel like a launchpad for great ideas anymore
The most interesting part of Daedone's talk was when she addressed this very issue, which is at its core about happiness. What is happiness? Traditionally it has been associated directly with homeostasis: that is, when one transitions from one state (like being very cold) to a more pleasurable state (being nice and toasty), we get happy, and we associate the vehicle of that change (a down jacket or a space heater) with the happiness. The problem with this model is that it produces diminishing returns in the long run. It’s most easily seen in overconsumption: on drinking a single beer, the euphoria and whatever else that comes with being tipsy is at its highest. The second beer, while it’s still great, isn’t as good as that first one was. And so on. By the time you’ve jammed through a twelve-pack, the liquid itself is almost meaningless to your brain and the bottle becomes little more than a prop in a probably not-too-pretty scene.If you’re looking for reliable information on holistic health, behavior, and nutrition for your cat, or dog, or both, you’ve come to the right place! Holistic veterinarian Dr. Jean Hofve and cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy are here to help!
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For Dr. Jean’s e-books on a variety of health, nutrition, and behavior issues, please visit our Little Big Cat e-Bookstore or Amazon.com. (Kindle books can be read on any smartphone, tablet, computer, or other device with Amazon’s free apps!)
Hey, we love dogs, too! Get Dr. Jean’s newest book with nutritionist Dr. Celeste Yarnall, Paleo Dog: Give Your Best Friend a Long Life, HealthyWeight, and Freedom from Illness by Nurturing His Inner Wolf. It’s not just another cookbook, either! Paleo Dog covers a wide range of topics, including nutrition (of course!), but also vaccines and veterinary care; exercise and rest; and alternative therapies such as Earthing, acupuncture, and herbs that are compatible with the Paleo Dog philosophy. It is science-based, understandable, and practical; its comprehensive scope and down-to-earth details will satisfy both pet guardians and pet professionals.
Dr. Jean’s book, The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care: An Illustrated Handbook, co-authored with Celeste Yarnall, and 2010 winner of a Certificate of Excellence and the prestigious Muse Medallion award from the Cat Writers’ Association, is available now at your favorite online bookstores!
To make your home cat-friendly (and solve a bunch of health and behavior problems at the same time, check out Jackson Galaxy’s newest book, Total Cat Mojo! You’ll also enjoy Jackson Galaxy and Kate Benjamin’s fun and practical book, Catification: Designing a Happy and Stylish Home for Your Cat (and You!); and Jackson’s autobiography, Cat Daddy: How One Very Special Cat Fixed One Very Broken Man.
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Both Compact GTL and Velocys use the same catalytic reactions found in massive GTL facilities: natural gas is first mixed with steam to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen; the resulting syngas is then converted into a waxy form of synthetic crude oil. However, this is commercially viable only on a huge scale, such as the 140,000-barrel-per-day plant that Shell is building in Qatar, which will use two dozen 1,200-ton reactor vessels. Velocys and Compact GTL must squeeze the same chemistry into a package that will fit on an offshore platform or on the deck of the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels increasingly used to explore and service offshore oil fields. (source)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimated in 2005 that about 0.5% of all CO2 emissions from fossil fuels came from natural gas flaring. The most shocking thing about this is that all this energy (and we're talking about a lot of BTUs... the quote above is by Jeff McDaniel, business development director for Velocys.) isn't actually used for anything useful (unless you count the light, but burning lots of natural gas is a ridiculous way to produce light). That's why I'm happy to see that some people are working on ways to end this wasteful practice.The Brazilian state oil company, Petrobras, is looking for way to deal with all the natural gas that its offshore oil drilling is generating. Gas is more complex to bring back to the shore than oil, but flaring it is such a waste and a CO2 emitter that it is looking into technologies developed by Compact GTL and Velocys, two companies working on chemical reactors that could turn the gas into a synthetic liquid fuel similar to crude oil.
If the technology can be successfully demonstrated and deployed, hopefully it will spread and eventually eliminate gas flaring. How carbon-intensive the resulting fuel is will depend on how much energy is required by the reactors and what type of fuel they use (probably natural gas). But it's still better than flaring.
The only thing better is leaving the gas in the ground (which isn't such a bad idea).
See also: Uganda: Anything But Gas Flaring, Please
Via Technology Review
More on Energy
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MIT Scientists Discover a Way to Generate Electricity with Thermopower Waves in Carbon NanotubesOr Bob for short
Its face just appeared in my head one late evening, and so I had to draw it.
Bob is most likely from space somewhere and partly made of some glass/metal-like material that doesn't seem to abide to earth's laws of physics.
It is super obnoxious curious and clingy as fuck seeks the company of organic lifeforms. Particularly drawn to humans and whales.
Bob cannot speak, or at least it has not been heard yet, but it seems to get the general point of what living beings want, judged mainly by vibrations.
It is slightly warm to the touch - the redder areas on its body no more than the rest - and the function of the pipes on its back is unknown. Chances are that Bob started out as a shapeless lump and then simply took an apperance that it liked, maybe based on things it had observed.
______
This is the first character design with headcanons that I have created without the purpose of using it for a roleplay group. Its very liberating, actually!GameTracker: / /// Buy Season Tickets
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Miami (Ohio) at Purdue (Exhibition Game)
Sunday, Aug. 14 at 2 p.m.
Folk Field / West Lafayette, Indiana
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ââ'¬" The first of the 11 home dates at the newly renamed Folk Field is set for Sunday as Purdue women's soccer hosts Miami (Ohio) for a 2 p.m. exhibition game.
The special 2 p.m. Sunday kickoff allows for extra time to participate in the Olympic skill challenges Purdue Athletics will be sponsoring on the practice field before the game. With the help of the Purdue volleyball players, fans are invited to participate in mini challenges for badminton, basketball, soccer, tennis and volleyball. Special $1 tickets are available for children wearing a soccer jersey.
The Purdue volleyball players will be signing autographs from 1:30 to 2 p.m. and the soccer team will do likewise after the game. Fans are invited to take home schedule posters for both teams.
The Boilermakers also hosted Miami (Ohio) for a preseason exhibition game last season. Including spring and fall action, the two teams have squared off four times since Purdue's overtime win in Oxford in September 2013. Behind goals from Erika Arkans, Hannah Leinert and Christa Szalach, the Boilermakers won another back-and-forth game in Oxford in April.
The 3-0 shutout win at Loyola on Wednesday improved Purdue's exhibition record (spring and fall) to 10-3 under second-year head coach Drew Roff. The RedHawks dropped their exhibition opener at Virginia Tech on Tuesday. The Hokies are ranked 17th nationally entering the new season.
The girls had a little fun at the poster photoshoot yesterday! âš½️ 📸 🚂 #BoilerUp https://t.co/X8fDRIkg0C - Purdue Soccer (@PurdueSoccer) August 12, 2016
The Boilermaker Soccer Complex was officially renamed Folk Field over the summer. A special dedication ceremony recognizing the Folk Family is planned for Sept. 23. Loren and Donna Folk along with their children, Purdue gradates Matt Folk and Jennie Folk Mattice, have financially supported the home pitch of the Boilermakers.
New black boards with gold logos and lettering were installed around the edge of the pitch this week and give Folk Field a sharp new look. Also new this year is the sale of beer and wine to fans 21 and over at all weekend games (Friday to Sunday). Beer and wine sales will be available at the southwest corner of the field from one hour prior to kickoff until the start of the second half.
Twenty-four Boilermakers saw action Wednesday in Chicago. Eight of the team's 10 newcomers saw their first game action in a Purdue uniform and much of that same group is likely to make its Folk Field debut Sunday. Andrea Petrina (two goals) and Hannah Leinert provided the scoring.
Miami excelled defensively a year ago, surrendering only 14 goals in 21 regular-season games while compiling an 11-8-2 record. The RedHawks conceded no more than two goals in a game all season while posting 11 shutouts. However, they were also shut out nine times while scoring only 21 goals themselves. Goalkeeper Vic Maniaci and team leaders Rachel Marble (four goals in 2015) and Kat Zalar (9 career goals) are all back this year.
Including the August exhibition win against Miami, Purdue was 7-3-1 at home last season. The Boilermakers enjoyed a 20-12 edge in goal scoring in those 11 games.
The regular season kicks off around the country Friday, Aug. 19. The season-opening doubleheader at Folk Field will feature Montana taking on Oakland at 4 p.m. and Purdue hosting Marshall for the first time since 2003. The nightcap of the doubleheader is set for 7 p.m.In light of Amendment 64's passage,
. And even though the ballot measure has not yet been signed into law by the governor, local police departments are already re-examing their own approach to marijuana.
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Grand Junction Police were among the first to enact changes. On November 9, GJPD Chief John Camper sent a memo to officers advising them that "effective immediately it is the policy of the GJPD not to cite persons age 21 or older that possess and/or consume 1 ounce or less of marijuana and/or cultivate and possess 6 or less plants as allowed by the Amendment."
While this may seem like a somewhat progressive step for a city that enacted a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries last year, Camper, who called the amendment "crappy" while speaking with a Grand Junction Sentinel reporter last week, goes on to say that GJPD officers can write federal offense reports and forward them to the U.S. Attorney's office with a supervisor's approval -- thought he notes that he doubts they'd be prosecuted.
And last week, in the wake of Boulder DA Stan Garnett saying he would not prosecute pot users, law enforcement agencies across Boulder County announced that they will no longer be writing tickets for possession-related offenses, either. That list includes the Boulder Police Department and the Boulder Sheriff, as well as the University of Colorado Police Department.
Marijuana Deals Near You
Both possession and use of marijuana remain violations of the student code of conduct at the university, however, and CU police will still be reporting violations on campus to the university, CUPD spokesman Ryan Huff points out. He also notes that the campus and all buildings are smoke-free, and that the Amendment doesn't allow for public use out in the open -- no doubt a reference to CU's famed 420 smoke-outs of the past. So in essence, all marijuana use, cultivation and possession is still frowned upon at CU.
The Longmont Police Department has also announced that it will no longer be citing people 21 and up for possession of under an ounce. While marijuana possession is still a crime at the municipal level in Longmont, the city council is expected to bring that ordinance in compliance with Amendment 64 in the coming weeks.
Not all police departments are as quick to make changes, however. Officials with the Denver Police Department say they are still in talks with the Denver City Attorney's office, but that no decision has yet been made regarding any changes in marijuana enforcement.
More from our marijuana news archive: "Amendment 64: Are drug-free businesses actually required to have drug tests?" |
a week, then not at all for weeks, then a few times a week, then not at all again.
I’m ashamed to say, I am still to this day working on this app. It’s September 18th, over 8 months since it began.
The Fundamental Problem
I’m an experienced consultant. I’d done part-time consulting for YEARS before I went full-time. I know how to handle a client, so what went wrong? Why is this project taking so long? More alarmingly, the iOS app has long been abandoned! I’m still trying to finish just the Android app! (I stripped out the iOS version of the app from my contract and it won’t be done by me. All the hours spent on the iOS version were wasted.)
What went wrong? What. Went. Wrong?
The problem is my client isn’t a client. They’re a firm, and they’re the ones working directly with the client. I have no managerial responsibility on this project, I am simply the “mobile guy.” And for reasons I cannot even begin to fathom, this firm has allowed their client to drag a simple project out for 8 months:Two episodes into its first season, AMC’s zombie-show The Walking Dead has already been greenlit for season two.
Now, we could have said “I told you so,” but we’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. 4.7 million people tuned into “Guts” this Sunday, a slight decrease from the 5.3 million who watched the premiere. It’s still ahead of AMC’s other hit Mad Men, which only averaged 3 million viewers an episode this last season.
(More on TIME.com: Walking Dead Watch: Live Together, Undie Alone)
“The Dead has spread!” AMC President Charlie Collier said in an emailed statement. “No other cable series has ever attracted as many Adults 18-49 as The Walking Dead. This reaffirms viewers’ hunger for premium television on basic cable. We are so proud to be bringing back The Walking Dead again, across the globe.”
(More on TIME.com: Video: Kirkman Says The Walking Dead is Like Mad Men, Except With Zombies)
We love this show because it’s not just about the undead, but about human nature in light of tragedy. It makes for moving drama, which can appeal to everyone. “What’s so wonderful about The Walking Dead is that we’re able to explore human nature at its most depraved as well as its most humanitarian in each episode,” executive producer Gale Anne Hurd said in the production notes for the show. “We strip each character down to their most basic survival instincts – or lack thereof. It’s actually the zombies who are the most predictable: you know what zombies are after. What you can’t anticipate is how one surviving human is going to interact with another. And that’s what keeps the series fresh and compelling.”
Sadly, since the first season is only six episodes long, we’re almost half way through the first series. Knowing the saga isn’t going to end in a few weeks, though, is something we can all look forward to. Let’s just hope for next season to be a lot longer.
More on TIME.com:
Q&A: The Walking Dead’s Frank Darabont and Robert Kirkman
Robert Kirkman Talks Walking Dead WeeklyPappy Van Winkle Lottery
Our Pappy Van Winkle lottery is closed
This is a random number drawing that provides an opportunity to purchase the lottery item.
On Monday, November 20th, 2017, the lottery opens
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Bottles may be purchased at the Downtown Rockville Liquor & Wine store, 300 N. Washington St., Rockville, MD, 20850 beginning Wednesday, November 29th
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Lottery General Rules and GuidelinesAnderson with the tubes he used to make puffed grains, 1933
Alexander Pierce Anderson (November 23, 1862 – May 7, 1943) was an American plant physiologist, botanist, educator and inventor. His scientific experiments led to the discovery of "puffed rice", a starting point for a new breakfast cereal that was later advertised as "Food Shot From Guns".[1] [2]
Biography [ edit ]
Early life and education [ edit ]
Anderson was born in Featherstone Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota. His parents John Anderson and Britta Maria (Gustafsdotter) Anderson were Swedish-American immigrant. He grew up in Spring Creek Valley, ten miles from Red Wing, Minnesota. He seemed destined to follow his father into farming but changed course at twenty-seven, entering the University of Minnesota in 1890 to study agriculture. As a college senior in 1894, Anderson invented a "self-registering balance" that was bought by Bausch & Lomb Optical Company.[1] Encouraged by his instructors, Anderson earned a master's degree in plant physiology in 1897. He then traveled to Munich, Germany, in June 1895 to study with leading botanists, earning a doctorate at the University of Munich in plant physiology. A loan from his cousin, future Minnesota Governor John Lind helped fund the trip.[1]
Puffed rice [ edit ]
After completing his studies, Anderson accepted a position at Clemson Agricultural College and taught in South Carolina from 1896 to 1899.[1] In 1901 he became the Curator of the Herbarium at Columbia University, which allowed him to do research at the New York Botanical Garden. He believed that a tiny speck of free water would be found in the nucleus of a starch crystal. To prove this, he tried an experiment in December 1901. He heated starch granules that were sealed in a glass tube until they showed signs of browning. Anderson theorized the water inside each grain would turn to steam. He suspected that a reaction within the starch would occur if he broke the tube and set the steam free. The scientist smashed the glass and the resulting explosion produced a stick of pure puffed starch.[1] Anderson's new breakfast food would make him a nationally known figure and the face of a Quaker Oats advertising campaign for almost a decade. [3] [4]
Anderson traveled to Minneapolis for a meeting set up by John Lind and William C. Edgar (1856-1932), editor of Northwestern Miller magazine. Anderson knew he needed investors if he was to turn his puffing process into a usable product. A group of twenty wealthy businessman offered support. They gave him a laboratory at Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company to experiment with his ideas.[1] Anderson took a four-by-thirty-six-inch gas pipe and sealed it with pipe heads on each end, one removable. He placed raw rice inside and rotated the cylinder while heating it. When a gauge showed what he felt was enough pressure, Anderson used a sledgehammer to knock loose the removable head. A shower of puffed rice burst from the device.[1] The Minneapolis backers, though interested, sold their shares of the process to Quaker Oats Company. Quaker gave Anderson a Chicago laboratory but took little interest in his discoveries.[1]
Anderson finally captured attention at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. He brought eight bronze, twenty-inch-long cylinders that appeared to many onlookers to be small cannons. Anderson loaded each "cannon" with six pounds of raw rice and applied heat.[1] When he uncapped them, a blizzard of expanded rice showered into a two-story-high, forty-foot-wide cage. Helpers bagged the rice and sold it for a nickel to delighted onlookers. By fair's end, Anderson's team had puffed more than 20,000 pounds of rice and sold a quarter-million packages.[1]
He obtained patents on the process and started the Anderson Puffed Rice Company in 1905. American Cereal, a subsidiary the Quaker Oats Company, sold his new product as a breakfast cereal called Puffed Rice. Two years later Quaker Oats took over production. Anderson partnered with Quaker Oats and developed puffed rice and wheat products, including the cereal Quaker Crackles. Quaker Oats advertised puffed cereal as "Prof. Anderson's Gift". Quaker added Puffed Wheat to their line, proclaiming the ready-to-eat cereal as "The Eighth Wonder of the World". Later, the puffed grain would be nicknamed "Food Shot From Guns".[5]
Later years [ edit ]
Anderson married Lydia McDougall Johnson (1876-1934) on August 11, 1898. Alexander and Lydia Anderson moved to the Red Wing area in 1915. Anderson built a laboratory on their Tower View Farm. The Andersons raised four children while he conducted research. [6] They also bought more land in the area; supported charities, notably the Vasa Children's Home; and endowed student scholarships.Anderson Puffed Rice Company remained in business until 1941. Over his career, Anderson conducted more than 15,000 experiments perfecting cereals and earned 25 United States patents and foreign patents. In 1943, Anderson died at the age of eighty.[1]
One of the Anderson's children, John Pierce Anderson, was married to Eugenie (Anderson) Moore who was appointed by President Harry S Truman as Ambassador to Denmark, the first woman appointed chief of mission at the ambassador level in American history.[7]
Anderson Center at Tower View [ edit ]
The former Tower View Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 13, 1977. The property is now the location of the Anderson Center, site of a 700 residency program for artists, writers, and scholars. The A. P. Anderson award is presented annually by the Anderson Center to recognize significant contributions to the cultural and artistic life of Minnesota. [8] [9] [10]
References [ edit ]
Other sources [ edit ]
Anderson autobiography, "Food Shot from Guns", 2-4, prepared for Quaker Oats Co., in "Testimony of Dr. Alexander P. Anderson in Jersey Cereal Co. v. Quaker Oats Co.," Oct. 30, 1937, found in Alexander P. Anderson Papers, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Johnson, Frederick L. "Interview Notes," Lydia Hedin and Jean Chesley, July 21, 2001.
Related reading [ edit ]So, what with all the trailers and news coming out of Comic-Con, I’ve been thinking a little about the DC Cinematic Universe.
Zak Snyder, a while ago, gave an interview where he said he “couldn’t imagine a world with superheroes flying around without any consequences”, or words to that effect. I’m paraphrasing slightly. At first, I actually sort of dismissed this, because it was being presented as a defence of Man of Steel, and in particular it’s ending - I am rather intransigent in my dislike of the film, and I’m wary about putting much stock in what Snyder says.
But actually, having watched the trailer for Batman vs Superman, I’m backtracking just a little. Because I agree with Zak Snyder; I want to see consequences in these superhero movies. BvS seems to be shaping up to be exactly the movie I’m hoping for it to be - dealing with the world in light of the events of the previous film, and acknowledging that Superman would be a very divisive figure. Suicide Squad now seems like less of a weird add on that’s hoping to be gritty and serious, but a movie that’s actually essential in the fabric of the universe they’re trying to create - one of the first things the government would do is create a group like this. One of my main… not complaints, but disappointments, with the Marvel movies is the fact that they don’t always explore the consequences to the fullest.
And yet I still have reservations. Because whilst I like the consequence driven approach to superheroes, I don’t agree with the approach to Superman. At the end of the day, I didn’t like Man of Steel, and I never will. I don’t like the level of violence, and I don’t like the OTT destruction, and I don’t like how little regard was shown to bystanders by Superman. Frankly, I’m with Bruce and Lex and Holly Hunter.
The trailer for BvS looks great, sure. But so did the trailer for Man of Steel. It seems to be using the end of the last film to launch into this one, addressing the consequences of Superman killing all of Metropolis (seriously, the city is levelled) and hopefully weaving it into a new and compelling story for this cinematic universe. But, again, it seems to be bringing with it its own problems - I’m worried that Wonder Woman doesn’t fit organically within the narrative, I’m worried they still won’t get the tone of Superman right, and I’m worried that this film will be just as poorly paced, constructed, and written as Man of Steel.
Despite that, though, I do have hope for this movie.
So maybe there’s a little bit of Superman in there after all.
Facebook | Twitter | Blog Index | Superhero Movies | Superhero TVStan Kasten is just the best. Sometimes I think he just gets a blast out of messing with everyone. Like this from tonight, for example:
Stan Kasten tells fans at Dodger Stadium town hall there will be a new player joining camp soon, but doesn’t name him — Pedro Moura (@PedroMoura) February 11, 2014
While it’s certainly a ton of fun to throw out names like Ubaldo Jimenez or A.J. Burnett, let’s all agree that it’s not going to be anyone like that, and Kasten almost certainly isn’t talking about anyone who is property of another club who might be moved in a trade.
So who is out there that’s worth Kasten mentioning but isn’t already contracted to a team? There are some pretty obvious names that come to mind, because we’ve talked about them here already. There’s utility man Emilio Bonifacio, who Daniel looked at least week after he was DFA’d by Kansas City. I did the same at FanGraphs, arguing that his ability to run and play a few spots make him interesting, and today we learned that the Royals have placed him on release waivers, meaning any team can have him if they are willing to take his $3.5m salary.
Bonifacio’s a fit, yet it’s still odd. Waivers at this time of year are given in reverse order of 2013 standings — overall, not by league — so if he fell to the Dodgers, that means that every team other than Atlanta, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Boston, Detroit, and Oakland passed on him. Is it realistic to think that no team would take a chance on him for a few million bucks, not even the Yankees, who have huge holes? Even if so, that would mean that it’s progressed from “waivers” to “he’s now a Dodger” without anyone finding out, which seems questionable.
If not Bonifacio, then the obvious path is to one of the various Cubans Dustin profiled recently, with Rusney Castillo the name that has been in the news most often. That said, Castillo has not yet been cleared by American authorities to sign, so it’s not likely to be him, nor should you imagine it’s shortstop Aledmys Diaz, who isn’t allowed to sign until February 19th.
So who is left? Catcher Yenier Bello perhaps, and even though there’s been wildly varying reviews of his talent — Baseball America‘s Ben Badler referred to him as a “non-prospect” — you might have seen today’s earlier post about how threadbare the catching is in this organization. Or maybe it’s pitcher Odrisamer Despagine, or he’s completely screwing with us, or maybe most likely, someone we’ve never heard of. Remember when Yasiel Puig was signed, and the general reaction was, “great! who?”
Either way, Kasten has injected just a little bit of interest into the early days of camp. Bless him for that.FBI Nicolae Popescu, alleged ringleader of a Romanian cyberfraud gang that targeted online car buyers in the U.S., is shown in an FBI "wanted" poster.
You wouldn’t knowingly buy a car from a Romanian fraud artist, but an unknown number of Americans were duped into trying to do just that when they shopped on popular websites like Cars.com and AutoTrader.com, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleges that Romanian fugitive Nicolae Popescu ran an international organized crime syndicate that preyed on American car buyers, netting millions of dollars.
The scheme worked this way, according to the feds:
Popescu and his co-conspirators flooded Internet marketplaces, including eBay, Cars.com, AutoTrader.com and CycleTrader.com, with ads for nonexistent cars, motorcycles, boats and other high-ticket items. When potential victims responded, the conmen produced fraudulent certificates of title and other authentic-looking documentation designed to lure the victims into sending them money to complete the sale.
As part of the fraud, they also created fictitious auto dealerships in the U.S. to pose as sellers and produced websites to make them look legit.
Popescu’s gang also created phony passports that enabled members to open accounts with U.S. banks, the indictment alleges. When a victim agreed to purchase a vehicle, they would receive counterfeit invoices purportedly from Amazon Payments, PayPal or other online payment services instructing them to transfer the money to the American bank accounts used by the defendants, it said. The money would then be transferred to the defendants in Europe by wire transfer and other means. Popescu also allegedly directed an associate in the U.S. to purchase luxury watches – including three Audemars Piquet watches with a combined retail value of more than $140,000 – and transfer them to associates in Europe.
All told, the defendants realized more than $3 million from their scheme, the indictment alleges.
Popescu and his fellow defendants – fellow Romanians Daniel Alexe, Dmitru Bosogioiu, Ovidiu Cristea and Dragomir Razvan, Albanian Fabjan Meme and an unknown man who goes by the names “George Skyper” and “Tudor Barbu Lautaru -- all remain fugitives and are now the subject of Interpol “red notices,” the international equivalent of arrest warrants. Six other alleged co-conspirators were previously arrested on Dec. 5, 2012, in “a coordinated international takedown,” according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
FBI Other alleged members of the Romanian cyberfraud ring, from left to right: Dimitru Daniel Bosogioiu, Ovidiu Vlad Cristea, Fabjan Meme and Dragomir Razvan.
“Using forged documents and phony websites, for years Popescu and his criminal syndicate reached across the ocean to pick the pockets of hard-working Americans looking to purchase cars,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said. “They thought their distance would insulate them from law enforcement scrutiny. They were wrong.”
Numerous other law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation, according to the press release, including the FBI, the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, international law enforcement agencies and the local police departments in California and New York.
In a statement provided to NBC News, eBay said it had "partnered with law enforcement to alert consumers about the type of scams described in the indictment – which involve exploiting well-known, trusted brand names like eBay to attract consumers and then lure them onto fake websites and into fraudulent transactions. Auto shoppers can be confident in their purchase by ensuring they start and complete their transactions on eBay Motors and never use money wire services to send payments."
It also recommended that consumers visit a website it has created to help them protect themselves against similar scams.
Mike Brunker is NBC News' investigations editor; Richard Esposito is senior executive producer for investigations.
More from NBC News Investigations:
Follow NBC News Investigations on Twitter and Facebook5 things you can learn
from the back of a painting
The most-often overlooked aspect of an artwork is by no means its least important, as specialist Tom Rooth explains
1. Look out for labels
Sano di Pietro (1405-1481), The Madonna and Child, circa 1450. On gold ground panel. Sold for £170,500 in the Old Masters and British Paintings evening sale on 9 July 2015. Right: the reverse of the painting reveals dealers’ labels, exhibition labels, and old Christie’s stock numbers
Most galleries will label the pictures they buy and sell. A gallery label can tell you a number of things, including which galleries have owned the painting and — if you’re lucky — the year they bought it. A good name can be fantastic for provenance, and can really add to a work’s value. In London, I look out for labels from dealers such as The Fine Art Society and Richard Green, although there are several names that are key players in the market.
Exhibition labels are also important to look for: if a painting has been shown somewhere significant — such as London’s Royal Academy — it emphasises its importance. An exhibition label can also lead us to original reviews, allowing us to see how a painting was first received, which is always interesting, and a good addition to catalogue notes.
2. Follow chalk marks and barcodes to trace a work’s journey
through the big auction houses
The initials SG beneath the royal coronet was the collector’s mark of the Infante Don Sebastián Gabriel de Borbón, who had one of the most important collections of the 19th century
When trying to learn more about a painting, chalk marks form an integral part of the jigsaw puzzle. Sotheby’s has always used yellow chalk to mark pictures, which can offer some clues about a work’s past. Christie’s has used a variety of marks since the 19th century, which allow you to see who has bought and owned a work over the course of its history. They offer a fascinating insight into previous owners, with an interesting owner having a positive effect on value. The information you can draw from the back of a work can be vital for deeper research into provenance; archives such as those held at The Witt Library allow you to trace a long way back.
3. Don’t believe everything you read
Inscriptions (anything written on the back of the painting) can be a variety of things, from the title of the work to the artist’s name. Caution is advised, however, because they can be misleading. Some will say that the picture is by an artist who didn’t paint it, or that the work represents somewhere or someone that it does not. A name written on a work could be the artist’s, but it could also be their partner, a member of the family, an art dealer, or anyone else — there is any number of possibilities.
4. Take time to assess the lining for possible signs of restoration
Thomas Jones (1742-1803), An extensive landscape with houses seen from the Porta Pia, Rome, circa 1778. Oil and pencil on paper. Sold for £164,500 in the Old Master & British Paintings day sale on 9 July 2014. Main image at top: the reverse of Jones’s painting showing loan labels, exhibition labels, framer and restoration labels
Unlike the front of a piece, the back of a work will often allow you to see whether it’s been lined or not, with the lining being central to the work’s condition. You can tell a picture has been lined if it has had another canvas put onto the back of it. It’s a good indication that a work has been restored, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but isn’t always a good thing either. It basically means the piece has been damaged at some point and restored — to what extent requires further investigation. Sometimes a work is lined because it’s had a lot of work done; sometimes, a lining is added just to stabilise the work, or in response to a very small amount of damage.
5. It’s always possible to discover weird and wonderful things
The reverse of a 16th-century oil painting showing the brand of the city of Antwerp — a pair of hands above a castle — indicating the work’s support was approved by a guild of panel-makers. The mark dates from 1617, when new regulations required guilds to register a symbol, with 22 official makers listed. Regulations drawn up by the Antwerp Joiners’ Guild stated ‘every joiner is from now on obliged to punch his mark on frames and panels made by him, on pain of a fine of three guilders’
What lurks behind a painting can often be as surprising as what is marked upon it. Although it’s incredibly rare, there have been instances of paintings having been found hidden behind other works — sometimes for hundreds of years, escaping the attention of galleries and auction houses. A loose lining or an unusual run of nails can be a clue, although sometimes these secret masterpieces are only revealed when a work is reframed. It’s impossible to say why a work is hidden in this way: it may have been a way to store and preserve a work, or it might simply be that the frame was repurposed.
Where reframing would be difficult, imaging technology now allows experts to see through the top layers of a work to any original paintings or drawings below —it has not been uncommon for impoverished artists to reuse canvases.The new Washington ADIZ (red line) compared to the old ADIZ (green line).
An Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) has existed since February 10, 2003,[1] around the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area to restrict air traffic near Washington, D.C.
The ADIZ was established as a precursor to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.[2] It has been erroneously connected to the September 11 attacks as a temporary measure to prevent further attacks. It was made permanent in 2008.[3]
Despite efforts by the Federal Aviation Administration to inform pilots of the ADIZ, there are still many unauthorized incursions by unsuspecting pilots. A pilot who violates the boundaries may be intercepted by military aircraft and escorted to the nearest airport.[4][5][6]
Creation [ edit ]
The ADIZ (now known by its components, the Flight Restricted Zone and Special Flight Rules Area) was created by the FAA in response to demands by a working group that became formalized as the National Capital Region Coordination Center. The U.S. Congress has never legitimized these restrictions, and any consideration of opposing the Executive Branch's actions became politically unpalatable in the wake of two mishaps that led to the evacuation of the Capitol.[7][8] One involved a plane carrying Ernie Fletcher, the Governor of Kentucky, which led to an evacuation in 2004.[9] The other, almost a year later, involved a Cessna 150 flown by a student pilot accompanied by a pilot who was not familiar with the ADIZ rules, using an outdated chart.
Location [ edit ]
The old official entry and exit reference points for the ADIZ.
The original Washington ADIZ was roughly co-extensive with the Class B airspace around Washington. On August 30, 2007, the dimensions of the ADIZ were changed to a 30-nautical-mile-radius (35 mi; 56 km) circle centered on the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) VOR/DME (located at ), with a small triangular cutout for Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO). This change reduced the size of the ADIZ by 1,800 sq mi (4,700 km2) and removed 33 airports from its coverage.
Flight Restricted Zone [ edit ]
Within the ADIZ is an even more sensitive zone designated the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Flight Restricted Zone (DC FRZ). The DC FRZ extends approximately 13–15 nmi (15–17 mi; 24–28 km) around the DCA VOR/DME. Flight within the FRZ is restricted to governmental, certain scheduled commercial and a limited set of waivered flights. Three general aviation airports (known as the "Maryland 3" or the "DC 3") are located inside the DC FRZ: College Park Airport (CGS), Washington Executive/Hyde Field (W32), and Potomac Airport (VKX).[10]
Public opposition [ edit ]
Pilots' groups, led by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), have argued that the ADIZ is unnecessary and has a harmful effect on the economy of small airports and aviation-related businesses in and near the ADIZ.[11] Pilots involved in law enforcement have described the ADIZ as a "major, unnecessary burden on pilots and air traffic controllers with almost no increased security benefit."[12] AOPA and other groups are hoping to persuade Congress to lift or ease the ADIZ restrictions from Washington airspace [1] – or at the very least to dramatically improve its operational aspects.
In 2006, the FAA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) docket number 17005 concerning making the temporary rules permanent. Over 20,000 responses were received, the vast majority of them in opposition to making the temporary rules permanent.[13] There were two public hearings held by the FAA in the Washington D.C. area on the NPRM. All speakers were opposed to making the NPRM permanent.[citation needed] The FAA published transcripts of the public hearings. The transcripts were later withdrawn from the public as they were alleged to contain Sensitive Security Information, but were returned following review.[14]
Subsequent changes [ edit ]
On August 30, 2007, the FAA implemented new rules for air traffic controllers and issued revised NOTAMs for pilots flying in the ADIZ. Although the NOTAMs and FAA procedures state that no radar services will be provided to pilots unless requested, air traffic controllers at Potomac TRACON are providing such services. This is due to a memorandum from the Potomac TRACON Air Traffic Manager to air traffic controllers stating that a certain paragraph (2-1-2) of the Air Traffic Control handbook (7110.65) is still applicable when providing ATC Security Services.[15]
Effective February 9, 2009, any pilots flying VFR within a 60 nautical miles (110 km) radius centered on the ADIZ are required to complete training about the ADIZ. This training can be completed online through a course called "Navigating the New DC ADIZ" (now "DC Special Flight Rules Area").[16] Pilots may also complete the required training by attending a seminar offered at a Flight Standards District Office. Pilots must obtain a certificate which proves that the training has been completed. This certificate is not required to be carried with the pilot, but must be produced when requested from law enforcement or other agencies. Pilots flying IFR are not subject to this requirement.[17]
On February 17, 2009, the status of the ADIZ was scheduled to change from a temporary flight restriction to a permanent special flight rules area.[18] On February 6, 2009, White House officials declined a request to postpone the implementation.[19]
In February 2012, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012[20] required a joint plan to be submitted in 180 days by the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, in consultation with the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense.
The plan shall outline specific changes to the D.C. Metropolitan Area Special Flight Rules Area that will decrease operational impacts and improve general aviation access to airports in the National Capital Region that are currently impacted by the zone.[20]
In June 2014, Leesburg airport traffic was granted authority to perform local traffic pattern practice without a SFRA plan filed while operating under tower control without departing the pattern.[21]
Laser warning system [ edit ]
In May 2005, NORAD started using a laser warning system to warn pilots that cross into restricted airspace. The bright laser beams, which flash red-red-green, are easily seen, even during daylight. The laser beams can be seen 15 to 20 miles away. Other pilots are unlikely to see the lasers because, when activated, the directional beams are pointed at the aircraft that has crossed into restricted airspace. Multiple lasers could be activated. These lasers do not harm the eyes of aircrew or passengers.[22][23][24]
This is a graphic to show what the NORAD Laser Warning System would look like.
This is what the NORAD Laser Warning System would look like in an aircraft that entered restricted airspace.
See also [ edit ]It's 2014, and this is what a mining accident looks like. A massive fire reportedly broke out at a Bitcoin mining facility in Thailand last month, devastating all three of its buildings and possibly millions of pounds in hardware. The fire might just be a wakeup call to all the startups trying to mine Bitcoin on the cheap.
Details of the fire are sketchy, though local media reported flames raging through a warehouse full of servers near Bangkok on October 14th. This week, a photo of the devastation popped up on the forum BitcoinTalk, which identified the facility as one owned by the mining operative Cowboyminers. According to Coindesk, Cowboyminers are a collective of European expats based in Bangkok.
Both Cowboyminers and Spondoolies-Tech, the company that made much of the mining hardware in the warehouse, have popped up in the BitcoinTalk thread to discuss the fire. It seems like no one was hurt, but the equipment was uninsured, so ouch.
What we still don't know is what started the fire. Spondoolies-Tech commented that the "buildup was definitely not according to US electric code," though Cowboyminers denied that the electrical wiring caused the fire. We've reach out for any additional details.
A photo of the facility before the fire. BitcoinTalk
In any case, the fire highlights the possible pitfalls for any Bitcoin mining startup. Bitcoin mining's appeal is its relative simplicity—you just need computing power. But setting up a facility is more complicated than throwing a bunch of hardware together in a room. Every detail of the traditional data centre is designed with cooling in mind, from the placement of vents to the hot aisle/cold aisle layout of the equipment.
And regardless of how the fire started at the Thai facility, it clearly spread, possibly because of a flammable acoustic foam. A traditional datacenter would have also had sprinklers—or in fancier iterations, gas fire extinguishing systems—that detected smoke or heat early on to minimise the damage. Of course, these systems don't come cheap.
Mining currency may no longer involve people, but it still does involve monster machines—machines that are very expensive and very destructible. [Bitcoin Talk,Coindesk, Data Center Knowledge]
Image via BitcoinTalkBreen Peck in a police photo after his arrest. (Nassau County police department)
A veteran air traffic controller responsible for two highly-publicized mishaps — one involving a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the other a plane with a Wisconsin congressman on board — has been arrested in New York after police said they found him with a gun in his car and methamphetamine in his pants pocket.
Breen Peck, 52, was transferred from the Warrenton, Va., air traffic control facility several years ago after the two troubling incidents came to light. After retraining, he was assigned to administrative duties at the facility that directs planes in and out of New York city airports. He was not, however, permitted to return to directing air traffic. The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that it was investigating the circumstances related to Peck’s arrest.
Peck was arrested Wednesday night and arraigned Thursday in Hempstead, N.Y., on charges of criminal possession of a gun and possession of a controlled substance. He also was cited for a number of traffic violations.
Nassau county police said they pulled over Peck’s 2010 Toyota after he failed to signal a left turn. They said he told them that he had a loaded handgun behind the driver’s seat and another in the rear cargo area and did not have a permit. After they arrested him, police said they discovered a substance believed to be crystal methamphetamine in his front pants pocket.
While working in the Warrenton facility, Peck was responsible for two widely publicized incidents involving planes carrying high-profile passengers.
[Past coverage: Controller who misdirected Michelle Obama’s plane also had near miss]
In 2010, he was directing the pilot of an United Airlines Airbus that came within 15 seconds of colliding with a smaller jet while approaching Reagan National Airport. The United pilot could be heard saying “That was close” on the radio. He reported pulling up hard after a cockpit collision warning went off, narrowly missing a 22-seat commuter jet. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) was onboard the plane.
The following April, Peck was directing a White House plane that was carrying Michelle Obama and Jill Biden as it attempted to land at Andrews Air Force Base. He allowed the plane to get too close to the potentially dangerous wake of a 200-ton military cargo jet. The White House plane aborted the landing attempt.
In addition to the Obama and Sensenbrenner incidents, Peck was held responsible for at least two other errors in the six years he worked at in Warrenton. He became a certified controller in 199 |
enforcement tone is used for households who have been unlicensed for a longer period. This period is not specified in freely available documents but TV Licensing suggests it could be used, for example, for the third and fourth renewal reminder.[16] Each of these 'tones' involves letters with a different colour palette. For example, green is used in 'Customer Service' letters and red may be used in 'Collections' and 'Enforcement' letters. In all cases, the vocabulary and format used in the letters is strictly defined.[16]
If a business or household is not obliged to have a TV licence then TV Licensing will request written confirmation of this, even though no such information is required to be given in law.[107][108]
According to the BBC, it is not possible to opt out of receiving TVL mailings since they 'are not advertising or marketing material'.[109] Similarly, householders who do not have a licence cannot exclude themselves from unsolicited calls from TV Licensing by registering with the Telephone Preference Service.[110]
In 2014, a householder invoiced TV Licensing £40 as a 'processing fee' for 'opening, reading and filing' a TV Licensing letter. Because TV Licensing did not pay the charge, the householder took the claim to the County Court, eventually winning the case and receiving the fee plus other costs incurred.[111]
Enquiry officer visits [ edit ]
If a colour TV licence is not purchased for an address, TV Licensing agents—known as "visiting officers", "enquiry officers" or "enforcement officers"—make unannounced visits to the address. In August 2013, there were reported to be 334 enquiry officers[112] all employees of the BBC's main enforcement contractor, Capita. Enquiry officers make around four million visits a year to households in the UK and Crown dependencies.[113] Each week an enquiry officer may upload a number of unlicensed addresses onto their "handheld device".[114] The enquiry officer is only allowed to visit the addresses on this list, which are normally within a thirty-minute travelling distance from their home postcode. Enquiry officers do not visit addresses in their own postcode, however.[114]
Although TV Licensing enforces the BBC's statutory obligation to ensure that every address where a television licence is required is correctly licensed, its agents have no special right of access and, like any other member of the public, rely on an implied right of access to reach the front door. A householder may withdraw the implied right of access to TV Licensing personnel by contacting the BBC and informing them that this right has been revoked; the BBC says they respect such requests (although could still seek a warrant to search the property), except in Scotland.[115] As of March 2014, 7299 households had withdrawn the implied right of access.[113] This figure had increased to over 20,000 by December 2015.[116]
Upon visiting a property, enquiry officers ask a set of predetermined questions to whoever answers the door when they visit."[20] They first try to find out if the person who responds to the enquiry officer is an "appropriate person" to interview (i.e. an adult who lives at the property). They then try to find out if that person has been receiving TV without a licence. If they suspect that this is the case, they issue an official caution to the person that whatever they say may be used against them in court. They then take a prosecution statement and ask the interviewee to sign it. The enquiry officer may ask permission to enter the property and may examine any TV receiving equipment found there. According to the visiting procedures: 'circumstantial evidence of use should be noted on the Record of Interview whenever visible (e.g. sky dish, aerial lead plugged into TV, remote control on settee) as this provides supporting evidence for potential prosecution and may be vital if the confession should later be challenged.'[20]. However, the occupant is well within his/her rights to deny answering any questions (remain silent) and is under no obligation to allow entry into the property.
If an agent has evidence that television is being watched or recorded illegally but is denied entry by the occupants so that they cannot verify the suspicion, then TV Licensing may apply to a magistrate for a search warrant.[90] The BBC states that a search warrant would never be applied for solely on the basis of non-cooperation with TV Licensing[117][118] and that in the event of being denied access to unlicensed property will use detection equipment rather than a search warrant.[119]
According to the Daily Mail newspaper: "TV licensing catches all but a tiny minority of cheats by the very low-tech technique of sending inspectors to knock on their doors. Although ‘enforcement officers’ have no official powers of entry, they are trained in either talking their way across the threshold, or tricking homeowners into confessing they have been watching TV illegally."[120] The same newspaper also has reported in 2014 that enquiry officers can double their basic salary of £14,000 (£17,000 in London) by obtaining commission payments. Commission is paid when an enquiry officer obtains a prosecution statement from a householder, although they need to take a minimum of thirty statements in a week before they start earning commission.[121]
Detection technology [ edit ]
TV detector vans [ edit ]
TV detector vans have in the past featured heavily in TV Licensing publicity,[122] highlighting that technology capable of detecting signals from operating TV sets could be employed.[123] Detector vans date from the 1950s, when the Post Office ran converted Hillman Minx and Morris Oxford estate cars, which had large aerials attached to their roofs.[124] Subsequently Commers were introduced. In the 1980s, vans were supplied by Dodge and Leyland. In the 1990s, Ford Transits were introduced. In 2003, TVL launched its tenth generation of detector vans. It was stated that these vans had removable branding so that they could operate covertly.[125]
Few technical details of the detectors used have been released. In a press release from 2003, the BBC stated that:[123] "the new vans are so powerful they can tell if a TV is in use in as little as 20 seconds". It was also stated that the equipment has a range of up to 60 metres and "can pinpoint the actual room that the television set is in." However, on TV Licensing's own site in 2015, no information on range or accuracy of the equipment is given. It says that 'a range of detection tools at our disposal in our vans.' It is also stated that the available equipment has been developed in secrecy and that 'engineers working on specific detection methods work in isolation – so not even they know how the other detection methods work.'[126]
Although no technical details of the TV detectors used in these vans have been made public, it is thought that they operate by detecting electromagnetic radiation given off by a TV.[127] The most common suggested method is the detection of a signal from the TV's local oscillator.[128]
Hand-held detectors [ edit ]
Hand-held TV detectors have also been developed by the BBC.[90] According to information given to the Daily Mail in 2007,[129] the hand-held detector had a range of 29 ft, giving an audible signal to the operator if a TV was detected. It was also stated that it could be used to detect TVs in 'individual flats in blocks.' In the Birmingham Mail for the same year, the detectors were described as 'little bigger than a torch', weighing 280g, which made a beeping noise when they detect a TV.[130] The company Buckman Hardy Associates has made such equipment for the BBC in the past[131] but the equipment shown in the publicity campaigns run in 2007 was all made by the BBC itself.[132]
Optical detectors [ edit ]
In 2013 it was revealed that the BBC had used optical TV detectors to apply for a search warrant.[133] Although few technical details were given, it was stated in an application for a search warrant that: "the optical detector in the detector van uses a large lens to collect that light and focus it on to an especially sensitive device, which converts fluctuating light signals into electrical signals, which can be electronically analysed. If a receiver is being used to watch broadcast programmes then a positive reading is returned."[133] The BBC stated that this was strong evidence that a set was "receiving a possible broadcast".
Primarily a deterrent [ edit ]
Detection appears to be primarily a deterrent to evasion. The BBC admits that no detection evidence has ever been used to prosecute a licence fee evader. They refuse to release any details of the technology supposedly used as to do so would "change the public's perception of the effectiveness of detector vans".[134] A leaked BBC document on the collection and non-collection of the fee summarises findings presented by the TV Licensing's Executive Management Forum and "makes no mention of detector vans – but it does contain plenty of other facts and figures".[135]
Legal use of detection technology [ edit ]
The BBC states that such technology used in conjunction with targeted advertising acts as a deterrent: its use may make it easier for TV Licensing agents to establish that an offence is likely to be taking place but they would still need to secure further evidence for successful prosecution.[99][136] Furthermore, such technology is restricted in its use by the meaning of "surveillance and covert human intelligence sources" in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000[90] and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (British Broadcasting Corporation) Order 2001.[137][138] Like other public bodies that undertake covert surveillance, the BBC is subject to the scrutiny of the Office of Surveillance Commissioners, which inspects the BBC every other year.[139] A number of official inspection reports on the BBC's detection methods have been made available following freedom of information requests[140] These reports give an outline of the process of authorisation of the use of detection equipment. Briefly, applications for authorisation are made in the name of the Detection Manager of Capita. Correspondence between TV Licensing and the affected householder may be attached to the completed application forms which pass via a quality control 'gatekeeper' to the authorising officers (AOs) at the BBC. In 2012 there were two designated AOs at the BBC. To be authorised, an application must be shown to be 'necessary and proportionate'. AOs sometimes reject applications. Once approved, the authorisation lasts for a duration of eight weeks.
TV Licensing states "detection equipment will only be used if other less intrusive and more cost effective routes have been exhausted",[141] and the BBC has stated that "Detection technology is generally used to obtain search warrants".[136] In a reply to a FOI request in 2011, the BBC stated "I can confirm that TVL has not, to date, used detection evidence in Court". The BBC also wrote that such evidence "is unnecessary" because "TVL uses detection evidence when applying for search warrants. If, following service of the warrant an individual is found to be evading payment of the TV Licence, then the evidence obtained via the search warrant is used in court, not the detection evidence.[142]
Search warrants [ edit ]
In some cases, TV Licensing may apply to a magistrate (or a sheriff in Scotland) for a search warrant as part of the enforcement process.[143] According to TV Licensing such an application may only be made 'when there is good reason to believe that an offence has been committed, evidence of the commission of that offence is likely to be found, and conditions regarding access to the property warrant the granting of a search warrant'.[143] The same source also states that 'The BBC contracts Capita Business Services Ltd to carry out television licensing enforcement activities, including applying for and executing search warrants.' The BBC's contractor uses powers granted by Section 366 of the Communications Act 2003 to apply for and exercise search warrants.[144] The Act specifies that the search warrant is valid for a month after being granted. According to the BBC, such warrants are usually served in the presence of police officers.[143] The TV Licensing Visiting Procedures state: 'To minimise the impact on normal operations Enforcement Managers accompanied by an EO should in normal circumstances execute search warrants. On no account must the warrant be executed without two officers being present. Normally the two officers must be accompanied by a Police Officer'.[20] The warrant provides an authorisation to search a premises, and to examine and test any television receiver found. However, there is no power to seize any apparatus.[145] According to the BBC Search Warrant Policy "force must not be used by TV Licensing to gain entry to a property".[146]
Data on the number of search warrants executed per year in the whole of the UK are not collated or held centrally by the various judicial bodies of the state. However, the BBC, itself, holds the information some of which has become available due to FOI requests.[147] For example, in the financial year 2014/15, TV Licensing applied for 256 warrants to serve in the UK. 167 warrants were granted by the courts of which 115 were executed. In the same year in Scotland no warrants were applied for or served whilst in Northern Ireland 12 warrants were granted and 7 executed in the year.[147]
Some idea of the frequency at which warrants are used may also be taken from the result of a recent FOI request.[148] It was revealed that Sheffield Magistrates granted TV Licensing a total of six search warrants in the years 2011, 2012 and 2013, whilst in Northampton (including Wellingborough and Kettering) only two were granted in this period.
Information provided by the Scottish Court Service suggests that TV Licensing search warrant applications in Scotland are virtually non-existent. In their response to a FOI request the Scottish Court Service confirmed that no search warrant applications were made to courts in Scotland's two largest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, in the three-and-a-half years between 1 January 2011 and 21 July 2014.[149]
Prosecution and fiscal fines [ edit ]
In 2014, 204,018 people were prosecuted or fined for TV licence offences: 185,580 in England and Wales[150] (173,044 in England and 12,536 in Wales), 4,905 people in Northern Ireland and 15 in the Isle of Man.[151] In Scotland, there were 13,486 cases disposed of via an out of court fine and 32 prosecuted via the courts in 2013-2014.[152] There have been no prosecutions for TV licence offences in Jersey since 2009, all cases having been resolved at Parish Hall Enquiry. Putting these numbers in perspective, it would appear there are more prosecutions and convictions per capita in Wales than in any other country in the UK.[citation needed]
Around 70% of TV licence evaders are female.[153] This 30%-70% male/female ratio is pretty much constant across the whole of the UK and is at odds with statistics for other small crimes.[154]:Table B4a This gender imbalance has not always been the case. In 1980, there were roughly similar numbers of men and women proceeded against for TV licence evasion. Since then the proportion of female to male defendants has risen steadily.[155]
In 2014, 24,025 prosecutions that were commenced by the BBC did not result in conviction (over one-in-ten cases in England and Wales).[156]
Licence evaders are liable for prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000 in the UK.[157] However, because the licensing regime covers six different jurisdictions, the legal processes and penalties for the crime of TV licence evasion differ markedly across the UK and Crown dependencies. The average fine is £170 in England and Wales,[158] £70 in Jersey, £80 in Northern Ireland, £75 in Scotland (out-of-court disposal)[152] and £200 in the Isle of Man.[151]
TV licence evasion is not punishable by a period of imprisonment per se, but if convicted evaders refuse to pay the fine they were ordered to pay, or are incapable of paying it, a period of imprisonment may be imposed as a "last resort". The length of stay is decided by the amount owed. In England and Wales, 39 people were given an average of 20 days in 2014 (compared to 32 in 2013 and 51 in 2012).[152] There were no custodial sentences imposed during the five-year period 2009-10 to 2013-14 in Scotland or in Jersey.
The British Parliament proposed decriminalising licence evasion, but the proposition was turned down by a House of Lords vote by 178 to 175 in February 2015.[159] Behavioural research conducted for the BBC found that if TV licence evasion was decriminalized and the £1,000 maximum fine was replaced by a civil penalty of over £300, evasion rates would stay at 5%.[160]
England and Wales [ edit ]
Pontefract Magistrates' Court. In England and Wales, cases involving TV licence evasion are held at magistrates' courts
In England and Wales, prosecutions are the responsibility of the BBC and are carried out by its contractor, Capita, in magistrates' courts[21] In England and Wales TV Licensing has a maximum of 26 weeks to lay information to court after receiving information regarding unlicensed use of a TV from its enquiry officers.[161] During this period, and a maximum of 24 hours before a decision to prosecute a householder is taken, TV Licensing will check if a licence has been purchased. The decision to prosecute usually takes place 12–14 weeks from receiving the enquiry officer's report. TV Licensing serves documents on defendants four to six weeks prior to a court hearing. A final check to see if a TV licence has been purchased is made a maximum of two days before the hearing.
Licence fee evasion makes up around one-ninth of all cases prosecuted in magistrates' courts.[162] For every man prosecuted, two women are brought before the magistrates for this offence: it has been speculated that this is because women are more likely to be at home when an enforcement officer calls.[163] Proceedings for TV Licence evasion form a high percentage of all prosecutions carried out against women – over a third of all cases against women in England and Wales in 2013 were for this offence.[164] By comparison, TV licence evasion made up around 5% of prosecutions against men in 2013 in England and Wales.[164]
The maximum fine for this offence of up to £1,000 is frequently publicised by TV Licensing to maximise deterrence.[165] In reality, magistrates rarely impose the maximum fines allowed to them by law. For example, during the year 2005–6, the average fine including costs was approximately £153[166] (slightly more than the cost of a licence). According to a 2013 TV Licensing briefing document, the level of fines and costs imposed by magistrates' courts vary considerably between different regions of England and Wales.[21] In North Wales average fines and costs were stated to be £108.90 whilst offenders in the English Midlands area of "Black Country, Staffordshire & West Mercia" were required to pay £197.70.
Magistrates take into account the financial situation of the defendant when imposing fines.[167] They also take into account: whether it is a first offence; if a TV licence has been purchased and the length of time a defendant was unlicensed. The following are regarded as 'factors indicating lower culpability' which can result in mitigation of the sentence:[167]
Accidental oversight or belief licence held
Confusion of responsibility
Licence immediately obtained
A guilty plea may also result in a lower fine.
According to TV Licensing: "many evaders claim that an enquiry officer told them they would not be prosecuted if they bought a licence". However, it is also pointed out that "it is a disciplinary offence for an enquiry officer to say or suggest this".[21] Nevertheless, the same TV Licensing briefing does say that: "first-time evaders may escape prosecution if they purchase a licence immediately".[21]
The UK government has stated that: "Most TV licensing cases that are heard by magistrates courts are uncontested and the case is therefore often resolved in the defendant's absence."[168]
The Magistrates' Association has been calling for the decriminalisation of TV licence evasion for nearly twenty years, concerned that evaders are punished disproportionately.[169] The Adam Smith Institute has published a report calling for the BBC to give up the licence fee. One of the reasons given is the licence fee criminalises poor people, in particular women with children living on welfare. The report points out that such people are liable to be re-prosecuted almost immediately unless they dispose of their TVs.[170] In fact, a National Audit Office report from 2002 stated that "significant numbers of offenders do not buy a licence following conviction".[96]
TV Licensing is managed as a sales operation[171] and its officers are motivated by commission payments.[172] In 2005, a TV Licensing officer was found guilty of false accounting and perverting the course of justice after he deliberately forged the confessions of four people to obtain commission payments.[173] In April 2012 an Essex man convicted of TV licence evasion had his conviction overturned when TV Licensing were unable to confirm the validity of video evidence they presented in the original trial.[174]
According to TV Licensing, 30% of those prosecuted for TV Licence evasion in 2012 were found to have satellite or cable subscriptions.[21]
Although those found guilty of TV licence evasion cannot be sent to prison for that offence, if they default on their fine, they can be imprisoned. For example, in 2011, 48 people were imprisoned in England and Wales for defaulting on fines imposed for TV licence evasion. The figure for 2012 was 51.[175]
Number of offences under Wireless Telegraphy Acts in England and Wales[176]
(overwhelmingly made up of TV licensing cases)[160] 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Number of proceedings 166,944 164,462 170,650 193,049 178,332 Found guilty 148,867 142,386 149,239 164,932 153,369 Average fine £167 £171 £169 £169 £170
Northern Ireland [ edit ]
In Northern Ireland, prosecutions are the responsibility of the BBC and are carried out by its contractor, Capita, in magistrates' courts.[177] The prosecution process is very similar to that of England and Wales.[161]
In 2008, 5,272 people in Northern Ireland were prosecuted for non-payment of the television licence fee of which 4,118 were fined. The corresponding figures for 2007 were 5,901 people prosecuted and 4,464 fines imposed.[178]
Scotland [ edit ]
Procurator Fiscal's Office in Kilmarnock. In Scotland, the decision to prosecute TV licensing cases is taken by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Office. Very few cases come to court in Scotland.
In Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Office undertakes prosecutions for TV licence evasion.[179] Very few cases in Scotland come to court.
Instead of prosecution, in Scotland, TV licence fee evaders are usually asked by the Procurator Fiscal to pay a fiscal fine and a small number are simply given a warning. For example, in 2013-2014, just ten cases reached the courts whereas 12,969 people were asked to pay a fiscal fine, no action was taken in 275 cases, and 174 people were sent a warning. In addition, two people were asked to pay compensation and one person was offered the chance to pay a combination of fiscal fine and compensation.[180] In 2013-14, almost all of the fiscal fines (12,603 out of 12,969) were at the level 2 rate of £75.[180]
Outcomes of TV licensing charges reported to the Procurator Fiscal.[180] 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 No action 498 865 599 275 Warning 832 536 2219 174 Fiscal fine 9522 12665 16403 12969 Court proceedings 9 35 17 10
Isle of Man [ edit ]
On the Isle of Man, prosecutions are prepared by Capita on behalf of the BBC[181] although they use Manx qualified lawyers[9] in the Magistrates' Court. The maximum fine is £1,000.
In a submission to Tynwald (the Isle of Man Government) regarding prosecution for non-payment of the BBC licence fee in the Crown dependencies, the BBC stated 59 cases were laid to court in the Isle of Man between 2007 and 2009 although "these figures include cases where no further action may have been taken (eg because a writ was not served or the case was withdrawn)".[9]
Number of offences prosecuted of "no television/radio licence" recorded by the Constabulary of the Isle of Man[182] 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 Number of prosecutions 0 0 93 0 119 68
In its response to the UK Government's TV Licence Fee Enforcement Review, published in 2015, the Isle of Man Government 'agreed that it is supportive of the decriminalisation of non-payment of the TV licence fee'.[183]
Guernsey [ edit ]
The maximum fine for licence fee evasion in Guernsey is £2,000.[184] Initial investigations into licence fee evasion are carried out by Capita employees as in the UK. However, prosecutions are carried out by police and law officers. According to the States of Guernsey: "it appears the TV Licensing Inspectors visit the island once every three to four years, therefore offences are usually reported to us following these visits."[185] In June 2013, Capita's television licensing enforcement officers visited Guernsey where according to the BBC, they found "130 people illegally watching TV without a licence".[186] The Guernsey Police Annual Report 2014 states that no offences of "television receiver without a licence – install/use" were recorded in 2014 as opposed to two such cases in 2013.[187]
Number of offences of "television receiver without a licence – install/use"
recorded by the police in Guernsey[188] 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Number of offences 18 15 10 0 0 9 0 0 2 0 Offence not listed
Jersey [ edit ]
According to the States of Jersey government: "Enforcement in Jersey is initiated by the TV Licensing function of the BBC which passes information onto the Jersey Police who then conduct their own investigation. A fine for a TV licensing offence can only be levied following successful prosecution at the Magistrate's Court: the Centenier does not have the power to summarily levy a fine for a TV licensing offence at a Parish Hall Enquiry."[189] The maximum fines for this offence in Jersey is £500.[184] Prosecutions are carried out by the Centenier. According to the BBC: "in the case of Jersey we can say that between 2007 and 2009 41 cases were laid to court".[9] In a response to a freedom of information request, the States of Jersey Police stated: "in 2014 there were fourteen prosecutions for having ‘no TV licence’. All received cautions at the Parish Hall. Of the 14, eight were male and six were female. There were no prosecutions in 2015."[190] There were no prosections in 2016[191]
Enforcement overview [ edit ]
Enforcement overview[8]
(note the BBC contracts most of its enforcement work to Capita) England & Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Isle of Man Guernsey Jersey Investigating authority BBC BBC but decision to prosecute taken by a procurator fiscal BBC BBC BBC passes cases to an inspector in the Guernsey prosecution unit, with the evidence reviewed by law officers BBC initially, information passed to police who conduct their own investigation Prosecuting authority BBC Procurator fiscal BBC BBC (using Manx lawyers) Police and law officers Centenier Legislation Communications Act 2003;
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Communications Act 2003;
Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 Communications Act 2003;
Police and Criminal Evidence Order 1989 Communications (Isle of Man) Order 2003;
Police Powers and Procedures Act 1998 Communications (Balliwick of Guernsey) Order 2004;
Police Powers and Criminal Evidence (Balliwick of Guernsey) 2003 Broadcasting & Communications (Jersey) Order 2004;
Police Powers and Criminal Evidence (Jersey) Law 2003 Maximum fine £1,000 £1,000 £1,000 £1,000 £2,000 £500 Case heard by Magistrates' court Sheriff court District judge Magistrates' Court Magistrates' court Magistrates' court
Opinions on the licence fee [ edit ]
Opinion polls [ edit ]
In 2004, the BBC reported that "Almost 70% of people in the UK want changes to the way the BBC is funded", following an ICM poll for their current affairs programme Panorama, which showed that 31% were in favour of the existing licence fee system, 36% said the BBC should be paid for by a subscription and 31% wanted advertising to pay for the programmes.[192]
In August 2008, the Guardian newspaper reported that "The BBC is facing an uphill battle to maintain support for the licence fee", stating that according to an Ipsos MORI poll the newspaper had commissioned, 41% agreed that the licence fee is an "appropriate funding mechanism" and 37% disagreed but when asked whether the licence fee is "good value for money", 47% disagreed, with more than half of them disagreeing strongly. The poll also showed that there is no longer a majority believing that the licence fee assured them of distinctive programming not available elsewhere ― which, the newspaper said, had long been one of the arguments for its existence: 41% of the population disagreed with only 30% agreeing. The poll also showed that opinion was split by a growing north-south and socio-economic divide.[193]
In September 2009, the Guardian reported an ICM poll showing an increase in support for the licence fee to 43%; "The fee is backed by 43%, against 24% who think advertising should foot the bill and 30% who think people should pay to subscribe if they want to see BBC programmes. In 2004, only 31% backed the licence fee, 12 points lower than today.".[194]
In 2013, according to an ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph, 70% stated that the BBC licence fee should be abolished or cut. 49% of those polled believed the fee should be scrapped altogether.[195]
Views of official bodies and policy institutes [ edit ]
Previous inquiries, such as the parliamentary Peacock Committee in 1986 and the internal Davies committee in 2000, recommended continuing the licence fee, with conditions. In 2001, an Ofcom report found that the vast majority of those it interviewed, including owners of digital television equipment, supported the principle of a licence fee to fund public service television and radio. The advantages of such funding listed by those interviewed included diversity, high quality, education, innovation, entertainment, information, original productions, pluralism, accessibility, inclusion of minorities and free access.[196] Another reason given in a response to Ofcom by the National Union of Journalists was that the licence fee allows the BBC to "retain independence" from both commercial and political pressures.[197]
Nonetheless, having surveyed public opinion during December 2003, a finding of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was that "the way the licence fee is set and collected raised issues about fairness".[198] Further criticisms, embodied in a 2005 Green Paper,[72] included cost, value for money, whether or not the BBC should be publicly funded, the high cost of collection and enforcement and the methods used.
Meanwhile, in 2004, the Institute for Public Policy Research criticised the TV licence fee for its regressive impact, pointing out that it represents a much higher proportion of income for poor households, that evaders are most likely to be single parents, lone tenants, pensioners and the economically inactive and that the difficulties they have in paying the licence fee are compounded by the penalties enforced for non-payment.[17]
Other technologies for receiving visual media, such as mobile phones and computers connected to the Internet, has led to questions over whether or not a licence fee based on television receiver ownership can continue to be justified when a television receiver is no longer the sole medium over which the BBC distributes its content;[199] and these technological changes led the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to state in 2005 that the collection of a fixed charge based on television ownership may become difficult to sustain.[72]
In 2006, the House of Lords Select Committee on BBC Charter Review criticised the reclassification of the licence fee as a tax, pointing out that the BBC was in consequence reclassified as a central government body, with "significant implications for the BBC's independence".[12]
In a debate in the UK Parliament in October 2013, the licence fee was referred to as 'a flat-rate poll tax' and as 'probably the UK's most regressive tax'[200]
Some critics[who?] claim that the licensing system interferes with the freedom to receive information and contend that this is a contravention of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to freedom of expression).[201] In a case dealing with the German radio licence, the ECHR in Application No. 26907/95 stated "Such an undertaking cannot be successfully accomplished unless it is grounded in the principle of pluralism, of which the State is the ultimate guarantor." and "The interference complained of was, therefore, necessary in a democratic society. There is, accordingly, no appearance of a violation of the applicant's right under Article 10 (Art. 10)."[202]
Media views [ edit ]
The television licence fee system has been variously criticised, commented upon and defended by the press.[203][204][205] In 2010, the journalist Charles Moore was fined by a magistrates' court for watching TV without a licence. Moore had refused to pay in protest at the BBC's unwillingness to dismiss Jonathan Ross in the wake of his involvement in The Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls.[206] Later, Moore was to describe the BBC licence fee as "the most regressive and most ruthlessly collected of all government imposts.”[207] In 2014, Nick Ross, a BBC presenter, stated that the licence fee was unfair and should be abolished.[208]
Websites and blogs [ edit ]
There are a number of websites that campaign against the TV licence[209] The BBC monitors the internet for references to TV Licensing.[210] According to the BBC "searches are carried out for the purpose of identifying external information relating to TV Licensing such that, where appropriate, we can respond and assist licence fee payers or correct inaccurate information as well as flag up customer complaints." Part of this monitoring 'flags up' critical comments about TV Licensing. An internal briefing note released by the BBC in response to a freedom of information request names the TV Licensing Blog as TV Licensing's "most prevalent activist"[209] who has "built a significant following both for his blog and for his @TVLicensingblog Twitter feed (over 900 followers)". The BBC also monitors YouTube videos of enquiry officers and YouTube videos critical of TV Licensing[210] as well as social media such as Facebook[211] and Twitter.
Opinions on collection and enforcement methods [ edit ]
In September 2008, the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, launched a review of TV Licensing's methods,[56] following complaints about "heavy-handed" and "intimidating" tactics[91] and during December 2008, it was reported by the press that the chairman of the all-party Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee had accused TV Licensing of behaving "like the Gestapo", employing "tactics that are outrageous", saying: "The tactics used by TV Licensing in their letters are intimidatory and cause genuine distress. Their records are not always correct, but they write letters that assume members of the public are criminals".[212]
In 2008, the former BBC television star, Noel Edmonds, stated that he had stopped paying his TV licence in a protest at the tone of BBC adverts aimed at TV licence evaders.[213]
Isle of Man [ edit ]
The licensing system remains controversial in the Isle of Man due to the fact that the licence fee remains the same as in the UK and Channel Islands, even though the BBC provides neither a local television news service for the Isle of Man (similar to BBC Channel Islands) nor any BBC local radio or national radio opt-out station. The BBC has sought to redress the lack of coverage by improving its online news service for the Isle of Man, with permanent BBC staff based at the Manx Radio studios in Douglas. A Select Committee of Tynwald was established in 2009 to investigate the value for money of the licensing system for the Isle of Man, and the feasibility of the Isle of Man withdrawing from it.
The future of the licence fee [ edit ]
The current Royal Charter for the BBC expires on 31 December 2027[214] and the TV licence fee itself was fixed at £145.50 until March 2017.[215] After this time the fee will increase in line with inflation for five years until 2022;[216] the price was raised to £147.[217][218]
The government stated that "while the current licence fee collection system is in operation, the current system of criminal deterrence and prosecution should be maintained".[219]
Notes [ edit ]
The Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004[58] gives the following definition:
"television receiver" means any apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving (whether by means of wireless telegraphy or otherwise) any television programme service, whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose.
any reference to receiving a television programme service includes a reference to receiving by any means any programme included in that service, where that programme is received at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public by virtue of its being broadcast or distributed as part of that service.In the aftermath of the latest breakout of the Greek crisis, Europeans across the continent, not just in Greece (even though with capital controls, potential deposit confiscation and currency devaluation they would have benefited by far the most), scrambled to buy physical gold and silver.
This is what the UK Royal Mint said a week ago, "During June, we experienced twice the expected demand for Sovereign bullion coins from our customers based in Greece."
Other dealers had comparable experiences: “Most of our common gold coins are sold out,” Daniel Marburger, a director of Frankfurt-based |
months ago after filming was over.
Salvage City debuts on Discovery Channel with back-to-back episodes this Sunday, December 22, at 10 a.m.This will take some statutory addition but you will see how Florida's DUI laws make it illegal for someone in a wheelchair to drink more than a couple beers. I will use highlights to draw attention to important parts of the statutes. First we must look at the Florida DUI statute 316.193. Driving under the influence; (1) A person is guilty of the offense of driving under the influence and is subject to punishment as provided in subsection (2) if the person is driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle (does not say motorized) within this state (does not say on a road) and: (a) The person is under the influence of alcoholic beverages, any chemical substance set forth in s. 877.111, or any substance controlled under chapter 893, when affected to the extent that the persons normal faculties are impaired; (b) The person has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood; or (c) The person has a breath-alcohol level of 0.08 or more grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. Vehicle is every device, in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway. Based on these broad definitions, a person in a wheelchair could fall within the application of the Florida DUI laws.
If you think this is BS we can look into the news to find out cops will arrest anybody they can find for DUI. Bicyclist, horseman, riding lawnmowers and even a a Hoveround. "Cynthia Christensen was maneuvering her Hoveround wheelchair down her front driveway when it became stuck in some sand. Cynthia fiddled with the Hoveround's joystick and hopped a 4 inch lip onto the main road where she hit an oncoming truck. "I was not even one foot from the curb I was popped pretty good,"said Christensen who had 9 stitches in her right toe. While she was at the hospital the nuses drew her blood and sent a sample to the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement laboratory. The sheriff's deputy had smelled alcohol on Cyntia's breath and had asked for a toxicology exam. Cynthia received a summons a few days later for a DUI. "It was not like I was riding down the road drunk. I can't even drive. I am very upset" she said." shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=35943. The case ended up being thrown out but it was litigated by the state of Florida. Hopefully the litigtion was to obtain a ruling with an agreement that the state would not go for a conviction but that probably was not the case.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Det Supt Karen Baxter said police believe one of the items is a "fully constructed explosive device"
A major arms haul believed to be connected to dissident republicans has been uncovered in County Armagh.
Firearms and munitions were found by police during a two-day search operation in the grounds of a former convent on the outskirts of Lurgan.
The weapons that were discovered are believed to belong to the group known to as the New IRA.
Det Supt Karen Baxter said police believe one of the items is a "fully constructed explosive device".
"These items were in the advanced stages of readiness and some were ready to be used," she said.
Image copyright PSNI Image caption A pipe-bomb with timer units was one of the items uncovered in the hide
It was a "significant and key" find that had saved lives, she added.
Specialist search teams scoured a wooded area close to a railway line and discovered the weapons hide.
Among the items found were homemade explosives, improvised mortars and launchers, a number of pipe bombs and three firearms.
Det Supt Baxter said it was difficult to say how long the hide had been in place.
She added that other hides in the area had been uncovered during the search and more items were found.
Image copyright PSNI Image caption Firearms, including a semi-automatic shotgun, were found in the two-day search
Analysis: Vincent Kearney, BBC News NI's home affairs correspondent
This is significant in two ways, firstly because of the quantity and variety of what was discovered.
But also because of where the items were found.
The dissident republican group referred to as the New IRA is known to be active in north County Armagh, and particularly in the Lurgan area.
Police believe this find has dealt a serious blow to that organisation's ability to carry out its activities.
Image copyright PSNI Image caption Parts for a homemade mortar were among the items recovered by police
Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire said those who had hidden the weapons "want to drag Northern Ireland backwards" but added that they would "not succeed".
"This is a reminder of the continuing need for vigilance and to report any information, no matter how small, to the Police Service of Northern Ireland," he said.
Anne Connolly, the chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, thanked the police and army bomb experts who were involved in the searches.
"It's a great result for the PSNI to find these firearms and munitions and take them away from those who would have used them to cause harm in our community," she said.
Sinn Féin MLA Catherine Seeley said: "The fact that those who would try to roll back the progress we have made as a society will not be able to use these weapons is to be welcomed.
"I'm glad these materials have been taken out of circulation and cannot be used to endanger life."
Image copyright Press Eye Image caption The railway line between Lisburn and Portadown was closed while searches were carried out
Carla Lockhart, a Democratic Unionist Party MLA, praised the police for their work.
"It should be a wake-up call to those in our community who want to return to the past, that the PSNI will continue to work to defeat the threat of dissident activity," she said.
It is the third significant discovery of arms to be made this year.
In May, components for making bombs were found at Capanagh Forest near Larne in County Antrim.
Police said that was one of the most significant arms discoveries in years.
Arms, including parts that could be used to make under-car booby-trap bombs, were also found at Carnfunnock Country Park near Larne in March.The Shanghai Road Administration Bureau is asking its residents whether English should be removed from traffic signs.
The survey said: “Considering that most road and area names in English are pinyin – and that the effective use of space is not high – if we stop displaying Chinese and English at the same time, we can make the signs smaller. Or without changing the measurements of the signs, we can make the Chinese characters bigger.”
It asked for feedback as to whether citizens would like to keep both, completely eradicate English, or keep English names only in important areas such as tourist hotspots and business districts.
If none of the options seem suitable, residents can also give their own opinion on the matter.
China Daily reported that expats were worried about the loss of road signs in English.
Radek Gebiz, from Germany, told the paper that there was no requirement for foreigners to know Chinese characters when they get a driver’s license. He added that he uses the signs to ensure drivers are going the right way when he takes a taxi.
The bureau said that the current form in pinyin was “not too useful.” It said that it would make a final decision on whether to remove English after assessing the survey results and consulting with traffic experts.Soviet Union Travel Called Commonplace : Politics: Sen. Bradley is among those recalling how he and other sightseers poured into Russia. Bush defenders say Clinton's 1969 trip was unusual.
"I feel very angry about what Mr. Bush is doing," she said hours after the President raised questions on a TV call-in show about Clinton's trip to Moscow.
Mrs. Jacob Beam, wife of the U.S. ambassador to Moscow under then-President Richard M. Nixon, recalls that most of the Americans who visited the Soviet Union in 1969 were just "darn curious" and not there because of any affinity for communism.
"There was simply nothing extraordinary about visiting the Soviet Union in 1969," said Allen Kassof, former director of the International Research and Exchanges Board, a large U.S.-Soviet student exchange organization. "If you were to walk down the street and ask an American tourist his party affiliation, it was probably conservative Republican."
WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton was one of thousands of students, wealthy retirees and other American sightseers who poured into the Soviet Union in 1969 as entry barriers were easing dramatically, those associated with the country said Thursday after President Bush made Clinton's trip a campaign issue.
Some Republican defenders of Bush suggested that the Clinton trip was, indeed, unusual and deserved close scrutiny. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), who was secretary of the Navy at the time of the trip, said Thursday: "As far as I know, travel to Moscow in those days was primarily official business."
On the other hand, Robert German, a retired foreign service officer who served in the Moscow Embassy during the 1960s, said in an interview: "It certainly wasn't very extraordinary for students on vacation to visit Russia in those days. There were no restrictions at all on our side, though there were some bureaucratic problems getting visas on the Soviet side."
Kassof said that during that period, thousands of Americans "were going to Russia as tourists, ranging from young people to wealthy people, retirees and scholars who were not on exchange programs."
Several former Rhodes scholars said it was commonplace for such students to travel to the Soviet Union and other countries in Europe during breaks in their studies.
Frank Sieverts, a former Rhodes scholar and foreign service officer who is now on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that any Rhodes scholar "who didn't take off from his studies and see the world was very stick-in-the-mud."
Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) said he took a "great trip" to the Soviet Union while he was a Rhodes scholar in 1966.
"I saw totalitarianism up close--and was revolted by it," Bradley recalled in a Senate floor speech. "I met hundreds of Russians and Ukrainians and found them warm and open people who I hoped ultimately would triumph, as they have, in throwing off the yoke of communism.
"That summer I drove and camped about 1,100 miles through Byelorussia, Russia and Ukraine," Bradley continued. "I went with three fellow students from Oxford--one English and two American--one of whom went on to become an assistant to Henry Kissinger and work in the Reagan State Department.
"What does the President imply... that anybody who as a student traveled to Russia is unpatriotic? What hogwash. I thought education was learning about the world first-hand as well as from books."
A congressional aide recalled that during the 1960s the CIA was secretly subsidizing the U.S. National Student Assn. for purposes of sending Americans to youth festivals in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.Published: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 @ 1:32 AM
Updated: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 @ 1:32 AM
Sexual assault is a big problem on college campuses, so one company is trying to fight the problem by reaching students where they live: on their smartphones.
It's called Good2Go. It's designed to confirm "mutual consent" between two adults, but it does have a few inherent problems.
The app works by asking both users whether they consent to sex and how intoxicated they are. It requires at least one user to have an account and the other to enter his or her phone number.
The app's creators say they set out to help improve communication, cutting back cases of sexual assault on college campuses by making sure everyone is on board. "It may stop the action for a second, but everyone understands it is in the interest of safety, so it is worth the momentary pause."
>> RELATED: How 'yes means yes' defines sexual assault
And yes, they're totally serious. "Attaining affirmative consent in advance reduces the risk of assaults and regretted encounters and protects both parties."
The app has already gotten a fair share of ribbing. A writer for Uproxx says, "Trying to automate a process that’s profoundly personal and subjective is always going to fail."
But let's say it actually does catch on. Are there any potential downsides?
http://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/516679321743028226
Well, The Washington Post says, by logging encounters, the app is essentially keeping a record of who you sleep with, when you did it and how drunk or sober you were. As if social media wasn't invasive enough already.
And a writer for Slate says it could protect a partner who goes too far. If one party changes their mind about an encounter but is forced into it anyway, proof that the victim consented at one point could be a powerful defense.
But it's widely known that sexual assault on campuses is a problem, and consent has long been a tough legal issue.
>> Read more trending stories
California recently passed a law that takes a "yes means yes" approach, meant to protect victims who were incapacitated or otherwise couldn't give consent. But it's so far the only state to have made that kind of change.
A writer for the libertarian magazine Reason says maybe apps are the answer. "Modern technology is already changing how people find romantic and sexual partners. Nowadays, people use apps like Grindr and Tindr to find sexual partners all the time. Why can't consent work the same way?"
Regardless, most outlets seem to agree that this app is unlikely to catch on, in spite of its good intentions.Aljamain Sterling. Pedro Munhoz. Mirsad Bektic. Jim Alers. Alex Garcia. Albert Tumenov. Mike Rhodes. Rashid Magomedov. Justin Scoggins. Sergio Pettis. These are just a few of the enormously talented prospects the UFC has signed over the last eight months as part of a massive wave of new talent. Some of them immediately impressed - Garcia and Scoggins especially - while others, including Rhodes, Munhoz, and Tumenov, experienced rough introductions to a higher level of competition.
It's important to bear in mind, however, that even the most talented fighters don't arrive in the UFC as finished products. We tend to talk about prospect development in this sport as an abstract, ephemeral concept, and understandably so: MMA doesn't have the data-driven methods of baseball, the scouting combines and readily available video and statistical measures of American football, or the relatively small talent pool and highly-developed analytical tools of basketball. There's no set of concrete guidelines or easy-to-examine aging curves that give us baselines for comparing fighters at various stages of development.
That's what we're going to do here, at least on a small, anecdotal scale. I thought that it would be instructive to examine a few current greats to see exactly what they looked like at various points in their early careers; hopefully, this will give us a better idea of what to expect from young fighters moving forward. We're going to take a look at Georges St-Pierre, Jose Aldo, and Chris Weidman, complete with GIFs, video, and analysis.
So let's start at the beginning. Here's GSP in his fourth professional fight, a year into his career, fighting the much more experienced Thomas Denny:
While we can already see flashes of GSP's dominant wrestling (his chained takedown attempts were already gorgeous) and punishing top game, along with his stunning athleticism, it's clear that he hadn't yet developed the preternatural timing on his takedowns, the full range of his striking, or the pure strength that he'd show later on. With that said, how sick was this superman punch to double leg sequence? Phase-shifting has always been the heart of GSP's game, and we can already see it here.
Somebody hold me. Now let's take a look at an 18-year old Jose Aldo in his fifth professional fight, just under a year after his professional debut, against the unheralded Anderson Silverio.
There are a few interesting things to note here. First, his takedown defense is already outstanding; it isn't as highly developed as it will eventually become, of course, but it's still there. Second, he spends a lot more time on/slightly above the ground than we're used to seeing. Finally, while his striking is powerful and fast here, he's nowhere close to the level of technical brilliance he displayed during his early career in the WEC, much less the kind of skill he displays now. Most notably, his command of angles and distance is still lacking; for perhaps the best defensive fighter in the UFC today, it's quite odd to see him getting hit as much and as cleanly as he was here. Still, combinations like this one hint at his future potential:
Well, that was just lovely. To finish up our first round of fights, let's take a look at Chris Weidman's bout against current UFC middleweight Uriah Hall. This was about a year and a half into Weidman's career, and it was his third professional fight.
Weidman is obviously still pretty raw here. His first two takedown attempts had no setup, relying on raw explosiveness and drive to get onto Hall's hips, and he was stuffed pretty easily. The third wasn't much better, but he chained his attempts together to eventually force Hall to the mat. His top game was a work in progress as well: it's hard to imagine Weidman getting shucked off with something as basic as a butterfly guard today. The striking, on the other hand, was coming along nicely. He showed aggressiveness, willingness to engage, and hard if basic combination punching. The hook with which he floored Hall was gorgeous, and capitalized on his opponent's tendency to disengage with his hands down. It's hard not to see this as a premonition of the left hook he used to knock out Anderson Silva in their first bout.
With these three fights, we have a basis for examining development over time. For comparison, let's now take a look at each of these fighters' final bouts before their debuts in the UFC, or in Aldo's case, the WEC.
First up is Georges St-Pierre against Pete Spratt. GSP hadn't fought since defeating Thomas Denny in the first video we examined, but the growth in his game during the ten-month interval is obvious.
His top game looks even smoother than it did in his first fight against Denny: note how easily he passes the guard, and the heavy base he maintains from side control and half-guard. We don't see much of his striking here, but the brief flash at the beginning of the fight shows improvement as well. The real development here, I think, lies in his wrestling. Check out the the timing on his first takedown attempt (around the 6:30 mark): it's extraordinary, and it presages the reactive double-legs he used to such great effect in his later career. Here's the GIF:
Gorgeous stuff here from the future welterweight champion. Now let's check back in with Jose Aldo for his bout with Shoji Maruyama, his last before debuting in the WEC. Aldo had five fights and nearly two years in between the two contests we're examining here, so we should expect to see a great deal of development. Lo and behold, that's exactly what we find.
The first thing to note is how much cleaner and more technical Aldo's striking game is as compared to the first fight we examined. He's feinting more, taking angles, and showing flashes of the high-level pivots that we tend to associate with him today. His defense is also much better, though he still eats a few shots, largely as a result of the improvements I just mentioned. The biggest difference, however, is in Aldo's timing. The way he builds off his feints to land his low kicks is already impressive:
And what about this ridiculous explosion of violence? Serious shades of future Aldo right here:
Of course, we can also mention that Aldo hit some gorgeous takedowns, including a suplex (!?!?), and that his top control looked as good as ever. In short, we can see massive improvement in the two years between the fights we examined.
Finally, here's Weidman's last fight before his short-notice UFC debut against Alessio Sakara. Only three months had passed since the Uriah Hall fight we examined earlier, but there were still some real improvements in Weidman's game.
Given that it goes to decision, there's a lot we can unpack here, but let's focus on the essentials. The first point is how much better Weidman is at judging distance and timing on his takedown attempts. The second is the improvement in his striking. He was solid against Hall, but the 1-2 combinations, angles, and movement all look much better here. The third is the development of his clinch game; he only landed a few big shots, but he showed that he knew how to stay busy, grind, and win rounds against the fence if need be. This is a consistent characteristic of Ray Longo-trained fighters in general. The fourth is the further development of his submission game: obviously he didn't succeed in completing a sub attempt, but he looked for the guillotine a number of times. Note here how he transitions from the double collar tie and a barrage of knees to the standing guillotine at the very end:
That's beautiful phase-shifting, and marks something that has continued to show up in Weidman's game years after the fact.
This brings our examination of development to a close. It should be clear by now that we need to temper our expectations of young prospects, even those as talented as the three fighters we examined here. Georges St-Pierre in 2003, Jose Aldo in 2005, and Chris Weidman in 2010 were nowhere close to being the fighters they would eventually become, and that's no less true for today's crop of explosive youngsters than it was for these gentlemen.
Thoughts? Concerns? Fighters you'd like me to examine in a follow-up piece? Sound off in the comments or hit me up on Twitter, @Patrick_Wyman.It’s no secret Donald Trump has a very tenuous relationship with the media. At best. Trump made media bashing one of the centerpieces of his campaign and Trump goes further than other politicians in that he’d call out reporters by name at rallies and press conferences. He’d routinely call journalists “liars” and made it so that supporters at his rallies would yell, scream (and yes sometimes spit on) and curse at reporters who were there to do their jobs.
According to the New York Post, Trump, in a meeting held with media executives, hit at them in a major way:
“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said. “The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source added. A second source confirmed the fireworks. “The meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks,” the other source said. “Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars,” the source said. “Trump didn’t say [NBC reporter] Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate – which was Martha Raddatz who was also in the room.”
On the one hand, I can’t say this is very productive on his part. Assuming it happened. On the other, if it did happen, it’s pretty damned funny.
Kellyanne Conway wasn’t talking:
Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway told reporters the gathering went well. “Excellent meetings with the top executives of the major networks,” she said during a gaggle in the lobby of Trump Tower. “Pretty unprecedented meeting we put together in two days.”
I am sure we have not heard the end of this story.Rosario + Vampire "A Confession and a Vampire: Reboot"
Chapter 1: "Confession"
Author's Notes: Please read:
This is a complete'reboot' of my ever-popular, original fan-fiction story 'A Confession and a Vampire' except it will be somewhat different. This will follow the events of the most recent manga chapters and contains major spoilers from season 2, chapter 65 and onward.
It also combines elements from my one-shot 'Moka's Strangest Day Ever' (co-written with my very good friend and beta reader, Shadowwolf 08, from here on fan-fic) minus the part with Outer Moka, who is no longer around in the manga series; so it will definitely be different. Some events will be the same; otherwise it is a completely different story...kind of, LOL. ^_^
...
Any and all positive feedback is always welcomed and appreciated.
Beta Read by "Train48" from deviant Art... Thanks buddy!
Takes place about a year after the defeat of 'Fairy Tale' and the demon, Alucard.
Alternate Reality, but still based upon the manga series.
…..
This chapter is rated T:
Comedy / Drama / Romance
.
* [Prologue] *
Moka Akashiya was a nervous wreck. In fact, she could hardly breathe!
In just three days' time, she, along with all her friends, would be graduating from Yokai Academy and would be going their separate ways. The reason for her nervousness sat in front of her during homeroom every day for the past three years since they had become friends.
Actually, very best friends. The only person who had always been there for her no matter what they went through, and accepted her for who she was, inside and out.
The one person who had saved her from a fate worse than death on the first day of Freshman Year:
Tsukune Aono.
.
.
For the first time in her life, she knew what true fear really was. Though she was deeply in love with him, there was always the concern of whether or not he held the same feelings for her.
Would he return her love? Was she merely wishful thinking? Did he only love her pink-haired, "Outer" half who was no longer around? Once she had gathered her thoughts together in some sort of comprehensive order, she wrote a letter and placed it in his shoe locker early in the morning.
It was simple and to the point…
Dear Tsukune,
Please meet me on the roof of the school at the end of the day. I have something very important that I must tell you and can't bear to hold it in any longer. I will be looking forward to seeing you at that time.
Your friend.
When Tsukune found the note in his shoe locker, he was caught off guard by the cryptic message, unsure of not only of which friend it was from, but also the meaning behind it.
'Maybe somebody wants to fight me again? *sigh* I wouldn't blame them, considering the rumors about me defeating Alucard. Or it could be a girl wanting to confess to me. Yeah, right! Like that would ever happen in a million years!' the raven-haired teen thought to himself.
He really was not in the mood to fight anyone, especially since graduation was literally around the corner. And he was sure that no girl ever thought of him like that, anything beyond just a Friend, Destined One, or Mate of Fate.
The teen heavily sighed, as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. Nothing seemed to be going right anymore.
He had more pressing issues wandering through his mind, namely a certain female vampire, whom he held very strong feelings for since the day they met during their first year at the Academy. Even after all they had been through, he still was not exactly sure how she felt about him or if she would even return his feelings. He knew she cared about him, but to what extent exactly?
Could he be with the girl of his dreams and live a happy, peaceful life once and for all?
…..
He did not want to ruin the friendship they shared, and wanted more than anything to remain being friends, even after Graduation. It was true that he secretly hoped for a lot more, but he did not want to pressure her into a relationship, fearful she would flat-out reject him.
The boy pinched his eyes shut with a loud groan. All this stress was really beginning to get to him.
As soon as the last bell of the day had rung, Moka gathered her books, shoved them into her leather bag and started toward the door.
"Hey, Moka…Moka?" Tsukune said as she left the classroom as quickly as possible and nearly knocked over a few students that were blocking the doorway.
'That's weird. I wonder where Moka ran off to so suddenly?' he thought to himself as she disappeared down the hallway.
'Well, I guess I should head to the roof and meet with whoever wrote that note.'
With that decision firmly made, Tsukune walked down the long hallway towards the stairwell that lead the rooftop of the building.
.
Meanwhile, Moka was waiting at said rooftop, sitting on a bench, facing the doorway; silently praying that Tsukune would show up and listen to what she had to say to him.
She was going through the memories of the past three years; everything they had experience together. It was never easy of course; especially since her other side was no longer around. The silver-haired beauty secretly wished that she was there for her now. She was the one who was always better at facing her feelings. Clone or not, she truly missed her.
It's a real shame though. After her Rosary was completely destroyed last year by Alucard, she and Tsukune never really talked too much, even though he was now a Shinso Vampire, much like herself.
Outer Moka was severely injured and her stepsister Akua was failing miserably as she attempted to revive her with her very own blood. He was the one who tore off his Holy Lock, just to prove a point to the eldest Shuzen daughter. Once his Lock was completely removed, the true, Shinso power in his blood was released and he became a Vampire, just as he predicted.
If he was mistaken, he most certainly would have gone berserk and transformed into a bloodthirsty Ghoul once again.
Good thing he was right though, otherwise the Chairman would have had to put him down, permanently.
The other girls were shocked of course, as they witnessed his true power unleashed, but they knew they couldn't do a damn thing about it. What was done, was finally done.
Her thoughts were brought back to the present, and her heart nearly stopped as the object of her turmoil slowly stepped out into the dimming sunshine, bathing his hair in a warm, chocolaty glow.
As Tsukune slowly pushed open the heavy, metal door, he spotted Moka sitting on a bench near the fence surrounding the roof.
'Moka? Wh-what's she doing here? It-it can't be…' Tsukune thought to himself, as he stood there, glued in place, uncertain as to what was going on. His question was answered a moment later.
Moka stood up from her seat and smiled brightly as she slowly approached the bewildered, ebony-haired object of her desire.
"Hello there, Tsukune. I'm so glad that you made it. I was wondering if you'd actually show up or not," the red-eyed vampiress muttered, as she slowly crossed the distance between them.
"Moka? Um, y-you w-wrote that note?" he nervously inquired, feeling his cheeks instantly warm at her closeness.
"Oh, yes Tsukune, I did. See, there is something that I've wanted to tell you for some time now, but I've never had the chance to. Whenever I had a moment alone with you, even if it were just for a minute, we were always interrupted."
.
'What's she getting at? I d-don't understand.'
Moka could tell that Tsukune was getting nervous; thanks to the special bond they had shared since the first day they met during their freshman year.
She took a deep breath to gather her thoughts and slowly continued.
'I can do this…I know I can…somehow…' she reassured herself.
"Well, you see, Tsukune, I never really had the chance to thank you for everything since we became friends. Especially…when you saved the other me…from Saizo…and…and…he tried to – he tried to..." Moka stated as the painful memory from the experience resurfaced, and she instantly felt her shoulders shake against the sobs that quickly began to overtake her.
Seeing her cry so suddenly, Tsukune reached over and quickly pulled her into a firm hug.
'Wh-what the hell am I doing?!' the embarrassed teen thought with a blush,
'S-still, I-I had to do something. I've never seen her cry like this before…'
Caught off guard by the affectionate gesture, Moka returned the embrace and gently leaned her head on his right shoulder.
"Moka, I-I don't know what to say…I j-just couldn't abandon you…I could never leave you behind…I'm so-sorry. I wasn't strong enough to protect you back then…but I had to do something. When you asked me to be your friend, I was really happy. It's just that, well, pretty girls such as yourself never spoke to me before I came here to Yokai…" he replied, still holding her closely.
Feeling better a few minutes later, Tsukune reluctantly released her from their hug as her crying finally ceased. Moka blushed hard hearing that last tidbit of information. Her feelings for Tsukune were clearer than ever before.
She was definitely in love with him, no doubt about it.
"T-thank you, Tsukune. Thank you for being my friend and always being there for me," she whispered; a small smile tugging at her, plump, red lips.
"You're welcome, Moka. Is...um, that what you wanted to tell me?"
"Oh actually…there's a lot more," she replied as she nervously poked her index fingers together. He knew by that simple, yet adorable gesture, that something was definitely on her mind. Whatever it was had to be either very important or embarrassing, if he had to guess.
He realized that a small part of "Outer" Moka was still there – helping her along somewhat.
"Okay, Moka. Uh, is there something bothering you?" he asked as they walked towards the bench and sat down, less than a foot apart.
"Well, you see... Um, it's quite embarrassing" Moka replied as her blush intensified.
"It's fine, Moka. You can tell me anything. Whatever it is, I will listen. We are friends, right?" he asked with a warm smile.
Moka was getting more and more nervous by the passing second.
Time was quickly running out, and she honestly wanted to tell him how she felt about him, but was still hesitant – unsure of how to say it without getting more flustered than she already was.
The silver-haired vampire princess weakly smiled and slowly placed her left hand atop his right hand then squeezed gently. Tsukune's face flushed bright red, caught off guard by her unexpected, yet bold gesture.
"Moka?"
"Tsukune. Please, just listen. What I'm about to tell you is not easy for me."
…..
'W-what's going on here? She isn't going to… *gulp* confess to me is she? No. It's not possible…is it? Oh, man! If she does, I- I don't know what I'll do…I mean, does she really think of me more than just a 'friend'?'
Moka lightly squeezed his hand again, as she attempted to gain his undivided attention; she could tell he was deep in thought. Or at least she believed he was.
"Tsukune?" she questioned.
"Uh, sorry about that, Moka. Um, you were saying?"
Moka closed her eyes for a moment and released a deep breath she did not know that she was even holding.
"Last year, when I was abducted by Fairy Tale…I wasn't sure if I'd ever see you again. And I missed being near you so much…it hurt, especially to my other half. The loneliness I felt when we were apart was quite painful. It's then that I realized that…that…that I was in love with you…and I'm sorry it took me this long – to tell you…," Moka told him as her face turned bright red once again.
Tsukune's mouth fell open in disbelief; Moka was still holding his hand. To say that he was shocked would be the understatement of the millennium. Moka Akashiya, the only girl who he had been madly in love with for as long as he could remember just told him that she was in love with him.
'I-I'm dreaming, right? That's it. This has to be a dream! B-but even if it is…I don't want to wake up…' he thought to himself.
His thoughts immediately screeched to a grinding halt as Moka pulled him into her arms, holding the young man for all she was worth as she silently prayed he would return her love. She had told him how she cared about him and felt as though a weight had been lifted. However, she was not out of the woods yet.
God, what would she do if he rejected her now?
"Moka…um…the thing is…that…oh boy…the thing is um…that I've - *gulp* - been in love with you since the very first moment I saw you…but I didn't want to ruin our friendship…I was happy…just being your friend and just wanted to attend class with you every day…I'm sorry that I was indecisive and couldn't tell you how I felt about you sooner…pretty silly, huh?"
Tsukune hugged her tighter, as Moka shed a few tears of happiness. He loved her too! She was ecstatic! All her worries were for naught. Her chest suddenly felt too tight as a powerful surge of happiness swept through her. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had been |
slower than anticipated.
Floor, sill, and wheel well painting Floor undersealing Wing bolting on Bumper bolting on Headlight cover bolting on Undertray bolting on New battery Passenger indicator and reflector
Now that Gwyneth is solid, in part four we’ll be installing coilovers and completing the final jobs to get her ready for the road.
For my own amusement, I’ve left the peanuts in the boot and slapped on a sticker.Don't call presidential candidates mentally ill, the American Psychiatric Association told its members this week.
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Following a bad week for Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE, in which he insulted a Gold Star family and declined to endorse Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanBrexit and exit: A transatlantic comparison Five takeaways from McCabe’s allegations against Trump The Hill's 12:30 Report: Sanders set to shake up 2020 race MORE (R-Wis.) for reelection before doing it anyway on Friday, many have started to question whether Trump has a personality disorder.
"We're asking ourselves — I didn't say this, but this is what everybody is saying — is Donald Trump a sociopath?" MSNBC host Joe Scarborough asked earlier this week.
And a California Democrat Wednesday launched a change.org petition calling for Trump to undergo a mental health evaluation, suggesting he may have a narcissistic personality disorder. More than 25,000 have signed it as of Sunday.
While the APA can't tell politicians and the media how to act, it is encouraging its members not to offer opinions on someone they haven't personally evaluated.
Called the Goldwater Rule, psychiatrists may share with the public their expertise on psychiatric issues in general, but it's considered unethical to offer an opinion unless they've conducted an examination and have been given permission to talk about it.
"Simply put, breaking the Goldwater Rule is irresponsible, potentially stigmatizing, and definitely unethical," Maria Oquendo told members this week.
"Every four years, the United States goes through a protracted elections process for the highest office in the land. This year, the election seems like anything but a normal contest, that has at times devolved into outright vitriol," she wrote.
"The unique atmosphere of this year’s election cycle may lead some to want to psychoanalyze the candidates, but to do so would not only be unethical, it would be irresponsible."Vestager is a striking personality and bold communicator | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images EU’s Vestager hits Google with €2.42 billion fine The case will stoke tension between Brussels and Washington, where EU critics detect thinly-veiled protectionism.
The European Commission issued Google a fine of €2.42 billion Tuesday for abusing a dominant position over internet search, concluding a landmark inquiry that dragged on for seven years and handing Silicon Valley its largest regulatory setback to date.
Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, said the company systematically manipulated its results page to promote its own Google Shopping service and push smaller rivals down its search rankings. The Danish commissioner, who has championed a hard line against Google in her enforcement action and in her speeches, gave the American tech giant 90 days to make key changes to the way it does business in Europe — with a warning to get its wider house in order.
"We congratulate you for being successful. But the applause stops when you stop competing on the merits," Vestager said at a news conference, adding that the decision "is a precedent which can be used as a framework to analyze the legality" of other Google services.
The Commission said the fine of €2,424,495,000 reflected the seriousness and the duration of the abuse. Its case focused on 13 European countries.
The inquiry, which Google and EU officials tried and failed to settle on three occasions in the face of political and business opposition, will set a precedent that regulators across the globe will be sorely tempted to imitate. It confirms Europe's position as the leading regulatory check on the sprawling tech firms — Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple — that have come to dominate the internet economy.
“When you shop online, you want to find the products you’re looking for quickly and easily. Advertisers want to promote those same products. That’s why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both," said Kent Walker, Google senior vice president and general counsel.
Walker said Google "respectfully disagrees" with Vestager's conclusions and will review the decision as it considers an appeal.
Appeal likely
The Commission continues to pursue two charges issued last year against Google's Android operating system and its advertising business.
Symbolically, Vestager chose to announce her verdict on the day the heads of Europe's 28 national competition authorities were in Brussels, presenting a united front for what is Europe's most significant and most controversial antitrust case in at least a decade.
The Commission's decision instructs Google to ensure its give "equal treatment" rival comparison shopping services equally to its own Google Shopping service — although how it does so is up to the search engine, which has 60 days to inform the Commission of its plans.
Vestager also warned Google that it must refrain from "any measure that has the same or an equivalent object or effect," in what appears to be a veiled reference to concerns over Google's other vertical search services, like local, flights or news.
Google must comply to the Commission's satisfaction or risks daily fines capped at around €12.5 million a day.
In principle, Google has two months to appeal once it receives the decision — and in all likelihood will do so.
Investigators concluded that, starting in 2008, Google used its dominant position over internet searches — it computes some 90 percent of internet searches in Europe — to annex a connected shopping market. By promoting or favoring its own Google Shopping service, the search giant severely weakened smaller websites that allowed users to compare products' prices and features.
"Since the beginning of each abuse, Google's comparison shopping service has increased its traffic 45-fold in the United Kingdom, 35-fold in Germany, 19-fold in France, 29-fold in the Netherlands, 17-fold in Spain and 14-fold in Italy," the Commission said in a statement.
The case establishes a new kind of legal abuse, with potentially big implications for Google's wider business, and other powerful firms — from Amazon to large manufacturers.
The sanction breaks the previous record of €1.06 billion imposed on Intel.
Google has long argued that the Commission ought to fully account for the role played by Amazon over the last decade in transforming online shopping and putting many price comparison sites out of business. Its powerful growth is a sign of healthy competition, Google argues.
Transatlantic divergence
The case is bound to stoke tensions between Brussels and Washington, where some politicians view the Commission's antitrust enforcement as thinly-veiled protectionism. Eyes in the Commission will be trained on the twitter page of U.S. President Donald Trump as the U.S. wakes up to the news.
Perhaps more importantly, Vestager's verdict lays bare the remarkable divergence between the U.S., which created modern anti-monopoly laws but is increasingly shy of using them, and Europe, which has adopted them with gusto. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2013 closed its own probe of Google after accepting relatively minor concessions.
The European case's origins date back to 2009, when product comparison website Foundem filed the first EU antitrust complaint against Google. The inquiry has since attracted more than 30 additional complainants ranging from Microsoft to Yelp to Deutsche Telekom and in sectors ranging from online travel search to news. Three settlements came and went amid visceral opposition from complainants — espoused most clearly by Mathias Döfner, the CEO of German media giant Axel Springer — and from political power brokers in Paris and Berlin.
Axel Springer is a co-owner of the European edition of POLITICO.
All the complainants except Microsoft, which struck a global peace deal with Google, will scrutinize the decision to see how it affects their particular gripe, and some are likely to file civil damages claims.BERLIN — "We can do it" was Angela Merkel's defiant response to the migration crisis engulfing Europe. A year later, those words still resonate — but not in the way she intended.
The German chancellor didn't just say "wir schaffen das" once; she repeated it time and again, each time enraging her opponents and even members of her own party.
“People are simply tired of hearing ‘we can do it,’” said Karl-Georg Wellmann, a member of the German parliament for Merkel's Christian Democrats. “The German government did a good job reacting to the refugee crisis. But repeating 'we can do it’ over and over again sends out the wrong message.”
Merkel is a cautious politician and didn't rush her reaction to the crisis, when hundreds of thousands of mostly Syrian refugees fled to Europe. The Right predicted the end of civilization, but Merkel took the opposite approach and temporarily opened up Germany's doors.
It was a well-intentioned response to a tragic situation but most analysts agree that her decision to justify it for months on end by saying “we can do it” turned into a communications nightmare for Merkel.
No group has benefited more from Merkel's use of language than the far-right Alternative for Germany.
“The sentence is a prime example of how language is more than just an embellishment to politics,” said Elisabeth Wehling, a German cognitive scientist who teaches at the University of California in Berkley. “Language is politics.”
No group has benefited more from Merkel's use of language than the far-right Alternative for Germany.
“We don’t want to do this, at all,” AfD deputy head Alexander Gauland yelled at a cheering crowd in Erfurt in October. His party's support has skyrocketed in the past year. In August 2015, pollsters had the AfD on 3 percent support. In June 2016, it was at 14 percent.
Devil in the detail
On August 31, 2015, Merkel was fresh from a visit to a refugee center near Dresden where locals had given her a tough time. She was booed and vulgar slurs were hurled in her direction. At the same time, the human cost of the crisis was becoming clearer: A few days earlier, a truck had been found along an Austrian highway with 71 dead refugees inside.
It was against this background that, around 13 minutes into a press conference, Merkel said: "I put it simply, Germany is a strong country... we have managed so many things — we can do this."
In German, "Wir haben so vieles geschafft – wir schaffen das."
German media picked up on it, but it wasn't until two weeks later that the phrase was first thrown back in Merkel's face.
“The sentence essentially asks to be misused and misappropriated, because it contains a completely unclear reference” — Joachim Scharloth, applied linguistics professor
In mid-September, Werner Faymann, then Austria's chancellor and Merkel's closest European ally on migration, visited Berlin. During a joint press conference, Merkel was asked about critics of her refugee policy.
“I say it again and again: We can manage this, we can do it,” she said defiantly, adding, “If we start having to apologize for showing a friendly face in an emergency situation, then this is not my country.”
"We can do it" went global, at least in part because of the soundbite's similarity to Barack Obama's "Yes we can."
But it's not quite as simple as that.
The German “Wir schaffen das” does not express the same degree of enthusiasm as “we can do it” does in English. Instead, it implies “we will manage the situation, because we have no other choice.”
Merkel’s complete sentence, in its original context, would more accurately translate as, “We have managed so many things — we will also manage this situation.”
That's nowhere near as catchy as "we can do it."
“The sentence essentially asks to be misused and misappropriated, because it contains a completely unclear reference,” said Joachim Scharloth, a professor of applied linguistics at Dresden University of Technology. “When she says ‘we can do it’ — what does she mean when she says 'it’?
“First of all, the sentence in itself does not say a lot,” said Scharloth. “And, more importantly, she felt the need to [use] the sentence again and again. This is not a sign of good communication.”
Cognitive scientists talk of "negative framing.” In layman's terms, that's invalidating your opponent’s argument by exaggerating it to such a degree that it sounds implausible. One of the basic rules of political communication is to prevent this; a good communications strategy tries to make a point while at the same time stopping opponents from seizing on it for their own ends.
On those terms, "we can do it" was a resounding failure.
“Merkel’s sentence was supposed to evoke values of unity and empathy,” said Wehling, who has written a book called "Political Framing."
“However, Merkel put this statement out completely isolated, without any counterbalance. This allowed her opponents to pick it up, caricature it, and to rebrand it as a denial of reality, along the lines of, ‘We can do anything — everyone is free to come here.'”
But Merkel has stood firm even as the national mood soured following the New Year's Eve mass sexual assaults in Cologne and the violent attacks that took place this summer, three out of four of which were carried out by migrants.
In her annual summer press conference in late July, she said, “I stand by the political decisions we’ve made," adding: "I didn’t say it would be easy.”
Opinion polls say two out of three Germans don't believe their country can "do it."
“I said back then, and I’ll say it again, Germany is a strong country. I called it a task for the whole nation. But just as we’ve managed so much already, we’ll manage this.”
Germans aren't so sure, with opinion polls saying two out of three don't believe that Germany can "do it" and one communications adviser called the sentence "politically poisonous."
No respite
With two regional elections coming in September — in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin — the chorus of criticism is getting louder.
“Many of our voters understand it as if we could, indefinitely, continue to take in more people,” said the CDU's Wellmann. “Chancellor Merkel might not even mean to say that, but this is how it’s being perceived — and that’s why people I meet in my constituency tell me that they are just sick of hearing that sentence.”
In mid-August, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, Merkel’s former chief of staff and one of her most loyal companions, tried to defend her.
“No one said we could do this with no sweat,” de Maizière told the Sunday edition of Tagesspiegel newspaper, “Neither did the chancellor.”
His interview went largely unnoticed. Instead, the headlines went to Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the Social Democrats, the junior partner in the coalition, who on the same weekend told Funke Media Group: "'We can do it'... has been a great mistake."'One giant leap for tinman kind': Space station's humanoid robot comes alive
Nasa's humanoid robot has finally awakened in space.
Ground controllers turned Robonaut on today for the first time since it was delivered to the International Space Station in February.
The test involved sending power to all of Robonaut’s systems, though the robot was not commanded to move, that will happen next week.
Astronaut Scott Kelly, Expedition 26 commander poses with Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, in the Destiny laboratory of the Space Station
And in keeping with current trends, Robonaut even has his own Twitter page.
He posted today: 'Those electrons feel GOOD! One small step for man, one giant leap for tinman kind.'
The four visible light cameras that serve as Robonaut’s eyes turned on in the gold-coloured head, as did the infrared camera, located in the robot’s mouth and needed for depth perception.
One of Robonaut’s tweets showed the view inside the American lab, Destiny.
'Sure wish I could move my head and look around,' Robonaut said in the tweet.
Robonaut - the first humanoid robot in space - is being tested as a possible astronaut’s helper.
The robot’s handlers at Mission Control in Houston cheered as everything came alive.
The robonaut tweeted today: 'Those electrons feel GOOD! One small step for man, one giant leap for tinman kind'
The main computers - buried inside Robonaut’s stomach - kicked on, as did the more than 30 processors embedded in the arms for controlling the joints.
Deputy project manager Nicolaus Radford said: 'It was just very exciting. It’s been a long time coming to get this thing turned on.'
NASA'S ROBOTICS
Nasa researchers envision futuristic robots that 'act' like people to enable these mechanical helpers to work more efficiently with astronauts. 'Our goal is not for robots to have the same thought process as humans, but rather for them to act, respond and interact more naturally in ways that humans do with other humans,' said Illah Nourbakhsh, a scientist who leads a group developing human-robot teams at Nasa Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. There are three main areas that Nasa will develop. One is called 'collaborative control,' during which the human being and the robot will speak to one another and work as partners. 'A key benefit of collaborative control is that the robot is able to ask questions of the human in order to compensate for (the robot's) limitations,' Ms Nourbakhsh explained. Human-robot teams must be reliable, survivable, reusable and low-cost, according to scientists, who hope to enable robots to receive general commands, such as, "inspect habitat." The human-like machines would then autonomously perform tasks and seek help only when they encounter problems they cannot solve by themselves.
Source: www.nasa.gov
The robot was delivered on space shuttle Discovery’s final flight. It took this long for the operating software to get up there, and for the astronauts to have enough time to help with the experiment
On September 1, controllers will command Robonaut to move its fingers, hands and arms.
Mr Radfrord said: 'It’s been asleep for about a year, so it kind of has to stretch out a little bit.
'Just like a crew member has to kind of acclimate themselves to zerogravity, our robot has to do a very similar thing, kind of wiggle itself and learn how it needs to move in weightlessness.'
For now, Robonaut exists from the waist up. It measures three feet four inches tall and weighs 330 pounds. Each arm is two feet eight inches long.
A pair of legs currently are being designed and should be launched in 2013.
Mr Radford said if everything continues to check out well, the robot may be able to take on a few mundane chores — like taking air velocity measurements inside the space station — early next year.
For now, Robonaut — also called R2 — is designed to stay inside the space station. Future versions might venture out on spacewalks, saving astronauts time while keeping them safe.
During today's two-hour test, U.S. astronaut Michael Fossum and Japanese spaceman Satoshi Furukawa took Robonaut from its sleeping bag, placed it on its fixed pedestal, then floated away as ground controllers took over. The robot went back into its bag following the test.
Because Robonaut has some flammable parts, Nasa wants it stored in its fireproof bag.
Controllers were tempted to make the robot move, but held off.It wasn’t until the playoffs last season that the Cavaliers really started to experiment with small-ball lineups. According to Basketball Reference, LeBron James only logged 23 percent of his regular-season minutes at power forward compared to 40 percent in the playoffs. Seeing as some of the Cavs' best lineups came with James at the four — Cleveland’s most used small-ball lineup outscored teams by 36.1 points per 100 possessions in the postseason — it comes as no surprise that they saved it until they needed it most.
This regular season has been a different story: James set a career-high in a Cavaliers uniform by spending over a third of his minutes at power forward. Tyronn Lue even tried something new by moving James to the center position, which we haven’t seen much of since he was a member of the Heat. It only made up for three percent of his minutes in total, but teams didn’t have an answer for the Cavaliers when James took Tristan Thompson’s spot in the lineup.
DEVENEY: There's still no solution to LeBron problem in the East
One of those super small lineups in particular has been terrifyingly good. In their 22 minutes on the court this season, Deron Williams, Iman Shumpert, Kyle Korver, Richard Jefferson and James averaged 132.9 points per 100 possessions while giving up only 95.8 points per 100 possessions on the other end of the court. Of lineups that played at least 20 minutes together, only two scored at a higher rate while also giving up over 120 points per 100 possessions. Although it works best as a situational lineup — the Cavaliers broke it out when Frank Kaminsky (Hornets) and Kelly Olynyk (Celtics) were the opposing centers — it’s one that helped them rattle off huge runs in the three games in which it was used.
The reason it’s unstoppable is because James takes on the role of a point center with four knockdown shooters surrounding him. As you can see in the table below, two of them (Korver and Williams) are some of the best spot-up shooters in the NBA while the other two (Shumpert and Jefferson) are above average 3-point shooters. On top of that, Williams is a proven pick-and-roll player and Jefferson is an excellent cutter. That gives opposing teams no easy out when trying to matchup up with them on defense.
To no surprise, the lineup is at its best when James has the ball in his hands at the top of the key or around the elbow while everyone else keeps the defense engaged. The player guarding James obviously can’t back off him, so there’s usually a huge opening in the middle of the paint for the Cavaliers to work with. James can take advantage of that space himself by putting the ball on the floor and finishing strong at the rim.
Other times James will act as a quarterback by facing up to the basket while Jefferson fakes a screen and cuts backdoor...
... or receives a screen from Williams, Shumpert or Korver.
Simply involving two shooters in off-ball screens has a way of creating wide open layups. Just watch how easily the Hornets lose Korver on this possession:
And how easily the Celtics lose Jefferson on this possession:
It’s James at his best. By putting him in positions where he can use the threat of his scoring to open up plays for others, that lineup assisted on 81.3 percent of its made shots. To put into perspective how ridiculous that is, the Warriors lead the NBA this season with 21.4 percent of their possessions ending in an assist. Small sample size or not, it’s a terrifying number considering those looks helped them post a true shooting percentage of 73.9 percent. There's not much the defense can do to counter it, either, based on the way they are forced to cross-match.
MORE: What kind of numbers would LeBron put up in James Harden's situation?
There’s obviously more to the lineup’s dominance than crisp passing from James. For example, 11.2 percent of his offense this season has come in the post, and he ranks in the 70.3 percentile with 0.94 points per possession. With the amount of space around him, it’s easy for James to bulldoze his way to the basket and score over much smaller defenders when he’s in transition or a half-court set. As soon as the defense throws a second defender at him, James can kick it out to one of four 3-point shooters.
James can also be used as the ball handler and roll man in the pick-and-roll. He ranks in the 84.6 percentile with 0.97 points per possession as the ball handler and ranks in the 97.1 percentile with 1.47 points per possession as the roll man this season. We saw the Cavaliers use a similar James-at-center lineup in a game against the Wizards featuring J.R. Smith and Kyrie Irving in place of Shumpert and Jefferson. They struggled to hold their own defensively, but good things happened offensively when they put James in the pick-and-roll.
The part about the defense is the biggest reason why playing James at center can’t be used all the time. It’s not that James is the problem. It’s that the Cavaliers don’t have enough wing depth to shut teams down. James can cover up a lot of their issues when he is fully engaged, but it puts a lot of pressure on him to carry the team on both ends. For now, it’s best used against second units when they can overwhelm weaker lineups with their athleticism and versatility.
Maybe someday soon that’ll change.When it comes to the measles, antivaxers love to repeat a series of talking points. One is that measles is not a dangerous disease and was considered a normal part of childhood 50 or 60 years ago. This is what I like to refer to as the "Brady Bunch" gambit, mainly because antivaxers who try to make this argument often invoke an episode of The Brady Bunch from 1969, Is There a Doctor in the House?, in which all six kids contract the measles within a day of each other. Their illness is played for laughs, with the kids shown playing board games and enjoying having a few days off from school, while their concurrent illness provokes a conflict over whether the girls' pediatrician or the boys' pediatrician would be the family doctor. They also like to point to an episode of The Donna Reed Show from 1959 and an old episode of The Flintstones from around the same period, both of which portrayed measles as no big deal. It's a ridiculous and dangerous argument that relies primarily on nostalgia and cherry-picked bits of mid-century Americana, rather than the actual risk of severe complications due to the measles. Other common antivax tropes about the measles include the claim that "vaccines didn't save us" against it (they did) and that herd immunity is a myth or that "natural" immunity is better (it isn't, especially against a disease as contagious as the measles).
Unfortunately, one of the topics I missed blogging about last week due to the travel and power outages that kept me away from the blog more than I've been away in a long time put the lie to all three of those common antivaccine tropes in a highly compelling way. I'm referring, unfortunately, to the ongoing measles outbreak in Romania, which hit the news again last week. This outbreak shows not only that measles is serious, but that vaccines can save and herd immunity is real. More importantly, it shows what could be a glimpse of our future if we allow vaccination rates to fall, thanks to antivaccine activists, perhaps aided by not-so-benign neglect on the part of the Trump administration.
Behold the horror:
National public health officials said an ongoing measles outbreak in Romania has infected more than 3,400 people and killed at least 17 despite an aggressive nationwide vaccination campaign. Meanwhile, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned of a greater regional outbreak of measles as a result of below-target vaccination coverage numbers in Romania. “This poses a risk of potential repeated exportation to other [European] countries and possible continuous transmission in some where vaccination coverage is suboptimal,” the ECDC said in a recent rapid risk assessment report on the Romanian outbreak. As of March 10, Romania’s National Institute of Public Health said 3,446 cases of measles have been confirmed since the outbreak began last year. The country is one of six in the European Union or European Economic Area judged by WHO to still have endemic transmission of the vaccine-preventable disease, along with Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Poland.
I'm sure that any antivaccinationists who read this will point immediately to the phrase "despite an aggressive nationwide vaccination campaign," as though the outbreak isn't being stopped by increased vaccination. Of course, this line of argument fails to take into account that, once there are outbreaks, authorities are going to be playing catch-up, and it will take a while for increased vaccination rates to slow and stop the fury of the outbreak.
More importantly, children are dying, and they're dying at roughly the rate we know from history to expect in developed countries. Normally, according to the CDC, the mortality rate from measles is typically quoted as 0.2% in the US but can be as high as 10% in areas with high levels of malnutrition. When measles is rare, as it fortunately still is in the US (for now, anyway), deaths are unlikely or likely only to be one, because you have to have thousands of cases before significant numbers of children die of the disease. Unfortunately, Romania has reached that level. So, right there, the case of Romania puts the lie to the claim that measles isn't a dangerous disease.
Indeed, what we're seeing in Romania is a mortality rate of around 0.5%. Worse, the deaths nearly all occurred among those who need herd immunity the most, as this report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control found:
As of 17 February 2017 [2], 3 071 cases had been reported to the National Institute of Public Health, with 2 341 since October 2016 (Figure 2). These cases are either laboratory-confirmed, or have an epidemiological link to a laboratory-confirmed case. Cases have been reported in 36 districts with the districts of Caras Severin (n=703), Arad (n=617) and Timis (n=566) having reported the highest number of cases (Figure 3). To date, 16 deaths have been reported, all of which occurred in persons who were immunocompromised or had other co-morbidities. Infants <1 year old (n=549) and children 1–4 years old (n=1,247) made up the majority of cases. Ninety-six percent of cases were unvaccinated (n=2 958), 80 cases had received one dose of MCV and 33 had received two doses.
So right away we see two things. First, the vast majority of the cases of measles occurred in unvaccinated children, 96%! This is basically as close to a natural experiment as there is to see what happens when vaccine coverage falls below the rate necessary to maintain herd immunity. Second, it's exactly the children who most rely on herd immunity who are dying. Again, this is what happens when vaccine coverage falls.
And that's what happened in Romania:
MMR vaccination rates have fallen in recent years in Romania to below the 95% threshold recommended to interrupt transmission. According to the ECDC, coverage for one dose was just 86% in 2015 in Romania compared with 97% in 2007. In 2013, the last year when data were reported for two doses, 88% had received two doses compared with 96% in 2007. According to the CDC, two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles, and one dose is 93% effective. In response to the outbreak, Romania lowered the age of the first MMR vaccine dose from 12 months to 9 months as part of an effort to fully vaccinate children between the ages of 9 months and 9 years. According to the ECDC, family doctors are registering unvaccinated children for vaccination — with the goal of giving one dose of the MMR vaccine to those under age 5 years and two doses to those between the ages of 5 years and 9 years — while community nurses are mobilizing children mainly in vulnerable population groups.
So that's all it took, a decline in vaccine coverage from 96% of children having received two doses of the MMR to 88%. Herd immunity is a function of how contagious a disease is and how effective the vaccine is. Measles is, unfortunately, very contagious, meaning that high rates of vaccination are required to provide herd immunity. Fortunately, the MMR is highly effective, but no vaccine is 100% effective. Even with 100% vaccine coverage, there would still be roughly 3% of the population who would not be immune. Obviously, with lower levels of vaccine coverage, more are vulnerable. Basically, to block the transmission of measles requires 90-95% coverage, the higher the better. What Romania shows is just how tenuous the situation can be with respect to keeping measles under control, even in developed countries. It doesn't take much. The measles virus is out there, and it will take advantage when there is an opening. The most effective way to give the virus the chance it needs is to let vaccination uptake fall, and it doesn't have to fall much.
But why has the uptake of MMR fallen in Romania? One story tells us:
But Bodog said only 80 percent of Romanians receive the first vaccination dose and just 50 percent receive the second. In Romania, poverty, the lack of access to health services, and the percentage of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children are at the heart of the recent epidemic. Religious organisations and public figures have led recent anti-vaccination campaigns.
It's not clear where the antivaccine sentiment came from or why it is so strong in Romania, but one study from UNICEF of antivaccine sentiment found on Eastern European social media sites found that fear of toxins in vaccines was the predominant, with fear of side effects and conspiracy theories as the other main reasons. It noted that in Romania school nurses perform mandatory vaccination during class, which is "seen as a human rights violation and a safety issue." Parents are also skeptical about the skills of the school nurses and "feel surpassed by authorities in its decision to have children vaccinated." Oddly enough, contrary to the case in the US and Western Europe, fear of autism or other developmental disorders is not nearly as major a driver of antivaccine sentiment, although there are a number of common conspiracy theories.
Here's one example:
Romanian discussions directly blame the U.S. for purposefully infecting people with HIV using polio vaccines. Users create a direct link between vaccines and widespread HIV in Romanian orphanages. In the same sense, users claim that vaccines are being used against the Romanian populations. According to members of the anti-vaccination sentiment, vaccines against polio and chickenpox are used in Romania, which are not used in the U.S. anymore.
Clearly, Romanians have been listening too much to Dr. Leonard Horowitz. I will say one thing about this UNICEF report that makes me question its validity is the fact that in a table entitled Common arguments by influencers: Romanian speaking, UNICEF described Left Brain/Right Brain as "Autism news science & opinion, Anti-Vax leaning. Um, no. Left Brain/Right Brain is an ally in the campaign to refute antivaccine misinformation. It is not in any way, shape, or form and antivaccine blog, or the least bit sympathetic to the antivaccine viewpoint.
In any case, whatever the cause of the decline in MMR uptake, poverty and neglect, antivaccine sentiments, or some unholy combination of the two, Romania is a cautionary tale of just how easy it is to lose hard won ground in the fight against infectious disease. It's also an example that worries me, because if you think it can't happen here you are deluded, especially with Tom Price in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services saying things like this:
HHS Secretary Tom Price says it should be up to states to regulate whether immunizations are required https://t.co/soyH0YpO5E — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 16, 2017
Basically, Price is signaling that he doesn't think immunizations are a federal responsibility. Given his membership in the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), an organization that is basically an Ayn Rand-worshiping John Birch Society disguised as a medical professional society that routinely publishes antivaccine misinformation in its journal, as well HIV/AIDS denialism and other pseudoscience, it's not at all surprising that Price would think that way.
While it's true that states set the laws setting school vaccine mandates, but they rely on the work of the CDC to know what the latest science-based recommendations are for vaccine coverage upon which they base their mandates. Also, Price's view ignores the fact that viruses and bacteria do not respect arbitrary lines on a map that separate states. The federal government, although not primarily responsible for vaccine requirements, nonetheless plays a critical role in vaccine policy. Given that Donald Trump has consistently expressed antivaccine sentiments over the last decade and Tom Price seems to think that the federal government has little role in vaccine policy, I fear that Romania is a warning to us. It's a warning that, I fear, we will not heed.FOXBOROUGH - Waxy O�Connors Restaurant in Foxboro and Hero Helpers of America are hosting another fundraiser for 5-year-old Danny Nickerson, a Foxborough resident, on Thursday, July 24 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Waxy O�Connors, 121 Main St., Foxborough.
Danny was diagnosed with DIPG, a rare form of a brain tumor that is inoperable. Less than 10 percent of patients diagnosed with DIPG survive past 18 months of diagnosis.
On Thursday, the duo has paired up to help grant the Foxborough boy�s wish of birthday cards. He turns 6 on Friday.
Hero Helpers of America and Waxy's are inviting everybody to come to Waxy�s and not only make birthday cards for Danny, but also have a free dinner of chicken fingers, French fries, and ice cream.
They are asking the public to help spread the word, in hopes�of�gathering hundreds of cards made for Danny at the conclusion of the event on Thursday evening.
The world has their attention on Danny with his sixth birthday coming up. Danny has asked, at first the Foxborough community to send him birthday cards, and the entire country has taken on Danny�s request.
In May, Hero Helpers of America and Waxy O�Connors teamed up to throw Danny�s first ever �Danny�s Family Fun Day.� Dozens of trucks, including five fire trucks, police cards, dump trucks, military Humvees and more were on display, along with bouncy houses, and special appearances from Boston |
that would be (Sean) White," Henley said.
'Tough as nails' quarterback Sean White has earned trust of Auburn teammates Auburn feels White's experience is the best thing he has going for him in the ongoing quarterback race on the Plains
He went on to say that (Woody) Barrett could be developed during the season, but "(John) Franklin hasn't developed as a quarterback from what I understand."
Check out the entire interview here.Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and a founding member of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed is a musician, songwriter, author and photographer based in New York City. He is a co-host of New York Shuffle on Sirius XM, as well as the author of Pass Thru Fire: the Collected Lyrics and The Raven, and several books of his photography, including: Lou Reed’s New York, Romanticism, Emotion in Action and Rimes Rhymes. He is a recipient of the Chevalier Commander of Arts and Letters from the French government.
They are certified legends. And they also write for the Talkhouse. From a Talking Head to a hard rock icon, this week we’re highlighting archival pieces written by members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Kanye West is a child of social networking and hip-hop. And he knows about all kinds of music and popular culture. The guy has a real wide palette to play with. That’s all over Yeezus. There are moments of supreme beauty and greatness on this record, and then some of it is the same old shit. But the guy really, really, really is talented. He’s really trying to raise the bar. No one’s near doing what he’s doing, it’s not even on the same planet.
People say this album is minimal. And yeah, it’s minimal. But the parts are maximal. Take “Blood on the Leaves”: there’s a lot going on there: horns, piano, bass, drums, electronic effects, all rhythmically matched — towards the end of the track, there’s now twice as much sonic material. But Kanye stays unmoved while this mountain of sound grows around him. Such an enormous amount of work went into making this album. Each track is like making a movie.
Actually, the whole album is like a movie, or a novel — each track segues into the next. This is not individual tracks sitting on their own island, all alone.
Very often, he’ll have this very monotonous section going and then, suddenly —“BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP!” — he disrupts the whole thing and we’re on to something new that’s absolutely incredible. That’s architecture, that’s structure — this guy is seriously smart. He keeps unbalancing you. He’ll pile on all this sound and then suddenly pull it away, all the way to complete silence, and then there’s a scream or a beautiful melody, right there in your face. That’s what I call a sucker punch.
He seems to have insinuated in a recent New York Times interview that My Beautiful Dark, Twisted Fantasy was to make up for stupid shit he’d done. And now, with this album, it’s “Now that you like me, I’m going to make you unlike me.” It’s a dare. It’s braggadoccio. Axl Rose has done that too, lots of people have. “I Am a God” — I mean, with a song title like that, he’s just begging people to attack him.
But why he starts the album off with that typical synth buzzsaw sound is beyond me, but what a sound it is, all gussied up and processed. I can’t figure out why he would do that. It’s like farting. It’s another dare — I dare you to like this. Very perverse.
Still, I have never thought of music as a challenge — you always figure, the audience is at least as smart as you are. You do this because you like it, you think what you’re making is beautiful. And if you think it’s beautiful, maybe they’ll think it’s beautiful. When I did Metal Machine Music, New York Times critic John Rockwell said, “This is really challenging.” I never thought of it like that. I thought of it like, “Wow, if you like guitars, this is pure guitar, from beginning to end, in all its variations. And you’re not stuck to one beat.” That’s what I thought. Not, “I’m going to challenge you to listen to something I made.” I don’t think West means that for a second, either. You make stuff because it’s what you do and you love it.
That explains the jump-cuts that are all over this record. Over and over, he sets you up so well — something’s just got to happen — and he gives it to you, he hits you with these melodies. (He claims he doesn’t have those melodic choruses anymore — that’s not true. That melody the strings play at the end of “Guilt Trip,” it’s so beautiful, it makes me so emotional, it brings tears to my eyes.) But it’s real fast cutting — boom, you’re in it. Like at the end of “I Am a God,” anybody else would have been out, but then pow, there’s that coda with Justin Vernon, “Ain’t no way I’m giving up.” Un-fucking-believable. It’s fantastic. Or that very repetitive part in “Send It Up” that goes on five times as long as it should and then it turns into this amazing thing, a sample of Beenie Man’s “Stop Live in a De Pass.”
And it works. It works because it’s beautiful — you either like it or you don’t — there’s no reason why it’s beautiful. I don’t know any musician who sits down and thinks about this. He feels it, and either it moves you too, or it doesn’t, and that’s that. You can analyze it all you want.
Many lyrics seem like the same old b.s. Maybe because he made up so much of it at the last minute. But it’s the energy behind it, the aggression. Usually the Kanye lyrics I like are funny, and he’s very funny here. Although he thinks that getting head from nuns and eating Asian pussy with sweet and sour sauce is funny, and it might be, to a 14-year-old — but it has nothing to do with me. Then there’s the obligatory endless blowjobs and menages-a-trois.
But it’s just ridiculous that people are getting upset about “Put my fist in her like a civil rights sign”? C’mon, he’s just having fun. That’s no more serious than if he said he’s going to drop a bomb on the Vatican. How can you take that seriously?
And then he’ll come out with an amazing line like “We could have been somebody.” He’s paraphrasing that famous Marlon Brando line from On the Waterfront, “I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charlie.” Or he says “I’d rather be a dick than a swallower” — but then he does a whole chorus with Frank Ocean. What he says and what he does are often two different things.
“Hold My Liquor” is just heartbreaking, and particularly coming from where it’s coming from — listen to that incredibly poignant hook from a tough guy like Chief Keef, wow. At first, West says “I can hold my liquor” and then he says “I can’t hold my liquor.” This is classic — classic manic-depressive, going back and forth. Or as the great Delmore Schwartz said, “Being a manic depressive is like having brown hair.”
“I’m great, I’m terrible, I’m great, I’m terrible.” That’s all over this record. And then that synthesized guitar solo on the last minute and a half of that song, he just lets it run, and it’s devastating, absolutely majestic.
There are more contradictions on “New Slaves,” where he says “Fuck you and your Hamptons house.” But God only knows how much he’s spending wherever he is. He’s trying to have it both ways — he’s the upstart but he’s got it all, so he frowns on it. Some people might say that makes him complicated, but it’s not really that complicated. He kind of wants to retain his street cred even though he got so popular. And I think he thinks people are going to think he’s become one of them — so he’s going to very great lengths to claim that he’s not. On “New Slaves,” he’s accusing everyone of being materialistic but you know, when guys do something like that, it’s always like, “But we’re the exception. It’s all those other people, but we know better.”
“New Slaves” has that line “Y’all throwin’ contracts at me/You know that niggas can’t read.” Wow, wow, wow. That is an amazing thing to put in a lyric. That’s a serious accusation in the middle of this rant at other people: an accusation of himself. As if he’s some piece of shit from the street who doesn’t know nothing. Yeah, right — your mom was a college English professor.
He starts off cool on that track but he winds up yelling at the top of his voice. I think he maybe had a couple of great lines already written for this song but then when he recorded the vocal, but then he just let loose with it and trusted his instincts. Because I can’t imagine actually writing down most of these lines. But that’s just me.
But musically, he nails it beyond belief on”New Slaves.” It’s mainly just voice and one or two synths, very sparse, and then it suddenly breaks out into this incredible melodic… God knows what. Frank Ocean sings this soaring part, then it segues into a moody sample of some Hungarian rock band from the ’70s. It literally gives me goosebumps. It’s like the visuals at the end of the new Superman movie — just overwhelmingly incredible. I played it over and over.
Some people ask why he’s screaming on “I Am a God.” It’s not like a James Brown scream — it’s a real scream of terror. It makes my hair stand on end. He knows they could turn on him in two seconds. By “they” I mean the public, the fickle audience. He could kill Taylor Swift and it would all be over.
The juxtaposition of vocal tones on “Blood on the Leaves” is incredible — that pitched-up sample of Nina Simone singing “Strange Fruit” doing a call-and-response with Kanye’s very relaxed Autotuned voice. That is fascinating, aurally, nothing short of spectacular. And holy shit, it’s so gorgeous rhythmically, where sometimes the vocal parts are matched and sometimes they clash. He’s so sad in this song. He’s surrounded by everyone except the one he wants — he had this love ripped away from him, before he even knew it. “I know there ain’t nothing wrong with me… something strange is happening.” Well, surprise, surprise — welcome to the real world, Kanye.
It’s fascinating — it’s very poignant, but there’s nothing warm about it, sonically — it’s really electronic, and after a while, his voice and the synth are virtually the same. But I don’t think that’s a statement about anything — it’s just something he heard, and then he made it so you could hear it too.
At so many points in this album, the music breaks into this melody, and it’s glorious — I mean, glorious. He has to know that — why else would you do that? He’s not just banging his head against the wall, but he acts as though he is. He doesn’t want to seem precious, he wants to keep his cred.
And sometimes it’s like a synth orchestra. I’ve never heard anything like it — I’ve heard people try to do it but no way, it just comes out tacky. Kanye is there. It’s like his video for “Runaway,” with the ballet dancers — it was like, look out, this guy is making connections. You could bring one into the other — ballet into hip-hop — they’re not actually contradictory, and he knew that, he could see it immediately. He obviously can hear that all styles are the same, somewhere deep in their heart, there’s a connection. It’s all the same shit, it’s all music — that’s what makes him great. If you like sound, listen to what he’s giving you. Majestic and inspiring.Dogs are known as man's best friend, but they make sure to look out for their fellow canines as well.
A tiny dachshund named Razor helped alert a passersby in Belen, New Mexico, to the fact that his 180lb friend Jazzy, a St Bernard, was stuck two feet in the mud.
Owner Tim Chavez believes that the nine-year-old large dog was stuck in a muddy irrigation ditch for 18 hours after she ran away from home, according to KRQE.
Scroll down for video
Little Lassie: Razor the dachshund (left) alerted a passing driver to the predicament of St Bernard Jazzy, after the big dog became stuck in a ditch
Sticky situation: The dachshund's work led to fire and police workers coming to the irrigation ditch and rescuing Jazzy with a spineboard
Razor began barking wildly last Monday morning, the day after his larger pal left.
The tiny dog then took off across a field towards Jazzy in the ditch.
A passer-by driving on the road adjacent to the ditch heard the barking, looked down and saw Razor next to the immobilized Jazzy.
Jazzy was then taken out of the mud by eight rescue workers who used backboard straps and a spine board.
Hot dog hero: The St Bernard and Razor were reunited on the shore, and the Belen, New Mexico, city council plans on honoring the small hero
Belen Fire and Rescue's Manny Garcia said that the dogs hind legs were submerged and she was unable to move, according to KOAT.
Razor's heroics have earned her local fame, and the city council plans to honor the dog with a certificate at the beginning of March.
'It really means a lot. You don’t really realize how attached you are to your pets until something like this happens,” Mr Chavez said
The dog lover's pitbull Layla also ran away from home last Sunday and is still missing.Re: Podesta Outstanding Docs for Joule
From:john.podesta@gmail.com To: eryn.sepp@gmail.com Date: 2014-01-07 09:18 Subject: Re: Podesta Outstanding Docs for Joule
Need to talk to fizzing JP --Sent from my iPad-- john.podesta@gmail.com For scheduling: eryn.sepp@gmail.com > On Jan 7, 2014, at 4:30 AM, Eryn Sepp <eryn.sepp@gmail.com> wrote: > > Way above my pay grade. Take a look from Mark. > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: Mark Solakian <msolakian@jouleunlimited.com> >> Date: January 6, 2014 at 13:02:34 EST >> To: Eryn Sepp <esepp@americanprogress.org>, "Eryn.sepp@gmail.com" <Eryn.sepp@gmail.com> >> Cc: "rrizzi@steptoe.com" <rrizzi@steptoe.com>, "'jcobb@steptoe.com'" <jcobb@steptoe.com> >> Subject: RE: Podesta Outstanding Docs for Joule >> Eryn, >> >> Thanks for sending this set of documents and the original stock option agreement document that John found (and which we did not have in our files probably due to administrative oversight at our end which I will explain further). >> >> First, with respect to the stock option agreement, there is a discrepancy in the stated vesting schedule between the one John signed back in 2011 and the one I sent to Bob which you sent back to me signed. This first document shows a 3 year vesting schedule and the current one shows a 4 year schedule. Accordingly, I dug back further and confirm that the original terms were for a 4 year vesting schedule of which John was ¾ vested (this reflects what John actually exercised – i.e. 75,000 out of 100,000 options). The 4 year schedule is reflected in the “offer” letter which our previous CEO sent to John and John signed and sent back. It is also reflected in the Board minutes where John’s grant was approved. Please see the attachments for reference. The good news is that I think John understands these options to be 4 year vesting and that his exercise of 75,000 shares is correct. The original stock option agreement with the erroneous 3 year vesting was sent and signed in error due to scrivener’s error by the folks at Joule who were handling this at the time (based on what I can tell, this was prepared by a junior finance person who left the company several years ago). Bob and John Cobb and I can brainstorm on how to deal with this discrepancy – maybe some sort of acknowledgement by the Company and John Podesta that the first version was signed in error. >> >> Second, it is my understanding that John transferred the resulting 75,000 common shares from the option exercise to the Leonidio LLC. As such, we would need to edit the Transfer of Share Agreement to reflect the transfer of 75,000 common shares to the LLC. The LLC would also sign a form of joinder agreement covering the common shares tying them to the provisions of the 2007 Stock Plan. I am comfortable with correcting the applicable page to the Transfer Agreement to reflect the common shares as we assemble the final documentation package. I think the LLC would need to sign a form of joinder agreement with regard to the 75,000 common shares – which I hope you can help coordinate. I think Bob and John Cobb have the final documents on their system with the Podesta/LLC particulars and I can edit them if they can send to me. Everything is dated January 3, 2014 as intended. >> >> Perhaps Bob or John Cobb can jump in with their thoughts on how they would like to proceed. >> >> Thank you, >> >> Mark >> >> Excerpt of BOD Minutes, 12/22/2010: (the vesting language begins at the bottom of page 2 and continues to the top of page 3; Exhibit with option grant list is on page 4.) >> Excerpt - 2010.12.22 - BOD Minutes.pdf >> >> Offer Letter: >> Podesta; offer letter to join BOD.pdf >> >> Mark C. Solakian, Esq. >> Senior Vice President and General Counsel >> Joule Unlimited Technologies, Inc. >> 18 Crosby Drive >> Bedford, MA 01730 >> Tel: 781-533-9106 >> Fax: 617-500-9660 >> msolakian@jouleunlimited.com >> www.jouleunlimited.com >> >> From: Eryn Sepp [mailto:esepp@americanprogress.org] >> Sent: Friday, January 03, 2014 8:45 PM >> To: Mark Solakian >> Cc: rrizzi@steptoe.com; 'jcobb@steptoe.com' >> Subject: Podesta Outstanding Docs for Joule >> >> Hi Gents-- >> >> John asked me to send you these remaining documents that believe we hadn’t yet transmitted. Sorry if this is a repeat—closing up shop has been hectic. >> >> Attached is: >> Resignation Letter >> Representation Letter >> Joinder Agreement >> Transfer of Share Agreement >> Stock Options Agreement & Exercise Notice >> >> Do let us know if anything isn’t complete? >> >> Thanks! >> Eryn >> >> Eryn M. Sepp | Special Assistant to the Chair >> Center for American Progress & Center for American Progress Action Fund >> 1333 H St. NW, Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20005 >> Office: (202) 481-8128 | esepp@americanprogress.org | eryn.sepp@gmail.com >> >> ** This email will not be functioning after Jan 5, 2014. Please take note of my gmail ** >> >> >> >> >> ______________________________________________________________________ >> Notice: This e-mail message, together with any attachments, contains information of Joule Unlimited, Inc., 18 Crosby Drive, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, and/or its affiliates that may be confidential, proprietary copyrighted and/or legally privileged. It is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named on this message. If you are not the intended recipient, and have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and then delete it from your system. >> ______________________________________________________________________ >> This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. >> For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com >> ______________________________________________________________________ > <Podesta; offer letter to join BOD.pdf> > <Excerpt - 2010.12.22 - BOD Minutes.pdf>While the overall global population are getting wealthier than before, the gap between rich and poor continues to increase. When it comes to country, the energy giant Russia has the biggest wealth inequality in the world, according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2014.
The report indicates that in Russia, the richest 10% of the population owns nearly 84.8% of country’s total wealth, representing the highest wealth share of the top decile among all the surveyed countries in the world. The US, as the home of the most billionaires in the world, comes as 7th place on the list, with 74.6% total wealth held by richest 10% of the US population.
“Taken together, the bottom half of the global population own less than 1% of total wealth. In sharp contrast, the richest decile hold 87% of the world’s wealth, and the top percentile alone account for 48.2% of global assets,” said the report.
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30 Richest Athletes in Sport World
10 Richest People in FranceI remember the first time I ever had a Jalapeno popper. I was 16, cutting study-hall (read: we don’t know what to do with you kids so sit here and do your homework) so that I could hang out with the seniors down the street at what was one of the best deli’s in West Hampton Beach. I had never heard of such a thing before, and that first bite revealing the creamy melty interior was otherworldly. I could see the layers of orange cheddar, white cream cheese, and green jalapeno, and was just blown away by how well it all worked together. It was hot and cheesy, with just a mild spice and the perfect creamy crunch. I was in love.
I have always craved brilliantly conceived and executed appetizers because they were delicious, (think Fridays’ stuffed potato skins, Friendlys’ Mozzarella sticks, and Outback Steakhouses’ 3 cheese fries with that insane dipping sauce…) but even more so because it just didn’t seem like the kind of thing people could do at home. No one I knew had a deep fryer yet, (this was in the 90’s before the food culture revolution when the only place you could buy such a thing was on the late night TV insomniacs shopping channels) so it just seemed like a non-starter. A moo point.
Thank You Joey Tribbiani.
Later on, these things started becoming available to the mainstream, and I’m going to upset a lot of food supply marketing people when I say this… you don’t even need one. All you do need is a medium sized pot at least 4 inches deep and some frying oil, vegetable works just fine. You can even go out and buy a frying thermometer, which I recommend if you are going to be making doughnuts or other temperature sensitive fried foods, but really, all you need to know is this. Get your oil hot enough so that after you put the food in, it rises to the surface after about 30 seconds. If it sinks and stays down, the oil is too cold. If it never sinks, the oil is too hot. That’s it, that’s all you need to know. You see, easy.
I had been dreaming about these little monsters for ages, and literally couldn’t remember the last time I had a good popper other than that first time, when I started going off about them to my husband. He was unconvinced of their goodness and you just can’t find anyone out here who has even heard of them, so I promptly went online to see if it was possible to do at home. Guess what?!@! IT IS! I found this recipe at blogchef.net and modified it because the crust didn’t seem substantial enough, but you are free to try it his way. I also made a bigger batch since we bought too many Jalapenos and also, we just can’t ever get enough of a good thing.
Ingredients: (serves 4-8 depending how many everyone wants)
A big bag of Jalapenos, we used about 7-10 that were each about 8-10 inches in length. I think it would be cool to use the smaller ones and much prettier, but this was what we had.
16 oz plain cream cheese
A nice big block of either good quality shredded sharp yellow or white cheddar (I recommend Cabot), or shredded manchego cheese, which was what I used since I can’t get the former here. Anywhere from 1 cup to 1 and 1/2 cups should be enough.
A large container of seasoned bread crumbs, working with about a cup at a time.
Plain white flour (at least 1-2 cups, working with about a cup at a time).
Whole Milk (2% or 3% is also fine (at least 1-2 cups) working with about a cup at a time.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Kitchen Tools:
A large metal slotted spoon for removing poppers from oil
Paper towels
2 pairs of Latex gloves for working with!!! Those oils can BURN your face and eyes… but that story for another time (remind me to tell you sometime about the great chili fiasco of 08′).
Method: (prep time 45 minutes)
Wearing latex or rubber gloves, use a knife to carefully slice off the stems, cut the Jalapenos in halves, and cut out the pith (white parts) and all the seeds.
Cut Jalapenos to the sizes you want, we experimented with longer ones, and more bite sized ones, as you will see in the photos. Both were great, depends on your personal preference.
Once that is all done, carefully discard gloves.
In a bowl, mix up cream cheese, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon milk if your cream cheese is too firm. Ours comes fresh from the dairy so it’s already very creamy and easy to mix. (Alternately, you can layer the melty cheese on top of the cream cheese stuffed peppers, you will see why this might be a better idea in a minute).
Put on your second pair of gloves, and stuff peppers with cheese mixture. If you are layering on melty cheese, do that now as well.
As you can see, we mixed it all together, which made them explode a little in the oil, so next time I’m going to try it with the layering. I think its also better for the textural experience, I like to see those threads of melty cheese stretching on for days when I bite in to something cheesy.
This part is important, dip each popper in milk, then roll in flour, and let it REST for 10 minutes.
Fun Fact: That’s G’s hand doing the dirty work!
Now, you are going to set up 3 bowls, one with milk, one with flour, and one with breadcrumbs, and prepare a surface to lay the poppers while you are working.
After they have sat for 10 minutes, dip each one again in milk, then roll in flour, then back in milk, then roll in breadcrumbs. It will get messy, but doing the flour twice gives it a real nice crunchy coating.
Once you have breaded the very last one, it’s time to FRY!!!!!!
Pour oil into pot until it comes up about 2-3 inches from the bottom.
Heat oil over high flame until a toothpick tip held in the oil bubbles happily.
Now you can gently add your first popper to the oil. If it sinks and then comes up to the surface after about 30 seconds, you can add more poppers until there is no room left. I had to do 3 batches. 1 dinner plate full of poppers per batch, or about 10 poppers per batch.
Fry each batch for 3 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Remove one at a time with a metal slotted spoon, and place directly onto paper towels to dry and crisp up.
See how they exploded a bit? I think that’s because the Manchego was mixed in, rather than layered on top of the cream cheese. But boy did they taste AMAZING!!!
Remove any stray bits from the oil, repeat temperature test, and fry the second batch. I use my digital oven timer and they come out perfect in 3 minutes and evenly cooked every time.
I promise, if you are faced with the option to do these yourself or buy the processed frozen ones, TRUST me, do it yourself. Homemade is almost always better. I left a plateful uncooked to freeze so that I can wow my chef sister with them the next time she comes to visit, the great thing about these is you can do all the work one day, then freeze them until you are ready to serve for a dinner party or Superbowl Sunday, and then just fry them right up on the spot! YUM! They were delish, with a mild heat, that you only really noticed when they started to cool down, but by then, well, they were all gone. 🙂
*Update: My cheffy sister came to visit for the weekend and sample some of the recent goings on in our kitchen (saved in the freezer for her imminent arrival). This meant sampling Asian chicken dumplings with their insane garlic scallion sweet and spicy dipping sauce, chocolate cream cheese glazed cinnamon buns, my husbands first amazing attempt at a classic new york cheesecake with a cookie crust and a creamsicle twist, herbed squash on toast with ricotta and onion marmalade, and of course, our beautiful Jalapeno poppers experiment. The poppers went into the oil frozen this time, and by 3 minutes the outsides were a gorgeous brown, but the insides were still a bit cold, so I would recommend frying for a full 5 minutes with the timer set. We just popped them into the toaster oven to finish warming the insides, on the highest heat for about 5 minutes, which did the job splendidly. Make sure that the oil is HOT when they go in, and resist the temptation to remove them until they bob up to the top and have been floating on the surface for about a minute. Salt generously when they come out of the fryer, (5 or 6 shakes over the whole thing) and serve. Watch out. they are hot inside!!! I went to bed with the smell of cheesy jalapeno in the air and dreamed of poppers dancing, dipping and swirling through the ether.Twitter has found roughly 200 accounts believed to be tied to some of the same Russian-linked sources that purchased ads on Facebook in an attempt to provoke political tensions during the 2016 presidential election.
Twitter informed congressional investigators of its findings in a series of briefings in Washington, D.C., on Thursday — and the revelations are sure to stoke further speculation on Capitol Hill that Kremlin agents sought to co-opt social media platforms to stir social and political unrest in the U.S.
The company’s inquiry appears to have started in earnest earlier this month, after Facebook said roughly 470 Russian-linked accounts had purchased 3,000 advertisements, some of which sought to stoke racial or religious discord.
Twitter checked its own database for any information related to the 470 profiles and found 22 Twitter accounts that matched. Additionally, those 22 accounts had ties to 179 other Twitter accounts, and those found in violation of Twitter rules have been suspended.
“Neither the original accounts shared by Facebook, nor the additional related accounts we identified, were registered as advertisers on Twitter,” the company said in a blog post. “However, we continue to investigate these issues, and will take action on anything that violates our Terms of Service.”
The company confirmed the details after meeting with staff on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The two panels are investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Twitter’s representatives — led by Colin Crowell, its vice president of global public policy — also handed over copies of all sponsored tweets purchased by the news outlet Russia Today. Twitter said that RT spent $274,100 on U.S. ads in 2016. The U.S. government has previously identified that network, known as RT, as a Kremlin-backed partner along with WikiLeaks. At the same time, RT and its associated Twitter accounts were not part of the 200 suspended profiles.
In some cases, though, congressional aides appeared disappointed with the information Twitter provided. Some on the Senate Intelligence Committee, for example, fretted Twitter had not done more, and sooner, to patrol its website for Russian misinformation, according to a source familiar with its work. Afterwards, the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner, thrashed the social giant’s presentation as “frankly inadequate.”
That scrutiny presages a much more grueling grilling awaiting Twitter, along with its peers at two public congressional hearings on the horizon. The House Intelligence Committee expects to invite Facebook, Google and Twitter to testify in an open session in October, aides have said, while the Senate Intelligence Committee has officially invited all three companies to appear for a Nov. 1 hearing, sources previously told Recode.
With Facebook, meanwhile, lawmakers are focused on roughly 3,000 ads purchased by Russian sources in the months before Election Day. Some of the advertisements focused on racial, religious and other social issues, and at times they even played on both sides of an issue — advancing and opposing causes including Black Lives Matter and gun control, for example — in a bid to stir potential political unrest
In response, Facebook has pledged to adopt a number of new transparency requirements for political ads. It has pledged to turn over copies to congressional investigators. And the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has admitted that misinformation did affect discussion on Facebook.
“Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post this week. “This is too important an issue to be dismissive.”
Google, meanwhile, has faced similar questions about the ads it sells, and to whom it sells them, as well as content posted on YouTube. It briefed Senate investigators in the spring, sources previously said, and is expected to return to the Hill.
For its part, Twitter entered its meeting Thursday under pressure from the likes of Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who had raised concerns that bots helped spread misinformation on its site. In response, Twitter highlighted in its blog post ways that it seeks to tackle these and other spam accounts, but the company noted it’s also contending with human-directed networks that spread falsehoods and fake news.
Going forward, Twitter also said it would make a number of changes to its platform, including “introducing new and escalating enforcements for suspicious logins, Tweets, and engagements, and shortening the amount of time suspicious accounts remain visible on Twitter while pending confirmation.”
But others, like Warner, want to subject Twitter and other social media sites to more political ad transparency requirements. The company did not comment specifically on his legislation, but added: “We welcome the opportunity to work with the FEC and leaders in Congress to review and strengthen guidelines for political advertising on social media.”MIAMI — Bombardier has delivered the first CRJ200 Special Freighter (SF) to Michigan-based Gulf & Caribbean Cargo (IFL Group), the manufacturer announced on Wednesday.
The first aircraft (N405SW • MSN 7029) was originally delivered to Skywest USA in 1994, and underwent freighter conversion with Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. in Miami, which is a Bombardier-licensed Third Party Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) provider.
The Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversion includes the installation of a large cargo door on the left side of the fuselage, the installation of a 9G rigid cargo/smoke barrier and the modification of the main deck to a Class E cargo compartment. Once converted, the aircraft will be able to hold up to 14,840 pounds (6,730kg) of payload on the main deck, offering eight pallet positions for containers.
Aeronautical Engineers has received commitments for 45 aircraft conversions from various operators and expects to convert 100 aircraft over the life of the program, said Robert Convey, Sales and Marketing VP.
“CRJ100 and 200 jets are the assets upon which regional airlines have built their existence, however they are gradually being replaced in favor of larger aircraft and are finding homes in secondary markets with modifications such as AEI’s freighter conversions,” said David Speirs, Vice President, Asset Management, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.
“We are continuing to see growing interest in these pre-owned aircraft from both traditional and emerging sectors of the industry,” Speirs said.Rudyard Griffiths wrote Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto, a clarion call to develop a stronger sense of Canadian identity and to rediscover what shaped this nation in the first place. The National Post’s Kathryn Blaze Carlson spoke with Mr. Griffiths, a founding board member of the Toronto-based Historica-Dominion Institute, to examine the new course of Canada’s identity:
Q: Take a huge step back for us. What’s the preamble here?
A:
Through the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, and into the 1980s, there were three pillars of Canadian identity: peacekeeping, healthcare and the threat of Quebec separation. Today, I think Canadians are looking for sources of identity outside those things. Peacekeeping, for example, is now officially part of Canadian history — we had a war in Afghanistan — so that pillar is gone. The Harper government has a really unique opportunity to go out and reset the clock on Canadian identity, and they’ve done that in a number of ways.
Q: How so?
A: When it comes to foreign policy, they’re really articulating what they think are Canada’s national interests rather than having a conversation about Canada’s national values. In the last year, |
comments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.Necrosoft CEO Brandon Sheffield confirmed that Gunhouse and Oh Deer! are heading to PS Mobile at GDC last night. Both games borne out of last year’s ‘What would Molydeux?’ game jam. They sound bonkers.
Gunhouse stars a house made of guns that has to protect orphans from aliens, while Oh Deer! is sort of like OutRun, but with an emphasis on running over or sparing deer on the road.
Oh Deer! is interesting because it features pixel art from Mojang art developer Junkboy and Streets of Rage 2 and 3 co-composer Motohiro Kawashima. Sheffield explained his involvement, “This is the first game [Kawashima] has worked on since 1993.
“It’s been twenty years for this guy, and he’s super excited and super involved. When I told him we couldn’t afford to pay him that much, he said, ‘Don’t worry about the money. I’m just happy to make music again.’”
He also discussed the decision to bring the games to PS Mobile and Vite, to utilise button and touch controls at once. “With Oh Deer, which is a driving game, not a racing game, once I heard we could use buttons, I gave a cheer.
“But with Gunhouse, you control the direction of guns but also grab puzzle pieces which you arrange into a shape inside of the house itself. That pretty much only works with touch, so we are going in both directions at once.”
Does either game sound interesting? Let us know below.
Thanks Edge.In this space earlier this offseason, the fact that the Orioles don’t have to delve into a terrible free-agent starting pitching market was treated like a good thing. And this specific offseason, it is. There’s not a lot to like out there.
But with six returning starters set to come back next year — Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, Wade Miley, Ubaldo Jimenez and Yovani Gallardo — it’s fair to wonder whether the return of that crew is going to be enough to carry the Orioles deep into the playoffs.
FanGraphs’ 2017 projections are already up and available, and they seem to share that sentiment. Those six starting pitchers are projected for 10.2 wins above replacement, the second-worst projected rotation WAR in the American League and fifth-worst in the league.
Gausman leads the way with a projected 3.1 WAR, and surprisingly enough, Miley’s 1.7 WAR projection edges out Tillman’s 1.4. Next comes Bundy at 1.2, with Gallardo and Jimenez each at 0.9.
The possibility of Gausman, who was lights out for the last two months of 2016, and Bundy, who will be adding back his cut fastball, outperforming those projections is real. So is the contract-year push for the other four pitchers, all of whom will be in the last year on their current deals with the Orioles.
Executive vice president Dan Duquette has said this offseason that the fact that all four of those pitchers are in their free-agent years could boost the results, which is somehow both cynical and optimistic at the same time.
However you slice it, the Orioles’ company near the bottom of that ranking isn’t exactly teams you’d consider their peers, and that’s a cause for concern.
Even if you reject the fundamental math behind such projections, there’s no denying the rotation is a weak spot for the club.
Just how weak remains to be seen, and this one method of looking at it isn’t promising.
jmeoli@baltsun.com
twitter.com/JonMeoliThe United States Trade Representative (URTR) has proposed a new copyright provision that would address some intellectual property concerns found in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive trade agreement currently being negotiated amongst nine Pacific Rim countries in San Diego this week. Canada was recently extended an invitation, but its formal membership has yet to be approved by the existing nine countries, including the United States.
In a statement emailed to reporters on Tuesday, the USTR appears to be addressing exceptions to copyright restrictions, which had not been included in a TPP draft leaked a year ago.
"For the first time in any US trade agreement, the United States is proposing a new provision, consistent with the internationally recognized ‘3-step test,’ that will obligate Parties to seek to achieve an appropriate balance in their copyright systems in providing copyright exceptions and limitations for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research," wrote Carol Guthrie, the spokesperson for the USTR, in an e-mail sent to Ars.
"These principles are critical aspects of the US copyright system, and appear in both our law and jurisprudence. The balance sought by the US TPP proposal recognizes and promotes respect for the important interests of individuals, businesses, and institutions who rely on appropriate exceptions and limitations in the TPP region.”
Historically, major intellectual property holders, such as the RIAA and MPAA—who both support the TPP—have called for stronger international copyright protection.
Skeptical optimism
That three-step test, which was established in international law in 1967, generally allows for exceptions to copyright restrictions that do not "conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author."
American IP law is, of course, imperfect. However, it does attempt to maintain a balance between strong enforcement mechanisms while also allowing for robust fair use and the public domain. But in IP treaties, all that tends to get exported from the American model are the restrictions, rather than the exemptions.
As such, TPP watchers have cautiously applauded the move.
"Recognizing the limitations and exceptions is generally a very positive development," said Rashmi Rangnath, a staff attorney at Public Knowledge, but she said that her and others' concerns would "depend on [the proposal’s] wording."
Jonathan Band, a Washington, DC-based intellectual property attorney, concurred.
"This is a very positive development," he wrote to Ars in an e-mail on Tuesday. "This is the first time that the US has sought language of this sort in an international agreement. From the blog one can't discern the precise language, which of course makes a big difference in how effective it will be on the ground. Nonetheless, this appears to be a big step in the right direction. Hopefully it will be well received by the other negotiating partners, and perhaps they will make it even stronger."
The specific language here, like the entire treaty itself, has yet to be made officially public.
Devil remains in the details
Fundamentally, interested parties have generally criticized the TPP’s secrecy, as no official draft has ever been made public. The "intellectual property chapter" of the TPP was leaked last year, but no one is sure if the current draft being discussed matches it or not.
Last week, a San Diego County congressman asked to sit in on this week’s round of negotiations—a request that was denied. However, the USTR did allow Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to attend as a "stakeholder," the semi-public part of the talks, but not the negotiations themselves. A separate letter from 130 congressional Democrats illustrates political anxiety that many politicians have with such opaque free-trade agreements, despite the fact that, as Reuters points out, "Congress last year overwhelmingly approved three such pacts—with South Korea, Colombia and Panama."
But beyond the secrecy of the treaty itself, experts have honed in on several problematic aspects to the leaked draft. Among the most important are a lack of definition of fair use and public domain rights, extension of copyright to "life plus 70" (putting it in line with American law), treating temporary copies (such as in a cache or a video buffer on streaming sites) as copyrightable, and a ban on the circumvention of digital locks, among others.
Earlier this year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called it "ACTA-plus," referring to the oft-protested proposed copyright treaty that seems to be on its deathbed.
Update: Parker Higgins, an activist at the EFF, wrote in to Ars to say that the organization "opposes this new proposal, which was made without allowing for input from public interest groups and other interested stakeholders. The USTR may try to paint the "3-step-test" in a positive light, but it actually imposes rigid constraints on the sorts of "fair use" provisions countries may enact."Esquire has posted the transcript of its wide ranging interview with former Justice Department official John Yoo. While Yoo is best known for his time at the Justice Department crafting jaw-dropping legal opinions authorizing torture, the interview shows that he harbors some unexpected opinions. For instance, who knew that the guy who gave the legal green light to the administration to pursue their most controversial policies takes a broad view of impeachment and Congressional oversight?
This is from the interview, where Yoo is speaking about his time as the general counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) during the late 1990s:
Certainly there was this whole industry of people outside the Congress, all these Clinton-haters, who were making a career out of attacking Clinton, but I thought it was a legitimate subject for investigation. The president and his advisors were trying to cover up financial misconduct or sexual harassment. I think Congress is allowed to ask about that. For example, I think Congress is fully allowed to ask about interrogation procedures. That’s one of their roles. They should have oversight. It can be crippling, obviously, to the executive if Congress goes forward guns blazing in its oversight powers, but I don’t think there’s anything unconstitutional about it.
Certainly for Hatch it wasn’t vindictive. I can’t speak for everyone who worked in the Senate. Hatch thought there were things that could be wrong here.
Clinton certainly didn’t make it easy. Same as the Bush administration. Knowing what you know now about what they had done, if they had been much more open and forthcoming coming out of the gate, it would have been better for everybody.
But I will say this: I wasn’t in favor of impeachment. I don’t think what Clinton did rose to the level of what impeachment is really for. I think if people in Congress wanted to impeach President Bush they could, not because he committed a crime but because they think he’s a bad president.
That was the phrase [“high crimes and misdemeanors”] that came from Britain, and the British used to, under that phrase, remove people just because they screwed up a war.
There are great examples. Allegedly these were the same standards of impeachments when they impeached a minister because the British suffered a setback in the war with the Dutch. It wasn’t a crime, but you were a bad leader. But it has to be something of significance to the state. Clinton, what he did didn’t seem to rise to that level.Gabe Newell, CEO ofdeveloper, Valve, has claimed that Hollywood directors lack "understanding" of what makes a video game property interesting for fans.Speaking to PC Gamer, Newell revealed that Valve has turned down numerous pitches for film adaptations of the studio's flagship series,"There was a whole bunch of meetings with people from Hollywood. Directors down there wanted to make a Half-Life movie and stuff, so they'd bring in a writer or some talent agency would bring in writers, and they would pitch us on their story," he said. "And their stories were just so bad. I mean, brutally, the worst. Not understanding what made the game a good game, or what made the property an interesting thing for people to be a fan of."It was as a direct result of these meetings that the studio began to explore filmmaking in-house, beginning with a series of short animated advertisements to introduce the various characters inahead of the game's release."That's when we started saying 'Wow, the best thing we could ever do is to just not do this as a movie, or we'd have to make it ourselves.'," Newell said. "And I was like, 'Make it ourselves? Well, that's impossible.' But thething, the Meet The Team shorts, is us trying to explore that."Newell argues that a game's developers, as keepers of its vision, are best-equipped to put together a film version of the property. "As aplayer, I would much rather that theteam made the movie than anyone else," he said, in reference to the forthcoming movie adaptation of the MMO."I like Sam Raimi, I've been a fan ever since Evil Dead came out, but I would rather see Blizzard making the movie. We think that customers are like, 'OK, we're kind of sick and tired of the way you guys are slicing and dicing the experience of being a fan of Harry Potter, or Half-Life, or The Incredibles, and you need to fix it.' I think that the people that fix it will be rewarded."The heads of eight of the world’s largest news organisations have called for the European commission to investigate the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the independence of the media in Malta.
The editors and directors have written a letter to Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of the commission, which describes the murder of Caruana Galizia as “shocking” and an “appalling reminder” of the dangers that journalists and citizens practising journalism face as they try to uncover corruption and criminal behaviour.
Malta: thousands rally to demand justice for murdered journalist Read more
The signatories include Katharine Viner, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, Jérôme Fenoglio, director of Le Monde, and James Harding, the director of news and current affairs at the BBC.
Caruana Galizia was killed last month by a car bomb near her home. She had led an investigation into corruption in Malta using the Panama Papers – with the government and the opposition implicated – and the readership for her blogposts often exceeded the circulation of the country’s newspapers.
No group or individual has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack. Thousands of people attended a rally after Caruana Galizia’s death demanding justice for the journalist. Her son said the island was a “mafia state”.
The editors and directors say the murder cannot be allowed to achieve the “clear objective of silencing her investigation into corruption at the highest levels in Malta”. They also point to analysis by the European commission that raised concerns about the lack of political independence of the Maltese media and that it was the “only EU country that has such extensive media ownership by the political parties”.
Other editors to sign the letter are Wolfgang Krach of Süddeutsche Zeitung, Lionel Barber of the Financial Times, Mario Calabresi at La Repubblica and Antonio Caño, of El País.
The letter to Timmermans adds: “Daphne’s murder, combined with the structural issues the commission identified, demonstrate the need for a full investigation into the state of media independence in Malta by the commission.
“We ask that you use your office to engage the Maltese government in urgent dialogue to ensure that it is aware of its obligations as a member of the European Union to uphold the rule of law, and to maintain press freedom and free expression.
“The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia demonstrates the danger that journalists face in the pursuit of truth. It also demonstrates the fear that the corrupt and powerful have of being exposed.
“We request that you use all powers at your disposal to ensure that Daphne’s death is fully investigated, and to send a clear signal of support to journalists working in the public interest, in Malta and all over the world.”
In response to the letter, Timmermans called on the Maltese authorities to “leave no stone unturned” in their investigation.
He said: “For the European commission there can be neither real democracy nor rule of law without free media. This is what we said clearly last week when the European parliament discussed the barbarous assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Media freedom is not just a value per se, it also underpins all the other values we hold dear. If journalists are silenced, so is democracy.
“We insist that the Maltese authorities leave no stone unturned to make sure that this atrocious, barbarous assassination does not lead to the situation that the perpetrators apparently want to achieve: that no one dares ask pertinent questions and no journalist dares investigate the powers that be.
“This will not happen in Europe. Not on this commission’s watch.
“The eyes of Europe are on the Maltese authorities. Answers need to be provided and crimes prosecuted. We want those directly and indirectly responsible for this horrible murder to be brought to justice. And we want the investigations to run their full course, so that any other related wrongdoings that may emerge can also be prosecuted and potential structural problems be resolved.
“Tomorrow the flags at the commission HQ will fly half-mast in honour of Daphne Caruana Galizia and all those who have given their lives for the freedom of speech without which freedom is an empty shell.”Activists hold banners to support global vaccination near the venues of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) conference in Berlin January 27, 2015. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (GERMANY - Tags: CIVIL UNREST HEALTH) - RTR4N3X2
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will pass a law next week obliging kindergartens to inform the authorities if parents fail to provide evidence that they have received advice from their doctor on vaccinating their children, the health ministry said on Friday.
Parents refusing the advice risk fines of up to 2,500 euros ($2,800) under the law expected to come into force on June 1.
Vaccination rules are being tightened across Europe, where a decline in immunization, has caused a spike in diseases such as measles, chicken pox and mumps, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
“Nobody can be indifferent to the fact that people are still dying of measles,” German health minister Hermann Groehe told Bild newspaper. “That’s why we are tightening up regulations on vaccination.”
Italy made vaccination compulsory this month after health officials warned that a fall-off in vaccination rates had triggered a measles epidemic, with more than 2,000 cases there this year, almost ten times the number in 2015.
Lack of public trust in vaccines has become an important global health issue. Experts say negative attitudes may be due to fears over suspected side-effects and hesitancy among some doctors.
In 10 European countries, cases of measles, which can cause blindness and encephalitis, had doubled in number in the first two months of 2017 compared to the previous year, the ECDC said last month.
That is leading to greater activism among parents and public health officials. Last week, a German court ruled that a father could insist that his child be vaccinated over the objections of the child’s mother because it was in the child’s interest.Here are trends that must remain in the past... at all costs.
Like fashion, music trends go in cycles. Artists get nostalgic for the stuff they listened to as kids and try to bring it back. That's why there are music fads from the 80s and 90s due to jump back on center stage at any moment. Ladies and gentlemen, there must be a way to stop them.
7 Child Exploitation in Rap
At an age when you were having your first wet dreams about April O'Neil (or, in some cases, Krang), some kids were actually making something of their pubescence. Perhaps due to the tragic post-80s decline of the Jackson Five, in the 90s the world just needed children rapping. And, if possible, wearing their clothes backwards.
Examples:
Kriss Kross. Another Bad Creation (ABC). Lil Bow Wow (who ran out of 'Dog' puns after his third album).
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Current Threats:
Seven year-old Bentley Green is out there plugging away, hoping the fad comes back before he's too old to take advantage (he started his MySpace when he was five freaking years old).
His big YouTube track has gotten three million hits and he's performed on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, where Ellen and the crowd treated him exactly like a puppy.
"Who's a big, cranky rapper? You are! Yes you are!"
There's real danger here, because he has the same "Aw, he's adorable!" factor with the housewives that made Kriss Kross mainstream, without the horrified moment when they realized the Kriss Kross kids were calling themselves "Mack Daddy" (which literally meant they were claiming to be 12 year-old pimps). In a couple of years this kid could have a merchandising empire that dwarfs Hanna Montanna.
Whatever happened to all of kiddie rapper acts, anyway? We're kind of shocked that none of them have their own reality TV show, following their sad lives as they prepare for a revival tour, using their old material. Cue uncomfortable scenes of re-learning lyrics about playgrounds, juxtaposed with one rapper getting high and trying to round up three hookers for a fourgy. Really cheap, filthy hookers.Sculptor and concept artist Jordu Schell breathed life into the Na'Vi, Avatar's blue aliens. He talks about working with James Cameron, the actresses who inspired the lovely Neytiri's look, and why design isn't the most interesting part of Avatar.
We spoke to Jordu Schell of the Schell Sculpture Studio. Schell has done sculpture and conceptual creature designs for numerous films, including Galaxy Quest, Dawn of the Dead, Hellboy, and The Mist, and he brought the Na'Vi to three-dimensional life.
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When did you begin work on this project?
I first was contacted in about May of 2005. Jim picked people — there are only four of us — there were three other guys, including a famous guy named Wayne Barlow who's a creature and character designer, and I primarily was hired to just do illustration. Along with these other three, I started doing illustrations, drawing and stuff.
I was really frustrated because my real forte is sculpting — you know, actual sculpture in clay, not in 3D programs. And after a while, that frustration became obvious, because I just felt like I was working on design with my hand tied behind my back if you will and I left the project, actually in about June or so of 2005. But then, Jim actually called me back in November of that same year, just a few months later, and said, "Hey, listen, the guys who were doing the 3D brush renderings just aren't capturing what I want, and I think I do want sculpture after all."
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So I went back in and I started doing sculptures. And Jim responded immediately to the sculpture. He really felt that that was the best way to capture the look that he wanted. So I started doing maquettes of the characters, starting with the main character named Neytiri. And from there on, I did maquettes and designs of every character in the movie.
And how long was the process? How many iterations did you go through?
At first, I started off doing busts of Neytiri, the main female character. And then Jim said, "I want to see a full body of her; I want to see her full physicality." So, I did a full maquette of her, which is roughly about 15 inches tall of her, which will probably be on the DVD and in a book of the making of and all this stuff. But that maquette is what I think really really established me with Jim as somebody important on the team, because I remember very clearly he came into the office I was in and went, "That's her! That's her! That's it! Don't change a thing. That's it." Which, to hear from Jim, is kind of incredible.
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Was that the first time he had seen the entire thing?
Yes, that was the first time I had done a full body design of any of the characters.
How many characters did you design overall?
Oh gosh. I did a design of the lead female. I did — I don't know, I would say I did probably about 15 total maquettes of the characters, and I did a bunch of maquettes also of the creatures that are in the film. Most of those maquettes — all of those maquettes — were based on designs that come from other artists that I kind of massaged into a more realistic realm taken from the drawing.
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And in fact, the design of the Na'Vi in general — that kind of cat-like appearance — was already established by Jim. That's what Jim wanted. He had already done a sketch of Neytiri, just of her face, which I thought was exquisite. And he did — somebody had done a very loose CBrush of what the bodies would look like, but it didn't look organic yet, and that's why I was called in.
When you started the process, what did James Cameron tell you about the Na'Vi?
Well, I knew that they were humanoid, that they were blue-skinned, that they were cat creatures, but that he very much wanted them to retain a humanoid, human-faced element to them. He wanted them to be elegant, slender. I think they were supposed to be about nine feet tall — three meters, whatever that is. I knew the basic physical parameters. Of course, I was given the script; I read the script and figured out how they fit into the context of the world, and all that sort of thing.
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Were they at all influenced by any animal in nature, or any other alien in fiction?
I wouldn't say so. I certainly got no reference to go from, other than a whole stack of photos of actresses that he [James Cameron] really liked, not necessarily that he was going to cast in the role, the vocal role or...the motion capture. Not necessarily for the motion capture, but for inspiration in terms of the beauty of a kind of ethnic face. I remember he very much liked the face of a girl named Q'Orianka Kilcher, who starred in The New World, which was a Pocahontas movie with Colin Farrell. But, you know, I had pictures of Mary J. Blige and all these different people on the walls of really beautiful ethnic women.
You said that Cameron saw the first sculpture you did and said that was it. So has the design changed at all from there?
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Here's the thing: that's an interesting question. I did the maquette. He loved the face; he loved the body; he loved the physicality; he loved the athleticism; he loved the anatomy. At some point, Stan Winston studios was brought in specifically to massage the faces, to do some work on the faces. And they came up with a face that was really quite radically different from the face that was on my maquette. And I thought, "Oh well. Stan will have designed the faces and I'll have designed the body."
But now that I see the trailer, it looks as if it has returned almost exactly to what I did on the maquette. I mean it looks almost exactly it. It might be a little less — I mean because things change somewhat in CG — it might not be quite as ripped in terms of anatomy or defined in terms of anatomy as mine was, but it looks very much like the maquette that I did.
Have you talked to anyone about that? Has anyone said anything to you about them changing it back?
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No, because I've been off the project. I left the project in 2007. All this stuff ran out and Jim was starting to shoot by the time I left. Other than going to little parties that Jim has thrown, I haven't really been privy to what's been going on down at Weta. And I'm good friends with Richard Taylor, who runs Weta, but I haven't even really spoken to him much about it, like what's going on down there. But I know they've been very busy down there on it, and they probably still are.
What about the sex appeal aspect of it? Was the sexiness something James Cameron emphasized with you?
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Well, he wanted them to be very beautiful. And I do believe that, at some point, he said something to the effect of...the audience has to want to fuck her. I mean, Jim is very plain in his language.
So, I went, "All right?" So I made something that, I don't know if I really particularly wanted to fuck it, but it was certainly a beautiful alien. He definitely, he wanted it — because he really prefers women that are kind of athletic, and buff and stuff like that, so I, you know, designed something with big hands and feet, a big presence that felt really big and strong.
So it was designed for his personal preferences in terms of sexiness?
It certainly wasn't mine. I mean, I would have sculpted, I don't know, Gretchen Mol or something. But I sculpted this big, tall, buff, kind of tough-looking, kick-ass woman.
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To what extent are the Na'Vi a product of the physical environment of Pandora? Is it just the way they are for the aesthetics, or did he indicate there was something about Pandora that made them the way that they were? For example, why are they blue?
Oh, honestly, I believe that they're blue because it's unusual and weird. I mean, maybe there's some ecology-based sense that it makes in the context of the story. I don't remember reading anything in the script that went into — I mean, everything on the planet has kind of aqua to blue palette, at least what I remember seeing. But no, he didn't go into detail at least to me about the specific ecological or environmental reasons why they were the color they were. But I know that he wanted that from the start. He said, "I really want them to be unusual. I want them to have these weird patterns," and so that was definitely what he wanted.
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So your impression is that it was more about making them exotic?
Yes, absolutely.
What about the feline aspect? Do you have any indication of why they are so feline?
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I don't know. It's probably because he thinks that cats are elegant, and they are. I mean, so are horses, but we don't have horse-faced aliens, I guess. So, I think it was a matter of elegance, and he wanted them all to be trim — I guess they don't have Ding-Dongs on Pandora.
In the Avatar Day footage, we see a kind of appendage coming out of Sully's braid that binds him to the dragon-like creature. Is that part of the design, or were you just told "Oh, there's this big braid?"
Oh yes. That's definitely part of the design, and it does have something specific to do with Na'Vi culture. However, I probably shouldn't as yet say until the film comes out what's going on there.
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Are there going to be other surprises like that in their design?
Definitely. There are definitely some things about them that are more than just meets the eye.
More Na'Vi weirdness?
Yeah, I mean, they don't split open into gigantic demon creatures or something, but you'll definitely see aspects of them that are unusual and cool and unique to this particular creature.
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And how was designing for Avatar different from other designing experiences you've had?
The only main difference — it was a very long, long project. There was so much stuff and so much to do and so many people involved. I mean, hands down the biggest thing I've been involved with.
Are you aware of the backlash online, with some people being disappointed with, for example, how humanoid or how feline the Na'Vi look?
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Well, I mean, I know some people were disappointed, some people think it's amazing. Some people were disappointed, some think it's amazing. To me, that's typical fan reaction. There's always some backlash against something with a lot of hype. The only way to avoid backlash is for there to be no hype. And it seems that there's always some kind of negativity surrounding this stuff. Some love it, some hate it.
So, when something like District 9 comes out — until something like two weeks, three weeks before it came out, there was no knowledge of it by anyone. It just came out of nowhere. So, as a result, it's getting a lot of accolades. I have a feeling that if it had been promoted as the biggest thing ever six months prior to its arrival, a year prior to its arrival, it would have had severe backlash as well. I can only chalk that up to typical fan reaction to something that has gotten a tremendous amount of hype, a huge amount of advance word, and there's bound to be people that are disappointed.
Do you have any response to the people who have been disappointed?
If their problem is with the physical look of the characters, then no, there's not much I can say. That's the way they're obviously going to look. But I think that the story is strong enough to transcend any visual issues anyone might have. We should not be going to the movies, in my opinion, strictly to be visually dazzled. That is a post-modern, special effects attitude. People should be going to the movies to be told a story and they should be going to be enveloped in a world where they're going to be transported somewhere else.
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Find out more about Jordu Schell's work at Schell Sculpture Studio.Remember when Republicans used to make fun of Barack Obama for supposedly going on an “apology tour” of foreign countries? This argument was profoundly silly to rational people, which is why it was so popular among right-wingers. The “apology tour” nonsense was little more than an effort to gin up as much hatred as possible against Obama, to suggest that he didn’t believe in “American exceptionalism,” to brand him a skeptic about our country’s accomplishments.
If the 2018 midterm elections go disastrously for Republicans, we’ll bear witness to yet one more example of the right’s hypocrisy, as Republicans freshly ousted from their House and Senate seats will go on an actual “apology tour” of sorts, expressing regret for Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 GOP primary and his subsequent Electoral College victory. Those former Republican elected officials will finally acknowledge an obvious truth to the rest of us: that Trump was the destroyer disguised as savior for the GOP, and someone wholly unqualified to lead the country.
Remember how long it look for Republicans to acknowledge that George W. Bush was more trouble than he was worth? After the GOP’s epic losses in the 2006 midterms, Republicans essentially conceded that Bush was indeed a disaster:
Two consecutive elections — 2002 and 2004 — of Republican gains in both the House and Senate had caused some GOP members to think of themselves as almost bulletproof. With a perception that they didn’t need to look over their shoulders at their districts on tough votes, last fall’s loss of six Senate seats and 30 House seats, and the majorities they supported, changed all of that. Now, the unrelenting bad news from Iraq has left the president in less-than-stellar standing with many Republicans on Capitol Hill. Add to that the feeling among many Republicans that had Bush dumped Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before the election, they would have been able to hold on to the majority — albeit diminished by scandals — and the commander-in-chief is left in low regard within the GOP cloakrooms… Simply put, we might be entering into a two-year period in which only the president’s veto pen keeps him relevant on domestic issues, and his foreign policy effectively begins and ends with Iraq.
If Republicans lose their House and/or Senate majority because of Trump’s recklessness, they will take to the airwaves in the days following the 2018 midterms to lament the outcome of the 2015-16 primary campaign that made him the party’s leader in the first place. If both houses of Congress change hands, some newly unemployed Republicans may even call upon the new Democratic majority to go ahead and push for the impeachment and removal of Trump. After all, they will reason, what good did he ever do for them?
It will be morbidly amusing to see former House and Senate Republicans effectively join the Indivisible movement in the aftermath of the midterms, another example of Republicans doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. It was just fine for Trump to abuse minorities and Muslims. It was OK for him to denigrate our democracy and antagonize such countries as North Korea. However, causing the GOP to cede control of Congress? That’s just contemptible!
Honesty may come later for Republicans. For now, they’ll continue to pretend that the worst may not come.
Republicans are very good at pretending the worst may not come. A dozen years ago, they didn’t think the fallout from Bush’s mishandling of Iraq, or Social Security “reform,” or the Terri Schiavo case, or post-Katrina New Orleans would really hurt them…until the pain became unbearable. Then and only then did Republicans effectively concede that the left was right about Bush all along. Don’t be surprised if history repeats itself.7 in 10 say legislators have wrong priorities
July 9, 2014
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ST. LOUIS—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has released a new poll showing that 8 out of 10 Missouri voters have concerns about the 72-hour forced delay for a woman seeking an abortion, which Gov. Jay Nixon has vetoed. Nearly three-quarters of Missouri (7 in 10) voters say their legislators should focus on jobs and the economy, rather than wasting more time and taxpayer resources interfering with women’s private decisions.
Public Policy Polling (PPP) conducted the poll of 759 Missouri voters immediately following the governor’s veto last week. The poll found a majority opposed the forced delay measure. More than half of those who opposed the legislation said it would influence for whom they vote in November.
"This poll is a wake-up call for politicians who are intent on putting roadblocks in the path of a woman seeking a safe and legal abortion," said Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. "Missourians – and voters across the country – are making it crystal clear that they’ve had it with politicians interfering in a woman’s personal, private decisions."
Extremist politicians have already indicated they will go against the will of Missourians and attempt to override the veto in early September when the Missouri General Assembly reconvenes for its annual veto session. If they do override the veto, Missouri would be one of only two states with such an extreme forced delay law.Get this: If you’ve |
win was possible to telling themselves and each other that maybe it’ll be alright, just as you might soothe a child in a storm shelter. Maybe the federal government will save us, or moderate conservatives, or Jesus. Maybe there’s something reasonable in the rage of disinherited white Americans who rolled Orange Hitler into the Oval Office. Maybe we should have listened to them more, had more empathy, even as Trump voters deny any possibility of empathy for those whose beliefs, nationality, or skin color happens to differ from their own. Maybe we shouldn’t have called their behavior racist, misogynist, extremist. Maybe it was us, we say, rearranging the traditional post-crisis leftist firing squad into a perfect circle. Maybe we had this coming.
This, of course, is an internalization of the language of abusers everywhere. Look what you made us do. We wouldn’t have hurt you if you hadn’t provoked us. If you’re quieter, nicer, and better behaved from now on we can put this behind us—although we’ll have to punish you first. The people who have taken power in the mightiest nation on earth are native speakers of the language of abuse. They live and breathe the rhetoric of control, of gaslighting, of shame. This is how abuse works—not just overtly, but insidiously. It claims territory in your heart. It colonizes your mind until it becomes comfortable. Until it becomes something you can live with, or at least survive.
So you tell yourself that you survived Bush and Blair. Surely you can survive this, too. If you keep your head down. If you give the new order a chance. If you don’t make any strong statements. If you trust the government not to run the train off the rails. There will be attempts to reason with the abuser. To make him less of an abuser, because it is in fact hard to accept yourself as a victim. In the face of a sea-change in the sociopolitical order, you shut yourself tight in your shell and seal yourself off against everything that disturbs you. This might be thought of as the clam before the storm. And this is how it happens. This is how the bad guys win. This is how a “white supremacist” becomes a “controversial Breitbart executive” becomes a “White House senior counselor.”
This is also how life has changed in the United Kingdom since June, when the Brexit vote plunged the country into economic, cultural, and constitutional disaster. A slow, chilling creep of normalization of language and policies that would, scant years ago, have been the preserve of extremists. As the Overton window lurched to the right and the new, wholly unelected Prime Minister declared that “ordinary, decent people” were right to fear immigrants, the millions of abnormal, indecent people who did not vote for Brexit—47 percent of the nation—curled into themselves with horror. The political left immediately started tearing itself apart, and those of us not wedded to the Labour party watched in alarm as the very people who were supposed to stand up for human decency and workers’ rights took a wildly mistimed sabbatical to attack one another in public. Paranoia and conspiracy theories ran rife through the news, the tabloids abandoned any pretence at having moved on from their storied history of supporting fascists, and those who were clinging onto hope with their fingertips began to lose their grip.
As the Trump ascendancy became inescapable, therapists and psychiatrists across America were unsure how to treat a surge in patients presenting with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Psychiatric orthodoxy envisions anxiety as an individual problem, a maladaptive response to everyday conditions. There is nothing everyday, however, about Donald Trump and his march to the presidency on a carpet of hate—and to feel anxiety in response is anything but ill-adjusted. It is a survival instinct for the millions of Americans who really are directly threatened, physically threatened, by the new power agenda: their bodies make them targets. The traditional understanding of anxiety, despair, paranoia, hopelessness assumes some element of delusion or overreaction. But the white supremacists in the White House are very real. A vengeful, sociopathic narcissist who has been accused of sexual assault and threatened to deport and incarcerate millions of black, brown, and Muslim Americans will now have control of the nuclear codes and access to the most extensive surveillance network ever envisioned. Anxiety and despair are not irrational in this context. They are, in fact, the only rational response.
Months ago, thousands of “citizen therapists”, mental health professionals in the United States, produced a manifesto airing their concerns about what “Trumpism” was doing to the American psyche:
The public rhetoric of Trumpism normalizes what therapists work against in our work: the tendency to blame others in our lives for our personal fears and insecurities and then battle these others instead of taking the healthier but more difficult path of self-awareness and self-responsibility. It also normalizes a kind of hyper-masculinity that is antithetical to the examined life and healthy relationships that psychotherapy helps people achieve. Simply stated, Trumpism is inconsistent with emotionally healthy living—and we have to say so publicly.
Sanity is socially and politically determined—and when politics change, the definition of who is well and unwell, who is sane and who is sick, tends to change with it. The traits of good mental health, of the supposedly well-balanced individual, are often suspiciously similar to those of the compliant citizen, the obedient worker, the dutiful woman—whatever those traits might be, depending on the mood of the world and the whims of the powerful. Those who oppose the existing order can count on being labeled as deranged, as irrational, especially if they make the mistake of showing emotion in a power regime that considers all emotions weakness, all feelings laughable—except the rage of the “white working class,” as long as it is properly harnessed in service of vested interests. What happens, then, when an attitude of outrage, of resistance, becomes reclassified as mental illness?
Just look at what happened to Kevin Allred. When the Rutgers University lecturer posed a question about the Second Amendment for his students online this week, he was not expecting to be forced into a psychiatric hospital. Hours after he posted, according to his own report, he found the police at his door, telling him he had to go with them to Bellevue hospital. He was declared sane by a number of baffled in-house medical professionals, but diagnosis is no longer simply a medical issue. It is also a political one. A president-elect who has threatened to jail his opponent and refused to decry racist violence done in his name is considered mentally well by virtue of the position he holds. A precarious academic who raises an issue about the Second Amendment online is subject to mandatory psychiatric treatment.
Do not doubt that this is a war of nerves as much as a war of resources.
Popular politics are no longer simply post-truth—they are post-reason. When working-class people vote against their own interests, they are usually dismissed as irrational. The Clinton campaign, much like the Remain campaign in Britain, worked on the basis that people would vote with their reason, rather than their feelings—forgetting that white men in the West have always been encouraged to believe that it is their feelings that matter more than anyone else’s, and a unilateral response to those feelings is justified. That’s what Trump voters, Brexiteers, and their ilk have done and continue to do as the everyday violence against women, queer people, black, brown, and Muslim citizens escalates across the Western world. They have interpreted their own feelings as an excuse for bigotry and a license to abuse. They have allowed their feelings to be exploited by venal salesman with vicious agendas. They have allowed their feelings to be put to work for the very people who caused so much of the mess. As above, so below: hurt people hurt people. Just because it’s comprehensible does not make it okay. Just because your feelings are injured does not give you license to injure others in turn.
This, again, is the logic of abuse: I have been hurt by life, and therefore I am entitled to take my feelings out on other people. I have no doubt that millions of those who voted for Trump have been deeply wounded by life. I have no doubt that those who feel that the hard-won ascendency of women and people of color to a slightly more equitable social position is a direct identity threat feel those feelings genuinely, and profoundly. That’s fine. It’s fine to have feelings. It’s not fine to place those feelings at the wheel of the ship of government and steer it into a damn iceberg.
Let me break it down for those of you fortunate enough not to have lived in fear of this sort of abuse. The people who propelled Trump to victory and are now celebrating have been stalking and harassing women, people of color, Jews, Muslims, and LGBT citizens online and in the flesh for years. They have been stalking and harassing these citizens and calling it good fun. When those of us who were targeted spoke out, we were told that the abuse was not real. That they didn’t really mean it when they leaked our addresses online and sent death threats to our families. That we provoked it, brought it on ourselves. That we should laugh it off and get off the internet. Close your computer. Be quieter. Behave.
We tried to raise the alarm. We tried to make it clear that these people were serious, that they meant business, that they were doing harm. Now those people are seizing power across the Western world, and bringing with them all the tools of psychological warfare that they have used with impunity for so long.
Do not doubt that this is a war of nerves as much as a war of resources. Systematic psychological abuse is a favorite tactic of the alt-right, and was an election strategy for Trump. Identify an enemy by name or aspect, grind them down with threats and harassment, do your best not just to dehumanize them in the eyes of others but to undermine their own sense of human worth. Hours after Donald Trump declared victory, forum members from one of the many Neo-Nazi outlets that stumped for the president-elect were cackling over the misery of frightened women, people of color, and LGBT citizens terrified for their families and communities. Andrew Angin, publisher of the Daily Stormer, urged his followers to double down on the abuse: “You can troll these people and definitely get some of them to kill themselves,” Anglin wrote. “Just be like ‘it’s the only way you can prove to the racists that Hillary was right all along.’”
Anglin egged on his tame troll army, reassuring them that headlines announcing a rash of suicides would further demoralize the left. Read that back to yourself. Understand that these are words of war. Understand that rational as despair may be, there are those who would count your pain a victory.
They would be wrong on that count. Because the new right, the alt-right, all these new permutations of old bigotry consider every emotion weakness if it isn’t ballistic spite. They adhere to a cult of toxic masculinity that deems evidence of feeling a defeat. That is why they are so fixated on “triggering” their opponents, why they are obsessed with the notion of “safe spaces,” why the worst possible thing you can be is a “snowflake,” oversensitive, convinced of your worth as a human in a humane society. They believe that compassion is maladaptive, that liberalism is a disorder. They are wrong. Having feelings does not make a person weak. Allowing those feelings to control your behavior is what makes monsters.
We all know people who are not managing, people who we’re actively checking in on. In the days since the result—which, however the embarrassed commentariat scrambles to recapture the narrative, was and remains a profound shock—I have fielded calls from friends, relatives, and strangers driven to the point of despair. People who were already precarious and vulnerable and now have to imagine the prospect of four years of swivel-eyed authoritarian rule that may push the entire species to the point of habitat collapse. Then, as if things weren’t bad enough, Leonard Cohen died. I found myself torn between sadness and real worry that millions of people around the world who were barely coping as it was were suddenly listening to Various Positions.
It is, perhaps, no surprise that the people who seem to be managing best out of the at-risk citizens I know are almost all survivors of some sort of sustained abuse—of domestic violence, child abuse, of the historic abuse enacted by grim and sordid definition on marginalized and minority groups, or all three. Some of the most vulnerable people I know are also the best in a crisis, because they kick immediately into survivor mode. One of my most fragile friends has spent the past few days making some of the fiercest political art of her life, another has put together quick, comprehensible reading lists for strategies of resistance, another is fundraising like mad for abortion rights charities and bringing networks together to keep up the momentum. This doesn’t mean they’re grieving any less, nor that those of us still pinned to our beds with panic are poor soldiers in this war to which we find ourselves conscripts. It means that the strategies that will sustain us all in the coming weeks and months are exactly the strategies that have always allowed human beings to survive abuse and intimate terrorism. They are strategies for practical survival that are also emotional armour.
In the coming months and years those of us who still believe in a better world will need to guard the most important frontline—the one in the head. Trump and his team may be about to inflict horrors on the world—not unimaginable horrors, more’s the pity, but horribly imaginable ones. We must find a way to maintain our outrage, our shock, our refusal to accept the new power order as legitimate, whilst guarding our emotional resolves. Normalization and passive acceptance are an easy source of comfort but just about the worst coping strategies imaginable for living under an authoritarian, racist regime—so we must find others. Resistance is, and will remain, exhausting. Can we continue to treat toxic masculinity, aggression, bullying, misogyny, and othering as dangerous and unhealthy when their very personification sits in the Oval Office? Can we hang on to our sense of what is right, and just, and necessary even as the definition of decency, of normalcy, is twisted and tortured into a new and violent shape? We can, and we must.
That doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it. Personally, I spent the three days after the election weeping, writing and trying to force food down myself as I re-arranged every plan I had made to step away and rest for a while after seven years of exhausting journalistic work. Donald Trump has really messed with my life plan. This is far and away not the worst thing he has done, but it makes it a bit more personal. I was planning to go away for a while and write a novel. I was planning to have an actual holiday for the first time in my adult life. It was a nice plan. God knows, I need a rest. For now, basic self-care will have to do.
Nothing I’ve done or not done has ever kept or will ever keep me safe from those who mean harm to me and to those more vulnerable than me. However dicey it might be for my mental health to stand in opposition to these people, it is more dangerous to do nothing. Comfort now comes at the cost of calamity later. I’m not going to take silly risks. I’m going to make sure I have a day off now and then, and a ready supply of tea. I am going to spend time with my face in my mum’s dog’s fur. But to normalize this crisis, to rationalise it, to slink away and make a nice safe life for myself while I can, would be to betray everyone I know who doesn’t get that option.
Normalization is psychic armour. But so is resistance. In the coming weeks and months and years we must navigate a course between the exhaustion of perpetual outrage and the numbness of normalization. That means taking care of ourselves and of one another. It means practicing a sort of emotional intelligence that the new power order lacks the capacity to imagine, an emotional intelligence that is all that stands between us and fascism with a cartoon face. It’s also called courage. If standing up to bullies was cost-free, we’d have a different world. If enough of us do it anyway, we can still make one.Najib said that, as finance minister, he never failed to provide allocations to Chinese schools, noting that RM50 million was set aside this year. — Bernama pic
KUCHING, Feb 9 ― Vernacular schools are part of Malaysia's education system and will not be removed, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib said today.
Najib also highlighted that he had taken measures to safeguard the independence of Chinese schools when he had been education minister.
"We have the National Blue Print for education that makes sure that national type schools (Chinese) are enshrined in that document as a commitment of the Barisan Nasional government that Chinese education is here today, and to continue to serve our community and nation," he said at the opening of the new blocks of Chung Hua School No. 4.
"When I was an education minister, I repealed Section 21(2) of the Education Act that empowered the minister to convert Chinese school into national type school," he added.
The prime minister further said he was considering a branch campus of a Chinese university in Kuala Lumpur, which would be a first in Malaysia.
Najib said that, as finance minister, he never failed to provide allocations to Chinese schools, noting that RM50 million was set aside this year.
"I also encouraged my son to learn Mandarin, he is now very proficient in it, and wherever he goes in Beijing, he is very popular with the Chinese there," the prime minister added.
He said the current era has made it more important than before for Malaysians to be connected to the rest of the world.
Learning languages such as Mandarin and English was one way to do so, Najib said.Google will continue to sync your phone's photos and videos even after you delete Google Photos from your device.
The company told CNNMoney on Monday that it's working on a fix.
If you're an Android user and decide to stop using the app, uninstalling it will not stop Google (GOOG) from storing and saving your phone's photos in the cloud.
"Some users have uninstalled the Photos app on Android without realizing backup as an Android service is still enabled," a Google spokeswoman told CNNMoney. "We are working to make the messaging clearer as well as provide users who uninstall the Photos app an easy way to also disable backup."
The app allows Google to automatically sync a phone's photos and videos to the cloud, among other features, such as creating slideshows and GIFs.
Usually, when you delete an app, it stops working. Google Photos' backup service doesn't work that way because Google will remember the settings and keep it turned on even if you decide to uninstall the app.
To completely disable automatic syncing, go to Google settings on your phone, select Google Photos, and turn backup off.
The issue was first reported by an editor at Business Journals late last week, when he discovered that hundreds of photos he had taken with his phone were uploaded online after he had uninstalled the app five weeks earlier.
"All I had to do to turn my phone into a stealth Google Photos uploader was to turn on the backup sync, then uninstall the app," David Arnott wrote.
When Arnott reached out to Google, he said he received a curt response: "'The backup was as intended."To help provide a brief, unbiased summary, we have put together a Learn Chemistry article which you can find here Confused about which GCSE science specification you should choose for your new Year 10’s in September 2016? Not sure how all the awarding bodies are differentiating themselves? Searching for some sort of coherent summary of the differences between them?To help provide a brief, unbiased summary, we have put together a Learn Chemistry article which you can find here http://goo.gl/qktdSK. Looking at the third article on the Learn Chemistry resource page you will find a table containing the four main awarding bodies, their different science specifications for GCSE, and the extra offers they have to support teachers of GCSE science. The hyperlinks in each box take you through to the relevant page for the specification, or the specification itself if it is accredited. The coloured key indicates whether a particular qualification will count towards Progress and Attainment 8, and towards the English Baccalaureate.
The main difference that you might notice from previous years are the schemes of work and syllabuses for KS3, with particular focus on the transition in Year 9 to KS4; other differences include Entry Level Certificates for lower ability students, which can run alongside GCSEs, and new STEM technical awards, which replace BTECs and Cambridge National Certificates at Level 1/2.
We hope this will help to equip you to choose your specification, when they are accredited, ready for teaching in September 2016![Editor’s Note: As we’re coming up on the end of the year, we thought it would be appropriate to republish some of our most popular articles from 2017. Today’s was originally published on May 18]
On September 17, 1787 on the final day of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was approached by a woman as he walked out of Independence Hall.
“Well Doctor, what have we got– a republic, or a monarchy?” she asked.
It was a burning question on everyone’s mind: what form of government would the Constitutional delegates establish for the new country?
Franklin didn’t hesitate. “A republic– if you can keep it.”
(The exchange was noted by Maryland delegate James McHenry and included in the Records of the Federal Convention of 1787.)
Franklin’s answer spoke volumes.
The Constitutional Convention had just ended, and it had been a bitter four months as the delegates fought and argued over every single word in the draft.
Factions had developed. Some delegates wanted a federal government with absolute power. Others wanted fewer guaranteed liberties for individuals.
Franklin knew that the representative government he had worked so hard to establish was incredibly fragile, and that it could easily slip away.
It was the same fight two years later when the 1st United States Congress fought over whether or not to establish a Bill of Rights.
As one delegate wrote, “Bill of Rights– useful, but not essential.”
Once again, after months of bitter arguments, Congress finally reached a compromise in September 1789, approving ten Constitutional amendments that guaranteed certain freedoms for the people.
More than two centuries later it’s clear that most of what they worked to achieve has completely changed.
The First Amendment, which ensures that Congress can make no law restricting freedom of speech, press, religion, and peaceable assembly, has become almost a punch line.
Ironically the greatest assault on Free Speech today doesn’t even come from government, but from university students who protest against any ideas they find offensive.
Violence on university campuses is now common as students come out of their Safe Spaces to physically obstruct and violently impede controversial speakers.
Any statement that doesn’t conform to their very narrow agenda is now considered hate speech.
And it’s the students themselves who want any sign of dissent banned, and more mandatory indoctrination of their newspeak ideology.
Then there’s the Second Amendment, which guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
This one seems to be under fire on a regular basis, with mainstream media from Rolling Stone to Vanity Fair calling for its outright repeal.
The Third Amendment guarantees that no soldier shall be quartered in any home without the consent of the owner.
This seems almost a quaint, obsolete historical reference at this point given that the US military hasn’t had to be housed among the civilian population… ever.
So, OK, great. The Third Amendment is still in-tact.
Then there’s the Fourth Amendment, which ensures “the Right of the People to be secure in their houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”
Forget it. The federal government spends tens of billions of dollars each year to illegally spy on EVERYONE, including Americans and American allies. This one is a total joke.
The Fifth Amendment is a big one.
It ensures that no one can be held to answer for a crime, including a felony, without grand jury indictment.
This protection died a few years ago when Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, which authorized the military detention of US citizens on US soil, no due process required.
The Fifth Amendment also famously protects against self-incrimination, ensuring that an individual cannot be called as a witness against himself.
This provision is also gone, considering that legal precedent now exists for police to force you to give up your mobile phone or computer password.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees due process, that in a criminal trial, “the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury...”
This is now a complete farce given the widespread use of top-secret FISA courts, military detention facilities, and drone-strike assassinations.
The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial if there’s a dispute over property that exceeds $20.
Now, the $20 threshold might be a little bit outdated (not that there’s any inflation!)
But considering that the government has stolen billions of dollars worth property from Americans through Civil Asset Forfeiture in recent years, all without a trial, it seems the Seventh Amendment isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
Then there’s the Eight Amendment, which protects against “cruel and unusual punishment.”
I thought about this one the other day when I was walking through the terminal at DFW International Airport.
A sign caught my eye that as prominent displayed on an emergency exit door, warning passers-by that opening the door was a violation of the law and subject to up to one year in prison.
I was dumbfounded. A year in prison for opening a door?
People go to jail and do hard time for smoking certain plants (but not others), failing to file tax forms, and a number of completely obscure and innocuous crimes.
There were four federal crimes when the Constitution was ratified. Today there are thousands. On any given day you and I probably commit several of them without even knowing. And each comes with absolutely insane penalties.
The reality is that you cannot even apply for a passport anymore in the Land of the Free without being threatened with fines and imprisonment.
Last were the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, which were supposed to limit the power of the federal government in favor of the states and the people.
Those went out the window a LONG time ago, especially after 9/11.
Look, don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting that America is some vicious, brutal dictatorship. It’s not.
But anyone who has the courage to be honest and objective can see the obvious decay.
Benjamin Franklin’s warning is coming true. And the trend is accelerating.Photo courtesy of Flickr / Paul Sableman.
Two suspected robbers were taken into custody after a heist on the Clayton MetroLink platform.
Two men are in custody after a midday stickup in Clayton, authorities say.The thieves, one of them wielding a pistol, confronted a man today on the MetroLink platform in downtown Clayton, according to St. Louis County police.The victim gave them his money and then bolted to safety, dialing 911 as soon as he was out of harm's way. County officers assigned to the MetroLink unit were riding the train to the station at 275 South Central Avenue and arrived at 1:08 p.m., shortly after the robbers fled.Clayton officers also responded and helped catch the two suspects. The men had ditched the handgun as they ran, but police found the loaded weapon, authorities say.The names of the suspects weren't immediately released. Police plan to present the case to St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney for charges.Let Doreen Fox be an inspiration to us all, to press on and pursue our biggest dreams. She’s 78 years old, a widow and stroke victim, but none of that stopped her from standing in line until after midnight at a shopping mall in England's West Midlands to buy the latest edition of the ultra-violent video game, Call of Duty.
Fox says that she is the U.K.’s oldest gamer and while no definitive statistics are available, her claim appears at least plausible.
She picked up the video game fixation from her grandson Gareth Hughes in the 1980s, the era of Nintendo when Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong ruled the gaming world. Fox has kept playing as video games have grown geometrically more sophisticated and at the same time, more bloodthirsty — and she loves it.
"I just love the violence of it - it keeps me focused, I don’t like to sit still,” she told the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper. I suffered two strokes in 2008 and things like this keeps me on my toes. When you’re playing the games you’re on the edge of your seat.”
She plays the games for hours on end, she says. “God knows what the neighbors think when they can hear bombs and gun noises coming from my little flat.”
Though she is currently attempting to master Call of Duty, she says that the controversial game Grand Theft Auto, in which players carry out the tasks of a mob hit man and other outlaws, remains her favorite.
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“I don’t understand the controversy behind all these games,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d never go around battering people with my handbag. I’m not a criminal. But you really lose yourself in them.”
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Despite her claim to be the oldest gamer in her country, Fox does not claim to be the best, despite her countless hours on the game console.
“I’m not as quick as I used to be. I always shoot the wrong man or point the gun at a tree instead - but I don’t mind, I enjoy it anyway,” she says, adding that with two strokes she suffered several years ago the games help to keep her mind focused.
SOURCES: Daily Mail, Daily Mirror
undefinedStephen Graham Jones is the author of a bunch of highly-acclaimed books, including Demon Theory, This is Horror Awards-Winner After the People Lights Have Gone Off, All the Beautiful Sinners, and more than can be listed in a brief introduction. His short stories are appearing and have appeared in a top-shelf horror and weird fiction collection near you. He’s even shown up as a character in a Laird Barron story. I discovered him late to the game, back when I read his absolutely disturbing and terrifying short story “The Darkest Part” in Nightmare Carnival. It was my honor to ask him a few questions about his new novel, Mongrels. What sets Mongrels apart from the rest of the werewolf novel pack?
There’s no vampires, for one. Nothing against vampires, of course—they’re pretty deadly, and have some killer fashion sense—but werewolves are plenty enough for Mongrels. More than enough, really. Maybe what sets this novel apart is that I’ve had it in my head since I was twelve years old? Seriously, werewolves, they’ve always been where it’s at for me. I remember being twelve, living way out in the country, and creeping up from my bed after lights out and pressing my forehead to the cold glass, so I could watch the darkness for werewolves. I had no doubt at all that they were running in these fast clockwise circles around our house. And that if I quit watching even for a blink, then they were coming in for us. So I’ve been thinking on the werewolf for a long time, now. I’ve been watching for them. What always interested me most about them, though, after the teeth and claws and transformations, it was the day to day difficulties of being a different, maligned species. How to explain why your pants keep being ripped up? Why does your friend’s dog run yelping away when you walk up? I spent a lot of my twelfth year trying to become a werewolf—maybe because I knew I could never beat them, so I might as well get out there and run with them. But nothing ever took. So, Mongrels, it’s as close as I can get, I suppose. Gerald Vizenor says that being Indian, it’s an act of the imagination. I’ve always really believed that. And I think it goes for werewolves too. Werewolf and wolf-spirit mythology and superstition has a strong history in North America, as it was imported by European cultures and was already present in several Native American traditions. There is also a well-established cinematic tradition of the werewolf. What were your influences for the shapeshifters of Mongrels? How did you make the lycanthrope your own? In the The Wolf Man, the 1941 one, that scene where Bela-wolf attacks Talbot’s ‘chaperone’ behind that tree? If you frame-by-frame it, you can see the shadowy shape of a person back there. But if you watch it at normal speed like a normal person, then all you see is the wolf. Bela, he shifts into a wolf-wolf, a four-footed wolf, right? But then Talbot, after he gets bit, he becomes this hybrid monster, this man-wolf. That never made sense to me. So, with the biology and life-cycle of Mongrels‘ werewolves, I tried to explain it. But, surprise, I actually didn’t see The Wolf Man in 1941. Where the werewolf infects me, it’s The Howling. I watched that so many times on VHS in the early eighties. Just over and over and over, until it imprinted on me. And of course I tracked the novel down after that, and all the other novels before and since, and all the films too, and short films. Everything I could find. When you’re ravenous, you can never get enough. It’s kind of part of the definition. Or all of the definition. However, what triggered Mongrels even more than The Howling? It’s that old vampire movie Near Dark. If vampires were real, that’s how they would live, I figure. No velvet capes with high collars, no Lougle stock. Just living in ratty stolen cars, going from place to place every week, because the blood’s starting to pool around your boots.
The book is “set in the deep South.” Is this the deep South of your home state of Texas, or elsewhere?
I’m definitely from West Texas, so the beating heart under all my landscapes, all my imaginary geographies, it’s always those pastures and cottonfields I still call home. But I lived in the Florida panhandle, too, and in Arkansas, and I’ve crisscrossed those swampy highways so many times I feel like they’re part of me as well. The opening credits of True Blood? Those make the list of all-time great opening credits of all shows, for me. Along with The Rockford Files. But, that True Blood imagery, and that digging-deep Jace Everett song, that’s kind of overwritten my South a bit. Or lined up with it, anyway. Well, that and the South in Mark Richard’s The Ice at the Bottom of the World. And Harry Crews’ stuff. And maybe Breece D J’Pancake, if that’s even you spell his name [Close enough. – ed.]. This isn’t Faulkner and Flannery’s South, though. Not for me, not for Mongrels. This is more Daniel Woodrell, or Donald Ray Pollock, or William Gay, or Joe R. Lansdale. Just—it’s hard to get at the exact … Okay. This: I remember going over to an uncle’s house once, to borrow a tool or something. And in his living room, he didn’t have one huge old console television, he had two, one stacked on the other, almost to the ceiling of his trailer. The bottom one had the tube blown, but the speakers still worked. The top one had picture, but no sound. So, together, yeah, you’ve got something you can watch Wheel of Fortune on, right? To me, that’s the South. Or, it’s West Texas, anyway. Also, I guess I should say, my whole time growing up, and still, I always considered the best gauge of success and happiness to be how many old trucks you had planted all around your place. The old guys in my family, man, I’m so jealous. They’ve got junkyards around their places. It’s wonderful—it’s like when Bilbo pops his head up through the canopy of the Black Forest of Mirkwood, and sees all those butterflies. Except, for me, those butterflies are old trucks. My mom’s dad, who I never knew? When he died young, he already had enough old trucks that they just pushed them into a pit, buried them. It breaks my heart, but it thrills me to the core, too. I lived in a junkyard for a while in high school. Every morning I woke up, it was like I’d already made it, like I’d already lived a whole, great life. We never had food back then, me and my friends, always had to poach dove out past the city limits, but man if I couldn’t walk out the front door of that old trailer, sit in the crumbly seats of any car we wanted, and dream. I’m definitely from West Texas, so the beating heart under all my landscapes, all my imaginary geographies, it’s always those pastures and cottonfields I still call home. But I lived in the Florida panhandle, too, and in Arkansas, and I’ve crisscrossed those swampy highways so many times I feel like they’re part of me as well. The opening credits of? Those make the list of all-time great opening credits of all shows, for me. Along with. But, thatimagery, and that digging-deep Jace Everett song, that’s kind of overwritten my South a bit. Or lined up with it, anyway. Well, that and the South in Mark Richard’s. And Harry Crews’ stuff. And maybe Breece D J’Pancake, if that’s even you spell his name [Close enough. – ed.]. This isn’t Faulkner and Flannery’s South, though. Not for me, not for. This is more Daniel Woodrell, or Donald Ray Pollock, or William Gay, or Joe R. Lansdale. Just—it’s hard to get at the exact … Okay. This: I remember going over to an uncle’s house once, to borrow a tool or something. And in his living room, he didn’t have one huge old console television, he had two, one stacked on the other, almost to the ceiling of his trailer. The bottom one had the tube blown, but the speakers still worked. The top one had picture, but no sound. So, together, yeah, you’ve got something you can watchon, right? |
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Scientists currently suppose that chimpanzees are humans' closest living evolutionary relatives, a theory amply backed by genetic evidence.
However, as Dr McCarthy points out, despite this genetic similarity, there are a massive number of divergent anatomical characteristics distinguishing the two species.
These distinguishing characteristics, including hairless skin, a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, light-coloured eyes, protruding noses and heavy eyelashes, to name but a few, are unmistakeably porcine, he suggests.
There are also a number of less obvious but equally inexplicable similarities between humans and pigs in the structure of the skin and organs.
Indeed, pig skin tissues and heart valves can be used in medicine because of their similarity and compatibility with the human body.
Similarities: Dr Eugene McCarthy suggests that humans' hairless skin and subcutaneous fat could be explained by porcine ancestry
Dr McCarthy says that the original pig-chimp hook up was probably followed by several generations of 'backcrossing', where the offspring of that pairing lived among chimps and mated with them - becoming more like chimps and less like pigs with every new generation.
This also helps to explain the problem of relative infertility in hybrids. Dr McCarthy points out that the belief that all hybrids are sterile is in fact false, and in many cases hybrid animals are able to breed with mates of the same species of either parent.
After several generations the hybrid strain would have become fertile enough to breed amongst themselves, Dr McCarthy says.
Unsurprisingly, Dr McCarthy's hypothesis has come in for substantial criticism from orthodox evolutionary biologists and their Creationist opponents alike.
One important criticism, which dubs his theory the 'Monkey-F******-A-Pig hypothesis', is that there is little chance that pigs and chimps could be interfertile. The two orders of creatures, according to evolutionary theory, diverged roughly 80million years ago, a ScienceBlogs post points out.
'[J]ust the gradual accumulation of molecular differences in sperm and egg recognition proteins would mean that pig sperm wouldn’t recognize a chimpanzee egg as a reasonable target for fusion,' PZ Myers writes.
Furthermore, the blogger explains, while chimps have 48 chromosomes, pigs have just 38.
He adds: 'Hybridizing a pig and a chimp is like taking half the dancers from a performance of Swan Lake and the other half from a performance of Giselle and throwing them together on stage to assemble something. It’s going to be a catastrophe.'
Finally, he suggests rather impudently that Dr McCarthy do the experimental work himself and try mating with a pig to see how far he gets.
But Dr McCarthy believes that, in the case of humans and other creatures, his hybrid modification to evolutionary theory can account for a range of phenomena that Darwinian evolution alone has difficulty explaining.
Despite the opinions of some peer reviewers that Dr McCarthy's work presents a potentially paradigm-shifting new take on conventional views of the origins of new life forms, he has had difficulty finding a publisher, so he has chosen to publish a book-length manuscript outlining his ideas on his website.
In its conclusion he writes: 'I must admit that I initially felt a certain amount of repugnance at the idea of being a hybrid. The image of a pig mating with an ape is not a pretty one, nor is that of a horde of monstrous half-humans breeding in a hybrid swarm.
'But the way we came to be is not so important as the fact that we now exist. As every Machiavellian knows, good things can emerge from ugly processes, and I think the human race is a very good thing. Moreover, there is something to be said for the idea of having the pig as a relative.Shutterstock
A breakthrough Ebola vaccine has proved 100 percent effective in a trial that took place in Guinea and has been called a "game changer" by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Preliminary results from the trial of the VSV-EBOV vaccine, which was created by the Public Health Agency of Canada and developed by pharmaceutical company Merck, have been published in the Lancet. "This is an extremely promising development," said Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO. "The credit goes to the Guinean Government, the people living in the communities and our partners in this project. An effective vaccine will be another very important tool for both current and future Ebola outbreaks."
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The results thus far have revealed that the the vaccine is 100 percent effective effective, but the trial is set to continue in order to try and establish conclusive evidence that it can be used to protect whole populations through "herd immunity".
The trial began on 23 March 2015, and so far more than 4,000 close contacts of around 100 Ebola patients have volunteered to be vaccinated. It has been implemented using the same "ring" method that was used to eradicate smallpox. It has been issued to every person who has come into contact with an infected person, thus creating a protective ring around them, which stops the virus spreading further.
Throughout the trial, 50 percent of the rings were vaccinated immediately after the identification of an infected patient and 50 percent of the rings were vaccinated three weeks after the fact, in order that researchers could compare results. In the group that were vaccinated immediately, not a single one went on to develop Ebola. Of those who received the delayed vaccination, only 16 went on to develop Ebola.
With immediate vaccination proven completely effective, randomisation has now ceased. Since 26 July all people who are at risk of contracting Ebola have been vaccinated immediately. Not only could immediate deployment of the vaccine help bring an end to the epidemic, but it will minimise the time needed to gather more conclusive evidence that will eventually be needed to license the product.
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Medicins san Frontieres, one of several organisations implementing the trial, is also conducting a parallel by vaccinating all of its frontline workers. "With such high efficacy, all affected countries should immediately start and multiply ring vaccinations to break chains of transmission and vaccinate all frontline workers to protect them," said Bertrand Draguez, MSF's medical director.
In total, nearly 28,000 people have been infected since the outbreak of the West African Ebola epidemic in December 2013. In that time around 11,300 people have died. The outbreak is still ongoing in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, but the proven efficacy of the VSV-EBOV vaccine now offers hope that the spread of the disease might be halted.
"This is a remarkable result which shows the power of equitable international partnerships and flexibility," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, one of the funders of the trial. "This partnership also shows that such critical work is possible in the midst of a terrible epidemic. It should change how the world responds to such emerging infectious disease threats. We, and all our partners, remain fully committed to giving the world a safe and effective vaccine." "This is Guinea's gift to West Africa and the world," added Sakoba Keita, Guinea's national coordinator for the Ebola response. "The thousands of volunteers from Conakry and other areas of Lower Guinea, but also the many Guinean doctors, data managers and community mobilisers have contributed to finding a line of defence against a terrible disease."As the primary adult trauma resource center for the State of Maryland, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center's mission is to save lives and reduce the disability of critically ill and injured persons in greater Maryland. The Trauma Center recognizes that there are times when victim entrapment will delay transport to definitive care. In these circumstances, the Trauma Center maintains an advanced resuscitative team capable of responding to the scene of seriously injured patients. This physician-led team complements Maryland's Statewide EMS System by providing critical care and surgical services that are typically considered beyond the scope of prehospital emergency care.
Scene incident commanders may request a GO-TEAM response for patients with suspected life-threatening injuries when extrication times are estimated to exceed one hour.
In situations where preliminary reports suggest that a victim's condition may require the GO-TEAM, but the extent of the rescue operation is unknown, a request can be made to put the Team on alert. The purpose of the alert status is to reduce the Team's response time. In this circumstance, the Team would be assembled but not dispatched until an initial on-scene assessment determines that the Team is needed.
More about the GO-TEAM
When dispatched, the GO-TEAM serves as a specialized component of Maryland's statewide emergency medical system. The Shock Trauma GO-TEAM is composed of an attending physician (anesthesiologist, surgeon, critical care medicine specialist) and a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
Team members undergo a core training curriculum that includes field surgical care, State EMS protocols, scene safety, helicopter safety, hazardous materials awareness, radio communications, incident command, vehicular rescue, emergency vehicle operations and field operations. Additional ongoing training includes:
Use of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA)
Supporting closed space, trench, and high elevation rescue operations
Techniques for farm equipment rescue
Water rescue, including personal water craft operations
Assisting with law enforcement tactical operations
Any incident commander may request the GO-TEAM through EMRC/SYSCOM, through his/her local fire dispatch board, or by calling Maryland ExpressCare directly at 410-328-1234. A trauma-line consult with the attending trauma surgeon on-call is requested if possible to help prepare the team prior to arrival at the scene. Whenever possible, the Team is composed of personnel located within the Trauma Center. In some circumstances, it is necessary to utilize on-call attending physicians, who respond to the scene directly.
Once on the scene, the GO-TEAM reports to the incident commander for integration into the rescue operation. The GO-TEAM operates under the operational command of the scene incident commander The on-scene trauma attending physician assumes responsibility for medical decisions for patients under the Team's care. The GO-TEAM works closely with on-scene emergency medical and rescue personnel to provide patient care. Once extricated, patient transport is accomplished to the closest appropriate trauma facility as determined by the GO-TEAM attending physician.
The GO-TEAM's Capabilities
These include the following:
Assess the extent of injury and determine potential consequences that delays in time to definitive care might have on patient outcome. This information is provided to rescue personnel so that they may better plan the pace and type of rescue.
Perform advanced airway maneuvers, including surgical cricothyrotomy and mechanical ventilation.
Perform chest tube decompression of pneumohemothorax.
Perform surgical procedures to achieve hemostasis.
Administer advanced fluid resuscitation, including blood transfusion.
Administer sedative, analgesic and paralytic medications.
Initiate invasive and non-invasive vital sign monitoring to include: arterial oxygen saturation, quantitative measurement of expired end-tidal carbon dioxide, measurement of core body temperature, arterial pressure, and central venous pressure.
Insert gastric and urinary bladder drainage catheters.
Administer vasoactive medications to support blood pressure and maintain organ blood flow.
Administer medications and institute measures to reduce brain swelling and lower intracranial pressure.
Administer treatments and medications to patients with crush injury in order to reduce the risk of myoglobin-induced acute renal failure.
Perform life-saving extremity amputation.
Provide advanced medical and triage expertise for mass-casualty incidents, including incidents potentially involving weapons of mass destruction.
The Trauma Center also remains available to develop individualized disaster or tactical response plans for regional EMS agencies or jurisdictions having specialized medical or rescue needs. For more information, please contact the EMS Coordinator Office at 410-328-2701 or 800-528-1732.
EMS Providers: For all patient feedback, please call 410-328-8844.NBN warning: ACCC warns telcos to deliver on promised internet speeds
Updated
The competition watchdog has warned Australia's largest four telcos they could find themselves in court for failing to deliver on their NBN speed promises.
Telstra, Optus, TPG and Vocus have been singled out by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims for potential legal action by the end of the year if they are found to have misled consumers.
Mr Sims told AM the telco giants have now been instructed to refer to "typical" rather than "up to" speeds, especially in peak periods, when advertising NBN products.
"We've got a broadband monitoring regime in place so we can tell consumers what the speeds are and also check whether those providers are telling the truth," Mr Sims said.
"We'll have a few cases in court by the end of the year. We want to make sure that we solve this problem."
Mr Sims said, while all internet providers are subject to consumer law, the regulator would be targeting "the big ones".
"The main focus will be on Telstra, Optus, Vocus and TPG. They have been put on notice and some of them know that they are subject to investigation by us," he said.
"We have the reputation for following through on these things and we will."
ACCC not going far enough: advocacy group
While Mr Sims' language about questionable NBN speed promises has ramped up, the ACCC has not taken action against a telco in the past five years.
The threat of legal action comes amid growing concerns that the NBN has not been funded to provide high speed broadband to Australians.
Internet Australia, a not-for-profit organisation representing internet users, supports the ACCC's monitoring program but maintains the NBN has been "turned into a dud".
Executive director Laurie Patton said the regulator's surveillance will not be enough to solve the overriding problems plaguing the NBN rollout.
"The ACCC scheme will simply confirm what we already know. Consumers are disappointed with their internet speeds," Mr Patton said.
"This is because the NBN Co model is fundamentally flawed. Relying on ageing copper wires means NBN Co simply cannot deliver very fast broadband to millions of customers.
"On top of this, their wholesale charging discourages retailers from offering faster speeds."
As part of its monitoring, the ACCC has called on Australians to volunteer for a program to measure and compare broadband speeds across the county.
In a statement, a spokesperson said Telstra would cooperate with the ACCC's monitoring regime.
"We will continue to take an industry lead to ensure our customers receive the service and experience they expect on the NBN armed with all the information they need to make an informed choice," it read.
Optus and TPG have been contacted for comment. Vocus declined to comment.
Follow Peter Ryan on Twitter @peter_f_ryan.
Topics: consumer-protection, regulation, internet-technology, australia
First postedAbstract
Recent reports demonstrate that somatic mouse cells can be directly converted to other mature cell types by using combined expression of defined factors. Here we show that the same strategy can be applied to human embryonic and postnatal fibroblasts. By overexpression of the transcription factors Ascl1, Brn2, and Myt1l, human fibroblasts were efficiently converted to functional neurons. We also demonstrate that the converted neurons can be directed toward distinct functional neurotransmitter phenotypes when the appropriate transcriptional cues are provided together with the three conversion factors. By combining expression of the three conversion factors with expression of two genes involved in dopamine neuron generation, Lmx1a and FoxA2, we could direct the phenotype of the converted cells toward dopaminergic neurons. Such subtype-specific induced neurons derived from human somatic cells could be valuable for disease modeling and cell replacement therapy.From WikiLeaks
Donate to WikiLeaks Unless otherwise specified, the document described here: Was first publicly revealed by WikiLeaks working with our source.
Was classified, confidential, censored or otherwise withheld from the public before release.
Is of political, diplomatic, ethical or historical significance. Any questions about this document's veracity are noted. The summary is approved by the editorial board. See here for a detailed explanation of the information on this page. If you have similar or updated material, see our submission instructions. Contact us Press inquiries Follow updates
Release date December 19, 2007
Summary
Lecture on torture techniques by Dr. Larry Forness of the American Military University (Dec 2005). The document explains the rationale behind torturing prisoners, torture methods, and a justification for ignoring international law. Forness advocates the injection of truth serums, threatening to inject Muslim prisoners with pigs' blood, and torturing detainees' friends and family.
"Dr. Larry Forness is a professor at American Military University. He has earned nine degrees, including three doctorates and two law degrees, with over half the degrees obtained via distance education. He completed his undergraduate training at Notre Dame and his advanced degree and training from prestigious universities such as Duke University and UCLA. He also earned two Law degrees (JD and LL.M.). A former Marine, Dr. Forness provides classified consulting to U.S. Military Special Operations units. Specialties include unconventional warfare and intelligence." (AMU biography)
Although the document was likely intended for Forness' students, it was subsequently circulated within the US military, where it came to the attention of the Wikileaks whistleblower Peryton, who also disclosed Guantanamo Bay's main manual Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedure (2004), which was authenticated publicly by Joint Task Force Guantanamo.
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Further information
Peryton
38400
Microsoft Office Document Wikileaks document forensics: Generator = "Microsoft Word 8.0" Last Modified = 2005-12-09T17:00:00Z Creator = "Dr. Larry M. Forness" Revision = "27" Created = 2004-08-21T20:21:00Z Last Saved by = "Larry Forness" Company = "Dell Computer Corporation"
SHA256 40891780490bfa954dfef1564b0cc4625b345dc1e531fb97c14ffad0130ac835
Text version follows:
T ORTURE, INTERROGATION AND INTELLIGENCE
What I want you to keep in mind as you read this is that we are to assume the following situation: We have somebody in our custody, who we believe has knowledge of an impending terrorist attack, and we think that attack could be VERY serious, but we have less than five days to find out what this person knows about the impending attack.
In this piece, I'm going to specifically address using drugs known as "truth serums" as the means by which we get the intelligence that we need. Some would call this a form of torture.
I want you to know that I don't glory torture for its own sake. I accept it as a means to survival.
To digress for a moment, and to add a little humor to it, I don't get any pleasure inflicting pain on anybody, unless you're a quarterback. I hate quarterbacks. I was a linebacker. Quarterbacks live a charmed life. Think about it. A quarterback never had zits as a kid. He never sweat. He always got the best looking cheerleader. He or his parents always had the best car. The teachers and coaches would let him get away with murder, and yet call him a saint. He always had his picture on the front cover of the football guide and the game-day program. He was the class valedictorian. He never had to dig ditches in 100-degree heat in the summer to make money. Even during practice, he got to wear a different color jersey from anybody else. He could sit down, kneel down, slide down, fall down, lie down, down the damn ball or throw it away, and if you even breathed on him you got penalized 15 yards for roughing the quarterback. I ask you, when was the last time you ever saw any official at any football game -- peewee through the pros -- ever throw flag on anybody for roughing the linebacker? I rest my case.
When Israel suffers a terrorist attack, almost invariably they retaliate within 24 hours. The reason that they can do this is that they have the world's best human intelligence (humint), and they know how to interrogate people. Their intelligence is so good and they keep it so current that they know who has attacked them, and they already have plans in existence for retaliation. Their humint sources are not just Israelis, but actual members of the society on which they are spying. They use humint and supplement it by signal intelligence (sigint). We do it just ass-backwards, because we CAN'T do it the way the Israeli's do it -- we simply do not have enough people on the ground. It takes $500,000-1,000,000 and 3-5 years to train and put in place a good humint source (assume this is an American hired by, say, the CIA, to try and infiltrate some terrorist group). NOTHING that is going on at present can quickly change this equation or situation. Forget the hearings, the posturing, the proposals, the realignments, the debate. It's all based on the INCORRECT assumption that we already have the tools, they just need to be rearranged. We do NOT have all the tools and no flow chart or organization chart can change that.
The Geneva Convention was not signed by any terrorist group. No terrorist should be provided any protection whatsoever under the Geneva Convention.
We are supposed to be a nation of laws. If you are not a United States citizen, don't expect protection of our laws.
Therefore, no terrorist -- whether running free or in custody -- is entitled to any protection under any international law to which we are a signatory or law of the United States.
Most of what follows is what I have learned from Israelis, South Koreans, Russians, as well as Americans.
I want to address several fallacies of interrogation.
Fallacy #1. Torture never works, because a prisoner will tell the interrogators whatever they want to hear just to stop the torture.
That's based on a faulty assumption. That faulty assumption is that, if you act on the fabricated intelligence provided by the prisoner, and then you find out that it is not correct, that the prisoner does not have to pay a price for lying. Before you ask the prisoner for information, you tell that prisoner that if he or she lies, you will torture the prisoner, the family, the friends, the parakeet, whomever. And then do it.
Fallacy #2. Any prisoner can outwit his or her interrogators.
This doesn't work with interrogators who are members of a free society, and have very good to excellent intelligence sources to confirm and verify what a prisoner says.
Part of this fallacy was created as a result of what our American POWs told their North Vietnamese interrogators, when those POWs were held in and around Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
North Vietnam was a closed society. That society only heard and saw what their leaders wanted them to hear and see. Our prisoners' Code of Conduct was changed in response to the brutal torture that our POW's endured.
Our POWs held out under that torture as long as they could. When they could hold out no longer, they made up something to stop the torture. Incredibly, and to show you how stupid and uninformed the North Vietnamese were, our POWs made up names of superior officers. These names included General Mills (the cereal company), Major Domo, Captain Video, etc. The North Vietnamese interrogators dutifully wrote down this information, smiled smugly, and assumed that they had extracted critical information from their prisoners.
In this sense, yes, the prisoners did outwit the interrogators. In contrast, when our POWs were interrogated by Russians, Cubans, East Germans, and Bulgarians, when they tried to pull the same stunt as they did with the North Vietnamese, our guys were beaten, starved, and tortured unmercifully. Our guys said that you could fool North Vietnamese, but don't even think about trying it with those other guys.
Fallacy #3. Torture as a means of interrogation is generally not accepted throughout the world.
In point of fact, within the last three years, more than three-quarters of all countries in the world have practiced torture as a means of interrogation. This applies to their own citizens, as well as foreigners, whether combatants or not.
Bleeding hearts just don't get it. On the one hand, they kept telling us to allow the weapons inspectors in Iraq more and more and more time and more and more and more time to uncover weapons of mass destruction. On the other hand, once the President declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, the bleeding hearts started screeching that the rebuilding and democratization of Iraq wasn't happening fast enough. On the third hand, they run their hands at how quickly we had placed prisoners into detention facilities. This herky-jerky, stop-and-go, inconsistency is nothing more than political opportunism.
Even the ACLU got involved, not on behalf of Americans, but on behalf of our enemies. If you didn't know this, read this and burn it in your memory: The ACLU was founded by a card-carrying member of the Communist Party. You should never again wonder why the ACLU is trying to tear apart the moral and legal fiber of this country.
Fallacy #4. These things called "truths serums" don't really work.
They do work to varying degrees of success.
There are three primary truth serums.
Here they are.
Scopolamine (scopolamine hydrobromide; first word pronounced: skoh-PAW-lah-mean), also known by another name -- hyoscine (hyoscine hydrobromide). It is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Its clinical uses are primarily as a sedative, and applied locally (directly) as a mydriatic, which causes the pupil of the eye to dilate. When used as a sedative, the primary uses are to combat vertigo and motion sickness. When used with morphine and pentobarbital, to a woman in labor, it produces a "twilight sleep." It is also used as a premedication preliminary to surgery anesthesia.
Since scopolamine completely blocks the formation of memories, unlike most date-rape drugs used in the United States and elsewhere, it is usually impossible for victims to ever identify their aggressors (or interrogators, if you were a prisoner).
To use scopolamine most effectively to get a prisoner to tell you what he or she knows, the key is where you inject it, and in what amounts. Normally it is introduced into the body by a transdermal patch or intravenously in the arm. However, if you inject it into the spine (amount classified), it causes absolutely incredible pain, accompanied by violent convulsions and seizures. If injected into the spine in the appropriate amount, more than 95% of all prisoners will tell the truth -- not something fabricated to stop the pain -- within 24 hours (Source: classified).
A far milder form of psychological abuse involves exposing prisoners (intravenously or orally) to sodium pentathol—commonly known as "truth serum." Sodium pentathol is an ultra-short-acting barbiturate that depresses the central nervous system, slows heart rate, and lowers blood pressure. In the relaxed state produced by the drug, subjects are more susceptible to suggestion and are therefore easier to interrogate. The drug does not actually guarantee that prisoners will tell the truth, however. Often, it makes subjects "gabby" without revealing any important information.
Sodium amythal, also known as a type of "truth serum," with its clinical application in psychoanalysis, is used primarily to help in memory recovery and dealing with "false" memories. If you can confuse the prisoner as to what is a real memory and what is a false memory, you might be able to crack their resistance to telling the truth. However, if the prisoner is smart, he or she will simply shut up and you'll get nothing from them.
What is interesting is that a prisoner could have been subjected to a truth serum singularly, or two or three over enough time given the appropriate washout of the prisoner's system, and flatly state that he or she did not tell his or her interrogators anything. From his or her perspective, he or she is telling the truth -- because he or she has no memory of telling interrogators anything. That's the truth in his or her own mind, but it is not the fact of the situation.
In terms of training individuals to resist the three aforementioned truth serums, it is easiest to train someone to resist the sodium amythal, followed by sodium pentathol. There is no known training that will allow anyone to resist scopolamine, when injected into the spine in the correct amount.
What you don't want to do is "stack" scopolamine with sodium pentathol and sodium amythal. "Stacking" means adding one drug on top of another before the previous drug(s) has/have washed out of the system. You stack on somebody, you'll kill them.
When time is not a consideration, and when used in conjunction with skilled interrogators on a prisoner who has not been trained to resist the effects, sodium pentathol and sodium amythal will get you the truth in approximately 10% to one third of the cases. When the truth absolutely positively has to be there within five days, forget them – use scopolamine injected into the spine.
I don't honestly know if we have used any of these truth serums on Saddam Hussein. Too bad if we didn't. My clearance doesn't extend that high. For those of you who don't know -- and to oversimplify it -- there are four different levels of security clearances. They are: secret; top-secret; top-secret/code word; beyond top-secret/code word. The words "code word" could be something like UMBRA. So if I had that level, I would be cleared top-secret/UMBRA, which means I would be allowed to see or hear anything that is secret, top-secret, and -- separately -- anything that a classified under the code word UMBRA.
In 1909, before World War I, there were a number of terrorist attacks on the United States forces in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, by Muslim extremists. General "Black Jack" Pershing was the appointed military governor of the Moro Province. He captured 50 terrorists and ordered them to be tied to posts for execution. Since all the prisoners were Muslim, he asked his men to bring two pigs and slaughter them in front of the prisoners. He then proceeded by dipping bullets into the pig’s blood.
In the process he executed 49 of the terrorists by firing squad. Then, the soldiers dug a big hole in the ground and dumped in the terrorists’ bodies and covered them in pig’s blood and viscera. The last man was set free. For 42 years there was not a single Muslim attack anywhere in the world.
His rationale was quite simple and effective. Since a radical Muslim is willing to give his life for his religion in a Jihad war, killing him would not make much difference. He would be seen as a martyr (shahada).
But the General knew that all Muslims believe in eternal life after death with 72 virgins waiting for them in paradise. He also knew that those that embrace Jihad usually prepare themselves physically and spiritually in case they die in combat.
Since the pig is considered forbidden food (haram) in Islam, Pershing introduced this variable to thwart their hopes to enter Allah’s kingdom. The pig’s blood automatically nullified any prior purification by contaminating their bodies.
My interrogation technique is quite simple. I follow General Pershing’s example and order a pig to be slaughtered near the prisoner. The blood of the animal run's freely toward the prisoner's feet. He will immediately lift his knees to avoid making contact with it. I fill a syringe with the pig’s blood and threaten to inject him in the arm. The prisoner will talk -- and quickly.
Fair? Depends on your perspective. Effective? Extremely.
A century ago, General Pershing’s quick thinking installed a great fear in a large sector of the Muslim population in Mindanao putting an end to any type of subversion in an Island that resents the presence of non-Muslims.
Last, here are a few tips in terms of determining if who you have in custody really is a Muslim: Since most of the concentration is on Islamic terrorism, these are a few signs that very few people know about.
A serious Muslim that prays 5 times a day has a small dark discoloration on his forehead.
If he wears jewelry, it has to be silver and not gold -- usually a silver ring with a space inside where there is a passage from the Koran.
Another important pointer comes from physical anthropology, and deals with faces and body structures. A real Muslim keeps his left hand away from his food, usually under the table.
Bottom line: there are effective ways to get the truth from a prisoner under interrogation. Some work better than others. When drugs are used, both the person administering the drug, as well as the interrogator, must be expert at their profession. When time is the most important consideration, you're left with very few options. Whatever the situation, KNOW YOUR ENEMY.
What I say here are my own opinions, based upon fact. They are not to be construed as the policy or official position of APUS. As always, you are free to accept or reject anything I say, and verify it by any means you wish.
Thank you.
DocWith his spiky blonde hair and fighter pilot's name, Max Chilton already possessed some of the characteristics of a modern-day Formula 1 driver.
The 21-year-old from Reigate will in March join Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Paul di Resta as the British drivers on the Albert Park grid for the season opener in Melbourne, having been confirmed as one of Marussia's drivers for the coming season.
However, not only will Chilton be battling for positions this season, he will also want to prove he deserves to be where he is, and not on the grid because of the money he has brought with him.
Chilton comes from a strong financial background with his father, Grahame, the multi-millionaire vice chairman of insurance company Aon.
Max Chilton profile Born: 21 April 1991
21 April 1991 2005-06: T Cars (27 races, seven wins, 18 podiums)
T Cars (27 races, seven wins, 18 podiums) 2007-09: British Formula Three (62 races, one win, seven podiums)
British Formula Three (62 races, one win, seven podiums) 2009-12: GP2 Series (62 races, two wins, four podiums)
Having financial clout behind Chilton has undoubtedly helped him during his fledgling career to date, but has once again raised the somewhat taboo subject in Formula 1 of the 'pay driver' - someone who brings with him funding and sponsorship to help finance a team.
Promising drivers needing funding to progress their careers is nothing new.
Three-time world champion Niki Lauda took out a bank loan to fund his first drives, while Fernando Alonso relied on sponsorship to help him climb the motorsport ladder in the early stage of his career.
"This whole pay driver thing is a pretty sad conversation to be having because someone pays all the time in motor racing, whether it is the team, sponsor, a parent or anybody," said Trevor Carlin, team principal of GP2 Series team Carlin, who Chilton raced for last season.
"As it happens, Max has been in the situation where his dad has managed to help him along the way, but he has had to deliver. You do not win GP2 races because of your dad, you do it because you are fast enough.
"We must not belittle any of these guys on the grid because they are all world class. If someone finishes last in the 100m final of the Olympics, you don't say they do not deserve to be there.
"Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, Formula 1 is not a poor man's sport."
Media playback is not supported on this device Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Inside F1 with Max Chilton
It is a privileged position Chilton is in, and one he is no doubt appreciative of given that it is the realisation of an ambition he has held since he was a child.
Motorsport was very much a part of Chilton's upbringing, with his dad a keen enthusiast, while his brother Tom, 27, has been involved in racing since he was eight and is now a well-established touring car driver.
But it was likely watching Michael Schumacher dominate Formula 1 during the 1990s that really sparked Chilton's desire, and he took his first tentative steps into racing at the age of 10 through karting.
Even at that early age Chilton was almost single-minded in his desire to become a Formula 1 driver, but not at the expense of his education and he juggled his fledgling career with attending classes at the prestigious Ardingly College in Sussex.
Splitting his time between racing and his schoolwork meant Chilton did not compete as much as his contemporaries and though he won races during his five years, he never won a karting championship.
Chilton moved into British Formula 3 in 2007, making his debut on the weekend of his 16th birthday to become the youngest driver in British F3 history.
Being younger and less experienced than those around him are traits that have gone hand-in-hand with Chilton, who has always held the belief that the best way to learn and develop is by competing against the best.
Consequently, his rapid ascent through the racing ranks meant he has rarely raced for a front-running team.
Chilton: Away from the car Born 21/04/1991 in Reigate, Surrey
Attended Ardingly College in Sussex from 2000-2008
Was a member of the college's hockey team and also has a keen interest in golf
His favourite F1 driver while growing up was Michael Schumacher, who made his debut the year Chilton was born
"Max is always the new kid on the block," continued Carlin.
"He has always been in a championship earlier than he should have been, so he has always had a bit of fighting to do to get there."
After three years in British F3, Chilton switched to the GP2 Series in 2010, first joining relative newcomers Ocean Racing Technology, before joining Carlin for their debut in the category the following year.
Carlin's first season in GP2 was hampered by reliability issues, but Chilton's pace coupled with his amiable nature, attentiveness and willingness to aid in the development of the car impressed team bosses, as well as catching the eye of Formula 1 scouts as Force India invited him to take part in the young driver test.
"He is fairly quiet, but he is a confident young man. He is lovely to work with, very polite and clearly well brought up," said Carlin.
"He is a sponsor's dream. He is good looking, personable and very attentive to people.
"He is also really, really keen on the job. He wants to be a top Formula 1 driver and he is working as hard as he can to achieve that."
In 2012, Carlin teamed up with Marussia to enter a team for the GP2 Series |
sorority. My young friend wore a “bespoke” tattoo, which means it was designed in consultation with an “artist.” In my mind, it bespoke volumes.
People in all walks of life used to put forth effort not to be taken for White Trash — in contrast to people today, who risk hepatitis to ape the decorative styles of prison gangs.
Not being White Trash wasn’t a matter of money. It was purely behavioral.
When did we decide that elastic waist bands, convict-inspired fashion and swearing on a cellphone were authentic ways to express individuality?
If we read our Toynbee, things may be even worse than we think. In Toynbee’s view, it’s up to the elites to save a civilization. They must become once again vigorously creative (think: great art, not twerking on TV) and worthy of imitation.
But how to get there from here? We could try saving our admiration for what’s really admirable. So let’s quit pretending that there’s anything charming about stripper-themed fashion and financial irresponsibility. All we have to lose is our inner Honey Boo Boo.
Bring back manners, bring back aspiration, bring back responsibility, heck, bring back the man in the gray flannel suit. We miss you.
Charlotte Hays is the author of “When Did White Trash Become the New Normal? A Southern Lady Asks the Impertinent Question” (Regnery Publishing), out this weekPhoto: Maya Robinson and Photos by Pixar, Warner Brothers, Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images, Yoshikazu TSUNO/Getty and Paramount Pictures
So, Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie opens this week, and by the look of it, it appears to be a mix and match of Short Circuit, Robocop, E.T., A.I., District 9, and a Die Antwoord music video. (Full disclosure: I haven’t seen it yet.) But one thing seems sure: It will be yet another demonstration of the movies’ fascination with robots. Ever since the early years of cinema — even before the term “robot” was coined, in fact — the movies have been obsessed with them. They symbolize so many of our neuroses — our queasiness about technology and the unknown, our wonder at what it means to be human, our fear that, ultimately, we might be replaceable. So, we thought it might be fun, in honor of Chappie (or as a corrective to it … you decide), to rank the best robot movies in film history. However, a note: We specifically focused on movies that are essentially about robots — not, in other words, movies that happen to have robots in them, like Alien(s) or Interstellar or Forbidden Planet. We also avoided films that were specifically solely about computers — so, no 2001: A Space Odyssey. (But The Matrix makes it in, because it’s actually full of robot creatures.) And, as always, only one film per franchise.
1. The Terminator (1984)
For many years the robots that threatened us in sci-fi movies looked like actual robots. They were made of metal and gears and spinning doodads and spoke like machines. But when James Cameron cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as the killer robot from the future in the first Terminator film (which, to be fair, owed a lot to Westworld) he not only helped realize our deepest fears about robots (that they would be better, more powerful humans than even humans themselves) but he also found the perfect part for an Austrian behemoth with limited range and drone-like delivery. Years later, with the sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Cameron revolutionized the culture yet again: This time, he helped turn a politically ambitious Schwarzenegger into an almost cuddly, family-friendly figure, and he also used state-of-the-art CGI to give us the T-1000, whose “polymetal alloy” existence was closer to magic than to mechanics.
2. Metropolis (1927)
In Fritz Lang’s crazy, visionary 1927 masterpiece, a mad scientist creates a female robot version of his late beloved. But later, he turns this robot woman into a fake version of the film’s heroine, a charismatic revolutionary named Maria, to try to quell an uprising. Robot-Maria then proceeds to use her magical, nefarious powers to entrance the populace of this dystopian society. There’s no science behind this robot, of course; her powers are basically fantastical. (The film at times seems to be more about the threat of sexuality than about the threat of mechanization.) But in her embodiment of the potentially monstrous power of science, Maria — and, by extension, the film — presents a prescient cautionary tale about the forces that the 20th century would soon unlock.
3. WALL-E (2008)
From its nearly wordless first half to its hilarious slapstick finale, from its heartrending portrait of an environmentally devastated Earth to its biting vision of humanity grown alarmingly pudgy from comfort and stasis, this is one of Pixar’s greatest films. And it’s the rare film that manages to put a non-humanoid robot at its center, complete with his non-humanoid robot love interest.
4. Blade Runner (1982)
For all its revolutionary design and its status as an iconic sci-fi film, Blade Runner at times feels more like a philosophical exploration than a vision of the future. The replicants in the film — they’re not the metallic androids we’ve grown to know and love, but they’re biomechanically engineered all the same, so I’m counting them as robots — are only detectable due to the answers they give to certain seemingly mundane questions. Plus, they can die — often in surprising, poetic ways. In other words, they have souls. And among the questions the films asks is whether one type of soul is more valid than another.
5. The Matrix (1999)
The great fear underlying artificial intelligence movies is the notion that after a certain point, the world won’t need us anymore. The Matrix gives that idea one of its most resonant portrayals: In this future, humans are used as batteries for giant robot creatures while their minds are kept busy with a virtual reality simulacrum of the world. Thus, it brings together the technological fear inherent in most robot stories with a Zen questioning of the nature of reality. Years later, it’s still fantastic.
6. RoboCop (1987)
Paul Verhoeven’s masterpiece is a lot funnier than you might remember. It’s also a lot more violent, as we spend much of the movie watching gentle hero cop Murphy (Peter Weller) slowly edge his way towards his inevitable — and inevitably brutal — comeuppance, whereupon he will be transformed into the futuristic cyborg of the film’s title. To be fair, that technically makes RoboCop not a robot — he’s part human, after all — but the film is all about this push-pull between Murphy’s human side and his robot side.
7. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
When Stanley Kubrick died he left behind this long-awaited project about a young, sentient robot-boy’s attempts to become fully human. Kubrick fans will argue forever about whether Steven Spielberg (whom Kubrick had reportedly handpicked to direct the film) did justice to Kubrick’s vision, but it can’t be denied that he poured his heart and soul into this film. True, Spielberg’s film is not so much about artificial intelligence and the philosophical question of sentience; rather, it’s the moving tale of a young boy (played by then-boy-of-the-moment Haley Joel Osment) looking for acceptance, and learning what it means to love. And it’s beautiful.
8. Westworld (1973)
What the hell did Michael Crichton have against amusement parks, anyway? Years before he wrote Jurassic Park, the author wrote and directed this ridiculously fun sci-fi Western-horror satire about a futuristic park where the android entertainers, chief among them a gunslinger played by Yul Brynner (doing a robot riff on his character from The Magnificent Seven), go haywire and start killing the visitors.
9. The Stepford Wives (1975)
Saying that The Stepford Wives is a robot movie would be considered a spoiler in some quarters, since that’s actually the grand reveal — that these mindless, doting, superficial, immaculately coiffed housewives are, in fact, machines. A seminal film that brings together many of postwar America’s great neuroses in one dark comedy: our obsession with class, the suburbs, sexual relations, and technology.
10. The Iron Giant (1999)
Brad Bird’s touching animated film, based on Ted Hughes’s children’s book, is an underseen marvel. It marries two seemingly opposite concepts: the fact that robots often symbolize all our fears of unchecked technological progress with the idea that having a robot buddy is the ultimate childhood fantasy. It’s a wonderful family drama, a great kids’ movie, and an exciting plea for peace. And it’s still got the best performance of Vin Diesel’s career, as the voice of the Giant.
11. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
True, Robert Wise’s 1951 film is less about robots than it is about aliens and world peace — with Michael Rennie’s Klaatu arriving on Earth as an interstellar ambassador from another planet to exhort us to stop killing each other. But the film’s showstopper is actually Gort, a giant robot from an alien race of robot enforcers who have been empowered to destroy humanity if we don’t heed their warnings. Sure, the film isn’t really grounded in anything resembling science, but it’s a fascinating time capsule of our attitudes towards unchecked technology and power in the nuclear era.
12. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Mamoru Oshii’s anime masterpiece is one of the more important films of any kind made in the past 30 years, thanks in part to the way its influence has filtered out through The Matrix movies. With its hot female cyborg hero (an empowered female who, alas, comes straight out of a teenage boy’s fantasy) and a story in which characters can shapeshift and enter in and out of digital realms, it’s a film about the increasingly blurred lines between humanity and technology — the fundamental dilemma at the heart of most robot films.
13. Big Hero 6 (2014)
Disney’s blockbuster animated film from last year was surprisingly dark; it was, ultimately, a movie about how different people cope with loss. And at the heart of it was a sensitive relationship between its young orphan hero and Baymax, the cuddly, puffy medical droid created by his late brother. As the boy tried to teach the gentle Baymex to fight, we got a heartfelt exploration of the limits of grief and the value of helping those in need.
14. Transformers (2007)
Okay, forget how much you hated the sequels for a second. Michael Bay’s first Transformers movie was actually pretty fun — a peculiar mix of broad humor, badass fighting-robot heroics, apocalyptic CGI, and the director’s patented military fetishism. Let’s also not forget that the idea of a big budget Hollywood movie based on a 1980s toy franchise — especially one as ridiculous as this one, which posits an alien race of robots that have come to Earth and assumed the ability to turn into everyday vehicles and other machines — was by no means a surefire hit. And yet, Bay pulled it off. Bloat and self-importance would eventually consume the franchise, but this first one still holds up.
15. Robots (2005)
This star-studded animated flick (Ewan McGregor! Robin Williams! Mel Brooks!) wasn’t particularly well-liked when it first came out, but it’s enchanting and beautiful. Set in a world populated entirely by robots (like Cars, but with robots), it’s filled with elaborate contraptions and eye-popping visuals, with an aesthetic that seems to have been borrowed from every era of futuristic design imaginable. You could lose yourself in it for hours.About
Chances are our kids maybe watching inappropriate videos on Youtube everyday. We have seen many apps that are supposedly kid safe or kid friendly that are not entirely that. We have seen some inappropriate videos making its way into YouTubeKids and other "kid safe" apps. Most of these apps filters out the entire video based on its filtered rating.
We are here to build a better app to filter out in appropriate contents from all videos. We are not blocking these videos entirely because many videos are harmless videos of other kids doing stuff but sometime someone would blurted the inappropriate F word here and there or sometime inappropriate images would be inserted over the videos in the edit process.
The way our new app works is that it will stream videos from YouTube and pre-buffers a minimal amount of contents, run these images and audio through a machine learning algorithm to determine if the contents are appropriate. It will then blur out or skipping the graphic images and bleep the audio. It will also blur out inappropriate text as images.
This app would be available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced that Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will be stepping down to take on the role of “technical advisor.”
The Verge reports that Eric Schmidt, Alphabet executive chairman and former Google CEO, will be stepping down from his current role at the company to act as a “technical advisor,” but will still stay on as an Alphabet board member. Schmidt has worked in senior roles at Google since he was hired by Google co-Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 2001, Schmidt took to Twitter to announce his stepping down, “After ten years as CEO and seven as Executive Chairman, I can’t wait to dive into the latest in science, technology, and philanthropy. I look forward to working with Larry and Sergey on our future here at Alphabet.”
After ten years as CEO and seven as Executive Chairman, I can’t wait to dive into the latest in science, technology, and philanthropy. I look forward to working with Larry and Sergey on our future here at Alphabet. https://t.co/nVnZqMEHoI — Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) December 21, 2017
“Since 2001, Eric has provided us with business and engineering expertise and a clear vision about the future of technology,” said Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet in a statement. “Continuing his 17 years of service to the company, he’ll now be helping us as a technical advisor on science and technology issues. I’m incredibly excited about the progress our companies are making, and about the strong leaders who are driving that innovation.”
“Larry, Sergey, Sundar and I all believe that the time is right in Alphabet’s evolution for this transition. The Alphabet structure is working well, and Google and the Other Bets are thriving,” said Schmidt. “In recent years, I’ve been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, and philanthropy, and I plan to expand that work.”
John Hennessy, Alphabet’s lead independent director stated, “Over 17 years, Eric has been tremendously effective and tireless in guiding our Board, particularly as we restructured from Google to Alphabet. He’ll now be able to bring that same focus and energy to his other passions, while continuing to advise Alphabet.” Alphabet also said in a statement that, “The company anticipates that the Board will appoint a non-executive chairman.”
It was revealed by whistleblowing service WikiLeaks in 2016 that Schmidt worked with the Clinton campaign. An attachment to an email written by Teddy Goff, a former Obama campaign digital director that also worked for the Clinton campaign, appeared to discuss “Working relationships with Google, Facebook, Apple, and other technology companies.” Goff further stated that the Clinton campaign had “begun having discreet conversations with some of these companies.” The memo seemed to have been drafted sometime in October 2014, at least six months prior to Clinton announcing her run for the presidency.
Throughout the memo, Goff repeatedly referred to “Eric Schmidt’s group,” at one point saying, “I have been kept apprised of the work being done by Eric Schmidt’s group and others working directly and indirectly with your team. [emphasis added] On the whole, I am comfortable with where we stand and confident in our roadmap to launch day and beyond.” Schmidt also ran The Groundwork, the technology vendor for Clinton’s campaign.For almost 5 years, James Olander worked as Senior Systems Engineer for Lockheed Martin, a large aerospace company, leveraging his degrees in Aerospace and Space Systems Engineering to develop innovative satellite technology and launch vehicles.
But to be a small piece of a massive organization like Lockheed Martin, no matter how great the company or the work, has certain limitations. So eventually, James found himself working at TechShop in the Bay Area, surrounded by people who were quite literally building their own dreams.
After years working hunched over a laptop computer, James was inspired to start building a product he’d been envisioning and knew could solve a widespread problem: an innovative and ergonomic laptop stand called Roost.
The moment that shifted Roost from hobby to career? Showing a prototype to Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky with Eric’s response, “You’ve got to put this thing on Kickstarter.”
A few months later Roost was up on Kickstarter, with $189,983 pledged by 2,448 backers and since then he’s sold over 10,000 units.
Now James is working on V2 of Roost. The biggest change in the development of the second version is the introduction of injection molds to increase production volume. With the first Roost stand, both the prototypes and production units were machined with laser cutters and the same materials, so there was no difference between the two; if the prototype broke, then the production unit would break.
With injection molding, it’s an entirely different process. You need to understand the structural elements of your prototype, done with different materials and tools and then through testing and analysis predict the structural features of your final injection molded part.
This is where James’ aerospace background goes to work. Using very intentional and detailed analysis, he’s able to assess the structural elements of his prototypes created with plastics, and then extrapolate those results to understand how an injection molded part will perform.
In this Hardware Spotlight, James shares the elements of his process that leverages his aerospace engineering background, allowing him to design a product with high durability and without guess work.PARIS (AP) - A knife-wielding man shouting "Allahu akbar" attacked French soldiers on patrol near the Louvre Museum Friday in what officials described as a suspected terror attack. The soldiers first tried to fight off the attacker and then opened fire, shooting him five times.
The attack at an entrance to a shopping mall that extends beneath the museum sowed panic and again highlighted the threat French officials say hangs over the country, which was hit repeatedly by extremist attacks in 2015 and 2016.
A police union official said the attacker was carrying two backpacks and had two machetes. He said the man launched himself at the soldiers when they told him that he could not bring his bags into the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall underneath the world-famous museum where the "Mona Lisa" hangs.
"That's when he got the knife out and that's when he tried to stab the soldier," said the official, Yves Lefebvre.
The four soldiers first tried to fight off the attacker before opening fire, said Benoit Brulon, a spokesman for the military force that patrols Paris and its major tourist attractions.
The French interior ministry said anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating. There were no immediate details about the identity of the attacker. "Allahu akbar" is the Arabic phrase for "God is great."
The patrols - numbering about 3,500 soldiers in the Paris area - were instituted following the January 2015 attacks on Paris' satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and reinforced after Nov. 13 suicide bomb and gun attacks that left 130 people dead at the city's Bataclan concert hall and other sites.
The attacker slightly injured one of the soldiers, in the scalp, officials said. Another soldier opened fire, gravely wounding the attacker.
"He is wounded in the stomach," said police chief Michel Cadot. "He is conscious and he was moving."
Checks of the man's two backpacks found they didn't contain any explosives, he said.
Cadot said a second person who was "acting suspiciously" also was arrested but appears not to have been linked to the attack.
Restaurant worker Sanae Hadraoui, 32, was waiting for breakfast at the Louvre's restaurant complex when she heard the first gunshot, followed by another and then a couple more.
"I hear a shot. Then a second shot. Then maybe two more. I hear people screaming, "Evacuate! Evacuate!"
"They told us to evacuate. I told my colleagues at the McDonalds. We went downstairs and then took the emergency exit."
Hadraoui, who has worked at the Louvre for seven years, said the evacuation was orderly. She was smoking a cigarette when her managers told her people were going back inside.
The museum in the center of Paris is one of the French capital's biggest tourist attractions. Police sealed off entrances around where the attack took place and closed the area to vehicles, snarling traffic in a busy part of central Paris. Officers shooed away confused tourists.
Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said about 1,000 people were inside the actual museum and were held inside in safe areas before the all-clear was given and they were allowed to move around as normal again.
Exterminator Olivier Majewski says he was just leaving his scooter in the parking lot beneath the Louvre when he saw a crush of people running and screaming "there's been a terror attack." The 53-year-old says he hid for about 15 minutes before gingerly making his way upstairs.
"They were panicked," he said.British newspapers have been accused of publishing a “consistent stream” of inaccurate stories about Muslims, after national titles were forced to make corrections over inaccurate reporting more than 20 times in recent months.
Miqdaad Versi, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, has been seeking corrections for inaccurate reporting since last November.
So far he has secured almost 20 corrections and retractions and a further 20 complaints are being examined by the press regulator Ipso.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
Mr Versi said he has flagged up five inaccurate reports by The Sun, three by the Express and three by the Mail Online.
Inaccurate reporting has caused a "rising hostility towards Muslims" in Britain, he said.
"This has real-life consequences as far-right extremists share such false stories, leading to rising hostility towards Muslims," he told The Independent.
There have been a number of corrections made in recent months as a result of complaints made by Mr Versi and others.
Enclaves of Islam see UK as 75% Muslim
Among them was a December report in the The Sunday Times which stated that "enclaves of Islam see UK as 75% Muslim". The story was also picked up by The Sun, the Daily Express and the Mail on Sunday.
Based on a report by government integration tsar Dame Louise Casey, the reports claimed thousands of Muslims in the UK were so cut off from mainstream society that they estimated the country's Muslim population to be 10 times larger than it was.
However, it later transpired the survey cited from the report was based on respondents in one school and that they were asked about Asians, not Muslims.
The headline in The Sunday Times was subsequently changed to "Britain is 50-90% Asian, say schoolchildren".
The full correction read: "We reported in ‘Enclaves of Islam see UK as 75% Muslim’ that the Casey review of integration would say that some segregated Muslims believe Britain is 75% Islamic."
'One in five Brit Muslims sympathy for jihadis'
In November 2015, following the Paris attacks, The Sun's front page carried the results of a “shock poll” which claimed one in five British Muslims sympathised with Isis.
Ipso received an unprecedented 3,000 complaints, some from anti-Islamophobia think tank MEND, and ruled in March 2016 that the publication misrepresented the results of a poll.
It later emerged that the question in the poll only asked if Muslims sympathised with those who travelled to “join fighters in Syria”, and did not specify Isis.
The Sun was subsequently ordered to admit the story was “significantly misleading”.
‘Islamic’ Honour Killing
The Sun also landed itself in hot water when an article described the murder of a 34-year-old Muslim woman in Luton as an “Islamic honour attack”.
This prompted a complaint that it incorrectly asserted honour-killings have a basis in Islam.
Police had said they were investigating the possibility she was killed in “honour-based violence”, but were keeping an open mind over the motive.
Following an Ipso investigation into the matter, the newspaper offered a clarification, stating: “We are happy to make clear Islam as a religion does no support so-called ‘honour killings'.”
Mr Versi, who plans to continue seeking corrections from the press about inaccuracies about Muslims, said the scale of the issue is being “massively underestimated”.
“Journalism plays a vital role in our democracy and the brilliant work by many journalists is being tarred by this consistent stream of negative and inaccurate reporting about Muslims,“ he told The Independent.
“Newspaper editors need to seriously consider whether such a large number of inaccuracies on this one issue, is in line with the basic standards of professional standards that they claim to adhere to, or whether it is indicative of the prioritisation of click-baiting over accuracy in the case of serial offenders."
He added: "It is worth noting that this huge number of corrections that have been forced, mainly due to complaints by me, seems to be a massive underestimate of the scale of the issue, given that the majority have taken place within the last one to two months when I have been monitoring closely.”
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Subscribe nowJournalists were alarmed Friday after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice was revisiting guidelines for handling media subpoenas in leak investigations and said there needed to be limits on press freedom.
“Are you saying you will jail journalists, Mr. Attorney General?” a reporter asked as Sessions exited the room. “Do you plan to prosecute journalists?”
Sessions didn’t answer that question, or any, at the press conference. He “tells room of reporters he may make it easier to jail them if they don’t reveal sources,” MSNBC host and attorney Ari Melber tweeted, and “leaves without taking any press questions.”
Sessions tells room of reporters he may make it easier to jail them if they don't reveal sources, leaves without taking any press questions. — Ari Melber (@AriMelber) August 4, 2017
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein took questions from reporters after the news conference but wouldn’t give any assurances that journalists would not be prosecuted, which would be a major departure from how DOJ traditionally deals with the press in leak cases. Rosenstein said he didn’t “want to get into hypotheticals.”
The Obama administration was particularly aggressive in targeting leakers, and its use of the Espionage Act to prosecute officials accused of disclosing classified materials to the news media was unprecedented. But, in keeping with long-standing tradition, the Obama administration did not prosecute journalists for publishing information.
President Donald Trump’s attempt to delegitimize the news media throughout the 2016 campaign understandably prompted fears that his administration might break with the norms of its predecessors.
During his Senate confirmation hearing in January, Sessions said he was “not sure” if he would jail journalists for doing their jobs, a pledge that had been made by Obama Attorney General Eric Holder. Sessions also refused to discuss hypotheticals in April when asked about the possibility of prosecuting news organizations.
Trump, who has labeled the news media the “enemy of the people” and dismisses unflattering coverage as “fake news,” reportedly urged former FBI Director James Comey to imprison journalists for publishing classified information.
Sessions suggested Friday that journalists could face repercussions for publishing information when he said that press freedom “is not unlimited” and that journalists “cannot place lives at risk with impunity.”
The reference to “impunity,” tweeted law professor and former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman, “sounds more ominous than just changing policy on subpoenas.”
Sessions’ remarks also troubled press freedom and First Amendment advocacy organizations.
Every American should be concerned about the Trump administration’s threat to step up its efforts against whistleblowers and journalists. https://t.co/UwdQmbtWqW — ACLU National (@ACLU) August 4, 2017
Relaxing guidelines to make it easier for investigators to subpoena journos & their records would have a chilling effect on #pressfreedom. — CPJ (@pressfreedom) August 4, 2017
Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told HuffPost it was “disconcerting that the frame [Sessions] used today in referring to reporters putting lives at risk just ends up feeding into the broader narrative of this administration ― of reporters being enemies of the people.”
The truth, he said, is that “news organizations routinely check and vet information with the government before publication because they, too, care about national security interests.”
Indeed, responsible news organizations typically run potentially sensitive information by the government and take national security concerns into consideration before deciding what to publish or withhold.
Brown said he was surprised that Sessions announced plans to revisit subpoena guidelines before consulting with representatives of the news media who helped the department establish its protocols two years ago.
Journalists were outraged following 2013 revelations that the Justice Department under President Barack Obama secretly subpoenaed phone records of Associated Press journalists in one leak investigation and labeled a Fox News reporter a co-conspirator in another, a move that risked criminalizing the standard practice of news gathering.
Holder met with dozens of representatives of the news media and press advocacy groups in the process of crafting new guidelines, along with taking the recommendations of investigators, intelligence officials and prosecutors.
In January 2015, Holder announced that the news media would have more protections in leak investigations by tightening the department’s guidelines for using subpoenas or search warrants in pursuit of journalists’ records.
As of now, the department is still operating under the 2015 guidelines, according to a DOJ spokesperson, and there will be some consultation before any changes are made.
Rosenstein is scheduled to meet next week with members of the News Media Dialogue Group, which the Reporters Committee helped coordinate in 2015 and at the time included several prominent journalists, including former New York Times executive editor and current Marshall Project editor Bill Keller, New Yorker writer Jane Mayer and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism dean Steve Coll.The holiday break has given players, coaches and general managers for every team in the NHL a chance to stop, take a couple of deep breaths, and evaluate where this season has been and where it is headed, which is a mad dash to the Olympic break and another compressed scramble to the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There have been plenty of prominent pre-Christmas storylines, from the fast starts by the San Jose Sharks, Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs, to the outstanding goaltending depth in Southern California, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin dominating leaderboards, and, of course, the incredible tale of goaltender Josh Harding.
There has also been the foreseen (if paying attention to the right indicators) slip from the elite of the Avalanche and Maple Leafs, the exile of two general managers and three coaches, a broken leg for Steven Stamkos (and his Wolverine-esque recovery), and teams dealing with myriad injuries like the Anaheim Ducks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.
Presents have been unwrapped, rest has been had and photos from exotic locales or childhood homes have been posted on Instagram. The next six weeks are essentially the second act of the 2013-14 season, and it begins just like the first act did... with the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings on top of the Super 16.
DISCLAIMER: While the Super 16 is NHL.com's weekly power rankings, the new-look version is going to focus more on the "power" than the "rankings" when determining the order. It's not always going to look like the League standings, and will likely take more of a long view than a short one. Stop by to see where your favorite team ranks, but stay for the information. Also, the statistics and team records are through the games on Monday night.
1. Chicago Blackhawks (26-7-6) Last Week: 1
Will there be a starting goaltender debate in Chicago's near future? Antti Raanta is building his case to remain the No. 1 guy with an 8-1-2 record,.916 save percentage and 2.20 goals-against average since taking over for injured Corey Crawford, who posted a.907 save percentage and a 2.47 GAA.
Crawford actually has a better save percentage during five-on-five play (.928 to Raanta's.915). The Blackhawks have shot better at the other end at even strength with Raanta in net, especially when the score is close (12.7 percent with Raanta, 7.9 percent with Crawford). The penalty kill was a weakness earlier in the season, so maybe Raanta's better numbers in that situation could sway coach Joel Quenneville to give him a little more playing time once Crawford is healthy, but it's probably too early to say he's ready to unseat the guy who helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup six months ago.
2. Los Angeles Kings (25-9-4) LW: 2
Someone finally solved Martin Jones. A loss to the Dallas Stars before the holiday break didn't take much luster off a month the Kings have started 9-2-0, including victories against four of the top seven teams in the Western Conference. The Kings have a tricky four-game road trip coming up, including games against the Blackhawks, Stars and St. Louis Blues in a four-day span.
If Jones, who leads the NHL with a.953 save percentage, needs a break, here's hoping the Kings can manage to get by with Ben Scrivens and his measly.941 save percentage, which is second in the League. Oh, and the guy considered to be world class at the position -- you may remember Jonathan Quick -- is coming back soon.
3. Anaheim Ducks (27-7-5) LW: 3
The Ducks rallied from two goals down Monday night to beat the Washington Capitals. Anaheim is now 6-3-1 in games it was trailing after the first period, tying them with the San Jose Sharks for the best winning percentage (.600) in such instances.
Capitals fans at Verizon Center shouldn't have been surprised. Bruce Boudreau's teams in Washington won 31 times when trailing after the first period in his three full seasons as Capitals coach. In 2010-11, Boudreau's Capitals won 15 times after trailing at the first intermission. NHL.com tracks such statistics back to 1997-98, and no other team since then has won more than 13 times in that scenario in a season.
Boudreau's return to Washington was a good place to take stock of where the two franchises were before he went west and where they've gone since. The Capitals were 114-47-25 from the start of the 2009-10 season until Boudreau was fired (an 82-game pace of 111.5 points) and Washington is 76-55-14 since his departure (a 93.9-point pace).
Anaheim went 93-75-20 from the start of 2009-10 to the end of Randy Carlyle's tenure (an 82-game pace of 89.9 points) and the Ducks are 84-42-19 since Boudreau's arrival (a 105.8-point pace).
4. St. Louis Blues (24-7-5) LW: 5
The Pacific Division has been incredibly strong this season, and the Blues can tell their friends all about it. They are 22-2-2 against teams from the other three divisions, including 10-0-1 against their own, but are 2-5-3 against the Pacific. The two wins are against the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, and St. Louis is 0-5-1 against the five Pacific teams in playoff contention.
5. San Jose Sharks (23-8-6) LW: 4
The Sharks have won three of four, including victories against the Blues, Stars and Avalanche, after losing five of six, but now San Jose has lost Calder Trophy frontrunner Tomas Hertl for a while with a knee injury. The Sharks are certainly pretty deep up front, but Hertl's emergence was a big part of the depth that separated them from other clubs. Facing the Phoenix Coyotes and the Ducks twice in the next week will be a stern test.
6. Boston Bruins (25-10-2) LW: 6
The Bruins, even without Loui Eriksson, are getting their possession mojo back. Boston has had at least 52.8 percent of the shot attempts (Corsi for %) when the score is close at even strength for six straight games and in 12 of their past 16.
This stretch began after one of the weirdest outliers of the 2013-14 season. The Bruins had 34.7 percent of such shot attempts (CF% close) in a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers on Nov. 19, and were only 30.4 percent in Fenwick % close (take away blocked shots). The Rangers are a slightly above average possession team, but dominated the Bruins in a way that only the Sharks (an elite possession team) have this season.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins (27-11-1) LW: 7
Look, this is too low for the Penguins based on their recent performance. Are they going to play just as well or even better when some or all of their injured guys come back? If so, they'll force a move up this list. Until then, it is still a team missing a bunch of key guys riding a hot goalie and maybe the best line in the League (except one-third of said line might now be injured as well).
With a full lineup, the Penguins are likely going to be one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. With this current lineup, any rational person wouldn't pick them to beat the Bruins, let alone any of the elite teams in the West.
8. Vancouver Canucks (22-11-6) LW: 9
There seems to be a narrative building that John Tortorella has ignited something in the Canucks while Alain Vigneault is struggling to do |
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